Everybody Loves Saturday Night

for those who asked

I bought a refurbished Brother XL 2600 sewing machine from Overstock.com. It was the machine that received the most praise without being priced over what I felt I could spend. Most of the comments indicated that this would be a good machine for a beginner (which I am, a complete novice, because I never could figure out how to work the damn cordless one I bought three years ago) but the comment that sold me was from the person who claimed to never have sewn anything before getting the machine and found it incredibly easy to use.  This was enough for me, the person who couldn't handle a freakin' toy sewing machine.

My mom emailed me yesterday about something unrelated and then asked, "Did you really buy a sewing machine?" I told her yes, and she said, "Well, you'll need to start looking for patterns and fabric. Mmmmm...stash enhancement."

Which was funny, because Michael's reaction one might expect to be something along the lines of "Oh noes, a more different kind of stash!"  But it wasn't at all. When I told him, "I may have ordered a sewing machine," he said, "Yay!"

Now, on to the famous original stash and what I plan to add to it this weekend. Not a lot, frankly, though I leave myself open to the possibility that I will buy more than I think I will. I usually tend to do this. But this year I have specific goals. I joined a mystery shawl group (damn you, Ravelry!) called Mystic Waters, and while normally I wouldn't bother with matching theme to color (example: my Peacock Feathers shawl is purple), I actually would like this shawl to be a deep ocean blue, if possible. If I can't find something suitable at Rhinebeck, I can use some lime green laceweight I acquired a few months ago as a gift.

I also want to look for yarn to make the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I'm thinking an olive green, maybe? Or a russety sort of color?

Other than that, I am far more excited to get to hang out with people I haven't seen in far too long.

insomnia is dangerous

I am not a regular sufferer of insomnia. This means I don't have doctor-prescribed pills to help me sleep. My sleep habits are not ideal at the moment; whether it's job-related stress or Scout's over-persistence, I have been waking up around 5:30 am. If it's a good morning, I can sleep until 6:30. And that's OK with me, really, even though it means that I check out around 9:30 at night. Sometimes I can stretch out the evening to 11. But then I wake up at 5:30 the next morning, and the day is shot because I'll be incredibly tired. The latest development? I have trouble napping! I've never had trouble napping before. Again, I think this is a job-related issue. I can't turn my mind off.

But essentially what I just did is take a 4.5-hour nap. I got off the couch and into bed at about 10 pm last night, and then woke up rather abruptly at 2:30. Could not make myself go back to sleep. Tried reading (this usually works--I'll read a page and be out). At 3:30, I figured that as long as I was up, I might as well be productive. I have a writing assignment to work on (have I mentioned that I am freelancing? In fact, my first-ever article as a freelancer is out right now, in the fall issue of Interweave Crochet) (funny how I put that key bit of info in a parenthetical, eh? Not something I would do in an article!) so I put in some work on that. This work included the purchase of a book that I think will help research-wise. And that's when things got dangerous.

It may be that lack of sleep, while it dulls my response time, reflexes, and ability to string a coherent sentence together (at least while talking--with writing it may take several attempts to correctly spell a work. I mean wort. Worf. Word), heightens other senses, like online shopping satisfaction. Once the worl work-related purchase was made, I thought, "That felt good. What else can I buy?"

Actually, that's not entirely how it happened. I will admit that lately my creativity has felt, once again, stifled. I actually contemplated spending a week, or even a month, away from the knitting, because I thought that maybe my routine of sitting in front of the TV while knitting is contributing to this rut. Maybe I would feel replenished if I branched out into other, non-fiber arts media. Maybe it would help my writing.

In the midst of my online writing-related research, I came across a blog, Alma Stoller, that offered a tutorial on fabric painting. Wow, I thought, that looks cool. I could do that. It would be fun. From there my thoughts went to "I could paint designs on fabric that I could then make into curtains" and from there I went to "if I could only get my handheld cordless sewing machine to work" and from THERE I went to "fuck it, I should just buy a real sewing machine."

Which should arrive next week.

disappointing sock

I needed a mindless sock to work on while commuting, in line, at boring meetings, you know the drill. I settled on Lorna's Laces Camouflage that I picked up at Rhinebeck a couple years ago--in honor of the restashing of yarn this year's Rhinebeck will produce.

I aspired to knit knee-highs--just simple, stockinette knee-highs with a wee bit of ribbing at the top. Camouflage colors demanded it.

So I pulled out my Addi US1 long cable to magic loop the first sock, going toe-up using the Turkish Cast-On, which incidentally is my favorite cast on now. It is incredibly easy and less fussy than the crochet cast on I used to use for toe-up socks. There's a wonderful tutorial on the Web--I'm sure you've seen it already--written up by FluffyKnitterDeb.  And yes, it is just as easy  if not more so to work this cast on with the magic loop method.

