Disaster theory

My darling husband teaches society and environment, and he tells me that everytime it comes time to teach a section on man made or natural disasters, one happens. For instance, he's teaching about earthquakes today, and last night there was one in Los Angeles. I think its a coincidence, but maybe not.

Sunday I had my own personal disaster, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Friday night before work, I decided to pull out the spinning wheel and give the new spinning book I bought in Bendigo a chance to teach me something. I had gotten a couple of rovings from a friend at work, and had spun up a bobbin full of the grey. I got out the other color, a sort of brownish orangy color, and spun it up as well. It went fairly well, and for awhile at least, I felt like the spinning wheel and I were working with one another, rather than working against one another as it's often felt in the past. I went to work and took up the spinning again when I got home Saturday morning. I finished an entire bobbin of the stuff, but the book says to let the bobbin "set" overnight to allow the yarn to relax before plying. So I did.

Sunday morning, feeling I needed to keep going while the "spinning mojo" was still with me, I began to ply. Chris had stayed up late to watch the Tour De France, so he was sleeping in and the house was nice and quiet. Plying did not go as well as spinning had done. I kept getting the threads tangled. Every time I needed to change the yarn to a different hook (which is often when plying), I had removed tension on the two singles and kinks and tangles ensued. A couple of times I forgot and let go of the twist all together, which of course meant it ran almost all the way up to the bobbin and 15 minutes of untangling was required.

Finally, after much trial and error, a bobbin full of plyed yarn resulted. And dammit, it looked pretty good.



I was immensely proud of myself, took pictures, and went to brag on Ravelry of my success. I also wanted to look and see if the yarn once again needed to "relax" or it I could skein it more or less immediately. Now that it looked like I was getting somewhere, I was anxious to have some finished product. I also had the idea that, lacking a Niddy Noddy, I could just skein the stuff on my skein winder.

The rest of the story I am now borrowing from a post I made the next day on Ravelry to some encouraging friends. It tells the story well enough, and given the sad nature of the affair, I don't want to retype the trajedy here:

I could find nothing saying I should wait before skeining my yarn, and I couldn’t figure out any reason why I couldn’t use my skein holder for this purpose, so I decided to jump right in with both feet. I brought my Lazy Kate into the study where the umbrella type skein holder is, postitioned them properly, and began winding the yarn on. I noticed right away there were a good many kinks in the yarn, so I held the yarn taught, as I had read somewhere that I should, pulling the kinks out, and kept winding. What I DIDNT notice was that my “umbrella” was closing ever so gradually…probably due to the tension I was putting on the yarn and the tension of the thousands of kinks trying to re-kink themselves…until of course, kinks started showing up in the first part that I had wound on. Of course, they had been wound on when the skein holder was fully open, but now at half mast, they didn’t have any tension on them anymore. I tried to push the umbrella back open, but of course the last few dozen rounds of yarn had been wound when it was smaller, so it wouldn’t go up. Ok, so I try and wind them back off, but then the kinks just started getting out of control, and suddenly everything was a tangled mess. After giving up, untangling and winding the rest at the smaller circumferance, I took my lopsided “skein” off, and all I can really say is that it bore a striking resembalance to a blue and brown unclipped poodle! I’m too embarrassed at the moment to include a picture, but I might start seeing more humour and less mortification in the business in the next few days and put one up on my blog.

I’m thinking I might need to patiently sit down and rewind it all on the bobbin, then reskein using my old arm…then do the wash thing and hang…oh I don’t know…my car maybe…on it to straighten the kinks out. Here’s hoping. As it is, it won’t even do as novelty yarn!

So that's the whole sordid story, and today, finally, I felt brave enough to take a picture of my "yarn poodle".



I had thought to sort and and wind it back on the bobbin today, but I had way more stuff to do, and not the heart to sit thru all those tangles. So, I suppose the poodle will have to "relax" and wait for another day when I feel more courageous.

