Worst Case Scenario

I'm usually pretty lucky when it comes to things turning out better than expected. Not this time.

Major Setback
It was no wonder that the number of stitches on either side of the neck steek weren't even. It turns out that I followed the instructions for the smallest size when I created the sleeve steeks, and I'm making the middle size.

I started to fix this by ripping things out row by row and winding the lengths of yarn onto the appropriate ball of yarn. Then I realized I could just snip a stitch below the sleeve steek and unravel one row to disconnect the top from the bottom. It seems to have worked out fine.



If it turns out that I don't have enough yarn to complete the sweater, I will go back and unravel enough from this waste piece. Hopefully it won't be necessary.

Sara Cardigan Revisited
For those of you who remember (or care), I had a picture of a cardigan that I made using an Adrienne Vittadini yarn called Sara. It is by far the most comfortable, warm and great looking sweater I ever made. I used a simple top-down raglan technique, with a center steek for the front opening. The yarn is so incredible, it made the sweater great.

The one complaint I had with the sweater is that the button band and the buttonhole band don't have enough structure to them and it looks a little sloppy when it's buttoned up.

You might also recall that a while ago, when I was making the purple, hooded, zipper cardigan for my niece, I bought some gros grain ribbon for both the purple sweater and the Sara Cardigan. Well, I finally got around to starting to sew in the gros grain into the Sara Cardigan. Hopefully that will be done tomorrow, so I can wear this sweater at work.

Weekend Follies
I usually don't discuss non-knitting events on this blog unless they are somehow knit-related. I went to a show on Saturday night, and the most knit-related comment I can come up with is that it kept me from knitting a lot on Saturday night, so you know it's something I was excited about.

Thaddeus, his boss, his bosses partner and I went to see John Waters talk at the Trocadero in Philadelphia. They offered a standard audience/speaker show, but also for an extra fee, we got to do a pre-show meet and greet with Mr. Waters. For those of you unfamiliar with his work, he is a movie director of trashy movies like "Pink Flamingos" and "Female Troubles", starring a wonderfully trashy transvestite named Divine. The more mainstream of you might have seen his more recent movies, "Polyester", "Hairspray" and "Cry Baby". Here's a picture of Thaddeus and me with Mr. Waters.



The best part of the evening was the pre-show meet and greet where we actually got to interact with him as a small group (of about 50 people) and then short 2-3 minute one-on-one's with him directly. He is wonderfully sarcastic, and very funny. Overall a great time.

When Knitting Sucks

There are sometimes that knitting is just not fun. But to paraphrase a bumper sticker, even a bad day knitting is better than a good day at work.

Egregious Knitting Error
When I started the steek for the neck opening on Donegal, I didn't make sure it was centered on the front of the sweater, I just counted the number of stitches from the left sleeve steek, and assumed it was centered. I also wasn't exactly sure which size I was making, but I was pretty certain it was the middle size.

Well, I finally got around to counting stitches last night and there's bad news, and possible worse news. The neck steek is definitely not centered correctly, so I frogged back to before the neck steek. Now that I've done that, I'm not even sure that the sleeve steeks are positioned correctly. I will verify that tonight.

Regardless, I frogged back a couple of inches and may need to frog back another twelve inches if the sleeve steeks are wrong. I'll keep you updated.

Donegal Pictures
In case I have to rip it all aout, I figured I'd include a picture of the sleeve steek for posterity.



You might be able to see that I started by striping the dark/light yarns vertically. I then switched to checkerboarding the colors after I heard it was better structurally.

I also figured that I could show you the back of the sweater.



My floats are woven in on every fourth stitch as needed. I'm fortunate, in that I don't have to worry about snagging a big diamond ring or an acrylic fingernail on the floats inside this sweater.

New Buttons
I went to the local flea market yesterday and bought these buttons.



The brown ones on the left look perfect on the Chock-a-Block cardigan, so I'm planning on using them. They end up being classic looking without detracting at all from the sweater. They also fit the button holes perfectly. I couldn't have picked a better button. I had anticipated looking for simple wooden buttons, but now I don't have to.

WIP - Work in Progress

What does "in Progress" really mean. Is there a set rule of how long it's been since the project has been worked on? Is it the intention of the knitter as to if it will ever be completed?

Old Projects
Based on the bag that I carry this project in (when I say "carry", I mean let sit in my stash area of my house), you'll realize how old it is. Well, you will if you remember the name of the Tomato Factory.



Every once in a while, I pull out this old gem and start to work on it again.



Well, it must be that time of year again, because my efforts on Donegal have been renewed and I'm working on it now as my primary project. I just started the neck steek, so I'm pretty far along on this great sweater. Just a little bit more to go on the body and then just the sleeves remain.

Suffice it to say, that I'm no Wendy when it comes to doing Fair Isles. Most importantly, I won't have it done by the end of next week (like she would have). Second, I'm no where near as organized. My pattern includes a crumpled photocopy of the pattern (legally obtained from two of my own books) and no enlarged graphs, highlighters, magnetic boards or stitch markers.

