Sunday, July 23, 2017

Another Flax Light...

I've adopted another pattern as "thing I make 15-20 of"  The groan you heard was AudioGirl, who usually sees these coming but then has to spend 2-3 years prying me out of my very comfortable knitting rut. Sorry, dearest...I'm squarely in this rut for a bit.

I bought this yarn a few years ago at Loopy Yarns (before it changed owners). At the time, I had the intent of making a matched set: hat, gloves, scarf for myself. And then I sat and stared at the yarn for several years. Eventually I decided that this was not the plan for this yarn but then what does one do with perfectly acceptable stash.

Apparently one knits a sweater out of it.


This is as close as I can get to the correct color and it's from a train ride home recently. I was still on the raglan increases at that point I think. 


Today, after two episodes of the KnitGirllls last night and one of Vera, I've managed to cast off the body. For those trying to guess at measurements, this is the 4-6 year size. I've got several little people in my life who should be around that size this winter and I have a feeling bright teal will probably look better on one of them than it will on me. 

I've picked up the first sleeve in an attempt to not get completely sidetracked as I did with the Flax Light that I knit last summer. Started last summer anyway. I got the body done and then promptly didn't do anything with it and it's been in the bottom of the WIP basket for a solid year + now, which is a pity because it's black with rainbows. Fortunately, friends keep having babies so I can get it finished once I'm done with this teal one and then it'll be off to a new home. I just have to figure out what size exactly I was knitting (guess who didn't write it down!!!)

The one odd thing is that the pattern calls for 750 yards. I'm not going to go through nearly that much wool. At current progress, it'll be closer to 500 yards.  My measurements all seem to be fine, and while it has plenty of drape it doesn't seem to be too loose a gauge. Not sure why I'm using so much less wool. The sleeves won't take *that* much.... 


Sunday, July 16, 2017

For an Unexpected Journey

Isn't knitting always a bit of an adventure?

While I've never read the Lord of the Rings (I know, I know...turn in my library card now) and I only made it through the Hobbit in middle school (who else remembers that really weird movie Miss 7thGradeHonorsEnglishTeacher made us watch)...I have watched the Middle Earth movies several times and I really do hope to get to New Zealand one of these days to see the beauty in person.

So when Jessalu announced a special pre-order of LOTR map bags, I hastened to the queue.

And now I can venture off on my travels, always having a map and a knitting project!  As usual, Jessalu has made a lovely box bag. 


This will be a suitable size for a sock project, though probably nothing larger than that. Although typing that reminds me that I promised the Philosopher a baby hat for some friends.  I should really go dig out appropriate colored leftovers (i.e. anything not obnoxiously pink or blue, not sure what flavor baby they are having) and make something in the newborn, 3 month, and six month sizes to get them through the first winter. 

First though, I will have to retrieve the bag from a small gray feline.... 





Friday, July 7, 2017

Summer Knitting, Sweaty and Hot...

Summer humidity has arrived in full force, at least for the next few days. This morning when I left the house it was overcast but still sunny-- during my commute (90 minutes/~15 miles) we came through a heavy downpour but then just into dense humid heat. And at lunch it was sunny and sticky.

Air conditioning will help with knitting; I was winding yarn last night
(Western Sky Knits in the Teal Giraffe Colorway)

and honestly it was just too hot to do that. I got it finished but didn't have enough oomph to continue on and cast it on. Maybe this weekend. 

And my big accomplishment, I don't have a public photo of.  The Philosopher asked for a hat/scarf combination. The original plan was with ears but this version I went with "functional for all winter" rather than "quirky and only works for two months of the year" 2 full skeins of BMFA Gaea Worsted. in one of the Raven Clan colorways. It's heavy. And should be very useful when the temperatures are about 80 degrees less than they are today.  Pictures eventually, probably next winter. He's already sneaked off with the finished object. 

I have, however, finished a sock! 


This is not a finished sock, but it's the sock seeing Hillary Clinton at the closing keynote for ALA. (Thanks Tod for holding the sock) This sock also went to the Indy 500; House on the Rock in Wisconsin; IASSIST in Kansas and it's been through several really interesting meetings at work. 


Now, generally speaking I don't get Second Sock Syndrome. Socks are automatic enough for me that I finish one, cast on the next and everything is fine. Otherwise I would not be half way through Pairs 78 and 79 (with at least two more pair at home floating around a third finished). 

Today...I have SSS. I really don't want to knit another sock. I liked the yarn, it's been interesting to haul around and I don't want to do Sock 2. Sock 1 had all of the adventures and now it's just a slog. I'm not traveling in the next month or so, which doesn't help.  I apparently knit Sock 1 too slowly.

I'll get it done. I like these and after the damage of last year I want a couple of new pairs in rotation this fall. That cuff right now feels ridiculously long though. 




A Redo

 I started this pair of socks on New Years Eve just before 2020. I finished them in May 2020 , amidst a lot of optimism about what I'd a...