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(Almost) Good As New…

Last night I had a Venti Mocha right before dinner. Being suitably caffeinated, I decided to dive in on fixing the blanket. In the end, I felt that grafting was a wee bit beyond me, especially since I wasn’t dealing with a clean edge. Not the way I want to try something new, really. I’m not that brave. So what did I do? I attached the matching yarn to stripe three (the first undisturbed stripe) and bound off from there. Picking up all of the stitches was a bit of a pain, since the yarn below was a very fuzzy alpaca. Some of the stitches were hiding! But I think I got them all. At least I hope I did.

So, the “new” first row of my blanket isn’t the color I wanted it to be, and to me, it doesn’t look right. But the truth is, the recipient has no idea what I intended so in the end it’s probably ok. So I’m just a little sad, but not as much as I was a couple of days ago! Soon I’ll be able to get back to my regularly scheduled knitting and this whole nasty episode will be behind me.

Pool Knitting

This being Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S., I spent a good number of hours knitting by the pool. Chatting with friends, mostly, and getting some knitting done, but I’m enjoying it. I’m on round 14 of 25 rounds of ribbing for this slipper sock, and then I’ll be done with my first ever pair of socks! Yay!

I’ve already got lots of socks lined up for the summer. And some sock monkeys. My kids went through my tub of buttons tonight, picking the eyes for their future monkeys. I guess I’d better get busy!

May 26, 2008
Monkey Yarn

On a happier note, Have y’all seen these? It’s the “Funky Monkey” kit (or pattern) from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I’ve never been one to jump on a knitting bandwagon right away, but we can thank the Yarn Harlot and Ravelry for changing that. When I saw these, I knew I had to make some right away. Put it on my list of things to make at the pool this summer. They offer these kits at the Blue Moon site in all kinds of funky color combos. But I decided that I wanted to make a pretty basic brown with red accents monkey (or something that would recall the sock monkey I grew up with) so that I could knit him all kinds of crazy monkey accessories in a variety of wild sock yarn colors. The colorways I chose for accomplishing a neutral-ish monkey are “Mudslide” for the main color, and “Doctors without Borders” for the mouth, but and tips of arms, legs and tail. I think I’ll stick to the little monkeys for now. I’m betting when my kids see it they’re going to want one.

I also have the stuffing and a container of buttons that I got from Joann’s, so I’m good to go, except for the pipe cleaners, if I want my monkey to have poseable arms, legs, and tail. Which I do. The pipe cleaners are on their way from Klutz. (I was surprised for some reason that I could not get the pipe cleaners at Joann’s. So then I tried a craft store, but could not get an assortment of buttons there. So much for one-stop shopping.)

Today was another lovely spring day by the pool. My kids turned into popsicles in the water and I sat and knitted and listened to “A Good Yarn” by Debbie Macomber. (iTunes Link) It’s a fluffy read, just like the other book, but hey, it’s summer, and I’m just not into straining my brain right now. I’m doing endless rounds of 2×2 rib on my second slipper sock. Maybe it’ll be done by tomorrow.

What’s on my agenda for the rest of the weekend? More pool knitting, and I’ve got a blanket to try and fix.

May 24, 2008
Is It Worse Than I Thought?

Thanks so much to everyone who commiserated with me over the last couple of days about my poor blanket! Most of you suggested that I try grafting the pieces back together. I’ve never done grafting before, but I guess now’s a good time to try. I think!

Arlene from Knit Talk offered to try to fix it for me, which I may be tempted to take her up on! Margo Lynn said she’d offer to help next time she’s in the area. And Catherine even sent me some very detailed instructions that I think will be helpful once I get my brain wrapped completely around them. There were many other words of wisdom, too, and I appreciate every one!

The top photo shows what I originally thought was a ripped end in the initial chocolate brown stripe. Yes, there are stitches pulled out here, but that errant-looking end is actually an end of the yarn that I had previously woven in to the back of the blanket. Fixing the dropped stitches in that first stripe should also not be too hard.

