Well, that's not so bad.

Having finished my Vernal Equinox, I decided it was time to pick up my Seascape stole again. I couldn't remember what the hell I'd messed up, or figure out how to fix it, so I ended up ripping back to the last lifeline (~12 rows back). That was the hardest part. Not emotionally--I wasn't even sure I wanted to keep working on this pattern, so I had little attachment to it. Physically, though, it was a bitch. Frogging Kidsilk Haze? Not. Fun. The yarn ripped in a couple of spots, it was so sticky. Anyway, I managed to get back to the lifeline and picked up all the stitches without much trouble. The one good thing about that stickiness was that the stitches didn't slip down to pull up tight against the lifeline, so they were easy to grab. Since Saturday evening, I've done 15 rows. It goes pretty quickly, actually. I do have to keep more of an eye on the pattern than I did on the Vernal Equinox, because it's not a multi-repeat thing. Still, the pattern is symmetrical and not too hard. The most obnoxious thing is the M1R and M1L, especially with this yarn. But I feel like after all that work on the Vernal Equinox, I have my eye in for lace. It's become second nature to read my knitting as I go, checking to make sure things are lining up properly. That means I don't keep going for long if I make a mistake. If I skip a decrease, I realize, "oh, I was supposed to have only two stitches before than next YO, not three. What did I miss?"

I've decided that the most difficult thing about this stole is definitely the yarn. It's not the kind of thing I could work on in a stitch-n-bitch--I couldn't socialize while doing it--but the pattern itself is easy enough when I'm not trying to divide my attention. The yarn is a bit of a bitch to work with, though. Still, it makes a lovely, airy, gossamer-like fabric, so I can't hate it too much!

Hooray! It's FO time!

I finished binding off my Vernal Equinox shawl yesterday, on the bus ride home from work. W00t! I put it in the sink to soak with a little knit wash before dinner, and after dinner, I took it out, rolled it in some towels to get most of the water out, and pinned it out to block. I do my blocking in Spare Oom, a.k.a. the guest room, where kitty is not allowed to go. In that room, we have a futon that's opened out to bed-shape. One set of sheets we have for it is plaid, which means...uniformly-sized squares! I use T-pins to pin the shawl to the futon. I also have some blocking wires. This time I used three of the wires to hold the straight edge of the shawl. Dang, that thing has GROWN with the blocking. It's supposed to block out to about 76" wide, but I just didn't have that much room on the bed! It's about 72" instead. One day, I'll reblock it to its full size. Anyway, it took me an hour and a half to pin it out. I didn't even use as many pins as I'd have liked. I want the curves edge to be little scallops instead of little points, but didn't have enough pins for it. Also, I didn't have enough room on the futon to stretch the shawl out big enough to spread those scallops out to their full extent. Still, it's opened up nicely, and should be plenty big enough to wear. And hey, have some glamour shots!

So close, I can smell it.

I finished the charted portion of the Vernal Equinox shawl this evening. Now, since I've decided to do the knitted bind-off, I have 4-5 rows of plain knitting ahead of me. Then, of course, comes the blocking. That will not be easy. It will take a lot of pins. On the plus side, since it's a semicircular shawl, the diameter of it is a straight line, so I can use my wires for that bit. That will save time as well as pins. Man, this is the biggest shawl I've done yet, and it's only a semicircle. I don't know what I'm going to do when I make my Shipwreck. Well, I do, really: I'll get some of those foam floor tile thingies, like my friends have for their toddler son.

I spent some time the other day thinking about whether I want to say "fuck it" to the Seascape Stole and start over with a simpler-to-me (i.e., short repeats) pattern. I might just do that. There are some nice ones out there. I don't think I adore the Seascape pattern enough to sweat over it. Iris is also gorgeous, and looks very simple. Like, almost mindless. Mindless might not suck. It means I can start something else too. Like...Shipwreck! Plus, it's on bigger needles, so that means it'll knit up faster.

Now, I am going to have to remember that it will soon be time to knit another baby sweater again, too! My cousin's wife is pregnant, and sort-of-Aunt Laura is going to have to make something cute!

I missed knitting more than I realized when I was taking a break from the shawl. I've really been enjoying it lately. It's just so satisfying watching the shawl appear on the needles, and so much fun forming the stitches. It'll be more fun still when I'm working with nicer yarn.

