Thursday, July 21, 2011

What IS it?

Mystery creature in the driveway.

Alfie's non-confrontational approach to the mystery knit.
A close examination yields nothing conclusive.

You, gentle reader, are welcome to guess.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Postcards

I've been bopping around New England, as always with knitting in tow.
This particular pair of socks has been a drag, in more ways than one.
This particular pair of socks has been a drag in more ways than one. Because I'm too lazy to use point protectors, and I've been carrying the sock everywhere in the hope of of finishing it quickly, it's always coming off the needles and I constantly have to frog and re-find my way. Oy. Why am I doing this to myself? Needless (indeed) to say, I can't wait till I'm done with these.

We stopped in Putney, Vermont at the Green Mountain Spinnery. While H listened to his audiobook in the parked car, I was having a great time touring this amazing mill, as director of Marketing Margaret Atkinson led me through the process from raw fleece to finished skeins.


I highly recommend the tour if you happen to be in the area, and if you aren't, it's worth a detour or a destination trip. Besides, at the end you can buy some of the Spinnery's beautiful yarn, or their patterns, including The Green Mountain Spinnery Knitting Book, and 99 Yarns and Counting.

Fast forward a few days, and it's my annual journey into the time-warp of baroque music at the Amherst Early Music workshop. This means my other life goes on hold while I spend my days on the beautiful Connecticut College campus in New London, in Harpsichord Masterclass (works of Italian composers, although bending the rules, I also played a Couperin two-harpsichord piece with another devotée of the French baroque) and Baroque Ensemble (Vivaldi trio sonata for bassoon, recorder, oboe, and harpsichord). But wait...there's more: I was invited by Neuroknitter to a weekly gathering of the Camel Knitters of Conn College. (The camel is the mascot of this college.  Don't ask.) Meeting in the Oasis Snack Bar (where else?) every Wednesday at noon, the group is comprised of creative spirits dedicated to elegant knitting, high quality materials, and droll conversation. Needles flew, discussion flowed, time flew. This was indeed a pleasant interlude.



hand-knitted, felted fair isle bag

lace shawl in progress, lace cardigan completed and modeled

Friday, July 1, 2011

The undoing

After I'd started this sock, the first of a pair, I realized with utter dismay that I had joined two different dye lots and the colors were painfully off. There was no yarn left of the dye lot used for the cuff.



The Knitting Goddess suggested I rip it out and start over. This was worse to contemplate, because the pattern is intricate and what I'd done so far represented hours of concentration. The sock went in a basket where I'd see it every so often, and I decided to consider her advice over a longish swath of time.

Whenever I looked at the sock it bothered me. Actually, it more than bothered me. It upset me. I thought of ways to balance out the color differences, by adding other colors, or doing contrasting embroidery along the join. As soon as I entertained another fix-it idea, I was overcome by ennui.

Today, six months later, I took her advice.


Molly says:  "Learning how not to be attached is a drawn-out and circuitous process."