A Little Yarn On The Side

For the green vest, I selected this pattern   for an overall cable and rib look.  I decided since there was some variety to the cables, I didn't need other patterns involved.  Since I'm making this up as I go along, I diligently swatched, and got 4.5 stitches per inch with the size 8 needles I'm using for the body.  I thought I'd aim for a 43-inch circumference, as the future recipient might be just a shade larger than Andy, and Andy's last sweater I made for a 42-inch circumference.  4.5 x 43 = 193.5 stitches.  Adding a 10% ease for a cabled pattern and working into the 18-stitch pattern requirement, I originally decided to cast on 216 stitches.  THEN I started measuring and second-guessing myself, and thought that maybe 10% wasn't enough ease for such a scrunchy pattern, so I then decided to cast on 234.  In the ribbed part, the gauge is 6 stitches per inch.  That made me a bit nervous as 234 divided by 6 = 39 inches in circumference....

Just in case you haven't tried it, walking in a pool for an hour is exhausting.  Or it is if you've spent the majority of the last 7 weeks laying on heating pads.  I think, though, that it is helping my back, so I have been able to do another small sewing project: Music coasters.  I've made two sets of 6--one for us to keep and one to go in the gift bin.  They aren't very elaborate, and I could only sit long enough to sew one set at a time, but somebody was very happy: I think he might have enjoyed "get well kitty" status, but nothing compares with sewing.  Taking advantage of a day without any need for even the smallest bit of Valium, I finally did the math and laid out the plans for the Valentine's basket vest, and have almost completed the ribbing.  I've decided on a pattern that will have the ribbing stretching into a ribbing and cable pattern, so I think only two inches of ribbing with the smaller needles will be necessary.  I haven...

So, if you had injured yourself about 6 weeks ago, had undergone physical therapy for the past month, and your therapist told you that getting stronger through exercise would really help your progress, what would you do?  Start slowly?  Remember that your injury might still be healing and act accordingly?  Or go hog-wild with a week of Pilates, walking, hill-climbing on the treadmill, weight-lifting and the elliptical trainer?  Anyone want to take a guess which was my approach? The spine doctor was concerned about the other hip turning, but thinks that I probably overdid (me?) and that the treadmill was too much impact for my hips at this stage, so I have been given permission to 1. swim, 2. weight lift with only low weights and large numbers of repetition, 3. do beginning Pilates.  NOTHING else.  And have earned myself 4 more weeks of physical therapy for my misbehavior. The funny thing is, I did know I would be relatively dangerous to myself when I ...

Meet "the sulks" knitting: Yesterday--after waking up two mornings in a row with painful back spasms, which hasn't happened in at least a month or more--I had my last physical therapy appointment, only to discover that the other hip had turned slightly, and was causing the same problems on the other side of my back.  I see the spine specialist today, but how the other side has gotten turned is anyone's guess, because the physical therapy exercises have worked both sides equally, and I've grown so strong that some of the exercises have had to be made more difficult.  I came home depressed, to say the least, and curled up with my self pity and knitting. The yarn is Knit Picks Decadence, which was discontinued quite a while ago, and as the balls were leftover from a sweater I made, I hadn't bothered to add them to Ravelry, but since I still have quite a bit left now I have added it.   I think I can get a second hat out of this, so perhaps it won't b...

I really, really was working on the mohair sweater yesterday.  I promise.  However, it turns out that when I take a drink of coffee and end up with a mouth full of coffee grounds, my natural impulse is to spit it back into the cup.  Not exactly worthy of Ms. Manners, but perhaps understandable.  This probably works with normal coffee mugs, but when one is drinking out of a travel mug complete with lid , the coffee's natural impulse is then to splash off of the lid and onto the nearest, whitest object.  Which explains why this spent yesterday being rinsed and dried, and why there is now a second birthday sock in progress which also was not in my Valentine's basket.  I was at first a bit concerned that the socks won't get to count for anything on my 12 12s list, but as they were in progress before the start of the year, I'll count them as one of my 12 WIPs.  I may regret that later, as I'm hoping the need for finished WIPs will eventually drive ...

After two years of frantically completing as many projects as possible, it's still odd to be working on something as large as a sweater--which might explain this: Another men's mock aran hat!  At least this time it was actually from yarn that was already in my Valentine's stashdash basket, but it did leave the mohair jacket neglected and alone all day yesterday.  I have determined, however, to not be seduced by any more hats for at least a week, which should give me time to finish the back and start the fronts of the jacket. If it takes me an entire month to finish a sweater in bulky yarn, I am indeed in trouble this year!

Yesterday I decided to face the worst and finally check the inventory of my lace weight bin, and can now say that there were at one point 7 hanks of the green laceweight, but the first hank used on dem fischer sin fru seems to be too old to be frogged and is coming off in small bits and pieces, so there are now officially six hanks.  It's the Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud, which is really one of my favorite yarns and I really love the color, so I'm not sorry to have a lot of this yarn--though I might be slightly glad to have not discovered 8 or 9 unaccounted for hanks.  I am happy to report that I did not discover any more 1375-yard hanks of forgotten cobweb lace yarn.  One should not find more than one of those hanks per month.  I do admit that I did not choose to explore any more yarn tubs.  I think I'd like to see a bit more yarn on my "knit up for the year" tab before I find myself blindsided by some mystery yarn of which I have no recollection or thought. ...