purlsandmurmers

Yarn Shopping

She knits on trains:

I finished the first sleeve, binding off on the drive home from the train station in the wee hours of Saturday morning.  No knitting since.

Despite my lack of productive creativity this week, I have been thinking about yarn, knitting projects, and yarn stores.

A yarn store in Poughkeepsie closed its doors.  Yarn Swift was a nice store and the owner was very nice.  I never really spoke with her enough, although I did shop in the store periodically.  I have been plagued with guilt.  I have a highly developed guilt reflex you know.  Still, I shopped regularly and dropped a good bit of cash but never really stayed long enough to form a relationship with the owner.  I am not immensly outgoing and it takes me a while to overcome my hesitancy. Now I feel I should have made more of an effort.

I went to Yarn Swift on Wednesday and came out with two rather large shopping bags full of yarn.  Here is a good sampling:

Some Kureyon in the back; some Euroflax linen, which I love even though it is rough to knit;  another Noro yarn called Tidiori, some Debbie Bliss Cathay, and some LaLuz.  There is enough of each to knit a sweater so you know I will be busy.  It's not like I don't already have enough yarn to keep me knitting for some time, but even too little too late is better than nothing at all.

At least I am not one of those people who bought patterns and yarn at Michaels and then came to Yarn Swift looking for help and direction. 

In my general sense of "support your local yarn store" ennui, I also went back up to Bead & Purl, the new yarn store in Rhinebeck, actually a trifle closer to my house.  I am determined to make an effort to buy local, not to fall back on the tried and true internet sources -- you know, the ones where you can shop late at night when you are feeling tired and have packages miraculously appear at your door a few days later.

Here is what I bought at Bead and Purl:

The merlot Cotton STria is for another baby sweater.  The lovely Kidsilk night will be a cardigan.  This was a total impulse purchase, inspired by some soft gray 4 ply silk with which I just made a pair of evening pants.  The combination was obviously meant to be.

I am determined to get to the other local yarn store that I have supported, but not enough lately, Yarn Central, during the upcoming week.  I had hoped there would be a yarn party, but I might have missed that.  Still, I must go.  I have been remiss.

Extravagance

I admit that I am no minimalist where tulips are concerned.  There have been years when I have planted hundreds, carefully planning my choices so as to have several weeks worth of extravagant tulip displays in the house. Luckily since most of the vegetable garden cannot be planted until late May there is adequate time for a generous tulip crop.

This year's planting was more modest, but we are certainly far from tulip free: 

from classic:

to gaudy extravagance: 

I love them all.

Even the smaller flowers emerging from older bulbs that managed to miss being evicted from the garden beds are beautiful:

And last, but far from least, are the tulips planted in the front of the house in the new Iris bed.   Spring Green and Black Hereo form one of my favorite color combinations.  I did not intend to pick these as they are seen every day from the front of the house and the driveway, but since a large part of this flower bed is currently obscured from view by the temporary location of the spa and various trucks and heavy equipment, it seemed only fitting that  a few should be enjoyed indoors.

Here and there,with a little knitting

The baby sweater progresses:

Now, I am not one to get totally neurotic about matching stripes on hand-dyed or self-striping yarn.  If I wanted a sweater to match exactly, I would simply knit it with a bunch of different colored yarns, were I could exercise total control of the outcome.

That said, some planning is still required:

If I knitted the front of the sweater beginning with the same skein used for the back, I would have a white bottom band, as seen above.  I do not like the white front bottom band when the back of the sweater is dark at the bottom.  Out it went. Rip-it.  Rip-it.

The second attempt, with another skein was much more promising:

The front of the sweater, show here with only half of the neck opening knit up, obviously does not match the back, but the bottom bands are very similar in size and color.  This anchors the sweater and ties it together, at least.   I see that the stripes are quite regular and I probably could have lined this up perfectly.  Perhaps if I had bought another skein.  But then, as G often tells me, "perfect is the enemy of good" and I shall let it be.

I am happy to have gotten this far although I know in my heart I could have been knitting more.  It is not a contest however, and the baby is months away.

