Tina's International House of Yarncakes

Long time no (mumble mumble)

2008-08-01T08:05:00.002-04:00

Maybe it would be kindest to let this blog die a natural death. It'd be a sad thing, but I've been amazed and overwhelmed how much writing a dissertation takes up one's time! I know it sounds obvious, but I'm still surprised. It's not so much that I write for hours, but I have to spend a lot of time looking up things I'd forgotten, and a surprising amount of time just _thinking_ about what I'm trying to say. Honestly, there's not much brain-power left for anything else. Sigh.

Still, it's an amazingly solitary exercise too, and I miss the community of knitters! I _have_ done some knitting:

It's Wendy Johnson's Summer 2008 socks (Ravelry link) in Cherry Tree Hill 'Life's a Beach.' It's a sign of how crazy and brain-dead I've been that these took me a whole month! On the upside though, this yarn was so pretty and soft that I felt like it was a reward and not a drag.

I've been working on some other things, but need to grab one more cup of coffee and run to the library, but I wanted to add that I have the pattern for Henry (below) available as a free download on Ravelry now. I don't know if anyone wants to knit a giant octopus, but I wanted to make it possible - I enjoyed coming up with it so much that it seemed sad to keep it to myself.

Anyway - I hope it won't be another month, but I can't make any promises. We're about to head off to Provence for 10 days, so who knows what'll happen?!?!

A pleasant surprise

2008-06-07T13:23:00.002-04:00

Once upon a time, before graduate school swallowed up all my time and/or mental resilience, knitting was a part-time activity that shared space with several other crafts. One by one those crafts have fallen to the wayside as they took up too much time, or were too fiddly, or took enough concentration and analytical focus as to be in direct competition with school rather than filling spare time.

The saddest for me to lose was beadwork, which I've been doing for nearly 20 years at this point (yes, I started when I was 12, though I've gotten a bit better since then). It lost its place because the kind of work I do requires careful decisions with the placement of nearly every single bead. Obviously a little too close to essays, and maybe more stressful! Early this week I achieved the coveted ABD (all-but-dissertation) status and as all of the little fiddly academic projects cleared away - granted, to make way for the mother of all academic projects - I found that my beading mojo was returning. I took some time at the end of the week to make this:

It's hard to tell scale from this picture, but the whole thing is about as big as my little finger. The beadwork is done over a piece of abalone a friend gave me years ago and called out to me finally this week. I really enjoyed beading again - though trying to photograph this piece REALLY has convinced me I need to invest in a decent camera! - and I think that with a little determination I can add it back into my life without risking my dissertation. Which is good, because I have half of a beaded life-size iguana that's been laying around for about 6 years that I'd really like to finish!!

I'm not making eye contact

2008-06-02T18:16:00.004-04:00

I figure if I just edge into the room as if I hadn't been away for 6 weeks or so, no one will notice that I was ever gone. I feel especially delinquent, since I was promising updates and exciting happenings, but if I just go on with things, no one will probably even remember. Bwa haha.

All I can say to justify myself is: you know that boss that has high expectations of you but will never tell you what they are, and that boss that is out of it and disorganized but always notices when you forget something, and that boss that expects tons of work and attention from you but never entirely manages to do the work you need him/her to do? Well, if you combine all those into one person and make that person the chair of your department, that's who I've been working for this semester. Truly a wonderful person and professor, but anxiety causing! And distraction causing. As was endless grading for the last month. But it's all done with for the summer - yay!

Here are some beautiful things to be distracted by:

These are Having Hope by Diane Mulholland, in Mama Blue's SeaMerino in Beekeeper. I bought the pattern when I saw that the sales benefitted cancer research, but it's a glorious pattern even if it only benefited the author. I'm definitely making a pair for the BikeJerk too.

This is the Asphodel Scarf I was working on before, and finally finished!

Look how lacy and cashmere-y! I have nothing else really to say about this project except: yay! the sun's back!!!

And, London, as promised - I love London, and one of my favorite things is how the modern and the not-modern coexist in the same place:

This was taken in the Tower of London, which would have been truly irritating, what with the approximately 50,000 teenagers crammed into a few rooms with us (and who paid less than the $30 a piece that we did), if it weren't for the lovely outdoor areas, which were filled with Beefeaters and ravens (as well as tourists). Ah, London.

This picture is from our hotel (and remains sideways here even though it's upright in any file I can find of it on the computer - why?). These guys are the primeval giants that were supposed to be in Britain before the Celts got there. Which returns us back to school and my research, and there we go...

Catching up

2008-04-08T14:33:00.005-04:00

Thank you all for your encouraging comments on my Fratello socks - I don't really _hate_ them, I just got frustrated, so it was nice to hear some positive views!

And as for the cat picture from my hit and run post - Chowder-cat was so intimidated by that huge ball of yarn (no trick photography, it really is that big!) that she couldn't tackle it right away! She slyly left the room before running in and leaping on it, then running away upstairs at top speed. I think she thought it might be a competitor rather than a toy!

