knitting

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Almost finished frogging the Muir before I realized that I should at least take a photo. This yarn is Alfabeto from Art Fibers in San Francisco. It is 76% silk, 19% mohair, and 5% wool. It doesn’t rip out easily, and I sure hope I remember that little edge picots should be avoided in future unless I’m working with very smooth yarn! On the other hand, this yarn simply will not break no matter how much tugging I do! Two out every four rows begins in a picot which I have to tease apart with a blunt tapestry needle. I console myself that it is somewhat faster than the actual knitting!

If I need to supplement yarn to re-make this as a Swallowtail Shawl I will buy some coordinating Sylph.

Okay, I’m heading downstairs to start threading the clerical stole warp!

>I’ve gotten some great ideas from fellow knitters and friends on how to make lemonade with this Muir shawl! I feel nurtured by your sympathy and by the interesting ideas for how to save this project! For now, I’m just going to move on. I don’t give up easily on things, and sometimes I need a slap in the face to make me walk away from a project! I’m going to look at this hiatus as the gift of freedom to move on to other knitting and weaving!

But… if/when I come back to this project here is the idea that most appeals to me now: block the partial piece to a square, knit the lace edging, and have a little shawlette! Voila! Thank you, Lea Ann! (This idea is from my oldest friend who is not even a knitter!)

I am getting back on track with my little-man-in-the-boat-historical-piece (from one of the Devonshire Hunt tapestries). I’ve also warped and woven the hem and first border for my new tapestry. It’s not much to look at yet.

An update on my son’s friend Sarah who suffered the terrible accident back in the fall. She has mostly adjusted back to her regular life and does not have any noticeable brain impairment. Truly a miracle! She is staying in Rochester even though she is not in classes this semester. What an amazing recovery!

This morning there is heavy fog, and it is lovely! We are having some confused weather! It was as warm as April and just as sunny over the weekend, snow yesterday, and fog today. I’m thinking about the ground hog and Shrove Tuesday, and crocus, snow drops, and taking a moment to cut some forsythia!
When life hands you lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call me over!!

>Bad news in my inbox today. I cannot get any more yarn to finish my Muir shawl. Drat, drat, drat! I’m about halfway through the shawl, using a beautiful silk yarn from ArtFibers called Alfabeto in a somewhat strange space dyed colorway. The color has gradually grown on me. I don’t know why I thought I had enough of this yarn….
perhaps it was that the yarn had no ball band so over time I only imagined it was enough for a whole shawl? This shawl was to be for a friend. I need to think if there is any way to salvage what I have and somehow complete it.

This situation does NOT improve my mood. I’ve just spent some time looking at blogs of two people whose work inspires me. I was looking for a bit of cheering up and inspiration, and I got both….until that email arrived about the yarn.

I need to find a way to make lemonade out of this, but my mind is a blank….. knitting has not gone well for me lately!

>Those of us who celebrate Christmas arrive at the end of Thanksgiving with a bit of panic, don’t we? While I do have my fair share of shopping panic, my larger stress is the sudden realization that I intend to knit far more things than my hands are able to in the mere four weeks left to me. This year is no different, in spite of my best efforts not to start anything new.

I should have been done with that Muir shawl weeks ago. It looks so simple, and yet I’m beginning the fifth repeat and I simply cannot memorize that pattern. The lace is so spongey ( I don’t think that’s a word) I can’t see the pattern to determine if the YO/dec’s should slant left or right. So that keeps me enslaved to the chart. I’ve enlarged the chart so I can now at least read it without bringing it two inches from my eyes. I thought I’d gain some speed by making the chart big enough to glance at from a distance, so I could be in my comfy chair with the pattern placed on a nearby side table. I’m still not fast enough!

My Hild sweater is not sewn together yet. My future DIL’s sweater from last Christmas is still not done. I’m altering it for the second time (that means third time to knit, counting my innocent first endeavor just following the instructions). Actually, this time I have undone the entire sweater and am starting from scratch. Boy did that hurt!

And I’m not even going to consider working on my niece’s Marihone sweater. I will have to frog that back and redesign it. It will be fun to do, so I’d better not tackle that at this time of year or I’ll end up hating it.

I haven’t touched my historical tapestry in about a month now. I hope to get back to that next week. I hope to do all my holiday shopping online! I tried that last year, and it wasn’t overly successful, but hope is so constantly optimistic, and I do so hope to buy everything without ever leaving the house!

Let the roller coaster ride begin. I hope it will be more fun than scary!