purlsandmurmers

Mad Rush at the End of the Month

I have been working on Posh since Sunday, well, mostly Sunday and Tuesday, when I made great progress on the last sleeve:

Posh was great car knitting as we were meeting friends for dinner after our weekly concert in Pittsfield and I knew we would be driving home in the dark.  Neither Tesla or the sock are suitable for nighttime car trips as I can't feel the stitches adequately without looking. 

I have suddenly gotten in a mad rush as I realize that I have finished no knitting projects this month and it is so close to the end.  I will finish the sleeve today and get the sweater assembled.  I hope to get started on the front edges, if not finished.  I. Must. Finish. Something. 

It's not just knitting.  I have done half the sewing I planned for this month and have been slow at gardening progress as well.  Everything seems to take longer than I planned, especially the yard work and construction, but then I suppose that is always the case.  I am basically lazy.  If I didn't set lots of goals for myself I would probably get nothing done.

It's that old "protestant ethic" work-driven upbringing coming back to bite me.

Progress on Posh

Well, she finally got put together.  The fit is wonderful.  Now I only have to start the last sleeve.

Call Me Conservative

As you might have surmised I have been having niggling little doubts about Tesla although I haven’t come right out and said so; the evidence is present in my constant natter about the fabric and how it looks, feels, etc.

The background is such: I fell in love with Tesla at ArtFibers partly because it looked neat on the skein and I loved the IDEA of it, stainless steel with cotton nubs.  I also loved the look of the knitted swatch even though I did think the gauge was a little loose in the store as well.  I was attracted to the flexible, open, but still chain-mail meets hippy fiberness of it and it was precisely this juxtaposition that really caught my fancy.

However, when I got it home and knitted the swatch I found that I couldn’t really with live with knitting that fiber at that gauge.  It was too loosey goosey for me, too floppy.  I hated knitting it and I didn’t have much faith that I would enjoy wearing it.  Remember I am the kind of person that snags everything, Clutzina herself, a walking mess.  If a fabric can be caught, pulled, or snagged I will do it.  Hence, I tend to like my knitting on the tight and firm side.  Oh, not so tight as to be stiff, I like drape, but I go for more of a structured drape than a lose, flowy, laid-back kind of look.

That doesn’t mean I am not attracted to the more shiny, brilliant and unusual offerings out there – I did after grow up in surrounded by a family of outgoing, smart, witty, brilliant people, a group in which I am the shy, dull button. I can’t, at this point in my life, make any pretense that I am suddenly going to become clever, cool, or hip.   That doesn’t keep me from liking to be around the bright lights, just not in them.

So back to Tesla.  Claudia commented that the fabric is nice but different, key word different, at the smaller gauge.   Now, if you look at Claudia's Tesla you will see the wonderful open steely nature of this yarn as it is meant to be.  My Tesla is not like that, it is denser.  In Claudia's sweater the stainless steel is the star and in mine it is more the supporting player.  Still important but not the dominant characteristic.  Still, I like the fabric, I will wear the sweater, but I still have those niggling doubts.  It is different, I know it is different.  My doubts weren’t brought about by the comment, but my own uneasiness, my own doubts that were simmering silently under the surface.  I have done this before, subverted a yarn’s basic nature into something else, bending it to my will, sometimes quite successfully, other times with less than stellar results.

I still wonder. But then I look at the original gauge swatch (I tend to save all those little things) and play with it a little then throw it back in the pile and shudder, it really does not affect me in a nice way.    If I have extra yarn I might make a scarf at a looser gauge, I might be able to handle that without strangling myself when I get something snagged running through the subway. 

I wonder if I have subverted the nature of Tesla, taken a wild funky girl and chained her to a boring desk job, or have I just provided a structure in which she can shine?.  Only time will tell.

Another Relaxing Weekend with Little to Show

As usual, my mental image of what I could accomplish in a weekend and the actual output did not even begin to compare.  I always seem to start out with great plans, as if I have some kind of unrealistic expectations of what I can do in a given period of time.  I wanted to get Posh sewn and basted together, check the fit on the first sleeve, and hopefully start the last sleeve.  Of course I wanted to work on Tesla as well and do a little sewing.    Posh is still neatly folded next to my knitting chair, waiting to be assembled.  I cut a garment out to be sewed, and otherwise zippo, nada, nothing, zilch on the creative front.

