Monday, December 04, 2006

Has anyone seen my brain?

I'm on day seven (eight? I'm trying not to keep track) of a sinus-related migraine and am getting a little fed up. (For 'fed up' read 'taking increasing doses of migraine medications'.) So this post is probably going to lack pizaz. (Or, for all know, be chock full of rude profanity, for the entertainment of you all.)

YARN CHOICES FOR THE KNIT ALONG:
This seems to be a tough one for a lot of youse guys out there. Boy, give people unlimited choices and they go all to pieces. I don't know what's up with that. Here are some relevant points to keep in mind. I am STILL not telling you what to buy.

-Use wool or a wool blend. We're steeking, and wool is best for that. Best not to get into weird complexities on steeking until you've done it once or twice; make it easy on yourself. Get something wooly. (Woolie? Whatever.)

-Worsted weight or heavier is best. You CAN use sport weight, or, hell, even fingering, if you feel so inclined, but it will take FOREVER to knit and we'll all be off doing sleeve decreasing while you're wildly trying to keep up. For a light jacket intended for cool-but-not-cold weather, use worsted/DK. For a COAT, use something heavier, like regular weight lopi. (I am using Lite Lopi on size 7/4.5mm needles, for a jacket to wear in a warm coastal climate. I'd say that's about as light/thin as you should go on the yarn - remember, I knit pretty fast.) Also remember, by doing all-over straded color, you're in effect doubling the thickness of the fabric.

-A related question from the Aussies amongst us was regarding five-ply vs. eight-ply for yarn. I've used Aussie eight-ply and it would make a fine jacket, but it would be fairly warm. Up to you; you know what the weather's like where you live.

-I suggest getting an extra skein of each color for luck. If you don't need it, you can knit a scarf or a hat or both to go with your jacket, when you're finished. Or mittens. Or a matching dog coat for your critter.

Photos are being taken of the swatch-knitting process so everyone can experience the glory of my nit-picking gauge-measuring methods.


Otherwise, um, today sucked, and I'm drugged. Yup, I think that covers it all. Before anyone can e-mail and complain, here's a baby photo. She's really asleep.

6 comments:

Bells said...

Migraines suck. big time. I don't get them anywhere near as often as you, but they really, really suck.

Hang in there.

Ok, i'm a bit clearer on the wool issues now. Off to do some online shopping. :-)

She's very cute when she's asleep, little bottom up in the air like that.

April said...

I don't complain per se, I simply point out certain missing elements.

And I'm very sorry to hear about your migraine, have you tried tequila? It might not make it go away but it would make it more bearable.

Anonymous said...

Can you get marmite where you are? About 50% of people I know who get migraines (including me) say a slice of bread with a thin layer of marmite on it really helps.

(Marmite is made from a yeast extract from the brewing process. I think in Australia theres a similar product called vegiemite. It's a spread for bread and has a bit of a kick).

I can send you some if you think it would help!

Louiz.

Alwen said...

Yeah, migraines suck. (reaching) uh, at least it's not a vomiting migraine. Okay, not much comfort there!

Yesterday I had another migraine-related thing where I got edema (read: swelling) in one eyelid. Boy, does that look weird. Or it would look weird, if I could open my stupid eye enough to SEE it. Maybe it's just as well if I can't . . .

debsnm said...

OK, that one got me - WAY TOO CUTE!!!!!

Anonymous said...

sorry about the migraines...but I can't believe you're so together your baby matched her sheets... (amy lane)