Aw, Crap

Last week I bound off the Epic Adult Surprise Jacket, and Katie decided to "try it on" like I did a couple of weeks ago. However, I've been stuck since then. Because...



I messed up.

It doesn't look "messed up" here, but I managed to miss an important detail when I was reading the pattern.



To do the edging and button band on the Adult Surprise Jacket (and the Baby Surprise Jacket), you have to pick up stitches around most of the rectangle, including several nooks and crannies. This requires negotiating several corners and trying to fit a lot of stitches on one needle.

I thought the pattern said to purl the wrong side rows. While I was working on this blog entry, I checked the Adult Surprise Jacket pattern in The Opinionated Knitter again, and I realized it said to only purl the stitches at the corners on the wrong side. If I'd followed the directions correctly, I would have had a garter stitch button band that would lie flat. I ended up with a stockinette button band that wants to curl.



At first I liked the idea of a stockinette button band. I assumed if Elizabeth Zimmermann and Meg Swansen recommended it, it must work. But now that I've finished it, seen how it curls and learned that this is not what Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swansen had in mind, I don't like it. And seeing all the neat, flat button bands on other people's sweaters on Ravelry makes me like it less.

So I decided to unravel the button band and do it again in garter stitch. Or maybe seed stitch.* I think it will be worth it.



I know I read the instructions for the bind off correctly. The pattern says to bind off in purl. I liked the look of the knit bind off on my Baby Surprise Jacket, so I tried that first.

Before I realized my mistake, I thought that the knit bind off may have been causing the curling. I undid part of the bind off and redid it in a purl bind off. They both curled anyway. You can see both bind offs in the picture above. It's hard to tell the difference.

I was glad I didn't break the yarn the first time I bound off. That left me with more options. Of course, I haven't let breaking yarn get in my way so far.



Before I finished the button band, I had to decide which buttonhole to use and how to place them. I went with the one row buttonhole.

It took some algebra to place the buttonholes. I had to account for the number of stitches I wanted at the top and bottom of the button band, the number of stitches between the buttons and the stitches used for the buttonhole itself.



I managed to avoid picking up stitches on the wrong side when I did the button band by breaking the yarn and starting to pick up stitches on the end of the row, rather than starting in the middle. It's hard to explain without pictures.

I found the trick here. It took some thinking to translate it to the Adult Surprise Jacket, since I don't have the same number of stitches

I'm going to try not to stall on the button band. It's a pain to redo the entire thing, but I've put a lot of work into this project. I don't want to see a curly button band every time I look at it. I also don't want to see it stuffed in a bag, still untouched, when it's finally cold enough to wear it.

That being said, I'm in pain. More pain. Different pain. With the bonus of more injections coming up and COBRA running out pretty soon.

And I still haven't dealt with the moths.

I need something to lift my spirits. So I'm giving myself permission to start a new project. I'll probably look for something to knit in that sweet spot of not too easy or too hard, not too long or too short and using some really nice yarn.


Parting Shot



A couple of weeks ago I had another weekend with Shiloh and her friends. I have pictures of everyone here, but I like this one of the family's new cat, Bunny, meeting Spiny. (Don't worry, the standoff ended peacefully.)


* - If you are new to this knitting thing, and want to know the difference between stockinette, garter and seed stitch, There's a good explanation here.

Is this pink?

My sister works at Starbucks, where she's become very familiar with with Tazo tea. She gets a fair amount for free. In fact, she was the one who suggested dyeing yarn with Tazo Passion Tea, a deep pink tea. I snagged a few bags from her, and yesterday I gave it a shot.

I read up a little bit before I got started, but basically I winged it. There is a little bit on tea dyeing out there, but not much on herbal tea dying.


I filled a pot with water, and when the water was almost at a boil I put in four of the Passion Tea bags. I clipped it on the side of the pot with a paperclip to make it easier to take out later.


After steeping for about ten minutes, I took out the tea bags. You can see that the color is pretty deep at this point. According to the Tazo website the main ingredient in Passion is Hibiscus, which explains the deep color. There are also rose hips and red poppy, which I imagine are red or pink, but I don't know how much they affect the color.


I added about four or five "glugs" of vinegar to the dye bath. (I think it's supposed to help the dye set.) Then I put in the yarn. I used one skein of KnitPicks Bare Merino Sock.


Here it is after "simmering" for about half an hour. It was still pretty pale, so I decided to let it sit for a while. Overnight, actually.


This is what I had when I came home from work today, nearly 24 hours after I started dying the yarn. It's pretty pale, but from this view it still looks pink.


This is the first rinse.


Here is the final rinse with some Eucalan.

Which leaves one question...


Can I call this pink at all?

When my sister recommended, she talked about a bright pink. When I made myself a cup of tea, I was expecting something not so much bright, but deep. Magenta, sort of. During the dye process, I expected baby pink. But now that it's all rinsed and done, I don't know if I can call this pink at all.

This was sort of a test skein. I was going to sell it at the Fiber Friends Festival. If I liked it, I was going to make a bunch. While this isn't bad, it's barely dyed at all. It looks almost off white. I took several shots with and without flashes to show how different the color looks in different lights. Can I even sell this as dyed yarn? I guess I could always overdye it.

I don't know if there is anything different I can do to get the tea to dye the yarn a deeper color. I could add more tea bags, but after almost 24 hours, the yarn hadn't exhausted the dye bath. Would more tea really help?

I also wonder what would happen with regular Hibiscus tea. The passion tea also has licorice, cinnamon, lemon grass, citric acid and "natural flavors." I don't know if those made a difference. The cinnamon is probably what made it a little on the brown side.

Any advice is welcome and ideas are welcome.

One of these things is not like the other...

One of these things is not like the other... What do you think, Cookie Monster?



I really thought I'd have an FO post of my Wickerware Socks tonight, but something went horribly wrong.


Somehow, I managed to do the Kitchener Stitch backwards.

The last couple of stitches always seem to be wonky when I Kitchener Stitch. So I decided to consult the TECHknitting blog for advice. I didn't find out about the last stitches, but I did find this tutorial on how to do the Kitchener Stitch without a tapestry needle. I tried it, and something went wrong.


I guess I shouldn't have tried to fix what wasn't broken. (I ended up switching to a tapestry needle halfway through anyway. It was faster with a tapestry needle, although I think this technique is good to know for when I don't have a tapestry needle.) Other than those last couple of stitches, my Kitchener Stitch is fine. The first sock was fine.

My next challenge is figuring out how to un-Kitchener Stitch. For tonight, this project goes in timeout.

Mistakes were made...

I'm going to be pretty busy today, so I scheduled this ahead of time.

Some mistakes can't be blocked out.


I was thinking that it was just a little too small, and that I could block it out. Now that it's finished, I realize I have a kid's size hat.


It's about six inches across when it's laying flat like this, before blocking. I'm wondering if this will fit one of the kids on my Christmas list. If not, I'll donate it to charity.


It's hard to tell in the picture, but the yarn bled just a little bit when I washed it. This is Cascade 220 Superwash, so I didn't have to hand wash it. I was a little surprised, but hopefully that's all the bleeding that will happen. I'm starting to learn most yarns bleed a little.


I'm blocking it on a can of iced tea mix with some washcloths over it. Other than the overall size, it's turning out pretty good.

Marjaana Moebius
After finishing and blocking Center Square, I cast on my next gift for the Ravelympics Gift Knits Pentathlon. This is the Purl Ridge Moebius from A Treasury of Magical Knitting by Cat Bordhi.


This is the Cat Bordhi's famous Moebius Cast On. in progress.


Now I'm completely cast on. (This video shows the next step.)


And here I am one round in. The moebius will grow between the two needles. It truly is "magical knitting."

Things that suck (and a few that don't)

On Friday I said I was going to take care of a few things.


more cat pictures

Yeah, that didn't happen.

Here are some things that sucked about this weekend.

Cleaning Sucks
I put the blog on hold in an attempt to try the "Jules Method" of cleaning. Jules likes to clean, and do most other unpleasant activities, all at once. I spread them out in small doses. He often says we can clean my apartment in one day if we commit to it. I say no, because that day will never come. I think I need a year. At least.

But this weekend I was going to work on my dining room. I use "dining room" loosely. It's not a room, just the corner where the kitchen and the living room meet. And I've never dined in there.

And the fact that I've never eaten there is why I want to clean it. I think I can make better use of the space, rather than just putting a fold out table in the middle and calling it a dining room. I could move the bunny cage around and store a few things. in there.

But I didn't actually do any of this.

Bunny Poop Sucks
Bunny Foo-Foo has a problem. It's called "Poopy Butt". (Or at least that's the scientific name.) It's exactly what it sounds like. And besides being gross, it's going to warrant a trip to the vet.

And I'm not even going to go into cleaning it here.

The IRS Sucks
After multiple tries, I finally got through to the IRS about the stimulus I should have received almost two months ago. If I'm lucky, I'll get a replacement check in 4-6 weeks. If I'm not lucky, they'll discover that someone else already cashed my check, I'll get papers to open an investigation in 4-6 weeks.

I had that money earmarked for the dentist and to meet my deductible, both of which I've already done. I'm debating whether to put it in savings, or pay off debt.

Heat Sucks
It's been in the triple digits all weekend. I spent a good chunk of my weekend napping in the AC. Saturday I decided to go to the pool, but it was locked. At 2 p.m. on a Saturday. What's that about?

I did go visit friends Saturday night. I swear I burned my finger typing in the entry code at the gate to their apartment.

Running Out of Yarn Sucks



Alpaca with a Twist's "Big Baby" is awesome. The Jute Rope pattern is awesome. (Scroll down.) Together, they make an awesome project when you're in a funk.

What sucks is that the two skeins I have will make for a really short scarf. And I realized this after I had knit through an entire skein. I think I'm going to frog it and start over, making it thinner this time. I considered adding a button or making a cowl, but I really like it as a scarf.

Things that Don't Suck
Now that I've spent a lot of time whining, I'm going to spend a little time on some good stuff.

The Ravelympics are awesome. (Ravelry Link)

Next weekend's Houston Yarn Crawl will be awesome.

Color Tools like the Palette Generator and Cymbolism are awesome.


In conclusion, taking a blog break in an attempt to accomplish something doesn't work.

World Wide Knit In Public Day

For the record, I did make it to the capitol on Saturday for World Wide Knit In Public Day. However, I got there late and things were winding down when I got there.

I did do some work on Kiri. The above picture is where I was when I left. The picture below is what I had when I arrived.

Basically, I frogged to my lifeline, knit two rows and realized there was still a mistake.

I did get to see Lynn in her roped shell. She substituted linen for silk, making it a good pick for summer.

I also had a refreshing snowcone made with margarita mix.

Once I determined I still had a mistake in Kiri, I decided it was time to head to the Gauge for the after party.

At Gauge I got one of the cool new shirts and had some of the matching cupcakes. (Laura is modeling both.)

Lynn helped me with Kiri, where we determined that that mistake occurred somewhere before the lifeline.

Since she has more lace experience than I do, I asked Lynn what she would do (WWLD) and she said she would use more stitch markers.

Considering I didn't have a time machine, we decided it was time to frog. Lynn helped me take another one of those 15 second videos.

In case you can't tell, the yarn breaks at the very beginning of the video. You can't see my face, but it's almost as if you can see the depair in my hands.

I decided Kiri needed to go into time out. That's when I started the Emergency Back Up Scarf.

When I got home, I decided I needed something easy, quick and knit with yummy yarn.

I used my Noro Silk Garden Chunky that I got at Wildfiber and cast on a chunky Noro Striped Scarf.

