So many beautiful plans I’ve made, and so little time I’ve spent working on them. I’m writing this mostly to give myself a firm nudge by publicly committing to making beautiful things, rather than just dreaming about them.
So: work continues on the hat, which at this point looks like a slightly misshapen rectangle (I started with 84 stitches—I swear, I counted them thrice—but found myself working with over 90 the other day. How?) and has barely escaped the clutches of my overly curious cats multiple times over the past few weeks. (My beautifully wound ball of yarn is now an unwound tangle, thanks to them.) I’m nearly at the finish line, I think, and am hoping to be even closer after tackling the last few dozen rows at tomorrow’s office knitting club and again at Saturday’s Crafter’s Brunch at Gather Here (do you go to this? do you want to go? I’m thinking about bringing muffins to help introduce myself and convince people there to be nice to me and teach me how to properly cast off).
Work also continues(-ish) on the peach and gold quilt, which I thought I had blogged about much more but am now realizing I haven’t. To catch you up:
This is the first quilt I ever started making, thanks to the “Start Quilting” class at Cambridge Quilt Shop. It was relegated to the back burner while I rushed through the Quilts for Kids quilt, but I finished the top over a month ago, pieced together the backing without having to buy any new fabric (quite proud of this), and finally sandwiched it together a week or so ago. I’m looking forward to finishing it, which seems like it will mark my transition from someone who made a quilt once to someone who actually makes quilts, plural.
Other upcoming projects: a chenille blanket, another simple four-patch quilt, a Noodlehead Super Tote to protect future knitting projects from inquisitive kitties, a Zippy Top or two from See Kate Sew, and something still TBD for the Umbrella Prints 2014 trimmings competition, which is due May 30 so should probably be bumped nearer to the top of the list.
Typing it all out now is a bit overwhelming, but I suppose that’s all the more reason to start?
Hat is looking good! Some advice on the creeping stitch-count (it’s super common, I did it too)…
Probably what you’re doing is running into loose semi-upside-downish stitches along your needle. At a certain angle, stitches can sit on the needle in such a way that they have two “legs” of yarn across the needle. Usually what happens is, you have some looser stitches at the beginning and end of your flat-knit piece, they sit this way when you turn your row, and then you stitch both “legs.” Presto, extra stitches.
When you change how you’re holding your needles between rows, take a second to straighten out how the stitches are sitting on the needle so they can’t deceive you.
Also, you will eventually figure the whole thing out if you ignore the stitch-creep and keep knitting. As your habit develops you will figure out that the “legs” are different in look and feel from the regular stitch.
Thanks! That makes sense—I’m usually knitting while watching TV, so I confess to paying pretty poor attention to what I’m doing. I’m into the decrease section of the pattern now, so I’m hoping I can just toss a few extra SSK stitches into the mix and end up where I’m supposed to be at the end.
The good news is that I’m still really enjoying this, and am excited about finding a new project. I can’t decide what I want to learn next—wavering between teaching myself how to knit in the round and how to knit with two colors….
I vote for knitting in the round because it feels like magic. Also lets you do magical projects like socks (turning a heel is very exciting) and seamless top-down sweaters (I’m trying to do one of these).