Finally, a sock!

Well, it's still got some ends I need to weave in, but it is the right length and it fits. I have until January 5 to finish the second one (that's when my parents are flying back to Mexico). The pooch says it's OK to stay here, but he'd rather have a larger blanket:



I wish I could get started with the second sock, but this sightseeing thing keeps me quite busy:



I hope everyone had a nice holiday, and may next year bring peace to the whole world.

One more year

For the first time in many years, my birthday does not include traveling or preparing to travel abroad for Christmas. Today my family is here with me and we spent the day visiting the shoreline marshes. Sadly, dogs are not allowed, in order to protect the wildlife. But it was a cold and foggy day, so the pooch wouldn't have enjoyed it anyway. Even the wildlife seemed lethargic:



We're going tonight to a Japanese restaurant. I called in this morning to make a reservation and all I got was a slot at 9:30. I'm glad we're all hispanics and that we're used to having late dinners.

So let's see, was this a good year? I think so. I had to quit a job I liked and leave behind my friends and co-workers. That was sad. But I moved to a lovely place where the weather is much nicer and the spouse is happier with a better paying job. We don't even have to worry about me being unemployed. And I've been knitting and reading lots of books - about thirty five books this year. And the best news? My pooch is staying! We reached an agreement: He'll be here until March or April. If things don't work out, my mom will take him back. He's been a good boy so far and I hope he remains so.

Family time

My parents and the dog are here, and I'm spending so much time with them that I have had no time to blog at all. The people at customs were not interested in the dog's paperwork. His food and vitamins, however, were confiscated. Can you believe that? It was a regular can of dog food and some doggy treats with vitamins. You'd think there's riskier things than that.

I was a little worried that my parents would get bored, since I have no TV and most of my books are still in boxes, but my mother bought a needlework kit and is happily cross-stitching right now. My Father is installing a doggy door on the kitchen. See? They know how to keep themselves busy. The pooch remembers me and is happy to have me feed him and walk him, but he still prefers my mother's company. There isn't much progress regarding knitting, but I'm having a great time.

Excuse me, is that sock shrinking?

I keep knitting, but the sock doesn't seem to be growing much. What's worse, when I wear it, it appears to have shrunk:



It's just the effect of those ribs, they're stretchy and they make the sock appear longer than it really is until you wear it.

About those ads, why is it that a guys get a girl removing her panties, while we get a lame guy with a surfboard? See what I mean?

My parents are coming tomorrow. They will be spending Christmas and New Year with us. All in all, they will be here for three weeks! Think our marriage can take it? To make things more interesting, they're bringing this little guy with them:



Maybe he's the real danger to our marriage. He might stay with us or not, depending on how he likes it here. He used to belong to me, but I don't think he does anymore. Actually, if he could talk, he'd say my mother belongs to him! My husband has never had a dog and I confess a 13 year old spoiled pooch is not the best choice for a first doggy, but I miss him too much and I'm willing to give it a try. I hope the guys at customs don't quarantine him. He's had all his vaccines and to my knowledge he is quite healthy, but you never know.

Undecided

I have not decided whether or not I want to stay at blogdrive. Inertia makes me want to stay, but some ads are sort of repellent. The ads within the text entry have disappeared (for now). The blogdrive help people, who usually respond fairly quickly, have yet to answer whether or not those ads will come back. Their new editor works fine, but some acute accents have disappeared from their symbol list, which is a bummer when you write in Spanish.

The husband spent two hours proving to me that my template could be transferred to blogspot. He even made some improvements. You'd think he sold his soul to the blogspot people. I do thank him for spending that much time in this, but like I said, it's too soon to decide. I also appreciate all the opinions I received regarding the ads and hosting options.

Here's my two doilies, I'm not sure I liked them better before blocking:



I also have a picture of the blue sock:



It's taking more time than I anticipated. Bear in mind that I've been staining boards to make a bookcase and that I have also put together a table, six chairs and a futon.

Fancy blocking board needed

All I have is a piece of styrofoam. If I also had a protractor and a pair of compasses I might do better than this:



I keep telling myself that I don't really need a proper blocking board with a grid and a set of concentric circles on it, but I guess it's denial.

Here's how the sock is progressing. These socks are not for me, but if they fit me they will fit my mother. I wonder if it's just the flash or if the sock really looks that thin.



