April 2008

Today’s post is a mish-mash of what I’ve been working on for the past week or so.

The Shetland yarn saga continues. I received the new Jamieson’s Spindrift skein I ordered and worked on swatching some more. The new stuff felt slightly thicker than the old (Mr. MmmYarn did the twist-the-strands-around-each-other trick and I confirmed with my eyes shut that the new stuff is a little thicker) and also worked up to fewer stitches and rows to the inch. But still not what I need. Tonight I measured my swatches and as I write this they are going for a swim so I can measure them after blocking, too. Perhaps one of them will turn out to be the gauge I need. Obligatory swatch photo:

I also swatched with the Black Water Abbey yarn with hopes of turning it into a Must Have Cardigan. Here is the blocked swatch:

Neither yarn is working up to the needed gauge exactly, which means either more swatching or more math. Or perhaps I Must NOT Have this cardigan. At least not with this yarn.

On Saturday, Mr. MmmYarn and I went to my stepsister-in-law’s baby shower. I knew I was going to give her the Tofutsies Baby Surprise for the little guy but had to whip up another pair of matching booties quickly on Thursday. She liked them and the sweater, too:

Pattern: own
Yarn: South West Trading Company Tofutsies; 50% superwash wool, 25% Soysilk fibers, 22.5% cotton, 2.5% chitin
Needles: size 2
Size: newborn to 6 months

Last Saturday (gads, 11 days ago already) Mr. MmmYarn and I went to the open house at A Star Alpacas. I have to say it was a long drive for not much bang. The drive was 2.5 hours each way and we were done there in about 30 minutes but stretched it to about 45 with the bit of shopping. The animals were lovely and the owner allowed us to get up close and personal with the females and youngsters in their pen. I counted 29 but they kept moving around, so give or take a few:

One female and one male were not shorn yet. They were scheduled to go to a show, but the owners heard of an illness going around so the alpacas stayed home and will be sheared in the next few weeks sometime. Here’s how fluffy an alpaca is when not sheared:  

They were generally more interested in food than in us:

One approached me and touched her nose briefly to my hand but when I lifted my hand in an attempt to pat her side, her ears went back and I took that as a warning and stepped back. The owner explained they don’t really like to be petted. That was OK, as I am OK with going along with whatever makes an animal comfortable. Pretty much I held still and watched them and Mr. MmmYarn worked the camera and watched his back:

This one is a mother-child photo. The owner explained to me that usually when they breed a white female with a white male they get white offspring, but with the other colors it’s sometimes a surprise:

The male alpacas were in separate enclosures on the other side of the barn. They came up to the fence but did their best to stay just out of reach:

All of the animals were a little eager to get out of their areas as they usually go to pasture for part of the day, but because of the expected human visitors they were kept in their pens. I was a little disappointed by the open house, or by my expectation of an open house. I definitely enjoyed seeing the animals and I still am enjoying sticking my hand in the bag of fiber I bought, but I had hoped for something more. What, exactly, I’m not sure. Perhaps information about their daily care or what goes into selecting who goes to a show, or some walking around the farm. The owners were both very available to answer questions but I wasn’t sure which questions to ask.  

California gold country is pretty, though, so it made for pleasant scenery for about the last 45 minutes on the way there and the first 45 minutes on the way home. I haven’t been there since I was a kid.

Non-alpacas:

On the road:

This week on the bus I am knitting on yet another purse to be felted (sorry, no photos, as this is the one I hope to get published eventually) and I also worked on ply 4 of my planned 4-ply merino and silk yarn. What a busy week!

My Famous Shawl has returned from its exciting trip to Ohio, where it was filmed for an upcoming episode of Knitting Daily TV. The episode is scheduled to air in July; I do not know whether a Bay Area station will carry it. Knitting Daily kindly gave me permission to share the still photo on my blog, so here it is. My shawl is one of the two blue/purple ones in the front center, I think the flatter one (click photo to get the big version):

I am looking forward to seeing the show and hope we get it here. I’ll let the shawl watch it only if it promises not to develop a celebrity complex.

I don’t have time to sort through alpaca photos from Saturday tonight, so I’ll show you one purchase and a small hat instead.

