Author: bryonyramsden

Woot!
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand?
Not too much of a snob. The more I knit, the more I prefer to use something with a natural fibre content, although it depends on the yarn. As long as it knits up soft I don’t mind 🙂
2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I’ve just started learning to spin (I’m on my second hank of yarn and am hoping this one will actually be properly usable!), and I have done a little crochet, but it isn’t really my thing.
3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I bought a beautiful felted needle case from the Harrogate show at the end of November, but still need something to hold my fatter needles as they are literally lying around the house right now…
4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I think I’m past beginner now, as I’ve tried a few different techniques, so I’d consider myself intermediate. I can’t design myself, but if I spot an error in a pattern, I’m more willing to try and fix it myself before I ask around now.
5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do. Email me to ask how to find it 🙂
6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Vanilla, coffee, honey – the kind of warm, slightly sweet scents that make you think of cosy nights indoord during winter 🙂
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I do, but I’m trying to lose weight, so perhaps that isn’t such a good idea… 😉 But on the other hand! I am a big fan of high quality dark chocolates. Please note that I don’t eat wheat as it gives me belly ache, so anything biscuity/cookie-ish is out of the question 🙁
8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve just started spinning. I also sew, mostly accessories because of my poor skills, but one day I’ll get good enough to make clothes! And I read lots. Books are good.
9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
This is always a tough one as I have pretty broad tastes. My favourite bands are Stereolab, Elbow and The Pixies, but to be honest I listen to all kinds of genres – bluenote jazz, classical, and I do like a little bit of pop as long as it isn’t Britney type pop 😉
10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I tend to go for quite neutral colours, but when it comes to stuff like socks and scarves I go a little brighter. The silk cami is my first garment in bright colours, but I have news on that one later anyway (and it aint good…). Greens are my fave for knitting bigger items, but I also like muted tones of purple and soft greys. Black, I’m afraid to say, is a staple in my wardrobe. Outside of knitting/clothes, I allow myself a bit more colour, but still seem to stick with the same kinds of colours. Aubergine, dark blue, almond white. I suppose it is cos I’m pale skinned (brown hair, blue eyes) that I end up going with cooler colours.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live with my partner of 10 years, no kids. No pets, but I’m hoping to change that in the next few months and add a kitty cat to the family.
12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I believe that ponchos are the source of all evil in the world. However, scarves, hats and mittens are all ace.
13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I love Rowan yarns, Colinette one zero and point five, and Debbie Bliss stuff. I also rather like Alpaca Select, as it is very reasonably priced for alpaca, and goes a long way. Fyberspates is fab too. And Hipknits stuff.
14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I would prefer not to receive ‘fashion’ or novelty yarns, like ladder yarns, super furry/eyelash yarns (although I have been known to use lighter ones with another yarn, but I really can’t use them on their own). And anything really scratchy, naturally. Also, angora makes me wheezy and sneezy, as does anything else really sheddy.
15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
I’m trying to be good, but at the mo I have a severe case of my eyes being bigger than my knitting capacity. Right now I have a real desire to make something practical that I can wear easily (like hourglass, or accessories). And I seem to have a thing for silk. Mmmmm.
