pillow fight

Work proceeds apace for the Maragheh pillow. I have finished round 30 of 40 for the first half. There were 2 serious errors in the pattern. On round 29 the instructions say you will have 14 stitches per segment; this is true. However, since every other odd-numbered row increases the stitch count by one and #27 had 14 and #31 has 16, there is a missing stitch. I went through and charted the pattern, realized that the “obvious” trend would place two YOs adjacent, I just added a knit 1. Later the error is a visibly obvious cut and paste error, repeating one line, but with the chart it was easy to see what should have been done. I will have to annotate the Rav link for the pattern to indicate the errata.

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I have a really difficult time understanding why anyone buys patterns. Whenever I use someone else’s pattern, even if it does not have fitting concerns, there are errors. It leaves me with the steadfast belief that other knitters are moronic since they rely on patterns which are inferior to thinking for oneself.

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I deleted the blog roll on the side. Since I have not updated it in two years and I assume most people read this via feed anyway, I doubt anyone looks at it. I might recreate it at some point, because when I started reading knitting blogs, that was how I found some of them.

I am in the process of migrating my knitting blogs feeds, so I can easily comment from a browser where I am already logged in. I like getting comments, I suspect that might be a shared feeling. Currently I read RSS feeds in a non-logged in browser, so commenting is laborious and error-prone.

 

Weekend Update

I knit a handwarmer and got lots of praise for it. Goes to show that choosing one’s audience appropriately helps garner more appreciation.

I have knit 1.5 more slippers in that 8-square pattern. I am in the midst of sewing one up, but I neglected to pin it and am no longer sure what is going on. The sewing up for that pattern is harsh.

Today I worked on the sleeve to my Leuca sweater.

sleeve issue 1: I have a defective cable in my Knitpicks interchangeable. And that is one of the Harmony ones which has lousy varnish sealing. Next time I place an order, I will get another pair of #6 metal tips. I do wish they sold alternate colors of cable for people who do the 2-circ method.  Or I could buy a new #6 needle from some other brand, but it will not be Addi and I just do not know anything about any of the other brands.

sleeve issue 2: Concern that I will not be able to even approximate what I did on this sleeve for the matching (unstarted) sleeve.

Apparently a relative has cancer. It is not someone I am close to, but it makes me feel old all the same. (Yes, really, everything is about me. Sorry.)  When I was a child, no one was ever seriously ill. Now that I am almost 40, everyone seems to be sick. I know where all the hospitals are and how to find a parking space near them. For a while I knew (for one hospital) which days the cafeteria had food I can eat.  Because this really is all about me, my response was to think, “Oh good, someone I can use that yucky colored yarn for!”  I would feel completely evil about that except the color I desperately dislike is her favorite color.  I even have a double-braid of fiber in that color, so I could spin it first and double my own sacrifice in making her a something.

I need to get out more. I wish I could think of where I might enjoy going.

Best thing so far? I want to spin. I have not wanted to spin since the fiasco that was Yarn School.

unstrung purls

I finally Googled for the difference between Faroese and triangle shawls and got an actual diagram.

http://www.siskiyouknits.com/grannielinda/faroeseshawlmethod.htm

I clicked the bookmarklet to add this to my Ravelry queue and it does not exist. I have a hard time understanding that.

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I would like the ability to sort sock patterns based on the amount of purling required.  I am still not knitting Continental (and when I try, it looks like garbage and hurts my left hand) so the transition between knit and purl is extremely irritating.

That was my reason for being irked about the errata in the “Serpentine Socks” pattern. A whole slew of spaced  purl stitches were added.

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One of my friends often adds happenstance cables to things.  She does not surround them by flanking purl stitches. I said, “those would be hidden gems”. I realize it is the anti-pun, but it still made me laugh.

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Busy week this week, but possibly also busy in terms of knitting that will be accomplished.  I have samples I need to knit up. There is even a list.

Hopefully I will remember to take pictures of that new hat when there is better light.

