Productivity in Three Parts

Accomplishing a lot means: a) I don't have time to blog; and b) I have a lot to tell you about when I do get around to blogging (in other words, I'm avoiding raking the leaves this afternoon).

So, let us start with knitting, shall we?

I finished the Minimalist Cardigan about 10 days ago, and I love it! I have a few days right after I finished when I thought, eh, is this all there is? But I figure that was just a short bout of the baby blues, because I've worn it several times since I finished and I find it very comfortable and I get lots of compliments. I'd show you a photo of it on, but I can't get me, a photographer, and the sunshine to all be in one place at once.

The details:
Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan, by Ruthie Nussbaum, from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I knit size 43 1/2.
Yarn: Malabrigo merino, in the color verdeazul, about 5.5 balls, which is just about the yardage the pattern called for. I am proud to say that this yarn was in my stash and that I bought it at a 40% off sale.
Needles: Clover bamboo circulars, size 7.
Stated: August 26, 2007.
Finished: November 9, 2007, just about 11 weeks, slightly over the 10 weeks I estimated it takes me to knit a sweater.
Modifications and Comments: The only thing I modified was the grafting at the back of the collar: I did a three-needle bind-off instead, because I simply couldn't deal with grafting.

I don't think it makes any difference in the final garment, and since the Malabrigo pills terribly when you mess with it, I think it would have been hell to graft with. Which reminds me: I didn't use the Malabrigo for seaming; I used some Paternayan needlepoint yarn I had around.

And speaking of pilling, the collar is already pilling, after only a few days of wear, but the moss stitch isn't pilling at all. Interesting, eh? I think I'll invest in a sweater stone.

The only other knitting I've been doing is this Big Bad Baby Blanket; I'm maybe one-third done. It's slow, but I'll keep plugging away on it. Luckily, this baby isn't due till mid-December.

In spinning news, here's a photo of the Ashland Bay merino/silk I spun up a while ago, but couldn't get a photo for you. I have no idea what the yardage is on this, except "a lot," because I couldn't stand to count that many strands in the skeins as I wound it off on a swift. I think I need a skeinwinder and/or one of those yardage counter doohickies.

Last weekend, I had such a strong urge to spin that I grabbed the nearest hank of hand-dyed top, some Romney in deep purples, browns, and silvers. Lovely stuff, and I'd tell you the dyer, except.... Well, anyway, I spun it up very quickly and loved it! It looked like a brocade sitting there on my bobbin! I'd show you a pic, but all the ones I took were blurry, and I loved it so much I immediately plied it with four colors of Shetland fingering-weight yarn that I had, and plunged the yarn into hot water with Eucalan.

The dye ran. Darn! See that lighter colored skein above? I spun the darker strand; the lighter strand was light pink Shetland - now it's light purple, despite what your monitor tells you. I rinsed this yarn several times and added some vinegar to the last wash, and the water finally ran clear, but I'm afraid the yarn is much more muddled in color than when I plied it. Oh, well, I guess I should have been suspicious when a little of the dye came off on my fingers as I spun it.

In better spinning news, I have a new convert to introduce to you.

This is the lovely and talented Isabel. She is 13 and she is spinning her first-ever single on my Louet S10. She looks happy, doesn't she? Last Sunday, we had the second in a series of Second Sunday Soirees we're having at the Millers River Environmental Center, in Athol, MA - a chance to everyone to come hang out in the afternoon and knit, spin, weave, whatever (feel free to join us on December 9th!). Isabel came with her mom Pat and her sister Olivia. This is the same Isabel who went to Rhinebeck with Pat and me, and the same Isabel whose Shetland lamb fleece I bought at Rhinebeck. We are all very proud of Isabel, aren't we?

Finally, I have weaving news!

Last weekend, I started a four-part beginning weaving class at the North Quabbin Textile Studio, with Donna Cavagnac. Before the first class, Donna had each student pick out 4 or 5 colors of cotton, and Donna, bless her, warped the looms for us with five yards of striped warp. That meant that at the first class we could just start weaving away! Donna started us with a few inches of plain weave and then gave us some treadling instructions for different twill patterns. After a couple of hours, she sent us home with our looms (4-harness Schachts) and cones of cotton, with a homework assignment: weave off the warp. Boy, there's a lot of weaving in five yards of warp! I didn't finish until a couple of hours into yesterday's 6-hour class. I haven't washed these pieces yet, but here are a lot of photos of some of what I wove on that first warp.

