Stay Tuned . . .

I'm really really trying to put together my Rhinebeck post, but BLOGGER IS NOT COOPERATING.

Hopefully, I'll have it up tomorrow . . .

Poppy Play

Welcome to Stop 3 on the YarnPlay blog tour! Lisa Shobhana Mason has the day off - and I'm going to unveil my finished Poppy - drum roll puhleaze!!!


When Lisa emailed me after I interviewed her for the podcast, and asked if I could cast on Poppy by the week of the 23rd, I hesitated. I had big big plans for my money at Rhinebeck, and while Poppy was definitely in my knitting queue, I knew I didn't have enough in my stash to get the job done. But, I loved the book, and I loved the sweater, so I decided, eh, what's a few more skeins of yarn I was going to buy anyway.


The bottom panel of the sweater is knit in Cash Iroha, with rows of Silk Garden thrown in, and a few garter rows for good measure. So, I took my 16 miscellaneous skeins of Silk Garden over to Loop to pick a color of Cash Iroha that complimented my stash, thinking that instead of using one colorway of Silk Garden on top, I would pick 6 similar skeins that I already had - I mean, I was supposed to be playing, right?

So, I picked Cash Iroha, maroon. I think it looks more like chocolate than maroon, but it's maroon. Let me just say this and set the record straight - this is an awesome yarn - I know that Cash Iroha has recently gotten swept up in the Debbie Bliss cashmere controversy - but you don't buy this yarn for the cashmere content - it supposedly had 12% cashmere - I don't know if it has any, and I don't care. The color is rich, the fabric is lush, and I hope that this yarn isn't pulled from the shelves, and that everyone can knit Poppy the way she should be knit.

Anyway, before I cast on, I picked a skein of Silk Garden for the random striping. I picked a skein that I maybe had another 1/2 skein of - I just intended to use it for the striping, and use another colorway on top, another for the back, and another for the sleeves. Once the color was chosen, then I thought about the stripes. I'm not a random girl - randomness scares me - I'm a bit of a control freak. So, instead of throwing in stripes that were completely "random" I used a Fibonacci series of numbers for a roadmap of my stripes and garter strips - I threw in either a color or a garter row every 5, 8, 13, 21, 28 and 34th row, and then the same numbers in a descending order. To me, that's playing - maybe it's math, but it's still play.

Once, I finished the bottom panel, which is a straight stockinette, no shaping, I decided to block it before I sewed up the seam. I emailed Lisa first to ask her about blocking, but she didn't block. Now, I'm normally a girl all about short cuts - no blocking means no blocking - fast and wrong. Because it's stockinette, and because it was curling at the edges, I just didn't see how I could neatly sew the seam without blocking it. So, block I did.

So, I sewed the side seam. The pattern says to sew the seam in the back, but I decided to sew the seam on the side, and when I picked up the stithces for the top panel, the side seam became the marker for the beginning of my row. While I did sew a pretty nice seam if I say so myself, I still liked the idea of hiding it on the side, rather than having it in the middle of the back. In fact, if I were going to knit this pattern again, I might do a provisional cast on, and either graft the seam with the side stitches, or perhaps do a three needle bind off on the wrong side.

Anyway, now I had a dilemna. The colorway that I had chosen had really distinctive colors from the other skeins of Silk Garden in the pile. The skeins that I had intended to use were all earthy, muted colors. But this skein had mustard, blue, green and a cherry maroon. So, I decided to pick up the stitches along the top of the bottom panel with the same skein, so that at least the top would be picking up the colors of the stripes. Then, to bring out those colors even more, and thinking I was going to switch to another colorway when I ran out of yarn, I knit the front of the top first.

Once I had the front of the top done, I had a real moment of truth. It was love all over again with Color 234 (it's the same colorway I used for my Sunrise Circle Jacket), and I loved how it looked with the maroon Cash Iroha. It wasn't much of a struggle to convince myself that I needed to buy five more skeins of that Silk Garden, and ditch my cost saving measures of mishmashing the Silk Garden I already had.
So, this is the final color combo - sweet!

And, at that point, I unconsciously made another decision - that I was going to try to make the colors symmetrical. Everytime I've knit with Noro, I haven't really been concerned with lining colors up, or having symmetrical colors on each side of a garment. But, there's something about this sweater that calls for balance. On the bottom, to get the different colored stripes, I cut my partial skein of 234 into color segments - and mixed up the segments somewhat randomly. For the top and the sleeves, I also cut the skeins, so that I was able to start and stop with the same color. Once the top was done, I knew that I wanted the shoulders to be green or blue - so the bottom of the sleeve necessarily had to be maroon.

The top was done in a snap, and before I started the sleeves, I sewed up the shoulder seams and tried it on. I was nervous about the fit - I'm a pretty curvy girl, and I'm used to my sweaters having some side shaping. But, it's perfect. Onto the sleeves.

The sleeves were knit in the round, until the shaping at the top, which is knit flat. The finished sleeves, are then eased into the armhole. I have to say, this was the most, and only, difficult part of the sweater. I'm used to blocking my sleeves, then sewing - and then I know that it's going to fit in the armhole. Not possible in this case, because the sleeves are already done. It took a bit of fudging, and a bit of easing, but the sleeve found its way into the armhole, and viola - Poppy complete!

Poppy came with me to Rhinebeck, and boy did she get compliment after compliment! One woman even stopped me and asked, "Is that the sweater that's on the cover of Yarnplay?" Not only were Knitty D and I kind of knitting rockstars, this sweater was totally Queen of the Festival.

