Other People's UFOs

I've been corresponding off and on with Jules' Mom for a while now, and she has talked about her attempt to learn how to knit.

Not long after Jules went home, she called me to ask for my address. She was sending me a package. I thanked her, but she said she wasn't sure if I wanted it. It was an abandoned UFO.

We talked a little bit about the UFO she was sending. I asked if she wanted me to show her how to finish it. She cut me off and said no right away. "I'm sick of looking at it," she said. It was obvious that she had "fallen out of love" with the project, and it was time to let it go. This is a lesson a lot of experienced knitters need to learn.

After her description, I wasn't sure what she was sending me. But as I had expected, it was a pretty typical beginner's scarf, consisting of two very different types of yarn, with a snag in it. It was obvious that at one point she knew how to knit, because she had gotten pretty far.

I think David Letterman should do a new segment, called "What's the deal with new knitters and huge scarves." Beginners always knit the biggest scarves. I think beginners feel like making them too small is "cheating," or maybe they don't realize when they cast on just how wide it will be once they start knitting. There is nothing wrong with a big scarf, except that beginner knitters often lose steam and give up. This is a good example of that. This project had been floating around for three or four years before it arrived in my mailbox. This article from Knitty addresses the problems with ginormous scarves and alternatives for first projects.

My first project was the exact opposite. My Mom helped me, but I did a lot of projects from, The Workshop Book of Knitting by Ursula von Wartburg, a book that's been long out of print. The first project was a bookmark. I cast on five or six stitches, knit a few rows and cast off, making a square that was about one inch by one inch. I attached a long tail of yarn. The tail goes in the book, and the actually knitting sticks out.

This example is extreme, but the main idea is to keep it small.

And after I undid the snag, I could see the effects of letting the scarf languish. It looked like at one point she started knitting backwards. I bet she let it sit so long, she forgot her technique and starting going the other way. I could also tell that she had dropped some stitches along the way (probably while it was sitting in her bag), and she continued without picking them up.

Other than that, it looked pretty good. The stitches were twisted, but they were twisted consistently, meaning this would be easy to fix.

It's obvious she had the skills at some point. We need to get her knitting again. (I sent her a Learn to Knit Kit from Peace Fleece.) We need to help her find a technique that she'll be comfortable with. Jules' Mom said she struggled because she is left-handed.

I lurked in some Ravelry forums and found two schools of thought on left handed knitting. On one hand, some people say left handers should just knit like right handers. It involves two hands anyway, and while it might be more awkward for left handers, it's still awkward for everyone when they start.

The other school of thought involves doing everything backwards (or is it a mirror image?) This method involves knitting stitches off the right needle onto the left needle. There is a DVD available on this method at the Left Out Knitter and a video of the technique here.

It seems the main disadvantage of knitting left-handed is that you will have to
"translate" any new technique learn so it can be knit left-handed. As bad as I am with spatial relations, this seems near impossible to me.

I welcome advice from any left handed knitters out there. Should Jules' Mom knit like the right handers, or knit everything backwards? Would knitting continental help?

As for the project itself, at one point this was intended as a blanket for her dear-departed cat. I think I may square this up and donate it to an animal shelter so it can comfort another animal.

FO: Jules' Rasta Beanie

I may have been all excited about the socks, but this was what Jules is really excited about.

When we started talking about things I could make him, Jules came up with all sorts of ideas. First, he wanted a knit headband, then a knit sarong, then a Super Mario Brothers-style mushroom pillow. Then he settled on what he called "the Rasta Beanie."

As soon as he started talking about it, I knew what he was thinking of was crocheted. He wanted a beanie with red, green, yellow and black stripes like he had seen for sale in Santa Monica. And it seemed simple. So simple I started it sans pattern.

And I'm sure I could have finished it sans pattern, but I was in a rush, and kept forging ahead despite the disaster coming off my hook. The result was something that was not going to fit on the average human head, no matter how big I made it. I didn't get the increases right.

I finally wrapped what I had for Jules to open on Christmas, with a note promising a finished beanie later. He was very understanding. Besides, this gave him room for more input. He asked for the hat to be just like the hacky sack I had let him keep while he was helping me prepare for the fiber festival. This was actually easier, because I didn't have to cut the yarn between rounds. This made it easier to go back if I needed to.

I was hoping to finish it before he went back to California, so rather than doing the math myself, I found a pattern on Ravelry. Without checking gauge, I embarked upon A Very Simple Skateboarder Beanie. Fortunately it worked. You can see the difference in shapes of my first attempt and the finished product.

The pattern is good, although I would have staggered the increases. I didn't on this attempt because I was worried it wouldn't work if I messed with the pattern, and I wasn't in the mood to start over.

I didn't get to finish it before he left, but I did enough to confirm that it would actually fit.

Beanies don't leave a lot of room for error, so towards the end I kept asking everyone at knitting group if it was long enough. I finally quit despite the fact I hadn't reached a full color repeat. Only the OCD people will notice.

I finished it up at the Knitting Nest a few days after he left. Of course, I just managed to get it in the mail (along with some things he left behind) this past weekend.

There's always the issue of "the jog" which happens with anything crocheted in the round. I went with the join that was written into the pattern, which theoretically should prevent the color jog, but you can still see the line.

The yarn is Dark Horse Yarns Fantasy, which I've only seen at the Knitting Nest. It's an excellent synthetic. I recommend it for baby, kid and boyfriend items and anything that needs to be machine washed, sturdy, but still nice and soft. It's an acrylic/nylon blend. I used an F hook.

I really hope it fits. And that the line of yarn where the colors change isn't uncomfortable. (It didn't bother me when I tried it on.)







One last shot:

Good News, Bad News

The good news is I didn't have to work today. The bad news is that I didn't have the MLK holiday off. I didn't go in because of stomach problems. (I'll spare you the details.)

Dr. King had a dream about all the children of the world playing together in harmony. Last night, I had a dream that I was trying to open a shop that sold toys, yarn and ginger beer. (It wasn't the best of business models.)

But there is more good news. Contests on other people's blogs. Go visit and follow the posting instructions to win goodies. Be sure to tell them Large Marge Sally Comes Unraveled sent you:

Hurry, Mariknits' contest ends at midnight tonight.

InsanKnitty has some interesting topics for you to comment on.

Finally, Shut Up, I'm Counting wants to know your thoughts on blogging.

Enjoy!

Warp and Woof?

I was reading the J-Walk Blog and saw something interesting at the bottom of this entry. Here is an excerpt:

My favorite quote, from a VP at Zondervan:

"A lot of people read the Bible because it's obligatory, something to keep God off their backs. We're looking to turn them into Bible lovers ... so it becomes part of the warp and woof of their being."

Warp and woof? I've never heard that expression. It's actually a weaving term. I need to figure out how to use that in an actual blog post

I know warp, but woof? I've always called it warp and weft.

Anybody care to weigh in?

Spindolyn

I read about the Spindolyn on Shannon Okey's blog.

As someone who intends to learn to spin soon...like today (posts to come) this looks like a great idea. But is it somehow cheating? Would a motorized spinning wheel be cheating? Do motorized spinning wheels exist already?

Anyway, I think they need a different approach to the commercial. They need to show people dropping their drop spindles (but not on purpose), standing in odd positions, looking frustrated, with a voice over that says "are you tired of this?" or "has this happened to you?" Then they need to show the product, and throw in a second one for free if you call in the next 15 minutes.

FO: Brink of Disaster Hat and Mittens (and a little about a woven scarf)

Since Ravelry came on the scene, a lot of people talk about the FOs they haven't documented. I know I have a lot more FOs than the 45 listed on Ravelry at this very moment, but I'm not stressing out about getting them all online.

But today was especially cold, and I couldn't find my Knucks for the life of me. Fortunately, this ensemble was sitting where I could reach it. I decided it was a good time to photograph it.

I'm not going to go into the details, but in Spring 2006, I started knitting this hat and mittens set in high hopes of being published in Knitty. But I started having health problems and never made the submission deadline. I pushed myself to finish knitting them, but never wrote up the pattern itself.

