Friday, December 26, 2008

Painted Snaps



This is for project #6 from March. Yes .. it took me this long. This is what my instructor does.. and I forever ignored this part because I always thought it was ridiculous. She paints buttons with cheap nail polish. Why someone would buy buttons of one color and paint them one of another is very beyond me. However today, out of nowhere I totally fell victim to this process and suddenly I find this to be for lack of a better word .. adorable. She had some metallic gold markers lying around.. the kind that I liked growing up. She said I should paint the snaps, because they came in solid black and did not match the sweater I made for T. I said that she should do it, I was scared to ruin something as usual, so she striped them. It would never occur to me to stripe ... I am so in the box. I would have painted them and gotten the marker all over the sweater.. not like you could tell. I kind of now wish she insisted that I paint them. I need some imagination exercises. The photos are a blur but they look good as a blur because the snap blends in completely into the background.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Project #11


December 19, 2008
It's the first snow storm of the year. I am sure it will not be as beautiful as last year's snow thunder storm that I very accurately photo documented. Besides it's only a snow storm. I almost feel like last year meteorologists did not accurately identify the phenomenon. My building is perched on a hill and I can see the storm very well outside my living room window. Anyway project #11 is for my friend Masha. I don't have the yarn yet. It's a lacecap from knitty.com




January 21st, 2009
5:44 PM
Shipped the hat to New York about an hour ago. All I have left are these photographs. I really hope it fits. In conclusion I would like to say that after this project I lost my fear of knitting hats on straight needles. I used to think everything I made would come undone and if something could be done on round then I would chose that option but knitting hats on round needles is absurd. I think this blog's direction should be changed.. as in more useful and less blabber.

10:25 PM
Hat is in the mail.. I really really hope Masha can wear it, that it's not too wide, too short and too cold and that she does not notice the waves at the top. I told the instructor that the hat is cute and she said ".. and you gave me such a hard time about this hat!" .. and that I did do.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Want

I am going to put everything I want to make in here:
1. A loop like Linda has on her sweater which emerges from a cable.
2. Some kind of cable scarf in white where fringes are 8" long and some are twisted and some are not. Carmen had it on today.
3. The sweater the instructor had on today for my mom. It had squares, a rolling neck, the sleeves had no ribbing and the bottom was going outward so it did not cling to the body. It was gray with squares. The instructor said she added a red square to it? I have to remember all this so I can remind her.
4. Once I wanted to make something out of this yarn. It looked like a rope and then had colors in it, very skinny yarn it was.
5. A fringe looking thing with short rows and where the edge is not bound off ..
6. A scarf with sleeves and holes
7. A back there there are 3 slits like the one from Free People with embroidery
8. A sleeve where the ribbing is on each side on the arm and meets in the middle.. the one I saw had a rib in the middle but I do not like the rib
9. A sleeve where the cuff is ribbing and there is a cable going around next to the ribbing diagonally around.
10. An edge where it's folded over and looks round
11. The green sweater from Verena
12. Jan28 A fabric covered button on top of a hat
13. Feb17 Heidi made a sweater and a part of it had a gray and pink striped piece.. I want that piece
14. Feb19 Stars knitted in of a color other then the item
15. Feb 19 The striped something raspberry and gray alternate on it

Friday, December 12, 2008

Project #10


I am thinking that on small things you should not slip the 1st stitch ever. Uggghhh.. Started #10 without completing #9. The instructor made #10 up. I have been dreaming about this, since I started coming to her store. It's only a hat but it's made up! I already messed it up because when I got home I just had to work on it, without knowing what I was doing. I will see tomorrow. I have officially made 10 things with the Instructor.
1. Sweater [Dad] 2. Sweater [Mom] 3. Gloves [Mom] 4. Hat [Mom] 5. Sweater [me] 6. Sweater [Masha] 7. Sweater [Tanya] 8. Sweater [Eli] 9. Sweater [me] .. in Progress10. Hat [?] .. in Progress
I am so mysterious. I already cannot wait until tomorrow. I hope it does not hail or something. I am still recovering from this morning's weather. I still have to fix my dad's sweater, then buy more snaps for Tatyana's sweater, then do the hat and my sweater. I saw the instructor today trying to mend a sweater and I don't think she did anything to it for like 5 hours because repairs are b-ooring. It's a light blue garment and I think she said the sleeves needed to be shortened but if you ask me they should buy a new sweater. It had a huge yellow stain on it.

