Oyster Bay Beauty

Did some blocking this morning. Gosh, I finished this shawl almost a year ago and just never blocked it. And shame on me, because it turned out just beautiful and crisp and makes me want parade around in it. But all my knits make me feel that way these days. I think I may be projecting my love lost of screaming kids on my knits. Maybe?Anyway, it's Elann.com Canapone, in Ice Blue, a lace-weight hemp that is perfect for sub-tropical heat down here. Once blocked, it comes off the surface as crisp as a sheet white paper and softens as you handle it . It kept it's shape out in the heat, no problem.The pattern, Oyster Bay Shawl by Lori Law, is simple enough and my only regret is that I didn't knit it larger. But it can always be done again, right? I did mine on US 4's. With this yarn I might switch to Us 6.

Summer Summer Bo Bummer

Throw Rug, Drew Emborsky...Moda Dea, Tweedle Dee.

Banana Nana Fo Fummer.....Summer! How its going. Should be at the pool, but it's all ear aches and car repairs and tweedy rugs and lace in the air conditioned coolth. The kids got off two weeks earlier than usual this year and it's been slow getting into any semblance of a summer routine. Oh well....I'll just keep crocheting along till it makes sense again.

Electric Ene

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/redrocket/enes-scarf

I have not been this smitten with a knit project in some time, but LOOK!!! Pattern: Ene's Scarf by Nancy Bush, in Scarf Style. The yarn is Malabrigo lace weight in Indigo and Frank Ochre. I may sell children for more this yarn. It's smooshy and light and as soft as cashmere....stick a needle in my eye....swear on a crack....yeah, that soft. Only took half a skein of Indigo and one whole skein of the other, on US 5's. It's a touch smaller than I expected, but it's a perfect scarf size none the less. Oh the colors....electric, eclectic and fabulous.

History Repeating

So I got my books from the "Hurt Books" sale at Interweave today and spent a little bit of time pursuing the pages of "A History of Hand Knitting", by R. Rutt. Looking down on page 161, I see,

"The end of hand-knitted stockings

Socks and stockings were the most frequently hand-knitted garments from the beginning of popular knitting until the 1950's. Today they can hardly be seen, and only the old can turn a heel without referring to book.........Today's knitter expects more pleasure from the craft." (pg.161-circa 1987)

I r o n y as defined by the craft of sock knitting. I dare say, the "old", i.e. the twenty years young crowd, may not be too pleased with that statement, eh? Or, at least they'd be forced to admit they had to check the internet for a reminder. I just love that. All kidding aside though, I do believe this is going to be an excellent read.

If I Were A Better Knitter...

I'd always to take my time. I'd never ever switch needles mid-project. I'd carefully write out my modifications. And I'd give more thought to the stretch allowances of each and every type of stitch.

But I'm not that better knitter self. I am an impatient, self-indulgent, needle-switching, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants knitter who can barely pause to contemplate gauge and right-measurement. It just happens that way and the damage is always done in the doing and never in the planning. I never plan. I just "do".

However, I am a fixer and figure-er when I finally get to that part of the "doing". And in this case, I figure I'll be doing quite a bit of fixing.

I started the "Intricate Stag bag*" out of pure fascination with the chart. Not being a big fan of deer particularly, it just seemed the right chart at the right time. Also seemed a good way to burn through some my mostly unused Palette stash. (mistake #1, I think)

I love the colors I had to work with, especially I was looking to side-step the whole John Deere phenomena that abounds in these parts. But I was short a ball of dark grey and had to accommodate by using it light grey for parts. (not a mistake, I'm pretty sure)

Where the fixin' is gonna happen is in my on-the-fly miscalculations of the amount of stockinette I'd need to do in the back. I just got lazy. And bored. So I rushed the point at which I placed the mini-chart in the back and I under shot the remaining stockinette to be done. That also leads to the general un-stretchibility of stockinette, by the way.

