Librarian-in-Training

It's the process

2011-05-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most knitters have heard about the difference between process and product knitters. Process knitters knit for the sake of knitting and aren't terribly concerned with the finished project. If a project is boring or not working out or not enjoyable for whatever reason, a process knitter will usually just stop knitting it. This often makes them bad deadline and gift knitters.

Product knitters, on the other hand, are in it for the finished item. They will endure tedium, endless ripping and reknitting, cramped hands, and yarn that doesn't feel good to knit with, all for the sake of the end result.

Guess which kind I am? Yeah. Process knitter all the way. Which makes me 1) likely to give away my knitted items - on the rare occasions I actually finish something - because I don't really care about the end result and 2) extraordinarily likely to grow bored, frustrated or give up when the knitting isn't going my way.

And yes, it also makes me an extraordinarily tardy gift knitter. As I believe has been amply demonstrated in the past.

Given my aversion to knitting that isn't both easy and fun, I've surprised myself by undertaking (and sticking with) a pattern that I'm genuinely not enjoying: Annis, from Knitty.

Through no fault of the pattern or the designer, I hate knitting this thing. I hate the slippery metal needles. I hate the long purl back rows. And I hate all the nupps. Good lord do I hate the nupps.

It's possible I've even begun referring to the pattern as "Anus." Which is fitting, because in this pink, it bears a disturbing resemblance to a pile of intestines:

Yum!

The sad part is, I was excited about the nupps at first. I'd never made a nupp. I was going to learn something new! It was going to be great fun! And, wow, was I wrong.

Now, if you've never nupped, a nupp* is made by repeatedly knitting and yarn-overing into the same stitch to create (in the case of Anus, er, Annis), 7 stitches out of 1. On the purl back row, you PURL ALL OF THE STITCHES YOU JUST MADE TOGETHER. This makes a wee nub on your knitting, kind of like a bobble, but flatter.

The problem is: Purling three stitches together is pushing it. But seven? Pure horror.

For the first few nupps, I was sure it was actually impossible to correctly execute a purl 7 together. Surely, this was some sort of cruel joke. Then I realized I could do it (slowly and excruciatingly) if I used a size 2 needle. The first nupp row (with 30 nupps total) took me two hours. Then I did the same thing with another ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY NUPPS.

But now I can proudly say two things: First, I have made nupps my bitch.

And more importantly, I never, ever have to knit another one as long as I live. Such is the joy of being a process knitter.

* If you're curious about the difference between nupps and bobbles, or want an explanation involving less distracting use of the word "anus", Knitpicks has a nifty bit about them here.

Just a jump to the left

2011-05-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting a really lovely pair of socks, my second pair of Artichoke Socks, in Madelinetosh Tosh Sock (colorway "Kale", or as I like to think of it, "KALE!!!"). I've touted the charms of this pattern before: it's pretty, easily memorizable, charmingly symmetrical, and shows off a lightly variegated yarn like nobody's business.

Also, being the giant dork about vegetables that I am, it pleases me to no end to knit "Artichoke" socks in a colorway called "Kale".

And while I thoroughly enjoyed the last pair I knit in Shibui Sock, it's even more pleasing in Madelinetosh, which somehow even in the dark smoky purple-grey Kale colorway glows with a magical inner light possessed by no other 100% wool yarn I've ever seen.

I swear there's some silk snuck into the mix. Or some obscure alchemy on the part of the dyer. Whatever it is, it's wonderful and I want many, many more balls of the stuff.

The one problem I've had is that the pattern is kind of a pain to work on DPNs. Each row starts with a Purl 1, which always looks bad at the beginning of a needle (if you're me). After that P1, there's a few columns of ribbing, then the symmetrical front of leg pattern, then a few more columns of ribbing, then the same symmetrical branching leaves pattern on the back of the leg. Using 4 DPNs, the logical way to divide the pattern among 3 needles seemed to be:

Needle 1: purl 1, ribbing, first half of leaf pattern
Needle 2 (1/2 of stitches): second half of leaf pattern, ribbing, first half of leaf pattern
Needle 3: ribbing, second half of leaf pattern, ribbing

For whatever reason, I could not grasp this set-up. I kept bungling the second half of the leaf pattern because logically (to me) needle 2 is the start of the front of the leg and should always start with the FIRST half of a repeat. I do realize this is not actually true, but my brain and hands were quite insistent that this was absolutely the case and kept sneaking in a K2TOG where there should have been a SSK.

There was a really obvious solution to this: I scootched things a bit to the left, so that the entire front of the leg was on needle 2.

And just like that, with a wee shift, suddenly the pattern flowed for me in a way that it absolutely hadn't before.

In keeping with my knitting, my job search has taken a jump to the left as well. For most of my career, I've worked in the corporate world: a corporate law firm, a multi-national consulting company, a fine publisher of cooking magazines and cookbooks, back to the multi-national consulting company, etc.

In keeping with this corporate background, I'd applied for a bunch of jobs in my field: enterprise-level HR information systems analysis. And I'd gotten exactly 0 bites. Not one damn phone call.

This was disheartening.

Until I thought about it differently - I never really felt like the corporate world was a good fit for me. I went to library school specifically because I was interested in rabble-rousing activist public library work. Helping corporations make more money for the sake of making money never seemed like a great way to spend one's life.

And suddenly, there it was: I should be applying at nonprofits. And just like that, everything shifted - every job I've applied for I've gotten an interview. Several interviews in most cases.

I think maybe the universe is trying to tell me something...

Socks, some sadness and such

2011-03-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

I recently received an unsubtle (but charming) request for bloggery from one of my favoritest knitting ladies. It's appropriate, then, that I have something to show off that she in particular would appreciate.

Behold! The finished Nutkins.

Specs: Nutkin, size 2 Harmony wood DPNS, Ancient Threads Bambu fingering. Mods: Added one pattern repeat, and subbed standard cuff, heel and toe.

Because I rule at gift knitting, these socks were promised to my friend Kelley for her birthday last March, at which point I let her choose her favorite yarn from my entire sock yarn stash. At the time, I was pleased and a little chagrined and kind of surprised
when she chose the Ancient Threads yarn.

Pleased because suddenly I would be knitting it, after letting it languish in the stash for many years. Chagrined because I would not be knitting it for me. Mostly I was surprised, as Kelley's tastes run very heavily towards the purple end of the color spectrum. To the point where several friends have unsuccessfully attempted a purple intervention. I, on the other hand, support her purple fetish, as I have much the same relationship with the color green. And pork products. And IT guys.

Anyway, despite the extraordinarily long time I took to knit these socks (over a year, people, so please never ever feel bad about missing a knitting deadline), I loved knitting them. Every few stitches brought a new and amazing color. The dyer uses all natural dyes, like osage, cochineal and cutch ("Cutch" being a word I can't say, type or think about with chortling a little). The colors are amazing, and unlike any other dyes I've seen.

And this brings me back to my knitting friend, who[m?] I haven't seen in far too long. She's wonderful in pretty much every way someone can be wonderful. She has a remarkable combination of personal warmth, intelligence and a brilliant sense of humor that's pretty irresistible. She's also a motherfucking badass spinner and knitter.

Every time I picked up the socks that I was knitting for Kelley, I thought of my other friend. This friend and I have very similar color sensibilities *cough* seventies appliances *cough*. In fact, both of us bought this yarn at Mass Sheep and Wool, in almost identical colorways, several years ago. At the time, I thought her skein was slightly prettier and may have experienced an uncharitable burst of fiery hatred and envy for a second when she clutched it to her bosom and declared it the most beautiful thing in the world. That passed as soon as I realized my yarn had its own considerable charms. And in fact, we were both so smitten with the colors of our yarn that we were inspired to try natural dyeing ourselves, using the same dyes as were used in this yarn.

This wonderful friend also had an extraordinarily tragic event in her personal life in the past year I've been knitting these socks. And, being awkward and clumsy with emotions and unsure what to say or how to say it, I sent her stilted condolences and little else. But I thought of her. When I picked up the socks, I thought about how colossally unfair it is that this incredibly warm, vibrant, joyful woman could have something so awful happen to her. I thought about how sad and angry and disappointed she must be, and how I really can't begin to understand her loss. It's a sad and awful thing that I would not wish on anyone, but it's especially horrible that it happened to someone I like and admire so much.

And then, mostly, I thought about how very much I like her, and how much I miss her. And how my life has been better (and funnier and sillier and more filled with joy) for having her in it. And I wished there was something I could do to help her.

But I realize now that I can do something, which is tell her that I was thinking of her, with every stitch, and every time I looked at the yarn. And I am sending my love.

Damn it feels good to be a finisher

2011-01-19T13:04:00.000-08:00

A mere 17 months after casting on, I'm pleased and proud to announce that I've finally finished the Chevron Scarf! I obviously haven't been knitting this scarf constantly for the last year and a half. For many months, I wasn't in the mood to work on it at all. And a fingering weight scarf is mighty slow going, even on size 6 needles.

Last-minute gift, my ass.

Specs: the ubiquitous Chevron Scarf, from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. J Knits Superwash Me Light Sock, in the Reno and Colorado colorways. US 6 needles. Final length after blocking 80" (it stretched almost 8 inches in blocking). No mods, except - for some reason I now can't recall - I went up a needle size. Which makes this a relatively lightweight scarf, perfect for the Bay Area's perpetual early fall temperatures.

J Knits sock yarn comes in huge skeins - 500+ yards each. So I've got a whole lot of both balls left over. There may be matching mitts in the near future.

There's a reason so many people knit this thing - it's easy, beautiful, and a brilliant (non-sock) use for your variegated sock yarns. If you're the sort that's both enamored of variegated yarns and bothered by pooling (I am that sort), this is totally the pattern for you.

And I promise it doesn't actually take a year and a half to knit.

Fits and starts

2011-01-05T15:11:00.000-08:00

Forgoing the usual "Wow! I can't believe it's been so long!" comment, let's just jump straight into the knitting.

I've got good stuff on the needles these days. Well, some good stuff. And some, uh, less good stuff. As usual.

First on the needles are birthday socks for Kelley, a pretty pair of Nutkins. I've just started the second sock, after a rather long post-first-sock hiatus.

The yarn, Ancient Threads Bambu, is unutterably lovely, and constantly entertaining to knit. Every four stitches or so, another gorgeous color!

Kelley's birthday is in early March, so finishing them doesn't seem like much of a challenge. Except these socks were promised to her for her last birthday. So...yeah. I win at gift knitting. Forever.

In the "less good" category, we have my mom's Charades, knit in Crystal Palace Maizy Print. Since the gauge for this yarn is the same as the last Charades I knit for her, (using Panda Cotton Print - another Crystal Palace yarn), I reasoned that I could expect similar results with this new yarn.

Just to clarify the idiocy level this assumption is operating at, let's compare the fiber content of these two yarns:

- Panda Cotton: 59% Bamboo, 25% Cotton, 16% Nylon

- Maizy: 82% corn fiber, 18% elastic nylon

See? Nothing alike, really. Despite the rather, er, glaring differences between the old yarn and the new yarn, I merrily cast on the same number of stitches for what - I hoped - would be a very similar pair of socks. Because how different could TOTALLY DIFFERENT YARN be? Lalalalala I can't hear you....

Amazingly enough, at first it looked like my master plan would work out. I had my mom try on the first sock during her last visit, and it fit well. I was cruising along through the foot. All seemed right in the world.

But it turns out, this yarn slowly but oh-so-surely stretches like a motherfucker:

After trying it on a few more times, it seemed, well...a little big...

After a few more times, even bigger yet...in fact...Holy shit! Gigantic! (yes, both my rather wide feet do fit into one sock intended for my narrow-footed mom)...

Perhaps this yarn is not actually destined to be a sock.

I hope my mom will enjoy the nice scarf it will become.

Finally, there is a sweater. Previously blogged about and not much progressed since then. Here's the bottom cable band, all knit up and ready for the body stitches to be picked up.

I'm tinkering a bit with the pattern to better match Kelley's measurements, and we haven't managed to get her, the knitting, the pattern, sufficient sobriety, and the desire to measure in the same place at the same time until very recently.

I assume, given my facility with math and the humors of the knitting gods, that all this tinkering may turn out disastrously. But now I have her measurements, a giant swatch and a hoodie she likes to compare measurements to, so perhaps I will actually knit something resembling a well-fitted sweater. Optimism! Baseless naive hope! Potato. Po-tah-to.

Life, like knitting these days, seems to be a series of usually hopeful, occasionally stuttering starts, with a lot of lag time where not much seems to happen.

I finished my contract gig with my corporate masters in September. I decided to take a few months off before looking for work, and that stretched into another month and another. Being unemployed is equal parts fabulous and disconcerting. I never realized that working for a living was actually an important part of my identity. I never thought of my systems analyst gigs as a "career" or a major part of who I was, but not working at all feels very, very strange. I gave myself until after New Year's to just relax and enjoy being unemployed, but the job search will start up again soon.

I've also been dating a bit, which is instructive, terrifying and entertaining, as always. Nothing clicked for quite awhile, but I did make a good friend out of the whole process. And I hesitate to jinx it, but I recently met a guy I quite like. It's early yet, but we seem to be a really good fit so far.

The knitting, the job, the guy...I'm looking forward to seeing how all this turns out.

When you look up hubris in the dictionary...

2010-10-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure you'll see my picture. I've started knitting a sweater.

Some of you may recall the rather, er, painful experience I had with my first sweater. But undeterred (or, only deterred for three years*), I've started another sweater.

This sweater, the Providence Hoodie, from New England Knits.

Let's look at the series of mistakes I've already made:

1. I read the instructions and thought "Hey, I can totally knit this! It's actually really easy!"

2. I knit and blocked a huge swatch - IN PATTERN - and got gauge bang-on, with the recommended needle size. Given how tightly I knit, this is a clear violation of all the laws of physics and/or an especially cruel joke.

3. The knitting is going really well. I've finished the bottom cable band, about the equivalent of half a cabled scarf (I hate knitting scarves). And I'm thoroughly enjoying every single damn stitch.

4. The friend I'm knitting it for loves it, too. She named the swatch ("Swatchy"), and carried it around with her all day when I showed it to her. She's also received periodic photo updates on the cabling and remains madly in love with it.

See what I mean? I think we can all expect an especially spectacular fuck-up any day now. Because the knitting gods surely will not stand for this.

* Jesus, I'm a pussy.

She gets it

2010-10-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

I may have received the single best compliment a knitter could ever receive.

My BFF Quinn called me up last week to tell me she wore her new scarf and socks. First, she mentioned that several people complimented her on the scarf. They touched and admired it and praised the skill of the knitter (we knitters love hearing that). She also gave them a peek at the sparkly fairy princess socks (it takes a especially knitting-friendly person to also show off the usually invisible handknit socks), garnering more praise for the knits and the knitter.

All this was lovely to hear, but the best was yet to come. She said:

"It was cold. And I had all these great things you made. It felt like I was wrapped in cozy warm love the whole time."

Aaaaaww....

How knitters say "I love you"

2010-09-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

My darling BFF Quinn recently left California for a two year postdoc in Michigan. While I am enormously proud of her success, I haven't really processed her departure in any meaningful way except "Michigan cold. Make handknits."

In fact, so far mostly I just pretend she's on a really long vacation. Denial aside, I did manage to knit a few goodies to keep her warm.

First up, the Ribs and Ruffles Scarf. This is a clever pattern that includes no purling whatsoever and yet makes a reversible rib-like scarf that magically doesn't look like garter stitch. Whoa!

The end result? A fine, cozy and fucking gigantic scarf.

I haven't knit on such big needles in years. Another blogger once said knitting on huge needles felt like pantomiming knitting for someone with bad eyesight who was standing very far away (sorry, I can't remember who said it). And that's exactly what it felt like. Despite that, the pattern itself is rather hypnotic, and I quite like the end result. Sadly, I don't actually need a scarf this chunky in California, or I would knit it over and over again.

And the yarn? Barely plied, super soft Malabrigo in gorgeous blues and purples. I think we can all imagine how very delightful that was.

Specs: Malabrigo Rasta in the Abril colorway. Size 15 needles. Final length: a whopping 84 inches. Completed in three nights of knitting. Take that, hateful Irish Hiking Scarf.

Quinn is also the lucky recipient of the sparkly fairy princess socks. Now completed in all their twinkly glory.

Specs: Yarn, Berroco Sox Metallic, colorway 1357. Size 2 harmony wood DPNs. My standard sock recipe, 68 stitch cast-on with an eye-of-partridge heel. Girly, girly perfection.

Both the scarf and the socks were semi-gifted to, and heartily approved by, Quinn about a month ago. Meaning I showed them to her, let her pat them and try them on, then kept them for their final photo shoot. Because if it hasn't been blogged, it's like I never knit it at all.

In my usual fashion, I did finally delivered them to her. Two days before she moved, on the hottest day we had all year. Just the kind of day you want to receive a hefty pile of woolens.

So I hope you enjoy them, pumpkin, and that they keep you warm. Because that's how knitters say "I love you, man."

It was bound to happen eventually

2010-03-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

I spent a solid twenty minutes last night digging around for my current sock-in-progress.

It was eventually located. Behind the couch cushions.

Jabbed firmly into the back of the couch.

I suppose it could have been worse. I could have located the pointy little fuckers with my ass.

Sigh.

In which I surprise myself

2010-03-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

I've joked before that the secret to my happiness is low standards and minimal expectations.

Despite this, I fully intended to challenge myself for the Knitting Olympics. I chose a project I knew I could finish, if I just devoted a moderate amount of time to knitting. Since I haven't been devoting much time to knitting, I figured this would be a fair challenge. I cast on the day after the opening ceremonies. And, much to my surprise I finished it a week later.

So it is with a glow of knitterly pride that I present Gold Medal the First: Just Enough Ruffles.

Details: Lobster Pot Yarns Hand-Dyed Cashmere (gifted to me ages ago by the very thoughtful and knit-friendly boyfriend I had at the time), size 9 32" Chiaogoo metal circular needle. Mods: none, unless you want to pretend "picking up the wraps incorrectly" is a modification. So yes, let's pretend the funky pick-ups were intentional, for, uh, added textural interest.

A stylin' scarf, if I do say so myself. Even modeled in a hoodie.

Thoughts: This is a nice, straightforward pattern, mostly stockinette so it really shows off a lightly variegated hand-dyed yarn. The pattern has some nifty short row shaping to give it a nice neck-drapey crescent shape, which had the added benefit of spicing up the endless stockinette. It definitely seemed kind of endless at times, despite substantial amounts of Torchwood being watched. I should remind myself that if I knit this again and think "HEY! I've only got three rows to go," I should remember that all three are 600 stitch purl rows and one of them is a purlwise bind-off. Those are some long-ass rows.

Since the first project went so well, I figured I should just continue with the red cashmere theme. So, with pride verging on glee, may I present my second Gold Medal project, also completed well before the closing ceremonies: A Noble Cowl.

Details: Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 4-ply, in a gorgeous true red that my camera refuses to capture, knit on a size 6 16" Chiaogoo metal circular needle.

Thoughts: This is another sweet little pattern (the original is written out, not charted, but the ravelry pattern page includes a link to a chart, if that's what you prefer). Quick and fun. Plus, I think I finally get the cowl thing. Cowls have many of the same virtues as knitting socks: portability, minimal purling, fun patterns and textures, and you can get an entire project out of one skein of yarn, so it's a perfect use for a special skein of something delicious.

I'm damn impressed with myself for finishing both these projects in the allotted time and almost wish it would be colder so I'd have a reason to wear them (almost, not quite). The only downside to all this cashmere knitting is that I may be spoiled for other yarns. Picture knitting with a cloud made of orgasms, only better. And less obscene. Good lord, so much better.

