Honey Cowl

Cowls. I'm mad about them. I've got three of them on the needles right now, even as I type. No pictures, of course, because I'm at an internet cafe, and the projects are at home.

I've got two Milanese Loop cowls, in different weight yarns, which were to be Christmas presents (wha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!) and a cowl in Malabrigo Mecha for my cousin Alexa (which is about 2/5 complete). But then, on the Book of the Face, I saw my friend Dreux was making the Honey Cowl by Madeline Tosh with his own gorgeous homespun. I must make this cowl.
This is Dreux's homespun.

And this is his rendition of the Honey Cowl.

That is knitting up just beautifully!

I, alas, do not have any beautiful handspun, because I suck at spinning. But I have a large stash, with an enviable collection of Madeline Tosh in DK weight. I have multiple skeins of several colours (because I am a yarn whore). I can make this cowl! In fact, I can make this cowl with the recommended yarn! The great thing about having a ginourmous stash is that one can decide to make something because one likes a pattern, and of course the stash will contain multiple skeins of the recommended yarns. Of course, now I have to find it. I know it's in one of the bins, but which one? That's the downside of having a ginourmous stash.

I am going away for the long weekend, and need to bring a couple of projects with me. This would be a good one.

Five Things

1. I've been making progress on the abandoned projects project, having finished one and made a lot of progress on another. I have six more iterations of the pattern for the teal scarf to be done. As God is my witness, I am never making another Ameeta scarf again.

2. One of the things I've been thinking about, after Reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is about knitting in public. I don't do it very often, certainly not on the subway. Knitting on Boston's crowded MBTA can be done, it just can't be done by me. One male knitter I know says that when he knits on the subway, no one sits near him. Might be worth a shot.

3. Which isn't to say that I haven't knit out in public, just not on the subway. I've been seen knitting in various cafes around Boston, I've knit in public at the Prudential Center, and in the lobbies of hotels. I've gotten a few comments, mostly of the "that's so cool!" variety. When I was working on the double sided dragon scarf, I had several people come up to tell me that it was wicked pissah. Though they might have used a different phrase.

Which reminds me, I need to find the double sided dragon scarf and the various skeins of yarn I got for it, and finish it.

4. I have kind of realised that I don't like wearing scarves. So I'm wondering if a cowl might be better suited to me, because when we were experiencing the Polar Vortex my neck was cold.

But I didn't want to wrap my scarf around myself, because it gets all tangled up with my courier bag (in which I carry my computer, my book, and, of course, my knitting). So today I got some yarn and I will make myself a cowl. Malabrigo Mecha, two skeins of Persia, and some leftover Polar Morn. Lots of blue. Should be so very manly. If I had any photos of the yarn, I'd post it, but I'm here in an internet cafe and not really able to take decent (like any of my photos are decent) photos of the yarn.



5. I have five days to remember the safe place I put Libby's feather-and-fan scarf, which I finished last year but have yet to block. Well, I blocked it once, but it didn't work out. I sent her a text (since I'll  be seeing her next week) asking if she had a blocking board. She doesn't, but pins things to the bed. So if I'm not staying on the air mattress, I'll try the same thing. Well, if I can find the scarf. I know it's someplace safe, though

Frogging for Fun, if Not Profit

My original plan was to make two Ameeta scarves for a pair of sisters. I worked on them at the same time, but along the way, made a mistake on the teal one and left it aside, concentrating on the purple one. Then I put that one aside, because contemplating ripping out so much of the teal one left me weak in the knees.

I just picked them up, after 11 months, to finish. I wisely finished the purple one first. Here it is, isn't it pretty?

Last night I frogged back at least three and a half iterations of the pattern. It's an 18 row pattern, so a lot of yarn got frogged. I even frogged past the point where I joined the second ball of yarn, so now I've got awhile to go before it is anywhere near done (according to my calculations, I have completed 12.5 iterations of the pattern, and the purple scarf took 28 iterations of the pattern before I bound it off). I picked an easy place to start anew, a row that is straight knit across. I frogged all the way to the row just before the all-knit row, and then put the scarf on smaller needles, and then tinked my way across to make sure every stitch is on the needle orrectly (because one of my talents is being unable to tell if a stitch is sittingon the needle correctly). I'll knit a row, and then finish this particular iteration of the pattern, rows 10 through 18. I think that my mistake was that I knit row 9, and then knit row 11, which caused everything to go all higgeldy-piggeldy in the first place.

