Ready to quit...but I WON'T

I guess I became a bit of a knitting snob after completing my Latvian Mittens. After all I did knit them all by myself! I followed the directions in the book and ended up with a nice pair of mittens. OK, so I had to rip them out and restart them once, but overall it was a pretty low stress affair. 

Now enter the "birthday shawl". It is making me crazy!!!  First I spent a very long time deciphering the pattern. It was labeled for "Advanced Beginners". After the mittens I thought I could at least do an "advanced beginner" project. Well, apparently not!

As you can see there is purple yarn attached to my lovely yellow shawl yarn. Well, the pattern starts off with a provisional cast on. Since I had never heard of a provisional cast on I had to do a bit of research, and call my mom. I love my mom, but now that I am in my 40's do I really need to call her for knitting help again?? Yes. "Thanks Mom!"

But the provisional cast on is for another day. Back to the Birthday Shawl.

I am not sure it will ever turn into a shawl. I am looking at it right now. I am so dismayed that I don't even want to take a picture to show you. So, close your eyes and imagine the picture above with about 10 more beautiful yellow rows. However, they are deceiving because now I only have 125 stitches instead of the 130 I started with. I feel like I am out of my league on this one.

I already got this far once and ripped it out. And now it's decision time again. Do I rip it all out and start "fresh", or do I keep going and just add in a few stitches back in? The later choice sounds good, however, trying to do this along with YO's and SSK's all over the place is quite a challenge.

I think a glass of wine and early to bed can help to solve just about any knitting problem. I'm sure it will not look so daunting in the morning:)

A pair of Latvian Mittens!

Here are the new pair from a variety of angles... Even with kid #5 modeling them.

Ta daa!

Making the Swatch

Usually I will do anything to get out of knitting a swatch before beginning a pattern, but this time I was happy to start.

In fact I'm still not done with Latvian mitten number 2 because I wanted to start the swatch!! And here it is.

The main reason I wanted to do the swatch was because I had so much to learn with this pattern. I had a lot of YO, SSK, and DDC's to figure out.

I started by reading through the pattern for at least 15 minutes trying to decode the order of it. Then I jumped in to give it a try. 

The pattern is a repeating 9 stitch pattern. So, I casted, or is it cast on 27 stitches. 

Then I knit across the first row, purled my way back and then started in on the pattern.

The first few rows I actually was increasing instead of decreasing in parts of it! Once I really caught on I maintained the now 32 stitches I was working with. 

So, I have to say the swatch was a huge success. I helped me to work out the pattern and gave me confidence for "doing it right" the first time.

Next step, CO (cast on) 130 stitches.

I went shopping at my LYS (Local Yarn Shop)

I found a free 45 minutes this afternoon and decided to spend it at one of my favorite LYS (Local Yarn Shops), 3 Kittens Needle Arts in Mendota Heights. I still had my gift certificate in hand. This afternoon was cold and blustery. In fact it was snowing as I drove to the yarn shop.

After browsing for a bit, I found a great stack of individual patterns. I selected this Smokey Quartz Lace Shawl pattern by Barb Kervin for Kollage. Carole directed me to the best yarns for this pattern. I decided on a bamboo in yellow. Maybe it was the ridiculous weather outside that lead me to the bright yellow color.

Next I will tackle the pattern. I hope I can decode it easily. I actually knit my entire first Latvian Mitten without needing to call my mom for phone help. See my blog entry for February 3 for a great picture of her. 

And by the way, if I finish Latvian mitten number 2 tonight, my daughter really can wear them in the snow this spring!! We'll see how late I can stay up:)

The 2nd Latvian Mitten is on it's way!

Well, here is the latest "play-by-play" of mitten number 2.

I'm not sure the fringe is much better on this one. I have decided that I will not put fringe on the next pair. (Yes, there will be more pairs knitted:)

I have to say my yarn management was a bit out of control. I think I was getting a bit of an attitude because my first mitten looks really good!!

So, to bring me back to knitting reality, I dealt with quite a mess. And only myself to blame:)

What a mess!  So lesson learned...Slow Down!! 

I did enjoy not having to watch the graph in my pattern book for each stitch. On the first mitten I was thinking...

OK knit one red

OK now knit one white

OK now knit two red

all the way through the pattern.

On mitten number two, my confidence was up, and I could think...

OK knit two white, one purple, one white, one purple, and back to two white, repeat all the way around.

That felt good!

 

Finally, I was done with one color. No more pink and a bit less mess.

And here they are side by side...

Almost a pair.

And more to come. I will share my shopping experience with my gift card as soon as I go shopping:) I sure hope I can get out soon!!

One Latvian Mitten!!

Here it is...

I am so proud of myself!

There are many little errors. I am excited to see how much better the left mitten will be.

OK, off to the Yarn Quest 2011!!

It's My Birthday!!!

April is such a big birthday month in my family!  Three of my siblings, one daughter and one nephew all share the month with me!!  According to my mother I was supposed to be a March birthday, but alas, I waited until April:)

As is the tradition, I received a few birthday gifts. Here is my favorite one...

...Yes, even more favorite than the chocolate!!

I haven't even entered the store yet. There are so many choices and I, in regular oldest daughter fashion, want to have a plan before I go. I could buy some square knitting needles, they are over $20.00!! Really, is the knitting experience that much better using square needles? I could buy more yarn to make another pair of slipper clogs. Now that I have the pattern down, they can be made very quickly. Or, this may be my chance to buy a new pattern and yarn to create something I haven't created before!

Hmmmmm, the anticipation is fun. Actually buying something will be even better!!

Making Progress on the Latvian Mittens

Yeah for me! I made it past the thumb opening!

Now I just need to knit a few more rows, then I begin the decrease!! The trickiest part of mitten number 2 will be making sure I put the thumb in the right place! I don't want two right handed mittens:)