Yarnerinas

My nephew and his wife just had their second child, who was born early. (Baby and mom are fine.) What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they understand that an early birth is very inconsiderate of those making knitted gifts? In my case, this gift is a log cabin baby blanket. I have made of number of these, and start with good intentions. They go so fast, oh this is great, I’ll have this done in no time. I mean, they won’t be taking the baby out very much in the first month anyway, will they?

Then, after the first few rounds, progress slows. OK, maybe I shouldn’t be making this in lightweight yarn at 7 sts to the inch. What a fool. I must have some nice washable worsted in my stash. When I bought the yarn, Rowan Cashsoft 4 ply, it was so soft, so lovely to look at, such a bargain. (Clearanced at 40% off.) Now I am not sure I really like the color combination, especially the Koigu in the center, which doesn’t look quite so blue in real life. No matter, I am not going back. I am slogging on.

It feels as though no matter how long I knit it never looks much bigger. So I started playing mind games with myself. What if, instead of seven ridges each color, I make them bigger. I’ll move up to nine ridges, then in the final set eleven. Yeah, that will go much faster because it will reduce the amount of binding off and picking up stitches. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Except now, it seems like each color is taking longer because there are more rows and more stitches. Right, more rows and more stitches do take longer. There appear to be some properties related to mathematical progression that I have not grasped. Will it ever end? Will I loose my love of garter stitch? Will I loose my mind? Will this baby get a gift from Target very soon? Stay tuned.

MLE

Was this a strange New Jersey custom? Or an old-country custom that founds its way to the East Coast? When I was a kid in the 60’s (just before love peace and brown rice) there were several customs tied to May Day. The boys mostly, but also girls would shout “First of May, Petticoat Day” and flip up the edge of a girl’s uniform skirt to show her slip. Some years I would wear shorts under my uniform so that I didn’t have on a petticoat. (a doofus even then) Then there was crowning Mary (as in the Blessed Virgin Mary) Queen of the May. I imagine this came from some attempt to christianize a pagan ritual. I was always jealous of the girl that was chosen to crown Mary. She got to wear a pretty dress and a wreath of flowers. I was never chosen for such things, because I was not small and cute, but tall and awkward. The term my grandmother would use was ‘hoyden’ — not who you want traipsing down the aisle with wreaths and flowers

Second of May was Shoelace Day, you shouted that and grabbed someone’s shoelace to untie it. These days the little un’s all seem to have velcro. (Third of May, Velcro Day?

In honor of May, I have finished my first Christmas present. Socks in Kaffe Fasset sock yarn, color Fog. I love this yarn. The colors are beautiful and I wanted to keep going to see what the next stripe would be. I don’t worry about the stripes matching for each sock, as you can see. Whichever sister or niece is the lucky recipient won’t care either. I didn’t make socks last year except for my god daughter and there was much whining. One down, another 10 to go.

MLE

I’ve been spending lots of time at the computer, mostly related to my job, which makes me less interested in writing a blog entry when I get home, or get up. Last week, Franklin’s 1,0000 Knitters Project came to town for Yarnover, sponsored by the Yarnery, and I was, as described in the guidelines for scheduling a shoot

“One dedicated, assisting staff member. Public shoots can become crowded at times. A numbering system helps to keep things running smoothly. I’ll need at least one person to distribute model releases, give and call numbers, and explain the basics of the project to those who might inquire.”

What this doesn’t say was what a blast it would be. Franklin is charming and kind. I really enjoyed watching him put each knitter at ease as he photographed them. If you get the chance to participate, don’t be shy. It was easy.

The best part was that Franklin’s great sense of humor is not limited to his writing and drawing. We were in a high school classroom, which necessitated rearranging things. This reminded us both of Catholic School Days, when the CCD students who went to gasp, public school, would spend time in our classrooms learning the ropes of Holy Mother Church. It also meant that they, as children do, moved things, took things, and generally interfered with the classroom set up. Imagine the prissy whine on Monday mornings – “Sister, the public schoolers messed up my desk, the public schoolers broke my ruler, the public schoolers took one of my crayons. ” The infractions, real or imagined, seemed egregious. So this was our chance to wreak revenge, and we gleefully took things off the wall and moved desks. Heh-heh, I wish I had heard those Spanish I and II kids on Monday. “Senor, the knitters moved my desk, the knitters took my stuff and put it over here, the knitters didn’t get the flag back properly.” Take that you public schoolers. (We put everything back, really. And I didn’t break a single crayon.)

