listen / do you want to know a secret / do you promise not to tell ~ The Beatles (and me, but I’m not telling)
There’s a lot of stuff going on chez Thrums that I don’t write about — of course. I feel relatively free to write about myself, somewhat free to write about my kids, and not at all free to write about other people I know. There are some people I never write about because their privacy is important to preserve for one reason or another, and others I mention in a glancing way because unlike me, they didn’t sign up for this public airing of thoughts business. Still, there is a lot of stuff going on in my life that isn’t getting discussed here, and it leaves me feeling strange about what I do write about, because without the unspoken stuff, what I present here seems like a sham in some way. [this reminds me of that terrible joke: So, Mrs. Kennedy, except for that one day in Dallas, how was your trip to Texas? terrible joke] So I’m finding it a little harder to make regular posts about my life, since the big middle of it is private.
Remember how I had to frog Marnie’s Moby sweater? I frogged it completely and just started over, and I’m finally back at the point I was in the first edition (I’ve decided to refer to them as editions, like books). So here I am:
Ambergris, by Ann Weaver (2nd edition)
I do note with satisfaction that the cable ropes are all done correctly in this edition; there was one error in the first version that would’ve bugged me forever, so you know, you take what comfort you can from a situation like this. I’ve already divided at the sleeves, so now I’m doing the front up to the neck, and then I’ll do the back. Then two sleeves, each with cable ropes up the center, assembly, and a turtleneck. I hope I can finish this while Marnie still has time to wear it this winter; since she lives in Chicago, the odds are pretty good.
Tonight I’m having a date with Will, which I’m really looking forward to. We’re going to a cool little independent bookstore on Prince St. (McNally Jackson) and then over to an Indian food restaurant he loves, for dosas. It’s been such a warm and dry winter, it doesn’t feel like January at all — but I’m not complaining, especially for this evening, as we tramp around that great little neighborhood. One truly wonderful thing about all three of my kids is that we share a love of words and books. It manifests itself differently in the three of them, but I do share something special with each one of them around books, and that makes me happier than you can imagine. I like to think it’s my gift to them.
* * *
Here’s the next writing prompt — a 600-word story (a narrative describing a shared experience) told from the “we” perspective. No first person pronouns allowed! My first thought was to put the couple in therapy and have them telling competing narratives about something, but I got this idea and ran with it instead. It’s a piece of fiction, again, but again it uses bits of real experience for texture. My husband and I did go to Luang Prabang, which means the details of place are true, but the rest is entirely made up:
We woke up very early that morning because we wanted to witness the monks’ morning alms ritual; since we were staying at a hotel on the other side of the Mekong River, we had to get up early enough to walk across that long scary bridge – remember, honey? – and it made us nervous because of the traffic, especially in the dark. We felt so exhausted when the alarm went off, but we both knew how much you wanted to see it so off we went.
Right – it really wasn’t the kind of thing you like to do sugar plum, you’d rather visit the markets and the food stalls, but you were such a good sport about it. We just had no idea how it was going to turn out, did we? We thought we’d go to the main street, kneel at the curb, and watch the Lao women putting little clumps of rice in each of the monks’ baskets, and then get some breakfast on the way back to our hotel – remember how much we loved the breakfast at that one place? But it didn’t turn out like that at all. And you’re usually such a quiet guy, avoiding trouble. Sure, you’ll speak up if you feel you’re getting ripped off, but you never get involved in violence. You just never do that.
So there we were, walking across that bridge, in the dark. Remember how there weren’t any lights of any kind? Not even headlights, since cars weren’t allowed on the bridge? And remember how tiny the walkway was for pedestrians, with broken boards and loose nails? And how quiet the morning was – we heard the river, the cyclists passing on the bridge, the early morning fishermen, and the birds? You were commenting on the birds just as we left the bridge and crossed onto the sidewalk. We had to stop because your long skirt got caught in the clasp of your sandal, and you were kneeling down to untangle it. We were both a little bit on edge – do you remember why, now? It’s hard to imagine why we felt so unsettled, in Luang Prabang. We’d had such a great time, and felt safer there than anywhere else we’d been in Southeast Asia. Maybe it was just the very early hour, combined with the darkness that we’re not used to, since we’re from Manhattan where it’s never dark. Maybe we were just kind of punchy from exhaustion.
Well sugar, you say “we” were punchy, but “we” weren’t really punchy – you were. Remember?
You’re right – you were singing and laughing and commenting on how beautiful the river was in the dark, and how many stars you saw. OK, “we” weren’t punchy, point taken. But we were both a little anxious in the utter darkness, that’s definitely true. And neither of us expected someone to grab you – you have to agree with that!
No, we certainly never expected something like that to happen, that’s true. Did you see him coming?
No, remember how we were both bending over – you were squatting – trying to get your skirt free? The guy just came out of nowhere, it seemed, and leaned over you, saying something we couldn’t understand.
You did overreact just a little bit honey, you have to admit. If it hadn’t been so dark we might’ve noticed that he was wearing orange robes, and had shaved his head. You didn’t have to punch the poor guy, he was just offering to help us! Granted, it was dark and you were trying to protect me, but come on. You punched a monk.
“I’ve a grand memory for forgetting.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson
“I’m really good at forgetting.” ~my daughter Marnie, age 5
Curses — foiled again by my age-related failing memory. I just received four skeins of The Plucky Knitter Primo MCN (fingering) in a gorgeous red shade she calls Barn Door, and I can’t remember what sweater I was going to make with it.
1540 yards of fingering weight -- for the perfect sweater if only I could remember
I know it wasn’t a pattern I’d made before, and I think it was a cardigan. I think I actually wrote it down on a little notepad file but didn’t save it. Curses! Foiled again! Dadgummit! If you have a favorite cardigan knit with fingering, please let me know!
It’s c.o.l.d here this morning; it’s risen to 14 degrees and heading up to 29. Perhaps its because of my flu, but I just cannot get warm. I’m wearing a long-sleeved thin undershirt, a turtleneck, a cardigan, and a fleece jacket on top of it all, and I have a scarf around my neck and thick socks on my feet. I’m covered with a hand-knit blanket, and another blanket, and I’m still cold. I had a big bowl of very hot oatmeal and cups of steaming tea, and I’m still cold. I think the flu must be ramping up the chill.
On that shivery note, back under the covers for me. Don’t forget to suggest sweater patterns if you have a fave! Stay well y’all.
A WiP post…
Well y’all, I’m sick. Small potatoes — a touch of flu or something, just the kind of thing that feels gross and icky and whiney, but nothing more. I’m wound up in blankets and flannel pajamas, with my fleece jacket and a heater blowing on me, and going in and out of naps. It’s bitter cold here; today’s high is only 26, so it feels like winter, especially as I watch the wind whistling down my street, blowing the bare trees around.
This weekend I did a lot of knitting, as I mentioned, and just shared the pictures with Marnie so I thought I’d put them here, too. This is the Ambergris sweater designed by Ann Weaver, which she [obviously] based on Moby Dick:
here's the front -- see how the design elements extend down into the ribbing?
close-up view of the flukes and ropes -- i really love both those elements
the side seam, a kind of whalebone inset
It’s great fun to knit, but it requires attention because there’s a lot going on at once — several charts, shaping, and the addition of a side chart in one small section (not shown here). I made a large Excel spreadsheet — oh how I love Excel spreadsheets — plotting out each row on the whole body. It makes it much simpler and so far I haven’t needed to frog anything….good, because the yarn is sticky and has long alpaca fibers here and there, which would make frogging a slow process. I’m really enjoying working on it, and love to imagine Marnie wearing it. The pleasures of knitting something special for someone you love, when they’ve had a part in the project so you know they’ll enjoy it.
*cough* *shiver* Back under the covers for me. Happy knitting, y’all.
Behind me, 2011 — in front of me, 2012! And happiness on either side.
This post has one foot in last night and one in this morning, straddling the 2011/2012 divide. Which is, of course, silly, because I’m writing it in 2012, but the conceit struck me so I’m sticking with it. Happy new year, y’all!
Last night we went to the Concert for Peace at St John the Divine. The primary reason I wanted to go was that Judy Collins was on the program, and I’ve loved her beautiful voice since I first encountered it back in 1978. She’s had quite a difficult life, losing her son to drug addiction and suicide, and anyone whose child commits suicide awes me with their strength and courage to go on. When we walked the block and a half to the cathedral, I was struck anew by how dazzling it is that I live so close to such a place; imagine if I lived a block away from Notre Dame de Paris, or the stunning cathedral at Chartres. If I lived so close, and could walk over there on a whim….but I do live so close to a similarly-magnificent place, even if it doesn’t have the same kind of history.
the always-gorgeous St John the Divine
It was beautifully decorated, and packed with people. The concert started at 7 and we left our apartment at 6:30 for the 5-minute walk; by the time we arrived, the only empty seats were in the very back rows. I took the shot above relatively close to the front, in the paid section — $60/ticket. We were there for the free seats, and from where we sat in the very back, we couldn’t see anything at all but there were giant speakers placed in our back section so we’d be able to hear. And THEN this woman standing in the aisle next to us asked if we’d like to take two extra ticketed seats she had, because her friends didn’t show up. Why yes please, we’d love to do that. So we sat in the 5th row from the performers. Unbelievable. Unfortunately, our seats were in the middle of the row, so if we wanted to leave we really couldn’t — and I’d have wanted to leave. Ah well.
