Clairvoyance

I've been spinning lately, and I already have a skein of my first yarn washed and dry and ready to knit. But I won't knit anything with it yet because:

a) Winter will soon be over

b) I have other stuff to knit

Eventually, I will make a hat and dye it the same Kool-Aid flavor as my collar.
In the meantime, the other thing I can do with my slubby yarn is to defile some more art:








How do you like it? I know my drawings are not very pretty. Perhaps I should stick to fiber arts. The title of this post is that of the original painting by Magritte.

Not on my list

Why did I even bother to write that list? It's only four items, but I felt guilty for not including the doily... so I ended up picking it up again. Here's the result:







I had not commented on this doily, but I think I should point out that it's based on 11 pattern repeats. Most patterns I've seen are based on 4, 6, 8 or 10 pattern repeats. When I set out to design this one, I insisted on using a prime number. I originally started with 7 pattern repeats, but the doily was looking more like a bonnet so I started over. Have I mentioned before how stubborn I am? As if anyone would notice.

Fooling around

I enjoy playing with the Lorenz manifold as it grows. Look at it, it's almost flat when you fold it:






My sidebar looked very cluttered with the descriptions of all my finished projects, so I decided to make tiny pop-up windows for each project. How does it look now?

Oh yes, there's the blue thing

Spinning is fun, the Lorenz Manifold is fun, but let's focus. Remember, I cannot buy any yarn until I finish this:





... and the rest of the stuff on my list. It's just four items, I think I'll be able to keep my promise.

Strange shape

The Lorenz manifold is growing and getting a little more twisted:








I finally decided to put my spinning wheel to work. I discovered that of the two spools, only one works properly, and I had been wasting my time with the wrong one. Here's my spinning so far:







These are my first experiments. I'll use them as a single ply to make a hat, even if Winter will probably be over by then. I'll need the practice before I try thinner singles that I can ply together.



I came up with a few tag questions to replace the TV tag. I will send them to Marta (poor Marta, tagged twice), Andrea and Kathy.

Tagged!

Me? Yes, by Marta. I loved playing tag as a little girl, so I feel compelled to answer the questions. The problem is, I don't even have a TV at home. I will at least attempt an honest answer to all of them.



1. How much space is left on your TiVO or Comcast box?
I don't have one.



2. Have you ever bought a DVD of a TV series and if so which one?
Never.



3. What was the last TV show you watched before reading this message?
"Extreme Makeover, Home Edition". A few weeks ago I asked a co-worker to tape it and I watched it at my husband's office. The director of the program I work for appeared briefly on it (like 30 seconds).



4. List five TV shows you won't miss....
Funny, I miss all of them.



5. Name 3 people you will pass the stick.

If I pass the stick, I wouldn't know anything about the answers I might get, so I guess this is going to be a TV tag dead end. Sorry about that. But here's an idea: Coming up with similar questions on a more interesting topic (at least to me) and passing those around. Would Marta consider that's fair? What do you think?

Crooked Doily

Yes, I'm making something that's not on the list. I hope its looks improve, otherwise it's going back to the closet as a failed attempt to create a Lorenz Manifold. The "complete instructions" are not really complete. They are more like guidelines, and on top of that I'm aiming at a smaller one, so I'm having to make things up as I go (as usual).






I got that red crochet thread from my sister in law. She bought it so I could crochet a small red bag for her wedding "arras". The best English translation I could find for those is: "13 coins given by bridegroom to bride during the wedding ceremony". Which is not very accurate, but you get the idea. I wish I had a picture of that little bag, but I didn't think of it back then.



The sock and the blue thing are growing, but not much, so I won't post progress pictures yet.

Pink Please?

I'm supposed to be knitting a second sock for my husband and a blue ribbed thing. However, all these pretty pink projects made me itch, I had to swatch with my pink Katia Papiro:

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I've also been working on the blue thing:








I also worked on the second sock and I'm past the toe, but still far away from turning the heel. My husband has somewhat strong toenails and has asked me to reinforce the toes. Is there a way to do this after completing the toe? I know I could have carried reinforcing yarn along the main yarn while knitting, but did not think of it until later. If anyone knows of a good "a posteriori" toe reinforcing method, please share.



My husband *made* me put a counter on this blog (he did not have to insist much). We tried Statcounter. I've been fooling around with it and I am quite surprised by the different statistics you can get from them for free. Here's an example of a random useless piece of data: Someone came to this site through a Google search for "free pencil case knitting pattern". No such thing here. I guess this site disappoints a lot of Google users, particularly those searching for free patterns or cheap yarn.