And, here she is -





















Be sure to check out the rest of the stops on the tour!

wednesday 10/25 -Purl Jam
thursday 10/26 - My Life In Stitches
friday 10/27 - Serendipity
saturday 10/28 - Scout's Knitted Swag

Wheel Today, Yarn Tomorrow

So, I would love to show you my Rhinebeck yarn today, but honestly, I'm too exhausted, and somehow I got suckered into going to my brother's house for the second half of the Eagles game - after the 3 1/2 hour ride back from Rhinebeck this morning,the last thing in the world I want to do is go play with my niece's Barbie Dreamhouse, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.

So, yarn tomorrow - but I wanted to post an update on the wheel dilemna. When, I left for Rhinebeck, I did a quick diagnostic of the wheel - As you can see, the thingy, which I later found out was a bearing, that holds the flyer is busted. On the ride up to NY, I pretty much rejected the idea of buying a new wheel when Christina and I were talking about how many skeins of Socks that Rock we could buy in good conscience. Skipping ahead in the story, and for reasons I'll reveal tomorrow, we got an incredibly early start to the festival, and ended up in the main building at 8:45 a.m. I had a lot of time before the festival got packed to talk to a few spinners about fixing the wheel v. buying a new wheel. The consensus really was that it sounded like a relatively cheap problem to fix - and that I should go for it.

While there were a gazillion wheel vendors on the fairgrounds, only Stony Mountain Fibers had brought their part supplies with them. Of course, it took me hours and several criss-crosses of the fairground before I found it (thanks Purlewe!!!), but here's all I needed: About $20 worth of supplies.

Then, I got home, and reinspected the wheel - hmmm . . . where did I put the flyer???? I ripped apart my stash closet - not there. In the kitchen maybe? I tore through the cabinets. And then I remembered - when I had people over for the Oscars last March, I had scooped up a bunch of crap that had been cluttering up my kitchen counter, just to get it out of the way for the evening. Uch, I had never brought the bag o' stuff in from the backyard. So, I found the plastic Gap bag in the yard, filled with mudd - and my flyer -
Yep, there it is rotting, and in pieces.

I've already ordered another one ($33) before I even started thinking about a new wheel again. In inspecting the maidenboard, I'm a little worried about the state of the bearings/brackets/and screws, and maybe I should have bought a whole new flyer unit ($122), but I'm going to try getting new hardware from the handy dandy neighborhood hardware store, and go from there. I had my flyer shipped Ups Priority, so hopefully, I'll have it by next weekend, so I can get my wheel up and running.

In the meantime - um, there's no shortage of yarn! More tomorrow!

To Wheel or Not To Wheel

That is the question . . . for those long time readers of my blog, you know that my wheel met with an unfortunate accident in the form of my cleaning lady. Yes, my shoe steeling cleaning lady knocked my wheel over, breaking the metal brackets that hold the flyer, and totally throwing the wheel out of whack, the whole thing is just misaligned. And, since I only paid $200 for the wheel in the first place, I wasn't sure if it was worth it to reconstruct the thing, or to just buy a new wheel.

And, there were other reasons I stalled out on fixing the wheel. First, my yarn habit is already sucking my bank account dry, did I really need another fiber fetish to put the nail in my financial coffin? And, spinning definitely took time away from my knitting.

But, I've watched as Carol's Black Bunny has gotten better and better every time I pick up a skein -- and I've been mighty wistful staring at her roving. And, I really did enjoy spinning, especially when I had finally gotten to the point where I was spinning something that actually looked like knittable yarn. The final motivator in my wheel lust was Shannon Okey's visit to Rosie's last week. I blew into Rosie's straight from court, wired, stressed, and while not in motion, still moving, thinking, anxious - and when I sat, watching the wheel going round and round, and her hands drafting the fiber - there was something so relaxing about it, soothing, that I immediately wanted to go home and break out the wheel - but the wheel is broken.

And, that brings us to Rhinebeck - to bring home a new wheel, or just say no to my wheel envy? Or should I just bring pictures of my broken wheel, and talk to an Ashford expert about getting the parts to fix it? Dilemnas, dilemnas - all compounded by the stress of getting to the Fold booth when the sun comes up to snag Socks that Rock (don't worry Judy - I won't forget you!).

So, Christina and I are leaving at 4:00 today, and heading up to the Hudson Valley. The newly finished Poppy will be accompanying us. I can't tell you how much I love this sweater. The bottom of the sweater is knit in Cash Iroha, which has recently come under scrutiny about its cashmere content. I did not buy this yarn because it had cashmere in it - I bought it because it's fabulous regardless of the content. The color is so rich, and the fabric feels like butter. If it doesn't have cashmere in it, it has some other kind of magic - I hope this isn't the death knoll of Cash Iroha, that would be a sad thing indeed.

I never thought I'd say this, but, here it goes . . . I like Annie Modesitt's latest book, Twist and Loop (and because I like this book so much, I'm not even going to comment on her other new book, Men Who Knit and the Dogs Who Love Them, featuring matching Rastafarian hats for you and your dog - 'nuff said!). Holiday knitters take note - knitting a wire bracelet, necklass, cuff, whatever, is a snap, and you can get all of your holiday knitting done, in say, an afternoon?