Judy Collins and Jessye Norman, a couple of feet from me. Judy was performing, Jessye was just there like the rest of us lucky schlubs, to listen.
After opening remarks by the Dean of the Cathedral, Harry Smith spoke briefly, and then introduced Judy Collins. She talked for a bit, sang a bit of a song she’d written after attending Duke Ellington’s funeral there at the cathedral, and then launched into an a capella version of Both Sides Now. She sounded absolutely amazing, but she started wandering around with the lyrics; in the second stanza, she was just pulling lines randomly from different stanzas and I saw this fleeting expression on her face where she realized she was off, but she plowed forward anyway. That stanza didn’t make sense and it didn’t rhyme, but it didn’t matter. She sang the rest perfectly, and I cried, a lot. Her sweet quavery voice, lifting and breaking so high, reaching the notes….the lyrics themselves….it was just lovely.
there she stood, singing clear-voiced and beautifully
We came home and had a beautiful meal my husband made, tandoori chicken, and chicken with green curry. Broccoli in curry and ginger. Rice. It was mouthwatering, mouth-stinging, and oh-so-good. Just before midnight we walked down to Riverside Drive, which is always surprisingly empty at midnight on New Year’s Eve, and stood in the middle of the street and kissed each other. Here’s to a new and improved year, with hope for something especially good to happen to my husband.
If you’re from the south, I know you’re eating something with blackeyed peas today, for good luck. I made sure that the first thing I put in my mouth this morning was sweet, so sweet things would come out of my mouth this year. And I’ve paid attention to what I’ve been doing today, because whatever you do on New Year’s Day is what you’ll do a lot of in the coming year. So I cooked and knitted:
two blueberry cobblers ready to pop into the oven, for my husband -- Pioneer Woman's blackberry cobbler recipe, quite luscious and simple!
eaten with tortilla chips, Texas Caviar so good it'll make you slap your mama
getting going! got marnie's measurements, so i'm knitting away; 8 more rows to the waist shaping!
button bands and icord edging done -- one sleeve underway!
I imagine we’ll take a walk on this beautiful sunny day — it’s 51 degrees, very unwinter-like! I hope the first day of your new year is as happy and lovely as mine, filled with great food and enjoyable activities, and someone to love. What else do you need.
good thing she’s smaller than me, or I might not be able to give away this sweater….
Last night I did some swatching for Marnie’s sweater. The yarn is Valley Yarns Northfield, which is 70% merino, 20% alpaca, and 10% silk, and the fabric is just so beautiful. I’m going to have to buy exactly the same yarn and color to make myself a sweater, assuming I continue to love it as much. Here’s the stockinette pre-blocked swatch, followed by the rope-cable swatch:
so beautiful -- this is what the back of the sweater will look like, since it's the only area that's not cabled in some way
and here's one of the cable swatches; it's very neat, the way the rope emerges.
I’m actually a little bit afraid of knitting this sweater, just as I was afraid to read Moby Dick (which is the craziest idea in the whole world…really? afraid to read a book?). Just as with the book, I’m afraid it’s beyond me, too complicated for my feeble mind to manage. With the sweater, there are multiple patterns and cables going on simultaneously plus shaping. It’s knit in the round, bottom-up, and splits at the arms. So all the busy business happens simultaneously, and since I knit at night, while watching tv with my husband, when I’m kind of tired, well…..I worry. But I want to do it perfectly, so I’m just going to take my time, take each row for itself and make it right, and it’ll all work out. And perhaps I’ll love the FO as much as I love the book. Probably not, but maybe.
Here’s a funny thing about Christmas songs I found on the NPR music page. I especially love #6, though they’re all funny.
so funny!
Tonight’s the Winter Solstice Concert at St John the Divine, and if I love it half as much as I did last year, it’ll be overwhelming. Happy Friday, y’all! I hope you’re able to enjoy the holiday season and not feel too stressed.
p.s. OH — one more. There are a couple of Ryan Gosling tumblrs, and this is my favorite picture so far:
hey girl.
” Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.” — Herman Melville
To say Marnie likes the book Moby Dick is a tremendous understatement. The name of her business is Monkey-Rope Press (here’s her professional site, and here’s her Etsy shop). The banners on both sites feature a quote from the fabulous monkey-rope chapter in Moby Dick: “it is a humorously perilous business for both of us.” If you poke around in her shop, you’ll see prints about oceanic life, including shipwrecks. She’s creating a book that is partly set on a huge ocean-going ship that …. well, I don’t want to give it away. To do research for the book, she built a model ship, and she took sailing lessons. The girl is thorough.
So when I saw this sweater of course I thought immediately of Marnie:
Ambergris, designed by Ann Weaver
Those whale flukes up the center, the beautiful knots and ropes up the sides, it’s Moby Dick in wool. I have been wanting to knit sweaters for someone other than myself, but Katie lives in Texas and I wasn’t sure Marnie would want one; inspired by this sweater, I sent her the picture this morning, hoping she’d like it. A few emails very quickly exchanged later, and the yarn is on its way and I own the pattern. I’ll be using Valley Yarns Northfield, in charcoal:
Valley Yarns Northfield, in charcoal -- the color of the depths!
I’ll be loathe to set Audrey aside, but so very eager to make this sweater, and for Marnie, I won’t mind a bit. It should be loads of fun to make; I’m changing the neck, to give her a slouchy turtleneck instead of the kind of odd neck it currently has. I can’t wait!! If it’s as great as it seems, I may have to make one for myself, too. I loved Moby Dick so much, it nearly ruined me for reading anything else because nothing compares.
Just sharing my intense enthusiasm……knitters, I know you know what this is like.
the skies aren’t sunny, but at least this project is!
I’m not knitting Christmas gifts, just as I didn’t last year. If my kids need or want something, as Marnie wanted a warm winter hat that could accommodate her braids, I’m thrilled to make it to order. But just making stuff in the hopes they’ll like it? A fool’s errand, I’ve decided. The lone exception is my youngest daughter Anna, who shockingly (to me) loves handknit socks. She’s a high-powered behavioral economics/stats major at a fancy college far away, where it’s hot (but dorm floors are always cold), and the only socks she owns are the ones I knit for her. This is a kid who snagged a prestigious summer internship at Standard & Poor’s, who gets all excited talking about economics, and she loves handknit socks. Ah, the lovely complexity of people.
So the only Christmas knitting I’m doing (for her, it would actually be Hanukkah knitting!) is a pair of socks for Anna. She’s still a college student, so I have to use superwash yarn that’s tough enough to withstand college machines; this is KnitPicks Stroll Tonal (golden yellow), and it’s the Kai-Mei pattern by Cookie A, which I knit once before. I’m telling you, it’s an absolute blast to knit, and how often do you end up with socks that have a right sock and a left sock?
i really ADORE this pattern
I finished the first sock in a day and a half, and I’ll cast on the second sock tonight. When I finish it, I’ll get back to my beautiful Audrey in Silt.
Happy Wednesday y’all, and if you’re in NYC, stay dry! I have to be out and about all afternoon, and am starting to hate the weather gods, who give us reliably rainy weather on Wednesdays. Come on. Shift it over a day to Tuesdays or Thursdays, at least once in a while.
and with this, I bid you adieu for the day! enjoy your saturday, y’all -
I decided to knit for a little while and do some reading for fun, so I gathered my stuff together, made a little snack, and sat down to knit. Then it struck me, what a funny thing it is to knit in 2011:
it amused me, anyway. 
another one bites the dust! Two Amy Herzog sweaters in about 6 weeks’ time. Pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty good.
And….here it is! My new sweater, dubbed Laurayana, because Laura gave me the Ayana pattern for my birthday. It took me less than 3 weeks to make the sweater, from swatch to block. I really love it, though I may undo the hem facings and redo them in simple bind-off or something. I’m not sure I like the bulk there. But it’s flattering, and very comfortable, and it was a fun knit:
such great texture in that front panel
red in the sweater's hem, and in the sleeve hems, too! surprise!
really such a comfortable sweater to wear.
This is my first sweater knit in pieces, and the first time I’ve used Cascade 220 for a sweater. I’ll do both again, for sure.
Here’s my project page on ravelry, where I note a lot of details. And this leads me to a mini-rant, now that I think about it. I wish people would indicate the size they knit, and how much yarn they used! It’s also nice if they list mods, or problems they encountered, and I love to read notes about how the yarn wears with time. But at a minimum, I wish everyone would list the size they knit and how much yarn they used. This isn’t about comparing (ooh, she’s a 42!!), it’s about knowing how it’ll look in your size, and how much yarn you really need for that size. Good grief.
And with this, I suspect my long run of knitting posts will slow down. Though I’m nearly done with the deep ribbing on Audrey……
Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!
this may signal a shift from knitting to non-knitting posts……there’s a lot of interesting stuff coming up!
