Greetings Unravelers!
Is it just me, or did April just bolt past at record speed? Anyways, we find ourselves at our last Wednesday in April… boo! But, it has been a good month!
Recently, I have had some great questions and some even better discussions that all were not privy to all… so I thought since they are knitting related, I’d talk about my responses here!
First, the questions:
First, José asked some very good questions regarding last Friday’s post…
I thought I’d break down her questions individually:
She worries that a skirt will wear more on the bottom (no, not that bottom, the sitting bottom…i.e. your butt…) and that is a great concern. Having knit a skirt that I wore the heck out of… I can happily say that that yarn (Elsbeth Lavold’s Silky Wool) wore extremely well! No sitting sags, ever. No wear on the backside… ever. Silk and wool… excellent choice. Next she asks would a merino/cotton blend hold… I think there would be more bagging on the backside with cotton/wool. I have knit 3 sweaters with Holst Garn Coast… all with the yarn held double… and eventually I get “elbow bags” in the sleeves. So, yes – I think it will eventually get a “saggy bottom” perhaps quicker than the sleeves get elbow bags. However, the plus for Coast is that with a wash, it is like a “just knit” garment! Sans bags and sags! And it wears well… Coast is a yarn that resists pilling but when it does, they are few and easy to remove!
Then Vera and I got to talking about yarns and the knitting of that skirt and the conversation went in a bit of a different direction… I began to think more about the “no saggy bottom” of the Silky Wool and started to think about Holst Garn’s Tides… their silk/wool blend. I have knit a sweater with this and I love it. (Granted, it has no sleeves so I am guessing at the sag factor) but I think it would work beautifully for a skirt! I would knit a denser fabric than I did on that first skirt eons ago (I had to be careful what color underwear I wore…just sayin’.) But I think Nell has knit her skirt at a denser gauge as well (worsted yarn knit on a US5, I believe)… I’d also recommend knitting a large swatch….like 40 or 50 stitches across large! I was recently reminded by the brilliant Julia Farwell-Clay here… Sometimes you need a BIG swatch so that you can really see and feel the fabric! (It makes a huge difference!)
After all that thought… I will be ordering some Tides to knit mine! (And yes, Vera… held double!) Who’s up for a bit of a KAL on this skirt? Anyone in?
Now about about a brief knitting update:
I completed another pair of socks! What? I know… it is a record for me! I have another pair of socks that I started eons ago but never finished (Hermoine’s Socks) and they are coming with me on vacation…starting May with a new pair of socks to tuck away for a chilly November seems like a delightful thing to do for future me!
I also have been fastidiously knitting away on a Gnome House! Theoretically, I’d like to have it done before we leave on Thursday afternoon… and then I can do some stitching on it! But, that is not likely… and that’s okay. But really, those socks will be more than enough! (I don’t knit much on vacation!)
It has been a (very) slow reading week for me. I am more than halfway through Babel and so far, so good! I know some of you thought the start was better than the middle, but I am staying engaged… it has an excellent narrator and I am enjoying it.
I have also circled back to thinking about Dani Shapiro’s Signal Fires when I got a copy of Edward Hirsch’s The Night Parade. I have been reading it… oh gosh. I am feeling all the “Ben Vibes” … and it is such a perfect place to be! (be thankful the poems in it are all too long for Poem in Your Pocket Day! LOL)
At night, I am still reading The Covenant of Water… yes, still. I am so close the the end that I just need to sit down and finish it (not at night when I instantly fall asleep!) I have some incentive to finish, I just got Sarah Winman’s Tin Man from the library and I want to read it… now! (and I just got approved for another Netgalley book… so I have my vacation reading plan!)
And I think that is enough for this final Wednesday in April! What about you? How did April feel for you all?
As always, if you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!
I feel like I blinked and missed April! Really interesting insights into sag/bag/stretch, thanks so much.
You’ve put lots of thought into your skirt so I’m sure it will turn out beautifully. Those socks look cozy and I’m sure the gnomes will be glad when their house is built/knit. Since you’ve got knitting and reading planned you are almost ready for vacation!
lovely socks! April was a weird month with 80 degree weather too early and now we are flirting with overly cold and damp weather. I fear for my peonies!!
Good to know you have the important things sorted out for vacation (reading and knitting!). I can’t wait to see your gnome house. I predict you may end up with a little village (because, so many gnomes…). I’m back to leaning towards Rowan Creative Linen for the skirt. I just can’t make up my mind…..Meanwhile – have a wonderful vacation – can’t wait to hear all about it!
I have never really been interested in knitting a skirt, but I’ll be following along with your progress because you never know when the mood might strike me to make one! I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts when you finish Babel. I really liked most of it, but somewhere in the middle toward the end, it was a bit of a slog for me. The socks are lovely and I certainly hope you do not need them on your trip. Have a wonderful time!
I am definitely IN for the skirt. (I ordered the Rowan yarn specified in the pattern.) I figure the butts gonna sag . . . because that’s what they do (and I’m not talking just about the skirt, y’know?). But I’m willing to take my chances — and re-block as necessary. I wear a lot of knit tunics and skirts and dresses, and . . . yep. They do sag in the butt. But they also spring back into shape when washed. 🙂
Ooh a gnome house, how wonderful. Love your new socks, mine have gone on the back burner in order to finish the King. I don’t think I’d dare wear a knitted skirt with all my lumpy bits! Good luck to you all. Have a fantastic trip, and enjoy the knitting and reading.
You know, April has been a lovely month here. It’s always nice to have a new pair of socks tucked away for November and beyond. This pair looks very nice. I’m glad to hear you are looking forward to vacation and some good reading. I hope you have a wonderful time.
I cannot wait to see your gnome house!
I thought of you a bunch of times today…spent my birthday in Erie. The arboretum was a beautiful walk, and coffee at Ember & Forge was lovely! (The art museum is right next door–but it’s closed on Wednesdays.) A beautiful sunny day, blue skies, and tall masts in the harbor! It awaits you!!
Thank you for the elaborate answer and all the tips that came with it ! I will definetely be looking into a knitted skirt now. Probably not the shakerag; though I love the looks, I don’t enjoy wearing such ‘tight’ skirts. And I will do an investigation at my LYS for the right yarn.
Your socks look lovely !