the best laid plans

So uhm.. let me distract you first.

This is my mum’s swallowtail. The pattern is by Evelyn A Clark and appeared in the Fall 2006 issue of Interweave Knits. The yarn is less than one skein of KnitPicks Shadow in Jewel Tones. The changes are that I did not nupp (again) and I skipped part of the peaked edging as I didn’t want so defined peaks. This is the second time I have knit the pattern. It was finished at the start of the month and sat. And sat. And waited. A date was finally set. It took a bath in some S.O.A.K. (anyone know a good URL) which was gifted to me by the wonderful Miriam. It was blocked pretty poorly but it would give mum the idea. We gave it another soak in S.O.A.K. on Sunday and I taught her how to block it. Yes, I did this over the nine days. I don’t see mum that often and while she has an idea how to do this stuff, she never had. She needs it for work as the boy F she takes care of has the AC up pretty high and she’s always cold. She LOVES it. She told me so again today. I’m waiting for her to take a picture of the reblocked shawl. I’m very happy.

The question now is what else can I knit with 1 skein of Shadow? I have 2 skeins, one in Jewel Heathers, one in Vineyard Heathers. Yardage is 440 yards/50 gram hank. I don’t think I want to combine the two skeins in one item.

I started the socks for my MIL last night and made a bit of progress today. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this yarn. It’s Aussi Sock W01 (I have it wrong in Ravelry, I’ll have to fix this) and is the softest thing EVER. It took all my energy not to buy more today. I love the colours too. I purchased it at seaport. I’m knitting the Anastasia pattern which is fun and I think a good match with the yarn. I’m knitting it on my 12" 2.5mm circs. Thus far the only change I’ve made is instead of an SSK to do a k2tog (tbl) because that is easier for me on the train. I think/hope it will work out. I’m also doing the k2togtbl sock first b/c i’d rather look forward to the k2tog’s .. ;)

I attempted some colourwork on eli’s argyles. I think my new goal is to finish these before our 20th wedding anniversary. I hate purling. I hate it. I need to frog C’s cargos. The poor hem is bothering me too much. This time I’ll just knit it up and sew the hem later. I’m not looking forward to frogging and have put it off for weeks knowing that it must be done.

What do you think of the Fall 2007 Interweave? Preview here. I like Eunny‘s Tangled Yoke Cardigan, Ruthie Nussbaum‘s Minimalist Cardigan, and Kate Gilbert‘s Cinnabar Pullover

Drat, you’re *still* here? ok … you want to see spinning?

I bought two books at Interweave’s hurt book sale, Color in Spinning by Deb Menz and In Sheep’s Clothing by Nola Fournier and Jane Fournier. I’m colour dork and I have pretty roving to play with that isn’t solid so I want to learn ideas of what to do with it without making it look like mud. I’m trying to be patient to let them pack them up and ship them. These feel like two decent reference books for me. I’ve read good and bad reviews and will reserve judgment. I know that I won’t find one perfect book, but hope to add notes and comments to this so they are truly valuable additions to my library.

Oh wait. Those are books, not spinning. So what did I spin?

Here is what is on my spindle. I am eying a bosworth. We’ll see. Some yarn may have followed me home unexpectedly today. I have to stop doing that. But it has solved my stash problems for a baby gift I need to knit. Anyway, there is some more on the spindle but I’m not in the mood to get up and attempt a decent picture. I am still park and drafting. I learned how to roll it on my leg first to get some more energy into the spin. I think in a week I’ll be able to spin and draft simultaneously.

On the wheel this afternoon while doing laundry, which is my first attempt by myself on a wheel. I practiced treadling for a while first and figured out how to get the wheel to go in whichever direction I want (almost all the time). In my eagerness to get spinning I didn’t predraft very well and it shows. So why am I distracting you to this point? After I finished laundry I thought I’d clean up the wheel and give it some TLC because while it’s been well loved, it is competing with a Journey Wheel. I schlepped the wheel home on Monday in the rain. I felt bad about this so I soaped down the wheel and was about to spin a bit more when I realized that the brake band (a strip of leather) for the tensioning of the bobbin (aka scotch tension) [please anyone correct me if i’m WRONG!] looked like it needed conditioning. It was cracking and I worried about it breaking. So I found my mink oil and started unscrewing it and yup, it broke instantly. I found some fabric and cut something out similar until I can get to the leather outlet tomorrow. [And hope that they are open. I’m not sure their hours, sometimes they are open sometimes they aren’t.] So I screwed it on loosely and pulled the wheel out and went to gently treadle and <<bang>>, the Footman to Treadle Connector broke. It appears to be a plastic rubber thingee and it sheared off at the enforcing screw. I’m scrounging around both the internet and the apartment to see if I can find a suitable alternate to use while I look for a vendor to replace the part. Here I thought I was going to give the wheel back in much better condition.

*sigh*

• Category: handmade
• Tag: knit, spin