Home, away.

Long distance moves are never simple, but for some reason this one has had some complication at every available turn. I'll avoid the gorey details, but even I was surprised to look at the calendar and see that it is nearly mid-February.

As promised, the Alpine booties were finished and felted before I left Canada.

Fuzzy Feet
Teresa Vinson-Sternson Knitty
Patons Classic Wool

They've come in very handy indeed. Apologies for the iffy photos, I'm working with different light here.

Also finished were the Bootsocks of Betrothal. I was at first shocked that it had taken me a month to knit these, but the pattern is fiddly. The result is good thought. All those crossed stitches make a really dense fabric. They do fit (only just) though I have not yet managed to get an 'action' shot.

Uptown Bootsocks
by Jennifer Appleby
in Favorite Socks
Dalegarn Sisu

I'm glad that I had these to work on in that last crazy month. They kept me busy and focused and mindful of what all the crazy was for.

I decided against socks for the plane knitting this time, opting instead for a small project I could have done in the course of the trip. I decided on a simple ribbed hat. I cast it on to a bamboo circular the night before I left and had no problems with security. And due to some "issues" during travel I ended up having to clear security three times in three different airports. Fun. Hat photos will have to wait for next time, as it is being proudly worn to the Netherlands, where Adam has gone for a couple of days of meetings.

That's the old stuff dealt with, and actually there hasn't been much new knitting since I've arrived. Within a couple of days of getting to France I was felled by some sort of Euro-virus which wiped a week out of my life. I'm feeling a bit better now, but I'll save the wip shots for next time, if only to have some filler. There's nothing very exciting.

I also haven't yet had much of a chance to see what's on offer locally. I have made contact with a group of local knitters through Ravelry, and I'm hoping to meet up with them in the next week or so. I'm hoping they'll be able to give me to inside info on stash aquisition - I'm already a little worried about how long the supplies I carried with me are going to hold out. Very disconcerting!

I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has sent good wishes and wondered how I'm doing. It's been a time of huge change and sometimes has felt a little overwhelming. It's good to know that there are people out there thinking of us and wishing us well. Thanks. I'll keep updating here, stay in touch.

Reckoning

I spent an evening this week going through my stash. It had to be done. What do I take with me to France, what goes into storage until we have a longer-term place to live and what gets de-stashed. It was hard.

We knitters do get a little odd about our stashes, don't we? At the end of the day it's just yarn, but in reality there seems to be a lot more caught up in the strands. After much sorting and re-sorting and gnashing of teeth I had a big box of purged yarn and 6 bins for storage. And that's all of it. Every back of the closet, stuffed in a drawer, trunk of the car (ahem) meter of yarn is accounted for.

Some surprises:

• Most of the purged yarn was easy to part with (what was I thinking of when I bought the pastel mint green scary shiny baby yarn). Some of it will find a better home with other fiber artists, some will likely end up in the thrift shop. Overcoming that mental barrier that says "you can't get rid of that, it's yarn" needs be done only once. After that it hardly hurts at all.
• I don't have a sweaters worth of anything. A lot of the stash is comprised of leftovers and "one off" skeins. I'm okay with that. I've been knitting lots of small things lately, so these quantities do get used up.
• I do have a couple of shawls worth. Thought I knit less of it last year, I am surely a lace junkie. And apparently I can buy yarn for lace a little more impetuously and tuck it away out of sight. Of course this is in no small part because a shawls worth of yarn is a lot more compact than a sweaters worth of yarn (even if similar in yardage). Also I can guesstimate and buy a shawl yarn I lust after without having a pattern in mind, I would be much less likely to do that with a sweater.
• I very little cotton. And if you subtract dishcloth cotton I have almost none. I should probably either come to terms with cotton or give up on it entirely. This should be a post in itself.

Less surprising (Zimmermaniac that I am) is that I have quite a bit of good, plain, solid wool. And there is some sock yarn. Fortunately sock yarn doesn't count.

So it's tidied and sorted and packed away. There's only one way to celebrate this sort of thing.... Buy yarn!


I know, clearly I'm past help. None of this is going into the bins though. That sock yarn on the left is for a pair of mindless striping socks for me. I suspect with all the chaos in the next few weeks I'll need a project like this. The lovely green on the right is Cascade 220 and is going to be cast on very soon. It's become colder here, will be colder still in the alps and I've been saying I need a hat for a while. That green is a reminder that spring will come.

The tweedy brown is Elsebeth Lavold Silk Wool, surely one of my top ten yarns. That one's going to France. Another hat, I think, something lighter for when the days begin to warm. Mostly (and irrationally, I know) I just want a skein to take with me.

