Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Yarn Along--More Snow, More School...

Not what I wanted to see this morning.


...thank goodness for knitting to keep me sane.  This week's project was cast on in a literal frenzy: I neeeeeeded to have something on the needles before Sunday, as I hate doing the hour-long ride to Mass without having something to knit along the way.  Out here in the sticks, my best blocks of knitting time are in the van.

Anyway, I cast on for this little vest, trying out some unnamed bulky yarn from my stash I bought on eBay about two years ago.  It is my first go at bulky yarn and I love it!  I love how quickly it knits up!  I want to knit sweaters for my boys and big girl now, if I can get my hands on some beautiful, soft stuff without busting the budget.

I was a lot further along than this.  Up to the armpits.  Then I realized that I had cast on the wrong number of stitches.  Y'know the old carpenter's "measure twice; cut once" saying?  My new one is, "Count twice, cast on once."  I am also really bad at gauge swatches, but since I have a niece 8 months younger than Gemma, I don't sweat it too much!  Anyway, yesterday morning found me unraveling what I had and casting on again.  God is teaching me patience through knitting.  And self-forgiveness.

Not reading anything for fun this week.  I am focusing on polishing up Una's writing skills and learning how to teach writing.  Brushing up on stuff I haven't done in 30 years.  It is nothing like riding a bike, I can tell you.  The good part is, once I do this with Una, I should have it down for the next five kids.

Joining Ginny and her lovely Yarn Along this week, and looking forward to taking a peek at what everyone is reading and knitting...

15 comments:

  1. It will be beautiful! My dad taught me "measure twice, cut once" - very helpful advice for the knitter. :)

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  2. The yarn is beautiful. Is that a milo vest? I've done three already and still counting. How funny about "measure once, cut twice" comment. My husband is a carpenter and always repeats that phrase to me especially when I've working on a quilt. Patience is a virtue I think every mother strives for and knitting is a great way to help or to test it:)

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  3. I often think that knitting is a great metephor for life :)
    So many lessons in patience to be had there.
    I've got to get round to some bulky yarn patterns, they are so satisfyingly quick.
    At the moment I've got some 2 and 4 ply baby patterns to tackle eeek!

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  4. Love the vest pattern! I have looked at that one a couple of times and I keep getting led back to it. I so agree about bulky yarn. It knits up so quickly. Tip - never knit a sweater on bulky and then a sweater on fingerling. Oh the fingerling sweater seemed to take me sooooo long.

    Good luck with the writing. I find it one of the hardest things to teach.

    Blessings, Elizabeth

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  5. I've taken to finding a small project just for the car, I love Car Knitting! I love bulky yarn too, come to think about it... :)

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  6. Oh my, I love that vest pattern. Thanks so much for sharing! And yes, bulky yarn can be soooo satisfying sometimes. (Especially when you have to start over!)

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  7. I can't tell you the number of times I have ripped back for a wrong stitch count. UGH! Sorry you had to start over...

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  8. Thanks for visiting my blog -- loved your comments!

    And love your blog title explanation -- The Secret Garden is one of my all time favorites!

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  9. What a blessing to learn a virtue like patience through an enjoyable craft like knitting. What gentle ways we can learn if we'll only notice! So fun to see your projects and your world. So fun!

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  10. I'm often impatient when I cast on a new project - I want to start right away! More often then not I have to start over because I didn't cast on the right number of stitches :S

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  11. Oh I am terrible with gauge swatches too--I rarely do them and when I do, I don't really know how to use them!

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  12. I love the pink! Bulky yarn is really great for bigger projects. I used bulky weight yarn for Seth's bday sweater and that is the only reason I got it finished on time. I am realizing that it will be a miracle if I finish Keats' sweater in time for his bday b/c his is knit at a tighter gauge.

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  13. I find casting on with dpns to be the most insane challenge! I've had to re-cast every project I've ever started on them.
    And forget gauges! I tend to hold my yarn so tight.
    The vest will be cute, undoubtedly. :-)
    Happy knitting!

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  14. Oh, I'm so sorry you had to start over, and guage swatches, hmmm. I'm always too impatient to just get to the project. The pink is lovely and happy more knitting this weekend :)

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