Tag Archives: ribby cardi

Shun the resentment

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First, off I’d like to thank Stasia for telling me about the shawl edging info in the Knitter’s Shawls and Scarves book, which I think I have at home. I’ll have to take a look see when I get home. Wendy also graciously answer my question (the question that I felt fell into the stupid question category for sure). So, I think once I’ve gotten Birch off the needles I will recommit to The Third Incarnation. I’ll have to try to figure out how many active stitches I’ll have when I’m done with the body so I can contemplate lace edgings.

Lolly inquired after the most important topic… Fall semester classes. This coming semester (and we’re counting down days now. *gah* Wednesday is going to come too soon…) I am taking Collection Management (I really wanted to take Vocabulary Design, but no go *pooh*) and Advanced Internet Technology Tools: XML (this is a recommended class, along with the prereq XHTML class I took last semester, for the Database Management class I hope to take in the spring, which if it goes as planned will be insane (3 classes?), but that’s a discussion for later). I picked up my book from the book store last week (along with the student edition of Adobe CS 2 Platinum Suite *bogle* $200… I love being a student sometimes). It was a pain to get to the bookstore (summer hours are M-F 8-4:30), but I like to avoid the insanity that is the beginning of the semester, especially when I just need one book.

The Husband did not get home till almost 10 pm last night (remember the overtime pay, remember the overtime pay…). So, I started my evening off with some knitting and a recently Tivo’d episode of Law & Order. I finished the first sleeve to the Ribby Cardi. *And there was much rejoicing…* Of course, that means that I now have to make myself cast on the second sleeve. I really want to finish this sweater, but I think I’m going to need to avoid K2P2 rib for awhile. Good thing I have lace shawls to work on. 😀 Just need to finish the second sleeve, stitch it together, knit on the front bands, and do the collar… it sounds so simple. I’ll probably work on the sleeve tonight… if I don’t I may come to resent the Ribby Cardi, and we can’t have that.

I have relatively few unfinished objects (I’ve only been knitting for 3 years), and I hold a grudge against each of them (if only I had a linen closet to throw them into so I could forget they exist). The worst was the Peace Fleece sweater that never was. It began as a sweater vest (I don’t know what I was thinking… I would never have worn it), then the sweater vest was frogged. I tried to make it into a sweater with sleeves in a different, yet matching, color. I should have known things would go badly after I had to completely redo both the front and the back when I realized that I had knit them on the wrong needles (this is why you should always double check the size of the needles in your hands before casting on). Thus, I knit the front and back again and had even started on a sleeve, when it dawned on me that the flared sleeve looked ridiculous and I would never look good in that color green. The back got frogged and turned into a felted kitty bed for my sister’s cat. Of course, now the left over Peace Fleece is plaguing me… too bad my sister doesn’t have 2 cats.

And they’ve only been sitting on my camera for 3 days…

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Knitting has been taking place

After several very distressing tries to get my photos uploaded, I finally managed to get them online. Thus, I present 2 of my current WIPs. I believe I’ve just started the 4th repeat on Birch, but I’m not sure because I haven’t really been paying attention, and I really don’t feel like counting the stitches to see where I stand. I finished the body of my Ribby Cardi awhile ago, just never took a picture. I have finally finished all the increases on the first arm and am slowly plodding away to get it the right length before beginning the shoulder shaping. I haven’t been working on it all that much because I suddenly became horribly bored with K2P2 ribbing. I have a feeling I’m going to be on Sleeve Island for awhile with this one.

I’m hoping to get Birch done quickly… I’ve just received the invitation to my 10 year reunion and it stated Cocktail Dress. So, I’ve got a month and a half to finish the shawl and try to find a nice dress to go with it. The reunion is in Monterey, so the shawl should definitely come in handy — summer nights in Monterey tend to be cold and foggy like SF. And I want to show off my mad knitting skillz… got to have something to show off besides The Husband, right?

The Coolest Purse Ever

Well, at least I think it is. I usually have a hard time finding a purse that I like the looks of and don’t find too difficult to carry around. Up to this point the purse I have been using was a simple smallish messenger type bag made out of black canvas. It had 2 small pockets right under the flap, a big open main compartment with a zippered pocket, and another zippered pocket on the outside back. It has been extremely serviceable, but is now starting to fall apart, mainly the straps are starting to come away from the body. So, I was beginning to contemplate the thought of a new purse. Like I said before, this is hard for me… I’ll find a purse I like the looks of only to open it and discover it either doesn’t have enough pockets or has way too many. And, no, I can’t tell you what the appropriate number of pockets is cause it depends on the purse.

The coolest purse ever caught my eye while I was knitting with a friend in Santa Cruz. I could easily see it and 2 of its friends casually hanging out on the door display of SFB Silk, the sun glinting off its silk panels. Soon, I could not ignore its siren call any longer. I went to investigate, sure that I would open the purse and find the wrong number of pockets (or an outrageous price tag). First, there was an examination of the outside of the purse, its shape and coloring were intriguing. Opening the purse caused wonder, for this purse had the number of pockets I thought it should have: one zippered pocket, a cell phone pocket, and another open pocket slightly bigger than the cell phone pocket. Now, I began thinking because this purse has now met my pocket needs it most likely has a price tag well over $200. I find the tag and turn it over… *gah* it was under $100. Of course, I had to get it…. well, after I spent at least 10 minutes hemming and hawing over do I really need a new purse, is this truly too much to spend on a purse (previously the most I have ever paid for a purse was $40, and it was leather).

