I've done a little picking on Brother's Father's Day Arrrgyles, deconstructing them so I can re-do them in a way that makes sense.
But it's not all about the tearing down. Or even the rebuilding.‡
I've been doing a little creating too.§
[SUMMARY: Not claiming god status, just proving I'm still a knitter.]
These little blue blobs¶ are Malabrigo Slippers from Coco Knits.
They are knit of Malabrigo# in... um... blue,†† size 8 needles. The pattern is pretty cool, with no seaming.
I can tell you from experience, however, that you can't put the toe of the upper over the heel of the sole and hope it will all work out.‡‡
As you can probably see, I haven't woven in the ends yet, and these could use a little blocking.§§ Also, I'm going to put the little acorn embellishment on them.¶¶ But you get the general idea.##
So that's one project.
[SUMMARY: Now on to the bonus round.]
Oh, dear. Sylvia is bad. In a good way. Bad for me. Sort of.
I just couldn't resist. It's Alchemy's Silken Straw.
I'm pretty sure a camera% can't do justice to the colour or the shiny.
It's absolutely stunning in person. It feels oddly like raffia††† -- dry and smooth, but not at all silky.
I bought it mostly because I was dying to see how it knits up.
[SUMMARY: Ass.]
It's pretty enough, but what a colossal pain. The tape structure completely disintegrates with the slightest handling, devolving into a dozen or so fine threads, each with a mind of its own.^
You can see one of the escapees in this picture.
Silken Straw and I started out on the wrong foot, granted.
I bought it from Syl on Drunken Knitting night,‡‡‡ along with size 5 Addis because I had to start knitting *right now*. Couldn't wait for a swift and a winder.§§§ So I laid the hank out neatly on the table and within minutes, I had embarked on an adventure in physics that defied patience.
I actually had to chew the yarn apart at one point because it had looped in on itself and somehow gotten spun one side between random, running silken threads...
But I finished. Ended up with two balls,¶¶¶ but I finished.
And I cast on.
As tight as I knit, the size 5 needles were too big. So I frogged it all and cast on with size 4 needles when I got home. I now speculate that the fours the yarn calls for are too big.
Part of it is my own ineptitude. I have twice lost stitches with no evidence of how. No drops, no runs, no odd lumps, no misplaced yarnovers. Just one less stitch than I actually need to do the lace pattern.
The first time, I frogged. Oh, I tried to tink, but those tiny, rebellious threads thwarted me.
The second time, I said, "fuck it"### and just made a new stitch. It's barely noticable. We'll see if I can maintain long enough to finish this scarf.
[SUMMARY: We are counting on my patience and good will here. *snarf*]
By the way? It knits up... oddly. It's dry, but not rough. It has no drape at all because it has no weight. I'm still dying to find out what it does when there's a couple of feet of knitting instead of just the few inches I've been able to manage so far.
Heh.
Balls.
Inches.
Heheheh.
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Which is kinda funny because I'm actually on my period. I know Brother won't laugh, but y'all chicas should chuckle a little. And if not, well... I think I'm funny.
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Why do I suddenly want to play with Legos?
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): As much as you can give me credit for creating when I'm following someone else's pattern.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): For my grandmother, whose feet have grown from a dainty size 4 to what seems to be an embarrassing size 5. I wish I'd thought to get a picture of my big ol' paws next to them (Cat for Scale was asleep upstairs) so you could get a real idea of the Barbie-esque nature of these shoes.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Duh.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): No, really... duh.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): You're rolling your eyes with the duh of it all, aren't you?
§§FOOTNOTE (knit... purl...): I'm not sure how to do that. I think stuffing them with washcloths when they're damp is the way to go.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (headless chickens): Red. Red acorns.
##FOOTNOTE (two... two... two pounds in one!): Which is, "Marin is still knitting."
%FOOTNOTE (percented): At least my camera.
†††FOOTNOTE (triple-crossed? Really?): Not that raffia is that odd, but silk generally shouldn't feel like raffia.
^FOOTNOTE (careted): This little silk thread went to market, this little silk thread stayed home...
‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (all in a row...): Which may have been my first problem.
§§§FOOTNOTE (we have the beginnings of i-cord here): I'm not sure whether beer exacerbated the winding problem or helped calm me down when it all went pear-shaped.
¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (triple play!): Go ahead. I'll wait here while you finish giggling.
###FOOTNOTE (big numbers): Out loud. To the cat.
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