It's been awfully quiet and a Love/Hate relationship

It has been awfully quiet around Chez YarnDiet the past couple of weeks.

You an tell by the lack of blogging and knitting projects that there hasn't been a lot going on that I can blog about. 

I guess some people get worried when there is no knitting showing up either here or on Ravelry...No, I didn't give in and kill someone, there is still knitting going on, but there has been an awful lot of frogging going on too!  In fact, I am working up the nerve to frog the latest cast on now.

I have been trying to learn a new technique....it isn't particularly hard, millions of other knitters seem to be able to do it just fine, but I have been struggling with it.  I cast on, think I have everything lined up, get a few rows in and....it's wrong.  I frog what I have and start again.

I think my yarn hates me!

Once again, I cast on and double check what I have, everything looks fine right now....get a few rows in and my pattern doesn't line up.

Try again.

Honestly, this yarn does hate me, because yet again, no dice on the lining up the pattern.

As the instructions are simple and I double, even triple counted my way through the initial rows, I think that maybe that portion of the yarn doesn't want to behave so rather than frog back to the beginning I grab the largest, nastiest looking scissors I can find and cut the offending stitches away from the rest of the ball.  That will teach them to mess with me, right?  Maybe the rest of the yarn will learn from them and behave.

Back to the cast on I go.

This time I did something different, something that is so unlike me I am surprised I even agreed to it!  You see, I have this love-hate relationship with stitch markers.  I think that some of them are the most adorable little things in the world.  I just can't abide them in my knitting!  They slow me down, duck under yarn overs when working lace, if you have any possibility of them opening enough to be on a stitch rather than between them they find it and take advantage.  But....sigh.....maybe, just maybe if I add those stitch markers to my cast on row things will line up when I need them to.

In the mean time, I might have cast on another baby blanket and knit a few more rounds on the red sweater for TFB.  I really like that I don't have to keep track of how many rows are in the back of the sweater to match for the front, working in the round does have that advantage but I am ready for some patterning, plain knit around and around and around for what feels like miles and has already been 4 balls of superwash wool is getting a little boring!  Good thing I started this one six months before it needs to be complete, I might just make it there!

The baby blanket is another version of Pierina Shawl worked as a square rather than a triangle.  This time I am putting the color changes in, the mom to be has decided that she wants yellow.  Specifically she asked for Rubber Ducky Yellow, and I can tell you I looked like six kinds of fool in the yarn section of Joanne's Fabric and Crafts with a rubber ducky in my pocket comparing it to various yarns, the one that was a perfect match in color of course being completely the wrong weight and very fuzzy, so I went with "close enough is good enough".

I love how quickly you appear to be making progress in the early stages of a center start shawl.  While waiting my turn at the doctors office the receptionist was quite impressed as it seemed to double in size in the time I was there.

Oh well, I am off to frog some knitting!

Have a great week.

~M

And what do you have to show for it?

Yet again, I seem to have been hit with a mysterious case of startitis.  Pills don't seem to help it, even a (not so) quick trip into the ER (actually two)  only served to help me cast on another project for the waiting between nurses and doctors, or visiting with people I hadn't seen in years who moved onto new and better things than being a part time teller in a bank mart!

So today's range of cast on's go from Worsted Weights in purples and greys :

To Red :

To some 3/15 in Cream, that was too boring by itself so I added some...
you guessed it Red!

Looks like I might have started in on my Christmas knitting! 

~M

I said there would be pictures!

Finally some FinishItUpus has hit at Chez Yarn Diet!

We just won't mention that there was a little bit more startitis to go with them!  Because, really what is a few extra projects on the needles between friends?

First we have the Anniversary Mystery Shawl that I knit with some of Lara's Creations fabulous yarn!  If you haven't had the chance to take a look at some of her ColourWaves you really should, they are gradient yarns at their very best!
 
No clunky color changes, but they will drive you crazy if you ever decide to knit until the next color, because you will never see them coming!

Second we have an adaptation of Pierina Shawl by Anna Dalvi.
 
 I took a triangle shawl and turned it into a square baby blanket and went with a single color of yarn through out.
 
As written the pattern is a two tone shawl and I plan on making another blanket using two tones, but I wasn't sure which colors the mom to be would want for this one so went with a plain white acrylic yarn and then killed it with my steam cleaner.

I really like the edge on this one!

Nothing to show....yet

Two (almost) finished objects this week.  Both require blocking and a photo shoot, so watch for a blog post later this week!  I would be completely finished with them, but I got distracted with another crafty type project that seems to have grown out of proportion in time and energy!  (I will share that later, but not yet, it is a surprise!)

~M

Why I couldn't do my chores, by The Other Brother

Mom has this crazy thing on the fridge called a Chore Board. 

Every day us kids are supposed to look at it and then do whatever jobs are listed next to our names.  All school year the first chore has been the same "Put your ice pack in the freezer" and we all do a really good job of doing that one.  TDQ usually does her chores and TFB (my twin) will sometimes do his, but not until Mom calls to say she is on her way home.

Me, well I am very good at avoiding doing my chores,  she should put things like "play games on your computer" or "surf the internet" and I would do them every day without fail!  But sometimes, it isn't my fault that I can't do my chores, for example, this is how the conversation went....

Mom : How was school?
Me : It was good.
Mom : What did you do?
Me : The usual.
Mom: What did you learn?
Me : Nothing new.
Mom : Did you do your chores?
Me : Well, I put my ice in the freezer, but I couldn't do the other one.
Mom: Why not?
Me : The Bird Feeder was already full.
Mom: It couldn't have been full, we just bought the bird seed.
Me : Here's a picture.
 
Mom: Just move the branch, silly boy!
Me: That didn't help, the bird feeder is still full.
Mom: What?!?!?
Me: Here's another picture, of the inside this time.

Mom: Ok, you can skip filling the bird feeder!

So you see, it isn't my fault that I couldn't do my chores!

Mom finished her Chloe's Vest.  She says that working with ColourMart yarn for a sweater is always a bit of a gamble, you know how the swatch behaves but will the finished object behave the same way when the machine oils are washed out?  Her top ended up slightly wider than she wanted and just a touch shorter, but after a quick trip through the washer and dryer the angora in the Shiny Cotton really came out to play.

I am pretty sure that TDQ stole the shirt while Mom wasn't looking, it isn't on the table any more!

Stats:

Pattern : Chloe's Vest
Yarn: Colourmart 3/15 Cotton/Angora/Merino/Viscose 174 grams, yarn held doubled for body and single for the lace insert.
Needles : US 6 and US 8
Mods: None really, was trying to get between the two smallest sizes so worked the second size and prayed the minimal shrinkage would work out.

Mom says there isn't any other knitting news.....she claims she was too busy doing everyone's chores to get any other knitting done!