I Just Don’t Think I Can….

Knit another (censored) ruffle scarf!

I know I am complaining and whining for no good reason, I really am self-aware enough to know I sound like a brat. The scarves are getting my name out there, they are bringing in extra money that we desperately need and people really like them.

Honestly though, after I hit 50 I just started to stare at the yarn with wild contempt – like it had killed my dog wild contempt. The knitting I’ve gotten used to, can even do it fairly quickly now but it is the pulling apart of the ruffle yarn that kills me. It takes me about 40 minutes to unfurl 30 yards and is killing my hand. Knitting I am used to, pulling apart miles of lace I am not. Not to mention the tedium – I just want to purl!

I am whining again…I CAN’T HELP IT! My Mom has been selling these things like hotcakes and my husband is so happy for the extra fundage – there is no way I would dream of complaining to them. So sorry friends and neighbors, but I needed to vent.

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** On the Plus Side **

I gave away a few knits today – which felt wicked awesome! My Grandmother received my first lace shawl (Oh no! I didn’t take a picture!). My niece got her Link-like Hat and my Mom received a boatload of OSU Buckeye Flower Pins and a cowl I was making before the orders got too crazy (Oh no! I didn’t take a picture of it finished! I suck!). I (censored) LOVE giving presents!

My Baby Being Blocked.

For Gloria

Mom’s OSU Buckeye Pins

Mom’s Cowl

Another awesome thing I got to do today was mail out the Surprise Mystery Box for whatimuptotoday – winner of the 100th post giveaway! Oh – I cannot wait to see what she thinks of the goodies!!!

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** Moving Forward **

So I’ve had a few ideas of what to do with my blogging time (which I am really, really missing right about now) with no new knitting to blog about. So again, I am asking for comments, questions, considerations and suggestions. To start basic though, here are a few brainwaves I’ve had so far:

Also: Seriously thinking of starting this Knit Along the second or third week in September – any thoughts?

Jayashri Pullover Pattern on Knit Picks  (Finished Bust Measurements 34″-62″)

I AM REALLY

Jayashri Pullover from Knit Picks

MAKE THIS!!

Stitch Week 15 & Finding a Blogging Rhythm & Nerdtastic Photos

Before I start, the Read-A-Thon Schedule is posted! Click →HERE← for info!!

Ahhh…It feels so good to be back at the computer with a clear head and something new to share! Thankfully this week I did not lost GG’s notes – not moving around a whole lot was quite helpful as it turns out. So, with no further adieu – here is Stitch Pattern Week 15!

Full Length of Footsteps Pattern.

Since I went through all of my stitch dictionaries and normal internet sites searching for a name, to no avail, I am naming this the Footsteps Pattern. It looks a bit to me like murky steps in crackled snow. That could be the lingering effects of pain killers but I like it and I am going to stick with it.

Natural – Even though the yarn was baby blue.

Up Slope – Sepia.

Textured.

Full Length of Footsteps Pattern.

Green Scale – Hi-Def

Footsteps Stitch Dishcloth

Pinky Tones

Original – Sharpened and Desaturated.

For those who read the blog the following content needs no explanation, but there is hope that there will be new readers out there! So here is the low down: My explanation is bolded and it’s italicized – it may also be a bit snarky if the mood suits me! 😉

** The Pattern as GG Wrote It vs. The Pattern That Makes Sense…To Me. **

• r1k2p2 – Row 1: K2, P2 across entire row. (Very kind of you GG- my thanks go out to where ever you are).
• r2k2p1addp1over – Row 2: *K2, P1, YO, P1; Rep * across the entire row (I thought about taking back my thank you – what does add mean? Well….I went with YO).
• nrk3p2 – Row 3: K3, P2 across entire row. (It appears that numbers were becoming a hassle, so nr is taken as “next row” in my book. It feels a bit like a guessing game doesn’t it?).
• nrk2p2 – Row 4: K2, P3 across entire row. (Alright, simple enough….feel like I am getting my footing back…haha….footing….get it?….bad foot?…Never mind)
• nrk1k2-p2 – Row 5: *K1, K2tog, P2; Rep *across entire row (now the “2-” I am again left guessing that it is “k2tog”. In reality, I may be messing this whole thing up).
• k1addk1p2 – Row 6: *K1, YO, K1, P2; Rep * across entire row. (Good grief, not even a “nr” – just a space from here on out).
• k2p3 – Row 7: K2, P3 across entire row
• k3p3 – Row 8: K2, P2 across entire row (Again, I am guessing that the “p3” was written wrong – not enough stitches to cover it and it doesn’t really work with the rest of the pattern).
• k2p1p2- – Row 9: *K2, P1, P2tog; Rep * across entire row (Whew, it’s over!!)

