The Knitting Pirate

After Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house with 21 people in attendance, I went back to Grandma’s for the evening with my brother, his wife and daughter, and Pirate-Husband. We all stayed up late talking, and I cast on for a quickie sock.

It was too late and too dim to work on the toe of Michael’s Bloo Socks, so I pulled out this Cervinia Forever and did a sixteen-loop figure-eight toe. Grandma watched as the stripes appeared, amazed that it was so neat and so even. Over the next couple of days I knit probably two-thirds of the foot. Compared to the Bloo Socks, it’s going so quickly! But that’s no wonder – it’s 64 stitches compared to 96, and straight stockinette compared to ribbing.

On Friday morning I confirmed plans to see Michael that evening, and settled in to finish his socks. I should have timed it, but I knit while we were talking and I’m sure that slowed me down a little. Even so, it was a quick finish. I grafted the toe and sent him a picture, then that night handed them over. Action shots are pending!

I do have to write up the pattern for the Bloo sock and knit a pair for myself to test it out, because at 11.25 stitches/inch I’m not sure I’ll have any takers for test-knitting. I think I may call it “Brother’s Socks” or something like that.

Today I’m going to get back to work on Mom’s gloves. I’d like to have them done before the next time I see her, which is in a few weeks for Chanukah.

Last night I swatched the Silkie Socks that Rock (in Ravenscroft) for Mom’s gloves. This morning I looked at it in the sunlight and was amazed at the depth of the colors. The greens just glow in that way that only silk can provide.

This evening I carefully counted nine stitches to the inch on US #1 DPNs and ripped out the swatch, then cast on for the Hooray for Me! gloves from Marnie MacLean. My mom’s hands are on the small side, and I’ve heard these gloves are big, so the extra half-stitch to the inch that I’m getting should be all right.

Silkie Socks that Rock is beautiful to work with. Aside from the depth of colors in the silk strand, the yarn is smooth and flows well across the needles. I’m using Susan Bates Silvalumes, my current favorites. They are so much my favorites that I recently picked up another set at AC Moore!

Anyway, I’ve got about ten rounds of the cuff knit. I’m going to make the cuffs two and a half inches long, which should be plenty to tuck under a coat sleeve. This is the first time I’m knitting gloves, and I admit to being a little apprehensive that they won’t fit properly. If they were for myself, I could try them on as I go – but they’re for Mom, and although I have her hand measurements, it’s not the same as having her hand here.

Then again, what am I worried about? She will love them, and if they’re really too big I’ll re-knit them until they’re right. Yarn is forgiving that way.

This is the yarn I said I wouldn’t buy, and although it’s not been sunny enough to get a good picture, I took one anyway. In real life the colors are much deeper. I could probably spend the next hour futzing with the camera and not get an accurate shot, so I don’t think I’ll bother – can you forgive me?

Anyway, I don’t have a pattern in mind. It may come out as some mottled variegation or it may stripe/spiral a bit; I’ve seen both in socks knit up from this yarn. I may just go with a simple textured stitch on the leg and stockinette on the foot, and see what happens. Something with a single cable down the side might look nice too!

I will never say “…and I won’t buy anything there” ever again.

Sam, the Ninja and I went to Needles in the Haymarket, and I fell in love with a sock yarn in deep red with little bits of black and dark purple. (Pics soon.) Since I had no deep red yarn in my stash, and since there was still a little bit of money left on my gift card, I bought it. Now, this is how cool the ladies at the store are: I didn’t know exactly how much money was left on the card, but I knew it was six dollars and some change. They put $6.00 into the credit card machine and it went through… and then we started trying small change because, as they said, “You have to use the last bit of money on these cards!” Eventually they logged on to the card’s website and looked up the balance (three cents) and ran that through for me too. They are awesome.

Then we went to With Yarn in Front where I succeeded in not buying anything else, probably because I just bought sock yarn from them a few weeks ago when I was there with Janis. This is how cool they are at this store: they remembered that I was loving on the Kromski Sonata and offered me, “do you want to spin on ‘your wheel’ again?” I declined, but we admired the selection of Noro (I would love to knit another Stripey Striped Scarf) and when we were done shopping, we sat in the back and knit for an hour until it was time to head off to dinner.

