So rather than approach my knitting posts for tychoish like a guilty journal (eg. I haven’t knit in a week, but I did yesterday and it’s cool, here’s my progress,) I’m going to just talk about projects that I’m working on and knitting ideas that I have. Because I have a lot of them, and I think maybe approaching knitting topics in a more granular way might be fun. And it’ll give all the techie folks a sense of how all my--rapidly decreasing--knitting readership feel most of the time.
Lets start with the yarn. I went to the loopy ewe last Friday. Actually, I went out to the same building that the Loopy Ewe is in to help my mother buy a file cabinet that she found on craig’s list that a collapsing financial services agency was selling. So we stopped by and saw Sheri and Donna and Stacy, and I bought some fiber and a skein of yarn. The fiber is squirreled away in the fiber stash, but I have a picture to show you:
It’s Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn. Sorry for the blury picture, I took it with my new phone. There’ll be more pictures in the future, because the phone can upload things right to flickr. That’s a killer feature. Anyway, knitting…
A word first about the color. There’s green in this ball, but its hidden in the middle. This means that its almost exactly the same color as the last Noro that I knit with (also silk garden). R got/gave me two skeins of the worsted variant (when that’s all there was) and I made a scarf that I still have and wear. Anyway, I am nothing if not consistent and predictable.
So it’s sock yarn, which is to say, that unlike most Noro it’s pretty fine and manageable. At some point in the past few years I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t really like to knit with thick yarn. My loss I suppose.
Anyway, while some people, including Joe have reported that it makes passable socks, I don’t think that I’m going to make socks with this. For starters I don’t really like to wear thin wool socks, let alone make them. And what’s more I’m unconvinced that the singles structure of this yarn would hold up for socks. You may have had different experiences, but I’ve made up my mind.
I’m thinking that I’m going to make a cowl with this. My mother has made a couple of these this winter so far, and I really like what she’s done, so I’m going to attempt to replicate what she’s done in a way that is a bit more boy-like. Or at least, isn’t lacy. I can deal with something that’s not very boy-like if I’m warm, but the lace thing never really appealed. Also I remember really liking the shape of the Ice Queen from last years knitty. It’s a cowl (which is to say a tube) but it flares out at one end to cover the back of the neck a bit better particularly if it’s also pulled over the ears. Brilliant if you ask me. Also, even if you omit the beads and the lace (or just minimize the lace) I don’t think that it would be good for me. Even if I like the idea.
The specifics? Nothing too concrete, but I’m thinking entrelac, with the same sort of tappered look. I’d start at the small end and work better near the end. Thats probably not the best way to make use of the yarn, but I think figuring out the pattern will be easier if it grows rather than shrinks.
I’ll start with a few rows of rolled reverse stocking stitch and then just play it by ear. Probably just knit 10-13ish inches at the smaller size (21/22 inches around) and then increase over several “courses” of enterlac slowly so that it flares just right. Actually as I write this, I’ve convinced myself that starting at the small end is very much the wrong way todo this.
Am I crazy? Probably. I’m going to try and get a few other projects more underway and finished before I give this a go. Knitters, you have any thoughts on this? Talk to you soon!