Then, I switched needles for the last garter rows. (mistake# 3, a biggie) Garter stitched on bamboo straight needles is far more stretchy than garter stitched on the same-sized aluminum circulars. Most people know this, no doubt. Not me.

So it sits a-blocking right now. Imperfect and still kinda pretty. In phase two of how-to-better-yourself-through-poor-crafting, well....I tell you what I've done once I've done it. See, lesson one is already taking root....being thoughtful about how to proceed is one way pretending** you know what in the hoo-hah you're doing.

* For the pattern, your gonna have to sign up for Knitting Daily....it's fine....just do it.

** My fail-safe is throw the whole thing in pot of boiling water just to watch in fascination as it felts up. Just so you know.

Where To Begin

**Warning: Last picture may be NotSafeForWork....Sorry!**

Well, first, I oughta' say that there are times when it's just plain better to live your life than to wonder when and how you were next gonna post about it . Having said that, no major life dramas have unfolded since I left the blog to collect spiderwebs and dust bunnies, well, I did wonder if my very elderly lawn guy was dead for a coupla' (ahem...six) weeks. Turns out, he's not. Phew. Secondly, I really must admit that I got so thoroughly hooked on Bloglines to keep me invested in the private lives of others that slacking got easier every day that I didn't post a little somethin' somethin'. That's all. Mystery of my universe solved. Voyeuristic slacker mom keeps secret life as real person secret. Hmm.

Bianca's Jacket, Interweave Knits. In KnitPicks, Main Line, Butter Pecan.
.

Anyhoo, I have been knitting. A lot. Well, a lot, for me. I'm slow and am covered with children like an oak green with lichen. Slow is my standard operating speed. I knit a sweater (my first!), two and one quarter pairs of socks, a rocket, a mini-rocket, a few rows of the really lovely blanket, and started a skirt for my daughter. I even, hold on to your seats, typed up a whole...half of a pattern. The mini-rocket. I started to feel poorly about the effort however. I suddenly got the feeling that if I were to write a pattern for everyone, I oughta' make it a good one....not a mini-one. You know what I mean? So, I'm putting it back on the shelf for now. *

From "Favorite Socks", in KnitPicks, Gloss; Monkey Socks, in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Golden Hills; and another from "Favorite Socks", in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, Baltic Seas.

Okay, here's the bit I'm really excited about. I...signed...up...for...a...FIGURE DRAWING CLASS!! Yay! Short story...approximately eleven years ago I was living in New Orleans, working on my degree in illustration, madly in love for the first time and enormously pregnant with my first child. I was at a fork in the path, juggling all the great possibilities of life at once. Career, love, family. I happily skipped along the path as it took an obvious turn toward staying at home with the kids. Heck, I still got to be madly in love and to finish the degree I was already working on and to get pregnant again...and again...and again...and again. It has been a good path. However, I never shook my fondness for drawing...people...who stand still for extended periods of time. (I once considered medical illustration as the thing for me, if that gives a clue to my tendencies.)

Hip in Hemp skirt, in Elann.com Esprit.

Over the years, I have tried off and on to draw my kids. But as luck would have it, I can't even get a sleeping baby to stay still. And well, later, knitting happened. So this year, after a mini-emotional meltdown (not to worry, I have them all the time), it finally dawned on me that for the first time in years I was not gravid with child, nursing, or without available baby-sitters. Cha-ching! Put myself in the figure-drawing class through the continuing education dept. of our local university and I LOVE IT!

Best of the bunch, I think.

It's been two (shortish) sessions, but I'm finding my zen again. My goal is to become more natural with proportions, quickly, so that I can get on to doing completed drawings, with decent composition and backgrounds and all that jazz. It's taking some serious concentration on my part, but time has a way of working these things out. In the meantime, watch out for more "Naked People" posting. Woo hoo!

*P.S. Does anyone have any advice on PDF files? I could really use it.

