* Cross post from the Ribby Cardi knitalong

I swatched for Ribby Cardi today, and luckily, I'm getting gauge with the recommended needle size... most surprisingly, I'm getting row gauge, too. I'm not used to that happening.

Now I'm ready to cast on, and being the prefectionist I am, I'm feeling all hung up about what cast-on method to use. Is there a best one to use for ribbing? Is there a place online that talks about the pros and cons of different cast-on methods (I 'm hoping so... I don't want to have to wait to find a book about it before I can cast on)? I usually (HA! I'm a rather new knitter... usually doesn't mean too much yet)like the cable cast-on, as it looks nice and is nice and stretchy, too... but I heard someone mention tubular cast-on, and was wondering if there was a reason that would be better. The tutorials seem clear as mud to me (I think I'd have to follow the instructions before they really made sense to me), but it seems as if with the tubular cast-on, your first little bit looks 1x1 ribbed. I'm not sure how I'd like the look of that with the ribbing that already exists in the pattern. And someone else said they used the long-tail cast-on, which is one I haven't tried yet (told you I'm a new knitter).

Any help would be appreciated. I hate feeling so indecisive, especially when I really just want to START working on this.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds...

* image courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics

100 rows

Secret project # 1 went so, SOOOOOO much faster than secret project #3 is. Not too surprising... they both used the same type of yarn, but #1 was knitted w/ 28 stitches per row on US 8's, while #3 is knitted w/ 54 stitches per row on US 5's.

So, now that I've done 100 rows on #3, I've worked 5400 stitches, and it's 15" long.

#1 used 28*(56*6+5, or 341 rows)= 9458 stitches total. Stitch-wise, I'm well over half way through the total of #1 (57%). I am only able to knit about 2.5 inches on it in a day. I'm getting SO, SOOOOOO tired of it... even though I love the way it looks, I'm just so bored. I wanna play with something else.

*Update 12/21/04 11:47 pm.... I had just saved this post as a draft, instead of posting it. Now, I've used almost the entire skein for #3. There's very little left... maybe enough for another row or two, but almost certainly not enough for the complete 4 row repeat... and now the surprise item is 27.5" long (the finished item will be twice that). At 188 and 54 stitches per row, that's 10152 stitches. Hmmm... that doesn't seem like nearly as big a difference stitch-wise as it felt like.

Cute as can be sheep ornament, but...

Can you believe the price this is going for? WOWZA!

Tiny Sheep Mini Christmas stocking ornamentOOAK

Ok, ok...

I'm busting to show someone. If you leave me a comment with your email address, I'll send you the URL to a picture of secret project #3.

Knitting Magic

I've been rolling my yarn into center-pull balls. This is seriously my least favorite part of knitting. I'm thinking I need a ball-winder. It would save me about 2 - 2.5 hours per skein.


Center Pull Ball 


Another one 

However, I really really love the results. I get such a kick out of pulling out the yarn. It reminds me of that silly magician's trick with the endless scarves. Just fun.

I put secret project #2 aside because I had to tink back a row, and now I have to figure out how to make sure each stitch is on the needle the right direction. I was doing k2p2 ribbing... would all the yarn still wrap under to the back, over to the front like knit stitch does, or would it be different for the knits and purls?

And I started secret project #3 using the Byzantine. I can't wait to show you the pictures of this one. It is FABU! This pattern is gorgeous with this colorway. I love it.

So, in lieu of actual knitting photos, I found a fun little survey over at A Call to Adventure...

Holiday Survey

1. Egg nog - yum or yuck?

YUM! Love the stuff. I get excited every year when it starts appearing in the stores next to the milk. I usually cut it half and half with milk, because otherwise it's just so rich, and, it saves a little money too.

2. Stay up until midnight on New Years?

Yep... of course, I stay up until midnight MOST days. I'm one of the worst night owls I know. Going to bed at midnight would be rather early for me.

3. Prefer white or colored lights?

I love both... white lights look more elegant, but colored lights are fun and happy.

4. Favorite holiday song.

Wow... that one is really hard. I like so many of them. Silent Night and Away in a Manger are probably my two favorite spiritual ones. Walking in a Winter Wonderland is pretty high on my traditional songs list, but I'm not sure if I can say favorite, because I feel like I'm drawing a blank, and just can't think of the names of others that I like.

5. What is your tackiest holiday decoration?

What? Nothing I own is tacky! (Ha!) I've always wanted to do have a special commemorative Christmas ornament for each year. That only happened the first year we were married. I bought a frog prince ornament (it has a string hanging out the bottom that if you pull it makes the arms and legs move up and down), because I'd kissed enough frogs and found my handsome prince. I think it's cute, but it's silly, too, and rather large for tree-hanging.

6. Do your kids have too much and you wonder just WHY you are getting more?? lol

Sortof yes, sortof no. I'm not good at getting rid of things, so toys have a tendency to get out of hand, but this year, we moved, and haven't gotten much back out, so it doesn't seem as much like they have too much.

