We have the technology

My husband is knitting his first pair of socks. It's going quite well.

But for some reason, he decided to cast on for sock #2 before finishing sock #1. (Actually, I do know the reason - it's two-fold. Firstly, he wanted to avoid the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome that he's heard all too much about; and secondly, he had already forgotten how to do the long-tail cast-on and wanted a refresher.) So he dipped into my (rather substantial) collection of 2.75mm DPNs to cast on with.

However, he was really unsure about the gauge of them. Some of them fit very well into the 2.75mm hole of my needle gauge, others were a bit tight for it, and some rattled around in it. All of them, however, refused to fit in the next size down on the gauge. He was forced to conclude two things: a) that the gauge itself was imprecise; and b) different manufacturers make different widths of needles but label them the same. These conclusions were even more obvious to him when he succeeded in forcing some of my 3mm DPNs through the 2.75mm hole in the needle gauge.

(Those of us who have been around knitting needles and gauges for a while will probably react to my husband's discoveries with the phrase, "Well, duh," but it was quite an unpleasant surprise for him.)

So, what does he do to get more accurate readings of the sizes of my needles? Well, he goes down to his workshop (he's a custom golf club fitter and maker) and brings up this handy piece of gadgetry that he's owned for I don't know how long:



That, my friends, is a freakin' electronic caliper. It measures, to one one-hundredth of a millimetre, how wide something is. Can you imagine? Something that devastatingly useful to a knitter and he's been holding out on me all this time?!?

When he realised how excited I was about this tool, he got very glum. He knew this meant it would probably start living in the workroom with all my knitting stuff instead of down in his workshop where it belongs. So far, he's been right.

Self-pattern socks #whatever for DH

Once I realised I could use DH's electronic caliper tool to measure knitting needle diameters, I went on the hunt for a DPN in my collection which would match the one I was using for these socks, which I broke.

Sadly, no dice. The needles I was using all measure about 2.53mm, and the closest thing I have measures 2.61mm (2.59mm if I really squeeze the caliper). If I were knitting plain socks, I would just use the 2.61mm as a replacement and keep going on the sock. However, since this is self-patterning, the small difference in needle width is probably going to result in fraternal socks.

Blast.

So, I'm going to rip all of sock #1 out and restart with needles which are all the same size.

(It's not that bad. I really like the colourway and don't think I'll mind working it all over again.)

'Honey, I lost my hat' Hat

Somewhere in the last week or so, DH misplaced his hat. He has no idea where it is. (The same goes for his reading glasses, about which I am even less thrilled, since they are rather more expensive to replace.) So I measured his head (23"), grabbed some black Red Heart Comfort (100% acrylic, thick worsted weight) from the stash and some 4.5mm DPNs, swatched, and whipped up a hat.



The pattern was devastatingly simple. I cast on 100 stitches and worked K1, P1 rib for 24 rows. Then I started stocking stitch, increasing into every 10th stitch on the first knit round so I was doing stocking stitch with 110 stitches. I knit until I figured it was a good time to start the decreasing (although in hindsight I should have worked about an inch more in stocking stitch). The decreasing went as follows:

Row 1: *K8, K2tog, repeat from * to end.
Row 2 and every even row: K.
Row 3: *K7, K2tog, repeat from * to end.
Row 5: *K6, K2tog, repeat from * to end.

I continued decreasing in this pattern until I was doing K2tog across the entire row. Then I knit another row plain, at which point I had 11 stitches. The final row was: K1, (K2tog) 5 times. Then I cut the yarn, drew the tail through the remaining 6 stitches, wove in the ends, and - tadah! - DH had a hat after a few hours of work. Easy as pie. Happy and grateful husband.

(He rather foolishly, however, semi-complained about the blackness and worsted weightness of the yarn. I think, when I said I would knit him a replacement hat, he had envisioned something kinda fancy. Right. Christmas is coming up, he loses his hat, I manage to fit knitting a replacement in, and he wants fancy?!? I effectively told him to shut it and stop complaining about the free hat. :) If he wants a 'fancy' one, I'll make him one in the new year.)

