- had a cup of soy yogurt and black tea for breakfast
- am eating toffee, courtesy of the OKC
- am bemoaning my fate
The Good News
I called my mom last night. She's a realtor, so it's not uncommon for her to answer the phone in her car, but it just so happens that I somehow almost always call during her evening commute when she's about to enter a tunnel. Then we get suddenly disconnected. Sometimes she calls back, sometimes she doesn't. I managed to glean from her before she entered the next tunnel that she 1) got the Bed Socks, 2) is stunned that I made them by hand, and 3) hasn't tried them on because she is afraid her size 10 1/2 feet will ruin them.
I think she may have heard me when I said I made the socks EXTRA BIG, but I can't be sure. She was already descending into Central California Tunnel Hell.
So she likes them. Perhaps a little too much to wear them. This is good and bad, wouldn't you say? Maybe if I make her a second pair as back up (her birthday is April) she'll feel it isn't too much of a risk to put one of the pairs on. What do you think? I must admit this is an obstacle I hadn't quite anticipated.
Also, I finished my FLAK swatch last night and blocked it. I am already behind on this knitalong (some people are on the back of the sweater already!) so I didn't go the full 24 rows, more like 14. I don't think it makes a real difference. My stitches per inch is dead on. I haven't bothered with counting the rows per inch. I can work that out later if it's a problem. The important thing is I can start the sweater now with something like a clear conscience, if not downright brazenness.
The Bad News
At the S'nB last night I "trained" for the Knitting Olympics by knitting up a swatch of the "coal" Merino Style from KnitPicks for "Fleur". I used US #3 needles, and it was pretty dense. I was under the impression that this yarn was DK weight, but I blocked it last night and measured it this morning right after the FLAK swatch. The gauge for "Fleur" is 28s = 10 cm/4 inches.
My swatch is 24s = 10 cm/4 inches!
Argh!
The fabric is already as dense as I can tolerate, so that's that. I have no yarn for "Fleur". Nothing. Zip. Nada. I am (to use a time-honored cliche) up Shit Creek.
One of the criteria I gave myself for the Knitting Olympics was that I would work from the stash. Buying buttons, zippers, toggles or whatnot is perfectly acceptable, but not the yarn. Not even one ball if I fall short of the required amount. The only DK weight yarn I have in my stash is off-white and I refuse to make anything out of it that doesn't require at least a few cables or bobbles. This can only mean one thing: I have to choose a different pattern and yarn.
Simple enough, eh? Of course not.
I have already nixed the possibility of using cables, bobbles, or complex stitches when they comprise the majority of a pattern, unless it's socks. I could do socks, but I really want a sweater. I need a sweater. I will not be complete without a new handknit sweater, ASAP. (I think that may be the entire reason I am participating in the Knitting Olympics, come to think of it.)
Simple sweater it must be. I have yarn for that. I have, in fact, A WHOLE LOT of yarn for that, in worsted weight. Perhaps if I chose the yarn, the pattern will automatically follow without much fuss or whining.
Yeah, right.
Edit: Worse News. I am an idiot. 28s = 10 cm/4 imches is not DK weight; it's fingering weight. Ah, well. I still don't have the yarn, since I don't want to make it in green.
Last night, I:
- had a cheese panini for dinner with a coffee at S'nB
- drank half a beer
- was foolishly optimistic
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