In the process of finally moving all my fiber stuff out of the living room and getting it cleaned up I discovered that several books had fallen off the "Trollope Trolley" a round bookcase on wheels which contains the complete works of Anthony Trollope.  Of course, as I put the books back into their respective locations I had to pick one or two up and peruse the pages. Perusal led to complete escapism.  Hence I have been spending more time rereading Trollope than knitting this week.  I have worked my way through some of the lesser known novels:  The Fixed Period,  Framley Parsonage, and Dr. Thorne.  They have provided quite a lovely distraction.

Yesterday I pulled out Tesla for the first time and wore it up to the new yarn shop that opened in Rhinebeck:  Bead and Purl.  It is a lovely shop, bright, cheerful and welcoming.  I wanted to sit right down and stay as soon as I walked into its bright space and turquoise walls.  Reminded me of my own new sewing room with its green and turquoise walls.  They have a nice selection of Karabella and Rowan wools so far, although stock is still coming in; there is a lot of nice, smooth, knitable yarn, as opposed to the bulky and novelty yarns that seem to dominate some new shops I have been in of late.  I wish them great luck.

Tesla was nice to wear, lacy and yet covered.  It was cool so I wore a turtle neck under it, and the stainless steel bits nicely caught the sun as it struggled back and forth between the clouds and rain.  G. tells me that it is quite seductive, the way the sweater slips partially down one shoulder with its interesting texture and combination of matte and shiny.   hmmm...

I was surfing about on the web today and I found Grace's blog, after she left me a comment on Tesla (her's is quite lovely by the way) and I found this test:

If I were a Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics, I would be William S. Massey's A Basic Course in Algebraic Topology. I am intended to serve as a textbook for a course in algebraic topology at the beginning graduate level. The main topics covered are the classification of compact 2-manifolds, the fundamental group, covering spaces, singular homology theory, and singular cohomology theory. These topics are developed systematically, avoiding all unecessary definitions, terminology, and technical machinery. Wherever possible, the geometric motivation behind the various concepts is emphasized. Which Springer GTM would you be?  The Springer GTM Test

Sometimes I take these tests and sometimes I don't, mostly they are silly, but what intrigues me about this one is that I love Topology.  I am not a mathematician, I was an English Major in college, although I later went on to work with computers and get an engineering degree.  However one of my college roomates was a math major and she had a lot of trouble with Topology.  One of the math tutors would come over to help her, we later became friends, and he always thought I should have become a mathmetician, and once when she was having trouble with something that he couldn't get across I just explained it to her.  I would listen to these talks and it all seemed so obvious to me.  In retrospect I see that this was probably maddening to my roommate, that the English major could figure out Topology and she couldn't, but I didn't mean it that way.  Topology, like Organic Chemistry (which I did take) was just one of the subjects that clicked with me right away and changed the way I looked at the world.

I told you I was a total nerd, right?

Everything else is on hold.  Construction was supposed to begin this week on the deck that ate my life, but I stopped it on Friday.  It seems the drawings from the engineer aren't ready yet.  The digging was done from an earlier version of the plans and some trenches were dug out for walls that should no longer be there.  The electric pool cover has not been ordered and that will take at least 2 to 3 weeks so obviously the construction schedule I was originally given is wrong, as I was told they would be done in  2 to 3 weeks. 

There was some discussion as to whether the walls could be poured without the plans, but I nixed that idea.  I really don't understand this "don't worry, it'll work out" attitude of so many contractors.  Well, it doesn't always work out, and there is a lot of coordination going on here.  Better to wait and pour the conrete right than risk botching the job.  I suppose the contractors grumble at having a pair of engineers for clients, by gosh and by golly doesn't go very far in this household.

Besides, as I look at all the rain we have had this weekend, and the pile of mud that was once my deck, I see that some drainage issues need to be addressed.  The water has tunnelled under one of the proposed walls (they did not dig down to bedrock) and had a wall been poured there it would have been eventually undermined, and this is in an area where proper drainage and planning is most critical.  There is apparently much more work to be done.

Jamaica me baby

As an impending first time grandmother (or step-grandmother) I have been thinking and dreaming of baby sweaters. 