I may have to go buy myself some Malabrigo, just to ease myself back into regular wool.

Technology is hard

2010-02-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

You've probably noticed I'm not great about responding to blog comments. I'm trying to be better, and I've been really, really good about it on my last three posts.

You may be saying "Hey, I commented. I didn't get a response. Why is she such a lying liar face?"

The question you should be asking is "How can a systems analyst be so technologically incompetent as to send almost all replies to noreplycomment@blogger.com?"

Note to self: LOOK AT THE EMAIL ADDRESS BEFORE HITTING SEND.

Knitting content resuming next post. I've got two gorgeous red cashmere goodies to show off. And if you admire them as much as I do, I promise this time I'll thank you for the compliments.

On Jesus, bacon and such

2010-02-17T20:00:00.000-08:00

Awhile back, I blogged about how very much I like my friend Sarah. And, because she is indeed just as awesome as I said she was, lookie what she sent me in the mail last week! Holy mother of fucking awesome!

You may have guessed that I'm not especially religious. Or Mexican. So this might seem like kind of an odd gift. But actually, it's absolutely perfect.

To put it in perspective, these are just a few of the similar items in the house. And I really have to emphasize just a few. I may not be crazy Jesus lady, but I sure collect like one.

Plus, did you see? The Day of the Dead skeletons are drinking!

Finally, my views on crochet are well known. It's not my thing, but it's fine if that's the kind of thing you enjoy. I don't mind. Not at all. Really, it's totally ok if you crochet. IF YOU WANT JESUS TO CRY. Ahem. Kidding. Anyway, Sarah may have proven me wrong.

Yup. It's crocheted BACON. I giggle everytime I look at it. And it's gonna fit right in around here.

Thank you so much, Sarah!

Betcha didn't know

2010-02-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

I'm a sparkly fairy princess! Or at least I knit like one.

Basic stockinette sock. Berrocco Sox Metallic, in the "I'm a ten year old girl, let's trade puffy unicorn stickers" colorway. Or Color 1357, whatever. This has been a fast knit by my standards. Less than a week for the first leg. I'm completely enchanted by the colors, by the way the stripes aren't too perfect, by all the subtle gradations that can be achieved between pink and purple.

I also think this yarn would make a really fun scarf or shawl, if that's the kind of thing you're into. No judgment.

My only concerns so far are that the yarn seems a bit scratchy, and my ribbing looks like complete ass. My ribbing never looks great, but this is sort of ridiculous.

See? Ass.

Even the stockinette part is knitting up kind of, well, sloppy. And yes, I am choosing to blame this on the yarn. Hopefully it will even out after a good blocking. But for now! So pink! So sparkly!

And on a less girly note, I'm also considering joining the Knitting Olympics. Top project contenders include:

Endpaper Mitts: I have the yarn, and I haven't done any colorwork in ages. Problem: requires DPNs, and I know there will be unattractive laddering issues. Don't bother suggesting two circs or magic loop. That is not how I roll.

Just Enough Ruffles: 400 yards of cashmere in the stash. Plus, a chance to do battle with my nemesis, the "wrap and turn."

Rococo Socks: Pretty. And an excuse to buy the pattern.

Lenore: Dead sexy. Plus, I have two different skeins of Raven Clan STR calling my name, AND I already have the pattern.

We Call Them Pirates: The reasons should be obvious.

Extermiknit: Would make an excellent gift for many of the geeks in my life.

Pyroclastic: A damn fine-looking sock, plus a chance to try a new heel technique.

Technique-wise, none of these should be a huge challenge, but it will be a challenge for me to complete them in the allotted time, given how slow the knitting has been lately.

I'm leaning towards Just Enough Ruffles or Lenore, but the other patterns have much to recommend them.

Any other Olympians out there? What are you knitting?

Finding what fits

2010-02-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

Alternately titled: Yet more navel-gazing, now with bonus socks!

I was bitching about my job recently, as I do on (ahem) very rare occasions.

Now, I'm a systems analyst for a multi-national consulting company, and I've worked for them for 7 of the last 10 years. Yet somehow, I've never thought of this as The Job I Am Meant to Have. I should be a writer, or a cook, or an activist, or a ninja or, dear god, anything but a systems analyst.

I even got a masters degree in NOT BEING A SYSTEMS ANALYST.

BFF Quinn, the lucky recipient of my complaints, suggested I might want to let go of this sense of what I "should" be. It seemed like I was rejecting my job not because it actually sucked, but because the idea of it sucked. And my aversion to thinking of myself as a systems analyst was clearly getting in the way of enjoying what was actually good about my job.

Frankly, I was stunned. What if I embraced this whole systems analyst thing? What if I just thought of this job as something I was really good at and even - gasp! - could enjoy? What if I can make a decent living and still laugh every time I hear the word 'caulk', still say fuck way too often, and finish the bottle of wine way more than I should? I'd just be a foul-mouthed, tipsy systems analyst with a juvenile sense of humor. So, um, exactly the person I've been for most of the last ten years.

And that doesn't mean I can't still be a writer, and a cook, and all those other interesting things (shut UP, I so could too be a ninja). It just means I'd fully engage with my job and start considering it an actual career. i.e., I hear there's this thing called "networking" that people do. And that people sometimes seek out promotions and such because that's how you advance in your chosen career. Crazy!

The best part is, this is a lesson I should have already learned from knitting. I knit because I enjoy it, and mostly I don't worry about whether there is Knitting I Should Be Doing. Like making something more complicated, or something that isn't a tiny sock, or learning a new skill, or knitting for charity, or whatever. Knitting doesn't have to be anything more than something I like and am (occasionally) pretty good at.

Which brings me to my latest pair of socks. I've knit better, more complicated, and prettier socks. I've actually knit this pattern before, so I'm not even trying anything new. But these socks are the most me of anything I've ever made.

Charade. Knitpicks Superwash Bare Tweed, Koolaid-dyed by me (with a treasure-trove of lime green Koolaid from Double Helix). Size 2 Harmony wooden DPNs. Modifications: 72 stitch cast-on, garter and eye of partridge heel. Fucking fantastic.

Lime green hand-knit tweed socks. It doesn't get any better than that. For me.

And it doesn't need to, either.

There's no place like the last place I lived

2010-01-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

I know I've posted about this before, but bear with me...

I've spent roughly a third of my life in three places: Arizona, southern Oregon and Massachusetts. Now I've started a new chapter here in California. And I'm still not sure which, if any, of these places is home.

Of all the places I lived, I always said I liked New England the least. So I was mighty surprised to find myself referring to Boston as "back home" recently. It didn't even feel like home when I lived there, so why, after spending a week in Arizona with my mom, chatting with a transplanted Cape Codder, on a shuttle back to my Oakland apartment, was Boston, suddenly, "home"?

Up until September, Boston was the only place I've really lived as an adult. I had my first grown-up job there, rented my first apartment, shacked up with a guy, learned how to cook and knit and unraveled the arcana of library science. I still have a lot of really good friends there.

So does all of that make it home?

When I was in Arizona, the food, the Spanish street names, the astonishing spread of the sky overhead, the adobe houses and javelinas, horned toads and gila monsters: it was all so familiar and somehow right.

But does familiar make it home?

And then there's Oregon. Where I exchanged ardent and anguished love letters with a boy I'd known since seventh grade. The place where I smoked my first cigarette and pierced my nose. Where I wore shitkicker boots and ripped jeans and bewailed the tedium of small-town life in an endless series of coffee shops. The place where my father died.

But does that history make it home?

And what of California? Will it take another ten years, and moving to yet another state, for me to call it home?

I say no, damnit. I will not be writing maudlin blog posts ten years from now about how California never felt like home. I hereby resolve to explore and fully enjoy my new home.

First on my to-do list? Finding good steamed pork buns in Oakland.

What? Everyone has their priorities.

I like Sarahland

2009-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about my friend Sarah a lot recently, and I thought I'd share just a few of the ways in which she's fantastic.

First of all, she's whip-smart, funny and pleasingly neurotic. Further, she has excellent and adventurous taste in food, and a keen appreciation for both Joss Wheedon's entire oeuvre and the wankability of Alton Brown.

Despite her continuing and willful refusal to knit socks, she is actually a fine and eclectic knitter. From silk scarves to toy chickens to fair-isle mitts, her knitting is varied, lovely and a genuine pleasure to watch roll off the (circular) needles.

Further, she has an appreciation for and deft hand with googly eyes, the likes of which I have never seen.

She also has feet that I hope will be really, really happy in these socks.

And finally, in case there's any doubt about just how likeable Sarah is: these mother#&%@ing socks fit me beautifully.

I can only hope that she'll enjoy them as much as I do. And perhaps she'll be inspired to make some of her own some day...

And this is why I stash

2009-10-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

I think non-knitters have trouble with the stash concept. To non-knitters, having yarn and not knitting it means you do not like that yarn.

If a non-knitter gifted that yarn to a knitter, it might seem like the knitter doesn't really like the yarn at all. For example, a particular friend of mine just can't understand why I would ignore the 400 yards of gorgeous cashmere he gave me. He thinks I don't like the cashmere.

Knitters know not liking cashmere is impossible. But I do think there are several factors at work in the stashing and project selection process.

1. Non-knitters don't really understand just how much yarn some of us actually have. There is more yarn in my stash than I could possibly knit in the foreseeable future. Not knitting a particular yarn is, admittedly, at least partially due to the fact that I am a fickle, fickle tramp when it comes to new yarn. But it's also due to the sheer amount of other yarn in the stash. I don't really knit all that much, and I have a shitload of yarn. Therefore, the backlog is substantial.

Monkey, in Fiber Confections hand-dyed merino. Stashed December 2008. Project started July 2009.

2. Sometimes I don't knit precisely because I love the yarn so much. I am waiting for the perfect project that will best complement a particularly gorgeous yarn. Such is the case with my cashmere stash. And honestly, I think some sock yarns are prettier in the skein than they could ever be knit up.

Auracania Ranco, Multy. Yarn stashed April 2008. Unknit.

3. The stash is a constant source of joy and inspiration. I browse my stash the way I browse cookbooks, to remind me of all the possibilities that are out there. And because it just makes me happy. I may not knit something immediately, but visiting my stash reminds me what I could be knitting with. And as I browse patterns, I mentally align pattern to stash, and every now and then there is a spark. The perfect alignment of pattern and yarn and (this is crucial) the desire to knit this particular pattern in this particular yarn immediately.

Chevron Scarf, in J Knits Superwash Me Light Sock, Reno and Colorado colorways. Stashed March 2007. Project started September 2009.

4. Sometimes I just want to knit and not think. I keep self-striping sock yarn on hand for just that urge. A stockinette sock is soothing, like a glass of wine (or three) or a long hot shower. It doesn't challenge me, I don't have to think about how it's going to turn out (cough *toosmall* cough), I don't even need to read a pattern.

Uh, some kind of striping yarn. Maybe Trekking? Meilenweit Megaboots? Purchased at some point, somewhere.

My stash is not just for those rare occasions, when I look at the yarn and know exactly what it must become. Though that is nice. I stash because I like knowing I have something easy to knit. I stash because yarn is beautiful and because it gives me pleasure to look at it and touch it and imagine what it could become.

Also, because I can't pass up nice tweed when it's on sale, but that's another matter entirely.

How about you? Why do you stash? Are you saving up anything particularly juicy?

Things I love about California

2009-10-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

1. Kelley and Quinn

When my friend Kelley moved from Boston to the Bay Area last year, she (cruelly) sent me a picture of her and BFF Quinn, with the comment "There's someone missing from this picture."

Looking back, that was probably the first moment I seriously considered moving. It took another three months and a particularly vile New England ice storm to finalize my decision. I can say I moved for a better climate, for the amazing local food scene, for a more relaxed vibe, whatever. In the end, my friends were a huge part of why I moved.

2. There are flowers. In the middle of OCTOBER. And crazy Dr. Seuss-looking shit growing everywhere.

3. You can buy booze everywhere, every day of the week, at any time. I still find this so exciting that I refuse to buy booze at an actual liquor store. This is clearly less exciting to everyone else who lives here, because thus far I'm the only one I've seen at CVS buying beer, vodka, gum and tampons.

4. The Farmer's Markets. Dear god.

5. Vosges Bacon Chocolate bars. This has nothing to do with California, except that my local grocery store sells both the milk and dark chocolate varieties. And they are AWESOME.

Plus, their cheese section looks like this:

Oh yeah, did I mention I'm in California?

Yep, I am now a proud resident of Oakland, California in a neighborhood that rates quite highly on the awesomeness scale. Everything I need to be happy in a four block radius: the public library, used bookstores, video stores, a comic shop, bars (in my two favorite flavors: "filthy dive" and "tiki"), a movie theater, a half dozen coffee shops and - get this - a yarn shop.

There's even a weekly knitting group that meets every Saturday, at the library! Which I heard about from my next-door neighbor, who's also a knitter.

Add in fantastic friends who put me up while I was apartment hunting and who ferried me on countless shopping excursions and moved piles and piles of boxes and offered their husbands up for shelf assembly/electronics hook-up duties, and you've got a pretty painless cross-country move. As these things go.

I've even been doing some knitting. But more on that later.

The more things change

2009-08-14T14:30:00.001-07:00

I am sixteen days away from moving to San Francisco. This means my house is crammed with boxes and every surface is covered with piles of crap I pulled out of closets, some of which I don't even remember owning.

Sadly, I do not have an enthusiasm for putting things in boxes to match my enthusiasm for removing things from closets. Thus, piles everywhere.

The move also entails thrilling adventures like selling furniture on craigslist. This process includes both "letting total strangers into my apartment" and "hoping I don't end up in an oubliette being told to put the lotion on its skin." So far so good, largely because most everyone on craigslist is apparently a total flake.

Though if someone puts me in a dark hole and then makes a girl suit out of me, I wouldn't have to pack any more boxes. So really, it's a win-win.

With all these big changes going on, it's obscurely comforting that some things never change. Like how tightly I knit. Like that familiar self-deception that tells me blocking will TOTALLY add 147 inches to a sock's circumference so that it will actually fit over my heel.

Like this tiny, tiny sock I (accidentally) knit for Megan of the dainty feet.

Or this Ariel-size sock...

That was originally a doll-size sock.

Sigh.

My potatoes are more American than yours

2009-07-04T15:16:00.005-07:00

Think I'm exaggerating? Take a look:

Now that we've cleared that up, may I formally present Potato and Radish Salad for Friends, aka Let's Pawn off Radishes on Unsuspecting Partygoers. If you happen to have radishes from your CSA, this is an excellent ~~way to get rid of the little f*ckers~~ use for them.

It's just your basic potato salad in a wine and herb vinaigrette. But the radishes make it a little peppier, and it's mighty pretty for a 4th of July potluck.

Ingredients

- 2 lbs. small new potatoes. A mix of red, white and blue ones are both delicious and patriotic.
- Salt
- 5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/3 c. white wine
- 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp. dijon mustard
- 1 small bunch radishes, very thinly sliced
- 1/3 c. chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley and dill)

Scrub potatoes, then halve or quarter larger potatoes so that they are all basically the same size. In a medium pot, cover potatoes with 1/2 inch cold water. Add a good shot of salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer until potatoes are tender but still hold their shape. [The cooking time will vary a lot depending on the size of your potatoes and what variety they are. Mine took less than 10 minutes.]

When potatoes are cooked, drain and allow to cool slightly. While still warm, slice potatoes into 1/2 inch thick slices. [Or whatever shape strikes your fancy.]

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp. of the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onions and saute until slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.

Pour wine and remaining 3 tbsp. olive oil over warm sliced potatoes. Drizzle vinegar over. Add cooked garlic and onions. Stir gently to combine. Allow potatoes to absorb liquids.

Stir in mustard, radishes and fresh herbs. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve at room temperature.

Happy 4th of July, and happy eating!

Farm candy

2009-06-21T10:52:00.003-07:00

Ah, summer... Beaches, barbecues, sunburns...endless mountains of CSA greens....all those goddamned beets...

Yep, it's that time again. I seem to have actually learned from my past experiences and admitted that even a half-share is entirely too much for one person.

So I'm splitting the share with my friend and fellow knitter, Sarah. Our haul today included: kale, red and green chard, beets with greens, arugala, red-leaf lettuce, curly cress and strawberries. Tiny, almost unbearably sweet strawberries.

Curly cress was another exciting addition. Not only have I never eaten it, I didn't even know it existed before today. Pretty, isn't it? It kind of looks like curly parsley, but it's actually a salad green with an intense peppery flavor, like super-charged cracked-out watercress.

This is what a CSA is all about. Gorgeous food, picked at the peak of ripeness and freshness. The eating, it will be good.

I think I've even narrowed down what I want to eat. My standby kale recipe is this one: White Cheddar Polenta with Sauteed Greens and Garlic Portobellos, and it's brilliant. Though I may branch out and try Risotto with Tuscan Kale and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds instead. And I'm certainly not ruling out Red Potatoes with Kale, Avocado and Feta either.

For the beets, I'm thinking Red Beet Risotto. Because even beets can be palatable with enough cheese on top.

Mmmmm....

What I did on my blogger vacation

2009-06-14T12:07:00.003-07:00

Well, I knit some socks.

First up, Manly Socks, in a basic sturdy Regia 4-Ply. These socks are hugely more attractive on the foot than off, and a perfect match for the green-grey-blue-brown heathered yarn. A nice, easy knit, too, whose good looks I think are disproportionate to the level of effort. And they are terribly manly.

I'm not sure if these were a huge yarn hog, or if I really did knit much bigger man socks than I usually do, but this is how much yarn I had left. I actually had to cannibalize the leftover cast-on edge to finish the second toe.

Next up, the Artichoke Socks, winging their way to their intended recipient even as I write, thereby continuing my tradition of providing people with woolens just in time for summer.

Modifications: I accidentally knit a "row 10" in the repeat that didn't exist in the pattern. And I would do a standard heel instead of the funky squarish heel turn in the pattern, but no modifications other than that.

I really can't say enough good things about the Shibuiknits sock yarn. It does have an oddly crispy feel when you're knitting with it, but softens dreamily after blocking. The recipient will get to enjoy both textures, since I only blocked one of the socks before mailing them to her. I think it's my dedication and high standards through all stages of the knitting process, including finishing and presentation, that makes me stand out from all the other knitters. Snort.

Balancing out these surprisingly successful socks is a recently frogged variation on the Staccato Socks, from the excellent Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns.

I knit to the heel, well aware that it would never in a million years fit me. Finally, one of my knittahs with size 6 feet tried it on and couldn't even get the damn thing over her heel. So, it's been frogged and reincarnated as a simple stockinette sock. I'm still charmed by the colors and the stripes. A three-row stripe is just about perfect for stockinette - just when I get bored...WHEE! New color!

As you can see, I have been knitting a lot less. In the past few months, I started going to the gym, and I started taking karate. I've been reading a lot more, and cooking (and eating) a lot of really wonderful things.

Given the decreased knitting, I've been debating what direction I should take this blog in. I've decided the blog will probably expand beyond knitting to cover more of my interests. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

Playground rules

2009-02-24T19:07:00.004-08:00

If you emailed me in the past six weeks and are not a current or former employer, I have probably ignored it. Likewise with voicemail, your blog, Facebook and just about every other means of communication. Not because I don't appreciate hearing from you or like you or think you're funny or anything, but because I'm kind of overwhelmed. And, possibly, kind of a dick.

So rather than going back and emailing everyone "I'm sorry I've been such a dick," I'm issuing a blanket apology and declaring a do over. A fresh start. A clean slate. A surgically reconstructed hymen.

Whatever analogy works for you, that's what I'm declaring for myself. Except maybe the hymen thing, because, ew.

Moving right along!

