Knitting New England

Travelry

2012-02-01T17:16:00.002-05:00

Do you know that memory game, played during long, boring car rides, where one person says, "I'm going on a trip and I'm taking my [fill in the blank]"? Then the second person says "I'm going on a trip and I'm taking [the thing first mentioned] and [another thing]." Etcetera, ad nauseam. That was my life today trying to figure out which knitting project to bring with me to Long Island, where I'll be visiting my aunt.

I kept telling myself, "I'm going on a trip and I'm going to bring the brown fair-isle socks." Then, playing the part of the next participant: "I'm going on a trip and I'm going to bring the brown fair-isle socks and the evolving sweater." Then, a while later, "I'm going on a trip and I'm going to take the brown fair-isle socks, the evolving sweater, and the blue variegated socks."

Because if I didn't have enough knitting along, I might run out of things to knit. OMG!

Then Ted said, "Get a grip. You're only gone for two-and-a-half days."

So, I'm just taking two pairs of socks. I'll be spending some significant hours on Amtrak and the LIRR; maybe I'll finish them both!

Meanwhile, the Evolving Sweater has once again regressed owing to another cable needle tragedy--this time the plastic cable separated from the metal screw-post. I am starting to hate circular needles.

The malevolent needle is hanging out on the right.

As you perhaps know, we are having an unseasonably warm winter. Today, the first of February, the temperature in Westerly, Rhode Island was almost 60F, and the ambient flora are behaving accordingly. There are already snowdrops blooming in the garden!

Carrying on

2012-01-28T11:52:00.005-05:00

It has been a strange week, gentle knitters. Strangest was a meeting of the Langworthy Library Knitters, which I found difficult to endure, so I left early.

As often happens when people democratically connected by little other than a single interest convene, there is some incompatibility among group members. This wouldn't matter if everyone focused on the shared passion of knitting. However, one member continually hijacks the conversation and monologues about her life as it played out from about the 1940s through present, though she seems especially fond of tales from the 1960s. Does she not notice that people rarely, if ever, respond to her chatter?

As usual there was this background noise, but then a new member joined the group, and within about fifteen minutes had informed us all of her extensive and serious health issues, surgeries, and treatments IN A VERY LOUD VOICE.

That was the straw, my friends. I do not go to a knitting club to be bombarded by the semi-tragic and deeply personal information of someone who's clearly looking for...what? Sympathy? Help? To this sad person, I donate a metaphorical Kit Bag. Were she to pack her troubles into it, she might enjoy life. Meanwhile I was the one with the fake smile on my face, while inwardly I wanted to stab someone with my #3 dpns, so nice and pointy.

So, farewell to the Langworthy Knitting Association for the time being.

Yes, people need to relieve themselves of the burdens of their misery, their angst, their fears. We all have confessed or vented to close friends, family members, clergy, and paid therapists. These are either people who know and love us, or people who are professionally qualified to help folks Deal with their Issues. What does it say about someone who foists her baggage on strangers and mere acquaintances? That, like Blanche Dubois, she relies on their kindness? IMHO, it merely adds unfairly to the burdens we all carry, less or more gracefully.

Never has the maxim, Keep Calm and Carry Yarn, seemed so appropriate.

Ted carries yarn.

Friends and their FOs, or A Tale of Two Knitters from Massachusetts

2012-01-18T09:09:00.000-05:00

Sometimes knitters actually fulfill their New Year's resolutions.

Margaret's 40+ year-old diamond-lace handknitted socks are finally put to use.

Joan's Colinette-kit afghan is complete!

Brava, ladies!

Sock of Ages

2012-01-14T21:03:00.001-05:00

Observe, if you will, these lovely diamond-lace hand-knitted socks. By any reasonable standard of measurement, they would be considered beautifully executed. Suppose, gentle readers, that I told you these were made by my friend Margaret M. in the 1960s, when she was an eleven-year-old stripling? Would you not agree that this is a truly awesome accomplishment?

She brought them by today. I urged her to wear them, now that they've been knocking around for 40-odd years. "It's time," I said. (They still fit.)

Margaret M. artfully drapes the socks across Alfie.

Broken promises?

2012-01-06T15:46:00.002-05:00

Well it's 2012 and I'm ever so grateful that the holiday Binge and Binge syndrome is fading into the distance. And also the setbacks of 2011, notably the spirally-fractured left fibula. Now that I'm quasi-ambulatory--it takes a long time to recover from a broken leg, I've learned--I'm hoping gradually to rediscover my ribcage, which (like much else of my person) has chunked up from intensive sitting around. Not that I didn't get a lot of knitting done while I was intensively sitting. That, and many rich hours of piano practice. But after a while one yearns simply to move forward. I have worked up to a daily 1.5 mile walk with Miss Lola, and am hoping to stretch it soon to a two-mile round trip. Ok, enough about me, and happy new year to you!

***

Can any of you, gentle knitter-readers, relate to this photo? It is of the neckline of my Evolving Sweater, on which I was picking up stitches when the Expensive Circular Needle, an Addi Turbo, simply folded over and broke. I have occasionally destroyed bamboo-tipped circs, but never a metal one. That is, never until yesterday. Imagine my shock and horror, if you will. It's not as if I'm stronger than I realize, nor was I adrenalin-fortified at that moment. I would be interested in hearing from the knitting public about similar mishaps, so please be in touch.

***

As is my custom, I've asked my knitting friends to share knitting resolutions for the coming year. Here are most of them:

Caroline B: My goal is socks, a poncho and...I guess my general resolution is: knit more!

Doree W: I hope to spend more time knitting-- learning how to work with colors while holding yarns in both hands so they don't get tangled and learning how to block and put sweaters together for a more professional finish. Would like to make more of my next year's Christmas presents and maybe some birthday ones too.

Irene DV: My resolution is to get a head start on next year's Christmas gifts by making up at least one per month starting in January.

Neuroknitter: My resolution is to complete a few fair isle projects and to write more neuroscience-themed blog posts. The first post for the year will be about how fair isle knitting exercises the prefrontal cortex.

Two pics are attached, showing some swatches that I've been playing with.

Oogyknitter: While I don't have any knitting resolutions per se, as you know, Neuroknitter and I are embarking upon a year-long theme of "colorwork". We never really defined specifically what this means, so it's anyone's guess as to what we'll come up with. I plan to keep up a semi-continuous stream of sock knitting, and perhaps produce an afghan or two in there as well.

Deborah N: My knitting resolution is to work more with color!

Debbie N: My knitting resolution this year of 2012 is to knit!

Joan W: WIP Hell: Finish projects I've actually started is one not very exciting goal. At some point it's too depressing. Will keep thinking for other ideas like figuring out how to use up at least some the random bunches of wool acquired since this addiction began.

and finally, Susan B: The last time we communicated, I wrote about how stressed I'd been and you suggested that a knitting project might help. Well, I took your advice and just got started on a sweater for a friend's granddaughter. Selecting a pattern, finding the appropriate yarn and getting started have all been a pleasure and very soothing. My resolution, therefore, is to remember how much I like to knit and not to allow life's little inconveniences to interfere in that process... for too long.

***

My resolution? To go with the flow. If I feel like finishing a WIP, I will. If I don't, I won't and I won't obsess about it. For me, most worthwhile endeavors are organically-derived and follow their own time-table.

Here's to a new year of happy knitting!

Hand-made holiday

2011-12-24T15:50:00.000-05:00

a fuzzy needle-felted sheep will grace knitter Caroline B's tree

and two bunny friends will soon go to their forever homes.

We send our very best wishes for a serene holiday season, and a new year of knitting and friendship.

May your days be merry and bright!

Philadelphia story

2011-12-11T21:48:00.003-05:00

Back in the day we used to jump rope in the schoolyard and sing

I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more.
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door.
He grabbed me by the collar,
And made me pay a dollar,
So I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more.

This ear-worm of a ditty came to mind yesterday, when my friend HC dragged me into Macy's in Philadelphia, where we were spending a girls-night-out weekend. She claimed to be in search of holiday bargains, and they were indeed to be had, if you could stand the idea of pawing through racks of man-handled, trampling-down-the-vintage garments, most of which were loudly proclaimed to be discounted forty- or fifty-percent. What was worse, I wondered?--the tatty state of the clothes, or the bored-to-death salespeople stuck gloomily behind counters, and seriously uninterested in sprucing up their bailiwicks? And if Macy's was so deeply-discounting its inventory and still no one was buying--the store appeared bereft of patrons--what did this say about the economy? Or is it pointless to generalize from such anecdotal evidence?

After trying on a dress that was too large and therefore not of interest, HC wanted to visit the glove department.

Gentle readers, check out the merchandise strewn about hither and yon. All the while I was thinking, Why would anyone want to spend hard-earned cash on stuff that they have to pick up off the store's floor? Moreover, if you were a knitter (as HC is), why wouldn't you want to knit yourself a pair of beauteous gloves or mittens--or support a hard-working crafty-person of the Etsy sort--rather than settle for this kind of disrespected, made in China or similar slave-labor manufacturing country, stuff?

Soon, fortunately, we were headed towards the exit. There was no big fat policeman demanding a dollar, though I would gladly have paid it to be released from holiday-shopping hell even more expeditiously.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I suddenly noticed this, parked by the escape route:

Yes, this singular display purports to be a Christmas tree made of multicolored yarn balls. I guess it's supposed to relate, somehow, to the strangely partial mannequin wearing the wool-like cap and scarf combo, but I'm not sure. (Believe me, that striped get-up was not hand-knitted.) Nonetheless, there seems to be an attempt, on the part of the store, to somehow conflate balls o' yarn with the holiday spirit.

Whatever.

Personally, I find the juxtaposition of Christmas-themed sock (knitted by yours truly of Marathon Yarn's North Pole for HC, who models it) about to descend, Godzilla-like, upon the marshmallow lawn of the gingerbread house in the lobby of the Sofitel where we stayed, to be so much more entertaining.

Anyway, except for that infamous half-hour of department-store hell, I once again enjoyed my time in the City of Brotherly Love.

Espied on Walnut Street

Vermont Diary: Knit or Dye in Brattleboro

2011-12-03T12:12:00.000-05:00

If my life companion hadn't been so famished, I would have spent more time at Knit or Dye, a lovely LYS in the heart of Brattleboro's Main St shopping district.

(Apologies for the oblique angle here, but even as I photographed, I was being dragged off to lunch at Amy's Bakery by Hungry Man.) As it so happened, we'd spent the previous day and night in Putney--

Downtown Putney

--where I did research for an upcoming article, and the folks at Green Mountain Spinnery directed me to Knit or Dye, an affable business colleague as well as purveyor of some of their yarns.

Though my visit was short, I was pleased to meet owner Rachel Stecker and her gorgeous son, Wesley.

