January 27, 2016

Projects now and in the future.

I am inputting for the first time in 2016!  I continue to knit.  Mostly I think about knitting and read about knitting and watch knitting podcasts.  I wanted to make a particular hat in the Vogue Knitting Hat book I checked from the library.  I attempted to buy the proper yarn at a yarn shop I visited with my friend Deb when she was in town late last year.  The proprietor did not have the specific yarn suggested by the pattern and then said that the yarn suggested was not really "lopi" but only called that.  I told him it said it was Icelandic.  Now, a person that knows their yarn as I thought this man did (he had an aura of expertise), would know that Lopi means pure wool suitable for felting.  I only had the pattern on my phone/Ravelry page and not the actual book so I was going by what he said.  So he sold me some acrylic and led me to believe that I would get the correct result.  I proceeded to cast on and knit according to the specs of the pattern and the project was pretty big and I knew it was not going to felt/shrink.  I had also bought a bulky weight acrylic/wool yarn at Joann's and that was the wrong stuff too.  So this fiasco got me off my knitting mojo.  I don't have a big budget for yarn so this was a disheartening chapter.

I researched on Ravelry where I could get the actual yarn and pilgrimaged up to that store in Stanwood.  The colors that I wanted weren't available, but she ordered it and called me today to come pick it up.  Hooray!  I have decided to get a different contrasting color to go with more of my other projects.  But this whole journey was a PITA.

I got interested in a lot of podcasts.  One is Never Not Knitting hosted by Alana Dakos, who is a designer.  I requested her books from the library and enjoyed perusing them.  I didn't want to purchase all the fancy yarn when I didn't have faith enough to complete a big project.  Luckily, I have a good quantity of KnitPcks sport weight yarn so I have managed to start a hat.

I am not experienced with lace knitting techniques and for some reason, I had a lot of problems getting this project going.  Here's what I learned:

1. Use stitch markers!  I find it very helpful to place markers between repeats.
2. Count stitches for each repeat.  Use a calculator to determine the stitch count for the repeats.
3. Mysterious stitch notations can be demonstrated on YouTube!  It's so convenient!
4. Place a sticky note under the line of instructions you are on.  Move it for each row.  My memory is not what it once was.

Since I restarted 2-3 times, I got pretty familiar with some of the stitches. Now that I finally have it working out, the knitting is going pretty well.

Tomorrow I go get the Lopi yarn.  Tomorrow I am going to visit a different knitting group too.  I hope to have a knitting friend go with me.  I hope that these projects get finished pretty soon.

Future plans:

1. Socks!  I want to make socks toe up style preferably!
2. Cowl or stole.  I was in love with a particular large cowl from the cover of Knit Scene that I never found the yarn for and couldn't make myself order the kit ($$).  Now I like a smaller one that employs colorwork which would be a new technique to me.
3. Stephen West shawl.  Saw one on a podcast (Knit 1 Heart Too) that seemed easy and makes a bold statement (Spectra).  Thought I had one kind of yarn and looked for a companion yarn but at my LYS, I did not see what I was looking for.  I'll keep looking.
4. Sweater.  I have a lot of alpaca that has a variegated colrway.  I want to make a very easy boxy sweater that shows off the colors without too much in the way of texture.