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Archive for September 12th, 2006

Have I any Wool?

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

Socks that Rock heavy swatchI keep talking about music but I have not stopped knitting. On the contrary, I’m knitting far too many things. I’m scattering my knitting energy all over my world. If I would just focus more, I could have finished a few things by now that are still waiting. It’s just where my energy is now and it doesn’t hurt anyone. I’m a kid in a candy shop, everything looks good and I can’t decide!

I think when I was knitting all those samples to double-check my new patterns, I had a schedule and a goal (and I had to follow the pattern exactly to the T) and I was necessarily really focused. So now my inner aDisco Socksrtsy-fartsy LynnH is making up for lost time. I just need to really do more exploration, with colors and textures. I’m particularly in a turquoise mood lately. Not that turquoise is new for me, but I’m especially attracted to it right now.

Here are some of the projects I’ve knit in the last several weeks. There’s also a small shoulder pouch for a water bottle (not my recent Bags to Go! pattern, just something I knit off the cuff while listening to John McEuen’s concert at Coopers Glen festival). I can’t find that pouch right now, it’s somewhere in the aftermath of the Wheatland adventure.

I’ve also worked several times on a stole/shawl that is something of a cross between aSlipper ColorJoy Stole and a Garden Capelet, in hot green and light turquoise. Really really pretty colors. That’s a piece I started about 2-3 years ago and it started calling to me again so I’ve done another dozen rows on it in the last few weeks. No photo on that now, though I expect I’ll be showing it to you here soon enough.

But what I do have photos of, are: 1) a little swatch of Blue Moon Socks that RShrug in progressock Heavyweight (Rae has some in stock last I looked), in a blue/ green/ turquoise/ purple blend; 2) Fortissima Disco sockyarn with a silver strand throughout… These are knit using my First-Time Toe-Up Sock pattern. I’ve had the second sock at halfway for two weeks and need to get back to that project so I can wear them; 3) a slipper footie in Elsabeth Lavold Chunky AL wool/alpaca blend (oh so soft and warm)… I’ll wear these over other socks this winter to stay warm; 4) a ribbed close-fitting shrug for dancing in, using Berroco Foliage wool/acrylic. I love the yarn and am working to get the fit Ribbon swatchjust right in the back; 5) the wool/nylon ribbon (swatch shown on Sept. 5 entry) I got with my gift certificate at Threadbear on Labor day. This is one ball knit up and it is really wonderful stuff.

I have seven balls of the ribbon at 100 yards per ball, 5st/in. I sure hope I have enough for the little shell top I’m working on… the pattern says I have enough but I worry anyway. This fabric stretches like Lycra though the yarn does not, and the texture of the fabric I’m making is wonderful. It is sort of scratchy to knit with (if I hold my yarn wrapped around a finger on my left hand, that is) but the fabric it makes is springy and forgiving, very very nice stuff.

Do you notice how much turquoise I’ve got going on right now? This happens when I can find good turquoises. Since last Spring I’ve been stuck on hot green, sometimes with turquoise. When you are me, and focused on basically four colors, there are dry times when fashion turns to browns or pastels. Some years all I can find is purple in the yarn shops. Sometimes I can find hot pink/magenta. This year I’m really living happy on all the turquoise.

Now, if I can just get back to the spinning wheel and spin some of the best turquoise of all… Corriedale roving I got from Heritage Spinning at Michigan Fiber Festival. I prefer spinning on the front porch, and it’s too cold for me to enjoy the outdoor air right now, but I may try to find an hour tonight and spin after the bulk of my work is done. It is going to be an errand-running sort of day, I’m afraid.