Don't mind me

For some reason, I woke up grumpy this morning. It doesn't help when you've gone to bed at a decent time because you're sleepy and someone comes into the room and decides to watch a rerun of Monty Python and turns the volume up because it's something "you really need to see". No, I don't! I'm not into Monty Python, never have been, never will be. Then, as I tried to doze, he fell asleep. With the TV on. At a higher volume than I usually like. With his glasses on. On top of the covers. Need I say more?

I'm still tired, but I have a hard time sleeping in. The brain kicks in and won't allow me to go back to sleep after about 8 A.M. So I'm up. And now, I've got coffee. Breathe, Evelyn, breathe deeply. Let it go.

Ok, on to knitting. I have my test knitters. Thank you for your willingness to help me out in this effort. I've never done this before (asked for test knitters) and I really appreciate whatever input I'll be getting from each of you. As for me, I'm finding the pattern working up very quickly. My own version of it is almost halfway done and looking good, if I do say so myself.

Then, there's another small project I've been working on. For those of you who have shopped at Art of Yarn and get their newsletter, you'll know about the yarns with a story, including the camel hair yarn from Mongolia. The yarn came to the store in bundles of five skeins; each bundle had a red paper tag with the name of the spinner and the herding community she belongs to. Each skein is 100 grams, no yardage given. It's an interesting yarn, very rustic. Camel hair is very soft, but there are quite a few long, coarse hairs and a fair bit of organic matter remaining in the yarn.

Anyway, the small project I'm working on... I've decided to take a skein and make a faroese-style shawlette, from the top down á la Myrna Stahman. I'm using 5.5 mm needles (US 9) and have, at this point, close to 200 stitches. It's looking really good. John even commented on it last night; he loves it. I figured he would. He really likes natural fibers and that "rustic" (for lack of a better word) look. So far, I've used up about half of one skein. I'm doing the whole thing in stocking stitch with a garter stitch neck edge and I intend to work a lacy edge around the bottom edge. That's where my problem (if you can call it that) comes in. I think I have the edge stitch picked out, but I'm not sure how much yarn it will take. I don't want to go into a second skein (not at $35/skein). I don't know how to figure out how much yarn my chosen edge would take.

Here's what I'm thinking: if I knit up one repeat of the chosen edge pattern (from the opposite end of the ball), measure how much yarn it uses up, then multiply that by the number of pattern repeats it will require to finish the bottom edge, I should have an approximate yardage of how much I'd need, wouldn't I? Does that make sense?

Then, I'd have to measure how much yarn I have remaining (yardage, not weight) and go from there. Ok, you knitting fiends out there, does that make sense? Would that work? Is there an easier method that I'm not aware of?

Enough for now. I'll try to take some pictures today of the shawlette and maybe even of the scarf (well, of the stitch pattern at least... can't have John getting a sneak peek, can we?)

I'm starting to feel better.... just don't cross me yet!