Saturday, July 23, 2011

Slow going

Still working on 'Inlay' but it is three steps forward, two steps back.  I started the heel flap, with its own chart.  The legend said that the slipped stitches should be slipped with the yarn in back.  That did not seem right, so I checked Ravelry for errata.  Nada, so I forged ahead.  After about 6 rows, not only did the slipped stitches not feel right, they did not look right, either.  Back to Ravelry, but this time I checked the KAL for this pattern.  Another knitter asked the designer about these stitches, but described them much better than I would have, as being "wrapped".  It turns out the designer actually meant to hold the yarn to the "private" side of the fabric, or in back on the right side, in front on the wrong side.  I tinked back and restarted the heel flap and now it looks right.

What did we ever do before the Internet?!?

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

She who hesitates

It is not unusual for me to hit a snag with a project.  Sometimes it's the seams, sometimes it's the pattern, sometimes it's the realization that I am not going to like the result.  A time out doesn't hurt, unless one is knitting for a growing baby.  Then those projects set aside for a moment become hopelessly behind.

Such is the fate of some items I knit for Baby N: the seams on a pair of pants did me in, the curling of the stockinette on a kimono looked unfixable, and the embroidery for Blu was not a pretty sight.  Fortunately yarn allows for do-overs.  I foresee that the chocolate and lavender Debbie Bliss yarn is going to become something like an EZ Tomten, and the Den-M-nit will become something.

I'm still working on Inlay.  I don't consider myself a tight knitter, but I have had to deliberately loosen up when knitting the twisted stitches in the motif.  Once I learned to do that, these socks started not exactly sailing along but at least progressing nicely.


Otherwise, knitting is giving way to gardening and murder mysteries (my favorite summer reading), although I am currently working through Stanley Park.  The main character is a chef in Vancouver, so there is lots of foodie talk, but the characters are complex and the story engrossing.  Worth the effort.

Friday, July 08, 2011

No mojo

The "Inlay" socks are kicking my butt.  In fact, all my knitting is kicking my butt right now.  Most frustrating is that, when I try to knit during a meeting, invariably I drop stitches.  Grrr!  So if you don't hear from me for a while, it's because I'm spending some quality time with my yard and my summer reading.