stylin’ babe

Here’s a stylin’ babe! Doesn’t she look like she’s saying ooooo, I have a cooooool hoooody! I can flap my sleeves! 😀

This lovely lass is the recipient of the second Babies ‘n’ Bears Sweater that I made last year. She’s a sweetie pie, eh? Doesn’t she have long hands? I’m seeing a piano in her future. (You go, girl!)

I said that I made that sweater last year, and then I realized last year was only a little over a week ago. What happened to 2007? I can’t believe it went so fast. Time flies like an arrow.

(Fruit flies like a banana.)

Sorry about that. Just couldn’t resist.

I have heard from #1 Son. Phone calls have not been attempted, but email, it turns out, is possible between Brazil and Portland. He is having a wonderful time. The food is great. The weather is wonderful. The people are beautiful and friendly. He’s having the time of his life. Yesterday he forgot to put sunscreen on his feet and ankles before lounging around on the beach all day. Ouch.

I so wish I were with him. Think of it. Sunshine. Warm weather. There is none of that, here. Here it is winter. Cold and drizzly and gloomy. In Brazil it’s summer.

Having your mom tag along on your punk band’s tour would probably be limiting, though.

raven wing progress

This is proof that I have been knitting, although I don’t seem to have been blogging about it lately. I’m about 1/2 finished with the first wing of the Wings Of A Dream shawl.

Like all lace, it looks a bit wonky and weird until it’s blocked — sort of The Great Black Glob-ish. But when I stretch it out, I’m happy. It’s going to be really pretty, I think, when it’s finished.

It’s really hard to capture the true color of this yarn. Sometimes it’s black. And sometimes it’s blue. And sometimes there are hints of turquoise. If you pop up the biggy size picture, you’ll see glints of bluish color. Silk has such a pretty sheen, too, doesn’t it? I loves me some silk, gentle reader.

Now I’m starting to worry that I won’t have enough yarn. I should have enough. I planned to have enough. But it’s a little hard for me to judge how much I have left vs. how much I’m going to need to finish this wing and knit the other wing. If it turns out that I don’t have enough, all I can do is order another skein and keep my fingers crossed that the color is reasonably similar to what I already have. But I’m double-stranding, so that should help. Maybe. One more thing to worry about.

This post feels disjointed to me. I went back to work today (yesterday, now) after two whole weeks off. I’m still in shock. No doubt I’ll acclimate all too soon.

new on the needles

It’s that time of the year again. Time to look back. Time to gaze forward in anticipation. Let’s look ahead, first, and welcome 2008.

I did not remain sock monogamous to Lenore. I cast on the toes of the Salish Sea Socks, the December Rockin’ Sock Club pattern. The colorway is called Bella Coola / Nuxalk. It’s a Cat Bordhi pattern. The colors are my blog colors, and Cat gave me a nice little shout-out in the pattern notes. So what was I to do but cast them on?

But, I hear you ask gentle reader, what is that other unfinished strip of stripy cabled goodness sharing the picture with the Salish toes?

That was something I was hoping would be the last finished object of 2007. Didn’t make it. It will be the first finished object of 2008, though. I will tell you more later. For now, I will only say that the pattern comes from this book, and as soon as I saw it I knew that I had to knit it. When Tangle had the right yarn, the deal was sealed.

More later.

Also looking ahead: #1 Son left yesterday for a 5-week trip to Brazil. Yeah. South America. I was not allowed to go to the airport, because Moms are so lame at airports and stuff, you know. But he called me from the airport to let me know he was there. And he called me again to let me know they were ready to board. And he called me again to let me know that their flight to Chicago had been delayed. And he called again to let me know that they had landed, finally, in Chicago but missed the connection to Sao Paulo, and now had to stand in a really long line. And then he sent a text message to say that they had tickets on a flight leaving today. And then he sent a text message to say Happy New Year and that he was at a party with Chicago friends. I have not heard yet today. He has promised to call occasionally and maybe send an email now and again. Five weeks is a long time. Brazil is very far away.

