Swatch? Wool? What?

The weather has been fabulous lately and everyone is breaking out their summer wardrobe, but last night I developed an acute, inexplicable, and inescapable urge to swatch something in WORSTED-WEIGHT WOOL. And then it happened again this evening! Maybe it was an overdose of TV addling my brain.... At this point there's probably not much I can do except show the results.

This is the Takhi Donegal Tweed that I bought at WEBS during their tent sale. I had originally wanted to use it for the Cabled Riding Jacket from Teva Durham's book Loop-d-Loop, but I really like how stockinette stitch looks in this yarn and it's tempting to avoid the cables and just do a plain stockinette sweater.

The concept of swatching is still foreign to me; I rarely do it and tend to ignore the results anyway (which may explain why the sweater I made last Christmas for my husband is so baggy that he would be arrested for indecent exposure if he wore it in public without a shirt underneath). These swatches matched the gauge pattern before washing and blocking, but once blocked the stockinette swatch lengthened a bit. I'll have to see how it looks when dry.

Claude the cow-cat planted himself on my lap (as usual) while I knitted. This is truly a creature I will never understand--although he gets upset when touched anywhere besides his head and shoulders, he insists on lying in the one spot where he is guaranteed to get yarn wrapped around his tail. The more yarn there is, the angrier he gets, and the angrier he is, the more violently his tail waves and the more it snares the yarn. Fortunately this episode ended with less bloodshed than usual.



Bagpipe practices heard in the last week: 1
Neighbourhood beer pong games in the last week: 1
Arguments with spouse over whether "snare" can be used as a verb: 1
Neighbourhood arrests in the last week: 1
Correlation: hopefully none

Le week-end

Without getting into any of the gruesome details, I just want to say that I'm REALLY glad it's the weekend. Yeesh.

Last weekend WEBS in Northampton held their tent sale. Several weeks ago, SAK and I had thought about going there for the Yarn Harlot's booksigning (this would have been in addition to our road trip to North Grafton), but then conscience got wind of the idea and nattered on about driving times and gas prices until both of us buckled and agreed to just go to North Grafton. Having thus built up a stock of good behavior, we were allowed, nay, required this time to go to Northampton.

We made it with only one mishap (mea culpa...as a non-driver I'm really bad at giving driving directions and that Mass Pike exit is laid out weirdly). After wallowing happily in yarn for a few hours I came home with some sock yarn and some sweater yarn and some pre-yarn (that would be the fleece), but then life said, "Hey, don't you have work or something?" so except for starting a sock (and restarting it twice) and playing with the fleece I didn't really think about the yarn until today.

So here is what I bought. Note sock attempt #3 at the right:


And there was a bit of this:


The latter, along with the fleece from 2 weeks ago, is slowly becoming this:


It's arranged chronologically (earliest attempt at the left) and I'm pretty sure there's some improvement happening. The second bundle from the left is what happens when you don't add enough twist while plying.

Meanwhile, the sock and sweater yarn, with the aid of some roving, played a game of Intrepid Explorers. In this shot, the sock yarn rests briefly and celebrates after reaching the summit of Mt. Donegal with no casualties.

Fleecy fun

Eight days in and I'm still muddling my way through handspinning with the drop spindle. I've made a few interesting discoveries:

• One can kill amazing amounts of time simply by standing in a living room dangling fleece.


• Concentration enhancers include Mozart's music (in particular, The Marriage of Figaro; I haven't tested any of his other works yet) and the news.


• Distractions include game shows and that cocky feeling one gets after producing a rather passable single while listening to Mozart's music.


• Cats like to chew on wool.


• Cat saliva on fleece is disgusting.


• Come to think of it, cat saliva is disgusting no matter where you find it, but I already knew that.


• Cats are also fascinated by twirling spindles. Sometimes they will try to assist. This is to be avoided by all means possible.


• A hamster may have been a better idea after all. Oh wait, I'm allergic.


• Posting isn't nearly as fun when the photo hoster is down for maintenance.

Amazing Lace Challenge #1

The first challenge of The Amazing Lace was to give a profile and official team photo. Here goes! Check out their site for more info.

Unusual pairing for summer contest draws disbelief

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

In an unprecedented move that has stunned arboreal and lace communities around the world, a local three-toed sloth has teamed up with a Shetland-style lace shawl for a summer-long competition.

