colorlessblue

Worst idea ever

2010-10-31T23:53:00.002-03:00

When it's almost midnight, and you're working on the most complicated lace you've ever made, when you have a chart you can barely understand and your progress is slow because you need to stare at the chart at all times, and you find a stitch several rows below that is actually in the right place, and there's no visible mistake (for a relative value of visible), but you split the stitch (knitting between the two strands of a 2-ply yarn)...

Trying to fix it before a good night of sleep is the worst idea ever.

I'm going to leave it until tomorrow, and then I'll try again. If I can't fix it, there goes 2 days of progress.

Oooops

2010-10-06T09:54:00.005-03:00

I've been feeling guilty for the lack of posts, and always planning an awesome comeback that never appeared, so I'll just cut it and show what's going on with my spindles:

The Sassy Sheep sw merino in Katie's Rainbow on the Schacht, undyed tussah silk from World or Wool on the Jenkins Turkish Delight, blue tussah from Wingham Wool Work being plied on the Hound Dervish (singles were spun on a Bosworth Featherweight.)

Fiber Optic Siren Song Unspun (after handcarding) on the Gripping Yarn russian, AbbyBatts in Estreno on the pink ivory Spanish Peacock russian, just-begun Ashland Bay in McKenzie on the tulipwood Spanish Peacock (not sure if I'll go on with this fiber/spindle combo yet.)

Smoke tendrils

2010-02-07T16:31:00.003-03:00

I felt like I've been on the brink of finishing this shawl for ages, and never really got to it. It's finally done! Remember this yarn? It's all grown up now:

The pattern is High Seas, by Kieran Foley, knit with my own handspun (light gray cashmere/mulberry silk), less than 800 yards on 3,75mm needles. The pattern has a pretty long repeat, 40 rows, and it's partially patterned on both sides. Something I learned the hard way: pay attention to the bolded lines dividing the different zones on the chart. I didn't, and ended up repeating the whole chart for the starting border, instead of only the 2 central squares that make the eyelets. When I was done I ended up frogging the starting border stitch by stitch, from the cast-on edge, and re-knitting it using the finishing border chart. Way too much work that could have been easily avoided.

Like the yarn, the shawl changes its colour depending on the light conditions. This pic, where it looks really gray, shows very well the white spots on the yarn, from where the silk got more concentrated:

In a different light it looks a little brown, or even a little golden:

Notice too how the cashmere gives the shawl a little, subtle halo, while the silk makes it look a little shiny, and the lots of twist on the yarn give a crispy stitch definition:

My favourite part is the little waves, though. I've already blocked the shawl, but they still have movement and texture.

And they make cute bumps on the purl side too.

On how to wear shawls

2009-10-18T16:08:00.009-03:00

Sometimes I see comments about how nobody ever wears shawls nowadays and how they're not only not useful, but also not decorative, because they look like granny clothes. I think that's because people forgot. They don't know how to wear them anymore. For all the fineness and light weight, shawls can be surprisingly warm, so they're a good substitute for a jacket on cool nights, or for layering when you're going to some place where the air conditioning will be strong. And they're easy to remove and put in a bag when they're not needed anymore, unlike jackets.

This is the most simple way to wear a shawl. Just throw it over your shoulders, and you're good to go. Except after a while it starts to slide off, and you get annoyed and tired of keeping adjusting it all the time. One solution is to just tie it on the front, but I don't really like that. I like tieing it on the back:

I prefer to do it with circular and semi-circular shawls, but triangles work too. I think it looks great with a strapless dress or top, and besides warming up the shoulders and back (and arms, depending on the size), it's a way of showing less skin. For weddings, for example. Chic and modest for the church, easily removable for the party.

Same idea, different setting, great for low-cut tops:

Put the center over one shoulder, cross the points over the other shoulder, and fix it in place with a shawl pin or a brooch.
Or you could just roll it a little and wear it as a scarf.

I really like this option, but it's not equatorial zone friendly.
All pics were taken with the Aeolian shawl I just finished, so the effect might vary with different shapes or sizes, and of course there are lots of other possibilities that I didn't cover, or even thought about.

Double FO

2009-10-16T19:14:00.003-03:00

I got two things to show. First, I blocked the Raspberry Rhapsody scarf (ravlink) that I've shown unblocked weeks ago.

The wrong side looks very cool too:

Knit on Knitpicks Palette yarn, 5.5mm needles, violently blocked.
And then I finished an Aeolian shawl that passed by unmentioned. I knit it with Knitpicks Bare Merino Lace, and dyed after the fact with cake dyes. The dye didn't take uniformly (my fail), but I think it doesn't look too bad.

I misread the pattern and knit one extra repeat of the Agave leaves, when I wanted to knit the smallest size. I expected a scarf, but it ended up huge. I think it'd still be large even without the extra repeat. Maybe because I used 3.75mm needles.

And because I'm a merciless blocker.

How my hubris was kicked on the butt

2009-10-04T16:11:00.003-03:00

I used to think that, since I learned how to purl, nothing was difficult in knitting. Complex, maybe. Requiring attention, counting stitches, needing brute force to stick the needles in (nupps, I'm looking at you), but as long as I focused it would come out allright. Circular cast-on for a center-out shawl was a little difficult, but I got it after 4 tries. This hat, my first all-over colorwork, kicked my butt in severa different levels, though.

The pattern, End of May (ravlink), requires light worsted weight yarn and sportweight for the lining, but I was set on knitting it and I only had Merino Style from Knitpicks, which is a DK (I used Iris and Cornflower). I went up a needle size, to 3,75mm, and started it without swatching, with NatureSpun fingering for the lining. Almost the whole time I was working I felt like it would come out too small. Everytime I tried it on the stitches stretched so bad you could almost see the floats on the inside. Halfway through the hat I kind of found my gauge, so the first repeat was way tighter than everything else. You could even see it narrower than the top of the hat. Look with attention, you really can.

And the stitches on the lighter colour, which I was holding on my right hand, look all wonky and even twisted. They're not twisted. I checked. They just look weird. Everything puckered at all directions.

Then I had to sew in the lining.

My handsewing is even worse than my gauge, but I'm content enough that it doesn't show on the outside.

I blocked the hat over a balloon and I'm really happy with the way it looks now. The puckering disappeared, and almost all stitches relaxed a little. Plus, it fits a human head.

If I had to do it again, the only thing I'd change was adding maybe half a repeat to the lenght. As it is, it's kind of a bucket hat with the size of a beanie. I think it's a really cute pattern, very easy and straightforward, regardless of my lack of skills. I also think my lack of skills is a little smaller now, that I got a wearable item at the end, and overcame a childhood shortcoming and finally learned how to tie up a balloon in the process.

