Knitting on Impulse

Daily

New goals for the upcoming Christmas bazaar; the neck and eyes pay for the mind's ambition:

How is it that time is always short?

Stolen moments in the evening - the compulsion for another soothingly mindless project - but will I like it?

I won't know with certainty until I have knitted up a large enough expanse to regret the abuse of the yarn if I am wrong.  I don't want any more "compromise" sweaters.  I want (have) to knit from stash right now, but I want the designs to look like I meant it that way.

A crisp morning walk to preschool clears the head, at least momentarily.  I do love the light in autumn.

Noro Socks

Back to the familiar formula with a plain stockinette heel - and they worked!

Yarn: Noro Kureyon - bits and pieces of leftovers - probably 3-ish skeins worth

Pattern: A basic 2x2 rib with plain heel flap.  In this case, I cast on provisionally and knit the feet from the ankle down, then picked up and knit the up the legs.  I originally meant to go to the knees, but elected to stop just before I would have had to incorporate calf increases.  They are quite comfy and functional at mid calf length, and I have enough yarn left to make a matching pair for my daughter.

Notes: I started them off similarly at the heel flap, but I didn't fret as the colour progressions went their own way.  I am rather partial to balanced asymmetry. 

Revealed

The sun is out, the sock is rising from the ashes, and there is magic beneath the morning mist:

Bad Sock

How is it possible to knit a plain vanilla sock, in a formula that has always worked for me, in a gauge and circumference that actually works out a bit snugger than usual on the foot AND come up with a clownishly big ankle? 

After going to bed in a self-pitying snit, I woke with the answer.  (There's always an answer, I just don't necessarily want to find it right off because it usually involves easily avoidable dumbness on my part that does not make me feel better.) The answer is that I did not follow my trusty formula precisely. I got clever (bad idea in a fog) and made an eye of partridge heel instead of a plain heel flap, which has a much denser row gauge, but picked up all the selvedge stitches same as always.  Which meant there were more of them, which meant extra room for my already ridiculously skinny ankles.  Also, I worked the body of the sock in stockinette, rather than my usual nice elastic 2x2 ribbing.  Duh. 

I hate when the comfort knitting goes awry.  It's a little like being mad at your spouse - cut off from your Happy Place just when you could really use a bit of happy.

F(r)oggy

It's that time of year again, and my brain function seems to be not unlike my physical environment:

Dark, foggy, and intermittently frozen in places.  Must... think.... must... compose.... thoughtful... email.... replies.... oh crap, the laundry is overflowing.  Where was I again?

Mystery. Is stalled.  It was finished (technically it still is, since I haven't frogged yet).  Problem was, there wasn't enough of the plain blue to do the whole yoke and button band, so I had to "make do" with striping in the variegated.  And sadly, that transformed it from a fashionably funky piece of knitwear to a make-do-with-what-you've-got project that I would only ever wear around the house.  Not only do I have more than enough of the latter, but this particular design happens to fit so beautifully that it really deserves to be done properly.  So I am now waiting with great anticipation for the additional yarn from Knitpicks - what are the odds that a yarn that changed names since I first bought it (I think there was some legal fuss over the Sierra thing) will be close enough to the old dyelot?  They kept the colour names, so I have hope....

I don't have the heart (or the mental agility - see above) to start another sweater at the moment, so I pulled out some leftover Noro Kureyon for wooly socks.  It is definitely wooly sock weather here.  I started a toe-up sock in the Noro a while back, but lost my nerve deciding when to start the heel.  I really want to use all the remaining yarn to make socks as high as they will go though, so my chicken-out solution is to provisionally cast on at the ankles, knit down to the toes and then go back and knit up until I'm done.

I have this much yarn:

Which should be enough for a decent pair of socks - maybe even knee socks, if I'm lucky!

Anniversary!

Twelve years ago today, we did this.  Since then, we have moved all over the country, had a couple of kids, and changed careers, but we are still madly in love, after all these years!

