Sheep On My Stuff

Aargh. While I don't consider myself a total Type-A perfectionist knitter, I can't let a glaring error stand. And I made a -- okay, so a normal person wouldn't call it glaring, but I did (am I losing ground on the not-being-a-perfectionist-knitter thing?), so I ripped back all the way and started over.

Still -- since Tuesday I have completed one entire repeat of the diamond panel on my Cable-Down Raglan! :D

Yarn used: Zitron Polo in colorway 41 (grey, slightly heathered). Needles: 3.75mm.
Sheep: Ovistine, from the Auckland airport in New Zealand.

So here's one of my unpopular knitting opinions: I like cable needles. I really prefer working with cable needles to working without 'em, even though many people (especially lately) dig the on-the-fly, without-'em method. So cable needles are an integral part of a cable project for me; I tuck the cable needle behind my ear when I don't need it and pop the stitches onto the thing when I do.

Here's a shot of the project with my essential tools for cabling:

The cable needle is part of the set from KnitPicks (here). I'm using the smallest needle, and so far so good -- though I'm honestly not sure if I wouldn't be happier with my Brittany Cable Needles instead. I may switch to the Brittany when I do my next pattern repeat.

The other item is a Knitter's Abacus Bracelet. Like the poster there, I heartily endorse the ones made by Hide And Sheep; they're beautiful, put together very well, and shipped fast fast fast. :D (Though I found these on Etsy, I actually bought them through the actual storefront on hideandsheep.net; the Hide And Sheep website had the two colors I desperately wanted (Starry, Starry Night, grey and black, and Stardust and Denim, sodalite and dark blue), and why make them pay Etsy listing fees if I don't need to? :) I think I may have to order some stitch markers, too, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to get ones that match the bracelets.

Anyway, if it isn't obvious from the picture what you do with an abacus bracelet, there are nine small beads (to represent the ones) and ten large ones (to represent the tens), and at the end of every row (or the beginning, as you prefer), you slip one of the small beads through the loop of four beads. After you reach nine small ones, you slip those back to the starting side and slip a large bead through.

So clever! So awesome! So much better than my katcha-katcha row counters -- I just put one of these on my left wrist and I'm good to go. (I may end up wearing two when I start the part of the pattern where I'm juggling two kinds of cables. We'll see.)

Like many knitters, I like to knit at the movies. However, I have very few "no-pattern-no-increases-no-decreases" projects right now (I usually do scarves or something), so I hauled one of the few balls of dishcloth cotton I've got left off to the movies with me. After two hours-ish of "21", I had the following:

Yarn used: Lily Sugar 'n' Cream. Needles: 4mm.

The three sheep pictured are the Sheeplinglings. Um... maybe I should have had Sheepling (their father) pose first! They are Precious Moments sheep. Precious Moments makes some weird-looking, but strangely adorable, sheep.

Lately I've been having an urge for complicated projects, probably because my daily 1.5 hours of guaranteed knitting time has been devoted to less complicated projects (things I can knit on the bus). At first, I thought I could satisfy this urge by picking up a languishing WIP:

Yarn used: Gossamer, Rose Garden, Knit Picks. Needles: 3.75mm.

The sheep modeling this scarf-in-progress is a Sleepy Sheep we got in New Zealand. She squeaks if you squeeze her. AWWW!

(Incidentally, if my mom or my mother-in-law are reading this, my nightstand totally looks like that all the time and I did not have to move any chocolate wrappers off it to take this picture.)

This is the Candle Flame scarf. And it turns out there's something to be said for putting a pattern away for a month or two several months close to a year, because you might start off working with a chart that looks like this:

and, when you pick it up again, discover that there is a NEW PRINTING of the chart that looks like this:

(This, btw, is a free pattern from Knit Picks -- don't squint at the pictures, download the thing yourself! See how nice the new chart is?)

Seriously, that first printing was the worst chart I've ever worked from, bar none -- I'm really glad they reprinted it.

After a couple of days of trying to work on this, though, I realized that what I really wanted was to cast on new lace. Okay. I tried three different patterns before settling on Anya:

Yarn used: Shadow, Campfire, Knit Picks. Needles: 3.75mm... I think.

