Thursday, September 22, 2005

The Yarn Bites Back

Having beaten Rosy Fingered Dawn into submission by a combination of stern words and the "Paddington Bear Stare" all appears to be plain sailing. That's all it was - an appearance. It came time to change to "Blue Cloud", except "Blue Cloud" was still in the skein. I like to wind as I go. It gives me something else to do besides knit. It leaves the yarn relaxed until it's time to be wound up. It gives me a right headache. The skein went on the swift in a very docile manner. That didn't last long. It tangled, it pulled, it twisted, it stuck to itself. It was coaxed, cajoled, cursed; it was taken off the swift, it was put back on the swift; it was spoken to (in two languages) very sternly indeed; it was stared at with a basilisk glance. Talk about psychological warfare - I am exhausted but I have bent the yarn to my will. It was eventually wound into two balls. Two? Yes, because, to add insult to injury, there was a knot in it. Only in one of the two plys but there was a knot, nevertheless. Why do they do that? Don't get me started.

All I have to do now is knit Chart 6. Couldn't be simpler:



This is "Boreas, the North Wind: Horseshoe and Horse's Mane". You can see the horseshoe appearing between the stitch markers.

The whole nine yards:



Nine yards seems to just about cover it.

We are quite near the end now (only four more rounds of this chart and then we are on to the border - bet there'll be a lot of fun and games there) so it's about time I started on displacement activities. I saw this so I made this:



This is the back of the fox. Yarn is Colinette Silky Chic and Patons Eskimo, left over from Knitty's Vegan Fox.

Here's the front:



I didn't happen to have any white eyelash yarn, so have used something I did happen to have. I can't remember what it is and I'm too lazy to root out the ball band - it's some furry stuff, it's white-ish, what more do you want?

If I could find the bag of stuffing that I know is present in this house, the fox would be finished by now, but I can't, so it's not.

How many more little bits of trivia will I start before Rosy Fingered Dawn is finished? The book is open. (You can do a spread bet, if you want.)

2 comments:

KnitYoga said...

Rosy Fingered Dawn is looking fabulous and really interesting, too, with all that mythological meaning in its stitches! :-)

Luscious Gracious said...

Kate, You have created the mythical Foxbot!! Congratulations! Who would have guessed it, all the way over there in England? It must be all of that mythology and mysticism conjured up by the beautiful shawl. Enjoy the wine and chocolate, dear, and have a great weekend.
kiki