spin, knit, repeat as necessary: Knit happens... or not.

I've been waiting to blog for two weeks, hoping that some knitting worth mentioning would be accomplished. But I've given up hope since realizing that I am not one pattern repeat away from the end of the baby blanket, but two. ...le sigh... I did get quite a bit accomplished over the holiday weekend (who knew that knitting and fishing would mesh so well??) but not, it would seem, enough to deliver me from this particular circle of knitting hell.

I have made progress on Spring Vines, although you can't tell it from my naked needles. I decided that since I'm a math idiot, and since Ravelry allows instant access to designers, I would contact Dao directly for help on adapting her pattern somewhat. You see, Dao is a young lady. A young, thin, lady... of asian decent. I am a towering, middle-aged Scot who has gained 10 lbs since getting married a year ago. These two body types are not exactly... similar, shall we say. So with help from a very kind Dao I now have far fewer waist shaping rows and a much clearer understanding of negative ease. ;-) So back to the swatching, going down one needle size to get a slightly tighter fabric and this time actually washing and blocking said swatch.

I know. Now close your mouth - you look like an idiot.

While my gauge didn't change significantly, it did change a little. I am within one stitch of getting gauge over 4 inches, which I'm going to call close enough given the amount of negative ease built into this piece. My row gauge is also very slightly off, but with such a low neckline I think a little shorter will be a good thing. We shall see...

Fortunately I do have some lovely yarn and fiber to show you...

Two skeins of Handmaiden Sea Silk in Blackberry/Currant (top, for The Mister) and Aurora Borealis (bottom, for me) scored at Little Knits a couple of weeks ago. I've never seen Sea Silk in person before... and now I am totally smitten. The top skein was a surprise for The Mister since those are the colors he loves. I'm now hunting down a "manly" lace pattern so I can knit him a scarf out of it. Mine may want to be a small shawl. I'm not yet sure, but I had to have those colors.

Next up, some fiber...

I had almost totally lost my spinning mojo while slogging my way through a pound of monochrome wool/mohair for Kath's gift. It's a lovely fiber, and it's turning into a very nice yarn, but it's a little... boring. Fortunately Amanda is having a baby and, since she's knitter-friendly, it seemed fitting to have some fiber dyed up with which to knit her a handspun baby dress. I asked Heather at Sereknity for "a pink that's very peachy and yellow" and a green that's "brand new spring leaves with a bit of light teal" in a superwash wool. And this is what that amazing woman came up with...