Too Much Wool

in other news...

I keep saying I'm spinning a lot. I mean, its true that I'm spinning a lot, and every time I write a blog post, I mention it, but I realized I haven't shown pictures of the last few spinning projects. 

So, lumped all together for quick photography purposes (I had to take the yarn outside, and while I was out there a mosquito landed on the cashmere. Devious little bastard knew I wouldn't smash him into my cashmere...)

The green is laceweight, Foxfire cashmere/silk in the Northwood colorway. The orange is a very special fiber, gifted to me for my 40th birthday (umm... that would be nearly a year and a half ago...) by Elizabeth. Its a custom blend of cashmere/silk/merino/alpaca, made especially for me (the colorway was called "Cassie's Bday Blend") from Red Stone Yarns. And the purple - the back skein isn't dry yet - is a merino/alpaca/mohair blend from Morro Fleece Works. 

Because y'all know I can't resist the close-ups: 

As you can see, the orange and green are both very fine (350 yards of green, 650+ of the orange), while the purple is a more rustic yarn. I haven't counted the yardage on the purple, but its definitely over 700 yards. I'm thinking shawl.... probably for both the orange and the purple, while the green will have to be a scarf with the yardage I've got. 

In knitting news, there's really just, mostly ... socks. I found that after I sent the Norn pattern out into the world, I was finally able to knit it with enjoyment again. Not finishing the pattern was hanging over my head for so long that I felt guilty, but now I'm having fun with it. 

This is a 72 stitch version of Norn, and I'm using a blue-black colorway of Schaffer Anne that I've had in the stash for years. Lovely yarn, I'm glad I'm finally knitting it. 

My subway knitting is simple, another yarn that I've had around for a while and never done anything with - 

The yarn is Knitpicks Risata, and I'm actually quite enjoying the yarn after several false starts with it in the past. 

The funny thing about both of these sock yarn is that I've had both for a while, the "Anne" for years. In both cases I have more of the yarn, in different colorways. And, with both yarns, I've tried starting different projects in the past and wound up ripping them. Not just ripping but swatching, reswatching, and then ripping in disgust for one reason or another. I've almost given the "Anne" away a couple of times (it is blue-ish, after all...) but then for one reason or another, I kept it. 

I'm finding it fascinating that the stash is not just a museum these days. With all of the spinning I've been doing, I really haven't bought much yarn (not much, I didn't say none) for a while. And while in theory the idea behind the stash has always been to have inspiration and instant gratification on hand at all times, more often than not, I've just picked up what's on top of the heap when I look for a new yarn to cast on. Its really nice to know that there are some treasures buried in there. And also that I wasn't totally out of my mind when I bought multiple skeins of yarn that I'd never knit with.   

Hmm... I might have to change my blog name. 

Norn!

Finally, I'm posting a new sock pattern for sale. This one is called Norn. Make of that what you will - the Norns of Norse mythology or the dead language. Or even the meaning of Norn in Icelandic.

I've worked on this pattern for the past ... two years. Actually, it pre-dates Loksins. But with the time I've taken with this pattern, I've been able to offer two different sizing/gauge options, as well as a couple of different variations on the pattern.

Some pictures:

Norn is a simple, stockinette-based sock with a dramatic back lace panel, the four-row lace pattern is easy to memorize, and knits up quickly, as well as having several options for variations on the pattern.

This is an option for a less-lacy version of the pattern, with a simple eyelet back-seam:

I've knit nearly five pairs of socks in this pattern now...

It looks good in slightly variegated yarns, as well as solids. From back to front, I've knit it in Regia Silk, The Woolen Rabbit sock yarn (an old one), Regia Tweed, and Fleece Artist Merino, as well as the current pair in Schaeffer Anne.

The pattern is available for sale by clicking on this link:

What I've been doing...

So, bad news on the baby bird. Wednesday night as I was getting ready for work, I heard blue jays screaming, and ... well, to make a long story short, I watched the baby get eaten by cats (he had fallen/come down out of the tree, and couldn't fly). Thanks to everyone who thought good thoughts for him. To be perfectly honest, I really don't want to talk about it anymore, it made me very sad. 

And moving on ... the rest of this post is brought to you almost entirely for Juno's amusement. 

I'm still spinning, knitting a bit too. But the thing that's been totally captivating me lately is sewing. I'm an on again, off again sew-er. Sometimes I do it for days on end, sometimes not at all for weeks. (Kind of like my knitting lately, come to think of it.) 

Several months ago, I had to design a tote bag for a beginning sewing class that I teach at Purl Patchwork. I tweaked the final design ages ago, a great bag with pockets that's totally reversible (I love the reversibleness of them best of all). But, being myself, I couldn't leave it alone and had to play around with different proportions, sizes, pocket variables, etc....

