The Clown, The Devil and the House Detective and Don’t Forget the Nun with Red Nail Polish

This is a random post about random things with some knitting thrown in.

I’ve decided that 2014 is the year of my stash. Reacquainting myself with what I have—not just by looking at what I’ve logged on Ravelry—and knitting or crocheting it. As well as finishing or frogging any wips. My goals for the year is to knit or crochet 10K yards; that works out to a minimum of 833 yards worked a month.

I am one of the 70+ million affected by the Target credit breach. It’s been an interesting experience not pulling out the card for every purchase. One is constrained to spend only what is in pocket at the moment and I have found that I purchase more of what I need than what I want. In that sense, it has been a sobering look at how I spend. The frustration is that the card-issuing industry and merchants, especially the big-box stores, haven’t been more proactive in instituting the more secure chip cards and in making their own systems more secure. This being the second year—last year it was the Knit Picks breach—that I’ve been at risk from a data breach, I will definitely be more of a cash-only shopper going forward. Here is an interesting article on the situation.

In reading yarn reviews on Ravelry, one often encounters complaints about knots in skeins—the more expensive the yarn the more strident the complaints. I suppose I’ve been lucky, but I haven’t encountered the problem until lately. There were about 5 knots (places where the yarn is joined by knotting) in the 1.5 skeins of the Harrisville yarn used for my latest cowl. It was surprised by not annoyed. The Harrisville Shetland Tweed is a lovely rustic yarn. A little hard on the hands when knitting but I was able to offset that with generous applications of Lavishea and Aloe Vesta. Yes, there was veggie matter; but what do expect in a rustic yarn. What I must enjoy about yarns like the Harrisville Shetland Tweed is that once soaked, blocked and dried, the stitches relax, the yarn blooms nicely and softens and the result is a wonderful fabric. This yarn was perfect for the Cowls pattern, which is one of my favorites.

 

Speaking of finishing wips, I finally finished the Nomad Hat and Scarf started in 2011. Why so long? Well the yarn got scattered (disorganized stashing) and as I was finishing it, I realized I hated the yarn. I also realized that I prefer scarves to cowls, so I didn’t knit the scarf to the full length called for in the pattern. The hat is wonderfully warm and matches my purple coat. I’m thinking of knitting this again, probably in Cascade Eco.

Currently on the needles is Harvest Moon by Florencemary. I’m using the Sirritogv 2ply, which I think is the wrong yarn because it doesn’t show the pattern very well. But it will be wonderfully warm when finished.

Toupie has become quite spoiled as the office was closed between Christmas and New Year’s and then I was home last week for the Kagyu Monlam. It has been bitterly cold most of the last two weeks and remains so. He spends most of his time nestled on the ottoman or lounging on the top of the bookcase…when he isn’t pestering me for treats or for a frantic game of rolling one of his toys across the floor.

2013 Best and Worst

It was the best of times

• Finding physio therapist that is really effective with a fun staff
• Taking two classes with the amazing and talented Shirley Paden
• Spending a wonderful day with Nicky
• Providing the reception for those taking Refuge and Bodhisattva vows
• Denise’s birthday party
• Visiting San Antonio and my best mate
• Putting a care package together for a found kitty
• Toupie: mad, bad, and totally cute

As always, friendship: that in the midst of all that life throws at us; it is the people in your life that make it bearable

It was the worst of times

• My right shoulder
• The cat bite that ended in a day at the hospital

Best Knitting Books of 2013

• Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog
• Shetland Lace Knitting by Liz Lovick

Best Audiobook Listens of 2013

• Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition
• The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the American Dust Bowl

 

The Goldilocks Dilemma or Size Matters

I have now changed the size 1 needles used to knit the Diagonal Rib Socks by Ann Budd. When knitting plain vanilla socks for myself, casting on 56 to 60 stitches usually works for me. 56 stitches in sock or fingering weight wool fit comfortably on the 4” Knit Picks wood dpns. Knitting with sport or dk weight wool where I am generally using 48 to 52 stitches works well on the ChiaoGoo or Knitter’s Pride Karbonz 6” dpns. I found myself struggling in the past 24 hours to find a length that works. Finally, last night I switched to the 5” no-name bamboo needles and the 65 stitches fit comfortably, enabling me finally to pick up some speed in working the pattern.

I ran into the same problem when knitting Little Things by Veera Välimäki. Started on size 2 KP nickel, ripped and switched to size four ChiaoGoo Bamboo; ripped and switched to size 5 ChiaoGoo Bamboo and finally got a looser but still firm fabric and my knitting speed returned to normal.

I am so far happy with both projects. For the Diagonal Rib Socks, I am using Light Brown Hare’s Jackalope in the Kitten 2 colorway. I chose the pattern, first because my 2014 goal is knitting socks with stitch patterns and colorwork; and second because I suspected, and it has proved true, that the stitch pattern would prevent noticeable pooling. The yarn is soft and not splitty without that cotton candy squishiness that sometimes happens with superwash Merino and the stitch definition is good. Light Brown Hare also sells nice stitch markers.

