Two cool projects- one itchy hand

I found a "homespun" recipe that called for aspirin "paste" applied directly to the bite. It took a little sting and swelling away. This is much better than it was on Saturday. At school today the kids asked if I was going to become Spiderman. If the amount of aggravation this has caused is any indication, I'm going to be Amazon Spidey Woman.


The purple project is the top down raglan jersey I swatched over the weekend. I am quietly excited- though I am guessing something will happen and I'll have to take it all out for one reason or another. The sock is Tofutsi yarn (I feel like such a yarn snob- I never really know what anyone means so much when they put the kind of yarn out there- I don't get to browse much) and while I don't love knitting for other people so much, Administrative Assistant's Day is just around the corner and I bet I could have these finished by then. I'm leaving the standard sock pattern and going for a 4-stitch pattern in Schurch's "Sensational Knitted Socks."

Knitting is like an algebra problem with an infinite number of variables. I think I've been a little more realistic in putting these two problems together. Perhaps the last few flops had too many unknown variables... yeah, that's it.

Knitting Adages OR where the mind goes when you're waiting for the swatch to block

A watched swatch never boils.
A Swatch watch never boils.
A blocked swatch never coils.
She who knits first, laughs loudest.
Don't count your swatches before they've blocked.
Swatches like visitors stink after 3 days.
Blessed are the swatchmakers for they shall inherit the earth.
All swatch and no knit makes Jack a dull boy.


I'm certain I have not explored these adages to their fullest potentials. Please feel free to add your own.

and so it goes.

A 30 minute journey to the south of the Not-So-Big City proved fruitless. The internet suggested that I would find a not so local yarn store as my final destination. Such was not the case unless it's in the basement of a middle class residential house. Perhaps I will recheck the mapquest directions but not any time soon. On the way home, I stopped in the not-so big-city and found Plymouth Cascades in the colors above. Following the color, texture, and budget rules brought these skeins into my life. The superchunky baby alpaca was second in line but those readers who often look at yarn will know which of the three guidelines it didn't fit into. Only time will tell, but after an hour of owning the yarn, I think I like the way the rules work.

Equipped with colored pencils, Barbara Walkers book, "Knitting Around," a measuring tape, some graph paper and the internal fortitude that such a cool colorway can provide, I'm going to try to make a something something from scratch. Some people call it designing. I think it can only be called that once there is an actual product. It's sort of "if a tree falls in the forest..." thing. In my mind I have a short-sleeved t-shirt type sweater following the colors along the top right. As indicated in previous posts, I will be swatching. In fact I'll also be blocking the swatch. I recently blocked the brown baby-poop colored sweater from a previous post and felt the difference. It was still too small but for the first time I was a little sad about it. A warning to regular readers- actual knitting content may be a thin for a while. I just don't want to plow full speed ahead without thoughtful contemplation of each stitch and it's contribution to the finished product. I might have to blog about real life or something.