Knitting Sutra

FO: Little Miss Muffet Beret

And another one down. Another one down.

Pattern: Rollin' Beret from Wooly Wormhead
Yarn: Misti Baby Alpaca Chunky, Aquamarine
Needles: 5.5mm DPNs
Size: Large
Mods: None really. The pattern offers you the choice of two sizes, with or without an I-chord tail thingy. I didn't need an umbilical chord coming off of my head, so I knit a little nubbin'. The last hat I made kept coming undone at the center, so I think the I-chord nubbin' will keep it together.

I've been lusting for this yarn for awhile, and generally keeping my eye out for something to knit with it. I don't need a sweater or a wrap, so I'd been a little stumped. Then cute berets and beanies started appearing on the knit interwebs, and of course Real Simple did the spread 'o ridiculously expensive machine knit hats.

It was a no brainer to run down to Knit Happens immediately, and I cast-on right there in the store. Many thanks to Holly for helping me to come to terms with the fact that not only was a baby blue hat going to match my own baby blues*, but it matches my brown coat too. People, I'm not a pastel kinda girl. This is huge.

Naturally I found the pattern on Ravelry. There's nothing much to knitting a beret, but it was helpful to find someone who'd typed up the maths for a chunky weight yarn. My only regret is that I didn't knit the smaller size. If I were to do it all again, I'd knit the smaller size, and I'd work more than 5 inches before starting the decreases.

The final result is a bit more milk-maiden than swingin' hep cat. But it's cute and warm, and it works. Another satisfied customer.

Yet... yet... there's a small part of me that is already thinking I might need to do this one over. If it's smaller, it might actually fit more like a beret. Baaaaah I hate frogging and starting over! But... but... I wanted a beret. I'm also a bit lazy, and I'm a far cry from a perfectionist.

Should I stay or should I go? What would YOU do?

Mail Call

I got a wonderful little package in the mail this weekend. Meghann, the sweetheart behind Radiant Twist Yarns, sent me two skeins of her superwash merino sock yarn in the Iced Mocha colorway, just enough for a snuggly pair of socks. Definitely check out her Etsy Shop to pick up some for yourself.

Thank you, Meghann! You're a doll!

Sadly, the yarn doesn't smell like a cuppa, but the creamy color more than makes up for it. Iced Mocha is part of her semi-solid, monochromatic collection, and quite honestly I'm not sure what to knit with it. I think I can do something a bit lacy because the colors won't compete with an intricate pattern, but then again, the colorway might be manly enough for B.

I've got three sock pattern books burning a whole in my bookshelf. I think I've got too much to choose from, and I haven't even looked around Ravelry for this one. Ya'll got any ideas?

Already In The Frog Pond

A few weeks ago I may have mentioned a certain pair of secret socks that I had underway. Well, the whole thing is still all in my head and ready to be committed to stitches, but wouldn't you know I had to frog the toes? Even though I swatched, I ended up with hugemongous socks that might have fit feet twice my size.

I haven't yet mustered up the energy to start them over again. Meh, they're just socks right? But you see, I'm the crazy person whose doing color work on two socks at once. That's a four-stranded tangled mess at every turn.

I apparently cannot, under any circumstances, knit one sock at a time. I knit my first pair of socks two at once, and I'll knit all socks two at once. I'm a stubborn ole jenny, if you know what I mean.

* I've taken poetic license here. In the interest of full disclosure I must confess that my eyes are actually steely-gray-blue.

Road Trip 2007: Bavaria, Austria, Luxembourg (Part 1)

As promised, here's part one of my Bavaria (and then some) trip report. You can view all 100+ photos in my Flickr Photostream here if you're so inclined.

The Plan

Day 1: Drive to Würzburg
Day 2: Tool around the "Romantic Road" down to Füssen, then cut over to Mittenwald (near Garmisch) to set up camp.
Days 3-7: Hiking in the Altspitz Mountains and Castle Gawking
Days 7-11: Camping in Austria, hiking in Berechtesgaden (Germany), Salzberg
Day 12: Drive home

Alas, it rained a lot. As in most of the time. Still, we managed to get in an afternoon wander through a gorge near Mittenwald and a big hike down an Alp. Austria ended up being a bit of a bust, especially since we took our one really nice day to hang out at the camp. So, we decided to head home a bit early and add a day at Luxembourg instead.