I really hate it when that happens.

So, here is the teal scarf, before I tinked back all those rows. The arrow shows where the mistake occurred. But I've got 11 days to knit 15.5 iterations of this pattern. If I do but two iterations per day, I'll make my deadline. If I do more than that, I'll be ahead of the game. I'd been drinking hard cider, so I wisely waited until today to begin the Great Ameeta Re-knit. Because my gauge gets really loose if I've been drinking.

And that brings me to another point. I knit the purple scarf on size US 6, 16 inch, circular needles. The fabric is tight and a bit stiff. The teal scarf is being knit on US 6, 24 inch, circular needles, and the fabric feels much softer and looser. Both scarves are being knit with Malabrigo Rios, all four skeins purchased at Webs in Northampton. It make sense that the purple one feels tighter, since I had less slack than the teal's needles allow. I should have realised this from the very beginning. I hope the recipients don't mind. And if they do, well, there's nothing I can do about it.

Post Script:

I awoke early this morning and was able to knit one and a half iterations of the pattern, bringing me to 14 full repeats. Now if I can do two more today, I'll feel good about my progress. I think if I can get three rather than two iterations done each day, I'll feel better. It has to be done by Friday, 17 January.

Non Monogamy: Part Deux

I have said in the past that I am a non-monogamous knitter. I have several projects going on at the same time. There are reasons for this. I usually can't fit a sweater in my backpack, so I'll work on that at home, and carry a hat with me when I go out. Or a pattern might involve a lot of counting: (k2, p2)2x, k11, and so on, that I really don't want to bring to my local stitch and bitch, since there are times when the knitting is secondary to the socialising.

I have decided this year that I am going to knit my stash, and, perhaps more importantly, try to finish as many in-process (read: abandoned) projects as I can. In fact, I've even made a Google spreadsheet to chart my progress in these on-going (read: abandoned) projects. I don't even know how many of them there are, but I have a feeling there are quite a few.

Right now I'm working on a pair of Ameeta scarves for a pair of sisters, one in purple, one in teal (the scarves, not the sisters). I was working on them at the same time, rows 1-9 on the teal, rows 1-9 on the purple; rows 10-18 on the teal, rows 10-18 on the purple; lather, rinse, repeat. Then I skipped a line on the teal, turning the RS into the WS and the WS into the RS, and I realised I'd have to frog about 20 rows. I've put the teal scarf aside, and am working solely on the purple. When the purple is done, I'll have a hard cider, and pick up the teal, rip out those offending 20 rows, and correct the mistake. My deadline is MLK weekend. I am being dilligent, and have already worked nine rows on the purple scarf this morning. (Did I mention we've had a wicked mega blizzard in Boston, and I don't have to go to work today? Guess how much knitting I plan to accomplish today? I'm finishing that damn purple Ameeta scarf today, if it kills me!)

Ahem. Right.

Other projects that are on-going (read: abandoned) are the Scarf That Never Ends (I dropped a stitch, and don't have a crochet hook small enough to pick it up, and I always forget it when I go to the LYS where I can borrow a hook); the brown wool sweater (didn't bind off enough stitches on the arm hole row, and need to frog back about 18 inches of fabric); Kristen's Milanese Loop (I made a mistake somewhere in the previous row of 224 stitches, and need to go back and find it and correct it); Siobhan's Milanese Loop (I put it aside to make a bunch of chemo caps); my blue wool sweater (which I put aside so I could finish all my holiday knitting, which I didn't accomplish); two iterations of the Noro Striped Scarf (which were boring the hell out of me, even the one I was making for myself); and probably other projects, if only I were brave enough to root through my bins.

As dear Queen Victoria said, when she was a mere slip of a princess, “I shall be good.” I shall find and finish those projects. And I won't buy yarn this year. Well, not much. I am looking forward to the yarn shoppe in Doylestown, PA when I go down there this February.

I can't be good all the time.

Dear Queen Victoria as a young girl. "I shall be good." 

