Laughing Rat Yarn

It's my yarn, Mommy!

Lace Merino in Robin's Egg

Sock in Pacific

Mohair in Robin's Egg

Aren't they beautiful!?! I'm tempted to make these stash pets, but I can't wait to start knitting them up. I think I'm going to use the lace for an Icarus, the mohair for a Sheila Cape, and the sock yarn for, perhaps, socks. I know, what a crazy idea.

Only problem is I'm not keen on hand-winding 1200yds of laceweight, and my swift and ballwinder are in Gloucester. I'm thinking about getting a Nifty Swift, since I don't love the swift I have (it's one of those metal and plastic ones that clamp to the table). Anyone order from Dream Weaver Yarns?

Be sure to check out Laughing Rat's Etsy shop. Her yarns are beautiful, and her customer service was great.


I love the smell of mohair!

FO: Top-Down Raglan Sweater

Top-Down Raglan Sweater (my first)
Yarn: 100purewool Merino Worsted in Sky Blue (can't find this color on their site anymore) - 4.5 skeins
Needles: Bryspun US8 29"
New Skills: spit splicing, Magic Loop (I've joined the cool kids now on with this one!)
Pattern: My own based on EPS

This sweater made for some good, mindless knitting, as it's all Stockinette in the round. I borrowed some of EZ's percentage method, though not all. I did not decrease the sleeves as much as she would have. Well, I did on the first one, did not like it, ripped and made the sleeves straight from the elbow. This made for a modified bell sleeve, which I like. I keep going back and forth on whether to rip back the body and add some shaping at the sides but am not sure I can face that much reknitting in the summer. The other concern is that it's not long enough in the body. It's not the perfect sweater or anything, but I planned for this to be a throw-on-and-go-out-to-get-the-paper kind.

My mom doesn't like the pooling, flashing, and striping, since she liked the yarn in the ball so much. I could have alternated skeins every couple of rows, but that seemed like too much work for this sweater. I like the crazy things variegated yarn does, so I don't mind this, but the yarn was pretty wound up. And is it ever soft! What a pleasure to work with this yarn. I know it will pill, but that's OK.

Oh, it is finished now. The picture was taken when I just had a little more to go on the sleeve. I'll get a "model" shot up some time.

I didn't show this to you, did I?

Ummm, yeah. That's two pounds of merino/cashmere blend. Bulky weight. From School Products. Marissa, some day we're going to make a date to go there in person! But for now, I'll settle for this. I couldn't resist when this showed up on destash. I'm thinking about a coat of some sorts. My only concern is this would not be a mobile project. I don't think lugging a two pound cone o' yarn to the park would work out so well.

The issue du jour is gauge, since the yarn is full of spinning oil. I knit up a swatch on US10s and washed it, but the stockinette still seems pretty open. I'm not sure whether to wash the swatch more ... um ... forcefully. Or go down to US9s. I'm usually prety close on gauge (and they recommend US10 or 11*), though, so I think I'll give the swatch a roughing up first.

And then, of course, I'll have to come up with a plan for what exactly to knit. One idea I had over the weekend was something sort of Jack Sparrow-ish. Yes, I did just watch Pirates of the Carribean over the weekend. I didn't have a whole lot to do except finish the Top-Down Raglan. BTW, that 100purewool yarn bleeds like crazy when washed, but the sweater looks good on the drying rack.

Anyway, some sort of swashbuckling coat with skirts and some cables in place of the braid closures traditionally found on the chest. I'd be all set for Dress Like a Pirate Day. Hmm, I'm not sure.

I am getting some other bulky yarn ideas from browsing through Loop-de-Loop. Teva Durham has some great ideas in there.

*"This one goes to eleven." Hehe. I'm such a geek. Just wait until I do my Eight Things. Thanks, Tanya, I feel I've really joined the knitting blogosphere :)

WWYD?

What would you do the day you got out of rehab? Would you call your daughter? Would you apologize to your soon-but-not-soon-enough to be ex-wife? You might. I'd like to think I would. But not that person.

I know this is a knitting blog, but I'm at this point where I can knit but I'm having trouble thinking about anything much. I go to sleep and wake up thinking about ... crap. (Sorry, I like to keep the blog clean, so insert the euphemism of your choice.)

The day I spent paying bills for the house that this man hadn't taken care of, I see on the online bank account that he has just ordered $150 worth of flowers from one of the nicest florists in town (Winston's, for Bostonians). Isobel didn't receive any flowers. Neither did I or his mother. So, that leaves that woman. Or as his mother calls her "his friend". Ugh. Double ugh.

And the realtor we should go with came in with the lowest estimate. I am so sick of all this. I can't wait for it all to be over.

In happier knitting news, I'm almost finished with the raglan rollneck sweater. Just a couple of inches to go on the second sleeve. And I'm so bored!!! All I want to do is knit something else. And the problem with top-down sweaters is that you have to do the sleeves attached to the body, which makes things a little awkward.

So, I started a Little Arrowhead Shawl by Pam Allen from the Summer '06 IK ("Sweet Somethings" towards the bottom of the page) with a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Potluck in the Water "colorway". I'm using US6s, having swatched with US7s and felt it was too open with the sock yarn. The yarn is a treat (my third time knitting a shawl with it), and someday I'll have to make some socks with it!

