kaeki knits

Marzipan'd!

2011-12-18T17:55:00.000-05:00

Every weekend has a different shape. Saturday is usually the day S and I spend outside -- last weekend, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and around our old neighborhood in Brooklyn; this weekend we dropped off compost* at the Union Square Farmer's market and then wandered as far East as we could go on 13th Street and then back again to have coffee at Think (our current favorite cafe).

Sundays, though, are "indoor" days (interspersed with walks because both of us are incapable of remaining inside for an entire day). That means cooking and project time. Today I gave the cake its final Cognac infusion and then wrapped it up in marzipan:

The next steps for the cake are to let it set for a week or so (to allow the marzipan to dry a bit so that it doesn't mess up the icing) and then finally cover it with fondant and any fancy decorations (I haven't decided what those will be yet...I suspect twiggy bits or leftover marzipan sculptures). In any case, the cake is back out in the hallway cooling its heels until next weekend.

And even though I don't celebrate Christmas anymore (it's a fraught time of year), I still love the idea of sending people "real" mail (and receiving it, too!). Last year, I made cards with stamps and ink -- it turned out to be much more fun and much easier than I thought it would be. So despite seriously considering not sending cards at all this year, I took over the kitchen table this morning and made a set of cards:

Now I just have to get them in the mail before the New Year....

And finally, after swearing to myself that "this weekend I'll polish the kettle, really!" I took on the Very Tarnished Kettle. At the end of the afternoon, it looked like this:

The next two weeks will be filled with many little projects like polishing the kettle -- it's time for a thorough, end-of-year cleaning spree (yes, kitchen curtains, that means you) to get ready for the New Year.

*The Lower East Side Ecology Center's composting program is perfect for urban dwellers: you bring your frozen compost and just dump it at the Farmer's Market. This means that stuff that we can't compost at home -- like coffee filters, tea bags, and citrus -- we can freeze and then just bring to Union Square once a week or so.

William, It Was Really Nothing

2011-12-12T19:00:00.000-05:00

I will confess: I bought this pattern within seconds of its publication purely because it is named for one of my all-time favorite Smiths songs. And not only that, but William, the adorable, 4,000 year old hippo who resides at the Met, inspired the creation of the pattern. Who wouldn't want to knit these mitts?

I cast on for these mitts last January (yes...as in almost a year ago now). By March I was itching not to wear wintry garb any more and by May it was too warm to glance at any wool projects, let alone work on them. And so they languished until this past weekend, when I finished up the first mitt and immediately cast on for the second. (That is one rule I always obey: casting on for the second something as soon as I bind off the first something. Mind you, I can now go off and ignore the second mitt for another year if I want to, but it has been started and that is The Rule).

Here is mitt one:

Hippo detail.

Front of the mitt...

Inside of the mitt (complete with blue thumb!)

Now I just need one more...

If I manage to finish the second mitt, it will be only the second stranded knitting project I've ever completed. I have abandoned mittens, Norwegian stockings, and most shockingly, a fair-isle vest. Stripes, no issues. Stranded color work, though...no go -- even though I love the process of doing stranded knitting.

Are there any particular types of knitting projects that never seem to get finished in your stash of unfinished objects?

More Cake!

2011-12-05T07:50:00.001-05:00

This weekend felt incredibly productive. The Christmas Cake is now in the "resting" phase and will be periodically fed Cognac; it has now taken up residence in the front hall where the temperature is a little cooler and where it will be out of the way (storage space is at a premium in our kitchen).

Fresh out of the oven...imagine the smell of nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon...

Into greaseproof paper and foil...

The cake has taken up residence with the L.L. Bean boots and the root vegetables.

I also managed to get a project that has been finished but languishing on the "wrap and mail" pile out the door -- and for some reason, just getting this project and the other two items suffering the same fate sorted out was an incredible relief (I had no idea how much stress that had been causing). Here's one of the projects:

Pre-quilted...

In the process of being quilted.

The baby playmat is now my go-to project whenever I find a friend is having a baby. It's simple to make* and the hand-quilting is not intimidating -- it's fun to think about where to make the stitches (in this case I stitched every "stem" on both sides of the quilt).

So...there probably won't be any excitement on the cake front until The Great Marzipan Adventure which should occur the weekend after next. That means I will get back to thinking about all my unfinished knitting projects and will ultimate decide to hand-stitch more hexies or work on my needlepoint iPhone case instead. (Is there such a thing as project-itis?? Because I think I have it).

*The original pattern for the Cheerful Quilted Playmat can be found here on The Purl Bee.

Adventures in Baking

2011-12-02T17:34:00.001-05:00

The idea started, as many ideas do, when I was reading a novel.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I found myself dipping in and out of various books including one of my favorites: Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising. The sentences that caught my fancy seemed innocuous enough:

The house was full of wonderful baking smells from the kitchen, in a corner of which Gwen could be found putting the final touches to the icing of the Christmas cake. Her mother had made the cake three weeks before; the Christmas pudding, three months before that. (p. 75)

I had read about -- and even eaten* -- Christmas puddings before but my brain stopped for a moment over the concept of Christmas "cake" that would have "icing". Within the next five minutes I had ditched the book and, based on some sketchy research on the interwebs, concocted a plan to make a traditional cake to celebrate the Winter Solstice...which meant that I would have needed to get busy about a month ago. No matter.

Here's what I've learned thus far about making a traditional, British Christmas/Solstice Cake:

1. Christmas Cake seems to be a moist cake comprised mostly of warming spices and liquor-infused dried fruits like raisins, sultanas, currents, and candied fruit like glacé cherries and candied peel; it bakes slowly and once it has finished baking, it is "fed" liquor in the weeks/months after it comes out of the oven and before Christmas. Once it has been properly fed, it is then wrapped in a sheet of marzipan (yum!!) and finally iced with either royal icing or fondant.

2. If you try to buy glacé cherries at a British import store in New York on December 1st, you will receive a doleful look and will then be informed that the glacé cherries arrive in September, which is the appropriate time to begin making one's cake.

3. Glacé cherries -- a key ingredient in Christmas cake -- are strange and far more difficult to find in a city where one is supposedly able to buy anything at any time. (I ended up buying them at Garden of Eden on 14th Street. And no, they were not organic, alas. Maybe next year I'll make my own).

4. The recipe I'm using for this cake includes 1/2 a teaspoon of a mysterious substance called "Mixed Spice." I was not able to find mixed spice at the import store either (and to be honest, was a bit afraid to ask for it due to the shame of starting my cake so late) so will make my own using this recipe.

5. The next adventure in Sourcing Ingredients will be trying to find sheets of marzipan -- so far I've struck out at finding anything other than little tubes of it. (I may need to order it online).

Aside from this learning, I've accomplished Step One of making the cake -- soaking the dried fruit in liquor (in this case Cognac):

(Look at those cherries!)

Tomorrow I'll pull together the Mixed Spice and will set about to baking the cake. I have a feeling that will be another adventure...

Smitten(s)

2011-02-10T17:38:00.000-05:00

It has been a cold, cold winter here in Jersey City and the fingerless mitts that I knit for Stephen several years ago just aren’t cutting it any longer. So I dragged out The Knitter’s Book of Patterns, knit up a swatch, almost immediately lied to myself about what gauge I had gotten, knit what I’m calling a “test” mitten whose top looked like the head of a sleestak, set it aside and decided to start over again.

“Smittens”, or Stephen’s Mittens, are the result of using a more appropriate yarn and NOT lying to myself about gauge. The red stripe on the one of the mitten’s was Stephen’s contribution to the design and I just love it. It reminds me of a pair of rubber boots I had growing up that were shiny black with a red stripe at the top. He wanted a red stripe on the right-hand mitten so he’d always know which one it is.

One Summer Never Ends...

2010-08-16T19:00:00.012-04:00

This summer has been filled with knitting, sewing, gardening, dyeing with last summer's dahlias and marigolds, and new experiences like making jam -- happiness! What I'm looking forward to most from this work is opening the raspberry/blueberry/currant jam at midwinter and tasting summer again.

Finished Objects!!!

2009-11-05T17:30:00.000-05:00

It has been a productive Fall for knitting so far -- I've finished a pair of socks for Stephen, am 85% finished with a pair for me, and have just finished up the Pretty Thing cowl. Without further adieu, here's the evidence:

Spey Valley socks for Stephen -- he took them for their first test drive at The Common Ground Fair this September.

This is Lacunae -- which I decided to knit in part because I think the pattern is interesting and in part because "lacuna/ae" was always one of my favorite words in academia...

...isn't it cool how the pattern opens up to show the spaces between the ribbing (the proverbial lacunae)? These two photos show the first sock in progress -- I'm at about the same point with the second sock now. This is my PATH train knitting project so I probably get to knit about 5 rounds a day (it's a short commute...)

Finally, we have the afore-mentioned "Pretty Thing" cowl. I've been wanting to knit a cowl for an age because as anyone who knows me at all knows, I would wear a turtleneck even in the middle of July if I could get away with it, and a cowl is essentially a stand-alone turtleneck. This cowl is knit from a wool/angora (rabbit) blend that is stunningly soft and warm.

...and is also well known, I always pull my turtlenecks over my chin...this cowl is so soft and fluffy that I might just never take it off.

I have some traveling to do this weekend which is always good for knitting -- I hope to finish Lacunae, seam a Baby Surprise Jacket, and start another pair of socks...we'll see!

Candy Stick Wool

2009-09-07T21:19:00.003-04:00

I returned home from a trip to Minnesota to find this waiting for me and promptly burst into tears:

Bobbins from left to right: merino, bamboo/merino, alpaca.

Why tears? Because it was a total surprise; I'd been talking about buying or making a lazy kate for an age and had done nothing about it. While I was traveling, Stephen made one for me (out of a box that had contained contractor bags, a detail I quite enjoy) -- and even covered it with paper and set up the 3 loose bobbins that were lying around.

What's funny, too, is that I would never have considered combining the blue/green/white together but I like it -- the white alpaca softens and helps blend the blue/green tones; it reminds me of candy sticks I used to buy on car trips when I was growing up. It reminds me, too, that it's good to get a different perspective on colors and textures, too.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-08-20T15:03:00.001-04:00

Time for a mid-August garden update:

I wasn't expecting the Hopi Black Dye sunflowers to be poly-headed but we have one that is out of control! I've been able to harvest two sunflower heads which are drying in the study right now.

Closeup of an immature sunflower. My test for seed "done-ness" is to wait until the center of the flower turns dark and the bracts begin to shrivel.

Cosmos, purple basil, dahlias, and black-eyed susans.

A mound of dahlias....I now have four tupperwares filled with flowers in the freezer.

There are two pots of black-eyed susans (one of flowers and one of leaves) steeping in the kitchen right now -- I'm hoping to dye some yarn this weekend so stay tuned!

What To Do At The Laundromat

2009-08-05T18:51:00.001-04:00

Tie teeny, tiny knots on the fringe of my scarf...I'm really almost done!!

Flowers, Yarn, and a Finished Object!

2009-07-14T21:11:00.002-04:00

What an amazing couple of weeks: the weather has been like what I remember summers were during my New England childhood (70's to low 80's, sunny, and dry), I spent a wonderful long weekend in Portland, Maine, the garden is exploding with flowers, and I finished both a skein of wool AND the Fiddlehead scarf.

First, the finished objects:

Fiddlehead is what became of my first experiment dying wool with an indigo vat. I've soaked the finished scarf thoroughly in salt water to ward off turning my neck blue when I wear it in the fall. We'll see how well that goes...stay tuned. The pattern itself is easy to memorize and very forgiving -- just what I look for in a lace pattern.

Next up is my first attempt at 3-ply — "New Day" (Spunky Eclectic's February 2009 fiber...SURPRISE! I'm way behind in my spinning...):

It's a dangerous place for yarn in this household. Between cats and crazy yarn slugs...no yarn is safe...

As an aside -- if anyone is searching for a good video tutorial on how to create 3-ply from singles, check out this. It's very clear and accessible. Reading how to navajo ply wasn't working for me, just because of my learning style. I had to see it in action to understand it.

Last but not least, here's a look at garden progress! I've been gathering marigolds and cosmos to dry. Dahlias and zinnias have just started appearing; I've been keeping flowers in a tupperware wedged in the back of the freezer. Here's a look at the latest:

There's progress on the weaving front too -- more on that soon.

Dyer's Garden

2009-06-30T17:25:00.003-04:00

One of the things that has made me happiest in the past few months has been working on the Dyer's Garden that Stephen designed for me in his Urban Garden Design Class at Brooklyn Botanic Garden last fall. If you click the image in the post, you'll see all the plants we're growing in our 9 x 6 plot as well as a key listing what color each plant should yield. (My favorite two things about the garden map itself -- besides all the care and thought that went into creating it -- are the compass rose and the leafy 'M').

We spent the winter gathering seeds and growing seedlings...and then turned over the plot in April. But now the flowers are starting to come up, at last. Here are some images:

French Brocade marigolds, grown from seed. Once you realize you can dye with marigolds, you never look at this common border plant the same way...

Cheery Cosmos...these are from seeds we gathered last year.

Two Coreopsis plants. We had planned on ~~yellow~~ [ed. maroon] Coreopsis, but found these pink plants instead. I'm not sure what color they'll yield (if any), but it will be fun to find out.

This is a Hopi Black Dye Sunflower -- I cannot wait to see how it is coming along!

This is a view of our crazy Dahlias, Black Eyed Susans, the mound of Madder (which will take forever to establish itself, so no dye from that this year), and the Hopi Red Dye Amaranth in the background.

All the plants are coming along now that it has gotten a bit warmer and isn't raining incessantly. This year is my "experiment and see what happens" year -- I have no idea how any of this will turn out. Regardless, it's fun to play in the dirt and admire the flowers.

Embarking on Weaving I Final Project

2009-05-27T18:40:00.003-04:00

I think my favorite aspect of weaving so far is that it allows me to bring together all the bits and pieces of yarn, ribbon, fabric, images, thoughts that I've been gathering for so many years. I finally DO have a reason to use the scraps of ribbon left over from dresses my mother made me when I was growing up or the few odd yards of a spinning experiment. Here's how some of the work for my latest project is shaping up:

You can see more here.

Adventures in Weaving...

2009-05-14T16:50:00.003-04:00

It was inevitable, really. First knitting and crochet...then spinning, with a dash of sewing thrown in on the side. Back in February, I decided I couldn't resist the lure of the loom any longer and signed up for Weaving I at The Yarn Tree, taught by Linda LaBelle. Class started on April 16th and as of yesterday, we completed our first 2.5 yd. warp as a sampler of various techniques. Click here to see!

But Fiddleheads Are Green, Aren't They?

2009-04-09T20:14:00.002-04:00

I've actually knit more that two stitches in the past week or so! After finishing a couple of crocheted wash cloths and a hat (the hat might have been completed in, um, January and has yet to be documented...), I found myself wanting to knit something similar to Branching Out -- rewarding but not incredibly difficult, and quick to knit. Enter Fiddlehead...

The next challenge was figuring out what yarn to use (without a trip to The Stockinette or The Point). Ever since my adventures with indigo this past August, I've been thinking about how to use the yarn spun with sterling silver:

Here's how it's knitting up (the sparkle isn't as clear in these photos but it's there):

The only downside about this yarn for this particular project is that even though the pattern is easy to memorize and would make a good commuting project, as witnessed by my last post, my hands turn blue everytime I knit more than a row. It's all about lessons learned, right? (Must make sure that I give this a good soaking in water and vinegar when it's done so that I don't turn my neck blue when I wear it...).

Knitter's Tatoo

2009-03-16T21:12:00.001-04:00

This is what happens if you don't finish off your indigo-dyed wool well enough...the dreaded "crocking." I kind of like the look though. Maybe if I ever got a tatoo...

Happy

2009-01-06T12:49:00.001-05:00

Late Afternoon

2009-01-04T17:28:00.001-05:00

One of my definitions of heaven.

Consumed...

2009-01-03T13:15:00.001-05:00

Light in an Unexpected Place

2009-01-01T16:24:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, I spent miles of film taking photos of light reflected on my bedroom walls. Today's light is a reflection off the hundreds of windows of the building across the way.

Party Like It's 1979

2008-12-30T18:59:00.001-05:00

I love fondue. One of my favorite things about it, though, is the inevitable '70s Scandanavian ski-lodge images on the packaging.

Whimsy

2008-12-27T15:32:00.001-05:00

Smiling lamp post in lower Manhattan.

Tonight's Offering

2008-12-26T16:41:00.001-05:00

The pears are being poached on the stove at this moment; the cheese is for a cheese plate before dinner.

Home Grown

2008-12-25T18:09:00.001-05:00

Mesclun, from our window garden.

Food is Love

2008-12-24T14:44:00.001-05:00

The thing that has caught my eye today is my mum's recipe box. It contains the best brownie recipe.

23rd Street

2008-12-23T09:46:00.001-05:00

Much of my life in New York has centered around 23rd St. I have developed a grudging respect for its commercialism.

Let's Play, Shall We?

2008-12-22T15:32:00.002-05:00

My friend Lisa sent these to me recently. I have them displayed in my office and they make me incredibly happy when I look at them.

Solstice

2008-12-21T13:55:00.002-05:00

Coffee on a snowy Sunday afternoon.

Winter Colors

2008-12-20T15:09:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking about posting photos of things that make me happy or for which I an thankful. Here's today's image:

Acadia

2008-11-02T20:43:00.002-05:00

This past September, Stephen and I escaped for a week to Maine -- central Maine for our foray to the aforementioned Common Ground Fair and then Southwest Harbor for hiking/playing in Acadia. It was one of the best vacations we'd had in a while because we spent most of our time outside and off the information-overload grid; we climbed things and hiked and ate pop-overs at Jordan Pond House and spent time lying around and reading. Returning to work caused literal pain from having to sit in a chair for too many hours a day. (I never thought of myself as an "outdoor" person when I was growing up...but I think that's because my family had a big yard that I completely took for granted. After living without a yard for years and years I long to be outside as much as I can).

So imagine my joy when the September Spunky Eclectic club arrived -- 4 oz. of hand-painted Finn fiber named "Acadia" and inspired by the colors of MDI. Here it is off the bobbin:

All I Need is Snow...

2008-11-02T20:04:00.002-05:00

...so that I can wear these!

The yarn is 30/70 wool/mohair and came from Fibah For Ewe's tent at the Common Ground Fair The second I saw the color of this yarn I thought it had to become mittens with a string to keep them in my coat, just like little kids wear. The mittens are done but the i-cord is still in progress, buried in a project bag underneath socks I'm working on for Stephen (which are not exciting enough for progress photos yet).

As an aside, since this has been The Year of the Fair (between Minnesota, Common Ground, and Rhinebeck): the Common Ground Fair is the complete antithesis of the Minnesota State Fair -- they don't allow vendors to sell caffeine and the fried dough is whole wheat -- surprisingly good because fried is fried, lets face it. Despite the complete lack of fried cheese and coffee at the Common Ground Fair, I love them both -- and the CGF sells all kinds of gorgeous wool and fleece, too.

Back From Oblivion....

2008-10-26T22:12:00.001-04:00

When my best friend Karen asked me the other day if I was still knitting and spinning, my first thought was "well, of course, it's really all I ever spend my time thinking about!" When she said she missed seeing what I'm working on posted to kaekiknits, though, I realized that I hadn't written since January.

Now it's October and Rhinebeck has just come and gone, and my spinning wheel is almost a year old, and I've done my first indigo vat, and am working with Stephen on a plan for a dyer's garden next summer, and have spun up almost all my Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club fibers. It has been a fiber filled 10 months, albeit quiet (fiber-wise at least) ones.

In any case, here is some of my favorite spinning so far this year...I'll save dyeing and knitting (there hasn't been much actual knitting) for later.

Alpaca & Silk...and Banana, the Guard Cat:

In about March or April, I got brave enough to spin the alpaca/silk blend that I'd found at The Yarn Tree after I first learned to spin with a drop-spindle. This photo also allows me to include a gratuitous photo of Banana. :)

Here is my all time favorite fiber, Wensleydale. This was the April Spunky Eclectic subscription called "Perfect Storm":

I still have 8oz. of undyed Wensleydale awaiting its turn on the wheel and the dyepot...

Two other favorite spins were Rosebud, a Corriedale (just like "Rare Earth," the first "real" yarn I spun and plied) and Eclipse (Romney):

I normally don't love pink/rose shades, but love the mixture of pink and green in this fiber. It really does remind me of the flower and stem of a rose.

I added Romney to the list of Longwools I Love...

Last weekend looked like this at the spinning workshop:

Afternoons don't get more perfect than that...

This weekend looked more like this:

Thermograph was August's Spunky Eclectic offering...I loved working with it because of its softness and loftiness.

...and:

This skein (approx. 177 yds.) is now drying on the back of the bathroom door.

Next up? A toss up between this treasure -- some of the stock remaining from Tongue River Farm's Icelandic flock:

..or this:

...which I call 'Heaven in a Bag....aka, Llama Down.

Next up...a finished object (don't fall over in shock...)

2008-01-15T21:04:00.000-05:00

I must betray an insecurity about posting to this blog without links or photos. I have a tendency to either intuit unspoken rules or to impose rules on myself without realizing it (and yes, sometimes the two become confused), and one of the rules I've absorbed (or imposed on myself) is that unless I have a work in progress or a finished object to share, I have no content.

When I read that sentence over again, it seems ridiculous -- why would posting an image mean that I have content but a few paragraphs of words would not? And as a not-particularly speedy "process" knitter who will never have a ongoing parade of finished objects to reveal, what ends up happening is that I end up not posting at all.* Today, instead of yielding to the hegemony of visual imagery or of not blogging, I'll tell you a story.**

The dyes we used in the dyeing class at The Point last summer made an impression on me: they were powders in tinted, 4 ounce glass jars with metal lids; the color of the dyes often looked nothing like the actual color once mixed with water. They were made by Aljo Manufacturing, which happens to be on Franklin Street in New York, just below Canal Street.

Last Saturday, in search of a "Manhattan quest," I came up with the idea of finding 81-83 Franklin Street and buying dyes at Aljo. S & I took the train to the World Trade Center stop and wandered uptown; standing on the sidewalk outside of 83 Franklin, it was hard not to feel as if we had somehow ended up in the wrong place. There was no store front -- just a cream-colored building, sidewalk grates with tiny glass circles embedded in them, and a few clothing stores/art galleries scattered around the block. Admitting defeat, I called Aljo and was directed to the appropriate buzzer to push and S & I found our way to the back of the building.

Aljo's space is amazing -- vast, high ceilings, hard wood file cabinets, and shelf after shelf of every kind of dye in every imaginable color. In the very back of the space was a milky glass ceiling that looked like it should be the roof of the garret in La Boheme and a workspace with a stainless steel sink and a countertop covered with cloth dye samples.

We introduced ourselves to the man tending the shop and I asked about dyes for wool; he showed me the color cards and I contemplated what to get: military green, moss green, dark brown, and milling blue. It was the most wonderful feeling to stand in the space and think just about color -- what color I was going to use to dye the Wensleydale. And as a New Year's gesture, the man gave me two color samples, too, so I chose colors I wouldn't normally pick: turquoise and aubergine (both of which are fun to say "turquoise and aubergine...").

It felt like finding treasure to shop at Aljo -- a New York moment, where what you see on the street is not what's really inside. (And just as a note, "Military Green" mixed with a bit of black is what I used for the Wensleydale fleece in the last post).

More soon.

*I tend to write paragraphs of scintillating text about projects, the weather, books, and life in general in my mind on a regular basis and then never let them out...the same thing happens with people as well. I write many, many emails in my mind that are never sent, alas.

**Are there words any more exciting than that? They're some of my favorite words in the English language, although it does matter a bit who says them...there would be a big difference between hearing a them from a tedious relative or co-worker than from your most entertaining friend.

Moss

2008-01-13T20:27:00.000-05:00

I have so many thoughts jostling for primacy in my brain right now -- thoughts on knitting, spinning, dying wool, blogging -- mostly about the place of each in my own life and in modern life in general. But because my brain hurts too much to write out elegant thoughts on the role of any of those things in my life at the moment, I'll show you how I spent much of this weekend instead: dying half a pound of Wensleydale fleece and starting to spin it into lace weight singles. I felt so happy to mix dye solution over damp newspapers covering the kitchen counter, happy to be soaking wool in water splashed with vinegar, happiest of all to watch wool turn from creamy white to dark, bottle green in an instant.

Here's a look:

Light filtered through fleece...

Fleece laid out to dry...

Spun the second it seemed dry enough...only 949 more yards to go...

The color is exactly the color I had in my mind -- the deep, not quite constant color of moss that grows on rocks in the New England woods. In actuality, the fleece is not quite as yellow as it looks in bright light; when spun, it maintains the Wensleydale sheen. I intend to spin up as close to 950 yards as I can get (which should be an adventure for many reasons, including that I don't have any idea how many yards I can get out of 8oz. of fleece...but no matter, I will spin onwards and see what happens because, really, why not??) for the Myrtle Leaf shawl from Victorian Lace Today. My other favorite shawl from the book is the Knitted Veil in Pyrenees wool, but that calls for 1300 yards of yarn and for some reason, that amount of yardage seemed beyond reach. (Let's not even discuss the terror that a knitted-on lace border strikes in my heart...I'll cope with that when I get there).

More later...

In Which Our Intrepid Spinner Revels in Ordinary Time

2008-01-05T20:53:00.000-05:00

One of the ways I marked time when I was growing up was through the missals at St. Richard's Church. The missals were printed on thin, smudgy, newspaper-quality paper and had pastel-colored covers; they led one through all the parts of the mass. The missals for Christmas and Easter were always much fatter -- they included extra prayers and incantations.* But the time between the Epiphany and the start of Lent -- those few weeks -- was the first period of "Ordinary Time" in the year. No special prayers, nothing extra -- just the ritual of the mass, stripped down to its essence, and no more.

I loved Ordinary Time then because it was always a relief to return to routines after the disruption of Christmas and Easter. Now I consider Ordinary Time the time of the year when I can focus on the mundane, day-to-day tasks of living -- the time before spring when nature rests and I can turn inward and settle down. It's acceptable to be indoors at night because it's dark and cold; cooking feels like less of a chore because I can spend time in the kitchen with a warming stove. I can drink endless mugs of hot beverages, switching between coffee and cocoa and tea; holding the warm mug is a comfort.

