Knitting the Blues

It's November!And you know what that means......

It's NaKniSweMo and NoBloPoMo season!

Swatching, casting on, posting to blog. Done.

 

 

2012. Ten. Cue hysterical laughter.

Weekending!?

Have you heard of this great idea?  A quick Monday morning recap of the weekend in list or photo form or whatever you want.  Poetry?  Haiku?  Headline format?  It's great to have a jumping off focus when blogging regularly.  A few years ago I committed to blogging every day for a year and during that time I used specific themes for different days so that each week I wouldn't have to come up with an entire idea for a blog post, just something to fit the focus for that day.  Blue Monday used to be the jumping off point for the beginning of the week and this post fits that as well.  Having committed to blogging at least 135 days this year, having some theme days will certainly keep me going.

So this is an idea swiped from Margene who got the idea from Carole who points back to the originator, the author of The Habit of Being.

• Currently free of any contractual or commitment knitting, my fiber pursuits were relaxed and somewhat self-indulgent.
• Friday saw the drop spindles come out from hiding and instead of packing my wheel up to go to spinning group, I lugged (ha!  because there is so much lugging with drop spindles!) them with me and actually used them!
• I had brought knitting as well and really thought that I would do that, but suddenly became inspired to spin some fiber that has long been in the works.
• I'm very close to the end, then more plying and then KNITTING!
• I hope I'm creating some sustained momentum.
• Saturday saw me at my favorite quilt shop and lunching with Kim. 
• Margene said it, weekends spent with grrrlfriends......
• Then there was swatching and thinking about swatching.
• This is a post in itself, but I've decided that the swatch gets a bad rap in general, being accused of lying and all that.
• I am of the opinion that the swatches are tellers of truth and that the knitters are lying to the swatches, but more about that on another day.
• On to the swatches!

• Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Baltic.  Wish I could capture the color better, it is gorgeous.
• Candelia (ravelry link) is the pattern I am swatching that yarn for, a great little sweater for spring and cool summer nights. 
• Yes, I am looking forward to those.

• The Fibre Company's Road To China Light, a blend of alpaca, camel, cashmere and silk.
• In Sapphire.
• This is a yarn to live for to knit.
• I know, forget I typed that last sentence.
• Touching that yarn removes all conscious thought from my head and sends me into a wordless tactile bliss.
• I'm looking forward to knitting that yarn into another of Winged Knits patterns, Lavaliere.
• Cecily Glowick MacDonald of Winged Knits is having a pattern sale.
• Oh, I may have stopped by that sale this weekend as well.

 

• There wasn't only planning, I actually cast on for Candelia!
• Twice, because I swatched, was happy with the second needle size, cast on, and didn't get the same gauge as my swatch.
• It was not the swatch it was me.
• I have a tendency to knit tighter after casting on.
• I lie to my swatches.
• I also spent a lot of time this weekend photographing and then trying to get the colors of these yarns closer to what they are in real life.
• I have failed miserably so you will just have to trust me when I say they are stunning.

2011.  Eight.  $33.75.  Well, would you looky there.  A post about knitting on a knitting blog.  THIS knitting blog.  What did you do this weekend?

And Just What Did I Learn From This Swatch?

  That I LOVE Kidsilk Spray and Haze.

Nine.  It remains to be seen if I still love it after knitting miles and miles of stockinette stitch on size two needes......

You Can Learn A Lot From A Swatch

Not all of which what you expected.  So, what happened with the Koigu swatch?  I cast on with excitement, intending to knit a square with one color of the Koigu and get all the stitch and row information I would need to cast on and make a Tempest for myself.  In my anticipation to see the colorways together I decided to make a striped swatch. 

<Insert deafening silence here.>

"What stripes?" you ask.  I know it!  And, oh by the way, where is the blue?!  This photo, even after white-box shot and manipulation in my photo editor doesn't show just how purple it is, but dang it!  It is PURPLE!  Why didn't I see how purple it was in the skein?  Well, I did see it, but I think I just wanted to see blue.  And while I wanted the stripes to be subtle, I wanted to see them! 

I'm thinking a couple of things.  First, over a whole side of a sweater the stripes will probably be more obvious, you can't really tell that from a 4" swatch.  Or, I have enough of both colors to make the sweater in one color, but I kind of wanted the stripes.  (Yes, I am whining.)  BUT, and this is the thing, I do.not. see myself in purple.  Periwinkle?  Yes, but purple?  What if I finish this and decide that I really cannot wear this purple?  While I decide whether or not to cast on for a front and see what the effect is on a larger canvas, this project is in time out.

So I swatched again for another project and while debating the pros and cons of purple I decided to knit this:

That is the start of Helena (ravelry link) in Queensland Collection Rustic Wool DK. I am loving this.

Eight.  Who knows?  Maybe knitting purple for somebody else will bring me around to liking it for myself.