Easter Show 2010

So the Easter Show Arts Preview was last night. I got to see all my knits and how they went.

Poor Rosa, she got nothing.

But the others made up for it!

Niebling doily - second!

(Proving that you might not be able to wash your knits, but starching is just fine!!

The Aeolian shawl, second place.

And Venezia, also second place.

Although I'm claiming a technical First place. For whatever reason, the judges decided not to award a first. I'm assured that this is because none of the entries were good enough. Make of that what you will. We'll never know what I should have done to improve Venezia in their eyes, because there's no feedback from the judges, and no explanation given.

Regardless, it's a haul I'm happy with!

Some days it's just wrong

People often tell me I'm a good knitter. And I guess, when you look at the finished project, it's true. But some days, I can't follow a pattern to save my life, and I wonder how I've ever managed to knit as much as I have.

Yesterday was the last Saturday of the month, which makes it Stitch n Bitch day. The weather was gorgeous, and I've had a really, really crappy month, and had been looking forward to it for days. Off I went, having had lunch with two of my favourite people first. That bit was great. (I highly recommend the Smoked Chicken Salad at Diggies)

We went over to SnB after that, and sat with a bunch of wonderful creative people, and that bit was great, too. The knitting part? Not so great.

I've finished the back of the lacy cardi I mentioned a couple of posts back, and I'd started the fronts. Here's how it looked after SnB.

When I left yesterday morning, both fronts were an equal length, about halfway through the ribbing. In the middle of SnB, I finished the ribbing and went to change to the larger needles for the body. At that point, I realised that I'd brought the 3.5mm Knitpro tips that I needed, but I'd done the ribbing on 3mm fixed circulars. Fortunately, Kylie had brought along her whole Knitpro kit, and loaned me a cable.

Whilst in the middle of the first row of patterning, I realised that I'd omitted a rather important step in a cardigan. No buttonholes.

Some cursing followed, but I bit the bullet and ripped out the front that should have had the buttonholes. I proceeded to ignore that front, and work on the patterning on the first front. Then I came to the sickening realisation that I'd ripped out the wrong front.

I went home, with my knitting at the point in the picture above.

I decided that it didn't matter, the buttons could go on the wrong stinking side. Whilst reknitting the ribbing on the first front, complete with buttonholes, I had a most brilliant thought! If I did one row less of ribbing on the fronts, I could turn the pieces around and have the wrong side as the right side, and that would put the buttonholes on the correct side of the cardigan, it would just mean that I'd have to rip out the patterning on the first front, and one row of ribbing so I could turn it around, (so the fronts would have one less row of ribbing than the back) but then it would all be good again.

So I ripped out the 18 rows of lace I'd done on the first front, which you can see in the picture above.

I finished the ribbing (minus one row of ribbing) on the second front, then reread the pattern to make sure it was all good and I'd finally sorted it all out.

And it turned out that I hadn't been wrong the very first time, the buttonholes had been on the right side the whole time.

So if you're a beginner knitter, take heart. If you're looking at those of us who have been knitting for years and thinking about what wonderful knitters we are, consider that the best of us can easily make the most stupid mistakes. (Repeatedly!)

17 years ago today...

Emily joined the world seventeen years ago today! Sixteen years ago she had her first birthday.

I'd considered going through them all, but decided just to put up pics from today.

Happy birthday, Em!

Here we go again!

So my jumper/cardi/sweater knitting of late has been rather prolific. The knitting part, anyway. The finishing bit, not so much.

The knitting is complete on Rogue, and she's relaxing in a warm bubble bath.

So after it's dry, I just need to seam it and weave in the ends. Featherweight is still around. Rather embarrassingly, all it needs is to have the ends woven in. And Precious only needs a ribbon tie for the front. (I'm looking for a nice, wide, black taffeta ribbon, and haven't been able to find it)

So, with all that in mind, guess what I did?