In other non-knitting news, my old lady cat, Phoebe, has been diagnosed as hyperthyroid, thus explaining her weight loss and erratically needy behavior that was so odd in a crotchety cat that mostly just wants to be left alone — except at night, when a great deal of lovin’ is appreciated at bedtime. The good news is that it’s a condition that is, actually, curable in a fairly easy way. The bad news is that the condition may be masking chronic renal failure, which is not curable. So Phoebe is on medication to bring her thyroid levels down to normal so her kidneys can be evaluated. In all of her 15 years, Phoebe has never been sick or required medication of any kind. Since she tends to hold a grudge, I was not looking forward to shoving a pill down her throat offering her medication twice a day. But my vet carries this wonderful invention called Pill Pockets. Slip the pill inside the formed treat and smoosh the end closed, and the designated pet chomps it down. Phoebe loves them. So the only issue is keeping Kidd distracted while Phoebe eats her treat. Moo doesn’t count here, because she doesn’t like treats of any kind. She only eats cat food and yarn.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Now, looking back in farewell to 2007:

In January, I decided to buy yarn. And I kept that promise all through the year. So much so that I think in 2008 I will be a bit more restrained. Blue Moon suffered through their well-publicized bank problems. And my sock class was canceled because of snow.

February saw the Snake River Socks released into the wild, unfortunately, it turned out, with several errors. #1 Son borrowed my vacuum. My brain turned up missing in action as I tried to figure out the right number of stitches to go around a sock leg.

The first Rockin’ Sock Club shipment came in March. I resolved to knit socks only with my classes (resolution soon broken). My socks were lost and then found and, it turned out (via contest), may have been running a little underground resistance movement against sock abuse.

April opened with the Magical Moebius Festival in Newport. Knitting and food and yarn and food and Cat Bordhi and food and whales, and I knit a giant moebius (unintentionally) that 11 people fit into. And it was too far to drive 10 miles to my house, but not too far to drive to Eugene or Seattle.

In May I had the plane trip from hell. While I was in Miami, #1 Son called from Toronto to ask if I could move his car in Portland (it was towed). We lost Grandpa Barney. And I learned that I still remember how to execute a perfect slightly imperfect pratfall.

June found me proving my extreme dorkiness whilst meeting The Yarn Harlot. PDX Knit Bloggers were born (can’t believe it’s only been since June). The Clapotis That Never Ends… finally ended.

In July I visited Boston yarn shops (and my cousins). The PDX Knit Bloggers had their first meet-up at Knit Purl. #1 Son reached v1.9. I was both sorted into Ravenclaw and Simpsonized.

August started with a heelish experience. Sockapalooza 4 finished and I was spoiled nicely. Maia arrived for a PDX Yarn Crawl — on my birthday! I still owe the Bo Diddley sock pattern to several people. A gorgeous new Cat Bordhi book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One, was published. My name is on page 22. And I was kept suitably humble by my first autograph requestor who said, I have no idea who you are but apparently you’re famous, so please sign my book.

I had more fun with Judy’s Magic Cast-On in September. I also learned that it’s a good thing to pay attention when one is turning cables. At OFFF I met a Rasta sheep and fell off my yarn diet. Hard.

October started with a very interesting computer rebuild. (lovin’ the new computer now, though) I attended the first ever Floating Knitting Retreat with Cat Bordhi and Lucy Neatby and had a wonderful time. I obtained my first ever MP3 player (knitting videos on my iPod!). We planted a tree for Barney and the Ravens landed.

In November, Tina destashed and knitters everywhere helped out. The rose arch finally gave up the ghost. I made a swift from Tinker Toys. I was thankful for finally finishing The Great Green Glob. Not so thankful when it turned out there was a dropped stitch requiring major post-blocking surgery.

I was sick for a lot of December. But I knit a scarf for #1 Son and started The Wings Of A Dream in Blue Moon Silk Thread. I pondered the future of knitting. I made carrot soup instead of carrot pudding. And I was given the gift of snow on Christmas.

