For the new Pins & Lace Shawl, I got this:
Photographed on my knees in the car with my phone, because I was that excited. This is Miss Babs Yet (65 wool 35 silk) in colorway Bog Berry. It's a slightly darker, more saturated color than what shows in the photo. I also got a skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co. Maisonette in colorway Hampden for the last Pins & Lace installment, which I didn't do when it came out because I was already buried in WIPs.
This pattern, Lisianthus, is now available to the public and people are jumping right into it on the Romi Rav group, which is making it a real temptation for me to cast this on right now! I'm determined to finish the new shawl first, though. I have observed that Romi tends to release something simple (Spanish Moss) followed by something complicated (Lisianthus), and the new shawl is no exception, being simple yet beautiful, easy to knit and yet - I've already messed up.
Last night I came home angry (first bad sign) and tired (second bad sign) and sat down to work on it (all signs indicate this was a bad idea). I finished the chart I was on and went to the next one, absolutely failing to notice that the repeat markers had moved and where I was previously simply knitting across the row, the YO's that had previously happened on the outer edges only needed to be distributed across the shawl according to the pattern directions. I was at least five rows into the chart before I figured this out, if not more. The discovery was not pretty. There was swearing, there was grumbling, I said things to myself that were not nice. Then I ripped. Except, I didn't really want to rip and have to get all those tight little stitches (that's me, supatight knitta) back on the needle, so I tinked. I tinked more than one row at a time. I've heard people talk about doing this but I've never attempted it before and needless to say, my first attempt was clumsy at best. It WORKED...sort of. But I'm not sure it was all that much faster than individually tinking. Regardless, I managed to undo everything I did last night, so that we can forget it ever happened and tonight I can start over. If only all problems in life were so easily solved!!
Here's another picture of the two yarns together that has better color.
And, lest I get a scolding from a certain someone who I know reads this blog, I also finished the first Serab sock. I plan to start the other one...um...this weekend. Yes. For sure. It's vaguely astonishing to me how much faster patterned socks seem to go than plain socks. I can only guess it's because I get the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing a chart, and also the sense of having a finite beginning and end. It's much easier to know exactly how many rows you have to knit than it is to have to knit to a certain measurement, where you're constantly stopping and measuring, and every time you measure you get a different result, and you have to fight yourself to keep from stopping too soon just so that you can move on to the next part. Or is that just me?
I actually enlisted CodeNinja to help me with the measuring of the foot of this sock. There is a chart pattern that goes down the foot, and then you simply repeat the last line of the pattern until the foot is long enough and you do the toe. See aforementioned issues with measuring. I didn't want my poor recipient to end up with a short sock because I was tired of knitting, so I made CodeNinja measure for me, figuring he was objective. Then I argued with him that he was doing it wrong and the sock had to be longer than that. "Look at it! It's huge! You can't be right, there is no way the sock needs to be this big." My smaller than average feet may have skewed my viewpoint on this matter further. If I had been knitting the sock for me, I would have done the toe immediately after the chart pattern finished. Anyway, we eventually agreed that the sock was long enough and I did the toe. I dearly hope it is not too long. When I measured the finished foot, it was a little longer than my book measurements said it should be. Still, a sock that is too long is much easier to fix than a sock that is too short. I vowed, as I do every time, to never ever knit a sock again if I can't force the recipient to sit by me when I get close to the end so that I can make them try it on a dozen times to be sure it fits. I expect this vow to be as effective this time as it has been in the past.
I have one other project on my list of 'soon to do' and that is to make a pair of thrummed mittens. Thrummed mittens in summer! That's crazy! Yes, it is, but so are my friends, who are going to be missionaries in Mongolia. Since I have always wanted to knit thrummed mittens (and because she is a dear friend and there is not much else I can do to help) I offered to make her some. Besides, she is the only person I know who will ever be anywhere cold enough to warrant thrummed mittens.
We looked at a bunch of different colors and kits and things and ultimately settled on black mittens with yellow or red thrums. I picked up some Cascade EcoWool at Fibre Space and pulled some wine red fiber from my spinning stash, and set the whole lot aside for a time when it's not too unbearable to knit mittens. I think I can do it once this heat wave passes, but I just couldn't handle it with the temps the way they were this weekend. And, you know. I had a shawl to knit. I'm thinking of also knitting her some Maia mitts or something to wear under the thrummed mittens, to keep her hands warm when she needs to take them off to do something. I can't imagine there is much you can accomplish while wearing mittens like that. If nothing else, she can wear them around the house or something. Maybe I'll knit a hat too. And a scarf. Lots of warm wooly love while she does the Lord's work. I should have bought another skein of ecowool. I wonder if I could do an Esplanade with worsted weight wool, or if that would be unbearably bulky? I'd have to improvise a bit on number of cast on stitches and the decreases...maybe I'll just stick to my old fallback, Kim's Hats. I suppose I could thrum a hat but that might be weird. Static nightmare with one's hair, I'd imagine. I should have bought more EcoWool.
I am quite taken by my Chiaogoo Red Lace needles, I have to say. And from the way they were flying off the shelves at Fibre Space, I'm not the only one. They are as sharp as the Knit Picks needles and much, much sturdier. The only thing I would change is that I wish the surface were slicker. It has sort of a velvety finish, and while it hasn't really impeded me, I'd be happier with something smooth. I've heard knitters say that they felt like the yarn was scraping along the needle and they couldn't stand the gut reaction they had to that sensation. I totally understand what they mean, but I'm glad I can put up with it. So far. I need to knit something in 100% silk to really test it out. Silk has a reputation for being a slippery fiber but I've actually found it quite difficult to move along the needle - perhaps because it IS so slippery, the stitches slide over one another and get all bunched up. Or maybe it is my supertight knitting style. No telling, really.
I tried using two Chiaogoos for the Serab sock, and I had mixed feelings about it. Knitting at such a tight gauge (especially because I was knitting with Bugga which is heavier than your average sock yarn), the lack of slickness is especially noticeable, and the braided steel cables are a little stiffer than the KP cables, so the needle that wasn't in use tended to stick out dangerously. I'm hoping they will soften up a little with use and dangle a bit more. In the meantime I've taken to sticking the ends of the needle not in use into the sock so I don't take somebody's eye out with them. On the plus side, the sticking out keeps the metal tips from clanking together, which always annoyed me.
Hoping to do lots of knitting this weekend, so I will have more than yarn to show you next week - although we do all like looking at yarn, don't we?
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