tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2193002124303497942024-03-13T19:47:53.168-07:00The Faculty Meeting KnitterA place to document my various knitting and sewing projects, and to share my thoughts about life as reflected in needlework.MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-84601207695871222162011-10-03T07:58:00.000-07:002011-10-03T08:39:38.675-07:00Switching Gears for Nerd Wars<p><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >YIKES!! <a href="http://ravnerdwars.info/">Nerd Wars</a> is upon us.<br /></span></p><p>News bulletin: I have joined <span style="font-weight: bold;">Team Rangers</span> (i.e. the <a href="http://babylon5.warnerbros.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Babylon 5</span></a> contingent) for Tournament 3 of Nerd Wars on Ravelry, which will run from now until the end of the year with three rounds of one month each. NW is full of mischief and mayhem, with tons of chitchat on the Ravelry forums. Teams compete for points in six different categories (technical, team spirit, giving geeks, scientific, intellectual, and nerd culture), with a challenge tied to each category in each round. It's also possible to take on a larger project in one category over the whole length of the tournament. That's aptly called a <span style="font-style: italic;">dissertation</span> and, if completed, is worth many points for the team. I have a lovely sweater in the works that will be a technical <span style="font-style: italic;">tour-de-force</span> if I can pull it off. <span style="font-weight: bold;">At any rate, the need to track all my various NW projects in real time lends a whole new urgency to the blogging process.</span><br /></p><p>Yet a good deal of 'ketchup' still remains. Under these circumstances my valiant scheme to finish removing the backlog before pressing forward simply won't work. I need to switch gears and start blogging in two directions at once. So I will continue to hammer away at the retrospective checklist whenever time allows, but meanwhile I will also begin tracking the latest WIP's.<br /></p><p><span style="font-style: italic;">And so it begins...</span><br /></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-17228336252071135622011-08-15T14:52:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:33:54.713-07:00Sic transit gloria mundi.<span style="font-style: italic;">[[ Dear Reader: I'm afraid everything around here is still </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/08/smothered-in-ketchup.html">smothered in ketchup</a><span style="font-style: italic;">. Please be patient, as we continue to dig our way out from under the backlog, and be sure to check the Table of Contents (left) to catch any ephemeral posts that you may have missed in all the hullabaloo. ]]</span><p><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O9ku-7Z1h2k/TbTL61M5UGI/AAAAAAAAEzU/rEP-oBNWKRE/s400/American%252520Beauty%25252036%252520-%252520worn%252520on%252520Easter.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O9ku-7Z1h2k/TbTL61M5UGI/AAAAAAAAEzU/rEP-oBNWKRE/s400/American%252520Beauty%25252036%252520-%252520worn%252520on%252520Easter.jpg" border="0" /></a>The next item on my "ketchup list" is the <a href="http://badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/04/american-beauty-wrap-it-up.html">American Beauty shaw</a>l by BadCat Designs, which I managed to finish just in time to wear it to church on Easter Sunday. We had fun doing an outdoor photo-shoot in the April sunshine (<span style="font-style: italic;">see left</span>).
<br /></p><p>But two days ago, when I brought out the shawl because I was getting ready to write about it, I had a nasty shock: the drawer where it was kept had been invaded by <a href="http://www.bugclinic.com/carpet_beetle.htm"><span style="font-weight: bold;">carpet beetles</span></a>!! Thankfully, other hand-knit items in the vicinity seem to have been spared, and (before anyone asks) the Princess Shawl and WRS were both tucked away safely elsewhere, but American Beauty was badly damaged, perhaps even beyond repair. The little buggers seem to have a definite taste for fine merino, because they zeroed in on that one piece and basically left the others alone. So far as I know, the little wrist-warmers mentioned in <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/05/heavenly-hearthfire.html">this post from over year ago</a> were the only other casualty.
<br />
<br /><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zQJaJhVd0EE/TkmdIa1-YrI/AAAAAAAAFn0/r6B2XdKFW6o/s288/American%252520Beauty%25252043%252520-%252520carpet%252520beetle%252520damage.jpg" border="0" />As typically happens where insect larvae have feasted on a piece of wool, parts of the fabric simply fell apart in my hands (<span style="font-style: italic;">see right</span>). It was hideously upsetting, of course, but I resisted the impulse to throw the whole thing away in despair. The shawl in its present form is probably too far gone, but I may be able to salvage the gorgeous fuchsia yarn for eventual reuse. I won't know for sure until I examine it more closely with dispassionate eyes. For now it's in a plastic bag in our spare freezer, along with the entire contents of the drawer where the infestation occurred. If cold does not actually kill the bugs, it should at least make them go dormant. Meanwhile I've ordered some <a href="http://www.optimalpestcontrol.com/NUVANPROSTRIPS">pesticide strips</a> that are designed for enclosed spaces, so the next step will be to seal all the infected items in a big plastic bin and let the chemical (DDVP) go to work. None of the other dresser drawers showed signs of insect activity, but as a precaution I sent EVERYTHING that I could through the laundry. Oh my, but *that* exercise is not for the faint of heart...</p><p>At any rate, because of what has happened, and in deference to the inevitable period of mourning, I am not going to dwell on the completion of this project anymore. That would feel distinctly morbid somehow (although <a href="http://scripturetext.com/matthew/6-19.htm">Matthew 6:19</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>comes to mind, of course). But though the loss is undeniably a bitter one, in the last 48 hours my outlook has already shifted toward the positive, because I can see a shiny silver lining.</p><p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L93_Mga6Isc/TkmrSIaZm6I/AAAAAAAAFoI/aPZchJ-pFII/s800/American%252520Beauty%25252044%252520-%252520large%252520rose%252520motifs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L93_Mga6Isc/TkmrSIaZm6I/AAAAAAAAFoI/aPZchJ-pFII/s288/American%252520Beauty%25252044%252520-%252520large%252520rose%252520motifs.jpg" border="0" /></a>As much as I love the Rose Whisper with its wide range of color, done just by varying the saturation of a single dye, the dramatic shading turned out to be too intense and overpowering for the delicate lace of this particular design. At first there were just little flecks of the darker color, which I really liked. But then wider bands and blotches started to appear. It all blends together visually, but the larger rose motifs at the shoulders are mostly drowned out in the noise and confusion, which made me very sad, because they are truly magnificent (<span style="font-style: italic;">see left</span>).</p><p>So at some point I think I would like to try knitting American Beauty again, but this time with more of a solid color. I have already done some preliminary yarn hunting over the Internet. For you know what they say: <span style="font-style: italic;">when the going gets tough, the tough GO SHOPPING!! </span>Best therapy in the world, methinks, and it's free for now, as long as I don't actually buy anything. :-)
<br /></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-58973829980596294592011-08-13T11:28:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:26:46.952-07:00Eomer Shield Tam<p>I was fortunate enough to participate in my first ever test-knit this spring: the <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/cfpatterns/pattern_display.cfm?ID=11029220&media=RAV&utm_source=media&utm_medium=marketing&utm_campaign=RAV"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Eomer Shield Tam</span></a> by designer <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kymaggie">KYMaggie</a>. It was a terrific experience!! Using several shades of <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/Palette+_YD5420132.html">KnitPicks Palette</a> from my stash (mostly leftovers or unused colors from the <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/08/bunny-mittens.html">Bunny Mittens</a>), I got to indulge my love for Celtic scrollwork, not to mention <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lord of the Rings</span>, and to put all my academic proofreading skills to good use in service of the fiber arts, especially to ensure that the line-by-line written instructions accurately mirrored the complex chart.</p><p>The design was based on an <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmmacademy/5518304928/">unused concept drawing</a> for Eomer's shield from the LOTR movies. It is knitted seamlessly in-the-round, starting with a band of corrugated ribbing for the brim, followed by a colorwork panel running underneath the crown, and then the crown itself, worked inward toward the center.</p><p>I had great fun with this project, and enjoyed learning new techniques for combining stranded colorwork with cables. The colors kept weaving over and under each other, to create an intricate embossed texture reminiscent of fine metallurgy. There was marvelous attention to detail throughout. The one element that I found slightly tricky was the motif similar to a <span style="font-style: italic;">fleur-de-lis</span> that appears at the four cardinal points where the brim meets the crown, but it came out beautifully by carefully following the detailed instructions. Past that point, it was incredibly smooth sailing to the end. For some reason the magic of blocking a tam on a dinner plate never seems to grow old for me. I love how this piece turned out, and it fits great.
<br /></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZnZBl2zkysE/TYPy-xNrRWI/AAAAAAAAEp4/6qI_KNTzZfg/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 288px; display: block; height: 175px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZnZBl2zkysE/TYPy-xNrRWI/AAAAAAAAEp4/6qI_KNTzZfg/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252002.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M4JyHhkoros/TYkDtuuHx6I/AAAAAAAAErM/geMuZTIa0Iw/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252003%252520-%252520small%252520cable%252520motif.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 233px; display: block; height: 175px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M4JyHhkoros/TYkDtuuHx6I/AAAAAAAAErM/geMuZTIa0Iw/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252003%252520-%252520small%252520cable%252520motif.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QD25U-Zp-Kk/TYlmI4CucmI/AAAAAAAAErY/4J7y8QjJYWU/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 256px; display: block; height: 200px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QD25U-Zp-Kk/TYlmI4CucmI/AAAAAAAAErY/4J7y8QjJYWU/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252004.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--b56by2YdFI/TYpyKBadqcI/AAAAAAAAErk/EET7BuYPwUA/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252005.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 266px; display: block; height: 200px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--b56by2YdFI/TYpyKBadqcI/AAAAAAAAErk/EET7BuYPwUA/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252005.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9txKIfs3FRk/TYvFnRWLE0I/AAAAAAAAEsI/zddYrAapO3U/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252010%252520-%252520blocked.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 256px; display: block; height: 225px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9txKIfs3FRk/TYvFnRWLE0I/AAAAAAAAEsI/zddYrAapO3U/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252010%252520-%252520blocked.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9k1TnXnPXtY/TYvFjFughII/AAAAAAAAEr0/KjVVVgdVaF4/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252012%252520-%252520blocked.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 262px; display: block; height: 225px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9k1TnXnPXtY/TYvFjFughII/AAAAAAAAEr0/KjVVVgdVaF4/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252012%252520-%252520blocked.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ctJxbzcBhZk/TY_N7razwaI/AAAAAAAAEtM/94c8unBxLJo/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252016.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 256px; display: block; height: 235px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ctJxbzcBhZk/TY_N7razwaI/AAAAAAAAEtM/94c8unBxLJo/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252016.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tJ8T8riKWZY/TY_N8wif9SI/AAAAAAAAEtQ/8oYWDb-Zbho/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 262px; display: block; height: 229px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tJ8T8riKWZY/TY_N8wif9SI/AAAAAAAAEtQ/8oYWDb-Zbho/s288/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252013.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rSIy2e8Dkvs/Tka98qT5H2I/AAAAAAAAFmE/omZE7pLJEmE/s800/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252017%252520-%252520worn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px; display: block; height: 254px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rSIy2e8Dkvs/Tka98qT5H2I/AAAAAAAAFmE/omZE7pLJEmE/s400/Eomer%252520Shield%252520tam%25252017%252520-%252520worn.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-31249176488667220662011-08-13T08:02:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:28:10.676-07:00Gingerbread House Knee Socks<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MiT3RhUrPyA/TLZTFovC0vI/AAAAAAAAEJo/yYl7tPDbDG8/s800/KnitPicks%252520Imagination%252520-%252520Gingerbread%252520House%25252001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MiT3RhUrPyA/TLZTFovC0vI/AAAAAAAAEJo/yYl7tPDbDG8/s288/KnitPicks%252520Imagination%252520-%252520Gingerbread%252520House%25252001.jpg" border="0" /></a>For my 2nd pair of post-tenure socks (begun in mid-March), I turned to <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/cfyarns/yarn_display.cfm?ID=5420173">KnitPicks Imagination</a>, a cushy blend of <span class="prodDesc">50% Merino Wool / 25% Superfine Alpaca / 25% Nylon, in the colorway called "Gingerbread House," which sets</span><span class="prodAuthorVendor" style="text-align:justify;display:block;">six different cheerful "gumdrop" colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple) against a background of warm ginger-brown. I really love this yarn for socks!! Which is good, because I have several more colors stashed away... It knits up into a wonderful fabric, soft and warm and snuggly against the skin. I wanted to see how far I could go on two skeins (= 438 yards) to fit my smallish (US size 61/2, European size 37) feet. So I used the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lace and Cable pattern</span> from Wendy Johnson's <span style="font-style: italic;">Socks from the Toe Up</span>, with one skein for each sock, and basically kept knitting until I ran out of yarn.</span><p></p><p>What I got, to my amazement and delight, was a splendid pair of honest-to-goodness KNEESOCKS. Once againI worked the two socks in tandem by switching off between two sets of dpn's: first both toes, then feet, then heels, then legs, then cuffs. To shape the calves, I measured the circumference of my lower leg at 2" intervals and calculated first increases and then decreases based on my gauge. And to help the socks stay up, I switched to smaller needles for 1" of ribbing at the top, and finished off with <a href="http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php">Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off</a> (JSSBO). They fit me perfectly and don't fall down with general use, although a brisk walk can cause them to sag a bit, but that happens with commercial wool knee socks too. I had less than a foot of yarn left over on either side. The colors pooled a bit here and there, but I don't mind the effect. In fact, I rather like it. <span style="font-style:italic;">As always, click on any one of these photos to view an enlargement.</span></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ru0v7MVXlx8/TXxWB0WJBvI/AAAAAAAAEno/T0diuFY6310/s800/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 235px; display: block; height: 176px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ru0v7MVXlx8/TXxWB0WJBvI/AAAAAAAAEno/T0diuFY6310/s288/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252002.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Lapl8L4U3uY/TX2aeoRtgrI/AAAAAAAAEoY/ffmuFKkQqGs/s800/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252005.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 234px; display: block; height: 176px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Lapl8L4U3uY/TX2aeoRtgrI/AAAAAAAAEoY/ffmuFKkQqGs/s288/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252005.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HJH0gp9JUBo/Tkas-P0-AiI/AAAAAAAAFks/MtCmIOBsN70/s800/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 235px; display: block; height: 202px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HJH0gp9JUBo/Tkas-P0-AiI/AAAAAAAAFks/MtCmIOBsN70/s288/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252006.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w5OD7mI4f4I/TYfnQggQCZI/AAAAAAAAErA/IFq7rUnT8Hs/s800/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 151px; display: block; height: 202px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w5OD7mI4f4I/TYfnQggQCZI/AAAAAAAAErA/IFq7rUnT8Hs/s288/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252010.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-JrWjl2er3J0/Tkay3L1TYgI/AAAAAAAAFlk/cyvv4OeG3Vw/s800/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252016.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-JrWjl2er3J0/Tkay3L1TYgI/AAAAAAAAFlk/cyvv4OeG3Vw/s400/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252016.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-FFNUH8qBBIk/Tkay32Mm-jI/AAAAAAAAFlo/oIfOH42q0jQ/s800/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252017.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 235px; display: block; height: 176px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-FFNUH8qBBIk/Tkay32Mm-jI/AAAAAAAAFlo/oIfOH42q0jQ/s288/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252017.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7MikD6ki4IQ/Tkay2Sc_YkI/AAAAAAAAFlc/rRdhVKgZ3u4/s800/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252018.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 151px; display: block; height: 182px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7MikD6ki4IQ/Tkay2Sc_YkI/AAAAAAAAFlc/rRdhVKgZ3u4/s288/Lace%252520and%252520Cable%252520socks%25252018.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>Oh my, but to my mind these are genuinely *happy* socks, so bright and colorful and toasty warm, and they go beautifully with the tawny brown leather clogs that I wear pretty much constantly through 3 seasons of the year, in all but the most inclement weather.MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-51816893632649622242011-08-13T06:29:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:28:34.230-07:00Oak Grove mitts<span style="font-style: italic;"></span>I grew up in a house surrounded by woods and adjacent to this <a href="http://www.sgpa.org/">CT state park</a>. Many of the biggest trees there are mighty oaks, and so I have developed a fondness for oak leaves and acorns as decorative motifs, because they remind me of home.<p>That's what attracted me to Anna Dalvi's <span style="font-weight: bold;">Oak Grove Mitts</span> pattern, which features a beautifully embossed oak leaf, framed by a pointed arch, on the back of each hand. <a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UhF9Mpsgc0M/TVhKGimjlOI/AAAAAAAAEgY/x3fEEJUnrL4/s800/Sanguine%252520Gryphon%252520Bugga%252520-%252520Arachne%25252002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-UhF9Mpsgc0M/TVhKGimjlOI/AAAAAAAAEgY/x3fEEJUnrL4/s288/Sanguine%252520Gryphon%252520Bugga%252520-%252520Arachne%25252002.jpg" border="0" /></a>For this special project I treated myself to a single skein of <a href="http://www.sanguinegryphon.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=18_65">Sanguine Gryphon Bugga</a>! (70% superwash merino / 20% cashmere / 10% nylon) in a colorway called Arachne, which is basically an autumnal mix of deep red, russet, and brown. It was a quick knit on 2.5 mm (US size 1+) dpn's. At the tight gauge, and for my little hands, I used up only ~125 yards. These mitts fit snugly at the wrists, without impeding the movement of my fingers, which makes them ideally suited for riding in the car or sitting in a chilly house and knitting, reading, typing at the computer, or whatever. And the best part is that I still have enough Bugga! left over for a pair of socks. :-)