Umm... these are all knitting totes. And more than half of them have knitting in them. I've been resisting the urge to make them to coordinate with the knitting projects that they're used for. I've just been making them up as I find good fabric combinations (they're all lined with complimentary fabrics). 

I've also made a few larger ones too

(I made the one on the far right yesterday, and right now its my favoritest of all. Piggies!) 

Its become a little obsessive-compulsive, I think. And there are a few that aren't pictured either because they've been given away or because I was too lazy to dig them all out for a photo shoot. 

Other than all of that, I've decided that today is the day I'm going to sit down and force myself to finish up another sock pattern for sale. Its one that I've had in the works for way over a year, but got lazy about finishing. I've knit the pattern four times already, I just have to finish writing it up. So stay tuned, maybe after the weekend I'll have the Norn pattern up and ready. 

bird rescues are rough

Some of you may remember a while ago, when I posted about watching a cat slowly kill a bluejay on my neighbor's porch.

Well, today we rescued a baby blue jay from the neighborhood cats.

He's really really young, verging on being in shock. Jon found him surrounded by 3 feral cats in a neighbor's driveway, and although he doesn't have any obvious injuries, he's staying pretty still. I suspect he just fledged and fell to the wrong spot.

We put him in the tree in our front yard, at first, but he didn't move, wasn't making a peep, and definitely wasn't out of reach of cats there. Since we have a second story deck/porch, we brought him up here and he's sitting on a wooden clothes rack right now.

Unfortunately, the sun is verging on setting. I hear some jays nearby, but no one seems to have sent out the search and rescue team for this little dude. Our past bird rescues never really helped much of anything, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

I mean, how could anyone resist trying to help a baby-face like this?:

pretty lace (weight)

Having had good intentions to blog today, but finding myself with a nagging headache, I thought I'd just throw up something pretty (and heretofore unblogged).

650 yards of two ply laceweight, Abby's Franquemont Fibers batts in the colorway Orange Blossom. 74% organic merino, 25% Tussah silk, 1% Firestar.

there's a blog post in me somewhere

Somehow, for days and days, I've been looking at this

and thinking that it was going to miraculously turn into something for the blog. Some sock yarn I spun recently (rear left), some fiber (lower left) that I've been sampling, some bitty spindle spun samples, and a bobbin of wheel spun laceweight that didn't make it into the picture.

I've been doing a lot of spinning. Every single day. I've got hundreds of yards of a beautiful laceweight, and two different sock yarns that I've spun recently. One of them is pictured above.

But the knitting is still not going well. At. all. Just like the last time I posted, in fact. Yarns that just irk me (too rough, too this-or-that). So I keep picking things up and putting them down again.

Over the holiday weekend, I tried to start a new sock, on and off for two days. I nearly gave up - Was I just not a knitter anymore? That's really all I could think of, because it was just so incredibly difficult - wrong gauge, wrong number of stitches, wrong needles.

However, this was handspun. Not some commercial yarn that I had bought on a whim. It got to the point where I decided that if I wasn't happy knitting with handspun, then there really was something wrong with me as a knitter. [Although I guess there could be crappy handspun yarn, but this didn't seem crappy. It seemed full and bouncy and wanting to be knit.]

After about four tries, I finally got it. I had spun this three ply yarn rather thick, and it seems that much of my problem had to do with using ... the wrong size needles. I was trying to force it into a tighter gauge than was decent, and it wasn't happy.

I'm not sure how to convey the feeling of relief. There were a few weeks there when my knitting failures had me so bogged down I considered ... I don't know. Giving all the yarn away? Just spinning and giving the yarn to friends who like to knit? It was really that bad. I was feeling that I had lost interest in knitting completely, and it was demoralizing and saddening (especially given how much yarn and knitting stuff I have here).

Now, I don't need another pair of socks. I really don't. But this is working out, and I'm feeling like I'm taking baby steps back into knitting. Seriously, for a while there, every time I picked up any knitting project, I felt like my hands had forgotten what they were supposed to do. And it scared me.

I'm going to take this one stitch at a time for now. And hopefully regain my groove. Otherwise there's going to be one hell of a yard/yarn sale.

remember the knitting .... ?

Ok. So I fell off the blogwagon, yet again.

I could probably keep going on and on about Italy (and given half a chance, I do it constantly in conversations), but really, things are moving along here and maybe I'll get back to it, eventually. [Which, if you're reading into it, could also mean that I'll go back and visit Italy again as soon as humanly possible one of these days .... but I digress.]

Right before I left to go on my trip, I finished spinning this:

Its merino/bamboo from Spunky Eclectic, colorway Sangria. I'm not entirely sold on bamboo (to be honest, I'm kind of suspicious of bamboo), but the finished yarn (fingering weight, 2 ply) has an interesting 'crunch' to it, and I think will feel nice in a warm-weather ... something. Scarf, maybe.

