I seem to have been suffering with a woolly version of writer's block lately. (As well as traditional writer's block I guess, going by the lack of activity both here and on my sprog blog!) Theoretically, I have (or had) a whole heap of projects on the go. Theoretically, while time is very short, I do get to knit in front of the telly for about half an hour every evening. But as the economist Keynes is supposed to have said - "In theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is."

It seems that I am not very productive when I only have small chunks of time to be productive in. This is a problem for work as well as knitting, and having a small child in my life, it's a problem I'd better get to grips with pretty sharpish. Claudia is a delightful creature and pretty good at entertaing herself - but if I look like I'm doing anything interesting, naturally she wants to get involved. "Interesting" includes anything at my computer (mouse and keyboard both fascinating, apparently), knitting (yarn! can't fault her there), packing orders (she's very helpful) or cooking/baking (the second I set foot in the kitchen, she runs over clutching the sling so that she can watch, and claim nibbles as we go). So, I don't get a whole lot done while she's awake. And she's not a great napper.

Continue reading "Stalled" »

Posted by Robynn at 10:35 PM | Permalink | 1 cups of tea on the table | TrackBacks (0)

Maybe it's because I've just received another big shipment of Vinni's gorgeous yarns (so if you're planning a sweater project, now's the time to stock up), but the latest Interweave Crochet seems to be jam packed with designs that would be *fabulous* in her yummy bamboos and cottons. Four designs that I'd actually love to make - I think that makes it my favourite IC issue yet! Here's what I'm dreaming of...

The Summer Petals cardigan is pretty, but in drapey, beautiful Serina it would have added fluidity. I picture it with a contrast trim to add definition, and maybe fastened with Gry clasps. Perhaps two shades of grey? Elegant!

I love the effect of the Aragon tunic - though to suit my figure I'd need to make some adjustments; widen the hip, and add some depth over the bust, to ensure that the strap sits below and not on top of my widest part! In Bambi, for sure; maybe in coral, with grey contrast.

The Rainbow rolls look fun. Probably a good way to use up scraps of Nikkim after I make all the zingy dishcloths and washcloths I'm planning.

And I can't quite believe I'm saying this, but I'm rather taken with the Pretty Pleats skirt. I've always been very firmly against knit or crocheted skirts and dresses; they just seem deeply unflattering. But this is a fantastic cut (as it were) and the fabric should hold its shape much better than any knit skirt. Again, using Serina would make it swingy and drapey, plus the sheen of it would make a strong statement. Colours! Sea green and turquoise green, with crimson trim? What do you think?

Ah well... that's the fantasy. In reality, I am plodding along with a huge queue of projects and can't see myself casting on anything new soon. But as it happens, one of those projects is a Babette blanket in - yup - Serina. (You might think I'm obsessed with this yarn. You might be right.)

Just don't ask me why my granny squares always turn out like manta rays, rather than squares. If I knew that...

Posted by Robynn at 09:32 PM | Permalink

Like Douglas Adams, I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. Which may explain why I've been cutting it just a leetle bit close on two very important projects of late.

First there was The Bridal Shrug. I promised my dear friend Pip I would ensure she had warm shoulders for her wedding. I promised this back in, oh, September or so? Heaps of time, there was. And a shrug is only little. And I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to achieve. I was sure I could get it to her by - at the latest - beginning of Feb; allowing plenty of time for fitting and if necessary, totally reworking it by the big day itself, 28 February. Plus of course we had to be sure I wasn't going to get foiled by possibly early arrival of the bebeh. All these factors were much on my mind and I was totally planning for them. Totally.

Yet somehow, I almost failed to deliver. I blame pregnancy for killing my mojo; but maybe I'm just a bit crap. Anyway, in the middle of last week I was still knitting away. (I had at least managed to fit it on Pip halfway through, so I was pretty sure the size was working out.) On Thursday I stayed up till the wee hours tucking in ends etc. So Friday could be given over to blocking - easy, right? Shouldn't take too long for a simple shrug to dry... right? Especially when left in our lovely warm upstairs room, where laundry always (always) dries in a flash.

Yet on Saturday morning, the damn thing was still very, very damp. And we had to be on the road by around 9am, delivering the shrug to the bride by 12pm. Desperate times, I thought. Let me chuck this in the dryer, just on cool cycle, just for a short time.

Insert shrug. Set dryer to "delicates". Hm, the delicate cycle doesn't seem to allow me to choose a shorter drying time than 2 hours, but never mind; I'll just pull it out after 20 minutes and see how we're doing.

