Little bits
1. Ellen and Monica asked if I enjoyed working with the Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn.
                                     (As you can see here, I have enough left over to make another pair of socks, although I’m not sure I’d want to have another pair for myself in the same colorway. Hmmmm. I’m starting to sense a little blog contest and prize taking shape in my head….)
Anyway, yes I did enjoy working with this yarn. It’s very soft and has that springy quality that some other merinos have (Koigu comes to mind). I think that’s as much a function of the way it’s spun as anything else. If I had to make the socks again, though, I would make them with an even greater amount of negative ease, since I noticed that as I wear them they really tend to stretch out.
2. I’ve gotten back to work on the Handsome Triangle shawl, and actually completed the last of the pattern rows late last night.
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I started the first row of the ruffled edging, but quickly became befuddled and went to bed. I’ll take another crack at it this afternoon.Â
My goal:Â To wear this shawl this spring before it gets too hot.
3. I’m close to being finished with the wool and silk that I’m spinning on my new wheel.
Just a little bit left to go on this bobbin, and then a bit more on the first bobbin. Then, the fun of plying them together!
4. I received my new Knitter’s Magazine the other day.
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As usual, it is a curious mix of a few pretty designs,
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coupled with the truly hideous.
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This last is Rick Mondragon’s attempt to mimic filet crochet with knitting. Huh. If filet crochet gets you where you want to go, why spend your time trying to go there with knitting? Just asking, is all.
5. Although this has nothing whatsoever to do with knitting, I just have to show you this platter which was given to me by my boss for Paraprofessional Appreciation Day. Isn’t this gorgeous?
                                Empty.
                                                                                                And with fruit.
This is a woman who really knows how to pick a good gift. Thanks, Christa!
April 15th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
I *love* both of those sweaters in Knitters (the first two you show). I have to say, the eclectic mixture of designs sometimes stumps me, but I think, in the end, it really increases their audience. Yesterday I was at the lys and a woman in my knitting group was doing one of the designs that I had dismissed as hideous. She was really excited about it, though, and I have to admit it will probably look great on her!
April 16th, 2007 at 8:57 am
The platter is quite lovely. What a neat gift.
I got my Knitters last week, and didn’t have time to even flip through it before a meeting I was about to be late for, but I did open it randomly, and hit that gray sweater with slits for arms. Ugh! But then there were a few other things I liked. I wish it were anything like the magazine it used to be.
I sorta “get” the technical challenge of making knitting look like filet crochet, but I didn’t like the projects much. This is the most “filet-like” of any of the attempts I’ve seen over the years, though I wasn’t inspired to take up filet-knitting.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Ellen, here. From California. But more on that tomorrow…
I too love the platter. It’s quite beautiful.
About Knitters: I don’t subscribe to it, but of course we get it at the shop. The designs very greatly, yes, but what I wish they would cease and desist are those so-called “poems” that kick off the sections of the magazine. You know, the ricky-ticky, cheese-o-rama rhyming things. Sean, Kerry, and I like to play a game where I read the first line and all but the last word of the second…the rhyming word that is…and they filll in the blank.
They get it right every time.
There’s no excuse for publishing things like that. It’s an insult to both knitting and poetry. No excuse, I tell you!
April 16th, 2007 at 11:46 am
Ellen,
Sarah and I used to play that rhyming game every few months, too. It was more fun than you could shake a sharp stick at. As bad as the “poems” were, I always thought they were over too quickly.
Among many, many other things, I really miss the silly stuff like that.
April 16th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
It’s good to know that the CTH should be knit with a bit more negative ease. Would you decrease the amount of stitches used to knit the sock or knit at a tighter gauge (on smaller needles than you used this time)? Just curious as I’ve yet to knit with my skeins of CTH.
April 16th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I paged through Knitter’s this weekend at a newsstand. I just couldn’t justify buying it for the few patterns that were nice (and we are in agreement). But I’ll keep glancing at it, just to be sure….
April 16th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Thanks for the CTH report, Sarah; gee, sounds like I’m going to have to buy more of it. [g] I love a nice, springy yarn. And very good to know about the possible need for negative ease, I’ll keep that in mind. Your Handsome is living up to its name, and that platter is equally handsome!
And Knitter’s… *sigh* I keep looking too, like many others, every time I run into it. Then I give a little snort and gently put it back. I haven’t bought for 4-5 years now, I think. Not one issue. Even the articles aren’t enough to make it worth only one or two possible patterns. Same reason I gave up on Vogue Knitting. Sometimes, y’know, I just really wanna strangle the overly-precious. 😉
April 17th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
I got a free issue of Knitter’s in the mail, a trial type thing, and I was horrified at some of that knitwear. The purple sweater with the “rips” down the front of dropped stitches? Dear Lord. Who, who, WHO would begin to knit that and I’m sure there’s not a soul who would want to wear it in public once it was cast off.
That shawl is very pretty, it looks so delicate. 😀