16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I love to knit anything really! I don’t think I’ve completed enough to lean towards one thing, as it depends on my taste and budget what I lean towards, but I do like to see things a little different. Things I like in free patterns seem to suddenly start appearing in the shops not too long after. Anyway, I like the staple things such as scarves and socks, cardis and sweaters. But I’d rather they have something to define them a little, like the yarn used (such as in Angelica and hourglass), or a little extra something in design (Lace leaf’s lace pattern and construction). I’m sorry – this is a bit vague!
17. What are you knitting right now?
I have on the needles:
Clapotis in Karaoke
Jaywalkers in Fyberspates sock yarn
Angelica in Hipknits silk
a Noro scarf in 2 different colourways striped up together
and a scarf in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (left over from the club gift) (Liesel off the top of my head)
18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Of course! Any time spent on something for me is appreciated.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Depends what I’m knitting. I like not having to seam, but I also like the feel of bamboo needles in my hands (I have a set of Denise needles, so don’t often buy circs in other materials as I don’t need to so much).
20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Oops, kind of answered that above. I’m happy for any material, but I prefer bamboo and wooden needles. They aren’t always practical though for the project I need or for my pocket, so I use whatever kind necessary.
21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I have my mum’s old winder, but no swift. The chair back currently acts as a very bad swift…
22. How did you learn to knit?
When I was little, to make blankets full of holes (which I thought were purls) for my Sindy horse and My Little Pony stuff (ahhhh, Stardancer, how I loved you). I came back to it just over a year ago now, and don’t think I’ll look back again. Thank goodness my mum doesn’t machine knit snoods and jumpers with rows of cricketers on in lemon and white (for my uncle) anymore…
23. How old is your oldest UFO?
I’m doing better at this now – I tend to frog if I don’t touch it for too long (if I haven’t worked on it for that long, I clearly don’t need or want it very much). Currently I have Blackberry from Knitty (by xtreme Jen) sitting on the needles (so it hasn’t been waiting THAT long), because I’m not convinced I’ll look right in it, and kept making mistakes on the second sleeve. I’ll have another look when I’ve finished knitting some other stuff and have put some needles away.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I love Miffy and Hello Kitty, plus the Simpsons and Futurama, Family guy etc. Cats are my big love.
25. What is your favorite holiday?
Well, I haven’t really travelled much, but a piece of my heart remains in Prague. Another piece is waiting to discover Japan. Any place with culture and history, but a sense of modern lifestyle and, strangely, somewhere I’d like to live.
26. Is there anything that you collect?
Does yarn count? Or books? Or dvds? My partner seems to collect computers. I don’t have the space to collect anything else…
27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don’t have any subs – I can’t sub to US magazines as I don’t have a credit card, and the UK mags are far too unreliable in content to bother with it. This month’s Knitting mag is absolutely appalling (the man’s jumper is like some kind of 80s nightmare). Yet I still buy it in the hope it will get better. Fool. I subscribe to Rowan and Debbie Bliss clubs though…
28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on?
For brit patterns, I love Amelia Raitte’s Jemima. I’m also intrigued by Glampyre’s Orangina and Tubular Camisole, but I’m not sure how I’d look in them.
29. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
I want to get better at spinning, and learn how to dye as well. I’d also love to learn enough to design what I want, but armhole and neck shaping and decreases for arms throw me off at the moment. It can’t be too long from here?
30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I’m a UK size 4 – I’ll work out the size later.
31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
25th of May. Not during this SP.
Sorry if it seems rushed now. Had some bad news just before I finished. Gotta go now.

