Distracting you from no knitting...

(Looking for the sock yarn and Holz & Stein needle contest?)



Long time, no nothing eh? I have a good excuse, though not NEARLY as distracting as Dave's!!! (trust me, click the link-- I'll wait)... been a little naughty with no knitting.

First example.







Is there anything naughtier than pulling apart a perfectly good sweater? I had no idea how much delight I would take, picking apart seams, using SCISSORS to take apart impossible binds, winding it from the pieces directly onto my ball winder... this could be addicting.

I've always half-heartedly poked around the thrift store looking for sweaters to frog but without much luck (I do admit leaving behind a 100% cashmere laceweight that I regretted later), even though I'd always poked around on my way to their book section (I always bring home like 4 or 5 books, can't resist! I'm so close to my old university that I can get great books for next to nothing, no tax...)

The sweater was perfect, except XS (!!) and had a small hole at the fold over collar, perhaps the reason the owner had gifted it away. No felting, no pilling, very well taken care of garment... now 11 oz. of 50% angora, 50% lambswool dk (swatch on US 4's though a US 5 would probably be good too) wondering what I'm going to do with it. Its not that super fuzzy angora (think sweater girls!), but just soft. I was going to go for some socks (of course), but I think its not sturdy enough-- it's comprised of 5 seperate strands without any twist (not hard to knit actually, it sort of "sticks" to itself), but not hardy enough for workhorse socks. Huge decadent scarf? Calla from Magknits? Suggestions?

I am so going back to the thrift store's sweater racks, this could be the start of a new addiction.

Second example of naughtiness... buying an absolutely luxurious yarn for not nearly as much as its worth.


Fearless Fibers 55% mohair, 45% wool
Silvery Grey color
2 oz, 120 yd -- 4 skeins.

I won't tell you how much I paid (I'd hate to start getting hate mail!), but Deb over at Fearless Fibers has been running some super rockstar yarns at very low starting bids thru her ebay shop (she also keeps an etsy one, too) and I was lucky enough to score these. Lucky, because she let her blog readers in on her listings, and these were just calling my name from the get-go... she has a few others with low starting bids on ebay right now, too :) (You may remember I won some Fearless Fibers sock yarn from Deb when Anne held a contest at KnitSpot...)

I had my eye on them since they're going to be *perfect* for when I design a pair of kilt hose, with a little help from the esteemable Ms. Veronica Gainsford and her book-- "Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose and Knickerbocker Stockings," now out of print. I don't wear kilts, much less skirts, but hey! Kilt hose!

Third thing before I go polish off the rest of the dark chocolate M & M's in the kitchen (its been a decadent past few weeks here)... I swatched up the yarn for my long-awaited Morale Builder Stockings...



You may ask why the yarn looks suspiciously like the peaches and cream * dreamsicle * creamsicle * 50/50 bar yarn my too rad for words dyepal Adrienne sent me... you're right, it is :) Adrienne used Henry's Attic Kona lightweight fingering for the base yarn, same yarn I'm planning to use, and I had scads left over from my left-leaning Cloverleaf sock (whose mate is so behind it still needs a picot cuff!), so I thought it'd be a great idea to swatch it up.

I'm glad I did, I've been thinking about how big to make them and purrl from The Kitchener Bitch is right, I need these suckers to stretch-- otherwise they'll be baggy. (I'm terrified they'll look like they're hanging on for dear life across the wide expanse of my thighs, still!) I'm getting 8 sts/inch on US 1.5 (2.5mm) (per my guess, I might add!)... and think with a little tugging on this swatch and guessing, I think I'll allow for 5 sts/inch stretched, incl. the lace pattern. For all intents and purposes, I'll be casting on 120 sts. No one do the math and figure out how big my thigh is, please :)

I've also been swayed by severina's long legged vintage stocking to replace the lace panel with another, (hers is a skull and X pattern, too cool!)-- I swatched the lace from the Morale Builder Stockings (bottom part of the swatch, above) and it does little for me. I want to use the fountain stitch above it in the swatch... but (there's always a but!) knitting from the top down, the "leaves" look like they're pointing upward as in the pic, where I really want them to be facing downward. A true smartarse, I tried knitting the lace from the bottom up (starting with the bottom dx and working up), but the st # changes and I don't know how to account or change for it. So, it may not be this lace panel... though I wish it were! (Any advice on reversing it? I'm terrified of lace, know nothing about it...)

I won't be able to start til I get the dye... I've also decided *not* to go for red (been *almost* getting enough red in my life lately, thanks!), but a black or grey with purple tinge.

The pattern, cos its pretty:
(from Mon Tricot 1500 Patterns, 1985. p 127)

Fountains:
Motif worked on 15 sts + 1:
Row 1: K1, *yon, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, yon, p1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, yon, k1, yon, k1*
Row 2: P1, *p4, k1, p1, k1, p3, k1, p4*
Row 3: K1, *yon, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, p1, sl1, k2tog, psso, yon, k3, yon, k1*
Row 4: P1, *p6, k1, p2, k1, p4*
Row 5: K1, *yon, k1, yon, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k2tog, yon, k5, yon, k1*
Row 6: P1, *p7, k1, p1, k1, p5*
Row 7: K1, *yon, k3, yon, sl1, k2tog, psso, p1, yon, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, yon, k1*
Row 8: P1, *p3, k1, p3, k1, p7*
Row 9: K1, *yon, k5, yon, sl1, k1, psso, k1, sl1, k1, psso, p1, k2tog, k1, yon, k1*
Row 10: P1, *p3, k1, p2, k1, p8*
Row 11: Rep. from Row 1.

Have a great weekend!