Knits

This last week I’ve felt exhausted. There’s a lot going on at work, but I think I’ve also got some sort of bug. I feel fine one day, bad the next. Yesterday morning I woke up and, TMI warning, emptied the contents of my intestines. I stayed home and worked. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon that I ate a little bit and that left me feeling like I might be sick. I didn’t really eat again. This morning I woke and I felt like a lead balloon - a very sore lead balloon. I’d slept 8 solid hours. I am a person who normally feels refreshed after 4-6 hours of sleep. I rang into work, said I’d ring back later because maybe it would pass. I rang in and said I wouldn’t be coming in as I was exhausted and had to go back to sleep. The admin assistant said her husband has been having the same thing for a few weeks now - fine one day, sick the next and exhausted.

Anyway, I also had no internet until 630 this evening - I was very angry about this because, as usual, customer service is non-existent. I got a few things done in the absence of the interweb - backed up five months worth of photos, started writing up the Butterfly stitch sock pattern since a few people asked, started the Stitchtionary index, wrote a stroppy letter to my ISP, drank tea, ate toast, tried to nap, but exhaustion be damned, I couldn’t (and when I did the phone rang). I also took some pictures of the yarn my mom and sister brought me (that I ordered and had sent to their house, mostly). [Click for bigger.]

Malabrigo — Knit picks merino style in asparagus & storm — Knit picks essential solid in pumpkin & grass — Lily sugar n’ cream in a variety of colours — Knit picks memories in (from top to bottom) Yukon, Pansy, Fly fishing, & Spring prairie

I asked my mom to get some of the Lily Sugar n’ cream… she got A LOT of it as I already had some. And I don’t know what I was thinking w/ all the Knit Picks memories - it looked good at the time and now I feel a bit, meh over it. It’s brighter and thicker than I expected.

I also was inspired by Jillian to pick up my Ms Marigold again. However, also with inspiration from Jillian, I measured my, uhm, large swatch (read: Ms Marigold in progress) and tried it on again and knew it had to be ripped. It was entirely too small. I am a busty girl and even though I’d already sort of fudged the pattern, I did a poor job of it. Jillian recently wrote up how she commandeers her stash (side note: she has an amazing stash). I knew the whole thing wasn’t difficult to figure out, but I never took the time to sit down and figure it out. So a huge thank you to Jillian for doing that. I ripped out my Ms Marigold and made two mini swatches and now I’m ready to start again.

I’m not a swatching sort of person. But doing these two mini swatches and comparing it to the bit of Ms Marigold still unripped - well it’s three different size needles and while the stitch counts don’t vary drastically (27 sts on size 4 and 24 sts on size 6), I am surprised at the resulting fabric. I’ve learned from this brief exercise that I tend to go for very dense fabric which is why I drop down a needle size (or two) and end up with a very off gauge. I didn’t think I would like the looser fabric, but you know, I do because it has give and shape and what’s that? It will have drape and not look like a piece of cardboard on me? Wow, what a concept! I will now try to swatch more often. No promises though.