I just finished sewing in the zipper for Samus. I’m wearing it now and it’s a perfect fit. Yay! I’m so excited. This is one of the best sweaters I’ve ever knit.
Pictures to come soon.
Samus is finished!
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Monthly Archives: April 2008
Crafting in the car
Abbey got me a gift to cheer me up after all my knitting related stress-the book
At Knit’s End.
I’ve been reading the Yarn Harlot’s blog for awhile but had never read her books. This one is great. I’m now reading another one of hers, Knitting Rules. She talks about how the obsessive knitter redefines knitting time. Like standing in the grocery line transforms into sock knitting time.
This is an excellent idea. I’ve now started crafting in the car.
Last time I went to the Taos knitting group I somehow forgot my knitting bag at home. I was annoyed at first. Then I realized I had a knit vest in the car I had snagged from the free box for recycling the yarn.
Instead of knitting I brought in the vest and started the frogging process. I haven’t crocheted something in awhile so I decided to crochet myself a tam. I haven’t made myself one in years. It’s relaxing to make something in the car. Makes car trips just zoom by.
Freedom Skirt progress
The knitting portion of my Freedom Skirt is done! It’s a little loose around the waist but I planned to put in elastic. I had to foresight to avoid a zipper. hehe I’m especially happy with the length and lace pattern.
Feather and fan is definitely one of my stitch patterns now. It’s just so pretty.
Those yellow pins in the top pic are knitting seaming pins.
They’re plastic and from JoAnne’s. No more jabbing my fingers when seaming knitting projects. I recommend them.
UK knitting magazines from a punk friend
Our podcast friend Pauly B. visited me and Thebes last month. His show is Punky Radio. Punk music, great new curse words and comedy-what’s not to love?
Pauly B. lives in Britain and asked if there was anything from the UK I’d like him to bring over. At first I was at a loss because there’s so much I can find on Ebay. But then I realized I could ask him to bring me knitting magazines! He graciously brought me three.
I had such a fun time reading these magazines! The basics were the same of course. It’s still knitting after all. But it was different enough that it was such a treat to get them. There are several patterns that stand out to me. These two I especially like:
Knitting problem after problem after problem
OMG I’ve been having some frustrating times with my knitting lately.
Thebes’ kilt hose toe has been frogged. I had knit it thinking I was going to do the full foot before picking a toe up pattern. The pattern I’ve chosen is super cool but knitted top down. To the frogging pond the toe went.
That wasn’t a major deal. But it was frustrating. So I decided to focus on finishing Samus. I finished the ribbon lining and started pinning in the zipper. Before sewing it in I decided to be safe and unzip it to make sure I had pinned it in evenly. One problem. The zipper didn’t unzip all the way. It was attached at the bottom.
I bought an invisible zipper because I thought it would look pretty. But invisible zippers are apparently for purses because they don’t detach at the bottom.
I’m not proud to say I had a royal freak out. I cried and cried and cried. If I could buy a zipper without driving down to Santa Fe it wouldn’t be nearly as big a deal.
Thebes was great though. He comforted me and then pulled in reinforcements. He got Abbey to call me to console me. She happens to be going to Santa Fe soon and said she’d get me the correct zipper. I’m so overjoyed and grateful!
I tried to carry on and switched to Thebes’ sweater. The suggested needle size for my yarn was #6-9. I tried an 8 and didn’t hit gauge. I tried a 6 and didn’t hit gauge. I went down and down until finally hitting gauge at size 4. Gulp.
For this sweater I’ve decided to knit it on Addi Turbos. Thebes and I went to Taos Sunflower so I could pick up a pair. They’ve recently redesigned the store to carry independent or small business yarn makers. To be honest I was worried the store would now be out of my budget. I’m happy to report that there’s still tons of yummy yarns I can buy. Yay! And did I buy some? There was some sock yarn on sale so yes I did. Pics to come soon.
When I got home I did another gauge swatch on the Addi’s and didn’t hit gauge. OMGWTF?! I knit it again and again and sometimes would get too many stitches and other times get too little stitches. On the whole though I’m averaging out on gauge so I think the Addi’s will work. It was frustrating though.
Feeling stressed out on yet another knitting project I switched to my Freedom Skirt today. I’m working on the lace part when I realized I messed up the pattern and have to frog 4 rows. I’m not sure what I’ve done to upset the knitting gods but perhaps I need to sacrifice some acrylic to get in their good graces again.
With all these problems at least my knitting helper is cute:
