A Little Sniffle; A Little Progress

I've been a tad sick. It hit me last Saturday, and is still hanging around. It's probably not the ridiculously smokey, Dutch bar that gave me the cold, but that probably didn't help. I'm not on my deathbed or anything, but my head feels like it weighs 20lbs more than usual. The couch and I are well acquainted now. Not that we weren't before, mind you.

There has been some knitting progress.

My Sweet Jemima

I've generally been too sniffly, sneezy to work on sewing Jemima up since last week, but I've made a little progress. I did some more research on raglan seaming, and I pretty much came up emtpy-handed. Well, except one thing that's a bit of "too little, too late." Word to the wise: do the raglan shaping a couple of stitches in from the edges, and cleaner seams you shall have.

Yesterday I managed to sew about three inches over the course of two hours. One step forward, two steps back. I'm not going to win a ribbon at the 4H fair with this one, but I think I will be able to wear Jemima out in public sans shame.

Socks On The Edge

I've worked the gussets on my Mom's socks, and I'll turn the heel as soon as I wrap up this post. You can kinda sorta see how the gussets work in the sock on the right. You work M1s every other round, and *woosh* gussets appear.

The heels are turned by working decreases. You'll see. I can't say enough good things about how this heel looks and feels, but dang if the math isn't a big turn off. I'm trying to work out a formula, but I have to channel my old high school self, the one that was in the Math Honor Society, to do this. That girl's been asleep for a long, long time.

As extra incentive to push through, I wound the hank of the red Colinette Jitterbug into balls last night. The needles I need are tied up in my Mom's socks. You see. I'm so keen to knit with the Jitterbug; the colors are so vivid and the yarn so well plied. *Swoon*

Oh Gee!

I've finished the first 28 rows of the Ogee Lace Skirt. Along the bottom you can see the bits of waste yarn I used for the provisional crochet cast on. I haven't crocheted since I was 9 years old. Thankfully it'll be ripped out later because those are some wonky chain stitches.

You can also see little bits of additional waste yarn along the top. I recently read about "lifelines" on a couple of blogs, and what light bulb moments those were! Dude. This is a gift from the knitting gods for lacy projects: Thread some waste yarn through your work so that if you have to frog back, you don't have to rip the whole bloody thing out. Brilliant.

This project is revealing interesting insight into why I knit. For me, it's probably 8 parts end result, 2 parts process. I'm really not enjoying it because the fear of messing it up is stressing me out a too much. Even with the lifeline, I just don't want to frog. At all. So I'm obsessively counting each pattern repeat, slowing myself way, way down. If I didn't want the end product so badly, and I really do, then I'd have given this up after the swatches.

I'd like to give special thanks to everyone who posted comments to get me through the swatching. Silly me, I didn't know you were supposed to follow the chart in both directions. That made a huge difference. Also, mad props to Jean who suggested using post-it notes to keep track of where you are in the chart. This helps immeasurably.

Comments

[Jeannie]

I hope you're feeling better soon. I hate those coughs that seem to linger for a long time. Those socks and lace skirt are looking so pretty. I also have an inner honors math geek that needs to come out every so often. She's pretty helpful when it comes to knitting.

[Jean]

Ogee is coming along beautifully! Good for you for getting this far. The worst is over and you'll have your finished skirt before you know it. I'll definitely be interested to hear more about the gusset and heel you're doing on your mom's socks. Not that you should interrupt math gals beauty sleep on my account. Feel better!

[Jen]

Thanks guys! I do feel better today, actually. Sneezing a bit less, which means the old noggin hurts less. :)

I'm also soliciting the help of 'smart husband' and his friend 'engineer with math degree' (the latter is passing through tomorrow night en route back to Oz). Industrial strength!

[Elinor]

Those socks are looking great! I like the lace on the skirt. You are a brave woman knitting a skirt! I"m too scared to try.

Good luck with the seaming and I hope you feel better soon!

[Jen]

Elinor: "Skirt" is really a bit of a misnomer. I think of it as a 'wrap,' and I intend to wear it over yoga pants. I also think it would be really cute as a ballet skirt, and folks in Ravelry seem to be knitting it for their daughters. So there ya go. ;)

[Meghann]

Sorry you aren't feeling well. I hate that sniffle-y feeling! The socks look awesome.....what pattern is that? Are you doing Wendy's heel? Same idea, increase and then decrease for the heel, I just did it and love the way it works!

[Jen]

Meghann: It might be Wendy's new toe-up gusset, but I haven't looked at her pattern - they never fit me. ;) I found this on Lauri B's Toes and Heels page, and apparently it's a toe-up variation of the "Strong Heel" published in 2003 in "Knitter's," which I don't own. It's late, so I'll consult the engineer tomorrow. :)

[tiennie]

Feel better! Your knitting is so beautiful!

[Heather]

Sorry you're feeling a bit run down...I am like you in that I'm always so deathly afraid while knitting lace patterns that I'm going to mess up that it becomes un-fun! Your Ogee looks fantastic and I'm sure sure that you will LOVE the Jitterbug!!

[Jessica]

Hope you're feeling better by now. Interesting gussets. I may have to try this. Love the lace pattern on the skirt too!

[Jen]

Thanks everyone for wishing me well and propping my knitting. :)

[Twilight]

Your Ogee is coming along great. I'm at row 34 now and it's less stressful now that the increasing on the edges are out of the way.

I hadn't thought of doing lifelines. That's a good idea.

[Vibram Five Fingers]

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[Vibram Five Fingers]

Hi,What a great post! Thanks for article. Everytime like to read you.Have a nice day!

[Vibram Five Fingers]

Hi,What a great post! Thanks for article. Everytime like to read you.Have a nice day!

[Vibram Five Fingers]

Hi,What a great post! Thanks for article. Everytime like to read you.Have a nice day!