May sweeps, wedding garters, gauge issues, and Mother's Day

Well, I wasn't very productive over the past few days because I didn't feel well last week (I was kind of worried that I had the swine flu b/c of a headache and just feeling lousy, but it never got any worse than that so I survived), and because I've allowed a lot of distractions. As always. I enjoy television way too much in May, and watch shows that I never normally watch just to get in on all of the May sweeps escapades. All of the tv weddings, hook-ups, break-ups, near death experiences, natural disasters, man-caused disasters, outrageous stunts, and shocking episodes of Oprah have me watching WAY too much television. Rotting my mind. And not doing enough yard work (though I did put in a full day on Monday, it's a jungle out there). OH WELL. I can hardly wait to watch House tonight, even though I'm worried that the House/Cuddy hook-up last week will destroy the show.

My Blossom has been sidetracked by intense gauge issues. I've gone up a few needle sizes, but am still getting 6 1/2 sts per inch, instead of 6. I figure if I walk away for a few days, it will magically resolve itself. haha.

I have a few weddings to attend this summer, and I have been thinking up gift ideas that involve knitting (I have a lot more time than money nowadays, so I figure knitted gifts are perfect). I was thinking about working up a lace edging for a set of pillowcases as a wedding gift. And I was stumped about a shower gift, until Kniterary Club on Sunday, when I remembered that Caitlin knit up a garter for her friend, and I got some info on knitting garters from her. EXCELLENT. I came home with a ball of crochet cotton so that I would be able to get started on my lace edgings, and I ended up using it to experiment with lace patterns for a garter. It was fun! I tried the Beech Leaf Edging from Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns (pg 362). I'll see where it goes.

For Mother's Day, my mom told me that she wanted to get take out ribs from Ruby Tuesday for dinner. At first I was kind of upset that she didn't want me to cook for her, but on Mother's Day, mom gets what she wants! And it was good to do take out, because it can be stressful to take grandmother into a restaurant. What I did do is make a dessert she requested, Pistachio Pudding Bars. Which I managed to not get perfect, despite the fact that it involves very limited baking and impossible-to-mess-up convenience foods (cool whip, jello pudding). Though no one complained, I'm going to make them again to get it right (I kind of made up the recipe I used by combining several things from the internet, so I should really get the actual recipe from my aunt) and maybe then they'll merit a blog photo. But it was a good day for my wonderful mother, and I'm really glad we didn't buy any tender plants at the nursery for a gift yesterday, because there's a frost advisory for tonight (it affirms my conviction that you don't buy sensitive plants until after Memorial Day in Michigan).

Bizoo Bizu Tickle

I finished another project! (I'm trying positive reinforcement, hoping it leads to the speedy completion of other projects.) The tickle hat, from Louisa Harding's Bizoo Bizu book I raved about in an earlier post. According to the Ravelry group page, the name from the book is the children's phonetic pronounciation of "bisous bisous" (kiss kiss, maybe it's spelled "bizou bizou," I don't know French so I can't say for sure). How cool is it that Louisa Harding replies to people's questions on Ravelry?

This hat was wonderful to knit, but hard to photograph. A beret demands a human head. Thank goodness I had this teddy bear to use as a model... I tried stuffing the hat with balls of yarn, but it didn't look right at all. (more photos here) I used Louisa Harding's Kashmir Baby yarn, which I like because it looks good and doesn't pill easily.

I've started my next project, Blossom, from the same book, and decided to use Bubblegum, a great coral pink/red color of Kashmir Baby. I've knit two gauge swatches, neither of which were correct (AAAHHH my nemesis) but I finally found the right needles (I hope) and should have that rolling along tomorrow. All of this gauging has me thinking about switching to the combined knitting method (Annie Modesitt's explanation), because I'm not 100% happy with my tension and knitting when I'm not knitting in the round. My knit stitches aren't the same size as my purl stitches, and the combined method is supposed to help with that. I'll try it for my next gauge swatch, to see how it goes.

another gauge error... ooopsa

I was frustrated with all of my wips, and I decided to start a simple baby sock for Teresa's first birthday. I got the Meilenweit Cotton Fantasy leftovers from a pair of socks my mom made, and decided I'd try the decorative scallop edge from a pair of socks designed by Lucy Neatby (photo on the far right). I casted on at Kniterary Club this afternoon, and everything was going great. I made excellent progress this afternoon, got to the toe... and realized that it was really too small and tight. I checked my needle size, and realized it was a size 0 (2mm) instead of a 1 1/2 (2.5mm). big problem. or small problem. ugh. I hate it when I make such stupid mistakes.

Needless to say, I ripped and started over. Gauge is my nemesis. Moral of the story: ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK THE SIZE OF YOUR NEEDLE.

This doesn't phase me at all, however, because the SPARTANS ARE IN THE FINAL FOUR!!!

Regia Silk Color Sock

I knew that this project would have to be ripped and started over out shortly after I started it in November, but denial is an ocean (not just a river in Egypt). I'm ready to deal with it now.

It's the beginning of a basic sock, 68 sts, 2mm needles, Regia Silk Color yarn in color 0190: Tanzania. Why didn't this sock work? I'll examine the reasons:

1) GAUGE
This yarn isn't very happy being knit on size 0 needles (and at less than 8 sts per inch). I might go up a size, to make my fabric feel better. It looks fantastic as is, though... I'm still debating... Lucy Neatby says to go as small as possible, and I'd like to try her way at least once.

2) TOO FEW STITCHES
I originally intended to gift these socks... but after seeing how lovely they will be, I know that I'll have to keep them. And that means I'll have to cast on enough stitches to make them Annie-sized (9 1/2).

In the end, if the sock is this tight on my wrist...

...it doesn't fit over my ankle, and cuts off circulation to my foot. (Thank goodness I didn't take any photos of that!)

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a project is to rip it and start anew. As Scarlett says, "Tomorrow is another day."