17 May 2006

Knitting Update

Green Gable is almost done. I have ends to weave in, then blocking. When I try it on I look like a lumpy sausage; I'm hoping that blocking will take care of this, since it isn't really the effect I was aiming for. If it blocking helps I will post pictures. If not, I will stuff it in the back of a drawer.

I took sock yarn on our weekend trip. I took needles. About 20 minutes into the trip I realized that the needles I took were the wrong size for the sock yarn I had brought along. So, for the next 4.5 hours I knit on Green Gable ... row after row of stockinette on circular needles. I fell asleep at one point.

We were visiting relatives, and I didn't do any knitting once we arrived at our destination. After all, I was pretty sure I would be tempted to ram my knitting needles repeatedly in my ears to puncture my eardrums and possibly lobotomize myself if I had to listen to the inane political opinons want to pay attention to the erudite political disourse and witty repartee.

The only knitting related incident was going to the The Farm at Prophetstown, where we saw the sheep being sheared (we also milked cows, ate cookies fresh from the farmhouse oven, saw baby pigs, watched a blacksmith, and petted barn cats -- it's a hoppin' place). KidV2 really wanted to get the fleece, clean, card and spin it. I asked the barn workers what they would do with the fleece ... they said they didn't know. A couple of years ago some of the volunteers prepared and spun the fleece, but they hadn't heard what the plan was this year. I took a handful of the fleece with me as we left. When we had been in the fresh air a while I waved it under KidV2's nose, and explained that that's why we didn't try to get the entire fleece, stuff it in a bag, and tote it 5 hours in the car back home with us. Really, though, we're primed to get a fleece now. A reasonably CLEAN fleece. If you have any thoughts on where to get one, let us know. We also need carders.

When we got home there was a package of Bee Stripe sock yarn awaiting me. Good thing I hadn't started any new socks at the beginning of the trip, since this is for a present, and has rocketed to top priority.

1 comment:

GailV said...

Yes, I do like colors that bold, although these are not for me (black and gold are favored by the Purdue grads of the family; I made a black and gold moebius scarf last year).

If you think this is bold, you should see some of the store-bought socks we have around here. My favorites are the ones that literally glow in the dark. I'm generally mild-mannered in dress, but favor gaudy accessories (think of skeleton earrings that dangle down to your shoulders, that sort of thing).