Wingspan

There was a lovely package at the post office for me on Tuesday morning.  I ordered yarn last week for a new project, which was naughty of me, but I'm not regretting it so far!  After drooling over a friend's Wingspan, I decided to join the fun.  So I ordered some Chroma from KnitPicks.  I was not expecting to get it so quickly because Knit Picks used to take quite a while to ship - they are definitely much quicker now!

I cast on for Wingspan really quickly on Tuesday morning.  My plan was to do a couple of rows, just so that I could get the pattern under my fingers before going out to Knit Night that evening.  After the first couple of rows, I really wanted to see the first color change, so I kept going just a bit further:

Oh, it was so pretty going from blue to green.  I was hypnotized.  Those bumpy ridges from the garter stitch are so soft ... I couldn't stop myself from just stopping and stroking as I went along.  And then after the color changed to green, I wanted to go just a bit further, I just wanted to see how to start the next wedge, just so that I would be able to do it pretty easily at knit night and wouldn't be too distracted.

It was simple to do, and just lovely.  And I couldn't stop there.  I just couldn't.  I tried to stop several times.  I put the scarf away in my bag and zipped it up; I walked out of the room and tried to distract myself with other things that I needed to get done.  I could just never stay away very long - I am telling you, it was calling my name!

And after all that, I didn't even get to go to Knit Night tonight!  I opted out because it was pretty snowy, very cold, and my tummy was aching.  All a very crummy combination.  So instead, I stayed on the couch with Vacationing Matt, watching Bones and knitting away.  It was a wonderful way to spend an entire, lazy day :) 

And I'm already on the fourth wedge, which means I'm almost halfway done!  I am pretty sure that I will be casting on for another one after this one is done.

January Sugar Block Club

I've finally been able to finish my block for January's Sugar Block Club!  This was a pretty straightforward starry block with fabulous instructions.  The center is simply a 9 patch square, with 4 sets of flying geese surrounding it.  On the ends of two of the flying geese, you attach 2 half square triangles for the corners.  It's like a pretty flower basket with green tulips... I love it! 

And, I have to admit my favorite part:

I now get to start collecting the scrap triangles for a special project at the end of the year.  I'm hoping this block of the month club does lots of those little flying geese so that my little collection continues to grow!

Knitting Update

Friday night I cast on for another pair of socks.  This is Blue Moon Fiber Art's Socks That Rock Lightweight that I've had in my stash for a few years now.  I've used Socks That Rock a couple of times - once for fingerless gloves that I've never posted about and the other for my first Seraphim shawl.  This yarn is lovely - the hanks are huge so I'm certain that I will have lots of leftovers to add to my scrap bag.

Anyway, as of Sunday afternoon I had finished one sock and was working my way up the toe of another:

This is Mochaberry - it seems that Blue Moon isn't make this colorway anymore?  The color in the top picture is actually more true.  It's a lovely mixture of berry purple and silvery gray.  It's very dreamy.

I still haven't figured out how to resolve my gauge issues with the Angostura vest that I have been wanting to make.  I'm considering just trying a different pattern.  I'm eying a couple:

1. Mr. Greenjeans - a pattern that I actually bought oodles of yarn for several years ago and never got to.  Or I could use the yarn for another project, like...
2. Girl Friday - a lovely, lacy, cuddly, cozy cardian
3. Hey Teach - another lovely cardigan, this one a little more dressier.

And more and more and more sweaters that I have in my Ravelry queue.  Or I could just make a cute beret, or a scarf, or mittens, or a shawl, or a pair of socks.  We shall see!  But for now, I will continue to enjoy the Socks That Rock and knit away contently!  

Finished Koigu

I bound off on my Koigu socks this morning as I finished watching the Project Runway All-Stars finale.  I love them!  The yarn is soft and firm, the colors are so pretty, and I used almost all of each of the hanks, so there really isn't any leftover yarn!  I hate it when I finish a pair of socks and there is still a ton of yarn left - it seems like such a waste.  The yardage on Koigu is perfect!

Just some specs:
Pattern: Wendy's Generic Toe Up
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM
Needles: Knit Picks Harmony DPN, Size 0

Now I am off to get these babies dirty by wearing them around my house!

Mistakes in Swatching

How is that I've been knitting since 2004 and still haven't figured out swatching?  I swatched for Angostura back over the summer.  I swear I did.  And yes, the swatch did show that I was going to end up a little bit big.  But, I thought, ehhh... that's probably close enough.  Mistake #1: (being lazy).

So I knit on Angostura.  A lot.

I knit so much that I almost finished the whole back.  All the while, I had this strange little inkling that something wasn't quite right.  Mistake #2: (not trusting myself).  And when I almost finished the back of the sweater, I actually looked at the size of the sweater in my lap.  It was basically a blanket.  Now, I'm not super skinny and I knew that the garment was going to end up kind of big in order to fit my body, but this was ridiculous.  When looking at the proportion of the sweater to my body, I just knew that it was off.  So I frogged, which you saw you in a post earlier this week.

So now I am really trying to swatch.  At first, I went up a needle size, because I swear I  read somewhere [and I will not tell you where because I don't want to be that girl that points out other people's mistakes] that if you have too many stitches per inch, then you go up a size.  Well, that doesn't make sense, I thought.  Wouldn't that make the stitches even bigger?  But, I trusted this source and went with it. Mistake #3: (again, not trusting myself).  Nope.  Almost twice the required gauge.