<br /></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SkSyzcGA9T8/TV3Al0EY5aI/AAAAAAAAEhY/mUGWIgp0x60/s800/Sanguine%252520Gryphon%252520Bugga%252520-%252520Arachne%25252004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 186px; display: block; height: 168px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SkSyzcGA9T8/TV3Al0EY5aI/AAAAAAAAEhY/mUGWIgp0x60/s288/Sanguine%252520Gryphon%252520Bugga%252520-%252520Arachne%25252004.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9J1qnH9Pp3Y/TXgsOWvQf1I/AAAAAAAAEm8/WYwWCnp0lJc/s800/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 168px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-9J1qnH9Pp3Y/TXgsOWvQf1I/AAAAAAAAEm8/WYwWCnp0lJc/s288/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252003.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Ba34k6QmQrk/TkaI2aA9-1I/AAAAAAAAFjQ/JvHWaS1KELA/s800/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252004B.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 208px; display: block; height: 218px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Ba34k6QmQrk/TkaI2aA9-1I/AAAAAAAAFjQ/JvHWaS1KELA/s800/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252004B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8yUWu4sLG6Y/TkaNiBvSvMI/AAAAAAAAFjo/ZfXuIysVpNc/s800/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; height: 218px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8yUWu4sLG6Y/TkaNiBvSvMI/AAAAAAAAFjo/ZfXuIysVpNc/s288/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252006.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K4WiJdeJtYU/TXWT0j4rk0I/AAAAAAAAEmg/IGwi_I2DElQ/s800/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 186px; display: block; height: 297px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K4WiJdeJtYU/TXWT0j4rk0I/AAAAAAAAEmg/IGwi_I2DElQ/s288/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252002.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oqHUqmoMjTg/TkaNg4pFYRI/AAAAAAAAFjk/HDoy07RyEaA/s800/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; height: 215px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oqHUqmoMjTg/TkaNg4pFYRI/AAAAAAAAFjk/HDoy07RyEaA/s288/Oak%252520Grove%252520mitts%25252009.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-42478225203086137342011-08-12T12:28:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:28:58.987-07:00"You're not seriously going to wear that in public, are you?!"<p><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mLOnEJ-kDsk/Siq621vbV9I/AAAAAAAAAAw/QUWzC7ln8IY/s800/Frejya%252520in%252520a%252520basket.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mLOnEJ-kDsk/Siq621vbV9I/AAAAAAAAAAw/QUWzC7ln8IY/s288/Frejya%252520in%252520a%252520basket.jpg" border="0" /></a>Some needlework projects are never-ending, not through any fault of their own, but due mostly to what Gilbert Murray famously called"the failure of nerve" (<a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/fsgr/fsgr08.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">Five Stages of Greek Religion</span></a>, c. 1925). I have repeatedly categorized my <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/frejya-at-crossroads.html">loving homage to Frejya</a>, our female Maine Coon (a.k.a Big Orange Fluffy Thing or B.O.F.T., <span style="font-style: italic;">see left</span>) as one such. The whole thing took four long years from start to finish. But during that interval I spent most of my time ostentatiously (though guiltily) NOT working on it. Progress came, when it did, in fits & starts, with long empty gaps in between, while I agonized over what to do next. All the actual knitting on this sweater went extremely fast. What worried me was the embroidery, having never attempted to embellish my knitting with decorative stitching before.</p><p>Since the pattern did not call for embroidery beyond some simple lines for whiskers and toes, by far the hardest part was figuring out how much, or indeed how little, I should add to the intarsia, which already incorporated texture as well as color, by contrast with the coal black Peruvian highlands wool used in the body of the sweater: brushed Suri alpaca (akin to mohair) in orange, brown, and ivory for the cat, cushy cotton chenille in turquoise for the blanket (or pillow?) that she is curled up on, and on the back ribbon yarn in bright orange for the goldfish scales, and a nubbly chunky wool in dark green for the aquatic plant.</p><p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uXrB92MzjZU/TkXIXsmLpxI/AAAAAAAAFgU/xNJX_YQkgno/s288/Frejya%252520-%252520tail%252520outstretched.jpg" border="0" />My initial concepts for embellishing the sweater were full of creative inspiration but proved too grandiose, not to say fiddly, and in the end I scaled back quite a bit on the eyelash yarn simulating Frejya's long hair, gave only the barest of outlines to eyes, face, paws, and (on the back) goldfish, and did not attempt to apply whiskers, or (for that matter) fins. <img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UaYhzHVkvZg/TkXIXkGd3oI/AAAAAAAAFgQ/UiIYkpGSGgQ/s288/Frejya%252520-%252520tail%252520curled%252520up.jpg" border="0" />I decided to let the cat's whimsical features show through as much as possible. After much deliberation, I chose to omit the dangling tail as well, despite having knitted the intarsia base for it, on the grounds that (a) I could not easily weave in enough eyelash yarn to represent the magnificent plume of a Maine Coon adequately (the breed is described as "<a href="http://www.maine-coon-cat-club.com/whatis/">the tail with a cat on the end</a>," after all, and <span style="font-style: italic;">see above left</span>), and (b) a tapered appendage hanging down from the side-seam of a garment would present far too great a temptation to our real-life feisty felines, who might attack without warning and damage the sweater (to say nothing of injury to the hapless wearer!!). So my woolen Frejya remains tailless, and contentedly so, at least for now. I reserve the right to change my mind at some point in the future. But in the interest of verisimilitude I should point out that the real Frejya does like to curl up with her tail hidden away underneath her (<span style="font-style: italic;">see above right</span>).</p><p>In terms of the actual sweater construction, I kept the turtleneck from the original pattern but converted the raglan sleeves to a set-in style, with straight armholes and a gentle short-row shoulder cap. With its generous outlines and soft fabric, it hangs on me more like a drop-shoulder sweater than anything terribly close-fitted, but the shaping works, and I am delighted with how the garment looks and feels. For all its personality and pizzazz — and yes, that's how I happen to view it, although one friend really did blurt out the question that appears in the heading to this blog post, which simply made me laugh in response — this is also a WARM winter woolly that will serve me well when thermostats are kept low to conserve fuel.</p><p>Eventually I will probably sew in a polyester lining, so as to protect the back of the intarsia from abrasion and my dark cotton turtlenecks from stray multi-colored fibers. I have even purchased the black fabric for this, but I have not gotten around to actually doing it yet, in part because I think I want to wear the sweater once or twice as is, before doing anything else to it. <span style="font-style: italic;">Totally typical, hein?</span> Nonetheless, I have been calling this a finished object on Ravelry since March 6th, when I laid down my embroidery scissors and weaved in the last few loose ends, and so I present this photo gallery to mark its completion.</p>What you see here are wide views of the front and back, followed by close-ups of the neckline, the sleeve shaping, the cat, and the fishbowl. <span style="font-style: italic;">As always, click on any one of these images to view an enlargement.</span>
<br /><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F9O2Ej20GQY/TkXaZPlGaPI/AAAAAAAAFiI/XwF5r1y2j4g/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252008%252520-%252520wide%252520view.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; height: 180px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F9O2Ej20GQY/TkXaZPlGaPI/AAAAAAAAFiI/XwF5r1y2j4g/s288/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252008%252520-%252520wide%252520view.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GGmWuZ590Do/TkXaaaIihZI/AAAAAAAAFiQ/X9wYqU5y2vk/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252010%252520-%252520wide%252520view%252520back.jpg%22"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 180px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-GGmWuZ590Do/TkXaaaIihZI/AAAAAAAAFiQ/X9wYqU5y2vk/s288/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252010%252520-%252520wide%252520view%252520back.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AiJwzee8LN0/TLo5U78XS8I/AAAAAAAAEKY/9pB09cVaSGU/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520WIP%252520-%252520turtleneck%25252001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; height: 187px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AiJwzee8LN0/TLo5U78XS8I/AAAAAAAAEKY/9pB09cVaSGU/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520WIP%252520-%252520turtleneck%25252001.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nIJa6BiTpMw/TkXa926UYzI/AAAAAAAAFio/dON_eB1H3fo/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252006%252520-%252520sleeve%252520cap%252520closeup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 140px; display: block; height: 187px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nIJa6BiTpMw/TkXa926UYzI/AAAAAAAAFio/dON_eB1H3fo/s288/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252006%252520-%252520sleeve%252520cap%252520closeup.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZTbqnDxul3Q/TkXY1KiU6pI/AAAAAAAAFhA/NgqyXQCqCNs/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252005%252520-%252520face%252520closeup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; height: 187px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ZTbqnDxul3Q/TkXY1KiU6pI/AAAAAAAAFhA/NgqyXQCqCNs/s288/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252005%252520-%252520face%252520closeup.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cDBgj6JrzMs/TkXY0volg0I/AAAAAAAAFg8/TyA77iJRlYg/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252003%252520-%252520paw%252520detail%252520closeup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 140px; display: block; height: 187px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cDBgj6JrzMs/TkXY0volg0I/AAAAAAAAFg8/TyA77iJRlYg/s288/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252003%252520-%252520paw%252520detail%252520closeup.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4n2EvTDEouE/TkXY4InsM5I/AAAAAAAAFhU/1WJiHRVDnnE/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252007%252520-%252520fish%252520bowl%252520closeup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px; display: block; height: 198px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4n2EvTDEouE/TkXY4InsM5I/AAAAAAAAFhU/1WJiHRVDnnE/s800/Frejya%252520sweater%252520-%252520complete%25252007%252520-%252520fish%252520bowl%252520closeup.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>I just love the goldfish with their *googly* eyes, which I acquired courtesy of <a href="http://thefiberartist.blogspot.com/">the ever-thoughtful Anita</a>, who has a great big bag of them on hand because she often knits sweaters for her grandchildren. :-)MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-46188025873138347252011-08-12T11:16:00.000-07:002011-08-12T11:47:42.448-07:00Smothered in Ketchup<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-6GVEsB3YIcU/TkVxxWVBtXI/AAAAAAAAFfs/NIA8B-Is-qk/s288/Ketchup.jpg" border="0" />Despite <a href="http://drmikewellness.org/health-wellness/healthy-lifestyle-advice-ketchup-is-bad-for-you/">this salubrious health warning</a> (and let's face it: pretty much anything is bad for you if consumed in excess), the grim reality is that we here at The Faculty Meeting Knitter are <span style="font-weight: bold;">playing </span><s style="font-weight: bold;">ketchup</s><span style="font-weight: bold;"> catch-up</span> in a MAJOR way these days. I personally prefer to take the Great American Condiment only in small quantities, but with several months worth of knitting projects off the needles yet still waiting to be blogged, the only way out of this mess is through it. And so we press forward, one photo gallery at a time... Efforts are now underway and gaining momentum, with retrospective posts appearing at a rapid rate and items gradually being crossed off the summer's hefty <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/06/list-mania.html">"To Do" list</a>. So if you have not visited the site in a while, perhaps lulled into apathy by the long intervals of silence over the winter/spring, you may want to check out the menu at the side of the screen, to see what you have missed lately. Thank you for your continued patience as this mayhem runs its course.</p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-7571273627285683332011-08-12T06:57:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:31:21.445-07:00Bunny mittens!!<p><span style="font-style:italic;">These were a huge hit with people on campus and my friends on Facebook, so I'm excited to be bringing them to the blog audience at last...</span></p><p><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AquQj9ZbtEg/TTxoE8wdB7I/AAAAAAAAEbA/bSygbVASO4U/s800/Cinnamon%252520and%252520Olorin%25252001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AquQj9ZbtEg/TTxoE8wdB7I/AAAAAAAAEbA/bSygbVASO4U/s288/Cinnamon%252520and%252520Olorin%25252001.jpg" border="0" /></a>Before I get down to the subject of knitting, I want you to meet two special somebodies who are very important to me. They are a bonded pair of house rabbits, known formally as <span style="font-weight: bold;">Cinnamon the Mocha Bunny</span> (right) and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Olorin the Little Gray Bunn</span>y (left). She is a mini-lop, while he is a Netherland Dwarf mix. They have lived with us for quite a few years now, long enough for many legends and stories to spring up about them. For instance, the phrase "Cinnamon the Mocha Bunny" is fun to say in a wide variety of circumstances, or even at random, and can be sung as the lyrics to ANY tune imaginable (trust me, my husband and I have amply demonstrated this!). And Olorin happens to be Gandalf's name in the language of Westernesse, for those of a Tolkienian bent...</p><p>I could go on and on about the charming personalities and funny antics of my beloved furry creatures. But for purposes of this blog post, the salient point is that they are different colors. So when I found a pattern for <span style="font-weight:bold;"><a>Bunny Mittens</a></span> from House on a Hill Knits, I knew in an instant that I had to knit them as a tribute to Cinnamon and Olorin. And so I did, using 6 different shades of <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Palette_Yarn__D5420132.html">KnitPicks Pallete</a> yarn (black, white, bison, marble heather, lipstick, and teal), and adding features that appealed to me from two other patterns: the Latvian braid and hem from <a href="http://tuulia.blogspot.com/2008/10/deep-in-forest-mittens.html">Deep in the Forest mittens</a> by Tuulia Salmela (a pattern waiting eagerly in my queue for just the right moment to arrive) and the side outline and lining from <a href="http://www.helloyarn.com/fiddleheadmittens.htm">Fiddlehead mittens</a> by Adrian Bizilia (which I had <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/im-baaaaaaack-with-end-of-summer-wrap.html">already made</a> and enjoy wearing quite often). As with my Fiddleheads, I used <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/Andean+Treasure+Yarn_YD5420107.html">KnitPicks Andean Treasure</a> (100% baby alpaca) for the lining, which feels deliciously yummy and soft next to the skin. The following photo gallery tells pretty much the whole story of how they were made, step by step. I am proud of my colorwork on this project, and feel particularly smug about the fact that I paused to weave in all the hellish ends neatly before picking up stitches for the lining, even though my hard work and attention to detail will never show. But that's what pictures are for, to commemorate events and accomplishments hat would otherwise go unnoticed. <span style="font-style: italic;">As always, click on any one of these images to view an enlargement.</span>
<br /></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3HhqRIN_NXc/TkVQ6zsEnCI/AAAAAAAAFeI/CC2wlFJkgKU/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252002B.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; height: 228px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3HhqRIN_NXc/TkVQ6zsEnCI/AAAAAAAAFeI/CC2wlFJkgKU/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252002B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ra88bVY6SUY/TkVSFfm_FjI/AAAAAAAAFfA/W4ojpzEhzgc/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252007B.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 198px; display: block; height: 228px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ra88bVY6SUY/TkVSFfm_FjI/AAAAAAAAFfA/W4ojpzEhzgc/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252007B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--YEklYYBiOo/TT9Q4T_UY5I/AAAAAAAAEcI/mYF2rOOavoM/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 375px; display: block; height: 174px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/--YEklYYBiOo/TT9Q4T_UY5I/AAAAAAAAEcI/mYF2rOOavoM/s288/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252011.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rtk-a7rxzcU/TkVSFJ92OGI/AAAAAAAAFe8/wilg1asbpes/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252009B.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 156px; display: block; height: 275px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rtk-a7rxzcU/TkVSFJ92OGI/AAAAAAAAFe8/wilg1asbpes/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252009B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oz9U-3FjzUc/TkVSHU_QtfI/AAAAAAAAFfI/j14DYIRGGPg/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252013B.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 198px; display: block; height: 213px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oz9U-3FjzUc/TkVSHU_QtfI/AAAAAAAAFfI/j14DYIRGGPg/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252013B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TPQOMr-ALSo/TkVSElLaLNI/AAAAAAAAFe4/-2eqxeC5UAg/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252018B.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 156px; display: block; height: 240px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TPQOMr-ALSo/TkVSElLaLNI/AAAAAAAAFe4/-2eqxeC5UAg/s288/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252018B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dfimvHD9PhQ/TkVSHfIw8NI/AAAAAAAAFfE/r70wrkyGcTc/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252015B.jpgg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 167px; display: block; height: 240px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dfimvHD9PhQ/TkVSHfIw8NI/AAAAAAAAFfE/r70wrkyGcTc/s288/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252015B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xTVpvVPctEw/TUYAKGsAX5I/AAAAAAAAEdw/-IaBhgiV7YI/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252017.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 250px; display: block; height: 218px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xTVpvVPctEw/TUYAKGsAX5I/AAAAAAAAEdw/-IaBhgiV7YI/s288/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252017.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HzwPFjBPQO4/TUtfMawkIKI/AAAAAAAAEeg/jNyHreEhsek/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252020.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 224px; display: block; height: 218px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-HzwPFjBPQO4/TUtfMawkIKI/AAAAAAAAEeg/jNyHreEhsek/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252020.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EGLnLkwvtCo/TVg7gb44LhI/AAAAAAAAEe0/ozas_3ya_AQ/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252022%252520-%252520lining.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 425px; display: block; height: 185px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EGLnLkwvtCo/TVg7gb44LhI/AAAAAAAAEe0/ozas_3ya_AQ/s288/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252022%252520-%252520lining.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xuAFfxi4bz0/TXGHMnS3AqI/AAAAAAAAElk/Jb4FG2LOSMw/s800/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252026.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 375px; display: block; height: 281px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xuAFfxi4bz0/TXGHMnS3AqI/AAAAAAAAElk/Jb4FG2LOSMw/s288/Bunny%252520Mittens%25252026.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Between the double layer of Peruvian highlands wool from the stranded colorwork and the thick, cushy alpaca lining, these mittens are phenomenally warm and essentially windproof — just the ticket, in other words, for my chilly walks to & from work in the dead of winter. And even apart from keeping my hands from freezing off, they make me ridiculously HAPPY just to look at, because it's like having lots of little Cinnamons and Olorins along on my adventures. I am particularly fond of the gray bunny on each thumb.
