The Singer is Singing

I'm just not sure if we're reading the same music LOL. 

I wanted to knit up the yarn I mentioned in the last post right away. I had a resource I was finishing up for Teachers Pay Teachers and that took priority, but then I got to it. First, I had to clear some space, find the parts and tools, etc. I took a look on my blog to see the changes I had made when I first made these gloves--Dec 2015! 

I got started, and it seemed to be going okay. Then I moved on to the first thumb and nope. Nothing I would do for the next few days would be simple or easy. Between this pair, a thumb I made for a pair that's been waiting since Jan 2016, and another pair I made, I made every possible mistake and mishap. 

• forgot to set tension at tightest for zig zag cast on.
• forgot to hang cast on comb
• forgot to change settings for zig zag cast on
• forgot to change to ribbing tension
• forgot to change carriage settings for ribbing
• caught yarn around gate pegs
• dropped stitches trying to fix something
• forgot to have end stitches on Ribber bed
• forgot to change settings to Fisherman's Rib
• forgot to reset row counter
• forgot to switch settings back for top rib
• forgot to move stitches from ribber to main bed for loop through loop cast off
• forgot to do one row at really loose tension before moving stitches for cast off
• forgot to do ribbing after casting on for thumb
• forgot to change to Fisherman's Rib on thumb
• totally messed up thumb decreases
• sewed thumb on wrong side out
• tried to set thumb slightly higher on seam but somehow it didn't change
• shortened cuff to try to get one pair from one ball and it's a little too short AND there was yarn left

I played yarn chicken and lost. I wanted to get both gloves from one ball and this is what I had at the start of the second thumb.

So, you can see...I made 6 gloves (a couple got ripped back) and 7 thumbs (one ended up being a dud, two I ripped back) just to end up with 2 pairs plus 1 thumb.

I couldn't figure out why one thumb was different than the other so I reknit the other than discovered the first one, I had forgotten to switch to English Rib. 

These plum ones were with the new yarn. I thought I had made them the same as the earlier pairs but it took slightly more than one ball.

These colourful ones (on the left) are to replace the ones I've been wearing since Jan 2016 (on the right). I wanted the hands longer, but knew I'd have to shorten the cuffs compared to the plum ones. I messed up the thumbs so bad. I don't like how one ended up with a wide orange section, the top rib AND thumb all in yellow. The seam looks bad because I was trying the pattern's way of outer needles on Main Bed. 

This pair is knit to the pattern's directions and has been on my shelf since likely Jan 2016. It only needed one thumb! I think I had lost the yarn for awhile, and then maybe one of the gloves. I considered throwing them out, but I'm glad I finished. I don't need them, and I find the short length too short for me, though perhaps they are better for driving. I'll put them in the donation bin. 

Altogether, these weigh  133 grams. Not a bad way to start the year! I'm going through my sock yarns trying to find more to knit up but it's either boring solids, or hand dyed 100% wool that needs to be balled.

Yarn In:  0 grams

Yarn Out: 133gr

Balance:  133gr more OUT than in

Costs:  $0

Red, Red, Red

I finished up some red scarves since I last posted! 

Taking a look back, I was sure I had blogged about some of these, but it seems not! Here's the latest five scarves for World AIDS Day.

90gr

60gr

70gr

100gr

114gr

These five scarves were either out of the Bernat Super Value I picked up in the summer, or some old, shiny, slippery red yarn from the stash. The Bernat is actually quite nice when worked loosely and washed/dried.  All together, they weigh 434gr.

While on our cruise, there was a knitting/crocheting group that met up every other day or so. It was a ship run event, so a member of the Happenings Cast would be the host. I only got to go 3 times, I think. It conflicted with lectures I wanted to go to. One of the ladies learned how to make these little octopus, which is Virgin Voyages mascot (though for our ship, technically it's a robin egg's blue, but red is more synonymous with VV. She loaned me a hook and yarn, showed me how, and off I went. I made 3 in the last couple days of the cruise. They take about an hour each. I did the eyes once I got home. I did three different eyes because I couldn't decide. A vote in a FB crochet group said the ones on the right were best.  Megan took that one. They weigh about 10gr each, in a worsted weight (30gr total). 

On Boxing Day we went up to my Mom's in Bancroft. The girls wanted to go to Stedman's the next day, for old times' sake. It was fun. I bought 2 balls of Kroy sock yarn to make gloves, and I actually just did make them! That was 100gr, for $8.99 each, I don't think the tax break applies to yarn, so $20.32.

Yarn In:  2090gr + 100gr = 2190gr
Yarn Out: 464gr + 2055gr = 2519gr
Balance: 329gr more OUT than in
Costs: $20.32 + $44.55 = $64.87