I've Got Rhythm

Two lots of Jojoland, Rhythm. (Purty, ain't it?)

Pattern: Lizard Ridge- Knitty.com

Confession

I have a small confession to make. I almost don't even wanna' say it out loud. So we're gonna' whisper, OK?

I hate my Endpaper Mitts. I'm frogging them. Tonight.

Wooo....there, I said it. I feel better, except I must clarify so as not to potentially hurt anybody's feelings. I hate MY pair....not the pattern, not others' lovely pairs. Just mine. It's the colors or something. Too subtle, too muted...don't know, but I'm movin' on again.

Bull's-eye

There are days when I embrace my inner dull self, like today, with yet another knitting post. I deviated from my original plan to finish the second Endpaper mitt to knit up a quick kitty bed for our two new-ish kitties. What can I say, it was good old mindless knitting. No charts, bigger needles and a couple of very grateful kitties. Used this here pattern, by Wendyknits. And I feel like a better pet owner for it, I must say. The poor things were so in love with it that they took it over before it had even finished drying. There is now a symbiotic mass of cat and damp wool under my space heater of a desk lamp. Sweet dreams, mes amis.

Cornflake approves before it's even off the needles.

Blocking in the sunshine.

A very Dr. Suessian cake-taker cover.

Can you feel the love tonight?

Movin' Right Along

Finishing up old projects from last year and loving it. I'd gotten mighty distracted over the course of the year and had not realized how close I was to finishing a couple of projects that were put to the side. So, for lack of motivation (and yarn) to start anything that will require my utmost attention, I delved into the completion of these forgotten lovelies. I started with the mitered rug. It was perfect for an afternoon of watching the Saints go marching out. I just zipped through the last couple of dishcloths, seamed it, and started in the mitered border. Viola, done. Love it. My girls liked it too, so it's theirs now.

(Gotta' give my SIL credit for fancy-in' up the dresser---I love it!)

On to the "patchwork" blanket. I'd gotten slightly obsessed with making these rounds over the summer, but felt a bit overwhelmed by having to make so many, many more of them. So, I didn't. Once I'd found my zen again after seaming up the rug, I decided that I'd start seaming the blanket just to get an idea of how many more "patches" I'd need. Well, it's turns out that I'm seam-sewing addict. It's an all consuming fix. Just ask the husband.....oh wait, he's trolling Ebay right now. Seems he found his zen too.


Now, none of this highly productive activity has completely distracted me. No, I started and got 3/4 of an "Endpaper Mitt"....and then ripped it. Loved it, but was I clearly using the wrong yarn, I decided. Started and ripped at least three different scarves. Swatched and ripped. And just plain ripped a few things laying around, just 'cause I felt like it. I swear, one of these days, I'll give you all a non-knitting post. I promise.

Part Two of the "Should'a Series" or The Working Shawl

So, yeah, I finished it. Sometime ago, really. In fact, only about a week after I last lamented about it. Took all of about 10 minutes to finish. Figures. Only then did I start to worry about my yarn choice. And rightfully so, as it turns out. When I blocked the "feather" rows, I could really feel the bounce-back of the yarn. I really had to tug to get the pattern to lay flat and with that much tension I started to figure the feathers were going to find their happy, bunchy place again once I pulled the pins from the shawl. Sure enough, they did and I really don't think re-blocking will change that. But, honestly, I'm not at all put off by the results. For one, the large-ish rib pattern at the top did benefit from the blocking and the YO's look pretty darn nice. And two, I'd already made the shawl one repeat short, intentionally, and I sorta' picked the yarn that I did so that I would be more inclined to "work" this shawl in the real world. It had to weather the weather, peanut and jelly sandwich fingers, and a regular pass through the washing machine. No doubt, acrylic yarn will do that like no mohair I know. So, I love it still. It wraps around my neck like a scarf, it's warm, I don't worry about my girls tugging at it and it still looks pretty good too.


