A Cold Bright Day in April

Hybrid Vigor

2008-08-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

Something odd happened to my knitter's brain the last few months: not only did I stop knitting altogether, but I did so just after finishing what is easily the most demanding project I have ever attempted, and couldn't even be bothered to take some pictures and write a post.

Then I quit my job, and that very afternoon I found myself sitting at my kitchen table and I felt... restless, somehow... itchy-fingered... it took me a few minutes to recognize it, but let's just say I've cast on at least 4 things since then. So I've got all sorts of things to show and tell, but I can't let THIS go any longer.

The Lady models The Hybrid.

I sort of can't believe it really worked out. I started imagining this mutt of a sweater almost a year ago. I had loved Eunny's Venezia Pullover from the first moment I got a peek at it but was a bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the thing. And I loved Road to Golden but didn't feel the geometric pattern would be terribly flattering on me. So the seeds of a hybrid started germinating...

Honestly, combining these two patterns was entirely straightforward. I essentially followed the pattern for Golden, adjusting the numbers for a sportweight yarn based on my swatches, and substituting the brocade pattern from Venezia for the diamondy, argyley thing that Golden's got going on. I of course had to adjust the colorwork pattern horizontally to make sure it was centered, given my total stitch count, but that was the heaviest math involved.

I did more bust increases than called for and left out the gussets, which in retrospect may have been a poor choice, fit-wise, but I do think it makes the patterns come together more cleanly.

The colorwork sleevecaps are basically made up on the fly. I wanted something a little rounder and smoother looking than the simple stripes from the Golden sleeves, so I improvised these. I'm fairly pleased.

All in all, this is both my proudest knitting achievement, and my greatest disappointment.

The disappointment is due solely to the fact that the damn thing doesn't fit. I gained 10 lbs this spring, and this sweater would have been annoyingly snug even on the slightly svelter body that I started knitting it for. It just didn't grow as much as my swatch did when I blocked it. Luckily I have a girlfriend slightly smaller than myself who doesn't resent the fact that this cute little garment didn't start life with her in mind. (AND will model for pictures on the hottest day of the year. Such a trooper.)

I'll probably get more satisfaction out of seeing it on her than I would out of wearing it myself, anyway.

All the basic stats are on Ravelry, but it's been so long that I'm sure I'm leaving out some relevant details, so feel free to ask questions! And thanks again for sticking around through my highly spotty blog attendance. :)

Resurfacing.

2008-06-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

So, I kind of disappeared, huh? Well, I'm getting my feet under me again, and I may just become less of a sorry excuse for a blogger here any day now. My life is really, really fucking great right now, but I am pushing myself to the limit and will be for another couple weeks at least. But I'm here because I missed y'all, a lot. (And thank you thank you thank you to everybody that emailed me making sure I was ok. It meant more to me than I would have imagined to get unsolicited just-checkingin emails from people I've never "met". I truly love our little corner of the internet.)

So yes, I'm back, and here's a smattering of what I've been up to:

1. I got into nursing school, and gave my notice at work. I could NOT be happier with this turn of events.

2. I joined the cowl craze. Details here.

3. I ate some tasty foods.

4. I blocked a sweater. (!!!) FO post to follow, very very soon.

Aaaah -- it's nice to be back.

Accidental Fire.

2008-04-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

I didn't think I'd do much in the way of intentional Project Spectrum-age this year (the Ribbed Lace Bolero was entirely incidental), but when I was deciding which of my single socks to finally pair off, the classical elements seemed as good a means as any for making an arbitrary decision.

I stand by it, too, because seriously, why did I let this singleton linger so long? These puppies belong on feet. Preferably mine.

Pattern: Twisted Tweed, by Schrodinger
Yarn: Trekking XXL, in Color 147
Needles: US 1s

At any rate, by halfway through the second sock I was hooked on this whole element thing. Maybe because I saw this, and like everyone else and their respective uncles, I had to make one. I was looking for something, ideally a non-sock something, to do with my pretty but bound-to-pool Shibui sock yarn, and clearly this was it. And it's orange! So obviously I had to finish the above sock before midnight last night in order to cast on for this before PS: FIRE ran out. Which I still maintain is totally logical, but I'm sort of glad none of my housemates asked me to explain.

And just wait till you see what I've got cooking for PS: EARTH. Er... actually you've already seen most of it, but this time I'm actually going to finish something during the allotted time, rather than just start it.

The Road to Venezia

2008-03-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, so that was a little harder than I thought. But two of you guessed one of the designs, and since Sula already owns both books (and has an unfair advantage anyway since she apparently shares half of my knitting brain), our winner is the lovely Ms. Macoco. (Check your email!)

So yes: I'm taking the Venezia Pullover and Road to Golden, smashing them together, shaking well, and hoping they'll make beautiful babies. Horribly mixed metaphors aside, I'm frankly not positive this is a well-conceived plan.

Roughly speaking, the construction is mostly Golden, the colorwork pattern is all Venezia. That much should go fine. But between the coarser gauge and the simpler color scheme (I've scaled back from 10 colors to 5), I'm starting to worry that I'll sabotage what should be a beautiful brocade pattern and look instead like I've plastered myself in wallpaper. But maybe not. It could be gorgeous and intricate and awesome, or even garish in a cute way -- I'm remaining optimistic for now. Should I totally hate it, I can always rip back the colorwork portion, order more brown, and make a yoked sweater instead.

(Con)testing your skillz.

2008-03-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

It's getting to be that time of year when I've fully recovered my post xmas mojo and harness it to knit myself a sweater that will be done just in time for the temperatures to preclude wearing it until next fall. I am nothing if not predictable. (I KNOW I could knit a summer garment, but I just don't want to, okay?)

Last year it was the stripey hourglass. This year I'm hybridizing two recent* sweater patterns, and I want YOU to guess which two. (There's something in it for you, as you might've guessed.) This was going to be my blogthday contest, and then it was going to be my knittiversary contest, but various factors intervened, and now it's a Just Because contest. You get three hints:

1. The authors of the two respective patterns are colleagues. (And not just in the sense that they're both knitwear designers -- they're employed by the same company.)

2. The titles of both patterns are at least vaguely geographical in theme.

3. One of the patterns is written for a fingering weight yarn, and the other for a worsted. I'm splitting the difference and using a sport weight:

Why yes, I AM more concerned with st gauge than row gauge. What tipped you off?

I'm only showing you the stockinette swatch, because obviously the pattern swatch would give away at least one of the two answers. But if you know my tendencies at all, the fact that I knit a pattern swatch in the first place might tell you something.

I can't tell if this is going to be super easy or super hard. I mean, it obvious to me because I already know. I've been thinking about this for months now and can't see it with an outsider's eyes. So if either lots of folks or nobody guesses correctly, I'll draw randomly. Partial credit may work in your favor. :)

And what do you stand to win?

We are loneleeeee and unused.

I've realized that owning knitting books is a silly venture for me. I rarely want to knit more than one or two patterns from any given book, and my library is great for that sort of thing. These are both lovely books, very lightly used, and I feel bad letting them sit on my shelf.

Comment by midnight PST on Friday, 3/7/08 with your guesses and which book you'd prefer, and I'll reveal the winner early next week. Good luck!!

*ETA: 'recent' = published in the last two years.

Repurposing.

2008-02-29T12:12:00.000-08:00

Over time I've learned that if I let a project sit on the needles for too long (read: many months) it will get frogged. I don't think this is a bad thing, necessarily. You start to think how you're not knitting that thing because stockinette in a cotton blend hurts your hands, and how the lace panel isn't quite what you want it to be, and how probably that pattern looks better on skinny girls anyway.

Or at least, that's what I got to thinking about Rusted Root. So it got cannibalized.

The ribbed lace bolero is such a cute, quick, smart little knit that I knew I had to make one. And I had a perfect opportunity, too.

My sister was born the day I turned 5 and a half, so my birthday is her half birthday and vice versa. Her whole life, I've given her a little half bday present on MY birthday, and she does the same, so when I turned 26 last week, I figured this little bolero (which is so exactly her style) would be the perfect twenty-and-a-halfth gift.

Pattern: Ribbed lace bolero, by Kelly Maher
Yarn: Cascade Sierra, in ginger, 1.5 skeins
Needles: US9 and US10, I think.

It stretches out a bit with wear, and my sewn bind off is a little wobbly, but I love the lace pattern and how it drapes in this yarn. Especially around the arm. Verdict? A winner. I'd love to try it in a 100% wool, too.

Blue x 2

2008-02-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

After that needlessly drawn out cavalcade of FOs, we bring you two blue WIPS:

First, I'm pulling a Jared on Frost Flowers and Leaves.

Second, I'm finally knitting the mate to the lovely Tyrolean stocking that Leslie knit for me back in October. Just one problem, though.

Not sure if it's evident from this picture, but although I'm matching Leslie's stitch gauge quite closely (on US3s), my row gauge is pretty off. I'm at the beginning of the 11th central cable chevronny thing, and the leg is at least an inch longer than it is at the correspoding point on Leslie's sock.

What would you do? Keep going and hope I can fudge the length difference in blocking? (I hate this idea, myself, but I'll consider all options...) Keep going and leave out half a repeat or so? Reknit on 2s and block aggressively to combat the inevitable stitch gauge difference? Something else I haven't thought of?? I have the feeling that stitch gauge is more flexible than row gauge. Am I wrong?

My thanks in advance for you knitterly knowledge, dear internet friends, and may you all have lovely President's Day weekends.

Love, hats, and more love.

2008-02-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry to report that the craftiest thing I've done all week was hemming my pants. However! My procrastinatory nature is the gift that keeps on giving, because I have such a backlog that I'm at no loss for postable stuff.

1. Sweater love
First off, THANK YOU for all your lovely comments about the Urban Aran -- and about Katie! (Just to clear up any confusion, Katie and The Lady are one and the same. 'The Lady' is not some bloggy pseudonym but rather, it's what I actually call her, most of the time. As in "How was your day, The Lady?" or "Hey, The Lady, did you feed the chickens?")

2. The last hat of 2007
Note that I didn't say the last FO of 2007. There are a couple more hanging around waiting to be photographed, but who knows when that will happen.

This hat was a special request from my friend Michael (He bought me the yarn, no fast-breaking here!), and he was very excited about the idea of a rolled up brim. So I took our favorite pattern, knit the ribbing for about 4 inches, and did 4.5 pattern repeats instead of 5.

The yarn is Malabrigo, in Black Forest, well under a skein. I may never knit this pattern in anything but Malabrigo ever again.

3. The first hat of 2008
I was on the streetcar the other day, and spotted a woman in the world's cutest hat. So I made one myself. Actually the band on her hat was skinnier than this one, and stockinette, and had a buckle instead of a button, but whatever. I give you the Streetcar Hat:

Way easy: I took some Lamb's Pride Bulky left over from the Urban Aran, cast on what looked like a reasonable (and odd) number of stitches on US9s -- i think it was 13 sts -- and knit a long rectangle in seed stitch with a slip stitch selvedge on both sides, until it was long enough to go around my head snugly with an overlap about as long as the band is wide. I did a few rows with decreases one stitch in from the edge, to round it off, and bound off. Then I picked up the selvedge stitches along one side, leaving the overlappy bit un-picked-up, decreased one (I was lucky) to get a multiple of 7, and knit stockinette in the round until it was long enough, then did your standard crown decreases. Sewed on a button and thar she be. Yes, the button is totally non-functional. I didn't think I would ever use a buttonhole, so I didn't put one in.

Got the lovely button from Josephine's Dry Goods, which you should totally check out if you're in the area. Gorgeous fabric and a whole wall of buttons.

4. Bloggy love
Can I just say how much I like this Make My Day thing? Yeah it's a nice little ego boost to get tagged, sure, but mostly what I love is that I've found SO many excellent new blogs to read, all with the stamp of approval of somebody I'm already reading. AWESOME.

