Monday, May 08, 2006

Knitting On the Road, Part II


I have no idea if my ancestors ever walked these fields with babies on their back and knitting in their hands. But I'd like to think they did, and that I can claim their heritage.

After a rough night with the kid (up every two hours...when does this end?!?!?), I did not feel like walking the dog and baby. But we set off anyway, kid in Snugli backpack, dog checking out the new smells, me with knitting in hand.

There was a little frost on the car windows, and you could see the dog's breath. But walking briskly, I felt a little bit of the tightness in my chest go away and I started to warm up.

The project I'm working on is this organic cotton on Size 6 Addi Turbo 16" circulars. At first, slippery cotton + slippery needles = unhappy hands, but I've gotten into the rhythm of it. I don't like how the plies of the yarn separate, but the finished fabric is so soft I think it's worth working with.

Also, I love the overall statement about using organic cotton. Apparently, a shit-ton {very scientific term meaning lots and lots} of pesticides each year are used to spray cotton plants. And the person who is getting this as a gift will appreciate that, too.

The project is simple, just knit stitches and a few decreases/increases. It was like walking meditation today. Speaking of, in a very cool visit to Yarns Unlimited in Bloomington, I picked up Mindful Knitting, and I can't wait to get started on it.

Which reminds me, I posted to the Stashalong blog about my April free day, and now I have to update everyone on my May free day, which I've already used (godhelpme).

But, y'all.

If you could have seen the inside of that store, you would have been lucky to walk out of there with less than a couple hundred dollars worth of yarn too. Colinette, Malabrigo, Brown Sheep, Rowan, Manos. I wandered around a bit in a daze, so those are the only names I could remember. Some of the locally dyed stuf was the most spectacular of all.

I got this great sock yarn I had never seen before: Limbo from Schoeller + Stahl and Heirloom Jigsaw. Now I'm reading and re-reading the Chevron sock pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks to see if I can understand how it works. I also bought a locally dyed sock yarn.

Really, can I find 3 more hours a day to just play with yarn?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

More pictures of the country and the boy and the dog and cows please.

Anonymous said...

I've looked at this photograph several times and I just realized that the shadow streaking across the furrows in the field is yours, with the baby in a backpack creating the bulge near the top. So this photo is actually a self portrait of sorts, "Ginny with boy over field."

Very nice.

O.