Back Talk

I've been working most evenings of the past few weeks on my Redford Sweater, but progress is slow, what with the tiny stitches. Fortunately, my gauge and measurements are spot on -- even the row gauge, which is rare for me. After knitting 229 rows, this piece should measure 25.5 inches. And mine is exactly that.

One aspect of the design almost made me pass on this sweater, and that was the square back and front with no apparent armhole shaping for set-in sleeves. I've knit enough drop-shoulder sweaters to know that I'd rather avoid such patterns in the future. The resulting garments just have too much extra fabric under the arms, right where one doesn't need extra warmth and bulk.

But closer inspection did reveal set-in sleeves. How? Note how this piece looks rather narrow for the back of a sweater. Who's that thin? Not me. This clever design uses separate side panels, displaying reverse stockinette on the visible side, and with the armhole shaping at the top end. Imagine about 2.5 inches of extra fabric on each side of the front and back pieces, sewn in later. A bit more fiddly in the finishing, but I really think it's going to be worth it.

I've just started in on the front of the sweater, which is "the same as the back" up to a pair of asterisks in the pattern. Here's hoping I don't whiz past them in my enthusiasm. It's happened before.

Magical Thinking

I'm tired of summer and utterly ready for fall. Much like the trees in the old Nat King Cole song who "say they're tired, they bore too much fruit," I'm ready to move on to my favorite time of year. Though there have been signs that our planet is tilting on its axis in a favorable direction -- a slight change in the angle of evening light and a few less-than-torrid days recently -- I've chosen to help the process along by knitting a sweater.

This weekend, I started a pattern that appears in Jared Flood's BT Men V. 1 called Redford by Julie Hoover. I was instantly drawn to its simplicity and small gauge. More and more I find myself looking for big projects knit with small stitches, and this fits the bill. But, it turns out it's not as simple as it seems. It has some subtle shaping going on, plus interesting exposed seams and reverse stockinette side panels. And the armhole shaping has been moved to these side panels, so that the front and back are more or less square, bit it still uses set-in sleeves. This will definitely keep me on my toes.

Jared Flood takes such phenomenal photographs of these designs that it's easy to imagine oneself casually hanging around New York warehouses and rooftops on cool autumn days, fending off the damp chill by wearing stylish handknits. The mop of hair and mono-hued beard are a bit harder to imagine, personally, but I hope I can still pull this off.

Although I originally planned on using another yarn, I decided to splurge and use Loft. But rather than this beautiful red, which I had used (in Shelter) on a previous project, I decided on Birdbook, a tweedy dark green. I had a store credit from some leftover Grettir yarn, so it made this sweater a bit more economical. I got gauge right away with the recommended needle size, and I think this is going to have just the right amount of drapiness.

I have had a few false starts already, all of which I can chalk up to user error. I know enough to read through the entire pattern before beginning a project, but one of these days I'll learn to read it thoughtfully, as Tim Gunn suggests the designers on Project Runway approach the Belk (Lord & Taylor / Piperlime / Bluefly / Macy's, etc.) accessory wall. For now, though, I'll attempt to "make it work" and hope that my knitting can somehow summon the cooler weather. It can't get here soon enough for me.

 

Thanks, Texas!

I got back to work after a bit of a hiatus to discover a wonderful new resource available through my library.

The Texas legislature does get things right sometimes, and one of the things it did this session was continue to support, and indeed, increase funding to, the Texas State Library’s TexShare program. Among the functions of TexShare  is to fund a statewide consortium providing databases at reduced prices to over 700 academic and public libraries. These databases would be out of the reach of most of these institutions, including mine, if it wasn’t for these state funds. It’s one of the smartest things Texas has done education-wise in a long time.

Among other useful resources, I got back to find that a new database, Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center was added to the list of offerings this year. Now, while this is admittedly more for the public libraries, all TexShare participants get access. So I took a look this afternoon to see if there was anything related to knitting.

Only 5000 plus entries, including over 2500 patterns! What?!?! In addition to video tutorials, it has the full-text of over 40 resources. Many of them are books, all published since 2000, but several magazines are available here too, including Wild Fibers, Interweave Crochet and Interweave Knits – this last one full-text since 2010. I may not have to renew my subscription next time around.

