The Knitting Pirate

Last weekend, while my house in Virginia was buried in more than two feet of snow, I went to Canada. Ironically, the weather there was beautiful and clear, if really cold. It was even too cold for me to want to skate on the canal. Instead, my sworn-sister the Ninja and I, along with our friend Amy, took an afternoon to visit yarn stores.

Our first stop was Wool N’ Things in Orleans, where I was thrilled to find some of the discontinued Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, the same yarn that I used to knit my Fleep-Tops. I picked up two skeins in Cedar, a gorgeous dark green with red and yellow flecks. They’ll probably become another pair of Fleeps, as backup for when my first pair inevitably wears out. The green totally doesn’t match my dark blue winter coat, but it’s time for a new coat anyway. Perhaps something in green, or preferably black. Black goes with everything.

Then we headed over to Yarn Forward in Ottawa proper, where I bought two skeins of this super-soft (and superwash!) Lang Merino DK in a gray so dark it’s almost black. My first thought was that it might make a pair of Fleeps for Michael, but he wanted something thicker and tweedier, so I’m going to use it for a pair of classy office armwarmers for myself and pick up some Rowan Felted Tweed in as black as it comes for him. Not that I mind being able to use this pettably soft stuff for myself, not at all! I am thinking about making something like these Cafe au Lait Mitts from SnapperKnits, or perhaps I will come up with my own pattern for them.

I did have a disappointment this year: My old Stellar Toque, now over four years old, may be nearing retirement. It’s gotten stretched out and too large, and lets the wind through to my ears. I am thinking that before next Winterlude, I will knit a colourwork hat with earflaps and line it with fleece. We saw many of them in the Byward Market when we were there for the Stew Cook-Off on Friday, and I was seriously tempted to buy one – but why buy what I can knit? Pirate-Husband suggested that I could salvage the Stellar Toque by knitting earflaps onto it and lining it with fleece, instead of making a whole new hat. I could also felt it a little to shrink it and make it more windproof.

There should have been pictures, but it’s been raining. Obviously I need a piece of white posterboard and all the lights in the house, so I can take pics even if the sun isn’t out. Meanwhile…

I have eight more stripes to go in the first of the Stripey Striped Socks, and I’m hating it. The Kureyon Sock yarn is almost as harsh on my hands as knitting with cotton. Working from both sides of the ball at once has gotten everything all twisted. The thick bits are too thick for my needles, the thin bits too thin. I can’t just knit comfortably without thinking about it. I’m so glad I didn’t buy more of this stuff when I was tempted to. (grump grump. grump.)

On the pro side, when I drop a stitch, it doesn’t fall. And there’s no vegetable matter in this yarn like there is in regular Kureyon. And, the real kicker… the colors are gorgeous and vivid and wonderful, and I love how the stripes come out, and I’ve heard that this yarn softens up amazingly in the wash.

Maybe I’ll put the project aside when I’ve finished the first sock. Take a break from it, work with yarn I like more. Knit the second sock some other time.

Since I seem to have forgotten to put it in my last post, the yarn that Michael bought for me is Cascade Heritage Paints, in colorway 9922. It is squishy-soft and I’ve put it on my desk to motivate me to finish some of the socks currently on the needles, so I can get to knit with this stuff! It might stripe or it might spiral, or the colors might be evenly distributed. I only hope they match, and that they don’t flash too badly over the gusset. I’ll be working up a very simple pattern, probably a 3×1 rib over 72 stitches (gotta check those numbers!), which should go fairly quickly once I get started.

A visit from my swornsister the Knitting Ninja would not have been complete without a trip to at least one yarn store. We, along with our brother Michael, decided to check out the new Needles in the Haymarket. They’ve recently moved from the third floor of their building to a much larger store on the first floor. It’s quite nice already, and looks as if there’s even more yarn to come!

I told both sibs that I was on a yarn diet and would not be buying anything. Then this jumped into my hands. “These look like your colors,” I said to Michael, and maybe also “I would knit you another pair of socks,” and perhaps I might have added “One little skein won’t hurt, right?”

Said Michael, “If you’re going to knit socks for me, then I should buy the yarn for you.” And he did, thus absolving me of sin for having broken the yarn diet. (Isn’t it lovely and so subtle in the colors? I can’t wait to see how it knits up!)

Pirate-Husband laughed at me when I said “After this, I’m not going to buy any more yarn until MD Sheep and Wool in May.” Can I really go nine months without buying any yarn? We shall see – but that’s my plan!

But this was a special case (aren’t they all?) This is Opal Rainforest yarn in the discontinued and hard-to-find Tiger colorway, and I’ve been looking for two skeins of it for over a year so that I can make matching tiger paw socks for both of us. I finally found some through an Australian Raveler who was kind enough to ship overseas for me!

My favorite animal is the mountain lion, but Pirate-Husband likes tigers better, and so I thought it would be perfect to make him socks like these. Here is a link to the original project on Ravelry. I think they’re adorable!

I did tell Pirate-Husband that I have no idea when I’m going to actually get to knit these. But at least now I have the yarn, right?

If all went well, we now have threaded comments up to ten levels deep, so that you’ll be able to reply to other people’s comments in addition to commenting on my posts. Pretty nifty! (Please feel free to test the system.)

I’ve been planning to go to Stitch ‘n Bitch tomorrow, but I’ve had a sore throat for about a week. In the last few days I’ve started coughing. If I’m not feeling better by morning, I’ll have to put it off another week. Phooey. I was really looking forward to it, but I certainly don’t want to infect anyone with this cold.

Next weekend I am taking a quick trip up to Philadelphia, and I’d love to visit a yarn store or two while I’m there. Can you recommend one? Loop is already on my list. I enjoy buying souvenir yarn when I’m traveling. Later, when I knit it up, I can reminisce about my trip. And even after that, when I’m wearing the finished product, I think, “These are the socks I knit with the yarn I bought with Michael in Ottawa, in that neat little shop on Bank Street that’s closed down now,” or something like that. “This is the hat I knit with the yarn that I bought when Janis and I snuck off after dim sum to splurge at Woolwinders. This is the–”

I remember where I bought most of my yarn, actually. Even though there’s so much of it now.

I know I said I didn’t need any.

I know I said I would only buy yarn at festivals.

I know I have enough yarn, especially sock yarn, to keep me knitting for at least five years.

But I didn’t buy any yarn or fiber at Pennsic, and yesterday there was a sale on Louet Gems Fingering at Discontinued Brand Name Yarn, which is just the stuff I need to make Cookie A.’s Rhiannon socks. I could not resist the incredible price of $3.49/skein, marked down from $13.95/skein, and so I bought five skeins in *cherry red*, which should be the most awesome color for knee socks ever.

I bought this pattern (the picture is from Cookie A.’s site) back in September, when I attended her top-down sock design class, and I’ve been waiting for the right yarn to show up ever since. Nothing was quite right – it was too expensive, it was the wrong color, it had the wrong feel to it. But now I’ve got the right stuff! It may take me forever and a day to knit these monsters, but I am really excited about them! Doesn’t everyone need a pair of cherry-red knee socks? I’m already daydreaming the outfit to go with them – maybe one of those cute flared black skirts, a blouse with just the right red to match. Most likely it’ll take me as long to find the right pair of shoes as it will to knit the socks, so I’d better start looking for those now. It’s not always easy to find affordable size 10.5 shoes that aren’t terribly ugly.

Pirate-Husband thinks that I should wear them as thigh-high socks with the tops unfolded. I’m not so sure, but he can be awfully convincing sometimes…

On Saturday, Janis and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, and had a wonderful time! For the most part, I kept to my shopping list. I didn’t buy anything that wasn’t on the list, and I didn’t buy some things that were on the list, like semi-solid sock yarns. I didn’t buy any yarn at all, actually!

I picked up both a spinner’s control card and a WPI (wraps per inch) tool, which is basically just a bit of wood with a one inch notch cut in it. These should help me get to a point where I’m more consistent in my spinning.

Then I bought a variety of fibers to spin – a four ounce braid of Merino/silk in a foresty green and brown, four ounces each of Merino/silk and Falklands dyed in the same bluesy colorway that I plan to spin separately and ply together, eight ounces of “Starry Night”, 50-50 wool and mohair with a bit of gold glitz, and an eight ounce bag of Finn/mohair locks in a variety of colors that somehow all go together well.

Janis and I are splitting two pounds of raw Romney, but she’s taking the whole of it home with her to clean. I think that’s awesome of her!

I snagged about fourteen ounces of Corriedale in a bunch of solid colors for making blends on the drum carder, but I couldn’t find any nylon roving at the show. When I got home, I ordered a pound of it from Sheep Shed Studio. I got a few small baggies of glitz in different colors to blend in, surprising myself, as I never thought I’d like the stuff. It’s a lot less scratchy than I thought it would be.

What’s surprising is that I decided that I like the walnut finish on the Kromski Sonata better than the new mahogany finish. I had been so excited for the Sonata to be released in mahogany, as I’d seen both finishes on websites here and there and didn’t really care for the walnut much. Now that I’ve seen them in person, I’m definitely leaning towards the walnut!