So, after my own personal March madness (which had nothing to do with basketball, though plenty to do with college students), I'm beginning to catch up with things. I've picked up my dissertation work (why, fancy meeting you here), started to prepare the garden for incipient spring, and, in knitting, moved back to interesting projects from the simple 'keep my hands busy' ones that aren't really worth posting about.

I have much to talk about, including a whirlwind trip to London, but first, a catchup post, tying up the loose ends I left...whenever I left these hints:

These socks are Cookie A's Hedera in Yarn Pirate's BFL sock yarn in Solstice (from last summer's yarn club). I realize that it's hard to tell that this is the Hedera pattern, which looks so demure and graceful in a solid yarn, but for some reason this busy-ness I don't mind. Maybe because the blue(purple) is so very blue(purple)? In fact, I love these socks - they've been worn many times already. I think I may love BFL more than is entirely healthy.

This is the beginning of the middle of the Asphodel scarf, which is complex enough that I have only just picked it back up after over a month. It's a nice pattern (the projects on ravelry show it better than my picture OR the ones offered by Misti Alpaca), but the best best thing about it is that it's made in Filatura di Crosa's Superior, which is a silk cashmere blend. Around Christmas, Claire-who-has-no-clever-blog-name-yet bought me two balls of this glorious stuff when she noticed I couldn't stop touching it. I still can't, though I think it's slightly less embarrassing in the privacy of my own home. It _is_ a little scary to think about leaving the house with this scarf when I finish it - I'm going to be petted by strangers, I think! (oh, and I'd like to point out that the asphodel is the flower that grows in Hades. Perfectly cheery, no?)

This loveliness is the Three-cornered Shawl in Clover pattern, from Victorian Lace Today, in HelloYarn's BFL (are you surprised?) lace yarn. I'm really pleased with how it came out - I've never used such tiny yarn before (it's really 1-ply, though it calls itself 2ply (perhaps because there's nylon in the mix somewhere?)), and it made such a delicate fabric that I can hardly believe it. None of my pictures really do justice to the rich, variegated orange of the yarn, but what can a girl with a crap camera do? Enjoy a couple more pictures:

My only problem with the shawl is that I kind of feel frumpy in a triangular lace shawl. Anyone else?

Finally - I finished the Laila Estonian socks:
I'm entirely in love with these, with the variegations in the handspun, with the successful fair isle work (which I'm not used to), and with the fact that they actually, miraculously fit. What joy! I need to get to work on a new fair isle project that will actually be seen by people other than me now!

I hate to blog and run...

2008-04-02T16:35:00.001-04:00

But I'm doing it anyway. I swear I'll be back later this week. In the meantime, my cat contemplates a rather large ball of yarn:

A tiny fraction of my madness

2008-03-18T15:45:00.005-04:00

Well, the madness hasn't really let up, but I feel like if I'm going to take up the bandwidth (or whatever it's called), I should occasionally write something, just to pay the rent or show I'm still alive, or because I miss the old days where I actually had time and energy to devote to the joys of fiber. Also, I'm a little loopy from grading 31 midterms, mere days after grading 31 papers.

Anyway.

Thanks to those who guessed at what these are:

They are actually Fratellos (or Fratelli as the former Italian student in me insists on saying), and I actually got the kit, so the yarn is Wollmeise. The Yarnissima kits are totally cool, by the way, with the professional looking bound pattern, the laminated card for travelling, and a few little treats, all nicely wrapped up. That said, I don't think I like Wollmeise for this pattern. First, it's a little too variagated - even in real life you can't clearly see the twisted stitch pattern on the toe and ankle area. Second, IT'S REALLY SPLITTY!!!! I actually quite like the yarn - the dye is so vibrant and the many plies give it great sheen, but those very plies are the devil when you're doing a lot of twisted stitches with tiny needles. Not that I'm agitated about it or anything!

It also pools in the first gusset increase area, at least for me, in the small size (boy, don't my feet look TINY in this picture?!). Btw, for those who like twisted stitch patterns, have you seen this beauty?

Just one more quickie before I go back to going insane:

These are Laila's Socks from Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush. I've always loved them, but always hated the untwisting of yarn that comes with fair isle/stranded knitting. I decided to try again, but using the two-handed method of stranded knitting, and I love it. Suddenly a new path has opened up before me. Also, I used my own handspun for the orange, and I love that too. Look how it changes:

Coming attractions

2008-03-08T08:23:00.003-05:00

I have been, and _am_ insanely busy being the head teaching fellow for a largish course (in which the professor expects me to take over doing everything except giving the lectures), as well as personally teaching ~30 students and grading all their papers and midterms, etc. etc.

So I'm a little insane, and don't have the time to post, but here are some things I'll be posting about soon:

And now for something completely different

2008-02-11T09:50:00.000-05:00

The Yoga Hoodie, she is finished! And, more importantly, she fits! First the glamorous photo shoot, then the specs and pattern review:

(Look, at me, I'm FIERCE. Or confused?):

This is the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie from WEBS, which is a $1.49 download. As I mentioned before, I got this pattern with the intention of finally taking the time to measure and try on and calculate to make sure a sweater I make actually fits me. I had to shorten the sleeves by a couple of inches, and I decreased from the 38" size to the 34" under the bust, and although it's very plain, I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'll definitely be wearing it a lot!

