Winding

I've been in a bit of a knitting slump lately.  I'm bored, and all I've seemed to be doing the past few months is either stockinette or garter stitches.  That's going to change.

I hate it when my knitting gets boring.  There's no reason it should ever get that way.  Sooo, I pulled out a couple of skeins of Alchemy Haiku.  Would up one - I got a bot worried when it appeared to be prying off a stand of Velcro, but once things got rolling on the swift, it came right off. 

I wound, and I wound, and wound some more.  My right arm got tired so I switched to my left.  Got in a decent arm workout, anyway.  Finally, I ended up with a skein of 325 yards of super-static-y fuzzy gorgeousness.  Then got to wondering exactly what weight this stuff was - the wound ball was about the size of my palm -actually, it fits inside my palm with lots of room, and I don't have very big hands.

So I went online and googled the yarn.  Came up with some interesting results - one site said it was a DK weight, another said it was a light worsted, and another said it was lace weight.  Went to the Alchemy site, which said nothing about the yarn weight.  Hmm...

Now that that's been cleared up right muddy, I need to find a pattern that will work.  The ball label gave a gauge of 5 stitches per inch on a size 7 needle, so I'm going to go with that.  Maybe.  Kind of.

Wish me luck!    

Vacation

Where does a girl from California go for a vacation?  Certainly not to someplace that has sun & surf - no, this girl heads up North!

Wow!  I can't believe I didn't log in at all last month.  Been busy - went on vacation to Alaska and Canada (if you ever get the chance to go I highly recommend it), caught a nasty cold while I was there and am just now starting to feel human again.  (If you go I don't, however, recommend catching a cold - makes the trip not quite so much fun.)

Now that I can breathe again without hacking and coughing out a lung, I'm back and brought you come pictures of the trip.  Hope you enjoy:

 
Leaving Seattle

Over White Pass:

Yes, the lake was frozen.

Emerald Lake starting to thaw:

Ketchikan:

It was an amazing trip.  I think I need to go back - what a great place to wear all my nice sweaters!

CDWK

Have you ever tried to knit while there's a really fun, bouncy song on the radio?  Chair dancing while knitting...

Results

Tried a couple of things for the February Lady sweater: Entrelac and feather & fan stitch.  Decided on the feather & fan stitch.  The ripples show the colors of the yarn better.  Pictures to come later (as soon as I get a bit done). 

In the meantime, my grown-up daughter decided she wanted to learn how to knit.  It was fun & I think I may have a new convert on my hands now. 

I tell ya, we knitters are gonna take over the world.  We'll probably end up knitting a cozy for it or something...

Knit on!

Yarn Break-Up

Been working on the February Lady Sweater and got to about the 3" mark on the lace pattern using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted. 

I don't like it.  The yarn is totally lost in the lace work. 

Been getting a bit disappointed with this yarn.  While it's probably all my fault for not being able to pick out a design that can properly display the amazing colors, I'm starting to feel like it's turned into a high-maintenance sheep of a yarn.  Yeah, it looks pretty on display in the skein but it's not pulling its own weight when it comes down to it.  

I think I may need to have a break-up talk with my yarn for this pattern.  Something like, "Hey, can we talk?  Y'know, I've been thinking...no, it's not you, but we just aren't working out the way I had hoped.  Your colors look dulled and there's absolutely no 'POP' in our relationship anymore.  You deserve better -we both deserve better than this.  But don't worry, you'll find another pattern to shine in.   Really."  

Anyway, the pro's are that I like how the colors of the yarn work in garter stitch, and I like the pattern.  I could continue on as is - it's OK, but the problem is that it's  just  OK.  Not spectacular.  Not doing justice to either the pattern or the yarn.  So...my choices are:

A - Continue on as is.

B - Rip out entirely and use yarn in a different pattern.

C - Rip out to the lace section and replace that section with a different stitch.

Choice A is out.  No point in continuing - I don't like it.  So I'm down to B or C.  At a minimum I'll be doing some ripping, but how far to rip?  I could also add choice D to the mix - rip back to the lace section and redo (the lace) using a different yarn.   Hmmm.....

T-Shirts for Knitters

As I go through the boards at Ravelry, I'm inspired to make up a few T-shirts.  These were all pretty much lifted directly from the Selfish Knitters & Crocheter's group, direct quotes:

• "Bowling is the perfect sport for knitters because you can knit between turns and there is beer."

• "You had me at knitting & beer."  (Editor's note: Notice a theme here?)

• "Kiss my sticks"  (Response back to the Editor.)

• "I use DPNs a lot- multiple needles confuse the muggles"

• "Knittin’ NINJAAAAAA!"

• "“No. I won’t stab you with these pointy sticks, because the yarn ON these pointy sticks is worth more to me than your life. I don’t feel like getting blood all over my (insert project here) that I have spent hours on. So you are safe. For now. Until I bind off…”

Knitters are fun.

Listen to the Yarn

Once upon a time, Jen had some yarn:

She was very sure that she was going to make a simple KP&S top-down raglan with it, but somehow the yarn just didn't want to do that.  Jen tried and tried, and ripped out & re-knit 3 times before realizing that she was not listening to the yarn.  The yarn was telling her (loudly) that it wanted to be something a bit more special, it wanted to be a snazzy little thing that really showed off it's beautiful coloring.  It was calling for the February Lady Sweater.

This pattern had me at the first line: "A swingy lace cardigan, made to fit a grown-ass woman..."  Love it!