So of course I was thrilled to make the days of Specs, Jennie, and Vanessa. (ETA: and Desiknitter! Sorry I'm such a spaz.) You three all make my day, too, seriously. And although many of the folks who also do so have already posted their own lists (I'm late hopping on this train, like so many others), I still want to give them a little shout out so they and y'all know I love 'em. So the remaining 7 (since I'm tagging back those three lovely ladies) in alphabetical order:

Dr. B -- Superior sewing skills, utmost humility, and the ability to make me laugh out loud at Every Single Post. The woman is awesome.
Elinor -- Is she cranking out the pretty stuff lately or what? Plus, one seriously cute baby.
Kristy -- Besides all the beautiful knitting, I love reading Kristy's blog because we have a similar career trajectory AND she's joining me in my stash challenge. Except she has to run. HA!
Leslie -- There's nothing I can say about Leslie or her blog that would be prettier or friendlier or better than the lady and the blog themselves. Go see.
Melissa -- I just started reading this, but I love it. There's something about her style that I really, really dig.
Tiennie -- How does she do it? Not just the beautiful knitting, of course, but the keeping up with everyone and their cousin in this little community of ours? A very sweet and talented lady, no question.
Whitney -- Again, there's just something about Whitney's knitting style that I really love. I'm always happy to see her name light up in my google reader.

Phew. So hard to choose!!

Happy Friday, y'all. I shall return with WIPs.

Urban Aran: Totally not a figment of my imagination.

2008-01-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

After brief technical difficulties (fucking USB cords...) we continue our FO parade with something a long, long time coming:

It's real! And it's finished! Technically the zipper didn't get sewn in until January, but I'm counting it as a 2007 FO. Because I'm the decider.

I've wanted to make this for The Lady for over a year now, but wasn't certain enough of my skills. But when the hourglass sweater went so well and so easily, I said to myself, 'Self, we can do this'. And do this we did.

The Dirt:
Pattern: Urban Aran, from Paton's Street Smart. Cardiganized a la Jared of Brooklyntweed.
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, in Old Sage. I used roughly 2.5 1-lb cones, so about 1250 yds.
Needles: US 9s for the cuffs & hem, 7s for the collar, 10s for everything else.
Mods: I... pretty much did exactly what Jared did -- jacketified and lengthened by about 2 inches total. Oh, and I accidentally made the slanty cabley parallellogram thing at the waist one repeat too long on the first front, so I just did the same with the rest of them and it looks fine, particularly with the added length over all.

I have zero complaints about the pattern. This was my first time dealing with set in sleeves, or really any substantial seaming at all, and it was far less harrowing of an experience that I'd feared. Possibly because the sleeve caps actually fit into the armscyes, more or less. Although not always quick, everything about this was straightforward and turned out as I'd hoped it would.

The yarn is, as I can tell from experience and from you helpful internet citizens, going to pill. But frankly, that's true of any yarn that I could afford in this kind of quantity. And I'm very pleased with the texture and the color. What are sweater shavers for, anyway?

If I had it all to do again I would change one and only one thing: I'd add another row or two to the collar so that the whole thing is exactly the same length as the zipper. Right now, the very last couple millimeters of zipper peek out at the top. Which, um. I could obviously fix, and probably will. But she was just so anxious to WEAR it, you know?

ETA: I almost forgot -- I have officially decided that the Sweater Curse is, like the risks of unwanted pregnancy and mothers nagging about 'setting a date', one of the things I'm exempt from as a member of a same-sex relationship. I did, however, freak out a little once when we fought while I was knitting this. But The Lady is way too cute (and too well versed in knit-culture) for me to give her up: when I gave her the sweater she grinned and said "Does this mean I have to break up with you now?"

Reappearing

2008-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

I had the kind of winter break that saw me reveling in my favorite forms of relaxation, wallowing in novel forms of stress, consuming stupid large amounts of alcohol, losing and regaining my knitting mojo at least twice, and overall having the kind of time that left me needing a vacation from my vacation. But mostly in a good way.

And now here I am again, and with a fair bit to show for it. So, taking a cue from Ashley, we'll begin a mini FO parade. The Real Family (= me + The Lady + The Sis) went down to Corvallis yesterday to visit the Slightly Extended Family (= Mom + Gram) for the latter's 80th birthday. When Mom started driving us all just a leeeeeetle bit crazy, we needed an excuse to take a break -- and the Inga photoshoot did just the trick:

We drove down to our old middle school and did two things we never did while we were students there: photographed knitwear, and smoked cigarettes in the parking lot.

PSA: Smoking is bad. Except when fortifying yourself for crazy relatives.

The Dirt:
Pattern: Inga
Yarn: 1/2 skein Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, in Aran, 1 skein Knit Picks Swish in Clematis Heather, and a wee bit of Cascade 220 in Green.
Needles: US 6 (I forgot to use smaller needles for the brim, but I think it worked out OK.)
Mods: None, really. Slightly heavier yarn than called for, I guess.

I knew this pattern ran long, if not wide, but I figured since the sis has a big head, it'd be fine. Turns out it is a tad long -- if I were to knit it again, which I might, I'd take out part of the first repeat, like Adrian did -- but she loves it as-is.

This will probably go down as the project that taught me both how important even tension is in colorwork, AND how much blocking can do for you when you neglect said tension. I didn't take any pre-blocking shots, but believe me: this hat was transformed.

All in all, I am over the moon about this one. It's the kind of project that makes you look like an even better knitter than you are because it's just so damn pretty. So: go make it, now. But consider lopping off an inch or so.

In which I distract you from my slackerhood with Interspecies Love.

2007-12-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

I seem to have come down with a moderate case of false-startitis.

The symptoms?

Remember how WAY back when, I asked for color advice for a Two-Tone Shrug for my sister? Yeah. I chose a nice dark red, then got about five rows into it before i decided I was totally bored. She'll be getting a cuter than cute hat instead.

I got most of the way through a super thick, squishy log cabin sock in Lamb's Pride Bulky before I remembered Katie's dad can't wear wool. Where is my brain?

I was going to design the world's loveliest cabled scarf for my Dad, but I think I started too late. I gave it several tries, but nothing looked the way I wanted it to. Given more time I'm sure I could pull it off, but for now he'll be getting a seed stitch scarf instead. Classy and simple. (And unphotographed. Sorry.)

The cause? It pains me to say it, but all that knitting mojo I'd accumulated just drained out of me in an instant: I left myself logged into flickr on Katie's computer, and The Super Surprise Xmas Thing is a Surprise no more. I almost cried. I hardly have the heart to finish seaming. But it will still be beautiful and appreciated and loved... just not a surprise. Damn it.

In the meantime, there's one thing I have managed to commit to: Yes, predictably enough, our "foster cat" pretty quickly became our "oh my goodness, you're a kitty! yes you are! my fuzzy little dumpling cat...". He'll be staying around.

Not exaggerating. Best Cat Ever.

My one hesitation was that he was completely freaked out (and I have the claw marks to prove it) by Maya's incessant, pushy brand of affection. But this is what I found when I came downstairs this morning. Notwithstanding that someone isn't actually supposed to be on the couch at all, this is serious progress -- he'll be sleeping on her head before long.

Red and white and warm all over

2007-11-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Somehow, in between the cooking and the houseguests and the visiting of many Portlandy institutions* and the lots and lots of sleeping, I whacked these out over the long weekend and I looooooorve them.

(4 FOs in a week? Who is this knitter inhabiting my body, and can she stick around for the next, oh, 27 days?)

Ze Hat:
Pattern: Koolhaas, by Jared Flood, in IK Holiday Gifts 2007
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran, color #11, 2 balls
Needles: US6 and 8 metal dpns
Mods: I followed the directions for the Women's size, but only did 7 rounds of ribbing, and omitted round 7 of the crown shaping, both because of yardage fears and the lofty, almost bulky weight of this yarn though which made my gauge a bit bigger than the pattern gauge. It worked out just fine: the hat fits perfectly and I had less than a yard of yarn leftover.

This yarn is fuzzy, and so the traveling twisted stitches aren't as crisp in this hat as in most other versions I've seen, but the thickness of it means they still stand out well -- the little recessed diamonds are extra deep and shadowy. Plus, you can't beat this stuff for softness. (cough It's on closeout at WEBS cough)

Ze Meeetens:
Pattern: Herringbone Mittens (pdf), by Elli Stubenrauch (elliphantom.com)
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Hollyberry, 1 skein
and Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Aran, less than 1/2 a skein.
Needles: US 4 and 6 bamboo dpns
Mods: None, except omitting the poms.

This pattern is awesome. Simple, well written, easy to memorize, and way, way cute. I see more mittens in my future. I found the yardage to be very generous -- I got away with half of what the pattern calls for. YMMV, though, because my colorwork tends to be extra tight. And for reference? The Hollyberry is almost exactly the same shade as the Alpaca Silk.

Also a nice complement to a Rhode Island Red, if you've got one around.

*Powell's, Armory Theater, Japanese Garden, Nicholas' Lebanese Restaurant, KnitPurl, The Lightbulb Lady, Amnesia Brewing, The Meadow, The Spare Room, Montage, Tin Shed. All highly recommended.

Three small pretty things

2007-11-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

I was just noticing that the single sock was my only FO since September, and thinking, "what kind of slacker knitter am I?", when suddenly two little O's were magically effed in one weekend.
I don't have much of an extended family: only two first cousins, both adopted. (This is what happens when your mom is an only child, your dad's brother was gay and died of AIDS, and his sister is a DES daughter.) Since Katie is siblingless and my sister swears up and down she'll never have kids, my niecephew outlook is similarly bleak. But! The adorable man whom Katie has known since babydom and is practically her brother is becoming a poppa in December.

Dudes, this is the closest I may ever get to having a niece. Ergo, Shedirlette! I followed these directions for babyfication, though to my untrained eye it looks more infant than newborn sized. I used roughly half a skein of Calmer leftover from Fifi.

Second in the lineup, proof that boring knits can be pretty.

Ignore that yarn tail for the moment. I can't find my tapestry needle.

This scarf was a request from a friend, and the yarn he chose is heavenly -- 4 balls of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Flamme in Serge -- but I have to admit it had me a bit stymied at first. I had all sorts of great ideas, but none of them seemed to fit the solid color and drastically thick and thin texture. With reassurances from the recipient that "simple is fine, really", I ended up with plain old 2x2 rib, and you know what? I love it.

Finally, the third soft pretty thing that's hanging out at my house these days:

We signed up to be a foster pet family, and this is the first little fellow to come home with us. He didn't come with a name, so we've been calling him Helo. They were going to euthanize him because they said he was unfriendly, difficult to manage, and wouldn't use a litterbox, none of which have proved even remotely true.

He is, however, hard to get a decent picture of, because he literally spends 90% of his waking hours doing this:

I'm going to have a hard time when he has to leave.

139 days (It's a leap year.)

2007-11-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

I just ordered the last of the yarn I need for Xmas projects, as well as a post-holiday project that I've been scheming about for months, now... and with that, I begin my fast. Hear me now, believe me later: I will not buy any new yarn until April 1st.

I know, I know, Gail, I said March, but after reviewing the evidence, April should be no problem. Don't you worry about me.

Here's what I've got either on the needles or awaiting a mate:

Details? Clicky clicky.

(Plus, of course, the Super Secret Xmas Thing, which is rapidly nearing doneness.)

Then we have yarn with a precise and imminent purpose:

Details? All will be revealed in the fullness of time.

(Plus what I just ordered -- a scarf and a sweater's worth.)

See? Piece of cake, right?

