Stupid Math

The Ruched Yoke Tee pattern I've been working on requires several rows of "increasing evenly" across the row. I'm a liberal arts major. I can do math, but only if I'm wearing sandals. But I'm also a millennial. So, I started looking for an app to do this for me. I knew there were stitch-counting ones, and I've heard about knitting mathematicians, so I was hopeful.

I think the shininess of the yarn picked up the dark mauve of the blouse I was wearing when I took this picture. It turned a weird color, even with editing. Also, I might do something about the row where I used the wrong increase stitch (distinguishable by the holes - oops). I'm thinking about weaving ribbon through it? But I might just leave it, like an artistic nod to the key-hole that will interrupt it. We'll see.

Turns out, there is an app. It looks pretty slick - you can adjust for in-the-round or straight; increasing or decreasing evenly; and for easier-to-remember or more-accurately-symmetrical. It will even keep track of where you are, and give you the next instruction. It's available for iThings. I'm an Android girl.

Fortunately there's a less-slick website. It doesn't adjust for circular or straight - it's all the same - and it won't feed you the instructions, but it will give give you the easy-to-remember way and the evenly-balanced way, and there's helpful, reassuring commentary. And, the creator made a calculator for decreasing.

The best thing about the website, though, is the list she keeps on the other page. It's a whole list of knitting-related math-doers. Very, very slick indeed.

Where Did I KIP?

I meant to make Twitter posts for World-wide Knitting in Public Week, but I kept forgetting. So, let's see.

• Saturday the 9th I was knitting at a restaurant.
• Sunday the 10th, I knitted at the Bowie Baysox game.
• Monday the 11th... I think I must have taken off.
• Tuesday the 12th, I knitted at the doctor's office.
• Wednesday the 13th, I was kipping at Baskin Robbins. The A/C was cranked up to "refrigerator," but the knitting was great. My darling daughter even joined in.
• Thursday, I knitted in private.
• Friday, I knitted while waiting for the elementary school's 5th grade promotion to start.
• Tomorrow, I'll be driving a lot, but maybe I'll KIP when I stop for meals. And Sunday, I'll be KIP at dinner.

Summers here are sticky, and being in a house that lacks central air has made me generally unwilling to touch anything remotely resembling yarn, so I think there'll be a lot more knitting in public this summer. That way, I can get something done. Though I had toyed with the idea of painting in the summer... I'll just knit. It's who I am, it's what I do.

The Answer is Socks... And Rain

Today was cool and rainy. A perfect day for knitting and a movie. I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with Thing One and worked on her socks.

I'm having to adjust the pattern - apparently I counted wrong on my gauge swatch (you know, the one I didn't do - I just started knitting the socks and stopped after a while and counted stitches and rows). There's no way that sock isn't going to be too long if I do 30 rounds of increases like I'm supposed to... but even so, I'm having ton of fun.

I've decided to make socks for everyone! Thing Two and DH and me. DH says he doesn't care about the pattern - I had been thinking of doing something with cables for him - but since he doesn't care, I'll stick with the plain old socks like I'm making for the Things. DH's feet tend to get hot, but these will be winter socks, so they need to be a little warm. I chose the Naiad in Espresso Roast. I figure the 70% Superwash merino will make them warm, the 10% nylon will keep them tough, and the 20% Bamboo will help wick moisture away. I hope. I bet he loves it, but i do hope it looks a little more brown than the gray that's in the picture.


Thing Two has a serious passion for red and black. I had originally thought the Ruby, Ruby Dragon sock would be best for the color, but I wasn't sure the yarn, 100% Merino, would be as durable as in the Djinni Sock, which has nylon mixed in for durability, so that's what we landed on. Thing Two put some serious holes in the last pair of socks I knitted him.

