Warty Bobbles

Happy Mother's Day, Knitters!

So, it is May and there is the usual amount of Mother’s Day hype: jewelry, flowers, brunch, bath products….and the not-so-typical gift suggestions made by other retailers and service providers that want to get on the “Gee, you love your mom, don’t you?” bandwagon (car detailing, pest inspection, plumbing fixtures…).

 

What do you give the mother who knits?  Well, yarn is the obvious choice, of course.  But the reality is that most non-knitters get nervous about selecting yarn for knitters.  I don’t blame them – we are a capricious lot, loving sock-weight merino one day and dk-weight merino the next…And even if we mention this change of affection over breakfast, it doesn’t sink in.  And there the poor non-knitter is at the yarn store trying to find duck-weight merlot….

 

Knitting bags, knitting needles, pattern books, blocking wires, row counters, swifts…?

How about something the non-knitter can understand?!

 

Manicures.

 

Is there a knitter anywhere who would not prefer to knit with smooth hands free of hang nails?  We look at our hands all the time, so wouldn’t it be nice to have even nails with a coat of pretty varnish?  Practical pampering! 

 

And what is better than a manicure?  Regular manicures!  Once a month, twice a month?  This could be a great “let’s go in together and get Mom something really nice” gift. 

 

And if your knitter is not your mother, well, it is a little known fact, but half of all knitters will have their birthdays in the next 12 months.  And, hey, Christmas will be here before you know it!  Manicures.  Think about it.

 

 

Flower Patch

Does everyone have a favorite sweater or sweatshirt, ratty and worn and irreplaceable?  Mine is a treadbare mossy green cardigan bought at Old Navy a decade ago.  I wear it around the house on a daily basis -- and the family thinks it is a horror.  But it suits me -- just the right weight, sleeve length, feel.  Like a second skin.

When the left elbow wore through, I mended it as best I could and then patched it with knitted leaves.

Now, the right elbow has worn through.  So, I mended it as best I could and patched it with knitted morning glories!

Pattern from Lesley Stanfield's 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet

A Kitten In My Knitting Bag -- Again!

There’s a kitten in my knitting bag!  His name is Gerhardt and he is a sweetie! Very cuddly,affectionate, playful, beautiful – everything one could wish for in a kitten.

We were not in the market for a kitten, but…well, Sasha’s fiancé Dave adopted a young female cat which turned out to be a young pregnant female cat and when homes were found for 3 of the 6 kittens (Sasha & Dave are keeping 2), we agreed to keep the 6^th temporarily until a suitable home could be found.  Hah!  We all know how that story goes!

 

Given the fact that Sarah and the grandbabies had left for North Carolina.  And that the contractor who had bought the land across from us had started cutting down trees that I have known for 30 years.  And that one of our 4 “old lady” cats, Baghira, had just died.  Well, let’s just say that I was feeling a bit bereft.  The idea of parting with our lively, lovely, snuggly kitten (you notice I had already begun to think of him as “our kitten”)…okay, I was putty in Gerhardt’s paws.  George too. 

 

So, Gerhardt stays to warm our hearts and keep us on our toes.

 

Like any kitten, he loves yarn.  Not just any yarn, my yarn.  I made him his own yarn octopus-sort-of-thing and he turned up his nose!  Poked it with one paw, walked away and won’t have anything to do with it.  Nope, he wants only my yarn – preferably the yarn I am knitting with at the moment, of course.  He likes to bite yarn in two!  If he cannot get at my knitting, he will rummage in my knitting bag.  So there is lots of yelling of “Bad cat!  Oh, sweet puddums cat!  Bad cat!”  in the evenings.  Usually, he ends up having a little kitten private time behind a closed door. 

 

We have had kittens before – both our own and guest cats (btw, over the Holidays we had 9 different family cats – aside from our 4 – staying with us, tho not all at the same time…) and I know that he will settle down and stop chewing on my needles, snipping my yarn with his sharp little teeth, vaulting into my lap to get at my knitting.  Meanwhile, I will enjoy his lively, loving attention (and try to be discreet when I pull out my knitting).

 

Words With Friends

We have a whopping 8 inches of snow!  It is gorgeous outside and cozy inside.  Winter at its best.

I should be happily and productively knitting away -- on George's sweater, on Gwen's socks, on Owen's blanket....

But instead I am playing Words With Friends on my iPhone with nearly everyone in my family.  We are all just crazy over it!  Crazed is, perhaps, the better word.  It is like Scrabble and you can keep several games going at once with different people -- or, as we sometimes accidently start up a 2nd game with someone we are already playing, several games with one person.  At present, I am playing 7 games with 5 family members (most of whom are stuck home because of  the snow with nothing better to do than play this blasted game!).

You can set your phone to alert you with a chime or something when your opponent plays.  I have wisely opted not to do that.  SInce I am playing with Geoff (who is in London  and on London time) and Sonja & Jordan (who have a new baby and are on baby time), there could be plays chimed in at me in the middle of the night. (I know this because I sleep with aman who chooses to have the chime alert on!)  Anyhow, the way I have it set up, the only way I can tell it is my turn (on any of my 7 games) is to punch into the ap on my phone.  So, really, I could make a play and then let it sit for an hour, a couple of hours, a day -- and I think that is how most people play it.

But I am more like a chain-smoker, lighting up my phone every 5 minutes or so to see if someone has played -- and usually they have!  Usually about 3 of them.  So, then I have to (not really "have to" but yeah I have to) take my turns.  And by the time I have finished someone has usually played again! 

This is cutting into my knitting time most severely (not just today but over the past few days, I confess).

It is just so darn compelling!  I could try not to check it so often, of course -- maybe only after, say, 3 rounds on the sock.  But when 2 of my opponents are sitting in the same room as I am, hooting and bragging about their last 32-point word (and I instantly wonder if it was played against me!)...well, there I am punching into the Words With Friends ap again!

Finishing

I have been reading The Yarn Harlot’s blog – about her annual January “Startitis.”  Interesting.  Heaven knows, I have bouts of “Startitis” (the keen desire to start new projects) from time to time.  But not in January.

 

In January, I am consumed by the idea of finishing projects.  “Finishing Fantasies”? “Finishing Fetish”?  I don’t really know what to call it, but I just want to get some of these projects done!

 

Maybe it is the pendulum swing away from the excesses and frivolities of the Holidays to a more virtuous and wholesome way of life.  Like how store shelves that held mountains of tinsel and cashmere and chocolate in December are now stacked with exercise gear and storage containers and finance computer programs.  It could be a little bit about guilt.  But I prefer to think that I am craving the deeper satisfaction of a job well done.

 

Could be that I am just tired, too.  Chugging away at a sweater’s worth of stockinette suits my energy level.  I am not feeling too inspired just now – my creativity was at full throttle for weeks and maybe it is time to let it rest.  Even though I received some wonderful yarn for Christmas, I am not ready to embark on anything new (okay, I made a couple of sketches, but have not even had the urge to swatch).

 

Could be that I am just in a “finishing” mood.  Today, for example, I have been putting away our Christmas linens and dishes – something I just want to get finished.  George and I are planning to give the house a thorough cleaning – something else I am eager to get finished even though we haven’t actually started yet (I have been fantasizing so much about cleaning the house that I feel like I am half-way done – we are not even going to discuss the fact that I am fantasizing about cleaning the house!).

 

Could be that the return of daily demands, exercise, meetings, household work, all the things I put off until “after Christmas” are eclipsing my knitting activities.  And I admit it irks me that these things are slowing down my progress -- making me even for persistent in my drive to finish projects! Call it Finnish (pardon the pun!) stubbornness! 

 

Grandchildren do that too.  Today, all three grandbabies were here and I did not finish anything – not even a sentence!  But that I don’t mind so much.  I really wish that come winter we could just shut everything down and quietly get caught up, finish some things before spring starts whistling to us around the corner and the returning sun gets us energized and inspired to start something new.

 

Winter Settling In

There comes a time to pack up the Christmas decorations:   just before it starts to feel more depressing to leave them up than to take them down.  For us, that day was today.  So down came the nutcrackers and tinsel and santa clauses and angels and nativity sets and snowmen…

 

We are determined to do a good housecleaning now that the shelves and mantels and all are bare (and the house really needs it after all the festivities and tinsel!).  So, everything stays bare and cheerless for now.  It is kind of visually peaceful – like the nude tree branches (if the nude tree branches were covered in dust and glittery bits and unidentifiable crumbs….).

 

We should really turn off the timers on the outdoor colored lights, too (we brazenly keep the white lights on til mid-February because it is so dang dark at our end of the street).  But tonight they are still on.  I think there is a full moon tonight, but it is rainy and so a black night nonetheless.

 

I really wonder what people who don’t knit do in winter.  Music or an old familiar movie, an evening that feels like forever, tea, a fire, a quiet companion, my knitting.  

 

And I kind of wish the days would be as uneventful with no reason to leave the house and nothing very pressing to do in the house.  Just my knitting, books, letters….but I will just have to be content with long quiet evenings.  Okay, I am going back to my knitting now.  Happy winter, happy knitting.

 

A "Wouldn't It Be Great" Idea

So, I had this sudden vision – something for the “in a perfect world” list:  Knitting Needle Vending Machines. 

I know.  Brilliant.  I confess that my brain – in the moment of inspiration – modeled it after cigarette machines.  (Remember those?  They are probably still legal somewhere, but I haven’t seen one in decades…)  I think because “running out to get a pair of size 7s” at an odd hour is kinda like running out to get a pack of smokes.  I can see myself desperate enough for a pair of size 7s to brave dark of night and pouring rain to drive down to the bus station if there was a Knitting Needle Vending Machine there (no one is going to do that for a Snickers bar…).  And I would be exceedingly grateful to slide in  my 10 dollar bill (cause you know the make you pay through the nose) hit the “ 10 Inch US 7” button and hear the chuck and plop as the plastic package of humble bamboo needles lands in the trough.

My Mistake!

Well, the swallows are not yet gone!  Sonja and I saw two when we were walking at Chambers Bay this morning.

