Project #13

I was leaving the instructor said "You don't even know what's coming next!" I guess I will begin this entry with that quote and hope that the instructor lives up to those words. I made a tiny brown visor today for a hat that will have a visor as one of it's features. Anyway I am supposed to connect 2 pieces together but am not sure how to count the rows since one is right side up and one is up side down. Hmmm.. I never noticed that upside down was up-side-down. Interesting how I never notice anything.
12:13 AM
I counted 8 rows but there are loose pieces, like 4 on the side of the piece so I cannot put the sides together because those pieces will be inside and no one will be able to get to them ever again. I get lost around loose pieces. I never know where they are coming from, how tight to pull on them, which to tie together and how to weave them in. In terms of these I feel like they have to be cut off. They will make the visor bulky. Also one side has 76 stitches and the other 77 and no one showed me how to pick up stitches in this situation although there were plenty of opportunities! My fault also.. I should have demanded that I be shown. Anyway going to sleep. I hope it does not snow too much because I want to see what this hat is all about.

28th
I am making popcorn stitches. I forgot to do one so then I decided that I was going to perform what the instructor calls 'surgery' and make a popcorn after the fact and did. It looked B+ but it was not the same as the others so I had to undo an entire popcorn row. Anyway I am on popcorn row#2 and I am very impressed with myself. I did not try to stick the popcorns on the wrong side even though the minute they are made they automatically want to go there, I seem to wrap the yarn the correct way and I placed the popcorns where they should go in the pattern. They alternate from 7 to 6. This hat is really cute. I love the visor. It's so thick and puffy and the little popcorn things kind of match my eyes if stand a mile away. The instructor said I look like a radish today. She has a picture of a radish in her store. The radish is knitting. Don't ask. I am sure this is her idea of a compliment and I appreciate it as much as I can under the circumstances. Just kidding.

Bobble making ...

If introducing another color knit with the new color and put the knitted stitch back on the right needle otherwise continue below 1. Knit through the same loop five times going from front to back 2. Turn work around and purl the 5 stitches you just made 3. Turn work around, slip the first stitch onto the right needle purlwise and then k2tog twice and you should have 3 stitches left 4. Slip the 2nd stitch over the 1st purlwise and you are left with 2 5. Slip the 2nd over the first purlwise and you are done
Tip:
If the last stitch looks loose twist it a couple of times before slipping it over

30th
Sad. I have so much finishing on this hat, you name it, it's not done. A million loose strings from the bobbles on the inside.. sewing the hat.. sewing the ear pieces.. I learned how to do this cord. I think it's gimp butterfly but with yarn. The instructor did it for my shrug and tried to show me but I was not in the mood back then. She showed me three times today and I did not get it either.. so she let me be. I sat around sulking for 10 minutes and then I somehow started looking at it and got it. I knew the idea but I could not figure out the finger motion and like I still don't know how I figured it out. Maybe it's because I have seen it like 5 times before or maybe when I was 10 years of age I learned the butterfly at Camp Tevya? I really just cannot believe I got it. It's like I mimic her finger motion without knowing what the fingers really did if that makes any sense. I did it once before when I saw her pick up stitches without the crochet hook. I was able to repeat it.. not like it's a huge deal.
She was in a very weird mood today.. pretended to be interested but her mind was someplace else.. like really far. She said there will be room on her website for my blog. I am sure she did not mean this one.. I did not react. I blog how it is and like I don't know if that is client appropriate plus I am sure she will want to handle her own blog herself. I did one chord almost all by myself. I cannot spell. Anyway I looked like a true spinstress. Someone was looking at me make this rope and said they were fascinated by what I was doing. That always helps. Sad.

Cord.. blurry shot

Technical:
Decrease on hat was 10/19/19/19/10 and k2tog before / and ssk after the / until you could not continue anymore... then you did k2tog. I am still upset because I did not realize there were 9 left so I did k2tog on 1st 2 instead of slipping. We made some boggles on the decrease.. like knitted 2 sparkly ones together with the brown yarn.

11:55 PM
I tried on the hat. It's undone in the back and pinned with a stitch holder but I cannot see that from the front. From the front it's amazing. Today people were complimenting it somewhat but I was not responding because I like thought they were stating simple facts. I did some more of the cord but did not finish because I was twisting the 3 strings. I am sure I am not holding it the totally correct way. I tired sewing the hat but was not sure how to do that "star motion in and out" thing at the top so pulled everything out. Holes are my biggest fear in life at this point. I got a manicure the color of this hat yesterday. It was not a conscious decision since I was looking for my usual colorless and saw brown and wanted brown. I still cannot believe I learned that cord. I don't even know what to call it. It looks like I am weaving rope from 3 strings. I never thought I'd learn it. I used to feel about it the same way I feel about the star motion. I first saw the cord on January 6th of this year so it's been 24 days. I cannot wait until morning to take some photographs. I am a little concerned how the finishing will go. I am not coming in tomorrow since today really wore me out.. so Monday and again mood depending and I am not talking about my own. I really feel like it's time for a large project but I will need a benefactor for that. I keep thinking how the instructor said ".. it's my time and my expertize" I cannot seem to forget it.

