Got Socks!!

I found my Zauberball socks - YAY!



I finished the hemline of H8 - Chart A - I start the body today.

Zee Swatch

Henry's In The House

I finished my swatch and cast on Henry VIII. I am using the original chart A from Tudor Roses for my hemline and cuffs. I did not like the chart for the original sweater or the new one. Little boxes - not my thing. I took pictures of my swatch with the chart I am using, I will post pics tonight. I lost my Zauberball socks. I took pics of my finished projects, but I could not find them. Hmmmm. 50!! 'nuff said?!?

Well. . .

I received a reply from Virtual Yarns and they advise against converting Henry VIII to a cardigan. They feel it ruins the look of the pattern motifs. There is one on Ravelry and I rather like it, although I was planning to switch charts C & D so that what is currently the center - main pattern would appear on each side of the buttonband. The only consolation of not trying to make it a cardigan is that I can dive right in and start knitting. I wound every single hank of yarn into balls Saturday. I am so glad I bougth the electric ball winder!!!!! I cannot imagine having to wind over 30 balls of yarn by hand. I used the face mask I bought also. There were fine fibers all over my work table, laptop, desk, comforter, and the dress I was wearing. Thankfully I am no longer inhaling that - the mask kept it out of my nose and mouth. I found some hanks mislabeled. Two large hanks of Corncrake and three medium-small hanks of Calluna. It was the only Calluna in the kit, so I am confident I have the right amount there. But there were other hanks of Corncrake correctly tagged, I hope I have not received it instead of the amount of Golden Plover I should have gotten.

I had gone through all of the cardigans in Tudor Roses, and the Katherine of Aragon was the style I had chosen for the H8 Cardigan. Maybe after I finish the sweater I will knit it again as a cardigan in a different yarn. As if I don't have enough projects in my queue ;-}

I finally took pictures of my socks and wash cloth, I still have to post them. I cast on the swatch for H8 and got through row 6 of 37 rows. I am listening to a kind of depressing audiobook while I get the charts entered into excel, and knit the swatch. All the good guys keep getting killed.

Once my swatch is blocked and measured I will begin watching the Tudors Season I as I knit H8. I am really looking forward to it.

What?

I am being so indecisive. What's up with that? I always have a plan. There is one thing I know about me and it is that I get too hot in pullover sweaters. I am starting the Henry VIII KAL but I want to make a cardigan. I have very little experience altering patterns, and less than zero ideas on how to alter a fair isle pattern. So I am going to do two things, I am going to e-mail virtual yarns and ask their opinion on using the cardigan directions for the Glenesk with the charts for Henry VIII. Glenesk was originally a pullover. If they say, "what girl, are you crazy, that will never work" then I know I will have to ask the Ravelry experts what to do. There is a completed project on Ravelry that is a cardigan. Hopefully the knitter will be willing to share her knowledge.

The second thing I was going to do was take the directions for both sweaters and replace the numbers from Glenesk with the numbers from Henry VIII and see how far off the pattern charts fall. I have not looked at Henry VIII yet - wouldn't it be lovely if you cast on the same number of stitches, decreased at the same spots, started the armhole steeks in the same row? ? ? I am still winding yarn into balls. I will swatch this weekend, I am hoping the yarn knits smoothly with my new acrylic Knit Pick Zephyr needles. I love them.

I really wanted to finish Glenesk before starting Henry VIII (H8) so I could see how it all works. I have way too much left to knit, I want to be a part of the H8 KAL so I am going to have to cast on this weekend. Hmmm, just thinking, I also have the Lismore Kit, which is a cardigan too. I can look at those directions and see if they are basically the same as the Glenesk cardigan. If Virtual Yarn handles neckline decreases the same on both their patterns, then surely it would work with H8 - right ??!!?? Then all I would have to do is see where the chart patterns would fall on either side of the steeks.

Stieg Larrson's The Girl Who Played With Fire was an excellent follow-up to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I look forward to the third and last book in the series with great anticipation. It is such a tragedy that he has passed on and will never write another.

The Millennium Trilogy novels -- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and Castles in the Sky (working English titles).

Samurai Sudoku is taking up a ridiculous amount of my time. I am hooked. I even solved two "Evil" ones. Check them out if you dare, the archives will provide you with puzzles from each level. www.Samurai-Sudoku.com Samurai sudoku puzzles consist of five overlapping sudoku grids. The standard sudoku rules apply to each 9 x 9 grid. Place digits from 1 to 9 in each empty cell. Every row, every column, and every 3 x 3 box should contain one of each digit.

I have got to get some pictures of my finished objects posted. My Ravelry projects list just looks silly with balls of yarns, or sock cuffs on finished projects instead of a pair of completed socks. Heavy sigh, so much to do, so little time.

Still Going

Not a lot to blog about. The Glenesk sweater is much of the same. I am working on the last 44 rows before the neck area. Decreasing in front for the V-neck of the cardigan and creating armhole steeks. But that is it. Just knitting and knitting. I have almost finished the Zauberball socks too. I have two KALs starting the 15th which I have not swatched for yet. Maybe I will get to that today. Every few days I add a couple of rows to the Adult Surprise Jacket - 30 more rows to go before the back flap.

My paperback copy of Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting arrived.

Not so exciting. Off to knit . . .ciao.