Snow - we got lots of snow yesterday - and we’re going to get more snow tomorrow.  No question about what season it is around here :) But it’s not too bad.  Since I’m spending as little time in it as I can manage, I don’t feel too annoyed about it and even I have to admit that it’s pretty.

The socks were completed Tuesday evening and delivered to dad on Wednesday morning.  He seemed very pleased with them, so I was happy.  There isn’t a picture because...well, because they were just dad-standard ribbed socks in charcoal wool.  Really, there’s nothing to see :)

I also engaged another project the week - real pretty one too! - about which I can’t say much for now, except that it’s enabling me to use that lovely Pingouin wool/angora I lucked into a couple of weeks ago.  And fun - it’s pretty and fun :) What could be better?

I’m still playing with blanket ideas too - though I think the French Tweed combined with the cream fingering weight is a definite.  I like the way it looks and feels and the relatively plain panels done with it will be a restful spot between other, perhaps more elaborate and complex panels.  But damn this thing is taking a long time to get under way :) Who knew there was so much thinking involved!

And like many of the rest of you, I’ve had other commitments eating up time and energy so that there isn’t a lot left over for knitting or blogging.

Chatters is on tomorrow night - regular time and place.  I don’t believe my site host is planning any upgrades for tomorrow so we shouldn’t have last week’s problem :) Drop in if you can!

Otherwise, stay warm, stay safe and stay happy :)

My apologies again to those who tried to join Chatters Saturday night and couldn’t get in.  My site hosts had done some “updating” on Saturday that completely messed things up and the entire site was down for about 24 hours.  I missed you guys terribly and I sure hope that doesn’t happen again soon!*

*I’m too pragmatic to hope that it never happens again because I know better :)

I played with the Unger French Tweed all weekend.  I did do some work on dad’s socks, but that’s it’s own story and I’ll get to it later :)

First, a swatch.  This was done on size 5 US (3.75 mm) bamboo needles - just stockinette with garter edges.

This stuff is surprisingly inelastic for wool and I had feared that the twist would result in biasing when the yarn was knitted up.  That didn’t happen, thank goodness.  However, like plant-based yarns (cotton, linen, etc...) it didn’t like the bamboo needles.  Metal pins would have worked better.

The resulting fabric was...rough - very rough - almost abrasive.  Any garment made form this wool would have to be fully lined to be wearable or worn over something else - like a parka :) Trust me, you don’t want this touching your skin.  I suspect if it were knitted with small enough needles, it could serve well as body armor.

All that means is that I won’t use it for clothing of any kind.  However, I decided to try stranding it with some undyed fingering weight and working it up on size 8 US (5.00 mm) needles - metal, this time :)

This is kind of pretty, I think.  The cream, wandering in and out of the orchid/grey creates an almost lichen-like impression - the bright pink slubs not withstanding :) The two yarns together make a much more supple fabric and the cream wool considerably tones down the rough feel of the tweed.  Notice at the top of the swatch, are a few rows of seed stitch.  Kind of hard to see, aren’t they?

I went from that to this:

The lace diamond is only so-so, in my opinion but despite premonitions of unsuitability, I went on and created another diamond out of bobbles :)





No, I don’t know what I was thinking either :) Using a tweed as a component of a marl isn’t necessarily a bad idea - but it does make for a busy yarn.  So busy, in fact, that just about any kind of design element is swallowed up.  If it shows at all, it’s as a spot in the fabric where things looks a little muddled.

So, my tentative conclusions are these:

1.  The French Tweed should only be used alone for pot scrubbers, sandpaper or chain mail.

2.  The French Tweed/Peruvian Highland combination is a winner.  One dresses the other up and the other tones down the one.

3.  The resulting marl is interesting enough in and of itself to require no further fiddling around.  Keep it simple, stupid :)

4.  There is enough of both of these yarns to create three or four panels for a blanket.  There is also enough cream colored worsted weight to create alternating panels which can be highly designed since the worsted weight yarn is plain.