Wait 20 minutes. Go to dryer. Try to stop cycle.
It won't stop.
Try to open door.
It won't open.
Damn safety device.
Switch off dryer. Try to open door.
Still won't open.
Think: there must be a way to tell the dryer I'm done. Switch it on again. Press buttons. Check manual. Press more buttons.
Oh. Shit.
Not only am I still failing to stop the cycle, or reduce the time remaining; since being resuscitated, the machine seems to have forgotten the "delicate" instruction.
So my very special, urgently needed, rather expensive cashmere/silk shrug is going to be stuck in the tumble dryer for 2 hours... on full heat.
Manage not to cry. (Pretty good for a pregnant lady, huh?) Wait for Armin to come back from collecting the car we're borrowing for the weekend.

"Oh honey," I say when he walks in. "Are you in the mood for working miracles?"
(I have absolute faith in his miraculous powers. Absolute faith based on 12 years of experience.)
"No," he says. But I pay his reluctance no heed. Explain the situation. He looks at the manual, pokes a few buttons.
"I think I've stopped the machine!" he says happily.
"Yes, but can you open the door?"
"Oh..." (tries) "...no."
Hm.
"Just wait a few minutes. Then try the door."
It works! I feel silly. Hurrah, I have a shrug! With no apparent dryer damage! Hurrah!

It's still wet though.
We get in the car and drive. Try hanging the shrug up inside the car and opening a window... but this is not very convincing, and also, really not very pleasant for us.

Are you feeling the tension? Are you absolutely on knitterly tenterhooks? WAS THE SHRUG DRY IN TIME FOR THE WEDDING? How? When? Who? What? Again, how?

Breathe, my dears. Breathe. All was well. Armin suggested laying it flat on the dashboard, over the air vents, and blowing a little warm air through it. Worked like a charm, and very fast. The shrug was done, was pretty, fitted, and - glory be - was dry.

So now I'm moving on to deadline number 2; but this one is moveable, for extra credit. Apparently I'm supposed to be having a baby soon. (There's talk of "Thursday".) Her jacket, the one thing her loving and knitterly mother has bothered to cast on, isn't even nearly finished. What do you think? Will I make it? Is it true what the Harlot says - babies don't come till their knitting is done? And if so, does she know that this jacket is the right knitting to be waiting for, or will she be confused by the presence in the house of a gorgeous blanket knitted just for her?

Hm.

Posted by Robynn at 06:22 PM | Permalink | 2 cups of tea on the table

Wow, what happened there? "See you Monday," I said. And that was... some time ago. Hm. Well, you see, I was... abducted by aliens. Yes. That was it. So I couldn't possibly blog, on account of the weird experiments they were doing on me. And the lack of wifi out there in space.

Luckily I'm back now, and I can report that aliens have yarn! Yes! They may be strange and sinister creatures with an unaccountable fondness for beaming up hapless humans and practising Science on them, but they are not so cruel as to deny one life's necessities. I was able to lay my hands on some Silk Garden Chunky, and lo, it was good.

Yes, another Noro scarf. (Two, in fact.) I am a sheep! (Don't tell the aliens. That could knock their research data all over the place, and we don't want them coming back for more any sooner than necessary.) But in my defence, (a) Dad really wants something brightly coloured to see him through the grey British winter, and (b) look! I did stripes on the bias! That makes it, like, totally different. Totally. (The red/brown one is just plain straight ahead, but then it's for a more conservative guy.) I have to admit though, this Noro striping action is highly addictive. I hear there's a new Noro sock yarn on the way, softer than Kureyon (possibly Silk Garden Sock?). I do have my doubts about Noro on my feet, but I don't think I'll be able to resist a pair of stripy knee-highs.

I also happened to have my knitting bag with me at the time of abduction, so I was able to finish Alhambra. All done, rather pretty, and promised to Eszter the Needle Elf, who likes the yellow flashes.

Well, when I say "all done"... see, the aliens had Noro, and knitting needles, but no darning needles. Apparently on their planet, ends hanging out are all the rage. And no blocking boards, or pins, or anything. So Alhambra is only mostly finished. Same for one of the stripy scarves above. (The other is only half done, the aliens ran out of yarn. More's on the way. Hurry, postie!)

But soon, I will get over my fear of finishing abduction-induced traumas and lack of equipment, and will have some actual finished gifts to add to the rather small tally of this year's knitting. Hurrah! You want a sneak preview of one of the big things I plan to finish early in 2009?

Can you see what it is yet?
No?
Just as well.

PS. With the aliens and all, I hadn't seen what was happening in my comments box till today. Wiped out a lot of spam - a LOT - and found that Jacqueline wants to know how things are with the pregnancy. Hi, Jacqueline! Everything's going well. I'm just past 6 months, getting beeeeg, and baby is very wriggly. If anybody wants regular pregnancy updates, you might want to check in at our sprog blog, springonmars.wordpress.com. I will keep you all informed of the main events here, but if you really want to know more! more! more! - well, you'll find it elsewhere.

