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sevI think I may actually only have four projects going on right now. I mean, if you don't count the silk squares which are destined for frogging because they're too pretty to make pillowcases out of, or the pink sweater which I've swatched but haven't actually started -- and am questioning whether maybe I just want to make a shrug anyway. So, four projects, all but one of which are in the "nearly done" stage (I get stuck there a lot, don't I?): The fire-colored acrylic and mohair shawl, based on Ella, the cotton baby cardigan from Style Your Own Kids Knits, the fuzzy purple scarf for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aynjel, and the grey checkerboard scarf for erev_rav.
Ella: done with the main body of the shawl. It increases by two stitches every row, so it's wide and short. It'll probably still be wide and short even after I block it. I'm planning to add an edging first, though -- I'm thinking the wave edging from Eunny's Print O' The Wave Stole. It'll be my first experiencing knitting an edging onto a piece like that. Though I don't have live stitches to attach it to; I wonder if I should start by picking up stitches and making a border, first? center + border + edging is apparently traditional. I was planning on skipping the border and just picking up a stitch at the edge of the main body to knit together with the edging. I suppose if that doesn't look right I can always rip it out and do it again. The nice thing about not working with live stitches is I don't have to worry about the part I've already finished going anywhere if I have to rip back!
I really loved working this pattern. The lace stitch was just complicated enough to keep me from getting bored, but easy enough that I could work on it while nursing, talking, and/or watching TV. (yay for stitch markers. Finding the right place to put the stitch markers -- in this case, in the center of each repeat, where the decreases go -- makes for a lot less counting.)
The baby cardigan: My, there are an awful lot of ends to weave in, here. I chose two colors and the wave pattern (and spur-of-the-moment, the medallion on the back) because one color would have bored me, and I still think that's true. But this work has been sitting and waiting because I hate, hate, hate weaving in ends. With Ella, I started working the acrylic thread 
straight from the Huge Ginormous Spool instead of making portable balls or spools because I feared what was going to happen when it was time for me to work those ends back into the lace. This cardigan has eight-bazillion ends to weave in -- at least four for each of the five pieces, two for each of the four seams, two for the medallion, two for each of the two pieces of ribbed trim, and two more because I reached the end of the ball of yarn at an inconvenient point (two rows before the shoulder. sigh.) That's what, thirty-six ends to weave in? No wonder this is taking me forever. And I'm 
peeved that the button band still folds in even after blocking. And that the shiny completely non-fuzzy cotton showcases my uneven stitches and row-to-row tension changes so brilliantly. And I haven't yet convinced myself that crocheting buttons is the right answer (but at least that way, I won't ever worry about the baby scratching herself on them). And did I mention that I hate weaving in ends? I'm just about done with the weaving, and now just need to trim, except now I'm paranoid that in my hatred of weaving in ends, I haven't woven them in enough and now the whole thing's going to unravel. My first actual constructed sweater, isn't it pretty? Next time I'm making something with fewer pieces. (of course, the next project I've been talking about doing is going to mix five different yarns. And at least three pieces -- body and two arms -- which makes for about the same number of ends to weave in. Am I nuts? On the other hand, if I decide to make a sweater with crochet edging, I can just crochet over the ends and declare them gone. Did that with the ruana.)
And the scarves -- yay for less sewing! No picture of the grey scarf; it's upstairs and I'm not going up there just to snap a picture. I work on it during nighttime feedings. And, unlike the other three objects in this post, the grey scarf is *not* nearly finished.
The purple scarf is mostly done; I have to use up the last of the purple yarn, do the other black edge, and then sew the black edges into pockets. There will be eight ends to weave in. There would have been six, except I didn't leave a long enough tail on the first black section to be able to sew up the pocket using the tail end of the knitting. Oh, well. And eyelash yarn is very forgiving -- nobody'll ever see the ends, no matter how sloppily I weave them in.
