Fantasies, Math and Willie Nelson

I have a very nice digital kitchen scale that gives me valuable information; it tells me how much yarn. I don't have one of those devices that measures the actual length of a skein of yarn, but set my scale to grams and do a little math and I have a pretty good idea.

I used 15 grams of a skein of Cascade 220 on Kate's leg warmers. It's called 220 because there are 220 yards in the 100 gram skein. 15 x 2.2 = 33, therefor I used 33 yards of the skein, leaving 67 yards for future projects.

That's a good little bit of yarn, so I fearlessly set out to knit a watch cap for another friend with it. The watch cap weighed 72 grams, times 2.2, makes 158.4 yards.

Now to weigh the remaining yarn. 13 grams, times 2.2, makes 28.6 yards.

Let's check for accuracy. 33 + 158.4 + 28.6 = 220 exactly.

Woo-hoo! Math works!

A side question to this is: In my Ravelry stash, should I declare this skein of yarn to be "All used up," or should I let it stay listed with 28.6 yards remaining? It certainly isn't enough for another project, but I don't want to forget I have it -- one never knows when what might come in useful.

This is Willie Nelson.





No, obviously not the country singer with the gray braids.






Willie Nelson is an alpaca. Here's his baby picture.

The lovely skeins of yarn are hand spun from his first sheering. Three skeins, natural Willie color with no dye, and no idea how much yardage.

I have a serious case of yarn lust for these skeins. I pat them, I rub them on my cheeks. I want them! I've been knitting for 22 months now and have yet to knit anything for myself. I deserve this yarn!

The weather is also adding fuel to my yearning. It was 9° out this morning. Never got up to 20° all day. I want a warm cozy for my neck and head. I'd like a tapered scarf, kindof a half scarf, half shawl, that I could flip up over my head like a kerchief or fold down around my neck like a collar.

Do I have enough yarn?

Weigh the three skeins: 59, 61 and 62 grams. Measure 10 yards from one skein, weigh it: 7 grams. Do the math 59 + 61 + 62 = 182 ÷ 7 = 260 total yards. Do it by the skein and I get 84 yards + 87 + 89 = 260 yards - if I spit splice to maximize my yardage.

That's not a lot of yarn. Guess I'd better look for a high mileage lace pattern and plan on frogging my swatch to use in the project.

Wish me luck!

The Oh So Stylin' Puppy Ear Hat

You can wear it with the dangles hanging.

Or you can knot them snug under your chin when the cold wind blows.


If it's a bit warmer out, you can tie the dangles up top for the classic Dutch girl look.

But wait, there's more!

Don't you think the tassels look like puppy ears and tail from the back?

Woof!

Back From Hiatus and Off On a Project

Took off for a month of trying to write a novel. Didn't finish it, but got it well under way. I did do some knitting during the silence in BlogLand.

PixelChick asked me to knit her a hat because her ears get cold when she chases wild horses in the winter time. She's a would-be professional photographer, that's why she's chasing wild horses. She surely doesn't want to catch them, just have them smile pretty for the camera.

"What color?" I asked.

"My coat's black, so I guess black," she answered.

Okay, black... I never quite understood my Mom's reaction for so many years when I told her I wanted black mittens -- Mom knits the best mittens in the world. I lose mittens like it's my avocation, so Mom's knit me a bizillion over the years. Now that I knit, I understand her "Are you sure you wouldn't like some other color?" It ain't easy to see all those little stitches on black, plus it just doesn't have a whole lot of pizzazz.

So I munged it around in my head trying to think of a way to make black more interesting.

Hmmm... PixelChick has a cocker spaniel. More accurately, she is owned by a cocker spaniel. She is a devoted slave to a cocker spaniel. She has cocker spaniel themed everything.

The dog is black and white. Cold ears. Stranded color work -- if you can call B&W color.

Now we're getting some place.

So I scribbled around until I came up with the concept drawing. An ear flap hat with a parade of cockers around the circumference.

How many stitches do I have to work with? Measure the head, make the swatch, get gauge, do the math. How to do the cocker spaniels so that they're recognizable? First draw some simple cocker outlines then translate them to graph paper.

But regular graph paper has square holes and knitting stitches are wider than they are tall. I've done my swatch, I know my gauge -- go to that Japanese web site and print out some knitting graph paper. (Pay attention gentle readers, this is an excellent resource, http://www.tata-tatao.to/knit/e-index.html.) Draw cockers on graph paper.