I'm getting the same sense of happiness from spinning. On the one hand it feels very "ordinary" to me to do, and I try to make time for it every night that I'm home (this hasn't even been remotely possible for the last few weeks, but I know it's what I'll do when I hop off the computer). On the other hand, though, spinning continues to feel like magic. Just in time for a 12 degree (F) day, I knit a scarf with yarn I'd spun from gorgeous, silky, dyed Wensleydale top (from Hello Yarn)...it was a completely different experience from spinning the pencil-roving Corriedale (of course!). I had to learn that instead of pre-drafting the life out of the top the way I would with my Dorset top, I was better off just pulling off a thin strip, pre-drafting just a little, and starting to spin. The yarn is unevenly spun at best, but I don't care -- I made it and made something out of it and it made me so happy. So here's a peek:

This longwool has gorgeous sheen and drape...I've just ordered some undyed Wensleydale to dye and spin into laceweight singles...

From skein to ball...next up, actual knitting...

Drapey goodness...it's also incredibly warm and has a good heft.

The "artistic" finished object shot...

I hope you're enjoying your "Ordinary Time"!

*My favorite of these was a sort of "stage play" on the Palm Sunday, when the congregation would get to play the crowd telling Pontius Pilate to free Barabas instead of Jesus. How I remember this 20 years later, I have no idea...

Rare Earth

2007-11-29T20:08:00.000-05:00

Fiber: Crown Mountain Farms Corriedale Pencil Roving
Colorway: Rare Earth
Started: 11/21/07
Finished: 11/28/07
Yardage: 2-ply, approx. 240 yards

I adored working with this fiber -- from the muted colors, the way different colors combined when I plied the yarn, to the ease of pre-drafting the fiber. It was a joy to work with. I am so grateful that my Coffee Swap Pal Marisol sent it to me!!

Any thoughts on what I should make with this yarn? I'm thinking along the lines of a scarf; I don't have very many yards, but I'd love to be able to throw something over my shoulders or around my neck. Another option might be to make fingerless mittens. Time to consult Barbara Walker's Treasuries for stitch pattern inspiration; I'm thinking the yarn calls for something simple so that the colors take precedence.

If you'd like to see more photos, I've posted them here.

At Last!

2007-11-12T22:32:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, Stephen and I drove to Mahwah, NJ, where we met with Lea Bennett (formerly known as The Wheelwright) to try out a Kromski Mazurka spinning wheel. I'd been coveting the Mazurka since I'd seen one painted bright orange at the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg the summer before last.

When tried the Mazurka, though, I couldn't get comfortable -- I couldn't get the wheel to start in the right direction without using my hands and I couldn't make sense of the treadle. The wheel itself didn't feel solid on the ground -- it felt like it might slide away across the floor. (As a very very new spinner, I suspect that all these issues have more to do with my lack of experience than the wheel itself).

But then I tried the Minstrel -- a double treadle wheel on a solid base -- and it just worked right away. I could start the wheel with the pedals alone, and despite a little groaning sound from the leather ties on the pedals, the action felt smooth and even. I love the wheel and have been having a hard time prying myself away from it so that I can blog about it.

Last night, I filled a bobbin with fleece from Bubbles, the sheep I adopted from Owens Farm in 2006. I figure since I have 5 pounds of roving, I can burn through a lot of it without worrying about running out of fiber. Here's a look at the beginning of the first bobbin last night...

(Notice that it's self-plying! That's a feature, not a flaw, right?)

...and here's a look at the finished bobbin in the light of morning:

Here's a view of the wheel itself (I started in on the first roving I ever tried working with -- from my Hello Yarn drop-spindle kit):

...and here's a view of tonight's work (I love the gold/greenish colors at the far left end of the bobbin):

I am having a hard time figuring out when I'll actually knit again now that the wheel is here...it might be a while now before Fyne is finished...

Fyne Update...

2007-10-24T23:25:00.000-04:00

Here's Fyne's latest progress as of tonight. I didn't manage to finish Fyne before Rhinebeck -- in fact, I could barely work on it during the drive up because I was too excited! This year we spent more time watching the border collies, sheep auction, and goat judging; I did manage to spend almost every penny of my alloted cash budget, though.

Some of the treasure included sock yarn that Stephen and I plan to dye charcoal gray and I'll knit up into socks for him:

...and some hard-won, naturally dyed wool from Snow Star Farm (hard won because I broke the cardinal rule of shopping by not buying the wool right away and thinking it would still be there when I got back later...it was only because someone else had abandoned the purple skein that I was able to take it home):

I was sorely tempted to buy an entire Philospher's Wool fair isle kit -- in part because the proprietors were so much fun to talk with and partly because the kits were gorgeous and I'm on a fair isle kick, after all -- but resisted because it was early in the day and I would have spent half my budget in the first hour of the day. I did pick up their DVD, though, and if it's half as valuable as the tip Eugene Bourgeois gave me about weaving the yarn held in the left hand, it will be worth the price. (Click here for an excerpt explaining the weaving technique)

The other exciting find came from Hope Spinnery -- 2 containers of Earthues dyes. I've had my eye on the kits available from Earthues and from Halcyon Yarn, but I was happy to find the instruction book and containers for individual sale so that I play around before committing to an entire set of dyes.

It all just made me so happy to be there -- to be outside on a beautiful day, see so many people who also love fiber-ey pursuits and to gather treasure...it doesn't get any better.

Keep Your Hands on the Wheel...

2007-10-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

At last...after thinking (and thinking) for a year about learning to spin using a wheel* I took a one-hour lesson with Alexandra Sarkozy at The Point! (Click here for photos). The experience of learning to spin was exhilarating -- once I got beyond my fear that I was never going to get the wheel spinning in the right direction or wind yarn on to the bobbin instead of unwinding it all. By the end of the lesson, I had spun a few yards of real, live yarn, which I'll find some way to knit into a project. (I was so proud of making actual yarn that I wrapped it around my hand on my walk home from the train and then ran into the house shouting to Stephen while holding out my hand, "Look what I made!!! It's yarn!").

I learned three important things at this lesson:

1. I really really really desperately want a spinning wheel.
2. For me at least, pre-drafting the yarn is critical. (What I tend to do when I use a drop spindle is allow too much twist into the yarn because I'm not moving my hands up the fiber quickly enough. I end up spending way too much time wrestling with tugging the fiber apart in the drafting zone and then all the yarn underneath turns into a mass of spirals).
3. I really really really desperately want a spinning wheel.

If you live in the NY metro area and have been thinking about learning to spin on a wheel, I highly recommend taking a class with Alexandra -- besides having great skill as a spinner, she is also patient and encouraging -- both important characteristics when you're learning something completely new. The coolest thing about learning to spin, though, is that even though the first yarn might not look like art-spun or manufactured yarn, you won't care because you made it yourself!

So now, off to research wheels....

*My brain came up with the following excuses for not taking spinning lessons, all of which are absolutely lame, I know: it will be too expensive to take lessons/I'll need to buy a wheel and that will be expensive/when will I have time/what if I end up creating the ugliest yarn in the universe?? The answers to all these objections ended up being: no it won't be too expensive to take a lesson/I desperately want a wheel now but they are made in all different price ranges/I'll make the time/and who cares if the yarn is ugly!

More Fyne, and Harvest Season

2007-10-14T16:19:00.000-04:00

Okay -- so I have six days and counting until S & I set off for Rhinebeck, and that means that I've got to finish up the back of Fyne tonight if I can and at least set a good start of the front. I'm so happy that I knit up to the arm decreases in the round -- I'm finding it less fun to purl while carrying two strands of yarn than knit (I think this is because I'm not quite comfortable purling continental style).

In any case, here's where I am now progress-wise:

So far, my favorite color sequence is the brown-rust-turquoise combination:

Aside from knitting, though, Stephen and I spent the day with our friend Shara on a quick trip to Hacklebarney Farm in Chester, NJ, where we picked pumpkins and bought apples for our annual apple pie baking fest. Here are the tiny pumpkins I picked from the patch:

This year were were able to buy some "antique" varieties of apples (whose names I can't remember, of course); the apples were smaller and delicate looking than grocery store apples. They baked up into the most delicious pie I've eaten in ages, too.

Coffee Swap Three Questionnaire!

2007-10-14T15:59:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to post the answer to these questions for a week! At long last, here they are:

1. Whole bean or ground? Whole Bean
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Dark and fully-loaded
3. Regular or flavored? Regular
4. How do you drink your coffee? I drink my coffee with half and half; if I'm eating it with a sweet, I don't take sugar, but other wise, I usually sneak in a cube of brown sugar.
5. Favorite coffee ever? This is a very difficult question to answer because for me, drinking coffee has as much to do with where I'm drinking it and with whom. If I had to choose, though, I'd have to say one of my favorite coffee experiences was drinking coffee with thick crema at cafes in Amsterdam on my first visit there in 1996.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? This feels like a loaded question :) I am definitely fussy when I'm purchasing, but am not fussy when something is being given to me.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? There's nothing like a pain au chocolat with coffee on a Saturday morning. At other times, I love a tiny sliver of deep, dark chocolate with my coffee.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? Nope!
9. Yarn/fiber you love? I'm all about animal fiber -- naturally dyed shetland, cashmere, angora, squishy merino.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Anything acrylic, or mass-produced novelty. I shy away from plant fibers, too, although that's more because I don't know how to work with them as well as I do with wool.
11. What's on your needles? Fyne, from the latest Rowan, and the Dahlia sock from The Petals Collection
12. Favorite colors? I love almost all shades of green. Otherwise, I prefer natural dyes instead of bright dyes regardless of color family. Ochre, midnight blue, rust, goldenrod...it's all good. :)
13. Allergies? Nope!

Catching Up!

2007-10-12T19:29:00.000-04:00

This is what distracted me for most of last week and part of this one:

Stephen and I, along with our friend Karen, spent a long weekend in Monhegan, an island about 10 miles off the coast of Maine. It was glorious to spend time in a place where I didn't have access to my computer and couldn't get a cell phone signal. Instead, we spent mornings running around like crazy through the woods (respectfully crazy, that is...Monhegan is a fragile environment and not a playground) and the afternoons sitting around looking at the harbor. I made great progress on Fynn -- here's a quick look at Fynn playing in the sunshine:

...and a look at how I rigged up a system so that the chart wouldn't blow away:

Our route to Monhegan took us through Bath, the home of Halcyon Yarn. I could have spent hours there, wandering through the huge rooms, each filled with tidy skeins and cones of yarn; Stephen and Karen indulged me for quite a while, though, and I managed to escape with two skeins of luscious, espresso brown silk and sock blockers:

I must not think about this silk until Fynn is done though...what do you think the chances of that will be?

Dyeing Class at The Point

2007-09-29T10:28:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, I took a class in yarn dyeing at The Point. We started out by soaking the wool in water and vinegar, and then while it set, gathered examples of colors we wanted to create. My classmate chose a skein of Noro as her inspiration; I turned to the Highland spread in the latest Rowan magazine. The instructor, Megan, suggested no more than 4 or 5 colors, so I tried to recreate heather, stone, moss, and the gold of the fields in late afternoon sun. While I love the results, it's a little brighter than I had envisioned. Next time I'll emphasize even more of the gray stone and tried for a more olive green and mustard yellow. Here's a look at the end result:

I was so excited by the finished skeins, though, that I want to run to Aljo and buy more acid dye this afternoon. In the meantime, though, I've been working up the yarn in a feather and fan pattern. It looks a bit like a riotous garden:

The greatest epiphany I had during this class, though, was that the last time I dyed yarn at home was at the old apartment which did not have a microwave. Now that I have a microwave (which we hardly ever use), I think the process of dying yarn will be a lot quicker! Now I have to get my hands on a lot more undyed wool...

Delicious Knits

2007-09-27T21:49:00.000-04:00

Stephen, ever on the lookout for knitting-inspired information, found this and sent it to me the other day.

What's funny is that while I do have the patience to knit fair-isle, I don't think I'd stand a chance at being able to decorate cupcakes...too tempting to eat the frosting instead!

Fun with Fair Isle

2007-09-23T16:36:00.000-04:00

I had forgotten how much I love doing color-work. It doesn't stress me out the same way that lace does -- it's easier for me to see the patterns in color rather than in texture. (I'm always forgetting yo's in my lace work and then trying to figure out whether it's possible to pick up a stitch and pretend it's a yo without damaging the pattern...alas).

In any case, I've finally made it past the ribbing and am onto the pattern! Here's a first look:

I've changed out the colors from the original pattern because Linden Hills Yarn had a granny-smith green I could use as the base instead of the oatmeal-like color used in the original...that meant I ended up trying to find other combinations of yarns that could work together as well, like the pale turquoise-ish blue and the purple:

...and then there's this yummy chocolate brown, hiding in the corner of the bag:

I actually haven't figured out where the chocolate brown will appear in the pattern yet, but I have a feeling it will work itself in somehow. For some reason, I'm finding this pattern very liberating. If I feel like using a color at some point in the pattern, I will, and if I don't, I'll just stash it.

Working with felted tweed is lovely, too -- the alpaca gives the wool a very soft hand. I can imagine this pattern knit up in a "scratchier," firmer wool, but it would be much less fun to work with that texture.

Okay -- back to knitting...

First Look at Fyne...

2007-09-16T20:05:00.000-04:00

Knitting photos don't get much more exciting than views of 3x2 ribbing in a dark color, do they? The excitement of it all is almost too much to bear:

I'm debating whether to take this project with me to Boston this week -- there will be 7 hours of time spent on the train there and back again so it's tempting, but packing all the various colors and then doing color-work in a small space could be tricky. I suspect its fate will be to be packed and then left in the bag...but I'll be happy it's there.

What's That? NOT a Sock?

2007-09-06T16:23:00.000-04:00

This stack of Rowan Tweed won't be for a sock...its fate is to become Fyne and my goal is to start and finish it before Rhinebeck (!!!). This could very well be a fool's errand, but there's nothing like setting forth on a clearly defined yet seemingly impossible challenge, right? It could be so much worse -- I could be trying to knit up Venezia before Rhinebeck. (It's important to make sure that there are goals that seem even more far fetched than the one I've chosen. This is what I keep telling myself).

Lest you think that there are no socks in the queue, I finished up Lenten Rose and left them with their intended recipient last weekend in Minneapolis and immediately cast on for Dahlia, the late spring offering from the Petals Collection. I love the color of these socks and I love the pattern, too -- and despite the knit tbls, it's so much easier than Pomatomus (my standard for sock difficulty). Here's Dahlia reclining on the pattern for Fyne:

I had cast on for Fyne already but after knitting 3 rows of ribbing decided that it was insanity NOT to knit this in the round. Tonight's adventure will involve watching football while casting on 238 stitches and knitting many inches of 3x2 ribbing. I'll be so happy to get to the colorwork by the time that's finished...

From the Land of Sky Blue Water...

2007-08-30T17:34:00.000-04:00

I always experience a bit of shock when I arrive in Minnesota. Stephen and I have flown in for the weekend; I'm working Thursday and Friday, but we're also visiting friends, going to the State Fair, and spending Sunday and Monday with Stephen's parents. The sky seems so wide and bright here, though -- I always spend the first few minutes after landing looking around feeling lost because everything feels so open (and clean). It's never a bad thing, and I do like it here. It makes me realize what an urban, east-coast creature I've become, though.

One thing I did discover this morning on the flight to Minnesota is that it IS possible to wind a skein of sock yarn while on a plane (but only if you're on an aisle and are flying with someone you know who's sitting in the middle seat). It kept me well amused for a good 40 minutes Now I've just have to finish 3 pattern repetitions and the toe of Lenten Rose so I can give it to its intended recipient!

Happiness Is...

2007-08-19T18:17:00.000-04:00

...a mocha from Coffee Labs and an almost-finished baby sock for a friend

(Here's a closer look at the sock)

...and a new skein of Colinette Jitterbug

Perfect!

2007-08-13T21:57:00.000-04:00

Look what was awaiting me in an envelope marked "An Owl Bearing Socks"!!

Look at those gorgeous colors!! All my favorites -- greens and royal purples and blues... The yarn is Lorna's Laces and it's a wonderful mixture between softness and structure. (Oh, and yes, even in high summer, my legs really are that pale...or should I say "alabaster" as my friend Karen prefers to call it. And I can just hear my father's voice in the back of my head saying "get your foot off that table!!").

I have never knit a short row heel or toe but am now inspired to try it! The heels (and toes) of these socks fit perfectly.

I am so excited for the weather to get cool enough for me to wear socks again!!

Thank you so much, Caroline, for knitting these socks for me!

FINALLY!

2007-08-09T06:30:00.001-04:00

...am off to DHL today to ship these as fast as they can go:

First Sock Down...

2007-07-27T22:11:00.000-04:00

As promised, here's a look at the first sock of the Pomatomus pair:

I love love love the pattern, but I'm not at all sure how much I like the pooling of the darkest green in the middle of the leg. It's a lot less dramatic looking in normal light, and I won't have time to rip it, so it will become a "feature," as we say in the IT business...

The second sock is already on the needles and I'm partway through the first pattern repeat. It's going to be down to the wire, that's for sure!

Quick Note....

2007-07-25T16:04:00.000-04:00

...to say that I've finished the first Pomatomus! I made myself cast on for the second sock IMMEDIATELY because this is surely one time where I cannot fall prey to Second Sock Syndrome...notes and photos to follow.

Other thoughts perking around my brain lately have included the small question "what should I knit for Rhinebeck?" And clearly I've waited too long to obtain lodging IN Rhinebeck during NY Sheep & Wool. Maybe I should just try booking for 2008 now instead.

More soon.

This and That

2007-07-19T20:11:00.000-04:00

Yup, time to revert to list format for a minute:

1. Just finished working with a team on a massive project at work followed by three days of training on Agile Software Development. Despite the crazy hours, the project went well, and the training was inspiring. Regardless, I'm still completely exhausted.

2. I've FINALLY made it past the gusset and am cruising down the foot of Pomatomus. The whole experience of knitting a sock I thought might be above my level reminds me of how I always used to choose the most difficult piece I knew when my parents would have me play for guests...it would never go as quickly or as well as a piece I'd known for ages. But it really was more fun.

3. I love my Ravelry account and have spent more hours taking photos of stash yarn and posting them instead of actually knitting.

4. Yes, Saturday will find me glued to my front stoop waiting for the Owl Post, I mean, FedEx truck to arrive with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'd better get some more knitting done now, because there will be no knitting (or much of anything else) happening until the first reading is finished.

5. I came across this quiz on one of my favorite book blogs, bookshelves of doom. According to this quiz, I am The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe...must be that love of snow and of traveling on foot...

You're The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe!

by C.S. Lewis

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed
quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it
seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic
struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal
that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you're re-enacting Christian
theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust
in zoo animals.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Progress!

2007-07-01T20:15:00.000-04:00

I've almost finished the second pattern repeat of Pomatomus and deemed it enough to post a photo:

Yesterday I got some good knitting time in the car* while Stephen and I drove up to Tarrytown to drink yummy espresso at Coffee Labs and (of course) stop in at Flying Fingers Yarn Shop.

Today's adventures included a walk from Soho to Chelsea, and a stop at Purl, where I picked up a a play toy for Banana, I mean, a skein of Jitterbug:

Look at that green! Variegated, bottle green! It was love at first sight. I'm thinking Retro Rib socks for me once Pomatomus and Lenten Rose are done...

Somehow, a skein or two of Koigu fell into my bag as well...

Alas, back to work tomorrow, which means accomplishing about four rows a day while riding the train...

*Let's gloss over the fact that most of it was spent tinking the four rows I'd done before I'd had my first cup of coffee, shall we?

Two Steps Forward...

2007-06-27T21:05:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the comments about the yarn color (as well as needle size issues with Addi Turbos)! I've not seen the yarn in stores in my area, either, so I ordered it from Earth Faire. Despite the affected spelling of "Fair,"* they delivered quickly, had reasonable prices, and threw in some free beads to play with, too. (I haven't touched a bead since the Knitting Olympics...maybe soon).

Still no progress photos for Pomatomus...but the teeny bit of cuff and pattern that I do have looks much better after I frogged back to the end of the ribbing. (I'd been doing the yo before a purl stitch about 3 different ways and they all looked awful -- holes too big, purl stitch not defined enough, etc. etc. etc.) I've been trying desperately to get a row or two in on the train but my knitting-while-standing-and-not-holding-a-pole mojo was seriously off this morning and I got half a round done. I think I might just start knitting in the office kitchen at lunch...

On other fronts, I finally got my act together and started posting projects on Ravelry -- it really IS as great as everyone has been sayig. The interface is smart, quick, and friendly, and I love features like the list of patterns that appear when you enter in "Lenten Rose," for example. Now I've just got to upload more photos to my Flickr stream to post on Ravelry...

Okay, back to knitting!

*S & I have a bad habit of deliverately pronouncing the last "e" on words that have come to be spelled without the, like "PointE" or "OldE"...you get your fun where you can, right?

Ready, Set...

2007-06-24T16:20:00.000-04:00

I'm not used to having mail at my office delivered to a central location -- a box with my name on it -- instead of to my desk. So Friday afternoon, I realized that there might just be a small package waiting for me, and if I wanted it, I'd have to get up and retrieve it myself. (Yarn and chocolate are pretty much the only things that will motivate me to get out of my chair when I'm working). Happily, it contained this yarn (which I'm showing off with the intended pattern):

I absolutely love the colors in the yarn -- the depth and variety of greens is stunning (and it's so soft). The only thing I've noticed so far is that the yarn is tending to curl back on itself a bit. I also had a shocking revelation about my #2 Addi Turbos...both the pattern and my needle sizer guide refer to #2 as the equivalent of 2.75mm. But the sleeve for the Addi Turbos refers to #2 as 3mm (which is a #3 on my needle size guide...). Of course I realized all this after charging through 5 rows of twisted stich 1x1 rib that stretched out the size of my entire calf instead of six inches above the heel. I've taken the needle size down to my trusty #1 (2.5mm) needles and so far it's knitting up just a wee bit firmer (which is what I want).

Stay tuned for actual progress photos once there's actually been progress!

At Last! It Has Been Decided....

2007-06-18T23:05:00.000-04:00

In between unpacking, trying to figure out how to set up a condo association, and doing QA for 2 database releases at once, I have finally decided upon both yarn and a sock pattern for my sock pal! (It feels a bit late in the game, but decision making is often the most difficult part of a project).

So what will it be? Pomatomus and the yarn actually called for in the pattern, Soft Touch Ultra from Shelridge Farms in lovely shades of green. (I'm so thankful that my Sock Pal loves green as much as I do...). I had actually gone so far as to consider knitting up the latest Petals Collection pattern with different yarn because I didn't want to knit up a wildly popular/distributed pattern...but realized that just because a pattern is wildly popular doesn't mean what I knit up won't be unique. Thus I came back to Pomatomus (and it really is such a cool pattern). My Sock Pal knit up Monkey for herself recently, too -- that had been another contender because I've seen and heard nothing but good things about that pattern.

Even better is that I don't have to give up the size 1 needles I'm using for the Lenten Rose sock (1 sock down, 1 week to finish the second before the recipient's birthday...) -- Pomatomus calls for size 2 needles. My only question, though, is whether anyone has adapted the pattern for 2 circs? I'm guessing that any pattern can be adapted to 2 circs; I've just been spoiled because the Petals Collection patterns are written for dpns and 2 circs and the other socks I've made (with the exception of the lone Norwegian Stocking) have been from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar...I may be de-lurking from the Sockapalooza Knit Pligg soon to ask for help!

Morning Coffee

2007-05-19T11:18:00.000-04:00

My office moved yesterday from the location where I had helped move us in 1998 to a much larger, more exciting location a few blocks south and west. It will be very strange to walk to a new building; I've emerged from the same subway stop and walked 25 steps to the door of the building every day for the past nine years. (And am I nothing if not a creature of habit, quite similar to a hobbit in many ways).

For the past few years, I've bought coffee from a cart on the corner from the man I've always referred to as Coffee Guy. We'd have the same conversation every morning: ah, the weather is beautiful/too hot/too cold/but we'll appreciate what we have once the depths of summer/winter arrive. On Fridays we'd always congratulate each other on another week survived. Yesterday I had to say goodbye -- because the reality is that even though I'll emerge from the exact same subway stop, I'll be walking south instead of north and the cart won't be on my path anymore. (It doesn't mean I'll never stop there again, but just won't go by every day).

Over the years through quick conversations, I learned that he had to wake up at 2am to get ready to pick up the cart and bring it into the city; that he and his wife were buying a house; that when he bought his house his closing was pushed back 4 times. He's encouraged me through my foray into real estate, and through my sometimes very early morning conference calls.

Having these small conversations every day and having someone know exactly how I like my coffee and having it ready for me before I reached the front of the line -- these are the gestures that help explain why I love New York. Despite the inevitable randomness and chaos of living here, it's these sorts of relationships that make it worthwhile.

Getting Closer...

2007-05-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

...to both closing day and to making a decision about what socks I'm going to knit for Sockapalooza: Pomatomus...or perhaps Baudelaire.

Hmm...perhaps I'm not as certain as I thought. At least I finally got around to posting the Sockapalooza button, though!

Quick Update

2007-05-13T21:44:00.000-04:00

The only knitting I've done this week has been four repeats of the Lenten Rose sock...which I ended up frogging because the third and fourth stitch repeats were one stitch "off" and I knew I wasn't going to be able to stand it (especially since these socks are going to be a gift). I'm 3 repeats in this time 'round and it's going a bit easier, except for the lack of knitting time (which is directly related to the lack of time spent "passengering" in the car or watching TV).

What has been accomplished this week? Well, Stephen and I have managed to pack 53 boxes of books. Every bookshelf has been emptied, with the exception of the "I-might-need-to-refer-to-this-book!"(like Home Improvement 1-2-3) to "if-this-book-gets-packed-I-know-I'll-need-it-tomorrow"(like the Barbara Walker Treasuries, v. 1-2). We fear to see how many boxes of books are in the storage closet in the hall; we thought we'd break 100 boxes of books, but I'm not sure that's going to happen, and it would be cheaper to move if there were fewer boxes.

As part of the whole home-buying / packing / moving experience, I've rediscovered the closest branch of the NYPL and have been on a YA Literature tear. It's the best escape from the challenges of adulthood that I know, and it's staving off the slight panic that I feel about my Harry Potter books being packed and not labeled for easy retrieval after the move.

