do you think i will ever learn? sadly, i doubt it (way tooooooo much catholic guilt!).
i can't put my finger on it exactly but the pressure placed on me (no matter how simple the project might be) drives me crazy! i have doubts, lots of them, but by and large i've always successfully completed the task. i just know that it isn't the most pleasant knitting, quilting, sewing, etc. that i've been involved with in my life. it probably comes down to the fact that i'm not totally 'in charge' of all aspects of the project. apparently, i like being 'the boss!'. (all of my friends and family at this point are laughing hysterically and saying: "no, duh") don't get me wrong, i love making products for others but i'm a much happier camper if it is on my terms and what i want to make!
with that said, here is the aforementioned project:
a snowman head christmas stocking from the mary maxim christmas stockings pattern book #9042, made for the new daughter-in-law of a dear friend.
i knit this sucker three times before i was pleased with the result!
first time out, i used size 8 needles as called for in the pattern and thought i would use the intarsia method (carrying little bobbins of yarn in different colors behind the work) of knitting for the name and color changes. starting from the top down, i got as far as the holly in the hat and knew that this method was not going to cut it. sooo, frog it i did!
on the second go round, i moved to a size 7 needle, knit the name in intarsia and started on the hat. at that point, i had decided to knit the hat, face, and ribbon solidly and then add the holly and face accents, after the fact, with duplicate stitch. i got all the way down to the toe before i decided that i just wasn't happy with several areas of the sock - i wasn't happy with the name knitted in intarsia, somehow my stitch count was off in the white area and i hadn't added a new yarn bobbin when i should have in the ribbon area so i had carried my yarn too long over the other stitches before using the color again. i also didn't care for the way i had turned the heel. once again, i frogged.
the third time was the charm! i moved down to a size 6 needle which gave me a tighter knit and decided to duplicate stitch both the name and accents after the fact. i added an extra bobbin or two to the mix which kept things less bulky and i paid more attention to my heel turning! i was extremely happy when i completed the toe and bound off the final stitches!
i had now reached the point when the real work began! with lots of different colors and different bobbins, there were lots of ends to weave in on the back side of the sock! argh!
once that was done, i moved onto the duplicate stitch face details. a duplicate stitch is actually a stitch in another color sewn over the original knit stitch. this involves counting to get things positioned properly.
i used a piece of graph paper to graph out the name for the name band. a problem arose when the name was longer than the space available so i had to narrow a couple of letters in order to get the name to fit in the available space.
after i finished all the stitching, i sewed up the seam from the bottom to the top (i had knit the sock as a flat piece instead of in the round). a final wash and blocking of the sock provided the magic that made the project a success! i could hardly believe it, but the thing looked good! thank goodness!
now, all that's left is delivery to it's owner and the monkey will totally be off my back! whew!
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