This is hand-painted alpaca laceweight from A Star Alpacas. Sooo very soft:

Those 4 skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport I had are finally gone. I have probably about 10 yards left. If memory serves, I made 3 baby sweaters (or was it 4?) and 2 hats, plus used odds and ends for other stuff. It was a great bargain. This is the last hat:

Pattern: own
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport, 100% superwash wool, color 62 Childsplay (sic)
Needles: size 3
Size: infant

I ordered another skein of Jamieson’s Spindrift today and the woman on the phone at Woodland Woolworks went out to the warehouse and pulled a skein to verify its label before I bought it. Thanks, Wendy on the phone! That was so nice of her to do that, especially for my minuscule order.

That brand-new photo I snapped of Fiesta Yarns’ Famous Shawl and posted on March 30 could not have been more timely. It has gone on a little adventure trip. Knitting Daily TV contacted me (and presumably everyone else in Ravelry who listed a Famous Shawl) a week later and asked me to send it in for a public television show they’re airing in July; this episode highlights various versions of the Famous Shawl. I had even washed it a couple of days before I took the photo as it had gotten rather dusty, lucky them. How exciting for the shawl!

I bought 2 skeins of Jamieson’s 2-Ply Spindrift a while back with plans to make a fair isle hat. Then Mr. MmmYarn saw the Luvtroja Mans sweater in an issue of Interweave Knits and asked that I make it for him. How coincidental that I just happened to have a skein of the exact shade of blue the pattern calls for.

So I began swatching. With a size 2 needle and had too many stitches per inch but the fabric felt pretty good. With a size 3 needle I got the gauge the pattern requires but the fabric is so floppy it may as well be a girly scarf. Definitely not suitable for a sweater. Hmm… I checked the yarn label and my yarn is labeled 25g, 150 yards. Checked the pattern and the Woodland Woolworks catalogue, checked Simply Shetland’s (the distributor of Jamieson’s) site, and a few other online shops. All said 25g, 115 yards, as does the pattern.

I emailed Simply Shetland and got a response in less than a day. Great customer service! The rep responded that before fall of 2005 the put-up was indeed 150 yards but those skeins weighed 28g, that now it is 115 yards to 25g, and that the thickness of the yarn has not changed. She suggested I go down in needle size. But if I do that, my gauge is going to be way off again. I don’t think the information I got from her is correct; my yarn is clearly labeled 25g and it’s not working up to a suitable fabric at gauge. This yarn has to be part of a thinner batch. I can’t imagine a designer designing a solid stockinette sweater that’s this floppy at the required gauge.

I contacted two Ravelers who used this yarn with their Luvtroja’s. One had no problems, the other mentioned a problem with skeins being two different sizes. So, I need to stop swatching with this stuff, order more, and confirm with the vendor that I’m getting a 115-yard skein this time. Grrr… The good news: if the new yarn is indeed in a 115-yard skein, the 150-yard skein can go back in my stash for the hat!

Mr. MmmYarn are going to an alpaca farm tomorrow. I’ll take the camera with me and maybe have photos to share Sunday.

The little green sweater with white and tan stripes is finished. I found good buttons in my stash of buttons, too:

Pattern: own
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece; 80% cotton, 20% wool; 1/2 skein color CW-380 Dusty Sage (green), a bit of color CW-820 Teddy Bear (tan), and a bit of color CW-100 Cotton Ball (white)
Buttons: found in a store’s bin so no brand or item number
Needles: size 6 for body, size 4 for ribbing
Size: 20″ chest, so up to about 1 year old

I mitered the buttonband corners coming up the fronts and in retrospect I think I should have mitered the band the other way going around the neck on either side. It puckers just a little there, but I think once it’s worn the kid’s neck will fill in that space and smooth out the pucker.  

I was grateful for the time in the car over the weekend. It was just right for weaving in all those ends. Since the green was left over from a blanket I made more than a year ago, it’s in small butterflies of yarn so I had more ends to weave in than usual with this sweater.

Mr. MmmYarn and I drove to Kern county this weekend to visit his sister and her family. For most of the drive, the view out the window looked like this:

The I-5 simply doesn’t make for much exciting scenery although I did see all manner of farm animals (horses, cows, sheep, what looked like goats but at 80mph I’m not sure) and orchards (almonds, citrus, etc.; lots of orderly trees, really). Mr. MmmYarn drove a stretch in the middle and the view in my lap during his stint was this:

With him driving, I managed to finish the Jaywalker socks in the car. Funny how the colors look so different depending upon the light at a particular moment; the two photos below were taken fewer than 5 minutes apart.