It wasn't actually this stock-taking that spurred me to temporarily swear off the LYS -- quite the reverse. It's just money is a little tight and I thought to myself, "Self, prolly we should hold off on the yarn-buying for awhile, eh? Maybe a few months even. I mean look at all these things we have lined up already." Once I looked, there was more than I'd reckoned. So this is more queue busting that stash busting.

After all, I'm not much of a stasher. Once we take away the leftovers from old completed projects, and the yarn bought with a specific project in mind (see above), we're left with this.

Oh, Shibui. What am I going to do with you?

Beating the blues.

2007-11-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for all the tips, y'all! Besides getting advice, it's nice to be reminded that I'm not alone in my winter blues. It seems that the coping mechanisms fall into two rough categories: First, guarding against depression by making your body healthier and happier (light, exercise, sleep, healthy food). These were the ones that I had mostly anticipated. The second category though, I tend to neglect: making a point of ENJOYING the winter. Maybe this should have been obvious because I don't actually dislike winter itself, just the way it saps my energy. So yeah. Here's to attending to the good stuff: fires, cider, soup, and obviously handknits.

In that spirit, 3 more things that are making me happy:

1. Organizing and pretty-fying my house. Every time I walk into this room I think, "Wow. I love my life."

2. Crafting with the ladies of said house. In the organizing craze, I tackled the basement as well. It's where the TV lives, since I have a deeply ambivalent relationship with the television and won't allow it in the living room. But the basement had also become the bottomless pit of Un-unpacked Shit. So I finally spiffed it up a bit and now, although not as cute as the upstairs, it's perfect for making stuff while watching stuff.

There's The Lady painting*, yers truly working on a pretty but very boring scarf, and our new housemate Ronica, sewing lavender stuffed eye pillows. Mmmm.

3. The interweb! I love my sock, Elinor loves her sock, y'all are out there making stuff and telling me about it and it's all just so awesome. And on that note, the random number generator (actually random, since it's based on atmospheric noise... so cool) picked number 23, so Kath, check your email!

*Speaking of which, go check out her latest painting in her etsy shop. It's our first joint project!

A very merry unblogthday, to me (and you)!

2007-11-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

I've had a shitty couple of weeks. Don't worry, nothing serious -- neither I nor anyone in my immediate family is dead, destitute or seriously ill. Just work, bills, weather, and a minor breakdown where I realized I've been neglecting really important parts of my life. But it was the necessary kind of freakout and I felt better almost immediately afterwards. By last night I was 100% back in the saddle, and here's why:

First, I finished this.

I'm pretty sure that this is the Best Sock I've Ever Knit. It's on its way to a friend who lives 1813 miles away, and will knit up the second sock herself. I'm a little afraid that it will be too big, but I tried a needle size down and that was definitely too small. Fingers crossed!

Speaking of friends (oh, I am so FUNNY), this arrived yesterday, and is the second reason for my return to happytown. You have spoiled me rotten, Leslie. Thank you!!!

Thirdly, we're selling my Subaru wagon and have bought what is, if possible, the only dykier vehicle: an old compact pickup. Please welcome Smurfette to the family.

I don't know if I'm blinking or squinting or what, but don't let it confound the fact that I LOVE HER. She's cute, she's practical, and she's old enough to drink.

Lastly, rounding out the list of Good Things, yesterday was my 1st blogthday! I worried a little when I first started this blog, that I was just doing it to feed my ego. But you know what? That's not why I've stuck with it, at all. Sure, it's awesome to get positive feedback about a project, but heart of it is that I feel more pride and joy and love for this craft, and the people who practice it, every single day. There, I did it. I got all sentimental on your collective ass. And to thank you for being here and putting up with my maudlin self, what else but a contest??

So, because my streak of good vibes can only last so long in this sweet gray city I call home, I want you to tell me your tips and tricks for keeping your chin up through the winter. I don't have full-fledged SAD, but I do have a rough time of it most years. Comment by midnight on Monday the 5th, and you'll be entered in a random drawing to win a delicious yarny prize, which I have yet to photograph, but I will, by the weekend for sure. But take my word for it, it is delicious, and it is yarny.

ETA: See, I told you.

Quick, cozy and purple.

2007-10-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

Every time I looked at Pam's gorgeous fall photo (which was often), I found myself wanting, nay needing some fingerless mitts, and fast. Faster than I was realistically going to finish that second Endpaper. (Yeah, remember that?)

This pair is actually for The Lady, as they're more her color than mine, and I'll whip up another pair for myself soon.

The Dirt:
Pattern: Hand/Wrist Warmers, by Joelle Hoverson in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. (Also excerpted online here.
Yarn: Cascade 220, not sure which color, at most 1/2 a skein.
Needles: US 6
Mods: 8 rows seemed too small for the thumb slit, so I did 12 instead. When I make these again, I think I'll try 10 rows, as these are tad large.

Katie loves them, and knitting them was a snap. Highly recommended for all sorts of outdoor fall activities. Like teaching your middle-aged dog new tricks.

High five. No... well, yes, that's the peanut butter. High five. High five!!

ps. Thanks for the input re: knitting in class. I think y'all are right -- I should either ask or just not knit. I've only done it twice so far and frankly I'm not even sure she's noticed, but I'm still thinking I'll go with the latter. Couldn't hurt to take more copious notes anyway.

Trying to avoid being a heel.

2007-10-11T15:03:00.000-07:00

I started my Microbio class a couple weeks ago, meaning that I don't get home until after nine two nights a week, which is totally harshing my mellow, man. It's also cutting into my already not that frequent TV-knitting time, so it's all but a miracle that I've made it halfway through the heel of the Bee.

Which I'm still loving, btw. I wasn't sure about the Pond Scum for this pattern, but it turns out it looks like twisty tangly vines. Awesome.

The other good news is that Thing Three is cranking right along, despite being a commute-only knit, for secrecy's sake. Well, commute and class. Which brings me to my dilemma, a propos of which I want to conduct a little informal survey: Is it ever acceptable to knit in class? I know some of you folks teach -- would you be offended if someone were knitting during your lectures? In this specific case, it's a class of about 50 people, I sit at the back, keep my knitting in my lap, frequently pause to take notes, and am engaged in discussion when there is any. In other words it's nearly all review so far and I'm arm-gnawingly bored, but I think I hide it pretty well. The prof is a nice lady and I don't want to be rude. I thought of just asking her if she minds but that feels weird somehow too, like it's making it a bigger deal than it is... Thoughts?

Kicking off the 'fest.

2007-10-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

What better way to start Socktoberfest than with one sock finished and one begun?

I don't think the Twisted Tweed will be getting a mate for a good long while. It's soft and beautiful and I love the pattern and everything, but there's so much else on my plate right now.

Chief among which, of course, is Drunken Bee. Jesus H. Crackers how much do I love this pattern? So much. Much more than before I started knitting it, which was already a lot. The chart was much easier to learn than I had feared, and the result is mesmerizing -- you sort of can't take it in all at once, so your eye just keeps moving, which is one of my favorite qualities of any piece of art.

In fact, I like it so much I'm having a hard time working on anything else.

I sewed!

2007-09-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

I think I got turned off of sewing for a while after I finished Plainspoken. Although I love that quilt, and it has a nice prominent place in our house, I just didn't have the tools or the time to make it as nice as I wanted it to be. So my (er, technically Katie's) little machine sat unused for a bit.

Then I realized maybe I just needed to bite off a little less at a time. Enter the One Evening Project.

Oilcloth Lunchbag!

Katie started school last week, so I figured she needed something to ~~make her classmates jealous~~ keep her lunch in.

This only took an hour or two, despite my less than amazing skills, lack of a walking foot, and the fact that these two characters were harassing me the entire time.

If I do my one and only trick maybe you will take me outside?

See how I'm gazing towards the window? I am very subtle.

They can be kinda distracting. So, yeah, don't look too closely at the stitches or anything, but this is a totally useful and very satisfying little project.

The pattern is here (identical print totally unintentional), and I found it via My Half of the Brain, which if y'all aren't reading yet, you should really check it out. That's also where I found this nifty little tutorial, which has me thinking about hand sewing... and maybe hand quilting... and what's that? Smaller bites? I'm sure I never said anything of the kind.

Came for the yarn, stayed for the fluffy bunnies.

2007-09-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, we caught the tail end of the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival -- my first time at such a yarny, fibery, ungulate-filled event. I loved it.

I harbor some not-necessarily-all-that-harebrained fantasies about being a nurse, working a couple shifts a week, and having a little farm with chickens and goats and alpaca.

I mean really. How can you resist such a fluffy beast? (Not to mention the fiber obtained therefrom.)

This dude actually came within inches of following us home. The ANGORA! And the cute! Alas, we caved at the last minute to the notion of wise deliberation and forethought, blah blah blah.

Here's what did follow us home:

If I'm ever going to have that alpaca farm, I have to learn to spin, right? I figured I'd better start small, in case I totally hate it.

My virgin voyage to the land of STR (across a scummy pond, apparently). Oh, yes, my pretty, I have plans for you already.

ps. More OFFF pics here, including a real live yak and camel.

Eye Candy Friday: Farmers Market Edition

2007-09-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

I like looking at foods second only to eating them.

Have a good weekend, y'all! I'll be spending mine recovering from a very long week by sleeping, looking at bodies, and *gasp* sewing. If it's not entirely disastrous I might even show you the results. (Of the sewing part.)

FO: Fifi pour Maman

2007-09-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the artificial light; it was nighttime when we celebrated Mom's birthday, and believe me, no one else I know could model this. She's wery leetle, my mozzehr. See how the lightswitch is at shoulder height?

She's also in ridiculously good shape. Seriously, she's about 63.2% of my size and could probably kick my ass, if she ever took the notion into her head. She doesn't really like showing off the guns though, so she doesn't wear tank tops or cap sleeves much. I assumed she'd wear Fifi under a jacket or shrug or something, but she opted to wear it over a long sleeve shirt instead.

I think it actually works pretty well.

The dirt:

Pattern: Fifi, by French Girl Designs
Yarn: Rowan Calmer, in "Chiffon", ~3.5 balls. I have no idea how I used so much less than everyone else who made this size, but I'm not complaining. Extra Calmer = Shedir!
Size: Followed directions for 33.5" bust, but at tighter gauge -- I got 6 spi in stockinette.
Needles: US7
Modifications: I added several inches to the length, but other than that it's pretty much by the book. I did lose the pattern a couple repeats into the bias rib section of the torso, so I had to make that one up from what I could remember -- I can see where the change is, but I don't think anyone else can, and both methods look fine.

This shot is 100% candid and I love it. Props to The Lady.

My thoughts on this pattern? Well, since I'm a strong believer in the Good-Bad-Good method of criticism, here goes: As far as the Big Picture, I love everything about this top. The shape of the sleeves, the staggering of the cables, the clear contrast between the yoke and the rest of the torso, yet with the continuity of that one central cable. It's great.

When we get down to the details, however, it just doesn't all come together as cleanly as I'd like. Sure, there were the errata, but since I sort of only kept one eye on the pattern anyway, I didn't even notice and just did what made sense, which was, of course, what the pattern should have said to begin with. But also, where the cables are staggered, the spacing isn't consistent or symmetrical. To correct this would have required changing the spacing of the cable twists throughout the whole garment (which coincidentally would have made the cable repeat and the bias rib repeat line up MUCH better, but that's another issue entirely), so I left it alone. No harm done really. Just my spatial, mathy side grumbling a little.

All that said, besides being cute in general, this thing is so precisely my mom's style that I can't be unhappy about it. I'm chalking this one up as a win.

"One, two, three... [Chomp.] Ah-three."

2007-09-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you're working on something and you promise yourself you won't cast on anything new until it's done, but then it ends up taking a bit longer than planned, so that you have ample time to dream about all the many things you could be knitting if you could just finish that one damned project, and then when you finally do finish it you turn around and find you've cast on for three things in 24 hours?

