"Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage..."

Nah, not really rage-filled right now. Running around getting things done does make me feel like a rat in a cage, though. Running, running, running, and I hope to god getting a degree, but otherwise, just lots of running. There is alot of crap to get done if you need to graduate. Oh, and the application deadline is this friday! Teehee! I have an appointment this thursday, but I may sit around on wednesday just in case. We'll see. I got a psych minor and who knew that would equal more paperwork? I should have known.

Anyways, this is a knitting blog, no? On to knitting!

I'm so pleased! I took a chunk of time this weekend and worked on the graduation dress. The front and back halves are blocked, and I sewed them together. It fits! It fits like a glove! Whew! I can do this whole gauge thing. Perhaps a vogue pattern is not the best place to learn gauge, but it worked! My modifications worked! I changed their shaping and number of stitches to cast on so that it would fit my measurements and not their fictional woman sized 34-26-34. I'm sorry, I don't wear a corset, and my waist isn't 8 inches smaller than my rib cage. I finished the neckline inserts and sewed them in as well, so all that remains on the dress is the sleeves and the bottom panels.

The other major change I did to the dress was I changed the length of the main skirt panel, which was only supposed to be 8 inches long. Umm. If I had knit that to size, the panel would have barely covered my crotch. I realize that there's supposed to be a lace insert and another panel to make it longer, but still. My height is all in my legs. With those panels, the current dress size will come down to my knees. The new panel length after blocking is about 14 inches from the waist, which starts at the bellybutton and goes down to mid-thigh. Yeah. I don't think shorter would have been better in this case. Atleast not for the version of this dress that I would wear in public.

In other knitting news, I picked up a project that had been in hibernation, the hourglass jacket. I really enjoy it, because it's a totally different style of crochet. Yes, I'm bicraftual. I haven't knit with cotton enough to form an opinion about it and knitting, however I do quite like crochetting with cotton. I'm making it out of lyndon hill, a yarn by plymouth that's 85% cotton, 15% silk. It has this delicate halo, that I don't think will fluff out any more than what you see in the skein.

I love the delicate pink color that I'm working with, however, if I were to pick up another project with it, I'd go for that fruit punch red. It's gorgeous. I saw it in another yarn store, and it's delicious. I'd already bought the yarn to make the jacket at the time I saw the other yarn, otherwise I would have picked it up. I've finished the top parts of the back and fronts, and now I'm at the part in the pattern where you start crochetting like a top-down raglan. It's a really neat construction that mimicks top-down raglan construction, so you can try on the body, atleast, to see how well it fits you before you move on to the next part. The way you do the crochet is really different, too.

It's a bit unwieldy to work with a US size 19/35mm needle, but it does go fast. Well, it goes fast once you get the hang of how to make the stitches. If you're tired of traditional crochet and tc, dc, sc, ect, then try this jacket. The sizing has a great range, it's a fast project, and it makes a light fabric that's great for a summer cardigan to ward off chills. I chose to use a fingering weight yarn to make a lighter fabric, you can choose to make it in heavier yarn if you want a more substantial jacket. To give you an idea of how fast it goes, I completed the front parts that you attach to the back in 1 day. Now I have a few rows of broomstick lace before I start the waist shaping.

Otherwise, that's my knitting. I've cast on the acorn inserts for the sleeves - I'll only be making the vogue dress sleeves from the inserts on up to the sleeve cap, and the sleeve cap will be just that. Really short. I'm not worried about running out of yarn, I don't want to make a dress that will be too warm. I'm thinking of adding a final edging at the bottom of the dress just to tie it all together, but I'm not sure yet. We'll see how I feel about it once I get the sleeves on the dress. Happy knitting folks!

Sock it to me

Actually, before I get to the knitting news, I just want to put out this apology to anyone who's tried out the xsmall size of the swirl skirt pattern. There's a typo in rows 6, 8, and 10 of the pattern. It should read as follows:

Row 6: *[YO,K1] 3 times, k2tog, K7* repeat 7 times more. There is a total of 8 repeats of this pattern per round.

Row 7: *K12, K2tog* repeat 8 times.

Row 8: *[YO,K1,] 3 times, k2tog, K8* repeat 8 times.

Row 9: *K13, K2tog* repeat 8 times

Row 10: *[YO, K1] 3 times, k2tog, K9* repeat 8 times.

Row 11: *K14, K2tog* repeat 8 times.

The extra small version is the one that has a 96 st cast on. If you've started that version, and couldn't figure out why it was off, this is why. I'm sorry. Hopefully, this will catch all the mistakes and such.

In other knitting news, I've caught a little knitting ADD. I finally finished panel 2 of the front the graduation dress. I've put the front and back halves together as I made them, so to speak. I made the waistband and picked up stitches for the bodice and panel 2. That way, I had less seaming to do once I was done with knitting a part of the dress. After the ocean waves cardigan fiasco, I'm going to block these halves of the dress and put it together to check the fit. If it doesn't, then I'll have time to reknit one part or another as needed. Hopefully, I should get that done this weekend.

Since I finished knitting that panel thursday night, I had a terrible realization. I didn't have that many on-going projects. There's the design I'm creating, but that's most decidedly not mindless knitting. I bound off the cuff of the boyfriend's practice sock part 2, and followed that with the toe of the second sock. I had a sudden realization, however, that I've never made socks for myself. So, I cast on the "Falling in Love" socks by Anni Designs, that was on the MagKnits website. That website, sadly, isn't functional anymore. It's a neat little design with a heart lace panel bordered by cables. I've done cables before, but I'm not very good at it.

I just heard the derisive laugh from my friends on ravelry.

Fine, I can do cables decently well, but they're not easy for me at all. We shall not speak of how many times I dropped the cabled stitches, and leave it at that.

So, I've got enough sock to cover the toe of my foot, and wow! I finally understand what the fuss is all about with the hand made socks. I'm making it out of that new yarn by Deborah Norville. It's 50% superwash wool, 25% rayon from bamboo, and 25% nylon. I love it, and the price is amazingly reasonable. It's a new yarn that's being carried by the larger Joann's craft stores.

Last, but certainly not least, is the wings of a dream shawl. I've gotten a couple of more rows done. I'm really curious to see how it will turn out, since I modified the pattern quite a bit.

Last, but not least, I've got a couple of shawl pins done. I should get a couple of shop updates in tomorrow. Happy knitting!

RIP: Eulogy for Ocean Waves Cardigan

It's official.

I'm putting this project to rest, mostly because I'm just that mad at it. I frogged the offending panel, but that wasn't enough to abate my fury. I still want to knit only top-down raglan cardigans. I'm crazy enough to take an oath only to knit raglan constructed cardigans. I'm open minded enough to consider bottom up, knit-in-one piece cardigan. They're teaching a class on it at TNNA's summer show. I'm planning on taking it, and I have EZ's book on knitting in the round.

I'm just not pleased with what happens when I knit pieces that require seaming. You'd think I wouldn't mind seaming, because I learned to sew before I learned how to knit, but no. At least with sewing, I can just re-cut a piece if it doesn't fit well. The idea of cutting my knit fabric just makes me sick! Reshaping a knit piece takes 15 hours not 15 minutes, like it does with sewing. Bleh!

So, I'm officially putting the ocean waves cardigan to rest. Rest assured however, the argosy yarn is going into another project that's staying under wraps for now. For those of you that know me, I've got some designing ambitions, and there's some deadlines that I want to meet. That's right, it made me so mad that I said screw it, and I'm coming up with my own design. I've been taking meticulous line-by-line notes, and it's going pretty well. Here's hoping it works!

And no, I'm not just working on 2 projects. The wings of a dream shawl has a whopping.. uh, 3 rows on it? Heheheh. I don't really count projects as started until they hit several inches long. 3 rows just looks like ... well... not much at all. On the upside, I'm only one lace repeat away from finishing the front panel on the graduation dress! Speaking of that, I should be working on graduating! Aka studying. Rest in peace, ocean waves cardi.

Busy as a bee

Well, sort of. After the insanity of finals week, we went to visit the boyfriend's parents. This resulted in lots of knitting time, luckily for me. I needed it. Thanks to the help of a fellow raveller, I was able to pick up the graduation dress without a math induced headache. She's challenged me to a friendly competition, and holy crap, she's already kicking my ass. She started the dress 2 weeks ago, and she's got more done than me already! She has everything but the lower half of the sleeves done on the upper half of the dress. She's already 3 inches into the skirt of the dress. Have I mentioned she's knitting it in the round?

It's a great challenge, because I started a new project out of anger against the dress. I've started the shaker cardigan from Rowan 25 and the Treasury of Rowan Knits book. I really should look through my own pattern books more often, I'd forgotten that I'd wanted to make the cardigan in the first place. I'd gotten some gorgeous silk/cashmere yarn (55/45) in a trade from a friend. It's argosy yarns, haiku 2 ply in their La Haina colorway. It's this gorgeous varigated blue that looks good on both sides of the fabric. Let me show you.




Can't tell which one is the right side or wrong side without having to look for the purl bumps. The first one is the right side. I'm debating making the cardigan reversible, it's just so darn pretty. I started it because I wanted to make something where I wasn't doing drastic changes to the pattern. Okay, okay, I made some changes to the pattern. I added the ribbing, and I'm doing it all in one needle size, 2.5mm. But those are all the changes I'm making, I swear! Except, I might make it 3/4th sleeve if I don't have enough yarn. If my usual lace yarn karma holds out, though, I'll have leftovers.

As you can see, the cardigan has distracted me from my graduation dress. So far, I have the front done.



I've made it so that I don't have as many ends to weave in, by incorporating the ends into the knitting. I like it, because there's less seams to sew and less ends to deal with later. I've started on panel 2 of the back.



