Knitting In Motown

Knitting at Comerica Park

I had a great time in Detroit this weekend. Went to a Tiger's game with great friends, enjoyed wonderful weather, saw the sun... And, I had time to knit during the game. They really don't do much of a security check at the gate - so my needles made it in no problem. I was a little worried, even though some of you commented that knitting needles are allowed. Anyway, the Tigers played the Minnesota Twins and won. It was a shut out meaning the Twins didn't get a hit - well, they did hit the ball but the guy batting was out meaning it doesn't count as a hit. So even though the ball was hit, it wasn't a hit, or something like that. Right. Back to knitting.

I also managed to finish the mittens I've been writing a pattern for. Please disregard the preposition at the end of that last sentence. I finished the first one, see mitten on the right, but didn't like how pointy the top was. So... I went back the the drawing board and knit up a second one. I changed the decreasing/shaping and got a more rounded top, see mitten on the left.

Pattern info coming soon.

Then, I ripped back the first mitten, re-shaped the top... and, viola! They are both more round. Here is a picture before blocking. I do love the way Noro stripes. I purposely didn't match up the stripes. The mittens are currently taking a Eucalan bath. I will post pictures once blocked and share the pattern.

Time to pick out my school clothes for tomorrow, iron, and snuggle up with my Kindle. Hope you all had a great weekend. I'd love to hear about what you're knitting, crocheting, crafting, etc., and reading. Thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment! ~ Christina

Can You Bring Knitting Needles to a Major League Baseball Game?

Blueberry Waffle Socks. Pattern info here: Ravelry.

Yikes! I haven’t blogged in a few weeks. Sorry about that. After finishing my Blueberry Waffle Socks, I decided to use up some leftover Noro from a sweater I frogged. Frogged, verb, a knitter’s term for officially giving up on a project and resigning oneself to unraveling and finding something else to make with the yarn. Take a deep breath because here comes a run-on sentence. I gave up on the sweater because I could get stitch gauge but not row gauge and the side had a curve thing going on and the pattern was written for numbers of rows not inches and I tried to wing it but it's very hard to wing a curve thing, blah, blah, blah... hence the frogging. Full-stop and breathe. The frogged sweater is in my Ravlery notebook if you want to have a look. I’m sure it would have been a very nice sweater. Anyway, here is the vest I made instead. It was also my first seam job - so please disregard the lack of perfection there.

Noro Design 4 Sleeveless Top. Pattern info here: Ravelry.

Since I have plenty of yarn left over, I sought out a mitten pattern. People in Michigan can always use another pair of mittens, and the way Noro stripes is really cool right, so why not? Anyway, I found a pattern but the ribbing was too big and it had seams. Why seam mittens when you can knit in the round? Sooo... I’m winging/writing my own pattern. Clearly, I did not learn my lesson from the frogged sweater mentioned above. 

Attempts #1 and #2 at pattern-writing. Color filter via Instagram.

I have one mitten finished. I’m not entirely happy with the way I decreased to shape the top: too pointy. For attempt #3, I’m knitting the second mitten and trying something slightly different at the top. If I like it, I’ll rip back the first a little and duplicate it. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just have two pointy mittens. Such is the life of a knitter who insists on venturing out on her own rather than just knitting from a pattern.

Mitten #1. Gorgeous color but kinda pointy.

Speaking of venturing out, I’m heading to a Detroit Tiger's baseball game on Saturday. Circling back to my title here, I used to be an English teacher - can’t help but circle back, does anyone know if you can bring knitting needles into a stadium? Hoping not to offend here, but baseball games bore me to tears. I know, I know, why go you’re wondering(?) I love Detroit, we are going with very fun friends, and people watching is usually entertaining. Anyway, I’m hoping to bring along something to knit. Signing off now to grade some papers. Let me know what you know about knitting needles at sporting events. Many thanks for reading and commenting my friends. ~ Christina

Why Put off Until Tomorrow What You Can Tackle 3 Months From Now?

First, a glossary of knitting terms:

Frogged, ing - realizing a project isn’t going to work out and/or you’re in way over your head then completely ripping it out to use the yarn for something else

Hibernating, ed, ion - a project that is mostly finished but there is something hard left to do that you don’t feel like dealing with, so you avoid it

Now onto my post. 

I started knitting a jacket with... ahem... $96 worth of Noro Chirimen yarn, please don’t judge me until you’ve knit with this yarn. Noro is a Japanese yarn famous for its unusual color combinations. In layman’s terms it’s very cool. Anyway, I couldn’t get row gauge and the jacket had this curved front - for which you really need to get row gauge - so I frogged it. (See glossary above.) Sigh! Shortly after frogging, I found a pattern for a vest that would work with my yarn and off I went. Relieved, I mentioned the cost of the yarn right(?), I cast on and knit the front and back of the vest in no time at all. Before long, however, I realized I really don’t know how to seam. And, this was a pattern that had to be sewn together. Another sigh! So, the vest sat in my craft room, which used to be my oldest daughter’s bedroom but she’s been away at college for four years so I figured it was fair game, in hibernation (again, see glossary above) for three months.

Here’s a picture of my un-seamed vest hibernating.

Not sure what got into me, but yesterday I decided I was ready to tackle this seaming situation. I consulted a few knitting books, Youtubed and Pinterested, yep those last two are verbs now, and started sewing. Leave it to me to try and learn a new skill like sewing a seam with yarn that is nubby and with a pattern that increases at the sides. Anyway, within four hours or so, I completely got the hang of it, and, discovered it’s almost soothing.

Here’s a picture of my beautiful seam. See the colors and how the stripes don’t line up. Classic Noro.

I started this vest October 20something, 2011 and finished it today, roughly three months later. I guess if there is a moral to this post, and I’m not sure there is or should be, it’s that I think it’s ok to let a problem hibernate until you are ready to deal with it properly. 

Can’t wait to wear my vest to work tomorrow, although in hindsight it may have been faster to do a load of laundry ;) Thanks for reading! ~Christina