I guess I can keep knitting summer projects!

Strategy For Progress

Well, I have been soooo busy knitting that I have not had time to blog at all this past week.

 

Ha, ha, ha!  Not really.  Been too busy with summer to knit (much) or blog (at all).  Camping over the weekend, badminton in the front yard, visiting my parents, celebrating our anniversary (30 yrs!), and someone taught me how to play Dr. Mario on our vintage Nintendo (which the kids set up in the living room on our big TV screen). 

 

So, all that knitting-to-be-done-before-The-Beach is mostly in the still-to-be-done stage.  But I have not given up hope!

 I figure if, on a daily basis for the next 5 days I knit:

 

 10 rounds on my tam

2 inches of the lace panel for my Butterfly Q’mitl

4 inches of sleeve for my Otter Rock Sweater

3 repeats of the lace edging for the Gull Pi Shawl

1 butterfly for the Q’mitl

 

I should be in pretty good shape – as long as I get myself to sew the Tea Leaf Jacket sleeves and buttons on and get the Butterfly Q’mitl blocked and sewn together so I can knit the edging onto that. 

 

And if I limit my Dr. Mario playing and my contribution to household maintenance to the absolute minimum.  And if I do not start reading the next book in that fabulous Lady Julia Grey mystery series that has us all bewitched.  And if I can ignore the petulant whimperings of the projects that did not make the cut for before-The-Beach.

 

Well, there are a few ifs there.

But I will keep you posted on my progress.

 

Planet Family

I have snuck off to my computer for a quick post. I am lucky to find my computer un-occupied and even luckier that no one caught me en route and lured me into, say, a game of badminton or a bout of kitchen cleaning or a glass of wine or the bathing of small children or an urgent and somewhat philosophical conversation that might well last til bedtime...

This is Planet Family.

It happens in the summer when everyone is sort of around all the time -- not that everyone is here all the time.  They sort of take it in shifts.  So, there is always a lively crowd about (and some who are not and who need to be called and/or texted regularly so that they keep up with everything that is going on).

Not much knitting time.  Especially for anything that needs much brain.  Kind of a good time for stockinette -- as long as I don't have to pay too much attention to increases or decreases.

So, lace knitting is languishing.  But I seem to be managing a certain amount of family knitting. Socks for Geoff who is going to London in September.  Layette items for Sonja's baby (we just found out that he is a boy!). 

Okay, I gotta go. Everyone is in the kitchen making dinner and I think I might sneak in a little lace knitting after all! 

Moved To Sort

When I am moved to sort my yarn-and-such, I had best do it – immediately!  The mood does not come upon me often.  So, yesterday, I sorted.

 

I confess that I was spurred by the general housecleaning necessitated by that most urgent of all housekeeping clarion calls:  Company is Coming!  And while the growing clutter of yarn, knitting bags, teaching notebooks & boxes, pattern books, magazines & catalogs (current and not so current), and such was wearing on my nerves and even causing comment among the family, well, I just had not got around to it…

 

Then, yesterday the clarion call sparked “the mood” and I sorted.  In a burst of sanity, I bought 3 large bins (2 Very Large, 1 Just Large).  Later, in the midst of the sort, I cajoled my son Geoff – who was running out to purchase fireworks – into picking up another Very Large for me.  And these worked out nicely. 

 

One Very Large holds: recently purchased yarn that has some purpose (however vague)

One Very Large holds: projects that are really on hold for now – but will probably get pulled out and worked on about September

One Very Large holds: projects that we are not currently actually working on but might, at any moment, pull out and start knitting on

The Just Large holds: projects for Sonja’s baby

 

I also set up 2 baskets to hold yarn for current projects (it is too bulky to carry all the yarn for certain pieces in a knitting bag).  And I lined up the bags of current projects that I am actually working on attractively and in an orderly business-like fashion. 

 

Confessions:

Okay, there are 3 bags with slightly silly crochet projects in them – ones I take out and hook about on from time to time. I set them sort of to the side.

 

I put all the left-over yarn from projects and other random yarn skeins and balls – some big hurking full ones with their ball bands and everything, some little ping pong ball-sized remnants – into cardboard boxes for “later sorting with Sarah.”

 

There is also a grocery bag of “random bits” (notes and notions and such) “to be dealt with later.” (note: I did do a certain amount of ruthless “tossing of bits and pieces” in the sorting process, but ended up waffling about some others…)

 

But with everything sorted and stacked in my studio (and out of the family room!), I feel pretty good.  Sarah is happy too (even though she knows about the yarn boxes for “later sorting” and even though I sent several boxes and bags back to her house to live in her art room). 

 

A Lot Of Life

We continue to have a lot of Life going on in our family.  The kinds of things people deal with all the time -- a new baby on the way, a wedding to plan, elderly parents with health issues, a son-in-law away in the Army, a daughter studying abroad in Germany, finances and phone calls and birthdays and trips to the airport.

 

And, in the midst of it all, knitting often takes second (third, fourth, fifth…) place to the matter at hand.  And when the “matter at hand” is a child who needs attention or a long-distance phone call from an elderly parent…where was I?  I had to break off in mid-sentence to hug my 2-yr-old grand-daughter and discuss her peanut butter sandwich.

 

Oh, yeah, when someone in my family needs me, I am most likely going to set aside my knitting.  Of course.

 

 A major crisis (like the abrupt death of my son-in-law Jeff’s father on Sunday) throws everything to the wind.  But even the daily demands of the household get between me and my needles.  After all, we need clean dishes and towels, lunch and dinner.  I am tempted to say that there are not enough hours in the day!

 

But there are enough hours.  God does not expect me to accomplish more in a day than I can – and who am I to put greater expectations on myself than God does?!

 

So some days I knit a lot and some days I knit a little.  But I keep knitting – one stitch at a time.  Sometimes I am entirely frustrated by the “interruptions” to my knitting.  And I want to stamp my little foot and shout “Knitting is important too!!” 

 

And it is important.  Just sometimes not as immediate.  And knitting will wait.  It is one of the graces of the craft. 

Harder Than It Looks

Knitting is harder than it looks. Harder than most people think it is.

I remember this when I am teaching a new knitter – when she is surprised that knitting doesn’t come naturally, when she expects perfection and is impatient with her mistakes and.  I remember this when I am helping someone tackle double-pointed needles (or cables or lace-weight yarn or Intarsia) for the first time.   There are struggles. 

I remember this when I am mastering a new lace stitch pattern – when I tink back and re-knit every few rows because I don’t have the rhythm and logic of it yet.  And when I move slowly through each and every row because I just cannot get into the rhythm at all or find any kind of logic (even though I understand how it works and how to do it!) – some lovely stitch patterns simply defy  intuitive process.

Sometimes the yarn of choice just won’t work with the pattern of choice.  Sometimes the stitch pattern doesn’t suit.  Sometimes it is a gauge issue or a numbers issue.  Sometimes it is the nature of the yarn fiber or how it was processed.

Sometimes I can make it work and sometimes I can’t.

And in the process, there are struggles.

I love knitting, but it is work. Real work -- the kind that takes brains and skills and dexterity and patience and ingenuity.  I am always learning and always using what I have learned.

It does not escape me that the challenges of knitting are terribly intriguing and keep me coming back!  And, hey, it is okay that I have to work at it.  It is okay that you have to work at it too. It is worth it!

Maybe we knitters should all be wearing t-shirts that say “Yeah, go ahead and be impressed – it is harder than you think!”

Sweater Patches

Does everyone have a favorite “hang around the house” sweater?  Mine is a ratty and worn olive green cardigan from Old Navy – I bought it, oh, ten years or so ago and it probably cost about $15.00.  I love it dearly.  It is a cotton/acrylic blend with a teensy bit of wool. Smackish yarn.  Kinda stretched out.  But I wear it almost everyday.

It has held up amazingly well – probably because I hardly ever wash it (who wants to part with a favorite sweater long enough for it to “lie flat to dry”?!) and it has the feel and patina of my kids’ lovey blankies.  But it only developed a holey bit about two weeks ago.  Not surprisingly, at the left elbow – the elbow I tend to lean on when knitting in my favorite leather chair. 

Darning sweaters is not my favorite activity, but I finally decided that I should do something before the damage became worse and the lower part of the sleeve fell off altogether.  After a little study, I decided it needed a patch of sorts.  I whip-stitched around the hole edges to stabilize it, settled down with a moderately interesting indy sci-fi movie and Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Embellishments and got to work. 

Leaves, without question.  They would lie flat – I am not so overcome with whimsicality that I would put bumpy fat flowers on the “elbow-leaning” portion of my sleeve.  I was tempted by a butterfly in Lesley Stanfield’s 150 Knitted Trims, but decided the body would be a thick nuisance under my elbow.  And leaves suited the sweater.  And I like leaves.  The knitting went quickly, as did the appliqué process.  Done.

So, here it is.  It makes me happy!

Resolutions

I am home again after a fabulous weekend at the Beach celebrating my 50^th birthday with my family.  A great time was had by all!  We ate, drank, laughed, danced, played on the beach and climbed on the rocks – then ate, drank, and laughed some more.

 

I came home with delightful birthday gifts – including 7 books that I had requested.  I seem to have bought 2 more books at one of our favorite little bookshops in Newport.  And just before we left, I received 3 books that I had ordered from amazon.com.  Tomorrow, I fully intend to order one more book.

 

And you thought I only stashed yarn!

 

I have always been an avid reader (absolutely voracious in my youth!).  And I have always been one of those “keep a book handy in case you have a few minutes” kind of readers.   In recent years, however, I have been reading less – as I have been knitting more (and as I tend to keep knitting, rather than books, at hand).  I always have a book going, but it takes me a long time to get through any book because I really do not spend much time reading each day.

 

So, as I neatly stacked my new books next to the old books in the bookcase I devote to “books I have not read yet,” I decided that, good heavens, I could make time for reading in my life.  Surely, I can read for 30-45 minutes a day.  I mean, actually sitting down for a long chunk of time specifically to read.  Like a civilized person.  I bet I could double or triple the number of books I read in a year by doing so.