Lately, blogdrive has been adding ads to my entries. These ads come and go and I'm not very happy with them, as I got no warning and they kind of look like part of the text in the entry. The husband insists I should switch to blogger. I almost did when they started adding ads to the comments. In general I don't mind the comment ads, though I sometimes wish I didn't have to see people in their underwear while reading comments. So what do you think, should I move to a better home?

Past the heel...

Going past the heel gives me a sense of relief. I usually encounter problems there, but not this time. Or maybe I haven't taken a close look, but other than a twisted stitch it looks OK to me. I can now keep going round and round until I run out of yarn:

Sock progress

Here's the toe of the sock just before unzipping the crochet chain that I used as a foundation. I actually had to do this twice, because on my first attempt the thread I used for the crochet chain was too thin. As a result, that side of the sock had a noticeably tight row right right after the toe.






The crochet thread I used instead might look like it's too bulky, but it actually produced the right gauge. Here's the sock so far:






Soon I'll be turning the heel. Right now I'm doing ribs just on the upper side, but once I turn the heel it will have ribbing all around.

It works!

I was finally able to upload pictures. Most of the hard work was carried out by my husband, but I installed some of the software too, including the camera stuff. So here they are, the two doilies I have completed that I still have to block:





I'm casting on for a pair of socks. I'm using a provisional cast-on, since these will be knitted from the toes to the cuff.

Two doilies down

I wish I could post a picture, but on the other hand, it is better to wait until I've woven in all ends and the doilies are blocked. The new hard disk for the computer has arrived, my husband has installed it and is currently filling it up with the old software. I see the light now.



Now that I'm (almost) done with the doilies, I should get to work on my mother's socks. Oh, I know I have to finish the linen top too, but I think I'll wait until my mother arrives. She'll have a better idea on which fiber I could use to put it together. Finding 100% linen was hard enough to begin with and I'm thinking of using cotton instead.



I have other things to keep me busy. We keep buying furniture, but the kind that you have to assemble yourself. There's even a bookcase that I have to stain before putting it together. I prefer to carry out such tasks myself and let my spouse be in charge of bringing the computer back to life.

Doilies

I set the linen top aside to crochet a pair of doilies. That will give me some time to think what I want to do regarding edging and seams for the top. In addition to those doilies, I have to knit a pair of socks for my mother. I should at least get started on those socks, but the doilies are more appealing. I was able to post a picture using a borrowed computer:

Not quite dead

But boy, I felt like it. I came back from Mexico right before Thanksgiving and as soon as I got home I was in bed with a bad case of bronchitis. My husband got it too, of course. So there was no one to cook a Thanksgiving meal around here. At least there were no incidents with my flights and everything went on schedule. I'm much better now, which is good because we need to fix this place for Christmas. My parents will be here with us and we still have no dining room table!



I have not completed the linen top. With so little yarn left, should I bother about edging or just forget about it and get to work on the seams? Is it really a sin to use a different yarn for the seams? If it isn't, what yarn could I use?




Meanwhile, The computer is still dead. The husband says we are getting a new hard drive over the mail. That will only solve part of the problem. We'll still have to install all the stuff we had on the previous one before I can even dream about posting pictures. Oh well.

A fair solution

My mother owns a small kitchen scale. Actually, I think it is a baby scale, but whatever it was, it was very useful. I weighed the back of the linen top, then weighed what I had knitted so far of the front, and finally the rest of the linen yarn. That helped me realize that I could make the front identical to the back and still get 15 grams left. Of course, I did not want the front to be identical to the back, so I made a few changes and this is the result:









The two little bobbins on the top are all the yarn I have left. I want a crochet edging, but there might not be enough yarn. I'm returning tomorrow to the U.S., and I didn't even touch the sock yarn or the crochet thread for the doilies. Next time I pack, I'll keep in mind that my knitting time is very limited when I'm with my niece and nephew!





Here's a picture of Cholula. That hill is actually a very old pyramid. It is now all covered by grass and vegetation but part of the base still remains. You can also visit the inside of the pyramid and find some internal stairways. The Spanyards built a church on top of it, which creates a weird contrast.

Another slideshow

Thanks for all the positive comments on the baby cardigan. I have here a few pictures of the back of my linen top, the one I'm not sure I'll be able to finish.



