There was a story on NBC's Today Show about boys knitting. Not that I think it's a big deal if boys or men knit. Why shouldn't they?

My favorite quote from the show?
(Setup) A man sitting at a table* next to a 5-6 year old boy is trying to knit English style. Man is not doing too well. The little boy is 3 inches into his scarf.

The man asks the boy, "How long do you think it's gonna take for me to make a pair of socks [knitting] like this?"

Boy thinks it over for a few seconds and says, "Six years."

hahahahaha

*table at a Chicago knitting store called Three Bags Full

I ordered a bunch of yarns from The Mannings yesterday and here they are today!

These are some potential yarn choices for Cromarty.
(Rauma Finnulgarn, Heilo, Gems Merino Opal, Koigu Kersti)

I just picked any old color because the main goal right now is getting gauge. What other time will I get to knit with super bright pink anyway? Also, I had to go with a variegated Kersti because Mannings didn't have any solids in stock.

Such is life. Not a huge hardship.

Once I figure out which yarn works best, I will pick out the color in person.

Which one do you think will work best? My bet is on the Heilo.

So, I'm off to wind these up and get started.

Becky's Weasley sweater is done.

Here's a pre-sewing up picture:

Becky found it more fun trying on the unfinished pieces.

I'm finding it hard to think of something else interesting to say about the topic.

Hmmm, maybe if I keep writing, something will come to mind.

Or not. Okay, well, I'll just be giving you little tidbits about the yarn then. I used Rowan's Felted Tweed in Bilberry for the main body and Corn for the "H". Felted Tweed has a really nice drape and tweediness and I think it was important to the whole aura of this sweater. Just my 2 cents.

Or, actually, at 8.95/ball, that would be just my 5x8.95=?'s worth (Feel free to get out your calculators.)

Noel and Becky hamming it up.

Nikon is going back to the shop this afternoon. If it has to go back a 3rd time, they will give me a brand new camera. So cross your fingers that it doesn't get fixed again.

But then, Wednesday came and I decided that not only did I need to soldier on with Kimmy Hargreaves' Demi, but I needed (NEEDED) to knit St. Brigid.

And furthermore!

I'm thinking about starting Cromarty. Again. (My old Cromarty attempt is destined to become one of those door draft stoppers. How's that for humbling?)

Anyway, the challenge with St. Brigid right now isn't the knitting, which is actually quite fun, but in finding more yarn. I went out on Saturday to Wool Gathering in Kennett with every intention of purchasing a truckload of Jamieson's Soft Shetland, which is, as every knitter needs know, Scottish Heather without the AS pedigree. So, I went and the nice ladies there draped my in different sweaters made with Soft Shetland.

Alas, there was no Machair, Apple or anything along those lines in color in the store. A brownish green (peat) was closest to what I wanted for St. Brigid, but somehow I walked out of the store with Moorit and Mogit, both pretty browns.

I swatched them by starting a sleeve with each color. Neither worked well--one was too dark and one just didn't suit my idea of what color St. Brigid should be. Not only that, but the fabric was a little bulkier and not as drapey as I'd wanted.

Aghast that my favorite yarn wasn't working, I went digging through my yarn closet and found a single sorry ball of Cascade 220 I'd bought back in December 2003. In a fit of organizational cleaning, I'd thrown away the ball band because I remember thinking, "Oh, Cascade... I'll never buy any more Cascade 220--it's boring. It's taking up space."

Nevertheless, on Saturday, with all local yarn stores closed until Monday--at least--I began my 3rd sleeve swatch with the Cascade, thinking that it would just be fun to knit and kill some time* before I can get back to the yarn store and buy some more Jamieson's in Peat.

I ended up loving it.

So, I have one (1) ball of my chosen yarn for St. Brigid. And I need to sleuth around and find the name/number of this mysterious purplish-brown Cascade 220. Little worried about that.

Knitted myself into a corner, didn't I?

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*tripping down memory lane watching the pilot and some of the 1st season of Twin Peaks It's weird. I watched TP when it first came on and claimed to love it, but I don't even know who killed Laura Palmer and apparently didn't get most of what was going on. I think I was too distracted by David Lynch's freaky/cheeseball world to pay attention to any story line.

Don't tell Dave, but I'm going to google who killed Laura Palmer now before I watch the last 2 episodes.

My camera is back but the repair didn't bring it back to its original potential.

I tried to get a macro shot of some cormo/silk yarn I spun on my spindle but it just wasn't working all too well despite me fiddling around with all the settings/lighting/tripod (sigh!).

Here's the best one:

See what a difference painstaking predrafting makes!
Cormo/Silk yarn bought at MDSW 2004.
Worsted weight, 2-ply, 11 yards
Spun while watching a movie on IFC about a woman going around collecting votes on island in Iran (?). (Never found out the name of movie but it was good.)

Both skeins were spun with predrafted roving, but the one on the left was really, really, really predrafted, while the one on the right was only drafted.

Spinning silk and any type of wool is not my favorite combination*. It gets all clumpy and lumpy.

*The exception to this rule is anything from Indigo Moon. (Of course!)