Pattern: Jaywalker, by Grumperina
Yarn: 3/4 skein Zitron Trekking XXL; 75% wool, 25% nylon; color 158
Needles: size 1
Size: I made the smaller size, casting on 76 stitches

I did not make any specific pattern modifications, simply because I ignored the pattern after the bit that said to cast on 76, then work in the 2-row pattern. I have made so many pairs of socks that I knew how to divide for the heel flap and work on down to the toe. My first foot was a little loose so I went back and worked decreases a few more rows, then wrote down that number of stitches and worked sock #2 the same way.

The socks enjoyed a brief moment in the hammock before the ropey terror unceremoniously dumped me and them out on the porch (I am still bruised but the socks are OK, not even a splinter), so I switched to a chair with a lesser view:

My initial plan was to photograph myself jaywalking while wearing the finished socks, but that’s a scary proposition in San Francisco so I decided on nature instead. Pardon the rather ugly power tower in the photo there, but if you look toward the top of the tower you’ll see a dark blob. That blob is a crow’s nest and I watched the crow parents (or parent; they kind of look the same) fly back and forth gathering supplies for the little crow(s) in the nest.

Mr. MmmYarn also drove a chunk on the way home, enough for me to weave in all the ends and knit the buttonband on the green baby sweater I started last week. Buttons went on at knitting group last night. Photo coming soon.

On this trip we learned Mr. MmmYarn’s stepbrother and his wife are also expecting a little one. Perhaps I need to rethink my plan to make one baby item for everyone born in 2008 or I’ll never make anything else. First birthday gifts are OK, too.

Today I buckled down and finished the third ply of what I intend to be 4-ply yarn. Spinning was on hiatus a few months while it was simply too cold in the apartment to sit at the wheel (I can’t throw a blanket over my legs like I can when I’m knitting) so ply #3 took a long time. I am tempted to ply this and forget about #4 so I can finally move on to something else but I did go to the effort to split the fiber into fourths, so I will spin it. Here is what I have so far:

I thought I’d also show you photographic evidence that the Jaywalker socks are progressing. They are also at about the three-quarter mark:

And my little basil plant hasn’t committed pre-planting suicide after all:

Hahaha! Just kidding. We went out and bought this happy-looking plant today because my windowsill seedling still looks like this, some 8 weeks after planting and more than 2 weeks after sprouting:

Plus it is still the only seed to sprout in the tray. I continue to blame the other houseplants for this; they must have whispered to it to remain a seedling, for its own sake.

I just watched a video of the Running of the Wools. All I can say is that sure is a lot of sheep.

My knitting mojo has resurfaced and Jaywalker #2 is at the heel. Further progress delayed until commuting on Monday. Yesterday I figured out where my green fuzzy sweater went wrong after it sat in the corner for a few weeks (it turns out nothing was wrong, I simply miscounted stitches in the dark cafe at knitting group) and today I started this:

Baby things are so tiny that they provide nearly instant gratification: it’s already more than halfway to the armhole. My stepsister-in-law’s baby shower is in three weeks and I want to give her options on light green and tan (her requested colors) sweaters for the expected little guy. I made the Baby Surprise in Tofutsies a few weeks ago with her taste in mind and am making this as backup.

I am also practically drooling over some of the baby designs in Dale of Norway booklet #162 that I picked up last week. I really want to make the long-sleeved dress.

No, no one has let the air out of my tires. But I think I may have Severe Second Sock Syndrome today: apparently the changing colors have ceased to entertain me, and I really don’t want to work on my second Jaywalker sock.

Jaywalker the first looked like this last night:

It was too long so I unraveled back several rows beyond where I started the toe shaping and re-knitted that bit. Then it was too short. Tonight I’m going for attempt #3. I worked on the second sock’s cuff on the bus today but my heart wasn’t in it. I think I’m not in the mood for knitting today, that’s all. Naw, this is not an April Fool joke, it’s just one of those days.

One positive note for today: someone on KnitU posted the address for an animal shelter in New Orleans that is still looking for cage cozies so the two I made last year will finally have a home. Yay!