This is the first time that I've used one of those cheap download patterns that a lot of the online yarnstores are selling these days, and I'm here to report that you DO get what you pay for. Not to say this is a bad pattern - there were no mistakes in it - but it lacked some things that you expect in a pattern. Pictures of the front of the sweater, for instance, and schematics with measurements. The pattern called for making 2 pockets, which weren't pictured. I had to make one, just to see what it looked like. (I decided it was too small (why have a pocket your hand won't fit into?), plus I couldn't decide exactly where to put it):

Frankly, I bought the pattern because I liked the design on the back, and it was worth $1.49 to me to get that pattern. I think it was also worth $1.49 to realize the shortcomings of the cheap download. The lack of a measurement schematic was annoying since I was trying to modify the fit. Equally irksome was the inconsistancy in the way the stitch count was presented - the sweater is a raglan style, knit top-down in the round, with markers at the raglan increases which divided the sweater into 5 parts (left and right front, left and right sleeve, and back) - at points where the pattern changed, a stitch count would be given, but only for one section, so it was impossible to confirm the count without doing math. I hate math.

It wasn't a grievous burden to do the math, draw the picture, make a pocket, etc., but I have learnt that when you buy a pattern, in a book or magazine, or as a pricier download, you're not just paying for the creator's idea, but also the extra time and work that are required to provide the details that make it as easy as possible for the knitter. Of course, I've also learnt that it's not impossible, even for me, to do the math and make a pattern. (musing on future plans....)

Grrrr!

2008-01-29T15:45:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't you know it? The spring semester starts tomorrow* and I'm going to be the head teaching fellow in a large course, so in the midst of running around doing all the start of term administrative nonsense, I worked hard and finished my hoodie so that I could feel extra good for the first day of classes. And so I went downtown today and bought a zipper. And when I got home and had pinned the whole thing in preparatory to sewing... wouldn't you know I bought the wrong kind of zipper? The kind that doesn't separate at the bottom? Sigh. I just hope it's not a sign of how the semester's going to go!

* Yes, the semester does start at the end of January, what of it? Just because everyone else in the universe is sensible and has fall term finals BEFORE Christmas doesn't mean that we have to. This is a venerable institution we're talking about here (starts with H, rhymes with "cardboard"), nearing its 400th anniversary, and if horrible, horrible schedules have worked for that long, well.....

I never promised you a rose garden

2008-01-21T17:24:00.001-05:00

But I did promise some non-sock knitting.

First off, my long-term-early-morning-full-concentration-lace-project:

It's the Three Cornered Shawl in Clover Pattern from Victorian Lace Today, knit in Hello Yarn's BFL lace (and of course it's impossible to photograph well since it's very fine yarn, I lack a macro lens, and it's winter, but...). The pattern's fairly simple, but it's slow going because the yarn is so tiny. It's a single-ply lace (strengthened with a little nylon) and it tends to get caught on itself and the stitches hide under each other. I had to switch from my original choice of pattern because it was a true lace and had many areas where there was a single strand of yarn stretching over a great hole, which didn't seem like the best of plans for such a fine yarn! Still, the color is fabulous, and I think I'll actually wear this triangle shawl in it.

This is my semi-endless boring knitting:

As I mentioned ages ago, this is the first sweater I've made in a long time because I've been so disappointed with my efforts in the past. I've just been too lazy to modify the pattern to fit, and so (unsurprisingly), it doesn't. This one (the Olive Branch Yoga Hoodie from Webs), I've been trying on at every step, and measuring constantly, and it's very promising. (More on this pattern (and yarn) later! or, What I've Learned about Cheap Downloaded Patterns.) It's also very boring - all stockinette. But I do have a solution for that:

This is the view of my knitting-while-reading setup (with a quick stockinette cap for myself, in Malabrigo (mmmm!)). It's just a cookbook holder, but I can read while I knit this way - get some fun reading done while getting through the dull bits of my knitting. It's perfect. So perfect, once I'm ensconced with it, that's the end, nothing else is getting done that day!

Sock meditations

2008-01-13T13:01:00.001-05:00

First off, to all of you who left such kind comments on my last post: thank you! It really means a lot to me that you'd offer your thoughts and prayers to essentially a stranger - though I shouldn't be surprised since I see so much generosity in the knitting community! I'm not at all going to turn this blog into one on his illness and therapy, though with preventative chemo starting up in two weeks, I'm sure it'll sneak in here and there!

Now I'd like to talk a bit about socks and sock books. I want to talk specifically about Cat Bordhi's newest book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters, vol. 1. I don't tend to give book reviews, but I got very excited when I got this book - I (however boringly) knit mostly socks, and this book gave me a whole new way to look at them. Your basic sock is like a blank canvas - once you have mastered knitting in the round and understand the heel and toe, you can simply fill in any pattern on the leg and foot of the sock. It's intensely and satisfyingly simple, as has been capitalized upon in the Sensational Knitted Socks books.