Casting on was a breeze...









And I like the look of the diamonds and cables even after I made some changes to accomodate gauge:








I completed the back according to the pattern but I had to rip it down since I'm seriously running out of yarn. This is how far I dare to rip down. Whatever I end up doing to save this project, I need full coverage up to my armpits:










A close-up of the armhole decreases:








This is my second attempt at the back. Notice that big keyhole opening? The original pattern didn't include that, of course, but I'm trying to save as much yarn as I can. I might end up ripping down again and going for straps if I get into trouble when working on the front.











This sort of guesswork requires concentration and time, it's not the best project when you're on vacation.

Baby cardigan slideshow

I know, that little baby cardigan is old news. I finished it and sent it to the parents to be before coming to Mexico, but I never got to upload the final pictures, so here they are, beginning with the pieces before seaming:







These are the shoulder and sleeve seams:









And the side seams:







I'm glad I ripped the back and knitted it again using the same pattern as the front. That made my life easier when doing those side seams. And here's the final picture after weaving in all those ends and attaching the buttons:

Who has time to knit?

Not me, not when you're here with the whole family, including my sister's little kids:





I spent the whole week next to the ocean and didn't take out my knitting, not even once. Right now I'm in Mexico City, happily dowloading all the pictures I had been unable to download back home. I'll post them soon.

What shall I bring?

I'm getting everything ready and deciding what projects I should bring with me, starting with my purple linen whim, which is still unfinished. In fact, I wonder if I will be able to finish it at all. I had 400 grams of it but apparently that's not enough for a sleeveless top. I've had enough short sleeved projects completed with 300-350 grams when using cotton or acrylic, but linen seems to be a much denser fiber.


I already ripped part of the back to make a keyhole. Not what I originally intended, but such is life. The pattern called for a full back, but what can I do? I just hope to have enough yarn for a decent neckline.


I'm also bringing enough material for two doilies and a pair of socks. I might not finish all of it but I will certainly not get bored. I might even post some pictures while I'm in Mexico. Wish me luck!

Getting ready

I will be traveling once more this Saturday, but this time I will be gone three weeks. I was planning on spending four or five days in Mexico, but being unemployed gives me the opportunity to stay even longer. My husband will be there just for a few days with me. My sister will be there too, so the whole family will be together.



I want to finish my purple whim before I go. I may not have been blogging about it but I have certainly worked on it. If I ever get the computer fixed I promise a slide show. Right now the back is finished and I'm working on the front.



Here's a picture of the original Vogue pattern in 1963 (taken when I was able to upload pictures). Of course, my purple whim is going to look waaaay different. First of all because the pattern was modified for the 2001 book. But on top of that, my gauge was off and I had to make some changes myself.







Looking closely, I notice that the 1963 version has side shaping, but the modern version doesn't. Now that I think of it, shaping was not a bad idea, I should have thought of that myself. Oh well.

Things I want to knit next

Weaving in the ends of the baby cardigan made me go back and look for the "to do" list I wrote in February. Yes, it's been that long. And in all these months I have only managed to finish my husband's socks and the pink raglan. The blue thing lies abandoned, but the purple linen (that's the eight dollar whim) is now being transformed into the sleeveless tank.




Jennifer wanted to know how I had modified the pattern. Basically, I reduced the number of stitches between diamonds and cables. I also reduced the number of stitches for cables (from nine to seven) and diamonds (from thirteen to eleven). Seven inches into the back I notice that the center of my top is going to be a little more crowded than the original design (pictures coming whenever the computer comes back to life). I could rip down and correct that but I'm not that intent on getting the same look.



You'd think finishing the cardigan and making the tank should be enough to keep me busy, but
I'm itching to make doilies for my new furniture. Which means I should probably finish the ongoing doily I have not touched for a while. I promise not to get carried away, like artist Joana Vasconcelos:.






In addition to doilies, I'm also thinking of making another pair of socks, using the ribbing Mel's using for hers.

Still no pictures

I'm still unable to post pictures, so you'll just have to believe me when I say the baby cardigan is finished. Well, at least the knitting part is finished, collar and sleeves included. I still have to work on the seams and weaving in all those ends. But instead of doing that I of course casted on for the short sleeved top, which is more fun. I had to make major changes but I think it will look very similar to the Vogue pattern even if my gauge is off.



