Monday and all that jazz.

[crankyisgood]

Weekend: Slept in, battled the wind, etc etc. Yesterday I ordered yarn from the internet, since I can't get it locally, while watching the All-Kitten Halftime portion of Puppy Bowl II, and it was sunny out and I had nothing else to worry about -- okay, not true, I have SO MUCH TO DO this month it's not funny -- but it was a wonderful break

Comments

[vellumblue]

the more I read about it, the more thankful I am that I'm not a knitting olympian. So much added stress! So many rules! Let's put the fun back in in knitting! (kfunitting?)

[crankyisgood]

Well, I'm not really stressed out by the Olympic Knitting. The truth is, though, that I might not be this careful about what I'm doing if I weren't making myself do it for this particular reason. I'd just pick a gauge and start and be massively reluctant to rip when it's not quite right. This is far more thoughtful and precise than I usually am--and it's kind of fun. I never knew. I've turned into one of those gauge-swatch-it-to-death people.

If I seem stressed, though, I probably am, due the work work work work work work work work...

[vellumblue]

I need to train myself to believe that gauge swatching is fun. And how many times have I tried to fudge my swatch (I'm only fooling myself, I know) so that I can use the needles I wanted to use! This is why I must buy all needle sizes in both naturas and turbos. Then maybe I'd be more willing to accept my swatch for what it is.

[crankyisgood]

I think the only way to train yourself on gauge swatches is by force. One thing to note is that you shouldn't rip your first howevermany rows when it's not knitting to gauge--at least, I don't. The Serial Gauge Swatch is my new best friend. I just put a WS knit row (or more than one such row) between needle sizes. It does use more yarn but you know we're big suckers for MORE YARN MORE YARN MORE YARN anyway...

I like having lots of needles these days. However, I maybe might have to try turbos again. I don't like them much at all. And I don't want to knit an entire cardigan in KSH on the Denises. Think of the snagging at the join! yuck!

[vellumblue]

does the serial gauge swatch work? I've always been tempted to try it so that I can actually compare one size with another, but for some reason in my head (and it sounds stupid even there) I'm convinced that one will influence the other.

More yarn? Yeah, I could use more yarn. Did you just tell me to go buy more yarn? Okey-dokey.

I wish there was a way to sharpen the turbos. Turbo join with Denise points, made out of bamboo. That would be a dream.

[crankyisgood]

You're right... turbambese needles would be ideal.

It works for me! I'll have to photograph my recent serial swatches for the innernet, I can show you in person sometime.