Chapter II - In which our knitter learns the true meaning of Swatch

Last week was a very long week on the mommy front. Not worth taking precious post time to describe (and anyway, you don't really want to know since excrement was involved). Suffice it to say I was busy trying to raise two young humans to adulthood without committing myself to an asylum.

But I did knit. I'll start with WIP updates:

Front and back of Klaralund are finished. Realized while doing the bottom border of side two that I'd knitted one ridge too few on side one, so I just adjusted down. Ripping the entire side one flitted through my mind only to be blasted away with a crazy laugh. Not even I would commit that knitting madness. Without these being blocked you can't really tell, but I did slight shaping on the waist.

Also picked up Rowan Birch again. It's just starting to feel like it's going faster thank goodness - these top rows are a long haul. LOVE the Bryspun needles for this and highly recommend them with Kidsilk Haze, which is basically a fuzzy thread. But what lovely thread it is (click this pic to see the shine close-up). This mohair can't be ripped, so it's imperative to get it right the first time and I'm finding that the cream color of the Bryspun helps me see the yarn and the points are perfect for picking stitches. I wrote before I thought they'd be good ... now I know it for sure.

Now, about those swatches...

Here was Rocktorp on Friday. Doesn't it look like a nice basket?

And like a nice basket, it is woven so tightly it could hold water! During all that swatching and deliberating over the stitch pattern I never took gauge. Let's not go there - I've already beaten myself enough. And I entered that knitter's delirium where you lie and delude yourself for far longer than any reasonable person should. I was using the specified needle. It did look like the photo. But, re-read that top paragraph and imagine what my knitting was like last week...

stitch Emily stitch STOP stitch hitting stitch your stitch sister stitch stitch stitch Rachel stitch I stitch don't stitch want stitch to stitch hear stitch that stitch out stitch of your mouth again (looking up from knitting) ...

And so on and so forth. Ad nauseum (my stomach at least - they seem to bounce right back don't they?) I kept telling myself to loosen up as my arms would start to hurt. Finally, some still sane part of my brain demanded I take gauge. Guess I was running just a little tight. Moved up a size and got gauge perfectly. Just a slight difference eh? Well at least I know this stitch pattern by heart now. Haven't ripped or cast back on, but will soon. Needed to take a little time apart.

With my new respect for gauge I took on Gloria. Thanks for all your very thoughtful comments and recommendations to do a swatch and thanks even more for not adding idiot after (I forgive anyone who even thought it - I did). Hey, it was midnight when I posted and I'd had a margarita. Between comments and emails some of you suggested following the pattern and alternating the yarns. OK, I hadn't actually read the pattern yet (what do you expect from me huh?) and didn't have the book with me at the LYS. Did get gauge on the recommended US 8's.

After taking this shot I got very disciplined (for me) and even knitted some rows with 8's for the Bliss and 7's for the Noro just to check the Noro's tension (being chenille and all). Even did a few rows with both on 7's. Now, my new-found discipline didn't actually extend to going upstairs to find free 7 needles when these were so handy.

See, I do know my WIP and where it's living in my stash, I just choose to ignore it. Going to stick with the 8's.

Please note:  Just spent some time updating my photo albums. Going to start putting yarn specs and pattern info in the finished work album and sometimes the WIP album. Once I define a new project it will be often be referred to by name only, so look in the photo albums and the category list for details. Old items won't have all the details, probably because i don't know them myself any longer. Was googling my heart out yesterday looking for something and I kept being teased by blogs with the yarn/sweater, but not the stats. Decided not to make that pattern, but would have loved to figured out the info sooner. So I will try to do my part to add useful content to the blog world.

Comments

[Kate]

Not like there's actually anything to apologize for, and I certainly wasn't thinking "idiot" in my post! I'm just a fairly novice knitter that likes your blog :). By the way, the alternating colors for Gloria look wonderful -- very interesting.

[Nancy]

Thanks Kate. For those of you reading after Kate, I changed my text a little. Sometimes I see what others do only after time away from what I've written.

[Moni]

Hmmm..I do really like your swatch for Gloria. I like the contrast. Looks nice :) Actually, everything you are doing looks really good...Rowan Birch is divine!

[Risa]

Thank you for some serious giggles this morning, Nancy.

Klaralund is looking beautiful so far. I really like those colors. Glad you resisted the tearing out for an extra ridge. That's an undocumented design feature, yeah.

Nice to see birch again. Looking lovely.

I love your multitasking needles! That picture with the swatch next to the WIP on is priceless. Thank you!

[Anne-Caroline]

Hi Nancy! Looks like your mommy week was busy, but not so busy as to keep you away from the needles. Klaraland is looking quite nice, and I'm sorry about the gauge. That's knitting life, I guess. I happen to avoid swatches, too - but I know it's dangerous. Sometimes, I cast on the arm first, and make that the swatch, that way, if it's not, it's much less painful to rip. Good luck!

[Emily]

You have so many wonderful projects going on! Wow!

[michelle]

wow - this entry made me woozy! what beautiful projects you have going on. your rowan birch is just absolutely beautiful. the color you chose for that is perfect.

you are one inspiring knitter!!

[General Ginger]

Loved your albums. Thanks for the wips update.