The Crafting Gremlin

There was a point about 4 rounds into the body after the hem (which I ended up leaving at an inch and a half; it looks good at that length) where I realized I hadn't read the pattern quite right (to be fair, I was trying to read the pattern while taking back to back calls, being interrupted by coworkers with questions they should have known the answers to, and trying to drown out loud conversations; that is not a good time to knit unfamiliar patterns). I should have repeated the chart twice, but I'd only knitted it once. I debated ripping back to the hem, but decided that since it was only a 17-stitch chart and I was only four rounds in when I realized it, it wasn't worth undoing all that work. It's a little noticeable, but not enough to bother me. Once it's done I really don't think anyone will notice at all unless they're looking closely; it's at the bottom and such a small part overall.

This probably won't be enough to teach me to read patterns better. I'm pretty sure I've made other mistakes reading patterns that should have taught me and clearly the lesson didn't stick. At least it'll stick for the rest of the vest, I hope.

I still don't feel too good today. It's just general fatigue and queasiness, which I think has a lot to do with the stupid time change. It gets harder and harder every year. (Plus there's additional stress, between my grandmother's worsening dementia and physical health, my mother's worsening mental health--which gets taken out on me the most--and work getting busier with the warmer weather. And of course the general dumpster fire that is America right now.)

The time for my yearly physical is coming up so I'll probably have a talk with my doctor and see if she has any recommendations to help with...any of it. Honestly, I think if I could just address the fatigue a lot of other things would get better. The fatigue is pretty much always there and now it's worse because the time change screwed with my sleep schedule. Again.

Whining aside, I'm happy with how the sweater vest hem is looking so far. The pattern has me doing twisted 1x1 ribbing and I have to say, I really like it. It's not as loose as a regular 1x1 rib and just feels so much neater and more uniform. I may even add another half inch and make the hem two inches, instead. That might be pushing it with how much yarn I have, but I think it's worth the risk. Worst case, I think I can get away with using a coordinating color in fingering weight yarn for the arm holes and neck. (Or I may just have to order another hank of the yarn, which would allow me to add another inch or two to the length. It's just barely long enough for my tastes, and if I could add length, I would...)

I know I'm trying to destash, but if I'm going through this much trouble to knit a sweater vest out of lace weight yarn, I should make sure it's something I'm happy with. Next paycheck I'll see about getting another hank. If it's available, I'll get it and add the extra length (beyond the additional half inch I've decided I'm definitely adding to the hem), and if not then I'll just make do with what I have. I have a light blue lace-weight that I could double up for the arm holes/neck, and a couple of fingering-weight yarns in blues, purples, and greens that would probably work, too.

The pattern says every extra inch added uses about 60 yards of yarn, so I'd have just enough to add that half inch (hopefully) without having to play yarn chicken at the end.

I've also made a little bit of progress on the arm warmers, but mostly in weaving a bunch of ends in. I'm trying to do it every few color changes to keep it manageable. It definitely helps. And so far I'm pretty happy with how these are coming out.

So, no knitting got done like I planned.

This morning is also proving to be extremely busy at work (and we're going to be down a person most of the day so this will not get better). I'm not sure how much knitting is going to happen with the kind of call volume we're dealing with. It gets busier and busier every year, and we just don't have the staff to deal with the extra calls that come with the warmer weather. (Okay, we do, but only barely and only as long as we're fully staffed. As soon as we're down a person, we're screwed.)

Not counting the time it took me to cast on 332 stitches, I spent about four hours knitting just the sweater vest yesterday and didn't even get through an inch of the inch and a half hem. Granted, the first couple rounds always go a bit slower as I get into the rhythm (and I do have to stop to answer calls, which slows me down), but even still. This thing is probably going to take me longer than the last sweater I did (which had sleeves and was also several inches longer than this vest will be).

I'll probably work on the arm warmers mostly today so I can start getting Christmas gifts crossed off the list soon. Plus, these little projects will go relatively fast and I think that'll help keep me motivated, instead of feeling like I'm just slogging through a single never-ending project at a time.

Making progress on the first of the Coworker Christmas Gifts! These are the Ratjetoe arm warmers, which are going to help use up scrap yarn. I'm not using quite the same colors as the original pattern, just what I have that looks good together.

I really like the pattern so far (I did use 2.75 mm needles instead of 3 mm like the pattern called for, based on my experience with the yarn when I used it for the sweater. I think it was a good choice here. I don't think these would fit my chubby arms comfortably but they'll fit my coworker. She's skin and bones. If I ever make them for myself I'd use the 3 mm needles) and it's giving me a tiny bit of practice with stranded knitting without being an entire sweater's worth.

I've also been trying to find projects to use up some of my more expensive yarn that's not just socks. At least 3 of the yarns will have to be socks since that's all I have enough for and finding more of that yarn would impossible, or next to. Or I could make a hat. I don't wear a lot of hats, but it might be nice to have one I made myself.

A couple of my yarns are lace weight, too, and I really don't know what I'm going to do with those since there's not much yarn. Except for one, which I'd grabbed two hanks of for some mysterious reason (I think I was thinking it would be enough for a sweater. It is not, not at my size. I should have checked before ordering). But there's actually enough of this one yarn, held together, to make a sweater vest.