Elizabethan Jacket for MIL

Hey, guess what? (Tumblina, warning...you're probably about to get hit in the heart yet again. Sorry to kick you like this when you're in the middle of vest purgatory.) I sewed in the sleeves:



Once again, I sing the praises of using binder clips for 'basting' your knitting garments together. They're the poor knitter's Knit Klips (children's hairclips would probably also work well in a pinch). They make sewing things in, especially really pain-in-the-ass stuff like set-in-sleeves, VASTLY easier.

Once the sleeves were sewn in, I was faced with a truly frightening number of ends:



This picture does not convey how bad it was. There were a lot of ends. It took a looong time to get rid of them all.

And then there were the steeks to lash into place. That was also a helluva job. There were ten of them, and of course every time I started a new length of yarn with the sewing of them, I had to weave in each end of that length. Blech. But, it got done:



Oh, and did I mention the buttons? Yeah, there were fourteen of the friggin' things:



So hey, guess what?


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Back


Interior (for you finishing freaks)

I love, love, LOVE it.

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

I have two completed sleeves! Plus, the shoulder seams have been sewn, and at the moment I am working on the neck ridge. I'm using the last bits of the lighter dark blue for this, and unfortunately am running out fast. There's no way I'm going to have enough to do all 1.5" that the ridge needs. Fortunately, the ridge is formed by folding over that 1.5", so that only the first 0.75" or so that gets knitted is actually visible, and I think I miiiiight have enough of the lighter dark blue to do that. (After which I'm planning to switch to the darker dark blue.) I could be wrong, though...stay tuned.

Inside-out comfort socks for BIL#1

Done! Finished last Sunday:

Back to reality

Thanks, guys, for the compliments on DD2's cuteness! I am actually quite surprised that we haven't all melted down into puddles around here yet, because she is cutecutecute like that pretty much all the time; and when you throw in the audio - adorable squeals and babbling - it just gets downright ridiculous. The best is when DD1 eggs on her giggles by making faces and jumping up and down. That's hands-down the BEST part of having more than one kid, when they find joy in each other. I am particularly lucky in that area because they adore each other. It's actually quite shocking, the lack of sibling jealousy/resentment in my home. (I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.)

(Okay, I'll pause here to get over my vorklemptness. Talk amongst yourselves. Startitis: sign of a creative and inspired knitter, or classic indication of a dilettantish procrastinator? Discuss.)

Alright, I'm back.

Although, speaking of cute, how great is this kid?

Well, as we all know, the crunch is coming down, with barely more than a month to go before The Big Holiday. Jo made me feel sooo much better about my current bout of Startitis by telling me I was not the only one. (Yes, I'm equally as bad!) The J really hit the nail on the head when she wrote, "non-pressure knitting isn't nearly so much fun as it is when you've got other things you should be doing!" How true it is. Lady, I'm sorry you are feeling a lack of inspiration right now...maybe you should try whipping up some Christmas knitting, that will probably make your other WIPs seem curiously appealing. Or, maybe look at other people's projects? (Hey, Elyse recently visited and found my Persian Tiles shawl inspirational, thank you so much, Elyse!) For inspiration, I prescribe a healthy dose of Ravelry. :)

Ragna for brother

No additional work has been done on this since the last entry, and I am resolved to keep it that way. I must admit that I had this crazy idea in the back of my head that if my gift idea for him this year didn't work out, I would somehow be able to whip up this sweater for him in time. (An intricately cabled sweater with a 50" chest and numerous other Christmas projects to complete. Yeah. My self-delusional abilities know no bounds.) However, I was fortunately able to get what I wanted to get him this year on eBay more-or-less within budget (a 1GB MP3/MP4 iPod knockoff...he will love it and I will be the best sister ever; it may even top last year's triumph, which was the Russell Peters 'Outsourced' DVD). Therefore, Ragna as a backup plan can now fall to the wayside.

Really.

Shut up, I'm serious.

Elizabethan Jacket for MIL

I did it. I got out the iron, ironing board and a wet towel, and did what had to be done. We now have pleats on the darts:



I also did a little steam ironing of the collar so it would generally stay put instead of sticking straight up.

