living out of a suitcase and feeling pretty happy about it!
So I’m just home from a 2+week vacation, and next Thursday I leave for a week in Austin with Katie. What should I be doing this weekend? Well, things like household chores, catching up with work, getting ahead with work so I can play more with Katie, things like that. Responsible things like that. Responsible grown-up things like that.
Instead, when my husband finishes work this afternoon around 2, we’re throwing overnight bags in the car and driving upstate, back to the Phoenicia area in the Catskills. It’s a great getaway destination for a New Yorker, and a place we go a few times a year. We’ll eat at Brio’s, stay at the Phoenicia Lodge, tramp around Woodstock, drive over to Hunter and poke around Hunter Mountain, walk in the woods and take pictures, relax. I already have lots of photos in my flickr account of the Phoenicia area, but I know I’ll take some more. In fact, the photo in the masthead was taken in that area, around this time last year. I’m sure I need one or two more photos of leafy scenic splendor.
I’m getting close to separating my Ozma Gimlet at the sleeves, another 1.5″, but I think I’ll take the yellow featherweight cardigan. My days of being able to wear the featherweight are drawing to a close, so maybe I can hunker down and get it done quickly enough to wear it before it’s too cold.
it's such a great color, isn't it, brilliant for gray days? sauterne.
such soft, soft fabric -- hard not to touch it all the time!
sigh. so gorgeous, really. my ozma gimlet.
I’ll definitely take a photo of my Wintry Mix sweater while we’re there. It’s so luscious….hope y’all are having a great Friday!
knitting and hol(e)y bones, batman.
- My Wintry Mix sweater is nearly dry, and it’s just gorgeous. That was the quickest I’ve ever made a sweater, even including the 15 days I was away on vacation. But when you take out those days, from start to finish it took me 13 days. I know some of you can make a sweater in even less time, but that’s record-making progress for me! It’s still too damp to take a picture of me wearing it, plus it’s dim and gray and rainy today so the light wouldn’t be good. But this weekend my husband and I are going upstate for a little foliage scouting, and it’s supposed to be gorgeous weather so I’ll wear it there and get an FO shot among the FOliage.
- I have osteoporosis. Boo. I had the bone density scan before we left on vacation and had the follow-up visit yesterday; I knew that’s what it would be, so I wasn’t fretting over it while we were gone and I wasn’t surprised. Sadly, the bone loss is worst in my hip, second worst in my spine. Time to continue (and amp up) my strength training, learn to love kale, develop the habit of calcium + D supplements, eat a lot of figs (surprisingly high in calcium, yo!). If you’re also concerned about calcium and want to get it from food as much as possible, check out this link(and shoot for 1300mg/day). It’s a bummer, for sure, and I’ll have to be diligent and careful about falling. Strength training is so great because it doesn’t just build bone, it also helps with stability and balance so it’s a double-whammy of good for your bones. Just do it, ya’ll.
The World Health Organization has put together a tool you can use to calculate your risk of fracture (click here for the US version of the tool). I happen to know the specific data for my hip bone density, but you can still use it without that piece of data. Here’s what you get — here’s mine:
interesting stuff
So I have a 6.4% chance of a major osteoporotic fracture in the next 10 years. The site defines the terms — secondary osteoporosis, for instance — and it’s simple to use. It only works for individuals 40-90 years of age, so you young whippersnappers don’t bother, just get plenty of exercise and eat your calcium.
- I’m dying to show you the brilliant yellow featherweight cardigan. I just have to finish the ribbing on the body (just another inch), then I’ll take a picture. Malabrigo is so wonderfully soft and that very light halo makes for a gorgeous sweater. As soon as we have some nice light I’ll take a photo.
- Casting-on for my Vodka Gimlet sweater this morning, while I read manuscripts. My yarn came while I was away, and knitting the swatch was a gorgeous experience; Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted is fantastic to knit with, and makes the most beautiful fabric, gorgeous stitch definition, a lovely hand. I see why everyone loves it so much! Mine is a color called Oz — obvious, when you see it — and it’s sumptuous:
vivid! And prompting me to name my sweater the Ozma Gimlet
What else. I had a wonderful dinner with a great, great friend last night, and was reminded just how much friendships add to life. Finding a good friend as an adult is kind of hard, unless you find them at work. Turns out she lives just a few blocks away from me, so we can easily get together for dinner. And she set up the poetry group that I dearly, dearly love. We had a very good meal and wonderful conversation — good enough to trump my incredible exhaustion and jetlag. Last night I took something so I slept from 10pm all the way through to 7:30am, yee-ha. And hallelujah. I feel human today.
Lots of work to do so this bullet-point presentation must draw to an end. I hope it’s not as gray and drizzly where you are, unless you’re in Texas and need some drizzle and relief from heat!
For full project details, check my rav page for all projects completed in 2008.
#1 – I hadn’t knit in a couple of decades, and this was my ‘welcome back to knitting’ project. This pattern was written as a shawl, but I used a heavier yarn so I could use it as an afghan. Since I completed it, I’ve probably used it every single day. It lies over the arm of the couch, where I sit, and if I don’t drape it over my feet in the mornings while I drink my coffee and read the paper, I drape it over my legs in the evenings while I knit. I love it. Rav project page here.
Continue Reading–243 words totally
For full project details, check my rav page for all projects completed in 2008.
