Community

I've been feeling the strong and gentle support of the knitting community recently, what with all my travails, so I'm joining a few more rings - see the sidebar. Besides, let's face it, I have definitely reached SABLE. I probably reached it a year or so ago, when I really was in the throes of a new and fully engaging obsession with fiber. Somehow, though, I have still to realize that every time I buy a sweater's worth of yarn, no matter how good the yarn and how cheap the cost, it means a month or two, at best, of my knitting time to knit it up. There are so many good yarn shops and fiber festivals around here that I can easily acquire two or three projects' worth of fiber a month, which means two to six months' worth of knitting, which means, yeah, I've definitely reached SABLE.

At least I'm in good company.

In other news, I've reached that point on the red and blue zigzag afghan where I'm so close to the end, I just want to keep knitting and knitting and knitting till it's done. All I have left is 24 rows of the red (plus binding off, weaving in the ends, and blocking, and maybe crocheting along the points if the blocking doesn't stabilize them, but never mind...). It's at the point where it's heavy enough that it's a pain to turn around. Being under the weather just enough that I can't garden or walk through rivers or even go visit my dad 6 hours away, means that I've gotten in quite a lot of knitting recently - and blogging, too. So, right now I'm obsessed with finishing that afghan. I predict that later on today it'll be finished, so if you'll pardon me for a couple hours while I go to the doctor's, again, and knit a bit.

.....

Well, lookee here! It's an afghan! It's finished! [Ignore the fact the ends aren't woven in and it isn't blocked, which it needs.] It's even finished more than a month before the wedding! I'm giving this to friends of mine who are getting married in mid-August - she's a weaver and knitter and he's a lover of all things luxurious, so I bet they love this.

Here are the details:

Pattern: Mesa Verde, from Knitter's, Summer 2005. I added another repeat, to widen the afghan a little. I also knit 24 rows of the red to start and finish off the afghan, rather than the 12 rows called for. I figured I had a lot of red to use up, and I wanted a slightly larger afghan than the pattern produced.

Yarn: S. Charles Baci in 11 balls of red (color #36) and 6 balls of blue (color #22), 62% wool/ 20% acrylic/ 18% viscose, bought from WEBS. They no longer have this up on their website, but they still have quite a bit of the red in the warehouse, if you find yourself in need of it. I also knit myself a Sally Melville Einstein Coat from this yarn; it's lovely to work with, although it's a bit soft and pilly for a coat. After I made the coat, I bought 20 balls of the red and 10 of the blue, because I enjoyed knitting with it so much. So this project is knit from my stash! (Ignore the fact I may have just bought 5 more balls of the red a couple days ago at WEBS, which is why I know they have it. That Sue is pining for this afghan; if she's good, she might get a similar one for Christmas. If she's really good.)

Needles: size 10 circulars, 29" length. These were cheap opaque white plastic ones that my mother gave me, but I have to say I like them quite a lot.

Finished Size: 33.5" by 56" (not yet blocked; I expect it'll grow a little)

Started: May, 2007, sometime.
Finished: June 25, 2007. Pretty quick time for this procrastinator.

Here's a close-up, with those mystery needles. Anybody know what they are? Also, note the double decrease, just to the left of where I'm knitting. It's the decrease specified in the pattern (SK2P), but it's not at all symmetrical - instead, the right loop is on top and gives the effect of a horizontal bar. I rather like it, because it shows off the yarn.

Hmm, so what's next?