Just a quick post today. The sock is coming along slowly now, but only because I’ve been doing other things, like going to work, being sleepy, and a little studying. I am still in love with it though. And I’m feeling all giddy because I got details of the person I’m spoiling for SP7. Yay! I’m sooo looking forward to treating them. And I plan to make some things for them too, which gives me an excuse to craft. I’m not quite ready to post my answers to the questionnaire yet tho. I had to work an evening yesterday, so chose to sleep in a little rather than do anything with my time (I still haven’t got the hang of working again yet), so I figure I’ll have it ready by the end of the week.
In other news, I accidentally got more yarn today, but it was stuff I’d forgotten about. Goodies from the states, from my work colleague’s sister 😀 Hoorah! 10 hanks of KnitPicks Sierra in Leaf to make a new, hopefully fully functional version of Lace Leaf. It isn’t as soft as I expected, but it certainly isn’t nasty, and should soften with knitting and washing to a lovely state. It is kind of a muted jade green, with a little jade taken out of it, if that makes sense. Naturally, I can’t have this sitting around for too long cluttering the house, and I want the sweater to where while it is still cold as this yarn seems to be more wintery, so I better start knitting it up… 😉

Here, as promised is a progress shot of something I was knitting while I visited my mum. I decided not to knit anymore on Angelica until Kerrie had sent me some more of the silk (we aren’t quite sure yet whether it is the right kind she’s found, so it might be best to wait to check before I knit the last of the yarn up), so I started some Jaywalkers on the train. And I didn’t use the lovely new Lorna’s Laces yarn, although I did wind one of the hanks and take it with me. I used that luscious foxglove colourway in the Fyberspates sock yarn I bought far too long ago. This yarn is just lovely to work with. If you can get hold of Fyberspates stuff, then do. I know I haven’t finished knitting this, and I currently have no idea what kind of wear I’ll get out of it, but the colourways are beautiful, varying from really vivid and bright to soft subtle variations. There are a few different colourways I’d love to buy from Get Knitted but I have to restrain myself for the sake of my pocket and my stash (if it was just the stash, I might have been a bit naughty, but post christmas funds are always rubbish).
Anyway, here is the current progress of the Foxglove Jaywalker in all it’s socky fabulousness.

I am so loving this pattern so far. I know most people on the web already have experienced the joy of the Jaywalker, but I don’t think it does any harm to add to the news. It is a fab pattern – one of those that keep you interested enough to keep going, but doesn’t give you so much to do that you give up in frustration or just get fed up of having to check the instructions. Of my limited sock knitting experience, I’ve found that I get a little bored of the pattern on the leg of the sock, before I’ve even really got going properly, but this is the first pattern that has kept me going. Or maybe it was the yarn. Or both together. Anyway, I’m very happy with this, it fits so far, and so I’m looking forward to finishing and even starting the next sock. A good thing as I have piles of sock yarn to use. Remember the Coldspring purchase of 400g of sock yarn in dark colours, with just splashes of bright bits? It was dirt cheap, but will make surplus of 6 pairs of socks I think… Much of it will have to be Jaywalkers, with a few other simple patterns thrown in I think. But Jays seem to be the quickest for me too. And the easiest to pick up for a few rows and put down again (pretty important given what I should be doing instead of knitting and typing up stuff on my blog. I promise I won’t mention that again for at least, ooooooh, one post…)
Mmmmm, socks…

Bow down to my great purchasing powers.
Here we have the xmas pressie which I naturally didn’t know existed (despite ordering it and signing for the parcel 😉 )

5 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed, awaiting their lover, Kid Silk Haze, before they can be knitted up into scarfy goodness together. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Next up we have some other yummy goodness…

Lorna’s Laces in Desert Flower (destined for Jaywalkers I think) – I just love the colours and the way they go together so well yet create contrasts. Get Knitted had a pic of the yarn knitted up that just defied their camera and looked quite beautifully strobey because of the bright blue in the yarn. I can’t wait. But first, the lovely Noro will be knitted – Silk Garden in two different colour ways, because 1) I really wanted to try it, and I love that purple colourway and 2) I really want to make a version of the very cool Mistake Rib scarf in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Noro may be poorly spun sometimes, but the colours? Woof.
Which brings me on to something else – I got Last Minute Knitted Gifts at last 😀 plus Debbie Bliss Home. I want to make sooo many things out of these books, and hopefully they will encourage stash busting. But clearly not so far given the small Noro purchase. I’m still deciding whether to take the Noro project with me for the train tomorrow when I visit my mum, or the project below…
Which brings me smoothly to this.

Here is Angelica v2.1. Some of you are already aware that I had to frog the first one because it was quite simply enormous. This version is knitted in a size smaller, AND using the suggested needle size. This pic flatters the fit quite a bit I think – it is a little too tight for my liking showing the wrong lumps off at the back, even if it does make good use of the boobular area at the front. Blocking should make it the perfect fit. I love this pattern, mistakes and all in it (there are a couple, but these have been resolved pretty quickly on the KAL and personally thanks to Stef and her tech ed). The .1 in the version comes from me playing a little with the increases at the bottom of it. There is a mistake in the pattern for them, but rather than be sensible and wait for corrections to be released, or even work it out myself, I used a completely different version from another pattern, and it has worked quite well as far as I am concerned 🙂 I just have the sleeves and neck to do, with some weaving in, and the scary blocking (if I dare – no idea where I will put it to block as we have no flat surfaces that would look after it except the floor near the radiator…). I am so going to make this again in a different yarn (maybe some cotton?). Mmmmmm.
Anyway, lunch calls me (or at least some of the uncooked parsnips and roast pots need turning!). Hopefully the next time I post will be either with a finished object or some Noro/socky aceness.

