Martita Rampage

Moving

2011-02-22T11:54:00.003-05:00

So, I sort of neglected to mention another thing I did this weekend that wasn't knitting: I moved the blog to Tumblr. Well, not exactly "moved," because Tumblr won't import old posts. I guess it's more accurate to say I set up a new blog at Tumblr. There are pros and cons: the pro is that is easily enables mobile posting. The con is that it's not really a perfect setup for a knitblog. But I will blog more often, I suspect, if I can do it from my phone. Anyway, here's the new address:

Martita Rampage on Tumblr
www.martitarampage.tumblr.com

Hope to see you all there!

This in What I Did Instead of Knitting

2011-02-19T20:49:00.002-05:00

Well, at this point I kind of have to knit and read; I have a week to finish a sock (1st one's done) and 1.5 weeks to finish a 600 page book about World War I (hosting book group). But I have kept to my pledge to at least limit the knitting and reading. This week, I:
--started sewing an ottoman slipcover;
--finished caning my Nantucket basket. I still have to put the rim and handle on in class in two weeks; and
--babysat my friend's kids.

I didn't do any spinning or knitting. Tomorrow the hubby and I are going up to the big city to a Kosher deli for his birthday dinner, so that'll be something new for me, too!

One New Skill

2011-02-14T21:55:00.003-05:00

Well, it's not exactly a skill yet. But in this, the winter of doing things other than knitting, I am taking a basketweaving class. I gotta say, this is one of the slowest-going crafts ever.

This picture doesn't really demonstrate the complete inadequacy of my progress, but the meager amount of caning you see represents literally 8 hours of work. Dude, that's like a sock! Okay, maybe only half a sock. But still. What you're looking at is the base of an 8" bread basket, surrounded by about 2" of caning.

On the plus side, caning is fun and kind of meditative, and the basket is really pretty. Ultimately I'd like to make a tote bag. I've seen these really cool Nantucket basket tote bags with fabric drawstring linings, and I am cheap, and they are crazy, crazy expensive.

Of course, now I can appreciate why! It'll take me, like, a year to make one. But I just might.

A New Year's Confession

2011-02-04T17:31:00.002-05:00

So, this is kind of an awkward New Year's resolution to state on a knitblog, but my primary resolution this year was to knit less. I have gradually come to realize that knitting is a crutch for me. It's easier to sit at home, knitting & reading, than to go skiing, or meet people, or learn a new skill. I rarely choose challenging knitting projects, sticking to things that can be easily knit while reading or watching tv. A friend of mine recently took up the electric guitar, and mentioned today that she wishes I would pick up my guitar someday & join her. And I thought to myself, I'll add that to the list of hobbies I don't have anymore because I spend all my free time knitting & reading. And I literally did.

So how have I done so far? I have been spinning once a week (shut up, it counts) and I am going on my second ski trip (with strangers) tomorrow. I practiced drawing twice, very badly. I haven't broken out my watercolors yet, nor have I gotten out my guitar. BUT on Monday's task list, I put "check on guitar and mandolin"-they've been neglected so long they will need some work before they can be played. I'm hoping to draw on Sunday.

I do realize my free time is too limited to have more than one hobby and be fairly good at it. And I need to get used to the idea of being happily mediocre. I'm not a competitive person, but I hate to be bad at things. So if I stick to my resolution, 2011 will be the year I make peace with being awful. That might be the hardest resolution of all.

The End of Waldo

2010-12-05T18:02:00.007-05:00

Back at Spa last winter, I bought a Spunky Eclectic project bag of 8 oz 60/40 Merino/Bamboo in the colorway Diesel and 8 oz in the Steel Driving Man. Since I was concerned the pound wouldn’t be enough to make a sweater, I decided to blend it with a pound of Nick’s Meadow Merino roving I had sitting around the house. The other benefit of blending it with the merino roving was that it would cut the sheen of the bamboo (that stuff is shiny like cheap, worn polyester).

First, I tried spinning it in sections: 1 part Diesel, then 1 part natural merino, lastly 1 part Steel. I Navajo-plied the single and got this:

At first I thought it was too “Where’s Waldo?” But then I decided it was what the grizzly bears spat out when they were done with Waldo. Some poor hiker stumbled across this little square of fabric, and their heart sank for children everywhere.

After suggesting that I blend the rovings together, Carole and Sharon offered to lend me their drum carder.

Yay! I’d never used one before so there was a bit of a learning curve, but after one pound I had the hang of it. (I know that sounds like a joke, but I maintain that my later batts are substantially more interesting and better striated than my early batts.)

I pulled the three rovings into equal length sections and bunched them in threes, one of each.

Each bunch of three became one blended batt.

A test run poorly spun and double-plied confirmed my suspicions: a nice, gently-striated steel blue-grey.

Where’s Waldo? He’s dead in the woods, kids. Moral: don’t mess with grizzly bears. Or drum carders.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T10:17:00.001-05:00

I hope all my friends have a relaxing and wonderful Thanksgiving full of food, friends and family!

A Most Ironic Thought

2010-10-16T18:36:00.002-04:00

I worked on my feet all day at a pumpkin sale, and when I got home I sat down at my spinning wheel and thought how decadent it was that I had nothing better to do than spin fiber into yarn. It probably helped that I was spinning tussah silk from Spunky Eclectic, but still. Just another reminder that a few generations from now vacuum cleaners will be quaint Olden Time living room decor and people will clean house for fun. Please, please let this be within my lifetime! I'll park my broken-down Miele right under the Bombay Sapphire circulating fountain I intend to build in my living room when I grow infirm, so I don't have to risk breaking a hip to get my martini.

It's the 21st century around here!

2010-09-20T07:08:00.003-04:00

So: I got a phone with Internet capability (not that I know how to use it yet). And it's a Wi-Fi hotspot! So you might see a little more blogging around here.

I did just finish a shawl. It was a gift for a dear friend for her 50th birthday. It's Emily Ross's Haruni pattern, knit from Superior 30% silk 70% cashmere. It is insanely soft and the yarn was fun to knit with--and not too hard to rip out, as those furry yarns can sometimes be. I added an extra repeat and some beading at the border. In retrospect, I'd have worked the beading a little differently, but I still think the finished shawl was gorgeous and my friend does, too!

Total Mitten Mayhem!

2009-12-14T12:02:00.014-05:00

For the past month, month-and-a-half, I have knit nothing but mittens.

It started with this scrumptious Cherry Red String Theory sock yarn. It was just too pretty to use for socks. I wanted a Public View Accessory (PVA) . I don't wear scarves--despite knitting, like, four of them last year--so it had to be mittens. Well, it could have been gloves, but I'm a mitten girl.

I started with a cabled cuff and winged it from there. First I tried traveling cables diagonally across the mitten top, but my hands are quite small so I only got the cables halfway across the mitten top before I had to cast off. Did I let that deter me? Nope, I tried it AGAIN, starting just above the thumb, but still only got 3/4 of the way across the mitten before cast off. (Both these attempts were immediately frogged without photos, which I regret now, because they looked really silly).

So I went back to the base of the thumb and started anew. This time, I decided to send a 1/1 twist up the sides of the thumb, all the way to the top. It looked okay, so I kept it:

I liked the yarn so much I ran out and bought more, determined to have a green pair of fingerless mitts. I had made a pair of fingerless mitts last year with a cable motif at the top. The yarn was scratchy and hard and the cable motif was too tight, so they needed a redo:

These have exactly the woodland nymph look I wanted. They are the most satisfactory thing I've knit in a long time. The idea in my head made it to the finished object for once.

Then, my tennis buddy got me reading the Twilight books, because she is a total Twihard. So over Thanksgiving, I read Twilight books and knit two pairs of Bella's mittens for her for a gift. Then I liked them so much I knit myself a pair. Mine are the hot pink ones.

But wait, there's more! Hooked on the String Theory PVAs, I decided to knit my aunt a pair of mittens for Christmas. I wasn't completely happy with the 1/1 cable up the side of the red mitten, so I tweaked it a bit, crossing it again above the thumb and decreasing to one cable at the top.

The blue will go nicely with grey hair, no?

Thankful Thursday, a week late

2009-12-03T15:09:00.002-05:00

I was out of town last week and missed the real Thankful Thursday. I know Thanksgiving is all about family, friends and food, but I have to admit last week I was thankful we didn't have family and friends -- with us, at least! My husband and I had a relaxing, fun Thanksgiving by ourselves on our first vacation alone together since March 2007. And I was thankful for excellent food, as we went out for Thanksgiving dinner and I didn't have to cook and clean. The weather sort of obliged us by being relentlessly crappy and giving us an excuse to curl up by the fire and stay in and chill. I read two "Twilight" books and knit a pair of gift mittens, all in 4 days.

I have been on a mitten kick lately and have much to show for my efforts. Maybe next Thursday will be Mitten Thursday.

Thankful Thursday

2009-11-19T12:38:00.002-05:00

I know this is going to sound very shallow and materialistic, but I am thankful for

1) money. My hubby and I are both employed, can pay the bills, and can buy extras without stress. I see a lot of people who are struggling to pay the bills, getting laid off, or having their work hours reduced. I am literally grateful every day that we are not in that situation. (yet).

2) not being materialistic. One of the reasons we can pay our bills is that we don't tend to buy a lot of stuff. Even close members of my family consider me cheap, but I don't like shopping, and I don't buy things unless I really want them. I live in a town where there's a lot of pressure to have the right accessories. People will fall behind on their bills, but buy a new car so no one suspects. I am doing billing today at work and I am staggered by the number of overdue notices I have to send out. It's at an all-time high. One of those customers just bought a new car. Another just bought a boat. I am very grateful that I just don't care what people think.

3) That said, I am thankful for the few things I have bought this year--like a sailboat--that have brought me hours of joy. And I'm thankful to the people who twisted my arm into making the purchase.

And now, I'm off to buy sock yarn. And I'm thankful for that, too.

Thankful Thursdays--the Experimental Spinning Edition

2009-11-11T14:03:00.007-05:00

This past summer, the Knitigator VERY generously awarded me a great big honking ball of Crown Mountain pencil roving, colorway Autumn. Isn't it gorgeous?

I immediately decided that such a fine autumnal colorway had to become mittens, to make me feel a little better about the end of summer.

I was spinning this at Spinning Group last week when Carole --after guessing the roving's creator correctly--asked me if I was going to leave it as singles. I had been giving the plying issue some thought--the color changes so quickly that Navajo plying would not accomplish much, and I was concerned that if I double-plied it, the resulting yarn would be muddy. Sharon suggested plying it with another yarn, a solid. Carole suggested white, and I thought maybe brown.

But then the next day I remembered I had two skeins of Lamb Pride in Navy Sailor just sitting around my house gathering dust! Lamb's Pride is a worsted-weight singles yarn that I decided would be perfect for plying, and blue is a complement to orange, so I thought it was worth a try.

Only the first skein I made, the blue bled the orange (not, Paul Simon, "the orange bled the blue") and dulled down all the brights. So for the next skein I pre-soaked the navy. Here are the two skeins next to each other:

The first skein is on the left, the second on the right. When I see them next to each other like that, I'm not sure the presoak is worth the bother.

Swatch? I don't need no stinking swatch. I went straight to mitten:

I am very pleased with the yarn, but I have run out of navy blue Lamb's Pride. So I think the next bobbin will be plied with something lighter, like white or tan, to see how that comes out. Or I might try plying it against itself. So many choices, I just don't know what to do next!

So, thankfulness:
1) Thanks, Kathy! for the fabulous roving.
2) Thanks, Carole and Sharon, for helping me decide how to ply it.

And since I am actually writing this on Veteran's Day, for posting on Thursday,
3) Most importantly, thank to all our Veterans, past and present.

Thankful Thursdays

2009-11-05T09:19:00.003-05:00

So Carole convinced me to join in her “Thankful Thursdays.” Unfortunately, however, I am very cranky today and frankly, not feeling that thankful. I feel more like Godzilla; I would like to roar and stomp on a village. Only if I were Godzilla, I wouldn’t trample indiscriminately. I would spread my toes r e a l l y w i d e and selectively stomp on the homes of people who annoy me. I’m making a list in my head right now. Two of the houses are right next door to each other. Two birds, one toe!

So, here’s my cranky list of things I am thankful for, not in any particular order:

1. Horror movies. Horror movies put everything into perspective. Sure, you had a bad day, no one’s disputing that. But zombies didn’t chase you into an abandoned farmhouse. Birds didn’t peck out your eyes. And some freaky creep with foot-long razor sharp fingernails didn’t kill your friends for real in your dreams. See? Things could be so much worse.

2. Beer. When you’ve had a bad day, nothing tastes as good as a nice cold beer. Or wine, if you’re so inclined. As far as I’m concerned, any song about a blue moon is an Ode to a Great Beer. I’m already dreaming about my end-of-the-day Blue Moon, and it’s only 9:30 am.

3. My dog. Because how can you stay mad when this face looks up at you?

P.S. I promise to be sincere and gracious and thankful next week. But you just can't be in a good mood all the time. Know what I mean?

A Spinning Question

2009-10-27T10:09:00.004-04:00

Back in the early '90s, the J Crew catalog went through a period of ridiculous color names. For instance, one of the shirts I bought, of a pale blue-grey color, was called "ozone." So in my head, this is the ozone yarn. Except it isn't quite "ozone" enough--the colors are more vivid than pale and opalescent. And the yardage is about 500 yards shy of the yardage I need.

I recently read Deb Menz''s "Color in Spinning." At the very end, she discusses plying your handspun with other colors rather than with itself. I liked the samples she gave and have decided I would very much like to ply this with a white single, to lighten the colors and gain yardage. Wouldn't that be pretty?

But I've already plied it against itself! How can I unply it and re-ply? Will it be a complete disaster of lost twist? Spinners, please help!

Oh! I forgot!

2009-06-05T14:30:00.001-04:00

I have an Eye Candy Friday:

An Avian Mystery

2009-06-05T13:15:00.006-04:00

The week before before Memorial Day, I looked out my kitchen window and saw a robin's nest. She had picked the worst possible location for her nest--opposite my kitchen window (where every time I used the sink I frightened her) and in an overgrown Carolina Silverbell right next to the door we use.
We tried to remember not to use that door, to use the back slider instead, but often forgot. Every time we opened the door, she would fly off in a great rustle and flurry.She had three eggs. She had no baby daddy and frequently had to leave the nest to eat.Two days ago I realized I hadn't seen her in about 12 hours and went to check the nest. It was empty. No eggs, no babies, no cracked egg pieces on the ground around the nest.
I told my husband I was afraid another bird, or a critter, had stolen our robin's eggs and he hopefully suggested that maybe she had flown them off to a safer, calmer nest.

Is that possible?

Stuff I Haven't Finished

2009-05-11T13:19:00.007-04:00

I've been on a real knitting and spinning kick lately, probably because my house is strewn with the carcasses of half-completed projects. There are five unfinished sweaters, one of which shall be frogged; two unfinished pairs of socks; and one unfinished shawl.

Right now I am focusing on the shawl, because 1) there are so many more shawls I want to knit and 2) every time I put it down I forget the (very easy) pattern. It's the Handsome Triangle from Victorian Lace Today, in teal silk:

I did finish one pair of socks, my first Noro knitting! It is unfair to say that knitting with Noro sock yarn is like knitting with steel wool, but the stuff sure isn't soft. The colors, however, are luscious:
On the spinning front, I have been a tad intimidated by the two one-pound bags of roving I have sitting in the living room. So instead, I bit off something I could chew and spun up a 4 oz bundle of Spunky Eclectic merino/silk in the Dinosaur color that I bought at Spa. I got about 400 yards of mostly sock weight yarn.
After I finish up the shawl, I am going to finish my Siena cardigan, which needs only its buttonbands and collar. Only its buttonbands and collar, people! I could have been wearing it MONTHS ago, if not for my own startitis.

I am counting on you all to keep me honest. Going to NH Sheep and Wool this past weekend (sorry, camnesia) made me all the more aware of the dire situation. I'm not saying I can't buy anything until I empty out my house. I am saying I can't pick up anything new until I complete the old. I must start to finish things. Maybe this could be a new, reverse sort of startitis?

