Knitting madness

[altivo]

OK, I have this knitting project to finish this week. It's a small one, just a hat. But it must be done using an obnoxious lace pattern created by someone else. This thing is called "horseshoe lace" though I have a hard time seeing horseshoes in it. If anything, it has frogs in it instead (the frog being the soft part at the center of a horse's sole, sort of Y-shaped and rubbery.)

I have spun the yarn, plied it, washed it, wound it into a ball, and cannot put this off any longer because it needs to be finished.

Knit the gauge swatch. This is a small sample you make to check that your number of stitches per inch matches the one intended for the pattern. If not, you either must adjust the pattern or change needles or yarn size until you match. Gauge tests are normally knit in the pattern that will be used in the garment but this one doesn't say. They might mean plain stockinette, but I assume they mean the pattern. No, wait, the pattern is written to be done in the round, which means you always work from one side of the fabric. A flat piece is done by working back and forth, first on the right side, then on the wrong, etc. Doing that with this pattern requires that eight rows of gibberish be inverted on alternate rows, knit for purl, purl for knit, and working back from the far end. Ugh. OK, so I work that out and write it down.

The sample is starting to take shape at last, and looks like a fairly close but not perfect match. I'll adjust the pattern by adding one more ten stitch repeat in the circle. However, keeping track of your place in an eight row lace pattern is definitly not my idea of fun. If I've gone insane by Saturday, you'll know why. I promise not to stab myself with the needles, but I hope you'll all come visit in the asylum when they lock me up there.

Oh yes, it's still bitter cold outside.

Comments

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

However, keeping track of your place in an eight row lace pattern is definitly not my idea of fun.

I have to ask: so why are you doing this hateful thing? ;o)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Guild challenge. We have two of them this year, and everyone agreed to the one I suggested, so I agreed to the one that others suggested. I finished the sample swatch last night (supposed to be 4x6 in. but came out 4x5) so I'm getting used to it. The rest won't take long, I'm sure.

[jenwolf.livejournal.com]

Do you find your gauge to be the same when knitting back and forth as opposed to in the round? I know some people knit with different tension depending on which method they use. Mine us usually close enough to not matter much in the finished object.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Mine is usually pretty close. Working in the round might be just a touch tighter for me, and that's only when using DP needles because of snugging up at each junction I think.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

This is why I find horses funny and cute, frogs, feathers and paffers *gets the giggles and falls over* As to the asylum they won't let me back in there.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

You need to remember that only plush horses have paffers, but all horses have frogs. Only certain breeds of horse, such as Clydesdale, Shire, and Friesian, have enough feathers to be worthy of the name.