I seem to post in long jags — weeks without any mention of knitting, except in passing, focusing instead on stuff I’m thinking about, seeing, and doing, and then weeks of knitting posts without much else. So if you like the knitting posts, you’ll like this one! If you don’t, hang on….there’s a lot going on in the next few weeks, so (a) little time to knit and (b) lots of other stuff to think about.
[for instance: next week I have my annual mammogram Monday and my book club holiday party Thursday, but the week after is chock-full of good stuff, including a winter concert Sunday, poetry group Tuesday, Selected Shorts performance Wednesday, the annual Winter Solstice Concert Friday, and the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center on Saturday. WHEE squared!]
For now, though, a bit o’knitting. My Laurayana is all seamed on one side, waiting for the 2nd sleeve to dry so I can sew it in. It’s a gorgeous fit — of course I tried it on, closing the open side with pins. I’m exhibiting great restraint by waiting for it to be all the way finished before showing you. I really do recommend the pattern; FO post and photos tomorrow!
Audrey is now on the needles:
a lovely bit of knitting time this morning, with my tea
That’s madelinetosh pashmina, in siltwash, which is a really beautiful brown with bits of caramel and olive. I’m enjoying the yarn, after the rougher Cascade 220. I decided not to do twisted rib for the hem, so I’m plowing ahead.
My mug has sheep on it, one of which is glazed black. I bought this mug in Fredericksburg, VA, in 1988 — it was perfect for me. Sheep. Yeah. Black sheep, me. Yeah. I moved it around, place to place, year after year. In 2004, a bunch of my stuff was in storage for a while and I hadn’t seen my mug but assumed it was just boxed up. When I moved in with my (now) husband, I opened the cabinet for a mug and there it was! I was a little bit confused, but said “Ah! There’s my mug!” He said what do you mean, that’s my mug. And it was his mug; mine had a crack at the top of the handle. What are the odds that he had the same mug (and to this day I have no idea why he’d have such a mug, he’s no sheep person!).
It’s going to be a cold weekend, high of 46 tomorrow, but no rain or snow so I plan to get out and do something. Sunday night I have an art date night with myself — either painting, writing, or making something, not quite sure what. I hope your weekend plans are as exciting to you as mine are to me! Happy Friday, y’all.
this’ll be the last WiP shot for my newest sweater: next stop, FO!
Don’t forget the giveaway in progress — see this post for details, and leave a comment there.
I’m very nearly done with my Laurayana sweater (the pattern was a birthday gift from Laura, thank you!), and I’ve been doing finishing as I’ve gone along. I pause and weave in ends as I go along, I block each piece as it’s completed, and I’ve sewn together the shoulder seams and knitted the finishing detail. I’m halfway through the 2nd sleeve (first is finished and blocked), so when I finish the second sleeve, while it’s blocking I’ll sew in the first and seam the side seams. Then, voila! Nearly ready to wear.
the neck finishing detail is 3 rows of stockinette, designed to curl and show the purled edge. It's a nice bit of texture to complement the deeply-textured front panel.
Here’s an FO shot of my cute little hat, my Berry Welty. You know it’s got a blue/purple hem facing, which is my little secret, and why I’m smiling so:
fits like a dream, and oh-so-warm. Thank you for the pattern, Kelly!
The next time I show my Laurayana, I’ll be wearing it.
lots of making in my household lately. and making = happy.
Really, I’m like you (if you’re a knitter): I get the urge to cast on all the time, I like to have multiple projects going for the inevitable boring slogs that hit each project, I have queue overload and new project lust. See? Just like you. But for some weird reason, I’ve recently been unwilling to work on more than one project at a time. I want to finish my Laurayana sweater before I cast on Audrey in Silt, thinking I’d rather finish one and wear it than have two going and not get to wear either one for much longer. Weird. Of course, I did pause for a bit to knock out the little hat, but that was because I needed a hat.
But I’m spotting a trend here, hatched with my Ozma’s Delight sweater: the contrasting hem.
that's my berry red hat with the blue/purple hem facing, and my blue/purple sweater with the cherry red hem facing!
I didn’t set out to do this! It just kind of happened. It’s too warm to wear the hat yet, but I’m ready when the chill comes. And as for my Laurayana sweater, the front and back are finished, one sleeve is finished, and the 2nd sleeve is half done. Then I just have to sew the shoulders together, pick up and knit a very few rows to finish the neck (stockinette, so they do a little tight curl), and then sew in the sleeves and sew up the sides. Sewing pieces together is always a bit of magic, and I really kind of like doing it. It’s careful work, close handwork, just my kind of thing.
So the soup-making spree is a memory now, and we have quarts and quarts (and gallons and gallons) of amazing soup in the freezer, ready for the winter. In addition to all that, my husband also made a beautiful batch of gravlax, which we’ve been enjoying.
that's 18 quarts of homemade cabbage soup. I KNOW! 18 QUARTS! and we also have french onion, probably 8 quarts.
here's the cabbage soup, for a close-up. it's thick with yummy cabbage, and shreds of brisket, and chunks of tomato. and the broth is a lovely sweet-sour flavor, deepened (of course) by the complexity of his homemade beef stock.
it's hard to really appreciate this, since it just looks like a piece of salmon; he scraped/rinsed off the salt/sugar/fresh dill blanket that it cured in for a couple days. sliced paper-thin, and either eaten plain (my way) or on pumpernickel bread (his way), it's so fresh and delicious. tastes like the sea, kind of. the delicious salmon sea.
So yeah, it’s been a knitty-foodie several days around here, punctuated by long walks in the park, marathon Breaking Bad watching, and naps and cups of tea and writing. Doesn’t that sound heavenly……..
The falling leaves / Drift by the window / The autumn leaves / All red and gold
I see your lips / The summer kisses / The sunburned hands / I used to hold.
Since you went away / The days grow long… / And soon I’ll hear / Old winter songs
But I miss you most of all / My darling, when autumn leaves start to fall…
The show-off part of autumn is winding down and now we’re in the workman part of the season. Everywhere I look, I see we’re starting to seriously get ready for the brace of winter. Trees are getting bare, the Christmas tree stands are open on the corners, the air has that brisk edge to it that makes you go wait a minute….maybe I need my coat. And we will soon be having lots of soup, courtesy of my husband’s luscious homemade beef stock.
40 lbs. marrow bones post-roasting, pre-simmering. current status: STOCK!
Today he’ll be caramelizing 10 pounds of onions for the french onion soup, and chopping god knows how many pounds of cabbage (20, I learned!) for the cabbage soup. I don’t know if you can tell how giant that stock pot is, on the left, but we have three pots about that size now, filled with a very light, rich beef stock. YUM. One thing is for sure, my house is going to smell great this afternoon.
In addition to relaxing and eating a really luscious meal yesterday, I got some knitting done. I don’t have a good hat, and my ears get very cold very quickly, and then I get a terrible earache. Kelly gifted me a hat pattern for my birthday, so I cast on yesterday and nearly finished — will do so today. It’s A Hat for Eudora, but I call it Berry Welty.
Berry Welty -- my birthday hat! That's a peek of madelinetosh DK in iris, for the hem. Sometimes you just need a hat, you know?
Yesterday we also took a nice walk — where else, Riverside Park. I noticed something kind of weird, but it’s just the schizo aspect of this part of autumn:
leaves ahead of me.....
no leaves behind me.
So happy fragmented Friday to you; I hope you are enjoying this late autumn day, whatever you’re doing. Here’s a Thanksgiving poem that’s really not about Thanksgiving:
Home For Thanksgiving
The gathering family
throws shadows around us,
it is the late afternoon
Of the family.
There is still enough light
to see all the way back,
but at the windows
that light is wasting away.
Soon we will be nothing
but silhouettes: the sons’
as harsh
as the fathers’.
Soon the daughters
will take off their aprons
as trees take off their leaves
for winter.
Let us eat quickly—
let us fill ourselves up.
the covers of the album are closing
behind us.
i don’t usually do WiP Wednesdays, but I’m in a rush and this was easy!
Happy Thanksgiving Eve! It’s gridlock alert day here in Manhattan, and we’re all encouraged to use public transport. Since I’ll be using it a lot today, I dread the crowds, but what to do. If you’re busy making pies and all that jazz, I wish I were hanging out with you.
Thanks to my old-lady-can’t-sleep deal, I’ve been up since 4am. Whee! I spent some of that time making progress on my Laurayana sweater, which is coming along beautifully. The back is finished, and I’m just a few inches from finishing the front. The sleeves will go quickly, so I should have another new sweater in a week or two!
the back (on the right) has been blocked and the change in the fabric is WONDERFUL; it doesn't really have that underarm lump as it appears, on the right side of the back. The pattern up the center of the front is fun to work, waving ribs.
I was a little worried about the hem facing; first of all, it’s odd to face a ribbed hem, but also, I was worried that the bright red would show. I wanted that to be my private treat. When I blocked the back, turning up the hem gave me a bit of relief. Even when it’s not stitched down, it’s thoroughly hidden.
