Green stuffs

After a disastrous attempt to start the Aleita Shell (Rav link) last week at Knit Night (I cast on the entire thing, counted, had the right number of stitches, knit several rows and discovered I'd twisted the row before joining. Mobius Vest is not my thing. Ripped out. And by then, what with the talking and gabbing and screeching and such, it was time to go home), I made it past the first few rows. In fact, thanks to five hours on the confocal microscope yesterday, I've made it all the way up to the bodice and am working my way through p4, k1 ribbing galore.

This one is a fun knit. I like the yarn (Silky Wool), the pattern is fairly straightforward, but interesting enough to keep me from getting bored. And my new toy is making finishing one skein and having to start another a lot of fun.

However, this evening I am casting on something new (slut!). No project monogamy here, no sirree. This is the only yarn I picked up in London on our house hunting trip:

Indie Dyer Mini (fingering weight 100% superwash merino), in the colorway Dad's Den. Purchased at I Knit London, right by Waterloo Station. Given that my commute will involve changing from the train to the Tube at Waterloo, I suspect I may be stopping by on a weekly basis. This could get ugly...

The North

If it's March, it must be time for another round of Project Spectrum.

Lolly has come up with a great theme this time - the four Cardinal Directions, each of which has an associated color, season and element, as well as different materials. For the next two months, Project Spectrum Participants will be focusing on the color green, the season winter, the element earth and incorporating stones, gems and rocks in whatever way appeals to them.

I usually use Project Spectrum to focus on colors, particularly colors that I might not typically use. I went through my stash looking for green-ish yarns, and came up a number of possibilities.

I've got some sage green sock yarn that could be used up,

Some heathery green Wool of the Andes destined for a sweater,

And a bunch of dark green Silky Wool left over from the bag that I cracked open for the Peapod. I've got designs on a vest with this stuff.

But the most pressing project at the moment are the TdF socks. I've lined up test knitters for two of the four pairs, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic about getting them done in the time frame I'd like. This week is dedicated to swatching, and the yarn currently getting a workout is the green Fixation, for the Sprinter's Jersey socks

I'm also going to be working on the King of the Mountains socks, to tie in with the rock/stone theme for this section - I've finished the swatching for that one, but I need to write up the base pattern for the socks and start plugging in the lace charts and (gulp!) doing the math. My favorite part! I'm going to be doing the knitting on this pair, so I can hold off for a bit while I get the other two patterns to the test knitters. But I want to get started!

Hmmm. I thought I wasn't going to have much to do for this round. Looks like I'm going to be very busy!

TdF designing

I've been hard at work on mental designing* over the past year or so. Lots of socks. Some mitts. A lovely square neck pullover. But the actual putting down on paper and in yarn of my mental ideas has been somewhat lacking, since there are only so many hours in the day, and so many patterns out there already (damn Ravelry!). But there's an idea that's been stuck in my head for over a year now that I think is ready to come to frutition, and I'm going to share that process (partly because it helps me figure out what I'm doing and gives me some pressure to make progress, and partly because I have no pictures to show you today).

Four years ago in May, I was somewhat frazzled, extremely underwhelmed with parenthood, and stuck at home on maternity leave. We don't typically watch a lot of TV, but we broke down and got cable, in part so I could watch the Giro d'Italia at home. And then the Tour de France. And then the Vuelta in September, with ample exposure to Phil and Paul during the classics, the Tour of Georgia, etc. It was a cycling-filled few months, and repeated for the next few years until OLN dropped off of basic cable and then switched it's name. That was about the same time that Lance retired and they stopped really televising any cycling in the States.

The current design project is four pairs of cycling socks in honor of the Tour de France. One for each of the main jerseys (Maillot Jaune, King of the Mountains, the Points Jersey) and one for the Lanterne Rouge, who doesn't get a jersey, but probably should, just for sheer persistance. I've been charting out patterns and playing with swatches for a couple of weeks now, and yesterday I fell down and ordered a cubic buttload of Cascade Fixation to do the actual knitting of said socks. I'm hoping to get the patterns done and available by the Prologue, which gives me not very much time**. Five months may seem like a gracious plenty, but this is four pairs of socks to chart, test knit, and write up. Yikes! Not to mention another pattern I want to knit/write up for submission in June, and a pattern already written that I absolutely need to get up on Ravelry this weekend.

Anyone out there want to do some test knitting? Bonus points if your feet are small (6-7) or medium (8-9) as opposed to my large (size 10) clodhoppers. I'll provide pattern and yarn, you knit them and let me know where my arithmatic skills deserted me. Leave me a comment or shoot an email to porpoiseknitsATgmailDOTcom if you're interested. These will be ankle socks, so factor that in to your knitting time estimates, but the first pattern won't be ready for at least a month.

Now everyone be quiet while I go fight with Excel. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

* For instance, last night I paused my episode of Alias so I could make a sketch of the cabled turtleneck sweater Sydney was wearing, with the absolute goal of writting up a pattern for it. It was gorgeous.
** Appropriately enough for Lance's return, Le Tour starts on July 4th***.
*** And, given that we're going to be in the UK, we seriously might get to go see some of it. Squee!