So our real itinerary went something like this:

The Romantic Road

We made it to Würzburg on time. According to plan, we spent the first part of the day checking out the local "schloss" or castle. In the case of Würzburg, the palace is actually an old Bishop's residence, but don't let that fool you. The Residenz rivals most fancy chateaux you'll ever see.

From there, we meandered (read: got lost a lot) South on the Romantic Road to Rothenburg ob de Tauber, which is possibly Germany's most famous town. Rothenburg is to Germany as Brugge is to Belgium or Dinan is to France. It's pretty good as far as medieval towns go.

After spending too much time in Rothenburg, we decided to ditch the slow Romantic Road for the highway. We made it to Füssen around sunset, when we realized that there's no way we were making it to Mittenwald that night AND set up camp.

After unsuccessfully finding a place to sleep around Füssen (and getting lost some more), we headed on to Mittenwald, hoping to find a guest house along the way. We found one near Lermoos, Austria. Horray for random guest houses!

Mittenwald: Hiking, Castles, Bozners. Oh My!

I highly recommend Mittenwald as a base around the Garmisch area. The little resort town, while catering to tourists, manages not to be touristy. I think it helps that most of the visitors are German and are there for the hiking or mountain biking.

We happened to be in Mittenwald for the last weekend of their Bozner Markt, a festival hosted only once every five years. The original market dates back to the 1400s, and was a place for local Mittenwalders to sell their wares. Today's festival showcases a more traditional way of life.

Highlights include a spinner and hand felting (old and new skool) as well as lots of drinking.

I also picked up some yarn in a local woolen goods store. You knew I would! Though I swear I didn't intentionally go looking for it. In fact the only reason we went there was to get B a felt hat.

What you see is Frankengarn Merino, a German brand that specializes in natural products. I picked up some worsted weight to make a matching hat and scarf set as well as some sock yarn. Expect to catch me trying to knit up some traditional-style German socks sometime in the future.

After our brief run through the Bozner Markt, we hit the trail for a short walk through the Leutasch Gorge. The trail meanders 800 meters along the edge of the gorge, literally, on man-made walkways. The remaining bits of trail wander through cool, alpine forest.

A key feature of hiking in Germany, and Europe in general, is that you often find huts or guesthouses along the trails. I'd like to go back someday and do some through-walks, stopping in different villages along the way.

Of course the next day was castle gawking day. In the vicinity of Oberammergau is Schloss Linderhof, one of Ludwig II's mountain get-aways. If you don't know much about King Ludwig II of Bavaria, I highly recommend that you look him up. He's famous for his spending sprees, but erecting ridiculous castles seems to have been his particular passion.

Linderhof, interestingly, is the only castle that was finished (you'd die young if you lived a life of excess too), and is Ludwig's homage to Versailles. Unfortunately, you can't photograph the interior, but honestly I think it might actually rival Versailles in shear over-the-topness and absence of taste. I mean that in the best possible and most entertaining way. The Venus Grotto (where none of my photos turned out) is worth the admission fee alone.

The grounds are free and photographable, so I give you a montage of German Tax Euros at work.

The last two shots are of Oberammergau. We pretty much nipped in to see what all the fuss was about. It's traditional house paintings are some of the best in Bavaria, especially if you're into scary religious art. I don't have anything against religious art, but wait until I show you what looked upon us while we ate a snack in Weis a few days later.

The One Big Hike

The following are a few shots of our hike down the Alpsptize. We took a cable car from Garmisch to the Höllentorköpf station. From there we hiked down into the Höllentorlanger (Hell's Valley), stopping for a bite at the climber's hut. Then we headed into the Höllenterklamm (Hell's Valley Gorge), where the trail follows old routes used by workers on a now-defunct hydroelectric project. In fact, some of the trail dates back to the turn of the last century. The route finishes up in Hammersbach, where you can either walk back to the cable car parking lot or take the train. We found out the hard way that the last train runs around 5pm.

Swatch Sunday

I seem to be starting a new tradition: Swatch Sunday.

I finally dug out the skein of Bergère de France Berlaine to swatch for the Cabled V-Neck Sweater. This wasn't easy since the pattern didn't really tell me what to knit. All it offers is a grid that says that each swatch should be 31 stitches and 31 rows in a 4inch square using size 3.5mm needles for all cable patterns.

My question: what exactly do I put on those squares?

