Mid Atlantic Knitters
Knitting Humbugs
posted Saturday, 24 December 2005
I've been done with my Christmas knitting for a while now, so I cast on for two new projects for me. 
This is the first repeat for the Counterpane Carpet Bag from Handknit Holidays. The yarn is some previously smelly wool I picked up from Over the Rainbow Yarns via eBay some months ago. I put the skeins in zippered pillowcases and tossed them in the dryer with 2 Bounce sheets for about 45 minutes on "air fluff." That seemed to reduce the "sheepiness" of the yarn (what I previously thought was a mildew smell).
Has anyone else tried this pattern yet? Despite counting every stitch in every row twice, I still ended up 4 stitches short on the final row. The directions seem simple, but I find them oddly confusing. Maybe this was what was supposed to happen, as the stitch count per row isn't supposed to be consistent. Looks ok though, so I'll just keep plugging away. The pattern is rather like a too-complicated old shale, and there are yarnover holes, so the bag will have to be lined before use.
Next up is the Fickle Fingers Scarf from the latest Interweave Knits. Yeah, I said I wanted to knit a bunch of stuff from the new Knitty, but the piles of wrapped Christmas gifts in the spare bedroom are in the way of my bins of yarn. I happened to have a skein of Plymouth Encore in this rather interesting black + pastel self-striping twist colorway in my basement stash, and thought it would be perfect for this pattern.
I'm also hoping to cast on eventually for the wrist warmers in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, since I got my lone skein of Noro Cash Iroha wound into a ball at the same time I did the smelly yarn. There are just so many things I want to work on! Unfortunately, the holiday gets in the way. Humbug.
Holiday PITA
So why am I humbugging? Well, if the holidays were less-unnecessarily-stressful, I'd have a better time. I can deal with Christmas day, since I only have three guests coming and will be making a nice and easy dinner. Christmas Eve is what riles me.
My Dad lives with his girlfriend about 45 minutes away. They spend Christmas Day with her sister and her family, so I decided that they should come over on Christmas Eve instead. That seemed to go over well the first year, except for dinner, as I made roast duck and she apparently doesn't eat duck. Then last year, I found out that they spend Christmas Eve day at her brother's house. So they just come over in the evening. That would be fine, but now I hear that they have to go to church at 9pm. I expect them to arrive at 6pm. Their church is an hour away, so they'll leave here at 8pm. Is that a Drive-by Christmas or what???? Why bother even coming at all? So I don't waste my time cooking for them - for the second year in a row we're having delivered Chinese food, and this year we're eating off paper plates. I don't appreciate being considered an inconvenience, you know? Why doesn't his family matter at all?
Yes, I'm bitter. And mad. And if she gives me another damned piece of crystal, I am going to throw it against the wall (I hate crystal, don't use it, have no room for it, yet she buys it).
Is it Monday Yet?
This is the first repeat for the Counterpane Carpet Bag from Handknit Holidays. The yarn is some previously smelly wool I picked up from Over the Rainbow Yarns via eBay some months ago. I put the skeins in zippered pillowcases and tossed them in the dryer with 2 Bounce sheets for about 45 minutes on "air fluff." That seemed to reduce the "sheepiness" of the yarn (what I previously thought was a mildew smell). Has anyone else tried this pattern yet? Despite counting every stitch in every row twice, I still ended up 4 stitches short on the final row. The directions seem simple, but I find them oddly confusing. Maybe this was what was supposed to happen, as the stitch count per row isn't supposed to be consistent. Looks ok though, so I'll just keep plugging away. The pattern is rather like a too-complicated old shale, and there are yarnover holes, so the bag will have to be lined before use.
Next up is the Fickle Fingers Scarf from the latest Interweave Knits. Yeah, I said I wanted to knit a bunch of stuff from the new Knitty, but the piles of wrapped Christmas gifts in the spare bedroom are in the way of my bins of yarn. I happened to have a skein of Plymouth Encore in this rather interesting black + pastel self-striping twist colorway in my basement stash, and thought it would be perfect for this pattern. I'm also hoping to cast on eventually for the wrist warmers in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, since I got my lone skein of Noro Cash Iroha wound into a ball at the same time I did the smelly yarn. There are just so many things I want to work on! Unfortunately, the holiday gets in the way. Humbug.
Holiday PITA
So why am I humbugging? Well, if the holidays were less-unnecessarily-stressful, I'd have a better time. I can deal with Christmas day, since I only have three guests coming and will be making a nice and easy dinner. Christmas Eve is what riles me.
My Dad lives with his girlfriend about 45 minutes away. They spend Christmas Day with her sister and her family, so I decided that they should come over on Christmas Eve instead. That seemed to go over well the first year, except for dinner, as I made roast duck and she apparently doesn't eat duck. Then last year, I found out that they spend Christmas Eve day at her brother's house. So they just come over in the evening. That would be fine, but now I hear that they have to go to church at 9pm. I expect them to arrive at 6pm. Their church is an hour away, so they'll leave here at 8pm. Is that a Drive-by Christmas or what???? Why bother even coming at all? So I don't waste my time cooking for them - for the second year in a row we're having delivered Chinese food, and this year we're eating off paper plates. I don't appreciate being considered an inconvenience, you know? Why doesn't his family matter at all?
Yes, I'm bitter. And mad. And if she gives me another damned piece of crystal, I am going to throw it against the wall (I hate crystal, don't use it, have no room for it, yet she buys it).
Is it Monday Yet?
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