Frustration & A New Beginning

Well, I ran into some frustration with trying to sew together my Let's Party Cardi. I think somewhere along the line I messed up in the knitting - probably on the front halves. I got the shoulders sewn together, no problem. My next step was to sew the sleeves on and then sew down the underside of the sleeve and then continue down the side of the body.

Well, here is where my problem is. I think I sewed the sleeve on wrong. I know I did at one little section and let me tell you it was annoying trying to find the end of the yarn AFTER I wove it back in through the seam. I figured I would undo the little area that I messed up on and then fix it. However, that prooved a little more difficult than I imagined.

So, I thought I would hold off and just do up the other side first and then go back. So, I sewed up the seam on the side first (the way I usually do). Then, I realized that I sewed it wrong. I put the right sides together and sewed, but when I turned it back the way it was supposed to be it didn't look right. I think I should have kept the wrong sides together and sewed and it would have been fine.

Well, then I tried to play with the other sleeve to see if I could make it fit. It didn't seem to be. Arrrgggghhhh!!!!! I am so frustrated! The party has definately ceased to exist with this item! So, I have put it down for awhile and will go back to it when I am not tempted to take scissors to it....here's a pic for your pleasure (or lack of):

It's just a jumbled mess right now. I think if I can get it sewn together correctly, it will look nice. I even bought cute heart shaped buttons to sew on.

So, for now I will set it aside and put my focus on a couple of other knitting items. Firstly, I will need to work on my socks so that I can get them done before the end of the month. That way I will have a pair to count as my May socks for the Sock A Month KAL. Here is a current pic of the sock project:


Sorry for the picture being a little dark. I am close to starting the heel flap on the second sock. I just need to sit down and work at it. I have 8 days, but I don't want to leave it down to the last day or so and then not get it done. Once the heel is turned and I start working on the foot, it should go a little faster - you know, that "I'm nearly finished and I can't wait!" push is on.

Also, I felt like I needed a little mindless knitting to do, some garter stitch or stocking stictch...that sort of thing. So, I had got a couple of single skeins of baby yarn to make a couple of baby sweaters and would only have one 5.25 oz skein of each different colourway. I went through my patterns, but any that I had required more than what I had for yarn (I suppose I should have played it safe and got two of each, but I didn't). My next step was to turn to the net. I went to Knitty and found a cute little sweater that I thought I would like to try. It didn't look too dificult. It's actually a cardigan, not a sweater...whatever, LOL.

The yarn is Bernat Baby Coordinates Sweet Stripes; the colourway is called Splash Stripes. It is a combination of acrylic, rayon and nylon (I know the yarn 'snobs' are cringing LOL). I've used this yarn before to make some crocheted baby blankets and I like it. It's soft and has a little shine to it.

Anyway, the pattern (see the link above) is for the sweater called Haiku, and I thought it looked so cute. The pattern says it is designed so you can use any yarn. You just do up a swatch to see how many stitches per inch you get, then do the math. The author has provided the calculations, all you do it take your number of stitches and fill in the blanks then do the math (I suggest using a calculator because it makes it faster and easier, especially if you are not good at math like me). They are really simple calculations though, so it isn't bad.

Anyway, there are only two stitches used - garter and box. The way the yarn is in the pic, you can see it it horizontal, however for the sweater, the stripes will be going verticle. I really hope this one turns out better than the cardigan! This one, from what I can see so far, only has sleeves to attach (and buttons). My understanding of the pattern, if I am reading it right, you start on one side and do 3 inches of garter stitch, cast on a certain amount to that and then do the box stitch for 2 inches, then back to garter for 2 more inches. Then you bind off a certain amount of stitches for the armhole and then work the back, bind off again for the other armhole, then cast on and do the other side of the front, not forgetting to make the button holes.

Once you make the sleeves, you just sew the shoulder seams, then sew on the sleeves and then the buttons, and voila! I really hope this one goes much better than the other one. I'm rather disappointed with my making of the Let's Parti Cardi. I mean, the pattern is fine, it is in my doing of it that got messed up...

If anyone has made the Haiku pattern from Knitty, please let me know how it turned out for you and if you had any problems.