Second Sock Syndrome

 

I started a pair of Cozy Toes Socks on our New Year's trip to visit family in Wisconsin, and knitted the first sock happily by the fire with Aunt Mary.  What a joy, to work up a sock in no time with creamy soft alpaca yarn.  And when I tried it on, it fit perfectly and was cozy indeed!  As we packed for home, I began the second sock with all good intentions -- but since then, have I knitted a stitch on it?  And they're predicting snow for the weekend!  Clearly I have my work cut out for me.  Time to push past Second Sock Syndrome and finish the pair so I can enjoy them (and start a new pair, of course...)

Garden State Goodies

Last weekend was the Garden State Sheep Breeders' Sheep and Fiber Festival.  I drove out on Sunday all by myself! It was fun to pet the angora rabbits and talk to the baby llamas, and I ran my fingers through tons of raw fleece -- but much to D's relief came home with neither fleece nor llama nor bunny.  (Though I will be looking into raising angora rabbits.  How much trouble can they be?  And how totally worth it would it be to grow my own fiber?  Really!)

I did bring home some beautiful alpaca worsted to knit into Katie Himmelberg's Best-Fit Jumper from Simple Style, which I have been drooling over for a while now.  (The pattern calls for an alpaca-merino blend and my yarn is just alpaca, but I am going to knit the ribbing with a smaller needle in the hope that it will retain its memory -- I'm testing it out on the swatch.  If it doesn't work I have no doubt but that I can find some other use for this delicious yarn!

While you're admiring the yarn, take a gander at my new swift!  Life has recently become significantly less arduous for the wool-winders in the Martin household.  I think D agreed on my purchase (special sale at Knit Picks!) because it freed him from his bondage to the almighty skein -- possibly more so than as a reward for my hard labor driving K to camp in the Pinelands and schlepping her to the beach all summer.  In any case, I am loving it!

(Stay tuned to see the other goodies I brought home from the festival, as well as progress on the Wonky Blocks quilt...)

On my needles: Black Cat Edition

I could not get Mickayla off my lap to photograph the progress I've made on my first chemo cap, so here she is in all her furry black glory. I'm using the Race For Life 2009 Chemo Cap pattern that's available as a free download on Ravelry, and I'm ever so proud of myself for finishing the lacy border that is neither stockinette nor rib nor garter, the only stitches I've managed to successfully complete so far. Here's to moving on in the knitting world! (And yes, that's a new knitting bag Mickayla's flopped down on, but that's another post.)

For those who would like to make a chemo cap for Head Huggers, they need to be:

• new
• hand made
• preferably washable
• the softer the better -- wool is okay but is not preferred because of potential allergies
  
• accompanied by a submission form.

Full details, guidelines and many patterns can be found at http://www.headhuggers.org. Any standard pattern may be used, as well. I will be posting links to patterns I find particularly useful/attractive/easy as I come across them; feel free to bring any that you especially like to my attention. This project will be announced at St. Mary's Church on Sunday, March 7th and will end on Sunday, April 11th.

OFF my needles this week came the Alpaca "Cashmere" Knock-Around Sweater. I was just not getting the fake "seam" stitches; the Make-1-purl-into-the-back-twist-turn-around-touch-the-ground instructions made no sense to me and I was getting yarn-overs where they weren't supposed to be, and I had frogged it four times and the yarn was getting really skanky, and I don't like knitting flat anyway, and what other excuses can I come up with? It just wasn't working. I will try to resurrect the yarn with re-skeining and washing. Maybe. Maybe not. There's still plenty to make soft yummy cowls and scarves and things with, in between bigger projects.

I picked up a copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears at the library the other day and became instantly enamored of her witty, practical demeanor. I know that I will own this book before long. Her methods for knitting sweaters in the round make good sense to me, and I have already made plans to do a seamless yoke sweater with some Cascade Eco-Duo (what could be better than a blend of alpaca and merino, the best of both worlds?) -- I'm thinking now about adding some texture to the yoke, and wondering how best to do that with the somewhat fuzzy yarn. Fortunately for me, it will be a long time before I have to make that decision!

I am nearly finished with D's mittens; I just have one thumb and the weaving-in to go. And of course I am still working on my socks. Maybe for next Christmas? They are a great fall-back project to keep in my car.

With any luck, before I approach this topic again I will have touched base with my stash and made a dent in the formidable tangle it has become. Wish me luck! And get started on your chemo caps!

On my needles -- ribbing edition

I've been knitting a lot lately, but not finishing much, so there hasn't been much to blog about. I thought I would finish a pair of mittens for D, but ran out of yarn (such giant hands!) and had to regroup because I didn't want to schlep out to Woolbearers just then. I had some Cascade Eco Alpaca sitting around being melty-soft, and though it is definitely not sock yarn I started a pair anyway. They'll be comfy to wear around the house or with Birkenstocks, and I promise not to be fussy if they droop a little. I'm knitting them in 3 x 1 ribbing all the way down to try to compensate a bit for the lack of springiness in the alpaca.

Then yesterday I made the trip to Mount Holly to pick up the mitten yarn and also the wool for my father-in-law's new sweater (some really nice Plymouth Merino Worsted Superwash), and spent the rest of the day winding one hank into a ball and trying to make a gauge swatch. I'm really frustrated with how slowly the winding went and how slowly and painstakingly I knit. I know that the knitting will come with time and practice, but the winding! Oh, how I wish I had a swift! My current dream is to make one like this, using tinkertoys of all things! If I can buy some used (the new ones cost practically as much as a swift does) I will do it, I will!

As you can see, I'm having serious storage issues with my knitting needle collection (there's that mitten again.) This is what happened when I went to find my size 7 circs to make the gauge swatch. Clearly something needs to be done. Probably I need to purge the needles I know I'm not ever going to use (like the bendy rubbery ones that came in the big thrift-store lots I've purchased to get the nice big wooden ones), make some sort of caddy for the straights, and maybe come up with some sort of binder/folder system for the circulars. How do you store your knitting needles?

New knitting project

I am in love with this chunky alpaca from Cascade Yarns. It's just the right weight for a sweater -- not too heavy (the purple sweater I made is nice, but a little weighty for general wear, better for chilly winter evenings when I don't have to move around too much) or too stretchy and fluffy (the white yarn from Misti Alpaca that I tried the first time around was, once again, nice, but a little too pouffy.) This yarn is looking like a good substitution for the obscenely expensive yarn called for in the "Unisex Cashmere Knock-Around Pullover" in Weekend Knitting that I've had my eye on since last summer. It's by far the most challenging knitting pattern that I've tried, but I think I may be able to pull it off. I'll keep you posted.