You'll notice, at the top of the photo, a partial view of a red sock with a ruffled cuff. I found this so captivating that I bought the pattern from Rachel, one of her exclusive designs. (Some of Rachel's designs are available on the Knit or Dye website) Maybe I'll start the new year by knitting it, if I can only climb out from underneath some of my numerous WIPs.

Apart from Rachel's patterns, the shop offers a strong selection of local and/or hand-dyed yarns, including fiber products from The Spun Monkey. Starry Mountain Alpaca, and Frabjous Fibers (in addition to yarns from Green Mountain Spinnery). This is what distinguishes it, IMHO, from a run-of-the-mill (as it were) kind of LYS.

So, I was dragged away reluctantly, but am planning to return before too long, I hope, I hope.

Knit Something Day: the Gallery

2011-11-26T15:26:00.001-05:00

My feet at right, shod in a fave pair of elderly sneakers. Please note that the left foot has recovered from its break and torn ligaments.

This morning's Providence Journal documented the success of yesterday's Rhode Island Coat Exchange, one of the two significant events of Buy Nothing Day, the other being, of course

KNIT SOMETHING DAY!

The responses to my request for photos were heartening, and I share them with you here, listing the participants alphabetically by first name. My goal for next year is that even more knitters will send me photos of their KSD WIPs. In the meanwhile, perhaps you'd like to participate in the tiny poll over to the right, so we can glean something edifying from the responses. (The poll runs for a week. Many thanks!)

THE GALLERY

Deborah Newton photographed this amazing cotton doily, about which she wrote:

What will I be knitting this weekend? Well, I am sending this picture of a doily my brother-in-law Bob found at an antique store in northern RI-- it is knitted in what appears to be sewing thread! It's worked in 4 quadrants, with a kind of leaf motif at the center, all at a stunning gauge of about 16 sts per inch!!!

I will be trying to chart it and work a swatch of the patterns in a heavier weight yarn, but one that is still fine by knitting standards: Manos Del Uruguay's delightful SERENA, a fine gauge mix of 60% baby alpaca, 40% pima cotton. I'll let you know how it turns out!

***

From Heather Craige:

I am making a pair of thick hiking sox for my darling daughter, Toni, for Christmas. I am using a brick red shade of Encore Tweed because it can go from feet to washer to dryer to feet without special care or anxiety.

***

Irene DeVerna of Eneri Knits sent along this cardigan-in-progress, saying:

I'm working on Amy Swenson's 'Watershed' pattern, which is a lacey open cardigan in Madeline Tosh Vintage (Ginger).

***

And who says a WIP can't be useful before it's completed? Joan Wilson provides the salient details of her gorgeous afghan:

The Absolutely Fabulous Hand-Dyed Throw Kit by Colinette

Waterlillies #10, D. Pattern Knitted Stripes

The kit comes with eight different yarns including mohair, various wool combos, and cotton. Bought on an over 90 degrees day in LYS for extra % off...... a totally therapeutic knit.

***

Judy Korgen sent along this image. If you check out the pattern book behind the toy, you can look ahead. Judy says:

I would title it “Knitting a Giraffe with Patons Astra yarn—designer: Sarah Keen”

It looks a little gross, but this is the order the parts are to be knitted. I have started the head.

***

Neuroknitter, designer and dyer extraordinaire, sent along two photos of her latest WIPS. She writes:

The booties are made with WEBS Franklin sock yarn, hand dyed in slate, golden pear and pine green. (I have 2 friends at work who are expecting.) The cuff is the beginning of a sleeve of "Virgin" by Mette Handberg, the first sweater featured in Norsk Strikkedesign. Oogyknitter and I are each making the sweater as part of our stranded knitting initiative for 2012. I decided to start a sleeve in place of doing a swatch.

***

Oogyknitter, Neuro's BFF and knitter extraordinaire referenced above, offered these photos of her latest endeavors. (By the way, if you want to see the prodigious creativity of both Neuro and Oogy, please check out their fascinating blogs, linked to above.)

She explains:

I have a couple of things in the works that I can share without spilling too many beans :)

The first is a cat toy in Highland Wool yarn. It will eventually be felted and stuffed with catnip! I'll be making a few of these for feline holiday gifts.

The second is an Icelandic Sweater with Horses in Lottlopi yarn. I've included a pattern picture because I've just cast on (whilst awaiting the delivery of yarn needed for actual Xmas knitting! I shouldn't be working on it, but since my holiday knitting is on hold until the yarn arrives, I needed something to do over the next few hours/day!).

***

Yours truly must confess that at the moment there are more than a few ongoing projects in my basket o' yarn. These fall into different categories of workability. Some are mindless (e.g. in garter stitch), others require brain-cleansing concentration (lace). I've chosen just one for public display, socks done in the German "On Line" Supersocke Relax-Color, a self-fair isling yarn that I particularly love. It's thick, very soft, and feels great to knit because the fiber (75% wool, 25% polyamide) has undergone some kind of aloe and jojoba oil treatment.

***

And Stephanie Steinhaus of Unwind Yarn (in Burbank, Los Angeles!) sent this photo of her cowl, knitted from, as she reports:

Rowan Creative Focus Worsted
Stacy Charles Stella
Stacy Charles Luna
All three held together

Isn't it elegant? You can read more about Unwind Yarn in my article "California Dreaming," out any day now in Interweave Knits Accessories December issue. It was one of the several lovely shops I visited last March in LA.

Well, dear knitters, thanks for your wonderful contributions. If there are any stragglers among you, and you really want to send me photos of your Knit Something Day projects, please do asap and I'll post them in the near future.

It's turkey time

2011-11-23T16:00:00.001-05:00

Everywhere I look I see another one.

Outside....

Narragansett Turkey (a heritage breed) #1 of Coggeshall Farm, Bristol, Rhode Island

Naragansett Turkey #2 of Coggeshall Farm, Bristol, Rhode Island

inside...

Bell & Evans, purchased yesterday at Dave's Marketplace, East Greenwich RI

in trees.

Espied today roosting in a greenhoused calamondin tree.

The Knitting Goddess has oft remarked to me that she hates holidays, much preferring ordinary life. I am beginning to understand the wisdom of this view. Why do we futz around for these events, allowing ourselves to be buffeted by the Stürm und Drang of lengthy travel, artificially-induced interpersonal dynamics, gluttony, acid reflux, and the deep boredom of chitchat with people we don't know?

The yin-and-yang of Thanksgiving at my house this year: everyone invited has canceled at the last minute. This is providential, as the dishwasher--an almost new Bosch--died last week. Thus, all is in balance. (File for future reference in case you're contemplating the purchase of this brand. It's the second Bosch that died within weeks of purchase. The first was replaced gratis by the merchant. Stay tuned for an update after the repair-guy arrives later today.)

We are left with too much food, most of which we'll freeze. Our Thanksgiving will be minimalist, just H & moi, the turkey-craving cats, and the always-ravenous Lola who will repeatedly proffer the paw, roll over, dance unbidden in circus-dog circles, and whimper pathetically while her people serenely enjoy their repast.

Gentle knitters, thank you for reading this blog so loyally. For that I'm truly grateful. I look forward to seeing your photos of what's on the needles on Friday (send them to me!), as we celebrate Knit Something Day (November 25). May your Thanksgiving meal be tasty, and may peace be with you and your yarn.

When does the life of a knitted object begin?: An Existential Query

2011-11-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

Recently I began probing some of the deeper questions raised by knitting. For example, if you wear a knitted sock does it become animate? Or is it animate before you put it on? The sock exists, does it not? Does not the knitter of the sock transmit and transfer deep positive energy into the sock as part of the knitting process? Can we therefore consider the sock animate?

This chain of questions led me to further contemplation. For example, when does the life of any knitted object begin? Is it at the moment of conception?

And what exactly is the moment of conception? Is it defined as that time when the pattern designer has finished writing the pattern? Or as the time when the knitter has finished reading through the pattern and decided to knit the pattern? Or as the time when the yarn destined to become part of the pattern is cast onto the needle? Or as the time when the knitter begins the first row?

Or, does knitted life begin when the object is a blob of semi-differentiated cells?

And, if you should decide to undo a piece of the whole, or even the entire thing...is that a morally-defensible act?

Well, while I'm in serious mode, I wish to remind you, gentle knitters, that the day after Thanksgiving--November 25th, which is soon upon us--has three names:

Black Friday
Buy Nothing Day
Knit Something Day.

To those of you who unabashedly celebrate the three C's of Black Friday--Consumerism, Capitalism, and Craziness--I hope you at least patronize your LYS or another knitting-related boutique. To those of you who, like me, enthusiastically celebrate Buy Nothing Day, besides staying away from stores, please donate a coat to your local collections center. And to those of you who celebrate Knit Something Day, please send me a photo so I can post an image of your handwork on this blog that all may admire your creativity! We all look forward to seeing what's on everyone's needles!

By the book...

2011-11-04T23:05:00.002-04:00

A few posts ago, I extolled Deborah Newton's newly-published Finishing School, a book that's wonderfully inspiring, readable, and filled with practical advice. Neuroknitter, my pal in New London, Connecticut, had occasion recently to follow one of Deborah's great tips (on pages 84-85 of Finishing School)--that of using small anchor buttons on the underside of a garment to firmly attach a visible button.

While using a clear plastic button to anchor the visible button is generally recommended, in some cases yarn colors are complemented by buttons that echo the yarn. On this collar, which can be worn buttoned into a turtleneck or open, the buttons create a beautiful counterpoint to the yarn which is, by the way, hand-dyed. Neuroknitter's color inspiration came from Georgia O'Keeffe's 1934 painting "Barn with Snow."

The reproduction here doesn't do O'Keeffe's colors justice; suffice it to say the dyes Neuroknitter used (ProChem's "One Shot" Chinese Red, Slate, and Mouse Grey) are fairly close to the painting. Neuroknitter used Webs's Northfield DK, a merino-alpaca-silk blend, and it took the dye beautifully.

***

Likewise, I found the answer to a dilemma in The Vogue Knitting Stitchionary, Volume Six, "Edgings," also just released.

I've been doing a sweater for more than a year that is not just a WIP, it's a model of knitting evolution. So, having finished the traditional parts of this cardigan--back, fronts, sleeves--and sewed it together, and inserted a belt, I decided it needed a ruffle. Voilà! I found my ruffle in this lovely Stitchionary, the review copy of which serendipitously arrived just last week, the only kind possible to knit from stitches picked-up along the edge.

It's the "increasing ruffle" on the left side of the page, and so far it's working out well.

The ruffle is in an interesting grey yarn, "Woodland" by Classic Elite--65% wool and 35% nettles. The nettles impart a subtle luster and silky feel. The rest of the sweater is done in different oddballs of Noro, Lamb's Pride, Manos, and some variegated mystery worsted.

Molly!

Brownie!

Lola!

Breaking news?

2011-10-16T16:54:00.000-04:00

On the first page of today's New York Times Arts section:

A Maestro Reflects on a Life of Batons and Knitting Needles

Left, London Symphony Orchestra; right, Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times

Colin Davis, in 1973, left, and last year, leading the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, to which he returns this week.