In New Pathways, Bordhi lays out architectures that approach sock construction in whole new ways, mostly to do with the increases and decreases around the heel turn/gusset area - by moving these increases to new places (on the top of the foot in rows, in a spiral, in an expanding v shape), she entirely changes the types of stitch pattern that can be incorporated into a sock and expands the creativity a designer can build into her creation. It's not only an exciting development in design options, but she also includes endless numbers of good knitting tips - better ways to conceal the wraps in a short row, more hidden increases, etc - that can add to anyone's repertoire. Below is my first attempt at her "Sky Architecture," where the increases start at the center of the ankle in the front and move downwards in an inverted V shape (as you can see on the right foot). It's in Woolly Boully merino sock in Kelp Seahorse:

Here I will insert my caveat about the book: it's really not for beginners. Nor is it particularly for someone who just wants to knit some socks and not design their own. If you were to work just from her patterns (as I did here) rather than involving yourself in learning the architectures and applying them to your own work, you'd find yourself rather irritated. The patterns are intended to show you how to do it yourself, essentially, and constantly refer you to other sections of the book for heel constructions, gussets, toes, and how-to details for her special increases, etc. It'd drive a girl batty to just sit down to make a sock and have to do so much work for it (and most of the patterns are not really exploiting the full potential of the architecture either, just displaying it). Still, it's pure genius. Let a sock maker look at this heel and not be amazed - it's so entirely new:

Thanks for listening as I blather on about my sock crush! I hope it's of interest to others who knit too many socks. I _am_ working on non-sock items too, which I'll hopefully post about soon, weather conditions permitting!

It's been a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad month

2007-12-31T11:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I knew December was going to get crazy, what with the holidays and trying to finish up my prospectus for my dissertation (which has now been accepted - yay!), but I didn't account for finding out in late November that my 34 year old husband had colon cancer and needed surgery ASAP. That threw us and our families for quite a loop, and I didn't quite feel up to blogging about it at the time. He had his surgery on the 17th of December and was home for Christmas. He is now so well recovered that he is back to walking the dog and doing all the cooking (I do believe he couldn't handle any more of my ham-handed kitchen attempts). He is still going to be getting chemotherapy in the new year, but the doctors are very positive about his recovery and future health. That, and his swift recovery from intrusive abdominal surgery has made things seem more manageable, and I plan to be back on a more regular posting schedule. I hope no one missed me too too much. ;) I missed all of you and all the bloggers I haven't been keeping up with - I have about 500 posts to read now, so I've got my work cut out for me!!

I have been busy all this time, so I'll have a few photos to share over the next few posts. Here's some merino from the Yarn Wench that I spun into a nice, even fingering weight yarn:

I believe the colorway was Squash, or maybe Squash Blossom, but I was too hasty in tidying up my labels. I've wanted to make Laila's Socks from Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia ever since I saw them, in their original orange and white incarnation, and I think that this yarn may be the perfect choice for that. I'm very excited, though I'm worried about colorwork and socks - I haven't had too much luck making colorwork fit over my heel... Still, it's worth a shot!

This is Zen String superwash merino in Splendor:

Ever-kind Angelina surprised me with an extra 4 oz. of this when I ordered it, due to a shipping delay, so I have enough for a scarf - I'm thinking linen stitch - which I can't wait to start on as the yarn is sooo soft and colorful.

Finally, I feel terrible that I lied on a post a while back - the things down at the bottom that I said weren't socks? Yeah, they totally were. Here they are, in fact:

They're Bellatrix socks from Socktopia/Gigi Silva (whose site seems to be down at this post), knit from Zen String Bambewe in the Blissed colorway. I love how the yarn behaved with the funny yarnovers in the pattern.

Anyway - I'll be back soon, and hope you have a happy new years!

My Mom went to Tibet...

2007-11-28T16:00:00.000-05:00

...and "all" I got was this crazy yarn:

It's a laceweight (2 giant hanks of it - what to make? so many possibilities!), with a halo sort of like mohair, but it sticks to itself more and is a little coarser. And it's probably yak, though there was a bit of a communications issue - apparently not a whole lot of western tourists in Tibet want to buy yarn! Silly them.

It does smell a bit like a yak (I guess), and something about it drove the cat nuts:

I set in on the floor for a minute and she came running in and started licking and biting it, like it was coated in catnip. She's a fan of yarn, but not usually like this!

Apologies for the short posts this month! It's that time of year! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday! (Both our pumpkin pie (which I made) and the cranberry tart (by the BikeJerk) were delicious, though the tart got eaten days ahead of the pie!)

I'm so thankful...

2007-11-22T14:46:00.001-05:00

That once a year this:

turns into this:

(that's a cranberry tart on the right...and YES, it is a weird 70's kettle!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it, and happy desserts to everyone else!

Just a quickie

2007-11-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

Here's my handspun as mentioned in the last post. Not perfect, but so pretty! I wish there was decent light so you could see the colors better, but what can a girl do?

It's a merino roving from Spunky Eclectic (bought at Mass. Sheep and Wool), in Toronto. The colors are pretty close to this, but in person it seems more....alive?

BikeJerk took me to the Mt. Auburn Cemetary today for the first time - designed by Olmsted, and ever so lovely. It's full of trees in so many lovely shades, I couldn't help but want to knit them....

