Knitting the silk

Last night I did baseball knitting from a distance. Usually I'm doing it at the actual games, but this game was in Colorado. DS#1 plays for Potomac State College, a Junior College (JUCO) in West Virginia, and their team made it to the JUCO World Series! (Check out this article where he pitched a no-hitter a couple of weeks ago.) His team played for the first time last night, and won 12-6. We were able to listen to the radio over the computer (how odd that sounds), and so this is what I knitted last night. (Check out the previous day's entry to see where I had left off.)


I've been worrying about the yarn running out, and it turns out to be a very real worry. The balls didn't seem really big to make a whole top, especially this Chevron Rib Tank. If you notice from the picture, I've used up the first ball, and the back is only up to the armpits. (I did save the larger ball for the front, though.)

I started thinking about the yardage. When I started, I thought the yardage was 998 yds, plenty to do this pattern. Then I looked at the pattern again--oh, that was the price. Well, 680 yds is still enough since it calls for 600.

But it seems to knit up so quickly. Hmmm.... Well, that's because it's a bulky weight, not worsted like the pattern calls for. So a bulky weight shouldn't need as much yardage since it's thicker. Hmmm...Let's look at the label again.

Arrgghhh! Why did I never notice this before? It's 680 yds PER POUND, and I only have half a pound. That's 340 yds!!!! What'll I do?

A sane person would stop right there, maybe rip out the yarn and find a new project. Not me. I just picked it right back up and continued to knit. Maybe a solution will present itself soon.

I'm even considering stopping the back, putting it on spare needles, and starting on the front--just to see how far I can get. Is that persistance? Or just craziness? (That second ball IS bigger, afterall.)

While we're on the subject of this yarn, what's with all the chaff? I have to stop every now and then just to pick out a piece. I understand how bits of hay/straw/vegetable matter gets caught into a sheep's fleece, but what about the silk? Is the silk worm rolling around the hay before spinning its cocoon?

And finally, here is a picture of me wearing my blue cotton tank (that I crocheted an edge around the neckline/armholes and like much better.)

I asked DH to take this picture, which he very readily complied. After about 10 pics, I commented that it didn't really matter what my face looked like since I was going to crop it off anyway--I just wanted the sweater to look good.

"Oh, you want a picture of the sweater?" he asked. Turns out he thought I just wanted a picture of me, and while I never want pictures of me, in fact I am usually yelling "Don't get me in that picture", he figured he'd seize the opportunity. So he took a few more and I posted one with me AND the sweater, and a promise not to delete the others...