Too Much Wool

my brain moves a lot faster than my hands

Thumb update: It still feels funny but after being "good" by avoiding knitting (aka bored out of my mind and a little bit twitchy, in spite of all the reading) for over a week, I am happy to announce that knitting doesn't hurt. I'll take it slow, I promise.

Now, some thoughts on Ravelry. Anyone who reads this blog and doesn't even occasionally ponder the wonder that is Ravelry, and it's impact on our world, and the (hard to imagine) concept of what we all did before Ravelry ... well, I can't relate.

I've been part of Ravelry since very early on. I've (so far) managed to ignore the possibility of "cataloguing" my stash. While it would occasionally be cool to link a future/queued project with a stash picture/link, I can't go there. A. it would mean ripping my house to shreds to find everything and photograph it and B. I really do know (more or less) what's here. If and when I allow myself to think about it. Which I rarely do.

However, I do regularly go and look at what my friends are making/queuing/favoriting and browse. I'm a few days into month #2 of not buying yarn right now. [See paragraph above.] Honestly, this has been relatively painless, in spite of working at a fabulous yarn store several days a week. One becomes blind to yarn seen on a regular basis [again, see paragraph above]  - I'm only really in trouble when I do something dangerous, like going to Rhinebeck.

What I love about browsing patterns on Ravelry, most often courtesy of my friends - and their excellent taste in ... everything - is when I find a pattern for a yarn that I already own. Even better? When the yarn that I already own is owned in enough quantity to make the pattern that I'm suddenly so excited about.

The latest? Thea Colman's Irish Coffee. I've got enough Berocco Blackstone Tweed (a birthday gift from my sister, via a gift certificate) to make it. I love the design, I love the style, I love that it's top-down. And having the yarn in the house to make it (go see the Ravelry projects - two are done in Blackstone Tweed) makes me want to cast on immediately.

But I'm going to be "good" (which honestly is getting tiresome and annoying) and wait until I've finished at least one other sweater before I even. buy. the. pattern. The upside is that having a new project singing it's sweet siren song is making me knit again.

Gotta go - sweaters to finish...

ouch

I'll put this simply:

my right thumb hurts. A lot.

I don't know if it's been too much knitting, knitting the wrong yarn, or perhaps the weather. I'm quite willing to blame damp/cold weather for this kind of thing - I'm old enough that I can get away with it, perhaps even without sounding like my grandmother.

I haven't had this kind of joint/muscle pain for years, so this took me by surprise. I'm more than willing to blame chunky yarn and fat needles, but I fear that's not the whole story.

In the meantime, while it ... gets better, I'll probably be reading a lot. I finished a book today that I started yesterday. I also knit a lot, but that didn't feel very good so I kept putting down the knitting to read instead.

I wish my fingers were as satisfied with turning pages as they are with twisting wool.

chunky and not

There were two sweaters - Chunky and Not.

Chunky had always tried to be easy going. She was simple, pure Scottish wool, and didn't ask much in the way of attention.

However, she kept getting put in "time out" (a concept she totally didn't understand), had her hem and sleeve knit and then violently ripped out and reknit. Never taken anywhere - Chunky was "too big" - she started to feel a bit neglected until a cold snap gave her some renewed attention.

Not, however, got taken everywhere. Subway rides, book signings, restaurants and bars. Even the Hilton hotel in Manhattan.

Not really enjoyed all of the attention. She didn't think of herself as complicated, rather Not was also quite simple, but had a shiny merino quality that always stood out at events. Not even got to hang out with her big sister sometimes, although she always felt a little undone when they were together.

Chunky and Not don't quite feel like they're in competition - but their relationship is a difficult one.

Most relationships are, really.

not socks, and other changes

This weekend is the big Vogue Knitting Live event in NYC. An event that was totally off my radar until I found out that a whole bunch of friends were coming to my city for it. I had dinner with a few of those friends last night and it was ... well, fabulous. Being sort of out of the blogging habit these days, I didn't take any pictures (I keep saying that, don't I?). And being at this kind of convergeance of internet friends and regular life again made me realize how things have changed.

Several years ago, when all we had were blogs (I started blogging six years ago in October), these meet-ups were everything. Fiber festival trips, big get togethers. Really, I met most of my good friends this way, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

However, the world itself has changed. Or the internet has changed, really. Because now we all have Facebook and Twitter and communicate in other, less public ways a lot of the time. The blog world has also gotten bigger, which has changed things as well.

