Tag Archives: star trek

L’il Cap

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My little Captain Picard Sweater is almost finished!

OK, it is “finished,” technically, but I’m unhappy with some of the final details.

See if you can figure out what I don’t like about it:Did you zero in on the pips on the collar, too?  Because that’s literally all I can look at.

(Sure, it’s a cute shape, and the color-blocking turned out great.  It’s been finished nice and neatly, blocked nicely, and the tiny black buttons up the front are perfect.  It’s a cute baby sweater, without being too obviously “Star Trek.”  But those dang gold buttons on the neck!  They’re so bad!)

It’s one of those things that I’m sure anyone else wouldn’t even really notice, but they stick out like a sore thumb to me.

In Star Trek (at least in TNG), rank is marked with little gold “pips” on the front of the collar.  More pips means a higher rank, and a Captain’s rank is shown with 4 gold pips.

I thought I had bought buttons small enough to fit on my sweater’s collar.  I was incorrect.

I managed to fit on three (Lieutenant) before reaching the shoulder.  So, I thought, maybe if I replaced the topmost black button with a gold one, it would make up for the missing collar pip. But that just made them all look uneven and weird.Sigh.  I guess I just have to go back to JoAnn’s and see if they have even tinier little gold buttons.

And I was so excited about these guys!  They seemed so perfect when they were still on the card!  Oh well…

Have you ever gotten stuck on a final detail before you were able to finish off a big project?

…Engage

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I’ve been busy, you guys!  Not doing anything terribly productive, really, and certainly not working on anything that I have a deadline for (whoops!).  But, I have been busy, knitting away.

Remember the red and black sock yarn I found in my stash last week?  Well, I just had to get knitting with it. I considered a couple projects- Trek-flavored socks.  A cowl or maybe a hat that Captain Picard would be proud of.But, really, I couldn’t help myself. I just had to make a Jean-Luc Picard baby sweater.

I couldn’t help myself!  The yarn was too perfect!I broke out my copy of Knits for Everybody Two, and cast on a tiny (3-month-sized) cardigan.  I thought about coming up with a new pattern for this sweater, but figured, hey, I’ve already done all the math, why make it harder on myself?

I’m doing the yoke, hem, cuffs, collar and button band in black, and the body and sleeves in red.  It’s not 100% show-accurate, but I think it gets the point across without having to fuss with intarsia or any fancy colorwork.  I think it looks pretty dang captain-y.  (And I think it’ll look even better once I add some gold buttons and little captain’s pips on the collar.)

It is turning out super-tiny, though.  I accidentally started using US1s, instead of US2s, and didn’t realize my mistake until I was past the point of no return.  I mean, look!  I’m using a safety pin to hold the unused sleeve stitches!I think it’s ok that it’s tiny, though.  After all, babies are pretty small.  Or, worst case scenario, it could become a sweater for a doll.

What have you been working on lately?

Captain’s Red

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I’m not doing anything as formalized as New Years Resolutions this year, but I do have some vague goals I’m going to try to follow this year.  I’m going to try finishing up some WIPs that have been sitting around my office for too long, I’m going to try learning some new techniques, and I’m going to use up more of my stash.

Ha!

Me and every other knitter.

But, I suppose it can’t hurt to give it a go.

I went spelunking through my stash of sock yarn (it’s started overflowing its box lately, and I’ve been meaning to clear it out).  I found a bunch of small skeins (and even more half-skeins) of sock yarn, left over from projects over the years. Not enough to make a pair of socks in any single color, and generally I dislike making socks with too many stripes or blocks of colors.  (I get really peeved when I have to weave in lots of ends.)

But I did find a couple half-skeins of Knit Picks Stroll in Black and an almost-full ball of Firecracker Heather.And you know what’s tomato red and black, right?

(What’s that? You don’t?  You’re not a big old nerd halfway through Star Trek: The Next Generation?)

It’s Captain Picard’s uniform!The red yarn was almost perfectly the right color of “Command Red”!

Now I just have to decide- is this yarn going to be a pair of Command Red socks, or maybe a Command Red hat, or maybe even a tiny Command Red sweater for a baby nerd?  Choices, choices.

Have you dug through your stash lately?  Find anything good?

Husband Sweater: The Picard Maneuver

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In case it hasn’t been perfectly clear in the last two years of blog posts, I am a big nerd.  My husband is also a big nerd.  A big exciting night with friends usually includes home-brew beer and a rousing game of Settlers of Catan.  I’ve read through the Harry Potter books  so many times that I can practically recite them.  And, even though it’s nearly 30 years old, you’ll still find us curled up on the couch watching Star Trek: TNG whenever it comes on.

So, when my husband asked me to be sure that his new sweater is long enough that he doesn’t have to preform the “Picard Maneuver,” I knew exactly what he meant.

What?  You’re not a weirdo nerd, too?  You don’t know what the Picard Maneuver is?  Let me explain.  Captain Picard, Starfleet officer and coolest bald man in the known universe, always keeps his ship and his uniform neat and tidy.  So, whenever he sat down, stood up, or otherwise mussed up his uniform, he would always tug down his uniform top to make it lay nicely.  For example:


Thus, the “Picard Maneuver.”

My husband has a couple sweaters he has to use the Picard Maneuver on.  You can understand why he is worried about the length of his new sweater.

I’ve decided not to measure the sweater.  I know, crazy.  Instead, I’m going to keep knitting and trying it on him until it is the absolute perfect length.  I’m hanging it up for a couple days to let the yarn sag naturally, especially since it’s cotton, which tends to droop more than wool.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThis weekend, I plan on knitting the rest of the waistband, based on how long it ends up looking on my husband.  Hopefully, all this elaborate hanging up, trying on, and re-trying on will make the Picard Maneuver unnecessary.

Do you have any clothes you have to do the Picard Maneuver on?  How do you prevent it?