Zipper Installation Time

On February 20, 2019 By FogKnitsIn Sweater, WIP4 Comments

The knitting is done! Woohoo! I’ve also secured the steek, cut it and bought the zipper! I even wove the ends in! The only thing left to do is sew the zipper in! Naturally, this means I’m second guessing my design decisions.

As a pullover, this sweater fit perfect. I like pullovers with positive ease. Only problem…it’s a cardigan. I like my cardigans closer to zero ease.

My first thought was to re-steek the front panels to remove an inch from each side. That’s two more steeks though…why do twice the work, when I could just trim one front side and have an asymmetric look. Then I thought, why cut it again at all? What if I abandoned the zipper and went for a double breasted look?

Big decision. I’m totally undecided. And this weekend is Stitches West, which means no time for such focused work. I’ve got plenty of time to sleep on it. In the meantime, I’m still wearing it…shawl pins work just fine on sweaters too!

Work in Progress Wednesday

On January 24, 2018January 24, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Shawl, Sweater, WIP3 Comments

I can definitely say it’s Wednesday. I checked the calendar! Can’t say I’m making much progress on my ‘work’ though. Every time I check, I’m not seeing much.

My striped Woolfolk shawl.

One of the balls is getting smaller, so I must be making progress. I think the next milestone will be running out of yarn prematurely. I’ve been trying to tell myself that it’ll be okay. (it won’t but ignorance is bliss.)

My Dotted Grays, aka a Dotted Rays in a lovely gray gradient.

I’ve crossed the halfway mark with this one. I can tell because the yarn had two gradient repeats. Of course, I’ve gotten to the part where rows are hundreds of stitches. Perfect process knitting. Doesn’t look any different from last week though.

My Noro & Lopi sweater

I must be making progress because I’ve nearly finished my first ‘plate’ of yarn. Holding it next to a finished sweater though, shows me I’ve still got a long way to go.

The long forgotten Rockefeller.

I just have to decrease down to 9 stitches to get this point finished. Maybe I’ll get there before this WIP hits it’s second birthday. Seems like it should be easy. Not sure what the 18 month delay has been about. Of course, the other side remains untouched. I’ve got a hundred stitches to pick up, then decrease down to 9 again. One decrease every 4th row. And suddenly, I remembering what the hold up is.

The good news is…there’s no problems here. I don’t need to figure anything out, I just need to get knitting! Progress…thy name is Wednesday! Ready, Set…GO!

Work In Progress Wednesday

On December 20, 2017December 20, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Casting On, Hat, WIP11 Comments

All signs point to new project cast ons this week! The holiday knitting is done and I’ve only got 4 WIPs on the go right now. I can start two new projects and still be within my strict 6 project limit! Woooooooo!

The secret holiday projects have been hats. Specialty hats, definitely not every day hats and definitely not enough to scratch the hat itch. It’s time for a hat binge!

First up, I’m digging into the stash for yarn from Rhinebeck 2016.

I’ve been holding on to this fun gradient kit, waiting for the perfect pattern. I think a lot of us have this ‘problem’. Awesome yarn, languishing in the stash, unused because it’s ‘special’ and needs to be ‘perfect’.

I’m here to say…PSHAW! That’s nonsense. ‘Perfect’ is not about excellent execution of something so precisely correct that there is not one single flaw to be found. Perfect is about adjusting one’s mindset.

For me, in this case, perfect was the idea that I wanted to use all of this yarn, to its fullest, in one single project. The yardage isn’t really enough for my ideals of a scarf or shawl and it’s too much for a hat. It’s too nice to use for a baby garment. Always too something…

All I needed to solve this problem was a simple attitude adjustment. Who cares if I use it all in one go? I love scraps! My favorite thing is having leftovers to add to the scrap pile! Hat binges and scrap piles go hand in hand! Why have I spent 15 months hung up over a few scraps??

And so, with a little bit of soul searching, I decided, I would be happier to knit this yarn into several hats than I would be watching it sit, lonely and untouched, on the shelf. Duh. Obviously. I bought it to use it.

And so, the hat binge has begun in earnest.

In a fortuitous moment, I remembered this neon green, fur pom-pom. Another bit of stash being saved for the ‘perfect’ hat. In this case, perhaps perfection will be achieved, after all.

In the most bizarre turn yet, this could be perfect AND trendy?!? If I’m doing the big fur pom, I might as well go all the way and make it a fade too. These stripes are just too fun. I sat down for one brief moment, to just finish turning the hem and here I’ve nearly finished it. I do love a good hat binge.

I started with a provisional cast on and a turned hem. It’s a finish I love but don’t do often enough. If I’m selling a hat, it’s a lovely detail that slows the process down, unnecessarily. If I’m keeping it though, this is just the type of detail I want to wear. An uninterrupted field of stockinette stitch at the brim of hat makes me so happy.

Even the jobless stripes are making me pretty happy today! My preferred technique is to knit into the row below, at the first stitch, of the second round of each color. Once the ends are woven and it’s blocked a bit, I think this will be as near to perfection as possible.

And then, I’ll get to do it all over again because I’m definitely going to have enough yarn left over! Perfection, Indeed!

