35.6m x 3-10mph = 5hr commute w/ knitting

December 14, 2007

-photo by Boston Globe/David L. Ryan

There’s one good thing about stand-still traffic during daylight: I knit!

Allow me to present a completed TUBULAR CAST ON and 3/4″ of 1×1 ribbing!!!

I tried Francesca’s Italian tubular cast on approximately 7 times, and could not master it. Clearly those Italians are way smarter than me. Or perhaps I’ve been a little tense lately. In any case, I finally gave up and tried Anna’s. Though now that I’m googling for links, I think Knitty’s article might be more precise, and I’ll likely use that one next time.

I’ve barely knit, or more accurately, I’ve only done frustrating knitting (7 tries and failures), for weeks and was starting to wonder if the mojo left with Xifey. Thankfully it hasn’t. Phew!

Now pardon me while I spend the break between semesters clicking my sticks. ‘Member when this was a knitting blog? Me neither. It’s good to be back.

Entry Filed under: It's All About Me, Knitting, Socks. .

20 Comments Add your own

1. Carole | December 14, 2007 at 2:37 pm

I executed my first tubular cast on for the Gretel hat last week. Ysolda’s tutorial was very good and easy to follow.
2. Anne | December 14, 2007 at 2:38 pm

Good to have you back! (have you found the women’s college fiber-ists group on Ravelry yet? Now that the mojo’s back …
Got everyone home yesterday by 2 so we could watch the snow fall, and watch the gridlock on tv, and I could knit & knit ….
3. Rhonda the Stitchingnut | December 14, 2007 at 3:04 pm

I haven’t learned to do the tubular cast on yet. Thanks for the link.
4. Meghann | December 14, 2007 at 3:16 pm

yeah for knitting! Is that the same sock you were trying to cast on for when we were at Danielle’s?!
5. Danielle | December 14, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Woo hoo for the return of the mojo!
6. Kat with a K | December 14, 2007 at 3:31 pm

Oh, goodness. Sorry about the commute - it was as bad here, but luckily I have a much smaller distance to go. Yay for the knitting!
7. Justine | December 14, 2007 at 4:20 pm

yeah for the cast on and I knit in snowstorm traffic too!
8. Francesca | December 14, 2007 at 4:32 pm

Sorry you had a hard time with the tutorial. Some people love it and some, well… It’s all about the options, though, isn’t it? With so many ways to do a tubular cast-on and so many tutorials out there, there’s a bound to be one that works for you.
9. Pi Grrrl | December 14, 2007 at 5:14 pm

Sorry about the commute, but look at the progress since SnB at lunch yesterday! Glad to see the sock is well underway.
10. Brenda | December 14, 2007 at 5:50 pm

FIVE hours?!? That is craziness. Thank god for the knitting. What do you do if you have to pee while sitting in freezing gridlock? Just wondering.
11. Jenn | December 14, 2007 at 6:05 pm

How lovely! You are a stronger woman than I. I can’t STAND knitting with such tiny yarn. The smallest needles I’ve ever used are size 6 and that almost killed me. I have NO PATIENCE.

It looks so lovely, really even and nice. I am going to read up on this now, I didn’t even know tubular cast-on existed. Yeah, I’m a little behind the curve…
12. Maritza | December 14, 2007 at 7:26 pm

That is one fine edge there! Gorgeous! I lurve tubular cast-ons.
13. Becky | December 14, 2007 at 11:13 pm

Yay! This makes me so happy and so proud of you for persevering when i would have given up!

I look forward to seeing it progress at SnB
14. Cynical Knitting Gal | December 15, 2007 at 1:57 am

very very nice. way to make good on a horrible commute!
15. Rabbitch | December 15, 2007 at 5:40 am

Totally tubular, dude.

Heh. Yes. I’m older than you. Shut up.
16. gleek | December 15, 2007 at 9:45 am

i just used ysolda’s long tail tubular cast-on and it was great! check out ysolda.com. it’s on there somewhere within the last 45 days.
17. bvfrenchknitter | December 17, 2007 at 12:28 am

We live in Boston too. My roommate was stuck in traffic from 1:45 PM to 10:00 PM. And she doesn’t even knit!
18. Lucia | December 17, 2007 at 11:36 am

That’s a beautiful cast-on. I always use the loop cast-on (I think that’s what it’s called), which is done with the main yarn. I think yours is a bit nicer-looking; I’ll have to try it sometime. If only because I don’t understand how it can work: looking at the tutorial it seems like you would end up with a little roll of sts at the bottom, but you don’t.

Did you knit while driving? Or rather, while sitting behind the wheel not going anywhere? I did a little while my husband was driving, but 1) I kept my main focus on holding up my end of the conversation and wiping the windows with my coat sleeve every 90 seconds or so 2) it got dark all too soon. We too had a 5-hour commute, about 5 1/2 actually, including 4 hours to go 3 miles on 128, because they had closed off the highway and the traffic reports failed to mention this. (I sent a nasty email to WBZ, which they ignored.)

Anyhow. Knitting. Onward. Yay for knitting!
19. Beth S. | December 17, 2007 at 2:41 pm

You did a tubular cast-on in the CAR? And you question the existence of the knitting mojo? Silly. You’ve obviously still got it, in spades.

Getting home did suck. And then I got to shovel approx. eight tons of snow by myself. Good times.
20. PatchesMom1973 | December 17, 2007 at 4:22 pm

sorry to hear you got stuck in the traffic Thursday. Oof! Happy knitting!

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