The last three photos show the stretch where I used some of my knitting yarns as weft, just to play (note the leaves I should be/am not raking up). I really like how the textures of the cotton and the wool or silk or wool/viscose or whatever played off each other. I'm not so sure how these will wash up (and Donna was a little worried, too) but even if the piece gets ruined in the wash, it was worth it to learn how the textures worked with each other.

After we finished our cotton warps, Donna had each of us (there are 4 students) choose colors of rayon chenille to weave two scarves. Then we got to measure and wind off the warp ourselves, and warp the loom by ourselves (with a lot of help...). The next homework assignment: weave those two scarves, one in plain weave, one in twills. I suspect I'll be badly behaved and mix up twills and plain weave in both scarves.

So, I've been busy - how about you?

Stop. Now Go.

It occurs to me that I’ve been whining a lot here recently. And that whining is neither good for my soul nor fun to read (but thank you, dear readers, for your supportive comments). In my hubris, I’m thinking that I even seem to have infected Elizabeth with what she’s calling melancholia.

So, enough of that. Let’s focus on what I have accomplished, OK?

For example, this lovely pile of Kool-Ade-dyed Border Leicester roving. Scrumptious, I must say. Downright edible. Makes one wonder exactly what our tummies look like after drinking Kool-Ade, doesn’t it? Anyhow, this is roving processed by Friends Folly Farm in Maine, from one of the Border Leicester Cross fleeces I bought last year from a local sheepherder. I’ve dyed yarn with Kool-Ade before with these instructions, but not roving, and I was a little anxious that the roving would turn out felted or ugly or bad in some way.

It didn’t. I can tell you that the process worked a lot better for me if I simmered the dyeing roving in a pot on the stove, rather than in the microwave, but it worked! It worked! Color! I made color! I can’t wait to try spinning it up; my wheel has been tied up all summer with a pound of pale aqua Ashland Bay merino/silk right now – lovely stuff, but it’s taken the entire summer to get it spun. I just finished plying it this morning and I can't even get a decent photo to show it to you - I think I'm going to have to start using the tripod. Every photo turned out blurry - perhaps it was the excitement coursing through my veins over finishing the spinning.

Second example: this is not me. This is my friend Elizabeth (a different Elizabeth), who has just finished the sweater she's wearing. Nice, eh? Furthermore, she designed it herself. Very nice, yes? Note the nifty neck detail. Further furthermore, she bought most of the yarn years and years ago in Nova Scotia, or something like that, and because she is....well, not like me, shall we say, she felt that she should knit up the yarn into something wearable before she bought more yarn. (Yes, I know; I am doing my best to convert her.) So over the years, she has tried one design after another with no success, and thus no new yarn either, till finally she asked if she could borrow some of my knitting books for inspiration. I believe it was Sally Melville's use of tweed stitch that got Elizabeth on the path to happiness and joy, but Elizabeth was kind enough to credit me with being the catalyst. And I am happy to report that Elizabeth has already bought yarn for the next sweater - see that little square she's holding? That's part of a mitered-square-ish back to the new sweater. Stay tuned.

Third example: The fronts of the Minimalist Cardigan are blocked and ready for the grafting of the collar at the top and the seaming with the other pieces with that little skein of needlepoint wool there in the middle. Yes, that means the other pieces are finished (well, OK, OK, there's still the cap on one sleeve to go; picky, picky). I plan on using the needlepoint yarn for seaming, because the Malabrigo is too soft and I don't think it will hold up well. By the way, the stockinette collar blocked out quite nicely; there's just a little bit of a roll on the long, vertical edge and I like it that way. And the sweater fronts are the same size; they just look wonky in this photo because I didn't pay attention to how they were laid out.

Fourth example: At the Franklin County Fiber Twist last weekend, Earle bought some raffle tickets to support the whole shebang and ended up winning this charming apron, which he promptly gave to me. I plan on getting it filthy with dye as soon as practicable. Those are big bags of roving the apron's sitting on, by the way, from the fleeces I bought last year. Lots and lots and LOTS of dyeing to be done.

Fifth example: Speaking of the Fiber Twist, Gail Callahan, the Kangaroo Dyer, has saved my ass. As you will remember, I have one more baby due to arrive in my vicinity this year - in mid-December, to be exact. Now, I had bought some of Gail's sock yarn to make into a Big Bad Baby Blanket, and I had even cast on and knit maybe 10 rows, sometime pre-Rhinebeck. Then I got sucked into the Minimalist vortex. I don't think the baby blanket will get done in time. Instead, at the Fiber Twist I bought two adorable little skeins (which I've already wound into balls here) of Gail's hand-dyed angora (not very photographed above, I'm afraid), and I plan on making booties and a little baby hat from them, using Melissa's pattern. I may even start them tonight, as I spent the afternoon raking (only some of the) leaves, and I deserve to put my feet up right about now.

Angora in November. How much better does life get?

Oh, My

The problem with the knitblogging worlds is there are too many of us and I can’t know you all. I can’t even find the time to put my stuff on Ravelry. I’d love to hang out with Steph and Juno, for example, but they already have too many people to keep track of. I can’t even find time to blog about Rhinebeck (fleeces! Four of them! Yarn! Brooks Farm AND Briar Rose! Books! Hand-dyed roving! You know, the usual boring stuff. Yes, you'll get pics at some point.).

I was driving to work Wednesday and had a horrifying thought: I probably get 10 hours a week for knitting and spinning. Maybe a little more, but that’s realistic. I have the figure of 100 hours in my head as being the time it takes to knit a sweater. So ten weeks for a sweater – two and a half months. That seems about right. That means that in a normal year I could get 4, almost 5, sweaters knit up. Frankly, that’s not enough. I want to knit lots of sweaters, I want to explore cables and Fair Isle and using my handspun and all those beautiful designs out there. But no. I get to knit 4, maybe 5, of them a year. Tops. Leaving out all other kinds of knitting. No wonder everyone like to knit socks. I bet I could knit 2 pairs a month – that’s 24 pairs a year! Forty-eight different socks (well, one hopes some of them sort of go together)!

So maybe I should quit my job and dive into the fiber world. Now, mind you, I love my job, but it’s not fibery at all. And what would I do in the fiber world – what can I do that would make me even a little bit of money, maybe satisfy my craving for fiber and for fiber-world recognition. (yes, it’s true, I might as well admit it, I want recognition.)

So I could design socks or hats or sweaters or whatever, I could dye yarn or roving, I could teach, I could sell handspun, I could raise animals and sell their fleece (anybody want some cat hair dust bunnies?), I could take up knitting humor as my profession, but realistically…not so much.

Which is a little depressing. Seriously, my house really needs cleaning, because that would help my allergies; my body really needs some exercise - I'm just achy all over; and I'm beginning to lose track of stuff. For example, the lovely local credit union called me Thursday and said I hadn't signed the check I sent them for my first car payment - would I like to come in and sign in or just send them a new one? I never forget to sign checks!

All of which signals to me that I'm spending too much time and too much mental energy on knitting and spinning, to the point that my life is out of balance. [stop giggling out there, I can hear you!] And it's bugging me enormously that what I Ought To Do is just cut back on my expectations for my fiber accomplishments. So I can only knit 4 or 5 sweaters a year - is that a crime? So I can only know and really talk to maybe 20 sister fiber-fanatics in this stage of life - it would be worse if I knew none of you.

Oh, hell, I don't know. Let's go look at pretty photos from Rhinebeck, OK?

A beautiful little Cheviot. I want sheepies.

One of the cabins at Mills-Norrie State Park, where we stayed. We being me, Pat, her daughter Isabel, Brenda, and Jess. Sue, That Sue, stiffed us for a GUY! Bad, bad Sue. I bought everything she would have - somebody has to support those farmers and artisans, right? I don't have a photo of those of us who did go, because I'm a dork that way, but I can tell you we had an absolute ball! It has taken me a week to recover, and I'd do it again in an instant.

The view from the cabin. Yes, that's the majestic Hudson River. Nice, eh?

Jess and I watched the very beginning of the sheep-to-shawl competition. Before the starting bell rang, so to speak, I chatted with one of the weavers about the merits of Harrisville looms. She predicted I'd have a loom within a year. Do you think it's a coincidence that there is an ad on Craigslist right now for a 4-harness Harrisville loom in New Hampshire, for only - only! - $150? Please, somebody, buy it, take away that temptation from me!

One of the spinners in the competition madly carding away at the beginning.

Then, of course, I met Knittyheads!! Saturday I completely missed the Knittyhead meet-up, because I was in the complete thrall of the yarn fumes, but Sunday - Sunday I met the lovely Rachel, whom I've met before. She knit that top, which looked beautiful on her beautiful self.

Just some of my sister crazies.

The mods - Sarah and Pam. We love 'em.

