hurray for me!

I'm giving myself a gold star because I just did something that made me scared and nervous and I passed with flying colors!
Today has been really busy at work, and I didn't have time to take lunch until 3pm. So I planned to take a half-hour and knit on SG#3, but when I pulled it out, I was suprised to find out that I had forgotten to turn the cables on row 3 of the pattern repeat. This wouldn't usually be a problem because I have taken out one row stitch-by-stitch at a time, but the real problem was that I had also knit row 4, which means I had to pull out two rows. I knew I didnt' have the patience to take out 100 stitches one at a time so I held my breath and pulled out the needles, leaving all those stitches flying free in the breeze. Then I slowly ripped out the two rows and started placing stitches back on the needles. I was quite relieved when I reached the end of the row because I thought I got them all, but a quick count revealed only 49 stitches instead of 50! I turned my work over and found that stitch 7 out of 50 - one lone P stitch - had fallen to the back. I stuck an extra cable needle through it so it wouldn't drop until I could knit the first 42 stitches on the row and my brain performed a miracle in that I remembered to pick it up when I got to that stitch! So, since I only had a half-hour, I didn't really make any progress as far as my little record keeper to the right is concerned, but at least now all the rows are right and when I pick it up again tomorrow (not tonight - have to finish the stocking!) I will be able to keep moving forward! But for now ... back to work!

hit a rough patch

last night Tia and I had a fast run (loooooove my new shoes) and Wes was playing basketball so I had a couple hours to myself when I got home. I was prepared to take full advantage of my time and hoped to get to the armhole shaping on the back of my brown hoodie. However, yesterday at lunch I miscounted my rows and knit two extra rows before cabling which threw off the pattern. It probably wouldn't have been noticeable to anyone but me, so I was tempted to leave it, until I realized that my row count would be off for the front of the sweater as well. I started to un-knit the rows and got through the two I had done last night before I decided to go backwards, but had some trouble taking out the row with the cabling. So after fighting with it for a while, I laid it aside with plans to visit AFY this afternoon and hope Lois can make more sense out of what I did. I still had some time before Wes was due home so I pulled out a new project that I had wanted to start, but haven't because I have been a little preoccupied with the hoodie. The new project uses double-pointed needles which I haven't ever used before. I had hoped to take a class a few weeks ago to help me get started, but it got canceled so I am on my own! I started doing 2x2 ribbing on accident instead of the 4x1 the pattern calls for so I will have to pull this out and start over, which is fine because I am still getting used to keeping track of all these needles!! The beginning of the round is a little loose, but the rest looks okay, I think. I will do a few more rows of practice before I start on these cute gloves for real. (also, I feel like these needles look like something from the Blair Witch Project ... lets hurry up and get my hoodie back to normal!)

Problem solved!!

Ran to AFY real fast at lunch to have Lois check my gauge and my math before I cast on again for the cabled hoodie. Hurray! It looks like this one might work out :) I got a new pair of Crystal Palace 10.5 circulars and will hopefully have time to knit up a quick gauge on those needles in between a track workout with Tia after work and passing out from exhaustion (haven't run too hard since I was sick last week, though Monday was a solid, quick four miles so 4x800 shouldn't be tooooo bad, I hope!). I want to make sure that I knit the same gauge on these new needles as I do on my old pink ones (which I am saving for quicker projects), then I can cast on and knit my butt off on the drive to Lake San Antonio on Friday. Whooo! Road trip!

what is my problem?

Here are my three separate swatches I have made for the cabled hoodie. The one on the orange holder was my first one that I did on size 8 needles before I case on the whole back before Seattle. The one to the right is on size 9 needles and produced the exact same gauge (5 stitches per inch) as the size 8 needles ... what? how is that possible? The bottom swatch is on 10.5 needles and I am getting 9.5 stitches per two inches, which is about 4.75 per inch ... not much better! what the heck is wrong with me? I did the math with my gauge from the 10.5 needles and think it will work out, but I wasn't really planning on using those needles for this project, since I need those needles to finish a scarf I am half-way done with and to make more felted bags. I don't really want to give up those needles to a long-term project like my cabled hoodie. It looks like I'll have to make another run to AFY at lunch to pick up some 10.5 circulars (which I prefer to use for larger pieces like the backs of sweaters anyway) and do one more gauge swatch with the new needles before casting on. At this point all my yarn is going to be gone before I even get the right-sized sweater started!