Too Much Wool

long time coming

I bet you gave up on me.

I talked and talked about the emergency sock kits, and then there was utter silence. As I've said, there's been a lot going on here and .... well, let's put it this way. Wielding a rotary cutter isn't always the best idea at times.

Speaking of rotary cutters, the downside to sewing is that its absolutely impossible to use a rotary cutter when tired, after your first glass of wine, or when circumstances aren't absolutely right. Too much caffeine can be a problem too. This (especially the latter) has limited my sewing time severely.

I've found that I love the choosing and cutting fabrics part of the work. The sewing is a pain [must get a better chair]. I save the handwork for evenings with the family. My entire house is a disaster because there are piles of fabric everywhere - just like the good old days. The funniest part is that every time Alice is around the kits, she climbs on things just to go and play with the fabric. She also loves to pull the needle out of my hand when I'm doing handsewing - I honestly think she remembers when I used to sew constantly. Very cute.

Okay, so here goes. I've made some of the kits to sell. They're a lot of work. The one I timed from start to finish took almost three hours. Of course I'm doing production sewing and cutting, but there's still a lot of handwork in them. I've made a photo album in the sidebar with the kits that are available for sale. I'll mark them as sold when I get an email from someone saying that they want that particular kit. I'll add more as I get them finished (there are a ton of them cut out).

If you're interested, please go take a look at the Emergency Sock Kit Photo Album, and email me if you're interested in something. I'll mark them sold if/when they sell.

Specifics - the prices are $45 including shipping in the US (unless otherwise marked). If you order more than one the second one is $40. Kits do not come fully loaded - you fill them with what you need for your sock knitting. All close with snap closures attached to a flap on the outside. Dimensions are 7" x 9", which will hold a dpn up to 8" long. Bindings are doublefold with mitred corners, hand appliqued on the outside. Fabrics are all 100% cotton, they're lined with cotton batting, and 100% cotton thread was used for all of the sewing.

meh

Well, at least its something. I knit the cuff (on dpns) and a few inches of the leg (on circs) of this sock yesterday, and then ripped the stockinette part last night. My tendency with Addis and tight gauge is to go a little too tight. Something about the slipperiness of the needles just makes my gauge tighten up.

Right now it looks good. I just want another pair of thin socks to wear. Well, that and something to knit on the subway or when I don't want to use my brain. I cast on 75 stitches and have yet to decrease the extra three stitches in the leg. I'm going to knit another inch and a half or two inches before I decrease, closer to the ankle.

I'm still not happy, to be honest. A while ago I sat down with a tape measure and extensively took my leg measurements - one of these days when I actually take the time to measure my gauge (I never did on these) and work out the decreases, I want to do a plain, fitted and shaped sock. I think I'm just a little too lazy most of the time, although it has occurred to me that socks are probably one of the most fitted things you could possibly try to knit. Maybe I should just knit shawls and scarves instead?

the devil's in the details

I had a lovely day yesterday, teaching a spinning class to a group of homeschoolers. I had always imagined (after years of teaching adults to quilt) that teaching children would be a nightmare. Not these kids. They're smart, they catch on faster than most adults, and they're fun to talk to. Imagination unbounded being the key factor.

However, at the end of the day I was wiped out. I went to bed really early last night, and my sleep cycles being what they are [I sleep 6 hours, 7 max, then wake up. Always.], I woke up at 4am. At the time this seemed like a bright idea. Wake up, drink coffee (always) and have some really super quiet time to work on some knitting.

Now, me and the coffee are best buddies, but 4am is 4am, no matter how much sleep you've gotten. I had the sense not to touch the sock I'm designing. I'm halfway done with the second one of the pair, but need to sit at the computer and work on the sock simultaneously so I can write down what needs to be done at the gusset. Trust me, you'll thank me later for saving this for sometime when I'm awake.

Now, I've been knitting socks for a few years. Not many compared to some people, but I started knitting socks to get exactly what I wanted. Yes, I'm a little bit of a stickler for details, but that's what makes knitting fun for me. The last few pairs of socks I made from Trekking were great. Love the yarn, love working on them, but I've wanted to add some shaping so that I could make the sock leg longer than 6" or so. My calves start their shapeliness at about that point, and I'm getting sick of wasting a third of a ball of sock yarn because I'm too lazy to figure out the shaping for myself.