By MICHAEL WHITE

***

You'll be disappointed if you read the article to find out what Maestro Davis's working on, besides his next season of concerts. We're told: "He knits (unstoppably)." And that's about it. Wouldn't I love to be a fly on the wall whilst the Maestro knits a sweater! I can definitely envision him involved with a dark-grey ruggedly-cabled Aran pullover--something to buffer him from the Stürm und Drang of music-making.

Well, of course knitting and music have much in common--eyes, hands, codes, instructions, patterns, counterpoint, coordination, color, repetition, problems, practice, tangles, knots, unwinding, beginnings, endings, creativity, warmth, soulfulness, fun, drama, imagination, tension, release, relaxation, discipline, beauty, history, heritage, life...

But you, dear reader, already knew that.

Autumn Postcards

2011-10-02T13:05:00.000-04:00

This canoe appeared on our river, the Wood, several days ago.

A second crop of raspberries!

Nasturtiums!

A green pumpkin. It will not turn orange.

The Knitting Goddess demonstrates how to begin a cable cast-on for the thumb of the mitten.

The Knitting Goddess is helping me with yet another weird pattern. This one is for mittens, and I decided to try it with the wool I dyed. My next post will detail the vagaries of the project. It's a tale all-too-familiar, perhaps, and not for the faint of heart. Du courage, mes chers amis.

Deborah Newton has done it again!

2011-09-20T12:23:00.001-04:00

Knitters who swear by Deborah Newton's classic Designing Knitwear, a reference so useful it's been in print since 1992, can now pre-order her latest fount of knitting wisdom, Finishing School, due out on October 4th from Sixth and Spring Books.

Lucky me, I've been devouring an advance copy, and can attest that

whether you use the book selectively, to trouble-shoot a problem or inform yourself about a particular aspect of knitwear post-production, or-
read it from cover to cover for both edification and enjoyment...

you will become ever-more sensitized to the nuances of fit and finish, and gain a wealth of practical advice for making the most of your knitted labors of love. This dual result springs from the book's main question: How do you accomplish good finishing--and enjoy it?

I'm one who doesn't mind finishing projects, but I realize finishing's the bane of many knitters' existences. The other day, standing in line to pay for some LYS purchases, I noticed a display of business cards from people who specialize in FINISHING the knitted work of others. On the topic of unfinished knitting, more shall be written at a later date, but if enough knitters get their hands on Finishing School, there will be far fewer UFOs lurking about, and perhaps less to say.

Deborah's very own notions tin

I had the great good fortune to chat with Deborah recently, and asked her two questions.

SMW: The organization of the book takes the knitter from blocking--the beginning of the finishing process--through various stages, like seaming, edging, closures, etc. Within each chapter are sidebars of problem-specific tutorials and "cheat-sheets" that provide short cuts or tips about finishing. Is this the way you initially conceived the book? How did it develop in your mind?

DN: In a book like this, the organization pretty much takes care of itself. The book completely reflects MY process--having done the finishing for as many sweaters as I have over the years...I have encountered almost every kind of situation possible. The book is TOTAL EXPERIENCE, no conjecture. I am expressing what works so well for me.

SMW: What do you want the book to do for knitters?

DN: My goal is to show knitters that there is a thought process, and a way to prepare, that make finishing less daunting, more approachable, and more rewarding in and of itself.

***

Gentle readers, one more thing: Deborah Newton will be at VK Live in LA next weekend, lecturing, workshopping, and book-signing.

Swiftly, turning

2011-09-14T16:38:00.001-04:00

My yarn swift doing its thing.

One of the greater pleasures of knitting is its unchanging technology. Needles, yarn, an umbrella swift (admittedly new-fangled, harking back to the 18th century), hands--essentially unaltered over time.

Next week is the autumn equinox.

Roving, hand-dyed by Neuroknitter, recently appeared in the garden.

As did this strange fruit. Correctly identify it before September 22nd, and I'll send you my personal copy of Woolly Thoughts: How to Unlock Your Creative Genius, by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer.

Season of mists and melancholy

2011-09-07T16:49:00.003-04:00

New England's at the verge of autumn, the season I love most for so many reasons, not the least of which is the pleasure of knitting wool when it isn't blazingly hot. We had a miserable summer in terms of high humidity and temperatures, followed by the destructive rain and winds of Hurricane Irene, and now Tropical Storm Lee, which seems to be providing an entire week of rain and gloom. Autumn is yet two weeks away, but already there are signs...tinged foliage, browned leaves in the driveway, migrating birds, cooler evenings, dusty blue and pink asters and burgeoning goldenrod. School is again in session and yellow school buses incessantly rumble down the road. Everything is moving on.

There is an elegiac feel in the environment, bred from the turning of the seasons, the messy weather and the pervasive bad news churned out by the media, by politics, by unemployment statistics, by the impending tenth anniversary of 9/11. The other day I visited a LYS in Westerly that's going out of business on the 15th of September. It is a decent little shop, and I wrote about it in this blog two years ago, but the downtrodden economy apparently delivered the coup de grace. Inside the shop knitters pawed through discounted yarns and notions, and the owner was putting on a brave face, yet it was impossible not to feel the sadness. I asked her what she would do next and she said, "Maybe I'll be a waitress! I love working with people....but I will also do something creative; I have to keep that alive."

Cloudy, with a chance of healing

2011-09-01T20:25:00.001-04:00

Dr. Monchik eyeballed my x-rays today and, pointing to the break said, "You see how cloudy it is there? That's good. It means the bone's filling in and it's healing well."

Three more weeks in the boot. On Saturday, when we fly to Rochester, NY, to attend the wedding of two wonderful people, I will be wheelchaired from ticket counter to boarding gate to plane. But I wouldn't miss this event for anything!

Meanwhile, I have had so much more time to knit, now that I can't walk Miss Lola or stomp around in the garden. Gentle readers, I'm sure you recall the second mystery of July's "What IS it?" blog post, yes? Several of you hazarded guesses...but alas, you were wrong. So now for the revelation:

The off-white cup on dpns would eventually become Bunny's head. This charming pattern is from Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Toys (Artisan Press, 2009). I modified it a bit, mainly because I hadn't enough off-white yarn for the entire body, so I gave Bunny a permanent sweater with another ball of Blue Sky Alpaca's "Worsted Cotton." The book features many adorable patterns for toys, and I plan to try a few more of them. Perhaps I'm entering my second childhood--hurray!

Trio in Sock Major

2011-08-22T15:12:00.000-04:00

Taking a break...

2011-08-13T13:09:00.001-04:00

Since I don't have a light box handy, I placed the x-rays in the stairwell window. Study them carefully and you will discern images of my left lower leg, ankle, and foot. In extreme close-up, not possible here, you would notice the spiral fracture of the fibula, sustained when I gracelessly slid on wet grass in the garden five days ago, as I was walking too fast on an incline. Perhaps luckily, I have endured many more painful insults, as the medical world calls them: natural childbirth, foot surgeries left and right, and several classic ailments of wymmen. This, by comparison, is a piece of stale cake.

For the next five weeks I will be clomping around in a black plastic-and-velcro boot that looks like part of a Power Rangers uniform. That is, unless I have to have surgery--a decision to be made by my nice young orthopedist, Dr. Keith Monchek, next week. Stay tuned.

In the meanwhile, I'm getting lots of knitting, writing, and reading done. My knitting goal now is to finish up several longterm UFOs. One is a particularly upsetting lace pattern that is both boring and uncooperative, the Oscilloscope Shawl. I think it's an attractive garment, and I'm doing it for a friend in pink (her color request). It is absolutely maddening to track correctly, though, and consequently there are a number of obvious mistakes in my work. No frogging for me...I want OUT of this shawl! Not to worry, however; I devised a clever way to camouflage the booboos, as shall be revealed in a future post. I wouldn't recommend this pattern to anyone, unless she is an extremely methodical (anal?) knitter.

Several readers have inquired as to the mysteries I photographed for this blog in July. The first photo of "What IS it?" is a turkey vulture that had been snacking on a dead chipmunk, deposited by Rufus the Tuxedo Cat, in my driveway. At the moment, I am not at liberty to enlighten you about the second mystery--the off-white knitted thingy--inspected by Alfie in the second photo, but like almost everything else in life (or at least in this blog), it too shall be revealed at a future date.

For those of you who read Interweave's Knitscene Magazine, check out my article on LYS in London, "Unexpected Delights," in the Fall issue just released, pages 8-10. As you may recall, I spent a happy few days there in January of this year.

Bessborough Gardens, London, in January! Notice how green it was!

Now all I'm wondering about is which of the many interesting and beautiful neighborhoods I visited has been victimized by the recent hoodlum rampages. There has been a movement among London knitters to counteract this despicable anarchic terrorism with knitted love. I've copied below a free pattern for your enjoyment and possible healing, if you are reading this in the UK, and here's the link to the website. To all of you, Londoners or not, I say: "Keep calm and carry on." That is the best thing to do in situations like this, and knitting is the way to the end.

Knit a London Lovedon Heart and set it free in the city

Norwegian knitter Kaja Marie Lereng Kvernbakken (one of our global Stitch Londoners out there in the world), recently made the OsLove knitted heart pattern to show love and support after the sad events in Norway. This week she has updated the pattern with two new hearts for London, the Lovedon Hearts Knitting Pattern.

Kaja Marie says “My hope is that you will use this pattern, tweak it as you wish, and make hearts, loads of them: To remember what happened in Oslo and on Utøya or anywhere else where a little bit of love is needed. Pin it close to your heart, give to a friend or a stranger, let it out in the wild as graffiti knitting, so that the heart can find whoever needs it. Knit it in any colour, with or without words, knit them and share them.”

Once the clean up is over and the knitting starts again we hope to see these little Lovedon hearts spreading the love.

Woolly hugs to you all. Let's hope that we can unpick the problems and start casting on new rows, where the dropped stitches and tangles in society (that means all of you looters, hackers, greedy banks and sneaky politicians included) are all put back on the needles the right way. Power to the Riot Wombles!

Dyed in the Wool, Part Two

2011-08-12T10:52:00.005-04:00

Here's how my yarn came out. The first skein I dyed, all Slate-colored, is in the center. The second skein, mostly Mahogany, is on the right, and the third skein, where I got really ambitious and used two colors, is on the left. I'm not sure if I have enough yarn here for a pair of mittens, but if I do, that's what the skeins are destined for.

Neuroknitter sent me these two snaps of her lovely lace yarn. It's so interesting to see how the coloration of the skein translates into knitting.

What I learned from this experiment:

Hand-dyeing yarn isn't as daunting as I'd expected. (Of course, the process was completely streamlined because Neuroknitter had placed all the materials at hand.)
It's one of those pursuits that could become as addictive as knitting. As with knitting, the variables offer infinite variety and unlimited depth.
Like knitting, it's absorbing, surprising, and fun. And pets can get involved, too.
Of course, I could expand my definition of knitting to include hand-dyeing...
I must seriously consider: do I want to become thrall to yet another obsession?

