Lies, Damned Lies and Swatches

There is a saying that there are lies, damned lies and statistics....in the knitters world that can be translated into there are Lies, Damned Lies and Swatches!

Everyone who is anyone in the knitting world will tell you, swatch before starting a project.  Patterns used to say "Take time to swatch for gauge to save time..." implying that knitting and ripping takes time.  Which it does.  Time that could be spent enjoying your finished object, or planning the next one.

The thing they don't tell you is that three out of four swatches are lying dogs! (I tell new knitters to swatch four times, and take their best guess at which of the four very different, yet somehow identical swatches is telling the truth!)

Take, for example, my swatches for my ColourMart Spring Contest Shawl Design.  I knit several swatches before settling on how I wanted things to line up, then charted and re-charted a few times before picking up the needles on the Spring Equinox to start the project.  Based on the gauge in those swatches once they were washed and blocked I should be looking at a shawl that is just about the perfect dimensions for either myself or TDQ.  (We're short, but we like to have a decent size shawl to wrap up in! No nasty point to our...uhmmmm....behinds! Although maybe we need to point them out in case people think we don't have any!)

Based on where I am in my charts, and how many more rows are going into this piece added to not being able to stretch her out at all on my needles, I am pretty sure that every single one of those swatches lied to me.  They all, obviously, wanted to be petite little things and not the giants that they should have been! 

I think I may be making a stadium blanket for four!

Which is actually fine.  I like big shawls I can wrap myself up in.

Monday I was at loose ends for something to drag along with me for "on the road" and "waiting" knitting.  Usually my go to thing would be to grab some US size 1 needles and a ball of sock yarn and knit one of the kids a pair of socks, but truth be told, I have knit something on the order of 10 pairs of socks already this year between test knits and designing knits.  I needed a break from socks!  (It will be a short lived break, I have been charting like crazy!!!)

But....there is this yarn that was sent to me for Christmas by a non-knitter and the rule here is that if you don't knit and give me yarn you get it back when I have knit it into something pretty.  So rather than grab a ball of sock yarn, I grabbed some of it and some appropriate sized needles to swatch for something pretty.

I had in mind a crescent shaped scarf thing with some cables and a touch of lace.  So I cast on and started doing a little playing around with cable patterns.

The yarn said....No.

Ok, change that then, maybe a different cable?

The yarn said....No.

How's about some garter stitch with just a narrow lace edge?

The yarn said....No, but a little more quietly.

Thinking I had it pegged, I tried some garter stitch with a deeper lace edge, to which the yarn all but whimpered in dismay when it said No once again.

Yet another swatch is on the needles for that yarn.  At this rate I will use it all up swatching before it finally convinces me what it wants to be!  In the meantime, come Saturday I will again be at loose ends looking for some traveling knitting.

Maybe I will just cast on a nice pair of socks!

~M

In Which The Rows Get Longer

Did you peek at the Knotions Spring Preview post yesterday?  Specifically, did you look at the socks?  I'll talk more about that next week.  The patterns go live on Saturday and I can't wait to actually get to read some of them, the double gussets on the bottom of the foot of one pair of socks look very interesting!

Before then I will need some other traveling project though, and my ColourMart Spring Contest Shawl no longer counts as small enough to put in my pocket and pull out in a hurry.

Part of what I was aiming for in designing this piece was a top down triangle, that still started with a small number of stitches and grew to a pretty border, but didn't have a standard spine that is worked as a yarn over, knit one, yarn over.  I also didn't want to just do a make one, knit one, make one.  Lots of swatches later and I thought I had a plan, actually I did have a plan, but I rapidly changed it when I got into the actual knitting.

(Excuse the scribbles on the picture, apparently my hands are not so steady when it comes to using a mouse to try and draw and write!)

I am at the point where I have finished the first and second stitch patterns that I wanted for this shawl. 

Once I am done typing this I will do the set up row for the third, which as I designed this as a modular piece looks exactly like the set up for the first and second, then get our dinner on the table.  I used up some of my knitting time today enjoying a perfect spring day just outside Columbus, Ohio.  My computer says it got up to 75 degrees, blue sky, sunshine and garden that is still in desperate need of some tender loving care!

