Monthly Archives: February 2004

Updates

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Not much to update you on over here. Lots of rain here in Alabama. Our backyard is almost a swimming pool. I’ve been working on my knitting of course. And watching lots of Stargate SG-1. I love that show. I’m so totally hooked on it. Work has been pretty good. We’ve been busy doing updates and lots of changes. I also made a few changes to my knitting blog. I changed the layout.

I will be going to Texas again this May. My hubby is going on another canoe trip with the guys, so I’m off to spend a week with my parents. I’m really looking forward to the relaxing trip. Lots of knitting is planned, I hope. And I’ll finally get to see my sister’s little pooch. :)

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention…for our anniversary, my husband gave me pearl earrings and a pearl necklace to match. No, not a string of pearls, I’m not too fond of those…it’s just one solitary pearl with a teeny diamond sitting above it. It’s just perfect. I was totally not expecting jewelry. It was a great surprise.

Gauge Question

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Ok. As a new knitter, of course I have questions, so here’s one for you. I would like to knit Sigma from knitty.com. The pattern says to knit a gauge swatch. My question is do I knit it in the round or flat? The tank is knit in the round to the armholes then front and back are worked separately. Also, I’m assuming that I knit the watch in stockinette since that is what is used for the tank, even though it doesn’t say so explicitly in the gauge instructions.

Ok, so if I knit in the round, that will be a huge swatch because I have to knit it using the needles I will use in the pattern, which is a 26″ circular. So my guessing is that I knit the gauge flat, even though 90% of the tank is knit in the round. Any help with this would be great.

I’ll be posting photos of my progress this weekend. I’m about 50% done with legwarmer #1, so I’m getting excited about completing it, even though I don’t really like knitting with 5 needles. I’ve picked up my country afghan and I really like the pattern. I’m getting close to the point where I will need to switch colors, so that one more new thing to learn. Hopefully it won’t be too difficult to figure out.

No-Sweat Pants

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I just picked up the new issue of Interweave Knits last night and am totally in love with the no-sweat pants. But I’m hesitant to use the yarn mentioned (Lion Brand Homespun). I’m using it to crochet an afghan but I’m not all that taken by it. It is so “splitty” that it’s real easy to catch a micro-fiber thread in the needle and it gets hung, causing the stitches to be uneven. I guess the purpose of using homespun is that it is soft and stretchy. I’m sure there is other yarn out there that would work as as well. I like the pants in the picture…the color and texture looks fabulous on the model. So should I attempt them in homespun or try to use a different yarn?

Also, the large size will be too small on me in the circumference, but I’m short so the length would have to be knit to the small size. And I’d have to add an inch or two to the crotch depth. Since I’m a beginner, I’m not sure how to adjust the pattern to fit. Can anyone help with this? I may go ahead and try it in homespun if I can get the pattern adjusted.

Florida

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We had a great time in Florida. Visiting in-laws and seeing the Cirque du Soleil. What a great show! And I love the theme song (Alegria). We had planned on driving for a time on Thursday and staying in a hotel, then driving down to the in-laws on Friday. Well, instead we hopped over to Gainesville and crashed at my SIL’s place. So while there, Friday morning, we went to a yarn shop. I was in heaven…they have a fabulous selection of yarns…including Tahki, Noro, Cascade and many more. I got some yarn to make a tank top that I’ve had my eye on. And my husband and I decided we could defintely live in Gainesville. It is a very nice town, not too conjested, but big enough that you can find anything you need. Instead of like here where you have some, but not nearly everything you need. Of course that means find jobs down there and that will be tough. But maybe someday. It’s ideal…close to family but not too close. Who knows.

Saw Charmed last night and was disappointed that they didn’t mention the next episode. That means that it will be at least two weeks. At least Leo and Piper hooked up, so maybe the next time we see her, we’ll get to see her pregnant belly. :) She is so cute. And I really liked Paige’s hair…a little darker, but not black like it was when she was first on the show. This new darker reddish brown looks great on her.

Shopping

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We went to Florida this past weekend to visit family and see a Cirque du Soleil show. I had a blast and also got to visit a yarn shop in Gainesville. What a wonderful place. I picked up some yarn to make Knitty’s Sigma tank. This seems like a fairly simple tank to make and I got Tahki’s Cotton Classic in a very light lime green. I look forward to starting this project.

I also made some progress on my legwarmers. I’m almost 1/2 done with the first one. I made a few more squares for my homespun afghan and I started the country afghan. I’m moving right along with my projects and I’ve finally gotten the cast on to look good. I’ve switched to the long-tail cast on and it works wonderfully, so I’m sticking with it.

Gauge

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My gauge is off on my legwarmers. The gauge should be 4 sts per inch and I’m getting 5 1/2! So I have to get bigger needles, because I don’t have them. But I’m undecided as to which I should get first, circular or dpn. I’d much prefer to use circular if I can, they are much easier to work with than having 4 needles sticking out while trying to knit. But I’m not sure if my stitches will fit on a circular. They didn’t on the size I’m using now, but I’m wondering if maybe they will when I try a larger needle, since my stitches will be bigger. I know…one can never have enough needles, but for now, I’d prefer just getting what I need. I’ve already gone nuts buying needles and I haven’t even used half of them yet. And I probably won’t have time to get any tonight (it’s our 3rd wedding anniversary), so I may not be trying again till tomorrow night or later. We leave Thursday for a long weekend away.