On Sunday, I sorted out the colors in the Finn/mohair blend and carded two batts. The fiber seems to be less clean than I thought it would be; I’m definitely noticing lanolin on my hands, and wondering if I should re-wash it before I card any more. The first batt seems to be more mohair, and the second more Finn. I teased the locks apart with my fingers and fed the batt through three times. For the second batt, I used the teasing tool that came with the carder to open up the locks more, and only had to do two passes to get a reasonably smooth batt.

When I was tired of carding, I went upstairs and spun for about 45 minutes before bed. I’m working on some Ashland Bay merino top that might be thin enough for a three-ply sock yarn, and coming to the end of the second bobbin. I’ll have to weigh the singles, since I was stupid and didn’t split the top before I began.

More pictures when I have a sunny day, so I can get good shots with accurate color!

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!

Red Bird Knits, one of my favo(u)rite Canadian yarn shops, is having a Boxing Day sale. I spent a good hour putting yarn in my cart and taking it out again, flipping tabs in my browser to Ravelry and checking colo(u)rways, thinking about what I need (nothing) and what I’d like to knit (another stripey striped scarf), asking Pirate-Husband’s opinion, and calculating what I’d spend at $0.82 USD to the Canadian dollar, but then there’s $20 shipping…

Eventually I decided that I already have quite a bit of yarn, and there’s nothing on sale that won’t be available once I’ve worked through some of my stash. But I wanted to let you all know about this sale, because it’s 10-40% off some really great yarn, and because I really like Red Bird Knits. Kureyon, for example, is on sale for $6.38 CAD per ball. Lorna’s Laces is 40% off, $7.20 CAD marked down from $12.

So, as much as I’d like to, I won’t be knitting another Stripey Striped Scarf. Not now, anyway. I have Silk Garden in my stash already for a scarf for myself, the possibility of two dressier scarves for two guys to wear with black wool coats, and two scarf patterns that I really admire after that. I think I’m doin’ all right for scarves for now!

It’s Chanukah and also Christmas Eve, and I’m spending the evening in great happiness with Pirate-Husband and my cousin Michael (who is the only one of my cousins with whom I’m also friends) playing Rayman’s Raving Rabbids on Michael’s Wii and drinking some Bell’s Expedition stout. I hope that all of you are also spending your evenings in the best ways you can imagine!

Yesterday was gray and drizzly, and I didn’t accomplish much in the way of knitting. I did catch up with friends for a bit, and had a lovely dinner with Pirate-Husband of chicken, sweet potato, and acorn squash over couscous… but no knitting! This morning was black and rainy, my commute took twenty minutes longer than it should, and I’m a little grumpy about it. In order to make myself feel better, I’m looking at my stash on Ravelry.

(I also ordered a three-pack of Malbec from wine.woot to make myself feel better, but that’s not as closely related to yarn and fiber… though it’s just as relaxing!)

So anyway, my stash. It’s so soothing to look at it, even in pictures, even without the tactile pleasures. I can imagine what I’ll knit or spin, I can envision the excitement of casting on and the accomplishment of binding off, the curiosity to see how dyed top will spin up and the milestones of filling a bobbin, plying, washing, and parading the finished yarn around the house.

I’m starting to plan out my 2009 fiber arts. Mom’s gloves should be done in two weeks (I’m being realistic; I can knit a glove in a week but my hands will hate me for it) and my socks should hopefully be finished in the next few weeks after that. Maybe I can get both of those projects done before the New Year!

Two fairly complex projects need to be worked on. The first is the Pomatomus socks; I have no excuse for not having those complete already. The next is Napramach, a colorwork bag for friend Angie, who has made me some beautiful SCA garb. I have the yarn and am thoroughly intimidated by the pattern.

Two sock designs are percolating in my head. One is the written-up pattern for the with numbers for a smaller size worked out, and a new name of “Brother’s Socks.” The second is the design I started in the sock class I took with Cookie A. back in September, which is much more elaborate. I’m going to name it “Verdant.”

2009 will also be a year for spinning. I can’t justify the purchase of a second wheel until I’m spending more time at the one I have. And I can’t justify the purchase of more top/roving until I’ve spun up some of what I have. The Yarn Harlot says that Tuesdays are for spinning, so perhaps I will take her advice and schedule time that’s specifically for turning fluff into usable yarn. I would really like to have a pair of socks made from my own handspun. I also have a dream of a lace shawl from my own handspun, but I’m not touching those rolags until I’m more confident in my ability to spin smooth, fine yarn.

It’s possible that 2009 will be a year for dyeing. There’s only one room in the house that hasn’t been unpacked and set up yet, and that’s the crafts room. Well, right now it’s a boxes-and-laundry room. The washer and dryer are going to stay right where they are, but there’s no reason that the rest of the room can’t be set up for arts and crafts! I’d like to arrange a fiber station with areas for both carding and dyeing.

Ahh, I’m feeling better already…