Slow Down

I had expected to have the first Leyburn sock done & a second in progress by today. Instead, I've spend the past few days unable to knit due to tendonitis. At first, I thought it was run-of-the-mill carpal tunnel and bought a wrist brace. My wrists felt nice the next day, but knitting still caused me a lot of pain. So then I tried everything I could find online: carpal tunnel stretches, knitting continental, yoga, soaking in a bath, ice. Yesterday, at last, I could knit again if I made sure to keep good posture in the hard-backed kitchen chairs and took frequent stretch breaks. I've had some aches and pains before, but nothing has benched me for several days in a row before. It has me thinking a lot about mindfulness and being kind to my body.


And of course that didn't help me catch up in my previously-mentioned yarn disparity. I just have to keep plugging away.




I've started a swatch for a sweater:

The yarn is Araucania Itata Solid in the imaginatively named "2025" colorway. I have an embarrassing amount of this yarn in various colorways picked up from Webs clearance after it was discontinued a few years ago. It was another purchase in a long personal history of buying sock yarn with the intention of making socks from it and later discovering that it will be terrible for socks. On a related note:

Here is my Leyburn. I've got 19g left in that ball to knit until I can move on to sock #2. I'm hoping I get gauge on the swatch so I can relieve what will be some massive Second Sock Syndrome.

(A total lack of) Self Control

I've been to relatively few fiber festivals and shows, though I've enjoyed those I have attended. TNNA was always the closest and most accessible to me living in Ohio, but somehow, it always snuck up on me. I would forget it was coming until it was too late and I couldn't ask off from work. Despite following knitting blogs and having read about it for the better part of a decade, it totally escaped my notice until mid-afternoon Wednesday that Madrona Fiber Arts is held in downtown Tacoma. And so on Thursday we ventured to the Hotel Murano to check out the marketplace. I promised myself I'd make a loop around and look at everything before purchasing anything. Then, two stalls into our first loop, I made my (surprisingly) only purchase of the day.

BMFA Socks that Rock in "Lunasea"

 

In the context of this post, that seems like some excellent self-control. The problem is, this purchase iself put me over my "one skein bought for two skeins knit" yarn diet policy. I had already picked up a small (cheap) ball of Crystal Palace Kid Merino from Little Knits while placing an order for a gift. Then Craftsy had to go and have madelinetosh on sale, so I picked up two skeins of tosh sock there. Not to mention the fact that yesterday I placed another Craftsy order for a drop spindle and some sewing supplies and somehow 3 skeins of tosh vintage ended up in my order. That puts me 4 skeins in the hole on my diet. One day at a time, y'all.

 

I heard back about the job offer on Friday. All the various checks came back and I will be starting next week! Being a stay-at-home dog mom has been nice, but I'm excited to begin working again. In the meantime, there will be sock knitting.

 

 

Trying to close the yarn diet gap. Until next time...

FO: Godric's Hollow Hat

When you get close to the end of knitting something, it's a lot like reading a great book. You knit fast and stay up way past your bedtime because you're so close. That was the situation for me last night as I wrapped up the Godric's Hollow hat.

I don't normally block hats because I knit them to fit and I find that blocking often stretches them and they become too large or baggy. Because the stitches looked like they could use some blocking, I tried the spray bottle method rather than my usual wet block. I do think it caused the hat to grow less, but it was still a little too large when I tried it on this morning. I used my blow dryer to try to shrink it a bit and that seems to have shrunk it slightly. I've never thought to blow dry my knits before!

I'm pretty happy with the hat, although if I were to knit it again with this yarn, I would go down to a size 4 needle. There weren't too many other modifications. I started with 80 stitches instead of 120 and kind of fudged the decreases based on some other Ravelry notes. It was a really quick knit despite the multiple froggings. I worked on it at my own leisure over 4 days. It probably would've only taken me two had I not had to rip back.

Hopefully I can get this sent out tomorrow along with my Dad's socks. And speaking of socks...

 

 

I started a pair of Leyburn last night. More on that as it develops.

Busy, busy

Things have been pretty busy around here for the past few days. Last week I received a conditional job offer (hooray!) pending the typical job checks. I was told that it could take up to two weeks, so I've been filling my remaining time at home with various pursuits. My lovely aunt heard that we are interested in homesteading, so she gifted us a subscription to Mother Earth News. The first two issues came last week and set off a spark! A trip to the library followed and we have been voraciously taking in books about cheesemaking, gardening, food preservation, and some general tips. Last night we shook some butter up in a mason jar. Today I tried my hand at refrigerator pickles.

 

I used this guide. The yellow has turmeric, garlic, paprika, and rosemary. The red are kim-chi cucumbers. I had to improvise a bit because it's been too long between trips to the Korean market and I don't have some of the ingredients. I substituted Sriratcha for korean red pepper. I also added some fish sauce, grated fresh ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, and the Rooster brand Chili Garlic sauce. I also used Apple Cider Vinegar because I hadn't picked up any rice vinegar at the store.

 

I've been baking our bread as well. I use the American White Bread recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which always turns out very well. I half the recipe and make it a loaf at a time because we don't eat bread fast enough to justify making two at a time. Once I go back to work I may make the full recipe and freeze one.

 

There has also been knitting.
 

 

The Ombre Scarf was finished and grafted together last week. I enjoyed it but it really lagged toward the end. I'm fairly happy with it, but if I were to knit the pattern again I would change some things. Many of the projects looked more like stripes than a gradient. I think if I knit it again I would knit with 4 strands of yarn. Four of one color, then 3 strands of the old color and 1 of the new color, then half and half, then 3 of the new color and 1 of the old, then all 4 of the new. As it is, my colors were close enough that they look OK. The Blush and Pennyroyal Aloft in particular blended well. One thing I tried to offset the hard edges of the stripes was to Sl 1, p1 for the first color-change row. I think it worked pretty well, but isn't entirely seamless.

 

 I did learn that I love mohair during this project. I wore it while we were walking Finny in the pouring rain Saturday, and it kept me warm and comfortable. Both the Knit Picks Aloft and the Pickles Soft Mohair were great. I read on Ravelry that KP's darker Aloft colors have visibly undyed cores, which made me glad a had a different brand for my dark color.

I'm currently knitting a hat for my aunt as a thank you for the magazine subscription.
 

 

It is the Godric's Hollow Hat in Pickles Extra Fine Merino and boy, has this thing put me through the ringer. I've ripped it back to the ribbing twice. The first time because it didn't look very good and the second time because my Knit Picks size 7 circular broke in the middle of a row. I've knit for 6 years and I must say that this is the first time that a needle has broken while I was using it. At long last, it seems that I've made it past the one step forward / two steps back progression.  

 

I can't say enough good things about this beautiful yarn. I bought it back in 2011 along with the Silk Mohair. It's smooth and soft, has great stitch definition and has withstood my multiple froggings like a total champ. The color is 'Dark Creamy Blue' and it's a lovely denim color.

 

Finnegan photobombing my hat. 

 

The pattern is also great, though while knitting it I was becoming worried that it was turning out like something I would never give to someone else. Some patterns just don't look nice until a few repeats in and this is such a pattern. It was a mess until around the middle of the second repeat. It was one of those times when I just had to have blind faith in my own abilities.