The alpine booties are nearly ready for felting. There is a mistake in one of the heels (3 am knitting again) but nothing that will be noticeable once they're done.


Should be the first FO of 2008.

Greenfeets

I don't know whether to notch it up to the fact that I'm moving soon and don't know whether I'm coming or going half the time or just the recent heavy use, but I came way too close to leaving the house with a cable needle in my hair. This is why.

I've been putting in some serious time on the boot socks of betrothal. I love the way they're coming out, but the cable rows are fiddly and the extra needle gets a good workout. And as always, when you're crossing stitches you lose some elasticity. I had a few hours of panic shortly after the heel turn when I convinced myself he wouldn't be able to get them over his heels. Measurements were taken and compared, and I think we're okay, though some tugging may still be required. Were I to do it all over I'd probably go with a 2.5mm needle.

Adam reports that the Alpine Clogs are proving to be well suited to their eponymous local. Our flat over there has bare floors, drafty kitchen windows and (not to put too fine a point on it) is on an Alp. Which reminded me that I'll need some feet warmers too.

So I started some booties for myself. These really are ridiculous in the pre-felted state, but they work up fast.

And just under the wire for yarn pr0n Friday:

A skein of Berrocco Peruvia, which is a new yarn to me. It's lightly spun and lovely soft. I suspect it wouldn't have the wear properties I'd want for a sweater, but that's okay as this skein is destined for a hat. I love this cognac brown colour and my LYS had some other beauties as well. Somehow saturated and subtle at the same time.

There's only so much more packing I can do before I have to really deal with the stash. That ought to be good for a post or six.

New Year

New year, new projects, new stuff. Where to start? I did indeed get all of the xmas knitting finished, though the mystery project didn't come off the needles until the wee hours of the morning of the 25th.

They were felted clogs, from the (brilliant!) Fiber Trends pattern. I gifted them in their comically large pre-felted state so that I could felt them with the recipients feet present for the best fit. It took a couple of cycles to get them felted down, but the end result is excellent. I can see knitting more of these.

Alpine Clogs
Pattern - Fibre Trends Felted Clogs
Patons Classic Merino

The coffee bean socks were also finished and a big hit, though I seem to have neglected to get a photo of them in their finished form. The Somoko was a dream to work with, beginning to end and washed perfectly. All in all a successful season of gift knitting.

I got a few lumps of coal for xmas (corundum too):

Yes, I was surprised. And very happy. Spreading the news and celebrating made the rest of the holidays even busier than usual, and knitting (for once) took a back seat. After a couple of days things began to return to normal and we made a trip to the yarn store. I picked up 3 balls of Sisu on sale, which are becoming the Uptown Boot Socks by Jen Appleby from Favorite Socks.

The large size of the pattern is pretty large, so I went down a couple of needle sizes, which is also giving a really nice thick fabric. If you look carefully you can see that my Harmony sock set finally arrived from Knit Picks. Pretty no? The finish is exceptionally smooth. I may be truly converted to the non-metal school of sock needles.

So 2008 is shaping up to be a big, exciting year. Stay tuned.

Actual knitted things!

The Fabric of the Cosmos bag was in fact completed and felted in time for my departure. I was concerned that I may have over felted it, in fact, but I've decided that I'm really happy with the results. Those big, wide stripes are so little now! It's a good, useful size for carrying a book and MP3 device and sock in progress (the necessities of daily life, in other words). The straps have stretched out a tiny bit, but I can always re-knot them. I'm calling the bag a success and suspect that I'll get lots of use out of it.


The secret unblogable knitting on the other hand was not finished before departure. At some point when I was knitting exhausted at 3 a.m. I decided that I had to give up. It just wasn't going to happen. I did finish it while in Grenoble though. Here's a peek - a full post is coming on this soon. It's s scarf for the coming winter, accurately described by Adam as being both wavy (his department) and wooly (mine).


The Beryl socks were finished as well and seem to have been a big hit.


The Socks that Rock Midweight does work up thick and results in a cushy sock. Despite my yardage worries there was plenty left over so I probably could have gone an inch longer in the leg. My only minor issue was that there was a lot of change in the colour way from the beginning of the skein to the end. Some of this is to be expected with the hand paints, of course, but for whatever reason this was enough to make me batty. I ended up cutting out some largish sections and weaving a lot of ends on the second sock to get a better "pair".

In another example of my personal knitting lunacy I stayed up the night before I left and cast a sock onto bamboo DPNs for plane knitting. Typically I would rather drive tiny bamboo DPNs under my nails than actually knit a sock with them. Once again though I have been pleasantly surprised by the superior smoothness of the SR Kertzer brand. I was concerned that my usual aluminium needles would raise additional suspicions at the security scan. I have no idea if that would have happened or not, but the sock beginnings on bamboo got through without any comment.

