yes, I know, I suck

I honestly have no idea why I suck so hard at posting in this thing. I really need to be better about it.

But I return with some FO hotness in humble offering as a token of my guilt.

Finally got some pics taken of my River Tam Vest. It came out so much better than I though it would, considering there wasn't a very specific gauge given for it, and the instructions were only step-by-step for the side panels, and more akin to "helpful guidelines" for the rest of it. I took pretty good notes, and plan to type up my instructions for the rest of it at some point. Maybe later today depending on how motivated I am.



Also finished my Desperate Housewife Sweater. I used the Lion Brand Cropped Raglan Sweater pattern with some fairly heavy gauge modifications. But it fits and that's all I care about.



I used Knitpicks HW City Tweed in Lemon Curd, which is a lovely lovely soft smooshy yarn, which, I incidentally found the first time I wore it, also sheds like a white cat on a black couch. I also severely overestimated how much yarn I'd need for this thing. I bought 5 balls, and I used 2 1/2. I'm currently looking for a pattern to make with the rest of this lovely soft warm sheddy yarn.

I'm still working on my Silk Garden Kerchief. I've mostly been using it as a mindless-keep-my-hands-busy-so-my-brain-doesn't-wander-off project for during D&D, so it's only been getting about 4-5 hours of on-and-off attention a week. We'll see how long it takes me to finish the thing. Maybe by Christmas.

I've also started a mystery CAL, and so far, despite my track record of starting shit and losing interest shortly thereafter, I'm actually keeping up to speed on it. The group is on Part 4 and I am (gasp!) also on Part 4!! No pics of that, since it's a mystery. But I am using Fibranatura Yummy in Hawaiian Ocean and I really really like it. The pattern itself is enjoyable, though is pretty intricate and takes a fair bit more concentration than I'm really used to putting into projects lately.

I've got plans for a few more projects I'm going to be starting soonish. After the Silk Garden Kerchief is vanquished into my closet as a wearable garment, I'm going to start another triangle shawl for Rina. I've decided on Dream in Color Smooshy in Some Summer Sky for the yarn. I'm still looking for an awesome pattern for it.

I'm also going to start the pair of socks I've been promising Jason for about a year now, as well as a log cabin blanket in Lion Brand Homespun. The Ripple Afghan I made in it over a year ago has held up really well, but is too narrow for proper snuggling under, so I'm making a big Log Cabin blanket to replace it. I'm slowly stocking up on skeins thanks to Michaels gratuitous dispensing of 50% off coupons every time you make a purchase. It'll be in different shades of blues and greys. And I'll be crocheting it so it'll go fast!

I'm ALSO going to start a top-down hat in some delicious handspun I bought from a local spinner/dyer. Mmmm, check this out..




Seriously, how gorgeous is that??

Oy, I really need to be better about posting in this thing.

I haven't really been doing anything. WWM09 worked out a lot better than I thought it would. I only cast on one new project in the entire month of July, go me! Finished my River Tam vest, though it still needs blocking and to have the ends woven in. Not much other progress to report.

Started on my Starry Night Kerchief, which I'm in love with. Yards and yards of deliciously mindless garter stitch. Mmmm, mindless. Also going to start a cropped sweater, once I make gauge for it. Yes, my other Sesame Sweater is still in pieces. No, I'm probably not going to be motivated to actually finish it until it gets cool enough to wear it.

Woo.

WIP Wrestle Mania!!

So I'm jumping in on the WIP Wrestle Mania event on Ravelry. It might be nice to have some motivation to finish up old projects that have been lying around unfinished for waaaay too long. God knows I need it. And since this is only for the month of July, maybe I'll actually finish it! Unlike the ill-fated knitalongs I've tried to do.

