Finally publishing patterns

So for every pattern I have on needles written by someone who knows what they're doing (eg not me) I have 2 to 3 that are monsters I'm creating.  A full fifty percent get frogged, or put into back of the closet banishment, but a decent amount turn out cute stuff.  However I generally suck at documenting what I'm doing while knitting, and have several different things going at once.  So I'm making a concerted effort to actually post and share the things I've done. 

On the one hand being honest I've only been knitting about two years, and quite honestly every time I think I know what I'm doing I make some insanely ridiculous mistake that humbles me.  (I suspect I will be knitting for 40 years and still have that happen, but still.)  I tend to lean towards not learning proper ways to do things if they look scary (read : any effort on my part at all) and frankenknitting things to at best, strange result.  On the other hand I find that because I don't know how to do things correctly sometimes I stumble upon pay dirt and a way of doing things that other people either haven't tried, or haven't executed.

The first of these things is may Wavy Crockett Shawl.  It's a crescent shawl that doesn't use short rows and is done from left to right.  I'm honestly still working with the shaping to perfect the curve, but if you want something a little different, but easy as pie, this should work for you.

Wavy Crockett Shawl Pattern

Cast on 15 stitches.  Knit one, place marker. 

There are two parts to this shawl, the part before and after the marker.  The part after the marker will be the chart below.  On rows where there is a * on the chart you will make one before the marker on the second stitch of the row by knitting front and back of the second stitch at the beginning of the row.  (The exception is the first increase will be done in the only stitch before the marker.)  For example, on row 9, after you finish purling across from row eight, you will turn your work, knit one, knit front and back of the second stitch, and knit till the marker, slip the marker and continue the chart.

Once you have increased to 30 stitches before the marker knit 3 chart repeats without increases before the marker. 

Now the * rows will mark decreases rather than increases.  So again, you would purl to the end of your row, turn your work, knit one, knit two together, knit to the marker, slip the marker and continue in chart.  Once you are down to one stitch before the marker you will finish the pattern (should end at the same time the end of the chart repeat) and then knit the next row.  You will bind off loosely the following row. 

Note:  for making 5 stitches (shown on the chart as MMMMM, written as "make 5") you will knit into the bar between the next stitch and your current stitch, yarn over, knit, yarn over and knit.  This will create 5 new stitches.

 UNCHARTED LACE PATTERN
* 1)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
   2)  yo, p2tog, purl to end
   3)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
   4)  yo, p2tog, purl to end
* 5)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2, make 5, k2tog, k, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
   6)  yo, p2tog, purl to end
   7)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, k3, k2tog, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
   8)  yo, p2tog, purl to end
* 9)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, slip slip k psso, k, yo, k2tog, k, k2tog, k, k2tog, k, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
   10)  yo, p2tog, purl to end
   11)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, slip slip k psso, yo, k2tog, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2tog, yo k2tog, yo, k2tog, k
   12)  yo, p2tog, purl to end
* 13)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k2tog, k, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k
   14) yo, p2tog, p3, p2tog, p, p2tog, purl to end
   15)  k3, (yo, k2tog) x6, k1
   16)  yo, p2tog, purl to end
* 17)  k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k2tog, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k
   18)  yo, p2tog, p, p2tog, purl to end

I Hate Nupps Like They Called Me Fat

So I just finished the Echo Flower Shawl.  I was blitzing through it (I did the shawlette version) and then got to the part where the nupps were involved.  And then things ground to a halt. 

According to the interwebs, "A 'nupp' is a small 'bobble' made out of one stitch for a small flower. To make one, you knit a stitch, do not take it off the left hand needle; and then follow the sequence *yo; k1* into the same stitch as many times as desired. On the next row all the nupp stitches are knit or purled together."

According to me nupps are something that was created by the devil.  Bascially you go along and birds are singing and you start the front part of the nupp, no big.  Just a few extra stitches in one stitch.  Then you get to the purl row.  And then the crying starts.  And shortly after that the cursing.  Because those 7 or so extra loops that you've added in that one stitch?  Are smashed together.  And getting a needle through them to purl?  Is nigh impossible. 

