Trish Knits.com

Category: Project Progress

Shawl Update–Again!

Bleh.

I was awakened this morning at about 4:30 by our weather alert radio, shortly followed by a kid whose sleep was disturbed by pounding rain against his bedroom window. There were tornado warnings just south of here. They say the worst of the weather has passed, but it’s still gray and icky outside. I don’t like it. It sorta matches my gray and icky mood.

Last night before going to bed, though, I decided to take an updated photo of my shawl in progress. See?

Another shot of the shawl in progress

I may not make progress on my projects as quickly as some knitters in the blogosphere, but I do see definite progress each time I take a photo. Soon, I will be switching yarn colors and switching lace patterns. It’s looking like both will happen at around the same time, but we’ll see. I think I’m also going to have to switch to a longer cable, too, because it’s getting all scrunched up on my needles. So, it looks like some transitions will be happening with the shawl soon.

The thing is, I’m not quite decided on what lace pattern to use. Again. I had thought of doing the Cat’s Paw Insertion (example of cat’s paw insertion in this shawl pattern). Or, do I want to be adventurous and try the Random Lace Pattern Generator? I want to stick with a pattern that will look ok if converted to garter stitch, and would be easy to memorize. I’m open to ideas… any thoughts?

Well, I guess I’m gonna go slam half a row on the shawl before work. Have a great day!

April 5, 2011
Day Six: What I Aspire To (In Knitting, Of Course!)

I am so sad today.

(Knitting-wise that is, for as bad as I’m feeling at the moment, in the big picture, I’ve been assured that the sky is most definitely NOT falling, so let’s have at least a little perspective. But, I digress…)

Today was knit group. I brought my shawl along. Everybody says never to bring a shawl to knit group. But, there are shawls, and then there are shawls. Mine, in the grand scheme of things, is a cake walk to the true shawl knitter. I was knitting away on a pattern row in my shawl and I get to the end of the pattern section, and my count is off. Somewhere, it’s just off. And remember how, just the other day, I was saying how the lace pattern in this thing is easy to read?

closeup of shawl in progress with knitting needles

The thing that makes it easy, supposedly, is that in the 7-stitch pattern repeat, on every row, there is this single, prominent column that runs right down the center of the repeat, on stitch 4. It is easy to see this, so easy to tell what’s happening around it. Except now, for some reason, I can’t. I’ve lost my way. And my numbers are off. Way off. I don’t see where or how I could have dropped stitches or miscounted.

And no, it’s not because I was in knit group, that I can tell. I was going along counting along the way, and everything was fine. I was finding my stitch 4 on every repeat with no problem. Now, all of a sudden, I’m at the end of the section and something, somewhere is just wrong. And I don’t see it. And I’m mad.

So, if I were to say what I aspire to in knitting, it would be to be able to find and fix ANYTHING. No mistake should be daunting or rattling. It’s sad, of course, when one has to rip out several days’ worth of work to fix a mistake 20 rows down, and that kind of thing is frustrating for anybody. But what I don’t get here is why I don’t see the problem. I see that there is one, but I don’t see what it is. And this is what I want to know most in my knitting. How to see what I’ve done wrong, and fix it. And be confident about it. And move on.

I know, I know. Back away from the knitting. What is driving me crazy tonight will be painfully obvious tomorrow, right? Except I don’t think so this time. I just can’t see it.

So I want to know how to see a mistake and fix it, not fudge it. And, I want to knit a sweater. Or ANYTHING. I think I’m the only person at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival every year who goes there with nothing to show for the results of her knitting. I never have anything to wear. So that is something else I aspire to, I guess… to go to the festival next year and not be the only one with nothing to wear.

Ok, I’ll end this bloggy pity party and go knit something simple. Like a dishcloth. Or a scarf. Baby steps…

April 2, 2011
Need Knitting Help: Is This A Mistake?

Wow! Two posts in one day! This is so unusual for me. But I need help from some smart knitters. Take a look at this:

Dropped stitch…or loose stitch? You be the judge!

Did I drop an increase there? Or is that particular yarnover just bigger than the rest? I did try to put the increase in there a few rows back, but it looked funny, so I pulled it back out. Now, I don’t know which is right. Does it look like I missed an increase there, or did I try to put one in that didn’t belong? What is your opinion? What should I do?

Here’s a pic without the arrow:

Yarnover hole

(In case you don’t know, this is a double increase around a center stitch in a shoulder of a shawl.)

Thanks in advance for your help!