On Sunday, I took a class with Annie at Loop - in the morning she taught Combination Knitting - I passed on that. I could knit faster, I could knit with yarn in both hands so that I could do fair isle - I could do all of that, but I don't - and I accept that. I've accept my throwing, even though Jews Don't Throw. But, I did take knitting with wire, even though, as everyone who listens to the podcast knows, I've been a pretty vocal DON'T DO IT when it comes to Annie Modesitt patterns - I'm still not over the Peter Pan skirt in Interweave and the fact that it would cost $600 to make! - but, I wanted to try knitting with wire, and she teaches it - the law of supply and demand. And I thought, maybe, if I get the hang of it, maybe we could add some jewelry to the Knitty D and the City Mom and Pop Store (whenever I figure out ZenCart in my spare time). So, Annie is quite the character, I now understand where her designs spin from, but she is a very good teacher, and if she blows through your town, you should take her classes. And here's what we learned:

Your supplies can be as cheap or as expensive as you want them to be. You need Art Wire, beads, and aluminum or metal knitting needles. You can incorporate any number of things, like ribbon, or yarn, once you get the hang of it. Helpful tools, of course, like a needle nose plier and a snub nose plier, are good things to have handy if you really take a liking to it - everyone in the class pretty much did without tools.
Once you've assembled your supplies, cast on! It's as easy as that. Annie recommends a long tail cast-on - because it requires the least amount of manipulation of the wire - the less manipulation, less kinking, the lesser chance of breaking. And then, just knit -
Here's my swatch with just the one color wire.
And, here, I added a lovely pink to go with the silver. Both swatches are in stockinette, using Annie's combination knitting purl stitch - wrapping the wire from under the needle, as opposed to over the needle, and her knit stitch - through the back loop because the stitch is twisted from the purl stitch. Whatever, not so important - again, it manipulates the wire less, but you can do whatever knit/purl stitch you like. Just knit, and pull the "fabric" at both ends as you go, to block out the stitches.

Now it's time to add the beads. I don't know why Blogger flipped this photo - but here it is - just bead your wire before you start to knit. Then, bring the beads up between the stitches, and voila! That's all there is to it.

And, here, is my finished bracelet!

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!

Sunday 10/22 - Knitting Aloud
Monday 10/23 - Lolly Knitting Around
Tuesday 10/24 - Knit And The City
Wednesday 10/25 - Purl Jam
Thursday 10/26 - Hook & Needles
Friday 10/27 - Serenedipity
Saturday 10/28 - Scout's Knitted Swag

As you can see, my blog is stop number 3 on the tour, on Tuesday, October 24th. I'll be knitting Poppy, the v-neck sweater on the cover of the book. Without giving too much away, my Poppy is in a completely different colorway, and is, hmm, nearly complete (and you thought I was just sitting around fretting about Maude!). Stop by on Tuesday for perhaps the finished sweater (I don't know - Rhinebeck may prevent that!), and tips on picking your yarn, and knitting the pattern. And be sure to pop by all of the stops on the tour, no ticket necessary for admission (cheaper than Barbra Streisand tickets, and no one will tell you to shut the f- up!) - it's going to be a great show!

Mistakes

In life, generally when you make a mistake, you're stuck with it. Oh, you can apologize to the wronged party; you can try to make amends; you can retrace your steps, and try to do things differently. But, a mistake is a mistake, and it's out there, and depending on how major the mistake was, it may continue to shape and mold your life for years to come.

In the law, we generally don't hold your past mistakes against you when you're on trial - in other words, if you're on trial for assault, if you hit someone before, we don't assume that because you hit someone in the past, you've hit someone in the case you stand trial on today. That's called propensity - and the law, for a change, acknowledges that propensity evidence has no place in a trial, and that frankly, it's the most damning, yet irrelevant evidence that could be put to the factfinder.

In the case I just tried, the Commonwealth was allowed to present evidence of all of our client's prior bad acts - not to show because he had engaged in aggressive behavior before, that he was aggressive on the date of the incident - oh, no, they know that would be illegal - instead, they used it to show that he had the legally guilty mental state before (i.e., he knew what he was doing was wrong 10 years ago), so he knew what he was doing was wrong in 2004.

Did I mention that my client was extremely mentally ill - and that this was conceded by both sides - the only issue in the case being was he legally insane at the time of this incident, i.e., did he know, or have some idea, what he was doing was wrong at the time he did it?

Is it a surprise to anyone that when the jury heard of his prior acts of violence, combined with the one in front of them, that they convicted?

But, that got me to thinking - what if you don't even have the capacity to understand you made a mistake? You can't apologize, you can't rectify, you can't change - the mistake is still going to shape your life, whether you know its there or not.

So, when I showed Maude to people, I held it up and said - see, the mistake is there - a few people at Rosie's peered at it - and said, "what mistake?" But, I could see it, and unlike life, I had the power to completely fix it, so that it would never gnaw at me again - so that everytime I lifted the thing up and saw the glaring missed yarn over, I would cringe.

Knitting is a beautiful thing - you can erase a mistake, and start all over again, fresh, clean, and spanking brand new.

So, I ripped all of Maude out, even at 80 increased stitches - and I'm pretty much back to where I left off. No more missed yarn over, no more section that looked like a pull in a sweater - where everything just moved a bit to the left. Just pretty Maude, mistake free - if only we could be so lucky!

ARGH!

I BITCHED UP MAUDE - ARGH!!!!!!

More later when I get back from court and the case from hell . . .

Sarcelle C'est Fini!

My September monogamy has paid off - in spades (whatever that means - what does that mean? I'm not a card player, I assume its a gambling thing - gambling to me is like flushing the toilet, but that's a story for another day . . .)

Please ignore the rats nest on my head (what's up with the dreads in the back of my head!!!! - I swear I showered this morning!), and my butt - but here is Sarcelle, blowing in the wind -





Isn't the Bunny beautiful??? If I were to do it again, and I'm not ruling it out - I really enjoyed this pattern - and I've been looking for an excuse to use Posh Yarns cobweb weight cashmere - I would definitely make it longer - but, I'm really pleased with it, and while it's more of a scarf length, I know that if it really is chilly tomorrow morning, I'll probably grab it on my way out of the house.

And whaddya know? Finish a project, THEN cast on another - shocking! There's definitely craziness going on over here.

So, here's the swatch for Maude -


I should have the Maude-A-Long going this weekend, and I'll have much more to say about Maude then, but clearly, I am surviving without those 17 skeins of Koigu snatched from my hands.

I know I've been a bad blogger - I've just been working on the new website for Knitty D and the City - check it out! I'm becoming quite the HTML/CSS expert.

