Keeping My Promises . . .

I had promised myself to finish some long-standing WIPs.  And true to my word, I have begun doing that.

Back in the knitting basket is my 2010 Mystery Afghan Crochet-along.  Back then, I was still blogging for Bernat.  I probably should have stayed away from the project as I had other things on-the-go at the time, but who could say no to free yarn?  Yup, Bernat was kind enough to provide the yarn gratis to their bloggers if they were interested in completing the project.  So I said yes . . . and I am still working on it three years later.

Lucky for me, I have all the squares completed except for two mitered squares.  Thus far my work has focused on sewing: I'm slowly attaching the squares--some of which need a little coaxing into shape.  I'm weaving in some of the ends too, but its such tedious work! So many ends!!

Still, I can see the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel".  If I stick to my guns--so to speak--I may just have a finished afghan by the end of the summer.

Later . . . 

The Perfect Fit?

I'm thinking yes and YES!  To what am I referring?  My Blue Sprout, of course.

When I finally bound off the last stitch on the body, I tried on my Sprout for the first time (I know I'm supposed to try it on as I'm knitting, but time was of the essence).  One thing that surprised me was the great fit.  What do you think?

Trying on Blue Sprout

I am lovin' it!  I gotta confess that whilst I knit the thing, I thought for certain it was gonna be too big (should have chosen 42", but my gauge was off--smaller than intended at 20st over 4" instead of 18st over 4"--so I gambled with 44" chest.  Suffice to say that my gamble paid off).

Being a bigger gal, I debated about waist shaping, especially since I'm a belly-and-butt girl.  Trust me when I say I need all the "space" I can get in the waist and hips.  To my happy surprise, the waist shaping proved to be useful in carving out an hour-glass shape where very little hour-glass exists.

Casual Blue with a Spot of Red

Onward to the sleeves . . . .Sadly I have only one ball of blue left (and can't find this stuff locally anymore).  So the sleeves are gonna be short.  Estimated length?  Unknown at this point.  I'll have to "wing it". 

My other concern is the button band: red and more red.  I suspect after the sleeves are done, there will be no blue.  Hmmm, will that look okay?  Hope so.  My gambles have paid off thus far.

Un-knitting

Un-knitting: the process of tinking back your work, one stitch at a time, to correct an error; knitting "in reverse" and thus unraveling one's work.

So I resurrected a long hibernating project: my beloved Blue Sprout (first posted about it well over a year ago.  And I also referenced it here).  Last summer, I was making good progress, but then I started working on Xmas gifts.  Then came the blogging gig for Bernat and I had even less time.  So poor Blue Sprout waited in hibernation until . . . this week. 

All the pieces of my SuperMario Toads were complete and even my Bernat project was nearing completion.  I needed something to work on.  And it had to be knitting.  What to do?   What to make?  Blue Sprout to the rescue (the Sprout pattern, designed by Amy King, is offered for free on her website--in case you were wondering).

Sleeves Finally Separated From Body

When I abandoned my project, I was about an inch short from separating the sleeves from the body.  After working on it a bit each day this week, I finally separated the sleeves on Friday.  Hurray! 

Then I noticed a boo-boo--a big one too.  I cast-on my underarm stitches in a place other than under the arms (in my defence, I was talking to a friend and not paying attention . . . ).  Worse yet, I worked almost two rows before realizing my error.  Un-knitting almost 2x200 stitches is not fun--not one bit!

Cable Detail

But it is fixed and being the knitting soldier that I am, I shall tarry onward 'cuz that what knitters do. ;)

The Seamy Side of Seams?

Corny title?  Perhaps.  Did you know that the word "seamy" originally referred to the inside of a sewn garment.  According to Dictionary.com, it was a figurative phrase meaning the 

"least pleasant, worst," from seam (q.v.), the seamy side of a sewn garment being the less attractive, and thus typically turned in. The popularity of the fig. sense likely is due to its use by Shakespeare

Isn't that tidbit of knowledge interesting?  A term referring to the unpleasant look of seams is now synonymous with sordid and sleazy.

But history aside, seams are no doubt a pain--at least those of the knitted variety. But I've learned to deal with them and now feel at least a little confident about having to sew knitted pieces ( my current Bernat project will require seaming as well as the weaving-in of a zillion little ends, but that's another story).

A reader's comments reminded me that not too long ago, I too was scared of seams.  It took two toy projects for me to finally get over it.

Relaxing French Bear (aka Pierre)

I think I've recently shared this project (pictured above) not too long ago.  It's an older project from 2007-08.  He was made at the same time as another teddy bear (pictured below)

Aviator Bear (aka Daniel)

Both bears came from Debbie Bliss' book Teddy-Bears .  While many of Bliss' projects were cute, the bears and their outfits required many tiny pieces (suffice to say, I was not happy with all the itty bitty sewing).

The proverbial light blub finally went on when I watched a video on Knitting-Help.com (there are probably lots of other videos on You-Tube too, but at the time Knitting-Help was my go-to website for instructional videos).

We all make mistakes and learning something new can be challenging.  Perhaps I can share something I've gleaned from my knitting heroes (Maggie Righetti and the Yarn Harlot): it's only yarn.  So don't be scared. 

I Got Nothing (or How I Learned to Love ALL My Hand-Knits)

Yeah, I got nothing.  No FOs to speak of **sniff, sniff**  Yet I've been knitting in ernest.  Finished part of a "secret project"  which hopefully I can reveal in the coming days (being ever so patient but its sooooo hard).

I suppose I could show the two fingers of the second glove that is awaiting more attention (boring).  Or I could show the lace scarf that is growing ever so slowly (more boring).

Instead I'll show something I've been wearing the last month.  Last fall I fell into "knitter's limbo": wanting to knit yet being unable to get jazzed about any project.  So after I made a few hats for charity, I thought I'd tackle a scarf (something I had NEVER made during all my years knitting).  My intent was to use up some stash yarn (leftovers of Paton's Divine and Bernat Softee Chunky from other projects).  With no real pattern to follow, I cast-on and worked a simple hurdle stitch (check out my Ravelry project link).  Unfortunately when all was said and done, my scarf disappointed: too wide and not long enough **sigh** 

To make matters worse,  I had developed an annoying cough and thought mohair in the yarn was the culprit (turns out my meds caused the cough--stupid side effect!).  Still, the scarf sat at the back of the closet.  I was loathe to dispose of it and there was no way I was gonna frog it 'cuz I'm just too persnickety when it comes to weaving in ends (that thing was not gonna unravel without a fight).  So it waited.  And waited.  Until . . .

Cold weather arrives.  I walk to work most days (about 30-minute trek).  It can be mighty cold on a windy day.  Enter "the scarf".  

She has served me well.  Lesson learned: part with no hand-knits.  They will someday find love. ;)