It was tough going, I have to admit. I started losing stitches again once I switched to the dpns, but I figured it out pretty quick. I wasn't pushing the stitches to the middle of the needles not being used, so they were creeping up to the edge and falling off. I was three rows from the end and somehow I messed up a purl stitch so I was off. Ripped back. Did it again. It was quite exciting though. And you really do only need one ball of Calmer. I was very surprised at how much I had left.

The stitches toward the top are a little bit sloppy. That's because I had to rip back a couple of times, or pick up dropped stitches and the yarn is so stretchy and splitty. But it's done, and I really have a sense of accomplishment. By far, I think, the most difficult project I've done so far. It was fun to be sure.

I finished it about 1:30 - G worked late and didn't get home until close to midnight, so I had plenty of alone time to curse and yell in frustration. I was so pumped after though I didn't fall asleep until 3 - and then I was up early because I was excited about my first big elann.com sale! (I was at the computer at 7AM, so I worried for two hours I wouldn't get what I wanted.)

I was able to get all the colors of Jo Sharp Silkroad I wanted!

Paper Rose

Cedar

Dusk

The Dusk is the Aran Tweed for my dad. When he saw I was making G a vest and Max a sweater he popped up with his request. I'm hoping it's a gray/brown kind of color. I've seen a bunch of websites and the color is different on every one. The Paper Rose and Cedar are DK Tweed. I got enough for sweaters in each color - I'm thinking cardigans. Maybe one for Samara. Maybe both for me. Depends.

My goal for today is to cast on the front of G's vest and cast on the Geometric Scarf. That way I can knit whichever one I feel like on the train to Philly tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Remember to unbutton your pants before you start eating.

Posted by Cara at 03:49 PM | Comments (8)

I DID IT!

I don't know how (I ripped out the top like too many times to count!) but the FUCKER wonderful, beautiful, inspirational chemo cap is DONE! Details to follow tomorrow later on today. I'm going to bed buy some Jo Sharp at elann.

When I run errands later I'm going to stop by the craft store and buy a nice big Styrofoam ball to model my hat. Pictures to come! she says, jumping up and down. Can you tell I'm proud?

Posted by Cara at 01:29 AM

November 22, 2004

DPN DISASTER!

I settle down for the evening, Shedir in hand, eagerly anticipating it's finish. Nope. Sorry. Not to be.

I was flying along, decreasing left, decreasing right, the beautiful star pattern taking shape under my fingers. I had reached row 71 when it was clear I need to switch to the dpns. Now, I've mentioned before that I've never used them. So I called Jen. She wasn't home - probably out knitting with the girls in her neighborhood. So I consult my Vogue Knitting: the Ultimate Knitting Book. Got to say, not really that helpful. I pop on the Internet - looking for a good video or something. I find something that says you use the extra needles to knit (insert deep blush here). Ah. Now it makes more sense. So I go back and I start knitting. Except it's all purl stitches now and for some reason I cannot do the purl when going from one needle to the next. (In the end I purled the last stitch on one needle then slipped it to the next - seemed to work.) In the meantime - I don't realize it but I'm dropping stitches all over the place. Calmer is really hard to grab when you've dropped a stitch, especially on size three needles. The yarn splits really easily. Now I've got needles everywhere, cable needles trying to grab lost stitches and I'm about to start crying. I try to move the stitches back to the circulars so I can feel like I have more control as I try to pick up these lost babies - but the pattern is so funky I can't tell where things have been knit, or purled or twisted or cabled and now I'm really crying. The only thing I can see to do is RIP IT OUT!

And I do. At first I try to go back to where there are no lost stitches and I attempt to put it back on the circulars again. But I keep losing more stitches because anytime I try to put that needle in those teenytiny stitches I lose the one next to it. My whole body is sweating. I swear. I'm working so hard on this little hat. My back is killing me today from the tension. Who said knitting wasn't a good workout!

Finally I'm like fuck it! I can't take it anymore and the martyr in me comes out and decides to RIP OUT THE WHOLE THING! I get down a couple of more rows and I'm getting a certain amount of obscene pleasure in the whole thing when WHAMO! my brain relaxes enough to figure out the problem. I think, why not try one more thing to save what I have.

I run and get some purple Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton and thread it onto a tapestry needle and I start running it through the stitches. PRESTO! It's working. I managed to save all of the stitches and get them on the yarn. Then I try weaving in the circular and by god it's working! I've saved the Shedir!

Okay, now to figure out where I'm at. Of course, in all the confusion, I lost my stitch marker at the beginning of the row, but that's not to hard to find since I've got the string hanging from the cast-on. The best thing I did was stop ripping before what was to be the first stitch. I worked backwards with the pattern so I could figure out what row I was on and found the beginning point no problem. I was back in business.

