The Wright is Wrong

It happens again. I knit a sweater that doesn't fit. I finished knitting it last night and worked on seaming it this morning. I was so looking forward to wearing it to a family gathering this evening. I am so disappointed. I was even in a bad mood at Twist. I should be working on the other glove, but I didn't feel like it. So, I took a sock to work on, that I haven't touched in a couple of months.

Before I left this morning, I got out Cindy and measured the finished bust: 41. Wright is 50.5. How did I let this happen?! I guess I didn't do a gauge swatch. It's been long enough, I don't remember and I don't feel like looking at my notes. I need something with about a 46" finished size. grumble grumble grumble

I debated what to do. I briefly considered trying to sell it, but the cost of the yarn is probably too much and, even though the quality of the knitting is pretty good, there are a few places where you can tell where the ends were woven in. So, I guess it will be frogged. I won't make the same pattern again because I decided that I don't like it. I will now need to find another pattern. I would like that, with all the books and magazines I have, I would already have a suitable pattern, but NO . . . And I'm wondering if I don't need to knit something top down so I can try to make sure it fits!!!

I did some therapy shopping, thinking I would find another blouse or top so that I can wear something new tonight. I didn't. I did, however, find several pieces of clothing for work.

Tam

I watched a new Christmas movie yesterday. It was called Snowglobe. One of the characters in this movie was wearing the cutest hat. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to make one. It looked sort of like the picture above, but not completely. On the next commercial break, I went to the computer to do a search for a pattern like the one I saw. I'm still trying to find it. Did you see the movie? It was Marie, the girlfriend of Douglas, in the snowglobe.

Gloves

L and S called me Gwen Needle Hand. What's up wit that? The abuse I take because of my Craft. I'm tellin ya! L took this picture and you can see where the focus was. On the many needles. The glove does have a cuff. This was taken a few days ago. I'm now on the index finger and will only have the thumb left. Then I can start the second one. Oh goody!

Finished Scarf

I have finished the Flying Geese scarf that will be a gift for a Pennsylvania man. It's about 48" long. I'm not sure how long a man's scarf should be, so I hope it's alright. I may never know.

Now, I can get back to the black gloves, which are the third and last Christmas gift I'm knitting this year. I have some things for myself to get back to.

Flying Geese Scarf

Here is the Flying Geese scarf at 19". That's about 40%. It's going so slowly. I never knew how boring scarves are. I'd rather be knitting 16" of stockinette on the Wright sweater. I did take a break this evening and worked on a black glove. I can't wait until I can get back to working on a sweater for myself again. I found yet another sweater pattern that I want to make. It's called Fifi and it's practically perfect.

Next Scarf

This picture is kind of dark. When I used the flash, it produced a big shiny spot. This is the beginning of the next scarf. It's a flying geese knit and purl pattern from Vogue Knitting. The yarn is Berroco Comfort.

Finished Scarf

I'm happy to say I finished this scarf ahead of schedule. I was hoping for the Sunday after Thanksgiving and I actually finished it the day before Thanksgiving.

It seemed to turn out well. I believe I fixed all mistakes right after they happened. I even blocked it like suggested, because it's wool. I planned three stitches of garter on each side for the whole length, hoping that would keep it from curling. It didn't. The blocking helped the curling quite a bit, but not totally.

Here's a closeup of the open leaves lace pattern that I got out of a Vogue Knitting book. The next scarf will be smaller and will have a knit and purl pattern, not lace.

Cute Hat

I got my Knit Picks catalog today. They're selling the pattern for this Classic Cloche hat. I really like it and I want to make it. I probably won't have a ribbon around mine, though.

I was finally able to go to Thursday night SNB at Twist last night. I made some good progress on the gift scarf. I'm at 29" now. That's almost halfway!

Christmas Scarf

Here is scarf I'm knitting as a Christmas present at 8" long. I'm using a stitch pattern from Vogue Knitting called Open Leaves. The yarn is Cascade The Heathers. Each 20-row stitch pattern repeat is 3". I'm hoping to finish it by Thanksgiving. Then I have another scarf to make and a pair of gloves to finish.

