The Loom has arrived, the cold is departing, and I made a mistake...

The loom got moved from lower Manhattan to my apartment on Sunday. The move went very well. A minor glitch in that I expected to ride in the van with the loom to my apartment, seeing how I don't drive. The movers informed me that it would be against the law, and what with the frequent stops and searches by the downtown police, would be risky business to try and thwart the law in this case. So I hailed a cab. Ended up arriving at my apartment before they did!

Actually, the title of this post is wrong. I made two mistakes. Regarding the loom, it's not a Harrisville after all!! It's a Herald! I don't mind in the least, and from feedback I'm receiving on Ravelry it seems I got the better of the two. It really is a nice loom. Can't wait to try it out. The opportunity looms (I had to) as I will be on a week's vacation soon.

So without further ado, Hark! The Herald:

The cold arrived Monday after the sore throat I had Saturday and Sunday. It is much better today. Can't fathom why I've had 2 colds in 2 months! That is unusual for me. But the weather Saturday was warm, sunny and beautiful. A rather abrupt change from last week. I'll chalk it up to the weather.

Apart from getting the manufacturer of my loom wrong, I spun up a spool full of the lovely blue merino much too thin! Well let this be a lesson. Must do better at checking my grist more often. This is for the scarf I'm knitting and must therefore match my previously spun yarn. I don't know if the whole spool is too thin as I'm only a quarter way through plying it, but up to this point it's much finer than what I previously spun.

It's funny because it didn't feel or seem that I was spinning thinner. Something else with what I've plied so far is that some of it is under-spun. Golly! Luckily I have plenty of fiber to finish the scarf. I'll just have to pay attention and regroup when I start the next spool.

Odds and Ends...

I stopped by The Strand bookstore (a city treasure) on my way home from the music store this evening to browse the crafts section. I almost wasn't going to as I wanted to eat and get home early enough to practice cello. A visit with their crafts section is unpredictable. I've made some great finds there and I've also left empty handed.

I'm glad I stopped by: Found a 1978 copy of Marguerite Porter Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book for $25. It's a book of 4-shaft drafts for several weaving patterns. I also found a booklet titled The Fallier Manual for Traditional American Hooking (1987) by Jeanne H. Fallier. It appears to be crammed full of really useful instructions and tips for everything, from dyeing wool to hooking backgrounds, shading, scrolls, and color.

This would be an apropo time to mention something that's been in the works for over a month now. I'm getting a 4-shaft, 6-treddle loom! Yippee!! (I think I did pretty good keeping my secret, no?) It's a 40-year old Harrisville loom (Yay! Harrisville Designs is in my home state of NH) that I've seen sitting at the elevator landing outside of Seaport Yarns here in the city (It's motto is "The Yarnaholic's candy store" -- a very befitting motto), for as long as I've been visiting the place. I inquired about it a month and a half ago and made an offer.

I may well replace the reeds as time goes on--they're a little rusty. I'll see how well they clean up. The heddles shouldn't be too much trouble to clean up. Otherwise it's a good solid loom. I'm very excited. Will post pics when I actually have it in the apartment... probably next weekend.

We've had some wet days lately, some thunderstorms late at night and very early in the morning. Some misty and drizzly days. Today was such a day, wet but not terribly uncomfortable, refreshing even.

The atmosphere and sky at sunset delivered this picture to my office window last evening. I snapped it with my cell phone which does not take wonderful pictures, but this one came out alright I think:

The garden got over an hour of my attention this afternoon and I came upstairs afterward and snapped these 2 pics, one of each end of the backyard. An overview of the patio:

It feels a bit more like spring now. I must say April was a bit cooler than most that I remember.

Fiber wise... Inspiration

Isn't it amazing where inspiration may lurk? Sometimes in the unlikeliest of places!

Today I stumbled upon a color inspiration that I may well use on some wool during this year's Tour de Fleece. I have it in mind to do some dyeing in addition to spinning for the festivities. Today's gift colorway came to me from the corner of a doorway off a New York City sidewalk while I was waiting for the B48 bus to come along on my way to work.

I had been pacing back and forth looking every which way up, down, and around, taking in the scene at the corner of Manhattan and Driggs Avenues. On one particular crossing, with my head bowed downward my eyes caught site of some bright spots in the shabby looking doorway.

Were it not for the wad of discarded blue chewing gum, the remnants of a dull magenta lollipop (I can picture the young boy or girl savoring it's sweetness), and the end of what must have been a gorgeous tulip, the scene would have been it's usual weary drabness. But these 3 unlikely items came together by virtue of their color, and I thought "Wow, that would make a nice colorway!"

So I dug out my cell phone and snapped a pic. I've circled the 3 areas:

Doesn't look like much at first glance! But I extracted the 4 main colors and I am quite tempted to try them as a colorway on some wool, perhaps toned down and/or highlighted and re-arranged a bit here and there:

I'll post the results when it's done.

Knit wise... More lace...

Yet another lace project. It's called Alder Frost and is available for purchase on Ravelry ($2). A simple scarf perfect for subway knitting. Easy to read chart, 16 row repeat.

Still, this one is special because I'm using my own hand spun merino. The wool was purchased at the NY Sheep & Wool Festival last fall and I posted pics of it when I first started spinning it. I'll post new pics here. 3-ply fingering weight. Size 8 needles.

I just read in the directions for the scarf that the sk2psso called for should start with a slip 1 purlwise... and I've been doing mine slip 1 knitwise. Hrumph! I'll do one with a purl slip to see how different it looks, if it's a negligible difference I won't bother to change.

I just used up my first skein on the train home, and will have enough on the bobbin by this weekend to ply another skein. So for the next two days I'll be working on the Querus Alba scarf.