I queried Neuroknitter about her involvement with hand-dyeing. Her responses only confirmed my suspicions about the addictive nature of this pursuit. "I started about ten years ago," she confessed. A professional weaver showed her how to use dye baths and how to hand-paint skeins. Later, Neuroknitter set up her own basement studio, and "that's when things got serious. I hope to someday have a real space that is permanently devoted to dyeing...."

"What do you like about the process?" I wondered.

"First," she replied, "I like to experiment with color combinations. Second, I like the way the yarn looks when it's wrapped up and ready to cook. The colors at that stage are so intense! Probably my favorite part of the process is seeing how the yarn or roving comes out. An important element of the process is that the risk is low. Undyed yarn is not especially expensive, nor are the dye or other materials. I see hand-painted yarn in the store for $20 a skein and know that I can do the same for much less. I guess I like a bargain! Of course, when you factor in the time it takes, the $20 price seems more of a bargain."

[On this last point I wonder how many of us knitters are compelled to do what we do--knit, buy yarn in quantity and/or on sale, spin, dye, etc. etc.--by delusions of thrift? Readers, I welcome your input here.]

"What does a successful dyeing project look like?" I inquired.

Neuroknitter: "It keeps the color that was applied and the color has penetrated the whole skein/roving. I've done several projects in which the color combination was not appealing, but usually I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I like the combination. One of the most successful projects so far was when I took a Georgia O'Keeffe post card and replicated the colors in some roving. I was quite proud of that. (see http://brainknit.blogspot.com/2009/12/cant-we-open-presents-yet-this-is-my.html)."

What Neuroknitter neglected to mention was the obvious, major benefit of pet participation that hand-dyeing, like hand-knitting, offers. Those of us who work entirely or partly at home are so accustomed to this life-enhancement, that we tend to overlook it. But where would we be without the helpful company of our furry friends?

Brownie: Ready, Willing, and Able!

Dyed in the wool, Part One

2011-08-07T12:18:00.001-04:00

Neuroknitter graciously invited me to participate in a yarn-dyeing session on Friday, in the historic New England city of New London, Connecticut. She is a fearless knitter, spinner, fibre creator, and such is her sang froid that she actually wore a white tee-shirt while mixing the various dyes in her underground laboratory! I was completely awestruck.

The colors mixed were as follows: pine green, pear green, emerald green, slate, mahogany. Nervous Nellie that I am, I asked Neuroknitter to forge ahead whilst I, protected behind my trusty Panasonic Lumix, observed from the sidelines. With consummate aplomb she demonstrated the application of the dye to pristine white yarn that had previously soaked in a solution of water and Synthrapol.

After coloring the blank slate, as it were, to her satisfaction, the yarn was then carefully squished to ensure a good saturation of the dyes.

Next, it was enfolded in the plastic wrap on which it had been resting, and cooked for five minutes in the microwave.

At this point, exhausted and depleted, we gulped frosty glasses of iced Earl Grey. Then, as Neuroknitter's yarn cooled in its plastic sheath, I sallied forth on my first attempt. The yarn I'd chosen was a natural wool worsted that had (my conjecture) somewhat yellowed over the ages. I acquired it as part of an enormous stash someone had donated to the Langworthy Library Knitting Association.

Timid creature that I am, I started with only one color, Slate. Brownie the cat, who skeptically watched our proceedings, approved my cautious approach, I think.

(To be continued in the next post....)

What IS it?

2011-07-21T16:48:00.000-04:00

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.

Postcards

2011-07-16T10:48:00.003-04:00

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

The undoing

2011-07-01T14:51:00.003-04:00

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."

An idyll, with yarn

2011-06-25T12:39:00.005-04:00

Because I suffer from mal de mer, we earlier this week ditched the idea of the ferry and flew to Block Island in a plane that felt like a minivan (minus children and soccer mom). It takes twelve minutes, and besides being efficient, offers excellent views.

Stayed two nights, ate mostly at great restaurants, hiked, read, slept, etc. From the lawn of the Atlantic Inn where we stopped for drinks and tapas

I espied this peaceable kingdom,

a hobby farm of esoteric animals behind the Manisses Hotel. Some of these critters, it turns out, provide fiber for the island's first and only yarn mill, North Light Fibers. The world being a small place, and Rhode Island an even smaller place, it turns out that Sven Risom, the co-owner of the mill with his wife Laura, is a former student of H's.

I am happy to report that North Light Fibers produces some amazing yarns, and a detailed account will be forthcoming in the pages of this blog. Dear Knitters, if you find yourself on Block Island in the near future, do please find your way to North Light Fibers to tour the mill and see for yourself the many fascinating and meticulous steps involved in the small scale processing of fiber into yarn, from the raw ingredients to the spinning and dyeing and skeining--all in the most environmentally-correct ways possible.

Short and sweet was this vacation--actually, a wedding-anniversary celebration. We shall happily return in the fall, just because.

The WWKIP that was

2011-06-21T08:06:00.000-04:00

at the Langworthy Library on Saturday the 18th of June. We came, we sat, we knitted--all two of us!

It's that time of year again

2011-06-08T20:53:00.002-04:00

Lady slippers, one of the few orchids native to North America, are blooming. AND on Saturday, WWKIP (World Wide Knit in Public) week begins. I'm celebrating it on Saturday June 18th with the knitters of the Langworthy Public Library, from 10-12. Please join us if you're in the neighborhood!

Two deer

2011-06-01T11:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday began with this--

and ended with this--

In between I blocked some socks, and thought about the yarn I'd used, of which I bought extra balls in a range of colors.

As you can tell from the label, it's called North Pole, and it's from Universal Yarn, imported from Turkey. Fiber content is 72% Superwash wool, 24% nylon, and 4% metallic thread; each ball is 437 yards, enough for two pair. I bought it at The Yarn Outlet in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for a bit under $15, and when I checked a few weeks ago, they had a small amount still in stock.

(A slight digression: I first went to The Yarn Outlet about six months ago and was underwhelmed, which is why I didn't write about it (btw, this happens a lot...my general policy is not to cover commercial establishments that underwhelm me). However, if you happen to be in Providence or close to I-95 in Pawtucket, it can be a useful place to shop. Needles are discounted about 20%, and they carry bamboo as well as metal circs and straights. As with any outlet store, too, the merchandise is catch-as-catch-can, so it could be worthwhile to make several visits over a long time. They've got this funky North Pole yarn for $2 less than at Webs and $3 less than if you order it from the distributor (Universal Yarns), and they do carry small lots of good yarn like Manos and Cascade 220. But the selection overall leans towards acrylic, which is IMHO a turn-off.)

What I enjoyed about knitting North Pole: its self-Fair Isle pattern is amazing, the yarn has a beautiful hand and elasticity, and it's light but warm and sparkly! (Socks knit from this are perfect holiday gifts!) As those of you who have read my article, "Stitch and Seed" in the current issue of Knitscene Magazine know, I love to knit socks in the summer, because the ick factors of heat and humidity make it hard to deal with large pieces of woolen stuffs, as with sweaters.

Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, and summer has unofficially begun (so the tv weathermen say), my knitting will be mostly small-scale items. After dropping younger son (who graciously took time out from his fun-filled college-reunion weekend to grace our house for 24 hours) at the Kingston Amtrak station yesterday,

H and I headed towards one of our favorite restaurants, Matunuck Oyster Bar, on a lovely tidal creek in East Matunuck RI, where I worked on a hiking sock while we waited for our entrees. (He had the fried oyster plate; I had linguine with clam sauce. We drank a vidal blanc from Greenvale Vineyards in Portsmouth.)

If the dear boy looks peeved, it's because he doesn't quite understand the allure of always knitting, my friends. But you do, I know.

View from our table on the deck at the Matunuck Oyster Bar. If you sit out there, bring bug spray.

Now is the month of Maying

2011-05-26T14:47:00.002-04:00

and we happily celebrate the second year of this blog! If I've learned anything from this endeavor, it's that I'll never run out of material, because the New England knitting scene is so entirely rich. Upcoming posts will include glimpses of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and of course there will be continued focus on places closer to my bailiwick.

Loyal readers of Knitting New England will recall my first post, where I described trying to knit a baby sweater while listening to a lecture on beekeeping. (There's a link to the free pattern on that first post.) Demoralized by the pessimism of the apicultural instructors, I decided against beekeeping as yet another sideline of my life, and dropped the course. I did, however, finish the sweater. Here it is, modeled by Langston, who at the age of two has now outgrown it.

Perhaps he'll one day have another sibling, to share in the fun of a sweater with bee and flower buttons.

Then there was the sheep-motif sweater I made for Cy shortly after completing Langston's pullover.

He began wearing this when he was a bit past the ripe age of one. In the two photos above he's two. In the following photo he's three.

The sweater still fits! But it was time for something new. I made Lucinda Guy's "Dangerous Dinosaur" from her wonderful book, Handknits for Kids (Trafalgar Square, 2005).

It is blissful to knit for children, especially those as beautiful as Langston and Cy. Fortunately I have a granddog to knit for now.

Dexter

To celebrate the anniversary of Knitting New England, I'll give two interesting knitting books from my personal collection to two randomly-chosen people who leave a comment on today's blog post beginning now and up until May 31. Thank you for being there, my friends!

A place for lace

2011-05-17T17:19:00.000-04:00

Some years ago, whilst in the San Francisco area, I visited the Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles in Berkeley. It's one of the stranger exhibitions I've encountered in my many years of enthusiastic museum-going, not the least because it's actually a store specializing in needlework accessories, and there just happens to be collection of strangely-curated lace tacked onto it. It's a rather nice needlework store with a good selection of needlework-related books for sale. As a museum it's kind of pathetic. In fact, let's call it a "museum." I wonder if a store that calls itself a museum derives some special kind of "tax benefit"...?

If I wanted to become my own lace and textile museum, I might exhibit the beginnings of a scarf/shawl and a sock that are in process as I write this.

The scarf/shawl (haven't yet decided which), a gift for my friend Ana, is the Oscilloscope Shawl from the Fall 2010 issue of Knitscene Magazine. The Lace Sterling socks, a free download from Kraemer Yarns, are for me, if I ever, as it were, put my nose to the grindstone. The thing about knitting lace, IMHO, is that absolute concentration is required. Such focus has many benefits, but it's hard to summon the focus if your life involves social interaction, myriad commitments, and competing interests, as mine does. So, the sock grows slowly, and I am allowing myself the option of truncating the shawl as a scarf if I can't finish it before Ana, now twenty-seven, grows grey hair.

Ana

For the birds

2011-05-08T15:32:00.002-04:00

The Knitting Goddess distributes snippets of leftover yarn on the driveway, for neighborhood nest builders.

