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.

Comments

[Marcia]

You know, the linen grows on you after a while. Sort of. Love the towel...you got farther with it than I did! And, lucky you actually SHOPPING with Ms. Harlot! (I'm going up to see her at WEBS on Saturday..doubt she'll want to shop with me.)

[Stephanie]

You cannot blame me because you are weak.

[Juno]

Dude. I WILL have that 1/2 skein from you. One way or another. MWHAAHAAA!

[Judy]

Lots of finger pointing going on here.... stay strong!

[Carole]

Oooh, that silk laceweight. Simply gorgeous.

[Martha]

Yesterday I was thinking about this sort of hive mentality we knitbloggers have--patterns that just sweep the knitblogging world (like Birch, or Rogue). The irony of all this is the reason we all started reading blogs in the first place was to see what interesting and different things other knitters were making. And then we often all end up knitting the same thing.

That yarn you bought looks so gorgeous and I know you will find something new and interesting to do with it! You know, something that I can copy ;)

[Beth S.]

!!! That hand-dyed silk looks just like the gorgeous CTH I put back on the shelf at Seaport and have regretted ever since. I'm so glad you got something like it!

At least the linen is orange. Cold comfort, but still. ;-)

[Jinxsa]

I so do the index card thing too. I actually have a mini photo album that I slide the cards into so it's just a flip away (and less likely I'll lose them). It's just way more darned handy then lugging a huge book around isn't it?

Before I forget.... MMMMM lace weight.

[Jody]

gasp...moan...sigh...

Lucious laceweight yarn. Yum. Can't wait for more lace goodness.

Though I'm a bit confused about which is which since the are both referred to as the one "on the left".

[margene]

I'm too gah-gah over the lace weight to read anything else. We are bereft of lace weights in SLC. Sigh...it's too beautiful.

[Rachel H]

When in doubt, blame Harlot. Works for me!

[Cathy]

Staples. Requires a trip to Denver. Can handle it. TY.

[regina]

i think i just drooled on my keyboard.

[Andrea]

Thanks for the tip on the graphed index cards!

[Beth]

Is there a 12-step program for laceweight junkies? I'm pretty sure admitting you have a problem would be the first step. ;)

[Susan]

Well, if it makes you feel better, I wouldn't have been able to walk away from that either, as I'm guessing a lot of us couldn't. I have this vision of soft and shiny on that mohair cashmere.

[claudia]

Stephanie called you weak. Gonna do something about that?

[Cordelia]

Oh. Oh, oh, oh.
I want that silk.
Oh.
Lucky you.

[Imbrium]

Yep. Stephanie's evil, in that best kind of way. I've never even met her, and she pulls that kind of stuff on me.

Yep. All her fault.

[naomi]

Nice silk dental floss. Such a color...

And I'll have to look into that graphed index card thing.

[JoVE]

I love that silk stuff. Glad I don't shop with her.

And more people should consider size when writing sock patterns. I clicked the link for potamus (or whatever it is called) on Stephanie's blog and note that it is a 22 row repeat and fits a size 9 foot. So as lovely as that pattern is, I'm not going to knit it because I have a size 10.5 foot (and a bit on a wide side) and I bet 22 rows doesn't work very well for resizing the foot of the sock.

That silk stuff looks beautiful. Beautiful enough to say it twice. My new spindles are apparently in the mail which means I may be able to spin some silk soon.

[DebbieB]

Laceweight. Sigh. The stuff clouds are made of - and daydreams.

Makes me want to quit my job and just sit home knitting lace shawls. Do you think they'll let me have sharp needles in the crazy house?

I love that orange color. I haven't yet knit with linen - sounds like you're not loving the 'hand' of it?

[Chris]

That silk. Oh. So. Beautiful.

[Jane]

Pretty, pretty yarn! I am partial to grid paper Moleskine notebooks - the little thin black ones - for my portable lace patterns. I even found a small piece of flat metal that fits inside so I can use a magnet to keep my place.

[Christy]

That silk is to die for!