Back when I was considering making a yarn substitution, I posted for help on the Knitty Board. Kristina took pity on me, and helped me sort out precisely what to knit to make my swatches. Kristina, thank you thank you thank you for your help!

So, I started with the "wide cable" that runs down the middle of the sweater. Working from the center, I figured out which 31 stitches I'd need, and then I knit the first swatch. The other two cables are near each other in the pattern, and they fit on the second swatch easily.

Using the recommended needles and yarn, I think I've got the right gauge. Hopefully. I didn't have to tug or smoosh the swatches to make the 4inch square, so seems good to me.

The Berlaine

Since I'd never seen or touched Berlaine before, you'll recall that I bought the skein to try it out. I was worried that the 100% wool yarn would be too old school, you know coarse and itchy. It is coarser than all the froo froo yarns we're spoiled with these days. Of course, it's also less expensive by about half.

Many of you suggested that the Berlaine might soften after washing. It did, but not a lot. Still, I really like the stitch definition, especially for the cables. Perhaps there's a trade off to be made here: cables that pop verses smooshy cables that flatten out. So, I checked out my two store-bought cabled sweaters and sure enough, the yarn's a bit rough.

So, I'm going to go for it, but I'm on the fence about the color. Traditional aran sweaters are cream colored, but I cannot be trusted with whites, and they wash me out anyway. I didn't even wear a white or cream wedding dress because I looked like a corpse in everything I tried on.

I definitely don't like the steely purple for me, and I'm wondering if dark colors would swallow the pattern. Then again, a charcoal could be nice, but Berlaine only comes in true black. B suggested a nice dark blue, but I have trouble pairing dark blue tops with skirts or pants. My brain only sees that color with jeans, something I don't wear too much. Berlaine also comes in a nice dark brown. That might go with a lot of my clothes.

What do you think of a light blue that's only just a step away from grey? Will that be too precious? Aaaah I can't decide!

Must Practice. Get Better.

I've decided that I need to work on my ribbing before I start this sweater. I didn't bother to take a photo of the ribbed swatch, partly because it's just rib and partly because it's particularly malformed. Trust me, my ribs are nothing short of spastic.

I could probably stand to work on my cable skills too. So expect some sort of cabled scarf from me this Fall as I attempt to clean up my technique. When I've mastered the scarf only then will I knit the Cabled V. I just can't display so many wonky stitches on the front of my body. Nope. Nope. Nope.

Weird

My "Ravely Queue" button sits next to my "Ravelry Homepage" button in my browser toolbar. I sometimes often hit the wrong one. Yesterday, when accidentally trying to queue my own homepage, I saw this.

And a couple of you sneaks have even queued it!

This would be tremendously flattering if it wasn't so undeserved. Los Monos Locos are really just a bunch of modifications to Cookie A's Monkey Socks that I wrote down so others may benefit from my research. So, I wrote one of the weirdest emails I've ever written to Jess, asking to be listed as the "designer," so that I can edit the pattern page to make sure that it's clear that it's not a discrete pattern.

But it got me to thinking. I do have a couple of ideas for sock patterns. I'd eventually want to knit one pattern in a specific yarn that I don't have in my stash, but I can work out the pattern in any finger weighting like this badness I still have lying around. The second idea would be an intarsia motif, and maybe a series of them. I don't have the yarn for those, though. And never you mind that I have never done a single stitch of intarsia. Details. Pshuh.

I've been pushing these thoughts aside so I can just get through my current projects. And let's face it, my life is about to get crazy for a bit. Yet there sits that Ravelry pattern page with my name on it taunting me like a plate of dark chocolate brownies.

And don't I owe you that heel thing first anyway???

Oh That Heel Thing

Though I have not revealed the magical, toe-up heel technique that will change the way you knit socks, I am still working on it. I spent about an hour with an engineer friend of B's, after which he declared that my problem would make a good math paper. See, this is serious stuff here.

So I went back to Google for more research, and I even emailed Lauri B of Toes and Heels fame, because she wrote the pattern for 60 sts. Unfortunately, the email bounced back. Yesterday, I made first contact with a math major who knits to see if she can help.

Here's what I do know. The cuff-down version of the heel is called "the strong heel" named after the designer who published it in the Fall 2003 issue of Knitter's Magazine. The Knitter's pattern is for a 64 stitch sock. One Raveler noted that the only hint for resizing that sock was to use multiples of 4.