As a bonus, I used the iron to hem the new kitchen curtains. They no longer drag on the ground - hurray!

I've also cut up the sleeve steeks. Next up: sewing them in. Blech.

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

One sleeve down!



And one sleeve in progress:


(pictured next to sleeve #1 so you don't think I'm recycling photos)

Self-patterning socks #whatever for DH

I think someone's trying to tell me something. And that something is, "STOP WORKING ON THESE SOCKS ALREADY AND GET BACK TO YOUR PRIORITY KNITTING!!!"

First, as I mentioned in my last entry, I lost the fourth needle, so work stalled. But then I found it while taking photos for the blog, so work proceeded. Then I broke the tip off of one of the needles. Did work stall again? Hell, no. Turns out I can still use a DPN for socks if there's only one tip. Lifted increases are harder when the broken needle is the left hand needle, but it can be done. So I kept at it and made good progress. I really like the striping - I haven't even come to the end of a full colour cycle yet!



Unfortunately, yesterday evening I broke the other tip off of the same needle. And that definitely screws me.

Jack and Jill for DD1

I had originally started casting on with some leftover variegated yarn from another project. It's got lovely turquoises and lavenders in it, and it matched beautifully with some lavender sportweight that I have more than enough of kicking around in my stash. Alas, it became pretty obvious just casting on that there was not enough of the variegated left, so I had to try again with something else. Here's what I came up with:



Not bad. I think DD1 will like it. I just have to crochet the edges (including buttonholes) at the back, find some buttons and sew them on.

Inside-out comfort socks for BIL#1

Finished off the top ribbing on the leg today and cast off. I had DH (whose feet, as you may recall from previous descriptions of my detective work in this area, seem to be slightly longer and possibly thinner than his brother's) try it on. Alas, it was too long, although otherwise a good fit. I needed to remove six rows to make it fit DH, so I figured removing eight rows would be good for BIL. So I was faced with the prospect of cutting part of the foot and grafting it back together.

Most unfortunately, I decided to get fancy and graft before cutting. I thought this would make it easier. It did not. Once I got to the cutting part I found it was extremely hard to figure out where to cut, and I also found that some of my grafting had spliced some of the strands I was supposed to be getting rid of. All in all, it was an unmitigated disaster and I went through a fair bit of Grafting Hell before getting back on track. I now have one completed sock (although ends still have to be woven in).

Self-designed hat/mitts for Ariel Potwin

We got a call yesterday from my MIL, who told us that DH's cousin's wife had recently given birth to their second daughter. I had originally intended to make overalls for them, but I procrastinated on that way too badly, so instead I'm going to send them a hat-and-mittens set of my own design that I finished a while back but haven't given to anyone yet. It's very cute and I hope they'll like it.

Crazy

What does an intelligent, forward-thinking knitter, with seven urgent projects on the go and less than a month and a half to go before Christmas, do? Why, cast on two new pairs of socks that have nothing to do with holiday giving, of course...

Self-patterning socks #3 for moi

I couldn't resist starting to work with some of the sock yarn I treated myself to on my birthday, just to see how it would stripe. Well, this is how it stripes:



I'm not as crazy about it as the striping I had imagined in my head, based on what the yarn looked like in the ball, but I'm still going to enjoy the socks.

Self-patterning socks #whatever for DH

And after casting on the first ball of new sock yarn, well, the cat was already among the pixies, so what the hey, I cast on with the second ball, too. Work stalled, though. This is not, unfortunately, because I have the willpower and sense of responsibility that would enable me to resist a non-deadline project. It is simply because I couldn't find the fourth needle. I think I did spot it, however, this morning while taking knitting pictures.

Dumbass. Why do I do this to myself? Why?

But wait...it gets even better.

Ragna for brother

Knitters Attic is moving to a new location, and they had a pre-opening sale in the new spot this past weekend. I bought 10 balls each of Magic Garden Allsorts in a bright, strong blue, and Patons Canadiana in navy. The Allsorts doesn't really have a purpose yet, although I have generalized thoughts of making something really comfy and cosy for DD2.

