Oct 24, 2007

Back in the Saddle...

IMG_1984As planned I got back to spinning. After so much time away I was a little apprehensive about how successful I'd be. I anticipated a few false starts and frustration but I was pleasantly surprised. What you see here is the continuation of the yarn I was spinning for my Hanami stole. When I started tonight, this bobbin was already partially full but I added quite a bit and I'm happy with it. It looks like it's a good match to the stuff I spun earlier this summer and it's fairly consistent. I am so relieved!

This is the other project that I started last weekend. It's a kit that I got at Stitches East. It's called A-line Dress for a Little Princess and, yes, I do have a particular princess in mind.

IMG_1986This was a total impulse buy. Felicia and I were walking past the booth (I forget the vendor) and they had a bunch of these cute little dresses hanging up and they were irresistable. The yarn in the kit I bought is cotton and fun fur but I don't know any more than that (no details or ball bands in the kit). I've gotta say that this is the first time I've bought a knit kit and it's been a mixed experience. As I mentioned, there are no details given about the yarn. I'm sure it's cotton and the fun fur looks familiar but I wish I had a few hints about what it is.
My wish for a little info on the yarn is a minor complaint compared to my issues with the pattern itself. It's a little, ummm.... vague. For example, I had to cast on twice because the instructions for the first row tell you to knit 1, add 1, knit #, add 1 etc. My usual method for adding stitches is to kfb except where it says something like add or, in the case of my Dragon socks, make 1. In those cases you would pick up the bar between stitches and create a new one. Right? Wrong! For this little number you are supposed to interpret the add as a kfb as I found out when I reached the end of the first round and found 8 extra stitches. Would it kill them to be a little more explicit. It's actually quicker and takes less keyboard strokes to write "kfb" than "add 1". I'm just sayin'. Even a note to tell us how to interpret the "add" would be nice.

By the way, I haven't been much odf a cheerleader lately for Sock Madness but, believe it or not, the patterns for SM2 are due one week from today. I can't believe that we're already approaching November 1. I guess that's what happens when you loose a month or so to the soap opera that has become your life. Thankfully, the Dragon socks seem to have gotten my sock mojo going again for I'm (kind of) ready to dive into the test knitting.

4 comments:

Cursing Mama said...

Do not get me started on patterns that don't use typical conventions - or those that are really poorly written so as to confuse.

Carole Knits said...

Bring on the test knitting!

Anonymous said...

Funny that you title this one "Back in the Saddle.." because I've been wondering if anyone ever tried to combine a stationery bike and a spinner. Especially one of those recumbent bikes with the nice back, stretching out your legs and peddling with the spinning wheel on the handle bars and you feeding the raw wool onto the wheel,... Has this ever been done? Would it sell?

Carol said...

I've yet to buy a kit, but then we don't have festivals here and the kits I've eyed on line are way out of my budget. I have Hanne Faulkenburgh taste and Lion Brand pocket;) Your yarn is just gorgeous, it's going to make a great shawl! Are oyu adding beads to yours? I got the suggested yarn and beads, but it may be months before I even start it.