Another FO

FO seems almost vulgar to use but I have completed my Starsky Jr finally. It sat on the back burner for quite some time. This took less than 4 skeins of Bernat softee chunky which was a thicker yarn than the project called for. I didn't do any adjustments to the pattern to compensate. Overall it worked. If I were to do it again I would make the neckline deeper in the back because the collar comes up too close and I have to situate the sweater just right to make it look right. I think my seaming skills could use some help but that's only because the shoulders weren't quite right. I made one mod and that was to not make the sleeves folded up. I made them a bit long so DD would have room to grow. The length was fine. The actual color of the sweater, though you wouldn't know from the pictures, is navy blue...or dark blue as the yarn label says. I have only buttons left to find and sew on to it but other than that it is complete. Hooray! I have a pattern to write up for Austin and then start on my design project for a jacket. I'm really excited about the jacket. I have in mind what I am going to do and I just need to find yarn and then do it. I have not written my own patterns before so this will be interesting. But thanks to the wonderful peeps at Ravelry I will have willing volunteers to test it out to see if my mind is completely wonky. As far a the Starsky Jr project went, it was fairly simple considering the fact that it was only my second sweater to date. It was also my first attempt at blocking and I think it went horribly. I don't think I took the time to really understand the concept of blocking because we were on our way out of town. I think I'll need more practice. But at the very least...it's done.

Almost done...maybe

I have completed all the pieces for my Starsky Jr however I have reached the point that I have to block. For some reason that just doesn't appeal to me and I just want to go ahead and seam the beast then knit the collar. I have read so many articles touting the importance of blocking but it still doesn't click in my head that I can do it. I think that the best time for me to do it undisturbed would be when we take a trip so maybe it'll have to wait until then so that nothing will "disturb" it. On a side note, I saw a scary spider today that was big, black, and furry with a large white dot on its back. Needless to say, I leaned down to look at it and in the back of my mind I was thinking, "there is no way that this spider will jump." I rushed into the house and looked it up on the internet and lo and behold it was a jumping spider! EEEK! Nature never ceases to scare...amaze me!

Update Starsky Jr

Lately I've been starting projects and then not finishing them. I think I have 3 WIP's on the needles and...oh make that 4 on the needles and probably 2-100 projects in my queue. I have just started working on DD's Starsky Jr again. I have finished what would equate to a vest so far and am currently working on the sleeves. I am doing both at the same time so that they are the same length but sometimes I get confused so I wonder if they really will end up the same length or perhaps maybe a row or two off. Here's hoping. This will be my first project that I will have to block and I read on Knitty's website that you shouldn't use heat with acrylic. I thought I'd go cheap and use Bernat softee chunky for the cardi. I guess we'll see if it really turns out cheaper than what I could buy at the store. I think right now I have only used and will probably only use about 4 skeins of yarn for this project. I don't know what possessed me to think that I needed 7 and yet I bought 8. I guess I can make a few other things with the excess yarn...perhaps another sweater. I have contemplated making the ballet top in Loop-D-Loop but I haven't looked at it yet. I think for right now I better stick to the project at hand or else DD will have grown too much or will no longer need the sweater because she has graduated college. Why is it sometimes so hard to finish what we start? I guess it really is the journey and not the destination. Weird...I would have thought otherwise.

Progress...I think

I have been working on my WIP Starsky Jr and found that about midway through the back in the sleeve shaping I failed to do one decrease. I certainly didn't feel like frogging seven inches of work and then trying to find my place. Forget that! So, I guess I'll see what happens when I finish the front panels. I am trying to figure out how to dec the front so that the pattern matches up. I am new to this so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I also read ahead in the pattern as is suggested and found myself totally confused. The kind of confused when you just glance at something and it looks like advanced physics. That was me last night but it could have been lack of sleep. So far I have finished the back panel and am working on the left front panel of which I am about eight or nine inches into. I hope it works out.

Starsky Jr

I have begun a new WIP this week...two days ago in fact. I recently found that my DD's school has posted the dress code requirements which include sweaters or cardigans. I was fearful that the cardigan in question would look somewhat like it did on a certain television icon who used puppets in his show had I found one at say...Target. Though there is nothing wrong with simple cardi's I preferred to find something more...ummm...feminine in it's construction. Though I am not the one wearing it, I do hope my DD appreciates that I did not want to dress her like an old man that I used to watch on TV when I was a child. Even though fashion recycles itself, some things are better left to those who wore them when they wore them. No offense Mr Hammer. So off to Ravelry to find a cute pattern for a sweater or cardi. My DD decided to go with the Starsky Jr cardi because, frankly, the model in the picture was green which happens to be DD's fav color though my FO will not be green. Alas, the color of choice has been a very bland and mundane navy blue. Oh well, hopefully the style and construction will make up for the lack of vibrancy. I began my WIP on wednesday night. I chose Bernat's softee chunky because it was cheap ($1.87/skein) and the LCS had it in dark blue which I figured was close enough. Plus I could wash it without having to do a special load for delicates (which I never have enough to equate a load). I am currently 3/4 of the way through my 1st skein and about 9.5 inches on the back. So far, so good I guess. I have noticed a few mistakes but they are not noticeable unless you really pay attention to the pattern. I hope nobody does. I don't think the pattern called for chunky yarn so we'll see how this works out considering the fact that thus far I have never swatched anything. I should change that. Someday. I am using a US 7 needle even though the yarn recommends a US 10. Will post later to see how it affects sizing.