I've already figured out the directions for a 64 stitch toe-up sock (embedded in the above mentioned "pattern"), but I want to know how to do the heel in all possible stitch counts. With some time and a lot of paper to make my weird charts, I could work it all out for a handful of common stitch counts. However, I will always feel bad for that one person that is knitting something atypical because that atypical person is often me with my tiny, nubbin feet.

What do you think? Would you be OK with a table of numbers that would account for common sock stitch counts? It's possible that the math forumula may never happen.

So I ask you this: what are the common stitch counts for socks? I'd like to do a range to account for a couple weight of yarn.

Nothing to See Here

Back to Ravelry... Aside from updating my Ravelry projects page as progress happens (haha! That's a funny one!), I'm banning myself from Ravelry until I finish something that I set out to knit this Summer. The new forums are like drugs. It all feels good until you wake up and realize that it's already dark outside, you forgot to each lunch and you are still in your jammies.

Seriously. I have unknit more than I have knit. Sad state of knitting affairs at Casa O'Postraphe.

If In Doubt, Pull It Out

Yup, I frogged the heels of my mom's socks. The gussets were just too big. And b/c of the stitch pattern, I actually had to frog back quite a lot before the heels in order to recapture all the stitches properly.

I tried pretty hard to ignore the bigness of the gussets, but my consultation with the engineer about the math made it impossible to overlook. It was a hard decision, but a necessary one.

The truth is, now that I've started frogging I want to rip it all out, and just make her some Monkey socks. I'm on the fence, and I might still do it. Today. By time you wake up and read this post, the Yarn Over Cables could be gone. My reasons are true:

1. The Panda Cotton is really splitty. I'd have a hard time recommending it because of its splittness. It's only saving grace is that it is incredibly soft. However, the splittiness greatly interferes with producing the psso in the pattern. I keep picking up a thread from another stitch.
2. Stitch definition is very bad. I think the cables looks mashed and messy, especially with the stray strands here and there. The overall result looks worn out to me, and I'm not talking shabby chic. They kinda look used.
3. The project feels like the biggest chore ever. There is no love going into these stitches, only "have to." The socks are supposed to be a gift that I promised to make her on Mother's Day. I don't want to end up resenting her by time I'm done.
4. I want to finish them quickly, and Monkeys are fast knits. And let's face it, it's a superb pattern. She'll love them. The only reason I didn't just knit Monkeys in the first place was this serial learning thing I do.

What would you do?

At the moment, the remnants are stewing on some Profi needles, which freed up my Addis for this.

Monkey Mind - It Just Swings Around and Won't Settle Down

*Warning: This post is a stream of consciousness**

You could say I have a short attention span, but that's not quite it.  I think I'm more of a serial learner.  What I like about most things in life is the discovery. I'm a kick-butt researcher.  If you need to know something, just let me know.  I'll find out for you.  So, once I've kinda learned something (note that I did not say "master something"), I tend to just, uhm, drop it and move on. 

Interestingly, I don't do this with yoga, and I didn't do it with ballet either.  I love to knit pick and refine my yoga postures.  I think that might be vanity overtaking my short attention span. 

Monkey Madness   

So, there I am grooving on my monkey socks yesterday when I get to the heels.  I have a few choices.  I could proceed with the short row heel that I know, or I could try something different.  I tell myself that I don't really like the short rows that I've learned because there are holes near the wrapped stitches.  So, I spent half of yesterday poking around for other toe-up heel patterns.  Had I just kept on, or at least settled on a heel, then I might have actually finished those socks yesterday.  Seriously.  Monkey socks are fast.  Fast little monkeys.

But no, because even as I'm looking at those heel patterns, my mind is already thinking about how I'm going to swatch the cable sweater.  So, in the middle of searching, you know while I wait for pages to load, I'm in another browser tab composing a Knitty Board post.  See, I'm at a total loss as to how to measure my tension across a cable pattern.  But I'll get to that another day.   

To Cable or Not To Cable

All the while, I'm starting to get nervous about my cable sweater.  No one could explain to me (in a way that I understand) how to make these cable pattern swatches.  Seriously, on the Knitty Board, I'm getting answers like: "just cast on x number of stitches and go from there."  Go from where?  It's precisely the "where" that I'm having trouble with.  So, maybe I shouldn't compound my tricksyness with a yarn substitution.  I'm no masochist.  I hate pain, and that includes thinking pain - especially math. 

