I am about 3 inches into the body of the Leftovers Vest and it’s got to go. As it happened the only needles Styk didn’t have for my recent order were the 4mms I needed for the body of the vest. I decided to try knitting it on my 4.5mm Addi Naturas as I always seem to knit tighter on bamboo. I also knit slower, so it has taken longer than it normally would to get far enough along to be absolutely sure that I don’t have gauge. I am getting 19 stitches to 4 inches, which translates to about 2 inches more width than I need. As I see it my options are:

A) Rip out only the body and then:
1) wait 4-6 weeks for Styk to get new stock
2) pay nearly twice the price to get the needle from another Australian source
3) pay nearly 3 times the price to order them from the US (not very likely despite being a far nicer vendor than the more expensive Australian option)
4) Buy a set of Denise needles
5) get some Birch brand circs at my LYS. I know that I hate Birch circs so I would still end up getting the Addis when they come in and then spend just as much as option #2…

OR

B) Rip the whole thing out and reknit the smaller size with my existing needles at my current gauge.

I don’t know what my problem is. Ordering one needle from the more expensive Australia supplier is more expensive than getting them from Styk, but the difference is still only $6. Or I could just rip the lot out and reknit a smaller size but both options bother me. I guess I just don’t want to give my money to any business that routinely charges at least 30% more than their competitors and knitting the ribbing hurt my hands so I don’t want to do it again. I would really like a set of Denise needles in order to avoid just this problem, but Jesse is making noises about knitting budgets every time I raise the topic…

Tonight I am going to get out the sewing machine try to make Isabelle a dress.

I have one row of ribbing to go. This ribbing has been slow going and quite hard work. I am not sure whether it is purely an artifact of knitting with two strands or whether it is partially due to the resulting bulky yarn on medium needles but despite consciously knitting loosely my hands have been aching. It’s just as well I am LOVING the fabric this yarn is making, I adore the colour in particular, I just can’t wait to be done so that I can wear it!

I have also been struggling with the join between the last knit and first purl stitch of each ribbing repeat. Both stitches are looser than they should be. If you look at the left most knit stitch of each repeat above you can see that is looser than the other two stitches, and below is a shot showing what the wrong side of the purl stitches looks like. Yikes.

First I tried consciously tightening the last knit and first purl of each repetition. When that didn’t work I tried changing from combined knitting to continental, then consciously tightening the last knit and first purl of each repetition while knitting continental style. None of it seems to have made any difference. I have thought fairly seriously about ripping it out and trying again, but given that none of my fixes made any difference and that the right side looks far better than the wrong side I think I am just going to ignore it. However if anyone has ANY advice from avoiding this in the future it would be VERY welcome.

I looked in my ribbon stash and found purple and green ribbon. I was so disproportionately pleased with this discovery that I feel the need post another photo of the box containing the quilt, this time with lid and ribbon.

This was one of the distractions I used to entertain myself while trying to decide what to make next. Then I looked at Froggy’s last post and suddenly wondered if I should make Strike (from Rowan 27, see a pic here) instead of Alison’s Leftovers Vest. I really like Strike and managed to waste most of last night forcing Jesse to help me choose which pattern to knit. In the end we decided the Jo Sharp DK Tweed may make too firm a fabric for Strike and also I don’t really have the patience to wait for the book to arrive from the UK. In the process of choosing between the two patterns I discovered that all the information I needed to pick a Leftovers Vest size was right there in the pattern. Duh! All that procrastination for nothing. So at about 10pm last night I finally cast on the Leftovers Vest.

Along the way I had fun choosing just the right stitch markers for this project. How sad is that? Choosing this pattern meant I could cast on right away but then I found that I don’t actually have the right needles for the body so I placed an order for a bunch of new Addis last night. Of course they had all the needles I asked for except the ones I need right now. In fact no where in Australia seems to have 60cm or 80cm 4mm Addis. Arrghhh.

While I am complaining about everything else, am I the only one who has trouble finding the centre end of the yarn with Jo Sharp yarns? I am forever having to pull out half the ball and mess it up to find the end I want to knit from. ugh.

I finished Thomas’s quilt last night and it is oh so soft and snuggly. In the end it took two nights putting it together and two nights hand stitching the binding down… Which makes it doable to wait until babies are born and then make one before the first visit. The question is - will I (wait that is)? I am yet to decide whether to start another one of these blankets tonight or start making the Jo Sharp vest that is next in my knitting queue. I am planning to use Alison’s Leftovers Vest from the Winter ‘04 Knitty but I am having trouble settling on a size. While procrastinating over the vest last night I made some more stitch markers.

