Projects Update
Despite my recent trip and illness, I have managed to get some work done.
First, I haven't made any progress on the table cloth, but at least I took some pics:
The pattern; close-up There's one of these designs in each corner of the table cloth.
Current progress; close-ups 1 and 2
And, if you're really interested, I posted pics (1, 2, 3) of the back of the work, too.
I've also made some real progress on the Lobster-Pretzel scarf; edging.
(Sorry for the out of focus pics.) Why lobsters? Why pretzels? Why together? Hard to explain. Old friend, old jokes. But I do like the way it's coming out. It's interesting, though; I've always heard that knitted stitches aren't square, so you need special graph paper to make charted designs. Turns out that in this, as in so much else, I'm odd: my lobster, taken off someone's Flickr site and run through this (totally cool and free!) program, is oddly squashed. Looks like I would have been better off w/ standard graph paper, after all. (Too late, I remembered that I've done a lot of designs in the past involving color work that I charted out on regular graph paper, and never noticed any distortion. Weird.)
The other important thing about this scarf is that it represents a turning point for me as a designer. I had almost finished one lobster, using a pretzel-esque (boy! I didn't think when I got up this morning that I would be using a word like that!) trim that I got from one of Nicky Epstein's edging books, and I realized the trim just wasn't pretzel-y enough. Add to that, the fact that I couldn't do math (hey! I was getting sick!) and had not centered the design and I was unhappy enough to just frog the whole thing and start again. In the past, I would have let it lay, despite my tendencies to perfectionism, but being willing to do this, I think, means that I'm starting to understand the whole knitting design thang in a way I hadn't before. (Still wasn't willing to frog again, so I could re-chart the lobster, but hey! It's progress!) I'm now about 2/5 done with the second lobster, and hope to finish it this weekend. After that, it'll just be knitting from both ends towards the middle, making textured sections for the rest of the scarf, with maybe some more simple colorwork (like stripes) included, if there's enough of the black left. Will keep you posted.
Next, we have Sock Madness. Metal 00 needles not withstanding, I have finally finished my first Mad Weave. You know, the Round 4 socks. When Round 6 starts today. Sigh. Really hoped I could keep up, but it was not to be. Still, I will have all the patterns, and have already bought all the yarn, so they should all get finished. Eventually.
What else? Have not made much progress on the tea cozies. Finished the one in circular brioche stitch, but it came out way too small, plus I mis-read the start of the pattern, so I think I will just pitch that one (or maybe give it to my daughter; might fit her other toy tea pot) as there isn't enough yarn to worry about frogging it. Next time, I'll try the two-color brioche, as I think it will make it a little more interesting. And, sigh, I was actually supposed to have given out the first tea cozy, to Kate at her party last weekend. But the party was cancelled and I forgot to take the present (tea cozy and socks) to the dinner that replaced it. Aren't I a little young for senility to be setting in?
Other than that, I made a little progress on Sam's self-striping socks to match a pair I made for me, am almost finished with the re-do of this tea cozy in reversed colors (with pattern corrections), and have realized that I probably have enough left-over brown and associated color yarns to do a poncho for Sam. (Realized that we had bought her new clothes in brown and orange, but she had no jacket/sweater/wrap to go with them. Figure I can do up a quick poncho in stripes of brown, tan, and white. I even have about half a skein of a varigated brown. Cool! Stash rules!)
Got one more project that I haven't decided if I'm going to try to sell to knitty.com, so can't blog about it or show pics. Will probably decide that selling it would be too much work, but am not there yet. (Plus, I hate keeping secrets!) Interestingly, I dreamt that I had tested the one thing that will have to work to make the project successful, and, in the dream, it worked. Here's hoping!
However, what I REALLY need to be working on is getting something to wear at the tea party that we're throwing at BayCon over Memorial Day weekend. (Eeep! Con starts 3 weeks from today!) This year's theme is the movie Bladerunner, which means Hispanic-Asian fusion futuristic retro-40s. (Got all that?) Fortunately, I probably only need period shoes, as I'll be wearing a lab coat over the rest. With luck, I'll be able to shop online. Wish me luck!
Oh! I forgot to mention that Yarn Monkey has announce a new Sock War for this summer! Ye-haw!