For myself, I chose the Crack In The Wall in Djinni. I know it'll be just like Thing One's socks, and I like the way it feels. Also, I love the colors. And, there's the thing about it being Djinni sock yarn for Djinn. And I'm pretty darn sure the color name is a reference to Dr. Who, which I also completely dig. I'm thinking some kind of lace. Just a little bit. Probably, I'll pick a pattern from one of the books a friend recently gave me, or from my favorite lace stitchionary. I'm so completely psyched. ... but I have got to get back into my spinning, too, because I have got some awesome roving and new bobbins, and the beginning of an excellent support net.

Fiber-Slump, With Hope

Ever since moving up here (I'm in Maryland, near Baltimore), I've found it hard to get motivated.

First, my stash was un-findable in some box labeled "Office Stuff" - the box labeled "Yarn" had not a single thread in it. There's still a bunch of stash that is MIA, four months later. I'm pretty sure that there's a box that didn't make it from Georgia.

Then, I was incredibly fortunate to be gifted a spinning wheel - something I always wanted to get into. I got books, and I got into spinning. A little. But it's hard. It's not singing to me yet. And I'm getting frustrated.

Then, there was this God-awful heat wave. There's no central air in this house, though we have window units in the bedrooms, but there's no chair in my bedroom. It is awfully hard to get excited about putting your hands in yarn or roving when it's 87 degrees inside.

Apparently, I'm not the only one facing a yarn-slump. Looking for inspiration, looking for a song, I picked up a copy of Knit ' Style, only to find, in nice big letters on page 18, "A Knitting Slump," an article by Jack Lewis, who seems to be facing the same problem.

Attending the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival was a temporary fix, like a addict, having one hell of a binge weekend.

While there, I picked up a skein of Djinni Sock Yarn from Dragonfly Fibers. I had to, you see, as I often go by Djinn on the interwebs. There aren't many of us that spell it that way. It's a gorgeous mix of greens (Thing One's favorite color) with tiny spots of rust here and there. I'm using the basic pattern from the book Two-At-A-Time Toe-Up Socks and really like it, so far. It's the least-painful sock method I've found yet, but it's still going slowly. I'll post gleeful pictures about the whole process of these socks later, in a much happier post. Hopefully seeing those socks on Thing One's feet will perk me right up. Also, my spidey-senses are tingling; I have a feeling I'll be knitting for a special occasion very soon.

Anticipation

So, I scrapped the cardigan idea with the black sequin yarn. I don't think there's enough of it, and it's too heavy for a good Spring/Summer/Fall cardigan anyway. I did see a note in Knitting Daily about their recent Knit-along (KAL), which was the Maple Street Cardigan. I had decided that wasn't the pattern for me, until I saw pics of the finished objects and some of the modifications others had made to the pattern, and I've changed my mind. This is the pattern for my cardi. It may be too late, this season, however; I'm already drooling over fall.

I have been gazing at the back cover of the July edition of Creative Knitting. It's a Plymouth Yarns advertisement for a warm, cozy, glorious winter cardigan. WANTWANTWANT. ...But maybe in blues, rather than greens... And DH delivered my September issue of Creative Knitting and I'm kinda liking the Structured Elements - Graphic Coatigan. Decisions, decisions.

Maybe I should review the to-do list from January...

In more current news, I'm working on a lace-patterned blanket (sorry, I can't give details). The pattern is 32 rows and I've done it once and a half, and I can tell you this will likely be the last time I do this pattern. I'm already hating it. Wish me patience and strength.

There's a sleeveless tank pattern I've decided to do, just have to buy a little yarn for it - it'll be a three-color stripe pattern, and I only have two colors (and only enough yarn for 2/3 of the pattern).

I have GOT to lick this not-buying-enough-yarn-the-first-time habit. Maybe I'll take out some of my stash and start buying yarn in larger quantities. Hmm...

A friend is planning to host a yarn-swap to help us all refresh our stashes. I've started going through mine, and I keep finding things I didn't realize I had. Maybe I can simply give away yarn, and not accept any, thereby decreasing my stash, and making it easier to choose yarns and projects... HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!... gasp... HAHAHAhahahhahaha