That’s right, girl, it’s all you. 13 balls of Den-M-Nit in Dark Indigo to make Raspy. Let’s hope I have enough, or else I’m gonna cry.
Inspired by Wendy, Terhi, Joy, Kris and Crafty Wench’s detailed analysis of the denim yarns. But all in all, I blame it on Diana. There I’ve said it. Come and get me.
Update: Uh oh.. are my eyes playing tricks on me? Shouldn’t I get wider swatch with the sz 6’s? Should I resort to Sz 4 and 5 for my Raspy?

Meet Exhibit A — the highly acclaimed, highly coveted sock yarn. Her name is Opal.
So after knitting a few pairs, I thought I had gathered enough experience to splurge for a pair of Opal socks. You know, just to see what it’s like. So I bought Exhibit A, pulled out a few yards of the yarn, saw that it had two repeating segments, and pondered: “Hm, self patterning. That should be interesting.” I went about my usual routine - you know, the Sz 0 toothpicks and 60sts for my toe-ups, and knit knit knit. Holy crap. The stockinette looks like barf. Okay.. since it’s so crazy looking, might as well throw in a Chevron pattern to see if that helps any. Woah.. more barf. Okay.. maybe.. ribbing would help - you know, conceal the color changes. Knit knit knit.. ah shit, that trick is for self-striping socks. Duh. Then I thought: “Must be the toe-ups. It’s screwing with the patterning. Oh man.. does that mean I gotta do ‘em top down?” So, CO 60 sts and knit a few rows just to see if any pattern emerges. Do you see any? Well, yea, neither do I. Self-patterning my ass. Is there some kind of a magical CO # that I’m missing? Shoulda gone with the Opal Uni’s instead. Bleh.

The yarn for my SYNO swap has finally decided to appear at my doorsteps, on my birthday too! Funny how that turned out. Took the US postal service long enough. I will be knitting Backyard Leaves for Anna. It’s interesting too, since I have been dying to try out Knitpick’s Merino Style, and that’s exactly what she sent. In pink nonetheless. I predict it’s going to be an enjoyable knit.And on top of that, she sent a pack of Canadian delicacy - Smarties! Wow the last time I had those was.. um.. when I was still in college. Brings back some fond memories. And the packages didn’t stop there. My 1 skein of yarn from Uruguay arrived today too - I guess that means finishing the Clapo2 won’t be too far ahead. Perfect for fall.
Oh, I’ve been tagged by Miss McSpazzitron. It’s one I did in July, so here’s the link to it.

I had every intention of presenting a beautiful I DO shrug. Really, every intention. The thing is, after I finished knitting it.. like 3 weeks ago.. I had the feeling in my stomach that it is too big. I even got gauge. Heck, merino streeeetches… But, I hoped blocking would help. I procrastinated until last night.. and finally blocked the damned thing.
Yup, I even put on a strapless dress for you all to see. Sad to say, this little thingamajig will have to be ripped. Good thing the wedding reception won’t be until the end of the year. Hallelujah. All is not lost though, because the mailman dropped this off today….*snicker* I think the gods are telling me that the shrug needs to be ripped too. Why else would I receive the yarn winder today?
Update on Clapo2: I ended up ordering that ONE skein of yarn to finish it off. It will take a month for it to get here. Keep your eyes peeled… *tap tap tap*
Update: okay that was fun…. let’s not do that again for this shrug. Thank you for the yarn winder, honey!.

Moments after winding up that handpainted merino from Uruguay, I started knitting Clapo2 right away. 650yds of yummy goodness. I’ve often wondered what other knitters meant when they described their yarn as being sproingy, and now I know. Boing! boing! Now you if remembered my Clapo1, you would know that I used less than 600 yds of the Lorna’s Laces goodness and still ended up with more yarn to knit an extra straight repeat ( I did 14 repeats, btw, using sz 7 needles). So I figured, ooh.. I can totally bump this baby up to 15-16 repeats no problem and wrap myself in this divine sproinginess.

NO. SUCH. LUCK.
I think I’ve been short-changed on the yarn. At first, I thought maybe it’s the difference between knitting with sport-weight and worsted weight yarn, but then again, I am using the exact same needles and I am supposed to have more yarn than the last time, so what’s the deal yo? I’m already into the third ball of yarn and if I were to use it up, I’d only have 11 straight repeats instead of the original 13 in the pattern. WTF? Another giant dishcloth? It would take about a month just to order another ball of yarn and wait for it to fly from Uruguay to Los Angeles. The more I think about it, the more angered I am because I’ve worked on it ALL WEEKEND LONG and I really wanted to have it done by next week.
Yes, I could probably rip it all out and make a narrower Clapo2. But I like the width, I like the parts that are already knitted up, and I want it to wrap around me, not just my neck. No siree, there will be no ripping the Clapo2. Why? Because the yarn sticks and dropping those stitches was no fun feat. I can hardly conjur up the courage to rip. Damn it. I sent an email to the lady who sold me this yarn.. so we’ll see if she will respond to me. And it better be soon, cuz patience is not my virtue. I feel cheated. yuck.