Everything from the last post, only bigger.

My FLS is finished blocking, but it still needs buttons.  Its hard to think about buttons for a wool sweater because suddenly, it is 90 degrees in DC and the thought of touching a sweater strikes fear in my heart.

I’ve finished the neckline on Ms. Marigold and joined it into the round.  I hate, hate, hate the needles I’m using.  I’ve never been a huge fan, but after working with the Knit Picks circs, which have a reasonable cable, working with my old interchangeables feels like knitting with two needles connected by a tree trunk.  It is impossible to lay the vest out flat so that it looks like anything at all, but I did my best.  The stockinette does not loot at all even and pretty, partly because of the slightly uneven texture of the yarn and partly because of my frelling needles, but I’m pretty confident that it will smooth itself out after it has a nice soak.

And, I’ve finished spinning the January Wooly Wonders shipment from A Verb for Keeping Warm.  Its Falklands roving, and I would love to work with this fiber again.

The yarn weight still isn’t as consistent as I would like, but I’m getting there.  I think this is the most balanced yarn I’ve managed to make, which was exciting.  Its really easy for me to overtwist when I ply.

I love the colors in this yarn, and how they shift from greens to browns in a very organic way.  I don’t know what this wants to be, but it reminds me of a few guys I know, so I’m sure by this winter it will become something for one of them.  I’m not naming names because it might be a Christmas present, but if you want to put in a good word for yourself, now would be the time.

Progress

February Lady is blocking, and every time I walk past the dining room table, I get excited that I might get to wear it before the weather gets too warm.  Then, I remember that I still don’t have buttons.  I’m thinking that I need something silver, like maybe these or these or these.

I finished spinning some Falklands roving from A Verb for Keeping Warm that’s been sitting around half-spun since something like January.

I washed it last night, and its drying now.  I think its the most well balanced yarn I’ve spun yet, and its amazingly soft.  I’m marveling at how much it fluffed up when it met water.  I wasn’t aiming for any specific weight, but on the bobbin, it looked like a fingering to sport weight, and now its looking much more like a sport to worsted.  I love the colors, which aren’t super accurate in that photo.  They’re much less washed out, and there are more varied shades of green.  I think its destined to be a man’s garment, maybe a hat or scarf, but I have no idea who it belongs to.

And as soon as I cast off the February Lady, I started working on Ms. Marigold.  It looks like absolutely nothing right now.

The yarn is Deliciousness, a Stash Menagerie offering from Three Irish Girls.  Its alpaca, and amazingly soft, if a little sheddy.  Its supposed to be sport weight, but to me it seems closer to fingering, and its got a great handspun style texture to it.  The variations in thickness are making it knit up a little motley looking, but I’m hoping that a good soak will even the stockinette out.

The pattern called for a size 5 needle, but I had to go down to a 2 to get gauge.  I tried with a three and the swatch was nearly an inch too big.  Going down to a two made it about a half inch too small, so I’m going up a pattern size and hoping for the best.

I’m not head over heels in love with the project yet, but that could be because its following up the February Lady, which I enjoyed every second of.

New toys.

I haven’t knit more than a few rows on a sock since I started the February Lady Sweater, and I don’t have any new pictures of it.  It looks just like it did in the last picture, only longer.  Tonight, I started putting the bottom garter stitch hem on, and I still love it.

In the meantime, I got some new toys.

I’ve been working with a set of interchangeable circs for several years now, and their cables are about as flexible as tree trunks.  I needed to get something in s 4 mm to do the sleeves on the FLS, so I broke down and ordered some interchangeable needles from Knit Picks.  I have the 4mm in Harmony Wood and a 3.5 mm in nickel plated, a couple of long cables for magic looping and trying sweaters on without having to put them on waste yarn every few inches.  (A copy of Cookie’s book might have hopped into my basket, too.  They were having a sale, and I was going to get it eventually anyway.)  I always thought that I would like wooden needles better than metal, and I wanted to be head over heels for the Harmonys (and I do love the 2.25mm Harmony circs that I use for knitting socks), but with the bigger needles and heavier yarns, I think I like the metal better.  The wood slows me down too much.

I have no elegant end for this post.  I did five and a half hours of massage today, many of them with no break between seated massage clients, and staying upright is kind of a challenge right now…….