the Akamai Knitter

… but I’ve been busy. The past week has been filled with football. Lots and lots of football. (UH won the WAC Championshop! YAY!) With football, comes knitting. Lots and lots of knitting.

I managed to finish the Ariann and I am ever so pleased with it. I still have to put buttons on it and block the collar, so I’m holding off on photos until I can get that done. Instead I have three other projects that I’ve got to show you.

First up is a sock that I began right after I finished the Idle Love socks. I got the pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks and I’m using Shibui sock yarn with size 1US/2.25mm needles.

Gosh, I love this yarn! It’s so soft and smooshy. There’s some very subtle pooling, but I can live with it because the colors are just so gorgeous. I might even dare to say that I like it.

The color is called Seaweed, so I’m calling this sock Seaweed Lace Rib. The pattern even reminds me a little of seaweed.

Next up is a present for Dani who is moving to Washington State. Dani has worked with one of my doctors for years and has always treated me with kindness that goes beyond the call of duty. I’m going to miss her tremendously so I really want to make her something special.

I have until December 15th to finish so I needed something that would knit up quickly. I decided to make her a pair of Anemoi Mittens since she’s not used to northern winters. I really hope she likes the design. I love it, but I don’t know her well enough to say she will.

Finally, I couldn’t resist casting on for another sweater for myself. I chose the pattern Something Red. I’m using Tatamy Tweed with size 4US/3.5mm needles. I adore this yarn. It’s so soft and easy to knit with that I often forget that I’m working with cotton.

I’m only loosely following the pattern as I had to recalculate the numbers to accommodate my gauge. I really couldn’t have done it without the help of Shelly and this website. With the success of Ariann and Shelly at my side, I’m feeling much more confident in my sweater making abilities.

That’s it for now! I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

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I have been diligently working through the Ariann. I completed two sleeves since we last talked and I was near the end of the raglan shaping, but something was nagging at me. So I tried it on. And guess what?

Yeah, you guessed it. The sweater was too big on the top. Way too big. Phooey is just too mild an expletive.

I didn’t take into account that even though I may be wide, I am not as long as the designer assumes for the size I was knitting. At the point where I stopped knitting the sleeves came down to my knuckles. This was supposed to be a 3/4 length sleeves. Not good.

So I ripped back and I shall reknit the sleeves to a more appropriate size. I shall also adjust the raglan decreases so that it will fit my shorter body. I remain hopeful as I continue on my pursuit of a perfect fitting sweater. (There are no pictures as I just couldn’t take the heartache of documenting the carnage.)

Shelly suggested I take a break from the Ariann, so I did and I managed to finish a pair of socks.

Idle Love

Pattern: Pomatomus by Cookie A.

Yarn: Socks That Rock in the colorway For Love In Idleness

Needles: size 1US/2.25mm and size 0US/2.00mm

Started: October 25, 2007

Finished: November 15, 2007

If you remember, I had some concerns about whether or not I’d have enough yarn to finish the pair. As it turns out, those concerns were completely justified. Do you see any difference in the toes?

I had to stop short on the second sock because I did indeed run out of yarn. In fact, this is exactly how much yarn I had left.

Can you say “too close for comfort”? My heart went through a series of palpitations that were rather uncomfortable as I was kitchenering the toe together. Luckily, these are for my mother and she says they’re perfect. If they were for me, I’d probably have to fix the other toe to match. I’m just that picky. :-P

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of reknitting to do. I only have 2 more weeks of November and I really want to have Ariann done before December for NaKniSweMo (Ravelry link).

I think I can do it. I have a ton of football coming up, which means lots of knitting time, and some new Harmony needles to make the experience all the more enjoyable.

Have a great weekend and wish me luck!

ETA: I forgot to say thank you for all your opinions on whether or not to give the shawl to my great-aunt. I’m going to be sending it to her for her Christmas present. I think it’ll be in very good hands. I’ll knit another one for myself as soon as I can figure out what color I’d like it in. That could take awhile though. ;-)

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Yesterday I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had gotten about 14″ done on the Ariann and I thought I was progressing at a pretty good clip. Then I realized that I forgot to put in a button hole about an inch down.

“No problem”, I thought. “I can rip down an inch.”

So I took the sweater off the needles and then I took the sweater off the needles. Then I took the sweater off the needles.

Yeah. This thing kept coming and coming. It was too big. About 51″ across truth be told. Now I’m big, but I ain’t that big.

I’m not sure what went wrong, but there really was only one thing I could really do.

I would just like to say I couldn’t have done it without the love and support of my friend Shelly. She held my hand and she convinced me that there’s no way I’d be happy with a sweater that fit like a tent.

So after much gnashing of the teeth, I have restarted the Ariann. Let me tell you, the second time around just isn’t as fun. Yes, I know all the ins and outs of the design at this point.

Only, I feel like I’m knitting at a snail’s pace and I’m seething with resentment at having to reknit such a huge chunk of sweater. Plus, I just can’t seem to get my Zen on with this yarn. I miss soft squishy wool that doesn’t fight the needles.

And after having 14″ of lovely sweater goodness falling from my needles, a measly 2″ or so after a day’s work just doesn’t satisfy me the way that 14″ of lovely sweater goodness did.

To keep my head above water, I keep picturing the lovely sweater that Kim made with the same yarn. It’s soft. It’s cozy. It’s just the thing I want to wrap around me when I get chilled.

I know I can make nice with this yarn and eventually we’ll get to be friends. I just need to try and try again.

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The rainy season arrived with a series of thunderstorms over the weekend. Add to that, a Sunday filled with a couple of awesome football games, I was provided with some quality knitting and recuperating time.

I put that time to good use and managed to work my way past the side shaping of the Ariann. Maybe I’ll be able to finish this in time for NaKniSweMo!

While I don’t totally love knitting with Cotton Ease (it’s squeaky and doesn’t have much give), I do love the stitch definition as well as the drape of the fabric.

Despite my need for avoidance of yarn quantity issues, I didn’t completely neglect the Pomatomus socks for my mother either. There’s some pooling going on in the foot area because I decreased down to 64 sts to fit my mother’s tiny narrow feet.

I’m nearly done with it and I think I’ll have just enough yarn to finish it. Thank goodness my mother has small feet! Hopefully I’ll be done with these sometime today and all the anxiety will be over.

Since I’m still feeling a little under the weather and my writing is a bit lackluster I think I’ll enliven this post with a shot of Quincy and his blanket. Just be glad I decided not to regale you all with the highlights of the football games. ;-)

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I’ve been sick with a nasty chest cold this week, which is why I haven’t posted much. But before I got sick I got together with my new friend Bethany, sewing and crocheting extraordinaire, for a knitting lesson.

We met on Monday at one of the neighborhood Starbucks. I was surprised at how quickly she picked up the knit stitch. She’s a really quick learner! We probably would have gotten past the garter stitch of the dishcloth she was working on if we hadn’t been talking so much. I had such a good time!

Here’s a shot of her awesome knitted cast-on. She did every bit on her own!

While I’ve been recuperating from this round of the flu, I’ve still been knitting. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I have enough yarn to finish the second sock of the Pomatomus socks for my mother. This is what I’ve gotten done so far and how much yarn is left.

If I were feeling better I’d get out my digital scale to get a more exact idea of where I am with regards to how much yarn I need to finish the second sock. Instead, I think I’ll simply use fervent prayer to the knitting goddesses.

Or I could start swatching for another project.

Yeah. Avoidance is the key.

That’s Cotton-Ease for the Ariann. The pattern calls for size 7US/4.5mm needles and I need to get 19 sts for 4 inches, but I’m a loose knitter. I got 16 sts for 4 inches and I’m now down to a size 5US/ 3.75mm needle. I really loved the drape of the fabric with the size 7’s, but I remain hopeful that the lace pattern on the size 5’s will be loose and beautiful.

That is if I get the 19 sts the pattern calls for on the size 5’s. Who knows, I might have to go down a needle size further. Only the smaller the needle the less give the yarn has and the less enjoyable it is to knit with. Which makes me think this would be the wrong yarn for the project.

So wish me luck in getting gauge! I’d hate to have to scrap this project before I even begin.

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