Rosy-Breasted Grosbeak

Bluebird

Osprey

Living color...

2011-05-05T14:01:00.002-04:00

About a month ago I had some free time before a concert at Boston's Symphony Hall, so I beelined to Newbury Yarns at (where else?) 164 Newbury Street. Hidden in plain sight, it's a bit tricky to find--I first walked past it and had to backtrack--and entry is a bit down-the-rabbit-hole.

That day my time was tight, so after a brief go-round, I said farewell and vowed to return in the near future. Earlier this week I made a longer visit that happily fulfilled my hopes.

Aldrich Robinson, gracious proprietor and resident knitting guru, has purposefully arranged yarns so that the shop is a celebration of color and texture. Rather than being grouped by manufacturer or fiber, the yarns are clustered in colorways.

She wants knitters to be inspired. "When people walk in here," she says, "I try to get them to think creatively about texture and color." She loves to be a soundboard for ideas about patterns, offering advice about color combinations, yarn weights, and visual effects, at any stage of the process, not only at the beginning.

One question I always muse on when I discover a LYS is "what makes this place distinctive?" Newbury Yarns offers many answers, not the least of which is a unique line of hand-dyed yarns called "DIPS" (Dyed Independently Precious Skeins). Aldrich finds yarns from small local farms and a few not-so-local (think: Oregon). After being dyed in a rich assortment of colors, they're marketed under the DIPS label only through her shop.

I'll be writing more about Newbury Yarns in the future, as there's much to anticipate. Aldrich has a book of children's designs in the works; besides the wonderful selection of yarns and knitting accessories, her shop offers classes, knitting help, and, most appealingly, a magical portal from the circus of Newbury Street to a sanctuary of color, fiber inspiration, and creative energy.

Epithalamion

2011-04-28T11:07:00.003-04:00

A knitted wedding cake in honor of the Royal Nuptials, featured at London's All the Fun of the Fair.

Loe where she comes along with portly pace
  Lyke Phoebe from her chamber of the East,
  Arysing forth to run her mighty race,
  Clad all in white, that seemes a virgin best.
  So well it her beseemes that ye would weene
Some angell she had beene.
Her long loose yellow locks lyke golden wyre,
  Sprinckled with perle, and perling flowres a tweene,
Doe lyke a golden mantle her attyre,
  And being crowned with a girland greene,
  Seeme lyke some mayden Queene.
  Her modest eyes abashed to behold
  So many gazers, as on her do stare,
   Upon the lowly ground affixed are.
  Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold,
  But blush to heare her prayses sung so loud,
  So farre from being proud.
Nathlesse doe ye still loud her prayses sing,
That all the woods may answer and your eccho ring.
--Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion

Gentle readers,
Perhaps some of you, like me, will be glued to the tv starting tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. EDT. An event such as the wedding of Prince Wills and the iconically-named commoner Kate Middleton offers us six or so hours of nonstop knitting time, as well as inspirational pageantry. For those of you who work quickly, you might have a look at the patterns in Knit Your Own Royal Wedding by Fiona Goble (Ivy Press, 2011).

Whether or not you can spare the time tomorrow, the publisher's video will undoubtedly help you appreciate the seismic event:

Yours, knitting regally,

smw

Seeing red...

2011-04-25T12:48:00.001-04:00

Whirlwind

2011-04-21T14:34:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, participating knitters willingly crawled from LYS to LYS in Rhode Island to experience the Great Rhody Yarn Crawl, and I hope they had a great time. Restrained by my superego, I visited only one emporium, Eneri Knits in Exeter, on Friday afternoon, wedging myself between appearances by the magical weaver and fiber artist Jan Doyle and local author Ann Hood, whose writing about knitting has earned her high praise well beyond New England.

Those of you who recall my post last summer about Eneri Knits, know that the shop is a new venture for Irene DeVerna, and of special interest to me. I think of yarn shops as much more than places to buy yarn and knitting accessories. The best of them fulfill an educational and social mission, and they have distinctive character, like any person or friend. At any rate, it's been fascinating for me to see how Eneri Knits is evolving, and I was able to sit down for a few minutes and chat with Irene about what's been going on in the past nine or so months. I'll devote a future post to this because there's a lot to say. However, since my last visit the inventory has grown impressively, and the positive energy has amplified.

Even though I was at Eneri towards the end of the day, there was a steady stream of people coming in to browse, chat, and buy. Irene told me that it had been like this all day--customers were even waiting outside the door before she opened at 10 a.m.! The next day was, in Irene's words, "fantastic! Saturday was so crowded in the shop, that my husband had to escape to the Celestial Café [next door] to get some air!"

It seems that a fine yarn tradition has been inaugurated--the Slater Mill Guild is planning another such weekend next year.

We Brake for Alpacas

2011-04-14T17:01:00.001-04:00

Driving to New London today, we saw this sign on the road in North Stonington:

We braked.

Besides the six alpacas, there were a nubian goat and a very woolly sheep.

We saw no people. Perhaps another time.

Prospective delights

2011-04-12T14:58:00.005-04:00

Friday begins the first annual Great Rhody Yarn Crawl. Sponsored by Slater Mill Knitting and Crochet Guild, it runs all weekend. (Click on the GRYC link for a map and a "passport" to download.) I plan to visit an LYS or two to check out the merriment. Word has it that an interesting mystery guest will appear at Eneri Knits in Exeter on Friday between 5 and 7 p.m., and I'm rather curious to see whom that might be. Perhaps I will meet you there, gentle reader, as well.

Last Wednesday, at the weekly meeting of the Langworthy Library Knitting Association, our beloved founder, Jane Green, brought in her handwork for show-and-tell.

She knit this for a specific reason--namely, that she and some friends will gather, on the 29th of this month, to view the broadcast of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding in Westminster Abbey, and as it is a lengthy production, they will require some fortification. Tea and cakes are the preferred refreshment of this discerning fan club, as we are six hours earlier than London, where no doubt folks will be quaffing more potent celebratory beverages:

I gave her Cakes and I gave her Ale,
I gave her sack and sherry.
I kist her once and I kist her twice;
And we were wondrous merry.

Please admire the beautiful delicate roses knitted from variegated sock yarn.

To this list of two prospective delights, I shall immodestly add another: my article, "Stitch and Seed: Summer's Bounties," in the summer 2011 issue of Knitscene Magazine, on sale starting just about this week at many LYS, including Eneri Knits.

On not following rules

2011-04-09T11:57:00.004-04:00

Since childhood I've had a proclivity for ignoring the rules, whatever the rules may be. Yes, this contrarian streak seems to be hard-wired. It has gotten me into trouble sometimes, but more often than not, led to interesting discoveries that yield longterm, reverberating insights.

Molly, alter ego.

You may have noticed that I didn't post for the last day of 2KCBW--the Second Annual Knitting and Crocheting Blogs Week. I just grew tired of responding to the prompts, and the last one, inquiring as to my favorite places to knit, seemed a giant yawn, so I thought, Why bother? This is a fairly mild instance of Not Following the Rules. It also reminded me of why I hate board games.

In knitting, not following the rules has had a more creative effect. I've sometimes taken a fairly basic pattern and altered it to suit my taste. Usually this isn't a preplanned exercise, as in the most recent case, but something that evolves as I knit. About a year ago I began making the "Chic Bolero" pattern from Classic Elite Knits: One Hundred Gorgeous Designs for Every Occasion.

Obviously this is a straightforward, unembellished pattern. When I sewed the pieces together, I realized the sweater was going in a new direction. As is my habit, I didn't use the specified yarns (sorry, Classic Elite), and once everything was attached, I decided the body of the cardigan needed to be longer. I added a section below the ribbing, creating eyelets. These will be threaded with a belt of some sort--either a ribbon or an I-cord. (My experiment was validated by the Knitting Goddess, who told me she encourages knitters to adapt professional designs to their own whims.)

While I'm on the subject of original designs, I will draw your attention to a beautiful new jacket from Richard Muto's expert hand. It's of woven mohair bouclé, sewn, knitted, fully lined, and bedecked with freshwater pearls and crystals! Here it is, modeled by Jan Doyle.

"Oceancrest," by Richard Muto.

As you'll recall, I profiled Richard Muto, the Rhode Island Laureate of Fiber, a bit more than a year ago. You can read about him there, and on his Facebook page, or you can catch him at the Carolina Fiber and Fiction Center, where he teaches spinning. Because Richard is such a force in my world of handcrafted textiles, I will continue to provide you with periodic updates on his design career and teaching gigs.

Finally it's spring in Rhode Island. We planted a huge fig tree on the hill,

moved some of the dwarf citrus trees to the deck, and have been luxuriating in the sudden influx of sun.

2KCBWDAY6: Dreaming in color, plausibly.

2011-04-04T14:53:00.001-04:00

(Technically 2KCBW has ended, but I had a busy weekend, so I'm behind.)

Something to aspire to.Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackling in the future, near or distant?

I am lusting to knit this coat of many colors, featured in Classic Elite's "Celebrated Classics" booklet of 2007. The design is by Liz Nields. What I find so compelling is that it's worked side-to-side in four separate sections, then grafted together via the Three-Needle Bind-Off. While I've done that bind-off, I've never knitted anything side-to-side, from cuff to mid-back. Even though I'm now involved with a few projects, including finishing another cardigan, I have been assembling a palette, inspired by the Misti Suri Alpaca I mentioned on my first post of 2KCBW, wherein I discussed yarn I hated and yarn I loved.

El día de los inocentes: 2KCBWDAY5

2011-04-03T15:22:00.008-04:00

Ivan, Italian Greyhound, Boston resident

On April first 2011 I drove north 85 miles through intermittent rain and sleet. I visited Ivan, Amy, David, and Tina in Brookline. We had drinks and an early supper. Then I drove to Boston, paid $20 to park, and went to Jordan Hall, only to find that the concert I'd so looked forward to had been CANCELED! WTF????!!!!

I thought this was some kind of unfunny April Fool's joke. It was not. AND, I was informed by a lady with a clipboard, that the cancellation, owing to Andsne's indisposition, had been announced earlier on Facebook and on the Celebrity Series website...she seemed to think it was my fault for not checking before I left home. (Note: I may be the only person in the world who doesn't "do" Facebook, and for this I have been punished.)

To say that I was dismayed is an understatement. Yes, I'm getting a refund, but that's not the point.

Gentle readers, please enjoy this very cheesy video of Leif Ove Andsnes playing Mozart. Despite the visual infelicities, his extremely beautiful interpretation will thrill you, I hope. Andsnes's technique and lyricism are simply gorgeous.

Où sont les neiges d'antan?: 2KCBW4

2011-03-31T15:24:00.000-04:00

Day Four: 31st March. Where are they now?

Whatever happened to your __________?

Write about the fate of a past knitting project.

...n'enquerez de sepmain,

Où elles sont, ne de cest an,

Qu'à ce refrrain ne vous remaine:

Mais où sont les neiges d'antan!