Now that the website is up and running (although the store is soon to come), I should be more faithful here!

Its conventional wisdom that if you don't look for a boyfriend, he will come. While I haven't found that to be the case, because where is he already, dammit?, I have found that sometimes, when you're not trying, the most amazing things happen.

In August, as you know, I went on a major yarn diet, and a cast-on freeze. Every day was a struggle. It was hard just to get up in the morning knowing that the day was not going to hold a new project, or a yummy skein of yarn. I trudged through the weeks. I posted my progress. I counted the days until September.

And, now, it's September. The freeze is over, let the buying begin! And, you know what, since I've returned from the Cape, I have not cast on one project, nor have I bought any yarn - and I only realized it last night when I plunked down five skeins of Koigu on the counter at Rosie's to start Maude - huh? when was the last time I bought anything? I am successfully on the road to a slimmed down stash, and I didn't even know it! (Now, if I could only look down and find that my pants don't fit because I've lost ten pounds without trying).

And, I've been faithful - to Sarcelle - amazing. Aside from ripping out the Jaywalkers, and casting them on in a bigger size, I really haven't worked on anything else in September. I've finished the straight rows, and once I find where I put the pattern, I can begin the very exciting decrease rows.

Am I on the road to reformation? I think maybe I should have remained blind to my newfound good habits. Because you know what else they say about boyfriends - when it rains it pours - now that I've reigned in my stash, and been faithful to one project - the avalanche might begin again anew. Although, I did walk out of Rosie's last night, completely forgetting about the Koigu I had left on the counter . . . that's not to say, I'm not going to go back and buy it today.

Sarcelle-it!

I've had a few questions about Sarcelle - huh? how the heck to do you do that? So, I thought I'd put together a little poorly produced (why o why can't I work my digital??) tutorial on the pattern. 1. Here's your first row. Basically, it's faggotting followed by Barbara Walker's Honeybee lace pattern. Just click on the pictures to enlarge the text.


2. On every row, you have a decrease (k2), followed by a yarnover (or 2,3 or 4), followed by a SSK. This row is the third row of the pattern - on the first row, there was one yarnover between the 2 decreases. On the second row, this yarnover was dropped - you can see the arrow pointing to the dropped yarnover if you click on the picture. After the yarnover was dropped, you yarnover 2x.



On the fifth row of the pattern, following the k2 decrease, the four yarnovers are dropped off the needle. As you can see, in my blurry picture, there are now four bars of dropped yarnovers. After casting on four stitches with the backward loop caston, you take the right hand needle, and knit into those four dropped yarnovers.


See, sort of. So, you knit into the yarnovers, then yarnover again, then knit into the bundle again.


Now, you have three stitches.


And, you cast on four more stitches with the backward loop, and end with a ssk.

Ta Da!

Is it Safe to Take Your Needles to a Bar Near You?

Today is a momentous day in Philadelphia history - the long awaited smoking ban goes into effect. Knitters everywhere can rejoice - our yarn will be free from the lingering effects of second hand smoke - or will it?

Personally, I go to a bar to drink, not to knit, and since knitting and drinking don't mix, I don't think I'll be taking advantage of this emancipation proclamation for knitters, but frankly, what are the odds that anyone is actually going to "police" this ban? Let's take a look at the courthouse, a municipal building that has been allegedly smoke free for years.

When the smoking ban first went into affect, smokers fled to the stairwells of the Criminal Justice Center. Lawyers, victims, cops and criminals all blended together in a sea of nicotine haze - which was all fine and good, I guess, except that there are only six elevators for 11 floors of courtrooms, and of those six, 2 elevators are programmed not to stop on every floor on the way down. So, while it would be nice to shoot up and down the stairs between my visits to the ten different courtrooms I may have to visit on any given day, in my Anne Taylor suit and my Bandolino shoes, its just not worth the stink. This feeling was shared by many, and enter stage left - Judge Seamus McCaffery to enforce the smoking ban. Yes, Judge McCaffery, of Eagles court fame, and currently a Judge on our Superior Court, cracked out his whip, roamed the stairwells, and tossed all offenders.

But, Judge McCaffery has moved on, and the stairwell, slowly but surely, has returned to a stink pit. So, if in this building that is the alleged hub of law enforcement and justice, directly across the street from the Mayor's Office, you can still catch a smoke, who's going to be putting out the butts at McGillan's or Independence Brew Pub, or Fergies, or any other long established smoking haven?

I guess an argument can be made that smoking is a necessary evil at the courthouse - that it serves to calm tensions in a building fraught with contention, emotion, and jacked up levels of anxiety. I'm confident that we would all rather have the parties in a criminal case take a moment in the stairwell with a calming cigarette, rather than jump the bar of the court and start pounding the crap out of a defendant (which, believe me, has happened). And, before someone turns themselves in to start a lengthy jail sentence, who really wants to deprive a guy of his last smoke? And as a necessary evil, maybe it's not such a great example of nonenforcement, as police turn a blind eye to smoking (and maybe have a smoke themselves) to prevent a greater harm.

But, given the smoking ban track record in Philly, I'm not taking my knitting to a bar near you anytime soon.