December 13th, 2008
I learned short stitches. I should go look up what that is in my book since no one explained them to me. I mean I see what they did.. they bend a straight section into a triangle on one side at the top. The instructor had to weigh my yarn for the 1st time in my knitting life to see if I had enough. Something else I do not know. How many grams equals a hat?

Technical Notes:

Short stitch for stockinette
On the RS stop 2 stitches away from the edge and begin to knit. Slip the first stitch (#3) purl-wise. The next time stop 4 stitches away from the end.. etc.

Short stitch for garter
On the WS side stop 2 stitches away from the edge, bring the yarn from the back to the front, slip stitch #2 purl-wise, bring the yarn to the back, put back stitch #2 on right needle. Turn work around on the RS and continue

Hat Edge:

If you are knitting purl the last one and then on the other side knit through the back of the 1st one so you form a braid. Knitting through the front makes a knot. And if you are making a hat with different colors you cannot slip stitches.

December 14, 2008
I figured out that if you use several yarns it's best to de-tangle the one you are using next and then use it. This seems to work out best. You will still get tangled again but then you can untangle the one you are using once again. It took me a while to figure this out. I used to periodically try to de-tangle everything which was a waste of time. It got so bad when I was soing my mom's sweater that I think I had to rip the yarn at some point which I really took hard. I hate ripping yarn.

The Pattern

This is the pattern by the way in Russian handwriting. This is all it is. You can see the yarn was weighed because she was not sure if I had enough gray. What's amazing that less then 1 oz told her that I did have enough. Let's see if I can remember this a year from now. I am looking at this, and I am like what is l.g. d.g.? I am a moron. What's even more amazing and makes me an even bigger moron is that the actual less then sign is a computer term! It totally screwed up this blog entry.. I just realized this today 12/18/08

December 15th, 2008

I am done. It's adorable. I am not sure I want to part with it. I came in this morning thinking that I can do another one just like that but the finishing and the tiny tiny flaps took all day. First we made the flaps, pick up (9) ? stitches, work in stockinette for 3 rows starting with purl then decrease.. K1, slip 2 as if to knit, then slide the left needle in the front and knit through the back then knit the 2 tog, and then the last one on the end. We did this twice and were left with 5 stitches. Then one side was the strap so I knitted it in garter.. then the instructor picked up stitches on the side of the flap, I think it was 15 in light gray.. I bound them off knitting on the wrong side, then knitted the 5 I had at the end of the strap and bound those off then she picked up the stitches on the other side of the flap so I bound those off then we had to sew the edge on the inside so something did not stick out. Then the other flap.. I don't know what she did. Maybe picked up stitches in the center of it which I bound off. Anyhow the thing looks amazing. I told the instructor I was in love with it and I think she was annoyed. I knitted so tightly that my thumb has some kind of growth on it that is quite painful. Ridges: d.g. 11+1 where we bound off d.r. 7 d.g. 6 l.g. also 6 Strap: 5 stitches I am looking at the top where the instructor sewed it together and it's perfect. It forms that flower I saw when I did the other hat on the round. She said to go into the bumps and she was not even sure if it would work.. or so she said. Here it is below..

P.S. The instructor gave me a button .. for free.. not sure what is going on.

6:17 PM
I just spent the last hour or so sewing on the button. I need alcohol. I sewed it on 3 times.. it's still not in the center and the button simply refuses to go through the button hole. I have no idea how we did the button hole. K2 and make a hole and like the sweater?

6:43 PM
One of the sweaters I saw today had the ribbing folded in half, stuffed and sewn together on the collar and where the buttons go.

