I couldn't hardly knit for shivering at the campsite this weekend. Since there is more camping in my future I've decided I need some hats. Here's the first two on my list:

Staceyjoy's Marsan Watchcap

Yuck Movie Hat

The Marsan Watchcap will be easy, as I have enough Blue Flannel Lamb's Pride in my remnant basket for one hat (left over from the Fuzzy Feet.) For the other, I'm going to swatch some Wool Ease remnants doubled and see what I get.

Bring on the Sweater Weather!!! (Now, if I could just finish some sweaters.... I could start some different ones.)

I got e-mail from my cousin Lana RE: armhole shaping, which I reproduce here.

"About underarms-- I always go ahead and bind them off as in the pattern, but graft the short bits on the sides to the short bits on the sleeves with the castoffs turned to the inside. Oh, and I do the grafting a half stitch off, if that makes any sense, so the stitches meet like so:

vvvvvv
^^^^^^ (ed. note -- this illustration didn't turn out quite right.)

with the result that from the outside, the underarms look like a three-needle bindoff. I used to graft the castoff bits together in the usual way, but the half-stitch mismatch at the side seam always annoyed me."

Thanks, Lana!

So, you know how nearly ALL patterns begin the armhole shaping by binding off about an inch worth of stitches on both sides and then shape the sleeves to correspond? I can NEVER sew this very easily and I often don't like the result. I now have a Bright Idea for the future: instead of binding off those stitches, next time I'm going to put them on a holder. Then, instead of trying to sew that flat underarm bit together, I'll graft it like a yoked sweater. Or even a 3-Needle-Bindoff could work well.

That reminds me: instead of binding off the shoulders, I shaped them with short-rows and worked a 3-Needle-Bindoff to join the front and back. It looks fine, but next time I need to remember to wrap my short-rows -- it would look BEST that way. (Of course, I’ll also need to knit in the wraps to hide them.)

It is probably obvious to readers of this blog that my favorite thing to do while I knit is watch TV -- particularly movies and SciFi. A strange consequence of this habit is that occasionally certain projects become really associated with things I watched while I was working on them. For instance, this morning my eyes fell upon the Corset Pullover where it lay drying flat and two things popped into my head: The Faculty and Tale of the Mummy.

What does that say about me? Do I really want to know?

Sorry I missed my usual Sunday post. I was busy lying around the house feeling sorry for myself because a BEE stung me INSIDE MY THROAT. (Important Safety Tip: When camping, drink pop from a bottle -- not a can. Not only do you have the advantage of a clear, see-through container, but you can put the lid on it between drinks.)

Finished the long ruffle on the Ruffley Cardy while camping (before swallowing the bee.) I'm going to ignore the instructions and go right to setting in the sleeves and sewing the seams next. I also intend to knit the sleeve trim ruffle in the round after the sleeves are sewn, instead of flat and seaming the ruffle as the pattern is written. I think it will look neater and be easier.

The new Knitty! is out and around. My favorites are Saity and Bpt, and, of course, being a knitting history geek, I loved the Hoover article and pattern.

Talk to you later. My throat is still sore.

So far, I would describe my efforts to put a zipper into the Jailbird Cardy as Semi-Successful. My zipper is in and it looks great, but I sewed too close to the edge and the fabric catches in the teeth as I try to zip it up. Also, the sweater is now too big. And it still rolls up along the bottom edge. I don't think I'm going to be wearing this thing to work, but one can often use an extra layer while camping, so I'll re-stitch it sometime. All in all, I would call this a Good Learning Experience.

Here's a curious thing: the pattern for the Ruffley Cardy instructs the knitter to pick up 60 stitches across the bottom of the left front, 119 across the back and 60 across the right front for a total of 239 stitches. Then, knit the ruffle, then do the sleeve edge ruffles, THEN, one is directed to sew the side seams. Does this seem unnecessarily awkward to anyone else?

More Pattern Heartburn was given to me this weekend by Vogue KI’s sibling Family Circle Easy Knitting. I decided to start a crochet project because my arms have been bothering me with onset of cooler weather, and I thought a Rotation of Repetitive Motions might be in order. Crocheted Jacket with Bobble Stitch Pattern 32 caught my eye immediately when I bought the Fall issue and, oddly, it actually tells the reader in the sleeve instructions to increase one stitch on each end of a row of 27 hdcs so that he or she will have at the end, tah! dah!, 27 hdcs. It’s kind of like magic, isn’t it?

