Too Much Wool

back to boring

Apart from having worn my Aftur lopapeysa for the past two days straight (I take it off to sleep at night, I promise) I'm feeling a little bit of a letdown. I no longer have the push of nightly Olympic broadcasts and a goal to reach while people watch, cheering me on.

Speaking of being watched - in my focus-full two weeks of knitting on one thing, I realized how many times I wanted (my strange little mind told me I "needed") to cast on something else. "The blog will get bored" my strange little mind said, when truthfully, I was the one getting bored by not having the thrill of casting on something new whenever I felt like it. It made me realize how often I use the blog as an excuse for starting something new.

Of course, it wasn't as though I didn't have any temptations. I didn't buy much of anything during the Olympic knitting spree, other than needles, but I got a few gifts on or around my birthday, which sat near the computer taunting me throughout my sweater knitting. There's orange Zephyr, Socks that Rock, and some gorgeous naturally hand-dyed yarn. (Thanks to Erin, Kellee and Margene for all the temptation inspiration.) I couldn't blog about them (that makes them Real, y'know) until I was freed up to do something with them.

So, day one post-Olympics, I got to wait in the doctor's office for hours with my grandma. Love the grandma, hate the waiting rooms. I should note that my grandma is the first knitter to actually see my new sweater in person, and she responded with great enthusiasm (to her, "I followed the directions" doesn't downplay the accomplishment of something like colorwork - she was impressed).

So, during the two plus hours in the doctor's office, I managed to work on my Dublin Bay sock (famously[?] started while feverish, Trekking yarn on 2mm needles was easy in my fragile state of mind). I made the rather alarming discovery, given the opportunity to time my knitting, that two hours in the waiting room got me this:

Actually, two hours just got me the heel flap - I did the heel turn and started the gussets after I got home. This is my first "eye of partridge" heel flap, and I'm a little underwhelmed by it. Its got a little bit of texture, but that's it. Maybe its just the Trekking's variegatedness and the teensy needles that's obscuring the specialness of it, but .... meh?

This is where the sock in its entirety is right now -

Awaiting yet another doctor's visit tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned for more exciting progress from 2mm needle land ....

Now what?

That really might be an appropriate question to ask - what next? I said in several emails that I intend to pick up Celtic Dreams next and work on that. I have a sleeve and a half to go on it and after the thrill of finishing my first sweater (mine! all mine!) I'd like to finish another.

The pile of sweaters in progress irked me througout the entire Olympic knitting marathon. I knew they were there, and seriously considered finishing as my Olympic goal, rather than casting on a new sweater. In retrospect, I think the excitement of taking a whole sweater from start to finish was a good challenge for me. The focus aspect was indeed a challenge, as well as somewhat revelatory. I can actually work on one project, and get it done. For a serial starter, this is a Big Deal.

Instead of doing much of anything (besides wearing my new sweater all day and intermittently pointing out to everyone in the house that I'd made it, while hugging myself and the sweater), I took Emma's advice and took a nap. It got really really cold here Saturday night, and rather than saying nasty things about my new landlord and the heat, I'll just point out that I wore a lopi sweater indoors all day Sunday with two additional layers underneath - I think that kind of says it all.

The sweater washed up beautifully, and any bits of puckeriness that were there flattened out totally. The sweater didn't grow, but I knew that from previous experiences with létt-lopi - it holds its size/shape perfectly. I realized after I was too far gone for it to matter that I really should have taken a photo of the back before I started weaving in all the ends. The ends were.... well, scary. There were a LOT. I think Juno's private comment to me that I shouldn't "get cocky" was really was spurred me on to finish it on Saturday. And she was right  - there were hours and hours of ends to finish off. I actually saved the kitchenering of the underarms for intermittent "fun", if you can believe it.

In late breaking news, I did do a little knitting last night. I needed something mindless while I watched the closing ceremonies (clowns? can we not talk about clowns?) and so I picked up a pair of long-neglected socks I'd been making for Jon (they just needed the toes finished, but I needed him around to try them on). So, I've also racked up my first post Olympic finished project.

This is what happens when you make a guy model socks - at least my guy, who can be a total goof.

Pattern: Gentleman's Plain Winter Sock (from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush)
Yarn: Paton's Kroy 4 ply in Glencheck, 2 skeins
Needles: Addi Turbo 2.5mm
Started: 14 November 2005
Finished: 26 February 2006

Done!

Y'all knew that it was coming, right? My own daughter admitted to me tonight that she really didn't believe I was going to finish (so much for support teams).

The endless ends are woven in. The neckline has been knit, ripped, and reknit until I was satisfied. And, several hours before the deadline, I have (cue the major drumroll here)

.... my first, EVER finished adult sweater. Yeah, that's a bit of a pathetic admission at this very exciting moment - but its the truth.

