tedium

This is my shaped triangle shawl that I started...one hundred and ten years ago. NOT REALLY, it was actually November 2011. Which seems like an eternity ago when I think about who and where I was then as compared to now. Crikey, my son had only just turned 3.

Anyway, I have knitted the first 29 repeats of the border, which, for my attention span and interest, is about 28 repeats too many. Now I'm at the center point, which is more of the same but with short rows for lovely shaping. And then! Only 29 more repeats down the other side. omg.

I'm gonna do it. Determined not to let another 3 years go by before finishing this bad boy.

the next knit

I had the great pleasure of attending a talk by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot herself, last week. I was supposed to attend with my mom, but she was unable to go, and I waffled on whether I wanted to go by myself or not. This was a knitting guild event, and the organizers are always reminding us that if we want these good teachers to keep coming to Buffalo, we need to show them our support. Plus I've been in this guild for nearly ten years so it's not like I was heading into a room full of strangers! Anyway, I went. Best decision ever. She is SO FUNNY! If you are a knitter or really any crafter, and you get the opportunity to hear her speak, GO. 

In fact, if you go to her site, and read the May 20th post, there is a photo of our guild! I can't find my tiny head though...I sat near the back. 

So yes, she was amazing and funny and insightful, and talked about lots of issues that are important to knitters. I sat up a little straighter when she talked about how for most (if not all) knitters, our favorite knit is...the next one. Everyone laughed but muttered agreement, because isn't it true? The project we are working on is only awesome for about the first 3 inches, and then our fickle brains are on to the next thing we want to make. I know that is true for me. Case in point, in the above photo is the prayer shawl I literally just started, but I keep shooting longing looks at the book underneath, Victorian Lace Today, and daydreaming about which shawl I will cast on.

There is nothing wrong with the pattern I am working on (for the newly-formed prayer shawl ministry at my church), and I don't think there's anything wrong with being excited about future projects. But I know that for me, much of the point of knitting and crafting is the idea of flow. Basically flow is that awesomely focused feeling one gets when fully immersed in some activity (crafting, cooking, playing an instrument, really anything). Frankly, no one needs to knit anymore, and it's not much of a savings (if any) over buying manufactured items, so really the main reason to do it is to achieve this sense of flow. So, I don't know, I just think it's funny that the whole reason most of us knit is for the zen feeling we get, and yet our silly lizard brains are always pushing us toward what's coming next. 

faux russian stole

HOLY

MACARONI!

IT'S

FINISHED!

Ravelry notes.

yarn along

I'm tardy to the party (again) but I am here this week for yarn along. My hand and wrist really hurt all last week, but I did minimal knitting, slept with a wrist support, and tried to be careful in general. It seems to be better now, though I have to take it slow and take frequent breaks. Boo hoo.

After a stretch of truly crummy weather (cold and rainy), we are back to summer conditions. I took advantage by setting up outside with my knitting, my books, and some iced coffee. I'm reading some very dense and heavy books about speech in an effort to better help my son. The knitting is my Faux Russian Stole. 

I've completed 4 full repeats now, and have 1.5 to go (actually I am 20 rows into the next repeat). It's going to be lovely...and large.

Here it is with my almost-4-year-old. And he is tall!

What are you knitting and reading?

on injured reserve

I've been knitting like a crazy person on my Faux Russian Stole - this is 3 complete repeats of the pattern, with 2.5 left to go. So I'm past the halfway point! It is still a very enjoyable knit and I am excited about the finished product, but unfortunately I was starting to have hand and wrist pain while working on it. I had to pretty much stop working on it over the holiday weekend. 

So while I rest my poor arm, I will accomplish other things. 

Sorry about the glare in the photo - the sun was directly behind the tree but this was the only place I could hang the dress and not have it blow away. The sewing is straight, but it is so windy the dress would not hang straight.

The dress is the second half of a birthday gift for the daughter of our good friends (the purple sweater is the other part). She just turned 3, and her party is coming up. I'm so thrilled with this little dress and pattern - I wish I'd had it 4 years ago when my own daughter was that age. It's Simplicity 2377 and it is just a perfect little dress pattern. 

This little girl's favorite color is purple, so I tried to find purple fabric but nothing called out to me in the store.  I went with this girly butterfly print and now I'm just hoping it's not too.....loud? Oh well, it's a tad obnoxious but you can get away with that when you're 3. 

I can highly recommend this dress pattern if you have a little girl in your life. It's 4 pieces that fit together like a perfect puzzle, and the elastic sleeve and neck openings are SO EASY. There's no need for any other closures (zippers or buttons) because of the elastic, which also means a gal can dress herself. Woot! I'll be making some of these for Daughter for sure (the pattern goes up to size 8). [I also like that you don't have to buy a bunch of expensive notions to make this...half the time I get a great deal on the fabric for kid projects and then have to spend a fortune on notions. Why are zippers, like, two dollars each??? This whole gift, start to finish, cost maybe $10 plus my time.]

It's incredibly hot and humid today - thunderstorms are rolling in and they can't get here soon enough. They're supposed to drop the temperature about 20 degrees by nighttime and I will take it! I love warm weather but not when it's so sticky you can't get anything done. Blech. So we'll see how the wrist feels later...I might have an update on my stole for Wednesday's knit along post, or perhaps I'll stick to sewing for a few more days. Heaven knows there are enough projects piled up to keep me busy for a long time.

yarn along

Knitting and reading this week with Ginny and the others for Yarn Along...

I've done one full and 2/3 of another repeat of the Faux Russian Stole. I'm really, really enjoying this knit. Once I started the second repeat (the pattern is 96 rows), I found I could go quicker because I almost knew or felt what was coming. It's not a complicated pattern, and I can follow it while watching TV (we're into A Game of Thrones now...I couldn't get into the book but the series is amazing). I can also work it while sitting outside watching the kids play. Perfect. It's very rhythmic and calming, probably because there is only knitting, no purling. Surprisingly, the garter background is working for me - I usually prefer stockinette.

The book is just OK. I didn't realize this but An Everlasting Meal is really more than an homage to How to Cook a Wolf. It's almost an update of the exact same thing. But the former is much better in my opinion. 

At least I am reading - I'm finding it so difficult to get into a book lately. I tried The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and got through about 10 pages. I tried A Game of Thrones and got through about 3, maybe. Perhaps it's because the weather is finally getting beautiful and warm, and reading feels like more of a curl-up-with-blankets thing? I don't know, I guess I'm just not choosing the right material. 

But the knitting...the knitting is good. 

swallowtail shawl

Yay, I finished something!

I don't know what it is about these silly lace shawls...I have no plans to actually wear one, but I can't stop making them. I guess it's the magic of going from a lump of crazy-looking knitting to a thing of beauty.

This is my swallowtail shawl, an Evelyn Clark design. Everyone has made one. (Well, nearly 10000 knitters have, anyway.)

Senorita Grumpypants was not in the mood to model today - can you tell by the hunched shoulders? She's pouting, too. Oh well, you want me to take you to that bounce-house birthday party later today, kid? That's what I thought. Now, show us how it looks when you hold it out to the sides:

It seems there are certain shawls that just about everyone makes (if they make shawls, that is). There's this one, and the flower basket shawl, the shetland triangle, ishbel, and ene's scarf, among many others. I guess because these designs are so accessible for knitters of every level, maybe? The knitting is really not difficult at all, other than those tricksy nupps. Lots of knitters substitute beads there, and I can see why...it would definitely be faster and less fussy. But I'm glad to have tried it as written. 

I'm disappointed I didn't use up more of the yarn, though. I had two skeins of Naturespun fingering weight in nordic blue, approximately 310 yards each. I got most of the way through the shawl with one skein, and only used maybe 1/10 of the second. Oh well, it's better than running out, and it came from stash so that's definitely good. This was knit on my favorite vintage nylon size 6 circular needle. 

I have lots of shawls in my ravelry queue, what shall I knit next? I also have two more skeins of Naturespun in a purple colorway to use up as well...I have to admit, I didn't "get" ravelry at first, but holy moly, it's an amazing tool. If you need me, I'll be over there trying to select my next project...

yarn along

*sigh*

Oh Blogger. What is up with this new interface? I sure hope it ends up being awesome because I currently have no patience for learning it.

