Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Taking it slow, sort of

After the knitting induced wrist disaster in late October, I've been taking it slowly on all my projects.

Well, that and I've been hecking busy lately. Saturday and Sunday were both packed with activities, although I bowed out of a fair bit of Saturday's due to fatigue. Monday we had round three of the battle of the century against lice. Georgia has caught them once a month since she started school, and I guess Monday was November's case. I ended up having to treat her twice on Monday and me three times, and then de-loused the house. Again. I didn't get to sit down until 9pm. Last night our toilet clogged, again, and I spent from 5pm until 8pm madly multitasking on homework, dinner, lice combing, toilet unclogging, bathing and getting the kid to bed. (I'm getting tired just reading about all of this)

Also, I found out last night that Ella (sister-in-law) lost the September Circle cowl and Koolhaas hat that I knitted for her. These are my first two projects that have bit the dust, and I'm surprisingly not pissed. I guess because Ella is spacey (both naturally and health induced) and they are accessories, so they didn't take that long to knit. I told Bruce last night that I was kind of surprised she'd managed to keep the hat as long as she had.

Regardless, I managed to finish up the sleeves for the Tiny Tea Leaves last night:


Though looking at the picture, it seems that I forgot to do some decreases on the right sleeve and I may have to rip back a little. Not such a big problem, as the sleeves didn't take me too long. Only about an hour or so of work. Oops.

I haven't worked on my Offset Raglan at all. It could be any number of things. I'm not sure I like the gauge. It's producing a really dense fabric, and with the Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, it's a little stiffer than I'd like. I got gauge with the specified needle size (US 6/ 4mm), and I really just don't like knitting worsted yarns on that size needle.

Secondly, it's miles of stockinette, and I've been enjoying the zen-like concentration needed for lace projects recently (see Cherry Fizz).

Thirdly, I'm using a Susan Bates circular needle because my size 6 needles from an interchangable set that we shall not name died (and the replacement sent by the company that made them sucked) and the Bates is not as slick as I'd like for a yarn as sticky as Brown Sheep. It was also causing a little hand pain. (I like the Brown Sheep, and I like the Susan Bates needles, I just don't like them together.

My brown sheep isn't very brown.

All of which adds up to me not really enjoying the project and contemplating frogging it. I may try a different needle next week to see if that makes a difference, but I'm thinking this one is headed to the frog pond.

Bruce commented the other night that I'm getting much quicker to frog projects, and my reasons for this are twofold:
  1. I'm more experienced as a knitter now (almost two years) and I'm learning my preferences for projects (gauge, needle size, etc)
  2. I knit considerably faster now than I did before, which means that when I'm frogging, say, a scarf, I'm only frogging a few hours of work, instead of a few weeks worth.
Lots of growth as a knitter! Now I just have to take care of my little wrists, and the world will be full of love.

Also, I'm hoping against hope that there will be zero disasters this evening and I will actually be able to start work on my Interweave Knits submission. I have the yarn. I shall photograph it soon.

8 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear about the lost projects, but glad you're not upset!

    I've been frogging a lot more lately as well. I agree--it's easier when you're a faster knitter. I've been working on a post about that, but only in my head. Ha.

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  2. FYI, I've got a collection of the Susan Bates circular needles, and their "stickiness" is exactly why I don't use them anymore unless I just have no others in the right size. These days, I like the Skacel Addi Turbo needles, though I don't have the interchangeable kind. The Turbos are slick and don't have the sluggish feeling the Susan Bates have; they also have a smoother connection between the metal and the "wire" so you don't have to struggle as much to get the yarn to go over it. I mention it because I have similar wrist issues, and it's much less of a problem with the slicker needles :-)

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  3. Sounds like some busy days for you. Too bad about all the frogging - the sweater is beautiful!

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  4. If we get lice again, I vote we just firebomb the school. Probably less expensive and time consuming...

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  5. OH V......you're gonna die!! I met a knitter on the plane last weekend and got so excited telling her all about yu!! She did a whole scarf on our flight and I took pics for ya! YOu would kill for this yarn...so gorgeous. Will prolly put the pics on my blob when and if I ever have enough energy to type again...long story!!! fill ya in later.........jist of this story? I kinda wanna knit now!!!!!! KINDA....I said!!

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  6. I can't believe you've only been knitting for two years. You are a natural!

    And I'm so glad to see someone using my favorite phrase: GAAK. We need to make this a common tern (and thank Rose Red for coining it)!

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  7. Sounds like you've had quite the week! Hope things have settled down a bit!

    Only 2 years? Wow, you are so talented!!!

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