purlsandmurmers

Knitting and non-knitting

Despite all my complex plans, multiple sweaters were not begun. 

My transient life was just too complicated, and I was too tired to knit, or too hot to knit, or too something anyway.  I did get all the yarn wound for the Kaffe Fassett Summer Tweed sweater and then did nothing except rearrange yarn storage facilities, moving the pending project pile to the hassock which used to contain the various odd balls and leftovers, and making a new bag for odd-balls.  Anything to actually avoid knitting I suppose.

There was no translation from the French. 

I did spend some time reading, often arriving at the hotel too tired to knit, especially to knit fine cotton in a dark room with uncomfortable chairs.  Instead I read.

Christian Jungersen's The Exception was a good, gripping story, something to look forward to and wrap myself up in, and it completely took me by surprise.  It was farm more interesting than gauge swatches and knitting translations, and I found myself going back over sections and passages, trying to determine if I had missed something along the way.

But of course I did start some knitting, I just didn't get very far with it.  It took me a few tries to get gauge, but I did start the Anny Blatt sweater, Passel.

This seemed like the easiest sweater with which to begin.  I don't believe it needs much alteration in the shaping.  I like the length of the sweater, but 22" is shorter on me than on the model, ending up about hip bone height.  I needed to alter the waist shaping accordingly.  Even so I only got about 20 rows knitted during the two weeks the air-conditioning was out at the house and we were commuting from hotel to house daily.  I knitted more last Thursday at knitting class/group than in the entire previous two week period.  Still, I do need to check the armhole, shoulder and neckline shaping before I progress too far, lest I regret not having done so.

I am enjoying knitting the sweater, it is not that I don't enjoy actually knitting it, more that life has been full and busy and I just haven't found the time to sit down and relish the process.  Mango is really a lovely yarn to knit, and the intermittent rows of Muguet occur just frequently enough to keep the rows and rows of stockinette from becoming tedious.

Decadent Shell

Decadent Shell Cowl is done.

Photo of cowl collar sitting or flopping, depending on how you look at it, with the sweater flat on a table.  I have no idea how I will fold this.

Yarn:  Decadent Fibers Creme Puff, slightly less than 2 skeins

Pattern:  I used the pattern for the Anna Sleeveless cowl, sweater # 3, from Adrienne Vittadini book 17.  It wasn't the pattern I originally had in mind.  I was thinking of a sweater by Colinette for  a fitted funnel-neck shell.  But the day this idea took hold of me, I scoured the house for that pattern, upending boxes and drawers of patterns, and generally creating mayhem with little success.  I found this Vittadini pattern, which worked in a pinch.  It was the right basic shape after all, and happened to work out to the same gauge as the the Decadent Fibers yarn so I didn't have to do any math.

 

Of course, when I went to put the blocking board away, two days ago, there was the Colinette pattern I originally wanted sitting right where it was supposed to be, silently mocking me.

This sweater was worked from front to back in one continuous piece. 

The Vittadini pattern did not call for any kind of edge stitching or finishing at the armholes but I found that unattractive so I finished them as follows:

    Knit One Row; Purl One Row, Cast Off knitwise.

I like that finish much better.

As for the cowl, I decided a cowl was fine, and preferable to a funnel neck in this bulky of a yarn.  The Vittadini cowl is a big floppy thing, you knit around the neckline, increasingly evenly, knitting a bit and increasing again.  I didn't like this neckline and ripped it out.

I wanted a shaped cowl, that did not stand up too tall in the back, and fit close to the back neck, and then was fuller in the front. 

Here is what I ended up with:

The back neckline is on the right and does not stand up very high.  I increased the height and fullness of the front by adding a series of short rows to shape the cowl.  I really like the end result,  (photographed with less than stellar results in the hotel room mirror).

What's Next?

Well, now that the Decadent Fibers Shell is on the blocking board, and therefore nearing completion, it is time to think of what projects are destined to be on the needles next.

