Cordón Shawl

I am going to preface this post by saying that every time I wind linen I forget that you need to wind it tight or it just falls apart. Perhaps in so writing I will remember this lesson for the next time.

So this is Americo's Linen Cordón in Coral and Dark Stone. I will be casting on for a different Shawl of Secrecy tonight.



To do so I needed to online my Addi Lace circulars.
We all know that the most effective way to do this is putting the cord into hot water for a few seconds.

I'm at Lee's and he's got spaghetti sauce simmering (he makes it from scratch ... I know, a total keeper!!) and spaghetti in boiling water. Grated its been oiled & salted, but it's still boiling water. And there really wasn't room I really wasn't inclined to make room and set a clean pot to boil. So I just dipped the needle in with the noodles a few times.
Poor Lee - his face as he came 'round the corner and saw what I was doing was utterly priceless!! I laughed and explained it but he still had an incredulous/dumbfounded look. I wiped the cord and dried and I'm good to go.

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Colorknits

Clue #2 came out this morning and I was all over it.

A significantly smaller clue but it incorporates the 3rd colour yet leaves the knitter with no real clue where this will go next! A perfect mystery knit!!

No spoilers here ... go to my Rav project page to satisfy your curiosity.

Inspiration

in·spi·ra·tion  

/ˌinspəˈrāSHən/

Noun The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative: "flashes of inspiration". The quality of having been so stimulated, esp. when evident in something: "a moment of inspiration in an otherwise dull display".

When Elise gave me the pattern for her her On The Easy Side pattern it was the beginning of a journey that started with that single questing query, "I wonder if ...".

I wondered if Koigu's PPPM would repeat and pattern as did their Kersti at a particular stitch count. Thus began my journey and exploration of the Sweetspot of a yarn and my resulting scarves/afghans.

I always believed and discussed with Elise the mathematical theory of a predictable repeat based on the skein size, dye sequence and stitch count/gauge but it was well beyond my skill set. I relied on intuition and trial and error.

My day was totally made when Elise & I spoke yesterday and she mentioned an article written by Karla Stuebing in Twist Collective on The Art and Science of Planned Pooling where she said that my design inspired her to explore and extrapolate the maths in the yarns!! Carol Sulcoski wrote an article in the Early Fall 2013 VK on Planned Pooling referencing my design and Karla's work.

I am still exploring indie yarns and have another afghan in the works.

 

 

 

Meadow Socks

So I have needed just simple knitting the last day or so and my Meadow Socks totally fit the bill. The size and shaping are pretty much spot on though the decreasing into the rib is a bit off because I got mired in the idea of having it exactly centered. I know ... It's a circle. Sigh. I'll sort that to be more aesthetically pleasing on the 2^ndsock.




I'm also thinking that with the additional width at the top and length through the leg that I may not have enough yarn for two socks. I am probably going to use a 2^nd colour for the heel & toes then reverse the colouring on the 2^nd sock.


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Colorknits clue #1

Worth all the effort and it got me through a rough w/e. 
I think that it is an intriguing beginning and I can't wait to see how we build up from this base on Friday. 

I won't put spoilers up in case anyone is still early on and avoiding reveals. Here's the link to my Rav project page. 

Keeping Busy

I've had a few unexpected days off from work and I've been able to use some of that to knit.

I have finished The Shawl of Secrecy!!

The sock has had some undocumented work done on it ... I'm not sure if I'm feeling the love for it though.




I am feeling the love for the yarn that I selected and have wound up for the Westknits colourknits Mystery KAL.
The yellow is Red Corset Designs Osmosis in Sunkist. The red is Spunky Eclectic Skinny Socks in How Very Berry. The blue is Punta Yarns MeriSock Handpainted.

I am going to do a swatch tonight, though for shawls it's less crucial; I just want to see the colours together!!

I have also wound up Americo's Linen Cordón for a different Shawl of Secrecy.

 That was a lot of winding ... the knitting will take awhile I'm sure!

Shawl of Secrecy

And lest you think that I am perhaps knitting on The Emperor's New Shawl, here is a glimpse of the Shawl of Secrecy.

Distractions

And speaking of distractions ... It's that time of year again.




I loved doing Rockfeller last year and I was all over signing up for this Mystery KAL.

I had basically narrowed it down to these two colour ways (a Kirkpatrick woman embraces colour!!).






I have decided to go with the red - it lends a cooler, more wintery feel while I sense more spring coming from the Sundara green.

So I've got until Friday to make a serious dent in Elise's shawl ... mission accepted.

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New socks

So I've always done my socks with about a 7" leg. When I wore my lovely clear Wellies the other day it looked strange with short-ish socks inside them.
So once I finished the Amalfi Poncho, I cast on straight away for a new nearly knee-high socks. Unfortunately I was at Lees and I didn't have the wonderful handout from Kate's sock class. So old-school trial and error it would be.

I generally cast on 72 sts for the 2x2 run and go down 68 for the leg. I did this and tried it on higher on my leg to get an idea of how many more sts I might need.







So I cast on 84 sts and worked in rib for 3" and then did a double dec at the back of the leg on alt rnds down to 68 sts. It was too tight still and the decs were not spaced out enough.





Now I have cast on 96 sts and have begun double decs on every 3rd rnd after 2".

But I have been distracted by a shawl that I've cast on for Elise so my trials (and ensuing errors) may have to wait.


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Migraines

I have had migraines for a lot of years. I used to take Imitrex until it just stopped working and now I take Zomig. Very effective and if I can catch the migraine early enough the Zomig works well enough that I can work/live through the migraine.

Recently, however, the migraines have been hitting me harder and faster. There are no creeping warning signs, just crushing and debilitating pain that the Zomig will take care of but only after hours in a bed-cave.

I think that I'll have to start going for acupuncture again; it worked well in the past to alleviate the immediate symptoms and reduced the frequency and severity of the occurences - it certainly can't hurt now.

Anyone have any other remedies?

Amalfi poncho

The Amalfi poncho is done!!


I had Lee take a quick pic sans make up or hair fixing - it was just too hot to be bothered.
I finished it last night but after some texts and chat with Julie we decided to go with ending 12 rows earlier than the pattern calls for and knitting the last triangles in the CC.






The designer -Ann McDonald Kelly - responded to me on FB saying that she wanted to have the cast off triangles the same colour as the cast on ones so she eased the last triangle into the seam when finishing (as you can see from the pic in the magazine).
I personally wasn't bothered by that detail and didn't like the bunching created by easing in the extra colour set.

And the seam at the collar - I am very pleased. I didn't give it much thought until I had cast off for the collar, rolled it over to have a look and said, "no Siree Bob"!! To my admittedly particular self this is significantly better.



All in all though I am very pleased with it - a well written and easily followed pattern and the yarn makes it even more fun to knit.


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