Sad to Admit...

After finishing the Lacey Vee tee for Ravelympics last Sunday morning, I haven't knit very much. My hand was so sore Sunday that all I did at Sunday Afternoon Knit Club was sink ends. Monday, no knitting. Tuesday, I had a toe-up sock class, so did limited knitting to show my student what to do. Tuesday night, I futzed with a top I am modifying - crocheting around the sleeves for drama (yes, I know... I said 'crochet' and didn't follow it with cough croshit cough). Wednesday, no knitting. Thursday, I tinked back ChickenKnittle's sock so I could start the leg over with larger needles and more stitches. (Tinking doesn't count.) Today, no knitting.

Okay, so I can't blame it all on my achey hand from the Ravelympics. My trigger finger thumb has been very sore lately. Surgery is scheduled for September 22. Between now and then, I'll do some actual knitting, but probably not much. And definitely not as much as I did last weekend!

Thank Goodness They Weren't Time Trials!

I raise my left hand with a cramped and bloodied stump and say, "thank goodness that's over!"

Oh, okay; I had fun. I learned lots of things:

- “Forced project monogamy” is not my cuppa tea. (I still managed to cheat on both Ice Queen and Lacey Vee with at least 3 other projects. I'm a hopeless yarn ho.)
- The more projects I finished, the more I wanted to cast on for something else.
- That I am actually capable of finishing knitted items that aren’t socks.
- That working with yarn on a cone is wonderful - no joining!
- That working with yarn on a cone is a pain in the tush - YOU try lugging around 2 pounds of cotton to get your WIP knitting done! (That’s why it was a WIP for 3 years!)
- That I really really like my Ice Queen.


The Knitters (well, most of them...) were here yesterday and I was knitting pretty solidly with them from around 3:30 pm until 8:30 or so when the last person left, then on into the night until 1:30 am, when I bound off just as the US basketball team won their gold medal match. Fitting, I thought.

But, really... my left hand is killing me if I put it into any position other than knitting position. I'm tempted to make progress on ChickenKnittle's socks, or Kadootje's socks, or RP's socks... but I'm going to pretend to be all growed up and dunk my hand in a bucket of ice water instead. So, while I do that, you can admire my lates FO. Friends, Romans, hunky Olympic swimmers, I give you Lacey Vee tee. (And, since I had the camera out, the teeny bit of progress on the Gumdrops socks.)

The Omega Clock Says It's Official

... so I got my Cowl Jump award today for completing Ice Queen! Yay!

One Finish Line Down, One to Go!

Done with Ice Queen. It's quite lovely; fluffy and pretty and discretely sparkly. The pictures below show it before blocking (it's drying now). The one yellowy-toned picture is without a flash. I included it because it shows off the beads better than the flash shots, but it really doesn't look like camo-colored yarn in real life. The color in the flash shots are truer to life. I'm very pleased with it.

As for the Lacey Vee tee, I've got one more inch on the back before about 2 inches of back neck shaping, then on to the front. I don't think that finishing by next Sunday (the Olympics closing ceremony) will be a problem; with a lot of effort, I may even be able to get it done by Thursday night's night group. Go, Meggie!

Making Progress Despite Michael Phelps

Have about 2/3 of a beaded picot bind-off to do on my Ravelympics Ice Queen. Might have been done by now, if it weren't for the lovely photos of Michael Phelps in one of the Ravelry threads. See what I mean? My, my, oh my...

You Know Who I'm Talkin' About...

Those of you independent workers know this... That there's one client... just one client who drives you simply batty. Everything they do is bass-ackwards, last-minute, hopelessly clueless, but charming as all get-out. So you keep them as clients because they give you lots of work and sometimes (just sometimes) you get off on the adrenaline rush they spark.

Well, I don't really have a client like that. But my (one) client (RP) has a client like that (let's just call her 'Devil Client'). Year after year RP's client pulls her one way, pulls her the other way, twirls her around her head... and year after year, RP swears that "next year will be different." And, of course, it isn't. Or RP swears that she's not going to take the contract next year. And, of course, she does.

Problem is, when RP gets pulled one way, I get pulled that way, too. When RP gets pulled the other way? I do, too. When she's flying through the air in circles over Devil Client's head? Yep, I'm right below her, hanging on for dear life.

I'm not in a position to say 'no' to Devil Client. And it's clear that RP will never say 'no' to Devil Client. And it's equally clear that Devil Client has worked this way for so long - and RP has accommodated her for so long - maybe even enabled her - that this is simply The Way Things Work.

Neither am I about to say 'no' to my client. If I don't do this work, Devil Client doesn't say, "Meg, you ignorant slut," she says, "RP, your work is sh*t, and I'm going to tell everyone in my industry and you'll never get a job again." So I get pulled and turned and twisted along with RP.

But I've got a plan... for next year... If RP won't say no to Devil Client, and I won't say no to RP, what I can do is charge up the yin-yang for doing Devil Client work. Yeah, that's the ticket. A 50% premium for any work done for Devil Client. I kinda like that. If I had done that this year, I would be almost $1,000 richer. Just think of how much yarn that would be!!