I'm flattered

Becky mentioned me on her sidebar and I'm still blushing. Especially since I shamelessly copied one of her projects less than a week ago (and ran out of yarn). I hope she doesn't mind... I've been copying things I like for a long while, but the internet has given me even more ideas than ever before.




I finally finished the first sock for my husband. I tried again that bind-off with a 4.5 dpn, this time without any tension. My husband likes it and did not mind me including his hairy leg in this blog:




I've also been working on those ribs and one cable:








About that beautiful but useless Lorenz manifold, I'm still thinking about it. The instructions are kind of vague, but I might still attempt a small one when I finish the rest of the stuff on my list.

My chaotic husband

Don't get me wrong, he simply happens to love mathematics, and chaos theory was one of his favorite topics while he was working on his dissertation. A while ago he asked me to put an equation on his (acrylic) hat. You can only see the part that reads (1-X) on that picture. The whole equation includes an r and an X prime. If I remember correctly, under certain r values there are too many possible x values. This link explains more. If you skim down to the figure you'll understand what it's got to do with chaos.



Anyway. I don't need to elaborate more on his love for chaos (he married me, after all). We recently heard of a crocheted Lorenz Manifold. Beautiful, isn't it? Big and useless too. Plus, who would crochet that? Apparently, me, especially now that I have found the pattern.



Oh dear. Should I? What would I do with it? How can I even think about it, when I am unable to finish a simple doily?

I hate that sock

4.5 mm cast-off and the thing's still too tight. I don't have any 5.0 or 5.5mm. Shall I go up to 6.0? Or try again with no tension on the yarn whatsoever? I don't know. I'll think it over.



In the meantime, I'm working on the ribbed thingy and I finally completed the back:










Yes, I have dyelot problems, but that's not going to stop me. The front is going to have something more than simple ribs. A while ago (October, 2003) I saw this in Digital Yarn. It saw the idea again recently (through Chic Knits, maybe?) and now I want to do it on the front. So, where's that calculator?

A tiny distraction

Making a list made me want to knit something not on the list (of course!). But hey, I needed a brake from the tight sock. I wanted to knit something with my homespun yarn, preferably something I could wear (my first batch ended up as potholders). I got inspiration from Becky, who recently knitted this, and here's the result:









My only regret is that the color is not as easy to combine with other colors. I also wish it were longer, but I ran out of yarn. Which means I'll get some money back from the buttons I will not use, and that always feels good. Overall, I like the results and I'm getting ready to go back to the tight sock.



Jane and Tracy kindly suggested using a needle several sizes larger. Thanks! I did try a bigger needle, but maybe not big enough. So here I go again, this time armed with a 4.5 dpn. I'll knit one or two more rounds first, because I find that this yarn gets fuzzy after too much ripping and re-knitting.

Unexpected arrival

Today an item from ebay arrived. Could you believe I had forgotten about it? That can only mean that I've been buying too much stuff lately. I therefore declare that I will not buy fibery goods until I get to:

Finish my husband's socks

Finish my blue ribbed thing

Finish my eight dollar whim (I only have a swatch)

Finish whatever I choose to do with my pink Katia



Why add the Katia, if I have not even started? Well, I was recently inspired to knit something pink by Tracy, whose blog is full of beatiful pink finished objects. I know I'm going to start another project, so it's better to include it in my list. I could add something about my chronic doily, but that would be unrealsitic.

Tight cuff

I cannot find a good way to prevent a cuff that's too tight unless I use the Kitchener bind-off. I followed Vax-Girl's instructions but still, the cuff is too tight. Just before binding off my husband tried the sock and it fit him all right, but now it cannot go up past his heel. I'm obviously doing something wrong.







We had an unexpected visitor: on Wednesday a friend came to see us from Virginia and stayed with us until today. It was very nice to see him again and even if this was a very sudden visit we had a good time. Now that he's left I should go back to my knitting, but I feel like I've lost my sock momentum.

See that heel?

No holes! From now on, I'll do those extra wraps when I knit a sock.





My ReKal project did not felt. The sweater was a little smaller but not much. So what else can I ReKal? I'm thinking of doing something with all these sock yarn leftovers. Right now I could use a pencil case or small purse, because I'm having trouble finding small objects inside my Frankenbag. Imagine, three years ago I wouldn't even use a purse. I now carry lots of stuff wherever I go.