purlsandmurmers

Taking a turn on something new

By Thursday morning I was desperate to finish the body of Mermaid.  The last four rows had progressed quickly on Wednesday, the i-cord edging more slowly.  I finally collapsed with about 5 inches to go.

Still, I was determined that the i-cord would be cast off before I went to lesson/knitting group Thursday night.  Obviously, I did not realize how determined I was to begin Twisty Turns until I actually got to group and started knitting (see below).

Thursday was a crazy day, filled with meetings, a visit to the dentist, work, and the normal craziness of life but I did get home in what I hoped was adequate time to finish Mermaid, make dinner, and head out the door.  I did not count on a conference with yet another contractor and yet another incursion of "job materials" into our ever shrinking living space.  The only good thing about the ongoing storage of construction materials is that at least I am seeing visible progress outdoors now, not just a big wet pile of clay and an ever-increasing pile of materials and debris. 

Needless to say, there was not enough time.  I knit the last row of i-cord, cast off the stitches, and tossed Mermaid on the floor beneath my chair with just minutes to spare before I was "supposed" to leave.  I hadn't even gathered the materials for twisty turns yet, and the yarn was still unwound, in big giant skeins.

It wasn't until I was well ensconced at Yarn Central, knitting away, that someone noted that my outfit was coordinated with my project:

I thought I had selected that skirt because it was a summer weight; it as a warm day and I thought it my last opportunity to wear that skirt until spring.  Of course, I am coordinating a lightweight cotton skirt, with a very warm, bulky weight wool wrap, again, not intentional.

But then,  I obviously dislike these colors intensely.

No knitting or blocking today, although I see it is not yet 10 PM so I can probably knit a bit tonight yet.  Today was the day I reclaimed my house from the incursions of boxes, dirt and "stuff", rearranging and cleaning house like a woman obsessed.  It is a rare occurrence for me.  I keep a passably neat and clean house, but I am no clean freak.   Thursday just pushed me over the line in terms of loss of control over my territory, that and the concrete and fiberglass dust that appeared on Monday.  It was good.  I feel like the space is mine again.  More contractors again tomorrow, this is the second week in a row they have worked through Saturday, and I have a walk-through with a new electrician, but knitting and blocking time should be available.

Perfect new scarf for an old coat

The Prism Scarf is done and the greens in the yarn are a perfect match for an ancient, unstructured, Irish tweed coat that seems to be in permanent rotation in my coat closet.

The neckline is fairly wide and low on this coat and I have had trouble over the years finding just the right scarf.  I like the combination of the fluffy chenille with the rather rustic tweed and unstrutured style.  The little bits of gitter in the yarn are just enough that it doesn't look too rustic -- as if I were traipsing over the hills  to sell my eggs at the next village -- the reason I never wear a cabled scarf with this coat, and at the same time it is not too formal, it fits the attitude of the coat, at least as I wear it.

So, I suppose it was fate at work last week when my knitting stopped and the shopping demon temporarily overtook my brain.  Now I can brave the elements with dash and daring, if not au courant style. 

Prism Scarf

Thursday night I finished the second underarm section of Mermaid and was ready to begin the right front when I discovered that I had left the instructions next to the chair in my sewing room and had neglected to take them with me to knitting group.

Although I had planned to start a quick, large gauge project as a mini-reward after finishing the body of Mermaid, I had also neglected to take that with me, not assuming that I could finish the entire front of mermaid in a few hours of congenial company.  So there I was, knitless and not yet ready to go home. 

So of course I did what all desperate knitters in a yarn shop do, I bought yarn.  I had been fondling some prism yarns the previous week, yarns I assume were purchased with the thoughts of scarves in mind as there were only a few skeins in each colorway/yarn. I ended up with two skeins of Prism Frost in color Ginger:

The only size 11 needles I could find were bamboo, not my favorite, but I cast on anyway and knitted away. 

When I got home I noticed that I had dropped a couple of stitches somewhere along the way, and as I was still annoyed at the way the yarn persisted in sticking to the needles I decided to try something else.

I ripped the scarf and started over with Addi Turbos.  I didn't get very far though, even though usually I prefer Addis for all things.  They were much to slippery, the yarn slid around like wet fish, and the points were far too blunt to slide under the stitches, despite the slipperiness.  The whole project was a tension nightmare, the stitches would stick when I tried to put the needle in to make a stitch but were otherwise slithering around like eels in a pot of water.  Once again the project was ripped.

The third and final attempt was made on a lovely pair of lantern moon needles -- perfect fit:  smooth enough but not sticky, just pointy enough to slip between stitches, but not so pointy as to pull the chenille.    I just started the second skein, so the scarf is a little more than half done and a joy to knit.  I already have the perfect coat.   Don't laugh, I wouldn't put it past me to make a coat to match a scarf someday.