<br /></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-66987210974938883212011-08-11T19:21:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:35:58.327-07:00Elm Row (and extras!!)<p><span style="font-style:italic;">And now for another finished object whose 15 minutes of blog fame are LONG overdue...</span></p><p><a href="http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc4059.php"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qrFPUp_7Z6c/TkSQqBQ68qI/AAAAAAAAFbo/8wjhxjK8TtQ/s288/New%252520Haven%25252001.jpg" border="0" /></a>I grew up in and around <a href="http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/">New Haven, CT</a>, affectionately known as the <a href="http://www.towngreens.com/exhibits/index.cgi/2/index.html">Elm City</a> from having played host in the 1750's to the first public tree-planting program in the US, two centuries before <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_elm_disease">Dutch Elm Disease</a> effectively wiped out all the elm trees (although <a href="http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/05/elm_city_to_ree.php">a precious few have apparently survived</a>).</p><p>So when I ran across Anne Hanson's <a href="http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/elm-row-p-111.html">Elm Row scarf</a>, it was an easy choice for the Deep Forest colorway of Unique Sheep Eos (50% merino wool / 50% tussah silk) that I picked up from <a href="http://earthfaire.com/index.php">Earthfaire</a>, where it appears as an exclusive offering from time to time (one of many creative collaborations between Ellen and Laura and Kelly). The yarn is a marvelous mixture of spring greens with a touch of tawny golden brown, and I decided to pair it with 6/0 sparkling metallic gold-lined crystal beads. Here is my best photo of what the skein looked like before winding (which really brings out the range of cheerful colors), and another showing the wound yarn-cake with the container of beads. Notice how all of the colors from the hand-painted hank are still there, but subtly blended together. As always, click on either image to take a closer look.</p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/SsuFYF4FHmI/AAAAAAAABjo/wr2CbtWeOoI/s800/Unique%20Sheep%20Eos%20-%20Deep%20Forest.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 375px; display: block; height: 140px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/SsuFYF4FHmI/AAAAAAAABjo/wr2CbtWeOoI/s800/Unique%20Sheep%20Eos%20-%20Deep%20Forest.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/SuYZCJfFNsI/AAAAAAAABug/tJcJhNS8B30/s800/Unique%20Sheep%20Eos%20-%20Deep%20Forest%20-%20beads%20C.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 189px; display: block; height: 140px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/SuYZCJfFNsI/AAAAAAAABug/tJcJhNS8B30/s800/Unique%20Sheep%20Eos%20-%20Deep%20Forest%20-%20beads%20C.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>To be honest, I do not have much to say about the knitting process on this one, except that the project took me ~9 months to complete (mid-March to mid-December of last year), mainly because I preferred to work on it in short, intermittent bursts rather than continuously. Anne's instructions are impeccable, as always, and I found the pattern easy to learn, albeit rather repetitive over the long haul. I placed beads in the convenient little grooves running down the center of each elm leaf: 3 beads per leaf for 7 pattern repeats at either end, and 1 bead per leaf everywhere else.</p><p>The scarf was designed to be knitted in one piece from top to bottom, but I wanted the ends to match when worn, and so set out to knit two identical pieces that would meet in the middle, with the graft neatly concealed at the back of the wearer's neck. I came up with a convenient way to ensure that two pieces coming from either direction would meet up, by ending at two different rows so that the lace pattern would align properly. Two web resources helped me hone my Kitchener technique: this <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html">Knitty editorial</a> and this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7jIzwO5Nv4">YouTube video</a>.</p><p>The finished piece blocked out to an impressive 13 1/2” wide x 72” long!! It used up 35 g from the 50 g skein, with a total of 370 beads. Here are some pictures. The long, skinny one running down the left side shows how it looked from end to end, pinned out on a queen-sized bed. To the right is a photo of the graft (with apologies for the grid of the blocking cloth peeking through from underneath), and below are several closeup views of the lace fabric after the blocking wires were removed, two focused on the heavily beaded portion at the end of the stole, and one higher up with fewer beads. I feel thoroughly enchanted with the finished effect of this piece, because the pattern has such a rich texture and depth to it. The Eos seems to glow from within (it must be the silk content, right?), and the beads add a perfect touch of sparkle, like drops of dew glinting in the morning sun. <span style="font-style: italic;">As always, click on any image to view an enlargement.</span> </p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jSz0hUzIMj8/TQPynYyK8sI/AAAAAAAAESg/qrhgTQa_cFs/s800/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520blocked%252520-%25252006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px; display: block; height: 399px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jSz0hUzIMj8/TQPynYyK8sI/AAAAAAAAESg/qrhgTQa_cFs/s288/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520blocked%252520-%25252006.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uQl0W0aGlRs/TQPwHfbXgBI/AAAAAAAAESM/XSK-i_BS4WI/s800/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520blocked%252520-%252520graft%252520-%25252003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 175px; display: block; height: 233px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uQl0W0aGlRs/TQPwHfbXgBI/AAAAAAAAESM/XSK-i_BS4WI/s288/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520blocked%252520-%252520graft%252520-%25252003.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-uQl0W0aGlRs/TQPwHfbXgBI/AAAAAAAAESM/XSK-i_BS4WI/s800/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520blocked%252520-%252520graft%252520-%25252003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px; display: block; height: 131px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VZUskDFWOxc/TZzyWl1xBZI/AAAAAAAAExE/jCVea5m9LHk/s800/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520finsihed%252520closeup%252520C.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IGSGz4xX0Zg/TZzyVxTP0lI/AAAAAAAAExA/R1CGcJovLdk/s800/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520finsihed%252520closeup%252520B.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px; height: 165px; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IGSGz4xX0Zg/TZzyVxTP0lI/AAAAAAAAExA/R1CGcJovLdk/s288/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520finsihed%252520closeup%252520B.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n93f1c7RXco/TkUo6Cg60sI/AAAAAAAAFco/LTwD2WrhrWY/s800/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520finsihed%252520closeup%252520H.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px; height: 165px; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-n93f1c7RXco/TkUo6Cg60sI/AAAAAAAAFco/LTwD2WrhrWY/s800/Elm%252520Row%252520-%252520finsihed%252520closeup%252520H.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>As luck would have it, I finished the stole with leftover materials just in time for the release of Anne's follow-up design: <a href="http://knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/elm-leaves-p-395.html">Elm Leaves wristlets</a>, where the same organic lace motif appears as a dainty ruffle dangling from a ribbed cuff. I added 3 beads per leaf to match the ends of the stole, and <span class="st"><em>voilà</em></span>.
<br /></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HQnedZLTw4s/TkUnyJBm6DI/AAAAAAAAFcU/wZ4aChO_x6o/s800/Elm%252520Leaves%252520wristlets%25252009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 275px; display: block; height: 181px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HQnedZLTw4s/TkUnyJBm6DI/AAAAAAAAFcU/wZ4aChO_x6o/s288/Elm%252520Leaves%252520wristlets%25252009.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sOFnrqGm86E/TkUnz9hFfRI/AAAAAAAAFcg/2j79qWePNig/s800/Elm%252520Leaves%252520wristlets%25252012.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 183px; display: block; height: 181px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sOFnrqGm86E/TkUnz9hFfRI/AAAAAAAAFcg/2j79qWePNig/s288/Elm%252520Leaves%252520wristlets%25252012.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Each cuff needed only a short time to knit, never mind the fact that I took a rather sizable break in between the two, but let me say that 4” is an awful lot of ribbing with lace-weight yarn and 2.75 mm needles... These are definitely meant more as decorative accessories than strictly functional garments, but I still find them surprisingly warm to wear. They will complement the stole beautifully. :-)
<br /></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-83389434062578913112011-08-11T08:59:00.000-07:002011-08-11T12:19:04.447-07:00Unst Stole: Inching Forward<p>The <span style="font-weight:bold;">Unst Stole</span> by Sharon Miller (Project #7 in <span style="font-style:italic;">Heirloom Knitting</span>) is currently my longest-standing WIP, and after 2+ years I am eager to finish it up as soon as I possibly can. But, as Treebeard would say, <span style="font-style:italic;">Let's not be hasty...</span> It's not really up to me anyway. This project insists on setting its own pace, because it is incredibly painstaking, and anytime I try to rush, or work on it under less-than-perfect lighting conditions, or when I am tired and/or not fully alert, I always live to regret it. So, frustrating though it may be, I have learned and must continually remind myself that slow-and-steady is the ONLY way to make any real progress. It will all be worth it in the end.
<br /></p><p>Fortunately, I have managed to devote quite a bit of time to the Unst lately, so there are some very encouraging results, although my hope (wish??) from this <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/06/list-mania.html">earlier blog post</a> that it might actually be done by the end of summer will almost certainly prove to have been overly optimistic. By the end of the year is more like it, or maybe before the snow flies. We'll see. At any rate, the good news is that I can now report (with pictures!!) on all three sections of the pattern: center, borders, and edging.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">I. Center</span>
<br />It took me three tries with two embarrassingly long hiatuses in between to get through the 476 rows of my <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2009/06/tough-act-to-follow.html">modified center pattern</a>, but on May 1st I finally reached that point. I did a total of 9 repeats, beginning and ending with a framing band of mirrored ferns and alternating in the middle between the original pattern and an adaptation of the Shetland Twins motif. Here's an old picture of the bottom frame and the first several repeats, plus a new one showing the entire center. Click on either thumbnail to get a closer look.</p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HluT1J8k7Kc/Tb4TNGFlTpI/AAAAAAAAEz4/7M8DyYe2VwQ/s800/Unst-stole-center-02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 168px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HluT1J8k7Kc/Tb4TNGFlTpI/AAAAAAAAEz4/7M8DyYe2VwQ/s800/Unst-stole-center-02.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cGz2VlYPmhY/Tb4TOBnysgI/AAAAAAAAE0E/u-3TzbTnOw4/s800/Unst-stole-center-04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 319px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cGz2VlYPmhY/Tb4TOBnysgI/AAAAAAAAE0E/u-3TzbTnOw4/s800/Unst-stole-center-04.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-weight:bold;">II. Borders</span>
<br />The Unst borders have always been my favorite part of Sharon Miller's design. There is something about the delicate lace trellis with its different diamond motifs, each of which is distinct and yet beautifully harmonized with the others, that I find utterly captivating. My one complaint is that the 136 rows of the original charts are over too quickly. That's not a lot of yardage, especially at the tiny gauge that I get with <a href="http://www.heirloom-knitting.co.uk/cart/order_cash_silk.php">Gossamer CashSilk</a> and 1.5 mm (US 000) needles. So for my stole I decided to double the length of both border panels, which should dramatically showcase the trellis/diamond pattern when the piece is worn.<p></p><p>Below are three photos to illustrate exactly what I did, since I did not simply repeat the charts as written. The top photo shows the frame separating the border from the center below it, and the beginning of the first border panel. In the lower left you can see how it looked when both charts were complete (June 6th). According to the original design, the body of the shawl would have stopped there. Note that there are 5 full diamonds in the trellis, each containing a different pattern (ABCDE), with half-diamonds above and below. I replaced the motif in rows 1-11 (i.e. the bottom half-diamond) with the more symmetrical/rounded one found on p. 218 of <em>HK</em>, and also wrote out a chart to complete the half-diamond at the top (F), which enabled me to continue the trellis with the original series of diamond motifs in reverse order: ABCDE-F-EDCBA, ending with the substituted 11 rows once again. The result is perfectly mirrored and balances nicely. I finished the 1st border panel on June 18th, and was amazed at how effortlessly my two-year-old provisional cast-on allowed itself to be unraveled so that I could start the 2nd identical panel, which I FINALLY finished on July 17th, bringing the stole to 70% completion, with only the edging left to round the whole thing off. As always, click on any of these pictures to get a closer view. I recommend this for the largest one in particular, which does not show up very well on a small scale.
