purlsandmurmers

Tiny Steps

When I was quite young, definitely under the age of 10, I remember my mother chastising me for starting more projects than I could reasonably finish and exhorting me, for once at least, to stick to something long enough to get it finished.   Obviously, 40 some-odd years later, this is a lesson I have yet to learn.  There remain piles of projects yet unfinished and ideas teaming around in my brain all just waiting for the opportunity to give birth to the next project.

Although I refuse to make lists of promises at the beginning of each new year, I remain determined to whittle down the project pile, and they are not all fiber-related projects. And actually, I feel like I have a good grip on the situation.  But still I am torn.  It is not that discipline is completely foreign, but that there is no pressure from outside forcing me to stick to some strict regime of one-project-at-a-time. And the biggest hurdle, for me at least, is actual mindfulness, at least where my projects are concerned.  The idea that I should have a plan, and approach my projects in some kind of orderly and informed fashion, rather than just dropping everything and running breathless after each pretty idea that flits through my brain, remains a struggle. My thoughts get ahead of my hands, and truthfully even my words, or my ability to express my ideas.  More times than I care to think about this year, I am working on one thing while my brain has moved on by leaps and bounds and I have no idea what I am working on, or even, awkwardly, what I am speaking of or writing about, and the ideas become all jumbled into some incoherent tangle which wasn't at all my original intention.  I become a fool,  an exuberant enthusiastic fool, but still a fool:  this is not the desired goal.

And so perhaps the best course remains to take baby steps and work slowly, finishing small things, and working in manageable bits. 

I have not progressed on to the cutting or sewing stage of my gray and yellow tee project. 

I am nearly done with a pair of socks to wear with my heavy work boots, a project that was supposed to have been started and finished last fall.  Had I not seen fit to rip a half-done sock and start over due to a silly mistake, these might be done.  But mindfulness seems to be an ongoing problem.  I have been out tramping in the garden and the woods several times this year already so the call of the mud and grass and trees is strong. A pair of thick cushy socks that actually fill in the gaps in my boots becomes an increasingly urgent need.

At least I have made a small dent in the stash, a little appetizer before the bigger projects that must come. 

Different fiber, Different look

I finished the second shrug, and it is perfect.  It seems apparent that there is much to learn in terms of the properties of various fibers, the effects spinning and structure has on the yarn, and how to compare and substitute fibers.

This is exactly the same as the striped shrug in terms of critical measurements.  The gauge is identical, the same pattern was used and the finished objects share the exact same dimensions.

Looking at the photo however, one can see that the alpaca shrug, shown here,  has a much softer hand, it hangs rather than curls and it drapes differently around the body.  I think this is perhaps more flattering, although careful examination of the photos indicates that the differences are slight.

This sweater drapes over the body whereas the striped wool shrug hugs the curves.

Had I perhaps been a little more astute in my observations, I might have discerned the difference the yarn would make.  If you go back to the previous post and look at the two pattern photos, you notice that the striped sweater is appears much closer to the body than red one.  Yet, as I mentioned earlier, the patterns almost the same and have the same dimensions.  The difference must be more in the fiber than in the pattern itself, as the differences in directions would not account for the difference in fit, and I do not believe that this can be described entirely in terms of potential size differences with different models.

Although I am happy that this shrug lived up to my memories and expectations, especially following the initial disappointment with the first shrug, I find I am most intrigued by the difference fiber choice made in the outcome.

I know that fiber makes a difference.  I am well aware of the differences between say silk, and wool and cotton.  But in the past I have tended towards indifference concerning any perceived difference between wool, cashmere, and alpaca for example.  Obviously this attitude is incorrect.  Just as sewing a dress with the same pattern in very different fabrics can give widely differing results, and different issues with fit as well, I can see that these same issues apply to knitting.  I suppose I have always known this intellectually, but have not always made use of this knowledge in any practical away.

In the past knitting is something I did mostly to have something to do with my hands, for relaxation, for sanity, and for the love of knitting.  But I did not really think about what I was making in terms of how I would wear it and how it would work in my wardrobe.  I just knitted something because I needed to knit something, or I wanted to try a pattern or technique.

I want to change all that.  I do want to incorporate my knitting more into my wardrobe, even though a knitted project takes longer than a sewn project (well perhaps except for the truly special garments).  I also need to pay  far more attention to how I actually want to wear my knits and how the choices I make affect the wearability of the finished garment.

Oh dear, that sounds like so much work. 

Quick, give me something mindless to knit.

Snowed in with a warm new shrug

I love how absolutely quiet the world grows when it is snowing.  Even though I live in town, my driveway is rather long and you cannot see the street from my house.  And although I have neighbors within sight on all 4 sides, they are really only in view during the winter months and then if I go search them out; my position, half-way down a series of small ledges makes for a certain semblance of privacy. 

