Trying to type with an icepack on one arm, shortly to be switched off to the other. Icing just as a precautionary measure at the first sign of complaining, it’s not bad and I want it to stay that way.

But there’s nothing quite like that little satisfying snap sound at the end of a project. (And being able to hear it!) Especially when with 960 stitches per pattern repeat, there was just just just enough supersoft Malabrigo Finito left that I got to break the yarn at the end.

Oh and by the way? That excellent blueberry cake recipe?  We found out tonight that it’s good with sour cherries, too.

I’m knitting it in a straight line rather than a circle so as to be flexible re the length.

I am a firm believer in not running out of yarn. Part of my childhood included watching my mother spending months knitting my dad an elaborate Aran and coming up short right at the end. She had no idea then how many times she would be saving me in the future from the same fate.

Which is why I have nearly a thousand yards of that qiviut-merino blend in a muted raspberry; the price definitely helped, too. The brown of the musk ox dominates far more than their photos or mine show.

It had not occurred to me till I read the comments on yesterday’s post that I had another cone of that cherry silk/lycra that I’d made that shawl out of  that would match that qiviut well, too. I just had never thought of them together, even after pairing it with the unlikely baby alpaca and having it come out so pretty. OH! Of course! I exclaimed quite out loud. Anne had nailed it!

Thank you everybody for your input, it really helped.

So I did not rip out what I started yesterday, as many of you were hoping I wouldn’t and because I didn’t want to either, and that chorus of no, please don’ts persuaded me on what I already knew; I simply started over on other needles. I would have enough for two. Cowls, at least, the classic qiviut project anyway.

The 5% lycra grabs the other fibers and keeps the silk from slithering out while the silk justifies diluting that qiviut as much as anything ever could.

I will do the airy one later in its own time when my hands are up to it, and now I have one I know will get done in time. It’s on a comfortable pair of rosewood size 7s, coming along nicely.

A lined matching hat would be great for Alaska, too, but we’ll see how far I get.

—–

Edited to add: please vote Tuesday. In our town, a developer wants a mega project justified by affordable senior housing off to the side (and right on the designated bike route for four schools clustered there). But it comes with a parking space for every other apartment. As if seniors never drive. Never volunteer. As if nobody ever visits them. As if it made any sense.

And a 90-year-old’s birth certificate (it has to be certified, which you have to pay for, and how is that not a poll tax), his ID as a professor, and his expired (because, hey, he’s 90 and is being responsible like that) driver’s license are not enough: he was denied a voter ID card by the great state of Texas.  Lives in Ted Cruz’s town. His attendant drove him to go check it out and sure enough, they turned him down, no, you can’t vote with those.

The fact that he used to be the Speaker of the US House himself did Jim Wright no good. What about all the people with less name recognition or nobody to drive them?

Vote.  Did you know that our bitterly bickering House actually quietly passed a bill to kill the desperately-needed derivatives reform of Wall Street that Dodd-Frank had enacted? Our democracy depends on you and me making our voices heard, in every election, on every issue. Please don’t miss it.

I knew I should have bought the 3-ply. But I didn’t, I have the thinner 2-ply.

So here’s the thing. I have this daughter who just moved to Alaska. I have some well-hoarded 50/50 qiviut/merino laceweight, and if ever someone had top claim on having that super-warm undercoat of the Alaskan musk ox knitted up for them, she’s it. I’ve started knitting it on 3.5 mm needles, US 4s, as big as you really want to go with this stuff.

My hands are not happy. Even though the yarn keeps a good grip on the needles. They’re still grousing about last Tuesday, when I didn’t have access to my ice packs at the endless city council meeting.

I could knit this doubled. That would limit the length of what I’m making because there’s only so much of the yarn, but, I could do that, and if I’m going to do that instead of this I’d better decide fast because musk ox attaches to itself like a herd firmly shoulder to shoulder facing outward at the wolf; ripping it out is nigh-on impossible. I’m five rows into 143 stitches.

Doubled is warmer. And she’s definitely going to need warmer.

Doubled misses a whole lot of the point of the ethereal lightness of qiviut.

Doubled means that I’ll still be able to knit other Decembery things coming up in my queue.

I’m still resisting. Open to suggestions. What do you think?