The Yarn has spoken

Nearly a week after finishing the knitting portion, the last sleeve of Rogue is on the blocking board:

And the "smile" scarf, made from, you guessed it,  Reynolds Smile is also done:

G  thinks I should knit another, with two skeins for myself, and I still think it would make a lovely coat, but this scarf has satisfied my knitting craving with this yarn.  I think too much of a good thing is not wise and I am quite satisfied with the results. Of course this is no guarantee that some of this yarn will not end up in my basket someday.  It is always dangerous to make proclamations about what one will and will not knit.   A pile of smile might yet leap up and attack me, determined to be my next fall coat.

As for the lovely violet Zephyr yarn, it has spoken and informed me that it wants to be a shawl.  Now, I know that those of you who are wiser than I may smile to yourselves right now and think that you knew all along that it was destined to be a shawl.  But I am not always so wise.  I still think it would make a lovely sweater.  The swatching effort yielded a most satisfactory result at 10 stitches/inch, much too small of a guage to yield a sweater with a mere 1200 yards.  This is also much too fussy for my currently adlepated state of mind.  Besides this fabric is so light and drapey that one would not want the garment to be too snug and close-fitting; the results would be much to suggestive of undergarments.  You would need some drape to experience the full beauty of the fabric.  I can imagine it in some Zoran inspired garment, or in a basic top inspired by the light as air and luxurious sweaters knitted for Hermes.  Of course, those are machine knits, but there is no reason I cannot aspire to similar luxury in a hand knit.  Nonetheless, such dreams will not be met with the yarn at hand and other alternatives beckon.

Now I just have to find the right shawl pattern.

Light up the night

The baby sweater is on the blocking board:

I am really liking the way it is turning out although for a while there, while I finished up the front and knit the sleeves, I was feeling a bit worried that I had made a miscaclulation.

I wanted to knit this sweater in moss stitch the minute I saw the yarn, and I did not want to knit it in the round.  For one thing, moss stitch is really tedious in the round.  Secondly I wanted to emphasize that this was a self-striping yarn by deliberately not matching the pieces.  But then I had doubts. 

I thought perhaps I should have made the sweater in more pieces, for example making the front and back in thirds, to emphasize the various stripes.  I was afraid that just having a front and back that didn't match wouldn't look intentional, but would look instead like I was too lazy or just didn't care enough about the recipient to go to the effort to do it right.

When I pinned the pieces next to each other on the board though I really like the effect, like the way they stripes almost line up in places but are different.  I think this will be quite nice.

The sweater was blocked Friday AM.  No knitting since, or more exactly knitting and unknitting.

Friday night the house was like an oven.  It had been a warm sunny day.  Our house is situated so that it faces the Hudson river on the West.  The West Wall is mostly glass, and it gets the entire brunt of the afternoon sun, as well as reflected sun off the river.  The AC is still disconnected because the venting ran right next to the old chimney and the masons are still working in that area.  Agony.  I think it was 89 in the house at 9 PM although it had cooled down to the low 50's outside. 

I wish I could be a person that slept with the windows open, but I'm not.  I am allergic to gnat bites.  Gnats can travel through screening.  Waking up with rashes that didn't go away is what prompted the investment in AC to begin with.  I opened some windows and turned on the ceiling fan to pull some cool air through the house and hopefully cool things down a bit.  To do this I had to have all the lights out in the house so as not to attract our insect friends. 

I found a ball of yarn and some needles and started knitting a scarf in the dark.  I got a good bit done.  By daylight I thought it was too wide, and I thought my ad hoc pattern could be improved.  So I ripped it all out.  The ball is waiting for the next hot night.  The yarn is so bright you would think I could see it on even the darkest night.

I'd like to be more green, but as soon as possible the AC is coming back.

Blue Lace

Finally, a lace scarf on the blocking board:

and quickly off again. 

I fought knitting lace far too long.  I am smitten I tell you, smitten!  After the initial set-backs, and I am still such a scatterbrained ninny at times that I need some mindless projects floating around, I was entranced.  I eagerly looked forward to every little row of the simple, embarrassingly fool proof (what kind of fool am I to mess this up) pattern. 

It didn't look like much off the needles.  I knew, having read enough, that the magic of lace comes with the blocking.  But I didn't believe until I saw it blocked, and felt the delicate scarf drying in my hands as I ran the blocking pins along the edges.

Too bad there is a limited use for lace scarves and shawls in my life.  That probably won't stop me...look at the sock yarn I have accumulated.  I enjoy knitting socks I just don't wear socks much (except to the gym).  Why not knit lace?

I could have...

The lacy mohair scarf is done.  Actually it has been done for several days but has been curled up into a ball behind my computer monitor where it is out of the way and safe.  It should have been blocking by now, but there has been no space to block.

