Tuesday, November 14, 2006

'Tis the season.

For the weather to turn cold and all the bugs to come into the house, looking for a nice place to winter over. Sekhmet and I found a giant roach (excuse me, palmetto bug) doing the back stroke in her water dish this morning. She's been on overtime killing ginormous bugs, and I've been going along after her picking them up. So far the baby hasn't gotten hold of any. Or if she has, I don't wanna know, because there's no evidence of it which means she's eaten them.

Definitely don't wanna know.

Since my hands are bothering me from the all day gansey marathon on Sunday (weight is bad, and the one drawback to seamless sweaters is, they get damn heavy when you've got all the sleeves and body and everything joined up for the last shoulder bit), I decided yesterday I was going to finish the mohair scarf I'd been working on.

Yes, finish. At the time, that didn't seem like an unreasonable goal. I can do a pattern repeat in about fifteen minutes and I had most of the day to dig into the thing. I'd already done about two feet, how much longer could it take?



Longer than a day, apparently. I knit most of yesterday on the damn thing; I don't know how many pattern repeats I did, but I lost count at eight, so more than that. It just goes on and on and on and on, and I swear the ball of yarn looks like I didn't do anything. It's as heavy and thick as it was yesterday morning.

I hate scarves.

Here's a closeup of the stitch pattern; it almost kinda sorta looks like leaves. Maybe. If you squint. (It's a bias pattern.)



And now I've done four rows on the gansey and my hands have started to hurt, which means working on the scarf for the rest of the day.

Hate scarves.

9 comments:

TrishJ said...

very pretty! Hugs on the hands. I'm making chicken soup from scratch. Want some?

Anonymous said...

i hate scarves too. i've been knitting for over 4 years now, and just finished my first scarf last week. give me a hat or a sock or a mitten any day!

Amy Lane said...

See...this is why I'm still a dilletante...when I want to make an 'easy project' I do impossible yarn scarves...you do works of art...

Bells said...

I hear you. I hate scarves too. They're one of those projects you get to the end of and feel glad for having made it, but the road to getting there was hell.

It's very pretty though. I think I'll do something like that as my More Ambitious Lace Project.

Sheepish Annie said...

Palmetto bugs!! Blah!!! Hate those little critters...

Yup, the I see the leaves. Even if it is a project of hatred, it is looking pretty good, there! Nice work!

Alwen said...

Nice pattern. On the bias, doh, wish I'd thought of that!

I don't hate scarves, but I'm not real fond of the big needles I'm knitting mine on.

Old cartoon: "What's that bug doing in the dog's water dish?"

[peers down] "Looks like the backstroke."

April said...

I, for one, love scarves. And I really love your current project. Leaves, I love me some lacy leaves.

Where's The Baby?

Rae said...

If you haven't already, just wait til you see those ugly suckers fly (the palmetto bugs, that is). Fucking freaky if you ask me. Nothing that ugly should fly.

Agreed on the scarves. A necessary evil. At least they're relatively quick, albeit repetitious and boring. Yours is beautiful all the same!

Good luck with the hands. Be nice to them. They have to last you a looong time.

Julie said...

Flying cockroaches are common in Hawaii and known as B-52's.

I once had one fly straight in my face during a horticulture class and interrupted the lecture by yelling "Motherfucking sonofabitch!" I apologized to the professor several times, but I don't think she ever forgave me.