In the end, I had to rip out 20 rows. I was back at row 54, which was a really good place to end up. I was past the pattern repeats and ready to start decreasing again. In fact, I think I ended up right where I had started that evening. I did some more work and went to bed at around row 60. I slept like a baby.

When I finish it tonight (and I WILL finish it) I know I will feel much more confident about those dangit dpns. Let's just say I won't be trying socks any time soon.

PS - One problem I had with the Shedir pattern - when I got to row 63 the way the graph works it looks like you're supposed to slip the last stitch to the other side of the stitch holder, but there's no star next to the row - which all the other rows have when this happens. So I didn't do it at first, but it became very clear that you're supposed to. Easily rectified - not a criticism of the pattern, just something another beginner might mess up.

PPS - Add to the drama the fact that the little ball of yarn is getting smaller and smaller - I really don't believe one ball is going to do it. I will be shocked. It'll be like a Hanukkah miracle!

Posted by Cara at 08:07 AM | Comments (1)

November 21, 2004

Flight Attendants, prepare for landing....

Warning: lots of pictures!

Well, the decreasing has begun (hence the bad joke in the title). Yesterday I made great progress on the Shedir - I finished all of the repeat rounds and started my initial decrease. I'm up to row 58. I think it will start to move very fast now because each row you decrease more and more. Which is good because I feel like I'm starting to run out of yarn.

I'm a little nervous about having to switch to DPNs. I'm not sure when to do it, and I'm not sure how to do it, but I'm up for the challenge.

I wrote yesterday that I finished the back of G's vest. Here's a picture:

The color's a little off. My carpet's actually brown, not gray. I think the blue is a little bright as well. I've decided to cast on for the front once the Shedir is finished - definitely before the train to Philly for Thanksgiving. I want to work on that while I'm traveling.

I was busy with Melanie while she was here - I decided I absolutely needed to find beads to go on the end of my geometric scarf - the pattern has a really nice long bead on each corner. So while we were in the city, we went looking for beads. (It was a good compromise because the bead store was around the corner from Anthropologie and Melanie was very happy there!) I, alas, wasn't so happy with the bead store - I couldn't find anything that fit what was in my imagination. But then I had an idea - what about some cheap bead jewelry? So off to Target we went. I was also in search of those Hello Kitty stitch markers. Really, I had stitch markers on my mind. I wanted to make some pretty knitty jewelry. Continue for the pretty knitty jewelry!

We found this great necklace that had lots of loops to it. The smaller size loop (and it's little connector) is perfect for holding charms.

The blue arrow points to the ring that goes on the needle.

So we piled up on cheap, cute earrings and small charms. What's funny is the next day while Melanie was in the city with all her meetings, she happened past a bead store near Fifth Avenue. Much better than the first one. She bought lots of beads and earring attachments for her daughter Keegan, and a few charms for me. Including the cowboy hat - it's supposed to remind me of her - she's from Montana - but has me thinking I should make her something fabulous. I think a scarf. Here are a few I've made so far:

So easy to make and I think they're cute. Who knows if I'll ever use them. They will fit easily on a US#8 needle - probably all the way up to 10.5.

I also found a temporary charm for the geometric scarf. I'm not sure about it though - it's an earring, so I bought two pair. Here it is with the Karabella Magritte in color #11, ice blue:

If anyone knows of any great bead stores in the NYC area, or on the internet, I'd love to hear about them. I'm planning to cast on this scarf after I finished Shedir and after I cast on the front of G's vest.

Oh and my ribby cardi yarn arrived!

I made some progress in blogville yesterday as well. I found this really wonderful Movable Type tutorial Site: Learning Movable Type. I learned how to add an extra sidebar - I'm thinking of turning it into a sideblog. Also, I found some really beautiful backgrounds at Squidfingers. My plan is to go live with the new site on, drumroll please, January one. You know, because the site's called januaryone.com? C'mon, laugh along with me now.

Enough, enough, you say. Okay. I'm outta here! Thanks for listening.

PS - Thanks everyone for your comments. It seems they aren't showing up as they are posted, so I'm sorry if I haven't acknowledged them in a timely manner. Please know I so appreciate your taking the time. L, C

Posted by Cara at 09:22 AM

November 12, 2004

Progress

The Shedir is coming along nicely. I'm just about finished the second pattern repeat - it's going pretty quickly now. I had some trouble on round #25 - I must have purled where I needed to knit or something - but it was easily remedied by taking out the equivalent to one round. All fixed now. Here are some pictures:

I've decided to give the hat to Jen's friend who starts chemo next week. I figure if I like it I can always make another one, but I'd rather this one is used in the spirit with which the pattern was written.

