Black Olive Is: In The Loop

The Three-Project Self-Discipline Experiment Continues...

Last night, the urge struck to work a little more on my Ultramerino4 socks. This is still part of my three-projecct -- two small, one large -- thing I've got going with my self-discipline experiment, so it's all good.

As you can see, the design is now completely different from what I had come up with before. There are two reasons for this:

1. The Ultramerino was pooling a bit and the variegation on that particular colorway was just too contrasty to really show off what I was trying to do with the stitch pattern. Not to fear, though, it's all recorded with pictures and copious notes on the Palm. Instead, I chose a more subtle variegated colorway and for my purposes, it seems to fit the bill nicely. Actually, this is my favorite colorway in the series, followed closely by the other subtly variegated colorways in this offering.

2. I wanted a nice, simple pattern that people could easily modify. This combination Tweed Mock Rib/ Stockinette seemed to fit the bill.

I started out with the Tweed Mock Rib as the ribbing on the cuff and slowly pulled the pattern out. I wanted the stitch pattern to be integrated with the cuff detail. Also, I wanted a simple shape that would be mimicked in the negative space, which, in this case, is the stockinette portion.

Here is a look at how it works out on the sides of the sock:

I'm not positive a heel flap is the best choice, but I feel like this yarn needs a nice reinforced heel so I'm trying it out. You can see how the Tweed Mock Rib flows into the heel flap:

Again, this is a VERY simple pattern. I wanted to create the effect of an even covering for the leg, as opposed to a clear dilineation between cuff and leg. The heel flap sort of breaks this up, but I'm sticking with it for now to fully flesh it out and see if it works.

These socks are prototypes and knit for my size. But, I'm hoping to make them my Sock Pal socks. My goal is to fully flesh out the pattern by the end of this week so as to get moving on the Sock Pal socks by next week.

In other news, I've discovered the joys of Mary Righetti. I finally picked up "Knitting in Plain English" after skimming through it and finding many useful tips and instructions. This surprised me, because the book is geared toward beginners. It just goes to show that it never hurts to revisit basic information from another person's perspective.

The reason I skimmed this book is because I'd been hunting around for a copy of her "Sweater Design in Plain English" -- which comes highly recommended from various sources in the Black Olive Circle -- and kept coming across "Knitting in Plain English" instead. It's as if it was screaming out at me "Pick me up! Pick me up!" So I did. Hehe.

Miss Kathy was kind enough to pick up a copy of "Sweater Design in Plain English" for me while carefully scouring the sale items at Woolcotts this past Tuesday. This could quite possibly be the only place selling this book at the moment. And, word has it, that it is going out of print.

Of course, I could've just ordered it from Amazon, but I'm Instant Gratification Gal and I kept holding out hope that I'd find it in my local bookstore. Plus, this way, I got to take advantage of the sale and there were no shipping costs involved.

Aren't Knitters the best friends ever?

Blogger's Block

I've had some kind of serious Blogger's Block this past week. I think it was a combination of not having had enough knitting time to achieve significant progress on any of the projects currently on the needles, not being able to focus my efforts on any one project when I actually DID get a chance to knit and getting to the point where I'm feeling a little itchy to take the blog in a new direction.

So I was a little "backed-up," shall we say, in regard to this here blog.

But I am now fluid again thanks to a wonderful gathering at Claudia's this past weekend where I was able to just SIT DOWN and KNIT for a significant amount of time. More about that tomorrow when I have a chance to collect my thoughts (and download the pictures from my Canon Elph).

For now, though, let's look at my Tivoli!

I'm into the chocolate rows! Do you see it, people? The CHOCOLATE rows!

Can you tell I'm excited about this?

The main reason I bought this yarn -- aside from it's softness and wonderful sheen -- is because of the luscious color choices. The light blue was "the right" light blue and that chocolate...YUM. So, finally getting to the chocolate rows where my eyes can bask in the glow of the beautiful color contrast is just a pleasure.

