I Did It!

The pattern for Seychelles, which intimidated me for four years, turned out to be really easy, especially after two cabled sweaters I made.

State Fair Cardigan

Currant Cardigan

Each of these sweaters has patterning on the wrong sides of the knitting as well as on the right sides. It was a lot to keep track of!

The Seychelles wrong side rows were always just purl stitches. A breeze, and there were only 41 stitches per row, and only 20 rows per repeat section. 19 repeats but still, they were easy, so easy that I could work on them while I watched the new season of Endeavour. Yay! I love Endeavour, the prequel to the dull Inspector Morse series; the main character, the older Morse, was depressed, and I suppose he was such an effective actor that he made the show .... depressing. I never finished watching the series.

Anyway, here is the beaded lace portion of the project.

Now all that remains is to pick up a million zillion! stitches along the non-beaded side of this lace and knit the stockinette part of the wrap. There are (shudder) short rows to keep track of, but I think that is as complicated as the rest of the project gets.

This will be the most delicate thing I've ever had to block, and I think that will be a bit challenging. I'll be afraid I'll break the fine thread-like yarn!

Finished!

I started working on this sweater last August, and I have now finished it.  

I am thrilled.  Maybe even more thrilled than my daughter will be to get it---Finally!

(And no, she won't keep it on a hanger.)

Here is the back:

After it is properly introduced at knit night this Thursday, it will go in the mail, insured for a million zillion dollars.  

Because I'm not making another one.  

Do You See a Seam?

No, you do not see a seam.

Because....I haz the skillz.

But mostly--- because I watched a Craftsy class on seaming and finishing and because I took off my cast in order to sew.  (Shhhh...)

The entire sweater is now sewn together and ready for the button bands.  And I even have the buttons.  

They do match.  The colors aren't showing true.

See?  They match.

I started knitting this sweater last August and it may actually be finished tomorrow.

Except for final blocking.  It seems as if there has always been an "except."

I Have Learned

that wearing a cast means

not having to empty the dishwasher.  

Rats.  (about the plate, not about not unloading the dishwasher!)

However, with the permission of my PT, I am allowed to take off my cast to knit (which I had been doing without permission...shhhh), and I have now finished both sleeves.  I was almost finished with the first one when dH said Let's go ride bikes and we all know how that turned out.

I am so happy to be able to work on this but not so happy that now I have to rip out about four inches of the right front.  All I can think is that in an apparent bout of misplaced optimism, I decided to work the last few inches without the chart.  

Now I will rip back and knit using the chart.  

And those little white feet?  Baxter, my supervisor, checking my work.

Our Long National Nightmare is Over!

So I exaggerate.  A little.

MY LONG local nightmare is over.  

I have finished the back of the Currant sweater, the one I started August 15, 2013.  And I know this exact date because, unlike SOME people I could name, but won't (you're welcome Sallyknit and Lucille), I enter my projects on Ravelry.  

I like to share.  

Here 'tis:

I cannot understand how this project has kicked my b*tt, but it sure has.  I'm hoping that I have learned all the new things I needed to learn in order to do this and that I remember them because I still need to knit the two sleeves and the two fronts.

Maybe it could be sleeveless....hmmmm.....


And yes, I am back from my week in Mexico.  A very l.o.n.g week.  And because as a child I was taught that if I can't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything, I will list only the three things that were good during the week.  

1.  Gorgeous weather the entire time.  Upper sixties through the mid-seventies, cloudless blue skies.

2.  I saw whales the second morning there.  They were where they were supposed to be, out in the ocean, eating and making their way north.  There were three for sure and possibly a fourth. They wouldn't hold still enough to be accurately counted.  

3.  The place we rented (and I still can't explain how we came to be in a residence with no walls in the living areas) was 100 feet from the ocean.  So---perfect views and a lovely ocean breeze all of the time.  

And now I'm home.

Knitting indoors.  

I sweartagah

I keep knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting some more

and this sweater NEVER gets any longer than 11 1/4 inches long.  I've been knitting for days and weeks and......well, since AUGUST 15th!!!!!

and this is as far as it goes.  

I had thought that it was my fault, lack of initiative, lack of inspiration, lack of stick-to-it-ive-ness, but I have decided that it is not me.

It is the sweater.  

It is evil.  

Just like the Bunny Blanket Buddy I knit a few years ago.

So, younger daughter, it will be a sweater when IT decides to become one.  In the meantime, I will keep knitting and knitting and knitting, but it is ultimately up to the yarn and the needles.  

Really.

¿Qué pasó?

See?  I'm learning Spanish!

What's happening with Knittergran?, you may ask.

Well, she can't knit and watch Breaking Bad at the same time.  She discovered this after making a few too many mistakes in her knitting.  So now that she is caught up on BB, she has been knitting.

And she should stop referring to herself in the third person.  It's just weird.  She is not royalty.

So I have been catching up on knitting!

I have finished these socks, the first ever knit on size one needles.  (Signature needles, plain vanilla pattern, and Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock Yarn, color grouse)

AND I have been working on the tricky Miss Winkle scarf:

I don't want to think about how many loops I have attached the wrong way and have had to frog.

AND I have finally, finally, with the help of several Ravelers, gotten started on the Currant Cardigan.  It has been the most difficult project I have attempted because of the new cast on and new stitches I have had to learn.  And I was reading the charts wrong because the right side rows are usually odd-numbered (I think) and the wrong side rows even-numbered (I think) and this was backwards to me, but I didn't realize it until I had done parts of a couple of rows um...backwards?  I'm not actually sure.  I was so confused.... A very experienced knitter on Ravelry helped me sort it all out. And then I frogged.

But now I am on my way, I hope.

AND I may have discovered that I am no gardener.  So far, this is the total of my crop of peppers:

Teeny, tiny.  CUTE!!!

We have had something like 16" extra inches of rain this summer, so maybe that's the problem.  I have no idea. 

It tasted great.  So there's that.

Anyway, Breaking Bad is on tonight, but I will record it and watch it later without the ads.  

Sorry, advertisers, but you break up the mood, the color, the ambiance, the sounds, the carnage, the blood, the swearing......... maybe the ads are a good thing.  

Success

Why, you might ask, would I call this "success"?

Well, let me tell you. 

It has taken me nearly two weeks to get this far.  The instructions include things like LCI, 2/2 LCI, and RLPI and I had never heard of these stitches.  It took awhile to figure out what they ARE before I could look them up on youtube to find out HOW to do them.  And then I tried doing the stitches. That was fun.

And so I had to rip it all out and start over.

And I made the mistake of starting over at last week's Knit Night.  

I picked it up today to continue on to row THREE and everything was wrong.  Knits were purled; purls were knit.  

So again, I ripped it all out and started over.

And somehow there weren't enough stitches.  I added stitches, and worked row two all over.  

Now comes the increase row, and sweet baby cheeses, I hope I get it right this time.

On the other hand, I am very good now at the Old Norwegian Cast On.  



Update:  I have hit a roadblock already.  I have asked this question on Ravelry, but I wonder if anyone reading here has the answer.  How many stitches does this section require:

RLPI, p2, k1tbl, p2, 2/2 LCI, [p3, RLPI] 2 times, k1tbl, p3

I count 22 but the section set up for this only has 19.

Anyone?  Anyone?  Anyone? 

Bueller?



Update #2:

A wonderful Ravelry knitter answered my call for help and corrected my understanding of the increases I was using.  And it worked!
Onward and upward!