Taking photos of them reminded me that I had not shown you the markers I made over the Easter break. These may just be my favourites of all the markers I have made. It was such a shame I could only get three of these beads.

This is the baby quilt I am making for my neighbour’s due any second grandson Thomas. It’s made from super soft and suggly velour cord with flannel backing. It took me two nights work to get this far (I have done a little bit today). All that remains is to hand stitch the border/binding down at the back. I was going to bind it with purple satin ribbon binding. In fact I went so far as to spend $15 on the ribbon before discarding that idea. Apart from the money I wasted on the ribbon I was so happy with the result (even before actually finishing it) that today I went out and bought fabric for three more.

I have completely re-assessed my gift plans for all the upcoming babies in my life and EVERYONE is getting one of these, yes even the pregnant friend who reads this blog. You know how you are, just don’t expect to see photos here before you see it in the flesh. And just so you know, this is a much better plan that the last idea I had for you, the only thing better about my last idea would have been the surprise.

As well as all the new babies, Isabelle is getting one too. This is my second project in a row to make her cry - the poncho because I wanted her to wear it and this one because it wasn’t for her. How could I resist that? Isabelle’s will be pink and green with a gorgeous multi-coloured stripe flannel backing which matches beautifully. Let’s hope she still loves her first quilt when the new one is done, it’s not going to be bed sized so it will be a real pain if it’s all she wants to sleep with.

And the added bonus of making everyone one of these cuddly soft quilts? I get to keep the Stonington Shawl all for myself!

The insurance gods answered my prayer and Apple eventually decided to come to the party (I think it was 10 weeks from order to delivery). I have to say - how cool is Apple’s new machine setup? You turn it on, plug your old machine in, wait about 45 mins and viola! Everything you know and love only shinier, faste, better (and smaller).

Pattern: Children’s Poncho - Knitting Pure and Simple
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silk Road Tweed DK in colourway “Festival”
Needles: 5mm Addi Turbos

The Poncho is done. I finished the fringe during our trip to the Aquarium today, partly on the bus and partly while Isabelle played in their playground at the end of the trip.

When we got home I buttered Isabelle up with some camera play time. Bribery does not always work.

This is what happened when I suggested she put the poncho on. In fact she screamed and carried on about my trying to take photos of it even without her. Don’t hold your breath for photos of her actually wearing it! The dog was not so picky and agreed to pose with the poncho. Actually, he insisted.

And finally, in case you were wondering, this is how much yarn I had left over:

About five minutes after my last post it occurred to me that I had one of Isabelle’s hoodies in my bag. I pulled it out, lined them up and you know what? The Poncho hood is the exact same depth but quite a bit taller. I guess the difference in proportions was what made it seem too shallow. So I went ahead and seamed the hem for the drawstring, started an Icord drawstring and found it was too thick, crocheted a chain instead and then applied half the fringe. I SO want to just keep working but I know I will pay tomorrow for every minute longer I stay up tonight and I just can’t face it. The question now is - can I start and finish the quilt in two nights? It’s a pretty simple design I am planning, but I really don’t think I can make it happen. We shall see.

So I just finished the hood and I think it is too shallow. I was on this mad finishing spree desperate to get the poncho done before starting on the baby quilt that needs to be done by Thursday night (um yeah, not too much hope there either). I was so going to finish thing tonight, well not the fringe, but everything else. Now I am too scared to steam the edges of the hood and seam the hem because I am almost certain it will have to be ripped out tomorrow. It did seem odd to me that the pattern didn’t call for any increases from the neckline and now that it is finished I can see that it is indeed visibly shallower than the hoods on Isabelle’s other clothing and given that they all fit I doubt that this one will… So now it will have to wait until this quilt is done…

The body of the poncho is done, despite the four rows of garter stitch at the edge it is still curling a bit. I think this is because my garter stitch came out quite a bit looser than my stocking stitch. I really hope it will block out ok.

Tonight I start the hood, despite going and buying a fourth ball of yarn yesterday I am worried about whether I will have enough yarn left for the fringe. I have about 5 yards of the third ball left, so I have basically one ball of yarn for both. I just don’t like fringes enough to want to buy another ball only for that. Ugh.

What is that saying about simple minds and simple pleasures? I am endlessly fascinated by a line of increases….