Posted by Robynn at 09:37 PM | Permalink | 4 cups of tea on the table

You may remember I talked, ages ago, about the experience of eating wholesome food and how it sometimes just seems to go on a bit longer than you'd like? And how that was like knitting a lace shrug? "Dear god, am I still knitting this?"

Well, it's also like knitting a lace scarf.

This lace scarf, to be precise.

It's Anne Hanson's Alhambra, in Suri Blue. It's a lovely, simple, graceful pattern. The yarn is gorgeous. The colours are fabulous. (Though I'm not entirely sure they all know the value of teamwork. Those yellow flashes are maybe a bit distracting. Hm. The jury's out.) I'm kind of sick of it, though.

I had the same problem with the Lace Ribbon scarf, although there was a lot less of that. I think I'm just not cut out for knitting scarves (or rectangular-y shrugs, for that matter). I can only be entertained by the stitch pattern for so long, and then, come on! Don't you have some shaping for me? Can't we mix it up a bit? Is this really going to be just miles and miles of the same old stitchery? Oh dear.

Probably a concern, then, that I've promised Armin not one, but TWO scarves. And would quite like some more myself. They're so darn useful, scarves. Warm! Pretty! Um, warm!

Really boring though.

So you might think that by way of contrast, if nothing else, I'd be reaching in great delight for my other WIP, the Baby Surprise Jacket.

I mean it's small, intriguingly shaped... if not instant gratification, it's surely pretty damn quick gratification, right? And the yarn is lovely. (Trust me on this. Don't trust my cameraphone. Trust me. Gorgeous Indigo Moon sock yarn in Wasabi and Autumn Harvest.) There's nothing not to like. And I don't dislike it. But... it's just not lace, you know?

I really am in a lace frame of mind. And I'm so loving the Suri Blue. It's beautiful, and warm, and light, and totally lovely. And I'm using Ed Jenkins needles, oh my. I tell you, slipping those smooooth points through laceweight alpaca is really almost salaciously delicious. It's such a pleasure.

And yet I'm bored.

Is this also just a pregnancy thing, I wonder? I lost all interest in the projects I had on the go before the dread first trimester blahs - two pairs of perfectly innocent, well-intentioned socks, not to mention a nearly-done sweater, all got tossed aside ruthlessly. Just couldn't be bothered, as much as I did try. (And this is very not like me. My old monogamous habits die hard; I may have given in to promiscuous knitting, but I finish what I start, dammit.)

Anyway, maybe I just have a short attention span. Maybe I need to focus on tiny little pretty things. Lace baby jackets, for instance. Shouldn't that be getting all my hormones pumping right now?

Eh.

I want lace for ME.

Pregnant, but apparently... still selfish.

Posted by Robynn at 03:03 PM | Permalink | 5 cups of tea on the table

The first things I ever knit were Barbie clothes. Having mastered those, somehow I wasn't at all intimidated by the thought of upscaling A Lot to make a jersey for myself. So almost the first things I ever knit were adult-sized sweaters (this was around age 14 I think; there was a bit of a break between Barbie and really diving into knitting, but not that much; I took a long time to give up on Barbie). I totally skipped the knit accessories stage; I think the first accessories I ever made were done in the past year or so. So this lace ribbon scarf is - to the best of my recollection - only the third scarf I've ever made. Wait, the fourth, if you include the mobius. (I gotta make me another mobius. Too much fun! I want a Prickle.*)

Anyway, so having gone about it all a bit backwards and learnt to knit scarves so very long after doing big complicated jerseys, you know what I find?

Scarves are BORING.

Of course, there's a place in the world for boring knitting. Really there is. But wow, this thing is starting to drag. It's a two-skein scarf and having just recently joined the second ball, I found myself pretty oppressed at the thought of just how much longer I have to keep going, without any funky shaping or plot twists to hold my attention.

So I thought maybe I'd chuck in some beads to make things a bit more interesting. What do you think? Will these do?

____
* Have you noticed that we have a smattering of patterns for sale, now? Lovely Orata offered them to me, and I'm really excited because I think they go so well with some of our yarns. I'm hoping to bring you more patterns and kits in due course.

Posted by Robynn at 04:44 PM | Permalink | 6 cups of tea on the table

...don't bring me down at all. In fact, they're rather wonderful. A quiet, wet day, with rain against the window and coffee in the pot... bliss. Don't you think? Especially if you have knitting in your hand.

