Woolgathering

The Petra-fied Hand Warmers are up to the decision point. Short fingers, or no fingers? I am leaning towards adding the fingers, just to see what it is like (never having done any kind of glove before). I asked Mr L last night, he thinks fingers too. So, I put my knitting away and read a book in bed. I figured that tackling fingers would be best done in the clear light of day and after my migraine has left me.

The headache is still here today, though - sufficient to make me balk at the notion of craft club tonight. Let’s hope that the thing lifts before the day is out. I shall help it along by taking my day quietly. The rubbish is out, and that, I feel, is my work load for today completed. Sadly, it’s a rather grey day and not offering the bright light that I was hoping for. My head thanks the weather gods for this, but my knitting does not.

On the matter of the Slippery Socks? I think that I need to knit some speedy plain socks now, just to remind myself that I am competent to produce a pair of socks quickly. There has been too much SSS and deferral since I completed the Hedera socks. I need a win. So, the Arizona is going to be a plain sock. I did love the way that it looked in the stocking stitch of the Slippery Sock, so I think I’ll just go for the boring sock approach and let the yarn do the impressing. I may start them tonight at Craft Club, if the mitt fingers seem too fiddly to be doing in company.

A holding solution has been determined for the Curtain Problem. I recalled that we had two natural cotton curtains that we had acquired at Glenlivet. They are pretty rammy things but will provide an interim trim for the bare window. More dye will be purchased and I’ll dye these white things and hang them up. From here on in there will be no need to draw curtains for some months, so the fact that they won’t meet in the middle won’t matter. That will give me breathing space in which to find two pairs of acceptable and economically viable curtains for the Final Curtain Solution.

The too-short pair of already-dyed curtains will morph into cushion covers, or somesuch, so they will not be totally wasted. It’s just a shame that they aren’t large enough to make throws of, for the Poängs.

I hope to get sufficient dye to allow me to dye the pink throw that covers my tatty sofa. Then we shall be fully co-ordinated. That may be the first time in my life that I have ever been able to make that particular claim!

In Knitting News: I am about to carve off the thumb on my first Alpaca Warmer. I like knitting these, though tinking mistakes is sheer hell. Not yet decided, but seem to be leaning towards the knitting of little fingers, if only for the experience. I don’t like the look of mitts with wee fingers and much prefer the appearance of the totally fingerless ones. I think I have enough yarn to do both and allow a compare-and-contrast exercise to be undertaken. They are going to be very pretty, whichever way that I finish them off.

Craft Club News: tomorrow we are having beading demos and I don’t have to do anything but watch and enjoy!

Spinning: going slowly. I’ll hope to start a new bobbin of the grey/red stuff before going to F’s on Wednesday. I don’t want to rely on Wednesday Spinning as, if the weather is kind, I’d like to cycle and would then leave my wheel at home.

Migraine: Progressing nicely through Day 2 now. Hoping to go blow it away in the bay when the tide goes out.

And now, back to the mitts.

I need to unsub from Natalie’s blog and the Yarn Yard mailing list. I just cannot afford the temptation.

Newly arrived roving and sock yarn, with half an eye on the PS3 Water theme.

Tell you what - why don’t you, dear reader, go buy up everything that Natalie has for sale and thereby save me from myself?

oh, just look at the Twirly!

Socks

Every time that I walk past the console table in the sitting room, that Arizona Merino chides me gently. Alas, it is not yet re-cast on. A migraine is making feel very drained and lethargic today and it is all that I can muster just to console myself by knitting cashmere.

Of course, knitting cashmere into lace on 2mm needles is not the best thing to be doing with more-than-usually dodgy eyesight. There are errors. Oh, yes.

Now, you don’t

It’s quickstepped itself all the way to the frog pond and, O, how that hurt!

It had to be done. It was never going to fit. Having admitted that to myself I had to go about it like ripping a plaster off and thus I frogged the sock before breakfast.

Rest In Peace. The Sock is dead! Long live the sock?

Mayhap.