The hat will be on the mail as soon as I finish a few other items to send along. (Because a very thick 100% wool hat isn't much Equatorial weather friendly. It's a gift. Wish I could keep it.)

Creamy in the morning

2009-09-29T07:44:00.002-03:00

Even though it was Smoky last night.

Undyed light gray cashmere/mulberry silk (50/50) from World of Wool.

The colour difference is only due to natural daylight. Silver at night, gray/beige with hints of red now. I like both. I got 802 yards from the 100g of fiber, though there were some matted bits that I discarded. shouldn't be more than a few grams, though, and I don't think it makes much difference.

Smoky

2009-09-28T20:18:00.001-03:00

Not washed, not set, at night:

Natural light gray cashmere/mulbery silk blend.

Gentleman's Fancy Handspun

2009-09-26T16:49:00.003-03:00

This fiber (sw merino/seacell pencil roving from FiberOptic)

became this yarn (461 yards/4oz/fingering weight)

and now these socks:

I used the Gentleman's Fancy Socks pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks (Ravlink), with a few modifications. First, because I had less yardage than recommended, I knit shorter legs. I didn't read the pattern before starting, so instead of casting on just the needed number of stitches, I cast on as if to knit knee-high socks, and did the calf decreases twice as fast as the pattern said to. I also didn't realize I was doing ktbl till well into the cuffs, so I didn't bother correcting before the leg pattern started.

Other than that, and a few gauge adjustments, I knit the pattern as written, as I plan to do with all patterns from this book. I want to try different kinds of heels and toes and see by experience which ones are my favourites. This pattern uses the French Heel, whose heel flap can be seen on the pic above, with the fake purl seam in the center. The view on the sole is this:

I think the french heel looks weird, with the triangular shaping, but it fits just right on the feet and it was easy and fun to knit, besides having the advantage of looking like a peen in almost all sides.

The Wide Toe is not new to me, and it's pointy, but I knit it anyway. I knit a couple extra plain rounds before starting the decreases, and did one less decrease round than the pattern said to, because of gauge differences. My favourite part is that in one of the socks the yarn changed colour right at the grafting, so it has this one row of darker green at its apex.

I think FiberOptic fiber is bringing me luck, my 2 favourite projects are made with her fiber. These are the best fitting socks I've knit so far, with the best sock yarn I've spun so far, and the glow from the seacell is just an added bonus. I love the way that the yarn seems to shine from within, instead of reflecting the light from outside. Of course that's just crazy talk, but it's pretty anyway.

Unblocked Porn

2009-09-23T00:15:00.002-03:00

Right side:

Wrong side:

And the "I want to jump into this and swim":

WWSIPWTLAP Day

2009-09-19T08:55:00.004-03:00

Today is World Wide Spin In Public While Talking Like A Pirate Day! Well, no, they're two separate events. And that's good, because I can't talk like a pirate. But I can spin in public, and I'm totally going to do that in a few minutes, when I leave the appartment, even though there isn't an organized event in my city, and even though I don't even know anyone else in the city who spins.

I've searched for spinners around here, and the only ones I found were in a distant city in the my state, but all they do is 'rustic' cotton yarn in electric wheels, to be used in souvenirs for tourists.

It might have something to do with the weather. Spinning animal fibers in this heat isn't always easy. As demonstrated by the only pict I have of me spinning:

That day was so hot that the only way to survive fiber play without air conditioning was wearing a bikini and sitting in front of a fan. And all that sun glare is coming through the closed curtains. =(

I love winter. I wish I had some.

Anyway, I was spinning this:

Natural coloured cashmere/silk blend. And I'm going to spin more of it now. In public. But I'll find a cold AC'd spot and keep my clothes on.

The things we do for love...

Handspun socks are the best

2009-09-18T10:12:00.005-03:00

They're still toeless, but not for long. I just couldn't wait because I became fascinated with the way the colours played this morning.

They're my resting project, because the pattern is so easy I can knit it without thinking much, so I work on them when I'm tired of more complicated things. The yarn was handspun from sw merino/seacell pencil roving dyed by FiberOptic.

Simi Wings

2009-09-02T16:39:00.005-03:00

So, this is my new shawl:

Last year, I was going through the Dark-Hunter series of books, and at some point my favourite character, the Simi, was wearing pink and black striped socks. I thought that would be a good idea to spin and knit a pair like that, and I wanted to try spinning a superwash merino/tencel blend, so I ordered some of that custom dyed by FiberOptic. I asked her for fiber alternating zones of pinks, black and grays. When the fiber arrived here, I thought it was so shiny it just kept screaming LACE at me. I didn't want striped lace, though, so I broke the top, separating the colours, and spun the pieces in order of light to dark.

It looked like this:

It ended up like this:

And then I had to choose what to do with it. I remembered how, in one scene on Dance with the Devil, Simi appears with black and blue wings, and I imagined them with wing tips being the darkest part. I chose the Lutea pattern, from Oceanwind Knits (Rav-link here), and modified it to maximize the yardage I had.

My favourite little detail of this pattern is the knitted-as-you-go leafy upper border:

But I absolutely love the Lotus Lace on the center, and the way it looks round and fluid and angular at the same time:

It took me a little calculation and charting paper to jump from Lotus Lace to the final border:

And honestly, this picture came out at a weird angle but I just can't get enough of this shawl:

And I haven't pointed out yet, but did you notice how SHINY it is? The Simi likes SHINY!

It came out huge, too, but I fail at using the timer and the focus at the same time for modelled pics, so here's a night pic with the webcam:

I think it's pretty even in the dark.

I'm imensely proud of this shawl, because it's the most hands on work I've ever done. Both the spinning and the knitting took a lot of planning, and except for the fact that it's bigger than I expected, which means better than I expected, everything else came out exactly as I wanted. I love my Simi shawl.

Wet Blocking Porn

2009-08-31T17:09:00.002-03:00

I did have enough yarn

2009-08-30T16:01:00.000-03:00

But barely.

It's the whacking that changes everything!

2009-08-27T15:30:00.002-03:00

Ok, so when I was plying the yarn and hoping the plying would make it look pretty and suddenly I'd like it? And then I finished plying and still didn't like it? I still don't LOVE it, but setting the twist did change the yarn a lot. Now, besides being bouncy and light, it looks like this:

And because I'm in love with the focus on this pic, here's it posing with the n-plied left-overs from the singles:

I'm very, very afraid

2009-08-27T12:53:00.000-03:00

It's all I have left in the whole world!