Yeah, me too.

These are Things One and Two: Charade in Louet Gems Sport and Twisted Tweed in Trekking. I generally go in for intricate, lacy socks, but lately I've had a hankering for something simple and eminently wearable. Still, I couldn't decide which of these two somethings to start first -- I was actually feeling some non-trivial tension over it. WTF? I knit for fun, remember? What is the Liberation Movement for, anyway, if not to remind us that this is our craft and we can do whatever the hell we feel like with it, whether that means knitting one sock or three? Onto the needles they both go. I'm actually not finding myself all that enamored with either of these yarns, though I do love the colors (and of course, the patterns).

Speaking of three, Thing Three is top secret; Xmas knitting has begun! My sincere apologies to the Ravelry-less, but a certain The Lady is among your number, and it's the best place I can think of to keep things from her prying eyes.

Since last we spoke...

2007-09-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

I've been busy.

We tackled the next round of renovations: knocked out some walls, rebuilt some other walls, and added a bathroom to the upstairs. (Yes, we got some professional help for this part.)

I married two of my best friends from high school. (Yes, i get a huge kick out of the fact that "marry" is both a monotransitive and a ditransitive verb. As in, "The Oregon constitution won't even let me marry The Lady, but I married two people this weekend!"*)

I spent a lovely weekend at my friend Lara's parents' place on the North Umpqua River. (Yes, Lara's dog Gypsy looks just like Bailey. But with one blue eye!)

I also fell even more in love with our friend Vaden, a little fellow with a temperament as sweet as his vocabulary is enormous. How many 2.5 year olds do you know who say "Stella, you should turn around, the water behind you is so pretty. Can we go down to the river's edge?" THE RIVER'S EDGE. This boy kills me dead.

Then I came home and felted my beautiful yarn. Ugh.

Just to twist the knife a little harder, the unfelted parts look like this:

Still nice and shuzzy, and a really amazing shade of coppery brown. Note to self, and anyone else who might be embarking on their virgin dyeing excursion: Use a pot large enough to stir the yarn freely, or else some parts of the water will get significantly hotter than others. Also, don't make your first attempt with yarn you really love.

It's not actually quite as bad as that first picture makes it appear -- I might still knit up a swatch and see what it looks like. Nevertheless, I feel very very stupid and disappointed.

On a happier note, Fifi is finished (actually finished, as of this writing, not missing a wee bit of sleeve as in the picture). Full FO report to come next week when I get modeled shots from the birthday girl (my mama).

* Uh, actually those are both monotransitive... but you get my drift.

Eye Candy Friday: I do still drool over yarn.

2007-08-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

The drooling doesn't cut into my reading time much.

This was the only thing I actually asked for for Xmas last year: a whole pound of Henry's Attic Andromeda. It's luscious and wonderful and a good deal, being undyed and unskeined, but damned if I was going to wind it into hanks by hand. So I put it away and forgot about it for awhile, and then finally...

... I broke down and got myself a Mama Bear Swift. I like it because it's good for both winding and unwinding.

I love this stuff even more now that it's off the cone. It's a 50/50 worsted wool-silk blend, very similar to Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb, or Sundara's Aran Silky Merino. (In fact, I feel like I heard somewhere that this is the base yarn Sundara uses... but I could be totally making that up.)

But seriously. How can anything be so simultaneously shiny and fuzzy? (Shuzzy, if you will.)

Next week: I try my hand at dyeing. Figure I'd better make a mess of the kitchen before we get around to remodeling it.

Priorities

2007-08-17T10:17:00.000-07:00

Post-Sockapalooza, not much knitting is happening around here. I have two WIPs at the moment, neither progressed much beyond the last time you saw them, and this is why:

This book grabbed me by the (proverbial) balls and didn't let go. Still hasn't, really, although I finished it last night. Nothing in this book was what I have come to expect, and yet it is never surprising for the sake of surprise. Everything about it, but most particularly Strange and Norrell's relationship, is executed in a way that is somehow quiet, subtle, and also tremendously elaborate. (And witty too.) I can't get over it. And, Oh! Childermass! How can I express my love for this character? I can't.

What I'm trying to say is that this book made me want to read, voraciously, in a way that the likes of Harry Potter -- which I thoroughly enjoyed -- never could. Which brings me to my point, if indeed I had one: Knitting cuts into my reading time, HARD. I've known this all along, really, but for a while I think I sort of assumed that knitting would be a passing fancy. (I am nothing if not prone to dilettantism.) But that doesn't appear to be the case, does it? And being an obsessive record-keeper, I can no longer ignore the numbers: I moved to Portland 3 years ago, after I graduated from college. In the first year and a half, I read 48 books, including a few long term committments. Then I re-took-up knitting, and in the year and a half since then, I've read 15. This is unacceptable.

So I'm making a commitment: I have two hours, every day, to pursue anything my little brain desires, so long as it's portable. From here on out, there will always be a knitting project AND a book in my very capacious bag.

So how about you guys? What did you used to do more of, before you took up your current crafty pursuits? Do you miss it? Or was the change intentional? Oh, and most importantly, what should I read next?

My sockapal = awesome.

2007-08-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

So, in the rush to get my own pal's socks out the door? I halfway forgot that someone out there was knitting socks for me.

I don't knit for myself much, so I've never had a pair of handknit socks before, and I really, truly love these. Blogless Diana of Durham, North Carolina, you are a rad, rad lady.
I love that she really LISTENED to what I told her I like: warm colors, lace is cool but no huge holes, not TOO much variegation. The fit could not be better. She even made sure to ask me what my favorite heel was!

Slipstitch, natch.

She didn't mention what pattern this is, but it looks like River Rapids to me. Back me up on that, somebody? The yarn is Great Feats, from the folks at dyepot.com (who, though they dye a lovely skein of yarn, could use some help in the web design deparment). It's 20% nylon, so I have good faith that this pair can stand up to serious use.

Which is good, because they've already been subjected to my dog-fur-covered floors.

Redemption, mostly.

2007-08-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Baudepaloozalaires, A.K.A. A pair of socks that is neither as long-legged nor as punctual as I'd planned, but still very pretty if I do say so myself, A.K.A. the 36-hour sock:

Faced with two very mismatched socks ('very' being a relative term)I had three choices:
A. Knit a second sock in the lighter dyelot, on US 2s, knowing my pal specifically requested a fine gauge.
B. Rip out the lighter, looser sock, and knit two new socks on US 1s. Starting on Tuesday night.
C. Rip the darker, finer, better fitting sock (of which dyelot I had but one skein) back to where it weighed just under half of the total, reknit the ribbing, and knit a second short, dark, fine sock.

Once option C occurred to me, there really seemed no other choice. To whoever first thought to knit a sock toe-up? THANK YOU.

I think the thing I'm the happiest about, actually, is that despite the roadblocks and the frustration, and the almost crying late at night, I genuinely enjoyed knitting these -- all three of them. I think that means I like to knit or something.

And should I ever feel like knitting this pattern again (it could be awhile), I'm already halfway to a pair of my own.

facepalm

2007-08-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

In her youth, my mother was a knitter, a seamstress, and a clerk in a dye and finishing company. I could not possibly count the number of times I have heard her say "make sure to check the dyelot!"

Of course, I don't remember her ever saying "if you're knitting two of something, you should probably use the same needle size for each". But I imagine that's just because she overestimates her daughter's intelligence.

FO: Fuzzy Sunrise

2007-07-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

Back in January, The Lady's mom asked me to knit a hat for a friend of hers who was about to start chemo. She was so happy with the Shedir I sent her that she soon requested another hat, this time for The Lady's dad. Something soft, preferably alpaca, with some kind of patterning, but in "manly colors". I happened to have just stumbled on Elinor's blog, and this seemed just the thing.

Pattern: Winter Sunrise Hat (pdf link), by Elinor Brown
Yarn: Berrocco Ultra Alpaca in Charcoal Mix and Agate Mix -- significantly less than one skein each. I knit the lining in black Calmer (left over from that same Shedir) because the recipient has some mild animal fiber sensitivities.
Needles: US6 bamboo DPNs. Really shoulda used a circ. I don't know if you can spot where my DPN-junction was, but I sure can.
Modifications: The intended head for this hat is fairly large -- about 22" -- and while the pattern says it will stretch to that size, I know I knit pretty tightly in general, and particularly so in colorwork. So I went for a light worsted yarn rather than a sport weight, and went up one needle size. Otherwise this is totally by the book.

Don's head is conveniently similar in size to my own.

I have strongly mixed feelings about the result. On the one hand, the pattern is simple and elegant, and the yarn is soft and beautiful -- can you see the little flecks of purple and red in with the blue? -- and they go quite nicely together.
On the other hand, it's not as crisp as I'd like. Some of that is to be expected, since I'm using a fuzzier, more heathered yarn than Elinor did, and that's fine, but I think some of it is down to my still-not-that-even stranding. I really, really want to get better at this. Of course, a good blocking would help too, and I didn't have time before The Lady's parents arrived. I think I might have to steal it back and block it when they roll through town again this weekend.

Overall though? I'd have to say I'm pleased.

I'm also feeling a bit harried. As of the completion of this hat (Wednesday), I had about two inches of the second palooza sock, and my pal lives overseas so I'm hoping to mail it by Monday. (And unlike the hat, these are certainly not going anywhere without a blocking. You can get away with some things when the recipient is not a knitter, but I've seen the socks my pal knit, and believe me she deserves the best.) Wish me luck!

RIP Lambchop

2007-07-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

Lambchop Nelson-Stem
April 2007-July 2007

We built a coop that was totally dog-proof, but just because it kept the dogs out didn't mean that it kept the chickens in, and lets face it: they're not the brightest of animals. I was just finishing Harry Potter when it happened, and somehow, the fact that real fictional humans were fighting and dying made it seem a tiny bit less sad by comparison. But now, a couple days later, I still feel awful.

Actual crafty content tomorrow. I just thought I'd let y'all know, since you've been following the chicken saga from day one.

Shiny Floor Friday

2007-07-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

Since my house is the best eye candy I can think of these days, I couldn't resist one more transformation montage:

We pulled down the hideous "wood" paneling...
...tore up the lovely shag to reveal even lovelier linoleum...
...then scraped, patched, sanded, primed and painted the walls......sanded and finished the floors...
...and finally, installed the trim. (I learned to cope moulding joints! I'm a craftswoman!)

Have a good weekend, y'all. I guarantee not one but TWO finished objects in the next week. You can probably guess what one of them is; here's a sneak peek at at the other.

It's back to better!*

2007-07-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

My crazy class is over. It makes me breathe easier just to say it, so I'll say it again. My crazy class is over. It seems like a blur.

I slept a LOT this weekend, finished installing the trim in the downstairs bedrooms, and then slept some more. I feel like a human again. And a knitting human at that!

TWO little monkeys, finished just a couple of days late. (For The Lady's birthday)

OK, clearly this is not news, but this is a brilliant pattern. Possibly even more brilliant than the rest of Cookie's designs -- not just any pattern could make me feel good about variegation. I love this yarn (Artyarns Ultramerino 8), and it behaved with admirable consistency, but I am very very picky about things like striping and pooling. Just about every set of Monkeys that I've seen knitted up looks good. How often can you say that?

I've still got several longstanding WIPs going, including of course the house, which I will have more pictures of sometime this week. But there is one notable newcomer:

Apologies for the shitty light.
This was back when free time before dusk was a hot commodity.

I saw Margaux's Fifi and knew instantly I would knit it for my mother. After agonizing over the yarn choice for a bit, I found a deal on Calmer on eBay and hit the ground running. Although it's got some odd little quirks, I love this pattern. It's all I can do to leave it alone long enough to finish up my palooza socks. (I am an incorrigible procrastinator.)