I really want to start this project:

The shrug pattern is from the Bergere de France 2007/2008 CD and I am hoping to use this lovely pale green cotton tencel yarn, Premiere by Classic Elite.  The original goal was that this would be my "hotel project" and I would have another "home project" but at the moment this is my "translation project".  I didn't get started on the translation last night as I was just too tired.  It has been moved to the hotel, hopefully I can translate it there without frequent reference trips home to the world-wide web.  If not it will be delayed even further.

Needing something to start right away if the urge for night-time knitting struck, I also took  this Anny Blatt project with me to our "home away from home".

It is stockinette but there is a little bit of a color pattern so it is not completely boring.  I meant to start a gauge swatch last night, and did, only to realize that I had completely lost my head and taken the wrong size needles (size 9 UK is not the same as size 9 US)  I really do know the difference, and the pattern stated size 4 US and size 9 UK but I must have been more tired than I realized when I packed up my knitting bag.    This hauling of stuff back and forth will be the death of me yet I fear.

And for a home project, if I do any knitting at home, will be this sweater from the summer 2006 Rowan magazine:

I haven't gotten very far on this one either, in fact I am still winding the yarn into balls, but I should finish that today and be ready to start knitting tomorrow.  It doesn't look like it is going to be a particularly portable project anyway, best to leave it in the family room near my favorite chair and the TV. 

But aside from all these plans, Decadent Shell is now dry and I really should sew it up and put it together. 

Tomorrow.

Decadent Shell Progress

The Decadent Fibers Shell is on the blocking board.  I finished it this morning sitting in my new chair looking out over the Hudson River.  It is much more humid today than the last couple of days and I could only barely make out the Catskills in the distance, but there was a fair amount of boat traffic, both commercial and pleasure, on the river.

Here it is pinned to the blocking board but not not yet fully straightened (notice the wavy nature of the rows of reverse stockinette.)  There is a thunderstorm rolling in and I wanted to be sure to get a photo while there is still enough light. 

When I wet this down the sink  looked like I had filled it with some kind of deep red Kool-aide, and although I did change the water a few times, hoping to get all the dye out,  the towel I used  was once pale peach and now looks kind of cherry colored.  I hope it comes out of the wash fine, and I hope my blocking board does not end up with a red stain. 

Notice the remnants of yarn.  I knit from both balls simultaneously, alternating rows, but they are not equal.  Obviously there was not exactly the same number of yards in each skein.  It is OK, the larger ball is the one with more purple, and this will be the best one to have near my face when the cowl is finished.

Linen Tank

Cool linen tank.  Rumpled cotton pants.  Tired Mardel. 

The tank is really quite nice and I am very happy with it. 

Pattern by Ram Wools
Euroflax sport weight linen

The evening is still young but I can hardly keep my eyes open.  I have much to do but little energy.  There isn't even a movie in the house to sit and knit by...  Something will turn up I am sure.

Hot, Hot, Hot

I have three current projects in various stages of undone:

It is too hot to knit, even too hot to seam up the linen tank....too hot to do much of anything I am afraid.

We are having a record breaking heat spell -- it seems to be the trend this year, unseasonably cool, followed by unusual heat, seesawing back into another cool spell.  I suppose when we look back, the average temperature will be not much different from usual and people will wonder why we were so upset.

On top of everything the AC is on the fritz. 

Luckily I have a pool and a swimsuit, so that I can carry my personal cooling system around with me.  Swimsuit and a pair of pants or shorts and I can function in the house, which is hot.  And since the pool is only a few feet from the back door, frequent dips are in order.

After I started writing this I got a call from the A/C company.  They are sending someone out now, at 1:20, although if it is a problem in the condenser, they will have to come back first thing tomorrow, as I am sure it is already well over 100 in the attic.

And although I am working around the house, I am not one to sit around and mope, I am not working with my normal efficiency. Frequent dips and breaks are in order here.

Unfortunately those breaks have not including knitting or fiberly activity of any kind.

On Birthdays, years, and decades.

Today is my birthday.  And I am fortunate that I am spending it pretty much as I like -- not devoting my time to one particular task, but working on several things I wanted to work on, talking to friends and family, and generally having a very nice day.

Who could ask for more?

I did wind some yarn for one of my next projects:

You will be seeing more of this someday, probably soon, as soon as I get something finished.

