Monday, February 27, 2006

dashing all the way



Yay ...or maybe not. I've gotten 3" under the arm knit. I'm taking my sweet time because I am a poor sport and am not participating in the Knitting Olympics. This is why I don't swim competitively. Anymore. The cardigan doesn't meet in the middle yet because the circs are only 26" and they don't reach around as I wish them to. I also just got back from the yarn shop (Canvas Works). I bought two balls of sock yarn, a skein of Mountain Colors 4/8's wool, Crystal Palace size 7 dpns, Clover pink and blue hard plastic stitch markers, and the plastic stitch markers that look like little safety pins.

My mom is going to knit Forecast, too. She ordered 5 skeins of Cascade 220 in sage. I told her to post some pics on here when she knits a bit. She thinks she's going to use Wendy's modifications, too. Stephanie Japel may just have to rewrite her sweater pattern, yesno?

I'm hexing you all for being faster than me. :D

Whoo, I looked at my pics and saw all the scratches on my hands. This is what happens when you have three cats and two XL dogs. Gee. Here's a gratuitous shot of an XL dog, Toby.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Body, done.

Gold!I bound off the last stitch of the body a few minutes after the Olympic flag was handed over to the mayor of my fabulous city for the 2010 games, during the live broadcast of the Closing Ceremonies around a quarter to 1, PST. There was a hairy bit there, when I realized I needed to wind up a new ball of yarn a mere four rows from finish, but I did it. Gold!

I added 2 extra rows of ribbing because I got a little worried that I'd have to block it too much to make it long enough. I'm sure it was silly, but I'm also sure those 2 rows won't hurt. I'm gonna take a day or two off to give myself a break after the feverish knitting of the last couple of days, but I'm really looking forward to finishing this puppy.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Day 16

Forecast, Day 16 Fewer than 30 rows to go on the body. I've always loved ribbing, and I'm enjoying the mindless go of it. By all indications, I'll finish the body tomorrow and the sweater will fit. My only worry is that I'll feel so satisfied for having earned my Knitting Olympics gold that I'll slack off on actually finishing the sweater. Must. Maintain. Momentum.

[x-posted all over the place]

Friday, February 24, 2006

At last!

I put the sleeves on waste yarn last night (actually very early this morning) and knit about an inch below the arms. Hooray! It took me 7 cable repeats before I could fit the sweater over my shoulders. Take that, beastly body parts! I'm surprised at how much faster it's going. Amazing! My parents get back from Florida today - with the camera. I will take tons of sweater pictures - maybe even some inside out. :D

After seeing the Chocolate Fashion Show posts on Christine's blog I have to have some chocolate. I'll have to take a trip to World Market and pick up a Ritter Sport bar (or two?). Yummy. I love the biscuit one the best. Mmmm-mmmm...

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Love knitting from the top down

Forecast, Day 12Well, kids, the jury's out on whether I'll be able to finish the body in time for the closing ceremonies of the Olympics. I'm guardedly optimistic. As you can see, I've put the sleeve stiches on holders, so my progress has definitely picked up a bit. I have a couple more hours to go until I begin the ribbing; then my pace should really quicken. Any hopes I'd had in the beginning that I would surpass my goal of just finishing the body have been smacked back down to reality. I'm going to have to set aside a lot of time for knitting in the next few days...

I had been wondering about my bobbles from the beginning. They didn't look too great. Then I realized a few rows ago that they stick out much more prominently if you hold them to the front of your work when you knit the next stitch. Shoulda been obvious to me from the get-go, but I'm glad it finally dawned on me. Does anyone have a tip on how to pop the bobbles through to the front so they look nice and... bobbly?

One more

We have one more person joining our KAL! I just sent Heidi an invitation. Apparently she wasn't going to start for another week or two, but she bought her yarn today. We'll see how long THAT lasts - she'll probably finish before I do.

