The Knitting Pirate

Here we see the Stripey Striped Scarf, moving past the salmon and sugar snap peas into the blue of night and the pale grass of morning. I am loving this scarf. It’s mindless knitting. It’s going to look so good when it’s done. It’s… what’s this? What the heck has happened to my yarn? There is a knot. In my Kureyon (third ball). What happened to my slow gradual color change? This goes “green green green KNOT pink pink”! That’s not right at all! Augh! What to do? I briefly consider that I have about two feet of green before the knot; I can untie it and gradually felt the pink in. That will mimic the color shift, right? Of course. No panicking. I get ready to felt.

Then I realize that the next (fifth) ball might have a matching section. I pull it out of the basket and stare. The shade of green just before the knot in the first (third) ball is so very close to the shade of green which begins the next (fifth) ball, though they are totally different colorways. This is just too cool! The scarf is already almost 45″ long, and the next two balls (fifth and sixth) plus the as-yet un-knotted bit of the fourth ball should bring it well up over 72″ unblocked (or, IMO, the perfect length for a scarf). I’m not going to worry about the non-matching end of the third ball of yarn. After all, it had one knot – how can I trust the rest of it?

Color shifting saved, I am going to go wind up the next (fifth) ball of yarn. This is just awesome.

Two days in a row, I’ve come home from work and been sucked into the glory that is the Stripey Striped Scarf. “Just a few rows,” I tell myself, “to see what the next colors will be. Just a few more rows before dinner.” Right now, pale pink is playing off of a beautiful fresh green. Was it coincidence that tonight’s dinner was salmon and sugar snap peas? Perhaps not.

This is just a few ounces of the eight *pounds* of fleece currently awaiting rotation through the freezer. I am thrilled to have it; I just need to decide what to make! Alpaca mittens would be nice, or maybe those fingerless gloves I keep thinking of – or maybe convertible fingerless glove mittens! Yeah!

Unfortunately, pictures of this green roving don’t do the color justice at all, though I tried and tried. I found two bags of the same color, but they were obviously two different dye lots, so I’m going to card them together and split the difference. It’s very tightly compressed right now and feels a little bit rough. Originally I was thinking of making a hat with it. If it still feels rough when I card it, I might have to change that idea, or make a lining so it’s not too itchy on my head. Here’s an older picture of me, from two years ago, but there are my eyes… and there is this roving. It’s incredible. I’ve never found anything this color before, so if I’m ranting a little, please forgive me!

Another thing I bought at Pennsic is this cobweb-weight silk/cashmere blend. It’s the same as the coppery brown stuff I already have, and bought from the same person. She says she keeps this and several other colors in stock, or I’d've been tempted to purchase two spools of purple as well. it’s amazingly fine. I spent a long time in front of the tent just admiring the different colors and gently touching the yarn.
When Pirate-Husband picks out a pattern of lace that he likes, I’ll put the project in my Ravelry queue. I’m certain that I will be able to make two cuffs for him by next Pennsic. If I make it three times the circumference of his wrist, it should ruffle nicely from the cuff of his shirt and look really spiff!

Speaking of lace, here is the Ostrich Plumes progress, gently pinned out this time so the pattern shows up better. I’m still not sure how long I should be making this, but I’m developing a reputation for dressing however I please and still pulling off the look – so I’m confident that it will look good whether it’s short or long. I’ll just wrap it around my neck and go. How could it be bad?

The Stripey Striped Scarf ought to be finished before autumn, since I really want to wear it with my gray coat. I am so pleased with the way the colors are playing out! It doesn’t seem like it should work, then for some reason it does. It may sound egotistical to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway: one of my motivations for finishing the scarf is to hear other people’s reactions to it when I wear it.

And now, the Jaywalker. By some miracle, I got the second sock to start in almost the first place as the first sock. I think the color is only off by two rows. I’m going to start the heel in the same place so that matches, because no one will notice if my socks are an eighth of an inch different in height, even me, especially if they slouch a little. I love that the tip of the toe and the tip of the heel have that tiny little bit of light blue in there. If both socks have that, I shall be very pleased indeed! Once the Jaywalkers are done, I’m going to go back to the Pomatomus sock and make a mate for it. After that… well, I really want to start designing my own socks. I’ve been really inspired by the patterns that Wendy has been coming up with during the Summer of Socks, and I’ve had some great ideas (at least, I think they’re great) for patterns of my own.