I haven't given up on Kiri, but I'm giving it some time to sit and think before I take it out of time out.

Crap!

I did it again. After spending my Saturday sorting my stuff out at the storage unit, eating dinner with my parents and catching up on things, I left my knitting bag at my family's house in South Austin.

This is the knitting bag that has pretty much all of my current projects.

D'oh!

I guess I'll be spinning until I head south Monday for The Knitting Nest.


In other news...
... my tax refund came in today. Naturally, I was thrilled because this means I can go to the dentist and have the last of my cavities filled. (Wait a minute...)

I've been thinking about my finances and goals a lot recently. I'm enjoying The Simple Dollar. I'm contemplating the piece on how much money it takes to "walk away from it all." At the very least, I want to someday have "cold career change" money.

Also, this article from The Consumerist finally helped me understand the whole rice rationing thing. It's all about restaurants. (BTW - I am one of those people who is eating out less.)

What!?

From Amy Singer (of Knitty fame):

Hi, Sally!
This one almost made it in. You're so close! We just ran out of room this issue...

Wait... that pattern was the one that almost made the cut?

The afterthought pattern? The one I'd knit months ago, and submitted to MagKnits with no response whatsoever. (To their credit, I think something must have happened to cause them not to get my submission. Wrong e-mail address? Spam filter? There has to be some reasonable explanation.) The one I whipped up a quick pattern for, took some crappy pictures of (after borrowing one of my "models" during the photo shoot for one of my serious submissions.) The one that got baffled looks from my family.

I got this e-mail this morning. When Amy replied on my other two and not this one, I don't know, I just assumed it had been rejected too. Not deemed worthy of an answer. Maybe it wasn't visible to the human eye, which was why MagKnits never responded.

Maybe if I had put more effort into it, maybe that pattern would have been the slam dunk?

*slaps forehead*

FO: Skinny Lengthwise Compromise Scarf

Once upon a time, there was a ball of dyed wool on eBay that didn't have a name. A knitter named Sally saw it and decided to buy it because she liked hand dyed yarns and because it was dirt cheap. So cheap, the shipping cost more than the yarn.

But when the ball arrived, she had no idea what to knit with it. So she set it aside.

Then, months later, the new Knitty came out with a lengthwise scarf with fingerless gloves on the ends. The pattern was called Entwined and Sally had to knit it. The yarn with no name was perfect for it.

But there was something with the pattern that didn't seem right. The gauge was awfully loose for worsted weight yarn, even with Sally's loose gauge. Sally decided a quick rewrite was in order to adjust the gauge.

So Sally did the math cast on the yarn with no name with size 6 needles. She was knitting merrily along, when something else didn't seem right. There did not look like there would be enough yarn to finish the scarf.

Sally didn't know what to do. She kept knitting hoping she was wrong, but eventually, she had to admit the truth. Knitting the scarf at a smaller gauge required more yarn than she had. And because the yarn had no name, she couldn't buy more of it.

However, the scarf was coming along quite nicely, so Sally made a decision. She bound off before making the fingerless gloves, added some fringe, and made a regular skinny scarf.

So the yarn with no name was finally knit into a project, and Sally still had another entry for the Stash and Burn One Skein Contest, as well as something to give as a Christmas gift or sell on Etsy or a at a craft show. Not tomentioned that it matched her last FO.

And what about Entwined? The pattern was happy too, because it knew it would be knit another day.

And they all knit happily ever after.

The End

(PS - It just occurred to me after I finished this entry that it has an odd resemblance to a recent blog entry by Persistent Illusion.)

Blog Bits Saturday Omissions

I thought blog bits seemed kind of short this week. Then I looked at my Google Reader and realized I'd somehow missed some good ones.

Like Wendy Knits finishing the summer of socks at 19 pairs.

And Persistent Illusion's trip to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.

Not to mention Norah Gaughan's visit to Kyarns.

FO: Foliage: Red, Version One

I titled this FO in pretty specific terms, because I suspect there will be more of these.

