Monday, August 27, 2007

A Good Company... and a [Mostly] FO

I have to give big Kudos to Crystal Palace! Remember a few weeks ago when I had that unfortunate needle incident? The needle pulled right out of the join & when I tried to glue it back together (as I had the other pair the day I bought them) I ended up with a gap that the yarn keeps getting stuck in...

I was reading the blogs a few weeks ago and This Blogger was so helpful as to do the leg work to find out the replacement policy for all the major needle companies after she had a similar needle incident. I went ahead and emailed the company & a very nice representative (Andy) got right on it and sent me not one, but two new sets of needles.

They arrived today, just in time to knit up part two of one of the Mystery Projects.

So, thank you to Crystal Palace for standing behind your product! ANd thank you to Andy for taking care of it so quickly!
Speaking of Mystery Projects, I have an updates.

I give you the Lattice Stripe Sock:

And a close-up of the lattice stripe:
Of course, this is only the first sock. I still have to knit the other one. This lattice stripe takes a long time to knit. Although I found the lattice stripe in my trusty stitch dictionary, the sock pattern is my own.

Which brings me to a small challenge I am faced with. I didn't really write down the pattern for the entire leg. I just sort of know that there is a lattice stripe down each side, and there are a couple of ribs and a stripe of seed stitch down the front and the back. I'm not entirely confident that these two socks are going to match all that well... I guess we'll see if I can figure out what I did with the first one!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Thank Goodness! The heat wave seems to be over. We've recently had some really awful high temperatures... like, record-breaking high temperatures. Here's an example:
This was measured in the shade, and it wasn't even our highest temperature of the last two weeks. The highest this baby reported was 105.9 degrees. Ugh. Walking outside was like walking into a steam room. Thankfully, our high today was only 93 degrees, and our humidity is relatively low, so it seems like fall weather might be just around the corner!

And now for the knits. Okay, well, the knit.

Here's my progress on Mystery Project #1. I guess it's not much of a mystery anymore. It's been slow going with this one. This is probably due to the two false starts and all the cables. Cables slow this already slow knitter down. A lot.

I couldn't get a good picture of the actual stitch pattern because I ran out of good daylight. I'll try again later this week. The pattern is my own. It's got a lattice stripe on each side, with ribs and a stripe of seed stitch down the front and back.

There are quite a few errors in this sock, but, hey - it was my first try at knitting a sock with no pattern, so I'm happy with it. I'll have to start the second sock as soon as I get this first one completed because I made some notes about my pattern, but I'm not sure they're clear enough for me to figure out later.

Well, that's all for now. I haven't made any progress on the Mystery Project #2 because I can't work on it when anyone is in the room with me, or when I'm trying to do anything else (watch TV, sit in meetings at work, etc.). LilMan & Hubby are going fishing in the morning so I'm planning to try to get a bit more done. tomorrow. I'd better... at this rate it's going to end up being a gift for Christmas 2008!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

My husband, Matt is the coolest. We celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary on July 26. I got him a sappy card and the promise of no eye rolling or deep sighing the next time he wants to buy a video game. He got me this:



For the first time in our entire relationship, I have a cooler, more awesome gadget than he does. He gets his cell phone through work, so he can't have an iPhone. But I can!

Now, I should mention that I'm not really a gadget head (except when it comes to knitting gadgets). But I do like anything that makes my life and my job easier. This really does. I no longer have to wait to get back to my office at the end of the day to check my email. I have my entire schedule, all my contacts, and the Internet all at my fingertips. And I don't have to carry my cell phone, mp3 player and personal electronic organizer around with me. (I know it doesn't sound like much, but remember that I already carry a guitar and a 25lb bag full of rhythm instruments and therapy materials with me pretty much everywhere I go.)

So let me just say it: I have the coolest, most awesome husband in the world!

Now, onto the knitting.

All three mystery projects are coming along, though not all are without problems. Super-Duper Mystery Project #3 is coming along fine so far. No problems... for now it's smooth sailing.

Mystery Project #2 has possibly hit a small snag. I think I may have gotten a bit off on my last row. I'm not sure because I realized it pretty late at night & just didn't have the mental energy to try & figure it out. Now... I think I'm avoiding it. I am dreading this project. I think I'm a bit afraid of what I might discover when I go back & count the stitches. I will have it figured out by Monday, though. I don't want it to sit on the back burner too long.

As for Mystery Project #1, it's got some issues. Most of them are okay with me. However, I had a very traumatic event the other day. I am knitting this particular project on 2 circular needles. I guess that gives you an idea of what type of project it is, but it's very relevant to this story. So, I finished the stitches on one of the needles, and began to pull the needle out (so the stitches could rest on the wire). All of a sudden, the freaking needle pulled out of the join & tiny cabled stitches went flying everywhere!

Now, I purchased these particular needles (ahem-Crystal Palace brand-ahem-cough) back in May while at MS&W. The very first time I used them two of the needles separated from the join. I super glued them back & and all was well.

Until the other day. I ultimately got all the stitches picked up using a spare needle, and then attempted to glue the needle back on. I tried a few "test runs" before actually applying the glue to be sure I knew exactly how it went in.

Well, I dotted on a small amount of glue, and began to slide the needle back in... and it stopped! It wouldn't go in all the way! And, because the glue dries so fast, it wouldn't come back out either!

So now I'm stuck knitting on a size 1 circular needle that has a gap between the needle & the join that is exactly the width of my yarn. Well, I'm stuck with it at least until I can order a new [non-Crystal Palace Brand] needle.

Okay, I've go to run. My favorite MD knitter is due to land right here in St. Louis in about 30 minutes! She's coming into town for a visit, along with my mom and grandparents (who are already here). It's very rare that we all get to be in the same place at the same time, so I would imagine it's going to be a very busy weekend!