…it was worth it! I bound off Hemp Skirt last night and started the i-cord. It’s not blocked or anything yet, but I tried it on with a little cream colored tank top and it looked pretty damn good!! OMG!!

I’m going to try to block it tonight, but still have to figure out what to pin it down on. I don’t have a blocking board or anything fancy like that. I need something super firm that won’t bend. The hemp knits up to a very sturdy fabric. Pinning and stretching it will be interesting.

I had previously hoped to wear this skirt to the grooms dinner when we go to the Rock Star’s cousin’s wedding in California. But now it may be upgraded to my going to the weddin’ attire. I need sandals…

It took me for-fucking-ever to drive over to my first client’s house today. It’s Uptown Art Fair weekend and that means trying to get in or out of the ‘hood is ssssssupppppperrrrrrrr sssssslllllooooowwwwww. Once I finally reached the house, I realized I’d not brought the key. After bashing my head on the steering wheel and screaming a bit, I started back home and again it took me for-fucking-ever. I finally got home, got the key and set out on the slooooooow trek again. Normally driving is ok, cuz I listen to what ever audio book or podcasts I have on my mp3 player and it’s all good…but the book ended part way to the house and I was left with nothing to listen to. Finally reaching the house again, I went in and got the first two dogs out of the crates and on their leashes (I’m a professional pet sitter, btw). The third dog went wild when I let her out of the crate and in the ensuing wrestling match she peed on me. Oh, joy. No paper towels, so I splashed water from the kitchen sink on my legs and took the dogs outside. The wrestling, peeing on me dog kept jumping up and raking her hundreds of razor sharp claws on the back of my bare legs. More joy. I went back out to my car to grab something and smashed one of my fingers in the screen door. Are you picturing all this? Here let me help you: I’m an hour behind schedule, pissed on, water running down my legs along with welts and my finger is smashed.

Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to chew through the straps…

I’ve been looking at news accounts and videos in the aftermath of the 35W/University Ave. bridge collapse disaster. It’s horrible to watch and so scary to know that it happened here, to us. As is normal, people in Minnesota can be trusted to help each other out when there’s trouble. This time was no different. Every single story I’ve seen has an account of victims helping others out of their cars and off the bridge. It seems a natural part of Minnesota being to think of the others around you, even in dangerous times. That’s Minnesota Nice. I’m so proud of my fellow Minnesotans.

the Rock Star’s normal commute would have had him on that bridge, around that time. He went to happy hour with his co-workers, and so started out 45 min later than usual, and was no where near the disaster. We feel dazed and lucky. Kind of hard to describe, you know?

I’m knitting the Lovely Lace Skirt in allhemp6 Licorice.

Cute, huh? The lovely Wendy knit it in Pumpkin and inspired me. I couldn’t picture it not sagging in the ‘tocks area. According to Wendy and the designer, though, this skirt wears really well. And I was super curious about knitting with hemp.

I love the idea of a knitted fabric that feels good in both warm and cold weather. Especially something that would be comfortable to wear in summer. I just bake in the summer. My body temp is such that I always feel hot, hot, hot. After July 1st, I am unable to bear the feel of sleeves on my arms and anything other than shorts or skirts on my legs. So the idea of a skirt that was cute, and I could actually wear all year round is very appealing.

I’ve been knitting socks in buttery soft yarn for so many months now…allhemp6 was an unpleasant (at first) change. There is no give or bounce or stretch to this yarn at all. The pattern suggests 3.0 mm needles. That seemed very small with what felt like a bulky and stiff yarn to me. I knit a swatch. As difficult as it was to get used to this yarn, I really liked the fabric it was producing. I gave my swatch a soak in water and some hair conditioner and laid it out to dry. That really softened up the fabric and the gauge was right on, so I cast on. 216 stitches and 4 rounds of garter st later, I thought my hands were going to fall off. I developed a dry, cracked, sore spot on my middle finger where the yarn runs over as I throw stitches. I was feeling kinda miserable about the project.

An aside to describe an aspect of my knitting personality/principles/practices: I’m cheap, so I absolutely have to use all the yarn I buy. This yarn/pattern cost over $50. That’s a reasonable price, but fuck if I’m gonna quit knitting it because of some paltry bleeding on my hands. It’s black, the blood won’t show, right?

I sent an email to kPixie and to the allhemp6 people asking for advice. I asked if it would work to soak the skanks in hair conditioner or fabric softener and let them dry before winding up for knitting. kPixie wrote back to say she puts hers in dryer and that softens it up. allhemp6 wrote back to say soaking in a softener would work fine and also to try beating the yarn agains a rock while it was wet. I’m far to lazy for that so I combined both advices. I hogtied a skank, soaked it in water with a lot of fabric softener, then put it in the dryer. It felt much, much better after that. I also started putting lotion on my hands before picking up the project. I’ve never been a “put the lotion on your skin” girl before, but it was advice from allhemp6, and I was willing to try anything.

As I’m writing this I hear the first cicada of the season outside!

Holy shit. I have to go. I need to actually get some work done before I go see my therapist this afternoon. I guess I’ll leave the rest of the hemp skirt story for another post. Don’t worry. I’m sure it will have a happy ending!!