Where was I? Yes--I chose the US 1s because I had great success with them in knitting the purple/green Lorna's Socks--the stripes came out really well, no pooling.

I did not take into account the possibility that three colors would not behave the same way as two. I got through the toe and was not pleased with the result. This is one side:

I know, it's just the toe, but it doesn't get my hopes up for what the foot and leg will look like. And even though I know I could make this the heel side and hence completely unseen, this is what I would be left with as the top:

It starts out OK at the top of the toe, but then splits into two camps: the black/green and the brown/green. Me no likey.

I have two choices: try it on 0s (which I would need to buy) or find a pattern that will disrupt the pooling.

I am completely taken with the Rainbow Socks pattern in the latest Magknits. How do you think the short rows will look with three colors, instead of self-striping multi-colors? I think I'm going to have to experiment.

It will involve math (sidenote: anyone remember Murphy Brown, and that one guy who was dumb as a post? One of the very few exchanges I remember from this show is "Let me ask you a question." "Does it involve math?") if I want to attempt to adapt this pattern to my original desire, knee-highs. Except short rows eat up yarn, don't they. Hmm. Well, let's see what I can do.

And as I teased you earlier with the tip of Scout's tail, here's his better side:

He looks thoroughly bored.

oh, i've been around

If I go silent here for more than a week or so, it's a good bet that I'm blogging more over on the group TV blog (well, more like a duet these days, but that's fine. We're having fun with it). There's been a lot of really good TV to write about these days. I think my favorite new show is Pushing Daises, but I am also fond of Reaper, Dirty Sexy Money, and Journeyman.

Work--what else? has been taking up most of my waking moments.

I have been knitting, but my work hasn't been very photographic. Last month I started CeCe, and now it's almost finished, but it's hard to take decent pictures of it without exerting more effort than I can at the moment. The best picture I took is a cropped shot of the lace on the body, when I was about seven inches into it.

It is going to look much better blocked.

I'm using Karabella Frost, which is a cashmere/silk/viscose blend that has a gorgeous sheen and beautiful drape but is for some reason fairly hard on my hands to knit with. I bought 10 balls of it at a WEBS closeout sale a couple years ago--maybe a year ago. During my massive bout of stash cleaning I decided to see what I could use it for. I had thought to use it for Bonne Marie's new-ish Miss Dashwood, but I would only have needed half of the Frost for that. Then I looked at CeCe.

Now, this was a pattern that I thought was nice from the beginning, but it didn't grab me the way so many ChicKnits patterns have. Not sure why, really, or that there has to be a reason--some patterns speak to me, some don't. But there was something about the possibility of pairing THIS pattern with THIS yarn that again, like Kew, made sense. I knew I would have enough yarn to make CeCe with 3/4 sleeves, and add an inch or two to the body length.

It's a different relationship than I usually have with my knitting projects. This is probably fodder for its own post, but it seems as though they fall into different categories: the can't live without, love every minute of it, wear them all the time projects (Butterfly comes to mind); the Old Reliables (most of my socks); and the ones that start out so promising but come to disappoint (the Go With The Flow sock I started in Trekking...bad idea). CeCe in Frost is more like I started it not to have the sweater but to use up the yarn. I mean, I wanted the sweater, and I thought it would be a good early fall sweater, but I started it without the passion I can sometimes have for projects. And now that I'm nearing the end, I find myself really liking the way it's coming together. I am looking forward to wearing it, with jeans, skirts, anything. I think I'm going to follow fall fashion and pair it with a gold button.

Swallowtail: fini

Remember this?

Swallowtail Shawl, from Interweave Knits Fall 2006. I started this right after finishing a shawl for my mom (which I was supposed to bring to her last month when I came to visit but I couldn't get away, so I will mail it, soon, ok mom?) and completed the actual knitting part very quickly--under two weeks, if memory serves. But then I held off blocking it because I wanted to get wire blockers.

Months passed. Still don't have the blockers. So I brought out the T-pins and blocked the sucker old school. And I learned something: blocking gray yarn on a gray board is a very painful process.

(those are squares #25 and 26 of the Mitred Square Afghan, by the way. Out of 80. Progress on that is slow, but steady.)

When I finished this shawl initially, I didn't think it would be something I would wear. I liked it well enough, but it didn't really grab me--and the color is a bit too...I don't know. Conservative? Neutral? Something. But then I wrapped it around my shoulders and looked in the mirror and wow--this shawl looks so much better on than it does off. Unfortunately, my photographer is at an early morning class, so you'll have to make due with a couch shot (with the ends hanging out there):

The Yarn is Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Smoke, double stranded. I used two skeins, but not all of them. I have quite a bit left over, in fact. It's a very, very soft yarn, and now it smells great, thanks to Soak Aquae.

Detail:

Nupps: absolutely worth it. They are so pretty.

Extreme close up:

I am pleased.