Maude: April 2004 Archives

OK, so which you wanna hear first? Get the bad news out of the way? OK.

Maude

I motored along on Maude, getting the the armhole decreases last night. Now that only half the stitches are on the needles at once I was able to try it on for the first time. It's too big. Not huge. But definitely a bit drapey. It may shrink up a bit after a bath. If it doesn't, I think I'm going to take some off the sides by steeking them. What do you think? The biggest benefit I can see for doing this - no ends to weave in! The ends would be cut off as part of the steek. I think there's a really good chance I'll have to do this (or frog the whole thing) so I may finally try my hand at steeking!

Here she is, just a couple rows into the armhole shaping:

Linen Drape Along

I've been really struggling with what pattern to make out of the linen drape. I love the yarn. Love the color. But I was totally missing design inspiration. Until yesterday. I'm designing my own sweater and I'm VERY excited about this one. It's going to challenge me to get a really good fit, and there's a healthy dose of crochet in there as well. The color I picked is called Tango (a claret red) and the design I've come up with is very Spanish-inspired as well. I'm not going to give away many of the details on this one, as I think it will be fun to reveal the design as I go.

However, there is one thing I need some help on. Crochet instructions. All you hookers out there, can you clarify something for me?

The pattern says starts out by doing a series of dcs and chs (dc, ch2, sk2 ch, dc into next ch). It makes a mesh. At the end it says (9 sps). I got that - it's telling me there should be 9 mesh holes (spaces?) after that round. Then it says 1sc into next dc, ch5, skip next 4 sps, 1 dc into next sp. This is where I'm confused. Does that mean I should put my hook into the mesh hole (in essence, under the ch2) instead of into the top of the dc in the previous row? I think that's what it means but I'm not sure. If anyone can help me I'd really appreciate it :)

Blog Links

I've finally added links to some of the blogs I read. I just started working on this list so it will definitely grow. Please don't feel insulted if your blog isn't there. It's probably because I just haven't added it to the list yet. I've put off creating this list for such a long time now because I've been afraid of hurting someone's feelings by not having their blog listed. There are so many good knitting blogs out there!

I gotta say I'm in love with knitting this Maude tank. The mindless part of straight stockingnette just isn't happening because of all the color changing. I can definitely see how Fair Isle keeps knitters interested. I can't wait to see how the tank changes its look with the addition of each new color.

I'm also finding myself trying to understand how Mags Kandis chose the color sequence that she did. At times she went for two very different colors - like Jade green and Chili red. And in other parts of the sequence she put two very similar colors together - like the Peony pink and Chili red. It all seems to work marvelously and I keep thinking I never would have done such a nice job if I did it myself. And still I find my mind wandering - thinking about how I might layer the colors if I tried to do it myself. Would I have chosen a theme? Maybe rich autumnal colors, or beachy blues and greens, or perky citrus shades, or possibly some serene neutrals.

Maybe so, but for now I'm quite content knitting it Mags' way:

the side shaping is starting to show

Tank Talk

Since I have a few tanks planned for the summer (who doesn't?) I decided to join Nathania's tank along. C'mon and join us. You can knit any tank you like. It's fun to see the variety that's happening on this one.

Don't have yarn for a tank? Then go visit Carissa who's holding her first contest. She'd like to get together a comprehensive list of tanks, and is offering up some GORGEOUS batik ribbon to the winner. So send her links to all the tanks you know of. I'll be putting together my list this weekend.

The New Stuff

One of my friends had her baby yesterday! A few days early and he's 7 pounds 10 ounces. She's only 4'11" tall. I can't believe that baby came out of her. A no, it wasn't a C section.

So, now that I know she had a boy (I was holding out for a girl so I could make Anouk) I can get to thinking about what to make for her.

After lots of discussion about what to make for a new summer baby, I decided to ditch the idea and make something for the fall/winter. It just seems to fit so much better. I know you can make tanks and little onesies, but something about them just didn't say "wow, handknit gift" to me. So I'm going for the more traditional cool weather gift. No inspiration yet, but feel free to chime in if you have an idea!

The Ends

The talk of a thousand ends sure brought about alot of comments. I agree with Allison - ends are the worst part of the project. But similar to childbirth (I've been told) the lure of knitting pulls us back in to yet another (and another...) project.

I took Kathleen's sage advice and decided to do Maude in the round. Since I had planned on giving it a side vent I just cast on for the front last night and caught up to the back. Thanks, Kathleen - you are right. It really does make alot more sense.

Dontcha just love that part about blogging? The support, the ideas, the kick in the butt when you need it.

And I love Christine's suggestion for an end-along. How funny! I may just need the support. I've been considering making the matching shrug for Maude since I'll have so much yarn left over. What is it about Mission Falls that just sucks you into thinking "Those ends won't be *that* bad."?

No, I don't mean knitting in the round.

Knitting in Circles - The act of knitting the same part of a project twice. Often preceeded by frogging, always preceeded by cursing, it is what a knitter often does in search of the perfect garment.

And I've been doing exactly that. On Sunday I cast on for Maude. I was really enjoying knitting with the Misison Falls. It was making a beautiful fabric, and the color changes every few rows kept me interested. As I added each new color the tank took on a different look. I couldn't wait to pull the next color out of my bag just to see how it integrated and played off the others.

I was so into the color changes that I didn't bother to look at the whole garment. When I finally did I thought to myself "Hmm, that looks awfully large. Maybe it's just the stripes." I measured it.

4 inches too big!

How in the world did that happen? I even did a gauge swatch. So - rip, rip, rip.

I didn't pick it up until last night. I was able to catch up almost to where I left off on Sunday

look at all those ends!

It's a good thing I recently got all those darning needles! I considered doing it in the round, but I didn't want to delay seeing the colors take shape. Impatience won over practicality.

Betcha I'll be cursing that decision in a couple of weeks!