And I decided not to take any pictures of the Ninja’s Sekrit Yarn Gift. She’s just going to have to wait until I see her in person!

On Wednesday, I took my scarf to the Stitch ‘n Bitch and had a much easier time multitasking. Other women were also commenting that they find it difficult to knit and converse at the same time, especially given the involved sorts of conversations that we often have. I found a few mistakes on the Jaywalker. Though I didn’t think they were worth going back for, I didn’t want to make more mistakes, so I brought the scarf. I’m about halfway through the second two balls now, and everyone loved the thing.

There’s another SnB scheduled for this coming Wednesday, but I’m not sure if I’m going to go. Pirate-Husband will be out for the evening, which gives me a chance to sit and curse at the sewing machine. I started this miniature quilt experiment, see, which was meant to become a pillow, see, since our couch pillow recently split along one seam… but I’ve never quilted before, and while I can use a sewing machine, I do tend to get incredibly frustrated and no fun to be around while I’m using it. Therefore, sewing is something I prefer to do alone. Very, very alone. With the music turned up. And lots of cursing. I do want this thing to be finished before my two-week electricity-free vacation.

Today I brought my sock down to my parents’ house and knit while visiting with family. I’ve finished the gusset! Actual progress has been made! A milestone reached! Just the foot and toe remain… and, oh yeah, the second sock of the pair. I wore my first pair of Jaywalkers with my new paisley skirt and received lots of grandmotherly compliments on the construction, the softness of the wool, the beauty of the colors, etc. etc. etc. She was amazed that my handknit socks are machine washable. Ahh, the wonders of modern yarn technology.

Pictures soon, really!

Just what I needed, eh? Here are colorways 178 (left) and 215 (right), which will keep the Stripey Striped Scarf from being too short. Woolwinders didn’t have more of either of my first two colorways; not too surprising with Kureyon. So I picked two others that I thought went together well, and would match with what I had. Another woman in the store commented about Kureyon’s colorways; I forget what she said exactly, but it was like, “that’s nice.. that’s nice.. what the hell is this color doing here? ahh, that’s nice again.”

At first I thought of putting the two new colorways together in the middle of the scarf and having the ends match. Then I realized there is no matching. Each ball starts in a different place in the colorway, and who knows how things would line up? I was also a little concerned that there would be a really obvious break where I changed colors. So here’s what I’m going to do: The new 215 will be paired with the old 148 for the middle of the scarf, and then the new 178 will be paired with the old 185. This way each duller color is paired with a brighter, and no two colorways go together twice. Maybe I’m overthinking this just a little! I’m sure it will look perfectly fine – and perfectly hideous – no matter which way the yarn goes. And by hideous, I mean fantastic. This thing is just too cool!

The Stripey Striped Scarf has gotten to the end of the first two balls (or very close to it, anyway) and is ten inches short of what it would need in order to end up as long as I want it to be, which is more than six feet. So it’s on hold until I can go buy two more balls of Kureyon. I never thought purple and orange would look this good next to each other, but there it is, looking good.

Now, I do have two balls left, one each of 147 and 158. But if my LYS doesn’t have those two colorways, then I want the odd two to be in the middle of the scarf, and the ends will match. Maybe. My thought is 147/158 – x/y – 147/158 again might look kinda neat. The only thing that worries me is the sudden color change instead of the nice gradual one, but that would happen anyway if the skeins don’t begin at the same point in the colorway, right? I’m not going to waste perfectly good yarn to make the colors line up, not in this case. It’s supposed to be garish, after all.

So the scarf is waiting, just in case I find different colorways of Kureyon that I like. Too bad; it’s a great sit-in-front-of-the-computer-and-knit project. I guess I’ll just have to work on some lace.

Oh, and although I wasn’t going to, there were several requests at the SnB for a picture of my niece. Here she is at about four hours old – it will be a while before she fits into those pants, I can tell you, and even longer before I can start to teach her to knit. All in good time, little girl, all in good time. Muahahaha!

The Stripey Striped Scarf is coming right along. I’m almost at the end of the first two balls of yarn, and I’m noticing that the 1×1 ribbing takes up a lot more yarn that I thought it would, and uh… I may need to pick up another two balls of yarn. I’m going to wait until the first two balls are really finished, and measure, and imagine another few inches for blocking. But I really like long scarves, 6′ at least, and this just isn’t going to make it. No way.

