Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Master Knitting Wednesday - Part 1

So today is Master Knitting Wednesday, which means I need to provide an update on my Level II progress, which I said I was going to do every Wednesday until I get this thing done.

First off...what the heck have I done so far? It's been since some time this past fall since I've had everything out and looked at it.

It's off to my "knitting office" to see where everything is...

Swatches
Panic time. I found a couple of ziploc bags on the floor (because where else would I keep this stuff) with a couple of swatches, but that was it. When I looked up in dispair to shake my fist and curse, I noticed a binder on my shelf labled "Master Hand Knitting Level II." Guess what was inside? Swatches 1-10 and 14-16! How organized is that?

Swatches 11-13 are not in the binder. Those are the lace swatches, and possibly the thing that's given me the most fits in this level. I have several done (that's what I found in the ziploc bags), but I'm not sure which (if any) are going into the binder. I want to submit things sufficiently complicated, and yet I'm not a big fan of lace knitting, so I'm not sure what I'm trying to prove. This whole process is about me learning and stretching myself, but there gets to be a point where I snap if I stretch too far.

Swatches 17-20 are the buttonhole swatches. I have several of each, all stuffed in a ziploc bag and none tagged. I found my hand written notes from what I did on the last reknit, but I will have to study them to see which swatches actually correspond with the notes. (Have I mentioned lately that detail is not my forte?)

I have two versions of Swatch 21, which is the picked up stitches for the simulated neck, and I have a couple of inset pockets (Swatch 22). They all look better than they looked to me when I was working on them last fall, and I'm fighting the urge to knit that pocket one more time.

Mostly what's missing are the sheets that are to be included with most swatches that describe the technique used, plus references. I somehow missed that instruction when I first knit everything, because I treated the swatch instructions as all about knitting, and the questions as being the related written work. I remember now ripping out all the seams in my swatches last fall to see what I had done when I had knit them the year before, because I couldn't remember.

Action:
  • Figure out which buttonhole swatches are the ones I will submit.
  • Make sure I have sheets in each of the swatch sheet protectors that have to identify the technique used for that swatch.
  • Figure out if I am going to submit any of the existing lace swatches, and then select the patterns to be used for any swatches that still need to be knit.
  • Select which of the Swatch 21 and 22 choices I will use

Questions
I have all 19 questions done, with the exception of #13, but that one is in rough draft.

Action: Finish answering question #13

Reviews
I have 2 book reviews done, with a 3rd started. There need to be 4 altogether.

Action:
  • Finish 3rd Review
  • Write 4th Review

Report
I have none of the history report done, although I've done plenty of reading. Which I will need to read again, because I didn't take notes. I'm not sure what I want to focus on in my report.

Action:
  • Figure out focus of report
  • Write the report

Projects
I have 2 of 1 argyle sock done. I actually wove in the ends and blocked the second one. There is one weird seamed stitch on one of the gussets that I have determined is due to me ripping back the gusset at some point, and then not getting the selvage stitch back on the needle correctly, so that when I seamed (using a 1/2 st on each side), it looks strange. The only way to fix it would be to rip the entire foot back to that point. I would rather acknowledge and explain the peculiarity in my notes. I can't imagine the sock would fail on that basis. There are plenty other worse things they could say about it.

I have 1 of 1 vest done (and beautifully so, I must say). I'm so proud of the vest. Provided I submit in time and get it back in time, I plan to enter it in the State Fair this year.

I have 2.5 of 1 Fair Isle mitten done. None to my satisfaction. I couldn't find any of them this afternoon. I did find two boxes full of yarn in the upstairs room I'm trying to pretend is a knitting office. I sorted through that tangled mess, which will soon go down to the basement craft room.

(Hey --I just got my YarnOver registration confirmation from the Minnesota Knitters' Guild in the mail today, and I'm taking Sally Melville's Two Colors, Two Hands class in the morning. Score! Of course, I'm hoping to have the binder sent off by then, but in the event the judges scorn my Fair Isle mitten, I will have new skilz to impress the judges when I resubmit. The other class is Joan Schrouder's Entry Level Entrelac, which I will need for Level III. Because I will finish Level II very soon.)

Action:
  • Find partially completed 3rd Fair Isle Mitten
  • Finish 3rd Fair Isle Mitten
  • Stop angsting about the Fair Isle Mitten

To be clear, those action items are all the things that have to be done, as near as I can tell. I'm not going anywhere near the "proof read all tags" aspect until I get all that other stuff done. I'm too easily distracted and overwhelmed by thinking about that kind of detail before it's time to do so.

Photos would probably help here, wouldn't they? I will add later, if I remember. I have to make dinner now...

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