Grazing and Knitting

Thanksgiving has thankfully come and didn’t get a chance to properly go before the start of the Black Friday and the holiday shopping madness.

This is really one of my favorite times of year. Yes, it gets dark earlier, and the weather can be from brisk to freezing. That makes it all the easier to cuddle up with a mug of something hot to read a good book, get lost in the complexity of symphony, or knit something. Gone is the allure of sunset at 9pm or a sunlight-bathed world to seduce us to forget ourselves and go outside.

I had to recognize that although I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving—as in getting together with family or friends to have meal—I do have a Thanksgiving tradition. About 25 years ago, I discovered a prepared food shop had several different kinds of stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy and traditional vegetables available. Since then I treat myself to a cornucopia of whatever stuffings are on offer cranberry sauce and gravy. Over the years, I started preparing the veg myself. This means I can graze all day without a mountain of leftovers and hours of preparation.

I used to drive my mother mad in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. I never liked turkey, but could/can eat stuffing forever. My mother would do a mix of commercially bought stuffing and bread ends that she froze, thawed, baked until they were toast and mixed with the commercial stuffing and spices. The problem was I would eat those cubes of commercial stuffing (she usually bought what she was going to cook before Halloween). Often the Saturday before she when she was checking ingredients before the final holiday shop, I would have gone through most if not all of the stuffing. Total exasperation and a lecture was the result.

Therefore, this Thanksgiving, I spent the day grazing and knitting the Gansey Leg Warmers in between a few naps and a few chores.

Return of the Fox

Three of my favorite knitting newsletters hit my inbox today. Knitter’s Review by Clara Parkes, Patternfish Newsletter and the Schoolhouse Press newsletter. These are must-reads as the content is always interesting and useful. I have somehow been unable to receive the Wendy’s Knits newsletters since October 19. They aren’t in my spam folder and the newsletter email address is not in my junk list. Sigh. I miss piccy’s of Loki.

The fox is back; truly a sign the Fall has arrived. He screamed for longer on Wednesday night than Thursday; but each Fall after the clocks change, I wait to hear that he/she is back. There was unusual howling Friday night. Couldn’t identify the critter from the sound. It’s so nice in a brick and concrete city, to know that just beyond the fence that separates my building from the park, there are foxes, coyotes, deer and very rarely a cougar or bear. 

On the needles, the September Fingerless, the She’s Electric skirt, and the Gansey Legwarmers.

Gansey Legwarmers; Knit Picks Palette; Cornmeal colorway

 

I WAS napping.

 

 

 

 

Glove Love

Knitting has made me a mitten maven. Mittens, even flip-top mittens, keep fingers and hands warmer. Flip-top mittens allow you to free your fingers when needed. Moreover, fingerless gloves can keep off the chill and be a fashion statement at the same time.

A couple of weeks ago, I reread Deborah Newton’s article the December 1987/January 1988 issue of Threads on knitting gloves. That inspired me to knit another pair of gloves. Applying the KISS principle, I went to Ann Budd’s The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns and her basic glove pattern. No, I didn’t swatch (shame, shame). Using a skein of Knit Picks overspun Wool of the Andes and size 2.5mm needles I cast on 56 stitches. I paid very close attention to the thumb increases, marking each one with a coiless pin. In knitting the fingers, I switched to 4” dpns leaving the waiting stitches on the six-inch dpns and only moved the stitches in waiting to thread now that I’m knitting the last two fingers.

 

 

Baby, It's Cold Outside

This is just funny, especially in a week where the local football franchise’s tickets are reselling for as low as $11.00. I had a convo with a co-worker who is going to tomorrow’s game (she’s not happy about the cold weather). The antipathy towards the local NFL franchise has two loci: the owner and the consistently poor performance of the team in recent decades. I can remember the days—before the Super Bowl rich 1980’s—when we may not have been winners, but we were contenders. In the last 20 years, we only seem slowly to descend the ladder of also-rans.