5.  Ooooooooooooooooohhhh :)

The Saga of the Socks

I am trying to finish dad’s socks up to give to him on Wednesday - since that’s when I will next see him.  So, last night, having worked the leg of the second sock to about six inches, I reached for the completed first sock to compare them.

No first sock...not in my knitting basket, not on the coffee table, not tucked down into the crevices of my chair, not on the floor under the chair (or under the coffee table) - no sock!  I searched in every other reasonable place I could think of.  I do sometimes bring my knitting into the kitchen - did I lose it there?  Nope.  Did I put it (god knows why) into one of the knitting bags under the coffee table?  Nope.  And most fearfully, did one of the cats carry it off to have their way with it?

As it turns out, nope :) I finally located the miscreant, folded up in a blanket at the end of the bed - perfectly safe and sound.  My best guess is that someone “wore” (thanks to static) the sock into the bedroom, sat down on the end of the bed - depositing the sock (the famous bum/bed transfer maneuver), and the sock got folded into the blanket when the bed was made.

Or that’s the theory anyway…

What a grumpy, yucky looking Monday it is up here.  We’ve been getting ice all night and the roads have been treacherous this morning, or so I hear.  Myself, I’m terribly grateful not to have to drive anywhere today :) I lit a candle and sat back and relaxed.

The wolves’ council and I hope that wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, you’re snug and warm.

Happy Monday :)

I’m going to open up Chatters tonight :) I hated missing last night.

If you’re free and so inclined, please drop in!

I’ve been pretty busy the last couple of weeks - test and doctors, you know the drill.  The good news is that my cholesterol and blood sugar are perfect :) The bad news is that I will need to start chemotherapy again after the first of the year.

I tend not to do a lot of knitting when I have a lot of running around to do, but I’ve been working on dad’s socks.  In fact I brought them with me to lunch-with-the-girls this afternoon.  We ate at TGI Fridays, where we always meet, and while Friday’s food is pretty good (go for the Dragonfire chicken - it was awesome!), it’s lighting sucks when you’re knitting charcoal colored yarn.  I had to stop when I realized I had dropped a stitch somewhere.  I didn’t have a prayer of finding it in that light :)

I’ve also begun swatching for a blanket.  Having absolutely no luck at figuring out what stitch patterns I want to use, I finally decided to swatch a bunch of them and see what pleases both my eye and my fingers :)

And thanks to a surprise gift from another friend, I came home with more vintage yarn!

This is Unger French Tweed.  There are three huge hanks of it - 3.2 oz, 384 yard hanks.  I was able to trace it back to late 70s/early 80s.  It is a very tightly twisted yarn so I’ll have to be careful about how I work it.  It is beautiful though - an orchid colored yarn with slubs of pink and purple.  I have never worked with anything like it before and am looking forward to seeing how it works up!  The ball band recommends a size 4 needle, but I’m thinking a larger needle might be more appropriate.





This is Bernat Musetta.  Unlike the tweed, this is in standard 50 gram balls so is a more recently manufactured item.  It’s a bulky yarn, about 75 yards/ball, of wool/mohair composition with a small percentage of acrylic and it is the most gorgeous burgundy-cedar-eggplant colorway.  I’ll have to think about what to do with this because it is just so luscious :)

I love mohair - could you tell?

Okay - this last isn’t vintage :) It’s Schoeller and Stahl Socka - beautiful, fingering weight washable wool - 5 balls of it.  And - see that color?  I probably won’t be making white socks, but won’t this dye beautifully?  Whee!





Chatters is on Saturday evening - most definitely :) Drop in if you have the chance.  Hot yarn talk and festive companionship!  What’s not to like?

And have a great weekend!

