thwarted by my lack of faith in math

Well, poop. I finished the Jolly Rancher Shrug, and it’s waaaaaaay too small. I couldn’t tell that until I sewed it up; the construction of circular shrugs is such that I’m totally flummoxed by the sizing. Apparently.

I was really disappointed when I realized it wouldn’t fit, because I wanted to wear it! Now! Grr! Argh! But I’m getting over that. I’ll finish weaving in the ends and send it off to a good home with someone daintier than I am. Perhaps someone whose birthday, coincidentally, was today…

The thing I’m frustrated by, now that the initial disappointment has passed, is that I actually swatched this one, checked my gauge, and started knitting… and then as I progressed, I became ever-more-sure that it was way too big. Huge, never going to fit, going to be a waste of yarn and time, oh god, stop now and frog and start over. So I did. I adjusted the numbers, contrary to the pattern and my own swatch, and started over. And, lo, it’s too small. Who could have guessed such a thing would happen?

So. I wound half the Grawk into a ball (which took an age; those skeins are big!) and tried to decide what to do next. I really want a little shrug sweater with a soft collar. Should I try again on the Circular Shrug with new yarn, this time actually following the instructions? Should I, instead, pick a new pattern that I can do with some stash yarn? Should I abandon this idea for now and instead finish the two in-progress gifts and Drew’s felted piece for Novitas? Or should I endlessly wind Grawk and ponder my options?

Lots of rectangles

I finished a bunch of simple rectangular knitting recently, and now it’s time to get back to the other stuff. Amongst the finished were two baby blankets, each done with multiple strands of yarn on huge needles, using the 4-hour bias blanket pattern, a monkey (which wasn’t simple or rectangular but deserves mention!), and two striped garter stitch scarves. I totally forgot to snap a picture of the striped rainbow scarf I made for Tamara, but I got several of the one I made for Ficus before I gave it to him. I loved the way the orange contrasted and blended differently with the blue-brown colorway, and the way the colors moved through it. Lovely, and so easy to knit!

More photos here or at Ravelry.

And now I’m back to my Jolly Rancher shrug – so. close. to finished – and the wristlets which are a birthday gift, due in early May, as well as finishing a half-done costume piece for my husband.  Once those are done, I’m going to allow myself to wind the Grawk into balls and begin working with it…

Lots of green

I swear, it has nothing to do with St. Patrick’s day, but there’s an awful lot of green in my knitting right now.

First, there’s the recently restarted Jolly Rancher circular shrug. I ripped out the entire mock-rib section, due to the ongoing tension problems I was having, and in doing so, discovered the incredible weight and stretchiness of Shine Worsted yarn. Though I did swatch it, the small swatch didn’t have the weight of the full piece, so what I was making was going to be waaay too big. So I kept on ripping, and started over. Cast on fewer stitches, worked at my normal tension, and voila! Progress!

Second is a gift project, a pair of Mrs. Beeton‘s minus the beads. I got it started, then put it down in lieu of some other projects, and now it’s time to get back to them. They’re going to be super fun, but I’m learning that baby mohair is not on my list of super-favorite fibers. (Which is a bit of a bummer, as I have a Wisp to finish, as well.)

Third is a monkey (Ravelry: Monkey pattern). Right now it’s just monkey parts, but I swear, it’s a monkey! I’m thinking its’ face will be yellow, as I have half a skein of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a lovely soft yellow that would complement the green.

Fourth is a project I forgot to photograph in my hurry to mail it out — I knit my mom a hot water bottle cozy out of some lovely dark green heathered wool I had lying around. A very quick knit, and it made her laugh at its oddity, and smile because I thought of her and her obsession with her hot water bottle. Cold bed, achy back, sore feet… you name it, she’s found a way to use it. How could I NOT make her a little sweater for her bottle? I’ll get a picture of it next time I’m in Illinois, to complete the project.

And fifth is my treat to myself, bought with birthday money — two huge fluffy skeins of Twisted, in Grawk, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts‘ Raven Clan colorway line. Full of greens and purples and greys and blacks, it’s gorgeous. It was sitting in direct sunlight at a slow exposure, so it looks much brighter and lighter in these photos than it does in softer natural light, but it’s a far cry from lifeless black. I am dying to cast it on, but I need to finish some of the gifts currently on the needles before I do that. So. Pretty.

Lots of green, lots of lovely, lots of fun. Knit on!

Monkeys!

I knit a quick gift for my mom — a hot water bottle cozy — and need to run it to the post office, since her birthday was a week ago.  And I’m totally stalled on Grace’s scarf, because I’m bored with the project.  I need to finish that up this weekend.  But in the interest of not falling behind on EVERY gift I knit, I started Baby Urbanek’s monkey last night.  (She never needs to know that I was knitting legs while watching Deadwood.  All that swearin’ surely had no effect on themonkeyness of the monkey.)  I love the results of the patterns in Knitted Toys, but I can’t do them without modifying — I’m not going to sew seams up the back of every leg, arm, and other piece if I can knit them in the round, so round it is.  I used to think it was impossible to knit 14 stitches in the round, but once I learned how to do it with three needles — stitches on 2, knitting with one — it got much easier.  So we should have a monkey in a just a few days!

Also, I must finish Grace’s scarf.  The monkey will have to be my reward for finishing, I think.  And maybe a zebra, too.  A zebra would be a great way to use up some stash yarn…  all those stripes…

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Listening to: Tori Amos – Space Dog

State of the crafting

I got on a string market bag kick, and crocheted one and knit another.  Grace’s Hufflepuff scarf is 90% done.  My Matilda cloche will wait until inspiration strikes, since I’ve lost interest in cold-weather gear for now.  Gifts for Tam and Sarah need to be finished this month.  Both my Jolly Rancher and my Tatami are on needles in bags, waiting for my attention to return.  I’m about to wind a skein of wool into a ball to being knitting a (late) gift for my mom’s birthday.  I just ordered 2 skeins of Grawk to make myself a Clapotis.  Drew needs a mantle to put under his armor, which will just be an oversized top-down raglan knit to the middle of his upper arm, then felted.  And there’s a Monkey for Gwen just waiting to be cast on.

Sounds about normal!

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Listening to: Sting – Shape of My Heart