Knitting has been slow, steady, and exclusively in purple and green.

First, baby hats for my friend Kim's soon-to-be daughter. Kim warrants two baby hats not just because her mom served brilliant wee mini meatball sandwiches at the baby shower. Though those were *awesome*. She got two hats because for some reason the idea of knitting booties was incredibly unappealing. And the first hat was kinda huge. So, two hats. Kid's Fruit Hat and Ruffled Baby Cap, around six month and newborn size respectively.

As usual, I didn't finish the actual knitting before the deadline, so Kim officially got just the eggplant hat at the baby shower. I did not decrease my meatball intake proportionately.

In other knitting, the oddly phallic first socks are completed and both second socks are stalled at the heel flap.

Because I have fallen completely out of love with both of them. Possibly because I've realized that hats require nothing more complicated than stockinette in the round on a circular needle. None of this DPN-using, purl-stitching, heel flapping nonsense.

Just blissful, blessed knit stitch after knit stitch after knit stitch.

Someone else I know needs another hat? Right?

Not to crap on the parade, but...

2009-01-20T20:26:00.006-08:00

[Normally I try to respond to the last comments before my next post, but this is an important occasion. And also, I've been "celebrating"...]

So I voted for Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Just getting that out of the way.

Not because I was such a rabid supporter (in fact, I always joke that Bill Clinton was our "Best Republican President Ever!"), but at primary time I honestly thought both Clinton and Obama were equally qualified to lead the nation. And, when it came down to actually deciding, when presented with two equally qualified candidates, I voted for the woman.

Because I have to say, voting for a woman gave me a teary-eyed moment of pride, like I keep seeing in the Obama coverage, right there in the Brookline Devotion School gymnasium. If, heaven forbid, I ever have children, I realized I could tell my daughters - without bullshitting them - that anyone could grow up to be President of the United States.

So I am not belittling the momentousness of electing an African-American president, I'm really not.

And I do love me some Obama. God, I'm so excited to have a charismatic speaker and writer and intellectual for president, after years of hostility to science and intellectual curiosity, not to mention the mangling of the English language...that was a damned pretty inauguration speech. I'm a sucker for well-turned phrases about hope and sacrifice and the common good, and extolling what right-minded people can accomplish if we just work together. Also, don't ever tell, but the song "Simple Gifts" is one of my favorite things in the entire world. Shut up.

That said, I'm not sure I get the Obama thing. Yes, for liberals, after eight brutal years of seeing everything we believed in at best ignored or quietly overturned, and, at worst, demonized, we have a president who is reasonably aligned with our ideals. A president who values communication and humility and accountability over bloviating, moral rectitude, and a towering sense of macho entitlement. A president whose policy propositions are not actually, well, destructive.

But, but, but...for so many people, Obama is so much more than an elitist liberal policy wonk's wet dream. There's something about him that is fundamentally different from other presidents (besides the, um, obvious difference). Something that inspires and engages previously apathetic and hopeless people. Something that makes people believe.

I keep hearing things like "I can believe in my country again" or "I have hope for the first time" or "I'm not ashamed to be an American anymore." And I am so incredibly happy that Obama is inspiring that kind of hope in people, because - compared to many other nations - we have a damned apathetic populace, in terms of political participation.

But I just don't get it. I never really lost hope in America in the first place. And I was never ashamed of my country. Misguided, stupid, and embarrassing though the last eight years may have been, I never lost a sense that America was fundamentally okay. Or would be, eventually. This country is far from perfect, and I really did feel like most of my fundamental values were under assault by a horribly misguided administration for the last eight years. But that administration wasn't America, to me. My country was deeply flawed, but I knew it would get better. And I would do my part to bitch and moan and fight and vote to make it better. Because part of loving your country is realizing that it can always do better, and it's your job as a citizen to hold it to that standard.

So, as much as I love finally hearing a president speaking inspiring words that are actually aligned with my political ideals, and as much as I recognize that this is, in fact, an amazing moment in American history and politics... what really matters is what he does with it, no?

This nation seems to be unprecedentedly optimistic, enthusiastic and excited about what our president and what we, as Americans, can do.

So what is it that you hope for in the next 4-8 years? What important things do you want to see us accomplish? Regardless of your politics, what would you do with this outpouring of "Yes we can?"

On letting go

2009-01-18T11:25:00.002-08:00

I have trouble admitting something's not working. I will make an entire enormous hat, microscopic sock or wing-like sleeve without admitting anything is wrong.

Or a gigantic mitt intended for someone with tiny, tiny hands.

Mitt, loosely based on the Super Mittens from Weekend Knitting, but made fingerless, and with a cable slapped on the top of the hand. This mitt is actually the perfect size. For me and my extremely long-fingered man hands.

I'm not completely unaware that my knits are turning out wrong. There's usually that creeping sense of "Hey, this doesn't look quite right..." But I usually block that out with some mature variation on LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU or "But I've already put so much effort into it..."

I realize that continuing to put time and effort into a project you know isn't working, just so you don't have to admit it's not working, is, uh, retarded. But there you go.

I would like to do less of that. Both in my knitting and the rest of my life. First up - I've lived in New England for over a decade. And I've never liked it here. There's nothing wrong with Boston, but it has never felt like home. And it never will. And lord do I hate winter, in a visceral, completely irrational way.

I have finally, finally decided to move back west. At the end of the month, I will be leaving my low-key publishing job for a short-term and far-from-low-key gig with a Big Corporation. Big Corporation will be paying me enough to completely finance a summertime move to San Francisco.

Where I will live happily ever after with BFF Quinn and Kelley and year-round farmer's markets and good Mexican food and ice-free sidewalks...

So in the spirit of letting go of things that just aren't right, I should probably reknit the damn mitt...

If the resized mitt (pictured right) is too small, I'd really appreciate it if the recipient never, ever mentioned it and instead just crammed her hands uncomfortably into it, like one of Cinderella's evil stepsisters trying to squeeze into the glass slipper. My desire to get things right only goes so far.

And since I'm told mitts traditionally come in pairs...

I like to think this set loudly and proudly announces to the entire (knitting) world that A KNITTER LOVES ME. It's like a secret handshake.

That leaves only one more Christmas knit to finish. I'm shooting for mid-February.

Because that's the kind of awesome friend I am.

I'm "famous"

2009-01-16T20:23:00.001-08:00

Or just really anal about punctuation.

On balance

2009-01-10T19:50:00.002-08:00

60 hours since my last cigarette. Two and a half days. That may not seem like a long time, but it's the longest I've gone without smoking in something like fourteen years. And I was pretty sure I'd be that disgusting old lady smoking through her stoma. So I'm impressed with me.

I started taking Chantix a week before I quit, which works by binding to the nicotine receptors in your brain or something equally creepy. This means you don't get the same pleasure from smoking as you normally do, since the feeble Chantix chemicals are suddenly doing the work that delightful, delightful nicotine used to do. When you do quit smoking, the feeble Chantix chemicals continue - ahem - stimulating your nicotine receptors, so you don't completely freak out at the sudden absence of your drug of choice.

Or at least I think that's how it works. My psychopharmacology skills are rusty. Or non-existent. Whatever.

I, of course, decided to spend my last week smoking trying to recapture the original joy of smoking by smoking MORE. I think I missed my true calling as a meth addict or crack whore, with that kind of attitude.

Where was I? Oh yeah, Chantix does have some side effects, most notably insomnia coupled with extraordinarily vivid dreams. Not nightmares or anything, just dreams so real I'm not sure I was dreaming at all. And what have I dreamed about? Updating Excel spreadsheets. A scheduling conflict with weekend plans. My subsconscious is incredibly lame. Why couldn't I dream about yarn? Or Han Solo? Or smoking, for that matter?

The other thing I've found really helpful is eating. Constantly. I really can't recommend this approach enough. Unfortunately, I've been kind of cock-blocked on my "eat constantly" master plan by a bit of oral surgery that reduced my food options to yogurt, mashed potatoes, pureed soups and the like. And once I got over the excitement of eating nothing but mashed potatoes for dinner (I do love me some mashed potatoes after all), this got really boring really fast.

Therein lay an important lesson for me. If I really think about it, I like food a lot more than I like smoking. And if I go back to smoking, I'm pretty much guaranteed to have another unpleasant medical procedure like this recent one. Likely a much worse procedure, in fact, that would likewise compromise my ability to eat, for much longer than the three or four days I'm chafing at right now.

So Reason Number 4,012 that I will not start smoking again: I'm choosing food instead.

I'm choosing a lifetime of eating crusty bread, hard cheese, pickles and broccoli. And jalapenos. And my beloved bacon. Crispy panini and toast with butter and honey. And vinegar and tabasco and salsa and lemon juice. Clover sprouts. Stuffed grape leaves. Chili cheese dogs. Pho. Thin-crust pizza. Chocolate-peanut butter ice cream. Nicoise olives. Falafel. Soba noodles. Steak bombs. Frites. Fresh corn and tomatoes and peaches... and fried chicken and ribs and collard greens.

And, and, and, and, and...

Who needs smoking when you've got all that?

Is it just me?

2009-01-10T08:34:00.003-08:00

So I laid out my socks to admire the freshly turned heels and noticed something...funny...

It's not just me, right?

Snort.

Year-end navel-gazing

2009-01-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

2008 was not a great year. TB and I broke up in January. Eventually we reconnected as friends, and we’re much happier that way, but it was a pretty crappy couple of months there. Then there was the appendix thing, and some other unpleasant health stuff. One of my closest friends moved away in September, and I miss her stupidly. The fact that she moved near BFF Quinn just makes it all the more depressing. I made a spectacularly bad decision that really hurt another friend. My family is, well, my family and has behaved accordingly. Knitting has been infrequent, as has blogging and other writing.

So, not my best year ever.

But it wasn’t all bad. These were the best parts of 2008:

1. I traveled – to Arizona, Maine, the Cape, the Vineyard, Rhinebeck and California. I also went to MA Sheep and Wool and WEBS. And brought home exciting new yarn from most of those trips.

2. I dated – for the first time in my entire life. I tend to fall immediately into long-term relationships, so this whole dating thing has been, um, interesting? Instructive? I’ve met a few really nice guys – smart, funny, etc. – that I dated for a few months. But nothing has clicked so far. No complaints. I've had a lot of fun, and I’m sure the geeky foodie of my dreams is out there somewhere.

3. Finishing library school. I tend to trivialize the librarian training by saying snotty things like “It’s just library school,” but it is an accomplishment nevertheless. I have a master’s degree, and I did it all while working full time. In the end, I even got all A's. Except for one A-, in TECHNOLOGY FOR INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS. Which, since I'm a systems analyst, is hilarious.

4. Reading a lot of good books. High points included Tigana (thanks Kristy for the recommendation!), The Debt to Pleasure (a dark, funny, immensely erudite novel about food and murder), Vonnegut’s Welcome to the Monkey House, and Ruth Reichl’s food memoirs. There was also a lot of ridiculous trash, which I used to be kind of embarrassed about. But I’ve decided that I will read what I want to read, regardless of its literary merits. Bring on the paranormal romance!

5. Joining a CSA. Despite my complaints about the greens, this was a wonderful experience. I’ve never eaten so well in my life, and I cooked and ate things I never would have touched otherwise. I still don’t like beets, but I will eat and even enjoy eggplant and winter squash now.

6. Learning stuff – I took a hand-dyeing class, tried spinning, baked bread, and started getting into graphic novels.

7. Deciding to quit smoking. I took my first quit smoking pill today and am on track to quit January 8.

I look forward to re-engaging with knitting and the knitblog community, writing more, cooking and eating good food, and spending more time with friends and loved ones in 2009.

Happy New Year!

Year-end knits

2009-01-01T09:20:00.005-08:00

The last FO of the year was officially finished at 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve. And here it is...

The Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat, size 10.5 needles, Crystal Palace Icelandic Print. I cast on 70 stitches instead of 56 (one extra repeat of the cable pattern), since my yarn wasn't quite as super-bulky as the recommended yarn.

Incidentally, this yarn has been in the stash for years. Further proof that stash yarn isn't unused or wasted, it's just waiting for the perfect project.

This was such a fun pattern - clearly written, tidily charted, and cute as hell. I hope the recipient likes it as much as I do. It's too small for me, otherwise I'd be seriously rethinking giving it away. Because that's the kind of holiday spirit we have in my house.

I alternated knitting the hat with knitting my two current sock obsessions.

On the left are Manly Socks by Knit*Six, in Regia 4-ply. So wooly. So manly. On the right, Artichoke Socks by Megan Humphrey, in ShibuiKnits Sock. Both colors are darker in real life - the Regia is a deep green, slightly heathered with brown, and the Shibui yarn is a rich dark purple.

I've complained before about how much I loathe knitting ribbing. Yet both these socks are essentially ribbed. The Manly socks are a 3x3 rib, with a 3 row repeat, only one row of which is not monotonous 3x3 ribbing. The Artichoke socks have two panels of these pretty leaves, separated by columns of - yep - 2x2 ribbing. And I LOVE knitting both these socks.

Now that I think about it, the hat was basically 4x3 rib, with a couple of fun twisty cable rows for interest.

So clearly I am easily distracted from the tedium of ribbing. Throw in a slip stitch row every three rows, a yarn over here and there, or some cables, and I will knit ribbing until my hands hurt and I am starving. Case in point, I had so much fun knitting yesterday that I forgot to *eat.* Anything. Until almost 9 p.m.

Given how much I adore food, that's saying something.

Hope all of you had an equally enjoyable New Year's Eve!

I don't just receive gifts

2008-12-30T15:00:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I make them, too.

Witness, Mom's Christmas mitts, delivered a mere two days after Christmas. Which, given how late last year's Christmas gift was, was mighty impressive.

Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in the Fall Herbs colorway, about 1.5 balls. Size 2.5 needles. 52 stitch cast-on, 2x2 rib, with a 10 stitch afterthought thumb.

I think the next time I make mitts like these I'll do a gussetted thumb. The afterthought thumb pulls the ribbing out of alignment - not ugly or unwearable or anything, but a gussetted thumb would be a bit prettier.

These cottony mitts are now pulling light duty in Arizona, so I'm glad they got a chance to experience cold weather at least once in their lives.

I have one more Christmas gift in the works (it's not late, it's just making the magic of Christmas last longer). Then we can move onto my latest sock obsessions.

Can't. Stop. Knitting. Socks.

This is why I give him handknits

2008-12-28T19:30:00.004-08:00

From the Department of Yet More Awesome Gifts, I bring you the TRIP TO WEBS gift certificate that I, carless and 90 miles away from WEBS, received from my friend Bryan* for Christmas.

Click to view full size. Seriously, it's worth it. e.g., it contains the disclaimer that the gift giver is not responsible for...

PYDS (Post Yarnal Depression Syndrome): This is when a knitter is (for a brief period of time) in a heaven like place, surrounded by a veritable cornucopia of yarn but then has to go back to the real world where limited amounts of yarn are sold only in small shops with limited hours.

Bryan receives handknits, not because he's thoughtful and gives such excellent presents (which he is, and does). But because dude totally understands this knitting thing. Which is all the more amazing because he does not knit, nor was he raised by a knitter or otherwise trained in knitting appreciation in his early life.

So he got a Christmas hat. Cascade 220 superwash, roll-brim, basic stockinette. Details Raveled.

This plain black hat will replace the original plain black hat (also pictured) I made him a few years ago, right after I started knitting. The original hat was knit in Cascade 128 and looked kind of like butt, being about an inch too long for him, with an ugly puckery K2TOG around decrease at the top. However, he has been nice enough to wear this craptacular early knitting effort for several years and was long overdue for an upgrade. (As a bonus, now that he has a replacement hat, he's finally allowing me to fix the original hat, which will do wonders for my knitterly pride).

Though I think he probably deserves some socks, too...

* Thanks are also due to Bryan's uncle Alan, whose mad Photoshop skillz were employed in producing the gift certificate. Thanks, guys!

What I did on my winter vacation

2008-12-26T15:06:00.008-08:00

Or eight really fabulous things about my trip to the Bay Area. In no particular order...

1. Wine. And cheese. "Vino con Queso" at Artesa, part of a fabulous Napa itinerary masterminded by my friends Kelley and Mike.

If it tells you anything about our priorities for the day, Mike finished all his wine at the tasting, Kelley finished all her cheese, and I finished all of both. Then I ate the rest of Mike's cheese.

2. It's green. And things are flowering. In December. This is obviously less exciting if you live somewhere warm, but coming from Boston, the greenery was startling. I kept stopping to exclaim over exciting things in people's yards (e.g., "Holy crap! A jade plant, growing! In the ground!").

3. They sell liquor everywhere. Again, less exciting depending on where you live. But liquor! In a grocery store! California is like an exotic foreign land whose customs I do not understand.

4. Geek trivia.

Barely visible on the horizon are the loading cranes at the Oakland docks, supposedly the design inspiration for the Star Wars Walkers.

5. Schnitzel, prepared by BFF Quinn's husband Brian and consumed enthusiastically (and to the point of pain) by me. That man can fry.

6. BFF Quinn! BFF Quinn!

7. Mike and Kelley, who deserted me, I mean, moved to the North Bay in September. As you can see, they have an uncanny ability to find dive bars wherever they live.

This is their local bar in Novato. Where I discovered that drunk old men find me hot. H-O-T-T. Hot. We all have our special talents.

8. New yarn.

Fiber Confections hand-dyed superwash merino from Quinn, who (unsurprisingly given her overall awesomeness) picked out supremely awesome sock yarn for me.

Knitpicks superwash fingering weight, Koolaid dyed by Kelley and gifted to me. It makes me happy every time I look at it.

Dream in Color Smooshy, in the Chinatown Apple colorway, scored at Llama Llama Knit in Novato. I'd never seen Dream in Color yarn in real life, and it is just as smooshy and lovely as I had always heard.

There were a million other wonderful things about the trip, so thank you Kelley and Mike and Quinn and Brian for host(ess)ing so brilliantly.

It was a perfect way to celebrate, and I can't wait to see you all again soon!

Season's Greetings from the Passive Aggressive Gifts Department

2008-12-23T14:15:00.003-08:00

I joined Paperback Swap a few months ago, in an attempt to get rid of some of the many, many books I own that I don't plan to re-read. Those of you who are smarter than I am might point out that *swapping* books won't reduce the total quantity of books I own, but I would ignore you.

Anyway, I recently got a copy of Nancy Farmer's teen novel The House of the Scorpion via Paperback Swap. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up to find this inscription on the title page:

For XXXX -

This looks great! Maybe this will be the book to turn you on to literature - but you'll have to read it to find out!

Love,
Nonna

Nonna, I'm guessing your efforts were in vain. But I'm sure your condescending tone and the recipient's clear lack of interest in reading had absolutely nothing to do with it.

If I thought forcing books on the uninterested would work, I'd be manacling them to chairs with their eyes jammed open and a book in front of them, like something out of A Clockwork Orange. But some people just don't like reading. As a book lover and trained librarian, this is painful to acknowledge, but it's true.

So for all you fellow bibliophiles out there, if someone you know and love doesn't like reading, buy them a goddamned video game or a basketball or a Bob Marley wall hanging or something, anything, that they will actually enjoy.

I'm off to do some Christmas shopping. Happy holidays, all!

And now for the gratitude

2008-12-22T15:00:00.007-08:00

First, thank you to everyone that commented on my quitting smoking post. I really appreciate the support, encouragement and advice! I will be revisiting those comments come January.

As evidenced by the lack of blogging and, uh, any other form of communication, I've been a little busy since that last post. But I did finish the semester. My last semester of library school. Ever.

Which means I am officially a master's degree-holding librarian! Or will be in January, when the degree is actually conferred. In the interim, addressing me as Master is optional, but encouraged.