Around 5am this morning, I decided to have another go at the Opal Mosaic I had blogged about a few weeks ago. Being full of coffee inspiration I thought that maybe I could add a couple of inches to my sock, while avoiding much real shaping, by adding a lace cuff to a stockinette sock. The choice for the lace was easy - the same cuff I worked out for the teal lace sock I'm designing. I really need a stockinette sock for subway knitting and dr's appts right now, but I figured that if I just got the lace started....

Doesn't look too bad?

But of course, 5am being 5am, there were a few problems. I wasn't sure if I was going to blog this morning, but I thought that maybe someone would benefit by learning from my mistakes. So here goes.

1. I usually make a 72 stitch sock on 0s/2mm with the thinner yarns like Trekking/Opal etc. I had the bright idea (the lace pattern being a 5 stitch repeat) to go waythehell up to 80 stitches for this sock, then decrease to 72 after a few inches. Doesn't sound unreasonable?

2. The cuff has lace patterning in it - i.e. yarnovers. Yarnovers make space. More space means bigger cuff. Are you getting the idea yet? This could easily be a knee-high sock for me with the current pattern and stitch count. Which wasn't what I was planning for. When adding lace, you have to fidget with the stitch count, or it can be way bigger than you planned. I should have known this from the other sock I'm designing.

3. I like Addis. I like stockinette socks on 2 circs. But delving directly into a lace cuff on 2mm/0s with a tight gauge on Addis is A Bad Idea. Very bad. First row or two were kinda loose. Then it got a little more rhythmic and ..... tight.

Addis have shit-for-points, and so the bad idea nearly became a hair-tearing experience. I couldn't get the blunt Addi's to do a slip2tog without mangling my wrists. Lesson? Do the cuff on dpns with real points. It's easier on the wrists.

So, the second try with this yarn will get ripped too. I'm consoling myself with the thought that when I finally work out the details on doing this, I'm going to have this wonderful, interesting, well-fitting stockinette sock with my own very special cuff. Not picot (sorry Claudia), not ribbing (ribbing is boring and generally pretty ugly, sorry to the rest of you), but something that works out to be perfectly in between.

If you're in the mood for a moral to the story, its this:

When inspiration strikes before sunrise..... you should consider having another cup of coffee before casting on.

ducks in a row

Its done. Washed and finished. Hey, anything that gets me to go to the laundromat before we run out of clothes is a good thing, right?

Its the linen handtowel from Ann and Kay's book. Trust me, I'm as surprised as anyone that I did this. But the washing of the twine linen yarn turned it into something drapey and almost soft. I hold out hope that further washings and dryings will soften it even more.

I'm also a little surprised [shouldn't admit this aloud] that I bought more linen yarn. To make curtains for the bathroom. In yellow - I'm into yellow these days. Because the yellow curtains and the orange handtowel will match these guys...

And that's about as close as I'll ever get to home dec type stuff.

and the blog suffers

Did you ever have one of those months where you run around, do five hundred things a day, talk with dozens of people deeply and meaningfully, and get caught up on so many things and people that you feel like your life just turned into someone else's? And then you find out that only five days have passed by.

Its been like that.

I've sometimes wished that my blog were more like Juno's and that I could spill my soul out here, but I just can't. I'm not like that. But I figured, after missing blogging this morning (both in the sense that I didn't blog and that I wished I had) that I'd give it a try.

I'm sure that people who pay attention to these things have noticed that my clockwork-like posting has gone down the tubes. I'm adjusting to that, mentally, and thankfully everyone who reads the blog seems to have too. Its going to be that way for now.

Anyone who knows me in person knows that I'm a small person. Short, petite, whatever. I've recently lost 17 pounds. How recently? I have no idea, I've never actually owned a scale in my life. But weighing myself at dr's offices and friends' houses has confirmed what my wardrobe has told me over the last few months. I lost a lot of weight. The upside is, I look freaking fantastic in jeans again. I've been asked by friends if I've been starving myself, but I haven't. It just happened. Some of this is likely spring, and increased activity and walking like I used to. Who knows what the rest of it is. But I have been eating. Why am I telling the world this? Because its been on my mind.

I've felt mentally and emotionally vacant for a long while. This doesn't really show up on the blog because I talk about wool, and knitting. And the wool and the knitting are what keep me sane, so I retain some semblance of normalcy when I talk along those lines.