A rather pleasant juggling act going on between the spinning, knitting the handspun, and knitting the QA.

Fiber wise: Inspection Day...

I have to do this every 2 months or so...

Most of my "stash" is stored in a closet in the room that used to be called the "tv room" but now has no name because the tv (although I get no reception and do not have cable--I watch dvd's and videos on it) was moved to the living room. Since it's dark and relatively quiet in the closet, I make a rather thorough inspection of it on a regular basis. I say "relatively quiet" because there is the occassional rustle of small scurrying feet.

This apartment (as many apartments in NYC, even in the glitzy neighborhoods--I know this for a fact) has always had it's share of mice looking for a good home. I used to fight them like crazy but that was simply driving me crazy. Now I just aim to keep it under control as much as possible. It was especially bad right after they gutted the building around the corner. Suddenly there were hordes of mice looking for new accommodations. My place was perfect of course. I have bird seed. But I'm telling you, give these guys an inch and they'll take a yard! Why they'd have no qualms making the place their own if I let them. Little squatters they be.

But it's not mice that prompts me to sort out the stash every now and then. It's moths. They like dark places too, especially dark places crammed full of delicious wool. A moth paradise, and in my experience they're all gourmands. I have seen moths here before and I have incurred the cost of their appetite.

I don't know where they came (come) from apart from the ones that are born from eggs that are in the bird seed. But to my knowledge these very small moths do not eat wool. But on second thought I'd better look that up. The joke may be on me after all.

I have found that a periodic inspection keeps things under control. I'm not one to go around screaming like an alarm when I see a moth (or mouse!). Part of life. There's a certain charm in it all--all creatures great and small. As long as I'm not under attack by a swarm or army that is. That's not to mean that I'm happy when I find moth damage, it's just that I've come to accept it. Nothing lasts forever. Luckily, it's rare. But not rare enough.

Today's inspection revealed a little moth activity. Darn. So there are 3 skeins in the freezer and a bit in the trash. Most of the stash was fine. Next inspection will be sooner than 2 months due to this activity. Also, I'll be stocking up on some more lavender and other herbs to put in the closet to help ward off these house hunters.

Shoo! Shoo! Away!

Knit wise... FO: Brighton Lace Doily

Indeed, the very last row of lace was written incorrectly in the book... I have to admit being glad it's finished! Nothing like the suspense of wondering if worse problems are yet to come along.

But I'm glad I made it and I'm thrilled with the results. I'm even glad to have been challenged and found a way to overcome. It has boosted my confidence I think. I'll post the errors I found at the end of this post in case someone else is having difficulty.

It turned out a very nice 17" x 26.5". The look of it is exactly what I was after. I'm sure my sanity was questioned when I decided to knit a lace piece in a multi-colored, pretty heavily textured yarn. Breaking the rules, oh yes!

It is no surprise to find the lace somewhat obscured by the patterning of the colors and the texture of the yarn. I wanted a doily for the center of the table (or side board) that didn't look too dated. In white crochet thread the doily looks like an antique, which is fine, but not what I wanted. Approaching my doily, from a distance the color draws attention--very pretty colors, and then the texture of the yarn becomes obvious. On closer inspection the lace starts to reveal itself and it takes a good looking at to get a clear sense of the pattern. In a way, I wanted the lace to be part of the texture of this piece, not it's prominent feature. I think it works, and I now have a doily, that to me, looks slightly early 70s'ish retro.

Errata:

Unfortunately I forgot to write down the first mistake I found, but I will go back through the pattern to try to locate it.

The second problem occurred with Rnd 27. As written (emphasis mine):

*+Yo, k2tog, [yo, k1 tbl, yo, SKP, k3, yo, SKP, k1, k2tog, yo, k3, k2tog] twice, yo, k1 tbl, yo, k1, SKP+, [yo, SKP] twice, k5, k2tog, yo, k2tog; [rep between +'s once, yo, k1 tbl] twice; rep from * once more.

To fix this round, drop the k1 that I have bolded--it doesn't fit.

The third problem occurred with Rnd 37. The directions should mention (in my opinion) that the markers which have worked so well up to now should be ignored for this round.

The fourth problem occurred with Rnd 47. As written (emphasis mine):

*Yo, k2tog, yo, k4, inc 1, +inc 1, k5, [yo, SKP] twice, k3, [k2tog, yo] twice, k1, inc 1+, inc 1, k5, yo, SKP, yo, M3; rep from * for each side.

To fix this round, change the bolded k1 to k4.

I'm pretty sure that the first problem occurred with Rnd 17 where there's an SK2P that should be a plain SKP but I'll double check to make sure.

And that leaves me astounded! The problems occurred in rounds 17, 27, 37 and 47!! Coincidence or secret message? I don't know...

Knit wise... sneak previews...

The doily is done! The last few rows were not without incident and I will write about that when I post the completed doily.

I just laid it out with blocking wires and it's lying on my living room floor to dry.

Full report in a day or so. For now, I thought I post just this teasing bit of corner ...

I have started working on Quercus Alba in earnest, taking it on the subway every day. I've dispensed with the life line! Who would have thought!? I guess I'm feeling more secure in my ability to "read" my knitting. It is important to be able to recognize each stitch in case it needs to be undone.

I changed yarns and needles: Knitting a few inches with the worsted weight on size 6 needles did not produce a result that I liked. So I purchased some lace-weight Malibrigo Baby Merino Wool in a color way called "Autum Forest" which both sounds and looks appropriate for oak leaves and acorns. I'm hoping the pooling will behave itself. Here's what I've knit so far, and I must admit I don't like the "stripey" effect... may start yet again with either a different yarn or different size needles. Pattern is lovely though: