No knitting today
Yesterday while I was trying to carve a dress form out of plastic foam (don't ask), I cut the end of my left thumb and the ball of my left forefinger, so no knitting, sewing, or much typing today. Damn. What am I going to
do?
finishing up, still deciding
I'm working on my SIL's vest for my bro and am up to the ribbing around the neck. I'll be glad to be done with it, since I'm doing it as a favor and to learn a few things, but I'm not otherwise invested in it.
But I'm mulling over what to make with the recycled silk. There's a free pattern for a very lacy stole that is tempting. Or a hat? I see it as maybe crocheted with a brim. Or combine it with another yarn for a top? Petting the yarn, playing with it, and planning what to do with it are almost as much fun as making something!
Wonderful Secret Pal
I spent the last two days on Cape Cod cleaning out my parents' house. (My mother died a year and a half ago, and my father has been living in Assisted Living near me, and we hadn't gotten around to clearing out the house....) It was physically and emotionally difficult.
So imagine how wonderful it was to find my gift certificate to Knit Pixie when I got back! It was a bit of spoiling that I really needed. I've wanted to try the recycled silk yarn ever since I first saw it, so I got some. Stay tuned for pictures of something gorgeous in progress.
Band concert
Imagine a Norman Rockwell picture of a New England Greek Revival-style white church perched on a hillside in the country. In front of it, a town band in red shirts played to an audience of old people, band family members, and some young couples with toddlers. We don't have any colored leaves yet in our area, but on the other hand, by the time we do it's usually a bit cool to play outside. We did our usual show of marches, show tunes and oldies, and a few patriotic things; whenever we got to these, the equally rabid liberal trombone who sits next to me and I muttered snarky comments.
I enjoy these concerts as much for the company as the music. It's fun to watch the youngest trumpet player (11 years old) as his cheeks turn red while he reaches for the high notes. Our director embarrassed the bass drum by mentioning her wedding next Saturday. And the french horn (otherwise known as Jerry, my husband) turned around and made faces every time the trombones smeared our notes.
Haven't yet figured out how to knit and play trombone at the same time.
new project
Last spring I bought 10 balls of Filatura di Cosa merino in dark blue for a vest for some man in my family. Turned out no one wanted a vest, so I'm making me a sweater. Easy Knitting, fall 2004, "The Color Purple", listed as Intermediate, I guess because it has some shaping and cables up the front. I've done shaping and have wanted to try cables, so this looks like a good project, and something I'll actually wear. I'll see how much yarn I have left after the body and if necessary chop the sleeves off to elbow length. I'm assuming the blond hair and white teeth come with the pattern, right?
I started a couple of nights ago and am almost half way up the back (no cables, just stockinette). It goes fast, and I love the merino. I didn't think I could wear pure wool, but this is great.
No picture, because the back of a sweater in dark blue in progress looks like... the back of a sweater in dark blue in progress.
further (final) saga of the froggy sweater
I drove down to visit my DIL and GS yesterday, listening to the hearings on soon-to-be Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts. I think he'd be witty and charming to sit next to at a dull, formal dinner party -- and I'm scared shitless at the thought of his becoming Chief Justice. We're going to lose right to abortion plus a lot of other rights with him plus whoever else Bush puts in as the other justice. We live in scary times. Still, listening to him and cursing back at him kept me awake during the drive.
Here is GS in his sweater, more or less, and he gets extra points for letting us try it on him on the hottest day of the month so far. He's just wonderful (I may have mentioned that before).
On the way back I stopped at my LYSS (local yarn superdooper store), where I had a gift certificate, and got overwhelmed. Finally got some variegated yarn for a vest and (the big bargain) a 1 and some pound cone of gold-colored wool, enough for a sweater, for only $12 -- and I have some of the gift certificate left!
So now I have good projects to plan while I finish the finishing on my SIL and DD's projects (learned how to do a 3-needle bindoff yesterday), and if the weather will ever cool down, I'll
really get into knitting.
And I got my SP spoilee and have heard from my SP spoiler. This is going to be fun!
I did it! (I think)
This is Miles's froggy sweater and cap, without the kermit eyes (maybe I can find some online? Make them from fima clay?) and the buttons or ties on the sweater.
It didn't take
quite as long to upload the picture as to knit the sweater, but I think I have the trick now, so I'll be able to be like all the other knitters with blogs and show my WIP and disasters. (This is fun.)
Now I'm trying to figure what to knit next. I have some filatura di cosa worsted weight, enough for a vest, but not enough for a sweater. It's dark blue (it was on sale, not my color, but merino, and so nice and soft that I thought that it was worth a try. So my question is whether to make a vest or to get some more equivalent yarn in another color and make a sweater. Two questions, actually: which would I get more use out of, and what can I do to relieve the boredom of the second sleeve?
Questionnaire
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I love wool and mohair, but they make me itch. I like blends and soft acrylics. I'm fascinated by the high-class novelty yarns (bamboo, soy and things like that) but haven't actually tried any yet.2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I don't spin, but I do crochet, though less now that I've gotten into knitting.3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Yes (cats) but I have two cats and won't give them up. It's just a small cough.4. How long have you been knitting?
Wow, it's been about two and a half years!5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No.6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
No bath products (no tub); I generally like unobtrusive scents. Nothing too sweet.7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Dark chocolate without anything mixed in.8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I did a lot of needlepoint for years, but have pretty much given it up. I'm interested in trying beading or knitting/crocheting with beads.9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like jazz, classical, opera, new age, indie rock, reggae-derivatives, world -- everything except harpsichords, jazz violin, techno, most hiphop/rap, most country; but I'm willing to be converted. If the computer doesn't play MP3s, I bet I can make it learn how.10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I'm an Autumn or maybe a Winter. I especially like glowing teals and burnt oranges and warm purples.11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Married, grown children, one wonderful grandson, two cats.12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
Finish writing the book(s), publish (have written and published three so far); learn how to make consistently good piecrust; have more good years like the one I'm in the middle of.13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
????14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Rough yarns that won't slide off the needles.15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
See my last post. Learning to do a professional finish.16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Whatever I'm working on.17. What are you knitting right now?
Momentarily between projects. It's been 12 hours, and I'm beginning to feel itchy.18. What do you think about ponchos?
I've managed to resist the impulse to make one, mostly because I have no idea where I'd wear it.19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Denise circulars, almost exclusively.20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
See above.21. Are you a sock knitter?
Not yet, but I'm tempted.22. How did you learn to knit?
Long story: the nuns in my 2nd grade class during my year in Luxemburg taught me continental style, my mother told me it was wrong and tried to teach me American style, I was disgusted and gave up for 40 plus years, then decided to try to knit until I could get that great meditative state everyone talked about. What I didn't realize was that achieving that great meditative state would get me hooked on knitting. So here I am. (I knit continental.)23. How old is your oldest UFO?
It's actually a needlepoint project which I haven't worked on for 3 years.24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Shrek25. What is your favorite holiday?
Thanksgiving.26. Is there anything that you collect?
I don't collect. I accumulate. One of my life dreams, I think, is to get rid of stuff. I'm not succeeding.27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None.28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
I buy/borrow (but have managed not to steal) any I want that much.29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another??
Ditto.
Finish up time
I finished knitting the baby sweater last night, but our small town (two sewing/craft shops) doesn't seem to have Kermit eyes.
I'm in a finishing mood, which is good, because I have to put the baby sweater together, and I promised both my daughter and my sister-in-law that I'd finish/put together/block their latest projects. Well, my SIL's project is a vest she started for my brother something like 11 years ago, before they got married (she isn't superstitious, just better at starting projects than finishing them) so there's some question as to whether he can still wear it. I'll block it big. And my D's gorgeous fairisle sweater is something far beyond my abilities, but when she got to the unpatterned part of the sleeves she just kept increasing. Interesting effect, but she was totally disgusted and gave me the sweater to finish and keep. I redid the sleeves and just need to do the loose ends; I think by the time the weather gets cooler she'll be ready to see it back again.
I really need to figure out how to post pictures. Everyone else's blogs have cool pictures of WIPs ("This is my Shetland lace shawl, and this one is what it looks like today after I knit five more inches on it.")
back from Labor Day
We celebrated our anniversary and Labor Day by going down to a resort a couple of hours away; and we really were away. No radio or tv reception, and the cell phone doesn't work there. We had beautiful weather for sitting around the pool, taking walks, and the wild party thrown by the RVers in the "ghetto" part of the park on Sunday. But the conversation around the pool was about Katrina and the slow response by the government to the disaster -- and, because of the number of RVers, about the cost of gasoline. I'd assumed that most of the other campers were more to the right than I am, but I guess not. One of our friends, with whom we've never talked politics, said, "You know, even if a person was really conservative, this situation might make him rethink his position," so maybe there is hope.
We got back to find that it hadn't all gone away, that the disaster is even worse than it seemed when we left. What a mess.
Just before I left I checked Afghans for Afghans, and found out that they only want things made of pure wool, which I think is ridiculous. They say that acrylic isn't as warm and doesn't wear as well. They don't know cheap acrylic. Grandma died almost fifteen years ago, and her afghans, rough and scratchy, and with a smell almost like gasoline, go on forever; but maybe that's what they mean. I've made a baby afghan and a baby sweater which will now go to another charity.
The green baby sweater in two shades of green is going to be cute. Jerry suggested a matching hat with Kermit eyes, and I think I have enough yarn....
disasters
My heart goes out to the victims of Katrina and to the Iraqis caught in the bridge disaster. It's always the poor and helpless who get slammed the worst, and those of us who are so much more fortunate feel helpless. I checked KR and people are already writing about knitting for the victims (while others point out more reasonably that it's so hot that afghans are the last thing they need -- but the way I knit it'll be cold enough by the time I have an afghan done). In the mean time, I guess all I can do is a contribution to the Red Cross and Medecins sans Frontieres.
