sock yarn, like nail polish, is pretty serious business

I’ve sort of been spinning my wheels, knitting-wise, since finishing my Featherweight last week. I made a deal with myself in early August that I couldn’t start the fall sweater I want to make – an adult-sized version of EZ’s Tomten Jacket – until I’d finished that cardigan. And on the one hand, now that Featherweight is done, I’m excited to be “allowed” to start working on that sweater. It’s knit in worsted weight, and the entire thing is garter stitch, and I’m very very excited for being on autopilot for a month while I make that happen.

On the other, I can’t actually start until I’ve done some swatching and sketching and a fair bit of math, which I just haven’t been in the mood for lately. (It’s very high-stakes math. If I make a mistake, I don’t find out until a month later when I’ve knit a disaster.)

So I’ve been working on smaller, less thought-and-labour-intensive projects until then. I finished my Daybreak:

And I bought some more sock yarn. As you do. This is Tanis Fiber Arts, in Midnight (bright blue) and Shadow (grey). I’ve completely butchered the colours of the yarn by taking photos of it inside my apartment before the sun is up, but they’re lovely and go wonderfully together and neither of them is weirdly yellow-green like the light is telling you.

It’s possible they’ll actually be socks (I’m thinking stripey) although it’s equally possible they’ll end up as more triangular shawls, because they really are addicting. (And they can also be stripey.) I’ve got my eye on Ulmus.

Maybe if I made my shawl really tiny, I could get away with both?

Song of the Entry: Meese – The Start Of It (Listen)

kick it up, let loose and lol

IMG_8083ps, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

I really am finishing these like it’s my job, aren’t I? This is my second Ishbel this month – each of them only took about a week, this is the fastest shawl on the entire planet – for myself, this time.

It’s knit from Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label fingering-weight, which is lovely and sheepy and hand-dyed in Canada, all of which are good things. The actual yarn isn’t quite as white as it looks in the photographs – it’s sort of a sandy grey-brown that’s really lovely and subtle, but I just couldn’t quite capture that with my camera.

This one blocked out to about the same size as the purple one from my last entry, but it sprung back down to the dimensions I expected once I took out the pins. I realize now, what made the other shawl grow so much was probably less related to the larger needle size and more related to bamboo’s tendency to sag and stretch out, since it doesn’t have the same “memory” as animal fibers.

Whatever, though – I’m still DEEPLY excited about wearing this (as a scarf, I feel too young for shawls over the shoulders) once it cools down in the fall.

Song of the Entry: Demi Lovato & Selena Gomez – One And The Same (Listen)

there are no good songs about moms that aren't about milfs

IMG_8071ps, originally uploaded by pirateygoodness.

Who has two thumbs and just finished blocking their first lace shawl? Me. The first Ishbel is blocked, and totally, totally gorgeous. It expanded a lot on blocking, and is now absolutely massive – measured on the blocking board, it was 150cm at the base of the triangle and 58cm tall, which is actually closer to the “large” size dimensions than the small. Going up a needle size obviously made quite a difference, but I sort of love the fabric I’ve got and wouldn’t have done it differently.

This one is not actually for myself, it’s a birthday present for my mother (who is a lovely woman but has not figured out the internet yet, so I can talk about this all I want), and I am ridiculously excited to give this to her. I do not know if I can hang onto this for the month until then.

Song of the Entry: Sorry, none today