Saturday, November 24, 2007

Fetching: One Down!

I cast on for Fetching Thanksgiving evening and finished up my first one just this morning (would've been last night, but the thumbs were driving me NUTS and, after several attempts, I decided to just leave them for the morning). I'm pretty sure I love it:


Magic Looping it was really the way to go! I did appreciate the offers to help me out with DPN's, and I still might take you guys up on that, but for now I'm in love with this Magic Loop thing!

The only thing I really had trouble with was the thumb, like I said. There seemed to be no way to do it that didn't lead to horrible, gaping holes on either side. I kept ripping back & trying again, then eventually decided I would just have to live with the stupid ugly holes. I was assuming sewing them up wouldn't help or look good, but when I wove in my ends I kinda tried to close them up anyway, and what do you know! It worked perfectly and now you can't tell there were ever any holes there at all!

I'm also not sure I'm crazy about the picot bind-off -- might skip that when I make another pair. I've decided I'm making at least one (probably two) more pairs for Christmas gifts.

I do have some sad news, though: my stupid boyfriend came home for Thanksgiving and forgot to bring me the yarn I need to finish my vest! I had a good enough time just seeing him that I almost didn't mind -- but almost is the key word there. He's sending it first thing when he gets back to Montana, he promises. If he doesn't, I won't send him any more baked goods for the rest of the year. Hopefully that's a harsh enough threat...

My little sister is now pretty addicted to knitting. I taught her just a couple weeks ago and she is flying. She seems to pick up new things much more quickly than I did. Just last night I taught her how to purl & how to add new yarn, and in less than 24 hours she's turned out a couple of these. They look really good, too! After mocking me endlessly for going to Knit Nights, now she suddenly wants to come along too. I'm going to bring her once my Winter Break starts. I'm anticipating that when she discovers this blog (which she inevitably will, when she gets her Ravelry invite), she will mock me ferociously about it for a couple days, then ask me to help her set one up. This has been her pattern with all things knitting-related so far.

Also, on Thanksgiving I helped my beloved aunt set up her crochet blog. She hasn't posted yet, but I love the name: Crochet Crusader.

5 comments:

Diane said...

Your Fetching is gorgeous! What kind of yarn did you use? I always have trouble with thumbs when I do mittens, I sew up the holes too when I weave in the ends, heheheh, who's going to know?

I had to LOL about you not sending your boyfriend any more baked goods!

Leeann said...

Thanks Diane!! The yarn is Kilcarra Aran Tweed. My friend sent it to me from Dublin, where she's studying for the semester. I'm not sure it's available over here, but I hope so because it really is lovely.

Larjmarj said...

A fine job Leeann! Love the green color too!

Dumb ol' boyfriend, what was he thinking?

Holes, not a problem, there's a couple of ways I usually get around them.

Glad your sis is into knitting. I don't recall if you got to meet my big sis when she came to knit night but she's the one that got me into it some...oh....thirty something years ago.

yoli said...

they are fab and strategic end weaving is a GREAT way to get rid of thumbholes. the mittens I *bought* from the Peruvian store have them (I wish I had mauvey alapaca to sew 'em up with!) so I'm thinking it is just a intrinsic part of thumb design.

They are very lovely though. I'm in love with the green.

I totally understand how you feel in regards to how quickly your sister picked up knitting. I taught one of the girls on my hall the other day and she just knit this practically flawless swatch right off the bat. But I like to believe all our struggling is worth it in the long run. :)

Leeann said...

Thanks Marj! My boyfriend FINALLY sent the yarn today (supposedly -- I'll believe it when I see it), so I think the threat worked. And I did meet your sister briefly that time.

Yoli: I was ridiculously comforted to know about the purchased mittens. Someone should tell beginning knitters these things so they don't freak out like I did!