Finished Object Semi-Roundup

2009-01-02T09:29:00.008-05:00

I've actually done more than what you see here, but one's being frogged and another was frogged and is now in the finishing stages--only put on the back burner for last minute Christmas gifts THAT STILL AREN'T DONE.

First off, Bianca (Interweave Knits). Back when I got my spinning wheel, Toni from The Fold very kindly included a ton of some kind of springy, super-soft wool and silk slub blend. I spun it up but was concerned I wouldn't have enough for a sweater. Except I really, really wanted to use it for Bianca, so I did have to add a few colors. I call this my Neapolitan sweater because it reminds me of the ice cream quarts.

I love it. It's a very comfortable, Saturday sort of sweater, except it's more flattering than most of my Saturday sweaters. I ended up removing the buttons and fastening it with a pin instead. I have lots of pins so why not use them?

Next, two little bears. Back in October, my boss and his family went up to New Hampshire for the weekend. They stumbled across a sheep and wool festival, and they had heard me yammer about them for years so they stopped and walked around. Anyway, long story short, their daughter picked out a beautfiful bag of roving for me. The bag had three balls of blue/green merino and one snowy, fluffy ball of 100% brushed mohair. I thought it was so sweet of her to think of me that I wanted to make her and her little brother something from it. So I made bears. It's the Snowflake pattern from "The Knitted Teddy Bear" by Sandra Polley (great book, great way to use small balls of yarn). I made both bears (barely!!) from the one 3 oz ball of mohair. It was crappily spun but hopefully the kids haven't noticed.

left: boy bear; right: girl bear

I loved, loved, loved the Debbie Bliss Vogue Knitting book that came out this fall. I made the cabled vest shown on the cover and have the yarn on order for another sweater in it. I had to substitute yarn for the vest (Jo Sharp Ultra) and had to play a lot with the gauge. The Jo Sharp blows up like a puffer fish when you wash it. The first time I knit the vest it was huge (thank you puffer fish) and now on the second knitting it's a little small. But there will not be a third knitting. Lesson learned: wash your swatches.

I actually think this one looked better a little larger than a little too small, but if I knit it again (a possibility) it will be from Como, the specified yarn, and there will be no gauge fudging.

Lastly, the diagonally-cabled sweater from the fall Interweave Knits. I made some adjustments to this, because the sweater as shown on the model appeared to be ill-fitting. I shortened it, added waist shaping, made the shoulders slightly smaller and shortened the sleeves. I did not make the shoulders small enough. Otherwise I am pleased with it and wish I had not gotten foam insulation on the left breast the very first time I wore it.

FYI, apparently the only ways to remove foam insulation would be very damaging to the sweater. I'm hoping it will just sort of eventually wear off.

Did I mention I got a new camera? Perhaps you can tell that I am still learning how to use it.

Summer Recap

2008-08-30T10:42:00.006-04:00

What I Did This Summer:

1) Made a lot of things I have either not completed or not blocked:

The Melon Scarf from Victorian Lace Today (unblocked, obvs);

Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits (also unblocked);

some yummy 50% Romney 50% Llama I picked up at Rhinebeck (couldn't tell you where) that is actually a gorgeous chocolate brown. I'm spinning it 2 ply, heavy worsted weight;

One Primavera sock. Note it is still on its needles. Because I decided that instead of making a second sock, I'd rather use the rest of the yarn to make another scarf from Victorian Lace Today. So this may be frogged in the future. At any rate, it'll have to wait for more yarn.

2) Bought a cruiser bike and rode it to work pretty much at least one or two days each week since I got it (I did skip this week).

3) Took sailing lessons and am beginning--6 lessons under my belt--to feel like maybe it's not so scary.

4) Played tennis once or twice a week. Badly, but I think the important thing is that you get out there, not that you play like Steffi Graf.

5). Got to hang with my homies at Fiber Revival, which was awesome despite the rain. I'm glad I finally made it this year!

6) Went kayak fishing--only once--in the bay. It was wicked fun, even though we didn't catch anything, and I can't wait to do it again.

I don't have much in the way of knitting or spinning to show for this summer, but I tried to pack a lot of outdoor activities in. Now that fall is *almost* here, maybe I'll finally get all those scarves blocked...

My New Ride

2008-07-28T15:01:00.004-04:00

I followed in Claudia's footsteps and got a cruiser bike. It's a Trek 7.2 FX. It's a really fun bike to ride--very bouncy and easy, not like my other bike, which is stiff but fleet.

And see the pack on the side? It fits a bag of groceries. Or, as it did this morning on my ride to the CVS, the post office and work:
--lunch + a freezer pack
--a change of clothes
--a towel and shower stuff
--a pair of sandals
--mail and other sundries.
The bag weighed a surprising amount (lunch was heavy)and I thought I would be lopsided bicycling, but I didn't notice the weight at all once I was on the bike.

And the pharmacist at the CVS thought it was "so cool!" that I rode my bike there. It's no longer dorky, folks. Now it's cool. (At least amongst 40-something women.)

I've been trying to figure out a way to have my car at work when I need it. For instance, I'm going to leave my bike at work overnight tonight ('cause the hubby and I have Red Sox tickets and he'll be driving), then drive in tomorrow. I will need my car at work tomorrow, but I'll bike home and leave my car at work tomorrow night. The only possible hitch in this plan is that I may need to be at work at some ungodly hour of the morning on Wednesday--like, so ungodly it may not even be light enough to bike (5 am-ish). In which case I'm counting on my husband to be willing to get up and give me a ride.

I may need to rethink this plan.

You Might Need to Sit Down

2008-07-03T10:09:00.002-04:00

I know! I’m in shock too! I have missed you guys. It’s been so long since I’ve blogged, I’m not even going to try to describe all the projects I’ve worked on since my last entry. Besides, I think I’ve completed, like, two of them (a sewn knapsack and a still-unblocked Swallowtail Shawl). But here’s the list of unfinished projects:

three sweaters—-Arisaig (Knitty 05), Bianca (Interweave Knits 06) and Gathered Pullover (IK 07)
one knitted knapsack (from some knitted bag book, prob. IK)
one scarf (see below)
one sock (Hedera from Knitty 06), intended as a Christmas ‘07 gift, now repurposed as a Christmas '08 gift.

While a goal for the rest of the year is to finish the projects in front of me (and to go back to a single-focus regime of one-project-at-a-time), I have sort of gotten into a scarf kick.

I’m really digging the idea of scarves as accessories (thank you, Maryse). Little skinny lacy scarves that knit up quickly and are light enough to be worn indoors and out. I’m finishing the Melon Shawl—shrunk to scarf size—from Victorian Lace Today right now, and when it’s done I intend to make a couple more scarves. Like socks, they’re small and light enough to be knit in the summer, when you can’t stand the thought of having a sweater in your lap. They’re fun to knit and boy, do they knit up quickly.

Then when the cool weather comes, I’ll focus on finishing up the sweaters that are littering my house. Then onto new projects!

Happy 4th, everyone! I am going to try to get back to a regular blogging schedule after the 4th. We’ll have some breathing time at work and it’ll be easier for me to blog.

Sweaters in the Wild!

2008-01-31T10:53:00.000-05:00

"Now Jim, what do we have here?"

"Marlon, that's a Jean Frost jacket. It appears to be a juvenile, about 4 years old, judging by its vivid purple coloration. Their coats can fade as they age. Those sweaters can have quite lengthy life spans, depending on their environment."

"Jim, that sweater's coat appears to have an unusual texture. Can you tell us something about it?"

"It's Icelandic wool, Lopi to be exact. I'm not sure that sweater's been treated well; the yarn appears to be re-used from a previous attempt and may have sat in balls in a closet for a few years before becoming this sweater. Lopi is not the usual yarn specified for this sort of sweater, but it is inexpensive,toasty warm and, between Lopi and Lopi Lite, fits a variety of gauges."

"Jim, would you recommend such a sweater for daily use?"

"Probably not, Marlon. Sweaters made from Lopi are an excellent choice for bitter days when you will struggle to stay warm, but are perhaps too warm for the average situation. However, this sweater is a nice alternative for winter; a bit more stylish and sophisticated than your average Icelandic sweater but just as warm."

"Oh dear, Jim, it appears our conversation has frightened it off."

"Not to worry, Marlon. They tend to gather around the local watering hole this time of day. I'm sure that's where it's off to."

(What you can't tell from the photo: it's a standard blazer shape in reverse stockinette with lapels and set in sleeves. The book calls for it to be worn with a belt, but I'm not really the belt sort, so I put a clasp on instead. I did have to tack the lapels down to keep them from curling. I don't wear it very often, but it is handy for cold days when you want to wear something a little classier than a shapeless ski sweater, and I'm glad I have it.)

Oops, I almost forgot!

2008-01-19T11:10:00.000-05:00

How much do you love this?

That might just have to become my new tagline.

Hi!

2008-01-19T10:42:00.001-05:00

Sorry it's been so long. Let's see, what have I done since I blogged last? Spent the holidays in Arizona on a ranch with my family (total camnesia), started knitting a felted cabled knapsack using stash Manos (not done yet, no photos), spent a long weekend in Puerto Rico (of which, miracle of miracles, I do have pictures!) Here I am doing an insane hike up a limestone cliff in an ankle-length sarong and a barely-functional 3-year old pair of flip-flops to visit a cave:

Here's the crazy-ass cliff and my friend Shannon's back:

In other news, my home computer is still broken--and will never be fixed--so I'm blogging from work. Which I can't do as easily now that we gutted the office two weeks ago and I share a long desk with my boss (hence the Saturday blogging). But I promise to try to blog more often than I have recently! AND to try to keep up better with everyone else's blogs--I am way, way behind in my blog reading. But I miss you guys and will see you at Spa, if not on the internets beforehand!

Gift Patrol

2007-11-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

I started the holiday knitting in September this year, and there will be far less of it. Much as I enjoyed making most of my holiday gifts last year, I had to start in July and I just didn't have time this summer. Only one family will be receiving knitted gifts this year. One pair of socks is done, the big man socks I was knitting at Rhinebeck:

They are made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cedar, which I love. I love the color like I love patchouli--it just seems so cedar-y and forest-y, you know? (yes, I'm sure those are the technical terms, thank you for asking.) And the yarn itself was one of the most delightful sock-knitting experiences of my life.

When I finished the big man socks, I started on a pair of little boy mittens, from Terri Shea's Selbuvotter : They are made from scrap sock yarn and trust me, the colors aren't quite as vivid as those in the picture. They're still waiting for their thumbs, and I had to start emergency surgery on one of them last night. It seems I got a little careless with the second mitten and did not knit the cuff to match (I know, right? How hard is that?). So instead of doing a really easy thing when I knit the second mitten (e.g. paying attention), I had to do a hard thing last night and cut the old ribbing off the first mitten, pick up 48 teeny-tiny stitches (all while watching Chuck at the same time!) and start knitting a matching cuff back down. You can call me an idiot, I'm cool with that. It's deserved.

Another Thing I Made While I Wasn't Blogging

2007-11-10T14:06:00.000-05:00

I made these fingerless gloves this summer, too, while I was on Blog Vacation. They're sort of like Fetching, except everyone I knew who had made Fetching said the ends rolled, so I carried the cables through to the tips (and they have garter stitch thumbs, for what that's worth). Plus, I put in a trellisy cable to make sure the little buggers never, ever even thought about rolling. And they don't, they don't even think about it.

I like them a lot. I wear them in my office almost every day. They're much neater and prettier than my previous fingerless mitts were (the ones that my boss said made me look like The Little Match Girl). There's only one problem with the pattern: that trellisy cable doesn't have much give. Which I knew, but I ought to have made them a smidge larger to account for it. I can't really spread my fingers to type when I have them on.

I'm going to wash them tonight and block them a little harder and see what I can do about stretching out the ends a little more.

Things I Learned At Rhinebeck

2007-10-23T14:42:00.000-04:00

1) I like mohair!

(1000 yds of mohair boucle, half price!)

2) There's always a sale. Really, I should stop justifying purchases by saying they were on sale. There's always a sale somewhere. (Just like it's 5:00 somewhere. But don't worry, I'm not throwing that baby out with the bathwater.)

3) When you spin mohair from the lock, you get really soft, really expensive FunFur. I'm not sorry I did it, because now I know the answer, but now there's a new question: what am I going to do with 3.5 oz of 100% mohair FunFur?

4) When you fill a two-room, two television hotel suite with Red Sox fans during a pivotal game, the next door neighbors may get cranky.

5) You will buy something, whether you intend to or not. (1.5 lbs of llama/Romney lamb roving, really a deep chocolate brown)

(a bag of silk and Corriedale cross roving)

6) Cheryl is a Fountain of Friendliness. No, really, she had this great insight, which is that we're all at this awkward stage where many of us know each other a little but perhaps not that confidently, and therefore we perhaps hang back in groups instead of going forth effusively to greet one another. So she decided she would be a Fountain of Friendliness and embrace one and all in a warm, inclusive and confident manner. Unfortunately, she told me this fabulous new policy which I immediately wanted to adopt after I had already slighted, like, pretty much everyone. Sorry!

Next year I too will be a Fountain of Friendliness and you'll all be like, "Who's this freaky stranger hugging me?"

And then I'll introduce myself as Seedstitch Cheryl.
(I kid, I kid!)

Behold the Blueberry Vomit

2007-10-16T15:40:00.000-04:00

Whew! It’s been some summer. But it’s slowing down now, thank goodness.

There has been knitting and spinning. Early in the summer I reminded myself that knitting and spinning were great stress-relievers, and I picked my knitting back up.

First, I finished the Scary Rainbow socks, made from the ginormous, thousand-yard ball of Rainbow Brite yarn Grumpie gave me.They’re a little heavier than standard socks, but they’ll make great boot socks come winter.

Then, I cast on for Kate Gilbert’s pattern “A Sweater for Arwen” using the fabulous (and pattern-perfect) dark pine green Aran-weight yarn I won in Claudia’s MS raffle. The back and left side front are complete; I’m still working on the right side front. This is a really clever pattern and I'm enjoying knitting it up. Do I need another cabled green hoodie? Of course I do.
(Side note:am I not the luckiest girl, to be gifted with so much fabulous yarn?)

In the meantime, I spun up some of last year’s Rhinebeck fleece. I’m spinning it up sort of rough and chunky, intended for a cabled cardigan for the hubby. I have about 3 good-size skeins so far (haven’t measured them yet, sorry!)

And I experimented with last year’s Rhinebeck Spinner’s Hill roving purchase. When I bought it, I commented to Carole that it could turn out to look like blueberry vomit. Here’s what it really reminds me of: Freshman year in college so very long ago, my friends and I made an excursion to the bustling city of Burlington, VT one fall afternoon. We stopped at the MacDonald’s on our way out of town, where they were offering raspberry shakes on a trial basis. I drank one. Later that evening, I drank WAY too much gin at Zeta Psi’s Casino Night and wound up revisiting that raspberry shake in all its vivid glory in the bathroom of my freshman dorm. If that were yarn, it would be this.

Anyway, first I tried spinning it by separating out the colors. When I did that, I kept the gorgeous purpley blues but also (and somewhat unfortunately) the acid greens.

So then I tried blending the colors together as I spun. And now I can’t decide which I like better. The blended swatch does indeed look less vomity, but also less blueberry-y. And that is a loss.

What do you think?

Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth...

2007-07-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

But it looks like I'm unlikely to reappear before fall. See, I work for a landscaping company, and this is our busy season. And we used to have two people working in the office, but now we have only one (hello, me!) And we're busier this year than ever before. So even though I am doing some knitting and spinning, I won't have time to show it to you. Oh, and I forgot--my home computer is so busted that 9 times out of 10 when you boot it up you get the Blue Screen of Death. So blogging from home, not an option. I'd buy a new computer but I strongly suspect I need to find one that is running Windows NT and I'm not sure that's possible.

I do have some pictures I took, like, a month ago when I thought I'd have time to blog but I was wrong. I finished the freesia socks and found my favorite sock heel. It's a Dutch heel, which is pretty much the same as the standard French heel, just a little wider and squarer:

Then I was sort of at loose ends. What to do? My gaze fell on an enormous ball of yarn that Grumperina had won at a Team Boston event and gifted to me:

I'm not sure this picture does the yarn credit; it is truly all the colors of the rainbow. And then some. And to be honest, it looks pretty scary in a ball. But it knits up really, really cute:

And that picture really, truly doesn't do the yarn credit, so I'll have to take another later. Really, it's cute, I'm not the only one who thinks so. Since I've already finished the first sock, I should be able to get another picture soon.