My spider is nowhere to be found. My husband says he didn't kill him and I want to believe him. Who knows? Maybe the little spider discovered that there isn't much to eat here anyway and went away on his own.

One sleeve down

And I am already working on the second one. I feel like starting another project, using the purple linen I am supposed to use up before I buy any more yarn. I was also supposed to finish the blue thing too, but let's not talk about that.



I browsed a few books at the library and found the following pattern from Vogue Knitting's Vintage Collection:







My gauge is way off, but I like the look of those cables and diamonds and I'm going to give it a try by reducing the space between them. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the cables on the shoulders
even after the armhole decreases.



The spider does not want to be trapped and taken outside. Since he's not a brown recluse nor a black widow, and he has stayed away from my cupboards, I'll leave him alone. He's already made himself at home:







If I tell my husband, he'll probably kill him, so I'm not telling.

A temporary solution

My sweet husband loaned me a laptop so I could post pictures as long as I erase the files right after uploading. It seems that the hard drive on the other one might need a replacement. He does have backups of all the important things stored in there (he even makes backups of my knitting pictures, he is that thoughtful), but you know how it is, there's always a few things that get lost.



This little guy is wandering around in my apartment. I usually don't kill spiders, instead I go into a lot of trouble to take them outside. But this one's big enough that I'm afraid of getting stung. On the other hand, I don't feel like killing it. What would you do?






I'm sure that if I leave him alone, he'll never bother me. Perhaps I should adopt him as a pet. Here's the back of the baby cardigan, with shoulder seams completed. I'm making one of the sleeves but I'm not following the pattern. If I were, the sleeves would have beige ribbing, but I'm knitting them all in red.







It saddens me to read about the earthquake last Saturday in India and Pakistan. I cannot recall another year like this, with so many disasters one after the other.

Once more, good and bad news.

The good news is that we started buying a few pieces of furniture, nice and at a reasonable price. The bad news is that the computer is broken and there's no way for me to publish pictures in this blog, though at least I can keep writing from the public library. A pity, because I have just finished the back of the baby cardigan and it truly is much better now than before. I'm glad I ripped the first version.



I don't know when the computer will be ready (if it can be fixed) so it's very likely that there will be no pictures here for a while.



Thanks for the support regarding the buttons, I will use them for this project, of course.

Ripping again

I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to knitting, but sometimes it hits me really bad. Today I ripped the back of the baby Cardigan. The more I looked at it, the less I liked it. I think it will look better knitted in red and with little beige sqares, like the front. Also, I was already worrying about the seams, knowing I would have to do something about having more rows in the front than in the back, and that it would probably result in an ugly seam. I hate seams and I hate worrying about them. So I ripped the back and now I will have to knit it again.


Here's the left front, now completed:





And these are the buttons I found in JoAnn:





I think they're cute but my better half thinks they are not appropriate for a baby. So what type of buttons are you supposed to get for babies?

Where was I?

Thank you for the nice comments about the raglan. I picked up the baby cardigan again, which i had abandoned after being unable to decide how to solve the button band problem. I decided to rip the left front down to the ribbing, flip it and start again from the wrong side. That always leaves the red strand next to the button band, but it also means that I have to knit the garter using purl stitches. It also means that I have to do the squares starting on the wrong side.









I'm not going as fast as I could. I have had tendinitis for over a month now, and even though the doctor said it was all right to knit, I hurt my elbow again yesterday. Blame the spider that almost landed on my face and gave me a good scare. I swapped it away with a magazine without thinking, and I am still sore today.

A finished object!

I was losing my seaming momentum in the end, and having to weave in a lot of ends (there were knots on some of the skeins) made me drag it for a long while. But here it is. It's actually bright pink, but the light in my bathroom makes it look paler:







I have to catch up with the baby cardigan, I abandoned it completely.

More seams

This is one of the sleeve seams. There's no way the increases are going to match, since I didn't even do them at the same intervals. The pattern is supposed to match, but it's knit at an angle. Since I didn't leave any purl stitches next to the edges it is hardly noticeable.







Three years ago I was here, dressed in white, making some serious promises to the love of my life.







