Ween-dy!

I wish I could remember which child in my life used to gasp and say, "Ween-dy!" whenever s/he encountered a stiff breeze, like I did today. Oh, well, I am old and can't remember those sweet moments as well as I used to. If either of my sisters (who lurk here) remembers, will they kindly tell me?

The wind signals a change in the weather, but my brain already knows all about it. I have been wild-headed today, scattered and jangly. Dissatisfaction with whatever I do sets in almost as soon as I begin doing it, and so I haven't finished doing anything at all. Somehow, though, this isn't the worst state I could be in, so I've accepted it. Used it, even.

A short attention span is still long enough to wind some yarn into balls, order a new sock pattern, make a sandwich, and chat on the phone. It's long enough to decide that I must have some different furniture if I'm to stand living in this tiny apartment for much longer. Not major furniture, just something to hold the television and stereo that takes up less space. And my mother's Swedish gateleg table instead of that ugly Ikea desk.

Short, scattered attention is also just the right thing to have when discovering that yes, indeed, my yarn is not immune to moths. What on earth made me think that I can live a charmed, mothless life? Haven't I had wool in my life for nearly thirty years? And moth infestations so massive that wholesale purging was the only solution? Just because that basket of yarn held sweet, pretty sock yarn, did I think it was moth-proof?

If it hadn't been for my current state of mind, I might have cried. Instead, I made a quick and dirty assessment of the situation and moved on. All in all, I lost just four skeins (I'd rather not knit socks from a ball that has eight knots, thank you). It could have been much worse. So, now I have to add "Be Vigilant" to my list of Things To Do, don't I?

Here's my Garter Rib scarf, all finished and christened by the wind at the bay. It's very warm, and I like that it feels like a sturdy scarf, one that I can throw on, wrap twice, and laugh at the weend.

Getting the word out

It's time for the Second Annual Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading...

WHEN: Any time February 2, 2007
WHERE: Your blog
WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day
HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd

That's all there is to it!

I learned about last year's reading in the usual blogger round-about way, and I posted my favorite poem by W. S. Merwin. In that same round-about way I found Grace's Poppies, where it all began, and I have been a fan and blog-friend of Reya's ever since. We haven't (yet) met, but we're sisters, all the same.

So go to your bookshelves, or to your bedside table, and find a poem to share on Friday. Spread the word, tell your friends, and enjoy.

Floating on a river of yarn

My Shifting Sand:

I was a little surprised when I finished this scarf. Had I really knit for 64 inches? Was that the end of the second skein of yarn? I enjoyed every inch and every single one of the approximately 2,448 cable crosses (yes, I calculated). I could have gone on floating. What's next?

Pattern: Shifting Sands Scarf by Grumperina
(I still think I should call mine "Midnight Water")
Yarn: Two 225-yard skeins Sundara Yarns Sport Merino in "Navy Over Marine"
Needles: 4mm/US 6
Finished Size: About 64" long and 7" wide
Modifications: My scarf seemed a little stiff, so I went up one needle size and eliminated one pattern repeat (5 stitches).

My Blurry Hand:

I finished these mitts in two evenings of knitting. I love them. L. O. V. E. them. I ended up "designing" my own by cobbling together my favorite parts of the free patterns I found, because my yarn was just too heavy to do justice to the lovely Knitspot patterns. I have plans for them already.

I used Garter Rib, one of my favorite stitches from Sensational Knitted Socks. It's got texture, it's got a little ribby stretch, and it shows off my yarn. The mitts have 2X2 rib cuffs and a vertical slit for the thumb (Look Ma, no gusset!). At first I thought I'd made the wrist part too long, but now that I've worn them I like how it scrunches comfortably. And they're so warm! It's true (at least for me) that if your wrists and hands are warm that your fingers warm up, too.

Pattern: Fingerless Mitts, ingredients thrown together and stirred till they tasted right
Yarn: My own handspun, 2-ply DK-ish weight yarn from Grafton Fibers Corriedale batts
Needles: 3.25mm/US 3 and 3.5mm/US 4 birch DPN's
Finished Size: About 7" in diameter and 8.75" from cuff to tip

My frivolous plan:

As I was knitting along on the mitts I hatched a plan for a little scarf to match them. I wanted to use the same Garter Rib stitch, but I also wanted to frill it up a little bit. I figured out how to knit little ruffles at the beginning by casting on as if I was going to knit a 6X2 rib. Then I ssk-ed and k2tog-ed in the right spot on every other row until I was back to the 2X2 count for the pattern. I'll be able to work the ruffles in reverse at the other end, too. I think this little scarf has just the right amount of cute.

I'm not too happy with the way the edges are sitting (or curling, rather) so I've given the end a little test-block to see if it will lay flat (it's damp in the photograph). If it won't, I have no qualms about ripping it out and starting over.

All this knitting activity seems to help take the dull ache out of my hands. We are doing so much book-moving at the store that I come home each night feeling like my hands belong to someone else. I'm very careful to lift no more than I can carry, and to use both hands whenever possible, but there's just something that happens when you shelve and re-shelve books for hours at a time. Why does knitting help? I don't care; I'm just glad that it does!