If you have access to an academic or a public library in Texas, check and see if it’s available. I see that it’s offered through the Austin Public Library, for instance. So many more knitting resources are now available at my fingertips! The challenge will be keeping myself from perusing this at work all the time. But wait, part of my job is being familiar with the resources…

"My Grandma made that!"

While in Vancouver last week, one of the places we visited was the incredible Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

Besides the wonderful architecture, one of the most compelling features of this museum is the accessibility of its collections. In most museums, visitors can only see what's being featured on display at any particular time. But at the MOA, what might be considered the storage area in most museums is accessible to the public. Huge cases of masks, fashion, baskets, pottery, jewelry and more can be seen. Drawers full of objects can be slid open. Several computers are available to search for items of interest. It's all quite open. For a taste of what you can search and see, take a look at their online collections site.

Near the entry to this area of the museum, I was pleased to find a sweater in a case. It was knitted around 1950 by a Coast Salish/Musqueam woman named Christine Charles. The online collection entry for this sweater states that like most artists in her community, she learned to knit solely by observation. It's really quite beautiful -- the bird figures on the front represent swallows. As we were looking at this lovely garment, someone who appeared to be a docent at the museum approached us. He had really cool swirling tattos around his lower jaw and chin. He asked what we thought. "It's really beautiful," I commented. He beamed, nodded, and said, "My grandma made that!"

If you are ever in Vancouver, do make time to visit this place. Who knows what cool stuff you'll see or what interesting people you'll meet?

We had such a great time in British Columbia. I've posted some pictures from our trip, roughly in the order they were taken, if you want to take a look.

 

Shake It Up

I got to work on them off and on during our British Columbia vacation, and this morning I finished up the Shaker Placemats and Coasters. And though the pictures may not do them justice, they are, well, rather vivid. You could say gaudy and you wouldn't be far off. I'll stay with vivid. We'll probably use these for outdoor things, mostly. They're a bit much to have to stare at every day. Are you getting dizzy yet?

Each color was chosen to coordinate with, if not exactly match, a different color of our Fiestaware dishes. We chose yarn colors that were as close as possible to -- clockwise from the top -- Tangerine, Chocolate, Pearl Gray, Cinnabar, Turquoise and Plum. We use these as our everyday dishes. Both of us had grandmothers who had Fiestaware and we still have some of those dishes around. I'm hoping they are of the non-radioactive variety. Don't worry -- we don't use those.

My Grandma Self used Fiestaware all the time, although I only remember four colors -- orange, yellow, green and turquoise. Jeff's Nana had quite a few more colors. Grandma always set her table so that all the settings had the same color dishes. If you were sitting in front of a yellow plate, you'd also have a yellow bowl and a yellow coffee cup and saucer. That's the kind of person she was. She liked her order. So when deciding how to take pictures of the placemats with the plates, I had to do make one Grandma-style.

This drove my mom, Grandma's daughter-in-law, nuts. Mom always thought that the point of having dishes in a bunch of colors was so that you could mix and combine them in interesting and eye-pleasing ways. It was always fun to watch as they set the table while getting breakfast together. I think it was my great-grandmother who first pointed this dynamic out to us kids, and we'd giggle with her as my mother and grandmother surreptitiously moved plates, bowls, cups and saucers around like some strange version of chess.

I'd give anything to be able to sit down to breakfast with those three women again.

So, what would be your preference? Matchy-matchy Grandma-style or my mother's rainbow approach?

Q is for Qiviut

This evening Jeff and I splurged on dinner at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. Um, we're not staying there. While we were there, we nosed around this famous place, looking in all the lounges and shops and admiring the fancy decor. It's really quite an amazing hotel in a stunning setting. The view is indescribable. But bring a sweater. When the sun sets, it gets chilly sitting under a glacier. I don't know if the breeze was technically katabatic, but it was noticeable. I think I'm finally starting to wrap my head around the concept of a "summer sweater."

One of the shops (well, actually, there were two of them) was called Qiviuk and featured garments made of qiviut fiber from the undercoat of the Arctic Musk Ox. Very warm, very light, and very expensive. I had never seen dyed examples, and the garments for sale, while well out of reach for most people, were very beautiful. I asked if I could take some pictures and was told yes, but after I tried to get a shot of a ball of yarn, another sales person told me otherwise. Oh, well. I suppose you can imagine what an $85 ball of yarn the size of a fist looks like. But, to the store's credit, they were actually selling yarn, marketed alongside books about one-skein projects. I did manage to get this picture of some men's sweaters before my photography permission was rescinded. Didn't particularly care for the argyle, but the others were nice.

