awayuq

lace challenges

In a moment of weakness or insanity or both I joined the summer Amazing Lace knitalong. Weakness because I love knitting lace and the notion of a whole bunch of people working on lace and sharing it makes me want to be included. Insanity because adding another thing with deadlines and challenges, however casual and fun, could make my delicately unbalanced life teeter even further towards the brink of being unmanageable. But it's just knitting, right? It will help me focus my summer needle endeavors.

As I understand it, the goal is to set a lace challenge for yourself over the course of the summer. I knit a lot of lace anyway, so I could just continue meandering along with my current backlog of projects. Or I could try to step up the pace a bit: finish not one, but two shawls this summer. (Thus decreasing the pile to be knit to only 8 or 9). I could go really crazy--knit three or four!

This should be done, no doubt. But the word "challenge" keeps niggling in the back of my mind... it would certainly be challenging to knit a lot. But I'm hankering for difficulty of a different sort. Knitting one fine wool lace shawl is much like knitting another. Mind you, I'm not saying it's all easy or anything to be sneezed at. I love it, but it's becoming comfortable. I want to stretch myself a little more, see what other avenues I can explore with lace and knitting.

On the left is the shawl I've been working on lately. It's the Peacock Feathers Shawl in fine merino wool. I think I'm using size #2 or #3 needles. In the middle is a cone of 20/2 perle cotton. I have lots of this in various colors. The large cone on the right is linen singles. Here's a closer look at the three yarns:

You can see that the cotton and linen are a little thinner than the laceweight wool. Not only that, but cotton and linen have no stretch and no "poof". The cotton is not a finer version of your soft squishy cotton knitting yarn. It's basically thread, no give. So is the linen, only more so, and with the added quality of a lively wiry mind of its own. There is a strong tradition of knitted lace edgings and table items made from cotton thread, but I've never tried it. I think I rely on the softness of wool to forgive some of the imperfections of my knitting--a sloppy decrease here or there, deviations in tension. I'm not sure how I'd handle knitting with such unforgiving fibers. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

My challenge is to knit some linen lace by the end of the summer. My wool shawl(s) will be like pacers, teammates to keep me in shape and familiar with lace. The cotton will be practice for the ultimate test: knitting linen lace. The finished article will be taken from a vintage pattern book of some sort (I haven't decided which one yet). I'm not aiming for anything huge, just something to show I can do it.

Now let's see... where did I put those #000 needles?

a week out of the office

I cannot tell you how much I love not coming in to the office.

Making a mess (again) on Sunday

a small Monday afternoon project

Tuesday's skirt

a new pinchushion for Wednesday

and a new dress too

Thursday's spoils from the discount fabric store


a new skirt made Friday afternoon

and a little bit of knitting for Saturday and beyond.

aaaaahhhh. Now that's what I call a good week.

ripped again.

Thanks everybody for the helpful suggestions on the collar. Unfortunately, when I tried it on in the Light of Day, it became clear that ripping it is the only solution. Therefore, I have stuffed the whole thing into a plastic bag and it is currently hiding under my living room chair... or maybe under the computer hutch. It's around somewhere but I'm concentrating on other messes for now while I get up the patience to redo. .

um, om, kind of.

I just finished weaving in the ends on the om sweater. All except the very last end, because I need your help and I may have to rip. This is the om shawl collar, which looks quite plain laid out flat. It looks nice on me, so I'm not worried about that. I frogged my first collar attempt, because I didn't like the way it joined the front bands. To fix it I picked up along the entire length of the front using three circular needles and knit the front bands and collar in one piece. So far so good; the bands aren't rippling or pinching, and the collar is a nice healthy size to turn up or down. In the above picture it looks almost well behaved, but of course what it wants to do is this

For some reason, I don't want ribbing on the edge of the collar. (is that so wrong?) I bound off in k1 p1 rib, to avoid curling, but it may not be enough. Of course I know stockinette wants to curl but I thought I might be able to get away with a plain stockinette collar just once. (why would I think that!) Still--is this just plain impossible? Do I have to add ribbing or seed stitch to the edges? Will nothing else stop them misbehaving? Can it be blocked into submission? The yarn is 100% cotton. Also, about the picked up edges: is there any way to force them to stay to the inside, short of basting them down?