Anyhow, I rounded up all my old WIPs and entered them into random.org, and the list they came up with is this:

1. binary scarf
2. ocean waves afghan
   
3. simple socks
   
4. beholder
5. granny afghan
6. river tam vest
7. salto socks
8. crochet tank
9. stripey sweater

Obviously, there will be some small amount of fudging this list. I need a big project for home, and a small project for when I'm out and about. So, the scarf and wavy afghan will be my home projects, and I'll just work my way down the rest of the list, starting with 3 and skipping 5 of course. Probably won't finish the afghan, if I even get to it at all. I've done another few rounds of the binary scarf, and all it's done so far is remind me just how much I hate colorwork. Ugh. I remember why I stopped working on it in the first place. But once I got it out again, I saw the way Jason was looking at it so I'll be [hopefully] finishing it before next winter. Fingers crossed on that one!

It's a good thing the River Tam vest has fallen somewhere toward the end of the list. I was working on that, and then realized last night that I've completely neglected to start the armhole shaping. My complete and utter lack of reading comprehension strikes again. So I've ripped out several rounds, and it's in time out until I get around to working on it again.

On a less-whiny note, I'm also participating in my very first swap ever, which I am super excited about. I had the day off work, so I did all my shopping for it while I was running errands today. Then I knit up something small but very awesome for the box. It needs a teeny bit of finishing, but then everything will be all ready to go. I'm fairly sure all the post offices will be closed tomorrow, so I'm aiming to get it sent out early next week. I technically have until the 17th to get it mailed, and it's quite a change to have something finished so far in advance of the deadline. Usually I'm rushing around at the last minute, scrambling to get everything all wrapped up. It's nice. I might have to try it more often. :)

It's been a little quieter lately, now that I'm mostly unpacked. I've actually had time for some amount of knitting recently. Still not nearly as much as I'd like, but more than I'd previously been doing in the midst of crazy packing/moving/unpacking craziness. Glad to be done with that! Also, kittens make knitting a study in patience. Woo.

It's late. I suspect I'm babbling. Should go to bed. Happy 4th of July, all!!

happy-go-lucky hat

It's that time again! That's right! I finished another project! No, it's not a project on my Plan of Attack. Yeah, that Plan has pretty much fallen to the wayside. But it's cute! And so what if it's late June, I'm gonna wear it anyhow!




Unfortunately I now have no take-along project. And I'm pretty much back to seaming my soul-sucking sweater of suffering. Do. Not. Want.

Is it bad that I want to start anther project?

still here and still knitting!

So, believe it or not, I'm still here, and still knitting. I'm moved into my new house (!!!) and more or less settled. The endless round of visiting family has abated (for now...) and my evenings are once again my own. So what have I been doing with them? Why, knitting, of course!

I finally finished up my Tequila Sunrise socks. Yep, at long last. I know. Just as it's too hot to wear handknit socks. But I loves them, and the temperature is supposed to drop a bit later this week, so I'll get some use out of them, at least.




Still seaming up my sweater. I've more or less lost interest in it at this point; I dislike seaming and weaving them ends, and hoo boy are there ever a lot of ends to weave in. Stupid stripes. Stupid me for thinking stupid stripes are cute. And the fact that now that it's summer I won't be able to even wear the thing for another few months has sapped the last of my motivation. I'm trying to force myself to do a little work on it every few days. At this rate, maybe I'll have it done by autumn... I'm not holding my breath, though.

I did end up buying more yarn recently. (Yes, I KNOW) But since it's for a gift, I'm pretending it doesn't count. J-L picked out some colors he liked, and I'm going to be knitting a bulky hat for him. I'd wanted to get it done before he left, but sadly I don't have needles big enough to make gauge with. So it'll have to wait until I can pick some up.

In the meantime, I've started a Felicity Hat with some Dark Horse Fantasy in Jade Green that I picked up for 40% off while getting yarn for J-L's hat-to-be. I figured some a short project of mindless stockinette that ends in a cute hat might do me good.

Plan of Attack? What Plan of Attack?

Also, most excitingly, I have picked up a couple of knitting helpers. They've been very diligent about performing such useful services as eating my needles and trying to make off with my yarn.



This is Ozymandias and her devious little sister, Pyewacket. I'm sure adventures will follow. In the meantime, though, aren't they cuuuuute?? :)

still alive!

Nope, I don't feel fantastic and I'm certainly not doing science, but I am certainly still alive. I'm actually in the process of packing up my apartment (which has a lot more junk in it that I realized) and moving it all into my lovely new house!!