The sheep in this picture is another of our New Zealand sheep. Look how cute! I don't think this sheep gets enough attention.

Naturally, after I cast on Anya, Interweave Press released The Top 5: The Best of Interweave Knits Readers' Choice Awards as a free download (until May 15th -- if it is after 5/15/2008, you're out of luck, guys, so hurry!), and I was overcome with the urge to cast on a Cable-Down Raglan. Only in grey, because everything I knit (that I plan to wear) is grey. Okay, it's not, but I love grey.

Yarn used: Zitron Polo, Grey. Needles: 3.75mm.

This would be Ovistine again (I'm reasonably sure she's modeled on the blog before). I'm 14 rows into the first repeat on the center (and sleeves) cable, and so far so good. It is just possible that I didn't swatch as thoroughly as I should have, but if it's coming out oddly, I can rip back and restart. I have a ton of this yarn, so I'm glad I finally found something to do with it!

Other things on the needles now: Baby Surprise Jacket #2 (bus knitting), Obama socks (I keep not posting a picture of those -- it's okay, they're boring navy socks, nothing to see here, move along), and a few hibernating projects (like the Powers of Two blanket). But I'm happy; I got my post in on time today. ^_^

Going to class every weekday has meant a lot of bus knitting time. I get through about 3 half-hour podcasts a day -- it's not quite 90 minutes of knitting time, because I don't always knit while I'm not actually on a bus. (It's Seattle; sometimes it's raining.)

So in addition to the This Is A Triumph wrap sweater, I have completed a baby surprise jacket that I'm calling the Hobbes Jacket:

Yarn used: Microspun leftovers! Black, white, and mango. Needles used: 4mm.

I hate sewing on buttons, but for this project I was willing. ^_^ (I have another one coming, too, for which I'll need to sew on another five buttons. Someday I will do frog enclosures instead.) Back in the '80s there used to be a device that would automagically attach buttons for you. I wonder if that still exists (and how it would work on yarncrafted projects).

The sheep posed near the Hobbes Jacket is Meredith Rodney McSheep, named for Rodney McKay of Stargate: Atlantis. I'm not sure he really likes being so near something so orange, but perhaps the fact that it's mango (really!) and not citrus will appease him. What do you think, Rodney?

This Is A Triumph: Done!
Obama socks: Turning the heel on the first one!
Baby Surprise Jacket: In the works!
Candle Flame Scarf: Resurrected from the WIP chest!

There will be pictures, but I seriously forgot about posting today in the wake of finishing a work project yesterday and getting my epic flying mount in World of Warcraft. Oops! Thursday!

ETA:

Here's the This Is A Triumph wrap sweater!

Yarn used: Microspun, Royal Blue and Mango. Needle size: 4mm.

I was actually told by one person that those are Denver Bronco colors -- so I guess this could be a Denver Bronco sweater as well as a Portal Sweater. Makes no difference to me! I'm happy it's finished. :)

Well, it will be when it's done.

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Yarn used: Lion Brand Microspun in Royal Blue and Mango. Needles: 4mm.

The Mango I bought doesn't quite match, and the color change is suspect:

But it's the best I can do, and it's good enough, and it's actually fairly hard to notice in person unless you're under some really awful florescent light.

I forgot to introduce the sheep on Tuesday, though I think you've seen these two before. These are the official traveling sheep -- PicoÃœber and Reclining Sheep. They've been to England, New Zealand, Canada, Las Vegas, and Indiana. :) They're sized appropriately for carryon bags, and never complain about having the hotel rooms to themselves.

I have, at this point, done all the seaming (and let me tell you how proud I am of it -- it's fantastic) -- all that's left is an I-cord border for the back neck and little I-cord ties. I'm going to be putting the dual-orange side inside, so that it won't show when the baby's wearing it. Um, no, I still don't know what baby! Ah well. It's been fun to knit.

That said, bleh, stockinette! I won't be doing another baby project in stockinette anytime soon. I can see why Elizabeth Zimmermann favors garter stich so much -- I think I'll probably do a Baby Surprise jacket in garter in the near future.

