Artichoke

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I hereby declare that my green ripples skirt shall henceforth be known as the artichoke ripples skirt, after the colorway of the yarn I am using. A little more evocative, don't you think?!

Anyway, it's been going pretty well. I'm heavy into stockinette land, having completed the waist and hip shaping, and duh, I am realizing that yes, Addi Turbos really do rule the land!

Let me back track a little. The pattern calls for US #6 needles, but I had to swatch and swatch and swatch with ever decreasing needle sizes in order to get close to gauge, and I finally ended up with US #3, which I have in regular Addi 40" circular and lace Addi 47" circulars (Knitpicks Options doesn't go below US #4). In order to better magic loop I went with the lace Addis and it was fine but... not what the lace Addis were really intended for I think, especially with cotton.

I didn't really realize how much the "stickiness" was slowing me down though until I switched to my regular 40" Addis. I made the switch because I was starting to get rather concerned about the laddering I was getting from magic looping with needles that weren't really long enough for the circumference I was at, especially as of course I was now at the point where it was larger than where I started at the waist. I was going to knit back and forth between the 47" and 40" but the 40"s are actually big enough to just knit in the round, no magic looping and no more ladders. And now I am just zipping along! I'm hoping the ladders will even out with some pulling and tugging and machine washing (I test washed my swatches and barely got any shrinkage) but even if not, I generally wear tops that would cover that part of the skirt anyway. But I'm really hoping they wash out.

Ok the more I look at it, the more it is bothering me and worrying me. I did some research on ravelry which confirmed that I could let down a runner five or six stitches wide and rework the stitches back up to even them out. I also posted on ravelry to see what suggestions people had - everyone pretty much said it will come out in blocking and pointed out that I could try that now and see. So I've pretty heavily steam blocked and it looks a bit better but it's still there!!!! How aggravating. I try not to be too much of a perfectionist in my knitting, and probably it will come out after a few washes (my machine-washed swatches look nice and even) but I don't really want to worry about it so I may do the runner thing. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Anyway, back to the regular Addis, the yarn is a lot less splitty on them than on lace Addis too! I know this is also pretty obvious, and even on the lace Addis, mostly it's splitty because I read or watch tv while knitting so I'm not always looking at what I'm doing. It's not a big deal, I can tell by feel when I've split the yarn, or else I can fix it on the next round.

The only trouble with the 40"ers is that I can no longer try the skirt on so easily but, aside from the ladders, I'm pretty happy with how it's been looking. I haven't decided when to start the lace section yet but like many others will probably start it lower than in the pattern so I end up with a longer skirt.

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There are a few things on my knitting mind lately. Three friends and I are collaborating on a baby blanket for another friend who is expecting in April. I know, we don't have much time but we went to Purl together last week and in about an hour were able to pick out the yarn and figure out a plan - we were pretty impressed with ourselves! We are not doing anything too elaborate but we've already knit a few squares and it's going to be simple but very cute I think. Anyway, in the process of coming up with this, one of my friends brought a copy of 100 Afghan Squares to Knit by Debbie Abrahams and wow! I was mesmerized by some of the beautiful beautiful blankets and afghans shown in this book and I can't stop thinking about them! My friend offered to lend me the book and at first I thought, you know, I'm really not going to knit a blanket right now, but on further reflection I think I may have to buy the book myself! (We used the book as inspiration but we're doing something less structured - basically we're each picking three stitch patterns and knitting three squares in that pattern in three different colors.)

I also COMPLETELY fell in love with splityarn's Clapotis scarf knit in the most beautiful colorway of Noro Silk Garden. The funny thing was, as I started to shop for the same colorway in that "I must have it now" way that occasionally overtakes one, it started to look familiar and yes, sure enough, I have 2 skeins in my stash. Is it wrong to totally copy someone's project ie steal their yarn choice?!!!

Speaking of totally copying someone's project, reviewing all my FOs from last year reminded me of this version of the lala scarf in Rainy Day Goods that I fell in love with almost a year ago and have become re-obsessed with. I really liked the Lornas Laces I used for the wristwarmers and have half a skein left... I'm tempted to just cast-on, even though I will have to buy more yarn to complete it! It would be a nice counterpoint to the stockinette of the skirt.

Back to blankets, there's a great thread going over at ravelry on called the most beautiful FO you've seen on ravelry so that's what I passed some happy time doing this morning as I stockinetted around my skirt. I saw many many beautiful projects but this one really captivated me - the tessellating fish baby blanket from Octopus Knits. I love the colors, I love the design, it's so cute yet elegant and simple.

So much to knit and so little time!

Comments

[caro]

Because of the cotton/acrylic content in the yarn, steam blocking will only do a small part of the magic ladder-disappearing trick. It really will need a good go 'round in the washer for those stitches to even out. But they will even out, don't worry about that.
And yay for Clapotis copying! I gave my version to my mother in-law so I rarely get to see it. (And I never get to wear it.) I'm tempted to make another just for me!

[Octopus Knits]

Your skirt is going to be great (and love that it's artichoke colored!) - I bet the laddering will go away with washing / blocking - and a collaborative baby blanket sounds like fun!

I don't see anything wrong with "copying" something you like - that Clapotis scarf is lovely...

P.S. Thanks for your nice comments about my tessellating fish baby blanket : )

[mac cosmetics online]

Lipglass is a bit sticky. But it's not the stickiest lip gloss I've ever used, and it's certainly not annoyingly sticky. I will compromise and call it "the right amount of stickiness"...at least for me anyway.