There were some 10% types in there, shopping for sweaters in July and asking if they could just be tossed in a washing machine. It was time to go -- it was all a bit much for me. If you live somewhere where a rediculously warm fiber is called for, you can't get any garments warmer for the weight, but you might consider getting them from the Oomingmak Co-operative.

Tomorrow, we head off on a long hike amongst waterfalls and glaciers. We don't expect we'll see any musk oxen. Good thing, I suppose. I hear they're cranky.

O Canada!

Jeff and I are on vacation, traveling around British Columbia and a bit of Alberta. We're having a marvelous time, after a rocky start that got us into Vancouver at 2am, or 4am in our CDT heads. The people we've met couldn't be friendlier, and there are beautiful sights around every bend. I haven't gotten to knit as much as I'd like since I'm the designated driver, but I have squeezed some in here and there. Mostly yesterday.

Yesterday was when we took a 15-hour ferry ride -- mostly in daylight this time of year -- from Port Hardy on the northern edge of Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert, just a bit south of Alaska's southern tip. It started out foggy, but soon the weather cleared and I got to sit on the sun deck, knitting and watching for orcas, humpback whales, and sea lions -- all of which we saw. The Inside Passage through the coastal islands is quite narrow at times, and it was amazing how close we sailed to the shores on either side. What a way to travel.

As far as I could tell, I was the only person knitting on the ferry. I didn't get the odd stares and questions that I often get as a guy knitting in American airports and like situations. I finished up a coaster and completed a placemat in the bison color. Once I finish its accompanying coaster I'll be ⅔ done with this project. I'm not sure if the Ivory yarn I have will hold out, but it just might.

Tomorrow we head for western Alberta and the Canadian Rockies for some hiking. It'll be good to get away from the car for a few days to stretch our legs. Oh, and at the risk of drawing the ire of my fellow Texans...

I've been wearing jeans. Outdoors. In July.

True Simplicity

I'm fascinated by the Shaker sect and the influence it has had on American culture. Their music, furniture, architecture, agriculture -- all undertaken with a mind toward worship through simplicity. Although they believed in equality of the sexes from their 18th-century founding, they also had some weird ideas about lifelong celibacy. I guess no cult is perfect. Several years ago, Jeff and I stayed a night at the restored Pleasant Hill Shaker village in Kentucky. It was absolutely beautiful. I could have spent much longer there than we did. We loved everything about it. Well, Jeff didn't exactly care for the Shaker Lemon Pie.

My friend Staci, creator of the helpful VeryPink video tutorials, has just released a pattern for Shaker Dishcloths and Coasters, created from a description of similar items in Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting (p. 205). I wanted some colorful placemats to go with our colorful dishes, and I figured I could adapt the dishcloth design a little larger to get what I needed. I'm planning on making 6, in the colors shown in the last post. This picture shows the first attempts. They haven't been washed yet.

Such a cool pattern! Nothing too complicated, and after I got used to how the stitches are supposed to look on the needles I found I wasn't constantly glancing at the pattern anymore. Although this pattern does represent true simplicity, the knitter should pay attention and read it through carefully. There are some unusual techniques that have to be followed in order for these to work. If you don't like working short rows, then this probably isn't the project for you. But I urge you to try it. You may just find that:

To turn, turn will be your delight

'Til by turning, turning you come 'round right.

Posting may be erratic for the next few weeks while we are on vacation. But I will try to visit a yarn shop or two since we'll be in a place where knitting is appreciated, if not downright necessary. Stay tuned.

In High Cotton

And sheep's wool, and alpaca, and mohair...and a little bit of acrylic.

Casting about for things to knit after finishing the sweater last week, I decided to make some socks. I had originally wanted to use some yarn I got at the first Sock Summit in 2009 that I'd never gotten around to using. It's a Jacob/alpaca/mohair fingering blend from Toots LeBlanc -- perhaps my favorite name for a yarn company, ever. I'd originally planned to make some fancy stitch pattern from one of Charlene Schurch's books, but I quickly realized that this yarn didn't want to be knit up fancy.