I lied! I actually did quite a bit of knitting in Las Vegas.

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Yarn used: Lion Brand Microspun in Royal Blue and Mango. Needles: 4mm.

In fact, there's a bit more than that, but I've now run out of orange yarn, and that means this project is stalled until I get more. It shouldn't be difficult. But then, of course, I'll be left with more scraps of orange to get rid of! Maybe I can put an orange collar and cuffs on another baby sweater or somesuch.

Short post today, because I have a Cold of Doom and I'm not really full of energy. Hopefully I'll be feeling better Thursday!

There won't be an update Thursday, as SheepLad and I are going off to Las Vegas. I never seem to knit on vacation (and probably won't be bringing the computer), so no sheep for you!

However, today I've got the finished pictures of the Grey Lacework Sweater:

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Yarn used: Wool of the Andes Bulky Hand-Dyed in Storm, a little less than 5 skeins. Needles used: 7mm.

It fits like a charm, though I had some issues with the neckline. Necklines are still, apparently, my bane. This one is more or less square, but looks more like a scoop neck on me. I worked back and forth on the shoulder and back stitches for about 6 rows, continuing to decrease at the raglan points, then worked back and forth without shaping for another four or so rows. Then I picked up stitches around the gaps made by not knitting the front stitches (three per side was enough, and luckily, the lace pattern hides the holes neatly), knit one row around, and bound off. In the front, the bind-off was fine as-was, but in the back, I bound off and decreased 1/3 of the stitches as I did it (so the bind-off alternated k1 and k2tog in order to keep that neckline from being saggy in the back). Worked like a charm, though the neckline is no longer what I'd call "stretchy". OTOH, I'm not sure I wanted it stretchy.

Baabet is so enamored of this sweater she keeps trying to convince herself she can block it to her own measurements. I'm afraid that just isn't the case, Baabet! Sorry!

I'm down to just 10 projects on needles at this point, which of course means I'm starting up something new. I have several skeins of leftover Microspun, and I'm going to be putting them into a project here shortly. Just needed to swatch first. More and more lately, I'm finding that I'd rather swatch to a gauge that's appropriate for the yarn and needles (needles big enough to provide appropriate drape), and then adjust the pattern to fit the yarn rather than adjusting my yarn and needles to fit the pattern. It's working out well enough for me so far!

I'd queued Cherie Amour a while back, and had even ordered yarn for it, but after looking at a ton of pictures on Ravelry, I had to admit that I didn't think it would look very good on my body type. And so I began a small odyssey of modification!

Once you've thrown out the entire pattern and you're not even looking at its measurements anymore, you are not really knitting the same sweater. I borrowed the lace pattern. That was it. Here's how we're doing so far, with a bit of aid from Baabet:

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Yarn used: Wool of the Andes Bulky in Storm. Needle size: 7mm.

I'm getting 5.5" to one pattern repeat horizontally, and 1" to one pattern repeat vertically (more or less, with blocking taken into consideration). I might add that this is a wider gauge than the pattern calls for, on smaller needles. Yes, I am a Loose Knitter. ^_^

Introducing Baabet properly, she is a lovely pink sheep by Ty, part of the Ty "2.0" collection that, I gather, is out there to compete with Webkinz. Basically, you register your plushie online, and you can then play games (and the website stores your toys, too, so you have a "collection" online as well as off).

I would have bought all three if I had found them (there are purple and white ones, too), and I really didn't buy them for the online component. :D But the games are adorable. Because there are three sheep toys, there are also three sheep games! They're very, very cute.

But back to the sweater! I've got quite the curvy figure, so I need waist shaping. But how to accomplish waist shaping in lace? I had two options:

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Fill in the spots with stockinette, or fill them in with yarnovers? I finally decided that the yarnovers looked better. If only I'd decided that earlier. :) But this is knitting up so quickly I can't complain about much. My next big decision is going to be what the heck to do about sleeves!

I never thought this day would come.

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Yarn used: Wool-Ease Sportweight in Wheat. Needles: 3.75mm.

