Plenty of Progress

Knitting updates time!

Fair amount of progress going on. I did finally finish the back of the beach cover-up, although I'm not sure when I'll cast on for the front. It may go into hibernation for a bit, but who knows!

I blocked my little fall knits and started on that "perpetual pumpkin" pattern which I think will be tricky (I've only cabled a tiny bit and never on dpns) but so far I'm enjoying it.

I also cast on the big sack sweater but I am having some reservations about it on many levels. I could tell immediately that it was going to be way too big and I even got myself to start over with smaller needles. (Pretty sure I had forgotten I'd swatched with a smaller needle which is why it was turning out huge when I started with the size in the pattern.) It still is coming out bigger than recommended though which is not surprising but frustrating. Also not sure about the fabric - it seems like it might be a bit on the stiff side :(

I did come across this article which has made me feel better about my issues getting gauge, but I also don't think I'll ever be able to rewrite a pattern to fit my knitting. Maybe I shouldn't give up on the idea, though - there's a lot of things I'm doing now that I thought I'd never be able to do.

I've also been continuing work on my "Oh Helen!" scarf and I finally seem to have gotten the hang of it which is satisfying. I finished the first skein of the knitpicks shine sport and am on to the second one, so that means I'm about halfway done! It's going to be really cute and I've decided I'm keeping it for myself. I am kind of regretting joining the new skein in the middle of the row, hopefully I'll be able to find a way to hide the ends and it won't unravel - the yarn is pretty slippery. I'm annoyed at myself because I sort of knew it was a bad idea as I was doing it. Oy.

Leaf-ing things for later...

My larger projects are still a bit "on-hold" and I've been making little knit leaves for the last three days.

taken before weaving in ends, obz

Photo from the pattern page. I hope mine is half this cute!

I just ordered some patons classic wool worsted in orange that I'm planning to use for a few more leaves and also to try out a pumpkin! I think mom would enjoy some little fall decorations even if FL doesn't have a fall to speak of.

I also did an improv washcloth with the dishie - that was the first small project tangent that then lead to leaves, actually.

Oh, spite, Oh Helen! 

Between the frustration of the poinsettia placemat and the slog of the beach cover-up I just needed a break. I did also start another project (I KNOW I KNOW) -- a lacey scarf called Oh Helen!  but it started to turn into "Oh HELL!" I did fix it up this morning and should be back on track with it. It's super cute but for some reason I seem to have a really hard time not missing YOs even when it's a super simple pattern like "Oh Helen!" is. I've had to try and keep it very loose otherwise the K2tog is
impossible. Same issue on poinsettia pattern actually. I don't understand how my gauge can always seem to be looser/bigger than others and yet my stitches are tight to me if I need to do any k2togs -- or god forbid, the k4togs that were in the eyelet heart squares on mom's blanket.

Anyway for the time being the leaves are quite fun. Pain hasn't been too bad either (knock on wood) so hopefully I can continue to restrain myself and not have more really bad issues. I do think I will bring the beach cover-up on the plane and try to get some work done on it for a change.

Twinges and tangents

Fair amount of time sans update... been struggling with RSI pain (mostly left arm elbow and shoulder again) so that's frustrating and I'm not doing a great job managing it at all. 

 Went down to knit for a bit with my Aunt Peggy and that was great fun - long drive both ways but totally worth it.

The poinsettia place setting is on hold after I had to go back twice because of problems with stitch count. It seems like anything vaguely lacey is beyond me and that's incredibly frustrating. I'll return to it eventually. Continuing to procrastinate on the cover-up as well, just doing a few rows here and there on it. I finished a very fudgy pair of maize fingerless mittens. One is quite wrong, but I can put the nonmatching bit on the inside. They may get frogged eventually but maybe not. 

I decided against continuing with the blue cowl which I think was a good call, at least for now. A fair few things have been removed from my ravelry queue. 