Objects Finished In 2007:

9 pairs of adult-sized socks
2 pairs of baby-sized socks
2 iPod Nano socks
2 moebii of the right size
1 moebius bowl
2 baby sweaters
1 Clapotis
1 lace shawl
1 scarf
1 hat

22 finished objects total

In the queue for 2008 or currently on the needles:

4 lace shawls / wraps
2 sweaters
1 blanket
1 bag
1 hat
1 scarf
2 pairs of socks on the needles
a gazillion pairs of socks rattling around in my brain

Chances of finishing this list by 12/31/2008? We shall see.

shawl pins from Yarn Overs

I am back amongst the living. This flu-thing was horrible. I still have little energy. But at least I feel sort of OK. All I can say is… get your flu shot!

Thank you, gentle reader, for your kind wishes. Really, it meant a lot to know that people actually wonder what happened to me if I disappear.

Speaking of disappearing… Has anyone heard from Maia? She hasn’t blogged for a long time and isn’t responding to my emails. I would just like to know if she is OK. If you have heard from her, please let me know!

OK. I have actually pseudo-knitting content — pseudo because I haven’t actually been knitting anything at all. I went to knit night last Thursday at Tangle, knit about three rows, sat and stared at everyone, and left early to go home and go to bed. Really exciting around Chez PI it has been lately, let me tell you.

So here is pseudo-knitting content.

These lovely pins, being modeled by the PNW Shawl, are from Yarn Overs: Handcrafted jewelry for you knitted garments, and are hand made by Robert Howard in Colorado. The one on the left, Rings, is brass. Leaf, on the right, is copper. These two, and others of Robert’s creations, are available in copper, brass and nickel silver.

These are not small pins. Leaf is 3″ long and Rings is 2-1/2″ wide. The size makes them suitable for sweaters, jackets and scarves as well as lacy bits of shawls. These would make lovely gifts for any knitter in your life. (I’m not sure of the timeframe — they may have to be post-Christmas gifts, now.)

Go. Order. You know you want to!

So what are y’all doing for whatever winter holiday you celebrate? #1 Son is currently in California on tour. He will be back in time for Christmas (our holiday of choice, more or less), but will be leaving again on New Years Eve and will be gone for 5 weeks. I will miss him as he will not be able to call me much. But the little birds have to fly, eh? Somewhere in there I can hopefully catch him long enough to get a picture of the scarf.

Wings Of A Dream (so far)

There hasn’t been a lot of knitting going on at chez PI this week — or at least not much that I can show you. You might notice from the right-hand sidebar countdown that Christmas is coming quickly! I do have a little bit of holiday knitting to complete. Hopefully it will be done today or tomorrow.

I have knit a bit on The Wings Of A Dream. I have finished the first chart and I’m about 1/4 through the second chart.

You will recall that this is Blue Moon Silk Thread in Thraven. I am knitting with a double strand, because this yarn is truly about the size of sewing thread. But, ohhhh…. gentle reader, this is very, very nice to knit with. Is there anything nicer than silk? I admit to being a total silkaholic. I wish there was some way to really show you the colors in the yarn. But it’s pre-dawn early so I’m stuck with artificial light. This was the best I could do. Sometimes it looks black, sometimes it looks blue. Love it, love it, love it!

I still don’t have a decent art-shot of the PNW Shawl (aka The Great Green Glob). Every now and then, Mother Nature likes to remind us that we do, in fact, live in a rain forest. If you have been watching the news lately, you may have seen that we were sort of inundated here in the Pacific Northwest this weekend and early this week. We really had a lot of rain. A lot. I saw one reporter on the news who said, It must be a lot wetter than normal because even the natives are carrying umbrellas. 😆 I don’t know if you saw the video of the salmon swimming up I-5? That was interesting. I don’t ever recall I-5 being closed for so long because of flooding. It might not be open again until next week. Since that is the major route between Portland and Seattle, it’s kind of hard to get to there from here. But the trains are supposed to be running maybe today, so that will help.

