An Unintended Gold!

I didn't even enter the knitting Olympics as I really didn't think I could both start and finish something in the 16 days. My outback hoodie is done and blocking, but I started that way before the Olympics. The sockees were almost done, and those too, were also started before opening ceremonies. Until my sister tried them on.

In the end I got knitting gold. The sockees were started and finished within the days of the winter games. I cast on for the second one just last weekend, finished it mid week, and ripped out the first one and re-cast on for that one. Ironically, without even realizing at the time, I was kitchnering during the closing ceremonies last night.

Pre- kitchner shot

So in the end, I claimed Olympic Victory!

The Outback hoodie went together easily. Doing the set-in sleeves on Hope made these realatively simple to figure out. The hood is still a concern though. I have to try the whole thing on once it's dry tonight. I re-blocked after I assembeled it, and it's waiting at home putting some much needed humidity in the air (can you say static!! The dogs crackle every time they get up off the couch!)

The color choice for Tricot is at a standstill. I just can't decide. Here is what I have left of Cotton Ease for colors:

I'm not sure which to put together. The blues are nice, but I just finished Hourglass in almost the same blue. Lavendar and black? The yellow is pretty bright, so I'm not too sure about using that. I could just make it a solid color - I just like the idea of a comfy pullover for spring.

On the agility front, both dogs did weave poles last night for the first time with no aid of any kind! On to more trials! They are so smart!

Finally some pictures

I have been to lazy to download the pictures off the camera until today. Serious lack of motivation in some areas! So, the sleeves for Outback are blocking, hopefully to be seamed tonight, and the body/hood is all assembled and the ribbing trim done.

Looks kinda funny, doesn't it?

The hood came out kind of small looking - by the model picture it looks all big and drapey (not like I'll really wear the hood) so I'm hoping a blocking will solve it and at least get it to lay pretty flat.

The sockees are another story. After mulling the toe issue (doesn't fit my sister) I frogged the toe of sockee #1.

Then, after looking at how the heel fit her, I changed heels on sockee #2 to a flap/standard heel. I think it will be a little deeper and fit better. So, I have to now frog the whole foot on sockee #1 also. For ankle socks, these are taking forever! I also discovered that I did the ribbing pattern wrong! It is a k6p2 ribbing, you are supposed to knit a round, then do a ribbing round. Duh. I just did ribbing, no knit round. Oh well. They will be nice and stretchy!

I also need to paroose the stash this weekend to come up with my next project as Outback is (finally) just about done. Oh - and seaming it - I problaby have about 1.5 oz of yarn left (pen for

size comparison). I'm thinking I may start Tricot next and use up more of the cotton ease stash I have. Plus, it will be a nice spring sweater to wear.

I do have to consider Project Spectrum - reds/pinks for March. My next pair of socks are grey and purple, so no go there. Tricot will probably be blues and/or yellow, no red there. Maybe something non knitting? I'll have to think on this one!

Tempting the knitting (and Ebay) gods

And I won! I knit like a fiend this weekend - my little cousins were here most of it, so I got little knitting done until Monday. But, on Monday I sat down and finished the front, hood and picked up all the stitches for the ribbing. I will have enough yarn! I may not have enough to seam, but that is ok - I have several yarns that will work for it if needed. I had been watching the yarn on Ebay nervously - if someone bought the 2 skeins she had, I was in trouble if I needed it, but with money the way it is right now, I didn't want to buy it if I didn't need it as there was no way to return it (though I guess I could have swapped it). Someone did buy one skein yesterday, and I had a moment of almost weakness when I was tempted to hit the "Buy It Now" button, but decided to take the chance, and if the knitting gods determined the hoodie to be, it would be with the yarn I had. And, luckily, they smiled on me! I did kind of a quickie blocking job just to get the shoulder and neck area flat enough to seam and pick up the ribbing stitches (all 160 of them), but I will have to go back and re-block before I seam up the sides and attach the sleeves. But, a good bath in some Euclan will do it some good and I'm not in the mad rush that I was yesterday. Now I can take a breath and finish.

