Whatever Lola Knits

you guys this is it

i finished the stole.

at 3am, I put the last blocking pin in to hold the wires straight.  four hours later, i am up for work and it is already dry so guess what!!!!  I AM WEARING THE DAMNED THING TO WORK.  before I take it to the auction organizer and abandon it for fundraising glory.  I've given myself a $300 budget to buy it back from the auction.  please please pray for me that it does not cost more than that, I do not have time to sell a kidney.

it's the only thing that I've knitted for THREE MONTHS.  with fingering weight yarn and size three needles and a lace pattern that is 74 rows long in each repeat.  and I did five repeats.  plus eleven
rows on each end for a border.  I *may* have fudged towards the end, at 2:30 in the morning, when I realized that my photocopied and enlarged pattern had cut off 7 of the final eleven rows--that's when I said fuck it and just threw on the garter stitch/eyelet border.  for whatever reason, the borders in the pattern aren't written to be identical, so I don't feel bad about it.  My hands and arms, however, may never be useful again.  I swore several times last night (around 11:30 p.m., when I should have been going to bed, and around 2:45 a.m., when I realized how much today was going to kill me--my eyes are a glowing, burning red, thankyouverymuch) that I may never knit another stitch...but the reality is that whatever I knit next is going to be:

1) small in size
2) big in needles
3) entirely for myself.

pictures tonight when I'm home from work.

Where I've Been & What I'm Knitting

I've been...knitting. Lots and lots of knitting on the Arctic Diamonds stole, so much knitting in fact that I've given myself tendonitis two weekends in a row! I've been paralyzed by fear of not having enough yarn--when I started the project, I bought all four skeins of the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Whitewater that Acorn Street had in stock. I needed five skeins, but I fell in love with the icy, glacial blues and couldn't bear to choose another color. I figured it wouldn't be that hard to find a fifth, right? WRONG. Even Jimmy Beans (linked above) was sold out. Alas, what to do? Alter the pattern to be one repeat narrower and hope for the best, a tactic that has served me well until today, when I walked in to see (miracle of miracles), a lone skein of Whitewater sitting on the sock yarn shelf! Faith in humanity (and yarnity) has been restored.

I also picked up a set of blocking wires (only $30 for 10 wires in four different lengths--two of them flexible, which apparently comes in handy for blocking sleeve caps and armholes, if you're into that kind of thing) while I was at Acorn Street, and I was pleasantly surprised. I tried purchasing a set at Weaving Works and was rebuffed by the old grouch manning the register. Those are DISPLAY wires, and if I wanted some for myself, I'd need to ORDER THEM, and wait SIX WEEKS. She can suck on those six weeks, I've got some NOW, and they were half the price. Something about a yarn store clerk on a weekend, man. They are such bitches sometimes. I know they're dealing with the weekend rush crowds, but seriously--I have no tolerance for being treated poorly at a store where I spend quite literally thousands of dollars a year.

I'll never mind, I guess, there are bigger fish to fry. I'm only two and a half repeats through a stole that needs six repeats at least before I'm done...and the March 15th deadline (!!!) looms with disturbing closeness. I'll have more progress pictures soon, but perhaps not until I've finished the damned thing!

Le Slouch - A Lesson Learned

Le Slouch
Originally uploaded by maggi.m.

Let it be said that I am sometimes a slow learner. I knit Wendy's gorgeous, slouchy beret over the course of this weekend, coughing and sneezing and itching the whole time. My eyes burned and watered, my hands itched and turned red, the back of my throat ticked like I was EATING angora, and not just knitting it. Tonight I mused to Jeff, "I must be allergic to angora," and yet what did I do? I STILL PUT THE HAT ON MY HEAD. I am not surprised to find a faint red stripe across my forehead and ears.

What a crushing blow. I LOVE this hat. Here are the stats:

Yarn: Cascade Cloud 9, as this was intended to match my Fetching Floves, with which I have had no such similar problems. Was it because they were different dye lots? Who knows. I used 1 full ball and about 10 grams of a second.
Needles: 8 for ribbing, 9 for stockinette
Started: 1/13
Finished: 1/14
Modifications: I cast on 80 stitches instead of 68, and increased to 119 instead of 102. If I were to make this again with the same yarn (HAHAHA.), I would do the ribbing on US7s just to tighten it up a bit. I might also change the ribbing to 2x2 instead of 1x1.

It's a fun pattern and I'll definitely make it again, just not in angora. Sniff.

Finished Fetching Fingerless Floves

Finished Fetching Fingerless Floves
Originally uploaded by maggi.m.

Hooray, they are done! 90 yards of luscious merino-angora and my hands will stay warm for the winter. Unless I give these away, like I've given everything away lately. If that happens, I've got another skein of this wonderful yarn tucked away somewhere.