My friend tried to be helpful and told me to wait a week, come back and see if I still liked it. But, I was afraid that if I did that the purse would be gone in a week. I would have been sorely disappointed to find it gone, so I broke down and handed over my check card. And, thus, the purse came home with me. The only downside to the new purse I can find so far is that it does not fit in the underseat storage of my scooter, which isn’t too bad because it doesn’t go with my black and red leather riding jacket. 🙂 Okay, I’ve fawned way too much over my new purse, so on to one final topic…

Flowers!

Friday

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The Husband is going out to play Vampire tonight, leaving me home alone with a movie, wine, and my knitting.

But, what I really want to do is spin… and I can’t. My knee is still too sore to use it that way. All the talk about spinning that’s going around is making me miss it. I haven’t spun since the last weekend of May. I had just started spinning up the fiber I had dyed.

Of course, I also want my knee to get better, so it might be time to pull out a drop spindle.

I’ve got 2 increases left on the first sleeve for my Ribby Cardi. I’m not sure if I’ll continue working on the sleeve or if I’ll try to work on Birch tonight.

Fun car news
Last week I discovered the chrome on the inside passenger side door handle was peeling off on my car. How did I discover this? Why I managed to slice 2 fingertips open on it while trying to get out of the car. While chrome may look insubstantial, it’s rather quite sharp. Thankfully, neither injured finger is terribly important for knitting.

So, yesterday I took my car in for it’s 35,000 mile oil change and asked them to take a look at it. Wouldn’t have been any problem except the warranty that covers such things expires at 36,000 miles, and I was a bit late bringing my car in at 37,000. I managed to use my blonde powers (don’t worry I only use them for good) and the nice car guy ran off to speak with his supervisor about. He was back within a minute to inform me that they’d cover it. Woot! So, they replaced the door handle assembly; no more sharp chrome.

The Husband took a co-worker out to lunch today and discovered that the new, shiny door handle doesn’t work. You can’t open the door from the inside. Unfortunately, he was unable to get it in today, so we have an appointment Monday morning to have them look at it again. *sigh*

Quite the update

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I seem to be going through one of my don’t-really-like-computers phases. This usually consists of my only really using a computer at work, avoiding email, and (obviously) not posting to my blog.

I haven’t really been doing tons of knitting either, and I certainly haven’t taken any pictures. I did manage to finish the body of my Ribby Cardi even with the short delay of having to redo the right front armhole shaping section. For some reason, instead of doing the k2tog at the end of the RS rows I did them at the beginning of the WS rows (oh wait, that’s right, the pattern didn’t tell me where to do them). It wasn’t too hard to rip it out and reknit it. And I can say that I learned something (besides the fact that I’ve decided I don’t like patterns that tell you to knit one part like another, but change something). I’ve started on one of the arms… I’m knitting it in the round using the magic loop technique. I’ve got 4 more increases to do before I need to start worrying about length and shoulder shaping.

I’ve only completed 2 repeats on Birch… total. I just don’t feel like working on lace when I get home from work.

But, then, the thought of knitting with any kind of wool the last few days hasn’t been entirely appealing since we went from rather moderate weather to sit-on-the-couch-in-shorts-and-a-tank-top-while-drinking-chardonnay-
and-not-moving weather. I’m just glad I don’t live in Gilroy… 100 F… *ugh*

Now the funny part is I’m sitting at work wearing a scarf and fingerless gloves cause I’m freezing. I’m even thinking about putting on my hat. Geez. I get in in the morning and it’s actually rather nice, but come afternoon, once the a/c is really going, my fingers start turning blue. I’ve complained to facilities a few times, and it get better for a day, then I’m back to figuring out how to wear my winter wardrobe without dying of heat exhaustion while coming to work on my scooter.

Maybe I should have a cup of peppermint tea. My secret pal sent me a great card with peppermint tea to get my through the stress of my manager being on vacation. Yes, a hot mug of pepperminty goodness… that would be nice.

That’s just disturbing… Ack!

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Ugh! I hate silverfish. 🙁 This is why I screamed when I turned my head and saw one crawling towards my head on my pillow last night. Ugh! The Husband valiantly killed it for me, but I was left feeling creepy crawly all night. I would wake up and roll over and go to fluff my pillow, then think twice about even touching the thing. I was so tired when I woke up this morning… not being able to get comfortable due to lack of pillow fluffing and nightmares with insects crawling all over my bed were no help at all. Ugh! Why can’t I find silverfish where they belong — the bathroom?! Why do I always seem to only find them in my bedroom. Most knitters spend their time worrying about moths getting into their wool. I’m spending all my time worrying about my books and photos. Ugh! And now my head… *creepy crawly shivers*

Of course, on the topic of bugs, I saw a small moth in my living room a couple days ago and ending up smooshing it when it landed on the Husband’s cheek… he just loved that. So, between seeing one small moth, then another in my bedroom yesterday afternoon that I didn’t manage to catch, and a posting in the Livejournal knitting community about infestations, I’m worrying about my wool. I did a cursory scan of my fleeces and such and everything looked untouched. So, of course, now I’m thinking, “Wait! I saw it in my bedroom… where my nice silk and wool clothing is… where the Husband’s expensive tux is… Ack!”

