starry starry night, paint your palette blue and gray….make a hat for a homeless kid, it’ll do your heart good
My stepdaughter gave me this yarn for Mother’s Day earlier this year, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I’d have made it into something for her, but she lives in a steamy part of Texas and couldn’t really use anything I’d make. What to do. Turtlegirl got on a sockhead hat jag, and I thought that would be a great use for the yarn. I just didn’t know who I was making it for.
Until one day – can’t remember how, now – I happened upon Dina’s blog, Yarnfest. I think another blogger had mentioned this thing Dina was organizing, and it appealed to me so I followed the links. Dina is organizing the BSD Project, which will give handcrafted items to homeless kids in her area. That has personal resonance for me, so I saw the perfect home for this homeless little hat. Dina, I’ll be dropping this in the mail to you tomorrow or Tuesday.
a hat in search of a home
it's such fun knitting the top of hats!
There are homeless kids everywhere, including your (and my) town. Help the kids where you live, and if you want to donate to Dina’s BSD Project I’m sure she and the kids will welcome your donation.
Two FOs in one day! I’m on a roll!
i love him, i love him, i love him, and where he goes he wears handknit socks, handknit socks, handknit socks (ok, so the rhythm is off for that song, sue me).
Remember Richard Simmons? Yeah. That’s NOT what I’m talking about with the title of this post. Instead, I am the oldie, and I’ve been sweating it this morning. Since I have the old-lady-inability-to-sleep, I finished my socks this morning. It was close, whether I’d be able to get both socks out of the skein of Tosh Sport, and I mean VERY VERY CLOSE. As in, here’s what’s left:
this is it. a yard and a half.
With each row, I went through this pair of thoughts: “Oh, no problem, I’m definitely going to have enough yarn.” “OH NO, problem, there’s no way it’s going to last.” But it did last, obviously, and now he owns a pair of socks knit with madelinetosh (tosh sport, colorway tweed) and my love.
his tweedie-pie socks
I still can’t quite believe he let me knit something for him. He’s not (like, at all) a guy who wears sweaters or scarves, so maybe this is just the first of many pairs of socks I can sneak into his drawer.
this one was nearly heartbreaking.
So it’s been quite a journey with my Mondo Cable Cardi. (digression: is anyone else sick to death of hearing people talk about their “journeys”? I sure am….) I had a sweater’s worth of beautiful madelinetosh’s tosh merino in this soft collection of colors called graphite. It’s really just gorgeous, perfectly complimentary to the loftiness of the yarn. I love it. So I cast on the day after Christmas last year and very quickly made it up to the armholes. Kept going, jolly old sweater, going quickly, tra la la.
Then I noticed that all my remaining skeins were a very harsh blue black – heavy emphasis on the ugly blue. (I love blue, this was just a hideously harsh shade, not to mention that it wasn’t GRAPHITE. It was so grossly different that alternating skeins would just give me a striped sweater.) So I started haunting rav forums, posting desperate ISO notes everywhere. One very sweet raveler got in touch and said she had a sweater’s worth and if I just couldn’t find any anywhere, she’d part with some. Which, of course, meant she couldn’t knit her sweater. So I kept searching. Occasionally someone would write, but their skeins were green black. FINALLY, months later, Jenny (boopersin on rav, friend her!) and her skeins matched mine and the deed was done.
But by then, I’d lost my passion for the sweater. I was also afraid that when push came to shove, it still wouldn’t be a good match. Anxiety and fear kept me from picking it up again. Maybe that’s happened to you before.
Finally, after the high of finishing my Peasy, I picked it up and hunkered down and did it. I finished the sleeve that was about 3/4 done, started and finished the 2nd sleeve, and completed the collar (which took much longer than it seemed it would, for some reason!). Soaked it and set it to blocking last night, and this morning it’s just a bit damp. When it’s completely dry, I’ll walk it over to the park for a photo shoot. Here is is, just lying about:
such gorgeous yarn!
in the “scarecrow” pose so popular this season
I hope to take an action shot this afternoon! I’m really glad this one is finished, and just in time to start the next one. Come on, mailman, bring mama a present.
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sweater #2 finished!!! Fait accompli!!! 
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone
And another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I’m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
I finished my Mondo Cable Cardigan y’all! It’s soaking right now, so it’ll be a little while before I have my F.O. pictures, but I’m telling you, it’s a beautiful sweater. The madelinetosh merino is thick and lofty and will probably pill like mad, but I don’t care. When I had to bind off the collar (1×1 ribbing), I started with a regular old bind-off but it was wavy and hideous so (being the newly mature knitter that I am) I ripped it out and investigated my options.