Yan pirate booty

I'm currently dating (again! Yay!) a guy who does antique dealing and estate sales and auctions and stuff. Yesterday, he announced that he'd been hired to take care of the estate of a local woman who recently passed away, and who'd been a knitter. Her stash was quite huge! He's thinking that with the yarn, he's going to simply offer it and ask for donations to charity (I guess the heir(s) don't care about making money from the yarn). He asked me for my opinion on what he should say if people ask for a suggested donation per skein. I was a bit flummoxed, because yarn prices can range so wildly. From the big-picture shots he showed me, it looked like there might have been some nice stuff in there. I told him that he ought to start by looking at fiber content, and gave him a gradation ranging from all-manmade stuff (acrylics, etc.) up to all luxury fiber (silk, cashmere, etc.). I also suggested that he look for words like "handpainted" as keys of higher value, too. I couldn't begin to think of what kind of actual amounts he should suggest, mostly because I don't know what kind of percentage of value he's hoping to get. I just advised him that generally, knitters know their yarn, and know the value of what they're getting. Most of the knitters around here, especially when a charity is involved, are not going to be dicks and cheapskates, trying to grab up everything and throw fifty cents in the jar.

Of course, I am DYING to get my hands on some of this yarn, myself! When he announces the sale/donation event, I'm going to be right there, you may depend on it. :) YARN. OMG. YUM.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Yesterday, I put in my lifeline at the end of Clue 6a of Vernal Equinox! I'm now on row 213, the third row of the VERY...LAST...CHART. Yes, folks, the end is in sight. I might not have finished it by Beltane, as I'd hoped, but I will finish it by Litha. In other words, my Vernal Equinox will be complete by the Summer Solstice. :)

But with the approaching end comes a question: knitted or crocheted edging?

I really love the look of the crocheted edging, but...I don't crochet. I have no doubt I could learn to do the very simple stitches required to complete the shawl, but I'm not so sure I could do them with the evenness of tension and neatness required for the edging to look really good. I guess I'm answering my own question right now: I'll go for the knitted bind-off, and just be creative when it comes to blocking the edge.

This shawl is going to be AWESOME for stuff like over-air-conditioned movie theaters and the like, this summer! I'm especially looking forward to wearing it with my brown-and-green dress, with which it will go perfectly.

When I'm done with it, I ought to go back to that Seascape Stole. Or...do I frog it (ARGH, KIDSILK HAZE FROGGING) and start something else, maybe something with a shorter pattern repeat that's easier to keep track of? Maybe I'll give it a shot and see how it goes for a while.

And then...Shipwreck? Possibly! I also have that Supersock Lace burning a hole in my stash...

I know, I know, it's about damned time!

When last we left our heroine (yeah, delusions of grandeur, I know), she was angsting over her Vernal Equinox shawl. A mistake had necessitated frogging the shawl back to the most recent lifeline. Not SUCH an arduous task, perhaps, but...(dun dun DUNNNNN!) the lifeline had slipped out of the last twenty or so stitches on the needle! Noooooo! With this yarn and this pattern, fixing this would be iffy at best. Would our heroine have to unravel to the PREVIOUS lifeline? Would the entirety of Chart 5 be lost?

Well, that's what I was afraid of, anyway. I put aside my knitting for a while. Like, um, a month. OK, more than a month. Five or six weeks. Stupid, really. I finally got my act together this evening and took a stab at replacing the lifeline. I seem to have gotten it! My work is now back on the needles! I even switched to a longer cable, to make my life easier as the shawl gets bigger. Now, I can attack this thing again and hopefully be able to wear it during the summer, as planned! It'll be my first full-size lace shawl, and I think it'll be perfect as an "in the air conditioning" layer. I'm so relieved. Now, I'm anxious to get going again. :)

It's funny...when I put my knitting aside like this, I get to the point where I'm reluctant to look at Ravelry. It's like, I feel like since I'm not knitting, reading and talking about knitting makes me a poseur. Silly, I know. it's not like I'm no longer a knitter. It's not like I've considered giving up on knitting for good. Still, though. I occasionally looked at the Bust Line group (because that's about bras and shirts and stuff, not just knitting), but only once or twice did I even glance at anything else. Hey, now I have another time waster again. :)

YARN!

Yarn yarn yarn yarn yarn!!!

I actually bounced in my chair. :)

Yes, the Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga! in Honeybee has arrived! It's just what I was hoping for--a rich golden medley of ambers. I think it will make a beautiful Shipwreck shawl. I need to buy beads now, of course. And blocking boards, though I doubt I'll need those for at least another year...

Last night on my way home, I realized there was a big fuckup in my Vernal Equinox. I don't know how the hell I'm going to fix it without ripping back to the lifeline. >:( Then again, that's what lifelines are FOR, right? There go my first four or five rows of Clue 6A. Meh.

