I’m Back…

Well, seeing as it is about 2am and I’m still up (after sleeping in until nearly noon) I must be on the mend finally… Thank goodness!

So, to that post about bead options on the leaf lace shawl…

As I mentioned last week, I’m probably years from getting to the beaded edge. I haven’t touched it since before the trip to Iowa and I’m probably only at about 10% (or less) considering I’m only working on the 5th repeat of chart 2 out of 15 or possibly 16 repeats! I actually did pick it up on Sunday when I felt my brain was finally clearer of mucus, but in trying to decide if I had already moved my magnetic line marker or not upon completing that last pattern row, I’m off and think I probably had already moved the line marker. So, I need to tink back the two rows I did do and give it another try. So I’m really a little farther behind than when we went to IA since I still have the time it’ll take to tink out those rows… *sigh* It’s the process, it’s the process, it’s the process. Right?

That said, a decision will be required at *some* point as to which beads to use on the shawl. In the photo above you can see the three options I walked out of the bead shop with - lighter, darker, and matchy :-) The light and the matchy colors are size 8 seed beads while the darker ones are size 8 square seed beads.

The dark ones did not come out well in this photo. They are a dark amber color. The light ones seem almost pearl-like and the matchy ones are irridescent so sometimes can look kind of purple or pink, but overall are more orange-like. So, if the shawl were yours, which beads would you use? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Wheels are Working…

Miraculously my car is working again. Don’t ask me what the trouble was. It hadn’t been driven since Saturday morning so it couldn’t have been vapor lock, plus if it had been that I think it would have tried to turn over. But, whatever it is, my car started for DH last night. It’s still going into the shop for a once over and the oil change and all that fun maintenence stuff. I’m glad it’s working again, though there are more than a few things that could use doing other than sitting at the garage for 1.5-2 hours this afternoon. We leave so soon and DH just sent me an alarmingly long list of “to dos” that he wants done before we leave (thankfully most are on his plate but then I usually feel I’m in the way if I’m not helping with something). This is another of those annoying things that bugs me. He suddenly gets a bug to have everything completely spic and span - including mopping kitchen floors and doing all possible laundry (even down to the unmatched socks) right before a trip. Nine times out of ten it means us leaving 2-4 hours later than he has told me we were going to leave.

EDIT: Can we tell I’m PMS-ing? Not exactly prime time to be prepping for a long road trip with little time at the destination. *sigh*

I see much knitting to reduce stress in the next 1.5 days….

Here is where I’m at on the Wear-Everywhere Pullover. I’m working the pattern on the smaller needles and am roughly 1 inch from switching to the larger needles. Once I switch to the larger needle I’ll be moving Leaf Lace onto this circ, even though it is a ridiculous 47″ long. I’ll get into why tomorrow (and hopefully I will have it moved by then if I’m lucky). If only I had a circular knitting needle fairy *swoon* . . .

Oh, and I just remembered that one of my favorite bead stores is within walking distance of the garage so perhaps I’ll browse their selection for the beads to put on my leaf lace shawl . . .

Going Mad…

Don’t get me wrong. I love my husband. But these long weekends can get to me if we don’t have things planned. Today, he’s recording a score for a movie he wrote, directed and filmed almost a year ago. I cannot find any place in the house where I don’t hear drums beating. I love drums, but hearing a single drum line at a time is repetitive and dull and gets annoying after a very short while.

So, I decided I would head out and run a couple errands that prefer to do sans DH anyway. However, my &@*# of a car won’t start. I’m pretty sure it’s the starter that is shot as the radio, fan and wipers all work and it doesn’t sound like the car even tries to turn over. However, it’s Labor Day which means there is no getting it to a mechanic. And, well, DH is a little over protective of his 1998 vehicle and has only allowed me to drive once in our going on 6 years together and that was only because if he didn’t let me drive it was serious going to impede his having fun.

So, my next plan of attack was to sit outside and knit. However, a nice thundershower decided to move. So, I just sat outside meditating to the sound of rain drops. Half wishing it would rain a little harder so it would drown out the sound of drumming. However, once it did I was soaked all the way through my clothes and was getting cold.