Fun with photoshop and loads of apps up above today, I am getting more and more intrigued about messing around with hues and saturation to make the stitches pop. I think I may be finding a nice rhythm with it, or perhaps I just really like playing with photo editors. Either way works for me.

There is a part of me that thinks I cannot find this pattern because I have translated it incorrectly. Honestly, the stitches are a little wonky but I still think it is fun – not to mention it is just a dishcloth. Hopefully I have done the old girl some justice!

** Blogging Rhythms **

So the question I want to pose to you today is how much should one publish in a post? I tend to get overly excited about all the things that are jumping around in my mind and end up with very long posts. I wonder if I could reach more people (or just keep them interested) if I posted more often with less content. So, friends and neighbors, what do you think?

** Some Goofy Pictures for Surviving My Diatribe!! **

Flowers in the Park – Before the Foot Injury.

Niece with a Magnifying Glass.

Hubby Magnified!

All Formal for a Wedding. Not Really Goofy but Fun!

Your Mood & Your Gauge – A Psychological Study

– Not to sound desperate but Please Read This: I need input! –

The panic monster in my head started screaming at me one dreary morning this week, it was a litany of “you swatched this, why can’t you do anything right?” and “do you even know how to knit”. Well Panic Monster, I did a little study and proved that you are seriously messing up my knitting.

The back story to this diatribe is that a few weeks ago I designed a pattern for a baby blanket. I swatched, double checked, changed sizes to accommodate my misbehaving hand and put it aside knowing it would be ready when I went to cast on. So on Monday I did just that, I proceeded to cast on a whopping 244 stitches and went full speed ahead fully intending on pumping out this blanket. To my horror, the blanket felt stiff and tight. No longer was this the soft, airy, loose baby blanket I had envisioned, honestly the silly thing felt more like a rug than a blanket. I doubled checked all my notes and my swatch, I was doing exactly what I had planned. No deviation from the original swatch. So what happened?

The psychology major in me (one of my many degrees screams my OCD, type-A rattled mind) decided that my hand was not to blame for this one, my brain was the culprit. When I originally did my swatch I was relaxed; the weather was beautiful so the windows were open, I was as well rested as I get and Max was curled in my lap mesmerized by the yarn moving inches from his face. All was good in my brain the day of the swatch. On Monday, the day after Mother’s Day, I still felt emotionally hung over from once again not being a Mom. I was tense, upset, hadn’t slept well and had consumed copious amounts of caffeine. You can guess what comes next.

My Panic Monster was messing with my knitting.

I frogged the blanket and did another swatch, appalled by the fact I needed needles two sizes bigger to achieve the same effect. For all you non-knitters out there, two sizes is a huge difference – just picture needing shoes two sizes bigger. Two sizes…what are you supposed to do with that? and how much of this has affected my other knitted items? I have never noticed a finish product looking awkward or clunky, so how do you proceed?

Well, there are sedative….Just kidding. Kind of. You’ll see.

I spent the week doing the same swatch while experiencing the following emotions: Exhaustion (up for more than 19 hours), Happiness, Calmness, Sedation (a happy little pill to calm the Panic Monster that I rarely use, but after Mother’s Day I was a mess for several days) and Extreme Anxiety. I would come back to my needles during these emotions, knit the original swatch and then proceed to correct it with the appropriate needles. The results were a tad jarring.

Swatch: 10rows by 10rows should be 4″ by 4″ on size 7 needles.

1. Exhaustion: Swatch was 5″ by 5.4″. Desired swatch size had to be changed to size 6 needles with increase in tension.
2. Happiness: Swatch was 4″ by 4″. No changes necessary. Also no surprise.
3. Calmness: Swatch was 4″ by 4.6″. Only slight correction in tension needed.
4. Sedation: Swatch was 6.2″ by 8.7! Changed to size 5 needles rendered a product of 5″ by 5.4″. Changed to size 4 needles 4.1″ by 4.2″. Once tension was correct the product was 4″ by 4″.
5. Extreme Anxiety: Swatch was 2.8″ by 3.1″. Change to size 9 needles resulted in 3.9″ by 3.8″. Consideration with tension and yet another swatch led me to size 10 needles which was 4.1″ by 4.1″.

I am rarely sedated so I’ve dismiss this as a duh! moment, if you are fuzzy and loopy of course your knitting isn’t going to be tight. That’s why it’s not a good idea to knit while drunk, one of the many good ideas :). It was the Extreme Anxiety swatch that scares me; as I move my knitting to sweaters, shrugs and socks my anxiety could produce a product that is never going to fit right. How can you correct for the Panic Monster?

