Knitting Musings

Oops, Did I Buy Some Cormo?

This picture may APPEAR to be 6 skeins of sportweight/light worsted weight cormo yarn drying after a nice bath. This cormo may APPEAR to have been sent to me by the truly lovely Sue from her farm in California. But appearances can be deceiving...

And sometimes things are exactly as they appear, and I'm left with agonizing choices like - what do I want to knit with this? Do I want to dye it? If so, what color?

And can I just take a moment to remark that the internets are EVIL? And that they allow you to purchase cormo with just a few emails with a lovely person who has a whole FLOCK OF CORMO SHEEP? (Side note - has anyone studied the severely addictive properties of cormo yarn? Also, is it wrong to want to make a giant cormo pile on my bed and sleep in it?)

In other knitting news, one gigantic sock is complete. My dearest friend Jesse requested a pair of "over the calf" socks for his birthday, so I'm attempting to oblige. His feet are about the same size as S', so I used my "S Sock Formula" and attempted to incorporate enough increases to make the leg fit. We'll see...

And the latest on Lace Edging vs. Yarn Left? Barring a knitting miracle of the highest order, I'm totally going to run out of yarn. SIGH. So to show that stupid lace who's boss, I'm putting it in a corner to think about what it did. Plus, I kinda was thinking I might be dyeing some Cormo soon, so maybe I could attempt to dye up the rest of the laceweight at the same time...

Finally, here are a few pics from our latest snow day ... and a little video of Abby showing that there's nothing better than playing in the snow and getting all wet and dirty when you've just had a bath the night before.

ABBY'S SNOW DAY:

Labels: Abby, print of the wave, Socks

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Let there be enough yarn...

I'm to the edging of the Print O' The Wave. See? It's a piled up piece of cr@p (just like every piece of lace prior to blocking)... I picked up all 45,784 stitches, did my border...

... kept the lace from getting mauled by a fierce panther...

... and am currently having a heart attack with every repeat of the edging. There are 80 repeats total... I've done 5. And I'm desperately hoping that I'll have enough yarn...

It wouldn't be the END of the world if I ran out. I have more of this yarn - but it is undyed. And given the "accidental" nature of my dyeing efforts, I'm nervous about my ability to even approximate these colors - but I can make a good effort if necessary. And perhaps I could overdye the entire finished piece just to even things out if I'm not happy. But still - if the knitting gods would smile down upon me, I would really love to finish this shawl without having to bust out the dyepots...

I'm moving really slowly on my current knitting projects - I'm in the middle of running the competition to pick next year's editorial board for my law review. It should be over this weekend, though, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a little more time to sit and finish up my lace - and there may be a tiny little order of sportweight cormo being shipped to me that may need some attention as well...

But more than the editorial competition, I've been busy getting over a pretty unpleasant cold, which caused me to spend a lot more time than usual curled up under the covers. See? (I can't believe I'm posting this picture!)

Luckily, S stocked up so he wouldn't have to make a beer run while he was helping me feel better... and this is the boy who "doesn't like beer," and who wouldn't have even TRIED Guinness if I hadn't dragged him to the Guinness brewery in Dublin...

And Abby and Cricket were happy to take full advantage of me spending extra time in bed. Abby especially likes it when she gets to stick her little head on the pillow - see that huge puppy-smile?

Labels: Abby, print of the wave

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Oops, I Cast-On Again!

Carolina - no pressure or anything, but...

... and it's good. Really good. Love me some lace good. Not that I'm trying to peer pressure you or anything, but everyone's doing it.

And in other equally exciting knitting news, there may be some Rogue zippering in the works - I did my basting, I pinned in my zipper, and thanks to a day with my butt parked firmly in front of the tv (except for dog walking and rug-steam-cleaning breaks), the zipper is 1/2 installed. I'm going to fire up the latest (and long awaited!) edition of Cast-On today and finish it up.

