why I need to buy more yarn:

I need a new project, and soon.

I ought to finish Sizzle, so I can wear it this spring/summer.  But eh.  I don't wanna knit 1.5" of seed stitch on the neckline and sleeves.  Plus, I feel like I messed up when sewing up the sides, so I'll have to re-do that as well.

I messed up somewhere on attaching the border to Print O the Wave, and have a devil of a time when I attempt to tink back, let alone rip back, the edging.  This, of course, is a fairly easy fix - I just need to sit down for a few minutes and take care of 16 stitches.  

I don't want to start another Sheldon, because that's TV knitting - I need to be able to look at the pattern, count stitches and rows.  

I ran out of yarn for Urban Aran, sadly - fronts and back are complete and I'm halfway done the sleeves.  I might be able to finish ONE sleeve with the yarn I have left, but that leaves me with half a sleeve and the collar to finish and Knitpicks isn't shipping more of that particular color until the 16th.  I should consider checking Ravelry, but I think I need three more balls and that might be hard to find there.

The gloves are frustrating me - I don't know the magical formula for knitting fingers and messed up.  But ripping back and starting all over is SO ANNOYING.   That one can just go sit in time out for a while as I try to figure out the trick.

The socks I'm currently knitting in class, at the movies, while reading, are coming along very well.  However, that means that I will soon be done and ... well.  Then I need to find another boring project to work on.  But I'll also have another pair of socks.  Hrm.

I swatched for a baby blanket with shiny new metal DPNs from Knitpicks... and I'm going to blame a certain young kitten for the fact that one of those needles is missing.  No idea where it is.  I even crawled along the floor for a while, checking to see if it fell into any of the cracks in the floor.

I came home the other day to find that he had pulled 13 of my bamboo DPNs out of my knitting basket.  THIRTEEN. Luckily, I managed to find all of them - most had been batted under the rug.  Of course, I'm missing three - but I think they are back in PA - and have no idea which ones are what size, between US 1, 2, and 2.5.  Now would be a good time to buy a gauge, I suppose.

Pictures to come later, of all my projects.  You know, when I'm bored and avoiding homework this weekend.

Circular needles are not always your friend

I'm at the point where I need to do the increases for the next chart for Ryan's hat.

As you can see, the hat now fits Eeyore better than Sheldon. I'm only supposed to increase to 187 stitches, but I'm not sure that will fit Ryan's head. I've got the hat on circular needles now, but I still can't get a good idea of how well this hat is going to fit him. I'm thinking I'll increase to 204 stitches, enough for one more chart repeat, and hope that fits Ryan's head. Or I could just measure his head. Hrm...

I measured his head and checked my gauge. Gauge is 8sts/inch, his head is 23 inches. 187/8= 23.375.  So... If I follow the pattern, it should work out.  The math says it will.  Dare I trust the math?

I am HATING the circular needle I am using. It has a very NOT smooth join and I have to move every stitch over the bump. Plus, it is part of a needle kit and the tips keep unscrewing themselves from the cable which results in problems.

But, since I have circular needles for the hat, I have my dpns for Tina's other sock, which I cast on during Breakfast at Tiffany's which I watched, rather than the Eagle's game, since that game wasn't broadcast in this part of the state. NOT COOL. I figure the cuff, at least, will fit her. Right? Right.

I developed and ripped open a blister on Thursday, on my left ring finger.  Not too bad, but it healed a bit while my hand was relaxed, so stretching my hand hurts.  And also, knitting kinda hurts, since I wrap the yarn around that finger and the yarn keeps catching on the ragged bits of skin.  Ouch.

I need a bigger needle

Second, the knitting:

Hat looks like this:



Can you see the big, huge, not cool mistake? How bout now?


I'll go back and fix it with duplicate stitch or not, and see if Ryan ever notices. I'm thinking duplicate stitch.

I like the way my snowflake pattern turned out, even if it does look a bit like a cross. And Ryan's Catholic, so he won't be offended. Now, another band of the first pattern, then I have to create another snowflake pattern. Then... we see who/what it fits. The hat has gotten big enough that Sheldon's beak was one of the reasons it stayed on top of his head, but I imagine that made seeing a little difficult for him. Maybe Eeyore will be a better model next time.

And the sock, you ask?


And on my foot:


Plain, boring sock... jazzed up a bit with cat paw motifs that I keep messing up.

If it looks like a duck...

The problem with rechargeable batteries is that you need to recharge them.   My camera turns itself on when you plug it into the computer and I forget to turn it off.  Which wastes a lot of batteries.

Which I never realize til I turn my camera on and see "Change the Batteries" flash on the screen before my camera turns itself off.

I figured out the increasing for Ryan's hat.  I needed 34 stitches on each needle so I just spaced increases between three and four stitches and counted to make sure I'd have the right number.

And then I charted my very first Fair Isle pattern.  It's a snowflake, of a sort, and I don't think it obeys Fair Isle rules since I have stretches of 7-8 stitches of one color only.  But, I don't care.  It looks nice and Ryan didn't hate the pattern.

Here's Sheldon, modeling the hat. Oddly enough, the hat is still too small for a duck stuffed with PVC beads. I'd say this might be a problem, but I'm getting gauge and I have yet to finish four charts. And if it really is too small, I can just add another chart at the bottom. Or rip out a couple of charts, increase a bit more, fiddle around with charts, and so forth. It'll work.

And the sock, modeled by Sheldon:

I think it is a tad too small.  But then, he has big feet.

Ah, yes.  It fits Eeyore and he's quite a bit bigger than Sheldon.  Proof that the duck has big feet and that I'm at least somewhat crazy, since I have my stuffed animals modeling knit projects and so forth.

Perhaps bedtime is in order.