Fall colors

The sun is shining and the leaves are beautiful after a very dreary, sunless October. I’ve been taking the side streets just so I can see the trees. I’m inspired by their colors. Especially after another arduous wrestling match with pink yarn to design a scarf to donate to raise money for the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Last week, finally freed from pink, I opened up my odds and ends stash box (ok, boxes plural), and started pulling out random yarns and colors to knit scarves. Here are some just off the needles.

What a relief. The far left is a self striping yarn (not from my stash) of Tapestry from Rowan, interesting blend, the second one from the left is a new Karabella yarn I was trying. Lovely and soft. The rest are odds and ends of Frogtree alpaca and random yarns.

I love to explore the possibilities of one design. So I’ll knit variations of the same thing (like this scarf) over and over again. The pattern goes on autopilot and then I’m able to explore other dimensions–different color combinations, yarns, number of stitches…

Next on the agenda is a stole (yes, I know, that’s just a wider scarf).

Theresa

Basic Black

I have recently finished two tedious projects in basic black. The World’s Most Boring Socks in black stockinette for the spousal unit. That’s what he likes. I can sometimes do ribbing, but no color. I do usually put a contrasting reinforcement color on the toes for ease of matching when doing laundry. (Which he does. No complaints there.)

The next project was a stole I planned to donate for a Silent Auction for a scholarship fund at a conference. I decided something black and mindless would be just the ticket. Everyone loves black. I love having a Soothing, Relaxing, Mindless (SRM) Knitting project. Well this did not turn out to be the SRM project I envisioned. I decided that a scribble lace stole with one skein of Kidsilk Haze for the thin yarn and for the thicker yarn, some black boucle mohair. Both were in my stash. Those experienced knitters among you are already snickering at my naiveté. Last time I did a Scribble Lace* stole for a friend, it was Kidsilk Haze and a lovely smooth ribbon. Anyone who has ever knit with mohair boucle knows how grabby and sticky it can be. Couple that with Kidsilk Haze – lovely, fine, sticky kidmohair and silk. Plus, Kidsilk Haze on the giant needles used for scribble lace required a fair bit of attention to grab each stitch. I was never so glad to be done a project. Even if it meant weaving in the extra ends of mohair that I cut because I got too frustrated trying to untangle it properly. There are knitters out there who have figured out how to turn after each row so that yarns don’t tangle. I imagine I could, too, if I paid attention, but I never do. It’s a pattern in other areas of my life, too. You know, like if I folded my laundry and put it away immediately, I wouldn’t end up with a pile that seems too big to deal with till I have a big chunk of time. Which means about one a week. (Mr. Guy does the laundry, but says he won’t go into my closet without backup.)

At any rate, here is the stole, unblocked, hanging up against a window to show the open stitches. The finished project did raise a fair sum of money, and was purchased by a new friend I met at the conference. Karen was standing by the stole so no one could outbid her. I stopped to chat and she went on and on about how beautiful it was and how it would go perfectly with a dress she had. I said thank you and she looked at me weirdly. Then it dawned on her. “Of course you made this. You’ve been knitting through all the sessions. ” One speaker on an affordable housing topic had said something about “Mo Money! Mo Time!” A crew of sillies began chanting by the stole, “Mo Money! Mo Time! Mohair!” And they weren’t even knitters.

*Scribble Lace was introduced by Debbie New in her amazing book, Unexpected Knitting. The Mason Dixon gals also wrote it up. Scribble lace is beautiful, combining a very thin yarn with thick yarn to produce a fabric with an unusual and rather interesting appearance. The stole weighed almost nothing, yet was surprisingly warm. If you see it wandering around Salt Lake City, say hi.
Here are the basic steps:
Use a LARGE circular needle - I used a 15US.

A very thin yarn (I used Kidsilk Haze) A very thick yarn.

With the thick yarn, cast on desired number of stitches.

Switch to the thin yarn, knit one row, purl one row, knit one row.

Slide the the stitches down to the other end of the circular needle, carry the thick yarn loosely up the edge of the work and knit back.

Purl one row, knit one row, purl one row.

Repeat until you run out of yarn, are happy with the end results, or are bored out of your mind.

Knitting Books Are Our Friends

I have been wanting for a long time to get my Barbara Walker Treasuries spiral bound. Years, in fact. Finally, Incaknit’s recent experience at a local Kinko’s coincided with the pages really starting to fall out of one of them. I can’t tell you exactly how long I have had these books, but a loooong time. When I was taking little slips and markers out of them in preparation for their outing, I found bookmarks from Coliseum Books when it was on 57th Street and I worked on 57th Street and spent many lunch hours and too much money there. The books followed me to Minnesota, and got more and more dogeared. They are still a bit dogeared, but now the pages aren’t falling out and I don’t have to hold a page open with the butter dish or a stapler. Although I have many other stitch dictionaries, these were among my first and I still just browse thru them for fun. So having to leave them overnight gave me pause. My mother used to tell the little kids who were in page tearing mode, “Books are our friends.” These books are old friends. But here they are, back home, safe and sound, don’t they look great?

So while feeling all inspired and having my books home, I was tempted into a new waste of time, um, I mean a new (to me) online service. I have been fooling around on Ravelry, but didn’t even think about adding my books to the bookshelf. Then Jean started talking about her experience with Library Thing. It is “an easy, library-quality catalog” that is really as addictive as Ravelry. I figured there would be lots of others on there who had already posted my books. That made it so easy to add them. Very easy. So easy that in no time at all I added over 100 knitting books. Really. And I don’t think I got them all. I’m almost embarrassed, but gentle readers, I’ve been at this book collecting thing for a long time. I often buy a knitting book I think I won’t use just in case someone else would. I browse the discarded book bins in libraries and love used books stores. I know I don’t have to justify myself, especially figuring that most people reading this are also knitters with many feet of books. Library Thing is fun. You can look at a catalogue as a list, or by cover images, as though you have spread the books out on a table and are quietly browsing.

And on the book theme, what about this chair?

It is the Bibliochaise, and is, sadly, a bit out of my price range.

MLE

Of Knees and Knitting

I have been busy.

Babysitting for the young tiger on the right of your screen.

Traveling to my beautiful niece’s

beautiful wedding.

I even got into the act with my Roman Holiday pose – how can you pass up a photo op a 1957 Mercedes two-seater?

And, hanging around the hospital while a friend had knee replacement surgery. The hospital time gave me time to finish up a garter-edged version of my Broken Cables hat for the Yarnery in Karabella Merino Superwash. I like it better than many superwash yarns. It has a nice wooly feel, not slippery.

The other knee in question is this one.

Unfortunately, there are no knee replacements for horses. A horse’s knee is really more akin to the human wrist. What had been occasional puffiness and slight stiffness until warmed up suddenly moved over into limps and soreness. The x-rays showed osteoarthritis and calcium deposits. This was the first vet visit she has had since she came to live with me 8 years ago, except for regular shots, so I can’t complain. I think that a cortisone injection is next. I don’t like Miss Holley to be in pain.

Babysitting for Aman did not give me much time to breathe, never mind knit. He came to the US from Ethiopia about a year and a half ago, and speaks perfect English now. But he still has lots of vocabulary to catch up with, especially the kind that is a bit more challenging to explain. Like all the gears and buttons on the John Deere riding mower he sat on in Lowe’s for about an hour. “That’s to adjust the seat.” “What does adjust mean?” You get the idea. That type of conversation, if you are trying to do it with any level of attention, is exhausting. All you parents out there, go take a well deserved rest.

Also, I am on Ravelry. Come visit. MLEgan.