All packed

I am all packed for our trip to England: The project on the left is the Dropped Stitch Scarf from the Spring/Summer Vogue Knitting. The projects on the right will be a pair of Synesthesia Socks aka Close Your Eyes and Think Of England Socks. I have't decided if I will use magic loop or DPNs yet. (The "project bags" started out life as packaging for pillowcase covers.) I picked up 3 skeins of Koigu KPPPPPPPM from The Naked Sheep for this, because the yarn I initially intended to use was a sportweight with only 275m in the skein. The pattern is easily memorized. It reminds me alot of the Clapotis, although all the fun of dropping stitches doesn't happen until the end. But it's not all delayed gratification - there is the joy of the "multiple wraps" row - knit one row, and all of a sudden the scarf grows 1/2 inch! I was toying with naming this "Clap for England", but instead I have christened it Polite Applause. We are off tonight - will try to post a few times while we are gone. TTFN

Being 2 Laces at once...

Baltic: 1 : of or relating to the Baltic Sea or to the states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia 2 : of or relating to a branch of the Indo-European language family containing Latvian, Lithuanian, and Old Prussian 3: a gift I recieved along with my Sockapalooza socks a few years ago. Baltic Sea: 1: arm of the Atlantic; N Europe enclosed by Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, & Germany 2: some sock yarn that followed me home from The Knit Cafe a few months ago.

A long weekend of knitting

We spent the Victoria Day Weekend with my friend Ute at her cottage. The weather was very conducive to knitting. Although I brought several WIPs along, I spent most of the weekend knitting these: Even though it is a simple pattern, the classic Ballband Dishcloth never fails to impress. And these ones match her kitchen! The yarn is Carezza :colours 26, 27, and 4.

Tee Hee Hee

Bread Bum

Bad news and good news

Well, the I-cord neckline looks nice, but it is still too small - about 18 inches around, and the recipient has a head circumference somewhere in the 18.5-19.5 inch range. So once again, I have ripped it out. The next step is to knit the I-cord bind off using a larger needle. (btw - someone suggested the K2 tog, slip back on the needle, repeat bind off - that was the "stretchy bindoff " that didn't work even when I went up a needle size) The good news is that I picked up a shirt and tights to go along with the jumper: Check out the colour coordination: Now if I could just finish that damned neckline...

Fit issues

I have finished knitting the body of the Knoroyven, but am having trouble with the neckline: I have no idea what size the average 2 year old skull is, but I think it's significantly larger than the neck opening was once I cast off. I have ripped back and re-cast off this neckline about 4 times. I tried a larger needle (too small), a picot bind off (too floppy), a "stretchy cast off"(too small), and the "stretchy cast off" with a larger needle (still too small). Somerset couldn't bear to watch it anymore. I plan to try an i-cord bind off next. I also demonstrated that gauge can affect baby garments: This is a BSJ knit at a gauge of 7 stitches per inch - newborn size is supposed to be knit at 6 stitches per inch. (In my defence, this was a travel knitting project - I guessed at the needle size that would work, and did not bring a ruler along. So it wasn't until I got home that I could measure my gauge.) Again, I am quite sketchy on how large the average baby is, but I am thinking that the jacket should be bigger than a skein of yarn (not that it should use a skein of yarn, but the dimensions should be greater). I guess this size would work OK for a preemie, but given that the baby is due some time in June, that doesn't help me.

Watch this space!

My goal is to do at least 6 blog posts this month. Sad, I know. For some reason I have lost my picture taking mojo; I still carry my camera around with me in my purse all the time, but manage to go for weeks without taking it out. In July* I will try to take and post at least one picture each day. The Gambler and I now have Blackberries, so I can take advantage of the mobile blogging feature. It will certainly be a few steps up from 6 posts in a month. *I would start in June, but we are travelling for 2 weeks - this time Britain.