Rainbow Stripes

I had to do it: I had to knit the Noro Silk Garden Stripey Scarf.  Of course, my photos are nowhere near as gorgeous as those on Jared's blog, but as long as the scarf is beautiful, I don't care!

I knit this in the last month as my break from work.  Work has basically been writing the first chapter of my dissertation at break-neck speed in order to have it done by Feb. 1st for a fellowship application.  I would either teach in the morning or start writing right away.  After dinner, I burned through House M.D.'s past four seasons and knit this scarf - and other sundry items which I will post shortly. 

It seemed to work: the deadline gave me fuel for writing all day, and knitting and TV gave me relief at night.  But, I wouldn't want to keep this schedule up forever.  Which is a bit problematic, since I need to cough up three more chapters, and an introduction and conclusion, sometime next year!

One thing that has also helped, for those of you who write and get writer's block, is a little web site called 750 Words. It's basically a private place where you can type up 750 words everyday (or more, up to you) and have it be about total hogwash - whatever you need to dump from your brain.  It's private, protected, and you can unload your thoughts without thinking about how literate it sounds or how others may judge it.  I've used it a couple times at sticky points in my chapter, just to blab about what I wanted to write but, for the life of me, couldn't put into what I thought were "acceptable" terms.  Try it!  The site counts your words for you, gives you "badges" for writing (although I don't care about those so much), runs stats on what you're writing (pie charts etc.), and - for some reason this is freeing for me - it isn't stored on your computer, in fact, you can just forget about it once you're done (although the site does save your writing for you on your account).

As of now, I'm on a break from work after finishing the chapter.  J is coming for a visit next week and we are planning a dinner party, visit to NYC, and other fun items.  Stay tuned!

My Life in Yarn

I'm back.  Rather than blog about Rhinebeck and show the pictures everyone else will show, let me catch you up on my life by showing you the yarn I bought at the festival.  (For those who are non-yarny out there, Rhinebeck is the city where the New York Sheep and Wool Festival is held yearly - it's the biggest festival of its kind in the country.  Every year, knitters, bloggers, vendors, sheep sellers, and quasi-knitting celebrities head there...)

Yarn details: darker brown skeins Shetland Silk Tweed "Dana" 2-ply laceweight from Swift River Farm, 95% organic Shetland wool, 5% bombyx silk; 

lighter brown skein Shetland Supreme 2-ply lace from Jamieson & Smith, 100% undyed Shetland wool, colorway "Moorit."

 
First up: this is tweedy looking wool, eh?  You know what's tweedy?  University professors are generally tweedy.  At least in New England.  I am happy to announce that I have finally achieved the status of All But Dissertation.  This means I have jumped through all the hoops they've set out for me - courses, exams, and a defense of my dissertation project - and all I've got left is the dissertation.  Like my fellow PhD program friend says, the "new car smell" lasts only for a little bit, and then you're stuck with the enormous burden of having to churn out a couple hundred pages of what you hope will be brilliant stuff.  But onwards and upwards!

Yarn details: "Nona" 2-ply laceweight from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, 50% merino, 25% cashmere, 25% bombyx silk, colowary "Adirondack."

 
I bought this silky skein thinking of the ocean.  I had just crossed the Atlantic twice, once on my way to and from England to see J, who's just started his lectureship.  His apartment is right on the English Channel, and we can see the moody waves from his windows!  They are just "sea peeps," as the realtor had described them, but they are peeps of the sea nonetheless!  It was a lovely week of knitting and . . .

Yarn details: "Atropos" 2-ply laceweight from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, 100% bombyx silk, colorway "Scarlett."

 
. . . love!  This silk yarn is a blood-red color, and its twisted skein reminds me of the human heart.  J and I got engaged this last week in England.  It's all a bit crazy and yet very matter-of-fact at the same time.  I knew this was coming, I had thought about it and felt good about it.  But our story is a bit crazier than usual.  

