Roll Tide meets Ole Miss

Ms. Lolly Fant is now in the house.  Well her head is. The rest of her is in progress.

I cast on Julie Williams adorable little Girl elephant in a fronds frock. And let me tell you, once you see the sample knit by Ms. Williams on the Ravelry pattern page, you'll agree that this toy is more Southern than sweet tea and mimosas in the Grove. When completed, the wee beastie looks like the Alabama mascot dressed in her sleeveless A-line frock for Sorority Rush week at Ole Miss.

You can tell I'm jonesing for some SEC football... only about 16 more weeks to go.

It's one of those days

Where the only smart thing to do is cut your losses.

This decision came about earlier today when a cake I was baking either mysteriously fell or didn't rise. Functionally it doesn't matter which is the reason behind the flub.  When I pulled the cake pans from the oven, each was shaking it's finger at me and imitating the Soup Guy: "No coconut cake for you!"

Okay Cake Guy, so I'll cut my losses and have a coconut pudding torte instead of cake. Let's just hope my homemade cooked pudding turns out better than the cake did. This remains to be seen...

Failure at anything sends me running back to the one thing I know I can do reasonably well. So I turned my attention back to knitting. The BSJ is gifted out as of noon, so I need another spot of easy knitting. Hmmm, do I start something new or grab an easy mindless WIP?  Do I even have an easy mindless WIP hidden away somewhere?

What's in the closet?

The question caused me to dig out this old WIP of mine, and ask myself if I can finally finish this thing or cut my losses.  There's not much in knitting that's as mindless as feather and fan... I reached the difficult, but necessary, terminus on this WIP I've had since 2011. I love the pattern, I love the colors I chose, but I. HATE. THIS. YARN.

Even though the blanket is halfway completed, I know I'll never finish it because I can't stand touching the yarn. It's so tough to knit with that I can't say in mixed company the words I said the last time I gave the project a go. I've looked for other projects and uses for this yarn, but can't find one redeemable quality about it. That I still have this WIP after 3 years speaks to the hold yarn has on my heart. I can't even bear to throw crappy yarn away.

The yarn is hard, stiff and in work, feels like I'm knitting with mooring line. I'm sure that if I gave it to someone to rip and reuse they'd hate it - and me, for giving it to them - so much that they'd hang me with the yarn as an offering to the Grand Poobah of Knitting Imps. Said offering would then be rejected by said entity as unworthy. It's that bad, or these colorways are that bad, and life is way too short to knit with crappy yarn. 

 I know many of you use this yarn and may love it. If you are one of those knitters, what follows is just my opinion and worth what you paid for it.

I agree with Stephanie Pearl - McPhee that RH Super Saver yarn, along with cockroaches, will survive the apocalypse. I also happen to believe that until the apocalypse occurs, this yarn should also have a use by: date stamped on it. Much like toothpaste in a sink, RH Super Saver hardens over time. 

The blanket and remaining yarn is going into file 13 where I should have put it years ago.  So I cast on  one of the toy patterns I bought last week. Remember, I have Complicated Startitis? 

I feel pretty good that my Knitting Imp is shaking his finger at me and shouting, "No baby blanket for you!"

Notes to Self, or reflections on a finished project

Just had to share while I bask in the glory of a finished project! My baby is drying as we chat. No buttons are sewn on, I just want to see if I like how these buttons look on the sweater.

Note to self: 

Next time Self, wait until your project is complete before buying buttons, and take it with you to make sure you buy what you need. Your button collection is almost as extensive as your yarn stash.

Continuing on to my next reflection: Gauge matters. I heard what you muttered under your breath when you read that one little word!  It's probably the same thing I mutter: $#@!!! gauge again. I wish I'd have taken a gauge photo before blocking but I didn't.

I do solemnly swear on my yarn stash that my unblocked gauge was 6 stitches per inch, which is EZs gauge to fit an infant who wears clothes no larger than 6 months. However, wet blocking WILL expose your real gauge. Take a look:

Yikes! 9.5 stitches over 2 inches... for an average of 4.75 stitches per inch. Over a much larger garment calling for a 6 sts/inch gauge those extra 2.5 stitches/inch would add up to some serious knitting real estate. Conversely, I know that I can use this yarn and needle size (Cascade 220 Sport Superwash on a size 6 needle, for those interested parties) for a 4.5 st/inch garter stitch garment. 

But I digress. My point here is that while bébé lives in the deep south and will not need a sweater until about November, the extra inches on this sweater are a very good thing indeed because he can't wear it now. Were this a sweater  pattern to be knitted at 6 sts/inch for an adult, I'd be in some seriously deep sneakers! Gauge matters.

Note to self:

Self, when you finally commit to making a sweater for anyone who has stopped growing, make and block the damned gauge swatch!

In the meantime, to block the BSJ I used the process in this awesome blog post from the knitting goddess Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. I'm all about passing along useful info.

Will I indulge my complicated startitis now that I have yarn and patterns? Hmmm, could be... What about you?

Must fondle yarn.... must fondle yarn....

I have the BSJ soaking so it can be blocked, and couldn't resist. So much for adult responsibilities...

Christmas in... April???

Is there anything better to find at your front door than this? 3.2 pounds of worsted yarny goodness for 2 elephants, 2 rabbits, plus clothes for each!