 

So, now I am writing “Read” on my daily to-do list -- right up there with “Shower” and “Check Email” and “Knit.”

 

And “Knit” reminds me of the second Resolution I have made as I embark on this new decade.  I have decided to knit the projects I have going, to knit the projects I have been planning to knit, to knit the yarn I have.  (I have to give Sarah some credit for this particular Resolution – it was her idea, even though she is not embarking on a new decade until next year). 

 

Any project I choose to pursue is worth the time it takes to knit it.  Really and truly.  And it will take as much time as it takes.  Honestly, it will. I think I am ready to accept these two points and take them to heart.  Which means letting myself finish projects – without feeling compelled to jump into something else “because I should have been done with it by now and should be moving along to something new.” 

 

Of course, the best way to carry out this philosophy is to finish what is at hand before starting something new.  And the best way to finish what is at hand is to work on it consistently.  And the best way to keep at it is to make progress.  So, perhaps I need to make knitting time a higher priority – as in actually sitting down for a long chunk of time specifically to knit.  Like a civilized person.

 

Soooo, I guess I will be spending more time reading and more time knitting (sounds good!) and less time….hmmm…well, I may have to ponder that out.  I think I will just start sitting down to read and sitting down to knit regularly – and surely whatever else I would have done during that time will not get done (without my having to ponder it out!) and maybe I won’t even miss it!

 

 

Ripping Back

I decided to rip back a book – Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle to be exact.  Now, quickly let me assure everyone that I am not actually tearing up a book!  I am ripping back the book the way I rip back knitting – and for similar reasons.

 

I began reading Cat’s Cradle last summer (I enjoy Vonnegut), but then I set it down.  I think it was when we headed to the beach for our family vacation and I probably decided to take some lighter reading.  Anyhow, Vonnegut stayed home.  And then it was September and Vonnegut did not seem to fit my autumn mood.  I read other books.  Same with Christmastime, Winter, and now it is Spring and Vonnegut has sat untouched.

 

Now, I rather feel like reading him again.  So, I picked up the book and opened to the bookmarked page and felt all at sea.  Whereas I knew exactly the page  I had left off, I had only the barest shadowiest memories of what was going on in the book where I had left off.  And skimpier ideas about what had gone on in the previous pages.  I knew if I started reading, I would start to remember – enough, at least, so that the current pages would make sense.  But I would lose out on Vonnegut’s brilliance because I would not be reading the book in any kind of consciousness of the book as a whole.  I could finish the book, but I would have lost a lot of the meaning.

 

So, I pulled out my bookmark and “ripped back” to the beginning of the book.  I will start over -- and so I will get the fullest experience of the book that I am capable of having.  And Vonnegut is worth that.

 

Before I became such an avid knitter, I doubt I would have “ripped back” to the beginning of any book.  I would have felt it to be a waste of the time I had spent reading already.  And I would have felt that I was entitled to be where I was in the book, that I had earned it by the hours spent reading. And so, I would have had (and did have!) inferior and probably unsatisfying reading experiences. 

 

In knitting, I have ripped back a lot. Sometimes there was really no other choice.  More often, I did so because I knew I would be happier with the final product if I re-did a section.  And while it is never a jubilant experience at the time, I am always glad I did it.  I have made peace with the “wasted hours.” And this peace – and patience -- is extending to other parts of my life.  Like reading. 

 

Sarah and I like to call ripping back “freeing the yarn.”  But it is really freeing the knitter.  I am not held to a poor choice in stitch pattern or a mistake in arithmetic.  I am entitled to do my work the best I can – even if it means starting over sometimes.  And I am happy to bring this philosophy to the rest of my life.  Knitting gives me the courage, patience, and confidence to re-do, re-read, re-consider, re-arrange.

 

And I only hesitated briefly and flinched mildly when I had to rip back four very long rows of garter stitch (and the pick-up-and-knit stitches) on my baby blanket this evening.  I had begun a block in the wrong color (oops!) and I could have left it – but I realized that the color arrangement of the blanket would look better if I used the correct color.  So, zip!  Out it went. 

 

I respect my craft enough to invest the time to correct an error.  I can be humble about my mistakes.  And the ideas that seemed workable at the time, but weren’t, I can accept as learning experiences.  Wow.  I can thank knitting for a lot of life lessons!

 

 

 

 

Magic & Mystery

My son, Geoff, is a professional magician – so I have a little first-hand knowledge of  how complicated it can be to make something look effortlessly impossible.  Really, only another magician can appreciate a magician’s work fully. To the rest of us, it is simply magic!

 

Knitting is like that too.  A non-knitter watches a knitter and sees a sock or sweater grow off the needles while the knitter seems to make little repetitive jiggly motions with her fingers twined in yarn.  If the knitter is carrying on a conversation or watching a movie, it seems as if it happens without her conscious effort!  Like magic.  And so, it seems, without actual work or knowledge or skill.

 

So, I appreciated having Sarah sitting beside me and cheering me on as I fixed the braided cables on her sweater the other day.  She had skipped a crossing row several rows down and asked me (because I have more experience “dropping down and fixing cables” – kind of a dubious honor, of course, as it tells you I have had to do it rather a lot!) to set them right.  It meant dropping 6 stitches for 4 rows, doing the braided cable with a crochet hook – i.e., making the stitches with the hook while twisting them into the correct order for the braid effect.  (Sarah gave me the excellent suggestion, by the way, of arranging the stitches on a cable needle to keep them in order)  Then, I had to re-make each stitch all the way up to the current row (a total of 24 stitches per cable).  Fortunately, there were only 2 cables to fix!  So, it did not take more than an hour to do. (It probably would have gone faster if I had not had a bad cold and sinus headache – and the grandbabies had not been marching around the room tooting fabulously shrill musical instruments…).

 

If you are not a knitter with cable-knitting experience, the description of the process is probably mostly gobbledy-gook!  But, of course, that is the point.  The cables look firm and lovely now – as if they had never been deformed.  And someone non-knitterish  who might have  been looking on while it was done would have only seen me grimacing while poking and twisting a little mess of yarn.  Then, abracadabra, a cable!

Perhaps you saw the Pickles comic strip today (Sunday).  Earl is trying to use telekinesis and explains to his grandson that “Your Gramma is really good at it…Look at her.  She’s knitting a sweater just by using her mind to move her fingers.”

 

It’s a kind of magic!

Turtles -- But Not The Sweater

So, what does a career knitter do for recreation? Knit, of course.  It is kind of a joke, but kind of true. 

Although, sometimes I get the hankering to crochet.  Maybe it is the Spring weather?  I have done a lot of crochet in Springtimes past – particularly lace crochet.  So, when I was fiddling around with the living room mantle to make it a bit more Spring-like and decided I needed some colorful turtles (I don’t expect anyone else to follow that thought process!), I immediately thought of crochet. 

I hunted out a pamphlet called “Sachet Pincushions” which has several little animal patterns – including a turtle.  It is shown all in white (it was published when Victoriana was the craze), but I dug out colored crochet cotton (good old bedspread weight) and now I am a little obsessed!  I finished the first turtle – it took an entire evening and a little more – and felt strongly that he needed a buddy. So, I am at work on Turtle Number 2. 

I keep thinking I will set it aside and get back to my knitting, but then I just keep on crocheting.  So, I have decided that I should just go ahead and power through the second turtle and get it out of my system.  Then, back to knitting! 

Do You Sleep With Your Knitting?

Apparently, I do sleep with my knitting.  I had not really thought about it that way before, but I do.  Not actually in my bed!  But next to it – like a good and faithful dog.

 

I realized that I habitually keep my knitting near me all night when I happened to mention to another knitter that I always have my knitting tools kit with me – that I all but sleep with it.  Well, I said, I actually do kind sleep with it – it is next to the bed every night in my knitting bag.  Hmmm. 

 

And why is my knitting beside the bed every night?

 

I guess I just like to have it there.  I do not wake up and knit in the middle of the night.  Nor do I wake up and knit in bed first thing in the morning.  I sometimes knit in bed (in lieu of reading) before going to sleep, but certainly not every night (except in November and December – but that has everything to do with the Christmas deadline!).

 

Yet, every night I pick up my knitting bag, turn out the house lights and head to bed.   Even if I am very, very sleepy and have no intention of knitting in bed.  Even if it is very, very late and I have to get up very, very early –  even I have enough sense to go straight to sleep in that situation (unless it is December…) .  Even if I have been falling asleep over my knitting in the living room for the past half hour and I know it is not even physically possible for me to knit any more that night.

 

So, yup, I do sleep with my knitting. 

 

Fairy Tale Snow

It is snowing – really snowing!  Inches and inches of snow!  I feel as if I have been  transported to some Scandinavian Fairy Land!

And the absolute kicker is:  I have nothing more pressing to do this afternoon than sit in my cozy house with the snow falling all around and swatch up a shawl with lace-weight Isager Wool 1 (in 4 neutral-ish colors – very Scandinavian!).  I am planning to use an Estonian twig lace stitch pattern – and there are going to be silk/mohair accents. 

Pure enchantment – there is no other explanation!

"That"

George and I had a street corner encounter with a woman of our acquaintance who we had not seen for some years.  Our kids had been in school together.   In the course of the usual “hello, how y’been? how’s the family?” , she asked what out kids were doing. 

We told her that Sasha was in graduate school studying Modern German History (particularly WW II).  And she said:

“Really?  What’s she going to do with that?!”

And we answered that Sasha planned to go on and get a PhD and would probably do research and teach.  Then, we told her that Geoff was graduating from college with a degree in theatre and that he performed professionally as a magician, juggler, and escape artist.  And she said:

“Really?  Does he make any money at that?!”

Then, I told her that Sarah and I design and teach knitting classes.  She said that she had tried knitting years ago, but “wasn’t any good at it.”  I gave her my “elevator speech” about how we set up our classes (since we get most of our business by word-of-mouth, I will usually toss it into the conversation if someone shows any interest in knitting).  And she said – laughing:

“Really?  Who has time for that?!”

And George and I responded simultaneously (without smiling) that lots of people did.   Of course, she realized that she had stepped in it nicely and tried to make amends:

“Well, when my kids get out of college and I don’t have to work so much, I’ll probably have time for stuff like that.”

And she went her way and we went ours.  But I was severely annoyed.  I know that many people think knitting is archaic, but mostly they do not throw it in my face.  A raised eyebrow, perhaps, but not full on laughter.  I was really quite severely annoyed!

I was also annoyed because I am tired of people questioning the career directions my grown kids are making – based upon their (ill-founded) impressions that these are not very lucrative careers.  I am very, very proud that Sasha and Geoff are following their passions into careers that will make the most of their God-given talents and abilities, that they work with such dedication in challenging fields, and that their aim is bring enlightenment and entertainment to a world that can certainly use more of both!

And while I, like so many in my generation, send up regular prayers for my kids’ careers and job situations, I consider money to be only part of the issue.  Lives well-spent are better than lots of money to spend.  And my kids’ financial independence is not necessary for me to “start living my life.”  My life is what it is today,

In our family, we all make sacrifices for each other and we all actively support each other in the pursuit of our aspirations and vocations.  We see the value in the work each one does – in these cases:  historical research and education, magical performances, knitting.

So, this woman’s comments had me, as I said, severely annoyed.

Fortunately, it was Sunday and shortly after the encounter (and after I had gone home and cast on a sock!), we went to church where I was reminded by the Scripture readings to be compassionate to others, to be a light in the world. 

So, I was, in the end, able to feel compassion for the woman after all – probably her kids’ financial situation is a real concern to her and, being a real estate agent, her job has probably been very trying and difficult over the past couple of years.   And maybe (maybe) our pointing out that people do make time in their lives for knitting might (might) make her consider that she could, perhaps, make time in her life for something that would bring her joy.  I really hope so.  

That would be a good way to “be a light in the world,” I think,  to encourage, inspire, help some people to find joyful pursuits in their busy lives.

The Knitting Kit

I have a case of useful knitting tools that I carry around with me – as many knitters do.  I call it my Knitting Kit.  It is a cosmetic case, bought at Target a few years ago – 9 ½ inches long and 4” high with a zipper that goes up one end, across the top, and down the other end.  It is some kind of vinyl – half black, half clear – and is about the most prosaic thing I own.  It is my constant companion, too, going everywhere my knitting goes (though on airplanes, I have to pack it in my checked suitcase since it is filled with useful knitting tools that could, apparently, be converted to weapons of terror..).

 

What is in the Knitting Kit?  Only useful things that I might need at a moment’s notice when knitting.  Lots of things, as it turns out.  Too many things, as it turns out.

 

 I was digging through it looking for a pair of needle points (of an interchangeable set) (that turned out to be in Sarah’s knitting bag, but I digress….) I was digging through it and ended up dumping out the contents because I couldn’t find the needle points (which were not in there) and then, of course, once I was sure that they were not there, I started putting everything back in the case and, well, everything would not go back in the case.  At least not so as I could close the zipper.  Shrewdly, I dumped everything out and tried to re-load the case a bit more methodically.  Everything went in, but the zipper would not even pretend like it was going to close.  I tried again.  Nope.  So, I dumped everything out and…

There was a lot of stuff!  Well, thought I, what the heck all do I have in here?! 

 

120” measuring tape,  6” ruler with needle gauge holes,  folding ruler

Needle gauge hooked to a plastic “Official US Knitting License”

3 pencils and a highlighter,  2 emery boards,  a bobbin of gray thread

Plastic button that says “Will Knit For Coffee”

Packet of our business cards,  post-it note pad,  magnetic ribbon chart marker

6 stitch holders (in 2 styles, 5 roughly the same size)

3 crochet hooks and my set of travel “Darth Mal” style crochet hooks in a case

2 hook-style cable needles and 6 straight cable needles

Tool for changing interchangeable needles

2 bead-style row counters and 6 barrel-style row counters

Packet of sewing needles and 9 tapestry needles

7 point protectors (the kind that hold a pair of needles)

Double-pointed needle holder (the kind with 2 caps and an elastic in between)

2 dice (I use them as row counters sometimes – in theory, at least)

Packet of coiless knitter’s safety pins and packet of regular ones

2 plastic bobbins and 3 plastic bread bag clips (I forget why I think they useful)

5 packets of ring-style markers (say, 50 or so all together)

10 fancy bead markers (that I never use – I find they get in the way)

Packet of the plastic safety pin-style markers (I use these ALL the time!)

Scissors and a 5” piece of string

 

 

Except for the piece of string, I would have pulled out any of these and said, yep, that belongs in my Knitting Kit.  Until I saw it all strewn out on my desk!  Good heavens!  How many crochet hooks (tapestry needles, stitch holders, cable needles…) can I possibly need to use at one time?!

 

So, I am cleaning out my Knitting Kit.  Taking out the things I don’t need (or don’t need 6 of).  Keeping only the essentials.  And a couple extra cable needles (what it I drop the one I’m using and can’t find it?).  And an extra row counter, just in case.  And maybe a point protector…or 2….

 

 

 

Tablecloth Discussion

So, the other night we were out to dinner with the family and a discussion of the word “cloth” ensued.  My son-in-law Jordan said that he had always thought that a textile with the word “cloth” in its name had to be woven (he did not actually say the word “textile” – though he is a smart man and probably could have).  You know:  tablecloth, bread cloth, altar cloth…

Mais non!  Sarah and I – gratified that anyone in the family wanted to be enlightened regarding textiles – jumped into instructor mode.  We said, you can knit a tablecloth; you can crochet a tablecloth –

You can buy a tablecloth, Jordan interjected.

It was really, really funny at the time.

Disguising Christmas Knitting

My studio space is a mess these days – and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  My Christmas knitting projects need to live in the house discreetly and what better place to hide yarn than in with a lot of other yarn?  It is kind of like the Witness Protection Program.  I give a project a fake name, dump it in amongst a lot of other yarn skeins and needles and such, take care not to draw attention to it – and it becomes invisible.

 

Christmas projects are generally pretty safe in the knitting bags I carry around with me, too.  No one imagines there would be anything desirable or useful in my knitting bags (apparently, it has never occurred to anyone in the family that I keep pens and scissors in there…don’t tell!).  So, no one except the babies (babies are smart) dig around in my knitting bags and a nearly-complete sweater with the recipient’s initials monogrammed across the front could live in there for weeks safe from detection.

 

It is during the actual knitting that there is a slight chance of discovery.  In the early stages knitting just looks like knitting – and the family is so used to seeing me knitting on various projects that they are fairly blind to it.  If someone, feeling conversational, asks what I am knitting, I can usually satisfy the slightly curious with “Oh, I’m swatching some design ideas.”   Once the piece is larger, I might have to get clever:

 

“A caftan for International Knitters’ Day”

“A cat cozy design for our next Pet Owners Workshop”

“Hats for the Homeless” (though in this case, I would feel guilty unless I began actually knitting hats for the Homeless immediately! so, that would only be a panic answer)

 

I have become adept at sliding a knitting project into a bag quickly and smoothly when someone walks into the room – and it always gives me a little thrill, I confess.

 

But when it comes down to it, I can rely on the fact that our family likes surprises.  No one really wants to know what I am giving him or her -- though they like to know that I am knitting for them. 

 

If, however, I let one of them in on what I am knitting for another of them, I am in for trouble.  They like to torture me.  So, if I was unsure about the size of a blue tam I was knitting for Sonja [note to family: this is a fictitious example, everything but the names has been changed] and I were to break down and ask Sasha to try it on, she would say something like:

 

“So, am I getting a tam for Christmas too?  Hmm?  Maybe a green one?  Or maybe this is really my present?  And you want me to try it on, but are being sneaky about it?  I bet this is my present!  Oboyoboy!  I’m getting a blue tam for Christmas!  I’m going to go tell Sonja!”

 

I find it is best not to talk too much about my Christmas knitting. Keep it on the down-low, as it were.  Down low, up high, in the bag…you get the idea.

Early Morning Knitting Update

So, this morning the sun did not shine and it was gray and cold and rainy and I stayed under the covers wrapped in my flannel sheets until I really had to get up.  Even though ny knitting bag was beside the bed within arm's reach.

Sooo, I guess I better not give up night knitting.

Early Morning Knitting

With Daylight Savings Time gone, morning is brighter earlier.  I, too, am brighter earlier – mostly because I wake with visions of Christmas Knitting dancing in my head.  It is November and I am so inspired and eager that I practically sing knitting songs in my head all the time! 

 

Early this morning with the streaky sunshine filtering through the firs, I fidgeted around in bed until I could not stand it anymore.  Knitting, knitting, knitting!  So, I scuttled down to the kitchen and hit the coffee maker button, grabbed my knitting bag, and scuttled back to my warm bed and the streaky sunshine, settling in with the happy sigh of the slightly delusional as I chugged out rows of Christmas Knitting -- feeling so “on top of it” and in the spirit of the thing and so deliciously industrious.

 

It is not unusual for me to knit in bed at night (instead of reading) – especially as Christmas approaches.  But knitting in the early morning and long before Thanksgiving is a new development!  For me, knitting in the morning is always sort of a luxury – so perhaps this knitting-in-bed-while-the-sun-rises is not as obsessive as it might sound.  Or even if it is, it is still a pretty nice way to start the day.

Christmas Is Creeping Up On Me

Although the jack o-lantern is not even cold yet (and there is still some of the good trick-or-treat candy left in the big silver bowl), the Holiday Season is already making itself felt.

Today, our boxed Christmas cards arrived, as did the order form for wreaths (school fundraiser).  We went to the zoo to see the new wolf exhibit (it is splendid! one is nose-to-nose with the wolves!) and saw that they are setting up for ZooLights (runs Thanksgiving through December) already.  In fact, they looked pretty much ready to fire up the lights!  Starbucks has started using their Holiday paper cups (they are adorable this year, by the way).  And I seem to have started playing my wintery-but-not overly-Christmassy cds in the car.

Sooo, I suppose it is time to start my Christmas gift knitting.

(Actually, October 1^st is the time to start my Christmas gift knitting…but, um, well….)

I am knitting some Christmas gifts this year – though I am not able to elaborate in this blog because some of the you-know-who might read it and that would ruin the surprise of opening a gift that is still on some very pointy needles! 

No, really, I plan to have everything properly bound off by December 24^th – in spite of getting a bit of a late start.  (It is only sporting to keep that hope going at this point – good heavens, it is not even Thanksgiving yet!)  That said, I will confess that George’s cashmere scarf from last year is still on the needles – which is the lowest I have sunk to date.  Soooo, maybe I should do something about that.  (And I don’t mean finish it and wrap it for this Christmas! Really?) 

My Christmas knitting list is something like (without getting too specific):

1)      A few projects with yarn bought and good to go

2)      One project actually cast on

3)      One idea left over from last year that I have the yarn for, but would have to design

4)      One gift left from last year and not done (sorry, honey!) that will not be an actual Christmas gift, but that I feel I have to finish before Christmas anyway so it sort of belongs on this list

5)      A nebulous feeling that there might be another can’t-resist gift project lurking out there in my future (maybe around Thanksgiving – I usually get some fiery inspiration around Thanksgiving…)

And so, there you have it.  Tis the season! And the reason I drink double cappuccinos in adorable paper cups.

A Time To Let An Error Stand

A couple of days ago, I found an error in the “cable” section of my Cape Christmas project.  The mistake was about 20 rows down and consisted of a traveling (crossed) stitch done on the wrong row. It looked like a hiccup in the diagonal line.  It was a subtle, but unmistakable mistake.  And I immediately resolved to fix it by “dropping down” and uncrossing the wrongly crossed stitches and crossing the two that were supposed to cross.  But I did not have the time to do surgery (as I call it) that evening, so I set it aside.

Two days later -- on a sunny afternoon with plenty of time to work -- I sat down with crochet hook and those little plastic safety-pin-type markers that I love and Cape Christmas.  I started dropping the stitches in the two columns involved in the error.  About 8 rows down, I stopped dumb-struck.  I had been approaching the problem as if it were a cable, but it was, of course, not a true cable, but a pattern of traveling stitches:  1^st stitch crossed with 2^nd stitch on row 1, 2^nd st. crossed with 3^rd st. on row 3, etc. over 5 sts.  So, all 5 columns of stitches were connected to each other. 

I would have to drop the stitches of all 5 columns for some 20 rows to get to the stitches that needed to be fixed!

I am gutsy.  But I am not that gutsy.  If I had only had 2 stitch columns to deal with, I could have used the other 3 columns to orient myself and make sure I was staying in pattern.  With all five columns gone, I would surely make mistakes not unlike the one I was hoping to correct.  And it would be a big, loose stringy mess.  5 columns of stitches for 20+ rows?  Over a hundred stitches to be re-done (with all those crossed stitches!).  Even if, after several (probably many!) attempts and pullings-out and re-doings, I got it all correct, I suspect the yarn (merino and silk)would have suffered and probably the stitches would be wonky and uneven. 

So, I am going to do that which I seldom do.  I am going to knowingly let the error stand –even though it is, theoretically, correctable.  I have assured myself that I am not being cowardly or lazy.  That a little humility is a good thing.  That I am not perfect, that my knitting is not perfect, that Cape Christmas is not going to be perfect – and am I pretty nearly okay with all of that non-perfection. 

And what is the Life Lesson I can take from this situation?  What we always tell our students:  to look at the work carefully and frequently!  If I had noticed the mistake after only a few rows, I could have fixed it by dropping a manageable number of stitches.  Now, it is just too late (since I am unwilling to pull back thousands of stitches, hours and hours of work to correct this small error). 

So, lesson (re)learned.  Time to move on.  Cape Christmas looks to be a gorgeous piece.

Progress Report

So far, I have 6 check marks (out of 50).  That works out to 2-a-day for 3 days.  Not counting today -- which is not over yet.  I admit that I have been busy in other directions today and have not picked up my needles yet, but we rented some movies and I plan to have a productive evening and get another 2 check marks!

I think the system is working.  At this rate, I could actually complete all 9 projects in less than a month!  That has me pretty excited.  Some of these are things that just need to get done.  Two of them are second socks, for crying out loud!  Some are promised (like Max's sweater -- I showed him the completed back and he asked if he could put it on and, then, when it became evident that it was not yet in the "putting on" stage, he was clearly not impressed and, tho he did say it in so many words, I felt there was no point in my bringing it to his attention until it was something he could put on -- the little pragmatist!).  Some need are design projects that need to get written up into patterns.

Which brings up the "process" knitter vs "product" knitter issue.  I have never felt that I fall fully into one camp or the other.  I love to knit things.   And I love knitted things.  There are knitted things I would like to have that I cannot see myself knitting (some very chic pieces in the current Verena magazine that are a lot of stockinette, for example).  But if I feel excited about knitting (and/or designing) something, you cannot keep me away -- except with some very, very stern words from Sarah.  So, maybe I tend more toward "process" knitter.

But the weight of the Undone has been curdling my "process" knitting happiness.  So, the "product" knitter in me has leapt forward and taken charge with the little "check mark" circles system.  There is some personal challenge going on here that is energizing -- sooo, to the needles!  There are 2 check mark circles with today's date on them!

Too Many Unfinished Projects

It has happened again.  Knitting-wise, I have bitten off more than I can chew (without choking and gagging – I did a little of both today as I stood staring at my mountain of knitting bags trying to decide which of 9 projects to work on!).

I am not going to try to explain myself, justify myself or even scold myself.  It just happens sometimes.  But freaking out over my knitting is ridiculous and I decided I needed to get a handle on it.  Some kind of reasonable process to get things finished.  A plan of some sort. 

So, I listed out each project.  And under each project, I wrote down what parts or steps need to be done – i.e. the foot of the 2^nd Bronze Sock, then its toe shaping, then its kitchner/finishing.  Three steps.  Most of the other projects have more than 3 steps.  In fact, my total number of steps is 50.

Now, that may make it all look daunting – but each step has a little “check off” circle next to it and I happen to find inordinate satisfaction in checking off a little circle.  So much so, that I will chug through that last inch of stockinette foot at 11:00 pm just so I can mark it off. 

And if I take a step-by-step approach to a piece, I will be able to note my progress and that will make me feel better too.   A little focus, a little sense of accomplishment, a little bit of control.  And, hopefully, I will get my “work load” down to a manageable 5 projects.

August And A Purposeful Purpose

For nigh these 30+ years, my Augusts have gone thus: 

Week 1:  Get ready to go to The Beach

Weeks 2 & 3:  At The Beach (basically, a family festival that lasts up to 18 days)

Week 4:  Come home from The Beach and get unloaded and unpacked, sorted out and laundered up  --  then get back in the saddle as quick as you can because everything starts  up again in the fall!

And while it is my basic policy not to write about “not writing about knitting” in my blog, I do feel I need to explain a 3-week silence!  No catastrophes, just a lot of life (in a good way).  And, certainly, though I had a hiatus from writing about knitting, I did not let my needles lie idle.

Okay, they did not get as much action as usual.  Perching on a log on a windy beach, sitting next to a 3-yr-old who is having pancakes and syrup for breakfast, savoring a rare clear sunset, along with a cold beer and some really excellent clam strips – well, there are times to leave one’s knitting in one’s bag.

I did do some knitting, of course.  And Sarah and I did hit “Yarn For All Seasons” which is a delightful yarn shop in Newport (hit it twice, actually, and hit it hard!).  And what, in hind sight, I think is particularly cool, I wore my knitted garments a lot.

 I enjoy wearing them and it is particularly satisfying to find these vibrant pieces to be of such practical use.  I have long enjoyed ceramic teapots, cups, bowls, vases, etc. that are shaped like flowers, vegetables, animals, etc. – and I think it is the coming-together of whimsy and practicality that pleases me so much. 

If anything can be called my niche in knitting design, it would be this philosophy of wildly delightful pieces that can be part of one’s everyday life.  This is the direction I have been traveling – spurred by my own natural enthusiasm for things beautiful and bizarre, as well as an eclectic and somewhat experimental sense of style – for years.  And now I feel ready to take it as a Purposeful Purpose, something to share more broadly here in my blog and in other venues.  This is a beginning – as I said, things start up in the fall!

                       

The Sun Did Not Shine

The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house all that cold, cold wet day.

I sat there with Sarah.

We sat there, we two.

And I said, “Do you wish

We had something to do?”

 

Too wet to go out

Or go to the mall.

We sat in the house.

We did nothing at all?

 

No!  All we could do was to

Knit!

            Knit!

                        Knit!

                                    Knit!

And we did not mind it.

Not one little bit!

~

~

(Can you guess what book my grandson Max asks me to read nearly everyday?)

A "Darn It!" Moment And A Small Rant

Only I didn’t say “darn it.” 

 

I had just finished knitting the sleeves of our Post Wisteria Saque and was feeling pretty good about it (I had spent a couple of hours typing up the pattern from notes that afternoon and was ready to be done with it!).  I planned to block the pieces (fronts, back, and sleeves) after we finished watching our movie (vintage James Bond You Only Live Twice), so I started pulling out the notes to start the matching booties – and found one more saque note – the one that was supposed to remind me to make the sleeves half an inch longer. 

 

Darn it!  Nothing to do but unpick the bind-off of both sleeves (always a tricksy process) and get all 53 stitches of each sleeve back on needles (which I managed to do backward so that all 106 stitches were twisted).  Tie on the yarn (more ends to weave in).  And start knitting again (untwisting each stitch for the first row).  Knit 4 rows of each sleeve (424 stitches) and bind off all over again.  By that time it was fairly late in the evening, James Bond had pretty much saved the world from evil Number One, and I was not in the mood for deciphering bootie notes.

