On Lilac and Lopi

The lilac is in full-bloom as evidenced by the above, and our weather has been balmy and sunny, reaching a high of 31C or 88F on Monday, May 21.

We've got all sorts of lilac growing all over, most of it where we don't exactly want it, but when they're in full bloom, we forgive them their location, and enjoy their heady scent and beautiful blooms.

These were all started from seed by a previous owner, so bonus points there, but eventually we're going to have to relocate some, and hopefully they'll take in their new location.  The ones above aren't perfectly white, but have a light, light lilac tinge to the blossoms before they open.  They are superbly beautiful.  This year I picked a few vases' worth, and the smell in the house was unbelievable.  It's just a shame they don't keep well as cut flowers.

Besides the great weather we've been enjoying, last Monday was a holiday, so all the better!  It gave me the opportunity to sit under our new steel-blue umbrella and enjoy its lovely cast while knitting a long-forgotten UFO.

I started this Védis Jónsdóttir design called Nú last October or November, right after I received my big batch of Lopi from Iceland.  It was supposed to be a quick knit - maybe a day or two worth of work - but through a bit of carelessness, I ended up making the wrong size sleeves.

Try as I might, I couldn't get the yoke decreases to work properly since I had 4 extra stitches, and since these decreases form an integral part of the design, I couldn't really fudge a "knit 3 together", although I gave it my best shot.  Bulky yarn is unforgiving like that.  The project was stuffed into a bag, and stuffed into a Rubbermaid bin, and clear out of my consciousness.

So the project languished until Monday morning.  Armed with a free day, sunny skies, and nothing on the agenda,  I sat outside and pulled the yoke back.  For some obscure reason, I had even proactively grafted the underarms already, and once I unpicked my grafted stitches, I could pull the arms back.

Working with 12mm needles is hard work.  The stitches don't flow, instead, they need to be pushed on the needles with coercion, every stitch requiring effort to load it on the needle, knit it, and push it onto the next.  (Note to self:  bulky yarn and fat needles do not a quick project make).

To top things off, I needed to use the dreaded magic loop method of knitting, because I couldn't find 12 mm double pointed needles.  I cannot fathom why anyone would knit this way, unless it's under duress.  Give me my 12 mm double-pointed needles, and no one gets hurt.

But spurred on by a gentle breeze, I had one sleeve knit back up again, in the correct size this time, of that I made doubly sure.  I was on a roll, and I know myself well enough that I needed to take full advantage of my mood, lest this project fall off the radar for another few months.  The next sleeve didn't exactly fly off the needles either, more of a push/knit/push slog-fest, but soon it was done, too.  I joined sleeves to body, and started in on the yoke, and from there on, the finish line was clearly within reach.

At 10:30 PM, with ends woven in, I called it a night.  I just had the underarms to graft, but even that was accomplished during my lunch-time at work the next day.

So, with one less thing in the UFO basket, my knitting resolution for 2012 won't exactly hold, but finishing one more UFO makes me feel infinitely better about the Sweet Georgia CashLuxe Fine yarn I just bought on-line to make a Colour Affection Shawl, known in knitting circles as the Colour Infection Shawl, because it's gone viral as some knitting patterns do.

Sometimes I amaze even myself.  And what I didn't realize, despite the dire remarks all over the website, is that Sweet Georgia is dyed-to-order.  Naturally, I am just chomping at the bit to get my eager little hands on that wool.  But what it's done is buy me some time (4 to 6 weeks?) to finish my Rams and Yowes blanket before my order comes in.  It's back on my radar with a progress report forthcoming.

Resistance is futile.  I will be assimilated. Of this I am sure.

A Plethora of Lopi

After my success with the Saga, I contacted Istex in Iceland to see if I could order Lopi directly from their factory store.

They sent me a price list by email.  The prices were so reasonable, I ran to my purse, grabbed my MasterCard, and sent them a whopping order.

Holy Schmoly.

That's a big, whopping box.  We're going to have to build an extension onto the house for my wool stash.  Eric's gonna love that thought!  Either that, or I had better get out the needles and start bashing away on a few sweaters.

Tessie's looking at Bob with admiration in her eyes.  Yes - her eyes.  Turns out I'm not so good with gender identification in cats.  With the kittens, it was easy, I knew Popina was a girl since she was a calico, and from there it was easy to tell the rest were males.  I just assumed Tesla was a boy.  But BobCat, even though he's a fixed male, is incredibly attentive to her.  They sleep together, and BobCat licks her head all the time, and I started having this nasty suspicion- she's got to be female - and it would be awful if we'd end up with another litter of kittens, so she was dispatched to the vets to be sterilized.  She's no longer my Little Dude, she's now my Little Dudette.  And Tesla became Tessie, and all's OK in my world knowing one more stray cat has found a home and is sterilized.  So Bob's taken her under his wing:

But getting back to my beloved Lopi.  It knits up so quickly, I went from this:

To this in just 10 days:

Rather than make a mental note, I'll throw this nugget out for future posterity.  I knit size 38 (which is a Lopi medium) of this sweater, designed by my hero Védis Jónsdóttir and named "Aftur" from Lopi's book 25, and it's big on me.  Good thing I had the fortitude of mind to add some waist shaping:

For the knitters who are Ravelry members, shaping instructions can be found on my project details.  My profile is MoutonNoir, and the project name is Aftur.

Next time, I'm making a size smaller.  Lopi grows with wearing, and stretches out quite a bit, so what appears to be too tight at first wearing will probably grow a size or so after a season.

This is a lovely sweater.  Perfect for this time of year, and further reinforces my belief that Lopi is a miracle product.

So, I've got a bit of knitting to do this fall and winter.  Pardon me while I get the needles out.