Okay, not a lot got done yesterday because yesterday was so truly crappy. You know, not bad enough to be $hi**y, just everything that can go wrong, going wrong. Happily. Merrily even. Consistently. Sheesh, I was never so happy to go to bed and turn my back on a day in my life!
But, just so the day wouldn’t be a total loss, a little did get accomplished :)
Little spiral sock
This is the little spiral sock and you can see the colors spiraling even if the ribbing isn’t awfully clear. I’m very pleased with these; they’re nice and stretchy and should accommodate a range of smallish foot sizes. This is a very useful thing to have in my repertoire. As I mentioned before, the Socka is an absolute delight to work with and this goes pretty fast - when I actually work on it :)
I also got up the nerve to try what I consider to be real lace knitting yesterday afternoon:
Little Lace V
This is a typical shawl beginning - casting on one stitch, defining the borders and heading upward and outward from there. The yarn is KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud lace weight. I have never worked with a yarn this thin before and I have been seriously intimidated by the thought. But yesterday I picked up my size 4 (US) walnut needles and decided to give it a try. And you know what? It wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t fast either but it is do-able. That was a revelation to me as I have long dreaded the idea of even trying. I should have known better, eh? I was certain I would never be able to figure out DPNs either and now I don’t give it another thought.
Though the feel of this alpaca yarn is absolutely heavenly, the yarn is also very slippery. I dread moving this onto a metal circular needle (when/if the project outgrows the needle) and watching the stitches all slide off right into my lap. I suppose the thing to do would be to pick up a bamboo circular before that stage is reached. (Interesting - my collection of bamboo seems to be growing these days :)
And that’s the news from the little house at glum corner where the sun seems, finally, to be coming out again! (Yes, I know - to twee for words, ain’t it?)
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Those spiral socks look like they would fit and stay on, how many stitches did you cast on? They would make awesome baby gifts, and why bother with heels for babies anyway?
I can totally relate with the purling of the first stitch on DPNs, it sucked but now it’s much easier since working through a few times.
BTW, is Goldie stalking something, or giving somebody the stink-eye?
Ahem….I tried Alpaca Cloud on Addi Turbos. Note the word, “tried”. Adventure would be a nice word to describe it.
I love the yarn too…mmmmm. But the things I want to knit with it are too challenging for me at this point. Not that I can’t do it…I don’t have the quiet I need to concentrate and pay attention. One of these days. Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy yours. :)
goldie should be a calendar cat! great picture- smog and cheddar send kitty mwahs that way-
i am a true believer in bamboo needles- love them- they may not be the things of beauty that some of the more exotic ones are, but they do get the job done- now, my commercial is over-
in all my years of making (and avoiding) socks, i’ve missed out on the socka yarn- it looks nice-
stay happy-
Colleen - That’s the idea - that they fit and stay on. There’s a link to the pattern in my previous post. The pattern has you start with size 1s and change to 3s after a few rows. I cast 36 stitches onto size 2 needles and just went from there, continuing with the size 2s.
Lisa - that was kind of my take on it too. The yarn is slick as it is - on slick needles (like Addis) it would be like trying to knit soap with ice!
But it’ll be a while before I need to worry about a circular - and thank goodness for the wooden needles because they at least have a little bite :)
Barb - Goldie thanks you - especially as he hates having his picture taken. I had to enlist Myria’s help for that and it’s her he’s giving the evil eye too :)
I was reading this morning about coating bamboos with goo furniture oil, leaving them for a couple of days to absorb and then wiping them down and polishing them. I don’t feel the need to do anything with mine at the moment, but does that sound like a reasonable method to you?
when my bamboos need a bath or look less than shiny, i just use murphy’s oil soap on them and i polish them later with a soft cloth- it keeps them from ever drying out or (saints forbid!!!) cracking- i think the goo would probably provide similar protection to them, but it takes longer- i’m all about *fast and easy* here!
Barb - Murphy’s oil soap! I would never have thought of that - and I think I even have some under the sink! Thanks - that’s a good idea :)
Love the picture of Goldie. That is a great color on the little sock,can’t wait to see how that works up. I have a set od Bernat “Aero” needles I collected in the 80"s. I just love them and they are great for lace knitting. If you check on Ebay you can find them sometimes.
Maureen - I’ve heard of Aero needles - aren’t they Canadian? I’ll definitely keep my eye open in the thrift shops - you never know what’s going to show up there!
You’ll be surprised at how fast you can get, once you get a little further into it! I found on Bella (my latest lace project), that the “lace” rows seemed faster than the plain rows!
Natalie - That’s usually the case for me, but I am so clumsily ham-handed, I’m not sure how this will work out. But I’m going to keep trying. One way or another, I’m going to make lace :)
You can’t have had that day yesterday, because that was MY day. At the end of it, I said to my DH, “You know, the only thing that could really top this whole day would be if [X] happened.” And not five minutes later, [X] occurred. I was dumfounded. I couln’t wait to go to bed - BLECH. Phooey!
You and I are so karmically in tune it’s not funny. I think that bodes well for me in the long run. :-)
ANYWAY - metal needles? Lace? Don’t even goooo there… I love bamboo for lacework, but just got a bunch of Bryspuns and am enjoying them a lot.
Your knittin’ looks fabu, as always!
(If you doubt my day stunk you will believe me about it when I tell you… it was sooo bad I neither ate, nor knit, all day… and involved a letter from a lawyer and a surprise visit from my mother, among other craptatious events. GOODBYE, 39, and good riddance!)
Ooooh Stasia - Sorry to hear about your crudtastic day - I certainly wouldn’t have wished it on anyone else. On the other hand, we both made it through so good for us, eh?
All together now as Scarlett leads us in a chorus of “Tomorrow is another day!”
Hope things have improved for you!
Hee hee hee, sometimes envisioning Scarlett saying, “I’ll just think about that tomorrow…” is all that gets me through. But TODAY is turning out 100% better - hope YOURS is as well! Hugs!
Stasia - So far so good!