 

But I did block the pieces and should be able to sew the shoulders and start the front bands during The Oscars tonight.  I had imagined knitting something more glamorous, but don’t really have anything that qualifies!

 

And now for the Small Rant.

 

Our newspaper runs the Bizarro comic strip and today’s piece was a large picture of an art studio with about 7 knitters and a rotund naked man and the caption says “Figure Knitting Class.”  Mildly amusing as an “odd thought.”  But what ticked me off was the stereotypical knitters:  all 7 are female, mostly middle-aged or older, frumpy and dumpy and grumpy.  Even their knitting – a couple of sweaters, a scarf, and undeterminable chunks of knitted fabric – looks lumpy.  C’mon!  Really?  Do we have to even go there?!  Pff.

In Which I Commend Myself, Offer A Helpful Hint, And Express A Wish

Sarah and I just finished a big project and -- to my personal amazement -- I found myself actually tidying up!  I put all the design notes and left-over yarn in a big box.  I put all the needles away (where they belong – not just in a box “to be sorted later”).  And then I started straightening up my studio space – putting away the remnants of other recent projects, putting needles away (where they belong), shelving books.  It was pretty awesome!  I find that when the spirit moves me to tidy up, I had best take advantage (it does not happen all that often).  Even if I were to wake up in the middle of the night and feel the urge to start cleaning out knitting bags, I think I would hop out of bed and do it (it has never happened, so I cannot say for sure….).  Anyhow, I am giving myself a “Good Job!” pat on the back!

 

On to the promised Helpful Hint.

This one actually comes from Sarah.  She was changing yarn colors and stitch patterns on said big project, but found she would have to work an undesired wrong-side row in order to be ready to start the new stitch pattern (which began on a right-side row).  So, she simply cut her yarn, slid all the stitches onto the other needle (so the right-side was facing her), attached the new yarn, and commenced with the new pattern.  One could do this without changing yarns, of course, by just cutting and re-attaching the same ball of yarn.  It is even easier if one happens to be using circular needles – just turn the work to the right-side and go.  Kind of blows the mind – working two right-side rows back-to-back!

 

And finally, A Wish.

I wish yarn manufacturers would mark the center of every skein and ball of yarn. 

I thought of this while I was winding a skein today – I wanted 2 fairly equal balls out of the skein and had to guess (not very accurately, as it turned out) when to stop the one and start the other.  If only there had been a nice little half-way mark!  It would help when estimating the rate of yarn-using-up on a project and any time one is wondering if there is indeed enough of the yarn one is using (the last of the dye-lot, of course) to make two full-length sweater sleeves – or if one should make ¾ sleeves.  How often have I sat squeezing a partially-used ball of yarn trying to determine if I have passed the half-way point! 

I sat there winding my second (puny) ball of yarn and thought up about a dozen scenarios where a half-way mark come in handy. 

Fun Stuff

I do not think I mentioned that my kids gave me a Cricket loom for Christmas.  It was a delightful surprise (although it had been on my wish list) and I was excited to get weaving.  With all the activity surrounding the Holidays and my out-of-town kids being home, there was not much time to focus on a new project.  But Sarah put the loom together and one afternoon she and I set aside time to “just do it.”

 

It has been a while since I have embarked upon something totally new!  Alien vocabulary, only the scantiest idea of how the machinery worked, the constant fear of breaking something or setting things up wrong or somehow totally messing it up….Thank heaven for the Internet videos – we re-ran them several times until we got the loom warped (we think) correctly.  Also, a thank you to George who helped wrangle the babies and made dinner while we ran back and forth form the loom to the computer and kept saying things like:

 

Does this look right?  Do you think this is it?  Wait.  Okay.  Does this look right?

 

Once the loom was warped (look at me talking like a weaver!), we figured out how to weave on it.  I am ridiculously proud of my three inches of fabric (the yarn Sarah ordered for the loom is quite fine – lace-weight fine!) and am going to change colors next time I sit down to weave. 

 

My other “fun stuff” is the Knit Picks “Craftsman Afghan” kit I ordered for myself.  I rarely buy knitting kits (in fact, I cannot remember the last time I did!), but this piece is so lovely, so my style (I adore Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau), so intriguing (“This creative afghan is knit modularly, with chevron and mitered square sections…”).  And it is made from their Suri Dream (alpaca and wool with a bit of nylon) in the most delicious fruity colors (Mulled Wine, Hollyberry, Woodlands – with neutrals Natural, Fedora, Sandstorm) which is not only a tactile delight, but is brilliant design since the halo will give the piece the look of stained glass.  When I saw it on their website with “Last Chance” on it, well I swooped!

 

I have done no more than leaf through the directions and pat the yarn, but someday soon….

On The Brink Of Christmas

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve -- which is pretty much my favorite day of the year.  And I am in fine spirits! 

A couple of days ago I hit a low when I realized I was fabulously behind on everything, had alienated several members of my family by what was either an unfortunate misunderstanding or a case of appalling thoughtlessness (depending on what view one took of the situation), and suspected that I had done permanent damage to my wrist writing Christmas cards (and I was still fabulously behind on those)

As of today, I have finished my cards, reconciled with the family, and wisely decided to give Gwen her knitted toy at our second gift-opening occasion (Dec. 29th -- after Geoff returns from London) so that I do not have to knit little points double-pointed needles all through the night.

I am still fabulously behind on my wrapping -- so I will cheerfully wish everyone a Merry Christmas and take myself off to the Land of Tape and Ribbon!

Joy To The World!

A Few Observations, A Confession, And Some Great News

Observations on Christmas Cards:

I love Christmas cards!  The artwork and printed messages.  The handwritten notes.  The classic Christmas letters.  The photos.  We returned from a few days in Portland to find a stack of Christmas cards: 18!  That is more personal mail than I receive during the rest of the year.  There was the hands-down cleverest Christmas letter I have ever received – it was done in primer Dick-and-Jane style complete with vintage pictures.  There was a family photo of 25 persons spanning 4 generations – all in different Norwegian sweaters!  Some inspirational stories.  Some goofy photos.  Delightful.

And, oh, that reminds me – I have about a hundred Christmas cards to write this weekend!

 

Observations on The Winter Solstice;

It never got light today – just murky.  Nightfall is a Godsend!

 

Observations on Weather:

What exactly is a “cold front”?  Isn’t cold the lack of heat?  How something that is the lack of something else “move in”?  Isn’t a “cold front” just what is left over after the “warm front” runs away?

 

A Confession:

Okay, I am doing a little bit of Christmas knitting.  I know I am setting myself up for the wrath of those for whom I am not knitting – but I kind of got inspired and it is Gwen’s first Christmas.  So, here it is (in process, of course – it hardly counts as Christmas knitting if one is not madly chunking it out as the reindeer are clattering on the rooftop):

 

 

No, it is not her first knit bra!  It will be a stuffed dodecahedron (12-pointed star) toy done in ferocity-style (i.e. unique with different yarns and knit stitches).  The pattern (designed by Norah Gaughan – no surprise there!) is a free download from the Knitting Daily e-newsletter.

 

And now for the Great News:

Sarah and I will be teaching at Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat!  When we heard that they would be offering “Minis” this year (90-min. classes), we contacted the organizers and introduced ourselves.  They invited us to submit some class proposals and they have asked us to teach 3 of them!  We are terribly excited!  I feel like we have been called up to the Majors!

 

Okay, down to Earth again.

I have to go write Christmas cards, knit a dodecahedron, and raid the kitchen for Christmas cookies.  Maybe hit the Christmas cookies first – good plan!

 

Thanksgiving Report

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Oregon Coast with 39 of our nearest and dearest (the only family member missing was our son Geoff who is studying at the London Dramatic Academy).   Although I came home exhausted from all the activity (very little of which involved knitting), I am feeling all revved up for Christmas.

I am even feeling pretty okay with not-knitting-for-Christmas.  Though I have to credit the flurry of gift-knitting (not related to Christmas) with keeping me on the straight and narrow.  There are photos of my Dad in his cabled hat (which he loved) and photos of my Mom and my grand-daughter, Gwen, in their matching hats (which I loved).  And photos of the chic little urban kimono I knit for my niece Emilia’s baby (there was a baby shower, among the family activities this year).  And when I get my tech-support people to put the photos in my computer, I will post them.

Meanwhile, I am counting on my non-gift knitting projects to keep me distracted from not-knitting-for-Christmas.  And, of course, there are Christmas cards to write and halls to deck and parties and such now – the really dangerous part was November.   Last year, I collapsed en route to our Thanksgiving gathering at the beach – and the result was about a mile of knitted scarf!

So, Thanksgiving has come and gone – and I am not a yarn ball heavier.  My project list has actually decreased because I finished the cabled hat and baby kimono. 

If I were to examine my feelings, I would probably find that I miss making Christmas gifts, but I am just not going to think about it.  Why invite some sort of mad inspiration at this point? Okay, just the phrase “mad inspiration” gets me kind of excited – so I had better focus on snowflakes or sugar cookies or something like that, quick! 

 

Knitting Adventure Complete With Pirates

So, this evening I was home alone – an evening with a nice adventure movie and my knitting.  I had chosen Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island for my movie and (somewhat reluctantly) a triangular gusset in moss stitch for my knitting.

I heave great sighs when I have to knit a triangle.  They are quite useful in clothing design, but kind of mathematically fiddledy to knit

Figuring the height (up the middle) so that the sides fit the hole in the sleeve where the gusset is to go – well, that’s a-squared plus b-squared equals c-squared at work.  Then there is gauge and working out the decreases so that the slant is right.  And making it all fit in the 4-row moss stitch pattern so the decreases lie there inconspicuously. 

And then knitting fairly short rows of moss stitch is not particularly exciting – but I had to keep attending to it since on the right side one knits the purls and purls the knits, while on the wrong side one knits the knits and purls the purls.  And I had to measure the piece frequently so I would be sure to do the decreases at regular intervals.

 

Y-A-W-N.