*If Cadillac still isn't your favorite unicorn ever to be wished into existence by an 8-year-old gay boy named Shannon, you really need to go see this. Right now.

Querying the hivemind.

2007-07-10T12:37:00.001-07:00

Remember how euphoric I was about the new house and all the work we'd done? Well, I still love the house, and I'm still proud of the remodeling, but I guess I got kind of spoiled by taking that whole first week off of work. After that, I not only went back to work, I also started one of these crazy triple-speed summer courses, which eats up another 20 hours of my week. I don't sleep much, I'm rarely home and when I am, my house isn't the way I want it to be, I'm not eating well, etc. I even smoked a couple of cigarettes. (Tssk.) The good news is that I've pushed right through the crazy, cranky, bitchy phase (all last week) to the serene, exhausted, it-will-all-be-better-soon phase.

But I'm still never home when there's good picture-taking light, plus the internet installation had to be delayed for an extra week. I was trying to hold off on posting until I had pretty pictures to show you, so I apologize, but I need your wonderful brainpower:

I'm planning to make Stefanie Japel's Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug for my sister, in Cascade 220. In the interest of stashbusting, one of the colors will be Jet, leftover from the Stripey Sweater. For whatever reason, I am totally at a loss for color-think right now, so tell me: should the deep deep grey be the body color, or the accent? And what on earth should the other color be? Almost anything works with my sister's hair & complexion, so it's just a matter of the right inspiration, and I know all y'all are more on it today than I am.

Stay tuned 'til next time, when both the yarn and I are Calmer. (Badump ching.)

WIP report: Transformation

2007-06-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Isabella:

Living Room:

Monkey:

I'm tired and sore and ecstatic. I love my house more every day, and I can hardly concentrate on anything else, but I'm managing to do some scheming about xmas knitting. I promise a real post very soon!

Calm before the storm.

2007-06-06T10:46:00.001-07:00

This house thing? It's a goddamned rollercoaster. From the furnace to the sewer to the easements to the insurance, I swear there has literally been a new wrinkle every day. Most of our belongings are packed up and we've given notice to our landlord, and I still couldn't tell you for sure if we'll get the keys to the new place on Friday or Monday. (Cross your fingers for Friday, k?)

Either way, I'm about to be a homeowner. (EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!)
And I'm about to tear up some shag, send some linoleum bits away for asbestos testing, pull down some "wood" paneling, paint over some horrid pepto-bismol pink... I promise, as soon as we are the legally deeded owners we will be taking lots of 'before' pictures.

So before the whirlwind begins, a little documentation of where the knitting stands. The three projects I had going two weeks ago are pretty much stalled. Here's the newcomer:

I'm planning to finish the pair by The Lady's birthday, near the end of this month. Beyond that, though, I'm sort of curious as to what my knitting life will do. Will our intrepid blogger abandon the needles entirely in favor of the paintbrush and prybar? Or turn to her knits more than ever, seeking relief from the overwhelming tackiness? Stay tuned to find out!

Flakery.

2007-05-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

We had a visit last week from an old friend who had never seen the Pacific Northwest, so of course we showed him the sights, which is an excellent excuse to see them again, ourselves.

We witnessed the beauty of our lovely state:

Photo credit on this one goes to The Lady.

We witnessed the pooches trying to save their favorite person from what they believed was certain death:

We witnessed a grown man being pushed around a Seattle city block in a pink Powerwheels Jeep, by another man (also full grown) singing Prince's "Kiss". He's learning the lyrics in this shot:

Which I hope you will take as sufficient evidence that no one involved was remotely sober, including the photographer. Said photographer, however, managed to fall into bed afterwards and knit a full repeat on the Baudelaires, which should itself be taken as sufficient evidence that this pattern is way easier than it looks. Possibly the highest beauty-to-difficulty ratio yet, narrowly beating out the Child's First Socks.

Back in Portland, however, I have evidence only of the fact that I am a terrific flake:

Endpaper, missing only a thumb, Baudelaire, waiting patiently to be bound off, aaaand... Rusted Root, cast on yesterday. I wonder if the ladies of the liberation front will allow me into their ranks with only 99% of a sock?

I been taggeded.

2007-05-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

It's Friday! And I'm sick, but not with mono! And I may have to pay for part of the sewer repair on the new house out of pocket! This calls for a meme.

Specs tagged me for the 7 or 8 random things:

1. Although you can't really tell from the outside, one of my nostrils is several times larger than the other. It's from a freak gymnastics accident when I was 14 in which I walloped myself in the face with my own knee.

2. I pronounce the word 'only' as 'onling'. I got it from my mom; blame her.

3. I have a deep affection for semicolons.

4. I knit continental and combined. I once converted a woman (a relatively new knitter) to this side of the force during a conversation on the bus.

5. I have a bachelor's degree in computer science and cognitive studies, and graduated assuming I'd eventually go on to grad school in the same, but in the meantime (working as a research assistant in an Alzheimer's center) I've done a bit of an academic about face, and I'm now taking prereqs for nursing school. I still have dreams about the life of a CS professor, and wake up feeling sad and conflicted, but overall I'm thrilled with my change of plans. Working directly with people who need my help RIGHT THEN, having a flexible schedule, not sitting at a desk all day, never having to write a research grant again? I'll take it.

6. I once made a brief attempt at keeping a political blog, and that's actually where this blog's title originally came from -- something about a feeling that the time for change is well past due. Which is how I feel about the ways handcrafting has changed my life, too, as well as my career switch.

7. I have a few memories of being a baby (learning to walk, learning to rhyme sounds), and many, many very clear memories of age 2-4. Apparently this is unusual. When I ask people roughly what age their earliest memory is from, the average answer is around 5. I know a woman who literally remembers nothing before middle school.

8. I can hum and whistle at the same time.

Hokay... tagging Macoco, Courtney, Gail, and Gray La Gran.

Purple socks: past, present, and future

2007-05-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

Past:

I tried, I really did. I cast on for Eunny's Bayerische socks, and I plugged away with real diligence and optimism. I wish I'd taken a picture, but I was just too discouraged. They weren't too hard, exactly, they just moved so damn slow. The result was beautiful but if I'm not enjoying it, what's the point?

Present:

The second I ripped out the German Slog I cast on for these in the same yarn (the Lorna's Laces Blackberry that I jettisoned from the Endpaper project awhile back). I remembered immediately why it's so important to enjoy the process as well as the product: this first one is flying off the needles.

Seriously, in the time it's taken to knit this much, I had gotten maybe three inches of the Bayerische.

This pair is for my sockapalooza pal, who quite fortuitously has the same foot length and circumference as I do, though a lower instep.

Future:

I won something. Me! And in no time flat, this arrived in the mail from the lovely Julie Frick.

It's Artyarns Supermerino 4. I've never knit with this stuff before and I'm so glad it's landed in my lap. JF, you can keep destashing in my direction all you like. I'll even pay you next time!

It's super soft, and less shiny than most sock yarns I've seen. I think it will become a pair of Jaywalkers for my female companion. I don't think either of us can ever have too much purple.

A Calorimetric Mother's Day

2007-05-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

Ms. Frick's adorable calorimetry provided the last little push I needed to whip up one of these for my sister last week while we were lazing about at the coast. Apparently when my mom saw it her exact words were "I need three." Since I got this news on the day before Mother's Day, I couldn't help fulfilling one third of her request.

Warm ears and rhodies.

Mom actually isn't a lush, whatever this photo might imply.

I got both headwarmers out of one skein of Cascade Jewel, with a bit to spare. I cast on 100 stitches for Anna's (she has a big head like me), and 90 for Mom's (shoulda done 88 or 92, for a multiple of four, but it turned out fine), and did 10 repeats of row 5 for each. I used US 7s despite using a bulkier yarn than called for, and I like the denser gauge a lot. I'm going to need to make more of these.

And now, what will likely become a weekly "progress shot", until these ladies are full grown:

Starbuck is getting to be distinctly chicken-shaped.

Brawk.

2007-05-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

I've been holding out on saying anything, because I didn't want to jinx it like last time, but... I think we bought a house! I'm not counting my chickens until the keys are in my hand, but we're done with negotiations, inspections, more negotiations, and now all we're waiting for is the appraisal, and we should be moving in less than a month.

We finally found something we loved and could afford by expanding our search to include larger houses where we could have two housemates, and thus more rental income. This one is an adorable 1924 bungalow with five (five!) bedrooms, meaning that The Lady and I will each have a small office/studio to ourselves. I have been waiting my entire adult life to say those words.

Despite being of exceedingly cute design and well laid out, it's dirty and full of incredibly tacky shit. Fake wood paneling, ugly linoleum, fir floors under two layers of vinyl, which is itself under shag carpet.... you name it, we've got it. The next few months of my life will include much ripping, scraping, sanding and painting, so the knitting will slow down a bit, but I'll be regaling you with crafts of the homeowner variety.

To wit: I wasn't being entirely truthful about not counting my chickens. Meet the newest members of the fold. (1, 2, 3.)

From left to right, Starbuck, Lambchop, and Isabella.

These ladies came home with us yesterday from Boring, and I am in love with them already. (Especially Lambchop, but don't tell.) I've been wanting chickens for years, and I can't wait to watch them grow into big, sweet, clucking egg machines.

Starbuck is a Buff Orpington, Lambchop a Silver Laced Wyandotte, and Isabella an Ameraucana (blue eggs!). We picked the breeds for friendliness, laying ability, and looks, and I certainly can't say I'm disappointed as to the latter so far. They're so cute I can hardly stay at work, knowing they're chittering away at home.

Something new.

2007-05-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

The new and improved endpaper mitt marches on. I'm still loving it but it hasn't changed much and doesn't make great blog fodder (and the only other knitting going on right now is swatching for Rusted Root, which is even less so), so instead I thought I'd give you a peek at what else I've been up to.

The Earth Day fair where The Lady and I had a booth with a friend of ours wasn't a great success -- even native Cascadians can think of better things to do in the rain the stroll around looking at artisan goods.

But it did prompt me to make up a bunch of linocut cards, and I discovered that I really, really like it. I love the reproducibility and the flexibility, the way the work of minutes to hours can be endlessly reprinted, recombined, and recolored. Lazy perfectionist, remember?

I also love how it's clearly homemade, anyone can do it, and yet it looks crisp and... i don't know... real somehow, in a way that drawings and paintings don't. At least not when I do them.

These thank you cards are my favorites. (The filigree pattern is shamelessly lifted from carvings on the walls of the Alhambra.) I may try to make more, along with some larger prints, and see if I can get a booth at the Sunday Art Mart this year. Even if I don't sell much, getting out and meeting other portland crafters will be fun. And the peoplewatching! How I love to peoplewatch.

In the meantime, I'll probably put these up on Etsy, so keep an eye out if they strike your fancy.

Ok, ok, twist my arm.

2007-04-27T11:07:00.000-07:00

Unanimity is a rare thing, but it's easy to understand in this case:

I don't think there's a word for this stuff besides be-fucking-yootiful. The depth, the softness, the COLOR! I can't stop ogling it.

Now my only problem is that mistake about 4 rows back. It wasn't bothering me that much on the mitt itself, but every time I look at this picture it's like it's eating my face. I can't see anything else. Rip rip rip.

ps. why is it that everything in IK always looks so much fun to knit, and yet like nothing i'd ever wear?

Berry fudge sundae vs. um... a spicy sweet japanese treat?

2007-04-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the sweater-love, y'all. I continue to be massively, giddily pleased with it.

