WIP Progress: Pink Kimono

So, apparently it's been quite a while since I worked on the Pink Kimono:

Since then, I've started school, separated from my husband, and moved me and three of my kids out on our own.  Here's the view from my balcony:

You can see two of my gnomes; two more are to the left of the picture, but that side of the view is mostly wall and Whataburger.  It's funny how moving has a way of helping you find old projects you misplaced in the daily chaos; that's how I found the pink kimono. My last memory of this project was that I had somehow messed it up again; the picture in my head was all those bobbins tangled together. Turns out, I made more progress than I remember; I'd already cast on the sleeves and compensated for having forgotten to do a color change at the ends of the sleeves when I cast them on:

It's wider than it looks; the needle wire isn't long enough to stretch the thing out to its full width.  I am also going to make a kimono using a size-altered version of this pattern for my best friend; I do not plan to finish this one first because my poor friend would be waiting until retirement. Hers, however, will not have color changes; we have a variegated yarn she bought long ago that is perfect for this pattern. Thus, no color-changing bobbins! Yay!

WIP Progress: Kimono

I've finally made some real progress on the kimono. Okay, I'm not halfway done or anything, but I finally got past the color change:

The needle in this next pic is a 7" DPN, size US 15, for scale:

I was beginning to get discouraged and wondering whether to just give up the notion of doing the color change in-pattern instead of straight across, but I stuck it out. Now that it's all pink, it's going much faster, but I am debating whether to put the green stripe across the shoulders as originally planned, or just go with green at the edges. I guess I'll see how my patience holds out when I get that far.

WIP Progress: Kimono and Why I Get Distracted

First, here's why I get distracted:

That is my older daughter's stuffed bird, named, strangely enough, Gilbird. He was naked, so of course she decided he needed a cape, which I had to stop and knit while working on the kimono:

Yes, that is the kimono under his hiney. Cape completed, I have now gotten this far on the kimono:

It doesn't look like a lot of progress, and really it isn't, but during the color change I am using nearly 40 bobbins, so each row takes an hour. Once I'm past the color change and back to using a single color (which will then be the pink), it will go much faster. That is, provided we don't have too many more naked chickens needing capes.

Progress, But Not a Lot

So after suffering some burn-out, I'm working again on the pink and white baby blanket and have gotten about halfway through the final border, after which I'll make the hat and booties:

I'm also working again on the kimono, and have managed to get the shark eggs (bobbins) under control with the help of a lazy susan:

I've actually gotten a couple of rows into the color change from green to pink, so who knows; I might actually manage to knit the thing.

Undoing a Yarblob

Previously, after the sharks got my kimono, I've been too disheartened about the project to pick it up again. Finally, though, the weather was nice, the sun was shining and the wind was blowing, so I decided if I frogged it on the patio in the midst of all that natural beauty, maybe it wouldn't seem so discouraging. I was right. I started out with this:

With a deep sigh and my music playing, I located the beginning of the end:

(That's Nessie in the pool, doing her thing)

Finally, I got the mess undone and ended up with this:

I probably need to tink out the next row or two, but even that amount of un-progress is enough of an improvement that I feel better about the project.

Knitting Doldrums

I didn't realize I'd gone almost all of last week without blogging. I admit to being in a sort of yarn limbo: aside from the Sharks getting my kimono, I hit another snag in the Paladin dice bag I'm trying to design. Fortunately, I made a mock-up in cheap yarn so the stuff I actually intended to use didn't get destroyed.

Instead of a dice bag, however, I ended up with a yarn Rorschach (Yarnschach?) test. Could be a jellyfish:

could be a hat:

could be a Dune sandworm (the spice is the worm; the worm is the spice):

None of those, however, is what it was supposed to be. As for my other projects, I think I'm a bit burned out on making baby items because I still haven't done the hat and booties for the yellow and green set. I'm also crawling along on my friend's gloves.

I have, however, built a database for the firm I work for and populated a lot of the data for it, installed 2 showerheads in our bathroom here at home, and helped my Hubby set up a small patio set we got. I also got a set of stacking cookie sheets, which will make that hobby a bit easier, since one of the things I lack is lateral space to let them cool and dry. At the same store, I got a lazy susan that I hope will help keep the yarn bobbins straight when I get back on the kimono track.

So, not to worry: I'll get the wind back in my sails soon.

The Sharks got my Kimono

Okay, it wasn't sharks, it was the shark eggs. Okay, the shark egg-looking bobbins. And okay, they didn't actually eat my kimono, but they did weigh it down enough to make it slip right off the needles. This is it, freshly reeled back in:

And here are the wee beasties, still shamelessly feasting on the carcass:

Argh.

Pink Kimono Progress

Having started over with the green yarn, I'm now almost as far as I had gotten with the pink:

Now I'm at the point that I'll need to do the in-pattern color change. Me and the yarnblobs Mims and Rannon lil' bobbins (Willow reference) are ready:

It reminds me of a pile of foam hair curlers.