One great thing about this WIP, is that I've never gotten tired of the colors or the pattern. Each and every time I've restarted this project, I continue to enjoy working on it. I think that this sweater is by far the nicest men's Fair Isle pattern that Alice ever came up with.

Questions
Some other questions have been asked.

Why didn't I match up the sleeves to the body of the sweater.

A couple of reasons. Mainly because it would have been a pain in the neck to figure out, since I designed the sleeve from the cuff up. But also, because the blocks aren't square. They are wider than they are tall. And since the top of the blocks on the top of the sleeve would have been wider than the height of the blocks on the body, it wouldn't have matched anyway.

What ever happened to the crocheted scarf that was "spooning"?

I have been assured by a few crocheters (including Kathy, the designer of the scarf) that the next row without increases will make this problem go away. I only work on this scarf when I'm bored with my primary projects, or when I need something very mindless or portable to work on, so I haven't gotten to that point yet on the scarf.

And Ginny, I am stumped. I didn't find your questions on hemp anywhere. Point me to them, or ask them again and I'd be glad to answer (and I DIDN'T delete any comments).


Chock-a-Block Sweater
The sweater is finished, or at least the knitting and sewing up part.



I still need to find some good buttons and sew them on. I don't want anything special, just buttons that don't ruin the look of the sweater.

A couple of lessons-learned during the completion of this sweater:

1. I like cardigans a little longer than I thought. I designed this one to be 26" long and I would have preferred 27".

2. My row gauge was off a little (which compounded the length problem). I needed to block the sweater while I stretched it a little to get the 26" design I expected. I will correct the design to include four more rows in each block. I will need to adjust a couple of other items as well to compensate (e.g., the button band length).

3. I will always try to design multi-color garments with an overall design strategy before I begin knitting them. I never would have continued knitting this sweater if I relied on my impressions after the first three rows of blocks.

Blogger Controversy

I'm convinced that there are some people that are just "walking upsets" waiting to happen.

Blogger Contributions
After my blog rules caused such a controversy, it's nice to see that even the better bloggers like Wendy aren't immune to people misconstruing their intentions and getting their nose out of joint. Check out her blog (if you don't already) to see how a joke request for reader contributions for a gold bracelet have become a "knit blog controversy".

I always laugh when I see these things grow into craziness. Thaddeus looks at me and say..."This is knitting, right?"

Chock-a-Block Progress
Well, I did finish the collar, and now I just have to finish the last seam and weave in few ends.



There are some things I need to describe about the finished sweater, but I'll wait until it's done to relate those items of interest.

Craft Store Purchases
Project team members that I just started working with wanted to go to Target last night before going out to dinner so I tagged along. Afterall, I like Target well enough. But I got very excited when I realized there was a JoAnn's Fabric right next door to the Target. I headed to JoAnn's while they shopped in Target.

Here's what I got.



It's hard to see everything, so I'll itemize. I bought four balls of black Woolease. I've never knit with Woolease, but they had it in black, and I figured I couldn't go wrong with that. I also bought three magazines. Family Circle Easy Knitting, Ultimate Knitting and Beading magazines. Finally, they had little bags of leftover ribbons, so I bought three bags of miscellaneous ribbons. Mostly I'll use them as wrapping material, but I also might use them for adorning beaded pendant bags.

Questions
Someone asked if I considered doing the Chock-a-Block in one color. I'd have to say that it would have been interesting to knit, but I wouldn't have enjoyed the experience anywhere near as well. I also would probably have put some purl border between each block to have a clear delineation.

Another person asked when I'm sewing in sleeves (crocheting in sleeves to be accurate) how I handle the bulky place where the sleeve and side come together. I don't do anything special. I crochet in the sleeves and then sew up the side and sleeve seams. When I get to the armpit cross-seam, I just sew it up. It's never really caused me any difficulty.

Other than the question about whether the Camels came with the red Rayon yarn, are there any questions I didn't answer?

Blog Owner Error

Some days, I should not be allowed to use a safety razor. The day I posted the last blog entry was one of those days.

Overwritten Blog Entry
Your moron blog writer meant to copy a blog entry from 4/21/2003, but accidentally overrode that days entry with the one you see below today's. I have some of the text saved, but honestly, I don't think it's worth trying to recreate it, so here's a brief summary:

Red Rayon Yarn - Showed picture of eBay purchase of spool of red rayon yarn.
Easter Greetings and Eggs - Wished everyone a happy belated Easter and discussed Pysanky (Ukranian Easter eggs) with pictures and links.
Chock-a-Block Status - This will only be overridden by the status of this neverending sweater below.
Sleeve Seam Tutorial - Provide the link to the Sleeve Tutorial (cleverly concealed as a link in the last two words).

Chock-a-Block Status
I did a combined total of four more rows on the neck edging of the sweater. I'm hoping to finish the neck this evening and sew up the remaining side seam. We'll see how much my new schedule interferes with this plan.

Hopefully the weekend will give me a few more minutes to update this blog and perhaps answer some of the other questions being asked and maybe even start a new picture tutorial.