Sarcelle is speeding along nicely, I just wish I could get a better picture of it so everyone could do the appropriate drooling. This is the most relaxing lace pattern I have ever knit. While there is patterning on both sides, every row is basically the same, minus one stitch on each side of the yarnover bundle. You can't really tell from the photo, but each yarnover "bundle" looks like a little butterfly (again with the butterflies!), and I can't wait to see what they look like blocked. I've finished the increase section, and am 14 repeats into the straight rows. I have to look at the pattern again, but I think the straight section is 36 repeats - so that would make me at almost the halfway point. Sometimes when I knit, it's a race to the finish to see what the thing is going to look like. This knit, however, is like a long stroll on the beach, and when the sun begins to set on the horizon, it's sad to think of packing up my beach chair, and putting it to bed.
Did I mention that I bought Anne on the Cape? Not to be distracted from Sarcelle, but I have had this particular skein of Anne on the brain. Apparently, this is a discontinued color called Katherine Hepburn -- which leads to two big questions marks - why would you discontinue this color? and why would you discontinue Katherine Hepburn??? Is it like retiring a legend's number, like Joe DiMaggio, or Ritchie Ashburn? I get it when I go to the ballpark, and a jersey is retired, but why would you retire this beautiful green color? And who would put Katherine Hepburn out to pasture? Anyway, since this skein is an endangered species, it needs to be something very special. Any ideas anyone? I'm thinking Swallowtail, from Interweave, but I might save it a bit longer, until I get the appropriately inspired - I want to make a Philadelphia Story, not a Sylvia Scarlett.

Not a Rockin Sock

Before I left for the Cape, I faced the knitter's biggest dilemna -what knitting do I pack (as opposed to mine non-knitting friends, which, I and the Italian customs officer discovered at the border checkpoint between Switzerland and Italy,is how many condoms do I pack -- and from the size of the ziplock bag that the border patrol held up, laughing, the answer is more than one per day). Not only what goes with me on the plane, but what goes in the bag. The bag was easy - I was taking my Black Bunny and my Print O' the Wave, which has been sadly neglected (but I'll get to that in a minute, and offer rationalizations as to why this had to be so). Anyway, almost of all of my knitting is on Addi's, and while I knew that knitting needles are still allowed on planes, I was nervous - I did not want to sacrifice my Addi's (you never know - I could take them into the bathroom, melt them down, and turn them into sparklers). So, I thought about taking my Jaywalkers, but that thought was accompanied by the thought that they really are too small, and need to be ripped out and begun again -- but then again, maybe they don't, and I think I'll put that decision off for another day.

So, while I stressed about whether to take a cab or a the train (see several posts below), I also worried about plane knitting, and what to take. So, I got up early (not that I ever had actually fallen asleep), and like a nutcase, cast on a pair of socks with my Claudia Handpaint at 5:30 a.m. Like a madwoman, I finished the cuff before I made the final decision to throw caution to the wind (and my bank account), and spring for the cab. I knit in the cab, I knit in line at the airport - and of course, the inevitable questions - what are you knitting? who are you knitting it for? This age-old misconception that knitting must involve gifting. And, as we've all experienced, why does my knitting become an invitation for talking?

Anyway, by the time I actually looked down at my knitting, I hated it. The fabric was too loose, and even though my size 1 wood double points were plane appropriate, they were still the wrong size. And, down to zero's I went. And now . . . I still don't like it.

I thought I loved this yarn, this colorway, but now I'm thinking not so much. Maybe it's the pattern I'm using, Lupine Lace, and the way the purple is pooling all on one side. But, I had no problem tossing these socks aside after they had served their purpose, entertaining me on the plane.

Oh, but I wasn't done with socks on the Cape. As I mentioned below, we took a little trip to the Lobster Pot lady, who graciously agreed to sell us a few of her orphan skeins - and behold - my cashmere socks, dubbed Orphan Socks:

I can't even tell you how yummy these feel on my feet. Everyone needs a pair of cashmere socks. In retrospect, I would make them more stripey, and mix up the colors more, but truly, these socks were about they way they feel, not the way they look, at least for me.

Hmmm . . . so you've noticed that one toe is not quite done. Well, I'm in no hurry to finish the toe - a. because it's September, and b. because Christina did such an excellent job grafting the first toe, I think I'll let her graft the second toe -- why mess with perfection!

Now, the Print o' the Wave. Yes, the wedding has come and gone at which I intended to wear Print o' the Wave. Before I left for the Cape, I of course, got a manicure -I attempted to knit a repeat of Print - but every row I was making a mistake - I think I was on pattern overload - when you've repeated a pattern so many times, that the next repeat is such a drudgery that you just can't get anything right . . . anyway, to save Print from any further unknitting (or horrors - ripping!), I put it away for awhile, and have been concentrating on Sarcelle, which just does not photograph as beautifully as it looks. I've finished the increase section, and am a little bit into the straight rows. Hopefully, it will become photographable soon, because it is a good knit, and I want to do it justice.

When I was a kid, four or five, my parents both participated in a floating mah jong game, or in my dad's case, a floating pinochle game. Once a month, it was at our house, I was summarily banished to my room. I would hover around the staircase, and eavesdrop on the grown-up talk. There was smoking, there was a wee bit of drinking, there was Sinatra on the radio, and a lot of reminiscing - what were you doing the day Kennedy was shot? I'm not sure I knew who Kennedy was (those were the days that I thought Walter Kronkite was the President), or what it actually meant to get shot, but I remember being afraid - of the quiet, the stillness, the sense of sadness - - the sound of clicking tiles would stop, a card would remain dangling at someone's fingertips, and it was if the moment were just yesterday.

I didn't understand - this notion of a moment in time, where everyone shared a collective grief -- and, now, it's impossible not to - and it won't matter if its the fifth year anniversary, the sixth year anniversary, or the 20th anniversary -- the moment becomes today.

We walked to the courthouse, like we always did. My friend, we'll call her E, was telling a story. E was known around the courthouse as the fast talker, never stopping for air, and certainly offering no room for interruption. So, when I got a call on my cell phone, I burried it, and tried to keep up with what she was saying. We walked into the courthouse, and went our separate ways. I checked my voicemail, it was my friend Sue, at the gym, watching t.v. from the treadmill - I think I heard something about a plane hitting the World Trade Center - I don't know if it's true, it sounds like bullshit - let me know if you hear anything.