Indulge me in a bit of George Eliot.  When I think of my life in the last five years, I think of this quote from the end of Middlemarch (you have been warned: if you do not want to know the ending, stop reading here).  I am not a noble Dorothea, nor is D (or Molt, as he was fondly called in this blog many moons ago) Casaubon - no! not at all.  J, however, is actually a bit like young Will Ladislaw.  So I think of this quote:

"Sir James never ceased to regard Dorothea's second marriage as a mistake; and indeed this remained the tradition concerning it in Middlemarch, where she was spoken of to a younger generation as a fine girl who married a sickly clergyman, old enough to be her father, and in little more than a year after his death gave up her estate to marry his cousin - young enough to have been his son, with no property, and not well-born.  Those who had not seen anything of Dorothea usually observed that she could not have been 'a nice woman', else she would not have married either the one or the other.

Certainly those determining acts of her life were not ideally beautiful.  They were the mixed result of a young and noble impulse struggling amidst the conditions of an imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion.  For there is no creature whose inward being is so strong that it is not greatly determined by what lies outside of it.  A new Theresa will hardly have the opportunity of reforming a conventual life, any more than a new Antigone will spend her heroic piety in daring all for the sake of a brother's burial: the medium in which their ardent deeds took shape is for ever gone.  But we insignificant people with our daily words and acts are preparing the lives of many Dorotheas, some of which may present a far sadder sacrifice than that of the Dorothea whose story we know."

Yarn details: oatmeal colored ball is worsted baby alpaca/silk 70/30 from Times Remembered, colorway "Suede"; 

blue skein is "Rio" fingering from Times Remembered, 100% prime alpaca, colorway "Wedgewood."

 
Finally, and, yes, this one's a bit of a stretch in terms of yarn metaphors, but there are some fuzzy details and cloudy skies right now.  D and I are trying to sell our house.  We are almost there...but it has been a very trying process.  Difficult buyers and a prolonged negotiation process has really sapped the spirit out of me sometimes.  But hopefully this will all be over soon.

So!  That is why I have been silent for so long.  In the weeks from Oct. 1 until now I have 1) had my birthday, 2) defended my dissertation project and become ABD, 3) flown to England, 4) gotten engaged, 5) gone to Rhinebeck, and 6) advanced toward closing on the house.  Fingers crossed on that last item!

Now for more knitting, reading, writing, planning, and hoping.

Making: Greenleaf Baby Blanket

This is the chalice lace pattern on the baby blanket I knit for J's sister, who's going to pop with her second boy any day now.  To me the pattern doesn't so much look like chalices as much as leaves.  I like the effect it has pinned against the white mattress, sort of like jacquard fabric:

Samples of jacquard from Fibre Designs 

The blanket was my second lace pattern, a much easier experience than knitting the Forest Canopy Shawl.  For one thing, there are no increases and, therefore, no infernal counting of stitches to make sure I hadn't screwed up.  

This one took a bit longer to get finished, since I've been zipping from Germany to the SF Bay Area and North Carolina.  I delivered the blanket yesterday - hopefully it'll be big enough!  The baby is already 8 lbs and not due for another three weeks! Labor induction is in order, I think, if the baby doesn't come very soon.  Maybe while we're here!  Since I've never been around for all the hustle and bustle of a birth before that would be pretty exciting.

Raveled here.

Making: Birthday Present...

So, I said that I was going to make a Kindle cover for my sister for her birthday.  It sounded simple enough to design: two rectangles, sewn together, with some sort of flap.  No problem.  But... then there were problems.  I was trying to use up some stash yarn that had been discontinued at the local yarn store: it was 50% merino wool and 50% acrylic.  Well, no problem.  I'd find something with a similar gauge and feel.  But here are the lessons I've learned:

1) Use the same material throughout a project, with the same fiber content.  I used a 100% merino yarn for the cover front (in white) and it just didn't have the same feel.  It was a bit floppier than the grey backing.

2) BLOCK gauge swatches!!!  Especially if you have to have both rectangle shapes line up exactly to be sewn!  I can't emphasize this enough.  I just wasn't thinking, knit my swatches, measured, calculated, and then went on to knit two fine rectangles.  Then I wet blocked them.  Lo and behold, the white merino grew waaay to much.  I had to force it a bit back down to size.

3) Learn a proper seaming technique rather than just fudging it with crochet.  Although, I think the crochet trim isn't too bad in this project, it could be better.  And it sort of exacerbated the fact that the two rectangles weren't perfectly aligned in size.

You can really tell the difference in size between the white and the grey sides by looking at the frills formed by the crochet stitches on the bottom edging.  I did manage to block that back down a bit - phew!  Still, it's not perfect and that irks me.

