Friday, November 6, 2009

How did it get to be Friday?

I swear we just got home from Cincinnati. How did Friday get here so quickly?

We had a wonderful weekend. It was so nice to get to spend time with our family, I just wish we could have stayed longer. We ate like royalty; my SIL is an amazing cook (pulled pork, mmm...) and made the kinds of things that I never make for myself (far too lazy), and I enjoyed every bite, plus a few I probably shouldn't have. She's a knitter, too, so we got to sit and knit and visit and watch our three girls play together, all of which was such a treat; they had a fabulous time, too, as you can see. Those three get along like a house on fire; it's pretty amazing to watch them when they get together. And my neice and Younger Daughter are two peas in a pod; both of them are active and incessent fantasists -- the ongoing story lines they have running in their heads are amazing, and when you put the two of them together, well! Let the good times roll.
(Note: These pictures are thieved from my lovely sister-in-law, who is far better with a camera than I'll ever be. Thanks, Geri!) We went for a couple of lovely walks, and I got to crunch my way through fallen leaves to my heart's content, as did the girls.
Pumpkins were carved.
The house was decorated.
And the girls got as much candy as any child could want, and more. It was a perfect weekend, and the only thing that would have made it better is if it could have lasted longer. But (as I reminded myself more than once as we worked our way home on Monday) something is much much better than nothing. Especially a something that was this much fun. We've just got to start saving up our miles at a faster rate somehow...

I did knit, as I said. And I finished one unbloggable project, which just needs to block. I also got Rick's socks further along, and am now nearly ready to turn the second heel. These poor socks are getting really short shrift, since they're my very plain meeting knitting and I don't pull them out for anything else. That would be fine and I'd normally make plenty of progress, especially given the number of meetings I've been attending lately (!), but Elektra is also plain and has taken up much of my meeting time, so the socks languish. I also wound up yarn and cast on for the Traveler Socks from Janel Laidman's new book, and then realized a) that I hadn't brought along a second set of dpns to knit the pocket and b) that the construction of the pocket necessitates three layers of knitted fabric on the side of the sock. I can see why (I spent a not-insignificant part of the quiet moments of my weekend attempting to think of alternate ways to knit the sock such that the pocket would only be two-layered, to no avail), but I'm not sure how I feel about those three layers of knitted fabric on the side of my leg, so I stalled out.

Taking a break from Elektra proved to be heartening, and on Tuesday night I commenced the frogging process. I completed it last night, and this is the current state of affairs.
Lots and lots of little balls. The whole frogging process took a little over six hours, and yes, the unpicking of all of the woven-in ends was just as bad as I'd thought it would be. The one silver lining to that particular cloud is my new-found appreciation for the durability of the woven-in end. Folks, those babies ain't going nowhere, no how, no way. (And no, four negatives do not make a positive.) I will never again fear that all of the ends of one of my sweaters are going to simultaneously spring forth at once, leaving me standing in a heap of unravelled yarn at some crucial and public moment.

I actually cast on for the back (again) before I finished frogging, just so I could see how badly trashed the yarn was going to be before I committed to ripping the whole thing. I think it's going to block out reasonably well.
If you embiggen, you can see that the stitches are much more uneven than they were before, but I think a good soak will take care of that. I have also rejiggered the row counts for each color to take care of those giant swathes of brown that were giving me fits, so all in all, I'm expecting much better things of Elektra Redux.

I'm also expecting to be able to make some serious progress this weekend, since it's going to be all soccer, all the time. It's playoffs, so we'll be at Older Daughter's three playoff games from before 8:00 tomorrow morning until about 11:30, and then at Younger Daughter's four playoff games from 1:45 until about 8:00 tomorrow night (!!). Depending on the results of those, there will be further eliminations and the final game on Sunday. This giant stretch of knitting time was one of the reasons why I wanted to get Elektra frogged sooner rather than later, since it's perfect knitting for watching something else. If you are of a mind, you could send some goal-oriented thoughts our way; the girls could use the extra energy for all of that playing, I'm sure!

18 comments:

Wanderingcatstudio said...