But onto more knitterly topics - I realized last night, when I was knitting on a sweater in public ... that I wasn't knitting on a sock. That other than finishing the last socks on a couple of pairs that were in progress, I have no interest in socks these days.

I'm sort of chalking it up to the holiday knitting. I set a goal of gifting four pairs of handknit socks and managed to deliver three of them - the fourth pair is finished and waiting to be gifted. But somewhere around mid-December I developed a serious aversion to dpns and socks. Yes, of course I can knit socks on circular needles, but it was more than that, really. I have a drawer full of socks, and even some that haven't been worn yet. All of a sudden, something about going around and around in a small circumference has lost its appeal.

I have two sweaters in progress - the Chunky cardigan, which is NOT portable. At all. But nearly done except for the sleeves. And the second Koigu sweater, which is eminently portable and was what I was knitting on last night (until I finished the ball of yarn and had to stop).

I did finish a hat recently, which got delivered yesterday (I haven't talked to my dad yet, but I heard he loved it).

The pattern is the Facets Hat by Rose Beck. This one is in Manos' wool/silk blend, and I lengthened it to have a turned up brim. This is the second time I've knit this pattern - the first was in 100% cashmere and was given as a holiday gift. I had to tweak the pattern a bit for the cashmere, but it was well worth the trouble. I pretty much know the pattern by heart at this point, and will probably knit another one.

All of which is to say, I feel like things have changed a lot. I don't feel like much of a sock knitter these days (although I have enough sock yarn to knit them for years), and sock knitting used to be my default. I didn't used to knit garments very often, and now its all that I'm interested in. And I used to pull out my camera and blog everything - that's something I might have to work on again.

picturish

Anyone who's been reading this blog for any length of time knows that I have little in the way of project monogamy. I've never really seen the point, to be honest. Sometimes one needs a mindless knit that's small and portable. Sometimes you're cold and want a chunky sweater.

This is Chunky Current. (Hmm... currant?) Its been in time-out for a few days, since I finished the bind off. This morning I put it on (it's rather vest-like right now) and wore it around the house for an hour or so. Really, it's suprisingly lightweight considering the heft of the yarn. But I came to the sad conclusion that I need to rip out the last few rows (garter stitch) and add a bit of length to it. It kept riding up on my back. I suppose that's a really good thing to find out now, before I sit down and start picking up stitches for the collar, after which there will be no (easy) going back.

I was fresh out of portable knitting over the weekend - Chunky Currant is not portable at all - and so I started .... another sweater. Socks always used to be my failsafe subway knitting, but I haven't been in the mood for socks since Christmas.

I started another Folded. Not only have I knit this before, but I knit it recently. The sleeves are perfect travel knitting, and I have one of them finished already. I cast on for the body this morning. The color is deceptive. Its an overdyed shade of Koigu that reads either green or gold, depending on the light. I couldn't get the camera to capture the green shade, but trust me, its nearly magical the way the color morphs from one to the other.

Interestingly, I found the receipt for this yarn (Koigu KPM) in the bag. I bought it back in December 2004, which was a bit of a shock. I think its about time it got knit, and considering how much I love my first Folded, I know this is a good choice for the yarn.

Back to the Chunk situation - my daughter wore her Ancient Chunky sweater the day after I finished it. I didn't get a picture, but did finally get a chance to wash it. I think/hope that it grew a bit in length in the wash, and will try to get some photos when she gets back from her weekend trip.

Chunky Currant/Current is a bit problematic right now. I'm still dreading picking up the stitches for the collar, especially now that I've realized I need to lengthen it (more stitches to pick up, ugh). This is precisely the kind of dread that will allow me to put something away for way too long. Irrational, yes, but true. On the upside, the knitting on it goes quickly. On the downside, it does hurt my hands a bit - however, I'm willing to take it slowly in order to use this yarn and have a finished sweater. Casting on for another fingering-weight sweater probably wasn't the best tactical move here. It will be quite a distraction.

And now, a question: is a 32" circular needle going to be long enough to pick up all of those chunky collar stitches? I'm doubting it, but I don't have anything longer in the house.

maze

 

They that mistake life's accessories for life itself are like them that go too fast in a maze: their very haste confuses them.

