| Saturday, May 06, 2006 |
| La la la la la |
I'm feeling a little goofy 'cus I've been up since 6am. I need to take penicillin for my stupid tooth every 6 hrs, so I put myself on 6-12-6-12. Unfortunately I don't need to leave for work until 9:15am, but I couldn't fall back asleep. So here I am. Hi! Good morning! I wish I were sleeping!
 This is a swatch I made over Wed and Thurs. The gauge is 22st x 30 rows = 4" st st. Supposed to be with a 4mm. I tried it and got just 1 st and row short. I tried again with the next ndl size higher up- 4.5mm- and got it. It still seems a big small to me, but for this project fit isn't important so I'm not going to worry about it too much. But I am a little thrown at how .5mm can only ad 1 st and row over all those sts and rows. I thought I'd be too big with that size ndl. Hmm.....
EDITED TO ADD: No, this isn't for the lacy shrug. This is for another pattern I felt like trying out.
 This is a swatch for that lacy shrug I showed off yesterday. Here's my dilemma: I don't know what yarn to use. I've heard that Crystal Palace Kid Merino sheds, from the mohair content. So I don't want that. I want to start soon, so before going shopping online I checked my LYS. They had 2 options: since the CPKM is supposed to be doubled, and laceweight doubled is roughly dk weight, I can use Zara. Or, I can use Schjeepees (sp?) 4ply sock yarn doubled. I don't know what to do. I love Zara, but here's my swatch. See the problem? Check out the pattern gauge: 8.45 sts and 12.45 rows = 4" blocked in lace patt. Right. So I did a swatch of 7 st wide, because that was the minimum I could use to fit with the lace repeat. It was that or 11 sts, and I wanted to be sure I didn't get 4" 'cus I had too many sts. The pattern repeats over 4 rows, so I did 3 repeats. I'm aware that I'm almost a row short, and about 2 sts short. However, I don't get much more than 3-3.5" square, and that's with SERIOUS blocking. So I'm not sure if I can trust that the Zara will work. I'd like to hope it would, 'cus this shrug in black Zara would be too cute.
I can also use something from Knitpicks, or look elsewhere online. Here's my problem: there is no given gauge for the CPKM. It says "various gauges using needle sizes 3-8". Thanks, that really helps. They claim it's a laceweight, but doubled becomes dk to worsted. So can I just substitute any laceweight and double it?
Speaking of Knitpicks...I just remembered that I'd ordered the color cards, and never opened the box! It arrived about a month or more ago- what was I thinking? So take a look at these pretty things:
 I ordered one of each line they carry that offers the sample cards. So if anyone from Montreal Knits is thinking of buying from them, but wanted to see the colors close up and IRL (sorry, holdout from my mIRC days when I was an OP), let me know and I'll bring them to a meeting. Heck, I'll probably bring them to the next Wed meeting anyways.
It would be really cool if someone could help me figure out what I could use to knit the lacy shrug. *hint, hint*
Think I can somehow manage to fall asleep and get at least another hour and a half before work? I didn't think so either...but I'll go try.
EDITED A FEW HOURS LATER TO ADD: I did manage to get an extra hour of sleep, and as a result I'm a much more pleasant person right now. :]
The added rest did give me a bit of a brain boost, as I remembered another option for the shrug:
I have 22 balls of Sisu in my stash. I was supposed to make a long-sleeved top and matching skirt- the birthday outfit from Yannick. The pattern and yarn were gifts for my birthday when I really got "back" into knitting. I'm sure I can have enough to make the shrug, and still have left overs to make the top, and just skip the skirt. I'll get more use out of the top anyways, who really needs a long, black, A-line, eyelet skirt?
So will the Sisu work? I don't know. It's 80% Virgin Wool (although I think it's hysterical that in the original language on the label it says 80% god), 20% nylon (polyamid). This lace pattern needs a good blocking to open it up...will the nylon stop this yarn from holding the blocking? If I knit it, then pin it out, let it dry and have to watch it spring back to how it was before...I think I'll have one hell of a hissy fit.
It's a sock yarn I think, or around that weight. 160m for 50g. I *think* it's machine washable, but I'll have to find a label translation online to know for sure. It says "shrink resistant", so does that mean it's superwash? Can you block superwash? The little icons say I can wash it at 40 deg but no tumble dry. Suggested gauge on the label is 27 sts x 42 rows = 4" on 2.5-3. I'm going to assume that's mm, not US values.
Would I use this doubled, or singly? It's not laceweight, but not as thick as a dk.
Oy this is getting hard. I'm going to put a call out for help- Montreal Knits to the rescue! |
posted by Jennifer Lori @ 6:28 am   |
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