So, then what do I do?  I start researching Bergere de France Berlaine yarn, which is not easy since it's almost only available in France, the UK and far flung European countries.  I want to know if it's nice, because I have never seen it in person. So, do I whip out my French-English dictionary to help slog through French knitting blogs?  I haven't yet, but I might. 

Or, I could just buy a skein and see if I like it.  But it's silly to just buy one skein.  What about all that postage?  Must not order more sock yarn.  Restraint, Jen.  Show some restraint.

But, if I decide to go with the yarn that goes with the pattern, I still find myself with a boatload of Rowan Cashsoft DK that I need to do something with.  Earlier in the week, I was doing some pattern whoring (I get around the free pattern sites, let me tell you) and came across the Jemima Sweater over at My Fashionable Life.  Jemima is not free, but she has really cute free patterns too. Set aside what comes to American minds when you think of Jemima, this is no pancake sweater.  It's very cute, and the wide neck would flatter me.  It also happens to call for Rowan Cashsoft DK.  Should I?  Should I? 

Starting Jemima would change my plans for the summer, but what can I do? I have this weird axiom I try to follow.  With only specific exceptions, I strongly believe that I need to use my yarn in the order in which I got it.  I dunno if this is a relic of the notion I had in my head as a kid where I had to "pay attention" (read: play with) all of my 100s of stuffed animals equally or they might feel lonely or something.   I feel really weird about buying yet another sweater's worth of yarn when I have two frogged sweaters worth of yarn already waiting for a project. 

I'm just going to throw this out there:  Do I like thinking about knitting more than I like actually doing it?  Hmmm.  A question for these over-stimulated times.

Mail Call

My order from Woollyworkshop arrived today - sans Crystal Palace Bamboo Cotton.  Uhm, that was the whole point of the order.  I've emailed, but so far no reply.  Will not assume worst case scenario.  I have never yet been burned by an online purchase.

I had a nice time reading through my fresh, new copy of Interweave Knits Summer 2007 while waiting for an appointment with my Dutch social worker (Don't worry, all non-EU member state foreigners "get" one.  Seriously.).  I won't even start with the patterns I want to knit in there.  I haven't even cracked the VogueKnitting Knit.1 Spring 2007 yet.

Yarn Porn

To add to my mysterious procrastination, I've spent more precious monkey sock time on yarn porn.  I tell myself it's for you, but I like looking at it too.  I'm particularly excited about the Claudia Hand Painted Yarn, not only because it's so.  beautiful.  But did you know it's from South Africa even though the Web site says Harrisonburg, Virginia?  Wonder why that is.  I will not research that right now.  Must go cook dinner.

The light ones are Blue Terra Cotta, but the overall colorway is actually "warmer" than my camera portrays.  The dark ones are Eat Your Veggies.  I'm happy to report that Eat Your Veggies is greener and darker than what most photos show.

Springspiration

Slow Knitting This Week 

Over the weekend, I started a pair of socks for B.  I knit just enough to see if the toes fit.  Not quite.  Do over.  Then I had trouble getting the figure eight cast on to work properly. After three failed attempts, I finally got it right last night.  I'll post photos as things get going. 

After the second failed sock cast on, I decided to work a few mindless rows of B's sweater (what a lucky guy, he's got two projects going!) only to discover that I'd made an extra stitch about six rows back, creating a very unsightly button hole.  B has a habit of putting holes in his sweaters, but I should at least give him a hole-free one to start with.  Rip.  Rip.  Rip. 

Spring Fling

Spring has finally sprung in Holland.  We had a particularly long and gloomy Winter this year, full of rain and overcast skies.  Recently, we've had uncharacteristically great weather: sunny and warm.  Birds chirp, flower petals float on the breeze - it's a scene from "Fantasia" around here. 

On Sunday, B and I took Nigel Beagle to see the flowers at the Keukenhof*, a massive garden with a stunning collection of bulbs.  We're talking seven million tulips, hyacinths and daffodils like you've never seen.  We were blown away.

The shapes and colors were very inspirational.  Here are a few shots to get your creative juices flowing. 

Spring On the Web

Some of my favorite knitting bloggers have also lit a few flames in my brain.  As we strolled around the Keukenhof, I couldn't help but think of Ruth's (Knitting on Impulse) Playing With Color series, wishing that I was at that stage where I can design my own projects.  How fun would it be to knit a series of something-or-others based on the colors of Spring?   Her process of extracting the essential hues from photos of nature is a neat way to select surprising color combinations that work.