What a surprise

2009-08-24T10:32:00.003-03:00

This looks pretty:

if you like orange. Which I don't. But it made me think of a beach sunset, as if the bottom of the cop were beach sand, going up to the sea, reflecting a little of the sun on the horizon and the sky still blue on the top. Except I don't even like sunsets, because they're orange. And yellow. I don't even know why I dyed this fiber in this way. Still, the damage was done, so I spun it.

And kept spinning (there was still orange)

The orange never left. Maybe I was in denial, because I kept thinking maybe when I plied I'd suddenly like it because it would look pretty.

Not so much. I guess everybody disagrees with me, and seeing these pictures, I disagree with myself and think it's a little cute. It looks all primary colours and happiness and little fish. But the cake is a lie, and I think these pics totally fail to capture just how hideous this yarn looks IRL. It looks dirty and muddy. Seriously, while I was plying, my thoughts kept getting grimmer and grosser with each yard. At some point, I thought it looked like someone had chewed on all the art yarns that I most dislike, swallowed it with Fanta, then puked and spun the result in even, nice, perfect singles. It was a fight to finish plying after that.

Still, I have one good thing to look forward now:

Whacking! I love whacking. I wish I could whack everyday. I'd be so much more relaxed. As would the yarn.

sw merino, 125g, 393 yards

Doing things

2009-08-20T12:08:00.002-03:00

I don't feel like I have anything completed to show yet, working on several things at once makes for slow progress. And when I say many I mean it.

(I like to keep things close to hand.)

House

2009-08-05T20:25:00.002-03:00

I went to the bathroom yesterday just before midnight and was very surprised because my pee was bright green.

I freaked out and started planning to go to the hospital immediately, but then I remembered that House episode with the Cat of Death, and the nurse with the green pee was faking it by taking some medicines she stole from her elderly patients.

I didn't steal anyone's medicines, but I was taking some new pills prescribed just yesterday morning, so I checked and yes, it's a known side effect of one of them. Phew, I'm not dying.

2009-07-29T10:21:00.001-03:00

I didn’t finish the second of the 2 main projects I had for the Tour, but I feel like I achieved a lot.
I worked with 2 new fibers to me, tencel and pure silk. I didn’t expect the tencel to be so difficult to spin as it was for me, and I sure didn’t expect the silk I got to be a really bad preparation, almost as difficult at moments as the time I tried to spin cotton balls. After these two challenges, when I got to the easy merino/silk blend I could feel just how much my drafting had improved.
I managed to spin from the whole top as I decided to do before the Tour, not pre-drafting and not splitting. I’m better at keeping a triangle drafting zone instead of drafting from one side only.
I learned long draw, spinning from the fold, and how to use a supported spindle on Challenge Day.
I got more than 1600 yards of plied, finished yarn, and some singles to be finished yet. I even have part of that already knit.
I learned to use my camera on the manual mode and deal with focus, white balance, exposure, etc.
If I have to choose only one achievement, though, I think I’ll go the sw merino/tencel yarn, because with it I spun thin and even enough singles to navajo-ply them and still have it at laceweight, and I took a top alternating pink and black zones and used it to make a yarn that starts in baby pink and ends in black, all the while fighting the fiber with nails and teeth. So I feel like with this yarn I really showed the fiber who was the boss, and got exactly what I wanted at the end.

The final result, with a bad pic to disprove what I just said:

On MSN, about TdF Day 16

2009-07-23T10:38:00.002-03:00

Me: on other news. have you seen this pic?

Dan: No, I don't think so.
me: it won
me: like, 2 days ago
dan: Hmm. On any particular merits? It doesn't look stunning.
me: probably because there wasn't any rainbow yarn on that day
dan: Ah, k.
dan: Wait: this is yours?
me: : yeah
dan: :o
dan: You won?!
me: yes
dan: woo!
me: too late
me: not stunning
dan: Honestly: you've done other stuff that I think's been better.
me: i agree
dan: It's good, but not your best.
me: i think it's very good photographically. not spinning-wise
dan: Didn't mean to be blunt! Didn't realise it was yours...
dan: :-(
me: hahaha
me: but see, you were honest
dan: <-- ass
me: i'm more pleased that way

TdF - Day 19 - Challenge day

2009-07-22T20:19:00.001-03:00

I've been spinning for a little over a year, and I feel like I haven't progressed much since I first learned. I can spin fairly thin, even, smooth (worsted) singles, because that's how they come out, not because of conscious effort on my part. I can ply these singles in 2 or 3 ways that give me a little range of types of yarns that I can spin. I'm not an experienced, acompplished spinner. I'm a lucky spinner who happens to get exactly the kinds of yarns I like to knit with. But as a spinner, I'm aware of just how limited my skills are.
So I chose as challenges to go outside my comfort zone, and learn skills that I either never tried before, or failed. The first 2 challenges: spinning from the fold (tried before and it was a complete disaster) and using long draw (a total mistery to me):

Very uneven, but I can really say mission accomplished on both fronts! And once I saw that I could do it, I decided to go on for a third challenge. I found some barbecue sticks, wood beads with holes that matched the sticks on the size, and improvised a supported spindle, and used it on a soup bowl:

It's even worse than the woolen singles I spun on the drop spindle, because with the drop spindle I could use both hands to draft and even out the singles a little. Also this mill-ends sw merino I was using doesn't help with the drafting with only one hand at all.
I can't show much progress, a finished yarn or even a half full spindle, because I spent a good part of the day trying to find the beads, and then trying to understand at least the basic principles, but I can say honestly that I did all I set myself up to do. I'll practice more long draw and learn to spin evenly, and a real supported spindle is now my second next on my wishlist.
Feels good to feel like a noob again. It means I can only get better. =)
I actually have made big progress and I have some good news about my second main TdF project, but I haven't blogged about it yet because some people have to hear from me first instead of reading on the blog. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, DAN.(NY)

TdF - Day 11 - The Simi

2009-07-14T10:06:00.004-03:00

It felt like it took forever to be done, and it fought me with nails and teeth, but here is The Simi:

It gave me 710 yards, heavy laceweight, and a long gradient:

Very, very happy.

Superwash merino/tencel blend, dyed by Fiberoptic.

TdF - Day 8

2009-07-11T18:14:00.003-03:00

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't finish even one skein before the first week ended, but I'm close to, now.