When it is snowing it seems quite isolated.  I have no idea what is going on in the world beyond the white blur outside my windows.   The FedEx delivery person walked down my driveway to deliver a package this afternoon and said the town had finally plowed the street just ahead of him.  He also told me there had been a major accident near the construction site on the main highway just outside my house and the highway had been closed for several hours.  I never knew.  That explains why no one came to plow until we had over 8 inches on the ground, no one could get to me.  I suppose it is a good thing I didn't have to go anywhere.

So instead I did a little Christmas baking and puttered about the house, and did a little knitting as well.  I also took a nap because I have a vicious cold, and there is nothing quite like a snowy day and a cold to make one want to curl up and hibernate.

It was  also a perfect day to wear my cozy new shrug that I knitted over Thanksgiving.  If you have been reading my other blog, PurlsandMurmurs  you might know that I had finished it, and I promised a picture of me wearing it but I hadn't gotten to it yet.

In fact, I wasn't thrilled when I finished it, It clung to the body too much, and seemed to bunch up around my neck.  So in a fit of frustration I threw it in a corner, and then moved other things on top of it because I had to clean out the bedroom to put in a floor.  By the time I found it again it had been shoved and pulled and stretched and it looked quite relaxed and cozy.  In fact I am quite fond of it now. 

Ignore the spots on my tee.  I did not spill my lunch on my tummy.  I had just leaned over the wet railing to stare down at the neighbor below .  Silly me.  This picture was taken yesterday, when it was nice and occasionally sunny, and didn't look at all like we were about to get a foot of snow.

I shall reiterate the details here since I am going to be combining blogs and in the future will just use this blog for all my creative endeavors.  There will probably be a few bits and changes around here as I find my way through incorporating new bits, but don't worry there will actually be sewing as well.

This shrug was inspired by this pattern from Tahki-Stacy Charles :

I looked for the yarn, Shannon, at my LYS but they did not have it.  As I was wandering around avoiding my knitting one evening, I saw the Nashua Vignette that I ultimately ended up using. 

When I looked at the pattern Theresa pointed out that it was very similar to a pattern written for Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande, and that the shaping was a little nicer in the Plymouth pattern.  Since I wasn't using either yarn, I decided to go for the Plymouth pattern.

This is the photo of the Plymouth Shrug:

When I looked at the patterns they are not that different, and are actually about the same size (although you wouldn't know that from the photos) but the shaping for the armhole opening is different.

In retrospect I suspect the Tahki pattern might fit better around the arms.

I am knitting it again, this time in the recommended Baby Alpaca Grande.  This is not the recommended sequence of events.  I probably should have knit the alpaca shrug first, then modified the pattern for the wool.  But then I have always had a strong tendency to go at things backwards and upside down.

1 shrug done, one in process

I did over pack for Knoxville in terms of knitting projects at least.  I did most of the driving down, which left little time for knitting, and I drove more than half the way back as well. I didn't anticipate a lot of knitting time while I was actually there.

Still, I got that multicolored shrug finished.  It was only a partial success.

Oh, it is lovely enough, and it looks just the way I imagined, at least when it is flat on the table.  But it isn't what I imagined on me.

I used this pattern:

Which uses Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande.  I did try the sample on at my LYS and liked it so I wasn't going in completely blind.  And truthfully my finished shrug looks a lot like the photo on the pattern, but not exactly.    The Nashua Vignette is wool and is a knitted tape and it has much more spring to it than the brushed alpaca yarn called for in the pattern.  So my vest, although knitted to the same gauge, holds its shape much better and clings much more to the body.  The overall impression is that it is thicker and bouncier and springier, giving it an entirely different drape on the body....not the look I was going for.

I should have known better.  I am vaguely aware of the differences in fibers and how they work, although I am now thinking that perhaps I should get myself a copy of that new book:
The Knitter's Book of Yarn.

Although the finished garment doesn't look bad on, I am still on the fence.  It doesn't go with the outfit I planned to wear it with, but I have another outfit in mind, once I make the dress that is. 

In the meantime I am knitting another version, this time in the recommended yarn, so I will wait until I see version #2 before making a final decision. It shouldn't be much longer:

Ready to roll

We are off to Knoxville early tomorrow and will be gone around 10 days.  I have managed to pack a few travel projects.  I had hoped to take the Vancouver sweater as well but it doesn't look like that one is going along.  It is getting late.  I don't have that together and we are leaving early tomorrow.  I probably have too much knitting as it is.

Generally, the projects I am taking are simple.  With a 900 mile drive each way I would normally get lots of knitting done.    DH has always felt it is his duty to drive and mine to sit and knit and I can't say that I have objected all that much, although I generally do enjoy driving.  Last trip I drove almost half the trip, probably for the first time in our 21 years of marriage.  This time he has already told me that he doesn't feel up to driving much, so it looks like I will be driving more. 

But I had already pulled out the yarn and packed it up.  So I may or may not be knitting.  Either way, I won't be blogging as I am not taking the computer this trip.  I haven't gotten as far along as I would have hoped with taking pictures and getting things together on Ravelry either, so I have little to show you.

My first project is a ribbed shrug using this yarn:

It is a quick project on size US 10 needles and I am already about 1/3 of the way through it.