A Cozy ending.
I have finally, finally finished Cozy! It’s only taken about ten months, but it’s finally finished. Just to recap, the pattern is from Knitty Fall 2004, the yarn I used is Berocco Cotton Twist in Pitch Black, and there are something like ten skeins of yarn in this sucker.
This project gave me fits from the start! I don’t even remember how long it took me to get the cadence of the pattern down, but I finally did. I think I ended up frogging and restarting three times. The yarn was a little hard on the hands, but it’s just beautiful. It’s got a sheen and glimmer to it that sets off the pattern beautifully. It does the tweedy sort of thing that works so well in this pattern but adds a little shimmer to make it less casual. (Click that picture for more photos.)
So Mom never got this for the wedding it was originally intended for, but hopefully she can use it through the end of autumn, winter, and early spring. I do love how this turned out, but I don’t know when I’ll want to knit it again!
Next up to finish is a baby sweater with a collar … I’m down to the last sleeve and then the finishing. My least favorite bits, so … YAY!
Couch o’ Knitting
The couch in my Houston apartment has the advantage of rarely seeing a cat around. Since it’s also where I park my rear after work every day, it’s turned into the designated knitting location for my time down here. I can’t tell you how many movies and tv series I’ve watched while sitting there and knitting away.
Since I do most of my knitting here, most of my yarn and needles have migrated here as well. The good thing about the traveling between cities and staying in a hotel was that I focused on one project and kept it with me until it got too big to travel. Now, though … well, look at that couch! I’ve gone from a mostly-finisher to a chronic starter!
You’ve got the blue, green, and purple Therapy Clapotis at the top left; I knit that one almost every night because the pattern is such a soothing repetition. That beautiful black wrap? It’s the long-awaited Cozy, finally getting close to completion. I started on the last ball of yarn this weekend and made the decision to bring the extra-large suitcase this week so I could transport it down here. (Yes, I packed based on my knitting. Lord.)
Top right corner is Samantha, and you can see that I’ve started unraveling the neck shaping so I can rework it … and then I got scared/frustrated/etc. and left it on the back of the couch. (That’s also Clive’s spot to sleep when he’s down here, so I’m glad he’s in Dallas. I would have to actually do something with Samantha if he were here.) I’m also not excited about Samantha because Kailyn is the size of many eight month old babies and she’s only three and a half months old. She’s VERY tall. Well, she started life at almost 9.5 pounds, so what did I expect?
So then we have, on the couch seat, Phillip’s sock, a new baby sweater for yet another baby, and a pile of KnitPicks self-striping sock yarn for — you guessed it — even more baby sweaters. Oh, and some Geranium sock yarn because I love it. There’s also a Rowan magazine hiding under that pile with the pattern for Audrey. The yarn for that is slowly making its way up here, too.
I just need to focus, I know, but I keep wanting to start new and fun things. Btw, I’m still waiting for the sock love to strike. My next ones might have to have a pattern to make me care about them.
Cozy on up to me.
I never did post an update on Cozy and my cousin’s wedding, did I? Oops!
I ended up not finishing the wrap in time for the wedding. I was up to three feet by noon on the day of the wedding, and I’d already warned Mom that it wasn’t looking good for getting finished. She called at 12:30 and said that she’d found a substitute, so my fingers and hands finally got to rest. I’d been knitting almost all of my waking time since 2:00 p.m. the previous day!
I still haven’t really picked it back up. I did a few more rows, maybe a complete pattern repeat, but I just needed a break.
So I started on Phillip’s socks.
I’ve gotten halfway through the heel flap on the first one. I have to hand it to the sock knitters … it’s nice and easy, and a basic sock is mindless knitting that’s still enjoyable. I’m already afraid, though, that this yarn won’t be good for socks even though it’s a sock yarn. It stretches a lot, see, and there’s no elastic in it.
We’ll see. Onward and toeward!
Ow, my hands …
No time for posting or gabbing, must keep knitting until hands drop off at the wrists. Can’t even stop then, not unless Cozy is finished! The cousin’s wedding is Saturday, you see, and my mother will freeze if Cozy isn’t finished. (And I keep typing “Cosy”, thank you very much …)
Oh, what the heck. Here’s a picture of Co(s)zy as it was Tuesday morning:
I knit more on Tuesday evening, progressed slightly on Wednesday, then realized I had to frog six rows and reknit them. Do you know how much of a pain it is to pick up rows of a lacy pattern? That’s right. A HUGE pain.
I bought a wrap for myself that my mother can use as a substitute.
Cozy is now 24″ as of tonight, and I’m going to bed. My arthritic hands can’t take much more tonight. Just for grins, though, here’s a shot of the couch this afternoon. It cracked me up. The bi-weekly housekeeper (I LOVE corporate apartments) spread my triangle shawl on the couch for me, I’d tossed Clapotis on the couch when I came in, and there was Coxy all sprawled out. It’s the Houston Couch of Knit. No wonder Clive likes coming down here with me.
Inch by inch …
I had to put Cozy away for a week. I decided that an imminent stroke was not worth a handknit wrap, no matter how pretty it is.
I picked it up again on Sunday night and started diligently ripping out the three rows I’d messed up. Then I ripped out one more row for good measure and to make sure I really knew where in the pattern I was. I’ve tried all kinds of ways to keep track of what I’m doing and where I am in the pattern, and I’m going back to a spreadsheet. Last night I put the pattern directions into a spreadsheet, made my “Completed?” column, and went back to work.
And here are the results:
Click for more pictures …
So keep your fingers crossed for me … I’ll keep knitting my heart out, and hopefully there won’t be too many more detours. I’ve got a little under two weeks to get this thing done!
I did figure out, I think, what one of my problems is. I’ve done a LOT of lacy baby blankets that involve similar patterns. I think those pattern stitches have been ingrained in my fingers’ memory, and my fingers are zipping into autopilot mode with Cozy. Unfortunately, they’re zipping into the WRONG autopilot mode, and I’m making a feather and fan baby blanket or some such thing instead of the Cozy. This doesn’t help me much in the current situation, but at least I don’t feel like such a moron now!
One project to rule them all.
I got a LOT of knitting accomplished over the Christmas vacation. Unfortunately, most of it was on the same project, doing the SAME rows over and over. More about that later.
Alex’s sweater turned out wonderfully! It’s knit using the Sock it to Me! Collection Harlequin yarn in Blue Jeans (from elann.com) and Esther Bozak’s custom-fit dog sweater pattern. The not-so-willing model (he hates the modeling, not the sweater):
But. My knitting hubris destroyed me.
Once I ran out of yarn for Clapotis, I put it on a stitch holder and began work on Cozy for my mother. Oh, the pain and torture. I have literally cast on that project four separate times, and unravelled it three times. I’ve done lacy baby afghans, I’ve done complicated patternwork, and I still cannot keep this pattern straight. I finally gave up, stowed it in a bag, and vowed to not work on it again until we reached Alabama on our drive home.
I started it again, and finally, FINALLY — as Trace watched and kept my count — I made some progress.