Before John gets here, thought I’d mention. While waiting for Richard at his doctor’s appointment this morning, I worked on an 8″ square(ish) to go in a baby afghan for someone at Purlescence–and I gave it a little pocket.

But it occurred to me: if I don’t sew the bottom shut, then I have reversible pockets, one on each side, but not really pockets because it goes through to the other side at the bottom. Remembering Parker and his blankie, it would be a safe way for a little one to stick their hand through their blankie without tearing anything.

I have not sewn that bottom shut. Should I?

(Added hours later, he’s home, he’s home!)

Dark o’clock alarm for the earliest flight out. Dark again after the last flight back. Blessings on Michelle for driving us despite working till 2 am the last few nights. (So did Richard.)

Hudson being a charmer despite teething.

More tomorrow after a little sleep. But I just have to say: if you ever, ever want to knit for someone who will swoon, who can’t believe you did that, who loves all the people who loved them and shared or wanted to share their yarn to contribute to the afghan for their little (is he really already two months old? Yeah, she said, I know!) baby–my daughter-in-law’s whole family is just the best.

And Hayes’s mom also said that after he was chilled that first week that yes, he likes very much now to be warm. The afghan was perfect.

Finally a photo that captures the colors well!

I’ve been told that Cascade 220 softens up at washing. I wanted to know that for sure for myself.  And so, after I ran all the ends in today, I put it through the handwash cycle on my machine and then (taking a deep breath) put it in the dryer, checking it often.

And about ten or twelve minutes was all it took for it to dry all by itself in there.

Softer it was. It is done!

Got my hair cut yesterday by Gwyn and have been very very pleased with it. If you’re local, I highly recommend her.

Knitting: got the last pythagorean repeat finished on Hayes’ baby blankie and now I’m into the ribbing. But I knew it was going to be a letdown when I didn’t have it to work on anymore after an intense month of it.

And I knew that sometimes that makes me sit around and admire the thing–okay, call it what it is, dithering helplessly–rather than getting to it on the next big thing.

And I had the next emotionally-big thing to do.

So to head off any lagging, I got a good start on a scarf for a friend’s daughter who’s going off to college for the first time, to send her off with an extra helping of love from friends. One she knows, two she doesn’t: the yarn is the exquisite but discontinued Cascade Epiphany, royal baby alpaca/silk/cashmere, via a gift certificate to Purlescence from those two other knitters. Who were quite delighted for the new college student’s sake when I told them.

I was at Purlescence tonight and spread Hayes’s afghan on the floor in front of Rachel to show her what her yarn gift had grown up to be–and while I was halfway through the last color band, to ask her advice.

Stop here and go straight to ribbing or do the full 24-row repeat?

Make it longer, she said. I’d keep going.

So I am. So, so close. It will seem so odd not to be working on it anymore.

(Oh, and I almost forgot: lessons on how to be a better predator to the baby seal or whatever the heck that thing in the water was, as given to a National Geographic photographer with a far higher tolerance for risk than I have by a curious, huge leopard seal. The doofus kept letting the proffered penguins get away from him.)

Getting there, getting there.

Looking at the camera made me remember I’d turned and shot a picture of the sky at the end of the block party yesterday, hoping the rainbow would show.

I’m guessing the ash from the Yosemite fire is seeding our fog–it rained briefly a little later on our way to the airport to get Michelle.

…in the towering redwoods. Yes I did. Sunscreened, sunjacketed, big hat. Parked right near the mile-out stop on my way in but just missed the bus that had once been a San Francisco trolley car and given the wait and the late (3:40 and the place would shut down at 5:00) I simply hoofed it through the hills. Later got out of there after quitting time, when the trolleybusing was officially over, and got another stiff workout.

It was Kings Mountain Art Fair weekend. I’d been looking forward impatiently all year to seeing my potter friends Mel and Kris.

And so it was that the baby blankie got put aside for a day while I worked like mad to finish the edging on a shawl. I had been debating on it for some time whether to just cast it off or add more?

I looked at it last night and practicality begone, the answer was, more. I added seven long rows, finishing it at noon today. I emailed a few friends to ask for advice re the blocking that just wasn’t happening in that kind of time frame and then did the suddenly-obvious and thank you Chan and Bev: I held the steamer on the iron over that edging and around the shawl a bit. It was Malabrigo Silky Merino, a thick (for me), drapey yarn, and it was enough for now.

