re-knitting

I heard from a few people via email after I had already started re-knitting the shawl. As you can tell from the picture, it's not that different now that it's knitted correctly but I feel better about it. I'll probably just use the first try as a swatch unless I run out of yarn.

Attempt #1 started 10/16 and ended 10/24 at row 53. Attempt #2 started 10/24 and, after squeezing in a couple of hours of knitting over the last three days, I'm already on row 45. (Picture taken last night at row 34.) This really isn't that hard! I can do this! I took more pictures but for some reason Blogger will only let me post one.

(The top of the shawl looks lumpy on the picture on Elann's page, too. I really could have just blocked what I had but I was too impatient... Oh well.)

All of my knitting projects have been kind of lying around the apartment because I've been running around like a madwoman lately. My husband and I are in the process of buying a house and it's not far from where I work so I've been the one meeting with people at odd hours. I'm fine with it because it's speeding up the process, but it's taking up a lot of my time. On top of all of this was my sister's wedding. Everything turned out beautifully on Saturday: we stayed at a suite on the water the night before (with a stunning view of the NYC skyline), had a lovely sunny day, and took pictures at a park (complete with lake, ducks, and Fall foliage) on the way to the reception. Very nice!

Anyway, that's why I haven't been posting much lately or finishing any projects! That'll all end soon enough, I promise. I have projects floating around in my head and it's only a matter of time until I add them to my WIP pile. First up I think I'm going to make my friend's niece a hat; she's a toddler and the project will fly off of my needles and give me a sense of accomplishment.

After that I'd really like to make my mom a gift for either Christmas or her birthday. She's a tough one to knit for because she can't wear silk and thinks wool is scratchy. Ha! To disprove that last statement, I think I'm going to mail her a swatch of the yarn I'm using for the Flower Petal Shawl (which I fully intend to have done in November). It's really soft and I want to make sure she likes whatever yarn I use for her next gift. Last Christmas she was the proud recipient of my very first sweater, a green acrylic cardigan. I promised myself that I'd make her something nicer next time around--and out of much better yarn. I'm still trying to come up with something. So far, this pink scarf is at the top of my list. I don't see her as a shawl person, but maybe she would be if I made one for her.

hmmmm...

Here's what I have so far. I was on row 20-something when I realized that I was slipping stitches purlwise instead of knitwise and that I was increasing on the edge stitch instead of one stitch in.
I didn't rip it out...I just did it right from that point on. Now I'm up to row 54 and I think the corrected part looks so much better than the beginning. I don't know if blocking will flatten it out or not but I'm at the end of the first ball of yarn and I'm seriously considering casting on again (on a different circ) to see if there's a noticeable difference when it's done right from the first row. What do you think?

Flower Petal Shawl has begun

I started the Flower Petal Shawl on Monday and don't know how I feel about knitting lace. I figured out the pattern but pre-blocked lace looks so blobby that I keep second-guessing myself. It doesn't look like much just yet but at least the yarn doesn't shed on my black dress pants. Always a plus. :)

I'm used to looking at my WIPs and admiring stitches or noticing mistakes so lace knitting takes some getting used to. As I was making all of the YOs, K2togs, and PSSOs, I remembered that I HAVE made lace before. Twice to be exact. One of my very first projects was the lace bookmark from about.com's webpage. At the time I didn't know it was lace and I think I pulled too tightly because it looked so gappy. I must have done something wrong because those bookmarks are long gone. My second attempt is, of course, the feather and fan baby blanket I'm still making. Nevertheless, this shawl is making me a little nervous.

It started with the gauge swatch. I cast on with size 9 needles, as recommended. The stockinette swatch didn't come out to the right size so I went up to size 10. It still wasn't 4" but would look stupid if I went any larger. I'm hoping I made the right decision by just going with it. I bought an extra ball of yarn so if it looks too small I can just add on to the pattern, right?

Tonight didn't help ease my stress: I noticed I forgot to do something about 10 sts back so I started tinking. I thought I accidently swooped my needle under a bar so I pulled it off and tinked some more. Until I hit another swoop. Hmm, something wasn't right. Maybe the fact that the swoops were spaced symmetically and were really YOs from a previous row. AH! I don't know if I fixed it properly and will probably have to wait until tomorrow to find out. I work late tonight, have my long drive home, and then get to watch the DVR'ed episode of Lost.

This is all kind of nerve-wracking. I'm knitting with crossed fingers, if that's possible. ;)

It arrived!

Elann is quick! Eight balls of Peruvian Pure Alpaca were sitting outside of my door this afternoon.


The pattern only calls for seven but I've started buying an extra ball of everything just in case. The color is much nicer in person and I chose red because I'm hoping to wear the shawl during the holidays. :)

missing sweater back & blanket repair

I’ve finally gotten to the waist on the front of my tank. Before work, I went to throw the back of it into my bag so I could make sure the shaping matched up on both sides and...it’s nowhere to be found!! I looked in my (full-sized, wicker) knitting hamper, my knitting basket, and my various knitting bags with no luck. One of the bags that I bring to work is also MIA so I’m hoping to find it in there. I spent 2 ½ hours cleaning my apartment yesterday and never saw it so I’m a little worried. Hmmm...

Another mild catastrophe occurred this morning when I went on break. As I got situated, a co-worker walked by and I pulled the blanket out of my bag to show it to her. The point protector fell off and as I tried to make sure I didn’t lose any stitches, the interchangeable needle disconnected from the cord! About 2 ½ inches fell off the needle and of course it was the row where I had done all the lacy increases and decreases. She saw the panic on my face and asked if I had a crochet hook, etc. She walked away and I spent at least half of my short break fixing the problem. I used a stitch holder to catch the stitches that had fallen off (luckily they had just slipped off, not dropped), tinked back to the hole, slid the sts from the stitch holder to the working needle, and tinked another stitch or two for good measure. When I re-knit the work, you couldn’t even tell anything happened! Whew.

iPod disruption

My iPod was broken so I couldn't knit. I know that sounds kind of ridiculous but it's true. I knit to podcasts, music, or TV. I cannot knit in silence unless I really need to concentrate on the pattern: every 4th row of the baby blanket (the one with the yarnovers and K2togs) or an argyle chart, for example. The problem has been resolved and I've done about 15 rows of the camisole and three or four repeats of the blankie.

I've gotten a little bored with these two looong projects. My fingers have been itching for a new project and last night I broke down and bought the yarn for the Flower Petal Shawl I was eyeing a few posts back. I hope to get the yarn on Monday.