Compare & Contrast

I remember doing an experiment in middle school in which we had to submerge our right hands into some fairly hot water and our left hands into some icy cold water. After a minute or so, we pulled our hands out and held both ends of a metal pipe at room temperature. To our warm right hands, the pipe felt cold, but to our cold left hands, the pipe felt warm. It's all relative, right?

I made the Akomeogi top using Louet Euroflax, and it was my first time using that yarn. My washed swatch, along with everything I'd read, helped me believe that the fabric would eventually get softer, but it was pretty tough working with that yarn on size 2's. I could only do short spurts at a time, and then I'd have to take a break and work on something else. By comparison, the other yarns I was using--Cascade 220 for Henrietta, Kathmandu DK for my husband's cardigan, and even Cotton Glace for Anemone--felt sooooo soft and luxurious! Since I was doing stranded colorwork with the Cascade 220, there were 2 layers, and it felt incredibly plushy and cloud-like, comparable to the best, fluffiest cashmere, LOL!

But just as the brain picks up on contrast, it can also learn to accommodate. By the time I made my way about 4" into the body of Akomeogi, I was getting used to the yarn, and I could work on it for longer periods of time. I felt I was making good progress, when I suddenly encountered a contrast that I could not ignore:


Yup, those would be 2 different colors of yarn. The cones shipped together and were individually wrapped in plastic. And no, I did not open them both up to check when I first got them. I was so anxious to start that I just opened up the first cone and away I went. When I finally thought to unwrap the second cone, I was crestfallen. I had already done about 8" of the body, but I had to stop--there was no point in going on if I couldn't get matching yarn. The store I ordered from was really great and eventually got me what I needed, but it took some time, and the project hibernated till the second yarn arrived. If I hadn't been doing this as a KAL with Sylphette (Rav link), I would have completely lost steam at that point. But thankfully, her progress helped inspire me to keep going, and now here's the result:



You can get all the excruciating details on Ravelry and in the gallery if you want them. I'm happy with this project and am now undeterred by the yarn. In fact, I am thinking about buying some more today for Vesper (Rav link) if my LYS has the color I want.

Knit Unto Others

As you know, most of my knitting is for myself. I'd like to think that I'm not selfish in general, but I am with my knitting. I guess I want to know that the final product will fit, will be useful, and will be appreciated. And if I make it for myself, then I know that it will be! I do get urges, though, to make gifts. A couple of Christmases ago, I did some marathon knitting and made something for just about everyone in my extended family. It was very gratifying, but I decided not to bunch it up like that again. So this year, I am trying to make things as gifts throughout the year, aiming for birthdays.

Henrietta went to my Grandmother, who really loved it! For my mom, I made a Flutter Scarf that I think is a nice accent to all the black & white in her wardrobe.


For more info on this FO, see Ravelry or the gallery.

I've got another gift on the needles. I am working on a cardigan for my husband, a la Jared Flood's Big Blue.


This will only be the second thing I've ever made for him. The first was a simple k3p3 ribbed scarf.


I think this was made from Reynold's Odyssey, but I'm not sure because it was one of my first projects and that was before I knew to keep track of such things. He likes it. He just doesn't wear it. We live in the South and he is just one of those people who never feel really cold. It doesn't occur to him to use a scarf (the only time he ever really wore scarves was when he lived in England). But the man does wear light jackets, so maybe the new sweater will get some use!

I have some other ideas going too but haven't cast on yet. I have 2 dress designs for my 3-year-old swirling around in my head, and an illusion scarf idea for the 9-year-old as well. And when I saw this hobby horse, I just knew I have to make it eventually.

Not All In My Head

Once upon a time, I was pretty decent at math. I could do all sorts of calculations in my head without working too hard at it. But now, 2 kids and multiple distractions later, I find it too taxing! So when I encountered the directions for the front section of Akomeogi, I realized there were just too many things going on at the same time for me to keep track of them all. On top of that, I wanted to make some mods and had to figure out how to make them work. So, I printed out some graph paper and drew myself a little diagram.


It's not a standard knitting chart, but it just helps me to know, row by row, where I decided to do the decreases, make the short-row pleats, and place the buttons. The diagram was a real lifesaver! (Or at least, a mind-saver). I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far. This picture is pre-blocking and pre-buttons. Now it's on to the sleeves.



P.S. Happy 4th of July to those of you in the States!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Soon after I learned to knit, I taught my then-5-year-old daughter to knit as well. She picked it up quickly and liked working alongside me, albeit only for a few minutes at a time :-)



But later that year, I got pregnant, got nauseous, and then quit knitting for 1-1/2 years because I had such a strong mental association with knitting and nausea. And my daughter, who is 9 now, stopped knitting altogether too. It surprised me, then, when she asked me to help her find a project to knit for her teacher as part of an end-of-year gift. She told me that after watching Mr. Magorium's Emporium, the teacher's young daughter fell in love with sock monkeys, so she wanted to knit them a sock monkey. This was not a very realistic option given our time frame, so we settled on a sock-monkey-inspired coffee cup sleeve. She set to work and knit this up gradually over the course of a couple of weeks. All I did was help with the sewing.



If you've got time to monkey around, you can check out more details on Ravelry and in the gallery.

On Track

You knew, didn't you, when I said back in the beginning of the month that I was just about to finish Emily, that I was jinxing myself. Right? Of course!

Wait a minute. You knew?! You could have warned me! :-) It's okay, though. I didn't really run into a problem per se, I just got distracted by other pretty shiny things. But over on Ravelry, I'm participating in the NaKniSweMoDo group --that's National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon--and I figured since It's the end of May, I'd better try to stay on track and finish up my 5th one. It’s not my best knitting, ‘cause I got sloppy in the front by the neckline :-( I blocked and fudged as much as I could after the fact ‘cause I really did not feel like redoing it. There are too many other interesting things to knit that are calling out to me!


More details are on Ravelry and in the gallery. And yes, I am getting a lot of mileage out of that J. Crew belt that I got to wear with Calm.