Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Tape Yarn A

This is my Aibhlinn, now and forever known as my "A". I keep messing up the spelling so I've been copying and pasting the A word in my posts. Sad, ain't it. This is about four inches done in a ribbon yarn, 50/50 cotton and viscose, color burnt orange.

I am very pleased with it and pleasantly surprised by the way it's coming along.

Monday, May 16, 2005

Yarn and Tell

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This is a pile of fabulous feltable yarn I got in a swap with Fiberbliss. I am finally going to get to practice my felting technique. Actually, I have no felting technique yet, but I shall acquire one. There is Brown Sheep, Monos del Uruguay, Noro Kureyon, Reynolds Lite-Lopi, and probably some names I forgot. I have never seen or felt (no pun intended) this yarn before. It's all wonderful.

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I also received this stitch marker as a surprise with the yarn. It's made by Fiberbliss, aka Linda and it's the only one I have. It's a beautiful little thing; my photography skills do not do it justice. You can email her about her markers.

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And this is my Clapotis WIP. It is done in Caron's Simply Soft in black with Caron"s Fabulous railroad ribbon as a carry-along. I cannot get the right lighting (photo ineptitude) to show the metallics in the ribbon yarn. This particular color has small "tiles" of gold and bronze. It really sparkles and looks stunnin'. Auntie may even deign to model it...the ribbon yarn is nylon, it ain't all acrylic. But, hey, the bags I make will be wool. She'll love those.

Friday, May 13, 2005

The Yarn of Tacky Knitting: for raven's breath

I have used a size seven on all my clapoteye and all of them are made with acrylic yarn (boo, hiss!) and require no more than two skeins of Caron's Simply Soft. I am longing for some Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, Koigu Kersti, or something else lush, plush, and not man made.

Folks, I will swatch like mad and frog for a sweater or other project that must fit a person but a Clapotis is just a scarf. A beautiful scarf, a fun to knit scarf, a one-size-fits-all scarf, but a scarf none the less. Getting section one done correctly (and I am still amazed when I actually have seventeen stitches at the end of it) is a challenge if I'm not paying attention. I have frogged those beginning rows many times. But this pattern is wonderfully forgiving. As long as the twisted stitches (kbl) are done correctly and the yarn overs are in the right place, everything else can be fudged. The extra stiches anywhere can be ssk'ed or if there aren't enough stitches (six) between the markers a kfb can be thrown in. As long as the decreases or increases do not involve the twisted stitches.

It can take ages to find out where the extra stitches come from or in which part of Kansas the missing stiches took up reseidence. As long as a stitch hasn't been dropped, I say fudge it.

Now, I know there are hardcore knitters out there who have to know where they went adrift and will frog and frog until they have it done perfectly and I admire there perfectionism. I was not cursed, er, blessed with the perfection gene so I refuse to frog over an extra or missing stitch here and there. (But I will tink, like, ya' know, if I go off in the zone and knit my purl rows- happened a time or two, yes it did). I love this pattern and in no way do I wish to imply that it isn't a scarf to take time and trouble over. Of course, I want all my FO's to look as nice as possible. Well, who doesn't? But, so far, Auntie isn't complaining over the occasional fudge. 'Course, she still hates acrylic.

Friday, May 06, 2005

I've Been Sticked

Ali (Ali2005224) and Rachel (bensmumma) tagged me. I must apoligize to Ali because I completely forgot... Total Number of Books in Your House: Egads! Hundreds! Once I get a book I can't bear to part with any of them unless, in my opinion, they're yuck. (Harlequin romances, shudder). 2.The Last Book You Bought Was: "Stroke of Midnight" by Laurell K. Hamilton. Shh, it's a secret. I have all of her books but I'm a closet fan. I ordered before publication last September, waited and waited for delivery in mid-April and read it in two days. 3.What Did You Last Read Before Getting Tagged: "The Wonder Worker" by Susan Howatch. It's the sixth or seventh book in her series about the Church of England. I have all of her books too and would love to get some of her earlier ones on cd's- unabridged. 4.Write Down 5 (or 6) Books You Often Read, or That Mean a Lot to You: "The Portable Works of Voltaire" and Shakespeare's Complete Works". Okay, those are titles thrown in so my mother will be impressed. Actually, I read Brunner's and Bare's "Medical-Surgical Nursing" to keep myself up to date since I don't work in a hospital and see a lot of different illnesses or conditions. "Indecent Obsession", not an indecent book, and "The Ladies of Missalongha" both by Colleen MucCullough. I don't know why I keep reading them over and over. I have a tendency to do that with books in a series and these are not. "The Ladies of M" is a dreams-can-come-true book; I just go all mush over a happy ending. The Bertie and Jeeves books by P.G. Wodehouse. I don't have them all but they're always good for a laugh. 5. Who are You Going to Pass The Stick on to and Why? My sister Juice and my mom, both voracious readers.

Milifilli Fine Yarn

I'm not happy with the clapotis I bagan in the Millifili. The dropped stitches sag and look more like a knitting error than a planned design. So it's frogged. I love the colorway, there must be something it wants to be; I'll keep looking. By the way...If you have ever heard of this yarn and have suggestions I would love to hear them.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Auntie wearing another clapotis done in Caron Simply Soft. She's been in a foul mood all day and won't even look me in the eye. Personally, I think she's just being bitchy about wearing acrylic and, really, how can I blame her?
Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us This is a recent ebay purchase. It's Millefili Fine, 100% cotton, 21 stitches, 29 rows = 4" swatch on size 3 or 4 needles. I have never seen or heard of this yarn before but I decide to start number six? seven/clapotis with it on size six needles. If It Is Not Meant To Be I will try a tank. Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us This is the first four inches and two rows into section three, one and half repeats in section two. A little loose but will see...

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

The Picture Yarn

At last, a picture. Thank you Ali and your cohorts. This is my very first clapotis, modeled by my great aunt (she came back as a cheap lawn chair-she never did have any class) made with Cervinia Amalfi, an acrylic fingering weight yarn. I didn't want to use anything expensive in case I had to frog it. Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us It looks quite nice but, delicate flower that I am, it makes me itch like mad. I shall give it to someone with a tougher hide than mine because someone is going to wear this. It took me a ridiculous number of attempts to get the first seventeen stitches done correctly. I have made five others, all in solid colors, all with inexpensive yarn (okay, it's cheap yarn), and now I want to make one with a snuggly and varigated yarn, with nary an acrylic fiber in the midsts of its lusciousness.