Honestly, I have been knitting (and frogging, that goes without saying). I will be buying batteries for the camera tomorrow so I can actually upload some pictures of my five million works-in-progress.
On a household front - drumroll please - while we're still overbudget for our monthly expenses, the credit cards are not maxed out this month! Progress is being made.
When trying a new technique, it may behoove you to read how said technique is actually done, rather than trying to wing it yourself.
I have now started to knit sock(s) for Michael twice - the reason for the plural is the second time I decided to knit both of them at once, thankfully I switched to one at a time a few rounds into the cuff. I will most likely not be doing this again. Having the insteps and/or cuffs the exact same size when you are knitting at 10-12 rows/inch really doesn't matter all that much to me, and that's saying something given my perfectionism. Nor is having both socks done at once worth the bother of dealing with two balls of yarn at once - I have to concentrate on the way I turn my work to keep them from getting too tangled and I have to switch too often (Michael's socks have a 42 stitch circumference on this yarn). I'll stick with speedier knitting. I am getting sold on Magic Loop though - buying one long needle is cheaper and easier on my hands than working with two 16" circs.
The first sock went fairly well up until the heel. I tried out a new technique for working the shortrows on Misocrafty that Wendy Knits posted in her blog as worth trying for people having trouble with holes in their heels. Almost always up for something new, I decided to give it a shot. I tried it and hated it, this is with the caveat of doing it from memory having read the instructions once or twice. I got a round or two away from starting the ribbing for the cuff and frogged it.
After talking with my friend J, I decided to give two-at-once a try again. I also decided to try out a new to me technique called the Afterthought Heel. The idea appealed to me, having my heel look exactly like my toe and not dealing with shortrows at all after the last debacle could only be a good thing, right? It would have been if I decided to actually google the technique and spend five minutes reading on how to do it. Instead I laboriously knit the insteps of Michael's socks, knowing that time was of the essence since I not only need the yarn but the needles as well for a project that I am intending to sell (and wouldn't you like to know what that is...). I figured that you transfered half of the instep stitches to waste yarn and then replaced them with a provisional/crochet cast-on. In theory, this is a good idea and if I had been knitting the socks one at a time it may have even worked in practice, but the end result was hideous to my eyes, which is to say it was probably acceptable to the rest of the word at large and who the hell is actually going to be scrutinizing my son's sock heels anyways? His mother, that's who.
The moral of this rambling rant filled with way too many parens and run-on sentences is to take the five minutes to google the damn thing before you start so you don't have to frog several hours-worth of work that you've been avoiding, despite needing to finish it so you can do the thing that will make you money.
Take that Strunk and White! Yes, I said it. No appologies here tonight.
I have been very neglegtful of the blog recently - I've been knitting, and frogging, designing, and frogging, and then knitting some more. I'm getting some stuff ready to post later today/tonight (yes, there are knit items that survived the blitz-frog). I'll leave you with this happy piece of news:
O.J. Simpson book, TV show canceled
God help me that I actually agree with Bill O'Reily on something.
Michael and I went into town this morning and had such a nice time. I popped in to Barnes & Noble for coffee and a new book for Michael - it's so cool that he demands one whenever we go into a bookstore. We ate a bagel in the park and then walked over to Loop to get some yarn. I really wanted some bright solid color sock yarn, but everything was sort of washed out looking - nice colors, but not what I was looking for - so I picked up a skein of Opal Sport-weight yarn in an off white and am currently dyeing it a bright red-orange in my crock pot. It's super-wash merino so I'm excited to see how it turns out. I'm planning on making something for my next self-published pattern and a pair of socks for Michael (another pattern that is coming soon, I promise). I also picked up three balls of Debbie Bliss Soho in a pink/purple colorway to make something felted out of. I think I'm just going to wing a bag with it or I may try using a pattern from my very over-due copy of Modular Knits.
I've been jumping around alot with my knitting this past week. I've started Michael's sweater four times now and have frogged it four times so I decided to put some space between me and it for a few days. In the interrim I've been designing a knit fish toy. I'm going to cast on for version 1.1 this afternoon. I'm not sure what I'm doing with it yet - if I'm going to sell it myself or submit it to a magazine so until I make up my mind I can't post any pics.
Michael has really been a dream these past few days. I always love my baby-zen days and they far outweigh the angst we both suffer on non-zen days. He is such a great kid.
There are still a few knit-picky things I have to take care of, but overall, I'm pretty happy with it.
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Of course I had to take one last look before I went into bed - 45 minutes later and I've tried to change it about 3 times but I can't get it to work the way I want it to. I'll tell you what the biggest sticking point is - limiting myself to 800 pixels! If I had a full 1000 pixels to work with, I'd be so happy. My columns would be nicely spaced, I could have that little bit of background graphic showing, and I could have a clean layout without it feeling crowded. Right now it's getting to the point of saving my sanity or preventing those people with the resolution set to 800x600 from having to scroll over.
I have to go to bed and leave it alone for now. 'Night all....
grumble, grumble, grumble
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I have taken the plunge and decided to go with 850px so my 3 column layout is a bit less crownded. I have to get out of the house because I know I'm going to obsess about it nonstop.
I've finally posted my first pattern on Knitty Keen! It's a free download for my Knot Cap. Here's a pic of one of my prototypes:
I'm only two days late with this, but here's some Halloween Goodness for you all...
120 items so far