Amazingly enough, this luscious box o' goodies sits unopened in my office, awaiting the completion of some adult responsibilities ( yes, I have those too) and the last 6 ridges of garter stitch on the BSJ collar. I'm drooling every time I look at the box. Unfondled yarn is unhappy yarn, y'know? 

Complicated Startitis

The knitting goddess, Stephanie Pearl - McPhee, calls the uncontrollable urge to cast on a new project  despite the oh, 15 or 20, or more, projects already in a state of forgotten deshabille "startitis". And I've had it bad for awhile now. Now that spring has sprung, I have it even worse than before.

Since the end of December I've cast on a lace shawl, an afghan, a wee mousie, a Presto Chango baby sweater, a Knubbelchen doll, and a Baby Surprise Jacket. Only the mouse and Presto Chango sweater are completed as of now, with the BSJ approaching completion.

I have developed complicated startitis, which adds "stashitis" to the preexisting condition.  You can't start what you don't have supplies for in the yarn closets or pattern books. In 24 hours I found patterns for four stuffed toys, 2 pair of socks, and a to die for baby sweater. I passed the sock patterns for consideration to a dear knitting friendamine (see, I do have a modicum of self-control), bought the 4 toy patterns plus yarn to make all, then bought the baby sweater pattern. Even though I have a nice color of washable wool in stash that I can use for the sweater, I'm contemplating buying a tonal yarn for the sweater, but so far I can't find one that speaks to me. What???  

Appearances are deceiving

My knit to quit BSJ looks really nice, and I told Husband over coffee that I should have it completed this morning for his coworker.

I pulled out my pattern to find out where I was starting for the day. Then I looked at my sweater. Unhappily, where I'm starting turns out to be ripping back several inches of beautifully even striped garter stitch. Another offering to the Frog Prince of Knitting, who routinely sucks up yards of my yarn as quickly as Lady and the Tramp suck up their spaghetti.

At first glance, nothing seems wrong, which must be why it got this far. But a closer look shows there's no neck opening for the poor little bèbè to stick his adorable little head through. The cast off neck stitches also add inches to the width of the sweater. Oy! Munchkin sweater indeed... How did I flub this badly and not know it?

Knowing better rarely means doing better

We all know this story. Most of us have done the same thing, more than once. We knit merrily away on a pattern we know well, or think we know well. The knitting is just peachy and then something looks a bit off.  For me it was this: I'm almost to the 158 stitch count, but don't have anywhere near the 90 stitches needed between the stitch markers. To ignore this little something in the middle is to court knitting disaster, so I stop, count the complete number of stitches on my needle, quickly compare against the pattern, find the total is correct, shrug my shoulders then trust that my little something in the middle will resolve itself, much like a Who trusts that Christmas is coming all the same.

What I didn't catch was that I missed the instruction to cast off 5 stitches, keep working even until I hit 158 stitches. I can hear my great-grandmother saying "Aie!Yi!Yi! chère. You know better." as she shakes her head at me. Heaven knows I heard THAT all through my childhood. Heaven knows I say it to myself at least once in every knitting project, shaking head and all.

A bad move, nay, a stunningly bad move on my part. The only explanation I can think of is that I was seriously decaffeinated at the time, yeah that's it. So now I get to frog those lovely, lovely stripes and do them again, remembering to cast off for the neck stitches so that a) baby will have a place to rest it's precious head  and b) the sweater will be large enough to fit a real human child.

Of course, it's a recoverable error, but it's one that forces me to eat crow yet again, because Husband has likely told his co-worker that I'm almost done.

When you eat crow, does it taste like humble pie?  Why, yes it does.

What to do when you can't knit...

Can't think, can't count, can't smoke; what to do? Ahhh, needlepoint, a.k.a. color-by-number with yarn.... soothing, very soothing...

What about you?

Knit to Quit makes my house a Beast Free BSJ Zone

Yes, yes, yes, I know. October and my daughter's wedding are quietly creeping up on me. Danger! Danger! Danger! The shawl is woefully behind schedule.  But, the beast is on hiatus for good reason. (Yes, like hurricanes and ships, the beast is a 'she.') This knitter's brain is more hopelessly stuffed with fluff than Pooh Bear's head. Cutting out the nicotine will do that to a person.

However, the beast has little forgiveness for the dumb and dumber mental fuzzies that come with quitting smoking. She's a jealous little wench who wants all of you. And right now all of me is a few attention spans shy of her mark.

Knit to Quit?

Having learned to knit, I can believe that learning to knit pushes one towards a cigarette, not away from them.  I hear that lots of people take up knitting to quit a bad habit like smoking.  Having joined the tobacco repentant crowd for the fourth time in my adult life, I can see the boon of having something to do with your hands instead of reaching for a smoke. But, in my befuddled tobacco free state of mind, the most complicated thing to which I can attend is garter stitch. Thank heavens for the BSJ I cast on for beast relief!

6 days ago

Here's my BSJ before I quit ( I finally figured out how to get pictures up here!):

Today

My BSJ 6 days into my quitfest (ye gods!):

Cute little origami sweater, right? 100% garter stitch is perfect for the quitfest.  What you can't see to the left of the BSJ is my newest quit smoking aid - a drinking straw. After 6 days at ye olde feedbag, it's time to find another way around my oral fixation than food. Drinking whatever floats your boat through a straw tricks your mouth into thinking its smoking when it's not - a handy way to steer clear of the dietary shoals that most of us face at quitting time. And it keeps potato chip crumbs off of my BSJ...

Have you used knitting to quit a bad habit?