Two of my favorites so far have been Follow the Blue, whose protagonist, as the book jacket promises, is a much more intelligent and together version of Georgia Nicolson (although I have to say, Georgia Ncolson's exploits are more laugh-outloud funny); the characters are deftly drawn and develop throughout the course of the book; the ending doesn't conform to any easy ending, but feels right nonetheless. Blackthorn Winter had a couple of things going for it before I even started reading...it's set in England, involves a teenaged girl who was both orphaned and adopted (!!), and is a mystery novel. The mystery isn't thrilling, but the writing is engaging. The book's setting made me want to hop the next flight to London and take a train to the countryside.

Okay...time for bed. More book reviews later (although writing about books isn't nearly as much fun for me as actually reading them, alas).

Birds of Paradise

2007-05-07T21:03:00.000-04:00

Sock in progress...

Done, and posing with some of the books about to be boxed up...how Hollywood East ended up with our environmental ethics/animal rights section I do not know.

I knit the Petal's Collection "Birds of Paradise" during my daily train-time and pretty much finished the entire second sock while watching the weekend before last. The pattern was wonderful -- very easy without being boring (slipping stitches and the bring colors are good for staving off boredom). I'm sending the socks to a friend who definitely needs some cheer after a hard go of things lately.

I just got the latest installment of the Petal's Collection the other day and am so excited to start them -- except that I'm finally getting around to knitting Lenten Rose for a friend's birthday in late June and those socks are on the only pair of #1 needles in the house. Better get to work...

Brushing Off the Dust

2007-05-05T08:16:00.000-04:00

I laughed when I looked at the date of my last post -- March 11, the weekend before S and I embarked on the adventure known as Real Estate. I don't think that even the weekend before we started looking in earnest I thought we'd be able to find anything in our neighborhood (or price range), but almost two months and 25-30 open houses/viewings later, we're getting ready to pack up and move! I'm almost never able to write when big things are happening -- it was true in high school, when my parents were ill, or when I started my first serious relationship -- and it's true now. It's as if my brain clamps down on all thoughts not related to the issue at hand, and any thought of "I should write about that" gets tossed into the "save it for later when it will make a good story" (that of course never ends up getting written).

I have been keeping up with reading knitting blogs, though, and joined Sockapalooza 4 on a total whim -- partly because I love the sock monkey button. I don't know how the matches were made, but I'm really looking forward to knitting for my Sockapalooza pal -- she seems to have similar tastes in colors and patterns. I'm thinking about Monkey or maybe Twisted Flowers (if I manage to survive the Lenten Rose pair I'm working on now -- these beautiful photos are from The Daily Purl). Color? Green, of course! (Or maybe a good purple/blue -- nothing lurid, more like the color of heather or bluebells).

In any case, there has been a finished object recently but I need to mail it to its intended recipient before posting photos...other than that project (finished while watching all four Harry Potter movies last weekend), though, there hasn't been a lot of knitting going on. There have been many, many boxes, though, and I fear that will be my fate for the next few weeks.

More Wool...

2007-03-11T17:47:00.000-04:00

Saturday was luxurious: I didn't have to leave the house. So while listening to the Met broadcast of Die Meistersingers on QXR, I took the acid dye kit (with Peruvian chunky wool) from Hello Yarn and decided to play with colors.

You can't help but feel a bit like a mad scientist when faced with four bottles of acid dye solution and a world of color options. After attempting (and failing) to create an intense pink, I decided to try for green, and came up with a green on the yellow side of the spectrum:

It's more pastel than I'd like, reminiscent of new leaves rather than vibrant, full-grown foliage. I'm not sure that I love it, even though I'm excited that I made it. It could be good for a spring shawl...we'll see what it wants to become.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, I decided it would be sad to waste the orangey/red mixture concocted during the attempt to create pink, so some of Bubbles's fleece ended up like this:

I love this color (which I'll probably never be able to repeat, because I was playing and not writing anything down) -- it's not quite tomato, a little more red than persimmon, a bit brighter than a Turkish red. It shifts on you when you stare at it.

And you know how you read about a concept and nod along, thinking "uh huh, that makes sense..." ...and then you see that concept in action and are amazed? That's what happened with the red dye bath. I soaked the roving, created the dye bath, heated the dye and roving for about 30 minutes and then left the pot covered. When I opened the dye pot up again the next morning, the water was clear! All the dye had moved from the water to the wool because of the mordant (vinegar in this case). I know (intellectually) that this is what is supposed to happen, but it was the coolest thing that think that a chemical process had occurred that turned white fleece to red.

Thus inspired, I spent some time utilizing kitchen scraps in the service of future dye baths (because I'd like to use natural dyes instead of acid-based...ever since reading The Goat in the Rug when I was about 5 or 6). These are onion skins left over from lamb stew:

They should provide a pale yellow shade. I wonder what I can do with coffee grounds and crushed berries and bark, too...

I'll show some actual knitting soon. Despite my cable swatches, somehow another sock jumped on the needles...

(Not So Tiny) Bubbles...

2007-03-10T22:10:00.000-05:00

Last winter, I adopted a sheep through Owens Farm Adopt-A-Sheep program. Throughout the year, I've gotten newsletters reporting on what's happening on the farm, along with photos of Bubbles and other animals...I wish I lived closer to the farm, because they had visits and get-togethers, too.

At the end of the adoption year, everyone's adoptive sheep is sheared and the fleece is sent out. Since I didn't want to repeat the dirty-fleece washing experiment undertaken after Rhinebeck, I had Bubbles's fleece processed into roving, which arrived in this box:

Bear in mind that I live in an apartment that is no more than about 700 square feet, and that I share it with Stephen and two cats....and yup, I carried it home from Manhattan on the train. :)

After allowing the cats to play with the box (remember how fun it was to get a new appliance when you were growing up? Something like a new fridge or a washing machine, and then being allowed to make the box into a fort?)....

....I spent some quality time on Saturday trying to figure out where all this roving will live until it is spun. The best place for the moment seems to be under my desk in the study:

The roving itself is wonderful. It's wool -- pure and simple wool. It is not silky, or soft, but it is fluffy and warm and wooly:

If I can't perfect my drop-spindle technique by the time I get through all this roving on hand, I think I'll give up on spinning entirely...

Gathering Intentions Swatch...

2007-02-24T17:59:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've ever been so excited about sitting down and swatching for a project. Part of the reason is that I haven't cabled since taking a class in cabling without a cable needle a year ago, and part of it is that the yarn is squishy, soft and the needles seem so huge (so it feels like the project will go quickly). So not only am I checking gauge, but also re-learning how to do a C4B without dropping any stitches.

Here's the first full pattern repeat:

The actual color is not nearly so washed out...

This shot shows of the color a bit better -- it's a very deep, rich green:

Something wonky happened between the second and third C4Bs on the second and third cables in from the right. There had been some tinking involved in that area....The rest of the cables seem to be behaving properly, so I'm going to knit a few more rows into the second repeat of pattern B (left side) and figure out whether I've got gauge or not.

I've been trying to decide whether to start with the sleeves (because they are smaller and will take less time to knit), or whether to start with the back. I'm leaning towards the sleeves because there's nothing less fun than completing the front and back and then having two sleeves to face (it's almost as bad as the second sock, but not quite).

Finished Object...At Last...

2007-02-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

I feel like I haven't actually finished a knitted object in a looong time...probably since New Year's weekend, when I finished socks for my sister's baby. (No, don't ask me if I've mailed them yet). I was talking with my friend Gillian about this crisis last week, and after listing all the UFOs, she suggested finishing the Victorian Neck Warmer. I went home, rummaged around for a bit and found this, crumpled into a zip-lock bag, where I'd been storing it since getting back from Sydney last August:

Well, while catching up on episodes of Doctor Who (Season Two), I finished 10 rows of wool and 10 rows of mohair triangles (I know they call them triangles...but they're really parallelograms except for the edges, aren't they?) and then figured out how to make a scalloped crochet edging:

The small hole in the second role is for the as-yet undecided upon button.

Banana supervised the blocking process....

He had just been caught trying to chew on the pins

...which resulted in a much tidier end-result!

This is the neck warmer folded in half. Blocking really is a miracle.

Here's a close-up of the crocheted edging just because I'm so excited about it:

(This image is pre-blocked)

It feels so good to finish something! To celebrate, I snapped up the last 15 skeins of Mission Falls 18/24 wool in Celery at The Point and am about to swatch for Gathering Intentions. (Shhh....don't tell anyone, but the last time I embarked on knitting a sweater for myself -- or any adult -- was back in 1995...)

On the Road Again...

2007-02-12T21:58:00.000-05:00

When I haven't posted in a while, it's a good bet that I've been swallowed up by work, or travel (or both...). In this particular case, Stephen and I just got back from a vacation in Hawaii, a place I had never really considered going (having favored cold/winter over warm/tropical climates prior to this trip) until a spot at my company's beach house opened up for early February. (How do you say no to that??)

I was crazy not to have thought twice about Hawaii before. O'ahu and Kaua'i are probably the most beautiful places I have ever seen: they were both warm, breezy, sandy, and thrilling. We jumped waves in the Pacific, lay on the beach at Waikiki and drank guava juice, and climbed rusty-red dirt trails in the Waimea Canyon. I was not bored for one second of the trip (a constant fear when I'm too far from a city) and absolutely did not want to leave.

Here are a few photos from the trip. Instead of showing you shots of the beach or of sunsets, though, I've picked out some images of ordinary time:

This cheeky Brazilian Cardinal hopped in front of me and practically batted his eyelashes (do birds have eyelashes??) begging for bits of the meal displayed in this photo...

Lunch of champions. After climbing Diamond Head, there's nothing like a hot dog and passion-fruit shave ice...yum.

I loved the torches along the sidewalks of Honolulu and Waikiki. Seeing fire in an urban setting felt primal.

Lest you think all we did was sit out in nature, Stephen did enjoy an afternoon espresso at Honolulu Coffee.

We are already plotting a trip for next winter. I did engage in fiber-arts learning, too -- more on Hawaiian quilting (and what I learned about how to make fabric when you don't have sheep) in my next post...

Adventures in Dyeland...

2007-01-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

Mouse over the lobster pot to see what kind of havoc I wreaked in the kitchen today:

After letting the wool set in hot water for 30 minutes in Cedar Wool Wash, I prepared the dyes...

...set out the wool...

...and drew on it! This is after applying the first color...

...and this is after applying the second color.

A helper applied the 3rd dye and made sure that no fiber was left undyed:

The final color:

Once we finished the dyeing process, I popped the skeins into the steamer to set for 45 minutes....

...and then hung them up in the bathroom to dry!

This process wasn't nearly as messy (or difficult) as I thought it would be -- it was even fun to prep the table (which I covered with a plastic bag and parchment paper). I've always wanted to use natural dyes, so now I'm thinking about making my own dye out of onion skins (or at least ordering natural dyes from Earthues...).

Happiness Is...

2007-01-06T17:48:00.000-05:00

...sitting at The Point working on Conwy while listening to the hub-bub of a busy, friendly yarn shop. Since it was so crowded, I shared my table with a man who had designed his own mosaic-knit sweater and was working on the first sleeve. I asked him how he got started developing his own patterns, because it's something I've been curious about for a while -- how does one make the jump from patterns to no patterns? He said he learned from Knitting in the Old Way and that the process took lots of experimenting and patience. Now that I've made a few socks, I've starting feeling brave enough to make up my own, but making up and knitting a sweater feels like stepping off the edge of the known knitting world (not that that would be a bad thing. It's important to keep pushing the borders of one's world I think). In any case, it was definitely one of those cool moments when you have a conversation with someone that you weren't expecting, and that you end up learning something.

Before heading home, I perused the store (to make sure I hadn't missed anything exciting!), and found that The Point carries sweetgeorgia yarn; I've been impressed with Felicia Lo's journey as a knitter/spinner/weaver and enjoy reading her blog, so I was excited to see her yarn.

I also discovered this Louet Hand Dyeing Kit:

Dyeing my own yarn has been another back-of-the-mind goal for a while; when I was in Deerfield, MA this past summer, I picked up a book about making natural dyes from common plants, but realized that with no yard and little access to actual plants, making my own dyes would have to wait for a while. But when I saw this little kit -- everything you need in one box! -- I couldn't resist. I'm thinking that tomorrow might be a good day to try my hand and dyeing wool (Louet Gems fingering weight merino). This also means that there may just be another pair of socks in my future...

Nap Time...

2007-01-04T21:54:00.000-05:00

How Banana watches hockey (while his mother catches up on knitting blogs)...

New Year, New Socks!

2007-01-01T18:34:00.000-05:00

There was a lovely moment last week when I was able to leave work a few hours early — I got home at about 3 o'clock, and it was still light and warm outside. The cats looked at me in confusion when I put the kettle on to make cocoa and then settled in to read. It felt like such a luxury to be able to spend time at home in an afternoon, but more importantly, to spend time by myself for a few hours (which is a true luxury during the holidays...).

Over New Year's weekend, which we spent with our friend Karen at the Porches in North Adams, I finished up baby socks for my sister's month-old baby:

...and started Conwy (from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road). Some intrepid readers may recall my first go-round with Conwy, when I tried to knit them with Frog Tree alpaca while on a cross-country flight to LA (and when I pulled out a row of live stitches instead of the empty fourth needle by mistake...). This go-round I'm using Cherry Tree Hill that I picked up at Borealis Yarns in St. Paul (a wonderland of sock yarn!) over the Thanksgiving break. Here's a look after the first couple of pattern repeats (and over coffee at Tunnel City Coffee, the social center of Williamstown, MA):

(Twisted cables on Size 1 needles...invitation to insanity? Discuss.)

