The Knitting Pirate

Some days, it’s really hard to keep from casting on for a new project. The thrill of starting is always so much fun! Neither the Napramach, the Ostrich Plumes lace, nor the Pomatomus is portable; I’m getting close to the gusset and heel (seven more stripes, or 35 rows) on the Stripey Striped Sock, so there’s only so much I can do in public. Unless I don’t care about pulling my boots off and trying on a sock over and over again, of course. So the urge to begin is upon me again, and of course it would have to be something portable. A sock? A scarf? But no, I’ve promised myself that I’ll finish one of the projects I have before starting another.

I’m in a crazy mood today because I have an allergist appointment in a few hours, and I’m not at all happy about it. As a result, I want to do everything but go to the doctor – I tried spinning, but after dropping the spindle three times in five minutes I gave up on that. I guess my mind just isn’t in the right place for it. I don’t think I could get a good consistent gauge on Napramach, either. Maybe I should just go read a book and come back to the knitting tomorrow.

I finished knitting the first side of the Napramach bag this afternoon, hooray! The two-color bind-off was not nearly as complicated as I had thought, which was a relief. And while I haven’t mastered the art of knitting with one strand in my left hand and one in my right, I’ve at least gotten to an acceptable skill level with it. I expect the second side to come out better than the first, just by virtue of practice. Unfortunately there’s no obvious front or back to this bag, or I’d be putting this piece in the back. I’m going to start the second side right away, or I know I’ll avoid it for almost as long as I avoided starting the project in the first place. I’m a terrible procrastinator, and I’m working to conquer that trait as it’s something I really don’t like about myself. So, here goes for side two of the bag!

It obviously needs some blocking… and there are just a few ends to weave in. Actually, I don’t think I’m going to weave them in; I think I’m going to tie them to each other. Since the bag will be lined, no one will ever see them. Okay, so I’m not quite half done – I’ve marked the project at 45% complete. I think the knitting will be 90%, the crochet bits 5%, and the lining another 5%. I have no idea what the crochet instructions mean just yet, but I know someone who can help me figure it out (Hi, Sarah!) and I’m eager to learn! There are so many great crochet patterns out there that I’d love to try, mostly amigurumi, but some freeform stuff as well. Aren’t those spiffy?

Spinning, now that I’m somewhat decent at it, is meditative. The drop spindle has a different sort of meditative feel to it than the wheel. On the wheel, there’s a longer rhythm as you treadle and spin, draft and let the yarn take up. With the spindle, you have to stop more often to wind on, to re-flick, to keep your fiber supply out of the way. Still, it’s easy to get into the zone where you’re not thinking, you’re just doing. The fiber flows, the spindle spins closer to the floor, the yarn winds on, the spindle starts up again.

When I’m spinning on the wheel, I hold the fiber supply in my right hand and control the twist with my left. I tried it the other way and it just felt wrong, though with practice I’m sure it would be just fine. When I’m using a drop spindle, it feels more natural to me to hold the fiber supply in my left hand! This is most likely because my right hand is a lot more coordinated at flicking the spindle to get it going again. I started out by rolling the spindle down my thigh, but I found that I was getting a wobblier spin that way. Flicking helps keep the thing straight, not to mention that I don’t feel as if I’m fuzzing up my yarn by rolling it on my leg. It’s only a half-ounce spindle; I’m sure that has something to do with it.

I’ve been working my way through this half-ounce sample of merino from Sheepish Creations, and loving it. It drafts smoothly and the colors are just beautiful. I still haven’t decided what I’m going to make with the finished yarn; I guess that depends on what kind of yardage I get. Half an ounce isn’t a lot, but a little bit of laceweight goes a long way!

The second sock is zipping right along. I finished the heel flap on Friday night and the gusset on Saturday night, and now I’m halfway through the second pattern repeat on the foot. 45 rows to go ’til the toe. If I had known that I could knit this fast, maybe I wouldn’t have let the sock sit for so long!

My hands are feeling it, so I’m taking a bit of a break tonight. Even though the yarn is only 45% cotton, it doesn’t move and flex the way a yarn with more wool content would. On the other hand, the cotton content should make them nice spring-weight socks. I am so excited to have them done and on my feet, because I have a skirt with which they will match perfectly. I almost never match and accessorize and do that girly stuff, but this outfit is just coming together in a way that outfits generally don’t for me.

My goodness! From this angle, my feet look cute and little! You’d never guess I wear a size 10.5… Anyway, today I wore the Quick Toe-Up Socks to work, and y’know – they don’t really fit so badly after all! They were a little tight to get on, but once I wore them for a bit, they settled right in. The instep isn’t too stretched out, and there’s no wrinkling of extra fabric no matter how I flex my foot around. That’s pretty darn cool. I read something about how short-row heels fit better when knit over 60% of the total stitches rather than 50%, and now of course I want to try that to see how well it works. I really do love the look of the short-row heel with self-striping yarn, and I’d like to keep using it if I can make it fit well.

So, just a short entry tonight. I put a few rows on the heel flap of Pomatomus, but Pirate-Husband and I were out for most of the evening and so I didn’t get much knitting done. We have very little planned for this weekend, and so other than house-cleaning and basking in the unseasonably warm weather, I shall be knitting! I’m pretty sure I can knit and bask at the same time…

In straightening up the yarn corner and finding the gift swap yarn, I also found an old project that I’ve been avoiding – the dreaded Pomatomus socks. I cast on for these in March of 2007. It is ridiculous that it’s taken me two years to knit them. The first one has been done for a while; I think I finished it only a few months after starting. I even cast on for the second sock right away, to avoid Second Sock Syndrome, but never quite got past the first two pattern repeats. The sock-and-a-half got packed away when we moved up to the house last year, and I haven’t really made any progress on it since.

Today I finished the leg of the second sock, and tomorrow I’ll knit the heel flap. I want these socks done so that I can wear them this summer! I’m knitting with Plymouth Sockotta, which is a blend of 45% cotton, 40% wool, and 15% nylon. The cotton content, combined with all the knitting through the back loops, is hard on my hands… but I can and will finish.

Of all the pictures that I’ve taken of my knitting, this is one of my favorites. It accurately shows the colors of the yarn (your monitor may vary) and some of my favorite needles. They’re 6″ Crystal Palace bamboo in size 1/2.25 mm, and after several pairs of socks, are perfectly curved to fit my hands. Part of the reason I want to finish the Pomatomus is so that I can have these needles back. I’m not sure what I’ll be knitting on them, but I won’t be casting on for a new project for a while. At least, not until the Napramach bag is done…

I got this yarn as part of a Ravelry gift swap, and I am appropriately ashamed that I didn’t immediately take pictures of it and add it to the stash. Here we have some 100% linen laceweight in purple. I have no idea what to do with it, but the color is beautiful! It’s about 165 yards, lightly variegated. What could I make with this?

And here’s 600 meters of grey Icelandic laceweight, which may one day become a shawl. It’s sort of hairy and coarse, so it wouldn’t be suitable for a next-to-the-skin project. Both of these yarns are beautiful and neither of them is something I’d've purchased on my own, so it’s perfect to have gotten them in a gift swap!