I had a conversation the other day with someone who I could consider my best friend. When they said that they weren't sure if we were friends anymore or what had happened, because I'd been so distant (and then I realized that it'd been 5 months since we'd talked) I did a bit of a double-take.

Its been like that too.

This isn't really leading anywhere, by the way.

So today I went through my closet, and am getting rid of things that look awful on me or reflect a time in my life when I had a screwed up mentality about clothes and my body. I literally bagged up half of what I own. I was pleased to find out that my favorite 50's sundress with the bright red roosters on it fits me again. [I bought it in 1986, no joke.] And that I now have a ton of room to breathe. I need breathing room right now, some physical space to stretch my wings a little.

At any rate, galloping segues aside, there's a lot going on right now. I'm proud (being the sort who occasionally goes in for self-flagellation) that the linen handtowel is almost done, as well a bit embarassed that that's what I've got to show for my time lately. I'm mentally adjusting to a much needed change of pace on the blog for the forseeable future, and am content that I could easily lose a lot of people if I'm not whacking out laceweight shawls in doubletime, as I've occasionally been known to do.

So be it.

of seduction and regret

There was laceweight, and School Products. And then there was the yarn I didn't blog about at all.

Its funny sometimes, because I really don't walk around thinking "this is bloggable", often until days after the fact when I need something to say and I dredge my memory for something to work into a post. Which is, by the way, one of the reasons I never seem to pull out my camera when I should.

There was some laceweight Italian merino that came home with me from School Products last week. I got it home, and I hated the color, so I never mentioned it. Why is it that when I make a mistake, I often feel like I don't want to say anything about it? So the other day, I blogged the mohair/cashmere and the silk laceweights I bought. But didn't take a picture of the merino [it was a washed out, grayed teal, in case you want to know] because I figured right away that I'd exchange it for a different color.

There's a little bit of a funny story in the buying of that merino. In School Products with two yarn crazed friends, I saw the merino and picked up a skein. Then I turned around and saw cones of the same merino. I said "Ohhhh [imagine low moan] I need a cone of that." And one of my yarn-crazy friends said - and I kid you not, I really should have been worried - "No, you don't need a cone. That's too much."

Of course I collapsed into fits of giggles and asked if she remembered the name of my blog. But I was being all sheeplike that day and so thought that maybe "too much" was the voice of reason, so I settled for two (measly) skeins.

Okay, so this knitter walks into a bar School Products the other day to exchange the merino for a different color. Knowing full well that she's going to get a cone, because dammitalltohell there's no one there to stop her this time. You have to understand, that Not-Kerry Not-blue shawl totally warped my mind. Big, square, a gazillion stitches with not one iota of information on yarn requirements to be found, and a coned yarn gave me the freedom to knit blissfully unworried that I'd run out. I love coned yarn.

So, I found the ochre-y color of the merino I knew I wanted. In a cone (nyah nyah) and was happy. And then I started looking around. Who walks into a yarn store and doesn't look around, even if they were there last week? So of course something else walked home with me.

The merino laceweight is on the right, the other yarn is on the left. The other yarn (if yarn it can be called) is a 50/50 silk and linen blend. Its the thickness of thread - thinner than some threads I've seen. In fact, I'm sitting here thinking that there may be a point at which something sold in a "yarn" store really is thread and not yarn. Its fine. Super, super fine. And considering the fiber content, there probably is no chance at all that it will bloom, fluff, or otherwise change its nature. I think its about the thickness of the thread in the middle of Kidsilk Haze.

So, I get this ersatz yarn home and wonder (yet again) what in the world I was thinking.
But as we all know, the cure for all indecision and regret is swatching. Its a make or break sort of solution, but it works.

So, I kind of have ..... knitted thread. Actually, I love it. It drapes, its soft, it has a very subtle and seductive sheen. I swatched it on size 8/5mm needles to give it some openness because I know this baby ain't gonna block for nothin'. I think that somewhere in the back of my mind, I was wondering if it would be possible to substitute this for cobweb weight wool. I know you can steam and iron linen and silk, which might substitute for the effects of blocking wool. Any opinions?