This is what I managed to complete on the drive home:

I haven't decided what will be next: the Lenten Rose socks form the Sundara Yarn collection? Another go at the Norwegian Stockings (which I set aside because of sizing issues)? Or perhaps a go at an actual sweater...Right now, I refuse to commit. :)

p.s. I completed and gave the Raindrop socks to Stephen's sister last week (only two weeks late for her birthday...but in person, so does that cancel the lateness out?). Her first comment: "Oh! They're too pretty to wear!" to which I responded "But they're for wearing! And besides, they're machine washable."

p.p.s. In the YA reading files: just finished Edith Pattou's East, and persuaded Karen to pick it up last weekend, too. Also finished Dragon's Gate, which Stephen's brother gave me for xmas; it's a fascinating story about a boy's life working on the Trans-Continental Railroad. Next up? Sunset, the final book in the second Warriors series -- I almost don't want to read it because I don't want the series to be over. I may just give up reading adult fiction with so much cool YA to read.

We Interrupt the Progress of the Norwegian Sock To Introduce...

2006-11-28T20:59:00.000-05:00

One completed Raindrop Lace sock:

I'm two inches into the second sock's ribbing, and already the colors are spiraling differently than they did on the first sock...it will be interesting to see how the pair works out. I love the pattern -- and the lace pattern is entertaining enough to sustain one through 8 inches of sock leg...

In Norwegian Sock News (henceforth known as NSN...), last week I had the intended recipient of the Norwegian Stockings try them on (with his eyes closed...but I think he peeked) and discovered that the lower leg (after the calf decrease), ankle and foot are too small by at least an inch. So now I have to figure out what to do: should I switch to size 5 needles to work the stitches after the decrease? Should I try knitting more loosely? Should I decrease fewer stitches? Should I start over with yarn that has more ease? Should I take my friend K.'s suggestion and keep the socks for myself??

Any and all suggestions are welcome!

I May Be a Bad Blogger, But...

2006-11-12T16:28:00.000-05:00

...I live with some very cute cats. You can see that life is clearly just too much to bear sometimes for Mew-Mew:

...and since it's gotten colder outside, the cats have taken to curling up in a ball on the bed to sleep. (That is, of course, when they are not tearing around the house like banshees):

On the knitting front, I decided to start Evelyn Clark's Raindrop Lace socks (to avoid Norwegian Sock burnout...I've got another inch or so before starting the toe on Sock 1. This is going to come down to the wire, I can just tell). The yarn is some lovely superwash Strideaway Fine sock yarn purchased from Autumn House Farms at Rhinebeck:

...which reminds be that I never did post photos of the two pounds of raw shetland fleece that I bought there, either. Indeed, I HAVE been a bad blogger.

What I've Been Up To....

2006-11-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

2006-10-03T19:59:00.000-04:00

This sums up my knitting life right now -- a swatch of this, a sock here, a sock there, left-over yarn that hasn't found its way into the official stash....The lace silk scarf is buried near the bottom (eek!), along with an old denim skirt that will be transformed into patches for an old pair of jeans (someday), and the needlepoint sampler kit that I picked up in Deerfield this past summer. The plastic bag containing the blue yarn is the entrelac neck warmer -- with 7 pattern repeats of 10 completed...so close, yet so far...

Conspicuously absent from the view is the Norwegian Sock, now known as the Norwegian Sock Swatch. Yup, I was off gauge by 3 stitches an inch (17 stitches/inch instead of 14) and am starting over on size 4dpns. (And yes, I did make a real swatch on those needles to check for gauge :) I found that I seem to have better control over the floats over 3 needles than two, though, so maybe that's the silver lining.

This swatch is a fun experiment in Lopi lace:

The pattern is Checkerboard Mesh from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitted Patterns. I like the clarity of stitches, and the pattern allows you to get into a groove (it's very logical). I think it needs a two or three stitch frame on each side, though, for it to work as a scarf.

In other knitting news, I've joined Socktoberfest -- in part for inspiration on finishing (starting!) the Norwegian Socks...and I think I'm really going to Rhinebeck this year!!

Three Things...

2006-09-25T21:18:00.000-04:00

Thing 1: Stephen has started a blog! It's called Peripatetic Ramblings, and he's focusing on topics he's been thinking about for years: eating local, living a low-impact, energy-efficient life, the state of our oceans and the threat of invasive species in the local environment. I'm just excited that his thoughts are moving beyond notebooks and into the wider world.

Thing 2: There's been progress on the Norwegian Stockings, but nothing worth a photo yet. I've been experimenting with wrapping the non-dominant color on the left hand and the dominant color on the right hand to see if that makes any difference in speed, but I think I'm just too wed to clutching yarn between the thumb and index-finger and throwing it to feel comfortable with another method...

Thing 3: I was greeted this morning by the following statement from my best friend, who has been a Stealth Knitter for many years (in typical fashion, I've blathered on and on and on while she's knit complicated lace-pattern baby blankets and somehow neglected to mention it...): "Somehow I ended up buying three skeins of mohair this weekend and a lace scarf pattern. I blame you."

My work here is done. :)

First Look --Norwegian Stockings

2006-09-17T12:16:00.000-04:00

Here's a first look at the Norwegian Stockings that I'm knitting for Stephen's Dad for x-mas. I've knit hats and scarves and ponchos for Stephen's mom, sister and niece, so I figured it was time for some of the menfolk to receive some knitwear, too. His dad is always teasing me about knitting him a balaclava or a bowtie, which both seem sort of boring; since he loves to cross-country ski and snowshoe, I figured he could wear these out in the snow.

I absolutely love working with two colors; it's much more fun for me than knitting lace, although the need to count constantly is similar. I've gotten to the point where I don't have to look at the chart but haven't reached the point of tedium yet. (There is always a point of tedium, isn't there?). I'm going to have to get some surreptitious measurements from Stephen's mom soon, though -- I don't want to go much farther than this without at least having a ballpark idea of shoe-size. If I'm way off-base, I'll just consider this a swatch. :)

The one thing that's got me a bit worried technically, though, is wonky tension at the needle ends (using two circs instead of 4 or 5 dpns), especially when I have to carry the gray from several stitches back across the needle's end -- does anyone have any good tips for handling keeping a consistent tension when using two colors in the round?

Random Thursday

2006-09-14T20:14:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I posted some scanned images of patterns from my mum's pattern binder. In honor of my new sock obesession, I thought I'd post another. She must have made several pairs of argyle socks because there are at least 4 or 5 sets of instructions (from kits, I'm guessing). Here's one:

I haven't been brave enough to try argyle yet...it's only a matter of time, though. And and least I have some great reference materials for inspiration.

Finished Objects and Other Goodies...

2006-09-12T19:20:00.000-04:00

My fantasies of lying around reading novels during vacation last week never materialized, in part because I spent potential reading time finishing the green socks and knitting a hat for a colleague who is expecting a baby at any moment. (I was able to finish listening to the audio version of The Order of the Phoenix, though...I'm not sure that listening counts as "reading," though).

Pattern: Simple Socks from Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles
Yarn: Art Yarns Ultramerino 4, Color 104
Needles: Size 1
Method: 2 circs

Pattern: Jester Hat from The Yarn Girls Guide to Kid Knits: Patterns for Babies and Toddlers by Julie Carles and Jordana Jacobs
Yarn: Blue Sky Organic Cotton, Colors 82 (tan) and 84 (tan and white plied)
Needles: Size 7
Method: Magic Loop

I'm in love with the organic cotton -- it is unbelievably soft, and it feels great to use a material that may have a lower inpact on the land than non-organicly grown cotton.

The next adventure involves this:

I cast on for theNorwegian Socks from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks last night (while watching the final episode of the first season of Life on Mars..this may not have been wise...) and knit through the black and grey ribbing, which seems WAY too stretchy. I'm not sure whether to take it down a needle size (the pattern calls for #3s, which is what I'm using) or to knit up a bit of the leg to see whether the stranding tightens things up a bit. The yarn has way more "sproing" than I thought it would (which is not a bad thing -- I like some "sproing" in my yarn...I just need to adapt to it).

The other project underway is a pair of socks for Stephen knit from the Gems Opal; the first sock just got ripped back to the end of the heel flap because I didn't like how the gussets were looking; I'm winging the pattern a bit because I wasn't getting gauge and adapted the number of stitches cast on.

Progress photos of both coming soon!

Got Some Groomin' to Do...

2006-09-12T19:06:00.000-04:00

Banana got a completely clean bill of health today from the vet!! His x-rays showed a completely healed bone. Now he's working on getting his fur sorted out...he hasn't been able to groom his leg for 9 weeks. The vet set that we shouldn't be surprised if he spends the next 3-4 days grooming obsessively; he'll probably limp a bit for the next 7-10 days, too.

I am just so happy and grateful that he is well. And I appreciate all the well-wishes people have sent along to him, too! Every positive thought has helped. :)

What's in the Bag?

2006-09-05T19:53:00.000-04:00

There's been a dearth of kitty cat photos lately, so I've decided to make up for it by learning a new photo trick and inflicting on everyone. :)

Mouse over the photo to see what's in the bag!

Nona of nonaknits has posted clear instructions on how to create a photo mouseover on her blog -- thanks for that!

Rainy Tuesday

2006-09-05T15:47:00.000-04:00

So today is the vacation day slated for the Manhattan Yarn Crawl. So far, I've hit Seaport Yarn (more overwhelming than School Products, if you can believe that...), a random notions/fabric shop on Broadway, Purl, and am now at The Point. I'm so happy to sit here watching the rain, drinking hot cocoa, and winding a skein of Louet Gems Opal on the back of a chair.

Seaport Yarn is amazing and overwhelming. Imagine a normal office with corridors and various rooms and a reception area up front. Then imagine that normal office filled with yarn. Every possible space contains yarn -- Manos, Cherry Tree Hill, Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Koigu, Lorna's Laces, on and on. They even have Latern Moon ebony circular needles (want!). Go prepared, though -- they only accept cash or checks (no credit cards). I managed to escape with two skeins of sock yarn (the aforementioned Louet Gems Opan) to make socks for Stephen, the second volume of the Barbara Walker stitch treasuries, and a copy of Rowan 37 for a friend who is planning to make Butterfly.

I had a specific mission at Purl: to pick up Blue Sky Alpaca organic cotton to knit the jester-ey hat for a colleague who is due to have a baby at any minute. The yarn is amazing -- the color comes from the color of the cotton (if I had thought about this for more than two minutes, I would have realized that bright white is not a color found in nature...cotton has to be dyed that color).

Okay, time to wind another skein. I have photos of a found treasure and the cats to post later, too! (The Manhattan Yarn Crawl may continue tomorrow, too, with stops at School Products and Habu. That could be very, very dangerous I fear).

This & That

2006-08-31T20:13:00.000-04:00

I can't seem to corral my brain into coming up with linear thoughts so I'm going to revert to my favorite format: the list.

1. I love Labor Day weekend. Even though I haven't been in school for almost 10 years, I still get that giddy feeling thinking about notebooks and pencils and new classes. I still buy at least a new binder or pen every August as my "back to school" supplies.

2. It has been wonderfully cool in the city for the past few days. Today it was almost cool enough to need a light jacket today. That means pulling out my corduroy blazer and turtlenecks soon!!

3. I'm taking next week off from work but am not going anywhere (except a quick weekend trip to Boston). So I've got a stack of novels about two feet high, a sock, and vine lace scarf to occupy my days. I might even try a yoga class at Om -- the last yoga class I attended was in Cambridge almost a year ago...sigh. Or maybe I'll just sit at The Point all day instead.

4. Latest media addiction: watching episodes of Life on Mars on On Demand. I caught an early episode in London last January and despaired that I'd ever see the program again. This is the good side of global media. (Thank you to Karen for reminding me that On Demand exists and that I am in fact paying for it...).

5. Folk Socks just arrived! Stephen's dad keeps asking me if I'm going to knit him a balaclava for Christmas (partly because he just likes the way the word "balaclava" sounds, I suspect. And Minnesota IS a place that would be appropriate to wear one...), but I've decided to knit him the Norwegian stockings -- they're kind of like knitted gaiters for x-country skiing/snowshowing, which he loves to do. I suspect that in taking on this project, though, no one else will get knitted items for Christmas...

Vine Lace

2006-08-27T18:03:00.000-04:00

I finished up the first of the snakey green socks on Saturday night while watching a Brother Cadfael mystery from Netflix...even kitchnering the toe without tears. No photos of the sock until its companion is finsihed, though -- I'm hoping that will keep the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome away (you can see I'm reaching for motivation to get through another 3 inches of ribbing, can't you?).

Sunday afternoon, I felt restless and decided to move some unlikely-to-be-used yarn to deep storange (aka the storage closet in the hall with the snowshoes, bikes, and random objects that don't fit in the apartment). Among the skeins of cream-colored aran wool and funky handspun, were two skeins of new-leaf colored alpaca. At first I thought I'd knit up another "Branching out," but instead found "Vine Lace" in Barbara Walker's Treasury, Volume 1 and started this:

(The color in this photo is fairly dreadful, but it shows the pattern better than some of the photos where the color is more true).

