Friday, August 18, 2006

Pooling Eye Candy

One hundred thirty two. Stitches, that is. That's when I nodded off the other night - I got to a 132 stitch count on R's clapotis (with still one increase row to go) and I just zzzzzzz'd right out. But the good news is that last night I made it to the end of the [boring] increase rows and started the straight rows. Yipee! And then during today's luncheon knitting meeting with K I got to my *first* dropped stitch section. And by happy coincidence, the blessing of the knitting gods, and almost no fudging by me* it is pooling now quite nicely instead of striping. Which I, unlike a myriad of others (scroll down to the stripey socks to read her pithy comment on pooling yarn), actually happen to prefer.
So, good times were had by all involved (okay, okay, only me as I was the only one around last night when the straight section started) now that the clapotis is not only pooling quite nicely but also moving along happily. This sucker is HUGE. And I mean huge. So R will totally be enveloped once it is finished and all of the stitches are dropped, which will be VERY cool as the hugeness of this will be necessary, I think, to make it warm enough as the yarn is so beautifully thin and almost lace-like. And even better? Because the yarn is so thin it can simultaneously be huge and enveloping and will still collapse easily into a perfect scarf-sized bundle to wrap around her neck if she should so wish. I tell you, with that russet/auburn hair of hers this thing is going to look perfect..................

*I did do some fudging to keep the pooling action moving along like I hoped it would. I had about 2 more increase rows to do (a total of 2 more increased stitches) and I was afraid that if I worked those rows normally I'd lose the pooling - so I cheated and instead of increasing one stitch at the end of the row I was on I increased 2 - thereby finishing the increase section in one fell swoop. R won't be out more than a fraction of a millimeter of size, and the nice colour gradations will stay. So, yes, a wee bit of cheating, but in an acceptable way, I think...

Have I told you guys, too, how incredibly shiny this stuff is? Soft and shiny - and 2 pounds of it for $24. A truly fantastic deal.....


So, on to Eye Candy Friday.

These pics today are mostly for K, as she's the horticulture chica here and this particular set is actually a test for her to see if she knows [snorts] every single plant, flower, and leaf on campus. Yeah, right. (I'm actually guessing she'll get this one, as I don't think it's *that* tough, and even more importantly, she is *that* good...)

Okay, that one is waaaaayyyyy too easy. Not even a challenge. But it 'tis pretty.

It's the next two that are tough-ish. But only 'ish........



2 comments:

Emma said...

Beautiful photos--and that's going to be a beautiful Clapotis as well.

Anonymous said...

Heh, heh, you'll have to try harder than that missy! 1.Close up of big elephant ear: Alocasia macrophylla. 2.Oakleaf hydrangea. Nice shots! Clapotis is looking great. -K