I'm all about the color. :-)

I've also finished the decreases, knit about ten rows even before starting the increases and reworked some math to leave a few even rows at the bottom. It still feels like there are too few decreases, but I am using the measurments taken from my favorite GAP t-shirt and there is only a one-inch difference between the largest and smallest points, so I'm hoping I'm on target. I may try it on again tonight.

Better safe than sorry.

Hopefully I can finish the Tivoli this week. Although, I do still need to figure out the short-row shaping for the cap sleeves and decide which edging I want to go with for the hem and neckline.

But a girl can hope, can't she?

There Will Be No Seaming!

Ahh. I'm a refreshed and well-rested Black Olive -- for now, at least.

I spent the weekend mainly lounging. I had all of these Big Plans for cleaning and organizing, but it just didn't happen. Instead, I hankered down with the Tivoli, my Ultramerino4 hanks for swatching and some recently purchased knitting tomes (more detail later in the week).

It was heaven.

I have to say, though, this sock design business is a lot more involved than it looks. I find myself becoming obsessed -- OBSESSED, I tell you! -- over transitions, stitch counts and gusset lines.

But, it's a fun obsession.

So far, I've come up with this for a cuff:

The idea with these is to experiment with different stitch patterns which help to mix-up the variegation a bit. Also, I'm playing around with different alternatives to basic ribbing.

The alternative ribbing part was NOT easy! Most of the things I tried were way too stiff and compressed the fabric so much, it just wasn't practical. Also, I came up with some interesting slip-stitch combinations on-the-fly which were great, but not for a variegated sock.

Not to worry, though, it's all recorded on the Palm for future reference for my solid sock hank friends.

Another issue I'm trying to deal with is creating a nice pattern for this variegated yarn which doesn't involve needing to stick to specific stitch counts, but I'm afraid my obsessive side might interfere. I think the answer is to find a nice transition into the instep where lining up the pattern a certain way isn't an issue. Also, coming up with a stitch pattern which works with a multiple of a certain number of stitches so that people can use thier own measurements and adapt it to their "sock creation method." Hehehe.

And the funny thing is...for all of the ripping, restarting, recording and experimenting with slipping two instead of three, or wrapping or purling here-and-there -- all I have to show for it is a simple swatch which doesn't look overly complicated! And, which isn't quite "there" yet.

Hopefully I can work this out a bit more tonight and possibly tackle the Vine Leaf sock as well.

As for Tivoli, I am LOVING this knit. The GGH is amazing, the pattern is nice and versatile and I love that when I'm done knitting there will be no seaming!

Did you catch that, people? THERE WILL BE NO SEAMING.

Also, it's going much quicker now that I'm in the groove. If I'd worked on it ALL weekend, as opposed to here-and-there in-between sock swatching, I'd most likely be almost finished.

But, this IS The Summer of Socks, after all...

There Will Be NO Nipple Darts!

First, let me start by saying that there have been knitting and knitting-related stories and bursts of newness to share, so my lack of updates this past week has nothing to do with any sort of content shortage. In fact, I now feel like I have to keep little notes about all of the things which constantly pop into my head so as not to forget.

The lack of updates is directly due to a serious lack of sleep, which in turn, is due to my ongoing inability to properly estimate the amount of time something will take. I tend to get very excited about new projects -- both knitting and career-related -- and while I correctly estmate how long things should take, I INcorrectly estimate how much time I realistically have to actually work on any of these projects.

You see, despite actually GOING TO WORK EACH DAY, I am forever operating as if I still have those large chunks of knitting time at my disposal. Those large chunks which were afforded me while "freelancing" from home (i.e., unemployment).

Also, I have difficulty saying no to things I genuinely want to do.

So, I've been suffering the consequences of this issue of mine all week. I think, in total, I've had about ten hours of sleep since Monday.

My emails, conversations and brain activity in general have been scattered at best and I've been seriously nodding-off at work and while knitting.

Time to step back and reasses.

