purlsandmurmers

Knitting and Thinking

Friday night we were at Avery Fisher Hall hearing the NY Philharmonic conducted by Colin Davis.  The concert was utterly fabulous and we had a lovely time.  Mitsuko Uchida played the Mozart Piano Concerto in F major, K459, and the entire program was just sumptuous.

But what stuck in my head is something I read in the program notes.  In an article on Sir Colin, the author commented on how he has relaxed with age and become more ruminative and zen-like.

   

"He also learned to knit; it helps him think."

And that thought has stuck with me.  Well, I love to knit and it does help me think.  I love knitting and letting my mind wander through the various machinations of its thoughts.  I love the idea that as my hands can purl, my thoughts can wander around where they will like the purling of a brook.  I love the juxtaposition of the meanings of words with the activities of life.

Mostly however that sentence stuck with me because I have not been knitting that much, or more exactly that my own knitting rhythms have been interrupted.

I have not been knitting, I realize now, precisely because knitting helps me think.  It helps me reflect.  And lately I have been avoiding thought and reflection.  You see my beloved G has lung cancer.  We learned this two weeks ago, and I have been keeping things mostly bottled up for much of this period because G thought he could keep it a secret and tell no one, including his children, his family, or his office staff.  Eventually he had to accept that this could not be and so we are closing the office, seeing doctors, and preparing for lung surgery. 

We are lucky in that the cancer has not spread (as far as can be determined) beyond the lung and it is therefore a surgical case.  This is the best possible hope at this point, and I am substantially relieved.  But not relieved enough that I want to sit and knit and let my mind wander over the changes, options, and risks ahead.  Oh I do knit.  I knit in doctor's offices to keep from pacing and making the other patients and their families nervous.  I knit on the train.  I thought I would knit on the train back from the city as well, but I did not.  I started listening to my book and thought I would knit, but instead I slept, some of the best sleep I have had in weeks, perhaps the drone of the voice reading stilled those brain waves enough that they could just let go for a while.

There will be more doctor's offices, and more knitting, and eventually knitting in a hospital and knitting beside my beloved's bed while I watch over him.  And there will be periods of non-knitting too.  I have said that my projects often remind me of what was going on in my life while they were being knit.  This sweater will have many powerful memories.  Let us hope that the joining together of yarn, and the texture of the fabric will be dense and strong and will help hold us together well into the future.

Spring Fling

Just when I am in the knitting (and winter) doldrums, the new Vogue Knitting is kind enough to come knocking on my door.

Since I was itching for a bit of distraction, curling up with a new mag and a cup of coffee seemed like the perfect afternoon retreat.

The nautical-themed storyline did nothing but two of the sweaters were of marginal interest.  I do like the rope-like cables on the front of this cardigan it is something I would probably actually wear, even though sun and sea are not really my thing.

This sideways knitted sweater caught my eye and I like the intarsia waist inset with cable.  It is an interesting sweater, but I am not yet sure if my interest is more academic or along the lines of something I would actually wear.   Even as I write this I have to admit that it is a wearable sweater, and one that would be flattering to me, but still I waver.

Although I have gotten more interested in lace than I would once have ever suspected was possible, The Case for Lace left me cold and, with the exception of the Debbie Bliss baby coat, Baby Couture was far too cute for me to ever knit for any child I would know.

The Paper Chase was a real winner however.  I love the tailored look of the kimono jacket by Jeannie Chin.

And although I find knit skirts to be difficult unless they have a certain weight and structure, I am willing to think that in the right yarn the suit will be just as lovely to wear as it looks in the magazine photo.

(love the shoes too)

And last, but certainly not least (it may be the first thing from this issue I knit), this short fitted cardigan is more than lacy enough for me.

Is it Basic or Boring?

The rice-stitch cardigan is coming along beautifully, or it was coming along beautifully.  I have finished the back  the left front, and I am nearly done with the right front, or at least I am past the armhole shaping.  The knitted fabric, the weight, the texture, the richness of the deep brown color and the stitch pattern, are all fabulous.  They will all combine to create a favorite basic sweater that I hope to wear for years.

But I am bored.  I am practically bored to tears.  Why is it that the sweaters I most like to wear seem to be the sweaters I least like to knit?

Or am I just displaying a bit of temper because I was hemmed in all weekend by snow, snow plowing, and snow shoveling, and lots and lots of knitting.  I am ready for spring, for the promise of spring bulbs (now hidden under 18 inches of snow, which has not made any obviously visible progress toward melting).  I am ready for spring knitting.  I am sick of winter and sick of winter sweaters. 

But I only have six inches to go until I finish the right front.  I was about to write 4 1/2 inches, but then I noticed that I lost my mind for  a brief bit last night and got front and back confused, resulting in this obvious interruption of the pattern in a most visible place:

See those few rows with the telltale ridges?  They are far more obvious in person. Oops, time to rip out.   Will I finish tonight?  Who knows. 

I used up my netflix allotment over the weekend, subjecting my darling spouse to an odd collection of films that he probably would not have chosen on his own:  The Story of the Weeping Camel, which we both liked and which was convenient as we interrupted it in the middle for a snowplow run, Princess Mononoke which I thought was beautiful and charming although it did have a tendency to drive those moral points home with a sledgehammer.  Pour G was near desperation as he has very little tolerance for make-believe and fantasy in any form, and yet he did not wander away from the TV.  The last rented film was Ikiru which we both enjoyed despite the depressing story line. 

The knitting survived all those video treats in great form.  It was only last night, neither one of us feeling like pursuing any intellectually stimulating activities, that we were reduced to watching the offerings on the TV.  We ended up watching the remake of the Manchurian Candidate.  I was not that thrilled with the movie itself.  The plot was rather conventional and dragged at times, and at times it seemed like no one was making any effort to make sense or even make the movie seem plausible.  But I watched because I wanted to knit, and rice stitch begs for distraction, and also admittedly because of Meryl Streep.  I will watch Meryl Streep in anything and she was very good.  In fact the acting was better than the movie, not just on Meryl's part.

