Coach? Are you out there?
Now that blogger seems to have recovered from whatever went on this weekend I can post again. Spent some quiet time this weekend doing the mundane things I don't get to during the week and finishing up the knitting on Samus. Also managed to get out with the girls for dinner Saturday night since HWJF couldn't get back to CT from NJ until late. Sunday was the Super Bowl and that always means a sale at the LYS. Now I didn't really *need* anything, but HWJF nearly insisted we take a look. We had tried to go there on another Sunday looking for some more sock yarn for him, but it was closed, so we thought it might be good to give it another try and what better excuse than a sale? There was happily an Eklecktica sighting included in the shopping, and after much debating we finally came home with this:
No point in trying to get the cat head out of the picture when it's just sock yarn right?HWJF was quick to pick out this color for himself. But why two skeins?
We are going to have matching socks. (Yes. We are dorks.)
He insisted that I get something for myself and I liked this color too so that's what we ended up with. Mine are going to be done first since he got the last pair...unless I finally get going with a pair of Jaywalkers. I am horrified to report that I do not have a single pair of socks on the needles at the moment. I find this very disconcerting. Then again, that could be because the Olympic preparations are in high gear.
My first Fair Isle!
Back
Front
I'm so totally excited about this! I did it on the train ride home on Monday. It's like I've finally been admitted to the cool kids club or something. I can knit with color in more than stripes!
Of course it is far from perfect:
See how it's kind of bunching up there? Now, granted, the two yarns are not exactly the same. One is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes and the other is Merino Style. The merino is a bit lighter so that could be part of the tension issue. The other major problem I think is that this area is where the divide of the two sides were. I do everything in the round with the magic loop technique and this is the first instance where it seems to be failing me.
So my questions are these: Is it possible to do this using magic loop or will I need to suck it up and get the 16 inch circular needle? (Remember I'm making a headband and the games start Friday night!) Did the yarn actually effect the tension or is it just me (which is what I pretty much figure)? If I can do this with the magic loop, how can I avoid this problem between the two sides?
I hope I'm explaining my problems here clearly. I really hope there are some willing Fair Isle coaches out there that will help me out!
To digress a bit...
Back on Sunday I also washed a blocked the pieces to Samus. Here they are pinned out and drying:
There wasn't enough room on the bed for all of it. And now I know why. When I went to seam it up Monday night, I tried on the body and it fit great! The sleeves on the other hand...
The bottom one is the original length and the top on is the one I had to re-knit. A bit of a difference no? I've never done anything with cap-sleeves before so when the pattern said "knit until __ inches or desired length to underarm" that's what I did. My wrist to armpit measurement was a good deal longer than anything the pattern said and that should have been the first clue. You can see the results above. A little quick math and I now have one sleeve that is the right length. The second is fixed and sewing shall now commence. That's the plan for train entertainment today anyway.
Now I just have to figure out how to close it....
