My Knitting -- A Greek Tragedy

There is a common wisdom in knitting that when you travel you will always overpack.  You will always bring one more project than you can manage.  You will always imagine more time than is available.  And you will always, always, be busier than you think.  For some reason this weekend I tried my hardest to prove to be the exception to the collective experience of knitters everywhere.

When I packed for my four days at home I decided that I would need something basic.  Something to keep my interest during two graduation ceremonies, but also something that I could drop at an instant to snap a picture or stand and cheer.  At the same time I needed something very portable because I knew I would spend at least two days running around getting things set up for the wedding.  So I settled on my Kaleidoscope, a simple stockinette body knit in fingering weight yarn.  I only had about five inches on the needles and almost an entire skein of Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock, which has a put up of 430 yards.  Because I did my packing at 11 o'clock at night this seemed like the perfect plan.  It was not until I got to graduation number one and knit for two straight hours that I realized I may have a problem.

I didn't have enough yarn.  Think about it.  Four days, stockinette, 5.0mm needles.  That is not enough knitting. Fortunately at the last second I had thrown in a hat I'm knitting, but that only lasted the drive home.  Then I was stuck.  Me, the sweater, and a race against time to see if my quickly dwindling ball of yarn would last.

When I left home last night I had this much left.

An hour after we got on the road I hit 16 inches on the body and realized it was time to break off for the sleeves.  Only I didn't have any waste yarn or stitch holders.  I spent the entire drive back alternating between napping and driving Chris nuts because I was stuck sitting with no knitting.

And there you have it.  All the collective wisdom of the knitting universe proved right again.  Just as the gods foil the mortals at the last second in Greek myth,  I did not run out of yarn.  I ran out of pattern.

Madness of the Non-Spartan Variety

I missed WIP Wednesday this week (thanks work!)  and so I did not get a chance to tell you about a truly startling change of events that you may or may not have noticed -- I got bit by the sweater bug.  I know!  I've got shawls and socks on my to-do list.  But what am I fantasizing about?  Sweaters.  I blame the recent cast-off of the Lonicera.

It all started with the swatch I showed to you a few days ago.  Remember that one?  I had originally intended the yarn to be a Westport Shawl from the latest Knitscene, but when I cast on the chart was just too much for my brain.  I wanted something more stockinette, less concentrated effort.  So rather than pick up one of the projects I have on the go I started swatching and ended up with this:

I'm knitting the Kaleidoscope for the Stockinette Zombies Two Ball KAL.  Which means that I have to be done by the end of June.  No problem.  I can do this.  What could possibly derail me?

I really was going to cast on for the Holla Back Tank first, since that appeared to be the prevailing opinion, but it calls for US 5 needles, which are currently tied up in another deadline project (I know, I know. Just get me through the wedding and I'll relinquish deadline knitting forever!)  Actually, both the Holla Back and the Umbre Lovre call for US 5s, but I really wanted to knit one of them.  I usually go up a needle size in gauge, so I swatched the Umbre Lovre on a 6 and am now knitting away.

I feel guilty for having so many WIPs of the same item on the needles, but then I wonder why.  I have trouble holding still and I'm not a single-project girl when I'm reading or watching tv, so why should I single project knit?  On the other hand I am experiencing the downside to my knitting ADD because I have nothing to show for FO Friday.  However I have a lot of graduations to attend this weekend (Chris is finishing law school and my sister has her nursing school pinning ceremony), so if I only pack one project, maybe things will change?

Fighting in Public

Today at work I got in a knock down, drag-out, hair-pulling, house-wife screaming fight with a knitting pattern.  You know those tv episodes that start out with some rather ridiculous fight narrated in the first person and then backtracks to tell you what happened?  It was something like that.

No matter what department I am working in I usually take my lunch break at the same table every day.  And if I am not working in the department with that table I usually end up eating with one of my coworkers who has lunch at the same time.  We don't always talk, sometimes we sit there and both read while we eat.  I always knit, though.  That's just who I am and most people at work now accept that.  So imagine a nice peaceful early afternoon lunch.  We're both sitting there eating the meager offerings of our fridge (she had stale cereal, I had a not-quite-in-date yogurt) and chatting nicely when suddenly I go ballistic.

"Hold on a sec.  I have to recount this."  This statement still falls in the realm of normal for interaction with me.  I'm almost always counting something.  But as I'm counting I start to get this sinking feeling.

"One sec." I say.  I'm sure my coworker is beginning to get slightly frustrated with me.  If I only wanted a sec I'd be done by now.  But no. I now begin flipping the page back and forth trying to make sense of the directions.  Surely I'm reading something wrong.  Surely I mis-read something.  Nope, it's there plain as the crumbs on my blouse.  "Knit one, yarn over" where clearly there should be knit two, yarn over.  I mean, that's what makes logical sense.  That's what keeps this pattern moving.  That's what the chart looks like.  How can this be a knit one all the way through.  There's no way.  What is this designer thinking?  Maybe it was badly edited when put in the magazine?  I pull out my phone and check Ravelry, blessing my unlimited data plan as I begin to scroll through projects and checking "helpful notes".

"This isn't right."
"What isn't?"
"These directions.  They're wrong.  There's no way and for some reason no one mentioned it.  They're all talking about something earlier in the pattern that makes total sense, but this part is wrong and no one is talking about it!"
"What is it supposed to be?"
"Well it says knit one, yarnover, which makes sense for the first row.  But all the other rows are not going to look like that so they wrote the directions wrong.  I know what it's supposed to look like so I'll knit it that way but I don't understand why they wrote it this way."
"Ok..."
"Oh... wait... I found it.  Never mind! We're all good!  So you were saying you went to the beach?"

Fortunately my coworker is also the friend who took our engagement pictures last week, so she's seen more than a little knitting craziness on my end.

And yes, I found out what was wrong, but I'll be stabbed with Addi-Turbo Lace needles before I tell you.

Indecisions

Alright folks, we have survived what I call the "week of crazy".  The Avengers opened with great success -- a new box office record and an absolutely incredible film.  If you have not seen it yet, you must go check it out.  My love of Jeremy Renner has only grown (really, who's surprised by that)  Just have some patience with the staff of the theater -- we've been run ragged by the huge crowds.  I don't know about elsewhere, but my theater was sold out all weekend.

So today, as a respite from work, I have the urge to do some swatching.  Over the weekend I received a box from Knit Picks with some yarn for two patterns from the new Holla Knits collection -- the Holla Back Tank and Umbre Lovre.  Both of these are gorgeous patterns and I would like to knit up both of them to take on my honeymoon in *gulp* three months.  But I can't decide which to knit first!

The thing I love about the Holla Knits collection is that there is a Knit Picks sample for everything.  Allyson seems to really want an affordable product, and Knit Picks is a great option for affordable without that summer camp arts and crafts feeling.  To that end, I bought a fantastic quantity of yarn for very little.

First up, Gloss in the Bordeaux colorway for the Holla Back Tank.  I love the interest of this piece and the purpley-wine color is one I know will work on my very pale skin (I've decided not to go the traditional route and am not bothering to try to get a tan for the wedding.  Too much work).

Door number two is the Comfy Sport for Umbre Lovre.  I wrote about this during Knitting and Crochet Blog Week and it really is a pattern that appeals to my fantasy wardrobe aesthetic (the one where all my geeky tshirts are paired with flattering shorts or skirts and everyone admires my fashion forward style).  And yes, I bought the exact yarn in the pattern sample. The colors are perfect and since I've never done a colorwork sweater it's great to just let someone else do the work.

So here's my question, dear readers -- Which one do I knit first?  I have a bucket of yarn and am overwhelmed by my choices.  Help a girl out?

FO: Lonicera [Finally!]

Yesterday between shifts I came home and dragged Chris outside to take some pictures of the Lonicera.

Lonicera, Kirsten Kapur in Dragonfly Fibers Selkie

I love the finished product.  It is absolutely lovely.  The yarn is so soft and did that blocking thing where all of the little imperfections just seemed to disappear.  That is one thing I will say about this sweater.  Even though I swatched, I still forgot how much it would grow!  The Selkie did not have as much drape as the original yarn, but here you can't even tell the difference.  It took just over two skeins to knit the medium, but I'm willing to bet that you could remove one body repeat to get a slightly shorter version out of two.

I used a US size 9 needle and kitchenered the two pieces together, rather than using a three needle bind-off.  My only problem was the amount of ends to weave in.  It took an entire episode of Stockinette Zombies to get through them all.

This little baby is packed up and ready to head to Kate for display in the Dragonfly Fibers booth.  If you see her at a show, stop and say hi!  Pet the sweater.  It is amazing yarn.

In the meantime I am trying to decide what Star Wars gear to wear today while I have a "knit all the things" kind of day.  I worked the midnight release of The Avengers last night, so I have the day off for crafty and geeky goodness.  May the Fourth be with you!

Check out other finished objects over at Tami's Amis!

Glinda and Mr. Louie

There are many genuinely nice people in this world and a lot of them seem to work in customer service positions.  Today I met a lovely gentleman named Louie.  He is an older gentleman, a little shorter than I am, with an accent I could not quite place. And one of the sweetest people I have ever met.  Glinda, my car, has been making a horrendous squealing noise for some time now, so I finally took her in to get checked out.  Despite my strong bias towards small, family garages, I took her to a large auto repair center because A) it's nearby and B) it was a recommendation.

According to Mr. Louie, I was on the verge of being in a terrible accident caused by my breaks failing to do what they're supposed to do -- namely, stop the car.  After I recovered from the shock I watched him spend the next fifteen minutes trying to find me the best deal on his computer.  Then he walked me around the car to show me what was wrong and explain why it needed to be fixed.  Three hours later when he was leaving to go home to have lunch with his wife Mr Louie pulled me back out of the waiting room to apologize that he had to leave and tell me that it should only be one more hour.  He patted my cheek and reminded me that the parts came with a warranty so if I should have any trouble I should come back to see him and he'd have it straightened out right away.

Even though the bill was enough that I was left doing the math of how many months of not eating would pay it off (Kidding. Mostly), I am grateful to have met Mr. Louie.  He was very kind and even had nice things to say about my knitting.  Maybe it's because I work a lot in customer facing positions, but I always try to let people know how much I appreciate it when they go the extra mile for me.  You can tell when someone is genuinely putting their best effort into helping you, and it always makes my day brighter (the four hours dedicated knitting time didn't hurt either).

The Lonicera has finished blocking, and just needs me to weave in the ends.  But having it off the needles means I have a serious case of startitis -- I'm even swatching!

And to those concerned, I am getting compensated for my time spent knitting the Lonicera.  Though knowing my work will be on display a fiber festivals and getting to play with this yarn has made the whole process worth it.

As always, to catch up on what everyone else has been knitting now that Knitting and Crochet Blog Week is over, head over to Tami's Amis.

Forever Blocking

Today I begin what will probably be an all day possibly all night process.  Remember that giant pile of chocolate wool?  It's actually a Lonicera.  This is a giant sweater vest designed by Kristen Kapur that has taken me forever to knit.  I had a couple of false starts and a yardage scare, but I am happy to say that after a month and a half it is finally blocking.

Even though I found myself cursing it often, the construction of this pattern is genius.  You just can't see it in a pile of wet wool.  And that wet wool?  Yeah, it's Dragonfly Fibers Selkie -- a decadent blend of 60% wool and 40% silk.  Before you get too jealous and paint me a yarn snob you should know that I don't get to keep it.  This baby is going to be a show sample for Kate's booth.  I'm fairly certain that she will send tons of yarn off of this alone.  Not because I'm an amazing knitter but because the fabric is delicious.  The color bled a little when I put it in wool wash, but nothing serious.  I'd go on and on but I have no photos to back up my claims, so you'll just have to trust me until this thing finishes the epic drying that I'm sure five feet of yarn shall take.