![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Epic Project 2010: The Ruana
Jan. 5th, 2010 12:28 amA few days ago (Jan. 1st, to be exact), I started what promises to be the epic knitting project of this year. Mom's been wanting a ruana (think short cloak) made out of her favorite yarn, a wonderfully soft baby alpaca in a bright turquoise blue. The color's recently been discontinued, so when I saw it on sale at one of my favorite online yarn shops, I jumped and bought a friggin' mess of it.
So now, I've begun what will probably be a long and arduous process towards making Mum a ruana. I managed to learn the continental knit stitch, which I'm hoping will make the process go a little faster, as it's supposedly a more efficient stitch than your standard English method. But still, it's going to take a while.
Actually, it's kinda a bit like an epic quest--long long arduous travels where there really isn't much, and then frenzies of activity at certain, not-always-anticipated points. So I think I might try to keep track of things here, so you all can watch my trials and tribulations as I attempt to knit a huge blue square with a slit in it. Hopefully it'll be entertaining. If nothing else, you'll get to see me angst at the pattern instructions, which are a little more vague than I like. Hopefully there'll also be occasional pictures too!
And so, the status so far: Getting the gauge right was a pain in the NECK. I had to do four swatches before I found the right size. I finally settled on a 29" 10.5 circular needle, and cast on. Much to my pleasant surprise, I managed to get all 236 stitches onto the needle. Since then, I've worked...about two inches of the 23 needed to get to the point where the slit goes. The rows are LOOOOOOOONG, as you might expect. It takes me about half an hour to do one row. I'm hoping I'll get quicker as I go along. I'm also somewhat surprised to discover that I'm almost at the end of the first skein. I know it was going to eat up a lot of yarn, and some of the yarn from this first skein got eaten up in swatching, but MAN. I'm going to get a lot of ball winding practice. And end-weaving practice. Uuuuurgh.
So right now, it's less of a ruana, less of a blanket even, and more of a...ruffle. More to come!
So now, I've begun what will probably be a long and arduous process towards making Mum a ruana. I managed to learn the continental knit stitch, which I'm hoping will make the process go a little faster, as it's supposedly a more efficient stitch than your standard English method. But still, it's going to take a while.
Actually, it's kinda a bit like an epic quest--long long arduous travels where there really isn't much, and then frenzies of activity at certain, not-always-anticipated points. So I think I might try to keep track of things here, so you all can watch my trials and tribulations as I attempt to knit a huge blue square with a slit in it. Hopefully it'll be entertaining. If nothing else, you'll get to see me angst at the pattern instructions, which are a little more vague than I like. Hopefully there'll also be occasional pictures too!
And so, the status so far: Getting the gauge right was a pain in the NECK. I had to do four swatches before I found the right size. I finally settled on a 29" 10.5 circular needle, and cast on. Much to my pleasant surprise, I managed to get all 236 stitches onto the needle. Since then, I've worked...about two inches of the 23 needed to get to the point where the slit goes. The rows are LOOOOOOOONG, as you might expect. It takes me about half an hour to do one row. I'm hoping I'll get quicker as I go along. I'm also somewhat surprised to discover that I'm almost at the end of the first skein. I know it was going to eat up a lot of yarn, and some of the yarn from this first skein got eaten up in swatching, but MAN. I'm going to get a lot of ball winding practice. And end-weaving practice. Uuuuurgh.
So right now, it's less of a ruana, less of a blanket even, and more of a...ruffle. More to come!