And in sock pattern news -

Its going. I'm knitting the second sock now. I realized that if this was just something I was knitting and was going to show you finished, I'd blow through it much faster. But this is something that someone else might conceivably want to knit. Which means that there are no secrets. If I'm not thrilled with something, I need to work it out. Normally, I'd just bury any glitches in silence, and no one would ever know the difference. But this figuring out and writing down and thinking of all the ways it could be better is slow. Patience, please.

delusions of superpowers

Well, I don't have superpowers. I want to, but I really don't. I can't find enough time in the day these days to work on half of the things that I'd like to be working on.

The sexy lace sock is still not done. Somehow I thought I needed a break. So in order to give myself a break, I started knitting this

This, my friends, is the hair shirt of knitting. It's a linen (gulp) handtowel from Ann and Kay's book. Why, how, I could possibly think this was a break from anything is absolutely beyond me. But the color is purty and I entertain delusions of good hostesshood when its done and washed and (damn well better be) soft. I have some linen that I'd like to make a garment from, and my reasoning - if reason can be brought into this anywhere - was that by making a little square thing I'd get a feel [ick] for the yarn and be able to figure out shrinkage and such. I rest my case.

Everyone knows I love lace. It makes me happy. Nothing really makes me happy quite the way lace does. There was the lace accident from last week that was alluded to, but never quite .... documented.

Firstly, let me discuss a little something, superpower related. There are enablers, and then there are she-devils from hell. Okay, maybe that's a little strong, but some people have the (super)power to make me buy anything. (Kay and Ann are a good example, although admittedly I bought the linen before the book came out. They just got me to knit it.) The devil person who tops my list for bringing out my sheeplike tendencies to buy yarn jump on the bandwagon has got to be Stephanie.

I don't know how she does it. I consider her a friend, but friends don't let friends have yarn accidents. Or maybe they do. I mean, I'm not just reading her blog and saying "cool, she's doing it I wannadoittoo". We shop together, drink coffee together, knit together. And this leading-into-temptation thing has been going on for a long time. Just by showing me her Birch shawl last year, she forced me to buy 3 skeins of Kidsilk Haze and knit what has got to be the most boring shawl I've ever worked on. There were almost threats of suicide and/or shawlicide on that one.

When S. and I went to Habu together sometime last year, I saw the place with new eyes. (There was a lace accident that time too. But it was inexpensive, I swear.) I've never been overly excited about School Products. I shop there, but cashmere in general doesn't really turn my crank on a daily basis. Unlike some people. And School Products is known for their cashmere.

So I thought I was safe last week when I went there with Stephanie and Juno. I mean, its a place where I've bought some Koigu walked in and walked out of, many times. But then there was all this laceweight yarn. On cones. I mean, seriously people. Having just finished a huge square shawl, cones are the holy grail of laceweight to me. No fears of running out.

However, I didn't buy a cone. I bought this

Trust me, if there had been cones to be had, I would have had them. On the left is 50/50 mohair cashmere - laceweight. Juno and I almost strangled each other over it. But I got more (we bought all that was there). On the left [that would be the other left, that is to say, the right] is 100% silk dental floss laceweight. Hand dyed. I asked the she-devil to talk me out of it, and she refused. It deserves a closeup:

What does all of this have to do with the new sock pattern? Nothing. But there's no progress to show. So there. And to answer the questions from the comments:

a. graphed index cards are available inexpensively at Staples. In two sizes. I put all of my portable lace patterns on them and stick them in my knitting bag.

b. The sock pattern will be available. On the blog. For free. When I get my act together and get it written out. The charts are done but I'm trying to do it in two sizes. And there's some tricky wording that needs to be written about the lace and what it does after the gusset. Although I promise, the pattern isn't hard.

monkey mind 2

I feel like a monkey. Actually, I am a monkey, according to Chinese astrology. An earth Monkey, to be precise.

But this has to do with my inability to concentrate. I love the way no one points out that I've been switching gears every three seconds for..... well, mostly for as long as I've been blogging. As far as you know, but actually its been longer. In spite of my occasional knitting monogamy - very occasional - I do have a tendency to jump around like .... a monkey.

There are the emergency sock kits. There are currently over a dozen of them most of the way done. Haven't touched 'em for a week or more. Then there's the Mountain Streams scarf. Lots of time till Mother's Day, right? Well, not if I keep procrastinating and/or casting on.

Then there's the inspirational sock. I almost blew out my hands over the weekend with all the (dare I say it?) swatching for that. I knit on it a bit yesterday but didn't get it finished. I had to give my hands a break, and I was too tired to stay up late enough to do it.