--François Villon, Ballade des dames du temps jadis (pre-1533)

Q: Whatever happened to that Baby Bunting, knitted during the autumn of 1979?

A: It's here, the babies aren't.

12 March 2011, Brentwood L.A.

2KCBW3: Tip of the iceberg.

2011-03-30T17:31:00.000-04:00

How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins.

Dare accepted, mademoiselle. My response takes the form of a photo essay, since words utterly fail to describe the mess, or whatever you want to call it: disorder, anarchy, the creative unconscious, etc.--it is what it is.

But wait...there's more...lots more! This stash represents years of investment collecting. But you get the idea, I'm sure, from these selected examples. I've made a faint attempt, at times, to sort by color.

All rising to great place is by a winding stair...

2011-03-29T09:13:00.002-04:00

Day Two: 29th March. Skill + 1UP
Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year.
The more I knit, the more I realize that nothing in this game is linear. My latest challenge is knitting with two circular needles rather than four dpns to which I've been accustomed. Thanks to the Internet, I can access demonstration videos that amplify and clarify what I've learned by reading Cat Bordhi's Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles (Passing Paws Press, 2001).

A Tale of Two Yarns

2011-03-28T11:55:00.004-04:00

The Worst and the Best: 2KCBWDAY1

The Prompt: Day One: A Tale of Two Yarns.
Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

As Oscar Wilde famously said, "My tastes are simple: I like only the best." Similarly, I love organic fibers and intensely dislike synthetics. To be more specific, I love alpaca, cashmere, very fine merinos, and yarns that blend animal fiber with silk, such as Noro Silk Garden. I truly loathe acrylics.

A Diatribe Contra Acrylic Yarn

This doesn't mean that I don't knit acrylic or acrylic-blend yarn. Every so often I make something for a friend who is allergic to animal fiber, or for a child whose parents want the machine-washability of acrylic. I generally don't enjoy knitting plant fibers like cotton or linen because of their inelastic nature, and often my wool-allergic friends desire something warm, like socks or mittens, for which cotton wouldn't be suitable. Possibly you are wondering why, if acrylics benefit some people, I don't I like them. It is true that synthetic yarns have improved in quality since the 1960s, when I began knitting. Back then they were really grotesque. However, when I knit an acrylic, I am again reminded of its drawbacks. They are, even in the 21st century

inelastic
shreddy
plastic-feeling
and they have a weird sheen.

Having said this, I will proffer an illustration of something I knitted partly with acrylic:

Tom Turkey's tail feathers are from a scary L*** Brand acrylic I found at my favorite store, Ocean State Job Lot. I used it to make a pair of hiking socks for a wool-allergic person, all the time thinking how sad it was that I couldn't knit the socks in merino.

A Valentine to Alpaca Yarns, in All Their Permutations

There are so many beautiful natural fiber yarns in the world, and there are so many distinctive kinds of yarn, that I could rhapsodize forever about their fabulous qualities. Frequently I've shared with readers of this blog images of beautiful yarns I've found in my travels, so for the fun of it you can page backwards and gander at the photos. As my gentle readers may also know, I have a seriously huge stash of yarn, the existence of which H thinks is symptomatic of some kind of personality disorder. (Side-note: my recent visits to LYS in Los Angeles gave me an idea for organizing the stash that I will put into action gradually, with the hope of eliminating some of the chaos of my store-room.)

As only one example of what I deem to be a completely lovable yarn, I'll draw your attention to a skein I own (one of two) of handpainted Misti Alpaca Baby Suri Silk. The fiber content is 80% Baby Suri Alpaca, 20% Silk. Each skein is 218 yards. I haven't yet decided what to knit from it (it's DK weight), and would welcome suggestions.

Here's the crux of my argument--if you're going to invest all the time and effort necessary to knit something lovely, why wouldn't you want to use the best and most beautiful yarns you can find? There's a lot to be said for honoring one's handiwork with a complementary fiber.

The Second Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week

2011-03-27T15:25:00.001-04:00

It all begins tomorrow....There will be a post each day, prompted by a topic generated by Eskimimi Knits. Last year, more than two hundred bloggers participated (except yours truly, who was dealing with extreme flood conditions then, as you may recall). I'm so intrigued to see how it will play out this year. Somehow I envision it as a kind of monster concert.

See you soon!

curved learning

2011-03-25T21:27:00.000-04:00

I've been teaching myself to knit socks on two circular needles, thanks to Cat Bordhi's renowned treatment of the subject:

Like most things worth learning, it doesn't come quickly. Ultimately we hope the struggle will be worthwhile.

I purchased two different #2 circulars so I wouldn't confuse which needles were in play. Unfortunately the metal needles, by a venerable American company whose name I shan't mention (S**** B****) are completely horrible. I've never done this before, but I'm planning to return them to the store. The points are both rough and sharp, painful to work with. Yikes!

Meanwhile, vegetable seedlings grow apace in the greenhouse. Probably spring will arrive sometime before May.

Probably. We hope.

Molly enjoys hothouse flowers. She, like her muvver, is skeptical concerning the approach of warmer weather.

Springing

2011-03-19T17:52:00.001-04:00

I returned from Los Angeles to find Ted impersonating a strawberry.

The cap is an Ann Norling pattern -- "Kid's Fruit Cap" --done in an alpaca-merino blend.

Rufus thought he would hide behind Ted. Neither of them noticed the crocuses, but they enjoyed the sun. Tomorrow is spring, and tonight is the spring moon, also called the Super Moon. This optical illusion appears once every eighteen years.

California Dreamin'

2011-03-06T11:32:00.001-05:00

All the leaves are brown,

And the sky is grey...

Gentle readers...I am heading to L.A., returning to New England when spring has sprung, I hope.

What the fat needles hath wrought

2011-02-26T16:37:00.000-05:00

This turned out better than I anticipated. It took about two hours to make on size 13 dpns and a circ.

I hope I can wrest it from Ted.

The pattern is "Handpaint Hat," by Linda Daniels, of Northampton Wools. I found it in Knit Hats! Fifteen Cool Patterns to Keep You Warm, Gwen Steege, ed. (Storey Publishing, 2002).

Fat needles

2011-02-18T21:40:00.002-05:00

Dreary weather has a way of fomenting impatience, and I have become extremely impatient for warmer weather. Hence yesterday I convinced H to drive us (and Lola) to Logee's Greenhouse in Danielson, Connecticut so that we could imagine ourselves in the tropics.

This hothouse citrus tree, planted in the 1930s, has grafted branches of ten different fruits.

One of the many camellias in bloom.

By the time we left Logee's I was feeling warmer and craving hot colors--deep pink and orange. I am sure this yen began when I witnessed Orla and Quentin's nuptials on V-day, as they both wore impressively tropical hues. In fact, ever since donating the Hip-Hop yarn worn by Orla, I had been ruminating on the several skeins of it that take up quite a bit of space in my stash room.

Fortunately we had lunch in the nearby town of Putnam, Connecticut, and parked quite near Woolworks, Ltd. We ate at a forgettable restaurant while Lola waited in the car. Afterwards, H returned to the car to walk Lola, while I sashayed into Woolworks.

Like most of Putnam's downtown businesses, it's harbored in an oddly renovated building of limited architectural merit. Inside, however, is a different story. This place is radiant with positive fiber energy! I found a warm, very replete LYS, with a serious collection of spinning wheels and a spinner-in-residence. The staffers were really congenial and charming, and gave me a good sense of the shop's array of yarns and notions. Unlike many LYS which seem to have only two skeins of any given yarn in any given color, and maybe one of the color you really want, Woolworks' shelves were fully stocked with yarns ranging from Reynolds and Sirdar to Cascade, Malabrigo, and very interesting local (CT) yarns, such as Corriedale worsted from Brown Farm of Scotland, CT, and Fibers 4 Ewe sock yarn of merino, nylon, and milk fiber.

Also, I was thrilled to find a set of #13 dpns--wooden, no less!--and purchased them and a skein of Fibers4Ewe sock yarn forthwith. Contrary to what you may suspect from this odd juxtaposition of merchandise, the large needles are for knitting a hat with the Berocco Hip Hop yarn so fashionably worn by Orla on Valentine's Day.

Especially as I have been focused on socks for the last few months--they have become something of an obsession, actually--and have been working with size one and two dpns--my fingers have been thinking about the other end of the spectrum, as they have a somewhat polarized mentality (likely the result of so many years of piano practice). Having just begun this hat with chunky yarn and clunky needles, I can say that while it does knit up extremely fast, it is also deeply clumsy to knit with such oversized tools... So the benefits and disadvantages cancel each other, IMHO. As for the hat...we shall see what we think when it's over and done with. Orla and Ted have promised to model it.

Lovebirds

2011-02-14T16:10:00.002-05:00

Orla and Quentin tied the knot today, in the Woodville Chapel o' Love, located near the mouth of Babbling Brook and the northern shore of the Wood River. The ecumenical ceremony was jointly performed by GloBug and Dinosoap, who were ordained Human Ministers for the occasion. Moon Goon was Maid of Honor, and Cobi was Best Man. The bride wore an artfully-coiled skein of Berocco Hip-Hop in the Red Spyda colorway, chosen specially to complement Quentin's signature scarf. Musical accompaniment was provided by "When Birds Do Sing," an avian vocal quartet.

*****

Following the ceremony, the happy couple posed for an official portrait in a nearby tree.

Flags were hung in honor of the newlyweds.

And they were welcomed as a couple into the realm of conventional society by Molly, their self-appointed guardian.

I ♥ my old sweater...

2011-02-10T11:51:00.002-05:00

Regress with me to 1988...it's a cold, dreary day in February, by which time the relentless ice and snow of winter have turned everyone into a mental case. I am in the process of divorce, and custodial parent of sons, ages eight and four. Between doing the mother thing--balancing child-care and two horribly-paid college teaching jobs in two cities fifty miles apart--and burdened with a Greek chorus of doomsaying relatives and the ex-husband from hell, between talking interminably to lawyers and therapists and trying to reinvent my life, post-divorce, I am, shall we say, a bit tense?

Then, for reasons long forgotten, I find myself surprisingly alone in the car, near an outlet store in Needham, Massachusetts called De Celle, and all the fibers of my being tilt into shopping mode. An inner voice tells me to buy, to buy, to buy, though I have little money and no real need for anything to wear. As if in a dream, I enter De Celle's, my body automatically propelled through its glassy doors, past the handbags and hats, the umbrellas and dresses, to the section demarcated "Ladies Tops." A while later, I emerge with this sweater, which once (but no longer) had an inner label stating "hand-knitted in Great Britain."

I wear it every Valentine's Day. And also whenever I feel a strong need for protective magic.

The sweater has sustained some moth damage over the past twenty-three years. But it's been a stalwart friend, and I love it still.

