Knitting Intervention

I experienced a knitting intervention this past week.  Two actually.  In the same night.  Completely unrelated and uncoordinated. 

Knit Night re-started after the summer hiatus.  The first question posed to me was about the Duchess Shawl.  I had to admit that I had been a bit of a knitting slut lately.  Very slutty.  "No last names, up again the wall in the restaurant parking lot" type of sluttiness.  (Insert roar of laughter here.  We are a wild and crazy crowd, we knitters.)  I was informed that next month, I had to bring the shawl with me, finished or not. 

Then, I left to go to the other knitting group, as it was one of the rare months it fell on the same Monday night.  And the first question posed to me was about the Duchess shawl.  Once again, I admitted my recent knitting promiscuity.  (Same line, even funnier second time around, since everyone had a half-drank pint of beer in front of them at the time.)  I received the same admonition that next time (two weeks later, shorter turnaround time), bring the Duchess Shawl with me.

When I got home, I saw the Duchess Shawl still crumpled on my nightstand, alone and neglected.  I had to face realilty:  I wasn't please how the cast off prescribed by the pattern was looking.  It was curling inward.  There was no way I was going to work on a shawl for about 200 hours (not an exaggeration this time, shockingly enough) and not like how the final edge appeared.  Really not the shawl's fault. 

 So I found some leftover scrap yarn, and started test knitting various methods.  I knit a small ruffle, then started wandering the net for different methods, some stretchy, some not. 

Finally, I found one that seemed to not curl as much as the pattern method.  I am hoping that the small curling blocks out. 

I did start casting off Duchess.  One foot down, around 21 feet to go. 

The days are turning cool, the nights are cooler.  It is prime shawl weather. 

It is time to finish Duchess. 

With any luck, in time to show it off at the next meeting of the knitters. 

Today, it is all about the reconciliation. 

Variety is the Spice of Knitting

I have been working on many different things the past couple weeks.  Like this skirt.

And this aphgan

And this scarf.  (for those with good memories, yes, this is the second Gryffindor scarf.  I have two boys, and once one had one for last year's Halloween costume, of course, the other wanted one too.) 

Of course, there is a complicated sock in progress,

and a simpler sock,

And I am trying colorwork for the first time, so pillow in progress. 

The hunting mittens are nearly finished, except. . . .can you see the error?

 What about now?  Look closely at the finger flap. . . .One exposes the knit side, and the other exposes the purl side.  Ooops.  The current plan is to knit a mirror image twin pair, then let my sweetie choose which design he wants, then give the other to a soldier to be named later. 

What I haven't been working on is the shawl.  I know, I am down to casting off a coupel thousand stitches, and yet, I have been strangely avoiding it.  I just can't bear to finish those last few stitches, and I use the word "few" in relative terms. 

The weather is started to be cool at night and in the morning.  In short, it is perfect shawl weather.  And yet, my 99.5% finished shawl has been sitting crumpled on my nightstand untouched for the past two weeks, feeling like a neglected housewife.  If I don't finish it soon, it will sue me for divorce. 

Today, it is all about the avoidance. 

Shawl? What shawl?

I have started casting off the Duckess shawl.  Then I got a little distracted. 

It is the Swirl Skirt.  I realized that I only needed one size 5 circular needle for most of the knitting, and that I could use a straight needle for casting off, freeing up one circular from the ruffle immediately, and I was a goner.                                         I am enchanted.  On the concentration continuum, it is more towards the mindless side.  Mostly garterish, adding a stitch at the beginning and decreasing at the end to create the bias effect, it is very nice briefcase knitting.  I think the extras long color gradation is ideally suited to this pattern.  I am just fascinated watching the colors gradually change as I knit.  The yarn is single ply and loosely spun, which has taken some time for me to get accustomed. 

I will finish the shawl by the time cold weather arrives.  It was in the 90's this week, so I think I have some time to finish casting off, which like everything else for the shawl, takes an atromonical amount of time.  I estimate another four hours of casting.

Today it is all about the flirtation turning to seduction turning to obsession. 

Measure once

The good news is that the final row of the ruffle is completed.  The bad news is that it is NOT the row I started this week; it is the one before.

Earlier this week, I looked at my ball of yarn, and decided I had just enough yarn to do one more row then cast off.  I did not measure or weigh my yarn.  Mistake #1.

I blogged and started happily knitting.  I even brought the shawl with me to the office (it is no longer briefcase sized or readily portable, so I was not doing that very often anymore), and made some serious progress on it.  I ignored the voice in my head that observed that the ball was decreasing quickly.  I still did not measure or weigh the yarn.  Mistake #2.

I passed the halfway point on the row with glee and delight.  The end was near, I could taste it.  I could see myself modeling my shawl soon.  I still did not measure the yarn.  Mistake #3.

