Knit by Nora

Compulsive ~ a strong, irresistible impulse to act (i.e., to knit) and Obsessive ~ to occupy the mind excessively (thus this blog)

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Today’s Fiber News

2007 FO # 3---Pattern: Litla Dinum
Source: Folk Shawls
Manufacturer/Yarn: Lorna’s Lace /Helen’s Lace
Content: 50% Silk & 50% Wool
Color: 38 – Mixed Berry
Details: 1250 yards
Cost: $52.00 (Purchased at Cast-On Cottage in Roswell, GA during a business trip)
Start Date: September 18, 2006 (for about 2 weeks)
Re-Start Date: January 17, 2007
End Date: February 9, 2007

Socks. I knit one once (the Red Cross kit sock for a man) and I did not like it. Since my knitting guild (3 Rivers Knitting Guild) is focusing on sock knitting for two months, I decided to give it a try on my terms.

Other than at home, I only wear trouser socks (warm weather) or knee socks (cold weather) because of my work wardrobe. So my socks have to be knee high meaning two balls of yarn.

And I always thought toe up made a thousand times more sense than toe down. Do you really need reasons why? If so, you can use all/most of your yarn without having too much or too little at the end. Also you can try the sock on as you go. There are more but so what, it seems common sense.

And screw the dpns. I like the idea of the magic loop.

And two socks at once.

And having given away every sock pattern that crossed my path, both instructions and patterns must come from the internet for free.

So what if I have 40 pages and no one explaination of what I want to do. By the end, I will. I might even journal the details for duplication.

This is a photo of my Turkish cast-on for two socks. I am stalled until my US #1 in a 40” length arrive as 32” does not cut it for 2 socks. May be one but not two.

Mark's Swatch for an Aran Sweater.

My husband wants a sweater. I have made him four, but they are all casual, knock-around sweaters. He want an heirloom and I want to make an Aran for him (from Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting). One problem is he does not do itchy, so pure wool is out. But I do not want to knit an acrylic/nylon Aran.

Mary Ann in my knitting group had the perfect yarn from KnitPicks, in a apaca blend. The sweater she made in a cinnamon color looks perfect with her coloring much like the color coral is perfect on Ember. I think women have one shade that is their own. Finding it sometimes is the life-long challenge and it may take another to say so. In any case, I wanted a blue for Mark and there was none I liked. Only a baby blue, a bright blue and a navy blue. No blue the color of worn jeans or of his eyes, a gray-blue.

Then I saw Ultra Alpaca by Berroco at my LYS, Yarns Unlimited. I bought a ball to swatch and it was karma. The exact gauge of 20 sts. by 26 rows! A perfect color: Light Denim. So the yarn is on order and the deadline is generous: September 12, 2007. Plenty of time to make it perfect. My first step will be to get out a tape measure and chase Mark down (naked from the waist up). Or I could get out a favorite sweater…nah. May be both to be safe.

My couch knitting (the mindless kind, not the challenging sort) is the Mason-Dixon log cabin pattern. I am using my Navaho home spun that I bought this year on vacation. It is from the Navaho Trading Post in Cameron, Arizona. I think I like how I am distributing my five colors. I plan to knit a generous border in black. I also want to back it with wool fabric as this is to be a wall hanging, not a blanket or such. I decided if I am not 100% happy with it, I will frog. Hope I decide soon as each log is taking about 45 minutes now. I have a pattern in mind for the color sequence. You see it is two warms: red and burgundy and two cools: aqua and blue. I did not want circles of black within the body so I am doing alternates of a 3 color group, black, color single, black, other color single, black and reverse 3 color group. Plus the cools and warms started at different places in the sequence. Simple, huh?

Noticed something scary…my 4th blogging anniversary is coming up in April. How did that much time pass already? Scary. While I may not be the most read and I do not tinker with my template or such and I am not a great commentor, let alone replier, I have a s**t load of hits because of longevity (5591 visitors). And I think that counter was reset at least once.

At least I still blog and I still find it useful as a personal journal. As I still get emails from some very nice, special people (that I do not even know personally), I like to think something is right and good. Hope you do too.

BTW, Did you know that amazon.com now ships cats named Bowie?