I went upstairs to the courtroom. Between bitching and moaning about our every day trials and traumas - where's the judge, where's the sheriff, can you get my client up? can you believe I have to try this stupid weed case? I have fifty billion things to do - oh, did you hear something about the Trade Center.

I was at the Trade Center once, in 2000, to buy 1/2 price Broadway tickets in the lobby. After buying tickets, my friend Kathryn and I stood in line for maybe five minutes, to ride the elevator to the top, but I was impatient to get our New York day started - Century 21 was across the street, there was serious shopping to be done. So I said, eh, I'll come back some other day . . .

The rumors were flying. The Judge wasn't on the bench, I needed coffee. I went to the Public Defender's office on the 4th floor of the courthouse. The t.v. was on, the picture was grainy, we didn't have cable. I picked up the coffee pot, and turned to the t.v., and the building went down. Did that building just go down? We all got closer to the t.v., our noses practically up to the glass, between the graininess, the smoke, we said, nah, that can't be . . .

The courthouse closed. We all went back to the office. My office was around the corner from E's - I went in her office, and her officemate, Lee, was in a panic. He had just gotten off the phone with his best friend, who was on the trading floor - get out, he told her - get out. Luckily, she was on the 11th floor, and she did get out.

Lee went to NYC the next week, and he and his friend took the ferry, and went to a firefighter's funeral - on the ferry ride back, they met a group of fire fighters who had made the trip from the mid West - they invited them to dinner. Friends from all over the city migrated to the restaurant, until they had a group of maybe 20 people. At the end of dinner, Lee went to pay the bill - the waitress told him - it's been taken care of - did you see the couple sitting next to you? They heard they were firefighters, and they picked up the bill.

E wasn't so lucky. Her sister worked at Cantor Fitzgerald. I regretted not picking up my cell phone -- that regret is today - would that have been the time difference between one last phone call if she had only known sooner? We know that she was on the phone with her boyfriend much of the time - the smoke, they couldn't see, they couldn't get out . . . E and I aren't close anymore. She works in a different office, but I hear about her occasionally. I thought of her today, and I know, that for her and her family, tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary, plus one day.

E left, and I went to my office. I called my best friend Kathryn, who I knew worked near the Trade Center. Why I was able to get through to NY, when so many other people needed to, I don't know. Kathryn was fine - her company had moved out of the World Trade Center complex the month before, she was on her way home, but she couldn't reach her parents in Kentucky - could I call her parents? I took down the number, and dialed the phone - and I found myself telling perfect strangers that their daughter was fine, that she would call when the phones were working - not to worry. I could hear the relief in her mother's voice - and that moment, too, is again today.

As more news trickled in, I began to worry about my own parents. My parents are retired, and travel often - 3-4 times a year. I lose track - it's a cruise, it's a bus tour, but I always know what day they're getting back, because the obligatory phone call must be made, or the guilt trip that follows will be unavoidable. I knew they were flying, I knew they were flying from the West Coast, and that's all I knew. Luckily, my brother had their itinerary - and, they had gotten grounded on the runway, in Canada. My parents spent the next night in the Canadian airport, but on the next day, families from the area began arriving at the airport, and "adopting" the stranded Americans. And, I know, that my parents will always be grateful for the kindess they received from these strangers, the Canadians.

After four days, my parents, after talk of renting a car, or perhaps taking a train, managed to get a few connecting flights to Harrisburg. My brother and I drove to Harrisburg, and met the plane on the runway, literally. Harrisburg is a small airport, and at the time, it was still an airport where they wheeled a staircase up to the plane, you got your luggage from under the belly of the plane, and your family could wait on the runway. My parents deboarded, and grabbed us - the smell of them is still very much today.

At the time, I was dating a bartender, an army veteran. When I spoke to him, he was throwing his gear in his truck, and heading to Fort Dix. What are you going to do when you get there? I asked, you're not in the army anymore. But, he went, and he was told to go home. In the week that followed, he tried to reenlist, but was told that he couldn't because he was a single parent. The only way to reenlist was for him to get married. He spoke of a distant cousin who might be willing, or an old friend. There was something unspoken in the air between us - my patriotism just could not go that far - I was not going to marry a stranger in an act of craziness brought on by an insane act. And, that was for the best. He's now married to the perfectly right person for him, and instead of reenlisting in the army, he became a fireman.

Sometimes, I'm conflicted - about just who I am, how I identify myself. Of course, on this blog, it's easy - I'm a knitter. But so often, being Jewish and being an American does not equate to being a Jewish American - it's harder than that, complicated. Growing up, I was one of four Jews in my class. I sat out of chorus, or any other overtly religious school activities. I grew up in a Catholic neighborhood, and our house was the house on the block the priest would skip. We were sore thumbs, and we were other.

9/11 was a few days before Rosh Hashona. Services were solemn, and they were packed. Some wanted the comfort of a congregation. Some, to pray, to be embraced by faith. Some, wanted answers. The Rabbi approached the podium. Would we say the shema early? Would there be a special prayer for peace? Is this a moment of silence? He motioned for us to rise, and he played the national anthem.

And that feeling, is also today.

It's What's inside that Counts

In the words of our beloved Dr. Houseman of Dirty Dancing fame, when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong, and Betty Hosegood, I was wrong about your book, Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting. Instead of ragging on you, I should have been offering you consolation, that your lovely coffee table book was shrunken down into a tiny novelty book, inappropriately named, and the victim of a ill-conceived marketing strategem. This is what I wrote about Not Tonight Darling a few months ago:

Is this a bad 70's porno film? The barechested, waxed down man on the bed? The bangs, the yellow (??), surely arylic yarn, the title, the author's name????? - Betsy HOSEGOOD (poor woman)???? All you need is that bad "bow chik a bow wow" music. No my friends, this book, which in it's description promises, "This glamorous and gifty book will inspire knitters everywhere to pick up their needles and join the fun. With real-life knitting stories, yarn shopping advice, a fresh look at knitting fashion and knitting testimonies from celebrities, this book is a must-have for anyone who loves to knit," will arrive in your local yarn stores in the fall. What celebrities? - a knitting testimonial from Anna Nicole Smith? Debbie Gets Her Knit on in Dallas?