Unfortunately this doesn't leave a whole lot of time for knitting. Sadness. I know. Anyhow, just stopping in to say I'm still here, and I'll be back someday. Hopefully soon.

In other [related] news, yarn makes lovely padding for those odd spaces between things when packing. Now my yarn is all packed up, and mostly at the new house, and I miss it. I miss it so.

My as-yet-unfinished sweater is staring at me from its perch on the arm of the sofa. I suspect it may try to strangle me if I don't finish it soon. I'm almost done, I swear! Just have to bind off the collar, pick up and knit the button bands, seam, add buttons, and I'm done! With luck I may have it finished by the time the weather cools off again in the fall. ^^

eff-oh!

Yep, that's right! My impatiens scarf is done done done! Well, not technically done - I'm still blocking it and then I have to weave in my ends. But I'm done with the knitting and that's good enough for me! Here is a pretty, sorta artsy picture that doesn't really show off either the yarn or the stitch pattern, but goshdarnit it's the only one I've been arsed to take so far so I'm tossing it up here anyhow.



Better pictures will follow as soon as I'm done blocking it. Because blocking is magic and makes the stitch pattern stand out rather than looking like a pretty colored garbled mess of yarn. Urgh. Stupid thing won't fit on my blocking board, so I'm forced to block in sections. Should be done by tomorrow, though!

And, because I wrote out a nice neat organized list, I've moved along to STEP TWO of my Master Plan. Just past the cuff on sleeve #2 of my Stripey Sweater of Intimidation. Then just have to knit up the collar and button bands, sew the blasted thing together and find buttons for it. Ya know, no biggie. Should have that done just in time for the weather to be too hot for me to actually use it. Cause that's my luck. Yep.

plan of attack

So. I'm procrastinating again. Still haven't finished knitting the last sleeve of my sweater. Still haven't knit the second of my clownbarf socks. Started ANOTHER frigging project. Yep, I could no longer resist the siren call of the Ruca. Drastic measures are clearly called for. Thus, Plan of Attack.

Firstly, I will finish knitting my Lacy Spring Scarf. Because I've cast on for it, ya know. And all. Perhaps actually forcing myself to finish a project I've started will somewhat curb my startitis.

Secondly, I will finish that damned sweater. I hate it, and it hates me, and it just needs to get out of my WIP basket and into my closet.

Thirdly, I will finish my Valentine's Hat. Remember, the one I started on Valentines Day? Yeah, that one.

Fourthly, I will finish my second Clownbarf sock.

Fifthly, I will crochet up my lace vest that I've had planned for-effing-ever. Because I haven't crocheted anything in far too long.

Sixthly, I will use the remainder of that yarn, and the skein of Silk Garden I just bought (yes, I know) to make my Silk Garden Kerchief. Because after all that I'm going to need something mindless to recover with.

Seventhly, I'm going to knit something for Jason. Because it's been a while since I've made anything for him. Maybe the socks. Probably the socks.

And somewhere in all that I'm going to finally finish my Crocheted Tank. I've finally thought up a way to salvage it without ripping the entire bodice. I just have to undo a little of what I've done, and thus far I've been too lazy. Yarr.

So. This is my Plan of Attack. I'm now accepting bets for how long I'll actually stick to this. Personally, I give it a couple of weeks. I might make it to the "Secondly."

it's that time again...

...when I realize "gee, haven't posted anything in a long while, maybe I should." Because, ya know, the whole point of a blog is to update it? And so far I'm pretty much failing at that.

So. Knitting.

The Stripey Sweater of Intimidation is going. The first sleeve has given me very little trouble, until I reached the end of the armhole shaping instructions and still had twice as many stitches as I should have. After puzzling over it and adding up how many stitches I've got and checking several times for errata, I've just kept decreasing and it seems to have come out more or less the right shape and length. I'm very tired of knitting this thing. It's been one problem after another for me, and I'm ready to have done with it.