7:28 PM
I only now understood why my finger hurt so much. It had a hole in it. I just bandaged it.

8:36 PM
The hat actually took from the 12-15th so 4 days. It's a 4 day hat. The red in the hat is Tahki Bunny 027 which is deep red.

December 16th, 2008
I asked about the button hole today and she said it was knit 2, slip 1, knit 2 tog. I don't remember that. The instructor today said that she only buys yarn that she can see. I always wondered how she can buy yarn without seeing it but guess what.. she does not.

December 18th, 2008
The hat was well received. I kind of miss it but I know it will be loved. I actually did not want to post photos of it in case 'someone' was watching but now I can go all out! I actually emailed interweave to see if I can submit this without the ear flaps.. but I just read the above entry where I am trying to recall how to make it and like I do not think I can submit anything. They are not accepting anything until January 2009 and I really do not have anything to submit. The below adorableness is not mine.


Beginning stages ..






This is my favorite photo..


January 1st, 2009
!!! Someone on ravelry favorited this project. This is the 1st time ever anyone favorited anything of mine on that site. I am proud I think.. well the design is not mine.. but I have a sense of pride to some degree.
February 23rd, 2008
7 times favorited. I realize people have hearts in the thousands and I just 7 but I knew this hat was a winner even before it was done. I told the instructor we should publish the pattern. Too bad because now I remember nothing and although I may be able to reproduce the hat.. I will most likely not be able to do the strap since I cannot remember how we picked up stitches.. I don't think I ever picked stitches up in general.. and how we knitted around the edge?

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Recipes

http://bakingbites.com/
http://www.foodonthefood.com/food_on_the_food/2009/02/serendipitous-cheesecake.html
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cookingdebauchery.com/cooking_debauchery/images/vareniki.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cookingdebauchery.com/cooking_debauchery/desserts/&h=247&w=350&sz=30&tbnid=-SzmGQgf7Dn6EM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=120&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvareniki&hl=en&usg=__xxHPQpapeC6XmPW3H3DXbbpIA5U=&ei=YY-wS5erMcL6lweqy6SQAQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CBgQ9QEwAw

This is where the chocolate matzho recipe came from ...
http://smittenkitchen.com/recipes/

Has good cakes ..
http://zoebakes.com/

By Shifra Schwartz

Squash:
Preheat oven to 350'
1 butternut squash-peeled, cubed, boiled, drained and mashed
Add:
1 stick margarine-add while butternut squash is still hot so it melts.
1 cup flour
1-1 1/2 c sugar-depending on how sweet you like it
3 eggs
1 1/4 c non-dairy creamer (or rice dream)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix well. Grease a shallow 9X13 and sprinkle cinnamon on bottom, pour batter in and sprinkle the top with more cinnamon.
Bake at 350' for 1 hour.
Enjoy!!

March 29th, 2010
Blinchiki
Stolen from beyondsalmon.com
Serves 4

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt (or 3/4 tsp table salt)
1 tsp sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup cold milk
1 cup cold water
4 Tbsp oil
Butter for frying

The night before making blinchiki:
  1. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, and sugar.
  2. Beat in eggs and milk into flour using a whisk. Beat until no lumps remain.
  3. Beat in the water. The mixture should be the consistency of light cream. If too thick, beat in another 1-2 Tbsp of water.
  4. Beat in the oil, cover, and refrigerate at least for 2 hours or overnight.
July 21st, 2010
Broccoli Salad
Broocli,
purple onions
salted cashew halves
mayo
vinegar
sugar

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Project #9



November 25th, 2008
I started a shrug for myself, out of the same Malabrigo yarn I did for Masha. So far I learned that you can count the ridges to see where you are at if you are using garter, and garter on some yarns looks kind of like purl so I don't hate it as much. I am also learning to work with yarn overs. It's really hard to see what's going on there. I made a million mistakes today in the pattern and still do not see what is going on well. On the front pattern we increased in the pattern before making the cable and on the left we increased in the cable before making the cable. I guess what threw me off is that on the left side I had to use the cable needle to increase. I wonder why? I don't think I can figuer this one out. Maybe you have to increase in the center for both, so the center for the 1st was on the real needle and the center for the 2nd was on the cable. The instructor got crumbs and clementine scent on my knitting today. I did not say anything. I am looking at my blog and it used to be so cute. I used to love all of this, and now it's just a hobby.

