just ow

No knitting, no pics, no Kisa, just pain. I've had a headache for three days and today I discovered why: Tom accidentally bought decaffeinated coffee beans. I've been going cold turkey with no warning. However, I had already decided to break my addiction to caffeine over Christmas, so I guess I'll just do it early.

Still, lots and lots of pain. I just hope I can manage the creativ festival on Saturday. I want to do some major yarn scoping/comparing/planning/shopping. I need my brain to function.

Obligatory Thanksgiving Post

And I am thankful, despite having woken up with my daughter's cold (you can have it back now dear), and a load of cooking and marking to do. We'll alive; my husband and kids are the best; we still have food, clothing and shelter; I have a decent stash of yarn; my daughters have joined the knitting club at school (yeah!); Kisa has recovered from spaying and is back to her ridiculously cute self (I must post more pictures); and we haven't directly effected so far by all the economic turmoil (though I haven't looked at a report on our investments lately).

So I give thanks.

Picture of FOs and why I hate gauge

I'm really happy with my TIFF scarf, I just hope the (still to be announced) recipient will like it:



Maria's Tree Jacket turned out well. She wore it to school and got lots of complements. The sleeves grew quite a bit after washing/blocking, but fortunately Maria likes very long sleeves:



Here's the back, with a peak at Kisa:



And a close-up of the back:



I cast on and knitted the ribbed edge and the beginning of the honeycomb pattern for Honeycomb by Sarah Castor from Knitty. Then I realized I had started the crossovers the wrong way. After frogging the 7 rows of pattern I had done, I decided to slip it on to check the fit. It was way too big (as I had suspected, hence the trying on). Of course, I hadn't knit a gauge swatch, because the swatch requirements just seemed too difficult (the gauge was given only in pattern, not stockinette; I was knitting the pattern in the round, not flat, so my swatch needed to be in the round, or so say the experts). Meh. I ripped the whole thing, and decided to put it aside and knit Maria a hat on really bulky yarn on huge needles.

After sleeping on it I decided how to proceed. If I go down a needle size (Honeycomb pattern calls for 3.5mm) it will just be too small and fiddly. So I'm just going to knit the next size down, knit at my normal loose gauge, and adjust for length (which I would probably have done anyway, since I'm tall).

Next sweater will be EZ still, knit to my own gauge and no one else's.

I hate gauge.

I still don't have my computer back, and the house is too disrupted to block the FOs, so no pictures. I'm almost done with Maria's Tree Jacket. I've been having a terrible time with the sleeves. Knit according to the pattern, they're way too wide, so I've been adding a lot of decreases, but I'm still not totally happy. But Maria says they're okay, and I'm sick of the sweater, so I'm letting it go.

One of the things I like about knitting is I'm always learning something. I'm on my second version of the Celtic Cable scarf, this one for my sister-in-law, and I decided to learn to do the cables without a cable needle. I knew how to do it, but I didn't feel confident enough. But it's going great. The yarn is really sticky, so there's almost no chance of dropping stitches.

I'm still knitting on Tom's tiny-stitch socks (I hate them, but they must be done).

Oh, and I successfully completed my TIFF one-row scarf, more or less within the time-frame of the festival. Turned out great, but needs to be washed.

I frogged my Victorian shawl, and will start again sometime with a smaller size, stickier needle.

Pictures will come at a later date.

Finally, an update

I've been having computer problems, so I've been reluctant to post (and right now it's difficult to write because Kisa is being incredibly cute with a stolen ball of yarn). Here's a great Kisa pic taken by Tom:



I've made good progress on Maria's Tree Jacket, though of course I didn't finish it by the closing ceremonies. All I have left are the sleeves:



(Don't worry, the stains are just water. Kisa again.)

Progess has also been made on Tom's socks, though I still hate knitting them:




Finally, progess on Feather and Fan shawl, followed by the beginning of my TIFF scarf (to be given away at Christmas for the office Secret Santa; it's Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf):

Grrrrr, my Olympic Challenge

I wasn't planning on doing an Olympic knitting challenge, as I have too many projects in the works or in the cue to take on something just for that. But this morning I happened to turn on the live broadcast of the opening ceremonies and thought, "Hey, I'm about ready to cast on Maria's Tree Jacket sweater, so why not now?" So I did. The pattern calls for as 16 or 20 inch circ size 5mm, so I pulled out my Knitpicks Options, set it up with the smallest cable and cast on. Then I went to work.

When I picked it up again this afternoon I realized the cable was too long. The Options set doesn't come with anything smaller than 24". Oh well, I thought, I'll just have to order a 16" cable (and of course other things to justify the $9 shipping charge). At the website I see that there are no smaller cables for the Options. Why not?! So I figure I'll order a fixed circ in that size (along with other things of course).

Then I remembered I 5mm dpns, so the circ isn't really necessary. Yay! (or Boo! I can't order other stuff). So pull out the dpns and start knitting. I get through 3.5 rounds when I click in that I'm knitting on 4.5mm, not 5mm. Grrrrrr! The whole thing gets ripped and I have to start over. At least the opening ceremonies are being repeated this evening.

Obviously, no pictures.

The big problem I have with blogging is I'd rather be knitting. But I guess it's an important record of things.

Tom and the kids are gone, so I'm totally alone (except for Kisa, of course)for the first time in years. I still don't sleep soundly, but it's much easier to get back to sleep without Tom's weird sleeping behaviour to cope with.

So pretty much knitting it happening (though yesterday was mostly planning knitting and thus little progress was achieved).

Two Christmas FOs:




That's brother Marc's Celtic Cable scarf. Fortunately, washing it took out some of the itchiness. I'll be knitting another one for his wife.




That is mother-in-law's Scaruffle from The Big Book of Yarn. That green is her favourite colour. It was an incredibly easy knit, and the halo from the mohair completely hides the mistakes. The yarn is ShibuiKnits Silk Cloud, which I bought at the Knitter's Frolic in May.

Since I finished two scarves, I decided I was allowed to start a shawl for myself. I'm tasting out knitting the feather and fan shawl from Folk Shawls in fingering weight Araucania. We'll see.