Like a.....

I have not forgotten that I have a knitting blog, I just haven't knit anything in....a month. That's really shocking to me, but even more shocking is the realization that I haven't done anything crafty. There's been no spinning, no sewing and no knitting. I haven't even had the get up and go to sit down and blog about it. I'd like to be able to offer you an in-depth discussion of knitter's block, but my brain is waltzing around inside my head, and I can't seem to make it sit down and take things seriously. The only thing I can offer you are photos of our beautiful rain.


After a terrible summer drought, we've finally made it to fall, and the rain has returned. It's the only thing I can seem to focus on.



The mornings are misty, and the yellow leaves are laying in slowly spreading circles beneath the trees. You'd think this kind of weather would get me knitting again, but my poor brain is still wandering around like a.....like a ......like a nun in a ......monastery? No, that doesn't work. My brain is wandering around like a bee in the rain. Well, that's just weird. I can't think of anything clever. I'm going to have to go for a walk, and come back with something better.

Snappy

I've just inherited a camera from my photographer husband.


My technological expertise goes about as far as a donkey in a wheelbarrow. Despite this, I am contentedly snapping away at anything and everything. I got a little over exited about some buttons, and ended up having to edit through some 30 or 40 button photos.




They are great buttons, but posterity can live without 40 photos of the same three buttons. Yesterday I managed to set aside a little time for quilting. In two hours I (almost) finished this.


I even hand sewed the little cabin, and the nesting doll in the doorway. These are some of my favorite fabrics. Notice the rabbits in the blue fabric pattern.


I'm considering a third panel at the bottom. It's a good size for a baby quilt, but if I add a panel, it could be a crib quilt. I'm going to do a lot of embroidery on this. There will be a corn crop, birds, pumpkins, and maybe a squirrel or two. I still haven't decided what to do about the border, but that's the nice thing about quilting. I don't have to decide in advance.

Woman vs. Shawlette

I mentioned earlier in another post that I was in a sort of Mexican standoff with "Ishbel". I thought that this fight would be won when I called in the cavalry on knit night. To be fair, this wasn't their fight, and they were as mystified as I was. A day or two later I rallied the troops for a frontal assault. I didn't think I would win. In fact I thought that there would be heavy casualties, mostly involving me swearing a lot, and then weeping in a corner. Within two minutes I had found the stray yarn over and was advancing towards victory with no doubts as to my superiority. After years and years of knitting, I am a battle hardened commander of yarn. I should have known that the shawlette was just feigning a retreat so that it could sneak around for a good swift kick at my rear.
Mid way through the lace, I realized with horror, that I did not have enough yarn left to finish her off. The shawlette had me surrounded and was cutting off supplies. The only way to win was to throw the original battle plan in the bin, and go all in. First, I dug out some a small ball of cashmere in a similar colorway. By some miracle of Jupiter, it was actually the same weight, and looked pretty next to the body of the shawlette, but it was far too small a ball. I knit forward, and ripped back. I tried to skip lace charts. I tried to rewrite lace charts. I was losing. I started to swear. I started to yell. In a completely unladylike display, I ripped out the needles, frogged back several inches and tossed the shawlette on the table. I was preparing to wave the white flag, when I noticed that the shawlette looked good, remarkably good for something that was missing it's border.
I made a snap decision. I would let my enemy lie there thinking she had won. The following morning I would retrieve my needles, and finish her off. After a sound nights sleep, I went in for the kill. By 10am the following day, I was casting off. Victory was mine. I tossed her in a hot soapy bath, and pinned her down.


I am not above humiliating a shawlette on a towel.


I was so pleased with this victory, that I cast on for a matching beret.


I'm not prepared to wear these two items at the same time. There's something a little creepy about a matching beret and shawlette. However, it's nice to work on another knit with the same lace pattern, while it's still fresh in my head.


The beret is also cashmere, and so far, it's been a real pleasure. I'm not going to let this one get even a step out of line. Remember the Alamo, or whatever.

Un-responsibility-ness

There's been a bit of a lull in the knitting. I don't know if it's because of the weed pulling opportunities that the recent rains have provided, or if it's because I'm baking like baking might add years to my life. Our village fete is this weekend, and I'm on the hook to make Irish soda bread for 240 people. Incidentally, I only signed up to make bread for 120 people, but somehow that number got changed. Thank goodness I don't trust authority figures. I started making bread weeks ago, on the hunch that the powers that be might have their numbers wrong. I've also drafted another sucker to help out. When I do get a moment or two, I've been plugging away on "Striven".


It's a very good end of the day, so tired I can't tell my dog from my baby, sort of project. I think I'm probably going to have to cast on for another sweater in a thicker yarn. Knitting a sweater on size 4 needles is pretty demoralizing, even for those of us who lack morals. I have some Eco-wool in the stash that's been begging for parole. I'm considering the "Placed Cable Aran" by Cathy Payson. It can be found in the Fall 07 issue of Interweave Knits. The only thing holding me back from a quick and dirty cast on, are all of the UFOs hanging out in my living room. I might have to get one of those "No Loitering" signs. Maybe I should just suck it up, and finish them. In my defense, I'm living in a house where this is considered breakfast.


We may have some self control issues going on here. Just in case you don't recognize the container in the back ground, that's chocolate macadamia nut ice cream on a French country loaf. I know, it's genius. I wish I could claim this creation as my own, but my husband deserves all of the credit for this masterpiece of irresponsible cuisine.
On a completely unrelated note, I've got a quilting itch, and it needs scratching. Here's a rough draft of a baby quilt I'm about to start cutting pieces for.


I'm only going to use a couple of fabrics for this. The little cabin in the woods theme should be pretty gender neutral. Gender neutral is key, when you don't can't remember who's pregnant with what.


I think I'll probably end up doing some embroidery on this before I start quilting. I want this quilt to be a little bit dark, like the music from "Peter and the Wolf". Children have lovely dark sides, which should be cultivated with traditional fairy tales and scary quilts.

Striven

This butterfly landed on my swimsuit while I was laying out by the pool.


I love summer, I really do. I look forward to it, as if I'm still in the second grade. Tomatoes, peaches, strawberries, sun tea, swimming, BBQ, what's not to like? Before knitting, I was not a fan of fall. Fall was like one big endless Monday. The thrill of going back to school wore off right around the time I received my first homework assignment. I went to Catholic school, so they gave homework out on the first day. Now, I love fall. I love it so much, that even on a perfect summer day, I think about fall knitting. This is what I'm knitting for fall.



The pattern is "Striven", and is published in Rowan Magazine 42. I believe this to be one of the all time greatest Rowan Magazines ever. It has tundra, and heather, and a purse shaped like a pineapple. There are at least 15 things I'd love to knit from this magazine. When it came in the mail I did something I almost never do. I went online, and I ordered the exact yarn that this pattern called for; wool cotton and felted tweed. When the yarn arrived I pulled a ball out of the bag, grabbed the magazine, and started to read through the pattern. It seemed really daunting. There was some weird Swedish stitch I didn't know. I put the yarn down and picked up another project. Since that day, this sweater has been haunting my stash. Two years later, I'm not afraid of the weird Swedish stitch. I'm ready to knit the sweater, and sit on a rock wearing a kilt with a "come hither if you dare" look, on my face. That model really sold me on this sweater. Such confidence for someone with a cave bat complexion.


I've finished the ribbing on the back, and am about two inches into the slipped stitch stripy pattern. It looks like weaving. I suppose that's the idea. There's something odd about the weight of the fabric. It feels too light. I tried swatching with a smaller set of needles, but came up with an equally airy fabric. I guess it's the stitch pattern that's causing that.


I think I like the felted tweed. It's the kind of yarn I could grow to love. I'm going to take extra care with this project. I want this to be a sweater that I wear with pride. I still don't have a hand knit sweater that I'll wear in public. I'm more than a little ashamed of that. Everything seems to get given away, or shrunk, or never finished. This time, I'm going to stick it out. It helps that the color work is fun, but not challenging. It also helps that the sweater is named "Striven". Striven sounds like driven + strive. One can't very well chuck a sweater named "Striven" into a bag. It just seems wrong.
This next photo is of my new friend Amy.


Amy as in, an A+ version of me. She's got the same size bust, but with an impossibly small waist. She was found at a small shop that was going out of business. Actually, truth be told, I saw a young woman walking toward the parking garage with a dress form under her arm. I cornered her and demanded that she tell me where she bought her dress form. She breathlessly informed me that there were only a couple left, and that they were being sold for 15 euros a piece, and before she could finish her sentence, I was off like a shot, dragging my husband and son behind me. Because it's a store form, and not a sewing form, I'm going to have to make a couple of adjustments. For one, Amy is going to need to put on some weight. No one in this house is allowed to have a 38 inch bust with a 26 inch waist. Them's the rules.

The Drought

We've been suffering from a serious drought this summer. It's rained twice in as many months. Our lawn is ecru. The leaves on our trees are curling with the heat. I've been watering, and watering, and pleading with the weather reports. It looks like we're going to keep on watering, because there's no rain in sight. Even the forest is going brown. I might just take the mower out for a spin to see if I can do a large scale scrimshaw illustration on our front lawn.
The knitting photos I have, are a little uninspiring, so I'll mix it up with some pictures of my dahlias. They're the only things keeping me sane while I water the day away.


Don't be fooled by the green in the photos. That's the only part of the garden that's getting enough water. If you look carefully, you can see the white lawn in the background.


To help with the dry mood, I'm knitting something green. This is "Ali", by Kim Hargreaves. I'm really enjoying the knitting, but my enthusiasm is tempered by the the fact that I'm going to have to call a yarn store in Florence. I did not buy enough yarn, and I did not check the yardage before I cast on. Now I will pay for my lazy/cheap nature by having to make an arse of myself in Italian. That seems fair.
Next up, "Ishbel".