10:17 PM
Today I was horrified at the thought of undoing a row with all that pattern yet here I am at home, undoing 4 of them.

11:38 PM
Technical: To make a cable from a 4-stitch rib we made one on the purl side in between the 4 stitches which gave us 7 stitches. Then when it was time to make the cable we increased by 1 in the middle by knitting into the loop I think. I think this was one row after the other. Not sure.

November 26th, 2008
I made the cutest mistake today because of which I had to undo 10 rows of nightmarish pattern. You know, I wrote this but there is nothing nigh-marish about it. It's simple. Anyway I dropped a stitch, so I just moved the pattern over. I had 3 knit, so I just moved one over. It was like a perfect pattern off by 1 stitch. I wish I had a photo. I only messed up the first design which was a yarn over rib. Everything else was OK but the instructor could not fix it. She looked like jail today. She had on a gray sweater, with black yarn in it, and it buttoned like an officer coat across the chest. I am not sure what the term for that style is. Then she had two toned shoes on in gray with black at the same color and the buttons on the swater were metal. I swear all I could think of was Alcatraz.

November 28th, 2008
Did not go knitting today. I feel like I should get this done fast, before the instructor and I both lose interest. I really should have made myself go today, but did not want to deal with the 'crowds' and the Thanksgiving stories since I did not really have one to share. I am looking at the photos from project #7 and the color is different. There was more light in my other apartment. The project looks so different from this one, not the color but the texture. #7 was flat and this one is not. The lines in between the cables have holes. I am hoping I can see them once this is done and blocked.


9:15 PM
I was winding up balls of yarn for tomorrow, if I even go tomorrow and hit my head on the corner of one of the chairs. I am sure I have a huge bruise. I had a knitting accident if you will.

9:54 PM
I have a huge bruise. On a lighter note I notice that when I have to put the stitches back on the needle, I do not even think about where I have to put the needle.

November 29th, 2008
I went knitting today again and made no progress. I had the instructor fix my mistakes and then I came home and redid everything. If she knew she'd not like that too much and neither would I if the situation was reversed. So I am back to where I was this morning before I came in. I also totally wasted Wednesday of this week. That's 2 days and 8 hours wasted time. Plus I still have the bruise. What I learned today is that you should try to tie new yarn behind a cable if you have one. Also one of the woman there said she wanted to make a sweater from this picture I had off the internet. I liked that. She wanted to make this jacket I really really liked for a long time but it's not my style at all so I just kept it. The instructor was not so nice to me again toward the end. Let's see if this continues. I hope not. I hate working with her like that.

November 30th, 2008
To slip or not to slip.. that is the question? Am I ever going to get an answer to this? I slipped on the decrease but not sure this was the thing to do. Now I will have to undo to see if it works the other way. I could have asked HER today but did not think of it. Cannot figure it out. It's on the seam anyway so who cares but I may be causing holes and who knows what she had in mind when she bordered of 5 stitches on each side. The bruise is bothering me.

6:28 PM
I just looked at my old shrug and realized why the instructor was doing the decrease in the middle for the back rather then on the side. She wanted it to look like the original .. so the holes are bending into the sweater and do not suddenly end and go into the sleeve. I hope she did not forget that she had some kind of a plan for this sweater. I am totally excited to go in tomorrow, even if it's just for an hour. I bet it will be bad since I am looking forward to something.



December 1st, 2008
8:20 PM
I got some kind of a cable twist pattern in the store that I had a lot of trouble with but I just did it I think. Except I undid whatever I did in the store so I hope I redid it properly. I was also thinking about the problem one of the knitters had with the *K4 P6* and then *P6, K6* and thinking it may just have been *P4, K6* I wonder.