I won't be able to post any pictures of my sweater this week. The digital camera is on vacation without me. I still have to work a few more cable patterns before I reach the end of the raglan. I can't wait. All this knitting back and forth with the sleeves is kind of driving me nuts. I just want to knit a little back and forth.

a slight pause

hey gals - i think i must take an indeterminate break from the knitting overall; i'm really bummed about that, though i would be über-bummed if i didnt force myself to focus on my work to graduate.

i might dabble an hour or so a week at my local SnB but it'll be haltingly slow progress from here until june.

good luck with your forecasting! i'll be cheering you on. :)

Monday, February 20, 2006

past the blast yoke



peek! say hello to my arms! as you can see, the yoke seems to be fitting quite well around my neck. i think/hope the cardigan will button up fine along the front with the picked-up band; right now the tips of my (24"? 29"?) needles are buried under my arms, so there's still fabric that's bunched around the circular cord.



after i took this picture (yay for self-timer), i inspected it and thought, 'hey, that looks a little funny.' turns out i was modeling it inside out!



ahh, there we go. much better.



such are the wonders of garter stitch.

update: i fixed the levels on the photos. should be a little more clear.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Not Just a Sweater

I feel a little guilty. I wish I could just work on the sweater, but I'm also trying to hurriedly finish a pair of socks for my best friend's birthday. She has extremely long feet so it's slow going even though the foot is all St st.
I am still working on the raglan increasing. I think this will take awhile because I have swimmer's shoulders. I wish they would leave so I could have nice, thin, easy-to-knit-for-shoulders and arms. Bye-bye buffness. I do love knitting this sweater though. I'm getting addicted to bobbles. While I work on Forecast I think of a million other things I could knit with bobbles. Gloves, socks, fun underwear, earmuffs, another Forecast...

Saturday, February 18, 2006

the beginnings





mirrored cables! *swoon*

the color of 'ancient fern' is hard to describe (and even harder to photograph), but imagine blending dark chocolate, concentrated raspberry puree, and avocado + cilantro...

Friday, February 17, 2006

beginning specs

hey all - im happy to be the 3rd person for the KAL! after much deliberation i've been convinced by winnie and pinku to tackle the forecast. plus, i'm a bostonian. what more is there up here than strange turns of the weather? :)

i will probably tweak one last minor mod to pinku's version, which is to do mirrored cables on each side of the center placket. no biggie; other than that, i think it's supercute.

pix to come, but the specs:
  • peace fleece worsted, ancient fern, from kpixie
  • size 8 and 6 needles
  • progress so far: cast-on yesterday and completed the seed-stitch collar, and increased up to 134 sts

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Sorry!

Kim, I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything! I have been working on it, but I didn't have my computer. There was a bunch of spyware on it and it took a week for the guy to fix it. I just got it back tonight. I'm at about the same place as you are. The yarn I'm using is Cascade 220, 100% peruvian wool in the color Pepper. It's very squishy yarn. A pleasure to knit with. I'm using winnie's modifications.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Forecast, Day 4

Knitting Olympics, Day 4I keep thinking I'm knitting at a snail's pace, but then I remember this bugger's worked in one piece from the top-down until I put the sleeve stitches on holders. So that's the back, two fronts, and both sleeves in the photo. The sleeves will be separated out in about 16 rows, so then things will move faster. And then the ribbing. The ribbing! It'll be speed knitting in comparison.

[x-posted to Team Hooker and Team Canada]

Friday, February 03, 2006

Peace Fleece Forecast for Knitting Olympics

Figured I'd get this party started!

I'm Kim, from Vancouver, BC, and I can't wait to start this sweater.

I'm going to knit Forecast for the Knitting Olympics, so I'll cast on on February 10th during the opening ceremonies. I've never made anything with cables or bobbles, so I've enjoyed swatching so far. I'm using Peace Fleece in Samantha-Katya pink, and so far I think I'll knit the small size on size 9 Denise needles (this yarn is a little heavier than the 220 called for in the pattern). Here's what I've got (actually, I've bound off the swatch but don't have a photo):

Forecast swatch

I think I'll copy the modifications mentioned here -- I love the way her sweater turned out.