Among the promises we made, there's one that stated we would not make any unneccesary expenses. Three years later, with no furniture except a mattress and a desk made of cardboard boxes, I can tell we're good at keeping our promises.



With or without furniture, we're still happy next to each other, and I am infinitely grateful for that.

Mea Culpa

I should not have whined so much about that pattern because I did not read it correctly. I skipped the part that said you needed to put some stitches on a holder. I only noticed my mistake when I took a look at the picture and the collar looked quite different.






I have now finished the ribbing on the left front and guess what... I ran into trouble again. When knitting the right front, I always had a red strand of yarn on the right hand side when doing the little checkers. I used that red strand for the button band intarsia style, turned my work, knit the button band and then kept going with the checkers. But now I need to make a buttonhole band on the left hand side, where no red strand of yarn awaits for me. There's three ways (maybe more) to go around this:

Rip. Start knitting on the wrong side from the beginning. This means I'll do the checkered stitch from the wrong side, and the garter band with purl stitches. I like this solution. I could even forgo the purls and use knit stitches. Who's going to notice that the bands don't match?

Don't rip. Get another red yarn bobbin and knit the button band using intarsia.

Rip down to the ribbing. Cut the yarn. transfer the row to another needle and start the pattern from the wrong side.

There's always the possibility of knitting the buttonband separately, but that would be cheating... plus I hate seams and want to avoid them whenever possible.


Talking about seams, I started putting the pink raglan together. I'm trying to get all rows properly aligned, which is something that usually doesn't bother me.






The picture on the right is the raglan. See how the pattern rows are aligned? The increases match too, but you have to take a really close look to see that. The picture on the left shows a seam in which the increases do not match. But the people I frequent don't usually bring their faces that close to my armpit anyway, so I usually don't care about such things.

The end is near

Or so I hope. I did have to unravel that third sleeve. And the fourth. And the fifth. So of course I'm thrilled that this time I finally got things right.









Part of the problem is that this stitch really makes a stretchy fabric, so what seems the right size while lying flat can be oversized when worn (YES, I got as far as seaming a sleeve, putting it on and finding out that it was too big). Live and learn. Luckily, the trial and error phase is behind me and all I have to do is knit a duplicate.

I have also completed the front of the baby cardigan, another trial and error process. The pattern doesn't really tell you when to start decreasing, it just tells you how many decreases you need to make (plus it would really help if it explained how the decreases should be worked to keep the squares consistent). Also, the checkered stitch has a shorter row gauge that stockinette stitch. I didn't realize that until it was too late. I had to rip down, add rows, and start the decreases again. Seaming will be a nightmare, since the back has 2/3 of the total amount of rows I used on the front.

Chugging along

This is my third attempt in making a sleeve, and it looks too big so there might be a fourth one:

I was luckier with the back of the baby cardigan:

But that's because following a pattern is easier than making things up as you go (I haven't dug out my green notebook). The pattern says I should bind off the shoulders. Experience tells me I should make a three needle bindoff and avoid ugly shoulder seams.

Louise was wondering about the nature of last post's painting. It's painted on silk.

First, the good news

The replacements for my broken dishes are here, and none of them broke. Also, I'm happy to report that in spite of the dire prognosis, my begonya survived and is now starting to bud again. She must like it here. (Note to self: trim back all those dead stems, they look ugly).




Unfortunately, there's also bad news. I had partially unwrapped a framed painting right after the move, and the glass seemed intact. Well, it was, except for a little corner.







Oh well, one more thing that will need to be fixed. I do remember thinking that the painting would look much better without the glass, do you think it's a good idea to get rid of it altogether? Another bad news is that I had to rip the first raglan sleeve. And the one after that. I sat down, measured and realized that I need to space my decreases even more than I expected. They will not match the decreases on the front and the back, but I don't want to fret about that because I want to finish that sweater soon. I added a few rows to the baby cardigan in between ripping and knitting the raglan.





My elbow is not getting any better, but not any worse either. So that's a so-so news, I guess. I acknowledged it was time to go to the doctor. We signed up a week ago to our new insurance, but we had not received the cards yet, so I called their offices. The girl at the phone was unable to locate our records, which basically meant that we had no coverage with them, but when I checked the mail our cards were here. She had me really scared but I'm not mad because I guess it's hard to deal with hyphenated foreign names.