Not the Problem I Expected

The other project I'm currently working on now-a-days is a cardigan for my mother, which will be her Hanukkah present.  The good thing is I've had this planned since around Mother's Day and, knowing this was a little more ambiguous than socks, started back in September. (Funny story with that.  I bought the yarn in front of my mom, on a special trip to WEBS, and explicitly told her I would use it for a sweater for her Hanukkah present. Fast forward to September, where I went to measure her for it.  She asks: why are you measuring me?  I go: for your sweater.  She goes: oh, you're making me a sweater?  I go: ...).

Anyway, fast foward to now and I've got the body done:

If you're interested, the pattern is Raindrop Cardigan from Twisted Stitches by Connie Chang Chinchio

So, after you finish the body, the instructions tell you to block it.  I debated about this for a bit.  After all, the yarn I'm using is mostly alpaca; why should I block it and then try to pick up for the sleeves?  What will that do?  In the end, since I was in the middle of hand washing stuff anyway, I decided to give it a wash. 

It bled like nobody's business.  But that wasn't the main issue; after all, it will get another bath and I'll set it then.  The main issue is this happend:

That is part of the bind off sequence for the armhole. Broken. With four stitches dropped down and saved with split stitch markers (by the way, always have split or locking stitch markers.  They suck for normal use but they're a godsend when you drop a stitch or four come loose in a wash).  I have no clue how that happened.  I didn't agitate it much.  I wove in all ends.  I didn't do anything wrong, did I?

Now, this isn't that crazy to fix.  I need to ladder up the four stitches back to the bind off, then re-bind them off with another piece of yarn.  At least that's what I think will work.  Unfortunately, it's still drying, and I can't try to fix it until it dries.

Now, hopefully this is the last issue....it would really suck if, say, the armholes are too big after I join the shoulders together.

This Hank is Too Big

This hank:

is too big for my swift.  Of course it is.  Standards?  What standards?  The yarn world has standards?

That was before I tried to wind it anyway.  Now that hank is this:

That yarn barf is courtesy of attempting to wind the hank with it hanging off a door knob.  Don't do this.  It doesn't work.  Now, my first solution was to use the middle peg of the swift to also hold the hank.  This ended up kind of working, very very slowly.  Because the hank is bent weird by the middle peg, every time you hit that part of the hank you have to stop and lift the strand off of the peg.  So I got impatient and tried the door knob.

Maybe I could console myself with the fact that if the yarn hank had been the right size, I could have ended up with this:

Why do I have such bad luck winding yarn?  I've done it successfully, I swear.

Hats, Hats, and More Hats

I've gotten back into my pre-winter hat kick.  Yep, I know winter's coming when I start wanting to make hats.  I did this last year too, so I guess it's going to be a thing with me.  Winter's coming, time to make hats.

Last year, it was motivated by the fact that I had one slightly-too-big hat and scarf set, and another scarf.  I needed more hats and scarves so I didn't freeze my...um, head off when I started walking part of my commute.  This year, it's been quick presents.  Well, mostly.

I first blame my mother.  She wanted an alpaca hat for Hanukkah.  She sprung it on me a couple of months ago, so I was able to plan, get the yarn, and make the hat.  It also helped that she choose a really quick knit:

The pattern is the ever popular Thorpe, using Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky, in a size large...which ended up being a little too big when I washed the hat.  Should have dropped down a needle size and/or done the medium so it wouldn't end up so floppy and loose.  Didn't think about the fact that I made it with alpaca, not wool.  It still works and fits well enough, though.

So, of course, that got me thinking and motivated, which is dangerous when you're making a KnitPicks order and you need to spend some more money to get free shipping.  You start thinking things like: 'Hey,  I can make a hat in less than a week...hey, why don't I make one for another relative I have no clue what I'm going to get for him, and oh, how about one for myself. ' I therefore present hat number one (the present):

...And hat number two (mine, still got to finish it):

Hat number one is Lorne's Hat, from the ever-amusing Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  Simple, straightfoward, nice hat pattern, if it wasn't for the 12in of ribbing in sports weight yarn it requires.  Good thing I like the look of the hat.  All that ribbing got tedious after awhile.  The yarn is KnitPicks Andean Treasure, which I have never used before nor read any reviews before getting.  It's not a bad yarn, but it's KnitPicks, so it's not the highest quality.  It sheds a bit when you're working with it.  However, it is also soft and pet-able, so it has that going for it.  Haven't introduced it to water yet, so I dunno what happens there (I also didn't swatch, so I'll have to make a swatch to test that bit out, he he).

