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Knit Alongs
Thursday, May 6, 2005
posted 8:27 AM EST
Starting 3/15/05
The general concensus on the Cafe' Cardigan is that it is a lovely sweater. So I'm not going to say "never" on it, but I'm just not going to deal with it right now. I'll see if the sizing corrections are made with the other, more obvious errors. Since I'm so bad at math, and the sweater has set in sleeves, I'm not sure I can upsize it. So we'll just move it to the back burner for now.

The Cable O's vest is slowly progressing. As Matt's wearing the Cables 101 Vest again today, I had an opportunity to see if he likes the length or if he would want this one longer. The original pattern goes to 17" before armhole shaping... way too long for Matt. So I'm closer to the armholes than I thought (woo-hoo!) as we decided that it shouldn't go longer than 13". I will add a little extra to the armhole depth thanks to Matt's biceps (I think I did 10" on the Cables 101 Vest). I'm sure one of the reasons the Cables 101 gets so much wear is that it's a comfortable fit.

I have to say that I know how fortunate I am to have a husband who not only is proud of my knitting, but gladly wears what I knit him. I also love the fact that he likes vests... no sleeves, so they're faster to knit. Janet Szabo mentions in her introduction to the Cable O's Vest how much she likes to design them, as it gives her a chance to experiment with stitches that might not work with sleeves. Vests are just good knittin'

Speaking of Janet Szabo and her designs... she put a little sneak peak up on the Aran Knitlist for the summer issue. The green tee looks promising (tho' it's a little hard to see the actual stitch pattern). The cut and drape are lovely. I'm trying to remember the last issue of Twists & Turns that there wasn't at least one thing I planned on knitting.
Starting 3/15/05
Finshied 4/7/05
Finished 1/3/05
Finished 9/21/04
Finished 5/23/04
Current WIPs
Diamond Patch Sweater
Marilyn
Cropped Cardigan Reduex
Cable O's Vest
Cafe' Cardigan
Cromarty
Recently Finished
Cozy Shawl Collared Aran
Cross Over Top
Denim Socks
Wednesday, May 5, 2005 posted 8:33 AM EST
Thanks to Matt at
Crowing Ram
for the button.
The Cafe' Cardigan is officially DOA. It was called yesterday at 11:25. Heroic efforts were made to save the project, but it just didn't make it..
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The math just isn't working for me. Going by the finished measurements, this should be a finished 42". Going by the schematics, it should be a finished size of 39.5" and going by the gauge is should be a finished size of 38". See the problem? 42" is pushing the limits of my bust line (however, I'm small across the back, and since the styling on this is open with a tie closing, I figured that would compensate for my full bust line). However, 38" ain't gonna cut it. I block the above piece yesterday and I can block it open to the 19 3/4" finished size on the schematic, but that's still not large enough. So I'm done with it. It's such a shame, as it is a truely lovely little pattern that was fun to knit (once I figured out what was missing in the lace pattern) and it has a lovely look to it. Alas, it's not for me.
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So we'll work on a project that is working out. Working out well, as a matter of fact. Matt loves the look of it. The cotton is going to make for a fairly heavy vest, especially with all those cables, but he's fine with it. (today's picture is much more color accurate than the last picture, btw... that one was too pink. It really is more of a taupe color).

Well, I'm off... gotta go pick up a few things for dinner, got a little dog hair containment to do and a little Half Life 2 to play with (did I mention this is a looooong game? no wonder it took them so long to make it). I also now have an empty pair of needles from the Cafe' Cardigan.... hmmmm what can I cast on?
Tuesday, May 3, 2005 posted 9:04 AM EST
The good news: we have trees left in our yard (I'm not so sure about our one neighbor: I think they had all their trees taken down. Really.). The bad news? My computer can't find my F drive. Which means a server problem. My network admin has already left for work. Now you may ask why I need my F drive? Well, I can't upload pics from my camera to my new laptop thanks to the oldness of the camera (it's not a USB port), so I need to upload pics on the old laptop, put them on the network drive then access them from this computer. (Sadly, my computer set up is easier to understand than the TV setup). Now, I could upload the pics to the old laptop, then upload them to the 'net, then I can access them from this lap top. However, since Oracle has been installed on the old laptop (so it can be coverted into a server), it's very very slow and very buggy (we're sorta pushing the ability of the laptop running Oracle on it). Oh the joy of living with a computer bodger. Hopefully, I'll have pics tomorrow.

Anyway, I've written up my directions for the Cafe' Cardigan. However, the back looks way too small. I did the math* on gauge and the number of stitches I'm supposed to have and they don't work out. For a 42" size, I need a 115 sts based on the gauge in the pattern, but the pattern only gives me 105. So I've got missing yarn overs in the lace panel directions and missing st. st. rows between the lace repeats, and now the math not working out. I'm very suspect on this pattern. Part of my problem with all these errors? These should be very obvious to a proofreader. These are not just problems that you notice when you start to knit, but as soon as you read the pattern (plus the math should automatically be checked). This is the first time I've knit something from Cast On, and I must say that it's not giving me a lot of confidence in their patterns. Saying that, the pattern is beautiful and is working beautiful in the Key Largo yarn. I just hope that it fits...

*I will add that I completely suck at math, so I may be wrong. The pattern calls for 22 sts to 4" in pattern. It just seems to me that 105 stitches is not enough stitches to make the finished measurements. I'm 100% on gauge, and my back is measuring about 19".
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Monday, May 2, 2005 posted 8:15 AM EST
I've hit a minor snag with the Cafe' Cardigan: basically it's the directions. There's some very obvious mistakes in the lace panel pattern (which I might add have not been corrected on the corrections page online). So I've got to look at the picture and figure out what I'm supposed to actually do.

I did get quite a bit done on the Cable O's vest over the weekend, too. I thought I was zipping along really well, until I measured it. Yikes! Only 9" done... so it's moving along, but I thought I had more done than that! (just as an other side note: Matt is wearing the Cables 101 Vest again today. Did I mention that he wears it basically every other day?... must get this one done so he can change up once in a while!!!) I'll try to get an update picture for tomorrow.

Still playing Half Life 2. I'm not using a walkthru or anything, so I wasn't sure how far into the game I was. I know I've spent a lot of time playing it (first person shooters are usually very short compared to some other styles of games). The start up menu gives you a complete chapter breakdown. I've done 9 chapters out of 14. I thought I would be closer to the end than that! Hmmm, I'm starting to see a trend. I feel like I'm working hard on stuff, but not seeing a lot of progress. Gee, it's just like trying to lose weight!!!

Well, I'm off. We've got some guys coming to do some tree work (never fun) and that also means that the dogs are house bound (no playing in the yard). It makes for a long (barky) day.