In Other Loppem News

The Loppem Finish That Almost Wasn't

There I was, house almost to myself, time on my hands, my to-do list written out, knitting away, when I noticed this-
Shock. Disbelief. Horror. I have never made such an air-headed mistake in all my knitting. Well, there was that sleeve incident with my Cropped Cardigan, that was kind of air-headed. Maybe I should say I've never made such a painful mistake in my knitting. This wasn't 25 rows of 60 sts or less, in plain St st or a simple 1x1 rib, in a bulky gauge... This was a misdirected cabling, 10 rows back, long rows, 22o sts each at this point, over a cable pattern. Ouch.

I was faced with the horrid prospect of having to attempt a sweater surgery, the magnitude of which I have never attempted (my hats off to you lace knitters who can repair misknit lace!), or the ripping back of 10 very long rows requiring much more reworking.
I remembered a post on the Loppem KAL on Ravelry, which referred to this drastic repair job, and I knew it could be done. It was time to be daring, time to work on a new skill, time to get to work- after a good night's sleep and some whimpering for sympathy from my sister.
I figured, worst case scenario- I would have to rip back, and well, if I didn't attempt the surgery, I would be ripping back anyway, so... I figured it was time to 'scrub in'.
I thought maybe I could just drop those middle 5 sts involved in the misdirected cable, but as I got close, I realized that those sts were crossed with neighboring sts in the rest of the cable, so I ended up dropping everything in between the knit st borders- 13 sts of cabling...
I stuck a double point needle through those sts and sat back and wondered what to do next- then began reworking those sts with that big bunch of wild yarn dangling after dropping all of those sts all of those rows...
It was much easier than I had imagined, in fact, I'd almost say it was fun. What a sense of exhilaration and accomplishment (this, coming from the girl who would work and rework that crazy extra credit problem in Algebra, until finally letting out a very audible 'yes!!' with hands in the air like I'd just crossed the finish line first and the gold was all mine!!)


Notice the celebratory chocolate, conveniently in the house due to pregnancy induced sweet tooth.

I am no longer nearly as intimidated by such knitting emergencies, and will endeavor henceforth to think of such trials as merely knitting challenges (can you tell who's been on a Jane Austen kick for the last several years...?) though I don't think my brain is ready for any complicated lace repairs any time soon (not a problem, as I don't have any lacework in my near future, now my distant future- that's another story.) For that, I should wait until the pregnancy brain fog has lifted, and the 'young nursing baby robbing me of all sleep lasting more than 2 hours' phase has passed, which for me and my babies usually lasts for 6-9 months. I should pick up some under eye concealer soon, even though I'm not a make-up person. 3 months from now, when every person I meet and greet says something to the effect of 'you look so tired', I'll know I've waited too long...

I still want to make another Loppem, in brown. So many sweaters to knit, so little time...

Happy knitting-
ali

PS- Baby Countdown Details

• 'Due' in 10 days- just dawning on me that 10 days is less than 2 weeks...
• still have 2 bedroom painting projects I am hoping to get to before baby
• we have no idea on a name yet, well some ideas, but no consensus
• need to do more pantry stocking
• should pack a 'hospital bag' soon
• need new nursing bras
• got fabric for a quilt like this one, or this one
• cast on a Garter Stitch Cardigan Saturday afternoon, one sleeve and finishing to go...
• In an effort to clean & declutter before baby, I now have a van load of 'stuff' for the thrift store, it needs to get dropped off asap

Loving My Loppem

When Norah Gaughan, vol. 3 came out- I knew right away that I wanted to make a Loppem, a Calvert, and an Eastlake, and they moved into positions 1, 2, & 3 in my Ravelry Queue... With short sleeves and a worsted weight gauge, I figured I'd start off with a lovely little Loppem. I was thinking a dark green or brown but then got to thinking about how some splashes of color can do a wardrobe good, and how I had 5 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes in a lovely blue sitting in my stash (I'm normally not one to knit in the color I see in the pattern, but hey, with my pale skin, I wear blue well, and it's not black or brown...)

The pattern calls for six 50 gr balls of Berroco Palace, with each 50 gr ball having approx 103 yards of yarn. Well, I had five 100 gr hanks of yarn- more than enough, or so my non-thinking brain thought that day. 50 gr vs. 100 gr. No contest, surely I'd have extra yarn. Um, maybe, except for the fact that my 100 gr hanks of Blue Sky Worsted had about 100 yds each!!! (Can we say density? Blue Sky's Worsted is a meaty kind of yarn! It feels so good on, trust me on this one, it's like wrapping in a blanket.)

I started getting nervous as I neared the end of the second skein and my sweater looked about 1/3 done... um, that was because it was about 1/3 done- I was gonna need 6 hanks.

I also need to mention that I was using yarn from a very old dye-lot, one I couldn't get my hands on anymore. Hmmm, what to do? Send out a desparate cry for help on Ravelry? It almost came to that... when I remembered a long forgotten pair of socks, unfinished worsted socks, unfinished because they weren't going to fit, gauge was too tight. I frogged about 10 inches of old knitting (knee highs...) and rewound my sweater-saving 6th ball of blue, of which I probably used less than half. What am I going to do with about 60 yds of blue worsted? It will probably end up a stripe in something, or maybe some cat's cradle play for several young people I know... That doesn't matter- what matters now is that I get to wear my Loppem!

(pic from last week, 37 week baby belly)

*** lesson learned- check yardage! ***

Our weather is just starting to turn cool enough to want and even need a layer of woolly, alpaca-y, warmthness, and I am definitely going to enjoy this knit in the next many weeks and months- I do live in Minneosota, remember?

Are you knitting something special for this next season? I hope so.

Happy knitting-

ali

PS-Baby Countdown Details

• 'due' in 14 days
• low back and hips feeling it today
• new car seat is in
• still need a new crib
• cleaning room & organizing baby clothes this weekend
• gathered relaxing music for labor
• slowly easing back on coffee...