 

Meanwhile, I've been totally floored by Cara's (January One) progress on her miter blanket.  She's nearly finished after only about a month of work!  I dunno if she's a role model or a madwoman.  It's interesting to note how her project has moved me over time.  I didn't initially like the look of the miters, but I admired her for taking on the project at all.  As soon as she started posting photos of the miter squares arranged like a blanket, a seed started to sprout in my mind.  I wonder if I could ever tackle a project like that.  The miters, the colors, everything - it's all grown on me.  I love it.  I want one too!

Pink Lemon Twist gets my "Essence of Spring Award."  I'm not a shawl girl by any stretch of the imagination. I have a couple of obligatory pashminas that I wear on those very rare strappy dress occassions.  But you'd never catch me knitting a complicated lacy number for myself, at least not in stole form (I have an unfinished scarf I haven't revealed yet).  However, Kay (of Mason-Dixon Knitting) mentioned Melanie's hanami stole the other day, and my mind started to whirl.  I love hanami, and I'm a lucky ducky because I've viewed cherry blossoms in Japan and Washington, DC.  This stole captures the essence of hanami perfectly.   Surely I know at least one person who would wear this!

I continue to pine for sock wool, even though I have enough to keep me busy for, well, EVER.   Who can blame me when there's so much truly great yarn out there.  Fleece Artist hooked me in the first place, but what I really wanted was to sign up for Sundara's Petal Collection, which I discovered shortly after my yarn binge.  Sundara dyes yarn in flower-inspired shades, and ships out limited-edition skeins each with its own sock pattern.  I managed to control myself, and now the Summer/Fall collection is closed to new members.  This is probably a good thing.

In the Shameless Self-Promotion Category, Lucia (The Knitting Fiend) added one of my posts to her Knitting Blog Carnival the other day.  Lucia writes haiku poems about strange and beautiful knit and crochet items.  She has an amazing collection of vintage patterns and books, and is also a 'net sleuthing maven.  The things that woman finds!  Lucia has also programmed sock, shawl and sweater calculators to help you work out the perfect fit.

What's your springspiration?

* If you're into bulbs, bookmark that site and remind yourself to check it next Spring when they should have their online store up and running.  Their rates are unbelievable, and they will take care of the agriculture inspection.  Order in Spring and they'll send you the bulbs in time for planting in the Fall.  I *think* they send the flowers from their garden.  Awesome.

Hey Jen, Here's a Clue For Ya

So here's a touchy subject:  yarn substitution.  This is touchy because, well, to be blunt: I suck at it.  My sucking appears to know no bounds.  Except for scarves (Do scarves ever count? I mean really? ), I have yet to successfully knit a single item, large or small, in a substituted yarn. 

Remember those bins full of frogged projects I showed you the other day?  Yarn subs.  Almost all of it.

Oh the humanity!

I can't quite figure out what I'm doing wrong.  In the case of one hat, the drape wasn't right.  In the case of one sweater, the yarn was too heavy.  Other projects just didn't work.  I'm pretty sad about the Karabella Cabled Sweater, but the yarn sub may only be part of the problem.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a yarn hoarder.  I pick my projects, then I go to my shop to find the yarn.  I usually seek help from the staff, and I think this is the root of my problem.  I can knit.  I can purl.  The physical mechanics of knitting are no problem, which is helpful since I teach myself.  However, I don't have my head around the relationship between the yarn, the tension, the weight, the pattern, etc.  I make swatches. I get gauge. But there's more to it, and I just don't get it. 

I've read and reread the section on selecting yarn in the Stitch-n-Bitch book several times.  My mind wanders, and I can't concentrate on it.  It's almost as if the whole discussion starts knitting around my brain, and all I can see are loops and string.  I can't seem to zoom out and see the bigger picture.   

Physically knitting is something that you can learn in steps when you're ready to tackle more  difficult techniques.  There are so many resources available that it's nearly impossible not to find someone or some Web site to teach you a stitch technique.  But understanding the material aspects of knitting requires that you get it all at once, no stepping blocks.  So, everything I've tried to read to gain an understanding of patterns and yarn just hit me in the head like a baseball bat.  There I sit with canaries flying around my head.

This is slowly starting to change, especially after the despair I felt over the Karabella Cable Sweater.  As a result, I spent ages making sure that the yarn I got for B's sweater will work - I even washed my swatches.  I want more than anything for his sweater to turn out.  Perhaps that's the key.  I want it bad enough.