<br /></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WBqgsWrHFzI/Teme-3DpZyI/AAAAAAAAE3U/PNNcdi53NSg/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WBqgsWrHFzI/Teme-3DpZyI/AAAAAAAAE3U/PNNcdi53NSg/s288/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252001.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MwQ2l76Qlmw/Te1oo7oK_cI/AAAAAAAAE3w/TkOiWQbK7nU/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px; display: block; height: 123px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MwQ2l76Qlmw/Te1oo7oK_cI/AAAAAAAAE3w/TkOiWQbK7nU/s288/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252004.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Rid2JFgxMU0/Tf1puTUaLqI/AAAAAAAAE58/EFWiIDxnAHc/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252007.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 285px; display: block; height: 261px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Rid2JFgxMU0/Tf1puTUaLqI/AAAAAAAAE58/EFWiIDxnAHc/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252007.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-weight:bold;">III. Edging</span>
<br />Make no mistake: the edging may feel like an afterthought to the body of the stole, but it is a MAJOR undertaking all by itself, representing 30% (i.e. nearly 1/3!!) of the stitch-count for the project as a whole. The original Unst stole edging with its boxy squares in garter-stitch has always struck me as rather clunky, so I went hunting through <span style="font-style: italic;">Heirloom Knitting</span> again and chose a more delicate pattern that seemed to strike just the right note. It is called the Queen’s Lace Edging (<span style="font-style: italic;">HK</span>, p. 129) and fortunately has the same 20-row repeat as the original. It already includes a strip of faggotting along the inner edge, but I decided to incorporate the spider-hole insert from the original design as well.</p><p>A kind friend on Ravelry helped me do the math, which came out to a satisfyingly even total of 150 points: 20 across each of the short sides and 55 up/down the long sides, with sufficient ease before and after each corner to make the turns and still lie flat. The same Ravelry friend also advised me to go ahead and pick up stitches all the way around the stole on a long circular needle — 1420 of them, to be exact — to which the edging could then be attached. This took the better part of a day and was an ENORMOUS headache at the time (I won't pretend otherwise), but all that work up-front turned out to be a terrific investment. The Big Win was that it enabled me to double-check the spacing and stitch-counts and make minor adjustments in advance, rather than trying to do this on-the-fly and quite possibly having to rip out portions of the lace itself if something went awry. Now that I have all the stitches neatly held in reserve with markers at intervals to help me count, I no longer have to worry about whether the spacing will come out right and can therefore concentrate on the actual knitting, which poses enough of a challenge all by itself.</p><p>This third and final series of photos contains a close-up of the first 3 edging points, a wide shot of the entire stole, showing all the stitches bunched up on the circular needle with markers every 20 stitches along the edges and every 10 stitches near the corners, and finally my most recent picture showing the first *10* edging points (= halfway across the first short side).
<br /></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-iu_BuDO6uq0/TiQ7Lv5aF4I/AAAAAAAAFDI/yAtW1Zke0UI/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520edging%25252002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 168px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-iu_BuDO6uq0/TiQ7Lv5aF4I/AAAAAAAAFDI/yAtW1Zke0UI/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520edging%25252002.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b1HIyYVgQgs/TiQ7MeOhYqI/AAAAAAAAFDM/knTbhoPzsSE/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520edging%25252001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 215px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-b1HIyYVgQgs/TiQ7MeOhYqI/AAAAAAAAFDM/knTbhoPzsSE/s288/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520edging%25252001.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tcSy0kJn-eE/TkCvkPWVmDI/AAAAAAAAFUk/3kT4827MRIg/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520edging%25252003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tcSy0kJn-eE/TkCvkPWVmDI/AAAAAAAAFUk/3kT4827MRIg/s400/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520edging%25252003.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>The Queen's Lace is a 20-row repeat, as I mentioned, and the spider-hole insert is a 6-row repeat, so they line up together only occasionally (i.e. once after 1.5 repeats of the main pattern and again after 3 full ones). It's intricate and fiddly, with the added complication of working left-handed (chart dyslexia, anyone?). I think there's just a learning-curve and that it will speed up once I get the hang of how everything fits together. But I've been at it for several weeks now and still haven't turned the 1st corner, because I kept having to rip out bits. Two steps forward, one step back. Yesterday after yet another minor setback, I did manage to knit three or four points in a row without mishap, so maybe it will finally start to go more quickly from now on. That would certainly be nice, because at the rate I've been going so far, I estimate that it would take another 8 MONTHS or more to finish. Sigh. Clearly, no matter what, this edging is going to be with me for quite a while. <span style="font-style: italic;">Slow and steady, slow and steady, slow and steady...</span>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-69765652616720934502011-08-11T08:46:00.000-07:002011-08-11T08:50:07.175-07:00Portrait of the Knitter as a Middle-Aged Woman<p>My good friend Viki took this photo of me not long ago at a church gathering, where we sat outdoors on a glorious spring afternoon enjoying food and fellowship together. After the meal I got out my knitting, of course, and I have only to look at the picture to feel a wave of peace & contentment spreading over me, as it did on that day. I share it with Viki's gracious permission.</p><div align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vU8C0qLf2W8/TkMVS3f91sI/AAAAAAAAFac/17POET3vcMQ/s800/MRPP%252520knitting%252520at%252520the%252520skete%25252001.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vU8C0qLf2W8/TkMVS3f91sI/AAAAAAAAFac/17POET3vcMQ/s640/MRPP%252520knitting%252520at%252520the%252520skete%25252001.JPG" border="0" /></a></div>
<br />P.S. Note the dpn's in my hand. Not socks, though... I was working on an elegant pair of beaded cashmere gloves, about which there will be more to say on a later occasion in what I hope will be the not-too-distant future.
<br />MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-19811296234040530472011-08-11T07:23:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:25:51.868-07:00Happiness is... tenure, and my very 1st pair of handknitted SOCKS.<p><span style="font-style: italic;">OK. It's high time that I started catching up with myself around here, as I'm sure everyone will agree...</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></p><p>First and foremost I need to write about socks, so naturally (?!!) the place to start is with news from my professional life. A few months ago I became a tenured member of my college's faculty. This represents a major milestone in my academic career, and comes about as a result of many years' hard work and dedicated service, but apart from a blessed sabbatical this fall and slight rise in pay that will be VERY welcome when it kicks in at the start of the new school year, the fundamental nature of my work hasn't changed much at all. I will still be dividing my time between teaching, research, and other campus commitments as before. Oddly enough, the most noticeable difference so far has nothing to do with my job, and it's one that I manufactured myself by deliberately linking the tenure process to my initiation into the mysteries of sock knitting.</p><p>Remember <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/no-socks-until-tenure.html">this post from about a year ago</a>? In a nutshell, <span style="font-style: italic;">"No socks until tenure!!"</span> had been my personal mantra since graduate school in the 1990's. The inevitable corollary was that tenure finally meant SOCKS, and so over the course of the fall and winter, at each stage in the process -- submitting my dossier (August), getting a favorable ruling from the Faculty Evaluation Committee (October), meeting with the Dean (November), and finally receiving the official stamp of approval from the Board of Trustees (February) -- I began amassing a collection of sock yarn and sock patterns, in preparation for the big moment of casting on for the first pair.</p>I knew offhand that I would feel more comfortable using dpn's for socks, as opposed to either <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RybPvCNfrT8">two circulars</a> or <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtBSmxGomPk">Magic Loop</a>, despite the popularity of both these other methods. It's not a dogmatic thing for me, but a matter of personal preference and comfort. I just happen to like dpn's, having gotten over my once-upon-a-time phobia of the dreaded "prickly porcupine" by making various hand-warmers over the years. Of course one drawback is that you can't really knit two socks at once with dpn's, but there's a terrific approximation with two balls of yarn and two sets of needles, where you switch back and forth and knit the pair in tandem by stages: first both toes, then both feet, then both heels, and then both legs, or vice versa for top-down construction. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Works like a charm.</span> And due to what turned out to be a happy accident with my KnitPicks shopping cart a couple of years ago, I already had two sets of nickel-plated dpn's in typical sizes for socks (2.0 - 3.25 mm, US 0 - 3). It was the easiest thing in the world to form a good habit from the get-go and avoid "<a href="http://knitting.about.com/b/2008/03/19/do-you-suffer-from-second-sock-syndrome.htm">Second Sock Syndrome</a>" altogether.<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P_dIOeCs8Fo/TkPuucCF5VI/AAAAAAAAFa4/WgUD5w7qYG0/s144/Wildefoote%252520brick.jpg" border="0" />For the inaugural pair, I chose solid, dependable <a href="http://www.villagespinweave.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product/asp/hierarchy/0A/product-id/730905.html">Brown Sheep Wildfoote</a> in the colorway called "Bark Cloth" (= brick red, <span style="font-style: italic;">see left</span>), and a very simple pattern from Charlotte Schurch's <span style="font-style:italic;">Sensational Knitted Socks</span>: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Garter Rib Socks</span>. The Dean of my college actually called me right after the Trustees voted to grant me tenure, and I cast on that very evening (February 12th), using a 2.0 mm (US 0) needle, because I had heard from the friend who recommended Wildfoote to me that it wears like iron but does best with a tight gauge. Wow. Knitting an actual sock after so many years of build-up where sock knitting was Something That Happened To Other People made me feel light-headed, but the project itself was fairly uneventful. Since the pattern was top-down and I had no personal experience to guide me, I fussed a bit over estimating how long to make the leg so as not to run out of yarn at the end, but it all came out alright. For such a momentous event, I took LOTS of pictures. Here is a gallery documenting the various stages of completion. Click on any one of these thumbnails to see a larger view.</p><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NJLTvsAsDLU/TVist53v6uI/AAAAAAAAEg4/EpO0g6z7eWM/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NJLTvsAsDLU/TVist53v6uI/AAAAAAAAEg4/EpO0g6z7eWM/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252001.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y4xyNuC_nc0/TV3AltkOGHI/AAAAAAAAFaU/11y0zl901Cg/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 217px" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Y4xyNuC_nc0/TV3AltkOGHI/AAAAAAAAFaU/11y0zl901Cg/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252003.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OGOCoE0W44Q/TWh-1sNkTiI/AAAAAAAAFaM/VibblpvpkOk/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 254px; display: block; height: 217px" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OGOCoE0W44Q/TWh-1sNkTiI/AAAAAAAAFaM/VibblpvpkOk/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252004.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pnsRb2ncxLw/TW1MQSkPCgI/AAAAAAAAFaE/xpJ8dlsmncY/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 237px" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pnsRb2ncxLw/TW1MQSkPCgI/AAAAAAAAFaE/xpJ8dlsmncY/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252009.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hnxHRyTj5yc/TW6zYNRbjbI/AAAAAAAAEjw/uuoCgVvlq4k/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 254px; display: block; height: 172px" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hnxHRyTj5yc/TW6zYNRbjbI/AAAAAAAAEjw/uuoCgVvlq4k/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252013.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fgaFNyWOyhQ/TW8Rz22DHRI/AAAAAAAAEkk/VaaAGSITSRI/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252017.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 300px" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fgaFNyWOyhQ/TW8Rz22DHRI/AAAAAAAAEkk/VaaAGSITSRI/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252017.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nQBVC-J1cNo/TXFbBboAEWI/AAAAAAAAEk4/-OvZIVhYmqg/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252021.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 254px; display: block; height: 190px" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nQBVC-J1cNo/TXFbBboAEWI/AAAAAAAAEk4/-OvZIVhYmqg/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252021.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-GTNjWy9vCxc/TXGEGrukq_I/AAAAAAAAElc/8KrsYMDeJXg/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252022.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 273px" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-GTNjWy9vCxc/TXGEGrukq_I/AAAAAAAAElc/8KrsYMDeJXg/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252022.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HFhLwXeMydc/TkL5G5eNjCI/AAAAAAAAFZI/kWplYJN-Ets/s800/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252025.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 254px; display: block; height: 227px" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HFhLwXeMydc/TkL5G5eNjCI/AAAAAAAAFZI/kWplYJN-Ets/s288/Garter%252520Rib%252520Sock%25252025.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The entire project took about 2 1/2 weeks from start to finish, and the socks turned out to be gratifyingly comfy and warm, although the fit is perhaps not quite as snug as I might have ideally preferred. Definitely good enough to be getting on with, though, and especially for a first attempt. I felt so proud of myself as a newbie sock knitter that I wore them pretty much continually until the second pair was ready to join in a rotation. :-)</p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-73762446944107325182011-06-20T17:43:00.001-07:002011-06-20T22:03:51.338-07:00List Mania<p><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">OK, let's just come out & admit it</span>: this past school year was NOT terribly kind to my blog on the whole, and it wasn't just coming up for tenure that caused the recurring difficulties. I faced a veritable host of other distractions.</p><p><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ikpob51y7tE/TgAYBkt7JkI/AAAAAAAAE7w/s2CgYgKl73k/s800/Ghost%252520and%252520Goblin%252520-%252520end%252520of%252520February%252520and%252520fungus%252520free.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ikpob51y7tE/TgAYBkt7JkI/AAAAAAAAE7w/s2CgYgKl73k/s288/Ghost%252520and%252520Goblin%252520-%252520end%252520of%252520February%252520and%252520fungus%252520free.jpg" border="0" /></a>Ghost & Goblin, formerly known due to ringworm as the "<a href="http://www.blogger.com/The%20" a="">plague kittens</a>" or <span style="font-style:italic;">chatonnes de la peste</span>, were finally pronounced fungus-free and released from their long quarantine at the end of February. Here they are shown blissfully sleeping on the first afternoon in their new much more spacious & comfy abode. When the quarantine was lifted, I had a sore back and lot of catching up to do in all the other aspects of my life that had been woefully neglected while I dutifully sat tending baby cats in "The Haunted Loo." I barely remember the month of March, and the rest of the spring went WHOOSH!! Thankfully I managed to stay afloat in all of my courses, but I could tell that I was slowly-but-surely running out of steam. The prospect of a sabbatical from teaching in the coming fall was just about the only thing that kept me going to the end of Winter term. And then I took a group of students abroad to study Roman Italy for 2 1/2 weeks in May, which accounted for about twice that much time in preparation beforehand and afterward in recovery.</p><p>So the blog in 2010-2011 has had gaps & hiatuses up one side and down the other. On the up-side, I kept knitting at least, whenever time allowed, meaning that I have quite a lot of nifty stuff to showcase here, now that the summer is offering me a chance to catch up once again.</p>One way to quantify progress over the last twelve months is to compare what I've gotten done to the seemingly endless <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/06/in-first-week-of-summer-knitter-on_08.html">catalog of WIP's</a> from June 2010. And the BIG news on that front is that I have now successfully completed eight (*8*) of the twelve (*12*) projects on that list, as follows...<br /><ol><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stained Glass Felted Bag</span>: completed in June 2010, within days of the original WIP list and written up <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/06/stained-glass.html">here</a>;<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fiddlehead Mittens</span>: completed in late August 2010, and discussed in the end-of-summer wrap-up <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/im-baaaaaaack-with-end-of-summer-wrap.html">here</a>;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Candlelight Kimono</span>: likewise completed in late August 2010, and discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/im-baaaaaaack-with-end-of-summer-wrap.html">here</a>;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frejya sweater</span>: FINALLY completed in March 2011, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed in full</span>;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Stornoway</span>: completed in October 2010, and discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/holy-fishermans-sweaters-batman.html">here</a> (with additional photos <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/04/somehow-in-midst-of-letting-blog-lie.html">here</a>);</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Evenstar</span>: completed in at the end of June 2010, and discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/07/evenstar-blocking-magic-perilous-repair.html">here</a>;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">American Beauty</span>: completed in time for Easter 2011, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed in full</span>;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Elm Row</span>: completed in December 2010, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed in full</span>.