Brrrrr
Turns out that bit about 'when the snow lets up' was overly optimistic. As far as I can tell the snow is never letting up. It will continue forever. Sled dogs and igloos are starting to sound eminently practical. I had grand plans for taking pictures of the blue mitts (adumbrate...I'm thinking they will be called adumbrate). Alas, taking pictures of your own hands involves a substantial amount of fiddling around with the tripod, swearing, knocking the camera over, swearing, sitting still while the timer runs down, swearing, and just generally having a bad go of it. I can barely [...]
Improvise
I used to think sock blockers were totally unnecessary, not much more than props really, something to make it look like you know what you're doing. They don't make your socks any warmer or softer or sturdier. Some people swear they help socks dry a bit faster. However, I try to wash at least a dozen pairs at once, and I'm not likely to buy a dozen pairs of blockers, so they're not much help in that regard either. It wasn't until I started taking pictures of socks that I realized what they're for. They're for persuading your stitches to [...]
Testing
If anyone wants to help me out by testing the blue mitts, now's the time. There is a thread over on Ravelry where you can volunteer. I'm deciding on testers Saturday night, and sending the pattern out on Sunday. You'd need less than 150 yards of sportweight yarn, and you'd need to be able to finish one mitt in a week (one mitt takes me about 3 hours).
Remember These?
The cute sweet simple little mitts that took all of a few hours to knit up? From way back in December? Yeah, well, neither did I. Until yesterday that is, when I realized my hands were cold, recalled I was a knitter and that knitters have ways of dealing with this condition that do not involve turning up the heat, went looking for some of my old fingerless mitts, and stumbled across them. What I found was most of a ball of yarn skewered by a small handful of needles, one completed and blocked mitt, and one folded scrap [...]
Hubris
Things seemed to be going well. Really they did. It was a new (to me at least) way to make a gusset and it seemed to be going off without a hitch. I finished the first Greenhorn and grafted the toes. It was the prettiest and least fussy graft ever. I should have known something was up. I soaked it, blocked it, and hung it to dry. I had tried it on several times during its construction, and had no reason to think anything was wrong. But there was. It pulled, just a little bit, right across the point where [...]
Astonishing Restraint
There was yarn in Pittsburgh. Rather a lot of yarn. If you consider my purchases in light of the total amount of yarn available, I showed admirable restraint. Quite impressive really. I bought only two little skeins. One a lovely turquoise number from Decadent Fibers and another a dark purplish fancy from Creatively Dyed Yarn. Both of them even have a bit of nylon and so stand a good chance of lasting for more than a season. I also picked up a second set of the Kollage square needles (one of the first set has suffered an unauthorized relocation via [...]
We’re Off to See the Wizard…
...the wonderful wizard of yarn. We're headed out in just a moment go to a concert in Pittsburgh. On the way (it really is more or less on the way, not that 45 minutes in the wrong direction sort of 'on the way' I've been known to employ before) we'll swing by the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. I'm not taking any classes, but I have a feeling I might find a tiny bit of yarn I can't live without. Then tomorrow it's used bookstores (Pittsburgh has some good ones) and a pilgrimage to Ikea for more bookcases and to [...]
It Works
So I'm down past the heel/gusset/flap/bendy bit of the sock, and it totally worked. It fits. I'm not quite sure if I'm in love with it. I need to work a few more rounds and try it on before I can be sure. I like that it let me avoid the dramatic flashing this yarn seemed likely to do. I love that it let me work back and forth all the way from the heel turn to the end of the gusset (wooly nylon held along, worked perfectly). The only thing I'm not crazy about is the expanse of purls. [...]
Graupel
As promised - Graupel. Just in time for your Olympic knitting pleasure! I'm sure it's terribly conceited of me to say it, but I'm awfully pleased with these. I know, I like them all (I'm hardly going to put out a pattern I don't like, now am I?), but these are really rather special. They start out with a lovely crisp ribbing. It's a ridiculously simple 4 row repeat that you'll have memorized in no time at all. Once you're done with that, you make a nice neat heel flap with a tiny little decoration down each side to keep [...]
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