Moth Heaven

Besotted

Friday's knitting:

 

The stitches fly when each row is this much fun.

For Want of a Bobbin, a Week was Lost

It's amazing how bobbins affect forward momentum in a project.

Not too long ago, when I packed up all the wheels and drove them to The Spinning Loft in Michigan for the Dream Wheel Trunk Show, I did something really clever with the extra four Watson bobbins I own, putting them someplace safe.

Now if only I could remember where that was.

More than a week has passed since I finished the singles for my "super-fast handspun project" which has by now slid into the "not-so-fast handspun project" category. And all for the want of an empty bobbin to ply onto. Suddenly the spinning thing becomes a game of Rush Hour. "Which bus bobbin do I have to move clear to get my car free singles plied?"

I finally gave up and cranked some other singles on one bobbin off onto my trusty singles holding tool, also known as a toilet paper tube (They fit perfectly onto the core of my ball winder, and they are in reliable supply).

Voila! Empty bobbin. Which allowed me to finally break the log jam and get the singles plied. The result:

630 Yards of worsted weight 2 ply, from Spunky Eclectic's BFL in Leaf Peep, destined to be the contrast yarn for a Kirigami.

Now I have four empty bobbins.

I love that they look just spent from the effort.

So, should I finish the project that is on the fifth one? Or start something new?

This is a Bliss batt from Enchanted Knoll; it's been on the wheel since the Tour de Fleece (which was in July?). It makes me feel guilty looking at it. I'm about a third of the way through this spin. I think it needs me. And it needs empty bobbins to get finished.

but I'm also feeling the pull of a few sweater lots. Five sweater lots to be exact. Oh the allure of the new!

Or maybe, just maybe I should find the errant four bobbins and not loose any sleep over my next spin move.

You Can Call This One Queequeg

I finally finished the Tattoo sweater that had me sleepless in October. I had The Mister take some photos of it today since it was the first day we've had for a few weeks when I could stand outside with a mere layer of stockinette between me and the elements. It was still kinda windy: my hair came unbraided a few times while we tried to figure out how to show the sweater.

It was inspired by the kind of tribal tattoos I admire but would never get. So it's a fantasy kind of thing for me, to sport a sleeve tattoo like this one:

or this one:

The faced hems are knit in the contrast color for a little surprise, and there's just enough waist shaping to make it easy and pretty to wear. And I like the little curlicue on the back. I could have placed it just a smidge higher I suppose.

The thing these particular photos don't do justice to is the way the yarn absolutely glows from within, being the signature dye style of Kim of The Woolen Rabbit from whom I bought the yarn at SOAR last fall. The superwash yarn is "Frolic" in the colors Butterscotch and Morrocan Spice. There's a closeup of the fabric in my flickr account here which shows the colors well.

I am considering writing it up even though intarsia is kind of a neglected skill these days. I don't expect a lot of people to try it, but I'd be happy to have the few brave souls as crazy as me go for it. Shoot me an email (bottom of the sidebar) if you want a note should I make it available.

 

For you Am Lit geeks: yes. That's a Moby Dick reference. Here's the wikipedia entry for Queequeg.

Dinosaur Hood Revised (Finally)

I am happy and relieved to share the news that I finally sat down with the original pattern for the Dinosaur Hood and tackled the wee beastie. I am amazed given how many errors I found in it that anyone managed to make one before. But it was one of the first things I had ever written out to share, so I can be gentle with the glib knitter I was back then.

It seems to have developed some kind of mystique, given its unavailability. Lately the emails come daily (it's cold out I guess), asking for a notification when it surfaced again, and even for the original no matter how impaired by bad math it was. There was one woman who sent me several emails begging for it in any condition, telling me an affecting story of how it was the only thing in the world that would do for her son. So of course, when I sent it to her, there was not even a glimmer of thanks from her end of the intertubes. I have to laugh a little.

I have in the year since I originally removed it to fix the problems, developed a sense of humor about how people can be a little absent minded about the manners over the internet, because a lot of people do expect things (especially kid's patterns) to be free, and many of the requests I had were hardly polite. I hoped the worst of them were because of the bluntness of Google translate. Ultimately, I decided that since it was something I had given away before, and that I would love to be free of the frequent emails, here it is finally, still for free. You're welcome. ❤

Download Dinosaur Hood

In the MIddle of the Night

Many of you share my problem: that thing that seems to happen to women once they approach their middle years. Yes, that's right, the insomnia thing. Personally, I've always been a poor sleeper. I fall asleep easily enough, but staying asleep is impossible, and once I'm awake, I'm awake for hours. Mostly two, sometimes three.

The benefit to reliable wakefulness is that one can get a lot done in the middle of the night when the normal distractions are tucked away upstairs and all the things that might wake them up are switched off. I have -- through years of experience -- developed the acceptance that once I am awake, no manner of concentration or hope will change that for at leat the next hour or so. So I get up and do something with the time I have been given. In a way, it is a gift to be awake, because it is one of the few chances I have to be alone in this house.

These nights I am spinning away for my longed-for Kirigami. Spinning is perfect for middle of the night fiber activity since it is a quiet thing, and once the yarn is determined, essentially mindless. I am entertained enough by the shifting of the colors on the bobbin, in much the same way that as a child I would take a gobstopper out of my mouth every minute or so.

 

Pardon the shifting lighting conditions, but you get the idea. I'm only one more bobbin away from having the yarn I need to cast on, and while I dread waking up in the middle of the night, at least for now, I have something to look forward to when that happens.