Saturday, February 11, 2006

Knitting Olympics - or- What have I done!

I chose to knit the Gossamer Triangular Shawl and chose the *proper* yarn for this project.

Aargh, it is like knitting with a spiderweb!
What have I committed myself to?

It's funny though, I showed my daughter (9 yo) and her mouth fell open and she says "Aw Mum you shoulda knitted a teddy scarf of something, just tell 'em you've changed your mind"

It was even funnier when trying to do a M1 increase and all the stitches on the right hand needle slid off. Heehee I am going to go nuts knitting this thing.

The pattern shows lovely, even holes right up the middle of it, which I don't like and have no idea how I can increase there twice without it having huge, ugly holes right up the middle of it.
Blocking is supposed to work wonders that's it I'll knit myself crazy on this thing and the blocking will fix any mistakes right? I don't even know how to block!

Well we are supposed to take on projects that will challenge us and this certainly does.

I am wrestling with the yarn overs and the make ones whilst trying to keep the stitches from falling off the needles. Oh and I thought I might be able to use stitch markers to count stitches and mark where the yarn overs should be Nooo! the position changes don't they 'cos you are (well I am) increasing in 4 spots across the row and it throws it all out.

I ended up typing out the pattern row by row, now I have 3 pages to follow and it goes right up to like: slip1, make 1, knit 102, (k1, yo, k1) all in the one stitch!!!, knit 102, make 1, knit 1.

I figure if I can do 10 rows per day then I can finish it in 12 days leaving 4 days spare for accidents. But then I remembered that it gets bigger as I go on, so it will take longer to knit the larger rows, Doh!

Added to that, I just got my next assignment for my 'Certificate 4 in ICT' course that is due soon which cuts into my knitting time.

Here's the first picture.


Wrong yarn colour update (see a previous post, everytime I think about it blog it I get upset) : Still haven't heard from company, emailed again yesterday, now giving up and ordering again with someone else. Will keep yucky coloured yarn and hope that they still send my 2 back ordered magazines. :(

The next blog entry might be titled : Finished Knitting Olympics Project - Teddy scarf. :)

3 comments:

Vanessa Vain said...

Lace can be a total nightmare to knit sometimes. Especially if you're already pissed at the knitting gods for allowing you to be sent the wrong yarn! But blocking can work wonders. My friend Wendy has an article on her website about blocking you might find helpful. "http://www.wendyco.com/thoughts/2006/01/blocking.php". She taught me how to knit and (I think) has a pretty clear style. Hope that helps and remember teddy bears need accessories too!

Tigers said...

Hi Rachel,
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. I hope blocking will even it out a bit but so far it is going better, gotta watch each and every stitch though. Now teddy accessories are soo darn easy it's nice to knit them.

Yarnsticksbooks said...

OHHHHHHHHHH nasty nasty lace. I am glad it's not just me that it is mean to though.
I know it will be beautiful in the end, but yes ARGH!!!