So then I went down two sizes, all the way down to a 6, and it is still too big, but getting better.  Only about an inch and a half too big.  So, I tried a 4.  Now it's 3/4 inch too long on the row gauge and 3/4 of an inch too small on the stitch gauge.  Here is an illustration of my dilemma:

I did this mostly so that I would have a chance to play with photoshop and because I thought it was kind of cool!  [I made a mistake with the text on the size 4 swatch.  It should say, 3/4 inch too long AND row gauge is 3/4 inch too small.  I don't know how to fix that yet because I've already merged all of my layers.  I'm sure there is a way and one day I will be able to fix it!]

So now I am certifiably stuck.  And this reminds me why I've always shied away from gauge.  I remember having this exact same problem with a sweater that I tried to knit years ago - I could get the stitch gauge fine but the row gauge was always off.  It probably has something to do with my purl stitches being too loose.  I wonder if I could try swatching by using different size needles for knit and purl stitches?  Oh, boy.  Just thinking about that one makes my head hurt.  So off I go to research what is wrong with my knitting!  

Civil War Star Quilt

Matt and I took a trip to the lakes region this fall and stopped by Keepsake Quilting.  That was my first time in a huge quilt shop and it was completely overwhelming.  Even Matt was in awe of everything in there!  He picked out a pre-cut bundle of Civil War fabrics and together we picked out a pattern.  He decided on the Ohio Star block that was done during last year's Craftsy BOM.

I had to reconfigure the sizes of the blocks because the bundle came with 10 inch squares.  After I figured how to cut down the sizes, I got down to business cutting.  I did it all assembly line style - cut out everything, then chain pieced the quarter square triangles, then chain pieced each row individually, then put the three rows together.  By doing it this way, it has come together really quickly!

I'm stalled out a little bit right now because I am out of Kona snow (coincidentally, this is why I can't finish my January block for the Sugar Block Club!).  I still have about 8 squares to do and that shouldn't take too long!  Matt is going to be thrilled when this is done.  And so will I!  I'm amazed at how straightforward this pattern was and I think the Civil War fabrics go really well with the simple pattern.  However, I can't imagine doing some of these quilts before there were sewing machines and quilting templates and rotary cutters and self-healing mats.  The things that women were able to do with so few resources are simply amazing!

On The Needles

Sad development, but I have frogged Angostura.  Although I hate frogging and hardly ever do it, I decided that this choice would be best.  Why?  Because the back was starting to look like a blanket on my lap and I was already halfway through with my yarn, but still had a ways to go on the back.  My goal now: reread and study Ysolda's advice on gauge in Little Red in the City and try again.

Oooh!  I just went to Ysolda's website and there is a teaser for a sweater class starting in March.  Maybe I should sign up?!

My Koigu socks are slowly coming along.  I've finished one sock and have the toe ready to go on the next!  Everything is still fitting so perfectly in my little sock bag.  Eep!

Scraps are taking over!

For the last few years, I have been on a minimizing kick.  Every few weekends or so (even more lately) I make a trip to Goodwill or the historical society in town and do a drop off.  One of the things that I haven't been able to contain is my scraps from quilting.  They are taking over!  And I cannot stand to actually throw away any of the scraps, especially after I've seen some beautiful quilts at a show that were made completely from the teeniest, tiniest scraps that you've ever seen.  So this weekend I started sorting, ironing, and cutting up the scraps.  Right now I'm just going with 1 inch strips and all of the strips are such different lengths that I will probably be cutting them down from there. 

A crazy part of me wants to cut all of the fabric into 1 inch squares and make a sort of mosaic out of them.  I want to play with color a little bit, so I'm considering a type of pixelated color wheel.  After I wrote that, I did a quick search on pinterest, and of course it's been done before!  Check out this incredible example.

It is definitely overwhelming to think about, but I have to do something with all of those scraps!  What do you like to do with scraps?  And when do you say that enough is enough, and it is time to do something with them?

Playing with photoshop

I have recently downloaded a very old version of photoshop, but instantly freaked myself out because I don't know how to use it!  But after subscribing to a photoshop class from ITunes U and looking at a few tutorials online, I'm getting a little more comfortable with it.  I have lots to learn, that's for sure, but at least now I know how to insert a picture into a document!  Here's what I made today:

I found this quote in one of my old journals yesterday.  I had forgotten about it completely, but it's exactly what I needed to read this weekend.  Isn't it funny how that happens?

And of course, it's not perfect.  I am tickled pink with it, nonetheless. 

Saturday Sky

 Happy Saturday everyone!  Ours is a cool, cloudy one.  It's about 33F degrees and it rained last night.  All of the snow that is left in the yard and driveway is slushy and slippery!  You can see how bare our trees are this time of year, but there is a bit of life around... can you spot the bird?

I hope you have something fun planned for the weekend.  Matt is working today, so I have planned to sit at my sewing machine and get to work quilting my craftsy BOM quilt!  I cannot believe I haven't finished it yet, but I got so wrapped in finishing my mom's hexagon quilt that it got pushed to the side!  Enjoy your weekend!