Gauge Lessons

I am coming up on my 2nd knitting anniversary in December and I am now just starting to learn about gauge. Last night I was going to start a shawl with my Knit Picks Wool of the Andes yarn I have been agonizing over how to use it. Yesterday in church during bible class I was freezing. I looked at my outfit and realized it has black in it and a shawl would match. Last night I found a pattern and decided to try and do a guage swatch. I probaby did it wrong. I did 6-8 rows and then measured. I was looking for lenght. Was it 4 inches long? I did 4-5 swatches on different size needles and realized after I tried a size 8 that larger needles gives more lenght. Smaller needles gives less. I had it mixed up, I figured if you went smaller you could get more stitches per inch which would make it longer. So the size 8 seems to work. I will try a longer swatch later to make sure. I may go up to a 9 to give a bit more lenght.

I was laying in bed and thinking about gauge and the hat I am knitting. It is no longer for Joel. It is for a baby boy some day. I looked at my knitting and saw that it is pretty good! I don't want to rip it out but I want my needles back! It is good car knitting or TV knitting. I think I will add it back to the basket and squeeze it it somehow.

I started the poncho! I have 4 of the 9 inches of ribbing done. It has a flaw. I knit where I should have purled or vise versa. But since it is a turtleneck and the ribbing will be folded over. It won't show. Plus I can put that part in the back to hide it further. For bulky weight yarn it is going slow.I started Saturday. But I am a slow knitter anyway. I am looking forward to finishing the ribbing and it is easy, but I'm itching to get on with the body. I had a frustrating start to it. On Friday I drove to Michaels and Joanns to get the needles and yarn since I didn't have the size I needed to start. Got both and came to home cast on. I cast on and realized I wasn't going to be able to join in the round. Why? Because I didn't read the directions carefully and it lists 3 diferent cord lenghts for the needles. I needed a 16", 29" and 23" of a size 10. I bought a 29 inch. So Saturday I went back to the store and bought a 16" size 10. Everything is good now. I always wondered why 16" was a needed size? What did you do with them? Now I know.

My black scarf is on the back burner. I did a round (4 row round) last night and looked at the amount that's left. I'm getting close! It will be a full lenght scarf when it's done. I do not know what I will do with it. I may gift it to someone for Christmas. It should be done by then. When that is done I am dragging my white wool angora scarf  out and do that one. I have 2 skeins of that so not sure what I will do. I may rip it out and make something else or keep it a scarf. I started it when I only had 1 skein.

Knitting update

I'm back! It's been quite a while since I posted. Much has happened as you already know. I moved and got a dog which really eats into knitting time. I think I said last post I thought I would go into a fit of startitis. Well...not like I thought. I am not knitting the bathmats because some were given to us. Curtains, I have some that were left here from the 70's, need new ones and am still thinking about knitting them. Actually, now that I do think about it, I need new ones in 2 bathrooms and our bedroom. I don't think I have yarn for it. My bedroom has yellow walls. Wait...I could make green curtians and have a bit of Packer color in the room! Sam needs curtains to. His walls are light brown. Here are a couple of patterns I put in my favorites. Think they would look good in a bathroom or bedroom?

I had made good progress on the Sayoran scarf but then made a mistake and had to start over. Lifelines lifelines lifelines! I picked up a shawl out of hibernation I am making for Grace for church. She is always cold and never dresses warm. I hope I have it done by Christmas. I dragged out a scarf I started last year and want to finish it because it's only 1 skein. I still don't know if it will be long enough to wear but so what. I think I spent $1.50 for a very good skein of yarn at Gooswill. I also dragged out the hat I am trying to make for Joel and realized it probably would fit a baby's head. I'm very frustrated. It looks good though. Maybe I'll gift it to a family member who has a baby. I'm not done with it though and not sure how much to knit of the body of the hat since the circumference of the brim is so small.

I bought 2 skeins of yarn with most of the last of my knitting money. One is called Madelinetosh tosh sock yarn and it is beloved in the knitting world. I want to make a shawl out of it.12,335 patterns have been knit with this yarn. Needless to say it is very popular. Sock yarn is not just for socks! Here is the pattern I plan to use for this yarn. Check out all the pictures they give of this shawl! I can't give a picture of the color of ther yarm because it is one of a kind says the lable but it's tan and veregated.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/oaklet-shawl

The other is one of my favorite brands called Rowan. The yarn I grabbed is called Lima. It is 85% alpaca, 8% merino and 8% nylon. I saw this yarn knit up into a sweater and I about melted. I've wanted this yarn ever since. I managed to get 1 skein on 30% discount. I plan to make it into a cowl but I don't have the needles for it right now. If I have the size they may be in a project right now. I plan to wait till Christmas and ask for the needles I need. Here is a picture of the cowl and the yarn knit into the cowl pattern I will use.

This next picture is my newest obcession. I have this blue jacket that I wear to church in fall and spring that doesn't look that good and I'm to fat to feel comfortable in it. I saw this and thought it would be a good replacement. This appeals to me because it is out of bulky yarn and size 10 needles. I really like the turtleneck collar but it may be a bit too much. I'm sure it's easy to remedy. Plus if it's cold in church I can wear it during the service or out and about like to the store. I am partial to wool and I don't have money for 1250 yards of good wool. I can get 80/20 acrylic/wool at Micheals or Joanns for a good price with a   coupon. The yarn I have in mind is a 50/50 acrylic wool blend. Problem is it's only got 90 yards per skein. At that rate it will take 14 skeins to make it!!!!!!!!

I also have 5 skeins of worsted weight black wool that I do not know what to do with! I was making a lap blanket with it but compared to the bulky yarn I am using to make Grace's shawl it didn't compare. I ripped it out. There, I think that is it. Oh, I do have 1 finished project to mention. I made one of these:

Of course I just realized that I put the hanger part on the wrong side. It broke yesterday so I need to fix it anyway.

Till next time!