The Knitting Pirate

I’m working on designing a new pattern, and planning to submit it to Knitty. Because of that, I can’t show you what it is – as the Yarn Harlot says, “Secret projects suck for blogging.” I don’t think Knitty will have a problem with me showing you a small pile of ripped-out yarn ramen…

This is what happened: I was happily knitting away, following the pattern as I’d written it, when I realized that I was getting these big ugly laddery gaps between needles. Shortly after that realization, I concluded that I’d missed a number of purl stitches, and had knitted right across where they ought to have gone. For a moment, I was concerned that other people would have the same problem, and that my pattern would be a failure! Then I figured out that I could

a) avoid the ladders by shifting the pattern repeat and
b) avoid knitting where I should purl by shifting the pattern repeat and that
c) I’d have to rewrite the pattern in order to do that and also
d) rip back and reknit according to the revised pattern but
e) it would all be worth it in the end.

I am putting off knitting by… knitting. I should be working on the babypants, considering the baby is due in less than a month now. But this sock has me totally enthralled. “Just a few more rounds,” I tell myself, then marvel at how much faster the foot rounds go when compared to the leg rounds, and allow myself just a few more.

I’m going out of town this weekend, and one of the important things to consider (after “I really ought to pack tonight”) is that neither the Pomatomus nor the babypants would be a good traveling project. Maybe I’ll start a new sock… maybe another pair of Jaywalkers! Speaking of Jaywalkers, Grumperina just updated her readers’ gallery and now my socks appear there! Hooray!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

So! It’s not that the sock is too small, it’s that needles – even bamboo needles – are really inflexible, and don’t care to bend over my instep. I knitted a little further out of frustration, then sorted the stitches out onto five needles, instead of three, and tried again. And here it is! The Pomatomus sock, finally on my foot! I could not be more pleased that I don’t have to rip back and begin again.

Times like this, I wish I didn’t have such long feet. I wear a 10.5 (ladies US) or 42 (European) and I am rather jealous of sock knitters with small feet! That’s okay – I’m in the home stretch now. Just a few inches, and a second sock, to go!

What’s the best way to take pictures of one’s own feet? This was the only good picture I could get. I tried various angles, but either my ankle disappeared, or the stitch pattern didn’t show up well, or my foot looked gigantic (wait, my foot is gigantic) or it was unflattering in one way or another. Perhaps when the pair of socks is done, Pirate-Husband will assist with the taking of pictures.

Just in time for the warm weather (it’s 75 degrees F outside right now), it’s my So-Called Scarf! Made of almost three skeins of Manos del Uruguay in colorway 101 (jungle), it measures out to be 70 inches long and almost 6 inches wide, unblocked. There’s a little extra yarn left over, which I’ll use as the contrast color on a hat. I have some tan Manos left over from another project for the main hat color.

The scarf took just over two months to knit, though I mainly worked on it at Stitch ‘n Bitches or at friends’ houses. It was a great mindless knitting project – more complex than plain stockinette or garter stitch, but still simple enough that I could knit and hold a conversation at the same time. I love that it doesn’t look like standard knitting, too.

I had to sharpen the images up a little so that the stitches showed well, but it seems to be a fairly accurate color representation. Of course, your monitor may vary. Hmmm… looks like I need a haircut soon.

So-Called Scarf pattern
All So-Called Scarf entries

Let’s take a tour of the basket! First, the top section with all the notions. Needles, stitch markers, labels from all the yarn I’ve ever used… You can see that it used to be a picnic basket. This top section has spots for four cups. Plates and flatware went on top. But no more! Now it’s yarn, all yarn! Muahaha! …er. Okay then.

Sometimes I like to just look at the pile of yarn. All the colors and textures together make me happy. Especially that rainbowy Noro Kureyon!

…and sometimes I like to take out the sock yarn and imagine all the different kinds of socks that I will make with it. The pink and gray Austermann Step is the newest addition to the stash. Pirate-Husband and I enjoyed the beautiful weather over the weekend with a motorcycle ride. We went to a yarn store about 45 minutes away in Haymarket, a little town just where northern Virginia starts to become central Virginia. It’s called Needles in the Haymarket, and everyone there was so friendly that I couldn’t resist buying some yarn. They had a great selection of yarns there. Lots of alpaca, many many colors of Cascade 220, enough sock yarn that I had to force myself to choose. Even some Manos Cotton Stria, which I’d never seen before in person. It’s considerably softer than I expected! Eventually, the Austermann Step won out because of the aloe content. I got a bottle of Eucalan, too, which I’m sure will come in handy as I knit more things that can’t be machine-washed.

