Knitter down

Knitting-type of progress has been slowed of late by a wee problem with my dominant knitting hand:

I seem to have managed to irritate the tendons/ligaments in my right wrist, what with general life events (aka cycling, grant writing, kid hauling, knitting, spinning, etc) and they are none too happy. So my chiropractor realigned the umpteen-gazillion bones in my wrist that were out of whack, taped me up like an NFL star* and sent me back out into the world. I get to wear this stuff for 14 days so the ligaments regain their normal non-stretched out and irritated state, and then all should be well (my fingers are crossed).

In the meantime, I can get this stuff wet, dirty, gross, etc because he set me up with a whole roll. This is timely given that I've got my second race of the season on Saturday. I'm looking forward to it, as long as the weather continues to cooperate and give us 50 degree mornings and 80 degree days (plus it would help if there was no Biblical Downpour as there was the last time I tried to compete in this particular event). If it's hot and steamy, aka normal Houston weather, it's going to be a long slog. I've been spoiled by the long stretch of really really nice weather we've been having.

My training has been going ok. Despite the fact that it's in the header up there, I don't seem to talk much about training or triathlons in this little spot of the blogosphere. This may be in part due to the fact that my energies are largely focused elsewhere these days. B.K. (before kiddos) Ironman and I trained alot, and trained together despite our relative velocities (I'm built for comfort, he's built for speed). A.K., that doesn't happen any more. Or hardly ever - we occasionally sneak in a swim together while the kids are still at daycare, but no more long Saturday morning rides, or trips up to Huntsville to run. I miss training together, but more then that I miss consistent training. Things are so much more harried now that my training schedule takes a serious hit - because of kids or work or just not having the motivation or energy to go out for a workout once I get home in the evenings. Which is why I do crazy shit like get up at 4:45am to go running or ride on the trainer - it's either that or it doesn't happen at all. It's coming back slowly, but for now I'm sticking to short local races that I can muddle through with half-assed training. Hopefully there will be more space for it farther down the line.

* In retrospect, I should have opted for the fluorescent pink or lime green tape colors, because this "flesh" tone is pretty boring. Something bright could be a good conversation piece!

Red (and Brown) Velvet

Ironman was away for the first half of this week at a conference, and my therapy was spinning. Intensive, hours-long spinning sessions. Until very late at night. Watching really, really bad TV. Inspired by Sarah, I dug into March/April's installment of the Hello Yarn Fiber Club: Red Velvet.

Handdyed Shetland wool, 8 oz. My previous experience with Shetland was not terribly successful, but I'm now convinced that was operator error (aka Overspinning). This stuff is absolutely incredible. I stripped each 4 oz bundle in half and then in half again, and wound two roving balls with two strips of each half (in the same order). I didn't bother to predraft, since Sarah's rave reviews seemed to indicate it wasn't necessary. And away I went.

I've been doing a lot of fine singles recently, so I wanted to try and do a softer twist, thicker single. I recently got "Spinning for Softness and Speed" and, while not quite ready to take the entire plunge, I used some of the ideas from that book while spinning these.

I spun all the singles from the end, using some sort of bastardization of long draw, and ended up with four bobbins of smooshy, squishy, plush singles. They also went really really fast - 2 hrs/4 oz (fast for me). Two nights worth of work and the singles were done.

I plied the first two bobbins on Wednesday night, sitting out on the back porch, smelling the jasmine and enjoying the gorgeous weather. Plus I figured out how to ply with just one hand! A key point for the plying/imbibing/relaxing trinity. Plying the first skein took just an hour, and it is gorgeous and squishy and glorious. The other two bobbins are on tap for tonight.

Final specs: 100% shetland wool top from Hello Yarn
Spun at 9:1, from the end, semi-worsted, semi-longdraw. Plied at 7:1 (Look Ma, one hand!) with appropriate beverage.
215 yds/4 oz, no idea of wpi, soft fuzzy yarn. I'm amazed at how closely the colors lined up - there's some baberpole, but not much. I'm envisioning a Tomten for Devil out of this stuff, in combo with some Lush perhaps?

A near thing

Last summer Ironman went to Peru and brought me back some alpaca. In fact, he brought back lots of alpaca. 30 balls. Fingering weight. Two colors. It's gorgeous stuff, but since I wasn't sure what to do with it, I stuck it in the closet to marinate.

Recently I've come down with a major case of startitis. Whee - a shawl!...oooo, look over there, pretty fiber! Hmmm, I think I need a new sweater project... Some of this may have been encouraged by the lovely, but unseasonable weather that has been lingering in the Houston area, and the rest of it by the Website That Shall Not Be Named. But I found a lovely, retro pattern that was appealing, and decided maybe it would be a good fit for my lovely alpaca.