Happy new year y’all.
This week has been funny, but nice too. I took many, many pics of yarn, but I’ve been too interested in fixing my problems with Angelica and blowing my nose to do anything beyond that yet.
Angelica was going so well. Then I realised that I may run out of yarn, so I tried the thing on, and found that she was a tad too big. About 6 inches at least too big. So I ripped back, and have been reknitting it, and will hopefully have the body finished by the end of tomorrow. I tried her on again last night just after joining the front, and found she fit much better. Couldn’t take pics thanks to it being dark (as usual) and also that I had consumed a small amount of alcohol, it being new year’s eve etc. I’m very excited about it now 😀
Unfortunately other event conspire to keep Angelica from leaving the needles. I have to do some work for my research – literature searching, ordering reports and all that stuff, nevermind actually reading them. I also need to find someone trustworthy to test my online questionnaire and see if it needs some revision. Bummer eh? All these things that keep setting out to stop me from enjoying myself 😉 Getting rid of the cold though means that these things have to be done. Hence I’m blogging…
Also, the yarn diet is out of the window temporarily. Something arrived yesterday while I was out shopping in Manchester. I’ll post pics tomorrow of the wooly goodness, but needless to say I’ve been a little naughty, but only a little… But it has come from Xmas money, so that’s ok 😉 Also a lovely Amazon parcel arrived the other day (partly the inspiration for the yarn parcel). The shopping yesterday involved no yarn or yarn related purchases at all, unless you count the Primark black v-neck jumper I bought for a fiver. Primark is my saviour. It means I can buy clothes and yarn at the same time without running out of cash. For those of you in the US, Primark is a little like Target but without the food and electronics stuff. They do good solid cheap clothes that are still fashionable, plus some lovely lovely homewares like towels and bedding and stuff. And they last much longer than more expensive places too. The best cords I bought were from there, and they lasted ages longer than stupid old Levi ones I bought. We also visited the fabulous Lush shop. I heart Lush. They had a sale on, so I bought some Honey soap, some Fig and Leaves soap, and some Almond butter cream. I also got the world’s best lip balm – Whipstick. If you haven’t tried this and you live near a Lush store, go and have a look – it is choccy orange lip balm, and it smells and tasted divine, as well as doing the job well. And it is veggie and free of animal testing. Yummmmmmmmm.
Anyway, I have a looooong list of relevant articles to go through now, plus the last little bit of Gone with the Wind to watch while I do so. Cross your fingers that the next time I post will be with a lovely almost complete Angelica that fits and will continue to fit regardless of stretching etc…

