Bitches Get Stitches

before i get to the meat of this post,
i must confess to being a bad friend.
in my last entry
i only thanked my friend annette for my new bag.
but it she wasn’t the only one involved.
my friend zelda also had a hand in my ballsack.

so thanks zelda.

i owe you one.

now for the knitting stuff:
rhinebeck is two weeks away,
and i’m a little behind on my sweater.

i’ve got the sleeves done,
and about ten inches of body.
i have seven more before i join the sleeves
and do the yoke.

when i say it out loud,
it feels impossible.
but keep citing the knitting olympics:
17 days
1 sweater.

i can do this.

right?

someone please validate me.

i also want to talk about shelter,
brooklyn tweed’s new line of yarn.
about the yarn, he writes:

As the summer ended last year, I began researching answers to very specific questions I had been asking myself for some time: With such a rich textile history and an abundance of wool and other resources, why does it sometimes seem so difficult to obtain American yarns in our booming US knitting community? Would it be possible to develop a 100% American sourced, spun, and designed yarn that could be presented in a compelling way to knitters? What would a yarn look like that was developed from Stage One by a single person with no one to answer to but his own personal wool obsession?

Consider this my contribution to that cause. I very much hope that you enjoy it.

i think it’s a great idea,
and the yarn is very very yummy looking,
but i just can’t stop myself from naming some worries:

1 – the price. at $12.50 for 140yds/128m,
it’ll cost a small woman about $125 to make a sweater,
and a guy my size like $163.
yikes!

just for a comparison,
i’m making my rhinebeck sweater out of a yarn from a small mill in michigan, the stonehedge fiber mill.
it’s a 3 ply worsted,
and costs $10 for 250 yds.
that’s about $80 for a sweater for me.
it’s spun worsted
(rather than woolen)
which should cost more right?
(spinners weigh in on this.)

i’m more than willing to spend money on yarn.
but if i’m gonna pay that much,
i want a sweater for life.

which brings me to

2 – a lightly-spun 2 ply (i also need some spinners help on this one)
as i understand it,
being lightly spun
and a 2 ply yarn,
means it will be extra soft.
we in america are obsessed with softness.

(never mind that for thousands of years,
babies have been wrapped in cloth made from wool so scratchy
it would make noro seem like malabrigo)

but lightly spun yarn won’t wear as well, right?
it’s more prone to pilling and felting?
am i wrong?

similarly,
i believe i remember judith mackenzie saying
that you should always use at least a 3 ply for garments
because it wears better.
more plys equals better durability.
am i wrong?

i think the yarn is lovely.
i’ll probably buy some (for a hat).
but i’m worried.
i’m worried that,
like so many american-made products,
it’s going to be amazing at first,
but isn’t made to last.

i know in the knitting world,
criticizing anyone is taboo.
much less a knitter as beloved as brooklyn tweed.
but i think these are important questions to ask.
the recession has scared the shit out of me,
(and has anyone been watching what’s been going on in europe?).
i feel strongly that, in the world of hobby in which knitting resides,
i feel the need to be extra critical of how i spend my money.

please please please
someone, anyone,
tell me i’m wrong!

so that i can buy a sweater lot of shelter.

i’ve been pretty quiet lately,
and there’s a good reason for that.
i’ve been lucky enough to test knit the xeriscape,
ms. mary-heather of rainy day goods’s latest design.

“Inspired by the richly textured rock and low-water gardens of the American southwest, Xeriscape is a shaped, scalloped scarf knit in a drapey and luxurious hand-dyed yarn. Worked in garter stitch, Xeriscape looks great in solid, semi-solid, and variegated yarns. The long, narrow shape makes it easy to wrap, tie, and wear in a variety of ways.

Xeriscape is perfect for beginners who are ready to work on shaping through increases and decreases, and still has the thoughtful details needed to make it a breezy, meditative knit for more experienced knitters.”

let me tell you,
i
was
STOKED!

there was something about the design i loved immediately.
and i knew i needed to have it when the pattern came out.
but to be able to test knit it? to be one of the first people to ever knit it?
that was special.

since this was going to be my first time test knitting a pattern, (officially)
i vowed to be swift and thorough.

but it wasn’t easy.

first, i had a week deadline.
mary-heather said i could take longer if i needed,
but the pattern was getting published in a week.
being bred from overachieving stock,
everything else got pushed aside.

but when it came time to cast on,
i could not for the life of me find a yarn i liked.
there was just nothing i had on hand that would work,
at least not the way i wanted it to.

and i needed the yarn now.

so i began knitting one in a yarn i thought might work,
but it just didn’t.
i hated my yarn choice
and it killed the design.
the end result was completely unworthy of the blog,
and it’s has been properly shamed and put away.

then, out of the west,
ms. tina newton,
dyer,
teacher,
queen.

saved.

my.

bacon.

which is ironic i think since she’s a vegetarian.

she had paula tackle the postman,
threaten him with a size q crochet hook,
and sent me this little lovely in record time*

it’s the lovely new yarn marine silk sport in the “spruced” colorway.
(isn’t it crazy how differently silk takes color?)
i wish you could see the beautiful iridescence
the subtle navy hidden beneath the calm green.
it’s beautifully soft and made knitting garter stitch worth it.

it is simply divine.

in fact,
take a few minutes to stop reading,
and order a sweater lot.

go ahead.

i’ll wait.

back?

ok.

then, as my friend michael would say,
the flames were coming off my fingers as i finished the real xeriscape,
the one i could be proud of,
the one worthy of the blog.

isn’t it lovely?

and in honor of the spirit of mary-heather
and her lovely pup charlie,
i had my mo model the xeriscape

it’s very rare for me to knit for myself,
but this one’s all mine bitches!

jealous?
go buy the pattern and knit one!

* this version of events may or may not be exaggerated. i can neither confirm nor deny if a postal worker was tackled/threatened.
but the truth is out there.