Rip It! Rip It Good! duh na na na na

Well, yesterday at the airport on the way home, I decided to work again on the Secret Of The Stole - II Swatch.  I pulled out my yarn, noticed I had completed a row and went to check the pattern. 

Uh oh... I only marked half of a row (Row 7) and didn't note if I did the K5, P35, K5 row.  So I foolishly didn't count my stitches to make sure I was good, and started a K5, P35, K5 row, then started on Pattern row 9.

(If you are curious about that which I write and want to see the swatch pattern PLEASE feel free to visit the Secret Of The Stole - II site, sign-up, and download the instructions).

When I got to the end of Row 9, I had about 4 or 5 more Knit stitches to do... Ugh.... And I was only at 44 stitches.  So I started ripping it back a row.  Got that done and counted.

40 stitches... HOW in the heck did I do that???  Oh well.  It was too late to call Mom, and I didn't have any free wireless Internet at the Las Vegas airport to check on things.  So I ripped the swatch completely out, wrapped it around my small ball of yarn and put everything back in my Dell Knitting Bag (actually an old laptop bag that expands, but it's black and looks like a manly bag).

After 4 hours of sleep (got to bed at 3:30 AM after our redeye flights), 4 hours of Dance Rehearsal for my daughter, errands, lunch, and 4 hours of nap (We were really tired) I got a hold of Mom.  Man, Mom sure has all the answers to my knitting woes.

"Did you hold on to your yarnovers?" she asks.

I'm such a n00b knitter.

Here I write, "Confessions of a n00b knitter", tunes of Devo's "Whip It" going through my head as "Rip It! Rip It Good! duh na na na na".

Nite All.

P.S. - For Your Listening and Viewing Pleasure, We Present "Whip It" by Devo courtesy of YouTube.com  NSFW (Not Safe For Work)

Secret of the Stole II - A KAL

So I thought I would put some more information about the stole I'm knitting up on the site.

I found it by clicking many links until I came to The Nautical Knitter's site. There I saw a link to a KAL (Knit-A-Long). I didn't know what that was so I clicked. Be careful when you click. You don't know what you might get yourself into :).

Nautical Knitter, and the new site KnitWith.Us, is run and maintained by DK and her husband Mr. K. The new site is full of knitting tips, videos and posts. It is well worth the visit.

Secret Of The Stole - II (sots-ii) is the KAL I joined. My previous posts have dealt with my knitting this stole. This KAL starts on Jan. 18, 2008. DK will post hints and parts of the pattern (in chart form) which we will then knit. So far DK has provided swatch instructions so we can get used to knitting the particular stitches kneeded in this stole. I am really enjoying knitting this swatch. I just need more time to knit :). Take care all.

More Swatching To Do

Well, I didn't get as much of my swatch done as I wanted. I'm still working on it. I needed to check with my mother on a few stitches. It is turning out better now. I'm knitting a bit more loosely, and the "lacieness" is coming through a bit more now. I should have a picture in a couple more days.

On a side note, this nice yarn for knitting. The strands aren't too tight together or too loose. It has a nice feel between my fingers as I knit. I would use this yarn or another like it in the future.

Started the SotS-II Swatch Today

I started my swatch today. My wife and I went to the higher end LYS and found some Alpaca fingering weight that looks good. I explained to the owner what I was doing and she suggested it since the only other lace weight yarn she has was mohair and VERY fuzzy. i'm using Addi Turbo Lace circular needles Size 6.

I'm up to row 5 on the swatch and can now see the holes. Well half of the holes. *grin*

I'll post a picture later after the battery charges for my digital camera. I seem to have missed some of the slip stitches, yarn overs, or something. But, that I got half of the holes means that I did eventually figure it out. The toughest stich is the s1k1psso (Slip 1, Knit 1, Pass Slipped Stitch Over). I find it hard to find the slipped stitch sometimes and that may be what happened. I'm going to do two more rows (up to and including row 7) and see what happens..

I think I'm glad that I ended up choosing this weight yarn and size of needles for my first lace project. The yarn is very easy to handle, doesn't snag on my rough guy hands, and these needles are... (don't hit me for using this phrase) ... a dream to knit with. The points are sharp enough to find the holes, but not too sharp to split the stitches. The body of the needles seem to not be as slippery as my other metal needles. The yarn seems to stay put and not slide to much. This is good since my left hand usually gets a little sore after knitting on metal needles.

All in all, this project is going to be very enjoyable. Pictures coming later. I'll just add them to the post so come back Sunday afternoon (PST).

Blog Name Change - A Guy Who Knits

Since I seem to be the only guy around the news groups I frequent who knits, I decided for a name change. This will be the final change to the name, but I am still working on the template. So the new website address (URL) is:

http://aguywhoknits.blogspot.com

Take care.

Guys Who Knit?

.
Hi all,

I am a Guy Who Knits. My mother reminded me a while ago that she taught me when I was young. When my daughter went through a plastic surgery revision a couple of summers ago, my mother taught/retaught us all: my daughter, my wife, and myself. I knitted a couple of scarves, a couple of pot holders, and I am in the midst of a shawl for my wife (which I started Dec. 06, and it is STILL not done yet).

I'm starting this blog to find other Guys Who Knit. It *is* a relaxing hobby. It can be a bit expensive, but I get much more satisfaction out of seeing how people love and appreciate the knitted gifts than I care about how much the yarn or needles cost.

I also joined a KAL (Knit-A-Long) called Secret of the Stole II. Portions of the stole (a shawl for us guys) are given out in little clues and you knit them as you go. This KAL starts on 01-01-08, so if you want to try it out (it is beginner to intermediate in complexity) then join the Yahoo Group.

As I complete projects I'll post pictures of them here so everyone can see how a Guy Who Knits actually does.

Take care all.