Frogging and turtling

Over the past week and long weekend, I did knit, but that’s not what you’ll see here today.

Once upon a time, I went to a fiber festival of some sort - it was a list of places and a map of locations around New England - with my mom. We stopped at Random Farm X (it might say on the handwritten sweater pattern I have, I’ll get back to you) and I bought a large clear bag full of natural brown scratchy worsted weight wool.

This was going to be my first sweater!

There was a pattern for a roll-neck top-down raglan pullover, and I guess I thought it was a good idea to try for the XL size.

Here’s the result. [It wasn't my first finished sweater...see? no sleeve? And unique potato-sack-like qualities?]

It was in storage for ages and when I took it out, there was a carpet-beetle related hole near the right armpit. I washed it and dried it and found all the remaining yarn and despite the obstacle of a big hole, genuinely thought I was still going to finish it.

Well.

I changed my mind.

It took SO LONG to take apart that sweater. I have washed some of the skeins, but I have a couple still to go. I had to do this in shifts, alternating with knitting and spinning, because it was pretty mind-numbing. And scratchy. And dusty. I sneezed a lot. I frogged, I wound on to the niddy noddy, I soaked, I dried, and I still don’t have balls of yarn again, but soon enough. Also I’ve been ruminating on the next incarnation of this yarn.

Something along these lines, perhaps?

As for turtling, I was minding my own business this weekend, when I happened to look out the kitchen window and see Mr. Terrapene Carolina Carolina walking by.

The cats were interested, but not as curious as I thought they’d be. It might have had something to do with Mr. Eastern Box Turtle’s hissing.

I wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be in my neck of the woods, so I put him in a plastic bucket holding tank while I researched him online. I found a photo and a description telling me that he was a male, and he was an eastern box turtle, and he was fine in the environment of my backyard, and even if he were diseased or injured, which he wasn’t, I should let him go, because they are very resilient. Their biggest foe is humans, who tend to run them over when they try to follow their homing instinct, particularly if humans have moved them from the place of their birth.

Once I established that everything was as it should be (other than the fact that he peed himself in the bucket, probably out of self defense), I let him go in the shade. He burrowed into the leaves and after a few minutes, I couldn’t tell if he was still there or if he’d continued on his intended trajectory.

Isn’t he pretty?

Good and sad

The good - My number finally came up in the random number generator, for The Fairy GodKnitter’s contest!

So I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of this book to see what interesting bits it holds between its covers.

The sad - SOMEONE PAINTED OVER A COMMUNITY MURAL IN CARRBORO! WTF, PEOPLE? Totally pathetic - some random guy “hired” day laborers but never paid them, and he wasn’t the building or business owner.

This post has a beautiful photo of the mural, along with the contrasting current state of affairs. What a shame - defacing public art! Come on - no other way to get your jollies? Well, as the commenters on the first link above at Orange Politics said, this is a great opportunity for Carrboro to host a community graffiti contest or fundraiser.

Just for kicks, here is my own contribution to community art, completed in 1995, which I believe no longer exists, since my high school expanded the math/science wing a few years ago where I painted this design:

What real men wear

I am VERY happy to say that the kilt hose are finished and have been sent off in the mail.

(I write this note because I don’t know if you know what usually comes with kilt rentals, but here is an idea for you and it ain’t pretty!)

Next thing to send off is the secret project, which has been languishing because I am working on calculating inches and stitches for five sizes of the pattern, a new experience for me - it is much more involved than plain old knitting.

It is taking a long time to get back to functional after being in Kinshasa but I think I am about there. I am working hard to clear my plate of prior obligations so that I can freely knit for myself again!

And I have done a teeny bit of spinning, with a nice variety of colors:

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

Two kilt hose, one kilt ho–?

It’s almost the end of the week. I am so glad - each time Friday arrives, I breathe a sigh of relief, but I know that two days’ reprieve won’t be long enough.

Especially not this weekend. I’ve finished one sock (what is the singular of Kilt Hose, please?), which took me just over a week. And I’ve finished the cuff of the second one - but somehow I think I’ll be able to finish it by Monday or Tuesday?

This was the best photo I could get… I really need to hire some help.

Also, even though I was really trying to be faithful to this project, the allure of the Sea Silk was too much for me. I cast on for the scarf that I had my eye on in mes accessoires from La Droguerie.

It’s going really slowly, actually, I suppose since the needles are only #4US. The pattern is nice, since there is only one right-side pattern row. I’ve been going around with the kilt hose in my purse, but the scarf is great for times when I can’t pay attention to shaping.

This week, I also put in an hour or so a couple evenings on spinning and made it halfway through this bit of fluff.

But I’ll show you that next time - maybe I’ll even have some plied by then…

A hat and four socks

So I liked the first one so much that I made another one, this hat also for a baby and not for my high school art project. But here it is. You can read more about it in the gallery.

And after the knee socks, I wanted to knit something just as simple and satisfying, but perhaps not so…long. I found this superwash wool in a department store in Basel (Pfauen) and I LOVE it. The best thing about it aside from price (less than $5/skein) was that it came with matching reinforcement wool. You can’t see it here, but I used it on the toes.

After those socks, I’ve finished two more socks, but they don’t make a pair. This cable and rib sock is based on a Nancy Bush pattern published in Interweave a couple years ago, and the second one is coming along. I knit these from the toe up to get the most out of the yarn, at the request of the recipient, and while I enjoy knitting as-tall-as-possible socks, I did not enjoy knitting both on the same needle. They finally separated after the heel so that I could finish faster. I don’t suffer from Second Sock Syndrome so much, and knitting both at the same time seemed to take an eternity~

And the socks that I’ve most enjoyed knitting lately are for Amber’s husband, who will be wearing them with a kilt to Amber’s mom’s wedding - Nancy Bush’s Highland Schottische Kilt Hose from Folk Socks. Through these, I discovered the solution to my falling-down-knee-socks problem: knit a really tight cuff. This sounds obvious, but I just didn’t realize. I cast on 96 stitches for my cuff, whereas her ribbed cuff is only 68 stitches. BIG difference.

I did finish one sock and the next is cast on, but these photos are from the weekend.

Front and back.

Detail of fold-over cuff.

Detail of the ribbed part that holds the sock up!

Color and texture

EDIT: My bad. I received an email from Cara to let me know that although she wasn’t asking me to take down the photograph of the card (I did anyway), her policy is that her photos do not get posted without her permission. I apologize for not asking first. I am posting this as a reminder to myself and others. Amber, this is perhaps a good example of why I asked you even though you thought I was being silly. In this case, I thought that a direct link to the photo source was enough, but it depends on the individual.

[I tried posting this last night but lately the internet seems to work all the time till I try blogging or uploading photos...]

Here are some photos that I swiped from Amber that she took at Maryland Sheep and Wool. I forgot the memory card for my camera so I don’t have my own. But we had a grand ole time wandering around and eating food and touching fiber:

We saw lots of people there. We talked to Carolyn and her husband and her other son, not the one who spins and dyes and comes to spinning guild meetings, but the one who shears and was interested in hearing about Congo.

We pet lamb. We ate lamb. Hey, I have no problem with the circle of life.

I came home with some fiber, but no yarn. Although I picked up a few things in Paris and Basel, for the most part I am doing well with the yarn diet. It is amazing what living without my stash for six weeks can do to adjust my perspective. I still came home with more than I can knit in several months, but I sure am trying. Soon I’ll have several projects to show you - about three more pairs of socks, and maybe I’ll start finishing up some of those sweaters that I started last year.

But in the mean time, here is some merino tencel that I picked up from Maryanne at Three Waters Farm, who was vending at MDS&W. I was inspired by Mel’s lovely stuff - it’s so shiny! I have another batch that is green, since I couldn’t get that colorway out of my head. This one reminds me of peach melba. I started spinning a bit of it last night and it’s delicious. Hot pink and brilliant purple are on the spool so far.

In other color/texture news, I bought a set of cards from January One for my mom for Mother’s Day. Hopefully Mom will send me one in the mail so I can check it out up close.

[photo removed]

I just love Cara’s photography and, well, her whole blog. She’s just finished with miter madness and now she’s looking at doing a knitted version of Babette. Frankly, the colors in the Babette pattern are so rich that I’d consider improving my crochet skills… but I have several other projects on my plate before embarking on something of that scale. I’ll keep it in mind for sock leftovers.

ps. In unrelated news, Naomi, if you are reading this, I found the link for David Polansky’s Animal Alphabet songs. If you thought this bit was not at all connected to this post, you might want to consider the fact that at least three of the animals have fiber that can be sheared and spun… that is, if Vicuna counts? You can listen to several of the songs online.

Knee socks!

I only finished one thing while I was away, and much of that was not in hot, humid Kinshasa but on the airplane.

Yes, I was indeed successful in passing as not-a-terrorist this time, with not-dangerous-wimpy-size2-sock-needles. Either that, or I was successful with my deceit, carefully tucking my knitting project in the bottom of my carryon in a little pencil case-like pouch. Even the Paris airport security at Charles de Gaulle didn’t call me out this time on my flagrant attempts to knit while flying - imagine having the gall to knit, in these dangerous times!

I still like this photo almost more than I like the finished product:

But here they are, waiting for blocking:

And here they are, having skipped the blocking and gone straight on my feet:

It was a bit surreal to work on these in my room when it was steaming hot outside and a gorgeous swimming pool was waiting next door where they were serving ice cream and meals with cold beers.

I ignored it all and turned up the A/C, hunkering down with a copy of Snow by Orhan Pamuk because I was actually reading my stash even though I didn’t post in time for the contest.

Since trudging through Snow, I have also made it through The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Shutterbabe by Deborah Kopaken Cogan, both of which were much less political and much easier reading than Mr. Pamuk’s (very interesting and worthwhile) book.

As for the socks, I must say, they look and feel great while I am lounging around the house, but how do I get them to stay up when I want to walk somewhere, say from the living room into the kitchen?

[By the way, I am going to MDS&W this weekend, any blogger meetups planned?]

Coming right up: Sea Silk scarf

I arrived home to find this waiting for me, thanks to Naomi, who may or may not have realized how happy this would make me:

Finally, a chance to see and touch and feel the legendary Sea Silk in person! I was so excited about it that I couldn’t wait to wind it, to feel it slipping through my fingers, and my mind has already been cataloguing all the possible projects.

After my visit to La Droguerie last week, I think I’ve settled on this scarf from my new book:

Here is some stitch detail:

What do you think? Or, do you have other ideas for a skein of Sea Silk?