So, now I’m back to hiding in the basement and wishing DH would wake up out of his little music world so I can let him know about the car problem. However, I can stand at the studio door for 5 minutes and he takes no notice…

But, there has been a little more progress on Leaf Lace (I’ve done 5.5 repeats of chart 2 - only 9.5 to go) and I’m about 1/2 way through the bottom ribbing on the Wear-Everywhere Pullover. However, that requires some self-control as if I knit more than 4 rounds my hands will start hurting. So, it’s only one pattern repeat per sitting and each sitting must be at least 2 hours apart. That begs the question of what to bring on the road trip to IA later in the week. . .

Back to Regular Programming…

I’m making slow but sure progress on my Leaf Lace Shawl. I think I’m through three full repeats of the second (main) chart if I recall correctly (I don’t have the pattern sitting here so I can check my notes).

Despite having that and the never ending second sock on the needles I’m feeling the itch to start something else. Something that will be easier to knit in the dark in front of the TV. I think I may be swatching for the Wear-Everywhere Pullover from the Spring IK. It calls for a sport weight hemp, but I think I’m going to see how I like Cascade Sierra in the stitch pattern and then adjust the pattern. This just seems like a great pattern for me. It’s interesting, but dull enough for dark knitting. My favorite sweaters in my closet are ribbed turtleneck sweaters, so this will be a little more interesting and not so bulking around my neck. If I don’t like the Sierra I think I will seriously contemplate picking out a proper weight yarn to make it from. Though I don’t care to have it made from hemp. But, the largest size given will actually fit me properly I think - go figure! Could this perhaps be my first completed garment for myself???

I’ve also been spinning. I did some hand carding to blend 15g of turquoise, green, and yellow corriedale and spun it up into singles. I didn’t care to switch the wheel to plying as I now have about 1/2 of a bobbin of my merino/ecopolyester on it. So pics of that color blending will have to wait a bit as the center-pull ball doesn’t look that great. But it was fun - though a bit of a safe color combination. I think I’ll try something a little more adventurous next time.

I’m hoping to get inspired for a fun title graphic for the blog, but I think everything is working now and stuff won’t be changing other than the title. Please let me know if you run into any troubles with this new version and layout.

Spinning Class Redux…

Yesterday I showed off my center pull ball of the plied yarn. Here you can see that I used about 1/2 of that ball and knit my swatch. It’s 30 sts on US 2.5 Bryspun DPNs knit in the round. I had a tough time deciding on a pattern, as the yarn is still pretty rustic (though I’ll likely want to re-swatch when I really sit down to spin all the yarn for the socks as this skein contained all my experiements of different drafting techniques and fighting with the plying as well). So, I chose a simple embellished rib. I then wash and blocked the swatch too. There really wasn’t much difference at all. The one end is small in circumference because I didn’t pay attention to BO loosely - oops! If I had paid attention it could possibly be worn as a cuff. Oh, and if you click on the picture it’ll give you a larger image of just the swatch that will give you a bit better feel for the depth of color in this yarn.

So, last night was sort of a free form class. Once we all finished disucssing our project plans we got to just try different fibers. From left to right we have bombyx silk spun from a cap or bell (similar to a hankie), bleached tussah roving, linen roving (these weren’t full length fibers and weren’t spun from a distaff or wet as you would need to do with full length flax fibers), lastly is a combination mini-skein of combed cotton (the brown) and cotton spun direct from the seed pods.

My favorite to spin last night would have to be the bombyx silk cap and then the cotton from the pods. But I had very little fight with any of them. I did have some trouble doing a worsted draw on the tussah roving, but I got it down towards the end - mostly when Maggie started talking about the linen process so I got caught up in listening to her and just got into the rhythm. I’ll want to be trying that again here very soon to try get that engrained in my head. But I was having difficulty pinching my forward hand hard enough to keep the twist out from between the hands. It seems I tend naturally towards the long draw so I had a good time with the cotton. The first little bit of the combed cotton resulted in some really large slubs, but I thinned it out quite well and then had a blast with the seed pods. I was amazed at the length of yarn you would get from one seed pod!

I need to give props to my peep, Amanda for letting me tag along these past four weeks. It was so much more pleasureable to make the trip and take the class with a friend! Of course being able to take my pain meds was a great plus as well.

And, because I know I’ll have an e-mail or comment waiting for me if I don’t post this…

The very beginnings of Fiber Trends’ Leaf Lace Shawl in copper Zephyr (wool/silk lace weight). I’m afraid I haven’t made any progress on it today, but there should be at least some quality time with it this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!