Tag: grainshawl

when to kill a work in progress?

April 30, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’ve got a few things on the needles/hook right now and I’m struggling a bit with not wanting to work on one of them. It’s funny, there are things that you just don’t know about a project until you’re well into it. There’s no substitute for experience I suppose.

So I went like gangbusters through the first foot or so of Grain. I somehow managed to make mistakes even in garter stitch, even with yarn overs for increases. This should have been excellent TV knitting and yet I was managing to make a mess. That bit eventually smoothed out, but then I learned something truly problematic:

Each row getting longer drives me insane. This is not a good thing if you want to knit shawls. And I don’t know why I want to knit a shawl. I have no use for one. My daughter says she loves them but doesn’t ever wear them. I certainly won’t. I don’t know any shawl-people.

So what do I do with this growing beast? Do you frog just because a project isn’t speaking to you anymore? Do you hide it in the closet? Do you power through?

I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

WiP Wednesday

January 10, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

Wherein I try and fail to make progress:

1. Grain: I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with the simplicity of this knit. It’s great TV knitting and I’ve gotten faster and smoother at cranking out knit stitch as a result of working on it, but there’s just so very far to go and I’m just so very bored. I don’t know what’s going to happen to this one.

2. Al’s Mitts: I’ve been having trouble getting these fingerless gloves done since I first started them. I’m not quite finished with one and making the second one seems daunting even though I think I’ve figured it out now. These are simple moss stitch crochet worked so the stretchiness encircles the and and wrist. They’re worked as a rectangle and will be seamed up the side. I don’t know why I’ve had trouble with them, but it’s like that sometimes I suppose.

3.Jewelled Star: Talk about love-hate relationships! From trying to get a reasonable assortment of colors to how much I don’t like making one of the motifs it’s fought me back the whole way. This one I plan to win, though. I’ve just got too much invested and too much love for the finished project. Not to mention that the process of deciding what colors to put together is an absolute joy.

There are a couple more but those are the big ones. They’re all driving me nuts in one way or another and probably need to be put in time out lol. Or maybe I need a smaller project or two that can be finished quickly to get my mojo back. We’ll see. But for now I’m chugging along and making some progress and is something that I’m really happy with.

this & that

January 4, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

Just now made another mistake on Grain. I dropped a yo instead of knitting it I think? In any case, everything’s secure, just odd looking in a spot. Won’t even notice in the fo.

Got some stitch markers from ChiaoGoo that are making things much easier where I’m using them. Proper tool for the proper job. You wouldn’t think a stitch marker would make much of a difference but it really eliminates a friction point.

I got my latest purchase from Knitivity today. It’s gorgeous as always. Pictures to come.

I got some Scarfie this week as well and thought I’d picked a pattern for it but changed my mind when I actually started working it up. So that can be stash for a bit while I work on other things.

I’ve been doing a lot of gaming this week. I think my hands appreciate being asked to do something else.

And there’s even more going on but that seems like a good list!

hooks and tools

December 27, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

Look what else I got for Christmas!

I’m so excited! I really like working with bigger yarns. I can’t wait to get my hands on some and make lovely chunky things.

In other news, I finished the second sock of the worsted lavender pair and though I’m super stoked to have done it I’m feeling like I don’t want to be near another sock anytime soon. Maybe if I get over it I’ll try toe-up and see if they drive me any less crazy.

Grain is coming along but I’m starting to feel like I overestimated my love of endless garter stitch. It’s beautiful but I’m more and more reluctant to work on it. I’m not sure I can keep it up for another few thousand stitches.

And last but not at all least, after some swatching and playing around I decided to keep the same hook on my big brown throw. Mostly it’s nice to be working on it again.

Grain is growing

December 22, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

I haven’t worked on her in a couple of days, but it’s going quickly.

You can see in the second picture that I made a blooper, but I think continuing on has straightened it out. I can’t say as I mind too much…I like perfection as much as anyone but I know that I probably won’t get there, at least not yet. So it’s good practice taking it in stride.

Grain

December 18, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’ve been knitting a lot lately and my latest project is Grain by tin can knits. I wish I had a better pic, but this is the very start of it:

This is perfect TV knitting now that it’s underway, but it was my very first provisional cast on and first garter tab.

I’m really enjoying the straightforward knitting and I think it’s going to show off the yarn nicely. I’m doing this in Hobbii Horizon. The colorway is Sunup Sky:

I’m looking forward to trying more of their patterns.