solutions

I think short rows might be the answer to my weirdy triangle shape.

I test knit a bit in some other yarn which isn't quite the right gauge, but the angles look good. I think.

Sleeves

Years ago I made up this jacket/shrug thing with an octagon as the back piece. I just winged it, like always, 'cos back then I figured, who else but me would ever wear it? I created it a bit before Ravelry existed, so I didn't have access to design info or anything like that. It was all my Inner Designer. Who occasionally gets things wrong.

I did the sleeves wrong. I calculated from the wrong angle. No wonder it always lay wonky. The angle I created is actually warping and twisting the bottom/back point that the front is connected to.

So. I need to erase the pencil lines I did yesterday, print out a few more pages of graph paper and start in again.

I don't think I really have the proper brains to be a designer!

knitting woes and musings

Last night when it finally got cool enough to knit I settled down for some telly and to hopefully finish that circle. OK, so it's really an octagon. It's going to be the back part of a jacket, but I need that done so that I can properly graph out sleeves. Well, I noticed some wonky lines in one section - seems I messed it up about 4 rows back. Which meant I had to tink all those rows. Because I don't have the talent of being able to rip out just a section and re-knit just a section. I really should learn how to do that! Why am I re-making a sweater I have already made? Because every time I wear people say, that's awesome, do you have a pattern? Why did I not make a pattern? Well, I made it somewhen around when Ravelry was created, so I figured no one but me would ever wear it, it didn't matter how I did it. Which is how I thought for twenty years.

I did write things down, I still have some of my old notebooks. But typically it was more of jotting down how many rows I did, or quick calculations for size, or the pattern I used in one section, rather than instructions for the project as a whole. Because I never believed that anybody other than me would make it. As for sizes, it was usually made to fit whatever person I intended to give it to. Could I have worked out the math for various sizes? Sure, but why would I, I was only making it for one person.

Ravelry didn't exist, the internet didn't exist, and I rarely liked patterns in magazines. So I made up my own. Why didn't I submit anything to knitting magazines? I think I thought those people were 'real designers', that they went to school and had a degree or something. And I rarely bought those magazines and so never read the fine print on whatever page asking for submissions.

I used to not really knit over summer and it took me a long time to do projects. Then I discovered that I really could do a large cabled-all-over sweater in about 3 months, when I thought it would take 3 years! The internet existed then, but only as a dialup. A few yarn shops existed, but never quite had the yarn I wanted to use. ACMoore had coupons, which was the only reason I really shopped there. And I still kept getting design ideas. Sometimes they worked out, but usually they didn't. I never minded, I'd just rip it out and start over. After all, it was only for me.

And then Glenda opened her shop and whenever I did something new she was ask if I could write the pattern and I thought, 'yeah, how hard can it be to just write down what you do?' And then Ravelry happened and there were all these fabulous patterns and I didn't have to think about or re-calculate or anything! So, I made other people's patterns for a while, but my inner designer just won't give up and so I'm back to doing my own designs. And writing them out, with various sizes. And making sure that the directions I write out are understandable to knitters with varying degrees of skill.

And I wish I had done this back when Rav first started up, I might have become an established designer. As it is now, I'm a goldfish in Lake Superior and no matter how cute my designs are I'm not going to get any recognition any time soon.

I'm going to have to advertise on Rav, but I think I should have a few more patterns up for sale first. Only I need to make the hats and take pictures and I don't have any good models near me. And I don't look good in hats or clothes. So I'm kinda stuck!

Sun hats

I wanted a cute little sun hat with ruffles and the Garland eyelet pattern. Ruffles gave me fits for a while, but I worked it out. Didn't like how it looked anyway, tried some other way, didn't like that, ended up with a version I do like. Had to rearrange the garland pattern for working in the round. Got to the decreases, only to decide I didn't like where the eyelets were placed and discover that I was doing the decreases wrong. Ripped it out, started the garland pattern up a bit higher, decided to add extra knit rows to help separate the eyelets from the purl rows (I think it looks better) and now I'm doing the decreases.

I think I can work out the math for various sizes. The intended recipient of this hat isn't even born yet!

I also think I am going to have to pay for some Ravelry advertisements, but I think I'll add some more hat patterns first. I have to work on the math for the Vortex Swag hat and this Garland Eyelet hat, so I can have the pattern in various sizes. I still have ideas lurking in my head too, so just call me The Mad Hatter!

ruffles

yeah, so that didn't work.

More designs

I need to finish the starflower jacket design. But that back circle/octagon thingy bugged me, so I changed it, only the changes made it come out too big. So, ripped it back a bit, only to realise that it needed to change back even further, at the first design shift. So, that's ripped out, pattern is re-written and needs to be knitted so that I can work on the sleeves.

But I also have a ruffled sunhat design lurking in my brain. Tried to work on the math this morning only to have my brain just rebel and ended up going at it the long hard way, only to finally realise that it was actually so very easy to get the proper number of stitches. duh.

There are a truly massive number of stitches for one small hat, but they will get decreased, so that's not so bad. I hope it works out OK. If not I'll find some other hat on Ravelry and make that.

But, right now, the sun has gone down a bit, there's a lovely breeze out there and the weeds are invading my garden.

July knitting

I should be finishing the white hat, but I was slightly frustrated that I had to buy another skein, basically just to finish the bow. It's wool, so I'll be able to use it for felting or maybe I'll just get another skein of white and make another hat and put that on Etsy.

The Flapper Swag Hat is up for sale on Ravelry! It's been favourited a bit and queued up a few times, but no one's bought it yet. *sigh*

The Starflower jacket thingy beckoned to me. It also whined that it needed the mesh pattern rearranged, so that the points line up better. So, I'm trying something else there. The circular needle has a kink in it or something, 'cos it keeps feeling like it's twisted. It annoys me, but I can't do much about it until I start the sleeves. Or buy another set of size 7 needles.

Also have a baby-sized cotton sunhat design in my head. I want ruffled edges, an eyelet pattern on the hat, maybe try out the other decreases. Just need to get past the ruffles first. I don't want to use the long tailed cast on for 200+ stitches, but this crochet cast on is too loose. I guess I'll try the cable cast on.

Also very frustrated by technology lately!