Knittn' Yarns

Blocking

Well the trip to Portland was very nice. I can hardly believe that it didn't rain. The past two times we have visited the Pacific Northwest it was nothing but rain. Besides the great weather and friends, I sadly did not get any knitting done.

Also, I made the mistake of not bringing an additional project with me. What was I thinking? All that time on the plane with nothing to do, it was driving me completely bananas. I was going to make my first lace project, a simple shawl from Elann. Well that sure was a mistake. I guess I have no idea how to do yarn-overs correctly, even when referencing my handy knitting guide book. I tried three unsuccessful attempts before I decided I should put the alpaca aside and wait until I can practice on some crummy yarn. I really liked knitting with the alpaca, but it does not frog very well. With each frog, the yarn became fuzzier and I feared it would fuzz into nothingness.

I am leaving out one more vital detail. I was nursing a killer hang over the morning we flew out. It is just so hard not to start vacation a day early. Will I ever grow up?

So I spent the rest of my vacation thinking about all the projects waiting for me at home. I guess it is good I spared my friends my anti-social knitting behavior. I just can’t help it, if I spend a couple of hours in a car I feel I should be knitting.

I was even half tempted to force my companions to bring me to a LYS, but I just did not have the heart. I knew I would be in there perusing the selections and boring those who do not knit. I guess if I can’t share my excitement about yarn with my friends, I would just prefer to be excited all by myself. My dirty little secret, dirtly little yarn secret.

Well after thinking about all my knitting projects, I got home and began to block Kevin’s sweater. Man, I used my new steamer and it works so slick for blocking. Much better than immersing your pieces in water. Not to mention that my living room rug worked so great for pinning the project. I just put towels down over the carpet and pinned the pieces through the towels. Being my first experience with this process, I also discovered how much my kitties love to sit on the sweater's damp pieces. Damn cats, oh well, they are too cute to punish. I covered up the pieces with a sheet and set some books around the edges. I just hope the pieces don’t get that mildew smell.

So I guess I will need to start a different project now that the shawl is going to be more work than I thought. I think I will order the yarn I need for the Tubey sweater from Elann. They just restocked, so now they have all my colors in. However, I think I may just make a solid color sweater. Whatevs! I should run instead of rambling.

posted by Kelly @ Wednesday, March 08, 2006