Fail- Part 2

Oh, guys. The jinx continues. So last we met, I had woe over the fact that the front and back edges of my cropped cardigan did not match up. After email consultation with Vy (who successfully finished the cropped cardigan and it turned out completely and utterly spectacular- you should seriously see it- look here), I was reassured that I should just try seaming it up. Vy was right- it worked! I felt victorious and secure, telling myself that I need to learn to trust the process and all kind of other ridiculousness. I finished knitting one sleeve. I picked up around 130 stitches for the collar and knit 4 freaking inches of ribbing and then spent 2 whole hours picking up about 180 stitches for the bottom and did around 3 inches of ribbing there. And then I tried it on.

Oh, no.


There are so many levels of wrong. First of all, this whole thing is just WAY too big. My brilliant plan to use a worsted weight yarn but then just go up a size in the Tilted Duster pattern (even though I was making something completely different from the Tilted Duster) ended up being much less than brilliant. This takes ill-fitting to a whole new dimension. The biggest problem is the copious amount of fabric that pools underneath my arms- this thing would fit perfectly if I had boobs that went all the way around my body.



Ah, alas. My dreams of wearing a new sweater to Cincinnati later this week are dashed. Unfortunately, I think my dreams for the cropped cardigan just may be kaput as well. I need to take some time off and think about it for a while, but as of now I'm planning to frog this sucker and use the yarn to make the two-tone shrug from Fitted Knits. Or maybe buy more yarn and make a super simple striped raglan sweater.

In much better knitting news, I spent pretty much all day yesterday happily starting new projects. I am loving the hell out of some herringbone- that pattern is fantastic and so super fun to knit. So fun, in fact, that I don't even mind that my knitting jinx continued and I had to frog back much of what I did yesterday. I also cast on for Bryan's birthday present: the Retro Rib Socks from Interweave in the Smooshy Cloud Jungle. I think he's already planning the modeling session he'll have for the blog.

In super-secret knitting news, I finished a present for the new nephew. I can't post it here because my sister has started checking the blog, but Ravelers can see it here.

Fail.

I've been working on my cropped cardigan and it was going really well...I learned how to do short-row shoulders, which I much prefer over the traditional stair-step shoulder method, and I'm loving the yarn and the fuzzy-comfy fabric that it makes in stockinette. I finished the back and all is well-I made it 2" longer than the Tilted Duster pattern called for (a mod suggested to me by eyeloveit, the original brains behind this cropped cardigan idea). I was mentally patting myself on the back for my cleverness in picking such a cute pattern and such great yarn...

And then fail began. I knitted the right front, adding on 20 stitches and working out the decreases so it looked the same as the Duster by the time I got to armhole shaping (also as suggested by eyeloveit). It turned out WAY too big, so I frogged and reknit, this time adding only 12 extra stitches and coming up with a new decrease pattern. Guess what?



See those two edges next to my hand? Those are supposed to be seamed together. FAIL. Why can't I figure this out?

This week has been one of those weeks when I really need knitting to be a stress reliever. I needed something sweet and fun, just to take the edge off, you know? Just a little something...



Like a cotton cabled baby hat for my new nephew to wear home from the hospital. This kid isn't even born yet and he's already making me happy.

Pattern: 10 cable baby hat by Julie (free pattern)
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton (leftover from my February Baby Sweater)
Needles: Size 7 (16" circs & DPNs)
Modifications: Cast on 64 stitches instead of 80 and made it a 8 cable baby hat. My yarn was fat and I wanted to make sure this would fit a newborn.

Ahhh...relief. Calming and adorable. I felt better, so I got ballsy. I decided the baby needed cabled booties to go with his adorable hat.



Boooooo! The picture actually doesn't even show the atrociousness. The pattern (which is free) is not the flaw, it's my insistence on trying to use the fatty Organic Cotton. They came out all huge and lopsided and stupid.

Lucky for me, I'm leaving tonight for a fun-filled, relaxing vacation in the Smoky Mountains with some of the funnest people ever. I'm going to use my new Smooshy to make a pair of socks for Bryan's birthday- something soothing and easy, like Thuja (converted to sock yarn). He has huge size 12 feet, so I'll have plenty of time to be soothed.

Fun things are happening around stick-legged girl, friends! First of all, there have been tons more visitors to the blog over the past few days, which is kind of nice. Thank you, everyone! Did I suddenly become more interesting? Nope- it's mostly because my baby blanket pattern was listed on knitting pattern central. I'm tickled as punch, because I was super proud of that little thing. I hope a few people make it and show me pictures.