Cabin Fever

2011-02-02T15:20:00.000-05:00

Today's tedium of snow was interrupted by the tedium of ice glazing trees, shrubs, branches, twigs; streets turned to skating rinks, a midday meltdown creating ponds on top of ice--all destined to refreeze by evening. This is getting old.

Click here for the free pattern!

Unseasonal thoughts on a winter's day; an Ipad sweater pattern, and a contest

2011-01-26T15:50:00.000-05:00

Snowing yet again, and predicted to continue another eighteen hours. Unbidden come the inevitably adverb-laden, highly dolorous thoughts.

His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.*

(For a distracting contest to enter, scroll down to the bottom!)

At least I have the satisfaction of having finished my Ipad's sweater.

To conclude the pattern, I seamed a 2" gusset on either side, attached a large button, and knitted a seven-foot-long I-cord. You'll notice that the top part of the I-pad sweater, just inside the triangle of the flap, is grey and brown. That's because I ran out of Noro Kureyon and substituted a small amount of Noro Silk Garden from my stash. The Silk Garden also provided the I-cord, which, unlike the pouch, I didn't felt. Though I didn't expect this to happen, the weight and colors of the two yarns mesh quite well.

On my roster now, to finish Cy's dinosaur sweater, which I started (gulp) more than a year ago. (Why this has taken so long is one of life's banal mysteries.) But after that, I've promised myself another treat, to knit yet another design by Deborah Newton, from her latest book, Warm Weather Knits. Generally I don't enjoy knitting yarns that aren't wool or animal fiber, but these patterns are nearly irresistible, plus they remind me that spring cannot be far behind. The hardest thing will be deciding which to do first.

And while I'm singing the praises of Deborah's talent, let me point out that one of her hat designs is on the cover of the latest issue of Vogue Knitting.

So, to move from the sublime to the silly, if anyone can identify the opening quote of this post, I'll send you my personal copy of Sweaters from New England Sheep Farms by Candace Eisner Strick. Just email me with your answer! Contest closes January 31st.

Knitting Old England

2011-01-23T20:56:00.003-05:00

or, Postcards from London

by the Wood

I left this river

by the Thames

for this river. Although January, it seemed like early spring.

Camellias bloomed in someone's garden.

I hit the yarn emporia, and was largely surprised.

All the Fun of the Fair, in Kingly Court

Knitted pastries at All the Fun of the Fair

Shilisdair cochineal-dyed merino-angora-cashmere DK from Loop. A lovely souvenir.

It was a short but excellent trip. Non-knitted highlights included Royal Shakespeare, the Old Vic, The Tate Gallery, The Tate Modern, and the British Museum. And excellent Indian food, particularly at Palms of Goa on Charlotte Street.

The well-dressed Ipad: a free pattern

2011-01-13T17:26:00.002-05:00

view of the Wood River, taken from my kitchen window on 12 January 2011

It was clear to me that my Ipad needed something warm and cozy to buffer against the intense winter we're having. A sweater seemed the way to go. Herewith my pattern, which you should feel free to modify.

Here is the shape you're aiming for. The pebbles are not included; I used them to keep the fabric from rolling while I photo'd it.

Materials: #9 needles, 1-1/2 balls of Noro Kureyon (3.6 ounces) or similar-weight worsted with good felting potential, a large button.

Instructions: Cast on 3 stitches and knit two rows stockinette. Continuing in stockinette, increase every other row on the second and the penultimate stitch by M1 until you have a triangle of 57 stitches or of a width that measures one inch larger than your Ipad on each side.

At this point, continue in stockinette until your fabric is long enough to fold into a pouch that can completely encase the Ipad, so that the triangular sections falls envelope-like down the front. Bind off the top. Sew up the side seams.

Next, felt the pouch. If you don't have a top-loading washing machine at your disposal, you can try what I did and plunge it into almost-boiling water (I used a lobster pot) to which have been added a few drops of liquid dishwashing detergent and a tablespoon of baking soda. Have a pair of tongs at hand so you can agitate the pouch in the water, insuring that the fibers will felt up nicely.

Let me say right now that this was the frightening part, and results may vary. As a prior felting experience proved, the process is not for the faint of heart.

taking the plunge

swishing it around with tongs

Here it is, cooking. I weighted the Ipad sweater with a wooden form cut to the approximate size of the Ipad (courtesy of H), but that didn't prevent it from rising to the top and becoming blobby.

Just removed from the hot bath! It appeared not to have shrunk much and I was anticipating failure.

The Knitting Goddess advised me to shock it with cold water. It seemed to retract slightly after this.

By now I was becoming more convinced that the results were dubious. I quickly rolled the case in a dry towel to soak up the excess moisture, then put it (still inside the towel) into the dryer for about a half hour at medium. But in the end it came out all right, more or less. (Actually more...the case is still a bit oversized, but nothing that can't be remedied by a small inside seam.)

So that's the story, my friends.

As it turns out, the red "leather" Ipad case (this case is to leather as Cool Whip is to whipped cream) I ordered from Amazon.com (see my prior blog post) arrived in the mail before I finished the sweater, and therefore the sweater is superfluous. At any rate, I won't take it with me to England, because at this point I don't have time to finish it before my departure tomorrow (ah yes, the departure was postponed because of a major blizzard on the northeast coast that happened yesterday and the previous day). On my return I will add a button and an i-cord string-thing to wrap around the button, and that will be that. I will have a warm and stylish Ipad.

Necessity was the mother of this invention, and non-utilitarian fashion will be its future raison d'être.

The well-dressed Ipad

2011-01-08T15:54:00.001-05:00

The purchase of this Ipad, which is, to be perfectly honest, a non-essential gizmo that may not provide me with an enhanced quality of life (only time will tell), was rationalized thus:

my birthday is next month, so this is an early present to myself;
I am about to travel abroad and the Ipad is lighter and easier to haul around than my laptop.

I ordered the Ipad without the black encasement that you see in the photo because I was certain that to pay $39 for a relatively flimsy piece of plastic was a complete rip-off. I ordered a $1 case (red, claims to be genuine leather) from a seller on Amazon.com. (If you click the link you'll see the price has gone up somewhat. Must have been my lucky dollar day back then!) A while later Amazon sent me an email saying they couldn't get in touch with the seller and couldn't ship the case. As my departure-to-London date was looming, I was seized with the utterly rational fear that my Ipad might get scratched in transit. By that time I was also ready to hurl the Ipad out the window, as its operation was driving me very quickly to the edge. Rather than scratch it in so violent a manner, I determined that I needed to do two things besides cracking open another bottle of vino:

Go to the "Genius Bar" [sic] at the Apple Store in the Providence Place Mall and have a consult with a tech person;
Knit my Ipad a sweater.

Fast forward to Thursday, January 6th:

I meet Jillian, a very proficient tech person, at the human zoo aka The Apple Store. She sits with me, creating a bubble of calm that envelops us both, for almost two hours as the masses swirl about us. She answers every single question on my extensive list, without overtly ridiculing or pitying me. Finally finished with Ipad 101, I ask her several questions pertaining to the superficial aspects of gadgetry, such as Ipad hygiene--how best to clean the smeary screen, a palimpsest of skin oil after a relatively brief period of usage?--(Jillian shows me a box of wipes, containing 20 cleansing applications of isopropyl alcohol, for a mere $15; I politely decline); and costumes (Jillian shows me a neoprene cover and the black velvety cover, both of which sell for between $35-$40.) I bite the bullet and buy the velvety cover. Perhaps I was emboldened to do this because of all the money I expected to save by cleaning Ipad's screen with an eighty-nine cent pint bottle of isopropyl alcohol.

Then I go home and begin knitting my Ipad a sweater. It is deliberately oversized, as I intend to felt it in the immediate future. I'm using Noro Kureyon--that is, I was using Noro Kureyon, but I ran out. So part of this sweater will be in a compatible yarn I select from my stash.

Time is flying, and I must return to my knitting, in order to finish before my departure date of 1/12. And oh yes, Amazon sent me another email saying that the seller was located and my red leather one dollar Ipad case is on its way to me.

To be continued....

In the meanwhile, if any of my readers can recommend good LYS to visit in London, please do.

The Tyranny of Resolutions!

2011-01-02T14:27:00.004-05:00

Or, Embracing my UFOs.

There's this idea out there that when January 1st rolls around we should make promises, otherwise known as resolutions, for implementation in the coming year. The ever-popular New Year's resolution is certainly "I will lose weight," which is why gyms and fitness equipment companies do so well during the holiday season and watch their profits shrink as the months progress. Some folks make blander resolutions, such as "I will be a nicer person," and "I will spend less money." They are the Burger King resolvers--"have it your way" when "your way" is essentially meaningless--and to their lack of imagination I say, "Whatever." But a lot of knitters, it seems, resolve to quickly dispatch their UFOs, aka UnFinished Objects. (I base this surmise on the Knit Chatter that comes across my radar screen.) Whether they do so or not isn't clear, but it's worth considering why UFOs hang heavy on some knitters' minds.

Surveying the two unfinished sweaters, one-and-one-half socks, one-half sock, and several incomplete scarves that dominate a section of my living room, I almost fell into this trap. I told myself I should resolve to finish these projects before I undertake any others! And then I ruminated on the purpose of UFOs and decided there was no need to hurry up and deal.

UFOs in various receptacles, Lola, and Rufus

The basic question is what purposes do UFOs serve? To this I answer

They allow for the creative process to unfold slowly, and this has various merits.
They allow someone like me, with Knitting ADD, to hop from one project to another.
Certain knitting projects require more attention than others do. For example, I cannot talk or (in rare cases) watch tv when knitting instructions are complex. It's important for me to have ongoing several projects that require varying levels of engagement.
Sometimes I am not in the mood to knit a particular project.
Sometimes I stop knitting something because its instructions are aggravating, or I've come to a place where I need help. That project goes on hold temporarily. In the meanwhile I need something else to knit.
Etc.

Kit and mitts

Last week I put most of my knitting aside in order to make a pair of fingerless mitts in a beautiful alpaca yarn. The pattern, "Susie's Reading Mitts," is a free download on Ravelry, and honestly, I think it's excellent. Designed by Janelle Masters, it knits quickly, has elegant details, and feels wonderful on the hand.

This pair's for a friend, but I just might have to make another pair for myself. And so the list of projects undertaken grows ever longer, providing ever more possibilities.

Simple Gifts

2010-12-25T15:00:00.001-05:00

Give someone a pair of socks, and you warm her feet for a day. Teach someone to knit socks, and you warm her feet for a lifetime.
The Langworthy Library Knitting Association began nearly two years ago when Denise wandered into the library and knowing Jane-the-librarian was a knitter, asked for lessons in socks. The upshot was the birth of the Knitting Association, and a pattern, Denise's sock, that Jane has graciously agreed to share.

Denise's Sock is a good, basic sock that will warm the tootsies in a variety of yarns: plain, variegated, self-patterning. You can add your own touches--I usually do a 2x2 rib at the top for at least an inch. I learned to make socks from this pattern, too, and I hope you will use it and wear it in good health. Thank you and brava to Jane! The ramifications of her gift are far-reaching, delightful, and warm. In her gesture is a lesson for us all.