I ripped out the toe on the first sockee. Didn't fit my sisters foot at all. So, back to a different toe. I had left the second sock at work all weekend by mistake, so I was unable to make any progress on it. But, with the hoodie crisis out of the way, I can start knitting on it again at home instead of just on my lunch.

The gods must be listening.....

I just found this on Ebay - not even looking specifically for it, but I watch this woman's store a bit as she is a few towns over. I guess the lack of yarn will be a non issue! What are the odds of someone listing TODAY the EXACT discontinued yarn in the SPECIFIC color I am looking for? It is a sign. The Outback Hoodie, she will be completed in full!!!! (with plenty extra now!)

The scale tells the tale

So, I finished the sleeves for the Outback Hoodie last night. I impatiently rushed to the scale to find out what the numbers may tell. I started with three 200 gm balls. So, about 21 oz total. Here is what happened:

Back 5.25 oz
Sleeves 6.25 oz
Total Used: 11.50 oz

Yarn Remaining: 9.5 oz

Now, for the kicker. I put everything on the scale together (the knit parts as well as the yet to be knitted yarn) and only got 19.5 oz. That is kind of a problem. That leaves only 8 oz to do the front and hood. The Front should, at very maximum, weigh as much as the back. So, that leaves 2.75 oz for the hood and the ribbing. Logic (sometimes fuzzy) tells me the hood probably weighs as much as a sleeve. So, I'm in trouble. That leaves nothing for ribbing.

If I did have the full 21 oz I think I'd be ok. I may just trudge ahead and knit the front, then see what is left for the hood and ribbing. I haven't frogged or have any small chunks of yarn laying around, so that missing few ounces must just be skein weight differential. I'm hoping that maybe I can squeek by with enough yarn, but my hopes are low at this point......

Repaired!

I tried the duplicate stitch solution for M's red sweater. It worked great. Not perfect as the stitches still look a little thick in the area, but it is about 100% better than what it was. Just in time as they are coming over this weekend!

I am up to shaping the sleeve caps for the Outback Hoodie. Hopefully I can weigh soon and see if I'll have enough yarn! I may end up doing it and just not adding the hood if I run out of yarn. The sweater has a neat shape to it even without a hood!

We had a great day yesterday. We all stayed home all day and played in the snow during the blizzard. I didn't get as much knitting done as I would have hoped, but it was the first time I got to actually spend the day with my husband in I can't remember how long. The dogs had a great time bounding through the snow and rolling around in it. The wind was freezing, but it was worth braving the elements for a good old fashioned snow day. We ended up with about 14" total - very light and fluffy!

Pictureless Post

Not much to post today. I've been working on the sleeves for the Outback Hoodie - I'm about 1/3 of the way done. Still working off the remants of the first ball, and using the 2nd ball for the other sleeve. I did 3" of ribbing instead of 4", but my arms are not the longest, so I'm not anticipating the 1" will make a huge difference. I bet it will block out just fine as my row gauge is usually a little off.

We are supposed to get slammed with a foot of snow overnight Saturday, so I fully plan on taking advantage and doing my own little knit-in. On the agenda: finish sockee #2, try the duplicate stitch on M's sweater - if it looks crappy, I'll just rip out the neck and ladder down. I'm really hoping I don't have to do that. I'd also like to finish the sleeves on Outback and do a weigh in to see where I stand. The back will take more yarn then the front as there is a deep V-neck. But there is the hood and picked up ribbing to consider. Only the scale will tell.

I have a pair of handwarmers to start for a friend at work's daughter. (She is the one I gave the purple warmers to). Her daughter almost took them from her she loved them so much. But, being the teenager she is, she wanted black. So, she got me some Wool-Ease (they had to be machine washable) and picked the simple Voodoo Wrist Warmer pattern from Knitty. Should be a quick knit. I'll eventually knit the ones for me (Mosaic Mitts from the Summer 2004 IK). I know I'll need them at work this summer as they crank the AC up so high it's almost as cold as winter!