This is that silk and cashmere blend I keep talking about. It’s so fine and perfect and soft, I admit I’m a little intimidated! But I have the pattern, and I have the yarn. All I need are the needles and the time, and this will be a gorgeous scarf. Granted, it’s the kind of thing I don’t usually wear, but I am looking forward to the challenge of knitting it. I have the thought that once it’s done, I’ll be so proud of it that it will be come the kind of thing I usually wear! Next thing you know, I’ll be wearing shawls… what is this world coming to?

Pomatomus is coming right along. I found my mistake – (Totally my mistake. Nothing wrong with the pattern. I knit the same round twice. Oops.) – and un-knit it, and now I’m going forwards again! Last night I got past the gusset decreases and decided to try it on… and it won’t go over my heel. I’m not panicking yet. Maybe when I get further down the foot, it will fit better. Maybe it just needs some serious blocking. I am spot-on with gauge for the pattern, and I don’t have particularly large ankles, so I don’t know what’s up. Am I in denial here, or is it reasonable to believe that I can make this thing fit?

I just bought $60 of yarn in some absolutely gorgeous colors, justifying the purchase by telling myself that this yarn is for the projects that I’ll sell in the new Etsy shop, and I’m funding my habit here. If the pieces sell, I can use the proceeds to buy yarn for myself at the Sheep and Wool Festival, or at WEBS, or at the yarn stores I plan to visit in Ottawa in June.

This purchase pushes the basket to overflow level. I’m such an addict!

What a great time I had tonight at the SnB! There were less people than last time; I think the area is still recovering from the major storms we had last weekend. I’ve been hearing horror stories of flooding and downed trees. Fortunately, my neighborhood seems to have been spared from the worst of the damage. We had the lashing rain and high winds, but we didn’t even lose power – that’s a first for a major storm in the four years that we’ve lived here.

Progress on the so-called scarf: I finished the second ball of yarn and went on to the third and final ball, putting about five inches on. It will eventually be six feet long, which I think is the perfect length for a scarf. I also shared the pattern with a woman who was joining us for the first time, and showed her the trick of purling into two stitches, then the first one again, for the WS of the scarf. She mentioned that she used to belong to a needlecrafts club when she lived in India, and next time is going to bring some of the publications and brochures that they used to hand out there. I’m really looking forward to seeing them! I hope she will let me borrow one if I like the pattern.

Then the organizer of the group said something very dangerous(1) to me: “Are you going to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival?” So now, of course, I am. Even though I already have enough yarn to keep me occupied for a year. Even though I’m supposed to be watching my wallet. Even though — oh, who am I kidding, it’s going to be awesome!

Right now each of us brings her own project to work on(2), but we are considering starting a project to make blankets for charity. We would all knit squares of the same size, and some lucky volunteer would seam them all together. Then we would donate the blankets to a shelter or a hospital. I really like the idea! We also talked about meeting more often than twice a month, and I think we’re going to make the move to every Wednesday. That will be great!

(1) I am beginning to notice that there are many such dangerous sentences in this hobby. “Sock yarn almost doesn’t count as stash.” “Are you going to the Sheep and Wool Festival.” How can such an innocent, feminine pastime be so dangerous?

(2) We have no men in our SnB. It was one of tonight’s conversational topics – would a man join a knitting group, or is knitting too slow for most men?

Though there’s nothing there yet, I set up an Etsy shop today. I have lots of ideas for things I would like to sell – all knitting-related, of course!

Saturday night, Pomatomus and I stayed up pretty late together. I made some real progress – until I came to a point in Row 13 of Chart B that made no sense. For half an hour, I tried to figure out where I had gone wrong. Then I wondered if perhaps there were corrections to the pattern, which I printed out a while ago, and spent another hour Googling for variations on “Pomatomus Row 13″. When that turned up nothing, I gave up and went to bed.

Sunday morning I realized what had happened – I had missed a yarnover. No wonder my stitch count was off! I picked it up and merrily began work again.

Late Sunday night, I lost my place. Was I on Row 15? Row 16? Something didn’t look right. I un-knit a round. It looked better. I re-knit the round. I noticed that I’d gone wrong three rounds before. Yes, it was Row 13, come back to haunt me. I resolved to un-knit again on Monday, and that I would never work on this sock again unless I was 100% awake and alert. I did try to take a picture, but I couldn’t get one that showed the problem spot very well. It looked like a close-up of a tangle of stitches – and I suppose that’s what it is, but that doesn’t make for good pictures.

Today after work (and a doctor’s appointment, and probably a nap) I will start the un-knitting. Hopefully it won’t be too hard to find my place in the pattern again.

So, that part in the Pomatomus pattern where it says there will be one extra stitch, and I didn’t know where to put it? Yeah. It’s right there in the chart. Had I looked at the chart first, instead of just reading the words, I wouldn’t have had that moment of “oh crap I don’t understand this!” I’m okay now! Really! Stitches have been picked up around the heel flap, and I’m six rounds into the gusset decreases. There will be pictures when there’s something to show.

I really like this pattern.