Knitknacks

DOS AND DON'TS; DIDS AND DIDN'TS

I think I knew this before but forgot it. I don’t love working with a thick and thin yarn. It plays havoc with stitch definition. It makes it hard to read the knitting and figure out if a particular stitch is a mistake or just a big slub. It’s sloppy. I’m hoping it smoothes out quite a bit after blocking. Or, maybe I’m just a sloppy knitter. However, once I have a beautiful finished sweater for next winter, I’m sure all will be forgiven. Here's several strips of the  15 Easy Pieces in Manos  being blocked as we speak

I do like  creating texture. It doesn't show up well in the  purple stripe, but most of that stripe hides under my arms anyway.

IT'S SEW EASY
It is so true that if you put things out in the universe, they will happen. I said last week that I wanted to create…and I wanted to sew. This week, I did. I’ve been intending to fill a space on the wall with a Free Lace wallhanging for about three years now. It has finally happened. Let’s hope it’s not another three years before I put my sewing machine to good use again.

DID NOT LIST:
I did not eat the chocolate cake at the contradance last weekend.
I did not eat the cookies at book club last weekend.
I did not eat the chocolate eclairs at the knit-in last Tuesday night.
I did not sample the pastries at Sam’s Club.
I did not buy a York Peppermint Patty while I was in the checkout line at the grocery store.

I did eat the Flourless Chocolate Torte that my kids brought on Mother’s Day. After all…it’s my kids. After all… it was Mother’s Day. Did I mention the homemade raspberry sauce that went with it?

FRITTER WITH TWITTER

I see that Twitter is all the rage these days. I don’t actually spend any time there, but if I understand it correctly, it’s composed of frequent mini-posts about the daily minutiae. Stream-of-consciousness, 140 characters at a time.

There is a certain appeal. I often start composing blog entries in my mind, but I’m not inclined to sit right down and knock off a complete post. By the time I’m in the mood to write, I’ve forgotten any pithy thought I might have had.

So I’m thinking of keeping an open page on my desktop where I twitter away briefly all week long.  Once a week or so, a bit of editing, and presto! Instant blog entry. Let’s give it a try and see what comes out.

….Just watched I am Legend. Weird but fascinating movie. I’m not big on big-toothed monster movies, but I do like apocalyptic fiction. I also like Will Smith. And I never knew this before, but I think I like Bob Marley.

…Lost 20 pounds over the last two years. In March and April, I gained back 4. Must cut the sugar out once again. Must!

…I awaken with renewed determination. I will start counting again. I will count points. I will count steps. I will count seconds of hooping and minutes of walking. Starting….right…..NOW.

…I feel like the tulips all a-blooming overnight. I sat in Woven Arts this afternoon for book club, and my eyes didn’t know where to look first. I feel a creative burst coming on….I want to break out the sewing machine….I want to finish a scrapbook or two or ten…I want to write again. (Two days off sugar….could there be a connection? Hmm.)

….Speaking of book club, it was the Sunday Afternoon Book Club discussing The Friday Night Knitting Club. A very weak book, in my opinion, but a spirited discussion nonetheless.

….You know how Chinese fortune cookies rarely give fortunes anymore? They offer pop psychology, or corny new-age advice. When they do spout an actual fortune, they are vague about just when this fortune will occur. I keep my real fortunes, and over time most of them have indeed transpired. But yesterday, I received the most specific fortune ever. YOU WILL HAVE MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR IN THE COMING YEAR. I already have much to be thankful for, thankfully, but more is good. Isn’t that a nice fortune? I’m so pleased with it, that I want to share it with everyone. So consider this YOUR Chinese fortune cookie too. And you don’t even have to wait till Thanksgiving.

