purlsandmurmers

Future Projects

Otto is progressing well, but not particularly photogenically. 

Therefore I have decided to regale you with a few other pending projects.

Remember the Zephyr yarn I purchased a few weeks ago at Yarn Central?

Well, I finally picked a shawl pattern.  I am going to use this one:

It is called Seascape Shawl from Fiber Trends and it took me a while to make the decision.  I went through my lace and shawl patterns, an easy task as there are precious few.  Then I started sorting through all the accumulated knitting journals and decided it was a thankless task.  I started searching the web instead.  There wee many appealing options, and I ended up ordering several shawl patterns.  Seize any excuse for ordering more knitting patterns, that's my motto.  I will probably knit all of them eventually.    This is actually the one I thought I would chose all along.  So why did I order more lace patterns?  I don't know.  I suppose I was just second-guessing myself.

I don't think I will start this right away.  I am enjoying knitting Otto.  Besides I can't really see myself wearing it for a couple of months yet.

I also started playing with baby sweater ideas again.  My next baby sweater project will be this really cute pattern from Minnow Knits called Sweetie Pie.

The yarn is Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria.  I started a gauge swatch tonight when I met up with Alexine and the Tuesday knitters.  The group has been rather erratic of late, my attendance as well.  At any rate I took needles from size 6 down to size 3 figuring the pattern stated that the sample was knit on a size 6, and I usually go down two needle sizes for most projects.  It is true that I occasionally, more frequently of late, have been knitting true to the specified gauge, but, before tonight, I don't think I have ever had to go up a needle size.  I am a bonafide member of the loosey-goosey knitting club.  But the evidence was incontrovertible.  The swatch was only 3 inches wide.  Even if it relaxes upon washing, I have serious doubts that it will expand that much.  Alexine says she usually goes up two needle sizes using that yarn, and she is another loose knitter.  Well, I didn't have larger needles, although I was aware that I could borrow some. I was so amazed and stunned that I really needed to let this news slowly filter through the neurons.  Otto provided an adequate excuse.

Otto

The pattern I am using for the Jaeger Albany cardigan is called Otto.  It is not, what naturally comes to mind when I think of the name Otto, however, and I am wondering about the thought process of the designer.  There seems to be some intellectual or cultural differences in thought processes going on here, or just associations of which I am unaware, Still Otto it is.

It will not be my speediest sweater.  At 6 stitches and 7 rows to the inch, I hope to finish by sometime in early July.  Here is my paltry progress so far, after three days of knitting:

At roughly an inch a day, and considering that I have not knitted since Thursday, perhaps early July is an overly ambitious target.  I will hope to improve.  Still, the pattern is simple and almost mindless, although there was a brief period at Thursday's knitting group when I seemed incapable of counting to 4.  The yarn is a pleasure to knit.  I wish I had knit this sooner and purchased more of this yarn when it was still available.

But then, it seems that every project I knit makes me think of other things I could knit with whatever yarn I happen to have running through my fingers at that moment.  The possibilities are endless.  But there are always new yarns, and new ideas, and not enough hours in the day.

First Baby Sweater Done

I finally assembled the baby sweater knitted from Katia's Jamaica yarn.  It turned out really well:

Yarn:  Katia Jamaica Color # 4010
Pattern:  Moss Stitch Sweater from Debbie Bliss Noro Collection 2
Knitted on size 5 needles, with size 3 for ribbing.

I basically picked this pattern because it was the shape and pattern I wanted.  I imagined a moss stitch sweater the moment I saw the yarn.  I have no idea about baby sweater sizing so I needed to find a baby sweater to get the size right.  Then I just had to knit the gauge swatch, plug in the dimensions and knit accordingly. 

Now, I have ideas for several more sweaters so I had better get knitting.

Presenting spring...knitting

The sun finally emerged today although it remained unsettlingly cold.  The Azaleas took the newfound light as a promise of warmth and finally opened from what had begun to seem like a permanent budding state:

And I have managed to create a swatch for my next project although I have made no progress sewing up the two waiting in the wings.

I offer a photo simply because I thought the swatch was so pretty sitting in the sun:

The yarn is Jaeger's Albany cotton ribbon in shade # 262.  It is destined to be this sweater  from Jaeger brochure JB11.