10:14 PM
I did 3 rows of cross cable but I started too low. I am kind of not smart because there are 5 rows in the cable so I should have started on row #3 and not row#2. Why am I realizing this now? It's 10:16 so I wonder if I should do it again.. I guess I can do it tomorrow. Why do I do before I think. Uggh... Let's see what she says. I hate imperfection. However I think I am all set on the yarn overs.

10:24 PM
I am upset. I wonder if tomorrow is going to be as useless as today. She left today for an hour. Today was not useless, but not really useful either. This is like the craziest pattern I have done so far but it does not seem that hard just because of it's nature.. it's a PATTERN.

11:47 PM
I undid it but I keep screwing up so I am pretty much where I was this morning.. tired.

November 2nd, 2008
I just gave my landlady a check. I need a drink. I went knitting today again. Several people wanted to know if I moved into the store. I don't know why I did what I did last night. It did not matter at all where the cable branches split. I learned how to make a braid today out of three lines. Also you increase on the cable on the line that you tuck in back so you cannot see the increase. Today I had to remember this: 1 on the edge, 4 for the hole, 6 garter, 8 for the cable, 12 garter, 12 for the cable and then as follows 12- 8-6-4-1 I feel like I missed some but this was a little insane for me. My memory is not that great. At some point I was insisting there were 7 garter and that the instructor took a stitch away when she increased for the cable! I have to go redo some stuff. I messed up the braid. I don't know how much the instructor can take. I feel like maybe I should skip a day but not tomorrow. I cannot believe I learned the braid. I was just trying to figure that one out on vogue knitting and could not. I think it was like two days ago.

November 3rd, 2008
4:44 PM
I started on the sleeves. I made some mistakes but am not as particular about them as I was on the back. Tired. I sat next to this woman who chewed her gum very loudly. I wanted to kill her. I have to remember on the sleeves that I am twisting every 7th row, that one sleeve is different from the other, that I need to increase after 1" but sometimes after 3/4" and the top cannot exceed 14". One sleeve is like slip, twist right, slip, the other is knit 2, twist left, knit 2. I don't know why I said I would do it that way. It's like you have to think all the time. On the other hand you can see which part of the cable to twist so you cannot make a mistake on that, other then WHEN to twist and if you look at the yarn over below you can see which one to do next, except sometimes I miss them altogether. The challenge will be to increase in the right place but even that is cool because the edge is 3 knit, so you can see if you forgot to increase.. you will just have one less.

10:49 PM
I want to describe the sleeve. There were 42 stitches. We increased the purl 4 stitches section on the opposite side to 7 by 'making one' in between each stitch so on the right side we have 3-knit, 7-purl, 4-knit 7-purl 4-knit 4-purl 4-knit for the cable and then 7-purl 4-knit 7-purl 3-knit. It's like for the beret, you increase on the wrong side on the knit stitches. Something tells me on the back we increased on a purl someplace by making one but I guess it's the least obvious increase. Someone came into the store today, someone knew and she was amazed at what we did and I did not say anything. I am not amazed anymore, and then like I felt bad, because I should be. I mean I still am.. but I forget now. I do not consider it important. The woman who chewed the gum loudly said I should show the new woman what I made but I did not. It's like no one asked me too. I cannot remember what we did on the cable for the back. I know we increased in it but feel like we increased in a purl for one by making one and in the knit for another by knitting into it? I will never know now. I went this week too many times.

December 15th, 2008
Project resumed. I had to undo 1/2 a sleeve yesterday because I started a braid cable too soon and the instructor did not even notice. I spent 3 hours today in the store redoing it. I ripped 3 hours worth of time..

December 18th, 2008
Did not do anything today but feel like this entry needs some more photos so here's one above. This is beautiful by the way .. this picture and this design. I don't know how I will feel about the project if and when it is finished but the above is beautiful.