WIP Wednesday – The Mash Ups

On October 25, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Shawl, WIP3 Comments

Six projects made it through the mass frogging last week. About that time, I noticed my Ravelry notebook view had changed. I recently upgraded to a modern laptop, instead of the decade old relic I had been using. With my new laptop, I now see six projects across the top row of my notebook.

Previously, I saw five projects across the top row. My strict 10 project limit was decided upon because I saw 10 projects when I opened Ravelry. That’s rather arbitrary. And since I’m the decider, my new very strict project limit is 6.

Let’s face it, working on 10 things at once means you don’t care about at LEAST 4 of them. So, there new rule, only 6 project around here from now on.

You saw the two rainbow stripe shawls on Monday. Today, it’s two pattern mash up projects. Both of these projects started as one thing and have subsequently morphed into something new. Life is too short for uninspired knitting, after all.

First up, a 10-stitch turned log cabin blanket.

I’ve tried the 10 stitch blanket a couple times now. I never get very far. It’s such a fiddly little pain in the butt and I give up easy. This project, being a solid color, you can barely tell the difference so why do all that fiddling and get zero credit for it?

Nope. I abandoned the 10 stitch portion at the center gladly. It converted to the log cabin style readily. No muss, no fuss!

I really like the log cabin style. Mindless knitting with a really lovely result. The pattern is so forgiving. And my yarn has a thick n thin quality which gives the blanket some extra texture. Nothing distracts from the glowing orange but I’ve gotten quite used to it! I’m looking forward to finishing this in short order!

My other mash up project: The Jolly Roger turned Speckle & Pop

This project started as a half pi shawl with a cable and lace edge that looked like a skull. Yeah, have I mentioned I give up easy? Cables and lace. In the same row?!? Oh hell no. I don’t know what I was thinking when I started that one. The top half is just a stockinette half circle…no reason to frog that bit.

It took a few days for inspiration to hit but it finally did.

The answer, of course, is a question. What would Stephen do? Answer: Clue 3 of his current mystery knit along, Speckle & Pop. No matter that I didn’t do Clue 1 or Clue 2. Clue 3 was adding an edge to shawl body. That’s what I had, with only a few slight differences. The type of differences that matter to people who count stitches. I am not one of those people. So I set out on my own modified version of Clue 3.

I kept the general shape and rhythm of the clue, just changed some numbers. The next part of the clue is brioche. I haven’t quite talked myself into that part yet. I’ll let ya know how it goes. Maybe this weekend I’ll get it started.

I bet I like it once I get going.

Famous last words, eh?

If not, I’ll just change my mind…

again.

FO Friday – Pussy Hat

On August 31, 2017August 31, 2017 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Hat, Shawl7 Comments

My week started with days 5 & 6 of sitting for jury selection. If you’ve never had to sit through the process, let me tell you, it’s absolutely maddening. It’s slow, repetitive and inefficient. The pool stated with ~250 potential jurors. At the end of day 6 when the jury was finally selected, I was still sitting in the gallery with 7 other lucky SOBs. I’m happy it’s over. I’m happy to not be on the jury but I’m an idiot for showing up in the first place. And then to sit there for six days, only to realize they wouldn’t have known if I was missing. Aaarrrggghhh! It’s the cherry on the insult cake that was this week.

I got me a bit worked up. The Bite Me cross stitch helped with the relaxation process though. Something about the repetitive stabbing motions…

and I managed to get a bit of knitting done. I finished my long overdue Pussy Hat.

The yarn is White Birch Fiber Arts SW Merino, in a worsted weight. It’s a generous skein so I’ve got yarn left for a second hat. I think I made this one just a touch too long. I think square hats should be a bit shorter than a regular hat. It makes the ‘ears’ pop a bit more. I wanted to end with a black stripe though. I might walk on the wild side and end the second hat on a pink stripe?!?

Then again, I may never get to it because I’m loving the Marled Magic so much! I’ve finished the YO, K2tog mesh section and I’ve moved on to the seed stitch section.

I started off with a kitchen sink colorway. I just threw all my little scraps into section 1. Anything that was only going to last for a few rows.

For the seed stitch section, I’ve moved to a mostly green set of colors.

As usual, I’m not planning anything, just letting it happen. It’s happy place knitting and after all the jury duty rage knitting I’m ready for a little happy place action!

And just in time for Labor Day weekend! My favorite weekend in SF all year long…the place clears out! The kids all go to burning man! It’s awesome. The city is calm and quiet. And this year, even with temps predicted in the 80’s, it’ll be cool compared the 110’s predicted for the east bay. Yikes! That is warm!

If anybody needs me I’ll be in the fog. Knitting!

WIP Wednesday

On May 31, 2017May 31, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Casting On, Shawl5 Comments

The casting on continues with a new shawl! The photographs aren’t doing it justice.

It’s a classic top down triangle in shape but through a series of short rows, the classic shaping is spiced up a bit! The sections are more wedge shaped than plain stripes so the design within the shawl triangle is comprised of asymmetric triangles. It becomes more pronounced as the knitting continues. I can’t wait to get to that part…I just love asymmetry!

The yarn is knitpicks Chroma Fingering. The slow fade of the colors is perfect to highlight the pattern, Vee Vee by Mariana Martins.

Hopefully, my excitement for this project continues. I’ve made it to the cat sweater’s face so it’s kind of hard to tear myself away from that! More pics to follow!