Miss me?

Okay, I'm sure none all of you have been wondering what I've been up to in the last month, so I figured I had better check in.

The shop is open and has been doing quite well, thanks to the awesome Beck - aka Lemonhalf on Ravelry, and Leslie - aka udontcallmeles. Beck not only made my awesome logo, but she's been one of the most supportive people ever. She even pointed out that I should have a presence on Ravelry so that people could enter their fiber in the database. Leslie kindly ordered something from the shop on the very first day, and then told everyone that I dye lovely fiber. Twice. The two busiest days the shop has had, can't imagine why...

Okay, enough shameless shilling.

In the knitting world, what have I been up to?

Well, there's this:

The Raspberry Dream Stole, by Dagmara. It was for the Schmutzerella swap, and while there were a few issues with my comprehension of the translation, it's a great pattern, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to knit a beautiful lace stole. And doesn't mind k7tog. I recommend doing at least one, probably multiple extra repeats of the lace pattern.

Then I made a few pair of socks, nothing amazing or admirable, just everyday wear socks.

Which brings me to the fact that I needed to make some non-pink socks. So I did, out of handspun. But I haven't taken pictures yet. Maybe I'll have that for next month...

Anyway, last and never least, I'm 3/4 done with my 2nd Camp Loopy project, and have bought the yarn for the third:

And wit the yarns, I will be joining the cult of the Color Affection. I would be ashamed, but... I like Vera Valimaki patterns, and I won't apologize for that. This will be my third pattern from her, and I expect to make more in the future. She is awesome.

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi...

So given the pattern name "My Hope", and the Schmutzerella Yarns Galaxy Far Far Away yarn club offering of "Into the Garbage Chute, Flyboy!", is there any way this particular shawl could not be named A New Hope? I think not.

For anyone who thinks it looks good enough to knit, go forth on Sunday when the pattern is available and buy! All proceeds for the month of July are going to the Make-A-Wish foundation, one of those charities that should be near and dear to everyone's heart. Let's all get together and help grant three wishes this year!

This is the definition of irony

I know that a lot of people use this word incorrectly, and I know how it annoys "English people" - that is, pedantic people who obsess over the usage of the English language.

Yes, I confess, I am often one of these people. Particularly when I see someone use 'too' and 'to' interchangeably. I don't claim to be the end-all, be-all superior source of English grammar knowledge, but seriously, if you've graduated American High School and can't figure out the difference between "too much of a good thing" and "to be or not to be", you deserve whatever insults you get.

Here's what I'm talking about, straight from Wikipedia, which you know is always right:

"Irony (from the Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία eirōneía, meaning dissimulation or feigned ignorance)^[1] is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions. There is presently no accepted method for textually indicating irony, though an irony (punctuation) mark has been proposed."

So what is my irony?

Okay, so you know how I was saying that I would make the last bit of my Pogona in garter stitch? Yeah, The previous six sections of the shawl had taken a minimum of ten rows, and since I spun the darned stuff myself, and since the violet had seemed to take the longest, I figured it would be the biggest section. I never imagined that the violet would take less than eight or ten rows. So when I started the violet section, I went into garter stitch... and two rows later, I found myself running low on wool.

Buh?

I weighed, and made another row, and realized that if I made any more, I would definitely run out of wool. I didn't know why, but still, I started binding off. About 3/4 of the way through bind off, I ran out of wool. Wow. Okay, first of all, it's sad how much I overestimated this section because of being burned out on spinning the same wool. Secondly... I did NOT want to frog back and bind off earlier.

What to do?

I went through my stash and found that I had very little bright violet to finish with. However, on my second attempt, I found something: a mini-skein sent to me by play at life fiber arts when I ordered some rainbow sock yarn, that was a very close mix of the indigo and violet colors I was using. After finishing the bind off in this, it's quite hard to tell the difference. I know how awful this is to read without any pictures, but I swear, a picture will be up soon. It's just that my lovely finished pogona is blocking right this minute. It's exactly as I pictured it, if vaguely annoying in the bind off department.

The low road, it is where I live.

So I tried, really I did, to give my Pogona a highbrow name that reflected the source of its pattern. But as it knit up, the thing that kept running through my mind was that the specific hues were reminiscent of a cartoon that was on when I was a kid. I wasn't allowed to watch cartoons, but it didn't stop me from knowing of them, and well... My poor Pogona, named initially with the best of intentions, is now my Rainbow Brite Shawl, simply because I cannot think of it by another name any longer.

Here's where it is right now:

And I'm quite pleased with how it's going. As stated in the project notes, I found a missed YO early on, so my reverse stockinette sections are 19,19,18, and 19 stitches. Normally, I would have flipped out and frogged all the way back to the missed YO, but frankly, I can't be brought to do something so nutty just now. I mean, really, is anyone going to notice but you and me? Not a chance. Do either of us care? Didn't think so.

I'm planning on doing the whole violet section in garter, even though it'll be a little more garter than called for in the pattern. I just think it'll look better that way.

As for spinning, I finally finished the nearly month long project that was sucking up all of my time. First, I got myself some merino, 8oz. Non-superwash, because yes I am insane. And then I did my first acid dye job. Basically, since I had no previous experience, it was a matter of dumping a bunch of dye in with water, immersing the already wet fiber into it, letting it heat up, adding vinegar, and letting it cook for a while. (I did wear a mask and gloves, for anyone worried that I'm either stupid or suicidal) Then I let it cool on its own, put it through the spin cycle in my washer, and let it dry for a few days. And then, still being insane, I decided that I would spin it as thin as I could, and two ply it, trying for a lace weight. Somehow, I succeeded. I've spun up only the first 3.6 oz, so I have a lot more, but what I have so far is 700 yards of my favorite yarn ever.

Here it is, please love it as much as I do:

It's far from perfect, there are definitely thicker and thinner parts, but I adore it like I want to knit with it right this minute and I should drop everything to do so and let's see how long I can make a horrible run-on sentence... Anyway, it's super soft, and it bloomed like crazy after washing, and I'm disgustingly proud of it.

Anyway, off to knit some more. Hope you've all had as good a week as I have!

Monogamy is for people who sleep.

So in the last few days, I've been working on that Pogona. I admit, the more I finish of it, the more of a convert I am to Stephen West's design style. I'm even considering making one or.... eight of his other designs. As said before, I dislike being a follower, but I have to give the man credit, his designs combine some of the things I like best: clean lines, simple but striking design elements, and the use of colour to its best advantage. I doubt I'll have time to even think about them in the near future, but if you're at a loss for what to knit and want a dynamic shawl pattern, I suggest checking his repertoire out before making a choice.

So here's how far I've gotten on the Pogona:

I'm about halfway through the yellow, which will leave me with four colors left. I suspect that the finished shawl is going to be considerably larger than intended, but this does not bother me.

In the meantime, I received the yarn and patters for Janel Laidman's March Knitterati club. I've decided to skip the club yarn for now, and knit the mystery project in a similarly colored cashmere blend, to spoil myself even more. This, of course, means that I am adding another new project to the needles. So...
4 pair of socks
2 shawls
1 sweater
1 8oz laceweight spinning project.

That seems like I'll be likely to finish it up soon, right?

Oh yeah, and I knit an afghan square yesterday.

I could quit anytime, I tell you!

Okay, fine, that's not true. I have to say, though, being able to flit from project to project helped keep me from curling up in a ball in the dark today and crying about how all the things stink. It's totally not true, and my life is great, but sometimes the little things can add up and seem like the end of the world until you can put them into perspective.