"properly practiced, knitting soothes
the
troubled spirit...
and it doesn't
hurt the untroubled spirit either."
~elizabeth zimmerman
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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
3 comments 
UK Knitters -- or Other World Travelers -- Bend Your Needles My Way!
On June 12th The Boy and I will leave for our honeymoon (we get married on the 10th). We are flying into London for three days before joining a Trafalgar Tour that will take us round England, up to Scotland, over to Ireland, back down to Wales, and return us, at the end of June, to London. I am very excited, and know that we are going to have a wonderful time. But here's the all-important question: where do I shop for yarn in these places?? It goes without saying, and The Boy knows this, that we *will* be looking at yarn and possibly at the sheep and alpaca from whence it came, if possible. So what shops do I absolutely have to go to? The first three days in London will be the biggest dedicated amount of time without an agenda that we will have. After that we will have time to ourselves when stopped at the various locations. UK Knitters -- and other world travelers -- can you help me? If you read this blog and you have a suggestion, please de-lurk and leave me a comment! Thanks! Thursday, May 18, 2006 0 comments
Here Come the Knits!
I mentioned in my previous post that I was working on a wedding knit. Well, here it is. I'm happy to unveil (so to speak), Bride & Groom Bean! Here's the happy couple, posing on the fancy schmancy box where I keep Martha Stewart (well, her MS Living magazines, anyway).  The lovely bride:  The combination of her white 'dress' and the lovely sage green 'necklace' she's sporting reflects my wedding colors. And here's the groom:  Don't you just love his glasses? The other thing I knit this week was a washcloth based on my friend's grandmother's handwritten pattern. The Boy had the last rotation of his nursing school career on Tuesday, and wanted to give his teacher nurse a nice gift. He bought her a selection of goodies from Bath & Body Works (picked out by yours truly, in the lovely Sweet Pea scent), and I made her the washcloth to go with all the pretty pink bottles.  The yarn is Lily Sugar & Cream (forgive the blurriness) And then some random pictures from around the house and at work.  My little beastie found a new favorite place to sleep, in The Boy's laundry basket.  I couldn't believe how close this bunny let me get  This beautiful flower and the next were both caught at work. Right near the bunny, actually.  What are you knitting now? Friday, May 12, 2006 0 comments
Help a Knitter Out
First, the FOs: I made a hat to go with the ugg booties, but it's on my other memory card for my camera, so I'll try to get that uploaded soon. It's really cute. I used the same yarns as the booties, and the pattern from Adorable Knits for Tots (which in the UK appears to be for TINY tots). If you look at the thumbnails, it's the sweet little square hat with the tassles (no fair isle, though). I'm also working on a special "wedding knit" that I won't be unveiling until the second half is done. Patience, my sweets. Okay, here's a sneak peek, but you'll never guess what it is.  She's a pretty good sport, considering how many things I make her wear Here's the part where I need help, though. I'm trying to make socks with Brown Sheep's Wildfoote. Apologies in advance if there are any Wildfoote aficionados out there, but so far I am...well...hating it. Absolutely hating it. It has, essentially, the properties of several strands of thread held together--that frequently unravel. It's small and splitty and requires size US1 needles. Now, I know that for some of you out there, US1 is positively gigantic, but I have knit all three pairs of socks I've made so far on US2s. And 1s seem so...toothpick-like. I couldn't find any 6" Crystal Palace bamboo dpns (my favorite) when I was ordering the needles, and I ended up with 6" Skacel bamboos (I think). And these things are just way too bendy. So, right off the bat, the tools are ticking me off. On top of that, my first round is a nightmare. I'm knitting cuffdown, trying to do the Slipped Rib Stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks. I have not made it past the first few rows. The yarn keeps splitting and the stitches keep dropping and I've had to take it out about a gazillion times and restart, and I've about had it. What is going on?! I'm not an incompetent sock knitter. I've knit three other pairs without problems. But these socks are going to be the death of me. Should I try toe-up? Should I go up a needle size to regain at least that level of comfort? Should I use a different cast on (backward loop is not working out well). Do any of you have any sage words of wisdom about Wildfoote? What should I do? At this point I'm pretty much inclined to set it on fire--pretty drastic for a yarn ho such as me. So far I've knit socks with Elann's Denim Knit cotton, Sockotta self-patterning sock yarn, and Artyarn's Supermerino. The merino wins hands down. I'm really feeling like I should bite the bullet, kill the Wildfoote, get some nice merino and try, try again. What do you think? |
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