That's me! Today my faaaaaaaaaavorite yarn shop (Uniquities) called me today to let me know my back order arrived. It's yarn for Teva Durham's Laceleaf Pullover!

Four skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in the Kiwi color. My size calls for (ahem) six, but I already had two--err, 1pointsomething skeins in my stash. So yay, picture time!

I know, Lamb's Pride, so exciting you could accidentally yawn yourself to death.

So...since this yarn was already paid for...I kinda went ahead and bought more. Just a little bit of Noro Silk Garden. Hardly anything, I swear!

Ahhh, so pretty. Me like to fondle.

Last but not least, the neckline that I am so proud of. The Monkey King made me stand in front of the Tiananmen picture to rep our AzN PrYdE. Oh, excuse the crackhead hair. I smoked a lot of crack today.

...But it was Halloween! Sadly, we had no trick or treaters. I guess that happens when you live in a second story apartment. Not that there were any kids walking around in our neighborhood anyway. Damn you, neighbors! Breed already!

In the meantime, I watched Bram Stoker's Dracula  and while watching that I knit on Hourglass. I knit, and knit, and knit, and I was done with all the pattern decreases by about the time Keanu is all, "Dude, it's TOTALLY a good idea to have my Dracula lusting wife...hunt Dracula with us! Cha!"

I also came up with an ingenious (for me, that is. Remember? The girl who can't read?) method of decreasing some more so I can actually wear a bra with this sweater. Because trust me, you don't want me to not. You see, the pattern says to work the decrease row, then knit even for one row, then repeat. Once I was done with the pattern decreases, I just worked each row as a decrease row. I AM A GENIUS. ALL HAIL MOI!

So now I am whip stitching the hems in. At least, I think it is whip stitching. I don't know. For the purposes of this blog, we will say whip stitching. It's kind of fun (lie). Oh, and I ain't doing that "sew the live stitches down" BS either. ALL the stitches will be whip stitched down. Then it's off to block. Then we're going to Chicago.

Pics of the in progress Hourglass and maybe even a cheap-ass swatch coming soon!

(Earlier in the day)

Oh boy! I'm almost done with Hourglass! Finally, the endless turning and turning of stockinette is almost over! Hey, in fact, I'm so into this finishing that I'm going to try this on. *hums a happy song* There, point protectors are in place, I'll just slip this over my hea...Waaaaaaitaminnit.

Huh. Was I supposed to do the decreases on the back of this sweater too?

Yeah, I was. *facepalm* And here I just had my humpback removed.

So that was my morning.

Since I don't really care to have a reverse cowl sweater (back acne) (sorry, TMI) I ripped. Then spent an hour carefully putting the loops back onto the needle. And reknitting the sleeves on. And placing the (*&#$@! stitchmarkers where they should be.

I'm going to go ahead and blame, um....undiagnosed fetal alcohol syndrome*. Yeah, that sounds good.

*no offense to people with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Catastrophe! My favorite, most beloved sweater of all time, Cherie, has been critically injured. And it's all my fault! (And a little bit of Rowan's, too.)

You see, I was going to wear her to work yesterday. To blatantly show off. Well, my hubris was my downfall, because as I was birthing my large noggin through Cherie's neckhole I popped open one of the cast off stitches! Ladderation happened right before my eyes. Also, rageration. Yes, I made up both words.

So here's the beef (hehheh): Rowan, you charge a fair bit of change for Yorkshire Tweed, and this sweater cost me about 4 minimum payments on my Visa. I THINK YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER ON THE QUALITY, K? Even while I was knitting Cherie, if I tugged too hard on the yarn the strand would snap off. This happened during weaving in, too. And during the ball winding. Snap snap snap. Oh, AND, let me tell you how EVERY. SINGLE. BALL. had a splice in it. Sometimes two. And I had to pick out about a bale of hay from the yarn.

/rant

Thank the yarn gods I kept the leftover yarn so I can reknit the collar or IT. WOULD. BE. ON.

Official Yarn Stats:

Material: 100% Highland Wool

Gauge: 19 sts/24 rows = 10 cm/4 in using size 6 or 7 needles

Amount: Approx. 109 yds

I used Denise needles, size 7. They worked beautifully. Flexible, smooth, the join was a little weird, but once I got used to it I flew along.

The yarn did snag a little; it's three plies of coarse wool and had a tendency to become slightly unspun when loosened from the skein.

Knitting up, the yarn has a crunchy feel and is not soft. It's a bit fuzzy, but my stitches were crisp enough. Washing and blocking softened it somewhat, but I still would not make certain knitted, ah, accessories with it.

For blocking, I used Eucalan wool wash, and did not stretch out the fabric. I just blocked what felt comfortable for me. My gauge ended up being 18.5 sts and 28 rows for 4 inches. Not too bad for my tight knitting self! With more strenuous blocking I could have gotten gauge.

I doubled up the swatch and rubbed it briskly together until I got tired to kind of imitate the kind of wear it would get in the armpit area. The yarn got fuzzy and pills started to form but honestly I think anything but maybe cotton would do the same. It's why they make Sweater Stones.

I think I will make a Sesame out of this. This yarn is perfect for creating warm, durable outerwear. The price and ease of availability is beyond reproach, however you are getting what you pay for with it in terms of softness.

And here you are, for your viewing pleasure, a totally manipulated photograph of the swatch. I'm sorry for the photo quality, I don't get home until after the sun sets and indoor lighting has never been kind to me.

Fin.