Sunday, July 20, 2008

Victorian Shoulderette is Done!

I'll have to post pictures later after I give Connie the office lady her shoulderette. After figuring out the pattern with the help of my friend Sandra, it was easy to knit. Apparently I couldn't read the pattern and knit at the same time. Sandra read the directionsto me s-l-o-w-l-y while I knit what she directed me to knit.

I had to do 14 repeats of the 24 rows. I was click-clacking along so well. Grrr!! Until I was just about done with repeat 9, that is. I ran out of yarn!! I called Alpaca Outfitters in Elkhart where I purchased the yarn to see if they had anymore. I was so lucky. They have discontinued carrying the yarn but the woman who answered the phone had two hanks already wound up into cakes. She sold them to me for $10 including shipping. I finished the shoulderette on Saturday the 19th. I'll have to thank her when I return to Elkhart in August.

I think I'll try and find a pretty pin for the shawl before I give it to Connie. Now I have to find soemthing to make for Pat the other office lady. She's a little harder to read, but I'm thinking a nice purse or maybe another shawl would be nice for her. Ooh! Maybe some gloves or a scarf. I'll figure it all out.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Crap!

I purchased this pattern this afternoon. I thought I'd do something nice for Connie the office secretary at school and make her a shawl. When she gets cold, which is frequently, she wears her jacket wrapped around her shoulders. As I was browsing the many, many patterns on Ravelry, I ran across the Victorian Shoulderette pattern and thought it would be perfect for Connie. That baby was knitting up fast! I got through over half of it this evening. I just finished the first three rows of the lace panel and counted my stitches since when I ended the repeats, I didn't have the number of stitches the pattern said I should have. It appears that I may have neglected three YOs somewhere and now I'm three stitches short. Crap! Now I have to go back three rows and figure out what the hell I did and where I did it.

I hate to undo knitting work. There are so many stitches that can get lost or dropped. It's not like crochet. In crochet there's only one loop on the hook at a time, not like the 173 (or 170, in my case) I have to undo three times on this shoulderette. Ugh! I'll fix it, but for tonight I tossed it aside on the couch and refuse to touch it again until tomorrow.

I thought about walking over to the park and knitting tomorrow, but we're expecting scattered thundestorms and a high temp of 86 degrees. I'm rethinking that idea. Perhaps, I'll go to Borders, purchase an iced tea and maybe a pretzel, and stitch in the cafe. Or I could walk over to the park in the morning before the rain or the rising temperatures.