Knit-A-Ganza Summer 2012

Summer is made for knitting. So are winter, spring and fall for that matter. I had a busy summer of embarking on new projects, finishing older ones and just enjoying the craft. Here are a few of the newly finished items.

This scarf was finally completed this summer. I believe I began it in 2003 and worked on it when we traveled to New Zealand. Then it kind of languished. I guess this proves that even after a long pause, things can come to completion. Knit in mitre pattern, the scarf is made from alpaca yarn. It is called the Van Gogh Stole.

This is a close up of the beaded fringe. I think the prospect of this fringe is what kept me from finishing for so long. It wasn’t actually that bad.

About a million years ago, we made a pilgrimage to Morehouse Farms retail store. I believe we were actually meeting with the authors for a book we had under contract. I bought the yarn for the Kentucky Sweater. I have always loved Morehouse Farms Merino. It is barely even plied and soft and warm. It is so little processed that there are bits of straw to be found. That doesn’t bother me at all. I love it and the smell of the wool left by the lanolin still in it.

I began this sweater when Ellie and I traveled out to California to look at schools. It was April 2010 and we were checking out Occidental. We stayed in Pasadena and Alex drove up from Camp Pendleton for the weekend. We also got to see my longtime friend, Ann Harnagel. I remember how irked I was to discover after four inches of knitting in the round that I had done the second most stupid knitter’s trick and twisted my cast on. Off went the entire mess only to begin again. The pattern required a bit of attention and there are two rows which were mistakes, but I don’t think anyone but me can find them. I don’t usually leave mistakes, but they would have been a bear to fix.  The sweater knit up small and I wasn’t sure I really liked it despite the fuchsia and green brightness. I blocked it larger and all is well. Should be comfy with blue jeans. Not my favorite finished project, but it may grow on me.

This sweater is knit with Seacolors Yarn. I had the yarn, but started the sweater last year when I was going to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. Nanney Kennedy always has a booth there and I just love her yarn and patterns. I figured if I started a sweater with the yarn, I wouldn’t feel the need to buy any more . It pretty much worked. The pattern is the Low Tide Crossover Vee Pattern from the book, Shear Spirit. I was almost done with the sweater in April and went onto Etsy to see if I could find some buttons. I found these gorgeous glass buttons made by a woman named Nikki Ella Whitlock. Her site on Etsy is Inspirali. She is amazingly talented. Check out her blog. Anyway, I found the buttons I wanted on her Etsy site, but when I wrote her she had just sold them. I explained to her that they were to go with a sweater I was making and she said that she had sold them to a neighbor and would just “run round to see if they would switch”. They did and I have the gorgeous buttons. Next week is New York Sheep and Wool so I may just wear my new sweater.

Baby sweaters are fun to knit. They go so fast. This one is knit with yarn from my friend and former colleague Doris Cooper’s father’s sheep. The yarn was sport weight. I picked a stitch pattern out of Barbara Walker to give the sweater some texture and designed the pattern on Sweater Wizard. I love collecting buttons and it is always a treat to find some which are just perfect in my inventory. It is a cute little sweater. I have no idea what I will do with it.

Knitting socks is a love/hate kind of thing. I love the turning of the heel and the fact that it is such a small project. I don’t actually love wearing hand knit socks. It sounds awful to say, but I like my colorful Little MissMatched socks better. I do like knitting Wendy Johnson’s patterns and this comes from her book, SOCKS FROM THE TOE UP. This is the Lace Socks pattern which I have now knit several times. It has a simple repeat which is fun to do and the socks are very pretty. These are knit in Lorna Lace’s Sock Yarn and I love the colors.

Here’s another extended project. I actually have no idea when I started this sweater. I know I bought the pattern at Stitches East from the Great Yarns! booth, but I have no idea what year it was. It was, however, quite a long time ago. This sweater was not that much fun to make. The yarn is an extremely soft alpaca and the colors are gorgeous, but the body is very wide and required yards and yards of stockinette. There is a knitted cord defining the entrelac which was a b*tch. The entrelac was fine and I just alternated whatever colors I wanted. I hope this will be something I enjoy wearing, but it is very, very wide. Of course, the pooch in the photos is just gorgeous.

