Clapotis: October 2004 Archives
I do so love hand dyed yarn. But sometimes it does gives you surprises. Once again, my camera tells a story that my eyes didn't see.
Can You Spot the Second Problem?
Yup. The second skein is darker than the first skein. I'm not really all that disturbed by this, because when this scarf knit on the bias is wrapped around my neck it's not going to be so easy to see.
Can you spot her second problem? This one has nothing to do with yarn and everything to do with my ability to count. One of those stockinette regions between the dropped stitches is composed of 6 stitches instead of 5. I didn't notice this problem until I got to the decreasing across this region and realized that I needed one more decrease than I should have needed to get to the point where I was dropping a stitch. To fix it I would have had to rip back almost to the beginning. Um, Sorry, No. Not for something that curves around on itself. I'm invoking the galloping horse rule here and moving on.
There's one final problem -- one that you probably won't be able to see from the picture. The first skein of yarn got me through the increases and about 2 intervals of straight knitting. The second skein got me almost through 7 more intervals. The problem? I have 4 more straight intervals to go before the decreasing component -- in other words, I'm short by about 2 intervals. This is a little surprising since my gauge is pretty close. Even after I changed from the grippy bamboo needles to the nice slick Inox that I stole from Fitzgerald.
BummerBummerBummer. What's a girl to do?
Send off a quick email to her favorite fiber enabler, of course, and cross her fingers and hope she's built up some good karma. And then wait.
I lucked out completely this time -- ThreadBear had one last skein of this dye lot lurking in their bins. I won't be finishing Clapotis this weekend, but at least I'll be able to get her finished. I'm a very happy camper!
What will I do with all that extra yarn? Well, I'm beginning to wonder what Clapotis might look like if she had some fringe...now that I've done my multi-directional scarf, I think I have fringe on the brain.
Want to see another Clapotis in progress with a different kind of yarn? Silvia's doing her "Clapper" in a Morehouse Merino lace weight yarn. Completely different look, completely lovely.
...but that doesn't mean that I didn't get to spend the weekend with some sheep! John and I were out doing a little shopping this weekend and one of our stops was at the Expo Design Center where I found these little guys on sale:
Normally I'm pretty good at saying no to things that need to be dusted, but I just couldn't resist these pudgy ceramic sheep. So now they will be sitting on my night stand helping to ensure pleasant fibery dreams.
And speaking of fiber, I did get a little knitting done as well. I should have been working on trying to get off sleeve island, but those Margaritas that Becky brought over (how did she know that margaritas are my greatest weakness!) left me unable to do much but lay on the beach and soak up the sun.
While on Sleeve Island, I've also been monitoring the Chicago weather report. The news for October? Cold weather has arrived -- but not weather so cold that I need the arctic insulation of a heavy wool sweater. Instead, it's perfect fancy scarf with my denim jacket weather. So it was Clapotis and my mulit-directional scarf that got the most attention. In fact, I actually made it to the point in Clapotis where I got to start dropping stitches. Take a look:
Click Here to See The Dropped Stitches Up Close
I think Clapotis is going to be something of a big, bulky girl, but divinely soft. The Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb is too soft for words -- and not the least bit itchy when I put it near my skin. My only complaint? She's still quite a bit of knitting from completion. I'm still early in the second skein. And all the twisted stitches in the knit row slow me down a great deal.
I was hoping to announce the winners of my "Where in the World?" contest, but over the weekend my trusty home desktop computer decided that it did not like the new graphics card my husband was trying to install for me so I could have a better experience with Myst IV Revelation. The motherboard more or less up and died. Fortunately, the harddrives are fine (we think). Unfortunately, I can't tell you who's getting that sock yarn in the mail, because I don't have all the entries on my lap top. I can tell you that there definitely were a couple of people who got all the answers right, I just can't tell you exactly who they are right now.
So just where in the world was I?
Well, those of you living in Europe definitely had an advantage in this contest! My trip started in Frankfurt, Germany, courtesy of Lufthansa. After a bit of a drive, I ended up in Constance (Konstanz), Germany -- just on the border of Germany and Switzerland. This area was a lovely location, but the grey cloudy weather meant I didn't get to see it's real beauty. The next day I spent the afternoon in Lausanne, Switzerland (the Lake Geneva area is truly magnificent) before driving back to Germany so that I could be in Ludwigshafen am Rhein in the morning. I added a third country to my European tour by spending the night in Zeist in the Netherlands. I also got a short trip through Cologne before arriving back in Frankfurt for my return flight home.
It was a really lovely trip -- even though I was there on business, it was hard for me not to fall in love with Germany (Swizterland and the Netherlands were lovely, too, but I wasn't in either one of them long enough to form too much of an opinion beyond enjoying the scenery). Certainly it made me wish I could rememeber some of my German from high school.
The terrain in the part of the company that I drove through reminded me a great deal of Michigan and Wisconsin. I think it goes without saying that I drank my share of excellent beer as part of the trip. No yarn stores, though. As you might imagine from my description, I spent most of my time in the car. Would I go back again? Absolutely! I'd really like to see Berlin and Munich and go back to the German wine country when the weather was a little nicer.
Tschüss!
This picture is really going to seem like a cheat. It looks almost the same as the last picture of Fitzgerald. In fact, it is almost the same, except for the inch at the top and the bind off. But it was such a large expanse of knitting, I just have to document meeting the back completion milestone.
Will I set sail for Sleeve Island next? Maybe. It depends on how many kir royale are waiting for me when I get there with Butterfly.
I seem to be in one of those moods where I just can't keep myself from starting new projects. As a gesture of appreciation to all those who understand my strange need to show that I got that extra inch of Fitzgerald finished, I thought I would show off the other projects that I've been working on.
I've been in a scarfy mood lately. I'm about 6 rows away from letting those stitches drop in my Clapotis. Knitting with the Lion and Lamb really does make me a happy knitting camper. So incredibly soft. And no unpleasant color pooling yet. It's a little disturbing how much I am looking forward to letting those stitches drop out. The acts of both creation and destruction in one garment.
I think the Diadomina is going to give some of my Noro yarn a run for its money. It is so incredibly soft and I love the subtle sparkly shimmer in the yarn. It wasn't until I put it next to Clapotis that I realized that I have an unnatural attraction to purple, blue and green lately.
Today is the last day to send me answers to my "Where in the World..." contest. Don't miss out on your chance to snag some fun sock yarn!