On a more positive note, yesterday I finished those heel turns on the "Socks Ahoy" project. The Widdershins heels are a cross between the old fashioned heel flap and the short row heel. I searched thru Ravelry forums and found a post that directed me to this blog entry by K2Knits called Revisiting the Widdershins Heel. It literally saved my bacon. The pattern itself is only in one size, and unlike short row heels, there isn't just this easy "knit to the last wrap" thing going on that will adjust to any size. So for my fat feet, I needed adjustments, and the worksheet on her blog was indespensible, given my arithmatic retardation.

Even armed with the numbers, I still procrastinated about a week, rereading things in my spare time to try and get the idea of how it was done in my head. But yesterday, the first day of my two whole days in a row off, I was determined to get into it. The first one went slowly, both because I was being cautious and because I had two socks on the one needle, and I had trouble keeping the sock I wasn't working on out of my way.

So I knit the first sock off onto my new bamboo knit picks needles, and boy did they work a treat. I had never knit socks on bamboo before, and I know some don't like it, but I loved the way the bamboo held on to the slippery sock yarn. I could knit closer to the ends of my needles without worrying as much about dropping a stitch, and all it all it at least "seemed" faster. And the cords seem much more flexible than the Addi's. I'm going to order me some more, in a longer length. The ones I got in Bendigo are 80cm, which is big enough to magic loop a sock, but not two socks at once, which is how I'd much rather do the thing.

So the heel is done, on both socks. I finished them both yesterday, though I admit I didn't get much else done at all. But I'm very very happy with this heel, and I think I will use it again and again. No holes or gaps AT ALL. It's really a nice, clean, good looking heel, and not that hard once you have the tools to resize it and have knit it through to figure out how it works. In fact, I may never use another type of heel ever again! (Ok, I probably will...but it IS a nice heel).



Now, I'm ready to start working on the leg.



Meanwhile, I'm still knitting on the "Peace in the Hood" (CPH) hoodie, but I haven't gotten much done past the last post, so no picture is really necessary. I am working on that now, though, as I'm almost finished with the ribbing on the first sleeve, and would like to establish the pattern so it will be ready to "travel" when I'm back to work again.

Ok folks, that about catches things up. Off to knit now.

Detours and Roadblocks

For the last few days, since finishing my MIL's jumper, I have been working on the "Hirohito's Revenge" scarf. I'm so glad to be finished with that blasted Noro. I will NEVER buy that stuff again. Maybe I'm a bit heavy handed, but still, one wouldn't expect the stuff to fall apart quite as easily as it does, and I've never had that problem with other yarns. I can only imagine the stuff was made for delicate little Asian ladies, certainly not a roughneck like me.




But I'm reasonably pleased with the results of the scarf. I think it looks pretty good, considering I mixed the two colorways, and types, of Noro. I'm hoping it will soften up after a good soak in some wool wash.

One would think, at this point, I would have dived into the "Central Park Hoodie" project, as eager as I have been to start, but I haven't. I ran into a bit of a detour, deciding instead to start on a hat for myself to wear to Bendigo. I decided this for two reasons. I need a decent (ok, fancy) looking hat to wear to a 8AM breakfast in the park where a bunch of us Ravelers are going to meet and greet, and I thought it might be great to get a feel for knitting with the Peace Fleece before committing to the larger project.

So I have started the hat, which I found on Ravelry under the title of "Cabled Force", but I have retitled my version to "Copper Topper". I'm using the Sheplova Mushroom colorway of the Peace Fleece I ordered thru the co-op. This colorway is absolutely smashing when knit up, and I'm thinking it would make a great color for a jumper or cardi, or even a jacket. I'm loving it so far. It's definately knitting I have to concentrate on, but fun nonetheless, and the pattern is so fun to watch grow. I'm thinking I'll have this baby finished in no time flat.



I must pick up Chris' vest as well, and I promised I would before I started the hoodie, so I'll likely get to that very soon, and work on the Fringe jumper in the meantime.

I'm sort of placing some roadblocks in my way, I know, but in a fashion I'm trying to use my impatience to start on the Central Park Hoodie to inspire me to finish some projects that are well overdue for completion. Like dangling a carrot, so to speak.