The Yarn has spoken

Nearly a week after finishing the knitting portion, the last sleeve of Rogue is on the blocking board:

And the "smile" scarf, made from, you guessed it,  Reynolds Smile is also done:

G  thinks I should knit another, with two skeins for myself, and I still think it would make a lovely coat, but this scarf has satisfied my knitting craving with this yarn.  I think too much of a good thing is not wise and I am quite satisfied with the results. Of course this is no guarantee that some of this yarn will not end up in my basket someday.  It is always dangerous to make proclamations about what one will and will not knit.   A pile of smile might yet leap up and attack me, determined to be my next fall coat.

As for the lovely violet Zephyr yarn, it has spoken and informed me that it wants to be a shawl.  Now, I know that those of you who are wiser than I may smile to yourselves right now and think that you knew all along that it was destined to be a shawl.  But I am not always so wise.  I still think it would make a lovely sweater.  The swatching effort yielded a most satisfactory result at 10 stitches/inch, much too small of a guage to yield a sweater with a mere 1200 yards.  This is also much too fussy for my currently adlepated state of mind.  Besides this fabric is so light and drapey that one would not want the garment to be too snug and close-fitting; the results would be much to suggestive of undergarments.  You would need some drape to experience the full beauty of the fabric.  I can imagine it in some Zoran inspired garment, or in a basic top inspired by the light as air and luxurious sweaters knitted for Hermes.  Of course, those are machine knits, but there is no reason I cannot aspire to similar luxury in a hand knit.  Nonetheless, such dreams will not be met with the yarn at hand and other alternatives beckon.

Now I just have to find the right shawl pattern.

Addiction

I will admit it.  I am addicted to sugar and to Diet Coke.

I stopped drinking diet soda, in fact almost all soda, a year ago, in April or May 2005.  I thought the diet stuff was upsetting my tummy and I can’t stand the sweetness of the non-diet stuff.  Corn syrup is a terrible thing in a beverage, it makes it almost unpalatable.  All you taste is sweet.

I drank lots of water.  Still I missed the fizz and the sweet, and that steady little stream of caffeine.

The past week or so I have been stressed.  I have had tremendous cravings for a diet coke.  Yesterday I gave in and my fate was sealed.  Life is too short not to indulge a few minor vices.

I came home, bottle of contraband in hand.  I put ice in a glass, poured the soda, put the bottle in the refrigerator, sat down and had a sip, then another, then another.  Before I knew it the glass was empty.  A huge sigh escaped my lips.  I could feel myself beginning to relax, the tension slipping away with a million tiny little bubbles and sweet chaser.  I know it must all be in my head; I am not sure that diet soda is truly addictive, but I felt more myself.  I felt light and sparkly, bright and cheerful.  I felt like a burden had just fizzled away in a carbonated haze.

After half an hour I picked up some knitting again.  Nothing special.  Nothing requiring thought.  A ball of yarn meant to be a scarf previously knitted and unknitted.  Simple garter stitch.  Bright yarn running through the fingers.  Happiness.

I like the colors of the yarn.  I like the way it looks in garter stitch.  I think it would be a lovely jacket, but it would have to be pieced in strips because I like the way the color changes form wide stripes on the scarf-width; they would be too narrow as a jacket front, much more so even if I knit it in the round.  No matter.  I don’t know the name of the yarn.  I have no idea how to get more.  If I see it, the jacket is planned in my mind.  If I don’t it will hover in the mist like all dreams, providing endless entertainment.

The diet soda will remain in my life.  I know a good thing when I see it (or drink it).

Sodden

Note, this post was actually written yesterday (Wednesday), but due to telephone and internet problems it could not be posted.  In fact, both the telephone and cable lines were underwater as the protective shielding had cracked and filled with water, requiring the lines to be replaced from street to house. It was actually interesting to see how much water can come pouring out of 275 feet of shielded cable.

It seems that the world has been inexorably changed, soaked, sodden, from the recent rains.  Or at least it seems that inundation has been the frame of reference which shapes my world of late.