The lace pattern iteslf is incredibly easy -- it has 4 rows, but only one basic yo, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, yo section to memorize; the vine is created by alternating knitting 3 stitches or 2 before starting the basic pattern. I started with 5 rows of seed stitch and am offsetting the vine with k3 at each edge as a border (just like Branching Out).

Thankful

2006-08-25T21:17:00.000-04:00

I think every one of my Secret Pal packages have arrived on Friday evenings after really tough weeks...it's almost as if my Secret Pal (who revealed herself as Cablegal in her note -- check out her blog and thank her for taking such good care of me!) has a sixth sense about when something nice is needed most. This package has been the most spectacular of all:

I've written here before about how much "buying local" means to me -- how amazing it is to have an object (food, fleece, yarn) that someone has made with their own hands. What my Secret Pal put together for me is a package of gifts made in or near the town where she lives, including coffee, spices, an adorable hot pad, a hand-painted trivet, a documentary about a famous local park, a card sketched by a local artist, and best of all -- yarn spun by a woman named Pat Cougar who spins and hand-dyes wool. The yarn is wool and mohair, and is hand-dyed with indigo. Having this skein of yarn feels like magic because it was spun by a real person who has a name, and it was chosen for me with care. I can't wait to make something with it -- I'm thinking a scarf with a cable, or fingerless mittens. We'll see what it becomes!

Accompanying the gifts was a list of where everything came from and who made it. She wrote (very astutely) about the documentary "I thought since you seem to like the background on things that you would love this documentary...". Indeed it's true -- I always have to know where something comes from, why is it made in a particular way, how someone came to make or create it — whether it's a lace pattern, database logic, a park, or New York City (Stephen and I just finished watching the 8-part Ric Burns documentary "New York" for about the 3rd time. It's a truly amazing work).

I'm sad that the SP 8 exchange is coming to end -- in part because I love the surprise of presents and emails, and in part because I had really wanted to make something for my Secret Pal, Froggin' Knitter but didn't get to it. But I feel like there are two more people out there in the world with whom I have a connection. And in a world where it is increasingly difficult to make human connections (especially for someone who has tended to be a bit shy of them to begin with), this is an amazing thing.

Thank you, to both of you. :)

Socks in Progress...

2006-08-20T18:02:00.000-04:00

This has been my train knitting this week...I've been finding K2P2 ribbing very comforting to work on because I don't have to think about it, count it, or even look at it when I'm knitting. This is Art Yarns, color 104...watching the patterning has been keeping me well amused (yes, I agree that I need to get out more).

I still think that turning a heel is like magic.

Stephen pursuaded me to take the week of Labor Day off and not go anywhere or do anything (ha ha ha). I've been gathering books into piles so that I can spend the week reading:

Many of these books are bookstore treasures from Scotland, the Berkshires, and Australia; one of them is from my Secret Pal. Part of what I love about books is that they come into our lives in such different ways; I've always written my name, the season, the year, and the location I bought the book (or the name of person who gave it to me) inside the front of each one.

And speaking of the Secret Pal Exchange...links to the blogs in my group were posted today and of course I looked at each one in order. The blog I *think* belongs to my Secret Pal was close to the very bottom of the list -- just before I clicke the link I had started to get that feeling like the character in the story who asks everyone "are you my mother?" and feels sad because the answer is always "no". She hasn't revealed herself to me yet, though, so stay tuned for more info! She has been an amazing Secret Pal, and I truly appreciate all the thought that has gone into each gift!!

Australian Treasures...

2006-08-14T21:41:00.000-04:00

Now that Stephen and I have gotten all the laundry, grocery shopping, bill paying, and general desk-things settled (for the moment), here's a peek at some of the yarn trouble I caused in Melbourne.

The quest was to find unique yarn made in Australia or New Zealand; it was a little more difficult to find than I thought it would be. The only yarn shop I was able to visit in Sydney was Lincraft, and we've already seen the result of that adventure. There was a Lincraft in Melbourne, along with a fabric shop called Clegs, but the gem was a tiny shop in the CBD called Marta's Yarns. The CBD location was going out of business when I visited and everything was on sale — and are there any more magical words to a fiber person than "yarn sale"?

This is some lovely, 8-ply wool from New Zealand; it is destined for a pair of fingerless gloves and a scarf for Stephen. I had to photograph the bag -- the artwork was too classic not to share...

These are the hand-dyed treasures from Marta's Yarns. Stephen had pointed out the store the last Saturday we were in Melbourne — he kept saying that he saw a Rowan magazine in the window of a shop near Flinders Train Station; by the time I'd turn to see, all I could see were the run-of-the-mill mags in the window of the grocery store. (Don't ask why I didn't turn around and investigate right then and there...). Of course I finally figured out that the store was there on Sunday, when it was closed. So I made a run on my lunch break Monday to case out the sale...and made the mistake of buying only 2 out of 4 skeins of the green merino. I kept thinking about the other 2 skeins, so made the trek again after work the next day. Phew!

In 40 total hours of flying, this is what I managed to accomplish. It's actually about 3-4 hours of knitting; entrelac is gratifying because it grows so quickly (especially on Size 9 needles!). I have half a mind to use the Victorian Entrelac Neckwarmer pattern with the merino and mohair from Marta's Yarn as well...

...detail of the entrelac neckwarmer.

This project has nothing to do with Australia (other than that I carried the yarn and needles there and back without touching them). Somehow, while waiting for photos to upload for yesterday's post, this sock jumped onto the needles. I'm knitting up the same pattern as the yellow socks; this time I'm going to try to make the toe a bit more boxy rather than pointy.

Melbourne

2006-08-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

After seven business days of leading trainings in Sydney and Melbourne, I returned home Wednesday night. I was able to hop an earlier flight home from LA to NY which meant I got home at 8:30pm instead of midnight, for which I was very, very thankful. But not nearly as thankful as when I woke up the next morning to hear the BBC announcer talking about the disrupted terror plot; I can't imagine having to cross the Pacific Ocean without my saline solution and toothpaste...or my iPod for that matter. You have to love Harry Potter audio recordings -- what else could keep one occupied for 20 hours of flying??

Melbourne and Sydney are incredibly different. While Sydney feels confident, open and sophisticated, Melbourne feels more withdrawn and gritty. It's just slower to reveal its secrets. Melbourne's Central Business District is criss-crossed with alleys crammed with boutiques selling jewelry, paper, CDs, and clothing; you can look in any direction and see a coffee shop (heaven!). It's very much what I imagine Diagon Alley would be like.

Here's a small sampling of what I loved in Melbourne:

Flinders Train Station, on the banks of the Yarra River, which separates the CBD from the other districts of greater Melbourne.

Degraves Espresso, on Degraves Alley. This may now be my favorite coffee shop in the world (and I mean that! Better than coffee shops in London, Amsterdam, and Berlin...). I ate crumpets with jam with a flat white on my last morning of work in Melbourne and nearly cried to leave.

A southward look down Degraves Alley.

Graffiti on Centre Place between Flinders and Collins. It reminded me of funky children's book illustrations from the '70s.

More fun graffiti...this figure popped up all around the CBD.

"The Block" is a glamorous shopping arcade between Collins and Little Collins Streets.

The centerpiece of The Block is this gorgeous wrought-iron and glass dome.

Haigh's is the grande-dame of chocolate shops -- it's in a prominent corner of The Block. (I didn't get to try their chocolate, but if you go to Melbourne, run to Koko Black -- their chocolate is amazing, and they don't ship. It's an in-the-moment experience).

This is a peek down Block Place -- home of not only a fantastic jewelry store and independent CD store, but also an Italian restaurant where S and I caught dinner one night after returning from drinks with the office.

I loved the retro feeling of this sign -- especially the most excellent shade of mustard yellow.

An example of why people refer to Melbourne as "arty."

I absolutely loved being in Australia -- I'd move to Sydney (in particular) in a second. S and I are already plotting a return trip next year. :)

Sydney!

2006-07-29T16:53:00.000-04:00

After a week of stress, I landed in Sydney Saturday morning, checked into the fabulous Establishment Hotel, unpacked, and headed out for a walk.

First stop? Yarn shops, of course. (And this is a fiber blog, after all...)

I'd been researching yarn shops in Sydney and kept coming up empty handed; it seems like the boutique yarn shop craze that has hit New York in the last few years (and is just getting started in London) hasn't overcome Sydney yet. My dreams of shops full of roving from Merino sheep raised in Australia and New Zealand were dashed when I walked into Lincraft and had to dig through shelf upon shelf of novelty yarns to find skeins of wool spun from sheep raised in ANZ.

Amidst all the polymide, you can imagine how shocked I was to see a sign advertising a yarn called "Michaela."

From top left: Out of stock?; A pale imitation; Ouch!; Maybe it's a Muppet

Lincraft carried everything from curtains to sheets, to fabrics, scrapbooking materials, and feather boas. It reminded me of Windsor Button, a craft store where my mum used to buy embroidery floss in the '70's. (I have vague memories of a Windsor Button at the North Shore Shopping Center before it was a mall, but could be conflating it with a different store. In any case, it was a fascinating place).

After a trip to the Sydney Aquarium, where I met two platypi (what IS the plural of platypus, anyway?), several sharks, a saltwater crocodile, heard many children screaming "I found Nemo!" and learned to use my cameras video feature (haven't figured out how to post video yet, alas), I picked up my first flat white (yum!) and sat at the Rocks basking in the sun and reading a book I'd picked up at the Borders on Pitt Street.

From top left: Reflection of Sydney Opera House; Afternoon Snack; Sydney Opera House (Proper); Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Seeing the Opera House took my breath away. It's iconic, like the Brooklyn Bridge or the Golden Gate Bridge. Similar to those two landmarks, though, it really is an amazing experience to see in person. No matter how many photos you've seen, it's a completely different experience to experience the scale and to see the way the light moves over and around an object.

Stephen arrives tonight -- I'm so excited! He'll love to wander around during the day while I'm at work. More adventures soon!

Reasons to Be Cheerful...

2006-07-25T20:26:00.000-04:00

First, is this:

Banana helped me roll this skein of wool for the Victorian Entrelac Neck Warmer (a house pattern from The Point), which is one of the projects I've packed for the flight to Sydney, along with two skeins of sock yarn and the silk lace scarf.

He (and I) thank you for all the well-wishes. He's now running around the house and jumping on and off chairs and tables as if he didnt have a cast at all. The vet says it's okay for him to jump on tables and chairs; we'd have to worry if he started jumping off the bookshelves, though. He'll have another set of xrays in 3-4 weeks to see how the bone is healing. His latest splint is so sweet -- it made me cry when I saw it:

Banana will be staying at the vet while we're away so they can keep an eye on his splint -- this gesture makes me feel a lot better about it.

Second is this amazing package from my Secret Pal, who has outdone herself:

Along with kind words about taking care of myself (why is that always the hardest thing to do?), she sent a package with vanilla scent, an orange scented candle, and a beaded bookmark along with a travel neck pillow and eye shade -- perfect for a long flight! But there was more -- an autographed copy of Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes & Gauges which will help me take the plunge into creating my own sweaters, hats, and mittens without depending on patterns. The coolest thing, though was this:

It's Ingeo, a synthetic fiber made from corn. It's strangely silky, and it drafts like a dream -- I can't wait to work with it when I get back from Australia!

Irretrievably Behind

2006-07-16T13:40:00.000-04:00

You know how when you start getting overwhelmed, you convice yourself that you are really coping? You think things like "sure, I can handle planning a trip to Sydney and Melbourne, working on a couple of communication projects, training a new market how to use our database, taking care of one cat with a broken leg and one cat with an ear infection, trying to participate in a secret pal exchange, trying to keep posting to the blog, thinking about whether I should call the landlord about the broken washer/dryer in the basement of our building (because it won't change anything), thinking about whether we should move to an apartment that is better maintained, playing in a piano quartet, and figuring out what to eat for lunch -- I can handle it."

Then you realize you just can't cope, or catch up.

Banana's broken leg has been occupying most of my waking thought until the past few days, when he's really returned to normal (translation: he now manages to jump on all the surfaces he could jump on before without using taking off from his bandaged leg, and he begs for milk from the cereal bowl again. I never thought I'd be so happy to see him try to pull my cereal bowl away from me while I'm still eating from it). For five days, he not only needed to have a splint (which he'll have for another 7-8 weeks), but also a cone to prevent him from licking his paw and causing skin issues:

And at last, I'm finally starting to get my agendas together for the 3 days of training I'll be giving in Sydney and 3.5 days in Melbourne. I've been stressing incredibly about this trip in part because I always stress out about meeting new people in groups and in part because it's literally on the other side of the globe. (Thankfully, Stephen will be joining me for a week of the trip, which is very exciting).

But it's the smaller things that plague me the most (what is it they say about the death by a thousand cuts? Do thoughts count?). I haven't...

Sent my secret pal an email or comment for a while, nor have I responded to the sweetest email that I got from my secret pal, who said she enjoyed the writing on my blog, which just made me want to cry because of how little I've been doing in the past few weeks. I must do those two things -- I commited to doing them.