Still, I like my overall design - especially the stitches I contrived for the two sides: seed (or moss) stitch for the grey side, to form a kind of egg-carton cushioning, and contrasting white garter stitch, which is also very cushy.  And I like my colors and button.

Kindle Cover Pattern:
Kindle DX Dimensions: 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38"
Yarn: 1 skein Millefine, Lana Grossa, 50g, 100m, 50% Merino 50% Acrylic – back and flap; 1.5 skeins Siena Big, Wolle Rödel, 50g, 80m, 100% Merino – front, with button
Needle: 3.0mm / 3 US
Gauge (blocked!) : 4.5 stitches / inch in seed stitch (Millefine); 5.25 stitches / inch in garter stitch (Siena Big)

Back of Cover and Flap:
Cast on 34 stitches of back and flap color yarn. 
Work in seed stitch until 10.7 inches long.
Purl an entire row.
Knit the entire next row.  This will form a stockinette stitch ridge which will form the fold for the envelope flap.
Work in seed stitch for next 10 rows.
Begin decrease to form triangle of the envelope flap:
ssk first two stitches, seed stitch (knit every purl stitch, purl every knit sticht), k2tog last two stitches until only 12 stitches left.
Bind off in pattern loosely.

Work on Cover Front:
Cast on 40 stitches in cover front color and work in garter stitch until 10.7" long, bind off loosely.

Wash and block both pieces to size.
Crochet sides closed using single crochet stitch and an alternate color of yarn (if desired).  Crochet envelope flap edging also using single crotchet stitches.
Sew on button.
Crochet button loop on envelope flap.

Making: Designing!

These are my Pilot Choose 0.7mm gel ink pens, which I purchased through Jet Pens, a fabulous online store stocking all sorts of wonderful writing, drawing, and drafting instruments.  I was given a gift certificate last fall and these gel ink pens, along with a very chic fountain pen, were my happy little purchase.

The reason I pulled these out this last weekend is because I'm designing a little knit project - very simple, actually - that needs a bit of embroidery to give it that final flourish.  If you're my sister: STOP READING NOW.  If you're not, the gift is a Kindle cover, two very simple rectangles knit together, with a buttoned envelope flap.  But I need something small in a corner to make it sweet.  I couldn't settle on anything for the longest time.  Should it be floral?  A little bird?  Birds are such the rage now: I see them on everything from tote bags to jewelry.  An owl would be fitting with the book theme.  What about a pattern from tiles I've seen in Istanbul?  Or is a simple heart too twee?

There's also the question of color.  The cover is a charcoal gray on the back and the flap and a creamy off-white on the front - where I'm imagining the embroidery to be.  Red stood out to me at once as the color of choice for a little embellishment.  So, a parade of red-colored possibilities began presenting themselves to me: a little apple?  Too simple - and reminiscent of the brand.  A strawberry?  To difficult to capture with yarn embroidery, especially the little seeds.  Okay, how about flowers?  I wanted something streamlined, not too folksy or granny, not too mod.  Simple.  Pretty.  Ugh.  Let's play with the  roving in that little paper bag instead!

Oooh!  I didn't know there was that much roving in there!  Come to think of it, I don't think I had taken the wool out of that bag since I bought it last fall at the Heidelberger Herbst festival.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I could felt something instead of embroider.  But I've never felted.  And I don't have any felting needles.  Probably a bad idea to try something for the first time when a gift is involved.

But the roving presents such lovely color combinations.  Whoever packed that little bag has a gift.  Let's look at it again!

It looks like sorbet colors! How about something food related, then, for the embroidery?  A cupcake?  Soooo overdone.  Cute but inelegant.  Lollipops?  Cute...but how to group them?  How many? 

This could go on forever.  I think I've settled on a group of very simple star-shaped flowers in red.  But maybe on the gray side of the cover, with a red blanket stitch around the perimeter of the cover to pull it all together.  Or not?  If you have any ideas, send them my way!

Making: Bits and Bobs, Odds and Ends

I said I would post my Opal Hundertwasser Socks when I finished - well, here's one of them.  The other is languishing, half-knit, in my knitting bag.  It's a jolly looking sock, no?  And, yes, that is a toy mouse in the picture.  I can't always get Mr. Tubs to puts his toys away.