I think I shall experience considerable resistance to casting on a Slippery Sock again, but we’ll see - once I have found a set of larger needles.

I am far more optimistic about the yardage for the Slippery Socks now. I weighed the remaining yarn and I tried the sock (which has been making progress, through slowly) on. I an 90% certain the yarn will go all the way. But I am 99% certain that these socks are going to be too small for me.

I have refrained successfully from knitting cashmere all day! What I have done is to fill my bobbin with the merino/mohair tops that I am spinning.

I have also done some cleaning and tidying, and made and eaten cake (as well as a very fine pasta bake).

Mostly, I have been arting.

I have had a positively splendid time turning half a dozen photographs into a single digital collage and then turning that into a postcard. I needed five postcards for a Swap-Bot swap entitled (forgive me) “ WHR DO U LIVE? POSTCARDS! “ [Sic]. I seized the opportunity to do something for PS3 “Earth” in lovely browns and greens. I like it lots. Now I have to persuade the printer not to do anything stupid with it and to ensure it has enough ink to print five off… what’s the chances? About as much chance as I have of that sock fitting me when I finally complete it.

A productive day, anyway.

Those curtains that I dyed the other week? The newly-green ones with the pink dotted lines? I finally got around to putting them up, and they looked very nice in the East window. We turned our attention to the South window, where the longer pair hangs.

Whoa!

Curtains very much in mid-air!

The long curtains now fit the short window. There is no hope for the long window.

*SCREAM*

and,

maybe,

*SOB*

I don’t just have the itch to cast on at the moment, nor just the itch to spend (see below) but my hands are genuinely itchy. Really, really itchy. I am sensitive to UV and the little sunshine that we have had recently has set me off. I don’t understand how - when I was out on my bike I made certain that I was wearing gloves and long sleeves. I do recall being sat in the sun on Wednesday, in M’s sitting room. Yes, I am that sensitive - it does affect me through glass which, as we all know, presents no barrier to UV rays. 

My hands are excruciatingly itchy; my face is itchy too but that’s a minor irritation - not at all like attempting to knit with hands that are already on fire, without the additional challenge of being chafed by yarn.

Ideal excuse for transferring to the cashmere?

I think not, that merino is also pretty wonderfully soft you know.

I shall need to find an alternative justification.

In the meantime, I have dug out my Body Shop Hemp hand cream, wonderfully soothing.

Shopping last night: 3 sets of five inch bamboo DPNS, from John Lewis of all places (free courier delivery!) These are from Rowan, not Clover, so I hope that they are every bit as good.

Today may be Spinning Group Mk II but I am not at all sure that anybody is coming. All the same, I now wander off to my kitchen to fabricate a cake. If there is no spinning, then Mr L will eat the cake for me,I am sure -so I am making a cake to please his tastes. All being well (i.e. all ingredients in stock) I shall be making a coffee and walnut cake, with just a hint of cardamom thrown in for extra credit. I might even ice it.

Yesterday’s aims were not fulfilled. The Quicksteps made no further progress once my new book had arrived. The mitts got one cuff done (twice) and no spinning was done at all.

Today’s aims: spin that bobbin off. Make what progress I can on the Quickstep - try to get to the toe if I can. Eat cake.

Forehead>Desk

Forehead>Desk

Forehead>Desk

Forehead>Desk

Forehead>Desk

Forehead>Bloody Desk See the blood? SEE it???

It took all afternoon, but I ended up with an inch and a half of beautiful, soft, dusky pink, evenly neat ribbing.

I did the increase.

I did the knit row.

I put in the stitch markers (improvised from lengths of differently coloured yarns)

I knitted the first row of lace pattern

and knitted another row - ooh, it was looking lovely

I began the second row of the lace pattern and…

…it was wrong. Too many stitches. (already???)

I began to tink but found that I just couldn’t see the teensy tiny stitches. I need new glasses.