I'm also going to go pick up my wedding dress... I won't tell which one in case certain people who aren't supposed to know accidentally click on some links, but I'm very happy with my choice, and I'm equally glad to have it taken care of!

On Wednesday night at the Happy Place, I happened to glance over at the computer to see this scene:

The first thing that popped into all of our minds was "p*rn"... and, of course, we were (mostly) right - that, my friends, is what happens when you start pulling up knitting patterns on the internets around a bunch of other knitters. The sound effects were eqully funny - "oooooo! I like that!" "mmmmm, not really doing anything for me..." and so forth. Ahh, good times...

On Friday, I spent some "good times" (hah! almost a segue!) dyeing up some more sock yarn - I'm still not totally satisfied with my results. I usually end up with yarn that I like, but it's very rarely exactly what I had in mind. I'm hoping that I can take a workshop at MDS&W to get some more pointers. I'll take some pictures of the finished products once they dry (and once the sun comes back out!)

Of course, while I was dyeing my little heart out, I was fully supported by the entire crew. Abby made sure my spot on the couch stayed warm...

... while Cricket made sure that Abby's spot on the doggy-bed stayed warm.

There may have been a small failure to communicate, however, as Cricket did not seem to be interested in Abby's attempts to sit on her doggy bed. In fact, she seemed pretty much unphased by even the full force of the puppy-dog eyes.

Do I look like I would be interested in a smelly, dirty doggy bed? Please.

Labels: Abby, Cricket, Dyeing

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Getting Back into the Swing of Things

I think the hardest part of starting a new semester is nailing down the new routine. I have classes at new times, new professors with different ideas of "reasonable workload," and a whole new set of tasks for my journal. Plus, this stupid brief won't be finished up until tomorrow, so that's hanging over my head as well.

But overall, I'm happy with my schedule, especially as it seems to allow me plenty of time to head to the Happy Place for late night on Wednesdays!

Abby is also enjoying my new schedule - I'm home most afternoons, so she gets to come over and keep me company.

And I also have time to knit - I'm in the finishing stages of my Rogue Cardigan - I sent a sample of yarn to the nice folks at Zipperstop, and they're hopefully sending me a zipper that will match. Thanks to my, ummm, unintentional shading variations in the dyeing process, I knew there was no way I could pick out a zipper from the color cards on the internet, so I'm grateful that they were willing to help me match my yarn. And of course, I'm also working on the ubiquitous sock for S...

S, as far as I'm concerned, will be getting a LOT of hand-knit socks. He gets SO excited when I start a new pair of socks for him, and he wears his hand-knit socks every day until he runs out of pairs. He says they "massage his feet." Plus, he shows people that he's wearing hand-knit socks. So, despite the 10.5 EE feet, he gets more socks.

Labels: Abby, Rogue Cardi, Socks

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Stupid Law School

It's my last weekend of winter vacation - Monday sees me back at school and trying desperately to care about all of the work I have to get done. January and February in particular are going to be pretty rough, mostly due to a Moot Court competition I'm headed to at UCLA in February... in the next few weeks, I need to finish (perhaps start?) the brief I've been avoiding all break... that lovely green binder is chock full of all of my research. The brief will not be great - I've already accepted that. But it does need to get finished...

Speaking of finished, here's another photo of Grandma with her new lap blanket - because Grandma is so freakin' cute! Plus, she'll be 94 next week. 94!!! I'm sincerely hoping I got some of those genes...

Right. Perhaps this entry should have been titled "totally incapable of segues." Or perhaps next time I shouldn't write a blog entry before 8 am... on a Saturday... (1 guess as to what I got up early to do. I'll even give you a hint... it starts with "write" and ends with "brief"...) So anyway, apropos of nothing, check out what happened on my bed the other afternoon. I may have been "writing my brief" by watching a movie on my laptop and knitting... and I may have had some help! This is a HUGE step here in the "Cricket needs to get over herself because Abby is moving in soon" household... usually, Cricket gets all pissy when Abby is over and promptly leaves a surface (bed, couch, etc...) if Abby gets too close. But this time, Cricket held her ground and everyone had a lovely nap. Incidentally, this situation is exactly why S and I will be purchasing a new king-sized bed once we get all settled. How is it, exactly, that a combined 40 pounds of fuzzy-animal can take up more room than humans weighing 3-4 times as much?

