Knitting Trials

It was a good thing I did not have my camera at Knit Nite last night. It may not have survived. So obviously, there are no pictures of my tribulations.

I was working along on the two fronts of the Old Jeans Cardigan. I brought socks, as back up knitting--just in case cables and friends didn't mix. But, securely resting in the confidence of a cocky, oops, I mean knowledgeable "Knitter" I went on.

The first sign of trouble was when I discovered that I had carried the left front yarn over to knit the right front over and back. Drat. Tinked that back. Then as I started knitting on, I again reviewed the last cables that I had done just after arrival.

Wait a minute. Is that cable in front, when it should be cabled in back? A moment of silence. Then the bright idea arose. I have seen other blogs where the Knitter just drops the stitches involved in the cable and then knits them back up.

Sounds good, although scary in theory. Not so brilliant in practice. I dropped the 8 stitches down, first taking a spare needle and picking up the cable stitches with that to avoid dropping too far back.

I managed to knit half of the cable and decided it wasn't going to work after I used the wrong loop of yarn to knit the other half. I didn't want rip that far back, so.......I ended up tinking back about 4 rows. Luckily the left half stayed as is, and I was able to just tink back the one side--stitch by stitch until I was back to the cable. And, luckily, the cable stitches were still waiting on the spare needle.

I knit, cabled, and knit onward. After arriving home I even managed to advance both left and right sides to the next cable. I am now about half way to the arm decreases/neckline on the fronts.

Maybe I will rethink the idea of cabling the sleeves.

Racing Against Fate

While I haven't mentioned it lately, I have still been tuned in and on the edge of my seat every week, watching my NASCAR Sprint races. 

 

While "my man Mark" remains in second place, he is steadily losing ground to the annointed one--Jimmy Johnson.  Now I do like Jimmy, he is also a nice guy, just like Mark.  But he doesn't have the pizazz of some of the other drivers.

 

But what can a guy do when even the fates seem lined up for Jimmy?

 

After hanging out near the end of the race all day, through the mysteries of pit stops, running out of gas, and "moving up" all of a sudden, there was Jimmy nearing the front.  And when the wreck happened on the last lap?   It occured just BEHIND Jimmy, and right in FRONT of Mark.

 

I ask ya, what's a driver or fan to do?  

Persistance of Flowers

After the lousy weather we have had here recently--warmish, but very wet and VERY windy--it was rather inspiring to see these flowers still hanging on. They were on the east side of the church on Sunday, protected by the wall, and buried in leaves as you can see.
But aren't they lovely?

And so inspiring for a November morning.
And after all the recent wind.....

......it is amazing to see them hanging on when the trees are so bare.

Ahh, can snow be far behind? I hope not.

Two at a Time Fronts

I am experimenting on my fronts for the Old Jeans sweater.

Having finished the back of the sweater, I started the fronts. Yes, I said fronts, plural.

The experiement is that I started both fronts on one circ at the same time. I have read other knitting blogs where they do that and I decided to give it a try.

The main reason for trying the two at a time technique was that I was doing cables up the front, next to the button bands. I wanted to make sure that I don't mis-count and that I mirror the cables. Well, I can still mis-count the rows between twists, at least I can make sure that both fronts are mis-counted the same amount. Hopefully that won't be a problem, since the little pink and blue markers are being moved as I work each cable and enable me to accurately count the rows from the last cable.

Now I just hope and pray I don't run out of yarn. I have more than enough from what the pattern calls for. BUT--I have looked at several other patterns for similar styles, and they call for much more. At least I don't need very long arms. And I could always sew the shoulders and work the button band before I knit the sleeves. I like 3/4 length sleeves. On me, they usually feel full length anyway.

For All the Saints

All Saints Day at my church is a special occasion. Over the years we have submitted lists of those saints from our families who have passed away. We read the names of each families saints and light a candle for each family.

It is a very moving ceremony.

We recently had the dedication of our new stained glass window that is located between the nave and the narthex. It is behind the baptismal font. And although it has been dedicated already, next week, we will be "baptizing" it.

We will be having a baptism next Sunday. So exciting.