not much new

It seems that not much knitting has gotten done even though I knit pretty much every day. I did finish the back of the crossed-front tank, and have finally finished the bottom ribbing of the front side, which had to be ripped and restarted about three times. It seems to be on it's way again now, and should go pretty fast from here.

I think the reason for the lack of progress is that I was at rm's cabin last weekend and was enjoying myself so much I didn't pick up yarn and needles all weekend! The weather was absolutely beautiful and his family are quite cool so it was a great few days to get away from the misery of Fargo. I'm very depressed again at work as I find that I am working with the most unapologetic rednecks. I won't go into the things they say, as I don't want to taint my blog with such negativity. Suffice it to say the work situation is not very happy at the moment.

On a lighter note I'm going to Duluth tomorrow for a week and couldn't be more excited. Duluth seems like such an incredibly cool, beautiful place compared to the hell that is North Dakota. My cousin is getting married and all of my family is in town. I can't wait to see everyone and spend some time at my own cabin.

Wish I had some good pictures to show, but will hold off until the tank is done and I have another CF card for my camera.

exhausted

I've been working pretty consistently on the crossed front tank from VK, and would have finished the back but I can't really figure out how to bind off the tops of the shoulders. I did it and took it apart several times, but couldn't figure out how to get both sides the same and started to get confused. So, even though I've been enjoying knitting it, and it's been going fairly quickly, I'm going to put this project down and wait for help from my Grandma. I've never knitted a real garment before so I'd rather just learn how to do it correctly the first time.

Other than that the gauge seems to have worked out miraculously; the measurements seem pretty much right on. I say miraculously because I have no patience for making gauge swatches but forced myself to do it this time. The ribbon yarn was so stretchy that I couldn't really tell if I'd gotten gauge with the needles I was using or not; so worked on hoping. It seems to have worked. The pattern calls for size 10 1/2 and a circular #15, but I used a 9 and 11 instead, knitting loosely. (I've been reading Knitting Without Tears lately and EZ suggests trying out knitting loosely as it's less stressful and I think I'm beginning to agree. I sometimes find that when I'm knitting quite tightly I screw up my face and clench my teeth without even realizing it.)

Anyway, am going to a cabin for the weekend which will hopefully be relaxing, and will bring some knitting along. Not sure which project yet, something as mindless as possible and definitely not the tank. I frogged to where I need to start binding off for the neck shaping and am going to leave it at that until I can get some help. Hope is not lost however, I have a shred of confidence in this project yet, and have not yelled or (amazing!) even thought an obscenity about this project. Maybe I'm just too tired.

busy

incredible

I've been really busy lately. Had to work for ten miserable hours on Saturday, but won't go into that. On Sunday got virtually no knitting or cleaning done as I was completely consumed with reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling windows on my computer as routine maintenance. It's pretty much back to normal, just need to install a few more devices and some software.

I did finish my poncho, however, while waiting for files that I wanted to save to transfer to my roommate's computer. It took a lot less work than expected and I think I rather like it, especially with the fringe. It's incredibly soft, and a bit chunky so I think it will be perfect for cool fall days. I'm glad to be done with it. I also ended up with two extra skeins of classic elite premiere which I love. The only downside to the yarn is that it seems to pill and shed quite easily so I guess it's best for accessory type things that won't be worn all the time. I'm planning on using the rest for the Branching Out scarf from knitty.

I went to Walmart today and splurged on a cute corduroy skirt and some yarn even though all I needed was shampoo type stuff. The yarn I got is Lion Brand Incredible pictured above which I'm going to use for the Crossed-Front Tank (#2 vogue knitting international spring/summer 2005). My roommate picked out the color which I wasn't sure about at first, but started knitting a little with it and I think I'm starting to really like it. I've never knit with ribbon before which I'm finding somewhat difficult at first, but I suppose I'll get used to it. The yarn for the whole project cost less than $25 so can't really complain anyway.

