February 2003

Finally February

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22 February 2003 Greetings from sunny Sacramento! Sean and I spent most of the day outside in the front yard, planning a big landscaping change. I also went to the library today and got three books on tape. I am now completely addicted to books on tape for my commute to and from work. They make the drive time fly by.

In knitting news, I knit a little hat last night using Bonne Marie's H2O pattern. I just wanted a fast little project using luscious yarn. The yarn store I went to did not have any Colinette Point 5, so I bought one hank of Berroco Hip-Hop and I think it turned out nice. I'm still not really understanding how to sew things up (and I really tried to follow the directions in my Vogue Knitting book), so the seam up the back could be better. Still it looks pretty cute. I'm planning on giving it to a friend since I'm not a hat person.

Since the green sweater is set for deconstruction, I’ve started a toddler sized sweater for a friend’s daughter.

I’m using one strand of Berroco Sprite, and one of cotton Sirdar in a cream color. This is the same combo that I was going to use for the New Year’s Eve sweater. I think this is a much better use of the yarn. It’s starting to look really cute.(I just went looking for a link to the New Year's Eve Sweater and remembered that I took the pictures off my knitting page. That means some of the links are dead on archived entries. (Hmmmm gonna have to fix that at some point...)This time I’m winding the yarn into super balls using my Valentine’s Day present. This makes knitting with two strands so much easier. I'm using a neck down pullover pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple (and for some reason I can't find a link to the picture on the site..)

Next on my list will be to unravel the green sweater. I've decided to find a nice cardigan pattern, possibly the "My First Cardigan" pattern in the latest Knit It magazine. Then I'm going to take a class in finishing offered at Rumplestiltskin's (my LYS). I really need to take this class because I am not having good results trying to teach myself from books.

And finally, just for fun and since I already had the picture scanned in, here's is the cutest picture of Axl when he was a kitten. We call it "Axl doing Hello Kitty." This picture was taken just days after Sean rescued Axl from underneath a car waiting for a green light, in rush hour traffic, on a fairly busy street. He's my hero, and Axl's too!

15 February 2003 The green sweater has been set aside for now, and I've started a kid's sweater from the yarn in my stash. I have now started this sweater a total of 4 times. I keep making non-recoverable (for me at least) mistakes .

Not much other knitting news for the moment, so, inspired by the February 8th entry at When Knitting was a Manly Art, I leave you with Petey in the garden:

9 February 2003 Well, I'm halfway done with one sleeve, but the green sweater is turning out so ugly I can't bring myself to continue with it. I'm about 99% sure I'm going to frog the whole thing. It looks like something Robinhood would wear. You can sort of see the strange twist the sweater has in these picture. See how the right side vent is twisting towards the front, plus I started it a little too early. The front of the sweater is the length I wanted, but it looks terrible from the side. The side vents highlight my hips and the raglan sleeves emphasize my narrow shoulders. It's just awful!

Part of the problem is my lack of experience, not only with knitting, but matching the right yarn with the right pattern. In any case, I know this is something that I would never wear, even if I did finish it. I'd love to hear from anybody with advice on how to avoid this type of thing in the future or with any ideas as to what do make with this yarn. It's a worsted/heavy worsted 100% wool. Maybe if I made something with cables? The yarn is pretty, but looks really plain in stockinette. Please help...my mind's eye is blind.

3 February 2003 Had a small oops with one of my socks. I took it out of the dryer and this is what it looked like:

I managed to stitch it back up, but it will never be the same. I think this happened because I got lazy and didn't weave in the ends when I added the ribbing to the socks. That'll teach me.

Axl came in last night wearing a disguise. Normally, he looks like this:

And here he is wearing his disguise:

I don't know why he felt the need to wear a fake mustache. And the glow-eyes are just a little over the top. Cats are so silly.

No update pictures on the green sweater. I've finished the body and am starting on one sleeve. The sweater is not turning into a very attractive garment. It has a funny twist to the body. I'm told that this happens sometimes when knitting in the round, especially to new knitters. I am determined to finish it though, so I keep slogging along.