hello pineapples

Lessons in Knitting: or Why Gauge is Important

Way back in March, I posted a free pattern for a french press cozy. The finished product is meant to look like this:



The pattern looked easy enough, so I set about knitting one for the french press that the Mister was keeping in his office at school. I don't usually make coffee with the french press, so I hadn't bothered to see how the cozy worked until this morning.




oops.



I quickly threw the buttons on this morning, so they're looking mismatched and haphazard, but they are the least of my worries.



Oh Elizabeth Zimmerman! How right you were. The chapter on gauge is required reading (I still haven't read it). I've never been one for gauge, but it's a math thing. I honestly believe I have dyscalculia (math dyslexia), so anything that involves math is not my friend. This is probably why my first (and only) sweater was a bit of a disaster (it was HUGE!).

Although, to be fair, the french press was in the office at school and I wasn't able to check my knitting against it. I might actually be right on gauge, but that doesn't help if his french press is smaller than the model used for the original pattern.

Ah well. I'll just have to frog it a bit.

xoxo.
Pineapples.

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Monday, July 14, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: craft mishaps, frogging, knit

Free Pattern Friday Sunday Night

Friday didn't happen as I was off bbq'ing with friends in the North End. Lots of red wine and cake and this hilarious game called What? (try googling that...almost impossible to find it that way. Far too vague a search). All in all, a really nice night out with some of my super friends. Saturday was no go on the free pattern as the Downstairses needed help cleaning up their apartment. We got them all cleaned up and out the door and off to the airport by late afternoon. Now I am downstairs-neighbour-less, which is really quite sad. They've been there for three years and the two years prior to that, it was home of the Gerkins. Now it is sad and empty.

So, what have I got for you today? Well, I've found a lovely blog birthday contest (found via Average Jane Crafter) that is not only offering up a fantastic prize, but everyone who posts gets a PDF copy of an applique and embroidery pattern.



Isn't it lovely? I'm looking forward to trying it out as embroidery. Ever since my visit to California, I've had pretty little birds on the brain. So many colourful little birds hang out around my parents' house. Like this little guy, who was one of the regulars at the feeder:



Of course, all embroidery must wait because....I'm still alive in Sock Wars III!! Seriously. WTF? My assassin must be as slow as me at this game. I've turned the heel and knit through the gusset, but then had to frog 'er back to the heel - I was a few stitches too many when I finished the gusset. I spent this evening trying to get stitches dropped in the frogging process back onto the needles. Unfortunately, the end of the TV season means the end of something to watch while I work on projects. I'm surprised I managed to keep focused on my knitting, I was rolling my eyes that much during The Forgotten that it was hard to know if I dropped a stitch or not.

I'm pretty sure I've screwed up the pattern. I'm one of the 8-stitch repeat people in the pattern and it appears that the 9-stitch repeat is the way to go. Oops. They still look pretty enough. And it seems that there is no official ruling from the Supreme Commander as to whether one is right and one is wrong. *la sigh*. I'm kind of hoping that tomorrow will bring me a pair of socks and my death in this game.

Now, off to bed with me! I meant to be in bed an hour ago!

Posted byHello Pineapples! on Monday, May 26, 2008 0 comments  

filed under: blogs, embroidery, free pattern friday, frogging, sock wars iii