KnitMe

Sleeves. Sleeves. Sleeves.

No pictures this week. Our project for the weekend was building a shelter for a feral cat out of Rubbermaid totes, like the one here. It worked - when I opened the back door this morning to put a scoop of food in her bowl, the cat popped out of the box and retreated to the foot of the steps, so she's using it. It's an improvement over trying to keep warm by curling up in a chair.

Emmy's hoodie is ready for sleeves. My Taconic pullover is ready for sleeves. So it's going to be all sleeves all the time for the next couple of weeks. I have the feeling I've done this to myself before.

The Dolomite socks used one skein of Smooshy and I had plenty left to put into the leftovers pile. Oddly, the first time I wore them, I made a hole in the toe that required darning. I hope that isn't a sign of things to come.

Consistency, and a cat

I finished my wine colored Dolomite socks. They fit perfectly. This is one of those clever stitch patterns that is elastic enough to fit properly all the way up one's calf.

The pattern is from Knitspot, and the yarn was Dream in Color Smooshy in the color 'In Vino Veritas' which is a lovely semisolid shade of garnet. The socks are tall enough and I had plenty left to put in the leftovers pile.

Since I could not keep my hands off of that Tessyarns 'Baby Bunny' sock yarn with angora in it, I took it out and cast on. I'm using the Riverbed architecture and trying out the 'grapevine' stitch pattern from one of the Charlene Schurch books (the jury is still out on whether the pattern is totally obscured by the yarn).

After I got the yarn wound and saw it in the ball instead of in the hank, I smacked myself on the forehead. Am I not consistent??

(Also Tess yarn, and evidently the same colorway...)

Sigh. At least it's easy to know what I like.

I spent a great deal of time plying yesterday. I got the first skein of shetland X merino plyed. I was going for a cushy worsted weight yarn and I sort of almost got it. This hank is 3.4 ounces and about 200 meters, which I guess is about DK.

It is very nice and silky and soft but with a little of merino's poof to it. I hope my consistency can extend to my spinning and I can get the whole lot spun up the same.

I also sat at the Quebec wheel for a few hours on my day off and filled a bobbin with some of the brown bluefaced leicester left from my swing coat project. I was spinning fine and tight in the hopes of getting 3 ply sock yarn - with 8 ounces available to me I thought maybe I could spin for those yummy Cookie A. kneesocks in the fall Twist Collective.

I came close but I think the yarn is a tad too heavy. I plyed it hard so it is DENSE.

This is about 130 meters and about 2.8 ounces - it looks like the right weight when you just examine it visually but I think it would knit up at more like 7 stitches per inch and so I will have to make up my own knee socks or find a pattern made for yarn one step heavier than regular sock.

My little helper was feeling neglected, I think. Every time I got up to get a drink or wind off a skein, I found this in my spinning chair upon my return.

Stitching

Saturday I went to what will most likely be my last Stitches East - they are moving it out of Baltimore next year and this is not something I will travel for. I didn't shop much - I took most of the time we had to just talk to Lisa and Rod in their booth full of those colorways we all recognize by name.

I bought 8 ounces of bluefaced leicester top in 'Peacock', which is darker on the sock yarn I bought last year, but which created a lovely seafoam aqua on the fiber.

We wandered around a lot, but the only other thing I decided I really wanted to have was some yarn in that signature cobalt blue that I always associated with Tessyarns.http://www.tessyarns.com/ While standing around inside the booth I noticed a new sock-weight yarn she has, Baby Bunny, with some angora content, and I thought it would make wonderful winter socks.

I don't know what I'll make with the blue, but it is 600 yards of the same superwash merino petite that I made my Baltic Blossoms shawl out of this past summer.

Sunday I sat down to spin the wonderful aqua BFL but the wheel I wanted to do it on was not cooperating (no matter how much you want to, when spinning double drive you cannot defy the laws of physics) so it was set aside pending purchase of new bobbins. I'm still spinning ever so slowly through the shetland X merino on the Symphony so I went back and did some of that instead.

The Dolomite socks are about 3/4ths done, I'm about to start the second heel flap. Emmy's hoodie is above the armholes, so I hope I will have that for her soon. And Taconic is making significant progress. I just love this cable pattern, and the Cashsilk yarn is so yummy that I work on this a lot.

Well, I tried to link to a picture I have hosted on Imageshack, but it won't save. Does Movable Type not like Imageshack? Does anybody know?? If I figure it out I'll come back and add it.

VOTE FIRST, KNIT LATER