fiberjinx

Hey, it’s tuesday. No yarn to present itself. The camera needs a battery charge. But never fear, I do have a finished object for show and tell.

Behold, the front hall closet of an unrenovated 1970’s era ranch style home (floor trim having never existed in this place to my knowledge).

Note there is no light in said closet. This will soon be remedied with some electrician calling action.
Enjoy the view of particle board shelves and wooden hanging rods! Fear the exposed live wires of the ancient doorbell! Notice the cobwebs in the corners and the wear and tear on 1980’s butter-yellow (yet lead free!) paint!

Then breathe a sigh of relief with me as we enjoy the paint that is so fearsome, I dare not speak its name.
No, I said I dare not speak it.
I heart twizzlers. And wire shelving. What do I plan to do with all this increased space?
Why, it’s the perfect home for the bundt cake pans. Yes, the Bundt Cake Pans. Say it with me folks, in the creepy tone a la Eric Foreman discussing panties. BUNDT CAKE PANS!

Ahem. Moving that stuff in now. And trust in the knowledge hubs has obtained plastic coverage for exposed doorbell wiring.
Also, I’m in love with the trim.

Ignore the sweeping that needs to occur.

Knitting? OH RIGHT, yes I do that still. See?

Note the “swatch” has grown a bit. Those other colors? …They’re… other.. swatches. Attached to it. Yes that’s it. What, me start another project? No wai! I still have Starsky’s monstrous acreage of a back to finish. See it hanging out back there? Next to the kirby wands and on top of all the books I am so totally not reading?

And lest I forget, today is Halloween… thus marking the one year anniversary of us bringing home the Zoester.
And her favorite place is still on hub’s lap.

The morning is rainy and wet and windy and cold. Just the way I like them.
This makes me miss the Seattle area and reminds me how much this climate hates me.
I shall take a break from the beast of a sweater back and begin some swatching.

I heart this KnitPicks Swish Superwash. It’s super soft and super awesome. This “swatch” (which is a project in disguise) is great so far.

And for my second trick, a trip to Home Depot.

There’s some house changing home making idears afoot.

My husband is amused with my choice of green color. I’m amused with the “Oklahoma Wheat” color. Can’t wait to pick out the red.

Once upon a time there was a knitter who knit with blatent disregard for things such as “gauge” or “swatches”. Merrily she knit her way through piles of bibs, washcloths, scarves, with nary a troubling thought to such things as “appeasing the knitting gods” in the form of a swatch.

Then along came this sweater pattern and said knitter was plunged into the world of “getting gauge”. The knitter pulled out a skein of yarn and some circulars and set to work.
First she tried the size 11 needles, but they were much too big.
Then she tried the size 10.5 needles, but they were much too small.
Then she tried finding some 10.75 needles and discovered there weren’t too many of such a size made.
Reading over an article, the knitter decided that perhaps she was really knitting much too tightly to begin with.
She tried swatching the sweater again, this time with 10.5 needles and holding tension on the yarn with only one loop, not two.
This time the gauge was just right.

The best way the knitter could prove to herself she wasn’t imagining things was by going back and picking up a washcloth already on needles and partially knitted.

She continued on with new, improved relaxed tension.

Hard to tell exactly, but…

There was a difference.

A difference big enough to keep this guy from getting gifted to someone else.

There’s another in progress already.

Finished:Pattern: Seaside, from Magknits Sept 2006. (That is, loosely based on it. I did not follow the charted pattern, just worked it all in the knit stitch and learned quite a bit about mitten/glove construction while I was at it.)
Yarn: 2 skeins of KnitPicks Andean Silk Twist in color “Prairie” (The color looked quite busy in the ball, but knit up wonderfully. I heart it. I’m eyeing other colors. And as for comprable yardage: I had about sixteen inches left of each skein when finished).

I used size 7 DPN’s as the pattern called for. (Read: Successfully worked the DPN’s! I know, can you believe it?) If I were to make them again I would probably make the smaller size and just lengthen the fingers (even though I did lose row count on the digits a couple of times. Helps to write that stuff down). I sometimes forget how small my hands/wrists are despite how long the fingers are.
She’ll need a quick blocking but that can wait for the weekend. It’s been wonderfully chilly the past few days here. Wonderful, except for at 6 a.m. (Are snakes awake at 6 a.m.? I’d like to know for sure what the hell that thing was.)

The final test: Do they keeps hands warm?

You bet.

Starsky, sleeve x1.
That should look like a meadow of green grass to you, the casual viewer. A veritible field, even.
That’s because it is.
On this side, the bastards are freakin islands. Continents of fabric in the oh so excitable stockinette stitch.
These sleeves are monsters. To the point I’m pretty sure that there will be a decided lack of yarn available for the collar and belt of this fiendish yarn eating sweater.

A girl has to take the edge off somehow.

Coming soon: This guy’s mate.
I’ve discovered that things like stockinette that doesn’t involve counting stitches or following a pattern frees up the brain for other things.

I’m lookin for something. You could say I have some reading to do.
Yay libraries.