Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Well, so much for *that*!

So, the aran handbag. It's kaput. The wandering cables were one thing, but when I managed to slip my fingers through the double moss stitch, well, that was something else entirely. I had to face the reality that my gauge was suitable for a sweater, but wasn't going to be a particularly useful handbag. The yarn calls for US 11, the pattern for US 10.5, and I should have used US 10, at least. There was no gauge given on the pattern, which should have been a hint. I think I was in knitterly denial - it'll be fine, I'll just line it. Right. I've knitted purses to be felted that were tighter. So I'm going to re-design the pattern to replace those braided cables that I don't like with a wandering "cable" that doesn't cross, use moss stitch instead of double moss stitch, and maybe make a few other minor changes.

Last night, I swatched my Socks That Rock. I got a whopping 7 stitches/inch. On 0's. It's a nice fabric, but I'm not sure it will be sturdy enough for socks. Am I doomed to knit socks in sport weight, just because that's the only way I'll be able to find needles small enough? I really don't want to contemplate knitting socks on delicate 00's, 0's feel dainty enough as it is.

I also went shopping at Colorsong Yarns, one of my favorite online yarn shops. I refrained from this, although I really, really want some. Luckily, someone finally bought out the Paris colorway, which was my favorite. Because really, what would I do with a single skein of hand-spun, hand-dyed cashmere? Besides drool on it, I mean. Buying more than one skein was out of the question, but I certainly envy those lucky people who ended up with 7 or 10 skeins of their favorite colorway.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Any chance you could just felt the aran handbag and see how it turns out?

I can see why you were tempted by the Paris colorway of that cashmere yarn. I love love love those colors together!