Sounds like a fantastic weekend! Friday came far too quickly for me too...considering Ive done almost nothing but lay in bed.
You're so brave to do all that frogging.... I'm not going near Dave's Leo for at least another year. And I have an alpaca sweater I made myself that ended up with 80s sleeves somehow (I think I knit a medium sweater and large sleeves) It's going to be frogged eventually and turned into the wool peddlars shawl.... once I get up the nerve to frog it

Rachel said...

Your weekend sounds like it was a blust. I am glad another adult seems to like the leaves crunch as mush as I do!

It is good you are over the ripping and into the knitting of the correct size Elektra, I am sure all this uneven will disappear after a good soak.

Another Joan said...

For your young ladies my favourite footie yell: RUN, legs, RUN!!!! (Not to be applied to knitting, of course)

Alwen said...

It's amazing the things knitting can do.

I'm thinking . . . you can make a two-layered pocket, but it involves a second skein of yarn, slipping stitches, and purling back with one yarn. Mary Thomas calls it "festive knitting" and it gave me a brain cramp even when I tried it and found it worked.

Anonymous said...

Best of luck to the girls in soccer! I just had to frog a big project myself (the first sock of the Nine Tailors socks by Tsarina -- it didn't fit my mom and they're for her) so I understand . . .

I'm sure the Elektra will be better the second time.

Good luck to all.
Sarah/Scienceprincess

Lynne said...

Knit socks without pocket. Come back to where you want base of pocket to be. Snip a stitch, unravel as many stitches as required, knit pocket up from there... Just a thought - EZ [Almanac or Workshop - can't remember which] explains it better than I can!

Jane said...

Wishing the girls all the best with the football and I hope the knitting goes just as well

Mary Lou said...

It is reassuring to know those woven in ends aren't going to let go. When I teach beginners about weaving in, i do have them yank and pull and see that, really, it will stay in. But ripping out the woven in ends, oy. Glad to see you got it behind you.

Willow said...

Go, girls, go!

When I frog something I know that I will like the new finished product better, so I focus on that thought while I pull and pull. Which I did to two (2!) projects this week. Oh well, isn't it all about the process? Who really needs a sweater to actually wear?

Your Cinci weekend sounds perfect!

Carrie K said...

I'm sure Electra will block out nicely, she's done pretty well so far. Unpicking woven in ends! Gah!

And GO TEAM!! Sounds like great weekend fun.

Gwen said...

Negative emphasis. I know.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo-
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooollll!!!!

Helen said...

I am so impressed by you ripping Elektra and starting again so soon. I might have done it, but I would have had to have a period of pretending it hadn't happened first.

EGunn said...

Sounds like a wonderful weekend! The girls do look thick as thieves.

Congratulations on ripping and restarting Elektra. I suppose the reassurance that the ends will stay put is worth something (but don't count on it for alpaca...I found yet another end unweaving itself in a sweater the other day, one year and at least 4 washes in). Having the project moving forward again is probably worth even more. It looks beautiful!

Hope those games went well!

twinsetellen said...

Elektra still looks pretty, even if she is in little balls in a bag.

And just as I am feeling all cozy about the thoughts of well established woven ends, Erica comes in with her comment on alpaca. It never does pay to become complacent, does it?

AlisonH said...

Perfect. I can just hear the leaves crunching, and I love the exuberance of the children there!

And I'm glad that yarn is submitting to reason and order like a good little yarn. Onward!

Nana Sadie said...

I'm so glad your weekend was wonderful, and I'm proud of you for getting the frogging DONE!
(((hugs)))

Bea said...

Your weekend sounds wonderful. My sister in law does not knit which is very very sad. The girls all look a bit alike, but I an see you in your two.

Glad to hear that the yarn ends will stay put! I don't think the wonkyness is too bad and I already like how its coming out. I'm sending the girls some winning thoughts.

Rachael said...

Good for you getting back into elektra! Did you recheck your gauge? (not to sound like that aunt who always asks if you packed enough socks) Just checking, I had a problem with a project once when half the yarn had been used once and was on a re-knit and the other half of the yarn was on its first knit.