One stitch at a time

[cimorene]

Puppy sitting

Luci the Havanese dog was here over the weekend, but I only got one nice long walk in the sun with her because the weather didn't cooperate. Our niece has been delivered to Sweden and is settling in and starting to cook badly, and her parents came back and picked up the dog very late last night. Tristana refused to sleep in the bed when the dog was there this time, even though the last few times we had the dog here, she came back after the first night! I had to endure 3 nights without a cat to cuddle, which is incredibly rough and makes it hard to sleep (the dog sleeps by my feet or in the dog bed on the bed, so she does not substitute for a cat). We changed all the dog-contaminated sheets last night and I started washing the sofa covers she lay on today.

Remaking sweaters

I finished unraveling my chartreuse grandpa cardigan in dk-weight merino, and for the first time after frogging I wound the balls of yarn into skeins on the swift and washed them thoroughly. Now they've dried (that was really fun and made me feel like I was reenacting something, twisting the skeins and hanging them to dry in the sun) I've started winding them back into cakes for re-knitting. I needed to wash the yarn, because the sweater was worn a lot, and this way it is also no longer crimped like ramen noodles. I only finished half the cakes today, though. After I have them all I can weigh it to find out how many meters I have left (I had to snip threads and discard various parts a bit more this time). If there's not enough to make a whole oversized pullover, I will add another color and make a striped one. But I will not be remaking the long grandpa cardigan yet, and when I do it will definitely be in a proper wool this time, not merino. It will have slit pockets and a double knit button band, and a higher v-neck as well.

My experience has convinced me that dk-weight merino is just too functionally inferior to regular woolly wool in too many ways, and I'll probably not be making any more sweaters out of it, but it does have the benefit of softness. (And it baffles and irritates me how popular it is on ravelry!!) It makes a nice sweatshirt for lounging around with pajamas, as long as you can compensate for the fact that the ribbing isn't properly elastic and give the shoulders a solid seam to prevent the weight of the fabric from dragging it down and stretching the hell out of the neck. I tried to compensate for that in my 2nd to last house sweater attempt with a turtleneck and very fitted slim sleeves, but the turtleneck turned out to be too warm for me to wear, even lounging, except at the absolute coldest few weeks of the year. The blue merino pullover Wax made me a few years ago is my current lounging sweatshirt (when it gets chilly again), but it has major drawbacks: not being able to push the cuffs up, and the fact that the neck is too big even after I added a seam around the neck opening to limit the stretching. The sleeves are also too long. Both neck and sleeves block to measurements! They just don't stay there when they're on my body and I'm standing up. Because merino is softer than it is elastic. I guess I need to remake this one too, but unfortunately I would not like them striped together.

Comments

[haphazardmethod]

I love cats so much, especially demanding ones for whom you must wash everything before she deigns to return. With all my cats, I’ve made small adjustments here and there until looking back, I realize I’ve turned my life’s routines upside down for them. :)

[cimorene]

I don't know if she would come back right away without it, actually. She is very clingy and wants to snuggle all the time usually so maybe, but she did stay away part of Sunday night after the sheets were changed.

We are both inclined to change the sheets after the dog leaves anyway, though, because she smells a bit like dog.