That Took FOREVER

"Two baby sweaters, PRONTO!"

I don't react well to orders.

(Definately not cut out for the military. Unless one can enlist as a High Mucky Muck? I suppose even they have to take orders from the Higher Mucky Mucks . . . .)

About half way through, I stopped enjoying the February Sweater. I'm fairly certain it had to do with the yarn, not the pattern. Louet superwash, in whatever goes for sportweight in that pantheon. It looked all fluffy in the skein, but -- while smooth -- it really didn't like me much. No give at all.

And since I really felt I had to finish it soon . . . well, rather than just knit on something else, I just . . .

STOPPED KNITTING.

(I still can't believe it, even as I write it!)

Stopped.

Knitting.

!!!

???

!!!

But they're done now, buttons and all . . .




. . . and we'll let bygones be bygones, but NO WAY am I tackling the rest of those hats for this year's Dulaan deadline. They'll just have to go next year.

The guilty and possibly ridiculous part of me is all, "But Anonyknits, that's, like, 10 very cold people who won't have their hats this winter."

But the wiser part (which I rarely listen to) says: "People will need hats next year, too. And if you hatted every cold head in Mongolia by yourself, just think of how pissed off all the other knitters would be."

So, I'm doing it -- not doing it, that is -- for YOU, fellow knitters.

I'm generous that way.

Just thought you should know.

Unvention

Not much to look at, but here's the start of a February baby sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac.




I fell in love with this sweater the first time I saw it on someone's blog (can't remember whose!), eventually found out where to find the pattern, thought I wanted the book but could never find a hard copy to "test drive" before committing, and finally broke down and ordered it online, sight unseen, because even after all this time (well over a year) I still loved that sweater.

The book is a steal.

It arrived a couple of days ago, and I've raced through it as though it were a trashy adventure novel, flipping back again and again to reread the especially racy bits. Ahem.

The short of it is that, while I'm absolutely positive Cookie is right that another Baby Surprise is just the ticket, I have no enthusiasm to start another one immediately. So we're doing the February sweater. At least for now. Probably when it is finished, I will find that the two things are insufficiently twinny (as in, utterly different sizes), will have gotten over my Surprise aversion, and will end up starting over again for Twin No. 2.

But to the unventing -- I find it a little ironic that I have happened upon my best unventing yet (at least since the time I "discovered" the woven seam) while knitting an E.Z. design. But I suppose that it is only right and proper.

My New Favorite Increase!

I hate the m1, firm backwards loop.

I dislike working it, and I dislike working *into* it.

Working it really breaks up my rhythm. (Maybe this is only a problem for "pickers?" Or maybe it is just me.)

And working *into* it -- well, not sure what the problem is, but I always have a hard time getting my needle into that FIRM backwards loop. (Maybe it is something about the angle?)

So that's two rows of pain and suffering for the stupid one-stitch increase.

Generally, I substitute a different increase -- usually a kfb -- even if the m1 creates the best results under the circumstances.

But for the increases in the February sweater's garter yoke, the kfb wasn't going to work. So I bit the bullet and at least for the first set of increases (one every two stitches!), I used the m1.

And on the slow way back, knitting into those increases, I kept thinking "there's got to be a better way."

Then one of those stupid firm backwards loops hopped off my needle before I could work it, and when putting it back *on* the needle, I realized . . .

Does everyone else already know that you get the same m1 if you just do a "firm" YO on row one, and knit into it "through the back loop" (i.e., twisted) on row 2?

Much better!

I am giddy at the discovery.