Their Stonechat colorway? The pale gray flecks interspersed with the burgundy reds look like the light filtered through the redwoods.

Kris was just thinking it was getting chilly but hadn’t said anything out loud yet when I opened my purse. She admired the shawl and was about to hand it back when I headed her off at the pass with, “But does it fit?”

Her eyes went huge. Stunned. Thrilled. Petting it, swooning over the softness, loving the colors, just dumbfounded. She loved it! I told her about the not-really-blocked, that the lacework would stretch out more once it’s rinsed and to lay it out in a circle to dry. Or just wear it as is; given the heft and hang of the fiber, it worked.

I told her and Mel that my brother had come to visit us with his three daughters and that I’d found I didn’t have enough of their medium sized mugs for everybody. I only had six. I had so been looking forward to picking out more.

And so I did, two, and a napkin holder and a berry bowl that is designed to let the rinsed berries continue draining into the plate below. Kris picked it up, and smiling at the memory, said, “Mel made this one.”

She picked up one of the mugs I’d chosen and pointed out the way the yellow and red played with and speckled through each other in an effect that she said only one firing had succeeded in doing since they’d moved their operations to their new home in Oregon–she really loved those.

Three of the four pieces I’d latched onto had that in them. I love it too. I’d had no idea it was a rare thing, and now I have all the more reason to treasure them.

“Hey wait,” I told Kris at some sudden point later in the conversation–“you forgot to write me up!”

She got an impish grin. “No I didn’t.”

I’m on the navy stripe on Hayes’s blankie with a denim blue to come after and then done.  Close, but taking my time for my hands’ sakes.

Sale fares at the lowest price we’ve ever seen. About-to-expire voucher for luggage that the airline lost for four hours last fall. Total cost for two about equal to a single one-way last time we went (when we didn’t know it was the big San Diego marathon weekend.)

One blankie, hand deliverable, coming up soon. We get to see them! Can’t wait!

This photo shows the colors a lot better than last night’s. I’ve now gone on to stripe five.

Question: it’s about 48″ wide and the length looks like it will be anywhere from 34″ snapped back together to easily 46″ and more, given the elasticity of the pattern. That should be enough, right? (An example of the Pythagorean pattern knitted up can be seen here. Lots of patterns-within-patterns and textures for a baby to explore.)

But I just read the reviews on Cascade 220 superwash on Ravelry, and there are a lot of warnings that after the third or fourth time through the washer and dryer it suddenly shrinks up quite a bit.

That would effect the length the most. I don’t really want to do more than the planned seven stripes. The eye is much more pleased with odd numbers than even, and going all the way to nine is looking really unlikely tonight: as it gets bigger it’s heavier on my hands, and they are not happy. (Maybe, ice or no ice, I shouldn’t knit six+ hours a day three days in a row?)

If anyone has any experience with this yarn’s behavior in the laundry, though, I’d love to hear it. (It’s the 220 from the Peruvian mill, not the more recent Chinese version; this was a gift from my friends Rachel and Kathy’s stashes.) Because I’m going to tell the parents not to baby the blankie, just their sweet baby Hayes. And if that means I need to add an eighth stripe, I need to add an eighth stripe.

Thoughts?

(Icing my hands.) Another day, another 100g skein of Cascade 220. I’ll have to take a good photo in daylight.

Almost half done. I’m going to wash and block it at the end so that the pattern decides to accept the invitation to show up at the party.

I didn’t take my instructions with me while Richard was doing the driving to the Temple Saturday; how hard could it be? 6/6, 5/1/1/5, 4/2/2/4, 3/3/3/3, 4/2/2/1, 5/1/1/5, 6/6 and on again in reverse, knit purl combinations across the rows.

Which is why I only did one set of 6/6 before going merrily on to the next 5/1/1/5. I skipped two rows at the very first color change. It’s making squat squares instead of elongated ones.

Which is why I have enough yarn to finish one complete pattern of what would otherwise be 28 rows to do Barbara Walker’s Pythagorean pattern. I come up with a little extra yarn rather than just, just, just horribly short of what is most likely not dyelot-matchable.

It works! (Phew!)

Can’t blog now, too busy knitting in happy anticipation…