Cat Bordhi says...

You might think my voice is crazy, but it will help you learn.

In her YouTube video, Cat says this about her use of cartoon voices to explain Judy Becker's provisional cast on, a.k.a. THE Provisional Cast On of the Century. I love Cat for making free knitting videos on YouTube. I felt she was special when I took her Moebius class. She was such a warm and enabling facilitator, I felt ecstatically happy about knitting moebii. Thanks Cat, I *heart* U!

Judy's cast on offers:

1. PERFECT TENSION [oh my god!]
2. EVERY stitch will be present, in both directions [holy cow!]
3. ALL stitches will be correctly mounted [what!?]

Now I wonder if I should frog and re-knit the Jane Crossover Sweater using Judy's method? Tragically, it will be the 4th frogging of this section, and the single ply yarn gets fuzzier and worse for wear, poor yarn. However, my drawn-out, provisional cast on experiment has driven me nuts to this point, and with this one technique all the cons of the other methods disappear, I will feel redeemed.

Devo's song Whip It accurately describes my feelings about Ripping It:

Crack that whip
Give the past the slip
Step on a crack
Break your mommas back
When a problem comes along
You must RIP it
Before the cream sits out too long
You must whip it
When somethings going wrong
You must RIP it

Now RIP it
Into shape
Shape it up
Get straight
Go forward
Move ahead
Try to detect it
Its not too late
To RIP it
RIP it good

When a good time turns around
You must RIP it
You will never live it down
Unless you RIP it
No one gets away
Until they RIP it

I say RIP it
RIP it good
I say RIP it
RIP it good

Copycat Copycat

In production are 2 blankets, one is specifically a baby blanket and the other is a blatant copycat project, a giant lace doily.

Item #1 is a mitered squares blanket, using Handmaiden's Northern Lights Baby Blanket pattern and Sheep Shop I yarn, shade G-17. This kit was purchased from Kathleen at Tidal Brook, and originally included Handmaiden's luxurious 8ply cashmere, but I chose to substitute yarn to reduce costs. Admittedly, I would pay the extra amount for cashmere if there were specific colorways in stock with which I am smitten.

Here's the blanket after 1 skein, pictured with a second skein about to be spit-spliced. In this photo, I cropped one square lengthwise, so each skein actually yields 7 squares instead of 6 as shown. The color is dark and hard to photograph, but this is pretty accurate.

Modifications are small and are mainly due to yarn substitution and personal taste:

• decreased 2 needle sizes
• changed the size and dimensions to compensate for gauge

Item #2 is the nearly exact replica of Jared Flood's Hemlock Ring Blanket, go on and look at his beautiful photos, I think he is genius.

Here are the project specs from b r o o k l y n t w e e d:

Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket*
Source: My modification of the Hemlock Ring vintage doily (1942), with added chart repeats and heavy weight yarn. [See full post below for details]
Materials: Cascade Ecological Wool in "Latte" (8063)
Needles: US 10/6.0mm 40" Circulars; KnitPicks Options
Amount: Approximately 311g/11oz; About 600 yards (less than 2 skeins)
Finished Measurements: Just shy of 4 feet in diameter

Start Date: 27 July 2007
Finish Date: 9 August 2007

No major changes here, I am keeping the same yarn, same needle size, same pattern/ chart, yes I am a shameless Copycat! There are only insignificant differences:

• yarn is still Cascade Ecological, but the shade is a medium heather gray rather than Latte
  
• needles are Addi Turbo instead of KnitPicks Options
  
• my version may be larger, I'll continue knitting until the yarn is depleted.

Here's the result of 1 skein, the remaining ball of yarn is smaller than my fist. This is the 9th repeat of 11, though it's hard to see any of the Feather and Fan pattern due to bunching.

Non-Knitting News

Riley's 2 front teeth have gone missing. Yay! Come on over here, Tooth Fairy!

No More Mr. Nice Girl

Ya, I'm totally grouchy! Ask anyone and s/he will agree that I'm intolerant and on my last nerve, 24/7. I have managed bits of knitting here and there, but then am too tired to read directions so everything comes out wrong! No Debbie Bliss patterns until I can learn to take proper notes and use a row counter simultaneously. She changes the row count back to zero in the darndest places: No Debbie Bliss patterns, especially the "easy" ones!

Hey, but good news on the small person within, and the pregnancy progresses nicely even though I feel blech. 17 weeks today.