boring?
probably yes, but I can occasionally be silly ... very silly, just for no reason, or if I'm honest to keep up with those around me, to try and be adventurous in situations where it is expected. So today's post has a not very often occurrence, a silly knitting adventure .. pure whimsy, weird, 'because I could'*, and more twisted ordered madness with Bayerische, and a baby blanket all done and photographed and blocking, and then Peggy - a new project, all soft and merino pink and improvised.
So what is so silly, well its a knitted knitting pin, or needle. completely unusable, the end has a circle of plastic cut from an ice-cream container to hold its shape, but the pin is soft and floppy. I cast on for a center out shawl, increased 4 stitches randomly every round until it seemed enough, knit one round with no shaping .. decreased 4 stitches every round until I had what seemed a good amount for the needle, and knit for a bit. Then I decreased 3 into 1 every 4th round to create a nice pointy tip until I had 6 stitches ... cut the yarn, threaded it through and wove the end in. I stuffed and filled it as I knit it which made for an interesting knit experience .. the stuffed end swung like a pendulum as I knit.
This is it in its entirety .. there is only one, someday there might be a knitted circ .. but I don't have more of the pink to knit another end, and I don't think I have enough of the cream to knit another pin. Think of it like a pair with one lost? Lorna has just signed up for a share in a craft studio .. and she is planning her knit-fiber-themed decorations ... and said it would be ideal there. I did have brief fantasy's of providing two classic straight needles and a knitted ball of yarn (complete with knitted ball band) as toys for a toy box at some time, but it was a brief fantasy.
Next Bayerische, this was on hold for much of the week, as I stressed over having enough yarn. I posted on Ravelry asking for help ... and had mixed responses. Several have knitted Bayerische as knee highs, most using different yarns with smaller skeins and less yardage, but they warned me they had small feet and were shorter than I and warned me more that Bayerische was a hungry sock so I still worried. What if I knit so far and ran out - this is a serous sock to frog, a lot of work, I don't want to think of that. Then I realized while it seemed a 'hungry' sock ... perhaps I have enough, I have more yarn. RobinHill posted her knee high Bayerisches were only 70g each, and PurpleRaven said her Bayerische Knee highs used 693 yards, and I've got 840 yards. I also was gifted the toe up version by TheKnittingSwede ... which I toyed with knitting the 2nd sock as. After all the to-ing and fro-ing, and dithering and wondering and stressing, I'm now back on track, and knitting those teeny tiny little twisted stitches and not caring if I run out ... I can have contrast toes and because I've got a skein for each sock .. the contrast toes (if needed) will still make a perfect pair!
Some where in the last 2 weeks I started a 3rd Baby blanket, and posted about it last post. This is now done and blocked and drying. I had a bit of play with different eyelet laces .. so it is slightly different to the others.
Now yesterday was party at out house day. Poppy turns 7 next weekend, but I'm away (conference - paper to finish - eeeekkk!), so she had her party early. Movie and munchie party, 10 little girls and 3 boys (counting our kids in the mix). All went well, we watched Matilda, and ate junk food, Fairy bread!, and pink lemonade (added a little blackcurrant juice). I knew that Bayerishe wasn't a good knit to knit whilst the party raged .. which it did from 5 to 7:30. All the kids bar ours went home in the dark, which is very scary and exiting when you are 6 and 7. After the party and the clean up (not to bad), I needed a simple knit ... so ... I started Peggy, aka pink leg warmers. I'm using 100% merino fingering, so soft for socks, but perfect for ballet leg warmers. Peggy is a collapsed form of Pink Legs, Pink Leggy's ... Peggy? I'm making it up as I knit. 2.25mm needles, 76 stitches, 2.2 rib, with clapotis style increases and matched dropped stitches randomly. I'm making up some 'rules' for myself here, only create one ladder at a time, and these alternately switch from the one side of the knitting to the other, these must be random lengths - but always an odd number of rows and not stacked upon each other. I've split my yarn into two equal weight balls and plan to knit until I run out ... unless they end up way to long for her legs. If I add secret thumb holes - she can make them leg warmers or arm warmers ... I never did ballet - do little ballet girls wear leg warmers or it is a myth from all those 1980's movies?
so that is me, feels like it was a busy week, and I'm away from next friday to monday at the next conference .. if I don't post before I go, I will still be knitting ... and I'll post on my return.
take care, knit some ... bake or cook something you like, I will
s
* - which is odd because I often say to students - "just because you can dosn't mean you should"!
4 comments:
are your ears burning? should be. i blogged about you to day. i suggested my readers come read your entry today.
I love the knitted knitting needle! What a fun thing to knit :) The Bayeriche socks are looking absolutely lovely; it sounds to me like your calculations are sound and you're going to have enough yarn. And the leg-warmers are so pretty (love the name, too) -- as far as I know, ballerinas truly do wear leg-warmers (and we're seeing them come back here as a fashion statement, something I'd never hoped to live through twice!). Good luck with the writing and presenting!
Yup, leg warmers are part of the 'classic' attire. One other thing you might like to make. My Mother made lovely, floaty transparent skirts out of crepey voile the same colour as her leotard. The waistband was a matching length of grosgrain ribbon, secured by two hook and eye. Granted, this was in the era of those transparent wispy scarves to protect the elaborate hairdos, so the material was readily available. However, it made such a lovely, feminine statement in ballet class, without in any way detracting from the utilitarian nature of the ensemble.
It's great to see the knitted knitting needle finished (I saw your design at the knitted toy workshop recently). It's a pity you can only make one, 'cause a pair would be funny. And I do not know whether dropped stitches is a common part of design, but I think it very adventurous - probably because I drop stitches by accident. Anyway, the workshop and the wonderful experienced company has got me knitting again and visiting knitting blogs and websites. cheers, M
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