Hello all. Hope you are enjoying your winter holidays. Being a Brit where we tend to only take much notice of Christmas, with perhaps a little Divali at the beginning of the month for good measure, I’ve stuck with the usual greeting – I’m too stupid to know all the others (although thanks to the Simpsons, I’m aware that Kwanza exists, but that doesn’t mean I can spell it or know what it is…).
Anyway, as is usual when I manage to get time off work, I have caught a cold, DBs cold to be exact. Christmas Eve we visited my family and had an almost relaxed get together, while DB suffered a little, and I felt a sore throat coming on. Christmas with my family is always taxing to a degree, and we all know it. My mum likes driving us back home so she can escape. Don’t get me wrong, we all love each other, but once a year where we are all in the same room, for about 6 hours is enough. But it is traditional, and we do the good old Brit thing of eating till cheese/trifle comes out of our ears, then sitting and drinking till we fall asleep in front of the tv in the overheated little living room at my gran’s house. This year we fell asleep watching the first Harry Potter film, while eating my uncle’s new discovery – vanilla ice cream accompanied by raisins soaked in a full bottle of rum overnight. It was the most alcoholic thing I’ve ever tasted, and I drink vodka. And my mum managed to drive us home after eating it.
Anyway, DB and I managed a lovely Christmas Day together, despite illness, and had a long relaxing day on the sofa, opening presents, eating till Quorn roast and parsnips came out of our ears (no dessert – we forgot to pick one out, but didn’t need it, or the multiple cheeses we had bought. We like cheese a lot by the way. A lot – it is my diet downfall. Don’t give me cake, just some wheatfree bread/biccies and a pile of Roule, Wensleydale with cranberries and some good strong cheddar), and watching the hundreds of mediocre films on telly. Oh and I listened to my two new CDs too – Interpol and Arcade Fire. Yum. Yesterday we did more of the same, and today is likely to be similar, but there is one thing that was a little different…
I had mentioned in passing to my mum that I wanted a wool winder and a swift because I’m fed up of getting a big tangled mess when I try to wind up skeins of yarn, and she remembered that she had a wool winder from when she did machine knitting. She had a rummage and found it for me, so yesterday I had a little play. I unravelled some arm warmers because they were a bit too chilly to wear and used it to wind up the yarn, and YAY! it worked 😀 So I used it to wind a hank of Colinette One Zero, and it worked for the most part, apart from the yarn filling the winder quite quickly with it being so thick. And I knit things too. No progress on Angelica because I’ve not been in the mood for garments – needing to stop to blow my nose every few stitches is too annoying, so I stuck with little things, and finished my Alterknits alpaca silk armwarmers instead, although I still need to get ribbon to lace them up with 🙂 Alpaca silk is yummy. And I have just under 2 balls of it left to make a little scarf, so last night I started a small version of the Leisel Scarf with just one strip of the lace pattern instead of two. I may be knitting something new, but I finished something first, AND I’m stash busting! Yay! And I’ve started my first pair of socks on two circs, using the basic pattern in Cat Bhordi’s book and some leftover Lorna’s Laces from the cable socks (remember me complaining about that? Well now I’m happy to be able to make some socks for myself with it ;)). Plus my delivery from the other day included a lovely fishtail lace sock pattern from Alchemy yarns. I fell in love with it and the silk blend yarn at the knitting show, but they ran out of yarn and don’t sell it on their website yet. Get Knitted have some (rather strong) varigated colours, but I want some plain to use with the stitch pattern, and I should wait until I reduce the sock yarn I already have…
Soooo, while I have a little time to myself, I decided, perhaps under the influence of too much food and wine, to catalogue my stash and print off the patterns I have stored on the laptop so that I can work on reducing how much yarn I have. I will know what I have, what I can knit with it, and put it on here so I can shame myself into not buying any more yarn at all ever. Well, for a little while. I have lots of sock patterns too 😀
Anyway, I need some brekkie, and a shower, and then I will start taking pics and listing and thinking and uploading…

Yesterday I typed a post about how I was pondering a purchase of yarn… Then the webmonster ate it all up 🙁 Stupid connection. I basically was umming and ahhing about buying the yarn for a project from Rowan 38 that I’ve been loved up over for ages, and would look lovely against my black winter coat, but can’t justify buying normally. I have cash for Christmas, so thought I might be naughty seeing as I’m lacking ideas for buying anything generally and have no idea what anyone has bought me.
The upshot of all this umming and ahhing and sleeping on the idea brought me to buying this morning in a fit of pre-holiday desire. And an hour later I had an email saying the stuff had been dispatched already 😀 Tomorrow DB and I are visiting my family, so we won’t be in to see if the postie is sharpish about it, but how exciting to think that I may have something beautiful on my needles to accompany Angelica (she’s a little lonely right now, especially now I’m on the round sections and will be doing the sleeve separation in the next week sometime). Until the yarn arrives I’m keeping it a secret so I won’t know what I have until I open the parcel/finish knitting it – something DB’s mum jokes about. I think I might try and finish the flat knitting on my armwarmer today too. Did I say the hat was done? Yet again it is too dark in miserable England to take pics yet. It is a little big, but I am totally in love with the yarn and therefore the hat…
Anyway, here I am typing this up and browsing everyone’s blogs, when I should be wrapping the pressies for my family for tomorrow and sat with the fire on and knitting up lovely things.

