This and That

I apologize up front for this disjointed post - it's being written on the fly, and it IS Friday. I need a weekend.

Thanks to everyone who expressed concern and wishes for a speedy recovery for my hurt foot. It is much improved, and I was able to drive to work this morning.

Last night my son Brian called from Boston to ask about my injury. It turns out he’s taken to reading my blog to keep tabs on his mother. A college boy reading his mother’s knitting blog. Who knew? I was half asleep, but I seem to remember that Brian cautioned me to keep it clean. I believe he said “You never know who’s reading your blog.”

In knitting news: Directions for the Oakley Shawl have me puzzled. The pattern calls for 6 balls of Berocco Suede, and directs you to add one stitch per row, and cast off when there are 175 stitches on the needles. As of last night I’ve got 135 stitches on the needles, and I’ve only used up about 1.5 balls of yarn. Even if the last ball of yarn is used just for fringe, I’m dubious that I’ll be on the 5th ball after another 40 rows. . It also doesn’t look as if a mere 40 rows are going to make the shawl big enough, either. I can no longer count on being finished with the shawl in another 20 days (assuming I stick to my plan to knit 2 rows a day). How disheartening.

Under the heading of 'possibly useful information', I thought I'd share/ramble on about the following:

• In an email Nancy shared this valuable snippet: “Learned something interesting from Brenda (owner of One More Stitch in Cincinnati) the other day. I was bitching about some yarn not giving me the yardage I expected. She said one of the manufacturers told her yarn is packaged by weight only. If there is high humidity or a lot of dampness in the air the yarn will weigh a bit more and have less yardage than is listed on the label. The manufacturer said the difference can be as much as 3%.”
• By chance I decided to check the size of my Denise size US 7 needles. According to the measuring card, those needles are really a size US 8. That was a surprise. I haven’t had time to check to see if the other sizes of Denise needles run large, as well. The measuring card seems to be accurate when I use it to measure other needles.

• And finally, I tried to take a photo that would show the difference between a blocked swatch of Rowan Summer Tweed (top) and the unblocked fabric (bottom), but I doubt you can see it here. The fabric bled in the blocking process. The swatch is still a rich, gorgeous color, but it’s a bit duller than the unblocked fabric. The yarn is stiff to knit with, but the blocked fabric has a nicer drape and hand than the unblocked fabric. Fabrics made with RST may also grow in the blocking process. Before blocking, my gauge for seed stitch (size US 7 needles) was 4.25 st/in. After blocking the gauge was 4.38 st/in.

Plans for this weekend include knitting and watching the Tour de France. There will be no bicycling, but there will be no complaining about my foot injury either. It's hard to justify whining when you see how much agony the TdF competitors endure in their quest for the yellow jersey.

Have a fabulous weekend!