And I used to think that spiders were my biggest worry… *sigh*

Sadly, I have not managed any lace knitting recently, even with the long weekend. I have, however, been working on the Ribby Cardi. I am almost done with the armhole shaping on the back. I did both front over the weekend. Unfortunately, I need to redo the right front. Apparently, I’m a moron when it comes to patterns that say “Right armhole shaping: Reverse left armhole shaping.” Instead of doing a k2tog at the end of the RS rows, I did it at the beginning of the WS rows, which made a weird looking decrease rib thingy. The plan has become for me to finish the back, then rip back the right front and do it again. At least this can be said to be a learning experience, right?

Nifty Goodies

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I’ve been working on the shawl slowly, concentrating more on my Ribby Cardi. But, the shawl is growing nonetheless.

Yesterday, I came home and found a package just for me. My secret pal sent me 2 skeins of Araucania Nature Wool Chunky in a gradiated purple (pretty), a size 5 24″ Clover circular needle, a set of three soaps scented like angel food cake, chocolate, and strawberry, and a really cute card.

Speaking (writing?) of Secret Pal 5, I have received the last of the orders I placed for things to send to the secret pal I’m sending to. Now, I just need to go pick up chocolate-y goodies to put in the package, and I should be able to send it off on Saturday. Yea!

A Third Incarnation

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Friday night began the third incarnation of the Brooks Farm Duet shawl. I had to run the yarn through my ball winder twice to get a manageable ball, but it was well mollified. I discovered looking through my shawl books that the Gracie shawl from Stahman’s Shawls and Scarves is the Elfin lace pattern, so I’m using the swatch chart for my shawl. I didn’t want to make a Farosee shawl, and the swatch chart is just the lace pattern in a triangle. Reading the chart is a lot easier than using the written directions from Barbara Walker’s Treasury. I’ve actually gotten a few repeats done, and of course, I’ve forgotten to take a picture.

But that’s okay, because I cast on for another project on Sunday. I got the needles I needed for Ribby Cardi on Saturday. The yarn convinced me to get started, reminding me how cold my cube has been lately (I don’t care what the facilities guys says he’s done, it’s still cold), and how a nice sweater would help to keep me from turning into an icicle at my desk. It’s going really fast… I’ve gotten about 9 inches done so far (I’m knitting the body as a whole), and I’m going to make the underarm length 15 instead of the 13.5 the pattern calls for cause shorter shirts always ride up when I sit down.

I have broken down and purchased Rowan 34 and 3 balls of Kidsilk Haze in Majasty to make Birch. I would blame people, but Cate has already done a fine job. 🙂 I’m trying to look at this as a good thing… it’s my reward for having lost 23 lbs so far on my diet. While I am quite happy to have gotten my 20 lb star at my Weight Watchers meeting yesterday, I needed something a bit more substantial to celebrate, so of course, I bought yarn.

Just in time for the weekend

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We now return you to the regular knitting content…

The shawl with no name continues… slowly… but then I haven’t been devoting a lot of time to it. I’m beginning to think it is upset at me for not having named it yet. I also think it is beginning to lament the fact that the only lace I had planned for it was a lacy edging… it’s now making mutterings about why can’t it have a smaller garter stitch triangle to make room for some lace before the edging. *sigh* So, I’m going to have to hit the books again and see what jumps out at me. Any suggestions?

At least I’m liking the way the variegation is looking.

The only other thing on needles (and getting any attention) is a pair of socks for the Husband. I wanted to call them the Dope Fiend socks cause I worked on this one while loopy on vicodin. I thought it was a funny name… the Husband was not impressed. So, they shall just remain a pair of socks for the Husband.

Aren’t you terribly impressed by my gusset?

Tomorrow, I am planning a short trip to the LYS to pick up needles for making myself a Ribby Cardi. I decided that the very pretty yarn I had picked out for Mariah was not as dark as I would have liked. And the whole goal of this exercise was to procure for me a darker cardigan to be worn over darker shirts (I currently have a light grey/silver cardigan that looks plain silly over a black tee). So, I bought a copy of the pattern… and promptly used it as an excuse to buy more yarn. *grin* I will be using Knitpicks.com Wool of the Andes in Mist (the body) and Hollyberry (the arms and collar). I am also going to try knitting as much of it in the round as I can… hence, the needed trip to the LYS. I don’t seem to own any size 7 circular needles of any length. Thus, me and a ball of yarn will venture forth tomorrow to verify gauge and make a needle purchase. It’ll be an adventure, right?