Tonight, perhaps I need a break from knitting.  But on the other hand, if I finish the front, I feel justified in a little dalliance with something else before starting the sleeves. 

coffee break

This could become a habit:

Today, the mail brought these two new RYC books as well as the Spring 2007 Rowan.  Sitting down with a cup of espresso and a half an hour of knitting dreams is pure heaven.

There are several very pretty sweaters in this spring's Rowan book and I am sorely tempted.  I love sitting and dreaming of the sweaters I could knit, perhaps even more than I enjoy knitting the sweaters I do knit.  After all, I can knit far more sweaters in my dreams.  As to correlating my dream sweaters to my actual finished projects, well, let's just say that I have never been particularly good at that.

Mail

Lovely things have come in the mail:

This lovely belated holiday (which holiday? perhaps it is actually an early Easter gift?) gift came from my 2 "two step granddaughters" (two step is the term I affectionately use for my step-daughter's step-daughter's even though I have no idea if they know how to do a two step or not).  These soaps came from a small shop near one of them (they are young adults) and the aroma is heavenly.  It was enough for me to seriously consider heading right off for a bath the instant I opened the package.

Today's other package contained the remainder of my brown cashmere yarn for the rice-stitch cardigan and an Anny Blatt pattern book I had requested.

I love the cover sweater and it was the sole reason I ordered the book.  As soon as it arrived however I made my self a double-espresso (why?  considering I have not been sleeping well of late this may be foolish) and curled up to ogle the patterns.  These two stood out:

I love this second sweater and initially thought I had the perfect yarn for it.  On further reflection I am not so sure.  I believe that Fine Kid, the yarn called for is a sport weight yarn, and the yarn I originally had in mind is definitely either 4 ply or lace weight.  This is not a tragedy because I already had a sweater planned for the 4 ply yarn I was just temporarily seduced by the prospect of a new pattern.  There are other sport weight yarns in my collection however so this might materialize on the needles some day.

Of course you know I have no other patterns and projects waiting in the wings, right?

Knitting Done and Undone

Knitting and socializing, it seems do not always go hand in hand, even at Knitting Circle.  Of course it had been weeks since I had been to Thursday knitting and I was desperate and determined that nothing would stand in my way this week.

I arrived, cardigan in hand, with the six inches I had knitted on my Wednesday train commute ready to go:

I was actually pretty happy with how the knitting was progressing.  Apart from minor upsets, and a short two-row rip at the beginning of the evening, I thought I was making great progress knitting and chattering away.  I did not get quite as far in 3 hours of knitting as I had the previous day on the boring train ride, but an additional 4 inches of rice-stitch were nothing to be sneezed at, until I actually looked at my knitting that is. That is when I learned that my  illusions of knitting success, were actually just that -- illusions. 

So eager was I to be back at Knitting Circle that I was like the puppy who is so happy to see her masters return home that she jumps up and down, wagging her tail and barking, rolling around on the floor, never realizing that she is rolling around in her own pee.

I had started the evening ready to begin the decreases before the waist.  And I proceeded to do them at the required intervals, never messing up my pattern while doing so.  So what went wrong?  I decreased on both ends of the row, that's what.  This is a cardigan.  I am only knitting half a front so the decreases want only to be at the side seam, not at the center front.  No matter how much weight I ever loose in my wildest, thinnest dreams, and I am pretty stable weight wise right now, I will never be able to wear a sweater that is only 10 inches from side to side.

And so, I am back where I started.  But I am still far ahead because I got to spend time with fellow knitters and my knitting spirit is revived and ready to move forward. 

Can I finish the left front before next week?

Progress, Finally!

After 10 days without knitting (how DID that happen?) I have been knitting like a mad woman.  I got abut 4 inches knitted on the back of the sweater on Sunday, between a fabulous contemporary music concert and some quality reading time as well.  Then Monday night and a good bit of today I was determined that I would finish the back of the sweater.  Although I am only a fraction of the way through the sweater it feels like a great accomplishment.  Since this is a cardigan, the biggest single piece is done, and the bigger pieces are always the hardest for me to get through.

I can't get the whole thing in my camera view so you only get a partial shot:

It hasn't been blocked yet so there are still a few lumps and bumps to work out, but I think it is looking pretty good.

I am gong in to NYC tomorrow and this allows me to start one of the front pieces on the train.  The thought of lugging that big bulky back piece all over Manhattan did not thrill me, and I am going to start out with enough of a burden because I have to take my sewing machine in for repair as well.  With the demise of Amazing Threads (or at least its sale and the loss of the sewing machine department) there is no longer anyone nearby who is willing to take on my Elna and whom I would trust to do so.

Life Intervenes

Life got in the way this week.  Actually, work got in the way of life.

There was no knitting...

No progress...

Nothing to report.

Until today anyway.  I finally ordered the brown Super Cashmere to finish the sweater.  Although I seriously considered the vest, and I do think it is an attractive vest, I have never been a vest wearer and an expensive cashmere vest didn't seem like the best way to begin.  Besides, as some of you pointed out, I had my heart set on a cardigan -- so cardigan it is.

Since I was placing the order for the extra cashmere, I also ordered the yarn to knit this spring Anny Blatt sweater:

Unfortunately although most of the accent yarns are in stock, I was informed that the base yarn, Selene, has not yet arrived, so there will be a little bit of a wait. 

It is going to take me a while to finish the cashmere anyway and I do believe there are other things on the list as well.  I do hope, however, that the yarn does arrive before the next season begins.