Picovoli...

is nowhere near done. I had a couple of hours to knit today and ended up using half of it to help my mom, who is ruining her tank top project. Oy. She didn’t read the pattern, she knitted the “worsted weight” version with a bulky weight yarn, and it’s coming out about 2 inches too big across - and she’s thin. She also didn’t count right and had too many stitches by the time she got to the neck, and then she somehow decreased too much on the shoulders and ended up with 9 stitches per shoulder instead of 12. I don’t know what the hell she was doing but it was Driving. Me. Crazy. watching her refuse to follow a chart or in any way make a note of what row she was on while doing sections of the pattern that read something like “knit until 3 stitches left, K2tog, K1; purl next row; repeat last two rows four times.” She would just start DOING it and then get lost in the middle.

So. Not much progress to report. I’m only through about 7 of the 8 knit/increase/increase round groups for the yoke. I CANNOT WAIT until I finish this part. Seriously. SERIOUSLY!

My 3 yr old told me she wants me to knit her some sunscreen! BWAHAHAHA. And she wants me to knit a scarf for Mr. Teddy Jr (her little sister’s teddy bear). So cute.

working on picovoli...

So, here’s my question... are raglan seams *supposed* to look freaky while they are still “in progress?” Because I’m about halfway through the increases of this top-down pattern, and, well - I’m not impressed. I’m wondering if I should just rip it out and start over. But I’ve never knitted anything like this before so I don’t really know.

just keep knitting...

Well, I cast on for picovoli. I tried a knitted cast on, but it was way, way too loose and the first couple of rounds were all holey. Then I tried my standard simple cast on the name of which I do not know but it isn’t a long-tail one, that’s for sure ☺. I had a similar problem. I ended up using a cable cast on, which is looking great now that I’m about a third of the way through the first set of increases, but which was really frustrating when I was joining the round - you know, it really spirals around the needle.

I have this sucker on a needle that I think is too short. I kind of fear switching to the larger size one I have, I feel like whenever I switch needles everything loosens up and gets all weird. We’ll see. I might make it through the increases ok without having to switch.

I stole an extra hour for knitting today. After I took the kids to the park in the morning, the girls both fell asleep in the car, and my son just wanted to veg in front of the TV and relax - so I left an hour before I really had to leave to go to work, and parked in the grocery store parking lot, and knitted while I listened to the NPR health and science podcasts which had accrued on my iPod. I learned that Al Gore’s new movie is actually great, and that doctors may be overprescribing anti-psychotics to children in extralabel usages with no evidence to back them up. Hooray.

I really like the fabric I’m knitting. I really hope this top comes out wearable! There is a little divot sorta thing right at the join of the first row, which I think is due to my using the method described in the Knitting Answer Book for joining a round (casting on an extra stitch, passing the last cast on stitch from the right to left, and knitting it together with the first stitch) because I have never had this problem before. I think I’ll be able to fix it in my finishing though and if not, well, whatever, my hair will hang down over it so who cares. Details, shmetails.

I think I must go to bed now.

argh argh argh

I hate gauge.

So, a size 4 needle produces 7 stitches/inch. Not good.
A size 6 needle produces 6 stitches/inch. Good, but, the pattern calls for 5.5 stitches/inch.

I discussed this with a lady at the LYS. A lady who works there, but whom I have never seen before. “Oh, don’t worry. It will just come out a little bigger.” How can THAT be? If I’m supposed to knit, for example, 100 stitches at 5.5 st/inch, that means it is supposed to be 18.18 inches. If instead I knit 6 st/inch for those 100 stitches, then I get 16.66 inches. This is not “just coming out a little bigger,” it is coming out smaller, and it is coming out about 8% smaller, which is not insignificant, IMO.

So here’s the problem: I can knit the picovoli with the size 6 needle and this yarn and know it will be about 8% smaller - but, I was planning to knit the size 36 and just accept the 3“ negative ease as within allowable limits. I have read of people making this with up to 5” neg ease in the bust, but I don’t want to go nuts there.... Anyway this would change that to more like a 34, I think. I’m not sure that would be ok. I mean, I don’t want to look like I’m wearing lace over my boobs. But if I increase the needle size it’s going to come out too loose of a fabric. It’s already kind of skating the edge. Of course another solution would be to buy different yarn... but I already bought THIS yarn, and I have no room to put it if I don’t use it, and, well, I like this yarn.

Argh. Should I just do it and hope for the best?

random yarn store notes

I was at my LYS the other day and I had the Picovoli pattern with me. Nice LYS lady said “Oh! Grumperina! I love her. I read her blog EVERY DAY.” Heh. It was just cute. She also told my mom that she (mom) should try a particular yarn shop near where she (mom) lives, as opposed to the yarn shop mom has been going to. The people at the yarn shop mom has been going to have been most un-knitter-like, and I’ll leave it at that for the moment.