Finally I began one:

There are a few in mind, but I needed a project in a hurry (what's new there?) and I had just picked up this yarn on a whim.  The colors scream baby sweater to me, although perhaps not to everyone.

I am using a pattern for a Moss Stitch sweater from Debbie Bliss's Noro 2 collection.  The  sweater is the basic shape and stitch I envisioned for this yarn and the calculations for differences in guage are not major.   The smallest size she has is 9-12 months so the baby will probably need to grow into this, even though it will be ever so slightly smaller than the pattern sweater.  My general experience has been that most of these sweaters are on the roomy side so I am not worried.

Blue Lace

Finally, a lace scarf on the blocking board:

and quickly off again. 

I fought knitting lace far too long.  I am smitten I tell you, smitten!  After the initial set-backs, and I am still such a scatterbrained ninny at times that I need some mindless projects floating around, I was entranced.  I eagerly looked forward to every little row of the simple, embarrassingly fool proof (what kind of fool am I to mess this up) pattern. 

It didn't look like much off the needles.  I knew, having read enough, that the magic of lace comes with the blocking.  But I didn't believe until I saw it blocked, and felt the delicate scarf drying in my hands as I ran the blocking pins along the edges.

Too bad there is a limited use for lace scarves and shawls in my life.  That probably won't stop me...look at the sock yarn I have accumulated.  I enjoy knitting socks I just don't wear socks much (except to the gym).  Why not knit lace?

I could have...

The lacy mohair scarf is done.  Actually it has been done for several days but has been curled up into a ball behind my computer monitor where it is out of the way and safe.  It should have been blocking by now, but there has been no space to block.

The new cutting table which I really do intend to keep clean except when I am working on it is covered with stuff.  Well technically I am working on it, I am still sorting out all the STUFF that I had and still want to have in my sewing room.  How did I acquire all these things?  What perverse creature takes over my brain when I walk near a yarn shop, a fiber shop, or a fabric shop.  What was I thinking?  But I love it all – it is a sickness, a disease, and definitely heritable.  When I look at my family I can see where it all comes from and where it all goes as well.  I never stood a chance....

I could’ve put the blocking board on the floor but then I would have to walk on it to sort through all the stuff and the pins would probably be painful on my usually bare feet, not to mention requiring a trip to the emergency room...

I could have put it on the guest bed but I have all the unread books there, the ones that were piled up in my sewing/fiber room, that I decided don’t belong there.  They belong in the library but that means building new bookshelves and I have no idea when I will get around to that...

I could have put it in the guest bathroom, but I have handwash hanging there and I don’t want it to drip on the scarf.  I am behind on handwash too – had one of those weeks where I spilled everything all over myself.  I was practically a walking waste site.

I could of put it on my bed, but Tabasco would object, or decide she really needed to sleep on my scarf.  If it hadn’t dried in time I am not sure G would have enjoyed sleeping under a blocking scarf either and the pins might have been uncomfortable.

I could have put it on the kitchen island....really bad idea.  There is one of those laws, I’m sure,  you know, the one that goes “if a mohair scarf is in the kitchen the spaghetti sauce will be dumped all over it”...

Regression

Once upon a time I was a pretty good knitter.  I knitted a lot.  This has not been much in evidence of late.  I will admit that much of my knitting was done while travelling, when there was not much else demanding my attention.

Lately I have accomplished less and my accomplishments have been hard won.  Every project seems to get ripped and re-knit.  I find this frustrating to no end.

If you look at the picture of the blue scarf you will note many errors.  It is not wavy due to sloppy placement on the table, it is wavy due to sloppy knitting. 

I am still entranced.  Lace knitting  is taking me longer.  I am still not completely comfortable with fine yarn and large needles.  Part of me thinks that big metal needles might be easier but I am afraid that all those loose floppy stitches might slip away.  A large wooden needle with a sharper point my be better.

Meantime this is not a project for late night knitting when attention is not at its peak performance level.  But only late night knitting has been available of late.  The cuff of Rogue is suffering from the same lack of attention -- once I get past the sleeve detail it will be mindless sailing.