I didn't knit much at the end of the semester, but I did finish a pair of socks last month.

Basic stockinette, the usual recipe, details Raveled. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

I've got some double secret gift knitting to show off, too. And some pretty new yarn. Coming soon...

We interrupt the planned expression of gratitude

2008-12-21T11:49:00.005-08:00

For cheese. Lots and lots of cheese: Valencay, Stichelton, Calcagno, Cappucetto Rosso and Captein Gouda.

My friend Bryan just gave me this for my birthday. With the most excellent advice of BFF Quinn's friend Siri (cheese pusher extraordinaire), he picked out some of the best damn cheese I've ever tasted. And I've tasted a LOT of cheese.

I can't even begin to say how awesome this is. Thank you!

Edited to add - This is the same Bryan I had this conversation with on Friday:

Me (extraordinarily excited about the arrival of X-Files Season 1 at my apartment): Guess what I got today!?!?

Him: A vampire movie? A zombie movie?

Me: Better.

Him: Yarn? No, yarn, DELIVERED by a zombie?

He knows me so well...

On quitting

2008-11-23T15:14:00.005-08:00

I am by nature somewhat anxious. I agonize over important decisions, and unimportant ones. I worry about stupid things I said or did. Or things I haven’t done yet. I have trouble sleeping. Etc.

Stress management literature suggests various behaviors to help deal with these feelings of anxiety – deep breaths, calling a friend, going for a walk. Since none of these suggestions have been AT ALL effective for me, I once asked a friend for his suggestions. He answered: drink, smoke and eat. Heh. I can do that!

But as I’ve gotten older, the appeal of drinking has begun to wane (somewhat). And I found that I genuinely enjoy eating healthy, mostly natural foods in smaller quantities. So that just leaves smoking.

And sweet Jesus, do I love smoking.

I love that it distracts me, that it gives me something to do with my hands, that it soothes me, that it breaks up every work day with a much-needed excuse to step away from my desk. I love the aura of danger and reckless self-neglect and frank stupidity that surrounds it. I love lighters and ashtrays and the way a cigarette looks between my fingers. I love the way smoke curls up from my hand and my lips. And the tingling warmth that spreads through me when I take that first drag in the morning.

But as much as I love smoking, it doesn’t love me back. When I started smoking, cigarettes were less than $3 a pack. Not anymore. A $7 pack a day is a staggeringly beautiful skein of yarn in the first week. It’s a hot pair of boots in the first month. It’s a tropical vacation at the end of a year.

And quitting smoking means I probably won’t get bronchitis twice a year. It means I won't have to huddle outside on a frigid day, clutching a cigarette between numb fingers. The constant smoker's hack will dissipate. If I quit now I probably won’t get what I – charmingly – refer to as “puckery butt mouth.” It means the backs of my teeth won’t be stained brown within weeks of each dentist visit. My sense of taste and smell will improve (imagine if bacon could taste EVEN BETTER!!).

And most importantly, it means I’m much less likely to get cancer and die.

So for all these reasons, I am quitting. My quit date is January 8, 2009.

Wish me luck.

This ain't your MA's Wool Festival

2008-10-25T22:10:00.004-07:00

Whoa. I've been to MA Sheep and Wool a few times now, so I thought I was kind of prepared for Rhinebeck. I was not prepared.

I was in fact dazed and overwhelmed by the number of vendors, the lines, the sheer number of people. And the yarn. Good god, the yarn. I think the yarn haze explains why I spent two days there and emerged with almost no pictures. And why it's taken me almost a week to write something semi-coherent about it.

My knittahs Jenny and Sarah were most excellent company on the trip, and not just because they can always be counted on to say "Yes, you DO deserve that hand-dyed sock yarn!!" Though that didn't hurt.

So what did we do in NY, besides buy yarn?

I watched Jenny entrance passersby with her spinning. I know she convinced at least one person to buy a spindle (or as I think of it, lured another member into the coven).

We stood in line for an hour to buy Socks that Rock. Turns out, knitters make excellent company. Best damn line I've ever stood in. And well worth it for these pretties...

We saw a lot of bloggers.... I completely forgot that reading each other's blogs does not actually mean I know someone in real life and totally hugged Kristy of Eleven Stitches when I ran into her on Saturday. Sorry about that. Your Venezia really was stunning.

We ate next to Franklin Habit at a diner. We stalked the Yarn Harlot. I felt kind of bad when she totally busted me right after I Kinneared her...

Until I saw this picture on Ravelry. Heh.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely at the Ravelry party, where we scored goody bags, free beer AND a sweet spot in the heated tents with the always-charming Susan of Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm, and her equally charming family.

We ate a whole lot of greasy food...

And I even did a little knitting...

I have the second sock about halfway done and I'd like to finish it before I start something else.

But damn, all that pretty new sock yarn is calling to me...

Guess what I did tonight?

2008-10-15T19:27:00.007-07:00

Yup - had fun with Photoshop...AND...more importantly...

...took crappy pictures of the Yarn Harlot...

Jealous?

The wrong week to quit sniffing glue

2008-10-04T11:00:00.006-07:00

So this week kind of blew in a lot of ways. And I’m missing out on both a friend’s pig roast and a blog fodder GOLDMINE (aka the Salem zombie parade) this weekend because I have too much to do (I realize that blogging doesn't help with the "too much to do" problem).

Plus, I keep whacking into things (while sober, thankyouverymuch), so I’m covered in large multi-colored bruises. I’ve decided to consider them a festive dash of contrasting color rather than a clear sign that I’m a little jammed up and distracted because of it.

But enough bitching. Let’s talk about knitting. Specifically, holy fuck it’s Socktoberfest!! I love Socktoberfest! My favorite time of year in New England AND a gazillion knitters making socks and talking about socks and posting lovely pictures of socks.

And I just happen to have started the most perfectly fall-liscious sock…

The usual – basic stockinette, 72 stitch cast-on, Meilenweit Megaboots Stretch, size 2 needles. But do you see those colors? Mmmm…

And I’m only a tiny bit bitter that October is stupid busy this year...Because since classes have been cutting into my knitting time, it seems only fair that knitting should start cutting into my class time. There are at least two other sock knitters in my Collection Development class (including this blogger), and they've been happily knitting away through the lectures and discussions. So finally I just started knitting too.

Sweeeeet...Three solid, blissful hours of sock knitting every week…

And, uh, learning. Lots and lots of important learning.

It's not lurking

2008-09-23T18:28:00.001-07:00

...at least not according to Knowledge Management jargon.

In KM, lurking is called "legitimate peripheral participation." Which kind of begs the question: exactly what would constitute "illegitimate" peripheral participation?

In any case, my classes this semester are taking up a lot of valuable knitting and blogging time, and the work/school schedule looks pretty brutal through the end of October.

So if it seems like I'm not posting as frequently or not commenting over the next few weeks, just remember, I'm still participating in the knitblog community.

Just, you know, peripherally.

Dude

2008-09-20T13:21:00.001-07:00

It's official! I'm going to Rhinebeck.

Anyone else going?

A teachable moment

2008-09-19T10:13:00.005-07:00

So last night for my Collection Development class we did a “walkabout” through the Simmons library. The idea is that you can pick up a general sense of materials usage, patron activity, and impending facilities problems by wandering through your collection. Which was kind of a neat practical exercise and a whole lot more fun than sitting in a lecture.

But you know what makes that kind of exercise even better? When your professor totally supports your master plan to test out the compact shelving’s infrared sensors by attempting to squash one of your classmates between the moving shelves. Sweet!

Turns out, you really can’t close the shelves when someone is standing in the aisle. Barring infrared sensor malfunction or possession by some evil force intent on crushing the life from all in its path (it could happen! And if it does I will be the only one who is not surprised – and I will be PREPARED! Also I should maybe watch fewer movies about demon possession).

I guess I can finally cross “irrational fear of compact shelving” off my list of reasons not to become a librarian when I finish my degree.

Maybe next week’s class will include an awesome learning opportunity that will help me get over “actively disliking the public” and “a deep and abiding love for the f word.”

Librarians - it's time to booze up and riot!

2008-09-17T14:15:00.006-07:00

I know this is mostly a knitting blog, and I don’t generally rant about politics. But this Time article about Sarah Palin belatedly came to my attention today.

I won’t get into my other objections to Palin's candidacy (and I have many as a liberal feminist), but this portion of the article is more than enough for me:

[Former Wasilla mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

So it’s possible that, as mayor, she wanted to ban books from the library and then threatened to fire the librarian who stood in her way? Now *that’s* the kind of person I want a heartbeat away from the presidency. If this pisses you off - and it should - let someone know. Blog about it. Tell your friends. Tell your families. Talk to other librarians. Or librarians-in-training. Or anyone you know that cares about freedom of speech and the separation between church and state.

For the ladies - consider contributing to this blog. (I know I have a handful of male readers – apologies, dudes). The blog started with an email sent to 40 women asking them to share why, as women, they felt Sarah Palin did not in fact represent *them*, despite Republican claims. The blog has since received 100,000+ responses from women all across America. If you feel that Sarah Palin does not represent you as a librarian, a free speech advocate, a reproductive rights supporter, whatever, consider sending them your reasons. Details below:

[W]e invite you to write to womensaynopalin AT gmail DOT com with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation. Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.

And, for you non-librarians, libraries get requests to remove materials all the time. Most of the time, the answer is a firm no. To get an idea of the kind of materials library patrons have objected to, check out the American Library Association’s annual list of “most challenged” books.

If you’re like me, you can also look at it as a list of “Awesome Books I Need to Read.”

And drinking beer will cure all infectious disease

2008-09-15T19:20:00.001-07:00

I came across this quote in my Knowledge Management (KM) textbook this weekend:

There is a definite correlation between KM and economic growth, as evidenced by a significant contrast in the social and economic indicators between the developed and developing countries...An analysis of these developed and developing countries...reveals a significant difference in the KM factors that have contributed to the considerable disparities not only in wealth, but also in education, population, GNP per capita, adult literacy rate, infant mortality, health services and other indicators of poverty and prosperity.

Um, yeah. The real problem with global hunger, poverty, illiteracy and inequality is inadequate Knowledge Management.

Now, I’m as guilty as the next librarian-in-training of having self-aggrandizing visions of what the information professions can accomplish. Information is power, and public libraries (for example) are uniquely positioned to help everyone, not just the privileged and the well-educated, gain access to the power of information. I like to think of it as sticking it to the Man, one book at a time.

But to claim that Knowledge Management principles have already "resulted in economic benefits and healthy competition in every sector and all aspects of human life?" Seriously?

So in the spirit of making unfounded and ridiculous pronouncements regarding the potential impact of our daily activities, I would like to announce that through knitting I will soon become RULER OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE.

Obeisance to your Supreme Ruler may be made in the form of yarn.

Let the fawning begin.

It's not you, it's me

2008-09-08T15:00:00.002-07:00

Dear Firewalker,

We’ve spent a few weeks together now, and they’ve really been great. Your pattern repeat is perfection, not too complicated to work on while watching TV, but not so mindless that you bore me. And the way your red and the orange stripe up on the bias, sweetly sprinkled with a few bright yellow stitches? Endlessly charming.

But it’s just not enough, I’m afraid. And I think you know what the problem is, because we tried this once before. Back when I foolishly thought just changing from a size 1 to a size 2 needle would be enough. You were too small back then, but rather than presenting Megan (of the dainty feet) with yet another pair of tiny socks, I was willing to give it another try. I increased you to 82 stitches, and you were still beautiful.

And yet, here we are, back in the same place we were all those months ago.

I’m so sorry to do this to you, but it’s just not going to happen, you and me. You see, even at 82 stitches on a size 2 needle, you just aren't going to fit my undainty feet.

I wish you all the best in your next incarnation. I’m thinking you’ll make a really lovely pair of fingerless mitts.

Best wishes,
Ariel

Paying it forward, vegetable style

2008-09-07T11:27:00.001-07:00

I so appreciated the recipe suggestions you all gave me early in the summer, back when I was drowning in greens.

So I thought I’d return the favor, now that my CSA has been looking more like this:

This is loosely based on a recipe from The New Vegetarian Epicure, called “Summer Vegetable Pasta.”

I call mine “Christ! Eggplant Again?!? Pasta”. This recipe has many virtues - one is that it uses up a lot of those late-summer vegetables and, more importantly, it's the one and only eggplant preparation I have ever found palatable.

Servings: Will thoroughly sauce 1 lb. of pasta. Because I know how many of you appreciate getting thoroughly sauced.

Ingredients:

Prepare this stuff first, through Step 2:
- 1 or 2 medium eggplants, trimmed and cut into ½ inch pieces
- Kosher salt
- 2 large onions, chopped medium

While the eggplant is draining and the onions are caramelizing, you can prep this stuff:
- A few tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 red, yellow or green peppers, cored and thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
- 3-4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped, saving as much juice as you can, or 2 small cans diced tomatoes in juice
- 12 Kalamata olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
- A few tbsp. chopped fresh basil or parsley

Accompaniments: A nice shaving of parmesan, a crusty baguette, some good wine and the foxy companion of your choice would not be unwelcome additions.

Preparation:
Step 1: In a large colander, toss the cubed eggplant with a few pinches of kosher salt. Leave to drain for at least 15 minutes.

Step 2: Meanwhile, heat 1 tbs olive oil over medium-low heat in a large, heavy sauce pan or dutch oven. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized and golden. 15-20 minutes.

Step 3: Squeeze excess liquid out of eggplant.

Step 4: When onions are almost completely caramelized, increase heat to high and add sliced peppers and squeezed eggplant to pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until eggplant and peppers have softened and have little brown spots.

Step 5: Reduce heat to medium, clear out some space in the bottom of the pan, drizzle in a bit more oil and add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Stir until fragrant, about thirty seconds.

Step 6: Add chopped tomatoes with their juice to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally until heated through and tomatoes have just started to break down. Turn off heat.

Step 7: Add olives and fresh herbs to pan and stir just to combine.

Serve sauce tossed with chunky pasta (penne, ziti, rigatoni, etc).

Notes:

Ingredients: As with my knitting, actual quantities and measurements are basically just estimates. Unlike my knitting, there’s really no way to screw this up, as far as I can tell. The key thing is just to cook the onions for a very long time, the peppers and eggplant until just tender and the tomatoes hardly at all. Then throw in the extras, like basil and olives and cheese, at the last minute.

I’ve made it with: 1 white eggplant, 3 peppers (1 red, 1 green and one big mild chile), and 4 fresh tomatoes…. OR … 2 eggplants (1 white, 1 purple), 2 green peppers, and 2 fresh tomatoes…. OR ….2 eggplants (1 white, 1 purple), 1 green pepper, and 2 small cans diced tomatoes in juice (1 can regular and 1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes with green chiles). All were delicious.

Step 1: I’m told by reliable sources that salting and draining eggplant this way improves both its flavor and texture. I don’t actually like eggplant at all, and I love this dish. Which makes me think salting and draining the eggplant is a magical, mystical step that should not be skipped.

Step 2: Caramelizing the onions over low heat takes for-freaking-ever, but is totally worth it. They add a really nice sweetness to the sauce.

Step 4: The original recipe has you cook the onions in a separate pot from the eggplant and peppers, presumably so the onions don’t overcook. I’m lazy and prefer to use as few pots as possible, so I just cooked it all together. But do keep an eye on the onions to make sure they don’t overcook at this point.

Step 6: If you are using canned tomatoes, add them a few minutes earlier than you would the fresh tomatoes - before the peppers and eggplant have completely softened. Canned tomatoes need to cook a bit longer than the fresh ones.

Badass-in-training

2008-09-03T15:00:00.007-07:00

One of my college friends finally got with the baby-making program and produced a baby girl in August. I've mentioned before, babies are so not my thing. But I am all over the instant gratification of teeny baby knits.

There's just one problem. This particular baby is gonna be a total badass.

See, her mother named her Honoria, after a Roman noblewoman who refused to marry, had ridiculous amounts of inappropriate sex and conspired with Attilla the Hun to try to bring down the Roman Empire. That's a whole lot of name.

So, what should I knit for my friend's sweet bundle of badass?

I just don't think a hat and booty set is gonna cut it...

Minor loss of fidelity

2008-08-26T15:01:00.006-07:00

Awhile ago, the Daft Crafter mentioned that she was looking for a kick-ass pattern to knit. One of those patterns you can’t stop thinking about, that's so good you just knit obsessively to the exclusion of all else and start resenting having to do things like eating and crapping because they take up valuable knitting time. I may be paraphrasing a bit there.

Anyway, she seemed to find that level of obsession with a pair of colorwork mitts. In malabrigo laceweight. They’re ridiculous and she’s awesome. Frankly, I’m a tidge jealous too. It’s been a long time since I’ve been that enamored of anything I’ve been knitting.

What’s that, you say, you’ve actually been knitting? Why yes, I have been knitting, thank you very much. Just not much, or particularly successfully. So what have I been knitting?

Completed stockinette socks – quite charming in their blue-green oceany way, but not a thrilling knit. But still! An actual finished knitted object!

Knit in Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch (colorway 721), size 2 Harmony DPNs, 72 stitch cast-on, standard sock recipe. Yarn gifted to me by my coworkers as part of my appendix get-well package. Finished socks will be gifted to one of my fellow SNBers, who is not only an awesome sock knitter, but is also a graduate of my MLS program AND had her appendix removed by surprise some years ago. I can't think of a more fitting recipient.

As for the WIPs…well. Not so much.

Spring Forward – meh. Thinking the variegated yarn obscures the pattern. Also, pooly. And frankly a little too repetitive to be an obsessive knit. Possibly also too small.

There’s also a shawl and a sweater, both in a time-out. The former due to an unfortunate night where I played a super-fun game I like to call “I can drink wine, knit lace and watch Jeopardy at the same time because I am a Super Genius!" The latter due to poor pattern reading and a mistake I made in the VERY FIRST ROW.

Enough whining! You know what the solution is, right?

Yup, it’s time to start something new! Meet Firewalker. Pattern – duh. Yarn dyed by me. This yarn was previously a much smaller Jaywalker, with a much less cool name. Pretty, pretty, pretty…

It’s even prettier in real life, I promise. Does anyone else have a bitch of a time getting their digital camera to capture reds accurately? My camera can’t quite seem to believe anything is this gaudily colored and just smooshes the oranges and reds into a big blurry mess. I’ve tried different light (direct, indirect, etc) and different settings, but nothing seems to work very well.

If you have this problem, do you have a good solution? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that someone will say that I really need a much better, shinier and sleeker digital camera, but any settings advice would be appreciated too...

Stash is not just for yarn

2008-08-10T19:00:00.005-07:00

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “stash” as “To hide or store away in a secret place”. For knitters, stash is so much more than that, of course. However, “forgetting” to mention acquisitions to significant others who think “you have enough sock yarn” notwithstanding, mostly yarn stash isn’t much of a secret.

But I do have a secret stash. Except it’s not yarn. It’s cheese. Cheese stash is obviously more transitory than yarn stash, due to its perishable nature. But almost as exciting. Possibly more exciting, for me. Cheese tasting often ends with me squealing, jumping up and down and doing the “happy cheese dance.” Which kind of looks like I’m having a seizure, but you know, happy about it.

So, to stretch the analogy excruciatingly, I have the Cascade 220-type cheeses – ricotta, feta, parmesan, havarti, American cheddar, etc. Good, solid, basic cheeses. Perfect for tossing in pasta or making a sandwich. And usually something a bit nicer - like Malabrigo or Noro level – gruyere or a good English cheddar for eating on their own. And usually I’m completely satisfied with these nice cheeses. Because really, something that’s Malabrigo-Good is pretty effing sweet.

