Exclusivity

Back when the Princess was spending her junior year abroad, she was befriended.  As I wrote at the time, this so eased my heart that I knit a blanket for the family that enfolded her. It took forever to get the right match of pattern and yarn, but once I had it, the blanket flew off my needles.  I always thought it would be my go-to blanket pattern.  The one I would knit when, in some excess offering of comfort or devotion, I needed to give something major to someone.

So when my most favorite neighbor moved, it made perfect sense to me to make one for her.  Once again, getting two yarns to work together involved a lot of trial and error.  And I mean a lot.  I still have vast quantities of yarn that proved to be dreadful mistakes from this foray.  Except I never finished it.  She's been gone for years and the yarn, pattern and knitting languish in the bottom of one of the knitting baskets.

Undeterred, I heard from/of a dear person who was going through such a nightmare series of loss and dismay that I determined she needed a blanket.  My previous failure blithely ignored, I once again started on that toilsome journey of swatching and experimentation to find the perfect yarn combination.  It took three yarns to achieve the effect I wanted this time, and some innovative knitting to get the colors where I wanted them, but I did it.

Guess what project is now unearthed here only for the photo opportunity, destined to sit neglected in the bottom of another knitting basket, referred to in the previous post as the blanket that will probably be frogged?

 It seems the blanket I sent over the Atlantic is and always will be one of a kind.

Irrational

When you decide it's a good idea to take advantage of half the family being out of the country to drive 3 hours to central Michigan to possibly meet a cat owner and pick up a three-year old adult cat because you're not sure you want to raise another kitten.  
When you call up Google Maps to plot a route and try to determine if you can make it there and back before the Pirate gets home from his sheltered workshop.  When you try to convince yourself that the temporarily non-present members of the family will not object to finding a full-grown cat installed when they get home.  All of this before you've contacted the cat owner and have no idea of the exact address of the place you're planning to drive to or even if the cat is still available, perhaps it would be the better part of valor to distract yourself with knitting, or at least with writing about knitting.   The planned activity being, perhaps, not the most rational response to the silence.

Quite a lot of knitting has been happening here, finishing knitting, in point of fact, since -- when did I last post?  January? February?  The list includes a blanket (Christmas present yarn), three cowls (intended for Christmas market fundraiser, but I was strangely reluctant to part with them to strangers), a shawlette, and two scarves.  

Still, perhaps it would be wiser to look at the objects in progress, since one of the most frustrating things about not blogging is that when I finally return to a project, I often have pulled the needles or lost the pattern. With no blog, there's no record of what I was thinking. And yes, I know I could just throw the pictures up on Ravelry, but the Blog came first and I am loyal to my first love.

There may actually be more works in progress than there are finished objects anyway.  Right here and now, just off the top of my head, I can think of two sweaters, another blanket, two - no - three shawls (maybe four?), a third blanket (but it's probably going to be frogged so maybe it doesn't count).   Make that four blankets counting the potential frogee ("I'll come in again. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!").

Today, let me log in the almost forgotten blanket.

Pattern - Briar Rose Fibers, the Rosebud Blanket (and why has no one on Ravelry knit this already, hmm?).
Yarn - Dream in Color Classy in Chinatown Apple from Eat.Sleep.Knit.  Purchased so long ago I almost feel guilty for disturbing what I'm sure the yarn had hoped would be a permanent sinecure.
Needles - Addi Turbo's, US 10/6mm.

This is actually an adaptation, since I wanted a bigger blanket but got gauge to match the one recommended for the smaller version.  This meant math.  Which meant miscalculation, as was brought home to me most painfully when I K1P1'ed my way across the lower seed-stitch border trying to make it match the width of what would be the side borders.  I consider it a testament to my dedication to perfection that I knit that border for a solid four inches and did not strangle myself with my circulars.

*** Insert segue here, something about noticing the number of projects listed above and the almost total neglect of the Blog over lo these many months. ***

I notice I only posted seventeen times 2012.  Here's a wild and crazy idea.  Can I post more times in April than I posted all last year? 

Kind of makes one wonder which plan is the more irrational.

Tuesday, 3 AM

"How could this small body hold
So immense a thing as Death? "
                        -Sara Henderson Hay

Lizzie
March 7, 1998 - April 2, 2013

Style or Substance

I've got a variety of stockinette based knitting going on right now, with plans for another one as soon as the yarn gets here. I suppose it was to be expected that I would break out in another direction entirely, and soon, just to maintain my balance.