On the other hand, I like how the colors look a lot better now. So what if there’s a bit of green and red and bright yellow next to each other? So what, purple and orange vibrate together? There’s a good bit of pleasant purple on purple and green on purple and light green on dark green. And and and. I love color; it’s one of my main reasons for knitting. Not to mention the textures. And, oh yeah, the functional useful product. And, oh yeah, it’s fun, too.

Anyway, I think I might stop at the yarn store this coming weekend and just check what colors of Kureyon they have in stock. You know, just to check. Can’t have a short scarf, now can I?

The Stripey Striped Scarf is about a foot long already, and I’m much more pleased now with the way the colors are playing out against each other. Teal and mustard yellow don’t go together so well, but dark and light purple ain’t so bad next to each other, and the colors change frequently enough that if there’s one stripe I don’t like in a six-foot scarf, oh well! I would take pictures, but my camera is already packed for my trip to Ottawa. (Pirate-Husband is holding down the fort; I’ll be back Tuesday night.)

Saturday is Knit in Public Day, and I will definitely be in public, knitting. The Ninja and Iare talking about going to WestFest and knitting there, probably near the Spins and Needles booth.

Famous last words: “This ball of Kureyon has a lot less straw in it than usual!”

I ordered these shoes last week from a store in the mall, and I am so thrilled that they fit! They are just perfect for showing off handknit socks (shown – last year’s toe-up Plain Old Socks, Regia Canadian Colour 4743). They are also suitable for wearing to an office, when I find a job. Too cool.

This Stripy Striped Scarf alternates two colors of Noro Kureyon (147 and 158) in a 1×1 rib over 49 stitches on size 8 needles. I like to have a project going that doesn’t require a lot of concentration. I can take it to the Stitch ‘n Bitch, or watch TV, or have a conversation while I’m working. From this blog entry at BrooklynTweed I got the idea of slipping the first and last stitches on every second row to make a nice neat edge. It’s working quite well! One thing that had really frustrated me when I was working on the So-Called Scarf is that when I was alternating between balls of yarn (in that case, to keep from wild color changes between skeins), the yarn that was carried up the side didn’t look right. Slipping the first and last stitches on the second rows keeps everything tightly together, which looks a lot better to me.

The traveling sock traveled up to Pennsylvania this weekend to visit family, and began looking stripy too. I like the reactions that I get from different people when they see me working on a sock. It’s everything from “How long does it take you to knit a pair of socks?” to “Wow, I’d never have the patience to do something like that – but I do like counted cross-stitch,” to “How hard is that to learn? I need a new hobby.” Since I’m back home, the traveling sock has been returned to its resting place, awaiting Thursday’s airplane ride.

I got my Ravelry invite today, and as a result had to set up a Flickr account. There probably won’t be much there that isn’t here anyway, but feel free to check it out! Ravelry looks like it’s going to be a very cool community. When the site goes live, I hope there’s a personal page for me to link to.

Between the excitement of the niece and the holiday weekend, I didn’t get to do much knitting. But here is my (slow, slow) progress on the ostrich plumes scarf! It doesn’t look like much yet, does it? I do have pins, but they’re not very accessible at the moment. I can kind of get an idea of what it will look like when I stretch it out by hand, though of course it will have to be blocked for real after all the knitting is done. I’m considering a set of blocking wires; pinning seems like a real pain!

Now, what I don’t know is, how long should I make this thing? Originally, I was thinking that it would be something I’d wear with dressy work clothes, but the way the variegation is playing out, it doesn’t look too dressy. So now I’m considering how to wear a lacy scarf with less dressy clothes. I never thought of myself as a person to wear accessories. It’s a strange day when I wear more jewelry than my wedding ring and the stud earrings that I always forget to take out. Anyway, should it be a long scarf? A short one that I wear with a pin at my neck? A medium one that I can wrap around and let flow? If it helps any, it looks like it will be at least 14″ wide after it’s blocked.

In other, very cool news, I’m going to be in Ottawa on Worldwide Knit In Public Day. My plan is to take the sock and the Ninja to the Highlander, so that we can drink scotch while we knit in public! The sock is on hiatus until I actually start traveling, and is glaring at me from the corner of the desk. It looks so small and lonely. Maybe I’ll give it a few rounds so it doesn’t feel left out.