There was another pair of socks between the freesia socks and the clown yarn, but I don't have a picture of those. And there was some spinning, but again with the camnesia.

Anyway, hope to be back to blogging and Bloglines in another month or so! 'Til then, here's a picture of my favorite garden feature:

19th Nervous Breakdown

2007-05-22T15:04:00.000-04:00

Whew. It has been a month. Spring arrived overnight and at work we've been playing catch up ever since. The first two weeks of May I spent every single day so stressed out I couldn't decide whether I was going to throw up or cry (I actually managed not to do either). My boss was so stressed out he alternated between yelling and throwing up. It's been delightful around here, can you tell? To make matters worse, my boss got me a second, part-time job doing bookkeeping for his sister-in-law. Which should be a good thing, except her books are SO messed up and I have been killing myself to find time to work on them adequately. It's nice to have the job and it's a great learning experience, but the timing kind of blew big bookkeeping chunks.

But things are starting to quiet down now and we're getting caught up. Last week I finally picked up my needles again and cast on for a new project, another Icelandic shawl:

I'm knitting it with the tangerine orange Plain n' Fancy laceweight that my beloved yarn mule* Carole shlepped back from Utah for me.

I STILL haven't finished sewing up the blue sweater, now that spring's here, my motivation has fled--but I did finish the Sockotta socks.
I haven't worn them yet, but so far I'm not wild about them. I'm still on the fence about the yarn, and I'm not going to make the Balbriggan heel my standard heel anytime soon. I'm glad I tried it, but it's kind of fussy and I don't see the point. There are easier ways to achieve a similar result.

When Carole and Sharon and I hit Sakonnet Purls during this past weekend's fabulously fun yarn crawl, I bought some Claudia handpainted sock yarn in Freesia. It is intensely pink. I'm not sure this picture does the intense pink-ness justice, but here's the first sock, completed already:

I also bought two sweaters' worth of blue wool yarn (including the armful of Debbie Bliss you may have seen me with over at Carole's blog). I know! Me, blue? And I made Carole and Sharon dig through every %$^#%$ bin in the ^$&%# store to find it, too. I just thought it might be nice to have a sweater that wasn't green, you know?

*in case any of you wonder, I'm using "mule" in the sense of one who transports drugs for another. Carole does not have long ears!

I, Who Have Nothing...

2007-05-02T15:08:00.000-04:00

but these pictures of primroses.

I haven't knit anything, I haven't spun anything. The blue sweater has its zipper but still needs to be seamed. I didn't even have anything on the needles until this past Saturday, when I started a sock out of Sockotta (I like the colors but I don't like the fabric it creates). The sock has been kind of interesting because I decided to play with my heels and toes and used a faux-Balbriggan heel on it, which so far I like. I call it a faux-Balbriggan heel because I wasn't into the grafting and my instructions didn't make sense, so I decreased to one stitch instead.

This is the first year I've seen the primroses in bloom--I bought them post-bloom last year and wasn't sure they'd even come up, much less sure what color they might be. They're not as fancy as I had hoped but they are hardy, and I guess you can't ask for both.

I'll miss most of the fiber fests this spring due to Garden Club obligations (can't wait til my term as prez ends! one more year) but it's probably just as well since my living room is drowning in fiber anyway.

Oops

2007-04-18T14:08:00.000-04:00

It's been so long since I blogged, I almost forgot my Bloglines password. So much for that noble post-Rhinebeck resolution to blog more regularly.

It's not that I don't have finished objects to report (the Caribbean blue sweater--my first from handspun!--is being zippered tonight, seamed tomorrow; I've been spinning fleece), or things to say, I just don't feel like writing. The weather's put me in a vile mood and I've generally got the blahs. I was even just offered a one-night writing job for the local paper and I turned it down. After suggesting that the editor be taken behind the dumpster and smacked around a little, on general principle, for being a jerk. (Needless to say, I didn't say that to the editor, I'm not that crazy). (He really should be).

So once I've sewn up the blue sweater, and have something nice to say, maybe I'll blog again.

But don't alert the media, especially if it lives in my town.

It's A Trivet, Dammit

2007-03-28T10:46:00.000-04:00

I'm all caught up after my ten-day trip to Florida (surprisingly boring, really) and have some finished objects to show you. I didn't take any knitting to Florida--can't stand to knit in the heat--but I finished my Clapotis shortly after we got back.

And this past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a needle felting class with Julia at Yarns in the Farms in Beverly Farms. One of the shop owners, Jill, is really a genius at needle felting--it's sort of like she's painting with wool (see photos on website). I like to think my novice attempt at needle felting turned out to be a trivet. At least, that's how we're using it around the house. While Julia and I both felt that our felting would have been improved with, shall we say, stronger artistic skills, Julia made a fabulous dragon, so I think her artistic skills are just fine. (Of course, I forgot my camera, so I hope Julia posts a picture of her fab dragon).

And then on Sunday, because I just couldn't stop myself, I cast on with the blue yarn I've spun from the roving I bought at Spa. Have I actually finished spinning up the roving? Um, no, thankyouverymuch. But I have spun up about 800 yards, enough to get started on a sweater. And now I have some motivation to finish spinning the rest up!

The pattern is a bastardization of an old Berrocco pattern:

I deleted the flounce--because if there was a fabric less suited to flouncing than 4.5 st/in bulky merino on size 8 needles, I'd like to see it. So it will be (hopefully) a flounceless (hemmed) fitted V-neck cardigan in the end. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the front edges or closure yet. I'm not sure I want to go with a zipper but I think the fabric might be too heavy and stiff for anything else.

Oh, and that tie in the center of the v-neck? Gone.

A Finished Object

2007-03-05T15:15:00.000-05:00

I may have set the record for the longest time from cast-on to cast-off for a pair of socks. I finally finished the Jaywalkers I started last summer from the Vesper sock yarn I won in Claudia's MS raffle.

The only reason I got them done is that I had to sit through 12 hours of continuing education on Saturday, 8am to 8pm. You don't really have to pay attention (although I did; there've been changes I wanted to brush up on), you just have to sit there. The perfect opportunity to finish a pair of socks!

Be the Blue

2007-02-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

Some of you may notice something odd about this entry: there's a lot of blue in it. I'm as surprised as you are, believe me.

It all started at Spa, when I duked it out with Jackie over one of Amy Boogie's project bags. I shocked myself by actually being interested (some might say more than interested) in a bag of blue roving. It didn't hurt that this particular shade of roving reminded me of the sky in Puerto Rico (see picture in previous entry, if you have any doubt).

The minute I finished spinning up the Grafton Fibers batts I bought last year at Spa (finally!!!), I started on this bag and by the time I left on Sunday, I'd spun up two bumps.
(not spun well, as you can see, but that's another story).

Now, I'm a long-time blue hater. Years ago, I had a roommate in my house who asked me to paint her room THREE different shades of blue, and I have long been proud of the fact that I was a good enough friend to actually do it (it was hideous, can I tell you? Hideous.)

But this particular shade of blue spoke to me, and I've decided to embrace the blue. Be the blue. Feel the blue. New year, new color.

I also realized that spinning has been on the back burner in favor of knitting for WAY too long. I just wish I had realized this sooner. I am devoted to spinning this bag of fiber, to the detriment of the other, oh, two heaping bags of fiber in my house.

It was one big therapeutic weekend, from spinning all day to chatting with my bunkies Carole and Blogless Sharon, and waiting an hour and a half for lunch with Marcy, Laurie and Blogless Manise, and drinking way too many margaritas with our dinner party of fifteen. Nothing beats a weekend with your fiber friends!

Then, when I got home, I had a burning need to know how my Grafton Fibers stripey yarn would knit up, so I started a Clapotis. Yes, I am the last knitter on earth...

The yarn's a little too heavy and tightly spun to be ideal for this project, but I love how the stripes have played out. All in all, striping the two similar batts was a very successful experiment and one I'd gladly do again. I even like the colors now.

Does anyone know whether your sense of color changes as you get older? 'Cause this blue thing is freaking me out a little.

Puerto Rico

2007-02-14T15:48:00.000-05:00

This is pretty much all you need to know about my vacation:

I was thisclose to chucking it all and staying. You all probably haven't seen the newer version of The Thomas Crown Affair, but there's a scene in it where Catherine Banning calls her accountant and says something like, "If I had to leave right now, how much could I take with me?" I was doing that math. But sanity prevailed, and I returned to a nor'easter.

Sanity sucks.

The Things I Do For You People

2007-02-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

I managed to get a couple of pictures of the Nantucket Sweater this morning before frostbite set in:

If I look unhappy, it's because I'm really freaking cold. Not joking about the frostbite...

I don't know how I feel about it. It's very green, and I don't think the green is as flattering as I'd hoped it would be. It's also a little large and perhaps not as flattering as it could be for that reason as well. AND I really could use a short-row bust, but I've never done one and didn't think this was the sweater to learn on. Lastly (and unsurprisingly to anyone who, unlike me, had given it a second's thought), seaming this puppy was a bear, so the seams aren't quite as smooth as I'd like. I mean, not to whine, I like it fine and will wear it, but it's not quite Rogue (the perfect sweater, in case you've forgotten).

I've made some progress on Arisaig's back:

the yarn is actually more of a brick color than that cloying cherry color

I've made several modifications so far on this pattern. Let's face it, I have a 40 year old figure. I'm sort of okay with that (I'd be lying if I told you I didn't miss my old figure, and I'd be lying if I told you I didn't regret not having worn some of the dresses I could have worn when I had that figure). But Arisaig as written is considerably clingier than my almost mid-40 chubs can handle. I need something that skims the abdomen, instead of glomming onto it.

Ordinarily, I would have knit the 40" bust size. But because I wanted the ribbing to be, shall we say, more generous, I went up a size to the 44". Then I changed the ribbing from k2p2 to a less-clingy k3p1. I did complete the waist shaping as written, which reduced my stitch count to where it would have been post-bust increases on the 40" size (did that sentence make sense?). So when I started the lace bust section, I already had the correct number of stitches and eliminated the bust increases.

The pattern says you should knit the ribbing on smaller needles and go up a needle size or two for the lace. Again, since I wanted the ribbing on the larger side, I knit it with the larger (size 4) needles. At first I thought I would knit the lace on the 4s as well, but when I tried it I had this humongous thing with gigantic lace holes in it. We all know of the magical stretching abilities of lace, so I decreased my needle size to 2.5s*. On these needles, the lace motif is daintier and more attractive (instead of, frankly, slutty) and the bust measures out at about 41". Which is still a smidge too big, but I'm hoping I can fudge that with the wrap.

So we'll see. I'm just hoping I don't end up ripping the whole damn thing up when it's done. When I modify patterns to this extreme, it never seems to work as well in reality as it does on paper.

*No, I don't have magic Harry Potter size 2.5 needles. They're Inox 3s, which are smaller than anyone else's threes and actually are just a smidge larger than other manufacturers' 2s.

For St. Brigid

2007-02-02T07:59:00.001-05:00

My contribution to the 2nd Annual St. Brigid's Day Silent Poetry Reading:

Kubla Khan, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinnian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,

That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round his thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

One Solution to Winter Malaise

2007-01-30T17:51:00.000-05:00

I woke up early Sunday morning determined to go to Puerto Rico.

Before I even read the paper, I researched flights to San Juan.

You see, my friend Sh. is currently living in Puerto Rico. And with every vacation my boss schedules, my heart grows more and more bitter and resentful, because if he's away, I have to be in the office. I realize that winter needs to be his time to take vacation, but it needs to be my time to take vacation too, and I feel slightly taken advantage of, sitting there keeping his company going while he's out gallivanting the globe. So I decided Sunday morning that instead of being bitter, I should just schedule a trip already. And then I decided that when fate hands you a free place to stay in Puerto Rico, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you would be a fool to let it slip by.

So I emailed Sh. to see whether she was up for a houseguest (she was). And I ran it by the hubby, who was hesitant but ultimately okay with my visit (he worries). And today I ran it by the boss, who--to give credit where credit is due--immediately said that next week would be fine, even though he had been talking about going to Florida. (Oh, and when he mentioned going to Florida, I asked him when he was planning on working. I'll be apologizing tomorrow).

But, long story short: I leave for Puerto Rico next Thursday. SQUEEEEE!

Lower Your Cholesterol with Diet and Exercise!

2007-01-25T11:32:00.000-05:00

So, I've lost 9 pounds since Jan 1.

The ball got rolling from stress-related lack of eating early in the month. That managed to take 7 pounds off in one week. But then the stress got better and I figured I might as well take advantage of the strong start.

To keep from gaining weight back, I took out my old, broken-down running shoes. It had been so long since I'd used them, the mice had commandeered them to store birdseed and nest fluff. (Seriously, there was a big pile of birdseed and some fluff jammed into a toe.) One thing you learn when you work in landscaping is be very careful with mouse nests. So I went out and bought new sneakers and the dog and I hit the trails.

Jogging and I have a long, troubled relationship. I've always enjoyed it, but after I'd jog a mile in college, I'd cough for an hour. Which my mom would try to cure by giving me her version of a hot toddy--hot tea with whiskey in it. It's gross, try it! It never occurred to anyone that I could have asthma--even my doctor told my mom that I was the only child he'd ever seen in his career who kept getting whooping cough. "You're supposed to be immune after you get it once, but she keeps getting it. I just don't understand," he said. Oh, and of course, there was nothing he could give me--although apparently modern medicine prescribes antibiotics for whooping cough (according to articles in the Globe that I can't link to). Not that antibiotics would have helped asthma, but it would have been nice if he'd had even a vague clue.

Anyway, every few years I'd take a stab at jogging and stop shortly after, because it's just no fun when you can't breathe and your muscles aren't getting any oxygen. But last year, Kellee suggested that if you take your asthma medicine regularly, it makes jogging a lot more feasible, and she's right! Not that I can even measure my jogging in miles yet (combined with walking breaks, I can--the total run/walk is about 1.5 miles). I'm actually enjoying it and the dog is in heaven. And the sleep! At the beginning of the month, even Ambien couldn't help me sleep, but now I'm out cold by 10 p.m., every night, and I almost sleep through the night--just wake up once at 2 am for a few minutes (every single night). For me, that's about the best sleep I can ask for.

I've been jogging about 4 times a week for the past three weeks. I do notice some improvement in how far I can jog before needing to walk for a bit, so my legs must be getting stronger. Maybe this time I'll stick with it. At least until I buy new pedals and shoes for my bike...but that's another story.

Progress and Setback, all in one post

2007-01-22T12:47:00.000-05:00

I'm a spotty sweater blocker. To paraphrase the immortal Adam Ant, I don't block, I don't swatch, what do I do? Well, I knit a lot of sweaters that are way too big for me. Luckily, I always seem to err on the large side, which is infinitely preferable to erring on the small side. But swimming in one's sweaters isn't optimal, either.

I am blocking the Nantucket Sweater parts, though. Partly because they really have to be blocked--the seed stitch panels that form the peplum pull up in a way I'd rather they didn't--and partly because I would like it to fit right. So I pinned and I measured. Now watch this be the sweater that's too small (if it is, I can block it much harder).

Then I immediately cast on for Arisaig, because I needed something to knit during the Pats game. And then, after the game, I ripped out everything I had knit--on size 4 needles at a gauge of 7.5 stitches per inch--while expressing my hatred for Peyton Manning (seriously, could he do any more commercials?) I am a big believer in the cathartic nature of destruction. (Ask me about the sofa I sawed up sometime!)

But I didn't just rip to vent. The rib section I had started with was clearly going to be snugger than I wanted it to be. Oh, right, had I swatched, I'd have known. Damn. Well, it was sort of a swatch, a 142 stitch, 18"x2" swatch. Yeah, that's right.

Tonight, Nantucket seaming starts, then the crocheted border. I don't think I'll be on track to finish by the end of this week, but it might be close.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Laziness

2007-01-20T12:51:00.000-05:00

So I thought I'd copy Maryse, and post a picture of myself knitting on the morning train to Boston yesterday (for Lucia's knit-socks-in-public series):

I just want you to know I felt pretty good about myself yesterday until I saw this picture.

