it’s a white whirled

Posted on annePosted in designing, projects

i find it amusing that the squirrels and feral cats stay on the walkways as they prowl around our yard during the night.
yep, it’s snowing, finally—in fact we’re supposed to get over six inches of it tonight. and it’s looking like it means business—the sky is a low hood of gloomy cloud, the snowflakes are getting bigger and thicker, and cars are starting to slip out there. that means some shoveling is in my future but i’m still glad to see it.

still plugging away on the big secret project but i think i’m going to finish it tonight. i will travel with a much more relaxed mind next week having completed it, yay.

socks are providing a little variety in my knitting life, though

i’m plowing right through the second poppy sock—i better get busy writing the pattern. they knit up so much faster than i expected . . which is good, because since i started them i’ve had a clear picture in my mind that they should go to a certain recipient. finishing and getting them right out in the mail feels so much more festive than keeping them to gift at some appropriate future date, like a birthday—why is that?

meanwhile, i’ve had the original poppy sock on hold, waiting for me to decide whether i to finish it or restart in a different pattern. i decided today that i’m going to find a better motif to show off pretty soft striping in this yarn. i like it in this sock but i know there is a pattern out there that’s just better. hopefully i’ll find it in time to cast on and take the knitting along to san diego next week. if not, i’ll bring david’s grandpa socks (or maybe i’ll bring those anyway . . . they are truly mindless).

suddenly our traveling is nearly upon us and i’m feeling some urgency to get organized for it. that is, i need to plan exactly what i’ll be knitting for the week we’ll be away, wrap up any loose ends here at the ranch before i leave (hence the mad dash to finish what’s on the needles). and get several new things cast on before i leave. oh, and write a couple of patterns. heh.

i’m planning on taking two three sock projects, a small secret project, the wiggle scarf, and a yet-to-be-determined scarf project. we haven’t had a little nothing on the needles in a while, and i’m feeling the itch—they make such great traveling companions, too.

and i have several nice yarns waiting in the wings for that purpose

sylvie, from fibre isle, makers of the luxurious mooi yarn that i used to knit elm row, sent me some samples of their newest fiber blends to test drive and i’ve been itching to take one out to play. these are all blends of bison, cashmere and/or seacell fibers. i can’t decide which to try first; i’ll be mulling that over the next couple of days. a new neckwarmer would also be a good thing . . .

another yarn that i want to play with is from kristine at a verb for keeping warm

that one on the left? it’s an alpaca/silk blend soft as a cloud and i want a big scarf knit from it. it might not be a good traveling project though, so maybe after i get back i’ll play with that.

i got sidetracked from my WIPs the other day by doing some of the mending i said i would do (even though that job could totally have waited—i won’t need heavy wool socks in san diego) with mixed results

replacing the heels on the cream socks proved totally do-able—i snipped a stitch in the top row of the old heel, pulled out that row, and unraveled the whole short-row section (this is one nice advantage of the short-row heel) so that i basically had a tube with a slash across it. i picked up the stitches on either side of the slash on three DPNs and reknit an afterthought heel into the space.

this time i used a sturdier alpaca/wool handspun that should hold up a bit better.

the other mending project is not faring so well

my original plan was to pick at the hole till i could ascertain the number of involved stitches and rows, get them on the needles and reknit the section while simultaneously grafting the sides to the unaffected stitches. this would have worked great if it was a matter of one torn thread in the center of a hole, but in fact, this is a real tear that involves six loose ends over three rows that are five stitches across. and it’s ragged—some of the side stitches are half-torn so that finding viable ones to attach too is trying my patience. it’s a mess, actually. i played with it for about an hour and then threw it aside to work on my other sock and think.

and there it lays.

but today while i was emailing with hattie i had a brainstorm on another option i hadn’t though of. the tear is just a few inches up from the toe; i could take off the whole forefoot section (maybe four inches, tops), pick up a complete round beyond the tear, and reknit. that would take me about an hour—lots less time than figuring out a patch and executing it (for me mending is all about time, not process).
and in this case, if i wanted, i could just knit three or four rounds and reattach the whole toe by grafting (i don’t mind grafting at all if i have viable stitches).

far be it from me to have come up with that solution earlier—it would have been done by now.

i have another WIP that needs to become and FO, but i’m not sure i can do it before we leave

remember that i ran out of yarn before i could do pockets for david’s sweater?
well, my good friend chris rescued us (giving us yet another reason to love her to pieces) and it looks like we shall have pockets, indeed.

