Lull

Hey folks. So yeah, about those vacation pics. You can really just see them all on my Flickr page. Breaking down the trip is kind of tedious and I have (baseless) fears of creating the links to the woolfolks that I bought from. I should really just put together a great big list and post it in the sidebar or something...

The last week has been tough for me. This past fall and winter, as you may know, I struggled with being very sick and quite depressed and anxious. Because of that, I went on medication (Paxil, then Mirtazapine, then *finally* Zoloft) and went through some extensive therapy. The time has come for me to go off the meds. I started the decrease last week on the 4th and have been a lethargic, emotional, achy, nauseated wreck ever since. Getting up the energy just to write this entry has taken me awhile (I know, you're shocked!). But, just because I am struggling with withdrawal doesn't mean that I haven't been knitting. It's actually quite nice to have something so soothing and familiar to retreat to when you're feeling down.

I have made a pair of around-the-house booties:



Yarn: Something or other Eskimo in color "The Joker" (my name for it)
Needles: 6mm dpn
Guage: 3 or 4 st/in
Pattern: my own. Basically I cast on 40 stitches, worked 6 rows in the round alternating knit/purl so I got a garter-like stitch, then took 20 stitches for the heel flap, knit it until it looked long enough, worked a short-row heel, and knit the foot until it was as long as my foot when I tried it on. Only *then* did I decrease for the toes (the decreses were worked in a haphazard manner every other row) until I had 16 stitches left. Kitchener-stitched the toe shut. Felted in an equally haphazard manner.

I know it sounds complicated, but you can do it, I swear. Basically, when making felted booties, pick a yarn that will felt nicely (Eskimo is a bulky 100% wool single-ply)and knit a sock with no leg that is about 30% too big for your foot. Felt in whatever manner you like best (mine is, obviously, haphazard).

I also have about 9oz. of Opal merino sockyarn that I am planning to do this to. Not the shawl or the colors, but the knitting up a rectangle then dyeing it thing. The technique looks like a lot of fun except for the whole knitting a plain white rectangle part.



What else, what else? Oh yes, I am working on the Lotus blossom tank from the cover of Interweave Knits Summer '06. So far, it looks like this:



I'm knitting it out of a really neat (but completely frustrating and unforgiving) yarn; GGH-T Safari in color 30. The stuff is 75% linen and 25% nylon, so it's really no wonder it's so damn stuff, but the color is fantastic so I'm sticking to it.