Chez PI weathered the storm with no problem, although I did lose my power for about 5 hours on Monday. But so many areas were just devastated. The clean-up is going to take years, I’m afraid. My heart goes out to those who have lost their homes and businesses as entire towns were drowned.

Last Sunday, #1 Son braved the weather and came to my house to do laundry. But the really nice thing about his visit was he also kicked me out of the kitchen and cooked a really nice, spicy curry. Yum. He can do laundry any day if he’s going to cook, too! Although it may seem impossible when they are teenagers, strangely enough, our children do grow up.

#1 Son also asked me if I’d knit him a scarf. He rarely asks me to knit anything for him. So a scarf will be on my needles very soon!

First, just a bit of non-yarn-related info: #1 Son has managed to purchase the ticket for his out-of-the-country trip in January. Of course, he has absolutely no money left and will have to live on water and the good graces of others, but he has 30 days left to figure out how to earn a little spending money. I am, actually, quite proud of him.

In more yarn-related news, I really, really want to show you pictures of the Pacific Northwest Shawl, but the weather refuses to cooperate. As I type this, it is snowing gently and the light is completely flat. According to the weatherpeople, we are expecting a humongous storm later this weekend. But one site reports the chance of scattered sun this afternoon. Should that happen, I will run quickly out and snap as many pics as I can in the hope that I will get one or two worth sharing. But even inside, there’s just no light.

Ann in Richmond mentioned that I had the presence of mind to record the whole repairing-the-GGG process. In reality, after standing across the room, swearing in abject horror, the first thought that really came to mind was I so need to blog this. I grabbed my camera before even edging in for a closer look. How sadly geeky does that make me?

But all of this is not what I really want to talk to you about today.

All knitterly creation stems from one simple element: yarn. It is the baker’s flour, the jeweler’s gold, the gardener’s soil. Yarn is creation, consolation, and chaos all spun together into one perfect ball. It’s a simple concept, twisting fibers together into a continuous thread of yarn. But the variety of fibers, blends, and spins is truley infinite. So is our relationship with yarn. We love it, we covet it, we are knocked senseless by it. Yet sometimes we are baffled, thwarted, and betrayed by it.

Clara Parkes (of Knitter’s Review fame) begins her wonderful new book, The Knitter’s Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using, and Enjoying Yarn, with that lovely, evocative paragraph.

I immediately wanted to know more. And more. And more.

Want to know how wool and silk are the same (or different)? Where cashmere comes from? What the term worsted really means? Why silk sometimes stinks and how to de-stink it? How viscose is made? What’s good about acrylic? It’s all here. Section 1 contains a ton of information about all of the different fibers, from angora to yak, the special properties of each and how to evaluate them.

Not a spinner? (note: I am not) Never been up close and personal with a llama? Section 2 explores how yarn, from indie to mass-marketed, is prepared, spun and dyed and where you can get organic and minimally processed yarns and fibers in all stages of preparedness.

There is a whole chapter on pills. Not the kind you swallow here, gentle reader, but the kind that form on sweaters (and hats and blankets and scarves and…). Parkes not only explains what to do to remove pills, but also why they form in the first place and how to evaluate a yarn to determine its pill potential. I now have a much better idea of why my Noro Silk Garden jacket always pills like there’s no tomorrow, but my Noro Kochoran sweater, although it is much fluffier and fuzzier, does not.

from Cabled Tea Cozy

Section 3 begins with an exploration of plies, and why we as knitters care. Starting with single-ply yarn and continuing through various numbers of mutiple-plies, Parkes explains how the twists cause the yarn to behave and how knitters can work with that behavior. Following the guidelines here, knitters can match yarns and patterns that will work together. Did you know that simply rewinding a skein of single-ply yarn will stop its tendency to bias in stockinette stitch? I didn’t either, but Parkes explains how and why. Following the chapters on plies are chapters on cabled yarns, textured yarns, and neat things like boucle and chenille. Section 3 ends with a chapter on why yarns felt, why sometimes they won’t, and how to get the best felting results.