The next project really needs to be a shrug, though. My arms get cold, even when the rest of me is warm. I never used to understand the point of a shrug; I still think they're kind of funny-looking. But perhaps I'll have one ... by the fall, when it starts to get cold again. :)
aynjel, and the grey checkerboard scarf for erev_rav. Ella: done with the main body of the shawl. It increases by two stitches every row, so it's wide and short. It'll probably still be wide and short even after I block it. I'm planning to add an edging first, though -- I'm thinking the wave edging from Eunny's Print O' The Wave Stole. It'll be my first experiencing knitting an edging onto a piece like that. Though I don't have live stitches to attach it to; I wonder if I should start by picking up stitches and making a border, first? center + border + edging is apparently traditional. I was planning on skipping the border and just picking up a stitch at the edge of the main body to knit together with the edging. I suppose if that doesn't look right I can always rip it out and do it again. The nice thing about not working with live stitches is I don't have to worry about the part I've already finished going anywhere if I have to rip back! I really loved working this pattern. The lace stitch was just complicated enough to keep me from getting bored, but easy enough that I could work on it while nursing, talking, and/or watching TV. (yay for stitch markers. Finding the right place to put the stitch markers -- in this case, in the center of each repeat, where the decreases go -- makes for a lot less counting.)
The baby cardigan: My, there are an awful lot of ends to weave in, here. I chose two colors and the wave pattern (and spur-of-the-moment, the medallion on the back) because one color would have bored me, and I still think that's true. But this work has been sitting and waiting because I hate, hate, hate weaving in ends. With Ella, I started working the acrylic thread straight from the Huge Ginormous Spool instead of making portable balls or spools because I feared what was going to happen when it was time for me to work those ends back into the lace. This cardigan has eight-bazillion ends to weave in -- at least four for each of the five pieces, two for each of the four seams, two for the medallion, two for each of the two pieces of ribbed trim, and two more because I reached the end of the ball of yarn at an inconvenient point (two rows before the shoulder. sigh.) That's what, thirty-six ends to weave in? No wonder this is taking me forever. And I'm peeved that the button band still folds in even after blocking. And that the shiny completely non-fuzzy cotton showcases my uneven stitches and row-to-row tension changes so brilliantly. And I haven't yet convinced myself that crocheting buttons is the right answer (but at least that way, I won't ever worry about the baby scratching herself on them). And did I mention that I hate weaving in ends? I'm just about done with the weaving, and now just need to trim, except now I'm paranoid that in my hatred of weaving in ends, I haven't woven them in enough and now the whole thing's going to unravel. My first actual constructed sweater, isn't it pretty? Next time I'm making something with fewer pieces. (of course, the next project I've been talking about doing is going to mix five different yarns. And at least three pieces -- body and two arms -- which makes for about the same number of ends to weave in. Am I nuts? On the other hand, if I decide to make a sweater with crochet edging, I can just crochet over the ends and declare them gone. Did that with the ruana.) And the scarves -- yay for less sewing! No picture of the grey scarf; it's upstairs and I'm not going up there just to snap a picture. I work on it during nighttime feedings. And, unlike the other three objects in this post, the grey scarf is *not* nearly finished.
The purple scarf is mostly done; I have to use up the last of the purple yarn, do the other black edge, and then sew the black edges into pockets. There will be eight ends to weave in. There would have been six, except I didn't leave a long enough tail on the first black section to be able to sew up the pocket using the tail end of the knitting. Oh, well. And eyelash yarn is very forgiving -- nobody'll ever see the ends, no matter how sloppily I weave them in.
The next project really needs to be a shrug, though. My arms get cold, even when the rest of me is warm. I never used to understand the point of a shrug; I still think they're kind of funny-looking. But perhaps I'll have one ... by the fall, when it starts to get cold again. :)
no subject
on 2007-03-26 12:02 am (UTC)I wonder if I should start by picking up stitches and making a border, first? center + border + edging is apparently traditional. I was planning on skipping the border and just picking up a stitch at the edge of the main body to knit together with the edging.
I recommend creating a border of single crochet using the same yarn you used for the body, and then picking up a stitch of that at the main body to knit together with the edging.
no subject
on 2007-03-26 03:08 am (UTC)I started the edging just knitting the last stitch of the WS rows of the edging together with a loop I made by sticking my needle into the end of the body, but had to stop 9 rows in because there's an error in the pattern and I can't figure out how to fix it, so it's not like I'd be ripping out much. :)
no subject
on 2007-03-26 03:53 am (UTC)