It did represent, however, a departure from my usual knit-on-the-bus-and occasionally-during-a-movie routine, and I've found myself taking a bit of a break now that it's done. This is the sum total of my knitting in the last several days, and it's causing me a bit of a dilemma:

Eunny's Endpaper Mitts, with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Blackberry and Chocolate. (mmm, blackberry and chocolate....) I love these colors but I'm not positive they work that well together for this pattern. If anything, the contrast is a bit less in real life than in this photo, and the pattern is just a leeetle bit hard to make out. On the one hand, I really do like the subtlety and the warmth, but on the other, why go to the trouble of doing colorwork at all if it's not going to be crisp and pretty?

If I were to try another color scheme, I'd probably keep the brown and replace the purple with Shibui sock yarn in Wasabi, which would be a different thing altogether. (Okay, okay, I'll say it: it would be a whole nother thing. Mark my words, friends, "nother" will be in the OED in our lifetimes. But I digress.)

What do you think? Stick with the berry fudge sundae or try something new? FYI: I'm not happy with my tension in this mitt so far, and ripping and reknitting may happen anyway... so that's no deterrent to switching colors.

FO: Stripey

2007-04-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Hourglass Sweater, from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, Joelle Hoverson. Stripes inspired by Specs's Dirty Sailor.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in green and jet (poorly named... it's a charcoal-y grey), 2 skeins each.
Needles: US 7
Modifications: I made the sleeves 3/4 length (or a bit shorter, even), and without the bells. No fancy mods here, just started with the same number of stitches that the pattern recommends for the narrowest part of the sleeve, knit for about 4 inches, and did the increases as written.
I also wanted to make sure the waist wasn't too loose, as my figure is in fact hourglass-shaped, and excess fabric around the waist makes me look like a big thick box. So I chose the second smallest size, which is actually a just a hair on the small side for my 38" bust, and did one extra set each of bust increases (this involved doing fewer even rounds between increase rounds) and yoke decreases.

It fits exactly the way I'd hoped it would. I didn't block it very aggressively, and it didn't grow a whole lot. In my eagerness I neglected to measure, but here's the pre-blocking pic for comparison: note the mostly-visible belt, pretty much entirely hidden in the above shot.

All in all this was an easy-peasy, stress free knit. Errata aside, the pattern is lovely, simple, and easy to follow. There was only one icky moment: right after grafting the armpits.

(Taking pictures of your own underarms is no easy task, folks.) My solution to this was not particularly elegant. I basically threaded matching yarn through the stitches surrounding the hole, tightened it up, and knotted it. I have an aversion to true knots in knitting, but I can't argue with success:

I've already worn it twice and will probably wear it again tomorrow, if it's not too hot. I am deeply, deeply in lorve. (You heard me. Lorve.)

Ze sweater, she iz blockeeng.

2007-04-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

(Modeled shots coming wery, wery soon.)

Is it weird that I scrubbed my sink more thoroughly for this than I do for things that I eat off of?

When I started this project I figured I could do it in 3 weeks. Instead, I finished the knitting in 2, plus a day for finishing and one for blocking. This was a case of almost pure project monogamy -- the only crafty break I took was to make some lino cuts for The Lady's Earth Day booth.

This kind of almost-singleminded devotion is an increasingly rare thing 'round these parts: last night, for the first time since last summer, I had zero WIPs. In this moment of weakness, I may cave to the power of the chevron scarf.

I couldn't possibly understand.

2007-04-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

In July of 2000, when i was 18 years old, I witnessed this firsthand. I still don't have words for what it meant to me then, but I'm keenly aware that it continues to affect me in pervasive and subtle ways. The most tangible of these is my memory of coming back to Copenhagen afterwards and reading about the accident and its aftermath in the paper, looking at the pictures and realizing that the man who wrote it and most people reading it hadn't been there. I remember thinking, "That's exactly what it looked like, but it's not what it felt like at all. They couldn't possibly understand." Ever since then I can't watch news coverage of sudden, unexpected tragedy without remembering that to someone, it is far more real than it will ever be to me.

To thousands of people who woke up yesterday morning like just like any other, this isn't television. I don't even know what to say next. It is overwhelming to me, 3000 miles away, and more overwhelming to realize that I don't know the half of it.

I'm doing my best not to feel helpless: holding the ones I love, continuing to write my congresspeople about gun control, and sending love eastwards to people I've never met.

RIP Kurt.

2007-04-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not sad. He was sort of old, and he was ready; he said it himself.

"You know, you go to a party and you hone in on the couple people you know. There are none of those people for me at parties any more."

Nope, not sad. More... reminded, I guess, of something I tend to forget. Just a feeling really, something about how if you can't laugh at the world we live in, you're not taking it seriously.

If you haven't already, definitely check out this interview.

And I was worried about losing steam...

2007-04-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

Pshaw. My worries were SO unfounded, folks. Having the color changes to look forward to is really propelling me forwards on this one. I thought briefly about taking a break and starting those hemp washcloths for the April Showers-along, or the Endpaper Mitts I promised The Lady awhile back, but the very notion seems laughable now. Even when I don't fall asleep thinking of this sweater, I wake up thinking of it.

Hanging out with Dave the turtle.

It's going faster than I'd anticipated, despite a steady stream of houseguests. I think I can reasonably expect to finish this weekend. (Remember, the sleeves will be 3/4 length. I'm at the beginning of the 3rd sleeve stripe in the photo above; after this morning's bus commute I'm near the end of the 4th, and when I'm halfway through the 7th it'll be ready to join the yoke.)

One more thing to love: as I was googling around to learn how to do a slipstitch hem, I stumbled on Carolyn's knit-it-together-as-you-go technique. It's not hers exactly, and I guess it's featured in Nothin' but a T-Shirt as well, but at any rate I was thrilled to find it as I hate finishing with big red capital H.

I get an embarrassing amount of pleasure out of looking at these neat little stitches.

Though slightly tedious, this method turned out to be pretty idiot-proof. I was certain I'd get to the end of the live stitches and find I still had a dozen cast on stitches left to pick up, but nope. It all went quite seamlessly. (Ha!)

My eye candy is made of mouth candy!

2007-04-06T10:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Joohee recently decided that if we make gingerbread houses at Christmas, then making gingerbread churches at Easter is only logical. While I don't entirely follow her reasoning, I can't argue with the concept of adhering food to food with other food.

At least as much candy ended up in my belly as on my crenellated cathedral. I thought I wouldn't ever want to look at sugar again, but two days later I was pillaging like a pirate.

And now, without the slightest attempt at segue, I leave you with a progress shot of the hourglass, lounging in the goldeny morning glow of my east-facing house. (I love spring.)

Yipes.

2007-04-05T10:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes all it takes is a wee little tweak. The hourglass sweater had never particularly caught my eye, until I saw this. The stripes! The cuteness! I was at the yarn store faster than you could say "gauge swatch".

What's that? Why yes, actually, I did. Thanks for asking.

This is not only my first real sweater, but also the first thing I've knitted for myself in... well, sort of ever. There was that swatch a year ago that turned into a scarf, and then there was the picovoli that was intended for me but turned out too tight, but that's it. For once, I'm more excited about wearing something than about knitting it. (Why else would I commit to hours of stockinette?) So anyway, it would defeat the purpose even more than usual if the damned thing didn't even fit.

So. Swatches! Blocked swatches, and two of them. I wasn't even looking to "get gauge" per se, just to see how the fabric compared on 6s and 7s, and use whatever gauge I got to alter the math as necessary... but instead, I hit it on the nose with the 7s, including row gauge. (!) Off I went:

I'm super pleased with these colors. I definitely go through color phases -- for awhile whenever I imagined a new project, it was red or purple. Then brown and gold. Now, if I'd had the money to buy yarn for Forecast at the same time as this stuff, it would be a bright kelly green, just a shade bluer and brighter than the green above. Maybe this is a sign I should join Project Spectrum.

I win!

2007-04-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Either I am the last person on the face of the internet to finish up her Christmas WIPs, or everyone else is just too ashamed to admit it. For the record, these were actually done in early March (cuz that's so much better, right?) but fell prey to the great camera drought of 2007.

Pattern: Child's First Sock, from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Denim, well under 2 skeins
Needles: US 1s

After three abortive attempts at Pomatomus with this yarn(I wish I'd taken a picture of the last iteration. I followed the pattern compulsively, to the letter, and still got these huge holes along the right side of the foot. Sometimes you're just more in the mood to move on than to document your faliures, you know?) this was a huge relief. Cuff, leg, heel, foot, toe. Repeat. Nary a frog in sight.

The lace pattern is easy easy easy, and not too lacy, which is good because seeing feet through socks makes me feel sort of uncomfortable. The slip stitch heel is thick and sturdy but still soft. I will definitely be keeping that one in my arsenal.

They fit my mom's little size 6 feet perfectly. I couldn't be more pleased.

Plainspoken Quilt, from The Modern Quilt Workshop by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr

I don't know if I will ever make a queen sized quilt again. I certainly won't do it with a deadline, however forgiving of tardiness the recipient might be. I thoroughly enjoyed the piecing and even the basting, but everything else, particularly the quilting, felt like a bit of a chore.

That said? I love the result.

Returning the favor.

2007-04-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

Remember how my mom was my first inspiration to start knitting? Well, this weekend I returned the favor.

We were sitting around the table, eating massive amounts of goat cheese -- this happens every time my mom visits, and that's fine with me. Katie was painting, and I was finishing up Jeffery's Shedir. (for the third time. don't ask.) And then mom got the itch. She kept staring at my hands until finally I said "you know, i have plenty of yarn. you want some?".

It's been years, I think, and it took her a few minutes to get back in the swing of things, but she was obviously pretty thrilled.

Here's the crazy part though:

She's a thrower.

She's the one who taught me to knit, and when I picked it back up (many times, one of which stuck), it was all from memory -- no friends, no books, no websites. So how, and when, did I turn out all continental-like?

Another thing...

2007-03-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

...if anyone breathes a word to me about the Final Five before the season finale comes out on iTunes, heads will roll.

Nothing to be done...

2007-03-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

When a very-much-loved boy comes to visit, there's nothing to be done but to knit him a hat, yarn fast be damned.

When said hat turns out juuuuust a bit too small, there's nothing to be done but send the boy back to SanFrancisco bareheaded, with a promise of a new and improved hat arriving very soon by post.

So now I just need to ignore that other little something that came home with me from the yarn store...

Long long weeks

2007-03-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Four weeks is a long time in the blogging world, but that last post seems more like years ago to me now. I'm too sad and tired to go into why we didn't buy either of the two houses I mentioned, nor a third that we seriously considered. I just wanted to let you know that I am still alive, still crafting a bit, and still fully intend to return to this little online world soon. (It would help if I could find my camera, or if the backup camera hadn't been knocked from my sister's hands by a flock of pigeons in Venice...) At any rate, there's a lovely little quilt on my bed that I would love for y'all to see very soon.

Hope life is treating you well. If you're in Portland, enjoy the sunshine!

Pictures of knitting, Words about houses.

2007-02-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

Pattern: Twisty socks (original)
Yarn: KP Essential
Needles: US2

This being a grown-up thing? I won't go so far as to say it's overrated, but it is certainly exhausting.

First, we spent all our free time for several weeks looking at houses, until we were certain that they were all either monstrously large, decrepit Victorian numbers or eeeety bitty shacks with not-quite-stylish remodel jobs. "Seriously," I kept saying, "can't there be anything in between?!"

Just when we were starting to get discouraged, we found a middle ground. It was cute, it was fixed up, it had two bedrooms, a bonus room, and a finishable attic. We made an offer... we spent three days in counter offers and negotiations. I hardly slept.

Pattern: My So-Called Scarf
Yarn: Something cheap and blend-y
Needles: US11

Then we had it inspected, and the adorably jolly man we hired for the job confirmed what I later realized had been a nagging feeling of mine from the get go. This house had been flipped in six months, and to say that corners were cut would be like saying that Ted Stevens has an incomplete grasp of HTML. There was literally a non-trivial possibility that the house could explode.