Wp, fiberclub, Lambtown.

Weird problems with posting. All these posts that I have written this week were still in the drafts folder even though they had been “published”. I apologize for the burst of posts. It looked okay from here, so I did not notice.

For my own information, I received the September fiber club shipment today, October 2, 2009. The last shipment is (it was a 10 month “year”) is this month’s. The fiber is 2oz of falkland and 2oz angora+merino (no percentages given) in a solid purple color. It came with the Simple Faroese Shawl pattern. I like that pattern. (Not enough to pay someone $6 for it when I can buy a whole book of patterns for $13 on sale. But enough to be glad that was one of the patterns sent.) Pictures later.  I have liked most of the fiber sent. A lot of it is specialty fiber that is difficult to order as an individual. At the same time, I doubt I am going to do it again. It was not fun. I felt pressured to finish before the next month arrived, and the Rav group was not a vibrant and supportive community. (Signing up for the Rav group got me spammed with invites to swap groups.)  It was like having a bookclub where the book is assigned, but no one shows up to discuss it. Pointless from a social perspective.

I am not going to Dixon Lambtown. I am irritated that they have no vendors listed and they do not know the difference between “schedule” and “calendar”. I understand this makes me elitist and prejudiced, but I really do not want to spend $10 going to something and have it be as confusing and disorganized as their online presence indicates they are. My stash is full anyway. Eventually I will make fiber-liking friends who chivvy me along, but probably by then I will have decided to take up the cello or hang-gliding instead.

Odd sense of humor and value

This is a picture of my new woolly blanket. Notice how even it is, how smooth, and how sharp the patterning is… I would be really proud of myself but…

I just bought it from LLBean. The completed blanket is thin (and remember this is California, not Minnesota or Alaska, thin is preferable), machine washable and dry-able, and it cost less than buying enough superwash yarn on sale (even a clearance) would have cost. Plus it is already done. I might, someday, knit a blanket, but not at this point. Handwork should be reserved for things where fit or detailing or texture or colorwork or something is more important than sheer volume of effort.

But I do think it is hilarious that after years and years of being a knitter, seeing myself and other knitters drool over woolly blankets, I now have one. Mine’s purple.

One of my favorite, favorite jests was pulled on my mother years and years ago, long before I started knitting. She kept saying she wanted a really nice throw blanket for the sofa, but she wanted it big enough to cover two people. She would rant about how ridiculous the lap-size, cat-basket -size, crib-size “throws” were because they would not keep a marshmellow warm and how could they keep the chill off a full-grown man? I ordered her a queen-size fancy comforter (so it was reversible) and mailed a plain sticker where I had printed “THROW” in big letters. I said on the card that I was sorry but her gift did not come fully assembled and she should paste the sticker over the top of the mistaken label on the bag from the store. My mother was thoroughly offended and returned the blanket. But what is the difference between a 60-in by 60-in “throw” and a queen-size blanket? The difference is just in what the label says.

But that was how I got the idea that I should just buy a woolly blanket instead of haunting clearance sales on yarn. This story was recounted in an email to Jared Flood, who wrote back and complimented me on my sense of humor. And no I have no idea why I told a complete stranger the story about my mother’s throw blanket. It just goes to show that even famous people are human.

Snakes and Lichen and “Sunrise” and Motley Origami and Tuesday Morning

Serpentine Sock progress is stalled at one repeat done on first sock. So, like 10% completed. It needs its own name to survive my inattention. (If you have forgotten this project, I am making the Wendy Johnson “Serpentine Socks” in a modified form to use Mountain Colors’ Barefoot yarn in “Winter Sky”. I am not sure why they call it Winter Sky since it looks more like a blue variant of Aurora Borealis. I am not sure why the socks are called “Serpentine” either. So whatever the project ends up being called, I doubt it will have anything to do with other people’s nomenclature. Hmm. I wonder if there is a project naming group on Ravelry. I would love something like that, but only if other people were more creative than me.)

