Friday, April 14, 2006

Will I Ever Get These Blasted Gauntlets Finished?

Here's a rough transcript of the conversation I had with Jen when she visited my office about two weeks ago:

Jen: Look, I finished my gauntlets.

Me: *pulling on her fingerless gloves" Ohmygosh, is that Lucy's yarn? I love them!

Jen: Yeah, it's the bittersweet chocolate you picked up for me at her sale. Isn't it great?

Me: I have this pattern too, how long did it take you to make them?

Jen: I knit them up last weekend.

Me: Sweet. I'm going to make them right away. I've got some Koigu that would be perfect for them.

*end scene*

The very next day:

This scene takes place at the end of the day in the yarn shop. Jen and I are sitting around the table, looking at my two colours of Koigu and playing with her dog, Harley.

Me: I dunno. I like the purple, but I think the bluey-turquoise would be better.

Jen: *holding yarn against her jeans* Yeah. I think you'll like that one better.

Me: Ok. I'm heading home to start knitting.

*end scene*

What has followed from these two little conversations has been a week of knitting and ripping.

First, I cast on and knit to 5 and 3/4 inches and then started the wrist decreases. I was happy. I thought everything was fine. I was actually making these shorter than what the pattern stated. It didn't take long for me to clue in that the pattern is made for tall people. Short girls have short arms. RRRRRRRIP!

I shortened the length before shaping to 4.5 inches and then started knitting the wrist. Again, short girl, short wrists. RRRRRRIP!

I knit on again. Going past the wrist shaping and getting the whole way to the thumb hole. Hmmmmm... I don't think I've got the exact gauge. *tries on UFO* Crap. The thumb shaping is too short and too small. RRRRRRRIP!

I won't go on, because the story gets tedious in the retelling. Let's just say it took me about 4 times to get the shaping and the thumb hole all worked out. This is what it looked like last night.

Blasted Gauntlet


This afternoon, I've finally cast off the first one. Before I move on to the thumb, I'm going to knit the second gauntlet. I want all the "tweaking" to be fresh in my mind as I didn't really write anything down.

hat and gauntlet2


As you can see, I'm also working on a hat for the shop. It's the Asymmetrical Cabled Hat from One Skein. I'm using Araucania Nature Wool in Chunky. The pattern works up quickly and I'm pleased with how easily it is coming along. I suppose it's all relative to the hell-child that is the Koigu gauntlet.

What completely astounds me is how fast Jen is knitting these days. She's churning out projects like a machine. If I weren't so proud of my prodigy, I think I would be jealous. Ok, I am a little jealous. But I've also got a case of the "mean reds" on top of my gauntlet issues and they just aren't helping me to accomplish anything!



Now, about today... I've got the day off. Heck, I have the weekend off and all to myself. It really feels like the first weekend in ages where I have nothing significant planned. No classes, no travel, no award shows, no working at the shop, no housecleaning (heh)... I can't tell you how good this feels and yet, at the same time, I'm completely overwhelmed by it.

I'm sitting on the couch, knitting away and out of nowhere, an unfinished object that is marinating in the stash will pop into my mind... and I'll start thinking about it. And I'll start wondering if I should pull it out and have a look at it. If I didn't have myself practically glued to the couch, I think I could seriously be attacked by my UFOs. They're all in there, taunting me. I can hear them. It's quite disturbing, really. I'm trying really hard to finish the projects in my project basket, but then I walk by the green desk and I start to worry that Andrew is going to come home and find me pinned to the floor under a heap of UFOs and needles.

The UFO that is hollering the loudest is the 2/3 completed Carla sweater made of Rowan Cotton Tape. I'm sure it'll be completely out of style this summer, but I realy love the colour, so I think it's going to be next on my list of UFOs to complete.

But then, Andrew's birthday is next month and so is my dad's.

Ok, ok, as soon as I finish these gauntlets and that hat, I'm going to take some time to have a talk with the stash and the UFOs. We'll work out some sort of deal. Maybe another cake of peppermint scented soap will calm them down for a while.

5 comments:

  1. I can sympathise. I'm slogging away on the raglan now that the mutant bag is 90% done (just the handle then it's felting time). But I want to play with something else! All this knitting round and round ...yawn.

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  2. My goal this weekend is to finish a UFO. Anything.
    I think my UFO basket is mocking me.

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  3. Damn, that Koigu looks (expletive deleted) delicious. I can't believe those colours!! :)

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  4. Anonymous10:44 a.m.

    Apparently you have caught frogitis from me. Sorry about that. Hopefully it passes soon.

    That koigu is amazing stuff, you can rip and rip and rip and it's still good to go.

    ps. I still think your Carla will look awesome.

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  5. You will get it done, you will not eat, sleep or drink until you do! I just finished my Malabrigo shrug in time to wear for chilly spring weather, despite injury and lack of time!
    P.S. next ufo, vintage sweater with the back finished and front just started.

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