Fiber Follies

I have now accomplished two pairs of Fuzzy Feet, pattern courtesy of Knitty. I love Knitty-what a way to get into things I'd otherwise never try.

Last night I finished knitting The Husband's Fuzzy Feet. They looked like the Jolly Green Giant's shoes. Vast. Really vast. Thought it was worth a picture. Naturally whenever the camera comes out, Risky comes in. That's 14 pounds of cat. Kind of hogs the picture but did make a fair size reference.

I felted them today. Just like the first pair, they didn't felt much in the first run through the washer. It was fun checking them every few minutes anyway. I pulled one out of the washer, held it by its heel at about my chest height, and the toe was almost at my knees. I worried, but not too much, since I know folks with feet larger than The Husband's who could enjoy them. I stuck them into a pot of boiling water and did the potato masher thing, which tightened the fabric but didn't seem to reduce the length much. Once more into the washer-and they came out looking pretty close to the feet they'll adorn. See?

Risky wasn't interested in being a size reference again, but Schade stepped in. Schade is under eight pounds, petite, possibly bulemic. I think the ratio of Schade to small felted foot is equivalent to the ratio of Risky to large unfelted foot.

The fabric is thick and tight. Can't wait for Himself to try them on!

After all the yarn organisation last week, I've decided to try to use as much as possible before investing in more. Of course I'm pulling out all the littlest balls first. It's giving me a headache trying to come up with ideas to use them.

Here's a nice one. It's a lovely, smooth two-ply, just a leetle bit heavier than a laceweight, but not heavy enough to be called anything else. I started casting on-with no idea what to make of it. So it's sat for a few days while I try to figure out what to do with it. Doesn't it look pretty on the black needle? And rather becoming on the Risky-cat, too.

Nothing to say, nothing new, at least.The doldrums are gone today. Pity, I was enjoying my curmudgeonly nonsense. Guess I'll have to be pleasant again.

Here are some blooms from one of the gardens. The nice little yellow one is Eranthis cilicia. I don't know a common name for it. The soft blue is crocus Blue Pearl. The galanthus (snowdrop) is nearing the end of its bloom. It was so warm through the winter that the first galanthus blooms showed in January, so I got a very long season from it this year. Very nice. I haven't got a decent image of the snowdrops, though, so hopefully everyone knows what they look like. Looking forward to the mini daffs, which ought to show soon.

But spring is really here.

Sure, it’s grey and chilly, and snowed last night. Sure, the frosts are hampering some of the spring bulbs from bloom. But the spring-time birdsong is here, and the snowdrops and crocus are blooming, and the ground is soft and muddy, not frozen, lumpy and slippery.

I’m still working on winter knits. Well, if they’re not finished this winter they’ll be ready when autumn comes. So no real hurry. I finally made myself a few things. A panta, which I sewed together inside out. I unseamed it and it still sits awaiting proper seaming. I have problems with seaming things. Last autumn I made a shrug and managed to seam the dern thing sideways. Duh. I made Fuzzy Feet from Knitty. That was a super easy pattern. Had some troubles felting them-first felted item-but they’re wearable now, and very very warm. A run through the wash had me with one properly fitting Fuzzy Foot and one giant. After a panicked post to the Knitty board resulted in good suggestions, I plunged the giant into a pot of boiling water, attacking it with two potato mashers. It was fun. And helped. Tossed it, now reasonably sized, into another wash load. The pair is now very thick felt, firm and toasty. Knitting up a pair for The Husband, who deserves warm feet, too.

Was going great guns on the cabled front of said husband’s cardigan. Then realised I knitted instead of purled, or purled instead of knitted, a few stitches some rows back. So I’m tinking it back. I have a hard time unravelling cables. They’re so much easier to knit.

I organised and inventoried my stash this past week. A few hours of ball winding and logging the yarns resulted in neatness and the shock of seeing that I have far more yarn than can be sanely knitted in the next year or two. No, not SABLE. But too much for my comfort. No more laziness! I’ll have a small project going while working at the PC, and the other projects scattered about the house. It’s fun to pick up any old thing and knit a bit, then set it down and work on something else. I like WIPs. I don’t care much for casting on, so it’s hard to start stuff. Casting on takes too long. I just want to knit.

I seem to be having troubles putting pics in here. I’ll work on that.

I’m trying to haul in a few knitters, crocheters, cross-stitchers, and whatever fiber arts crafters there might be in the region. I’ve got one evening a month at a great coffee shop.

BUT
It seems that the more knitters I know, and the more knitters I know who want to just get out and knit and yatterbabble a while, the fewer I know who’d actually show up.

It’s not like I’m limiting attendance, well, not really. I dread the thought of some sweet young thangs showing up, each with three toddlers under two years age, snotting and wailing and generally acting their little undomesticated selves while being kept up far past their bedtimes so mummy can have a few hours “away”. Um, no. Mothers, do your babies a favor. Leave them home. They will not appreciate soft jazz music and not much to do but beg for the yummy pastries behind the counter. The coffee shop owners will not appreciate your little ones tramping all over unattended. Yes, we understand that you need a break from time to time. Take a real break. Get the husband to watch the kids, or hire a sitter. And come to SSK.

Youngsters who might be able to grasp and manipulate needles or hooks safely are welcome of course. I know an eight-year old who plans to come.

People who don’t even do fiber craft are welcome too. It’d be fun to have you walk out with a first project. Yes, I’m bringing extra needles and yarn, just in case. Else you can just set a while with us.

Men are welcome. Men who knit will knit what men will wear. Teach me.

And no, we are not calling ourselves Snb. The term is inappropriate for the younger participants. Yes, the idea is the same. Yes, we can be lumped in with the others. But we’ll not call ourselves that. Hence the goofy moniker: SSK! For us, it’s Sip, Sip, Knit! Fitting at a coffee shop and wine bar. How many sippers will be sipping the wine? I want to see what alcohol does to their knitting.

I drink coffee. It makes me knit faster. Much faster. So I have three times as many rows to rip out later once I’ve seen what caffeine-inspired speed-knitting has done to my WIP.

After successfully fending off the need to have a blog, I have finally succumbed. This whole blog thing seemed ridiculous at first. I thought blogs were for two things: Blowing your own horn, and picking up complete strangers from halfway across the planet.

Then I began knitting. How the heck does knitting lead to blogging?

I got the basics of knitting from my most excellent daughter. Then I went bangers for the craft! And quickly found that most of my acquaintances had no clue when I asked advice. My crafting skills went off in a different direction than DD’s, so even she, brilliant young thing that she is, was unable to help. I turned to knitting websites, and participated in a few fora. Is fora the proper plural for forum?

Experienced participants referred me and other inquiring newbie knitters to various helpful sites. Some of these sites are blogs, some link to blogs, and everything, it turns out, is linked to everything else one way or another. Like the stitches in knitting.

Okay, that was lame.

Now I’ll be good and shut up until there’s something interesting to post. And will try to figure out how to make it look like I know what I’m doing.