First, let's start with the one good thing that I did this weekend:
This is the
Lacy Round Cloth , March's mid-month KAL on the yahoo group. Upon suggestion on Day 2 by the moderator, I changed yarns every 20 rows. Upon getting pissed off by said mod and saying "screw it, I can find dishcloth patterns myself" I looked up the pattern and realized the mod was wacked in the head because picking only 2 colors, for a 9 section repeat, would make me start and end with the same color "petal". So, I ended one repeat early, and it's still very round. So screw it. Next time, I'm picking 3 colors, and doing all 9 repeats. I'm not going to quit the group, I thought about it, because this chick really was quite rude to an innocent e-mail I sent, but screw it. She's not the one sending out the patterns usually. She's covering for the group owner. So, I just won't be checking into the group's messages from now on. Anyway.
So. The Jaywalker bathrooms was a complete disaster. And I had fabulous help too. One of my knitterly friends from my meetup.com group offered to help me, and even brought help! All was going fine until they had to leave. Then I took over. And I screwed it up. Maybe I'm just too picky, but it just didn't come across on the wall like it did in my head. Their part turned out great.
The edges needed a touch up, but the stripes were even, and looked good. A bit wider than I was thinking in my head, and I was also thinking of more repeats in the up and down. But damn if what we did do didn't take long enough. Fuck that.
Then I took over.
Doesn't look the same does it? I was so disappointed. And every time I tried to fix it, I made it worse. It was sad. I even gave it a night and tried to fix it later. Nope. I went out first thing in the morning and bought primer and paint and glaze, and I'm doing a ragging technique now. It's looking good. The Jaywalker Bathroom lasted all of 24 hours. Not even actually. I'm still sad about it. I'm glad I'm redoing it in a much more subtler style. It will look a lot better. And it already does. But paint was everywhere. It was a complete mess. And I still have some cleanup to do. But I'll have it all fixed in a couple days. Just a few more walls to rag, and we're done. Then it's on to the Adamas Shawl from Knit Picks.
Aspiring Crazy Cat Lady and I are going to go through first time lace-knitter hell together. And remember how I said I bought the same color yarn that my sp sent me? Nah, I only thought I did. I nearly did actually. That was my second choice (apparently) and I went with the Sunset colorway. It's purty. But damn, after seeing the Jewels colorway in person, I almost wish I HAD picked it. Oh well. This will also be my very first time trying to knit something by looking at a chart. And I'm scared. I like the written directions. I'm seriously thinking of writing out the pattern. But I think that might be stupid. I'm not sure. Any advice from you lace-knitters out there? Moral support?
This is the Lacy Round Cloth , March's mid-month KAL on the yahoo group. Upon suggestion on Day 2 by the moderator, I changed yarns every 20 rows. Upon getting pissed off by said mod and saying "screw it, I can find dishcloth patterns myself" I looked up the pattern and realized the mod was wacked in the head because picking only 2 colors, for a 9 section repeat, would make me start and end with the same color "petal". So, I ended one repeat early, and it's still very round. So screw it. Next time, I'm picking 3 colors, and doing all 9 repeats. I'm not going to quit the group, I thought about it, because this chick really was quite rude to an innocent e-mail I sent, but screw it. She's not the one sending out the patterns usually. She's covering for the group owner. So, I just won't be checking into the group's messages from now on. Anyway.
So. The Jaywalker bathrooms was a complete disaster. And I had fabulous help too. One of my knitterly friends from my meetup.com group offered to help me, and even brought help! All was going fine until they had to leave. Then I took over. And I screwed it up. Maybe I'm just too picky, but it just didn't come across on the wall like it did in my head. Their part turned out great.
The edges needed a touch up, but the stripes were even, and looked good. A bit wider than I was thinking in my head, and I was also thinking of more repeats in the up and down. But damn if what we did do didn't take long enough. Fuck that.
Then I took over.
Doesn't look the same does it? I was so disappointed. And every time I tried to fix it, I made it worse. It was sad. I even gave it a night and tried to fix it later. Nope. I went out first thing in the morning and bought primer and paint and glaze, and I'm doing a ragging technique now. It's looking good. The Jaywalker Bathroom lasted all of 24 hours. Not even actually. I'm still sad about it. I'm glad I'm redoing it in a much more subtler style. It will look a lot better. And it already does. But paint was everywhere. It was a complete mess. And I still have some cleanup to do. But I'll have it all fixed in a couple days. Just a few more walls to rag, and we're done. Then it's on to the Adamas Shawl from Knit Picks.
Aspiring Crazy Cat Lady and I are going to go through first time lace-knitter hell together. And remember how I said I bought the same color yarn that my sp sent me? Nah, I only thought I did. I nearly did actually. That was my second choice (apparently) and I went with the Sunset colorway. It's purty. But damn, after seeing the Jewels colorway in person, I almost wish I HAD picked it. Oh well. This will also be my very first time trying to knit something by looking at a chart. And I'm scared. I like the written directions. I'm seriously thinking of writing out the pattern. But I think that might be stupid. I'm not sure. Any advice from you lace-knitters out there? Moral support?
8 comments:
Too bad about your jaywalker bathroom. The colors you had chosen were great. I usually need to write out new patterns at first to learn them, but as I knit them I can sometimes read my knitting or a chart. It's a learning process.
The dishcloth looks great - I haven't yet started on the pattern yet - Day 1 wasn't sent out as a special notice & I haven't had the time to search through the message archive.
Your dishcloth is beautiful. You're making me want to knit dishcloths, and I do not have time for such things! But my old Wal-Mart bar mops are wearing out, and suddenly I'm wondering how to dye that giant ball of off-white cotton in The Trunk...
Bummer about the bathroom. I look forward to the rag results.
I predict that once you figure out how to read a chart, you'll never go back to written. :-) Just remember to start at the bottom right, not the top left!
I much prefer using charts for lace. It's easier to read than a written lace pattern. Writing out the pattern might make you feel slightly stupid once you look at a chart and find out what all the little symbols mean. It's not hard! You'll do fine!
I like the colors you picked for your bathroom. I wish mine had kickass walls. Instead, I have boring mold-repellant white. If it makes you feel any better I screwed up on my Jaywalker socks. I turned the heel this morning, but when I tried them on this evening, they were too tight. I seriously felt like crying. I do NOT want to rip them out because the pattern looks so pretty and it's taken me so long to get this far. I may just block the hell out of them. *SOB*
See I'm the opposite, I prefer reading directions for lace. I can read a chart but meh, it just doesn't do it for me. I do better from directions. It's not hard either way. If you can knit, purl, and yarn over you'll do fine. The hardest part is looking at it going "man this looks like crap" and wishing you could finish up so you could block it. Blocking makes it look pretty.
Post pics of your new bathroom walls--although the jaywalker was still pretty cool....!!!
I love it! I love that dishcloth. I've seen that pattern before, but I like yours so much better! I have odds and ends of cotton yarn so I think I'm going to copy you, only with different colors.
BTW, I joined the KAL group. I *think* I was approved. I'm nicegrlgonebad on Yahoo :)
Just don't bother actually reading all their dumbass posts. Set it so you only receive special alerts from the group owner/moderators. You'll be happier for it.
I love that dishcloth! Well for as long as it lasted the JW bathroom was cool...I am sure the new design will be cool too! You deserve a nice relaxing weekend this weekend!!! :)
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