And We're Off

Tomorrow, we're heading up to north Idaho to prepare for our wedding on Saturday.

So I won't be posting for a week or so, probably.  I'm sure you'll be bereft.

Gozer sez, don't cry.  I'll be back soon.

Drumroll, Please!

ETA: Karen, I don't have your contact info!  Please email me at lanafactrixATgmail.com.

And the winner is . . . Karen B, who wrote "I like "clinker" or "lapstrake" because the lines remind me of viking-style ships."

She was spot on in her comparison, don't you think?

Gokstadskipet, Vikingskipmuseet, Oslo, 2005, Karamell

Lapstrake it is!

Honorable mentions include:

Hotline from Terri D

Lines of Lloyd from Tivity

Take Offs and Landings from Kaitlin (perhaps she is also a Rilo Kiley fan?)

Matrix from Joy

Vector from OneTwistedStitch

Electrical Alternans from Wendy

Thank you all so much for your participation--I totally know where I'm coming the next time I'm stuck on a pattern name.

Wherein You Do My Work for Me

So here's the deal, my darlings.  I need to name this:

(The shawl, not the dog.  The dog has a name already.)

It's a fingering-weight shawl, made with one skein of Heather's Favorite Sock Yarn.

Here are some more pictures, for your reference:

I simply can't think of what to call it, which is where you come in.

Leave a comment with your naming suggestion on this post, and the person whose name I choose will receive a skein of Wollmeise.

Specifically this skein:

This is a skein of Wollmeise Pure (100% superwash merino, 150g), in the colorway "Gluckstag" ("Lucky Day.")  (Not incidentally, it would work wonderfully to knit the pattern above.)

HERE ARE SOME RULES:

1) Eligible comments must be submitted by no later than midnight PST Thursday, August 21.

2) Multiple entries are welcome, but only one skein of yarn will be awarded.

3) Anyone may enter, but an international winner will not permitted to bitch about how slow the mail is.

4) I like pithy names that suit the item in question.  No profanity or lewdness, please.  (Subtle innuendo is okay.)

Go ye forth and name!

And have one more gratuitous Gozer photo:

Things That Do Not Escape Notice

One of them is that I knit a fair amount of socks.  Another is that I am a loose knitter of the most wicked and egregious kind.

As a result of the latter, I knit the former on small needles--my usual preference is for 2mm--and generally toe-up for a better fit.  (Also because I find casting on and ribbing tiresome.)  This results in a great many wee little balls of leftover sock yarn.

What to do with so many?  Sometimes I trade them away to hexipuffers or blanket-square-makers.  Sometimes I use them as scrap yarn for holding live stitches or that sort of thing.

But in this instance, I made an actual project.  Behold!

This is a Wingspan, knit on size 2/2.75mm needles out of a variety of sock-weight yarns.  And you might well recognize more than a few of them.

Why, there's my Tudor Grace, and Barb's socks, and a few pairs of socks for the Irishman, and some Woodsmoke socks, and my Ravelympics 2012 project, my mom's Sprossling, and even (I think) some beaded mitt leftovers.  

For cohesion (and since I had a ton of the yarn), I used the Bambie to knit the first and last wedges as well as the strip connecting all of them.  I think it came out rather nicely.

The pattern was good travel knitting while I was traveling to, from, in, out, and about Cyprus last year--I finished while there, washed and "blocked" it (no real blocking needed, just laid out and shaped on a towel), and left it behind as a gift for a future visitor.  The absolute best travel project--one that makes room in your suitcase for more yarn.

This, That, and the Other Thing

So you may or may not have been aware of this, but I'm getting married.  In, like, three weeks.  (WHY YES I AM PANICKING THANK YOU FOR ASKING)

My friend Wendy made me a dress, but of course I needed a shawl to go with it.  And Jane designed one for me!  Yay!

She kept coming up with designs and I was all "ooh I like that one," and then she sent me this one, saying "I think this could be THE ONE" and damned if she wasn't right.

This is a terrible photo taken at 2 AM because that's when I finished binding off.  Finished pictures later.  (I blocked it this afternoon, so I am actually ahead of the wedding-apparel game.  For now.)

In other news, I entered a few pieces in the county fair:

Why yes, that is my Maplewing that won Reserve Grand Champion.  (A friend of mine won Grand Champion, too.)  Go me.

And here are a few choice photos from our walk tonight--

The sunset reflecting off clouds to the south

For some reason this streetlight was on before all the others.  Neat effect.

Trumpet vine volunteer!

Whole Wheat Cardigan

And here it is, finally!  (I've been busy.  This "getting married" business is a lot of hassle.)

PATTERN: Whole Wheat Cardigan by Alexandra Charlotte Dafoe.  Size "46."  The quotation marks are because, well, there are some problematic aspects to the pattern.  There are numerous small errors, both in the form of mathematics and of typos, but that's not as bothersome as the fact that the 46" size, if knit to gauge and schematic, will give a sweater that is 49.75" around.  (This is without seam allowances, granted, but a three-inch seam allowance is a bit much.)  This in itself would not be problematic, but the pattern doesn't mention positive ease as a characteristic.  In fact, the pattern doesn't mention ease at all, so anyone knitting this would pick it up expecting zero ease.  Not almost four inches.

Here, this actually worked in my favor; I have a 48" bust (well, it's actually a little larger, but the standard 48" measurements fit my shoulders perfectly, so I just have negative ease in the bust or put in darts if I need them, but whatever), so making the 46" size as written gave me a perfect fit with about zero ease.  But you see how this could have unfortunate consequences for the knitter who does not check her measurements against the schematic.

YARN:  Shepherd's Wool DK (100% merino, 120yds/50g skein) in colorway "Lilac," approximately 6.5 skeins.

NEEDLES: US 7/4.5mm

MODIFICATIONS: To make the sweater hit at a more flattering point, I knit two inches of ribbing instead of the called-for four inches on the body.  I also shortened the sleeves because of my t-rex arms.  Otherwise knit as written.

Overall I am generally satisfied, but I doubt I'll be knitting a pattern from this designer again.  (I did message her with the errors I'd found and haven't heard anything back.  This was several weeks ago and no acknowledgement has been made, nor has the pattern been corrected.  Not impressed.)
 

What I See When I Walk the Dog

This is what passes for a weed in these parts:

Nice things happen in the desert when it rains.

And if you look very closely, you can just see a bird sitting on the wire in this one.  It's a hummingbird!  She (I think it's a she because she was quite large) had been more interested in the flowers below a moment before I took this, but flew up to safety when she saw Gozer and me.

On the knitting front, I've started a Daybreak for my third Camp Loopy project.  (Whoops, I never did post the second one, did I?  I'll do that tomorrow or the next day.)