The Knitting Pirate

These are the colors of the Napramach – tan, brown, two shades of blue, red, and gray. (The pattern called for a more silvery-gray than what I have, but that was out of production at the time, so darker gray will have to do.) They go nicely together, the red standing out against the more subdued colors. And they each have a little bit of the others’ colors in them. The red and tan have tweedy bits of blue; they all have tweedy bits of tan. I really like tweed yarns.

And THIS is the most perfect fabric ever. So ugly it’s beautiful, covered in camels, and just the right colors for the bag. It just doesn’t get better than that. She is absolutely going to love this. I ordered two 18″ squares, which should be more than enough. If there’s enough leftovers, I might sew a little drawstring pouch and give her that, too.

For a project that annoyed me so much to have to make (especially when I found out that she thought I was making her something simple like a Booga Bag), that I procrastinated on for approximately two years, I seem to be enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. It definitely helps that it’s going a lot faster than I expected! I’m stretching my skills and rising to meet a challenge, and that’s always a good feeling.

I seem to be getting the hang of this project. Mostly I work with one yarn in my right hand and two in my left, because I’m still not very good at knitting with the yarn in my right hand. Purling is still confounding me. English-style knitting seems like an exercise in wasted motion. I know many people who knit English who are considerably faster than I am (I’m looking at you, Janis) so I know it’s not a bad style… it just seems like a lot of movement! Anyway, the written instructions deviated from the chart yet again, so I’m ignoring them and just following the chart now. It’s knitting, after all, and no one’s going to notice if there’s a fudged bit here or there.

With a little bit of blocking, this will look pretty spectacular. I’m trying to remember to leave nice long floats so that there’s room for the knitting to stretch. Because I’m going to line the bag, I’m not worried about the floats getting snagged on anything. I’d like to find some horrifically gaudy camel print for the lining, since the recipient’s favorite animal is the dromedary.

I feel as though I’ve gone up a level or two in Knitting (ding!) and although I don’t like the way the pattern is written, I do like the way the product is coming out. Except for these decreases in the middle. They all slant properly, but I wonder if a centered double decrease might not look better. Ah well, too late now! I hate thinking “if I knit this again, I would change…” because I really, really can’t imagine myself ever knitting another one of these bags. Of course that jinxes it, and twenty years from now I’ll have a sudden Napramach craving…

The (Perhaps Not-So) Quick Toe Up Socks are complete! After carrying them around with me for a week, three ends unwoven, I sat down today and finished them off. Usually I don’t block socks at all, but these are a little tight and so I’m considering it. Or I could just wear them until they stretch to my feet. I admit that I’m disappointed with the fit, and of course this is the sort of sock yarn that wears like iron, so I’ll have them in rotation for a long time to come.

To sum up: Wendy’s Generic Toe-Up Sock pattern, substituting a figure-eight toe. 64 stitches, short-row heel, a bit of 2×2 ribbing at the top. Lane Cervinia “Forever” in colorway 61, US size 1 needles… and lots of fiddling around to make the pair match!

Oh, Napramach. What the hell was I thinking when I said I would knit you? I looked at your siblings projects on Ravelry, and no one had a kind word to say about your pattern. I might have been deterred by “not for the faint of heart,” but no. I am stubborn, and I will conquer you. One row at a time, one stitch at a time, I will persevere. And I will win.

It’s a good thing that Rowan Felted Tweed holds up to repeated frogging.

Pirate-Husband and I were invited to a “Red Wine and Chocolate” party for Valentine’s Day at friends’ who live just over three hours away. (He made a flourless chocolate cake for the occasion; it was rich and fantastic with whipped cream on top.) I took the opportunity and driving time to work on the Quick Toe-Up Socks. I knit in the car, in the pizza parlor while waiting for dinner, at the party, and this morning after breakfast I finished them. There are just three ends left to weave in, and they are done!

I’m not entirely thrilled with the fit. The last short-row heel socks I made were 68 stitches around, and they were loose around the foot. These are 64 stitches around, and fit great on the foot but are tight over the instep. I probably won’t make a heel this way again; gussets fit much better. I really do like the look of a short row heel, especially with self-striping yarn, but if it’s not going to fit well…

Fortunately, there are at least two different ways (ETA, after Janis’s comment: two different patterns that I currently have. There are *many* different ways…) of doing a toe-up sock with a gusset, and I plan to try them in turn until I find one that fits!

This is as far as I got with the Kureyon sock on the airplane. I love watching the stripes emerge, the subtle shifts of colors that lead to new interplays. Figuring out how to carry the unused yarn up five rounds without having it show through is interesting. I’m not sure I’m doing it right; the floats are longer than I’d like, but so far nothing peeks through. So far, I really like this yarn. Except for the knot, but I was kind of expecting that. It’s certainly not as soft or squooshy as, say, Dream in Color’s “Smooshy”, but it’s not as rough as sandpaper, like some people have said. And while there are some underspun places, I haven’t had trouble with the yarn drifting apart.

So this is what happened with Napramach: the first row in the chart has two stitches and doesn’t say anything about increases. The second row in the chart has four stitches. Figuring that meant I’d have four at the end of the row after I did the increases, I bravely knit on… and when I got to the colorwork, I was short by two stitches. I ripped back to the beginning and did an increase in the first row, so that I’d have the proper four in the second… and when I got to the end, I had an extra two stitches. So I just skipped the increase in the last row, and I’m sure no one will ever know the difference. I plan to line the bag with something gaudy, preferably a camel print. Riya will absolutely love it.

My trip to Canada was excellent, partly because of the Fleep-Tops (Warm enough, only because it was relatively warm there. I rate them as good for 35-45F.) but mostly because I was with some of my best friends. We ate stew, we drank beer, we played Munchkin. I knit some, too – I cast on for a sock in Noro Kureyon while in the airport waiting for my flight.

My ball of yarn weighed light at only 84g, which is probably because it’s so ridiculously dry up here, and there was a knot at the 39g mark with a color change. So now I have one 39g and one 45g ball, and I decided to start with the smaller. I’m working toe-up to get the most out of the yarn, and striping every five rounds because there’s no way I’d be able to get the color transitions to line up properly. Striping makes a non-matching pair of socks into a matching pair! (I know, I said I was going to knit Thermal Socks, but I changed my mind.)

Now that I’m home, I’ve cast on for Napramach. This is the most complicated thing I’ve ever tried. I’m eight rows in and stymied – how do I not have the right number of stitches? The chart makes no sense to me. I’ve posted for help on Ravelry, and hopefully will get an answer soon.