I also blame the Stripey Sweater of Intimidation for me buying more yarn even though I shouldn't have. See, even though I obsessively double-checked my yarn amounts when ordering, I still didn't order enough. So I had to order an extra skein. I actually ordered two extra skeins, because with my luck I still won't have figured it correctly and I've got plans for a pair of fingerless gloves. Well, two pairs. And this yarn can go to one of those. And you can't just place an order for two skeins, so I also threw in two pairs of socks' worth of sock yarn. And a cable needle. I know, I fail.

While The Sweater was in time-out, I started another pair of socks. Yep, rather than knitting up the companion to one of the several orphans I've got lying about. I know, I know. I'm using Cascade Fixation. The yarn looked bright and cheerful online, then when I actually received it the skeins looked like garish clownbarf. Then when I started knitting the cuff the colors looked bright and cheerful again. The sky-blue and lilac blended perfectly with the yellow and orangey-red. In a fit of helpless optimism, I named them my Tequila Sunrise Socks. And they were pretty.

Until I hit the leg. Then the colors started doing odd things. They began pooling funny. And unattractively.



And I just let them, because, hell, I don't care anymore. Let them pool. As long as the stitch count is right and the pattern isn't trying to make me scream in frustration, I'm good. Of course, they couldn't pool consistently, oh no, that'd be too much to ask for. Now that I'm on the foot of the sock, they've settled into making stripes. STRIPES. Still, as long as the pattern is correct, I really don't care.

All of my knitting hates me. I have begun to accept this.

And following that line of thought, I'm going to share a conversation I just had with my darling fiance.

Me: I've finally found a pattern for that Araucania Ruca I've had for so long! It took me forever but I've finally found the perfect one, and now I want to cast on!

Him: Shouldn't you finish one of your other projects first?

Me: Yeah, maybe, but I want to make this.

Him: You know how it'll go. By the time you finall finish it you'll be so pissed at it you won't want to wear it.

Me: What?

Him: It happens every time. You'll screw up the pattern, swear a lot, throw it in the time-out corner for a month, rip and reknit a dozen times, and just get angry about the whole thing.


As much as I hate to admit, he really does have a point. Although he was wrong about one thing - it's a time-out basket not a time-out corner.

So, Ruca, you'll just have to wait your turn to drive me round the bend. That is, if there's anything left of my sanity by the time I finish this soul-sucking sanity-eating monster that's masquerading as a sweater...

somehow, i have angered the knitting gods

I swear. I don't know what I've done to piss them off, or why the hell I deserve such punishment, but the knitting gods are smiting me with every possible bit of bad luck they can manage. Let's take a look at my Stripy Sweater of Intimidation!

--The ribbing is 24 rows, 12 in color A and 12 in color B. I knit 12 in color A and 14 in color B. Not a terribly big deal, and I'm replicating that error on all the pieces. Kind of annoying that I cannot frigging count.

--I then realized that the stripes are supposed to be 20 rows wide. I'm knitting them 24 rows wide. Still not a big deal, as I'm just knitting them all 24 now. So my stripes are slightly wider. So what. Still pretty annoying that I cannot frigging count.

--Halfway through the back I realized that I cast on four stitches too few. DESPITE counting and re-counting, and counting again obsessively. I still fucked up, and not by just a stitch or two. By FOUR. How the hell did I miss FOUR stitches??? My inability to count is getting somewhat ridiculous.

--Finished the back, moved on to the left front. I apparently store my brain in my butt when I'm knitting, because I just kept knitting along after finishing the increases, in a happy little fog. Snapped out of it to realize that I've knitted two and a half stripes past where I should have started the armhole shaping. This is what happens when I knit and . . . well, when I just knit, sadly.

--Knit the right front. Realized when I was about to bind off that instead of knitting the right front, I've actually been knitting another LEFT front. Much screaming and swearing occurred, and there may or may not have been a childish temper-tantrum followed by me storming off to the kitchen for a fortifying drink of the alcoholic variety to steel myself to rip back to the armhole.

I'm at somewhat of a loss for how else exactly I can screw this thing up. But I'm sure there's a way.

Last night I just cast on for the first sleeve. Stay tuned for further adventures.