This past week TFB and I did generate six bags of yard waste picking up acorns, branches, the leaves we had used to mulch a couple of flower beds and weeds.  This coming week TOB is on spring break, so we will see if his sense of wanting to do more than his brother leads us to creating even more!  All three had spring break on different weeks this year, so I have taken the opportunity to spend some one on one time with each one.  I am taking what I can get, at nearly 17 and 20 it won't be much longer until they are all living their own lives, with less time to devote to hanging out with mom!

For those that are so inclined...Happy Easter!  I hope your Easter Baskets were filled with merino and angora.  Who needs eggs when lambs and rabbits can signify spring and re-birth with their fur???

~M

Not a Finished Object Friday

There is an author that used to post to a message board that I would hang out on when I had nothing better to do and the kids were younger and had a much earlier bed time.*  We always knew that she was close to announcing the next book when she would drop these cryptic comments about "nothing to see here, just move along" in her best beat patrol officer typying.

Today it is my turn to say those words.

Nothing to see here, today, so move along.

Can I suggest you move along to the Preview page of Knotions?

Maybe take a close look at some of the socks?

As for me, well, I am moving along too.  I want to get a few more rows in on my contest shawl!

~M

*I miss those quiet times, when it felt like I had the house to myself...although come to think of it, right now I have a daughter upstairs working on her homework and two boys intent on whatever project they are working on...everyone wearing headphones (except me) so I am the only one making the house not so quiet.

Works In Progress on Wednesday

Today I have both a long term and a (hopefully) short term work in progress to share with you.

Let's start with the long term project.

I got a few hexes knit on my Margarita's Coverlet and as attaching them to each other is much easier if they are all the same size and shape, followed the same routine that I have with the rest of the hexes and immediately blocked them.  When I was sliding the fourth one onto the pins I remembered that I hadn't mentioned how I was blocking them, just that five lonely hexes had been abandoned on a blocking mat behind the sofa for the best part of six months.

To make sure that all the hexes are the same size and shape the first thing I did was to make myself a cardboard template. Then I set pins in my blocking mat right at the corners of the template.  Then, because we get creative around here when we don't have enough of something like double pointed needles to block multiple hexes at the same time, I slide the completed hexes live stitches onto a pick up stick.

Yes, just like the kids game!  Those then get supported by the pins and the hex gets pulled into shape.  I know that when Andrea knit hers she actually drew the outline of the hex in sharpie marker on her blocking mat, but by using the template if I should ever knit so fast that the first one is still wet when I finish knitting hex number six I can just move to the next mat.  I haven't knit that fast yet, but you never know!

My ColourMart Lover's Contest Entry is ....shhh don't tell her....behaving quite well.

So far I have only had to make one change to my chart since I last tinkered with it and that was a copy/paste error, I hit the wrong grid line when I pasted.

As we all know that swatches are dirty little liars, I haven't actually entered her into either the "small neck" or "large neck" categories.  I think, if the swatch was being truthful, that she will end up in the large category with about a 27 inch drop and 50-something inch wingspan.....but I am not counting my chickens on that yet!  Right now she is a very manageable 130-ish stitch count, having started from three half hitches. But, the rows are getting longer so I am sure that my feeling like I am zipping through the knitting will slow along the way.

What's on your needles this week?

~M

Finally Time to Cast On!

I have been plotting and planning what to do for my ColourMart Lover's Spring Contest entry for a little while now.  I knew I wanted to knit another shawl, I knew I wanted to design my own and I knew that I wanted something other than the usual yarn over, knit one, yarn over spine.  But until a couple of weeks ago that was all I knew!

I swatched a couple of different stitch patterns, and swatched a couple of different shawl shapes.  Then I swatched a few more.

Then I charted and saved.

Changed a couple of things and charted again.