I also ordered myself some pity yarn from Laughing Rat's etsy shop: some mohair for something and some merino lace for Icarus in a scrumptious Robin's Egg blue color, and sock yarn in lovely Pacific for something else. Her colors are very pretty, and she offers a number of yarn options and roving. I'll let you know what it's like when I have it in hand, probably tomorrow or Friday.

So, stash growth continues. As does the book stash! The woman who used to own my house dropped some knitting books off, and my MIL sent them on to me. I'll have to take a picture. The one that I am very keen on is Cheryl Potter's Handpaint Country. I wouldn't have bought it on my own. I think I have some issues with XRX book design. But there are a few designs in there I will knit, and I'm looking forward to learning more about dying.

Seventeen-Year Locusts

Yick. I can't even bring myself to take a picture of them. I'm sure you can find some if you look around. They have arrived in Chicagoland, and every day there is a bit in the paper and on the news about people eating them and other such nonsense. I'm not big on bugs, aside from butterflies and non-wool-eating moths and spiders (in the abstract), so all these cicadas and their shells give me the heebie-jeebies. I even bought some little tennies to walk to the park in, since I can't bear the idea of walking around in flip-flops just now.

Anyway, I was just about Isobel's age the first time the came around during my time on this earth, and I don't remember them at all from that visit. But I was home from college the last time they appeared and remember them. Walking to the train every morning to work downtown was an adventure, thank goodness it was the late 80s/early 90s and I could wear sneakers with my little girl-power outfits until I got to the office.

And the sound! I guess enough of them are out of the ground now to put together a pretty good chorus. Yesterday I thought I heard them, but today I know for certain.

The return of the locusts highlights the passage of time for me and how strange it is to be back where I grew up. Seventeen years ago I was in the midst of transferring from school in Washington, D.C., to St. Louis, changing from an International Studies major to majoring in English with a minor in Ancient Greek. And I was dating the man who would lead me to Boston, though I had no idea that is where I would go.

It's strange how life can bring you full circle, though it's true "you can never go home again." My room isn't even used as a bedroom anymore, so I sleep in the guest room. Isobel is in my sister's room, so it's still the "baby's room". We even found ourselves calling Isobel "Mary Beth" by accident, though that hasn't happened lately.

I feel so conflicted being here, enjoying Isobel, and spending time with my family yet missing my husband (well, the man he was once, anyway), my friends, my pets and home, my career. My New England.

I've always called Wilmette "home", even once I owned a home, but Boston/Gloucester/New England became my home, too, over the past fourteen years. "Pop" is "soda" for me, now. I can drop my R's with the Kennedys. And I still keep tabs on my Boston Red Sox, though I'm a lifelong (and a fourth generation) Cubs fan.

Guess that's where I am right now, feeling unheimlich, though I'm at home. Things will get better, I know.

The sweater sleeve continues, and I'm still ruminating on the mobile project.

Adventurous Knitting

This is how much yarn I had left from knitting Isobel's shawl. About 15 yds. We live on the edge here at chez Purly.

And here's my girl in action in her shawl/apron. She's "cooking" up at the lake. Astute multi-crafters may appreciate the vintage Amish Tumbling Block quilt on the wall. Another of Mom and Dad's lovely bed toppers. This one used to hang on my brother's wall. Can you believe it? Some time I'll have to photograph some of the other pieces we have, including an amazing "white work" (it's actually a buff/peach toned fabric) hand quilted beauty by Bertha Meckstroft (not sure I've typed her name correctly).

I've started the first sleeve of my top-down raglan and am pretty sure I'm going to have to go back and add to the bottom of the body. Once the sleeves are complete, I think I'll know for certain.

And I'm on the hunt for a smaller project I can take to the park with Isobel, now that the sweater is, well, sweater sized. I don't think socks, so perhaps another shawl or a baby sweater, since my BFF is on the nest.

As for Tanya's question about wearing my shawl, I haven't worn this one yet, since it's been almost 90° F here lately. I think I may give away the Flower Basket Shawl, but I do plan to wear more shawls as I knit them up. And I'll try to do so casually, just wrapping them about me. I may need a shawl pin some day, though.

FO: Flower Basket Shawl

Finished!

Blocking.

Do you see the flower basket?

Girls modeling their shawls.

Remember when I started this one? Well, I finished it up last week and still have about half a skein of yarn. It was a nice knit. I had some problems with the repeats, though that was my problem not the pattern's. And it was pretty easy to find mistakes (usually I forgot to PSSO), and I couldn't go further if I'd made a mistake, so I never had to tink back more than two rows (it's a stockinette pattern, so every other row is purl). The BMFA Seduction yarn is very nice, though I can't imagine making socks with it! I'm sure they would be lovely, though.

I'm working on a top-down raglan sweater now with some 100purewool merino in Sky Blue (or something - it looks like they've gone to a number-based name system). I've just finished the body (I think - not completely sure it's long enough). Now it's sleeve city, sister. The yarn is so soft. I'll try to take a pic tomorrow, perhaps while it's still in the sleeveless tunic stage for fun.

Isobel and I are doing well, though it's not easy.