As for Audrey in Silt, I haven’t cast on yet; it has a very deep ribbed section of twisted rib, and I’m trying to think about how committed I am to that twist. I’m thinking the answer is not so much.
Lots of work to get done today, and a meeting with a client this morning followed by back-to-back meetings in the afternoon. Good thing I woke up at 4am.
in which I recount my history as a sweater knitter
Somehow I have become a sweater girl, knitting them almost exclusively. I’m thoroughly surprised by this, but think it’s primarily due to a couple things: (1) my friend Kelly, who inspires me with her sweaters, and (2) a few successes. Here is my sweaterography:
- Peasy – successful on all counts (though now it’s big, since I’ve lost weight, and it’s not the most flattering style on me, I now know.) Love the yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed) and would definitely use it again.
- Dark & Stormy — successfully knitted but unsuccessfully sized. Will be frogging. Love the yarn (madelinetosh vintage) and didn’t have huge problems with varying colors, but the FO is heavy. Very, very heavy. And that’s probably one reason it grew a couple sizes in blocking (and yes, I swatched and blocked.)
- Mondo Cable Cardi — successfully knitted but the yarn sucked, to be frank. Madelinetosh merino let me down in every way possible. The colors were so variable between skeins it was shocking; the yarn base itself varied wildly from skein to skein; and it turned into a giant pill within minutes of finishing it. Fail, but not because of my knitting. This one really put me off madelinetosh yarns.
- Featherweight Cardi — ding ding ding! We have a winner. This one was a win in every possible way, and I wear it a lot. I enjoyed the yarn a lot (Spirit Trails Fiberworks, clotho) and would use it again.
- Wintry Mix — ding ding ding!! A second big winner! I wear this a lot. Berroco Blackstone Tweed is a luscious yarn, and so far it’s holding up well.
- Vodka Gimlet — ding ding ding DING! The biggest winner of them all, I struggle every day to decide whether to wear this, or my Wintry Mix. The yarn is amazing (Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted) but trying to get it is an exercise in such frustration that I probably won’t use it again, to my endless disappointment.
Laurayana, sweater front
ready to roll -- madelinetosh pashmina, in siltwash
good grief. two stitches forward and three rows back.
Last night I finished knitting the back of my lovely Laurayana sweater. I was watching a movie at the time and didn’t have the needles I needed to cast on one of the sleeves, as I’d planned, so I just cast on the front. Everything I needed was at hand, so I thought I’d just get it going and do the sleeve today.
- Cast on, knit knit knit. Figure out the transition to the pattern, ok, knit knit knit.
- Along the way, a few stitches tinked. OK, for some reason, a lot of stitches tinked.
- A couple times, an error noticed two rows below, stitch dropped down and repaired. Look at me!
- Oops! Was supposed to begin shaping at 3″ from the turning ridge. Noticed it at 3-1/2″, figured it would be ok anyway. Knit knit knit.
- Several rows in, suddenly noticed that the ribbing just above the turning edge is wonky; along the center design panel, on the right, it didn’t end with k2 so what came above just kind of hung there. HMMM. Ugly. Double-checked the pattern, yep, it’s a mistake in the pattern. HMMM. Ugly.
- Knit a row. Ponder. Maybe no one will notice.
- Purl a row. Ponder. Yeah, no. It’s ugly. Am I a sloppy knitter, or a careful one?
- Frog down to the turning row, slip stitches back on the needle (semi-wonkily, but fixed as I knitted the first row, turning the stitches appropriately).
- Finish that row, realize I didn’t resume the ribbing after the center panel. Tink back to the marker and knit the ribbing….get to the last 3 stitches, oops, must’ve made a mistake in my 2×2 ribbing. Yep, back at the very beginning. Tink tink tink. Re-rib.
argh.
Now I’m watching The Third Man and “knitting.” Since it’s going so badly — so ‘wonkily’ — I’m trying to decide: should I put this down and do the sleeve? Maybe that’ll be the remedy for wonkiness. Should I get out the swift and ball up my siltwash and do those swatches? Maybe that’ll be the remedy for wonkiness. I already tried a brisk walk in the lovely park, a coffee at Starbucks, and I stopped at the store for a beautiful bottle of wine, for later. None of that seems to be ridding me of my wonkiness. Just one of those days, I guess.
Do you have a remedy for times like this? I’m all ears.
man. I don’t know what to do here. I want them both, I want them all, I want more time, I want more hands. Help?
I’m working like a dog and not getting much knitting time, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about knitting. Of course. (Note to writers: if you find yourself writing “needless to say,” then you didn’t need to say it. Cut it out.) ANYWAY, I’ve been daydreaming about sweaters. It’s cold outside. The rain today is supposed to turn to a bit of snow — nothing that will accumulate, just a bit of a mess — and I’ve got sweater-knitting fever.
I’m plowing forward on my Laurayana, up past the armhole shaping on the back and should finish that piece pretty soon. Maybe another 2″ of knitting, more or less. But Cascade 220 is workhorse-y, right? It’s great, it’s reliable, it’s warm, it’s standardized, it shows the stitches beautifully, but it’s not fancy. And I find that I’m wanting to alternate workhorse yarn knitting with fancy yarn knitting. I have my adorable Scarpetta ready to roll, since my luscious madelinetosh lace (in sumptuous fig) arrived a few days ago, but it’s a very lightweight sweater, with short sleeves, and mama’s cold. (Not really, we have the hounds of hell heat, but it’s cold outside, anyway!) I think I’ll hold off on Scarpetta until February.
Now, though, I think I’m going to pair the popular Audrey in Unst pattern with my madelinetosh pashmina, in mineral. Yes, I realize it’s another variation of green, coming on the heels of my Wintry Mix and my Vodka Gimlet, but y’all. How can I resist.
madelinetosh pashMINA people - colorway: mineral
I also have pashmina in a gorgeous brownish color, silt wash:
gorgeous, right?
I could get a lot of wear out of a sweater in that color, too. What do y’all think? Which color? I have three skeins of each, which is enough to complete the Audrey, which is supposed to be a great knit. SO: green? or brown?
such a thrill to be able to knit and read at the same time!
I’m paid to read and write all day long (yay! [but sometimes ugh]), and now and then I can read and knit for pay. I know, so lucky. When I’m actually working in the manuscript, editing someone’s words, my hands are on the keyboard and that’s that. But when I’m just reading someone’s manuscript and giving them my feedback on it, I can knit at the same time. Not only are manuscript evaluations my favorite thing to do because I’m good at it, they’re also my favorite because of the knitting time. Yesterday I read a manuscript and made some headway on my Laurayana sweater. I’m about an inch away from beginning the armhole shaping on the back:
the back, with shaping darts -- of course I had to do extra shaping for my waist, as always
that hem facing is madelinetosh DK, in tart. so tarty, so pretty! It won't be visible at all, since this is a pullover, but I know it's there.
Unfortunately for me and my knitting time, the next run of work is editing, not evaluation, and I have so much it’s stressing me out, waking me up at 1am. In fact, I got up at 1 this morning to get some work done. So this rate of progress will come to a halt for now, but it sure was fun!
like Van Morrison says: Put a smile on my face, get back in the human race, on a golden autumn day.
It’s one of those gorgeous, gorgeous fall days that make me so thrilled I live in this part of the world. We went out to enjoy the weather and the foliage (and the nice New Yorkers, who are all as happy-seeming as we are!), and my sub-mission was to take some photos of my newest sweater in the wild. Also, there was a 4-block green market near the Museum of Natural History that was a likely source of apple cider and cider donuts, and to be honest, that was the primary point of the excursion for me. Unfortunately, there were no donuts….boo….you know how it is when you get your mouth set for something. After that disappointment, we walked a couple blocks to that other park — Central Park. Since Riverside Park is my backyard, I tend to forget about Central Park. I should not do that.
central park, so moody
central park, so artistic
central park, such a destination
central park, so dreamy
And now, without further ado, here it is: my version of Thea Colman’s Vodka Gimlet, which I named Ozma’s Delight (my rav project page here). The yarn is Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted, which is merino and cashmere with a soupçon of magic.
my sweet, sweet Ozma Delight. I'll be wearing this one to death.
what's that behind you? yeah, that old trick worked on me.
There isn’t one thing I’d change about the sweater. I’m very very long-waisted, so I had to add a few inches before I did the waist detail; unfortunately, the sweater grew a bit so the detail doesn’t hit me at my waist. Fortunately, I still think it’s amazing-looking. I love everything about it, including the 6″ of ribbing at the cuffs. Of course you can’t see the orange hem that’s hidden on the inside, but you’ve seen that before, a few posts ago.
I figured out the details for my Laurayana sweater, so I’ve cast on and am working away. Knitting + reading + cups of Lady Gray tea = very happy me.
busy, busy, busy. getting shit done. my kind of gorgeous day!