But every now and then you get something fantastically luxurious in your stash that makes everything else in your stash seem inadequate. And last weekend, a visit to the South End Formaggio did the same thing to my cheese stash. Formaggio is an insanely good cheese shop and everyone in or around Boston should go there as soon as possible. There’s a dude there that specializes in PAIRING CHEESE AND BEER. Go there. Go there now.

Our visit was especially awesome due to the expert guidance of BFF Quinn’s friend Siri, who works there when she’s not busy being a brilliant sociologist-in-training. And she hooked us UP with some amazing recommendations.

Meet (clockwise from bottom left)...

Gratte Paille
Morbier Marcel Petite
Persillé de Pont Astier
Reypanaer VSOP

This is the cashmere of cheeses. This is the dreamily soft baby yak down of cheese. This is cheese that makes me never want to eat any other kind of cheese again. Also, the Gratte Paille is cheese that BFF Quinn described as “glistening like a pair of sweaty balls,” which has nothing to do with stash behavior but did make me snort-laugh.

And much like new yarn, this new cheese makes me think all my old cheese sucks. Stupid cheese. But luckily, I know just where to go to get more...

I actually finished a pair of socks, and I got some pretty, pretty new sock yarn. So actual knitting content soon!

Not such a useless word after all

2008-07-27T19:15:00.004-07:00

The predictive text feature on my cell phone is missing some really important words. Like “douchebag,” “crappy” and, most unbelievably, “brunch”. Anyway, what it lacks in being able to predict how I text, is more than made up for by having lots of words that I’m pretty sure have never been used in a text message in the entire history of texting – like tonsorial. And mordant.

Why do I mention this? Because it’s annoying, but also when I first got my phone, I thought “WTF does mordant mean!?!?” And now, I’m proud to say that I know exactly what it means. Because I have mordanted. I am a mordanter.

When we were at MA Sheep and Wool, the Daft Crafter and I bought ourselves a natural dyeing kit. Natural dyes require a mordant – a chemical additive that improves the light and color-fastness of the dye. You can either pre-mordant your yarn in a mordant bath or mix the mordant with your dyestuffs. And a few weekends ago, we mordanted the crap out of some yarn.

Incidentally, doing stuff like this with other bloggers is awesome. Because they're taking pictures of random crap just like you are. And no one thinks it's at all weird...Plus, they write fabulous posts about it, too...

The whole dyeing experience was extra exciting because we also tried out the new Knitpicks sock blanks. They’re machine-knit into a long rectangle in such a way that you can easily hand-dye SELF-STRIPING SOCK YARN. And since the sock blanks are knit two strands at a time, you theoretically end up with a pair of matching striped socks by knitting one sock from each strand. Fantastic.

So how did the natural dyes look? Well, on the right is my first effort, striped in Cutch and Madder. Mordant mixed in with the dye. Before heat-setting the dye, the two colors looked nearly identical on the yarn. Thus, sloppy-looking stripes. But still, fairly nice.

On the left is my second effort (100% ripped off from, I mean inspired by, the Daft Crafter’s efforts pictured below), striped in Cutch, Madder, Osage, Cochineal, Logwood Grey and combinations thereof. I love it shamelessly.

[Please note, the very, very serious expression on her face in this picture in no way represents the amount of fun we had. Mostly we were laughing. Also, drinking beer.]

And my last, premordanted in a mordant bath and then handpainted with a combination of the same colors as above. Pretty enough to make me resent all my other sock yarn for not being as pretty as this yarn.

The only real drawback to this whole process (besides rather more math than either of us were prepared for, and a whole lot of fussy measuring and timing things) is that you have to let the dyed yarn “season” for a week before rinsing it.

For an instant gratification type, I can see this being tough.

But it’s not as if I’ll be running out of sock yarn any time soon.

Now that's my kind of church

2008-07-20T09:19:00.003-07:00

I'm more than a little curious about this, because both my imagination and my google-fu have failed me.

What is tattoo worship??? Anyone?

My best guess is that they're adjusting their spiritual appeal to their neighborhood, Allston being, well, Allston.

In which case, I can't wait to see if they'll have "Dive Bar Worship," "Piercing Worship" and "Weather-Inappropriate Black Boots Worship" in upcoming weeks.

Hitched!

2008-07-16T19:01:00.004-07:00

I’ve mentioned the epic awesomeness of my best friend Quinn on a number of occasions. She’s everything you could ever want in a best friend, and more - kind, brilliant, thoughtful and hilarious. Plus, she genuinely appreciates the knitting in a way that’s really rare for a non-knitter.

Given her many exceptional qualities, it takes an exceptionally great guy to meet the good-enough-to-date-my-BFF standard.

Luckily, she has just such a guy. He’s good and kind and makes her laugh. They’ve made a really lovely life together over the last several years. And this past weekend, they made it all official: my darling BFF eloped with this wonderful guy and got herself married.

He’s everything I could want for her, and I know they’ll be brilliantly happy together.

So, congratulations again, pumpkin!

You did good. Really, really good.

TMI

2008-07-11T10:09:00.004-07:00

Like most women, I keep a stash of feminine products in the office. They’re in an unassuming IKEA box on the bottom shelf of a crowded bookcase.

So a few minutes ago my (male) boss walked into my cubicle, said “Nice hatbox. What’s in here?” and just opened it (while I was mentally screaming "NOOOOOOOO").

He got this completely appalled look on his face, said “Oh – I see” in a very small voice, carefully shut it and backed far, far away.

I’m going to go die now. But I bet you a million billion dollars he won’t be poking around in anyone else's office stuff. Ever. Again.

Leagues, both major and minor

2008-07-08T19:53:00.003-07:00

I went to a baseball game last night.

This will surprise just about everyone who knows me, since I consider baseball unwatchably boring. Happily, knitting does radically increase my tolerance for watching sports. And since it was a Stitch ‘n Pitch, the event did combine four out of my five very favorite things: Drinking beer, eating greasy food from carts, smoking in publicly owned facilities (yay minor league ball parks!) and knitting.

Incidentally, when I told one of my fellow knitters that I was doing almost all of my favorite things, she leaned over to me and, with brilliantly dry delivery, said “I'm not sure what your other favorite thing is, but no matter how nicely you ask, I will not have sex with you.” Awesome. I do love my dirty-minded knitting ladies.

And it really was a blast being surrounded by my people, including the aforementioned mind-firmly-in-the-gutter friend Sarah, and the always-awesome Quirkles ...

Needles and yarn everywhere you looked! Socks on circs! Socks on DPNs! An entire section full of random people that really cared about the difference between metal, wood and bamboo. At a baseball game. It was especially charming to be sitting in a ballpark and knowing someone within shouting distance would be able to provide almost everything I needed to finish a sock – such as scissors and a darning needle, and a reminder of how to do the kitchener stitch (which I somehow COMPLETELY FORGOT HOW TO DO while sitting there – I blame the heat. Also, possibly, the beer).

Our local minor league team, the Lowell Spinners, got their asses resoundingly kicked, but I had rather more success. Despite the kitchener stitch memory lapse, I finished a sock…

Plus, there were some major league knitting celebrities, handing out buttons and stickers and being their charming selves. I didn’t want to be all intrusive with the picture-taking.

So I Kinneared them, Yarn Harlot style. Because there's nothing weird or stalkerish about that.

And I did score some of their Ravelry goodies (including a much-coveted-by-me “Where my stitches at?” pin). I always thought of myself as someone who would be calm in these situations, but I believe I received my pin and stutttered something along the lines of "SWEET! I mean, thank you, er, so much. And, um, thank you for, uh, Ravelry." Suave!

Now that’s my idea of a night at the ballpark.

Next up! I continue to drown in greens, but now I at least kind of know what to do with them, thanks to the fabulous advice from all of you....

Admitting defeat

2008-07-01T15:29:00.002-07:00

Over the winter I signed up for a weekly half-share of produce from a local farm. This is a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, wherein you pay X dollars to a local farm during the off-season and get a box of produce per week during harvest season.

You not only support local farms when they have minimal income during the off-season but you get awesome super-fresh produce delivered practically to your door all summer long. Plus, possible hot farm boy sightings every week.

I think it’s genius.

And I like to cook and really, really love vegetables, so this seems like a perfect arrangement, right?

Well, this is what I’ve received so far:

2 bunches swiss chard
2 bunches kale
2 large bunches arugula
2 heads lettuce
2 huge bags spinach
2 bunches of beets, with (you guessed it) greens
2 bunches radishes
2 pints strawberries

I understand of course that it’s early in the season and this is what’s ready to eat in New England right now. That’s actually part of the charm of a CSA – you’re 100% guaranteed to be eating seasonally. And the greens are seriously gorgeous.

But I live alone, so the vast majority of this stuff needs to be cooked and eaten by me. And quickly. I’ve made countless salads with the tender greens. I’ve sautéed pounds of kale and chard and spinach with garlic and oil. They're particularly tasty with polenta and roasted portabello mushrooms. I’ve tossed leftover cooked greens with orzo, parmesan and good olive oil for pasta salad.

I’m done. I can’t eat any more greens. The greens have won. Anyone local want some of this stuff???

Also, despite a valiant effort at cooking them and a sincere appreciation of their beauty, turns out I am not such a huge fan of beets.

Or, if I can't share the wealth with you, do you have a favorite recipe for greens??? Cuz I’m getting a whole new batch of them this weekend…

It's a Christmas miracle!

2008-06-24T09:34:00.004-07:00

Squeezing in just under the Six-Months-Late mark, my mom's Christmas socks are finally done! I like to think of this as extending the magic of the holiday season. And holiday magic in the form of socks is just what my mom needs.

She's heading back to Tucson today, where the forecasted high is 103 degrees, so really my timing couldn't possibly be better.

Pattern: Charade, which has been much celebrated in blogland, as it should be. I will definitely knit these again.

Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, Fall Herbs colorway, 2.25 balls for size 10 women's socks. This yarn splits like a bastard, making it possibly the worst choice for a slip-stitch pattern, with an afterthought heel. Also, the yarn has no give while knitting, so it was a little rough on the hands. Well worth it though for the lush, cushy, amazingly soft fabric it produces.

Needles: size 2.5 (3 mm) Knitpicks DPNs

Modifications: because I liked the way the yarn was variegating and am apparently not bright enough to grasp short row heel instructions, I did an afterthought heel instead of a heel flap. Dave over at Criminy Jickets suggested this kind of heel the last time I was bitching about pooly gussets.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results. The afterthought heel looks a little weird off the foot...

And frankly a little weird on the foot...

But because you don't increase stitches at the gusset, the yarn patterning doesn't change. And when the yarn looks this good....

...you don't want to be f*cking with it.

So, um, Merry Christmas, Mom! I'm so glad you came to visit. I had a really great time the past few weeks!

Sights

2008-06-22T17:53:00.003-07:00

My mom’s been in town for the last few weeks, and we’ve been busy seeing the sights. Boy, are there a lot of sights.

We’ve done six museums, Salem (of witch trial fame), the New England Aquarium and parts of the Freedom Trail. We even saw the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus perform their “ExtrABBAganza” – which featured many ABBA songs, dancing men in sequined outfits, and one of my favorite-est coworkers sporting a spiky blond mullet wig and faux-Swedish accent. You really can’t go wrong with that combination.

Mullets and sequins aside, the high point of the mom visit so far was spending a long weekend on Cape Cod.

We stayed in Eastham, aka the gateway to the Cape Cod National Seashore, said seashore being something like 40 miles of uninterrupted federally protected coastline stretching from Eastham all the way to Provincetown.

So what does 40 miles of beaches mean for a vacationing knitter?

Why, knitting on the beach, of course….

The sock quite liked the beach. Though he kind of resented the way the ocean was horning in on his color scheme.

Not every day was nice enough to knit on the beach. Thankfully, my family lived in Oregon for years and we think it eminently reasonable to slog through rain and mud and mist to see cold grey water. So there were still plenty of coastal trails to traverse and gorgeous vistas to see.

Mmm… damp… The way the outdoors should be…

Hope everyone else is having a fabulous summer too!

Those three little words you long to hear

2008-06-17T10:05:00.003-07:00

I had this conversation with my friend Kelley last night:

Kelley: OK, email me tomorrow.
Me: Will do.
Kelley: I love you, too.
Kelley (via text two minutes later): Dude, did we just love each other?
Me: No, I said will do, then you said you loved me.
Kelley: HA. I can't believe I said it first, I feel so vulnerable.

Funny, but those aren't the three words I'm thinking about. All I'm thinking about right now is MALABRIGO SOCK YARN. Seriously.

It's not available to the public yet, but Karen's got some in her hot little hands.

Go check it out. And start budgeting accordingly.

Let's pretend it's still May for a moment

2008-05-26T06:23:00.009-07:00

Damn, I've been busy. In a good way, but enough so that I've barely had time to knit, let alone blog. So belatedly, here's my Mass Sheep and Wool Roundup...brought to you by the letters "I-S-U-C-K-A-T-B-L-O-G-G-I-N-G-R-E-G-U-L-A-R-L-Y."

When we got to MA Sheep and Wool, it was immediately obvious we were among our people. Even in the parking lot...

Fleece on earth. Good wool to ewe. Nice.

Once inside, there was plenty to see. But I think the most impressive thing of all was Jenny's mad spinning skilz. My introductory spinning pamphlet said spinning can feel a bit like trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time.

Well, fuck rubbing your belly and patting your head, I want to be able to do this...

...Spin AND WALK simultaneously. She's kind of my hero. Also, in the intervening weeks, she has handspun some seriously impressive yarn (scroll down).

We took a break to fortify ourselves with "taco in a bag," arguably the single best festival food in the world, adorably spokesmodeled here by Jenny and blog-free (but super-crafty) Suzy...

We made friends with some fiber animals...

And came really close to talking Sarah into taking this one home. Doesn't she look happy? Doesn't she totally deserve a bunny of her own? And Jenny and I would be more than happy to take all that spinnable fiber off her hands.

Oh yeah, speaking of spinnable fiber...Meet The Sheep Shed's merino, one-half pound of billowy gauzy delight....I can make a whole lot of lumpy yarn with half a pound of merino.

And 4 oz. of Sliver Moon Farm Superwash Merino Tencel roving. Which could totally make pants-crappingly gorgeous sock yarn, were I a hugely better spinner than I actually am.

And since I clearly have a lot to learn before I can make my own sock yarn, I also picked up a skein of "Bambu" from Ancient Threads Farm...

I know I say this all the time, but this is my new favorite-est yarn. It's dyed entirely with natural dyes (turmeric, osage, cochineal, etc) and is so beautiful I have it on my coffee table so I can stroke it several times a day. Let's take another look at it, shall we?

The nice lady at Ancient Threads mentioned that she gets all her dyestuffs from Botanical Shades, who just happened to have a booth at the festival, too. So I'm now the proud owner (co-owner actually, with Jenny) of a natural dye starter kit, with enough natural dye extracts (and mordants and such) to dye ten pounds of fiber.

Now if only I had ten pounds of undyed fiber...

I'd better get crackin' on that.

Regularly scheduled blogging, reading blogs, commenting on blogs, actually knitting, etc. to return in a week or two.

Six things I learned at WEBS

2008-05-24T19:17:00.014-07:00

I had the supreme pleasure of going to WEBS again today. I know not everyone is so incredibly lucky, so I thought I'd share some of my acquired wisdom.

1. Knitters are awesome (though I knew that already).

2. I am a twelve-year-old boy (not exactly breaking news either).

3. When you want to knit a sweater, the WEBS annual sale isn't just a happy coincidence.

For months now, Kelley has been professing her love for the Must-Have Cardigan, in florid, romance novelesque terms. Coincidentally, I thought it looked like an especially fun knit, but had no desire whatsoever to actually wear it.

And so a plan was born - I would knit the sweater for her! In whatever color she wanted! Enter the WEBS annual sale, with particularly steep discounts on several ideal sweater wools.

I firmly believe it would be just plain irresponsible to ignore that kind of sign. Clearly, the knitting fates wanted me to buy a shitload of yarn.

4. You're gonna need a longer list.

I hoped my list would act as some sort of magical talisman last weekend, to keep me from being overwhelmed by the enormous quantities of reasonably priced wool. And it worked! Though having a really, really long list almost certainly helped with the whole "sticking to the list" thing...

Last weekend's purchases, left to right:
- Burgundy/pink Cascade 220 Heathers (a sweater's worth)
- Brown/red Cascade 220 Heathers (a sweater's worth to keep me from getting bitter and envious about the yarn I bought for Kelley)
- Valley Yarns Huntington (one skein each chocolate brown and pale rose)
- Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in what I think of as the "Shag Me Rotten" colorway

Destined to be Kelley's cardigan, something fabulous in cables for me, the Endpaper Mitts and awesome, respectively. The awesome sock yarn was the only thing that wasn't on my list. But, DUDE, alpaca sock yarn discounted over 30%. And it looks like this:

5. New yarn makes all your old yarn seem stupid.

After the first WEBS trip last Sunday I wanted to abandon every single one of the new projects I started recently. To make matters worse, today's WEBS trip was just a detour on the way to MA Sheep and Wool. And I already love today's newer new yarn way more than last weekend's new yarn.

Plus, baby's got a brand new spindle and some sweeeeet new fiber to play with (more on that later).

Thankfully, being a knitter (and currently flirting with at least three different socks herself), Kelley probably understands that her sweater might ~~never actually be finished~~ take a while. Which brings me to the last thing I've learned...

6. Teaching your friends to knit is always a good idea.

Almost certain temptation

2008-05-18T06:26:00.003-07:00

My friend Kelley and I are off to WEBS today. The sheer quantity of that much inexpensive ~~tweed~~ wool can be overwhelming, but I have a list and a plan...

I'm prepared. The girl scouts got nothin' on me.

And so it begins...

2008-05-10T17:19:00.003-07:00

Because there's no such thing as too much yarn, I decided it was about time to start making some of my own...

It's overspun, uneven and lumpy, and I love every single inch of it. Because it has something that no other yarn in the world has: I made it.

Why yes, I can convince myself of anything

2008-05-08T16:08:00.005-07:00

Thanks to everyone for their get well wishes. I’m doing well, back at work and all, and finally wearing regular pants with an actual waistband which is super exciting.

The main lingering side effect seems to be a scorching case of startitis. I’m pretty sure they didn’t mention that in any of the many consent forms I signed, so I’m guessing those forms were not written by knitters.

So, what have I started? Well, a sock…

Standard sock recipe, in Meilenweit Megaboots Stretch Ultra, 72 stitch cast-on, size 2 needles. Lovely. Still totally charmed by the Megaboots’ subtle color shifts, just as I was the last two times I used this yarn.

And a sweater…

The Sienna Cardigan in Berroco Ultra Alpaca, in the smashing Oceanic Mix colorway. I’m knitting the 48” size for my 38” self, to accommodate using yarn with a wildly different gauge than the pattern calls for. Loving it so much.

Besides their obvious inherent charms, why, you may ask, am I working on these instead of one of my (many) existing WIPs, which have many charms of their own?

You see, I’m naturally prone to startitis. The first few inches of a project are almost always pure joy. New yarn is so exciting! Lookit the pretty colors! Wow this is the best pattern EVER!

Then the first flush of infatuation wears off... And I start looking longingly at my Ravelry queue…Lookit! Colorwork! I love colorwork! Maybe some nice colorwork mittens! And oo, what a pretty shawl! And I coud really use a basic stockinette sock to carry around in my bag! And I’ve never made a cabled sweater! And, gosh, I’ve always meant to learn how to embroider tea towels! And…! And…! And…!

