Dreaded Droop

I opened the freezer at work the other day and saw this — only in Minnesota.

I finished one (and one half) Welsh Travelling Sock from Shear Spirit.

I’m using Malabrigo Sock in a gorgeous red (Tiziano) that I am unable to capture. I started looking at the manual for my camera (Fuji E550. )  I bought it several years ago, and keep meaning to figure out the non-point and shoot features.  It has a macro feature, which really shows the nonblocked beauty of the stitch, and a slightly closer version of the color:

This is a fun stitch. I made a heavy sweater/jacket with it about 15 years ago. I thought the nature of the pattern, with the combination of slipping and stockinette, would stabilize the garter and keep the garment from stretching. I put in a zipper and lined it for more stretch prevention. The yarn I used was a soft, silvery, unspun Icelandic from Schoolhouse Press. One of the first days I wore it, a beautifully dressed woman stopped me and told me it was “Drop Dead Gorgeous.”   Of course, I couldn’t resist telling her I had designed and made it myself.   My smug preening did not last long, however.  A more accurate phrase might have been “Droop Dead Gorgeous.” Within about a month it was down to my knees everywhere but the zipper, and the lining was all pooched up. I removed the zipper and the lining and tried to felt it. That was a joke. I ended up throwing into the goodwill bin. I hope someone looking for a thrifting opportunity found it and made something fun.

In retrospect, with a few more years of yarn knowledge under my belt, I think a tightly plied yarn might have stood up. Well, a yarn with any plies would have been an improvement. I had seen a coat Meg Swansen made with the same yarn, without making the connection that hers was snugly stranded colorwork at a fairly tight gauge.  I haven’t given up my aspiration to make a knitted coat.  In fact,  I have looked longingly at the back belted jacket (Ravelry link)  by Bonne Marie Burns in the new Mason Dixon Knitting, but am still a bit gun shy. If anyone has made this, I’d love to hear how it holds up. (Not down.)

MLE

No Hats, Great Hat

Everyone else has waxed eloquent about the inauguration and I have cried my fill.  And laughed good and hard at Rev. Lowery.  When the serious work was done, however, I was waiting anxiously to see Michelle Obama’s inaugural gown. It might surprise those who know me – a real Frumperina –to find that I am an aficionado of inaugural ball gowns.  (I love the word gown.  I especially love old movies that have a credit for ‘gowns’ instead of costumes.  I know I’ll be pleased with that movie.)  When I was about 9, my best friend had a set of inaugural ball gown paper dolls from the Smithsonian.  The budding history nerd in me crossed brain circuits briefly with the little girl princess in all of us and swooned.  We played with them for hours, defended our favorites, drew new (highly derivative) designs for the dolls.   So, I was really thrilled to see the New York Times with an online slide show quiz on inaugural ball gowns.  What a rip!  It only had recent gowns, and my knowledge ended with Jackie Kennedy.  Where were Dolly Madison, Sarah Polk, and Mary Todd Lincoln?  Those were rockin’ gowns. Sadly, the only Mrs. Polk image I found:

Fortunately, I did come to eventually come to see that there was no relationship with drop- dead glamour in the First Lady’s gown and a successful/competent administration, however.  (James K. Polk?)

My other gripe about the inauguration -  where were the hand knits?  The president himself used the key words -  icy, storms, depth of winter.  That means it’s time for knitted warmth.

Oh, there were hand knits in the crowd; check out Gale being represented.  I saw none among the bigwigs, however.  This is a time of national crisis, we need to turn to our crafts, warm our friends, use our stash!  Don’t those little girls have someone who could knit them adorable hats to go with the J.Crew coats?  Why wasn’t Obama wearing Jean’s scarf?  Merete thinks I should have made him socks.  (News flash, I went to check the link and I have WON yarn from her! Pictures to follow.)

The Queen of Soul, however, looked warmly dressed, and no hand-knit could compete with that crown!

Check out Dr. Strangelove wearing it, though.  Buzzfeed is providing a transparency so you can wear one, too!

Sock Pattern as Promised

We are coming out of the deep freeze here. It was 24 below zero a few mornings last week. We were scheduled to have insulation blown into the sidewalls of the house on Thursday, but it was too cold. They came Friday and it was still really, really, really cold. I felt terrible sitting in the warm house, watching these guys out my windows. It was a Little Match Girl moment. Pardon me while I eat my roast goose.

Finally, here are the Tendrils Rib Socks. (available at the Yarnery or Ravelry.)

They were test knit not without some trials and tribulations. Chris bravely made top down socks, and managed to overcome her fear of the heel-flap-hanging-in-space. Gale was dedicated, but not quite willing to put her life on the line. The final pair in the photo were made with the beautiful Yarni, hand dyed right in North Saint Paul by a Yarnery staffer. The color is called foggy lake, but to it looks a bit more like a winter dawn on a cloudy morning. That sounds unpleasant, but it’s not. The muted colors of the dormant trees and shrubs contrasted on the snow are subtle, but lovely — like this yarn color.

Speaking of socks, this sort of thing really irritate irritates me. Just past the reinforcing yarn.

I know that many other media outlets are competing for space regarding our incoming president. I just wanted you all to see what I got in the mail:

It is on creamy thick paper with raised gold lettering, but it didn’t come with a ticket or a travel voucher. I wasn’t that large a donor! But really, don’t you wish you could be there?

Also, check out the profile of Barack and Michelle from 1996 in this week’s New Yorker. That’s the kind of man I want to see in the White House.

MLE

Thirteenth Night

Today is the day my family traditionally ended the Christmas season. The tree was up from Christmas Eve through January 6, or Little Christmas. We’d come home from school on January 7th and every last bit of festive decoration was packed away.  This year for a tree I had a container of sand with some spruce tips in it. Festive, yes, once decorated. Attractive? Maybe. Mr. Guy deemed it the weirdest Christmas tree we’ve ever had, which is really saying something. No good photos, so you’ll just have to imagine it. Anyway, I don’t wait as long as my mother to remove the tree, so over the weekend I put the ornaments away in the new ornament storage container I bought at half price to replace the ancient, tattered and taped-together cardboard version.

I seem to have more time to ponder when I pack up the ornaments than I do when decorating the tree, which is generally a group effort. Most of the ornaments have some memory attached to them, and I considered how someday they’ll end up in a trash heap or at Goodwill and no one will know that the little felt hobby horse was made for me by Mrs. Sutman, my third grade teacher, or that the funny faded glass candy canes were my mother’s when she was a child. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a little guide to the ornaments like they have in a box of chocolates, telling you which ones are vanilla cream and which are caramel? (Strange gold angel in basket, came from Gramma’s tree, Holly Hobby Bicentennial, bought on that crazy outing with my sisters, etc.) Then I could jog my memory as I age.  Of course, that would mean having to put them away in the same spot each time, something at which I do not excel.

A few pictures of some of the results of the Christmas present making extravaganza.

Fleece set

Hat by me, mittens by big brother

Working telegraph — they are going to learn Morse Code now.

Hope all your lives are getting back to normal if normal is good and if there is such a thing.  Happy 2009.

MLE