All that’s left from the black part of the sw merino/tencel is the same ammount of fiber that’s on the singles spindle now, so soon I’ll be ready to ply everything. The question is, will I be able to fit it all in one skein? The last 2 cops that I added to the plying spindle were already difficult to handle…

TdF Day 3

2009-07-06T09:11:00.002-03:00

I finally reached the point in my gradient where the fibers have both black and pink in them, where the colour runs on the top met. Most of it has both colours in one staple lenght, in little handfuls of fiber. So I thought that was an acceptable reason to use pre-drafting. I grabbed many, many of these puffs and pre-drafted them together, then divided in 4, pre-drafted the 4 pieces together again, repeated a few times, and pulled the fiber through a diz, to have a (kinda) cohesive strip of fiber again. It's about the same thickness as the original top, but less compact. And not completely cohesive, but I think that's because it's superwash, and 50% tencel.

It a little like roving pulled from batts:

The little ball are the singles from days 1&2, with the baby pink end of the gradient on the outside. I have since then started spinning singles from the new strips of fiber, navajo-plied the first singles, and dipped my toes on the black silk for the other project.

Days 1 & 2

2009-07-05T21:25:00.002-03:00

I thought I'd spin a little of each project every day, but I'm so curious to see how the sw merino/tencel will look when ready that I'm focusing on it. Unfortunately I'm way too slow. I think in these two days I only spun about 1oz of it. I'm finding the fiber a little hard to draft sometimes, while at other times it slides all the way down and the spindle falls. But it was heavy, so I unloaded the first cop and started the second already. Always spinning from the not-pre-drafted top:

And for a while, from 2 not-pre-drafted tops:

That was a little crazy, but I have an excuse. I'm trying to spin in a colour gradient, so I wanted to blend two shades. I want light pink -> dark pink -> black.

Tour de Fleece 2009

2009-07-04T06:43:00.006-03:00

Phew! It's been a while. I'm unburying the blog because today starts the Tour de Fleece, and I'm going to take part on Team Hoar, with my RR fellows.
My general goal is to spin at least something close to 300g of fiber. That includes 4oz of sw merino/tencel blend, 100g of merino/silk and 100g of tussah silk. The last two will be laceweight, plied together, and I think I'll try navajo-plied laceweight for the first. This is the fiber:

SW Merino/Tencel from fiberoptic, custom dyed.

I intend to focus on technique and improve my skills as much as I can, too. My Specific goals:

No pre-drafting allowed, except for colour management, if needed.
No splitting the top, except for colour management, if needed.
Organizing and reading my spinning folder (pdfs, ebooks, articles I have saved in my computer).
Improving the way I build my cops.
Depends on what the prep will allow, but if possible, learning long draw.
Improving speed.
If time allows, spin am extra 100g of cashmere/tussah silk, drafting from the fold (something else to learn).

The blog banner, or: Reviving an old favourite.

2008-10-16T17:31:00.003-03:00

Non-cropped:

Fast, lazy, Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday!

See shawl here.

HNT in a yarny blackhole.

2008-10-09T18:15:00.003-03:00

I had yarn to ply today, and I thought it would be fast, as it was only a single ball. So I started plying and plied, and plied, and plied, while I read Ravelry and did other things on the computer. I swear the ball on the pic above is practically the same size as it was when I started, even though the spindle is almost totally full. I was scratching my head and trying to understand it, and then the explanation came to me.

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday.

Sleepy HNT

2008-10-02T07:04:00.004-03:00

I've been relapse on the last several weeks but this pic practically took itself.

I fell asleep fully dressed last night, and when I woke up the coins in my pocket had scaped and attached themselves to my back, where my shirt had riden up. They started falling as I moved, but I still could catch 2 in a pic. That's 75 cents, by the way.

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday, yawn.

Bayfield Apple

2008-09-22T19:54:00.005-03:00

I have my first good handspun yarn!

Fiber: Yarn Love's Marianne Roving (superwash merino)

Colourway: Bayfield Apple

181.5 yards (176m) of 3-ply fingering weight

That should be roughly 2oz, and I'm still spinning the other half of the roving. It will be enough for a nice pair of socks.

The pic was taken before setting the twist. Now that I did it, I see that the yarn is slightly overplied, but close enough to balance to be used, and the extra twist will help with resistance. The dyes bled just a tiny bit in the hot water. I could only see a bit of red, but the pale green is almost yellow. It's almost dry now, and I can't stop staring and fondling and drooling over how soft and yarny it is, even though I made it myself.

Meu primeiro fio de verdade! Fiado a mão, na espessura certa pra fazer meias, 181.5 jardas (176m) de fio de lã. Ainda tô fiando a outra metade da lã, mas quando terminar vai ser o suficiente pra um par de meias! Eu tô especialmente feliz porque consegui planejar desde o começo e acertar a espessura planejada, mesmo que sorte tenha ajudado um pouco.

Teaser - Spinning and Blocking

2008-09-15T11:30:00.002-03:00

Still around

2008-09-07T12:00:00.003-03:00

I haven't been feeling like blogging lately, and part of it is that I feel a little guilty about not having finished the Ravelympics shawl yet, not having blocked the Queen Anne's Lace shawl yet, or even touched any of the UFOs I have going on. BUT that doesn't mean I haven't done anything in this time.

Eu não tô escrevendo muito esses dias, por uma série de motivos. Parte deles é que eu me sinto culpada de negligenciar vários projetos que mencionei no blog e deixei de lado por enquanto, porque eu comecei a fazer meias. Terminei o par aí embaixo agorinha:

I'm in a sock frenzy. I just finished these:

Pattern: Wavy socks, by Amy King, in The Knitter's Book of Yarn

Yarn: Mirage, merino/tencel blend, The Natural Dye Studio (I can't find the yarn since the day I ordered. Maybe it was discontinued.)

Needles: 2.5mm

The yarn is very shiny and has a very subtle variegation that I love, but it's not camera friendly. Like fairies, if you really believe it, you can see the variegation in this second pic:

A linha é bem brilhosa e tem uma variação de cor sutil demais pra fotografar, mas eu acho que dá pra ver na segunda foto.

Not so subtle is the variegation on the first pair of socks I made, the week before I started these:

O outro par que eu fiz antes desse já não é tão sutil:

I made these with Pigeonroof Studio yarn, 100% merino wool, in a toe-up plain stockinette pattern with short-row heels, on 2mm needles. I absolutely love these, and I've been wearing them for a week. Good thing that I finished a second pair. At least now I can alternate them.

A peek on what the future holds:

One of the Yarn Love rovings I just received this week from Sonny and Shear. As soon as my spindle arrives I'm going back to spinning and, hopefully, will have some rainbow yarn to make socks with. (What can I say? I love handknit socks now.)