I was going to be all mysterious and not show it until it was done. But, the blog being what it is, and all of you being the most wonderful, forgiving, and understanding people in the world, I figured you'd be impatient enough rather see it in progress than not at all.

spring cleaning

The weekend was fun, in spite of a burst of spring cleaning frenzy that gripped me on Saturday (I suppose its supposed to happen, but damn, does it ever interfere with what I really want to be doing).

I blogged briefly on Saturday morning about playing around with a lace sock idea. I played, and played and  - if knitting is playing, which I guess it is - played some more.

I can't count the number of times that I've sat knitting on some pattern or other and thought to myself, Oh! I could do ______ and then I'd have something all my own! (Or something better than what I'd been working on, I've often thought.)

The trick with knitting, at least at the stage of the game that I'm at, is that its far far easier to just sit and knit from someone else's pattern. Follow the instructions, get gauge (more or less) and you've got a relatively known quantity whose shortfalls can only be blamed on bad yarn choices or wonky gauge. But when you hit those two things (yarn and gauge) spot on, you more or less know what you're getting.

This designing thing? It takes an incredible amount of time. I have dozens of index cards with patterns charted out, chicken-scratch cards with oddments of notations I've taken from my ideas or things I've jotted down as I knit. And I still have no real idea if I'm getting where I want to go.

(I'm addicted to graphed index cards - can you tell?)

I can guarantee you that I've knit the equivalent of four socks worth of knitting in the past three days. There are two red versions that got ripped before I even thought of taking pictures - one of them was 4" of cuff in an elaborate lace and mini-cable pattern. Which didn't fit. I ripped that red yarn so many times that I'm pretty sure there are parts that are worn out. Right now I've got one ankle sock and a cuff that I'll finish into a second sock. It was the first version of the idea I'm working on now (in teal).

Why am I doing this? Mostly because I'm stubborn. And because I'm honestly having a lot of fun.

I've never felt like I understood a lace pattern quite this way before. After working and reworking and trying different versions and adjusting things over and over again, I could knit this backwards and with my eyes closed. Well -- almost. And the excitement of making something up has kept me knitting from dawn (literally) until midnight for two days in a row. With breaks for spring cleaning and to rest my hands.

Oh, and I designed a cuff pattern that I'm in love with. Even if the rest of the pattern is a disaster, I love the cuff. 7am Sunday morning, in the quiet of a beautiful spring day. With my coffee as my ...... guide? (friend? only companion?) I made it up - although its so simple that I can't imagine no one's done it before - right on the needles. At any rate, I'm starting to realize at this late stage that I really am a morning person. I do my best in the quiet time before everyone wakes up. I really can think most clearly when I'm alone.

long time no blog

Hey, folks. Sorry I've been so quiet. I thought I was going to sit down yesterday morning and write something, but inspiration interfered.

For a long time I've been wanting to work on some things I've had ideas for. Nothing big or earth-shattering, just some little projects that needed working and reworking and infinite tweaking. Yesterday, infused with much caffeine and a quiet vacation day in which to doodle, I got going.

I'm working on a lace sock. At this point, the prototype is just an anklet. I had to work out some things at the heel and gusset, and didn't have the patience to work much above that in case it flopped.

I tried three lace patterns before I found one that I could work around. I'm still not happy with the cuff. I want something different - not ribbing, not picot. Last night, braced with a glass of wine, I sat down and doodled on my needles with ideas for a cuff. I'm not thrilled with what I came up with, so that probably will get reworked. But the lace is working out well. I'm having fun.

I'm gaining infinite respect for designers right now. I suppose that some people just have clear vision and a much better working knowledge of knitting than I do, and can sit down and sketch and come up with something great. I need to see it on the needles before I really have any idea how it will work. Working out the vagaries of lace gauge and fitting it into a sock that fits has already been the biggest stumbling block for me. Well, that and trying to come up with a cuff that fits some vague dream-criteria of mine for working with lace. Not too heavy, not too flimsy. Gah. I'm sure I'll find something suitable, but its taking a while.

At any rate, I'm not going to blog much specifically about this until I have something to show for myself (even if that's just one weensy little finished ankle sock). In the mean time, I just wanted to come out of the wool cave and say that I am indeed here and I am knitting.

Oh, and all other projects are on hold while I obsess about this. As it should be.