It has a delicate appearance in the hank with whisps of mohair creating a fuzzy halo, but this ain't no 50's fuzzy sweater yarn. It's tough. Downright bullet-proof, even. So I'm opting for a plain 3x1 ribbed sock, using my standard recipe of 72 stitches cast onto 2mm needles. This yarn is kind of splitty and plied in a Z pattern (as I learned from Janelle), so I feel like it's fighting me all the way. We'll see who wins out.

Also on the horizon is a cool pattern for Shaker dishcloths and coasters created by my friend Staci, along with the usual helpful video. I'm thinking of making the dishcloth pattern a little bigger so they can be used as placemats. We'll see. I got the Knit Picks cotton/acrylic blend that Staci used in the mail today, in colors that I hope will go with some of the colors of our Fiesta dishes. The top color, Ivory, will be used for all of them in combination with the others, clockwise: Marina, Seraphim, Pomegranate, Carrot, Bison and Blackberry. As you might notice, the white balance on my camera is all jacked up. But hopefully, you get the idea. Can't wait to get started!

 

Grettir

Behold, a yoked doodle dandy -- made with shades of gray 2-ply. A handmade sweater for my brother Mike, blocked on the 4th of July!

I'm not sure how I finished this so quickly, but once I got to the stranded yoke, the needles just flew. I just didn't want to stop. and I found it such a welcome change to be stranding on larger needles. They made color changes less fiddly. I really liked how the decreases didn't disrupt the flow do the pattern and also how the round changes were invisible. I don't suppose I should expect less from a Jared Flood design, but still, I appreciate the thought that went into all of this.

According to the Icelandic sagas, Grettir was an outlaw who lived for decades in the north of the island sometime between the 10th and 12th centuries. Although quite courageous, he had a reputation for being somewhat belligerent -- hence the outlaw status. He was famous for bravely slaying the Norse equivalent of a zombie, but not before it put a curse on Grettir that made the rest of his life rather miserable. Now wether all of this notoriety makes him a good candidate for having a sweater pattern named after him might be a matter of debate. But for various reasons, Grettir stood out -- and this sweater design is outstanding. I highly recommend it.

There were a few things that stood out for me with this pattern. First of all, I've never changed needle sizes so many times while knitting a garment. There are four different sizes called for in a few different cord lengths -- some used more than once. Interchangeable needles really helped. It was also my first tubular cast- on. I used Staci's video as a guide, and it I had no problems. I used cotton for the provisional stitches, which didn't dry as fast as the wool when blocking, and it made picking out the yarn somewhat difficult, so I wouldn't recommend that. And after all that drama about gauge at the beginning, I ended up with the most spot-on sizing that I've ever achieved with a sweater. And that with using the suggested needles sizes.

I'm still trying to decide whether to go ahead and ship it to my brother in Germany so he can enjoy it this fall, or wait until Christmas. I'm counting on him having forgotten about this blog so that I don't ruin the surprise, whatever I decide. In either case, I'll post a photo with him wearing it at some point in the future.

I Detest a Siesta

Despite the intense heat, which has curtailed my bicycle commuting to work, I've somehow mustered the will to sit with a wad of wool on my lap, making progress on my brother's sweater. Who wants to knit when it's 106° out? I guess that would be me. Relatively cooler days lie ahead, but I hope my knitting fever doesn't follow suit and break. I'm on a roll.

Last weekend I finished the sleeves and got started on the body. I managed to get a lot done this week. The sleeves are attached and I've completed the first 12 rounds of the yoke. Three of the rounds up to this point have involved three colors at once. It was slow going on those, but I don't have any more coming up. The first decrease round is a few rounds ahead and I'm looking forward to it. Things should get a little less crowded on this needle later today.

So now, back to my knitting and a hot cup of coffee. I'm starting to feel that Noël Coward had summer knitters in mind when he wrote Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

Greysleeves

Nearly two weeks since my last post? So many of my blogging friends are so much more prolific and communicative than me. I haven't been knitting much, to be sure, so there hasn't been much to write about. But I did hit a bit of a milestone today.

The sleeves on my brother's Grettir Sweater are complete or at least as far as the armpits. I seem to be spot-on with the gauge. I've never knit a pattern in which the sleeves are made first so this is a little strange. They're set aside now, as I get ready to cast on for the body. It's essentially the same process, but on a larger scale, so I should be able to progress quickly.

