WIP Weekend Update - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Apricot Jacket: The jacket is making lot of progress both forward and backward this week. I finished the back and one sleeve so far. I love the sleeve as I was pretty consistent with the stitches and it went pretty quickly as I was truly in tune with the pattern.

I learned a few things on this sleeve:

1. Learned a new increase as I wanted them to be a little more discrete then the M1 and Bar increases. So I executed the Lifted or Raised increase. I think it looks pretty darn good. Actually it looks so good I can't really see it so that is even better
2. I have hated the stepped bind offs that occur with just binding off stitches so I took the suggestion made on the Rebecca site for a smoother edging on shoulder shaping and this is what I got:
   

Me likey!!

However, with all the progress made on the sleeve, I made none on the back. In fact I reverted back to the ribbing! I figured I would frog to the neck since the neck shaping was all wonkey. Then I realized I did the arm hole shaping wrong, so I would have to frog back to that point. And, since I was doing all this frogging, I thought I would take it one step further as I didn't like the length of the ribbing since it was too long and accentuating the not so positive...my posterior. So I now have about 15cm of ribbing on the back instead of the finished 60cm back panel. Oh well, I am not feeling that bad about it since this was pretty darn quick for me to knit up the first time. It can only look better the second time.

Doctor's Bag: The Doctor is out this week since I am still waiting for the 2 extra skeins I needed from WEBS. I still need to frog the bottom and reknit it so I am not too excited about that. Maybe more news next week on this one.

WIP Weekend Update - One of These Things is Not Like the Other

This weeks knitting was extensive. This whole two project things is kinda stressful because I guess I am very obsessive about the finished product of knitting even more than the process so I am speeding like a demon to get to the end of both of these. Hopefully next week I will mellow out a bit....breathe...

Doctor's Bag: My hands hurt. This project is giving me carpal tunnel. Big needles, double stranded, heavy knitting = yuck. The I see this:

One of these things is not like the other :O(

Well, it seems that the pattern may have some errata going on and since I have seen very little blogging on this bag, it may be that I am the first to find it.

Now I am no knitting expert but umm...that base sure is big. I have gotten measurements elsewhere that matched up pretty dang close, if not exact. This one is just HUGE. The pattern for this piece says to case on 78 sts but reading further in the pattern it tells me to pick up 60 stitches to attach it to the front. Well folks, where do the other 18 sts go????!!! ERRRRR!!! Did I mention my hands hurt? AND since this is knit lengthwise I have to do the whole thing over again. To top it off, I think I am going to run out of yarn! Me sad.

Apricot Jacket: I thank all those who came before me on this one because I am completely dependent on them. I even had to print out the pictures as my tool to follow more than the pattern itself. I am now at the shoulder decreases and need a minute to decipher the Engrish. So far I like the pattern but not a lover of cotton or cotton blends cause it shows so much stitch irregularity. I hope blocking and the slight blooming of the yarn that I experienced with the swatch will help with this.

Hee hee.. you can see my piggy banks booty in this pic

WIP Weekend Report

So I am not very good with knitalongs but I think I will try to get the hang of reporting on my WIP. I really love looking at others progress during the creation process so I imagine that sooner or later someone will benefit from me showing mine. So one of my many resolutions will be to try and do this every (read: sometimes) weekend.

Knit Two Together Doctor's Bag

Here is the completed front panel of the Doctor's Bag. I have been wanting to knit this for ever since I got the book. This project, in fact, was the REASON for buying the book. Now I tried to knit this with Elann Peruvian Highland Chunky but the plied texture of the yarn detracted from the herringbone stitch pattern...plus I didn't like the color. Then I stumble upon Valley Yarn Berkshire from WEBS. This is really a great yarn that I will be using again. It is a 85% Wool, 15% Alpaca blend that just feels luscious AND it is inexpensive which is what I wanted in a yarn intended to be a bag. Below you can see a close up of the fiber. It does have the tendency to little white fibers come out but nothing to detract from its quality.

Rebecca 27 Apricot Jacket (a.k.a. Apricot Jacke in German)

You might remember this yarn as the recently retired Marnie sweater. I just couldn't deal with all the gaping holes created with the pattern on size 7 needles. So when I started thinking of the Apricot Jacket as a substitute (since GGH Java and GGH Samoa are very similar in gauge) I knew I would have a problem with the requested size 8 needles called for in the pattern. So I swatched..

Size 8 on left, size 7 on right

Here are the swatches that were made to test out the pattern gauge. Now I got gauge using the requested size 8 needles but to me it looked horrible! I couldn't be consistent with the 8 and cotton is very unforgiving when it comes to poor stitch tension.

Look at all those visible rows..yucky yucky yucky

So I swatched on 7's which gave me a better look but not exact gauge.

It was slightly under the 4" mark but bigger than the 3.75" mark. Now I am not shaped like the wonderful model for this jacket so messing with gauge may be my downfall, but for this I will take the chance..famous last words. I think it suits the yarn, suits my desire of difficulty, and gives me incentive to diet...All bases covered.

So here is my progress so far

Back Panel: past the ribbing and on to the eyelets

I am heavily dependent on those who came before me as the pattern for this jacket is harder than deciphering the Di Vinci Code! This also marks my divide from the knitting monogamy I normally have. TWO PROJECTS...blasphemy for me, normality for true knitters. I am one with the multi-knitters.