Knit Addict

Actually…isn’t that a redundancy? Aren’t confessions, by default, true? Unless of course you get into false confessions. But if they’re false, are they really confessions? Now I’ve confused mysef. So we’ll come back to the confessions topic, because I really do have a couple.

Guild met today, and it was nice. Thanks to all of you who brought goodies or who donated postage money. Special thanks to Anna who brought me the customs forms and such, and told me about what needed to be done. This will be an ongoing thing for me, so feel free to bring donations any time.

Ze Clapotis? Eet eez finite!

It’s more stole than scarf, at least for me.

I put that white shirt on just for the pictures. Brandi put a footprint right in the middle of the chest. That’s my girl!

So confession one:

I started something else.

Before you laugh too much, it is from stash yarn. Zitron Polo. It’s a 50/50 cotton/manmade blend, so I figured it would shrink.

Which leads me to confession two: I don’t always swatch. But this time I did. I thought this stuff might shrink with laundering, because I plan to machine wash and dry. Sure enough, it did.

It was 5 sts/inch before laundering, and 5.25 after. Before you say that’s nothing, let’s do some math.

I want my sweater to be 38″ around. This sweater wanted a little ease. At 5 stitches per inch, a 38 inch sweater would be 190 stitches. 190 stitches at 5.25/inch is only 36 inches.

So much for ease.

I did this one right, but my Happy Socks I didn’t do a gauge on. I just jumped in and did my standard 60 stitch sock. It’s actually a little big. I’m hoping for a little shrinkage on that one, although they’re wearable even if they don’t shrink. So, do as I say not as I do - knit those swatches! And launder them as you will the finished garment.

Because it’s a pattern with a few purls mixed in, I didn’t do any kind of edging. I just knit a few rows with a slightly smaller needle at the bottom to keep the edge from flaring. I like the way the colors are flowing with it. Curious to see what happens when I split at the armholes though.

The next one isn’t really a swatch, although I did bind it off like one. I started the prototype for the Mosaic Tote I’m going to teach at GYC in June. This is the one Beverly helped me pick yarn for a couple of Knit Ins back. I started with the green, and there just isn’t enough contrast with the grey for it to work.

They just kind of smoosh together. Not what I want for a mosaic class. I dragged a deep red out of stash to use instead.

And the last confession. It goes back to the Clapotis. I know it’s pronounced clap-uh-tee. But in my head I still say it clap-otis.

Just call me Okie.