Playing catch-up

First, spinning:



This, along with two other skeins, is 8 ounces of navy blue merino wool blended with white tussah silk I bought at the Puyallup Fair in September. I've finally spun it up to a light worsted-weight two ply, and now it's waiting for a project that needs 300 yards of slightly scratchy streaky navy blue yarn. Any ideas?

Next, sewing:



Purl of the Orient has got me hooked on sewing tote bags and purses recently, and this is but the first of my efforts.

Next, knitting:



The Crusoe socks, on one circular, with KnitPicks Dancing sock yarn. It's a fun pattern, and a fun way to knit socks. What more could I want?

Last, kitty:



Lily in her daily battle against the evil shade pull. Die, pull, die!

Socks on one circular

No pictures, but I've started knitting a pair of socks on one circular, and I am absolutely hooked. It may not actually be faster, but it seems faster, and the thought that I will have both socks finished at the same time is glorious. The yarn is KnitPicks Dancing, in the Swing colorway, which is not really striping for me. I'm using the Knitty Crusoe pattern, and I really like it.

Waiting...

Waiting for my shipment from Knitpicks. It got misdirected en route, so it will be another week or so. Until then, I'm stuck with acrylic. Red Heart, no less.

I'm making a baby sweater, hat, and booties for my friend Sara's first baby, due in November. I don't know whether the kid will be a girl or a boy, so I'm making boy colors, which I will sew embroidered ribbon onto if it's a girl. Red Heart has its uses--it makes unusually durable blankets and washable baby clothes, is easy to obtain, and is inexpensive.



Lily is unimpressed.

Unexpected outcome

Honestly, I always thought it'd be Ravenclaw.



be sorted @ nimbo.net

Cabled decreases

I am trying to recreate the cabled decreases found in most ready-to-wear sweaters as a decorative detail. So far, my technique is creating a subtly cabled raglan seam, suitable for just about any raglan sweater. Here is a picture, followed by instructions:



Each cabled decrease is accomplished over 8 stitches, with the second four mirroring the first. If the stitches are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, then you K2tog (1 over 3), K2tog (2 over 4), K2tog (7 over 5), K2tog (8 over 6). I'm doing this without a cable needle, but it would be much easier with one, especially for the fiddly second group in each set of decreases.

Raglan-ing

Lacy Raglan continues:



I finished the second sleeve while riding home from an education conference in Portland. It's no mean feat to knit while arguing with three other high school teachers over politics and religion, but the sleeve, she is done. I joined the sleeves to the body last night, worked a few rows of stockinette to meld the whole thing together, and completed my first round of cabled raglan decreases. I couldn't find instructions for cabled decreases anywhere on the web, so I'm kind of making it up as I go along. When I have a few more done, I'll provide a close-up picture.

New month, old knitting

I'm still plugging away at my Andean Silk sweater. I've done the body up to the armholes, and have knitted one lace cuff. Now I have to pick up stitches along the cuff and knit straight for about 8 inches to form the sleeve. I decided that straight, three-quarter sleeves that belled into lace would best suit the lace panel in the center of the body and the scoop neck I intend to create as I finish off the raglan yoke. Here's the body as of Friday:



I'm hoping that knitting the sleeves, attaching them to the body, and knitting the yoke will make sleeve island seem like a short vacation rather than an endless siege.

I start my new class tomorrow. "Using Multicultural Literature in the Classroom." Sounds like a barrel of monkeys, doesn't it? At least it will be more interesting than "Introduction to educational research," which I'm taking on Wednesdays. So far, grad school isn't amounting to much. But then, I never expected it to.