As part of my 31 Days of Stash Burning, I came across 2 little balls of Knit Picks Comfy Worsted, one in whisker (silver) & one in peony. We have friends who just discovered that they are having a little girl this coming May & immediately thought – baby sleep sack! I love to knit/crochet sleep sacks, baby bags, whatever you call them & I have a slew of them in my Ravelry gallery. And from the moms & dads who’ve received them, they love them, too, so this project is a win-win.
My FIL was involved with a community group performing the Messiah last night. This group was comprised of singers from several different area churches, a small orchestra and they brought in professional soloists. As it turned out, the bass soloist was a friend from my days singing at ONU – a fabulous baritone. Between the church friends singing & knowing I would enjoy at least one of the soloists, the hubs & I put it on the calendar.
Knowing that I had a few hours of sitting ahead of me and being inspired to do more KIP (knitting in public), I thought – baby sleep sack! Now! So I rewound the balls from my stash (as they had gotten quite sloppy sitting in my worsted weight bin which should have been my first warning sign), grabbed my size 8 circs, and hopped in the car. I’ve used KP Comfy before for a few baby projects and have always been really happy with the outcome. One of my favorite ones can be seen here.
When I cast on, I remarked to the hubs that this yarn felt very slick, more than I remembered. I joined in the round & finished one row before they dimmed the lights for the performance. Having been a musician for so long, I’ve sung the Messiah several times and could sing most of the choruses in my sleep. The sheen of the yarn, I thought, was going to come in handy, as I knit my way through the first few aria/chorus combinations. I looked down between two numbers and realized there was almost a half an inch gap at the beginning of every row. The culprit? The yarn was so slick that it slipped apart while I carried the color up the inside of the work. WHAT?! My tension is so tight when I knit that I normally go up 2 needle sizes, and sometimes go up a yarn size to make gauge without knitting a mesh garment. I’ve /never/ had something like this happen. So I slid my circ out of the work, reposted before the first color change & frogged about 4 inches of knitting, accompanied by Handel’s Pastoral. It could have been worse.
I succeeded in reposting, which I hadn’t done before; normally I just pull the needles out, frog & whine. But since it’s inappropriate to whine during the Messiah (much like it’s inappropriate to whistle or hum along with the soloists or conduct the orchestra from their chair, but that’s for a different blog post), I reposted and tried again. When I realized that there was no way that I could twist & carry my other color & keep enough tension, I calmly decided to commit a knitting sin: I tied knots. Knots are a sacrilege among knitters, as they inhibit the natural movement of the yarn while you’re wearing the garment. Being as I don’t want little baby fingers getting stuck in these holes, the yarn doesn’t need to move/stretch/flex, etc. I happily knitted & knotted my way through the second half.
When I arrived home, I decided to let the sack sit & see if the knots will hold. If they hold, great. If they don’t, I’ll have to frog again, find another yarn that will work for this baby gift & attempt to find different project for the slickest batch of Comfy ever produced.
Donita Westman 