I had an interesting knitting encounter today. A knitter/librarian colleague of mine, whose mother died earlier this year, brought in a project that her mother had been working on. We had a good time trying to reverse engineer what it was. Craft Scene Investigators: Special Knitting Unit! She thought that her mother must have been using a pattern, but it wasn't in evidence. It looked like the collar and the start of the shoulders on a top down sweater, along with what might have been a belt. It was made out of seafoam-green yarn, doubled, and with lots of interesting lacy details. I wish I'd thought to take a photo it was quite beautiful and she was clearly a talented woman.

Sleeve For a Sib

At long last, the yarn for the sweater I plan to make for my brother arrived. I've been neglecting the blog and not doing any knitting while waiting for it to show up. I picked it up Monday after work, riding my bike through heat in the mid 90s to get a bag full of wool yarn. How's that for filial devotion?

Then, I spent much of the week wandering around one of the levels of swatching hell. You know, the one where you can't remember whether to go up or down in needle size to get gauge, even though you should know better? And then you end up going back to the suggested needle size because it's as close as you're going to get? And then you start the cuff over because it's looking way too big, but then check the pattern schematics and realize you were doing it right before unraveling after all? Yeah. It was like that.

But I'm on track now. I executed (is thatnthe right term?) my first-ever tubular cast-on. It's pretty simple, and I like the effect. I haven't unwrapped it yet -- you can see the red waste yarn still on the edge of the cuff. The pattern suggests leaving it on there to keep the edge neat and tidy until it's time for blocking. I'll leave it for now.

My brother and his family are moving to Germany for several years. I've never knitted anything for my brother, and I'm really hoping he likes it. It should keep a Texas boy nice and cozy during chilly German winters -- with a bit of Icelandic flair. I'm also really hoping that Jeff and I can go visit this winter. Maybe I'll get to see it in action...

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I have to knit the thing first.

Crochet Away

I was inspired by a recent essay by Franklin Habit asking why knitters and crocheters can't just get along. And genetically, my ancestors were more crocheters than knitters, most notably my great-great Aunt Gladys. Several online friends were branching out, too, so I thought I'd try my hand -- and wrist -- at it.

I took a class on making granny squares from my friend Staci a while back and i found crocheting came back to me rather quickly. I don't know that heavy cotton yarn was the best thing to knock the rust off with, but it was at hand. I tried a few different patterns, but settled in the Diagonal Dishcloth by Amanda Judkins. I like that it's done on the bias, so I could try increasing and decreasing.

I'm not sure I got the best combination of yarn and hook. It looks a bit open to me. And there are some obvious tension issues. But with help from Staci's crochet videos, and some input from Stephanie at Saturday morning, I got through it. It's a bit big, but it might make a good hot pad. This is basically just rows of single crochet, done on the bias into the backs of the stitches, with increases at the edges to the halfway point and then decreases back to the point.

A Twisted Pair

After doing a little bit of yard work before it got too hot today, I settled in to watch some episodes of Independent Lens that had been waiting for me and knuckle down on the Spiegel Socks that I've been knitting forever. Before I knew it, I was done. I really wanted to finish these before the summer semester started. Mission accomplished.

They fit fine and I'm pretty happy with them. There is one modification I'd make we're I to attempt these again; I would have added an inch more ribbing on the cuff before starting the Bavarian stitch motif. It turns out I had enough yarn, but I followed the pattern because I was worried about running out. They could sit just a tad higher on the leg. There was also something I didn't think was right in the pattern in the large size. I'll write about that on the Ravelry project page.

I'm not sure what to tackle next. I'm still waiting for some yarn to come in so I can start that yoked sweater for my brother. I don't want to get too involved in something else should that arrive. I might also try my hand at some crocheting with some of the yarn I got at the swap. I also have a work colleague who is expecting. I need to think about what I might make for the impending bundle of joy.

Now, I've got to go straighten up. Tomorrow, a very talented photographer and neighbor of mine is coming over to make some portraits of us and the dogs. He says he wants us to wear sweaters.

Oh, we got sweaters...

Big Bend

If you've been following me at Flickr or on Twitter, you'll have seen a few of these photos from our getaway to Big Bend National Park this week. I'll be posting more photos later, but I wanted to get out a quick post while I had wifi access and a little spare time on our last day here.

We got here Sunday afternoon and immediately had a bit of drama when the vet, where the dogs were being kenneled, called at the last possible moment of mobile reception to tell us that a lump we'd noticed on Pona's neck should probably be biopsied or removed. We had to make some quick decisions. All correspondence has been via spotty email, but Pona's mass was removed, it was benign (a histiocytoma) and he's right as rain. Can't wait to see him -- and Kate -- tomorrow.

On Monday, we hiked down to The Window, a pour-off out of the Chisos Mountains that drops several hundred feet to the desert below. Watch your step! After getting back, we drove the thirty miles down to Santa Elena Canyon where the Rio Grande has carved a deep divide through solid rock. It's just one of my favorite places on earth and I never tire of visiting it. You can't see it here, but the river follows the bluff along the Chihuahua side to the left for several miles, forming a steep wall.

Tuesday was our major hiking day. We did a 12-mile loop that went up the Pinnacles Trail to the top of the Chisos Mountains, up through Boot Canyon out to the South Rim, and then back through Laguna Meadows. We're sore today, but it was worth it. I first did this same hike half my lifetime ago, and it's gratifying to know that I can still do it.

We saw lots of Mexican Jays and other birds during our walk, but unlike four years ago, no bears. And, lucky for us, no mountain lions. Apparently, they've been getting a bit bold as the continuing drought forces them to seek water near the campgrounds.

Today, we headed to the east side of the park and drove down the rather primitive Old Ore Road to Ernst Tinaja. A tinaja is a hollowed out pool in a canyon stream bed, that, being somewhat deep, tends to hold water most of the time, even if the stream is dry. Since we'd had a storm the night before, it was quite full with dark, tannin-rich water. The folded pink and gray rocks around it are beautiful.

Afterwards, we headed to the newly re-opened border crossing and took a boat across to Boquillas del Carmen in Mexico. This town was hit hard when the crossing was shut down after 9/11, and it's good to see it open again. A nice guy named Gabriel gave us a ride into town -- in his truck, not on these burros -- and showed us around, and answered our questions. We grabbed a beer at one of the bars in town and bought a few trinkets from some of the local kids. It's a miracle this former mining town has hung on as long as it has -- here's hoping the tourists start coming back.

Heading back to Austin tomorrow. Oh -- and I didn't knit a stitch while I was here, even though I brought the sock I'm working on. I'll get back to it when I get home!

 

Swap Analysis

Ever get tired of looking at the yarn in your stash and thinking, "What the hell was I thinking?" Or maybe, "What will I ever do with that?" If so, consider organizing a yarn swap. Some of my regular group of knitters got together last weekend and did just that. We had a potluck, did a little drinking, and brought our yarny trash, in hopes that we might snag someone else's fiber-y treasures. It's the third time we've done it over the years, and it was a blast.

Here's how we handle the process: we draw numbers in rounds. So, if there were 8 participants, we'd draw the numbers 1-8 out of a hat for round one. Then we'd draw numbers 9 through 16 for the second round, etc. You can base the number of rounds on the numbers of "lots" of yarn, or just decide how many up front. Then we dump all the yarn that everyone brought onto a big table. Usually, if you have multiple balls of the same yarn, it's bagged together into a lot. Then person 1 gets the first choice, and on through all the numbers. It's fun to paw through as people "shop," trying to hide things under the pile until their turn comes up. After we're all sated, what's left gets donated to a charity.

I usually go thinking of it as an opportunity to declutter, but I always come back with cool stuff. This time I got 7 hanks of Cascade 220 -- 6 in dark green heather and one in a light grey/green heather. Not sure if it's enough for an adult sweater -- but maybe for a nephew? I also got to thinking about crochet lately after reading a recent essay by Franklin Habit, and a Twitter conversation that followed. This pile of red Pima cotton yarn should be good for that. And then I got 6 skeins of a weird wool/mohair/acrylic blend from Dalegarn that I have no idea what I'll do with -- but I like the olive tweed color. If creativity fails me, I can always contribute it to the next swap!

Tomorrow, Jeff and I are headed for Big Bend National Park for a few days of hiking and relaxation under those big west Texas skies. This will be the first time we've visited during a new moon, so I'm really looking forward to seeing a beautiful night sky. "The stars at night, are big and bright..." -- you know the rest. We will try to find some wifi and share a bit of our adventures while we're there.

