catching up

Right. So that was a long time. I think it's become obvious, to me at least, that Holidailies sucks the life out of my desire to write, makes me horribly self-conscious about it when I dowrite, and is just not a good idea for me. So I probably won't do that again.

Christmas was fine; Phil got me a pair of the most beautiful pearl and diamond earrings, I got him a fancy-ass new lens for his camera, the food was good, and the company pleasant. And then came a long, dull winter. Oh, my, was it long and dull. I totally jacked up my shoulders and wrists, so knitting took a backseat to recovering from knitting, but now everything seems better, and I may finally be learning to pace myself. I finally finished my cashmere socks, which had been languishing in the bottom of my handbag while I did the Xmas knitting, and oh my, they are gorgeous and soft. They're made from HipKnits 100% cashmere, and I can very highly recommend it. The yardage was stunningly generous; I have big feet and I made a fairly long leg and cuff, and I still have a good-sized ball left that I am sure I will find some way to use.

Here's a photo that totally does not do the yarn justice:



I went with plain stockinette because I love the colourway so very much and wanted to let it shine, unembellished with a fancy stitch pattern, and also because I find knitting stockinette in the round to be incredibly soothing. I can't recall what the name of the colourway is, but it's all pink and green and cream and reminds me very much of my garden in late May and early June, when the hybrid musk roses go into their first bloom. I have another skein of HipKnits cashmere in a blue/grey colourway I will doubtless knit up soon, except I kind of like having it in my sock yarn stash, where I can gloat over it. This is a persistent problem with me when it comes to cashmere sock yarn in beautiful colourways. It's almost too lovely to knit.

My stash is an entry in itself. I've moved most of it out of Ziplocks in wicker baskets into less attractive, but more secure Rubbermaid tubs, safe from the depredation of my cats. I don't know what it is with them, but there is little they love more than licking and chewing on plastic bags, and while they seem largely uninterested in the yarn itself, content with sucking on the bags themselves, I don't need any ancillary cat spit on my fibre.

I cracked open the Rowanspun Chunky stash (colour: Fern) to make Phil another of his beloved roll neck jumpers. He wears the original (my very first jumper!) constantly, and it's holding up beautifully. Well, other than me having to re-knit the neck and put leather patches on the elbows. Compared to the accursed Cashmerino Chunky jumper (pills! my god, the pills!) it's wearing like iron, and therefore I do not resent the idea of making another one identical to the first in all but colour. Which is a good thing, since I've got another bag of Rowanspun Chunky in grey, which I have every confidence will, in the fullness of time, become a third roll neck jumper. It's a stupid easy pattern that would probably be mind-numbing in its tedium for most people, but I do like that kind of brain-dead knitting from time to time, and while I'm not exactly cranking it out in record time (I'm only about halfway up the back), it does make a great project when I have no desire to count or do yarn-overs. I think I'm done buying chunky yarn, though. The thrill of near-instant gratification no longer outweighs my preference for the look of smaller gauge knitting, so I'm highly unlikely to buy anything heavier than worsted in the future. I've never been a novelty yarn lover, so seeing them slowly diminish in number in my LYSes is a very good thing.