Sunday, March 11, 2012

Take Two

I restarted my Perfect Raglan cardigan today, for several reasons:
1. I forgot to subtract 2 stitches from the back neck cast-on to compensate for the raglan eyelets.
2. My crochet cast-on seemed way too loose. This cardigan will get a button band, but I don't think the back neck would ever lay quite right. So I switched to long-tail cast-on.
3. I decided to do the v-neck increases as specified in the lessons, rather than doing them my way. I think they have the same name, but I was doing M1R and M1L by lifting the side of the next/previous stitch, instead of lifting the bar between the stitches and twisting it right or left. Looking at both versions, I'm not sure it makes much difference.

How am I able to look at both of them? I didn't rip out version one yet.  I just found another set of size 6 needle tips and a cable, and started a whole new sweater with a new ball of yarn. It made me feel better -- if the new cast-on hadn't made a difference, then I would have only a little bit of time invested & could have picked up where I left off on the first version. As it is, I think version two is the one I will use, and version one can be ripped out now.

And the ADD continues. I found another Craftsy course, Rigid Heddle Weaving, and signed up for half-price. I do not own a rigid heddle loom, but I am thinking about getting one. My husband walked by while I was watching one of the video lessons and asked, "Why are you learning about that?" Uh, because ... (that always used to get me in trouble with my parents; it's still not a good answer).

And I have just discovered Fleegle's blog, thanks to Wendy. Catching up with older posts, I was reminded about The Queen Susan Shawl, which is a really amazing collaborative effort, and a free pattern. Now I'm thinking about getting yarn for that. Fleegle happens to have just the thing in her Etsy shop.  Hmmm...

(Somebody stop me! Maybe I'm just delirious from Daylight Savings Time induced sleep deprivation. Yeah, that's it.)

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Knitting ADD

I did finish the Sock Hop socks, about 2 weeks after that last post. The short-row toes were a bit wonky, so I ripped them out & reknit.
wonky short-row toes
I think I have mentioned that the yarn color is called Free Bird.  Really, it makes me think of The Official Preppy Handbook. I believe I have a copy of that book in a box around here somewhere. 

And I started the Wayward Socks from Cookie A's sock club. Forty-four rounds into the leg of the first sock, I realized I should have made the larger size. So I have ripped those out and restarted.
a bit too narrow, I believe
Then a few days later, I got an email with a link to a Craftsy course on knitting "The Perfect Fit Crazy Lace Cardigan". It was half price, and who doesn't like perfect fit?  So I signed up and watched the first 4 lessons. Then I hunted through my stash for appropriate yarn and found nothing inspiring. (Ouch.)  I went shopping and found some bargain-priced Louisa Harding Jasmine at WEBS.  It arrived on Thursday and I cast on.  I am now 4" into the sweater, and nearly finished with the 1st of 7 skeins of the yarn.


Meanwhile, the new Knitty is up, and as I was browsing the new patterns, I clicked on a link to an excerpt from Clara Parkes' book, The Knitter's Book of Socks. I checked the price at Amazon, and then I clicked on the iBookstore link, and looked at a sample of the book on my ipad. It was in color, where it would have been black & white on my Kindle, and the price was the same for both electronic versions of the book. I bought the iTunes version, and actually read all of it, up to the section where the patterns start.  The first sock (Stepping Stones) is done in worsted weight yarn, and this inspired another shopping expedition (online) -- this time to Eat.Sleep.Knit, where I found a couple of skeins of Malabrigo Rios that looked good. The best part was when I logged into my account, I had a $50 credit from one of their scratch-off cards from a previous order.

And the blanket from back in January? It is waiting (patiently, I hope) for me to get back to it.