I don't think it's working. The pattern, the Surprise Hat and Cowl from Cinzia Knits, is easy to memorize and fun to knit.  The yarn is Mirasol's Tufa, a 50% merino and 50% silk blend, so it's soft and shimmery.  The combination should have been a no-brainer, except I got, I don't know, lazy? hurried? fixated on instant gratification (and if that's what I wanted why didn't I just go shopping? What made me think any of those things were compatible with sticks and string?)?  I decided that since one of the options for the matching hat involved bulky yarn, I could double-strand my DK weight yarn for the cowl, and then it would knit up fast.  Seeing it typed up here makes it look really idiotish.  Did I really think I could do that and not end up with a piece that was so rigid it could stand (literally) against gale-force winds?  Maybe I should blog before I knit.

It looks pretty, I know, but it feels like - I don't know what.  Heavy. Stiff. Clunky. All the things merino and silk should not feel like. 

On the Princess' advice, I slipped the stitches off my needle and sent the project off to wet block.  She pointed out that sometimes wet-blocking a piece, especially a piece with lots of decreases and yarn-overs, transforms the knitting in unexpected ways.  Not this time. It looks exactly like I expected it, but doesn't feel any better than it did while still on the needles.  All right, so it's still damp and so it may be too soon to tell.  I've gone this far and will wait until the knitting has dried before I rip it all out, but I think the yarn and the pattern deserve better. Substance is not synonymous with substantial. 

It's Infinite Variety

Or, "Why I love the watch cap pattern from Knits Men Want."

In a stunning display of dramatic activity, the three hats for afghans for Afghans are finished and on their way, piggybacking on the 7 (yes, seven) hats The Princess knit up.  Good thing I'm not the competitive type of mother.  

I've needed something to kick start my knitting.  I spend ages on Ravelry looking at pattens and think, "Oh! Isn't that pretty," but I don't knit them.  I pick up skeins of yarn or look around at the Stash and think, "Wouldn't that work up into something wonderful," but I don't cast on.

When I do start something, the bloom fades off the rose with astonishing rapidity.  Three cowls never got finished for the Christmas Market.  I ran into dyelot issues with the green sweater and haven't had the gumption to frog and re-knit. An afghan for a friend currently living the life of Job gets pulled out only to be stuffed back into another random stash basket.

None of this does much for the Blog, either.

The plea for hats, mittens and knitted socks for the latest campaign for a4A couldn't have some at a more opportune time.  Apparently my hands have been itching to knit, they just needed a purpose (as opposed to a reason).

Three watch caps, then, all started at multiples of 4 to accommodate 2x2 ribbing in the round.  All easily adjusted at the transition row to a multiple of 6 or 7 to make for an easy pattern of successive decreases.  All in yarn that was such fun to knit up.

Green hat - Malabrigo chunky in Emerald and Cascade 128 in Sapphire
Needles - Addi Turbos, US 11/8 mm.

Red hat - Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Red Hot Passion (no, it does not actually fluoresce)
Needles - Addi Turbos, US 8/5 mm.

Multicolor hat - Malabrigo Rios in Indiecita
Needles - Addi Turbos, US 8/5 mm.

A rousing cheer then, for a4A.  Not only have I started the year with three finished objects, I finished one of the cowls (sort of, but that may be another post).

Except they really want mittens and socks.

Red

Stanford won the Rose Bowl and Alabama defeated Notre Dame.

I blocked the Mara shawl and St. Nicholas brought me a new knitting bag.

Not necessarily in that order.

Life is good.

Housekeeping

Or, "In with the new out with the old."

dianeH and I were chatting and blogging came up.  We noted with sadness how infrequently even some of our most favorite bloggers were posting, theorizing that we (or at least I) was less inclined to post, because other bloggers weren't out there to inspire me anymore.  We postulated that maybe we needed to find some new blogs, which is when she mentioned that some of the people I list in the sidebar haven't posted for years. 

Not only have some of the people not posted in years (and years and years), some of the websites are gone and some of the LYS and CyberYS are defunct. Add in my confession that I missed writing on a regular basis, and attending to This Blog suddenly became a priority.

I have hereby re-acquainted myself with Blogger's dashboard.  Removed from the list of Favorite People those that have clearly fallen by the wayside.  Added new LYS and CYS to the Instant Gratification and Delayed Gratification sections and chosen a new Motto.  

Back when I started this, I promised myself that I would post faithfully at least three times a week.   I also acknowledged to myself that I'm a lot more intereseted in the stories in the knitting than I am in the teaching or technical or how-to aspects.   What I screw up and discover is part of the story, diagrams and instruction are not. While the blog is still about what happens when you come to knitting late in life, I think the new motto, from (I think) Jef Mallett via the Frazz comic strip, pretty much sums up my knitting philosophy.  

Which, come to think of it, may be my attitude toward Life, the Universe and Everything.

Begin As You Mean To Go On

Despite my determination to knit for myself this year, I find it strangely satisfying that the last thing off my needles in 2012 was for someone else,

and so is the first thing on my needles for 2013.