In any case, I did manage to figure out the rest of the Tivoli math before the sleep deprivation caught up with me and I now have a complete set of notes to reference in the event I make another Tivoli (a definite possibility, depending on how the fit turns out on this one after washing).

I had already worked out the Yoke portion last week.

So, this week, my focus was on the body.

Now, I have to say, my torso is rather short/small and I was worried about making all the required decreases across such a short number of rows. And, for a minute there, I almost lost my head and actually considered starting them right after the armhole. Until, that is, I thought it through and realized the massive err of my ways.

Did I really want darted nipples?

Uh...NO!

My worries were confirmed by both Grumperina herself and Natalie from A Stitch Above. Both of them had small coronaries at the thought of such a thing.

My only explanation for such a stupid consideration is lack of sleep.

In fact, I'm blaming everything this week on lack of sleep.

So, I am knitting until I safely pass over the bust (This term for my boobage always makes me laugh because I keep picturing an actual "bust" as in, SCULPTURE, sitting on my slight cleavage. Again, lack of lseep and also years of Art School influence. Ahem.), THEN starting the decreases and, if I can, I plan to leave at least ten rows (in my gauge, the equivalent of one inch) after decreasing to the desired width before beginning the increases. I was planning on leaving two inches (20 rows) but I'm worried about such a long transition while incorporating the decreases at such a quick rate.

We'll see.

The only thing left, is figuring out excatly when the stripes will begin and how they'll transition and enlarge over a certain number of rows before becoming a solid mass of chocolate.

I have to say, the introduction of the chocolate is making me woozy with excitement.

Is this normal, or do I need to start getting serious about the whole dating thing?

I have been making progress on the Tivoli, but will only post another progress shot when it actually looks different from the last progress shot.

Until then, there will be pictures of notes, more yarn porn and possibly a side project or TWO to talk about and visually display.

Did I mention how tired I am?

Out-And-About With Kristin And The Tivoli

Last night was a fun night of knitting and sushi -- ALWAYS a good combo, if you ask me. I was able to catch up with Kristin before her wedding mania begins and she becomes completely unavailable (hehe, just kidding, Miss) and the Tivoli was treated to a public outing -- it's first (aww).

You can see my progress on the Tivoli above. It doesn't look like I've gotten very far, mainly because I'm using a finer-weight yarn, but all things considered (work schedule, social obligations, sleep deprivation), I think I'm progressing along nicely.

In addition to adding a chocolate bottom with a striped degradation, I'm planning on adding a very subtle chocolate edging to the neckline for color balance. And, if the cap sleeves work out, there may be some minor degradation to a slight chocolate band to match the body treatment.

Why do I always have to complicate everything? This is supposed to be my ZEN project!

Oh well. :-)

Below, you can see another one of my recent stash acquisitions: Reynolds Odyssey in the Brown Mix colorway.

I can't believe people don't mention this stuff more often. It is amazingly soft and luscious and the colorways are gorgeous. I'd like to make an entire sweater out of this colorway, but ASA only had two balls. So these will end up being...you guessed it...SOCKS!

It IS The Summer of Socks, after all -- in MY world, anyway. ;-)

Doing Me In

This is the little culprit that occupied most of my waking hours on Monday.

It is a swatch of the Embossed Twining Leaf pattern in Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

What occupied most of my time was converting the instructions for knitting in the round and then charting them out as-is (after conversion and with no apces added to account for row count changes), so that I could then create a proper chart with all the necessary spaces.

This is NOT an easy task, people!

Trying to figure out what happens and where on a pattern like this which is NOT bisymmetrical (like the Cool Cagoule cable and rib pattern [oh how I miss thee]) can really test a person's resolve. I'm only about half-way through. Every other aspect of it -- the conversion, the symbol translation, etc. -- was easy compared to THIS.

In any case, I have to do it because I have Big Plans for this pattern which involve making minor tweaks at certain parts for certain reasons and so I need to understand it visually and in a stitch-by-stitch way.