My dog is shiny

2007-11-09T10:01:00.001-05:00

(Cute shiny dog photo to distract from knitting-free post)

It's been sort of a crazy week around here - I'm just realizing today that it hasn't actually been extra busy, it's just harder to cope with it. Because I Haven't Had Coffee Since Sunday.

The BikeJerk's been having stomach issues for a while (work-stress related) and has quit eating and drinking any number of things that make life worth living (tomatoes, wine, cheese, spicy food). He had no problem quitting those things (except the mental anguish of a food-lover deprived of his previously iron stomach), and so I had no problem continuing to eat them in front of him, trying not to _visibly_ enjoy them. But it finally came down to coffee. And he loves coffee. A lot. It seemed like a little too much torture to continue to brew coffee in the house (filling it up with its lovely aroma) with him not able to drink any, so I stopped drinking it. [I know that die-hard coffee drinkers would just stop somewhere to get their morning fix, but I'm not that die-hard.] I never even had caffeine on a regular basis until about 4 years ago, but let me tell you, that doesn't make it any easier to stop. I feel much better now, but Monday and Tuesday were a haze.

Anyway, I hardly know how I've spent my time this week. There are new piles of books, so I assume I spent some time in the library. There are two balls of yarn to make the BikeJerk a new hat, so I deduce that I bought that. There's a lovely hank of handspun, which I must have spun, but it's all a blur.

There's a decent amount of knitting going on around here, but no pictures (even of the handspun - perhaps this weekend when I'm actually at home during daylight hours?): almost half of what's on the needles is secret for one reason or another, and most else is just tedious to share (yes, my scarf is now twice as long as it was, but it's still a rectangle. Nothing to see here, folks, just move along.). But I'll leave you with something that struck me last weekend. A woman at the knitting brunch I sometimes attend had a wonderful insight - maybe others have already realized this, but it struck me nicely: buying yarn (or spinning fiber, which was her example) is not just buying to have, like a lot of things are, but rather buying moments of happiness sometime in the future, when you'll sit down with your angora (or whatever), and do something you enjoy very much. Even though the happiness is somewhere in the future, even the act of buying the yarn partakes of the joy, because you can picture how happy and relaxed you'll be doing that knitting or spinning.

It's a lovely way to think of it, I think, though, to borrow a slogan from the liquor companies: Knit responsibly.

And what have we here?

2007-11-02T14:07:00.001-04:00

Things that aren't socks? No way!

[Notice how I'm not even mentioning that the Red Sox SWEPT the World Series here? No sense in dredging up the past, right? After all, this is a socks-free post, and I feel I've sort of given up my right to gloat and cheer by allowing myself to get distracted all week by all the medieval Charlemagne material I've been forced to wade through (stupid dissertation research - so distracting)...]

I'm afraid to type this in fear that if I say that fall is finally here, the weather will suddenly change and it'll be 80 degrees and humid again tomorrow. Please, no more summer, honestly! Proof that it's autumn? I made my first apple pie of the season on Halloween - local Gravenstein apples, and my best crust ever - and the sedum has turned the loveliest shade:

I never knit scarves for some reason (too boring?) and yet I love wearing them - partially because when I moved north to New England, I finally discovered that they were more than just decoration! Also, they're pretty. This one is made from Yarn Pirate's merino/tencel sock yarn in Butternut (Booty club September (?)), and is a chevron pattern not entirely unlike that in the Jaywalker socks. This yarn didn't call to me for socks, but I really like it in this scarf. and it'll be so nice and soft on my neck.

And another autumnal scarf, for my brother:

This is from that cake of handspun that I flashed last post. I swatched several things, but everything seemed to get eaten up by the yarn. It ended up being plain old stockinette with a garter edging (I steam-ironed it and everything, so I hope it won't curl too much), which shows up the color variation as well as the sort of rustic and charming size variation in the spinning (since I'm not so good at the thicker spinning). It's a Christmas present, so more photos in December!

Almost immediately after I finished the thick spinning for that scarf, I (very slowly) spun up a whole lot of very fine singles as an antidote:

Which I just finished plying:

It's merino I dyed myself, and it turned out to be a thickish lace-weight. I haven't figured out the yardage yet, but as it's about 8 oz., it might be enough for a stole...and I do love how the colors ended up working!

I swear, this isn't a sock. Totally sock -free post, definitely...

Sox and Socks

2007-10-24T16:48:00.000-04:00

OMG! First game of the World Series on tonight and the Sox are playing! I really didn't think they were going to make it this time! Of course, every year I say they're not going to make it, in hopes that I won't be too upset when/if they don't make it. Doesn't so much work. Game 7 of the ALCS was great, and I was knitting green (monster) socks, so they'll be coming out again tonight. Of course, we'll see if I can stay awake for the whole game - functioning on less than 6 hours of sleep doesn't work as well for me now as it used to...

Now it only goes to figure that the one time that I actually have non-sock items to show off, the weather's not cooperating with my taking pictures. All I have is some finished socks (that you've already seen singles of, alas) from the weekend, but at least it makes for a good post title. Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow (bet your bottom dollar it's tomorrow), and I will be awake enough to exploit my natural resources...