I don't believe that time is linear. I don't believe in fate. I don't believe that 2 + 2 always equals 4. These three things are helping me to cope with the knitting equivalent of a parallel universe.


I made a few mistakes in the body of the shawl, which didn't show up until I counted all of the stitches, in preparation for the lace portion of the shawl. I ripped back, almost to the beginning, and re-knit the body. I counted twice, just to be sure, and then started the lace charts. I am five rows in, and something is horribly wrong. The lace pattern looks right. It matches the chart. There is no errata. Rows 1-4 went smoothly. There were no extra stitches, and everything was lining up. I am missing two stitches on either side of the center line. I have looked, and counted and stared at the chart with an opened mouthed fish expression. Nothing is making sense. Logic does not apply. Logic tells me that I must have omitted two increases on the previous row. I did not. Logic tells me I must have two extra decreases somewhere. I do not. I am in a Mexican standoff with a shawlette. Neither of us has budged. I'm going to bring out the big guns on knit night. This shawlette is not going to best me.

Feckity

This week's knitting has been feckity. Feckity knitting is knitting that causes me to swear a lot. I'm trying not to use "real" swear words around my babbling sponge boy. So, "feckity feck" is the swear du jour. This is the swear producing knitting du jour.



The yarn is pure cashmere in a creamy shade of burnt orange, from Handmaiden Fine Yarns. No problem there. The pattern is "Ishbel" from Ysolda Teague's "Whimsical Little Knits" e-book. No problem there. The knitting is by me, and that seems to be my problem. I was enjoying this too much. It was causing me to snuggle into my favorite chair and sigh. This is always a bad sign. Knitting is like the sea. You should never turn your back on it. You should never allow you mind to wander too far, or it will swallow you up. There are many, many versions of "Ishbel" on Ravelry. Everyone was Oooing and Ahhhing about this pattern. It's easy, and quick, and wearable and well written. I threw myself into the water without my bathing suit on. The water felt great, so great in fact, that I was knitting with my eyes half shut, and a Mona Lisa smile. Now I'm drowning, and all I can think to say is "feck". Somewhere along the right hand side of the triangle, I missed a couple of yarn overs. It's almost invisible. It took me a good ten minutes to find them. I'm underwater, staring at 176 sts, wondering what to do. I'm going to have to force this cashmere to do unspeakable things. I'm going to have to compromise my knitting ethics, in order to save myself.
Earlier this week, I was also forced to fudge my way out of a corner. These may look like an innocent pair of baby booties, but they hide a dark secret. It's hidden in their soles (pun intended). I found an extra stitch at the end of a row of kitchnering, and I just tucked it into the seam. Upon knitting the second booty, I realized that I'd have to make the same mistake in order for the soles to match. Despite this slack handed approach, they're darn cute. The pattern is "Tiny Shoes", and is also from Ysolda Teague's new book "Whimsical Little Knits".


I really love the little buttons I found for them. I'll certainly be making more of them, with leftover sock yarn.



Now they need to make their way to the post office, and then to the mommy to be. They probably won't travel very far after they make it onto the feet of the baby, but these will be very well traveled booties. The yarn is from Canada, it came to me via Virginia, it was knit in France, and will be mailed off to Minnesota. All of that flying makes my green side cringe, but at least I was able to get two projects out of the yarn, and the labor was my own.....justification.....complete.
This last photo, is of a swatch for a new sweater. This is knit with yarn form our vacation. It's "Monet", 30% cashmere/70% Merino, by Ixia. I think the ratio of cashmere to wool is perfect. It still has that lovely halo, and feather light feel, but the wool will make it harder wearing. Also, I won't bust into tears if my little boy decides to smear some yogurt on the shoulder. There is no doubt in my mind that he will decide to do this.



The pattern I'm swatching for is "Ali" from Kim Hargreaves new book "Breeze". Truth be told, this is not the first Hargreaves pattern I've attempted. I've got two projects that never really made it past the first four inches. This one shows more promise. It's less complicated, and has a lot of basketweave, which I find addictive. The swatch is beautiful. The fabric is light. It's a perfect weight for a cardigan, and there's enough room between the stitches for the cashmere to bloom a little, after washing. FYI, you should always knit cashmere a little bit looser to allow for the bloom. It gets softer with each hand wash. I'm going to keep the swatch near to me, like a carrot on a stick. I'm determined to finish a sweater for myself before the cold weather sets in. Before I go, I wanted to add that I'm not just being artsy with my photography. Greens tend to get really weird when I post them to the blog. I thought I might try and trick my camera into giving me a more accurate green, by including a contrasting green in the photo. I'm pleased to report that my sneaky tricks have worked. Note to self, be more sneaky with the electronics.