I expect there are a few other things which I made this summer and which have slipped my mind. You might say I was nonetheless pretty busy. I want you to know that I could never do this without the unfailing support and unwavering commitment of my feline compatriots, Zoe and Xena. They know what knitting is really for.

Cast on, Baby!!

A good knitting friend of mine shared a link to a video made by her local yarn store. Not only do I love the video for its sheer love and joy in all things fiber and yarn, but I love the community that clearly exists in that yarn store. What a great and diverse group of people all joined together by their love for creating things, for making something of beauty and for sharing that experience. So, so cool.

This video isn’t for everyone, but it is worth devoting a few minutes to just to share in their sense of fun and enjoyment. Who doesn’t need more of that in their lives?

Field Trip with Lauren

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Last Friday was my planned outing day with Lauren. When Lauren took me to the Orchid Show at the Botanical Gardens, we planned a follow-up trip to Venamy Orchids.

I met Lauren at the Rye Metro North train station and we headed up to Brewster to Venamy Orchids.

This is pretty much orchid heaven and we had a delightful time walking up and down the aisles looking at all the various orchids. Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, Oncidium, Cattleya, all the glorious orchids were on display. Actually, there seemed to be an abundance of giant white Phals with elegant, drooping efflorescence. They were breathtaking and clearly the main item for Mother’s Day.

Selecting was tough. I had limited myself to only two orchids. I knew exactly what I wanted: Hawaiian Sunset Pupukea. I had one years ago and it had the most fragrant and gorgeous blooms. The other orchid I was aching to buy was some sort of gloriously outrageous Paph. Of course, they didn’t have any Hawaiian Sunset Pupukea which was a bummer. They didn’t have any Paphs which were blooming. I dealt with this disappointment by purchasing on beautiful little Phal, a very healthy and vigorous (if unknown) Paph and an Oncidium with three spikes!

Lauren was much more restrained and bought a truly captivating Phalaenopsis.

After Venamy, we headed to Armonk and found a great place to eat. Of course, we never stopped chatting. Ellie had emailed us good wishes and mentioned the words “ice cream” so that was next on our agenda. While we licked our ice cream cones, Lauren admitted she hadn’t been knitting. Oh, horrors. So there was nothing else to be done but to use her i-Phone to find the nearest yarn store.

That meant a journey to Scarsdale and Sticks and Strings. While I displayed incredible restraint, Lauren purchased some very good-looking Koigu for some socks. A great project to get her knitting juices flowing again. It was tough to hold back because I dearly love Koigu, but I also have an unmentionable amount of it.

I drove Lauren back to her beautiful block of brownstones in Brooklyn with her trophies. We had a great day of complete fun and indulged passions.

Orchids, ice cream, yarn and lots of conversation. A truly perfect outing.

Kiss of the Sun

“Kiss of the sun for pardon. Song of the birds for mirth. You’re closer to God’s heart in a

garden than any place else on earth.” — Dorothy Frances Gurney

Yesterday was one of those absolutely perfect weather days. It was sunny. The sky was blue with just a few puffy clouds. The temperature was hovering just over 70 degrees. The spring flowers are in bloom and, despite our lack of rain this year, everything is just bursting forth into bud and leaf.

It was the perfect day to plant my garden and putter in the yard.

This year I am changing things up a little. The garden is still the same circular plot, but I have decided to forego the center fountain of sunflowers. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that it is time for a change. This would be the third year and, while I loved the sunflowers, it will be fun to try something new. The second reason is that I have run out of space to rotate my tomato plants into and the only previously unused space is where the sunflowers were. I could not tell you which was the dominant reason. I wrestled with the “where to put the tomatoes” issue all winter long.

I am changing up the contents of the garden as well. This is radical stuff I tell you. There will be fewer tomato plants this year. I have skipped the small Black Pearl tomatoes entirely. Instead I am concentrating on your garden variety (sorry) big red, luscious tomatoes. I don’t have the space for so many and some of the more exotic heirloom varieties just didn’t produce that well. Also, the Green Zebra tomatoes confused me because I could never tell when they were ripe. They were always green!