Of course other things were going on:  I spent time with my honey, and I suppose that is the primary purpose of the weekend anyway, we certainly don't usually get to see a lot of each other during the work week.  I did get about half the irises transferred from their temporary holding bed in the vegetable garden to the new front flower bed (iris bed).  The poppies and daffodil bulbs arrived on Friday evening so I also managed to get them planted in the same flower bed.  I am waiting for lilies, tulips, and rock-garden iris for the shallow area along the ledge on one side.  I usually order my tulip bulbs from a nursery rather than buying them locally because I seem to get significantly bigger flowers.  I am a glutton for big beautiful tulips and I love to put them in bowls to overflowing and bring them in the house every spring.  I buy my tulips based on what color combinations I want in the bowls and vases and how long I can extend the cut tulip season.

The bulbs weren't all planted until Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon was already slated for another trip to Pittsfileld, as are the next two Sundays as well, for our annual September chamber music series.  This time I drove up and the sweetie drove back so I only got in half the knitting time, but it was a beautiful day for a drive, there is a good bit more red in the trees, especially as we get closer to the Berkshires.  The arthritis in my hands, especially the right, has been acting up lately, and as it is primarily in my fingers at the moment, knitting has been slow.  It doesn’t stop me, just slows me down a little, especially manipulating the needle around the little wire loops of Tesla.  Still, the arthritis is still more of an intermittent thing than it is a constant annoyance, I know it is there, but I shall continue to ignore it for a little while longer at least.

Tesla is coming along beautifully, if slowly.  I had initially worried that I would loose the stainless steel effect at the smaller gauge I am using but it is turning out quite nicely.  You see the wire and the cotton slubs and the fabric has a nice texture and drape and a nice firm, almost scrunchy yet still soft, hand with some body.  It is not as stretchy as some knits so I will have to double check the fit as I go along, which reminds me that I should do that soon, perhaps at the end of the next skein.  I am about three-quarters through the third skein and I have about 4 inches of the body done, so I am definitely glad that I ordered the extra yarn.  We have yet to see whose calculations are correct, mine, or Artfibers when I called them up and the recalculated the yardage at my gauge.   There is about a 5 skein difference in the two calculations so I think I will find this very interesting.

And wonder of wonders, I learned today that there is indeed pink or purple in the yarn.  The trusty old Ott Light was right (see previous photo).  When I had the yarn out in sunlight today I could see the pink, it is more subtle than in the photo in my sewing room at night under lights, but it is there, and it intensifies if placed next to anything in the pink-purple range.  This is really cool.  I think I like metallic gray with subtle pink tones even more than plain gray.

Hanging out at the bead store

I went up to Red Hook to Bead@Spring today to look for beads for Charm.  I started to get beads for this sweater shortly after I purchased the Rowan 4 cotton glace, but then got bogged down and shoved it aside.  My first foray into bead shopping was at BeadsONFifth when I was in NYC with Mary in early July.  Although it was a nice bead shop, I had trouble finding anything I wanted for this sweater and I spent a long time.  I finally came up with some tiny delica seed beads in two colors and some large dusky amethyst colored beads, which might be a lttle large, but which really look nice with the yarn.  Then I was stumped.  The beads were thrown in a corner, along with Charm, where they sat, taunting me, ever since.

Each time I would drive through or by Red Hook I would be reminded that someone told me the bead shop there was really nice, and I would be determined to bring my yarn next time.  Well, you know how it is, next time just never materialized.  This week I was determined to get those beads ready, especially since I intentionally left this sweater out on the stack to be completed soon, rather than retiring it until next spring.

Today I finally managed to get my act together.  I spent about an hour and a half, looking through the beads, counting out beads and generally making a decision.  The original Rowan pattern calls for 4 types of beads (two of which are pearls) and charms.  I couldn't find enough of some of the beads I liked so I am using a greater variety of beads in smaller quantities each.  There will be no charms in my charm.  I haven't found anything that I liked,  nonetheless I am really excited about the possibilities now and think the final result will be quite charming.  (Ain't I just terrible?)

The colors aren't nearly as vibrant in the photo as they are in real life.  Now I am eager to get started, although I know I will curse the day I said that once I get going on this sweater.  Most of the sweater is knit in plain old stockinette and I will rue this decision.

At any rate, I have to finish Posh or Tesla first, and hopefully finish Wine&Roses as well.

And speaking of Tesla, she is progressing again.  I was much more careful getting started this time, knitting on the table where I could see it, and I did the cast-on and first two rows at knitting group where Alexine could very kindly spot me. 

I wonder where that pinkish tint has come from -- it must be a reflection off Wine&Roses which is sitting just outside the photo. 

Begin Again

Tesla on the needles!

It's actually a bit more open and lacy than it appears in this photo.

Aarghh!!!

