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Published on Saturday August 13th, 2005

There’s a new project on the needles Chez Blue Garter. When Joy offered to bring back orders from Art Fibers during her San Francisco trip, I knew I had to get my hands on some Chai silk. The store didn’t have the exact colorway I’d selected from the website, but #33 was close: a gentle variegation ranging from magenta to warm bronze. I’m calling it “Bourbon rose”. The pattern I selected for it is the Lace Trim Bolero from Vogue Knitting Summer 2005. This is as close to the shrug as I go, folks. An upper-body garment, unless is it a shawl or wrap, must have a Front for me to wish to make its acquaintance. None of your sleeves connected across the back, thank you very much.

Anyway, here’s my progress:

That’s the completed back piece, and I’ve made a start on the left front. I’m hoping to finish in time for the wedding we have to attend in Chicago in mid-September. Impressions? The Chai is a thick-and-thin yarn, which doesn’t show off the decorative eyelets to their best advantage, but I’m quite happy with the way this project is coming out. Blocking, or even–gasp–ironing as Art Fibers recommends, should improve the look of the eyelets. The silk is luscious (although it’s tricky not to stab into some of the thicker sections) and behaves beautifully on my green aluminum #5’s from the flea market. And I love the colors. I’m pretty wary of variegated yarns (except for socks), but this kind of gentle color shifting I can appreciate.

Speaking of socks and variegated yarn, starting my second Feather-and-Fan sock has proven excruciating. Observe this:

See how the colors are bodging together on the new sock instead of striping? I determined to knit the leg of Sock #2 on larger needles (#1’s) because the first sock is so difficult to pull over my heel. The slightly larger gauge may be part of my problem, but I also believe that dumb luck led me to cast on the first sock at a very advantageous point in the color range. I ripped out my new beginnings three times last night. The dye lot is the same between skeins, but even when I looked carefully at Sock #1 and tried to cast on in the same place (so the join falls where the blue is just shifting to grey), I got the Dreaded Pooling. Finally I realized I was pulling from the center of the new ball, where as I’d drawn from the outside when I began the first sock. In case this was somehow making a difference, I stuffed my frogged squiggles back into the center and drew from the outside. What do you know?

Much better.

Ready for my desert island…

Published on Sunday August 7th, 2005

…As long as it’s a nice autumnal desert island, so I can wear my new Crusoe socks:

I finally got around to finishing Sock #2’s neglected toe, so I’ve officially completed my very first pair of socks. In anticipation of wearing them this fall, I bought these on sale in North Carolina:

Yum, Dansko clogs. I’ve wanted some for a long time, and the need to show off the socks I’m making finally pushed me over the edge. I’m glad I caved in: they’re very, very comfortable. Of course, it’s not exactly closed-toe-footwear weather in New York City yet, and it’s certainly not wool sock weather. In fact, it was rather a struggle to wrestle the socks onto my swollen feet (they’re only swollen from the heat – just because everyone else in Knitblogland seems to be getting knocked up doesn’t mean I have to jump on that wagon just yet!). But I’m glad these little puppies are all done.

Notes on the Crusoe Socks (pattern from Knitty): I used Knit Picks Sock Memories merino in colorway “Hawaii”, thoughtfully gifted by Mia for my honeymoon, and US size 2 Brittany Birch dpn’s. I knit the smaller size, which was a mistake. The extra four stitches would have made them a lot easier to get over my heel. These socks are SNUG. But they’re comfortable once I’ve spent a minute tugging them into place. I love the short legs – no need to worry about the sock saggage. On both socks I came out with funny math at the toe: I was supposed to wind up with ten stitches to kitchener, but I had twelve, as given for the larger size. And I had to do some rearranging to get an even number of stitches on my two needles. But these are very minor quibbles, and quite probably my own fault. In all, I loved knitting this pattern and will probably make these socks again.

In other knitting news, there was a Spiders & Friends yarn swap at Kaitlyn’s house this weekend, and a good time was had by all. No squabbling or cat fights over a whole sweater’s worth of Debbie Bliss cotton alpaca whatsoever, and lots of good yarn found a new home. I’ll be showing off my scores when I cast on for new projects. I’ll just leave you with this parting shot, as a cautionary lesson: don’t give knitbloggers too much rum punch. It lowers their inhibitions. And then they make their friends do ridiculous things so they can post pictures on the web. “Roll in the stash, Katie! Just roll in it!”

There’s no place like Okoboji

Published on Tuesday July 26th, 2005

Last weekend’s stop on the Summer Wedding Circuit was Okoboji, Iowa, home of one of my beloved college roommates. The thing that’s special about Okoboji (well, one of the things) is the lake. Here’s the handsome husband posing on the Queen II in said lake:

I’m under the impression that every boat owner in the whole midwest visits Okoboji in the summer. It’s quite the hopping scene. After our freshman year of college, Mia and I came out to see Kate’s hometown for the 4th of July, and there was much merriment. So I was delighted to have the chance to go back this year for Kate’s wedding. It was an excellent reunion with college friends and Kate’s wonderful family, and the wedding couldn’t have been more perfect (well, maybe if it hadn’t been 100 degrees outside…).

I even did a little knitting on the plane and in Kate’s mom’s coffee shop. Now that my US #0 circs are free from the baby booties, I finally got to pull out my Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in “Sand Ridge”. I’m such a fan of this yarn, and this colorway, but I know how many people have had pooling problems with it. And I really hate pooling. So I knew exactly what this yarn was destined to become: feather-and-fan socks, of course. I’ve wanted to make these for ages, and although I don’t own Socks, Socks, Socks, I was able to steal a peek at it in the LYS and quickly memorize the pattern. Kate is always up for any goofiness, so I asked her to hold the sock for a picture the morning after the wedding:

All too soon, it was time to head back to NYC. But on the drive up to the Minneapolis airport, we had to stop to see the Green Giant.

And here’s a sock’s eye view:

It’s been rather slow going with this sock. I had to tink a bunch of rows yesterday because I’d missed a yarn over. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out that I had the wrong number of stitches. But hopefully I’ll have a pair done in time for sock weather.

Friday Harbor socks? No way!

Published on Tuesday July 19th, 2005

A casual stroll through the ether this morning took me to Alison’s catalog of all the sock knitting going out there for Sockapal2za, and what should mine eyes behold but…Friday Harbor socks! Folks, there are few thrills in the world comparable to finding out there’s footwear named for your hometown. Apparently, these striking stockings are from Nancy Bush’s Knitting on the Road. I think I need this book!