Can I Placate you with Photos of my Swift?

So, the opera gloves are coming right along! I'm at the hand right now, trying to figure out how many stitches need to be there, when to decrease for the princess seam, how to make the ring part of it (I think I'm going to end up casting on more stitches, but I should probably try to make a ring out of this stuff first to really figure out how many stitches need to be there etc.

To take a break from the mental torture, however, last night I decided that I was going to wind a few balls of yarn. I started with the Artyarns Ultramerino 4. This is the yarn that my mom made me buy when what I really wanted was the Koigu. Unfortunately, it's not Koigu. I want to use it on the socks from the new Interweave: Embossed Leaves Socks



The big question I have if anyone reading this has used Ultramerino 4 is whether or not I can toss it in the washer and dryer or not. I'm getting varying responses to this question from the various people and livejournal community members I've asked so far. The idea of getting Koigu was that it is, in fact, washable. While the instructions on the Ultramerino 4 labels say that it should be hand washed - so does Koigu's. Any opinions?

That being said, into the pictures!!! I haven't posted any pictures of my swift/ball winder, so I'm pretty excited. I did this all last night. Here's the setup I've got going:



That's an Ikea table that turns into a triangle from a square. I think it's the best table I've ever seen in my entire life. It worked quite well with the ball winder and swift. They held onto the table surprisingly well.

I also have before and after shots of the Mohair in Motion mohair I got at Rhinebeck:

Before....


and after winding!

This is from Mohair in Motion. The woman that was at their booth at Rhinebeck was really nice. She even held my yarn for me while I went to the ATM which was on the other side of the fair. I definitely shouldn't have bought the yarn then, I totally didn't have the money for it, but I told myself that I would do something good with it. It's 78% Mohair, 13% wool, and the color is Jewel. It's a deep tealy green that has wisps of a red in it. You have to look real close for the red. I bought 1,000 yards of it and I think I'm going to try to make a sweater out of it. Something simple, probably the London Calling sweater from SNBN without the intarsia. I like the shape of that sweater, and I think I can probably get about the same gauge or something.

Anyone reading the Yarn Harlot probably knows about the Olympic Challenge that's underway. I've come up with a project, and I think I'll end up buying the yarn before the week's end. This is the perfect excuse to knit my brain off for a sweater because I might be able to complete it in time, and also because if I finish the project in two weeks there will still be enough winter left for me to actually wear said sweater. A long time ago I found a pattern in one of Crafty Girl Knits' Rowan books that I fell in love with. I decided upon seeing it that it must be done. I've never knitted a sweater before so I'm a bit tense about the deadline there, but I think it will ultimately be for the best. Maybe I'll even get to see some of the Olympics. Sometimes I really wish I had a bigger space so I could invite my knitting friends over for some chips, wine, cheese, knitting and TV. It would be such a nifty event to have a knitting party to watch the beginning of the Olympics while casting on for the Olympic project. The Rules for the Olympic challenge can be found on the Yarn Harlot's blog (but that's a direct link to the original post - I noticed that there's more on it in a later post). The fun starts 2pm February 10th.

So, my Olympic project is going to be:


Rowan's Angie Sweater

I love the drop stitching, and the fit of it looks really comfortable. I need to translate what their grams of Cotton tape end up being yardage wise so I can grab some knitpicks something or other to knit it with. I'm thinking Sierra. It's a bit cheaper than what I was going to use (Decadence), and has more color options. I'm tossing it up right now between Grape, Wild Rose, and Lettuce - but I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with Grape (purple is, afterall, supposed to be the color of the year). Thanks to a really special friend, I have a gift certificate to Knit Picks, so it might not be ridiculously expensive (which is good considering that I lost my metrocard yesterday and have to get a whole new monthly pass). This is also good because it will go well with my New Year's Resolution.

I think I'd like to gather cheerleaders to cheer me on as I undertake this insane endeavor. Any volunteers?