Well, I have now seen Not Tonight Darling in person, and you would never know from the cover that inside is a treasury of vintage knitting photos, and a roundup of knitting fashion through the ages. The book, in its way, tries to explain how knitting has emerged as the new "in thing," when it's really always been a societal constant. I can't say that I bought the book, or that I even read much of the text, but the photographs alone make this book worth a second glance. Had this been published in its appropriate format - a large, glossy, coffeetable compendium, as opposed to an attempt to sell, I suppose, to a younger audience in a sexed up format, it might be sitting on my coffeetable now, next to my swift, and a bowl of lovely yarn.

So, while I passed on Not Tonight Darling, I did buy Tracy Ullman and Mel Carter's book, Knit 2 Together. Unfortunately, the server at work is not cooperating about uploading photos, so I'll put up a photo of the cover when I go home. Much to my surprise, I love this book. This book is not for the faint of heart -- while there are a few patterns that are appropriate for beginning knitters, the patterns are for the most part, challenging, and require a commitment to learning a new skill, stitch or sewing technique. Even your basic scarf is turned on its head, so to speak, with the addition of a bonnett. Instead of your traditional baby cardigan, you have a hooded cape. Not only are the patterns, such as the herringbone doctors bag, and 2 piece suit, for sophisticated knitters, they're designed for the serious fiber lover as well - the patterns feature all of my favorite yarns - Koigu, Blue Sky Alpaca, Noro -- I don't have the book in front of me, or I would go on. There's no skimping here. Often, I pick up a book, like a pattern, and immediately start thinking of a yarn substitution. Not the case with Knit 2 Together.

And, the text is reminiscent of, dare I say it, the Yarn Harlot, as we follow Tracy and her knitting/fiber obsession. Her stories are our stories - running out of yarn inches from completion of a pattern, pattern modification that has gone awry requiring pounding on your LYS's door at the crack of dawn, and well, stories that simply can't be ours - our personal driver shutting the door on our yarn, and driving away, dragging a project along the road with the studio car. Witty, down-to-earth, and to a certain extent inspiring - as a novice knitter breaks out, tries new things, and becomes a creative, adventurous knitter - this is a great addition to the modern knitting library.

Welcome to the Joy House!

On the ground for all of ten minutes, we were off to our first yarn store, a Stitch Above, in Providence, RI. A Stitch Above, however, had multiple personality disorder, as half the shop was a yarn store, and the other half was a leather goods entity - I want to sell fanny packs, no I want to sell yarn. Yarn, Fanny Packs, Yarn, Fanny packs!

The pounding schizophrenia drove us out the door, and for Knitty D, into the arms of Vera Bradley. No photo available - just say no to Vera!

Then, after a light lunch, we were off to Plymouth, and Knitting Treasures. Treasure I found indeed. Here is my handpainted mohair (project to be discussed later in the week). Oh, and that is that Mayflower rising in the background, and here is my educational excursion for the trip - Plymouth Rock. I suspect that this is not the actual rock . . . at least they don't charge a fee for admission.



After spending a restful night with the Six (count em SIX) Bach beagles, in the morning we were off to see the Lobster Pot Lady, dyer of exquisite cashmere yarns. Here we are in her sale stash - cashmere

And, mohair.

While not quite ready to retire, the Lobster Pot Lady was doing quite the hard sell to convince Knitty D to move to the Cape, and become the next Lobster Pot Lady. And, what will the next dyemistress of Lobster Pot fame get for her money - a dyeing studio? Well, if you count the lobster pots on the stove, and the turkey fryers in the backyard as a studio . . . Developed on a nearly no overhead budget, with your basic kitchen items as tools of the trade, it's a thriving business, the yarn is beautiful, and what could be more idealic than sitting in your backyard on the Cape watching your cashmere yarn cook and dry? I was a bit jealous envisioning Knitty D's fiber future, but on the other hand, I'm such a Philly girl, I think it would take more than a mohair blend, or a worsted cashmere to get me to move . . .

But, speaking of business . . . I think Knitty D and I are going to incorporate. A lot of podcasts put a donate button on their blog, and fund the podcasts that way. I'm not comfortable with that - I think we should at least sell something. So, we spent a lot of the weekend experimenting with tote bags, iron-on transfers and making stitchmarkers. I have to say, we've completely mastered the stitchmarkers, and some of them are truly lovely. Unfortunately, I didn't take even one business class in law school -- it was all about crime and punishment for me - so I have my handy dandy The Small Business Start-Up Kit, and once we have a bank account, I think we'll go the Etsy route, and sell our notions bags that way. I'm also thinking about soliciting advertising, but I don't know . . . I don't know what podcast listeners think. Any opinions? In theory, if we had charged listeners $1 per podcast a la a subscription, we would be making about a $1,000 per episode - which would have funded the sound equipment we sorely need (one reviewer called our sound atrocious - loved the podcast, acknowledged that we were working on the sound, but the sound is shitty nonetheless, and I pretty much agree). Would an ad be such a horrible thing?

But enough shop talk, on the the whales. The weather was pretty lousy most of the weekend, but on Monday, the sky cleared, and we were off to Provincetown and the Portuguese Princess Whale Watch. The Whale Watch guarantees the sighting of a whale, so Knitty D has a theory that at the end of the journey, if there are no whales, a buzzer is sounded, and the mechanical whales are released.