Knit them puppies.

Note what works and what doesn't.

One of the things that doesn't work is my eyes.

Draw the dang thing bigger. Figure out how to do the ear flaps without seams. I'm not real fond of seams.

Now... Start Knitting.

On the Road Again (not to plagiarise Willie or anything.)

My flight leaves at 5:50 in the morning, pity me for the hour, but not for the trip back to North Carolina to see relatives and friends. I have GoatGuy's scarf all knit and blocking, it's folded double in the picture, to give to him when I see him. Even knit his initial, "H", into the last square. (Come on now, you didn't think his name was really GoatGuy, did you?) I have my knitting bag packed with three small projects: #1 finish off Brother-in-law the Wiser's Expando Sox; #2 GuiGirl's red fingerless mitts with shiny red beads to go on the cuff ruffles. #3 (and a big maybe) The sock blank I died to make another pair of fingerless mitts for a friend with a late November birthday.

And I'll probably have SEX while I'm gone too! I'm planning to hit the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair Sunday morning while the Parents are at church. (Each of us should worship in his or her own way.)







S.E.X. = Stash Enhancing eXpedition, such a titillating acronym.

How's This For an Excuse

The reason I've been such a bad blogger (besides my inate badness) is that I've been knitting birthday presents.

Last night they went to the birthday girls. They are leg warmers for the charter members of the Friday Afternoon Hiking Club. I shall blog about the creative process within the next day or so.

Sunglasses added, as usual, to protect the innocent.

Today's Blog Entry Is Cute

This is the baby hat I knit for Zack. See the "Z". Doesn't my Ted make the handsomest model ever? I think the cap looks like a batter's helmet on him.

When I was 15 months old, I told my Gramma that the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a black teddy bear -- not a brown bear, not a panda bear, a Black bear. She searched the entire Detroit metro area and finally found one. I loved my Gramma and I love my Ted Bear. When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was The Velveteen Rabbit because Ted Bear had been loved into "real" and every kid in the neighborhood knew it. (You too can probably tell by how smooshed and worn from kisses his nose is.)

I have my Gramma's good sterling flatware and a lovely eggshell thin porcelain sugar and creamer set, which are both very fine, but not a patch on my Ted. You can't cuddle cutlery.

************

Hmm... Today's blog entry didn't go where I thought it would. I was going to make a snotty remark about saccharine subjects, but then I thought about my Gramma. She died before I turned five and I missed her horribly. I was totally disconsolate until my Aunt Mary, her oldest daughter, assured me that we could send her oranges in heaven.

Sometimes I wonder if the reason she shines so perfect in my memory is because she died before I was old enough to see her feet of clay. They say that everybody has them. But I don't think that she did. She was perfect.

Battle Bowl, The Happy Afterword

Finishing off the Battle Bowl was a snap. I followed Liat's pattern without a pause or problem. I knit one strand of the Manos silk blend into the round of 40 stitches for a bit of highlight.

I like the subtle gradations of the Cascade 220 yarn (9872-Thunder) color way. This picture is pretty accurate.

The finished bowl was almost nine inches in diameter and quite floppy. I tried it on as a hat and it looked very silly, though vaguely Elizabethan. The contrasting Manos silk blend showed strongly against the dark wool.

After two cycles in the washer on hot-hot-hot, it was still pretty limp, so I ran it through once more for a total felting time of about 28 minutes. At some point in the third cycle, it felted. It felted like a yurt. (I think that's going to be my felting motto.)

It came out smaller than I expected, about six and a half inches in diameter, with creases in the bottom where the Möbius twists pulled at the structure of the bowl. I stuffed it with a saucer for shape and a couple of dry cleaner bags for bulk and let it dry overnight.

The felted Battle Bowl lost most of the lovely color spectrum and the Manos felted right into the wool, showing very little. I think it looks like a rock.

But that's okay, the Engineer is getting it and he works in geoscience, so it's apropos.

Lessons Learned

• Use larger needles next time for a looser fabric. I think this may decrease the pumpkin-like appearance of the bottom of the bowl.
• Brighter colors, more contrast between body and rim of bowl - so much of that was lost in the felting.
• Manos Del Uruguay Silk Blend felts easily, but the gleam of the silk is lost in the process - so don't felt it.
• Pin it out on a blocking board in the first place instead of turning into a screaming maniac trying to pick up the stitches freehand.