This is the Foliage hat from the recent Knitty. As I mentioned before, I love this pattern.

I used 1 skein of Malabrigo Chunky in color 102, "Sealing Wax." (I finally figured out why the colorway is called Sealing Wax. I kept thinking it was something you bought at Home Depot to seal a deck. And for some reason I always think of this type of sealing wax being purple.)

The needles I used were US size 10.5, which is amazing because I used the needles recommended in the pattern and got gauge. (You may know by now, I am a loose knitter.) I even used the US size 9s recommended for the ribbing.

The main problem I had was "missing my exit" in a manner of speaking. I thought I was supposed to repeat the lace pattern three times on the body of the hat. However, once I had done the pattern three times, I re-read the pattern and discovered it was three times for the worsted version, but only two times for the chunky version, the version I was making.

So I should have finished Thursday night, but it ended up being Friday night. I was talking to Jules on the phone while I was working on it. I think it took longer to tink it than it did to knit it. I was so frustrated. We would be talking, and I'd just suddenly break into "I can believe I did that!"

Anyway, all that aside, I love this pattern and plan to make some more. I'm thinking trying it with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky, Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande and maybe Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair. I might also get some more Malabrigo Chunky. I love the semi-solids.


I also went unblocked, and it looks fine. The pattern said it could go either way.

Yet another entry into the One Skein Contest is complete. Some lucky person will be getting this hat for Christmas. If it ends up being you, I promise that I had clean hair when I took these picture.

And forget that you saw this.

Saving the Amazing Technicolor Disaster

Hopefully, I have turned a total disaster into something... interesting.

Once upon a time, about a year and a half ago, I discovered Recycled Sari Silk on E-Bay and I fell in love with it. I decided to make a nice comfy jacket out of it and I ended up buying an obscene amount of it. (In my defense, I ended up paying less than $3 per skein for yarn that retails in the $15 per skein neighborhood.)

I borrowed my Mom's copy of Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Around" and decided to make the bog coat. An Amazing Technicolor Bog Coat. (Knit and Tonic has a nice explanation of it here.)

However, this whole project was ill conceived. For starters I didn't account for how saggy, bulky and heavy the knitted fabric would be. Combined with a coat pattern with no shaping and a small gauge (even with my loose gauge, size six needles were way too small) it was shaping up to be a complete disaster.

This project has been long languishing, getting pulled out in between projects for a couple of those long rows. The yarn itself, while beautiful, is very demanding. I probably spent as much time picking out vegetation and un-kinking the stuff as I did knitting. Sometimes, I could hold the yarn taut and pluck it and see a little cloud of dust. Recycled Sari Silk is made in Nepal. The threads are swept off the floor of sari factories and are spun into yarn. (There is a more in-depth explanation is here.) I still say it was worth it. The yarn is so beautiful. And it is supposed to get much softer after washing.



I started coming to my senses when I pulled it out at a knitting group and started getting compliments on my beautiful throw. I started thinking that maybe I should make it a throw. I had knitted some waste yarn (the lime green) where I was supposed to form the sleeves. I just have to weave in some matching (and matching is relative when you knit recycled sari silk) yarn where the lime green was.

So today I was back at Chicks with Sticks at Bluebonnet, between projects, with my giant sari silk rectangle. I was asking the throw or jacket question, when someone mentioned that it would make a great shawl. That's when everything clicked. It was the perfect size for a shawl just as it was. After a bit of discussion, I started binding off.


After I bound off, I did a little photo (please excuse the poor lighting.) I'm not calling it an FO yet. I started removing that waste yarn (which is difficult when the yarn keeps breaking) and I have more ends to weave in. Also, I want to wash it. (This time I'll probably have to clean the bathtub instead of the bathroom sink.)

At any rate, I think I made the right decision. Even on me, even with generous ease, I had made the jacket way too big. Probably by 6-12 inches in width.


Besides, I've always wanted to make a shawl. Apparently I started one a year and a half ago.

And I can still use it as a throw.