I guess I'll wear this sweater around the house a little, with the unwoven end dangling, to see how it behaves. If it just won't stop curling I suppose I'll have to give in and rib the edge of the collar. Does anyone have any idea what are the fewest number of rows of ribbing I could get away with? Maybe I need to rip it again and rib the whole thing. Woe is me.

advantages to being short

I'll never be able to wear Erté, nor reach the top shelf, but at least I can be pleasantly surprised by the quantities of yarn needed to make myself a sweater. I'm on the bottom ribbing with more than two balls left. One will be used to make a shawl collar and finish the front edges. The rest will finish the sleeves. They are not quite at their final length in this (bad) photo. I think I'm going to make it!

At some point this spring I discovered podcasts. By that I mean I indulged in my first listen. Not all of them seemed to me to merit the raves that were going around. But I have to say, I love the Craftypod. Love it! It's my new theme music. I go around the house humming the funky soundtracks she puts in. Sometimes I even catch myself muttering the tag line. I've always sort of steered clear of "craft", at least the kind of craft that involves lots of glue and cheap sparkly things or acrylic felt. It's not really my style. I don't have much knick-knacky kind of stuff, nor do I want any. So, I will probably never make any of the things Sister Diane describes. Still I love to listen to her! She has a clear speaking voice, she does good interviews, her editing is great (did I mention the funky music?), her philosophy is sound. I love this show. I wish it came out every week, or every day.

In other news, I have completed my first year of grad school. Huge whoop of release, huge collapse. I declare--all those things I was aching to do while in the throes of looming deadlines and prepping for exams? Once the last thing was turned in, I didn't have the energy to move. I could hardly get out of bed. I checked out a bunch of old mysteries from the library, baked a batch of chocolate oatmeal cookies, and didn't leave the house for three days. I took a lot of naps. Somehow I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop--to get the e-mail saying "you forgot to..." or the one saying "we're sorry, but you have not passed the required class on..." I can't really believe that it's over. And there's a whole 'nother mess of challenges waiting for me as soon as I have the stomach to face them. The number one question I get these days from all and sundry is "what are you going to do this summer?" Don't know. That's right, I don't know yet so please just hold off a few weeks before you ask me, ok? I'll be travelling, as little as possible.

Now, as to what I want to do this summer, well! There's the refashionista project, and I have stacks of fabric yearning to be made and worn. There's all that knitting. And spinning. A variety of things has made me want to weave again, at least some bands if nothing else. There's so much to be done! Am I the only one who can't believe it's practically Memorial Day already?

flash me some sleeve, baby

Ok, here you go. The Om sweater with half a sleeve. This picture is out of date; I now have most of this sleeve done and have started on the other one. I'm still dubious about the yarn situation. Will there be enough? One skein of yarn doesn't quite make it from the underarm to the wrist. I have a feeling this sweater is going to fully utilize the put-stitches-on-hold technique as I switch back and forth from sleeve to second sleeve to body and back again, ekeing out my yarn as far as it will go. (is that ekeing, eking, or eeking? I suppose it's rightfully eking, but it looks odd.) What would be a truly low-yardage way to finish the front and neck while still allowing for some closure? I'm thinking attached I-cord. The thing about chunky yarn is that it always runs out long before you hope it will.

In other news... a light! I see a light! Two of my major assignments were completed today, as in turned in to the professor, as in out of my hands. Over. Praise be. Now I just have an exam and a couple other shorter writing things to finish up... I can almost see the end! Freedom! I may yet survive!

another deep breath.

You know how sometimes everything is ok, and then you hear something or get some news and all of a sudden you feel as if you were in an elevator and someone jerked the cable? I’m having one of those moments.

There’s really no excuse for it. When I became a student I knew things would be financially precarious. The project I work for just got some news about the most recent grant we applied for. We got funding, but at a greatly reduced rate. They suggest a summer “salary” for me--that would be JuneJulyAugusthalfofSeptember -- that about matches my monthly expenses. I’m trying not to panic. After all, it is a good thing to get funded at all, and it’s not like there are no coffee shops in my neighborhood; worst comes to worst, I’ll dredge up the 15-year old experience making mochas and plead. There’s no reason to panic, yet. Things will work out.