Tubular bind-off seemed like the best approach, but all the tutorials I found were confusing. I started, got several stitches in, and ripped it out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Minor despair started to build. Then I found this great little video and *presto changeo* it was easy and obvious. And my bindoff is amazing, if I do say so. You’ll see, I’ll be sure to point it out in the inevitable pictures.
“Video tutorial courtesy of Liat Gat of KNITFreedom.blogspot.com, the site that teaches people how to knit over the Internet using high-resolution video e-books.”
So two sweaters are done, and I’m really ready to get my new yarn this week to start the Eve’s Ribs Shrug project. Byzantine, y’all. Byzantine.
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wanna see my new sweater? it’s green….
After all this time, after all the initial excitement, after all the dragging-on low-level griping, after all the losing my mojo in the face of miles of stockinette, after all the whole deal…….Peasy.
Peasy in the park
what camera? I'm just standing here, like you do, wearing my sweater. Oh, you like it? I MADE IT.
there must be something interesting going on over there - i keep looking!
All is forgiven, miles of stockinette. All is forgiven, lost mojo. All is forgotten, minor-league grousing. I’ll be wearing this to Rhinebeck. Sure, I see a few things I wish I’d done differently – a little waist shaping, to reduce the boxiness; a little more attention to that right sleeve that’s a bit too long – and sure, I’ve lost several pounds since I started the sweater so now it’s a size too big, but it’s my sweater.
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my buttons look like Milk Duds. Is that because I’m dieting??
….and so I face the final button.
Peasy is in the last stages of drying; it’s just a little bit damp, but I don’t want to rush it. I took a little trip across town this morning (sidetrack: it’s so easy to go north-south here in Manhattan, which is good since it’s longer than it is wide, but it’s a real pain in the butt to cross town. Getting to the east side of Central Park either requires a cross-town bus, walking across the park, or taking the subway down to Times Square, transferring to another line, and going back uptown. Hassle). ANYWAY, since I had to be across town this morning anyway, for a dentist appointment, I took the chance to walk a few extra blocks to Tender Buttons, the charming little button shop at the edge of the button district, where I bought the buttons for Marnie’s wedding dress.
It’s so hard, picking the right buttons. It can feel like there’s so much pressure: must get the right ones! The wrong buttons would suck! Dizzy! And then I remember….it’s buttons. Geez. Pick some you like. So, after trying a few little wooden ones, and a couple of coconut shell buttons, I ended up with these oval woven leather buttons, handmade in Italy. At $3.50 each I want them to sing Nessun Dorma whenever I wear my sweater:
my little leather buttons....but don't they look like Milk Duds??
And here it is, nearly dry. The next time you see it, I’ll be wearing it. I’m going to take my tripod and remote control over to Riverside Park, so you can see it out in the world.
Peasy, so pretty
atsa lotta stitches my friend
I love it. All the boredom of all that stockinette, forgiven and forgotten. And now I’m super motivated to finish my Mondo Cable Cardigan too. I nearly finished sock #1 while I was waiting at the dentist office this morning. I haven’t had an FO in SO SO LONG, I’d forgotten what a high it is.
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I finished a project! I finished a project! SOCKS!
Finally! Finally! A finished object I can share! Yippee!! This is, after all, my knitting blog. I can knit this pattern in my sleep, and the yarn is great fun for socks, but I started them during an extremely busy time so several days would pass without a single stitch. The bulk of my knitting time for these socks was subway commuting, so a row here, a row there, you know how that goes.
Anyway. I proudly introduce you to the Minkeys …. pink monkeys, get it? (the word minkeys makes me giggle because I hear it as Inspector Clouseau — Chief Inspector Clouseau — would say it.)
the top/left sock hasn't been blocked yet - the other one has
oh, you minkeys
i love socks.......
The yarn is the incredibly soft Felici, from KnitPicks. The first pair of socks I knit with this yarn still looks great, after a couple years’ washing. They get a lofty halo, but they’re very hard-wearing. And they don’t need any special care at all, double good for busy people.
These socks are for the bride-to-be, my daughter Marnie. When my older daughter Katie got married, she gave Marnie a t-shirt that said “I’m a worm farmin’ power liftin’ bad ass” and that really says it all. Since Marnie has this photo in her Facebook photo album (and therefore it’s public) I don’t think she’d mind my posting it here.
Marnie and Tom, getting married in a few weeks - taken at Katie's wedding rehearsal
It’s such fun finishing something, if only because I feel a little less guilty about casting on a new project. 
a mishmash of thoughts, plus a picture of monkey socks
A random mishmash o’ stuff today:
* It’s been a hell of a week – 12.5 hour workdays, which were nowhere near enough. By the end of each day, I was still too far behind, how does that work?