In addition to tomatoes, I am planting eggplant, peas (for Jim), cucumbers (with trepidation since the last time we were swimming in cucumbers), carrots, lettuce and herbs. The rosemary, sage and oregano made it through the incredibly mild winter so I am adding three basil plants. I will also have chive, but I have that in a pot because it will otherwise spread everywhere.  I have completely abandoned the spoke pattern I used previously. This year’s garden is planted in concentric circles. Everything I have planted is from seeds except the tomatoes, eggplant and basil.

Last week Peter was essential in helping me rent the roto-tiller and get the soil ready. I spent some time yesterday removing any weeds around the edges, the stubborn grass which insists on growing through the fence. I raked the soil smooth and began planting. It was just warm enough to work up a sweat, but the breeze was fresh. It was a potent reminder of how much I love working in the garden. As with my knitting and so many other things I love to do, it is the process rather than the end result which gives me the most satisfaction.

As always when just planted the garden doesn’t look like much. It is more a promise for the future. But soon the seeds will sprout and it will become a garden, rather than a promise. Today we are supposed to have rain and that will start things off.

Tricoter

The first class compartment was old, but still in good shape.  The red plush seats were firm, over the back of each bench seat a mirror ran from side to side with hooks at each end for hanging outerwear.  Overhead ample metal racks kept possessions out from under foot and permitted the use of each of the six seats if the train was full.  The compartment was comfortable and organized and it felt like a train heading south from Paris should feel: romantic and timeless.

We were on a whirlwind trip to the Dordogne, the home of rich country pate and strong local wines. It was a thirty-six hour odyssey to attend the international publication event for a best-selling novelist’s first work in twelve years and we would spend more time traveling to and from our destination than we would actually spent at our destination.

I was traveling with a colleague, a good-looking man about my same age with whom I was only somewhat acquainted.  We were traveling with polite deference toward each other, not sure of each other’s likes and dislikes, but determined to be polite and professional.  I did know that he was very much looking forward to the fine wines and heavy meals the next few hours were sure to bring.

The train compartment was not ours alone.  At the first stop out of Paris, two older women joined us.  The women seemed to be of the same age, hair greyed with the passing years.  They were wearing comfortable traveling clothes and carrying shopping bags  and I was quite sure they had gone to Paris to visit family and to purchase the kinds of things not offered in their local shops.  My rusty French was adequate to exchange amiable greetings and then we rode on in silence.

Knitting in front of business associates always makes me feel exposed, vulnerable.  How can you take someone seriously who is holding needles attached to a ball of string.  The train swung gently back and forth and the movement was irresistible.  Four hours in a train, four hours with nothing to busy my hands, four hours just ideal for contented and reflective knitting.  The train rolled on and each passing minute was a lost opportunity.  What a waste to sit staring alternately at the pages of a book and the passing scene from the window.  How perfect to feel the soft wool flow through my fingers as I knit my way south through France.  To gaze out the window at fields and woods, small towns whizzing past and feel the fabric grow beneath my fingers, the train and the knitting forming the best of partnerships.  It was too much for me, I had to succumb.

I opened my work bag and with a defiant flourish pulled forth my knitting.  My colleague looked over and blinked with surprise to see needles and string, not a manuscript, emerge from my bag.  My hands quickly found their comfortable position and I sighed out loud with happiness.  “Vous aimez tricoter?” the lovely musical french phrase broke my trance. “Pardon?”  Rusty linguistic skills don’t fail me now… “Vous aimez tricoter?” the woman across from me wearing a brown cardigan repeated her question with a clear nod to the work in my hands. “Ah, oui. Je l’aime beaucoup.”

With warm smiles, both women opened their own carry on bags and brought forth needles and yarn.  Age and linguistic barriers began slowly to crumble beneath shared interests.  Knitting and chatting, the miles flew by as we discussed our projects and I slowly learned the vocabulary to go with our common passion.  There is a language shared throughout the world by all who love the process of creation with yarn and needles.  It is a common tongue whenever both are present.

