Fiber Dreams

I finished up the first Candy Wrappers sock over the weekend. Not sure which day that was. Friday night, maybe? Hm. Must have been. We spent Saturday evening with friends, and I didn’t knit when there, so it must have been on Friday. Yesterday I started the next sock, and that does narrow it down a bit.

I had a little fun with the toe. It’s an eight-pointed star. I love the way toes like this usually fit my foot, so that’s how I knit it up. I had to rip it back and make it longer, originally I decreased too quickly. I added more plain rows between the decrease rows, and eventually it worked out well. Even feels good when I put my foot in it.

Yesterday morning I blocked the second swatch for the French blue ribbon yarn. I was smart this time and actually measured it before I got it wet as well as afterward. It turns out that the swatch didn’t shrink in height as I’d suspected it had, it was a good solid three inches before and after blocking. However, it certainly stretched width-wise. Hoy. The blocked swatch grew by nearly an inch after blocking; it went from 5.875 inches to 6.75/6.875 inches wide after blocking.

I’ve been seriously considering using this yarn to knit up Wendy Bernard’s Sizzle pattern. I might still be able to do it. If I knit the small size with this yarn it then after blocking it should end up the correct size. Should. According to my somewhat faulty math skills the stitch count at the gauge I’m getting should be right. I think.

New magazine issues

The Winter 2007 Interweave Knits magazine arrived on Sunday. It’s crammed full of sweaters I want to knit, as well as articles begging to be read, like Pam Allen’s article, “Set-in Sleeves—a love affair,” and Clara Parkes “Discovering Alpaca.” I just might have to knit Pam’s Refined Aran Jacket, and Connie Chang Chinchio’s Henley Perected. I love the lace bodice on that one. Liz Nields’ Sweater Girl Pullover, knit with two strands of Rowan Kid Silk Haze is fabulous, but geez, expensive unless you can find an incredible sale on the yarn as it takes a minimum of a dozen balls. Not that it wouldn’t be worth saving up for, but there are so many sweaters I want to knit that I can actually afford, that it seems an unlikely one for this knitter. Mim Felton has a wonderful wrap in this issue, and Colleen Meagher’s Subway Mittens are here in pattern form. I love Eunny Jang’s Ivy League Vest, though I doubt I’d ever knit it… I hate wearing blouses under knit vests. Don’t ask me why. I just don’t like how it feels.

MagKnits released their winter issue this weekend, too. I love the little black cardigan, Basic Black by Glenna C.

Too many sweaters to knit, too little time.

Auction update

A flurry of email messages were sent between and amongst me, Susan at Crystal Palace, and Jeanne at Wool Gatherer’s since Thursday. Turns out, and I completely understand why, Crystal Palace allows retailers who carry their yarn to include their free patterns to try to sell more yarn. Totally understandable. Sells more of their yarn. All’s good there.

Early Friday morning I got an email message from Jeanne, asking if she can bundle my pattern with sock yarn in her brick-and-mortar store in Wiscon­sin; she said nothing about eBay auctions in her note. After discus­sion with Dave, and several draft letters going back and forth, I responded. In the negative. I also told her that I didn’t want my pattern showing up in her eBay auctions. When I didn’t hear back for a couple of days, and the auction got a bid on it (!), I wrote again, thinking maybe the first email message had gotten lost in cyberspace. It hadn’t, but she had been out of town for a couple of days. She wrote yesterday morning apologizing all over the place. She’d mistakenly thought that the pattern belonged to Crystal Palace. She under­stands that I don’t want it sold, and she respects my copyright. She has a few patterns out there of her own… Only a few minutes after I got that email message I saw that the bid and the auction were both canceled. Whew.

I still haven’t heard back from eBay, but if/when I do, I’ll be able to tell them that it has been handled satisfactorily. I need to get back with Susan and tell her that all is again fine with the world. I noticed that at some point over the weekend CP added a clear notice that the pattern belongs to me, not to them, and to contact me about using the pattern. Very nice. That should help to clear up any future confusion in anyone’s mind about pattern ownership. Whew.

All’s well that ends well, and all that. I do like a happy ending. Don’t you?

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