Aargh....

Already hitting a set back :-(

I have just about gotten through my first hank out of six and as I realize this and look at my progress I am not happy... I realize knitting is not always done because it is cheap, but come on! Even if you just put it in terms of how many hanks and not money... I've got about 2 inches knit out of a hank. I measured myself and approximate I'll need 17 inches to get to the armpits and somewhere around another 8 inches to finish it completely. That works out to needing 12 hanks! This is one darn expensive tank top!!! And that's with the reasonably priced yarn...

I'm now on the fence as to what to do... start over with a different spin? Just give up and go buy more before I leave here so I get the same lot? Just keep going, hope for the best and figure it out when I get to the problem? Which would most likely end up causing more problems in the terms of what yarn to get???

AARGH!

Taking a Leap

I've been knitting for well over a year or two now but until recently was doing either nothingness or scarves. Within the past couple months, maybe six months, I've become more 'adventurous' in my knitting. Part of it is probably because I have had alot of spare time on my hands and along with that came a kind knitter soul who helped me along. I started by being more creative with my scarves, using real patterns with intricite details. Then I learned a new trick - cables. I made a purse! I got some cicular needles and make a blanket! I got double point needles, learned how to knit in the round, made a couple hats... and then some socks.

Now, I'm ready to take a big leap... I've really enjoyed knitting in the round, I like double points the most. My knitter friend said she was making a hooded lightweight sweater for the summer. I thought, that sounds good, but no way I'm committing to a whole sweater! Maybe a tank top would be nice? I started browsing patterns on my favorite sites. I got some good ideas of what I liked and what I would need and headed to the local yarn shop here in California.

Based on the pattern I found to start with I was to cast on 188 stitches but my gauge was an inch off of theirs because I didn't want to buy more needles. So I added one stitch for every 5 stitches and cast on 226. I have a set of four dpns in 7 and a circ. I started just using the dpns but that wasn't working well so I put 113 stitches on the circs and then 37, 38, 38 per. That has been going pretty good. Two circs would probably be ideal, or maybe just a shorter circ... but anyway...

I've been knitting for about three days now, a couple hours a night and the above is the fruit of that labor. I'm doing a basic pattern - R1 k; R2 k1, p1 - and repeat until you get to the armpits. I don't think I'm going to keep with the pattern beyond that. I found another pattern that had a nice front section with drop stitches that I might want to incorporate and I might want to put a little sleeve on it instead of having it be a tank top.

I'll keep you updated on my progress and post pics whenever I get around to them...

Beach Yarn Shopping

Here I am on the road and out of yarn! I have a nice stash at home but underestimated my quickness and with a flight upcoming I needed some yarn!

I did a google map search for yarn shops near my hotel and found a couple but this one looked the most inviting and in my price range. I was not disappointed... The staff was friendly, there was a great selection, lots of knit items to get ideas from and a great range of prices. I had decided I wanted to knit a tank top and found a couple patterns on ravelry so I had an idea of what kind of yarn and how much. The staff also helped point me in the right direction and I ended up with 6 skeins of Berroco Touche at $5 a skein! What a deal! I could not pass up the nice bag with the store logo either... it is the perfect size, sturdy and not priced too bad either.

Now I'm off to search patterns a little more and then get started!

My Socks

I am loving socks! Using worsted weight yarn and size 7 dpns these knit up fairly quickly... I'd say an hour or two a night for about two weeks and they were finished. I knit them toe up, which I'm also loving, using the magic loop cast on.

I used this pattern as a guide, but took my own direction sometimes. The beginning of each sock started the same but at some point during the heel things changed and I'm not sure where I went wrong in the pattern but I couldn't make sense of parts of the pattern in my mind which is why I'm going to type up a rework that I can understand...

So, I cast on 8 stitches on magic loop and made one until there were 24 on each needle. For adult socks I will cast on more like 10-12 in the future so as to not end up with such a pointy toe. I knit around until about 7-7 1/2 inches and then started short rowing for the heel. Once there were 4 unworked I started long rowing the heel. I knit (for sock one, pearl for sock two) around twice and then did a 2x2 ribbing for the calf for about 4 inches. I also cast off in ribbing to make the sock loose enough to get on and off easily.

There is a point in the heel, I think while switching from short to long row, that gets confusing to me. This is what caused sock one to get knit up a little different from sock two, although they both turned out looking the same. I will have to re-read the pattern and come up with a better way for me to understand how to make it work so next time my pair will be a identical pair.














I also really like the yarn I ended up using for this. I bought the yarn not knowing what I'd do with it, although I did have socks on my mind I wasn't sure the weight of this yarn was appropriate. It turned out to be just right for what I wanted, more of a slipper sock, and the way it self patterns it awesome! I ended up with leftover yarn but not enough for any more socks... I'll definitely be buying more because the price was decent as well!

Slipper Socks

Yea! I made socks! I was being begged to make slipper socks so I finally sat down and figured it out... found a pretty simple pattern, some fairly large yarn and size 10 dpns and got to work... only took a couple days to get both done.


Here is the link to the pattern I pretty much followed to get these done. Hopefully they will be functional and I can make some better ones later now that I've gotten some practice in.

Raspberry Beret

I had been wanting to make a hat for myself out of this yarn and finally found a pattern that wasn't too hard but looked like more than just knit. This is called the Purse Stitch. I knit this started with size 7 dpns for the 1x1 rib and switched to size 10 dpns for the pattern of *yo, p2tog*, and *yo, k2tog*. I cast on 82 and knit 'til it was about 12 in long then started the decrease which was to be 2 rows of k2tog. I did three before I strung the tail through and pulled it tight. In retrospect, I think it should've been a row of k2tog and then a knit row and then k2tog. It buckles in decreasing so fast. I think it turned out fairly good, I dropped stitches a couple times but was able to pick them up ok. I think this pattern is pretty forgiving too... hard to notice mistakes. It doesn't look on me how I thought it would, but it sure is cozy warm!

The day I started knitting this hat I was in the car and on the radio came a song... it fit perfectly! Raspberry Beret by Prince was the song... my yarn was a dark red color, the pattern made bumps like seeds, the style was beret! And thus the name for my hat was born!

Yaya's Blanket

My four month WIP is finally complete! I was averaging a couple hours a day on this and started back in November... I finished it the end of February. It's a little crazy looking, but it is the favorite colors of my 8 year old girl. I started with the pink which I found in a bargin bin at a great little Seattle shop... from there I got the idea of adding a couple rows of the crazy pink/purple/orange stuff that I'd made a scarf out of. So then I had to match that and found purple and orange at Joann's that was a cozy feel.