Knitpicks Hue Shift Afghan: Section Three

I barely got any time in to knit the past two weeks, but over the weekend I managed to finish section three:

My gauge is a bit smaller than the rest of the blanket on parts of the third section, but I've adjusted my needle size for the fourth section to prevent that from happening with both sections three and four, so when I go to sew them together the right half won't be significantly smaller than the left. I think section three should easily stretch enough to sew together properly. Hopefully no ripping back and reknitting will be necessary! 

I Made a Thing!

I finally set up my Cricket Loom over the weekend after buying it several months ago. It took me almost two hours to warp it and, at one point, I texted my boyfriend to tell him how much I hated it and it wasn't enjoyable and it was too difficult to set up. I went back to work on warping it and realized I was almost done.

I used some cheap acrylic yarn that I bought on clearance since it was my first project ever. I had no idea how long it would be - I intended it to be three feet, but I did not take into account how much yarn it would take to tie the warp to the apron rods.

I had a tight tension to begin with, and I don't know if that is because of the warp or because of how I was pulling the yarn and reed. 

And suddenly, I was done. I cannot BELIEVE how quickly I completed this. I don't know if "gauge" has the same meaning or application for weaving as it does for knitting, but my gauge was looser towards the end. It seems the gauge can affect the overall perception of color, as evidenced most clearly by my purple stripes. 

The purple looks much warmer with the looser gauge, especially at a distance, since more of the orange is visible. I'm sure it seems obvious now, but it was not something I had considered before doing this. I want to do a few more projects with more inexpensive yarn since I am still learning about color and tightness of the weave, warp length, and so on. I am just still in shock at how fast this was, including warp time, which I am sure will decrease as I have more practice setting up.

I think my next attempt will be a table runner for our coffee table!

Radio Silence

I fell off of the face of the planet for a bit. Somewhere along the way, I finished section 2 of the KnitPicks Hue Shift afghan.

Then I started and completed my first ever shawl, using KnitPicks Stroll Hand Painted sock yarn. The Colorway is Make Believe. The pattern is free on Ravelry, link here.

I added an extra repeat of the lace pattern because I wanted to make sure the shawl was large enough to wrap around my shoulders if needed. The semester starts soon and classrooms are always so cold.

For the first time ever, I gave myself a tennis elbow because I was knitting on this shawl so much. My boyfriend got an ice pack for me to wrap around my elbow, left the room for a few minutes, and when he came back in I was back to knitting with the ice pack on. We argued for a few minutes and he convinced me to put down the knitting for one night because I needed to take a break for my elbow. It was worth it! 

Blame the End of the Semester

April is the worst time of the year. I had a paper due yesterday,and I have a presentation coming up on Monday, another presentation on Wednesday, a large paper due May 5, a final on May 7, and a final on May 9.

May 10 will be reserved for knitting and drinking.

Somewhere in the time between my last post and now, I finished my modified entrelac throw.

I started bringing it with me to work so I could knit during lunch and between work and class because I just wanted to finally finish something! That sweater I had in progress? Still in pieces. 

I finished it just in time for the weather to get warm enough that I don't need an extra blanket at night or sitting on the couch.

The Problem with Afghans

I have nothing exciting to note. I've knit more on section 2 of the Hue Shift afghan. I've gotten further on the entrelac throw. I'm almost done weaving in ends on my blocked sweater pieces that I hope to (finally) sew this weekend.

After I'm done with everything currently on needles, I need to start picking smaller projects.

Sweater Progress

I'm delaying sewing together the pieces of my sweater because I think it will be easier if I wash the pieces first and dry them - and I don't have a good place to do that in my apartment. So I ordered some foam rubber tiles from Amazon that I can pin the pieces on to dry wherever, including the floor. They won't be here until Friday, so I guess that means no sewing until at least then. Oh no. Twist my arm to have to wait to sew, my favorite thing.

I'm also not 100% pleased with the shoulder seams I did on Monday, so it will give me a chance to redo those.