Wright

My digital camera is not working correctly, so I'm having to use my phone camera.

I'm 3 1/2" into the armhole of this pullover. I'm ready to start doing the increases.

You can view the pattern here: http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/wright/wright.html

Different

I decided to make a quiche today, since it's my favorite food and I have difficulty getting it at restaurants around here. This is broccoli, chicken, and cheddar cheese quiche.

Bolster End

One end of the bolster pillow cover is finished. The above picture is to show the color. The picture below shows the detail better, but the color is not as good. I had to use no flash in order to get the detail to show up.

I've been thinking. I would like for the cover to be removeable so it can be washed. So, I'm going to have to come up with a plan for the other end to make it removeable. In the meantime I think I'll start the Tree Jumper.

Inspiration

This marvelous sweater is being worn by a co-worker of mine. She got it at some trendy store in northeast Wichita. The second I saw it, I wanted to make it. She graciously let me take pictures of it so I can try to create the pattern. Actually, I don't think it would look so good on me (without some adjustments) but it made me think of some of my knitterly friends. ;)

Pillow Cover Progress

I've been trying to focus on working on only one project at a time. We'll see how long that lasts. Here is the progress on the pillow cover. It's getting a little boring, but it shouldn't take too much longer and then I can do the ends.

Catch Up

It's Saturday and Cooper wouldn't let me nap, so I took pictures of my WIPs.

Wright pullover pattern from Berroco in Berroco Love It yarn in a beet color.

I'm making the bolster pillow cover (the lower one on the right). This pattern is in the Fall 2007 Knitting Universe Knitter's magazine. I'm using Berroco Comfort in two shades of green.


Cookie's Hedera sock pattern. The progress on this project has been very slow.

I'm making some black gloves for my supe for Christmas.

Queen of Cups socks with Opal yarn. I like working with the Opal and it has been going smoothly. However, I had to put this project on hold in order to finish the Halloween cardigan. Now that I got a fresh taste of finishing something, I want to do it again, so have been working on the pillow cover. It could be the fastest project I have going. But, I bought a new pattern today . . .

Finished Halloween Cardigan

Here it is, the finished Halloween cardigan. It's a little snug, but wearable. It hasn't been blocked yet.

That's some weird kind of moon shape, isn't it?

I'm sure glad this is done!

One Sleeve On

The pumpkin sleeve is sewed on.

Next is weaving in the candy corn ends.

I'm beginning to think this is yet another sweater that is too small for me. I guess I don't realize how big I really am. Maybe I'll make another one - in the right size . . .

Halloween Checkerboard

It's not perfect. Oh, well, maybe no one will notice.

Finishing weaving in ends is next.

I'd rather be working on the Wright sweater or the bolster pillow cover or a pair of socks.

I ordered the Rusted Root pattern from Zephyr Style because I saw one finished today at my LYS, Twist. (Some day I'll put that button on my blog.) I thought I was supposed to get an email about how to download the pattern, but I haven't yet. Maybe that's what my white yarn wants to be.

Took Cooper for a drive in my car this evening. She puked - a lot. I won't post a picture of that.

Halloween Upate

I can't believe it's been since last October that I posted any pictures of the Halloween cardigan! So, here it is with all the pieces finished.

The sleeve with pumpkins will be on the left.

The right, candy corn sleeve.

Now, I just have to weave in some loose ends. I suppose I SHOULD block it, since it's cotton and wool Cotton Fleece. I've never really understood Blocking, but I've tried it a few times just because I thought I was supposed to. It's never seemed to help. I'm open to suggestions.

Love to . . .

bead about knitting.

I just finished this bracelet.

Now, maybe I should get back to my knitting.

Hedera

I worked on my Wright sweater a little bit today, but I also bought yarn to begin a pair of socks. The yarn is Lang Jawoll in Black. The pattern is Hedera from Knitty. I'm using size 1 dpn.

I should be working on the candy corn sleeve. I got some rows done on it and then I decided to make a change, so I'm at the point of needing to start over. I just don't want to!

In addition to the Wright sweater, I've also started a simple sleeveless top in white cotton.

