March has been a busy month. It really started in February, when I took on a test knit .. and then had a small problem with the test knit that involved reknitting a large chunk of it, and life just sort of rolled on from there.
While waiting for more yarn for the test knit, I whipped out some stash projects. (Stash courtesy of Molly). We have the Yummy Mittens, by Beth Brown-Reinsel.
Then we had the annual meeting of the county historical society, which begged for some easy knitting. And behold, a stash hat jumped onto the needles. I did good. The tassel contains ALL the CC that was left over.
Then my son announced he needed some socks. In fingering weight yarn, please, so he could wear them with shoes. And I ended up making herringbone socks. I don't like herringbone. It's pesky. And the pattern had an error in one of the two pattern rows. And the pattern was for SEAMED socks. I fixed the error and ignored the seam.
Then the yarn for the test knit arrived, and I knit that up and finished it. And I cast on for a pair of mittens. Using fine yarn (of course) and my new set of Blackthorn dpns. Regrettably, the gauge I got was a shade too plump for the number of stitches I was dealing with, so I only knit the cuff with those needles - the switched to a US 1 for the stranded portion.
Isn't it pretty? The chart is #37 in Latvian Mittens - and, near as I can tell, there aren't any photos of it in the book. I'm working it up at around 12.5 sts/", and it fit my hand (m) nicely. Much better than any of the other mittens with a peasant thumbs that I've tried, actually. Mitten #1 is done, and I'm on row 1 of colorwork of #2. And there's a nice quiet weekend ahead. Unless one gets wrapped up in basketball.Reading. It really cuts into knitting time. (So does blogging.) I couldn't find the rest of the Giants in the Earth trilogy, so I have ILL'd them. I discovered Kindle for PC, and was amazed to find that BOTH books recommended in the day's US History lecture from the Teaching Company (which I will get used to calling The Great Courses sometime in the next decade or two, perhaps) were available as free downloads. Then Filius decided he needed to check it out, and the next thing I knew, all sorts of Jules Verne books were dropping into my Kindle. And the entire works of Edgar Allen Poe. If you've got boys who liked Stowaway or Shackleton's Stowaway (two different books), consider hunting up Jules Verne's An Antarctic Adventure. I became acquainted with it through Librivox, and it's also a free download at Kindle.
And if you like Jane Austen, and are in the mood for a short story (a wee bit over an hour) do give Love and Friendship a try. It borders on slapstick comedy, and the reader does a lovely job.
Current Reading: The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr, and Caesar's Column, by someone whose name I forget. That's a problem with the Kindle for PC. You don't see the author's name lurking on the book spine to help fix it in your memory.
Happy Spring, all! Our garden is just a foot under the snow now, and I can see the tops of my oregano plant!
4 comments:
Looking at your goals - what is knitting in cycles?
Knitting in cycles is rather amorphous. But - should it ever take shape - it gives me permission to focus in on one kind of knitting for a 3-month period or so. Instead of having 'the year of the shawl' or 'the year of the mitten', the cycle idea give me 'the quarter of X'.
It's not really happening. :) But, should I get struck by a desire to do all things Brioche, all things mitteny, all things Fair Isle - it's there to be picked up, so I can squeeze all the different things I want to try into the year.
Seamed socks? Ugh. Much better the way you did it. :)
I made a few swatches in the same herringbone pattern and the fabric was quite stiff. Did the socks come out reasonably stretchy for you?
I'm not sure how stretchy 'reasonably' is for herringbone. It's not the stretchiest of patterns, especially at sock gauge. I think I used 70 stitches to fit my 14-yo's foot -- which is right about what I would expect to use in stockinette.
Seamed socks are to be avoided whenever possible, definitely.
Post a Comment