I guess what’s getting to me is that lack of financial security brings up so many issues for me. It reminds me in a gut-wrenching way that I am the only thing between me and poverty. It’s just me--no husband, no generous boyfriend, no rich aunt or uncle. It’s true that I have relatives who have helped me a great deal in crises and I’m very grateful for their assistance. But they can’t support me continually and I pray I never have to ask it of them. Ever since I started working at 15 I’ve been terrified of ending up a bag lady. One of those women with a shopping cart who has no home, no heat, just the sidewalks and the trash she picks up. Or, maybe worse, one of the invisible elderly we pack away into terrible “homes” that smell of urine and tinned green beans. I’m more than a decade older than other people in my program, and I feel so out of step. What I want to be doing right now is creating a safe, domestic haven for a partner and children. Not happening. I thought by this time in my life I’d be thinking about college savings for my children, not me. It also reminds me what a gamble grad school is. I’m in a field where jobs are notoriously scarce. Of course I value intellectual endeavor. Of course I value scholarship, and academic freedom, and ok go ahead, accuse me of being an intellectual snob: I like being around smart people. But a sudden potential gap in the income spectrum makes me wonder: is it worth losing retirement funding for this? Is grad school reducing my statistically already negligible chances of finding a long-term partner? Is it worth having no savings, no financial cushion, and potentially no skills that are marketable in a non-academic world? I have to keep reminding myself that I can find a way to market myself; I’ve done it before, I did it right out of undergrad when I had significantly fewer skills than I have now. I’m going to do my best not to decline into an impoverished, lonely old age. But it is scary. And all of the uncertainty reminds me forcibly that I really don’t like where I am living. For what’s available, I have a good situation, I realize that; but I hate living in the city. And excuse me, a place with more than 19,000 people per square mile is a city, I don’t care what New Yorkers say. Yes, you read that right; my non-city city is the fifth densest populated in the US as of the last census. My mortgage is quite high. Sometimes I think about selling my condo, but the fact is that rents aren’t much cheaper, and I initially bought so that at least I’d be putting a pittance towards equity. Not to panic, but a close neighbor with a comparable place has had it on the market for a year now, and it hasn’t sold yet. Which doesn’t make me any more confident about being able to realize that equity should I need to.

So... a perfect time to go back to the Om sweater. It now looks like a sweater, no? I’m down to the body part. Now I’m just worried about running out of yarn. I’ve already used three skeins of 10. I’m trying to judge how far I can go... I think one skein might be enough for each sleeve. Which would leave me four for the rest of the body and one for a collar. That should be enough, but I think I’ll start on a sleeve next to see how far I get. I may have to alter the plans; I wanted a shawl collar. I could live with 3/4 sleeves, if it comes down to it. I could add bordering stripes of a different color if it turns out to be really scanty, but I hope I won’t have to.

I liked the sleeve increases and wanted to echo them in the side and underarm “seams”. To keep the stitch count even I have to border them with a pair of decreases. It’s simple, but harmonious. I like it; it keeps this sweater basic but still interesting enough to endure knitting.

And finally--thanks everyone for your kind comments on the doll couture. I’ll let her know :)

basic breath

My knitting does yoga. Om.

One disadvantage to being busy all day around computers is the temptation to look for things online. I find that especially when I don't have as much time as I would like to be creative, I surf here and there looking for delicious yarn, trying to staunch the pain of not having it in my hands. Last week sometime as I was debating the merits of several different brands of thick cotton yarn, I came to: I do not need more yarn. No more yarn! I have drawers of yarn! Enough to make four summer cotton sweaters. I need to knit up what I have first or give it away. This happened on one of those days when I spent half an hour pawing through drawers trying to come up with something to wear. (Those of you who think I never match anyway so what's the point, you can be quiet here). I realized once again that what I need is a plain, offwhite sweater. Now that it is getting warmer, it can be in cotton. So I cast on for a plain top-down v-neck raglan sweater in chunky cotton. It's so basic that it is just infused with the essence of om. I am trying a new-to-me decrease: k1 yo k1 all in the same stitch. Nice. Different.

The needles are #9, for me they feel like tree trunks! Ok, well, trunks of young trees. You know what I mean. I had to go to my LYS this afternoon to get a longer needle. This yarn is not that fun to knit with, it's more or less like knitting with cotton clothesline, but... it will be a useful sweater, right? Right. I hope this project lasts at least down to the waist.

swatching

The pink yarn I dyed a while back is earmarked for a jacket in this pattern. This is the same yarn, undyed, swatched up to see how it works out. It is not on gauge; a little small, but I think if I make the next size up it will be just about right. I could go up a needle size, but I like the feel of this fabric. The pattern is very pretty, but now I am wondering: scallops + lacey + bright pink = too much? Too frilly froofy girly?

