Sunday, September 04, 2011

Plans in action

Secret sample
Triumph - this is finished! Now I have to add in all my changes to my pattern write-up, do a photo shoot and send the sample piece off. I'm pretty excited, even though I'm not sure how fast I can get all of that done.

Twin blanket for DD2
Slowly coming along. I've even started sewing the pieces together. Well, not so much sewing as three-needle-bind-offing. That gives me a seam that stretches more like how the rest of the knitting stretches, which I like. And now that I have a more accurate idea of how big this thing will be once it all comes together, I think I can get away with a lot fewer pieces. Specifically, 77 hexagons, 6 half-hexagons and 18 edge triangles. This means I might actually get the blanket finished in this century, not to mention that I might actually not run out of white yarn like I thought I was going to.

Lavender yarn for the edging, however, is a totally different story. After consulting DD2, I will be combining two really sweet motifs - a textured butterfly and a nice lace edging, both from Nicky Epstein books, one from "Knitting over the Edge", one from "Knitting on the Edge" (although I can't remember which one is from which book). I've figured out how I want to combine them and have charted it all out. Based on this, I estimate the edging will be about 8" wide, and I really don't think the 445 yards of lavender I bought is going to be sufficient for it.

Here's how the pieces looked last week, just sitting next to each other:
In progress, 2011-08-29

Right now, however, I'm much further ahead (19 hexagons, 1 half-hexagon and 3 edge triangles, with all pieces but the half-hexagon and two edge triangles pieced together), even though I don't have photographic evidence of that yet.

Miss Dashwood for DD3
Since I was coming along so well on my other priority stuff, I gave myself permission to start this on Saturday night. It is a very fast knit, because here's what it looks like now:

In progress, 2011-09-04

The only problem is that I'm not getting gauge, so it's rather too large. I was shooting for the 6-12 month size so that she could wear it next summer, but instead I've ended up with a hat circumference that is only marginally smaller than the 1-2 year size is supposed to be. Given what a fast knit this is, I'm strongly tempted to solve this problem by ripping the whole thing out and doing it all over again, this time following the 3-6 month size instructions. This - if my gauge remains consistent - should give me a hat which is roughly the circumference that the 6-12 month size is supposed to be. The only problem with this plan is that the cotton I'm using is rather hard on my hands and my right knuckles have started to ache nastily while using it. Oh, well.

1 comment:

Danielle Baines said...

I must admit that I'm a "rip it out and start again" person. Why agonize over the perfect yarn (and part with hard earned money) only to end up with something that is not exactly what you wanted? For example, the Anthemion wrap that I started last week has also been the better part of two pullovers and a cardigan, as well as the bottom edge of an entirely different wrap. Currently it has reverted to a puddle of string because I realized half way through chart B that the gauge really was too small and blocking alone wouldn't fix it.

And Elizabeth's blanket looks fabulous!