At The End of My Yarn

Well, if you were ever curious about what a small section of the hallway at my office looks like, now you know! Finished the Lace and Cable Socks from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy D. Johnson. I staged the photoshoot (as it is) with the help of an obliging colleague who didn’t even question why I started taking my shoes off in the hallway and asked her to take pictures of my feet. They know me so well.

Fun, quick knit, with a very descriptive if not slightly unimaginative name. I forgot to mirror the cables that bracket the lace panels like the pattern calls for, but if no one knows no one will know, except for those reading this.

This was my first time knitting a heel flap from the toe up. Pretty interesting construction technique that made total sense as I was knitting along. I didn’t do my usual adaption of decreasing gusset stitches on every row instead of every other to have less bulk around the heel, but at the gauge I was achieving with the yarn and my 000 straight needles it didn’t really matter. I did switch to a circular needle a few inches into the foot on the first sock but noticed a large difference in the gauge so switched back to straights. I’m faster with circulars, but my gauge is much looser with them even with using needles of the same size. For the sake of fit (especially with a sock pattern like this that doesn’t have floats to compensate for a looser gauge) I stuck with straights. Used Regia Native Color 4-ply in colorway heck if I know, especially since it’s not currently in stock at Webs.

And yes, lacey socks are quite cold in winter but at this time of year it’s too dark when I get home from work to take a good picture. The sacrifices I make…

I went to the library this weekend! Which was pretty exciting, honestly. It felt great to be back among the stacks again. Precautions in place, of course. For example, they limited access to one door, the one in the parking lot. A learning experience for me, because to be honest I didn’t know they even had a parking lot. In my defense, I’ve always parked in the lot behind the gym and walked. So, I went up to the front door, saw the sign that directed patrons to the parking lot door, realized I hadn’t the foggiest clue where that was, stalked my way around the building until I found the lot and the correct door, feeling like an unobservant dingbat the whole time.

The very nice librarian seated near the entrance outlined a few new policies, which included turning around any book I picked up but decided not to check out and replacing it on the shelf with the spine facing towards the wall so it could be easily spotted later and sterilized. Me being me, of course, didn’t want to put them to the trouble of having to hunt down books that I didn’t want to take home with me, I checked out every book I touched. My mind works in interesting ways. Having rapidly amassed quite a sizeable stack, on account of keeping every book I touched in a probably misguided attempt to make things easier on others, I checked out and made my way home. Upon arriving, I sat down to really take my time in going through my stack.

Which brings us to a At The End of My Yarn first, which is a review of a knitting book that I don’t actually like.

“If you love knitting, this is the book for you! Featuring 100 designs from six of Monica Russel’s books in the Twenty to Make series, it is packed full of quick and easy patterns. There are lots of projects that will appeal to competent beginners and more advanced knitters alike and they are all made in lovely natural yarns with a wide range of colors and designs. (…) Hand knit your own fabulous winter accessories and match them to your preferred colour scheme. Whatever the occasion, there is a wealth of inspiration here with projects that will make the perfect gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day and Christmas and will become an essential part of you winter wardrobe.” –Head-to-Toe Winter Knits by Monica Russel

Now, I’m the first to admit that the books I choose to review are usually ones I own, so my reviews are slanted towards books I enjoy and find helpful, naturally. I’ve done reviews on library books before, but they’ve been on books that I noticed on the shelf, thumbed through, then decided to check out. This one, I noticed the title, picked it up, flipped through it, saw a couple of designs I liked but nothing mind-blowing, and realized it was coming home with me whether I really wanted it or not.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some very solid designs in here. Also a bit of ‘divided by a common language’ because the book uses what I believe are British terms for accessories, which means I looked through the index, noticed all the headband patterns, thought ‘yeah sure, that’s what I really need while freezing my face off, something to keep my hair back, really a winter knit’, then looked at the pattern and saw it was what I would call an earmuff. The patterns themselves don’t call for a specific yarn from a specific manufacturer, which I didn’t realized until I read this book is actually a bit irritating. Now, I hardly ever use the suggested yarn when I knit a published pattern, but it’s very useful to know what the baseline yarn type is so I can look for something comparable that is in my stash already, or available in my area and not fifty bucks a skein because I ain’t made of money. What the patterns have is a description of the yarn itself, for example, the Heathland Wrist Warmers call for ‘1 ball of light worsted (DK/8-ply) merino yarn in variegated pink-green; 100g/232yd/212m’. While the pattern itself is a pair of completely serviceable worsted weight dense lace wrist warmers, I know the designer used a specific yarn, so why don’t they want us to know exactly what they used? That’s something I never thought I would find irritating, but I do. There are also no charts. For the majority of the patterns that isn’t an issue, but as a personal preference I like to know at a glance what the lace/cable etc. repeat will look like so I can know at a glance if I’ve messed up, or if I’m right on track, rather than having to pick through rows written out line-by-line. If you’re checking for errata in published patterns, which you should, it’ll save a lot of time and heartache, you’re more likely to run across a misprint in a row-by-row written pattern than a chart.