What I have noticed is that my knitting relaxes me. So I asked a nurse at work to watch my vitals during a panic attack; everyone I work with already knows about my Panic Monster and I have never felt ashamed of it. Thank God for nurses, oh hell, hospital staff in general. Nothing surprises them. Anyway,  after about 20 minutes of straight knitting I am calmer, my heart rate slows and my blood pressure drops. So I have come to the conclusion that I need to be knitting something simple for about 20 minutes before moving on to the more complex, more complicated types of knitting to ensure that my gauge is correct. I am going to have to do the same thing before I swatch a pattern out so that I can avoid more frogging.

Yowzer. What a week.

So, friends and neighbors who manage to get through my ramblings I would like to ask a few questions. Have anything like this happened to you? Do you find that your swatches can vary from one day to the next? How do you work through the process of ensuring that what you are knitting will be the exact shape and size that it needs to be?

Stitch Week 7 – Heartfelt Thank You’s & Photo Editing Mishaps

Before I get started today, I wanted to say thank you to all of you that commented, liked or simply read Please Don’t Tell Me What I Cannot Do. It was overwhelming to see that the blogging world actually cared about my circumstances, and the outpouring of support and encouragement left me a bit dumbfounded. I’m still surprised that something that personal poured out of me, obviously it needed an outlet. Infertility, especially miscarriages is something that most people want to sweep under the rug, like seeing it in the daylight would solidify it in reality. It felt like a weight lifted off my shoulder to just write about it, to purge my mind. So thank you so much. Thank you.

* * * *

Perhaps white was not the best yarn color to try to photograph, but live and learn and play with photo editors! So with no further adieu, I humbly present Week 7’s Stitch Pattern!

Hello Week 7!

I will tell you that knitting this was a delight – a little confounding do to my dearly departed GG’s handwriting- but once you get past that it seemed to knit itself. When I started taking pictures of the dishcloth with my iPod, they were horrible! No joke, it was like the image just disappeared in the picture, which gave me the opportunity to play with both Instagram and Vintique . I haven’t done much editing with these applications, but playing around with them last night was a blast. Whether it was successful or not, I shall let you decide.

Sharpened and Hi-Light.

Super Duper Sharpened with Lo-Res Filter

Aqua Filter

To be honest, I am feeling the Epic Fail with theses. On the plus side, I was introduced to all the fun filters and sophisticated things that can be accomplished with an iPod; something I foolishly used (until just recently) to listen to music and check the weather. Silly me!

With the filters on my iPod not giving me what I wanted, I pulled out my trusty Canon and decided to go old school – if you can consider digital photography and Photoshop to be old school that is. I was pleased with the result;, this could be because of the abject failure of the first attempt but hey, I am still learning! Most people who work in hospitals aren’t well versed in the fine art of making their pictures not suck. Or maybe that is hopeful thinking! Anywho, here are the shots from the Canon.

Before Photoshop Close Up

After Photoshop, Thank you Hi-Pass

Full Frontal

Stitch Pattern Dishcloth

Magnified Close Up

Much Better!

So GG, what did you have in store for us this week eh? Well, once again there was no name to the pattern, no punctuation, and a very odd Cast On number. Well Week 7, you haven’t disappointed me!

co38 – Cast On 38 Sts. (Feeling Pretty Good)(Why yes, I am a smart a**!)

R1 correct, kall- Row 1: (RS) Knit all Sts. (Seriously, sometimes when I read these patterns I think of the movie Nell and her secret language!)

r2,pall – Row 2: Purl all Sts. (Nice, nice)

r3 p2 k1 end – Row 3: P2, K1 to end of row (This would have been simple, but there are 38 sts and that definitely is a multiple of 3! Eh, don’t fight it Rachel, just see what happens).

r4 k2 p1 end- Row 3: K2, P1 to end of row (Well at least we are being consistent with the whole incorrect number of stitches dealio. Again Rach, just breath in through your nose and out through your mouth).

rep to end, fin. – Repeat Rows 1-4 to desired length, BO loosely. (Dear God, Please let this work out ok!)

Well, it ended up working out better than ok! The pattern was almost spa like in its interwoven bumps and ridges. I would even go so far as to say it felt luxurious! With this in mind, I got on Ravelry and started my scavenger hunt for dishcloths and facecloths for something similar. The closest I found was from Anne Mancine listed under Spa Day Facecloth, which was the same pattern, just outlined with a seed stitch border. What I found a bit confusing though was that the pattern contained a Copyright – how is this possible? GG wrote the pattern (or more likely copied it down from a magazine or a book) circa 1968. Thus I remain confounded by the whole Copyright thingamajigger. Well, it is something new to add to the every compounding list of things to learn.

Thank you again bloggers for all your support and encouragement. Feel free to leave comments, questions or insights….your knowledge is priceless. OH, and Max says Hiya:)

Hiya Bloggers!