Happy New Year.

Taken By Surprise

One just never knows what it will take to bring one out of hiding.  I had most of a re-entry post written.  I was all set to extol the joys of selfish knitting when an email from Afghans for Afghans showed up.

"** New January Quickie, Mini-Campaign **

We have just been presented with a new opportunity to send several
boxes of wool hats, socks, and mittens (for 5-12 years) to Afghanistan
in January -- for use by girls and boys THIS WINTER.

Beginning January, we welcome wool socks (knit only/no slippers),
mittens, and hats for 5-12 years based on these same guidelines --

http://www.afghansforafghans.org/currentcampaign.html

We are aiming to ship out a few boxes early in the week of January 7.
The second batch will go out later in January. Would be best if you
can get your item to us by mid-January. "

Not even for a4A will I knit another sock or mitten. Hats, now.

This is your basic Watch Cap as outlined in Knits Men Want, using the smallest size and the smallest stitch count (sort of).  The original pattern calls for 1x1 ribbing, which always leaves me with an almost irresistible desire to strangle myself with my circulars, so I've modified it slightly to accommodate 2x2 ribbing.  I'll be letting the yarn weight determine the size.

The green is Malabrigo Chunky Merino in Emerald with a contrast cast-on in Cascade Superwash 128 in what I'm betting is Deep Sapphire (last scrap of this yarn, no idea what it was really).  The red is Lamb's Pride Worsted in M197 - Red Hot Passion.  The last is Malabrigo Rios in Indiecita.

One down, one on the needles, and then we'll see just how freely the milk of human kindness is flowing through my veins, or if it's turned to sludge.

Not as Much Fun as it Should Have Been

Pattern - #12 from Arne and Carlos' 55 Balls to Knit

Yarn - Dale Garn Heilo, red, white from Woolybaabaa

Needles - Assorted US 2/2.75 MM wooden DPNS

Notes to self - 

I don't like color work.

I don't like carrying colors in both hands because

I don't like continental knitting.

Sixty four stitches when you don't like the technique or the yarn are an awful lot of stitches.

And yet, here I've cast on for another one? 

Because some things are more important than knitting

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.  If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were.  Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind . . . ."

~John Donne, MEDITATION XVII              

  http://timeline.national911memorial.org/

Admitting Defeat

Remember the Monteagle bag project?  In June I had another opportunity to deliver on it.  On the one hand, it could be argued that I failed; the Monteagle bag remains a hopeless tangle stuffed into the bottom of one of my myriad piles of knitting. In fact, I should probably admit to a fundamental failure because I have given up on the Monteagle Bag.  A wise decision prompted by the imminence of the Giftee's arrival and the fortuitous concatenation of circumstances that sent us to Galena for the Easter weekend.

Galena means Fiberwild and one of  Fiberwild's in-house brand kits is for a crocheted market bag.  I figured that since it's crochet, it would be fast.  I was right.  All would have been well had I resisted the little voice that said, "If I just . . . ." 

Even with tweaking, I would have finished in a timely fashion if one of my tweaks hadn't involved a second handle.  Deciding that I should be able to get a second handle after I had changed the body of the bag proved my undoing. I ran out of yarn.  A search of  the Berroco home page revealed that not a single LYS in my area carried the yarn. My only option was to call Fiberwild and order another kit, and while Fiberwild did their usual outstanding job, it still meant a one day delay between order and delivery.  Which meant I got the yarn I needed on the day I met with the intended recipient.  All was not lost.  I finished it the next day and was able to send in on with a friend who lives in the same state and who was visiting at the same time. 

A most felictous defeat (means I win).

Twice in One Month

It's the second full moon in the same month tonight.  By some definitions, that makes it a blue moon.  How can I not take advantage of it?

Actually, I just need to get the details of this project up before I forget them.

Pattern: Cosette Shawl by Never Not Knitting
Yarn:   Malabrigo Organic Cotton, two skeins in Turquesa (main color) and one skein of Pimienta (edging, which means actually a very little bit and what am I going to do with the rest of it?).
Needles: Surprisingly, not as big as I thought.  US 8/5mm Addi Turbos.

I expect to need this information, because now I have to do a picot bind-off.  I hate picot bind-offs. I anticipate this project will get shunted aside for something else in very short order.

Maybe so I can finish this?

Pattern:  Knitspot's Les Abeilles.

Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk in Ruby

Needles: US 4/3.5mm Addi Turbos, which is surprisingly small.

As long as I knit at least a little bit on each today, that will makes two things I can now say happened (at least) once in a blue moon.

Lonesome

I miss the Blog. Maybe it's time to do something about that? 

While I organize my knitting and my thoughts, go take a look at Matt's latest.

See you soon.