Thanks so much, everyone, for your patience during the server move. No one even yelled at me, which was so nice! Everything’s working perfectly now and faster, to boot. I’m sure there were plenty of people swearing at me under their breath on Tuesday, but they kept it to themselves, and I’m thankful.

This is the last weekend for Fiber Club renewals. On Monday, I’ll open the club up to everyone.

Onto knitting, which seems to hate me lately. I’ve ripped and re-knit the Fantom Bohus sweater’s yoke twice, the last time due to a big math error (so lame- calculator, Adrian!), but I love it to bits now.

Click for big popup, so you can see it all well.

I had to change the order of the colors around a bit this time, because I changed the pattern to be more subtle and the transitions turned out to be too hard to see in the original order. I’d wanted the colors to go from lightest to darkest down through the yoke, so it looked like it was fading as it went up, but the way it is now is a good compromise. The vertical stripes add so much to the design, I think, so I’m really glad I ripped and re-knit.

I discovered when I tried this on that even though the bright, limey green is the softest yarn in the yoke, it’s really not soft enough to touch my neck. The neck is going to have to be lined. I have a cone of cashmere fingering weight so now the fun of dyeing it to match can be had.

Oh, Tomten, my Tomten.

This sweater really hates me. This is short row shoulder #2, and it’s still a little off. Jared helped me out immensely with this shoulder, and the idea is spot on, but the fit isn’t great on me. I will forge ahead with this. Do not fear. More math will be done. Since I’m using chunky yarn, at least the miles of garter aren’t that much of a chore.

Have you seen Jared’s Tomten? Go look. It’s glorious. This will all still be here when you get back.

In super exciting news, another friend of mine is pregnant. More baby knitting!!

I’m back in one piece, tired, and starving the moment I wake up (damn jet lag)! I took a bunch of photos. Want to see?

I knit like a maniac on the way over, and then knit quite a bit on the beach on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands, but woe is me, didn’t even pay attention to what I was doing, so at some point after that photo was taken, I cocked things up badly and there’s a lot of ripping for me to do.

Just so’s you know, I was allowed to attempt (I love it) to get needles on the plane coming back, but I didn’t chance it since bags are searched at least twice and no one at the first two stops could tell me if the third would allow the needles through. I don’t think they would have, as they searched through everything like maniacs, even digging into change purses and the like. The EU doesn’t seem to have a written policy on knitting needles like the TSA does (they’re allowed). The little dental floss container cut my yarn nicely, so thanks for that tip!

Back to work!

I’m all packed.

Customer-type people, in particular, please note that I’ll be away from the 5th through the 13th. I’m taking a real vacation for the first time in 6 years, which means no internet access. Boy, do I shudder to think about what my inbox will look like when I get back! I’ll start working on orders as soon as I return and wake up properly.

Fiber Club:
I’m shipping this today and tomorrow. I hope you all love it! It’s a new fiber, and delicious.

Bohus Sweater:

The chart (see above photo) is all worked out. I’ve drawn heavily from the “Red Palm” sweater in Poems of Color. “Red Palm” has the subtle color shifts I aspire to with this sweater, so hopefully the chart translates to my yarn well. We’ll see- I haven’t swatched the chart!

8 oz. of body yarn has been spun, also.

Handspun from Fantom Farm wool/alpaca mix roving.
approx. 175 yards/ just shy of 4 oz. each, worsted weight

This yarn is a medium softness with very slippery feel and gorgeous halo. This was a real pleasure to spin.

Spun from one of these. Two more to go, if necessary.

See you next week!