Now, having said all that, I WILL use a better quality, more heirloom worthy yarn the next time that I knit lace....and I will knit lace again. A lot of it, I think. I've got my eye on a couple of sampler-type projects, in fact. So while, I should'a given myself more credit for being able to knit this pattern and not chintzed on my yarn choice in the first place, I am pleased with what was accomplished. Forward ho!

Part One of the "Should'a" Series

I should'a learned how a sock is engineered before I set to stitchin'. The ankle gussets are all wrong, on both socks. There's no point in pointing each error out, because the mistakes don't stop there. No, I bungled the toe shaping portion as well. Toe grafts....yet another talent I was born without. While you probably wouldn't have to strain your eyes to hard to find the problem areas, don't hurt yourself trying. Just know that they're kids' socks and kids don't care.

My son totally dug em'.

Another notable "should'a", it's probably wise to pick a yarn you *love* for such a task. I didn't. I totally settled, just because I wanted to see what all this sock knittin' hoopla was about. While I can't say didn't like the feel or look of the hand-dyed yarn (it really is charming), I was disappointed when I realized that I would never wear a pair of socks that looked like these, myself. Maybe it was something about the green that just left me flat. Or maybe it was thought of woolen foot coverage in a tropical climate that turned me off. Whatever the case, it left me no choice but to make a pair for my daughter, *ahem* kids, which became more a task than a longing. So I rushed and I ignored the huge mistakes I knew I was making, hands cramping the whole time because I knew that if I allowed myself to slow down one iota I'd just throw the whole project out of the window and never give it a second thought. But this is high quality ho-hum yarn and, well, I'm far to guilt-ridden a knitter to do that. It'd be like settling for a Picasso, when you really want a Lucian Freud, and then storing it in the garage till you could give it away. I'd at least hang the so-so Picasso in the bathroom, that nobody ever uses. I'm just sayin'.

This Knitter's Karma

Caution: This is an analogy best suited for desperate knitters and those poorly versed in baseball lingo.

It's final inning, the bases are loaded, the visiting team is up by 74 stitches in the bind-off round, your only hitter is short 1 freaking foot of yarn and the stores won't be open on New Year's Day!!!!! DO YOU SEE IT?!? See it there...to your right? Yes right there, next to the four remaining inches of the second WHOLE skein of black Red Heart Luster Sheen.....a color I didn't even much care for.....AGGHH!!!!

I....I....I'm beat. The yarn beat me. Not by much, but it beat me. Easily six months of my life, devoted to this shawl and I can't even finish the last foot of bind off...tonight. In fact, probably not tomorrow either. It has to be karma. What I haven't decided is whether or not this is the karma I'm leaving behind in 2006 and this just the final reminder that I should be more patient in the New Year and that good things really do come to those who wait OR if this is my impending karmic state for the entire year of 07'. Am I going to be destined for a whole year of just getting ---this close--- and not succeeding when it really matters...to me?

Or, maybe, it could just mean that as I enter the year 2007, writing this very post, that this should be THE year I learn to calculate yardage properly, without fuss, and give myself over to the mercy of the yarn, for better or for worse. Viva la Red Heart and it's wicked, wicked ways!!

Happy New Year, Everybody!!!

May the next year bring you much happiness and well-being to all that you love!!!

 

Oh, No He Di'Ant!

Portrait of Good Husband

Oh, yes. Yes, he did. He modeled the very hat* I whipped up for my 16 year old niece, just so I could show it off to all you nice folks. Original plan was to pose for it myself, which would have been very appropriate at the time considering I was in my nightgown and had a mimosa in hand this particular Christmas Eve, but I was feeling too hurried and, well, this was too priceless an opportunity to pass up. So, everybody give him a hand for his nominating moment for the "Husband of the Year" award.

And, by the way, the sixteen year old niece of which I speak, loved her hat. How could she not, right? And my 12 year old niece went ga-ga for the authentic, vintage 1980's LP's that I pulled from the far corners of my closet. I guess this good news for The Culture Club. Oy!

