June 06, 2006

I've been working on my swatches. They're all knit. I've answered the questions and I wrote the blocking report. I need to block and recheck the gauge on the swatches for the table in question 1 and then label the swatches and that should be it. Maybe I'll get this done by the end of the weekend? Doubt it. My blocking skills are horrendous! I was only able to pin down three swatches because my eyes were too busy going cross-eyed on the gingham from my newly done blocking board. I dampened my swatches yesterday and today they still look just like they did yesterday. Maybe after I unpin them, they'll look blocked. As you can see, I've always skipped this step in the knitting process. I know, bad girl. I'll do better next time. Promise. But I think I'm going to have to break down and get the sew ez blocking board. That gingham is really messing with my eyes. But the sew ez board looks pretty good from the pics I saw of it on the web. Too bad I need it yesterday.

I knit my first cardigan sweater. It's for a baby and I found some really cute buttons at Stitches with Style. They're gingerbread men! They're just the cutest! I feel like they make the sweater!

I have to work on button bands though. I know now what I should've known when I picked up the stitches for it. I couldn't find the information at that time though and picking up 50 stitches over 70 rows was really boggling my mind! Still, next time it will be fine, I'm sure. One thing is for certain though, I have no fear of seams anymore!! Yay me! I think I will still like seamless raglans better. But to know I can do it if necessary is a good thing.

This sweater was a real pick-me-up. I moved out in April. But I told my husband I'd see a counselor with him. I don't know if that's a mistake or not. I don't really believe in divorce except in extreme cases and this is one of those cases. Knit a prayer for us. Only God can fix this one.

Posted by stacey at 03:52 PM

March 13, 2006

Well, I was going to finish.

I got stuck on my swatches for Level One this weekend. I was planning on having that part of the instructions finished and working on the questions this week. But it turns out I got stuck on a yarn over swatch???? Who gets stuck on a yarn over swatch??? Anyway, the instructions say something about not closing it on the purl row. I had no clue why anyone would close it or what the comment meant. So I asked on the Message Board and I got a great response from KT. I didn't know you could turn a yo into a m1 that way. Something new everyday.

Hopefully, I will have my swatching done by this weekend and I can focus my attention to the questions.

Posted by stacey at 12:02 PM | Comments (1)

March 06, 2006

I started knitting again on the MK Level 1 pieces again. I had a long hiatus. Christmas gifts, and other things.

I am really excited about starting again. I had stopped just as I was getting to Swatch # 8 ssk decreases. I think my decreases tend to get stretched. But I’m going to try real hard to keep it together. I have a doc appointment today and I’m going to knit a bit in the office there. So hard to find time when you’re working through the day.

I haven’t bought any new knitting books lately and I’m so proud of myself. I mean, how many how-to books does a gal need anyway? But I’ve been eyeing the write-ups on the new book coming out about one skein projects…The only thing is, I already have patterns for a lot of those projects. They’re probably already one skein. I just get sucked in with all the juicy pics. Got to work on keeping money in my pocket!

Thinking of giving up my rings. So glad they were successful. But I just can’t keep up what with the job and the family and all. It’s just too much for me at the moment. And there are other things I’d like to give my time to right now. My daughter is already nearing eight months and I’m feeling like I missed so much of it at work. I need to kick back and have no other obligations for a bit but them. Hope everyone understands.

I knit myself a scarf. Comfort knitting. I always knit the same scarf though! K4, P4. What’s up with that? Creature of habit I guess.

Anyway, back to the MKL1 swatches. Hopefully, I'll have enough steam to get through the rest of the swatches within the next two months. One row down...

Happy knitting!

Posted by stacey at 02:19 PM | Comments (2)

December 05, 2005

I made some progress on my Level 1 swatches up until after the Thanksgiving break.

I got up to Swatch #8 before I got all discombobulated.

So let's tally up the distraction factor:

1 I had to go out of town for the job. Last minute. Commuting to and from. But who's complaining?

2 Attended the presentation for my son as he was honored as Student of the Month,

3 directly followed by the Christmas presentation at his school.

4 Baby girl started at a new babysitter. I'm just too scared to put her back in daycare at this time. RSV nearly killed me. I know she's the one who suffered it. But it nearly killed me!!

5 A million to-do's at the job: reporting, assessing, compiling, organizing, board kissing-upping.

Yeah, I think that's enough to distract me from the knit! But I do plan to get back to it this week.

So far I've noticed some things about my swatches though:

My seed stitch stitches aren't quite as uniform as I'd like to see them at this point. I'm always using this stitch for cotton wash cloths so you'd think it would be better at this. Sucks, huh? Well, at least the edges are straight.

And here's that k2, p2 rib I posted about on the Master Knitting Forum at TKGA. I've tried every way I've read about: combined, tugging up...Whatever you can think of, I've tried it. Still get this. And this is the best of it too! Nah, I won't kill myself over it. After all, it is waaaayyyyy better than what it was when I first started knitting.

Hey! I almost forgot! Notice the blue gingham behind the swatches. Uh-huh! Made my own blocking board with a kit from SWS. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. And if you have ever tried to follow those directions you know what I mean! DH and I were going batty over them. But it was all good.

I'll post a little more later. Right now the baby girl is asking for some attention...

Happy knitting.

Posted by stacey at 07:18 PM | Comments (2)

November 16, 2005

My Master Knitter L1 materials came yesterday night! I spent the whole night trying to read just one page of it...but see, what had happened was...the hubby and the little girl that live in my home were bouncing off the walls. I couldn't get anything read. You would have thought we had had some laughing gas in that house last night. Well, hopefully, better progress tonight on the MK program, even though it is a laundry night.

For lunch I went to Staples and got all the other stuffs I'd need
to start. And I still have to finish assembling my blocking kit that I just bought from SWS. That thing is huge! But Sheryl says it's still not big enough to block a whole sweater. It's no matter though. I still don't know where I'm going to put that monster.
I know, need to post pics. Maybe next time. I still have to find the camera for now. ;)

Happy Knitting!!

Posted by stacey at 02:12 PM | Comments (1)