…I did something today I’ve never done before. I’ve lived in Michigan for 60 years, and I’ve never been to the Tulip Festival in Holland. But today was a lovely day, the tulips are supposed to be at their peak, and this is what having unstructured days are for. So I corralled my SO, convinced him to play hooky from work, and off we went. It was lovely and charming, but as far as the tulips go, a bit underwhelming. I guess I’m jaded, having been to the huge tulip gardens near Amsterdam. Or else we didn’t go to the right place. Still, it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

…I am a weak-willed woman when it comes to purses and bags. I’ve been lusting after the Jordana Paige Knitter’s Satchel for awhile now, but the price tag has kept me at bay. But yesterday, I visited a yarn shop in Holland where they had one bag left and it was on sale for 50% off. Needless to say, it came home with me. Of course, like shoes and mattresses, it’s impossible to know if a purse will really work until it’s tried out in real life.

…Insomnia. I’ve had over a week of good sleep. Why now? Why ever? Sigh. On the other hand, it's a good time to post this entry.  This was painless to write. How is it to read?

LISTING

Teresa, over at Knittting the Blues, has been writing some of her blog entries in list form recently. This appeals to the orderly part of my personality, particularly when that part seems to be submerged, and my mind feels like chaos rules.

The downside of retirement is that my to-do list is often very short….even non-existent occasionally. (Although writing a blog post is really a permanent item on my to-do list, so I suppose it’s never really non-existent. Sigh.) When I find myself with a day that is not scheduled for anything (work at Rae’s, hang out at TB, take care of Abby, meet a friend for lunch, etc.), that lack of an imperative list can leave me pretty unstructured.

What should I do with my day?  That’s what I ponder about when I go to sleep the night before a totally open day.  The possibilities seem endless, and I mentally list half a dozen candidates for my time.
1.    Start a sewing project.
2.    Work on a scrapbook.
3.    Finish my novel that I started 20 years ago.
4.    Go for a long walk and then do 20 minutes of hooping.
5.    Clean out the file cabinets that I haven’t touched since I retired.
6.    Send email to a dozen people with whom I way behind in correspondence.

See how easy that was! The reason it’s easy is because it’s the same half dozen items I’ve been intending to do for the last 3 years!!

Do we see a pattern here? Lately I’ve been seeing patterns everywhere. Sometimes I think my infatuation with all my knitting patterns is simply an excellent way to avoid looking at the less constructive patterns of my life.

Hmm. Yes. That rings true. Knitting allows me to feel constructive and virtuous and productive, while giving me an excuse to avoid things I must not really want to do.

Works for me.

Just because.

ROLL OVER

There were ten in the bed
And the little one said
Roll over, roll over.
So they all rolled over
And one fell out
There were nine in the bed…..

Remember that little ditty? Now extrapolate to my knitting situation:

There were five on the needles
And the new one said
Move over, move over,
So they all moved over
And none fell out
There were six on the needles…..

Yes, I have started another sweater. Yes. I. Have. In addition to
•    Noro Silk Garden Tilt
•    Stitch Diva Swing cardi in Silky Wool
•    Malabrigo Jade Empire
•    Faith Jacket in a bunch of stuff
•    Heartbeat Sweater in Noro Matsuri

I now have the beginnings of the 15 Easy Pieces Kimono Jacket from Design Source, using Manos. This is really the 15 Easy Ways to Put Off Finishing My Other Five Sweaters That Are Still On the Needles Sweater. I am taking a class at Threadbear to help me stay on track with this sweater and finish it in a timely fashion. Frankly, the knitting is fast….aran weight yarn on size 7 needles is such a piece of cake. But the seaming on this sweater…..yikes. Fortunately, Rob has paced us to seam as we go along, so it isn’t all waiting for the end.

But progress continues with a number of projects. Here’s the current status:

•    Making good progress on the entrelac baby blanket. Past the halfway point. In my experience, the second half of a project almost always goes faster than the first half. Sort of like Life.

•    Making good progress on the Heartbeat Sweater, although I had hoped to be done by now. I’m not halfway yet…maybe that’s why it’s still taking so long.

•    I finished the third panel of the Tunisian Crochet afghan, but I haven’t sewn it together yet.

•    I repaired two pairs of socks at a Darn That Sock class that I took from LynnH recently. I have three more pairs waiting in the queue to be repaired.

Now if I can just avoid falling out of bed….