Knitting for the troops

While Alex was home on leave this January, he asked me to knit him a hat. I am pretty much always thrilled when any of my children ask me to make them something. It means I can be fairly certain that if I make the effort, they will actually use and enjoy what I have made.

We discussed certain options and one thing Alex wants is a hat decorated with the Frost crest.

The Frost Crest

I will admit I gulped a bit when I pictured myself rending this rather complex design onto the front of a hat, but I guess I am game. It would be unusual.

We also had a long discussion about the color coyote brown.  This is apparently the color du jour in the military. I googled coyote brown yarn, but for some reason the yarn industry hasn’t latched onto this meaningful colorway yet. See the swatch below:

What a lovely shade for someone who really doesn’t like browns that much. But it is for my Alex. Further sleuthing revealed that they do make Paracord in coyote brown. Now, this could be really useful. If you needed some paracord, you could just unravel your hat. Might not get you too far, but could do in a pinch.

However, what I also found was a wonderful site and organization founded after 9/11 which knits for the troops. The Ships Project offers guidelines and patterns on what the troops need to help them be comfortable on the ground, on ships, etc. Not only does knitting keep the troops’ toes warm or necks cool, as the case may need to be, it reminds them that we are thinking of them and appreciate the sacrifices they make for us–no matter our own personal politics.

So, I’ve got my work cut out for me. From the challenge of duplicating that crest to finding something besides paracord in coyote brown and finding the extra time to make something for someone serving far from home.

Craftaganza Q1 2011

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 These days it seems I never have time to sit and play. If I am not doing something vaguely constructive, then I feel consumed with guilt. Knitting, beading and reading have unfortuantely fallen into the not-so-constructive category. To counter this, I have continued to work on small projects and especially to design items which can use up odd bits of stash.

I actually have really enjoyed having this framework to define what and how I spend my crafting time. Going through my stash and finding partial and single skeins of great yarns with which I have worked in the past is fun. It is one part wander down memory lane and one part creative re-purposing. Ah, look at this moss green yarn…

Gosh, I remember getting this on that small farm up in Maine. We saw the sign by the side of the road and I only had to beg a little to get Jim to turn off. The woman raised sheep in her backyard. They were mostly Romney and she knew each one. She had goats, chickens and dogs, too. Her husband worked for the cable company. I wonder how they made ends meet with his salary and her expenses. In the front yard she had a little shop out of which she sold her yarn and some locally crafted buttons. It was a cute little wooden playhouse. The yarn she had was barely processed and her dyes were a wonderful palette of soft yet rich colors. I designed a vest with the yarn from her place. I had just over a skein left over and it was this skein that became one of the baby sweaters pictured here. Those happy memories are part of the sweater I have knitted.

I still have the goal of taking a table at a craft fair and selling the sweaters, booties, beaded earrings, etc. which I have made. I am curious to see if people will actually buy them, the value they are willing to assign to them and how I feel sending these things off with other people. I think it will be a fascinating exercise and maybe help recoup some of the “investment” I have made over the years in stash and beads. I love the idea that someone might buy one of the sweaters I made for a baby and that then that new mother will have the pleasure of wrapping her baby in warm Romney wool. Or that someone will buy a pair of earrings I have made and that each time they pull them out to wear them they will think how pretty they are. That would be a tremendous rush.

So, I will continue to make things. I enjoy the process more than the product and at some point someone else may well be able to enjoy th product.

Romney MommyBaaaa!Mommy and kids

Craftaganza over the holidays

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One of the great pleasures during that quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s is spending some quality time crafting. This year I was able to enjoy the cold winter weather, a bonanza of a snow storm and hours of happy knitting, beading and a little sewing. It was a craft-extra-vaganza!!

I never remember to take pictures of things I finish, but here are a few…I didn’t knit these all from start to finish over the break, but I always have a million projects going and these are the ones I finished. Sometimes I hallucinate that I will complete my unfinished projects, but Sunday I started three new ones so I think we all can be pretty sure that will never happen.

