Startitus

I tried to resist. I really did, but I have somewhat given in to my natural inclination to start All The Things. 

It happened after I blogged on Saturday. I was swatching away for the Ink cardigan (please excuse the lack of links this post, I am blogging on the move again) and my eye fell across a copy of Brave New Knits that my friend lent me. So I idly flicked through to The Orchid Thief, which has been in my queue forever and is beautiful and by Ysolda. Then I casually went across to my stash, and I lazily picked up some yarn. 

The next thing I knew this had happened:

The yarn is more burgundy than this photo shows. But I am now nearly done with the repeats of chart 3, with only (only! Ha! We all know that's where the yardage is) the edging to go. And I love it. 

So I acknowledged my slip and promised myself I would finish the socks. This happened yesterday. 

They don't quite match but considering I didn't try to make them match, it's not bad. This is the fifth pair of socks that I have made for him indoors, and I feel we have reached a point where he is very understanding about my desperate need for more yarn when he is gifted socks fairly regularly. It's a compromise I can certainly live with. 

But on the train I hadn't any other knitting with me, and so I knit a couple of little mitred squares. 

I am so utterly charmed by them. Absurdly charmed. So I plan to knit more, and in a good few years will hopefully have a sock yarn blanket. Eventually. I am not being unrealistic about the fact that this will take forever. 

But I still needed some train knitting. 

Yes. More socks. Yarndale is coming up, and I think more socks will help smooth that along rather nicely. Links to yarn and pattern next post. No one is going to look at this picture and go 'wow, best pattern ever, what on earth is it?' Principally because you can't see the pattern yet. It's a toe. 

When I get back (I am away for three days at a wedding) I will need to cast on a shawl for a sample I am knitting (more details later) and I do want to actually cast on for Ink. A friend and I have agreed to do a KAL for it. So if there is time, I should at least aim to finish The Orchid Thief before I cast anything else on. 

What are the chances?

Lazy weekend

This is a mostly lazy weekend for us. We were at the wedding reception of a coworker of mine last night, and we are attending the weddings of friends for the next two weekends, so we scheduled some much needed down time.

As such, I felt it was the perfect time to start a new project. I've had a 500g cone of King Cole Merino Blend 4 ply in my stash since a birthday trip to Texere earlier this year. It's this lovely shade of grey, and I have been indecisive as to what to use it for.

I finally decided on Ink by Hanna Maciejewska. I bought the pattern and realised that I didn't have needles small enough. The pattern recommends 3mm and 3.5mm needles, and while I have 3.5mm circs, the designer also notes that she is a loose knitter. I am not. I am a ridiculously tight knitter.
Thus today I swatch.

I am not a fan of swatching. Once I have decided on a project I want to be knitting it, like yesterday. But I always end up with sweaters with a mildly disappointing fit, so swatching it is. And maths. And measuring myself. So today I will swatch and wash the swatch and dry the swatch and contemplate the swatch and measure myself and then contemplate the two together. Yes, I am muttering under my breath over here.

In other news the sock progresses, and I skeined some of my handspun.

It still amazes me on every single level that it actually looks like yarn. Real, live yarn that I made myself.

The blue is about 200 yards of roughly DK weight, and that's enough to make an actual something. No idea what yet. I'm happy for it to just sit in my stash for a while looking exactly like proper yarn.

Blogging from a bar

So today I am blogging from the pub. I'm using the blogger app and I hope it works. I want to try to keep up blogging at least a couple of times a week, and that means blogging on the move this week (nice try app, changing the word 'move' to 'love' there, but I caught you).

I have been progressing on the socks. I promised myself that I would pass the heel of the second sock before I cast anything else on, and I achieved that this morning. 

Yes, the red counter top of the bar I'm in looks awful with the sock on it. Needs must, I'm afraid. And you can see still my provisional cast on down by the toe. Still, past the heel. Now hours of mindless 2x2 rib until I run out of yarn. 

I figure this to now be a commuting project, or a project for when I am exhausted and my brain won't function. 

I have been thinking about what else to knit. I want something more complicated, and my current WIPs aren't really speaking to me. I am thinking of a sweater. In fact, I am almost decided on Ink by Hanna Maciejewska (apologies for the lack of link). I have a cone of very pale grey King Cole 4-ply sitting in stash that I think would work very well. I will swatch soon. Yes, I swatch. 

I think I'm also going to spend some time reading Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog which I got a couple of months ago. I see maths in my future, but a sweater that fits well is worth it. 