The instructor did this. She decreased in a way that made a little puff at the top of the sleeve and she made a big deal out of the fact that she has to do 2 sleeves at the same time because she will not remember what she did.. but no one believes her. How cute is this puff?

December 20, 2008
We did some kind of a decrease on the front yesterday similar to the puff one and I think I remember it. It was very basic, put 2 in back knit the next 2 and then bind off the remaining 2 from the needle and the cable needle. It made a rib. I am kind of proud that I know enough to make the opposite side with the cable facing in front.. actually I think I may have to check the back for that one.. and the hole starting in the back but .. I did the sleeves opposite so now I am aware.

7:47 AM
I just looked at the back and the question as to why she did the back cable 1st should not have even come up. I also love the front. I thought I would not but I tried it against my body and it's so cute. I was complaining about the hat yesterday and she said 'I knew this was going to happen, you were so happy for such a long time... ' I told her I had to give the other hat away and she got the funniest expression on her face, it was like a mix of several emotions and I have no idea which ones but I could see the mix. I loved the hat pattern.. it was like 3 steps and we made an entire hat out of it.

December 21st, 2008
Started on the other front for the shrug. I did everything right.. the cable is opposite and the holes are opposite and hopefully I did not screw up on the increase but I will not know until I go again. The interesting thing is it was not even hard since I did the same for the sleeves.

11:05 AM
I undid the patch.. I thought I crossed the cable the 2nd time in the wrong place, but it was done correctly. I have to stop undoing things that are correct because I cannot tell the difference between right and wrong. Then I had to restart the patch several times. First was some kind of a line where I crossed the cable so I thought maybe I did not pull it in tight enough. Then the cable looked funny.. the bottom border somehow split into 2 parts instead of one where the cable was. Then there was something else.. I cannot even remember. Anyhow I am on my way up now.. except I just undid 4 rows because I made a knot on the side and I know it will be in sewing and you will never see it but I hate that so much and could not leave it like that.

11:50 AM
I am going to blog a little bit since the little patch 37 stitches long is managing to drive me crazy.

Increase

I did this on Masha's sweater but I totally do not remember it so I will mention it again here. The increase is some kind of cast on in crease where you increase by 3 on each knitted side until your increase totals 15 times. In the bumps above is where the increase takes place. You can see 3 of the bumps clearly. When you do the opposite side you end up loosing a row because you increase after the purl on the purl side. She said I can turn around and increase on the knit but I am not sure how to do that on the knit side .. ok I am not sure about anything anymore. I did it correctly but now I do not remember how. Anyway the point is, it's different on each side and you lose a row on one. Or maybe I messed it up. I am totally confused. This blog relaxation thing is totally not working out.

8:33 PM
I feel awful. I really do. Anyway I finished the 2nd front piece or more like part of it. I think I crossed some kind of a milestone today. I had to match the other front in reverse.. so I matched the cables and I matched the open work. I think I already wrote about that incessantly but .. I had to match the decrease so I remembered that it was 4 off the edge, that you had to knit 3 together when the hole was in the front and for the cable twist I had to reverse what she did. I did not even realize this until I got to it. She did the back cable.. she slipped the 1st 2 and then bound off the next 4 then knitted the 1st 2 and I had to slip the 1st 4, knit the last 2 and then bind off the 1st 4. It seems obvious and easy now but when I got to it first I had to realize that I had to do that and then figure out how. I cannot even say that I am impressed with myself. It's something else.. I am so full of myself. I should really go see if I have the same amount of stitches on both fronts!

9:37 PM !!!!
I figured out nothing. I don't know how she did the above.

December 22, 2008
I hate snow. My car is under it and I cannot go knitting. I probably will not be able to go for the rest of the week.

