Sigh.

Scott and I might be buying a house. This is very good news, yet I am a little sad. The house we are (hopefully) getting needs a lot of work, which means no yarn for a while. This is mildly devastating, as I had hoped to go nuts at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year. I even had dreams of buying a spinning wheel. Well, I guess it is a fair trade... but all this grown up compromise shit sucks sometimes. Why can't I just have everything? I guess I'll just have to keep in mind that our low mortgage payments will eventually mean lots of yarn, and there's always next year...

Loosey Goosey

I started my strip for the Obama Afghan a few days ago, and learned that apparently I am a very loose knitter. The gauge given was 18 st over 4 inches on size 8 needles, so I cast onto my size 8s and went to town. Several inches later, it was too loose. So I switched to size 7s, but it was still a smidge too loose. I ripped it all out and started again, this time knitting tightly (I would have gone down to size 6 needles, but they're otherwise occupied right now). Bingo. However, I fear that knitting a strip over 5 feet long very tightly will wreak havoc on my hands. Good thing I just bought a big bottle of aspirin!

And that laceweight merino I wanted to use? I decided to screw around with it, and try out a Pi shawl. The idea is that the circumference of a circle doubles every time the radius doubles. So you cast on the center few stitches, and increase to double that number every 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 (and so on) rows. I found that the first few rounds were super tricky. When you only have one or two stitches on each of four needles, it's very hard to see which needle is supposed to come next- I had to number my needles so I could keep them straight. I've got about an 8 inch diameter circle now, and frankly, it looks like ass. I'm just going to keep going and see what happens... chalk it up to a learning experience. When I move up to a bigger circular needle, I'll post pictures. Right now I've got to get moving on that strip!

We Have Completion!

The second sock is done.



Now I am off to knit a strip for this afghan, or at least I will be off to knit it when the yarn arrives. I had to order the Lion Brand Wool-Ease online- apparently none of the stores in my area carry any of the colors I need.

What will I knit next? I'm thinking about doing something with the navy laceweight merino I got a few weeks ago. I've been looking at shawls, but haven't really seen anything yet that blew my skirt up. We'll see.

Second Sock Syndrome...

...is a bitch.

I thought I had found a cure in telling the recipient that the second sock would probably be done this weekend, but no such luck. I think the mistake was throwing in that "probably." As in, they'll "probably" be done, unless I get lazy and practically ignore them. On Thursday (when I last communicated with said recipient) I had not quite 3 inches of ribbed cuff completed. As of right now?

3 1/4 inches of ribbed cuff, and half a heel flap. I've really got to learn to be more ballsy with my cuffs. I have a constant fear of running out of yarn, so I make the cuffs short, even when I have oodles of yarn. I have two 50g balls of this yarn, and the first sock only used about 3/4 of one ball. Now I know, and next time I will take a risk and make a longer leg. But the first sock turned out okay despite my cuff issues (it's a little big on me though).

I never did show you the alpaca I ordered, so here it is in all it's glory: two pounds of creamy alpaca from Spunky Eclectic.

Here it is up close...


I never want to stop touching it.

It's incredibly soft and dense. I'm a little afraid to spin it up, mainly because I don't want to muck it all up. For now I'm happy just to stick my hand in the bag every now and then.

Last weekend I bought this book,

The Knitter's Book of Yarn, by Clara Parkes. Honestly, I got it with the intention of using it more as a reference guide. I mean, I love yarn as much as the next knitter, but an entire book about yarn? I didn't think it would hold my interest enough to read it cover to cover. That is, until I started reading it- you never knew there was so much to know about yarn. From a fiber's staple length to the amount of twist in the plies, there is a wealth of information. Learning how and when to substitute yarns will prove invaluable. If you knit, you should read this book! By the way, the pattens are pretty awesome too.

Speaking of books, am I the only one going nutty from the anticipation of a new Yarn Harlot book? Her new book is set to be released in April, and I only hope I can keep from peeing myself at that point.

Socks!

One down, one to go... I'm knitting up a pair of socks for my step-mother-in-law, and the first one went so fast (it always does), but now the second one seems like it will never be done. Probably because I've stopped knitting on it. Admittedly, I'm still a little worn out from Christmas, and the mojo just isn't there.

There were a few fun things about this sock, though. On my other socks, I changed from ribbing to plain stockinette after the cuff. But on these, I continued the ribbing down the top of the foot. They have a better shape, and hopefully won't feel loose (as my husband's do). I also knit them on size 1 DPNs, as opposed to size 2, which makes a nice, tight weave, that I hope will wear well. The teensy needles were hideously warped after the first sock, and I can only hope they hold out for the second. I have started having nightmares where I am forced to either buy metal DPNs, or buy new bamboo needles for each pair of socks. Blech. I hate metal needles like poison. Maybe one day someone will figure out how to make a bamboo sock needle with a metal core, sort of like a pencil... excuse me while I go write Crystal Palace a letter.