Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Sweater Math

Rain falls off and on this morning. After last night's thunderstorms, the birch leaves drip with moisture. The temperature is lower but the humidity is not. Summer is wearing out its welcome so rain is a nice break. The local house finches moved a new brood out of the nest. I have been watching an adult male and female feed two youngsters squawking for seeds. Chickadees flit in the birch while the scrawniest juvenile cardinal I have ever seen nudges his way onto the feeder. He has some growing to do.

The sweater I wrote about last week sits in a tote bag. No matter what order I knit the sleeves, body, and button band, I don't have enough yarn. Five skeins equals five skeins. And as Kym commented, knitting faster doesn't make any difference. I have also tried that method. No wonder Math was not my strongest subject. I can't find any yarn of the same dye lot. If I try to knit with a different dye lot, I have a feeling the fabric would have a strange stripey look. I'd rather reclaim the yarn for another project. I have experience ripping out, re-skeining, and washing yarn for another day. It's all just knitting and getting more knitting time from the same yarn.

The scrappy shawl (above) came out well. I also knit a bit on the yellow/peach socks. The Hermione's Everyday Sock pattern is a classic and shows off the color variation. My daughter picked out this yarn for her Christmas socks. Yellow has always been one of her favorite colors so knitting on these sunny socks makes me happy. It is about time to cast on a few gift knits for the holidays. I am also due for a winter sweatshirt type sweater. The sweater I have worn for years met its end last spring so I am contemplating my options for another. This time I'll make sure to have an extra skein.

I am enjoying Lab Girl. If a teacher had explained any science to me the way Jahren writes about  botany, I might have studied science. Her feelings and experiences as woman scientist speak to the work still needed on gender bias. As a side note, the specific examples about money allotted to scientific work in this country is also worth knowing. We have so much work still to be accomplished. 

Linking to Kat and the Unravelers who write about making and reading. And what are you working on today?










7 comments:

  1. My heart is sore over your yarn foibles! Gah - I am so sorry. But your scrappy shawl is lovely!

    I think I need to find a copy of Lab Girls and queue it up for some September reading!

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  2. I too am sorry about your shawl but I think you've moved on and that's the good thing. You've a lot of projects on tap and cooler weather is arriving sooner than we think. Summer always wears its welcome out for me and I'm so looking forward to fall - my fave season!
    Looking forward to seeing the socks for your girl ...yellow's my fave color.
    Cheers~

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  3. oh a sweatshirt type sweater sounds like I might wear it!! I don't like tight sleeves! Sorry about your math. Lab girl has gotten some good reviews!

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  4. Better to face up to realistic sweater math and rip and re-use. Those five skeins will go on to be something better. Your scrappy shawl is really lovely and so are those socks. That yarn really is peachy!

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  5. Sorry about your sweater math! But, now you have the option of knitting something else!! Your shawl is lovely and the yarn for your daughter's socks is great.

    We had storms come through last night that lowered our temps too...but not the humidity. More forecast for tonight and tomorrow should be very pleasant.

    I thought I had tried to read Lab Girl and didn't like it...but looking it up on Amazon, I don't think I did. I need to put that on my list TBR.

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  6. Oooh! What gorgeous yellow yarn! For the sweater, can you add a contrasting color for the ribbing and make it look intentional?

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  7. love your scrappy shawl immensely! I'm sorry you do not have enough yarn for the sweater, such a bummer. We have cooler weather (finally!!) and I have the back door opened and I'm enjoying fresh air.

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