The moss stitch has not made me crazy. yet.

I have been told that I am not allowed to complain about all of that moss stitch. That I knew full well what I was getting into and that I will just need to keep my mouth shut.

If I told you who said it you would laugh. You would laugh and laugh and laugh. The laughing might take over in that hysterical way that sometimes happens. You would know how much of her knitting complaints I listen to. If you didn’t know her personally, you would be able to tell from her blog that someone who is such a maniac on her site must be a real doozy in person. And you would be right. She has talked an auditory callous into my ear about her knitting, but I must not whisper a word about moss stitch. Oh well, it mitres not. …… did I say that? I meant matters not.

I have you my darlings to bitch about the moss stitch. But since I am only on the first front section, there is no bitching yet.

I am needing to make a decision …… and I thought I had already decided this, but am having second thoughts ….

here’s the thing. my chest measures 48″. The finished chest measurements of this pattern are 41½,(46, 51, 56½, 60). It is a coat and I do want an oversized ease. For that I need to allow 6″. That puts me (48+6=54) right in between two sizes. At first I thought I would knit to the waist with the stitch count for the 56½ and then would reduce to the next lower size for the upper body. I want this to be an oversized fit, I don’t want to be swimming in it. Considering my rear is the real issue and this is a long coat, that seemed like a good plan. And it still may be. With that in mind I thought that if the top half was too snug I would just block it bigger.

Now I am not so sure. I am knitting to gauge and it is a loose pattern. I really do not want to block it bigger – it will look too airy. So what to do? Do I continue with my first plan? Do I just knit the larger size? Or do I add a few stitches to that lower size and tinker with the schematic ever so slightly?

I am leaning towards the third option. The pattern is very simple – the sides go straight up and then there is the armhole shaping. How hard could it be to add to it so that the finished measurement of the top comes out to 54″? The difference in the initial cast on is 6 stitches between the sizes. Maybe if I split the difference – continue with the larger size to the waist area and then rather than reduce a full six stitches to the next lower size, reduce three?

oops, I almost forgot!

The beginning of a Hex Coat from Knitting Nature. I am using Lopi Lite per the pattern specs. I believe this is the very first time I am using the yarn that the pattern calls for. Kathleen and Peggy S. are also knitting this project.

It pays to have company, Kathleen had the great idea of substituting the 1×1 ribbing with a garter stitch border. I agreed that it would look much better. When making this change, you need to maintain a 3 stitch stockinette edge (the zig zag part) where the hexagon border will be attached. I have also fiddled with various increasing methods. After lots of experimentation trying knitting into the stitch below and knitting into the front and back, I have settled on the lifted bar increase, but doing it to reflect whether the new stitch is to be a knit or purl within the pattern. This is a long coat; the hem is at your knees. At first I thought I would shorten it, but have since decided to knit it as written. So it will be a long project. I hope it is done in time for fall!

Yesterday’s pigs are going to be a week long pictorial. They were given to me by my father who loved to order things from the Cash’s of Ireland catalog. Before she died, my mother was in charge of the gift purchases. Afterward, Dad became a wort of mail order junkie.

This set is among my absolute favorite pigs. They are center stage on a wall unit in the living room. I had to bunch them all together to get yesterday’s picture, but I also took individual pictures ……

Let’s start with a FO. I finished my % Sweater Project and wore it to work yesterday. If you remember (and if you don’t, don’t worry it’s not you it’s me – it’s taken forever to finish this project!) this was the no-pattern sweater. I took my gauge, took my measurements and started knitting. After wearing it yesterday, I do believe I will rip this back a bit to tweak the neck. For a change I knit something that it too big! It is a bit baggy right above the chestline, kind of on the outside edge of the armpits. This is somehow all related to the rate of raglan decreasing, but I have to mull it over to see what to do differently. Also, I thought I would really like extra long sleeves. Maybe what I would like is just long sleeves. That extra was a pain in the ass all damn day. So I will actually take a scissor to the sleeves and cut out about an 1″ and then graft it all together again.

Of course, all of the above will happen on some glorious mystical day in the future. Probably when I do, there will be pigs flying outside of the window and a unicorn grazing in my front yard. So here is a particularly lousy picture which shows off none of the aforementioned defects.

Once a project is off the needles and I am onto another project (details on that tomorrow) I tend to not revisit the finished thing. And this sweater is wearable. But I really do want to figure out the raglan shaping so I will gather knitterly opinions and do a bit of research.

ETA: here is a copy of the reply I sent to Carole’s comment. Despite all my knit-picking, I do consider this project a success.

thanks Carole – I am happier than I managed to convey in my post. This project marks the first time I have taken seriously the relationship between gauge and measurements. In the past I have simply sailed into projects thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll just knit the XL, that should fit’. this approach has been a real crap shoot and has usually ended in tears and recriminations. It has been a real eye opener for me and has made me realize that math really can be my friend!

You are all very lucky that I am not the sensitive type. Otherwise I might think that your silence regarding yesterdays’s lack of pork reporting to have a deeper meaning.

Ann’s brain: Perhaps they don’t like the pigs? Could that possibly be true??

Nah! who doesn’t like pigs? they probably just didn’t notice since they were overcome with jealousy about the goat fibers and were struck dumb by the beauty of that wheel.

Oh and since I mentioned it ……. despite all evidence to the contrary, I don’t always get what I want. And I will not be going to MD to get a wheel. As much as I would love to go to Maryland and keep toying with the idea, I really have no business being there since I haven’t spun a damn thing that I bought at Rhibeck yet.

But let’s get back to the oinkers ……. here is a particular favorite of mine. It is a coin from Ireland and was given to me by my friend Mary’s husband. (oooo, another husband giving me gifts Nancy!) How happy am I that Mary went all the way to Ireland to get a honey?!