Notice that I got Tesla twisted on the needles, not once, but twice!  I am knitting in the round, there is no way to untwist this mess.  I can't decide which is worse, that I let this happen, or that it took me so long to notice.

I hadn't done this kind of thing for years, since I was a beginning knitter.  About 12 years ago I tried my first circular-knit sweater and I got it all twisted -- a horror show.  Afterward, I could never figure out how it happened since the difference between the knit and purl side was so obvious, well I guess it wasn't obvious to me then...  I would have said only stupid knitters did things like that.

Wrong!!

Well, as a feeble excuse the sweater is in garter stitch so the inside and outside do look much alike.  I must have gotten it twisted early on, before I could really see what I was doing clearly.  I was knitting on the Taconic and the yarn is kind of tricky until you get the hang of it.  Any excuse will do at this point.

The worst thing is, I noticed the twist on the way home from Pittsfield, soon after we left, with a whole 1 1/2 hours in the car ahead of me.  Did I start to rip?  No.  I dreaded casting on in the car, thin yarns with thick nubbins, DANGER ON CURVES.  I could see myself loosing count and starting over and over.  I could see myself trying to use stitch markers to keep the count and dropping them every time we went over a bump.  The car would be littered with hundreds of little tiny round stitch markers and there would be nary a one for my knitting. No I did not rip.

Did I have another project with me, perhaps the socks?  NO, of course not, it was only an afternoon trip.

What did I do?  I did what any compulsive knitter faced with an hour and a half trapped in a car would do.  I kept knitting, even though I knew I would have to rip it out as soon as I got home.  Better to knit anything than to sit there like a lump, bored to tears, squirming around in the car seat making a nuisance of myself.  You think children chanting "are we there yet" is annoying; you haven't heard an uncomfortable, bored, peevish adult without her knitting.

And so rip I did:

Tabasco thought she would offer advice.

And so I am back at the beginning.  Tomorrow.

Tesla and I have played long enough today.

Driving and Knitting

My darling George practiced a new skill today.  Driving north on the Taconic Parkway he decided to practice steering with his knees.  Embarrassing as it may be to admit to this, I did not at first notice that the car was going a little wonky. I was after all wrapped up in my knitting, and truth be told sometimes the car goes a little wonky when George is driving with his hands, depending on traffic, his attention span and the boredom factor of any particular stretch of road.  This is why knitting is so important on car trips.

Anyway he got pretty good at it despite the curviness of the Taconic.  I remember my dad steering with his knees while lighting a pipe when I was a kid.  Sometimes the lucky child who was in the front seat would get to help steer.  But that was a simpler time and the highways in Texas were much straighter than the ones in New York.

When George attracted my attention and eagerly showed off his newfound skills I was immediately struck by the potential here: If I could learn to drive with my knees, I could both drive and knit at the same time!

After a moment’s euphoria, sense returned.   That said, I think driving will be best practiced with both hands on the wheel.

Fuzzies 1, Knitter 0

I have given in and ordered two more skeins of Posh.  Because I could not get the same dye-lot, I am holding on off on starting the last sleeve.  I don't know if it matters in this yarn as but it will probably be better to alternate the skeins as knitting.

I DID make more progress with unknotting but the problem with this kind of yarn is that it does not take to tugging and pulling well and begins to shred.  This will happen in the sweater as well unless one firmly knots the joins between yarns.  Otherwise the synthetic threads start to unravel, leaving little fuzzies throughout your sweater.  The yarn I have unknotted looks rather worn and frazzled in places.  Although I often find myself in a worn and frazzled state, I would prefer that my sweaters not start out that way.

Because I felt guilty about buying the extra skeins when I might be able to reclaim enough yarn,  While I was out I stopped at the store and got together some items to send a care package down to Louisiana to one of the organizations accepting donations to help the stranded and homeless.   Somehow, if I can make frivolous yarn purchases while some people are struggling to get buy having lost everything, it seems that the least I could do is send something to those who have less.    I know that my little matching gift program, where I try to match my fiber purchases in charitable contributions, is probably frivolous, and I am grateful that I am able to indulge in my yarn and fabric habits, yet I still feel better sending an equal amount of money off to others, my own little way of giving thanks. 

In a Tangle

Terribly busy day, ending with a sore back, my own fault really, I was determined to do heavy work in the yard and finish digging out the soil in the new iris bed and sifting out all the rocks.  I did manage to finish and so feel like I have accomplished something.  I picked up the first load of topsoil and organic amendments and can add them in tomorrow.  I will hopefully be finished and have some of the plants in by the end of the weekend.

