what the title says.

I am going super slow, and about 50% of the time it looks ok, but the other half, sucks ass. Really. A lot of times, I have one of the plys too tight (like coming from the lazy kate) and so the other two start wrapping around it. I tried pulling the other two tight, but then I start pulling the yarn off the bobbin and there’s not enough take up (I think I have this adjusted to have as much takeup as possible). Then I tried loosening the LK, but then I got the curlys, even though this single has been sitting for 2 days). And then there’s the problem of when I’m getting ready to “chain”, plys shift and move and look like crap.

Please tell me that whacking fixes this!!! Probably not. Shit.

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So we’ve had a traumatic past couple of days. Thursday afternoon, we headed out on a train to Chur (me, husband and boys). My parents left early in the morning so they were already there. It’s a long story about a car that has been in the shop for 4 weeks as to why we didn’t leave all together. Anyways, the train ride was actually pleasant, the boys did great.

The boys have been potty trained for about a month now and have been doing so very well. Hardly any accidents and if it did happen, it would happen during their nap. Bathrooms on the train really aren’t great for beginning potty trained boys. One of them did fine, but Elijah got totally freaked out by the weird toilet and how it moved. I think this really scarred him for life and he didn’t want to use a toilet after that - even the ones in the train station and in our hotel. So we put him in diapers again. He always wants to wear underwear but then when he realizes that means going to the toilet, he starts screaming and crying. Ugh. Today Michael bought a kids toilet seat - you know, the kind that fits over the toilet so it’s smaller and he is finally comfortable enough to use it.

We got a rude introduction to Switzerland! When we got to Chur, it was surprising at how expensive everything is. Thank goodness my parents were there to warn us. We knew it would be expensive, but I don’t think we were quite prepared. One swiss franc is about the same as one US dollar. We paid close to $40 for a McDonalds meal for 2 adults and 2 kids. Wow. We also booked a cheap room (at least in Chur - it was $130 a room) and it was in the middle of all these strip clubs and bars. How embarrassing it was to be walking with 2 kids and your parents with pictures of these naked ladies everywhere. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. The next day we took the Glacier Expess train to Zermatt and it was a really great train ride (but OH MY GOD expensive)

Zermatt was so much nicer and everything is clean and there are no cars (except for these little electric cars). Our room is amazing and surprisingly not that expensive. Off of our balcony we have an incredible view of the Matterhorn and the weather is PERFECT! We have a kitchen here so we plan to cook as much as possible to save on the costs.

So anyways, that was my rant about Switzerland. On to knitting! I finished spinning the skein of CMF superwash merino in San Francisco and I was so-so about it. It wasn’t as thin as I would’ve liked it and also I wasn’t sure about the colors, they kind of went everywhere. I decided to knit Michael socks with it anyways (and he saw the colors and thought it was ok), and I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. The transformation that handspun makes from yarn to sock is amazing. Oh, it is so awesome. I wish I could take a picture of it, but sadly, internet connection here costs money (of course) and the computer that works with the internet connection doesn’t have a port that fits the memory card. Argh. I’ll take pictures and post them later. I am making a plain stockinette foot with a 2×2 rib leg and an afterthought heel. I never made those heels before so I thought I should try it.

Other than that, I am missing my spinning (no wheel for 1 whole week!) but have my handspun socks and Fiddleheads to keep me company among the mountains!

Oh yeah, today is WWKIP day, I’m going to try and knit outside awhile. But it’s kinda sad that I’ll be by myself. There is a yarn shop here, I’ll have to find it! :)

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Wollmeise Fiddleheads Wollmeise Fiddleheads Twisted Fiber art in Warlock FatCatKnits merino/tencel in Patina Look - I’m knitting!!! My left thumb is getting some kind of spinning injury (is that possible?) so I’m giving it a rest and I haven’t spun in 2 days. So what do I do? I buy a pattern and take stock of my wollmeise! Man, do I suck at color work. I cannot do fair-isle for the life of me. Oh it looks good from afar, but it’s puckery, loosey goosey, and hole-y. :( I can’t knit English style so I basically pick up and drop the yarn. Very time consuming. One of these days I will have to learn to throw. Will someone give me some tips (ms. onandofftheneedles, I’m talking to you!)? I looked at the video on Knitting Help and she makes it look easy but it’s so freakishly hard! The spice market (middle strip) doesn’t have a whole lot of contrast, and I thought about ripping it out, but ugh, to go all the way back there would bring me to tears. So can you just lie and say that it looks super awesome??? ;) And also wanted to post pics of my latest skeins of spinning. I love them both!

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Look at that amazing texture!