* Most awesome hat pattern.....ever. Considering I made it on needles two sizes too big, it lost nothing in translation. I may have to make another for myself, in fact. Also, I added an extra casing on the inner rim to cover the elastic band that is very much needed to hold this baby on your head. I thought it just felt better that way and it neatened up the look some.

Fuzzy Pink Escapism

Escapism* from the burden of holiday shopping and a denial that Christmas is a mere two weeks away in the form of a beautiful lace scarf. Instead of shopping for the impending day of gift giving , for which I have not purchased so much as a stocking stuffer or token teacher's gift, I have begun knitting this scarf which is well beyond my skill level** and requires an intense amount of concentration on my part. But the most unforgivable truth of all.....I'm knitting it for me. Yes, I do feel an inkling of shame at my selfish display and I'll be sure to flog myself with the fuzzy, pink scarf when it's done. By then it'll be time to wrap.

*Mom, once again, thanks for the exact perfect word.
**I only began my self-taught ventures in knitting/crocheting in September and have most recently learned to breathe between stitches.

"You know, K&B purple..."

If you don't know, K&B was a long time, on-every-corner pharmacy/newstand/convience store that just about everybody shopped at in and around New Orleans and lesser known parts of Louisiana. And they had a great big, hard to miss sign that was oval in shape, the most vivid shade of purple you ever did see and giant gold yellow lettering to boot. Everyone knows K&B purple. Unfortunately, they were bought out by the not-so-hot Rite Aide chain and bye-bye went the not quite complete Mardi Gras trifecta signage. Kinda wish I could've snagged one the old signs before they were hauled off, though there's no doubt in my mind someone had the foresight to salvage one as a piece of nostalgia and history. And too, I believe one Dr. Bob, New Orleans folk artist, painted up a homage of sorts to the beloved sign, if I'm not mistaken. It's just something we all identify with in these parts.

In any case, this now finished shawl is just the perfect color match to K&B purple, though that's not the reason I choose the yarn. I did, in fact, try really hard to fight the demon in my head that I so kindy refer to as ROY G. BIV, who on occasion takes over in moments when subtlety and forethought to color-matching one's everyday wardrobe should prevail. I did try hard to make myself buy a nice warm gray color; I even loooked at the beige, blue, and oatmeal yarn assortments. But there across the aisle, beckoning my inner eccentric, lay a hairy, bright, orchid purple and off I went like a bee to coneflower looking for a pollen fix. It happens every time. And if it's not an obnoxious shade of purple, it's chartruese or turquoise or something equally as obnoxious, but so goes it. Who knew such an obviously bad choice of colors for a shawl could make one feel so remaniscient of hours spent lolling through the K&B leafing through MAD magazines, picking out the perfect Trapper Keeper, trying on every pair of Blues Brothers sunglasses and hand-testing every shade of lip gloss?

For Every Girl That Ever Strutted....

...around with a t-shirt wig on her head. Or if your the kinda of girl that feels glamorous in an electric blue wig anytime, anywhere. I, myself, love the occasional occasion to prance around in tiaras. Well, we all need to hail this little bit of creative whimsy. Thank you, Ana Voog, for tapping into my little girl fantasies of being a mermaid and my teenage ambitions of living a real-life version of Bernadette Peters' character (an accidental milner mingling with the artistic elite) in "Slaves of New York." I haven't become either of those things, but your wonderful hats remind me of what it was like to dream big.

A Feast for the Eyes

Veggiepatch yarn by Jenny Neutron Star!

Pucker Up yarn by Jenny Neutron Star!

Eggplant yarn by Jenny Neutron Star!

Bacon N' Eggs yarn by Drucilla

How scrumpcious are these? The spinners over at PluckyFluff are cooking up some super fabulous yarns.

Bowl O' Purple