folklorica

I got a package from my Secret Pal yesterday!! Wow, it’s awesome! Thank you!!! I got two amazing books: Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks, which I have desired for a loooong time, and Yarn Harlot’s hilarious Secret Life of a Knitter. I loooove Yarn Harlot. What can I say, these two books are perfect. Not only that but I got a amazingly gorgeous skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock sock yarn, in “moody blues” — beautiful lapiz and indigo and black, just really great. I love it. All that and a cute card, too. So generous and thoughtful, all of it. The neat thing is that I will have all of this stuff, obviously the books, and most likely the yarn (since it will be difficult for me to make something out of this stuff and gift it away) forEVER, so I will always remember what a thoughtful gift it was. Thanks again, SP!!!!

After a week of knitting on cross-rib socks (GREY), Bricklayer (INDIGOS), and baby kimono (EARTHY WILLOW AND BROWN), my heart was crying out for some color. So I took a ball of Kureyon and made a Lizard Ridge blanket panel. This is it, during blocking (I wet-blocked it). Yay! A nice evening’s reprieve from more serious colors. I’ll knit panels for this when I need a mood lightener. Another plus — I followed the pattern’s advice and looked up Backwards Knitting. Well worth it!!! Is it just me who thinks that knitters are all unsung geniuses???

Andy and I finally spent a generous gift certificate that friends gave us for a wedding present. What we purchased doesn’t seem too sexy, but it is VERY GOOD. You see, I have a little issue with our pets issuing foul substances in my office/yarn studio. We have two dogs and 2 cats. The cat box is in my office, which is OK. It’s not the problem. The problem is that our two dogs, as SWEET and LOVELY and WONDERFUL as they both are, have taken to peeing and pooping on my rug! Sometime it is an unfortunate accident that I blame myself for, because I was a little late getting home from work. But sometimes it just happens in the middle of the night, or early morning while we are asleep! It is awful! Terrible! And stinky!!!!!

Not only is it smelly and offensive just from an aesthetic standpoint, but the office is also where I store my STASH and “pet odors” are most unwelcome. We clean the carpet each time there is an incident, and use special pet-odor remover enzyme-powered spray, but it is not match for the extent of the problem. So — deep cleaning is the next line of attack to get the smells out.

Behold:

Bissell Spot-Bot

I hope it is a life changing purchase. Keeping fingers crossed.

Since I’ve decided to take a break on the Inside-Out socks from the RSC, I’ve been busy making progress on several other projects! Sometimes it feels like slow going, but then I stop to reflect on the amazing fact that since I started knitting in August 2006, there has only been at most 5 days where I have not done some knitting. That is incredible. And yet it is just the way it is. Wow.

Anyway, taking advantage of the beautiful Tucson sunshine to snap some photos, here’s what I’ve been working on:

The Diagonal Cross Rib socks from Favorite Socks. Specs:

• Started — around 3/27/07
• Yarn — Wildfoote (Brown Sheep), color SY-39 (Master Grey) — 75% washable wool and 25% nylon
• Needles — Cuff and first 3 pattern repeats – Addi Turbo US 3 (3.25 mm); Remainder of leg – Addi Turbo US 1 (2.5 mm) — both in pairs of circulars

The photo shows that I’m on the 4th repeat with the smaller needles – I anticipate there will be nine repeats in this section of the leg, so I’m getting to the halfway mark! They are turning out really gorgeous. I hope A loves them!

Next up is the Baby Kimono from MDK. This is the gah-ter stitch version, but I’ve been mixing it up a little with some impulse mods. Specs:

• Started: 3/12/07
• Yarn: Louet Sales Sport in Willow and Tobacco (100% merino, a tight twist that feels almost cotton-y)
• Needles: Addi Turbo US 5 circular
• Mods
  • I up-sized the whole pattern because my gauge with this yarn is 7st/in (pattern gauge in MDK is 5 st/in); I did a bunch of funky algebra to try and keep the proportions similar. I have notes on this if anyone is interested.
  • The whole two-tone thing — it’s the result of realizing I didn’t have enough yarn in one color! but I think it’s pretty cute, actually. Taking yet another cue from MDK, I joined the Tobacco color from the WS in order to get the patchwork-stitch effect on the RS.I added intarsia square “pockets” on the back panel
  • I added 3 repeats of a garter drop stitch (from Vogue Knitting) at the bottom of the front panel

I don’t know WHY the MDK gals say you can whip these kimonos out in no time. Mine is slow and steady knitting. Relaxing, sure, but not like zipping down a sock leg with a cool pattern repeat.

Finally, there’s Bricklayer, which I am loving to work on. Yes. more gaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhrrrrtter, but it seems less tiresome. Maybe because I LOVE indigo in all shades. Specs:

• Started: around 3/26/07 – had to stop and wait for Ecru to come in…so paused for two or so days -
• Yarn: Rowan Denim in Memphis, Nashville and Ecru
• Needles: So far, CP straights US 6. I’ll have to change to flexible needles soon due to the growing size.

I washed the piece with a load of jeans last night, and ran it through the dryer this morning. It came out like a champ! A little fading occurred, but it really does fade like jeans – not allover fading, but more striated-like. Really cool. It’s also soft (but tough) and the knitting tightened up as promised — but it didn’t pull the fabric every which way, it just made it evenly snug. Very happy!