31st
I tried the visor again today and used my scrap yarn from my dad's sweater. I did half of it and then was trying to figure out how both sides were connected together once it was done and could not figure it out. I even went as far as thinking that the instructor sewed it together while I was not paying attention. When I was done imagine my surprise when my visor was also together! Anyway I feel not very smart at all. I mean I finally got it but it was like a theorem and why is it a theorem for me when it's so obvious to her?

Ear Flaps

8:40 PM
I only wrote down the instructions for the visor and not the thing that goes around and I will never figure out how to do it in a million years. So much for writing patterns for the instructor for when she is famous. The mystery of the visor continues into Sunday morning.

8:47 PM
! I remembered. We knitted one side and then the other. I had to make sure the other side was the same. I just read that in my blog! Otherwise I never would have remembered this. This is why we had to use odd yarn on the side things because there were 2 sides to each side if that makes any sense. My night is complete. I would still like to redo this hat.. my brother's hat and the back of my Malabrigo where the cables separated. I don't remember that at all. I think the ear flaps were done like the visor.. short rows but I cannot remember how many. I still did not finish making cord #2. It really upsets me.. that and zippers and crocheted edges and tops of hats where you have to go in and out with the star motion.. and the starting of the sleeves... and the end when you are done sewing and you don't know where to end and the loose string .. so many things. The other day the instructor showed me this hat she made and she said the visor was round on the top and straight on the bottom and then the other way around and I did not understand anything. One more thing to think about. The hat was adorable. It had a button that was covered over with the yarn at the top. I don't even know how to do that. Do you use yarn or do you knit a piece and cover. I bet you knit a piece.

Feb 1st,
Technical:
I am going to do some notes on the visor because I do not want to hold a pen today.
1. When you make the 23stitch sides take the odd yarn out first and then connect the pieces otherwise it's a huge pain to take the odd yarn out once everything is connected
2. Count the stitches once you have everything connected
3. Fix the holes somehow in the connection part, I think she picked up stitches but I could not do it and left it
4. The loose ends can go inside the double piece if there is one
5. Count the stitches when you are done with the visor in the following way:
count the first-middle-last section on each of the sides so you can increase the one that is missing. For example one may be missing on the mid-section and then the visor will be off when you connect the 2 sides to make it double

6. There is a right side and a left side to the visor so you need to check for that before you knit them together at the top. When I did it at the store I thought the right side was the one that looked the neatest! Anyway.. I think the left side is where you can see the wrapped stitches for the short rows.

4:50 PM
I made the visor. You can turn it upside down to make another type of hat. But the visor is a little bit smaller so it's not the right size.

10:35 PM

Not sure what to do with the visor. Sad. Tried to make a hat out of it but destroyed it. Not sure on the design part.

2nd

Done!! This tie situation on the top of my head is not exactly there so this cord kind of ends up on my neck if I am not careful but still.. this is adorable. The assembly took forever. I could not sew back of the hat for some reason and made the instructor do it. She was thrilled as you can imagine and made me work on someone else's sweater. I had to slip stitches onto a needle and finish the row for someone else while she did the hat. I did not weave in any ends left over from the bobbles. I was not sure how to weave brown yarn into a purple sparkly one and make it not be visible on the other side?! As a result the inside of the hat looks a little disturbing with all these brown pieces of yarn drooping all over the place. I may need to revisit that whole thing and see what I can do. There was this whole process with the ear flaps.. you had to sew one side then pull the remaining string through onto the other side but not pull to tight because you had to use it to put together the other side. The instructor attached the flaps to the hat.. I am not sure how. She went under the braid and then went under the sticth on the earflap as if to knit.. I don't know what I am talking about. At some point I gave her something to sew and as I handed her the hat I decided to pull the tread out from the needle to make things easier for her.. not .. so she asked me why I did that and that made all the customers in the store laugh.

11:08 PM

You know what else.. she took the 3 yarn strands from the cord and put them inside the ear flap and did the same with the other side and this is how she attached the cord to the flap. This is totall rocket science of finishing .. whatever that means. I kind of want to post this blog on ravelry but how can I with all the rambling.. the mispellings and I believe somewhere in this I have 10 reasons why I want to kill my instructor which at this point do not make sense to anyone but me.

My hat

Bowtie

End

PS Of course I can never stop talking. Anyhow everyone looks at this hat.. any age and gender. I was in a Marshall's fitting room the other day and a girl complimented me on it.