An Alien Invasion

Never thought you'd see this on Pink Lemon Twist did ya? I really do not care for orange. I do not like it in a boat, I do not like it with a goat. I do not like it in a house, I do not like it with a mouse, I do not like it Sam I Am, OK, you get the point. So why are 6+ ounces of orange Kitchen Sink Batts sitting in my house? Well I'll tell you. Last weekend we took Caleb to see Chicken Little and in that movie (this won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it) there is a little orange alien. He's fluffy and orange with orange and red striped legs. I had the same kind of response to the alien that I do to Angora Rabbits, which is to say that I wanted to hug him and squeeze him and just love all over him and possibly talk stupid baby talk to him, but I would never admit that publicly on the Internet - that would just be sad. Anyway, as soon as I saw him, I thought, "He should be socks." Not that I would harm the fluffy little alien, although being a spinner I did wonder what the crimp in his coat was like and if he needed shearing once a year and do you realize that if these aliens were real and not animated we could get fluff to spin that wouldn't need dying? (They came in other colors too.) But I digress. Anyway, I thought SOCKS and all afternoon I kept thinking SOCKS. Well, it just so happens that Kary (Kitchen Sink Batt Kary) had done some orange batts she named the Wild Haired Fairy Wonder. They were orange with streaks of pinky red silk in them and watermelon colored Angelina (really cool sparkly stuff for you non spinners). I had seen these batts and for some reason they spoke to me. They were orange so I ignored them. They kept speaking to me. I ignored them. Kary did the Out Of This World batts (gorgeous pale blue with bits of sari silk in them) which are so much more me, but I was obsessing over the Wild Haired Fairy Wonder. I tried to ignore this obsession. I kept doing the day to day things that must be done, as far as the world knew I had it together, there was no problem. Inside though, I was jonesing for a hit of Wild Haired Fairy Wonder. Finally, after seeing the alien, I had the excuse I needed, so last Saturday night, after we got home, I contacted my dealer, I mean Kary, and got the batts. They arrived yesterday. They are wonderful. They will be socks and I will find some bright pinky red something or other to add stripes to the cuffs. I will have little orange alien socks someday.

In other, more sane news (at least as sane as it gets around here), Carrie of the comments yesterday asked a question about how I had changed the shaping on the sleeves of the Everyday Cardi (I had mentioned that I'd modified them, but not how I'd done it). I modified the whole sweater from a drop shoulder style to a modified drop shoulder style (Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Guide to Sweater Patterns has designs for this style). But Carrie said she was already knitting on the fronts or backs or somewhere on the body, so its probably too late to adapt the body of the sweater. The sleeves can still be adapted though. After finding a number of references to the "batwing" shape of the patterns sleeves, I looked at what the pattern called for. I'm making the smallest size which is 40 inches around the bust (this is supposed to be an oversized, comfy cardigan). The sleeve directions call for an 8 inch cuff in my size, increasing to a 18 inch sleeve top. I decided that 18 inches at the top of the sleeve would probably look good with the sizing of the overall sweater but the cuff just seemed a little small. This is afterall a cardigan and will be worn over another shirt, so a larger cuff is probably a good idea. I decided to cast on enough stitches for a 10 inch cuff (remember of course that I can let the ribbing pull that in or block it out, whatever looks best - haven't made up my mind), and then increase as the pattern directed to 18 inches at the top of the sleeve. I'm happy with the shape of the unblocked sleeve, it doesn't seem too floppy at the top and I think it should be comfortable to wear. I'm more than halfway done with the back of the sweater and hope to get the whole thing done towards the first of next week. We'll see if that works.