A Good Yarn

During this period of "making up", I don't have much to write about, and absolutely nothing to take pictures of, as making up is decidedly unexciting. I have been, however, working a bit on my spinning when I'm bored to tears from all the sewing, and I'm coming up with stuff that looks suspiciously like yarn. The picture here is my bobbin containing my very first "keepable" efforts. Once I get all this making up done, I'm going to try to get a couple of bobbins full, and then ply it up and see what I come up with. Should be interesting. After that, if I happen to get some Koolaid in the mail, I'm going to try my hand at dying it.

I'm not "falling" for spinning, as many people do. I do like it, but I don't feel compelled to do it like I do knitting. Perhaps it's because it's still such "work" for me. As I get better at it, I'm pretty sure it will be a relaxing pasttime, and far more suited to TV veiwing than knitting is. I have a feeling it might become just as addictive as knitting has.

I'm still busy making up the alpaca jacket. Aside from it being in no less then 8 peices, it requires you doing most every seam in mattress stitch. Fact is, the pattern says to make it all up in mattress stitch, but of course you cant do that with the shoulder seams, and the sleeves I've sewn in with a mixture of mattress stitch and fake grafting, which was tricky, but they look good. I'm currently working on the shawl collar which is knit in two peices. I'm sewing it together right now, and then I will only like sewing it to the jacket and I'm done. Unfortunately, that's the longest seam yet, and I'm running out of "time off". I can still get a bit of work done on work days, but it will go much slower then.

I have Sunday night off, but I have a workmate and her family coming out to the boat on Sunday, which will tie up the morning and the afternoon, and I have to be in town early on Monday for a manual handling "class" that is required yearly at work. Afterwards, I will shop and then go to a meeting that night before going to work. All of this is fine and dandy for some "on the road" knitting. Trouble is, I have almost NO "on the road" knitting on the sticks right now, with the exception of the almost finished alpaca jacket belt..

There is NO doubt I will finish up the belt tonight, as I'm going to a meeting this evening and then on to work afterwards, which all together will mean I have a good 3 hours knitting time minimum, and I only need another 1/2 hour to an hour to finish the belt. So, my mission this afternoon is to find something easy peasy to start on tonight.

My yarn falls into three categories. 1.)Stuff I know what I'm going to do with. 2.) Stuff I just liked and have no clue what I'm going to do with. 3.) Stuff that I had a vague idea about what I would do with but subject to my whims.

Out of the first category, I have the yarn for 3 jumpers and one cardigan. One of the jumpers I have been aching to make from the time I saw the pattern about a year ago. That is likely what I will throw on my needles tonight. On the plus side, this jumper is knit in one peice, which means it won't need much making up once complete. On the minus side, I really love this jumper and I'm afraid if I start it, I'll ignore all the finishing work I need to do around here. My alternative is to finish the sleeve on the Crave jumper and add one more thing to my making up pile. That's what I SHOULD do, but the more I think about it, the less appealing it sounds.

Making up is hard to do...

I have knit till I can knit no more on the Plain ole cotton top. Front, back, both sleeves, and, since taking this photo, I've knit the collar. I don't particularly like the collar, as knitting up stitches is not my strong suit, and there are a few "gappy" looking stitches in the curved sections, but I suppose it will look passable when I hem it under.

I had to sew together the shoulder seams before doing the collar. I did them with "fake grafting", which I had never done before. I'm thinking it would work very well on straight seams, but for the "stairstep" shaping of the shoulders of this top, it isn't perfect. Still, they look pretty nice. So far today, I have stitched up the side seams and tried it on. I couldn't have asked for a better fit, so on that score I'm well pleased.

Still to go, stitching up the sleeve seams and setting the sleeves in.

I also finished the knitting on mom's scarf this morning. I think I'll add tassles, and I'm also thinking of making her some little surprise with the rest of the La Boheme yarn...but I haven't quite figured out what yet. I put "Caliometry" in my queue on Ravelry this morning. That's my best option so far.

The knitting part of the alpaca jacket is all but over too. I still have to knit the belt, which I plan on doing tonight, but the actual jacket part is also waiting for me to put my hand to making it up. The pattern calls for me to use the mattress stitch on the seams. I've done exactly one sleeve so far.

Also in the finishing queue is the vest I'm making for Chris, where I still need to pick up the borders and then stitch it up, and the Crave jumper, which lacks a sleeve, needs closure. But the problem with this sleeve in the first place is that it is going to take a good deal of concentration, color changes and the like to get the second sleeve the match the first one.

So here's my dilemma, and it isn't a new one. I don't like knitting up or making up at work or when KIP. When I've tried this in the past, invariably I stitch things together either in the wrong spot, facing the wrong way, or using the wrong stitch. Knitters will know, it is massively difficult to try and undo what is done when making up without breaking or at the very least stretching, strands of yarn that the rest of the fabric is depending on to hold itself together. With knitting up, I need a flat surface and concentration to get the new stitches spread evenly.

So, do I do the right thing and finish all the unfinished projects lying around begging for a few crumbs of attention? Do I take them out with me and hope for the best? Or do I start on something new, knit on it when I'm away from home, and finish the unfinished at home?

The only problem with the latter idea is that I get soooo engrossed in a new project, and so despise the finishing process, that I tend to just keep right on knitting the new when I get home. Ahhh yes, I lack discipline. But there you go. The good news is that having these UFOs on Ravelry, my shame exposed to the public at large, gives me good incentive for actually wanting to finish them.

Tomorrow will be crunch time I reckon. The belt for the alpaca jacket will get me through tonight. A decision must be made.