* I saw a friend I usually see once a week, and the evening I was on my way to see her, I thought ‘man, it feels so long since I saw her!’ It took me the whole trip to realize that I hadn’t seen her in 2 weeks, and that’s because last week I was on vacation. In Honduras. Last week feels like forever ago. And not real.
* Until this moment: for my vacation, I took the electric kettle, a huge coffee mug, a plastic cone for making one cup of coffee at a time, and a stack of filters (plus a bag of fresh-ground really good coffee). So every morning on vacation, my routine was to make a cup of coffee and drink it on the porch and knit. So this morning, I just made my coffee and poured a cup into that particular mug. The vacation feels real, I remember it. And I wish I were there.
Two sides of me:
* The not-so-nice side – I always get really mad on the subway when an adult with small(ish) children expects other adults to give up their seats so the kids can sit. What??! Kids have all the energy! They haven’t just worked a terrible job all day, they’re not stressed out, their backs don’t hurt! I’m sorry, if you’re 4 or 5 years old and there’s enough space for you to very safely stand and hold onto a pole, I am going to keep my seat. Bite me, adult giving me a dirty look.
* The nicer side – I have a friend who had a major stroke last year and who is currently in the darkest place of suicidal depression. She’s very brave but she doesn’t know that (or anything good) right now. So yesterday I wrote her an email that included this: “The bravery of us poor little frail people in this world, going forward as if we know what we’re doing, going forward as if it’s all somehow guaranteed (until something happens and we’re reminded that it’s not……but we go back to our old habits of thinking it’s all guaranteed). It makes me feel quite tender toward humanity whenever I think about this. Here we all are, with all our troubles, with the pain and trouble that we all bear in one form or another, with our small joys and our fragile hopes and plans. Here we all are, tiny little specks in an unimaginable infinite, on a tiny little planet whirling around a tiny little sun in just one little galaxy, here we all are, doing our best. GREAT. Now I’m starting to cry. I think we are all amazing, and that includes you. And I guess, then, that it must include me.” See? I can be kind towards people. Just don’t ask me to give up my seat to a 4-year old.
Finished the monkeys – will block them and get them in the mail to Katie first thing Monday morning:
one's a little smaller than the other - i'd bet the smaller one is more tightly-knit and therefore the one i knit here in Manhattan. looser = vacation.
blocking the monkeys to make them closer in size to each other; actual color is closer to the photo above this one, which came out weirdly golden.
I have a 3-month plan: I am putting all my ducks in a row, getting everything lined up to quit my job in 3 months. Period. I’ll teach, as much as I can; I’ll do writing and statistical consulting, as much as I can; I’ll try to do developmental work and rewriting on manuscripts for publishers, as much as I can; and I’ll make things and sell them, as much as I can. I’ll pare down my expenses, as much as I can. I cannot persist in this job that sucks the living life out of me. I’ll be 52 in November, and I say uncle. I want to have a life that’s not just bearable and happy on the weekend, you know?
This week, 3 people at work quit. Two of the editors in my group are going on interviews and will leave the second they get another job. Granted, I don’t know everyone on my floor, but everyone I do know is looking for another job. No exception. My boss even told me that she suspects our brand new assistant is already looking for another job. My company is based in the U.K., and there, it really is an enormous honor to work for this company. People stay with the company their entire lives – so very proud to work for this company. And I get it – it’s an amazing amazing and old company! It published the very first book. BUT (1) it doesn’t hold the same cachet here, (2) the Madison Ave experience is 100% different than the experience on that lovely lane in that beautiful town in the U.K., and (3) publishing is under such pressure now due to the economy and the transitional moment between books and online presentation of [free] content, we’re all turning into diamonds from the pressure.
Anyway. Lots to get done this weekend! No easy traveling knitting right now, as my knitting time is turned entirely to the wedding shawl. I’d hate to carry that in the subway – snowy white cobweb-weight wool, complicated Estonian lace patterns. My only other knitting alternative right now is the lettuce-green Ishbel, which is also a bit hard to do on the subway. So this weekend I’ll get back to the shawl, and I just have so much other stuff to do towards my eventual release to freedom. I feel myself getting lighter, just thinking about it.
eating snow and knitting socks – a good day I don’t care who you are!
Finally, I finished the Hedera socks I’ve been knitting all month, just in time for the daughter to arrive home for spring break:
Hedera, in KP Felici, colorway cochineal
a pair of socks for a cold dorm room floor
The snow has been really amazing here in Manhattan – yesterday we got just shy of 21″ of snow in Central Park! We’re knocking on the top 10 list of biggest snowfalls since 1869 or something like that. Here are some newer shots from my neighborhood…..
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