knuck and knick

I’ve knit this pattern half a dozen times; you’d think I could get it right. Made the first one months ago for DD#2 who then decided she wanted FINGERLESS mitts. In the drawer it sat, hibernating. No sense frogging it, since the making the fingers results in lots of small yarn bits. Today I convinced Exchange Daughter that she’d like the pair, even though they might be a little small. Spent a happy day knitting the mate. At the end of this happy day, partway through the cuff, I compare the two and find…I’VE KNITTED THE WRONG SIZE.

Aaaarrrrrgh.

The only saving grace is that I’d worked in a couple extra decreases to accomodate my smaller daughter’s hand. Froggy we went back to those decrease points, knit straight on, and now we have two smallish knucks which are mostly the same size but still don’t match structurally. (And I STILL have a million tails to weave in.)

May I say again: Aaaaaarrrrgh.

At least they’ll be out of the stash drawer.

antidote

It is snowing.

AGAIN. Ye gods, will this winter never end??

In a valiant effort to withstand the eternal grey and white and cloudiness, I offer you this:

 

Because otherwise we would just have this:

Now, if someone would kindly forward me additional supplies of Noro Silk Garden (four skeins, please, in two lovely colorways, preferably involving lavender), we might just make it through another week of…winter.

In other news, there has been Spinning and we have proudly achieved

Yarn.

We *loves* it. It is wooly and brown and soft and yummy and it has bits of vegetable matter in it (see? don’t I sound just like a real spinner? I can say “vegetable matter”) and we just wants to eat it up. I made YARN!

I have this fantasy (no, not that one…the other one) that this can be knit up into a flower basket shawl and I will be able to wear it with everything and everyone I know will just scream with envy.

Honestly, I’m not sure whether the thickness, which varies irregularly between DK and worsted, and the actual fact of the abovementioned unevenness, will lend themselves to this becoming a FBS. But…they might. Stay tuned, and don’t give up on Spring, it’s never failed us yet.

it’s all very simple

“A spinning wheel is simple to understand, really…Not like a computer.”

Meet Anna.

Anna is a beautiful Ashford Traditional, single drive, single treadle, and I can tell already I’m going to have competition for time with her. She’s been in the house less than an hour and my youngest is pestering me for spinning lessons.

Ah, the joys of new love! Let it snow all weekend…We have Anna and six wonderful ounces of merino/corriedale to keep us happy.

knit on

Today did not go exactly as planned.

Not a catastrophe of epic proportions, but still, a bump in the road. How did I cope? I did what any knitter would do.

I cast on a new sweater.

Ahhh. New, soft, warm, cushy wool. A brand new pattern (new to me, anyway. The Must Have Cardigan…I confess to being sucked in by The Harlot Effect).

A fire crackling in the fireplace, snow falling gently outside, my daughters drinking hot cocoa and chamomile tea beside me at the table, and a fresh ball of Eco Wool awaiting a spotless future…All I needed was for my mom to show up and make me tomato soup.

All can be made well.

What I knit on my Thanksgiving vacation

Exactly and exclusively what I wanted to.

Specifically, this.

I’ve had this lopi yarn in stash for some time now, and having had such a deep love affair with my grey icelandic sweater last winter, have been craving a second one. In deep red. Mmmmm. (You know how I feel about red wool.)

I also knit this, but I’m not telling who for:

Sock (cuff only so far) in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted, on size six needles, destined to become the Age of Aquarius Sock from knitter’s stash. It’s a little tight on the sixes, frankly. Fantasies of moving up to sevens are dancing like sugarplums in my head, but given that it’s a sock and all, I’m trying to do the responsible thing and knit it tight.

One final glimpse of a finished project…

Lulu’s shrug, all finished and sent home. I’m told she’ll most likely be sleeping in it. I love the image. (I also love the big red buttons with hearts.)

Ta Da! Of course, my cold-handed daughters wish I were showing you photos of mitts and knucks…Unfortunately for them, the lopi craving was undeniable.