Work has been overwhelming, crazy even, with impossible demands on all fronts, grumpy patients, impatient clients and general stress and frustration all around.  I generally consider myself lucky that my job allows me pretty much to work on my own schedule, and mostly from home, this week excepted.  Internet service has been erratic at best and totally down most of the time.  Phone service is barely functioning.  Lines drops unexpectedly.  When I am connected, static is the order of the day and everyone sounds like they are talking under water.  Perhaps the phones are flooded...who knows.  Dealing with demanding clients while struggling with a virtually non-existent phone system does not make for a happy office manager. 

At least cell service seems unaffected.  Good thing that.  After years of getting no, or very little wireless signal at our house, only reliably in the yellow bathroom, or the South east corner of the driveway, we have had consistent wireless connections for about two months now, on any phone, whereas before, only my ancient Star-Tac, the one that dates prior to new shielding requirements and fancy new features, could reliably pick up a signal, and even that was variable.  Every phone company in the area told me no phone would get a signal if that one couldn’t so until recently there was no reason to replace it.

The construction front has been similarly plagued by chaos.  Weather stoppages, missing information, mis-communication, more changes to the plans, contractors that want to work even though the plans aren’t done and we are still waiting for approval from the building inspector. Everyone has an opinion and it is at odds with everyone else’s opinion.  Past surveys are inadequate.  Headaches abound.

Needless to say knitting has been stalled as well.  I did finish the last sleeve of Rogue, but nothing has been sewn together yet.  I am not one of those people who can sew sweaters while chatting at knitting group or watching TV.  I need a quiet place where I can pay attention to my work.  There has been no such place or time of late.  Even when the world seems quiet my mind is agitated.  Assembly issues must wait.

The thought of starting another project has been overwhelming, not because I don’t want to knit but more because I don’t want to swatch and calculate.  Nothing can be started without adequate preparation or heartache will ensue.  I have enough of projects that go wrong for now.  In fact I have had enough of calculations and math and anything that seems remotely like work.  Instead I lose myself in fiction whenever the chance for a momentary reprieve finds me: Julian Barnes, Elizabeth George, and Iain Pears have provided my escapes and helped me to maintain my sanity. 

Hopefully, calm will follow.

Yarn Pilgrimage Continues

I played hooky today.  There were actually many tasks awaiting my attention at home, but I was loathe to return to them.  I found myself in Poughkeepsie at the end of my morning appointments with no pressing reason to return to the construction site I call home.  No one was working.  The masons had arrived about the same time as a morning shower and by the time the sky cleared they were long since gone.

I took advantage of the opportunity to run several errands and eventually found myself down in Hopewell Junction, where I stopped at Yarn Central.  It was nice to be there, and yes I did buy yarn, as I had been planning.  I managed to do quite well and still keep within my allotted budget, I am sure partially due to the fact that they are having a sale.  Despite the fact that I am overwhelmed with current projects, the stash is not overwhelming.  Stash and planned sweaters that have not been started don’t bother me as long as they can be accommodated in the bounds of their allotted storage areas.  It is only when things overflow their cupboards, or actually get started and are sitting on the needles that I start to feel a little overwhelmed. Offsetting the fact that I have more than enough to knit at the moment has been my recurring sense of guilt and an urge to support local yarn shops if at all possible.

The Jaggerspun Zephyr is usually used for shawls and therefore they do not stock large quantities of each color but I found these two skeins, roughly 1200 yards which may or may not be enough for a summer shell for me, depending on gauge.  I am guessing 8 stitches to the inch, iffy at best, but really won’t know until I swatch.  I have hope that something can be worked out though.  4 skeins of the cashmerino were ostensibly purchased for a baby sweater, although I am well aware that I have accumulated enough baby yarn for three babies and far more sweaters than I can knit.  These will also make a lovely shawl or scarf.

I was looking for some summer yarns by Elizabeth Lavold, specifically Hempathy, but I found this Cotton Patiné instead.  I haven’t knitted with it before but it looks promising so I picked up enough for a short-sleeved tee.

And last to be shown, but certainly not least as it was the first thing I picked up were these skeins of Rowan’s Summer Tweed:

They had the perfect quantities to make this Kaffe Fassett sweater which has been on my mind ever since I received the newest Rowan Book.  I might not get to this right away but I must knit this sweater, it haunts my dreams.      

