Soooooft.
When we bought an iMac, we did so thinking, “Yes, this is a lot of money, but Macs are not PCs. We will no longer have to worry about all the problems that a PC has.”
Ha! And again, ha!
The hard drive of my eight month old iMac up and died last week. No warning, nothing, just sudden death. All of my patterns are on there, all of my pictures, some of my husband’s work files, tons of music – just a mess of a lot of stuff. I know you’re supposed to back up your files, and I had actually been thinking I should do that soon, but it had not yet been done. Thus does the law of What You Deserve operate. Clearly, thinking that I should back up my files and failing to do it caused the universe to teach me a Very Special Lesson.
It’s not all woe and sadness, though. The good folks at the Genius Bar are going to save my files. Yay, Genius Bar! And while it is very, very frustrating that the hard drive failed at all, it was clearly a factory problem and we’re still under warranty, so the hard drive will be replaced. I’m not happy that the problem arose, but I’m glad it will be solved. In the meantime, Mr. Kninja is letting me use his laptop when he doesn’t need it.
So. That’s my story. The computer will be fixed soon enough for me to finalize the Pauline pattern thanks to the awesome feedback of my wonderful test knitters, and I can get to work on the other patterns that are languishing on the dead drive.
All of which brings me to one of the many projects that are ongoing at the moment. Maude Louise was picked for a Knit Along over at the Obscuriosity group on Ravelry, and that brought back to me just how self conscious I am about the crazy and unfinished nature of that pattern, and how I’ve been meaning to improve it for ages. So I went ahead and made use of a gift certificate I had to order a bag of RYC Soft Lux from Little Knits, and I joined the KAL, and now I’m knitting a second Maude Louise and rewriting the pattern at the same time. I’m planning on making a few stylistic changes as well, but I’ll be sure to include instructions for a just-like-the-original version, too. It feels good to finally get down to something I’ve been meaning to do for such a long time.
The knitting is going very fast. I’ve actually finished one of the front panels since this picture was taken. I expect to have Maude II done within a week or two, and that should leave me time to get back to all the Christmas presents I’m working on as well as all the designs that are running through my head these days.
A few thoughts on the yarn: I’ve been wanting to try Soft Lux for ages, and I think it was worth the wait. Of course, it’s discontinued, but I suppose if it wasn’t I couldn’t have gotten such a good deal on it. It’s kind o funny to me that the Maude made in luxury yarn will actually be less expensive than the Maude made in discount yarn. Anyway…
Soft Lux is 10% angora and something like 60% wool (the rest being nylon and the metallic gold thread), but the numbers are misleading. I am very glad I have The Knitter’s Book of Yarn, because I was able to look up how these percentages are arrived at. Percentages are listed by weight. Angora is a very light fiber, so 10% is actually quite a lot of angora. The result is a very lush, soft, and warm fabric. It is not as drapey as the silk/alpaca blend used for the original Maude, but it does feel better against the skin, and I absolutely love the fabric that is being formed by this yarn. Angora feels rather dry on the fingers when you are knitting with it, and it does shed (though this yarn sheds far less than the last angora blend I used) but it’s not an unpleasant yarn to knit with. The metallic thread does not have any scratch to it, unlike the metallic thread in Kidsilk Night, and I like the slight and understated sparkle. Lux is the right name for this yarn. I feel like a princess when I look at my unfinished sweater. I’ll have some leftovers, too, which is an exciting prospect.
The color, called cashmere, is not one I’m usually drawn to, but I’m actually quite glad now that my original choice, camel, was sold out. I can’t wear pure white, but this very, very light goldish brown shade is an ideal neutral for my wardrobe. The first picture, of the yarn itself, is the most true color-wise.
So, um, yay!