Anyway, just a quick one today because I want to use naptime for knitting time. I'm yarning along with Ginny at Small Things, working on my Swallowtail shawl.

As for reading, I'm in between books. Just finished the Hunger Games trilogy yesterday so I'm still digesting that. (Anyone else find the last book to be a poorly written total bummer? The first two were so good!)

Now I'm thinking of maybe reading the Game of Thrones series...supposedly it is wonderful, but complex. Can my feeble brain handle it? I'm going to start the first one and we'll find out. (See the edge of the computer in the photo? I'm using a PC reader and reading electronically so I can knit simple things at the same time...not lace shawls, but stockinette socks work out nicely!)

beads! and stuff

Oh, dudes, knitting with beads is cool. Really cool.

This week has sort of swallowed me whole. Daughter had a play at school, which threw the weekly rhythm off a bit, and Spring Break starts tomorrow {blech!} so I have to quickly think of over a week's worth of activities to keep the kids from killing each other. I need to sorta-clean the house for Easter Sunday as I think my in-laws are coming over for coffee cake (though they are notorious for cancelling or, even worse, ruining holidays). There are sewing projects in various stages of completion laying all over the dining room, including a satin bridesmaid dress turned toddler frock that needs hemming and embellishment. The weather has turned chilly and gray again so I have approximately zero motivation to do anything.

Blerg.

I'm going to go knit with beads some more.

lace knitting as therapy

Well, the shawl bug has definitely bitten again. I made one last week and I've started another.

First, Evelyn Clark's shetland triangle. Super easy-peasy pattern to work, though I managed to screw it up because I was watching television - that's where hubris gets ya. "Oh, it's so simple I can watch TV while I knit it!" Hahaha...tink.

This is without flash and it's the best I could do. I think my camera needs batteries. 

Here I used the flash so the pattern shows up better. However, you can see many, many, many versions of this shawl on Ravelry. Nearly 4000 of them! 

Mine was knit from about 1 and 2/3 skeins of Knitpicks gloss yarn (fingering weight). Last spring I made the flower basket shawl using this same yarn in a different colorway. This color might be called cocoa, but then again, it might not. It's been marinating in stash since Christmas 2007 after all, so this colorway may not even exist anymore. Like the yarn from the other shawl, this was part of a sock sampler kit, and again I thought there was a better use of wool/silk blend yarn than getting all pilly on my feet as a pair of socks. The silk content makes this yarn so interesting to knit with because it's almost crunchy. But it's still quite soft. Then, once washed and blocked, that crunchiness goes away and it's just drapey and lovely. 

I used a US 6 needle to knit this shawl, which is my favorite for fingering weight. Right now I'm enjoying making lace from fingering weight yarns, as I like the look of more "filled-in" stitches, rather than the really open look you get with lace weight.

The minute I had the brown one pinned out to block, I went searching on Ravelry for the next pattern. Sure, I could use one of the twelve-bazillion books I own, but no. I knew I had some fingering weight wool hanging around from nearly 10 years ago that I really wanted to use, so I searched for shawl patterns by weight and yardage required. 

Again, Evelyn Clark came through for me. The two balls of Nordic Blue Nature Spun fingering weight that I bought for $2 apiece in 2003 are just right for the swallowtail lace shawl. (Look at all the pretty F.O.s - nearly 10,000 of them!)

It's so addictive to knit these triangles. I finish and block them, admire them, and then fold them away in my cedar chest because I have no use for a lace shawl at this stage of my life. But they are just such an enjoyable knit for me. 

But wait, what's that you say? The last time I went on a lace-knitting bender it's because I was super duper stressed out and the obnoxiously detailed patterns kept my mind occupied so I didn't panic over life stuff? Ah yes, it was true then and it is true now. My son's speech therapist informed me that she was given the date for his annual CPSE meeting (committee on preschool special education) and it is in May. Our dear, darling therapist who I love is having a baby right then and will likely be unable to attend. Not cool! Also, we have to make some decisions about what to do regarding preschool and then kindergarten for AJ. 