It’s a STUNNING day outside — as soon as I finish this, I’m heading out into it. I’ve been so busy this morning, I’m just beaming. I woke up kind of early, drank some tea and my morning slug of Mighty Maca Greens, ate a few dried figs, took a long shower and tended to all manner of grooming, baked my husband a batch of crumbly buttery oatmeal-apple bars, got my green sweater blocking (FO photo to come asap! Finished knitting it last night, can’t wait for it to dry….), and did my first swatch for my next sweater, which I’ve dubbed Laurayana (gift from Laura + pattern name Ayana = obvious!).
I’ve stepped outside my normal range of colors here. I tend to wear deeply saturated colors, and I don’t really wear purple. I don’t have anything against it, it’s just not a color I’ve chosen. So here, it’s a pale lavender color, kind of dusty lavender. I like the color, love the pattern, and hope by the transitive and multiplicative properties of knitting it turns out to be a sweater I adore. I do like the fit of Amy Herzog’s patterns, so it’s a likely bet.
the color is called Montmartre, Cascade 220 Heathers
We’re running errands this afternoon, some shopping in NJ, sushi for dinner, a busy day for us. When I’m home later this evening, I think I’ll cast one for the adorable hat pattern Kelly gave me, because I just happen to need a hat. What do you know about that.
the guy could handle the whole deal by himself. he didn’t need no stinking dinner partner.
Will had dinner with me tonight, to finish my birthday celebration. It was great — we ate at a diner in my neighborhood that has my favorite salad ever, of all times. He was still zinging around from his crazy busy day at work, so I chattered for a while to give him a chance to settle in and unwind. But sitting next to us was this very strange old man who was talking and gesturing — a lot, and loudly — to a dinner companion who just wasn’t there. He was lit, let’s just say it that way.
It was like getting a glimpse into the guy’s mind, because whatever he thought came out of his mouth, and it was influenced by the slightest things going on in his proximity. So when I took this picture of Will:
my crazy son who cannot take a picture seriously
the drunk dude at the next table started talking about cameras. He stopped the waiter and asked him about cameras, told him stories about an SLR he used to have that could only take great pictures. The waiter humored him for a second and then slipped away. Then the guy started talking about something else, and then he abruptly said MAMMY! while lifting his hand.
It alternated between being extremely annoying, kind of funny in a trainwreck kind of way, kind of sad, and back to extremely annoying. It hit annoying two times out of every four rounds through the emotions. Mainly he was annoying. Yeah.
Today I tried to take a new picture of my Wintry Mix sweater so you could really see it, since the photograph I took in the Catskills made it look like the shoulder was weird and rumply in a way it isn’t, really. It’s a very dark green and I was indoors, and it’s just hard to get a good shot of it. This is the best I could do; see the great cowl, and the beautiful shape? It’s a wonderful sweater if you’re in the mood for a bottom-up pullover.
Wintry Mix, by Amy Herzog (yarn: berroco blackstone tweed, in evergreen)
It’s a great sweater; obviously, I wear a very thin long-sleeved t-shirt underneath it for extra warmth and because it feels a little better. The blackstone tweed is 65% wool, 25% mohair, and 10% angora, and it’s just the tiniest bit uncomfortable for some reason. That’s not really right — it’s just a tiny bit more comfortable with a very thin shirt underneath. I really love the sweater, and can’t recommend the pattern enough. I changed it up so the collar is more a cowl than a big flat Peter Pan-type collar, and I love it that way. And Will approves — he’s been my fashion approver for a very long time.
nah nah nah nah nah nah — they say it’s my birthday (eve) — well happy birthday (eve) to ya (me). never mind. Eat cake!!
Birthday Eve, it ought to be a more well-known event! We have Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and birthdays also come around just once a year so the eve is a big deal.
Well, it is to me, so there. It’s my birthday eve. It’s a stunningly beautiful day, though my waking up to it wasn’t so nice. The hounds-of-hell heat dried me out so badly I woke up with a nose gushing blood. NICE. But who cares, it’s my birthday eve (see how well that works?). I’m spending the morning doing some deep housecleaning, since the floor-mopping fairies haven’t arrived in a while, and then I have some personal writing and thinking to do. After that I’ll pick up the first sleeve on my green sweater; last night I completely finished the collar and band, got it all bound off (loosely enough, go me!), and have spent the morning resisting taking a picture to show you. I lost — though I was going to take a picture of me wearing it, since it’s just the most adorable length, but I compromised and took some flat pictures. The color is kind of wonky from shot to shot — no idea how that could happen since it’s the same sweater, camera, light source, and background:
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- it’s a narrow little band, to give more of a vertical line to the sweater’s front
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- detail shot of the same design element around the sweater and down the band
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- the whole enchilada (minus sleeves of course!)
[wow those colors are all off! bizarre. the emerald green in the previous post is right on the money.] Boy, I really love this sweater. It’s just hip-length, and swingy, and the yarn is so amazing, I know I’m going to wear it all winter long. Just not in my apartment, which will be sweltering all winter long. Stupid co-op.
But birthday eve, yay! Just 12 more hours to be 52. It was an excellent year.
green is katie’s favorite color, so i think of her with every stitch (like i need a reason to think of her….)
Well, of course I should be working — I’m up against a very hard deadline, and I didn’t work nearly as much as I should’ve when I was in Austin (who would! When you get to be with your beloved daughter so rarely, who’d spend that time working! Not me apparently.). I just finished one project and before I get going on the one with the hard deadline, I thought I’d show you some of the knitting-related stuff that happened last week, on my needles. Katie is making an adorable baby set for a friend — a sleep sack and hat — that look like The Very Hungry Caterpillar; when she posts pictures I’ll share them, it’s just so adorable.
But here’s my stuff. First, my gorgeous green sweater. I decided to add a little flash of color in the turned-under hem. The slipped stitch detail was great fun to knit, and the color makes every stitch a joy to work. I’m going to love wearing this sweater.
my Vodka Gimlet -- dubbed Oz Delight for my rav project page.
This is the yarn I bought for the hem. I used so little, I need to figure out a small project that’ll allow me to use up the rest of the beautiful yarn.
Manos del Uruguay, silk blend
And two skeins of Madelinetosh, tosh merino light:
tosh merino light, in rosewood
tosh merino light, in terra. i LOVE this color!
I’m truly nuts about that orange color. I would’ve bought a lighter neutral like antler if they’d stocked it at Hill Country Weavers. I want to make a Stripe Study Shawl, and I figured these two would be good additions to my small stash of tosh merino light.
I’m knitting the collar on my Oz Delight, and since it’s a narrow collar it shouldn’t take me too long. Then I “just” have to knock out the two sleeves, but I’m highly motivated so maybe it won’t take too long. I didn’t work on my little yellow featherweight at all, just not enough time in the days. What a great problem, too many wonderful things to do!
Now: back to work, Lori! SERIOUSLY.
“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October.” ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
When I was a little girl, I especially loved the lessons about explorers and adventurers. Henry Hudson, John Cabot, those early explorers of America captured my imagination and I couldn’t get enough. I imagined what it must have been like, coming upon the great landscapes and waterways of this part of the world. My first job after graduate school, in 2003, took me to Rochester NY and Marnie was in college at Smith, in Massachusetts, so to visit her I drove over the Hudson River, and through the Catskills, and I was always filled with emotion. The great Hudson River…..I’d look up and down the river as best I could as I drove over the bridge, imagining those early sailing ships. I’d thrill with the place names that were reminders of the early Dutch Knickerbockers, like Kaaterskill Falls, and the native Lenape people who lived here first, like Esopus River. It’s a beautiful place, and I’m so happy I get to know it.
We generally restrict our visits to the area around Phoenicia, Hunter Mountain, and Windham, though we did explore the northern parts once en route to Montreal and Quebec City. But it’s this area I know best, and dearly love. To a Texan, mountains and forests are really special, so they always thrill me no matter how many times I come here. And fall color — I used to think that robins and colored leaves were made-up things, just for storybooks. So even though the fall color is not that great this year, thanks to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irene, it’s still thrilling to little old Texan me.
no reds and oranges, but lots of vivid yellows
gorgeous rushing creeks, water pounding against rocks
sometimes yellow + creek!
i just thought this was super creepy. those two muddy puddles looked like eyes to me.
i always love this and have dozens of photos like it
this one too. rocks and leaves in a puddle. why do i love it so?
and this, the color and texture make me so happy
Hunter Mountain -- autumn technicolor, waiting for the blast of snow that will transform the landscape
THRILLING
makes my heart soar
yours too?
Here's my wonderful Wintry Mix sweater, by the way!
this autumn, 2011
The promised partly-cloudy but sunny skies never materialized yesterday; it was quite chilly and the skies were always flat gray, covered in clouds, but it was still a beautiful day. We hike and tramped around, ate some great food at Brios, and generally enjoyed this autumn day. The devastation is kind of shocking to see; Hurricane Irene was a joke in NYC, ballyhooed and overly prepared-for, but just a bit of wind and little rain. Up here, though, bridges and roads were destroyed, homes were devastated, belongings lost.
My Wintry Mix sweater is absolutely wonderful to wear; it’s a bit more rumpled-looking in the photo than it really is. I’d been hiking in it all day, and pulling on/off a coat, so it’s a bit goofed-up looking by my shoulder in a way that it’s not, really. I love everything about it, and imagine I’ll wear it a LOT this fall and winter!
