K.I.S.S.!!!!!!!!!!

I've been a bad blogger. No post in quite some time. Where does the time go?


I've been a bit busy plus there was a national holiday in there and my hubby retired. Yes, Greg is now one of those AARP kind of guys! He no longer has to get up and go to a job! I'm envious but very happy for him!



What is the K.I.S.S.? Keep It Simple Stupid!



Honestly, this Nihon Vogue certification thing has me...challenged. How?



After I got the raglan to the point I need to for the next class, I was tasked with figuring out what I wanted to do on my vest.

In my last post I said that a plain round neck vest was BOR-ING!


I take that back.



I got stumped in my pattern drawing and sent Jean an email. She responded that it would be easier to talk on the phone.



Monday night we chatted and she helped me get past my issue. Not attending the first session has proved a bit challenging. Not because I'm not an experienced knitter but there are tidbits of information that no one could remember to say "Naomi, don't forget that increase and decreases for the waist should be only 1.5 - 2 centimeters in from the beginning of the armhole or hip measurement". I was getting stumped on the pattern drawing for the waist because I didn't have this small, but very significant detail!

See my dining room table filled with all my stuff trying to figure out/draw my pattern.




I decided that I would, indeed, keep things simple. The whole point is to learn the techniques. I want to jump ahead and do more complex things.

Each project progressively teaches new/more skills. The point is to learn the techniques first and then take those skills and eventually incorporate more complexity into the designs.


Here are the swatches I prepared for this project-Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran on US 7.

My original plan was to use lace patterning in the middle part of the vest and stockinette on the sides so the waist decreasing and increasing could be done easily in stockinette.

When you draw the pattern for your unique measurements, you need to calculate the armhole decreases. I was asking Jean how I would calculate the armhole decreases with the lace and stockinette. Would I use the stockinette guage, the lace gauge or a combination of both?

She said I would use my guage ruler(provided for our class) and the part of the armhole with the lace patterning I would draw the grid with that guage(row and stitch) and for the stockinette I would use that guage. Then, she said the decrease should either be a half or full pattern repeat. So if the lace pattern is 11 stitches the number of lace stitches decreased should either be 5 or 11.

This photo should help explain this a little bit. Here the grid is drawn only for the stockinette guage. If I were to do a combination of the lace and the stockinette, the grid would have two different graphs within the armhole area.

I calculated the amount of decreases, stitches with the lace pattern and the numbers were not going to come out right. I would need to figure out another lace pattern, swatch it and re-draw.

That is when I was decided I didn't have enough time. I don't need to be super woman and do it all!

So once I got past that decision I was ready to start! Yes!

I cast on and knit 20 rows. I, admittedly, was watching the season finale of LOST on ABC.com and my attention was more focused on what was happening on the island. I put my knitting up to my body and I realized....this is way too small. What the?

I hate to admit it but rookie mistake here. My pattern is for half the back. So I need to double the stitches....uh, yeah. Maybe it is a good idea to K.I.S.S.

To end my post I have to post this picture of Greg and Chase. Before Chase got sick, the dogs could not be ON the couch(not my rule - before Greg they used to sleep in the bed with me). They had to be invited up and if they were on the couch, they had to be in a human lap. No actual doggie bodies on the couch.

Since Chase's recovery, that rule has gone out the window. Boy am I glad Greg has come to his senses and allows the boys up on the couch. Here is the evidence!