Wednesday, December 6
2 inches a day
I did it - 13 inches of knitting in 6 days!
I wanted to take the course in color knitting at Nana's Knits. The course was posted in Sept/Oct, to be held on 2 Wed nights in Dec. There is a second part, finishing the sweater using steeks, in Feb. I signed up for the class and bought the book, then checked the cost of the yarn. This cost was going to have to be apportioned over a couple months. Notice that I didn't say I had to watch my budget or restrict my spending in other areas of life. Ha!
My friend April visited in Oct so we visited Loopy Yarns on State St. There went that pile of cash.
November rolled around and I began to think about the course again. Time for a shopping trip. I didn't make it over until after Thanksgiving. That was still Nov. Trish is the one with the calendar who told me there was only 6 days until the class. Yikes! How did Dec come up so fast???
I picked a sweater (a cardigan so we will steek up the front as well as the sleeves) with a pattern stripe at mid-chest. The body is made of tedious stockinette stitch which needed to be done so that I would be ripe for the knitting with two colors instruction. I didn't cast-on while driving home, although this occurred to me, as I sat at light after light, losing time! I didn't stop to buy milk - a cardinal sin in our household. As soon as I took off my coat, I started my swatch - miracle! Gauge on my first try! Then I sloughed through the cast-on. A journey of 255 stitches starts with the first cast-on. SOO boring! But I thought to do the cable cast-on so the edge is straight and sturdy.
Two inches/day (or so) turned out to be quite a job. Thursday/Friday - work, pick-up the daughter, cats to settle. Saturday - grocery shopping, shuttle the daughter. Sunday - go to church, wash the comforter at the laundromat, finish buying the St. Vincent De Paul gift. I had to take the knitting to work to do at every opportunity - I took my federally-mandated 15 minute break twice a day; I ate my lunch at my desk so I could knit for an hour. I knit at 2 seminars in the dark and at a meeting. I told everyone I had to do 13" by Wed.
I didn't knit as I walked home but only because it was 16 degrees.
The other complication is size 2 needles, Dalegarn Tiur. Yikes. There was a (relatively) quick garter stitch edge but then the meat of the matter, size 4. 7 stitches/inch stockinette. 255 stitches took about 15 minutes for a row. 3 seconds/stitch? Seemed like I was knitting fast but then, such a little bit of fabric. I marked my progress with the body shaping - I don't know about that - which kept my mind alert. After 2 days, I remembered advice from both Elizabeth Zimmerman and Carol Anderson (in their patterns, not to me personally): start with the sleeve. Argh.
Christmas knitting?
I wanted to take the course in color knitting at Nana's Knits. The course was posted in Sept/Oct, to be held on 2 Wed nights in Dec. There is a second part, finishing the sweater using steeks, in Feb. I signed up for the class and bought the book, then checked the cost of the yarn. This cost was going to have to be apportioned over a couple months. Notice that I didn't say I had to watch my budget or restrict my spending in other areas of life. Ha!
My friend April visited in Oct so we visited Loopy Yarns on State St. There went that pile of cash.
November rolled around and I began to think about the course again. Time for a shopping trip. I didn't make it over until after Thanksgiving. That was still Nov. Trish is the one with the calendar who told me there was only 6 days until the class. Yikes! How did Dec come up so fast???
I picked a sweater (a cardigan so we will steek up the front as well as the sleeves) with a pattern stripe at mid-chest. The body is made of tedious stockinette stitch which needed to be done so that I would be ripe for the knitting with two colors instruction. I didn't cast-on while driving home, although this occurred to me, as I sat at light after light, losing time! I didn't stop to buy milk - a cardinal sin in our household. As soon as I took off my coat, I started my swatch - miracle! Gauge on my first try! Then I sloughed through the cast-on. A journey of 255 stitches starts with the first cast-on. SOO boring! But I thought to do the cable cast-on so the edge is straight and sturdy.
Two inches/day (or so) turned out to be quite a job. Thursday/Friday - work, pick-up the daughter, cats to settle. Saturday - grocery shopping, shuttle the daughter. Sunday - go to church, wash the comforter at the laundromat, finish buying the St. Vincent De Paul gift. I had to take the knitting to work to do at every opportunity - I took my federally-mandated 15 minute break twice a day; I ate my lunch at my desk so I could knit for an hour. I knit at 2 seminars in the dark and at a meeting. I told everyone I had to do 13" by Wed.
I didn't knit as I walked home but only because it was 16 degrees.
The other complication is size 2 needles, Dalegarn Tiur. Yikes. There was a (relatively) quick garter stitch edge but then the meat of the matter, size 4. 7 stitches/inch stockinette. 255 stitches took about 15 minutes for a row. 3 seconds/stitch? Seemed like I was knitting fast but then, such a little bit of fabric. I marked my progress with the body shaping - I don't know about that - which kept my mind alert. After 2 days, I remembered advice from both Elizabeth Zimmerman and Carol Anderson (in their patterns, not to me personally): start with the sleeve. Argh.
Christmas knitting?
Monday, December 4
American accent
Interesting:
I never would have guessed.
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta. | |
| The Midland | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| The Inland North | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The South | |
| The Northeast | |
| What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes | |
I never would have guessed.