I'm nearly at the 8 inches length required, so I pinned the back of the dress to the shoulder of my shirt to test the length. 8 inches barely covers my ass, so it looks like I'll be adding a bit of length. I know there's a second ruffle, but I don't trust ruffles. One good breeze and you're flashing the world.

As for other goodies, my goal this week is to get the etsy shop up and running. Expect to see more links because of it.

Baby got back!

Soccer + Martial Arts = Butt Muscles

Which I forgot that I had. The largest measurement of my ass is 37 inches. I'm rather pleased by this number, since it makes a great hip to waist ratio. It also explains why I don't fit size 2 jeans anymore. Or size 4 for that matter. I think I'm okay with this.

The reason I'm suddenly obsessed with measurements is that I took my measurements today. Why bother? Because I really want to make a knitted lace dress by Vogue Knitting. And, as anyone who's ever made a Vogue pattern knows, Vogue does NOT use real people's measurements. Seriously? Who has a 26 inch waist and a 34 inch chest? NOT me. I've sewn Vogue patterns before, I should know better.

So, I took my measurements, and I'm throwing Vogue's measurements OUT the window. Thankfully, the majority of the background on this pattern is stockinette stitch, so it's easy to do increases and decreases and maintain the lace pattern. I don't have that much changing between my waistline and my bustline: about an 1.5 inch increase, or only 6 stitches to increase for 34 rows. For the back bodice, I'm doing 2 sts increased every 10 rows. I think that's right.

I am a little worried how well my chest will fit, since there is a 2 inch difference between my bust and bustline. I'm going to try increasing 2 sts every 3 rows, for 34 rows, which should give me more room in the bust. Thankfully, I'll be meeting with Joy later, who is much better at understanding this gauge and size thing than I am. It's not scary math, but it is alot of algebra. Oh, for those that care, my gauge is 5.5 sts by 7.5 sts per inch. It's been pretty consistent.

As for the yarn, I love Zephyr. I'm using the 2/18 laceweight doubled, and it has forgiven me every time I've frogged the bodice. At this point that's atleast 4 times. Yeah. So the yarn was totally a worthwhile investment. All it's done so far is gained a tiny bit of halo. Hopefully, this will be the last time I need to frog it.

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may"

Old time is still a flyin'.
For that same flower which blooms today,
Tomorrow may be dying.
-Herrick, Robert "To the Virgins, to make much of Time."

Yay! Today, I woke up and there was no pain in my left hand. Curling it was a little stiff, but no shooting pains. Much love to yoel for her cat sweater project which cheered me up. I crafted maybe a whole hour yesterday, and took it very easy on my left hand. By crafting, I mean I bound off on the front waistband of the vogue dress, and started on a crochet rose. It's loosely based off of A Rose By Any Other Yarn. By loosely, I mean inspired to think with yarn in 3D. I constantly forget that I am way better at crochet than knitting. The woman who taught me how to crochet taught me how to look at an object and determine how it was made - aka patternless crafting. I forget that I have that skill alot.

So, the "gather ye rosebuds" flower was born - or the Georgia O'Keefe rose. Once you see it assembled, you'll understand the reference. I didn't intend for the center of the bud to look so... well, similar to certain parts of female anatomy. Humor aside, it's a lovely reminder to take things easy. Aging sucks, my joints hate me, and I haven't hit thirty yet. It's to remind me that beautiful things bloom over time, and if I want to keep these skills, I have to work within my limitations. And probably pick up a regular exercise regime, that includes more than walking a mile around campus.

I haven't decided whether or not I will write the pattern for the rose. It's interesting to see it shape up to resemble our more modern rose, the hybrid tea rose. It's why I'm making up the pattern as I go along - the old Irish crocheted roses don't look like roses to me. When I thought about it, though, I realized that it wasn't modeled after the tea rose at all. The pointed bud shape of the tea rose is the product of much more modern breeding that only came about within the last century or so. The Irish rose was most likely modeled after the older varieties, like the floribunda. Actually, now that I've looked at one, I definitely see the resemblance. It makes sense, since the floribunda is a much hardier rose than the tea rose, and would have been much more common two centuries ago.

As for the rest of my projects, I think I bit off far more than I could chew with the f'ing deer socks. Colorwork and patternless socks? Ooops. The nail in the coffin was having him try on the first finished sock. Well, he tried to get it on, to no success. There simply wasn't enough stretch in the colorwork to fit his heel. I was sort of dreading making the color on the second sock anyways. Now that I know it doesn't fit, I think I might make a pair of normal socks first, before going back to these socks. The deer will have to be saved for another special occasion.

That, and I want to do reinforced heels on his socks. I don't learn, do I? Hmm, let's see - let's try a technique I've never done before in a pattern I've never done before. To make it more interesting, let's try it in fingering weight yarn! On magic loop! Brilliant! Sounds like fun to me. I needed to stop by a craft store today anyways.