(Yarn, Vesper Yarn in Tropicali, won from Claudia's MS ride drawing. Been working on these Jaywalkers pretty much since then.)

Catching Up

2007-01-12T13:15:00.000-05:00

My post-Rhinebeck goal of blogging more often seems to have fallen by the wayside. There's been some unbloggable weirdness the past couple of weeks that required Deep Thought, and while I hate to be cryptic, that's my excuse for not blogging, because I've been sort of consumed by this thing I can't blog about. Anyway, things seem to be worked out for the time being and a tolerable semblance of normal life should resume. And so shall the blogging.

There has been knitting: the sleeves, back and one front side of the Nantucket Jacket are done. I hope to have the other front completed by the end of next week and am aiming for a total completion date of Jan 27th at the latest. After that, I plan to start Arisaig, with my first-ever! Rowan yarn.

I'm focussed on the knitting because I honestly need new sweaters. I purged all the unflattering garments from my closet last summer. As a result, I have about three everyday sweaters left, and I'm sick of all of them. Love Rogue, but can't wear it every single day. Although, can I just say: the most flattering hoodie ever. Casual, makes it look like you're not trying, but you end up looking good--exactly what an everyday sweater should do. Maybe I should make another one of those, too.

And there's been spinning, although not much. If it weren't for Carole's spin nights, I'd have gotten nothing done on that front. I'm still working on the blue-green Grafton Fibers roving--which I'm now calling "peacock," because that's what the finished yarn looks like. My goal is to be done spinning that up by Spa, which would be a year from the date I bought it. Sigh. I have about 2/3rds of two batts left (remember, I'm alternating two batts into one yarn, for subtle--I hope--stripes). Jury's still out on whether or not I'm going to keep the yarn, although I am leaning in that direction. I really want to see how the striping knits out.

But if I'm going to finish that yarn up by Spa, I have 36 days to spin. I am little over half-done now and I've been spinning it since July. Oh, and I want to finish two sweaters in about the same timeframe. Wish me luck!

So Glad I Spent All That Money on Career Counseling

2007-01-07T10:14:00.000-05:00

Found over at the Knitigator:

Your Career Personality: Brainy, Logical, and Efficient

Your Ideal Careers:

Archeologist
Astronomer
Book editor
Business manager
Civil engineer
Designer
Economist
Inventor
Judge
Scientist

The Quick and Dirty Career Test

At first I thought, "ha! they got me wrong!" and then I saw Business Manager, which I essentially am. Bastards. I'm with Kathy, though: it'd be nice if they at least threw in a few more exciting options. I've always sort of fancied myself a femme fatale. (except, really I could never).

My First Yarncake

2006-12-26T15:02:00.001-05:00

Since the 80's, I've been winding balls of yarn by flipping over a chair (so its legs are in the air), throwing the skein over the chair legs, and winding a center-pull ball around my thumb. Lately, I've gotten lazy and placed the skein around my knees, but that invariably ends in tangles that take a half-hour to straighten out.

But today, those days are over, because thanks to my hubby, I now have a swift and a ball winder.

Long live the yarncake! Hurrah!

Happy Holidays to all!

2006-12-23T14:30:00.000-05:00

Mangy Decrepit (but beloved) 1950's Santa says Merry Christmas!

When I was a kid, he could walk and shake his bell, but now he just kind of lurches from side to side like a drunk, so I don't ask him to walk anymore. As I recall, I used a bit of White-Out on his eyebrows and 'stache a couple of years ago, which is why they look so bright. It's just not Christmas without Mangy Decrepit Santa.

(I do realize that he should probably be thrown out and would likely frighten children if we had any, but he was my favorite decoration growing up and I'm quite attached to him. And a civilized nation doesn't toss their elderly just because they can't walk and shake a bell anymore).

As you can see, Santa's gotten a bit of a head start at our house. As I understand it, he likes to knock the adults off a bit early so he can concentrate on the children Christmas Eve.

Our tree came from the woods this year, and it's my favorite ever. I don't mean a tree farm, I mean the woods. The company I work for had some tree harvesting to do for a client, so they chopped down some Christmass-y trees. Luckily the boss had a spare that I could take home. I like the fact that it looks like a real tree, not a perfect pyramidal "Christmas" tree. It even came pre-decorated with little pinecones. Now I am spoiled and want my tree to come from the woods every year.

The amaryllis and Star of Bethlehem are in bloom, and beside the Santa, the tree, and one creche, they are our sole indoor decorations. Oh, plus one fake poinsettia that I bought at Michael's. (You can't tell unless you look closely, and the real ones are poisonous to pets, so I figured fake could be excused). All the gifts are wrapped (well, mine at least; hubby's still shopping). I even finished the mittens in time (but forgot to photograph them, and they've already been gifted).

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope you are enjoying the holiday season and having a wonderful time with those you love!

Knitting Works Projects Administration

2006-12-12T13:52:00.000-05:00

The Knitting WPA would like to announce two new projects: the Nantucket Sweater from the cover of Interweave Knits and a pair of mittens.

I started on Sleeve Island for the Nantucket Sweater. It's being knit from Berroco Ultra Alpaca, which is a soft cushy yarn and SUCH a bargain. Big skeins, small price. The stitch definition could be better for this sweater, though. It does all right on the cables, but the thinner "twists" aren't that well-defined.
The color is more accurate in the top photo-kind of an acid/apple green. If you click on the Berrocco link above, it's the color on their website.

I should be on the mainland with this sweater by early next week, depending on how hard I work on the mittens.

One day last week, my boss's wife S was in the office and she spied my Estonian mittens. She couldn't believe I knit them, and once the boss found out, he wanted a pair, too, for when he's duck hunting. I had a fabulous pair picked out from the book and camouflage colors purchased

but after talking to him about precisely what he liked about my mittens (warmth without bulk), I realized the mittens I had chosen would be too bulky. And he wants his initials on the back, so I'll incorporate those into the design somehow.

The bummer is that I really fell in love with that pattern and now I can't use it. I thought about using it on the back of the mitten, leaving the palm thin and flexible, but the boss nixed that idea too. (I was going to start new strands on each row--I like the pattern so much I was willing to do that). What I'm thinking now is a row of the pattern at the cuff, then a diagonal line of three individual squares across the back of his hand with his initials next to them. The goal is stylin' but still flexible. Although I have to admit, part of me is thinking, "you're getting nice handknit mittens, you'll take what you get and like it, dammit.*"

But now I really have to finish the hubby's ultra-boring sweater or he'll get jealous. That pattern's going to have to change--there is no way I am ever finishing a k2p2 ribbing sweater. In black. It does look bad that I ditched his sweater for the boss's mittens, but that's just because the mittens aren't stultifyingly dull. Knitting that sweater is like being hit on the head with a baseball bat.

*Speaking of "dammit," we learned this past weekend that the 4-year-old for whom I knit Beary can cuss. She and I were playing a highly competitive game of air hockey (telling you, kid's got the moves) and when I scored a goal on her she quietly said, "Oh, damn." The first two times we were laughing too hard to correct her but by the third time it became evident she had to be stopped. Next up: belching the alphabet!

Fly Like An Eagle...

2006-12-08T10:52:00.000-05:00

Sorry if you all have a Steve Miller earworm for the rest of the day. I know I do!

Norma mentioned the Soaring Eagles project a few days ago, and I knit this hat for them:

If you have some acrylic, cotton or superwash hanging around your house and enough time to whip up a hat or headband, please think of them. Rachel needs about 150 more hats by Dec. 18th in order to be able to give every student at her school one. It won't work unless every student gets a hat, so please help her out if you can! I'm working on a second hat now, a pink cotton one from a pattern on the Soaring Eagles Project website. I know a lot of you might be charity-knitted-out, but if there's anyone left out there with an ounce of energy, Rachel could really use the help.

Additionally, there's been some spinning. I finished two bobbins of the blue/green Grafton Fibers batts I bought at Spa last year and later decided I hated. Not the batts (l*o*v*e Grafton Fibers batts), but the colors. I had toyed with the idea of giving the completed yarn away. Others had suggested that life was too short to spin colors you dislike and thought I should sell the unspun batts. But ultimately I thought I would donate the yarn to Claudia's MS ride.

Except then I plied it up, and realized that yarn this crappy cannot be given in exchange for money, not even a donation to a good cause. It's my first attempt at Navajo plying, but that's not the only problem. The singles were underspun and fell apart on me while plying--so there are all these lumps and loops where I tried to patch the plies together. And the plying is too tight, resulting in a ridiculously kinky yarn. A lumpy, loopy, kinky, craptacular yarn.

And to make matters worse, I may have decided I like it. I'm really on the fence about this. I think it's pretty, I'm just not sure I want an entire sweater of it. Now that it's plied up, I can see how the muted batt mellowed out the bright batt, so the bright batt yarn looks jewel-like instead of screaming 80's neon. When I bought the batts, I said to myself, gee, I haven't had a teal sweater since 1985. But this experience has taught me that the reason I haven't had a teal sweater is because I don't like teal. So we'll see. I may still give the yarn away (with a major disclaimer), if anyone is willing to deal with deeply wretched yarn. However, I'm not sure I can even give this yarn away with a clear conscience, partly because I'm not sure words can convey how very bad it is, and the camera lies.

In happier spinning news, I couldn't resist spinning up a bobbin of the new fleece.I'm afraid this might be underspun, too, since I used barely any twist. It spins up crazy quickly--this bobbin took at most 2 hours--and is a fun spin. Let's all hope it sticks together when I go to ply!

Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Done

2006-12-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

I'm done! Done, do you hear me? Done! Donedonedonedonedone! Does my yippee of joy ring throughout the land?

I've finished knitting/sewing my holiday gifts. I still have gifts for the hubby to buy, so I'm not ALL done, but at least the crafty stuff is done. When you're done cursing, please keep in mind that I started in JULY. And I left the worst (shopping) for last (two weeks before Christmas).

After Beary was sewn up, stuffed and dressed, I needed to knit three more hats and sew one. For my boss and his son, I knit two matching circular brioche hats out of homespun:

If you have wanted to knit a brioche hat, but hate seaming, I recommend this pattern. It was easy and I think the hats came out well. I did have to tink with it on one of the hats, but that was because I changed the sizing.

Then, remember the pink Odessa hat I made for the boss's wife, my friend S? I made a matching one for their daughter. Only on that hat, I used gold beads 'cause little girls love their bling.

And then lastly (because the sewing machine could only come out after all the easy stuff was done), I sewed a dino hat for my friends' little dino-obsessed son. It'll be too big for him, but he might be able to stretch it over his ski helmet now and grow into it later.

The truly sad thing about this insanely easy pattern (pretty sure it's Buttericks but can't find it on their website) is that it took me two tries to get it right. However, it's not entirely my fault. It is my fault that I plunged the seam-ripper through the fleece so many times it looked like lace. But it's their fault the diagram told me to sew the hat together backwards. So just in case any of you bought this pattern, just be aware: don't follow the diagram.

(And if anyone is interested in sewing a woman's hat, Buttericks has some sharp-looking hat patterns. They have some goofy ones, too.)

Happy Christmas, your arse

2006-12-05T13:57:00.000-05:00

Found my very favorite holiday tune on You Tube today... Enjoy!

Project Grrrrway

2006-12-01T09:40:00.000-05:00

Today's most fabulous bears are sporting pinafores. This one, worn by supermodel Beary in a recent runway show, is by up-and-coming label Martita Rampage.

"It's hip, it's fresh, it's now," Beary said after the show. "I was proud to be chosen for the Martita Rampage show. I even waived my fee." Since Beary won't leave her cave for less than $10,000 a day, that's quite a compliment to the new designer.

Unfortunately, like so many young fashionistas today, Beary isn't much of a lady and rarely wears underpants. Some speculate that she relies on the titillating paparazzi pix for publicity.

Since the toddler for whom Beary is intended as a holiday gift isn't much of a lady herself (the only thing standing between her and belching the alphabet is knowing all the letters), it should be a match made in heaven.

Specs:
Catherine bear from Sandra Polley's The Knitted Teddy Bear
Homespun worsted-bulky weight Wensleydale, spun on Melanie's Odette last winter
Pinafore from scrap living room summer valance material

For Cate

2006-11-30T10:48:00.000-05:00

So, this guy is trying to quantify the way and speed with which ideas travel through blogs for a talk at some conference. And Cate wants to knock his socks off with the power of knitters. But you're saying, no no no! We want to keep our power secret and then ambush the Muggles when they are weak and defenseless. I mean, obviously, if you have a great weapon, you don't want the world to know, do you?

But see, here's the thing. Haven't you suspected for a while now that everything you knit is based on something you saw on a blog? Like there's some massive knitterly groupthink? I don't mean that to sound negative; bees in a hive have groupthink and they're not exactly slackers. Groupthink can be a powerful force indeed. Dudeguy's trying to put hard numbers on it, which is kind of cool.

I think we can agree that fun ideas (like knitting Rogue) spread faster than less-fun ideas (like helping science), but let's all pitch in and help this guy out. Here's how you do it:

1) Write a blog post in which you discuss the experiment.
2) Link to this post in your blog post.
3) Ping Technorati.

What I am afraid he will discover is that there are tons of knitters out there, but only 2 of us are technically proficient (ping Technorati? wha?), but hopefully I got that right.

P.S. At the end of his post there's a list of blogs that linked. Seriously, folks, he needs more knitters.

Walk With Me Wednesday

2006-11-29T14:01:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Kathy and I met at the Blue Hills Reservation to divvy up our fleece (now roving) and get some post-Thanksgiving exercise. Since I am still coughing a bit, we tried to find a more level walk, but failed and ended up climbing a paved road all the way to the top. Here's the view from the Blue Hills weather observatory:
and here's the observatory itself:

I have to admit, I was sucking wind by the time we got up there, but Kathy was nice and didn't drop me. In fact, she was even willing to pose with my dog.
We took a rocky, muddy path back down that wasn't as easy to walk, but had some nice architectural bits along it to make up for it.
(sorry for all the trees).
I wish I had taken a picture of the lovely Trailside Museum but I didn't think. The sad thing about the Reservation is that several of the historic structures within it have been allowed during the recent budget crunch to fall into disrepair. You'll be walking along a trail, stumble across an old building and notice all the windows are boarded up and what's left of the paint is peeling in sheets.

Oh, what's that? You wanted to see the roving? I neglected to take pictures this morning before I left for work, but lucky for me, Kathy's on the ball and has some in her Walk With Me Wednesday post. We dropped a 7 lb fleece off at Friends Folly Farm, and they returned to us 5 lbs of roving, already thoughtfully split into two 2.5 lb bags. It's a gorgeous silvery-grey that should spin up pretty easily.

If you haven't read Kathy's post yet, she suggests that if we always ended exercise with fiber, maybe we'd exercise more. This is an idea we can work with, people! After all, any good exercise program has a reward mechanism built in...

Catching up with old news...

2006-11-27T11:23:00.000-05:00

Before I fell under the weather, I attended the K2Tog workshops at the Fuller Craft Museum. The day was sort of a mixed bag--I got the sense that the museum wants to reach out to the fiber community but they haven't targeted their audience yet. The day felt sort of unfocussed, with classes ranging from absolute beginner to experienced. It would have been more successful if they'd narrowed that range a bit.

Two of the sessions I took were real standouts, though: lunch & dyeing. The luncheon speaker was Peter Hagerty of Peace Fleece. He's a fascinating man whose path from Vietnam vet to international yarn entrepreneur was inspirational. He mentioned that on trips to Russia, even though he spoke no Russian & they spoke no English, when he & his wife took out their knitting, they immediately made friends. He told too many stories to recap the talk here, but he was truly mesmerizing. If you get the chance to hear him speak, do go. And buy their yarn, it's for a good cause.

