Mythology

I love Greek and Roman mythology. I first fell in love with it when I found a fantastic book at the public library as a child. It had gorgeous illustrations to accompany each myth. I loved how myths explained everyday things, all the whys and hows you ask as a child. Sadly, I can't remember the name of this book as I have been trying to find it again for quite some time.

In high school, I studied Latin (3 years worth) and was on the Junior Classical League team. Yep, NERD! My specialty, was Roman history and myths. My Latin teacher was really kind and knew how much I loved learning about mythology, so she's lend me books to read. I just never grew tired of the exploits of the gods and the poor mortals that got involved with them. It still amazes me how much of it crops up in every day life.

I still like reading those stories. What inspired this post is my recent knitting, at the TV I've been watching to accompany it. My Pegasus mittens and Aster Nyx shawl are two coincidentally mythology named projects. One named for the yarn I'm using and the other being the pattern name. Neither was chosen based on the name or with any theme in mind. It just sortof happened. Oh and as for the TV show I'm watching while knitting. They've got all of Xena on Netflix. I'm such a sucker for the cheese. I always like Xena better than Hercules. Something about tough chicks.


There was finally some decent light this afternoon, so I was able to get some pictures of my finished Pegasus mittens. I think they turned out rather well. The yarn as I've mentioned before the Fresh From the Cauldron merino/silk worsted. It's a single ply yarn, which means it is really warm and cushy. Like the other single ply yarn I've worked with, it's amazingly non-splitty. The luster of the silk gives fantastic stitch definition to the cables. While the memory of the merino makes doing something like mittens possible. I am so in love with this yarn, I have plans to do a matching hat and scarf with it.











As for my shawl, I finished the body today!! Now I just have to finish the 59 edging repeats by Wednesday. Sounds simple right? Even though it's only a 14-17 stitch per row 12 row repeat? Yeah it's taking about 15min/repeat at this point. I think I've finished 4 of them so far. Have so much shawl hanging off one side causes some twisting that slows things down a bit. I see some late nights in my future if I am going to get this done in time.

Wishes

With the holidays quickly approaching, Christmas stuff is everywhere. Knit Picks is again doing their win your wish list contest. To enter, you just add things to your wish list and then share it. So, here is my entry. Also, if anyone is interested in taking a peak, your sure to note my love for all things purple.

I noticed I never did a follow up post regarding The Black Prism. Let me just say, I can't wait for the next book. This was simply brilliant and well written and I'd recommend it to anyone. I also found out Barbara Bretton has a new Sugar Maple book coming out next month! I am pretty sure I've mentioned her books before. They are a guilty pleasure of mine, knitting mystery with a side of romance. What more could a girl want? The new book is Spells and Stitches. She has also put a free short story on smashwords. If anyone is interested.

The snapdragon mittens are coming along well. I've finished the mitt, now I just need to do the -en. I had gotten most of the way through one of the foldover bits and then noticed my picked up stitches were crooked. So I'll be frogging that part.

The starry night shawl is continuing along. I think I can still get it done by the end of the month. I am going to try really hard to do so. I'm on row 140 of 172 before starting the edging. It's taking me 30-45 minutes per knit and purl back row combo (or 2 rows total). So that means about 12 hours of knitting left to finish the body of the shawl. Put that way, it doesn't seem like so much. I'm a bit nervous about the edging though, I've never done a knitted on edging like this before. It's always amazing how lace looks like a dirty dishrag until it's blocked.

Sick Day

After 2 weeks of fighting it off, my husband finally managed to infect me with his cold. It's quite a doozy too. It started on Thursday and has been getting worse and worse. So today I've been sitting around the house watching BBC (in HD now, thank you Comcast!) and re-runs of the X Files and Star Trek the Next Generation and drinking Emergen-C. Joe was kind and made me some sausage and kale soup the other night, so I've been working my way through that. It's so delicious and makes me feel a bit better. The kale came from our first CSA box from Whistling Train Farm.

Yesterday it was some comfort in my sickened state that I received some lovely new yarn. I got 3 skeins Fresh From the Cauldron mythos in Athena, Artemis and Pegasus. The Artemis was a swap actually as the gal needed 3 matching skeins and I had one close to what she needed. The one I got from her is a bit darker, but works better for what I want it for anyway. I plan to make a matching hat for my Pegasus Mittens with the second skein I got in this package. My October yarn co-op package from Liberty's Yarn also came in. She can no longer get in her Jabbersocky base and needs to find something to replace it. So this co-op shipment included to different bases which are possible replacements. We get to try them and vote for our favorites. So far each has something I love and something I dislike. It'll be a hard choice.

Joe and his sockhead hat

October was a good knitting month for me. I finished my Elphaba mitts from my last blog post. I also made a sockhead hat for Joe using Rainy Days & Wooly Dogs strychnine in the multipass colorway. Using the leftover yarn from this I also made a yarmulke for a friend of ours.  Lastly I also made a calorimetry for myself. I'm not overly thrilled with it. It's a bit big and doesn't do much for keeping my ears warm.


The Pegasus mittens I am making use Ysolda Teague's Snapdragon pattern. It's a cute convertible (mitten to mitt) design with cables on the cuffs. For the hat, I am thinking of using Al Fresco by Faina Goberstein. I am going to try doing the cables in some Eyes of the Dragon (also FFtC) leftovers that someone was nice enough to give me. I just hope I have enough.


My work on my Starry Night shawl is going well. I am on row 128 out of 172. Once I am finished with the main body, I have to knit on the border. Other than a few bits here and there (mostly due to printing the pattern in black and white) the pattern is really straightforward and not overly difficult. The yarn is a dream to work with, soft and yummy.