“The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body” — Publius Syrus
When I was young, I got migraine headaches associated with my cycle. Then, at age 28, I had a complete hysterectomy and — surprise!! — I got them whenever I was exposed to volatile organic compounds. Anything with a strong smell, like perfume, PineSol, most cleaners, bleach, and even natural smelly things like mildew. That has not been fun to live with all these years; now, when I smell a hint of perfume, it’s associated with fear and terror of the pain to come. I have plenty of sumatriptan on hand, and (usually) one hit will knock out the migraine before it develops, but often it takes two. Of course, that just changes one problem for another, because the after effects of that large a dose of sumatriptan are pretty miserable, themselves. That’s what happened to me yesterday.
So I had huge plans for the day, cleaning plans, organizing plans, getting-ready-for-the-trip plans, and they were all scuttled. I lay on the couch, against a heating pad for the brittle-tight muscles, and moaned all day. Barely moved all day. Except for my hands. Since my Wintry Mix sweater is so simple to knit, and worsted on Addi Turbos, I didn’t even have to look at what I was doing: perfect for my situation! One sleeve is completely finished, and yesterday I got the body done, divided at the sleeves, and I’m working up the back:
the fastest sweater I've *ever* knit
Since this is a busy and short week, and we’ll pull out of town late Thursday afternoon, I probably won’t finish the sweater before we go. DANG. It’d be fun to hunker down and finish it in such a short time. I definitely won’t take it with me; it’s quite hot and steamy where we’re going.
And here’s the best thing about having a situation that is excruciatingly painful: when it’s over, Joy! Rapture! Bliss! Clouds parting! Sun shining! All is right with the world, I can do anything! And on that note, I’m off to do chores! Whee! [edited: nope. No can do. Rebound. Stupid migraines.]
there’s very little as nice as knitting that’s working out as you hoped.
A bit of housework, a chat on the phone with a daughter, a disastrous pasta-making effort, and some knitting.
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- My “Oops I did it again” featherweight cardigan, cast on and underway.
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- Sleeve #1, one full ball of yarn. Close to the sleeve cap shaping, just another 13 rows.
So two things to say, here:
- MALABRIGO LACE, y’all. Oh boy do I get it now. It’s as soft as everyone says. It’s luscious, creamy, delicious, I want to run away with it. The color is so rich; the color in the photo is true, on my monitor. Deep yellow with a hint of orange. I don’t ever want to knit with anything else, as long as I live. I think I’m going to love this one even more than my red one. Hannah Fettig, you’re a genius with the little cardigan. So simple, nothing really, but wonderful.
- A sleeve in a day, along with the rest! Kind of amazing. I always had sleeves categorized in my head as “ugh, now it’ll be weeks.” Not with this yarn and these needles, man. Speedy Gonzales (speedy ka-dah-dis, if you’re my dear Katie). The angora and silk in the yarn gives it such a luxurious hand, I really like the fabric a lot. Amy Herzog, you fit-to-flatter wizard.
Homemade lasagna for dinner, even if no homemade pasta — smells so good, happy hands, soon-to-be-happy tummy, happy day. Ah! Time for a daily gratitude. I’m so grateful to be a maker, for which I take no credit. It’s just the software I came with, and I’m very very grateful for it. Grateful for the impulse, grateful for the experiences, grateful for the pleasures, grateful for the desire, grateful for the end results, grateful for the making life.
Where did Hitler keep his armies? IN HIS SLEEVIES! hahahaha….kindergarten jokes never get old.
For reasons having to do with confusion, I decided to start on the sleeves for my new Wintry Mix sweater. The yarn makes some mighty gorgeous fabric, I must say. Berroco Blackstone Tweed is 65% wool, 25% mohair, and 10% angora, and it’s very soft and drapey, but substantial, too. I really love it; the color I picked, evergreen, is such a dark olive green it doesn’t read as green, but the tweed flecks are nice and it’ll be a solid piece in my sweater collection.
I can't make the color show up correctly in photos -- it's actually much much darker than this, and this has too much yellow. The sleeve has a 4" section of garter at the bottom, providing a wonderful textural contrast.
This is my first set-in sleeve sweater, so I’m a little anxious about that but I’m sure it’ll be just fine. I think it’s kind of genius (even though I did this out of confusion and anxiety) to do the sleeve/sleeves first, while I’m so excited, so I’m not stuck in the sleeve wasteland. Yes? Right? Good idea!
After the laceweight cardigan, this one is hauling, man. Worsted on 7s goes so fast, especially in a sleeve with a small circumference. But I think I’m going to go ahead and get my little yellow laceweight cardigan going today, too. That color is screaming at me, and I’m dying to see it as fabric.
Isn’t it great to be excited about your knitting? What are you working on that has you this excited?
Never EVER underestimate the power of a nice apology. You’ll win friends and admirers.
DANG IT. I just got an email from The Plucky Knitter — providers of the yarn for my forthcoming Vodka Gimlet — letting me know that due to circumstances beyond her control, my yarn won’t be shipping next week, as promised, but instead mid-October.
Now first, you’d think that since I have three other sweaters ready to cast on, plus a scarf underway, plus a blanket mid-way, this could not come as bad news. You’d be wrong. The color of the yarn I chose (Oz) is just this gorgeous emerald green as you’d expect. Oh so beautiful, breathtaking, I can’t wait to see it. So I was all geared up to be bitter. Indignant. Self-righteous. Mad. Peeved. Pissed off. And all the other synonyms. But her email was just so upset and sorry, and genuine, and filled with remorse from someone who doesn’t usually have to write emails like that, that I couldn’t even be mildly bitter. It’s OK, Sarah. It’s OK. I somehow like you even more, after receiving that email.
It doesn’t hurt that she’s going to include a skein of a new yarn she’ll be stocking in November (Plucky Rustic, an aran-weight wool), and that I get to participate in a private shopping event in her online store, just for those of us who were impacted. You know? That’s what I call customer service. Yay for Sarah, leaving me a bigger fan just as she tells me my yarn will be one month late.
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- Berroco Blackstone Tweed in Evergreen, for my Wintry Mix (Amy Herzog)
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- Cascade 220 Heathers in Montmartre, for my Flux (Signe S. Simonsen)
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- Malabrigo Lace in Sauterne, for another Featherweight Cardigan (Hannah Fettig)
Yeah. I’ve got enough to do. Kelly is helping me work my way through figuring out what size Wintry Mix to knit, given my slightly-different gauge. I have a reliable way of understanding gauge backwards; mine was 19, should’ve been 18, so I thought I was knitting bigger and looser. I teach stats to undergrads, but this is beyond me. And then when you add in ease, well…..boggle. I just can’t figure it out.
And on this post, I log off for the day. A few more hours of work, then some dinner and knitting…..something. Whee!!
Oops!…I did it again / I played with your heart, got lost in the game / Oh baby, baby / Oops!…You think I’m in love / That I’m sent from above / I’m not that innocent [of resisting buying MORE yarn.]
My desire — my burning need — to knit has returned with a vengeance. Really. I’m back to resenting every second I have to spend doing anything else. I work on the couch, in the same place I knit, and my knitting bag is right there, right there to my left, piled high with projects on the go. On the table at my elbow, next to the lamp, is a large oval Shaker box with random pretty yarns and small in-progress projects. Right there. Like Odysseus passing the sirens, I must lash myself to the mast (um….my laptop?) and put sealing wax in my ears, to try to focus on work. I resent eating, I resent sleeping, I resent working, I resent it all. (One thing I don’t resent, though, is my strength training program to which I return today, with another kind of vengeance.)
So despite the fact that I have three sweaters up on deck, with patterns and yarns purchased and in hand (Wintry Mix, Flux, and Vodka Gimlet, yarn actually arriving for that one any day now), I slipped. Goofed up. Had a moment of weakness. Fell off the wagon. Had a blackout. Acted impulsively. Was giddy. Was reckless. Was impulsive. I went to my LYS to get a set of needles for my Wintry Mix. I SWEAR. That’s all I went for. I wasn’t going to even look at the yarn. The shop owner is devious, though, and hides all the needles and notions in the far back corner, so you have to walk through the gauntlet of gorgeousness to get there. But I was good. I went straight for the needles, picked out what I needed, and strode to the cash register. Strode, I tell you.
And then, as if it had a mind of its own, my reckless mouth asked, “do you carry malabrigo lace?” “Why yes, of course,” she said, pointing to the wall. “You don’t carry cadmium, do you,” I asked, three-quarters of the way to the wall already. And then I saw it. It wasn’t cadmium, but it has to be close. Sauterne is the color, and it sings to me the siren song of a second featherweight cardigan. I love my first one, my dragon’s blood red one, so let’s go primary: How’s about one in yellow? I asked myself. And I said to myself, I said, “Self? I think you need one.”
malabrigo lace, in sauterne. it's like there's sunlight inside the yarn.
Dang it. And whoopeee! This weekend I’ll be swatching for all four sweaters, and winding all the yarn into cakes. Is it the weekend yet?
we clearly need to overthrow the Weather Czar. this is crazy.