My last workshop for the day was Natural Dyeing. We dyed samples in onion skins, cochineal & indigo. Rhonda, the instructor, had color-dedicated dyepots that she heated on propane-powered hotplates (which she said you could often find at the Ocean State Job Lot for $25--good to know!). She uses non-toxic mordants like cream of tartar. We each dyed a set of samples. Here's mine (top to bottom): indigo, indigo/cochineal, cochineal, indigo/onion skins, cochineal/onion skins, onion skins. The blended colors were dipped first in one, rinsed, then dipped in the other.
I was really pleased with the yellow of the onion skins. It's such a lovely "naples yellow" (any watercolorists out there?) shade, and so easy and inexpensive to achieve.

As we were wrapping up, one of Rhonda's assistants decided to try her hair in the indigo pot.
It took so well, she reports, that when she recently dyed her hair red, that one blue lock rejected the red dye.

All in all, the dyeing workshop showed me that natural dyeing is less fuss and bother than I had thought, and might be something I could manage in the basement with a hotplate (which is exactly how Rhonda recommends you approach it). So maybe someday I'll get off my butt and actually dye something!

ETA: Well, actually, indigo is a fuss and bother, which is why I included the link. Rhonda has a dedicated indigo pot that she keeps going all the time, which doesn't make sense if you're an occasional dyer. But the other colors seem manageable.

Dinah Feigns Concern for her Meal Ticket

2006-11-21T13:45:00.000-05:00

To be fair, the poor cat has spent so much time curled up next to me in bed over the past month, she's started to sneeze. She does have moments of non-evil.

You can see the curl at the end of her tail in that picture. Her tail is permanently crimped at the end, and she doesn't like the curl touched. She can wind half of her tail around your arm like a monkey (although she can't hang from it, not that I've tried).

I'm feeling better and did some holiday-giftie knitting over the weekend. I have a lot of posting to catch up with--but first I have to catch up with work!

A Magnum of Whine

2006-11-16T10:37:00.000-05:00

After Rhinebeck I decided to step up my posting. I was going to post at least twice a week, I had a schedule of topics in my Palm Pilot (sad, I know), I was cruising on my knitting and had plenty to talk about. Then I caught a cold. Then it turned into tonsillitis. Then my boss caught pneumonia and shared it with me. Then I had an endoscopy for an unrelated condition, and now between the endoscopy, the coughing and the sneezing, my throat muscles are bruised and beat up; it hurts to turn my head, swallow, touch my throat. I am not writing this so you'll all say "get well soon!"--I'm really not that sick, I'm just sick enough that I should be in bed, but not sick enough to tolerate lying in bed--I'm just writing this to explain my absence. You know when you were a kid and you had just recovered from something and felt fine, but your mom still made you stay in bed another day or two and you were like, "But mo-oo-mmm, I want to go outside and play!" That's where I am. And the fact that every single time I think I'm getting better, I suffer some setback, has made me realize that my mom was right, I should be in bed. So anyway, long story short, sorry I haven't posted, don't give up on me! I do have knitterly things to share, eventually. Check back next week. I have high hopes for next week.

I've got nothing but a quiz

2006-11-10T12:52:00.000-05:00

I've got to tell you, I thought this quiz was a load of bull, but I have to admit they pretty much nailed it:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard.
The Midland
The Northeast
The South
The Inland North
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

I grew up about 2 hours west of Philly.

(Quiz via Maryse...)

More stash reduction!

2006-11-03T14:37:00.000-05:00

I knit one of Grumperina's Odessa hats last weekend as a Christmas gift for my friend S.

The yarn is a three-ply fingering weight homespun, from the Friends Folly Farm Cranberry Relish roving (whew, say that five times fast!) I bought at Spa last February. When I saw how pink it spun up, I thought of S -- it's her favorite color -- and decided to make something from it for her.

The pattern calls for DK weight yarn, but I made a swatch and did the math. The stitch pattern takes 11 stitches, so instead of casting on 110, I cast on 132 and changed the ribbing to k2, p2. With this change the swirls do not swoop up from the ribbing as organically as they do the way the pattern is written, but my yarn isn't very springy and I wanted to make sure the hat would be large enough. I used somewhere in the ballpark of 140 yards and about 160 beads.

The beads are also from stash. I bought them a couple of years ago at Michael's after I read Bead Crochet. I crocheted this bracelet from them (well, half them, half gold) at the time.

I got really excited about bead crochet and beading in general, until I did more of it. Turns out I have neither the patience, the eyesight nor the hand-eye coordination for the work. Unfortunately, I had already bought about a billion beads, thinking this would be my Great New Hobby. So I was glad to reduce the bead stash with this hat, too.

I plan to make a matching Odessa, only with gold beads, for S's little daughter. Maybe I'll even make one for myself.

Then I'll only have a million and three-quarters beads left. Maybe I should give bead crochet another try...

Hyrna Herborgar makes her debut

2006-10-29T13:40:00.000-05:00

Fresh off the blocking towel, Hyrna Herborgar very graciously escorted me to a garden club presidents tea Thursday night.
My master plan was to stun everyone there with my shawl, so they wouldn't notice my 20 extra pounds, flat mussy hair or complete lack of makeup.

Seriously, not only is Hyrna toasty warm & comforting, she's sort of a security blanket or invisibility cloak, too: when you're wearing this shawl, people might be less likely to notice if you're also wearing your supper. Especially if you add a few extra repeats, so the shawl covers more of your body. (If you are the busty sort, you will want to add those repeats).

I have always loved Icelandic yarn (and the ginormous flaming-red poncho I never quite finished out of Lopi stands testament to that), but now I love it even more. Although still maybe not as much as Cassie, but I'm getting there.

The Vanderbilt Mansion

2006-10-27T12:08:00.000-04:00

She broke off, laughing, to explain that she had come up to town from Tuxedo, on her way to the Gus Trenors' at Bellomont, and had missed the three-fifteen train to Rhinebeck.
--Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth

Okay, hands up, who's read The House of Mirth? Because this is exactly the type of house Wharton's writing about. (Okay, not exactly, since the title is a metaphor, but you get the idea).

Seating herself on the upper step of the terrace, Lily leaned her head against the honeysuckles wreathing the balustrade....Beyond the lawn, with its pyramidal pale-gold maples and velvety firs, sloped pastures dotted with cattle; and through a long glade the river widened like a lake under the silver light of September.

Here's that view, from the mansion's back terrace:

Back in the day, there probably were cattle; the National Parks Service brochure says that Vanderbilt kept prize-winning livestock.

The first thing you see when you drive in the gate is this bridge.
It sets quite an impressive scene. It's a bridge that you might expect in a public park, but not at a private residence. But there's even more going on here. It's made of reinforced concrete, built less than ten years after the very first United States reinforced concrete bridge (Alford Lake bridge, Golden Gate Park in San Francisco). It echoes the technologically-modern house, which is hiding concrete and steel under its limestone facade.*
And as you drive over it, you hear the rush of water. A dam under the bridge, built to create the upstream pond, also conveniently creates a small waterfall complete with rushing water sounds. It's like a little mini testament to ego. You know, in case the house wasn't enough.

The grounds are landscaped with specimen trees, many of which I didn't recognize. And some were just photogenic. I liked the way this tree's leaves folded

and the spiny silhouette this tree embossed on the sky

and the way this one rooted along its trunk so many times it looks like the Loch Ness monster.

I'm glad I went, even though I missed the tour. Next year I'd like to take a few extra days to tour more of the Hudson Valley historic homes.

*National Parks Service brochure; American Building by Carl Condit.

What I Did on my Rhinebeck Vacation

2006-10-24T11:22:00.000-04:00

(I know I'm forgetting things and people, so please bear with me!)

--Bought my first fleece (with Kathy).

--Resolved to learn wet- & needle-felting. I'd like to be able to felt tapestries and hats.

--Bought felting needles.

--Met lots of knitters--bloggers and non-bloggers.

--Helped trash Carole, Sharon & Manise's hotel room. And they thought knitters were sedate and quiet. Not any more!

--Watched people wait in line for 45 minutes for sock yarn.

--Saw not one, but two, men wearing kilts (one being Sweater Project Dave).

--Learned of the existence of the Utilikilt. (I lead a sheltered life).

--Met Margene and Lee Ann in person. Finally!

--Purchased 2.25 lbs of Spinners Hill roving. Don't expect to see that roving become yarn for a couple of years. (And it's a good thing I bought extra, because I have no idea how to spin this stuff to its best advantage).

--Speaking of yarn, I did NOT buy any. Not one skein.

--Contemplated knitting a pillbox hat from multicolored mohair boucle. Carole talked me down off that ledge. I would still like to find something small to do with boucle, though.

--Saw the Vanderbilt Mansion & toured the grounds (missed the tour).

--Petted sheep, llama & alpaca.

--Ate lamb chops for lunch.

--Saw an Easter Island-like head off the Taconic Parkway. (Did anyone else see that? What is UP with that head??)

--Had a completely overwhelming & exhausting experience. The best thing about fiber festivals is getting to spend time with friends (old & new). I can't possibly list all of you and I can't wait 'til we all see each other again.

Happy Rhinebeck!

2006-10-19T07:15:00.000-04:00

I know I'm going to see a lot of you in a day or two, and I know we'll miss those of you who can't make it this year. This is my first Rhinebeck (and second-ever fiber festival) so I'm pretty excited.

For those of you who have me as a square on your bingo cards, there's a picture of me here, that while washed out from the flash and bad light and taken by my husband whose aptitude for photography is pretty much nil, conveys the major things you need to know about me. I'm short and stocky, with shoulder-length brown hair. I don't know what I'll be wearing or carrying yet, but unless a miracle happens, it probably won't be Hyrna, since the yarn hasn't gotten here yet :( I probably won't have my glasses on but weather permitting will have sunglasses on instead. I will, somehow, be wearing a big "I'm a Square" sign, probably around my neck 'cause I'm goofy like that. I'll probably be hanging with my homies from the Boston posse or the greater New England/NY gang. Yo. (Maybe we can start a gang fight over a fleece?)

Can't wait!

Boston-Area Workshops

2006-10-15T11:30:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I went to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA, and noticed they have a number of upcoming workshops for knitters.

If you're not going to Rhinebeck, next weekend they have a workshop on Freeform Knitting. I'm kind of sorry I'm missing that and hope they offer it again.

And on November 4, they're having a day-long workshop series called "K2Tog." You can sign up for individual workshops or for the entire day. One of the workshops that interests me (and might interest some of you, too) is "An All Natural Dye Job." Also, the lunch lecture, "Crafts and Conflict: The Role of the Artisan in Times of Trouble" will be given by Peter Hagerty of Peace Fleece.

There's also an excellent quilt exhibit and a wearable art exhibit currently running that might give you some inspiration for your knitting.

Maybe I'll see some of you there!

Resolution

2006-10-13T13:50:00.000-04:00

I emailed Jager Icelandics to see what they had in stock, since I really felt I needed to stick with the original yarn, if not the original color. Unfortunately, they were fresh out of laceweight (they're dyeing more next week for Rhinebeck--they'll be in Barn K near the door for anyone interested). However, they did have ONE skein of the golden-green left. So my Hyrna's going to be all one color after all. I'm okay with that, although I suspect a striped-naturals Icelandic shawl is in my future. For some reason, I'm all about the stripes these days...

Dilemma

2006-10-08T10:25:00.000-04:00

Well, I got very near to the end of the next-to-last row:
The way I see it, I have a few choices to make now.

1) I can do the Icelandic thing and change the color for the last row and crochet bind-off. I'm thinking a golden brown, like the color of my sunglasses or the pinecone next to them:
(Most of the shawls in the book are knit in stripes of naturals, and Fina Hyrnan is knit all one color, except for the crochet bind-off, which is black).

2) In the interests of completing this thing over Columbus Day weekend, with yarn at limited availability, I can change yarn completely and go to Michaels and find an acceptable brown fingering-weight yarn. It is, after all, one knit row and a crochet bind-off.

Here's the bind-off, for those of you who haven't knit from this book yet:
If it were only the bind-off, I wouldn't hesitate to go with option 2. I think a plied yarn would set off the chained scallops nicely, adding a bit of crisp detail (the rest of the shawl has a sort of fuzzy halo). But I think the last knit row needs to have the same fuzzy halo as the rest of the shawl.

So, I guess I call Jager and see what they have available. But, that leaves me at option 1: do I change color for the last row? Obviously, it might be necessary if Jager doesn't have any more golden-green. But I have to admit, I'm kind of digging the idea of brown, even if I can get more golden-green.

What do you think? Brown or gold, fuzzy halo singles or crisp plied sock yarn?

Consternation

2006-10-06T16:06:00.000-04:00

I have 16 l-l-o-o-n-n-g-g rows left (plus a crochet bind-off), and this much yarn:

leaf added for scale

The ball's about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. I think I'll have enough. I hope.

I Heart Hyrna

2006-09-30T10:52:00.000-04:00

Well, I ripped out the two offending inches (there's an interesting Google search for you), back to where I had screwed up the ends of my double-yarnovers, and did it all over. I am now near the end of the second section, hoping to set everything up properly (and numerically) for the border.

I love this shawl. Partly, I love it for the yarn, which is the most gorgeous mottled fall shades of green and gold. (In reality I think they are a little brighter than what you see in this photo.) The Icelandic singles have a pleasing rough-but-soft wooly texture. It just looks warm. And partly, I love it for the pattern.

I think I'm ready for a girly shawl. I can't wait to wear it when it's done. I'm hoping it will be enormous and just wrap right around me. I am not usually (and this is an understatement in the extreme) a hearts-and-ruffles sort of girl. I'm more the geometric sort, so it may be in the end that Hyrna is a little too feminine for me. But right now, I love it.

10 Knitting Things You Don't Know About Me, Or Might Have Known Once But Hopefully Forgot

2006-09-27T14:36:00.000-04:00

For Grumpy...

1) I have never knit with angora. I'm toying with the idea of getting a bunny but someone suggested I find out whether I'm allergic first. Good idea!

2) While I may skip steps and let mistakes stand while knitting, I am an obsessive-compulsive seamer. I work hard to ensure a nice, even, hopefully-invisible seam. The work of seaming a sweater is so tedious and meticulous for me that I have to break it into two evenings: the first, I sew the shoulders and set the sleeve in; the second, I seam up the sides and sleeves. (If you were about to tell me my seams suck, you can just keep your mouth shut. I'm not listening!)

3) The first socks I ever knit were made out of leftover Tahki Tweed and and the Candide hunting sock pattern and were for my cousin for Christmas. They were terrible socks. Really, no elasticity whatsoever, floppy around the ankles. Gauge? What's that? But my cousin said he loved them so I made him more terrible socks for Christmas the next year. That'll teach him to be nice.

4) That second pair of socks for my cousin was the last pair I ever made until last year.

5) The first sweater I ever knit was made out of crimson red acrylic yarn and used a British V-neck, raglan sleeve pattern from a book my granny gave me. Turned out it was a man's size. Sucker was HUGE, and I was not. It was like a sack dress on me. I think I wore it once.

6) It didn't occur to me to think about whether a sweater flattered my figure until a couple of years ago. There was a massive sweater purge shortly after.

7) I have given Goodwill and the Salvation Army a staggering number of hand-knit sweaters.

8) I had never knit with wool until I went off to college. Wool yarn was not available where I grew up. I cannot tell you how excited I was freshman year when I found wool in the LYS. It almost made up for that solid month of rain.

9) The first time I knit drunk (possibly only time, too) was also freshman year in college. In one of my English classes, we had to visually depict something from one of our texts, any way we liked. I knit a mini Coat of Many Colors, sort of large doll-sized. (You know, for your Joseph doll. I'm not sure that's sacriligeous, unless your Joseph doll starts spending too much time with Barbie.) But anyway, back to the coat. It was completely random, just patches of color any which way, although I did put thought into the way the colors and patches worked together. It was a fun knit. Anyway, I remember I returned from a bar one night a little too tipsy to read Shakespeare (I recall trying and giving up), so I knit some on the coat. My professor loved that coat. It hung in his office for years. And I felt like a cheat, because I had made something so easy.

10) Coat of Many Colors aside, I am not a very creative knitter. I pick a pattern, I follow a pattern. I don't sit around and think of unique objects to knit up (pillowcases, coasters, tea cozies...). Mostly, I knit sweaters.

