What a Find

I stumbled across this website today while looking at the newly-added patterns to Ravelry's database:

A Rarer Borealis

If you are a sci-fi dork like I tend to be, you'll love the references to classic 1960s Star Trek episodes and the knitting that was inspired by them.

Also if you just like the look of vintage stuff, or are interested in vintage knitting patterns, then this site is a real find! Super interesting stuff.

I mean check THIS out:




Wow...just wow. Talk about a labor of love. Hey the pattern is offered FREE, too. Don't all run out and knit this, now....

D'Oh

So I sensed something was wonky while knitting the pinwheel last night. I re-read the pattern and realized that I was increasing too frequently. I need to increase the outer, reverse-garter stitch rounds every 6th round, not every other round. Oops. Which also means that I have more to knit in order to finish than my original reassessment determined. I think I have about 18 rounds left. But I'm committed to getting it done! So I'm not discouraged.

I don't think it's a disaster (I hope). I'm going to explain what I did here just to get the mathematics out of my brain before it angrily augers through my skull and out my forehead.

The pattern rounds are
1-Purl
2-Knit,
repeat 3x, but on the last K round (round 6), increase 1 in every section (there are 8 sections). Yeah, also? That is counter-intuitive to me. Knit just always seems like it would be first. And I change the color on every 18th round.

Ok. So when I first re-started, it looked as if I had completed 9 rounds of the color I was working with. And the next round was definitely a knit round and I increased (round 10). Then I purled round 11. I increased again on round 12 (where I was supposed to), then purled round 13. I realized my idiocy before knitting round 14, so I didn't increase here, then purled round 15. By this time I noticed that I couldn't do another 2 rounds with the color I was using, so I switched a little early. I don't think anyone will notice. So I attached the next color and will knit (round16) and then purl (round 17) and then increase where I'm supposed to again on round 18.

So, technically, I'm only 1 set of increases over what I should have, right? I think I can live with that and move on.

I'm supposed to bind off once I have 392 stitches. I counted last night and I have 376. With the increase on round 18, I'll have 384, then again on round 6 it will be 392. But, since I did that wacky extra increase, I think I'll go 6 more rounds and make it 400 stitches on round 12 (which will technically be round 14 because I changed the color early). Then I'll knit 2 rounds straight to make it 16 stitches of the color, THEN bind off. Maybe. I mean I might just do a little fancy thing for a couple of rounds with the next color (because I sure as Hell won't be doing that loopy I-cord thing; I'd REALLY lose my mind entirely). Depends on my level of patience at that moment!

Does this make sense to any person out there whose brain isn't as addled as mine? LOL

Resurrection

Hi. How are you? Remember...this?


Yeah...poor, poor, pitiful Pinwheel Sweater. It's been languishing unloved, un-celebrated, and unsung in a knitting bag since June 2008. For some unknown reason I got to thinking about this sweater last night. Maybe it was the yarn (Lion Brand Cotton Ease), which I liked working with, or maybe the colors, which I also think are calming and work well together, or maybe it was the recollection that I was 75% done with the thing, but I suddenly wondered, "Uh...why the frak didn't I ever finish this??" Clearly, I liked the yarn, the colors, and the pattern enough to get it to near completion. There is NO seaming involved at all here. The sleeves are picked-up and knit down to the cuffs. WTF is up with me?

So at 11:45 pm I yanked it out of the bag. The counter I was using for this project was as multi-function plastic sheet of calculations that you could slide little check-points up and down-- much fancier that your plain ol' vanilla row counter. So you could determine what row, what stitch, how many repeats, if you were increasing or decreasing and how many times you needed to do that. Neat when I first got it. But utterly useless to me at this point. It might as well have been in Chinese. I felt a sense of terror come over me. Maybe this is why I stopped? Something went wrong and I have to rip the thing back to the sleeve holes?

I glanced at the project on the needles and it came to me almost instinctively: you're knitting this round and you need to increase 1 in every section (there are 8 sections).

So I did. Then I purled the next round (400 stitches...whimper). But, it wasn't...terrible. I mean when I knit the ruffle scarf (Ooh La La), I had to purl 1600 --- yes 1600 --- stitches PER row for a couple rows and I survived with my sanity (mostly) intact. And I also realized that I only need to knit a few more rounds then bind the thing off! Again, I was bemused by my actively avoiding finishing this sweater for over 2 and half years.

Long story short (too late), I'm finishing the son-of-a-bitch, hopefully by the end of the month.

Famous last words, right?