I procured more yarn and Elijah II is finally done! I wasn’t so sure about this yarn for this pattern, but I think I may actually like it better than the first one.
Let’s just avoid any discussion of how long it took me to finish him. It’s kind of a sore point, and he has a tendency to get in your face about it.
That’s the last of the baby gifts for this round. Hallelujah!
After weeks of brief knitting sessions making just a tiny bit of progress at a time, I made a good push last week and could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with the second Elijah.
And then I ran out of yarn.
He has a body, four limbs, and no ears.
I saw this coming. The yarn was from stash and the yardage I had was just shy of what the pattern said I needed. My gauge was different than that in the pattern, however, so I threw caution to the wind and went for it anyway. If I didn’t have enough, I could always buy more.
Which is where I now find myself.
I found the yarn (Mission Falls 1824 Cotton) during my yarn and lunch outing last weekend with Needle-dee and Knitty McKnit Knit, but not in the right color. I toyed with the idea of making his ears a different color (pink, perhaps?), but then decided that if I had to buy yarn anyway, I might as well buy the right color.
Which means once I finish the two ears, I’ll have enough yarn left over to make approximately half another Elijah. I need to find something else to do with most of a skein of cotton yarn in a weird grayish-green hue. Any ideas?
Much as I love Sheldon, I have three down and have no interest in making another at the moment. (And I’m almost done with the last of my baby gifts for this round–hallelujah!) However, that was before one of the organizers of my S&K group brought this to my attention. Sheldon costumes! It’s brilliant! I might have to make this!
That would mean dealing with Knit Picks again, though. That went oh-so-well last time…
I was traveling again last week, and yet another trip through overcrowded airports taught me three things:
Yes, yes, I should know number 3 already, but the project I chose to take with me was on metal size 1 dpns, and I had my doubts about those making it through security. So they got checked. Aside from the obvious boredom-busting potential I squandered in the airport, not bringing knitting with me on the plane there or back means that I have very little progress to show, despite my best intentions. Or my delusions of knitting productivity. Whatever you want to call it.
I chose to take socks. A pair of socks that I actually began over a year ago. I hadn’t ever made it past the foot, partly owing to the fact that the ribbing on the foot began with a purl stitch. I hate stitch patterns in the round that begin with purl stitches, particularly on socks where the stitch pattern on the top of the foot is guaranteed to begin at a needle edge. I usually just reposition the stitches, but I was too annoyed with this sock already, so I just tore back to the pink and restarted the foot in plain stockinette.
I managed to make it through the whole foot. Instead of using my normal generic sock proportions, I was making this sock according to the pattern in the spring 2007 IK. When I got to the heel (short-row), the chart with the pattern instructed me that with my gauge and my chosen foot circumference, I needed to continue until there were 12 stitches remaining between the short-rows. Without any other patterns to compare it to or even internet access to check it, I thought, sounds good, and went on my merry short-row way.
Not so much.
That results in a heel that’s not deep enough. Naturally, I didn’t notice this until I’d moved on to the leg. Frogging will now ensue. I guess it wouldn’t really be my handiwork if I didn’t tear it apart at least twice, though.
And in other news, my husband and I are now residents of the same continent again! Are we in the same place yet? Of course not. That would be too easy. But at least we’re in the same country. That’s a step in the right direction, at least.
Just a thought. Seems to work quite well in the fields in Scotland.
Wonder if my homeowner’s association would go for it. Probably not.
But imagine how much easier that would make lawn maintenance.
W heads home this month and this was my last time in St. Andrews, for this round at least. If you should find yourself in St. Andrews at some point, here are a few things we’d suggest, in no particular order.
As usual, W greeted me in St. Andrews with a stack of all British knitting magazines.
Sadly, I will be giving up my Simply Knitting subscription when he returns. Well, I could keep it, but it’s ridiculously expensive to subscribe from overseas. As in I could subscribe to about 12 US magazines combined for the same price. I can still peruse individual issues at Borders.
But the fun didn’t stop there. This time, W had discovered knitting books at one of the local charity shops (thrift store benefiting a charity). He bought them all for me!
Wasn’t that sweet? The haul included the motif book on top, a couple general pattern books, a book with the most adorable knitted baby hats, and a toy book! My pattern collection has now officially outgrown the shelf I had allotted to hold it all.
I had been told by several people that the charity shops were a great place to find yarn and other knitting paraphernalia, both new and used. On each of my trips, I have dutifully checked them all out and have never found anything knitting-related. W finding all the knitting books was a good omen.
One day, the Sue Ryder Care shop had a big basket of yarn outside. Closer inspection revealed it to be acrylic, but I headed inside to see if it was just the tip of the iceberg. It was, well at least as far as acrylic is concerned. However, tucked away in the very back of the shop was a bundle of cotton yarn:
Six skeins of some generic 100% cotton yarn still in its original manufacturer’s bag. For 2.50 pounds–$5. Less than a dollar a skein! Not bad, even with the crappy exchange rate. I was quite pleased. It will be a baby sweater.
Speaking of baby gifts, I have now finished three Sheldons and am working on my second Elijah. People I know need to stop procreating long enough for me to catch up. I am officially sick of baby gift knitting and all cotton at the moment. This week I’ll be in San Diego. These projects are not coming with me. I will instead be working on a sweater for myself. A wool sweater. I don’t care if it’s the middle of summer.
Done any deer stalking lately?
It appears to be the season for it in Scotland.
