catch-up Sunday

Since the school year started, homework and other things have cut badly into my knitting time. Or, if not into my knitting time exactly, then into my picture taking time. However I've had the satisfaction of casting off some warm items in the last few weeks.

Again with the moebii! I can't stop! I've done two Arrow Pathways scarves in the last few weeks.. I love this pattern - only two rows and a 14 stitch repeat. The first one is in Estelle Tussah silk and the second in Noro Silk Garden.



I only wanted to use 2 balls for the Estelle silk scarf, so I tried to save yarn by using just 2 stitches for the fingers. I still ran out of yarn with 8 inches left to cast off! Grrr. So I ended up buying a 3rd ball, which I will maybe make into a hat.

After blocking the Estelle Scarf, I realized that it was longer than I really wanted, so instead of the 168 MCO stitches called for, I shortened the Noro one to 140 stitches. The length is perfect, and I had enough yarn for the full sized 9 stitch fingers. I like the longer fingers...they look festive and jolly to me.



This project also taught me that when you think something feels wrong while you're knitting your moebius, it probably is wrong. In my case, I had more than one cable crossing, resulting in a twist and a half. However, I got this far before I was really convinced it was wrong. See the twist at the bottom, though? You get this weird ruffle thing that not only tells you something is wrong, but makes it really annoying to move the stitches around on the needle.



Pomatomus socks were also finished last weekend. I have resisted knitting lace socks, because it seems so pointless to me to wear socks with holes in them in Alberta, but the stitch pattern for this was just too interesting to pass up. It was a super fun knit, and the pattern was not so overwhelming as to fry my brain, but interesting enough to keep me enjoying it all the way through.



Here's a better pic with more stitch detail. I love the way the pattern stands out even in the variegated yarn:



Anyway, I can still keep my legs warm even if I'm wearing holey socks! Legwarmers in Araucania chunky, simple 2 by 2 rib on size 9 needles:



I keep trying to do complicated things with legwarmers, like this corrugated rib, but I'm really thinking, simple is better for these. The rib is just not flexible and elastic enough for legwarmers, although I like the effect. Maybe for just the bottom and top?

a mob of moebius (moebii?)

moebius mosaic
Originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

a sleuth of bears, an exaltation of larks, a murder of crows - it must be a mob of moebii.

I've done four of these now and can't seem to stop. They're like crack, these things, I tell you. As soon as I cast off the most recent one, I cast another one on.

From top row:
Simple shaped moebius
Rimrock cape collar
simple purl ridge scarf
mercurial moebius (also shaped)

the last two:
the shaped moebius placed flat, looking sad and deflated
first moebius in progress - you can see the twist, sort of.

a bigger pic (sort of) the most recent one, the Simple Shaped Moebius:


The simple shaped moebius is a pattern that Cat Bordhi shared with the Yahoo group Magical Knitting as a knitalong idea. It's actually written as a shawl and knit to finer gauge, but I really wanted to make something with the Handmaiden Yarn I got from Redbird knits, so I modified it to a smaller capelet, since I only had one hank.

Moebiuses (or moebii?) are seriously cool these days. The Yarn Harlot says so, so it must be true. See?

Sadhana

Contrary to how it may appear, knitting is not my primary obsession. It just happens to be my most bloggable one, and one I don't mind being reasonably public about. But really, the overarching impulse of my life is yoga. I know books and articles everywhere have been declaring that knitting is the "new yoga". I'm not sure I get what they mean. I think the closest I've seen to a good explanation is Sally Melville's commentary in the Purl Stitch, describing knitting as a creative and process oriented activity, meditative, relaxing, soothing, challenging, and always offering something new to learn.

One of the first internet communities I became involved with, in 2000 or so, came together because of a love for yoga, and includes fellow knitting yoginis Loretta and Andrea. In 2002 we began the practice of launching the new year with a group sadhana, in which we committed to 40 continuous days of yoga practice, although that practice was not confined to asana - it also included pranayama, meditation, or any mindful practice that we considered to be in the spirit of yoga. Lianne's post on the group blog yogalila, as well as the check-in thread at the fitness forum Videofitness gives some ideas of how this can be approached as an internet community. Like the knitting forums, blogs, and knitalongs, it's another way that the internet allows us to create communities of practice, as Lianne explored in her M.Ed thesis.

Happy New Year!

New Years means starting new projects and wrapping up old ones! OK, well, at least starting new ones. I did at least have the satisfaction of finishing up the body of the Knitty cardigan Samus. I don't love seaming, even short shoulder seams like this so I'll try to do it right away before going on to the fun part, casting on for the sleeve cables.



I also recently finished my legwarmers for Mintyfresh's Cover Your Ankles knitalong - I love them! The Noro Kureyon is a bit scratchy and could do with a bit of a wash to soften them. That, or I have to start growing more abundant leg hair in self defense.



These took a skein and a half, maybe, of Noro Kureyon leftovers, starting with 48 stitches on size 8 needles. After the ribbing and shadow box stitch, I started decreases on the centre back seam down to 40 stitches, which was just about perfect for calf shaping, and then just knit till I ran out of yarn. Since they were knit at the same time on 2 circs, it was easy to divide the yarn evenly - I ended up with about 6 inches left on each legwarmer after I cast off.

New projects - I cast on for both Whitby and Pomatomus last week. Pomatomus is more fun, if only because I'm using a lighter, smoother yarn (Lorna's Laces on size 1 Addis).

I'm knitting Whitby for DH of the size 13 feet, so have adapted the pattern for 61 stitches and a heavy worsted on size 3 needles. But the yarn is pretty....rugged, and sort of sticky, so I have to fight every stitch of the way. It also doesn't help that one of my size 3 Addis got somehow bent (!!). I strongly suspect it has been rolled over by a computer chair. But nobody's fessing up.




And what I really, really want to get going on is another moebius scarf. I got this in the mail last week from Red Bird Knits - it's Handmaiden Stretto, Paris colorway. I'm just trying to figure out which moebius pattern will suit it best: