Triumph and Success

Hello, neglected readers (if you're out there...)

I realize that I have been away from the blog for about a week and a half, but I have been busy to some purpose - with the dreaded homework and, of course, with knitting. First, good news on the dishcloth front - the new yarn has been purchased (and I couldn't resist buying an additional 2 skeins, so now Mom's going to get 4 dishcloths instead of 2...) and the incorrect yarn-overs redone and it looks much better. Behold:

I am very satisfied. When I get a life again, I'll finish the other two. (In case you missed the last post, this was done in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, colourway Love.)

On the mitten front, things have had mixed results. I finally got around to felting all three pairs (plus the mini pair I knit when I learned to make mittens at prayer shawl group) and it turns out that my washing machine is not conducive to good felting. Either that, or I'm doing something wrong that I'm unaware of. I started with the children's mittens, because they were sort of my "test" mittens and I was least concerned about ruining them in the wash, but, three cycles later, still nothing. (More or less). I finally gave up on them and started the men's pair, with an additional pair of jeans. After two cycles of them, again, nothing. At this point I decided to try finishing them off by hand, which worked fairly well, but I wasn't entirely sure about the stitch definition (or lack thereof). Apparently they turned out well, though, even though there are a few little places where you can still see defined stitches. I tried the women's mittens starting completely by hand, but quickly found that putting them in the wash for a few cycles helps get them started and makes things go that much faster. By this point, however, it was getting late, so I decided to leave them for another time. Here are the results of that night's labour:

(Child size, in Cascade Soft Spun, Grass)

(Men's size, in Cascade Soft Spun, Navy)

A few days later, I did finish felting the women's mittens, which seemed to come out much better, although that may simply be due to the fact that I now have a better idea of what they're supposed to look like. Now they, like the men's mittens, await cuffing:

(Women's size, in Cascade Soft Spun, Aubergine)

Tonight I finished cuffing the kid's mittens. Now they're all ready for the mitten tree on Sunday:

I'm not sure how long it'll take me to get the other ones done; depends on how the homework situation goes. (Which is what I should have been doing about 3 hours ago... homework that is, not cuffing mittens.)

Note to Self

Apart from the fact that it's imposing on my homework time (stupid homework),  the knitting is going well. The women's size mittens for the mitten tree are ready, except for felting and cuffs:

(These are made with Cascade Soft Spun in Aubergine. The picture doesn't do justice to the colour).

The Christmas gifts are also going very well - especially after I figured out the right way to yarn-over. I don't know how I didn't figure this out before. Not only is the real way a heck of a lot faster and makes way more sense, it's a lot easier!

I've decided to make my mother some knitted dishcloths for Christmas. I'm using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (which I've fallen in love with, mainly because of all the cool colours. I wish I could go and buy a skein of each one...). Since the kitchen is red, I wanted something that would sort of match, so I bought a skein of Love (which is absolutely gorgeous) and a skein of Country Red (which is a closer match to the kitchen than the Love, but I wanted one solid and one ombre skein). Because the Love is more interesting, I decided to use that first. The pattern (the typical dishcloth pattern from the back of the ball band) was super easy and all was going fairly well. However, I was very confused by the lack of the giant hole that's supposed to appear when using a yarn-over increase. And because I have no common sense, I decided to check out the correct way to do the yarn-over only after I finished the first dishcloth. Bound off and everything, so no chance of a redo at this point. Turns out, you don't wrap the yarn around the left needle and knit into it, you wrap the yarn around the right needle and knit the next stitch off the left needle. Makes way more sense, right? I'm not completely satisfied with the first one, and I suspect that I'll be buying another skein of Love to do it again the right way.

Here's my comparison. Incorrect yarn-over:

Correct yarn-over:

Both dishcloths do have the edging (sort of...), but I like to know that I've done things right and I don't want to go gifting sub-standard knitting. The bright side is that I get to use the Handicrafter Cotton again - and I may pick up a few more skeins for me too. Hey, I'm going to need my own dishcloths eventually... :D

First Post

Well, this is my first legitimate foray into the blogosphere. (MySpace at 15 doesn't really count). And having a purpose really helps. I've been inspired by the Yarn Harlot, though I doubt I'll be as good at this as she is. I'm not nearly as witty, nor do I have as much knitting experience. Still, I think this will be fun.

I suppose some sort of introduction is in order. As you've probably guessed by the title, I'm Meg. I live in Manitoba, Canada. I work and go to school and, occasionally, knit or crochet. I can't wait until I finally have evenings free for guilt-free knitting.

I bought my first begin-to-knit kit when I was between 10 and 12. I learned a few things (knit, purl, increase, decrease, basic cables) and then didn't knit for a long time. In my late teens, I started getting into it again. Now, I'm hooked. I haven't finished many projects yet, but I have about a gazillion works in progress. Some are fairly close to being done, others less so.

I learned to crochet a little after I learned to knit, but just couldn't manage it. My scarf attempts always ended up much narrower at the top than the bottom. About a year ago, I picked it up again and, miraculously, it worked. I don't crochet as much as I knit, but I'm getting into it.

I belong to a prayer shawl group at my church. We make shawls for people who need them (those who may be sick or going through difficult times), as well as for new babies. We've also recently expanded into mittens for the mitten tree that is always put up at Christmas. I'm starting to love knitting mittens. I also love knitting with other people. It's much more fun than knitting by yourself. It also feels really good to know that something I made might help someone else, whether it's a shawl or a pair of mittens.

I don't know how often I'll be able to post here, or how much I have that's "blog-worthy," but I'll do my best. Enjoy!