Migration of birds, migration of sanity

The tenth dogfight of the day left everyone standing.  There were no aces in the group, no hummingbird casualties.

The strafing runs to protect the nectar were vicious.  The humming of wings was masked by the angry *chittering* of territorial imperative.  Soft, audible *thuds* marked mano-a-mano combat.  The aerial acrobatics mimicked Luke Skywalker Ti fighters, as the battle continued in synchronized flying and attack manuevers. 

They are IMPOSSIBLE to catch on camera.  And now they are gone.

The quiet that has thumped onto the deck is deafening.  My google search for hummingbird migration dates listed a range of 9/3-9/19 in another year.  September 3rd was the last sighting for us.  I miss them.

Cormo fleece, "Elegance"  (Foxhill Farm), true black alpaca yearling fleece "Midnight Thunder" (Red Barn Alpacas) 70%/30%

Manise and I split the goods.  We dithered endlessly over processing.  Who?  How much?  Where?  Customer service or service of silence?  Morro in California won.  This is The World's Most Expensive Non-Vicuna roving, but it IS spectacular.  Pindrafting did not uniformly mix the colors, so the spun yarn is unique and luscious.  I tore off a four foot length, spun a three-ply, and swatched.  It is worth the $$$ even as it hurts.

I have enough for a sweater and a shawl.  It joins the queue behind other fleeces.  A fifth bobbin of spun Coopworth has joined the lineup for Mr. Etherknitter's sweater.  I need about 1800 yards of a 3-ply, which means 5400 yards of finished yarn.  I have 2539 yards done. 

Knitting progress: 

-scarf 75% finished

-Just Our Yarn sock done except for grafting

-started second Judy sock.  The plan is working.  SSS is  held at bay.

The second Judy sock is the start of a grand cuff-down sock experiment.  At what point is a given sock half done?  The two tubes (cuff and foot) are easy to measure and assess.  The heel, however, is knit only on half the stitches.  The gusset and the toe are gradually decreasing cones.  When is half the yarn used?

In the interests of knitting science, I am doing the experiment.  I'm measuring and marking 5 foot increments from the yarnball for the whole sock.  The prototype will be 20 rows of k2/p2 ribbing, 68 stitches, slipstitch heelflap, with all details to be documented as the experiment runs. 

I am already documenting 5% error.  Based on the number of ribbing rows I've done, I was 5% off in the measure. 

Has anyone done this calculation?  There still exists the opportunity to save me from myself.

 

Comments

[Lorette]

This sock experiment of yours has grabbed my attention. I'm just a fan of top-town socks, but I hate it when I end up with a bunch of yarn leftover and could have added another inch or two to the top. Please do document your research!
We've never seen hummingbirds in our yard, though we have bats galore, which I love nearly as much. They fly around in the evening much like the Ti fighters.

[margene]

We saw hummers here Sunday (Silver Fork) and I knew it could be a last sighting. With our weather the last two days they may have hightailed it out of here!
The sock yarn documentation suits you. I can't save you from yourself;-) I always figured a sock was half done when the heel was done and the gusset was to come. Sock yarn leftovers are nice to have around (darning)and knitting a toe in a different color isn't a big deal either.

[Marcia Cooke]

I'm with Margene...and it sounds like way more work than I want to deal with right now! Your hummer must have been the one I spotted the other day...first, and last, of the summer! As for the Cormo....YUM!

[PumpkinMama]

There were hummers in Plymouth, MA as of 8/30, but I never see them at my home.

I can't wait to see the results of your sock experiement!

[Phoebe]

Okay, so I'm a bit of a nerd, but I did figure this out once (I didn't write it down as it's entirely dependent on the pattern, but it's easily reproduceable). You count the number of stitches in your pattern--the entire pattern, each individual stitch. This is a lot easier if you're following a pattern that tells you how many rows to do, but you could also figure it out if you know your row gauge. So for instance, your leg might be 100 rows at 70 sts around, so 7,000 sts in the leg. Then, the heel flap is probably going to be around 35 rows of 35 sts, so 1225 sts. The number of stitches in your heel-turning will depend on what method you use, and you'll probably have to count each row--this is the hardest part. Then, you know your gusset will start with, say 90 sts and decrease by 2 every other row back down to 70, so you figure that's two rows of 90 sts, two rows of 88 sts, etc. Anyway, you see where I'm going, and either your eyes have glazed over or you can figure out the rest yourself. I actually find it sort of fun to count the total number of stitches in a project--not as I'm knitting (I would lose track!), but beforehand, based off the pattern. Then I always know precisely how far along I am and precisely how much further I have to go.

Yes, I know I am crazy.

[Caroline M]

I make a heel that's the same shape as a toe (no gusset) and my cuffs are short so I believe that I'm half way there as soon as the heel is finished. I do not want to know if this is not true. I have just bought scales accurate to 0.1g so the next time I think on I could weigh as I go.

Look at the enjoyment you are going to get from that roving, once from the spinning and again in the knitting and again in the giving (or wearing) and compare the cost per hour with going to the cinema or the theatre. If you still have all your limbs (it didn't cost an arm AND a leg) then it's worth it.