Yesterday I was awake at "oh-dark thirty" for no good reason.  I had nowhere I needed to be, nobody needed a ride anywhere so I opened the chart for one final glance before I would be able to cast on today.  Looking at a chart that I hadn't done much with for a few days gave me a different perspective on it, and I saw one small change that would make it a little smoother in the transition from one stitch pattern to the next.

Of course that one small change involved adding a row to a 14 row pattern repeat, fairly early in the piece.  That one row changed the way every single row from there on would line up.

Five hours later I closed the chart, declared I was done tinkering and took the kids shoe shopping!

Officially I could have cast on just a little after mid-night.  Having been up at "oh dark thirty" on Saturday I didn't cast on until just a few minutes ago!

Here is my (very exciting) cast on picture!  (It's a requirement for entry to the contest!)

And another just a couple of rows in.

The yarn is a mohair and merino blend in a subtle pink. I am knitting straight from the cone which  means there are still oils on the yarn to allow commercial companies to use it in knitting and weaving machines, so it doesn't feel as nice as it does once it has been given a really hot, soapy wash and several rinses. Once it has had a "spa treatment" this yarn really shines, just enough halo and softness to make a wonderfully cozy shawl.

I am double checking the chart and writing the pattern up as I go.  Unless I do more tinkering, by the end of the contest I should have a pattern that is ready for testing!

I made slow progress on my Margarita's Coverlet hexes.  I am working with purples right now and have 4 of the 7 hexes I need for the next "flower", then it will be back to cream to start making enough for the next spacer row.  I have been working two flowers in each color palate, one with either a stripey or varigated yarn as the petals and a solid as the center, the other in reverse.  So far I have finished up each version in pinks, blues, greens and beige/browns. 

I need one more set of colors and I will have enough flowers for four rows of three flowers.  What color palate would you pick to go with purples and greens?

More progress pics (of both projects)  to follow later in the week!

~M

Finished Object on a Friday; A Study in Sizing

Before you think I am some kind of knitting miracle worker, who completely warped the space time continuum, no I have not finished the Margarita's Coverlet.  I am a few more hexes in and I crocheted a bunch of the cream colored hexes to a strip of 3 "flowers".  I glanced at the eleventy-billion ends that will need to be woven in and promptly put that strip in the bag and cast on another hex!  (Maybe as an exercise for his own knitting, I should get TOB practicing weaving in ends?)

What did get finished this week and photographed was my third Annapurna!

Annapurna III is a 24,787 ft / 7,555 m mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal. Based on peakery data, it ranks as the 19th highest mountain in Nepal. - See more at: http://peakery.com/annapurna-iii-himalayas/#sthash.y2yqOwbl.dpuf

Annapurna III is a 24,787 ft/7555 meter mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal. Based on peakery data it ranks as the 19th highest mountain in Nepal, and  the 42nd highest mountain that is not a subsidiary peak of another mountain.  It was first ascended in 1961 by an Indian expedition led by Capt. Mohan Singh Kohli via the Northeast Face. The summit party comprised Mohan Kohli, Sonam Gyatso, and Sonam Girmi.


I should have knit my Annapurnas in a different order, because Annapurna III is the smallest of the three main peaks, which technically should have been my cobweb version, with the fingering weight version being Annapurna I and the laceweight Annapurna II.  I will think that through a little better the next time I am doing an experiment in sizing!

But, back to Annapurna III.

She weighs in, including beads at 142 grams, so about a skein and a half of Land O Lace ShaSha.  (I have one skein left of this yarn and I am sorry to tell you that it is discontinued and you can't get any!  If it wasn't for that I would be telling you how wonderful it felt to work with, how beautifully it blocked and how nice the drape is!)  This color is called Tonka Bay and I had originally bought the yarn to make a fancy lace and cable blanket and then changed my mind.  (I know, Fickle Knitter!)

The beads are clear, gold lined beads that you can buy in a tube at any big-box craft store, so nothing terribly fancy, but ever so pretty on the yarn.

I used US 4 (3.5mm) needles, some "old" style Signature Needle Arts fixed circulars with Stiletto tips.  Another thing that is sadly discontinued, but if anyone has tried their convertible ones let me know what you think!  I am a big fan of using well made tools.