Hat number two is a Bucket and Brims Hat.  I made this hat last year (you can see it here), and screwed it up a bit.  Not only was I still twisting all my knit stitches at the time, but I misinterpreted the pattern.  Which you need to do, since it's not the most straightforward pattern out there.  Doable, but not very clearly written.  It didn't stop me from wearing the first one, but I decided to try my hand at it again and see if I could make a better one.  The yarn is KnitPicks Wool of the Andes Bulky, which I decided to try just to see how the Wool of the Andes line is (the first one was made out of KnitPicks Swish Bulky, but they upped the price on that line and I was trying not to spend too much money).  Not overly impressed with the wool, but it's not bad.  It's not soft, but it's hearty and swishy...it's hard to explain.

This would have been the end of the KnitPicks yarn buying and hat making, except that I ran out of yarn for hat one before I was done (this is what happens when you pick the pattern out after you buy the yarn and don't look at the yardage required).  That's actually the only reason the second hat got started; I needed another project to take on the bus while I was waiting for the extra skein of yarn to be delivered.  But that also led to this:

More yarn for another hat.  This will be for my brother, though he doesn't know he's getting it, so it's another surprise knit.  The colors are intentional (can you guess what it represents?); but that also lead to me buying a skein of KnitPicks Swish Worsted for the yellow (the main color) skein, and Wool of the Andes Worsted for the other two colors (which will be accent stripes, so the fact that the yarn feels a lot rougher shouldn't be an issue).  I'm planning to use this pattern here.  Hopefully, it doesn't take me as long as the last present hat, and hopefully I won't need another skein of the yellow yarn.  That would suck.  I already had accepted the fact that I had to pay shipping for this order, since there was no way I was hitting $50 on my second order of the month.  Oye.

At least Hanukkah starts December 20th this year.  It would of sucked if it started, say, now.  Or maybe it wouldn't have, since I would have already had a present for said brother, and so wouldn't have had this zany scheme, and since the other present hat is a Christmas present, it would have still worked out.  Or something like that.

And after this?  Baby knitting.  Can't do any more hats or scarves, though I would like to make another short scarf for myself at some point...and a cardigan...and a sweater...and I have way too many projects I want to do...

Busy, Busy, Busy

This is a quick post, since I've been a bit busy this weekend, and still have things to do (like my laundry).  Was in the city Saturday for family driven plans, and then today I went to see this:

That's right.  I got up to Rhinebeck for my first ever Sheep and Wool Festival.  Which is funny, since I live, oh, a little more than an hour away (hence my last minute plans), and I have never heard of the festival in my life until I joined Raverly.  I, of course, also broke several of my rules and left with all of this:

Well, that and a crochet related item for my mom, which will be the surprise part of her Hanukkah present.

The middle two dark-blue skeins are some alpaca for a hat for my mom.  It'll be a Hanukkah present.  She requested that it be alpaca, though I have to get her to pick out a pattern for it.  The others were just 'oooh, pretty' buys, which means I have no clue what I will do with them, and they were the most expensive yarn I've bought so far.  I'm a sucker for jewel tone blue and black combos, and there were a lot of them. Not that I still have a sweater to finish, or at least get to the point where I can take it back on the bus, no suree:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I need to stop writing about this. 

Next time, I'll plan ahead and take the patterns I want to do to Rhinebeck so I can get yarn to match. 

Anyway, since I'm an idiot and forgot my camera, the sheep and alpaca pictures above are from my knitter-in-crime sister, who I got to come with me last minute, and insisted that since this was the Sheep and Wool Festival, we had to go see the sheep.  And I swear that sheep in the first picture was posing for us.