April 1, 2011
Day Four: Where Are They Now? (UFO Hell, That’s Where!)
Almost everybody who knits in today’s world knows what this is:

Closeup of my Clapotis

This is, of course, the famous Clapotis. Come on, I know you’ve made one. Haven’t we all? All, except… me. You see, this is my attempt at Clapotis. Probably my second attempt, at that.

No, it is not hard to do. In fact, once you get it down, which happens pretty quickly, it is reasonably mindless knitting. Which, you’d think, would be a good thing. But, I guess not! That is, if you happen to be… well, me.

I am so bad at finishing anything! I’ve been knitting for 6 solid years, and it’s becoming painfully obvious that my UFO (UnFinished Object) pile is at least 10 times larger than the pile of things I have finished. Sure there have been some lovely hats along the way, but truthfully, not much else. Not even this, my Clapotis.

I even have such fond memories of knitting her!

Knitting at the sadly former Folk Art Studio Cafe

In this particular instance I spent an afternoon knitting with a friend at what was my favorite local yarn shop at the time. It is long gone but the memory isn’t. It was my first time sitting and knitting with a friend, rather than just my computer for company. The yarn was a really cool kettle dyed colorway from Rio de la Plata, which at the time reminded me of some sort of funky tie dye that appealed to the hippie in me. I got SO close to being done with this, but then I realized two things:
- One, the yarn was so thick, there was NO WAY I could ever really wear this as a shawl, and even though it would have been a good sized shawl, it would be way too small for a blanket; and
- Two, the last two balls didn’t look ANYTHING like all the other balls in the lot. That’s what you get with kettle dyed, little did I know. I’d probably be fine with it now, but then, I just couldn’t live with it not matching.
I still have this project, what’s knitted and what’s left of the yarn. I still love the yarn, and have spent the last five years trying to decide whether to take the thing apart and make something else with the yarn, since I love it so much, or to just soldier on, and finish the thing. You never know, I might like it after all.

The thing is? Once a UFO becomes a UFO for me, it’s pretty much over. I don’t think I’ve ever gone back and finished ANYTHING in my enormous pile of yarny misfits and undone things. It’s not that I don’t love them; I do. I really do. Each project has some cool memories attached to it. I just have an apparent aversion to finishing almost anything. What is it about being done that’s so hard, anyway? At this stage of the game, I doubt I’ll ever figure it out.

I even joked with a friend the other day that maybe I should frame some of my UFOs, just as they are, needles and all. Perhaps that in itself makes some sort of artistic statement that I have yet to realize. I suppose, if I ever do frame any of my unfinished lovelies, Clapotis will probably be first. I love her the most. Just look at the header graphic of my blog. There it is, every day. Finished or not, it will always be a favorite.
March 31, 2011
Shawl Update

View of the back of the shawl
I’m excited to share with you yet another update of my shawl in progress. See? It’s starting to look like a shaw! Yay, me! I’m almost done with the second skein of my lightest color, and then I can move on to the next shade of lavender in the progression. I still have about 18 rows left in the current lace section, and I am thinking the color change will happen before I switch to the next lace pattern. Which, incidentally, I don’t know what that’s going to be yet. Nothing like making it up as I go, eh? I just hope that the thing will be wearable in the end. Haha!

Closeup of the lace pattern
And here’s a closer view of the lace pattern. It’s Gull Wing Lace, which is a traditional Dutch pattern that has been included in A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, by Barbara Walker. I like it because it’s a lace pattern I know and I don’t have to think about it, beyond counting to seven. Also? It’s easy for me to read, so easy for me to fix. Knowing how to fix it is important, because even with the familiarity I have with the stitch, the occasional missed yarnover or dropped stitch does happen. And so, I can fix this one pretty easily by now.

I don’t know that there is another lace pattern that I know so well, so the final section and the border are going to be a challenge. Hopefully, by the time I get there, I’ll be up for it.

Wish me luck!

March 24, 2011
Progress!

Pie Are Square Shawl Progress
Some days, I don’t really have a lot to say. It’s Saturday, my 9-year-old just went off for his first sleepover birthday party, and not a lot else is happening around here. But I did want to show you that, hey! I’ve been knitting! And the progress is actually visible.
I keep wavering back and forth between the thoughts that wow, this shawl is really pretty, or man, this shawl is very funny looking. Ok, so all you lace knitters are going to jump up and say that the magic happens in the blocking. I know this, but man, I think maybe some of my design “decisions” look like wonky knitting mishaps. I guess I won’t really know until the very end, when I actually do block and see what happens. Either way, I’m going to wear this shawl and be happy. I can tell already that it’s going to be the first of many shawl adventures in my knitting life.

Uh-oh.

March 12, 2011