Sunday, December 26, 2010

EVERYTHING FITS.

That's right. It all fits. The stubby wee arms, the short rows, everything. IT ALL FITS. I can't even tell you how thrilled I am. My mother loves her sweater. (She was so stunned by it that she had to ask if I made it. No, Mum, I bought your sweater this year. Of course I made it!) The Retro Socks were a hit, and the Infinity Gauntlet, though I was up much too late and much too early finishing the damn thing, is utterly fantastic. Behold:



Yeah. I think I may have to make a whole pair with full fingers and everything. That is a pretty great, geektastical item. And I want one for myself. I admit it.

Yay! Go Christmas! Go everyone liking their presents! Oh, and the mitts were a hit at the handmade grab bag. I like it when everyone likes their presents and EVERYTHING FITS.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Note to Self:

Do not ever do NaNoWriMo and attempt to knit a fingering-weight sweater for Christmas in the same month. I've been trying to figure out why I'm so damn behind with the gifties, and I think it's NaNo. Well, and the two solid days of choir concerts last weekend. Those sure didn't help. :(

Not that it's a Gifting Tragedy here. The Retro Socks are done. The Grab Bag Mitts are done. I just have to sew in ends on the ginormous red sweater of doooooom. I'll do that tomorrow morning. The Infinity Gauntlet is super-close to being done. I'm going to finish the cuff tonight, and do the gems tomorrow. Hopefully the gems will not be too much of a pain in the ass. I'm kind of bummed that I've pretty much run out of yarn, though, and will not be able to do cute i-cord detailing around the gems. I'm hoping I can find some embroidery floss that's close to the orange-yellow of the glove, and I can do something with that. I guess there's no reason I can't do embroidery-floss i-cord, is there?

Man, all I need is about ten more yards of this yellow, that's what's really annoying. Sucks that it's the same color as I used for the toes and heels of the Retro Socks.

Anyway. Back to the grind! Adam Warlock needs his glove!

Monday, December 20, 2010

stick a fork in it.

Cause this bad boy is DONE!



I still have to block it--and I'm hoping things will be slightly less wriggly after blocking--but hopefully that is the easy part. Mostly it is DONE and I think there's about a 95% chance that it will fit, so.

In case you want one of your own, the pattern is this free one from Drops, though I modified it to make it a pullover and re-calculated everything to go with the gauge I was getting with the yarn I had. The black and white are Knit Picks Palette, and the red is Lion Brand LB 1878. I have a feeling the Lion Brand stuff isn't going to wear very well, but oh well, you knit with what you can afford.

Um. What else? Did the whole thing on size 2 needles, and it's sized to be about 54" around with short-row extra room for bosoms.

I am so relieved that this thing is done. Now I can finish the Infinity Gauntlet and stuff.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

stay on target . . .

Ugh, I did two rows wrong on the red sweater on Tuesday, so I spent Wednesday fixing them. Now I'm back to where I should have been yesterday. :(

On the other hand, I have one more three-color row left, and then it's all two colors and decreases, so I should still have the damn thing done by the 20th.

I think the Retro Socks might end up as a post-Christmas present, though. Sad face.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

slowest sweater ever.

Am still knitting away on the Giant Red Monster. I really don't have all that much left to do on it: maybe 40 or so rows on the yoke chart, and then some short rows for the back, and then some ribbing for the neck, and bam! Sweater!

However. There are sooooo many stitches in each row, and I (being an idiot) had to go and fiddle with the chart, so there are now about eight rows where I have to do three colors. You guys. It is going so. slowly. It's like the sweater that time forgot or something. I celebrate whenever I hit a decrease row. I mean, I'm so pleased to see the decrease rows come up that if I weren't knitting colorwork, I would do a shot to celebrate.

And watch, the damn thing probably won't fit the woman anyway. I admit I'm sort of looking forward to getting a pair of scissors, chopping away at anything that doesn't work, and re-knitting and grafting it. That could be entertaining. Or maybe it will fit well enough, who knows? It's just that when you're knitting for a 5'3" woman who wears an I cup, proportion goes wild.

I really, really, really want to knit a chunky hat right now, just for some instant gratification, but I can't think of anyone who really needs a chunky hat for their Christmas gift, and God knows I don't need any more hats.

Ok. Enough procrastinating and whining. Back to the knitting!

:(

Thursday, December 9, 2010

progress . . . a little progress.

Actually I'm posting here because I'm about to start the zillion-stitch colorwork yoke on the red sweater of death, and I need to take a bit of a break before I jump in. ARGH THE STRESS. MY MOTHER IS SHORT. I DON'T WANT THE YOKE TO BE TOO LONG SO HER ARMHOLES ARE AROUND HER ELBOWS.

Ok. I feel better since I got that out. Here are some photos as your reward for listening to me panic and whine:



If I get both mitts finished, they will go into the handmade grab bag on Christmas Eve. Up next we have the Infinity Gauntlet:



Just have to add some half-fingers and some Infinity Gems to that one. And here we have a comic picture of three sleeves in a box. Yes, I made sure to put the correct ones on the sweater:



To paraphrase that cinematic gem The Three Amigos: KNIT, VERY OLD ONE. KNIT LIKE THE WIND.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

getting there.

1. I now have a body and two sleeves (technically almost three, I knit most of a first one before I decided it was too small, and I'd BETTER put the correct ones on the sweater) finished for the Hubris Sweater. I've 'only' got the colorwork yoke left, which is theoretically the 'fun' part, so I'm looking forward to it, right? Right.

2. I've got one finished Retro Sock. I'm planning to mainly work on the second one at my concerts next week. There will be a lot of sitting around, and the Retro Sock is portable and requires very little counting.

3. Approximately two rows have been knit on this year's Brilliant Joke Gift. Why do I never think of these in the spring or something? Anyway, it's merely a glove, so I should be able to hack it out in a day or two.

4. One black-and-gold hat is completely finished. I will probably give it to my big brother. If I have time, I will knit another one (there's plenty of yarn left!) and give it to . . . someone else.

5. Because I can't seem to resist knitted comedy, I acquired another item on my To Do list. My dad and I feel that a tiny sweater with his department's logo on it would be a hilarious edition to his office tree, so a tiny sweater it is. I just have to do the arms and the logo on it, but I went with v. small needles to knit it, and it's taking longer than I would like.

6. Am slightly worried about my Handmade Grab Bag Gift. I've got most of one mitt done, but it takes me a while to do it (it's more colorwork, apparently I am all about the colorwork this Christmas) and I'm trying to decide if I should keep going with it or chuck it and do a pair of stripey gloves or a quick hat. I figure my deadline for bailing and doing a hat is Dec. 20. I can do a hat between the 20th and the 24th.

Ok. Enough time wasted on the interwebz! Must get back to knitting!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

WHY ARE YOUR HANDS ON BITS OF STRING, CHILD?

For St Nicholas' Day, I am making my mother a pair of wee Christmas ornament mittens. (Or 'glubs,' as I tend to think of them.) There may be a bobble hat to match later.



(All other Christmas gifts continue on apace, though I have had an unutterably brilliant idea for one of my brothers, and so the Retro Socks may get shunted to the back of the queue.)