Blocked

The glorious Mollyann at Ariadne blocked this neckerchief for me, and I think she’s a super star.  Not necessarily because she helped me;  I’m fairly certain she can fly.

Isn’t it pretty?  Golly.  Now I can rob all the banks I want, just like Sharon Stone in The Quick and the Dead.

That Crystal Palace Panda Silk in Forest tones is so crisp and lovely, this shawl reminds me of a really gorgeous and non-perishable leaf.

In other news, the microRevolt blog has posted images of the action they had commemorating people who died in factory fires: one this December past in Bangladesh and the Triangle Waist factory fire in 1911.

If you haven’t heard of the Triangle Waist factory fire, then I recommend watching this video from Democracy Now. It’s an excellent documentary that highlights how these tragedies are still relevant.

And also, I’m sorry that there are no pictures of socks. I’ve been having major issues with gauge. It turns out that I usually knit socks on 2.75 mm needles, but that my extra super long sock sized needles are actually 2.5 mm needles. Can you imagine? When I knit those show off stranded socks, I was wondering why they fit me so nicely.  I usually cast on 56 stitches for socks and (from what I can recall;  I’m far too lazy to look up the pattern again) I cast on 64 stitches for those socks.  Curses!  Well, not really.  Socks will be a lot easier to size from now on.  This is certainly a fascinating conundrum, though.  What socks to knit?  What will fit?  What happens next?!

Time!

Tada!  I win!  All I have to do now is sew in the ends.

Oh, and cast on for the next project.

Sock it to Me

I’m very nearly done that neckerchief!

I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out – and what’s more, Mollyann from Ariadne has said that I can block it at the store with a real blocking pad and pins and everything.  I have never in my life blocked a lace shawl, so I’m really excited about how this is going to turn out.

I really like how the colour has turned out, and it’s only taken one ball of yarn.  I wonder what I’ll do with the other ball of Crystal Palace Panda Silk.

In other news, my friend Lisa give me six balls of vintage sock yarn – two each in grey, brown, and green.  I’m seeing that grey in lace and that brown in cables, but I have no idea what to do with the green.  Maybe colourwork?

As you can see, it’s 85% wool and 15% nylon.  It’s pretty soft and I really want to work with it.  I like very plain sock yarns, and I’m glad that I have access to some sock yarn that isn’t variegated.  What can I say?  I don’t like bright colours.

I have this aspiration to have enough hand knit pairs of socks so as not to need to wear boughten ones in the winter.  Wool socks are a blessing when it’s cold and wet outside.

I’m thinking pretty seriously about buying a loom.  Any suggestions?

A Thorough Update

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger lately, and I haven’t been thorough whatsoever in detailing my knitting projects.

Project the First:

The buttons weren’t sewn on when those pictures were taken, but they sure are now.  I’ll take another picture tomorrow, so you can see how awesome these are in person.

I knit the armbands with the handspun and hand dyed yarn that I got from a friend of a friend of an old woman who used to live in my borough.  Look at the tag;  that yellow yarn was dyed with turmeric and alum.

The yarn was over spun and dyed in an odd way.  I love how you can see her learning process.  As she learned, her yarn became more delicate and more consistent.  The dyes took better and you really got to see what she was going for.  That yellow yarn was all in pieces when I got to it.

I really like the symbolism of using her work as well.  The idea of a person becoming fascinated with creation (as opposed to participating in consumerism) at a late age at least twenty years ago simply points to how separated most of us have become from the creation of tangible and useful textile art.  I love that both she and I have had the same yearning to make cloth.

Project the Second

I’ve knit quite a lot of the ribbing, but I won’t know if I’m ready to bind off the ribbing until I try it on.  I’ve been crazy busy as of late, so I haven’t plunked myself down to slip all those stitches onto waste yarn to try it on yet again.  I think I’ll aspire to do that tomorrow.

Project the Third

The neckerchief is 7 inches long, and I think I’m going to knit for at least another inch.  I went to a bluegrass night at the Barfly in Montreal, and I dropped a bunch of stitches.  I ended up having to rip back about 3 rows to figure out exactly where I was supposed to be.  It’s looking lovely, though.

Project the Fourth

I don’t have any pictures of this project (my awesome flaming tea cozy) because I haven’t made any progress on it.  Alas!  I am dreaming of needle felting all over that thing.  Yeehaw!

Project the Fifth

I’ve recorded the first song I’ve ever written on my music project blog, ClairelyNow.  Please listen and let me know what you think!