waiting for Henry to stew

I'm stuck in the middle of a paragraph discussing Henry Tilney's use of the phrase "voluntary spies" in Northanger Abbey so I'm updating here while my brain works it out. Funny how multi-tasking has been helping me write this week. I feel like I've spent more time writing about knitting this week (via email with TheBlackSheep) than I have on my actual chapter but I know that's because I've had about three different ideas spilling out of my head simultaneously making things go slower than normal. Today, after some driving and yarn shopping (more on that in a sec), everything fell into place. The section that had been bugging me all week finally smacked me and it's been moved down a few pages, showing up in a much more natural spot, no longer interrupting its old paragraph. Huzzah!

Sock knitting's been on hold this week after I spent three nights last week working the short row heel on the first On the Fly sock (I call mine Flitter Toes). Note, this is my first toe up sock. The pattern is fabbity; not too tricky and interesting enough to keep you going. But Ugh. That heel drove me a little batty. I like the ease of the short rows but I first tried Priscilla Wild's 'no wrap' method which isn't supposed to leave holes. Yeah. I had a holey heel. I think it may've been because of my yarn (cotton blend), so I ended up ripping it all out and using misocrafty's pass-the-wraps-over method. It got a little tricky on my tiny needles, but the result is fab!

Ta-da!



No holes!! Not bad, eh? I'm quite happy considering this is my first try at short row heels. The first sock's done (after fighting my yarn to make the loose cast off loose enough!), and I've already cast on the second and finished the toe increases, but I'm taking a break from it. In the meantime I cast on the Not Quite Straight Scarf as part of a KAL. Easy pattern. This is one of three gifts I need to finish by April. The other two are a pair of socklettes in pink (I have no pink yarn!) and a felted bag in green. Hence my yarn shopping today. I got some Paton's Classic Merino in Leaf Green for the bag but struck out on pink sock yarn. Will have to keep looking. I also got some storage drawers at Big Lots! for $11!! That beat JoAnn's 40% off clearance price! So, this weekend I plan on getting control of my sprawling stash and reclaiming space in my small room. Oh, and also swatching and casting on for the Yaquina Bay cardigan FINALLY! I used my gift certificates and got some Patons Merino in Cognac Heather and Dark Grey so I'll get to finish off the rest of the grey sitting in my stash as well. So what brought on this cardigan decision, you ask? My office happens to be in the coldest room in the house--great in the blistering SoCal heat, but not so good in winter. I tend to be cold regardless of the season and the significant difference in temperature between the great outdoors and my office (20 degrees F easily) is killing me. I've had to dig out the space heater plus bundle up in cardies, gloves, and blanket. It's pretty ridiculous. I'm hoping a wool cardigan (instead of my standard cotton ones) will help.

I think Henry's percolating so off I go!

More on the socks .... and felting!

What do you know? I got sucked into Harry Potter and all things related. I went down to London the week of the book release and attended Sectus, an HP fandom conference, and was there for the madness of a midnight release party! I've never done that before as I usually just order from Amazon. Aside from getting sucked into the book and trying to keep my bearings in the fandom aftermath, I also visited John Keats' house, Charles Dickens' house, the British Library, and St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a lot of fun but would someone please tell me why I forgot to take my knitting?!

The second sock is now in the gusset stage (finally!) so I'm starting to think ahead to my next project. I brought yarn with me for two known projects and also sock yarn for boredom/emergency purposes, as I've said before. One of these projects is a Lucy Bag which requires felting. This is all well and good except that my washing machine here is not top loading. And I've never manually felted anything in a sink or bucket or anything. Has anyone got any tips? Can felting be done in a front loading machine?