Does this reassure you, Mom?

by Melissa // December 21, 2006 // 7 Comments

See that?

That is 198 yards (approximately) of 100% cashmere yarn (only perhaps 1/3 of one sleeve). It’s laceweight – and I mean, serious lace, it might as well be thread at 32 wpi (that’s wraps per inch, for those who don’t know) – and I’ll probably end up working two strands together at fingering weight. It’s lovely stuff. I don’t have a swift, so I wound it into a hank around a baby gate set to a yard wide, tied it with some white acrylic, and washed it in a warm-water bath with some Dawn. Then, I rinsed it, squeezed out the water, rolled it in a towel, and placed the now-damp yarn back on the baby gate while it dried. It’s much less kinky now, and clean, and ohso ohso oh-so pretty.

Pretty much all of the pills popped off during the frogging process, and being washed perked up the slightly flattened spots. It’s perfect. By the way, I don’t have any scales appropriate to the job so I don’t know how much it weighs, but 100 yards of fingering weight cashmere (upon my casual search) runs from $15-$30.

If you know where to get it cheaper, please don’t tell me. I’m content with the illusion that I’ll have five hundred dollar’s worth of cashmere by the time I’m done, thankyouverymuch. No need to burst my bubble.

Itâ€™s a good day

by Melissa // December 19, 2006 // 4 Comments

Really. It is. Well, I mean, it’s a good day if you consider a ‘day’ to be a twenty-four hour period; if you consider a day to be the period defined by the same day name, then it’s been a good two days. Last night I was offered (what I consider to be) a spectacular opportunity. I may-or-may-not have performed a few high kicks in the kitchen, but Greg wasn’t watching and Max will never tell, so you’ll never know, will you? I’m not going to say more about that right now, not that I believe in jinxes, per se – but I have noticed that if I tell a lot of people about something very ambitious or exciting that I have going, it tends to screw up rather publicly. So let’s avoid that for the moment, shall we?

In other happiness, I stopped by a previously unfruitful thrift store this morning, on a whim, and found some fabulous stuff. Some puzzles, for instance. A novel. Also two sweaters. The first is in a lovely sage/sea foam/duck egg green (who comes up with these color names, anyway?).

I’m sorry, perhaps you can’t read the tag from there. It says “XL,” and “100% cashmere.”

Four dollars. You guys should really be clicking on the pics to see it closer, it has a delicious halo. Here’s the second:

70% angora, 30% nylon (I assume the nylon is an attempt to lasso in all the bunny hair) and it feels like heaven.

Six dollars. Yeah, baby. Let’s recap: that’s ten dollars for two sweater’s worth of luxury fibers. Neither one smells funny, although both of them are a tad pilly (not a problem) and rather unappealing in their current incarnations (boxy shapes, funky arms – the angora one has shoulder pads, hahaha). Fortunately, I have the knowledge and expertise required to set them free from their frumpy cast-off prisons and turn them into precious treasures. The angora one, in particular, drives home the idea that no one but a bunny should be wearing bunny fur so thick on their entire torso (I think it wants to be a hat and muff). The cashmere – we’ll have to see it unraveled, but it may want to be lace. Really, I am so excited, though. I can’t wait to get started.

Wait. Hold on a minute. Did I say ‘can’t?’ Make that ‘couldn’t.’ My mistake.

One sheep, Two sheep,

by Melissa // December 15, 2006 // 5 Comments

Small sheep, new sheep! When my siblings and I were small children, my mother – being the wise woman that she is – realized that a bit of strategizing was necessary to stage a successful Christmas tree. Since children are, by their natures, curious, and small children by theirs a bit grabby, it is unlikely that the ornaments on a Christmas tree will be left alone by little hands. Thus, the branches that could be reached by small, grabby children were hung with ornaments that were 1) not breakable and 2) not dangerous. I remember sturdy wooden ornaments, and ornaments made in school from things like walnuts and wooden spoons – and on the very lowest branches were always hung a largish stuffed Christmas tree and an equally largish stuffed candy cane. (These ornaments were always hung with loops rather than hooks, to avoid nasty pokings.) I’ve intended to make some unbreakable ornaments for over a year, and I finally got around to it this week. Behold the sheep!

That’s right, sheep. Among my mother’s ornaments are a pair of sheep which, for some reason unbeknownst to me but (I’m sure) going far back into the earliest years of her childhood are especially special to my older sister. Who knows, perhaps they were the ornaments she was encouraged to touch as a toddler – the sheep are very sturdy with (I believe, if I recall correctly) a wooden core covered with something fleecy. Maybe actual fleece. I don’t know. I’ve always liked those sheep, too, and I had them in mind when I made these (although they really, really, really don’t look like it).

Anyway, here’s a closeup of Little Sheep:

And one of Big Sheep.

The ornaments were intended for a swap earlier this week which I was, sadly, unable to attend. I don’t mind too much, though, as now I don’t have to make another set for myself. Max is pleased, too, that we have “oo-ite ga-ba” (translation: white baa-baa [sheep]) on our “een ee nites ah-NUH” (translation: green tree lights on [Christmas tree]). He is too cute.

And to finish up, I leave you with a progress shot of glove number two:

What’s that? Oh, you like my yarn loop stitch marker and safety pin holders, eh? Pshh. Crocheters have no need of these things. Use what ya got, baby!

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