It occurs to me that I have posted at least one picture of a WIP with a pint and now I am blogging from a bar. Yes, it is true, I like real ale. It has only been a couple of years since I started drinking ale, and I like it a lot. There are so many small breweries starting up, at least two pubs in my town that brew for example. I think it's wonderful, and exciting, and I feel like I could draw parallels between small beer producers and small indie dyers. 

If you also like real ale, I would recommend the app untappd. It's free and lets you log what you're drinking and (if you like) where you are drinking it. It even gives you badges. Incentivised drinking seems silly, but as with everything else I think moderation is key. 

On the subject of ale, I would recommend a project of some friends of mine who are reviewing every bar in Leeds city centre: www.leedsbeer.info

So I shall post this blog and await my other half with my sock and a pint. 

Socks, spinning and why I'm a bad Domestic Goddess

Since returning from LARP, I've been mainly trying to catch up on sleep. The 10am-2am LARP schedule can be quite punishing, and I always have some trouble getting back into a normal sleep routine on my return.
I have, however been doing some knitting and some spinning.

I've finished one of the socks, and have made a start on the second. They aren't going to match, but I was aiming for the longest socks I could get. B tends to wear hand knit socks at LARP, and it is useful when they are long enough to go over the top of his boots. When the ball weighed about 65g I used the balance at work to split the yarn into two and knit the first sock until I ran out of yarn. On trying on the sock it looks like had I knitted much longer I would have had to consider some calf shaping.
I love the yardage on this yarn (it is Wendy Roam).

I have mostly been spinning though. The heat we have been having means my hands are slightly damper than usual (nice, right?) and that makes knitting less comfortable.

I've been spinning the blue/green 70s merino. I have finished the spinning, getting two and a half bobbins of singles.

I've plied one of te full bobbins, getting about 85m of yarn.

My spinning is still somewhat uneven, but the yarn certainly looks okay. I'm hoping to ply the rest tonight, and am hoping for about 200m. Enough to make a cowl or a hat, but in all honestly I think I'll mostly be looking at it for a while. And stroking it. And feeling a little smug.

Next up I am torn between spinning this:

which is 35g of 70s merino from Mill House Designs, or this:

which is 100g of superwash BFL from easyknits and is so beautiful I want to wear it like a crown.
I'd like to try some chunky yarn, so may experiment with the purple merino for that.

I can't actually recommend Jon over at easyknits highly enough. Every time I have dealt with them he has been friendly and professional and his yarn and fibre are simply delicious. If you haven't already, check out the web page.

Today has mostly been a day of domesticity. We have cleaned the fridge, defrosted the freezer and hung some curtains in the living room (thank you Arianwen!). I've lived here for nearly three years and have only just gotten round to hanging curtains. I'm not the most adept of domestic goddesses, it must be said. I have also learned today that when I put things in the freezer, even if I am certain that I will recognise whatever it is when I come to use it, I will not. I have a bag of something that is either cookie dough or mushroom sauce. And that is one of the most identifiable things in there. It is perhaps less than ideal.

I've reread The Millennium Trillogy by Steig Larson recently, after getting copies of the films. I had forgotten how good the books were, and would highly recommend them. As with so many people, it is a shame that Mr Larson died as early as he did.

Live Action Roleplay

I've been a little quiet these past few days, and that's principally because I've been in a field doing another of my main hobbies, live action roleplay, often abbreviated to LARP or LRP (for the traditionalists). LARP is a somewhat nerdy hobby full of fantasy and adventure, and I've met a distressingly large proportion of my friends there.

Photo credit Steve "The Flasher" Mitchell

The system I go to runs four main events per year in the summer, and any number of smaller events through the winter months. It's a fantasy LARP, meaning you might be interacting with goblins, ogres, fae, deamons and various other fantasy races.

Photo credit Tom Hughes

Incidentally, that shawl is Baskerville (link to my project) by Beth Kling. I must get a better picture of it sometime soon.

This past event there was a tea party, there was a rigged election, and my character nearly died. Only the once, though, and that isn't bad going for me.

I'm looking forward to the next event in six weeks time.

In the meantime, I need to get on with the socks I'm knitting, and try not to give in to my tendency towards startitus.

Thoughts on stash

I wonder sometimes if other people (and by this I mean knitters, crocheters and spinners) spend as much time thinking of their stash as I do.

Some days I look at the stash and I think "gosh, that's a lovely lot of yarn" - I have enough yarn that I can make lots of socks. I have at least three sweater quantities of yarn. I can make loads of things with the stash I currently have.