Best part? It fits. It isn't just okay, it fits just right. I should admit right now that I .... um..... made the wrong size. I wasn't thinking and when I started I made the second size ("size 36", but that should have made a 38" sweater). It would have been too big for me, but thankfully I realized at the same time I figured out I had started the wrong size that my gauge was just a little tight, and so I wound up with a 36" sweater, which is perfect for me.

The sleeves are the perfect length, almost entirely by accident. I think I shortened them by a centimetre, but it was just enough. Because of the sweater construction, it was very difficult to tell how long to make the sleeves. I think I was just plain lucky.

And as far as team work goes, it couldn't have been done without my great teammate on Íslenska Prjónalandsliðið - Sigga Sif. Sigga is the one who got me a copy of the pattern (a real international effort there - Icelandic pattern via Icelander in Helsinki) so I could start in time. And the yarn came from Iceland via Canada, just to add another country into the mix.

I'm really happy that I substituted the dark brown for the gray/black. I waffled on that point for over a week, and then just dove in and made what I felt was the right choice on a gut level. And it worked well - I'm sure I wouldn't have liked the gray/black as much as I like the dark brown.

So, there you have it. Finished. Its going for a bath right now and I plan to wear it constantly from now on. Just in time too - we're expecting a serious cold snap starting tonight. Thanks to everyone who pushed, prodded, teased and encouraged me. And a huge thanks to Stephanie, who nagged me in just the right way and came up with the idea for these two weeks of insanity. It was the perfect challenge for me and I'm so happy to have participated - and to have a sweater to show for it all.

not out of the race

a little progress

Although I didn't think I'd be up for much yesterday, I did get a little bit of knitting time in the evening. Not much, but enough to get Aftur's sleeves joined to the body and get in the eleven rounds I needed to get done prior to starting the colorwork.

I'm becoming ambivalent about the sweater (this seems to be part of the process, for me). I'm wondering if its going to be too big - too small doesn't seem to be in the running. I'm bored to tears with stockinette, although I will admit to the relaxed knitting time that so much shapeless stockinette allowed me.

I've got about 35 rows of yoke/color knitting up next. I'm really hoping that I can whack this out over the next couple of days. I'm annoyed at myself for getting sick and taking almost a week off from my knitting in the midst of the whole Olympic challenge, but it wasn't as though I had a choice in the matter.

The colors in the yoke have been another sticking point for me. I like the red/orange/mustard but haven't been happy about the very dark gray/black in the mix. I think I've decided to substitute the dark chocolate brown from Marta for the gray/black yarn called for in the pattern. It will still be dark and provide contrast, without being quite as abrupt or dramatic as the gray/black (#0005)

I took a bunch of pictures, but none of them showed the difference between the dark brown and the gray/black, but these are the colors I'm looking forward to knitting into the yoke. Wish me luck, time is running short.

Oh - I realized that I had said I was taking some time off, but when I wrote that I was thinking of the couple of days I'd already taken. I'm hoping to make some progress on the yoke over the weekend and maybe have a couple of weekend posts to go with the anticipated knitting.

excuses

I hate to do this.

My last post said I was busy, and then (gasp) I skipped an entire weekday post yesterday. There has been no knitting.

I spent yesterday teaching two groups of homeschoolers to spin. It was great fun, everyone was very enthusiastic, and I hope I didn't overload them all with too much information. I tried to cover as much basic info as I could, as well as get everyone going with spindles and wool. I've decided I like teaching children as much or more than teaching adults - children are open and fearless and believe (unless, I suppose, someone tells them otherwise) that they can do anything. Which is a very fun attitude to deal with when you're trying to teach something.

I'm still fighting with a hacking cough from last week's cold, and although I'm feeling better every day, a long day like I had yesterday is still really taxing my energy. I didn't get much of anything done last night, just relaxed and watched a movie with my family.

Today -- well, today is my first day this week without any major commitments, and interestingly enough, its also my birthday. Yesterday was my anniversary; nineteen years of marriage, which as of today is precisely half my life. (That makes me thirty-eight, just in case anyone is in need of remedial maths.)

So, please forgive me for taking a few days off. I need some rest, I need some time to knit so I have something to write about, and I'm taking today to do whatever I want. No plans, but most likely some knitting (finally) will be involved.

five days and counting

Okay, I did it. I peaked at the evil countdown timer on Stephanie's blog. I mean, I know when the 26th is, but that thing is just plain scary.

I'm sure I have enough time to finish Aftur. When I finally do get the time to knit a little, which wasn't yesterday. Remember when I didn't blog on Friday because I was so sick? Well, Friday was my daughter's 18th birthday, and I couldn't do a damn thing for it. So Monday turned into the day that four extra teenagers came and invaded the house. And I made pizza totally from scratch, and cake, and watched teenagers watch the Olympics - which was really kind of cool, because they felt the same way I did about just about everything. I like it when people agree with me.