The patterns themselves, not taking into consideration my irritations with the yarn descriptions and lack of charting, are all basic, useful, decent designs. Nothing inspired or interesting from a technical standpoint, but solid. Kind of the the Reader’s Digest of knitting patterns. If you’re looking for a book of cold-weather accessories, and want to keep it simple, and are looking for a lot of designs to choose from, it’s hard to go wrong with this one.

I was able to attend a needlework retreat hosted by Belle Grove in Middleton, Virginia. The event was originally supposed to be at the plantation itself, but Covid intervened and it was a Zoom meeting instead. They hold retreats every quarter, so hopefully next time we’ll get to see each other in person.  The kit was mailed out, with all the supplies needed to complete the project, and with a gift of tea and a few snacks. 

Going in, and having had only a passing acquaintance with cross-stitch and minimal knowledge of needlepoint as a whole, and knowing I’d be in the company of women who had worked on the Shenandoah Tapestry, therefore really knew their stuff, I figured I’d stand out like a sore thumb. However, not only was I not the only rank beginner who barely knew the business end of the needle, but they were all lovely to me and eager to answer every silly question that fell out of my mouth.

The project this time is a needlepoint version of the 1840 Frederick County Courthouse, which now houses a Civil War museum located in Winchester. I was especially excited because we were focusing on stitches that could be used to replicate architectural details, and I do love me some architectural details. As it so happened, so did our tour guide, who did his best (which was very good) with a virtual tour of the manor home itself. He told us all about the details of the limestone bricks used for the façade, and Thomas Jefferson’s influence on both the inside and outside of the home. I never knew Thomas Jefferson had such strong opinions on house design. Belle Grove is almost perfectly symmetrical, including fake doors painted on the walls so each side of the room matches. And apparently he thought staircases were useless? Or at least he didn’t like to use them. For example, the only staircase on the original building was outside, and it was primarily used to bring meals from the kitchen building to the main house, which I can only imagine got real cold in the winter. I suppose when you’ve got slaves that you can make tramp up and down stairs outside in the cold carrying heavy loads for you, it doesn’t really matter to you if it’s easy for them or not.

The class was extremely informative, and although I hardly made a dent on representing the bricks on the courthouse (looking at the picture I took I see I’ve messed up a bit), and although I need a new fiber hobby like I need a hole in the head, I may not be able to help myself. Already looking forward to the next retreat!

Knit up a pair of ankle-ish socks out of Brown Sheep Wildfoote that I picked up from Heavenly Yarns in Belfast, Maine during my trip this summer. Funnily, I actually started these while I was on vacation because I foolishly neglected to pack socks, the irony of a sock-knitter with no socks did not escape me. I was in a hurry packing, having waited until naturally the last minute, and figured since the only shoes I was packing (ergo, the ones I was wearing) didn’t require socks, therefore I didn’t need to bring any. Apparently I totally forgot about the fact that up in Maine at the time I was there it was already getting to the 50s at night, and my feet get cold easily.

They’re pretty vanilla, just a bit of ribbing on the front. The yarn describes itself as being ‘luxury’, which hopefully doesn’t translate to ‘wash delicately’, because that’s not my strong suit. I’ll find out, right?

Finished my Stephanie, just in time for fall, apparently. The Berroco Weekend I used is actually pretty dense, at least at the gauge I knit it at, so it should make for a good layering piece. I think the yarn might do better at a slightly loose gauge, actually. This turned out a bit bulletproof.

I did my usual haphazard job at seaming, although since the wedding sweaters I’ve improved. The finished project could use some serious blocking, though. I washed it in the sink to get some of the residual dye out (there was quite a lot!) and tossed it in the dryer for a smidge, then hung it to dry the rest of the way.

The pattern itself is well-written, and the few parts I was confused about were quickly figured out. The back scoops down a bit too low for my tastes, but since I’m not planning on wearing it by itself that won’t matter. The sleeves ride up but I think that’s more due to the yarn I used and how tightly I threaded the drawstring. Something with a bit more drape would lie perfectly, I think. It’s worth taking into consideration the last time you shaved your armpits, because those are the very definition of cap sleeves and the way the pattern is written it’s pretty much a sleeveless top with fancy shoulders. All in all, pretty happy. I bought a few more patterns last time White Lies had a sale, so it’s to my pattern stash I look for my next lacy project. Maybe Colette?