New set-up

Well, I listened to a wonderful podcast about altering knitting patterns. Thanks to Lara at Math4Knitters for the help. I started working a swatch for the major cable in the sweater pattern and we'll see where that takes us.

I'd really love to go back to college and get another degree. Perhaps if I got a second degree in something like English, I could then get a teaching job, and work on my music degree. This is all theory of course.

In case you can't tell, I'm slowly but surely changing some things around on the website. Hopefully it'll be completed over the next month, and we can start having some real fun around here! I'm also going to try and post at least three times a week for a complete year. Ha! Maybe if I do weekly posts with a theme, that would help. I could do a sweater update on Mondays, a toy update on Wednesdays, and something fun on Fridays, like a great picture or something.

More math and a new picture

Here's a picture from...2 weeks ago! I can't believe it's been that long already! In any case, you can see I went RED. I love it. It's a nice change.

More math is in my future. I plotted out my measurements last night on graph paper, and we'll see how the measurement for the sweater map out, then there's the whole issue of putting the two together and making the necessary changes.

I need a list. There's so much to do...and I keep adding more. Not necessarily craft stuff either. I think I'm going to pick up German again. My hubby needs help with it before he returns to school...that's his biggest obstacle. I, being the good wife that I am, will help him with it. That means I have to re-learn it (or learn it for the first time, since when I took it I didn't learn much either).

Argh...swatching...again.

Well, I decided I don't like the new swatches...either of them. The first one is better. How crappy is that?! However, I did find an excellent resource for modifying patterns at Knitty. Here's the link. I love having the internet as a constant resource. This saves me tons of time and energy (the energy I'm sure I could burn; the time - not so much). It also saves me a lot of frustration. This means I can devote more time to doing the important things: work, playing with my baby, knitting, cooking, etc. Washing clothes and cleaning are way down on the list.

One thing that's not is getting the roof fixed. Apparently, it doesn't leak in a heavy rainstorm (we have several of these in Georgia), just a gentle one. We have two tracks of water that stream down one wall in the living room. This is distressing, mainly because the inspector didn't find anything really wrong with the roof (of course, he also didn't get up on the roof, just looked at it through binoculars, the lazy doof). Fortunately, we do have coverage from our home warranty on the roof, so hopefully it'll just be the price of a service call.

I'm hoping once I get all the schematics down for the Cromarty sweater, I can actually start knitting. I've never had to do this with crocheting before, mainly for 2 reasons: one, if I made something to wear, I could manipulate the stitches enough without the math to make it fit and two, I haven't made that many things to wear in either crochet or knit. That's all about to change. I hope all the math pays off. It's a good thing I was pretty good at math. Otherwise, this would all suck. I do however need to pay attention and run the numbers 3 times, preferably in different ways. I might even get someone else to run the numbers for me, just to make sure it's all working correctly.

New swatch watch

The swatch I did before (on size 6 needles), though accurate for gauge measurement, just isn't cutting it. I'm swatching again, this time on 8s. I tried 9s, but the gaps between stitches were a bit much. I think I knit the last sweater from this yarn on 8s, so it should be alright. I don't want it holey, but I think the 6s were a little small. I started the front on the 9s, but fortunately, I only got the first row done. I think this will set up the sweater well, so the bottom doesn't draw in too much, and will hang nicely. I can switch to the 8s for the next row, but only after the swatch. I'm sure people around work think I'm insane, since I seem to be doing the same thing over and over and over again. But, if it doesn't work or fit, what's the point?

Guessing Gauge

I knitted a swatch for the Cromarty Sweater from Alice Starmore's Celtic Collection book. According to my swatch, to get the measurements I need for the sweater, I still cast on the same number of stitches. I just think that's weird. Maybe my math is off...with the gauge she gives, it comes out to 6.25 sts per inch. My gauge is 6 sts per inch. She says to cast on 184 sts. That means it should be 29.44 inches across the bottom. The diagram shows 22.5 inches. Where did the other 6.94 inches go? Am I insane? Are they eaten up by seams or the pattern? I need the extra inches. I guess I can knit a couple of rows and see how it measures. I just hate to do all that work just to rip it out and start all over again, when I'm sure someone else has done it already. Duplicating work just isn't my thing.

I am the Math Queen.

Well, the math pretty much works, but I think I need more plain knit rows. It doesn't work as far as the length goes. There are too many increases in too small a space. The problem I find with knitting is that you can't see the results without knitting far from the increase or decrease. That means if it's not the way you want it, you have to rip back A LOT in order to fix it. I guess that's where the math comes in, and spreading it out over a decent amount of rows. I am sure someone had already figured it out, but there HAS to be a ratio for increases and decreases, depending on gauge. Duh!!!! I just had a revelation: same thing for a triange: slope = rise/run. That could solve a lot of my issues.

Math Conquered

I think I've conquered the math for the bird. I'll do a test run and see if what I came up with actually works. That's the next test, isn't it?! The math wasn't all that difficult...an algebra student could do it. Well, maybe geometry student. That was 9th grade for me, so it's been a while. I'm just glad I remember some basics. I'm hoping this will all work, and I can either post the finished pattern (although there are still the eyes, feet, and beak to do) or submit it to some place, like MagKnits or Knitty. Maybe they'll take the pattern, and publish it for me. If not, I'll put it up here and let everyone fight over it. :) I doubt anyone reads this blog often enough, but at least I have documentation of stuff I've done. I'm hoping to get an invitation to Ravelry soon, and I can keep track of things there.