History

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

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

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.

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".

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.

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.

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!

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.

(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.

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.