You'd think I'd have gotten more knitting done in the last month, what with all the planes and trains I've been on.  But I just can't do certain things when traveling, i.e. I can't knit lace or follow a more complicated pattern unless I'm at home.  And now that I'm home, and now that I'm supposed to be working 1) on a book review already a bit late and 2) gearing up for my dissertation proposal, I find myself caught up in all sorts of lace nonsense.

This chalice pattern isn't anything extremely lacy, but it requires some concentration and a lace-chart.  I'm enjoying knitting it as a superb form of procrastination.  It'll be a baby blanket, to be gifted next month, so I have a bit of time.

What I haven't enjoyed is wrangling this yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace.  It actually isn't the fault of the yarn at all, which is lovely and soft.  I just have woefully big, clumsy needles not at all suitable for laceweight yarn.  I have already attempted two projects with this yarn and, trust me, you do not want to ssk or even k2tog with dull needles.  I thought my head was going to explode.  I will just have to put off knitting with laceweight until I get myself some proper needles.

Which means I can't fool around with this skein of Malabrigo Lace, either.  Harumph.  Well, it's probably just a sign that I should get back to work.

Making: Forest Canopy Shawl for Mother's Day

I've been waiting to blog about this one - I finished this weeks ago, but since it was for my mother, and she reads this blog, I had to wait.  I must say, this has been the most challenging and gratifying project I've knitted.  Being new to lace knitting, I had no idea what to expect.  But the pattern for the Forest Canopy Shawl is perfect for first time lace knitters.  Here the link for the pattern.

This is what it looked like while still on the needles... pretty darn unimpressive.  And all those red threads?  Those are life lines that I kept putting in to hold my place in case I had to rip back due to some horrible mistake.  And, believe me, I had to rip back.  Luckily, I got better as I went along, and ripped back less and less.  In the beginning I was so discouraged, and knitting seemed like it had become an exercise in futility and frustration.  I almost decided that I was simply not a lace knitter.  Sweaters and mittens I could do.  Lace?  Why do something that makes you curse and throw things?

But something magical happened when I finally slipped it off the needles, washed, and then blocked it (on a hideous old mattress, I must say).  The lace opened up.  The pattern came out.  And I thought: I made that?  As an academician, these moments are hard to come by.  Rarely do I write something or argue something and think: There, that's settled.  That's correct.  In fact, the whole enterprise of research and theory requires that we keep questioning our work.  It can be rewarding, no doubt, but there's a certain oomph of finality that's lacking.  This is why I gravitate towards knitting and baking: these are crafts where the question (can I do this?) gets firmly answered (yes! no!) at least to a more certain degree.  Of course, I'm sure the deeper I go into either of these crafts the more I will find that is theoretical and debatable, especially as craft moves towards art.  But, for the time being, it is very, very satisfying to say: I made this! 

We took these on the Philosophenweg, in the forest, in honor of its name.  I call my individual shawl, however, the Sea Canopy, given its wonderful shades of blue.

Raveled here.

Making: Newly Arrived Luscious Yarn

Last spring, my friends E and D came down to New Haven and we all went to NYC together to go yarn and fabric shopping.  It was a fateful day.  Ever since then I have not stopped knitting, and the lust for yarn - soft, fuzzy, sleek, rough, hand-dyed, hand spun, tweed, all natural, what have you - has become a bit of a problem!

This is Madelinetosh tosh sock yarn in Black Currant.  Just look at all the colors!  But instead of making for ghastly and dizzying combination, the colors chosen give off exactly the shades one sees in nature: variegated but complementing each other just so.

So, I have four skeins from the Loopy Ewe (an incredible shop with incredibly snobby yarns) freshly delivered to me here in Heidelberg.  I have big plans for it, so stay tuned!

________
Third picture down is The Black Currants Are Ripening by LongInt57 at flickr; some rights reserved.

Making: Monsters!

This picture is from Danger Crafts' shop at Etsy, where you can buy patterns for these monsters so you can knit and stuff them yourself.  Aren't they menacingly adorable? 

I thought of making something for my godson, since I've been so immersed in knitting and yarn of late.  Rebecca Danger, who runs this Etsy shop, has a blog that offers a free monster pattern.  I thought I'd give it a go.