The Canadiana, however, has a definite purpose. I bought it to make Ragna for my brother. I would have preferred to make it out of something more natural, but I had been forewarned (and strenuously so) by my mom that my brother's laundering skills are extremely limited. Apparently, he just dumps stuff in the machine without checking the care instructions. Anything requiring handwashing or, heaven forbid, blocking, was going to be ruined in very short order. So, acrylic it had to be. And at $2 per 100g ball for the Canadiana, I had my clear winner.

So yes, you guessed it, I couldn't resist and cast on for the sweater.

The pathetic thing is that this is going to be a gift for next Christmas. For heaven's sake, I have knitting time crunch for Christmas 2007 going on and I cast on for something planned for Christmas 2008? I suck.

The sweater, on the other hand, is looking pretty good. I'm working on the flappy bits right now to start:



I'm not enjoying the knitting as much as I could because the yarn is pretty squeaky. But the finished fabric feels good.

Fortunately, I'm not a complete moron. I do have excellent panic knitting progress to report as well.

(Oh, and Brigitte? This is all further proof that you should never feel bad about your WIP table. :)

Fair isle tank top

All sizes have been knitted! (Carrie K, there were five.) All measurements have been taken! All photographs have been snapped! This has enabled me to release the needles I was using back into the projects from which they were stolen. All that's left is to take the all notes I jotted down as I went, and incorporate them back into the pattern instructions; package all the graphics and photographs together; plug the pattern into Knitty's submission template; write up a submission email; take a deep, fortifying breath; and hit 'send'.

Elizabethan Jacket

A few more ends have been sewn in. What I'm really procrastinating about is taking out the ironing board and iron, wetting a towel, and pressing the pleats down on the darts. It will be a dull and awkward task and I'm not looking forward to it. However, it must be done, and then I can sew in the sleeves. Maybe I'll kill two birds with one stone and hem up my new kitchen curtains at the same time.

And thanks very much, everyone, for your comments and compliments on the project.

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

Well, The J and Carrie K both like the striping on the sleeves exactly the way it is, so now that I've freed up the Denise cable for the project, I've forged ahead. We have sleeve progress:

Herdis for niece

This project is another winner of having finished all the sizes for the fair isle tank top - I was able to put the 4mm points back on the cable that was holding the left front of Herdis, and finish it. Actually...more than finish it, to be brutally honest - I went eight rows too far. It's supposed to be the same length as the back, and I miscounted how many rows I finished on the back, so... Well. It won't be that hard to rip back.

Pixie Outfit

This is doll clothes item number 2 of 3 (no, they are not Borg) which will be gifted to my elder daughter for Christmas. I originally started the project using some emerald green yarn from the stash. I thought I had enough, but as I ran out before even finishing the first leg, I was grievously mistaken. So I switched to some royal blue instead.



Want a close-up of those buttons? I made 'em myself out of polymer clay some years ago:



Just gotta sew them on and figure out buttonholes (the pattern tells you to crochet them on, but I don't think that will make the button bands match up very well), and then I'll be done!

Inside-out comfort socks

I ripped back what I'd originally done on the leg, and the heel, and then ripped back the foot to the correct starting point for the heel. I then did the heel a second time, and re-started the leg. I'm now working on the top ribbing.

Snuggly romper for DD2

And finally, we have a project that was finished long ago, but which only recently became the right size for its intended recipient.



I can't stand how adorable she is in this thing. It's pure cuddle inspiration. Okay, I can't resist. One more shot:

How it's going

Mendocino for DD1

I now have pictures!


'in action'


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Fair isle tank top

Serious relief over here at Insanity headquarters. For awhile there, I lost the notes I took for the 24-month size. I looked all over in a bunch of logical (and some not-so-logical) places and I could not find the piece of paper. Finally I did a desperate hunt in one last illogical-but-sorta-logical place, and to my INTENSE relief...there it was. Phew! I did NOT want to have to make it again. I was worried that I or another member of my family had pitched it in the recycling.

Anyway, the 18-month and 12-month sizes have been done, measured and photographed. Next up: to rip back the 12-month size and start the 6-month size. I'm getting closer! I'm very excited.

Lacy Ribs Scarf

I came to the end of the ball and I'm not even at two feet on the scarf yet. So I think I'm going to rip it back (again) and re-start with one fewer rib pattern in the width.