I don't, as it happens, but maybe I'll get to settle down on the couch later and spend some quality time with the Gilmore Girls. First, a little work. You know how I said I was devoting two weeks to catching up on stuff? How do you think that went? Yeah, almost that well. Not that I haven't made progress; I have. I just have to acknowledge that, like housework, there really isn't ever a point at which things are Done. Oh well. Never mind all that - let me show you something. Did you know I knit? It's true! Look, proof:

Finished at last; and with the weather still so changeable, I might yet get to wear them out before September. Hurrah!
Pattern: Susan Gutperl's Lacy Cables Knee Socks
Yarn: Indigo Moon sock yarn in Blue Spruce. This was a Christmas gift from the lovely Gabrielle and inspired me to start stocking Indigo Moon. (As it happens, this colour is from the Vancouver Series (chemical dyes) and I chose to stock her natural dyed yarns, but the Nature's Harvest would work very well in this pattern too.)
Mods: I lengthened and expanded the calf shaping to accommodate my big chunky calf muscles (I'd like to blame all that running, but in fact I was just born chunky) - an extra 3 pattern repeats vertically, plus a few extra purl stitches to maintain the usual 2st column between repeats. I also made a shallow toe, which I've decided is totally the way to go (who has such long and pointy toes as the standard sock calls for? Please!), but then this pattern's attitude to toes and heels is pretty much "eh, you know this part", so I'm not sure this counts as a mod.

I've completed a couple of other things too, recently. I made Armin a long-promised washcloth.

The browny yarn is Colinette Banyan - a cotton/viscose blend, very soft and lovely. I think it's made a great washcloth, especially in combination with the pure cotton (a hard-to-find but fabulous South African brand called Vinni's Colours). I can't quite decide whether a pure Banyan washcloth would be too soft, or utterly lovely. Someone find out for me, would you?

And I finished something that I'm rather proud of - but you'll have to wait a while to see it. Let me show you instead what I'm working on right now. There's the gorgeous Lace Ribbon Scarf, using Handmaiden's Swiss Mountain Silk Cashmere; everything about this project is a treat.

There's socks for Armin in a good, manly brown with a good, manly simple stitch pattern. Looking pretty good. (Old Maiden Aunt merino sock yarn in Black Coffee; Primavera pattern.)

There's something incubating in Indigo Moon's gorgeous wild silk - I played with this for a while, trying a few things, waiting to see what the yarn wanted to be. I think it has finally spoken. And if I'm right, this is the last you'll see of it for a while.

Same applies to this. But this one I'm pretty sure of. Interestingly, both of these New Sekrit Projekts involve my learning the same new-to-me technique (one of them with an Added Twist). Hurrah for new techniques and all, but if I decide I really hate it, that'll be two projects screwed up instead of just one. Sucker for punishment, moi?

Arguably, I shouldn't even bother showing you these secrets-in-progress. But I want to for two reasons. One, to try to convince you that I *am* a real knitter, I *do* have things on the go, even when I don't show them to you for ages. It's not all just an elaborate con to sell yarn, honest.

Two, as illustration of an idea I have. But I think I'll have to germinate that properly and share it with you tomorrow.

Posted by Robynn at 10:00 AM | Permalink | 6 cups of tea on the table

This afternoon was a special occasion: the first Purlescence Open House. I opened my doors for a few eager knitters to come and hang out, drink tea, knit together, and oh yes... maybe do a little shopping.

We had a great time. Mel brought some amazing brownies. I meant to take photos, but was too busy having fun... sorry! Anyway, all was going well; there was a little civilised yarn fondling, a little sharing of knitting tips and showing off of FOs, a lot of cookie eating (or was that just me?). Good times.

And then I suggested that maybe people wanted to take a peek at the stockroom.

Wow.

Apparently a handful of really excited knitters seems like a lot more than a handful; Armin flatly refused to believe there weren't at least double the actual number of us running upstairs and squealing. Drawers were pulled out. People were squatting on the floor rifling through the goods, oohing and aahing at what they discovered. (Earlier, Stephanie - a new Ravelry friend - had asked excitedly: "Are you going to stock rosewood needles?" Oh, my dear, what you don't know...) There was squeezing, and stroking, and dithering, and a fair amount of cooing and sighing. And then there was begging. "Will you do this again, Robynn?" "Can we come back?" "Please!" "I'll make more brownies!"

Brownies? Oh all right then.

I'm thinking of making it a monthly event. The next one should be on Saturday 23 May. If you want to join the mailing list, please leave a comment. I would really love to meet more of you!

Posted by Robynn at 06:26 PM | Permalink | 6 cups of tea on the table

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to take Sundays off. Which, honestly, is more of a challenge than it sounds. Working from home tends to fuzz the boundaries a bit; I figured I could use some designated me time (knitting! woo!), and with that to look forward to, maybe it would be easier to knuckle down when appropriate too.

I'm pleased to report that on this, the first Sunday of the year, I have in fact done no work whatsoever. Go me! (Although to achieve this, I had to work till 2am last night, breaking another resolution. Whatev. I'll take it.)

Instead of working, I have of course been knitting (some of it while watching Bugsy Malone), but I also decided to play with the camera a little to see what would happen.