Here he is!  A little awkward and shy (and lumpy) looking, but a bonafide Monster Chunk.  He'll go in the post tomorrow (shhh, don't tell, Marian, in case you're reading this!).  Not only is he fun to make, but he's also very, very helpful at getting rid of this:

Bits and pieces of yarn leftover from other projects.  The possibilities for toys is endless. And I bought my stuffing at a department store of all places!  Apparently, they stock all sorts of sewing notions and yarn.  If only it were so in the States!  Raveled here.

Making: The Francis Revisited Sweater

This is what you end up with when you're trying to get a shot in the sunlight of your knitted thingy... and you're all by yourself at home.  Yes, that is the shower curtain behind me.  At least it gives you an idea of the stitches up close: mostly stockinette, with a hem of seed stitching on the cowl, sleeves, and bottom hem.

This was the first garment I ever knitted - finished about a month ago.  It's based on the original Francis Revisited (Ravelry link) created by Beth Silverstein and blogged about here.  It really is a simple, lovely pattern: top down, raglan, knit in the round with no seaming - yay!  I couldn't have asked for a better first sweater pattern.

I knit this with a bulkier yarn than called for - more of an aran weight.  It made for a bulkier and stiffer fabric, but I like that it keeps me quite warm.  Of course, the short sleeves are at cross-purposes with warmth . . . but I like the way it looks with a white long-sleeved tee underneath.  Raveled here.

I'm off to buy more yarn.  I'm thinking: how about this in a dark blue merino, this time with long, slightly flared sleeves?

Making: Opal Hundertwasser Socks

I never really understood the urge to knit socks.  Socks seem to be rather ho-hum articles of clothing, mostly obscured by shoes and pant legs.  Why devote so much time to knitting one?  Even as I knit one right now, I don't plan on becoming an avid sock knitter.  BUT one thing I will say: sock yarns can be fantastic flights of colorful fancy.  And I would only dream of wearing such crazy fabric on my feet!

This sock I'm working on (oh, I guess I'll do a pair, but do I have to?) is made out of Opal sock yarn, from their Hundertwasser series.  Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) was an Austrian painter and architect, all about color and drawing outside the lines.  The painting my sock yarn is based on (yes, crazy notion) is Winterbild:

I think Opal has done a heck of a job getting color combinations in the sock yarn to echo the painting.  What Hundertwasser would think about these colors being worn on people's feet is another matter.

I just love the colors in this particular row of stitches - looks like candy, doesn't it?  But, egads, can you imagine wearing this as a sweater?  But they will do as socks.  I will post when done!

Making: Stella Slouchy Beret

Winter's over, but spring is chilly.  I don't want to look like too bundled up or ready to ski, so I knit Madelinetosh's Stella Hat, a slouchy beret.  It's a free pattern, knits up quickly, and very, very pleasing!

I did, however, use bigger needles than recommended (I used an 8 and 9 instead of a 6 and 8) to get gauge and because I have a big head.  I did 3 repeats but ended up with an enormous slouchy hat.  Like this:

 'Ey mon, give me some kibble!

I was either going to become Rastafarian or rip the thing back.  I finally did the hard thing and ripped it back to 2 repeats, finished it again, and was quite happy with it!

An easy pattern, keeps me warm, and stylish!  Raveled here.

Knitting around the World!

These are the flights I've taken over the last 3 months:

1) NYC to Frankfurt
2) Frankfurt to Tel Aviv
3) Tel Aviv to Frankfurt
4) Frankfurt to NYC
5) NYC to SF
6) SF to NYC
7) NYC to Frankfurt

Needless to say, I am sick of flying now and am happy to stay in one place for a few months. The upside of all this flying is that I had lots and lots of free hours to knit! Here are a few things I've worked on up in the sky (and on the ground):

The mittens I knitted in Israel, during my 5-week intensive biblical Hebrew course. It was a nice, meditative ritual during that time. And they were my first mittens! Knitted on double pointed needles! The hat I made in Germany, after I got back from Israel. It's all knit out of delicious Malabrigo Yarn - merino wool that's beautifully textured and hand-dyed. I loved working with it.

This is a head kerchief I started in the Bay and then finished in Germany. I especially liked learning how to make the more complicated leaf ties - which are, unfortunately, hidden when you wear the thing!


Next on my list? I'm hoping to make a kid mohair cowl scarf and a beret...maybe. And I would love to try my hand at socks and cables. To be continued.