HOOP TRICKS

I spent this past weekend at my favorite dance camp, and I came home with a new pastime to help me whittle away at the waistline.

The big one is for me, and the little one is for Abby. I figure she’ll want to imitate me when she sees me hooping like a crazy person. I hooped like crazy when I was a kid. (We called them hula hoops back then, but now they’ve grown up and become a fitness craze, so it’s just called hooping.) I tried the hoops at Curves a while back, and it was depressing that I couldn’t do it at all anymore. But this weekend I participated in a workshop called Hoopercize, and Karen, the instructor, said just the right words, and I was hooping right along. It helps too that the hoops Karen manufactures are soft and lightweight. Perfect for me.

Of course, an hour spent in vigorous abdominal exercise, after a winter spent in vigorous couch time, resulted in several days of deeply buried muscles protesting that kind of playtime. But today I put on some music and hooped my way through a few songs.

Exercise that’s fun….I need this.

Too bad all the exercise our fingers get while we knit doesn’t seem to help the waistline. I’ve been busy with several projects. I put aside the Heartbeat Sweater temporarily in order to finally clear out a longtime project…..

I spent an afternoon sorting through the clutter of baskets and bags in order to A) neaten the pile and B) make decisions. I had pretty much decided to simply abandon this Tunisian Crochet Afghan that was more than half-done. But while I was frogging the partially-knit fourth panel, I had an epiphany! (Don’t you all just love those epiphanies!!) If I did all the lovely worms for the third panel, I would have a usable afghan. Smaller than originally intended, but still big enough to be useful. Still not the colors I had really wanted, but a striking work nonetheless. And plenty of yarn left over to become an adorable baby sweater or two. I was so excited about this prospect that I started the trim immediately. That was last week. Projected finish time is the end of this week. Here's a closeup of the worms...

Abby’s Entrelac Blanket is shaping up as a beautiful piece too. I am planning to line the blanket with Beatrix Potter fabric, as soon as I find some.

Now I need to run along to the guild meeting. But first….a little hoop time before I go. (It’s too bad I’m not living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Then I could be a Yooper hooper. I guess I’ll have to settle for just being a super hooper. Or a super-duper hooper. If I were a police officer, I could be a super-duper hooper trooper. Oh someone stop me, please!)

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

FINISHED OBJECTS

I showed you the Rainbow Jacket in the last post, but here it is again REALLY finished. And to prove that it REALLY fits, it’s on me. I give you the frontal view…

And the rearal view…

Done!

Details: Vivian Hoxbro Rainbow Jacket Kit
                Size 2 needles
                Infinite patience

More Finished Objects! The secret surprise birthday present for someone whose name I can’t mention for fear she will find out early that these are for her.

Done!

Details:
Pattern: Ridged Feather from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Regia Kaffe Fasset (oops…I don’t have the colorway number, but if it were crucial for some reason, I could get it)
Needle size: 1 (zero on the heels)

STARTED OBJECTS
Two major projects completed…you know I’ve started more. Let’s take stock.

1.    Heartbeat Sweater from Just One More Row. I’m using the new Noro Matsuri (color  03) which is a cotton/wool blend. So far, I’m liking what I’m getting.

2.    Continuing with the Sally Melville Faith Jacket. This has been an ongoing project whenever I need truly mindless knitting. Details later when there is something worth detailing.

3.    Cast on and completed the base triangle row for an entrelac baby blanket. Details later when there is something worth detailing. Getting repetitious around here.

Anything else? Not yet….but I have my eye on several possibilities. We all know how crazy a knitter gets when she/he thinks there's room for another project or two.

CHANGE OF PACE
LynnH has been posting about the need to create spring into existence. She particularly captured me with a picture of the contents of her dishwasher, where the pretty colors of her dirty dishes gladdened her heart. She remarked that she is cooking spring into existence.

That post was just the push I needed to run right out and get multiple colors of Fiesta Ware that I’ve been obsessing about for many months. Looking at the contents of my cupboard, I am obviously eating spring into existence.

Looking at the photo, I am feeling transported back to Mexico! Traveling spring into existence...another good idea.