[Carole]

I've always read that hummers are super territorial but I've never seen it first hand. Lucky you! As for the sock experiment, ummmm, whaaaa?

[Guinifer]

We had hummers this last weekend at our cabin in Stone Lake Wisconsin.

[vanessa]

my eyes were glazing while reading your post, but my head was spinning around after reading phoebe's comment ;-)

[Diane]

Well I just weigh the darn sock!
Hummingbirds still operating out of Star Trek manuals here, and newbies at that. Some are still unsure of proper landing pad procedure.
Fiber fabulous, will you dye any? I love how colors take to gray fleeces. Although that looks lovely as is.

[Kim]

Don't you hate when the birds leave......the silence IS deafening :(. I had no idea that humming birds get into little tizzy's....LOL

Your sock experiment sounds interesting, I look forward to seeing what you discover. Me........I am a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl.....I was lost after the first sentence...LOL

[mamacate]

Your spinning is simply gorgeous. I think you must have taken some major skill leap and not told anyone. Lovely.

As for the sock business, I see you have attracted members of your own kind (birds of a...well, you know) on this little migration. I'm the sort who pretends to see the big picture...but is secretly interested to know what you find out.

[Kathy]

Midnight Elegance is stunning -- I must have a feel (sounds dirty, I know, but still, I must). As for the socks, it seems like you've unearthed something. :-)

[Judy]

The roving is gorgeous, must feel like heaven. The sock experiment, oh my... every 5 ft? I like the math solution, sounds like a faster way to get there.

I still have hummers. Only females and juvies, the males left weeks ago. I've had a couple say good bye. It is the part of the season I hate, I wait all winter for them to come. Don't bring your feeders in. Stragglers are traveling and will need tehm.

[claudia]

If you find out where sanity migrates to, let me know.

[Teyani]

holding my sides laughing at your mad-professor sock experiment! you're a hoot. just think, you'll be able to let all of us know once you solve the puzzle; that way we can do the 'i'm half done' happy dance.

hummers are amazing. mine have left as well. my brother once caught photos of their aerial combat. incredible that they don't injure each other.

[Marcy]

That is some Beautiful fiber and resultant spinning. Worth every penny, I'd say.

As to the grand scientific experiment, I can only say I never realized you were quite so, uh, focussed. Yah, that's it. You do realize, don't you, that the results will not apply to the next pair of socks? Hell, they may not apply to the same sock on a different day, depending on your tenseness. This is crazy-making. Knitting ain't science!

Listen to me, grasshopper, stop it now while you still have some vestige of your sanity.

[Juno]

I was thinking something similar to Margene...have fun my scientist friend.

I love, love, love the roving. It's unspeakably gorgeous, as is the sample yarn. Totally worth it - wouldn't you rather have one such as that than three that are lesser and less richly satisfying?

[Chris]

Ok, those knitting calculations? Well, it's fun to watch you go through them. But my brain tangles at the thought, so I'll sit back and learn from you..

[Danielle]

There are two kinds of knitters. The first kind will read your question (at what point is a given sock half done?) and think "oh, man, she's going crazy." The other half will think "she's going crazy, and I'd like to come along for the ride!" Clearly I fall into the second half. Especially as I immediately thought "hmmm, it's a good thing she is doing this by measurements. If she was doing this by weight, I wonder how you would take into account relative humidity when weighing the yarn?"

I'm so glad I'm not the only one out here who thinks about things like this!!

[Sylvia]

Did the sock thing some years ago, calculating the stitches from my pattern and weighing. Am at the point now where I have such a nice variety of leftover bits of sock yarn in the bins that I can deal easily with nearly any yarn shortage difficulties so I don't worry about it anymore.

Not certain, but either our hummers don't migrate or they go a bit south and others from the north come here to visit. My favorite is the one that nags me to spray it with the mist setting every time I go up to the garden. She hovers a few inches from my face and has the voice of a fishwife!

[Lucia]

I am totally impressed by some people's math skillz. You know my answer, I'm not even going to breathe it, lest you whack me with your wings like the two fighting loons we saw in Rangeley. (We could have captured it in pixels had we been brave enough to take the camera canoeing.)

[Warrior Knitter]

Our hummers are still swarming (Lawrence, KS). I fill two feeders three times a day. They sit in front of the window to our home office. We spend a lot of time there. Often one will hover at our face level in front of the window like they're looking in to see what we're doing. You describe the aerobatics quite well. I love the chittering. I don't know how they keep from crashing into each other or me or the house or the feeders or anything. Nothing moves like a hummingbird in flight.

The last they they swarmed at our feeders was four years ago and it was nothing like it has been for the past two weeks. It does seem to be slowing a bit as our weather has been cooler the past few days. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

[LauraJ]

I have compared them to the TI fighters too. And the flying things in the big forest in "The Empire Strikes Back." It's the only thing I know of that compares to the hummers. Bless them and bring them back safe.

[Cassa]

We have ruby-throated hummingbirds here in Oklahoma pretty thick until late September most years. It's a pleasure to walk onto your patio and to see them be as surprised as you are when they see you and pop out of your garden.