"I'd been knitting secretly for a few years," said the sloth. "Back at home it's not really encouraged--the folks always tell me I should nap in my free time. But when I heard about The Amazing Lace, I thought it would be the perfect chance to show everyone what a great hobby this could be for tridactyls everywhere."

There was only one problem: the sloth needed a teammate.

"I've tried a few shawls. My first one was something in mohair on really big needles that I'd rather not talk about. Then I did a shawl with a sheep motif. I used alpaca yarn, so maybe an alpaca motif would have been more appropriate, but I was having enough trouble getting the sheep right, never mind mucking with the pattern. Then I came across something called the Peacock Feathers Shawl. That was great! I had a bit of trouble with the repeats but by the time I was done I could fix sections of the shawl without having to frog--you know, undo?--entire rows. So at that point I was feeling a bit bold. I wanted to try something a bit grander, you know? Then I found out about the Tina Shawl."

Designed by Dorothy Siemens of Fiddlesticks Knitting, the Tina Shawl consists of a center panel, a border picked up from the panel's edges, and outside edging. When asked how "grand" the shawl was, the sloth shuddered delicately.

"I tried to figure out how many stitches there are in the shawl. The center panel has about 150 rows, with 113 stitches in each row. Then you pick up 120 stitches along each edge of the panel, and you increase by about 8 stitches every two rows...the border has about 68 rows...then you do the edging...And there's something different going on each row, lace-wise. I get a headache thinking about the whole thing, so now I just follow the pattern and don't ask any questions."

The Tina Shawl lounged nearby during this interview, looking more like a jumble of white Jaggerspun Zephyr than an actual shawl.

"I've been compared to rice noodles," the shawl admitted. "But it's only because I'm still on the needles. You just wait until I'm done...the fans will come knocking on my door!"

When asked about the competition, the shawl said, "You know, usually this isn't my kind of thing. But then the sloth mentioned blog hits and spectators and publicity, and all those other magic phrases...I had changed my mind even before precision choreography came up."

It hastily added, "And yes, I think it's a perfect chance to show the world that sloths and lace shawls can work together. Everyone thinks that mixing claws and openwork is just a bad idea, and they are so wrong."

The sloth and the Tina Shawl haven't agreed yet on a winning strategy but both members had strong opinions on what that should be.

The sloth: "Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork, and naps."

The shawl: "And maybe an agent...you know, for talk shows to buff our image."

The announcement of the pairing was met with mild skepticism from both arboreal mammals and lace projects.

"What are they going to do, have the shawl carry the sloth around while the sloth naps? I've seen the competitors, and those two will have to come up with a better strategy if they plan to win this thing," said a member of the Ocean State Sloth Leisure Association, on condition of anonymity.

When asked for its reaction, a feather-and-fan scarf shook its ends. "Those Tina Shawls...they think they're hot stuff, but poke them with a needle and they run home whimpering. I give that team two weeks."

The sloth and the Tina Shawl dismissed the remarks. "It's all fear and closed-mindedness," said the sloth. "This is a step none of them have dared to take, so of course they say we'll fail. Give them a few weeks and they'll all be behind us."


Official Team Photo

Presence of mind

When those dances were over she returned to Charlotte Lucas, and was in conversation with her, when she found herself suddenly addressed by Mr. Darcy, who took her so much by surprise in his application for her hand, that, without knowing what she did, she accepted him.

--Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

I went to the LYS yesterday to drop off a bazillion dangling ends of yarn the baby blanket for some finishing. Inspired by thoughts of the new large space in my stash box, I decided to browse a bit too. There were so many yarns I could have chosen, like sock yarn for commuter knitting, or Noro Kureyon for gazing upon while thinking happy thoughts.

Instead, I bought a drop spindle and half a pound of fleece.

Though not a complete impulse, it was enough of one to make me think I need some time away soon from this incessant rain.

Here's spinning attempt #2 in its slubby glory. The main thing I've learned so far (and the neighbours downstairs have probably figured this out too) is that it's called a drop spindle for a very good reason.

Culinary lesson number...oh, take your pick.

If it's a nasty, rainy, gusty night, and you feel like warming up with a hot toddy, and the recipe calls for honey, and all of the honey available in the comfort of your home has crystallized at the bottom of a nearly-empty bottle shaped like a cute little bear, and you want to warm it up just a liiiiiiiiiiittle bit, you know, just enough to get the honey flowing out of the bottle and into the hot toddy where it belongs...