</li></ol>Right now the only projects that I have going, and the only WIP's listed on my Ravelry profile, are the remaining four of the original twelve. <span style="font-weight: bold;">They actually fit across a single row on my little laptop screen!! </span>I have been waiting a long time to see that happen. Although they are all on separate timetables and at different stages of completion, I have been making as-of-yet undocumented progress lately on two of them in particular, as follows...<br /><ol><li><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-MIUGGXclreQ/Teme_IEXgXI/AAAAAAAAE3Y/G22bostY2eQ/s800/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-MIUGGXclreQ/Teme_IEXgXI/AAAAAAAAE3Y/G22bostY2eQ/s144/Unst%252520stole%252520-%252520border%25252002.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Unst Stole</span>: currently somewhere ~55-60% complete, with the center (FINALLY!!) and one border segment done. When the 2nd border is finished (sometime in July?), I will have only the edging left to do, and the project will stand at 75% complete. This project may have stalled out a couple of times before, but it is most definitely "over the hump" now, and I fully expect to have it wrapped up by the end of the summer.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Eriskay</span>: the body is thankfully complete up to the armholes, including the bottom part of the underarm gussets, and I recently divided the stitches for the yoke. I have begun work on the back portion, and hope to have both yokes finished by the end of the summer and the entire sweater by Christmas.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mehndi</span> does not really deserve to be called a WIP, strictly speaking, since all I did in April 2010 was to cast on and knit far enough into the 1st chart to see what the yarn & beads & pattern would look like together. It did not amount to more than just a swatch, in other words, and I am still waiting for the right moment to pick it up and start work in earnest. Look for news sometime later this summer.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Peggy Tudor</span> has been on hold for a while, waiting for me to get a long list of other things out of the way so that I can concentrate on the next segment. For the sweater is cunningly designed to be assembled out of many small pieces. I am deliberately setting no deadlines for this project, so that I can take it at a natural, unhurried pace and savor the intricacy of the process without ever having to distress myself over it. So while I expect to complete it sometime in 2012, I refuse to make any more detailed forecasts.</li></ol>Meanwhile, in the past year all of the following additional projects also came and went, whether I have managed to write about them yet or not...<br /><ol><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Herbert Niebling lace (x2)</span>: I did a practice square in crochet cotton and a rectangular piece in gossamer silk from the same pattern, with the latter as a wedding gift for my sister-in-law and her husband. Both were completed in July 2010, as discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/07/faith-hope-and-love-wedding-gift-to.html">here</a> and <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/im-baaaaaaack-with-end-of-summer-wrap.html">here</a>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frosted Leaf Necklace</span>: with this lovely <a href="http://earthfaire.com/product_info.php?products_id=4274">kit from Earthfaire</a>, I made my first foray into knitting beaded jewelry. It was completed in September 2010 and discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/frosted-leaf-necklace.html">here</a>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rivendell Cowl</span>: I splurged with some birthday money and bought the luxury color-shifting yarn to make this showpiece from Susan Pandorf, completed in December 2010, and discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/04/rivendell-cowl.html">here</a>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Unikatissima's Lace Advent Calendar</span>: this was a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing knit, completed just after New Year's and discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/04/advent-calendar-scarf.html">here</a>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Continuum Legwarmers</span>: a magnificent design by Sivia Harding, completed in January 2011, and discussed <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/04/continuum-legwarmers.html">here</a> (sadly my most recent post, prior to this one).</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Elm Leaves wristlets</span>: made to match Elm Row, completed in February and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Garter Rib Socks (a.k.a. "Look Who's Got Tenure Now)</span>: my very first pair of socks, completed in early March, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bunny Mittens</span>: lined in alpaca and exquisitely warm, completed in early March, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oak Grove Mitts</span>: a design by Anna Dalvi done up in exquisite <a href="http://www.sanguinegryphon.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=18_65">Sanguine Gryphon Bugga!</a> yarn, completed in mid-March, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gingerbread House Socks</span>: my 2nd pair ever, with a lovely lace pattern and custom fit to just below the knee, completed in late March, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Eomer Shield Tam</span>: a lovely colorwork pattern and my first ever test-knit for a friend on Ravelry who designed it, completed in late March, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Northern Lights Bracele</span>t: my second beaded jewelry piece, also a <a href="http://earthfaire.com/product_info.php?products_id=2609">kit from Earthfaire</a>, this one using mood beads that change color when the ambient temperature goes up or down. Completed in May, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">In Dreams</span>: the second Tolkien-inspired mystery lace KAL by Susan Pandorf, using a custom "gradiance" colorway from The Unique Sheep (that I helped to design) and containing ~5000 beads, completed in June, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sorrento Sunset</span>: my travel-knitting for the Italy trip with a group of students (see above), completed in June shortly after we returned, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beaded Blue Cashmere Gloves</span>: my first non-fingerless glove project in luxurious 100% cashmere, completed just this past weekend, and <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed at all</span>.</li></ol><p>So I have been a busy little professor in 2010-2011, and no mistake. What is more, even leaving aside any long-term plans and ignoring undue pressure from the back of the queue, I expect to launch at least two new projects in the coming week: a <span style="font-weight: bold;">3rd pair of socks</span>, now that the gloves are off the WIP list (as per <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/06/ps-rules-governing-new-projects.html">My Rules</a>, to which I fully intend to adhere), and a <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/p/summer-2011-back-to-garden.html">summer KAL</a> from BadCat designs where I will make a circular shawl bringing together gossamer CashSilk leftover from the Princess project, itty bitty 11/0 beads, and (for the first time in my life) nupps. Yes, I said *NUPPS*.</p><p>To be perfectly honest, the challenge for me is really not in the knitting, but in the typing, the text-writing, the image-processing, and the web-publishing. I have labored to produce this elaborate catalog today, therefore, as a testimony to the progress that I have made on the knitting side of things, even during the recurring periods of silence. And, more importantly for the sake of the blog, the same can also serve as a To Do list for the next few weeks. Let's see if I can REALLY get caught up by the end of this month, by documenting all my newest work as it happens, and by gradually writing up all the projects that as of right now are <span style="font-style: italic;">not yet discussed</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">in full</span> (= 3 total) or <span style="font-style: italic;">at all</span> (= 10). Clearly I have my work cut out for me...</p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-9287765228013845742011-04-05T16:13:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:37:17.784-07:00Continuum Legwarmers<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Stress points in the space-time continuinuinuum...</span> — Ponder Stibbons, Department of High-Energy Magic, Unseen University
<br />(from the novel <span style="font-style: italic;">The Last Continent</span>, by Terry Pratchett, c. 1988)</div>
<br /><p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEeS6CmTYI/AAAAAAAAEXw/2P6kYLQ0jnA/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2000d%20-%20yarn%20and%20beads.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEeS6CmTYI/AAAAAAAAEXw/2P6kYLQ0jnA/s288/Continuum%20legwarmers%2000d%20-%20yarn%20and%20beads.jpg" border="0" /></a>The minute I saw Sivia Harding's <a href="http://www.siviaharding.com/patterns/continuum/">Continuum legwarmers</a>, featuring 100's of beads and an amazing Celtic cable design, they went right to the top of my queue for Christmas break. I thought of them as my Christmas gift to myself. Our house gets decidedly chilly in the winter, you see, and for the sake of the long afternoons and evenings that I often spend sitting still while struggling to stay warm, I sought to maximize the coziness factor by using an alpaca yarn (Knit Picks <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/cfyarns/yarn_display.cfm?id=5420107">Andean Treasure</a>). I paired the rich charcoal gray color called Mystery Heather with 6/0 beads in <a href="http://earthfaire.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_31&products_id=4538">Metallic Amethyst Gunmetal</a>. The beads glow with a quiet and distinctly purple intensity that marks a delightful contrast with the fuzzy warmth of the yarn. It was a match made in heaven (see left, and click for a closer view).
<br /></p><p>The ~450 beads for each warmer had to be strung in advance, which got interesting as I went along, because each skein of the yarn contained only 110 yards. I used six skeins in all, and although I always tried to err on the side of stringing too many beads at any given time, rather than too few, inevitably there were a lot leftover whenever I changed skeins, so I ended up re-stringing some of them several times. It felt like many more than 1,000 beads!!</p><p>But the biggest challenge that I faced with this project was not the beads: it was the fit. The original design called for 100% wool yarn, with a broad flare toward the bottom to accommodate a pant leg and/or boot. See the example shown in white on the left <a href="http://www.siviaharding.com/patterns/continuum/">here</a>. Of course alpaca fiber, though warmer by weight than wool, has little trace of the elasticity and springiness for which sheep fleece is justly famous, so I knew I would probably end up altering the pattern somewhat to help the legwarmers stay up. But I was still surprised by just how much the fabric wanted to stretch out and hang loose around my ankles. To make the fabric more pliable, I decided to move up a needle size to a US size 6 (4.0 mm), which naturally also enhanced the floppiness of the bell-bottom.</p><p>In fact, after some experimentation, I ended up reworking the lower half of each warmer to remove the bell-bottom increases altogether. It took several weeks to complete the alterations. The end result fits a lot more snugly, although the ankle still flares out to some extent. I still wouldn't trust them to stay up either, if I need to walk or move around very much, and especially if I wear them over any kind of slippery fabric.</p><p>I used <a href="http://curiousknitter.blogspot.com/2009/09/jeny-stretchy-slipknot-cast-on.html">Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Slip-Knot Cast-On</a> for this project again, as I had first done with <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2011/04/rivendell-cowl.html">Rivendell</a>, and then I also taught myself the corresponding <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php">Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off</a>, which has since proven its usefulness time and time again. It is so much fun to experiment with new knitting techniques and expand one's repertoire.</p><p>The top two photos below show the upper portion of one warmer and the elaborate cable motif at the knee. Then there is a picture of the knitting in progress, followed by two full-length shots of the finished object: one as written from the first time around, with all the extra fabric, and the second as I revised the pattern to make the two ends match. The change in shape was really quite dramatic. As always, click on any of these images to take a closer look.</p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEZnQ9mMII/AAAAAAAAEXU/Jmbuibs35xE/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2001a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 180px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEZnQ9mMII/AAAAAAAAEXU/Jmbuibs35xE/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2001a.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEZoDWCvoI/AAAAAAAAEXk/-wp_Jw-zrOc/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2001e.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 180px;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEZoDWCvoI/AAAAAAAAEXk/-wp_Jw-zrOc/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2001e.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEZno8QwZI/AAAAAAAAEXY/SCJM2q4uYT8/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2001b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSEZno8QwZI/AAAAAAAAEXY/SCJM2q4uYT8/s400/Continuum%20legwarmers%2001b.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TZuzKfTj6lI/AAAAAAAAEwI/QSARw77Ac8o/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2002a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TZuzKfTj6lI/AAAAAAAAEwI/QSARw77Ac8o/s400/Continuum%20legwarmers%2002a.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TTESB-3uwTI/AAAAAAAAEZk/izjskiCPPvc/s800/Continuum%20legwarmers%2003a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TTESB-3uwTI/AAAAAAAAEZk/izjskiCPPvc/s400/Continuum%20legwarmers%2003a.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><p>These elegant beaded legwarmers do a magnificent job of fending off the cold, and they look fantastic all the while, but I have to admit that they also tend to fall down at the slightest provocation. So I have concluded that they are best suited for times when I need extra warmth while staying put for extended periods, such as around the house or in the car. Fortunately, there are plenty of such times, when I can put them to good use. They perform beautifully under the right conditions. I have plans to make another pair in pure wool specifically for my walks to/from work, either with an even more heavily modified version of this design, or perhaps with another pattern entirely. <span style="font-style: italic;">Never a shortage of new knitting projects around here, no sirree...</span></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-41242596979897798902011-04-05T15:47:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:57:09.174-07:00Stornoway Photos<p>Somehow, in the midst of letting the blog lie fallow for so long, I managed not to post any pretty pictures here of my dear hubbly wearing his Stornoway guernsey. So here are two shots of him in the sweater, holding our beloved Wobbles. We rescued this astonishingly fluffy little tiger-cat in 2008, when she was a mere 18 hours old. She had to be bottle fed for the first several weeks, until she could start to eat solid food. Her name came from watching her learn to get around on her stumpy little legs. As always, click on either photo to take a closer look.</p><p></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TQeHzo2pHnI/AAAAAAAAETY/FX4vpC8VBak/s800/Stornoway%20014A%20-%20worn%20with%20Wobbles.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 222px; display: block; height: 236px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TQeHzo2pHnI/AAAAAAAAETY/FX4vpC8VBak/s800/Stornoway%20014A%20-%20worn%20with%20Wobbles.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TQeHzirEjbI/AAAAAAAAETc/fGbPXba972o/s800/Stornoway%20014B%20-%20worn%20with%20Wobbles.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 236px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TQeHzirEjbI/AAAAAAAAETc/fGbPXba972o/s800/Stornoway%20014B%20-%20worn%20with%20Wobbles.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-25584267382202064032011-04-05T11:12:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:56:35.188-07:00Rivendell Cowl<p><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TPFll74ogKI/AAAAAAAAEOw/_Xhm7EZ9vSA/s800/Twisted%20Fiber%20Arts%20Muse%20-%20Vintage%20Evolution%20special%20order%2001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TPFll74ogKI/AAAAAAAAEOw/_Xhm7EZ9vSA/s288/Twisted%20Fiber%20Arts%20Muse%20-%20Vintage%20Evolution%20special%20order%2001.jpg" border="0" /></a>The parade of knitted objects from my blog-sabbatical continues...</p><p>One of the little indulgences that I allowed myself during the Christmas holiday was to knit Susan Pandorf's <a href="http://afewstitchesshort.blogspot.com/2010/04/rivendell.html">Rivendell cowl</a> with the luxury yarn specified in the pattern. <a href="http://www.twistedfiberart.com/product_p/evntg-f.htm">Muse</a> from <a href="http://www.twistedfiberart.com/default.asp">Twisted Fiber Art</a> is a sport-weight blend of 50% merino wool and 50% silk, with a dreamy hand and a not-so-subtle sheen. I ordered a custom version of the long-striping "<a href="http://www.twistedfiberart.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=58">Evolution</a>" colorway called <a href="http://www.twistedfiberart.com/product_p/evntg-f.htm">Vintage</a>. This colorway normally shifts from pale gray-green to burgundy and then to pink, but I asked for more of the dark wine color than usual, and for a tad less yellow in the green. What emerged was a lovely mixture of warm gray and burgundy, shading into pale pink. I had a devil of a time getting the colors to show up accurately in digital pictures, but the photo of the yarn (above right) is a fairly good approximation.</p><p>The pattern is another one of Susan's exquisite Tolkien-inspired lace designs, featuring interlocking archways, reminiscent of Elven architecture as shown in the LOTR movies, with twisted stitches to lend texture and depth to the fabric. It was a very easy knit that took only a few days, a brief span made all the more satisfying and enjoyable by the gradually shifting colors. I got to teach myself the left-handed version of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n8E3I6Cg2k">Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Slip-Knot Cast-On</a>, and could have kept knitting more or less indefinitely. But I stopped short of using up the entire skein, because I decided not to place the very palest shade of baby pink next to my face.