Perhaps it is time to return to the sock, or start a stockinette project for those days when the hands need knitting therapy and the mind needs rote repetition with little energy requirements.

Soft is my new love

And what of Rogue?  Abandoned for a new love, a lovely soft scarf of GGH Soft Kid.

Truth be told, this project was started while Rogue was itself unavailable -- waiting for space on the cutting table to set up the blocking board and measure the sleeve length -- unwilling to commit to another sleeve until we were sure the first was a good fit.  By then, by the time we knew it was a match well made, it was too late.  Soft kid had captured me.

It was not an easy start.  The lure of the soft yarn was strong.  The pattern is simple, a printout distributed by Amazing Threads with purchase of the yarn.  Start up was a little rocky though.  I have knitted lace trims on sweaters in the form of edges on cardigans, decorative borders, even bits of firm cotton lace to adorn sewing projects, but this, this was something new.  I was not sure we were destined for each other.  Fine yarns on large needles seemed uncomfortable in the hands, the stitches twisted and turned, avoiding easy knitting.  This is definitely not a project to be knit in the dark in the car.

And yet, once a few inches were completed, enough to see a pattern emerging, the charm of the work took over, the easy repetition of the pattern, the attention needed yields such lovely rewards.  Not mindless knitting this, yet totally entrancing.  I am hooked, sitting in my chair late at night churning out a few more rows.  Even tonight, falling asleep between rows, head lolling back on the strings of the hammock chair now rigged up in my fiber room, the enchantment remains strong.  I was at least awake enough to tink the last two rows, accounting for the dropped stitches just made, aware enough to stop and put the knitting aside until tomorrow.

Rogue will return.  The thrill of a simple lace scarf has won my heart for now.

One and a half sleeves...

Lest you think nothing has been done in my absence, Rogue is finally on the blocking board, although not yet completed.

I present to you the body and one sleeve:

Please pardon the bowl head.

Your really can’t see the detail on this photo, but better pictures will be forthcoming. 

The first sleeve was an entertaining exercise in knitting. At first I just sailed right through it, at least until I got to the sleeve cap shaping. Luckily I was aware enough that day to look at the knitting on my lap and think that it looked too short. I did not have the body of the sweater with me and I did not remember how deep the armholes were, or how broad the shoulders, so it was somewhat difficult to guess. Still, the sleeve looked short. This, in itself, is an unusual occurrence. Although I am moderately tall at 5’9”, my arms and legs are not proportionate to my height. Legs are longer than average, an advantage truly, but short compared to the rest of me, and my arms, well they are pretty much average to short. Still that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I often have to shorten sleeves on expensive RTW and lengthen them on the cheaper stuff. In sewing patterns the sleeves are usually long enough or too long. Knitting patterns are all over the map, some too short, some too long, rarely just right; generally though I have to shorten more than I have to lengthen.

While I was waiting to compare the sleeve to the body of Rogue (I was not at home) I grew bored with sitting and staring at a pile of knitting on my lap on which no progress could be made, an actual improvement for me as there have been times when I would have thrown caution to the wind and knit on, hoping for the best outcome. Luckily I did have my Chibi needles so I thought I would turn up the sleeve hem. A good thing that. I had not been certain that I liked it as I knit and as I seamed my indecision was quickly resolved.

Rip that sleeve and start over.

This time I knitted a stockinette hem much as I did for the hem of Rogue, knitting slightly less than 2 inches and then picking up the cast on stitches and knitting them together to begin the first row of the body of the sleeve. Much nicer. No floppy hems or cuffs for me. Give me firm and close fitting sleeve ends whenever possible. 

By the time I got back to the shaping the sleeve cap I had determined that I needed another two inches despite the decidedly low armscye on the body of Rogue. Then I needed another inch at the top of the sleeve cap to fill in the shoulder area. Yes my row gauge was the same as on the body of the sweater. At least it seems very similar, perhaps not similar enough. Row gauge has always been my downfall.

When I finished the sleeve I basted the sleeve to the body to try on for fit before blocking and beginning the second sleeve. Success!!

The second sleeve has been started and will be finished soon. Not soon enough however for there to be a high likelihood that this sweater will venture beyond my closet for the next six months.