So, what did I buy? A lot. Too much. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed (see beginning of this post). I was truly worried the week before Rhinebeck that I was losing my fiber mojo, that there really wouldn't be much that I wanted to buy. Ha! Very Ha!

Let's start small, shall we? I bought some Schacht hard cards, for fine fibers. I had resisted buying hand carders for some time, because I thought hand carding was laborious and painful to one's arms. It's not, if done properly. Thus, I have these tools.

Books. I can't have enough books, although there are a few new ones I didn't buy, because once I got a look at them, they didn't appeal.

Fleeces. I went a little nuts. Yep. I did.

Isabel's gray Shetland ram lamb fleece. Oddly, this didn't have a judging card on it when I went to buy it (occasionally the cards get separated from the fleeces in the bedlam of the first hour or so of the fleece sale; yes, I'm taking you, Amy), so Pat and I asked one of the judges what he thought of it. In short, the lamb did his job well, but the shearer (that would be Pat) and the skirter (that would be me) did not-so-good jobs. It's a learning curve. Next year....

Two Corriedale cross gray fleeces. Did I mention I bought two of these?

White Romney. Gorgeous. Incredibly clean. I can't wait.

The good stuff. That doesn't look too bad, right? It all fits in one photo, right?

Let's see:

• Bottom left: three hanks of Spunky Eclectic roving in the Abyss colorway - no, she wasn't vending, but she hand-delivered these. Have I mentioned I love the Electric Spunk?
• On the right, already wound: two balls of aqua Brooks Farm wool/silk, one ball of Brooks Farm kid mohair, one ball of Blue Moon kid mohair/silk, and two large balls of the Kangaroo Dyer's wool/cotton (which I actually bought yesterday at the Franklin County Fiber Twist, not at Rhinebeck, but I think all these go together and I'm mulling over a giant scrumptious throw).
• The pink in the back: Two hanks of The Fat Cat's roving. Nice!
• A giant hank of sapphire blue mohair in the very back. I can't resist that color!
• Two hanks of Chasing Rainbow's merino/tencel roving - the lighter colors in the middle
• And then, well, I told you I went nuts. I bought two enormous skeins of Briar Rose Heritage yarn, in dark, deep purples and greens. Last year, I virtuously resisted any of their yarn; these year, I knew better. This may become something wondrous, one of these days, or I may just treasure it for itself.

So there we are. A lot of fiber. And I bought 2.5 pounds of white BFL roving, too, and a little Leicester Longwool roving, too. Nuts, I tell you, I went nuts.

And I haven't even told you about the Fiber Twist. Maybe some other day, although I can't resist saying that Kristin Nicholas loved my sweater - you know, the one I was supposed to wear to Rhinebeck, but it was too warm? The one I designed myself? I was very pleased. She's very nice.

Have I mentioned that all fiber people are very nice?

Anxious? Or Excited?

OK, it's Tuesday evening and I'm all bouncy/excited/anxious about going to Rhinebeck.

• Ack! Where's my email confirmation for the campground? Oh. Right in my inbox where I left it. Whew!
• Joy! Morehouse Merino is having their author party again Saturday evening . Now I have a chance to redeem myself - last year, I had no idea there was a multi-book signing going on, so when I saw Amy Singer at the Morehouse store, I just plopped myself down next to her and started to knit and chat. Amy introduced me to Tara Jon Manning. Then I noticed Jillian Moreno. And Debbie Stoller. And somebody else big I'm blocking on the name of right now. But I was cool. No shrieking and squeeing and fawning for me. I just pretended that of course I spend my days knitting with big shots. Wrong move - this year I squee and fawn, big time. In fact, I really want to knit Jillian Moreno's Boo Too pattern from Knitty with my handspun (at least partly from handspun), so I might just take that pattern and get it signed. Squee!!
• Process or not to process? Remember that Jacob fleece Brenda so kindly gave me? I can't decide whether it's good enough to take to the fair and send off with someone to get processed into roving. I need to look it over again, in daylight, preferably.
• What to wear?! OK, so should I be brave and wear this?



• And/or this?

I designed and knit both, but that doesn't mean they're fit for public consumption. Well, the tam is, but maybe not on me. Ack! Decisions!