Franklin got the chance to photograph Lucy Neatby (I was going to say shoot, but that didn’t sound right) who invited us to come paw through her trunk of knitted wonders – and what wonders. I don’t generally care for intarsia but man this stuff was amazing. Fingering weight cotton knitted at about a zillion sts to the inch with extra quadruple zero needles. Only the rigid moral code instilled in us by Catholic school kept us from stealing something. Plus, Lucy was right there with her students. I wanted to go home, throw away all my needles and take up macrame. One of these days I will sign up early enough at something, somewhere, to get into one of Lucy’s classes.

MLE

I’ve been whirling like a dervish lately. Trying to finish up projects both knitting and work. The office is launching a reusable bag campaign, and I’ve recently finished a felted market tote bag out of Malabrigo Chunky. The colors are random, but I love them. And it’s interesting that the stockinette stitch fabric when felted gives vertical ridges. Almost as if I’d planned something neat, but it’s just a happy accident.

It was 76 degrees here in Minnesota. The ice is finally melting from the lakes. Happy Earth Day! Bring your own bag next time when you go shopping.

Theresa

I am so late the party, as always. Others have covered this event in great detail, but here’s a brief take. Last Thursday evening at about this time, I was zooming along Summit Avenue in the snow, with the Yarn Harlot as my passenger. (The photo in her post was thru my windshield.) I was her designated driver, and acting as emcee for the Yarnery event, because I have been tagged the token extrovert. But no longer. Check out the video if you haven’t seen it already, of the serious Yarnery staff extroverts. The Yarnery family singers– Angie, Jess, Eric and Scott — all classically trained, opera-singing wild folk, were rocking the house. Last year, I had to entertain the masses waiting for Stephanie. And I do mean masses. (Photo by Incaknits.)

This year, all I had to do was introduce the warm up act. Very very funny. Do watch the video. Also, Angie has lots of footage and photos.

Stephanie’s speech/presentation was even better than last year. Her delivery is so dry and so funny. She rarely cracks a smile, while the audience is falling on the floor laughing. She touched on questions of neural plasticity, research being done on repetitive movements as a benefit to the brain, and theta waves. At one point she questioned her material, hoping she had got the science right. This was an audience of knitters, doncha know, so of course there was a neurologist there who confirmed that she was on the right track. There is something about knitters, is there not? Although I am not of a scientific bent, and dwell in , as my husband puts it, ‘math hell’, I am a regular reader of the NYTimes Science and Health sections on Tuesday. The brain fascinates me, and there is a lot of research going on these days, mercifully reported for the layperson. I have had Sandra Aamodt’s book Welcome to your Brain on hold at the library for while, and I’m next on the list. So what a treat to hear an erudite, hysterically funny discussion on the intersection of current brain research and knitting. Then, I got to give out door prizes those waiting for a signed book. Quite like Christmas, but better because I didn’t have to purchase the presents.

The wonderfully sharp eyed Susan sent me the errors she found in the Yarni - Lace Baby Sweater pattern.

I’ve tried to track down all who ordered one and send the corrected version. I’m posting the corrections on the errata page, and will put them on Ravelry, too. Susan was so kind to send them to me. I am always amazed at the skill of knitters who look at a pattern error and say, of course, this is what she really meant. The evidence is all of those adorable sweaters you can see on Ravelry. Really, these are nice projects, but I want too see some pictures with the baby in the sweater, those are waaay cuter. So if you have a photo you are willing to share of the happy recipient of your sweater, I’d love to see it. See Andrea’s Happy Recipient as an excellent example.

Tomorrow night is the Yarn Harlot book signing/speechifying/knitter hoe-down sponsored by the Yarnery. I’ll be there giving out door prizes and once again acting as emcee, so if you attend, please say hi.