I’m not sure I *can* go to a yarn store with friends and not buy anything, if there’s something I like.

In a few hours, I am taking the Knitting Ninja and our friend Sam to local yarn shops. “Do they have sock yarn?” the Ninja asked. Well, YEAH. Just a bit of it. And I’m not going to buy any, I swear!

I’ve had guests since Thursday night and we’re having a great time, but I’m not getting any knitting done. I’m okay with this. Later this weekend I’ll show the Ninja my wheel and we’ll all stare as it goes ’round. Meanwhile, we’re relaxing and eating way too much food and really enjoying life.

I decided not to ball up the yarn for Mom’s gloves last night, because really what I need to do right now is focus on the sock. To that end, I meant to give knitting the Bloo Sock in the car another chance. It must be completed. But I was short on sleep, and had a bit of a headache to boot, and so the sock remained in my purse and didn’t get any longer. This is no good.

Tonight I have to clean the house and run laundry and go to bed early, so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get any knitting done. Tomorrow I have to clean the rest of the house and run laundry and go to bed at least on time, if not early, so I don’t know about knitting tomorrow either. Augh! When am I going to finish this thing?

Maybe just a few rows before dinner and the start of my housecleaning…

I determined today that while I can knit the sock in the carpool, it’s probably not a good idea. The stitches are small enough that I have to watch what I’m doing very closely, and I got a bit of a headache from not looking up often enough. Also, I purled where I should have knit and had to fix my error when I got home.

Anyway, less typing means more knitting, so I’m off to it! Perhaps I’ll wind the yarn for Mom’s gloves into a ball and knit a gauge swatch in the car tomorrow. Since it will just be stockinette and just a swatch, it won’t matter as much if I mess up a little.

My friends’ new baby girl is so tiny and adorable! They absolutely loved the baby blanket. Their expressions and appreciation made it all worthwhile. One joked, “you knit this in a weekend, right?” but when I said that it had taken about four months, they got much more serious about thanking me. Those are the kinds of friends for whom I want to knit more stuff! …if they have another baby, that is.

The baby girl was born Wednesday evening at home, and both she and her mother are doing well. We were invited to go visit and meet her tomorrow, so this afternoon I went into Super Must Finish Mode on the blanket!

I dropped a stitch and lost time picking it back up, because it got lost into a yarnover. But I had the knitting and bind-off done before dinner was ready; everyone agreed that it was long enough although I still had yarn left over. After dessert I took care of weaving in the ends.

I’m pleased with the way this blanket came out, but I swear I will never knit another baby blanket of acrylic yarn again. It’s conveniently washable, yes. The colorway is pretty. But I can’t stand how it feels in my hands, or how it stresses my wrists (rather like cotton, actually). If I ever have the crazy desire to knit another baby blanket, I’ll use superwash wool. I’ve even told Pirate-Husband to make sure that I never stand in the arts & crafts store again saying anything like “but it’s washable! and the colorway is so pretty!”

I am looking forward to giving this gift (and meeting the baby, too!) My friend knows the value of a hand-crafted anything, so I have no doubt that she’ll really appreciate the blanket.

Now, can I finish half a sock in less than a week?

The second Bloo Sock is almost through the gusset decreases. I’d like to have it done before Michael comes to visit, so I have less than two weeks. If I don’t finish by then it’ll be okay, I’m sure; after all it’s still a hand-knit pair of socks for him at some point! As a result of cranking away on the socks, I haven’t made much progress on the baby blanket… and the baby is due this week! If only I had four hands, I could work on both projects at the same time.

One of the local yarn stores, With Yarn In Front, is hosting a “Knit and Flick” night every other Friday. This coming week they’ll be showing Dr. Zhivago, and I’m deciding whether or not to go. I’ve never seen the movie before and I question my ability to knit through it and remember what happened. Maybe in a month or so when I’m no longer knitting to deadlines, I’ll check it out. I think it’s a great idea!