Knitting for gifting and other stories

When I left you yesterday there was some question about whether I was going to be sensible and do housework or self-indulgent and ply some gorgeous yarn or superhumanish and do both.  Well, I did fold some laundry. 

but I also made the yarn.

la!

I'm still far from expert, yet so happy with the way it came out.

And Flloyd is just as smitten as anticipated.

(now if somebody could explain to me why there now appears to be more laundry to fold, that would be great.)


Plying for graduated colour shifts
  
I have three balls of yarn now because I divided the original braid into six, with a view to two three-ply cakes of yarn.  But I didn't come up with six equal weights, and I really wanted to maintain the evolution of colour from blue to red if I could.  So I matched the singles up in pairs instead, based on the most like-each-other weights (which fortunately also came in pairs.)  If one weight was a gram heavier, I doubled it up at the start of the ply, and added the second ball a few inches later, hoping the middle colours would match up all right. 

It wasn't a perfect approach - I do have some barber pole effects - but it worked out pretty well.

Now I have to figure out what to make with three different balls of hopefully-similar weight yarn that shifts from blue to red.  I think what I'm going for is a cowl that goes blue to red and then red to blue, plus a hat with a blue to red grade and then maybe white for the remainder.  But at this point, I'm just happy to have yarn.


Somebody who does better than just yarn

Taking a moment here to call attention to my dear friend at Sel et Poivre, who is posting just the most incredible slew of gorgeous finished objects these days, including the Beatnik sweater I so wanted to knit if I ever got time.  Truly stunning. (Who wants to bet she doesn't have a big secret pile of un-grafted sock toes?)


A good day for food comparisons

Today turned out to be the kind where it's a really good idea to buy pastries from the Belgian and French bakeries and then compare the two.  I would have pictures to allow you to participate in this process a little more fully, but I didn't think of it before I did my entirely scientific assessment and now it's, um, too late.

For best posh pastry:  the Belgian shop, with its 'Sugar Twist', a honey-glazed puff pastry elegantly flared at each end.

For best comfort pastry: the French shop, with its 'Breakfast Bun', a giant doughnut with plenty of sugar on top to make up for the lack of doughnut hole.

Summary: If you really need comfort food of the sugary variety, go to the French bakery and buy one Breakfast Bun which will pretty much solve all your problems.  In a pinch, two of the Belgian bakery's Sugar Twists will do but prepare to leave the table feeling as though you are wearing dressy-uppy clothes and have just put down a fine china cup.  Which makes them perfect if you're happy already and better still, a little dressy-uppy going in.


A tonic for November

(this is the title story, in case you're wondering where the gift knitting is coming in.)

Today I was talking to Jill who said something that is just - well, unthinkable to a knitter.  She said she doesn't like November.

Doesn't like NOVEMBER???

That's, like, the best month of the year for handknits.  Cold enough for a wool sweater, warm enough to layer a ton under said sweater so as to show it off.  But she said she finds the unrelenting greyness kind of a drag.

So I said, Jill, let me knit you something colourful to deal with the grey.

And then I remembered I might already have something colourful to deal with the grey and guess what??? I did have. I had two Crazy Cowls I knit last winter for reasons I'm not sure I even knew at the time.  I showed her both and and she liked them and everything, so I gave her the one she liked best.  la la la the end.

Epilogue:

Fastest. Gift. Knit. Ever.

Moral:

Knit whatever you like whenever you like and worry about who it's going to later.  Much later.


See you tomorrow folks - hope this has been a good day for you, and if it hasn't, that there is really good pastry in your immediate future.