E logo, logo, eu vou voltar a fiar, assim que receber meu fuso. Eu tenho dois pacotes de lã tingida esperando pra virarem mais meias.

Eeek, I forgot!

2008-08-21T09:32:00.003-03:00

Last week I was so focused playing Ravelympics I just didn't notice when Thursday came by. This week I'm still busy. I wish I could say I'm still working on my goal of finishing a shawl in 2 weeks, but alas, I received my very first sock yarn and started my very first real proper sock. Of course, that can only mean one thing: HNT pic that makes no sense and has no context.

Happy HNT!

Ravelympics 2

2008-08-19T06:24:00.003-03:00

I'm now midway on the 6th part of the shawl, so it's time for an update. Bad, bad pics this time. Most of them taken on the evening, and the yellow background doesn't much help.

The Alchemists Guild Exploded Again

Old Tom

The Pointless Albatross

Ravelympics 1

2008-08-10T23:30:00.002-03:00

I signed up for the Ravelympics for the Team Ankh-Morpork Knitters' Guild, and started knitting for the Shawl Relay on Friday Evening, about 8 hours after the starting time (the start of the Olympic Games opening ceremony). I'm knitting an Igorized Shawl (the Summer Sampler Study, modified for my yarn and with a Discworld theme). So far, I have 2 of the lace patterns ready.

The first panel (Hurricane Fence originally) is my Watchhouse Cells lace:

Second pattern (the Garden Trellis) represents the Sapient Pear Tree Leaves:

So far things are going almost twice as far as I had planned, even though I had a delay on the first day.

Sonnencremeküsse

2008-08-07T07:26:00.003-03:00

Trying to get a tan while you're sick is not a very smart move. But at least it gives interesting pics.

Misquoted song by the Wise Guys.

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday!

Cousin It.

2008-07-31T11:02:00.001-03:00

It makes me feel old that people only relate this pic to the dead girl from The Ring.
Happy HNT.

Told ya she was a killer

2008-07-24T17:45:00.004-03:00

I knew it was all too easy to be true. Disaster finally struck my Quenn Anne's Lace. There was a whole group of stitches in the wrong place, a mess so big I didn't even understand what was going on. I tried fixing the stitches one by one and only made things worse. I tried dropping the cluster 1 round but the problem was either 4 or 5 rounds below.

So I was getting ready for 1 day of tinking when I decided to drop everything till the point where I was sure things were right.

Eu sabia que tava tudo muito fácil pra ser verdade. Finalmente um erro grande apareceu no meu xale. Tinha um grupo inteiro de pontos fora do lugar. A renda simplesmente não alinhava do jeito que os outros grupos alinhavam, e tava tudo tão errado que eu nem conseguia ver onde o erro estava. Eu tentei consertar derrubando e refazendo um ponto de cada vez, mas só piorava tudo, porque o problema começou 4 ou 5 carreiras abaixo de onde eu estava.

Eu já estava me preparando pra desfazer as 5 carreiras ponto por ponto, 1 dia inteiro só desfazendo, quando eu decidi derrubar tudo que estava errado e tentar refazer só essa sessão.

I turned my nerves into jelly, got a headache from this car that passes by my street each 2 minutes playing jingles for a political campaign, got interrupted by my clueless flatmate 5 times, but 15 minutes later, all was well again!

Foi um drama, carro de som passando com propraganda política o tempo todo, minha colega interrompendo o tempo todo, mas eu consegui consertar o problema! Em 15 minutos!

Killer Queen

2008-07-24T11:12:00.003-03:00

My Queen Anne's Lace shawl is officially cleared of all charges of causing me allergies. I still don't know what is making me sick, but it's not the silk yarn. I can go on and finish the shawl now.
Using surface area, with number of rounds as the value of the radius, I calculated that 10% of this shawl was knit in hospital waiting rooms already...

Oi, gente, meu xale foi finalmente inocentado: não é o fio que tá causando alergia. Aliás, ainda não sei qual é o problema da minha garganta, mas alergia não é. Pelo menos agora eu posso terminar o xale em paz. Eu calculei a área total e o que já fiz, e até agora 10% do xale foi tricotado em salas de espera de hospital...

Anyway: Happy HNT.

Till the end

2008-07-10T14:55:00.005-03:00

A half-hearted post with an old photo, but that's just to show that I'm still around. I've been sick for the last 3 weeks, and getting worse since last week, but today things start to look better.

That's a project I haven't worked on for some time, but it's not abandoned at all! I'm actually way more advanced on it than the photo shows. I'd say I have 80% of the top knit, but the last 20% require some mad maths skillz and I didn't feel like thinking about it yet. But the pic from the beginning looks better than the ones I tried to take later.

I don't know when, but I'm going to finish this sometime soon.

Misquoted song of the day: Até o fim.

Quando nasci veio um anjo safado / when I was born a naughty angel

O chato do querubim / that damned cherub

Que decretou que eu estava predestinado / who said I fated

A ser errado assim / to be wrong like this

Já de saída a minha estrada entortou / from the beginning my path was twisted

Mas vou até o fim / but I'll go on till the end

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday.

Führ mich ans Licht

2008-06-26T07:02:00.004-03:00

We had a short power outage last night. The darkness all around makes what is in the light all the more visible.

I've been counting the days from last thursday. I guess I like the stage after all. =D

So, quoting Xavier Naidoo out of context:

Zähl' ich die Tage / when I count the days

Ich erhebe die Klage / I raise the clamor

Führ mich ans Licht / lead me to the light

Ich enttäusch' dich nicht / I don't let you down

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday!

Finding forgotten stash

2008-06-22T13:19:00.005-03:00

I don't remember buying it at all, but yesterday I found Madame Bovary's ovaries on my shelf. I remember a fast reading of the first chapter in a bookstory once, but only that it happened; not what was written. I'm curious now. At the time my interest was picked, I was reading The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.

Ovaries is supposed to be a funny critic of literary classics under a sociobiology lens, and sociobiology is so often taken as a kind of apocaliptic beast. I mean, there are hordes of studies pointing out to evolutionary pressures influencing genetically human behavior, but yet just as many people go against the whole idea from the start, because apparently influence & innate tendencies = determinism, the end of free will, eugenics & politically incorrect. Now I'm having trouble putting the right words out there, but the way I see it, explaining how things came to be in one way or another isn't the same as justifying these things, and even less the same as saying things ought to stay the same. And saying a theory isn't right because you don't think it's pretty isn't refuting. It's sulking.

