Retired Knitter knits, hooks, blocks, rips, ... stabs

So someone graciously asked about my knitting in a previous comment.

You know, it only takes one inquiry from an interested reader ... and the rest of you who are not interested in knitting must sit through a knitting post.  :-)  I try to play fair to the majority interest when selecting blog topics, but just one of you needs to ask about knitting ... and the majority be damned!!

(In truth, I was planning a knitting post.)  BUT in response to the HUGE outcry from my readership demanding knitting news ... here it is!!

:-)

I have been knitting .... but for some darn reason it has been going slow.  I started the Cassidy Hoodie sweater last October.  It should look like this by now.

The Cassidy Hoodie by Chic Knits

It doesn't.  Not yet. I did, however, FINALLY,  get the completed pieces onto a blocking board.  This task took me 2 long arduous hours!!

My Cassidy on the blocking board.

For the non knitters out there (if you are still reading, and you better be - this is important stuff), sometimes wet wool becomes like clay.  Blocking is best done when the wool is wet and toweled dry.  But wet wool has its own challenges.

The sleeve cable.

 My wet sleeves stretched and became gorilla arms ... causing me some angst!  But I massaged those offending limbs into proper shape and hopefully the yarn now knows who is boss.  The test will come when I unpin the dry sleeves.  If gorilla arms reappear, I will take out a sharp instrument and stab them repeatedly.

http://www.squidoo.com

(Oh my, did I say that out loud?)

Now you might be thinking .... wow, almost done with that project!  No.  Not really.

I need to sew the seams, then I need to knit a generous hood off the neck, and then I need to knit a button band.  And then, I get to sew on some buttons. THEN, when I have done all that, THEN it will be done.  It will then be a sweater (or it will be a vest if the sleeves died an ugly death.)

My second project (I bet you non knitters thought I was done - in your dreams!!), is a Lace Cardi Crochet Wrap for my daughter.  I started it in January.  It should look like this.

It doesn't.  It looks likes this.

Well, it did look like that just 24 hours ago, but being a novice crocheter, I messed up the sizing and the gauge.  I thought it was too small.  And the crochet stitch was too dense.  I wanted a lacier look - like in the picture above.  I also wanted to be able to crochet without having to use large magnifying eye glasses that ruin my eye sight and a special light that says "gosh you have old eyes!" every time I use it.


I sure hated to rip this, but I did.

Last night I started the project again with a bigger crochet hook.  Actually I started it twice last night (don't ask.)

If you count all my "start overs" with this project, I am probably up to around 10.  If you count all the crochet stitches I have done for this project, I have probably crocheted the whole of this project twice!!!


So now it looks like this.

Hard to know if I will be starting over again until I have done a few inches.  (I must let it be known that using a large sharp instrument on this project is not out of the question either!!)

So that is my knitting update.

On more positive news ...

Tomorrow I am going to an all day "Spin In" with family and friends at the Mannings in East Berlin Pennsylvania.    But more about that next week ... if the masses (meaning even just one person) demand that I blog about it (hint, hint ...), I most certainly will.

:-)

Till then!