Anne Taintor: I can't be good all the time.

Yarn Resolutions

The last post of the year. I've gotten some lovely yarn this year, made a few projects, completed some of them, too, though that is never a foregone conclusion.

I have a few resolutions to make. Of course I shan't keep them, but it is traditional to make resolutions at the beginning of the year.

1. I resolve not to buy so much yarn this year. I am at 21 bins, and could add one or two more.
2. I will knit my stash. I will use all that lovely beautiful yarn I've acquired over the years.
3. I will finish the projects I have on the needles before casting on new ones. Well, most of them, at least. Well, some of them, I'm sure. In some sort of order.
5. I will make some items for myself.
6. I will blog more.

Well, maybe I'll keep some of them.

This is a cowl I made for Peggy, who had been my advisor in college and one of my favourite professors.

Made of Malabrigo Mecha, the colours are Polar Dawn and Lotus. Done in a seed stitch, I carried the yarn, but I think if I make another one (and I will, I promised my cousin one, the yarn is bought, and it is waiting to be cast on), I won't carry the yarn, but will cut it and weave in the ends. The carried yarn in seed stitch is unsightly.

A chemo cap for my friend Priscilla, this is Madeleine Tosh Vintage, in Smokestack and Chamomile. It wasn't until I finished it that I realised it was the colours of the Boston Bruins Hockey team. Go Bruins! Boston Strong!

A new year, with old yarn, for new projects. I think it will work.

Merde

It's 16 December and I might as well face facts that none of the Christmas knitting is going to get done this year.

Like last year.

Oh, I have a good excuse or two, but really, it all comes down to the fact that nothing will be ready in time to be shipped for the holidays. Well, except Miz Kitty's shawl, but that wasn't really a Christmas present, only it turns out that it will be, because none of her kids can make it home for the hols this year, and will be the only thing she opens that day. If it gets there in time.

I got slammed with a really bad cold this year, one that lasted more than a month. I'm still hacking up a lung every now and then, though I'm feeling better. During much of that month that I was sick, time that I would normally spend knitting was spent sitting on the bed, trying to get a deep breath into my lungs, and then coughing up most of a lung.

It wasn't pretty.
And then there were the chemo caps to finish. One down, one to go. I just can't wrap my hands or head around what I want to do with that gorgeous Madeleine Tosh (smokestack and chamomile), except that I've got a hundred stitches on the needles and about an inch of 2x2 ribbing.

So, the well laid plans of mice and men (and bears) oft gang awry.

I'll get the Christmas knitting done after the holidays, when I'm feeling better.
And I'll feel like a heel because none of it will reach the recipients in time to open under the tree on Christmas morning. But it will get done. Eventually.

Le sigh.

I was going to write a post about all the cool yarn I bought on Small Business Saturday, but seriously, who needs to see more yarn? Even though every bit of it has a project attached to it (no free-range yarn this time), I think I'll wait til the projects are done and post pictures of them.

Most of my Christmas knitting is on hold because I've been not only working on several chemo caps, but I have had the Cold of Death, and haven't felt much like knitting. Mostly I've wanted to lie down on the bed and try to breathe. Today is the first day I've actually felt like knitting, and I cast on a cowl for a friend. But nothing is going to be done on time.

And that sucks.

I've been looking at the list of all the things I want to get done and if I knit non-stop every day without going to work of stopping to eat or bathe, I might get it all done.

Maybe.

This is one of the chemo caps I did finish. It is made with Cascade Alpaca, and is an adaptation of the Wurm pattern one can find on Ravelry. I did not use the pattern's fold-and-pick-up-stitches beginning because picking up stitches in black yarn is an exercise for masochists, so I just did a standard 2x2 rib for an inch. I hope the recipient likes it, and I hope that it fits her. It was kind of cool and fun to knit.

This is the actual colour of the hat, jet black. It's very soft and floppy.

The colour is completely off, but gives one an idea of what the hat looks like with the ridges.

The top of the hat. I have never had so many stitches left over at the end of the decrease rounds. I think there were 44 of 100 left over. I like the star-y looking thing on the very top.

And now, back to more knitting. I might be able to salvage something out of this damn cold.