It must be autumn

Because people are wearing sweaters now, and it's not doing good things for my startitis.

Devil and I went to the story hour at our local library today, and I don't remember what we heard because I was so taken with two sweaters there. The first was a heathery pink number on an adorable little girl who was probably 20 months old. It was a standard yoked cardigan, with one button at the very top, seed stitch hems/neck/front bands, and a bunch of eyelet rows in the yoke to give it a bit of interest. I scrounged in my bag for a pen and a receipt and made a quick sketch, probably scaring the crap out of my neighboring caretaker. Turns out that this looks like the exact pattern*, so I won't have to reinvent the wheel. Score!

The other sweater was a grown up one - another cardigan with seed stitch accents, but this one had two buttons, patch pockets on the front, a shirt collar and was knit up in a drapey chocolate brown yarn that looked incredible. I immediately thought of this yarn,

which my mother found somewhere in Maine and sent me several years ago. I've got a whole bunch of it, so when I start swatching this evening, I might whip up some of that and see how it goes. It feels pretty crunchy in the skein, but I'll do up a couple of swatches and abuse them in inventive ways.

Maybe when I go back to work I'll stop with the crazy designing inspiration. I can only hope, because otherwise it's going to put a huge dent on my ability to concentrate on other things!

* I don't think I've mentioned recently that Ravelry kicks arse. Took a millisecond to find this pattern.

In which I impersonate an anal knitter

I spent much of last week cruising along on Aestlight, enjoying every minute of it.

The yarn is fun to work with - a little bit grabby but nice and soft. I'm loving the way the colors are going. It looks like a sunset. And oh! the garter stitch cushiness! Gudrun's pattern is beautifully written and presented, and the hold up I had at the end of the lace section of the border was due solely to operator error (otherwise known as I-am-a-dumbass-and-can't-follow-simple-directions syndrome).

Bird's eye lace, how do I love thee? Let me count the purl stitches...

But here's where the OCD kicks in. I finished with the border section in Maine, and had to stop. Because I didn't want to have the edging change colors suddenly in the middle. And I didn't want the colors to be asymmetrical. Harumph. The last few rows of the border were the same blue-green of the center triangle, and there was quite a bit of that left in the yarn cake. But the outside of the yarn cake was that gorgeous pinky-orange hue.

Of course, I was positive that I didn't have enough of the pink section to do the entire edging, particularly since I'm knitting the large size shawl. Erf. So I broke down in a heap, put down the garter stitch, and realized that I needed my niddy-noddy before I went any farther.

Now that we're back at the ranch (and Ironman and the girls have gone blackberry hunting again), I busted out the ball winder and my scale to get things set up for the final stage. First up, the yarn left:

You can see that the part I've balled is bluer then the rest of it. Deciding where to divide between the blue/green/yellow and the orange pink was tough, but finally I bit the bullet and broke it. The remaining pink/orange stuff got wound on the niddy noddy and I counted the number of wraps (19.75).

I set up the ball winder next to the niddy and wound off half of the yarn available. Then I broke the yarn and wound up another ball of pink/orange. The first ball got rewound so that the end that was in the middle of the pink/orange section ended up being the end that I'll start with. That way if I run out before the halfway point in the edging, I'll be able to seamlessly blend in the blue/green/yellow ball (also rewound). Hopefully I'll use up enough of that ball to be able to blend into the second ball of pink/orange without too much contrast.

Yes, there is an orange ball and a pink ball. I'm hoping it won't make that much difference in the final product.

Pink/orange yarn, 18 gr.

(My dubious math skills are up to this one) Blue/green/yellow yarn, also 18 gr. Given that I started with 121 gr total, I have no idea if I'll make it through with just the pink/orange. I suspect I will be weighing what's left after a few edging repeats to see if I'm going to make it.

Gosh, I feel like Grumperina!

Home again, home again...

We arrived back in London at 7:00 am Saturday morning, and managed to keep ourselves more or less awake for much of the day. The girls did take three hour naps, as did IM, and Devil didn't then go to sleep til 11:00, but hey, who's keeping track? We're all sad to leave family behind, but glad to be back at home. We went out that night (in an attempt to keep everyone conscious) and came back with this:

7 lbs of wild blackberries. Most of these are in the freezer while I attempt to find canning jars, but some ended up in blackberry pancakes at 10:30 the next morning when we were finally all awake...

I also busted in to some of my new fiber stash after the girls were in bed (if not actually asleep). This braid of BFL

is well on it's way to being a poofy 2-ply for a hat or some mittens.

It's getting to be the time of year when the holiday season rears its ugly head. I've recently decided not to wait to give people handknits - hence gifting my MIL with her Mermaid socks immediately instead of holding out until Christmas. Isis also has a new home in mind, so now that I'm back I'll get some more yarn and finish that off (only 23 rows to go! And about 250 beads. And something more then 14,000 stitches. Yikes!). But that doesn't mean I don't have Christmas presents in mind too. So this will become a giftie for someone I think.

August was good on the sock front:

Knitting
Pomatomus
Glynis
Haiku

Spinning
Thrive (and much of Aestlight too!)

Fiber Friday: Stash enhancement

Before we moved last spring, I sold my old tri bike for $500. When we came back to the States for this vacation, I still had $200 left, and I had grand plans. On Monday, those grand plans came to fruition.

The first stop was Spunky Eclectic, which I now know is only 30 minutes maximum from where my parents now live. Hallelujah! I managed to fall down and divest myself of half of my cashola in not very much time. Some superwash merino came home to live with me,

Emerald Isle

Thunderstorm

and then I was swept away by some Shetland and a couple of braids of BFL.

Tundra Shetland

BFL Galaxy Jupiter

BFL Autumn

The final keeper from the vast selection in Amy's shop was a braid of merino/bamboo/nylon. I think this is going to make some unbelievable socks for someone. Probably me!

Blue Moon

The shop was lovely and chock full of gorgeous stuff. Including a circle of wheels and more spindles then I've ever seen in one place. And Grafton batts. And natural colored fibers. And, and, and...I can't even begin to list the stuff that was in there, but if I ever end up living near my parents, I know where I'll be spending large chunks of my time and (non)disposable income.

But we weren't done yet. We (me, my mother, and my non-napping children) headed to Bath and Halcyon Yarns. I was looking for some grey BFL to pair with this to make some stranded mittens. They didn't have any grey, but they did have some brown that looked like it would work.

I also got some brown Coopworth and 4 oz of merino/cashmere for something really special.

Now the problem is figuring out how to get it all back to London. I think I may need an extra suitcase. But it should keep me busy for a while!

The end of an era

I was clearing out a box of my old papers in my parents' garage this afternoon, and I came across a framed letter that I had saved from 1990. It was from Senator Edward Kennedy, congratulating me on receiving the John and Robert Kennedy Book Award, which I vaguely remember was for being a science geek. In light of his recent passing, it was all the more poignant to find a letter from a man I had never met, wishing me success in college, and saying "I know that this honor, and all the others you've received...are well deserved,...,and I'm confident you have a very promising and exciting future ahead of you."

Having spent most of my childhood in the Boston area, Ted Kennedy was one of the political figures never in doubt. Regardless of what you may think of him, his politics, and his somewhat tumultuous personal life, he was a great and effective legislator, who accomplished remarkable things. It is a tragedy that he did not live to see a health care bill passed, but I hope that it won't be by very long.

Thank you Teddy.