</p><p>The knitted object proved even more difficult to photograph than the skein of yarn, but here are my two best shots, one taken part way through the knitting and the other during blocking. As always, click on either photo to see a larger version. But note that the finished object has less magenta in it and more petal pink than the photo shows. The actual colors are more like what you see in the skein of yarn. At any rate, I wear this cowl often, usually with a gray turtleneck underneath. It adds a marvelous splash of color that helps to cheer me up on those dreary winter days when I have to head into work and try to inspire my students.</p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TQ2LlgXt2MI/AAAAAAAAEU4/iVtUXzVU-uc/s800/Rivendell%20smoke%20ring%2003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 235px; display: block; height: 176px;" alt="" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TQ2LlgXt2MI/AAAAAAAAEU4/iVtUXzVU-uc/s800/Rivendell%20smoke%20ring%2003.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TRTKdxbbu2I/AAAAAAAAEWg/u4LLu44evOE/s800/Rivendell%20smoke%20ring%2017.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 225px; display: block; height: 300px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TRTKdxbbu2I/AAAAAAAAEWg/u4LLu44evOE/s800/Rivendell%20smoke%20ring%2017.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-15091252931406073312011-04-04T19:28:00.000-07:002011-08-15T18:39:04.414-07:00Advent Calendar Scarf<p>Now without further ado, let's start the recap with a BIG personal favorite, in more ways than one... :-)</p><p>I basically kept up with the daily clues for <a href="http://www.unikatissima.de/e/?page_id=4523">unikatissima's Advent Calendar scarf</a> all the way along. In fact, I even finished the main part of the knitting a day or two early (i.e. on Dec. 23rd), because the designer published the last several clues all at once for the benefit of those who might be traveling over the holidays, and so I went ahead and blitzed through them. But then I decided to embellish the piece with an applied edging all the way around, and that took a while. I had to order more yarn first, for one thing. Fortunately I did not have to worry about matching dye lots, though, since I was using <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Bare_Palette_Fingering_Yarn__D5420144.html">natural (undyed) Peruvian Highland wool</a>. The package arrived in about a week, and I managed to be back underway by New Year's Eve. I set a goal of completing the edging and blocking the scarf in time for Russian Christmas on Jan. 6th, the date celebrated by Western Christians as Epiphany, which also happens to be our wedding anniversary. :-)</p><p><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSENrObRUEI/AAAAAAAAEXM/ReNZl59uZoc/s800/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%20edging%2001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 240px; height: 320px;" alt="" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSENrObRUEI/AAAAAAAAEXM/ReNZl59uZoc/s288/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%20edging%2001.jpg" border="0" /></a>I chose to do a slight variation on the "Doris Edging" from p. 74 of Sharon Miller's book <span style="font-style: italic;">Heirloom Knitting</span> (see left, and click for a larger view), mainly because the framed diamonds seemed to harmonize nicely with the rest of the lace design. The 12-row repeat (= 6 attachments per edging point) turned out to be ideal for me, because by sheer dumb luck both the stitch count across the top & bottom (= 66) and the row-count along the sides of my augmented scarf/stole (= 294) came out as even multiples of 6. By squeezing the points at either end of each long side into half the usual space, then, I found that I could provide sufficient ease so that the corners would eventually lie flat.</p><p>I finished the knitting on Jan. 5th. It came out to 11 points across each of the short ends and 51 points down each long side (= 124 points in all).</p><p>This scarf is HUGE by anyone's standards. I decided to emphasize length over width when blocking it, and the only way to get it to fit on the bed was to fold it more or less in half horizontally and block a double layer. I did not stretch it as hard as I could, though, because I wanted the fabric to have some stretchiness and give to it. So the finished measurements are 20” wide x 104” long (i.e. 51 x 264 cm). It’s really more stole than scarf, I suppose, but in the dead of winter, I love having an extra-long scarf that I can wrap around my head & neck several times and still have plenty of yardage hanging at the front/back.</p><p>Here's a blocking photo (left), and a picture of me wearing the scarf (right), as I have done pretty much every day since its completion. My 2010 Advent Calendar project quickly became a beloved addition to my wardrobe, as well as a conversation piece. As always, click on either image to see a larger view.</p><p></p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSU92_KB6QI/AAAAAAAAEYw/MjADnXYwADg/s800/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%20blocked%2003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; display: block; width: 235px; height: 330px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TSU92_KB6QI/AAAAAAAAEYw/MjADnXYwADg/s288/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%20blocked%2003.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TT0ATh4CsUI/AAAAAAAAEbs/1vn8Gm_T-c4/s800/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%20worn%2001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 165px; display: block; height: 330px;" alt="" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TT0ATh4CsUI/AAAAAAAAEbs/1vn8Gm_T-c4/s800/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%20worn%2001.jpg%22" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-42388929066445766762011-04-04T18:39:00.000-07:002011-04-05T19:24:57.430-07:00I guess I would rather knit than blog about it, but still...YIKES!!<p style="font-weight: bold;">Greetings, dear readers. I am back. :-)<br /></p><p>I have a LOT of catching up to do (= <span style="font-style: italic;">understatement of the year</span>).</p><p>And I owe each and every one of you a sincere apology. There is no good excuse for letting the blog languish for as long as it has. I have been wrestling with a tough teaching schedule all semester, including bouts of fatigue and respiratory illness, but that's always true at this time of year. Welcome to life in academia. I guess the bottom line is that whenever I have managed to eek out any spare time lately, I have wanted to spend it knitting rather than maintaining a chronicle about knitting. I have managed to keep my project notes on Ravelry up to date, and to post pictures there and on Facebook as well. But no blog. I keep telling myself, "<span style="font-style: italic;">This weekend I will return. This weekend..."</span> and then not quite getting around to it.</p><p>All of which ends today, with this post. I really really REALLY want to get back into the swing of things again. I have lots of exciting projects to talk about -- past, present, and future -- and the sooner I get caught up on the finished ones, the easier it will be to stay current with WIP's. So let's do this thing. Here and now.</p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-24283145776570734342010-12-04T13:32:00.001-08:002011-08-15T18:40:20.346-07:00Lace Advent Calendar 2010, Day 4<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TPqyiwrxNUI/AAAAAAAAERg/Wju0xvbxoac/s800/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%2004a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TPqyiwrxNUI/AAAAAAAAERg/Wju0xvbxoac/s400/Lace%20Advent%20Calendar%202010%20-%2004a.jpg" border="0" /></a>I just finished Day 4 of <a href="http://www.unikatissima.de/e/?page_id=4523">unikatissima's Lace Advent Calendar</a>, using <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Bare_Palette_Fingering_Yarn__D5420144.html">KnitPicks Bare Peruvian Highland Wool </a>(fingering weight) and 3.75 mm (US size 5) needles. Here's what it looks like so far. The motif for day 4 reminds me of a row of candle-flames, with the glowing aura around each one. Click on the image to get an even closer view. :-)</p><p>The yarn feels incredibly soft and squishy (<span style="font-style: italic;">squooshy</span>??). I made sure to give the scarf enough width (66 stitches = 4 x 16 + 2) so that it could eventually be folded and/or rolled in half the long way for a double layer of cuddly warmth. As you can see, the various lace patterns have been carefully selected and arranged so that each one flows seamlessly into the next, but to ensure that the finished product will be long enough to match the width, I am sneaking in a few extra rows here and there, wherever it is possible to add pattern repeats without disrupting that crucial flow. So I did 6 extra rows on day 1, and 4 on day 2, but none on day 3 (where I would have had to add 8 rows, which seemed like a bit much) or day 4 (which is a transitional pattern that did not want to be repeated). I also did a provisional cast-on, so that a beaded edging of some kind can be applied at the end. I like the idea of keeping my options open, depending on how it all turns out.</p><p>It will be fun to watch the pattern evolve over the coming days, between now and Christmas Eve. I really like the idea of using increments of lace knitting to mark the Advent season. <span style="font-style: italic;">Veni, veni Emmanuel...</span></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-48760904926821361532010-12-04T07:06:00.000-08:002010-12-04T09:46:40.164-08:002.5 out of 3 and counting...<p>Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, I had <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/11/resolution-take-that-how-you-will.html">three knitting goals</a>: (i) to finish the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Frejya sweater</span>, tail and all, (ii) to bring <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eriskay</span> up to the armholes, and (iii) to get past the heavily beaded bottom segment (= 7.5 pattern repeats in all, ~30 more rows) of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Elm Row'</span>s second half. Then, I thought, it would be OK to start something new for a chance. And despite the inevitable delays and distractions, I am happy to report that I managed to complete 2.5 of the three during the break. :-)</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Frejya</span> is, not surprisingly, the one partial hold-out. I find it very hard to work on the painstaking embellishments when I am tired, which is, alas, almost always the case in these waning days of the fall term, especially right after I get home from work (i.e. during my prime knitting hours). So my progress remains maddeningly slow, but I am encouraged by the extent to which incremental steps continue to be taken. I have finished the face of the cat and one paw (two to go!) and acquired the googly eyes for the goldfish. Anita (<a href="http://thefiberartist.blogspot.com/">The Fiber Artist</a>) and I made an informal pact at our last Odd Tuesday gathering (Nov. 23rd) to complete a sweater each before the next meeting (Dec. 7th), since we both have projects very near to completion that require just one final push to get them "D-U-N done." I intend to wrap up the last few bits of embroidery *today* and then, God willing, to deal with the tail tomorrow (and the next day??), so that I really can wear the sweater to the next Odd Tuesday. Suffice to say that having this perennial project off my "To Do" list would be cause for GREAT rejoicing. As an added reminder that the darn thing is still pending, I am holding off on further photos at least until the embroidery is complete.</p><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TPHTSitLP8I/AAAAAAAAEP8/mak0ad9enSs/s800/Eriskay%20012%20-%20to%20the%20armholes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TPHTSitLP8I/AAAAAAAAEP8/mak0ad9enSs/s288/Eriskay%20012%20-%20to%20the%20armholes.jpg" border="0" /></a>Although Frejya went slowly, I got excited about <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eriskay</span> and was able to complete not only the diamond pattern in the lower part (which was my original goal) but also the 18-row horizontal band that ends right at the armholes and marks the transition to the ornate yoke. I am following the instructions for the medium size, but added a repeat of the diamond pattern as per the large, once having reassured myself that the amount of yarn on 2 cones of <a href="http://www.guernseywool.co.uk/">Frangipani</a> would suffice, so that the sweater will have plenty of length below the armholes. I want it to be ample, more like a man's sweater, since that's my preferred <span style="font-style: italic;">modus operandi </span>in the depths of winter. I inherited several sweaters from dear old dad, and wear them often, grateful for the extra coverage. Click on the image above for a closer look at one of the lovely armhole gussets, although I should warn you that the dark plum color (code name "<a href="http://seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com/2009/09/damson-plums.html">Damson</a>") does not lend itself terribly well to low-light photography. I am waiting for a sunny day to see about getting some better pictures.</p><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/SuYZCJfFNsI/AAAAAAAABug/tJcJhNS8B30/s800/Unique%20Sheep%20Eos%20-%20Deep%20Forest%20-%20beads%20C.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/SuYZCJfFNsI/AAAAAAAABug/tJcJhNS8B30/s288/Unique%20Sheep%20Eos%20-%20Deep%20Forest%20-%20beads%20C.jpg" border="0" /></a>With <span style="font-weight: bold;">Elm Row</span>, my ambitions were fairly limited as well, but again I managed to exceed my goal by a wide(ish) margin. Happily, once I got going, it did not take long to make my way past the heavily beaded section, and then the work sped up enough for me to do several more pattern repeats. In fact, I surged ahead with it this past week and am now just *6* pattern repeats from the end. Happy dance!! Since the scarf/stole is destined to become a Christmas present, I am reluctant to post pictures of the finished piece until after the holiday, but I have to say that the combination of the <a href="http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/elm-row-p-111.html">graceful design</a> by Anne Hanson, the sunny green-and-brown colorway ("Deep Forest") from The Unique Sheep (also shown <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/SsuFYF4FHmI/AAAAAAAABjo/wr2CbtWeOoI/s800/Unique%20Sheep%20Eos%20-%20Deep%20Forest.jpg">here</a>), and the sparkling metallic gold-lined crystal beads from Earthfaire, has proven to be a winner and I think blocking will really open up the lace into something truly special. Anne has also recently come out with this <a href="http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/elm-leaves-p-395.html">complementary pattern</a> (and yes, I do mean that with an "e," as in "complementary angles"), which I am hoping the remainder of the skein will allow me to make in addition, as the perfect little flourish for the gift.</p><p>So where does that leave us in relation to new projects?? Well... I went ahead and joined this <a href="http://www.unikatissima.de/e/?page_id=4523">Advent KAL</a>, on the grounds that it's not a big time commitment (12-32 rows per day) and will be over in just 3 1/2 weeks. Keeping up with the daily increments will get a lot easier too when classes end next Friday (December 10th). Because it is such a short-term thing, I'm not counting it as a "real" WIP either, but especially with Elm Row suddenly and unexpectedly so close to completion, I'm incredibly reluctant to start anything else until that and Frejya are finally done once and for all, leaving me with *5* of the original dozen, plus the KAL. Then, and only then, will I feel at liberty to cast on for something from my queue. <span style="font-style: italic;">*Almost* there...</span><br /></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-64637710910214899442010-11-22T07:42:00.000-08:002010-11-22T15:26:38.053-08:00Resolution (take that how you will)<p>I love my walk to work in the morning, because it always gives me a chance to mull things over, like impromptu lesson plans, household To Do lists, or knitting projects past, present, and future.</p><p>Today I decided on the best way to handle the growing tension between the need to wrap up WIP's and the urge to start new projects. This coming week, with the Thanksgiving holiday, will be a break from classes and should give me a chance to get some real knitting done. So... If I can manage to complete three simple tasks — (i) finish Frejya finally, tail and all, (ii) get past the heavily beaded section of Elm Row Part II (~35 more rows), and (iii) reach the armholes of Eriskay (all of which are eminently doable and within my grasp) — I will give myself permission to launch one new smaller project, like a pair of mittens or a piece of jewelry. I have a great big pile of such things in my queue, all lined up and ready to go, so now I will have both an incentive to make progress on the longstanding larger items *and* an opportunity to indulge in the easy gratification of colorful and/or shiny things that can be completed in just a day or two.</p><p>And if I play my cards right, the total project count won't ever have to go above *7*, which is where it stands right now. I think I can live with that. <span style="font-style: italic;">Happy dance!!</span> :-)</p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-42219366205140632142010-11-21T21:11:00.000-08:002010-11-22T15:23:55.105-08:00Operating Difficulties<p>Here at The Faculty Meeting Knitter we have been experiencing <span>operating difficulties</span> lately on a number of fronts.</p><p>The trusty old Sony digital camera conked out several weeks ago, for one thing, after nearly eight years of loyal service. I was totally flummoxed by the sudden inability to take pictures. But before choosing a replacement device, I consulted with a friend of mine, a librarian at my college who freelances as a photographer and could therefore speak knowledgeably about all the latest advances in technology. The consumer market has certainly changed a lot! I told her what we wanted (something solid and reliable, and not too expensive, that could run on rechargeable AA batteries, to be used mainly for point-and-shoot but with manual override available), and she came up with several options within our price range. There was a <a href="http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/fujifilm_finepix_s1800_review/">Fuji</a> at the "high-end of the low-end" that won over both me and my husband almost immediately, so we ordered it posthaste, and it arrived with fanfares a few days ago. It offers a dazzling range of features for what felt like an astonishingly low price, but although it is intuitively designed and very easy to use, at least on full-auto, it's going to take a while for me to get fully comfortable with it. This post, alas, will perforce be predominantly text-based.<br /></p><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TOl9ljkQuUI/AAAAAAAAEOU/Ej3kXzOhv2E/s800/Ghost%20and%20Goblin%20-%2012%20weeks%20old%2002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TOl9ljkQuUI/AAAAAAAAEOU/Ej3kXzOhv2E/s288/Ghost%20and%20Goblin%20-%2012%20weeks%20old%2002.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here's one nice shot that my husband took, however, showing me with <span style="font-style: italic;">les chatonnes de la peste</span> (female "plague kittens"). That's Goblin in brown & white on the left and Ghost in beige & white on the right. They are growing by leaps and bounds, while steadily overcoming <a href="http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ringworm.html">the scourge of ringworm</a> in their bathroom quarantine, affectionately known as "The Haunted Loo" because of their names and the odd thumps and plaintive voices heard from within. Last Monday they went to the vet for a round of vaccinations and weighed in at a respectable 3 lbs. 10 oz. for little Goblin and a whopping 4 lbs. 3.5 oz. for her larger sister. If indeed they are litter-mates, as we surmise, then they are probably the runt and the largest of the lot. I think this picture really brings out the family resemblance between them, especially in the shape of their faces and the patterning around their eyes.