I was at my OTHER LYS today (this is not the shop I normally visit... it’s near my son’s school, and I just wanted to pick up a set of size 6 DPNs so I could re-swatch for picovoli... that’s also another story...) and overheard the lady there saying something shocking. A customer came in and asked “do you sell blocking boards?” and the lady replied “no. And there is a good reason for it - we do not recommend blocking.” I was somewhat taken aback. The customer said “really? but, I thought it was recommended!” and the lady said “nope. Not a good idea.” So this other customer said “but, what about, when you have a sweater, and the back doesn’t line up with the front exactly, shouldn’t you fix it with blocking?” and the lady said “no, you should probably re-knit.” So then I said “what about lace?” and the lady said “well, I don’t know about lace - but for a regular sweater, blocking is not recommended.” WTF??

So back to swatching picovoli... the yarn in the pattern is Debbie Bliss Cathay, which is alleged to be a DK weight yarn that knits up at 5.5 st/inch on a US 5 needle. Yet, Grumperina’s pattern states you should knit it at 22 st/4 inches on size 4 -- and unless i’m losing it, 5.5 st/inch = 22 st/4 inches, right?

So, I got this substitute yarn, and the label says it is a DK weight and should knit up at 5.5 st/inch on size 6 needles. Hrm. So I tried swatching it with a size 4 for some reason, and got 28 st/inch. I’m reswatching on a size 6 but so far am not really loving the fabric - it seems kinda loose. SIGH.

put a fork in it...

I finished them up today during Lilah’s nap, while the big kids were out with my mom. Yes, one of the socks has a pointier toe than the other - I screwed up the decreases, and didn’t fix it. Whatever. They are done and I can start picovoli any time now! I’m so nervous. I actually just got email from the infamous Grumperina in response to my lame “I’m not worthy” message to her earlier today. Of course, I completely forgot to mention my yarn choice to her so I didn’t get any feedback on that but we’ll just see how it goes.

peas-n-carrots

While Naomi was sleeping on the sofa this afternoon, I tried on the first sock to see if it fit her. It did! Those are Lilah’s little hands fondling the toe ☺ Ignore the loose ends at the cuff. Hopefully this sock won’t suffer SSS and will be paired up soon. Then I can start Picovoli!!

knitting activity

I do have some new knitting activity to report. I’m knitting these “peas and carrots” socks for Naomi in this acid green and traffic stopping orange microspun sport weight, and they are coming out just too big, despite my having very precise gauge. Oh well. She can wear them in the fall. I’m about 2/3 done the first sock.I am very motivated to finish because then I can start my next project -- PICOTVOLI! Except, I don’t plan to do a picot edge. I plan instead to perhaps do a single row of crochet at the edges in a contrasting color. I bought the dark orange (56) and the pale one for the edge (154) of Plymouth Wildflower DK - I am very very excited to make this. I’m going to make the size that ends up with a 36“ bust - I hope it works out for me. If it is too small I’ll give it to my mom, but tons of people wrote about making this pattern with up to 5” negative ease so hopefully a 36“ bust will stretch enough to cover my 39” bust without being totally obscene. I measured a favorite sweater and it is 35“ so I think it will be ok :)

testing, one two...

please ignore. nothing to see here. no knitting content, simply a software test. although I could bitch about the socks I’m working on but... no. this is a test.

and speaking of washcloths...

Not that we were, but, you know, from before.... This is the bib I did for Tali, to match her washcloth. Seed (moss) stitch, in case you can’t tell. Knitted-on i-cord. I used no pattern. I did not write down what I was doing, so the neck and shoulder shaping is a little funky and probably doesn’t match at all but I thought it looked pretty good all things considered. I really like the way the fabric looks. I might do a little cardigan in it.

the stripes even match!

I’m so proud... my first ever pair of socks. Boy did I feel dumb taking this picture :)

done

I finished the socks!! I wore them to my mom’s house yesterday to show them off... but I don’t have a picture of them yet, I’m sorry to report. I immediately cast on in bright fugly green sport microfiber to make Naomi a pair of socks per her color requests (orange with green trim), but I’m not sure this yarn is going to work out. It’s slippery, it keeps separating, and it’s knitting up kind of weird. We’ll see.I also did get the bib done in time for the baby naming and a photo of that is forthcoming as well.

aaaaaaarrrrggggghhhhh

So I was happily knitting along, finishing my sock.... I was down to 6 stitches on needles 1 and 3 when the pattern calls for getting down to 4 and suddenly I realized... I DID NOT DO THE DECREASES ON NEEDLE TWO. At all. I had to rip it all the way back to the beginning of the toe decreases. What a moron. I am So. Pissed. Off.