Knitting has been fun this week. I’ve finished the first glove of the September Fingerless Gloves using Knit Picks Telemark in the Cork colorway. What a fun, well-written pattern. My only despair is that it is too cold outside to go fingerless.

Yes, we have freezing temps. The outlook for the coming week doesn’t bode well for those who don’t like the cold. I wore the Little Things hat yesterday and it was toasty.

On the needles are the second September Fingerless, the She’s Electric Skirt and a pair of gloves from Ann Budd’s The Knitter’s Book of Patterns in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes overspun yarn sport-weight yarn in the Forest Heather colorway.

Another mad Friday night with Toupie. I really should try to capture on video the look of wild determination on his face when he sprints from one end of the apartment to the other. There was lots of that last night and some wild playing with a ball by the front door. When I made up the bed and turned on the electric blanket, he curled up, head on pillow and didn’t budge till this morning.

Too cold for the tweet tweets

 

When the Ordinary Becomes the Extraordinary

Romo

Now that I no longer work in Adams Morgan, I only see Romo once or twice a week. I was surprised to see this BBC article a couple of months ago. Unaware of his fame, Romo was just the doggie in the window by the bus stop. What I’ve always liked about him is attitude. Traffic, passersby, people waiting at the bus stop, Romo ignores them all most times and focuses on whatever he chooses. He’s in the window because that’s where he wants to be.

Speaking of pets with attitude, Toupie had a spate of mischief of Friday night that has left enervated most of yesterday and this morning. Near midnight Friday, after playing with toys, repeatedly running the length of the apartment, furious play with a stack of post-it arrows, we got into over the trash bin near the computer table. Several times, he knocked it over and dived in with head and paws looking for something he could turn into a toy. I finally solved the problem by removing the trash bag. In between his hijinks, I made progress on the She’s Electric Skirt. The rounds are long, but it is an enjoyable knit.

 

Finished: OdessII in Blackstone Tweed's Ancient Mariner colorway

Mischief

Time to Workout

Action Shot: Clawing Mummy's housecoat when she's in it 

 

Errata

You know those corrections in printed knitting pattern instructions. I’ve learned. I’ve been checking for errata before knitting.

Was told in the automatic checkout line—with the concurrence (both verbal and non-verbal) of others behind me—that I was the fastest person they’d ever seen use the checkout. I thanked the speaker and told him that I hate the automatic check out. For starters, they are too loud and too impersonal. They seem to break or get cranky leaving you waiting for store personnel to help or move you to another machine. People are dreadfully slow using them—even the ones that aren’t on their mobiles. I won’t post how I feel about people on mobiles in grocery stores. They are actually worse than people walking, pacing or coming to a dead stop in the middle of the pavement to make a point to the person on the other end of the line. GRRR

Actually going grocery shopping at most stores is a cross between and three-ring circus and being a lab rat in a maze with a trolley or basket. You barely get in the door before you are confronted with a wall of whatever is on special. The Giant in Silver Spring is notorious for its 10 foot high displays near the Starbucks outlet. These hog the main aisle from the veg to the checkout lanes creating bottlenecks even when the store isn’t crowded.

I’m making good progress on my second Odessa. I a knitting it with Blackstone Tweed which is a denser yarn than the Rowan Felted Tweed. The yarn doesn’t have much give and feels slightly artificial. It will be interesting to see how it responds after a good soaking.

November Starting More Like March

November has come in like a lion. Yesterday was wet, windy and closer to cold than cool. This morning there is a wind advisory. At least there is sunshine, so later today I can take and add piccy's of my completed Little Things hat knit in Knit Picks Palette in the Fairy Tale colorway.

Little Things Hat

Also on the needles is a pair of convertible fingerless knit in Knit Picks Gloss and another Knit Picks yarn whose ball band I've misplaced. Another Odessa hat in Blackstone Tweed in the Ancient Mariner colorway and work continues on the She's Electric skirt.

The best Halloween costume at work this week was a sword wielding bear. No luck in persuading Toupie to go roam the corridors and do the black cat thing Halloween night.