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Leuca Sweater could use for me to actually finish the sleeve, duplicate the sleeve, then work on attaching them so I can actually finish the yoke of the sweater.

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I have not spun anything, including last month’s fiber club shipment. But I did take pictures before the next shipment arrived.

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What has been taking up my time is knitting up slippers made from garter stitch squares which are then folded and seamed together to make motley boots. It is really interesting and it has been a while since I worked on something flat using fat yarn. It went really fast but used a really unreasonable amount of yarn.

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Also today I was in a parking lot with a Tuesday Morning. I had only heard of it because it was mentioned in a local Rav group as sometimes having phenomenal deals on yarn. I do not care if they were selling gold for the price of silver and offering free delivery. The store had on extremely offensive religious propaganda music. I wandered through the store, but knew from the moment I heard the first lyrics that I would not be buying anything and would not ever go back. There is something really wrong when the majority religious group that already legislates its morality feels the need to proselytize. But regardless of how the individuals feel, I think it is inappropriate for a store owner to deliberately ostracize potential customers. It was more subtle than a sign saying, “Christians only!” but the effect is the same to anyone paying attention. No one recommending Tuesday Morning had mentioned any inkling that they are a prejudiced and evilmongering place, but that was my personal experience today. I do not care what kinds of bargains they have, it would have been immoral to patronize that store because it promotes hatred of people like me.

chock full of news and updates.

For once, I have lots to say.

In reverse order, I went to a new LYS. It.. um.. does not suit me.  The people working there were pleasant and they had a nice range of yarns. But everything was very jumbled and crammed— and yet! they did not have enough range in the particular items that caught my eye. I would have bought 5 skeins of Cascade 220 if they had them in the same painted colorway, but when I asked if I could order more, I was told I must speak to the owner. I did not do a double-take about that, but I wanted to.  A lot of stuff was hidden away behind other things, so someone else had to dig through and hand me things one by one. Really nice people since they were willing to do that, a complete contrast with the store here in Oakland— the one everyone else loves. But even this new store,  for all the disarray and apparently random organization, they have MSRP+ prices.

I do not mean to constantly disparage LYSs, but it obviously is not something that is well suited to an urban environment, though this one is in an obscure suburb and has parking.

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I successfully cast on for the sleeve to my Leuca sweater. (That is not the pattern name. I am using the generic wireframe “Round Yoke” from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’s Knitting In the Old Way. And like BrooklynTweed, I heartily endorse this book.) I have decided to go with a provisional cast-on, and ( finally understand the whole crochet chain business because there was a really useful explanation and diagram in Wendy Johnson’s Socks From the Toe Up book. I bought Wendy’s book even though there was nothing really novel in it, I found the collection of techniques I always have to look up online to be extremely coherent and usefully organized, which made it worth the sale price.  Plus I liked several of the patterns even if they are vaguely derivative.)  started at just above the elbow. Elbow-length sleeves are sort of the minimum length I can tolerate and this allows me to conserve yarn until after the body is completed. There might be color transition issues, but sometimes you just have to make a choice.

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I have been working on my Serpentine Socks (from the Wendy Johnson book), but progress is slow because I do not seem to work on them often enough.

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There has been no change in the spinning department. I did not order the musk ox from RH Lindsey.

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I now have a crockpot for dyeing. Cost to me, $free. I found it in a closet. I plan to do some Koolaid dyeing in it this weekend. (Starting with food-safe things in case I change my mind about the repurposing.)

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Not quite fiber related, but I am in search of new glasses. I can no longer knit with my glasses on, and cannot watch the TV with them off. I might splurge and go somewhere with interesting glasses options, because I got treated badly at the two big  chain places recently.

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I am considering buying a fancy new phone. I would like it if it could display knitting charts. Any recommendations for apps or phones?

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I am planning to go to the Dixon Lambtown October 3, but not for classes. If you wanted to meet up. Send an email or leave a comment.

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ps. I do not have pictures of the August fiber club shipment. I might take pictures tomorrow.