Spit Decision

Well, there I was in the car line to pick up my daughter. School had not actually let out yet, so it was going to be at least another 15 minutes before I could move anywhere. Perfect time to knit! I had Anise with me, which uses Rowan Big Wool. This is a great yarn, but there are only 87 yards in each ball. That means that you end up having to get a new ball fairly frequently. And as luck would have it, I was at a place where I needed to join in a new ball of yarn. What to do, what to do? If I left ends to be woven in, it wouldn't look very good with such bulky yarn. I had been using a felted join, and I usually use water from the faucet to achieve this. But I had no water with me. I had a juice box, but I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to saturate my yarn ends with apple juice. So the only liquid I had with me? Spit. Now, many people swear by it and argue that the pH of spit helps to make a more secure felted join than regular water, etc. But I don't live in a community that condones much public spitting, so I was in a quandary. Should I? Shouldn't I? I looked around. A fellow parent standing on the sidewalk smiled and waved. I sheepishly returned the social exchange and waited till she turned her attention elsewhere. Another quick look around, and then I quickly tried to surreptitiously spit on my yarn. But no, it was not enough. So I had to muster up the courage to hawk another wad of spit. And another. There. Done!

For a couple of days, I was paranoid that my daughter would come home and tell me she was socially devastated because some friend heard from some teacher who heard from someone's mom that I had been spitting in my car. Luckily, that hasn't happened. Yet. For my courage, Mother Nature rewarded me with a quick cold snap. Not only is it a break from the 80-degree whether we've been having, but it is also a chance to actually wear Anise. (Don't worry, it's been washed)


As always, more info in the gallery and on Ravelry.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Knitting...

I have not been knitting as much lately. This is mostly because I've developed an unhealthy fascination with the election*. I had never been a political junkie (and this is knitting blog, so I'm not going to expound on my political views here), but the election news keeps permeating into my consciousness and cutting into my fiber time!

That's not to say I've abandoned knitting altogether, though. I have been working on the hoodie from Classic Elite's Make It Modern booklet.



I've finished both the front and the back pieces and am blocking them. I plan to sew them up at the shoulders and start working on the hood next, but I have to wait for the blocked pieces to dry. In the meantime, I started Sarah Hutton's Anise. This pattern is from Rowan New Shapes and was also featured Simply Knitting. It is a quickie project on size 15 needles. I managed to finish up the back in a few hours while surfing political sites on the web!



* P.S. For those of you similarly afflicted with an election addiction, I offer you a bit of entertainment here.

Brave New Worlds

I have been dabbling with a bit of international knitting lately. Let's take a tour, shall we?

From the UK, I got Kim Hargreave's new book, Nectar (actually, I got it from Kristen, who got it from the UK). I have started on Jasmine. It's lovely so far, but whether or not I'll ever actually finish a whole top on size 2's remains to be seen. I am using OnLine Java, which I had originally intended for Maude, from the new-ish UK online mag, The Inside Loop. However, the yarn was really really wrong for that project, so it got redesignated.


I also got a copy of the UK magazine Simply Knitting. This is the January 2008 issue that has Anise, which was also in Rowan New Shapes.


I got this pink Rowan Big Wool for it and am tempted to work on it even though it's in the 90's outside, simply as a diversion from knitting on those size 2's! Anyway, it's the first time I've read this magazine. I would love to be able to browse through the issues, and my bookstore does sell them, but they always come packaged in plastic because they contain some sort of "extra," like stitch markers or something. I'd rather not have the Cracker Jack prizes and instead be able to see the projects first before deciding whether or not to buy, thank you!

From Germany is the new English version of Verena. I had seen scattered references to it before on Ravelry, but when I first visited their website, all they had was a subscription number. After reading Jillian's great review, I went back to the site, and this time, they listed several retailers that were carrying the magazine. I was able to find it at my Barnes & Noble (but not Border's) and even my HEB grocery store! Interestingly, the instructions are in the middle section of the magazine. If you pick it up and flip through it, remember to flip past the instructions to see more pictures. The pattern I like best is this one, which is from the full-figured knits section. I'd have to resize it, but I like the lines.


From that same magazine, I saw this Soak ad featuring an adorable yellow little girl's dress. I followed their links and emailed the Danish company that was supposed to be selling the pattern, but I was told that there had been a problem with the pattern and it was no longer available. I was disappointed, but I like the idea of a fun, floral-inspired, brightly-colored dress so much that I cast on for this one for Baby.


I'm not trying to make it look like the original, but I do want to make it look like a flower. I have a general concept in mind but am kinda making it up as I go along, so we'll see where that gets me.

Next up is a visit to Japan. I ordered this Let's Knit! booklet from YesAsia.


It arrived in a few weeks and is such a treat! All of the designs are beautiful, but I got the book for this one in particular.


Stop for a minute and go see this spectacular finished one--it's worth it! I have to work myself up to the idea of learning enough to be able to translate these patterns, but even if I don't, the book is great inspiration.

We'll conclude our little world tour in Portugal. I am new to the idea of Portuguese knitting, but these YouTube videos have been really helpful. I'm mostly interested in it as a new way to purl. I've explored other ways before, but this will be a new experience!