Taking a break...

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!

Two deer

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.

A place for lace

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

Prospective delights

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.