A Little Yarn On The Side

--and I am taking the coward's way out. Sort of. I was all set to do battle with the ribbed yoke pullover, but we are having some friends over for dinner tonight, and I didn't think receiving another ass-whooping by a bunch of superwash would put me in the best frame of mind for entertaining, so I have chosen a safer route today. Sewing a few seams on the pullover and a couple pattern repeats on the kimono shawl which recently celebrated it's second birthday without yet being finished. Of course, it isn't actually the oldest WIP--there's a shawl on size 0 needles that just turned 5, but that is a bit more understandable. I mean, size zero needles? I'll be finishing that one the day I file for Social Security...provided my eye sight is still good and knitting hasn't finally snapped whatever will be left of my brain after the ribbed yoke pullover....

How did that happen? So, um, about the September Project of the Month.... It's not so much "finished." More along the lines of "never started" if we want to be technical and everything . I did round up all the cardboard & empty toilet paper tubes to make it, and there was a point last week when I could have sat down to finish it, but then I realized that I don't currently need it for a gift, and by next Christmas all of the cardboard would be bent or crushed. So, feeling guilty and thinking I should finish SOMETHING in September--and it obviously wasn't the sweater-that-shall-not-be-named, I dug out the Christmas blankets I made earlier this year and thought I would put the names on them. To say Theo was excited to be sewing again would be a huge understatement. He was purring and purring and I didn't have the heart to move him, so I decided to embroider a few more gift towels. OK, fine. I decided to grab the fleece blankets then. If I had...

For its own protection the yoke sweater, currently referred to as the-sweater-that-shall-not-be-named, has been moved into a secure facility where a frustrated knitter armed with scissors cannot get at it.

BOB : Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to tonight's episode of Iron Knitter, the new reality knitting show where w e give our unsuspecting knitter a completely messed up pattern which she must fix without any help from the original designer. Tonight's pattern, the notorious Yoke Pullover , has a cleverly concealed big floppy neck that, while perfect for a two-headed knitter, has driven most other knitters completely crazy. The designer was careful to NOT knit the yoke in the round to ensure that the unsuspecting knitter will not realize how floppy the neck is until she has actually finished knitting ALL the pieces AND sewing them together. A true masterpiece of sadistic design, wouldn't you agree Dave? DAVE: Absolutely Bob. It's a rare occasion when we can find a pattern that can so cleverly hide its "gotcha" moment even in a photograph. See how the model's hair completely covers the floppiness of the neck? True brilliance. We're dealing wit...

One knitter, driven to a WIP-finishing frenzy by a double dog dare, One sweater with a neck only the designer could love, Two cats who have resolved that knitting is at least better than canning...... Tune in tomorrow for the yoke sweater showdown..... Reality Knitting. I think it could be BIG, and I'm not just talking about that darn yoke.

Between a barrage of rodent gifts yesterday--and by the way, I am the leading mouser here at Chateau Sutton-Goar--and making a roasted tomato-chipotle salsa today, I have only had little snatches of time for knitting here & there, which doesn't work for "fussy" projects such as redesigning a sweater. So, since it is now "fall" here--or at least in the mornings--I dug out the Kauni cardigan to work on. I love this sweater & it only got moved to the Project Timeout Bin because wool is just too warm to knit with during the summer, so we're still on good terms. I got a few rounds done and was closing in on the divide for the neck and ran into an issue with a splice. Normally, I get really irritated with splices in the middle of balls of yarn, but these balls are MASSIVE and I have almost completed the entire body with the original 2 balls of yarn. I was at a spot in the pattern where I could start the new color on a stripe, so I cut out a bit, backe...

The good news is, I am down to 15 WIPS. YAY! The bad news is, it isn't because I finished the sweater I have been working on. By early last night, I had finished knitting all the pieces and again, I would wish to reiterate that I don't see why one would knit a yoked sweater in pieces, but I assume that designers know what they are talking about. I started diligently sewing all the dratted seams, when I thought I remembered someone mentioning on Ravelry a problem with the neck being too big. Not "someone." EVERYONE. Since the only thing worse than sewing sweater seams is ripping them out, I decided to pin mine to see what it would look like before sewing any more: Does that look big to you? How about this? (I couldn't find my ruler). Hem gauges are 6 inches long, and they're overlapping by 2 inches. Just to make sure, I tried it on, and can now state absolutely that a 20-inch "mock turtleneck" looks dreadful, or at least on me. It's in the...