 

And all the while on the TV screen there are pirates and shooting and sword-play and a brilliant madman and stolen kisses and more pirates and a hot-air balloon crash and a nuclear bomb and giant insects and a giant rat and a lot of giant spiders and a treasure chest and a really, really big snake and more pirates and shooting again and huge tentacles coming out of the water and an exploding ship and a volcano.

And I am fastidiously K1-P1-K1-P1-ing.  Stopping to measure.  Double-checking which side I am on so that I don’t knit purls when I should be purling purls.  And by the end of the movie – when the good guys are sailing off into the sunset, I have a tidy-looking half triangle about 5 inches tall. 

So, tomorrow night, I get to put on another adventure movie (maybe Blackbeard if I can face more pirates) and knit-purl-knit-purl the rest of the triangle.  And then make another triangle for the other sleeve.  I might need 2 movies.

About Summer

I have delusions about summer -- much like my delusions about the Christmas Season.  Every year, I approach “the lazy days of summer” with visions of myself knitting for hours – on the deck in the afternoon (what the heck, even in the forenoon) and while watching movies or Mariners’ games in the evening.  I imagine I will wake up in the morning bright with creative energy and that the simpler summer days will leave my mind free and clear for designing and writing.  Quiet days – with fewer commitments.  Long warm days with nothing to do but knit or read….

How I justify these delusions year after year, I have no idea.  Never has any summer in my adult life been anything like that.  Maybe a slow afternoon now and then, but never the stretch of beautiful empty days that I imagine. 

Our summers are another kind of beautiful – the active, slightly sun-burned kind with killer games of badminton and parades through the zoo.  Weddings and trips to fetch kids from college and a nice long stretch at the beach come August.  Barbeques and board games --- and endless loads of laundry, loads of groceries, loads of dishes. 

The college kids are home – and 2 of Sasha’s friends are visiting for a couple of weeks (add sightseeing to the list).  It is street fair and farmers’ market season (add Geoff’s street performances to the list).  George and I have 5 trips planned over June and July (add packing and driving and unpacking to the list).  Sarah and I had a knitting class session fall into our laps (add teaching on Thursday nights to the list).  And on top of all this are the exquisite baby grand-daughter and the delightful 2-year-old grandson (add snuggling, diaper-changing, stroller pushing, book reading and re-reading…to the list).

And while I optimistically haul my knitting bags with me wherever I go, I only manage to knit a few rows here, a few rows there.  I am feeling a bit grumbly about it, I confess –especially as I feel obliged to work on the pieces that have some sort of deadline rather than on the pieces I am doing “for fun” (like the Gull Pi Shawl and Hansi Singh’s amigurumi owl).  Isn’t summer supposed to be fun?  Isn’t some sort of vacation in order?

A sensible person would…okay, I am so far off the “sensible” page that there is no point in finishing that sentence.  A wise person (sensible or not) would embrace the blessing of summer --- and try to sneak in some fun knitting.  I think I will try to be wise (and a little bit sneaky).

The Nature Of Things

Finding myself both over-extended on my knitting (i.e. too many active projects) and behind on my knitting (i.e. not making satisfactory progress on said projects), I realize that – once again --I have been overlooking The Nature of Things.

It is the Nature of knitting that it happens one stitch at a time – no faster, regardless of the size of the needles, thickness of the yarn or simplicity of the pattern.

It is the Nature of designing that it doesn’t necessarily come right the first (or second or third) time.

It is the Nature of families to require meals, clean laundry, birthday parties, and a mother’s full attention when demonstrating the most recently mastered juggling trick (which may not come right the first, second or third time either).

It is the Nature of kitchens to require cleaning, of necessary papers to require finding (not necessarily in the first, second or third place one might look), of cats to require tummy-rubbing.

It is the Nature of friendships to require thank you notes and potluck lunches.

It is the Nature of one’s own body to require coffee, sleep, yoga class, and showers.

Nature…organizations…meetings and emails.

Nature…new grandbabies…holding, diaper changing, kissing.

Nature…old grandbabies... ball throwing, juice pouring, snuggling.

Well, it goes on like that.  The Nature of Life, I guess – and it is a life that I cherish.  Sooo….I suppose I have to take it one stitch at a time.

 

Flammability

A couple of nights ago, the smoke detector in our bedroom went off – for about 10 seconds.  There was no fire, no smoke -- maybe something had wafted in through the open window?  We’ll never know.   But at about 3:00 am I was torn out of a sound sleep by the most terrifying shriek (something like a nuclear-powered steam whistle) and every nerve in my body leapt to super-adrenalized-flee-for-your-life status instantly. 

 

Once we had peeled ourselves off the ceiling and sniffed the entire house for whiffs of smoldering (there were none), we decided it was just some flukey thing and that if there was any danger the other smoke detectors would go off.  And we settled back down and tried to sleep.

 

Needless to say, it takes a little time (an hour or so) to work down from super-adrenalized to nodding off.  So, I lay there thinking “what if there really had been a fire?”  And I knew that if I had woken to that blood-curdling alarm and found the room filled with smoke, I would have no thought beyond getting myself, the family, and every living creature out of the house as fast as possible: the husband, the college kids – who happened to be home (note to self: take inventory of family members before retiring for the night), the 4 cats, the fish in the 50-gallon aquarium? (someone later suggested that the punchbowl might be kept handy), the hermit crab I could carry out in a pocket (note to self: sew pocket in nightie). 

 

Me, them out of the house – that was it.  Nothing else even registered. 

 

Not my writings.  Not the photo albums.  No computer, no jewelry, no family heirlooms.  No yarn.  Not my knitted pieces – not my irreplaceable one-of-a-kind knitted pieces!  Nothing – i.e. no thing – was going to make it out of my burning house.  Just me, the family, the pets (hopefully the fish included). 

 

Kind of eye-opening – how it can all go up in smoke quite literally.  Note to self: use the good china, thumb through the photo albums, read your poems, wear the handknits.

 

Dinking Around Instead Of Knitting

So, this afternoon, I had some quiet time and could have settled down with the nice complicated front-left of the Joyful Ferocity or the Gull Pi Shawl (I’m still in love….) or the baby blanket or the baby matinee jacket or the Short-Row Tapestry Stole (which is so free-form that it is kind of like coloring with yarn).  But I did none of these.

 

I dinked around on Ravelry instead.

 

And now the family is starting to come home and I am kind of regretting the quiet knitting-time-that-might-have-been.

 

But I think I needed the Ravelry-dink-around.  I think I miss the knitters from Madrona and Stitches West.  Even though Sarah and I talk about knitting everyday.  Even though we have our darling beginner knitters (Monday afternoon class – we love you guys!).  I think I just needed to hear what other knitters are saying, see what they are doing.  Had to give my opinion about twisting stitches.   Had to make my pitch for using wool yarn for baby blankets. 

 

It is kind of a funny thing, this knitting community thing.  Maybe it is like being in a foreign land and hearing your native tongue.  Sometimes, I would just like to wear a hand-knit garment like it was a normal thing.  Or knit in public without anyone making a big deal out of it.   Not that the attention isn’t flattering and, occasionally, good for business.  It is just that even a bohemian wants to blend sometimes.

 

So, I just melted into my knitting community for a while. 

 

 

Freeing The Fiber

Every now and then I decide to change my ways.  Not just a slight shift, but a total 180-degree life-altering maneuver.  And, as I am not above slinking back into old habits, I have decided to share my newest knitting-related resolution:

I am going to rip back freely.  From now on.

I have always been reluctant to rip back –even in the case of a glaring error (or a flashing neon light monstrosity of an error).   And I have sometimes let sleeping errors lie (as in the case of the botched cast-on row in the ribbed cuff of a lace cardigan – I always notice that ugly little ridge!) and sometimes I have made little corrections or intentionally repeated the error (making it a “design element”) and sometimes I have gritted my teeth and ripped back.

But I always considered ripping back the last resort.   Until recently.

What prompted this change in attitude?   There was no particular “ah-ha” moment, just a gradual realization that ripping back is as properly a part of knitting as swatching is –especially if one designs much of what one knits (as I do).  It seems pretty obvious – it IS pretty obvious –but it has taken me a long time to realize it.

So, what took me so long?  It is not that my stitches seemed too precious to pull out or that I minded re-doing the section.  I simply had trouble giving myself permission to take the time to do it!  

I have decided that my knitting is valuable enough to rip out.  Or rather, that my knitted pieces are worth the time and effort it takes to get it right.

Since I came to this realization and resolution a few days ago, I have been afforded several opportunities to put my new policy into practice (thank you, mischievous knitting sprites!) and it has gone fairly well.  Very little cussing on my part.  To my shock and relief,  family life did not come to a crashing halt because I spent another hour or so on a jacket front.   And the jacket front looks much better.

 I discovered another reason why I like knitting:  when something goes wrong, I can figure out what the problem is and I can fix it MYSELF.  In this computer age, that is something ! (don’t get me started on the indentation crisis I went through writing this blog post…) 

 

 

 

Winter Night And Stockinette Beasties

Our snow is gone and night is black and cold, flattened against the windows from 5:00 on through the slow dark hours.  It should make for good knitting conditions, but it is making me restless this evening.  I have been sitting by the fire (in the wooden sewing rocker I like to knit in when daylight streams through the dining room window), rocking and knitting a lace pattern that has not settled into my brain yet. 

 Being distracted by nothing in particular has made me edgy and I thought I might switch gears for a little bit.  So, I got out my new little notebook computer (My Pet) and checked my email, checked out a couple of things on Ravelry, and decided to post pictures of the stuffed animals I made for Max out of stretchy gloves.

So, here they are – Stockinette Beasties (that I did not have to knit!) from Happy Gloves by Miyako Kanamori.

Planet Christmas

I am up to my antlers in Christmas preparations!  This happens every year and I call it living on Planet Christmas.  At present, the preparations (which I am – mercifully – not going to list here) are being squeezed out by events and, so, when someone asks me if I am ready for Christmas and I smile and say I figure we are about where we should be at this point, I am lying my head off.  We are way behind.  But Christmas will come and, somehow, the most important preparations will get done.  So, I am not particularly worried (okay, maybe I am lying my head off again….). 

