Bah!

I've been fighting with this one cross stitch for awhile. First, I found the symbols for two colors (Dk Beige and Lt Beige) were switched, but only after I’d been stitching and realized that the shading didn’t look right. I checked it against the picture and found that yes, the two color symbols were switched. Grumble, grumble…okay, fixed that.

Somehow, it got smooshed under a banana and left for a few days. I'm still not sure how it happened. The edge is stained brown. Luckily, this is the edge of the linen and will probably be completely cut off when I go to finish it. Any leftover ickly bits will be in the seam allowance, I'm sure, so while it was a very annoying experience, no harm done.

THEN I ran out of white. That’s okay, white’s pretty common, I have more of that from other kits. It's not exactly the same, slightly smoother and brighter, but not really noticeable unless I'm going to submit it for an award.

Continuing along, no problem with greens, then I get to taupes - and the Lt Taupe and Taupe symbols are switched! Two in one pattern! Fine, I took out the Lt Taupe and continued on…only to run out of the Lt Taupe! Aaaaaugh! I hope I can find something close! The kit doesn’t list what types of floss (DMC or otherwise) were included. It does list a color code of 6114, but as the kit was made 10 years ago, and I’m now living in Japan and have no idea where to go to get embroidery floss, who knows if I can match it! I’m so close to just tossing the whole thing in the sink along with a lit match…

Found a correct color and finished the stitching since starting this post. The new color to match the Lt Taupe isn't quite right - a bit of grey and blue instead of a gold and green tinge, but not different enough to be noticeable. Again, not going for any awards here, just going for a finished piece. The cross stitches, back stitches, and straight stitches are all done. It just need some satin stitches in the gold metallic thread and a tassel to finish off the hat, then it needs to be sewn to a backing. It's a pretty small piece, but with all the setbacks, has taken a while to finish:


(See the banana gunk along the left side? The other spot in the bottom right-ish is just a fuzzy)

Now, I need to wash and block it out before putting the metallic thread and tassels on. For this, I was planning to toss it into some really cold water with some white vinegar, a rinse of really cold water, and then one last bath in Soak, again with really cold water. The vinegar will keep the colors from running, then a rinse to get the vinegar out, and then some Soak to clean it, though it's not really dirty or anything. The problem I'm having with this is that Lee and I can't seem to find any vinegar here! Apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, vinegar for sushi rice, sure, many different kinds of vinegar - just not white! I know if I go ahead to finish this the red will bleed into the white, since that's the kind of luck I've been having with this piece, so it will be dormant for another while, until I can get proper color protecting ingredients. Vinegar - who knew that would be such a problem?

Once clean, it needs some tassels and then I'm supposed to sew it to some brown felt for backing. I don't have brown felt. I know where to get some, but I do have some more of that cloth I use for the ornaments. I'm trying to decide if the reason for the felt is that it's thicker and more sturdy, or if the fabric will be good enough. Since I'm waiting for the vinegar to clean it anyway, I'll probably go out and get the felt for it. May as well not skimp!

Progress

Well, Rogue has dried, but has not been moved from the floor of the sun room, so is not yet done. It needs seaming for the sleeves, so won't take very long once I get working on it - I just haven't done it yet.

I fought with a cross stitch (which will shortly get its own post) and have finished all the stitching, I just need to wash and finish it with backing and a couple of tassels. I need white vinegar to do the washing - with the luck I've had for this one it will definitely bleed in the wash if I don't have any. The problem at the moment is that Lee and I can't seem to find any. Does Japan have white vinegar anywhere?

I also nearly finished the sleeve I've been working on FOREVER for my mom's Telemark Ski Sweater, but I can't decide if I like it...I posted about all sorts of gauge/pattern issues before, and now I think that I might like the thing better if I got the assumed correct row gauge and then did the calculations for number of stitches based on that. Right now, I got the given stitch gauge which gets 8 rows/inch. The pattern says to do the snowflake charts at 8" before the finished length, which would work perfectly for 6 rows/inch, but not for 8 rows/inch. Instead, I need to start the chart 6" before the finished length, taking 2" off of the design area. I think this is shrinking the design too much, so I think I will go back to swatching...

I know I was supposed to finish three projects before starting something else, and I did finish completely two of them, but I think I will start the baby blanket today. I've stalled on my mom's sweater, don't want to go back to the stole until I have the Telemark sweater, baby blanket, and the MIL sweater done, have one slow going pair of socks I don't feel like working on, and one completely stalled pair of socks I'm designing. I think I'll start the blanket for easy, not thinking about it knitting, since I now have two projects that just need the last couple bits of finishing work done to complete them. Yay for new projects!

Of Course...

I'm all happy about finishing, so I wash the pieces in preparation for blocking and seaming, while forgetting that all the towels are in the wash. Our washer/dryer takes FOREVER, but it is quite convenient to just toss a load in and hit "go" then take out nice clean and dry, though very wrinkly, clothes. Another nice feature of our apartment is our sink. We have a triple sink; it's the length of three sinks instead of two, like most American kitchen sinks. We also have a tray that you can slide along the length, to work as an extra work surface or a nice air-drying surface, as it has holes in it. There's also a wash basin you can slide along a lower tray area, so that you can use it for washing dishes or what I do, holding the dishes for washing but staying underneath the work surface tray and out of the way during the day. This basin is also perfect for blocking:


As you can see, the pieces of my Rogue fit nicely inside. Now if only the towels would hurry up and dry already, I could be further along!

Sleeve #3

Yay, now I have two matching sleeves! Hooray for re-knitting and perfectionism! Also hooray for weekends! Now on to blocking, followed by seaming, and I'll have an FO!

RIP Sleeve #1

Out with the old, and in with the new. That ball is the first sleeve, and there's the cuff of the third. At least I can work on it a bunch and maybe re-finish it this weekend. I have a bit of an ankle injury that isn't actually bad, but as I walk everywhere here I'm just going to sit this weekend and rest the ankle. And knit. I just hope my gauge stays consistent this time!

What's Wrong...

...with this picture? Aside form the abysmal photography skills and the need for blocking?


Remember how I had gauge issues with the first sleeve? I didn't with the second sleeve. Used the same needles and all, but must have subconsciously loosened up once I realized I didn't have gague before. While it isn't the end of the world, the second sleeve (bottom) definitely looks better than the first, and I had to rip and re-seam the first sleeve anyway - maybe I'll just rip and re-knit. Just when I thought I was finished! Oh well...it'll bug me forever if I don't fix it, so I may as well just suck it up and deal.

I Spoke Too Soon...

Well, I realized that I need to rip and re-seam the sleeve. You see, I did not do the best job of distributing the stitches. The center top stitch lines up with the shoulder seam. The line of bound off stitches on the sleeve matches with those on the torso. However, in between, things seem to have gone awry:


The top stitches in the sleeve cap are all stretched, and the bottom stitches are all baggy. I need to fix that by redistributing the stitches so that the upper end has more and the bottom end has less, therefore getting rid of the obvious pulling at the top and the baggyness at the bottom. Lee pointed out the wonkyness of the sleeve. He said the torso looks awesome, and if my goal is to have it look not obviously homemade (read: poorly done) I should fix the sleeve seam. Thanks, dear. It also needs to be blocked, and I probably should have done that before seaming. I'll probably take it out once I've finished the second sleeve, block all three pieces, then re-seam both of them and make sure they line up better.