But every now and then (sometimes after looking at pictures of other people's stash on ravelry, or spending time with a friend who has a lot more yarn than I do) I get a vague feeling of panic at the stash not being enough.

It's a silly thought. I could knit quite happily from stash for probably 18 months. Maybe two years. Possibly more. That, by no stretch of the imagination, is "not enough yarn". And in the stash are some beautiful things. I have yarn from a llama. I have hand dyed yarn. I have yarn with cashmere, and yarn with alpaca.
On the other hand, the stash fits into one small bookcase with overflow into a small basket next to the fireplace. I am not one of those people whose stash sort of leaks into other areas of the house.

It occurs to me that instead of justifying that I need more yarn because of some worrisome sheep-disease that will soon mean there is no more wool (yes, I do worry about this), that perhaps at some point soon I need to sort through the stash and remember that there is a lot of yarn there.

And not a lot of fluff, but certainly some.

I think also I need to stop comparing my stash to other people's in some kind of absurd "whose is bigger" game. I like my stash. On bad days there is just enough to build a decent yarn fort, and really, what more can a knitter ask for?

Spinning and stash enhancemet

I am teaching myself to spin. I bought a second hand (third? fourth? who knows) Ashford Traditional a few months ago from a friend of a friend, and she is just beautiful. As I said in my intro post, I call her Alice.

For the first few weeks I was spinning fluff that came with it, but then I decided that I wanted something more colourful so I bought some lovely hand dyed fluff, stocked at my LYS but by Mill House Designs. It's 70s merino, not that I am very sure of what the first part of that means.

Still, it is fun to spin.

Because there were only about 35g I chain plied them. This also keeps the colour changes consistent.

And here are some singles that I am currently spinning, 100g of more 70s merino.

When this is done I'll also chain ply it.

I have some fibre on the way from easyknits that I am excited about.

In terms of stash enhancement, on the way to the BBQ yesterday we stopped for yarn. I was gifted (B is rather good to me sometimes) some sock yarn. It may be possible to see a little enlightened self interest in the gift, but I am not complaining.

It's called Teddy Cozy Toez and it's a 75/25 merino/nylon blend. I have no experience yet of this yarn, but it was very affordable. I got 200g of each in order to make very long socks for B, and the black I want to stripe with some easyknits sock club yarn that I have in my stash. The yardage isn't enough for a decent pair on it's own, but with the black it should look amazing.

At the BBQ last night there were probably the cutest cats I have seen in some time, so I took pictures.

I may be in negotiations with the letting agent about getting some cats of our own. Watch this space.

So what am I working on right now?

Currently I am working to a deadline to get a third haruni made for a friend's wedding. It's in cascade yarns heritage solids quatro colors in a kindof bottle green. There are 4 bridesmaids, of whom I am one, and so I have been bevering away while the bride made the 4th.
Last night was spent this way

I have't reached the 2nd chart yet, so it is more than possible to knit and have a beer at the same time.

I've put down a sock in order to get the haruni done, and am looking forward to getting back to it.

They are a mindless 2x2 rib for B, who has the sad combination of very large feet and a love for handknit socks. I am slowly working on making him a drawer full. This will be pair number five, so there is some way to go. I'm using Wendy Roam which is a lovely hardwearing (if not particularly soft) sock yarn.

I tried to make B a pair of socks using the most beautiful Laughing Yaffle sock yarn, but reached about halfway up the leg of the first sock and realised that there would not be enough yarn for the pair.

Here they are, quite early on. Aren't they lovely?
Still, I have decided to frog them and make green and black striped socks. After the current socks are off the needles, of course.

Today, as it's a beautiful day, I will be having a BBQ with friends.
Feels like summer has actually arrived!

The start of things

An attempt (my second, in truth) to start a blog. Hopefully this time I shall be a more dedicated blogger and not write five posts over the course of two years and then stop, leaving the poor little blog languishing in cyberspace, unloved, uncared for, unwritten.

We will see.

I'm 30. I live in the somewhat occasionally grim north of the UK. I knit (a lot). I started to spin recently on a beautiful Ashford Traditional who I named Alice. Having been knitting for about 8 years now, it is really interesting to start at the very bottom of a skill knowing nothing at all.
I like to cook, and hopefully will be posting about that also. And read. I like to read.

I think one day maybe I would like to learn to sew, but that is on the backburner for now.

The motivation for blogging is mainly a vague sense that it looks like it might be fun.

So here we go. Welcome to my corner of the internet. I will post later about tour de fleece, current WIPs, and what I wish I were knitting if I didn't have a deadline.

Happy Friday.