You get the picture. It takes enormous self-control not to be knitting the first two or three inches of approximately eleventy million projects simultaneously. I do tend to have at least two or three “active” projects at a time. Which may explain why I rarely actually finish anything. Ahem. Anyway…

Despite this natural (and, I like to think, charming) tendency to abandon projects mid-way, I’ve been plodding along fairly faithfully on my two main projects. But both of them have pissed me off recently. I screwed up the Callisto shawl (again) and need to either frog a few rows or execute some sort of daring lunatic fix in which I drop stitches and fix several rows involving poorly executed YO-SSK combinations. This seems unlikely to turn out well.

Simultaneously, mom’s first sock has been reknit, sans heel and toe (I heart you afterthought heel and the way you don’t break up the color repeats), but I have definitively run out of yarn before knitting either a heel or a toe. So annoyed. More yarn is on the way, but I’m in a fight with this sock right now.

Fiddly shawl fixes and ill-behaved yarn-greedy socks are so not what you need when you’re recuperating, right? What you really need is to cast on a new blue sock with the new wool your awesome coworkers sent you. IMMEDIATELY.

Also, someone that really wanted to relax and get into the spirt of convalescence would probably also start knitting, um, a cardigan. Yeah, that’s it!

Yes indeed. I’m starting new projects For My Health.

So that's what vestigial means

2008-05-04T11:26:00.006-07:00

It started Sunday with a wretched stomachache. By Tuesday night, I was wearing an assless robe and a surgical intern who looked about 19 was prodding my belly while the reassuringly older attending surgeon informed me that an appendectomy is a "chip shot" as far as surgeries go. I don't know what a chip shot is, but I decided it had to mean "so easy the 19 year old could perform it one-handed, after a night of tequila shots and keg stands".

In between, I spent many hours waiting for assorted tests, and have never in my entire life been so grateful that I happened to have a good book and my knitting on hand. Also, that thing about always wearing clean underwear is totally true. Because you never know when you might be having an emergency appendectomy.

The knitting in particular entertained both this librarian-in-training and the kindergartener sitting next to me, who was spending her sixth birthday in the hospital, waiting for her mom's CT.

Now, I'm not exactly fond of kids, but she won me over almost immediately by being completely and utterly entranced by the knitting. So entranced was she that I finally just taught her to knit, using the heel flap of my mom's sock. Any knitter knows that using size 2 DPNs in the round, with inflexible splitty bamboo-cotton yarn is not the easiest way to learn how to knit. But learn she did, executing perfect knit stitches almost instantaneously after I showed her the basics a few times. I was seriously impressed. Who knew kids were that smart?

I've never had surgery before, and chip shot or no, being in the hospital pretty much blows. Recovery, on the other hand, has been a pleasure (except for the pain and exhaustion part - that part sucks). Megan of the dainty feet picked my newly-appendix-free self up at the hospital and stayed over for a few nights to fetch me food and juice and happy pills, and to yell at me when I tried to overexert myself. And as a totally unexpected bonus, BFF Quinn was in New York for a conference and offered to take the bus down to Boston to share in convalescent duty. They were the best caretakers one could possibly imagine.

Plus, my coworkers sent fabulous food, flowers and wool, and a knitty get well card (gotta love working for a cookbook publisher that's crawling with knitters). My boss was nothing but nice about my unexpected absence. Many of my SNB ladies called and emailed to make sure I was ok and to wish me a speedy recovery. I've been completely amazed by the thoughtfulness of everyone around me. And very, very thankful.

Knitting content returning soon. I've got some pretty new wool to show off, after all.

All better now

2008-04-27T09:33:00.005-07:00

The Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival was just what I needed - lovely weather, excellent company, sweet fuzzy livestock and (of course) yarn.

There were knitters...

...And of course, the main event...sheep getting the livestock equivalent of a Brazilian wax (though we were assured that the process is actually painless for the sheep)...

There were goats (including one camera-shy fellow who spent the entire afternoon tucked away in this cubby going LA LA LA LA you can't SEE ME)...

And (aaaaw) lambs....

I was also privileged to witness a special moment in the life of any knitter - the first time a non-stasher buys yarn, not because they have a specific project in mind, but because it's too beautiful to pass up.

Welcome to the dark side! May your stash continue to grow and give you as much joy as that cashmere does.

I myself resisted the considerable temptations of the Bartlett yarns booth...

Though the Daft Crafter got up-close and personal with some of their yarn (you can just see her green t-shirt and quite smashing green cowl peeking out)...

The man of my dreams was working the yarn tent as well. Admittedly, he was probably 60, but he was also Scottish (maybe Irish) and brogued hotly and knowledgeably about wool and dyeing and shearing and spinning.

Between sexy wool brogue guy and the epic quantity of reasonably priced tweed, my resistance was worn down by the time we stopped in at Lucy's Mind's Eye booth.

So unsurprisingly, some of her always lovely yarn followed me home. Merino-tencel hand-dyed sock yarn, in the Ashes of Roses colorway. So ladylike, isn't it? Like dainty Victorian underpants.

Some Araucania Ranco multy might have fallen into my bag at the same time...

I love both these yarns so much that I wanted to yank my current sock off the needles so I could start knitting with them on the car ride home. The logistical difficulty of balling yarn in a car fortunately intervened, so I'm still making good progress on (re)knitting my mom's sock.

As for yesterday's bitterness? All gone. I'm entirely charmed by knitting again.

The definition of insanity

2008-04-26T06:28:00.005-07:00

You know how they say the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over, and each time expecting different results? Well, by that standard I am clearly batshit nuts.

Remember my mom’s sock?

I did everything right on this sock, I really did. I knit a full size swatch, most of a sock leg really, which I then dutifully washed and blocked. The size seemed perfect. Just the wee-est bit snug on me, which I assumed would fit my mom’s narrower feet perfectly. I then cast on the same number of stitches, on the same needles, and proceeded to knit an entire sock down to the toe decreases.

At which point, I pretty much ran out of the first ball of yarn.

But that’s a different problem entirely.

The real problem with this sock is that it’s (surprise!) too small. I had one of my knittahs try it on after I washed and blocked it on the needles. And she could scarcely yank the traitorous thing onto her size 8 foot. My mom does not have a size 8 foot.

So mom’s almost-finished sock looks like this now:

And now that gauge swatching has proven itself to be ~~an utter waste of time~~ ~~yet another opportunity for gauge to taunt me with false hope~~ less helpful than I would like, what do you suppose I’m doing now?

Yup. Swatching! For the Sienna cardigan.

This is really two swatches, knit on size 7 and size 8 needles. So I’m looking forward to being twice as disappointed when the final item bears no resemblance to either gauge swatch. What, me, bitter?

Thankfully, I’m off to the Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival with a mess of knitters today.

Nothing some fiber love and greasy festival food won’t cure.

Friends don't let friends drink and knit

2008-04-21T18:27:00.006-07:00

Or even knit near drinking. My friend Kelley and I had precisely one beer each Saturday afternoon, and yet...

I somehow got the hem edge of my Callisto shawl looped onto the needle, as if it was a working stitch. In the middle of a 300+ stitch row. Easily rectified with some cursing of triangular shawl construction and slipping 150 stitches to get back to the bone-headed mistake. But still.

And, almost simultaneously, Kelley did this to her heel flap...providing an excellent opportunity to teach her how to reverse a purl stitch to a knit stitch, sans crochet hook. Also, a pleasant opportunity to point at each other's crap knitting and laugh.

Truly, not our finest knitting day.

I've been one of the knitters lobbying to relocate our weekly SNB to a bar, but I may have to seriously rethink that stance.

After all, I'm entirely capable of screwing up my knitting stone sober under good lighting. So why risk it?

I'm so behind that...

2008-04-15T15:56:00.005-07:00

...I've had this post written for ages and haven't posted it...but, through the magic of replacing "last weekend" with "a few weeks ago", I can still tell you about my recent(ish) dyeing adventure.

The Bitchin Stitcher and I had the pleasure of attending a hand-dyeing workshop a few weeks ago, run by the super-talented Lucy of Minds-Eye Yarns.

Lucy’s merino-tencel blend hand-dyed sock yarn comes in the most extraordinary colors, so we were eager to learn from the master. Not only is Lucy a dyeing genius, she’s exceptionally charming and funny. It’s an irresistible combination.

Under her tutelage, I dyed up a skein of laceweight merino and two superwash DK-weight skeins. All Knitpicks.

Barbie's Dream Lace

In Like a Lion

Twilight Time

I’ve mostly done immersion dyeing with Kool-aid and food coloring, but these were handpainted. Little squirt bottles are key here. They allow you to direct the dye onto a small portion of the yarn. Or they would, if I could aim, instead of shooting dye across the table and nowhere near my own yarn. Thankfully, every surface was covered with a layer of plastic and newspaper. This seemed excessive at first, but turned out to be entirely necessary, given my aim.

I tried to use very small blobs of each color, hoping to avoid my nemesis, pooling. We’ll see.

And speaking of pooling, you all were right. My mom was totally down with the socks. Bonus – she preferred the fabric knit up in the Charade pattern (pdf), so I finally have a chance to knit it. Really fun, addictively easy pattern.

As for my newly dyed laceweight, I’ve never used laceweight before and yet in the past month I’ve acquired FOUR monster skeins of the stuff. All in pink/purple colorways.

I smell shawls in my future. Lots and lots of pink shawls.

So does anyone have a shawl pattern they’ve particularly enjoyed?

I’m thinking of either the Swallowtail or the Flower Basket Shawl from Interweave, or Laminaria from the new Knitty.

Thoughts?

Dear Mom

2008-03-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

I know you picked out this yarn when we were vacationing in Oregon together. I remember how we both admired the colors, standing in the back of Websters by their tremendous wall of sock yarn. And it certainly was pretty...

And I know you particularly chose this yarn because it was not wool, and I realize that “not wool” is a very good thing for socks destined to live in Arizona.

I also know I promised you a pair of socks knit from this very yarn. For, well, last Christmas. And I appreciate how understanding you were when your wretch of a librarian-in-training daughter instead sent you a photograph of said yarn, with a note saying “IOU one pair of hand-knit socks.”

I know all of this.

But this yarn is hiding a dirty secret. After a few inches of knitting, you can see it.

Yup, it's pooling IN THE BALL. Unsurprisingly then, it also pooled when it was knit up...

I tried out a few different stitch patterns, seeing what the fabric would look like and whether anything would break up the pooling (I settled on plain stockinette, the bottom part of the sock).

What think you? Are the colors just as delightful when knit up into a sock? Or do they clash and seem too blotchy?

Would you perhaps prefer something a bit more muted? More solid? Perhaps a nice pair of lace socks knit up in a whisper-soft merino-silk blend?

As you can see, there’s no shortage of options…

My sock yarn stash is entirely at your disposal, should the pooly sock not suit you. And I guarantee you’ll have them in time for the very hottest part of summer.

Much love and many apologies,
Your tardy daughter

Goodies

2008-03-26T14:45:00.003-07:00

Belated catch-up on my Arizona goodies. I hit two yarn shops while I was in Tucson (did I mention how extraordinarily nice my non-knitting mom is?). Purls and Kiwi Knitting Company.

Purls was nice, with friendly staff, a decent selection, etc. Not as much sock yarn as I might like, but I can see Tucson not being a big wool sock knitting town. The really mind-bogglingly awesome thing, though, was that they had all 100+ colors of Malabrigo laceweight.

I think my knees actually went weak when I saw it.

Small surprise then, that I came home with a few of these (thanks Mom!).

One of these is destined to be the "Easy Flame Lace Scarf" (pdf link), from Knit and Tonic. Because if I bitched about knitting a worsted-weight scarf, surely lace-weight is the way to go.

I thought Kiwi had a slightly better selection overall. And they were super-nice, even volunteering to order a pattern for me that I’ve been trying – unsuccessfully – to find everywhere. So should you find yourself in Tucson, you should totally buy stuff from them.

And in the DIY fiber category, I found these, A Dyer's Garden and locally grown brazilwood chips for dyeing.

Courtesy of a very cool organization in Tucson called Native Seeds/SEARCH, which is dedicated to identifying and preserving local plants and seeds, both wild and cultivated. You can grow most anything in Tucson outside of the really brutal summer months, but these plants are exquisitely adapted to desert conditions and represent a rich, diverse botanical heritage. Far more diverse than you would expect from a desert.

Incidentally, if you enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver’s recent book, Native Seeds co-founder Gary Paul Nabhan’s book Coming Home to Eat provides another look at eating locally, in much less verdant terrain.

Finally, I acquired what is possibly the coolest thing I own.

Not pictured are the foot-long gold and white wings that stick out of the sides. Or the fact that it LIGHTS UP.

Marvel at its sheer awesomeness.

Next up: we see what a bad daughter I really am, especially considering how very generous and pro-knitting my dear mother has been.

Why hike when you can slog?

2008-03-23T08:53:00.003-07:00

With a sigh of relief, I present the Irish Slogging, er, Hiking Scarf.

Specs: 2 full skeins Berroco Ultra Alpaca, Size 8 Brittany needles, finished length 67 inches
The quibbles: I would have liked a longer scarf, but I used up both skeins and didn’t have room in the yarn budget to buy another. Also, given how long *this* scarf took me, longer probably isn’t the direction I should be moving in. If I ever knit another cabled scarf like this (please God no), I would probably go up a needle size too, as this bad boy is pretty densely knit. Not stiff exactly, just compact.

Lastly, the cast on and bind-off ends don’t match – one end is much frillier than the other. Any ideas why that happens? And what to do about it?

Quibbles aside, this makes a fine and cozy scarf.

Almost makes the slog worth it.

The way life should be

2008-03-20T17:30:00.004-07:00

Signs of spring are everywhere in Boston. Maine, on the other hand?

Still winter. In a C.S. Lewis’s White Witch, spring-will-never-come-as-long-as-my-frosty-heart-still-beats kind of way.

This is winter like I’ve never seen winter. I saw a body of water so solidly frozen that not only were people out on it ice-fishing, but they could safely drive their TRUCKS out onto the ice to get there. In mid-March.

Nevertheless, Maine is where I spent last weekend, having a fantastic time with friends.

And a friend’s dog.

Much fun was had, including stumbling into a wee yarn shop completely by accident (honest! We were shopping for souvenirs and oops - There it was! Yarn). I escaped with my credit card unscathed, though I almost convinced myself that I was fated to find that shop and who was I to deny fate.

We also saw the world’s largest snow woman.

Because I’m essentially a twelve-year-old boy at heart, the first question I asked when I heard about the snow woman was whether she had snowboobs. As you can see, the answer – sadly – is no. But you can still tell she’s a snow woman because she has eyelashes. Made out of skis.

The snow woman was built layer by layer, with volunteers shoveling and packing snow down into successively higher metal rings. As supporters of the communal snow woman effort, a lot of the local businesses have miniature snow woman displays out front.

And many of these snow women do have snowboobs, so I really think the snow woman engineers missed an opportunity there.

As if *that* wasn’t enough excitement, I also found the world’s best souvenir t-shirt.

Because everyone knows Drinking + Weaponry = Big Fun.

I even had time to finish up a little something…

You can thank me at your leisure

2008-03-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

Walking home from work yesterday, I noticed that not only had someone’s dog crapped next to the sidewalk, but that someone had taken the time to create a little hand-lettered sign pasted to a popsicle stick that said “I miss your Ring-Ding eyes more than your Pixie Stick lips.”

Which they had stuck IN THE POOP.

The best part? I stood there debating whether to take a picture of it. You know, for the blog. Because a crazy sign stuck in poop is totally what everyone comes to a knitting blog hoping to see.

I finally decided I didn’t want to be Crazy Poop Lady trying to take a cell phone picture OF POOP in fading light on a busy sidewalk.

It was a near thing, though.

A far away city with a far away feel

2008-03-10T16:13:00.003-07:00

When my Mom’s family originally moved to Tucson, my Mom was certain she’d been sent to hell. No trees. No running water. Just sand and rock and cactus as far as the eye could see. She came to appreciate the desert eventually, but I think her true love will always be for greener places.

I was born in Tucson and the desert still looks like home to me, in a way that New England probably never will. Perhaps that's why it never really struck me as a barren place. Barren or not, it is most definitely a desert - grey-green and brown and so dry that I resorted to using heavy-duty body lotion on my face after three days in the desert air.

But coming from grim late winter in Boston, it seemed positively bursting with life and greenery.

It’s just a prickly kind of life. And being a little prickly myself, I can respect that.

Adding to the impression of vigorous life, my aunt’s house was full of lively animals, much good conversation, and a lot of laughter. In my unbiased opinion, my aunt and uncles and family friends rate quite highly on the awesomeness scale.

I made sure to acquaint myself with their goats (non fiber-bearing, alas, but still awfully cute)…

And (from a respectful distance), their horses…

I also spent a lot of quality time with assorted dogs. This upped the ticking on my puppy-ological clock from a faint “someday” to an insistent “NOW NOW NOW RIGHTNOW.” I think I’m going through some sort of withdrawal now.

As for knitting, I spent a few nights doing this…

Why yes, that is the Irish Hiking Scarf. And no, I haven’t finished it. And yes, I am beginning to lose hope that I ever will finish it. Though even hopeless feels a lot less hopeless in front of a crackling fire, I must say.

I also finished the first repeat of the Twisted Flower sock, and I really feel like I accomplished something impressive.

Admittedly, this represents an entire cross-country plane ride, with layover, as well as two evenings of knitting, but I’m exceedingly pleased with my ability to sort out the mysterious twisty cable chart symbols. To the point where I may have crowed “Take that, bitches!” when I successfully executed the most complicated row of the pattern.

I even got some important shopping done. Tucson has the best thrift shops I’ve ever seen (I love you, Savers!). Plus there are excellent bookstores and charming Mexican import shops and a vigorous local foods initiative. We even had time to hit a few yarn shops, including one shop that we stumbled on entirely by accident.

My Mom and I are both fine shoppers on our own. But when we team up, we become an Unstoppable Shopping Machine. Thanks, Mom, for being such fabulous company (and for enabling me to give such a goodly boost to the Arizona economy).

More details on the Unstoppable Shopping Machine (Malabrigo! Folk art! Locally grown dyes!) when my camera cooperates by taking a picture that is both in focus and somewhat resembles the actual colors of anything I acquired on my trip.

Snowbird

2008-03-01T07:39:00.002-08:00

I'm headed to Tucson, AZ for a week of lounging in the sun, spending time with my family, and eating Mexican food until I rupture something.

I'm crossing my fingers that the snow here in Boston lets up soon. Though I do have a seriously kick-ass sock pattern and a good book to keep me company, so I'm well prepared for travel delays.

Trip photos and Tucson yarn shop details when I return next weekend!

Aaaand, she's back!

2008-02-24T12:38:00.006-08:00

With a new favorite pair of socks...and the will to live (it's amazing how much better everything seems when you don't have a 102 degree fever)...

As for the socks, they're just plain old stockinette, in Trekking XXL (colorway 100). For basic stockinette socks, I have a standard sock recipe, just varying the number of cast-on stitches and heel flap length to suit the yarn and recipient.

This mostly works out ok (shut up - it does too).

Not so much with these socks, though. Upon finishing the second sock, I realized that the first sock was kinda short. By about two inches, in fact. That first sock could fit on my size 9.5 foot, but the heel turn was nowhere near the actual back of my heel.

I briefly considered leaving the socks mismatched, since it's awfully cold here in New England and maybe I'd get frostbite in one foot and all my toes would snap off. If that happened, I would totally need mismatched socks just like these. Added length would just be a bitter reminder that I used to have toes, as I hobbled around in my now-ill-fitting sock.

Crazy Fantasy Time lasted about ten seconds before I remembered these socks aren't actually for me, so I really did need to rip out the first toe. Stupid toe.

So I picked up stitches before the toe decreases all the way around the sock, using needles one size smaller than I was knitting with.