Looks Like I'm Going to Rhinebeck After All

2006-09-25T14:00:00.000-04:00

I had ruled Rhinebeck out on the basis of being crazy money for one person for the weekend. The hubby's not interested and it didn't seem right for me to spend all that money on a vacation without him. After all, the same money could buy airfare to Florida (and part of a week's lodging) for the both of us. But he knew that deep down inside, despite my protestations to the contrary, I really wanted to go. So what was my anniversary present? A gift certificate entitling the bearer to "an all-expenses paid weekend trip with your knitting cult."

I have to admit, I got a little teary-eyed.

Now I just have to determine whether "all expenses paid" includes fleece... I think it should, don't you?

And Here I Thought $20 Was Bad

2006-09-22T17:49:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting on the patio with the dog and a cup of coffee, reading the new Elle (I gave up on being Vogue; now I'm just trying to be Elle) while waiting for the hubster to come home for dinner, and I come across this article on channeling the classics to create your own style. On the "All-American" (read preppy) page, they show a pair of $200 Michael Kors argyle socks. Now I'm sure these socks are cashmere, and they're certainly far more dignified (camel, black and white) than my pimptastic argyles are, but $200? Two hundred dollars? For a pair of socks? Does he sell a lot of these? Whoever buys them needs to call me. I can knit a dignified argyle sock for a lot less money.

Things To Which I Am Hopelessly Addicted

2006-09-20T13:25:00.000-04:00

1) Project Runway. I've never watched it before, and now I can't stop. My friend T. was raving and raving about it a few weeks ago, so I gave it a try. It's been inspiring me to sew stuff I never would have thought to sew before. They're down to a very talented group at this point.

2) Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter. Don't worry, it's not time for an intervention or anything. But nectar of the gods, people. Nectar of the gods. And yes, I am aware that I shoud pursue other methods of post-work stress-relief, like yoga or boxing, but drinking a porter's working pretty well for me right now. Oddly enough, it makes the acid reflux go away.

3) "Message to my Girl" by Split Enz (caution: video and music start instantly). The song is about 20 years old, I know, but I haven't heard it in eons. And I missed it. I don't know what it is about that song that gives me chills, but it just sounds so heartfelt. Look how young Neil Finn looks! Such a boy. Looks a lot like a boy I dated, oh, 20 years ago.

4) L'Oreal ReFinish Microdermabrasion Kit. At first I was sceptical, but now a month into the experiment, the huge patch of freckles on my cheek (like a gigantic age-spot, people) is less than half the size it used to be. It's a winner.

5) Sewing blouses. I finally finished the garnet red blouse! Here's a photo, taken by the hubby in bad kitchen light:
It's not perfect by any stretch, but it fits and is comfortable. And it's presentable; it's not too visibly messed-up. Inside is a little "Martita Rampage" label (sorry for the crappy, out-of-focus shot)

6) Not knitting Hyrna. Seriously. I don't even like looking at Hyrna. She is riddled with errors, due to my refusal to read the &^*% pattern. I just blithely knit along, watching TV, reading a book, not paying the slightest attention to the pattern, only to realize much, much later that the pattern changed and I didn't. As long as the stitch count works, I figure I'm okay--but I'm not. One of the errors I can live with (a centered diamond where the shawl's spine should start) but the other troubles me to the point that I am considering ripping back several inches. Me, the one who never rips! That's how bad it is. Here's the error:

See where, on the left the ends of the double YOs end in little pointed arrows? And see where, on the right, they don't? Or maybe you can't see it, because Blogger has ceased to download photos and I had to use Flickr (bye-bye, Blogger). Anyway, imagine Hyrna all blocked out, with all of its double YOs ending in arrows--except for that patch. Yup, I'm ripping.

Sorry for the spotty blogging. Our bookkeeper at work quit last week to travel Central America, so I've spent the past couple of weeks learning how to do payroll and taxes and all the other stuff she did. It's good to learn this stuff, and I'm glad for the challenge; I just had to absorb a lot in a short period of time. I'm starting to get a system going and the chaos is quieting down around here, so I should have a little more blogging time now. I hope.

I Am Doll Parts

2006-09-07T14:03:00.000-04:00

Those are my teddy bear parts so far. Clockwise, starting at the top, we have:
3 head pieces
4 ear pieces
4 arm pieces (2 pieces each arm, duh, with contrast brown paw pads)
2 body sections

I'm still working on the legs. All the yarn is homespun from stash, which makes me happy. It's made a huge dent in the stash-storage-box. There's room for more now!

Sorry the parts are all curled up and don't look like much; the pattern expressly states not to press or block them before stitching.

I've been a bad knitblogger, though, and gotten distracted from my knitting. Which has two results: gives me less to blog about, and puts me WAY behind on my holiday gifts. Yikes! I was supposed to finish this bear before Labor Day.

But instead, enthralled with the progress I'd made sewing those bags, I decided I had to learn how to sew a blouse. One that actually fits me, unlike the ones I buy in the store. Unfortunately, such a blouse involves learning pattern manipulation, dart adjustment, sleeve cap reduction, etc. It's been two weeks and about 4 library books already, and I've only gotten this far:

(I made that picture smaller so the color wouldn't blind you)

I swear to you that hideous color is not accurate. It's actually a lovely garnet red. I've been learning to set sleeves (and adjust sleeve caps) since Monday, so as you can see this is going to be a while. But the good news is that once I get this sussed, I should be able to whip a blouse out in an afternoon.

I also solemnly swear to you that this blog will not become a sewing blog. It's just that in the heat of the summer, I'd rather sew than knit. Or spin, apparently, since the only spinning I've done this summer has been insomnia-3am-spinning. I'm still working on the Grafton Fibers navajo blue and teal batts that I have officially decided I dislike and will raffle off once I'm done. I have noticed that when you dislike the color you're spinning, your motivation to spin plummets to the ground like a dead bird. But I know someone else will love the colors, so once I finish you'll all be the first to know!

P.S. No progress whatsoever on Hyrna. Really. None.

Fini!

2006-08-29T15:44:00.000-04:00

The button is a reproduction 1940's silver button with a lily-of-the-valley on it. Here's a detail:

Still working on the teddy bear. And Hyrna.

Summer's Eve: Now for Hyrna, too!

2006-08-27T03:30:00.000-04:00

Is it just me, or does Hyrna sound like a gynecological condition?

While the men were distracted with the barbeque, she gently touched my arm to get my attention and asked, a look of concern on her face, "Oh, how's your hyrna?"
"Knitting up quickly," I replied with a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness they have a treatment for that now."

Anyway, it is summer's eve, and Hyrna is knitting up quickly, thank goodness, largely due to the size 5 needles and almost-fingering-weight Icelandic singles I'm using. Because I am not as petite as Claudia, and Hyrna does seem to run small, I used Beadlizard Sylvia's modification and added three repeats to the first section. I did not check the math myself, so I'm hoping I don't have to modify the second section to make the border work (it doesn't sound like I do).

It's been smooth sailing since I got to the repeats. However, I knit my setup rows while paying more attention to the TV than to my knitting. The ripping started during the Red Sox game and continued into China Beach . I ripped up those setup rows so many times the yarn started to fuzz (it had already been ripped once before, when it auditioned unsuccessfully for Swirl Shawl). 4 times? 6 times? I lost count. It was ugly. Finally, it was clear that fatigue was impairing my comprehension, so I put Hyrna down and went to bed. When I ripped and started anew the next morning, everything went fine and it's been good ever since. I should be starting the second section tonight.

Here, for Maryse, is a view of the yarn I'm using for the teddy bear:

Can you see the crap? First yarn I ever spun on a wheel, and it shows. But here's how it knits up:

(sorry the picture is so much smaller, I had to use flickr as blogger declines to post photos)

Keep in mind that I am knitting this on Size 3 needles. If this yarn were coal, it would be a diamond by now. No stuffing is falling out of this bear.

Sigh

2006-08-21T17:01:00.000-04:00

I had a very long weekend that included watching the Red Sox get pummelled, volunteering at the local fair two mornings and waiting for five hours at the airport for my SIL's plane to land. Last night was the airport trip and as a result, this morning I can't muster the energy to be entertaining. Just a heads up. Apologies.

Between the fair and the airport, some crafty stuff was done.

I finished the second argyle sock (same as the first) and then I thought to myself, what should I cast on for now? Oh, Hyrna, knock knock...

I know I should have cast on for something gift-related, but I am weak. And besides, the book I ordered for my next gift project hadn't arrived yet (it arrived the next day). And I had to have something to keep my nervous fingers busy as I watched the Red Sox lose, didn't I?

Then on Saturday, I started my next gift sewing project, a knapsack of the same toile as the tote bag. This one is even farther beyond my sewing abilities

(a grommet!)

(a zipper!)

(a pain-in-the-butt partitioned patch pocket!)

but so far it seems to be coming out okay, with shockingly little seam-ripping.

And then on Sunday, because that darn teddy bear book (so cute!) was burning a hole in my stash, I cast on for the Catherine bear. She's going to be a cream-colored polar bear made from the Wensleydale homespun I made when I first learned to spin on Odette. It's not great yarn, but the gauge is so squeaky tight on this bear that you can't tell the yarn is a tad lumpy. She's going to a four-year-old (the one surfing on the beach in the 4th of July photo) so I thought about dyeing the yarn so it wouldn't show dirt as much, but I really liked the idea of a polar bear and besides, I sincerely hope this toy gets dirty and worn and loved 'til all its seams fray. I am actually concerned that the four-year-old's parents will keep the bear on a shelf as a treasure, instead of letting her drag it across the lawn. I will have to tell them that this is a bear designed to take a beating.

No pictures of the bear yet--all I've knit is one-half of the body and believe me, that's not much to look at. It really just looks like a larger-than-average swatch (well, way larger-than-average for me, since I rarely swatch). When I have some bear parts worth looking at, you'll all be the first to know.

It used to look good to me, but now I find it...

2006-08-07T13:30:00.000-04:00

fantastic.

I got bored and added some stripes, and now I love them even more. One down, one to go! (No, I do not have freakishly long toes, I took the picture from above and flipped it and now the perspective is out of whack.) I'd like to figure out how to knit an orange star in the toe cap for future socks.

And there's been progress on the sewn tote bag:

This was a good pattern for me, just a little past my comfort zone but still easy enough. Pretty much every single stitched line is crooked, but you can't tell unless you're looking at it very, very closely and critically. The only crooked thing that jumps out at you is the toile pocket--which, even though the fabric blends, somehow the crookedness does not (It's not as crooked as it looks in this picture; the whole bag is hanging askew). But that one stupid pocket took me two tries. I still have another pocket to put on and the top to hem, and then it's done.

Here's the inside, so you can see the awning-stripe lining:

I showed it to my husband, because I wanted him to see what I had made with the sewing machine he gave me, and he said (in a completely shocked voice, and look of surprise), "Hey, that came out good!" Thanks for that vote of confidence, hon.

A selvage stitch does not guarantee a neat seam

2006-08-05T11:03:00.000-04:00

Especially when the selvage stitch is really, really small, and the sewer is sloppy:

And I know you're all like, why didn't you rip it out and do it again? I told you I'm a slatternly knitter! (I like to think of myself as the anti-Grumperina). Also, the only thing worse than a mis-aligned seam is a played-out selvage stitch. This seam really, really needs to hold together, so I didn't want to stretch out my selvage stitches. But mostly, I'm just lazy. And it's a sock.

I have to admit, when I saw Julia's pirate arrghyles, I regretted my decision not to make them. My socks just seemed, well, less after I saw hers. But now I love them. The pattern has been a joy to knit (even the occasional frogging, which as Julia notes, is not fun) and I like my bright colors. And all those half-balls of sock yarn left-over from previous pairs? Crazy argyles-in-waiting.

Here's the side:

and the front:

I understand from the myriad argyle patterns out there that you can join your round pretty much anywhere on the foot you want. You can carry your argyles all the way down to the toe cap, if you like, and join into a round there--you just have to sew longer side seams. I also have a pattern that knits the entire sock, top to toe, flat, with one seam from the foot up the back of the leg. I decided to knit this pair as Julia's knitting hers, as I'm not wild about long sock seams.

But I think on a future pair I might experiment with carrying the diamonds down the instep to the toe cap. I just haven't decided where to put my seams yet.

Dear Mama Moth Heaven,

2006-08-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

As I explained to your daughter recently, I am a slatternly knitter, one for whom I am ashamed to say standards can not be dropped low enough. I am haphazard, lazy, impatient and sloppy. And also, apparently, disrespectful to my elders, as I did not put in a full 3" of ribbing on my argyle sock. I just could not face the prospect of 3" of ink-black ribbing in splitty yarn. I also understand that if I were not cheap to boot, I would not be knitting with splitty yarn. But there you have it, all my faults in one neat 2" package of black splitty ribbing:

(Who needs a Rorschach test when you have an argyle sock?)

Mama Moth Heaven, thank you very much for your advice. I am not usually one to willfully disregard good advice from a seasoned knitter, but ribbing is really, really boring.

I guess you can add "easily bored" to that list of faults above.

XOXO,
Martita

P.S. Yes ma'am, my mother did raise me better than that.

P.P.S. Here's the back, for anyone curious:

P.P.P.S. Not sure that ribbing is actually going to fit around my calf.

Crafty Sunday

2006-07-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

As promised, I have knitting content. I finished Fina Hyrnan yesterday afternoon:

Sorry the colors are terrible. You'll have to trust me that it's a sort of mossy green.

It is a small shawl, longer than it is wide, even after stern but loving blocking. I just hope it is large enough to suit my friend. I think she'll like it, even if it's too small, just because I made it. She's that sort of friend.

And then I finished the last sock of an ugly, failed pair (the vision I had for them did not materialize).

Because they were ugly and failed (oh, and too big) they suffered from Second Sock Syndrome. But they were tying up the sock needles, which needed to be freed for Julia's arglye-a-long, for which my very professional graph and written schematics are here:

I know you're all impressed with my technical skills. Really, I do have some.

Anyway, turns out now that I didn't need my DPNs after all--but just as well to have finished the large ugly socks.

And THEN (see, it really was a crafty Sunday) I cut out the pattern pieces and fabric for my sister's Christmas present, a tote bag of black toile with a periwinkle blue canvas bottom & straps and black-and-white awning stripe lining. I am really excited about this bag, despite the fact that I can barely sew. If I can pull it together, it'll be really cute. And the best part? All the materials are stash. And even better, the toile and the awning stripe fabric were free, scraps left over from my boss's sister's renovations.

But alas, it's not all rosy skies, sunshine and puppies over here. Traditionally, the cussing begins when the sewing machine comes out, so don't hold your breath on this bag. Oh, and the other thing? My sister and I have completely opposite taste. So if I think it's really cute, she won't. But she's getting it anyway! She can give it to her daughter if she doesn't like it (my niece and I have identical taste).

But all in all, I'm pretty pleased with my holiday gift progress. Two shawls down and a tote bag begun. And the stash is a little smaller, too!

Gobble gobble

2006-07-30T15:20:00.000-04:00

I find it slightly alarming how unafraid the turkeys are of me. I saw this guy through the window while I was sewing. He stood there while I opened the screen and took pictures, talking to him all the while.

After a bit, he started walking toward my neighbor's unmowed meadow

to join his hens

basking in the shade of my neighbor's crabapple tree.

P.S. What's that you say, this is a knitting blog, not Martita's Wild Life? I totally agree and promise knitting content SOON!

Saturday Sky

2006-07-29T20:08:00.000-04:00

I know I'm not officially part of the Saturday Sky club, but we have nice clouds this evening so I thought I'd take a picture:

The hubby has to work tonight, so I'm indulging in things he dislikes: shrimp curry and a glass (or 2) of wine for supper on the patio and sitting out until dark, watching the night fall. It's a lovely, cool evening, aftering a sweltering day.

Curiousity got the better of me

2006-07-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

I don't usually do these, but I was curious how I'd do. Also, don't feel like doing any work. Turns out I am not a very adventurous person. I'm more the domestic sort...

