sometimes…

… unfortunate things happen. Like losing your knitting project on the bus, and only realising when you reach the office. The outpouring of concern and sympathy from those who helped me look was much appreciated! Now my hands are free, but we gotta find something new to do soon.

things that do interest me, #1

“I’m sure you’re still interested in some things,” a friend replied to my assertion that I basically am not. And it’s true, in fact, except it’s easy to be tired and mopey about life that even hobbies and interests mean little. So here I am, making an effort. 🙂

I dusted off my knitting recently, and revived a slumbering project. I started this project (way too) long ago, but took very, very long to get past the ribbing, and slightly less long (but still very long) to get past the first, oh, inch of lace. Here we have Sarah Wilson’s Prima Legwarmers, in Madelinetosh Sock Red Robin, from a dye lot that’s probably three years old at this point. These will be for J, and hopefully finished in time for her next birthday. That will make me only one birthday late.

Like I said, it’s been a while.

Yes, I did take a break from my desk in order to go take this photo while there was still light.

The needles for the lace section are Clover Bamboo DPNs in 3.00mm. They come in a set of five and have the size etched into them. This is a terribly underrated feature. And before anyone asks (I’m sure no one will), I like DPNs for small-diameter things! I think they distribute the weight more comfortably than circulars do.

A little over-exposed, but you can see the size on the needles.

The ribbing was done on Hiya Hiya Steel Sock 2.00mm DPNs.

It took ages to get the ribbing right. I had to modify the pattern, so between bad guesses on how much to cast on, miscounting, and poor planning, I think I cast on and unravelled five or six times.

Skills learned: German twisted cast-on (yay), understanding a written lace pattern, not giving up (grr)

On the whole, it’s proving a quick knit (only 81 stitches around). Speaking of written lace patterns, I am not one of the people who prefer them. Charts, please! But it was because of this that I had the interesting experience of having to understand a pattern again. As the pattern has a four-row repeat, I was loathe to keep track of whether I was on round 1 or 3, and consequently, messed up a lot to begin with. But when I started noticing a pattern and doing damage control (ahem, there may or may not be k3togs to fix my mistakes), eventually I settled into what I think is the actual correct pattern; or at least I don’t have extra stitches.

Next challenge: stopping when I have used exactly half my yarn! Out the scales will come.