Thursday, May 28, 2009

BSG Games

Okay, back to knitting again! Well, I finished the Madeira pattern for the Shipwrecked Shawl and have put that on hold. First because I was up at our cabin without any way to string the beads and I didn’t have any of my larger needles to put on the shawl. So I worked on the Collared Baby Boy Cardigan for the following couple of days until we got home. So I’m about half way done with that.

When I got home on Monday, I read my ravelry site. I joined the BSG FPB (Fleet Power Battle). Yup, I'm a dork/geek/nerd/whatever. It’s basically a game to see which team (Pegasus, Galactica, or Cylon) can knit the most stuff in each ‘term’. The term lasts 3 months. Each month, you can do an option of 1-6 briefings that must be started AND completed within that month. You get a certain number of points for starting a project, and a number of points for completing it. You can do one or all of them per month. Then there is Viper or Raider training. VT/RT is a difficult project that will take you the full term to complete. You get more points for that.

So I started on the Baby’s First DNA Model. I’m making it for my friend’s baby, but she doesn’t know it yet. Hopefully, I can get it done by the baby shower in a week from tomorrow. That just means I have to bust my butt. It’s not big, as I’m almost done the first cord of it and I’ve only worked on it for a few hours. Then I’m going to finish designing my first shawl with the BSG logo down the back and vipers and raiders coming down the sides. I’m excited!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

A Week Off Shipwrecked

I went into The Knitter's Edge in Bethlehem again to pick up a pair of size 3 needles. While I was there, I also purchased some Sirdar's Snuggly Kisses DK weight yarn. I saw the cutest boy's cardigan, and I want to make it. Too bad no one I know is having a boy! Well, now my friend Danelle is pregnant and she'll find out tomorrow if it's a boy or girl. I'm hoping for boy so I can give this to her. I casted on so to knit the front AND back at the same time. I got to the arms, so I'm holding off and switching back to my Shipwrecked Shawl.

I stopped working on that because I originally didn't like how the second half of the Madeira looked. I took the week off to think about it. I really didn't want to rip out almost 15 rounds of stitches, so I decided I could live with it. I picked it up briefly this past weekend, but I couldn't get into it. I was exhausted. I had to take some meds that apparently didn't agree with my mood and I didn't feel like doing anything. I'm still feeling repercussions from them... I'm not happy about that, literally! But I'm finally getting back into my knitting.

Leslie will be over tonight to watch some BSG, I think, and I will get the rest of this pattern done tonight. Then I'll need to string beads!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

More Shipwrecked

Now that I have so many stitches on my needles, 290 in fact, it’s taking a lot longer to get an entire Round done on the Shipwreck Shawl. It’s taking about 40 minutes to do one round, ugh, and I thought I was a fast knitter. Well, I should take that back. It took me that long to do the first round of the Madeira Pattern. But I was also putting in stitch markers every 10 stitches so that it’s almost effortless to keep up with the pattern. I ended up messing up the 4th or 5th repeat of first round. Of course, I noticed this after I had gotten to the end and only had 8 stitches to do the last repeat. And, I had been counting all the repeats so that I knew where my stitch markers were supposed to be and they were correct. Ugh!

So I spent the better part of watching Lost ripping out the row. I was able to get about half of the next round finished though. So I’m on Round 59 out of 158. Yay, I’ve only got 100 more rows to do! OMG, that’s a lot. I know I won’t get to do much with it tomorrow though.

Rob’s 30th is tomorrow. He’s not very happy about it and I’ve been warning people not to sing at all. Many people have been teasing him about it and he keeps getting upset. Now I understand why he ‘feels’ old, but I’m trying to make him understand that he’s not old. I really hope I don’t feel this way when I turn 30 in 4 years. Luckily, my birthday is only 3 weeks away and I get to go to the IronPigs game that night. Okay, well, I’m off to change addresses, then ka-nit!

Monday, May 04, 2009

Shipwrecked!!!!

I noticed that some weeks I feel more prone to writing than others. I guess the past few weeks was one of those I didn’t feel the urge. Oh well, I’ve been doing lots of stuff around the house and knitting, as usual. Plus, Rob was out of town last week, so I was able to get a lot more accomplished than usual!

I went to The Knitter’s Edge on its opening day of April 20th. I ended up getting 4 skeins of Jojoland Melody Superwash in the pastel blue and pink colorway. I started on the Jojoland Swirl Scarf that Sunday. Which means I’m working mainly on that scarf and Crystal’s Baby Blanket still.


But THEN, my Lost forum on ravelry decided they want to do a KAL (Knit A-Long) for all you non ravelry people. We’re working on the Shipwreck Shawl pattern. It is absolutely gorgeous. I initially wasn’t sure if I wanted to make this, but the pattern is so pretty that I kept coming back to it. Normally, I wait to purchase ANYTHING now or make something. If I keep thinking about it at a later time, say a week later, and I still want to get it or make it, I’ll start. So I toyed with the idea for about a month from when it was first introduced. Finally, last week, I said screw it, I’m making it. I love the pattern and I want to do it.

So I purchased 6 skeins of Knitpicks Palette in Blue Note Heather. It’s a finger weight 100% Merino Wool. The color is a mixture of mostly blues (royal and navy) with some hunter green and plum purple in it. I also purchased Czech Seed Beads 8/0 Blue Tones Mix, roughly 4800 beads, which will be threaded on the 3rd skein as I start the border.



So far, I finished the first 4 sections. I’m on the second time around on Round 8 of the Bleeding Hearts Pattern. I absolutely love the fact that it’s not too repetitive. I get bored when they are! The only time I ripped anything out was Round 10 of the Bleeding Hearts pattern because I didn’t move the stitch marker correctly. I knitted the stitch, then moved the marker, then K3 (Knit 3 stitches) instead of K4 (Knit 4 stitches). Other than that, I feel as though I’m making tremendous progress. Of course, that will change when I have loads of stitches on the shawl and placing beads in between the YO (Yarn Over). I’m excited to be doing my first KAL with the Lost girls. It’s a blast!