SpringPlum

I finished one of the Moc-A-Socs.

The shoe part is done in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino–colorway: tan.  The cashmerino line is always a very nice yarn to work with no matter the weight.  This is the first time I’ve used the sport weight but I’ve used the dk and the aran before.  Although I wouldn’t advise it, my Fetching mitts went through the washer without felting.  I assure you that this wasn’t my mistake–I would never be so careless with my own handknits.  The sock part is done in a yarn called Schewe Filigrana.  Haven’t heard of it?  I’m not surprised.  Until I received it in a secret Santa gift, neither had I.  It is a German yarn.  As near as I can tell (the label is in German which I can’t read) it is 100% mercerized cotton.  Usually I try to find something to love about every yarn, but this one is difficult.  Filigrana is just not fun to knit with.  It’s so stiff and knits up like a cord.  But if I rub it with my hands, it softens up considerably like linen yarns do so that it feels more like a regular cotton yarn–which is what I wish I was using.   However, it is pretty and soft enough on the sock which is why it didn’t get frogged and replaced; I’d never give someone a gift made of a yarn that didn’t feel good on them.

Speaking of gifts, my husband’s sock yarn came in.  No, Matt isn’t taking up knitting; he’d have to put down the Xbox 360 controller for that.  I bought yarn to knit him some socks.  He has huge feet.  Size 14.  And he likes tall socks.  That’s larger than a 100g ball, or pair of 50g balls, of yarn can handle.  Luckily, I found Fearless Fibers and her sock yarns come in hanks of 550 yards which should be enough for a pair of Matt socks.  He picked the Tiger’s Eye colorway.

I sat down to write a post and realized that I had very little new to say.  The Voyager Lace Stole grows longer and the Eyelet Socks grow sockier.  I have a tentative LYS date with The Pirate Hooker this weekend, but until then, the Moc-A-Socs are just paper.

So what to write about?

How about a blog review?  There are tons of good blogs (knitting or otherwise) out there that don’t get much traffic, so why don’t I point out a few that I think are especially wonderful?  One note: these are blogs with which I have no personal affiliation–I do not know the bloggers in real life, nor do I communicate with them online in any frequent or meaningful way.  No nepotism here.

The Half-Assed Knit Blog:  Not half-assed at all.  Funny, funny, funny.  Should come with a warning: Do not attempt to read while drinking any liquids.  You’ll spill.  My only complaint is that her pictures (of which there are plenty) are hyperlinked, and I always accidentally click away from her page.

Crafting Chaos:  Very straightforward, simple blog with a clean layout.  Lots of WIP pictures so you can see the progress she makes.  Also, she has a dog!  And a cat. 

La Fuji Mama:  One of my new favorites.  She is an American who lives in Japan and writes a lot about Japanese culture and food.  Very interesting and fresh.  Not a lot about knitting though, despite her header.

Heidi’s Knitbits:  Another fun knitting blog.  Lots of pictures with lots and lots of FOs.  After reading her blog, everything does look a little orangey for a while though.

Twisted Knitster:  How about a blog from a dude?  Here’s a guy who knits and spins.  But sorry gals, there’s a Mrs. Twisted.  Not a lot of pictures but for low bandwidth readers, that’s kinda nice sometimes, huh?

The Panopticon:  Another blogger with XY chromosomes.  This is the best blog you’re not reading.  Some of his posts have made me laugh still my tummy begged for mercy, but I kept reading anyway.  If you’ve heard of the 1,000 Knitters project, this blogger, Franklin, is the photographer.

i eat dirt:  This blog has nothing to do with knitting, but she’s a teacher in Japan.  I just discovered this blog yesterday so I’m still reading through old posts, but they’ve been very interesting so far.  It’s fascinating to read about someone who has my job in another country.  Check her out.

It’s the last day of spring break which never lasts long enough.  I got a lot of knitting done but not as much as I would have liked (but what knitter ever gets as much done as she/he really wants).   I purchased the yarn for the Voyager Lace Stole and began it.

Those who are familiar with the pattern will remember that it calls for a provisional cast-on that you pick-up and bind-off later.  Notice that there is no provisional cast-on attached to this fine bit of knitting.  That’s because I can’t stand trailing around all that extra yarn and I think it looks tacky to boot.  So after I knit the six rows of garter stitch, I went ahead and picked up the stitches, unpicked the crochet chain, and performed the longest picot bind-off that I’ve ever managed to date.  No more trailing, turquoise waste yarn.  Behold–a close-up:

During my visit home to see my folks and my sister, I managed a feat so spectacular that I still get breathless and my pulse races just thinking about it.  Are you sitting down?  I talking them into an LYS crawl.  And none of them knit or crochet.  Even my father went (although he didn’t go into the stores–that might have been expecting a bit much).  At Sealed With A Kiss In The City, I scored some Sockotta yarn.  BTW, when the directions say to look for a green house, they aren’t kidding–the house is margarita green.   Then we moved on to The Gourmet Yarn Company, where I found my real prize–

Earlier that day I found out that Matt’s cousin Blair and his wife Andrea are expecting their first child.  In fact, this is the first kiddo on my husband’s side of the family since his cousin Sara was born 18 years ago.  This means that I get to start knitting baby things.  It’s a good thing my mom was at the store to reel me in; otherwise, I would have walked out with the yarn for a blanket as well.  As it is…well…I noticed later that the Soup Socks by KnitWhits are for ages 3-6 and it’ll be a while before the sprogling will be that old so I bought this pattern:

Don’t know what yarn I’ll use yet–maybe Baby Cashmerino or Knitpicks Shine.  Hope to have both the Soup Socks and the Moc-A-Socs finished by the time we see Blair and Andrea in Captiva.