Next on the knitting related agenda is Yarnover. I’m going to be assistant factotem for Franklin’s 1,000 Knitters photo shoot. This means I have to be to the other side of the metro area by 8 am on a Saturday morning to help set up, so I’ll be the sleepy looking assistant. Again, come say hi and get your 15 minutes of fame via Franklin’s Fabulous Fotoboth.

MLE

I was quite pleased and surprised to see that this blog received an Excellent rating from Gale, over at She Shoots Sheep Shots. In grade school, our grades for Excellent, Good, or Failing. Straight E’s was the big accomplishment, and that Catholic School Girl in my is still glad to get an E.

I decided to nominate blogs I read that don’t have big numbers on Bloglines or Google Reader, but that I enjoy on a regular basis. I am supposed to limit myself to 10, so some of my regular reads are not here. Not in any particular order:

Sheep to Shawl Donna Druchnas is not only a wonderful writer of knitting books, she has lots of interests and wide ranging thoughts that are well-expressed in her blog. Where else can your read about atheism and copyright in the same post?

Ripped Off Knitter - Ragni shares her life and knitting in the far north of Norway. I am always embarrassed to read such good writing in English from someone for whom it is not her native tongue. And some lovely pictures.

How the West was Spun - The only horses and fiber blog I’ve run into. Anne sells beautiful yarn and has kits and clubs galore. Plus, you can follow Behn and Digger and their new friend Sam as they get ready for Spring.

Farm School - This is not a knitting blog, but Becky homeschools her kids out on the Canadian Prairie and shares her history love, reading and resources. I have discovered books to purchase for kids in my life and got ideas for movie rentals. Geek alert: this is where I learned that the author of Roget’s Thesaurus also invented the slide rule.

Misadventures in Knitting
Melinda and I share a propensity to self-inflicted injuries with a knitting needle. She shares her knitting and giant dog owner travails as well as life among the Swiss.

The Independent Stitch

Deborah Robson of Nomad Press talks about life, writing, and publishing, particularly some excellent knitting books.

Inspiration Boards

This blog posts interviews with creative people. They are part of a flickr group about inspiration boards. I know nothing about the concept, but it is always fun to see into the creative process.

Dream Big Live Large

Another creative process focussed blog, with great photos and links.

Irish Sally Garden

Becky used to have her own blog called the Irish Craftworkers Good Life, now merged with the blog about her family’s self-sufficient life on a small holding. Some nice craft, and great gardening info.

Jean’s Knitting
Jean’s lace knitting and intelligent, entertaining musings are a daily visit for me. She has finally finished the gansey made in honor of Barack Obama. Check it out.

I have lots of other places I visit regularly, but had to limit my list to ten.

I hope some of these are new to you and you enjoy the visits.

MLE

Friday night, sitting watching a movie, me knitting, when we hear a giant BANG from the dining room. The ceiling had fallen in.

The spousal unit had recently finished a bathroom remodel, including a new tub for me. The old one was 4 feet long, I could barely crouch in it, and I do like to have me a nice, relaxing soak in the tub with a good book. As often happens with plumbing work, there was a bit of a leak that had to be corrected. No big deal. Little spot in the ceiling to be patched up. Then a day later, next to the small spot, a bow appeared in the drywall. Must have been more water in there, oh well, patch the drywall.  No big deal.  However, sagging drywall that finally gives way, does not make a giant crashing sound. The idiot we bought our house from had swept all of the construction debris from his hideous remodel of the bathroom into the space between floor and ceiling. Hundreds of pounds of plaster and lathe and miscellaneous sh*t, that he hadn’t wanted to carry downstairs or pay for a dumpster in which to place it.

Our dining room was covered in it, at 11:00 on Friday night. We cleaned up as best we could, then I spent most of Saturday finishing the job, washing down every square inch to get rid of the plaster dust. One interesting note, I had just read about green carpet cleaning using snow at Kristen Nichol’s blog, and found a link there to an article on it.   I got to try it out with the fresh snow in our yard and by golly, it worked.

No article was found, however, on where to find he man we refer to around here as SfB (Sh*t for Brains) as in - come look what SfB did in here — the never ending horror of work done by a man who called himself a contractor. Maybe we could take out a contract on him, and have him sentenced to a lifetime of cleaning up other people’s garbage. This was sadly not our first experience in this area.

