Because 11 rows of blue cable-y goodness is not. Neither is the two or three feet of scarf I worked on last night. The scarf grows fast. The cable sweater does not... but that's what you get for choosing a pattern with a gauge of 8.33 stitches per inch... and somewhere around 5 or 6 rows per inch... on a US 8 needle. Yes, an 8.
In other news, I'm looking forward to reading my first Dale pattern... anxiously awaiting its arrival in the mail.
I also got a phone message that some yarn I've been waiting for has come in to a yarn shop in Cleveland... It's from the same trip where I got the yarn to make the hated raglan. This stuff, though, is called Naturwolle Ingeborg Michels, in color 39 Vulcan. It's a hand-spun German yarn, and it knits up to a decent gauge on US 13 needles. Which I don't like. But I have six hanks here and a few more in the mail and a father who's waiting for a sweater. So I will have to spend some quality time with my 13's... I just don't enjoy the way they feel in my hands. I'm much more into the smaller needles. I find myself missing the 2s and 3s of the Waving Lace Socks and the Elephant Waistcoat (which is another reason I'm anxious for my Dale!)
When the Dale is all here, I'm thinking I might just start a sleeve and use that as a swatch... you know, measure it after I'm a few inches into it and see how it's coming. I can just rip and restart a few inches of sleeve without any difficulty, right? Because in-the-round swatches are a pain in my __*. And I didn't swatch for the Elephants and got gauge anyhow.
One more thing: I'm still trying to figure out my England trip. I know this much so far: I arrive in the UK on Friday, 15 August. I go immediately to Stratford-Upon-Avon. I'm seeing "Hamlet" at the RSC on Friday night. I've got a hotel room booked for Friday and Saturday nights in S-O-A. Then Sunday night and Monday night I have no definite plan yet. Tuesday night I have a hotel room in London, so I need to make my way there then... and then back to the States the next Sunday. So the question is, what to do with the Sunday, Monday and, perhaps, first half of Tuesday. Dublin? Shetland? Colinette? Something *gasp* non-yarn related?
My hesitation re the Colinette mill is that although I think their yarn is lovely, the kind of stuff I'm really into right now is just making more interesting things out of more simple yarn... like the Dale project, or the Cable project. I want to pick up a pile of traditional Aran wool and make myself a serious Aran sweater, probably of my own design, which probably means a sweater and a half worth of yarn to give me enough yarn to figure out how everything works out together, etc... Is this yarn something I can get in London? Do I need to go to Edinburgh? The Isle of Skye? I have no clue here. I do, however, know that I need to get a plan together, so any advice and help would be much appreciated.
And I promise some knitting photos (or at least a photo of the German yarn) soon.
Posted by Jon at June 21, 2004 05:04 AMHi Jon, My fave place in London is the Victoria and Albert Museum. It's all decorative arts, my favorite thing. There's yarn (lots of Rowan) in the beautiful Liberty's on Regent Street, plus the old building is beautiful. John Lewis has yarn, but I don't remember going there...You'll have a great time no matter what you end up doing!
Posted by: Silvia at June 21, 2004 10:16 AMI would go to Cambridge. It's really a great little town. Another nice place to go would be Bath, which would take you by Salisbury and Stonehenge.
When you are in London, make sure you go to the Tate Modern. The building is just as cool as the art. And also the remodeled British Museum.
Have fun!
Posted by: mouse at June 21, 2004 10:30 PMI suggest Bath, a beautiful town and almost completely a Georgian architectural gem,(the whole town is a World Heritage site). Oxford might be nice also. My main suggestion is to get out and see the countryside.
Posted by: Stacie at June 21, 2004 11:21 PM