Etherknitter

Zeneedle and WoolyBuns

I love this sock.  I would think that most people would remark on the very cool picot hem.  (I labored away at this finicky detail, tight knitter that I am, whipped on by Claudia's admonition that whipstitch is wussy.)  No.  The universal comment is "Wow, NICE color."  Margene gave this to me in Utah.  It's a fun knit.  It has a heel flap stitch that is new to me:  the purl row alternates *sl 1, P1*, creating a unique inner texture that feels more resistant to wear.

I really hesitate to  discuss what this roving looks like, predrafted.  It's lounging on the rug by the wheel, waiting its turn in the drafting triangle. 

 

The colors and the combination are magnificent.  I managed to talk Chris Wooly Buns out of saving all of this for herself.  I had to use my most persuasive Jedi Voice to get her to put it in a bag for me.  And THEN, I had to bring the Voice out once more just to get her to name the colorway. 

Autumn Glow is spinning into a subtle, heathery thing of beauty.  How much did I buy?  Six ounces?  Eight ounces?  It will be enough for a scarf.  The color is only part of the charm of this roving.  The texture.  Ohhhhh, the feel of this stuff.  It's rambouillet/angora.  (What percentages, Chris?)  The longwools offer only the act of spinning as therapy, sacrificing texture for ease of use.  This cloud gives off *oommmm* throughout the whole deal.   

Here is the obligatory bobbin shot.  I'm spinning the fall equinox.

S is for Surgeon

These men are using silk to sew a very particular and important seam.   The stitch is interrupted mattress, placed one by one.  Surgeons don't weave in their ends.  The sutures are designed to be absorbed and eliminated by the body once healing has occurred.

By contrast, our sweaters are assembled with a continuous mattress stitch.

Imagine a knitting world, where technicians are hired to make sure all your knitting tools are clean, and in good working condition.  Any tool you could possibly think about needing is prepared for you in advance, and laid out on a special table.  The technician hands you the tool you request.  A really good technician looks at what you are doing, and anticipates what you will ask for next.  It is ready before you verbalize the need.  All your scissors are sharp.  Tape measures stay in this time-space continuum.  You never run out of yarn in a discontinued or unavailable dyelot. 

You are supposed to finish your WIP in a timely fashion.  This IS production as well as process.  The institution feels that Holz and Stein needles aren't worth the cost.  You do have Addi Turbos available to you, but the hospital is threatening to convert to Clover bamboos to save money.  One of the ball winders is out for repairs (who drops these things??), so that occasionally your WIP is delayed until the remaining ball winder is free.

In the end, all is well.   It looks good, it fits, and you move on to the next project.

RRRiiiiiiippppppp

Do FOs come in packs?  Herds?  Or is it just that I blog about them all at once?  That would be poor planning, since knitting blog fodder isn't always the stuff of fascination.  The entertaining stuff should be carefully spread out through more mundane blog posts.

I've been mustering the intestinal fortitude to blog these socks since I finished sock #1.
Schaeffer Anne, 72 stitches, #1 Crystal Palace bamboo needle, mindless st st pattern, 12 rows of cuff ribbing, kitchener toes.

Can you see the problem?

I had done the toe,  woven in the end, then tried it on.  My other socks have all been on four needles.  I used five for this one because the extra stitches demanded it.  And, clearly, I didn't count which needle was which correctly. 

I don't really think I'm the first, the only, the last to do this to a sock.  The hard part was admitting (in public) that I am DONE with these socks, and I am not ripping and redoing.  It took knitting the whole second sock to truly know that I am not going to invest the extra time.

For those who want to know about Schaeffer Anne, the sock is 6 1/2" tall, and 10 1/2 long.  And I had lots of yarn left. 

Other knitting news:  My Tess microfiber ribbon top (pictured below) is about to be history.  Yes, I took a picture of it before I frogged it.  There wasn't much there.  I remember loving the top when I saw it in Tess' booth.  I can't account for what happened between then, and now.  Some relationships are just not meant to be.

My swatch on bamboo needles was sleek and beautiful.  This slip stitch pattern on Addi turbos looks like what you would find discarded on the floor of an intergalactic whorehouse.  It's fall, and I think I'll put the ribbon yarn away until next year.  I did download Green Gable in preparation for the next use of the yarn.  Silvia used Tess microfiber ribbon to do hers, and it is stunning.

Leaf lace shawl has seen some reasonable progress now that Mr. Etherknitter is back to work.  Getting the set-up rows done required ZERO interruption.  That's usually an irresistable lure to any married man.  ("Does she love me or her knitting more?  Will she talk to me RIGHT THIS MINUTE?  Ooops.  She's making Lace Face again.  I'd better scram.") 

Yeah.  Knit three rows, tink back two, knit five rows, tink back three.  Now that I understand the peculiar language of lace, I really AM having fun.  Finish it by Rhinebeck?  Probably not.  But I can always dream.

Two skanks, knit until done

Many different creatures are attracted to bright and shiny things:  crows, monkeys, rodents, me.  Most of my stash is not ostentatious, or gaudy...in a prior era, it would be termed "tasteful".  I prefer the more current concepts of elegance and subtlety.

This yarn is none of those things.  I could probably get away with calling the color changes subtle.  Just know that I was walking along Newbury Street last year, and was lured by the sample scarf knitted from Artful Yarns, Broadway, colorway Guys and Dolls.   My version looks like this:

25 stitches, diagonal pattern as described on the ballband, 2 skanks, knit until done.  Stash diving felt good. 

The NHS&W fleece (Romney/Corrie X - Felicia) is back from the processor(left).  These centerpull bumps are very entertaining to this simple Labor Day spinner.   I'm getting to know her and her ways, how she drafts, what grist she would like to be.   Her companion, the Cummington blue ribbon 12+ pound Coopworth named Baritone, crowded her in the boxes.   I post this picture (right) to get Carole stoked and drooling.  She gets half of him at the next exchange opportunity.  I haven't tried spinning him yet.  There are other projects competing for bobbin space.  He will wait his turn.

Some Shetland (below)from the Fold was spun, and needs to be plyed.  I toyed with the idea of sending for some more, to have enough for a shawl.  I finally decided to hold firm.   Rhinebeck should have some possibilities that would be more my color scheme.  (That would be grey, or black.)

This stuff, overspun, and not much fun getting there, is soy silk (below, left).  The colorway was dyed by Ellen's Halfpint Farm. I loved the colors, and did not enjoy the spinning experience.  I used a smaller whorl to get more twist with less work.  You can see I may have succeeded to an extreme.  This also awaits plying.  Navajo?  Barberpole?  I haven't decided yet.

The garden is sodden and weedy.  I'm completely relying on the deck's container plants to substitute for what a lazy gardener hasn't achieved in the perennial beds.  Eastern equine encephalitis has killed one person, and hospitalized two others in this state.  Each day is a small decision to put off outside work and viral exposures.

One plant surprised me this year.  Ipomoea batatas 'Blackie' (sweet potato vine) is grown for its purple, shapely foliage.  I use the plant as a spiller to give the container planting a sense of depth, and to soften the hard textures of the containers.  This year, it bloomed.   This is a first for me.  Predictably, the flower looks like a morning glory (Ipomoea).  It hasn't set seed. 

And nothing says fall like an aster: