Fiberphile

46 Fish

It was a really nice Saturday here in Charlotte today. The temperature was in the 70's but there were enough clouds in the sky that I didn't get too uncomfortable doing some yardwork. I'm declaring war on my lawn. It's in such terrible shape with bare spots, and lots of moss mixed in with the weeds and a little grass. Today I put down the moss gone, and in the next week I'll be seeding some new grass. Hopefully I'll be able to whip it into shape for the summer. I was also working on some flower beds today, working composted leaves into the soil to make it a little more amiable for flowers and herbs. I've got a very satisfied feeling about what I got done today, but there's so much more that I'll need to do. There are still lots of leaves to rake out of flower beds, despite trying to keep up with them over the fall, mulching to be done (my favorite), and a little creative landscaping to figure out to make everything look a little better. I'll have to take it just one day at a time.

Knit-wise, I'm still working on my fish. They've been the perfect project to have tucked into my purse for working on in odd moments at work or wherever I find myself. The purple is going to be on every other fish, with the variegated Koigu ones scattered throughout. I think I need just one more skein of Koigu to have enough of them, but couldn't decide which color I wanted the last time I was at The Needlecraft Center in Davidson. I thought it would be fun to bring in a different color, hence the greenish one, but the purple-blue skein was just so perfect with the main color. Maybe it's too close a match, and the green is better? I can't decide! I have discovered that I've made the fish slightly wrong , though. I've been working increases for the tail on both the right and wrong sides. That's the way I read the German instructions, but I recently ran across the original English (and now I can't find it again... sorry!) and it appears that you're supposed to do the increases only on the right side. So the tails on my fishies are too short! I crocheted a couple of them together to see if they'll still lie flat, and I think it will all be ok.

My other big project lately has been trying to finish my collection of discontinued Rowan yarns for Alice Starmore's Erin cardigan from The Celtic Collection. I'm very nearly there. I've been keeping an eye on ebay, and in the past few weeks have won five auctions to boost my collection. I'm now lacking only two colors, and then I'll be ready to go, at least with the yarn requirements. I'm not sure my fair isle and steeking skills are up to par yet, but hopefully I'll be ready to jump in once I've got it all together. It feels like it's been an epic journey already, and I haven't even started yet!

Knitting, past and present

Thanks for the comments on my cardigan. I wasn't sure if anyone would still be reading, but glad to see you're still around. My trip to Aspen seems like so long ago now, but I wanted to mention it here because besides having a great time skiing, we had a mini stitch and bitch every night!

From right to left in the photo, that's Erica, who I hooked on knitting 2 years ago on our ski trip; beside herin the middle is Susan, who's interest in knitting was rekindled after the trip last year and is now working on an intarsia dinosaur sweater for her son; and on the left is Ellen, who got me back into cross-stitching during medical school, and on this trip declared she was going to learn to knit. I was so impressed with her too- she picked it up so easily and wanted to absorb as much as she could. We did a swatch together in which she learned to cast on, knit, purl, make an eyelet row, and cable. By the end of the trip she had started a baby hat, and a couple of days after she got home, she emailed me to say she had finished it, and "it didn't look half bad!" Yay, Ellen! Another knitting convert!

The Apen Yarn Gallery was the yarn shop we visited there. It was very inviting from the outside, and they had some gorgeous yarns there, but they were very heavily weighted towards scarf yarns. If you lived in Aspen and wanted to knit a sweater, I think you'd have a hard time picking from ther selection. I will admit that I was very intrigued by the fur yarn they had though... there were beaver and fox selections in several different colorways, and the sample scarves there were so soft and luxurious. I was planning on buying a little bit of red fox as trim for a scarf, but when I went back for it the entire ball had been sold. (That was about $300 worth of yarn!) Ah well, perhaps I'll get some from the website below, or maybe I'll decide I can pass on it for now. Of course I came back with something though! From Alpine Meadow Artisan Yarns, this is "Rubies and Roses," a boucle mix of wool, silk, and angelina. It's the sparkle that really attracted me to this yarn and it will make a great scarf (one of these days).

So what's the current knitting? My knitting pile runneth over right now. My new sweater project is folded there on the floor, and I know some of you will recognize Dale's Gerbera that I'm knitting with some Sisik I got cheap on closeout at Webs. I did a baby sweater with some fair isle this summer, but this is my first adult sweater with some F.I. in it. I've been a little concerned about my tension being too tight with the floats in that section but it has blocked out nicely. For comparison's sake here's a view pre-blocking, and one post blocking (with an iron on steam setting).

So that's all the knitting content I've got for now. Life continues on fast-forward. I can't believe it's March already, and I can't believe it seems like spring already. The daffodils and cherry trees are in bloom here in Charlotte, and we're expecting temps in the mid-70's tomorrow! Yesterday I had lunch near where my new office is being built, and was pleased to see that the structure is all in place, and exterior walls are in place. The latest projection I've heard is that it should be finished and open in July of this year, and I'll be very happy to finally have a permanent work space. Until then, I'm still floating around offices in Charlotte, and up to Statesville 2 days a week.