Woolgathering

One repeat to go

and the excitement is tangible

the air is electric

especially since I remembered that this is NOT the Colourmart ex-mill, oiled yarn. So maybe it won’t shrink.

Two repeats to go…

Three repeats to go, three repeats to go, ee aye add-ee-o, three repeats to go.

You’d think I would be pleased and excited, wouldn’t you? Certainly the sock makes much faster progress once the stitches are separated for the foot with a straight run at the patterned half.

So. There I was. Knitting along and admiring my handiwork  and thinking what gorgeous socks they are. “They’ll be even nicer when they are washed” I thought to myself “they’ll fluff up and fill out and soften once the oil is washed out of the yarn.”

Indeed they will.

Only…

…that was the point at which I remembered that the yarn will also shrink.

I have been knitting these socks since December 1997. You’d no doubt think that, in all that time, I might have adapted the sizing of the sock at some point in order to allow for shrinkage, wouldn’t you?

Well, you’d be wrong.

However, not so very far WRONG as I have been.

Am I crying? Well, no, because all may not be lost. If the socks don’t fit ‘im at the end of this marathon, well, they may just fit me.

We may as well look on the bright side, as not.

Remind me never to embark on an all-over stitch pattern in a mansock again. Talk about tedious! It’s only the fact that they are so beautiful that keeps me going. All the same, I am considering renaming this project as “Marathon Socks”

I have my head down on them now and am sprinting for the finish line. I have 4 * 10 round repeats to do in the foot before the toe arrives. I doubt that they will be done today but I am certain that they can be finished tomorrow, especially if I leave my wheel at home and cycle to Spinning with my socks in my front basket. And won’t I be glad to see the back of them? Oh, yes, indeedy. Only then I shall have to start some very boring fingerless gloves…

M u s  t    r  e  s  i  s  t    t  h  e      l    a     c      e …….

(Buck up woman! Only four repeats left. Just the four. Count them. See? Think positive. Chip away at them one at a time. You’ll get there. No gain without pain, you know… put the blog away. Just knit.)

This week’s excess:

Butternut Scarf by Anne Hanson at Knitspot. I am knitting this from one of the colours in the mixed ends of Merino/Silk/Cashmere that I bought a while back. [Ravelry Project]

It is a very difficult colour to capture - somewhere between a deep coral and a dark rose pink, depending on the light. Glorious anyway.

And this is my absolute delight, because I actually planned the yarn for the project and everything worked out just right:

It’s just a simple scarf for ‘im indoors. My So Called Scarf, knitted on smaller needles (6mm) and over more stitches (40) - I need to have this done by 17th December. [Ravelry Project]

But this is all terrible - because… I still have to complete those socks that were due last New Year, not to mention even starting the fingerless gloves that have been specially requested. And here I am with two seductive projects on the go - one a simple knit on big needles, which feeds the need to see growth happening, the other a totally seductive colour and handle, and a hearty lace fix.

What’s a girl to do?

I just needed to pop in for a little *bounce*. I am so excited, you see, because I have done something very exciting and rewarding. You see, I have cast on a new project  - one that has been in my mind for a long time. It’s just a simple thing, but it is the first time that I have spun a yarn specifically for a project. As soon as I saw the roving I knew just what I wanted to do with it. The skeins came out as I had envisaged them. Now I am knitting the yarn up and the project looks exactly as it did in my head when I first saw the photos of the roving. As an added benefit, it feels gorgeous too.

Pictures when daylight allows.

Having undertaken to complete Mr L’s socks during Socktoberfest, I find myself plugging away at them with dogged persistence today - despite several interruptions and a migraine. My head wasn’t too bad this morning and I managed to get several little jobs done, but the pain has been cranking up since around 11am. This is making the all-over stitch pattern more than a little tedious. Despite knowing that I cannot reach my goal, I plod on - one foot after the same foot, as it were - except I am not yet at the foot. I am not yet even at the ankle. One leg pattern repeat to go and I shall start the heel flap. The best I can hope for today is perhaps to get the gusset picked up. So - I have a terrible headache. Why don’t I admit defeat and go for a nice lie down? Madness, I tell ye.

Today has been a day of pleasant surprises - three of them in all. Lots of smiles today.

This morning I got my skeins washed, and washed and blocked the Clapotis and the Spiraluscious.

This afternoon, I tried to watch the execrable Merlin on the iplayer while I knitted on the sock. Merlin is truly awful - not even the presence of Richard Wilson and That Nice Man From the Coffee Ads can save it, nor even John Hurt’s vocal talents. So why am I making an exception today? So I can perv after Julian Rhind-Tutt, of course.

Which reminds me, why is JRT not being touted for the new Who?  He’d be perfect. Though, from the betting list that I saw, there were one or two others who might be almost as good. James Nesbitt  - yes, but he’s not going to, is he? Likewise David Morrissey, though perhaps he is slightly more likely to do it than Nesbitt.

This odds list snagged from Oldbloke over on LJ - comments are mine

Patterson Joseph 4.00 Who?
David Morrisey 6.00   He’d do for me, but would he do it?
James Nesbitt 7.00    Ditto
John Simm 9.00       He can’t - he’s The Master!
Russell Tovey 11.00   Too young
Anthony Head 11.00    Too much of an Old Ham
Richard E. Grant 15.00   Nicely sinister but too old and too established
Robert Carlyle 15.00    Perv, perv, perv 
Alan Davies 17.00      Time for another humourous/quirly/eccentric Dr? I think those days are gone.
Aidan Gillen 19.00  Who?
Harry Lloyd 19.00   Who?
Jason Statham 19.00 Who?
Ben Wishaw 21.00     Who?
Julian Walsh 21.00    Who?
Nigel Harman 21.00   Who?
Bill Nighy 26.00        Don’t be silly
Stephen Fry 26.00     Don’t be ridiculous
Chiwetel Ejiofor 26.00  Who?
Paul Bettany 34.00      Mmmmm…. possibly
Marc Warren 34.00     I’d go for that
John Barrowman 34.00   Don’t be ridiculous
David Suchet 34.00      Don’t be ridiculous
Christopher Eccleston 41.00  BTDTGTTS
Joel Beckett 41.00     Who?
Dean Lennox Kelly 51.00  Who?
Christopher Villiers 67.00 Who?
Ricky Gervais 81.00        ROTFL
Vinnie Jones 101.00       Don’t be ridiculous
Hugh Grant 101.00        Don’t be ridiculous
Robbie Williams 151.00  Don’t be ridiculous

No. I tell you - Julian Rhind-Tutt. He’s your man; Dr Mac for the Doctor.

Right - back to the sock!

Two FOs so far today - the Clapotis and the Spiraluscious are both finished and ready for blocking. Edging the collar was fun - my first knit-on edge and it all went very easily. I feel ready to tackle a shawl edge now. I enjoy learning new skills - though I have to confess that it is something I would have preferred to do without a migraine.

Now all I have to do is complete the #1 Husband socks by close of play tomorrow. It’s not going to happen, is it?

I love knitting this Clapotis. Dropping stitches is almost as satisfying as popping bubblewrap.

I have 9 of 13 repeats done on the length, though will definitely add some extra repeats to get to the length that I want. If I knitted this again in the same yarn I would certainly use a smaller needle, maybe 3.25mm. As it is, the open nature of the fabric looks just fine - though reminiscent, in this colour, of chain mail. I’d just like to see it sleeker.

It would be good to knit this one day as written and make a large one in the suggested yarn. Unfortunately 4 skeins of the suggested yarn comes to £64.00 For a scarf!!!! And dry clean, to boot. But, just look at that Aslan colourway, wouldn’t a Clapotis look fine in that? Or, even better, in the Irving Park colour.

I need to find an aran weight alternative in 50% silk/50% wool. Colourmart don’t seem to do one but they do a 55% Cashmere/45% silk (currently out of stock) that I may have to keep a weather eye on.

Have I developed a Clapotis addiction? Perhaps I have. I do love the one that I already have and wear it frequently, even in the house. And, let’s face it, they are a very good quick-fix knit. Kind of the knitting equivalent of comfort food and mindless TV, with a glass of cheap plonk on the side.

I wonder if there is a support group for Clapotis addicts?

NTS: I really must tidy my desk to the extent that I can push my monitor out of the way when I want to take snapshot of my knitting.

Every so often something inexplicable comes over me and I disappear into the kitchen to spend an entire morning preparing our midday meal. Today was one of those days and my morning culminated in serving a fine example of a Goats’ Cheese and Caramelised Onion Tart. We had new potatoes and a cabbage salad with it. Very, very nice.

The weather remains pretty horrible here and worse is to come yet, with possible snow later and tomorrow. Last night we experienced the novelty of the whole of Orkney being minus power for a brief period. A whole bunch of battery powered lighting solutions have been ordered today. That should ensure that we get no more power cuts this winter

I feel very cold and miserable today and can scarcely type. I must make myself some fingerless gloves soon.

Confirmation of my job interview came this morning, together with details of the presentation required. Five to ten minutes - no Powerpoint, no OHP. That is quite some challenge! Talking for ten minutes with no prompts and nothing to point at (i.e. nothing to do with one’s hands) … EEK! Anyway, it’s on the 11th November, at 11:30. Some time to prepare, at least. Maybe insufficient to memorise a whole presentation though! I shall most likely be awful…

I did have a brief moment’s inappropriate hilarity when I paused to wonder if an 11am appt. has been made for another candidate. The idea of an interview beginning with two minutes’ silence cracked me up for some reason probably only my warped mind could fathom.

There is talk again of selling the house and downscaling once more.

The Lightsoutis version of the Clapotis scarf progresses. No progress to report on other projects, and little will exists to pick them up. Generally speaking it’s one of those days when all I want to do is crawl back under the duvet.

It’s Craft Club night tonight. I really don’t feel as though I have sufficient energy to get myself ready to go out. Maybe I’m coming down with a virus. Spinning is here on Wednesday so I had better perk myself up by then. I have to make chocolate brownies tomorrow in readiness. I should prepare something gluten-free too. Mr L has a 2 hour meeting on Wednesday morning so I shall be needing to manage all the dogs and to usher ladies and their wheels in and out of the house in relative quietness…

…and then the week will be mostly over once again!