And finally, knitting - which I have (of course) been doing WAY too much of in my attempts to avoid the dreaded brief-writing. There may be two Rogue Cardigan sleeves...

and check out that skein of yarn on top - it's Koigu kppppppppppppppppppm... I knew that my "dye-pot accident" colorway looked familiar! I accidentally created a colorway that is astonishingly similar to a koigu colorway. Now if only I could recreate it ON PURPOSE...

and I'm moving right along on the body - I have pockets! Well, I'll have pockets as soon as I get a zipper, finish the front, and sew up the front edge. (Note to self - you'll need to buy a zipper. You might want to order one...)

And in even more exciting news, the lovely and amazing Carolina SPUN ME SOME YARN!!! I'm so excited that I can't even stand it. It's mostly? all? angora, and it's so soft and beautiful that I just want to pet it and snuggle it. See?

And I tried to take a close-up, but it was a little, ummm, not-bright this morning when I was taking the picture, so the colors are a little off... they're better in the first picture. I was going to just leave the skein on my desk and pet it all day, but Cricket decided that she needed to bite it in preparation for all sorts of kitty-hijinks, and I had to put it away.

And finally (and again, randomly) - Holly - this one is for you. A t@rget trip for under $20... and I swear that I didn't get back in line to buy more stuff. And incidentally, am I the only one who finds it funny that I bought 38 pounds of cat litter for an 8 pound cat?

Labels: Abby, Cricket, Rogue Cardi

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2006 Ends with a Bad Blogger

So I meant to actually publish this post at least a week ago. But the problem with being on vacation - what will likely be my last "school winter break" vacation, is that I kinda want to savor it and do absolutely as little as possible. So I've been spending a lot of quality time in my pj's with the Grey's Anatomy dvds. And the knitting.

I dyed up some silk/cashmere yarn for (possibly) the Print o' the Wave - but possibly something else since I just received the Victorian Lace Today book from Santa, and there are a few projects in there I might have to make instead. So the jury is still out on what this may become when it grows up.

And in other knitting news, I've finished another pair of boy socks for S - I'll do a proper write-up later when I can grab my notes. But S definitely deserves the socks - he is REALLY hard on them, but he is properly appreciative and gets all excited and happy when he gets to wear them, so I don't mind. Plus, dyeing boy-sock-yarn is a lot of fun!

And speaking of dyeing, I dyed up 7 skeins of wool of the andes worsted. I intended it to be a light pink, but there was too much yarn in the pot, so it was really uneven. So I ended up adding red, then purple, and then blue dye to the pot, and ended up with something really cool -

(I may possibly have swatched a sleeve. Or two.)

Right. There will be more interesting content in the next day or two, but in the meantime, I'm going to let the fuzzles distract you from an otherwise boring blog-post:

Abby would like to point out that there's lobster in that pot. Apparently, she likes lobster. See? It's right there in that pot. Right there.

Abby would also like to point out that she likes Grandma. Grandma sits down a lot and doesn't mind petting her. Plus, Grandma doesn't keep hopping up to grab more presents from under the tree!

And finally, the synchronized-sunny-spot team has been practicing -

Happy New Year!!

Labels: Abby, Cricket, Dyeing, Rogue Cardi

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It's 11:45am, and I'm Still in my PJ's

I love vacation. And yes, I did spend 2 hours almost finishing my bar application. And I have almost 700 pages of cases to print out tomorrow for my moot court brief. But still. Life is good. Especially because my pj's are pink, fleece, and have penguins all over them.