I tried w/ a crochet hook.  I tried w/ a smaller needle.  Eventually I was able to get through that purl row (only taking - literally - about 5 times as long as it would w/ out nupps).  So I figured I'd do the loops much looser this time.  Same thing happened somehow.  I manage to mush everything back again.  I finally figured out how to get them to work, using this video but it was too little too late.  They still ended up looking manky and I cursed them every step of the way. 

So nupps?  Can just piss off.

Wool and I have decided to just be friends...

So wool and I just had our first big fight.  You see, I have been knitting shawls and wraps using sock yarn.  And throwing them in the washing machine to loosen up the yarn has been A OK.  I pin them and block them as normal, (I don't put wool in the dryer... I'm not a philistine.) no problem.  However I got some Bamboo and Ewe from the lovely people at Stitch and Bitch Nation and decided to do a shawl in DK weight.  (Idea gotten from 198 Yards of Heaven). 

I finished the shawl rather quickly (yay DK weight!) and threw in to washer as usual.  About 10 minutes later I pulled out a ball of fuzz.  Apparently wool does this thing called "felting" otherwise known as "making me cry."  Having cut my teeth on acrylic (which is totally besties with the washer AND the dryer) this was a rather unexpected result.

I cannot possibly start gifting family in cold climates things made out of ornery and difficult.  And while I personally LOVE wool and am willing to work for it's love, it's going to have to be for things I make for only myself.  I know superwash will resolve this but since I have PILES of supercry wool laying around I cannot justify replacing it all.  So in the mean time, wool and I are still hanging out, but I'm sad to say the love affair is over.

Blasphemy!!!

Ok so I realize this is going to end up w/ people w/ knitted pitchforks and torches outside my blog, but I officially HATE top down socks.  I decided to knit an easy pair Earl Grey from the amazing Yarn Harlot but it kinda blew goats doing the pattern.** I was really happy starting out, the cuff flew by, but when I got to the heel everything went off the rails.  I did manage to succesfully execute the sock and will be finishing the pair.  But arg.  The heel was all fiddly and guesswork and using magic 8 ball.  (Should I decrease here?  Outlook fuzzy.  Ask again later.)  And then I don't know if this is my fail or what, but the toes from where I had to graft together have an annoying ridge.  I hate the idea of re-engineering patterns for top down socks to toe up, but it's so much easier at this point than having to break out calculus to get a heel right.  (I use Priscilla Wild's short row heel for my toe ups and I can basically turn off my brain and I always get the exact right number of stitches.  It's pretty much magic.)

** Note the pattern was great, the socks turned out lovely.  Just not going to be getting on board the whole top down thing any time in the near ever.

Cuff Down Socks

So now that I've mastered toe up socks (read : they feet on people feet.  mostly.) I've decided to start trying cuff down socks.  On the one hand I much prefer the entire idea behind toe up (go as long as you want, no running out of yarn, no grafting or kitchner stitch) however I feel the need to learn to do the stupid things.  One I tend to jump up and down and say I'll never "x" then do "x" all the time later.  The next issue is a lot of amazing sock patterns are top down, and rejiggering them is a pain.  So I'm about 3/5 done with a cuff, of course I know the nightmare starts when the heel comes.  We shall see...

Damn Ewe!

So I'm seeing even more of a shift towards natural fibers in my buying habits.  I've started doing a circular shawl in a bamboo / ewe mix (so stretchy!  lurve that!), and found myself today buying a skein of Bamboo Ewe from Debbie Stoller "just to try out."  On the one hand I do still love me some acylic (Caron Simply Soft lives in a special part of my heart), it's easy to wash, less expensive and has a gazillion colors.  My main issue is outside of sock yarn, it's mostly DK weight and heavier.  It's muuuch eaiser to find lighter wieght yarns made of natural fibers.  Also the self striping sock yarn is good for socks, not so much other projects, I think it tends to look a bit wonky even in shawls and scarves.  However I'm still working on a passel of stuff for family in Missouri, so easy wash thicker yarn has a large part of my stash.  But if they come out with more colorways of Bamboo Ewe, there's going to be trouble...