Elizabethan Jacket for MIL

Coming along bee-yewtifully:



The collar is done, the button and buttonhole bands are done, and the front and back neckline steeks have been lashed into place. The monumental task of weaving in ends has begun, and I've begin to cut up armscye steeks in preparation for sewing in the sleeves (one of my least favourite sewing tasks in the world). My heart is starting to quail at all the sewing and weaving I have ahead of me, but we're definitely closer to the finish line now.

Branching out for DD1's teacher

Done! Here it is blocking:



Hey, the observant among you may ask, did she buy blocking wires? Nope! My husband made those wires just for me (he just cut off lengths of a sufficiently thick-gauge wire and filed down the edges so they wouldn't catch on the knitting). They work very nicely and I like them a lot.

The scarf itself has blocked out to slightly shy of four feet long, and looks absolutely delicious.

Inside-out comfort socks

My BIL#1 and MIL visited last weekend (yes, I hid both of their knitting project presents), and while BIL was distracted, I checked out his shoe size (8). Then I got DH to come over and try on his brother's shoes. The verdict is that BIL's feet are slightly shorter than my husband's, but also a touch wider. So I did a calculation about how many rows the heel would take before the turn, how much length that would work out to, and then figured out that I needed to start the heel shaping when the foot was about 8" long, based on the fact that I knew my husband's feet were 10.5" long.

Last night I turned the heel and was happily working my way up the leg when the subject of my husband's feet being 10.5" long came up.

"Where did you get that number?" he asked, surprised. I told him that I had measured his feet some time ago, and memorized the number.

We brought out a ruler. His feet are actually 10 inches long.

(insert your choice of expletive here - I was certainly thinking them all)

So I will be ripping back all the leg I've done, the heel, and some of the foot, until it's about a quarter- to a half-inch shorter than it was when I started the heel shaping the first time.

Grumble grumble.



Farewell.

Kilt hose

I brought the one sock I'd made into the shop and compared it with the original that the guy from the band left. It's smaller, so I figure next time I'll make it with 5mm or 5.5mm needles instead of 4.5. I left it there in case the guy comes back.

Foot-pampering socks for moi

This has been seeing some work when I'm stalled on other things and just want something quick to pick up. I think I'm going to start the heel flap at the end of the current colour stripe.

"Old knitters never die..."

The grandmother of one of my mom's friends recently died, and left a fairly big collection of needles. The granddaughter didn't know what on earth to do with them, so my mom took them for me. I know what to do with them.

I haven't quite finished sorting them all out because I've only used a UK gauge on them so far - I need to use my American gauge to determine more precisely the sizes of some of the needles. But a few things are clear. Firstly, I didn't need to buy two sets of 2.75mm DPNs at the store last Sunday (oh, well); secondly, I am not going to run out of sock needles anytime soon; and thirdly, my concerns about not having enough DPNs for a larger-than-four-people sock class have completely vanished.

Also in knitting inheritance news, a few weeks ago, the neighbour across the hall from my parents unfortunately died. Since then, my dad has been helping the woman's sons clean out her condo. Turns out she was a hoarder (we inherited a large package of toilet paper), and also a knitter. My mother says there are over 100 balls of yarn waiting for me to pick up when we have next have dinner at my parents'. (!!!) Most of it is acrylic, but some of it is wool, and a little bit of it is mohair. I'm going to keep a little bit of the stash for myself, but most of it is going to better causes:

Someone posted to the GTA forum on Ravelry telling the story of a librarian teacher at an inner city school (i.e. no money) in Toronto. She's started up a knitting club for the school kids in an effort to keep them out of trouble. 70 kids showed up on the first day to check it out. 40 kids signed up to be in the club on a long-term basis. This was a vastly larger turnout than they were expecting, so they're kind of screwed for needles and yarn for the kids. Therefore, I have emailed the teacher offering the excess of needles and yarn that I now have. (If you, too, have an excess of knitting supplies you'd like to donate, send me your email address at wipinsanity at gmail daht calm, and I'll pass it along to the teacher so she can get in touch with you.)