“I won’t mess,” thought I, “I’ll just rip it back to the rib, and start the lace again - but maybe not in the half light next time.” Eminently sensible, I’m sure

BUT (and there is always a but) I found the teensy tiny rib stitches just as difficult to deal with

“I won’t mess,” thought I, “I’ll just rip it out, and start again - but maybe not in the half light next time.” Eminently sensible, I’m sure (- and with a distinct sense of déjà vu)

BUT (and there is always a but) it’s cashmere lace, isn’t it? And it does NOT take to being unpicked and re-knitted.

I cast on again and have done a few rows but it looks like a dog’s breakfast now.

The yarn is too expensive to throw out the length that I unpicked. I shall have to live with it and assume that it will all come right in the wash.

One thing is for sure: no more knitting on these mittens unless I am as fresh as a daisy and the ambient light is good. And, when I do knit on them, I shall be working very slowly and very carefully.

It’s the knitting goddess again, isn’t it? She’s beating me up because I am supposed to be slipping and cabling.

Cow!

When I said  that I was “only” going to allow myself the ribbing on one of the hand warmers today, I hadn’t really stopped to consider the constraints, had I? An inch and a half of k2 p2 doesn’t sound like much until you stop to think about the challenge of knitting laceweight yarn on cocktail sticks 2mm needles.

Of course, I don’t have to do the full amount I allowed myself. Nobody is forcing me to complete the rib. I could return to the Slippery Socks - but when I confess that I all but had an orgasm casting on the gloves, well, you know… I can’t leave them alone, can I?

I love everything about this yarn: the colour, the shading, the handle, the knitted fabric. It is a feast for the senses. It gladdens my eye. It moistens my… *cough* get a grip, girl! No, really, it is gorgeous stuff. And nice mindless, relaxing knitting after all that slipping and cabling. I am certain that the break will do the Arizona Quickstep some good.

I am using Hand-dyed cashmere yarn, 2 ply, in colour “Berries” from Violet Green. £9.99 for 55 grammes. Offering 366m/400 yds, it isn’t the finest of lace weights, but will be just the job for the Alpaca Warmers and I won’t be surprised to get more than one pair from this ball. I hope that I do, because giving these away to my sister will likely break my little knitter’s heart - and buying cashmere for oneself isn’t really quite the thing, whilst perfectly OK for a gift (and hoping for leftovers!)

At the moment I don’t plan to knit the fingers, but I may change my mind when I reach the knuckles. I do wish that I had thought to add a picot edge to the cuffs. I think that would look pretty, especially if teamed with a picot edge to the cast off if I do leave the fingers out.

These have been labelled my Petra-fied Hand Warmers. The colour may be called Berries, but it looks like an old rose colour to me: Petra - the “Rose-red city, half as old as time”. I think this is my best-named project thus far

I seem to be losing enthusiasm for the Slippery Socks today. Must get back to them soon and not let them just wither on the vine.

My copy of 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders has arrived.

Not exactly stuffed with desirability but one or three useful patterns for ‘is fiver - and the only way that I could get hold of the laceweight fingerless glove pattern. Later on, I’ll tackle some of the hats and mittens and felted projects, from handspun. They’ll make good items for bazaar sales.

I shan’t stop knitting the Slippery Socks, but I am certainly going to cast on some Alpaca Warmers, except I shall be using cashmere. Pink cashmere. Dusty pink cashmere. They are going to be gorgeous. But, oh my, 2mm needles!

The Arizona Quickstep sock is approaching the middle of the foot. It’s tedious work. Hard slog. Not at all inspiring. And it gives me cramped fingers. And I still don’t think that I have enough yarn. But I’ll keep going. Ah, so many sentences starting with a conjunction. Tsk. Though I understand that the practice is acceptable these days.

Aim for today: 1 cuff of a glove and no more, reach the toe on the sock (ha, ha!), fill my current bobbin of mohair/merino.

And now I have to go strip a duckling  before I have to throw it out. Leftover lunch today. We’ll make up for it by having a substantial tea. Yesterday at spinning, J gave me some of her eggs (she produces the best eggs in the world) freshly laid by her bantams - I shall poach them and we shall have them on Marmite toast. A feast!

Linkage: http://www.oneskeinwonders.com/