anti-progress

We are back from our September trips and trying to get settled back into things. I had big plans for my knitting since I had lots of travel time in a plane and car however I have returned will less knit up than I left with.

The first issue came up with the argyle vest. I have been working on it the last few months and had a good 10″ or so of argyle. Early on when I started increasing (there is a one stitch increase on each side about ever 16 rows) I noticed an error that I fudged by moving over a few stitches to match up the pattern and adding a stitch where it was needed. It seemed like a good idea at the time and I didn’t think that it would really affect the over all pattern. The stitches are so small it’s hard to even see a small mistake. Later I realized that I had missed an increase on one side so I again added in a stitch where needed.  So it was knitting up well and looked fine but then while on the trip I realized that the pattern wasn’t matching up right even though it looked fine. The diamonds on the left side had too many stitches in them and the diagonals on the middle diamond weren’t lined up (there were too few stitches in the diamond?). Overall, I realized that there were some flaws within the way the pattern was coming out and it probably had started near the beginning covering up mistakes.

So I was left with a big dilemma of what to do. I could pull out the whole thing back the ribbing and start over (tear), or pull back a good portion back past the first mistake and start from there. The hard part about the second option is that frogging argyle isn’t as easy as frogging a single color since the yarns are twisted at each color change. The second challenge is that there would be big long pieces of yarn attached as they were pulled out.

I decided to frog back to the mistake and not start all over, and patiently tried to pull out the stitches without crying. Thankfully my sister-in-law was there to save me. She suggested the embroidery thread toggle things (I can’t remember what those are called). So although it’s not fun and very time consuming to frog, at least the thread isn’t so tangled. the plan is to fog back to about where the first set of diamonds ends.

The other project that I brought with me was smaller and I had finished a significant part of the project when I realized that it wasn’t going to fit the recipient because the lace pattern that I picked didn’t have the same stretch as I had expected. So I had to pull that one back too (a lot) and figure out a new way of doing the pattern. This is one of gifts that I have been working on and actually plan to have done by the time I give it. I was worried that I had no prospect of getting it done but now I have more hope and it’s coming along now that I got it started again.

So frustrating, but really why knitting can be fun and challenging, and feel so good when it finally works out.

duvet cover and striped socks

I love my down throw (you know, a small down blanket perfect for being cozy all year long) but I’m not in love with the snowman pattern on the throw. They are cute, but get tiring after awhile. This fabric makes the perfect cover and now the down throw is all season and just as cozy. It actually took a lot more work and sweat to sew than I would have liked just because there was a lot of measuring and sewing long edges (boring) and making the pieces the right dimension (the fabric was not as wide as the throw so needed to be pieced). Now I am really ready for fall, the striped socks say it all I think.

log cabin crochet

I started this baby blanket before my niece was born. I have now put the finishing touches on it and get to see her for the first time next week and give her the blanket. She’s about 9 months now, but hopefully can still get some use out of the little blanket. The squirrel puzzle is her Christmas gift so she will have to wait on that one.

The blanket is a 22″ square with Knit Picks superwash merino (which I think they don’t carry it anymore)

Since starting this blanket last fall I have happened upon some other log cabin crochet and knit items. See Joelle’s Giant Granny Square and log cabin wash clothes from Purl Bee

fall weddings

This is the card that I made for our friends wedding we are attending today. The chicken design is not my own but from the invitation that was designed by the couples friend. The wedding is in their backyard (weather permitting since we have been getting rain this weekend) and I hope the chickens are invited too. At least I will get to see them in their coop.

This is the start of fall wedding season because we are attending another wedding on Saturday (in MN!). Lars and I had  our anniversary this last Friday but we are celebrating this weekend. For the last couple of years I kept insisting that our anniversary was on the 5th and Lars had to remind me that it was the 4th, the only way I could remember was if I looked at the quilt. So this year I actually remembered, but it was a busy day and we didn’t see much of each other. We had been planning on celebrating over the weekend anyway, but I remembered to wish Lars a happy anniversary on the phone when we talked in between busy things that day and he didn’t believe me. He made me go look at the quilt because I had convinced him it was the 5th for so long. But we have the whole weekend to celebrate and we have Monday off too.

Happy wedding weekend.

signs of fall

A view of my feet at the park on a walk. There are just a few, but the signs of fall are starting to show. Maybe some of the leaves are changing color because it was so dang hot for so long and they are dying but I would prefer to think that fall is almost here. I think that we have had enough summer now. I didn’t do as much container gardening this year so I haven’t had much to say about that. I did successfully grow a handful of strawberries from the plants I got at the end of last summer. I moved my lavender plant this year too thinking I was giving it a better pot and good sun light. But apparently there wasn’t nearly enough sun. It never got very big and isn’t even flirting with sprouting buds so not really any lavender to speak of. I grew more flowers this summer, and managed to keep them alive with my meager watering schedule, but I can’t say they are picture worthy. However, the worms seem to be doing really well in their wood box. I’m sharing a lot of the compost with friends that have gardens and have received many nice donations of prolific herbs, cucumbers, and lettuce. Happy end of the summer!