Up until now, I've been working it out on graph paper. But, I'm at that point where my brain is thinking quicker than I can whiteout and re-chart, so I'll be re-creating it all either in Excel or Illustrator for the ability to quickly cut, copy, paste, group and move.

Sigh! This could quite possibly do me in.

In a sick way, it IS sort of fun.

SORT of...

;-)

Meanwhile, Tivoli progress continues. Each round takes quite a while to complete, but the yarn feels so amazing that I enter "The Zone" after just one round and all the business surrounding round count and progress measuring becomes unimportant.

It's my Zen project.

I've also started a new sock with the Ultramerino4 which I'll hopefully have images of tomorrow.

Peace out. Yo. (Hehe)

Saturday Adventures With Black Olive And Grumperina

Isn't that gorgeous?

That will be my Fourth of July Sock. Probably at some point in late Summer/early Fall, but it'll still be my Fourth of July Sock because I purchased it this weekend on a little jaunt down to Wickford with the always fun and interesting Grumperina (I enjoy referring to her by her blog name because...well...it's just charming and it's a built-in nickname!).

Before I go on, I have to say that we caught a matinee of Batman Begins and it was...INCREDIBLE. SO good. So, SO good.

It was SO good, that I didn't even have the urge to pull out a sock for theater knitting. I was completely engrossed. However, I will probably see it a second time and will make an attempt to knit on a sock so I can dub the sock my Batman Sock.

Is this weird?

But, I digress. Let's get back to Saturday's Adventures With Black Olive And Grumperina:

After Batman Begins we headed to Wickford Village -- one of the few places I can take visitors, that seems to have a little something for everyone. We stopped at And The Beadz Go On so Kathy could peruse their offerings and so I could pick up more of that scrumptuous Ultramerino4 (pictured above) and this beautiful hank of mohair blend goodness:

It's put out by a company I'm not familiar with called Mountain Colors and is a Mohair/Wool blend with 9% Nylon. Someone had given a cables workshop and I was able to fondle a cabled sock made with this stuff and all I have to say is "YUM."

Afterward we headed out for some sushi and then over to Borders to wait for the train back to Boston. In between all of these stops -- at the movie theater outdoor table area, the cafe at Borders and other randon spots -- Grumperina graciously explained the logic behind working the Maths for a garment knitted in the round.

Since I've never actually knitted anything other than socks and mittens in the round, this was most helpful. You can see our copious notes:

Once it was all explained, I was able to work the specifics yesterday and FINALLY cast on for the fabulous Tivoli!

My initial measurements were based on another fitted shirt which fits the way I like. Below is the schematic:

I am also planning on modifying the Tivoli sleeves and using some short-row action to work some cap sleeves.

Hopefully I can figure this out without too much stress.

All I can say is that I am SO happy to finally be knitting something I've been dieing to start and which I might possibly be able to wear before the end of Summer.

There is much more to tell about yarn acquisitions this past week and weekend, sock design swatching and note-taking, my crisis involving a complete lack of knitting for almost a WEEK and my glorious weekend of indulging my whims with good friends. But, I'll pace it out a bit. No need to overwhelm. ;-)

Plus, the sock really does deserve it's own post. Hehehe.

PDA: Knitter's Helper? Or Tool of The Devil?

There she is. My little spifire PalmOne Tungsten T5.

Who knew something so tiny could consume so many hours in set-up time?

Aside from the basics -- charging it for THREE HOURS before you can actually install software or do anything with it (are they trying to torture us?), reading the little manual and other assorted fare -- there were some "tricky bits" involved in trying to get certain things to work. These "things" mainly revolved around being able to connect to the internet wirelessly so I can access KNIT BLOGS for reading offline. Hehe.

Getting this thing to communicate with my computer involved some finagling. It wasn't horrific, but at the same time, it wasn't as simple as I'd expected. A few reinstalls of the Palm Desktop Software and forty-five minutes later...I was in business.

Until I tried making it communicate with my cell phone.