First, I haven't made any progress on the table cloth, but at least I took some pics:
The pattern; close-up There's one of these designs in each corner of the table cloth.
Current progress; close-ups 1 and 2
And, if you're really interested, I posted pics (1, 2, 3) of the back of the work, too.
I've also made some real progress on the Lobster-Pretzel scarf; edging.
(Sorry for the out of focus pics.) Why lobsters? Why pretzels? Why together? Hard to explain. Old friend, old jokes. But I do like the way it's coming out. It's interesting, though; I've always heard that knitted stitches aren't square, so you need special graph paper to make charted designs. Turns out that in this, as in so much else, I'm odd: my lobster, taken off someone's Flickr site and run through this (totally cool and free!) program, is oddly squashed. Looks like I would have been better off w/ standard graph paper, after all. (Too late, I remembered that I've done a lot of designs in the past involving color work that I charted out on regular graph paper, and never noticed any distortion. Weird.)
The other important thing about this scarf is that it represents a turning point for me as a designer. I had almost finished one lobster, using a pretzel-esque (boy! I didn't think when I got up this morning that I would be using a word like that!) trim that I got from one of Nicky Epstein's edging books, and I realized the trim just wasn't pretzel-y enough. Add to that, the fact that I couldn't do math (hey! I was getting sick!) and had not centered the design and I was unhappy enough to just frog the whole thing and start again. In the past, I would have let it lay, despite my tendencies to perfectionism, but being willing to do this, I think, means that I'm starting to understand the whole knitting design thang in a way I hadn't before. (Still wasn't willing to frog again, so I could re-chart the lobster, but hey! It's progress!) I'm now about 2/5 done with the second lobster, and hope to finish it this weekend. After that, it'll just be knitting from both ends towards the middle, making textured sections for the rest of the scarf, with maybe some more simple colorwork (like stripes) included, if there's enough of the black left. Will keep you posted.
Next, we have Sock Madness. Metal 00 needles not withstanding, I have finally finished my first Mad Weave. You know, the Round 4 socks. When Round 6 starts today. Sigh. Really hoped I could keep up, but it was not to be. Still, I will have all the patterns, and have already bought all the yarn, so they should all get finished. Eventually.
What else? Have not made much progress on the tea cozies. Finished the one in circular brioche stitch, but it came out way too small, plus I mis-read the start of the pattern, so I think I will just pitch that one (or maybe give it to my daughter; might fit her other toy tea pot) as there isn't enough yarn to worry about frogging it. Next time, I'll try the two-color brioche, as I think it will make it a little more interesting. And, sigh, I was actually supposed to have given out the first tea cozy, to Kate at her party last weekend. But the party was cancelled and I forgot to take the present (tea cozy and socks) to the dinner that replaced it. Aren't I a little young for senility to be setting in?
Other than that, I made a little progress on Sam's self-striping socks to match a pair I made for me, am almost finished with the re-do of this tea cozy in reversed colors (with pattern corrections), and have realized that I probably have enough left-over brown and associated color yarns to do a poncho for Sam. (Realized that we had bought her new clothes in brown and orange, but she had no jacket/sweater/wrap to go with them. Figure I can do up a quick poncho in stripes of brown, tan, and white. I even have about half a skein of a varigated brown. Cool! Stash rules!)
Got one more project that I haven't decided if I'm going to try to sell to knitty.com, so can't blog about it or show pics. Will probably decide that selling it would be too much work, but am not there yet. (Plus, I hate keeping secrets!) Interestingly, I dreamt that I had tested the one thing that will have to work to make the project successful, and, in the dream, it worked. Here's hoping!
However, what I REALLY need to be working on is getting something to wear at the tea party that we're throwing at BayCon over Memorial Day weekend. (Eeep! Con starts 3 weeks from today!) This year's theme is the movie Bladerunner, which means Hispanic-Asian fusion futuristic retro-40s. (Got all that?) Fortunately, I probably only need period shoes, as I'll be wearing a lab coat over the rest. With luck, I'll be able to shop online. Wish me luck!
Oh! I forgot to mention that Yarn Monkey has announce a new Sock War for this summer! Ye-haw!
posted by Bridget @ 9:33 AM
<< Home