Embarassing fact: I used to make pizza at least twice a month, but it had been so long since I'd done it that my daughter didn't remember ever having homemade pizza. And its not that I don't cook - we rarely eat out or order in, so its just a habit that I fell out of. Which is a shame, because it was really, really good. Its going back on the regular dinner rotation (you can make crusts and freeze them ahead of time, which makes for great on on the fly eating).

And the next thing I have to do some work on, other than Olympic knitting, is coming right up. Tomorrow I'm doing a spinning workshop with a group of homeschoolers in Manhattan. I'm really looking forward to it - its a chance to talk about something I love with a group of people who are excited to listen, and that's always fun. I spent part of the day yesterday digging around for different types of fiber to show and tell.

I've got some plant fibers (cotton, hemp, bamboo, soy silk) and tussah silk, pure angora, mohair, llama down, and alpaca. (Yak, too. I had no memory that I had a tiny bag of pure yak fiber gifted to me about two years ago.) And wools. I actually have a big selection of little samples of many types of sheep's wool as well - a while back I asked a question about rare breed wools on the Spindlers email list (a fantastic resource which I just haven't had time to keep up with since I started blogging). A wonderful person (thank you again, Elisa!) gave me a big shopping bag full of little samples to get me started.

So, right now my plate is a bit full. In lots of good ways. But knitting isn't something I've had much time for, so Aftur will have to wait a little bit longer. Hey, all she needs is a yoke and some underarm finishing and she's done, right?

getting there

Very little knitting this weekend. I had to rest, and then there was some playing catch-up with housework, laundry, and such that took most of the energy I had to spare. However...

(Can anyone explain to me how there's birdseed in the picture even though I vacuumed for hours yesterday?)

I did finish the sleeves for Aftur. The body is done. And after mulling over the simple directions in the pattern, I pulled out my Best of Lopi book which actually has a diagram for how these sweaters are put together. Its just as easy as it sounds in the pattern, actually, which is a relief. I'll put some stitches from the body and each sleeve on holders or yarn, and then start knitting the yoke - a few rows plain and then colorwork. (yes!)

Other than that, the knitting news over the weekend involved me searching for hours for some size 0/2mm Addis that have gone missing and that I cannot find to save my life. There must be a gremlin out there that steals circular needles and hoards them in some hole in the ground (no, I don't have a fever anymore) and holds them ransom for.... I don't know. Maybe just for the pleasure of seeing knitters go nuts looking for them.

I also spent at least three hours trying to work on translating some Finnish so I could make sense of some of the sock patterns in Sukkasillaan. Did you know that the book Knitting Languages doesn't include Finnish? This is mind-boggling to me, as it includes Estonian - and Icelandic, which is probably spoken by fewer people than speak Finnish. Garnstudio's website has some excellent translation charts, which weren't quite enough for me, but thankfully Lene saved the day and gave me a hand.

In Team Iceland news, please go and congratulate Sigga Sif on her completion of the Leaf Lace pullover. Not only did she finish way ahead of schedule, she changed the pattern completely. After hitting a major roadblock (mogul? I'm not up on all the winter sports talk), she managed to bounce back and complete a sweater that looks gorgeous modeled, as well as being a triumph of ingenuity (and grafting). And now she's working on a lopi sweater as well.

(Go Team Lopi!!)

in which she proves that she isn't dead yet

So, I kinda lied the last time I posted. I didn't knit for almost 40 hours, but I started again. Its no fun to be too sick to do anything but lie down, but not sick enough to avoid boredom.

So I cast on for a sock. Admittedly, it took me about 5 hours. I thought that some simple socks on circs would be the perfect mindless knitting, but I couldn't find my 2mm Addis to cast on with. Then I messed around with the cast on about five or six times before I got it right. I finally found some Trekking, Ryan's Dublin Bay pattern (pdf download HERE), and some 2mm/0 US dpns, and cast on.

Now, it would probably have been pretty obvious to anyone but me (I had a fever) that if I could knit on 2mm needles, I could probably have picked up the second sleeve for the Aftur sweater (knit on size 7/4.5mm) and worked on that. But I plugged away on it, a row here and there, in between naps for a day and a half. When I finally felt a little better, the obvious occurred to me and I picked up the second sleeve and worked on that a little.

I've got about 35 more rows to go on the second sleeve, which is do-able. Its not quite as easy as the sock, because I need to be able to sit up and make scratch marks to count for increasing every 9th row. But I'm back to working on it. [As I'm writing this, it just occurred to me that a row counter would work. Doh.]

The funniest thing was that the first night I was sick, I woke up in the middle of the night, realized I had a fever of 101, and at 2am, my first thought was, "Oh, now I have an excuse to cast on for a sock."

So, I'm on the mend, still not near 100%, but getting better slowly. Everyone's well wishes for both Jon and I were very much appreciated.

too sick

To knit or blog. I'll be back when I'm better.