Next time back to knitting. I’m doing a stole in Misti Alpaca Lace Handpaint — such beautiful yarn. Oh, here is the nice new tub that started it all:

I am not a regular participant in Poetry Friday (or in anything if truth be told) but I do like to wander around and find some new poems. A favorite spot to visit is Farm School. Last week Becky lead me indirectly to Jane Kenyon, and I read this lovely poem, Let Evening Come. It really spoke to me as I was just back from a trip home to NJ and the east coast for work and the tour d’aging relatives. I spent a nice day with my 90-year old aunt, who has some dementia. (She describes herself as ‘wifty’.) She is a nun, entered the convent at 16, and is now living in the retirement community she helped to build when she ran the order. Here she is at age one, wearing a helmet her uncle brought home from WWI.

We had a difficult relationship when I was younger, but we both grew and changed and developed a real bond. I miss that, and it’s sad that we can no longer talk about books and ideas, and that there is a bit less of her each time I visit. I picked her up and took her back to my sister’s house, where we spent the afternoon petting the dogs, drinking tea, having lunch and just being together. Of course, I did have to answer the same questions over and over again, but that is not so difficult when you are not with an elder all day every day. She has a deep faith in God, and is not distraught or worried as she faces the great beyond. This poem somehow seemed to capture the feeling of sitting with her, in her own twilight, watching the afternoon sun move across the hill.

Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in the long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don’t
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come.

Jane Kenyon

A bonus is the reference to knitting — does anyone have any other poems that reference knitting ? I’d love to know.

Sometimes, when I design, it’s fiddle, fiddle, swatch, swatch, curse, curse, rip rip. Every once in while, all the knitterly planets align and the yarn works with the chosen stitch pattern, and I just keep knitting. These socks were like that. I used Pagewood Farms hand-dyed bamboo merino blend. Nice to knit with, not splitty, as I feared it might be. There is also a lot of yardage in one skein. I have quite a bit left over, enough to make kid-sized socks, as in an elementary school sized kid. The color is called Prism. I’m not sure why, it’s mostly a reddish orange. Less red since I washed it, but quite beautiful. I finished these and several others around Christmas, but I am finally getting around to this post.

This shot of sock on foot up on railing shows why knitting is the new yoga.

The stitch pattern, from a Japanese knitting book, I began calling Yo Yo Diet stitch, since you increase and decrease over and over. It called for a K3tog and a double increase, where you make one stitch into three. There are several ways to make 3 sts into one; I tried the K3tog, but went with a centered double decrease — slip 2 sts as if to knit, knit next stitch, and pass the slipped sts over. Here’s a good link to how-to on this.

I also experimented with just about every variety of double increase I could imagine. Some looked good, some not so much. When Theresa was examining the first sock, she said in her dry, understated, and always kind way, “Wow, you really did try every increase you could think of. I like how the second sock looks.” That translates as, “This first sock is pretty hinky, but it seems like you eventually made an acceptable choice.”

I settled on this: lift back of st below the stitch to be increased. Knit the stitch to be increased. Lift the back of the st below from the left side and knit. It leaves a little hole in the increase that I was quite pleased with. And really, the heavily variegated color hides all the variations unless you are one of the world’s most knowledgeable knitters and looking very closely. (Like Theresa…)

I sure love looking at the more complex sock patterns. There are some gorgeous socks out there, and they are often are designed to really make the most of some of the variegated hand-dyed yarns. I sometimes buy the pattern, just to support the designer. The sad truth is, however, that I am never going to make any of them. Socks are my easy knitting, meeting knitting, waiting wherever it is I end up waiting these days knitting. I only want to make socks that allow me to either pay attention to the topic of the meeting or participate in the witty intellectual repartee among my circle of witty reparteeing friends. When the conversation opens with “I work for an idiot”, I just can’t keep looking at a chart. I have to be able to listen intently, nod along, and agree with the diagnosis. If I can’t do that, I won’t finish the first sock, never mind the second.

I have finished the pattern for these, and the lovely Ms. Incaknits is testing it out. When she’s done it will be at the shop and online, for those who might be interested.