Apparently I can occasionally take a pretty picture. Who knew?
(That's Camelspin, by the way. Five days to go...)

Harvey wasn't all that impressed with my newfound skillz. But maybe he's just feeling a little overexposed.

(Modelling Armin's Wollmeise socks. Making progress on those too.)

Posted by Robynn at 03:13 PM | Permalink | 2 cups of tea on the table

At the start of 2007, I had certain knitty goals. I wanted to learn to make socks. I wanted to knit from a pattern or two, and see what I could learn from that. I wanted to make a moebius. I wanted to master circular needles and DPNs. Mostly, I just wanted, come December, to have more knitting to show for my 12 months than I have had in recent history.

I think I've done remarkably well. Indulge me while I review my year's knitting. (Or, you know, don't. You could always wander over to the sale instead...)

Continue reading "The year in knitting" »

Posted by Robynn at 04:46 PM | Permalink | 3 cups of tea on the table

Remember I said once that I'm a monogamous knitter? And then I discovered the joys of promiscuity? I'm starting to wonder if I should maybe rein it back a bit. I mean, yes to socks on the train, yes to the Big Jersey Project by the couch, but after that it gets a bit... messy. There's the scarf in the kitchen (you know, for while the pasta's boiling), and the spare socks that decorate my already messy desk but are really just a back-up commuter project, and that's fine and all, but now I'm starting to have lustful thoughts about Other Knitting. Is that wrong?

These are what I cast on to follow my lovely Pompous spiral socks.

Cinders Secret Stockings. The yarn is gorgeous, you know how pretty the pattern is, and on top of all that I have extra motivation to work on these because when I'm done, I'll be able to add my mods (for size large) to the pattern. Which would be great. There's nothing not to like. Only...

This may look like just a ball of yarn to you, but to me, it's a pair of much needed handwarmers. In a fantastically springtime colour, to remind me that the sun will return. This, my friends, is what a queue jump looks like.

And this little upstart is a Cheshire Cat Stole.

Can't you just see it? There is no reason to cast this on now. None at all. Other than that it'll be so gorgeous, and the fiery colours are just what I need in the middle of winter, and I've been dying to do some lace for the longest time... but other than that, no reason.

So far I'm managing to keep this under control by simply not winding it. Can't knit it from the skein, can I? (Well... I could, and I have been known to do so... but with cats? No.) Wish me strength.

Posted by Robynn at 11:58 AM | Permalink | 3 cups of tea on the table

Never mind all that shop talk. Let me show you some knitting.

For a few weeks I've been working on Ysolda's gorgeous Snow White. I'm using teal Alchemy wool/silk, and it's looking fantastic. Well, the yarn is, I can't tell about the shaping yet. I'm just a leetle bit worried about the length/tightness... I decided to add 10cm on general principles, because shorter tops are not flattering on me, and also, me wide. Me busty. This means I tend to lose a bit of length in a lot of styles. (Both because the fabric gets pulled out a bit more, and because my ample bosom steals vertical as well as horizontal inches.) But, here's the flaw: Ysolda's pattern, while wonderfully detailed in many respects, has one strange omission: no length measurement that I can find. Not on the schematic, not in the text. So I may have underestimated; and now I'm worrying about the advisability of having fairly snug ribbing right over my least favourite body part - the belly.

(In fact, the further I get with this, the less advisable I think it is. I'm not at my slimmest - that's an understatement. And while this style would probably work on me when I am at my slimmest, right now, there's a bit too much of me to be wearing something so ... figure-hugging. But, bloody minded as ever, I'm chugging along. And will no doubt end up with something that will go straight into the "when I've lost a couple of stone" pile at the back of the cupboard. It's so pretty though!

(Aside: this being in the round, and involving some elegantly complex shaping, I had to break the habit of a lifetime and use stitch markers. Which has yielded an interesting discovery. The little fishy stitch markers from Heidi Petach? Are *wonderful*. I didn't especially like them in the bag, but on the needle they seriously come to life, swimming through the air most delightfully. Plus, it probably helps that their turquoise beads match my yarn!)

Posted by Robynn at 01:15 PM | Permalink | 2 cups of tea on the table

I still don't have any pictures.

There, thought I might as well get that out of the way first. All the good pictures (knitting and holiday) are on Armin's computer, and he's been pretty busy. (Make that "sick, and then busy".) Now that he's mostly better, and almost past his personal scary deadline, I'll start nagging him to pass them on.

Also to pose, because his socks have finally been finished. There, Gabrielle, you can relax now. He gets warm feet after all. And tonight I'll order the yarn for his second pair - when the Wollmeise opens her brand new shop. (I must admit I'm going to miss those bouncing balls from her old site, but go Wollmeise!) So he'll get even warmer tootsies soon enough. Oh, and he likes them. Yay! He also likes very much the test washcloth I made in Cape Town - on which subject, more another day. With pictures.