Maybe I treat too many projects, and too much $$ yarn,  as "practicing" and not really being serious about it.  Then again, it's hard to take an iPod cozy seriously.  I see this tendency emerging with my Dreamsicle socks.  There are at least two little oddities that I could have fixed, but I didn't bother.  I say to myself, "this is my first pair of socks; they don't have to be perfect.  No one will know but me."

Yo, dude.  What kind of half-ass attitude is that?  L'Oreal says I'm worth it.  Why don't I tell myself that?   

It's The Process

Don't worry.  I'm not beating myself up over this.  It's just all part of the process.  Knitting has been a great way to get to know myself a bit better, and I'm gaining a lot of insight.  I've always been one to analyze myself, but thinking about what makes you tick is one thing.  Knitting gives me a means to break out of my not-so-positive cycles.

Yogis call our habits samskaras be they positive or negative.  Samskaras form grooves in our personality like a record.  The more we behave a certain way, the more likely we are to behave that way again.

In examining the root cause of all my failed knitting objects, I'm coming to realize that I bring a lot of arrogance to each project.  In a cavalier way I continue to overlook important basics, figuring that it will all just come together in the end.  Apparently it isn't just coming together.  So now I know, and I can break the cycle quite easily because it comes with positive reinforcements: functional finished objects.

Progress, baby. Progress.

I made mad progress on a number of projects this weekend.  I'm so psyched. 

Topping the list is the near completion of our wedding photo album.  I'm determined to wrap it up by our bi-anniversary, which is today!  In my defense, we only received the album a week ago.  I ran out of photo corners last night, so I need to make a run to the art supply store.  Then I'm done.  Done, done, done.  Woohoo!

"Super Productive Weekend" also gave progress on my latest knitting projects.

I finally managed to make up a swatch with the right gauge for the husband sweater.  I thought I hit the nail on the head twice, but the yarn seems to stretch a lot when it gets wet.  Lesson learned before tragedy:  wash and block swatches.  I'd have been completely hosed if I hadn't washed those puppies.   

For those interested, I'm knitting the "Jesse's Flames" pattern from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation, sans flames and color accents.  We liked the rib and shaping, but B's not really a hot wheels kinda guy. I can't wait for Debbie's book of men's patterns.  I find that a lot of men's sweaters are too sea worthy or Bill Cosby. 

I also made good headway on stitch research for the Colinette Point 5 scarf I'm trying to knit before Spring arrives.  Historically, my knitting is a bit like Ground Hog day.  As soon as I get to work in earnest on this scarf, I guarantee that Spring will arrive before I finish it.  Of course it's snowing at the moment, so maybe I can eek out one or two wears before the season is over.

# of projects on needles: 3, # of projects in swatch phase: 1, # of projects destined for frog bin: 2

Out Damn Swatch

B returned yesterday with the digicam so I can post photos of my new friends, 18 balls of Lana Grossa Bingo.  Let's all say yummy together.

At first it just looks like your run of the mill DK, but it's just so soft.  A dream to snuggle with.  This is not your mom's 100% wool yarn. 

The following is a photo I like to call, "still life with damn swatch."  Still no gauge.  *sigh*

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it?  But look closer.  What is up with my stitches? 

I didn't mention this before because I couldn't show you a photo.  Do you see how the left side of my stitches look all tubular and vertical?  What the?

Here's a funny story about the way I knit.  A friend of mine happened to teach me the "Eastern" way of knitting.  That is, not only do I knit continental (yarn in left hand), but she also taught me to wrap the yarn the opposite way around my needle when making knit stitches.  She's of Persian background, so it makes sense.  I taught myself how to purl from a "Stitch 'n Bitch," so I purl the way you'd expect.  The effect is that my stitches crossed. 

I only recently figured this out when one of my sweaters went horribly awry and someone on the Knitty Board suggested that I try combination knitting.  Lucia over at The Knitting Fiend has a good explanation of combination knitting, which helped me to unlock the mystery of my stitches. 

Since then I've been retraining myself to knit the Western way so that my stitches don't turn out crossed.  I was also hoping that my gauge woes would disappear.

I didn't realize that it would totally ef up my knitting all together.  Now I have the weirdness you see above.  Please tell me this is the yarn and it will relax.   Should I even be trying to get gauge with such strange output?