I have a GPRS phone with Network Services enabled, but sadly, I could not make this work. I need a specific driver for my phone and I guess they didn't make one -- because, BELIEVE ME, I searched!

After admitting defeat and deciding to use this as a good excuse to get a cell phone with Bluetooth capabilities in the future, I decided to try to hook up to the internet wirelessly via the broadband connection on my PC. To "piggy-back," so to speak. I figured, I could just connect via the PC, hook into Bloglines for the PDA, clip my subscriptions and email for offline viewing and that would be that. I really don't need to be online surfing with the PDA. I just want to be able to get my offline content in an efficient manner.

FOUR HOURS LATER, I could not make this work. As far as I can tell, I've tried every imagineable method: I tried all methods suggested on the PalmOne support site; I tried several methods from searching on the requisite tech/geek forums; and, I've asked people I know who have actually made this work using similar devices on the SAME type of computer (Powerbook G4).

Again, I admit defeat.

Another "tricky bit" (translation: pain-in-the-ass) was getting Adobe Acrobat Reader to work properly on the PDA. This feature is CRUCIAL for my knitting purposes. I want to be able to scan-in, save and view my patterns as PDFs on the Palm so I don't have a bunch of unweildly papers to cart around everywhere. It makes pulling out a project with a complex pattern much easier since it's all contained in this tiny device as opposed to perpetually unbalanced and falling sheets of paper on the train or in the waiting room. Also, I wanted to be able to scan-in patterns or charts from my books and grab articles from online mags (for example, Knitter's Review or Knitty articles to have on-hand for reference), and save them as PDFs for viewing and for reference.

At first, it wouldn't work at all. Then, after a reinstall, it worked partially. THEN, after installing an older version and having that version work fine, I opened up the newer version by accident (right before trashing it) and now it works.

All I can figure, is that when I initially installed the newer version, I noticed that the Acrobat conduit was missing from my conduit manager interface and when I installed the older version, it must've rectified this problem, allowing the newer version to function.

Sigh!

Of course, everything else about the PDA worked fine -- beautifully, in fact. It has so many great features, I'm beside myself. But, these three specific functions were necessary to support my knitting work/reading habits, hence all the invested time.

Because, really, this is the main reason I bought the PDA -- well, about 70% of the reason anyway.

I know this first post seems rather negative and I don't mean it to be. This PDA is GREAT. It has helped me tremendously and functions like a dream. I've figured out a workaround for clipping knit blogs until I can buy a compatable device -- which will also get rid of the need to connect via the PC. And my ability to view PDFs is now fully functional, so it's all good.

But, as with anything, you have to go through the crappy, annoying part to get to the good stuff. And there is good stuff.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "PDA: Knitter's Helper? Or Tool of The Devil?" where I extol the virtues of this little gadget.

---

In Knitting Progress News:

The Maths commence this evening on the Tivoli. They would've commenced last night had I not been tripped up by trying to figure out Maths for a pattern in the rowund when I've never actually knit a garment completely in the round and haven't had a need to review the logic behind it. Luckily Kathy offered a small paragraph of explanation on the Yoke construction and I had my "ah" moment and feel I'm good-to-go.

Also, I've settled on a subtle variation for the Feather and Fan sock which could be my Sockapal2za sock.

I can't wait to sink into knitting the Tivoli. That GGH Scarlett is SO divine I almost can't take it!

Wash Your Swatch

I washed my swatch.

I need to really thank this woman for talking me out of that whole "I'm living on the edge feeling" I was experiencing last night. It was hot and everything just seemed like so much effort -- even brushing my teeth was tedious (the A/C is scheduled to be installed this weekend). So, after swatching in the round for the Tivoli, I just wanted to jump in and cast on. My emotional IQ was fairly low last night and had it not been for Kathy's numerous warnings in her last email, I would've been a sad gal the day I washed the finished Tivoli for the first time.

My gauge went from 8 spi to 6.5 spi! That would've resulted in some MAJOR excess fabric across the boobage and other areas. NOT good!