Yup, started another! I actually tried this pattern a month or so ago with the recommended yarn, but it was coming out huge, so I frogged it. It's a Patons Australia pattern, designed in the now discontinued "Serenity" cotton/bamboo blend. (Rav link) I'm doing it in The Yarn Workshop's Ultimo, a wool/silk/bamboo blend. At least that's what I think it is, I'll gave to check and get back to you on that.

I'll do the finishing touches on the others. Soon.

One I prepared earlier.

It has been a shitty week here at Casa del Random. Just one of those weeks where one thing after another goes wrong, and there's nothing you can do about it, and nothing you can do to stop it. If I had the time, I'd find a deep dark hole and crawl into it. Nothing very exciting or interesting, just a bunch of things that on their own wouldn't be too bad - just all happening at once.

Of course, this has resulted in almost no knitting worth speaking of.

Here are the sleeves for Rogue.

I guess it looks like they're coming along quite quickly - but it feels like they're inching off the needles. My row gauge is off, so even though I've done the correct number of rows the pattern calls for before starting the armhole shaping, they're way too short, so I'll keep knitting for a bit longer.

Don't you love that cable?

In other knitting news, here's something I prepared earlier.

I actually finished this over a month ago, but it slipped under the radar.

Specs:
Pattern: Fensterbild 57 by Herbert Neibling from Anna Magazine, Spring 2009. (I bought a digital copy from the website)
Yarn: DMC Cebelia Cotton size 30, purchased at Spotlight (less than one ball)
Needles: 1.75mm steel DPNS. I think I need to get a teeny circ before I do another of these. It got a bit crowded on my DPNS.
Mods: None. I'm happy with it, although I got two knots in the yarn, both in the crochet loop bind off. That kinda ticked me off, although I've hidden them pretty well. It didn't block very well to start with. It wouldn't sit flat, no matter how hard I blocked it, and it sprung back within a few days of blocking it.
So I got this brilliant idea to starch it. Yay me! I went down to the supermarket and hunted down some old fashioned powder starch.
The stuff works like a dream. It's blocked and sitting perfectly. It's also almost as stiff as a dinner plate. I've entered it into the Easter Show, where the rules say that entries shouldn't be washed. It doesn't actually say that they can't be starched, though!
We'll soon find out how that goes!

Rogue in progress

Up until now, Rogue has been flying off the needles. On Friday, I finished the body and picked up the stitches for the hood.

Yesterday, I took pictures - not great ones, because the light was behind me, but Em had fun making sure she got into every one!

Unfortunately, since Friday my knitting has slowed down. The hood is progressing, but at a much more leisurely rate!

Pot Pourri

Bit of a hodge podge today. Featherweight is finished and blocked, pics to come.

I started something new.

I bought the pattern for Rogue about six years ago. I figure it's been aging nicely in the stash and is probably about ready to hit the needles. The yarn I'm using is Nundle Woollen Mills 8ply. It's marketed as an 8ply, but every time I've used, I've knit it at 18 sts/4" and been happy with the drape and density. Knit at 22sts/4", I find it a bit tight.
So far, it's all coming along swimmingly!
The impetus for casting this hoodie on was the booking of the Bendigo trip for Ailsa and I. Yes, we're Bendi bound! Bendigo hosts the annual Sheep and Wool show every year in July. Out flights, hotel and car are all booked. Excitement!

In squishy mail excitement, the latest Needlefood sock club package arrived on Friday.

The rumours that there may also have been lollies in the package will remain unsubstantiated. At least here. The yarn is called "There's Flowers in my Salad!" I've not been into variegated yarns of late, but I really like this one! Now I just need to find the perfect pattern for it. And I'll try not to let it marinate in the stash for six years!!

In other news, Twinkie is so comfortable with the idea of being a showgirl that she sleeps in her feathers.

And the annual dance photos of the other showgirl arrived.

I can assure you that the ability to do that didn't come from me!