Mermaid Gloves

I finally finished my mermaid gloves! This is by far my favorite piece of finished knitting. I love how delicate they look, how perfectly the thumbs worked out, the color of the yarn...everything about these gloves is perfect.

...Well, almost everything. As usual, one is shorter than the other, but only by about two or three rows. I can deal with it, although I kind of wanted to poke my eyes out when I first realized it.



pattern: Mermaid Gloves by craftoholic
yarn: koigu kpm in colorway 2174
needles: clover dpns, size 1

I knit the pomatomus pattern as it was written. Three repeats. Then I got to the thumb.

The thumbs seemed to be a problem for everyone knitting these things (everyone who admitted it on ravelry, anyway). I was so terrified when I first started the thumbs (on both gloves, believe it or not), I pooped my pants. After I changed my pants, I took a deep breath, and went for it. This is my story.

In between a (horizontal) pattern repeat (it doesn't really matter which one), I made a stitch. I forget how I did it, but pick a method (k1 f&b, or m1, or something) that you feel comfortable with. I put stitch markers on either side of that stitch, and finished the row as the pattern was written. I continued with the pattern, as written, on the next row until I got to the stitch marker. ktb, and continue the pattern. The important thing to remember here is that you are only increasing every other row. You might be thinking, "uh...duh." Congratulations. You are smarter than me. I didn't actually make this mistake, but only because someone else on ravelry mentioned that she had. Thank you, ravelry. I continued as follows:

row 3: m1r, ktbl, m1l
row 4: p, ktbl, p
row 5: m1r, p, ktbl, p, m1l
row 6: ktbl, p, ktbl, p, ktbl

and etc, for 22 rows (one full pattern repeat). (m1l - or m1front, and m1r - or m1back are explained beautifully here at knittinghelp.com)

There is no need to cast on extra stitches. Maybe that's how you make thumb holes. I know that I have made mittens like that. But these gloves look much more elegant if, when you are done with the pattern repeat, you put your thumb stitches on waste yarn, and knit the next row as if they don't even exist. Knit half of a pattern repeat, and then start your fingers. After my first finger is done, I like to do my thumb first, then finish the last three fingers.

I just do fingers. I have no idea how to explain it, because it's not always logical. I know that my first glove has perfect fingers. I had no idea I was such a great knitter. Then the second glove was sloppy. That's how it always is. I wasn't such a great knitter, actually - it was a fluke.

Anyway, browsing the gallery on ravelry I didn't see a single set of these gloves that didn't look absolutely lovely. Some people don't like the pattern...some people think it's fussy...but if you're thinking about making these, I think that you will love them - even if you think it's fussy to make them :) And honestly, even if you don't like them, I promise you will get a ton of compliments when you knit these in public. It was the first time I experienced genuine jealousy - I could feel people coveting these gloves. They are just. that. fabulous.

Odessa

I've been getting antsy and so frustrated with this blanket (not the project itself, but how LONG it takes to knit a blanket) that I decided to break up the monotony by knitting myself a hat.

I have had some Jaeger Matchmaker dk yarn in my stash for a while; one skein was left over after I made these socks. I didn't know what to do with the third skein for a while, but I had always kind of allocated it to make Grumperina's Odessa hat. This was...almost two years ago. I finally bought beads on Tuesday, then sat down to make this hat. It took three days from my blanket, but I was grateful for the distraction and the (finally) satisfaction of starting and completing a project, without feeling like it will never. end.

I'm not a big fan of this style of hat, actually. I prefer newsboy caps...but I always seem to lose my cute hats, and wind up using these knitted hats, anyway. So they may as well be cute. With beads.

What do you mean I have to make a second one?

This glove has gone beautifuly, even if it's gone a little bit more slowly than I would have liked. I mean...uh, I have to make a second one? UGH.

I fully believe that a) it will be well worth it and b) these will be a favorite pair of gloves.

I'm excited. Kind of.

I may be knitting rosemary's baby

I have hit a knitting wall. Although I have three things actively on the needles, and another hopeful project languishing in the corner, only one of them is going well.

I am being continually frustrated by Muir, who I can't rip out (and why would I want to?). I get through about four perfect repeats, and then, as though this shawl is possessed by Satan, the pattern just stops making sense. Every time.

Pomatomus isn't going well - I somehow managed to become two rows ahead on one needle. How on earth that happened without an obvious looking glitch is completely beyond me. At one point I started having dreams about ripping it out, and finally, as I was drifting off to sleep one day, it occurred to me that I could probably rip out one needle at a time about five or ten rows back and just start again from there - I have no problem frogging, it just terrified me to no end to take out all the needles at once and have to work out that many stitches. Gosh, I'm brilliant (I keep telling myself that, but I have yet to act on this. I am still terrified. I keep telling myself I'm "not up to it right now," then I go work on the shawl from Hades, and then I'm really not up for it).

The wedding afghan is going beautifully. I wish I could have used a nicer yarn, but it's hard to find quality, color, and washability in an affordable price range. Besides, aside from being acrylic, the Lion Brand yarn is so deliciously colored, I could eat it. And let's not forget: machine washable.