The Benefits of a Tidy Bench

Just a quick post today, as I have to pull on my Gortex in a minute to brave the storm and make the 1 1/2 hour round trip with stroller to retrieve my son from preschool.  (I am prevented from wimping out on this Exercise Resolution by the fact that my husband has the car this afternoon.)  We are quite sheltered here in Whistler - when the trees move slightly, there are generally roads littered with foliage and fallen power lines down the road by the ocean.  When it is truly windy here, it usually means (as in this case) that a nasty tropical storm is blowing itself out on the lower mainland and legions of folk are without power and possibly their roofs.  So I suppose I can't complain!

Anyway... here's what I accomplished this morning:

Emeralds!

Chrysoprase:

More chrysoprase:

Tourmaline:

There!

Four days of hard slogging yielded:

That's the bedroom/jewellery bench/sewing supply storage anyway (the fibre and textile stash is vacuum packed under the bed and in the smallish closet); there was also the rest of the condo (ie. the living room/production dyeing and knitting sweatworkshop/reference library) to reorganize as well.  Lest anyone ask, there are no "before" photos because I didn't take any.  On purpose.  I do feel a rush of creative energy coming on, though....

Mystery: The Time of the Great Joining

Possibly I have been forced to absorb too many Land Before Time movies (thankfully all returned to the video store for a brief respite, also our DVD player is recently broken, which is an airtight excuse not to rent them again for a while).

Here it is (not so mysterious at this point):

I have had misgivings at several stages that this was going to be one of those "interesting" process knits that never sees the light of day once completed, but repeated partial modelling suggests that it may well be quite cute.  Possibly even flattering and not geeky.

The last three days have been largely consumed with Necessary Organizing.  Which feels distressingly like Not Working and Getting Behind but I have to have faith that streamlining and decluttering my working environment will lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness in the end.  My latest epiphany is the realization that my home is my workplace.  I have to this point, clung to the largely futile ideal of a "normal" home with a tidily hidden work space.  I think I imbibed this notion at least partially from furniture catalogues (and Martha Stewart) who are forever promoting ingenious and elegant bits of furniture that will render one's home office instantly invisible with the flick of a beautifully polished cabinet door.  I unquestioningly assumed that it would be wrong (or at least dreadfully eccentric) to have textiles or tools visible from the pathways of "regular" life.  The hard fact though, is that storage space (well, space in general), is extremely limited here, and "hiding" the things I use daily results in constantly having to dig them out from underneath other things, which has lead inexorably to mess and choking clutter.  The family doesn't care if there are bins of undyed silk by the armchair, or a bookshelf full of tidily stacked WIPs by the couch, and my husband doesn't mind in the least that our bedroom is essentially a jewellery studio with a bed.  Besides, what's wrong with a little eccentricity, anyway? 

Which brings me to.... a gratuitous Cute Kitty photo:

Basil was given the very important job today of snuggling my daughter's Webkin until such time as she returns from school.  I am proud to report that he has performed this duty with tireless dedication, snoozing manfully at his post for virtually the entire day.

New Mittens

All other WIP's were put on hold this weekend with the announcement that the existing pair of handknit mittens were Just Too Small.  These were crafted to the recipient's exacting specifications: shades of red, coordinating but NOT matching, thick and warm for impulsive puddle dipping and wet snowball formation, with long, snug cuffs for warmth and security.

They really ought to have had a good firm wet blocking, but I finished them in the wee hours, and as it is presently 6 degrees, there is not time for them to languish damply for days.  The forecast calls for rain all day, so they will likely come home wet, in any case.

The recipient was delighted, declaring that not only was the statement of requirement fully met, but fortuitously, they happen to be a superb framing mechanism for fish lips:

Pattern: my own - dare I say "off the cuff"?  Knit to fit, with thumb gusset technology newly learned from the still-in-progress Peace gloves.  The stranded colourwork adds significantly to the warmth factor and damp resistance, while two-stitch floats are short enough not to snag hurried little fingers.

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes - partial skeins of Cranberry, Tomato, and Iron Ore.  It's a heavy worsted weight wool knit tightly (I'd tell you how tightly, but they have already left for school) on 3.5mm dpns, which contributes to warmth and durability.  With hard use, the surface will full slightly, further improving these properties.