A Sheepish Fairy Tale

Once Upon A Time,
There was a knitter with a slight case of controlitis. You know what I mean. She's the kind of woman with a database for her patterns. The kind of woman who knows to a penny how much she spent on yarn this year. The kind of woman with rules -- no, let's not call them rules. Let's call them parameters which define her comfort zone.

And this woman's comfort zone turns to shit when she has projects on the needles numbering in the double digits.

So, when our intrepid knitter realized she had ten projects otn (plus the crapghan, which we never, ever discuss in polite circles), there was only one possible solution. Cancel all weekend plans. Go to the grocery store and lay in a three-day supply of nomz, then stop at the video store for a stack of dvds. Then drag all nearly completed knitting projects to the awesomely comfy knitting chair by the big tv, and GET THAT NUMBER INTO SINGLE DIGITS!!!

Ahem. Pardon me. I get a little twitchy when I'm outside my comfort zone.

And then there were Nine....

FO Report:
Sandesgarne Sisu Socks
Cast on April 7 or thereabouts.
Knit plain while reading manuscripts.
56 stitches around on size 1.5 US needles.

Not much to say. The yarn is sort of lofty and I'm concerned about how it will wear. It just has that sneaky look like it will felt if I take my eyes off it for two seconds. But we'll see.


Closing in on Eight....

I took this picture when the pieces were only half-pinned, so they look a bit wobbly here. And it was a little tricky to pin out the front piece with the bust darts, because the darts make the fabric 3-dimensional. But I did the best I could, and what the heck. I can always reblock it in sections if necessary.

But all that's left of this one is side seams, neckband and upper bodice trim. And weaving. And figuring out what to do about the curl in the fabric. My current preference is those tiny little lead balls they use on fishing lines.

Also, progress is being made on other projects. Stay tuned. This will be a weekend marathon of finishing stuff so I don't go all wacky.

How I Spent My Holiday Weekend

I'm calling these the lightning bolt socks because of the way the white bits pooled down the leg. Very cool. And I'm trying really, really hard NOT to think about whether the second sock will look anything like this. I think we already know the answer to that one. ::grinds teeth::

The yarn is Sisu, and it has the loftiness of the knitpicks sock yarn without that hard crunch. The knitpicks sock yarn tore my hands to shreds. This Sisu did not, not even close. I'd describe it as a slightly crunchier Baby Ull -- same loftiness, same hand and finish, but not quite as soft. I knit it to a medium-tight density to try to counteract some of that loftiness so the sock will wear better.

Anyway, this was the perfect thing to work on this weekend. I could take a handful of antihistamines and still knit without worrying that I would screw up the pattern. It's a plain sock. What could be easier or more relaxing?

Behold The Power of My Will

Remember when I said I wasn't going to cast on any more socks this month? Yeah. I remember that, too. Except, when I made that statement, I forgot two tiny details. First, I always want a plain sock on my desk to pick at while I'm reading submissions. And second, when it comes to statements expressing an intent to avoid knitting, I am a liar. I may say I won't knit this or that, or I won't buy yarn, or I won't cast on new things. But saying it ain't doing it. We ought to all know that by now. Me especially. Except somehow I don't understand this about myself, which makes me question just how smart I really am.

So I cast on the Sockotta sock above, thinking it would make an awesome desk sock. Except I hadn't knit to the first color change before I realized the truth about this yarn. It's about half cotton, meaning it's stable, not too stretchy, and it's knitting into a fine and dense fabric on size 0 needles. This means, for comfort's sake, I ought to make the sock ribbed all the way down to give it some stretch. Not plain. So this cannot be my desk sock. (And it will probably take nine years to knit it, given the whole size 0 thing.) (You'd think I would have learned a lesson from the penelope socks, which secretly unknit themselves at night. Curse of the size 0s and all. Again, me = not so smart about some things.)

Can we all see where this is going yet?



























Yep, those would be my new desk socks. The yarn is Sisu, and I love the way it feels. I can't wait to wear them. All I want to do is knit! And knit and knit! That's how lovely this yarn is.

And just like that, I have three pairs of socks OTN again.