She has a 56 inch wingspan and a 26 inch depth, which along with the shape makes her easy to wear.  Big enough to wrap up in a little bit, without being bulky.

To put this into perspective :

Cobweb :  Size 2 needles,  45 inches by 23 inches

Lace :        Size 3 needles,  45 inches by 25 inches   (Notice she is blocked a little differently at the neck opening, if she was blocked the same way as the cobweb version there would be a difference in the wingspan, but...I was trying to just use the two mats across)
 

Fingering : Size 4 needles, 56 inches by 26 inches.
Shugarplums...no blocking pictures!  You will have to make do with a modeled shot, it was a little bit windy when we did our photo shoot! :)


Which just goes to show, that if you see a pattern for a shawl and think it is too big or too small, just by changing the yarn and/or the needle size you can get the type of fit you want. To have a pretty good estimate of how large or small something will be, make a swatch, block the swatch, measure your stitch and row gauge and compare those to the pattern!  A little math and knitting later you can have a shawl that is exactly the dimensions you like to wear best.

Annapurna III is a 24,787 ft / 7,555 m mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal. Based on peakery data, it ranks as the 19th highest mountain in Nepal. The nearest peaks are Gangapurna, Canharba Chuli, Tharpu Chuli, Tarke Kang, Singu Chuli, and Annapurna IV. See the Annapurna III map, 3D fly around, and the Annapurna III photos to get a better sense of the mountain. - See more at: http://peakery.com/annapurna-iii-himalayas/#sthash.y2yqOwbl.dpuf

Annapurna III is a 24,787 ft / 7,555 m mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal. Based on peakery data, it ranks as the 19th highest mountain in Nepal. The nearest peaks are Gangapurna, Canharba Chuli, Tharpu Chuli, Tarke Kang, Singu Chuli, and Annapurna IV. See the Annapurna III map, 3D fly around, and the Annapurna III photos to get a better sense of the mountain. - See more at: http://peakery.com/annapurna-iii-himalayas/#sthash.y2yqOwbl.dpuf

Annapurna III is a 24,787 ft / 7,555 m mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal. Based on peakery data, it ranks as the 19th highest mountain in Nepal. The nearest peaks are Gangapurna, Canharba Chuli, Tharpu Chuli, Tarke Kang, Singu Chuli, and Annapurna IV. See the Annapurna III map, 3D fly around, and the Annapurna III photos to get a better sense of the mountain. - See more at: http://peakery.com/annapurna-iii-himalayas/#sthash.y2yqOwbl.dpuf

Annapurna III is a 24,787 ft / 7,555 m mountain peak in the Himalayas in Nepal. Based on peakery data, it ranks as the 19th highest mountain in Nepal. The nearest peaks are Gangapurna, Canharba Chuli, Tharpu Chuli, Tarke Kang, Singu Chuli, and Annapurna IV. See the Annapurna III map, 3D fly around, and the Annapurna III photos to get a better sense of the mountain. - See more at: http://peakery.com/annapurna-iii-himalayas/#sthash.y2yqOwbl.dpuf

Fix It, Frog It or Toss It

I found myself at something of loose ends the past couple of days....my Annapurna 3 is off the needles, I have done a few swatches for the ColourMart Lovers Spring Contest and have charted the first 50 or so rows of that, but other than that there was nothing on my needles I wanted to knit.

No socks.

No blankets. (Well not, strictly speaking,  true but we will get there)

No sweaters. (Also not true, but we will get there.)

I can't cast on for my Contest Entry until March 20th, and if I swatch with that yarn any more I am liable to run out before I run out of shawl to knit.  So that was right out.  I was actually in a right funk about it.  Until I looked at my Ravelry Project Page and noticed that there are several things there that just haven't been finished.

Usually somewhere in the Spring I go on a Fix It or Forget It Spree with my WIPS, because there are only a couple of reasons for projects to end up tossed in the corner.*

The first being - there is a problem with the project.  Maybe the instructions weren't clear or I made a mistake.  Maybe the yarn doesn't play well with the pattern.  Or the colors didn't work out the way I wanted them to.

The second being - I got bored with it.  In a world where at least nine times a day I get an email telling me about a great yarn sale or I log onto Ravelry and see that 47 new patterns have been published since I was there this morning, it is very easy to drop a project for the New Thing!

The third being - the project is big!  I knew it was a long term project and that lots of other little things would get done while it was being worked on.  That is the project that I keep going back to, in the usual way, and work on a bit at a time until I get a bee in my bonnet about getting it off the needles and give it that final push to get done.  Great Big Monster Blankets in thinner yarns come to mind.

But back to my Ravelry Project Page.  I pulled out the projects that still listed as "in progress" and gave them all a good hard look.

Some needed some major or minor fixing (cat snagged yarn or my screwing up a chart) those are hibernating until I am ready to deal with them, which is not today!  Some just needed to be frogged, errors in the pattern that I wasn't willing to overcome or mismatched yarn and project, and one pair of socks that TOB decided were "too loud" for his tastes.

There is (was)a sweater.  I have blogged about, even semi recently, chevron cardigan, top down, beautiful striped yarn in shades of pink through purple.  Body is done to the waist, one sleeve is just past the elbow and....and...I am just not feeling it any more! I really thought I could live with the stripes on the sleeves being different than the stripes on the body.

But the cold hard truth is....

I can't.

I am a matchy, matchy kind of girl.  And short of cutting yarn out of the ball every couple of rows to make the stripes match, there is nothing that will make these sleeves match the body and even if I finished knitting it, I wouldn't wear it.  It's a pity, really, that I didn't think it through before I cast on.  The pattern is beautiful, elegant even.  The instructions are very detailed, you get the how, the why and the when, every single step of the way.  It just isn't me.

Which left me with one.

One big project that I started over a year ago.  A test knit that I let get out of hand.

"It was like this..." started no good story ever!  But, really!  It was like this.  Andrea Jurgrau, of Bad Cat Designs, was creating a very pretty, very useful, use up your scraps of sock yarn, modular blanket for a magazine.  We test knitters got the file and I had these high hopes of making a very colorful and useful blanket out of all my scraps of sock yarns.

Remember what I said about being a matchy, matchy kind of gal, and that the stripes on the sleeve of a sweater not matching was bothering me?  Well, as it would turn out, a jumble of colors, even in a blanket are not my cup of tea. (And by that I mean coffee, I don't drink tea!)

So.....I gathered together some scraps and some full balls and I created a plan that would have my Margarita's Coverlet looking like a Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.  I made what some would consider pretty good progress, and knit a hex or two between other things, then one day, I don't know why, I threw all the yarn, the completed hexes and the needles in a rather large project bag and never took them out again! (We won't mention that there are actually 5 hexes still on a blocking mat that has been hiding behind the love seat for the best part of 6 months now!)
 
There are 8 "flowers" completed there, of the minimum of 12 that I need!  (I might change that to 15 when I see how big four rows of three flowers gets me.)  But, each flower takes 7 hexes, with 4 more hexes between them, and 9 hexes between each row of flowers.  And if I decide to put a cream border all the way around the outside.....I'm not good at math, but I know that is going to be a lot of knitting!  Which for some reason the knitting elves did not work on while the project was stuffed in a bag!

You get three guesses what is my WIP Wednesday Project this week!

~M

*For a while projects were getting dropped because I didn't have the capability of knitting them correctly.  Fingers that were not cooperating or moving at speeds that made race cars look like they plodded around a track, but gave me the attention span of a gnat. (Yeah, I miss all the stuff I got done each day, even if it was a "little here, little there, start this, then that, go back to this, then that" then...might not have been healthy to be running at a million miles an hour but now that I am slowed down to what the medical profession calls normal I feel like I am constantly walking through hip deep water, with heavy boots and ankle weights on. Not to mention needing more than 4 hours sleep in a day really shortens up my useful hours!)