Saturday, July 18, 2015

Some progress

Everyday, I knit a bit on each of these projects.

The curtain gets a minimum of two rows per day, 200 stitches per row. I estimate I am about halfway done, plus 10% for shrinkage, plus curtain rod sleeve.


When I started the shawl, I knit ten rows a day. Now that there are 295 stitches on the needles, it too gets knit at least two rows a day. (The next row is an increase row, then it will be 319 stitches.)


The curtain requires a lot of counting, not so much the shawl, except for the increase rows. Some days I am tempted to work on something short and sweet, but we all know where that path leads - more UFOs.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

The trouble with denim

Denim is one of those yarns where I like the destination more than the journey, because it is so inelastic. Unfortunately, it also shrinks lengthwise, so one needs to knit about 10% more than the measuring tape indicates. And since, I am knitting a curtain, there will also need to be a bit extra for the sleeve for the rod.


This is going to be one heavy curtain. Linen (another inelastic yarn) would probably have been a better choice, but denim is what I had, so denim is what I knit.

Thursday, July 09, 2015

The trouble with shawls

Most shawl patterns start with about 3 stitches. Initial progress seems rapid, despite the increase rows. But once there are over 200 stitches on the needles, things bog down a bit.


The photo above was taken around row 98, 223 stitches. I'm now on row 112, 247 stitches. The finished shawl will be 176 rows, 391 stitches. Gah.

Thursday, July 02, 2015

Pompomless

I had every intention of making pompoms for my golf club covers. In fact, I did make some. My g'daughter glommed onto the first one, the second one turned out okay, the third one fell apart when I tried to tie it off. Then I decided I was not a pompom kind of girl.


Pattern: Basic Golf Club Head Cover, by Sheila Toy Stromberg
Yarn: Purl Essence Sincerely Baby, colorways 'Sincerely Pink' and 'Sincerely Gray'
Needles: US8
Modifications: fancied them up with Fair Isle interspersed with solid stripes to indicate the club number (no striping on the putter cover)

Since I play on a par-3 course, I don't have much call to use more than one driver. And I find fiddling with the covers to be a PITA. However, the covers are cute and add a bit of panache to my tired old clubs.