Hey, baby, it's the Fourth of July!

It's also my mom's birthday, so Rob is making a Key lime meringue pie and we are trekking over there for a few hours to hang out. It's our house guest's last day, so we drive to LAX tonight.

I hope you all are celebrating to your satisfaction (if you're an American) or just having a great day (if you're not).

Meanwhile, some progress:


Carson's top is done and blocking. It looks far too wide, the armholes too small, and the arms distorted, but we'll see what happens when she puts it on — sometimes these things are deceptive. If it doesn't fit, I'll either fix it or make her another. The nice thing about making things yourself is you can change them, too.

When I finished the Kraftie socks, I immediately had to start another pair of socks. I don't know why, I'm just in one of those moods where I have to have some socks on the needles. I decided to do Conwy correctly this time, and picked a simple brown yarn (these will be work socks), Lang Jawoll Color. This is one of those yarns that comes with reinforcing thread — my first time using such a thing. I used it on the heel flap and turn, but I think I'll stop now (on the gussets) so I don't get extra bulk at the front of the sock. Ideally I would have it reinforced on the bottom of the heel too, but the heel turn is always the worst part so I should be okay. I might reinforce the toes too; there is enough thread. This yarn is really fabulous to knit with, soft and supple, even if it doesn't look exciting:


Sorry it's blurry. I am the queen of camera-shake. Kind of like being the queen of maracas, but less musical.

You are the proud mother of... fraternal twins!

These guys are seriously fraternal:


And I don't mind a bit. I love them. They are absolutely gorgeous. I was feeling a little badly that I hadn't made a shoulder shawl with this lovely yarn, but the honest truth is that I won't use a small shawl (there's not enough yarn for a big one), and I will use and enjoy the hell out of these socks. They are beeeeeyewtiful. I don't know which one I like best. I like them both best.

There's quite a lot of yarn left — actually about 30g:



My friend Yvonne (who's visiting from Australia) suggested I make a third sock and see how it comes out... I nearly have enough for that. (But not quite; I used 85g for these two.)

Inching along...

Making progress! We have a house guest and I have been on the tired side, but things are coming along:



I don't know about these sleeves. I got them to at least approach fitting, but they don't seem to fit in very gracefully (see the lilt up to the right on that sleeve?). To be fair, I did opt to do the garter stitch edge rather than the specified rolled stockinette, which probably makes more of a flare.

I'll finish up and we'll see how it fits Carson. I can always redo the sleeves if I need to. Though I'm going to be pretty close to out of yarn when I'm done with this. Her birthday is the 10th of July so I need to be speedy!

Finished the first of the socks with Kraftie's great handspun:

Is that not gorgeous? Her handspun is amazing, so even and lovely and soft. It's a pleasure to knit with. I still feel so honored to be using it. The sock fits like a dream and is very soft. Merino-tencel is a great combination. THANKS Kraftie!

Soooo close!

Took that photo this morning. Wove the ends in this afternoon. All that's left is to sew on the frogs... I've tried once and will have to rip it out and try again. May take me a few days. I think it'll be the most irritating part.

The exciting part: this cardigan fits me better than any sweater I've made myself yet. Whoop! However, I'm afraid to wash it; I think it will GROW. Alpaca-tencel, not much memory... So for now, I'll wear it as is.



Meanwhile the sock continues beautiful. I realized I'm not exactly doing Conwy; I'm screwing up the twisted baby cable. I always get confused when they say "knit into the back loop of the second stitch" — do you go around the first stitch, or insert between the first and second? I did the latter, and I think it's wrong. I don't get the braided effect, this way. But I don't really mind; it's still very pretty and suits this gorgeous yarn well.

Socky.

I'm really liking how Kraftie's handspun knits up in Conwy. Even if, as seems likely from this photo, my two socks are going to be very different from each other. I could do something about this (e.g. knit alternately on two socks, or rewind the yarn), but I kind of like the unexpected and I have no problem with "unmatchy" socks. I'm ready to accept what the universe gives me, handspun sock-wise.

I don't have any other knitting to show you, though I'd better finish SOMETHING soon because I'm itching to cast on "Hey Teach" in some dishcloth cotton I have exploding out of the stash. So here's some garden stuff instead.

I mostly garden in pots these days. I decided to try planting up some pots with more than one kind of plant, you know, like they show in gardening magazines. This is my first attempt, two months in. I'm pretty pleased, though I expected the black grass hiding on the left to grow a bit more. But, yay, the creeper crept!:



Many things are blooming in my garden at the moment. There have been roses:

Gardenia and startlingly orange hibiscus:



And one absolutely stunning epiphyllum:

Not quite.

Well, I tried again on the sleeve, adding four extra rows, but it's still not quite right. And then I suddenly realized why it wasn't right.



There are three reasons, and they have nothing to do with the pattern!

One, I am not getting row gauge. I knew this, but let myself forget how it might affect the sleeves. I am getting many more rows per inch than specified (even though this is Sublime yarn and a Sublime pattern and all that). I adjusted the main body of the garment, but not the sleeves.

Two, I forgot and used the wrong size needles on the whole sleeve. I used size US#3 for the garter stitch and then forgot to swap back to #5s.

Three, I get tighter gauge in the round, so I should be using #4s and #6s.

I mean, ya know. Like. Duh.

I have started again (actually started again twice — first time I accidentally started with #6s and switched to #4s. WHERE IS MY BRAIN?).

In another batch of not-quiteism, I think I mentioned I was working on the socks with Ashley's handspun when I realized two things (I'm into counting today):

One, 80 stitches was way too much. Even with #0 needles my gauge ain't that high.
Two, this boring ol' rib wasn't doing Ashley's lovely handspun justice.

I mean, if you're going to knit with handspun it should be special. So I pored through my books and have cast on for Nancy Bush's "Conwy."



I think this is going to be better.

Something is wrong here.

And it's not just me. I swear it isn't. I've read the pattern a bazillion times.

I knitted up the front of Carson's Honesty T, and seamed the sides...

Check it out. There is something wrong with the arm. This sleeve just CANNOT fit into this sleevehole (and yes, according to the instructions the sleeve is ready for cast-off).



This pattern is from one of the Sublime booklets (#611 I think), and there are no errata for that particular booklet, -- but I don't have the pattern in that booklet. I have it in a booklet called “Knitting Brings You… Kids Knits April 2008." I'm thinking possibly this booklet repro has a missing bit of the pattern. I looked on Ravelry, and three people there have knit the sleeved version of this top, and I emailed all of them to ask. But I think I can easily fake it if I can't find a correction.

Yesterday I finished my intentionally-fraternal green socks from the yarn April sent me. They are possibly my best-fitting socks EVAH and I am in love.



I love the color, the fit, and how well they go with my pajamas.



I was irked enough by the problem with Honesty that I cast on a new pair of socks right away, rather than waiting until I finished 2 projects, breaking my own rule yet again. But this is Kraftie's merino-tencel handspun, and it is SO beautiful. She sent it to me in September 2007 and it's taken me a while to be ready to cast on. It's 80 stitches on #0 needles; I started with 2x2 rib and have just broken out the 4x4...

Ahh. I feel better.

I got distracted :-)

I know — what's new? I cast on again. But I've still only got 14 projects on the needles (down from what, 16 before?) so I think that's okay. Just no going UP!

I had an excuse, or so I thought. Carson's (that's my niece) birthday is coming up on July 10, and her party'll be on the 11th, and I go in for yep, more sinus surgery on July 13th. So I really have to finish her now-traditional summer T-shirt on time. She's turning 4, and I thought a slightly more 'grown-up' shirt would be fun, so I'm knitting Honesty (Ravelry link) by Sublime. Instead of the plain cotton DK, I'm using Sublime's Soya Cotton DK (50% soy/50% cotton). It's a little sheenier, and a little softer, and drapes beautifully. And of course, in deference to a little girl's favorite color, it is purple:

Why do I say "so I thought" I had an excuse? Well, I knit the entire back in just a few days. So obviously I don't need an entire month to knit this little shirt :-)

By the way, I won that beautiful little yarn holder from Knitters for Knockers this year. It's made by Elizabeth Hsu, and if you like it, check out her Etsy shop.

I know, I should be seaming up the Khaki Cables. I had a little setback on that - I seamed up an arm, pulled the seam to stretch it to make sure I hadn't seamed too tightly, and broke the seaming yarn in two places. You know how it is — that made me grumpy with it and I have let it marinate for a week now. Don't worry — it will get done. I have too many other things I want to cast on!