So I knit on them on the plane, and I knit on them in Pearson International (layover) and on another plane and on the TGV and even on the regional Rhone-Alpes train between Lyon and Grenoble. The pattern in Oak Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, but they have been nick-named the High Altitude Socks, and they'll be my Socktober project this year. The yarn is Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch softcolor. The colours shift in a pleasing and subtle way.


First one all done and second in the gusset shaping. Sorry about the iffy photo. Though it still felt a bit like late summer when I left here, I returned to autumn in full force and it is a dark and stormy afternoon.

This post makes me look much more productive than I've felt. That chevron scarf I was going to knit while I was away? Well.....that's another story for another post.

September already?

Knitting progress has been good this week: The body of the Fabric of the Cosmos bag is done. It is comically large and floppy as all pre-felting pieces are.


No, I haven't finished the book. I'm still working on it though. I would say so far the reading and knitting experiment has been a qualified success. Next time I'll maybe go for slightly lighter reading matter. The knitting is a bit substandard as well. Some of the sloppiness is due to the loose pre-felting gauge. The tension just isn't consistent. In this case it will all even out in the felting. The colour is a little truer in the first photo.


Before felting however I must knit a whole lot of I-cord for the handles. I was all set to whine about the length of the I-cord, but I am humbled in the face of Ann's edging. Ann's steadfastness in the face of miles of garter stitch remains an inspiration to us all, I know. Still, it's lots of I-cord.


The black yarn and overcast skies conspired to make for difficult photography....sorry.

The three day weekend let me get a start on the STR socks. Several times in fact. I can report that if nothing else, the yarn holds up well to frogging. Not enough to show yet, but I think I'm on the right track.

Read, knit, repeat

I'm making progress on the Fabric of the Cosmos bag and the book as well. It's slow going so far. I haven't given up much in knitting speed, but the reading is slow. I'm still needing to look away from the book several times a round and every time I look back, it takes a moment to find my spot. This can't take more than a few seconds, but it adds up. I think I'm getting faster though, so I hope perseverance pays off.

The pattern is based on the Booja Bag, but a little bigger all round. I knit the base in the solid charcoal and then picked up all around and began the body of the bag in the self striping slate colourway. And look: colour


I'm putting in two-round stripes of the purple here and there. Randomly. This is another challenge for me; I'm not good with random. So not good at random, in fact, that at one point I considered using a d20 (*ahem* nerd) to determine the stripe placement. And yes, those are bamboo circs. My usual Addis were too slick for the yarn and limited attention. These are the SR Kertzer bamboo which I'm liking much more than Clover. They seem smoother and slightly pointier.

The yarn is so soft and lustrous that it's almost going to be a shame to felt it. That's still some distance off though, I'm estimating that I'm about a third done. It remains to be seen whether the yarn, the book, or my patience will run out first.



Usually I'm a process knitter but since I want the bag for a specific use, I'm motivated to get it done. The Fall knitting mags have been making their way to my house over the fast few weeks and are combining with the cooling weather to give me a touch of startitis. I'm craving something tweedy and cuddly. I guess it's that time of year.

Skill Set

So I've been busy. Nothing new there - everyone's busy all the time and summer is flying by. Not much knitting progress to show this week, though the first mercury twist sock is past the heel and headed for the toe decreases.Still grey, still not much to look at. Alas. I've been swatching and planning and spending way too much time on Ravelry, all of which are knitting activities and therefor count as knitting time. So while there has been lots of knitting time, there hasn't been all that much knitting. The hazards of the modern times I suppose.

This evidence of limited progress combined with my moaning to Adam about how long it's been since I've had time to read a book just for pleasure got me to thinking a bit about time and how it's spent. Knitting, together with the previously mentioned knitting related activities take up large chunks of my free time and I'm fine with that. It seems ridiculous to complain about not having time to read, when the real issue is clearly one of priority.

Or perhaps multi-tasking? I admit that I have always been envious of people who can knit and read at the same time. I tried once or twice back in University days to combine these favorite activities but never got the hang of it. I think it's time for another attempt.

Choice of project is clearly important here. I'm fairly sure that the reading is going to require the greater part of my attention so the knitting must be something that can take place on auto-pilot. Stockinette in the round seems like a good place to start and something without shaping to keep track of. A bag! A felted bag, since felting will conceal many errors and variances in gauge I had some highly feltable SWS in the stash and a trip to the LYS to pick up another skein revealed that this yummy yarn now comes in solids as well.


Nothing says summer like soy wool and theoretical physics. Let the experiment begin.