And away we go!

I am headed off to Yarn School! Mr Pepper and I are leaving just as soon as I get my rear end moving and finish packing. Pictures and I’m sure much excited gushing to follow in the next few days.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check it out!

The Sweater That Will Not End

Saw this sample hanging in a booth at Stitches Midwest last summer. Circled the booth four times before I finally ventured in to touch it. I was starstruck from the moment I laid eyes on it. Perfect project for me — glorious pumpkin orange color, tiny allover baby cables, not too dressy, body-conscious but not too tight. I bought the kit and was more excited about starting this sweater than any project I’ve ever started.

Should have known there would be trouble.

I cast on about two months later (made myself finish a lesser-loved project first). That was October. Here it is just a couple weeks later. The neck and yoke went so quickly.

But then it stalled out. This sweater will. Not. End. I took it on a trip the end of November and really felt like I was making progress. But when I got back, I had to put it on hold for my variety of holiday projects with their absolute deadline. Once Christmas was over, I noticed a hole about six inches back. A hole. I put the (by-now) damn thing away for a few more weeks while I mulled over what to do. I ended up ripping back just those stitches where I thought the problem was. No dice. I ripped back a couple more. I did manage to fix the hole, but when I started working the stitches back up I had way more yarn in each row than I could ever satisfactorily hide.

So rip I did. All six inches of tiny baby cables. And I’ve been reknitting ever since. The first picture was taken on November 3. This was taken this morning:

Still no sleeves, still haven’t finished the body. Sigh. It’s a good thing I started out loving this pattern so very much, else I would not even be able to look at it by now.

NY NY

Still recovering from my weekend in New York. Took along the sweater that will not end (more on that shortly) but didn’t get much done other than on the plane there — once I hit the ground I was running and didn’t stop until I collapsed in a heap on my own couch three and a half days later.

I did wrangle some shopping time on Saturday. Picked up this:

at School House Yarns, an odd, slightly musty shop in an incongruous office building parked in a strange patch of Manhattan. But oh, the deal. A pound and a quarter of Italian merino-cashmere blend for under $50.

Then following Broadway downtown, stumbled on the Union Square Greenmarket. We haven’t had the faintest whisper of spring yet in Chicago, so just the presence of a farmers’ market, let alone one with *flower* booths, was almost too much to bear. And then this:

I practiced a little self-restraint and didn’t buy anything, though I did reading the tags with the different natural dyes (onion skins, cochineal, indigo, etc.). I did also schlep over to Purl Soho, just to check it out, and was pretty disappointed. It was the size of a large closet, and packed. Not one for crowds, I couldn’t force myself far enough into the shop to see much. Price of Manhattan real estate I suppose.

Yarn octopus

Yarn octopus

Originally uploaded by lindypepper

There is a cultlike devotion in certain knitting circles to making socks. I really, really want to like knitting socks. I do. I’m a practical girl, and there is just about nothing more practical than a pair of socks. Small, portable, useful, there’s nothing about the *idea* of socks I don’t like.

But up to now, I just haven’t enjoyed it very much. I can never get them to match. Either my gauge is different, or my repeats are off. And I have terrible second sock syndrome. I get to the end of the first sock, admire it, and then sigh and say “Do I really have to do this all over again?”

In my quest to find myself a little sock magic, I bought a copy of Melissa Morgan-Oakes’ “Two at a Time Socks.” Love the concept, and am looking forward to trying out some of the patterns. But I’m feeling fairly inadequate in my first attempts — oh, the tangling! I can’t seem to get a rhythm going and it just feels like loops and needles and yarn everywhere. I’m hanging in there and hoping for the best…

Like Christmas

It was like Fiber Christmas yesterday! I participated in a swap on Ravelry, my first swap, and the box from my buddy 53knitwit arrived last night in the mail. It was a particularly welcome sight since…

1. this week has been particularly exhausting at work,

2. this winter is going on forever,
3. I got a flat on the way home (stupid potholes! see #2).

But coming in the back door, there was a lovely white box on the kitchen table, which when opened contained these bits of bright sunshine:

* four skeins of SWTC Gianna with an accompanying mittens/hat pattern
* a bag of Russell Stover Triple Chocolate Mousse candies
* a pair of support gloves for my poor overused spinning, knitting, now blogging hands
* Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge, which I am ridiculously excited about delving into since I am thinking about designing a sweater
* an utterly gorgeous pair of wooden size 6 needles
* a lovely brown pouch which I am assuming is handknit, and beautifully at that
* two silver charms, one that says “follow your dreams” on a string of red beads, and a small round one with etched leaves
* and two skeins of ShiBui merino sock yarn on the most cheerful, sunny tangerine orange

I am officially spoiled. Thank you so much Jan, glad you are feeling better and it was worth the wait!