Two of the things on my needles are probably going to be frogged. The fuzzy pink baby cardigan in the bright pink Star yarn was for a baby born about a year and a half ago, now — and I have just always hated the project. Rosminah asked me for a pair of boy shorts and this is perfect yarn for it. As soon as she sends me her measurements I'll frog the cardi and start the shorts. And those Sockotta socks for my mom have long been replaced by a pair I finally finished for her in Fixation. I don't really like how they're going as cuffed socks and I think I'll start over and just make some normal socks. I do want to try out the Sockotta — and maybe I'll try it out for me. I'm so greedy ;-)

Looks nearly done, but...

Sadly, they ain't. I figured out — right when I was adding up stitches for the toes — that I had missed one decrease on the gussets, so I have two more stitches in the body of the foot than the first sock. That's enough that I'll notice it and it'll bug me when wearing them, so I am going to frog back to the end of the gusset. No real worries, though — foot bodies go fast.

I don't really hate frogging that much, honestly. There's always the moment when it hits that I'll have to frog, and then — usually — I take a deep breath and go do it, and it doesn't feel so bad when it's over. I really am a process knitter. (But it's hard not to be overdramatic about frogging on the blog!)

On the other hand, I'm lazy, too, as you'll see below...

I'm getting close on the Khaki Cables cardi! I'm really excited about this, the more so because I just tried it on (with the help of some clips on the uncompleted seams) and it looks like it is going to fit. Going to have to be careful about blocking it (and washing it in future), though, because I suspect it is likely to grow (alpaca-tencel). I might steam-block it for now.

There are a number of booboos involved here. Some are mine, some are the pattern's. For example, the ribbing doesn't match up at ANY of the seams — I'll show you in a couple of days — and honestly, it's not that hard to get it right; I don't know why the pattern writer missed this, unless she calculated it for her size and didn't compensate for the other sizes. I didn't notice (wasn't really thinking about it) until I'd finished the back, one sleeve and one side, so there was no way I was going to go back and fix it. That's the pattern's fault.

Then there's the fact that the first front panel I knit has one fewer rows of ribbing than the rest of the sweater. That would be my fault. Guess what, I am not going to fix it! I actually realized it when I was halfway through the second front panel, at which point I was too eager to finish the darn thing (that was the last panel) to care. I figure I'll block it to be a little longer and no one will notice unless they look closely.

One step forward, two steps back...

I'm sure I've used that as a blog post title before!

I got some nasty virus on top of my long-running bacterial infection this week, so I was home and just FLAT for three days — barely touched the computer (I know, shocking!). But yesterday afternoon I felt a bit better, well enough to finally knit, and I pulled out my old Khaki Cables project, which has been stalled for too long. I really need to free up some size 5 needles, and this puppy is.. er, WAS .. so close to done... just needed to finish up the right front, seam, and knit the button band.

The hardest part of finishing this darned thing has been figuring out where I was and how many rows I needed to knit. I had done a poor job of keeping track of my hatchmarks (my oh-so-sophisticated method of row counting), so I wasn't sure which pile of them referred to the left front, and I had to figure it out to make the sides match. I go through about 45 minutes of thinking and figuring every time I pick the project up again. Finally I thought I knew where I was (and I was right, at least), so I picked it up and knit about 14 rows. Then I realized that somewhere along the way, I'd dropped a stitch in the long cable, so I dropped that whole 20-stitch cabling section back 11 (!) rows and reknit it with the picked-up stitch. (By the way: it is MESSY to do that.) And I continued knitting until I'd done 27 rows.

And something felt wrong.

I did a lot of counting — of sets of cables, of stitches, on both the finished and unfinished fronts. And it was indeed wrong. On the buttonband/neck edge, I was too far decreased for the distance I'd knit — by about two stitches. Doesn't sound like much, but in this very charted pattern, it was going to be brutally obvious. I knew I had to rip back, but how far?

I found all the decreases in the left front and marked them with split ring markers, then found all decreases in the right front and did the same.

Lo and behold, turns out that two rows BEFORE I was supposed to start the neckline decreases, I'd inexplicably, randomly decreased two stitches. I have no idea why. I had made no note of this.

I ripped back.

FIFTY-THREE ROWS.

Just sayin'. :-)