After much hand wringing and "well, maybe if they replaced the electrical panel...", I was about ready to cry. I didn't want to accept this house's flaws, but I was afraid we couldn't afford anything better. We were kicking ourselves for not jumping on a slightly more expensive but way, way better (dare I say perfect?) house a week or two earlier. We heaved big sighs and searched the listings again. And there it was, the perfect house, back on the market. I'm not a superstitious gal, but I'm just about ready to call it a sign.

So here we go again. We've backed out of the timebomb and are about to make an offer on the awesomeness.

And in the meantime? I've been trying to relax, and oddly enough, that hasn't meant all that much knitting -- I've been reading again, for the first time in weeks -- but I have finished up a few very longstanding UFOs.

Pattern: Sophie (one day I'll get around to felting it, too.)
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Worsted in Amethyst, Sable, and Aran
Needles: US10.5

Bloggers' Silent Poetry Reading...

2007-02-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

... of whose existence I was made aware by Ashley and Cara.

When I first saw this poem, about six months ago, I was too much in the thick of The Lady's illness to be anything but destroyed by reading it. Today I can appreciate it for a lot more than my own sympathy with its narrator -- for the history, the stillness, and of course, the trees.

University Hospital, Boston

The trees on the hospital lawn
are lush and thriving. They too
are getting the best of care,
like you, and the anonymous many,
in the clean rooms high above this city,
where day and night the doctors keep
arriving, where intricate machines
chart with cool devotion
the murmur of the blood,
the slow patching-up of bone,
the despair of the mind.

When I come to visit and we walk out
into the light of a summer day,
we sit under the trees--
buckeyes, a sycamore, and one
black walnut brooding
high over a hedge of lilacs
as old as the red-brick building
behind them, the original
hospital built before the Civil War.
We sit on the lawn together, holding hands
while you tell me: you are better.

How many young men, I wonder,
came here, wheeled on cots off the slow trains
from the red and hideous battlefields
to lie all summer in the small and stuffy chambers
while doctors did what they could, longing
for tools still unimagined, medicines still unfound,
wisdoms still unguessed at, and how many died
staring at the leaves of the trees, blind
to the terrible effort around them to keep them alive?
I look into your eyes

which are sometimes green and sometimes gray,
and sometimes full of humor, but often not,
and tell myself, you are better,
because my life without you would be
a place of parched and broken trees.
Later walking the corridors down to the street,
I turn and step inside and empty room.
Yesterday someone was here with a gasping face.
Now the bed is made all new,
the machines have been rolled away. The silence
continues, deep and neutral,
as I stand there, loving you.

--Mary Oliver

History

2007-01-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

The marathon snowday knitting two weeks ago burnt me out a little bit. I found myself working on long-abandoned UFOs -- the simplicity of projects from back in the days when I was capable of little else turned out to be quite soothing. Other days, I didn't knit at all, which was itself oddly refreshing.

In the meantime, I've been cooking, cleaning, partying, house hunting, and visiting my mom, the latter of which allowed me to snap a couple shots of this:

This afghan is what made me a knitter. I should rephrase: It was the first of many things that made me a knitter. My mother knit this as she and my father drove from New Hampshire to Alaska in a VW Bus in the summer of 1969. It helped keep them warm for the 6 years they spent in Fairbanks while my Dad completed grad school, and it traveled from there to Virginia, Massachusetts, and finally, in 1978, to Oregon.

Starting when I was 4 or 5, I would spread it out on the floor, lie down on my stomach, and ask my mom the names of the different stitch patterns, until I had them all memorized. It didn't take long before I wanted to know the secrets of knitting myself. (It didn't really take, those first few lessons. I learned to knit and to purl, and this remained the extent of my knitting knowledge until just over a year ago.)

Here's the exciting part: the afghan was originally supposed to have a crocheted border and tassels, which my mother omitted in a striking instance of fashion foresight. This means that she ended up with a whole boatload of leftover yarn, which has now found it's way into my hands.

Between this, some other 70's goodness from my mom, and a yet-to-be-bloggily-unveiled Christmas present, I have what might be called a stash for the first time in my life. (This is going to help mightily with my No New Yarn Until April pact.) In other words, I have yarn for which to find a project, and not vice versa. In yet other words, I have enough for a sweater and then some.

But what sweater? Something worthy of this yarn's history and status in my life. Something cabley, obviously, and probably a cardigan or I'll almost never wear it. I thought of Central Park, but as much as I love it, it doesn't seem special enough, somehow. I thought of the Urban Aran, but it really needs a chunkier yarn than this. I thought of trying to design something on my own, maybe borrowing some elements from the afghan itself, but I'm a little intimidated by that notion -- I think at the very least I should have completed one sweater before I try to pull one out of thin air, right? Maybe I can cobble together elements of different patterns? Any ideas are more than welcome.

Lightbar eye candy

2007-01-19T16:38:00.001-08:00

IMG_0158.JPG, originally uploaded by furplepig.

Around this time last year, my friends Mykle and Chet threw the best, smartest, Portlandy-est party ever. They made a big pyramidal tent out of white tarp, rigged up a bunch of very bright, very golden lights, requested folks to wear white, and served up delirious quantities of champagne. For one evening, we all left our seasonal affective disorder behind, and I'm not just saying that -- I've rarely seen a more cheerful and energetic bunch of people in February. You can check out more pics here, but this one, from one of the tent's darker corners, is my favorite.

Perfect timing

2007-01-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Portland Weather,

I sincerely apologize for all the smack-talking I've been doing in the last few weeks. In fact, I hereby pledge not to complain to or about you for at least the next two weeks, because you seriously hooked me up today.

Love,
Stella

The entire three day weekend was like this:
It was perfect, with the minor exception of my not getting nearly enough sleep. So when I woke up today, cranky and tired and wanting nothing more than to be in a warm bed with a sleeping lady, it was like this:

I'm not normally one to let a few inches of snow deter me from my duties, but I work at the top of a big hill, along with 8,000 other people, many of whom have never lived in Minnesota. Enough said.

This weekend also marked my first knitaversary -- I started knitting For Reals one year ago yesterday -- and I celebrated with not one but three FOs.

Respectively: a quick, chunky tricolor scarf in GGH Aspen; Eunny's Anemoi Mittens in Dalegarn Baby Ull; Shedir in Rowan Calmer.

I reversed the colors on the second mitten (excluding the cuff) for fear of running out of the grey, but I shouldn't have worried -- I had plenty left of both. I did run out of Calmer with just a few rows left, despite doing only 4 repeats of the main chart, but I don't mind having another almost-full ball of this stuff around, because I know I can get a 3-repeat model out of what I have left. And I will too; Shedir is easily the best hat pattern I've knit. The way the decreases are hidden in the criss-crossing lines is total genius.

Now maybe I can finally get back to that pomatomus...

Particularly welcome.

2007-01-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

It is my favorite kind of day in Portland today -- cold and bright, of course. It's particularly welcome after weeks of cool and damp, and it reminds me of the last time we were graced with such crispness: right after Christmas, when The Lady snapped this bit of eye candy.

She has quite the eye for lillies, it turns out. I'm slowly realizing, however, that we may need to be a two camera household. This strikes the logical half (or... uh, 80%) of my brain as silly and superfluous, and it strikes my bank account as impossible. But that doesn't change the fact that I have no pictures of the Shedir I started a few days ago. Both it and the pair of Anemoi have to be done and out of the house by Monday though, so don't be afeared. Documentation is imminent.

Happy Friday, y'all. Enjoy the long weekend!

That's what I get for thinking "dominant" meant "on top".

2007-01-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

Oh, little mitten, how I love you.

The Lady said to me last night, "That's easily the most beautiful thing you've ever knit", and I think I have to agree. My joy is only slightly tempered by two things -- 1. a little unevenness that I guess is almost inevitable in my first colorwork project, and 2. my own stupidity. I read Nona's post on yarn dominance months ago. I read it again when Grumperina linked it. I thought I knew it so well that I didn't need to read it when Eunny linked it. But I misremembered: I thought the yarn on top was the dominant yarn. It doesn't matter much in the cuff, the swirls, or the thumb, but the lozenge pattern at the top (and on the palm) isn't as crisp as I'd like.

It's a gift for a non-knitter, and I know she'll love them and not even notice a problem. But she probably would notice if the two were different, so now I have to knowingly knit the second mitten "wrong". Oh well. Stranding is fun enough to make up for it, and I'll get it right next time.

Best Christmas EVER.

2006-12-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

So I didn't finish everything I wanted to. This is me and my very helpful little sister basting the quilt in the middle of the night, and my mom's feet, doing their damnedest to unsmoothe the layers. And the socks? Well, the first sock almost got finished. Luckily my mother is a knitter too and understood perfectly when she unwrapped a half finished pomatomus with needles still in it.

I did, however, give myself a few projects that didn't take an insane amount of time.

Two freezer paper stencilled tank tops (idea from grumperina) and a hand-beaded necklace for my sister. The necklace, in particular was a big hit.

And, the piece de resistance:

A modified print o' the wave stole, modeled by the recipient, my adorable grandmother. All in all, I was pleased with my various holiday crafting endeavors, but that's not why it was the Best Christmas Ever.

For the first time ever, The Lady and I hosted all the other lovely ladies of my family. The structure and dynamic of my family has changed dramatically this year, and for the better, and spending the holiday with four women and two pooches was the best thing I could imagine.

As for the aforementioned unfinished projects? They're both in almost exactly the same state they were in on Christmas morning, because everything is on hold for this.

Eunny's Anemoi Mittens. I am in love. Two-color stranding is actually turning out to be easier than I anticipated, though my tension could still use a little evening out. The above is one evening's work... I expect to finish the first mitt today.

Happy New Year all! It's nice to be back in blogland. (And yes, damnit, unsmoothe is a word.)

Quiet.

2006-12-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

It's been a quiet week around these parts, and will continue to be so for a few more days. Firstly, I caught a nasty case of the stomach ick that's going around and am just now starting to feel normal, and secondly The Lady and The Camera have both abandoned me for the weekend. In their absense, however, much crafting and visiting of relatives shall be accomplished! (You just won't see it yet.)

In the meantime please read this. (The chances that anyone who sees this doesn't already read Yarn Harlot are mightly slim, but I'd like to give what little boost I can from my corner of the blogosphere.)

Happy Friday!

2006-12-08T10:11:00.001-08:00

El Tracks, originally uploaded by furplepig.

Earlier this fall I spent a lovely couple of days in the Windy City. Not only did I get to visit some college friends I hadn't seen since graduation, but I also got hours at a time to wander the city on my own. It was paradise.

I'm a fickle girl.

2006-12-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

(I'm also capable of intense devotion, but that's not really relevant to the story I have for you today.)

These are old news, really. I made my first pair of fetchings back in August, out of KP Wool of the Andes, and they looked like shit within one wearing. Blech. These are my redemption -- I sprung for the cashmerino.

These, however, have nothing to do with my fickleness. They were meant as a break from the leaf lace shawl, and served that function nicely. Almost the moment the shawl was done, I cast on for this:
Eunny's Print o' the Wave Stole. It's for my grammy and I love love love it. I absolved myself early on of the lace edging -- I didn't want to stress about deadlines, and I think she'll like it better without, anyway.

The pattern is lovely and the yarn (hand dyed by kbrece of kindred spirits yarn on ebay) is a gorgeous mix of burgundies, pinks and browns. The combination of the two, however, isn't necessarily one I'd choose again.