But...YARN. OMG. I would like to be able to take a good picture of it to show off. In the meantime, here's a crappy webcam shot at work:

Travel = knitting progress

Yay, TSA didn't give me a hard time about my knitting! I transported my shawl on the cable, but took the needle tips off and put them in a small compartment of my backpack to keep them safe. I had button ends on the cable. When I settled down somewhere, I'd take the buttons off and put the needle tips on and get to work. I ended up finishing Clue 5 and starting Clue 6a. The rows are starting to get loooong! I keep looking at the shawl and going, "Holy CRAP this thing is getting big." It might take me a while to get through the rest of this, but I will definitely be wearing it this summer.

My Skinny Bugga! should be coming in SOON! I got an e-mail saying it was shipping! *does happy dance*

Knitting at 20,000 feet

Don't modern planes fly higher than that, usually? Anyway, today will be the first time in ages that I'll be bringing my knitting on a plane, provided TSA doesn't mess with me. I've got my Vernal Equinox on the cable, with button-ends to keep it on. The needle tips are in a separate compartment of my bag, to keep them from getting damaged. I've got my cable key, my stitch markers, my dental floss for a lifeline, and my yarn needle, too. There's actually a Ravelry forum dedicated to flying with your knitting, and from what people there have said, it sounds like my departure and destination airports (Boston Logan and Washington National--I refuse to call it Reagan) are not usually problematic for knitters, nor is the airline I'll be using. Yay! Also, wooden or bamboo needles and circular needles seem to be less "threatening" to TSA agents than metal needles or straight needles. That's convenient, seeing as I'm using Knitpicks Harmony Options!

I'm terrified that my Skinny Bugga! yarn is going to arrive at my house while I'm away and get stolen. :( I hope that doesn't happen! Of course, I don't even know if it's shipped yet. The status says "processing" or something. We'll see.

I realize I haven't said much about how I feel about the Vernal Equinox pattern itself, yet. I'm enjoying it very much. The fact that there are seven charts to work through means there's a variety of different stitch patterns involved. Each of the patterns has so far been reasonably simple, but entertaining. The pattern is well-written, very clear. The half-pi shaping method seems very simple. I do have some experience with the pi method, since I made my cat a Kitty Pi bed, which is basically a very small and unlacy pi shawl knit in bulky yarn and felted. You know, maybe that Shipwreck won't be so difficult--after all, the biggest section is just faggoting stitch, which is quick and easy and mindless. So all the more complex work will be done in the smaller sections of the shawl.

Some thoughts

1. Holy CRAP, people who want Sanguine Gryphon yarn have fast fingers. True story: I was on their site this morning at 9:30, hitting "refresh" every couple minutes to catch when the Little Traveller in Hotel Tassel went on sale. The first time it refreshed to being on sale, there were only THREE SKEINS left. I thought, "Whew! JUST made it! I need three!" Then I put them in my cart, and by the time I hit the "check out" button, I got an error message saying they didn't have enough stock left. Yep. They were down to ONE. But Gryphon said they will re-dye these colors over the next six months, so I will wait and get it later, rather than buying the (much pricier) Skinny Bugga!

2. But oooooh, it's just SO pretty. I'm now really dying to make the Shipwreck shawl in that colorway, with gold, bronze, and amber beads. I know it will take forever and a day, but...damn. Gorgeousness and gorgeousity, as my little droog Alex would say.

3. Why is their other 100% superwash merino fingering weight yarn (Eidos) $25/skein for less yardage? I am confused. I'd have to buy FOUR skeins of that to make Shipwreck.

4. I'm really pleased with the progress I'm making on Vernal Equinox. I think it's going to turn out lovely. I'm almost done with my fifth row of Clue 5 now. The crochet bind-off is going to be challenging. I might have to ask a crochet-skilled friend for help. I can't wait to wear it later this spring/this summer!

5. I should still be able to block Vernal Equinox on the futon in Spare Oom, but when I do finally make Shipwreck, I'm going to need to get some foam tiles. That thing is BIG.

6. Annnnd now. I must edit this. Reason being, I broke down and bought the Skinny Bugga! I can still use just three skeins to make Shipwreck. If I'm careful. (There's a 30-yard bumper, but...) I think what finally did it for me was looking at reviews, trying to find out which base was better, and if it was that big a difference. I still don't know, but I do know that people said over and over again that Skinny Bugga! DOES NOT SPLIT, EVER. Considering that I am currently knitting Vernal Equinox with THE SPLITTIEST YARN IN THE WORLD, EVER, I think I am entitled to this nonsplitting wonder yarn. Yes. Thinking about my weak will with regards to this yarn, I came to a conclusion: they could have kept me from breaking down and getting it if they'd named it after some icky spider instead of the glorious honeybee. Really. The Honeybee name gave me just enough of a pull to the yarn. A spider's name would have given me just enough of a push away from it.

Buzzzzzzzzzzz....