Christmas Knitting In July

Yes, it is almost too cliche, but the Holiday Knitting has begun. I have decided that the afghan, in shades of grey, will become a man gift. Progress is slow, due to excitement of other projects for me. Things I need completed so that I can wear in the fall.

This F&F is worked with three rows of garter after the three rows of YOs & decreases. The whole effect is less delicate than if all those rows are stockinette. Not rough, mind you. Just less delicate. Perfect for the man I have in mind.

This Managhan is actually the fourth gray UFO sitting around. What are the others? Well, there is the skirt that is almost finished - but for 4 inches of crochet. Then there is a FLS in a soft and undulating 50% silk. And still one sleeve to set in on the cabled cardigan from way back here.

I sure hope that having so many gray projects does not say anything worrisome about my psyche. I am not a gray person. Maybe it is just that my personality is so colorful that it overwhelms the spectrum around me. Could that be it?

Nope. Can't be. I bought new sock yarn yesterday and it is definitely NOT GRAY!

Lace Makes The Skirt

Finally, a picture of the dull grey skirt of endless ribbing. But see how beautiful the lace makes all that nothing? I am actually farther along with the lace than this photo shows.

It is just that the thrill of anything other than k1p1k1p1k1p1k1p1k1p1.... was worth snapping a pix.

The lace portion will be about the same depth as the upper ribbed modesty portion. Having knitted for so long, and now crocheting with the same yarn, I am reminded how expensive it is to crochet with the good stuff. I am only four rounds into the crochet and already feeling panic about having enough yarn. Mind you the skirt stash still has 600+ yards hiding in the closet. Crochet really eats up the yards quicker than you can pour a glass of pinot.

With visions of the completed skirt dancing about in my imagination, the cost of the Louisa Harding Kashmir DK seemed irrelevant. Not much at all when put as a percentage of the yearly yarn budget. And, by using it up so quickly on the crochet lace, think of all the space that will be available in the yarn closet! I just might be forced to go out foraging for another goodly amount of something yummy just to fill in the blank spot where the grey sat. However, such visions of yarn yet to be acquired must wait for another time. For I must confess that, with hook in hand and a rapidly unwinding ball, I am beginning to feel 'dire panic, as I watch the stash dwindle so quickly.

Perhaps I shall to take myself out to an actually clothing store and price a custom made wool/cashmere skirt.

Now that little excursion will surely put the cost of the skirt yarn back into perspective! And put the sense of pure logic behind my next yarn purchase.

The Ribbing Is Over!

It was do or give up day. All of that endless ribbing for the beginning of my skirt had just about fried my brain. The little break to make the red seed stitch bag really helped. It helped so much that I kept the ribbing in second place and cast on for a February Lady Sweater which, for those who missed that craze, can be found here.

All of the increases on the FLS were done earlier this morning. Decision time was upon me. Either keep on with the lady sweater whilst ignoring the ribbing or just get it done. I chose the noble route and returned to the endless rounds of ribbing. So, I packed up the required tools and just enough yarn to finish and headed off to Knit 'n Stitch here in Riverside where there is always a table full of souls willing to make 'tsk, tsk' sounds over what ever needs to be tsk-ed.

And so, spured on by the industrious work being done by the loyal knitters, I did not give up. I worked, I chatted, I perused, I measured. And before you can say boring, it was done. Finished. Not only finished, but the bind off was accomplished - - loosely - - - and I even remembered to go up a few needle sizes so as not to loose the stretch.

I thought of posting a lovely photo of this top part of the skirt. But no one, especially me, wants to see a picture of that much dull grey ribbing.

Breaking Up k1p1 Boredom

I hate ribbing. Fundamentally hate the repetition of nothing. Same thing over and over and over again. Oh, you might surely tell me with some conviction that garter stitch is even less of the same thing over and over. We could have a lively debate over this topic. At least garter, which is I will admit even more repetitious than ribbing, has the monotony broken up by the occasional thrill of counting the resulting ridges. Ridges that can, in my little mind, mean that progress is in the works. But ribbing? Round and round of yet another round of the same old round with nary a horizontal ridge to break up the round and round of the same old round of nothing.

So, since the current project for moi is nothing but 1x ribbing ad infinitum, something else had to break up the boredom. Don't laugh, but I broke up the boredom of k1p1 with k1p1. How's that? What madness has taken over? Simple. It turns out that not all k1p1 equals ribbing.

Let me introduce the Moss stitch. Seed if you prefer. Leftover Bonsai from the Isolt became a little leftover bag.

The pattern is almost not worth writing down. Cast on enough stitches to give the width of choice. Purl one row. Row 2 is knit with eyelet button holes spaced as your heart desires. Purl row three. Work moss stitch until the length will result, when folded, a depth that is in harmony with the width. Work three rows of stockinette and bind off. Work crab stitch to close up sides. Sew fun buttons on the inside of the stockinette under the eyelet button holes.

Ta Da!

Off The Needles And On The Body

It is finished. The seaming turned out to be more of an issue for my back than for my psyche. As any one with two brain cells could have predicted, I should have conserved energy for the weaving in of ends. Too Many Ends on Isolt - which I have lovingly renamed L-isolt in honor of moi. Cast on, cast off, start seam, end seam, crab stitch.

I strongly suggest that if, as a matter of course, you do not already weave in ends as you go, you take up the habit prior to beginning the pattern. This is not intarsia. It is motif work.

And now suggestions:

• Getting row gauge matters here. Pointy spots have a place to be - and that place is exactly next to another pointy spot. One particular motif gave me fits. Thus I am especially pleased that I blocked each piece next to all of its final mates and was able to 'squish down'. But don't tell the knitting police.
• Working front exactly as back fit all of my pointy and lumpy spots.
• When at all possible, work the two motifs at the same time - one for the front and one for the back. It helps with accuracy in final seaming. Well, this and getting the row gauge correct.
  
• Take absolutely no care in binding off the cowl neck. No care what so ever. On the first attempt I worked a beautiful and smooth and consistent bind off on the slippery Seduce. On the second attempt, I worked the most sloppy, uneven, ugly loose and loopy bind off in the history of bad knitting. Works like a charm! The stockinette of the cowl rolls back on itself and no one in public will see the loopy stitches. But it slides silky over and down my swelled head that resulted from actually finishing this beauty.