Seneca

abruptly

I'm breaking radio silence for 2011 here, abruptly it may seem. I know its been a while since I've written. I've got handknits to photograph (some that are yet to be gifted) and other things to say as well. All of a sudden, I have a lot of things to say, but much of it will have to wait for another time.

I finished a sweater tonight. It was an odd thing, really. I've been working on a new sweater since Monday. Elizabeth wrote recently about knitting from stash this year, and I've been thinking about it, a lot. When I started this blog over six years ago, I called it "Too Much Wool". In some ways that's been a self-fulfilling prophecy, but in other ways it was already true when the naming happened. In large part thanks to Ravelry, I can now look at my stash and then find patterns to knit, with the yarns I have. By gauge, by style - top down, bottom up, seamed, lace, etc.

So I decided to pick a yarn - I somehow fixated upon the Rowan "Harris" chunky that I had in stash. This yarn has been re-named, discontinued, and it was gifted to me. In a color I probably wouldn't have ever chosen, but it was a lot of really expensive yarn and I figured it was a good place to start. I started a sweater with it on Monday (you really have to be patient, no pictures have been taken yet). We'll call this Chunky Current.

Truthfully, I dislike chunky yarns. I always have. But this one ... well, it was free. And really quite nice. So I found a pattern (from Knitty, via Ravelry) and started. It seemed odd to me that I couldn't find the 8mm needle tips from my metal Knitpicks set, so I started it on the wooden tips. Finished the main part of the body of it tonight, actually. And was faced with the (alarming) prospect of picking up a ton of stitches for a collar and getting on with the process.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that I had to have those 8mm needles, somewhere. And after finishing up a nice chunk (300g worth) of knitting, I was finally inspired to find the errant needles.

It took about a minute, once I'd thought about it. At which point I pulled out a very old UFO sweater and found both the dpns and metal circulars I'd been looking for. And then my daughter walked into the room, saw the old UFO sweater and looking at me with accusation. Because, of course, that sweater had been for her and I hadn't finished it. She tried it on (it still fit), the sleeves were unfinished. I thought it was ugly, but she pointed out that it was ALMOST a sweater. And so I did it. I spent an hour knitting (8mm needles, remember) and got it done. We'll call this one Ancient Chunky.

But this next bit is the important part. I couldn't remember when I had started it/Ancient Chunky. This was pre-Ravelry, so I figured the blog would have a record or a picture or a mention somewhere. I started looking in 2005 (because I met the friend who gave me the yarn in 2005) and scrolled through a year and a half of blog posts without finding any clues.

Where is this leading, you may ask? Two chunky sweaters, one finished and one just started? Yarn diets (I'm sure everyone has heard enough about those 2 weeks into the new year)? Missing needles? Ancient stash and UFOs?

What really happened tonight was looking through my old blog posts. When I blogged about anything and everything. Back to '05 when I met some of the people whom I'm now honored to call my best friends. What the hell happened to my blogging? There's plenty of fodder there for another (or many) post(s), but looking through my early blogging has made me realize that I've really lost a sense of spontaneity about all of this. I've never been a particularly linear thinker or writer (this post proves that point quite well) but I used to at least ... write. 

I still knit. I really do. I've finished socks, hats, and a sweater. Started another sweater, cursed chunky yarn to the point of threatening to burn it, and then dreamed about knitting fingering weight. I've spun hundreds of yards of singles since the last time I wrote here too. I need to get reaquainted with my camera, and with sitting here and writing my thoughts on all of these things. I've thought a lot over the past few years about how blogging has moved on, and how I haven't. But maybe going back to the beginning, to where I started - random, non-linear, spontaneous - is really the best place to start. Or re-start.

 

 

 

our blizzard

 The view from inside my house, 10:30pm. That's snow on the window screen, and a lace swatch hanging top-center.

goodnight Caireen

I finally got fed up with the holiday knitting over the weekend. I was at a point where I hated socks, where even the thought of dpns made me cringe.

Rather than drive myself crazy, I decided that people were just ... going to get whatever they got. Whatever was done, or could be finished without my groaning at the thought. I'm kind of proud of myself for making that decision, but I'm afraid I got carried away when I went off on a non-holiday tangent.

I showed some handspun the other day, remember? Well, I suddenly came across the Caireen pattern in Knitty and thought that the red handspun would work nicely for it. The handspun is mostly alpaca (with a little Cormo) and I thought the color would work nicely with the design - sort of semi-Goth, or something like that.

And really, it is an excellent color choice for the pattern. The dark, deep red heather show off the cables nicely. After slogging through a 430 stitch cast on (yes, you read that right), I got underway. The fabric seemed good, although by the time I got to the second cable row I was getting a little annoyed.

This yarn is not very elastic. As a matter of fact, its rustic, slightly stiff (I have no one to blame but myself for it being a bit overspun) and it wasn't really wanting to be twisted into cables. I persisted, however, convinced that in the end, it would all work out.

(this picture is much more true-to-color)

Then, a little while ago, I hit the Cable Row From Hell. I figured I'd take it slowly, a few repeats at a time (each repeat is 37 sts at this point, and there are six 5 or 6 st cables worked in each repeat).

That's when I realized that it really wasn't working. The shawl is now a few inches long and wiry as hell. The cables are making it stiffer. What I want from this pattern is a drape-y, flowing garment, something that will look great with my black winter coat and feel nice against my skin. That last bit just isn't going to happen. This isn't a next to the skin sort of yarn.

I'm not sure why it took me 17 rows (that's nearly 7,000 stitches) to figure this out. I think I was waiting for it to get a little bigger, thinking that the fabric would eventually gain some drape. It hasn't.

Caireen isn't frogged, yet. It will take some fortitude to do it at this point. I'm thinking of taking one of the other skeins of the yarn and swatching for something else - its not that I don't like the yarn, its just that its wrong for the pattern. Dead wrong.

I'm thinking of a very loosely knit stockinette tunic, something open to wear over long sleeves shirts and turtlenecks. I think at a very different gauge the yarn would have some drape, and I dearly love the color and the heathery goodness of it.

So much for diversions.

fading light

I've been intending to get some pictures of handspun up here for a while. So long, in fact, that I finished a big spinning project and then moved onto (and am halfway through) another one. The light has been working against me.

Or rather, the lack of light. I realize that (maybe) daylight savings time is helpful for some people, but I work at night. So now I leave for work in the dark and come home in the very-dark. I don't get up very early in the morning - not so practical when you get home around 11pm and try to wind down and get some sleep by 2am - and so my daylight hours are limited. I actually clocked the hiding-of-the-sun-behind buildings at 3:45pm today. None of which makes it easy to get decent pictures of handspun.

However, I managed to do it.

This is a Cormo/alpaca blend that I finished spinning recently. About 600 yards total. It could easily be a shawl, but I'm tempted by the idea of a garment - vest, maybe? I've had my debates about vests over the years, but with the work-situation warmth, I'm considering them again.

This, however, is handspun with a story -

About 3 or 4 years ago, I bought some gorgeous roving from Frelsi Farm's Elaine. Icelandic lamb and ... silk? alpaca? ... that I was really in love with. It migrated around the house for a few months and then got stashed in a (plastic) bag in the sewing room. When I finally pulled it out, ready to start spinning .... it was felted. Undeniably, unbelievably, horribly felted. As I found out later on, sometimes even the static electricity in a plastic bag can be enough to felt some wools. And I did it. I actually wound up throwing that roving away, heartbroken that I'd ruined it by neglect and mishandling.

This year at Rhinebeck I bought more of Elaine's gorgeous lambswool roving. I told her the felted roving story (she totally understood and didn't judge me for it), and then gingerly carried my (paper) bag of soft fiber home. I carefully tucked it into a corner and avoided breathing heavily in its presence until I was ready to spin.

What you see above is the first skein. About 235 yards worth. I'm about to ply the second batch, and I expect I should have about 600-700 yards when its all finished. Maybe more. I haven't taken the third (and last, I expect) batch out of the bag yet to weigh it.

I feel like this soft lambswool from a baby Icelandic is the perfect accompaniment to the dark days we're having here. This baby grew up in Maine, but its genes came from Iceland where their winters are even darker than here. I'm not sure I'd make it through the winter in Iceland without a whole lot of wool and one of those SAD lights. In the meantime, I've been making an effort to get out on sunny days and soak in as much of the fading light as possible. Take a walk, feel the wind on my face. Wrapped in as many handknits as possible. Its cold out there.