Herby Green

Behold the most beautiful green lace weight on the planet. Well, my section of the planet. Too bad you can't tell from this picture how beautiful it is, because it is really greener than shown.

Not only does the colour glow in this skein, it is deliciously soft and fine. Ranging from the deep glossy green of rhododendron leaves through to the soft green of oregano, with some medium teal for interest, the yarn has a wonderfully herby look. Gorgeous. Breathtaking. And under no circumstances will something for someone else be knitted out of this jaw-droppingly scrumptious confection. It’s Souffle Lace Weight from Wool Candy in Fresh Herbs. 70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere. 3.5 oz, 1300 yards of knitterly fun. Friendly and helpful customer service, and speedy shipping. I went back for more. Not to be bossy or anything, but go get you some. Now.

It’s been just over a week since the Entangled Stitches gloves were picked up again in earnest. The overwhelming lust for this project has worn off at just about the right time. That’s probably got to do with the frenzy with which they were attacked. The fingers will get started in about 10 more rows, so it won’t be long before they are finished. A mistake has been made somewhere and the side zig-zag’s have not arrived at the correct landing point from above. Oh well. They’re staying like that. Having even the remotest interest in these gloves last night could have seen at least 2 of the fingers done. But no. I am procrastinating. Daydreaming about that lovely yarn seen above. Sigh. Tonight? Tonight, 2 fingers.

Sharing a Space

While Peter’s sister is a perfectly lovely human being, like Tikka the cat, sharing my space with an unknown element is quite difficult. This was only our second meeting. It’s a bizarre response from a person (that would be me) that used to share sleeping spaces with perfect strangers for weeks and months on end (while working away from home) without difficulty. Perhaps it’s because home is a space where the day’s public face comes off and the private one is on display.

That your home can be quite revealing when paid an intimate visit is also a bit unnerving. Was she shocked at the amount of yarn in the closet? What did she think about the art on the walls and those boxes full of fleece? What about those curious tools scattered throughout the house? Did she feel welcomed and comfortable? Or did she feel like she’d set foot into strange and eccentric territory? Peter’s sister does have fabulous taste, which was made obvious by her choice of reading material. Knitted Lace of Estonia was found in the sheets when the bed was dismantled over the weekend. In any event, it was great to get to know her a bit better.

It’s was good to spend some time knitting after the past few weeks of busyness. That’s probably why the Entangled Stitches gloves made such tremendous progress over the weekend. The second glove seems to be moving at a much quicker pace than the first. Depending on the evening’s chores, making it to the middle of the thumb gusset seems possible tonight. Knitting them is fun and I love them. A lot.

Sunny Sunday

It's an absolutely sparkling day. Warm with a bit of a breeze, and most likely one of our last Indian Summer days. The leaves have been falling off of the trees like rain, and it's time to go out and do some cleanup. One Entangled Stitches glove has been knitted to the end. The other awaits it's cast on.

Not Really Open to Interpretation

I admit to not being able to interpret the charts as written for Entangled Stitches very well. That the instructions for forming a cable are distributed over two rows is the issue. It's the same problem that's stalling La Digitessa as well. Each and every row has to be thought about, and it's just not coming naturally. While the patterning is rhythmic enough, it's been difficult to place the particular elements as they begin, and a lot of mistakes have been made. It would be better to just re-chart the design in a notation that's easier (for me) to interpret, but that wouldn't leave any room for moaning about the travails of knitting. There's not been a great deal of progress, but it is fun and pretty. At the moment I don't mind having to consider every bit of patterning before launching into it.

Peyton's run out of yarn. There's enough left to make about 25% of the second sleeve. Maybe it'll become a vest? Another skein of yarn will most likely get ordered. If the dye job is really very different, I'll overdye the finished garment.

Peyton

Warmer weather on Saturday foolishly encouraged me to drop the mittens and gloves to work on Peyton. The second front was finished and the collar and button bands were knitted on. Picking up the bands is regarded as a chore chez moi, so getting them out of the way before starting the sleeves was the thing to do. Taking Peyton’s body to work as lunch-time amusement will soon see most of the ends woven in. Having only the sleeves left to knit makes it seem like there’s not much left to do since there’s not really much finishing after that. It’s been a pleasant knit, accompanied by the usual stupid knitterly moves that befoul my knitting life. Taking the time to separate the fronts from the back in the pattern was certainly worthwhile given the sorts of mistakes made so far. Some progress was made on the first cuff of the Entangled Stitches gloves yesterday, but not much.

Too bad this colour doesn't show all that well. It's really more brown looking than pink.

Peter’s sister arrives tomorrow afternoon, and we are getting new front stairs later in the week. It’ll be a final going over of things like the bathrooms and the vacuuming tonight. That’ll mean little to no sleeve or cuff making for the next few days. This weekend though? The knit will be on! The past two weekends have been so busy it’ll be hard work to pry the needles out of my hands or get me out of the yard other than for a walk.

Winter Woolies Required

I’m back up to 22 projects on the needles. Yeah. 22. At one time it was down to 13. That was probably the smallest list of projects ever. Somehow, that was taken as permission to cast on a bunch of new things. Smart, eh? Well. Not very. Needless to say, there’s a lot of knitting to do, and not much time to do it in. Some of the new projects are necessary knits. Hat’s, gloves. The sorts of things required for surviving the winter, when the equator seems like some sort of fairy tale that someone told you long ago.

Regardless, there’s something to be said about making winter accessories in the summer, and not waiting until crunch time. This week has been cold, but not below freezing when heading to work in the morning. It has been cold enough to place and order for new fall jackets though – one for Peter and one for me. Peter’s fingerless glove situation has been taken care of, but he could use a new hat or two. Me? I need new gloves, hats, mittens and a scarf or two. Now! While eager to stay true to Peyton, accessories have become a necessity. The Entangled Stitches (Ravelry) gloves were cast on over lunch. They won’t be the fastest knit on the planet, but they’ve been drooled over for quite some time. It’s looking like nothing but practicalities for the next while, with a string of winter woolies in the lineup. Peyton will surely get worked on, but the poor Nightingale stole will remain terribly neglected.

Working two colours on the Deep in the Forest mittens has tightened the tension considerably, and the resulting mittens will be too small for Peter. There will be shopping sometime soon for heavier weight yarn for his pair. In the mean time, that’ll be two projects for me, thank you very much.

The Enchanting Husband

Once upon a time there was a knitter named Gale who had a husband named Peter. Peter could sometimes be as charming as a sweet little boy, so the knitter often called him Peter Pan in her head. She did not call him by this name out loud because Peter did not really like being called Peter Pan. One weekend afternoon, as the knitter was working on her Deep in the Forest Mittens, Peter turned into Peter Pan and magicked the mittens right off of her needles and onto his hands. That the knitter was surprised is remarkable. Afterall, he has managed to charm her out of other clothes regularly enough.

Yeah. I am a sucker for Peter. He was excited to see the Deep in the Forest mitten pattern and loves them. If they turn out to be large, as many people have reported them to be, he can have them and I’ll make another pair for me. 10 rows into the tree pattern the mitten feels a little big. I'm going to carry on as is, because they will work out for someone here. The tension is as expected. The next scarf/hat/glove I makes is going to be pink, or some other non-manly colour. He won’t want the item then. That makes 2 projects in short order meant for me that he’s hijacked. Really, I am pleased he likes them enough to ask for them. If they don’t fit him, I’ll have to purchase a slightly heavier yarn and give it a go again.