</p><p>We are determined to raise them as affectionate "people kitties" rather than cooped up, neurotic, anti-social beasts, and so each of us has been spending several hours in the bathroom with them every day. They are *full* of bouncy energy most of the time (and are obviously both avid climbers), but they can also fall very fast asleep, as befits their species and tender age. So we play silly games and give them plenty of quality cuddle-time too. The space is not surprisingly rather cramped, and one is constrained to sit on the floor with minimal cushioning. Fortunately, though, there is wi-fi, so although books and papers (and alas, also knitting) are strictly <span style="font-style: italic;">verboten</span> in the quarantine zone, we rarely go in there without a laptop. Keyboards, screens, and casings can easily be wiped down with 1/10 bleach solution on returning to the outside world, after all. :-)</p><p>My husband generally takes the babies their breakfast and spends the morning with them, while I head off to campus, and then I serve them dinner and sit with them in the evening. To prevent contagion, we always change clothes before going in or out of their room, and we bathe ourselves thoroughly with soap and shampoo containing tea tree oil after prolonged contact with them. We also anoint ourselves liberally with <a href="http://everythingbalm.com/">this amazing salve</a> throughout the day. So we have managed thus far to ward off rampant skin lesions, and what is more, our six other cats still show no signs of contamination. I don't know how we could manage the worst-case scenario, if the fungus ever got lose into the general population of our household. But so far, so good. Meanwhile the kittens are thriving, and have finally grown big enough to start taking the oral med <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.wedgewoodpetrx.com/learning-center/professional-monographs/itraconazole-for-veterinary-use.html">itraconazole</a> </span>that will eventually clear up the ringworm. In fact it's already had a noticeable effect: in just a few short weeks their bald spots have basically disappeared. They will still need another month or two before the quarantine can be lifted, because our vet wants to play it safe and make them pass two tests in a row, two weeks apart. At that point a new world of "fun" will emerge as we try to soothe and/or cajole the other cats into accepting the newcomers into the clan — but that's another adventure.</p><p>As I mentioned, time spent with the kittens has forced me to do less knitting than I would like, since I cannot bring fiber into the quarantine zone without bleaching it afterward, but I still try to squeeze in at least a few rows each day for sanity's sake, if nothing else. My progress has been irritatingly slow, with nothing 100% completed since <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=219300212430349794&postID=883837373049657063">Stornoway</a> over a month ago. There are, alas, still <span style="font-weight: bold;">*7*</span> active projects on my Ravelry profile, and although I would very much like to finish one or two lingering items before launching anything new, mental pressure from the queue is becoming a noticeable distraction. I have are SOOOOO many yummy things all lined up and ready to go. For the time being I am still doggedly working away at what I've got, rather than giving into temptation, but we'll see how long it lasts. Then again, I really could not bear a return to the days of a double-digit project count. Perhaps the best approach is to paraphrase <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adqLaecr9WY">Dory's sage advice</a> and <span style="font-style: italic;">just keep knitting, just keep knitting...</span></p><p>In that spirit, here's a quick rundown of the present State of the Kingdom, with a promise of more to come in the not-too-distant future.</p><p>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">Frejya sweater</span> is 90-95% complete. Despite my <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/frejya-at-crossroads.html">confident projection</a> in the aftermath of Stornoway, I did not manage to have it finished by Hallowe'en. Nor is it quite done yet, even now, with Thanksgiving fast approaching. As always, it is the embellishments rather than the actual knitting that are causing the delay. I did the sleeves top-down using a short-row technique that was quite new to me. It took a bit of fiddling (and yes, <span style="font-style: italic;">tinking</span>) to get the proportions right, but the process still went very fast, and I love the end results. I promise to do a more detailed write-up at some point. I also redid the turtleneck collar to make it more roomy, because repeatedly pulling the sweater on and off over my head while trying on the sleeves convinced me that I should. And then I did some embroidery, outlining the two goldfish on the back in shiny metallic copper thread, and on the front the face, eyes, and nose of the cat in appropriate silky shades of orange, brown, black, and white. I still have to do something about whiskers (but what exactly??), add claw-lines to the two front paws, possibly 0utline the entire body of the cat (although I'm not sure about that and may end up leaving just the face highlighted, depending on how it looks), and add the tail. That's all it needs. It sounds so simple and straightforward when you put it that way...</p><p>In fact, the tail itself is already knitted and would be ready to attach, were it not for the need to add the @#$^%!! eyelash yarn to make the cat a Maine Coon. At one point I had imagined knitting with multiple strands of the eyelash yarn, pulling the dangling bits to the RS as I went, but the 2-tone intarsia pattern was complicated enough by itself, without all that extra tangled mess to contend with. So I did the knitting first, and will have to use a darning needle and some version of duplicate stitch again, as I did with the body. After the first few attempts proved unsatisfactory, though, I realized that this was going to be a fussy and time-consuming project and laid it aside to consider my options. To be honest, I have not so much as looked at it for a couple of weeks. But I really will get moving on it again very soon, because I cannot stand to have it looming over me any longer. On Tuesday I will get to see my friend Anita (a.k.a. <a href="http://thefiberartist.blogspot.com/">The Fiber Artist</a>). She has a big supply of googly eyes in various sizes and has offered to give me two of the smaller ones for the goldfish at least, if not a pair of the larger ones for the cat as well, so that will be a nice incentive to finish the embroidery. And maybe this same gathering of the Odd Tuesday fiber folk can even induce me to solve The Dreaded Tail Problem at last. <span style="font-style: italic;">Hope springs eternal</span>...</p><p>I knew when I first <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/holy-fishermans-sweaters-batman.html">finished Stornoway</a> that I would be facing a bit of an uphill battle to reduce the number of WIP's further, because apart from Frejya (which was about 2/3 done at the time) and one of my Christmas 2010 lace projects, Elm Row (which remains at ~60%), everything else that I had going was still very much in the early stages (~5-25% complete). But I did *NOT* expect <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stornoway itself</span> to keep coming back for more. The dilemma is that my husband has longish arms and likes the sleeves of his sweaters, when stretched, to come all the way down to the the base of his thumbs. As noted in the original post, the pattern as written yielded sleeves that were plainly too short, even after blocking. So I went back and immediately doubled the length of the ribbing at the cuffs, thinking that the ability to adjust them slightly would be enough to fix the problem. Yet when he wore the sweater out-and-about for the first time, with a turtleneck underneath, as opposed to trying it on briefly over a T-shirt, it became abundantly clear to both of us that I would have to lengthen the sleeves even further. <span style="font-style: italic;">Sigh</span>.</p><p>Thank goodness for top-down construction!! Adjusting the length of the sleeves would have been extremely troublesome — not to say heart-wrenching — otherwise, but I simply undid the bind-off at the cuffs for the 2nd time, ripped out the ribbing and the transitional decrease row between the sleeve pattern and the cuff, and added 3 1/2" to the bottom part of the sleeve that is worked even, below the decreases. It took maybe 3 hours per sleeve, which I stretched out over 4-5 days. The patterns of Stornoway repeat every 6, 8, and 20 rows, and thus do not all converge very often. The original design had been carefully orchestrated so that the math would come out evenly, and I was loathe to attempt any adjustments for fear of disrupting the Order of Things. Fortunately, however, the 20-row pattern had completely disappeared into the sleeve shaping up above, leaving only the 6-row and 8-row patterns in this lower portion. Those two multiples were *much* easier to coordinate. When I reached the desired length (after 41 additional rows), I did the decrease row as written, and then switched to the smaller needles for an amount of ribbing on this 3rd go-round that was less than I had done the 2nd time but more than the 1st, just enough to fold over for a neat 2". He has tried on the new sleeves and pronounced them worthy at last. It would appear that 3's the charm. Rather than blocking the whole thing over again, I soaked just the ends of the sleeves and allowed them to dangle freely while drying. I promise to get the dear man to pose for some celebratory pictures very soon.</p><p>As noted above, <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/elm-row-p-111.html">Elm Row</a> is my other project nearest to completion, but it has been stuck at ~60% for quite a while, waiting for me to find the time when I can sit still and work on it in a concentrated way again. With my limited knitting time since the arrival of the kittens, I have not managed to do any beading whatsoever. Truth be told, this particular project has *never* lent itself very well to being my main focus, because for whatever reason I cannot seem to work on it except in scattered short bursts. I have started the second half, though, and it will get easier once I finish the first 8 pattern repeats, which are heavily beaded, and begin the main portion, where there are fewer beads and the knitting can speed up a bit. With only two more weeks left of actual classes this semester, maybe some decent blocks of time will finally open up soon. At any rate, there is no reason why I can't have the whole thing done in time for Christmas, as planned, as long as I fix it as a priority and continue to whittle away at it gradually.</p><p>By far the biggest surprise in recent weeks, while so many other things have been languishing for lack of attention, is the stunning progress that I have made with <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.virtualyarns.com/scripts/showitem.asp?ID=127">Eriskay</a> all of a sudden. I picked it up after finishing off Stornoway for the 3rd time, as something relaxing and relatively straightforward to knit when tired. For November is a *very* tired month in academia... And without ever doing more than a few rows at a time (especially with 320 stitches around on 2.25 mm needles), I have nevertheless managed to bring it within an inch or so of the point where the underarm gussets will begin. That is an amazing feeling, and I look forward to posting pictures very soon to mark the accomplishment.</p><p>So... Barring some catastrophe unforeseen, Frejya, Stornoway, Elm Row, and Eriskay will *ALL* be subjected to the new camera in the coming days. Maybe I will even be able to check off one or two more finished objects before the next wave of new projects hits. Good things are certainly on the way, whatever happens, and meanwhile this post should suffice to keep the blog alive while we iron out our operating difficulties. <span style="font-style: italic;">Please stand by.</span><br /></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-14282881766154396292010-10-13T11:21:00.000-07:002010-10-14T15:48:47.177-07:00"No socks until tenure!!"<p>It sounds coockoo, right? But I'm not kidding. "No socks until tenure!" has been a mantra of mine for *years*, ever since the whole sock explosion began and knitters everywhere started spending their hard-earned savings on fingering-weight wool/nylon blends and obsessively carrying their sock projects around with them. At first it was just dpn's, but soon the alternate techniques came along and the Great Debates arose: <a href="http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2009/09/16/the-magical-magic-loop.aspx">magic loop</a> vs. <a href="http://weebleknits.net/twocirculars.html">2-circs</a>, <a href="http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/FEATtiptoptoes.html">toe-up</a> vs. <a href="http://www.sheepishhandknits.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/PlainVanillaTopDownSocks.143120438.pdf">top-down</a>, <a href="http://mimknits.com/wordpress/?p=86">heel flaps</a> vs. <a href="http://kaityvr.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/the-easiest-way-to-do-a-short-row-heel/">short-rows</a> vs. <a href="http://knitting-up-a-storm.blogspot.com/2009/04/afterthought-heel-pt1.html">afterthought heels</a>, etc. People took sides on these questions, and you couldn't visit a yarn store or knitting website, or open a knitting magazine, without bumping into another disquisition on why such-and-such was the most revolutionary and life-changing invention/discovery since the yarn swift. And don't get me started about all the hand-painted sock-yarns that suddenly flooded the market...</p><p>For a long time, though, I was only dimly aware of these momentous developments, because I had inured myself to the entire world of sock-knitting. I had heard just enough about the allure of sock projects that I instinctively shied away from them ("<span style="font-style: italic;">Beware the sock...</span>") and vowed that I would continue to steer clear until I was granted <a href="http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/issues/tenure/">tenure</a>, and with it a measure of freedom and autonomy to accommodate passionate hobbies in my life, if I chose. Until quite recently (see below), I didn't buy sock yarn, read sock books, download sock patterns, or even fave sock designs on Ravelry (although oddly enough other people's knitted projects were in a different category from the work of sock designers). Mind you, I had nothing against sock-knitting <span style="font-style: italic;">per se. </span><span>Quite a few of my best friends are avid sock-knitters, and I agree on principle with this <a href="http://thebeaglesknittingblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-knit-socks.html">fellow blogger's recent <span style="font-style: italic;">apologia </span><span>for hand-knit socks</span></a></span>. Yet nevertheless I came to view sock-knitting as Something That Happened to Other People, for the time being at least.<br /></p><p>The problem was that my attentions, as a junior faculty member, were already spoken for. I needed to get my career stabilized before taking on either the financial burden or the massive time commitment that I knew sock-knitting would entail, because it would never stop at the first pair, or the second, or the third. One thing was bound to lead to many more, and I simply couldn't afford outside interests. To make matters worse, my first professorial "gig" was in a dysfunctional department. All my activities were closely scrutinized, and knitting too much, especially in public, would have been frowned upon as an indicator of insufficient dedication to my research. I was hired by a state university primarily for my skills as a teacher, and given responsibility for large lecture classes with 100's of students, but then judged strictly on the basis of my scholarly productivity. Juggling all the conflicting expectations and demands became a professional nightmare. I did what I could, but under those conditions, not getting tenure did not come as a shock in the end, or even as a disappointment. Honestly, the predominant feeling that I had was *relief* at being set free from an unpleasant work environment, especially since the job search eventually brought me to a small liberal arts college where I am MUCH more at home and have been both happier and, oddly enough, more productive as well. So no hard feelings remain, just gratitude at having arrived in a better place. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">It is remarkably easier to get along in life when you *belong* where you *are*...</span></p><p>But as more and more years went by without my getting tenure, I established an identity for myself as Someone Who Does Not Knit Socks. I had been chanting the mantra for so long that it simply became a fact of life, something taken for granted, like gravity, or tax increases, or the onset of presbyopia. My husband had heard tell of "<span style="font-style: italic;">Beware the sock</span>" too, had seen the credit card statements from my other knitting exploits, and could do the math. So every time the subject of hand-knitted socks would come up, or sock yarn, or sock patterns, etc., he would roll his eyes and thank his lucky stars that I had not yet succumbed.</p><p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/S22YrPpX92I/AAAAAAAACg4/BSYQC5B4MLU/s800/WRS%20-%20new%20photos%2028.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/S22YrPpX92I/AAAAAAAACg4/BSYQC5B4MLU/s288/WRS%20-%20new%20photos%2028.jpg" border="0" /></a>Staying away from socks <span style="font-style: italic;">per se </span>did not prevent me from knitting. Lace emerged instead as the perfect alternative for my lifestyle, since each purchase of gossamer yarn, though by no means cheap, would yield hours, weeks, months, even years of contented handiwork. It was a process knitter's dream: once or twice a year I could spend a bit of money on gossamer yarn, and then settle down again for the long haul, putting in as much time on the project, or as little, as I happened to have available from day to day and week to week. After switching jobs, I found that I could actually knit during faculty meetings, or between classes, or after dinner, or whenever I needed a break. The eventual result was the Wedding Ring (see photo at left) and <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2009/06/princess-gallery.html">Princess</a> shawls. <span style="font-style: italic;">Not too shabby, hein?</span></p><p>In 2006, after a year at the new post, the decision-date for tenure was set for several more years down the road. I did not object or try to accelerate the pace, because I was happy to concentrate on enjoying my work and let the rest take care of itself. All in due time, eh? And no socks for MRPP until 201o-2011.</p><p>Which is this academic year.