Sorry, I’m feeling down and needy, but I doubt anyone wants to hear my whinging.
No real post today
2
Fiber Fun
Sadly, I’ve owned a drumcarder for about 3 years, but it’s just sat in my fiber room collecting dust. Since the advent of Ravelry and my participation in the Friends of Abby’s Yarns (Rav link), I’ve come to have a renewed love for batts.
Almost as long ago, I participated in the Secret Pal 4 swap. The swap partner who was supposed to be sending me things sent me one package before I never heard from her again (not even to tell me she was my partner when the swap was done). Unfortunately, based on the package she had sent me, I don’t think she had bothered to read my filled out survey as the colors were all the opposite of what I had listed as my favorites. One of the items in the package was a 4 oz. bump of dark, dark green merino with slight red and yellow streaks in it from Deep Color (who, sadly, no longer does any dyeing).
I spun up a little more than half of the merino to discover that it seemed to get even darker as I spun it, leaving me a bit disappointed. So, I used the singles to practice chain plying. Since it’s very nice merino, but too dark to overdye, I had thought I could pull out the drumcarder and blend it with something to lighten it up. I found some tussah silk at Spunky Eclectic in a warm yellow color called Walking on the Sun and bought 1 oz.
Sunday night I finally got a chance to set up the drumcarder and play with it for the first time. Here are the results:
The batts weight 2.75 oz. total, with 1 oz. being the tussah silk and the rest being the merino.
I had a lot of fun blending the fibers, although I was a little surprised to find out that it can be hard work. I think I need to see about picking up a kitchen scrub brush for burnishing since my Ashford carder did not come with one. I also need to find out the easiest way to clean up the drum and the licker as there are bits of merino and silk deeply inbedded in the carding cloth now.
Drumroll, please
The Rivendell socks were finished Friday night. I washed and blocked them overnight and put them in the mail to the Sock Museum Saturday afternoon. The USPS says they were delivered yesterday morning.
Basic stats
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry in Grey Tabby, used about 250 yds
Needles: 2 Hiyahiya circs, size US 2.5, 20″ long
Gauge: 7.5 sts/in in stockinette stitch, 9.5 sts/in in Ktbl, P2 ribbing
These were a pretty fast knit, and I probably would have been done with them way sooner if I had worked on them consistantly. The clustered stitches at the top were a new technique for me, but really interesting to do. I find the horizontal effect they make a nice addition to the pattern. However, it should be noted that they do make the cuff of the sock a little less stretchy than the rest of the ribbing. Some people might find this slight restriction annoying; it doesn’t bother me very much, although if I were to knit these again, I may try to find a way to combat it.
Unfortunately, neither of my photos picks up the silver thread in the yarn very well. When you can see it, it adds a nice little sparkle, which I thought would be a nice effect for socks named after Rivendell. The subtle shading of the colorway didn’t detract from the pattern at all. I did love how the yarn became nice and soft after washing it.
I hope my socks have tons of fun at the Sock Summit in my stead. And I hope that everyone who’s going get a chance to see my socks.
Just a day late
This week is at the very least on probation; it has come extremely close to being fired more than once as it’s gone along. There has been much broken glass — I lost 2 flower vases and then a bowl in the kitchen. Dinner Monday night ended up on the floor, along with some of that broken glass. These are probably some of the things that lead me to stay home from work on Tuesday.
I’ve spent the last few days doing my exercise in the morning, then heading to work. By the time I get seated in front of my computer I’ve felt ready to start crying like a baby for no obvious reason. I have since been reassured that this is apparently normal and that I am not alone in this phenomenon; I understand that it will soon pass. But between that and my next-door neighbor thinking they have to take a shower at the same time I do, my mornings have not gotten off to the best start most days.
I’m in a race to get the Rivendell socks done by tonight so that I can wash and block them and get them in the mail tomorrow. It wouldn’t be as much of a race except I was not paying attention yesterday as I went to start the heel flap, finished the heel flap, and turned the heel. It was then that I discovered that I had knit the heel on the front of the sock. So, I had to rip out 2 hours of work and redo it, thus putting me back 4 hours. We’ll see how this all goes.
ETA: Closing comments on this post due to spam.
Mental health day
I stayed home from work today. I woke up this morning and realized I just couldn’t do it today. This morning and yesterday, when I woke up I felt just as tired as I had when I went to bed the night before. I’m hoping taking a day to rest will help.