For Little Things, I am using Black Welsh Mountain yarn that I bought from Countrybyrd on Ravelry. A nice rustic yarn that is a little hard on the fingernails, but which blooms and softens nicely after soaking.

 

The Year in Knitting

Just finished an analysis of this years knitting:

• 21 projects committed to at the beginning of the year (including finishing wips from 2012)
• 22 projects listed on Ravelry
• 15 projects finished
• 9 projects in progress
• 2 projects frogged
• Committed to knitting/crocheting 10K yards; currently at 7070 and climbing

No crochet projects started or completed.

I am in denial about the 2011 wips

I am in denial about my stash

I admit that there is a 99.9% chance that I will purchase yarn when I go to a yarn store.

 

The 35 Socks: Yarn 3AM Enchantments

After washing, these are buttery soft.

 

 

Why????

Why oh why do knitters and crocheters repeatedly find themselves victims of those who want to make money from their work? I am only going to provide the links to discussions on Ravelry on the issue, because I don’t want to be complicit in driving traffic to the owner of the websites. But free knitting and crochet patterns appear to have been universally harvested from designer websites, blogs, Knitty and Ravelry etc. to an advertising-ridden site that links the user to the pattern in most instances without the permission of the designer. Photographic content has apparently been used without the permission of the photographer, in some instances patterns have been renamed, and even though I admit to being graphically impaired, the photos on the site are horridly distorted to the point where I barely recognized the photograph of a pattern I know well. 

As revealed by a Ravelry user this morning, the images are inline linked in a way that website owners could end up paying for the traffic going to the free website. 

Here are links to some of the forums on Ravelry where this issue is being discussed: 

Knit Free Pattern Group

Friending

Designers Group

Rubberneckers

Socks: A Good Thing

My sole despair (no pun intended) at the beginning of this year was my inability to knit successfully a wearable pair of socks. I accepted the challenge of the Friends Group Sock Knitting KAL/CAL and committed to completing one pair of socks.  

Almost twelve months later, it actually took putting all my hand knit socks to soak in the same afternoon for me to realize that I’ve completed 5 pairs of socks and have another three pairs on the needles.

I’m going to use the Anatole France quote from our recent staff retreat to describe how I reached and exceeded my goal.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

I’d been dreaming since I purchased the first skein of sock yarn in 2008.

I believed. I mean how hard can it be? After all, all knitting consists of two stitches: knit and purl, and I had those down. 

My plan: I scouted and saved to queue many different sock patterns on Ravelry. Pulled out Ann Budd’s Getting Started Knitting Socks. As well as The Sock Knitter’s Workshop  by Stephanie van der Linden. I studied both. 

I acted by starting with Ann Budd’s First Time Tube Socks. Simple knitting in the round. Found You Tube and printed tutorials on Kitchener Stitch. Voila! I had a pair of socks. I also enrolled in the Craftsy class, Knit Original Cuff Down Socks. Donna Druchunas became my video friend/mentor. I used the 30-second repeat, the bookmark, and the written instructions together and separately in my first two attempts at the Dutch heel. Voila! I had a two pairs of socks.  

Rearranging my stash, I came across the skein of 3AM Enchantments The One that had first inspired the dream of knitting socks. By this time, I had taken Shirley Paden’s Cast On class and had mastered the Old Norwegian or German Cast on. It made my ribbing perky.

I also knew that 60 rounds before the heel flap and 65-70 rounds after the heel flap made a perfect crew length sock for me. I was still struggling with Kitchener, but no longer needed to read the instructions for each stitch bound off. 

By Thanksgiving, I completed a sock, including Kitchener, without looking at any instructions at all. Upon another rereading, a lot of the instructions and examples in The Sock Knitter’s Workshop book by Stephanie van der Linden were not English as a foreign language but actually made sense. 

Sock knitting may not be a great thing, but by dreaming, believing, planning and acting, I can now add Sock Knitter to my list of life accomplishments. As Martha would say: And that’s a good thing.

 

Daughter of Time

Our office is moving. The organization has been in the same building for 12 years. We’re all suffering from 12 years of accumulated dust being liberated. I like our new offices. I won’t be alone on a floor any more, but everyone has an office with a door and either a window or skylight. 

I knit the skein of Quince Lark yarn that I bought at Looped Yarn Works. I used size 6 needles and knit a shaker rib by alternating rows of knitting and purling in the stitch below. Lark is a nicely balanced yarn, not overly processed soft and it has a lot of natural body. The colourway is Leek 131.

 

I’ve been sorting and rearranging stash as part of the summer to winter change over. I finished this wip started sometime in 2010.

 

Right now I’m swatching Knit Picks Telemark--a discontinued sport weight—on size 4 bamboo needles.

I listened to Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey on audio books while tidying today. Fascinating story. I still think the evidence is inconclusive about Richard III’s guilt in murdering the little princes. He had motive. His opportunity was having the princes under his auspices in the tower. But the Tudors and the Lancastrians also had motive and most probably equal opportunity with spies or people in their employ within the Tower. Gosh if you could resurrect people to get at the truth of what happened, the death of the two princes would be a prime candidate.