 

But, at least, I don’t let it interfere with my enjoyment of Christmas Season events – because I love this stuff!  This past weekend:  Lakewood Playhouse’s A Christmas Carol, decorating gingerbread houses, church, the Tacoma Art Museum’s “Snowbound” festival (where I showed a 4-year-old how to knit using chopsticks and cording – I was not a volunteer or anything, I just happened to be playing about at that station), Puget Sound Revels troupe’s Christmas Revels (the theme was 18^th century Scotland and, yes, there were kilts a-plenty). 

 

As a bonus, our weather has suddenly turned bitterly cold and people are out and about in their woolies:  knit sweaters, knit scarves, knit caps, knit mittens.  Fair Isle fancies and intarsia deer and, of course, all those lovely cables and bobbles! 

 

And it is a good thing I can get a little second-hand knitting excitement because my own knitting time is severely limited this month.  I am doing pretty simple stuff, too, because by the end of the day doing a little ribbing in front of a Christmas movie (preferably one I could recite by heart) is about all my brain can handle.

 

IF I were knitting Christmas gifts, I would be playing the frenzied “knit in secret” game now.  I would be knitting with one eye glued to the front door, in case “intended recipient” came home earlier than expected.  I would be knitting in bed at night and in the morning before “intended recipient” was up and about.   I would, perhaps, be lying my head off to “intended recipient,”  telling him/her that the piece I was knitting right in front of him/her was a hat for someone else (while, all the time it is a sleeve for his/her sweater).  It is a dangerous and exhausting game. 

 

BUT  I have declared that I am taking this year off from knitting Christmas gifts.  The idea was to have a calmer December.  Well, maybe things are not exactly calm, but they are manageable – at least, I am managing to get behind on my Christmas preparations and I am managing to get around to some community festivities.  And I am managing a little bit of knitting in between.

Blog Clog

I have a rare quiet 45-minute chunk of time this morning and thought:  ah ha, I’ll write a blog post.  So I sat at my computer and…and…and…I got nothing.

 

Oh, I have lots thoughts swirling around my brain – they are just about non-knitting.  Family gathering plans for next week, kids-coming-home-from college travel arrangements, paperwork that has be get done before the family-gathering and the kids-coming-home, a dinner date, a funeral, personal-maintenance appointments (due to the family-gathering), and a grocery list that isn’t going to write itself. 

 

And if I can shove all that aside, there’s still Christmas.  Card lists, gift lists, baking lists, theater tickets, decorating schedule, travel arrangements.  George and I sat down and made a pre-emptive strike on Christmas this week and… (okay, I did not mean that exactly the way it probably sounded -- I mean that we sat down and plotted out December) and the larger pieces of that discussion are still dominating my mental radar.

 

So, although I am knitting along in the usual fragmented fashion (a little lace gusset here, a nice twisted rib sleeve there, a pink brioche gauntlet that makes the family raise their eyebrows and murmur behind my back), I just cannot pull my focus around to writing about knitting.

 

So, the question is:  Why post at all?

 

Well, firstly because Sarah has threatened to break into my blog and post for me if I let it go too long – she says she will title it:  Why I Like To Have 5 Balls Of Yarn Hanging From My Needles.  And since she thinks I am demented that way, I am just being prudent in thwarting her on this one.

 

But mostly, I am posting today because I figure other knitters are going through the same kind of the-Holidays-are-upon-us stress and I just wanted to say, hey, I’m there with you, sisters (and brothers, of course – although I suspect our knitting brethren don’t quite get the avalanche of extra Holiday duties that we ladies do).

 

Quite truly, I love Thanksgiving and I love Christmas.  And I am well aware that it is the bounty of my blessings (my family and friends, my work and my craft, my home and my cats) that is making me kind of crazy just now.  So, it’s all good – and perhaps being coherent is over-rated. 

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Holding Strong

I have declared that I am not knitting gifts for Christmas this year and I am holding strong.  I have about 6 design projects going and there are deadlines involved.    Good sense has been prevailing.  I am holding strong.

But my resolve was suddenly and sneakily attacked by the Noro Silk Garden Striped Scarf in the Yarn Harlot’s blog this week.  Probably the chic-est scarf I’ve ever seen – completely gender neutral and knit of, mmmm, Noro Silk Garden .  Two colors (think of the possible combinations...!)

Wow, everyone in my family would LOVE that scarf!  They would WEAR that scarf!

No, no, no…..I am not knitting for Christmas this year.

I did a little math in the shower (don’t judge).  Just to reinforce my resolve.

One husband, 3 daughters, 1 son, 2 sons-in-law:  7 scarves.   Six feet of 1x1 ribbing per scarf.  42 feet of 1x1 ribbing.  That’s a lot of ribbing.  And I really do not enjoy knitting ribbing.  That’s a lot of knitting for someone who does not enjoy knitting ribbing.

Although the beauty and surprise of the variegated Noro yarns weaving themselves together into a tapestry….well, that would be exciting…NO, NO, I am NOT knitting for Christmas! 

Not 42 feet of ribbing in, let’s see, 25 days in December and 17 days left in November. Exactly 42 days.  A foot of ribbing a day (okay, subtract Christmas Day, but add today and it still makes 42 days) everyday including Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.  Without anyone seeing me – because no one in my family would buy the idea that I was swatching a foot of ribbing a day of Noro  in 6-foot strips for no reason.

Okay, the challenge would be exciting – perhaps the challenge of hiding and knitting combined with the tapestry-of-Noro aspect of the project would balance the mind-numbing 1x1 ribbing….

BUT I am NOT knitting for Christmas this year.

Holding strong.  Holding strong. 

 

 

My Scarf Was On TV

My scarf was on TV!

My son, Geoff, was wearing the scarf at the time.  He was interviewed by the local news station (KREM) in Spokane in a piece about college students facing a shrinking job market.  The piece was aired on Northwest Cable News and my parents, who live in the Portland area, happened to see it.  My Mother called and told us about it on Monday morning (before 9:00 am – I figured someone was in the hospital!).  We waited through an hour of grim-and-grislies (I’m not one for TV news – I prefer the newspaper because I can skip around and read what I want – but I digress) and saw the piece. 

I want everyone to know that my first thoughts were about how cute my son looked on TV and how well my son spoke on TV – and several more mom-ish sentiments along those lines.  Then, the scarf registered.  Hey, wasn’t that the scarf I had knit him for Christmas?  (In another digression:  scarves-as-being-great-Christmas-gifts seem to be haunting me – see my October 19^th post)  We found the video on the news station’s website and, sure enough, there was my scarf! 

Being doting parents, we fired off emails with the link to family and friends.  And I mentioned that he was wearing the scarf I knit.  Figured I might as well snatch a little of the glory while I could.  My Mother and Dad said that the news guy probably chose Geoff to interview because he looked so “dapper” (direct quote).  And they commented on the scarf – and this was before they knew that I had knit that particular scarf (you can put the remark down to pure aesthetics).

When I talked to Geoff about the news story, I asked him why he had not called and told us it was going to air.  He said they had interviewed a number of students and he had not known when the piece would be shown.  And he said:  Mom, did you see that I was wearing your scarf?  I think he hopes to get points for having had the good sense to be wearing the scarf I knit him when he was randomly selected from a campus full of students for a TV interview.  I think I should get points for knitting the kind of scarf that will get a guy noticed by a camera crew on a campus full of students.

Ravelry

I have joined Ravelry.com and – wow!  It is so much fun, so fascinating, such a cool way to connect with other knitters (and crocheters).  Sarah and I thought it would be a good idea to join because knitting is a big part of our lives – and we thought it would be good for us to be in touch with what other knitters are doing, thinking about, etc.

But I had underestimated the impact that entering a knitting community would have on my emotions.  I kind of wanted to cry.  It was like the first time I went to Stitches West – there were all these knitters and they were knitting and talking about knitting and learning about knitting.  Actually, it is like every time I go to Stitches or Madrona (the fiber arts in Tacoma). 

I am blessed to have a daughter who knits – and trebly blessed that we design and work together.  And I have a good friend who knits.  But otherwise, I have to rely on books, magazines, and blogs for my connection to other knitters.  There are knitting groups at our local yarn shop – which we keep saying we should look into.  But now that I am not tied down to my kids’ activities (school, ballet, sports, etc.), I am kind of exploring a not-so-scheduled life.   I have several weekly and monthly commitments – and that is enough for now.   As a result, I have been suffering a bit from “vocation isolation.”

Here I was – blasting away at my knitting, projects piled around me, a couple of actual commissioned pieces going, some design projects that have me pretty excited, contemplating a major writing project about knitting and design, blogging energetically about it all….And starting to feel like maybe it is all kind of irrelevant. 

With the news filled with the economy, politics, the environment, international relations, health issues, social issues…well, designing the Magical Levitating Warty Bobble began to seem kind of pale and insignificant.   Like I was devoting a lot of my life to a little private game of sticks and string and mathematics.  And that maybe I, too,  was a little pale and insignificant. 

And then there was Ravelry.com.  Something like 200,000 other human beings blasting away at their knitting – with passion and a sense of adventure and mad skills and fortitude and humor.  Wow! 

Maybe Olympic athletes feel this way at swim meets or skiing competitions – after all the hours spent alone in the pool or on the slopes.  Maybe they wonder what difference a 100^th of a second means – and then they are out there with flags waving and people cheering them on. 

Well, anyhow, that’s how I feel.  And I am pretty proud of my Magical Levitating Warty Bobble and maybe the world is a better place because there are hats and sweaters and little wooly animals -- cabled or intarsia-ed or bobbled or simply gartered into existence by people who think outside the box and push the envelope, people who tinker and figure and investigate, people who venture and envision and invest themselves in their work.

Art matters.  Artists and Artisans matter.  Thank you, Ravelry-ers, I had almost forgotten.