see that little swatch? i sent it to her after christmas and she sent me back that skein which looks to be an identical match for the colorway. believe me, achieving this is much harder than it looks, but she really pulled through—how cool is she??

so now i need to skein it up, mark out the sweater for pockets and knit us some squares and rectangles (those will be for the flaps). then the sweater will truly be finished.

that’s quite a list of things i need to get done; time for me to go do them.
(and yay, we just decided to stay home instead of doing an errand—score one for the snow)

29 thoughts on “it’s a white whirled”

  1. we are getting the same storm tonight too. I’ll be glad to cover up the ugly greys!
    I love that second sock yarn…what is it?

  4. Oh my, I’m lusting after your new yarns, expecially tht pale blue alpaca silk.
    And if David doesn’t want that sweater, I sure do love it, with our without pockets!!!
    Safe driving!

  5. I’m loving the poppy socks, esp the short-row heel, I can knit that! and I agree with you that it is not the best pattern for your striped yarn. It is gorgeous in the red!

    And it is always nice to see another picture of David in his sweaters 🙂

    hope you have a great trip.

  6. i had exactly that thought about unannounced gifts at random occasions this morning– i started scheming about knitting a sweater for a friend’s baby in order to use up some stash yarn, and i thought it would be much more fun to just mail it off rather than wait for the kid’s actual birthday. when you wait for gift-giving occasions you run into the whole reciprocity-thing and you can unwittingly create obligations. but when you gift at random, it feels kind of magical & liberated from those kinds of cycles. 🙂

  7. Your level of productivity impresses me. Maybe you were born with knitting needles in your hands, or maybe the early morning hours find you asleep with a project still clutched in your hands.

  9. poppy socks. stunning, and a must make, for sure….. now my only dilemma is which one of these new patterns to buy first!
    heh heh 6 inches of snow would have my city shut down, but yours will most likely not even pause 🙂
    Have a safe journey to San Diego.

  11. I am anxiously awaiting to see how you mend the hole(s) in your sock. My favorite pair of socks ended up with a hole just like yours on the bottom of my foot. For now, the sock sits patiently and lonely on my ironing board while I continue to contemplate how to fix it. It happens to be a Smokin’ sock knit out of fearless fiber yarn and I can’t bare the idea of parting with it.

  12. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Four more FREAKIN’ Days!!!!!!! Can’t wait. The Santa Ana’s have just rolled in, and it’s supposed to be 85 tomorow. We can’t wait to roll out the red carpet. Even Kade is asking specifically WHICH day you and David are coming. He’s got new critters to show you. sam’s got new project’s to show, Cole has new volleyball moves for you, and Rex has a new drum solo. We are all excited. PS – how the heck do you make those dang socks so fast??? Aren’t they one 1’s??? I dont’ get that Anne. . . . What am I missing here????

  13. Anne – what is that beautiful self-striping yarn?? I look forward to any pattern with that!!

  16. Have a wonderful trip – sounds like a fun packed one! You will really enjoy A Verb yarns – I have two (lace weights) of them and they knit so wonderfully. I’m anxious to see what transpires with A Verb yarns!

  17. You found our snow!!! 🙂

    I’m lusting after those poppy socks!

    I can’t wait to see what the new yarns become…those bison blends are ever so lovely!

    Stay warm, write fast (please), and happy knitting in your white whirled!!

  18. I’ve been a dyer for about 15 years…that is RIDICULOUSLY difficult to do! We need to build a yarny temple to Chris and bow to her excessive greatness!

  19. That’s a lot of getting ready to do! Chris is a dyeing goddess — I can’t imagine how she does it, but it looks like she nailed that one right on the head! Good luck with everything; I can’t wait to see what you decide to do with all of that lovely yarn 🙂

  23. oh, i’m so glad i don’t have to go anywhere this weekend – all that snow! i’m drooling over those yarns though…they look absolutely wonderful. constant temptation on this site…

  24. Awesome that you can now make pockets! The sweater is gorgeous without, can’t wait to see it re-finished.

    We’re getting a storm tonight!

  26. Glad to read that Chris came to the rescue so that David could have pockets! Again, the sweater is stunning! Deciding on what knitting to bring on a trip is always such a dilemma…but well worth the brain ponder.

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