• What knitting shall I bring? It looks like I'll be driving my car, with Sue and Jess riding, so I probably won't get much knitting done in the car. I finished the left front of the Minimalist Cardigan last night, so I could cast on for sleeve #1. Or work on the Big Bad Baby Blanket for Jen's baby. Or quick, wind the yarn for Boo Too and swatch while I'm there - there's the ticket!
• What do I want to buy? A gray fleece, and some of the new books, and - well, I don't know. There are ideas swirling in my head, but I just don't know.
• Camera, flashlight, sleeping bag, cash!, maps and directions, clean underwear, um, what else?

I'm exhausted already.

What I am Not Wearing to Rhinebeck

Well, for starters, I'm not wearing the Minimalist Cardigan. We (that's the royal we) have a back, a right front, and most of a left front, but no sign yet of the sleeves. Some wag suggested I pretend it's a vest, but I'm an honest knitter, so that's out. It could be kinda cold, though, I might need to wear a coat over a sweater, right? *wink*

Oh, well, I tried. My right arm hurts a good bit, I tried so hard. Here's a shot of the lovely contrast between the stockinette edging of the front and the moss stitch of the body - nice, eh?

And since I'm an honest knitter, I'll admit that I knit the back and one of the fronts - what's that, maybe half the sweater? - before I realized that the edging of the front is NOT turned back over the moss stitch, showing reverse stockinette - no, it's just straight on from moss stitch to stockinette, just like in the photo above. Yes, I read the pattern before casting on - no, I didn't comprehend it. Evidently.

More in the honesty vein - I will not be wearing to Rhinebeck:

a) the shawl from yarn I spun from fiber I bought at Rhinebeck last year - the body's done (unlike this photo), but the border's barely started; nor

b) the top from yarn I spun from fiber I bought at Rhinebeck last year - I might have finished a few more inches than in this photo, but not much more.

Sigh. Which means I did not achieve the resolution I made at the beginning of this year - Resolution # 3 over there in the sidebar. I'm so disappointed in myself, I might just have to buy myself lots of yarn and fiber at Rhinebeck next weekend to cheer myself up - right?

Especially this fiber...

On the Columbus Day holiday last week, I helped my friend Pat and her friend Rhona shear the three Shetland ram lambs that, um, aren't living at Pat's house any more, shall we say. They're lovely little lambies, except all their balls didn't drop and some of their horns are headed straight for their brains, such as they are. So, Licorice, Pepperjack, and Oreo are no longer with us. However, their fleeces are going to Rhinebeck, as are Pat and her daughters Isabel and Olivia, because they all want to know how to tell a good fleece from a mediocre fleece. Me, I'm just going to snap up Licorice's good gray fleecelet (all 2 pounds of it) as soon as I can - I skirted those fleeces and they're nice stuff, as far as I can tell. Feel free to correct me, if you see one of these in the barn at Rhinebeck. I guess these are hogget fleeces, right? The first shearing, right?

And Pat's just about ready to get into spinning - she has the yearning, but she's still in the virtuous I-already-have-too-much-to-do, I-can-never-learn-to-spin, a-wheel-costs-too-much phase. I reminded her that a perfectly good spindle can be had for $30 or so; I might even get her one as a present, you know, just because I'm such a good enabler friend.

Next Year

Next year I don't want to knit for anyone else. This year, I've knit for Earle, for five homeless hatless people, for five babies, for a wedding. Next year I want to knit for me, to be selfish - and I don't mean just garments for me, either.

Next year I don't want to be seduced by every lovely pattern that comes out, I want to push the limits of my own creativity.

Last night I was dutifully (and that's the correct term) knitting away on my Minimalist Cardigan. I had cast on for the Big Bad Baby Blanket, and I spun up an ounce or so of the merino/silk I've been slowly working on all summer. And I was restless, bored, cranky, unfulfilled. I didn't want to knit or spin any more.

Which is kind of worrisome, given my enormous stash. Of course, fifteen years ago or so, I stopped being interested in quiltmaking (well, really I didn't have enough time to devote to it any more, once I got divorced) and I shoved the enormous fabric stash under the bed and went on to knitting. That's not quite accurate, but close enough.

So that might happen now with knitting, unless I deal with the real issue, which is that I want my knitting to be more creative. Yes, sometimes all I want is to mindlessly knit, knit away, but I get to do a lot of that now. I don't get to flail at my creative boundaries, and I want to.

So next year will be different. Till then, I have to finish off the Minimalist Cardigan, the baby blanket for Jen, the afghan for my parents for Christmas, and the scarf from the yarn I dyed at WEBS, but after that - I play.