I recently became frustrated with the heel on the second sock of my first pair of toe-ups. I bagged it all up and put it away, planning to frog both of them and do something different. At this point, I never want to do a toe-up sock again.

The Wright Sweater

Okay, so I didn't follow through on the small socks. I wasn't pleased with how the first one turned out. I didn't really want to make another sock that I didn't like just to match the first one. I could have made the second sock fit better, but then I would have had to make a third one. And the little guy went back home to California. It was just too much pressure.
So, I started a new project.

Here is the link: http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/wright/wright.html

I'm using Love It yarn from Berroco, purchased at Twist www.twistyarnshop.com and so far it's living up to it's name! The color name is Borscht. I think it has something to do with beets.

I didn't knit a swatch for this project. I blame The Yarn Harlot for that. I'm doing this one intuitively. I'm hopeful for a better fit this time.

Small Socks

I wasn't going to do it, but I gave in and said I would make Gabe a pair of socks. How could I resist? Every time I worked on my own socks, he would ask if they were his. So now I'm working feverishly because he leaves Sunday night to go back home to California. I'd at least like to get one done before he goes, so I can be sure of the size. Then I can use my notes to make the second one.

Finished Monkeys

Yippee yay yay I finished my first pair of Monkey socks! Gonna wear 'em to work tomorrow. May even walk in with my pants rolled up so everyone can admire them.

Tulip Brigade

I recently discovered this pattern, designed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It occurred to me that a bunch of the KIPsters could make these socks and wear them when Stephanie visits Wichita. I can see it now, all of us gathered together in the midst of the other 300 people there to see the Yarn Harlot. Oh, but how will she know we're wearing her socks? I guess we'll all have to synchronously stand on our heads and wiggle our feet. But, then the tulips would be upside down . . .

In other news, I'm about halfway done with my second Monkey sock. I haven't been able to take any pictures all week because my camera has been traveling in California. She returns today.

When I finish this Monkey sock, I will continue working on the toe-up socks I started for the local sock class recently. The colorway doesn't seem to have a name, just a number, 5440, or something like that. I call it Strawberry Parfait. I don't know what I'm going to wear them with.

I recently purchased a pair of pants to go with the Monkey socks. I'm not sure what the actual color of them is, but I call them dark khaki. They don't exactly match the brown in the sock yarn, but I think it'll work. I looked through all of my blue tops and found one that I think matches best. I call it periwinkle, but others call it purple. So, we'll see how this non-matching outfit works.

Standing

I took this picture of Cooper this evening, so you can see how big she's getting. I had to put a puppy snack on the counter to get her to stay up there long enough for me to snap the shot.

Counting the Days

I worked a little bit on the Jack-O-Lantern sleeve of the Halloween cardigan yesterday. I have 88 days to finish it before October. I need to finish this first sleeve, design and knit the Candy Corn sleeve, add the front button bands, sew the seams, and figure out how to put the ruffle where I want it. I may have to work on this every day in order to get in done in time. Why did I procrastinate?!

Plus, I've found a Halloween socks pattern that I want to make really badly. I'm going to have to re-chart it, though, in order to use the type of yarn I want.

Monkey Sock

This is my first Monkey Sock, at the end of the heel flap. I've actually finished the heel since I took this picture. It's going very easily and I can believe Lia when she says they're addictive.

Cindy is Finished

She's actually been finished for a few weeks now. She's a little too snug for me to feel comfortable wearing her. Another knitter expressed interesting in purchasing her from me, but she turned out a little too snug for her, too. So, I guess I'll have to use her as an incentive to lose some weight. I am pleased with how she turned out. The quality seems a little better than some of my other tops.

First Toe-up Sock

This is my first toe-up sock. I tried it on to see if I can stop making increases. I'm still not sure.

Felted Bag

This is the bag before felting. I didn't make it as long as the pattern suggested. Not only was I tired of working on it, I just decided I didn't want it that tall.

After I felted the bag, I laid it flat as suggested. Then I decided the inside wasn't drying fast enough, so I placed it over the tray stand.

It didn't shrink vertically as much as I thought.