I can see now these aren't worthy of Knitty. A rolled brim and novelty yarn trim isn't that impressive. After all, the Knucks pattern was published in the same issue I had knit these for, and I've knit three pairs of Knucks and only one set of these.

I bought the yarn at the Knit 'n Knibble while I still lived in Florida. I used Classic Elite Inca Alpaca, which is soft and warm. At the time I was enamoured with Berroco Lavish. Now I don't see what the big deal was about Lavish. I guess I have the same novelty yarn overload the rest of the knitting world has. However, I still like it in small doses, and I think it works well as an edging.

I still wear these, despite the fact they make me think about when everything fell apart, and how bad I felt when I cast off. By the time I got well, I'd lost my job and was forced to move from Florida back to Texas to live with my parents.

Since then I've gotten a job and moved into my own apartment. I still like the hat and mittens. They remind me in so many ways how far I've come.

A word on the scarf in this picture. I tell a lot of people how, back in the day, Hill Country Weavers had giant floor looms you could "rent." They would warp it for you, and a fee schedule was set up so you could come weave in the store.

Somehow, HCW had less square footage, but more room back then. They still hold weaving classes and rent smaller table looms, but the days of looms and spinning wheels all over the store are over.

My Mom paid for me to make this scarf one summer. I think I was 11 or 12. I picked out the warp and the blue mercerized cotton. I remember how much I loved the cotton yarn. It was so shiny. Now mercerized cotton doesn't impress me much. After I finished, they helped me take it off the loom. I couldn't decide if I should twist or braid the fringe, so I alternated.

This scarf has spent more of it's life as home decor, draped on the edge of my shelf in my bedroom, than as an accessory. I think it's time to bring it into the mix.

FO: Jules's Gentleman Socks

This socks were a long time coming.

Last summer, I went on the yarn crawl with the Meetup group. Sandra Singh allowed us to come into her home to shop for yarn. (She has an online business.) We were all excited because Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock was on sale.

Jules and I had been talking for a couple of months at that point. I decided to get some yarn for socks for Jules. If we made it to Christmas, I would knit him some socks. He would be sockworthy by then.

I went back and forth on which color to get. I normally choose stuff too bright for the average guy. I almost went home with Blackwatch, but then I casually looked at something in a sandier color. I saw the colorway was Seaside, and I knew that was the yarn I had to get. Jules loves the ocean. I bought three skeins just to be sure I had enough. (I only needed two skeins, since I shortened the leg.)

Fast forward to October. We had been "official" for a while, and we were making plans for him to come and visit. I went back and forth on which socks to make. If you can't tell, a name can really sell me sometimes. I considered Boyfriend Socks, but the pattern wasn't right for this type of variegated yarn. I finally settled on Gentleman Socks, because he called his scarf "gentlemanly." Also, the crossed stitches seemed good for the yarn, and the ribbing was forgiving. After all, I couldn't measure his foot for myself.

And trying to get foot measurements was a hassle. He told me his shoe size, I consulted books, consulted the pattern, called him again, asked for measurements, asked other knitters, called and asked to re-measure....you get the picture. I finally settled on a men's medium.

Gauge was another issue. I kept going smaller and smaller, until I got 8.5 stitches per inches on US size 000. Ravelry doesn't even go that low. (In case you're tuning in late, I have very loose gauge. The pattern calls for US size 1.)

I think if there was less of a time crunch with the holidays, I would have enjoyed it more. But I was running out of time. The crossed stitches meant I had 80 stitches on tiny needles. I'd sit down at knitting group to work on it, and when I'd leave I'd look down and think "that's all I got done?"

It was my fault for choosing a pattern with such a small gauge. It wasn't really a difficult pattern, just tedious. Like I said, it wouldn't have been a big deal if there hadn't been a time cruch. I'd knit them again.

The sole was interesting too. There was the weird slip stitch pattern to help the socks fit around the arch better. I was skeptical, but it worked. (I have pretty flat feet, so I don't need design features like that.)

I spent three weeks on these socks. (Imagine if I'd hadn't shortened the leg. The pattern says to make it eight inches long.) It was good to knit socks with a larger gauge after I was done.





You're probably wondering if he liked them...



...I think so.

My boyfriend is sockworthy.