I play, but with a little structure, I think, because that's me. I'm thinking I should set myself a series of exercises to undertake, exercises like those that art students get assigned. I took a wonderful class in two-dimensional design once upon a time at what is now the Maine College of Art and I loved it. I'll show you the little exercises I made sometime (when I can find where I put them), along with other things I've made over the years, but for now, I just want to get down on paper (in digits?) some of what I'm thinking of trying.

Techniques: I want to spin more, and to use my spindles. I want to weave, to lockerhook, to dye, to quilt, to take classes and workshops. I want to learn the basics of these fiber crafts, if I don't already know them.

Developing an Idea: Make a series of small quick objects (hats? afghan squares?), maybe ten or so, that start simply and get more complicated. Play with stripes, with blurring the lines between colors or shapes, with cables evolving into other textures or cables. Make several of these series (swatches), exploring different ideas.

Note my usual boundaries and go beyond: For example, I usually make symmetrical objects - therefore, make something assymetrical. I usually don't work with yellows - make something with lots of yellow.

Express Something: Translate the ideas of autumn, evolution, sultriness, connection, etc., into fiber.

Go Wild: Make something that's not practical. Not-Hat, Not-Sock, Not-Sweater. Something that just is. Sculpture, I suppose, or art, in its pure state.

Go Big: Make a major project (a sweater, say) from scratch - something fairly complicated.

If anybody (Bonnie?) knows of resources that set these sorts of exercises (they don't have to be knitting), I'd love to hear about them. In the meantime, prepare yourselves for more of these sorts of rambling posts; I've been through these sorts of restless stages before in my life, and the results are often pretty interesting.

I Needed Some Nerve-Unwracking

I took a day off from work today. Great, yes? Well, sort of. I got squashed and poked at the gynecologist's and then I went and picked up my new-to-me car. All very nerve-wracking. All those papers to sign. All those parts to be hurt in the name of good health. At least I've gotten the car properly outfitted already.

And since most of this happened in Northampton, I went to WEBS, just to calm my harried soul. I had been thinking about what to knit for Jen's baby and I'd decided on the Big Bad Baby Blanket, from Stitch 'n Bitch. That pattern calls for about 1400 yards of sock yarn, held doubled. I have in my stash various sock yarns (not really that much) but nothing that all worked together. I tried, really I did, but nothing worked. So I decided I'd go to WEBS and get me three skeins of Gail Callahan's hand-dyed sock yarn. She's the Kangaroo Dyer - as you may remember, I took a dyeing class with her last weekend.

When I got to WEBS, Gail was there labeling a new batch of sock yarn and, while I drooled at the Macaw colorway, I decided on the Spruce colorway instead - I think holding two strands of this gorgeous yarn together will be perfect for a baby boy whose nursery walls were just painted pale green. Here's the Spruce yarn:

I was so pleased to see Gail again - her class was great! There were five of us in the class and we dyed a rainbow of twelve little skeins of wool with Cushing dyes:

... and a variety of other yarns with the dyes, as well, just to see how the different yarns would take the dye. Gail dyed the dark skein on the right in this picture, and Liz (I think it was Liz) the light skein in the middle - then they gave them to me!

We're all going to get together in January for a reunion, to show off what we've knit with our skeins and whatever else we've dyed in the interim. I am really looking forward to that!

In other news, I've finished the back of the Minimalist Cardigan:

Here's a close-up of the texture:

I love how this is turning out, and I'm hoping to finish it in time to wear to Rhinebeck, which is now only three weeks away.

You know, obsession is really fun.

Baby Sweaters, Adorable, Two in Number

Guess what I gave Melissa today?

Yes! Yes, yes, yes! I finished the baby sweaters for her twins, and she hasn't finished growing them yet, so I finished in time! I'd show you a pic of Melissa with the sweaters, but she's shy, so you'll just have to believe me that her twins aren't yet born.

Instead, you get photos of the sweaters. Here's the magenta sweater...

And the olive-green sweater...

And the neck ribbing...

And the adorable little buttons on the back of the necks....

Here are the specs:

Pattern: Classic Cables, by Mary Bonnette and JoLynne Murchland, from some back issue of Knitter's. I can dig up the date of the issue, if anyone cares. I made the 18-month size.

Yarn: Filatura di Crosa 501, a DK-weight, machine-washable merino wool. Very nice, but just a little splitty.

Needles: Size 5 bamboo circulars.

Started: Somewhere between July 10th and July 19th.

Finished: September 22.