</p><p>>>gulp<< </p><p>Suddenly the familiar landscape is changing. It was one thing to keep saying, "No socks until tenure!" when that basically meant "for the foreseeable future." But now that I am actually <span style="font-weight: bold;">*up* for tenure</span> this year — have indeed filed all the necessary paperwork and am only waiting for the Powers That Be to reach a decision — the possibility of knitting socks has started to loom larger and larger in my imagination. In many ways, sock-knitting has become the symbol for me of what tangible difference, if any, finally getting tenure will make in my life. I certainly don't want to jinx anything by speaking too soon, but the omens for tenure this time around are truly very encouraging. It's a totally different world. I feel extremely confident that the process is going to end with a verdict in my favor. So as far as sock knitting goes, we are no longer talking about a remote possibility. It could actually happen sometime in the next few months.</p><p>Incidentally, it can be an interesting challenge to decide precisely *when* tenure happens. This is more than just a semantic question. The specific procedures and protocols differ from one place to another, but there are typically several stages to the process. On our campus it goes something like this...<br /></p><p>First the candidate prepares and submits a dossier and colleagues write letters (that was back in August), then an elected body known as the Faculty Evaluation Committee reads through all the materials (this is going on now) and eventually drafts a letter to the Dean with a recommendation, yes or no. That will happen most likely sometime before Thanksgiving. The candidate gets to read the letter before it is sent, and can make comments or suggestions for the record that are also sent along to the Dean. Next there is a meeting with the Dean (sometime in December?), who in turn makes his/her own recommendation to the President, who eventually presents a slate of candidates for tenure to the Board of Trustees at the February meeting. Only then, with a vote from the Trustees, does the tenure decision become official and final, although in practice that vote is almost always a rubber stamp. Deans and Presidents have been known to go against the recommendations from earlier stages in the process, but generally speaking, if the system is working right, the committee's recommendation should prove to be decisive.</p><p>So when do you celebrate? If you throw a party when the letter is initially drafted, the whole deal could still go sour at a later stage, which would be a devastating blow. But if you insist on having everything signed, sealed, and delivered, you have to wait until after the February meeting of the Board of Trustees, by which point the results are old news. It's a real dilemma.</p><p>Since I intend to mark the arrival of tenure with the knitting of socks, I have decided to celebrate in stages, by taking baby steps in that direction as each successive stage of the process is auspiciously concluded. My birthday comes in August, and this year it happened to fall right after I submitted my tenure dossier, including the grueling self-evaluation, which came out to a bit more than 12 pages single-spaced (I chose to be deliberately anti-superstitious about the page-count). My mother sent me a generous birthday check, and so I spent a chunk of the money on sock-related materials to mark the completion of the dossier.</p><p>First of all, KnitPicks was having the magnificent 40%-off sale on books. At the recommendation of a <a href="http://thefiberartist.blogspot.com/">friend who is a veteran sock-knitter</a>, I ordered <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/books/Sensational_Knitted_Socks__D30656.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Sensational Knitted Socks</span></a> by Charlene Schurch (AMAZING tutorials and tables to calculate stitch-repeats for feet in all shapes and sizes), along with its sequel <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/books/More_Sensational_Knitted_Socks__D30924.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">More Sensational Knitted Socks</span></a>. These books are the perfect place to start in learning about basic sock construction and how patterns of color and/or texture are worked into the various parts of a sock. And then, once having taken the plunge, I lost no time in acquiring the two irresistible sock-knitting books by Janel Laidman: <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/books/The_Eclectic_Sole__D31136.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Eclectic Sole</span></a> and <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/books/The_Enchanted_Sole__D31439.html">The Enchanted Sole</a>.</span> The latter in particular is about as eye-catching a pattern collection as I have ever encountered, so I knew it would be at the top of my list when a portal opened for me into the magical realm of sock-knitting.</p><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TLZP3AyUd9I/AAAAAAAAEJY/OGvq24Iw128/s800/KnitPicks%20sock%20yarn%20-%20August%202010%2001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TLZP3AyUd9I/AAAAAAAAEJY/OGvq24Iw128/s288/KnitPicks%20sock%20yarn%20-%20August%202010%2001.jpg" border="0" /></a>I bought a few experimental skeins of KnitPicks sock yarn too, in order to have some on hand. My purchases included two colorways of <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Imagination_Hand_Painted_Sock_Yarn__D5420173.html">Imagination</a> (hand-painted merino/alpaca/nylon, right), two colors of <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Risata_Sock_Yarn__D5420169.html">Risata</a> (solid-toned cotton/wool/elastic, lower left), and one skein of <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Stroll_Tonal_Sock_Yarn__D5420134.html">Stroll Tonal</a> (merino/nylon, upper left).<br /></p><p>And I arranged for a "<span style="font-weight: bold;">sock yarn petting-zoo</span>" with my friends from a knitting group that gets together at the Barnes & Noble in Louisville twice a month or so. The experienced sock-knitters in the crew (i.e. everybody except me) went stash-diving and brought in sample skeins as well as finished socks in a whole variety of different yarns and fiber combinations, and then we spread them out on the table and discussed them one by one, drawing lots of comparisons and contrasts. It was so much fun!! I loved getting to see and touch and learn all about the different yarns from people in-the-know. I took notes. It was a fabulous hands-on experience, and by the end I felt a lot more confident about shopping for myself over the internet. I have a great big wish-list of sock-yarns now, as well as a growing queue of amazing patterns that I can see are in my future.</p><p>My not-too-distant future. WOW. Tenure means *socks*. <span style="font-style: italic;">Stay tuned for m</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ore...</span></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-19619686720817544672010-10-10T19:20:00.000-07:002010-10-11T11:25:05.242-07:00Frejya at the Crossroads<p>Some projects just seem to drag on and on for no good reason. My <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2009/06/sweater-for-frejya-or-rather-in-her.html">Frejya sweater</a> is one such. I've been working on it — or more to the point NOT working on it — for several years now. Whenever I have actually managed to devote some time to it, the progress has come quickly, but then weeks or even months go by between sessions. It keeps happening. First I stalled over weaving in all the loose ends left behind by the intarsia on the front. That took forever! Then it was the embroidery and embellishment on the front, and some more loose ends on the back. <span style="font-style: italic;">Blah blah blah.</span><br /></p><p>But today, knowing that with <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/10/holy-fishermans-sweaters-batman.html">Stornoway finished</a> I really have no excuse anymore, I finally put my foot down and made myself get through what needed to be done on the front. Or so I thought...</p><p>I was using eyelash yarn with duplicate stitch to give the cat "long hair". It is supposed to be a Maine Coon, after all. My plan was to add orange hairs to the body of the cat and ivory ones to the pale segments at the underside and extremities (chest, abdomen, paws). The *face* posed a real problem, though, because I soon realized that the dangling bits got in the way of the intarsia design and gave the whole thing a muddled appearance. So I had stopped short with the body basically done, while a debate raged internally (literally for <span style="font-style: italic;">months</span>) over what to do next.</p><p>Last week I finally filled in the lower part of the abdomen with the ivory, but then on Friday and Saturday, when I tried to do the same with the upper chest, the result looked more like an old man's beard than a fluffy cat's neck ruff. *Ick*. So I took the embellishment away from the chest area. BIG improvement. And today, looking at the whole thing with the cold eye of reason, I came to the same conclusion about the paws, face, abdomen, and entire lower edge. After all that time spend trying to *add* stuff to the sweater in order to get it finished, in other words, today I took a whole bunch of stuff AWAY again.<span style="font-style: italic;"> Go figure...</span></p><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TLJqV4w2oII/AAAAAAAAEIs/cRphtzNFSu8/s800/Frejya%20sweater%20-%20WIP%20-%20front%2006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TLJqV4w2oII/AAAAAAAAEIs/cRphtzNFSu8/s288/Frejya%20sweater%20-%20WIP%20-%20front%2006.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here is what the "new & improved" front looks like (click for a larger view). <span style="font-weight: bold;">Believe it or not, there is actually LESS embellishment on it now than there was a year ago.</span> But at least you can see the adorable pussycat underneath it all, and the effect is more authentically Maine Coon-ish than before too, since the long hair is confined to the places where it would appear on a real cat. I could grumble all day and all night about why in the world it took me so @#$^!! long to decide that less is more, but the observation would be moot. Clearly I needed time, and a string of failed experiments, to reach this point. I will probably still use embroidery floss to outline the face and pick out certain details of the features (eyes, nose, ears, whiskers, claws, etc.). Or not, I suppose, depending on how it looks. But that final experiment means another trip to the craft store, and meanwhile I am done with the eyelash yarn. Huzzah!</p><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TLJosDeUp4I/AAAAAAAAEIc/zM31DL7onGw/s800/Frejya%20sweater%20-%20WIP%20-%20back%2003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TLJosDeUp4I/AAAAAAAAEIc/zM31DL7onGw/s288/Frejya%20sweater%20-%20WIP%20-%20back%2003.jpg" border="0" /></a>Moreover, I am also done with the intarsia on the back of the sweater: a whimsical goldfish bowl motif for which I used some interesting textures (ribbon yarn held double for the fish scales, and a wonderful nubbly green yarn for the aquatic plant) in addition to the blue of the water (a different color of the same <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Wool_of_the_Andes_Worsted_Yarn__D5420103.html">Wool of the Andes</a> that is providing the black background) and the silver gray that represents the glass of the fishbowl (a bit of wool/rayon blend from my stash). As of this evening, the ends are all woven in too.</p><p>Which means that aside from the little bits of embellishment remaining to be added, which will have to wait for a shopping trip to purchase appropriate colors of embroidery floss (i.e. orange, rust, white, black, and ivory), and the cat's fluffy tail, which is a separate little knitting project all on its own, to be set aside for some afternoon/evening in the not-too-distant future, whenever I feel like it, it is now OFFICIALLY a matter of plain black stockinette knitting to finish the upper portion of the back and then the sleeves.</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">So we've really turned a crucial corner here. I feel totally confident now that this baby is going to be done done D-U-N DONE by Hallowe'en!!! :-)</span><br /></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219300212430349794.post-8838373730496570632010-10-07T19:32:00.001-07:002011-08-15T18:49:15.160-07:00"Holy fisherman's sweaters, Batman..."<p>Brace yourselves, people. Not only am I channeling the silliest superhero sidekick of all time (as evidenced by the headline on this post). I actually feel like leaping for joy and doing a happy dance. For <a href="http://www.virtualyarns.com/scripts/showitem.asp?ID=132">Stornoway</a> (i.e. His part of The Great His & Hers Guernsey adventure, which began on July 11, 2009) is now 100% complete. I finished the second sleeve on October 3rd after about 3 1/2 weeks of pleasant and uneventful knitting, and immediately set the sweater to soak while I put together the brand new and quite literally shiny <a href="http://www.camillavalleyfarm.com/knit/woolyboard.htm">woolly board</a> that I bought from Camilla Valley Farm with some of my birthday money (<span style="font-style: italic;">thanks, Mom!!</span>).</p><p>This lovely piece of fiber-functional woodwork came completely disassembled, and although I found the assembly instructions very clear and easy to follow, it still took a while to figure out what went where and get all the hardware properly situated. When the moment arrived to place the sweater onto the frame, however, I was not even remotely prepared for how easy it would be to stretch it out. My experience with blocking lace — and having to apply torque on edging points with pins & blocking wires — had led me to expect something similar here, especially given the density and tight gauge of the fabric. In fact, the sweater basically stretched itself. <span style="font-style: italic;">I'm not kidding...</span> All I had to do was drape it neatly along the upper crossbar, and gravity took care of the rest, ably assisted by the weight of the water that the wool had soaked up during its washing. Of course much of that liquid ran right to the bottom and started dripping all over the place, so I laid a towel across the base of the frame to catch the run-off. But the fabric required no additional persuasion and instead opened up naturally and effortlessly to its intended measurements. Truly remarkable.</p><p>Here are some photos of the sweater during blocking, including a couple of closeups taken after a day or two, as the fabric began to dry and the details of the textured patterning became more visible. <span style="font-style: italic;">As always, click on any of these images to get a closer look</span>.</p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKkO08OsapI/AAAAAAAAEHM/HEnnNw6iF2g/s800/Stornoway%20012B%20-%20blocked.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 450px; display: block; height: 275px;" alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKkO08OsapI/AAAAAAAAEHM/HEnnNw6iF2g/s800/Stornoway%20012B%20-%20blocked.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKkO1DwqbWI/AAAAAAAAEHQ/IkoXRjkUNZA/s800/Stornoway%20012C%20-%20blocked.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 435px; display: block; height: 288px;" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKkO1DwqbWI/AAAAAAAAEHQ/IkoXRjkUNZA/s800/Stornoway%20012C%20-%20blocked.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKpuJ1n-4nI/AAAAAAAAEHo/3TkrZGmelh8/s800/Stornoway%20012F%20-%20blocked%20closeup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 235px; display: block; height: 150px;" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKpuJ1n-4nI/AAAAAAAAEHo/3TkrZGmelh8/s800/Stornoway%20012F%20-%20blocked%20closeup.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKpuJvD4HtI/AAAAAAAAEHk/x6cHAso6EwY/s800/Stornoway%20012E%20-%20blocked%20closeup.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 182px; display: block; height: 150px;" alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TKpuJvD4HtI/AAAAAAAAEHk/x6cHAso6EwY/s800/Stornoway%20012E%20-%20blocked%20closeup.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>My husband has longish arms. I had already added about 1/4" to the ribbing at the cuffs of the sweater in an attempt to allow for this, although when he tried it on before blocking, the whole thing obviously needed so much stretching in all directions that it was hard to tell whether it really fit him or not. But after it had dried and I removed it from the frame, he tried it on again, and we verified that the sleeves were still a tad short, not a huge amount, but enough to warrant some attention. This was where the traditional guernsey design, with its sleeves knit downwards from the shoulders, showed its true genius, because there was nothing simpler than ripping out the bind-off, placing the 64 ribbing stitches back onto dpn's, and adding several extra inches to each cuff. I basically doubled the length of the ribbing (from 26 rows = 2 3/4=” to 50 rows = 5 1/4”), so that now he can fold them over and adjust their length however he likes. I certainly had plenty of yarn to make this modification to the pattern. In fact, the entire 3rd cone of the Frangipani 5-ply in the Cedar colorway remains untouched in my stash, along with the tail end of the 2nd one.<p></p><p>One effect of using a woolly board is that the ribbing gets stretched out, especially at the cuffs. One can easily re-soak the sweater's "extremities" after removal from the frame and allow them to dry unencumbered so that they will bounce back to their normal elasticity. I had been planning to do just that. But with the cuff extensions it was not necessary. I simply left the new portions unblocked, and when folded over, they hold everything nicely in place from the outside. I also made sure to bind off with a needle one size larger than I had used to knit the ribbing, so that the bottom edge would sit right.
<br /></p><p>Here are a couple of pictures of the end result, which do a good job of capturing the elusive gray-green too. As it turns out, DH & I both happen to think that the sweater looks better (i.e. more stylish and finished somehow) with folded cuffs than it did with plain ones. As I wrote on my Ravelry project page, <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">mischief managed</span></span>. :-)</p><table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="15" width="550"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TK5_YRXmk4I/AAAAAAAAEH4/Zdr0Z9kg9_A/s800/Stornoway%20013A%20-%20folded%20cuff.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 180px;" alt="" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TK5_YRXmk4I/AAAAAAAAEH4/Zdr0Z9kg9_A/s800/Stornoway%20013A%20-%20folded%20cuff.jpg" border="0" /></a></td><td align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TK5_YaNUcMI/AAAAAAAAEH8/9KzLJJ4_nXI/s800/Stornoway%20013B%20-%20folded%20cuff.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 240px; display: block; height: 180px;" alt="" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XjFrkVZ8QTo/TK5_YaNUcMI/AAAAAAAAEH8/9KzLJJ4_nXI/s800/Stornoway%20013B%20-%20folded%20cuff.jpg" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>I could not be more pleased with the way this project has turned out, or with the fact that completing it has officially lowered my WIP-count from 8 to *<span style="font-weight: bold;">7</span>*. WOOHOO!! <span style="font-style: italic;">Now to finish <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2009/06/sweater-for-frejya-or-rather-in-her.html">Frejya</a> and <a href="http://www.knitspot.com/knitting_pattern/elm-row-p-111.html">Elm Row</a> (perhaps by Hallowe'en??). That would allow me to reach my <a href="http://facultymtgknitter.blogspot.com/2010/06/ps-rules-governing-new-projects.html#five">elusive goal</a> of getting that number down to *5*. Muhahaha....</span>
<br /><p></p>MRPPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17491918850827244912noreply@blogger.com3