 

Greyscale

I needed a breather after last week's posting spate, but it seems I'm still fixated on one of the themes: grayness. Despite all the beautiful colors growing and blooming this time of year, my eyes are still drawn to the gray, all along the scale from white to black. If you've been watching Game of Thrones this season, you'll know that greyscale means something quite different in that world. I like our use of the word better. Poor, sweet Shireen Baratheon. But I digress...

I managed to finish the first of the Spiegel socks this week. Such a strangley interesting pattern. The pattern runs down the outside of the leg, then splits with one side twisting over the instep, pushed into position by the expanding triangular pattern on the cuff. Also, the heel is only half as high as most heels, and the turn is square rather than shaped. Turns out this suits my square heels just fine. I did have a bit of a hole on one side of the ankle, but I was able to gather it in on the inside with some careful stitch tracing and reinforcing. I've started the second sock, which I hope will progress more quickly.

Looking forward, I was able to get some of the yarn for the Grettir Sweater at Hill Country Weavers today. These are the contrasting colors used in the yoke. For left to right they are Snowbound, Cast Iron and Sweatshirt. The main color, Soot, is out of stock most places, so I may just have to wait until they go back into production next month. Grrr. I can be as grouchy as a two-year-old when I have to wait for yarn. It's not fair!

While at the shop, I perused a Shelter and Loft trunk show, with several items made from all of these wonderfully earthy shades. I imagine some of them were knit by Jared Flood himself, but I did see one green dress that a friend of mine made. It was like seeing an old friend.

KCBW Day 7: Looking Forward

Today, the last day of blogging in the 4th Knit and Crochet Blog Week, we are supposed to think about our craft, and how we hope to be expressing it, what we hope we will have learned and what goals we might reach by next year's exercise.

Frankly, the thought of all that is rather daunting. It took quite a bit out of me too keep up this week. True to my manatee nature, I tend to go with the flow. True, I plan individual patterns that catch my eye as they catch my eye. If they involve some new technique, I reckon I'll just learn how to do it when the time comes.

As I worked in the yard today, I thought about how rarely I take time to reflect on and enjoy my surroundings. And now's the time to do so, before the heat really sets in and the mosquitos arrive. So I sat in the front yard this evening, watching bees pollinate the lavender. Just this manatee and some humming bees -- no peacocks or monkeys seemed to be around. But perhaps one of the things I can take out of this exercise is to think about the other Houses and how I just might share some of their characteristics, too. Being well-rounded is an important part of success in any craft, I suppose.

I do plan to apply for the extra credit, and cast on for the sweater for my brother that I mentioned on day 2 -- just as soon as I get these socks finished. This has been fun. Thanks, Tony, for bringing it to my attention, and to Eskimimi for pulling it all together. It sure got me thinking about this thing I love to do.

KCBW Day 6: Cool Tools

We're getting down to the wire with this week of daily posting, and I, for one, am glad. I'm exhausted! Today's assignment is to pick a "tool to covet." We're directed to pick just one, but I couldn't narrow things down easily. I don't really have any tools that I use daily, and I'm interested in all sorts of knitterly gadgets. I've posted about hooks and needles I inherited from my great-grandmother via my Aunt June, and a darning egg I found at Grandma Self's house -- so I do admire a well-loved bit of technology, no matter its age. But I've given it some thought and picked out a few things I'm using these days.

First off, I've mentioned it before, but I'm really enamored of the knitCompanion app for the iPad. It's made chart reading so much easier -- even if it's a bit hard on battery life. I really appreciate being able to follow multiple charts at once. There's a bit of a learning curve on this, but after you figure it out, it's not so bad. In the example in the image, I'm on the 19th row of Chart D of the socks I'm currently working on. I can flip from chart to chart and increment one row as I complete each one. It's kind of fun. Since I'm not constantly knitting charted projects, I can't really consider this indispensable, but it sure is handy!

This next picture shows a handful of tiny tools that I really like. On the bottom are my green size 1 (2.25mm) dpns, with a little elastic band with two rubber caps. This is perfect for keeping dpn projects on the needles while they're in a bag. Above that is a pink thingie that's pointed on one end, a crochet hook on the other -- perfect for picking up dropped sock stitches. Plus, it can double as a cable needle in a pinch. And finally, at the top, a teeny tiny pair of scissors given to me by my friend Melissa. I've never actually used them, come to think of it, but I really like looking at them. I think one might actually be able to sneak these on a plane.