Dear Texas Civil Engineers,

I apologize for every dirty, nasty comment that I ever made regarding the seemingly unending construction zones.  After 4 years of undeserved hateful thoughts, I realize now that you had the knitter’s best interest at heart.  You wanted us to have better, smoother roads, and indeed, they are far more silk-like that the roads of the state to the north whose highways must not been repaved since they were first built by drunken cavemen the lowest bidderengineering freshmen paid only with beer.  A Russian join performed on one of your interstates would not have involved swearing (or blood).  No knitter would have been so frazzled as to have rejoined the working yarn to the outside end of a center-pull ball.  The miles of left-lane closed, 25 mile-an-hour traffic, men-at-work zones show that you, dear engineers, are the engineers who care.  Thank you.

With enlightened admiration,
SpringPlum

Dear Drunken Cavemen Oklahoma Civil Engineers,

Sit on it and spin.
Bite me.
Kiss my arse.
Please quit your day jobs.

Regards,
SpringPlum

I found an unfinished object in the depths of the stash before work Monday morning.  I actually (Persephone Scarf aside) don’t tolerate UFOs.  But take a look at a close-up and see if you can guess why this UFO is extra odd.

That, Observant Readers, is not knitting.  Why would I have a half-finished crocheted scarf in my stash cabinet?  Good question.  Several years ago I worked at a group home for delinquent wards-of-the-state.  They weren’t allowed knitting needles due to their rather pointy nature and the girls’ violent natures (getting shanked with a US 10 1/2 needle would definitely dampen my enthusiasm of the art).  But crochet hooks were okay and some of the gals were interested in crafts, so I led a crochet-along.  Unfortunately, the home closed down before we could finish and the scarf was abandoned.  It resurfaced and I found my crochet instruction book with my quick pattern notes for this scarf.  Consider for a moment that this project was put aside at least 4 years ago and you should have an idea of the miracle needed to find the pattern.  Since this had to be meant, I finished it.  Good thing too because it snowed that evening.  It’s made out of Lion Brand Homespun–Colorway: the ball band is gone for good.

Today was the Reading TAKS test at work.  I got to administer the test to a group of 10th graders.  Test proctors are not allowed to read, grade papers, or do anything that takes attention away from watching the students.  This includes knitting.  The tedium torture test lasted all day.  I am not used to being hand-idle; I kept catching myself wringing or knotting my fingers together.  They wanted something to do.

I finished my swatch and steam blocked, or “killed”, it last night.  Had to be very careful with the heat because nylon and acrylic have such low melting points.  Before:

I washed, salad-spun, and pinned it out onto a really old 100% cotton dishcloth that I didn’t care about in case the swatch did indeed melt onto it.  My husband loves me very much, but I did not want to test the bonds of matrimony by melting turquoise yarn onto our carpet in the name of science.

I then laid another nasty elderly dishcloth that I had soaked in water and spun the excess moisture out of over the pinned swatch.  The iron was turned to one above acrylic (polyester, I believe) since this was supposed to kill it, not iron it.  Next time, I may go one higher.  I set the iron on top of the swatch and pressed down but did not move the iron back and forth.

I stopped when the cloth above was nearly but not quite dry, checking often to make sure the swatch was beginning to get sticky or melty.  As you can see below, the stitches opened up like in standard lace blocking and the yarn has a very soft drape.  Before blocking the swatch was 6″ x 4.5″ and after it was 6.5″ x 4.75″.  My only complaint is that the knit stitches on the edges of the hearts look smooshed.

In the ongoing battle between stairs and me, there has been another skirmish.  Gentle Readers, do not worry, I did not need hospital treatment (this time).  Last night, Meizlish and I were carrying dinner up the stairs when I tripped and fell upthe stairs.  I scraped and wrenched my knee, elbow, and left wrist.  The most embarassing thing (as if a 27 year-old woman with a skinned knee wasn’t bad enough) was that I fell on our food.  Crunch.  Luckily, flattened chicken strips still taste good even though the biscuits were goners.

My sprained left wrist has slowed down my knitting, so that I my speed has gone from tortoise to glacial.  But I refuse to left that stop me and I cast on as I had planned.  This is a swatch for the Voyager Lace Stole.

The yarn is Berroco Comfort DK.  You may notice that I am knitting a lace pattern in a 50% acrylic, 50% nylon yarn.  Usually this is not a wise idea because man-made fibers are notoriously difficult to block–a technique essential to lace knitting.  I am going to attempt to “kill” the acrylic which is a method of steam blocking by which the acrylic loses its give and gains drape.  Of course, I’m not sure whether or not this will work with Comfort due to the nylon content–hence the experimental swatch.  Of course, I will post the results of the experiment here.