December 25th, 2008
Christmas. I went knitting yesterday, a.k.a. had to dig for 45 minutes to free the car from the snow. I had to end my sides and back on the wrong side for some reason. She said it was going to be better for finishing.. in this tone of voice as if I would not believe her. She marked the shrug in such a way that I cannot continue. She said she wants 33-37-37 on the side.. 33 being the bottom but the shrug is marked 32-43-25 and 40-35-28 I asked her why she did not put the markers in the correct place as in 33-37-37 and she looked at me as if she was about to cut my head off and all she said was WHAT?! So I repeated myself. Who needs a head anyway. In any case 33-37-37 is 107, 32-43-25 is 100 and 40-35-28 is 103. I have to have both equal 107 so I am not sure if I can move the markers over or make it so both sides equal in their inequality and then decrease. I actually called her at the store. I have not done that in ages. I did not leave any details because I did not want her to be like.. I did not know what you were saying in this tone of voice as in nothing I say makes any sense ever so I just said I have a question. I actually left two messages last night that I really should not have.. one for her and one for someone else. I feel like both parties are equally disinterested in calling me back. I just realized that when I started this project, I had to count the rows so I can do the open work pattern and now after a month that just seems comical to me. I can knit it as if I was doing stockinette. I can also see where to twist cables without counting but like only on Malabrigo.

December 26-27th, 2008
I was supposed to count the ridges in the 3 marked sections to make sure that they were equal, and then move the stitch markers to equal out the sections and then decrease or increase the sections. We ended up doing 35-35-33 because the back pattern did not work out with the side one. I had 4p on the side and then the back went 4p. I spent all of Friday doing one row.. undoing.. redoing.. correcting etc.

January 1st, 2009
Another year.. I think last year I said something like now I have to deal with another year.. but this year I did not have the same thought.. and I know exactly why. Anyway.. I am almost done with the ribbing on the shrug. I have maybe 2-3-4 rows and then I have to bind and do the loop for the button. I think I want an iCord but then like it may stick out too much. I have a hole in my thumb still.. and another one is forming on my index finger on the inside. I was complaining about it.. so the instructor was like where did the hole come from? So I said I push on the needle and I asked which finger she used to push on the needle and she said she does not use any. She slides the yarn off.. and she showed me how. My friend Maya does the same thing when she knits. I tried a couple of times and I can almost copy it but not quite. I am afraid my tension will be off.
For some reason on December 30th, 2008 I told the instructor a little about what I think of her. Stuff like I wanted to kill her when I started and could not figure out why she was so mean to me. She seemed a little distraught which is OK because I have been distraught for a over a year and not just a little. It's only recently she has started treating me with some respect. In any case I hope she is still talking to me. It's like I am not mad anymore but I had to get that off my mind. I hope I did not upset her more then required.
We messed up the design on the front because it does not match the ribbing. I mean she did, but I saw it and said nothing since I trust her, and also because I am not very bright because the design clearly does not match the ribbing. Anyway, she said she can fix but she did not tell me how. If one wants to increase the ribbing let's say you have 4K 4p then you increase by 1 every other right side row until you have 8K 4p then you try to make the .. I am confused. Have to go look. This is so math.. like I used to think I got the problem in school and then at home when I started to think about it I'd be like .. what?! I looked. It's 8K 4P and then you split the 8K by making a P in the middle and increasing until you have 4P in the middle of 8K so you get 4K 4P 4K the original pattern. Speaking of patterns.. I am on my favorite male one at the moment. It's not even upsetting anymore. It's like I no longer have the luxury of unrealistic thoughts on the matter. I have the exact knowledge of what will take place but still, I am sad. It's like the ABBA song "..waiting for a call.." The song is called "One of Us" and has nothing to do with what is going on with me.. I believe just this line does. I feel like a child.

January 2nd, 2009
I am sewing and I know what I am doing except I cannot start things still.. I started the sleeve and like it looks awful. This only took a year and a half to get.

7:37 PM
I have an idea. I am going to ask her tomorrow to show me how to start by doing one step at a time so I can see. Like inserting the needle once and let me pull it through.. then again etc. I don't know why I did not think of this before. I started the sleeve and the start looked less then adequate plus when I sewed I did not hide the increase knots. You know how I hate that.

8:00 PM
On another subject, I feel like that movie "Waiting to Exhale" but I need to like do both, inhale and exhale!