I sat myself down in my chair after dinner and felt like knitting, but not the sock, just too tiny for my tired hands.  I thought about going ahead with the next sleeve for Posh, even though I have not put the sweater together and checked the first sleeve.  However, George found a missing bit of yarn and it may be just enough to finish the sleeves.  I knew I had this bit and had wondered where it had got off too, I left it in his car in a fit of frustration.  The only problem is that these two skeins fell apart the instant I pulled the end out of the center and they have been a mess ever since.  I finally gave up, most of the way through each, and left an impossible tangle.  I did intend to save it, despite abandoning it to the car,  reasoning that I just might need the yarn.  After an hours struggle this evening however, I had only managed to extricate a little over a yard of free yarn.

There is some stubborn part of me that does not want to order two $11 balls of yarn if I might already  have enough.  There is another part of me that feels that the struggle with the tangled balls is just not worth the effort.  If I have to depend on that yarn the sweater will languish forever.  George has volunteered that it is not worth the effort and he opts for buying more yarn. Usually this would have been my first thought, after all even at this fairly large gauge, a sweater takes a lot of time,  but perhaps I am just feeling stubborn and frustrated and don't want to give in without a little bit of a fight.  Since George is usually the frugal one however, perhaps he has a point, he is not caught up in the struggle.

Perhaps I will see if I can get the sweater basted together tomorrow before making a decision.

Rants and Raves

Raves First.  I got my hair cut today.  Hip Hip Hooray!  The previous cut was attractive, I had agreed to try something different, and I got TONS of compliments, but every time I looked in the mirror or saw a photo of myself I did not recognize the person looking back at me.  It was very discomforting.  As Alfie performed his magic with the scissors, I began to see a familiar face looking back from the mirror.  Self Restored!! 

Rants: 
I finished the first sleeve of Posh.  I am not sure  I have enough yarn for the second sleeve, although it admittedly will be very close:

That is all the remaining yarn, 2 whole balls and 2 partials.  I started this sleeve with a partial ball (see the ends) then ran out of the next two full balls (sweater is knitted with yarn held double) just before the sleeve cap shaping.  I think the ball that is left is bigger than the partial ball I started with, but I am not sure that I have enough to finish a whole sleeve.  I will have to seam the shoulders and baste the existing sleeve into the sweater to be sure it fits.  Perhaps it is too big, which does sometimes happen as my arms are short, and it is always hard to tell how the sleeve will sit in the shoulder and how the yarn will hang before I knit.  This is why I never do sleeves first. 

I almost hope the sleeve IS too big, then I will probably have enough yarn to manage.  Holding it up against my arm however, unattached, I am not convinced. 

The RANT is because I am not convinced this is completely my fault.  Oh I do mess up -- look what happened with Tesla, which I still haven't started by the way -- I got too wrapped up in Posh.  But in this case I ordered the yarn from one of my (once??) favorite yarn stores, which will remain NAMELESS and they have this summer shorted yarn on a bunch of sweaters.  When this yarn arrived, I had not yet had the yarn shorting problem and I admittedly did not count the skeins.  I noted that Posh was not the yarn listed in the Vogue Pattern Magazine and I hadn't yet checked the corrections and realized that this was the proper yarn.  I assumed the number of skeins was correct for the sweater I ordered.  I ordered the large, not because I need the large in width, but because I needed to lengthen the sweater and that always takes a surprising amount of extra yarn.  After checking the Vogue Knitting  corrections list, I realize that I did not receive the yarn for the large sweater, which actually would have been more than enough.  I would have had extra, but that was my choice to make and not the decision of the person selling me the yarn.

If I had checked this earlier, I might have caught the problem.  So, no matter what I must accept some of the blame.

Nonetheless, I am predisposed to being pissed at NAMELESS yarn shop right now because, although I have ordered from them for many many years, I have, since POSH arrived, received packages of yarns  for 5 other sweaters each of which was missing 1 to 3 skeins of yarn.  They weren't consistent, it was not like the  shipped the kit for the wrong size.  Yarns were just missing.  I was charged for the complete kit, but I did not receive it.  I would open that cute little box with the polka-dot ribbon (hint hint) all excited, only to be quickly disappointed.  Boo Hoo.  Of course, I called promptly.  The last order (4 fall Anny Blatt Sweaters) came almost two weeks ago (13 days) and I haven't received the missing yarns yet.  This reminds me that I will have to call again.

Should I just order another skein or wait and see?  Stacy Charles yarns don't tend to stay in production long.  Depending on how popular this was, it may be hard to find two more skeins. 

I hate having a sweater I can't finish.  I hate having a stack of projects that can't be started because they are waiting for yarn to arrive.