Luckily for us, following Ernesto, the whales were restless, and there was no need for the mechanical twins. Knitty D's pictures are much better than mine. While I usually have very sturdy sea legs, I found myself not quite seasick, just a bit disoriented, and I was more concerned about holding onto the rail than taking pictures of Midnight and her calf, who is still too young for a name:


And, after the whale watch, to get my bearings back - off to the Turo Winery for a bit of wine tasting to settle the ol' stomach.


Ah, the Cape Vacation . . . yarn and wine, oh, and six beagles.

Greetings from the Cape

The night before I travel, I never sleep. Generally, I'm not a fretter - maybe when I'm on trial, but that's usually because I have my opening or closing running through my head, or perhaps I'm doing a fabulous Perry Mason cross examination in my waking dream. But, in general, my mom and my brother are the ulcer-makers, and I get a full eight hours. So, what did I keep myself up all night worrying about, the night before a completely relaxing retreat to Christina's parents Bed and Breakfast on Cape Code, the Joy House? Possible turbulence, as Ernesto approached? No. Lost luggage, it's never happened to me before, but there's always a first time? Nah. No, I watched the minutes on the clock tick by while I worried about whether I should spend the $26.00 + tip to take a cab to the airport, or whether I should get up early, and drag my weighted down bag to the train, for a mere $7.

Even though I was up in plenty of time to take the train, I opted for the cab. Why not splurge? I reasoned, money is tight, but it's not like I'm spending money on a hotel room, or even a roundtrip ticket. And, really, how much yarn could I really buy on the Cape?

Gosh I wish I had that $26 back when the Lobster Pot lady pulled out her orphan skeins of cashmere that she was willing to part with at cost . . .

Needless to say, I should have taken the train. I've been hemorraghing money all over the Cape, as we've visited yarn stores from Plymouth to Dennis to Chatham, and back again. I've purchased cashmere, and mohair, and sock yarn, and alpaca. I've bought needles to get projects started (I've already finished a cashmere sock . . . but more on that later), beads to make stitchmarkers, and of course, patterns.

Tomorrow, we're going whale watching. Hopefully, the boat won't capsize - my yarn needs a good home, and I intend to provide it!

More adventures from the Joy House tomorrow!

Someone Might Need a PD in New Orleans . . .

Dear Rosie's West Wingers -

I cannot make it tonight, galpals; frantically packing for New Orleans this weekend, i.e., spending all except 20 minutes sorting through needles, yarn etc., and leaving the clothes until I'm ready to start the car.) Clothing, let alone CLEAN clothing, are never a priority for Decadence in NOLA.

Am planning on visiting the "Oh my no, we only sell Italian and European yarns" yarn shop on Jackson Square. Packing 2 skeins of Red Heart and jamming it in one of their bins. Asked the woman what about short-rowing socks, and her response was "we dont short row here." Something tells me she didnt knit here either.

ANYWAY, enough of the TOYS talk. (Trash other Yarns Stores). Hope you've a good weekend. I still looking for work, so PLEASE if ANYTHING comes up, let me know.

Eddie

P.S. Did any of you catch the article describing the 8 year captivity of the Austrian girl? In those 8 years, one of the few things her captor allowed her was a knitting book, and she taught herself to knit.
Im sorry, but she wins in the category "Where and when did YOU learn to knit.". I would have knit and worn a caftan out of Lolita and Punk . It would have taken him 6 hours and he would have gladly let me go home.

Love you all like my Leaky Levees,

Eddie

Just thought I'd share that with everyone - I certainly got a good tee hee.

And, Jennie, Lisa and Katia - winners of Ben on a Bench - your stitchmarkers are on the way! I dropped them in the mail this morning, and hopefully, they will arrive in one piece.

Ashes, Ashes, All Fall Down

I confess! I cast on! I couldn't take it any more. After the 32nd repeat on Print o the Wave, the Sarcelle pattern sitting in front of my face, my Black Bunny yarn burning a hole in my stash - I was weak, I caved, I FELL DOWN!!!! The race is in serious serious jeopardy.

For those of you who follow the podcast (and I hope you all do because we're kind of funny), Knitty D and I are hosting
showcasing the handspun/handdyed yarns of Black Bunny Fibers. Unlike your usual knit-a-long, this is more of a yarn-a-long - you can knit anything you like, but in Black Bunny. Anyone who finishes a Black Bunny project becomes eligible for the grandprize drawing, a Black Bunny t-shirt, tote, and hmmm . . .maybe some yarn. Anyway, after creating the blog, watching others post their Bunny, it was just all Bunny Bunny Bunny, and I was just too jealous not to give in to the cast on temptation. I mean, who could resist this laceweight skein aptly named tree?

And Sarcelle - everyone must knit this. At first glance, the chart looks a bit challenging, but it's actually very easy,and completely addictive.
If it weren't for that silly thing called work, I wouldn't have been able to put it down. Scroll down to the last post for a link to the pattern. I think this pattern has the potential to be the next must-knit on the web.

And, just to complete the addiction cycle, sigh, I bought yarn. I had too - it fit in to one of my oath exceptions - if I didn't buy this Koigu, which just arrived in a brand new shipment at Rosie's, I truly wouldn't have been able to sleep at night --I mean, just look at it!!!!

This is the new Koigu, the feltable Koigu. It's the same as the KPPPM, 100% merino, same gauge, however, it's not treated to be a superwash, so it felts. And, it comes in 100 g/360 yard skeins ($24). I have no intention of felting this, I think I'm going to make Charlotte's Web, without that crap fringe on the bottom.

And, in other news, my Ben on a Bench is a finalist in the Amazing Lace, I wouldn't want to be tacky and beg everyone to go over there and vote for me . . . but, um, there is a skein of laceweight cashmere in the mix . . .