I'm not graceful.

Last night I was spinning a big ole hatbox full of the pretty pale BFL that I prepped before the kitty poo explosion and it was going like gangbusters. It was thin and consistent, and I was in my seventh heaven because I didn't have to break my rhythm to pre draft. I finished about half a bobbin's worth of lightweight singles when disaster struck...My fiber broke and the end buried itself in the spun yarn like a gopher in a hole.

Having not yet learned an effective trick to find this kind of lost end (Against all logic, it seems that cursing doesn't help locate lost ends. Who would have thunk it?) I decided that maybe it was time to take a break from the fresh fiber spinning and to try to learn a new technique and to empty the rest of my bobbins from the tyranny of leftovers that needed a home..

After reading all the info and watching some fine tutorials online I decided that Navajo plying was just the ticket. It was a bold decision, as I have only plied twice in the traditional methods, and as you might have figured out, I'm just not graceful. But I forged ahead.

For those who are not familiar with the technique of Navajo plying, its a nifty way to take one singles yarn and turn it into a three ply yarn by making spun chains of fiber out of looped yarn. You basically attach your yarn to your leader, make a loop in it that's big enough to pull your fiber hand through, and then you proceed to pull subsequent loops though the loop before it with one hand- this happens while you are treadling and controlling your twist with your other hand. Sound a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time? It is.

There was much flailing about, panicky pulling of loops, and forgetting to remember to feed the plied fiber onto the bobbin until I got into the swing of it. Boy Howdy! it certainly makes for a nice looking yarn when you do it right. I think about 25% of my finished product was identifiable by the end of it. I just need to remember to slow down, take a breath and keep my rhythm and it all works out.

After I ran out of singles to ply and all of my (non-BFL) bobbins were empty , I ended up breaking the yarn on the bobbin of BFL singles with the buried end and winding it on to another bobbin until I found the end where my spinning stopped and broke originally.

The spinning gods had to have been smiling on me because it only took about 3 yards of winding before I found the end. Once I got it all back on track, I readjusted my wheel and got back to the BFL. All in all it was a pretty good night for spinning.

In other news, I discovered why the minimalist cardigan was trying to kill me. Yeah, I've been wrapping my purls backwards (for me, maybe not for anyone else) and it was making the knitting way too tight when it came to work the next row. I'm not even sure how the light bulb went off that made me see the issue...I'm just really glad that it did.

Once I swatched it up correctly I could see the impact of where I had been going wrong. The good news is now the knitting will not be so horrid, the bad news is that I am going to have to frog back to the ribbing and start all over again correctly. Dem are da breaks. But at least it gives me hope for successfully completing this sweater after all.

When the Cat's Away...the mice knit some stuff :)

Well, the boy is out of town and it's making for some ka-razy knitting time!

Now if only I could stop needing to frog every stitch I make I'd be in business. The only frog free knitting project (and please save me from jinxing myself by saying this...are my toe up socks).

I've tried and tried to work on some lace but for some god forsaken reason I am getting totally stuck on particular repeats and boy howdy! It makes a girl want to squeal.

I've life lined almost every single row for the past few on the Forest Canopy Shawl and still managed to need to rip back. It's getting to the point where you are willing to try almost anything just to get to the next repeat...if only...I could...make it...the next...seven rows...

Ooooohhh.....like maybe if I sit over here, or stand on my head, or recite the alphabet backwards (or, the most novel of all ideas- find the quietest, most well-lit distraction free room you can find...but that makes too much sense. ) Nah...bring on the knitting circus tricks! You really haven't lived till you've tried to knit lace on a unicycle *lol and at least if you frog it you have a really, really good reason.)

How bout this...Ever talk yourself into thinking that if you could only make it to the next repeat that somehow "the curse" would be lifted and all of a sudden your knitting would come flying off your needles with tremendous ease and speed? Like somehow I have convinced myself that if only I can make it past this point I would be able to finish this thing in no time (even though I only have about 8 more repeats of the exact same pattern rows that are causing me fits at the moment ). Brilliant thinking.

You know what they say about doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome?

Yeah, I thought so.

frogging some heel

Yesterday was the first day that I really managed to get in some quality knitting since my shoulder thing kept me from my normal knitting habit, and in celebration, I decided that I needed to jump right on in with both feet...or one foot rather, and start my first sock! Every girl (and guy) needs a bit of travel knitting to keep 'em occupied.

Since this is new territory, and I don't like to go into battle unprepared I hopped onto Ravelry and found a pattern for Kristin Bellehumeur's Toe up socks on two circular needles and Silver's Sock Class.

Sock knitting has always been something foreign to me, and I was seriously intimidated to boot. It's kind of ironic that I could drop everything and move to a strange town in a new state at the drop of a hat (without a backwards glance) & perform extreme feats of idiocy on a double-dog dare (no booze involved) , but the thought of turning a heel could leave me in a cold sweat!

Its a freaking miracle that I came upon this tutorial, and if you want to try the toe ups and are frozen with the fear, look her up and give it a go. I highly recommend it.

Anyway...so I managed to make it to the heel turn.

and guess what?

I had to frog it. I've gotta blame myself because the instructions were pretty good. My short rows unfortunately were not :(

But you know what? I'm not freaked out by socks anymore.

(at least until I start knitting em up for the boy's size 14's because that's a whole lotta sock! )