I believe in Biology. I also believe in Morals, and I think the human brain, created by evolution, is capable of recognizing moral principles and acting accordingly. I know that not everybody agrees with what principles are the right ones (hello, understatement), and that the standards changed along History, but as a whole we're better off now, concerning human rights, for example, than 6 thousand years ago.

I don't know if this is because cultures are making it up as they go, creating "better Morals" with time, or if the cultures always had a sense of the Golden Rule and just evolve to apply it to a larger monkeysphere.

I guess that goes into Philosophy. Are Morals an entity independent of humanity, and we recognize it (or not), or is it a cultural creation? Is the universe good, bad, indiferent, or not even there at all? And there come Kant, Schopenhauer, lots of asian religions and the Matrix. I confess, I never really understood the philosophers...

HNT - All buttered up.

2008-06-19T18:55:00.002-03:00

Playing with butter isn't something I do everyday, but sometimes it's all good.

Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday!

Liberal until you call me fat?

2008-06-19T16:42:00.005-03:00

Yesterday I read a series of posts on Figleaf's blog about bras, breasts, nipples, and how those relate (or not) to libido, feminism, cold weather, modesty, etc. Leaving aside the discussion of deeper subjects addressed on the posts and on the comments, one thing seems clear from reading the comments in there: each woman likes different styles of bras, for different reasons. Which comes as no surprise if you have any familiarity with women at all.

I talked about this with friends and pointed out what's my problem with clothes manufacturers. I hate shopping for bras because all I find is underwired bras with foam padding on the cup (that kind of padding that adds fake volume to cleavage). Not to discuss why some girls feel the need to resort to that, but when I can't find a D-cup bra that _still_ has extra pads inside, I get to wonder if this is really necessary, or even desired. That's my beef. I don't believe customers think they need to fake bigger breasts. I don't think the manufacturers made some poll and discovered they'd sell more if every bra was padded.

I think manufacturers decided to do things this way and tell the customers that's what they always wanted. Same with skinny fit jeans trousers. Same with cropped jackets, cropped jackets, button-up shirts that just won't close on the front (ironic that the bras get bigger and the shirts get smaller).

The last shirt I bought from a women's store was labelled as extra large and it's still a little tight. A man's t-shirt in a small size is too big for me. I was once told, in 5 stores in a roll, that they didn't make clothes large enough to me, and to try on stores for bigger women. This worries me, and not because I think I'm getting obese. I worry that we'll end up like Argentina.

I read this article a few years ago, about how stores in Argentina only stocked up on very small clothes. Things got to the point where a new law was introduced to force stores to offer normal sizes to try to stop the raising rates of anorexia on the country (Article on BBC Radio 4 in english).

Which brings me to my point: I told my (male) friend this story and he replies: "Oh, I hate those stupid laws! Government shouldn't interfere on economy more than the absolute necessary. Why don't these people just don't buy on other stores?"

Yeah. Easy to say that. But what do you do when _no_ stores have your size? I've always felt liberalism was closer to my heart than state-controlled anything. But I don't need the clothing industry trying to convince me that I'm fat. My mom is already enough.

Ontem eu li uma série de posts no blog do Figleaf que começaram sobre sutiãs, passaram por feminismo e adiante. Deixando de lado a disicussão sociológica mais profunda que aconteceu nos comentários, o que ficou mais claro é que toda mulher tem gostos diferentes com relação a roupas (includindo roupas de baixo).

Tava falando disso com uns amigos depois, e aí eu comecei a falar do meu grande problema com a indústria da moda. Eu não acredito que os fabricantes fornecem o que os clientes querem ou precisam. O que eu acho é que os fabricantes decidem que um certo estilo é o que vai vender, e aí dizem pra nós, consumidores, que esse estilo é o que nós devemos querer. Exemplos: é quase impossível encontrar um sutiã 44 ou mesmo 46 sem enchimento. Fala sério, uma pessoa que precisa de um sutiã 44 _realmente_ precisa de enchimento extra? E a dificuldade de encontrar qualquer calça jeans que calça que não seja cintura alta, boca reta ou cigarrette e coladíssima? Ou uma blusa que abotoe direito na frente?

A última blusa que eu comprei é tamanho extragrande e ainda fica apertada. Mas se eu comprar uma camiseta masculina, a pequena é grande demais pra mim. Uma vez me disseram em 5 lojas seguidas que eles não trabalhavam com tamanho grande, e me mandaram procurar lojas pra "pessoas cheinhas". O que me preocupa nisso não é que eu esteja ficando obesa, mas que a gente vai acabar feito a Argentina, onde as lojas só vendiam roupas superpequenas, e foi preciso uma lei pra forçar as lojas a venderem roupas de tamanho normal, pra parar a onda de anorexia (Artigo na Veja, Artigo na BBC Radio 4 em inglês).

Aí eu conto essa história pra um amigo e ele responde: "Nossa, odeio essas leis idiotas. O governo tem que se meter o mínimo necessário; é só deixar de comprar na loja ruim e comprar em outras lojas."

Fácil dizer isso, mas o que que se faz quando loja nenhuma tem o seu tamanho, ou o seu estilo? Em teoria, politicamente, eu sou liberal. Mas eu não preciso da indústria da moda tentando me convencer de que eu sou gorda, já basta minha mãe.

Note to self

2008-06-17T17:37:00.002-03:00

Stitch markers aren't just for n00bs.

Usando alpaca

2008-06-17T14:55:00.003-03:00

Saber de algumas coisas sobre alpaca ajuda quando você quer planejar seu trabalho e evitar frustração. O mais importante desses fatos é que a fibra da alpaca é escorregadia. Mas vamos começar do começo.
O fio é feito de fibras, certo? As fibras da alpaca possuem características diferentes daquelas da lã. Elas são em geral mais longas que fibras de lã de ovelha, com um diâmetro que varia entre cerca de 18 microns a 25,5 microns, considerando a maioria dos fios de alpaca disponíveis no mercado pra quem tricota a mão. Os fios mais finos são classificados de Royal Baby ou Royal Alpaca, com fibras abaixo de 18 microns; Baby Alpaca tem diâmetro entre 19 e 22 microns (aprox. o mesmo das melhores lãs de merino), e Superfine fica entre 23 e 25,5 microns. O fio que eu usei tem 25 microns.

Alpaca absorve umidade tão bem quando a lã, sem dar sensação de molhado nem ficar frio. Não contém lanolina, o que ajuda a evitar alergias. A alpaca é também muitas vezes mais quente que a lã, porque as fibras têm um núcleo oco que ajuda no isolamento térmico.

