Monday’s Swatch
Tuesday, September 5th, 2006Monday was a holiday in the USA… we stayed home for the most part and tried to stay healthy. I took a long walk (me and my knitting, that is) and really enjoyed how my neighborhood felt during a holiday… kids on rollerblades, a couple with toddler on the porch barbecuing, a couple on another block enjoying the view their corner lot affords from the leisure of a shaded brick porch. A few people were walking dogs. Nothing was loud or wild, but there was a sense of quiet activity and it was sort of perfect weather for that.
I threw some salmon, spaghetti sauce and zucchini chunks into the crockpot, then Brian chopped an onion and added it to the mix. It turned out pretty good several hours later on rye pasta spirals. I liked the no-fuss thing the crockpot gave me once more. Of course, anything is better with spaghetti sauce on it! Or so it seems to me.
While the crockpot was working up dinner for me, and Brian was working yet again on mixing the recordings we did earlier this week, I ran to Threadbear Fiberarts. After all, if a Local Yarn Shop is going to be open on a holiday, I might as well go over there and make them glad they made that decision.
I paid for my Sally Melville Creativity workshop, and picked up some Ironstone Streamers ribbon yarn. I’ve had my eye on this yarn for maybe 2 years (it is 48% wool, which makes it have quite a wonderful body to it and the colors are wonderful). I finally got one ball a week ago to swatch, didn’t swatch, and went ahead yesterday when I had 2 gift certificates to enjoy, and bought enough for a small cap-sleeved top.
When I got home I swatched. It’s funny, I don’t seem to have many needles between sizes 8 and 13 right now. I either knit socks and legwarmers/wristwarmers (up to bulky weight but densely knit) or I do loosely-knit wrapsl Well, I do have a few circular 10.5 US needles for felted bags but I could not find them for the life of me. That’s the nature of my life.
I must own a small fortune in needles, but since I have so many projects in process I seem to only have a few needles free. Most of them are tiny double points, I have a bunch of size 0 needles not being used right now!
I did find an unmatched set of straight size 10 needles and swatched with those. Then I found some size 13 double points (no doubt from the September-to-September sweater‘s sleeves). I tried those and the fabric was awful. Then I took the size 11 needles out of my shrug in progress and tried again. Not bad, but the gauge of the size 10 needles matches a pattern I’ve got exactly, and the fabric is just fine. I have enough yarn to make the pattern at that gauge so I’m set. I’m not sure when I’ll knit it, but the plan is in place. And it was such fun knitting the swatch!
Tuesday I’ve got much planned and the day is already partway done. I took a walk with April and Isabel, I answered a bunch of emails, printed/put together a mailing for Working Women Artists, baked something I’d mixed up yesterday and put in the refrigerator overnight.
I need to do some work for the music business, both The Fabulous Heftones and Altu’s Restaurant, and then at about 3pm I have a helper coming to do whatever she can in the yarn/pattern side of my life. I’m not sure how long she will work with me but she stays on task well so I really appreciate her.
And while I work I’ll dream of knitting… what will I knit when I can sit still once more? Continue with the nearly half-done shrug? Start a summer ribbon shell (I’m warm now, so that sounds great) or maybe the Aspen bulky sweater I started last year, and which would be so warm and soft when it chills just a little more than it did this weekend? We’ll see when the time comes.