Updated the blog in over two weeks. This post alone has taken over two hours to write. Here is an insight into the current internal monologue, which may explain why it has taken so long: "I could be spending the time I'm using writing this post to reply to my secret pal's email!" or "I could be commenting on my secret pal's blog" or "I should plan what the next package will be! I have to send it before leaving on the 27th!" and "I need to arrange for cat care for Banana while both Stephen and I are away!" and "do I have any meetings tomorrow? Do I owe anyone an email?" and "oh, yeah, I completely forgot about the tip for the newsletter I was supposed to finish and submit on Friday..."

Read my Bloglines subscriptions for over a week, which means that there will be approximately a thousand of unread posts; clicking "Mark all as read" and realizing that day-to-day life will most likely not change as a result this action is probably the best strategy at this point.

Been able to sit and read a book or magazine (anything, really) for over a week. It's a bad sign when I can't concentrate enough to read. As for knitting? I've probably knit approximately three rows of the silk lace pattern, mostly on the train.

The only thing for it, really, is to do these things. These, and many, many other things.

6 Things

2006-06-30T22:26:00.000-04:00

Before running away to the Berkshires (North Adams) for the long weekend, a few thoughts/notes and thanks:

1. I've finished one baby sock for a friend's newborn using the almost-full skein of yellow and white Art Yarn I had left from my own socks. I don't like the look of the toe, though, so am considering a do-over. (The toe seems very square...but maybe baby socks need to be square?)

2. The Art Yarns silk is so easy to tink. How do I know? Because I spent a two hour train delay tinking almost an entire pattern repeat of the diamond trellis pattern scarf I've been working on. The whole episode felt inevitable -- if the train had to reverse course from New London almost all the way back to Providence to change tracks then it wouldn't seem fair to be knitting forward, right?

3. I discovered a hole in the bottom of the jaywalker sock I've been working up on two needles...I suspect that the I'm going to need a serious investment of time along with a serious glass of pinot noir to sort it out. The possibility exists that I just may not be destined to knit jaywalkers. We'll see.

4. Packing for a car trip is completely different than packing for a plane or train trip. I can count 6 bags of various shapes and sizes sitting on the living room floor waiting to be packed in the car (each of us has a bag of books; there's also a bag of electronic gear [GPS cables and wires, camera and cables...it seems impossible to have an object without a cable or wire...] and a bag of fleece and yarn. I would just like to say that the bag of fleece and yarn is lighter than the electronic gear, and takes up less space).

5. Today's match between Germany and Argentina (I was rooting for Germany) nearly caused me more stress than almost any other sporting event (except for any games played between the Yankees and Red Sox for the pennant in the last 10 years). I am also seriously bummed that I'll be in the car while England's match is going on tomorrow.

6. This arrived for my birthday today from my Secret Pal!

As is probably evident in many photos on the blog, my life is filled with books. I may love books as much as (maybe even more than) yarn. So I was SO HAPPY to receive two books from my Secret Pal for my birthday. One is James Acheson's The Lobster Gangs of Maine -- a book that I've wanted for ages but haven't been able to find; it will complete the reading-every-book-about-lobsters-that-I-can-get-my-hands-on project that started last summer with The Secret Life of Lobsters, The Lobster Coast, and The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island. (The reasons for my desire to read about lobsters remain obscure, even to me. They really are amazing creatures, though...).

The other book, which has nearly inspired me to knit swatches just so I can stitch them together, is The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman. The reason why it is such a cool book is that it provides both the benefits and downsides to various techniques. Along with illustrations and photos of everything from making buttonholes to picking up stitches (a favorite activity of mine, as witnessed by the Ribbed Cardigan 1 and 2...) to seaming (another favorite activity), I now have a comprehensive guide for all the picky things I think about like "how exactly am I really supposed to weave in ends" or "how do I do an M1 increase without leaving a hole" (most of these thoughts are based in the suspicion that I am doing everything wrong somehow. Or that there is a right way to do things that I just haven't found yet. Neither of these things may be true, but at least now I feel like I have something to base decisions on).

Both books were wrapped in a nifty little bag that will be most useful for holding yarn, patterns, and projects.

Thank you so much, Secret Pal!!! :)

Okay -- off for the weekend!

Catching Up!

2006-06-22T20:42:00.000-04:00

Phew! I've grabbed some time to post some photos from this past weekend's adventures. Here's the trouble I've been causing lately:

The lilac ribbed cardigan is finally finished and wet-blocked and everything!

Since the sweater is going to be a present, I packaged it up in a box with tissue paper and sprinkled some "pixie dust" on it (it's a trick I learned from work in the most wonderful shop in Minneapolis years ago -- almost any package looks more special with just the tiniest, tasteful amount of sparkle...which, alas, you can't see in the photo, but it's there). This version of the sweater seemed softer and springier than the pink version for some reason, though.

One of my other adventures this weekend was taking a drop-spindle basics class with John Brinegar at The Point (I know I've said this before, but if you live in the tri-state area and have a chance to take a class with him at The Point, go -- he's a fantastic teacher). We played with all sorts of fibers, from yak to merino mixed with tencel, to guanaco and cashmere (I didn't feel worthy of either just yet), to bamboo and angora. Along with practicing drafting, we also learned Andean plying.

This is my first plied yarn -- the pink is the merino/tencel, the cream is yak, and the tan is cashmere. I actually preferred working with short-staple, smooth-ish fibers because I had an easier time drafting them. I fought tooth and nail with the merino/tencel and didn't even attempt to work with the bamboo, which was very "crunchy" and unyielding.

It's far from perfect, but it was a great learing experience. My goal is to learn how to control the amount of twist in the yarn so that I can leave bits untwisted and overtwist others on purpose instead of by accident. :)

So after class, I couldn't stop thinking about spinning and fibers. And it just happened that the Renegade Craft Fair was taking place last Saturday and Sunday and Stephen was on the hunt for invasive plant species up at Ramapo and that I ended up finding an amazing booth filled with vintage pattern and notions and needles and yarn and tiny, tempting bags of fiber (New York state-raised llama and Icelandic)...

The company selling the fiber is called Year of the Goat, and they're based out of New Paltz, New York. They have a statement on their site that really resonated with me -- it talked about sustainablity and connection to production -- a connection between our clothes and the materials they come from, and an appreciation for the work that goes into creating objects. One of the women was spinning uncombed angora from her family's goats; she gave me a lock of it and it made me so happy -- the fiber came from an animal that she knows and cares about, and now I can integrate that into a yarn that I spin. Here's what it looks like:

So after making my way from the Renegade Craft Fair, I made my way down to the The Yarn Tree, which was located about 11 blocks south of fair -- how could I not go, since I hardly ever get to Brooklyn anymore?? It was a haven -- there were banker's boxes of roving stacked floor to ceiling. When I walked in, another student who had taken the class with me the day before was standing there holding a new drop-spindle. She said that the first thing she had done when she woke up that morning was start spinning.

I managed to escape with just an ounce or two of black angora and silk for Stephen (who took the drop-spindle class, too, and proved more adept at it than I was :). This fiber is so soft and smooth it's almost scary (and I love the contrast between the black and silver...it's how I want my hair to go gray):

Alas, I made the mistake of leaving my fiber and spindle at home while traveling this week and I miss it. I won't make that mistake again...

Still Here...

2006-06-22T08:11:00.000-04:00

Just a very quick post -- between finishing the purple sweater, work, and travel I've been swamped! I managed to snap some photos of roving I picked up last weekend at the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg and at the Yarn Tree as well as some photos of the finished purple sweater which has since been mailed!

I'm at a conference for the next two days and won't have internet access over the weekend (I suspect), but I will post photos as soon as I can after I get back!

Saturday Afternoon at the Ranch

2006-06-11T18:39:00.000-04:00

It's been pretty much all football (soccer) all the time since Friday here at the ranch; this image sums up my Saturday afternoon:

Remote: check (remote to be used only at half time)
Purple sweater with 2.5 more inches of ribbing to finish: check
Secret Pal Alpaca to wind into a ball: check
Art Yarns Sock Yarn that just happened to fall into my hands somehow while at The Point earlier in the day: check
Silk scarf in progress: check
Barbara Walker v. 1 for inspiration: check

Somehow I managed to accomplish almost 2 inches of 2x2 ribbing while watching Argentina v. Ivory Coast without impaling myself, dropping stitches, or forgetting whether I was supposed to be knitting or purling. Unlike the knitting while watching the Olympics, knitting while watching football is much more intense -- you just know the second you look away from the screen someone will score a goal. And you can see the whole broadcast -- 45 minutes at a stretch without any ad breaks. It's a beautiful thing...but not for knitting lace, at least for me.

So something random I've been thinking about: anyone know of a crochet stitch compendium equivalent to Barbara Walker's 4 volumes?

Presents!!!!!

2006-06-11T17:32:00.000-04:00

Once again, on Friday afternoon, I returned home from an absolutely draining week at work to find a mysterious package waiting for me! This time it contained cards and two sets of post-its, all decorated with hearts (I've already started sticking them on things all over the house...they are so much nicer than plain yellow ones!) and the softest, loveliest, hand-dyed skein of alpaca. (The alpaca comes from the Royal Fiber Spinnery, a group of people who raise Alpacas and needed to find an viable way to spin the fibre). The colors of the yarn shift from a heathery pink to purple, blue to green (my favorite) -- I think this skein would either make a gorgeous pair of mittens or a scarf like Branching Out.

But it's the card that takes the cake again, though -- the sweater the dog is wrapped up in is almost exactly the same shade as the one I'm 1/2 an inch of ribbing away from finishing; my Secret Pal wrote that the image reminded her of the photo of Banana sitting on the purple sweater. (Banana is very pleased about this, btw).

Thank you, once again, for these gifts, but most of all for making me smile. :)

This and That...

2006-06-05T20:08:00.000-04:00

It's official: I have been watching too much HGTV. (We just got cable for the first time in our adult lives, um, two weeks ago and are catching up. I still refuse to watch TV first thing in the morning, though, or to watch CNN at all because it reminds me too much of airports. Besides, I feel disloyal to WNYC if I don't listen to the radio in the mornings and when I get home from work). In any case, witness the introduction of a throw pillow into our home:

Next thing you know, I'll be crocheting antimacassars and table cloths (hmmm...not a bad idea, considering that I couldn't find a round table cloth yesterday...and the cats would love to lie on an antimacassar, I'm sure). I love both the celadon color of the fabric as well as the embroidery; I'd like to think that someone embroidered it by hand, but know that it's really factory-made.

In any case, I think the color palatte of the pillow influenced the decision to actualize this luscious, hand-painted, silk Art Yarn:

I am in awe of this yarn. Yesterday, I broke out Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns to find a lace pattern with enough solid sections to bring out the texture of the yarn and show its patterning and came up with the "Trellis-Framed Openwork Diamonds" (p. 214):

I think this yarn and pattern could make a beautiful jacket or cardigan -- something fitted and drapey -- but I'm knitting it up into a summer scarf/throw (can you tell I miss winter??). I've never worked with silk before -- I'm guessing that one needs to soak it in cool water and pin it out just like any other blocked lace? Is there anything special I should take into consideration when blocking it?

On the commuting project front, Jaywalker, Take 3 (or 4...I've lost count how many times I've ripped and restarted this sock) is coming along:

This incarnation is on two circs which really IS faster for me than 4 or 5 dpns. The length of the commute is generally enought time to complete two to two and a half rounds one way, but tonight I managed to eke out three rounds. At this rate, I'll have this pair finished in about October... (Btw, if you haven't seen it already, MagKnits has published another very cool looking sock in a similar vein as Jaywalker: Tropicana. I'd definitely substitute a more subdued colorway, but I like the feather-like patterning).

Deja Vu...

2006-06-03T17:12:00.000-04:00

Way back in March, I agreed to knit up another Debbie Bliss Ribbed Cardigan for a friend to give as a gift to a girl who would be turning a year old at the end of June. Progress on the sweater happened in spurts -- mostly on long train and car trips -- but now it's time to get this project wrapped up.

I finished the body of the sweater last weekend (while Stephen drove us back from a hike in Northern NJ), and then sat down to pick up the 154 stitches that make up the ribbed collar. I'd succeeded at this before, so no problem this time around, right? Wrong. I picked up and ripped the stitches 3 times...by the fourth go-round I finally decided that I no longer cared about picking up exactly 62 sttiches along each side and 30 along the collar, and just picked up as many stitches as needed to start and end with knit stitches. Here's how all those attempts finally turned out:

(There were no tears involved, but it was damn close.)

So 3/4 of an inch of ribbing down, 3 1/4 to go:

Oh, and here's the reason why I will block and wash this sweater to within an inch of its life after it's finished...all I can say is that it's a good thing Banana is cute...

I've got lots to catch up on -- including responding to emails and comments! But first, dinner.

More soon!

BAAAAA!!!!!!!

2006-05-26T19:31:00.000-04:00

I am so excited -- look what was waiting for me when I got home from work this afternoon!!!

I have been coveting a tape measure like this for quite a while. And don't laugh, but I spent perhaps more time that an adult really ought to pulling the measuring tape out and zipping it back in again...I felt a bit like Eyore, who amused himself in one of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories by dropping a red balloon into a flower pot and then taking it out again. It's the small pleasures in life that really are the best. :)

So Lambie has now taken up residence in the basket where I keep my circular needles and notions; he will be assisting me with measuring the front of the lilac ribbed cardigan shortly.

I was particuarly charmed by the card, too, because I think it symbolizes the spirit of Secret Pal 8 perfectly. Thank you so much for this thoughtful gift!!!