Elation Despair Elation

12:00 Noon Wednesday

Back as far as armholes - Leftovers Vest

This amount of knitting was actually done yesterday. Today, before getting too far into the project, I decided to take it off the needles and check on that old curmudgeon 'gauge'.

12:02 Dang!!!

Gauge still off. I hesitated and considered Stephanie's (www.yarnharlot.ca)'knitterly denial', but then thought better of it.

Just before 3:00 pm

Done by 3 - in time for tea. - It's a retired thing. Tea at 3. There was as ton of prep work with this project - remembering how to use the machine, getting gauge, etc. But basically, I am pretty proud of myself. I remembered how to cast off. I remembered how to do a decrease. After a quick check in the manual, I even remembered how to decrease in the middle of the row. However, that must have been a bit too stressful for me because what I forgot to do after figuring out the mid-row decrease was to put yarn in the machine. Know what happens when you forget to put yarn in the machine? The entire piece drops off and lands in your lap. Accompanied by an anguished cry. And a few less-than-polite words.

But luckily, I was able to re-hang the piece and continue on. And right now - 5:30 pm, the front is also almost done. One shoulder to go. I am trying - before March Break -to get it done to the point where all that is left to do is to hand knit the trim around the armholes and neck .

The grandkids and some of their friends are coming for a ski holiday. I can get away with a sit & knit. But I sure wouldn't want them to know there is a 'machine' in that room. That would be just way too tempting.

Professional Cast On

Professional Cast On

Doesn't that edge look nice? I used the Professional Cast On as taught to me by Linda - a co-worker when I worked at London Yarns. It most closely resembles the cast-on edge of a commercially-made garment.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to make this vest on the knitting machine. And I am. But the ribbing, I decided to do by hand. I have an LK 150 machine - a basic machine. Purl stitches each have to be manipulated by hand. Every other stitch in a K1 P1 ribbing! That allows for lots of opportunity for dropped stitches on the machine. So I decided to knit the ribbing by hand and then transfer the piece to the machine.

I have used my machine only once since our move. Coming close to a year and a half now. So it was back to square one. I had to get out the manual to remember how to get started. This is when I really miss my friend Patti-Ann. She and I worked together one day a week at London Yarns and she was my mentor on the machine - not to mention a million other things.

Gauge, as the knitters amongst you know, is a most important bit of info before starting the actual knitting. Without correct gauge information, the garment will either fit an elephant or an ant, but not the intended recipient. My goal yesterday then was to make a gauge swatch.

Simple eh? Well, I started early in the morning - no skiing as it was raining - and finished just before supper. How many gauge swatches can one make in a day. MANY! Believe me. But only the last one was accurate and correct.

Hopefully the actual knitting will go faster. After all that is the idea of using a machine. Cranking out the finished product in less time. I'll keep you posted.

How I Spent My Saturday

Saturday was bread day.

Last fall, I decided to learn to make my own bread. Partly because I had always been stymied by bread-making , and partly because I had been increasingly PO'd by paying almost $3 for a loaf of half-decent - and only half-decent - bread. But yeast and I have a very bad history. We had never been good friends.
Here in Thornbury, though, there are many makers of homemade bread. One friend lent me her book of bread-making tips. Another told me of her favourite recipe. Turns out I had the same cookbook - Food That Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler.
And so, in a state somewhere between eagerness and trepidation, I began.
The 'book of tips' described kneading as "relaxing and therapeutic", and now after several months of making all the bread we eat, I would say - " Yea. Kinda." But that first day, I certainly never reached the relaxing and therapeutic state. Far from it.
More like taxing, tiring and a real workout. The day was one of the hottest and most humid of late summer. As I kneaded, the sweat rolled down my face,dripping off my nose and chin. I had to keep jumping back from the table to keep the drops from landing in the dough. ( I had already added the salt) It was exhausting. I couldn't imagine how our ancestors did it, working beside a hot wood stove and wearing a floor length dress.
But the bread was delicious. And to date, I have not had a failure. I'm expecting one any time though as I am now quite cocky about my bread-making skills. I am so presumptuous as to think I have the whole process down pat and refer to the recipe and 'book-of-tips' less and less often. Failure awaits, I'm sure.
And what did I serve on Saturday, with this fresh bread, you ask? Well, a delicious, new-to-me recipe. A hot spicy Indian dish called Mattar Paneer. A recipe found at this site - cosmicpluto.com.blog This recipe starts with making your own cheese. (Yea Yea, I know -beginning to sound like "Little House In The Village".) But it was really quite easy and tasted delicious. You do have to get past the 'baby spit-up' smell that occurs as the milk curdles though.
And what about my knitting?
Well, I have decided to knit the Leftovers Vest on the Knitting Machine. And I will tell you all about it tomorrow.