Since I seem to be pretty prolific, one of the ideas I have been playing with is taking a booth over the summer at a craft show or two. Usually, I like to make things specifically for people as gifts, but I have just too many ideas buzzing in my head and so I thought it might be fun to see if people would like what I make even if they have to pay for it. I have been amassing beaded crafts, knit things and other items for this purpose. At the very least, I might clear enough to support my “habit(s).”

Fiction for knitters (and quilters)

Today’s New York Times featured an Op-ed by Ann Hood on knitting and crafting and recovery from grief and loss. It was a nice piece and it reminded me instantly of the novel Ann wrote THE KNITTING CIRCLE.

This was clearly a somewhat autobiographically inspired book quite unlike most of Ann Hood’s fiction. As Ann relates in the New York Times piece, she came to knitting as a solace and haven having lost her young daughter suddenly and tragically. In THE KNITTING CIRCLE the protagonist turns to knitting to deal with the loss of her own daughter. She is helped both by the zen-like past-time of knitting and the community of women she encounters at her lys (local yarn store for those not in the know).

Ann’s op-ed reminded me how much I enjoy reading fiction about my favorite hobbies. Not only does it extend the pleasure I get from the craft itself, reading crafting fiction surrounds me with a feeling of community. Reading about characters who share many of the same interests–interests not always shared by those around one in real life–presents much the same emotional satisfaction as hanging out in a favorite knitting haunt. 

 Community is a key aspect to all fiction which deals with crafting. While many crafts are practiced individually, they need not be practiced alone. While quilting is well known as a potentially communal activity, gathering to share lives and information while crafting is a long-time tradition. Not everyone has a crafting community, crafting fiction can take the place of the physical community.

Debbie Macomber and Kate Jacobs rank as two queens of knitting literature, but there are many other novels about knitting. And I must confess, some I have enjoyed more than those of the doyennes of the genre. A great reading list is featured on Good Reads http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/knitting-fiction.

THE BEACH TREE STREET KNITTING SOCIETY AND YARN CLUB by Gil McNeil was a great read set in the U.K. about a woman rebuilding her life after her marriage ends unexpectedly and irrevocably. Again, the book features the key themes of a woman finding her way after great loss, finding a community to support her and discovering happiness.

Heading to DC…

All our bags are packed,

We’re ready to go

Taxi’s waiting,

He’s blowing his horn…

Well, actually Jim will be bringing us to the Amtrak train at New Rochelle. We’ll hit DC just around dinner time–a late Continental dinner.

Packing and last minute prep has been extensive. We have a weight limit of 35 lbs., but they can’t be serious. That is to include sleeping bag, mattress pad, pillow and all clothes and equipment. Even packing light, I know I exceed that. We have a brightly-colored plastic table cloth to decorate the outside of our tent and to help us locate it amongst the sea of tents. We have extra plastic tarps to protect us from the damp ground. Flashlights, extra plastic bags to keep clothes dry, bunny ears and pink boas. What else does a girl need to walk sixty miles?

Well, we have shorts and t-shirts, lots and lots of thick socks, a hat, two pairs of shoes, shower shoes, comfy clothes to wear in camp in the evening and a jacket and sweat shirt. 35 pounds? Who are you kidding?

Knitting has, of course, occupied my mind. What does one take for knitting? It has to be small and portable, fairly simple. I need it for the train up and down and in case I have any energy in the evenings. There won’t really be many lounge chairs so I bet we just lie down and go to sleep after dinner. I have decided socks are appropriate and fitting as a knitting project. They last forever, take up little space and what else would one make on a walk?

I am so happy Ellie is going with me. It won’t feel like being away having her around to hang with and take care of. I will certainly know my tent mate and have someone to keep company. Ellie wants to lie in bed and tell ghost stories. Aside from brushing up on a few well-chosen stories, I have to wonder who will be asleep first?

All we have to do now is keep on walking, one foot in front of the other and in a few days, we’ll have this nailed. I hope I remember to take some pictures. Jim is usually much more likely to do that than I am. It is so fantastic to think we are close to our fund-raising goal. There is a shot we might make it, but we’re a lot farther towards our goal than I had expected we would be.

DC here we come…