My sweet boy will be turning 4 in September and is therefore eligible for Universal Pre-K, which would be 5 days/week at no cost to us (it is through the school district). He could continue to receive therapy services through UPK and/or, I think, in our home. (I want some sessions done when and where I can observe them.) The problem is his speech deficit is still such that we don't dare send him out on his own yet. 

Also, while of average height, he is a lightweight and looks younger than some of his peers. If he went to pre-K this fall he would be with kids who are turning 4 right now...some of them would be up to 8 months older than AJ. So we're discussing keeping him out of UPK this fall and sending him to a program on our own a couple mornings a week, then maybe three mornings a week for the second half of the year if it goes well. He would then go to a full pre-K program at age 5 the following year, and start kindergarten at 6. 

Everyone I've asked says this is The Best Idea Ever, even for boys who have no delays or problems but who just have late birthdays. It's what we're leaning toward right now...I think it would be best for him to have some extra time. After all, he spent the first 18 months of his life just learning how to eat. How can we expect him to be ready for everything all at once just because the calendar says he should be?

When we have the CPSE meeting I know they will ask what I am doing for his socialization needs, which up until now has been basically nothing. We have therapy at home 5 mornings a week. It doesn't leave much time for anything else. But our library does have story hour that we can get to, so I bit the bullet and signed up. We went today and he hated it, but we got through it and he will learn to sit still and listen, and to participate with the other kids. He will. It doesn't help that my social anxiety ratchets up to about a hundred in these situations...anyone remember my problem with Daughter's playgroup years ago?

So yeah, I'll just be here obsessively knitting lace shawls to keep my brain from eating itself and to squelch the panic and anxiety that keep creeping up. At least in the end I've made something pretty.

no, really, it's relaxing!

I'm sure that some people find the idea of knitting lace to be absolutely abhorrent...I think I used to be one of those people. So fiddly! Such fine yarn! Pretty, but useless! I want warm sweaters, dammit, not doilies!

Mmmmm. My words taste goooooooood.

It turns out I love to knit lace. In particular, I love to knit triangular shawls on a stockinette background, preferably with the edging incorporated into the body of the shawl, but this time around I'm going for it with a knitted-on edging.

I've begun the Shaped Triangle from A Gathering of Lace. The book photo does not do it justice in the least - if you want to see what it can really look like, check out the gorgeous blue one on ravelry.

I wish I had a pretty, soft color to make this shawl with, but I'm bustin' stash these days, and what I have is some well-marinated Knitpicks Shadow laceweight.

This yarn knits up beautifully, with no splitting or knots thus far. But the color is kind of uninspiring (I think it is called "sunset").

I've nearly completed the first chart, which is all these little asterisk-type things. I'm enjoying the heck out of knitting this so far! It does get more complicated after this chart, but so far it's been dreamy. I find knitting lace to be quite relaxing and distracting - the stress of dealing with my son's transitioning of therapy services has been so all-consuming it actually makes me feel physically ill. This pattern requires just enough concentration that I lose myself in the pattern and my brain stops chewing on other issues.

And it's a good thing, too, because I knit lace without a safety net. That's right, no "lifelines" here. Instead I make sure I knit this when the children are in bed or zombied-out in front of a video (only used when I am desperate for peace, I promise), with no media bombarding me. I sit in good light, and softly chant the stitch pattern to myself as I go along: "knit two, yarn over, knit three, yarn over, slip-knit-pass, yarn over, knit one..."

A holiday weekend is upon us (July already???) and the weather looks good. I'm going to get the house reasonably clean (ok, tidy, clean is a reach), and enjoy the sunshine with my family. Happy 4th!

F.O.: flower basket shawl

What? I said this should be done by next week? Oh, haha, just kidding. I meant I was going to practically injure myself to get it done immediately. (Seriously, my poor wrists, ouch.)

Flower Basket shawl, from Interweave Knits, fall 2004. I post-it-noted this pattern when I got the magazine all those years ago, but only just now got around to making it. At the time the concept of knitting lace with two strands of yarn held together sounded way intimidating. I just didn't have the knowledge to realize I didn't have to follow the directions exactly, and that I could substitute yarn and needles.

