Pass and Fail

The Pass: the cowl turned out lovely.  I couldn't get a good photo of me sporting it, but it does wrap comfortably twice around my neck.  I just need to weave in the ends and give it a wash.

Finished cowl needing finishing

The Fail: in the spirit of matching accessories, I attempted a beret in the same yarn.  I used a popular beret pattern online and knit along merrily.  Occasionally I would pause and try it on to ensure a good fit--and it was fitting well up until the very end.  After binding off, I attempted to try it on--and could not!  The hat would not even go over my head!!  I screamed in frustration.  Then I calmly unpicked the bind-off edge.  Staring at the live stitches without any needle, I briefly contemplated whether to pick them up or not . . . . Needless to say the "leftovers" are pictured below.  My frustration was so deep, I just kept unravelling until the hat was no more.

Frogged beret

The fault was NOT in the pattern 'cuz tons of people have made the beret (it was the One-Day Beret from Kristun Kapur).  The fault lay in my technique (the same thing happened the first time I made toe-up socks and had to bind off the cuff).  I still want a matching beret.  A search through Ravelry led to other beret patterns--ones that were bottom-up.  I might just have enough yarn to make two hats.   ;)

Barbie's new pink suit

Meanwhile here's the strappy top with matching jacket and skirt for Barbie.  I thought I should share the finished items.  I've been eyeing more patterns from the Sticka till Barbie website.  Downloaded a few patterns and even printed off a few.  Still have plenty of leftover sock yarn and I know where I can get more too.  Always good to be prepared for when the mood hits . . . 

Strappy top underneath the jacket

On the plus side, I've been working diligently on my rainbow bedspread.  Nothing like failure to help one get motivated for a "sure thing".  LOL!

Later,

Bohus Lament

Soooo after I attached the second sleeve, I started to have this vague feeling in the pit of my belly: a mixture of doubt and dread.  Something wasn't quite right with the Bohus.  Not sure the thing will fit; it seemed just a wee bit too short and a wee bit too wide.  Bottom-ups are hard to try on (ask me how I know).  I was so tempted to just rip, rip, rip  . . . 


While reading about the adventures of other knitters, how many times has a crafter ignored her gut feelings and tarried on, only to be sorry in the end.  Lesson learned: never be afraid to rip.  Its just yarn.  Yet despite trusting my gut, I still couldn't summon up the courage to rip out all that work.  Instead I put it aside, and then perused Ravelry.  My search for the Holy Grail  turned up nothing.

The Swatch

Discouraged, I looked through my bag of yarn.  The navy looked yummy next to the teal, grass and grape . . . then I heard a whirring and whizzing in my brain.  My heart jumped a little.  What if I designed my own top-down yoked cardi that contained many of the stylish elements of the Bountiful Bohus?  Grabbing some needles and a fresh ball of Softee Chunky, I started swatching.  When I was happy with the fabric, I meandered over to a top-down calculator.  After punching in my gauge, out came a raglan pattern.  Then I found a couple of bottom-up patterns in bulky weight with yoked tops.  Now I had the tools to reverse-engineer a yoked sweater using the stitch counts from the top-down calculator.  Sound complicated? Maybe, but I just know in my gut its gonna work.  

"Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful . . .

"But inside the knittin's delightful . . ."

Haha!  "Let It Snow" is my fave Christmas tune.  In fact, we've had our first wintery blast this week and today there's even more snow.

So as I hunker-down indoors, I'm desperately trying to finish my Fern & Waves Scarf--oh so close! 

I'm also trying to work on my Bernat project at the same time.  That's going more slowly than anticipated (and I can't really show you that progress, but rest assured it will show up on my Rav project page, my flickr page or wait till I post about it on Bernat blog).

To make matters worse interesting, my sock looks wonky.  I'm loving the 2x4 ribbing on the leg and the striping actually looks quite nice.  As for the cuff ribbing . . . well, that doesn't quite look as nice. 

Doesn't the cuff look really loose?  When I made the boys' socks, I always used 1x1 ribbing on smaller needles and then worked the leg on larger needles.  Sadly I didn't change needles with my own socks, so the leg's 2x4 ribbing looks more snug. 

So what does this all mean?  To the frog pond goes the sock!  I'll just re-cast and skip the 1x1 cuff and instead dive into the 2x4 ribbing.  That'll work.

Now I'm off to shovel more snow  :)

RIP RIP RIP

So remember my Andrea Reversible Lace scarf (see post here and below)?


Sadly she is no more. The picture above is all I have left of her.

Since starting other lace projects, my Andrea scarf has looked less "pretty" (I'm thinking it was all the purl rows). As time wore on, doubt plagued me. I wondered whether my mom would indeed appreciate the scarf. She was once a knitter and avid crocheter, but not sure how she'd feel about a hand-made gift--although she seemed to like the gift scrapbook I made last year.

So today I ripped, ripped, ripped … all the way to the frog pond. Not to worry. The silk-bamboo will shortly be turned into something more pretty and perhaps more to my recipient's liking. In fact, I've already cast on for another scarf using a pretty fishtail pattern.






I like the new scarf better. I hope my mom will like it too. It's so hard to make things for one's mom.

The Perfect Fit--Or Not

The greatest challenge in making a garment is finding (or creating) a pattern with the perfect fit. To that end, this knitter has struggled. In off-the-rack clothing, I struggle to find my size (anywhere from XL to 2XL). If its not a specialty shop, sometimes its just hard to find my size. Or if the shop does carry my size, the fit is questionable, the style is unappealing OR the cost is just too damn expensive. It's just hard being stylish if you're fat (yeah I said it: I'm fat. Wanna make something of it?). What to do? Make my own sweaters that would be stylish, cost effective and fit properly. (The cost effective part comes from using acrylics and other unholy fibres--hence my name acrylic-girl--so if you're a yarn-snob, you might as well just leave right now to avoid any gnashing of teeth and eye-rolling).

Rewind: about a year ago, I started knitting Stefanie Japel's Short-sleeved Cardi from Fitted Knits. I just loved the pattern. Inspired by other knitters' projects on Ravelry, I plunged in and cast on. Now here's where the newbies are separated from the more experienced: the latter would consider the implication of negative vs positive ease, especially given that the lower half of the cardi was heavily ribbed. Clingy ribbing and rotund bodies do not necessarily mix. But in my misguided attempt to ensure fit and my inexperience with the concept of ease, I flubbed. Yes, I tried on the sweater and it fit well in the upper body. But I neglected to consider that the comfy upper body would clash with the clingy ribbed bottom (not to mention that the ribbing hit me in the abs and bottom in the most unflattering way). I forged on, in complete denial, hoping that in the end the button band would somehow fix everything .**shakes head in shame**

Fast foward: while I worked on other projects, the sweater sat around for a year, abandoned but not forgotten until just a few weeks ago. I picked it up and finished the second sleeve. Then I tried it on and new eyes saw the problems that my old eyes could not see. The fit was not right. The fact that I'd lost about 25 lbs since last year didn't help either (Don't worry. I'm still fat, but now I'm also healthier).

What did I do? Rip, rip, rip . . .

But all is not lost. I only ripped out the ribbing. I'm just gonna continue in stockinette. It'll be a cosy sweater rather than a sexy clingy knit (my most sincere apologies to Stefanie Japel 'cuz the fault lay in the knitter, not the pattern).

On the plus side, I do have neat little square buttons. :)