Since I've been wanting to start adding sweater vests to my wardrobe, this is perfect! I fully expect this one to take me a while, given that the yarn will come out to barely fingering weight held together, but at least I won't have to do sleeves.

Now I've got a pair of socks that have been sitting on needles for...a while. So I'm going back to those to get them done, and also starting one of the Coworker Christmas Gifts (a set of arm-warmers using scrap yarn, which is a great way to use up the leftover yarn from Finished Sweater, especially since the coworker I'm knitting these for really loves that color scheme).

And since I do also want to get to New Sweater, that may become a lunch time project, at least until I get comfortable with stranded knitting. I may eventually get to a point where I feel like I can do it while taking calls. But I have other projects to work on while taking calls in the mean time, so I'm not worried if it takes a while to get to that point. If I ever do.

Another nice thing about the scrappy arm-warmers is that I'm having to use double pointed needles and since I actually have two sets of most of the sizes I can knit both at the same time.

Not really related to any of my WIPs, but I had gotten to thinking recently how I've been knitting for several years by now, have a bunch of techniques under my belt, and feel comfortable tackling new patterns and stitches and techniques...yet whenever I offer to help someone learn to knit I always say things like, "I don't know how much help I'll actually be beyond the basics". Like, I'm not confident enough in my experience to put it out there.

Yet when it comes to crochet, I've never had that same lack of confidence. You need crochet help, I'm your person (even though I haven't really crocheted in a long time). I felt like I could offer advice and help within a few months of starting to learn.

I don't know what it is about knitting that just kills my confidence in my skills in front of other people, but boy it really does. Sure, I'm nowhere near an expert, but I'm not an expert crocheter either. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that knitting is something I did actually struggle with at first and I'm not used to that?

I can't believe I'm finally almost done with Current Sweater. It's been a few years since I actually finished a sweater, or anything at all, really. The last thing I finished was a hat for my sister, I think. Or arm warmers for a friend. But its been a good couple years, at least.

I've also started thinking about what to make for each of my coworkers for Christmas. There's eight of them, plus a coworker who moved to a different department last year and I want to include her because we're still friends. (That's one of the things I love most about my job, aside from being able to do crafty things: I get along well with everyone in my department and consider most of them friends.)

There are just so many choices even narrowing it down to making smaller things like arm-warmers, mittens, and hats. Maybe even socks, I dunno. I know I'm going to want to use easy-to-care-for yarn for most of them, so that will narrow things down to patterns calling for dk or heavier yarn, since most of my thinner yarn requires a little more care than "toss in the washer and dryer".

As eager as I am to start New Sweater, I'm not sure how easy it's going to be to knit it at work given that it's stranded knitting and I'm not practiced with that. But it's worth a shot, and if it turns out to be something I can't knit at work, then it's just going to have be shelved until I have time to knit at home. Whenever that will be.

In the attempts to further de-stash, I should probably start finding some other (preferably smaller) projects that I can do, too. Part of me kind of misses crocheting, but the last time I tried it (in December), it really exacerbated the hand/wrist pain I've been dealing with so I'm not sure if I'll go back to it. It would be a good way to de-stash, though, since it takes more yarn than knitting and I can do scrap blankets or something.

Otherwise, I'm mostly left with socks for small projects, unless I start knitting mittens or arm warmers for people. That...actually isn't a half-bad idea. If I got started now, I could have gifts for all my coworkers next year without having to spend a dime (beyond what I've already spent on the yarn that's just...sitting in baskets or on shelves). All my coworkers get cold so easily, so I know something to keep them a little warmer would be appreciated, AND it would use up yarn.

Surprisingly we've actually gotten single digit temperatures again and a dusting of snow that's supposed to turn into several inches throughout the day. I don't believe we'll get that much, but maybe the weather will prove me wrong again.

I also figured out why certain things were running so poorly on my laptop lately, even after clearing hard drive space (didn't help), running hardware diagnostics (multiple times, everything looks fine), changing a bunch of settings including lowering graphics settings in games (didn't help at all), running antivirus and antiwalware software (all clean), updating everything (seemed to make things a bit worse actually), clearing unnecessary tasks (changed nothing) and rebooting multiple times (also did nothing)...I realized everything running poorly was running through Steam, with the overlay active. Disabling the Steam Overlay fixed all my problems. Things ran okay until I opened the Steam games/programs, then the problems began. And continued after they were closed out of because I think Steam kept the overlay shit running in the background. That's what was sucking up a bunch of my processing power and causing lagging and audio issues. But it was just enough below other, necessary things, in the task manager that I didn't realize it was the thing that kept causing bottlenecks.

(I had also accidentally enabled another overlay that's tied into my gaming audio/streaming software, which I don't generally use but had left in case I ever decided to stream. Pretty sure that wasn't causing any issues since it was running fine after I disabled the Steam overlay, but I disabled it, too, just in case.)