What a lovely pattern to knit. It's actually very easy, and each line of the chart is memorized quickly for fast, smooth knitting. I used almost two entire hanks of Knitpicks Gloss fingering weight, which came in a sock sampler my husband gave me for Christmas in........2007? I would have to search the archives but I think that's right. That means with 440 yards of fingering weight and a US6 needle I got a shawl measuring 60" across and about 30" from the neck to the bottom point (after blocking). I didn't count my repeats but I did several more than the pattern calls for. On the last repeat I was sweating it out, fearing yarn famine, but I made it with a (very) small ball of yarn to spare.

Daughter wants it. We just took these photos and she's now curled up on the sofa, wrapped in the shawl. I'm thinking we'll store it carefully away for when she's a bit older. :)

joys of homeownership...and also more lace

On Saturday morning the phone rang at 6:46. It was the company we'd ordered topsoil from, telling us our dirt was on its way. The dump truck showed up about an hour later, and when it did, I thought, "boy, he must be making a bunch of deliveries with all that dirt!" But then he backed into our driveway and proceeded to empty the entire dump truck.

This photo does not do justice to the true quantity of topsoil we moved. This is 4 cubic yards, which is code for "a backbreaking amount" and we moved all but about 1/2 yard of it by lunchtime. The driveway, front walk, side-of-the-house walk, and back patio were all repoured before we bought the house, but were never backfilled properly, so the jagged lower edge of the concrete was exposed all over the place. We needed to shore it up and seed it, both to make it look nice and to ensure that the concrete doesn't heave from moisture in the coming years.

It sucked, but it's mostly done now. This picture cracks me up because the kids were so determined to help with their tiny sandbox shovels. Also funny: this is what I get when I tell my daughter to wear "old clothes." Quite a fashion statement!

The moral of the story is that I really hurt my wimpy body by doing such a massive physical job. I am sadly out of shape and come Sunday morning I could barely get out of bed, my back hurt so bad. The pain and stiffness continued for a couple of days, so I've been fairly useless when it comes to the more physical housework.

What a bummer, I've had to park it in my recliner with more lace!

I wasn't kidding in my last post...I'm fairly obsessed at this point. More lace! Must knit more lace!

I think I'm hitting a period of pretty, delicate work after several years of hearty, practical knitting and sewing. I also have the wild urge to do handwork, like embroidery and cross stitch.

Gosh this is fun. And it really flies off the needles, what with all those yarn-overs. I'm eyeballing my yarn to see how many more repeats I can squeeze in before I knit the edging. This should be an F.O. by next week. More details to come when I finish!

FO: summer mystery shawlette

I finished my mystery shawlette! Woot!

Actually I finished the knitting a week ago but I was lazy and smushed it into its ziplock bag to avoid weaving ends and blocking. I didn't know where to block it because we have hardwood throughout our house - no carpeting other than area rugs - so I wasn't sure where to pin it down. It turned out our dining room area rug has enough rubber backing that I could gently shove my t-pins into it.

I wish I had better photos but it's just me and the toddler here today. I tried to get a photo in the mirror but...no. Total fail.

What a nice project this was to work on! I used frog tree fingering weight alpaca, way less than two skeins. I'll probably make a special bonnet or booties with the remainder for someone I really care about...because hello, expensive, can't-throw-it-in-the-washing-machine alpaca. You know.

It comes just around my shoulders, so if I made it again I would add repeats to make it much bigger. But I love the pattern. Thanks, Wendy, for a fun knitalong!

I did not block this "severely" because I don't care for lace that is blocked so hard the stitches become distorted. In this photo I can even see a few areas where the stitches are pulled out more than I like to see. I love lace but I like it to have a little substance to it. Not a big fan of the cobweb weight, filmy lace.

But I've been bitten by the lace bug, now. It's going to be tough to work through my wips now that all I want to do it knit lace! I dug out my lace books and found a surprising amount of appropriate yarn to make lacy shawls and scarves. I might make that my summer knitting!