Thank the good Buddha for the moral support of my Knit Blog Buddies -- specifically Miss Kathy. :-)

Phew!

I worked a bit more on the Feather and Fan sock and I think I've settled on a variation/modification I like, so I'll probably rip out what I have (or save it as a swatch) and start fresh with a more solid plan. I have to say, it is fun playing around with a tried-and-true pattern.

As promised, here is a picture of a new stash acquisition I made while at A Good Yarn with Kathy:

Solid Lorna's Laces!

I've been dieing to try LL out, but always resist because I'm not a fan of the infamous pooling, so imagine my delight at this little find. Also, I've been wanting to design a cabled sock pattern and what better yarn to try that out with than a nice solid Lorna's Laces?

I can't believe all the good yarn finds in the past two weeks!

Crazy From The Heat...Again

What is that, you ask?

It's the beginnings of a swatch.

For yet another project.

But first, let me just say: It was a busy, busy weekend, people. I ran a TON of errands, helped set up and participate in a Baby Shower, went yarn shopping and somehow managed to meet up with a Knit Pal in-between. The knitting meetup was my attempt at not having my ENTIRE WEEKEND overrun with obligatory Baby Shower-related tasks.

And, I have to say, meeting up with this gal is always fun. This time, I was finally able to meet these little guys AND I got to try on the fabulous Tivoli! Why? Well...uh...because I'm planning on making one.

And before anyone says anything...it's HOT, people! I need a tank! I will eventually finish Cool Cagoule and the two other sweaters I have on hold, but it's almost the beginning of July and all I can think about are socks and tanks. So, leave me alone! (hehehe...just kidding, of course).

Anyway, I'm afraid I'm going to have to modify the Tivoli somewhat and make the strap into a cap sleeve. You see, I am not pleased with the state of my upper arms this summer, and until I can whip them into shape, there will be nothing more revealing than a cap sleeve.

In any case, the Tivoli is quite the little number, with it's darts and it's raglan sleeves and the nifty waist shaping (which gives it a nice flare at the hip) -- I love it!

So, Miss J, I have finally found the perfect project for that GGH. You can now breathe a sigh of relief ('cause I know you were just sitting around thinking about it, right? hehehe). :-)

In any case, despite the oppressive heat, I managed to have a great time. I even snuck out early from the shower on Sunday for a little trip to Wickford to pick up...

you guessed it! MORE Ultramerino4!

I also worked the measurements for the Tivoli, reworked the design for the sock I'm making with the Ultramerino4 and started this Feather and Fan sock for Granny:

See, Granny sort of fell in love with this pattern and prefers this over the Padded Footlet. Which is COMPLETELY FINE by me, since I don't think I can bring myself to work on that sock again. I love the Rowan 4-ply Soft and the lace pattern, but all the back-and-forth and the uncomfortable knitting with the double-strands is just too much. It never seems like I make any progress and it isn't even enjoyable. So, I may frog it and start over. Someone suggested just double-stranding along the heel in a basic double-strand way (not using the fussy method in the pattern) and retaining the rest if the pattern with modificatons to account for the lack of the extended thickness of the sole.

So, that sounds like a good plan.

In any case, I'm enjoying the Feather and Fan pattern and am modifying and playing around with it somewhat. I've kept two purl rows on the top of the cuff, but changed the frequency with which it shows up (after two repeats on the first purl row and after one on the second).

I'm also experimenting with just adding a purl section above the feather stitches and excluding them where there are fan stitches because I like the major uninterrupted wave the fans make across several repeats. (It isn't very clear in the pic, but in person you can really see it. Trust me. Hehe).

I haven't forgotten about my PDA posts. It's just that I'm crazy from the heat right now and can't handle another minute in front of the hot laptop. I'll also post images of my stash from the yarn crawl at A Good Yarn with Kathy.

Soon, my people, soon.

P.S. There were so many furry critters out and about this weekend! It was SUCH a treat. I needs to get me one. :-)