Do I sound hostile? The truth is, I can’t get used to sleeping in the camper. We’ve had it two months, gone on five weekend camptrips and I haven’t slept worth anything any time we’ve been gone. It’s making me mean. But I really love camping. I like hiking and knitting by the fire and being outdoors, but I Need My Rest. I don’t know what to do.

Apparently my grasp of our numerical system is not what it ought to be: when I did a row by row comparison of the two Ruffley Cardy sleeves they turned out to be EXACTLY THE SAME. When the cap shaping is finished (tonight?) on sleeve #2 they'll be the same and also DONE.

Perhaps you recall the Jailbird Cardy? It was my first real steek and I had decided to face the messy inside with grosgrain ribbon. As I was doing so, I realized I hated the buttonband -- it was too tight -- and I tried to rip it out and do it over with a larger needle. Trouble ensued and I ended up throwing it in a tote bag, one buttonband on and one off, where it sat until now.

Earlier this week, as I was noticing in the shops how the sweaters coming out for Fall all seem to have zippers, I had one of those Moments of Illumination. I've never tried to put a zipper in a sweater before. If it came off, the Jailbird Cardy would look great with a zipper. If I screwed it up, I wouldn't care because I've developed a real antipathy for this sweater. So, I bought a zipper and I'm currently basting it in, very messily, I must say. Watch this space for updates.

Got half a Rainbow Brite Sock done. If there is anyone out there wondering what happened to the Dresser Scarf Socks, here's a clue: DON'T ASK.

Ah-HAH!

I just KNEW that was an error in the Strong Heel sock pattern and it wasn't me. (Marilyn recently mentioned it on her Blog.) I checked the Knitter's home site for the correction but I couldn't find it right away and didn't care enough to look very hard. I did note that Mar thought the Strong Heel looked like it wouldn't fit well. The first pair I made I gave to my pal Brandy and they fit her beautifully. Of course, she has skinny feet. I'm interested to see how the pair I've started for myself fit my duck feet.

My Strong-Heel-Socks-In-Progress I started this morning at the campsite. They are Regia 4 Ringel Color Farbe 5048, which I call alternately Clown Socks or Rainbow Brite. It is variegated within the striping pattern so one stripe is green and lime, one is raspberry and bubble gum, one is indigo and sky blue, and one is lemon and light orange.

I finished all the shaping for the second sleeve of the Ruffley Cardy and stopped for a row count before I started the cap. Aaargh. Something’s f*&%#$-up and I don’t know what it is. Wait, I DO know what it is -- I have 104 rows in my first sleeve and 102 in the second. I just don’t know WHY.

You may recall when I was working on the Cardy’s back and camping, I found a weird green spot in my yarn. I assumed I had gotten something on it, but I found two more this time. The first one was the end of a ball so I just cut it off a little earlier, but then the second turned up almost immediately after in the next ball. I think now they must have occurred during manufacture. It is still possible I got something on the yarn but it seems unlikely, especially since I was drawing from the center of the ball.

The Corset Pullover made its Public Debut at the Courthouse Annex today where it was VERY well received by all my co-workers. It did turn out to be a little too big, though, which was even more aggravating by the end of day when the cotton fabric I had created had relaxed with wear and the top was inclined to dip Way Too Low For The Office. Here's my advice if you are going to make this: when the designer says it is designed to fit close and pick the size that matches your bust size -- do it, she means it, and if you are using cotton be sure to figure in the Cotton Flop Factor.

Finally started the sleeve of the Ruffley Cardy -- hope to have that done and the ruffle started by weekend's end. As I've worked on this, I've thought I would go ahead and sew the front closed and wear it as a top, but, since I'm making it the same size as the Corset Pullover, I now feel that it will probably be most useful as a second layer sweater and I'm going to finish it with fasteners as the pattern is written. (I could have gone ahead and finished it with fasteners and still worn it as a top like in the pic in the magazine, but then I couldn’t have worn it work. Although there is no OFFICIAL anti-half-nekkidness rule in the Employee Handbook, I feel certain it would be frowned upon.)

I went all the way to Vincennes, Indiana, last night because JoAnn Fabric’s on-line store has the new Lion Brand sock yarn and I hoped the retail stores would, also. WRONG. They Do Not. I tell you, my bubble was BURST.

I'm making my Strong Heel Socks out of Regia Mini Ringel and I think they are going to be a Perfect Match for each other. I have to give credit where it is due to Regia: both of these balls started and ended in almost the exact same place. The colorway is interesting. MC is a medium tone fawn brown, and the alternating color stripes are taupe, ecru, off-white and steel gray. The gray may sound discordant but it is actually a neat kick to all the brown towns.

I need to get back to my Ruffley Cardy, but ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IS SOCKS!