In the meantime, until I craft next year's contract, here's my Ravelympics progress on Lacey Vee and Ice Queen. You see the cone in the Lacey Vee picture? That weighed over 2 pounds when I first got it. And those 2 pounds are why this project has languished in a bag since 2005 - 2 pounds is HEAVY when you're lugging it around to knit!

Slight Miscalculation

It dawned on me today (okay, I'm a little slow) that I didn't think through my two Ravelympics project choices. Great patterns, nice yarns, a little challenging (Ice Queen), a little trudge-y (LaceyVee).

So what's the miscalculation?

Portability. Neither's got any!

Lacey Vee is being knit with Kraemer Textiles Little Lehigh Pebbles, a softer-than-you'd-think 45% cotton, 55% acrylic. I'm using US #6 circular 29" needles, and the rows are flying by. As long as I'm at home. Where I can keep the 2 POUND YARN CONE at my feet. I was soooo excited when I first got this yarn at Yarn Place, and because I worked there, I got a discount. Lovely yarn, and cheap, too! And no ends to weave in! Thousands of yards of yarn in one long unbroken strand! Thousands of yards in one long unbroken strand IN A 2-POUND YARN CONE! Oh yeah, that's portable. Portable like the way the Osborne computer was portable: it weighed about 50 pounds, had a 3"x3" screen, all the computing power of a calculator...and was considered portable because they had put a handle on top. So, yeah, a cone of yarn. Good choice for portable knitting.

Ice Queen is at the far other end. 400+ yards of Silkmo weighs, what...? Less than 4 ounces. Very portable, right? Um. Not so much. I'm using Harmony needles with Silkmo in the Lagoon color - basically I'm using the same color needles as yarn. In mohair. With vaguely pointed needles. And with beads. You know, beads? Those little ROUND things that have holes in them and that are slippery and 'plink' on every hard surface when you drop them? Did I mention they're ROUND? Yeah, I know; I could get some Addi Lace needles and that would take care of the color-on-color problem. But I don't need size US #8 Addi Lace needles. And the beads would still take off for parts unknown anyway. No, Ice Queen is not a traveling project, either.

So what did I bring with me to dinner tonight? Flat Feet Sweet Tarts socks. (You knew it had to be socks, right?)

Aaaaaaaand.... We're Off!

Didn't realize that the version of Ice Queen I had picked was garter stitch version. Knit every row when done flat, but purl every other row when done circularly. Yuck. Doing version B in stockinette. Working with the beads AND the lace AND the mohair are challenge enough; I don't need to throw purling in there, too.

Ravelympics 2008

Well, now I did it... I've committed myself to two Ravelympics projects (things to knit during the 17 days of the summer 2008 Olympics).

One is part of "WIPs Wrestling," where you complete an item already on needles. I've had Cabin Fever's Lacey Vee tank top on needles since early 2005. 2005 people! That's 3 years! Enough! Enough!! I'll finish this before August 24.

The other one is "Ice Queen," a mohair cowl from knitty.com. I want to use the gorgeous SilkMo I got at Purlescence, but it might be too fussy, what with the mohair AND the beads. So I am giving myself permission to use Yarn Place Leggero if it seems it might work better. I have beads that would go with both those yarns.

Oh, and finishing ChickenKnittle's socks, and RP's socks, and Kadootje's socks, and my socks, and starting DH's slippers, and my Hibito, and... and... and...

If the Shoe Fits

Looks like the Flat Feet sox are spoken for... visited RP last night for an evening of work, talk, and eat. (Damn good vegetarian-asiago pasta dish - yum.) Blue Coriolis sox were with me, tried them on RP and they fit, but they are broken socks. (I started the Coriolis band on the sole side of my knitting; rather than ripping back, I just flipped them over and continued the band on the instep side. Looks weird but fits fine - Thank you, Cat Bordhi, for the knowledge that arch expansion stitches can be put ANYWHERE.) Don't want to give her defective socks, so tried on the Flat Feet socks, which also fit and which I haven't yet screwed up. (Using the new STR "Sweet Tart" pattern - slightly modified.)

I think she'd rather have the blue ones, but really? They look bad. So Sweet Tarts are for her! Maybe birthday.... Hm...

PS - I've been Twittered... Not sure the link from Twitter to Blogger (or maybe vice versa) is working right. The first 2 comments showed up fine, but now the Twitter box looks blank. Huh.

Flat Balls of Yarn

Flat yarn. Yarn not in skeins, not in balls. Yarn already knit, ready to be reborn into socks, like a phoenix. Yarn slightly unnerving to work with, rrrrrrip, knit, rrrrrip, knit; rrrrripping on purpose. Seems wrong. Yarn crimped and crinkled as you use it; looks like knitting with soft zippers. Weird. Lovely colors, no clue what the striping/pooling will look like. Hm.