Rant…

I read a lot of blogs hosted by Blogspot/Google.  And I like to comment - I mean we all like to get feedback on our posts, right?  I like to do that :)

But I suddenly found, this week, that I couldn’t comment on several blogs that I read regularly because the commenting system had changed.  Now, I either had to sign up for a Google account or I couldn’t comment at all.  Moreover, once this is done, there still isn’t a way for me to link my own blog to the post if it isn’t part of the Blogspot/Google network.

Feh…

On the sock front, I have one down and the second one started.  Still charcoal and ribbing, still blah :) In a way, that’s nice because I don’t have to pay attention to anything, don’t have to worry about colors pooling (there’s have to be colors for that to happen), don’t have to concentrate on an intricate stitch pattern, etc.  It’s surprisingly relaxing knitting :)

I also watched Fiddler on the Roof the other night.  I enjoyed it as much as I did when I saw it in the theatre mumblety years ago :) Awesome, energetic and enthusiastic.  You feeling down, discouraged, tired and less than motivated?  Sit your bum down and put this in the DVD player; I promise you’ll feel better!

L’Chaim!

I have a snark - you there in the back of the room - stop sniggering!

Have you been in a public restroom lately?

Dad and I went to a nice place Saturday for lunch - right on the ocean, wonderful view, great food.  Before we left, I made my traditional visit to the ladies salon only to find that it had been redone since my last visit back in the spring.  What that mostly means is that someone decided that the stalls’ width could be reduced by a third and the space from front to back, by half.

The stall door opened inward and I had to practically climb up on the toilet to have enough room to close it.  Once closed, I realized that there was no hook on the back - you know, for shawl and purse?  All there was was the door handle which would only suffice for the purse.

Let me tell you about the slacks I was wearing.  They’re nice, white dress slacks (I love white pants) with an inside button on the waist band to the right of the zipper, and a large, flat hook-and-eye on the left.  Now these slacks are just a bit snug.  Not, you know, uncomfortably so, but I had just eaten dinner.  Imagine, if you will, trying to get these slacks undone one-handed, whilst sucking in a full stomach and juggling a shawl that can’t even be draped over the stall door because the door goes all the way up to the low ceiling.  Finally I folded the shawl as narrowly as I could, and draped it over the body of the purse.  Not ideal, but at least I had both hands back. 

I had, however, failed to notice how low to the ground the toilets were.  So, of course when I tried to sit down, I found myself falling the last three inches.  But, so be it.  After maneuvering for what had seemed like an hour, finally...relief!

And then I discovered that not only were the toilets low to the ground, they were also shallow as it was impossible to tidy up without getting my fingers in the water.

Nothing like a little Saturday adventure :)

I’ve been thinking about a blanket/afghan for my next big project.  I’ve got a bag full of cream colored worsted/aran weight wool (Nomis wolle - courtesy of the mill shop) plus a fair bit of undyed fingering weight wool that could be used double in a pinch - more than enough to make a nice, warm cover with.  Dyeing is a possibility, but I’m thinking the natural color is pretty nice and I might just leave it at that :)

So I’ve been scouring the net for design ideas.  I’ve spent a great deal of time the last few days, looking at pattern (both project and stitch) and one of the things that tickled my fancy was this:

This is a swatch that tries to reproduce a design I saw on Friday and then couldn’t find again - of course :) I did locate the original yesterday and it’s a scarf called Her-Scarf (scroll down).  I’ll probably try it again a couple more times to work out what I want to do with it.  I like it a lot and can see it being a substantial part of whatever overall plan I come up with.  I even like the embroidery which I haven’t done seriously since I was in college.  However, a lazy daisy I can manage :)

And dad’s socks are proceeding apace.  They’re nothing fancy, 2x2 rib at the top, 6x2 rib down the leg and top of the foot.

I should have them done in a week or so.

It snowed here last night - nothing heavy - but enough to cover things with white.  And here I am feeling smug because I don’t have to go anywhere and the kitchen is well stocked :)

Onwards! 

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