Somebody stop me from trying to practice provisional cast on and starting the Union Market Sweater. I have a really strong desire to try it now. Must…. resist…. and stick…. to silk…. Stash… reduction… will continue… later….
To help prevent the stash reduction – can someone suggest some really lush 4 ply yarn to use for some lacey socks? I have some DB baby cash to use on a cardi which might leave something spare, but I’m not sure if it would be too splitty. The RYC cashsoft is tempting after the Harrogate show tho. I just fancy trying something that isn’t specifically sock yarn but is soft and cosy and lovely to knit with. And I want to make the socks for me, and the only sock yarn I have in the stash is variegated and doesn’t have a pattern to claim it yet. But it will. Ohhhhh it will.
In other news: mmmmmmm, roule light. Yum.

Ok, a little delayed, but here are the first pics of Angelica… I’ve taken them this evening in poor light, so forgive the glare on the silk from the flash. Also, the colours look a bit stronger than they are in daylight. The colours in the silk change according to the light 🙂 I love that! They look darker and stronger in darker light, and paler and more subtle in daylight, which might sound a bit obvious, but the silk kind of eccentuates the effect, and makes the colours play a little more. Sounds really soppy but nevermind!
Here is a pic of how far I’ve got so far – I’m into increasing for the keyhole shaping.

And here is a shot of the yarn. I love this stuff, but the hanks I got have a few natural defects that you’d get with handspun silk – no worse than in Noro yarns that you pay more per yard for! I had to wind it into a few different balls per hank because some of the fibres were either fuzzy or weren’t fully spun and broke, but again, no worse than any Noro yarn or stuff like that. I feel a little concerned about the amount of yarn I have, but I’m crap at gauging it. Anyway, here is silky yumminess. I kind of wish I’d been brave and asked for a colour of my own, but I’m a terrible impulse shopper, and the varigation is beautifully worked, and I heart blue, so this will do very nicely thank you very much 🙂

Anyway, I haven’t got very far with reading Illuminated, but I love the way Alex speaks! He’s so cool… I can see why the girls love him. 😀 I haven’t read the Corrections, or White Teeth. To be honest, Zadie Smith pisses me off when I see her being interviewed, but maybe it is the northern lass in me – either way, the way she presents herself puts me off reading it. Although I probably will read it one day (but borrow it rather than buy it – she doesn’t need my cash, and working in libraries helps a lot!). And I hadn’t heard of the Corrections till Yahaira mentioned it – I’ll see if I can get it at work… In return I’m going to recommend the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, although you’ve probably all already read it. If not, do. It is totally fascinating – you feel like you are watching something you shouldn’t… She is fantastic at creating characters. It is a while since I’ve read it, and now I feel the need to read it again – that doesn’t happy very often with me. Brilliant stuff.
Oh, and Illanna – I hope kf&b works – I’m using it right now 😀
Weeeeee! Knitting is good.

