Tuesday, September 01, 2009

I've Got the Wool Itch

Hoo, boy.

I've got that itch.

I just made a deadline and sent off a manuscript yesterday to my editor (WHOO AND HOOOO!), and she's got four manuscripts ahead of mine to read before she'll get to me, so I KNOW it'll be at least a month before she gets around to reading mine.

Which is good. It stops me from click-click-clicking at my email to see what my editing letter will look like.

But now I'm dying to cast something on, and I can't decide what. I'm torn between Venezia and Bonnie.

Bonnie, all solid cabled goodness, she's great, isn't she? 18 stitches per inch, she'd go fast. I've ordered yarn for her, and hopefully it will be here tomorrow. I could be done with her in three or four weeks. I'm a fast cable knitter. It's a sensible knit. An attractive knit. A sweater I'd wear in the mornings as I sit writing before I go to the day job.

Venezia? I'm out of my dang mind. I have the yarn in hand, having bought it more than a year ago. I swatched last year on size US 0 needles, and they were TOO BIG. I swatched again last night, and you know what? I'd have to knit the whole sweater on triple oughts. A sweater knit on acupuncture needles. That oughta be fun.

AND I WANT TO CAST ON FOR IT.

That's what finishing a novel does for my head. Apparently, I lose my mind.

I know that knitting a sweater on triple 000 needles is exactly the same number of stitches as knitting it on size 0s or on size 4s.

But then again, somehow, it's not, is it? I once knit Alice Starmore's Cromarty on US 1s, so I know from crazy.



And now that I've blogged this, I think I've worn my resistance, the slight little bit I had left, right out. I'm moving over to the couch, and I'm casting on. Me and my magnifying glass and my loose, loose gauge. We'll be over there while you laugh. I'll see you next year. (Sigh. It's a pullover. I'll never wear a pullover, and I don't want to modify it into yet another a cardigan! I'm out of my damn mind...)

12 Comments:

Blogger Sharon said...

If my vote counts - Venezia. 1. because I love doing Fair Isle, way over cables. 2. because that model sorta looks like you, so I know it'll look good. kwim?

7:55 PM  
Blogger Nancy Herkness said...

OMG, Venezia is just fabulous! No wonder you can't resist casting on those itty bitty stitches. I would go blind but I'm alot older than you are. Go for it while you have young eyes! ;-)

9:01 PM  
Blogger Ann said...

Look at the armscyes. Venezia wins.

9:15 PM  
Blogger JelliDonut said...

Mother of God. Venezia?!?! How about choosing a different yarn? The difference between 0 and 000 is the difference between a tooth pick and a telephone pole! Still...

9:45 PM  
Blogger Elizabeth Delisi said...

I'd vote for Venezia too, because cables drive me stark raving bonkers. ;-)

9:54 PM  
Anonymous Erika said...

I can barely bring myself to knit socks at that gauge. The thought of a whole sweater gives me pause.

We are Sisters In Gauge. I always have to go down at least 2 needle sizes to get gauge.

10:01 PM  
Blogger R.G.Sell said...

I guess I need to get over my idea that Fair ISle is hard and would take forever- I always go for the cables...

11:40 AM  
Anonymous Nephele said...

Is there any reason you can't knit both? Sure it'll take longer to get to the finished sweaters but if you've got both on needles then you can switch out when your hands/eyes/brain gets tired of the tiny. Once you've done a bit on the easier cabled goodness you'll be refreshed and ready for more tiny fairisle.

Did I mention that I probably have about 30 different projects on the needles at any given moment and at least 5 are actively being worked on?

11:46 AM  
Anonymous Celia said...

Venezia! Venezia! You are just the right amount of crazy.

5:25 PM  
Blogger Julie said...

The "18 sts per inch, she'd go fast" had me very confused. I was quite relieved when I looked up the pattern & saw that it's 18 sts per 4". I think you'd need something even smaller than triple 0 to achieve 18 sts per inch!

I'd go for "knit both"!

5:56 PM  
Blogger Turtle said...

lol, venezia is gorgeous! i know what you mean about the wool itch! i took knitting with us the other day, a simple wool cabled hat, good car knitting...it ran between 101-109 our whole trip! i only knit in the car with the a/c, smile. On our way home last night we had to laugh when we stopped for a bathroom break around 2 in the morning to see the temp was only 50.

3:28 AM  
Anonymous Lynn R said...

Venezia of course.

I love Cromarty, but I didn't love the boyfriend of the same name, so I will never knit it. But maybe since it's been 20 years since we split up I should just get over it.

3:49 PM  

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