bleh

Yesterday was the first of the Grim Days of Autumn here in London: grey, cold (about 9/45 degrees), and drizzling. I had one of those mornings where nothing goes right, including getting to work forty minutes later then planned and not having anywhere to lock my bike. In the cold rain. And I had a headache and wanted to put my head down on my desk and go to sleep. Bah.

So I came home early and snuggled the dog, dug out this yarn and wound it up on the ball winder. And I cast on some socks.

Suddenly, the day was much better...

Birthday present

Himself asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I had no hesitation in asking for an installment of the Wildcraft Fiber and Spindle club. Now, to be fair, I ordered it and all the rest, but I probably wouldn't have done so otherwise - I suspect I have enough fiber already.

Yesterday it arrived.

A gorgeous resin spindle with a sunflower, and a cherry shaft, and a big braid of Shetland dyed in the "Last of the Sunflowers" colorway. Bliss.

If anyone is looking for a new crack fiber dealer, I can recommend Karen's stuff. She's got some lovely gorgeous colorways, and her own sheep! So head over and check out her site. You can thank me later.

Whiplash

So on Monday, I was pondering as to what I could dress up as a semi-entertaining little tidbit of wooly ether to share with you. And then my brother came through in the most serious fashion with a load of gorgeous photos of him in his new sweater, and suddenly the Monday blog post was taken care of. Ok, I still had to write it, and finish the final pattern editing and get it uploaded to Ravelry, etc, etc, etc (why does that always take so much longer then I remember?).

Now it's Wednesday, and I feel like I've been running as fast as I can on all things fibery and wooly, and I'm still in the same place. I have serious startitis cravings: some folks on the Hello Yarn group are going on about a steeked-striped-handspun vest-along that I am absolutely salivating to cast on. And I've got two test knits ongoing that I'm anxiously looking to for feedback. In the meantime, there's the soaking-dyeing-cursing over-drying of fiber stuff going on, and regular life things (i.e work, school, laundry, more dishes then are really necessary in any universe). Thankfully, instead of feeling overwhelmed, I'm more or less enjoying it all, although my enthusiasm for discussion of said events is somewhat less then existant. So my apologies to those in the real world if I've been less then forthcoming about it all.

Here is the earthshattering revelation that I was going to share on Monday that is now postponed until Wednesday: I have too many sweaters in progress.

One is a vest, two are handspun, and three (of the four) need to be done by Christmas. Ehem. Thankfully, the two handspun sweaters are lacking four sleeves and a neckband. Two of the four sleeves are pretty straightforward (it's a sweater for the 6 year old), but the other two...the less said about them and their attendant neckband, the better. The vest should be pretty quick, but as of this writing, I'm three 9.5 inches* (out of 18) in on my way to the underarms. Not exactly breaking any land speed records with that puppy. Ehem, take two.

Sadly, the sweater that doesn't have a firm deadline is the one that is working up the fastest, on the biggest needles. I started last week, and in three days, I had a sleeve. It's also a side-to-side construction, which I haven't done before, so that's pretty intriguing. It's the thing that I find myself gravitating towards, and it's the last thing I should be working on! Aaaargh!

Sometimes I can't even believe how knotty my problems are! /sarcasm


*Today was more productive then expected on the knitting front. On the work front however...

Harpswell Pullover

The Harpswell Pullover pattern is now available.

This comfy pullover is designed with a crew neck, set-in sleeves and an easy-to-memorize-yet-still-interesting stitch pattern that should satisfy even the most unadventurous of male recipients. The body is worked in the round to the underarms, then split for the front and back. Sleeves are knit in the round to the sleeve cap and then worked back and forth before being seamed into the body of the sweater.

This pattern ranges in size from 36-60 inches (finished chest measurement) and requires between 1100-2100 yards of worsted weight yarn. More information can be found on the Ravelry pattern page here.

SKILLS REQUIRED

Knitting, purling, increasing and decreasing (both k2tog and ssk), knitting in the round and knitting back and forth, seaming. This pattern is suitable for an advanced beginner.

Harpswell Pullover

$7.00

Many thanks to my test knitters in the Ravelry Free Pattern Testers group, my fabulous model, he-who-must-model-for-me-because-I-knit-him-sweaters-and-he-can't-break-up-with-me (aka my brother), and the lovely JoAnna for her mad photo skills.

Wednesday and a(nother) trip to Islington

The Thursday before we left for Houston, I trekked up to Loop in Islington for some present shopping (the Wollmeise in Monday's post). I also picked up a couple of balls of grey merino for a re-try of the Gherkin mittens that I was designing about this time last year, that stalled out. The stalling was due to 1) I wasn't happy with the way the stitch pattern was working out and the charting was making me INSANE, and 2) fingering weight yarn on US 2 needles = slow progress. So the lovely StR that was going to be these mittens is now repurposed to something else, and I'm doing them in a much heavier yarn*. Not surprisingly, they are going much faster this time around!

First finished mitten on top of the book I just finished (it's brilliant and made me cry)

In any event, after my shopping spree (which also included a couple skeins of Cascade 220 for the 4th London-inspired pattern...), I decided to walk back towards Waterloo and set off down the road in a somewhat southerly direction. It was raining a little bit, so I went along under my somewhat tattered cheap umbrella, watching the buses and taxis go by, through a part of London I'd never been through before, just generally enjoying being able to wander about on my own. I finally found the river, after passing Fleet St. and St. Paul's, had lunch and took the train home. It was lovely.

And in striking contrast to the following week in Houston, where walking a few miles on a whim just isn't an option. It's something I'd managed to forget about (largely), since my childhood in Boston certainly involved much walking/public transportation/getting myself places using things other then a motor ve-hicle. I was the last of my high school friends to get my driver's license, partly because they could drive me around, but also because it wasn't really necessary. I realize that the presence of accessible public transportation is something of an anomaly in US cities, and that seems truly unfortunate.

Today I "had" to go back to Loop, because two balls of the merino was not enough. Thankfully they still had some of the same dyelot left, so the mitten prototype should be done tonight. I also perused the Angel antique market (gorgeous buttons!) and then I took the bus to work - along another new route that I hadn't traveled before, enjoying yet another part of this amazing place where I am lucky enough to live.

* And I have new charting software that makes it all so much easier...