I Feel Much Better Now

After the Diamond Fantasy Scarf sat in a small overnight time out I felt I could face it again. I ripped it back to nothing (again) and restarted.

I'm well past the point where I made my mistakes and things are going swimmingly (hope I didn't wreak the whole mojo by stating that). I've got lots of life lines and I count the stitches often to make sure I'm right on track.

This is definitely a not television or group knitting project - at least for me. But I've got my cardigan to do for those occasions - straight stockinette all the way up.

Diamond Fantasy Retry

I started the Diamond Fantasy Scarf by Sivia Harding in the wool/silk blend. Here's another photo from Sivia's website:








I started following the written out instructions, which don't include bead placement, so I decided where to put them myself. When I had finished about 37 rows I decided that what I had feared was true: I didn't like the placement of the beads in the diamonds. They were hiding behind three stitches coming together at once. But, no big deal... I didn't mind frogging it. I had used life lines but decided to just start again. The pattern takes a lot of counting and I wanted to get more used to it anyway. I started pulling right back to the start.



I planned the bead placement better and really like where they are now. "Look at how pretty they are," I told myself as I stretched out my work to see how the lace would look. "Hey, what's that?"



One of the diamonds was not knit correctly. Right at the start, too! Argh. I think I did a ssk instead of a k2tog. Part of one of the sides of the first diamond was slanted the wrong way. I had almost decided to leave it when.... I found another mistake. Oh. My. Gawd. What was I doing? Why didn't I use life lines this time - I had myself convinced that I was counting the stitches just fine.



I put it away for the night - I couldn't face it. I feel a bit better now so I'll rip it back and go for it again. This time, lifelines and double checking each row.



I like the pattern and it isn't all that hard, I just haven't had much experience with lace that doesn't have a really obvious repeat. Here I go again.

Diamond Fantasy

Yesterday dh and I went on a Valentine's Day outing. Both teenagers were at work (McDonald's) so we had the whole afternoon to ourselves and already had plans to have a date night.



We began by picking up prescriptions at Safeway pharmacy... yay! It wasn't too bad, I brought my cardigan to knit on so the waiting time was enjoyable, dh and me chatting while my fingers flew - gotta love stockinette sometimes.



Then I'd had a whim to visit Chinatown so we headed off there. It ended up to be a lovely long walk in that very colourful area of town. We picked up some great bargains in produce.



We had planned to go for dinner and a movie but it was still way to early when we left Chinatown so I mentioned that I wanted to visit a yarn store. Dh, supportive as ever, said sure. So I headed off to one I hadn't visited before - Homecraft Importers. But, we hit a huge traffic snarl and never got there. We backtracked and found ourselves on Main Street. Guess what's on Main Street? You've got it - Three Bags Full, my favourite lys.



Dh wished me fun while he let the seat back and had a little nap. I found some lovely yarn - Silky Wool by Elsebeth Lavold. I decided to do another project by Sivia Harding. I chose the Diamond Fantasy Scarf. Lovely lace. I chose a dark orange-red colour of the yarn.



Here's a photo of the Diamond Fantasy lace - I borrowed it from Sivia Harding's website:







Today I visited Bead Works in Newport Village and found some beads to place in the centre of the diamonds. I've done beads before but not in lace, only in ribbing. I'm going to love the challenge.


Oops, sorry, I digress. Back to what we did yesterday:


After the yarn store we went to see Jumper. We actually wanted to see Juno but we didn't actually check what time it started. When we got to the theatre the only thing starting in our time frame that we had any desire to see was Jumper. It was disappointing. A cool idea but there were many holes in the story. And, it didn't end that well.


After the movie we went to White Spot for dinner. I had their Tandoori Chicken Rice Bowl. Not bad at all.


Dh and I had a good time together and have decided to make more frequent plans to spend time together like this.

Stitch Gauge - Evil!

Today my friend Heidi and I went to the Ravelry group Terminal City Yarn Wrangler's meetup at The Grind at 25th and Main Street. Heidi's baby Hadrian provided much entertainment. Before the meetup I introduced Heidi to Three Bags Full. She's hooked, oh yeah!

I had finished my second pair of Rose's Wrist Warmers and I just had to weave in the ends. The first pair I made were purple and my sister Terri, the instant she first saw them, she insisted that I was making them for her. Of course I wasn't; they were for me. So last week I gave them to her.

I had the idea that I would like to make a hat, a beret, perhaps, with the same seed-stitched cable. But I didn't have enough purple yarn to make the hat. So I bought different yarn in a greater amount to make myself the warmers and a matching hat. But my daughter Sylvie wanted a pair too. I found that lime green colour and knit hers up. She just got them and loves them. Now I'm over the whole wrist warmer thing. Maybe I'll get back to knitting myself a pair at a later date... or maybe not.

I'm tired of having to adjust my needle size to match ESG (Evil Stitch Gauge). I knit somewhat tightly and usually end up going up at least two needle sizes. Sometimes it doesn't work out and I just forget the whole idea. Well, I know why my stitches are tighter. When I throw the yarn over the needle I use my index finger to pull tension into it as I draw the yarn through the loop. That's where it happens. I'm trying to train myself to just. leave. it. alone. No tension as I pull the yarn through the previous stitch. And purling is different. I'm going to have to do swatch after swatch just to make it consistently even. But I think it will be worth it if my stitches stop being so tight.

I have some vague ideas what I'll do next but haven't actually started yet. The stoll to match Sylvie's grad dress? Cherie Amour (see image below)? Something I haven't even found yet? We'll see.