So that's part of the happiness - the socks of doom are done, and my beloved approves of his knitting. But more than that, I am basking in a very unaccustomed sense of general knitty productivity. Consider my list of FOs for September (many of which will get pictures and explanations, um, really soon now I promise):

Cara's wedding shrug
My bridesmaid bolero (which falls rather on the ugh side, but it did the job)
Cara's tiara
My first washcloth
Socks of doom.

Not bad, eh? And of course Jess was done just before September started. Go me!

I admit it's not a very impressive list, compared with some. Even compared with my own rate of progress, back when I was a slack-ass student and could churn out a (self-designed) sweater a month. They're all titchy little things. But compared with last year, when I really felt like I was knitting Nothing At All but very slowly, it's practically warp speed.

So right now, I get to plan my next projects. This queue bears very little resemblance to my Ravelry queue (but is much more accurate), and if you want more details on any of them, well, you'll just have to wait now won't you dear?

Finish my lovely moebius
Get beyond the cast-on with my lovely Pompous socks
Cashmere scarf
Mmmm... Clapotis?
Mystery jacket
Snow White
Armin's second socks
Armin's washcloth

Heavens, how long will it take me to make progress with all that! Maybe it'll help if I channel the gorgeous, inspiring, scenic calm of my Cape Town holiday.

See... that's why it's worth waiting for the good pictures.
The good pictures (Armin's pictures) have whales in them. The bad pictures (mine) only have Armin in the process of taking good pictures.
I don't think we have any pictures that have knitting and whales, though. I'm sorry.

Posted by Robynn at 04:57 PM | Permalink | 8 cups of tea on the table

O'course the good thing about these cool, grey, drizzly days is that my cats get ever so affectionate. And who am I to complain about fluffy company... everywhere I go... every single step... draped over my wrists as I type... well, I admit, it's not very conducive to productivity. But damn, they cute.

Talking of cute: How adorable is this dancing robot? Lil guy's got rhythm.

Ahem. Back to the topic (such as it is). Yes, so, it's distinctly autumnal all of a sardine. And my pleasure in this fact makes me realise: I have finally adjusted to the English climate. (Hey, only five years... that's not bad, right?) After bitching and whining every single summer that it's just not enough, it's not reliable enough, it's not nearly long enough... well, this summer was about the most unreliable and certainly short-lived that I've yet experienced, and you know? The lovely, sunny days we had recently just confused me. I didn't quite know how to dress or what to do. Now it's all damp and miserable again, I feel strangely relieved. Boots! Scarves! I can handle this.

And of course knitting. I am thinking about warm woolly stitches almost every minute of the day... so about 10 minutes more than usual, then. Really, I'm obsessed. And newly driven to actually Get Stuff Done. Which means being more productive with my work time, so that I can allow myself to take some knitting time. That's a win-win idea.

There's an interesting discussion on Ravelry about how to knit faster. It's wandered from the usual continental/English debate* on to project fidelity (or lack thereof). It's interesting to me that now I've learned the joys of having a project in every room (well, nearly), all in different stages of completion and of different levels of complexity, I actually seem to be making better progress than when I was focused on just one thing - which you might have thought would make for faster completion. But of course there's a great advantage to having something ready to just pick up at any convenient moment, even if your big sweater/lace shawl/bed-sized afghan is at an awkward stage. And there's another factor too: enthusiasm. Sometimes getting stuck in a dreary bit of a big project turns you off knitting generally, at least for a while, unless you have other fun things to distract you.

What about knitting smarter, though? Particularly as regards design. I wonder whether I would need to reinstate a little project monogamy if I wanted to actually create a new design, one with a bit of detail and structure to it, one that requires some mental focus. I guess there's only one way to find out. Folks, consider this a vow: I will, before the year is out, get cracking on the cute swingy asymmetrical cabled jacket that is haunting my dreams...

But right now, I have a wedding shrug to deal with. I started swatching with my beautiful Kid Silk lace last night and suddenly I realise (being a bit slow on the uptake) that I might have rather more work on my hands than expected. Yes yes, you may all laugh now, you old KSH hands; I know it's notorious stuff. But I honestly didn't realise. Wish me luck.

(And just when my denim jacket was going so well... I'm halfway through the second sleeve. What are my chances of finishing the damn thing before 6 September? Considering I have this damn shrug to deal with, and preferably two, in case the colours don't match? Dammit.)