I got some koigu in the mail the other day. Not enough for the mermaid gloves I want to make (ha ha HA - I'm struggling with the pomatomus sock and now I want to struggle with the glove version! I am so smart - S-M-R-T), but enough to convince me I need to buy enough to make the gloves. SO PRETTY. Hopefully those will go a little better.

Jason and I are taking a trip to San Francisco soon. I need something small I can take on the plane, because I think he'll tease me to no end if I need a second suitcase to pack the afghan.

Stupid Mutant Seed Stitch Bastard

I've been working on the Burridge Lake Afghan for some friends of ours who are getting married this summer. If there are two people in this world that I can think of who I would bear knitting an entire afghan for, it is these two. They are so perfectly matched, so comfortably in tune with each other, that I have no doubt that they will make each other happy for a very long time, and that makes me more than thrilled to knit each and every stitch of this blanket for them.

That being said...

The entire time I have been knitting this thing, ripping back cables that are less than perfect, making sure each and every stitch is the stitch it is "supposed to be"...I have been thinking, "What a stupid fucking transition [between the cables]. Why is this thing some mutant seed stitch rib pattern? Why not just a rib?"

I asked Jason about it, "Do you think this transition looks stupid?"

"No," he said, "It looks great."

Well, after some ravelry browsing, I noticed that a few people have cast on with me this January. And of the pictures I can see clearly, I am but one person who interpreted the stitches as the mutant seed stitch and not a rib. That makes me feel better. As a person, I mean.

As far as this afghan goes?

Well, I will be ripping it out and starting over.

Norwegian Star Earflap Hat

Pattern: Tiennie's Norwegian Star Earflap Hat
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Pink and White
Needles: size 7 Addi Turbos

Mods: I did a mockup with some old Cascade 220, knitting the earflaps first then casting on for the hat, and I thought the brim would curl - even the way tiennie wrote the pattern. For one thing, I'm not so great with the backwards loop. It looks easy enough, but I was getting an uneven, curly brim. My solution?

I used this cable cast on that I learned from Romi when I started Muir, and crocheted two sets of 21 stitches each. Then, I cast on for the brim, knitting the crocheted stitches (instead of picking up the earflaps) as I came to them. There were some holes, and I might have still benefited from the backward loop cast on...oh well. I used the yarn ends from the flaps to weave those holes shut.

I knit a 2x2 rib brim, because I like the look of a 2x2 brim on a hat, and it had already worked really well when I knit this hat up for my sister. I followed the rest of the pattern as it was written, although I wish I had made the top of my hat taller, and had knit less rows between the brim and the pattern - the yarn I used on my sister's hat was a little bit thicker, and it made for a taller, albeit slightly tighter hat. Also, I loved one mod I saw on ravelry with some added stripes. I may just be using that idea when I knit this hat for Jason.

After I pulled the yarn through the crown and finished the hat portion of the hat, I unzipped the crocheted yarn at the brim, and started knitting the earflaps. I have to say that although the other way seems just fine, this way makes more sense to me, since after I've decreased down to 3 stitches, it's so much easier to just keep on going with the i-cord.

I finished this hat yesterday just as we got to Revere Beach. I thought it was warm enough to leave the hat (whose ends were still hanging all about since I had forgotten scissors), but I had to put it on when we got back to the car, because I think the cold had come in through my ears and frozen my brain. Thank goodness I have it now for the blizzard. It's such a warm hat.

Muir

This stole is going to be the death of me. I have such a perfect vision in my head about how lovely it's going to look when it's finished. If I ever finish.

When I saw this pattern in the latest knitty, I knew I had to have it -- and I also knew that I already had the perfect yarn in my stash. I had gotten some knitpicks alpaca cloud a while back, and while I was putting in an order to finish a (different) stole I was making, I decided to get another color to save on shipping costs. I already had every intention of making a lacy scarf, so I figured I'd be saving money by buying the yarn first. I lost the wind in my sails when I couldn't really find a pattern that fit the color, though, and I put it on the shelf and forgot about it a little bit.

It had been sitting patiently in my stash for a year when Muir was published. Even though the original stole is green, because it's inspiration is a forest...well, this shade of purple makes me think of trees, too. Plus, it's heathered and there's some brown in it, right?

Anyway, I cast on in September, during a Penn State game, and I have now ripped the thing out twice. I drove myself crazy when I kept going (for five repeats!) despite my mistakes on the first attempt, until I realized I would never be happy with myself, and then I wouldn't wear the stole, and it would just amount to more wasted yarn in my house. I decided to be more careful on my next attempt. EXTRA-careful. Then somewhere in the first repeat of the second attempt, I had too many stitches! Then not enough stitches! I forged ahead like a woman possessed. I kept thinking that if I knit fast enough, maybe I could fudge it gracefully, but then the alignment of my fudged YOs and K2togs was off by a whole leaf tip. I still thought I could keep going, so I did, for two rows. And then I got a little tipsy on Friday and ripped it out before I could think about what I was doing. I also ordered expensive Christmas cards...so it was a "productive" sort of tipsy.

So this time, my third time, I have used so many lifelines you would not believe it. I have completed my first PERFECT repeat. And I plan on taking my time this time. And it will be perfect. Now there's the obnoxious little straight-A student I was starting to miss!