#1 – I hadn’t knit in a couple of decades, and this was my ‘welcome back to knitting’ project. This pattern was written as a shawl, but I used a heavier yarn so I could use it as an afghan. Since I completed it, I’ve probably used it every single day. It lies over the arm of the couch, where I sit, and if I don’t drape it over my feet in the mornings while I drink my coffee and read the paper, I drape it over my legs in the evenings while I knit. I love it. Rav project page here.
Kimono Shawl, by Cheryl Oberle (in Folk Shawls, by Interweave Press)
#2 – I wandered into Knitty City and saw this orange malabrigo sock yarn. I loved it so much I bought way too many skeins – 6 or 7, I think. It made a beautiful Lace Ribbon Scarf; I get compliments every time I wear it. It’s a lovely combination of wonderful yarn, fabulous color, and fascinating design. Nonknitters look at my hands in awe…you made that?…but the rest of us who knit know it’s a simple and great fun to knit pattern. Here’s mine [rav here]:
Lace Ribbon Scarf, by Veronik Avery (in malabrigo sock, terracotta)
the pattern is easy to memorize and fun to knit!
#3 and #4 – I had some beautiful Blue Sky Alpaca Suri Merino in this icy blue color, and wanted to make a scarf for a very dear friend. I had enough left over to knit a beret, which I have since lost! WHY! WHERE? So disappointing. The Reverse Cable and Eyelet Scarf was interesting to knit, since it seemed to be creating a diagonal. I loved the scalloped edge, which had a nice depth to it. I’d planned to make one for myself after giving this one away, but I got distracted!
Reverse Cable and Eyelet Scarf, by Jeni Chase
And here’s the long-lost beret, which I don’t think I ever wore except for the moment it came off the needles. I think I wasn’t all that satisfied with it, because it was too floppy and I should’ve used smaller needles. Anyway, here it was, my Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, by Natalie Larson [rav here]:
Star Crossed Slouchy Beret, by Natalie Larson
#5 – The Beaded Braided Hat by Lee Ann Bonson. I did mine sans bead, but this is a pattern I love, and have knit several times. The braiding around the band is very simple to do, even if it looks complicated, if you’ve never done it before. Really, easy peasy. Rav here.
Beaded Braided Hat, by Lee Ann Bonson
the hat before blocking - you can see the pattern on the band.
#6 – I made this cashmere neckwarmer (by Sarah Keller) for another very dear friend. The yarn is amazing: ArtYarns Cashmere 5, and fun to knit even if it’s splitty, so you have to pay attention. It does interesting things with pooling, which can be OK. What I didn’t know, and here’s where swatching would’ve saved me, is that I should not have wet blocked it. It completely lost its body. It became a limp, structureless rectangle. I have another skein, so I’ll try again one of these days. Rav here.
ArtYarns Cashmere5 - Cashmere Neckwarmer by Sarah Keller
#7 – This was a case of walking into Yarntopia, looking for something interesting, and falling in love with a yarn. We were going on a trip, as I recall, and I wanted something to knit but I didn’t have a clear idea. Before I knew it, I’d bought 9 skeins, and I still have a bunch in my stash. I made the Nancy Pygora Merino Lace Scarf by Myrna A.I. Stahman, and promptly gave the scarf away to my daughter Marnie when she was visiting, and needed something warm. My rav page here.
Nancy Pygora Merino Lace Scarf by Myrna A.I. Stahman, in Berroco Jasper
#8 – This Airy Scarf was another holiday present. My friend Yvonne is extremely feminine, girly, and I thought this little scarf would look great on her….and it does! I used KnitPicks Shimmer, hand-dyed lace yarn, and the only photo I have is pre-blocked. [rav here]
Airy Scarf by Brenda Overstrom (from Last Minute Knitted Gifts)
#9 and 10 – I participated in a neckwarmer swap here in New York City, and made this Celtic Cable Neckwarmer by Lindsay Henricks, using Berroco Jasper. The perfect buttons were purchased at Knitty City. Again, picture pre-blocking. This was before I got some discipline with both photography and blocking! I enjoyed the cabling, so I made a scarf with the same yarn and pattern, and just kept going past the neckwarmer length. First, the neckwarmer:
Celtic Cable Neckwarmer by Lindsay Henricks - cables are fun!
And now the scarf:
same yarn and pattern, but in longer scarf form
#11 – and now I got on a neckwarmer jag. I’d just moved here from Texas so I was new to the whole needing-to-warm-your-neck business. 
Here’s the same pattern, but in malabrigo. And again, absolutely perfect buttons courtesy of Knitty City [rav page here]:
Celtic Cable Neckwarmer by Lindsay Henricks, in malabrigo worsted
#12 – It was a tradition in my former husband’s family that each person who came into the family received a stocking, knitted by his mother. She had 6 children and 20 grandchildren by the time I came along, and she made a stocking for me, and for all 3 of my kids, just as she did for all the others. My kids still use theirs every year, so it’s up to me to make stockings for the newcomers in my clan. This was made for the 1st new entry to my family, my son-in-law Trey, who married my daughter Katie in June of 2008. The pattern is available, amazingly enough: Personalized Christmas Stocking From 1945 by Rae P. Burbank. [my rav page here]
Trey's stocking
By the end of this year, I’d become a full-fledged addict. I became a better knitter, a better photographer, and I had a LOT of fun.
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