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| Mystery creature in the driveway. |
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| Alfie's non-confrontational approach to the mystery knit. |
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| A close examination yields nothing conclusive. |
You, gentle reader, are welcome to guess.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
What IS it?
You, gentle reader, are welcome to guess.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Postcards
I've been bopping around New England, as always with knitting in tow.
This particular pair of socks has been a drag in more ways than one. 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.
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| This particular pair of socks has been a drag, in more ways than one. |
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.
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.
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| hand-knitted, felted fair isle bag |
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| lace shawl in progress, lace cardigan completed and modeled |
Friday, July 1, 2011
The undoing
After I'd started this sock, the first of a pair, I realized with utter dismay that I had joined two different dye lots and the colors were painfully off. There was no yarn left of the dye lot used for the cuff.
The Knitting Goddess suggested I rip it out and start over. This was worse to contemplate, because the pattern is intricate and what I'd done so far represented hours of concentration. The sock went in a basket where I'd see it every so often, and I decided to consider her advice over a longish swath of time.
Whenever I looked at the sock it bothered me. Actually, it more than bothered me. It upset me. I thought of ways to balance out the color differences, by adding other colors, or doing contrasting embroidery along the join. As soon as I entertained another fix-it idea, I was overcome by ennui.
Today, six months later, I took her advice.
Molly says: "Learning how not to be attached is a drawn-out and circuitous process."
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."
Saturday, June 25, 2011
An idyll, with yarn
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The WWKIP that was
at the Langworthy Library on Saturday the 18th of June. We came, we sat, we knitted--all two of us!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
It's that time of year again
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!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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.
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.
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| View from our table on the deck at the Matunuck Oyster Bar. If you sit out there, bring bug spray. |
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