_____
* Which included some links to videos and such, which I perused because I've been wondering how people can say it's easier to rib continental-style when I find it so hard, and that's encouraged me to try it again, and we'll** report back on that later. But I also looked at Annie Modesitt's animations on her "combined method" and I'm now thoroughly confused. Her purl is indeed the way I tried continental purl, which is smooth and simple and gets the stitch sat the wrong way round on the needle. (Bummer.) But her knit... can anyone explain to me how that is different to a regular, English-style knit stitch? Or continental. I dunno. You can't really see how the yarn is held. Edit: I think I've just answered my own question, taking another look at it. The stitch is, indeed, sat differently on the needle, because of the purl stitch. Is that really the only difference? Sometimes I'm amazed at how much fuss gets made over tiny little details like that.
** No, I'm not sure why I sometimes lapse into the royal we when blogging either. But indulge me, would you? Us. Indulge us. We are amused by it.

Posted by Robynn at 12:46 PM | Permalink | 1 cups of tea on the table

Eh.

So I'm supposed to be showing you some knitting right? ...Eh. Whatever.

*deep sigh*

The denim jacket's coming along, I'm onto the first sleeve now.

I'm a bit worried that it's going to come out too big. I picked the biggest size, based on my bust, but the thing is I'm a busty girl; the rest of me isn't necessarily in proportion. Maybe a little negative ease would have been something to consider. Well, let's hope all that ribbing does its job and pulls things in nicely. How does denim ribbing behave once it's been washed? Anybody? I rather think I'm going to have a sack on my hands.

(Shrug? Oh yes, shrug. Deadlines. Yeah. Well, I've found possibly the perfect yarn for that, in this week's Posh sale, so I'll crack on when that arrives. Hooray for excuses to carry on with my jacket!)

The sock is progressing slowly. I am SO VERY BORED of this now.

So I've cast on for another sock. Or more accurately, for a swatch for what will be another sock. (Didn't exactly get very far. Supper was ready.) I just wanted to check that, when doing a pretty pattern - Spiral boot socks from Interweave - and using scrummy yarn, socks are still fun.

Eh. They might be. I can't tell yet.

So, right, forget all that now. (It won't be hard. It wasn't that interesting.) What do you do when you feel... well... crappy? Assuming (purely for the purposes of argument) that part of the crappy might be described as "fat", so chocolate is not necessarily the answer? (I know. Sacrilege.) And further assuming that you have a metric shitload of work to do, so - even more heretical - knitting might not really fit into the schedule either?

Posted by Robynn at 10:57 AM | Permalink | 2 cups of tea on the table

Well, we had a lovely weekend, good thing I didn't blink and miss it. The clouds are back in the sky today. (Obviously. This morning I put a load of washing in.) Which makes me doubly pleased that I was just a little bit naughty... I stole a good few hours from work to sit out in the garden, knitting and reading Harry Potter*. Yes, this is how I rebel these days. (Come to think of it, it's much like how I rebelled at school, too: knitting instead of homework. I'm so wild.)

This is what I was knitting on.

Remember that denim jacket I started in, um, April or so? Remember my cold feet? Remember I said I'd just tweak the Jess pattern a bit? Here's a first: I'm not tweaking. I'm knitting it exactly as is. For novelty value. And also, um, laziness.

(How's that rolling, eh? I'm planning on making this project, not just my first ever true-to-pattern knit, but also my first blocking job. Really. I've done all right without it all these years, but it's time to stop being so damn lazy.)

I'm enjoying it (which explains how I've raced through two fronts in a week - yes dears, that is racing, at least considering my schedule), despite being irritated by the lack of photographs in the pattern,** the stiffness of the yarn and the way it makes my hands blue. On the other hand, after working on titchy little 2.25mm sock needles, these 4mm sticks are positively chunky! Loving that, oh yes. While the titchy little socks...

Well. Um. Yeah, they're fine and all, whatever. Can I stop now?

No, no I can't. This is the first ever pair of socks I'm making for my lovely Armin (although clearly not the last; did I mention he's requested his very own cosy socks, in Wollmeise Tiefersee?) and dammit, I will finish them. Doomed as the little bastards are. Y'see, I been lazy, and I been dumb. I finished the first sock, cast off, and he couldn't pull it on. Cast off too tight. So I put that aside, figuring I'd deal with the cast off thing later, and did the next one. Didn't quite get around to redoing the cast off meanwhile; didn't even check whether it fit if I pulled the cast off out. So. Finished the second sock, complete with stretchy cast off. Tried to pull it on. It didn't. Bummer. Wasn't the cast off that was the problem...

So I pull the sock back to the heel, add a few stitches for a deeper heel, turn the heel, start working up the leg in k3, p1 rib. It's going to be a long slog back up. (Have I mentioned I hate ribbing on dpns? Really do.) But hey. We'll get there. Then, attempting to demonstrate to a friend how I screwed up, I pull the too-tight sock on my foot...

Hang on. It totally goes on. Apparently this is what I get for knitting drunk.***

Still, Armin would like it a bit easier to pull on (fair enough), so it's not a bad idea to be reknitting. Also, they're too short. (I did confer with him on the length, but it looks a lot shorter on the leg. All part of learning to be a sock knitter, I guess.) Still. Damn.