I'm a little annoyed that I wasted almost two full work days and an entire evening of what little free time I have trying to fix a problem being caused by Steam. (I do love Steam. But man I'm not happy about the amount of resources the overlay apparently takes now. I'd been playing with it enabled for years, the last three on this laptop, without issue.) But I'm also glad it means I won't have to send my laptop in for any repairs or part replacements.

I have approximately 8 more rounds of 1/1 rib to knit, and then I can cast off the body and move onto the sleeves. There's a chance of cold enough temperatures in the next couple of weeks that might give me the opportunity to wear this sweater at least once before next winter, if I can get it finished very soon.

We actually got a heavy dusting of snow last night that's continuing for a bit longer, so with any luck I won't get interrupted by too many calls this morning. (Please, universe, give me one day of not too many calls. We've been so busy. We need a little break. We deserve it.)

Instead I decided to use my little crochet hook/knitting needle combo to just...tighten the stitches and ease the extra length along until I got to the end. I thought it would be quicker, but it's honestly taken longer, especially since there's so much extra yarn from tightening all those stitches along three rows. At least I don't have to redo three rows of 1/1 rib?

I'm nearly done fixing my tension, and then I get to fix about 2 dozen columns of ribbing I messed up on because I did two knit stitches where I should have knit-purled and ended up continuing the 1/1 rib from there.

I'd say this will teach me to slow down and pay attention to the pattern and my own knitting even when I'm excited to be reaching the end of a project, but let's be real. I'm going to probably make silly mistakes again on the next sweater when I'm getting close to done. Except the 'not tinking back' thing. If it's more than a row, I'm not doing that again.

I'm still dealing with wrist pain, but since it's clearly here to stay, I'm just trying to avoid too much extra strain. And also watch my posture since that probably doesn't help; I've dealt with referred pain before and there's no need to add that in on top of whatever is going on with my wrist.

The end of this sweater is so, so close. I've got two inches of 1/1 rib for the hem, then the sleeves, which should go pretty quickly since that's just going to knitting in the round with a few decreases until the cuffs (more 1/1 rib).

It sucks that I won't get to enjoy it this year, but I can at least look forward to wearing it next winter. And once it's done I can start the New Sweater in earnest. I did a couple rows of the fair isle pattern on that one just to get a feel for it, and...it's tricky. I considered getting one of those rings meant for stranded knitting, but by the looks of it I feel like it works better for continental knitting. Which I'm not good at.

The pain isn't quite as bad as it had been a month ago (most days, at least). So I'm hoping resting it as much as I've been able to is actually doing something.

But the inability to knit at all has been slowly driving me bonkers, so I decided to just knit a couple rows a day, a little at a time. It took me over a week, but I finally got the 3 inch cuff of New Sweater finished. (I'm trying not to despair that I could have done that in a single day, plus some, if my wrist and hand weren't bothering me. Some progress is better than none.) And I did it without exacerbating the pain, so I'm going to call that a win.

Now that the cuff is done I can put those needles back to work on the other sweater and start slowly working on it again. I was hoping I'd have it for this winter, but that's not going to happen even if I were to manage to finish it in the next couple of weeks. Temps are starting to do the fluctuating wildly thing they do before settling one way or the other (in this case, to warmer temperatures) so it won't be long before it's too warm for sweaters.

It has not. The pain levels fluctuate, but the pain hasn't gone anywhere (not in my right wrist, at least. I've had some good days with the left one). I'm not sure what's going on, but its definitely not my usual tendonitis.

I've been putting off going to the doctor about it in case rest would eventually do the trick, but after more than a month I think it's pretty clear that's not going to happen. I thought maybe the cold had something to do with it, and I still wonder if that's part of it, but we've had some warmer days where the pain was worse than on colder days, so I don't know...

A big worry is that it might be arthritis. I mean, arthritis isn't going to stop me, but I'm barely 35, so I don't look forward to how much worse it could get as I age if it is arthritis.

Because of course I was. So I got to unravel the whole back part I'd gotten done (about 5 inches by 30 inches worth of knitting). That was yesterday afternoon. I set my knitting aside for the rest of the day, and I'm sitting down to cast on this sweater again this morning.

I do want to get the other sweater finished, but I'm so excited to start the colorwork on this one, and since I hate long stretches of flat ribbing I can switch between the striped sweater and the new one to give myself a break from it.

I'm just so frustrated and disappointed that I managed to miscount like that. I usually count in groups of 20s for pieces this long, and I guess I managed to miss one group this time. To be fair, I likely have dyscalculia so numbers are not my friend on a good day. But that's why I check my counts multiple times...and I still messed up this time. It happens. That doesn't make it any less frustrating, though.

I did settle on a new pattern for my next sweater, which I should have enough of each color for (I'm going to use the secondary color for the hems and neck instead of the background color like the pattern calls for, to hopefully keep from playing yarn chicken).

Choosing a new pattern was so hard, even after I narrowed them down to ones that used yarn with the same gauge. I settled on this one because the design is over the entire sweater and not just the yoke, and it's an oversized tunic sweater, which is definitely my style, so I don't have to do anything to the pattern to make it long enough.