Modifications: The pattern is written for worsted-weight cotton. After a bit of math, I figured out that if I used the stitch counts for the 2-year-old size, that would take care of the width for an 18-month-old in DK-weight. For the height, I just used the measurements for the 18-month size. For the sleeves, I used the 2-year-old numbers for everything and prayed. And then I blocked everything to the size specified in the schematic. To my eye, these sweaters are a little short in length. I also used blanket stitch to stabilize the edges of the back neck placket, instead of the single crochet specified, because I could not crochet to save my life. The splittiness of the yarn did not help my feeble efforts at crochet.

Melissa's response: She loved them!

And I am so glad they're done. Now, I think I'm going to do anything except knit baby items for a while yet. Although I will confess that some ideas for a baby jacket for Jen's baby, due mid-December, are beginning to circulate in my brain. Maybe a Baby Surprise Jacket. Maybe a Baby Einstein Coat. Maybe something a little wild.

Push, Push!

Melissa is past the 34-week point with her twins; everybody's happy and healthy. If they start arriving now, the docs aren't going to stop them. And Melissa is looking mighty big. She doesn't think she'll last another week. Thus, I must needs push, push on her baby sweaters. I'll see her next on Tuesday; the sweaters WILL be done by then.

Actually, I'm making good progress. All the big pieces are knit and blocked, so from here it's just seaming, adding the neck ribbing to the magenta sweater, crocheting around the back plackets, crocheting a button loop off the placket, and sewing on the buttons. And blocking, again. It's not that I'm a perfectionist (there are at least two major boo-boos I decided to leave in), but the completed seams are so puffy compared to the lovely overall flatness that I feel I should block everything when they're complete. Plus, the neck ribbing clearly needs blocking.

In other news, I'm going to Rhinebeck! With six of my fiber friends, no less (none of whom blog, oddly). We're staying in two cabins at the Mills-Norrie State Park for Friday and Saturday night. I can't wait! I'm already making a list of what I want to buy (gray fleece, two more bobbins, Janet Szabo's Aran design book, etc.) and I'm thinking I should inventory the stash before I go, just to provide a reality check. I have a LOT of yarn and fiber, if you haven't noticed.

But just in case you think I've come to my senses, I haven't. I'm taking a dyeing class Sunday at WEBS, a beginning weaving class in November, and thinking seriously of weaving a baby blanket for the last baby of this fertile year . Shelley, a weaving friend of mine, has offered to let me use her loom to make the blanket and to help me plan it out and warp the loom. Plus, she was just given an old loom by friends who found it up in the eaves of an old house they were clearing out, and Shelley wants to give it to me! I'm tempted - it's four-harness, quite sturdy, with a weaving width of about 30" - but it needs cleaning up and refurbishing and I know nothing about looms.

Yet.

Slogging

Sunday morning, after a long week: Well, actually, it was a short week, what with Labor Day, but it felt like a long week, I think because the crappy air quality gave me an allergy-induced headache all week, despite drugs, and, like many people, this week had the feel of back-to-school for me, even though I'm not going back to school and no one in the household is going back to school, but nonetheless, everyone at work has come back from field work and various vacations and thus now we collectively took a deep breath and plunged wholeheartedly, 30-odd-strong of us, into another year, with new projects, many of which I seem to be heading up or playing a major role in, such that for the first time in a long time, I'd had to write down all my duties, just so I could keep track of them; nonetheless, I felt buffeted in many directions this week by stuff that had to be done NOW and yet I still didn't do everything I was supposed to (sorry, Melissa!) and had to keep reminding myself that no one's perfect, that I'm doing as much as I can, that I asked for more challenges and was given them, so this whirlwind is my fault, so to speak, and if my head ever stopped hurting, maybe I could cope, but I just don't know...

Well, the week was like that sentence. Now you understand, right?

So, when I did have free time, I knit. I knit on the baby sweaters, slowly, grudgingly - maybe it's the DK weight, maybe it's the superwash wool, maybe it's because I'm making two of them and I get easily bored, but I am not loving this project. I am determined, just plain grit-my-teeth-determined to get these done, so I keep slogging away.

I knit the Minimalist Cardigan. I've completed about 7 inches of the back and I still absolutely love knitting this.

I knit Silver Belle - I believe I have a grand total of three rows completed on the peplum, some parts of which have been knit twice, as apparently I cannot interpret correctly the wrong side rows of cable charts. I hope it's correct now, as otherwise, I am going to be knitting a sweater full of 'design features,' as my patience for making corrections seems to have disappeared. I can cope with knitting one row on this a night, so look for this to be completed in a year or so.