An Apology

A coworker asked me if I could shorten the sleeves on a store-bought sweater for her, and I told her I'd take a look at it. The sleeves had stretched out, and she had been rolling them up and hoped I could rip it back and re-knit the ribbing so that the sleeves fit her. Except I realized as soon as I took it out of the bag at home that, due to a seam and heavy stitching, I wasn't going to be able to fix it. I had a feeling the yarn under the seam would not have been reusable, and even if I could, my machine sewing skills are not good enough to trust myself to be able to resew the seam. She had already left for a trip though, so I had it for a week and felt really terrible that I had hoarded her sweater that long and wasn't even able to fix it. I knit her some dishcloths as an apology.

Not Much More Progress

I'm not much further on the sweater. One sleeve complete, the other barely started. I also knit a couple of squares on section two of the Knitpicks hue shift afghan. I didn't get much knitting in over my extended weekend, so I'm disappointed in myself for not using my time off more effectively. I had hoped to finish the sweater!

Progress

Front of sweater complete!

Please excuse the exposed ends that I am saving to weave in at the very end.

My favorite simple lace stitch, currently. I've started the first sleeve!

Entrelac?

I was worried my first attempt at entrelac would not look very nice, plus my budget is a bit tight, so I decided to go with Vanna's Choice yarn since it's cheap and if I didn't do a great job with it, well, at least I didn't waste the "good yarn." 

Looks off, right? I thought so too even at the start of it. I was knitting one direction of blocks much more quickly than the other direction. I clearly kept going anyway.

After two balls of yarn and quite a few hours of work into it, it hit me like a train that I confused SSK with something else that was causing me to decrease twice as quickly on the rows where I should have been using SSK to decrease.

I put out a call to friends, who reassured me it still looked great, and after I stared at it for a while and beat myself up appropriately for such a silly error (I swear I know what SSK means and have used it many times), I decided I actually really like how it looks. It's visually interesting and I think I might even write a pattern for it once it is completed.

I have a bunch of cheap fleece blankets around the house because I'm always cold, and I'm tired of them. I'm trying to replace them with some throws knit with new techniques (like this one) or simple stitches (soon to come).

A New Skill

I'm holding out on assembling the loom until I have my semester projects either completed or damn near completed. I would have waited to purchase it until the summer, when I have more time, but it was on sale for a great price that I didn't think I'd ever see again.

KnitPicks Hue Shift Afghan: Quadrant One

Back in November, I snatched one of the hue shift afghan kits on clearance from KnitPicks. I usually keep a distance from 100% acrylic yarn, but I'm also not morally opposed to it. The colors drew me in, plus I thought the endless rows of garter stitch would be a relaxing side project, with enough color changes to keep my attention.

I finished the first quadrant about a month ago, but I just got around to taking photos of it in natural light. I'm on Spring Break and don't have class this week, so I'm actually home before dark for a change.

Quadrant Two of the afghan has been started, but is still a ways from being completed.

First Sweater Attempt

This is a big moment for me.

I'm working on my first sweater! The back piece is done, except for the ribbed neck edging that will be picked up at the very end, and I'm working on the front piece now. I underestimated the amount of yarn I would need and will be stopping by my LYS tonight to pick up more.

I'm using this pattern, but I modified it for bulky weight yarn. It's very simple so far. Ask me again about that later when I am sewing the pieces together.

I'm hoping to have it done in the next week or so. The yarn is Berroco Vintage Chunky in Kiwi and Snow Day, a wool/acrylic/nylon blend. My goal was to have a light yet warm spring sweater, and I hope this yarn combined with the open stitch will succeed. It's still hovering in the 30s and 40s where I am so I don't think I'll have a shortage of days to wear this anytime soon. 

Welcome

Welcome to CabKnits! I've been knitting for some time now, and have been crocheting for as long as my memory can recall. Blogging has been something I have wanted to do for a while now, mostly because I need to unload my constant thoughts about knitting and yarn on someone other than my (very patient) boyfriend. 

I work full-time and am pursuing a master in public affairs on the side, which cuts into my yarn time significantly. If I thought I could support myself at the same level I can now by knitting full-time, I would. To test the waters on this, I recently opened an Etsy shop under the same name as the blog. Sadly, I have not been able to dedicate as much time to producing items for sale in my shop as I hoped I could, but I am not abandoning it! 

Regarding the name of my blog and my Etsy shop, that is the genius of the very patient boyfriend. My first initial is C, and the first two letters of my last name is AB, and he, his friends, and my boss have a tendency to call me "cab" for short. Thus "CabKnits" was born.

Thanks for reading!