Esse xale Wisp, por exemplo, é todo furadinho mas é tão quentinho quanto uma jaqueta jeans pra usar no cinema ( e evita ter que sair no meio do filme pra fazer xixi ).
A diferença mais importante entre alpaca e lã, no entanto, são as escamas na superfície da fibra. Alpaca tem menos escamas e elas são maiores que as da lã. Isso torna as fibras lustrosas, escorregadias, mais difíceis de feltrar (leva mais tempo, mas feltra), escorregadias, mais resistentes a branqueamento químico, escorregadias, inelásticas, e escorregadias.
Assim, o que realmente precisa ser lembrado é que o fio de alpaca é:

Quente - usar fios mais finos e leves, e pontos abertos e rendados, cria trabalhos quentes mas confortáveis. Fios mais grossos são melhores pra usar fora de casa, no inverno (inverno de verdade!). Trabalhos em cores funcionam melhor em intarsia, porque aqueles trabalhos com o fio carregado pelo avesso criam uma dupla camada que pode se tornar quente demais e pesado demais.
Inelástico -se você tricota apertadinho, o fio não vai esticar pra enfiar a agulha naqueles pontos mais apertados, como k4tog ou nupps. O fio também não se ajusta a irregularidades dos pontos, e essas irregularidades ficam mais visíveis em ponto stockinette que se fosse feito em lã. Ah, e roupas mais coladas ao corpo esticam e se ajustam, mas depois que você tira a roupa, ela não volta pro formato original. Ribbing/ponto barra tem que ser feito extra apertado (com agulha menor, por exemplo), e torcer os pontos ajuda também, mas se possível, melhor evitar acabamento em barra.
Escorregadio - não é que os pontos vão escorregar e cair das agulhas (apesar de que pode acontecer - agulhas de madeira ou bambu são mais ásperas e ajudam a segurar os pontos com fios escorregadios). É que as fibras que fazem o fio escorregam entre si, e fazem o fio crescer! Um trabalho pesado, com muitas tranças, por exemplo, pode começar um sweater e terminar do tamanho de um vestido. A amostra é a salvação. Antes de começar, faça uma amostra, lave, deixe secar pendurada, se possível até com um pesinho embaixo, e depois disso tudo, meça a tensão e número de pontos e carreiras por centímetro. Dá trabalho mas você fica preparado pra não terminar seu trabalho com mangas de camisa de força. Trabalhos com costura lateral, costura reforçada nos ombros, ou tricotados na vertical são boas idéias, ou então tricotar de cima pra baixo (porque fica fácil desmanchar uma parte se for preciso encurtar). Ou então usar alpaca pra trabalhos em quea diferença de tamanho não importa, como cobertores. Pros meus xales, quanto maior, melhor.

A última coisa a se lembrar é ter cuidado com as pontas soltas no fim. Arrematar em zigzag, dar uns nozinhos sutis, reforçar bem, pro fio não sair e desmanchar. Eu tô pensando seriamente em colocar um pouquinho de cola maluca, mas eu sou paranóica...

Além de diversos site que achei no Google, as principais fontes que usei foram:

The Knitter's Book of Yarn, Clara Parkes
Alpaca, an Ancient Luxury, Charlotte Quiggle, publicado pela Interweave.

English text

Slippery, not only when wet.

2008-06-16T09:54:00.006-03:00

There are some facts about alpaca yarn that help you plan better your work and avoid a great deal of frustation, if you know those beforehand. The most important one is that alpaca fiber is slippery. But starting from the start.

The yarn is made of fibers, right? Alpaca fibers have some different characteristics when compared to wool. They are in general longer than sheep wool fibers., with a diameter that varies from around 18 microns to 25.5 microns, if you consider most commercial yarns available to the hand knitter. The finest yarns are classified as Royal Baby, or Royal Alpaca, and are under 18 microns. Baby Alpaca means the fiber diameter goes from 19 to 22 microns (about the same as the finest merino wool), and Superfine stays between 23 to 25.5 microns. The alpaca I've used was 25 microns.

Alpaca yarn absorbs moisture as well as wool, while staying warm and dry. It doesn't contain lanolin, thus causing less allergies. It's also several times warmer than wool, because the fibers have a hollow core. See this baby:

Holey and lacy and light as it is, it keeps me as warm in the movies theater as my denim jackets (plus I don't need to get out in the middle of the movie to pee).

The most important difference between alpaca and wool, though, is the scales on the fiber surface. Alpaca has less scales, larger than wool. That makes the fibers lustrous, slippery, makes it take more time to felt, slippery, more resistant to bleaching, slippery, inelastic, and slippery. So, what needs to be remembered is that alpaca is:

Warm - using lighweight yarns and open stitches gives warm and comfortable projects. thicker yarns are better for clothes to wear outdoors in winter. Color work is better in intarsia, because stranded knitting creates a double layer that can get just too warm and heavy for comfort.
Inelastic - if you knit tight, your yarn won't stretch much when you insert the needle to help you with the most tight stitches, like k4tog, or the occasional p7tog (nupps, anyone?) Also, the yarn won't accomodate irregularities the way wool does, so those will be very visible on plain stockinette. And if you make a tight garment, it will stretch to accomodate your body, but it won't come back to the original shape afterwards. Ribbing needs to be done extra tight. Twisted stitches help. Not ribbed edgings are even better.
Slippery - it's not that the stitches will fall from the needles and run down the WIP (Although they might. Wooden needles FTW). It's that the fibers that make the yarn will slip past each other and make the yarn grow. Put lots and lots of cables and the weight of the sweater will give you a dress. Forget knitting a sizable swatch, washing the swatch, hanging the swatch to dry, using something to weight down the swatch and then, after the swatch grew, counting accurately your row gauge before starting your project, and you'll have sleeves of doom. Garments with seams, reinforced shoulder seams or knit sideways are good ideas, and if you knit top-down it's easier to shorten if needed too. Or you can use alpaca to knit things where the potential growth isn't a problem. Afghans are good and warm and cuddly. My lace shawls? I like the big, babeh.

The last thing to remember is to take extra care when weaving in the ends, so that they won't slip out of the fabric. When I made the Wisp, I first used buttons, before deciding that the buttons were too heavy for the yarn and would weight down the fabric and stretch it and deform it completely and make my FO ugly forever, but by the time I decided I wanted to remove the buttons the pieces of yarn I used to attach them had already slipped from the special knots I learned with the sailors and the buttons just fell down. Right now I'm eyeing the tube of superglue, but I'm just paranoid.

I used several sites I found on Google as information sources but these 2 sources have really lots of info and tips on how to best use alpaca yarns:

The Knitter's Book of Yarn, by Clara Parkes
Alpaca, an Ancient Luxury, by Charlotte Quiggle, in Interweave Knits.

Texto em português

Estonian Lace Stole

2008-06-15T14:32:00.004-03:00

First: I don't have a camera. I use my laptop webcam for everything, and so there are some limits to what I can do with it. I think I showed enough details of this project on the partial shots on previous posts, so I chose to give a view of the total on this post about the completed project. I played with the camera settings and the best I could do with sharpness to make the lace more visible was on black and white. So I played a little bit more. ;)

Aviso: eu não tenho uma câmera. Eu uso a webcam do laptop pra tudo, então tem certas limitações de qualidade das fotos. Como os outros posts sobre o xale mostravam detalhes dos pontos, eu decidi mostrar o xale inteiro nesse aqui. Eu mexi nas configurações da câmera e a que dava melhor definição da renda era em preto e branco. Aí eu brinquei só mais um pouquinho.

Pattern: Estonian Lace Scarf
Yarn: Alpaca Coproca - little less than 2 skeins - pouco menos de 2 novelos
Needles: US5 (3.75mm)
Modifications: I knit only chart 1 and 2 from the pattern and added the knitted on border from the Cap Shawl in Victorian Lace Today.

Usei os gráficos 1 e 2 da receita original e adicionei a borda do Cap Shawl de Victorian Lace Today.
Final dimensions: 45cm x 110 cm (17.71in x 43.30in)

I love it so much!

Perfect size for me.

Tamanho perfeito.

I wish the nupps were visible on the center panel...

Eu queria mostrar os nupps do painel central...

Cuddos to my friend Strikey who gave me support all the time I worked on this.

And you? Do you know where your towel is?

2008-06-15T09:14:00.003-03:00

136 pins. But: knitting is hot; blocking is hotter.

City Weather

2008-06-14T15:14:00.007-03:00

Current conditions as of 3:00 pm BST (The Weather Channel) / Condições do tempo

Partly cloudy (from my window, looks it looks like scorching sunny) / Parcialmente nublado (absolutamente ensolarado)

Temperature: 84 F - 29 C / temperatura

Feels like: 89 F - 32 C / sensação térmica

Humidity: 66% / umidade

Current knitting in progress: alpaca lace shawl / Trabalho em progresso: xale rendado em alpaca

Resulting in (resultado) :

Is it worth it? Hell yeah. Just the grafting to finish it.

Vale a pena. Só falta costurar o fim da borda.

The reason

2008-06-13T13:51:00.003-03:00

I just realized I started a blog and didn't write to say why I was starting it and what my objectives from writing here were. So, I'm doing it now by quoting Terry Pratchett, in The Last Hero:

"The reason for the story was a mix of many things. There was humanity's desire to do forbidden deeds merely because they were forbidden. There was its desire to find new horizons and kill the people who live beyond them. There were the mysterious scrolls. There was the cucumber. But mostly there was the knowledge that one day, quite soon, it would be all over."

I swear I can see a context here for everything, except for the cucumber. Please don't look for that. And not everything will be over soon. I have some UFOs that will take a good part of my life yet.

Eu percebi que comecei o blog sem explicar por quê, nem o que queria com isso. Então vou usar um trecho do Terry Pratchett, do começo de The Last Hero (tradução minha):

"O motivo da história foi uma mistura de muitas coisas. Havia o desejo da humanidade de fazer coisas proibidas só porque eram proibidas. Havia o desejo de descobrir novos horizontes e matar as pessoas que vivem além deles. Haviam os pergaminhos misteriosos. Havia o pepino. Mas principalmente havia o conhecimento de que um dia, logo, tudo iria acabar."

Eu juro que eu vejo um contexto aí, se tirar o pepino. Por favor, não procurem um contexto pro pepino. E nem tudo vai estar acabado logo. Eu tenho trabalhos começados que vão durar boa parte da minha vida até eu terminar.

Alpaca fluff from my bed - making Gufnork happy.

2008-06-11T19:15:00.001-03:00

The yarn for my black stole sheds a lot. I know it gets better after washing and blocking, because most of the extra fluff goes away on the washing, but for now it sheds and sheds even more because I had to frog what came out to be half of the skein.
Today there was so much fluff on my bed that I got this piece of almost-yarn just from rubbing my hand on the bedcover.

O fio de alpaca desse xale solta um monte de pêlo. Eu sei que melhora depois que lavar e blocar, porque os pelinhos extra são removidos, mas por enquanto tá soltando ainda mais pêlo que o normal porque eu desmanchei metade de um novelo já tricotado.

Hoje tinha tanto pelinho na minha cama que, depois de esfregar a mão por um tempo, eu praticamente fiz um pedaço de fio...

Project monogamy, once in my life

2008-06-11T10:00:00.001-03:00

I've been knitting for little more than 6 months, and crochetting for little more than a year. In this time I already noticed that I tend to have multiple projects going on at the same time.

Well, I do have lots of UFOs right now, but at least for now I'm focusing on just one project that I want to finish, before going back to something else, or cast on a new project.

Faz pouco mais de 6 meses que eu comecei a tricotar, e pouco mais de um ano de crochê. Nesse tempo eu percebi que eu sempre tenho vários projetos acontecendo ao mesmo tempo. Agora não é diferente, tem um monte de coisa a terminar, mas pelo mesmo por enquanto eu tô concentrada em terminar esse projeto antes de voltar pra algum outro, ou começar um novo.

I started this a month ago, and the pic only shows the first panel. The pattern is Estonian Lace Scarf, by Helene Wallin, and it's just gorgeous. I wanted to make it wider, though, so I'm adding a border that I found on Victorian Lace Today. First I tried the Torchon Lace border, but it was too wide and I wouldn't have enough yarn, so I frogged it all when I had already a whole side done, and started again with the border from the Cap Shawl, same book. Frogging +300 rows of border hurt way less than I expected.

Eu comecei esse xale um mês atrás, e a foto mostra só o primeiro painel terminado. A receita é pra um cachecol, mas eu queria mais largo, então tô acrescentando uma borda. Primeiro eu tentei a borda Torchon Lace, do livro Victorian Lace today, mas era tão larga que eu não teria fio suficiente. Então desmanchei todo o lado que tinha completado e comecei de novo com a borda do Cap Shawl.

Desmanchar mais de 300 carreiras nem doeu tanto assim...