I have now been to three yarn stores in Dutchess County.  There are three more, that I know about at least.  I hope to visit all of them in the next couple of months, but I think I have done enough yarn shopping for now.

Of the remaining stores, I have only been to one, Morehouse Farm in Rhinebeck, which is a store and a producer.  I have used their yarns before and used to go to the knitting/spinning wool oriented weekends they would have each spring.  I have not been for several years and don’t even know if they still hold them, my attendance dates back to before they opened the “new” store in Rock City.

I was recently informed by Alexine, of my Tuesday knitting group, that there is a new store in Red Hook, off Route 199 on Hapeman Hill Road, but she doesn’t remember the name.  Now, ToRunAmok yarns used to be on Hapeman Hill Road, I wonder if it has opened again, of if this is something else.  I used to shop there years ago, before the owner had to cut back, only taking special orders, because it got to be too much work to maintain a store and a full time IBM career.  I always liked the nice handspun yarns and thought the owner had a good eye for color.  I must get up there and check it out, but it may be a catch-as-catch can situation.

The last store is in Pawling, The Yarn and Craft Box.  I have never been there.  Two members of my knitting group like to go there for baby yarn.  It certainly seems worth checking out, at least once.  It is a bit out of the way, so it might end up waiting until my next pilgrimage down to White Plains for a day of perusing the dual Ns (Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus).  Given that my shopping budget has been pretty much waylaid by construction costs that may wait awhile though, at least until my annual birthday pilgrimage on July 5th.

But back to Yarn Central.  I was told that there are still some openings in the Thursday knitting group/class if I wanted to join, the other days are full.  I am interested.  In fact I seriously considered working frantically once I got home and barreling back down there this evening.  Thursday is usually a good night for me. The possibility of meeting Gina, whose blog I love is an addeded incentive, but generally I have been itching to meet knitters for some time now, and it is about time I get out and make an effort.

However, today my DH called around 4 to say that he was done with work and would be home early for a change.  Normally I might not care and would go out anyway.  However, the construction has driven him to load on extra work and he has been coming home about 10 to 11 every night for the last three weeks.  Frankly, I have missed him.  In true Cancerian style, I decided to stay home.

Saturation

We have reached UFO saturation.  The project drawer is overflowing and I must finish a few things before I can move on to the new projects that are dancing in my head.

Since putting the Katia baby sweater on the blocking board, removing it, and allowing it to sit unattended, I have been preoccupied with finishing up Rogue.   The final sleeve is coming along nicely in the dribs and drabs that constitute my knitting time.

Three things to finish before I can start somethng new, well at least two things to finish and one to pick up again.  If I can finish the sleeve and assemble and finish rogue and the baby sweater, I will let myself keep the missing second pink sock on the needles while I start a new spring project.

There is simply too much that I can't keep up with around here right now to leave unfinished knitting projects lying around too long.

IK. how I love thee!

The new Interweave Knits arrived, and it is chock full of sweaters I want to knit, no, need to knit...oh dear, whatever shall I do?

Summer sweaters galore, plus at least one other that I love but which would take substantial math and pattern alteration to make it work for me.  Not that it might not be worth it mind you.

However as I have just spent the last couple of hours poring over the new engineering drawings of "the deck that ate Hyde Park" more math is beyond me.  I know my state of mind may improve, my budget prospects may not however.  There is little to be done.  The cliff exists.  The house is built on the cliff, the pool is attached to the house. The pool is only partially supported, which is why the old pool deck was falling down. 

At least I have yarn for several of these sweaters, some just purchased from the late lamented Yarn Swift, including the dreaded math challenge,  otherwise known as "looking glass".

The sweater itself looks simple and fun to knit.  There is a cable going up the center back as well.  Therein lies the problem.  Even with the general forgiving nature of knits, a cable knit up the center of a balanced sweater will  not go up the center of my own torqued elipse of a form.  Math will be required.  Not insurmountable math mind you, but probably not the kind of math that will result in mindless knitting.

Well there is nothing like a good challenge. I am sure I will get to it. 

Someday.