I was in the mood for pictures this morning, so here are a few more. This is what I've been doing with my Noro Silk Garden #84:

I found the stitch pattern on the web, but soon realized I had it at home in one of my Harmony Stitch Books. It's about 21" wide pre-blocked - I'm thinking it will stretch out a little bit more after blocking. I also have visions of lots of fringe. I'm hoping it will be quite elegant when it's finished. I have about two skeins left to go.

I decided to throw caution to the wind and go with the Peruvian Collection Highland Wool for the Ribby Cardi. Here's the color palette I chose:

grape heather	antique blue

I'm excited about it. I read a rumor that there will be a Ribby Cardi knitalong in the New Year, so there's an ETA for the sweater.

It's rainy and cold today. Perfect for knitting.

Posted by Cara at 03:05 PM

November 11, 2004

Something for everyone!

Try XM Radio for free for a few days! It's really nice - especially since my external harddrive with all of my thousands of Napster downloads crashed the other day. I miss my music! There are a gazillion stations - definitely something for everyone. I haven't quite figured out which station is my favorite - but I've been listening to a lot of the 80's, the Loft, Top Tracks - I did hear Bruce three times this morning, which is ALWAYS a good thing.

I'm toying with the idea of one of those 100 lists. I haven't figured out how to put a sidebar on the left of my blog. There MUST be a way. Still tinkering. Once I do, I'll probably do that 100 thing. We'll see.

A day out with Jen is always fun...and expensive! We hit the new Majestic Yarns store in Ridgewood, New Jersey on Tuesday. It's owned by Berta Karapetyan - I'm pretty sure she was there, knitting away - who founded the Karabella Company. If you want Karabella Yarns, this is the place to go.

Before we left I had received my box from Patternworks with Koigu - not what I wanted (it's already on it's way back). The yarn certainly felt nice, but it was darker and not solid enough for the scarf I'd like to make. But Berta had what I wanted: Magritte in color #11, ice blue. It's really soft, a little more expensive than necessary, but it will certainly do the trick.

I also bought a ball of Aurora 8, which I need to swatch as a test for the Oscar de la Renta sweater. I'm determined to make that thing, even if I never wear it!

Jen bought some nice Soft Tweed in color #1100 (RED!) for a post-Xmas poncho. It was really soft - I wish I had seen it before the Jo Sharp Tweed, but alas.

Then we moved onto the Container Store where I exchanged the storage boxes I had bought the LAST time we went out and bought some new under the bed containers. These should work well. Melanie's coming next week, so that gives me extra incentive to put things away, not to mention clean my toilets.

Oh and I found something to do with the Valeria di Roma angora (after I purchased three more balls)! I'm going to attempt the Heartstrings Flared Lace Smoke Ring. I found it blogsurfing - Too Much Wool has some great tips too!

I also bought the ChickKnits Ribby Cardi pattern that seems to be the rage right now. I really like the blank front panel and ribbed sides, but is it blasphemous to try to put a hood on it? I showed it to Georgie and he said what's your obsession with hoods, I like it without, but I really do like hoods. And if it has a hood on it I can call it a hoodie! (I think I just like the word honestly - it makes me think of a bunny.) I'm not sure about the Peruvian Collection Highland Wool at elann though. I need this thing to be SOFT! It sure would be cheap though.

Last, but not least, I started the Shedir. I've done 15 rows. It's not bad so far, but my god those needles are small. How do people knit on those 0s and 1s? The needles barely fit in my fingers. It's making the vest go better though - I think I'm about ready to start shaping the armholes. I've got about 17" right now.

Whew!

Posted by Cara at 11:35 AM

November 07, 2004

So Adventurous I'll be...

with that one ball of Calmer I picked up at Rosie's Yarn Cellar. I'd love to make the Shedir in Knitty's special breast cancer supplement. It looks so challenging and intimidating, but I know the finished product will be an accomplishment for me. Just following along with the chart will be enough!

I want to knit something for my little sister - we talked yesterday and I think she'd so appreciate it. I was thinking of the Klaralund, but when I showed it to her she didn't seem totally enthused. I'm thinking maybe a vintage knit. She's into vintage. Maybe a nice girly cardigan from the 50s. I'll have to start looking.

I would LOVE these two layette books from Bouton D'Or. So sophisticated. Hard to find though - if anyone knows a good place in the US to get these books I'd love to hear from you!

Hopefully I'll receive my Koigu from Patternworks tomorrow. And these hello kitty stitch markers are a must! Do you think they have them in Dora? I think I'd prefer Dora. I've been looking for cool stitch markers too.

Last but not least, a big THANK YOU to Becky! I'm new to this blogging thing and it's nice to be noticed - especially for the knitting, but also for the photography! Thanks for the link. I appreciate it.

Must do some work. Next up: Pictures of progress on Georgie's Vest. And possibly some booga bags.

Posted by Cara at 01:03 PM