The new cutting table which I really do intend to keep clean except when I am working on it is covered with stuff.  Well technically I am working on it, I am still sorting out all the STUFF that I had and still want to have in my sewing room.  How did I acquire all these things?  What perverse creature takes over my brain when I walk near a yarn shop, a fiber shop, or a fabric shop.  What was I thinking?  But I love it all – it is a sickness, a disease, and definitely heritable.  When I look at my family I can see where it all comes from and where it all goes as well.  I never stood a chance....

I could’ve put the blocking board on the floor but then I would have to walk on it to sort through all the stuff and the pins would probably be painful on my usually bare feet, not to mention requiring a trip to the emergency room...

I could have put it on the guest bed but I have all the unread books there, the ones that were piled up in my sewing/fiber room, that I decided don’t belong there.  They belong in the library but that means building new bookshelves and I have no idea when I will get around to that...

I could have put it in the guest bathroom, but I have handwash hanging there and I don’t want it to drip on the scarf.  I am behind on handwash too – had one of those weeks where I spilled everything all over myself.  I was practically a walking waste site.

I could of put it on my bed, but Tabasco would object, or decide she really needed to sleep on my scarf.  If it hadn’t dried in time I am not sure G would have enjoyed sleeping under a blocking scarf either and the pins might have been uncomfortable.

I could have put it on the kitchen island....really bad idea.  There is one of those laws, I’m sure,  you know, the one that goes “if a mohair scarf is in the kitchen the spaghetti sauce will be dumped all over it”...

Soft is my new love

And what of Rogue?  Abandoned for a new love, a lovely soft scarf of GGH Soft Kid.

Truth be told, this project was started while Rogue was itself unavailable -- waiting for space on the cutting table to set up the blocking board and measure the sleeve length -- unwilling to commit to another sleeve until we were sure the first was a good fit.  By then, by the time we knew it was a match well made, it was too late.  Soft kid had captured me.

It was not an easy start.  The lure of the soft yarn was strong.  The pattern is simple, a printout distributed by Amazing Threads with purchase of the yarn.  Start up was a little rocky though.  I have knitted lace trims on sweaters in the form of edges on cardigans, decorative borders, even bits of firm cotton lace to adorn sewing projects, but this, this was something new.  I was not sure we were destined for each other.  Fine yarns on large needles seemed uncomfortable in the hands, the stitches twisted and turned, avoiding easy knitting.  This is definitely not a project to be knit in the dark in the car.

And yet, once a few inches were completed, enough to see a pattern emerging, the charm of the work took over, the easy repetition of the pattern, the attention needed yields such lovely rewards.  Not mindless knitting this, yet totally entrancing.  I am hooked, sitting in my chair late at night churning out a few more rows.  Even tonight, falling asleep between rows, head lolling back on the strings of the hammock chair now rigged up in my fiber room, the enchantment remains strong.  I was at least awake enough to tink the last two rows, accounting for the dropped stitches just made, aware enough to stop and put the knitting aside until tomorrow.

Rogue will return.  The thrill of a simple lace scarf has won my heart for now.

Silk Garden Scarf

Pattern: Wavy Scarves from Knitters Magazine # 69, Winter 2002.
Yarn:Noro Silk Garden, color 230

I love this scarf and its variations and I have made many versions in the past few years. I especially love making it in hand-dyed and variegated yarns, especially Noro.

This scarf is meant to be a gift or donation. It was intended for a child, to be added to my donation box for next winter, as this winter’s contributions have long since left the house. I admittedly bought the two skeins of silk garden used here, a bit of an extravagance for a scarf to be donated to unfortunate children, but a lovely indulgence for the knitter. I love the colors of Noro. Yarn Swift always seems to have a tempting array of Noro colors when I walk in, candy for this knitter. 

This color combination is not one I could easily wear, at least not close to my face, but I still love the colors.  I can certainly indulge in knitting it for someone else. A $20 purchase of yarn for a scarf to be donated to inner city children is more than many would spend and may be excessive.  The color may not what most children would chose, but on that I am no judge.  Is $20 too much to spend for the privelege of spending 7 to 8 hours of pure pleasure knitting an interesting pattern in a yarn whose color changes bring me unexpected joy?  I didn't think so.  I do think I am much too easily pleased.

Weekend Knitting

There is no sunshine today, just rain and more rain. A halogen bulb and fig tree will have to do for props.

Most of this was done on the train to and from NYC on Friday. There was very little done on the weekend, which was highly stressful and, thankfully, done with. The scarf is about 2/3 done; 2/3 of that was done on Friday, the other third in a couple of hours of insomnia very early this morning. Today is filled with gym, work, and more contractor visits, but I have high hopes of finishing this scarf as well.