Good grief — we’re in the midst of days and days, after days and days, looking ahead to days and days, of rain. Gray skies, cool temperatures (60 yesterday), drenching downpours, what happened! It was just very very hot, what happened here? And, of course, my beloved central Texas is going up in flames. My beloved oldest daughter is packed and ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice, and nearly had to do so. A place I’ve loved a lot, Bastrop, is mostly just gone, burned up (that fire, which is still burning, is visible from space). They haven’t had rain in months and months (and before that, just a whisper of rain), and they broke all the heat records this summer, and well, that’s just a recipe for the disaster that’s unfolding there.
yeah. terrifying.
If only I could be involved in the redistribution channels — it’s obvious, redirect all of our rain and cold weather down to the scorched, killing, devastation and destruction going on. I don’t believe this, but there’s a way it feels like the Biblical end times these days. Earthquakes and hurricanes, raging out of control fires and deadly drought, and don’t get me started on things of a politically-induced nature.
Sunday I finished my adorable little red number, my featherweight cardigan. I keep thinking I can surely get a photo tomorrow, surely tomorrow it won’t be so gray and gloomy and shadowy, but tomorrow hasn’t come yet. It’s fabulous, I couldn’t be happier with it. The color is great, cheery, powerful, the fit is wonderful, and the fact that I love wearing a cropped sweater that ends at my waist is priceless.
While I wait for the yarn to arrive for my three new sweaters (me! knitting three new sweaters!), I’m spending my knitting time powering through the blanket I’m making. It’s Anne Hanson’s Totally Autumn pattern, in a rich chocolate brown Cascade 220 Heathers. This is the project that went through the trauma in Turkey of my having to pull out the needles at the Istanbul airport, so I’ve kind of recovered from that disaster and now see the end in sight. The work will come to a standstill when my sweater yarns arrive, but maybe I’ll just try to put in X number of rows per day on the blanket so it’ll eventually get done, instead of languishing.
Busy busy busy times for me — appointments this afternoon, seeing a play tonight, breakfast tomorrow with my oldest friend from Alabama, writing group tomorrow night, fly off to Chicago early Friday morning to visit Marnie, home on Monday, poetry group Tuesday night. AND I’m trying to finish the details for my trip back to Vietnam and over to Borneo, during the first two weeks of October. Which is just three weeks away. Yikes. Busy busy busy.
how long has it been since I had a finished object! finally — meet my beautiful new shawl:
Traveling Woman shawl by Liz Abinante, size extra-large. Madelinetosh yarn (Tosh DK), colorway byzantine [rav project page]. I love this shawl, even though it took me forever to finish. I started it before I went to Turkey, way back in May, and thought I might finish it before/during the trip. Ha! Ha ha ha! Ha! There’s absolutely no reason it should’ve taken me this long, but it did. I’d like to get a photo of me wearing it….one of these days.
It’s my second Traveling Woman shawl (the other was with madelinetosh yarn too, actually, tosh merino light in a gorgeous silver gray color called Tern), and the biggest lesson I learned there was to use a much stretchier bind-off. I didn’t go with Judy’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, though I kind of wish I had. Instead, I used this one and it’s better than my regular old bind-off, but probably not as stretchy as Judy’s. If I make another Traveling Woman shawl, I’ll try Judy’s.
I think one thing that helped me get this project finished was that I needed a break from stockinette sleeves in laceweight yarn. Yeah. Compared to that, this project was dreamy and oh-so-fast.
This has been a very slow year for FOs, I must say, and all of them have been primary colors — blue, yellow, and red, plus a vivid green. Time for some neutrals, I think.
ma belle amie — Kty strikes again.
Yesterday I was reading a wholly compelling story in the NYTimes about a man who lives with schizophrenia; he has learned strategies to talk back to his voices and leads a difficult but full life. The whole article was moving, but there was one line that gut-punched me. At one point in his life, the man sat in his bedroom with a gun in his lap, ready to end his life. His wife walked in and said ‘I know you feel like quitting, but what if tomorrow is the day you get what you want?’ A long long time ago, in another life, I’d reached that point too and in a letter, someone said that we keep going because tomorrow we might round a corner and see someone standing there, holding flowers just for us.
I am by no means in that terribly hopeless place, but you know how life just kind of grinds sometimes? World news is terrible, your personal life hits a bump, something freaky happens like you get a hug that breaks your rib, there are too damned many flies and crap it’s hot and muggy. It’s been a long time since you had fun, just some plain old fun. You’re in the grinding uphill part of the rollercoaster, and have been for quite a long time. Nothing’s wrong really, nothing’s terminally bad, there’s plenty of hope lingering in the corners, it’s not like that, but boy. Grind.
Zen Garden Sea Lace -- and why yes, dear Kty, I do think it would be gorgeous!
Today’s bouquet of flowers was brought to me by my favorite living Parisian, Kty, who happens to be on holiday right now. We’ve never met in person, but if you’ve read this blog for long you know of her because she shows up in comments and in posts (like me, her birthday is in November so she feels like my sister or something). One of these days I’m going back to Paris and taking that lovely woman out for a glass of wine or two or three. I just got an email from Kty asking me if I didn’t think a certain pattern (Kozue, which she gifted me) would look beautiful in one of the yarns in my stash, the one shown to the left.
Oh, the many things about her email that transformed my day. The thought behind it, I’m just grinning and feeling like maybe the world is ok, despite all the awful news (note: must stop reading the NYTimes). Maybe we hold each other up, maybe we give each other little smiles, little nudges, and it helps hold the world together. The tiniest things can be just the thing someone needs; I always know that but I don’t always remember it.
I’ll cast on asap and will post a WIP photo. Tonight I’m having dinner with two friends, one of whom is moving back to the UK (boo), and tomorrow night’s my poetry group, but my fingers will be itching to get going. Merci beaucoup, Kty.
how is it already mid-June?! Who knows where the time goes?
What have I been doing! Working, working [out], being social, going through the hell of transferring my professional site to a new domain (don’t get me started), eating good summer food, and just doing everything except documenting it all. Oh, and a bit of knitting on my gorgeous red featherweight cardigan, want to see?
that color is amazing
Of course the little cardigan is as light as a whisper, a breeze, a feather, perhaps. I can’t wait to finish it so I can wear it. Even though it’s laceweight yarn, the large needles make it go pretty quickly so I’m not being bogged down by all the stockinette. I’m going to do some waist shaping since my waist does have shape.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to walk over to St John the Divine for the 4:30am Summer Solstice Concert. The Winter Solstice concert was so amazing, and I imagine the summer solstice concert will be, too; sitting in the very dark gothic cathedral, listening to live music as the sun slowly comes up and pours through the stained glass windows….even worth getting up that early, I imagine. We’ll see. Should be a great weekend.
And the same to you, my friends. A great weekend.
general goings-on about knitting, blah blah blah
So I’ve kind of been on the outs with knitting. Me and her, not getting along. You know, when you first meet her she’s dazzling — multifaceted, challenging, gorgeous, fun, you just can’t get enough of her. But then one day you get kind of tired of all her stuff, the way she just won’t get along with you at times, the way she gets to be a bore. And then someone else comes along! Someone who’s fun in an entirely different way, someone who changes your life, and there’s just not enough interest for the old one.
OK, I’m bailing on my little story. Basically, I’ve been so getting into the new physical changes I’m undergoing, the reorienting of my 52-year old head toward actually having a physically active life, that I’m kind of antsy. Do I want to sit there on the couch? Not really. I’d much rather be doing something. Or (shh, I feel kind of bad about this) trying on different outfits and thinking I look cute. It’s a gorgeous day. I want to be outside in it!
And then there’s the way all the WIPs are just a pain in the ass for one reason or another. There’s my blanket, which underwent the traumatic pulling-out-the-needles debacle in Turkey. I haven’t had the heart to face that one. There’s my lettuce green Rock Island Shawl; 71 repeats of the motif? Really? Getting kind of sick of it. There’s my giant and very heavy byzantine Traveling Woman Shawl — gosh, it’s hot and the rows are so long.
But you know, those 71 repeats aren’t going to do themselves, and that green is such a great color, so I picked it up this morning and got going, only to make some kind of mistake, and then in tinking back I made a GIANT mistake, and I just put it away. Bah. I really wanted to knit, but everything sucks.
And my darling girlfriends, you know the remedy for that. A NEW WIP! I’m making myself a red little number — the Featherweight Cardigan, which will look so adorable and great with my other adorable outfits. I’m using the stunning yarn I bought at Rhinebeck, Spirit Trail Fiberworks Clotho, colorway dragon’s blood!
COLOR LOVE
And in my new version of myself, the one who takes care and does what’s best for myself, I’m starting off with a generous swatch. Taking measurements. Even doing math (not math!) if necessary, which always cracks me up that that’s some kind of daunting thing. I teach statistics to undergrads, for heaven’s sake.
One great thing about swatching is that I also get to see if the combination of needle and yarn feels good in my hands, too. I hate using some of my old aluminum-ey needles with laceweight, but I’ve done it when it was the only pair I had on hand. Never again. And then there was the Denise needles disaster with my Dark & Stormy, where every stitch and row was just too hard.