49 seems like an odd number, an insignificant year, but it is ending up being a kind of important birthday for me.  I think I always go through this on the cusp of the decade change thing.  Oh I know that I have another year left in my 5th decade, and that 50 is the big number, the one everyone gets all excited about.  But I have never been one to make a big deal about those decade changes.  Each time I am looking forward to the next one.  50 will be big because I always thought I would be grown up by then.  I may be disappointed.  But then I have a year to prepare.

At 11:15 tonight I will have successfully completed my 49th year on this earth.  Although I will officially be 49 for the next year, meaning I have completed 49 years, I will also be starting to live through my 50th year at 11:16.  This is what I find so intriguing.  I will no longer be in my 40's.  They are done, finished, caput.  I am (or will be later today) 49 but I am embarking on my 50th year.  It is the same kind of thing as that decade thing.  When I turn 50 I will be beginning my 6th decade.  And now, I am still in my 5th decade, and I am 49 but I am actually beginning to live through my 50th year.  So although I am not yet at a milestone year, and I am not yet beginning a new decade, I am still, in one sense, saying goodbye to my 40's.  I have done with them.   Isn't this fun? 

Am I the only weird person who finds this interesting?  Being 49 is kind of like being in some in between place, neither here nor there.  My 50th year is the end of my 5th decade, and my 50th birthday is still a year away.  But my 40's are gone.  What happens next?  If you read old gravestones, you sometimes find "he died in the 50th year of his life" meaning, well, that he was 49.  He made it partway through the 50th year but didn't reach the birthday, he didn't make it to the milestone.   

I guess I see these "9" years as interesting precisely because of these juxtapositions of the measurement of time.  Being 49 is kind of an in-between place, no longer in my 40's, beginning my 50's but not yet in my 6th decade, not yet 50. Kind of like I am in training for being 50. 

Well, I have a year to practice being the person I want to be when I am 50. I hope it will be enough time.

Fiberly pursuits and the life well-lived

You know, I was going to write yesterday but there was just so much work to do, and I was determined to get it done so that I could take time off for FUN things.  Well by the time I got caught up with actual work I was sick of my desk and sick of my computer and unwilling to spend any more time here, even for a blog post. 

I have been working on the linen tank:

I finished the body of the front and was up to the armhole shaping yesterday morning, when this photo was taken.  I am actually about half-way up to the neckline by now so the front is going much more easily than the back, mostly because the interesting landmarks are more evenly distributed on a front than on a back.  I am getting excited about finishing even though I know there is still a fair amount of knitting to do.

I've been doing other things as well, of course.  My interest in purging and cleaning has continued apace and I took another large load of things to my local donation center this week.  It is always hard, finding that happy medium between having enough and having too much, and deciding what is of value and what is not.  When I am in the right frame of mind it is usually best to take advantage, as opposed to those times that I am upset or otherwise stressed and am just discarding for the sake of venting frustrations. 

I have also been reading again and it is a conflict in time of course.  I can knit to a book on tape, but there remains nothing as nice as holding a good book in the hands, and turning the pages while savoring the prose.  Last weekend I was savoring the prose of Michael Chabon, as I moved up the queue in the local library system a little faster than I had anticipated, and The  Yiddish Policeman's Union arrived in my hands on Friday.  Now that was a GOOD book, and there is nothing quite like a good read to calm and refresh the spirit.

I suppose I am a dinosaur, with my interest in books and fibers, the pleasures of actually making things with my hands, and reading an actual book rather than staring dumbly at a screen and reading the text.  But sometimes it seems there is too much pressure to do more and more and more.  And with that brings more emphasis on instant gratification.  Click and read.  Buy online and ship FedEx and so forth and so on.  Stay on top of all the news of the world.  Sometimes I think it really does us no good to actually know everything that is going on as it is going on in the world, it just increases our stress and our sense of helplessness. 

Increasingly I am convinced that the life well lived is not the life with the most things crammed into it.

But here it is, the Fourth of July, Independence Day.  And I am happy to be a citizen of this country, and I am proud of those who we celebrate on this day.  And because of the efforts of those earlier great visionaries, I can spend the day with books and yarn and fabric.