Every chapter in Section 3 includes patterns, and every pattern includes a note from the designer about how the yarn was chosen to work with that pattern. And what designers! This is a who’s-who list, gentle reader. Knitters from adventurous beginner to experienced knit-guru will all find patterns here to pique their interest. There are one-skein quickies and lace, blankets and sweaters, bags and socks. You will want to knit them all. Or at least I do.

The book ends with a reference section. How to take care of your yarn, with special notes on different fibers. Determining WPI and yardage requirements. The standard yarn-weight numbering system vs. the older non-standard systems (i.e. #1 = sock / fingering / baby), along with typical gauges and recommended needles for each. A list of abbreviations, including how-to instructions. A recommended reading list; designer bios and a glossary.

I love yarn. I love all the yarns. I love to gaze and fondle and squeeze and pet and smell. Even yarns I would never in a millions years knit with, I love. The Knitter’s Book of Yarn is devoted to such sheer fibery knowledge, with tons of gorgeous yarn-pr0ny pictures, that my inner yarn-geek is fed in the best possible way and I want to just grab my nearest needles and start knitting up a storm.

This book instantly earned a prominent place on my reference shelf.

We can’t all be yarn whisperers, but with The Knitter’s Book of Yarn in hand, we can at least understand our yarn and learn to work with an appreciate it even more than we already do (if that is possible).

The book ends perfectly: Let the journey begin.

starting the repairs

Thank you, everyone, for your kind thoughts and encouragement on the hole-ish disaster during the Great Green Glob blocking.

Today I picked up the GGG from Tangle. I will have to stop calling it the Great Green Glob. While still green, and hopefully great, it is no long globish in any sense of the word. But for this post, I’ll call it the GGG just for old time’s sake.

So, I picked the GGG up and brought it home to assess the damage.

By suturing with sock yarn (I’m not sure, but I think that is STR Rooster Rock), I had stopped the general hemorrhage of dropped stitches. But the repair had left a scar. The GGG still required a bit of plastic surgery to minimize the appearance of the wound.

My surgical implements included a bit of left-over yarn, my cool crochet hook/dental pick tool, tapestry needles and pins. The plan was to duplicate stitch (and in some cases actually create knit stitches) with the yarn to hold the whole thing together and make it look at least similar to the non-damaged part of the shawl.

half done

The cool thing about blocking lace, apart from the general magicalness of the whole process, is that the yarn stays in the configuration it’s given during blocking. That meant that I could take the sock yarn out and even tease the stitches apart with the dental pick, and not risk more dropped stitches. The rest of the yarn just stayed exactly as it was blocked.

Taking a harder look, I think what happened was that I had dropped a stitch when attaching the border. Twice. Oops. 😳 I had two holes that needed to be fixed. I wove the piece of left-over yarn through the stitches to hold everything the way it was supposed to be. There were no stitches missing, just one or two that needed a little help staying where they were.

This picture shows one of the fixes completed. The pin is there to hold the tail of the fixer yarn so it doesn’t get misplaced. This stuff is fairly fine, after all.

Then I turned my attention to the second hole. This one had stitches actually missing — i.e. a mistake in my knitting — as well as stitches dropped. Some of the fix was made by pulling the stitches into shape and holding them there. Some of the fix was made by creating new stitches with the fixer yarn.

a little blocking

Once all of the fixes where done, I trimmed the tails of the fixer yarn and spit-spliced them to the main shawl. This merino felts if you so much as breath on it, so this was not as drastic as it sounds.

Mission nearly accomplished, I pinned out just the fixed area and applied a bit of water and steam with my iron and then left it to dry and block.

It’s not perfect. Nothing really could be perfect, gentle reader, except not making the mistake in the first place. But it’s not bad. As it dries, the patch is becoming less and less noticeable. I think that once I take the pins out it’s going to look reasonably OK.

Whew.

I will show you the results as soon as I’m home when there’s light and I can get some decent pictures of the finished product. It’s purdy. And will henceforth be known as The Pacific Northwest Shawl or The PNW Shawl if I’m in a hurry. 😉