In a futile moment of first-sock-finishing glee, I had already woven in all the ends on the too-small sock. And I couldn't for the life of me un-weave the toe end, no matter how many different darning needles I used. So I just cut the stupid toe off....

...and frogged merrily....

A few hours later, I was done. Really done, this time.

I'd say the extra effort was worth it...

Verily, it sucketh

2008-02-20T17:11:00.002-08:00

So I officially did not knit (much) for two weeks. I allowed myself to knit across one needle of the sock-in-progress per night, just to take the edge off. It didn’t work. The edge was very much on.

Though it did occur to me that if I knit socks using magic loop or two circs, knitting across “one needle” would afford me considerably more knitting each night. Much like “one glass of wine per day” can be served in a glass that more closely resembles a feed trough. If you live in my house, at least.

Anyway, this no-knitting edict coincided unfortunately with some really lousy stuff in my personal life. What, you may ask, is a sad librarian-in-training who suddenly has a whole lot of (non-knitting) free time to do? If you guessed “read” or “clean” or “exercise,” you’d be way off (though I'd certainly be flattered). If you guessed “watch TV and cry all the time,” you’d be getting warmer.

Thank goodness, then, that my two week knitting exile finally ended. And Monday was a holiday. I had a fully stocked refrigerator, delicious recipes to cook and a pair of socks to finish.

Which was a lovely plan. Except instead, I was completely knocked on my ass by ~~the plague~~ the flu and too sick to knit. And barely energetic enough to be pissed about it.

Expect a return to our regularly scheduled program of bad sizing decisions, irresponsible tweed lust, and staggeringly inept frogging errors any day now.

Just as soon as I have the energy to do more than cough and make tea.

Late again

2008-02-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

The charming Kristy tagged me for a Make My Day award. So, belatedly, these are the some of the things and people that have made my day recently. Obviously, not in order of importance.

1. This warning:

Do not recharge? Ok. Do not discard in fire? Alright. But do not, um, use? That’s admirable ass-covering from a liability perspective (dude, we told them not to use it!), but probably leaves something to be desired from a product marketing perspective.

2.The guy in line in front of me at CVS Friday night, who bought a jumbo jug of Astroglide and two huge bags of beef jerky. He was clearly planning a much more exciting evening than I was. I was kind of tempted to high-five him. Except it probably would have been awkward and intrusive. And I'm not the high-fiving kind.

3. And, of course, these awesome bloggers:

Kristy: for being such a prolific and fearless knitter, and endlessly funny and encouraging.
Karen: for challenging herself to become a better knitter (though she's plenty good already) and inspiring me to actually *set* knitting goals.
The Daft Crafter: one of the funniest people I have ever met. And, missy, if you want to see this as a none-too-subtle request to blog more often, feel free.
The Craft Pirate: A super-talented knitter that I've taken to thinking of as my knitting Yoda. I promise, this is a compliment.
Life in Sarahland: a woman who knits what she damn well pleases, even if it's cutesy as all hell. And more power to her.
The Knit Sisters (I’m counting them as two): funny, funny, funny. And smart. It's a powerful combination.
Olga: entirely awesome.
Knitting in Pink: always up to something fabulous sock-wise.
Twin Knit: Lovely projects and yarn. Thoughtful, and funny, too.

The best part about this (besides opportunities for mutual flattery)? I have tons of new blogs to check out!

What was that about first do no harm?

2008-02-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

I finally went to the doctor because my hands have been hurting.

When I mentioned that I knit, my doctor actually said: Well, have you tried not knitting? Yes, I have. And it sucked.

Undeterred, she informed me that I should not knit for two weeks. Two. Weeks.

BFF Quinn’s response to the whole thing? Whoa, she might as well have said “have you tried not breathing?” Bitch.

[I may have editorialized that bitch part.]

Doctor Killjoy also told me that the Quit Smoking pill I’m considering taking can have psychological side effects, including binge drinking, compulsive gambling and nymphomania.

So, I may end up blowing strangers for gambling money, but at least I won’t be smoking? Nice.

On second thought, if I’m not knitting, I do need something to fill up all that spare time...

Double secret no more

2008-01-26T08:41:00.000-08:00

I finally finished Megan’s hat! By my calculations, this is the first object I have finished since November. Note to self: finish shit more often. It feels good.

I had some trouble with this one. I have trouble with hat sizing in general, blessed as I am with a head that could be charitably described as "on the large side." So when I try to knit hats for other people, I shoot vaguely for a “too small for me” size. Turns out “too small for me” includes everything from a regular men’s or women’s size hat to a hat suitable for a child of 8 or 9 years.

Guess which size hat I knit – in its entirety – the first time? Yeah, I knit the whole wee hat, then frogged it back to the brim.

When I finally reknit it in a more grown-up circumference, the hat was about 2 inches too long. So I ripped out half of it and started the decreases earlier. Since I’ve now knit this hat 2.5 times, I really feel like it should be a whole lot fancier.

But here it is in all its tweedy simplicity.

Thankfully, I did find a perfect button at the Bazaar Bizarre to gussy it up a little bit. Mmmm, sparkly.

Pattern: Inspired by a hat in Rowan 38, but actual pattern made up to suit my yarn, budget and desire not to seam things.

Yarn: Queensland Kathmandu DK, about 1.5 balls, held doubled, though hard to tell, as I ripped and reknit so many times that I mostly have scraps and tiny balls leftover. Heh. Tiny balls. Heh.

Needles: Blue ones? Maybe red ones.

Thoughts: next time, I will knit something from a pattern when I want to give Christmas gifts in a timely fashion. If I reknit something similar, I would also slip the first stitch on every other row to make picking up stitches around the brim strip a bit tidier.

Because I’m a blogger (and not a very good friend), I made Megan try on the hat on Tuesday, but she won’t actually get it until tomorrow. So I could take pictures of it in decent lighting today.

The very spirit of generosity, I am.

It's the thinking that gets me in trouble

2008-01-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

I've been studiously knitting the Irish Hiking Scarf. I'm almost finished with the first skein of yarn, and it's going to be too short. It's also an inch or two narrower than I would like.

Last night I found myself stretching the scarf out sideways to the desired width (this does not help the "too short" problem, I know).

And I realized something. Don't the cables look much better a bit stretched out, or at least with a little more visible purl action on either side to give them more definition?

Stretched...

Unstretched...

So this morning I pinned out part of it to compare...The unstretched portion doesn't look bad, necessarily, but I like the stretched part muuuuuch better (do ignore the messed up cable on the top row. Or try to. I'll understand if you can't because I can't stop looking at it either).

What to do now? I'm pretty sure this scarf is a goner, but should I plan to reknit it on bigger needles, with maybe an extra purl stitch on either side of each cable?

Or should I assume blocking will flatten and widen the cables a bit, thereby accomplishing some of the same effect?

Or (and here's where I get into trouble)...should I view it as a really big gauge swatch for a cabled sweater? I have a sweater's worth of this yarn in another color that might make an awfully cute all-over cabled sweater.

What think we?

Cleaning house

2008-01-18T16:49:00.001-08:00

I don’t have a home computer at the moment, so blogging will be [even more] infrequent for the foreseeable future.

Also, I haven’t really been knitting. No knitting + no computer = crap blogging. Apologies in advance. Thank goodness, then, that I do have a teeming mass of old projects to blog about.

This is what my WIP pile looked like last weekend.

I tend to tuck my WIPs away in different places, as it’s a little depressing to see them all together. Also, I fear they’ll begin comparing notes and eventually find common ground in their unloved, unknit state and unite against me.

They say “admitting you have a problem” is always the first step, so I decided to risk it. I did need to fortify myself with Koolaid-dyeing (more on that in another post), cheap beer and the excellent company of my friend Kelley, but I was able to make some hard decisions.

First, the chaff:

1. Koolaid-dyed Jaywalker: Demonstrating at least some ability to learn from previous mistakes, I planned to knit Jaywalker 2.0 with some modifications (bigger needles, heavier yarn, etc). I was almost through the heel flap and thought it was coming along nicely until I reality-checked the size. My reality checker is named Megan and yes, the damned thing fit her just fine. And yes, she already has a pair of teeny Jaywalkers. I dyed this yarn especially with Jaywalkers for me in mind, so I’ll be reknitting in a size large and maybe on yet bigger needles. And yes, frogging this one hurt.

2. 2 x 2 rib scarf in chunky red/pink yarn: too narrow, too-small needles, too much ribbing, bleck. I believe I cast on knowing all of these things but just wanted something mindless to knit one night. I hadn’t looked at it or touched it since that night.

3. Eesti Trail Hiking Socks for TB: couldn’t figure out the main colorwork pattern, even after I found the errata. Also? Beige.

4. Lace-Resistant socks – originally Waving Lace, then Go with the Flow, both of which turned out like complete ass. I was forced to admit that this yarn just doesn’t want to be socks, so it’s been sent back to the stash basket where it can look on enviously as I make socks out of its friends. That’ll teach it.

5. Basic Sock in blue Austermann Step: handed off partially knit to a fellow sock knitter with an Austermann Step fetish who can frog it or continue knitting the sock as she sees fit.

6. Two inches of another Basic Sock in Trekking

7. Yet another Basic Sock, experimentally and loathingly knit with two circs and with magic loop. It is now clear that I am now, and likely always will be, a DPN girl.

8. Wicked: finally, finally frogged, ruthlessly and in full. Word.

And the wheat:

1. Trekking socks

2. Irish Hiking Scarf (not pictured) – barely, as I think it should really be knit on bigger needles for a less dense fabric, but it will be pretty and wearable and warm, if not the most perfectly perfect scarf of my dreams.

3. Callisto shawl: I was so excited about this pattern that it was like a rock star joined our little group when the designer showed up at SNB. So WHY AREN’T I KNITTING IT? Could it be that it is a) not socks, b) not mindless and c) not socks? It does have a huge advantage over the Irish Hiking Scarf which is that it’s also not ribbing, so I’m guessing this one will be back in the rotation soon.

4. Double Secret Gift Knitting, a Tragedy in Two Parts (also not pictured) – It would have been hugely easier if I just followed a pattern for either of these items, but I decided I would make something up instead. It has not gone well. I have stubbornly knit, frogged, reknit, part-frogged and reknit one half of this gift (I think it’s finally right, or at least I no longer care), and am reknitting the other part. Again. The recipient has yet to receive an on-time handknit from me, so at least I’m not in a huge rush.

5. Does swatching count as a WIP? I still haven't given up on my beloved Tangled Yoke Cardigan, and both my row and stitch gauge are bang-on.

6. A legwarmer. Move right along. Nothing to see here.

Whew – that was a lot of frogging! But it’s such a relief to have the WIPs down to a manageable level.

I’d like to finish all of these projects before starting something else, but there’s a whole lot of tasty stash begging for attention.

And one more WIP can’t hurt, right?

Crafty lady

2008-01-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking about the Things that Matter to Me recently, and having a creative outlet (be it writing, crafting, cooking or knitting) is very high on the list. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but one of my intentions is to spend more time this year being creative.

I’ve had plenty of inspiration in the creativity department recently, like this amazing gift from my mom: a handmade book by Mendi Stubson, acquired on our summer trip to Ashland, Oregon and sneakily gifted for the holidays.

Knitters will note the judicious use of ribbon and eyelash yarns...

Gardeners will be charmed by the vintage seed packets, gardening notions and gold-stamped flora and fauna... Hands-on types will pluck out each envelope’s contents, sniff the lavender and thumb through the wee book-inside-the-book...

As a knitter, book lover and enthusiastic (if inconsistent) gardener, this book is a constant pleasure. I open it over and over again and each time I discover something new and beautiful. This time it’s a packet of wildflower seeds tucked into a pocket in the front cover. Another time, the quote “It's the cracked ones that let in the light.”

And each time I look at it, I am inspired. Thanks Mom for such a wonderful gift!

In other news, I, a non-baker, have made bread. Not just any bread. I made crusty, chewy, rustic bread that, to be quite honest, kicks ass.

The recipe is a variation on the famous NY Times No-Knead Bread recipe, and it takes maybe 20 minutes of active work. And now I feel like a Baking GOD.

I even finished one of my knits over the weekend – the first Trekking sock is done.

I like this yarn so much that I wove in the ends immediately after finishing the toe, so I could block it right away.

I’m trying to avoid ladders in my plain socks, so I scooched the needle joins over by a few stitches each row. This minimized laddering (yay!), but made for consistently uneven stitches over the whole sock (boo!). The unevenness mostly smoothed out in the blocking, though I did get wee ladders from the stitch markers I used to mark the instep stitches. You can see it if you look closely.

I’ll just have to remember to do the same things on Sock Two.

Unfortunately, my hands and wrists have been hurting quite a lot recently, so I am (gulp) not knitting this week. I’m trying to be very conscientious about ergonomics at the computer as well, and hoping that being careful and giving my hands a rest will fix things up. I may even get some reading done.

This knitting hiatus also provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate (and ruthlessly frog) stalled WIPs.

So which UFO’s will make the New Year’s cut?

Stay tuned.

The right reasons

2008-01-03T15:53:00.000-08:00

Overheard in my office today…

Marketing Guy: How are we going to measure success?

IT Guy: I don’t care, and I don’t care for all the right reasons.

IT Guy is totally my new Office Hero. Previously this honor belonged to Marketing Guy, who memorably described a data transfer process as a “festering shithole” and suggested we respond to irate customers with "Baby, you know we love you."

Office Hero's comment got me thinking about success, in a belated New Year's navel-gazing kind of way.

By some measures, this has not been a terribly successful year for me. I took a drastic pay cut to change jobs. I dealt with this change in circumstances largely by pretending it didn’t happen, instead of by “creating a budget” and “sticking to that budget.” I have not been doing yoga or exercising regularly. And I recently had to buy bigger pants when the entire ass of my favorite jeans ripped out after sitting down on the couch. On my birthday. Not that I’m still bitter about it.

Much of my knitting has not worked out as planned. Nor has there been as much knitting or creative and crafty time as I would like. But I’m pretty sure I don’t care, because many other things have gone very well this year. These things that have gone well are my Things I Did This Year that Made Me Happy.

1. Traveled to Munich, Oregon, Martha’s Vineyard and, well, Iowa. The Iowa trip mostly stands out because while watching TV in my hotel I saw the most horrifyingly/ hilariously inappropriate advertisement I’ve ever seen: “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit is brought to you by Intimate Options personal lubricant." Because nothing makes me want to get it on like watching a show about sexual assault.

2. Read some really excellent books. High points included Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

3. Continued to develop friendships with an exceptional group of knitters. You ladies inspire me, teach me and make me laugh in equal measure.

4. Finally started bringing my lunch to work almost every day. Baby steps to financial responsibility. Baby steps.

5. Knit 8 pairs of socks, up from 2 pairs the previous year.

6. Learned knew things – that glitter glue pens are awesome, that I really dig knitting lace socks, as well as how to do a yarn-over at the beginning of a needle, a provisional crocheted cast-on, a garter stitch heel and how to knit from a chart. I have also forever abandoned the idea that I will become a toe-up sock knitter.

7. (Mostly) stopped buying yarn just because it would cheer me up after a bad day.

8. I also had fewer bad days and fewer nights lying awake dreading the following day. Certainly there have not been 8-hour Saturdays in the office, 9 pm conference calls or checking email on vacation since I changed jobs. And every now and then I still get a little thrill that I work for this company, a company that taught me a fair share of what I know about cooking, and whose cookbooks and magazines I genuinely adore.

9. Walked to and from my new job nearly every day, three miles in total. Which does count as exercise, now that I think about it.

10. Finished yet another library school class, in which I rediscovered the Freireian notion of critical pedagogy, which holds that if you aren’t teaching people to stick it to the man, you’re condoning a dominant ideology that breeds passive consumers and workers. I haven’t been terribly impassioned about the librarian training in recent semesters, so it was wonderful to reconnect with the rabble-rousing activist yearnings that got me into library school in the first place.

Not a bad year, when you look at it that way. As for the bigger pants and the finances and the lack of creativity, instead of focusing on what I didn’t accomplish, I am saying firmly: I don’t care.

I made a big change in my life by changing jobs, and it takes a while to acclimate to those kinds of changes. For several months, I was working full-time at the new job, doing part-time contract work for the old job, and going to school. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of spare time for taking care of oneself or pursuing creative passions.

So for all the right reasons, I forgive myself for not accomplishing everything I wanted to accomplish last year.

I plan to spend this year refocusing on things that are important and make me feel happy: writing, reading, spending time with friends and other loved ones, getting at least some moderate exercise, cooking good food, and of course knitting.

I look forward to a happy, productive, creative and healthy New Year and wish you all the same.

Seven Things

2007-12-25T08:14:00.001-08:00

The knitting has not been going terribly well. But in a properly festive holiday spirit, I present...

Seven Things That Make Me Happy

1. The shiny new cast iron skillet TB gave me. Cast iron has many virtues, including heat retention and an almost perfectly non-stick surface when properly seasoned. But mostly it excels at frying the shit out of large hunks of meat. The eating, it will be good around here.

2. My friend Kelley, who told me "I planned to buy you yarn, but then I found Jesus." This finding Jesus thing seemed wildly out of character, until you realize that by "Jesus", she meant this figurine, a most stellar addition to my religious kitsch collection.

3. Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies from TwinKnit. I am not a baker by inclination (measuring things not exactly being my strong point). But spicy chocolate cookies with cayenne pepper? Dude. So damn tasty.

4. These socks. Standard sock pattern in Trekking XXL, and a Jaywalker (yes, it's too small, thanks for asking) in Knitpicks Bare Koolaid-dyed by me.

The Trekking is particularly charming, because the color shifts imperceptibly moment-by-moment. I thought this would make me knit faster to get to the next color change, but actually I just stop every thirty seconds to admire the colors. Wouldn't you?

5. Harmony wood DPNs. Sharp, slippy-yet-grippy and festively colored. Possibly the Perfect Form of sock knitting needles. I love them so much I split up the set between the two pairs of socks, so I could always be using at least three of them at a time. I suggest DPN sock knitters buy themselves several sets ASAP.

6. Glitter glue pens.

How have I lived this long without glitter glue pens? Take a little poster paint, cheap cardboard boxes from Michael's, a glitter glue pen, and the images of your choice, and you get something like this:

7. The single best Christmas card I have ever received (thanks, Craft Pirate!).

So happy holidays, everyone!

I'll be back in the New Year.

Stunned

2007-12-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to announce that I clearly have the best boyfriend in the entire world. Because he gave me this last week for a birthday/early Christmas present...

400 yards of Lobster Pot Yarns 100% cashmere in the Red River beach colorway, purchased at Purl Soho. This color is apparently so rich and lovely that my camera has a seizure every time I try to photograph it. In real life, it's an ever-so-slightly variegated deep barn red. It's the most beautiful yarn I have ever seen and I'm terribly sorry I can't do it photographic justice.

As if that wasn't enough, for inspiration, he also gave me Knitting New Scarves, which is chock-full of intriguing new techniques. I'm not sure any of them are right for this yarn, as the complexity of the scarves might obscure the simple beauty of the yarn itself, but I will be making some of these scarves very soon.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now, to find the perfect scarf pattern! Any suggestions for something simple but still pretty, preferably something that provides maximum cashmere-to-body contact?

I rock at buying stuff

2007-12-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

The WEBS excursion weekend-before-last was a roaring success, as expected. I spent a total of $8 of my own money (thank you former coworkers!), and I bought very little completely unnecessary yarn.

All the other yarn was purchased with a specific upcoming project planned, so I get to feel smug AND financially responsible AND have a lot of pretty new yarn. Which is awesome.

Queensland Collection, Kathmandu DK (2 balls)

Kristy asked if I got any tweed…and of course I did. It was half price! And tweed!