Jane Green
knitting a sock

Alfie eyes one of "Denise's socks" suspiciously.

The more things change...

2010-12-18T15:29:00.005-05:00

Have you ever noticed how the crazier the world gets, the more you want to knit? If the situations in the Mideast, Africa, South Asia, Haiti, and most of Latin America weren't desperate enough, there's so much local mayhem--governmental, economic, social, culinary--that an ostrich's view of the world starts to look pretty scenic.

But wait, there's more! I'm married to someone who likes to burn up the yard at least once a year.

Sure, why not? And, being a good scout, he used only one match. Silly me for thinking there might be safer ways to get rid of weeds than a good old controlled burn, right? QED: the house behind the fiery field in the photo is still standing.

Here's a close-up of my pendant et après feu self-patterning sock. I found it comforting to knit intensely and stare deeply into the fibers while the front yard was under incineration.

On a more amiable note, Quentin's friend Orla arrived yesterday, length of visit unspecified, but based on Q's rather attentive behavior, I sense she may be here for a while.

Orla hails from China by way of Providence. Like a 1940s movie talent scout, I discovered her, you might say, hanging out at the sign of Frog and Toad on Hope Street.

Local boy makes good

2010-12-09T14:33:00.000-05:00

So there we were, last night, sitting and knitting, as per usual with one exception: Gordon. Having read about us in the Wood River Press (edition of 11/25/10) he was eager to join up with kindred souls.

Of course we wanted a show-and-tell. He'd fortunately brought a pair of mitts and a hat of his own design, from yarn spun by his mother from locally-raised fiber animals.

Yesterday he worked on a scarf of mixed-fiber, Kool-Aid dyed (by himself) yarn (spun by his mother). He told us he learned to knit five years ago, while recovering from surgery.

When not knitting, he works at a convenience store in town and is in the National Guard. We hope he'll become a regular member of the Langworthy Library Knitting Association!

Thanksgiving leftovers

2010-11-30T17:48:00.003-05:00

are the best part, as we all know. Herewith some additional knitting projects that were under construction on Knit Something Day:

Sheila D. of East Providence RI, a top-down sweater

Joan W. of Weston, MA, the start of a Suri Alpaca throw

The yarns in the first two photos are strong arguments for the chicken-or-egg world of knitting inspiration. How can anyone look at these beauteous fibers and not want to knit something immediately?

Then there are perpetual motion knitters, like Denise of the Langworthy Library Knitting Association. She's actually been retained by a friend to knit twenty cotton dishcloths from a cone of color-slubbed natural cotton yarn, as presents for the friend's extended family!

In addition, Denise, currently recuperating from surgery, has been spending her non-dishcloth-knitting time with a variegated fuchsia scarf

and these wonderful socks, a present for her doctor. (Seriously, this might be a great way to reduce the high cost of medical care in the U.S.--hand-knitted socks for all medical personnel!)

Artemis

Artemis, one of Denise's two resident felines, is in awe of her grandmère's productivity.

Gentle readers, we hope you celebrated Knit Something and Buy Nothing Days, and the National Day of Listening, all of which occurred on November 26th, in a heartwarming way.

Coma weekend

2010-11-28T17:36:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year when my brain seems to go into hibernation, while I'm apparently living my life. Thanksgiving was a grande bouffe at the home of ever-generous neighbors who thoughtfully provided an artistically-personalized twenty-pound shopping bag of leftovers for every guest, lest they suffer from a dearth of nourishment after the main meal. Eyeing the bottom layer of this gift o' love-- a Tupperware container of English trifle, a bag of Italian cookies, a hefty slice of gingerbread buche, a slab of pumpkin pie, a nine-million calorie hunk of cheesecake with cherry topping--I knew I had to do something drastic. So I ate the cheesecake for breakfast on Knit Something Day, then trotted downstairs to the neighbors' apartment, to return the cookies, trifle, and buche--but not the pie, turkey, stuffing, and large container of side vegetables--thereby maintaining the fiction that I'm trying to follow a moderate diet. (Meanwhile I ate the pie in small increments over three days, further supporting the fiction of moderation.)

What did I do this weekend, besides eat and knit? That is the question. On Knit Something Day I zipped through Deborah Newton's Cornflower Mitts pattern, and when I thought I'd almost finished, discovered, to my chagrin, that I'd made two right-hand mitts and no left.

Well, everything happens for a reason, right? Obviously I love this pattern, which I'm giving to a friend--love it so much that I wanted my own pair. I'm about a third through the first left-hand mitt. (I keep wondering, though, that if I hadn't eaten that grotesque slice of cheesecake and my brain wasn't all befuddled by the sugar-fat-cream triumvirate, mightn't I have read the pattern correctly in the first place?)

This, my friends, is a great design! Knit on number nines, it's speedy, and the rich detailing of cables and three kinds of ribs provides texture, interest, and extra warmth. (I'm sure that the thickness of the cable on the back of the hand adds extra heat retention, and the ribs make the mitts grippy.)

But enough about me...I wanted to find out what my knitting friends were knitting on Knit Something Day. Below, a partial visual record:

Susie B, NYC, lace-edged woman's hat.

Caroline B, Connecticut, twisted cable scarf of handspun, hand-dyed wool.

Carol M. of Connecticut Yarn and Wool, Haddam, Connecticut, Christmas stocking from local merino sheep.

The Knitting Goddess, Providence RI, a big eyelet swatch.

And more to follow, after I catch up on my Zzzzzzzs. Please send me photos of what you were knitting on November 26th, 2010, and they shall appear on this blog in the immediate future.

It's Knit Something Day!

2010-11-26T17:37:00.000-05:00

and Buy Nothing Day and The National Day of Listening.

Quentin bought nothing. He wore his new garter-stitch scarf. And he listened to the Wood River where there is now no bridge.

Different strokes on Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

Be mindful that there are many ways to express thankfulness.

We interrupt this sweater...

2010-11-16T15:51:00.006-05:00

to bring you a TURKEY!

Gentle readers, the eve of Knit Something Day approaches. It's time to fire up! I've temporarily put the sweater aside to create Mr. T, who will grace the Thanksgiving table.

As you can see, Rufus approves. Quentin is somewhat less sure.

If you'd like to give a vegetarian friend this winsome hand-knitted bird, there's a free pattern download on the Spud & Chloe blog. You can make him really quickly, well before November 25th. Even an entire flock, if you're a fast knitter. What are you waiting for?

PS: Since my last post, many have inquired about Quentin the Owl. Also, I have been sternly chastised by a member of the Langworthy Library Knitting Association who has powerful connections to organized wildlife protection, for having captured Quentin and sequestered him in my home without obtaining a permit from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Apparently it is not, um, legal to simply scoop up a hapless owl whose path happens to cross yours, and bring it home to live with you. (Or with me, as the case actually is.) And it doesn't matter to The Authorities that Quentin is essentially unable to fly or live on his own in nature.

Please know that I have tried to liberate Quentin. I have taken him around my yard and allowed him to go wherever and do whatever he wants. He enjoys the fresh air, but is unable to fly any distance. He's smart, too, and recognizes a sweet deal.

So, when I open the door to let Rufus inside, Quentin voluntarily hops in after him. We supplement his diet with mice and voles caught by Kramer and Rufus.

Loss and gain

2010-11-09T16:15:00.002-05:00

Stonington, CT

Those who grew up before the Age of SPF and PABA often, as mature individuals, endure dermatological procedures that remove sun-damaged skin lest it morph into full-blown cancer. Such was H's lot this morning. While he was being scraped, peeled, and stitched on the tenth floor of Rhode Island Hospital, the Knitting Goddess and I walked along the mighty Seekonk with our loyal companions, Brownie and Lola, discussing the merits of wool versus acrylic, a conversation prompted by my wearing of a pair of thirty-year-old acrylic mittens (knitted in an overall seed stitch by mother, who is late--to borrow a term from Mma Ramotswe), and KG's wearing of a pair of equally ancient acrylic gloves in a nordic pattern, inherited from an elderly relative.

KG maintains that acrylic garments can be as warmth-providing as wool. I disagree. To test our hypotheses, we have decided to knit two pairs of comparable mittens, hers in acrylic, mine in wool. We will engage an impartial scientist to measure the heat retention of said mittens as they are worn on a suitably cold winter day. I am sure you, gentle readers, will be as curious about the results as KG and I are. Stay tuned.

Shortly after our return from this bracing expedition, I was summonsed by H to bail him out of hospital hell. Then we were on our way to the River House, where four angry cats awaited, screaming for breakfast. H had come through his surgery stoically and with only one large bandage on his face. We decided to reward his fortitude with lunch in Stonington, Connecticut, a twenty-minute drive from our rural hideaway. Afterwards, we strolled to the water's edge. It was there that we encountered Owl.

He's about a foot high, five or six inches wide, and rather compact. Readers, you know my proclivity for homeless animals. There was no way I could leave him on the wharf, feathers ruffling in the wind. We scooped up the little beast and brought him home.

It turns out that he loves to watch me knit. This I discovered as we drove back and I, riding shotgun with Owl on my lap, picked up a rather lurid sock currently under construction and began to work. Owl nudged it with his beak and rubbed his head on the ball of yarn. When we arrived home, I put him in a basket with the almost-completed pair, and it was clear that he was in a state of avian bliss.

I promised to knit him a scarf from the leftovers.

Lola isn't certain how she feels about him.

Knit Something Day approaches

2010-11-04T09:03:00.003-04:00

Gentle readers,

No one needs to be reminded that we live in a society of wretched excess and gross disparities. As you may have noticed from the trend of my evolving "Blogs I Follow" list, I--despite the embarrassing size of my yarn stash--am partial to writers who chronicle the simple life. The low-tech appeal of knitting is part of my enjoyment of essential, meditative pursuits. I am also someone who really, really, really hates shopping--except, I admit, for yarn and knitting-related paraphernalia. There's a lot I will do to avoid stores, and an even worse nightmare, malls.

And now it is early November and in only a few weeks the biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday, arrives. Over the years social activists have campaigned to make this day after Thanksgiving "Buy Nothing Day." The idea is to reject the consumerist ethic that compels folks to shop until they drop in preparation for the holidays, and spend quality time on beneficial projects, whether they be some kind of volunteer work, communing with one's family and friends, or participating in an enjoyable non-consumerist activity. I am especially partial to the Annual Winter Coat Exchange on the lawn of the Rhode Island State House in downtown Providence (with ancillary sites around the state). Donate a gently-used coat (any size, from children to adult) on November 26th from 10 to 2, so that someone who needs a coat may be warmer in the winter months.

And once more I'll suggest another way to think of the Day After Thanksgiving: Knit Something Day! Send me a photo of what you're knitting on November 26th, and I'll publish it in this blog so the world can see.