From Maryse:
(Completed items in bold)

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree (drunk)
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise (drunk)
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (1986 ALCS playoff game, Red Sox v. Angels)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster (drunk and sober--I don't recommend drunk)
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (drunk)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces or 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds (I vary between this and categorizing them by genre--which doesn't work as well as you would think)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (this is a huge jinx and no one should bold it, in my opinion)
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played ~~D&D~~ Pitch for more than 6 hours straight (drunk)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived (I was 3 and had a spinal tap)
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart (not my finest moment, he was a really nice guy, but all wrong for me)
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (with my horse)
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about (convinced my best girlfriend c. 1976 that John Denver was so cute)
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach (you know, when I see a cockroach, I don't usually think to pet it, just saying)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions (have skipped all high school, not college)138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (about 15 years ago)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair (pretty much a constant)
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident (20 years ago, in a parking lot)
150: Saved someone's life

Come for the flowers, stay for the bugs!

2006-07-19T00:05:00.000-04:00

When I planted my garden, I thought I did it for the flowers, and to beautify my yard. Now I know that I do it partly for the beauty, partly because that's what women in my family do--we have some drive to plant things, even my sister who never once showed interest in gardening growing up has a vegetable garden now--and partly for the totally awesome bugs.

Really, we have outstanding insects. I find myself going out to the garden, not to gaze on the blossoms but to gaze at the things flying around the blossoms. Even the neighborhood's pet ginormous tom turkey likes to bask in our garden (don't have a photo of that yet, but my husband's seen him). I don't know what turkeys eat, but I sincerely hope it's Japanese beetles. With slugs for an appetizer. Turkey escargot!

Here are a few of our regular visitors:
This dragonfly was not as accomodating as my blue friend. He made me chase him around the yard like a groupie.

We have a couple of butterflies. I call this one the Greater Butterfly, because it has better color.

This is the Lesser Butterfly. Its lower wings are not as bright orange as the other's (not that you can tell from my photos).

We have diligent bees around the yard. I've learned not to interrupt their work--they'll chase me off if I get in their way. They've never stung either of us, and I need them to pollinate the vegetables, so we all live in peace together. In the spring, they are all over the silver-bell tree by the kitchen door. Conversation with my husband this past May, as he looked out the kitchen window:
"Hey, look at that tree," he said.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It's covered in bees. We've got to chop it down."
"That tree has been covered in bees every spring for the ten years we've lived here, and you've only just noticed. Ever been stung?"
"Umm, no."
"We're not chopping the tree down."

However, we have a new member of the bee family buzzing about: a very, very scary hornet who's taken up residence in the garden:

I see him out there almost every day and keep a respectful distance.

But speaking of things flying around the garden, I have a confession to make: I'm not totally sold on the hummingbirds. I know, I know! But mine aren't that pretty (which, I guess, means I have females), and when they fwap-fwap-fwap around your head, it's like the biggest, scariest prehistoric insect is coming right at you. Seriously, the first time I saw one on the patio, I dove under the table. You hear their wings before you see them, because they're so frigging loud, and then you look up, thinking, "gee, that helicopter's flying pretty low," and instead you see this flying thing the size of your fist darting around you. It's a little scary, I don't mind telling you. I mean, they're fine to look at through the window, and I'm sure they're great pollinators, I'm just not sure I'll be buying a feeder anytime soon.

Not to mention they taunt me: I sat in my kitchen sink for an hour one afternoon trying to get a picture of the damn things (they favor that silver-bell tree), and they only came by after I put the camera down. Couldn't stay away from the tree until I got the camera out, but then... oh, suddenly there's better nectar elsewhere.

You'd be bitter too.

Gift for Me!

2006-07-18T10:04:00.000-04:00

Look what I got in the mail:

Lucky me, I won a skein of Vesper sock yarn in Claudia's MS ride drawing! I never win anything in raffles, so I am very excited about this. And is it not the most festive, Parrothead-ish color that will unquestionably lift the winter blahs? (The colorway is named Tropicali, in case you like it too).

And here's the progress on Fina Hyrnan:

Other than a few chart-reading mistakes (I find these charts hard to read--not because they're in Icelandic but because they appear to be sketched out in pencil) and poorly-spun yarn (really, there are spots spun so fine they might just not hold together), it's been smooth sailing. The blue edge is my provisional cast-on.

And then I knit it until the body was almost, almost done, and ripped it all up. Fooled you! It was way too small, and insufficiently lacy. I ripped back to the provisional cast-on, put it on larger needles and started again. This is as far as I've gotten:

It's about twice as big now and each row takes much longer to knit. Which is a good thing. The other good news about this whole experience is that I have discovered that my poorly-spun silk singles are, even at their thinnest points, apparently strong enough to survive repeated rippings. Maybe outrageous overtwist isn't all bad...

Christmas in July

2006-07-13T11:40:00.000-04:00

Remember theme days at summer camp, like Backwards Day? My camp always designated one day in July as Christmas, when you’d sing carols and make each other gifts. That’s what I feel like now, as I start my holiday presents.

I hate to shop. I realize that this is weird and anti-American of me, but I can’t help it. Shopping stresses me out, especially shopping for others. Even when I’m given a list, or possibly more so when I am given a list, because then there is the expectation that I will gift that exact item, and I have to run around to find it.

Last year, by complete coincidence, almost all my gifts were handmade (by me or others—I bought several at a craft sale). I think I set foot in the mall just once, to buy my husband a DVD. And it was the pleasantest, least-stressful holiday I can remember in years.

So I pledged that this year, everyone (with the possible exception of my nephew) would receive handmade gifts. At first I felt a little guilty about throwing out the lists, and I had a little twinge of “what if they don’t like it?!” fear. And then I said, screw them.

Ha ha, just kidding! But it does feel a bit self-centered and thoughtless to prepare gifts with almost complete disregard to their recipients’ wishes. Until I remembered that some of the gifts I have treasured the most, carried with me through the years, clung to like an old teddy bear, are the ones that came unsolicited. Items I never in a million years would have thought of, things I didn’t need, presents that were pure surprises. Sure, it’s fun preparing a list and receiving things off it, but it might be even more fun to get things you didn’t see coming, both because you have your horizons broadened and you gain some insight into the gift-giver.

Last year I knit scarves and gloves, sewed belts, and painted ceramics; this year I plan to sew tote bags and knit shawls, mittens, hats and one sweater. Since I’m working on a much larger scale this year, I need to start a lot earlier, so I’ve timed my progress with the weather (light/small things in summer, heavier items in fall).

July: sew totes, knit shawl #1
August: knit shawl #2
September: knit hats/mittens/socks/scarf
October: finish hubby’s sweater
November: finish hats/socks/mittens

One of the best parts about this whole odyssey is that almost all of the above can be created out of stash and homespun. And it’s not done completely thoughtlessly—for instance, the two shawls are earmarked for women who will truly cherish them.

I decided one of those shawls would be the completed Swirl Shawl.

When I saw it blocked on the carpet, I realized it belonged to my beloved aunt.

Next up is the Fina Hyrnan from Three Cornered and Long Shawls. I’m knitting that in the green silk/wool I picked up at Claudia’s winter swap . I’m a little concerned about the yarn because the singles have, shall we say, a little more spring in their step than I’m comfortable with. But it is July, so if the experiment in handspun is a failure, I have time to regroup.

Now the only question is, when will the cussing start? I’m guessing when the sewing machine comes out, but I’ve never knit an Icelandic shawl before…

The Patron Insect of Knitters

2006-07-12T01:08:00.000-04:00

You know how so many of us love dragonflies? Have dragonfly jewelry, fabric, tattoos? Well, it turns out the dragonflies love knitters right back. Last weekend, as I was knitting on the patio, a dragonfly perched right on my thigh and watched me knit for about two minutes. I didn't think anything of it until this morning, when another dragonfly (not that I can tell, really, it's not like I tag them) sat right on my baggie o'yarn while I knit and stared at me like he was mesmerized. Maybe the knitting motion hypnotizes them?

Nothing could make this little guy budge. When I pulled more yarn out of the bag, he just did a little logrolling and stayed put. Who knew knitting was so fascinating?

Until a big breeze came by and swept him up. That's when he flew over to my calf.

At that point, I was like, dude, I have to go to work. I can't be entertaining dragonflies all day. It doesn't pay well and it's hard to explain on your taxes.

I wasn't going to walk into the house wearing a dragonfly (fyi, that is where I draw the line), so I did a little yard-straightening-up. I thought the walking motion would joggle him into flying off, but instead he just hung out on my calf as I walked around the yard, doing a little weeding and watering. I sincerely hope my neighbors didn't see me, because they would just not understand walking around one's yard with a dragonfly on one's leg.

Finally, I really had to get in the shower and get ready to go. I held a piece of today's newspaper up to the dragonfly, and he walked right onto the Living/Arts section. Then I took the paper over to a shrub and he walked right onto a branch.

And then he flew away.

The End.

A Trip to the Marsh

2006-07-10T14:35:00.000-04:00

I finally got my kayak out yesterday. It's been in the basement since September 2004--my spare kayaking time last summer went to wedding planning instead. In the intervening year, a spider had decorated it with a fascinating tubular web that I genuinely hated to hose off.

My kayak's not a fancy-shmancy piece of boating equipment, unless you consider safety-cone orange plastic the height of style. But it's visible (extremely) to motorboats, can be dragged over sand, weighs only 30 pounds and very nearly fits inside my car.
Obviously, lugging a wet, sandy kayak home inside your car isn't optimal, but I'm too short to ever be able to get the thing on top of my car alone. This way I can go kayaking whenever I want, not just when there's someone around to help me fasten the boat to the roofrack. I just have to rig up a way to keep it from sliding right out the back of the car when I go over a bump (like it did yesterday).

Luckily there wasn't a car within miles. I am not the first person in my town to have something obstreperous fall off the back of their truck. If you come to visit me, I'm just saying, don't tailgate. I think because it is a fairly sleepy town, people (you know, like me) think, well, I'm just going across town, I don't really need to tie this down.

I never said it was an especially smart town.

It wasn't the best time to go kayaking--high tide on Sunday morning brings all the motorboats, and the greenhead flies were biting. But it was great to finally be back out on the water.

The marsh is kind of fascinating to poke around in, lots of little inlets

and sandy beaches where tiny shorebirds forage for food.
There's a constant cheeping in the marsh as the birds chat, but if the cheeping becomes especially frantic you know you have ventured too close to a nest. At that point, hasty backpedaling becomes necessary, or you'll be divebombed by angry shorebirds. Some of these birds are large, and they all tend to have long, sharp bills ideal for cracking open clamshells. You really don't want them coming at your head.

Speaking of large scary birds, there's an osprey nest in the marsh, chock full of ospreys:

and across the inlet from the ospreys is a duck blind for hunters.

There are houses out in the marsh, too. This one belongs to the local ~~evil bitch~~ grande dame.

This one belongs to my friend T. (This picture was taken a few years ago, when the house was looking better).

There was a boat parked at the dock, and I could hear voices inside, so I stopped to see who was there. It was another friend, C, who is patching up the holes in the wall and replacing panes in the windows. Last year's storms left the place about one Nor'easter away from disappearing into the ocean.

And I thought to myself, what are the odds that you would run into someone you know in the marsh? If you had told me this would happen ten years ago when I moved here, I'd never have believed you. So many people move to a town and set no roots down. But I volunteered for a town board right off the bat, and I swore I would never commute to Boston. At some points, I've had to work three local, part-time jobs to make ends meet (and my hubby still moonlights). I often work six days a week; my husband, seven.

When I made myself that promise, I thought I was just sparing myself a hellish commute; I didn't realize I was tying myself into a community. Sure, I'd make a lot more money in Boston, but I wouldn't have to time my trips to the Post Office to keep them from being two-hour-long social calls. And I wouldn't run into friends in the marsh.

Sometimes I do wonder if the trade-off was worth it. I think to myself, gee, if I just sat in my car for 4 hours a day, we could afford that Caribbean vacation. Is living in a town that's your home really that important?

But I have to admit, sometimes it is. Sometimes running into a friend is the highlight of your day.

Finally, Summer

2006-07-02T02:02:00.000-04:00

Catch a wave! Happy 4th, everyone.

Thank goodness there's no such thing as a Trojan sheep...

2006-06-28T13:50:00.000-04:00

because there is nothing better than friends bearing gifts of yarn.

See, I fell in love with the laceweight that Margene is using for her Icelandic shawl. I emailed her to ask where she had gotten it, and she told me that the Plain and Fancy yarn company didn't have a website and they only went to one wool festival a year, the Estes Park Wool Market.

Hmmm, I thought. Don't I know someone who's going to the Estes Park Wool Market? Someone nearby? A kind and generous person whom I could possibly convince to schlep wool halfway across the continent for me?

It's true what they say, when you need something, you should ask your local librarian. Carole brought me this yarn all the way from Colorado, via Utah!

Probably no one remembers this but me, but after I saw Claudia's Birch last year, I was determined to have a persimmon orange shawl. I really wanted my wedding shawl to be orange, but couldn't find laceweight orange yarn at the time and wisely decided that 3 months before my wedding was not the time to be learning to dye. I am still really happy with that decision, but I still want an orange shawl, someday.

And Carole and Margene just happened to pick me out orange yarn! They're like Psychic Friends bearing gifts of yarn, that's what they are.

Now, what shawl should I knit with it? Decisions, decisions...

Sew Rainy

2006-06-27T02:15:00.000-04:00

Well, this weekend was a complete washout, so I had to shelve all my gardening plans (I stupidly invited my garden club to "tour" my "garden," all five square yards of it, so my standing weekend plans are weed and plant, weed and plant).

Since I could neither weed nor plant, I broke out the sewing machine, the one my hubby very sweetly gave me for Christmas. In a perfect world, I would like to be able to make most of my own clothes, because I loathe shopping and I am difficult to fit. So far, I am the queen of the elastic waist garment, but I am trying to stretch--hahaha!--my horizons a bit.

First, I stuffed my dummy. My, that sounds disgusting. Let me tell you, stuffing one's dummy can be a powerful incentive for a diet. Horrifying amounts of polyfill sacrificed their lives for my dummy.

Nice potbelly.

Then I dug through my fabric stash to find the blouse I started three years ago. Please, allow Dummy to model it for you:

I put the blouse away three years ago because it was too low cut in front. The shoulders have since been pinned up and it seems I need to seam-rip them, bring them up about an inch, and correspondingly extend the armholes down an inch.

Is this going to happen? Why, no. Instead I decided to finish the blouse as begun, and wear a tank top underneath it for modesty's sake. But in the future, now that I have Dummy, I can adjust and pin patterns right on her *before* I sew, and maybe things will fit.

But before I can finish the blouse, I need to find the sleeves. Opps. Seems they've gone missing.

Instead, I made some of the Heather Bailey headbands (pdf)

and an elastic waist pair of shorts

and a super-quick elastic waist skirt.

And I'm still plugging away at the Swirl Shawl, whose pattern appears to have many holes (I'm feeling so punny!) in it. I fear she will not be a success.

Oops, I did it again

2006-06-22T12:30:00.000-04:00

And here we see, once again, Swirl Shawl off her needles (doesn't that sound like a knitterly euphemism for stone-cold-crazy? As in, "she knit that %&^*$ shawl again? she IS off her needles...")

This time, the frogging is the result of a math error (now that IS a euphemism, it's really the result of laziness). I remember thinking as I started the first border, "hmm, maybe I should calculate the repeat multiplier for the second border BEFORE I start the first border." But then I decided that it would all work out.

It didn't all work out.

SPOILER*****MATH AHEAD*****
The first border pattern has an eleven stitch repeat, but not just any combination of eleven stitches will do (that's the part I ignored above). Each second-border-repeat utilizes three first-border-repeats, so the first border has to result in a number of repeats divisible by three. For instance, 429 stitches creates 39 eleven-stitch repeats (429/11=39). 39 first border repeats will provide the necessary stitches for 13 second border repeats (39/3=13).

Oh, and I strongly suspect the pattern is missing a row. But if I can't see it, it doesn't exist.

So I happily continue long after others would have moved on to one of those fetching Icelandic shawls in the book that finally got delivered Saturday, hoping my math calculations are correct this time, even though I really truly do think I'm missing a pattern row. La-la-la-la-la, ab,cd,efg,hijk, lmnoI can't hear you!

I have been told that a flaw of mine is this stubborn refusal to give up on things that are clearly not going to work and a waste of time, just because I am hell-bent on beating them into submission. Just in case you were feeling compelled to point out that personality trait in the comments. I am aware.

