wifeKnits

Office Gear

The air conditioning in my office has been fixed, or we hope. This is day 2 of cool air coming out of the vents. Hurray! This means no more oven to sit in all day. It also means I have reason to get back to my minimalist cardigan. So that I can wear it in the office finally! I must finish those sleeves that I had to rip back. And pray they will fit. If they do not fit, then it means the sweater as a whole will not fit. When I knit the body, I knit to the stitch instructions for the size 34" because my gauge was so off. It worked and my sweater measures just short of the width measurements for the size 39" which was my intentional size. I also knit the length of the armholes for the size 39" so that I’d have more room in the armhole since I have somewhat chunky upper arms. But I made the mistake of knitting the sleeves to the size 34", which meant the sleeve cap was way to short for the armhole. So when I went to sew the sleeves on, the sleeve was so tight I couldn’t move my arm. I ripped it all back out and cast on again. I’m planning to work the sleeves in the size 39" and hope it works out better giving me more room in the armhole to actually move my arms.

This finally cool office also means I can go back to my plan on knitting Evangeline [links to ravelry] (fingerless mitts/wristwarmers). I’ve been wanting to make these for a while, but decided to wait til the weather got cooler because I had no need to make them now with an office that felt like an oven. It’s cool enough in my office now that my hands and fingers actually got cold. So I think my need for a pair of fingerless mitts just increased. Hurray!!!

Yesterday I did make the run to A.C. Moore and picked up a Vera look-a-like bag. I really like it too. I can fit my two projects, patterns, and my notions bag in there and it takes up less room than total tote. I can also sling it over my shoulder with my purse, which is nice when I’m carrying a mug of coffee and a toddler with all her stuff. The only thing is that since she carried it around the store for me when we bought it, she now thinks it’s hers, so she won’t let me carry it. She just screams "BAG" when she sees it and insists on carrying it herself. LOL!

Posted in Knitting, Sweaters and Cardigans | No Comments

Thank Goodness for Lifelines

This weekend I worked on my lace shawl. I always make sure I work on it sitting down where I can lay out my pattern and focus on each row, so that I don’t make a mistake. Well, apparently I was too focused on the show I was watching and not enough on the shawl, because I ended up making a mistake. Thank goodness for my lifeline. I managed to rip back 3 rows to my lifeline, put the needle and stitch markers back in place and redo the row.

Of course it meant no progress, because as soon as I got all that done, the little one woke up from her nap, so the knitting had to be put away again. Go figure. So I only managed to complete one lace repeat rather than two this weekend like I was hoping.

In other knitting news, I’ve decided I need a "Vera Bradley" bag for my knitting. I’m coveting a soft, fabric-y squishy bag for my knitting. I’m currently using a Total Tote and I really like it, but for some reason, I know want a soft Vera bag. But I can’t really afford a Vera bag, so I think I’m going to head over to AC Moore this afternoon and get one of the knock-offs they have. But, hmm, I may just have to head over to the mall and check out the real Vera bags, just because.

Posted in Knitting, Lace | No Comments

Tiramisu Abandoned

I’ve given up on the Tiramisu blanket. No matter what I do, I just can’t seem to keep 90 stitches in the row. I must be horrible at crochet, or the dark green yarn is throwing me off. I tried 4 times and it still wasn’t turning out right. First my gauge was off, instead of being 32″ across, I was at 23″. I know the border isn’t that wide. I finally went up 2 hook sizes and the width was right, but I still couldn’t manage to get the right # of stitches on each row. 

So I’ve given up for now. I may try it another time, but for now I’m going to stick with my socks, knit afghan and lace shawl. Oh yeah, and at some point (after I finish the socks since I’m using those needles) I need to reknit my sleeves for my Minimalist Cardigan. gah!

Posted in Crochet | No Comments

The 2nd Sock

I cast on and finished the toe of sock #2. I’m working the Campfire socks toe up using handspun yarn. I started this second sock with a different ball of my handspun and I can tell it was spun thicker. My sock fabric is thicker and not as flimsy, if that makes sense. It actually looks better than the first sock. I guess that’s what happens with handspun yarn, especially first yarn. It’s somewhat uneven in thickness, but it looks pretty good, although my toe could be better. The stitches are a bit holey, I didn’t work the toe cast on tight enough but oh well. It’s only my second toe.

I’m not sure on my technique though. I need to research it a bit more to see if I can improve it. I went off memory from the last time I attempted toe-ups socks. I think I’m doing the magic cast-on, but I better double check it.

Posted in Knitting, Socks | No Comments

Another Blanket

So much for my attempt at being a one-WIP gal. I started a new project today at work. I’m working the Tiramisu using TLC Essentials in Dark Thyme that I have in my stash from a previous granny square project I’ve decided to quit working on. 

I’ve been doing so much knitting that I didn’t realize what I was doing and I grabbed the yarn with my right hand. I knit English and it was a habit. Then I realized what I did and decided to try to crochet that way. It worked, as long as I remembered to wrap the yarn opposite of how I would wrap for a knitted yarn over. Now I can say that I can crochet with yarn in either hand. :)

I’ll post pics of the project and add it to Ravelry once I have some progress made. So far I only have 2 rows, but I can already see that this project will go fairly quickly as long as I work on it regularly.

In other news, I finished sock one of my Handspun Campfire socks. Must cast on the second sock this weekend so I don’t fall into SSS. 

Posted in Afghans, Crochet, Socks | No Comments