I also recieved a lovely package in the mail this week. Awhile back, I sent one of my Ravelry buddies some Koolaid to try out, and she in turn sent me some silk caps that she had died with it, in pretty pinks and blues, for later spinning (if I ever get around to spinning agian!!). It may inspire me to get to my spinning, as I'm incredibly curious to see how these colors will spin up.





Well, that's it for now. Until next time...

Better than the Airlines

At least I can make deadlines! Ok, I'm not exactly there, but I'm calling the jumper for my mother in law, June, complete. I still need to do a bit of blocking, and a bit of work on the sewn in ends, but otherwise, it is finished, and 5 days ahead of schedule, which gives me time to block it properly. I'm quite happy with it overall, although the sleeves look a bit tighter, particularly around the armpits and wrists, than I had anticipated, but proper blocking will fix that right up I reckon, and all in all I'm massively pleased with the results of my rushed efforts. It's quite a decent looking jumper already, even without the refinement of blocking.




Now for the difficult thing. Where do I go from here? I still have two projects actively on the needles right now. My Fringe jumper and my Short row scarf. I want to at least finish the scarf before I begin the project that my fingers are so itching to begin. I'm trying to show some discipline here, I really am.

Add to that, Chris has been not so subtely asking me what ever happened to that vest I was knitting for him. It's been in hibernation now for months...my excuse being it wasn't the proper season to be wearing it anyway. Alas, the short, cold days of winter are here, and I would be proud for him to wear it to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show next month, so on one or another of my days off in the near future, I plan to drag it out and begin the mindnumbing process of picking up the hundreds of stitches it requires to do the trim for the neck and arms. That's all it likes, and being it is novelty, fluffy yarn, I don't even have to be exacting and "perfect" about it, but I hate picking up all those stitches. Still, I will do it, and do it soon.

But soon, very soon now, I will begin the Central Park Hoodie (fondly referred to henceforth as CPH). I have ordered the pattern. I have made several copies of the pattern. I have highlighted one of the copies in the proper places for the proper size I have intended to make.



I have wound several balls of the Peace Fleece Zarya fog on my beloved ball winder, and plan to wind even more in the next day or two. I plan to wind all but three, as I'm almost certain I will use that many, but I always seem to use less than a pattern calls for, and in case I want to resell or trade the leftovers later, I want to keep them in their proper "new" condition.



In short, I'm almost prepared to start knitting. But, as I said, I'm showing some restraint here, and determined to knock at least 1 of my 2 WIP's off the list before I do. BUT there's nothing wrong with doing a gauge swatch or two, now is there? Nope, nothing at all. Maybe that will take some of the itch out of my fingers.

The problem with the Short row scarf is that it demands excessive amounts of counting, and I'm prone to losing my place, particularly at 3 in the morning when I usually have an hour or so at work to knit...but constantly get interrupted. So I will, most likely, take the Fringe jumper with me outside the house, and finish the scarf here, when I have more liberty to count uninterrupted. Not bad, as it means I will get some progress made on the jumper, but it does mean it will slow me down as far as finishing the scarf.

I'm also keen to get a nice, small, easy portable project on the needles, most likely another pair of socks. I have sooo much sock yarn, I'm not sure where to start, but most likely either with the sock yarn I bought from Moseley Park (a pretty blue/green solid color, or the white Patonyle I splotch dyed with red Koolaid, the "boat socks" I've been wanting to make.

I always look in the Australian "Destash" thread on Ravelry, and the other day I saw a gal who was wanting to get rid of some Peace Fleece. Frankly, I would have been willing to buy it all off of her, but I'm trying to be conservative money wise these days, so I only bought two skeins. One was in Peristroika Pink and the other is called Mir Atalantis Periwinkle. In other words, bright pink and purple. I'm thinking of perhaps making a hat from these, perhaps for Jessica. I haven't really decided.



See, these decisions never seem to end. Sigh.