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IWTMT: Skalva

For my knitting guild, I am supposed to be knitting a sweater. I did gauge swatches. I bought the yarn. I am not knitting the sweater.

In my brilliance, it turns out many sweaters are knitted flat and then seamed together, and my swatch is in the round. I know I could just reswatch, but I did all that work. My swatch (oh, I never did finish blogging about swatches, did I?) measured 12 st/2 in and 14 rows/2 in in stockinette stitch. Now, it's easy to find patterns that are for 6 st/in, but not so much for 7 rows/in. Because believe me, I've tried. Apparently if I go down a needle size, by the way, my st/in count stays the same but I get 8 rows/in. Go figure.

Anyway, my gauge is weird, so I just searched Ravelry for pretty sweaters that I could theoretically knit in the round with a stitch gauge of 6 st/in. I was hoping for free, but nobody in their right mind writes that kind of pattern and just gives it to you. Alas.

I found a few options, but this week I'd like to highlight Skalva (Rav). This is a good pattern for if I feel like going insane and using the size 4 needles, since the pattern's row gauge is 33 rows/in, only 1 row off my own gauge. Plus it has pockets on the front, and I love pockets.

So it's not what I had in mind, but I have no mind left to design my own sweater, so.

The Many Spheres of Our Existence

Like many people, I have more than just knitting in my life. This theoretically makes me a more well-rounded person. The tough part for me is when parts of my life intersect because it can be very confusing!

For example, I'm trying to lose weight and get in better shape, so fiber means two things to me. Thankfully not many people confuse those two!

I work at a gym, so spinning has multiple meanings. I've had people ask me if I spin, when they really meant do I Spin? That's led to some confused conversations!

Do you find your craft terms overlapping with your other hobbies?

As Much As Possible: 1st Quarter

It occurs to me that maybe I should do a quarterly report of As Much As Possible.

Guys, first quarter sucked. If I don't see these numbers start improving ASAP there are going to be a lot of pink slips around here. Oh, wait, I'm the only one who knits in this house. Whoops.


1. Not buy yarn.

Okay, this was a fail. I purchased a Kauni during my morphine-haze. And then my sister wanted a hat made out of sage green cotton, which I didn't have. Crap.

2. 1st in, 1st out.

Considering nothing has technically gone out? Double crap.

3. Craft for charity first.

Whoops.

4. Projects for others before myself.

Um, I'm making that hat for my sister?

5. 2 skeins a month.

Fail. Just ... let's not talk about it.

6. USE IT UP.

Hey, one I can say I did! I gave away that whole skein in my giveaway. Take that, 2011 stashdown!

IWTMT: Pimpelliese

I'm still not done with the Boneyard shawl, which is probably why I'm straying. I still haven't started the wedding shawl, so I remain in the dreaming stage. I also don't know why I pick things with strange names.

Pimpelliese (Rav) is available for free (warning: that takes you right to the PDF file). I guess I just really like the simplicity of a shawl knitted -- is there a word for that? Up and down as opposed to side to side? I don't have any idea. But the name is funny.

IWTMT: Granny's Cup Cozy

I'm aware that it's supposed to get to be 84 degrees in my corner of Vermont tomorrow. That's why this week's IWTMT doesn't make much sense. But it was just about a week and a half ago that I was stumbling down the road I work on, clutching a package and a cup of tea in the rain, hoping against hope that I didn't spill anything. Somehow I managed, but now I know why people actually make cup cozies. And now I want one.

I've also not mastered the granny square, which is why Kathy North's free Granny's Cup Cozy (Rav) pattern seems pretty perfect to me. After all, I don't have the desire to sew ten million granny squares together to make a blanket, but I could sew two together to make a cup cozy. Genius. Besides, it'll probably snow again on Tuesday.

On Being Stubborn

I worked a little on binding-off my Boneyard Shawl yesterday, and counted how many stitches I have left to bind-off. 120, in case you were wondering.

Why is it taking so long? Let me show you in pictorial form.



That? Besides that being what would happen if the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat met a spaghetti tree and made a baby, that is me not cutting my yarn. You can't even see the green section in that shot. I have to draw that small yarn animal through each and every stitch. More than once. I am not cutting the yarn because it's Kauni and I'm just. Not. Doing. It.

This, by the way, is called being stubborn. Apparently when two Cancers procreate and produce a Gemini, they should just let it loose in the woods because it will never ever listen to them. Or reason. Or shortcuts. Or anything. Obviously that bit of advice is too late for my mom and dad, but maybe it will help someone else out there.

After all, you're talking to the person who kept knitting a comfort shawl in Lion Brand Homespun even after she realized it was ribbed, and thus she had royally screwed up somewhere.



Look "stubborn" up in a dictionary and paste that picture in there to remind you.

I had previously calculated my Boneyard bind-off rate to be 3 stitches/hour, which means I have roughly a full work-week left. Despite my best efforts, my boss thinks I should actually do work stuff at work, which I don't understand. Kind of like how I don't understand why my parents wouldn't buy me that Pepto-pink New Beetle. I mean, I could never get in trouble and lie about it, because who else would have one of those?

I got them, though. I never got my license and they had to drive me around for years. Seriously, they should have just left me in the woods.

IWTMT: Ten Stitch Triangle

Let me be honest with you, kiddies. I haven't done any yarncraft in 2 weeks since my fingernail ripped. I am very tired. I have a headache. The sore throat I had on Wednesday has morphed into the cold from hell. I am not up for being witty or clever or doing very much more than linking a pretty pattern.

Here. Ten Stitch Triangle. Pretty. Also, benefits children if you decide to donate.

Now I think I will attempt this sleep thing. See if I can't get any of it tonight.