Sunday, March 27, 2011

A Tale of Two Yarns.

I have decided to take some artistic license today with the Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day one prompt.... I am making "A Tale of Two Yarns" work with my current project, the Lace Saddle Tee from Inteweave Knits. Watch, I can make it happen....

Ok, so here is the yarn I am working with, Louet Euroflax in a lovely emerald green. Seriously, it is emerald, not teal. I CANNOT take a true-to-color photo of this yarn. (Maybe it has a touch of non-photo green to it? My own personal green-screen.) I love linen. I buy lots of linen clothes, love the flow and drape, love the crumpled, casual feel.... Wouldn't you think that I loved working with linen yarn for the very first time? Sadly, as I believe many have discovered before me, linen yarn sucks. Sucks! It is like knitting with fine gauge kitchen twine! Any slub in the texture leaves a huge hole when the stitch won't even up with it's little friends. The fabric could be used to scrub pots. My fingertips are so sore that it has become a slog. I may be getting arthritis in my right index finger. Not to mention that it has absolutely no bloom, so it is working up like a mesh shirt from the Madonna Lucky Star era!

(Here is how I make it work with the two yarns theme... You have been so patient.)

HOWEVER, I am led to believe by a score of Ravelers that this yarn will undergo a magical transformation into the soft, smooth, supple fabric I so love. All I have to do is trust the kind knitters who have gone before me, trust that they will not lead me astray when they tell me to PUT IT IN THE WASHING MACHINE. AND THE DRYER. EEEEKKKK! Can I do it? Can I perform this magic trick, transforming from twine to divine?

So you see, Euroflax is not a single yarn. It is the werewolf of yarn! Two-natured!

So, imagine the below picture in its more verdant reality, and see all the progress made, what could potentially be destroyed by running it through the WASHING MACHINE.

The first lace saddle shoulder is finished. Onward, then, to pick up approximately 1000 stitches for the right arm. Me and the werewolf yarn....

Monday, March 21, 2011

Christmas in March

Or Christmas present giving, anyway! Hadn't seen Meredith since August, went up to help her move to her very cute new apartment.... This blue is the color of her eyes, hope she likes it....



The pattern is Branching Out from Knitty, works up absolutely beautifully... Got VERY boring before the end, but it wasn't hard. And I have previously expressed my love for the Valley Yarns Alpaca Silk. This didn't use even a noticeable amount of a cone! It was finished well before Christmas, but I don't remember the date. Somehow I missed recording any info in Ravelry....

Back to working on the Lace Shoulder Tee!

Monday, March 14, 2011

I can't believe how easy it is....

The people who are all over the internet saying, "I just couldn't believe how easy the first week was, it made me tempted to push myself harder.... I had to restrain myself and follow the program...." are either big fat liars, or they all sell hundred-dollar running shoes. Or alternatively, I am the person starting this who is in the worst shape of all time.

I would have included pictures, but how do you do a self-portrait showing that all of a sudden, each leg ways 300 lbs individually??

Week one may have a replay over the next two weeks....

Monday, March 7, 2011

Jennifer or Weeble? You decide.


It turns out to be REALLY hard to take a picture of ones-self with a zoom-lens bearing DSLR camera. Fun, huh, how it looks like I have a giant round belly that nearly eclipses my tiny, far away feet? It may be the internet's most flattering picture....

Anyway, I finished the Bondi in Berroco Origami. It is entirely too cold to be wearing a summer weight sweater, but I couldn't resist! I love it! I don't know why I put it aside.... The pieces knitted right up, all I had left to do was knit on the neck edge and sew the thing together.... But there it sat for almost a year.... I have to have something to wear on our yarn tourism outings for the warmer months!

Ohhhh, and look what came in the mail today! Shakespeare in Lace, the Venice yarn! So beautiful.... Now what was I working on again??

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Still life with running shoes.


They weren't so still this morning, though!! The mom and I started our version of Couchto5K, which entails WALKING in all capital letters, walking, walking, walking. We HOOFED it for twenty minutes. We are going to do this every other day for two weeks, alternating with walking the Maggie Dog, which is necessarily at a slower pace, then start the official podcast program. It is absolutely amazing how proud I am of getting off my butt....