This particular tweed is awfully pretty and soft, and I’m kind of wishing I bought a lot of it. In many different colors. But I only got two balls, with two specific Christmas projects in mind.

One project is almost done already, and I’d love to show it off, but it’s a secret. Well, less secret since I had to ask the recipient to measure her own head yesterday, but I’m still pretending she’ll be surprised.

Because no one would ever guess why a knitter would ask about their head measurements. Shut up.

Shibui Knits Sock (2 skeins). Couldn’t resist.

Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran (3 balls)

Destined to be a matching hat for my cabled scarf. Pictured here with some of my most recent Knitpicks yarn, the aforementioned cabled scarf and the Waving Lace sock I cast on last week. You can just see the Debbie Bliss in the upper left-hand corner. And yes, they are all basically the same color (but, uh, different textures and fibers and plies, so really not all that similar, right???).

Okay, it’s possible I’m somewhat obsessed.

Rounding out the WEBS extravaganza were a few not-terribly-exciting-but-perfect-for-gift-knitting balls of Regia sock yarn and a Dale of Norway pattern booklet for a completely impractical but quite lovely and knittable shawl. Plus, the back issue of KnitScene that includes the Central Park hoodie pattern.

I’m very, very pleased.

As if that wasn’t awesome enough, I’m also the proud owner of The Cutest Hat in the World. I did not knit this hat, nor did anyone I know, but Kelley did buy it as an early birthday gift while we were in Northampton because I was so smitten with it.

It's toasty warm, fits perfectly, doesn’t mash my hair and is entirely adorable. Thanks, lady!

And it couldn’t have come at a better time because the weather has been complete ass around here. Take today’s weather forecast: Periods of freezing drizzle...a chance of freezing rain and sleet this morning...then a chance of sleet... Rain...freezing rain with a slight chance of snow this afternoon.

Ah, New England. Sleet this morning, followed by a chance of sleet. And don't you love how the forecast covers all the bases? Sleet, freezing rain, snow AND regular rain all possible at some point. I expect they wanted to throw in "rain of toads" and "record-shattering heat wave" just to make 100% certain they didn't miss anything.

I grew up in places with civilized weather (either rain or snow, not this foul mix of both), so could someone please explain the difference between freezing rain and sleet?

I’d really like to know, because when I have my annual winter wipe out on an unshovelled, unsalted icy sidewalk, it will be very nice to know whether to blame freezing drizzle followed by freezing rain, or sleet followed by sleet. Sigh.

There is something redeeming about all this lousy weather, though.

Knitting wooly socks seemed a little silly when it was warm out. Now my toasty warm feet tell me I'm actually a SUPER GENIUS with excellent advance planning skills.

Speaking of DPNs

2007-11-30T20:27:00.000-08:00

I need new ones because I split the effing tip off one Lantern Moon DPN and another tip is starting to chip off.

Has this happened to anyone else? I’ve never split a tip on any other kind of wood or bamboo needles. Nor have I been particularly abusive of this set. It’s gotta be the needles, right?

I really love the look and feel of the Lantern Moon needles (rich red/brown wood, the perfect grip/slip ratio, decent points), but they’re ridiculously expensive if you can only knit three pairs of socks before the needles disintegrate.

Any recommendations for a less expensive, but still smooth and decently-pointy replacement? I find Clover bamboos just aren’t pointy enough for lace knitting. And my vise-like knitting grip means metal needles hurt my hands.

What do you like to use??

Reports of my death, etc.

2007-11-30T19:37:00.000-08:00

Crap, where did the last two weeks go??

I wish I could say I’d been writing this whole time, but really I’ve just been busy with school (final presentation done, final paper will be finished this weekend), and work (where every single project I’ve been working on for months collapsed in a smoking ruin at my feet), and (happily) knitting.

Let’s focus on the knitting, shall we?

First, I finished the second Fancy Silk Sock over Thanksgiving and I love it very much.

Pattern: Fancy Silk Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks
Needles: Mostly Lantern Moon rosewood DPNs, size 2
Yarn: Regia Silk, two balls with quite a bit left over
Mods: I added four heel stitches to make up for my very tight stockinette knitting

Thoughts: a number of people mentioned that Vintage Socks patterns look much better on the foot than they do in the book. And I have to agree - look how much prettier the socks are when worn.

Also, the lace pattern was just enough to keep things interesting – it’s a 12 row pattern repeat, but it’s really just three repeats of the same four rows, with one extra special fun row thrown in. Oh Row 9, how I enjoyed you each time!

As for my other fixation, the Irish Hiking Scarf proceeds. The cable row is just as thrilling as it was when I first started, but the joy of knitting a five foot long ribbed project is waning a bit. Stupid ribbing. It looks exactly the same as it did in the last picture, just eight inches longer.

So here, look at some new yarn instead.

Knitpicks Gloss in Burgundy, Risata in Cocoa, and Gloss again in Woodland Sage. Here in The Land of Failed Yarn Diets, this is just an appetizer for tomorrow’s yarn binge.

Kelley promised herself a WEBS trip when she finished her baby sweater. See, finished! And so damn cute!

That kind of knitting certainly deserves a reward. Aaaaand, I have a Webs gift certificate and all...

So my plan is to fondle, though not necessarily purchase, the following at Webs tomorrow:

1. Shibui and Trekking Pro Natura sock yarn
2. Berrocco Peruvia (mostly because I have a truly shameful amount of Berrocco Ultra Alpaca already, and this yarn comes in similarly gorgeous heathered shades but has none of the “Crazy Alpaca Lady” baggage)
3. New DPNs
4. Misc. small knitty gifts for friends
5. Pinkish yarn to make this – sorry non-Ravelers, this is double secret gift knitting
6. Very Bad Lady Kristy also mentioned that Queensland Kathmandu tweed is on sale, and I will do my level best to resist its tweedy delights, but I am not optimistic.

Don't let that get in your way

2007-11-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

When other people talk about being bad knitters, I try to reassure them that knitting takes practice. And no one is judging their mistakes.

For example, last week one of my classmates mentioned that she never felt comfortable going to a SNB because she didn’t think she was “good enough at knitting.” I assured her that SNBs were open to all skill levels and that the other knitters would welcome her enthusiastically. We’ve all been beginners at some point.

Then the next day, the woman sitting next to me on the train mentioned that she learned to knit last year. But she said she doesn’t do it much because she’s “horrible at it.” I laughed and said “you just can’t let that get in the way.”

What I should have said is that everyone is horrible at first, and it gets much easier the more you do it. And that the great thing about knitting is that it really doesn’t matter if you suck. The important thing is that you enjoy doing it.

That’s what I say to other people. And I believe it when I say it.

But in my own life, I strenuously avoid things I’m not good at, and I have a near-pathological terror of making mistakes (though not so much with the knitting, thankfully, given my mistake-to-success ratio).

I seem to think I should already be good at everything, even things that take practice. When I struggle or make mistakes, I feel stupid and slow, and I berate myself for it. Like if I were just a better/more focused/smarter/dedicated person I could magically develop skills out of the ether.

This often keeps me from trying new things, taking risks or making commitments. The prime example? I want to write. And I’m not giving myself time or permission to write because I’m desperately afraid I’ll suck at it.

No more. Because maybe I don’t have to be good at it right away, and maybe my writing doesn’t have to be perfect. I just need to do it.

Because it’s important to me. And because doing it - even badly – would be better than not doing it at all.

Much like knitting.

(Please note, I’m not implying that blogging isn’t writing or that it’s less valuable or less demanding than other kinds of writing. I'm talking about writing fiction).

Easy entertainment

2007-11-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

I know I’ve been rhapsodizing over the lace sock knitting recently, but I’ve got something else on my mind and on my needles too…

Cables. Twisty, easy to knit, yet complicated-looking cables.

This Irish Hiking Scarf pattern is pretty much mindless except for the cable row, and yet it’s such a thrill every single time the stitches CROSS OVER EACH OTHER.

I know I’m easily amused, but does anyone else get such a big kick out of basic cables? Like turning a heel – it’s a series of simple steps, but I feel like a genius every time.

While I usually thoroughly enjoy knitting, the Fancy Silk Sock and this scarf are something special. Even when I’m not actively knitting them, I feel happier knowing that I will be knitting them sometime soon. They’re both such good knits, in such beautiful yarns, that I’m smiling right now, just thinking about them. Now that’s some powerfully enjoyable knitting there.

My poor stockinette sock in Austermann step just can’t compete. Though I’m considering ripping out the heel and turning the sock into a legwarmer, for a little variety. I think the promise of blue-striped legwarmers might get this back into the queue.

And since I’m in the middle of so many projects, now seems like The Perfect Time to start another project. [In my defense, I wasn’t actively looking for another sock pattern, but a knitterly coworker sent me a link to the Forest Canopy Shawl and I happened to notice an intriguing sock pattern in the sidebar.]

Check out the Lombard Street socks.

Do you see what I see?

Lace AND cables, baby. Sah-weet!

Día de los calcetines

2007-11-12T06:18:00.001-08:00

The sock love continues. The entirely awesome Olga sent me the most wonderful package last week.

There was chocolate with chipotle chili (I'm pretty sure smoky, spicy and chocolaty might be some previously undiscovered holy trinity), and knitty notecards, and stitch markers...

Did you see!?!? Skull stitch markers!! How have I been knitting this long without skull stitch markers? Every time I get to the end of the round I actually go "Woo-hoo!" Sometimes out loud.

There were other Dia de los Muertos and Mexican-inspired goodies too, which were particularly well-chosen because I grew up in Tucson, and they remind me of home.

I also have a fair-size collection of these goodies of my own. So Olga, this is Frida's new spot on my bookcase. I like to think she'll feel right at home.

But most importantly, there was this sock. The Fancy Silk Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks, to be exact.

And oh, this sock.... Not only does it fit perfectly, but the yarn (Regia Silk) is the softest and most delicious yarn imaginable.

Don't you just love the fancy cuff? And everything else about the pattern?

The best part? I have a whole other skein of Regia Silk to play with because I'll be knitting the second sock for myself.

The pattern and yarn are so thoroughly enjoyable, I think this bad boy will fly off the needles.

Thank you, Olga!

Sockvember

2007-11-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

I know it's November and all, but really every month is sock month 'round these parts. And I did squeeze in a fair amount of sock knitting while working on my October goals.

As for the other October goals, let's just say my results were "mixed."

1. Finish September socks - DONE

2. Start toe-up socks.

I tried. I really, really tried. I followed the highly recommended toe-up sock with short-row toe and heel pattern from Knitty. And I Just. Didn’t. Get. It. Then I tried the Interweave toe-up sock tutorial, which also resulted in a rather impressive series of failures, much cursing, and (possibly) flinging of yarn around the room.

This flirtation with toe-up socks also required an uncomfortable foray into crocheting that I do not care to repeat, though I felt pretty bad-ass when I managed to do a provisional cast-on without growing another hand (which I was sure was required to manage crochet hook and knitting needle simultaneously).

So I knit Queen of Cups instead. Which was by far the most complicated sock I’ve ever attempted, so I’m damn proud of myself anyway.

3. Finish Wicked. – Let us never speak of it again.

4. Swatch for Tangled Yoke - Turns out my passion for this pattern is actually almost completely offset by my loathing of swatching. So no swatching yet. But soon.

5. Starting another basic stockinette sock is permissible, but not required.

I did start another basic sock in Austermann Step. The Daft Crafter has an impressive tribute to the joys of this yarn, in verse, that you might want to check out.

Those of you on yarn diet watch (and Jess, I mean you) may wonder how I got this yarn. I used the “specific knitted gifts” loophole to buy it for my friend Kelley’s first sock knitting attempt. But she didn’t love the colorway, so we found her something prettier. And, um, Windsor Button’s really far away? And I haven’t gotten around to returning it yet? And I don’t have any blue socks? And I COULDN’T POSSIBLY PART WITH IT.

And speaking of the yarn diet, I also bought this:

In fact, I specifically, knowingly and gleefully broke my yarn diet for this yarn because it’s the most beautiful sock yarn I have ever seen. And really, who can resist a yarn called “Fetish Superwash,” in the “Nymph” colorway? I feel like a naughty little minx every time I look at it. Which is often.

Plus, it knits up like this. That Valerie is a tricksy one with her pretty, pretty yarns. And she has many more delights available in her store. Also, she’s very nice and you should buy lots of things from her.

I haven’t decided what to knit with it yet, because this yarn deserves something very, very special. I’m thinking something in a lacy sock.

Because all I want to do all the time is knit lacy socks.

In my cups

2007-11-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

First, thank you for all the sympathy, humor and boobie jokes. You all are awfully nice. And it honestly takes a lot of the sting out of doing something that spectacularly stupid if I can make other people laugh. So thank you!

And no, I have not frogged the rest of Wicked, nor have I restarted it. It’s actually wadded up in a bag next to my couch, where I can cast disparaging glances at it as I walk by. I like to think it feels my disapproval through the plastic bag and will behave itself better next time, whenever next time may be. Though I may need to step up from "disparaging glances" to "carefully aimed swift kicks" to get my point across.

And, though sorely tempted, I have not in fact been drinking this whole time.

I’ve actually been knitting.

Fittingly enough, I recently finished a Queen of Cups sock.

I thought this lace pattern was really interesting and different. Not floral or leafy or geometric. More like, well, wine glasses. And I do love me some wine. Plus, I worried that something more floral would look like tarty black panty lace. Which is fine for panties, don't get me wrong, but not so good for socks.

I realize that this sock’s complexity and loveliness is in no way represented by these ass-tastic pictures. But black yarn doesn’t photograph well, especially at the tail end of a gloomy November day.

You won’t be seeing better shots from me though, because this sock has been sent to a fellow knitter (the talented and funny, if awfully fond of dark yarn, Specs) who will knit its mate.

I'm just thrilled that she liked it and hope she has as much fun knitting it as I did! 'Cause I actually didn't mind knitting a black sock one bit.

The only problem is that TB saw me working on it and is now agitating for black socks of his own!

I didn't really want a sweater anyway

2007-10-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. I frogged Wicked. The top half just looked awful on me, and I knew I would never, ever wear it.

So tonight at SNB, I took the big step, and ripped out half of it.

I was so very proud of myself.

Finally, I was a knitter With Standards. A knitter who wouldn't settle for substandard work. A knitter who stood up for Getting it Right.

Which is all well and good. Except, I ripped out the wrong half.

You'll have to excuse me, I have some important drinking to do.

It's not a stash - it's a backup plan

2007-10-31T06:11:00.000-07:00

In case the dead rise from the grave with a ravening hunger for human flesh today, you might want to check your odds of surviving.

Me? I’m shit out of luck.

27%

Though if I was forced to barricade myself in my apartment to avoid the teeming masses of the undead, all that stash yarn would look less like hoarding and more like good contingency planning.

In fact, if I ever own a yarn shop, that will be my slogan: Buy today. Because tomorrow the zombies may come.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

A Wicked thing to do

2007-10-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

I am one faux cable cuff away from finishing Wicked. It’s looking awfully pretty.

I haven’t blogged about the nearness of first sweater victory because it just doesn’t fit.

The body is perfect up to a few inches below the armpit, but then it blooms grotesquely into ginormous bagginess. Plus, the sleeves are really, really huge. It’s possible the collar also has an unpleasant Flashdance thing going on.

And just to be clear. When I say the sleeves are huge, I mean it.

They make me look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow man.

Clearly, Denial is not just a river in Egypt . It is a wide and mighty river that flows right through my living room, because I knit two of these gigantic sleeves. Wicked was knit top-down, so this also means I screwed up at the very beginning when I decided how many stitches to cast on, then compounded the original screw-up as I increased and increased and increased through the yoke. I’m trying very hard not to be bitter about this.

For some reason, it cheers me considerably that my friend Kelley had much the same experience with her first sweater.

This is the first version of her baby sweater (pardon the blurry picture – the light was bad and I was laughing, cruelly).

Truly, she is my student.

I’m seriously considering ripping out both sleeves and the yoke and reknitting them in a size that will actually fit, bottom-up this time. I’ll also knit the collar on smaller needles to keep it from going all Jennifer Beals on me.

I’ve never ripped out that much work before and the idea is frankly a little nauseating. But I’d really like to have a wearable sweater.

So what do you all think? Live with it, since it’s my first sweater and all, or send it to the frog pile?

And can I just rip out the top half of a top-down sweater and start knitting it bottom-up, or will that screw up my stitches?

Plenty of yarn in the sea

2007-10-22T14:50:00.000-07:00

Considering how long it took me to knit both these pairs of socks, I figured they deserved a proper FO post.

FO1 - Basic Socks

Pattern: 68 stitch cast on with 4-row picot edge, 19 stitches picked up at the gusset, forceful denial that the sock is miniscule throughout all stages of knitting both socks.
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Happy Stripe
Needles: Clover bamboo DPNs, size 1
Gauge: 10 st/inch
Made For: Megan (of the dainty feet), by default
Notes: on the second sock, I knit the first row of gusset stitches through the back loop, as was recommended in the Monkey pattern. This twists and tightens the stitches and makes for a rather pretty textural look. Plus, less gapping. I think I’ll do this on all my basic socks from now on.

I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have knit a bigger sock than these wee socks for Megan, because the yellow would have pooled throughout the sock, rather than just at the gusset. This pooling thing is starting to piss me off.

FO2 - Monkeys

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Clay
Needles: Clover bamboo DPNs, size 2
Gauge: 9 st/inch in stockinette, but I purl very loosely
Made For: Me, me, me!
Notes: Again with the pooling at the gussets! The darker and lighter colors split perfectly on opposite sides...

...but as soon as I got back to 64 stitches in pattern, it went right back to semi-striping. Plus, the brown bits in the second skein (SAME DYE LOT) were much darker, so the two socks don’t match exactly. But ask me how much I love my Monkeys anyway?

Now I'm trying to make a difficult decision. Lorna’s Laces makes some really lovely yarn, and the socks wear pretty well, but I really don’t like pooling. So I’m considering breaking up with Lorna’s Laces.

But maybe I’m being unfair? LL is pretty much the only non-self striping highly variegated sock yarn I’ve ever used. So maybe ALL yarn has a tendency towards pooling and I’m just being unfair to poor Lorna’s Laces? Maybe other sock yarns have wildly different colors in the same dye lot? Maybe I should give it another chance?

But with all the lovely sock yarns out there, why knit with something that has disappointed me in the past?

Recipe

2007-10-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

On one gorgeous island...

...Combine:

One gang of smart, lovely, hilarious, and talented knitters...

[Aside: the Craft Pirate is no less smart, lovely, talented and hilarious - I just managed to go an entire weekend without taking a single picture of her - though I assure you she was there, and awesome.]

A shocking amount of yarn...

A ball winder and swift for winding up all that yarn...

[Aside: I'm pretty sure I know what my next big purchase will be, because DAMN is that ballwinder/swift combo some sweeeeeeeet shit]

Combine all ingredients for 2 days, at roughly 50-65 degrees, with plenty of sunshine and salt air...

Yield: one perfect, relaxing, inspiring, and all-around-wonderful weekend.

You might even end up with a finished object...

Or two...

Warning: side effects may include overeating, staying up ridiculously late, laughing so hard your stomach hurts, staying in your PJs all day, walking through a pitch black seven-acre corn maze without a flashlight, and starting to have fantasies about quitting your job, moving to Martha's Vineyard and raising sheep, whose fiber you will process, spin and knit in a ramshackle weathered shingle-covered gingerbread house surrounded by knotty salt-seared oaks.

Also, those particularly sensitive to bucolic fantasies may also begin to wonder if a wee spotted pig with bristly ears and a sweet, snuffly little piggy snout would technically violate their apartment building's firm "No Pets" policy.

Livestock isn't exactly a pet, right??