To recap:

Alpaca sweater.
Fingering weight.
Black.
In a Houston summer.

Does this seem like a good idea to anyone?

Thankfully, I swatched yesterday, and have been deterred from my path of madness. The yarn is gorgeously soft, knits up into a nice stockinette fabric, but the cables are pretty appalling. As in, they disappear into mush. This may change after a bath, but I'm not optimistic. So I think the alpaca will disappear back into the stash closet for a while longer, although I've got some ideas about other uses for it.

Do you see a cable here? I don't see a cable here. Nope, nothing to see here.

The North Roe shawl is still a shapeless blob of bright green and brown, but it's getting larger. I'm well in to the second chart and am looking forward to the last.

Unfortunately, I've reached that stage in shawl knitting where the rows take forever (~3 rows/bus ride, not conducive to rapid progress), and it's starting to drag. This may also contribute to the startitis a bit - I'm not going to mention the other swatching action that is ongoing. Best not to confess to too much methinks!

The frog pond

Way back in October I came to a sad realization. The Basalt tank that I'd been working on for quite a while was just not quite right. So I banished it to the back of my closet and waited for spring to re-inspire me.

Yesterday I pulled it out only to realize that it was much worse then I had imagined. I remembered thinking it was a bit big and shapeless. In fact, it was 44 inches of big and shapeless, for what was supposed to be the 39" size. Oooops!* I alredy knew I was going to be frogging, but I had hoped to be able to keep some of the work and just redo the side hexagons with some waist shaping and call it good. Nope. No way, no how.

Cabled 50/50 cotton-wool goodness

Two episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season Three later I have a nice big pile of Cotton Top ready to become a new Basalt tank (the 36 inch size this time I think!).


* Further evidence that swatches lie.

Fiber Friday: Spiral boot socks

I realize that having a Fiber Friday post that includes a finished item is something of an oxymoron, but these are the second thing I've made for me with my own handspun, and I am excessively enamored of them.

Pattern: Spiral Boot Socks by Veronik Avery, IK Summer 2007
Yarn: Toxic superwash corriedale, 3 ply, approximately fingering weight, dyed by Hello Yarn (more details on the spinning are here), 515 yds.
Needles: multiple sizes -- US 1/2.25 mm and US 2/2.75 mm dpns from Brittany, US 1.5/2.5 mm dpns from Knit Picks
Started/finished (this is why I love Ravelry!): 3/12 on my way to Portland/4/14/08.
Comments and modifications: Where to start? I spun this yarn hoping to end up with some subtle striping, and it worked out better then I ever imagined once the yarn was knitted up. I knew from the beginning I'd need to do a bunch of modifications since 1) I wanted to knit the socks toe-up so I could use all of the yarn and 2) the pattern schematics indicated a top leg opening of only 11 inches. Since I spent the better part of three days this winter trying to find a pair of knee high boots that would close around my "shapely" calves (18 inches!), 11 inches was not going to cut it.

My gauge with this yarn on US 1/2.25 mm needles was about 7 sts/9 rows per inch so I did my standard toe increases up to the number of stitches called for in the pattern and tried it on. Everything looked good, so I forged ahead. I simply worked the charts as they are printed in the pattern for the length of the foot. When I had about 6.5 inches of foot done, I started increasing one stitch on each side of the heel stitches every other row for the gusset. Once those were done (14 increases total) I turned the heel as in the pattern directions and then worked the heel flap in sl1/k1 rib just as I did for the Firestarter socks.

Once the heel was done, I started working the leg patttern with US 1/2.25 mm needles. I did 15 repeats before increasing one stitch before the YO. 15 more repeats and then increased one stitch after the YO. Note: this is not what was called for in the pattern, but I didn't read closely enough to catch the mistake until I was almost at the top of the leg. So I didn't bother fixing it. This increase in stitch number as you go up the leg creates subtle calf shaping that works pretty well.

I did 15 repeats of the final stitch pattern and then switched to US 2/2.75 needles for 12 more repeats. At that point, I figured I was going to use up most of the yarn, and started on the cuff. In order to tighten up the top of the sock and help keep them up, I switched to US 1.5/2.5 mm needles for the cuff pattern. Again, I didn't flip the chart at all, just worked it as written, did the final few rows of lace and used a standard bind off (k2, pass 1st stitch over second, k1, pass 1st stitch over second, repeat ad nauseum). This is not a particularly stretchy bind off, but it fits well, and hopefully will force the socks stay up.

Now the next question is: will it ever be cold enough in Houston to wear them? Because knee high wool socks and shorts are not a fashion statement I'm particularly willing to make!