Don't microwave the bottle for 30 seconds. That's too long. The poor bear doesn't deserve to be treated like this.





Oh yeah, I was supposed to talk about knitting, wasn't I? Well, the good news is that I prevailed over the fiddly fan-shaped bits on the Tina shawl.



The bad news is that the shawl decided to watch outdoorsy shows as part of its training for The Amazing Lace. Now it wants to learn how to mountain-climb. I've taken away its TV privileges.

Stash troll: 1. Stash supplicant: 0.

Prep time and some loose ends

The shawl has devised a frantic and somewhat random training regimen for our great summer quest, involving slow walks...



...weightlifting...



...dreams of world conquest international travel (I draw the line at teaching it how to book plane tickets)...



...and culture.



If nothing else happens this summer, at least it might understand more philosophy than I do.

Oh! Yesterday I received a flyer from a LYS advertising some new services, e.g. sweater finishing, and immediately thought of a certain tentacular baby blanket that could finally be delivered from its shameful state finished. But then I started worrying about cost and personal pride and not wanting to admit that I'm absolutely hopeless with darning in ends, etc., and it escalated until that very evening I decided to make a final attempt.

Why, you may ask, is there no photo? All I will admit is that my husband took one look, wailed in sympathy and offered to pay half the cost of having the LYS do the ends, if only it would get the blanket out of our apartment and delivered to the intended recipients before their baby hit puberty.

Tabbies retrieved from top of refrigerator today: 1

Bad rhymes and belligerent shawls

Tina, Tina
So serene (hah)*
How does your border grow?
In fits and starts,
With crafty arts
And loads of tinking, row on row.

See the stitch markers? Those are the mistakes I have to fix. But there has been progress! A few more rows have appeared since the first photo, though you may have to look hard to find them. Half of the fiddly fan-shaped bits are done, and the other half WILL submit to their fate**.

In other news, Tina and I have joined The Amazing Lace.

I heard about it from silverarrowknits, whose friend Theresa is one of the organizers. The shawl was initially reluctant, but succumbed when I conjured visions of lace taming wild animals and doing precision choreography before cheering spectators. If things turn out differently I may have to run away.

And finally, behold the resident sheep.


He had coped magnificently on his own for nearly 6 years, a paragon of ovine stoicism, and now he says he's lonely and wants a friend! Whatever will we do?

Hint:

Manos...hmmmmmm.

Stay tuned!
By the way, the sheep was from Debbie Bliss's book Toy Knits.

*I warned you it would be bad.
**The one in which they are proud to be full members of a shawl, not the one in which they escape from the needles and run around town flirting with doilies.

Hello, friendly neighbourhood pharmacist...do you have anything for lightheadedness?

My yarn stash “fits” in “a couple of boxes” (where “fits” = “fills a space vaguely approximating the volume of, if you squint and pretend really hard”, and “a couple of boxes” = “a couple of real boxes plus some imaginary box-shaped spaces”).

So I was looking through a box (one of the real ones) the other day, and I realized I could free up space for more yarn by giving the finished items to their intended recipients. Imagine the possibilities!

Consider this baby blanket (Ripple Afghan, made with Plymouth Fantasy Naturale).

There is a sweater's worth of yarn yearning to take its place. There is also one small snag.

There are about 60 thingummybobs to weave in. I have never been good at this, and the prospect makes me slightly lightheaded.

Then there is the Peacock Feathers Shawl, which always makes me feel warm and happy...
... until I remember it's still unblocked and the ends are dangling about, mocking me. By the way, Theresa, this pattern is fantastic. I highly recommend it.

Everyone on the count of 3: I am ashamed.

An addendum on cats

Have you ever sat down for some light knitting and ended up with THIS?



Yes, this is the other cat. His hobbies include lying on WIP, lying on patterns, lying on the yarn stash, lying on the needle case, getting very upset when someone tries to remove him, and having unbelievably foul breath. Perhaps he thinks he is incubating something?

Welcome!

(updated 05/07/06) Main page

A real post will follow (eventually).

In the meantime, here is a slothful tabby...

...and here is some knitting (with a critic).

This is the Tina Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting. It's on circular needles so it looks more like a bonnet than a shawl right now.