Pink Kimono Progress and Randomness

Here's my progress on the pink pink and green kimono:

The two parts aren't actually connected, I just haven't frogged out the pink section yet so I could see them side by side (because I'm a nerd).

Also, I found this pic in my collection and don't know why I took it except maybe to show one of my favorite coffee cups and the green devil duck pencil I've been using the sketch things out lately:

Admit it: you'd be disappointed if there wasn't some sort of randomness in my posts.

Pink Kimono Re-Test Swatching and Virtual Knitting

After selecting the additional yarn for the pink kimono, I started trying to figure out how and where to put the color changes. I lost track very quickly, so I started scribbling again:

As you can see, I was quite undecided. Then it occurred to me that it didn't have to be simple straight-line color changes, and that it might look more interesting if I changed colors at the edges of the fan pattern, which resulted in the scribbles to the far right. My Hubby suggested it might be cool to put some green across the shoulders, which resulted in the scribbles on the bottom.

Then came the fun part: trying to figure out whether it would be feasible or even possible to change colors at the edges of the fan pattern. First, I had to figure out where the thing began and ended, since one 18-row by 10-stitch repeat on paper looks nothing like a fan. Maybe a box fan, but not the kind one would knit into a kimono. Honestly, even my color coded re-drawing of the repeat looks more like something from the Matrix than anything that would ever turn into a fan. Staring at the test swatch didn't seem to be helping, either.

I decided my only option was to break out the big RPG mapping graph paper (11"x17") and map out a Barbie-sized kimono, complete with symbols, etc. I quickly figured out that was a huge pain in the hiney and still wasn't helping me figure out where the fan shapes actually came from in the color-coded Matrix. Finally, after again studying the test swatches with the Matrix right next to it, I figured out where the points were, made a stair-stepped dividing line in the Matrix, transferred the starting points to the graph paper, approximated the curves and colored it in:

It's still hard to see the fans, and I still wasn't sure about the quantity and placement of the green, since obviously the pink is the main color. Even the prospect of knitting a Barbie-sized mockup seemed a bit daunting, so I did a 2-color test swatch, 1 repeat down by 2 across:

It came out pretty neat-looking, IMHO, but I still wasn't sure I wanted to go through with a Barbie-sized mockup. My darling Hubby then suggested I use the new Corel Paintshop Pro software we just got. Dude. Talk about virtual knitting:

All of that was done by scanning the 1x2 repeat swatch and copying, recoloring, etc. in Paintshop. Despite the fact that I've never used the software before, it was still way easier than a mini-mockup.

I think we've decided to go with the latter design, bearing in mind there will be a much larger amount of pink between the border at the bottom and the stripe across the shoulders. I wanted a better idea of how the green across the shoulders would actually look since it would be folded over, so my Hubby suggested I print it out and fold it. He's a genius:

In case you're wondering, the somewhat coordinating color of the magnetic board is entirely coincidental. I would have gone with a darker green if they'd had it.

Pink Kimono Progress

After coming to the end of the first skein of the Pink Yarn of Doom, I realized I didn't have enough to finish even the smaller sized kimono. I wouldn't have needed more yarn if this particular lot didn't look so blobby when used with larger needles. At current gauge, however, I lacked about 3 skeins. Yes, it's true: I needed more yarn.

At first, I considered simply ordering 3-4 skeins from the manufacturer (I think it's only available online), but I just didn't wanna. I wanted to add another color, maybe some green or something to counteract the pinkness. Don't get me wrong: I actually like the color and have a couple of blouses I wear to work that are a very similar color. I only call it the Pink Yarn of Doom because it's funny and sounds RPG-ish. But let's face it: a pink kimono large enough to fit me is gonna be a lot of pink. I'm hoping if I add some green or something it will unpinkify it a bit. Also, I like green, and I particularly like pink/green/cream color combinations (even though I don't seem to have any in my wardrobe).

So, with my test swatch and a label from the pink yarn in hand, my ever-so-patient Hubby and I went off to our LYS the Woolie Ewe to see what could be found in the way of coordinating yarns in a similar weight. Ordinarily, I rarely get out of my LYS for less than $50, primarily because there's too much ooh-ing and aah-ing by both of us. However, the store has a points-based coupon frequent buyer yarnaholic enabling program which, of course, I'm a member of. Today, we ended up with a little yarn guide (a plastic thingy intended to help with using multiple strands, but I use them to keep from wearing a thin sock-yarn-wide groove into my index finger), a ball of shiny orange yarn my hubby picked out (no idea what he I am going do with it), and the green yarn we found for the kimono. Between the coupon and the Ravelry discount, we got out of there for less than $20. That was a red letter day.

