New yarn, still old

I am slightly weird. After making a pledge to myself that I'd finally start using my stash and ONLY my stash, I lost it at the Salvation Army and got meself 3 knitted woolen sweaters to recycle. Finding recyclable woolen sweaters at places like the SA turned out to be harder than I imagined: It seems that most of the woolen sweaters for sale there were given away because they got (accidentally, I presume) felted. As all yall know, it isn't exactly easy to rip out a felted woolen garment. Thus, the choice last Saturday was rather limited. But, never one to give up, I plowed my way through what felt like kilometer of rack space to find these three... ehemmm... beauties:

The first one is really some sort of a mohair/nylon mix, intended for a yummy and hairy creation, such as the Ice Queen:



The next one is a well knit but (in my opinion, at least) fairly hideous cardi in fairly hideous colors that might however work well in different combinations:



The third one has already been taken apart and partially ripped out. It's made from 100% bulky (thick and thin) wool in a deep ruby red color and I absolutely love the yarn. I think it might be prime Urchin material:



All this yarn I got for the astounding sum of (3.99+2.99+3.99*0.5)*1.08 =... somewhere around 10 bucks. Not bad for almost 3 sweaters' worth of yumminess, huh?

Center-pull

Recently I taught myself (with expert assistance from "Þríhyrnur og langsjöl", a.k.a. "Three-cornered and long shawls") to wind a hank of yarn into a center-pull skein by hand:



(See these wonderful heathery flakes of blue and pink? This is one yummy yarn, which I got fresh at the Ithaca Farmer's/Farmers' Market (I never know) last fall).

Even the bottom came out pretty flat:



I´m pretty excited about this technique, since I a) hate having balls jumping all around the room when I'm knitting and b) don't have a "real" ballwinder (hint hint). Hopefully I can get the time it takes me to wind up one of these down to, say, less than one full evening, and then I might even use this technique exclusively!

The Bubble, in action

The Bubble looks (IMNSHO) great ! when washed and worn:



I really love this sweater and I wear it all the time. The fit is just perfect and I like how it's really feminine without being cheesy or sentimental. The yarn is holding up to wear really well. It's really interesting that the ribbing on the sleeves (knitted with Clover bamboo needles) does not look nearly as good as the ribbing on the hem and cowl, both knitted using Lantern Moon ebony needles. That tells me that Wendy, the owner of Yarns2Ewe in Houston where I bought the LM's, really was right when she told me that knitting with LM needles was going to have a huge impact!

Fieldwork knitting

Well, not much has been heard from me here lately. I've been knitting, just not so much as usually, because I spent a month out in the field collecting water samples. Driving in (well, being a passenger in) jeeps and vans on gravel roads in crazy traffic one doesn't get a lot of lace knitting done, I should have thought of that before I chose the Hanami stole as my field knitting :)

In any case, here's where I'm at at this point:

FOs of the old year

Late December saw the finishing of the two sweaters I started while in Houston, i.e. Beth (which I call Beta, according to Icelandic naming conventions):



and the Bubble Pullover:



I'm very happy with how both of these turned out. The very deep V-neck (or neck opening, I should just say) on Beth was a concern, though, it makes the sweater look like it's too big and creates these pretty ugly bulges where the sleeves meet the body. I fixed it using a... erm... næla... a brooch (I guess) to hold the nech opening together.

This brooch started life as a decoration on a pin used by some Bolivian chola (indigenous lady living in the city) to keep her shawls from slipping off her shoulders. I bought it during one of my trips to Bolivia and had it converted to a brooch when I came back to Ithaca. I love it and am happy to have found such good use for it.

Also, I made my boyfriend Shan a Koolhaas hat:



(modeled on your's truly, who is at home sick with her nose stuffed and bones aching. ARG!!)

Yarn overload

I finally got around to entering my stash (well, most of it) on Ravelry. Guess how many kilometers of yarn I have... seventeen!!! Yes, if it all were strung out, it'd take me about 5-6 hours to walk from one end to the next. That's just absurd!

Next knit?

I have a luxury problem coming up:

December has been a pretty productive month in terms of knitting - I started and finished my Beta, I'm almost done with the Bubble pullover, I knit a Koolhaas hat for my Shell adviser Andy and I'm halfway through another of those for Shan. Last but not least I finally finished the second Droplet hat (my long-term bus knitting project), which I gave away to my friend Paula. Now all I have left of my WIP's is to finish Shan's Koolhaas and finish the Bubble... that is, attach the sleeves and buttons. This should take about a day or two, or a return car ride to NYC to celebrate New Year's.

The impending problem is, of course: What do I do next???

Being the over-analytical person that I am I start to think, why do I like knitting so much in the first place?? Why can't I just stare into the middle dimension like normal people while sitting in the car or sipping a latte at the coffeeshop? Why isn't it enough for me to rest my hands idly while reading a book (yes, I knit while I read. A lot) or watching a movie?

Well, I like the practical aspect of things here: Knitting helps me converting otherwise useless time into useful time. I also enjoy the creative aspect: In this useless turned useful time, I can create something. Granted, as long as I'm using patterns I'm not the "real" creator, but you catch my drift. Also, I'm learning something and, very importantly, connecting to an ancient skill that wasn't so much a skill as a vital necessity for my foremothers (and for the odd egalitarian forefather, I hope).

Where do these musings leave me in terms of my next knitted project?

I think I'll focus on the foremothers and learning for my next cast-on. For Christmas I got a wonderful book full of patterns for traditional Icelandic shawls, mostly made from Icelandic lace-weight wool. Anticipating the gift, I bought several skeins of this wool last time I was home. Judging from the yardage given for the projects it seems that this wool multiplies while in the skein - it's amazing how you can make these things from virtually no yarn! So, I plan to knit an Icelandic shawl (gosh, I wish my grandmas could see this!) and in the process, do my first-ever lace project. Ihaw!