I spun! I haven't spun all summer, I think, but the Parallel Plyers group, which meets monthly at WEBS, met this Tuesday night and I resisted the urge to go home and collapse after work, instead flying down the Mass Pike to meet up with these lovely spinners. Barb Parry, from Foxfire Fiber Farms, even complimented me on the evenness of the Ashland Bay merino/silk I was spinning! She also mentioned that I ought not to let the singles rest too long on my bobbin, advice which I was grateful to receive, but now I feel guilty for leaving two-thirds of a bobbin full of this single all summer. Ah, well, one of these days...

Since I don't have enough to do and am just sitting around twiddling my thumbs - ha! - I signed up to take a day-long dyeing workshop at WEBS on September 23rd with the charming and talented Kangaroo Dyer herself, Gail Callahan. Anybody want to join me?

While I was at it (didn't I just write something to the effect that I was not going to school this fall?), I found out about a beginning weaving class at the North Quabbin Textile Studio in Orange, the next town over. That class won't start till November - plenty of time for me to finish up the baby sweaters and the Minimalist Cardigan and Silver Belle and the afghan for Christmas for my parents and oh shit the hand-spun shawl and top in time for Rhinebeck and God knows that Celtic Dream sweater has been sitting dutifully, quietly, patiently, next to my end of the couch for months now. Not to mention other WIPS stored mercifully out of sight. Not to mention the fact that I feel the urge to design something of my own, beyond the b-a-b-Y blanket level of design.

Would someone just shake me and tell me that this is just what creative people DO, that I shouldn't feel guilty or burdened by having all these projects going?

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I've had a productive weekend. I washed the Jacob fleece.

I discarded the black sections of fleece, because there really wasn't much of it. I washed the white fleece three times, and yet it's still kind of yucky in spots. I want to like how to process a fleece from someone who really knows what they're doing, because I have the distinct feeling I'm wasting a lot of time and I won't really get good yarn out of it all. Anybody out there want an apprentice?

I washed my hand-knit socks. My only pair of hand-knit socks. When Sue and I were at WEBS Saturday, she bought Cat Bordhi's new sock book to give someone (not me, alas, but it's a surprise for a sock knitter friend). I browsed through it and was fascinated by the new sock 'architectures,' as Ms. Bordhi calls them. Maybe I'll knit some socks this winter.

I got into Ravelry - I'm enallagma9 there, too, as I had an attack of anti-creativity when I signed up. I don't have anything posted there yet, and I'm not sure I'll get around to that anyway; I do have a little knitting to do.

I knit a good bit on the green baby sweater, enough to finish the back and do a couple of inches on the front.

I knit four inches or so of the Minimalist Cardigan. I really love how this is turning out!

I wound eight balls of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in gorgeous, heathery deep teal, for Silver Belle.

I cast on for Silver Belle, for the peplum. Four hundred and eighty stitches. This photo is only about 220 stitches. Four hundred and eighty stitches at 5 stitches to the inch is 96 inches worth of peplum! Yowza! The finished bust of the size I'm making is only 40 inches; that's quite a lot of peplum flounce to accommodate, even if it does decrease to 302 inches (60 inches) by the top of the peplum. The peplum is mostly cabling, so it will draw in to less than 96 or 60 inches, but still - does this seem right to you all? I think I'll poke around to other knitters' blogs and to the KAL and see if anyone else is having gut-flutters at the thought of all this peplum-age.

It's Easier to Pay $60 & Cast On Than to Finish Anything

So, it struck me that if someone buys yarn at the approximate rate of two sweaters' worth a month, not that you and I know anyone who does anything so excessive, that by the end of year, that someone would have 24 sweaters' worth of yarn. Not to mention a storage and credit card problem.

Now, let us also suppose that this 'someone' knits sweaters at the rate of three a year. Maybe four, in a good year.

Thus, by the end of ten years, I, er, someone would have knit 30 or 40 sweaters - a quite respectable output, I'd say - but would have acquired enough yarn for 240 sweaters. This nets out at about 200 sweaters' worth of yarn acquired, but not used, over the course of a decade.

Hypothetically speaking, of course. All this hypothetical thought has nothing at all to do with spending yesterday with That Sue, going to Northampton Wools and WEBS, running into Bonnie, and oh, by the way, buying yarn for Silver Belle. And maybe 10 balls of something periwinkle with alpaca. Nothing whatsoever to do with all that. Absolutely not.