Disgruntlement Pays Off

Seattle to use salt in future storms

Of course, now it won't snow for another two years.

Oh Noes!

My computer isn't working right now. Posting may be sporadic until I can figure out what's wrong.

ETA: Everything is okay now. Phew.

LOLKnitting

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Deep in the Forestry

Sorry for the funky photo. It was a super-gray day.

I'm off and running on Forestry. It's very easy and straightforward once you read the errata and get over the fact that all the stitches you do on the right side are called left-something-or-other and everything on the left side is called right-something-or-other. Kept reversing those. It also features the dreaded "work as for left front, reversing all shaping." Man, I hate that. I knit through Velvet Goldmine and Where Angels Fear to Tread yesterday. Just saw that Horse Feathers is on Hulu. Going to go watch that now while I knit.

You Know What Swatching Leads To

When I listed my possible NaKniSweMoDo choices (which have already started to change a lot) a commenter, Mary, pointed out that the Nature Wool I was thinking of using for Drops 103-1 is too thin to knit at 4.5 sts/in despite what the label says. Reading a bit more on the label I saw that it contains 242 yds/100 grams. That makes it it thinner than Cascade 220. Definitely too fine to knit at 4.5 sts/in. I wasn't worried. After looking at the Drops sweater I didn't think I would have any trouble changing the gauge. So I needed to determine my gauge. I swatched. I really, hardly ever swatch. I know, bad on me. I decided that on 6s I got a fabric that I liked that was 5 sts/in. I went back to my list and studied my queue a bit. Forestry jumped out at me. I didn't like it at all in the magazine. That belt...shudder. But seeing some completed sweaters on Ravelry and Veronik Avery's own photos of the sweater I really fell in love with the design.

So I cast on.

Three times.



I decided to knit this in one piece. It's just a raglan so no need for seaming. I also am solidly between two sizes and my gauge is a little iffy so I changed the numbers slightly. I had a *ahem* difficult time getting my ribbing pattern established. But the ribbing is done now.

I also pulled out some of the Noro Cash Laine I was thinking of using for this sweater. I haven't swatched it yet.

But then, I saw this scarf. I love a good stashbuster. I wanted to use up all my worsted-weight scraps. I started this the night before last. I found the pattern instructions really impossible to understand. I've never done linen stitch before. I ended up looking up someone else's better-written linen stitch instructions and it's going fine. But it's super boring and I hate knitting scarves. Also my scraps are mostly gray or green so it's not really popping.



And sometime last week I had a hankering for a sock project. My leftover Puck's Mischief from Selbu Modern was still sitting out. I started Retro Rib from Favorite Socks. It didn't grab me. For whatever reason the pattern didn't click for me. It's a very simple pattern but I couldn't get into it's rhythm. So I cast on for a heavily-modified Gentleman's Sock for Evening Wear from Knitting Vintage Socks. Much better but I've hardly worked on them.



I even got in a little knitting on my Sock Yarn Blanket while we took the kids to see Tale of Despereaux last night (Very scattered, uninspired movie. Our younger son enjoyed it but overall it was meh.)

So right now I'm all over the map. I'm hoping to pull myself together and focus a bit. Not my strongest suit.

Snow, Snow, a Thousand Times Snow

I took this picture to illustrate just how much snow and ice remains on my street. It did rain a bit yesterday and things started to melt. But now it's snowing again! Really hard. Sigh...

Thursdays are for What the Hell is This?

Thursdays don't take a holiday. But we're calling it in slightly today by just directing you to go look at this. It was sent to me by Purlygirl Sharon. At first I thought it was fake but I've done some investigating and discovered that it's real! Horrors.

Merry Christmas.

Fingerless Gloves for Wes

Pattern: Based on Men's Fingerless Gloves by J. Campbell
Yarn: 1 skein Cascade 220 Superwash, #1913 Jet
Needles: US2 and 3 Addi Turbos
Notes: I changed loads about this pattern. I did all the ribbing on the smaller needles. I knit the pinky first, knit two rounds then knit the rest of the fingers. I picked up more sts between fingers and then decreased them down on the following round.

Let the City vs. Snow Staring Contest Begin!

Seattle refuses to salt

Snow End in Sight

Snowpocalypse '08 rages on. Now in most cities snow falls and people come along and clean it up. In Seattle snow falls and we stand around waiting for it to melt. Well folks, it's not melting. And I work in retail and there are no snow days in retail. In fact today I had to go to work because several co-workers felt they were not able to come in.


Morning snow

It started snowing the moment I got to work.


Phinney Ridge just as it started to snow again

It snowed all day and still has not stopped!


Night snow

It's supposed to keep snowing through the night. Fortunately--or unfortunately--if I am unable to drive to work I can walk. It's a long walk and pretty much all uphill but I can do it if necessary. My car handles pretty well in snow and I drive pretty carefully and cautiously. I'm still not looking forward to tomorrow's commute.

The fingerless gloves are kind of mostly done. I need to rework the fingers. But I tossed them aside to work on a few small gifts. (I won't put any pictures here so as not to spoil any surprises but you can look my projects on Ravlery if you're curious).

Wes and I made a run to the grocery store last night for a few essentials and spotted some knitting on the wine aisle.



I hope it doesn't seem like I'm complaining. I love the snow. I just went out and shoveled just to spend some time listening to it fall. The city is sooooo quiet these last few days. It's wonderful.

Blame it on Snow Madness?

As you all suspected I do have a little yarn lying around the house. In fact I bought a skein of yarn yesterday to make Wes a pair of fingerless gloves. So I pulled it out last night and cast on. And then I put on Coupling (Season 3) on Netflix Watch Instantly and knit my little hands off.



It is not my way to make a lot of changes to patterns but when it came time to knit the fingers on these I had to go my own way. The pattern I was using has you knit the cuff, start the thumb gusset, knit the rest of the hand then knit the fingers starting with the index finger. Look at your hand. Most people's pinky finger starts lower than their index finger. In the other gloves I've knit I've started with the pinky finger first, knit a few rounds and then knit the rest of the fingers. I'm also unhappy with the number of stitches I used for the fingers. Pinky is too small, middle finger is baggy.

At this point it was around 2:45 am. I decided to be sensible. Instead of ripping out and reknitting the fingers in the middle of the night I cast on for the other cuff! What was I thinking? Why didn't I just go to bed? Even when I went to bed I was awake for a while thinking about what other changes I needed to make to the gloves.

And now I'm am completely exhausted and I'm home with the kids for the end of Snow Week '08. My poor beautiful sweater is still stuck at the shop. I really wanted to show it to you. I've started the fourth chart in the main colors.



Snow, Day 2

Forehead Smack!

So I drove sloooooooooooowly to work to today in the snow. Everything was fluffy and white. It snowed all day long. We had a surprising number of customers considering the weather. I drove home even sloooooooooooooooooooooower. Everything is now compacted into a very thick sheet of ice. I have the day off tomorrow. School is going to be closed again (they already announced it). Now where is my knitting? In the office at the shop! D'oh!