On the opposite end of the spectrum from frilly, I found the site of the Bespoke Tailor today while blog browsing. Fascinating! One of my enduring life fantasies has been that someday I will meet someone with A Lot of Money who will sweep me off my feet right into a proper english tailor's shop to be fitted out with a real english tweed suit (or two, depending on how long I am invited to stay at the country "house"). Failing that, I would love to have the time to study how fine tailoring is done and maybe make my own. At this point that seems hardly more realistic than the first dream. Still, it is nice to read that true tailors still exist and that there are people who appreciate the finer details of shirtings, linings, interfacings, and clothing structure. If you read some back entries, you will come across a butterfly gusset--lovely!

I have an itch

but before I get to that, here's a picture of white socks on Sunday morning:

They are now done! Toes grafted, all ends sewn in. They were getting to be the never-ending socks, so I'm glad they are complete. Having two going at once is well worth the price of the extra set of dpns, in my opinion. The pattern is "Evening stockings for a young Lady" from Nancy Bush's "Vintage Socks" book. The yarn is KnitPicks merino sock yarn. I used two hanks.

For the socks above, I used #1 needles, and there are 61 stitches around the foot. This is snug on me. Probably great in stockinette stitch, but I'm not overly thrilled with the way the pattern stretches out especially around my calves. I tried doing a 60-st sock with #2 needles and the same yarn (the uglicious red-yellow-green socks of a post or two ago) and that's ok, but maybe the fabric isn't quite what I'd like. Then I remembered--I have a set of Brittany dpns which I rarely use because they are size one and half, whatever that is in mm. I cast on another sock with that set

and it's just about perfect! Nice fabric, right size. More lecture knitting. This is also my first toe-up sock with short row heels and toes. I love this technique! Yesterday I was browsing around the web to find out the "right" way to do short rows and I discovered about 7 different suggestions so I decided forget it, I'll do what I feel like. It's just fine. I don't know why I've resisted the idea of short row toes for so long. They are much easier to start than a figure-8 cast on and the join is invisible. There isn't even a significant hole where I began going round for the ankle after turning the heel. As Nero Wolfe would say, "satisfactory".

Oh, and in that picture up above? That stack of books? That's about half the stack I should be reading as the semester draws to a close. And you know what? I can't face it. Not today. Some of these books are even interesting--I'm starting to find a sort of niche for myself in this field, a place where I think the questions are intriguing and where I might even be able to contribute something. But today, midweek, with a sunny sky, I feel as if I can't stay inside another minute. I never ever (well hardly ever) goof off. I mean, when I "goof off" it's likely to be something such as actually taking a lunch break instead of eating out of a reused yogurt container at my desk. The list of papers to write and articles to read is piling up, but I just can't bear another academic treatise tonight. I want to go home in the daylight and maybe even eat dinner at my kitchen table! Because, in addition to the restlessness that comes with warm weather, and the knowledge that I have many duties this weekend that will impinge upon my free time, and the fact that most of the department will shortly be leaving for a conference...

I have an itch. I can't say when it started, but it got itchier when I saw this last fall: the doll and sets of clothes from Rebecca magazine. I love dolls, but I'd never seriously considered knitting one. Now I am thinking about it... then just a few days ago I was reading angry chicken and her post mentions how she loves kits. One of the links took me here or more specifically to this page of Gail Wilson's Designs. For someone who has had a life-long interest in cloth figures and clothing them, this site is some of the best dream candy I have ever come across. And I don't even consider myself a lover of the Early American Style! Something about the idea of small things, with sets of changeable clothes, and little furniture... it's been a very frequently visited site in the past several days. Surprisingly, I love her oil painted doll's faces. This is a technique I never thought much of before, but her style has convinced me that it has potential. I've avoided Hitty for years now, even though I read the book as a child and adored it. For one thing Hitty is tiny, and I like a little bigger size in order to get details on the clothes, and for another I hadn't found a Hitty I really liked the look of. I love Gail Wilson's version. The curls are just the way I imagine Hitty's curls to be, and she has her name embroidered just as in the book, and then all those petite accessories! I want to dance like a little girl!

The itch I have is a doll-making itch. It has partly to do with these latest inspirations, and partly to do with the spring weather, which always makes me think of small calico dresses hanging on a wash line in the breeze. I feel as if I must do some sewing right now, maybe a stuffed figure, maybe a new skirt, maybe a doll's dress. Which is why I'm pointing my toes homeward, leaving behind a handbasket for all the various tasks I should be doing. Stashes are made for afternoons like this.