Esoteric

I was trying to think of a way to describe this little piece. Esoteric came to mind because lace seems cryptic, complicated; it hides yet it reveals. It also means intended for or understood only by a particular group - in this case, knitters.

The capelet is lightly blocked but even so, you can see that it can easily slip off my shoulders. This is all right with me. I was afraid that it would not fit at all. I first tried it on with jeans and a camisole; it was rather sexy. I'll have to wear that after the wedding. Here I'm modeling the capelet with the dress I plan to wear at the wedding. OK, just to recap: the pattern is the Not-Knit-Round Scarf from The Purl Stitch. I used #8 bamboo needles and the yarn is Berroco Cotton Twist. Notes on the yarn: it snags like mad so use lots of hand cream and knit loosely.

Now on to sock progress. This is the second sock of my first pair, using 2 circulars. I started on this again yesterday at about 2 inches from the heel flap and now I've turned the heel, picked up stitches for the gusset and starting to decrease. The pattern is also from The Purl Stitch. It calls for using 5 DPNs but as you can see I'm experimenting. I had to think about the gusset a little; the extra stitches are all on the back needle which makes it a bit awkward but I'm managing it. DPNs would be better here.

However, I must say that using the Addi Turbos are sooooo much faster and smoother. I love the look and knitty-ness of bamboo or wood DPNs but these Addi circs are (1) faster and (2) an improvement regarding ladders. It could be that I've just had more practice and am subsequently better at avoiding ladders with this sock but then again I've read that circulars help with that. Observations on socks...I cannot imagine making socks with anything bigger than size 2's. I love the smallness, the compactness, the portability. Socks are easier than I expected. OK, OK, this is just my first pair and they are stockinette but really I'm amazed over the efficiency of socks. I'm trying to decide which sock yarn to use next. I cast on Cascade Fixation to make the Broadripple Socks from Knitty but am bemused about the stretch. Am I supposed to knit these kind of tight to get gauge?

An exciting thing happened today at lunch. Well, exciting to me because work is so yuck these days. I'll explain that in a later post. Anyway. A coworker taught me how to do simple crochet! She's a crochet gal and such a good teacher. I've been meaning to do this on my own but crochet was befuddling, at least in the books I looked at. Now I get it. The fingers still want to do it in a knitting kind of way but that's OK. Now I can do some of the fancier edging that I was afraid of before.

Kewl.

Until the next day in the life.....