Lately work has been, well, bad. I wish I could tell you all about it but I try to keep my work life out of this blog. I haven't always in the past and I feel like now is a good time to start. If you want to know what kind of terrible, horrible, no good very bad days I've been having you can send me a message on FB or call me or IM me or something.
To keep my mind off how unhappy I feel in my office, I tend to just take breaks at my desk and window shop online (really, is it window shopping? Did you know the French call window shopping "window licking"? At least they did ten years ago . . . ). Sometimes I run across the street to Subway, bring my food back and pretend that I suddenly need sweaters or wedding dresses or vintage tea cups. It is very, very thearuaputic.
Around New Years I finished a shawl (the Kiri shawl this opens into a PDF) after months of knitting, frogging whole skeins of work and then knitting some more. I hated, hated, HATED working on this shawl so much that by the time it was done, I threw it in a bag and the bag in my closet. I prayed that whatever spirit had taken the mate to my librarian themed sock would secret the shawl away too.
A few weeks ago I found the bag and realized that, holy crap, I finished an entire shawl. I blocked it out on my bed and was actually really happy with the way the blocking transformed this weird, bumpy scrap of bile-filled fabric into a lovely lace shawl that I never wanted to take off. Since then, I've been wanting to make more shawls and over last weekend I started the Seascape Stole. I just happened to have 3 balls of tan/gold Rowan Kidsilk Haze in my stash (how on Earth did I afford that?!) and decided that since Kidsilk isn't the easiest yarn to frog, a simple pattern like the stole would be a perfect use for my bounty.
I spent a lot of time working on it over the weekend. Truly, the best thing about Jack (ok, one of the best things) is that if I just want to stay inside, watch Battlestar Galactica and knit all day, he's OK with it. I was about 1/5 of the way through the pattern when something very upsetting happened.
I have to stop right now and say that Remy has always had an odd fascination and/or love/hate relationship with my craft and knitting supplies. He attacks my knitting needles and even yard sticks with such a passion that I'm sure they were all Sharks and Jets in a past life. He has figured out a way to pry the lids off the plastic bins that hold my yarn so that he can pick up the balls, skeins and hanks and carry them around my apartment before mauling them.
This being said, I admit I should have known better. One night, I went to bed without carefully tucking my stole back into the bag I normally kept it in when I wasn't working on it. The next morning I went into my living room to find a cat mouth-sized hole right in the middle of the lace. Nearly an entire ball of Kidsilk gone. Wasted. Attacked like a common field mouse. I have given up on the stole for now. I'll probably get back to it but right now it just makes me angry to think of reknitting the whole thing.
I am now thinking off knitting the Shipwreck Shawl; it's one of those patterns where, when I first looked at it, I thought "Oh, snap! I will never be able to knit that mess!!" but now (after an entire lunch time of planning) I think I could handle it. It also incorrperates a somethings I've never done before- dying yarn and knitting with beads- but I'm kind of excited about that. I don't know how I'll block it though (and OH MAN how I hate blocking!!) but again, EXCITED!!!
I think I am going to knit it using the suggested yarn (Knit Picks Bare Merino/Silk) and dye my own using Kool-Aid rather than an acid dye the pattern calls for. The price to do this is nearly identical to buying a pre-dyed yarn and I'm not so hot on the colors the pre-dyed yarns come in. I really like the blues and greens of these beads but the roses and gold in this set are nice too. Decisions, decisions!!
I didn't realize this post would be so link heavy. Sorry! It's 2am and I really don't feel like uploading a bunch of pix for this.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
plotting & planning
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4 comments:
I'm jealous. I can't knit worth crap. Crotchet, yes. Knit. No. Although, it seems every time I decide to start a new project I can never find the right yarn. Where do you get yours?
Well, it all depends.
Sometimes I buy a bunch of yarn (particularly if it's on sale) and then find something to make with it. That's how I've ended up with a huge stash that needs to be knitted down. I bought the yarn I used to make the Kiri shawl (Rowan Damask in Lava http://www.yarndex.com/yarn.cfm?yarn_id=4284) years ago and it sat around through two moves before I found something I wanted to make with it.
Sometimes, I just buy whatever yarn a pattern calls for and call it a day. Sometimes a pattern will call for yarn that is just too expensive for my taste so I check out ravelry.com to see what other people have used. I have been knitting so long that I generally know what weights will work for a project if I want to make a substitution. Knitting patterns will tell you give you the ideal yarn weight and gauge so sometimes it's just a matter of finding an equivalent.
As to where I get my yarn, there is a great yarn store in Santa Cruz that I love- the Swift Stitch. There are actually three other shops in the area but Swift Stitch is my favorite. I also adore knitpicks.com- they have fantastic, high quality yarn at great prices. Other places to check out are ebay and yarnmarket.com
I want to do this scarf but it has a flat yarn (maybe a ribbon yarn?) that I can't seem to find. It's a lace weight silk. So totally out of my price range ($30/skein) to buy the original stuff.
I'll have to plan a trip up there and have you take me to your favorite shop
What pattern is it? I'm 100% we can find a substitute.
Yes, come & see me!!
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