Processing nicely

I made yarn! I spent a lovely, rainy, foggy Monday vacation day spinning the Corriedale batt I purchased from Grafton Fibers at Rhinebeck. This was such a pleasure to spin! I'd forgotten how soft Corriedale can be, and how lofty it is. The skein is 392 yards of a two-ply yarn that looks like it's about DK or even sport weight (Wraps per inch? Eh.). It is asking to become mitts or mittens, and a little scarf. I have a couple of ounces of fiber left to spin, but all I know is that I have been pacing the floor while this yarn dries so I can wind it and start knitting.

Luckily, I read Margene's post yesterday about her latest mitts adventures, and I ordered two patterns from Anne at Knitspot -- Fine Cabled Mitts and Delicato Mitts. I'm sure I can adjust either of the patterns to work with my yarn. Who knows what will become of my own adventure?

I'm enjoying all the knitting I have going on. I knit a little each evening on the Shifting Sands/Midnight Waters (?) scarf. Here's what I have so far, which is about 30 inches. I'm so convinced that no photograph will do this yarn justice that I'll be surprised if it actually does!

I've been working on a red scarf and the second Lenten Rose sock, too. I guess this means that at the moment I'm a process knitter, doesn't it? I have plenty of time for all my projects, and I like this feeling of opening up the box of chocolates and choosing whatever strikes my fancy.

There's a lot of reorganizing and shifting (and book-hauling) going on at work, so I've been coming home late and weary. Not that brain-dead summer or holiday weary, though, so I still have energy for knitting in the evening.

In old news:

:: The Saga of the Crock-Pot: Found at last. A Rival 3-quart round crock-pot, decorated with a dumb little fruit and veggie border, but that fits my needs just perfectly. Now that I have it, I have to use it, don't I? So far I've made chicken with salsa. Whoop-de-do.

:: The Saga of My Jaw: Resolved, even though the answer is to have a wisdom tooth pulled. I'm one of the lucky few whose wisdom teeth have never caused any trouble, until now. Luckily it's not an urgency, and the dentist did a quick fix. Now I can wear my clench-preventing night guard again, and I feel almost all better!

We have Real Winter here -- it's not going to reach 32F, I don't think. I know, I asked for it. I have my usual Wednesday errands to do, and after that, you'll find me curled up with some Corriedale yarn and a cup of tea!

Domesticity

Wind! Snow flurries! See? We got some winter at last.

I spent the middle part of my day off on the road, going from Target to Michael's to Linens 'n Things, and finally to Sag Harbor and home. Home is best. New pillows, paper towels, laundry detergent, mail... I never found the 2.5-Quart Slow Cooker of my Dreams, though. That's my newest quest.

I want to cook things, but I don't want to have to come home and do a lot of cooking. With encouragement from T at work, I bought Beth Hensperger's Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two (Drat! The Harvard Common Press website is under construction, and I can't bring myself to link to A****n, so no link!). The recipes look delicious, many of them are simple, and the whole book is filled with practical information. It's been a long time since I got creative in my kitchen, and this year, I'm aiming for more homemade. I'll start once I get the Machine of My Dreams. There's a store in town that might carry the one I want, so I'll stop there tomorrow. I know it exists, at least!


Meanwhile, the Red Scarf I made on Sunday is blocking, and I started another one last night. It's a simple bias scarf, in Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed with a stripe of Other Red Yarn every once in a while. Television knitting. I think I'll manage to get these two done and mailed in plenty of time.

I'm still poking along on my other projects, and thinking about the direction I'd like my knitting to take this year. I have no big plans, or major projects in mind. I might let the yarn speak. I do have an itch to make a pair or two of mosaic socks from the patterns in Sensational Knitted Socks. Kathy posted the very same idea the other day -- maybe we should do a two-knitter knit-along. Hmmm... Other knitting-wise, I am content to follow nobody, listen to the needles, and enjoy myself completely. I'd like to avoid too many deadlines this year, so that when one does approach it will be just one. I suppose I've just made another resolution!

Knitters' delight

It rained hard all last night, and it kept raining for most of the day today. But at sunset, the wind began to blow and the sky began to clear. It's getting colder at last, even if for just a few days.

Bundle up, knitters!

Sunday with yarn and cat

So much for Sunday. It was a good day, while it lasted. Annie enjoyed the sun coming in through the door this morning (I have a new storm/screen door, thanks to D the Amazing Landlord), and I finally got around to cleaning the New Year's Day sand off my shoes. So what if it took me a week? Annabelle would like to make sure you know that this is not her best angle, and that had she known a picture was being taken, she would have insisted on a re-shoot.

I've had that old pain in the jaw again, and the dentist can't see me and my maladjusted night guard until Thursday. I'm stuck doing the best I can, which involves compresses and ibuprofen and even some of that PM stuff, which just makes me groggy for half the next day even though it helps at night. This is as annoying as it is painful, but at least I know what's wrong and what to do about it.

I would say that today's day off was spent recovering, but really, I spent it puttering and knitting and fixing the blog (watercolor on the header -- hooray!). I went out to get groceries because the refrigerator looked like nobody lives here, but that's it. I need days like these. Doesn't everyone?


