Inertia

It seems like the longer I'm gone from the blog, the harder it is to get back to it. Over the last few weeks I haven't been knitting all that much because I was training for my first triathlon in five years. The race was on April 15, and I put in a pretty respectable performance: I placed 7th out of 15 participants in my group. I would have like to have placed a little higher, but in the end I'm just happy I wasn't last. One thing I liked about this race was that it was a Personal Record for me at more than 8 minutes faster than I completed it last time. But the best thing was the nametag my 8 year-old niece made for me. It was all her own idea - she wanted to make sure the race people knew who I was.

In knitting news, I've been making slow, but sure, progress on the Cameo Mittens. This is my first real attempt at Fair Isle knitting and I think it's coming out alright. They don't look great right now, but I think they'll improve after they're washed and blocked. It's looking like a few of my floats are a little short, but I hope a good, long soak will improve them some. I only have a few more rounds to go before I start the decreases which will close them up. After that, I can do the thumbs and call them done. Even though I haven't been writing, I have taken a few photos, so I hope you'll enjoy them. Until next time, Friends.

It's been an age!

Since the last time I posted, I completed the yoga socks. Sadly, I have made no progress on the Chawton mittens. It seems that over the two weeks since I last posted, all my knitting has been done during my commute to work, so that's why the yoga socks got finished in such a short time. It also helped that the stitch pattern was easily memorizable. I think the only thing I would have changed about this project would have been having a longer circular needle for knitting up the legs. The pattern called for a size 3 needle, which I had, but I only had a 32" length, rather than my preferred 40". I was still able to knit it alright, I just didn't have as much slack on the cable as I like. Not the end of the world, though.

What I've been spending most of my time on lately is training for an upcoming sprint triathlon. It's been 5 years since the last time I did one, so I've been making a point of going to the gym. I've been getting there almost daily, which was kind of my point in signing up for this race. I've also managed to lose 17 pounds so far, which was another reason I decided to get back into triathlon. Needless to say, all this time at the gym has cut into my knitting time, but I'm hoping I knit a little more in the evenings. And now that Spring seems to have arrived, I'm looking forward to knitting outdoors on my front porch, or out back on the deck. It's so much nicer not being cooped up inside.

So that's all for now. Until next time, Friends!

Seeing the bigger picture

Sometimes it takes seeing a photograph of my knitting to realize that I haven't noticed something. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's getting the project into a frame that makes me notice something new. Or maybe it's that I've held the camera farther away from the project than I hold it as I'm knitting it. But anyway, today, after I photographed the Prana socks, I noticed that the colors were variegating differently one from the other. One sock has a wider spiral of bright color while the other seems to be much darker with a narrow spiral of bright. I haven't noticed this as I've been knitting them, probably because I've been paying more attention to the stitch pattern than the color.

I don't think the intended recipient of these socks will mind - I mean, if it was up to her, both socks would have the wide bright stripe, but I'm sure she'll like them anyway. The variegation adds to the uniqueness of the socks, and she's a pretty unique girl herself.

The socks are knitting up quickly. I've already completed the feet, and since there are no heels to turn, I'm ready to get going on the legs. I'm pretty sure they'll go quickly too.

I've also made some progress on the Chawton Mittens. I've gotten through 15 rounds of the chart and have found that the stranded knitting isn't as difficult as I thought it would be. It is a little tedious, but nothing I can't get through. The yarn I'm using is producing very distinct stitches that I'm not sure I like. I think I might have preferred a fuzzier yarn, but maybe they fill out a little once they've been washed. I do like that the yarn is superwash, which is a plus for mittens. We'll see how they go.

That's all I have for now. Until next time, Friends.

So much sock yarn

It could be said that I have a lot of sock yarn. I don't have as much as a lot of people, but I have enough to keep me knitting socks for the rest of the year before I had to buy more. But sometimes I want to knit something other than socks, so it was nice to stumble upon the pattern for Chawton Mittens. This pattern was published in Interweave Knits' Jane Austen Knits special issue magazine that came out last fall. I'm not sure why the mittens didn't really catch my eye the first time I saw them, but when the photo turned up in my email last week, I decided that I'd like to knit them.

As it turns out, I happened to have some yarn in my stash that would be appropriate for these mittens: it was the right weight, the right yardage and the right colors. I even had the right size needles! Well, duh, I have three of the right size needles, five if you include double points. Anyway, this seemed like a no-brainer. I already had the pattern, I had the yarn and I had the needles. But of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I decided that I had to knit these mittens two-at-a-time. This is stranded knitting we're talking about here. I haven't really done that much stranded knitting (one pair of socks, I think), so this will definitely be a challenge. I've managed to complete three color work rounds so far. It's been a bit slower than I usually work, but I think it will be fine. Since this project will require a measure of focus, I'll keep it at home. It's definitely not for social knitting situations.

