Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Oh My Sleeves and Necklines!

Otherwise known as status update on the Pojke-Dot's sweater (well, technically the neckline is not on the status horizon just yet, but I needed a "Sleeves and" something). Not terribly exciting, but that's all there is. I'd take a photo opp, but I just can't bring myself to post the measly 1 inch wide sleeveworm that currently graces my needles -- promise, you're better off waiting for blocking or something that actually looks like something.

Life in general has been not terribly exciting -- I thought about titling this post "Oh, Fodder, Where Art Thou?"... All the Dots in the household, big and little, have been sick, but that's pretty common news anywhere you go lately. I haven't felt interesting enough to be able to write about my humdrums, and there you have it, sum total.

I did join a new Sheepalong (see the Sock Madness link in the sidebar) though I'm not sure just who the madness refers to -- me for taking an extra crunchtime style challenge, cast and crew for trying to organize the whole thing, or just joyous mayhem in general. How it works: a buncha folks knit the same sock pattern at the same time and those that finish first move on to the next round. I'm trying to convince myself that I won't be concerned if I fall by the wayside even in the first round, but I seem to recall a certain fair isle poncho that someone we know worked frantically on throughout the Olympics. Okay, so I have a bit of a competitive streak, but we're talking socks here, folks, how cutthroat can it get? (And, at the very least, I'll have some socks when I'm done, some new sock patterns, and some impetus to finish them quickly...). I am quite anxious to finish the sweater first, though, and the Madness begins next week, so on your marks, get set, let's start running now!

I've been thinking about Stranded knitting, both the knitting itself and the magazine, a lot lately. Bonnie of the Stranded Newsletter has considered dropping the newsletter due to time constraints. I love her newsletter, the patterns, the history, even the ads, and I think this would be quite a shame to lose. Currently she's considering publishing sporadic issues, to be published when available, and we touched on the idea of starting a newsgroup to give folks a chance to chat about things from the issues, colorwork in general (to cover all colorwork, rather than specifically fair isle, Nordic, etc.), and basically pick up some of what might have been in the in-between issues. Given Bonnie's time constraints, I'm hoping this will be a joint venture -- I'm definitely not ready to pick up where Stranded leaves off on my own, and I definitely don't have the readership to get a chat list set-up going on my own yet, but I'm sure I could handle much of the admin stuff that Bonnie doesn't have time for. And I think it'd be a sin to see Stranded go away without at least giving it a shot.

And, in honor of that, my first Stranded-style contribution, long overdue, I offer:


Stranded "Toe Up" Mittens

The PDF is simply the chart I used while creating my set of mittens, thus there is only one size and some of my personal shorthand-ish notation (though I suspect that most of such notation will be perfectly readable to anyone familiar with basic knitting terms). Also, I've only knit the mittens once, so I can make no accuracy guarantees -- what ya see is what ya get (how ironic is it that I've stopped back in to correct a typo in that very sentence?)! If you need help with the charts or instructions in any way, though, give me a head's up and I'll be happy to sort things through. And, incidentally, the chart was originally laid out for socks, though that's one of my rather long-term WIP by now (one sock done, but I don't remember what yarn or needles I used, so it's likely to stay one sock done, and that sock needs "tweaking"), so there is the someday possibility of matching socks. If you're interested, I could probably be bribed... er... convinced... (chocolate, yarn, needles, praise -- actually, just asking might do it...).

Anyway, enjoy, and spinn lyckligt for now!

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