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I bought it when it first came out in paper back feeling really excited about reading it, and then it went on the shelf while I finished what I was reading. Then it waited while I read something a friend had lent me. And so on, and so on. Now has to be the time, because otherwise it will look like I’m just reading it because of the film (but at least I don’t have the film cover copy :D). Although it probably looks like that is the reason anyway…
Anyway, today I have tons of things to do, but I am hoping to take pics of the cabled socks, and also a progress shot of Angelica so that people can see how the silk looks knitted up and that kind of thing. I weighed the Lorna’s Laces yesterday, and feel a little miffed – why is it that every sock pattern I use tells me to use almost double the amount of yarn that I actually need? Ok, so I have smallish feet (as does my giftee), but they aren’t so small that they warrant a full 400m of sock yarn. If I’d have knitted a repeat or so less on the leg of them, I would have got away with one hank, and the legs on these are loooong – mid calf length. Oh well – I have enough of the yarn left to play with knitting a sock on two circs, and I won’t mind so much if I mess up that way! I just have to buy some extra needles first. Maybe I’ll ask DB for some for Christmas (or maybe I’ll wait so that I don’t start knitting something else!).
Also, just as I meander along with my early morning, pre-breakfast brain, I upset myself last weekend and forgot to tell you about it. I frogged Clapotis 🙁 I had to because, after a break on it while I knitted gift socks, I went back, and didn’t check the pattern for where to place the twisted stitches. I did a full 12 rows with them in the wrong place on the straight section, and realised my mistake when I got to the rows where you place markers. Because of the dropped stitches, I didn’t really know how I could safely frog just my bad rows, so I ended up going back to the beginning and getting rid of 3 repeats of the straight section. This baby will not be ready for this winter now I think… Luckily the yarn is very forgiving of frogging. I heart SWT Karaoke. It is lovely lovely lovely – like Noro Kureyon but with less colour changes and the softness already there waiting for you to enjoy it while you knit. And the soy silk makes it much smoother on the needles. I can this yarn ending up in some Fuzzy Feet, but only in many moons’ time when I can actually afford it.
I’ve also been playing around with a couple of other things. I want to clear up what I’m knitting and start afresh (although Angelica is probably part of the start afresh things!) with my stash, make some practical garments and a few little things. I’m working on my second Alpaca Silk armwarmer (from the Alterknits Manos pattern), and have realised I’ll have at least a ball and a half if not more to make a little scarf at the end. I am also in love with Alpaca Silk. Damn you Debbie Bliss… I have finally submitted to the need to rip back the bolero (I can use the cotton to make some Picovoli, seeing as they are pretty practical and suitable for all needs), and the grey cashmerino aran ribby cardi, as the yarn will do for many many other garments nicer than that thing. I may make Tubey from the latest knitty as it is yum, but the grey may be too light to make it wearable, so I might just make a basic v-neck jumper or a cardigan (I have the buttons for it anyway) in a more flattering form than the evil ribby. Also, I got some more of the Landscapes stuff I made my scarf in, so I’m using my first Ann Budd handy pattern and making a hat. The one I made in Sue’s Colinette is superwarm, but a couple of people at work have commented on its’ teacosy resemblance, so I’m hoping the Landscapes one will be a little more bobblehat than teacosy. I’ll still wear the Colinette one, but perhaps not in front of people at work… 😉 And I must finish the sleeve on Blackberry so that I can try it on and assess…
Finally, I was having another go at spinning the other day when I had an hour free and didn’t feel up to knitting (I was feeling poorly, and standing up helped, but that is a whole other story you really don’t want to hear about). I spun a little of the merino that I bought from that trip to Texere a few months ago, and was interested to feel the difference in the fibre compared to the stuff that came in the kit. I have no idea what kind the kit had in it, but it was much easier to shred up into pieces I could draft. The merino is somehow firmer – it feels only slightly softer as a fibre than the kit stuff, but is harder to tear off the hank, yet easier to separate and draft. Does that sound silly, or is that common/normal in spinning? Anyway, I tried to make a finer yarn than the huge chunky monstrosity that was my first attempt (it was a good attempt at spinning, but bad for using to do anything – my scarf was like cardboard at one end! :D), and managed something a little more like aran towards chunky, so not nearly as thick. I have made a few mistakes with the fibre getting a bit caught in the spinning when it shouldn’t do, or for some reason the drop spindle reversing direction – not sure how that happened, but so far I feel ok about it. The fibre is plentiful and cheap enough for me to practice a little with it for a few times and scrap it if I’m not happy.
Oh, and has anyone else had the problem of reading blogs that suddenly seem to have gone back a few posts and lost the last one that you read, or last few? Could it be their blog server is going giddy, or is it just my puter being really really poor? Either way it is a little surreal… Particularly when you are reading after a drink or two, or at this time in the morning. On this note I better go hide.