Monday, August 13, 2007

Laptop. Dead.

Some of you might already know. My laptop is dead and along with it, ALL my photos and files. BOO HOO!! The ironic thing is I turned on the computer that day with the intention of doing a full back-up but before I even had a chance, it died. @#??$*()#!!

Fortunately, the IT guy at work has offered help retrieving the files but since this is a "personal" issue, it's not high on his to-do totem pole. Patience... In the meantime, I have not taken any more new photos but here's still a quick update!

I've completed a few items and started a few new ones!

DONE:
Summer Wheat - pictures soon!
Dude Tiger Socks - pictures soon!

STARTED:
Desperate for some knitting in HK - Monkey Socks
I was in HK and ran out of knitting so I went to the LYS, grabbed the only sock yarn they had (HK is so hot, they don't need yarn socks over there) and started Monkey. I know what the fuss is about... it's a great pattern! The lace panel is easy to remember and the sock is very pretty! If I had to make modifications, I would replace the heel with "K1, Sl1 on one side" to make it more durable.

Christmas Knitting - Nan in Chunky Print
I bought three different colorways of this yarn when it wbas on sale at WEBS. My plan was to knit 3 of the following pattern: Nan by Rowan - one for me, one for Sister B and one for Sister C
I started one and although the "lace" pattern is turning out beautifully (so far), I am not sure whether I have the endurance to make THREE. By Christmas. There are a few problems I have encountered:
1) I am knitting the body in-the-round so increases and decreases are not necessarily following the lace pattern. It's not perfectly pretty on the sides.
2) The lace pattern takes forever. To make those pretty holes, one has to wrap the yarn around stitches a couple of times every 2 stitches. It. Takes. A. Long. Time.
3) With too much going on (decreases, familiarizing with the lace pattern, trying to knit right+back+left simultaneously), I screwed up the decreases rows. Instead of decreasing every 4 rows, I decreased every other row. I'm hoping no one will notice. :)

Long story short, I don't think I can do this pattern another 2 times. I can't bear to rip it apart so I will keep the Nan jacket for myself and look for some other Chunky Print patterns for the sisters:

How about a scarf plus a kneurotic-designed vest?

Apart from these, I have more Christmas pressies:
1) Open lace poncho for LL
2) Chunky lace shawl for CL
3) Boucle cushion covers for GL
4) Furry cushion covers for WL
5) Madli shawl for Mom

7 comments:

Agnes said...

Bummer! Wish the IT guy takes pity on you and move you up his priority list! Will some homemade cookies as bribery do?

opportunityknits said...

Hope the files in the laptop can be resurrected. It happenned to my laptop once - I turned it on and the message on the balck screen was - there is no hard disk! Fortunately all my files are saved on a virtual drive - benefit of having an office that has 12 servers! Not that I know what that means, I just had a conversation with the IT people this morning, hence the info about 12 servers :)

Anonymous said...

Eek, time to get cracking on my Christmas knitting too! :-) Which sock yarn did you manage to find in HK?

Shelley Harpur said...

Peggy, if it helps, my DH does a lot of file recovery for various people. If you need it done faster than your IT guy can do it, I think Matt could do it instead.

Needle Addict said...

I think the scarf would be lovely. Is the "nan" what you were working on on Monday? the rainbow-y lace thing?

Anonymous said...

Hi Peggy, remember me from Yarnaholics? Well, I typed in "Corazon" in Google, started looking at the pics on your blog, and realized I had seen you "Lady Peggy" scarf somewhere before...oh yes...it was in Second Cup. Anyways, I hope your computer is feeling fine soon. I too had my laptop hard drive die on me about the same time as yout computer went down, and I lost all my pictures. I am now starting from the ground up again! Talk to you soon :)

Pirk said...

Hi, Peggy,

Thanks for visiting my blog.

You know, the toe up picture is from the "better side". You should see the decreases and increases sides, but I am learning.

I did the first 16 rows on one and 7 rows of the other sock. How about you?