Soooooo Close to Completion

Mr. Greenjeans in Red, blocking
Originally uploaded by sunasak

The weather has turned cool here in Texas, which makes me extra happy to have finished knitting Mr. Greenjeans in Red, pictured here in a very damp state lying brazenly on the guest room bed. I worked on it every chance I got over the weekend, which means it got grassy debris on it from sitting at the band hall waiting for errant buses to take us to band competition, and it got as bored as me, no doubt, at the annual pledge drive sermon at the UU church (I hope it enjoyed my quartet's lovely renditions of "Teach Your Children" and "You've Got a Friend (In Live Oak UU)" as much as I enjoyed belting them out). It did need a bit of blocking, to smooth out the ribbing at the bottom a bit, and to de-curl the edges of the sleeves and the neck band. The neckband did come out very nice, though, due to me actually picking up the correct number of stitches and knitting the correct number of rows. Once Mr. Greenjeans is dry, I will find and sew on a button, then wear and wear and wear! Finally I knitted something to wear that I like a whole bunch and of which I am not irritated by any parts.

Not only did I block this monster (and interestingly enough, it did not bleed out any color at all), but I finally blocked the surplice top, so perhaps nice photos of both apparel items will be available this week. The little irregularities in the neckband on this one seem much better now, and the lace panels look flatter. You may recall that the surplice top was made in naturally dyed cotton (Nashua Ecologie Cotton). It's fairly off-white, but it lost a lot of dye when I soaked it. If you make something with this yarn, be sure to wash it separately!

Frustration with Yarn

My happiness at soon having not one, but two wearable items made by me was dampened when I decided to get started on my next project. I plan to make the beautifully named "Scarf with the open and solid diamond lace edging from Weldon's, 1904" from Victorian Lace Today, out of Schaeffer Anne for my stepmother's Christmas gift. So, I hauled out my book, my needles and the yarn. I cheerfully placed the hank of yarn on my swift and started to ball it up. After trying both ends of the yarn it became very, very clear that the yarn had not been skeined skillfully. It doubled back on itself, twisted around itself, and generally did not act "nice."

But, the colorway is such a beautiful collection of shades of turquoise. I really want to use it. So, I listened to football on television for three hours and slowly but surely wound the yarn into a ball. I wish I could report that I have rewound it and am ready to swatch, but, alas. There is still 1/4 to 1/3 of the yarn left to wind. AAACK! This evening, I will see how far I get once I return home from the exciting "Festival of the Bands," which features performances by all our District's high schools and middle schools. It would be way more exciting if I hadn't already seen each of the other high schools' show at least once, and a couple of them twice. My Redwood Pagoda Lace socks will accompany me--who knows, I might get darned close to finishing them tonight!