So I’ll do a bit of swatching, but then I’m heading outdoors. Central Park is calling my name and I cannot resist her charms today. Happy Saturday!
Would ya like to buy an o? No? Then could I interest you in a 9?
Every time I do something like this — shh….wanna peek? — I think of this:
Ah. The little kids years, such fond fond memories, to the soundtrack of Sesame Street and Mister Rogers, and Raffi. Baby beluga in the deep blue sea….
OH YEAH. Here’s why I stopped by. Want to see my progress?
so lush! it's going to be so big and blankie-ey
love the horseshoes, such fun to create
My Traveling Woman obviously, madelinetosh obviously, colorway byzantine (maybe not so obviously). But now I have the song in my head:
would ya like to buy an O? circular and sweet? looks just like a donut, really good enough to eat….it’ll cost you just a nickel (a nickel!) a nickel, shhh, a nickel right, so buy the O and take it home tonight don’t ask any questions…
Maybe that’s not really a good lesson for little kids to learn, now that I think about it.
angie, you’re beautiful, but ain’t it time we said goodbye?
I finished Katie’s socks — the pattern is Angee, by Cookie A, and the yarn is the ultrasoft and super washable KnitPicks Felici (colorway: green vegetables, in the most obviously-named color ever). Katie picked the pattern when she was here, and it was fun, like all Cookie A socks.
angee, in knitpicks felici
I did round 1 swatching for my Mothed sweater and didn’t like the fabric; I need to swatch again, going down a needle size. It was just too thin and kind of gauzy, and not what I’m going for, really. I persist, like a real grown-up knitter!
Other parts of the NE got snow, and we were supposed to but mercifully we didn’t. It is gray and drizzly, though, so it’s that kind of April Fool’s Day. I hope you aren’t fooled today (unless you want to be)!
oh happy, sunny day. oh how i’ve missed you.
I had breakfast with Will this morning, which made me so so happy. We see each other every week (he only lives a couple blocks away from me), and it’s usually over a meal or a beer. Starting my day with him was especially wonderful. And you mothers out there, you’ll get this: he still smells like my boy.
Will refuses to have a straight photo made; I have literally hundreds of photos he took at arm’s length with every possible facial expression you could imagine. Plus extreme close-ups, some of which freak me out if I accidentally run across them, like his nostril. So I asked him if I could take his picture, and at the very last second he copped this sneer. Too bad, because his smile is gorgeous.
bagels & lox, a cafe au lait, and my son. sneering. c'mon, will, show me your beautiful smile.
And then, not to make so damn much out of the simplest hat in the whole world, here’s the finished hat, on my head. It’s the dreaded “shot in the bathroom mirror” pose. And this will officially end my discussion of Marnie’s hat.
so slouchy! i love it. marnie wanted it because she has long hair and often wears braids, pinned up like katie davies (needled) does. this should cover her.
adorable, fast, fun, and well, adorable. not me, the hat. though i am fun.
I have loads of work to do so this is quick. I decided not to do the Knit Crochet Blog week, though i did it last year and had a blast with it. I don’t know, I’m just not feeling it this year. But I do look forward to reading everyone else’s posts!
Happy Monday y’all. I hope it’s as sunny where you are as it is in NYC today. Glory. Bliss. Sun.
Sunny day, sweeping the clouds away / On my way to where the air is sweet, can you tell me how to get, how to get to, wait. This has nothing to do with Sesame Street.
I was all ready to swatch my new sweater yesterday morning when I had my wonderful weekly phone call from Marnie, who reminded me that I was going to make her a hat — she’d already picked the pattern and the yarn, and in the way things work with a 52-year old mind, I’d been excited about it and then forgot. This happens to me at least three or four times a day. Marnie’s coming to visit me for a long weekend (and to see Will) in a couple of weeks, so I’ll get to give it to her personally. Check it out, it’s the “My Striped & Slouchy hat” (rav link here), knit in Cascade 220:
such a sunny hat!
and with such a wide ribbing -- two stripes wide, great for covering her ears
It reminds me of eggs, eggs and cream, butter and cream, daffodils. I get such delight from knitting the stripes — nothing is cheerier than stripes, in the first place, and anything with white is just wonderful. Red and white (my fave), yellow and white (my new fave), blue and white, black and white, gray and white, all really great.
I have one more set of stripes — it’s very slouchy — and then the decrease section, which decreases very very quickly. It’s cute, and couldn’t be simpler to make. I am watching the old HBO mini-series, Band of Brothers (I’d never seen it before), and this hat is so simple I don’t have to look at it at all while I’m knitting, which is good because the show is entirely absorbing. There are scenes I have to look away, so when legs are blown off, or guts are visible, I just check my knitting until it passes. It’s an amazing program, you’ve probably already seen it. It got into my dreams last night.
Here’s my very last attempt to get the colors photographed in my Saroyan, and it failed. I really wish you could see it, because it’s the most wonderful shade of olive green. Sigh.
IT'S NOT BROWN!!! grrrrrr!!
I hope you have a great spring Sunday, and your colors are true!
why? and on top of that, why are all today’s whys about technology? I’M NO LUDDITE!
- WHY did Firefox move the refresh button to the other damn side of the bar?! I don’t buy their “we wanted to clean up the real estate” explanation. They could have as easily put it in the address bar on the left, as on the right, when they were moving it off that toolbar. This is irritating me so much, I may just abandon Firefox altogether. GOOD GRIEF.
- Twitter. I have it, my posts go out on my Twitter feed, every day I get notifications of new complete-strangers following me (why?!). I just don’t really get it. When I worked in midtown, it was fantastic for letting me know exactly where the cupcake trucks were parked at any given moment, but beyond that I just don’t get it.
- iPad. I can’t believe I’m saying that — I’m a devoted lover of all things new and technological, usually an early adopter. I have 5 computers in my tiny home, and there are 2 of us here. I have a laptop and my Droid, and I did have a Kindle but I gave it to my son. I can get a new Kindle for $139, or I can get an iPad (or something like it)….but why?! Why would I get that? I know people who have an iPhone and an iPad (and one person also has an iPod). So much redundancy! I just don’t get it. With my droid and my laptop, why do i need an iPad, besides the coolness of it?
- Why I cannot capture the green in my Saroyan. No matter how I photograph it, in what light, and do how much post-processing, it looks brown. It’s not brown, it’s green. It has streaks of gold and brown in it, but the thing is green. I just tried again, thinking that maybe, perhaps, mysteriously, it would photograph correctly now that it’s finished blocking, but no.
this is pre-blocking, but it doesn't matter. it took so much fiddling to get it to turn out at all green. this color is NOT right. WHY???
Really. Why. It’s not like it’s some extreme color, or in an extreme setting in terms of light, with one color blowing out everything else. I do not understand this one little bit.
I am finishing our taxes today, and I’m going to do some housework, laundry, all that jazz, and figure out my next knitting project. I’m thinking of making the mothed sweather (rav here, knitty here), in a very pretty espresso-brown wool (with a bit of cashmere in it). I’ve done a couple quick projects recently (saroyan, obviously, and my killer red shawl) so I think it’s time to get a bigger thing underway. Happy Saturday y’all, whatever you’re doing!
the first FO of 2011 that isn’t blue! WHEE!!
Well! What in the world happened (besides everything that’s happening in the world). It was just one of those weeks, no need to say more because everyone has them. I owe so many people emails — lots going on and not nearly enough time. In the midst of it all, during some middle-of-the-night wide-awake hours, I finished my shawl:
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- close-up of the body-to-edge transition, very nice! click to enlarge this one, for sure.
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- here’s the top edge
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- and here’s the tip of the shawl
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- it’s such a vibrant color, and a very nice length!
The pattern (LaReine, by Angela Tong) is simple and straightforward, but somehow I never could wrap my mind around how she came up with it. The alternating lacey bits are really lovely, and easy to do but not boring — just a very nice combination. Despite everything this week threw at me, and despite my state as a result, I was able to work on the shawl and not be bored but not be too challenged. I went up a needle size and always run out of yarn, so I stopped short 12 rows and went straight to the border.
And the yarn — Okay Knits Sena — was wonderful. The very subtle shifts in color were never jarring and give the color such life; there were bits of light pink, bits of orange, a couple of dark almost purple flecks, but no long runs of shading. The end result is such a lively and brilliant color. This colorway is sweetie-pie, but to me it’s like a cherry lifesaver. I highly recommend the yarn, and hope to score some more (I love the bubblegum colorway she has in the shop right now).
I won the pattern and the yarn in a giveaway on the pattern designer’s blog; she’s a new designer, and the yarn is dyed in Brooklyn by a young woman who is in medical school. Support them if you’re in the market for a shawl pattern or yummy yarn.
Spring seems to have arrived in Manhattan, though I worry that I’m tempting the gods with such hubris in making such a crazy claim. It’s only mid-March, there’s certainly at least one more winter blast to come. Back to it for me — I hope you’re having a good weekend!
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