Last night, I looked at the ever dwindling ball, and decided that I should probably measure it.  I rigged up two chairs, measured the distance, and unballed my yarn.  28 loops, 5 feet per loop. 140 feet.  45 yards (give or take).

That is . . . barely enough to cast off, not enough to finsh the row AND cast off.  I quickly reivewed my options.   1.  I could finish the row, not cast off, and consider the needles around the edge a design element.  This plan was immediately discarded.    2.  I could buy another ball of yarn.  Not bad, but they have free shipping if you spend $50, so I would really have to buy more yarn on top of that so I didn't waste money on shipping, and I already have so much yarn that I am just dying to knit, why add to the stack.  That left:  3.  Tink backwards to the beginning of the row, and just cast off.  (For the non-knitting muggles, "tink" is "knit" spelled backwards.  It is unknitting, which takes the same amount of time if not longer, and has twelve times the frustration.)

We have a winner, much as I hate the whole concept of tinking.  So I reversed directions and started backwards.  I still have about 40% of a row before I can start knitting again.  I brought the shawl with me to the office again, apparently still in denial that I actually have that pesky work thing at the office, not plenty of child-free knitting time.  The denial extends to bringing with me the first two balls of yarn for the Swirl Skirt, because I only need to free up two of my ruffle needles to start that.  After I finish swatching, that is.

I could have finished the shawl last night, but my body rather rudely demanded a few hours sleep.  I think I can have it done this week, if I continue to ignore the pile of paperwork on my desk at intervals, children and husbands cooperate, and the stars align to warp the space-time continuum.

Piece of cake.

Today, it is all about backwards.

Last row, I think

When I arrived at Knittervention on MOnday night, it was coincidental that the three people present were not present two weeks ago.  So none of them had seen me in over a month.  Their first words: "Where is the shawl?"

They thought I would be finished with the shawl.  Insert half-crazed laugh here.  No, though the ball is noticeably smaller.

 In fact, I think I started my last row this morning.  Each row takes approximately 40 yards, and I have to leave enough for the bind off.  Only about 10 more hours of work.  (For one row and the bind-off, that is just wrong.) 

Meanwhile, I have started swatching the next project.  The only reason I haven't started it, is I think I will be needing two sets of size 5 circular needles, the same as the shawl, and I will be damned before I buy MORE size 5 circular needles when I am almost finidhed with a project usuing 5 of them at once. 

In fact, it occured to me this morning that I will be able to start the skirt before the shawl is completely finished, because I only need to free up half of the shawl needles. 

Today, it is all about the final countdown.

Last ball

I am down to the last ball of yarn for the Duchess ruffle.  The ruffle is between 1 1/2 and 2 inches wide already, so this really WILL be the last ball.  (I am not bothering with a picture.  Scroll down to the last picture from a few months ago, and mentally add another inch to the ruffle that you can't really see anyway.)

There is a sense of resolution and finality to my knitting now.  Everytime I give the yarn a little tug, watch the ball spin in the bowl, and see another yard of yarn leave the ball, I know that I am one more yard closer to the end of the ball.

When I was knitting the body, I watched in increasing alarm at how quickly the balls shrank into the end.  Now, of course, it feels magically never-ending. I know that it isn't.  I know that the last ball is dwindling in size, and I am (Finally!!!) nearing the end.

I have been flirting with some non-shawl knitting, but mostly just focusing on the shawl. 

Today, it is all about the shawl.

A Wheels Digression

 This blog has been dominated by the "needles" part for the past several years, so it was time for a "wheels" entry. 

A call was made last week.  A little town ( pop <3000) lost a soldier.  The Westboro Baptist Church was talking about protesting, because a funeral is of course the proper time to express political views. Thie Chief of Police had a little talk with the head of the local nursing home, who also happens to be the President of our American Legion Riders, requesting if he could round up a few bikers to escort the body home from the airport, to serve as a large and rough looking buffer in case there were protesters. A flurry of emails and phone calls went out.  The message was clear: please come, and spread the word to others.


My sweetie answered the call, and arranged to meet the others at our Legion parking lot to drive the 60 miles to the airport. He said that he hoped there were more than four or five, since it was short notice. Imagine his surprise: Our legion had 36, and the sister legion had 12 more. 

When they got to the airport, they couldn't believe what they saw. Nearly 500 motorcycles were there to escort this young man home. It was the lead story on the local news station. If there were any protesters, no one was looking at them.

But my sweetie and his bike got a little hurt during that ride. Someone cut in front of my sweetie, and wasn't paying enough attention to the bikes in front of him, so he went down.  My sweetie drove into the ditch, instead of driving over this guy's head only feet in front of him. So my sweetie broke a foot peg, and hurt his wrist. Not broken, just sore and swollen, but he couldn't work the next day.

Cost for new footpegs: $209. Lost wages the next day: $140. Value of honoring the sacrifice of a fallen soldier: Priceless.

Today it is all about the honor.