I Should Have Called; I Should Have Written ...

... but I have been incapable of doing anything but knit. Knit. Knit. Knit.

But what glorious results. I have a real sweater.

Onyx Heather. That's a fancy way of saying "charcoal gray ALMOST boring enough to make you want to cry but just enough specks of lighter gray to keep you marginally sane." Especially when you are fantasically proud of yourself for producing such a fine example of knitted woolen wear in a particularly adult size.

Really. It WILL be adult size when complete. Really. I hope.

I knitted 770 yards of worsted weight Onyx Heather over the course of a week.

Child added for scale.

I knit at home.






I knit on the trolley. I knit in the movie theater.

Now I'm out of yarn. And you all know why I've been so quiet. I've been besotted with myself. And my very fine sweater.

Get Me Out of the City - Quick!!

Knitting is a very tactile craft. It's amazing how a thin little wisp of yarn being drawn across you finger and knit into the fabric of your piece can feel so different one yarn to the next. This is no secret to knitters who pay sometimes exorbitant prices for particular silks, cashmere ... and the new favorite: alpaca.

Alpaca is divine the way it floats, softer than cashmere, warmer than wool.

And pricey. So I figure: why not just go straight to the source:

That's right. I will cure my desire to get out of the city and my hunger for yummy yarn all in one fell swoop. I'll be an alpaca farmer.

Of course I'll need to move out of the city, find a job to support my habit, wait until the kids are done with school ... there's lots of planning involved. but doesn't it sound marvelous??

I think I need a vacation.

Sweater Saga

Every once in a while, inspiration strikes and I decide to continue down the Path of Crazed Knitting. Could be the wee hours between 2 and 5 and all of the books I drag to work with me. Could be the chill in the air, begging for turtlenecks and cozy wool sweater. It might even be the yearning for the quiet, rural, farm-like atmosphere of my childhood (am I really old enough to have "way back when" memories?) Whatever it is, working yarn into wearable shapes


Over the past few weeks, I have made several "model" sweaters to experiment with styles. I quickly decided that knitting a sweater in pieces and then sewing them together is a fairly silly idea. I embarked upon my first sweater knit upon circular needles. I scaled it down so that if i didn't like it, I wouldn't have to spend the rest of my Useful Knitting Life discovering this fact. So I cast on a lower-than-normal number of stitches and knit away ...


Finally I had something resembling a sweater with 2 sleeves which I proudly posted on facebook:

To which a Friend posted, "Well, dear, at least you tried."

Apparently she didn't know it was not yet finished. So I posted a finished photo.

I did NOT at this point receive any messages saying, "Well, NOW that looks remarkable." I am completely aware that the sleeves are different lengths and of slightly different construction. I am, after all, the one who knit them all cattawampus.

Now we get to the part where we discuss scaling. I have clearly posted that this is a small sweater. I do this without fear because my cousin reminded me that she learned from sewing Barbie clothes that "smaller" does not mean "easier."

But folks were apparently shocked at the actual appearance of "small" when I posted a shot for scale:

Yes. This was not a "size small"; it is "small."

This sweater was worked on my breaks at work and the ladies at work were kind enough to humor me with a few bits of attention. Without fail, they would pick it up, put it on their hand, and kindly try to think of something I could do with it. Stuffed animal. Doll. Really small doll. Ummm. They were baffled at the concept of knitting something with absolutely no purpose (other than figuring out how to do those should decreases.)

I assured them I was perfectly happy to put it on the shelf with my Class Sock (also useless.)

But the really cool thing about THIS sock is it's Universal Appeal:

At least Noah knew enough to not try to make it any more useful than this!

P.S. Coming up: The Virtual Yarn Shop returns!