In other news, not making a whole lot of progress on the stole, but the more I get done the more I love it. It's just been too hot to knit; it's rather disgusting, the yarn sort of sticks to my hand and is impossible to feed through my fingers smoothly. Am possibly getting air conditioning next weekend, so will be able to knit regardless of the weather.

cable band

pictures finally

stole

here's the knitty stole i'm working on. for as much time and effort i've put into it it seems that there hasn't been a whole lot of progress. the frill at the bottom hasn't been completely unravelled, and this isn't the best picture of it but i think it's really turning out well, and the lace pattern looks lovely against a tan. plus the egyptian cotton is sooo soft. there are beads at the bottom too but you can't really see them.

after my freak out yesterday that i fixed, i decided i needed to put the stole down for a while and take a break on it. so i finished the crochet cloth i was making, and started this Coronet hat from knitty. i'm only making it because i found this lion brand wool ease yesterday which i had been meaning to use for this hat last winter but was afraid of the cable. and for no reason! it's so easy. cabling is much easier than i anticipated, and very gratifying as this project is so quick and looks nice. admittedly it would probably look better in a better yarn, but i still like it and i think it'll be cute.

well, better attend to breakfast. am in such a much better mood today as the knitting projects are coming along nicely and it looks like it might rain. happy 4th of july!

two steps forward...

so i was working on the stole again today and while i was working on one of the last pattern reps before i was going to take a break, guess what i realized i'd done? i don't think you need me to type the expletives...you know what happened. but this time, after a couple tears of frustration, i was determined to fix the problem. i laid the stole down flat, ripped out 7 rows, put some yarn through the loops to hold them in place and carefully put my needle back through them. somehow it worked. i don't really know how, but the pattern is back on track and after completing a pattern rep it seems to be just fine. you can't even tell. so at the moment i'm feeling a sort of calm, skeptical relief. it might not sound like it, but this pattern is fun to work on, it's just so hard to go back if you make a mistake, especially if inexperienced at lace knitting. but i did it, so am putting that project down for the moment and will continue working on the mittens. (there may also end up being a small crisis there too, but will not discuss so as not to jinx it).

productivity...finally

i really got a lot done today. i ran some errands in the morning and went to barnes and noble to look at knitting books. i was going to pick up loop d loop from the library but someone put it on hold like last night...bitch. anyway, i went to barnes and noble to look at knitting books and check out magazines and looked at it there. i honestly don't know why everyone thinks it's so great. it's $30 for like two patterns that anyone would really wear. you might all want to make them, but seriously, would you wear them??? i doubt it. i really do want to make the lace leaf pullover though, and there's a lacy 3/4 sleeve thingy that i think is also lovely. that's it though, so i'll just wait until it comes back to the library. while at barnes and noble i picked up vogue knitting international which has about a million patterns i want to make but can't afford to. i think my favorite things are the short sleeve top which crosses in the middle and the silk bolero. i have a feeling those projects are a bit above my skill (or should i say patience?) level. i've been making slow, but steady progress on the frill stole and am loving it more and more. i'm learning that i can probably make anything if i'm just careful and keep track of what i'm doing. i also cast on and finished half of the second mitten that i'm making for my mom. it's taken me a while to get to it, but i'm almost glad i waited because i was so sick of knitting mittens when i made the first one that i probably would have rushed through the second.

i'm getting paid this friday (i only get paid once a month) and am going to make a sincere effort not to blow it all on yarn immediately. there are so many projects i want to start for myself, but i think it might be a good idea to crank out one or two scarves for christmas and get an early start. that may sound crazy but i have a feeling i won't have much free time for knitting next semester.

am totally dreading going back to work on tuesday. it's nice to have the long weekend but it's going too fast already. i like the people i work with, and don't mind the work i do, but i hate my job because i'm so paranoid that i will break something or mess something up or just embarrass myself and they'll finally get fed up and fire me. but like my mom said, i'm just learning this stuff and these things happen. i just hope their patience isn't wearing thin...

what else can possibly go wrong?

well, i mentioned about a month ago how sick i was of my job. i don't love it now, but am having a lot more fun as am getting along really well with coworkers. just when things were looking good...i totally fucked up again. i was mowing in front of the main building with a toro when i backed into a light that was on the ground knocking it out of its cement holder thingy and breaking all the wires. how can i possibly suck so much? i thought that it would be the last straw as it seems that i'm messing up some little thing every week, but boss didn't seem to care much. hope he feels that way next week when he's fixing it....

and on a lighter note, it seems that since my post yesterday where i dropped the f-bomb even more liberally than usual i've been getting more hits. not that many more mind you...you merely need to look at the pathetic counter for the evidence. i don't think any of my friends or family even read this. probably a good thing...

well back to the f-ing stole, am hoping to make some progress today but am determined to be patient and do it right.

back on track?

ok. i put the stole down for the night and have decided to stop being a crazy bitch about it. i got two pattern repetitions done this morning and they look more lovely than the first time. i think my whole problem is that i start to go on autopilot after a while, and with a pattern like this with different pattern rows that can be disasterous as i start to mix and match the rows randomly and don't realize it until it's far too late. so anyway, i've decided to go slow and pay attention on this project because i do really love how it's turning out. i'll post pictures when i've got a little more done.