Finished Firestarters, as mentioned before, in Zen String Harmony fingering, which I'll just say one more time, is perfect perfect for this pattern. This was a fun learning experience, with a different sort of construction (though I didn't pay quite as close attention on the second sock, so there are a few, not too noticeable errors). I do think that I'm all done with the magic loop method. I'm glad I stuck with it for the pair, and I feel comfortable using it, but I was so glad to get back to the dpns!

Here, of course, are the Scherherezade Slippers, finished while the Patriots crushed the Dolphins on Sunday. (I'm not really a huge sports fan, honestly, it's just a good time to knit!) They're in ArtYarns Ultramerino on size 2 (dpns, thank you very much). I think they're stunningly gorgeous - and they were another new construction for me), but since they come right to my calves, I do think I'll need to add a little elastic to keep them up when I walk...or I could just spend the rest of my life reclining gracefully in them...I'll have to ponder....

And finally, the Wine socks (really Nancy Bush's Whitby)! If all goes as planned, I'll be trading them for my case of wine on Halloween. Hopefully there will be pictures of them on the feet that fit them (instead of my much smaller ones!) as well as of a giant box of wine!

Go Sox!

Restless Me Syndrome

2007-10-16T17:08:00.000-04:00

This is getting to be a bad habit, I think. I was sad and embarrassed when I was only getting around to posting every seven days, but less often than that?! shocking. It's been, and still is, a week in which I can't seem to do anything for more than a few minutes and then I have to go do something else. It's not a manic thing, just a flakey thing, I think. In either case, I've been very very busy getting nothing much done!

To distract from my lack of content, here is a link to a very odd children's show that Claire shared with me. It's G rated, but there _is_ singing...

One thing I _can_ say I accomplished this week (other than eating an obscene amount at a BikeJerk family reunion), is finishing the first half of my pair of Maia's Mystery sock/Scherherezade Slippers:

Isn't it amazing? Don't you want to make one? I'm ever so pleased with how it turned out. It's very tall on me since I have a short foot, and I love the lace pattern swirling up and around my calf. It actually comes to a nice point on the back, but I'm not quite flexible enough to successfully capture the back of my own leg on film.

And one final thing. This is the yarn I spun for a scarf I'm going to knit for my brother:

As you can see, it's autumnal and also sort of busy, with the light and dark strands plied together. I'm pondering what, if any, stitch pattern I should use - stockinette and garter are awfully boring, but do you think that this yarn would just swallow any sort of texture I tried? (I know, I should swatch, but that takes some willpower/attention span.)

Argh! I've been doing one thing for more than 10 minutes now. I'd better run!

October, baby, yeah!

2007-10-07T08:19:00.000-04:00

I love October. It's somehow my favorite month. Partially because my wedding anniversary is on Halloween, partially because it's the first month that I can feel sure that it'll be autumn, which has always been my favorite season - the leaves, the lack of humidity, (new school clothes?), plus I love the peacefulness of the bare trees, etc. So I've been missing in action this whole first week of October because it's been just way too warm! I know many were glad for the weather in the 80s this week, but it made me cranky as all get out. Grr! Naturally, I'm ever so pleased that it's not supposed to even get up to 70 today. Ah! I'm happy, and the BikeJerk is happy, as he and friends are riding their bikes to Provincetown today. Hope it doesn't rain too much, guys!

So when I say 'missing in action' I mean that I haven't been blogging, or commenting on other peoples' blogs, or talking to my friends, or doing nearly enough of my research, but it doesn't mean I haven't been knitting. I started both my new sweater project and the orange lace project, neither of which is photograph-able yet, and I worked on these:

On the right are Boyfriend Socks for the BikeJerk. The Lorna's Laces is perfect for this cable-heavy pattern, and I love how they're turning out. At the same time, I'm working on the sock on the left, which I'm calling the Wine Sock. Even though it's Whitby from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road, it's the Wine Sock to me because when I finish the pair, I get a case of wine. Yes, a case. They're for a friend of ours who is the wine expert at a local liquor store. He's very excited for a handknit pair of socks, and I think these ones will be huge winners for his first pair - they're in Cider Moon Flurry, and they're SOOOO soft! Maybe he'll want another pair. ;)

Finally, above and below are socks for me, along with enormous produce from our CSA! Above, it's an art photo, below, you can see the sock

Which is the first of a pair of Firestarters (from Yarnissima, but available for free from the Loopy Ewe!) in Zen String Harmony Fingering in the Vitamin C colorway. I love this yarn so much - it's perfect for the pattern with its tencel blend making the stitches crisp, and the colors are so rich. I'm SO sad that I cancelled my sock yarn club membership with Zen String - I've never been unhappy with any of their yarns or colorways - silly me and not spending beyond my means!!