Here's some of what I knitted today. I was in danger of becoming a complete Red Scarf Failure. I was about to let Norma down. How could it be January 7th already, and time to mail the scarves? What was I going to do? I'd frogged my first one, which was a failure because it wasn't nearly long enough, but I hadn't decided what to do about it.

So I pulled together the original yarn and two more from my stash. I cast on what I thought would be about 60 inches of a garter stitch scarf at the start of a three-episode marathon of "Foyle's War," a Masterpiece Theater thing I TiVoed for just this sort of situation. Now, at the end of the second episode, I have a 4.5 inch wide scarf. Give me another hour and I'll be finished. Another half hour after that, and I'll have it fringed and everything. There. Failure avoided.


I've also been making progress on my two Sundara yarn projects. The sock is still just one, but it's almost done. I want to knit more socks with yarn that is not so multicolored. The pattern and the yarn get to show off. I like vibrant handpainted yarns, but this quiet Lenten Rose color has my full attention at the moment.

The blue scarf is so easy to pick up and work on for a few rows, and I like the rhythm that develops as I knit the two cable rows. The yarn, of course, is the real pleasure. It slips through my fingers with a soft whisper, and the colors shift so subtly that I keep stopping to watch them play across the angles made by the cables.

Oh, I think I'll get back to Foyle and the red scarf now. I want to see how they both turn out!

Frogging is good

It's only January 3rd, and I'm already frogging everything in sight! My Lenten Rose sock was so boring. It plagued me all day yesterday while I was at work. The minute I got home I ripped it out and began a new, improved one, even though I was almost to the toe decreases. Sensational Knitted Socks came to the rescue again -- this is a five-stitch pattern, Yarn Over Cable. It's fun to knit, and easy to remember. I like the way the yarn's subtle shading works with the stitch's texture.

I'm very pleased with myself for ripping it out right away, rather than going through all the stages of hand-wringing and tossing the offending knit into a corner for days/weeks/months before the final admission of dislike and defeat. It felt so good that I did the same thing to the beginning of the blue scarf. It was knitting up into a fabric I wasn't fond of, even though I was getting gauge. Too dense for me, so I went up a needle size and I'm happier now, even after just a couple of inches.

If I have a knitting resolution for 2007, maybe it's that I will learn to act on my instincts more than just sometimes. I know when a fabric isn't working, or when a stitch isn't just right, yet sometimes I leave things as they are, hoping for a miracle. The other day I re-skeined two sock projects, last night this latest one, and this morning it was the scarf. It felt right. I have a few more stale projects here somewhere. Once I reclaim their yarn, I'll have a nearly-clean knitting slate, a good start to the year, and some really gorgeous yarn.

Happy New Year!

Well, I did say I was going to go to the ocean, didn't I? I lasted about five minutes, but I accomplished my goals. I took a long, deep breath of the windy, salty air. I congratulated myself on a year well done. I welcomed the new year, so full of possibilities. I also got very wet, because in those five minutes the wind strengthened off the water, and both rain and ocean blew my way.

I've stayed warm and comfy for the rest of the day, and lots of New Year's knitting has taken place. I began a Shifting Sands Scarf in this beautiful deep blue on blue merino from Sundara Yarn (more info was in Saturday's post). I tried to take decent pictures yesterday, when the light was good, but the variations in this yarn are so subtle that I think I failed. Please take my word for how wonderful it is. Grumperina's pattern is well-written and easy to remember. I might have to call my scarf something else, though, because it looks more like water than sand!

The other new project is a pair of socks in another Sundara Yarn. This is the latest Petals Collection shipment, Lenten Rose. It's another subtle and lovely colorway, and I'm really enjoying the knitting. I cobbled together a pattern -- the lace ribbed cuff continues in a narrow panel down the back of the stockinette sock, to the bottom of the heel. I'm just past turning the heel on the first sock, so it's zipping along. I'll post pictures when I'm finished, or when there's some decent light.

While knitting and enjoying the day, I've been watching the A&E Pride and Prejudice, which I treated myself to a couple of weeks ago. It's the perfect knitting movie, nice and long and entertaining. It helps, too, that it's so familiar. I can listen just as well as watch.

My hat's off to Bess, who has successfully -- triumphantly, even -- completed her "Year of No New Yarn, Fleece, or Fiber." She's written a wonderful blog post about her experience, which is an absolute delight to read, especially if you know the sound of her voice. Everyone who is participating in any sort of stash diet can learn something from it.

My own stash has grown in the past year, but not out of proportion. Most of it is useful, and I made all my Christmas scarves and the bag for my mother with it. I have a nice, cushiony sock yarn stash, in case of an emergency. It's enough, and it didn't come from yarn shopping binges. It's all, or mostly all, yarn that I love and want and that is a source of creative inspiration. Sure, I know we all say that, but I mean it. My fiber purchases tend to be specific, or because I find something that is just meant to be mine. I can't think of a single time that I've felt guilty about a yarn or fiber purchase. I'm stingy enough with myself already! Anyway, Bess has inspired this consideration of my stash, and the idea that I might like to honor it a little more, and I thank her.