I'm now working on a hat to match the sweater and boot toppers, went with the Citrus hat pattern, which I've been moving quickly on; just started the decreases this morning. I should have made the adult small, i can tell it's going to be snug if not too small. we shall see.

I also picked up the comfy worsted again to take another go at the easy peasy socks -- this time using 3.5mm needles. Hopefully that fixes gauge issues. 

Mostly I just wish I could stop having pain issues, it makes me really sad and frustrated. :(

Distractable Me -

Been truly living up to this blog's title lately, lots of freKNITic energy - however lacking in focus. I *did* however complete the Medano Beach Bag - in a bit of a frenzy it must be admitted... been experiencing some pain again and I mostly blame the excessive hours in a row spent on the bag. I'm happy with how it turned out but also wondering if I should try and line or reinforce it. Going to bring it to Aunt Peggy's when I visit VA for my mini-knitting retreat/show-and-tell the weekend after next.

After finishing the bag I've entered an extremely distractable phrase. I returned to the Easy Peasy Socks pattern with the Knit Picks Comfy Worsted yarn, but once again that ended in a frog. I used the wrong needle size but I may well have had gauge issues regardless. Bit painful to frog yet ANOTHER sock attempt. Think I may try a toe-up version for my next sock attempt.

A while ago I started on some boot toppers to match my sweater but that's kind of gone into hibernation mode for the moment mostly because the patons wool is feeling hot and scratchy to work with in the summer, but also because the pattern is kind of a perfect storm of just repetitive enough to be boring but not 100% easy to keep track of especially with putting it down and picking it up again. I will get back to them, though. And it's going to give me a chance to learn the three needle bind-off so that will be an adventure.

I then started on some fingerless gloves - fair amount of fudging but the first one is okay but has this gab at the thumb that seems like it shouldn't be there but maybe it is??? I also think I wsa supposed to work the thumb farther but oh well. I debated a lot about whether to make the second one, but I've started on it now so I am going to try to make myself finish the set even if they do end up being frogged eventually. I do like the comfy worsted yarn a lot - really lives up to it's name, super soft.

 The beach-cover up is still in progress but continues to feel like a slog. I wish I could get my momentum back for that - you'd think being close to finishing the first side would give me some energy but instead I'm dreading having to do the whole front. :P

I picked up the Jadis again last night for the first time. I put it back on the needles and did the first few rows of the Icicycles pattern. Will probably work on it some more today, too. Then to just be truly excessive I started casting on for a cowl that I really shouldn't have. What is it with me and having 5+ WIPS going at once?? I haven't made a project page for it yet because I'm not admitting to it 😂 

No clever/silly title atm

Last night I finished mom's afghan! I do need to wet-block it and I'm hoping that helps flatten it out. The i-cord is sort of curling in/scalloping the edges of the blanket. Not sure how long anything I do will stay though considering it's acrylic - and I don't want to risk steam blocking and ruining it. Now I have to wait more than 6mos to give it to her! This will require extreme patience.

I've been *itching* to start a new project and I did take a quick stab at a little dishcloth (although it will be useful for that purpose since I used the super saver yarn from the afghan project which is acrylic and therefore not absorbent at all. Toward the end one of my cheapo needles broke and that has caused kind of a mess. Not sure if I'll finish it or frog it.

Honestly I should probably finish at least the beach bag before I start on something else. The cover-up is feeling rather daunting and the weird yarn is not that fun to knit with as I've said before. I'm tempted to start the Breeze top and I even bought new circular needles (TEENY!) for that purpose, but honestly another tiny-yarn project is not what I need right now. Also I obviously don't want to get any new yarn because I have tons at the moment. I have reasons not to do half the stuff in my queue lol... it's too early for a sweater... I'm already striping with the bag so I don't want to do the zebras, and the other stuff I don't have yarn for or is again tiny or wintery! :P Bahhhhh. Maybe I'll do the boot toppers to match the sweater. I mean it's kind of wintery and the patons yarn isn't that big but it's definitely bulkier than the other two I'm using rn. The other non-project project I've been thinking about doing is knitting a big gauge swatch with all my needles - or most of them. That's sort of on hold, too since I'd want to do it with the knitpicks interchangeable circulars and two of them are in action right now on the beach bag and the cover up.

Well we shall see what I get up to next, or if I decide to be patient and wait until I'm done the beach bag at the very least. (As Sally Bowles would say, "I doubt it, Cliff!"

"Cori B" short for "Cori Beth"
was a childhood nickname

OH! And this past weekend I finally finished Dad's golf club covers, which I need to get in the mail soon for his birthday on June 25th! They're not perfect, but I hope he likes them. I also got these funny/cutesy custom labels and sewed one in to the largest cover.

Ends and Beginnings

Lots to update!

Biggest accomplishment is that I am oh so near the finish line on mom's blanket. All the squares are sewn together (so it looks quite blanket-like!) and I have started on the i-cord which gave me some grief at first but I think I'm doing alright with it now, bit tedious. Speaking of which I'll also be weaving in of ten thousand ends... some of which look like I left them rather short. Then I have to decide whether to wait all the way until Christmas to give it to her, or to bring it to FL when I go for Amanda's wedding and call it an early birthday present.

oh god so many ends

I haven't touched the Jadis since my last entry and honestly am considering putting into hibernation for quite some time.

I started a new project (shame on me since I haven't finished one) - which is the Medano Beach bag Pretty excited about it even though I've already done a fair amount of fudging considering I only started it yesterday :P Had some trouble picking up stitches (surprise surprise) although I think I may not have knit enough rows in the first place and miscounted when I checked. Anyway I am relatively confident it's not going to have a huge effect. I just did a few increases to get the stitch count up before the section with the planned increases (and later decreases) so hopefully it will all work out. I am doing it in knitpicks cotlin which I'm enjoying working with and OF COURSE it's in black and white ;) I actually need to add the additional cotlin to my stash on Ravelry now that I think about it. I bought a bunch of skeins of both black and white - tbh probably more than I'll need for the bag, but hey - talk about versatile colors and yarn. :P

bottom of the bag; starting on the body

In other knitting news: I really need to stop procrastinating on the pom poms for dad's golf covers. I need to make at least one more and then just attach the damn things and finally be done with that project.

The other project I have going is the beach cover -up. I think it's going to be really cute, but knitting with the weird yarn is not the most satisfying experience. It's a discontinued one called Patons Divine. I love the pseudo-lace effect it creates, but it's a bit off-putting to knit with a yarn that goes back and forth between thick and thin. But I do think that the cover-up and the bag will look really cute with my black and white polka dot bathing suit and it makes sense to be knitting summer stuff considering the pending move to FL! If I can just get the two parent projects done, I'll have the two beach items going and maaaaaybe I'll consider giving the Jadis another go.

Lace is for Masochists

This morning I had to rip the Jadis shawl back to the end of the short rows. So that's row 1-5 of the chart which took about 3 freaking hours because of how slow and careful I was trying to be and also because lace knitting is just slow going for me anyway. The worst part was that somehow 1/3 of my lifeline at the 195 stitch mark came out, otherwise I would have been able to rip back to there instead and not lost all of the lace. Sigh. Starting to wonder if I will ever be able to conquer this. :|

On Sunday I began the blocking process for the afghan squares that are done. I'm nearly done with the second rosebud trellis and after that the only one left is the second beansprouts square. The second rosebud trellis is going to be pretty perfect compared to the fudgy first one which makes me wonder if I should re-do that one, but I think I am gonna be lazy.

I also need to finally finish the golf club covers. I meant to do that this weekend, but I worked on the shawl instead and of course that all went down the drain. :(

annnnnnd oh my god but I think I am realizing that I didn't even do the first part of the shawl right. I think I went from the twisted stitches into the short rows without doing the snowflakes chart. Don't think I can bring myself to go back that far again. Christ.