The pattern is certainly fun - toe-up with traveling stitch cables and an interesting construction - it's carefully organized and I love how the stitches flow up and around the gusset. It's written for the Magic Loop method....and....well, I decided to use it despite my previous frustration in it (with a needle with less than graceful joins). I have made this whole sock with the magic loop, and I don't hate it anymore. I feel comfortable in it, and stopped being annoyed by having to pull the needle up into place, but I just don't know how I feel about the method. It's sort of fine, but is it less annoying than dpns? I don't think so... As one of my students would say, I'm deeply ambivalent (because to college students, apparently, if you're ambivalent, you must be deeply ambivalent, just as any contrast has to be stark and any opposition has to be a binary one. Sigh.).

New year's resolution

2007-09-28T11:41:00.000-04:00

Sweaters and I have had what you might call a checkered past. The very first thing I ever knit was a sweater. Seriously - the first stitches I cast on were for the back of a cardigan - this is what comes of deciding (after midnight, at Wal-Mart) to teach yourself how to knit out of a handy Leisure Arts pamphlet titled 'Teach Yourself how to Knit, Crochet, Tat, and Embroider' (all in less than 50 pages!) using cheap, unbleached cotton yarn. I got casting on and stockinette quickly, and once I figured out that the yarn had to go between the needles (not under the bottom of the project) for ribbing, I just knocked the thing out. By the time I was done with the back, I was bored with stockinette and added some cables to the front panels. It turned out well enough that I ended up selling it to my boss for fifty dollars. Not bad for your very first knitting project!!

But within that first project were the hints of the problems that have continued to haunt me throughout my sweater knitting career: I was willing to sell this first proud sweater because it didn't fit me. It was too short in the body and too long in the arms. And pretty much every sweater (all 5 or so) I've made since then has had the same problems. My dad bought me a sweater's worth of a lovely shade of Cotton Glace just one summer ago - with which I made a beautiful lace cardigan - that's too short in the body and too long in the arms!! (Sorry, Dad!! On the upside, it fits my dear friend Claire perfectly, so it hasn't gone to waste at all!!) I have one Alice Starmore fisherman's sweater that I love, but it's a giant box of a sweater - pretty, but not flattering. Despite the fact that I know _why_ my sweaters don't fit (most patterns aren't written for short people with big busts), I guess I haven't quite managed the energy or attention or something to fix the problems.

But that's all about to change!! (cue dramatic makeover moment music) This year is the tenth anniversary of teaching myself to knit, and as a challenge to myself, and because it's embarrassing that I've been knitting so long without making a decent sweater, my resolution for this sweater knitting season is to knit at least one sweater that fits me and looks great. My eventual goal is to have a (perfectly fitting) Threepenny Pullover from Veronik Avery, but I wanted to start with something simple, that would be easy to modify and that I know I'd wear all the time. So I measured all the relevant places, and I found a great pattern from Webs: the Yoga Hoodie (oddly, no front views available). It's knit all in the round, so I can test my modifications as I go, and is mostly stockinette (for easy alteration) but not too boring, with that fancy back panel. And I love hoodies. I'm casting on this weekend, so wish me luck!!

And just so this post won't be too visually dull, here are two of my favorite dogs pretending to be cute:

WTF?

2007-09-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

Thank you all so much for your kind comments on my cephalapod creation! If I weren't still just amazed that he turned out so well, I'd be blushing right now! I have to say, he turned some heads at the wedding this weekend. It was a really awesome and beautiful wedding AND I didn't take a single picture. Well, I took one, but it was dark already so all you can see is a white dress and glowing red eyes. Which sort of summed up the evening, actually. ;)

The BikeJerk has been working really psychotic hours lately due to fiscal year ending madness, and when he's supremely overstressed and not sleeping, _I'm_ somewhat stressed and not sleeping as much as would be healthy. Which means I'm actually knitting a lot, but barely can keep my eyes open to photograph or post about anything. Except one thing:

This is a mystery sock that Maia is doing this month. The photo is just past the third clue out of four, so it's not so mysterious right now. I hadn't intended to do this project because I like making my sock choices from a well-informed position, but I saw some pictures after people had done the first clue, and I had to check it out. As soon as I saw it, I cast on for this instead of the orange stole that I hinted at in my last post (hence the title of this post!). It is SO much fun - the construction is fascinating, with increases in unexpected places and stitches that move in mysterious ways - I did the first two entire clues in one sitting because I couldn't put it down.

Honestly, it reminds me of when I turned my first heel. I remember reading 'turn work' and thinking that the author must be nuts, but then giving in and trusting something that seemed impossible, and being so amazed and gratified when my trust was fulfilled and I had somehow made a heel. I remember in the first clue and a half of this sock thinking 'really? does she mean that?' but doing what I was told. And it's looking (and fitting) pretty darn nice!

Oh, and one more thing: thank you to Peaknit for nominating me (ahem, back in August,
ahem) as a: . It means a lot to me - seriously, even though it took me so long to post about it! I'd like to nominate in turn: Beth, who not only knits amazing socks, but homeschools three boys on top of that; Nell, who had the guts to both go to nursing school AND unravel the first sweater she ever made; and Bookwoman, who gives great beer suggestions and information (among other things! ;)). Rock on, y'all!

Say hello to my little friend

2007-09-19T08:32:00.001-04:00

This is Henry the Octopus.