I love being able to help!

In other news, DH picked up some sock yarn at the store at the same time as he was shopping for my birthday gift. Funnily enough, it's the exact same yarn I used to make these socks for him. I taught him the long tail cast-on, told him how many stitches to cast on, and how to start the ribbing, and away he went on DPNs. He's very slow, but he's doing it. I'm so proud. (Pictures to come when there's something significant to photograph.)

Moving forward on my plans to try and make money from my knitting, I set up a business account at PayPal, and a free account at Payloadz. This combination will enable me to offer paid patterns for download! Very exciting stuff. I don't have anything to offer yet, but stay tuned.

Mendocino for DD1

On Monday, I finally got off my heinie while DD1 was at school and gave the thing a 45-minute soak in Eucalan. Then I blocked it, picking off as many bits of pumpkin patch dirt from DD1's field trip as possible. Therefore, I can now say that it is, at long last, officially finished! Hooray!

Photographs forthcoming - I don't think I have time to do them now because I'm trying to finish this entry before DD2 wakes up.

Lacy Ribs scarf for Mercedes

About a month ago I think it was, I blogged about having taken home some Nobile yarn from ONLine as a possible contender for a top I'm designing. It turned out not to be a good fit, so now I have this ball of Nobile sitting around not doing anything. Mercedes at the shop told me I could turn it into a scarf for her instead. So that's what I'm doing. I've cobbled together a bit of ribbing, garter stitch, and one of the lace motifs redacted from my daughter's fuzzy white blanket, and I'm getting something that looks pretty cool, although I'm still fiddling with the design in order to be able to get a full-sized scarf out of just two balls (there is not a whole lotta yardage with this yarn).

Once I finish the scarf, I'm going to write out the instructions and print off some copies for the store to sell. I'm also planning to make it available online as my first sellable item from my Payloadz account. I'm pretty excited about having a 'product'!

Doll's Wardrobe skirt for DD1's doll

Done!


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Ain't it purty? One article of doll clothing down...two to go.

Inside-out comfort socks for BIL#1

A number of months back, my elder BIL was hanging out at our place, and I happened to look at his socks. I noticed pretty quickly that they were inside out. When I mentioned this to him, he was completely unsurprised, and revealed that he does that on purpose. That way, the smooth, comfortable stocking stitch side of the socks is touching his feet. Naturally I was instantly inspired to knit him a pair of socks where all the ends were woven in on the stocking stitch side, so that he could wear them with the reverse stocking stitch facing out without the socks looking so blatantly inside-out. In the summer I found some terrific sock yarn that I thought he would really like, so I decided to make him some "inside-out" socks for Christmas. This week, I started them. I am knitting them inside-out. No way am I going to purl an entire pair of socks.

They do seem a little big to me so far, though. I'm going to compare them to some of DH's socks to see if I need to rip back and stop the toe increasing earlier.

Fair isle tank top

To my disgust, I realised that I had misaligned the two different stranded motifs on the 18-month size, and had to rip back most of it. However, I've now finished the stranded colourwork component and am about to start on the skirt.

Elizabethan Jacket for MIL

The approach of Hallowe'en and the huge amount of Christmas projects I've taken on has thrown me into a bit of a Christmas panic. This panic gave me the chutzpah I needed to do the blocking last night (which also involved cutting two of the steeks). It looks absolutely marvellous - it blocked more-or-less to the required measurements and all the ugly rippling and puckering is gone:

Branching out for DD1's teacher

Bit by bit, I keep going on this.

Kilt hose

Last time I was at Knitters Attic, Mercedes said that someone had come into the shop asking about getting someone to knit kilt hose for their bagpiping troupe (or band, or something like that), and how much it would cost. Apparently they used to have a lady who made kilt hose for them, but she's died and they need someone else to do it. The guy dropped off an example of a sock she'd made to give us an idea of what needed to be done. I redacted the pattern and tried it out (I love a challenge). The result?





Not too shabby, eh? It may be acrylic, but it's really comfortable. I timed myself on how long the sock took - 5 hours and 45 minutes (more or less). That means I could do a pair in 11.5 hours.

What would you charge for something like that?