Sassy Does It

The bold red in-your-face knee-highs for Maizy are off the needles, finally.

Official FO post will come once I’ve got proof that they actually fit on the 3-year-old recipient’s feet.  After I’ve sent them off and Sissy B can send me back some glamour shots, I’ll include those with the post, along with my adapted pattern and comments.

I did a Eucalan wash last night and then set these little guys to block.  I didn’t need to pin as it was easy enough to shape to the dimensions to which I’d knit.

After a wash, a few rinses and another wash, the pink water told me that the rinse water might need a smidgen of vinegar to help set the dye.

Did a little research and found nothing terribly convincing one way or the other as to whether this was the right way to go, so I went ahead and tossed about a teaspoon into my (small) bathroom sink full of lukewarm rinse water.

One more rinse and then no color bleed at all in the water.  This fiber (Huntington, from Valley Yarns) is meant to be machine washable and dryable, so I think as long as Sissy B sticks with cold water she’ll be fine.  There’s nothing like a bright red sock in the hot water of that load of whites to ruin your day.

Anyhoo, these puppies are looking and feeling soft and lovely.  I’ll have some closer-up views of the pattern with the FO post.  Right now I’m trying not to fondle them until they’re completely dry.

I’m deep in Cowl Country with my Sheer Poncho.  I really am very near completion.

See?

The cowl neck is a little constrained by the circular needle in this photo, but you get the picture.  I think I need another 2 inches or so on the cowl, at least that’s when I’ll weave through a length of yarn to hold it and do a final fit.

Another 3 inches or so of length in the body I think will do it as well. 

Maybe tonight will be the night I get this done.  OK, maybe not.

In other news…

The yarn fairy made a visit this week.  Hurrah!  Fortunately it was not a random splurge, but the other kind of splurge:  premeditated (it still sounds naughty, doesn’t it?).

It had occurred to me that another baby-induced deadline was creeping up on me and I hadn’t gotten it together to plan my project.  Upon realizing this, it was a minor miracle that it didn’t take me forever to narrow the shortlist of queued patterns in my head and pounce on the yarn.  I’m getting quicker at these sort of not-as-serious-and-lengthy-as-I-try-to-make-them decisions.

My love affair with Blue Sky Alpacas continues, but at least I’m spreading the torrid affection around in that family.

The pattern I’ve landed on - which I will attempt to keep a secret from the receiver of the gift for now - called for a finer gauge than the organically-grown dyed cotton (4-5 st/in) I’d used for my last baby item, so I was looking for something lighter-weight (5-6 st/in).

I didn’t start out considering Blue Sky, thinking I should try to find something entirely new to me.  I liked the organic approach though, for all things baby, and I wanted to stick with cotton for the summer months.

A Ravelry yarn search for “organic cotton” showed me plenty of choices, but I got distracted by someone’s glowing review of Skinny Organic and it put me right back into bed with Blue Sky Alpacas.

Oh, well - until I’ve tried the whole line, I don’t see the harm in checking out all the different variations of wonderful that they offer, right?  I mean each yarn is unique, right?

So I went for it, although I decided that I’d go for more color than going solely with the 100% naturally-occurring hues of Birch or Clay offered in the Skinny Organic line.  I did pick out a skein of Birch (colorway 30) to use as a trim and selected Pear (colorway 312, a new addition) from the Skinny Dyed collection (organically grown fibers with colors created by low-impact dyes) as my main color.

It arrived this week, and as we all are when the postie drops the care package at our door, I was over the moon.  I love these shades together, and this fiber will make a beautiful baby item.

Here’s a little swatch to tease you.

More deets on on this project as it gets closer to the date I’m ready to gift it.

Over and out.  Starting to get that Sunday-night ick feeling, so I better go eat something to make it all better.

I’m attempting to thwart that icky I-don’t-wanna-go-back-to-work Sunday-night feeling with a blog post. 

Very similar to the strategy employed in high school in lieu of doing homework on a Sunday night:  write a 4-page note to at least 2 BFFs about the boy who doesn’t even know who I am, then fold the notes into tiny shapes and shove them into my backpack for later distribution.

So much easier - and less heart-wrenching - to just type away here and then click on “publish”.  And knitting is just less stressful than boys.  At least the scary ones I shed tears over knew.  Or wanted to know.  You know.

Couple of new WIPs going now, I’m happy to report.

Like clockwork that doesn’t work quite right, the gifting instinct came a wee bit late for me this year.  This is supposed to happen before Christmas, but I feel less Grinch-ish now and more susceptible to the knitting-gifts-for-others bug.  So people I love will be getting little knitted things now instead of then.

Not now, but soon.

Sknitty got me turned on to Thermis, which I cast on last night and tore through like a bandit.  Something about that thermal pattern mixed with the cowl and then the buttons - Amy likey.  I’ve just got the second buttonhole and a bit of ribbing left and then this puppy will be off the needles.

I do like the Cascade Rustic yarn I picked up for this.  Never even heard of Rustic, and when I saw it in ye olde LYS, I become entranced by the pretty soft grey mix.  Seventy-nine percent wool, the rest linen, which is why the color has such a distinct variation, I think - the two fibers pick up the dye differently.

Normally linen and I don’t get along too well, but I really liked the feel of this yarn. I figured I’d go for it since this is a cowl that’s meant to drape nicely around the neck and probably won’t be prone to lots of wrinkling.  I let the visions of creased pants and skirts float away and just bought it.  Very proud of myself.

Once I cast on I could see that although hitting stitches-per-inch gauge would be easy, the fiber was plumper in row height than the suggested Patons Classic Wool, so row gauge would be off.  No worries - I made a few mods along the way to accommodate.  I still like the way it’s looking.  Will share the modifications with the FO post.

I do have my eye on making another one of these little Thermis guys in a lighter neutral tone. We’ll see.

At the yarn store, along with the grey Rustic, I picked up some Berroco Ultra Alpaca to make handwarmers for my aunties, who tend toward chilliness, even in Arizona.  I hope to get going on those soon as well.

Next, a pair of knee-high red socks as requested by Maizy.  Found a nice little mock-cable pattern that I adapted to a child’s size. 

I had Sissy B run some covert measurements while Maizy was napping, but given my desire to get this right without bothering her with fervent texts about calf measurements again, there are still a few particulars I’m guessing a bit on. 

Sad to say, I actually Googled “child calf dimension” prior to breaking down and asking my sister the first time.

As for my Google endeavor, after finding not much, I did land on this kind-of-freaked-me-out research article reporting the optimal way to measure kids prior to designing and standardizing crash tests for cars.  And I proceeded to use the resulting charts and graphs in sketching out the sock adaptation - uh, is that geeky?

Anyway, here’s hoping they fit her!  Will see Sissy B and the girls next weekend, so I’m hoping these two are FO’d by then.

Sheer Poncho - absolutely no progress.  Maybe soon.  Stockinette, don’t take it personally.

That’s it for now.  And would you look at the time!  Looks like sleepy time - no time to catch up on those work e-mails I’ve been ignoring for the better part of two weeks.  Darn.

Consider the top-secret BFF note folded into a triangle and slid into your locker.