My friend Claire asked me to make him to hold the rings at her wedding.

I made up the pattern as I went along (writing plentiful notes), and I was so unsure that he was going to turn out alright that I also made a little pillow as an alternative in case my first original toy pattern turned out to suck.

I'm rather stunningly pleased, however. You see the well-dressed wedding octopus is wearing a dapper hand-knit tie in a cashmere-merino blend.

This is the bottom of Henry, just so's you can see how neat and tidy everything is. That ridge near the legs is where I bound off the bottom and the rest of the body together. The whole thing's worked in the round, so that's the only seam. It used some Koigu that I had lying around, though I had to emergency purchase an extra skein (that's why the right side of this picture seems like the yarn is lighter - it is!). He also has pipe cleaners in his legs, so they are somewhat moveable. That didn't work as well as I'd like: up at the top, the pipe cleaners can move around too much in the leg, so it doesn't hold its position as well as I'd wanted. I have some ideas on how to make it work, but didn't have too much time to fix it as the wedding is in three days! Talk about panic-knitting!

And here are my last socks for the Summer of Socks!

It makes my tenth pair since Jun 21. Not bad, though there are people participating who have made over 30 pairs in the same time! These seemed appropriate to end with as they're sort of autumnal and summery (surely there's a better word for that!). The pattern is just plain vanilla toe-up in Sunshine Yarns superwash merino (sock club colorway Fresh, which I bought a while back from ChickenKnits). That's Chowder, acting like a fool behind my feet.

And what will I do, now that the Summer of Socks is nearly done, and Henry is safely finished? Well, I won't say I'm not going to knit socks, but this is the next thing I plan to cast on:

Spinning my wheels

2007-09-12T18:18:00.000-04:00

but not my spinning wheel!

Not much knitting content (or any other kind, either) this time. Mostly I've been reading and writing for school. After my meeting with my advisor, I got the go-ahead to start writing my prospectus, which has to be accepted before I can start writing my dissertation. It's very exciting (though very preliminary!) news, and I've been spending my free time scrabbling around with books and notes and things, and realizing how disorganized I really am. Alas. Worst of all, I'm not really getting anywhere with school stuff either! There's always the dog to be walked, the furnace repairman to be let into the house, the last minute forgotten food items to be purchased...not to mention start of semester meetings and all that fun stuff. ARGH!

(Serenity NOW!!)

Ok. So, the nice stuff. My mom sent a picture of her with the Hidcote Garden Shawl. She looks like she's just _daring_ me to post it, but doesn't it look great with her coloring?:

And....um....speaking of SeaSilk....

I'm sort of embarrassed about these socks. I think they're very pretty (the pattern is Whisper Lace Socks), but well, I let my mother-in-law (for whom they will be a Christmas gift) talk me into knitting them in yarn I'm not sure socks should be knit in. You see, they're in SeaSilk! The silk is gorgeous (more sheen than in the picture), and they suit her to a T, but I'm worried about their durability. And sort of curious about their warmth. There's nothing to be done, I guess, and maybe I shouldn't worry...

Look: socks

2007-09-05T17:55:00.000-04:00

My meeting with my advisor is tomorrow, and my "clever" titles have abandoned me. Alas, alack, and woe is me. (Anyone want to hear about the Plantagenet kings of England and their relation to medieval Welsh literary conceptions of King Arthur and Charlemagne? Because _that_ I can talk about! Sheesh.)

There has been a very little sock progress. I think i may actually have been comatose for the entire Labor Day long weekend - we visted the BikeJerk's aunt and uncle in Connecticut, and it turns out that they may actually dwell in the Land of Nod. In a good way. I haven't been so relaxed in a long time!

Anyway. These are my River Rapids socks (by Sockbug), in Yarn Pirate's merino sock yarn. It's the Rum Runner colorway from the Booty Club. I haven't posted about belonging to the Booty club because I'm pretending to myself that I didn't join it (and because I can't take those luscious pictures of yarn that some people can). On the first day of her sign-ups I went over there, all innocent, just to check out how much it cost, and somehow I blanked out and lost several minutes, and now I get these cute packages with pretty yarn inside. I wonder how that happened?! ;)

Seeing this top photo, I'm sure someone out there is saying 'Ugh. She walked away from the Baudelaires in variegated yarn, but she stuck with this?!' And I say, but look:

I am just in lust with these socks. I love the waving texture of the pattern (which I think I'll probably do again in a solid yarn), and the yarn is just so jewel toned, I can't look away! Look at that Eye of Partridge heel. You can't say that's not just lovely in this colorway!

And to close, another walk down memory lane. These are (I'm mostly sure) the very first socks I ever made - in fact, they're the reason I learned, about 7 years ago, to knit socks!:

They're from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. I'm not sure why I was so obsessed with them at the time, but I have to love them since they got me started knitting socks, right? They're pretty good for first socks - all in one piece - though they're knit so tight I think they could stand on their own.

I hadn't thought about these socks for ages, but this is one of those examples of how nice Ravelry is - a relatively new sock knitter asked me a few questions about socks, which led to me pulling these things out of wherever they were hiding and recalling my sockly origins. Yay!