7. If you celebrate Christmas, when does your tree go up and come down?

Um... when I get around to it. I'm not so good with schedules.

8. Christmas again - open presents on Christmas eve, morning, or other?

Both... I like to get jammies to open Christmas eve, so that Christmas day pictures look good, but most presents have to wait until Christmas morning.

9. Favorite holiday tradition?

Um... also not good with traditions.

10. What do YOU want for Christmas?

Denise interchangeable needles (I'm getting really sick of having to go out and buy needles before I can start any project, and what if I don't get gauge... 2 trips? And that's only if I don't end up on a wild goose chase, which is my SOP*... it seems whatever I want, whatever store I go to ends up being out of them when I need them... and the GOOD yarn stores are 45 minutes across town).

Lotsa knitting books.

How do you do it?

First off, before I forget, thank you so much Mary, Lizz, Katie, Bogie and Shannon for taking the time to direct me to helpful places.

I wish I could show you pictures, but I can't. The projects I'm working on now are SECRET.

I finished knitting secret project #1 from the Emilie yarn. I just need to weave in ends and wash and block it.

Now I've started secret project #2 (I'm using the Last of the Summer Berries for this one). This is my first ever knit in the round with DPN's. ARGH! This is so hard! Maybe it's just that the first row is hard (I hate knitting into the cast on row... it's so much harder than the rest of the knitting), and maybe it's that I have to use metal DPN's with teeny tiny yarn (it's about the thickness of #10 crochet thread), I dunno, but if this whole project goes like this, I'm going to asphyxiate. I keep having to remind myself to breathe, I'm concentrating so hard on it. So, how do people do this without going insane or passing out from not breathing?

It doesn't help that I'm doing k2p2 ribbing. I don't mind purling (even though I'm much better at knitting), but going back and forth between the two I find difficult. I can't get into a rhythm.

I feel so incredibly awkward. When I went up the the Boulder Knit & Crochet Out, there was a lady doing a hat on (fatter wood) DPN's. It all seemed to work so smoothly for her. I want to be that good. And I want it to be now, so that I can actually get this project done in time. Maybe I should just give up and go buy things. I dunno. I really wanted to do something SPECIAL, and I bought the yarn. I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.

HELP. ME. PLEASE.

I've been knitting this secret object (sorry I can't show pictures), and I managed to miscount the rows, so I had to frog it back.

I SERIOUSLY need frogging lessons. I tried putting one of the needles through the stitches on the row I was going to frog back to. I managed to put it in backwards (how do you tell which row goes which way? AND, I also managed to pick them up twisted. I did notice this before I started to knit again, so I twisted each stitch before I knit it... the wrong way, so now instead of doing waves, the yarn on the row does loops. I also don't know, and may never know, whether I have the first stitch of the row turned the right way. Ends of rows are weird anyways.

So, now I have to go back and re-do it. I'm doing that the slow way this time... stitch by stitch (luckily, on this, there's not a whole lot of stitches).

I've tried other ways of frogging, and the stitch by stitch one is the only one that I seem to be able to not muck up on.

So, are there any online tutorials on how to frog knitting properly? (Frogging with crochet was so, so much easier. Since there's only one stitch on the hook at any time, the worst you can do is go back a few extra stitches. With knitting, there's always the potential of having it work it's way out to the point you just plain have to start over. Talk about scary!)

And, are there any Yahoo groups or message boards where you can post questions and have people answer? I haven't been able to find any, but maybe that's just because there's so many Yahoo groups that have knit or knitting in the description that I can't find the one or two that are like that.

TIA

GOING. NOW. TO. BEAT. MY. HEAD. AGAINST. SOMETHING. HARD.

Update:

I knit it twisted again after I frogged that row stitch by stitch. I frogged two more rows to get out of the trap I'd set myself, and I think my problem was that I had picked it up right, and didn't need to twist it after all. So now I'm back on track. What a pain though.

Seriously... I can't mess anything else up... ever.

Oh, and tiramisu is much more fun than beating one's head against something hard.

I'm still hoping for an email group or message board where I can ask questions, though, so if you know of any, please, PLEASE let me know.

Get away from my stash!

Hmmm... maybe I'm just a little bit possessive here.

I had laid out my lovely new yarn for it's photo op, when this little imp came along and thought she'd claim some of it as her own:


"Mommy...

I want you to make me a robe out of


This yarn right here (the Last of the Summer Berries),

Right now!


Or else!"

A robe? Interesting choice of apparel for this yarn.

And, so not going to happen. Besides the fact that the yarn is already destined for something else (well, at least one skein of it, anyways... we'll have to see how much yarn the planned project takes), being demanding is a sure way NOT to get what you want around here.

LOL... luckily for her, she was just trying express her desire in a silly way (notice the grin on her face), not really trying to bully me into it. If she's lucky, I'll have enough of it left over to make her something small... like 4 year old sized fingerless mittens. We'll see. But it definitely won't be until after I get all my other Christmas knitting done.