I am being so good. I am knitting from my stash. And not recent stash - DEEP stash! I bought this yarn about a year ago and didn’t like the feel and color of it. It is 70% merino and 30% cashmere and it is indeed soft, but it’s kind of sticky like when you rub velvet the wrong way. I think the colors on the web were much more darker and vibrant, so it was a slight let down. But I liked it enough to keep it, and the person it was for would like it. It was supposed to be socks for my mother-in-law LAST YEAR, but never got the time to do it, so I decided to do it this year. And it makes me feel good that I’m getting a jump start on Christmas. Well, really, what it is is that I want to reduce how much we spend at Christmas, and hand knit socks are priceless!! Hand knit cashmere socks…well…much better than some bargain basement DVD from Target.

Anyways, so I wound the yarn up on my injured ball winder and still didn’t like it, and I started having regrets. But then, I started knitting with it and my god, it was amazing. The pattern was the perfect choice - Baudelaire by CookieA. The stitch definition and the fabric was very pleasing and oh-so-soft-you-can’t-stop-touching-it. I’m still not happy with the color, but I have to remember that it’s not for me. I know that my MIL will love it!

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Just a reminder here for everyone to enter the Knitters Uncensored contest by April 1! If you don’t listen to the podcast, the questions are in the show notes and you can just guess at random for an entry. But keep in mind, it’s not a drawing (so you need to have some amount of it right!). Hey, it’s worth a shot for some German hand dyed yarn and handspun from Elem! ;)

I am plugging along on the Cobblestone. In fact, I have not been able to put it down. I am done with the body and two sleeves, tomorrow I attack the yoke (my first)! It’s amazing how fast I breeze through skeins of Cascade.

Does anyone else have the problem of the cables coming out of their Knit Picks options needles? I do - almost all of mine come out! I finally bought some super glue and glued them back together. On the first one, I had to cut off a part of the end because putting the glue on it makes it too bulky to go back into the metal part. Then on the next ones, I put glue only at the very top so it could slide into the metal easily. I thought there might be issues with the glue gunking up, but I wiped it away before it dried and it was fine. I might not be making sense because it’s 2am now… Well, I’m just happy that I now have my 3 cables back in service!

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Booties ready to be delivered!

I just finished making 7 pairs of booties (2 of which are not completely finished but knitting wise they are done) and I thought I was done, but then my cousin goes off and has a baby boy yesterday. The Hazel Knits comes back out! I love the Beach Glass/Chocolatier combo, totally perfect! I am also playing with stripes. I need to figure out how to make them with those leaves (from the original pattern) so that I can avoid buying and sewing on buttons. I hate buttons. I never feel like they are secure enough.

And BIG NEWS - I cast on for a … drum roll … SWEATER! Yes, you heard that right, a garment! Not a sock, not a scarf, not a bootie, not children’s clothing, a full grown man’s sweater! Michael actually requested one. I knit him one out of alpaca when we lived in TEXAS so it never got worn and it is still too hot to even wear here. I attempted to knit him one out of cotton, but got about 1/2 way done and put it away (this was 12 or so years ago) and I just frogged it 6 months ago. It was waaaaay too huge. I have also made maybe 3 or 4 other sweaters. One sleeveless one for my mom who actually wore it quite a bit. One for my sister, who I’m guessing never wore it, and a couple for myself - one came out waaaay too bulky and the other I wore a few times. So I haven’t had very much luck when it comes to sweaters. But now that I know a whole lot more about knitting and am more careful about stuff, I thought it was time to try it again. After scouring Ravelry for appropriate patterns, I decided on Jared’s Cobblestone Pullover. I almost didn’t cast on because looking at how much it would cost was very off putting. And then I found Cascade 220 tweed at Die Wollbox for around 7eur/skein. Not bad at all! Wish me luck, I hope I don’t get too bored with the stockinette…

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The Aloha Knitters

What should I do for the edging???

So, this past Thursday, I went to my second meeting with the Aloha Knitters at Mocha Java. Again, it was super crowded with lots and lots of knitters! I didn’t even get to talk to everyone! I met up with tink and encouraged her to attend her first meeting (even though she lives here, she needed a push to go). She also graciously offered her ball winder/swift since she read my last post and I had to ball up my 2nd skein of silk. Thanks so much tink! The Aloha Knitters is a really great group, I consider this my “second home” knitting group, they make everyone feel welcome, even visitors. There was also Donna from Australia, who I sat across from and she was hilarious! I will always remember the conversation we had about David Reidy. I also talked about marathon running with blogless Michelle (she’s trying to get me to do it! uhhhh…yeah….ok…), and