I've also been lucky enough to get referrals from other blogs, which is even more flattering. Thank you so much Falling Up, Life is a mix tape, Flowers and Lemons, Old Fashioned Girl, and Bacon in the Soap. Check these girls out!

Lots of knitting business to get to, too...I stayed up super late last night watching Season 6 of the Sopranos, finishing the second boot sock, and drinking wine. Let me tell you, doing these three things at the same time puts you in an interesting state of mind...I was skeeved out by the Sopranos, super excited about getting to the toe, and a little drunk all at once. Kitchener stitch went shockingly well, all things considered.



Pattern: Uptown Boot Socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony DPNs, Size 2
Modifications: Not a one.

I'm not one of those people who are addicted to knitting socks, but I really enjoyed these. It's definitely the yarn- I can't say enough good things. The pattern was fun, too- but I wouldn't even try it without learning how to cable without a cable needle. Basically, it's mostly knit stitches, with every 4th row a cable row. Great for train knitting.

I loved the yarn so much, actually, that I went and bought some more Smooshy online at Sonny and Shear, which has quickly become my absolute favorite online yarn shop. They are having a 25% off everything sale until Feb. 12th, which is why I couldn't resist the Dream in Color call. The yarn arrived at my house 3 days after I ordered it, and is always wrapped up so nicely, with a personalized note.

Dusky Aurora


Cloud Jungle


Gorgeous!

Today, I'm going to get started on that cropped cardi. I've been dong some research and think I'm ready to get started. I have all kinds of new skills I'm going to learn for this, short row shoulders and pattern adaptation among them. Look out for pictures...

p.s.
The shoes in the picture are new and from Target- they are from the Isaac Mizrahi collection and were only $29.99!

About Me Indulging

I have Veronik Avery's blog on my google reader (cause she's, you know...Veronik Avery) and was kind of tickled at her post today. I usually hate those long list of questions that people send over email (they seem so indulgent, don't they?), but this one is short and the questions are not your usual "favorite color" nonsense. Like Veronik, I never really got around to doing an "about me" section on this blog, so I thought I'd give it a go. (I'm going to get so much crap for this...my sister and friends have been sending me these things for years and I have taken a stern and snotty stand against them. Come to think of it, I kind of deserve the crap.)

1. Childhood ambition? To be a ballerina

2. Best weather? Sun-drenched in any form

3. Favorite food? Tomato-basil-mozzarella salad, with olive oil & sea salt

4. Current book? I should totally lie here…I used to read constantly before I discovered knitting. But the truth is that I'm always reading the current issue of the New Yorker.

5. Guilty pleasure? The Girls Next Door, that terrible show about the Playboy bunnies. Also, original flavored Bugles obtained furtively from the vending machine in the basement at work.

6. One quirk? I don't eat the ends of my French fries because I have this illogical but deeply held feeling that all the grease in the fry is sucked up into the end that my fingers touch.

7. Something you've never done that most people have? Been to any Disney-related or Disney-adjacent theme park.

8. Favorite drink: Red wine

9. Oddest job you've had: Hmm…the oddest thing is that I'm 30 and I've still never had a *real* job.

10. Last song you listened to (on purpose, not on the radio): Shit. I should lie here too. Alright, the truth is that the last song I listened to on purpose was the entire Fly album by the Dixie Chicks.

11. Cities/towns/villages you've lived in, in reverse chronological order:

Miami, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Nashville, TN; South Bend, IN; Cape Town, South Africa; Huntington, WV; Bethel, OH

12. Teenage ambition? To not get pregnant

13. Movie you'd most like to be a character in: The Motorcycle Diaries (for the beauty of South America and of Gael Garcia Bernal).


Okay, on to knitting news. I was lucky enough to get the oh-so-rare knitted item action shot. Remember that simple ribbed hat I made for my co-worker a few weeks back? Well it turns out that he loved it- so much that he wanted to make sure I had a picture of him wearing it at his marathon.



Frank's gratitude over this hat has pretty much guaranteed him a lifetime supply of knitted stuff.

On Super Bowl Sunday, my favorite local yarn store (Anneke's Needleworks - visit it if you come to South Florida!) was having a really great sale so I went to try to find yarn for that Revolutions blanket I mentioned in the last post. I think I have some picked out, but Anneke has to special order a color for me. Since I couldn't buy blanket yarn, I just had to buy something else...



4 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca, in olive and chocolate, to make the cropped cardigan a la eyeloveit. I am just brilliant, my friends- nothing says springtime in Miami like a long-sleeved sweater in a wool-alpaca blend!