Fiber Raven Soiree

Menyou for Knitting

The Gray and I employed ourselves throughout the weekend in getting ready for "Company". My sister and her husband, from Alabama, are coming for Labor Day weekend and my other sister and her husband, from Oregon, are coming right after that. Neither of these sisters share a parent in common, and they have never met. It's a weird world we live in.

While we were moving things around, cleaning carpets and so forth, I stubbed my toe. Really hard. I think I broke it, but of course there's naught to be done about that. But this toe-breaking incident led to some fun conversation at breakfast. The Gray had made his delicious french toast and bacon, and we were eating. I said, "Do you know what cannibals have for breakfast?" He didn't. "French Toes!"

This led to a discussion of the cannibal restaurant menu. We decided it would include Hungarian Goulash, Swedish meatballs, Hot Buttered Danish, American Cheese, Polish Sausage, Spanish Rice and English Peas. **

**This just in... my friend Kim says we left out the Lady Fingers. And I remembered that I forgot the Bob-e-cue Sandwiches.

Speaking of the Gray... shhhh, don't tell, but there is now a Project Gray underway. One of the very best Knitter's magazine issues (when Knitter's was still good) is Winter of 2001. There is a design called woven cables that I have wanted to knit for the Gray ever since I saw it. I figure this is August, and Christmas is in December, so that makes about six months to knit a sweater. Surely I can do that?

I took the Blackwater Abbey yarn that is about the most masculine I could find in my stash and actually swatched it, then started the sweater. It's going to be beautiful if my wrists will hold up.

After I finished one ball of the Kid Classic on the topdown raglan, I put it on a strand of yarn and tried it on. Hmmm. The pattern has you calculate the number of cast-on neck stitches based on the diameter of your neck. In my case, that is 13.5 inches. You increase at eight points every other row until you get to the bottom of the armpit. This should fit you "incredibly".

The problem is, I think, that folks with 13.5" necks should have really skinny arms and shouldn't be so broad-shouldered. Being the freak of nature I am, I don't comply with either of these factors. This means that the arm-top isn't going to be big enough by the time I get to the armpit. Kit, who is a wizard at fitting and engineering of most anything, assures me that This Sweater Can Be Saved. I will put my faith in her wise teachings.

And the Big News!!! -- Simply Shetland is now here, and so is all the yarn!!! As soon as we can, we'll get the book up on the website.

There is something for everyone in this book. Two of the designs are particularly suited for larger women, and I may knit one of those for someone dear to me. Those designs are the Kaleidoscope Jacket and the Windowpanes pullover. Windowpanes is one size -- a 68" chest. But it looks good on someone with half that endowment. The collar and cuffs with their checkerboard pattern are a classy touch.

Kaleidoscope 2 has a 60" chest, and its zigzag lines draw attention to the garment rather than the body beneath it.

I swatched the Sand Lodge Pullover-- a small swatch, to be sure-- because I couldn't see how those colors could fit together! But they do, and it is a unique look, very understated and heathery. It would look great with jeans on male or female.

I need to take a break from creating my Swatch Slave, but I managed to get a working prototype built and to generate the same swatch as what I knit. The stitches need some tweaking, but that just requires time. Maybe three or four stitches for each color, each a different part of the yarn, would be good. So the question is, if you see a swatch like this, would it be good enough for you to have an idea of whether it was something you would knit?

I think that's enough for today, don't you? Sherlock is looking at me with those eyes....

Posted by Sheila at August 30, 2004 08:45 AM | TrackBack