The thing that has me a bit baffled is the grafting itself. This page has a pretty clear picture of what grafting is, along with clear wording, which I think I could do in a quiet place, slowly, step-by-step. The tricky part for me is going to be trying to decide how to recreate stitches that are completely ripped or missing. As you can see in the second photo, it’s not an entirely clean break. I guess I won’t know really if it will work until I try, but the thought of it all is just too scary for now. Margo Lynn is right, though… I need to get the piece on lifelines or stitch holders asap. For now though, I think I need to spend a little more time curled up under a rock and cowering. I will steel myself and give it a try. Just not today. And Arlene? I might just take you up on your offer yet.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone and wish me luck!

May 22, 2008
I Haz a BIG Sad…

So I’m sick again today, and I’m sitting here, watching Oprah. I get to the end of a stripe in my brown ripple afghan. Yay! I put the blanket down to take a break, on the couch next to me, and then I cross the room to check my e-mail.

I then hear this ungodly rrrrrrr-r-r-r-i-i-pppp! My blankie, my beautiful (albeit brown) blankie, is hooked on the footrest mount of my chair. And I’m dragging it with me. When I manage to extricate it from myself, I saw this:

If there were some word I could type that would mimic the sound of my wails, I would. But I think the sound defies written expression. I’ve been working on this blanket for almost 6 months. I was getting near a point where I was going to call it done, and now this.

The thing is, I don’t know how to repair it. It is ripped in the middle of the second stripe. I don’t know if there even is a way to fix it. It’s a little beyond me. I could stick a lifeline in the third stripe, then go back and add yarn and do a bind off row there. But that would disturb the color pattern. The second stripe is not just pulled out, it is actually ripped. And I can’t just pick up and knit in the opposite direction, because it’s a ripple pattern and the ripples all already go the other way.

I know there must be an expert knitter out there who would have some ideas. If so, I’d love to hear them!

Thanks! Back to sobbing now.

May 20, 2008
One Lousy Row.

You know life is rough when you wish for a sick day. Yep, wish for one. I’ve caught myself hoping for a little cold, just so I could sit home and knit for a day without guilt.

I guess I should be careful what I wish for. I started feeling crappy on Thursday afternoon late, not coincidentally, I’m sure, at the same time that my mom was being re-checked into the hospital. (She’s home now, thank goodness.) Last night I found myself not breathing well at all when laying down, so sleep was hard to come by. I had no choice by this morning but to stay home.

First, I literally fell dead asleep this morning, bolt upright in my chair. Then I woke up at noon and basically sat like a blob til I got up the energy to go to the bathroom, where I promptly fell asleep again. So, by this evening, when I finally had a bit of energy for knitting, I could only get out about a row (ok, a wee bit more than a row) before my needles suddenly felt too heavy once again. So today, I cranked out one lousy row of knitting. So much for my blissful sick day.

I LOL’d the Cat Today!

This is Tegan, on her favorite perch. She is annoyed that I woke her up for this. Visit my page at icanhascheezburger.com to vote for this picture. (I have no idea how they go about choosing the daily LOL’s, but maybe if Tegan is lucky she’ll get her 15 minutes of fame.)

May 19, 2008
Practice Makes…. Better!

This afternoon, DH took little man to a birthday party in Virginia. It left daughter and I on our own for dinner, and I decided that we would have an easy time of it and order pizza. She grabbed my bag when the Pizza Man knocked, and when reaching for my wallet to hand it to me, accidentally grabbed the sock that was in there, too, and pulled the stitches off the needle.

After dinner I set about fixing it, only I could not put the sock back down! And before I knew it, I had turned my second heel ever:

I am quite pleased that the results are much improved over my first heel:

I was so worried I guess about not being able to find the wraps (they’re hard for me to see, especially with dark yarn) that on the first sock I wrapped a little too loosely. Which, I think, is why the heel of my first sock looks, well, holey. Second sock is not perfect, by a long shot, but much better. Now I can’t wait to do this sock thing with actual sock yarn.

Which brings up the subject of today’s transgression. Perceptive readers might notice that my Yarnaholic Meter was reset to Zero today. It’s because I couldn’t resist buying some Lisa Souza Sock! Merino in babyish colors for the impending baby in yesterday’s post. I got three colorways: Spumoni, Peacock, and Pumpkin. I am planning baby hats and socks all around, and if I get adventurous, maybe some baby jackets. We’ll see about that.

Tomorrow I’ll start the cuff on my sock. For now, it’s back to the brown ripple afghan… Ciao!

May 18, 2008