Knitting and Barbara Stanwyck movies.
I'm not quite sure where I left off, so here's a recap of the projects... Yes, projectS...The plain vanilla sock goes on. I'm about 2 rows from finishing the decreases and being able to start on the foot. There's about 4-5" of foot then, and after that, I decrease for the toe.
Measure it up with sock #1, make sure everything works, then it's done and I can wear them. I love having "basic" socks. I love the idea of having a neutral pattern, so even though this may be a little "wild" for a "neutral" - think about it.
It's a lot more tame than some of the florescent ones I've done! It's not quite as tame as the one pair in the pattern, "Roman Rib," but it's pretty quiet.
Remember this yarn, from one of my yoga students? It's a sock yarn, but in the "too pretty for feet" category. I was searching high and low for a shawl pattern. This hank is only 400 yards - sock yarn is usually around 410 or 420. So I had to find a pattern that used either EXACTLY 400 yards or even a little less. I also wanted something "just a bit" challenging, but not crazy like a wedding ring shawl, particularly since sock yarn is a bit more sturdy.
This one, "Close to You," is a lovely pattern, and has double yarnovers. I've never done a double yarnover. So I went to YouTube to learn what to do with them.
Seems like it's pretty simple. And a double yarnover is self-explanatory: Instead of one loop of yarn, you loop it twice.
The trick is in the return row. You have to knit the first YO and then PURL the second one, since, if you look at it, you actually can't knit both - you'd have a dropped stitch.
This pattern is really nice. You have the "lace" rows and then a bunch of "ladder" section where you gradually increase, so that it's a bias shawl. And then there's a picot bind off.
It's a 14-row repeat, and it's scalable - so you can increase it, which is nice. I have a few patterns I'd knit over and over, and this one could be one of them. A hank that's over 400 yards is possible, and the "ladder" sections are fairly mindless.
The Stanwyck movie this time around is an oldie that I've never seen: "There's Always Tomorrow" with Fred MacMurray.
After I got home from interviewing a new yoga teacher (yay!), I decided that I really, really, REALLY needed to start this shawl. So I put up the swift and ball-winder and started to ball up the hank. I really need to re-think the swift. First off, I need to get a better table to deal with the screw-on bit at the bottom. Hooking it to Aunt Mary's sewing machine is cumbersome, with my hands being what they are. So even if I do get the bottom hooked on, I still sometimes have problems with the part that expands or contracts the umbrella part. Some days, I can't get either of the parts tight enough.
And then the ball-winder is kind of the same thing. I don't have a really good place to hook it onto, so today, I had to have kind of a death-grip on it, so that it didn't pop off the top of the bookshelf. I'm thinking of selling the umbrella part, and getting a swift that's a table-top, so that all I have to worry about are the pegs to distribute the yarn. It would be easier and no screws to worry about. I have to think about it.
So here's the start of it. I'm done with the first 13 rows, and mid-way through row #14. I repeat that 14-row section 18 times, and then rows 3 - 12 once. At the end, I should have almost 150 stitches. The picot bind-off should finish it off nicely. You block the body part in the triangle shape.
With any luck, by the time I get to that point, Kid #2 will have removed the remaining guitars out of my office, I'll have my "garage sale" stuff organized. I need to put it all in the basement so that it's out of the way.
Then, perhaps, I can block the thing on the floor. And maybe, too, by that time, I'll have unearthed my blocking pins! That would indeed be a miracle...
Yoga Teacher...
So I interviewed a new teacher. MY teacher had her in class and they talked; it seems she's looking to sub, which is excellent, because the studio needs a reliable sub.
And there's a class we could fill if we had a teacher, so I've asked her to write up a description and give it a title. We'll see how it goes.
She fits our general "vibe" and brings her own energy, too. We wanted to have some diversity in our teaching. It's very competitive to have a studio in this area, believe it or not!
So I wanted to have teachers of all levels; from senior to basic to advanced. We usually try and experiment. You never know how a teacher will go over with the students - or how a teacher will fit in. Or if the teacher likes our population! It all goes in many directions. And sometimes, as a studio owner, it feels like one experiment after another.
Random Picture...
I went to JoAnn Fabric to pick up a circular needle set - I'm pretty sure I have what I need, but I couldn't put my hands on them. Of course, I'll find them either after I've finished the shawl or mid-way through!
They didn't have exactly what I needed, but close enough. And as I was waiting in the check-out line, I saw yet another sign of the coming apocalypse... Look at the chocolate bar on the left... bacon, chocolate and potato chips. Seriously. I can almost get behind the "S'Mores" one on the right.
But the one called "Pigs N' Taters"??? I can't. I just can't.
No comments:
Post a Comment