Total yarn for this project: say 4 balls of Sportweight to be safe, which is maybe 1500 yards. Beautiful Sheep, I couldn't have done it without you!

Of course, this project is not without its flaws. For one thing, I did not realize that all those short rows were not just tapering the sleeves (and I have to say, they did a great job of that), but also turning the sweater into a V-neck. The original plan calls for a straight high collar, and if you look at what I did to disguise that, you'll see it right away:

As you can see, what I did was just to pick up stitches at the appropriate V-neck place. It came out looking pretty good. I think I should probably sew a couple lines of thread through the fake inner plackets and then cut them off -- if I'm going to do more work on this thing, that is.

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Yeah, it's sort of mutated, and when I put it on, one side's longer than the other (and I have no idea how that's even possible, because it's the same number of rows exactly). But it's mine, and it's finished. I did it. :) And, hey, I think it fits quite well -- it's the right length on body and sleeves, it buttons over the breasts, it has waist shaping. I can only go up from there.

And meanwhile, I have some more work on the Powers of Two blanket:

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Yarn used: Wool-Ease, worsted weight. Needle size: 4.25mm.

Pretty spiffy! The squares just above the big green square on the left mark the upper left-hand corner. I'll be expanding to the right to fill it out and define the upper edge. When it's wide enough, it'll be time to start it growing down.

It turns out that I have a TON of the "white" (actually natural), light brown, dark grey, and red yarns in my stash, so I'll be using those fast and furious as I go. I'm hoping I won't run into problems with having nothing but those colors by the end of the blanket.

Last but not least, I've dragged something out of the UFO (unfinished objects) pile:

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Yarn used: Wool-Ease, worsted weight, "Pines". Needle size: 5mm.

The adorable sheep modeling this vest is Dorset Horn. She (yes, she -- in the Dorset Horn breed of sheep, both rams and ewes have large, impressive horns) comes all the way from New Zealand! One of my many sheep from the New Zealand flock. In New Zealand, the tourist shops are full of sheep. It is nothing short of a woolly paradise.

The vest looks like a whole lot of nothing right now, for which I can only apologize and say: It is a lot of nothing right now. It's simple garter up to the armpits, which is about one inch further than I've got it at the moment. Sorry! It'll look more interesting next time, especially if I run out of yarn and have to substitute in some black. Most importantly, this comes from the UFO pile. I have no idea how long it's been sitting around unknit, but it's no short amount of time. It definitely predates the beginning of the year. Not only will knitting this up net me a vest, it'll get my ratio up.

Current stats for the year:
15 projects started up new
22 completed/tossed/frogged projects
11 completed for the year to date (yay!)

WIPs:
7 have been on needles since before the beginning of the year
14 currently in progress/hibernating

And the vast majority of this year's projects have been from stashed yarn (almost a 5:1 ratio of stash:new), which is also making me pretty happy. (Of course, that doesn't count the yarn that came into the house for projects but hasn't been used yet... which bumps that ratio down some. But I'll take my victories where I can get 'em!)

I never thought I'd say it, but the end of my Bog Jacket is in sight!

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Yarn used: Wool-Ease sportweight in Wheat. Needles: 3.75mm.

I've got one half done completely, except for edging and perhaps notions, and the other half is nearly there, too. Strangely enough, all those short rows are leading to a V-neck -- which I don't mind, but it's a surprise, I'll say that!

I'm not sure what I'll do for fastening. I may do a zipper. Buttons are probably out, although I might be able to create buttonholes if I do an I-cord edging. The fit looks good so far, but I'm sure a second edition of this sweater would look even nicer. I'm pretty happy with the sleeve length and the waist shaping, though!

Meanwhile, the Powers of Two blanket is going along, as is the second project from Mindful Knitting. I've got a few more squares done on PoT, but nothing really worth taking pictures of. And as per the last time around on Mindful Knitting, I'm waiting until I have a finished project to post any pictures.

Tuesday! Will I have a finished sweater, or will weekend mean spending all my time with the adored SheepLad? I'm betting on the husband, but I think I'll get the knitting -- if not the edging or the fastenings -- done. :)