Anyway, here's the test swatch for the green, side-by-side with the current pink:

The odd thing about the pink yarn is that it never photographs or scans exactly the color it really is. It's kind of a dusty, darkish pink, which is what I like about it. The lighter shade of the green yarn doesn't seem to want to photograph exactly either, but this is close for both of them:

Strangely, though the green yarn appears thicker, it actually knits to the same gauge. I figured it would be close, since the meters-per-50 gms length was the same, but once I started the swatch I thought surely I'd have to use smaller needles. I guess it's just that the green yarn splays out a bit, and the pink stays twisted together. Weird, but convenient.

Of course, this means I gotta frog out the whole pink thing and start over. Fortunately, I think the new color combo will work out well, and I'm even more excited about this project than I was when I first decided to make the Pink Yarn of Doom into a kimono. Naturally, that probably means my older daughter will swipe the thing as soon as it's done and I'll never see it again except on her person. Either way, it's always good if something I've knitted is enjoyed. We shall see.

The Geckmono

Well, for those of you who've been following along, you know I've been working on a pink kimono. The pattern is from Knit Kimono by Vicki Square. I keep calling it a "shells" pattern but it's actually a fan pattern. In any case, there are lots of really cool patterns in this book, and I was feeling rather inspired, so I got to thinking. There's this Geico gecko on my desk

that my older daughter put there months ago, wanting me to make some sort of clothing for it, though I have forgotten what the original requested item was. I suspect I have forgotten because it's changed a time or two. Might have been a ninja suit, might have been a "Jayne [Cobb] hat."
No. Idea.

As I said, however, I was feeling rather inspired, so after a day and night of hard work, I am pleased to present the Geckmono:

Here it is, re-accessorized with a full-sized shawl pin, also useful as a Gecko Wizard's staff:

Clearly, this is the crowning glory of the collective knitting and designing careers of Ms. Square and myself, and we can now both retire forever, since after this gem, there is nowhere to go but down.

Right.

So about that pink kimono...

Progress on WIPs

The last pic of the baby blanket made it difficult to see the 2-color basketweave, so I scanned a corner:

I still haven't tucked in the ends (I hate that part). I haven't started on the hat and booties yet either, but will probably be able to get those done over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Little Bo Sheep says we're at about 3 1/4 inches on the pink kimono:

3 1/4 inches down, 8 bazillion to go (ok just under 50 inches, but still). Fortunately, I like the pattern and am enjoying watching it unfold, so to speak. Also, the yarn seems to be getting softer as I knit it, so this kimono might prove to be surprisingly comfy.

Mad Mappist Notes and Kimono Progress

Well we played Pathfinder Saturday/Sunday and made it through the remainder of the tomb we were in. If you’re interested, you can read my post on that session in my Hubby’s blog.

In case you were wondering, yes, my mad knittist notes also appear in my gaming:

Those are the maps for the tomb and a thieves' lair we were in previously, and notes on the treasure and clues we found.

Naturally, my painted minis also appear in my gaming. This one is being used for my younger daughter’s character ("Amaryllis" if you read the session blog), and unfortunately is the only mini we’re currently using that’s already painted:

Also in case you were wondering, yes, I knit while I play. In fact, despite having to tink out several glaring errors due to tense battles and harrowing situations, I managed to knit a little over 2 inches of the pink kimono:

If you see any leftover flaws, I blame Veltargo.

Gloves Progress and Kimono Cast-On

Well I've gotten one glove made, minus the flip-covers:

As you can see, I've not yet woven in all the ends, but I like to wait until the recipient has tried it on before doing so in case the fingers need to be lengthened or shortened.

Meanwhile, I've finally cast on for the pink shells kimono:

Okay, it's not a lot to look at, but I had to do it twice before I got this far. I was also relieved that I had enough of this type of stitch marker for this particular cast-on. The yarn likes to slip out of the rings of the pretty bead-adorned stitch markers, and I didn't have enough of the plastic coiled ring type for this. I had some narrow ring type, but they kept migrating between stitches. The green and orange ones pictured have a safety-pin type closure, so the yarn can't slip out or migrate and lie to me about how many stitches I've done. So take That, pink yarn of doom!

Sea Shells

After having decided to make a Fan Kimono with the pink Drops Alpaca Virginia Knitting sent me, I decided to go ahead and do some test swatches. First, I tried it with size US 13 needles in an attempt to get somewhere near the gauge in the pattern I want to use. That did not go well. At all. Seriously, it would have qualified for a Yarnblob post.

Being a stubborn Capricorn, however, I did not give up. I did two more test swatches with different size needles, hoping to find one that would make the yarn behave and show off the shell pattern. This was done with US 9's:

I didn't bother doing a second repeat on the shell pattern because it just wasn't getting any more shell-like. Say goodnight, Floppy. I tried again with US 3's:

Lo and behold, a shell pattern. It seems the bigger the needles, the floppier this yarn looks. I think I'll go with the US 3's. It'll require some serious adjustment on the pattern, but the US 3's seem to tame this fuzzy pinkness better than the others. That, or I'll have to find a coordinating yarn to knit together with it. It's too late in the evening for my brain to function well enough to either look for a coordinating yarn or do any sort of accurate calculating, so I'll try tomorrow.