Oh, and there's an almost-sock. They're for S, so my comparatively small feet posively swim in them - but he likes them, so there's hope. They're the BFL Superwash that I dyed a few... months? weeks? ago... browns, dark greens, and dark orange. And, since they're boy-socks, they're perfect mindless knitting while I figure out what "big project" I want to knit next.

Of course, I may just keep knitting S socks. He really loves the handknit socks, and he's always so warm that we're having trouble coming up with a sweater I could knit him that he would actually be able to wear in global-warming-Washington... so in the meantime, I'm going to work on filling up his sock drawer. He deserves it.

And my latest dyeing adventure produced two boy-acceptable colorways - chocolate brown, tan, slate blue, and navy -

- and dark green, grey, and black.

On the list of "too bright for S" is the Blue-Gold Colorway - dark blues/navy with splashes of yellow - I'm putting it up for sale with some of my other hand-dyed sock yarns.

And Kati's Chocolate Cherry Ice Cream yarn. Which, given the pinks and browns, probably wasn't really in the boy-yarn competition.

I think right now I'm going to take Abby's advice - I have 2 seasons of Grey's Anatomy, a sunny spot, and I'm still wearing my pjs. I'm going to make some tea, fill up a hot water bottle for my feet, and attempt to learn from a master of relaxation... (Cricket, of course, is the relaxation queen. But she's too busy to teach us lowly mortals, so she deputized Abby...)

And in a few hours, I'm heading to the Happy Place. Oh blissful day...

Labels: Abby, Dyeing, Socks

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Whew!

Finals are over - they went. Probably well - but really, who knows? The important thing is that they are OVER, and that there is essentially no way I didn't at least pass. And for the next 24 hours, I'm only day-sitting Abby... until tomorrow, when S heads home to Minnesota for Christmas, and I'm once again on full-time doggy-duty. Good thing she's so cute, because the 2-3 hours of doggy walks she wants every day can really start cutting into a girl's knitting time!

Speaking of knitting (what, with this being obstensively a "knitting blog" and all) - Kati and I dyed some yarn yesterday - 4 colors of sock yarn, and what will hopefully become the Print of O' The Wave Stole in yummy silk/cashmere. I was actually hoping for more of a green, but the turquoise is beautiful, so I can't complain! I'll do a better review of our dyeing efforts once the skeins dry and I can really see what the colors look like.

And in other knitting news - some finished projects!!

Hand-Dyed Socks

Pattern: my own

Yarn: my own hand-dyed merino sock yarn, 1 skein (other colors for sale here)

Notes: Basic plain vanilla socks with a picot cuff. I really REALLY love the dye-job I did on these, and want to try to replicate the technique. I've been doing a lot of really dark colors lately, and I like that this yarn is so lightly dyed - but not pastel.

S' Ireland Scarf

Pattern: my own

Yarn: souvenir yarn from Ireland

Notes: S wanted a scarf that used all 3 colors, but didn't have stripes. So I did 3 colors per row fair isle. I almost lost my mind, but S loves it, and that's what's important, right? The yarn was a loosly spun single that I held doubled on huge needles (11's? 13's? 15's?). I think it is so scratchy as to qualify as a torture device, but S seems to disagree. I still have tons of the yarn leftover, but I don't believe I'll be using it anytime soon - when I dunked the finished scarf in some eucalan for a post-knitting wash, the water looked like cold coffee. After 9 more rinses, the water looked like iced tea. I kept rinsing until it just looked a LITTLE bit brown and gross. I'm thinking that they didn't bother keeping little coats on these particular sheepies...

Speaking of S, he made it back from Azerbaijan, and he brought back some neat stuff - first, this amazingly beautiful little rug. Sure, it's completely impractical, but if fit in the suitcase home, and it has little yarn skeins attached! ;)

And he also bought several nesting dolls from various street vendors - the back three lovely ladies are destined for various recipients as gifts, but the front gal is all mine.

The amazing thing? My doll has 10 (count them 10!!) layers. Check out the smallest doll in the front - paper clip included for scale. It's unbelievable.