For knitting with friends, I have another project, the Prana socks by Cirilia Rose in Clara Parkes' Knitters Book of Socks. These are yoga socks I'm knitting for one of AmeriCorps volunteers. She's just started doing yoga and found that she really likes it. I'm knitting them from some Claudia Hand Painted that I bought early last summer when I was visiting my hometown. The colorway is called Zebra, but I have no earthly idea why. The colors are cobalt blue, electric green and some purple with some browns and greys and are pooling in a really interesting way. I have modified this pattern as well: I'm knitting them from the foot up, as the two skeins of Claudia are only 350 yards and the pattern calls for 420 yards or so. I'll just knit as far as I can on the legs before I run out of yarn. This pattern is proving to be easy to memorize, so they're perfect for knitting in public.

Well, that's it for tonight, y'all. Until next time!

I finished those socks

On Friday, I finished the Hummingbird socks, on Saturday I got the ends woven in and on Sunday I got them washed. Yesterday I took pictures, so now I can give them away. These socks were a very quick knit - I'm not sure that I've done any other socks in just 10 days. Blocking definitely helped the pattern assert itself, but I think if I do this pattern again, I might use a yarn with shorter lengths of color for a more mottled look rather than the stripes & flecks I got with this yarn.

Since I finished the socks, I started on the Chawton Mittens from the Jane Austen Knits magazine. I was thinking that I needed a challenge, so the color work in these mittens should do the trick. I've also upped the challenge quotient by starting these two-at-a-time. I've only done one round so far, so I'm not sure how this will work out for the whole project. One thing I've done that I think will help is that I put the yarn for each mitten in a separate bag to make it easier to keep the yarn from tangling too much. I don't expect this project will travel much, so I'll have to find a project that will. It'll probably be socks, as usual.

Well, that's it for now, Friends. Until next time.

Here's what I've been doing this week.

I only started these socks last Tuesday, and I've already turned the heels. There are a couple reasons these socks have progressed so quickly, the first being that the chart repeat is pretty easy. The second is that I had a couple days last week where I had a lot of time on my hands. In the middle of the day on Wednesday, I had a work-related hearing to go to, and it was two hours before my case got called. So I knit up about 2 inches of the leg before it was my turn. Then that evening I had to prepare for a colonoscopy the next morning, so I spent the whole evening knitting while the preparation did its, um, work. I think I was knitting until about midnight or so. The next morning, I had the 'scope, which was all clear, and alternately napped and knit the rest of the day.

I had a little trouble turning the heel - not because it was difficult, but because halfway through it, I discovered a broken ply in one ball of yarn. I had to cut it, then unravel because I didn't have enough to weave in. Then I had to unravel again because I'd made a mistake with a couple wraps, so I think I ended up doing those heels about three times. At least now I'm working on the foot, so I've only got a couple more chart repeats until I can do stockinette to the end. I think I can safely say they'll be done before another week passes.

In other news, I got a call from my mother who told me today that the Vilai socks I knit for her friend were a big hit. She was so excited to have such fancy socks, she kept offering to buy me more yarn (which I wouldn't decline, myself) but Mom told her they were a gift, so no new yarn was necessary. It's always nice when your hand knits are appreciated, isn't it?

I don't have anything else on the needles at the moment, but I have been looking at lace patterns to use with some Brown Sheep Legacy Lace I bought last year as the Knit Nook was closing. I haven't made up my mind whether to knit it up in an Estonian pattern or try something else. If you've got any suggestions, I'm open to them. Until next time, Friends.

It's been an age.

It's been an age, it seems, since I last posted. I don't really have much of an excuse - I mean, I had a vicious cold the week before last that kept me home from work for 3 days. But that's all I've got to say for myself. I've been making a point of going to the gym every day, but that's only an hour or so a day and you'd think I could manage a blog post sometime in the remaining 23 hours.

In that time I did manage to finish the socks for my boss' retirement. They're the Milo sock, designed by CookieA, knit from Punta Yarns Merisock handpainted. After my blunder at the beginning, I was able to regroup and start over from the beginning. By the time I got to my third sick day, I had turned the heel and I felt like I coasted right through the foot to the end. I gave them to my boss yesterday, even though he doesn't officially retire for another six weeks. It will be nice for him to get to wear them while it's still kind of cold. (Even though I wear merino wool socks year-round.)

Since that project's finished, I cast on for another pair of socks: Sandi Rosner's Hummingbird from Clara Parke's book Knitters Book of Socks. I'm knitting these for a friend who likes blues and greens, so I'm using Scholeller+Stahl's Fortissima Sock yarn, which was acquired from a swap I did a year ago (Thanks, Corrinne!). I can't believe it's taken me so long to knit up this yarn! Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how the faux Fair Isle coloring of the yarn works with the lace patterning on the sock.

Another thing I've decided I want to do is to work up some charts for the color work from the Muslim textile book I wrote about in my last post. I think it would be fund to see if I could re-create a few of those items, or at the very least, design something inspired by the charts. I'm still very impressed by the skills of those ancient knitters. I'm not sure I'm willing to knit to such fine gauge, but I think many of those patterns could work well for a pillow or similar item.

Well, it looks like that's all I've got for tonight. Until next time, Friends!