Why Dave is cheering

I thought I've give you a series of three photos of Dave the Peacock going into display mode (note the blur of furiously shaking hiney fluff):

And just what is Dave all worked up about? Why, because I've finally uploaded Bristol, the new Real Vermonter yarn!!!!!!!

Here are two skeins of it, balled up and ready to be turned into stranded mittens.

So far, they look like this:]

(Excuse the color problem; I took this picture at 5:00 this morning, under incandescent lights and before coffee.) It's hoping to turn into one of the mittens from Charlene Schurch's Mostly Mittens book. But I dropped way down in needle size and at the moment it looks like these might get renamed "Kevlar Mittens." Snow and wind won't get through them. Shrapnel, either. Hopefully, they'll turn out well.

The dark plum was kettle-dyed and is pretty much solid, but there are some variations in it (I'm new at kettle dyeing, but I like the way it looks.) I have more of that colorway for sale:

As well as these, and more (which are stored on my other computer and so not available, don't ask):

I also swatched up some of the undyed:

It's FABULOUS!!!

Seriously, I am not just saying that. If you want the specs, this is a 2-ply sport-weight yarn that yields 1200 yards per pound after dyeing. Each 4-ounce skein gives you 300 yards, but almost every skein is well over 4 ounces, some as high as 4.7. The yarn is soft but toothy (the only word I could think of to describe it). The alpaca adds softness and maybe a tiny bit of drape, but as you can see by the cable above, it does hold its shape. Not only is it beautiful, and unique, and so different from standard-issue generic yarn, it was made entirely in Vermont of entirely Vermont fiber and it is "Greenspun," processed using vegetable oils, not petroleum-based products.

I am going to be dyeing more when time permits (did I mention summer vacation starts at 3:00 today???) and I'll be kettle dyeing some, too. I have already decided that I need to make an Aran sweater with this, and what better pattern than Lisa Lloyd's Putney Aran, right out of the Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book?  I noticed on Ravelry that no Raveler has made, or at least posted, this pattern. This is surprising to me given how pretty it is, but I did see while reading through the book that the chart is incorrect. I don't mean it had a typo, I mean it's practically a different chart altogether. That may be why it's not so popular and I imagine it caused all kinds of hair-pulling at the Spinnery when the book came out. On the bright side, the correct chart is available at the Spinnery website, and I think it would be a great homage to the fine people there if I made one of their sweaters from this yarn.

Anyway. Remember my never-ending, soul-sucking, tedious Diagonal Cross-Rib April socks? I finished one.

Not too shabby, eh? (My handspun, partly from my sheep.) The second sock was already in progress and the heel is turned, so it should be a matter of hours before I finish that one. But I swear I worked on this sock for weeks, a bit every day, and it took approximately 239 hours to do the foot. I don't know why.

I do know my next socks will be plain.

In less than two weeks, we leave to go camping for 10 days, and I am already planning out a knitting extravaganza. I will bring along yarn for the abovementioned plain socks; the stranded mittens; possibly a two-colored ski hat my nephew requested; possibly my Gothic Leaf Stole which marked its anniversary as a WIP recently; and, if it's not too hot, my future Putney Aran. I think if I worked on the Aran exclusively, I could finish it at camp. My own summer knitting Olympics, if you will.

I am throwing in some flower pictures here not only to let you know that things are beautiful here, but also to lighten the cloud that has been bearing down on our household ever since my husband accidentally DRAINED OUR POND.

You know how it is. You tell your husband you'd like to rake the weeds away from the edges of the pond so you can start swimming in it. He naturally ignores you and hires an excavator to take a huge backhoe and remove several inches of dirt and wildlife from the bottom of the pond. The backhoe inadvertently hooks the chain that connects to the plug of the 15" underwater pipe that drains the (manmade) pond, and in minutes you have a 1/2-acre mud crater where once you had a small but charming mini-ecosystem. Thanks to a natural inflow of water (about a gallon every two minutes), it appears your pond will be full again in, oh, three months to 10 years.

While you thumb through the phone book looking up a good divorce lawyer, your husband insists that this is the best possible way to handle things (isn't giant machinery always the best solution?) since it's easier to clean the pond out when it's empty. Lucky for him, during your week-long stoney silent treatment, a giant rainstorm comes and destroys roads and driveways all over the county but also miraculously makes the pond full of water again. You walk down to the pond this morning and discover frogs, two turtles, and deer tracks, and grudgingly tear up the lawyer's phone number.

Now that we are speaking, we are discussing plans to buy a windmill-driven aerator to oxygenate the water, which will not only make the pond healthier and clearer for swimming but may also allow us to stock it with some fish.

I don't dare mention the recent heat wave or it might come back. But it would be nice to have a swimming pond, is all I'm saying.

I have one hour until school is out till fall. Do I have time to write tomorrow's column?

Yeah, right.
 

Comments

[Carrie]

Fabulous flowers and yarn. Ouch about the pond. I am jealous of your rain.

[Manise]

Drained the pond?? Oh my. Glad to hear it's full again. The new Bristol yarn looks lovely! I'll be back for some when my self-imposed yarn/fiber diet ends mid- July.

[margene]

Your husband must be thanking his lucky stars. The yarn is luscious and the sock was worth the effort...all of it.

[Kristen]

Whoa! He is lucky that Mother Nature repaired the problem.

[Andrea (noricum)]

Dave's looking mighty fine! That yarn is gorgeous too. :)

[Carole]

Re the pond: whoops.

[Chris]

Gorgeous Dave - Gorgeous Yarn. And Hoorayyy for a finished sock. they are a time suck. No heat wave!!! We'll be in Stowe on Saturday and I want to leave the heat behind us!

[Norma]

I bet he felt a bit stupid. LOL

[Angie]

Lovely pictures...a nice, nice way to start the morning. Your columbine and pinks, two of my favorites (ok, they're all my favorites), are beautiful.

Your sock is great!! I'm trying to get through a pair myself but summer life like gardening and BBQs seem more important than a pair of socks in the summer.

The Bristol is just lovely. If the darned gas and food bills weren't in the way, I would be helping myself to a skein. Window shopping is fun too!

[rebecca]

never seen a peacock with that coloring, is it usual? will he change colors later? very interesting, your Dave.

[donna lee]

I didn't realize ponds had stoppers. I'm not sure what I actually knew about ponds, never having seen an actual pond up close. Not a natural one. My parents and brother have artificial ponds, little things filled with big fish. I never saw the sense in those but a pond you can swim in. Now that's a good thing to have.

[Teyani]

love that Real Vermonter yarn - scrumptious!
heh heh.. diagonal cross rib socks.. been there too - but they are so worth finishing - yours are stunning.

and as for the hubby-big-boy-toy episode. sigh. and bless the heavy rain !

[janna]

Those of us in Iowa would be thrilled to send you some water....

[Bea]

I love all that new yarn, and those mittens are gorgeous, they look like stained glass to me :) That new yarn is gorgeous, I'd like a whole 1200 yards to make a sweater! I'm just not much of a sock knitter. I'm glad your pond is back :) Oh and new Robby pics on www.robbycubed.blogspot.com and I actually posted to my knitting blog...twice!

[MX]

Just found your blog; what fun!!

[trek]

Love the mitten cuff!!!