I still ended working out, hoping that getting some movement would help me feel better. It didn’t pep me up like I wanted, but at least it didn’t make me feel any more exhausted. Today was my 7th day in a row working out, so I’m still on target for my trip to the Monterey Wool Auction. I’ve managed to slowly increase the amount of time I’m able to do on the exercycle each time; today’s time was 25 minutes. My short term goal is 30 minutes a go.
Just a quick post
I’ve been a little scatter brained this week as I have tried implementing a couple of new changes into my routine.
The first is trying to cut back on caffeine. I’m currently on my third day without a caffeinated beverage to start the day, which of course means that I’m on my third day of a sort of headache that’s happening on the perifery of my thoughts. I’m sure the heat hasn’t been helping in that department at all.
The second change is exercise. I am attempting to exercise every day for the next 30 days. For every day I workout in some fashion I gain money towards a fund for purchasing fleeces at the Monterey Wool Auction, which is set to take place August 16. Days I don’t workout subtract money from the fund at a greater rate than I am earning. And if I miss 4 days in a row, I’m not allowed to go.
This is all in the pursuit of forming a habit of exercise. I’m the type of person who hates getting hot and sweaty, yet feels better once I’ve done it. I’m hoping it will help me tame my asthma, my weight, and my stress levels. Most importantly the days are counting down for our trip to Japan, and my sister recommended being able to walk 5 miles a day by the time we get there. I hate flying, so who knows when the next time I might be able to get to Japan will be, so I want to see and do as much as I can without having a lack of breath and energy get in the way.
On the knitting front, I should be able to start the toe on the first Rivendell during tonight’s TV watching time — mmmm, Leverage. 🙂 So, I’m still on track for finishing, washing, and mailing the socks off by next week’s deadline for the Sock Museum.
Melting
Too hot to knit… too hot to spin… *ugh*
Baby gifts and socks
Just a quick post to show off a few finished items. They’ve been finished for awhile, but I had to get the photos off my camera, which took great effort. First up are the baby gifts I knit for my friend — a simple roll-brimmed hat and the Little Sky socks from New Pathways for Sock Knitters.
They were all knit out of Dream in Color Classy in the Happy Forest colorway. I really like the way the yarn softened up when I washed it. A sweater out of Classy would be really nice, and I’m remembering seeing one of the new semi-solids from DiC in a pretty, chocolaty brown.
Next up is the pair of socks I knit my mother for her birthday/Mother’s Day gift.
They are knit out of Jojoland Melody Superwash. They took 2 skeins, and I thought it was interesting just how different in striping the 2 skeins turned out to be.
Rivendell socks
The Rivendell socks progress steadily. The pattern looks nice in the semi-solid color. Unfortunately, in this photo, you can’t really see the sparkliness from the silver thread. The pattern has been easy to follow so far; the charts reall help with that. I was thrown slightly for a loop when working the cluster stitches, but it’s an interesting technique.
While the gauge (@ 7.5 sts/in) is a little looser than I would normally knit socks, it does seem to help the knitting go quickly when each round it only 63 stitches long.
The ribbing seems really stretchy, so I don’t think I’ll have to worry too much about fit issues. Although, I don’t believe there are any plans for anyone to wear the socks. The Sock Museum website does not actually say what will happen to the socks after Sock Summit 2009.
It’s still Tuesday
6 pm on a Tuesday is still Tuesday, so time for a post while I’m remembering to do it.
I hit Full Thread Ahead on Saturday to see what was left of their store closing sale. I got a skein of Farmhouse Yarns Bo Peep’s Sock Yarn in Lilac and a skein of Trekking Pro Natura in a pale blue, which I was considering using for the Rivendells.
Then I head to Purlescence Yarns because they were having a 25% off sale on Dream in Color, which they never put on sale so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I walked to the back of the store where the Smooshy is and saw one skein… count ’em… 1… of Dream in Color Starry in Grey Tabby. I nice silvery grey semi-solid with sparkly silver bits. I pulled it down and walked up to Kathy and asked what she thought. She thought it was perfect and told me that she had actually just found that skein and hung it up not too long before; the skein had been hiding, laying in wait just for me. I’m hoping that the silver thread will give it a nice little bit of shiny. I’m knitting the Starry on two size 2.5 circs and have already finished chart 1 for the first sock.
The only thing so far that’s a little odd is that pattern calls for a gauge of 7.5 sts/in, which just seems a bit loose for me (although the pattern also says that’s gauge on size 1 needles, which for me would be really loose knitting). I’m used to knitting my socks at at least 8 sts/in but several pairs have been 9 sts/in. But the looser gauge does mean they’re a fast knit.