January 3rd, 2009
Did not go knitting. Sick. I keep thinking about the first verse in the Anne Murray tape I used to have in my possession. "What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia." And that is all that you get. This is day 3 of the new year.

January 4th, 2009
Well.. I am almost done. I just need to put this together and the instructor has to block. Below is the vest version back side. On another note I am waiting to see what happens next but like nothing ever does. I am beginning to feel like things never happen on their own, at least not where I am involved.

January 6th, 2009
Wondering how long this particular entry will contain knitting plus unrelated activities. Today none so far. I am going in. I am not sure when since I am still on my oatmeal and it's 9:37 AM but soon. I wonder what I will get done today, if anything.

11:03 PM
I am done. We screwed up on the shoulders. That puff a few dates back.. makes me have shoulders in a place I never knew I had. But .. it made me forget unrelated activities for a full day. The instructor scrunched up the back by pulling in some strings literally and I feel like a marionette in this item. I cannot sleep. I am wearing the shrug and if I go to sleep I have to take it off. Now I am all perplexed about how the instructor made the loop. She said she will probably find this info on my blog. Well, maybe, if I figure out how to do it. It looked like the butterfly stitch, except I cannot remember how to do it with gimp, never mind yarn. I am thinking back to my mom's hat and I believe she used the same technique to do the little thing on top as she did on this loop. I do not remember her knitting an iCord. I am so tired and stressed out. I am not sure why. I did not really do much today. Mainly just complained.

January 7th, 2009
7 days into the New Year. I am going to say a few things. First of all.. when you weave in the yarn you should go into the knit if there is one around.. or in the direction of one and then into one.. otherwise if you go into the purl then it looks like Frankenstein. Also when you weave you split the yarn as you go and if there is a seam you use the seam. Basically just use your brain.. but you have to have one to use one. On the sleeve the seam of the sleeve has to match that of the body. Like? She has to tell me that. By the way the cutest thing was when she was ironing the sweater sleeve and she said something like "I know you think I am mean .. but I taught you well.." and she said this while looking at the cable end at the top of the sleeve. If she ever reads this one day she will think I am insane.. but like she won't. She has a very short attention span and all this is waaay at the end..
I am not able to take pictures of the full sweater. It's impossible without a model. I just tried to hang it of some curtain rod thing so there is enough light and like broke something but caught the sweater just in time. All this after I was boasting to the instructor that I can take better pictures then she has on her computer. I don't know what got into me.. Anyway some pictures that I was able to take.


Loop

Button

The sweater I cannot photograph

Sleeve

11:06 AM
I think the loop is the gimp butterfly stitch but I cannot seem to get the hang of it. I hate writing down commonly used expressions and then like thinking what did I just say.. what in the world is "the hang of it.." Anyway

I love how this ribbing turns into the cable..

Untwist

8:33 PM
I think we have to fix the sweater. I cannot have a sweater with a scrunched up back and where one shoulder still looks different from the other! I don't know why I did not say anything yesterday. I feel like fixing this is so much work.. I probably do not want to do it and then like I will not wear this sweater ever.

January 8th, 2009

Sigh..

The ribbing on the collar had to be brought together with a string! You can see it all bunch up above the braid and that part is supposed to be totally flat. In addition I am well aware of the string in my back.. it's not painful but like if there is a string in your back you know. If you look at the January 4th entry where the vest is shown that back part is totally flat. Anyway. On to the next project. This will serve as a learning experience. It will be on showcase in one of my drawers.. or maybe I will wear it. I don't know anymore. What I do know is I want another one similar to this.. and done the right way.

1-09-09
Technical:
When you sew you do a little the pull and stretch. Stretch means like when you put in an elastic and then you stretch it so the elastic moves forward. It's the exact same feeling and motion. Took me forever to figure out. Also when you make a design like this.. you have to make sure the pattern matches the ribbing. We spent a lot of time making sure the sleeves matched the back and the front matched the back and forgot to make sure the sides matched the circular ribbing on the bottom.