And while I've been steaming ahead on Jess, and plodding ahead on the socks (they're my train knit, which means I have to choose between reading and socking; at the moment Harry Potter is winning), here's what I should have been working on.

The wedding shrug for my bestest friend, getting married in Cape Town in September. As you can see, I'm not exactly racing on this one. I do have an excuse though: this is not our first choice of yarn. It's to match a "red/gold" shot taffeta dress, which, being in Cape Town and all, I haven't seen. I have seen some very dodgy photos, and a tiny - 1cm x 3cm - scrap of fabric. But you know what shot taffeta's like. That little scrap looks kind of purple/yellow, rather than red or gold. The photos look quite orangey. She swears the actual dress, in normal light, is none of these things, and I believe her. So how to pick a yarn? This Goldiehair has flashes of what is probably exactly the right colour - but overall it's pretty dark, and she's not mad about the idea of a dark shrug. The Silk Rhapsody I was using for my Moebius is maybe closer to the dress; but the fabric scrap gave me the idea that it would be close but not close enough, and you know how crappy it looks to have a bad colour match; that made me think I'd do better to have a contrast, not a match, because that's easier to fudge.

So I've found a couple of slightly lighter red/gold-ish colourways in Colinette mohair, and ordered them (just one ball of each - I have no idea what the yardage is anyway - and with luck they'll arrive promptly, and one of those will do, and I can buy more, and get cracking). Oh, I should probably finish the Goldiehair one anyway, though. To go with my (garnet red) bridesmaid dress. Yup... I should get going right away.

If only Jess weren't so very, very appealing right now...

PS I still owe you yarn photos. Oops. Okay, here we go: evidence of my late spendies.

BFL laceweight from Hello Yarn - arrived with my nostepinde. (Because clearly it would be Bad and Wrong to order something from a yarny all the way in America and not grab the chance to sample her wares at the same time. Right?) I'm planning to use this for my first lace shawl; I've been hesitant about the whole lace thing, because I'm not sure how wearable it is in my wardrobe. But the challenge of it all is getting to me. So I spent a good while browsing the Interweb, looking for the perfect lace shawl pattern, and I saw quite a few lovely things, and developed an instant and intense desire to make the Peacock Shawl... but that of course will require quite different yarn. After all my research, Dee's Fir Cone photos appear to have swung the deciding vote. Funny, I never had any desire to make this shawl along with everyone else, but I rather think it'll be perfect for this particular yarn. ...Then I just need to figure out how to wear the damn thing.

And then we come to my Posh indiscretions. Ah yes. It's clear that my sock enthusiasm has not been entirely squashed by the shepherd socks of doom.

Emily, in Pompous. Intended for those lovely lacy boot socks in the last Interweave.

And finally, left to right: Emily, Bed of Roses; Lucia, Devoted (way less bright than it looks - Photoshop failed me); and Emily again, in Offbeat and Ripen. The Lucia is a present for my sister, whom I am welcoming back into the knitting fold with enthusiasm, and presents. Although I am finding it very, very, very hard to let go of this particular skein. It's delicious.

_____
* No spoilers please! I'm actually just working my way through the series, refreshing my memory for the final instalment. Which I will be reading aloud to Armin in the evening, as he washes up. It's a longstanding tradition; and don't mock, it means I get out of doing the dishes.
** One photo. One. About five centimetres deep. No detail shots, no back shots... nada. So frankly, this is going to be a voyage of discovery, this knit.
*** Not actually joking, no. I finished this sock - and attempted to try it on - in the late stages of a barbecue last weekend. Sitting on the table. I want to say this wasn't actually as weird as it sounds, but what do I know? I'd had a few gallons of Bombay Flowers. I couldn't even pull on a damn sock.

Posted by Robynn at 01:34 PM | Permalink | 5 cups of tea on the table

Helloooo knitters! I've missed you. The past couple of weeks have been... interesting. As I mentioned, my mother was in town; a big personality in a small flat. She is a lovely, sweet, generous woman, but remarkably exhausting to be around. And of course I've had very little time to tend to my usual business. But I'm back; and this morning the sun was shining, Beloved was sleeping (so his camera was untended), and I figured that would be the perfect opportunity to take some decent pictures for once. You know what I found out?

Even with a great camera and in beautiful sunshine, I still can't take decent pictures of knitting. So my hat is off to all of you who make it look so easy. I will just never be one of those yarn pr0n superstars (you know the ones I mean... the ones who make you want to reach into your screen and touch their knitting). My pictures are strictly for information, not excitement.

With that disclaimer in mind... wanna see some knitting?

Continue reading "Quite a lot of pictures. Also some words." »

Posted by Robynn at 03:30 PM | Permalink | 3 cups of tea on the table