Random Mistakes

There are days when I shouldn't be allowed to knit.  Yesterday was one of them.

Maybe it was the heat.  It was such a mild summer that the sudden warm up rattled my brains (although, I had the air conditioning on all day).  Or maybe I was just having a stupid day.

I'm knitting two scarves.  Lately, I discovered that it's a good idea to have two scarves going at the same time.  When one gets so annoying that I want to chuck it through a window, I can put it down and work on the other one.  So, yesterday I started with this lacy number...

Things were going great for a while.  This scarf is one where I have to constantly count to remember where I am in the pattern.  Then I got to the end of one row where I should have had three stitches, and I had four.

I tried counting back to figure out where I had made my error, but I couldn't find it.  I had to rip out the whole row and try again.  Luckily, the second time it came out.  I figured after that, it was time to put down the scarf and work on the other one...

This one doesn't need me to be so careful with the counting.  But I got to the end of one of those center diamonds to find that the numbers didn't come out right.  I should have had eight stitches, but I had only seven.  I had to rip out the whole diamond and start again.

It was time to put away the knitting after that.

At least I finally finished the dinosaur sweater.  It took me a few days to get around to photographing it, but here it is...

And this is a back view (so you can see the hood)...

Cute, isn't it?  Now I can't wait for December.  Hopefully, the weather will have cooled off by then.

Steggie Progress

Last week I wrote about my next knitting project.  I started work slightly before that post, so I've now been working on the sweater for a little over a week.  I thought I'd comment on my progress.

The body of the sweater is easy enough.  That part is done...

As it turns out, the challenging part is on the sleeves.  I got started on this on Saturday.  My progress thus far...

The tricky part is those spiky things.  That's why the sleeve (this is the left sleeve) is taking me longer than the body did.  But then again, I think I've gotten the hang of this (I hope!).

Why purple and orange?  My nephew likes orange.  (Although, green is his favorite color.)  And I like the combo of orange and purple.  (I like strange color combinations.)

I think I've done rather well in a little over a week.

A Dinosaur Sweater

My nephew's birthday is in December.  December 26th.

A couple years ago, I made him a dinosaur sweater.  He's mad about dinosaurs.  I looked everywhere for a good pattern, but all I found was a reference to a pattern that had been published sometime in the '80s.  That pattern is out of print and impossible to find.  So, I designed something myself.

I was not pleased with the results: the front and the back.

Shortly after giving my nephew the sweater, Knitty published a dinosaur sweater pattern.  It was way cuter than the one I had just finished.  But, I had just made the other sweater, and I was not in the mood to make another.  At least, not yet.

It's been a couple years, and I felt ready to tackle another sweater for the nephew's 5th birthday.  I have the time.  (And I just saw another dinosaur sweater pattern.  Why are the dinosaur sweaters popular now?)

First thing, I needed my nephew's measurements.  He wanted to know why.  I started off by trying to be coy.  My niece gets it when I measure her and act coy.  But my nephew hasn't caught on to the surprise factor yet.

My niece tried to explain the concept.  "She's going to knit you something."  Well, he wanted to know what.  And for when.  And what was it going to be.

On the one hand, I'm all about the surprise.  But it occurred to me that if he hated it, he would have no compunction about telling me so.  (When I go over to his house, he'll greet me with, "What are you doing here?")  I figured it would be better to see if he liked it, rather than spending the time making something he'd hate.

I pulled up the website and showed him the picture.  He liked it.  Okay, then.

But then he was all about when he was going to get the sweater.  December is a long time from now, especially for a child.  And he hasn't learned that knitting a sweater takes time (especially when I haven't even gotten the yarn, yet).

Maybe he'll forget about the sweater before December.  Maybe he'll pester me about it from now until then.  I think I made a mistake.  I shouldn't have told him about it.  Or should I have?