Yup, I finally cracked and placed a KnitPicks order. $53 (with free shipping!) for 25 skeins of yarn that I was totally not expecting to fit in a box that small. But anyway, here's the breakdown.
^16 skeins of Wool of the Andes for the Doctor Who scarf. I probably won't start it until after Christmas, due to all the other projects I have going right now, but at least the yarn's in my possession.
^Four more WotA skeins for a Christmas present.
^...and three skeins of Swish DK (two in Nutmeg) for another Christmas present.
^And, because a girl's gotta treat herself, two skeins of Telemark in what may be the Coolest Shade Ever. I'm so making fingerless gloves.
Now for some not-so-good news. I went way downhill yesterday. I've been dealing with depression for the past year+, and it keeps me from getting things done on my days off. Like dishes. Or knitting. Yesterday I zoned out and read a bunch of back articles on Knitty, and stumbled upon one about a guy who had a breakdown and found a way to use knitting to inspire himself to keep going, even if he couldn't actually pick up the needles. I was almost in tears as I recognized some of the same symptoms in myself. I don't want drugs or the subsequent side effects, though. I want to get through it on my own. I should note that I also read an article yesterday about zen knitting (although I don't think the word "zen" was used once in the article), as well as an article about a crazy way to knit two socks at once that made me actually want to knit socks.
Anyway, I found myself so numb at one point last night that I basically went full-circle: I was itching to knit. I wanted to prove to myself that I had been inspired.
Well, I didn't get much knitting done, but I did a lot of prep work. See, I want to knit a pair of socks. I found a few patterns I liked, but there was always something wrong: I wanted to use a different weight of yarn, I wasn't sure the recipient would like this stitch pattern, I don't even know the recipient's shoe size (and would feel kinda weird asking). So, I settled on a sideways pattern, took measurements of my foot and the bf's foot and averaged the numbers, and made gauge swatches. At first I thought I could use DK-weight yarn with size 0 needles.
It totally would've worked, except that common sense sinked in: there was no way I had enough yarn to knit at that gauge. (Not to mention that needles that small kinda scare me, because it would take so much longer to finish a project. Maybe that's why I haven't used them yet?) I was too lazy to look for my #3's, so I pulled out my #6's. Perfect. Measurements blah math blah find waste yarn blah blah. Time for the provisional cast-on:
I didn't think about how badly the white would photograph, so it's hard to tell, but you might be able to see how much of a pain this is. Knit one cast-on stitch, rotate the needle, knit one cast-on stitch with other yarn tail, rotate the needle back. Eek. No wonder I didn't get more than 20 stitches (for each sock) cast on before bedtime.
I should mention that my only previous experience with sock knitting is that I made one pedicure sock before I came down with second-sock syndrome, got bored, and moved on to something else. And now I'm knitting two at once, sideways, using a pattern adapted for a foot size I'm not even sure is right. Yikes. I'm up for the challenge, though. I'll keep my progress updated.
In what may initially seem like unrelated news, I'm also working on this scarf (from the same book as the Linked Rib):
It doesn't look quite as dramatically wavy as the scarves in the book, but it's still cool. And I'm learning about short rows while I'm at it. Score.
I think I'm going to keep working on those socks now - especially since I called in sick to work (again). My hands and brain need something to do.
5 comments:
i think that once i'm out of college i'm going to majorly crash into some sort of depression from not having anything important/ crucial to do. is that sort of where you're coming from?
I found KnitPicks from that link on your blog (I think I may have been the last person on Earth to hear about them) and the boyfriend and I got enough to bump it to free shipping too. Their stuff is beautifully awesome (even if their site is kind of broken. Or maybe I was just cursed). I can't remember what I was going to do with all the random Swish DK I bought, but I'll think of something. Much thanks for putting the link up; glad you got to try them out too. Mmm, yarn pron.
Lastly but not leastly: *big hugs*
ivory: I think I'm more so overly stressed by mundane things. Like, working only part-time then wishing I had more time to just sit around and do nothing. So then I sit there and mope and do nothing, and then freak out because I don't have any time to knit. Because I'm spending too much time doing nothing. I wish that made more sense to me.
frilly: if you're the last person on earth to hear about it, then I'm the last person on earth to order something from them! I haven't really had any issues with their site, though, except a random couple-hour span once. I echo the mmm on the yarn pron, and thanks for the hugs.
So that Telemark yarn totally looks like it'd match your fuzzy shoes.. do you still have the fuzzy shoes?
I totally still have the fuzzy shoes. Just can't wear 'em anymore, now that it's winter. The yarn doesn't quite match though - the shoes are a lighter, brighter blue, with less of a green tone.
...hmm, I wonder if they coordinate though? (Will investigate and post results later today.)
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