Really, it's not so much that I'm hell-bent on beating the pattern into submission (although--don't get me wrong, I am), it's that I find the problem-solving wildly entertaining. Doesn't that make it sound less psychotic?

P.S. Oh, for you yarn fans: I'm using a Shetland laceweight. It's a medium laceweight, but sticky and wooly. It's dirt cheap and considering this is kind of an oversized swatch--at this point done more to work the pattern out than to actually create a shawl--cheap seemed good. And it holds up to frogging extremely well.

The Resurrection of Swirl Shawl

2006-06-12T13:34:00.000-04:00

Yes, dear reader, I must confess that Claudia is exactly right: after I wrote that post, I totally fished that puppy out of the trash. I took the loss of Swirl Shawl pretty hard, for three reasons:

1) I feel compelled to knit lace (probably because this time last year, I was consumed by it), and my Icelandic shawl book hasn't arrived in the mail yet.

2) As I knit Swirl Shawl, I had gradually increased the needle size so that, when folded in half, it nestled perfectly around my neck like a snuggly little ferret. Of course, I discovered that my needle increases had been successful only after I took Swirl Shawl off the needles and into the trash.

3) If ever completed, Swirl Shawl would be so gorgeous. Here she is, as a doily.

(The pattern is online, free, but the link is broken right now so I can't steer you there).

But if she were ever to be completed, she would have to be less boring. That spiral pattern is beyond endless in laceweight yarn. I was bored stiff by the time I got to doily size; I would never make it to shawl size. Climate change would put New England under water and dinosaurs would return to Earth before I got to the border of Swirl Shawl in laceweight.

I fished her from the trash to see if there was some way to create the spiral pattern while only knitting a semi-circle (thus eliminating half the knitting!). This is the only time in my life I've ever wished I had progressed beyond pre-calculus, because my head hurt just thinking about it.

As a full circle, my only recourse for getting to the good stuff quicker would be knitting with heavier yarn. So I tried casting on with old, motheaten white medium weight laceweight (sort of halfway to fingering weight). It showed the pattern even better than the alpaca had, but I don't have enough of that yarn to complete a mitten, much less a shawl.

I then cast on with leftover laceweight merino from my wedding shawl. It is infinitely more pleasant to knit with than the alpaca--it's springier, softer and far, far less hairy. But the difference in diameter between the merino and the alpaca could be measured in microns. It might be slightly heavier, but oy, still endless.

And then, out of desperation, I cast on with the Icelandic laceweight I bought at Cummington. This stuff is really heavy--very nearly fingering weight. It knits up really quickly, but it's so heavy I fear it'll have no drape and be stiflingly hot when folded in half.

The swirl really plays up the variegation. I can't decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing: it turns Swirl Shawl into Psychedelic Shawl, which could be cheesy hippie or kind of fun.

While I kind of like the coloration, I think Swirl Shawl needs a lighter yarn. Surely I can find a medium-weight laceweight with some color variation, for that tie-dyed, dropped-acid hippie shawl look.

Maybe my book will get here today...

R.I.P. Swirl Shawl

2006-06-10T10:50:00.000-04:00

SWIRL SHAWL
BORN: March 2006
DISCARDED in the bedroom trash can that the dog rummages through:
June 2006

Yea, verily we dwell in the valley of sorrows, for Swirl Shawl no longer swirls among us; yea, a whole skein of Knitpicks alpaca laceweight has been bequeathed to the trash; and yea, what was once beauty is now debris.

But we must find the light in our sorrow, our beacon of hope. For now, where Swirl Shawl might once have stood, will stand Icelandic Shawl; for now, eyes and fingers will not be tried by manoevering hairy thread into stitches; and for now, arthritis might be forestalled yet another day.

And the pattern remains for future generations to be stultified by. When their televisions break, when their GameBoys are no more, when People Magazine ceases to grace the earth, and minds need dulling, Swirl Shawl, with its endless lulling rhythm of "knit one, yarn over, knit two, yarn over, knit to last two stitches, knit two together" will soothe those fevered brows into the blessed relief of sleep.

Go bravely into that good trash can, Swirl Shawl. Grace the garbage with your elegance and spirit. We will always remember you. And someday, we'll think, "well, maybe I could try again..."

And then the sharp crack of a friendly palm will jolt our downy cheek and we'll remember that Swirl Shawl has already had its day, and failed its audition.

Rest in peace, Swirl Shawl. We wish you a happy eternity in Knit Heaven. We know you will find many fine and valued friends there.

A Wonderful Weekend

2006-05-30T17:35:00.000-04:00

I am late to the party, and the important things have been said by others. (Apologies to any posts I missed). Oh, and I took no pictures. Not a single one.

But I am here to tell you that Cummington was a blast. It's just the right size for a first-ever fiber festival--large enough to entertain, but not so large that it's overwhelming. At first when I misplaced my car-mates Claudia and Laurie, I worried that they wouldn't be able to find me when they wanted to leave. A few minutes later, I realized that wouldn't be a problem. You can't lose anyone for long at Cummington.

Unless, of course, you're looking for Kellee and Elisa. We lost them all day Saturday! Turns out their car accidentally drove to Webs instead of Cummington. Thank goodness the car eventually found its way to the "blegger" at Cate's house, or we might have lost them all weekend.

As Cate noted, any fiber gathering is notable for the friends you see there. Yarn and wool are nice, don't get me wrong, but it's the people who make it all special. Thanks to Katy for bringing us together for lunch on Saturday, and to Cate for bringing us together for dinner.

As for stash enhancement, I really didn't buy much. I have so much already I can probably coast 'til Rhinebeck. I did buy some of the stinkiest patchouli soap--I mean, I love patchouli as much as the next aging hippie, but the whole second story of my house smells now. When I showed Maryse the yarn I bought, she asked me whether I bought patchouli soap too, because she could smell it on the yarn. It's a wonder Laurie didn't get a headache riding in the back seat with that stuff.

And I bought a shawl pin, and a niddy noddy (that I should have measured first, as it's not 18 inches long, a pet peeve of mine. Not that I know how to use it anyway, maybe there's a secret to using a 15.5" niddy noddy). And some yarn:

for a possible Icelandic shawl someday. Oh, Hyrna, knock knock...

Clearing My Desk

2006-05-26T17:01:00.000-04:00

I'm very excited about going to Cummington this weekend. It's my very first fiber festival ever. I'm planning on restraining myself, money-wise, but have a few key purchases I'd like to make:
*a niddy-noddy
*a lazy kate
I was hoping to buy a Grafton Fibers batt to match the batt on the right in this photo,

but have been informed they won't be in Cummington this weekend.

I've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. While all of you have been going to fiber festivals willy-nilly, I've been trapped at home. So this week, I went on a pre-Cummington clearing-my-desk binge, finishing up projects right and left.

First, on Monday and Tuesday, I made new "curtains" for the potting bench in the breezeway, and pillowcases for the breezeway bench cushions. (The potting bench "curtains" hide all the crap that is stored on the potting bench shelf. You know those charming pictures in catalogs of terra cotta pots neatly lined up under the potting bench? Mine's not quite so quaint.)

The fabric is Amy Butler's Charm. Amy Butler is another resource I would not know about if it were not for blogland.

Then, I finished the Trellis Scarf, in all its bumblebee-striped glory:

And THEN, I plied up two skeins of the merino/silk fiber I got with my wheel. Each skein is just over 200 yards.
I got two skeins from two full bobbins (double-plied). I am hoping to get another two full bobbins out of the remaining fiber, so I might just have enough for a small sweater.

Which would be great, because the more I look at it, the more that's what I think it needs to be.

Behold, the Spring Spinning Begins!

2006-05-20T11:10:00.000-04:00

This is why I wanted a fairly portable spinning wheel, so I could spin on the patio. Not that larger wheels are really hard to schlep the ten yards outside, but I'll be trucking this thing out here almost every day, so I'd just as soon it be as light and easy to carry as possible. So far, the Suzie is perfect.

The bag of fiber is the merino/silk blend that Toni packed my wheel in. It's fluffy and lofty and spins like a dream. This picture gives you a fairly good impression of its sort-of-mousy, silvery brown color:

I've completed one bobbin already and am working on the second. On the singles, you can see the white flecks of silk noil a little better.

See the little knob on the top of the flyer assembly? If I'm too lazy to fold my wheel up and use the handle to carry it outside, I can just loop a finger through that knob. Yeah, I know, that's pretty lazy, since all you have to do to fold the Suzie is pretty much just give it a hip-check.

I've been racking my brain to figure out what I can do with the yarn I make from this fiber. I don't expect to have enough for a sweater. I'm guessing I'll have somewhere in the ballpark of 500-600 yards of slightly roughly spun, silk-slubby, worsted weight natural brown/grey wool yarn. Maybe a vest? I don't tend to wear vests (because they don't tend to be flattering) but maybe there's an attractive vest pattern out there? Or maybe a shawl. I'd probably get more wear out of a shawl.

Suggestions are welcome!

Apres le Deluge

2006-05-18T14:28:00.000-04:00

Just like everyone else, now that the rain has stopped the dog and I have been very excited about being outside (she doesn't like to go out in the rain, either).

So this morning, we breakfasted al fresco on the patio next to Lake Sumpump.

Then we went for a long walk in the woods.

I don't usually walk this far in the morning, but I woke up early and wanted to see if the very small creek had risen much. It really hadn't, because it had spilled over its banks so much upstream

that downstream, the creek was at pretty normal levels.

Cammy (whose nickname is Scammy) took advantage of my distraction with the camera to leap into the water for her first swim of the season. She's a sly one, that dog. This is a huge NO! on our morning walks, because I don't have time to brush the resulting mats out of her fur, but it was hard to yell at a dog this happy:

Anyone want a matted, smelly dog?

Absolutely No Knitting Content Whatsoever

2006-05-14T13:29:00.000-04:00

I could have predicted you'd have bad weather for NH S&W, because every single year we have spectacularly bad weather for my garden club's plant sale. I mean completely over the top, Cecil B. DeMille bad weather, Shelby Scott clinging to a pier for dear life bad weather. And guess why I wasn't at NH S&W? That's right, garden club plant sale Saturday.

The plant sale weather actually seems to have worsened since I took charge of the sale in 2005. Last year was a Nor'easter with 60 mph winds, rain and hail. Plants were blown over, and it was so cold we had to rotate staff so people could go inside to warm up.

And this year was a deluge. At least it was reasonably warm. That's what we kept telling ourselves: "at least it's warm, last year was so cold...." Despite the weather, we did pretty well financially. Last year we actually raised the most we've ever raised at a plant sale, and this year probably came in second. We have the sale outside the local library, and I suspect the bad weather helps us there. Rain=good day to go to the library. (The money we raise funds a scholarship for a local college-bound high school graduate).

Here are some pictures from the plant sale:

And here I am. I learned from last year and wore plenty of layers: Hot Chillys long johns under fleece, wool hat and wool gauntlets, all topped by a rain slicker. I was relatively warm all day--the chills didn't start until after the plant sale ended.

(The hub calls that my Darth Vader coat. It's two sizes too large and trails in the dirt after me like a ball gown. But it keeps me dry, head to foot).

And I scored some plant loot! I have a lot of shade, and it's hard to find plants that thrive in it. But one of my club's members has an outstanding shade garden (I mean, it's been on multiple garden tours, it's that good) and she donated some choice plants:

something called epimedium, which I am told I am going to **love** (if you G**gle "epimedium" you discover it is believed to have aphrodisiac qualities. Hmmm. Now I really just hope the deer don't eat it);

and something called a petatsites japanicas giganteus.

Oh good, I see from the link that it likes wet boggy areas. It should be in hog heaven right about now.

The Evils of Barberpoling

2006-05-10T15:18:00.000-04:00

Here are the not-feather-and-fan socks, done:

One's shorter than the other, but I don't care. It was my first experience with short-row toes and I think they might be my favorite. I can't tell if I like them because they feel familiar (since that's how commercial sock toes are made) or if I like the way they fit your toes.

And then I was looking through my yarn stash, with the best intentions of starting another pair of socks, but I realized I needed to see how the tequila sunrise handspun yarn knit up before I started to spin up the Grafton Fibers batts I picked up at Spa. So this is the Trellis Scarf from the most recent Interweave Knits:

You probably don't remember, but rather than Navajo plying these singles (because I don't know how, and I wanted to see what would happen this way), I spun them in roughly-matching blocks of color and double-plied them. Mostly the colors matched up, but on one skein--near the end, where I was running out of one of the colors--they barberpoled more often than they matched.

And here's where we discover why so many spinners hate barberpoling. It looks so pretty on the yarn, you know? But then you knit it up and it's all muddy and gross. Here's a closeup, where you can see exactly where I attached the second, far-more-barberpoled skein.

I must learn to Navajo ply. I bought four Grafton Fibers batts at Spa, hoping for a subtly-striped sweater (medium blueish green and lighter blueish/greyish/green). I don't mind heathered, muddy colors on a scarf. But on a sweater? Disaster.

I don't regret this experiment, and before I started to run short of one color, the colors matched more often than they did not (as you can see to the left in the picture). Had I taken more care (and bought another batt), I probably could have avoided the poling altogether.

However, the other constraint with this method is that in order to avoid barberpoling, your blocks of color must be a decent size. You can only switch colors in your single after about three feet so that when you're plying it's bound to match up at some point. If you switch too quickly you've substantially narrowed the odds of your colors matching when plied (and as we see above, odds are they will miss each other entirely throughout). But the long strands of color mean that when it works, you end up with a bumblebee effect rather than a subtle, thin striping effect (again, as seen on the left: 1" of orange, 1" of yellow, etc.). I'm pretty sure you can't spin subtle, thin stripes in double ply. At least not this way.

Oh, and I know what you're all thinking: yes, I am a bad friend who hasn't finished sewing her fishie blanket yet. I just haven't felt like sewing. I know, I know. I never said I was a good person.

Lastly, in aviary news, we have a chickadee couple building a nest in a knot in one of our oak trees. I'm pretty sure this means the tree is dead, the leaves just don't know it yet. It can't be a good sign when a tiny little bird like a chickadee can peck a hole in a trunk knot big enough to build a nest in.

I believe that is Mr. Chickadee there. Mrs Chickadee spends more time inside the nest. I think the mister brings her the nest materials, and then she constructs it. At any rate, he does more flying in and out than she does (although she does some, too).

You don't think of chickadees as being particularly camouflaged until you try to take a picture of one up against an oak tree.

Busy Season Has Officially Started

2006-04-28T12:42:00.000-04:00

I have a quick breather at work so I thought I'd post something. I don't have much to report, as I've had little time to knit. Work's been crazy, and garden club will be busy through mid-May. I had to miss all the Yarn Harlot festivities last weekend because of work, and I'll have to miss the CT and NH Sheep and Wools due to garden club obligations--although my wallet will be happier for that.

I did get to spin with Carole and Blogless Sharon and their guild friends this past Monday evening. They convinced me to start spinning up the fiber that Toni at The Fold packed my wheel in for shipping, and they were right to do so. It is a luscious wool/silk blend in a soft brown/grey (almost mousy) color that is spinning up quickly and easily. I'm guessing I might end up with about 600 yards of dk-ish weight and am trying to think of things to make with it. Maybe a vest?

The yellow sort-of-feather-and-fan socks are stalled midway. First sock is done, second sock begun. The hubby's sweater has not progressed past the sleeves' elbow area (and I started with the sleeves, not the back). He won't be needing it until next winter, anyway, so it's on the back burner.

The fishie blanket has one more row of fishies to be sewn together, then sewn to the blanket. That's about three evenings of work, plus a fourth to crochet two edgings. I'm hoping to finish next week, provided all's quiet.

Besides sewing up the blanket, this weekend I plan to sow seeds for cosmos and Shirley poppies (both annuals), and dig up the existing fire-engine red poppy, the raspberry bee balm and a struggling crabapple to sell at my garden club's plant sale. The vegetable garden is already growing lettuce, shelling pea, radish and spinach seedlings. Last weekend, I planted sweet pea seedlings in the flower bed where I plant the poisonous flowers like foxglove (digitalis) and flowering tobacco (nicotiana). (Unlike shelling peas, the decorative floral sweet pea is toxic).

I can hardly bear my spring fever.