Between extremes

My "relaxation knitting"* these days is vacillating between opposite ends of the spectrum. First up is the fiddley-beyond-belief category:

A pair of socks I actually started almost a year ago. I pulled them out of the Works in Progress Bin at the beginning of this month, thought "hunh...", ripped them out completely (I had a toe and about 2 inches of instep done) and started over again. The worst part was trying to start entrelac on US 0/2.0 mm needles with a provisional cast on and splitty yarn. Fun!

Then there's the mindless end of things...


That is the Garter Yoke Cardi by Melissa LeBarre, which I have wanted to do every since I saw Caro's version (Rav link). The yarn is the whack-load of Hello Yarn Romney in Timber that I spun up during the TdF last (hooray for casting on one of my handspun sweater lots!!!), and I am operating under the deluded hope that I can finish it before the Tour de Fleece starts. On Saturday.

Oh well. At least there's always (always!) coffee.


* The "work knitting" being my hat project: 2 of 7 prototypes done, one almost totally tested and one about to go to testers. I am on track**. Woot!


** So far. Famous last words and all that...

Quelle disaster!

Over the Easter holidays, we took a lovely long weekend trip over to Paris, via the ever-fabulous Eurostar. On our previous trip to Gay Paree, the girls were three years younger, and it was the end of July (which means the end of Le Tour!), so the city was hot and mobbed. It's a much nicer and calmer place to visit in late April (with a 5 and 7 year old vs. a 2 and 4 year old), and spring was everywhere.

Devil had so much energy that she managed to get caught on some ironwork outside of Notre Dame, and tore a hole in her Sprout Tappan Zee that her Mummy so lovingly knit for her last summer. Argh!


She managed to not only put a hole in it, but also to snag and snap the bind off in several different places...


We came home and the sweater sat on the shelf in my wardrobe for about five weeks - I just couldn't face it. Then, last week, on the eve of a trip to chilly, rainy Somerset for part of the half-term holiday, I decided to get on with it already and fix the damn thing.

First step: remove wee hedgehog button and insert a circular needle through a row of stitches above the hole (note appropriate beverage companion).

Second step: unravel the bottom edge, picking out the little scraps of unusable yarn, and spit-splicing (with appropriate beverage) the rest.


Third step: pause and admire your handiwork (conveniently not documenting how off you were in the row of stitches you picked up).

Fourth step: reknit the bottom two inches of cardigan. Don't forget button hole. Reblock, and then pack still damp sweater in the back of the car to finish drying on the way southwest.

Wiktory! I had a big ball of yarn left over that I had ready to draft into the bind off if needed, but I think I ended up knitting a couple of rows less this time around, so I had plenty for the bind off.

Dev still seems enamored of the sweater, and Boo is looking longingly for another cardigan, made of softer yarn. Must sort through handspun stash and see what would work for her.

Question: does this count as an FO post? Methinks so...

FF: George R. R. Martin is everywhere

You may have noticed this yarn in yesterday's post.

That is what happens when you take this fiber,

and spin it into sport/fingering weight singles.

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club 2011, BFL/silk, colorway "Night Gathers"
Prepped by splitting each 4 oz bump into four lengthwise pieces
Spun at: 9.25:1, point-of-contact drafting
Stats: 460 yards/8 oz, ranges from fingering to about DK weight
I finished with a fulling wash (hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold)

There is not much to say about this fiber other then yum. And that it is in imminent danger of being balled up, and cast on to start another Clapotis. According to the doctor, I have mild carpal tunnel syndrome, and I should use my hand as little as possible. And here, take these honking massive anti-inflammatory pills for a month - if it's not better, come back and we'll start with the fun tests*. Sadly, I can only manage the balling up part at this point in time. But let me figure out how to knit with my hand in a brace, and I'll be on this so fast it will make your head spin...

