Eleven Stitches

Passion, In Many Different Forms

Recently a co-worker was telling me about one of the higher ups in our company.  Apparently, he comes in on nights and weekends to do a task that entry-level people are hired to do.  My co-worker said he couldn't understand why this higher-up would be driven to do that.  I replied that I actually do understand.  While this task is very different from knitting, I understand the passion for doing something that most others would consider to be tedious or boring.

MamaPea wondered recently why there is so much animosity in knitblogland towards non-knitters.  I think that most knitters honestly don't feel this way about most non-knitters.  Almost all of the people I love are non-knitters, and that has never been an issue for me :) I think the problem that knitters have is with people who don't understand their passion, and who would rather ridicule or stereotype them than try to understand them. 

This is a problem for people who are passionate about almost any hobby.  My fiancé spends a lot of time solving puzzles: word puzzles, chess puzzles, crossword puzzles.  I personally am not driven to work on these puzzles as much as he is.  I do, however, understand that this is something that makes him happy, and that it is very important that he has time to spend "solving". There are those who make chain mail, swing dance, play soccer, take photographs, create mixed CDs, modify their cars, scrapbook, bake, re-enact the Civil War, play Guitar Hero, play the piano, and research their genealogy. I don't understand how they would find these things relaxing and fun, but they do.  I hope that if I interact with these people, I show them the same respect that I would like to be shown as a knitter. 

Difficulties

I am able to report that my unfortunate sock has been completed, all the way to a finely grafted toe.

There is a problem.  The foot of the sock is too tight in one particular area.  I don't know what that area's called, but the arrow points it out below.

I think this is due to the heel flap not being long enough.  It's putting a lot of strain on the top of my foot, and the stitches look stretched out.  I measured, and this heel flap is only about 1 inch.  The heel flap on my Waving Lace Socks is 1.5 inches.

So I'll have to rip back AGAIN.  I think that in the meantime, I'll start the second sock and get the heel flap working there first.  Grrrr... this yarn is really lucky it's such a nice color.

I also ran into a problem with my drop stitch Ming sweater this weekend.  I'm almost completely done with the back, but I've come to realize that I only have four balls of this yarn, and I really need to have 5 (6 to be really safe).  I went to the Artfibers website and ordered two more balls.  I heard back that they're out of stock of color #11 right now, and it will take 1-3 weeks to re-dye it.  I was planning to wear this sweater to Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival!  I decided to instead order two balls of color #9.  I'll rip out the ribbing at the bottom, knit down new ribbing in the new color, and that should give me enough yarn to complete the body in the main color.

What do you think?  It looks like the new color will complement my main one well.  I am disappointed that I didn't buy enough yarn in the first place, but I think this will work out OK.

Edited to Add: We also tried to watch Swingers tonight.  I've watched several times, but David has never seen it.  We got about an hour into it, and the DVD refused to go forward any further.  We tried all kinds of tricks, and eventually had to give up.  Now we'll have to wait for a replacement from Netflix!

 

Previously on Eleven Stitches: Here Be the Dragons

... or as I liked to call them (due to their rooster-esque colorway) Here Be the Chickens! 

Pattern: Here Be The Dragons by The Keyboard Biologist
Yarn: Autumn House Yarn, Herdwick Sock Yarn, in Hattie's Zinnias
Needles: Susan Bates DPNs, size 2
Time to Knit: December 20, 2006 - January 1, 2007

I bought this yarn at Rhinebeck last fall.  The colors are so me... red, deep purple, and a little bit of orange.  As you can see, I had some issues with pooling, but I decided to embrace the pooling rather than fight it. I love these socks.  They're very quirky, but they make me happy every time I see them.

The pattern, written by the very talented Theresa, was great.  It was easy to understand, easy to memorize, and it just flew by.  It was also the first short-row heel explanation I was able to execute. I recommend you check it out!

Eye Candy Friday

This is another quilt I made.  It's based off the nursery rhyme.  I had a lot of fun coming up with each of the squares! 

Happy Friday :)

Working as Predicted

Last night I got to the calculated armhole depth and decided to check my work.  I got to the first purl stitch, started dropping it, and picked up the top "bar" as a yarn over so I would be able to continue on.  As I hoped, the fabric grew a lot both lengthwise and widthwise.

It was fun to look at the difference.

It turns out that my swatch was correct in predicting how this sweater would size.  Isn't it nice when that happens?

The next step is to cast on a whole bunch of stitches for the sleeves!

Happiness in a Padded Envelope

I got a package from Europe today!  After reading what Beth wrote about Rohrspatz & Wollmeise, I had to give them a try. The company is in Germany, and you can either buy ironworks (such as iron fences or gazebos) or beautiful hand-dyed yarn.  Hmmm, what to pick...

I went with the yarn.

It came in such a beautiful package!

And the yarn itself is fabulous! These are the colorways Brombeere and Amazonas. You need to specify whether you want the colorway in bright, medium, or dark, and I went with medium for both.

I don't think these pictures do the yarn justice.  The Brombeere has burgundy, reddish brown, brown, and fuschia (!) in it. The Amazonas has turquoise, parrot green, spring green, brown, and a color that is half-blue half-brown. The yarn itself is very soft, and it smells wonderful :)  It's a little thinner than Socks That Rock Lightweight.

You have to send an e-mail to order the yarn, but Claudia was very easy to work with.  The price was very reasonable, especially considering how far it came!  Oh, and it arrived at my door a mere 6 days after I sent my payment.

You might have noticed the "teaser" yarn on the package.  It's a single-ply worsted weight in some very vibrant colors.  Very tempting!

From an Idea to a Beginning

I got started on my drop-stitch Ming sweater this weekend.

This is the prototype.  It's a great sweater I got from Ann Taylor LOFT last year.  It's actually a mesh (it's hard to tell in the picture) with Kimono-style sleeves. 

I started with 4 inches of k1, p1 ribbing, and then got started on the slip-stitch pattern I outlined in this post.  I'm a little bit concerned about how to decide how long it is.  The swatch measures about 5.5 rows per inch (after dropping stitches) and my knitting is closer to 8 or 9 rows per inch right now.  I think I'll get to where I need to start increasing for the sleeves, drop the stitches, and then see where I am. Everything is fixable, right?

I got to meet Jody this weekend.  We got along very well, which makes total sense to me given how similar our blog background colors are.  It was really fun to have a bloggy conversation-- one about different posts and trends we've seen recently across knitting blogs.  I've never had that opportunity before.  We also visited a LYS and fell for some sweaters being displayed in a trunk show, but that's a story for another time :) I was (once again) a bad blogger and didn't get a picture of us, but next time I really will do better!