It's a bit muddled. At any rate, I made monster progress on this one right after thanksgiving, but then The Lady says to me, she says, "I thought you were making me a scarf?" And it's true. I was. A week earlier I'd picked got some nice, squishy GGH Aspen and some Really Very Large needles (US 35 maybe?) and cast on for a sideways scarf a la Elliphantom. But something was wrong. Every time I picked it up I was unhappy. The length was wrong, the WS was ugly... and it wasn't just the scarf I was pissed about. It was as if the yarn itself was making me upset with the world. Needless to say it got shelved for awhile, hence the subsequent needling by The Lady. And then, suddenly, I knew. I had this cheap wool-acrylic blend sitting in my very paltry stash, and it occured to me that it wanted, it needed, to become a So-Called Scarf. It's no Manos, but it's got a nice variegation thing going:
So I worked on that with admirable consistency for... um, two days before I said "this is lunacy! this isn't a christmas present, and i can't justify working on anything that isn't a christmas present!". So that one hit the WIP basket as well.

And out came the Pomatomus. These are for my mom, so I can justify the Lorna's Laces. I'm a big fan of this pattern, but alas, all is not well. I used US1s because, um, I had five of them, and only four 2s, but also becuase my mom's feet are very wee. And lest you judge me, I DID swatch. Well. I swatched in stockinette, and I got gauge... if anything it was a tiny bit big. But I tried it on this morning, and well...

Even Maya can tell something's not right. I can't even get the damn thing close to my heel. While my mama's feet are small, they're not that small.

So. It's back to the stole for a bit while I recover my sock pride. (And my eye is already wandering to post holiday goodies.)

And finally, in non-knitting news, I leave you with some proof that I'm making progress on the Plainspoken Quilt. I've finished the first two rounds of piecing and decided on the layout.
I cannot wait to have this thing on my bed.

Wishing them peace.

2006-12-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

this is hitting me even harder than i expected.

they said goodbye to him not knowing if he'd return. he died not knowing that they were safe. it breaks my heart.

Eye Candy

2006-12-01T10:48:00.001-08:00

Snake River Gorge near Pullman, WA

By the time I'm done with what I need to do each day, and can make myself sit down and relax and knit or sew or chat, I've pretty much spent whatever energy I have. And when I wake up again in the morning, I snooze until the very last possible second before I have to scurry about the very cold house, throw on my clothes, and get out the door. Everything but work, class, sleep, making gifts, and making my lady happy feels like a luxury I can hardly afford.

This picture reminds me that I manage, fairly frequently, to carve out narrow swathes of my time to sit with big, immovable geological features at sunset.

Post bird.

2006-11-28T11:16:00.000-08:00

I just spent the most relaxing thansgiving weekend ever, without straying more than a few feet from my house. I stuffed myself beyond silly on turkey thursday and "deep friday", and I've been spending almost every spare moment since knitting and sewing*, and have hardly stopped to eat or take progress photos. So to make up for my lack of visual interest, I give you instead a few of my current etsy favorites:

1 2 3 4 5

*I ended up telling The Lady about the quilt because I came to grips with the fact that I'd never finish in time if I didn't work on it in front of her. Cutting is done and piecing is going faster than I expected. I think it's the ironing and quilting that's going to kill me.

Completion, rejuvenation.

2006-11-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

It was a busy, difficult weekend with a handful of unignorable upsides, the most notable of which is this:

apologies for the flash. winter in portland...

Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl, by Evelyn Clark for Fiber Trends
Yarn: KnitPicks Gloss in "Dusk", a little less than 3 skeins
Needles: Inox US 6 circulars
Start to Finish: Mid September to November 19, 2006 (with several breaks due to mishaps, travels, and a short attention span.)
Firsts: Lace. And oh, how I love it.

This is the project that taught me that becoming a better knitter, at least for me, is more than anything about learning how to fix my mistakes. (Sure, my tension is getting a little more even, and I'm a little faster, but those changes don't make nearly the kind of tangible impact on my actual experience of knitting.) I don't necessarily make any fewer mistakes than I used to, but I can often fix them now without tinking or ripping, and that makes all the difference.

When i finally got this thing pinned out I was positively giddy. I made that. Two months of intermittent wrangling and suddenly there it is. The last 20 rows flew by, and a good thing too, because the recipient (The Lady's mom) was in town this weekend and I may not see her again before Christmas. Luckily I got a chance to make her model it for me.

She was thrilled, and I was thrilled that she was thrilled... but it feels a little strange to give it away so soon. Suddenly it's not in my home anymore, after spending so many hours in my hands. Which, by the way, was a lovely experience. I've been leaning on KP a little harder lately than I generally like to, due to the slenderness of my wallet, but I have few if any complaints about Gloss. The silk content really does the trick. It's soft yet well defined, and the color is incredible. I was hoping for a nice deep blue, but this has a slightly purplish tone to it as well, and it's deeply saturated without getting anywhere near garish or bright. I love it.

My knitting brain is rejuvenated. I highly suspect I'll have another little FO to show off tomorrow.

Winter and the Bridges of Konigsberg

2006-11-17T10:52:00.000-08:00

I love Portland. I love it in more ways that I have time to detail for you right now (I'm on my lunch break), but I'm not sure that I can settle down here because the winters just kill me. My whole soul feels damp and deflated when the sun doesn't come out for days on end, and I am not generally a damp and deflated sort of gal. To wit: This summer? Illness of a loved one, parents' divorce, other crazy family shit, and the usual business of earning a living and trying to be a good human. And I was fine. I was great. Now? I realize I'll have to rip out my sideways scarf because I miscalucalated the row length, and suddenly I don't know what I'm doing with my life.

So. Given that, I have to be, I require myself to be, deeply grateful when the sun does show its face, which it's done now two days in a row and maybe three days this week. It gives me the push I need to try something new, like printmaking. Thus I give you my very first Eye Candy Friday:

This is my backyard, folks. How lucky am I?

I'm pretty happy for my first attempt.

As for my knitting life, it was by no means safe from the giant hole that winter dug. First there was the dog incident. I came home one day a couple of weeks ago, to find this:

...along with Sebastian, the lovable but not terribly bright greyhound, greeting me cheerfully as though nothing had happened, and Maya, the lab/shepherd that could probably get into Harvard looking at me with that "I swear I tried to stop him, Mom" look of equal parts sheepishness and disdain.

Sigh. Swear a bit. Thank Sebastian for not attacking the the actual knitted portion, as he and I would still not be on speaking terms if he had. Sigh again, and put the whole mess away for awhile.

Then one morning I woke up with the words "Bridges of Konigsberg" on my lips. This is a little nugget of elementary graph theory that you can go read about if you like, but the relevant bit is that it saved me from being totally overwhelmed by the task of untangling my yarn. Let me demonstrate:

The yarn has only two ends, one of which is obviously in the shawl itself, and the other is somewhere in these tangled islands. Starting from the shawl end, the yarn first travels through the big clump at the lower right, and since there's only one strand between them, it never returns to the shawl. From there it travels to the pie-shaped clump to the left and the big messy one up top. But because there are 2 (an even number) of strands between these bottom two piles, I know the yarn returns to the first clump again and never goes back to the "pie". That other trip, you will notice, is marked with a "5". There were an odd number of strands between those two piles and no other two, so the free end had to be in that largest pile. Who knew discrete math would come in so handy?

(Um, I shouldn't imply that finding the free end ended world hunger or anything. I still got horribly frustrated and ended up handing it to The Lady who very patiently undid the whole thing -- which pretty well illustrates one of the key differences between us. I'll analyze something to death before I actually dig in and do it, and she's happy to work things out with her hands.)

So, very long story short, I'm finally working on the leaf lace shawl again and fully expect to finish it this weekend.

And then there was the Print o' the Wave stole that had to be started over, the super secret project that's languishing untouched, and the scarf that was supposed to be a mindless distraction from lace and ended up eating up two full evenings and much of my presence of mind... but then I did some yoga and ate some fruit and the sun came out. Just you wait and see what I have for you on Monday.

inner knitter

2006-11-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

you know what carolyn says about listening to your inner knitter? she's right. specifically, if you're undertaking a lace project that you fear may be a bit beyond you, and that little voice cries "lifeline! everything's going far too well... wouldn't you like to preserve it?? lifeline!". you should listen. is what i'm saying. *sigh*

What lazy perfectionism really means

2006-11-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

This, folks, is my first real sock. I did some fuzzy feet for my dear friend Chet last spring, which taught me the basic construction of a sock, but nothing of what it means to knit with itty bitty needles. I'm planning to do a pair of pomatomi for my mom for Christmas, so I thought I'd do a practice pair for me and/or The Lady first, just to get the hang of it. I also decided to do one cuff-down and the other toe-up to decide which I prefer. (This is the cuff-down twin.)

Somehow, however, my own need for "interesting" knitting turned my practice sock into a crash course in design...

Attempt #1: I cast on god knows how many stitches (too many) and off I went in stockinette. Soon realized this was too big, too ribless, and too deathly boring.

Attempt #2: Decided I liked Eunny's Bayerische sock but didn't want quite that much of a challenge, so I'd just use the twisted stitch cabled rib instead. My judgement left me briefly, and I put one single, lonely purl stitch between each cable. It was holey and terrible.

Attempt #3: Put a couple of ribs between each cable. Forgot how much cables and ribs would draw the fabric in, and i couldn't even get the thing over my toes.

Attempts #4 and 5: Frogged for less interesting reasons... just plain old mistakes, I think.

So after two weeks of working on this fairly consistently, i had nothing but a cuff. I took it on the plane with me to Chicago in October and finally it all came together. If I had it to do again I'd use smaller needles -- it's rather loose and lacy at the gusset. Here's what I mean about lazy perfectionism though: I'm more than willing to rip anything I've only been working on for a day or so. It seems totally worth it if there's anything that's just not happening right. Once I'm into a project, however, it takes a pretty major gaffe to make me go backwards even a couple of rounds. Witness the little lump near the ankle where I knit into the stitch below and didn't catch it until about 6 rounds later.

I would love to subscribe to Grumperina's maxim: "If it can be fixed, it must", but once I've invested a certain amount of time I just can't make myself go back. I hear someone in my head lecturing me on the sunk cost fallacy or something like that, but that's just the way it is. Now, if I were knitting a gift for a fellow knitter it might be different...

Incidentally, this is also the project that (forever?) re-converted me to combined kniting. But more on that tomorrow. Instead, I leave you with the state of the leaf lace shawl, which is currently stalled due to one Very Bad Dog. (Again, more on that soon.)

Peeking in...

2006-10-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official. I've had one figurative toe in the door of the knit/craft blogging world for long enough... time for the whole foot.

What's also official is that I've gotten seriously soft. I used to fly home from Minnesota at Thanskgiving and find the 45 degree weather positively balmy. Two years ago I laughed at the Portlanders who broke out -- and I am not joking -- parkas, scarves, mittens, hats, and boots before the lows even hit freezing. This morning, however, as I scraped ice from my car at 6 am (I'll get to that...) I was quite certain that I had never witnessed 20 below. Such a thing is impossible, unsurvivable. It has to be, if the wee-est frost has me so miserable.

My second discovery of the morning was that knitting with knitted gloves on, fingerless though they may be, significantly affects my gauge. I nicked The Lady's fetchings this morning (no, you can't see them, they're embarassingly pilly), because of the aforementioned "cold snap" and because I'm going to be hitting the pavement for Kulongoski and the dems tonight and expect the return of the kind of cold that makes managing a clipboard rather comical. That's also why I went to work so obscenely early, so I can leave early and go play Good Citizen.

Long story short, I knit so much tighter with these puppies on. The frictional coefficient of yarn on yarn (in this case, KP Gloss on KP Wool of the Andes) is clearly higher than that of yarn on skin. I decided that I didn't care because the leaf lace shawl is nearing completion and I refuse to look back and it's going to be blocked pretty heavily anyway, right?

That picture is just a leeetle bit outdated, but it's really exactly the same. Just bigger. I love this pattern and yarn and everything else about it but I'm starting to get bored. I'm so ready to block.