Ply and Burl

Yay! (That’s all.)

Part deux of the three part series on washing my Hourglass Sweater, made with Elsabeth Lavold’s Silky Wool, nine-months untouched by soap and water.
(See here for Part one, The Prelude..)

Finally, got the tool I needed: a sweater drying rack. Just $7 at Target!

Soap, water, sink to wash it in? Check.

Get the water sudsy, then take the plunge!

While the sweater is soaking, run downstairs and find the vinegar. Bragg’s apple cider, “With the Mother,” as it says on the label.

After draining the soapy water, and giving it a good squeeze out, this is all we’ve got for nine months of grit.

But after the second rinse, the sink came clean!

Final rinse, we (gulp!) add the vinegar and swish swish swish,..

Mmm, smells like “The Mother”

Lay it out on the towel and roll up to squeeze out the water.

Voila, laid out to dry! Shaping is a little tricky because the rack is small, and the sleeves seem to have gotten a little longer (eek!), so stay tuned for part three, when we see how it dried!

So much progress!

I’ve nearly finished my Sunrise Circle Jacket. All the panels are knitted, all the ends are woven in. Now all I have left is to block and assemble, a prospect I’m terrified of. Even Knitty’s article on seaming has a caveat from the author about how much she dislikes assembling, and how little she actually knows about it. How comforting! All this work, and I could destroy it with a few stray pokes of the needle.

On the upside, I bought some beautiful buttons for it while visiting Dad in Boulder. Behold:

In other news, I finally finished the only item I’ve ever knit for my dad — a pair of house socks to keep his toes warm in the winter. Apparently he has cold toes, a problem I never knew about, considering he’s always cruising around barefoot. I made him the Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays (a most fabulous book, if for nothing but the photography) with some gorgeous Cleckheaton Merino Supreme yarn from Knitting Etc.. It’s the softest, yummiest stuff around. Here’s a pic from the book (my own forthcoming):

It has been months and months that these two have been the only projects on my needles. Which is why, now that I’ve (nearly) finished them both, I am chomping at the bit to get rolling with the other projects that have been a patiently standing by.

First up is a pair of Embossed Leaves Socks from IK Winter 2005 made with Knit Picks Essential in Grass (lovely color!) — this will be my first time working with their yarn and I’m excited to see how it goes.

Next (most likely simultaenously, despite my being a largely monogomous knitter) is the Tilted Jacket from IK Winter 2004. I can’t wait to make this. I’ve been waiting years!

Stay tuned for notes on the progress!

The SP8 hostess has been prodding us a little to either write if we haven’t lately (I have) or write about knitting if we haven’t lately (I haven’t). Given that it’s plainly stated that this a knitting and gardening blog, I don’t feel too guilty about it. But I’m giving in anyway.

Yesterday was the first time I’d knit since May (ack!) and boy, was it a disaster. In the end, despite knitting probably 20 rows of my sweater, only 12 of them stuck. It had just been so long since I’d worked on that pattern that I was acting spacey — first I forgot to stop at the right length (rrrrippp out two rows) and then instead of making stitches, I was just spacily knitting into the back of them.

Dad’s visiting, so I’ll blame it on him being in attendance. That’s OK, right :)?

The latest from my Secret Pal? All blue, all the time Maine Maddness! Blueberry tea, blueberry lip gloss, heathered blue yarn, lovely cards (with blue in them). The only thing that wasn’t blue was the adorable tiny knitted alpaca (to cover needle tips? a finger puppet?) It was a great themed gift — thank you Secret Pal!

My superfantastic secret pal just sent me, among other things, fiber-related art postcards from Holland, a block of fragrant soap from Lush and a book with the pattern for a knitted octopus! (Book also contained, among other creatures, the pattern for a spear-fishing Hawaiian, to slaughter said octopus, if they were to be found in the same knitting basket.)

How did she know I’d been longing to knit a Cephalopod? It’s getting eerie, this Cephalopodic trend. First, I had schemed to knit up a polka-dotted squid last year, like the ones I’d seen scuba diving in Turks and Caicos, but got temporarily waylayed by a poo-pooing friend (don’t worry, it’s not you). Then a girl from my town (!) came up the Nautie, featured in Knitty, as if reading my mind. Now my secret pal has somehow telepathically caught on to me undersea knitted longings. Am I sending out a watery vibe?

P.S. Look, someone else has done the squid!

It’s a long time coming, but here’s a public Thank You to my secret pal! Pink yarnalicious! I’ve never knit with pink yarn so it should be an adventure — I think I’m going to make the Odessa hat with it.

Wahoo! One week exactly until I leave for a two-week trip to Italy. Presently, I’m acting like a part spaz part neurotic part insomniac part space-cadet trying to squish a ton of work in before I leave, but I have managed to make a list of things that I’d like to do while there, one of which is to do some serious train knitting, and to pop into a few yarn stores.

I’ve done a bit of web surfing and found the following places, but If you know of anymore good knitting stores or related sights in Rome, Venice, Siena or Florence, please let me know!

Italy Yarn Spots (so far):

Florence

Beatrice Galli Yarn Shop
Borgo San Iacopo, 24/r
Firenze

Campolmi Roberto Filati
Via Pratese, 18 int.
Firenze

Venice

Lellabella
30124 Venezia
San Marco 3718
Calle della Mandola (della Cortesia)
041 522 51 52
lellabellavenezia@libero.it

Rome

Filatura di Crosa
via Bergamo, Roma

I also found this list from the year 2000 but according to Heidi it’s very out of date.

Spent all day at a conference yesterday that turned out to be quite interesting — a rare feat for one of these events. (It was the Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship conference in Syracuse, NY.) Usually I doodle, fidget, space out and look around the room, losing concentration after so many speakers. But this time, knitting in hand, my attention barely wavered. Inspiring listening and I got through the entire first skein of the Sunrise — I’m halfway up the sleeve!

Lex and Wen — these two are rock solid. Look at that technique — though Wendy has full use of all four limbs, she knits with her mouth, the crook of her elbow, and several other parts that shall not be mentioned. And that yawn? That’s just Lex being humble for the picture. She’s can knit for 36 hours straight while standing on one foot and singing the national anthem.

Man, those two are just adorable. Plus, check out that giant toe!