Friday, December 28, 2007

Ready to cruise into the new year!

I am really quite, quite ready for 2008. Despite the many things left unfinished in 2007.

One thing is finished:



Carson's holiday T, really more of a 3/4 sleeve sweatshirt (if there is such a thing). It's hard to capture the colors — so lovely and rainbow-y. I tried slightly different camera settings here but I don't think either conveys it.

I totally forgot that I was going to do the sleeves in reverse stockinette — I'm a little disappointed about that, enough that I might actually find a place still selling this color of Katia Irina and make another top for her in it when she's a little older. The reverse is really pretty. But I'm pleased with the top, and I hope it fits.

I don't have much else to share. I've been baking, but nothing so gorgeous as last year's cookies, and I made mazapán, and we've been socializing and running a million errands and generally trying to get caught up on our life. Not there yet :-) but what's new? I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, whichever one (or none) catches your fancy, and that each and every one of you has a superfantastic 2008. Because it's time.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Measure once, knit twice...

And I do know better. But, gosh darn it. Here's what happened. First I thought I was going to make another baby T-shirt out of the white Irina yarn. But then I realized I had quite a bit of that yarn — enough to make a 3/4-sleeve tee for Carson, who is a good size 3T now. And it seemed a shame not to use all of it. So I decided to do that instead. Except I'd sketched out the baby tee on my pad, and when I actually worked the math of how many stitches to cast on, I accidentally looked down at my pad, and worked it for 18.5".

Argh. It was perfect, too — and I didn't realize I'd screwed up until I was this far. Foolishly, I kept thinking, "Hunh, this really looks small, but hey, I know it's Carson's size because I'm on gauge and I did the math!"



Did the math, yeah. WRONG MATH. Durrrrr.

Now I know I said this yarn won't rip, but I took a chance, since it was plain stockinette and over a skein's worth and I really have my heart set on the shirt for Carson now. I was very very careful. I think it's okay, but we'll know for sure when I knit it, because I was a wuss and started with a fresh ball.

Still, this time I like the trim (seed stitch instead of moss stitch) better than last time anyway. Incidentally I prefer this color of the Katia Irina to the previous one. I'm using US size 4 circs, by the way. And this yarn is machine wash, which is awesome. And I'm planning to do reverse stockinette sleeves, which I think will look beautiful on a raglan with a stockinette body.

(Okay, I know in the last post I said I'd knit it top down, but hey, I lied. This is easier to calculate.)

Thanks for the kind and helpful comments on the previous tee, btw. I guess I'll save it for some baby! Maybe if it marinates in the FOs for a while I'll stop seeing its flaws.

Apropos of nothing, my garden is really confused about what season it is:




(Admittedly, this plumeria is a little brown, but come on — plumeria in November? Nuts! Even in San Diego that is insane.)

Okay, warning: IF YOU ARE FREAKED OUT BY SPIDERS, DON'T SCROLL ANY FURTHER.
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I've been sick and useless this weekend (except for knitting, which had to be ripped), but tonight I got to take a photo of The Coolest Spider. I am pretty sure he's a trap door spider. He was on the march (apparently it's the males who go a-roamin'), plowing along with palps out stiffly in front of him, on our driveway — Rob found her and yelled for me. He caught him temporarily so I could take another photo. Is he gorgeous or what?



Saturday, December 01, 2007

Not all I'd hoped

At first glance, it looks cute, but there are some problems.

For one thing, I miscalculated about where the top of the shoulder should hit on the side with the button-on shoulder, so the sleeve is sort of shifted compared to the other sleeve.

For another thing, it just doesn't look even in several ways. If you eye the single-crocheted collar, you'll see the line of knitting underneath looks significantly different on the left and right sides, though I did try to do matching decreases.

And finally, what you can't see: the seams are a bit bulky for a baby (this is a problem with virtually all handknits for babies, though) plus the cloth didn't come out as soft as advertised. It is drapey, though — would make a great adult woman's top. But for a baby, next to the skin, it's OK, but not as fab as I'd hoped. That would be okay but this is a T-shirt, not a sweater, so those seams might itch.

So this is going to marinate in the FO bag for a while, and I'll think about what to do with it. This yarn is really not reusable after you rip it, so hopefully it'll be wearable.

Meanwhile, I have enough Katia Irina left for a second baby's top. I think this time I'll do a henley-buttoned, top-down raglan; that'll take care of the seam problem, and make it more actually wearable.