Wednesday, May 23, 2007

And now with 100% more knitting content!

Okay, so The Whole Ball of Yarn(s) hasn't been so much about the knitting lately. I've been in a slump, with none of my projects really motivating me and with no time to dig through stash and patterns to find something that will. I ditched my current projects, took some time to frog my T-Twist to recoup the yarn for who knows what. But it's lovely yarn, and since I won't wear that top, it made sense to reclaim it. Then I went through my stash spreadsheet with some patterns around me and chose the Heavenly Camisole and Scarf from Knitter's Stash in Elann's Peruvian Baby Silk. I had a quantity of this to make Annie Modesitt's Corset Top, which I chickened out of wearing (I was up for knitting it, just not sure about wearing it, and it was a tough enough pattern that I'd want to wear it all the time). The color is orchid or something, but as my down-to-earth husband noted "Wow, that's purple. Do you have anything to go with it?" when I explained what I was making. Well, I don't have anything to go with it. I suppose I can find someone to gift it to, but most importantly, it seems fun to knit, and I like the yarn. So there. I'll rip it out at the end if I don't like it. It's knit bottom-up in the round, with the front in a leaf lace pattern and the back in stockinette. It's light and purple and pretty, and it's exactly the knitting I need right now. Of course, this is all I have so far:


I've also decided to do an Irish Diamond Shawl from Folk Shawls for a Christmas gift. After googling for a while, I decided to do as others have done and use a lace weight instead of a fingering weight. I'm using Jaggerspun Zephyr in black, and hoping it doesn't look like the recipient is in mourning or something. I showed my husband a few shawls from that book that I was deciding between, and he said of the Irish Diamond Shawl, "Cool, it looks like bat wings!" which, surprisingly, I failed to see as incentive to knit it. After I acknowledged that it did indeed look like bat wings (with accompanying eye roll), he said that it was also very pretty. I had been leaning that way anyway, so Irish Diamond it is. The bonus is that a cone of Zephyr is enough to make more than two lace shawls, so my next next project may be a black shawl for myself.

I find myself once again apologizing for being out of touch with the knitting blog world. It's a tricky time, with much traveling and house hunting and packing up/throwing out our stuff in preparation of moving. I can sometimes manage ten minutes a day on the internet with all this going on, so I'm just going to be slow for a while. Hopefully, once we've moved, I'll be more in touch.

Reading: I have read a lot since my last post, I think. I read Jane and the Ghosts of Netley and Jane and His Lordship's Legacy by Stephanie Barron, and loved them. I just don't get tired of the Jane Austen mysteries. I'm currently on Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, the second of the Peter Pan prequels. I loved the first, and the second is very fun so far.

Writing: Shelved, I'm afraid, until moving is complete.

Cooking: Urgh. Too much traveling, not enough food in the house.

5 comments:

KnitPastis said...

Ohhh moving to a new home! That's very exciting. Hopefully there will still be time to plant a garden:) Mine is coming along very slowly.
As far as knitting, I know I have those days, weeks where there is nothing I crave to knit. Right now I am about to cast on for a sweater in which I am totally looking forward to!
I think the orchid colorway you have here is a very pretty color.
Can't wait to hear all about your new place! xoxo

Rain said...

That's a lovely colour. I'm sure you could find something to wear it with.

Moving home is such a tough time with so much to do, and you have the little one too. Hope she's doing well.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update :-) You have so much going on right now, wow! But it all sounds like the work right now will be worth it in the end. Just remember to give yourself a little breathing room when you need it, sometimes (not always) the whole postpartum thing catches up with you and can make things hard. I don't want to be negative, but I've suffered fromm PPD a few times now, and so I'm overly cautious. Just disregard if it doesn't apply to you :-)

snowdrop said...

You've got a lot going on! It's nice to hear from you, and the colour of your yarn is beautiful! Take care!

Marie said...

Good luck on all the packing and moving and house-hunting! It can be such a time and energy draining experience. I hope your arm is doing better!
I can't wait to see your progress on the diamond shawl! It will look lovely in the Zephyr!