Snippets

Wow, I slept in! This is after being awakened at 2:00a.m. by a gnat blundering into my ear, after which I required more than an hour to get back to sleep.

I finished the knitting and the putting-together of Faith’s sweater yesterday. At which point I decided that I wanted to face the button bands in back with narrow silk grosgrain ribbon in a harmonious shade, to support the snaps which I will be sewing on. The ribbon for silk ribbon embroidery is too lightweight for what I want, and commercial polyester ribbon is too thick and stiff.

So I went on Etsy, where I discovered a purveyor of vintage silk millinery ribbon from the 1930’s and 1940’s. I learned a new-to-me color: Dior grey. I am going to swing by the paint store on my way to the gym to see if I can score a paint chip in what is allegedly Dior grey. And the Etsy shop owner has offered to mail me a sample of the ribbon, to see if it will suit.

In the meantime, I am swatching for a sweater for me. This is the mystery yarn that was stranded with the discontinued Noro Kureopatera which I found at that yarn garage sale held by the local homeschooling group of which my friend is a member, shortly before I moved into the duplex.

Fourthborn has a remarkable gift for handling fabric, fiber, etc., and being able to tell what it is made from, and in the case of blends, in what proportions, within a percentage point or two. Sadly, she is allergic to wool, llama, camel, alpaca, cashmere, angora: basically everything that ever mooed, baaed, or spit. So I can only guess at the content. It is burgundy, approximately DK/sport weight, and has the buttery softness of cashmere, none of the limpness of alpaca, and a smidgen of hairiness that could be angora, or could be mohair (there is that brilliance and depth of color). There might be a bit of wool in there, but I am doubtful. This feels like 100% luxury fiber to me. It has a nice little halo in the frogged yarn, accentuated as I re-knit it for the swatch, and it’s the teensiest bit splitty.

Right now I am swatching on 4’s, and it looks a little loosey-goosey to me. I think I will try 3’s and see if I like that any better. I am using the same stitch pattern as for Faith’s sweater, but I know that I do not have enough of this yearn to do an entire sweater in it. So what I am thinking is this: I will knit the sleeves as written, and then I will redesign the body to make it shorter and wider, and I will end up with a great cropped sweater to wear at my desk this fall and winter.

I still feel as if that gnat were in my ear. I am probably imagining it.

I am not imagining that the singles session at the temple last night was better attended than it has been in a long time. I will be back again tonight for my usual Thursday night session of initiatories. I think that a vacation which includes four temple sessions is a very good vacation, indeed.

I was also pleased with the amount of honey-do’s I got done yesterday. Am trying for more of the same today, but first there is the matter of breakfast and a workout, in that order. And I need to get more milk and juice and good stuff like that.

I almost said happy Tuesday, everybody, because this is my second day of vacation, and apparently my inner calendar has reset itself to Ravelled Standard Time.

Food. Food would be good.

All y’all take care.