Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Taking the Backseat

Moving is so tiring! We just finished packing and moved our first load over yesterday. We were able to spread out the move over the rest of September so it shouldn’t be so crazy. Unfortunately, I won’t have much time for knitting and I won’t even be able to post from home until our internet is setup at our new place sometime next week. I can post at work though so don’t count me out completely. ;) But no pics for YOU!

I’m starting the Trellis baby sweater today (hopefully). I have to do a gauge swatch, a necessary evil. I don’t despise gauge-swatching, but I definitely half-ass it in order to get onto the fun stuff. Some people suggest knitting a 6x6 square with a garter stitch border and then washing or blocking it. Holy crap, that’s just too much for me. I’m sure I would have better luck fitting garments if I did it the “right way”. But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t purposely try to make things harder on myself. I’m planning on knitting Trellis with some Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in something called “Pale Seafoam”. I would call it a unisex color. If I’m feeling adventurous I might even knit up a matching hat.

Is it me or is 100% cotton hard to knit with? I’ve heard comments like cotton is “unforgiving” and it has no elasticity. If that’s true, then I should be in for quite a treat knitting an uber-cabley sweater. Not the smartest yarn choice in the world, I’m sure. Luckily it’s mini-sized. I need to get my hands on some cotton blends like TLC Cotton Plus. I like the idea of cotton as opposed to 100% wools. Cotton is softer and normally machine washable, and unlike acrylics, allows your skin to breathe instead of forming pools of sweat which isn’t fun for anyone. I am likely to not wear something at all when faced with the possibility of hand-washing something (pathetic, I know). So cotton blends seem like the way to go when it comes to sweaters and other garments.

But I’m on an unofficial yarn diet. If I buy more yarn Mr.V’s head will explode and I don’t want that to happen because I like Mr.V’s head the way it is. So for the sake of Mr.V’s head, I will be stash-busting well into the New Year. So no new yarn for me.

The magic 8ball says there will be some more sewing in my near future. It’s saying something about window treatments…?

3 comments:

Karin said...

I hate handwashing too--you're not alone. In fact I have a sweater that I dry clean only cause I'm so afraid it will explode once I get it wet.

Hope your moving goes well!

Erin said...

Good luck with the rest of your moving! As far as cotton goes, the results are always very nice, but it does tend to hurt my hands if I knit with it too often.

Karin said...

Cathy, RYN about weddings--I hear ya! I thikn it's pretty dumb that we're going too. But it's Aaron's family and he insists we go. I hate weddings myself, I juse use them as opportunities to put together cute outfits. It freaks me out that someday I might be the bride!