Duplicate it is

Well, the majority seemed to think that trying to duplicate stitch the boo-boo (that is really not quite severe enough a phrase, but I am making the effort not to think about it too much) on M's red sweater. I guess it can't hurt to try that first, then if that fails and looks horrible (I have never done duplicate stitch before!) then out comes the neckline and I will ladder down. Sigh.

I cast on (loving the tubular cast on!!) for both sleeves last night and did a bunch of the ribbing. I'm anxious to see if I will have enough yarn. I'm thinking not, but I've been surprised before, and I tend to overestimate the amount I need.

The original pattern calls for 20 balls of yarn at 53 yds each. So, that is a total of 1060 yards. I am getting gauge for the pattern (16/4) and it is also the gauge of the Outback Wool. I have 3 balls at 375 yds each totaling 1125 yds. Should be enough, right? I'm not worried about seaming as I can always do that in a similar color Patons I have tons of that will blend right in. Fingers (and needles) crossed I won't have to frog the whole thing.

It is a hoodie and has ribbed trim around the deep v-neck and hood. Any ideas where I could cut back on yarn use? I know ribbing takes up more yarn than plain stockinette, so I think on the arms I'm going to only do 3" of ribbing vs. the 4" called for - I like loose sleeve bottoms anyway.

I ordered a cone of Henry's Attic Kona Superwash from the yarn co-op. I can't wait to get it! A pound is about 1120 yards, so that should make a bunch of socks. I have to stock up on some Kool Aid too. I plan on dying all of it!

Totally Tubular!

As promised, pictures of the tubular cast on. It looks beautiful, and it was pretty easy to do.

I can't get the color quite accurate, but it is nicely varigated, and not quite that bright!

Help!

Yeah, the title pretty much says it all. After standing back to admire the Placket Neck pullover for M and take a picture, I noticed something funny. See that wonky (the only word to truly describe it) stitch right in the middle.

I have no idea how to go about fixing this - it's not like I can ladder down as it's all bound off and the neck picked up and knit. Any brilliant ideas out there?

The whole thing looks pretty good. I'm happy with the modifications I made to it (neckline, ribbing) and his birthday isn't for a week, so I think I can (fingers crossed) fix it in time!

The first Sockee is done. I'm not sure I'm liking the star toe. I may end up ripping it out and starting it again. My sister will have to try it on first. I'm trying to get through the second one, but it's hard!

I put a whole bunch of magazines and books on the Stash Reduction page over on the sidebar. Some stuff has already sold! Crazy!

Here is S wearing her new sweater - nice and big, just how I wanted it! She'll get a season or 3 out of it hopefully!

Pics tomorrow of my tubular cast on and Outback Hoodie progress. I'm almost done with the back, and I think I'll do sleeves next to get them over with.

Like I need another addictive hobby!

I was at the dog show Thursday, Friday and was working this weekend, so not too much knitting to speak of, though I will have pictures tonight or tomorrow. The show went great - Tucker did so well for his first time! I can really see how agility is addictive! I want to go out and do another trial next weekend! But, we have until the end of March to get our fine tuning and really come together. I think I can wait....

Knitting wise, I've been working on the Outback Hoodie. I frogged the first few rows of K1P1 ribbing I did after reading about the tubular cast on. I found some great instructions here and here, but I think I used my Nancie Wiseman book the most. It looks beautiful! And, it was pretty easy once I figured it out. That was my "learn something new" for this project.

The sockees are coming along. I want to start the Country Socks from Folk Socks with some trade yarn I just got. But, must finish sockees first!

Speaking of trade yarn, I had (another!) great trade and got Scarf Style along with 3 skeins of a beautiful alpaca/wool blend blue varigated yarn. I have been wanting this book for a while, so the trade was perfect. I can't say enough about what a great experience all this trading has been. Everyone has been so nice, and it's been interesting to find out a little about people by reading up on their blogs. I've added a few to my bloglines list.

M's red placket neck is also done. I have one wonky stitch right in the front (of course)that I noticed as I was weaving in ends. I'm not sure quite what to do about it. I think I am going to end up posting a pic and question on KR as people there always seem to have a solution to everything!

I'm off to download pictures so I can post! S's mom sent me a few of her modeling her heart sweater. How cute!