* And by fun, I mean So. Very. Not. (nerve conduction recordings and muscle stimulation via electric shocks? Sign me up please!) (Or not, thankyouveryfuckingmuch)

New tools, new projects, new stash

Sometime in February, in a fit of online shopping enthusiasm, I found myself at Hulu purchasing some Knit Pro (aka Knitpicks) interchangeable needles. Now, to be fair, I have quite the supply of needles already, and I'm not at all sure why I thought I needed some interchangeables, but there I was. I was in enough control of myself not to blow a ludicrous amount of poundage on the full set - I tend to use the smaller needle sizes (less then a US6 for the most part), so the full set would have included a bunch of needles I wouldn't have used very often. So I got the starter pack. And some smaller tips (US 3, 4 and 5s). And three extra cables. Etc, etc, etc.

I've now used them in 1.25 projects, and I really like them. The wood feels nice, they stay screwed in as long as I make sure to tighten them with the provided cute little wire thingy, and the tips are nice and pointy.

So pointy in fact that I now have a small hole in my left index finger that makes knitting a bit/a lot (!) painful, depending on how much attention I'm paying to my finger/needle tip contact point. I'm pleased with them.

And the 0.25 of a project that I've done on them that you can see there is the first 20-something rows of the Gemini pullover from the Spring/Summer 2012 Knitty. The yarn is some Hemp for Knitting Hempwol in "Ruby". It's mostly red, but in some lights it looks pretty orange. A bit stiff to work with, but I think it will be a good fiber for my current climate.

Now for the stash enhancement: last Friday I had a real treat - I got to go yarn shopping with a good knitting friend formerly from Houston, who now resides in the Land of good chocolate Switzerland. We went to Loop, which continues to be a trial to my bank account. But I was really good - I came away with only two skeins, neither of which was the £40 lump of Wollmeise lace (orange, of course) that was serenading me. She was equally restrained, and we retired to the local pub to drown our regrets in beer.

These are the babies that came home with me: two skeins of purpley DK/sport weight for mitts. I think the Madtosh will become some Fallberry Mitts, but the Canopy is for another (yet another!) design project, also mitts.

In any event, the day and the company inspired me to another new project: last weekend I spun up this,

and yesterday it got thrown on the loom as warp - C, I'm going to need your snail mail address in Switaly, OK?

A glutton for punishment? Or just plain crazy?

I finally managed to take a browse through the new Brooklyn Tweed pattern collection, Spring Thaw, last week. I always like looking at these just for the photography alone, but the patterns are usually pretty nice, and the yarns are gorgeous. This time through I had a sudden brain wave that pretty much guarantees many future post bewailing the drama of knitting handspun colorwork sweaters (cause you guys haven't had enough of those, right?) (No, I haven't finished weaving in all the ends, thanks for asking) (don't ask again, ok?).

I was very taken with the Stasis Pullover in my initial look through. And I must have been in a somewhat weakened condition, because I suddenly found myself thinking "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to spin up the yarn for that?" Quickly followed by the sound of the clue by four hitting me smack upside the head with "Hey! I've got raw fleece that is the exact right colors for this!"

One kilo of Gotland, purchased at the iKnit Weekender 2010.

And some lovely dark brown/black Hebridean fleece (organic!) that I received in a Secret Santa swap this past Christmas.

What I really need is someone to follow me around when I have these ideas so they can smack me and say "Get a grip woman! The last thing you need is a raw-fleece-to-hand-cards-to-yarn-to-sweater project! Lie down, have a cider, and get back to us when you've renewed your grip on reality." Sadly, such a guardian angel has not seen fit to grace me with her wise presence, so here I am, frantically finishing off my secret knitting so I can begin washing fleece. And getting the handcards ready to go. All the while ignoring the fact that there are two sweater lots of handspun yarn waiting desperately for attention, and at least two more sweater lots of fiber begging to be spun. Denial is my friend, while also being a river in Egypt.

The only upside to this whole plan is that I only need to come up with 1200 yds of fingering weight for the main color, and about 200 yds of the contrast. Totally doable from over two pounds of raw fiber, right? And I don't have to do any dyeing of anything. No problem...(those of you with comments about famous last words can just keep them to yourselves, ok?)

So, the girls get out of school on Thursday, and then it's washing fleece time! I will be sure to document the process for your edification never-ending amusement at my folly. Enjoy!