The knitting I brought on my trip, now that's something that just didn't work out. I thought simple, and I thought sock, and I was thinking about my daughter, so I started this:

- ankle sock, based on my Fools Rush pattern, Knitpicks Gloss and Grafton Darn Pretty Needles. But that's all that happened. Actually, I think I knit less than ten rows spread out over two transatlantic plane rides and a week plus in Firenze. When I wasn't out walking and soaking in the city, I was reading. Or asleep.

My knitting groove just hasn't gotten itself going again since I got home. I was speaking with a friend yesterday about it. I realized that right now I've got two fussy-to-complete sweaters almost done, the above sock that just isn't doing anything for me (I would have been better off with a plain stockinette sock - Lene is always right), and a sort of icky-but-obligatory sock

that isn't exactly a must-knit project. (This is an uncle sock, in a tweedy Fortissima sock yarn that feels like plastic and doesn't do a thing to inspire me.)

Now, some people are about process, and sometimes I am. I've said dozens of times that life's too short to knit with crappy yarn. But here I am, knitting a sock in a yarn I don't like. Although I don't precisely recall, I believe I started this as a carry along/subway knitting project. I've knit a few rows on it since I got back, but the yarn is not so nice, the knitting is boring, and somehow I managed to misplace the other sock, also more than halfway finished. (I know its here somewhere, I just can't find it right now - but the missing partner has really put on a damper on finishing the one above.)

The solution is really obvious, isn't it? Knit with good yarn. Knit something inspiring. Knit something that gets me excited about knitting. Easy, right? Not so much, sometimes. There's always that lingering, nagging feeling of obligation to projects in progress. The feeling that, if I just finish something, I'll get that rush of satisfaction that I seem to be craving from my knitting.

Instead, I've been spinning.

Which means the handspun is just piling up. (Although the fiber piles/mountains are getting smaller.) I think the sensible thing would be to cast on with some handspun.

Friday in Firenze

[I'm going to type this up directly from my travel journal, with perhaps a few notes in brackets that weren't in the original.]

17.4.09

Woke up very early, fussed about and then finally decided to go out about 6:30am. The cafes on Via Parione were still closed, but I walked to the Oltrarno and found a place near Ponte Santa Trinita that was open (about 7am).

After that I walked to San Miniato. The clouds above the hills were dark and dramatic, and the early sunlight over Firenze was really gorgeous. I took a few pics (probably not enough!) and just sat on a bench near the Franciscan church there (San Salvatore?) and smelled the pines and listened to the birds singing, which was really nice.

[And I did take a few decent pictures that morning, click to biggify:]

The Duomo (right).

The Ponte Vecchio in early morning light.

Another one of the city, with the dark clouds in the hills.

After my trek (the hill is steep) I came back to Hotel Cestelli and showered, then went out for more coffee. (Palazzo Strozzi cafe, nearby - NB, no coffee I've had here is as good as the place on Via Parione - I have to go back there from now on.) [And I did.]

I had made plans with Bee to meet her at noon near Piazza della Indipendenza, after her [Italian] oral exam, but I walked around quite a bit on my way there. I did stop at the yarn place (Campolmi Filati on Via Folco Portinari) near the Duomo, but ... I had a more or less total [Italian/yarn] communication FAILURE with the people there (who were very nice, though - I will go back). [I did go back. Twice.]

Bee and I went to San Marco to see the Fra/Beato Angelico frescoes. She hadn't been before. It was incredible. We had about an hour plus to visit (they close early!) and ... well, that was #1 on my list [of things to see]. I'd like to say that I plan to go back, but truthfully, I suppose I won't have time.

I've been here for 3 days, and have 5 more left, and I'm a little freaked out by how much there is to see and how little time I have. I can't keep up this pace every day. [Or so I thought - I more or less did - walking and seeing things about 8 hours a day or more.]

------

And just a few notes about the travel journal entry.

We really didn't have enough time at San Marco. The frescoes were stunning. All of them, but having to rush through the 'cells' to see all of the smaller, individual ones quickly was just too fast and rushed for my taste. Fra Angelico's Annuciation fresco is something I've appreciated all of my life (see? so many things that the blog doesn't known about me...) and having to see it without spending more time in front of it felt ... wrong.

Although I had declined (or run out of time, more honestly) to do a bit of studying about art history before I went to Firenze, I did learn a lot while I was there. Major things like learning about Renaissance painters who's names I'd only heard of (and then saw their works in person, at the Uffizzi galleries and random churches), and also the little things. Things like the fact that some of the pigments in Beato Angelico's frescoes sparkle when you see them in person. Something that you would never know if you've only seen the reproductions and prints.

My daughter has been studying art history seriously since high school. She knew all of this stuff (or a lot of it) before she went to Italy. Me? I was just dumped into the cradle of the Renaissance and set loose to explore. Which in a way was actually the right way to do it. When you walk and explore the streets and churches in Firenze, you realize that the concentration of talent, not to mention money, that led to such a prolific breeding ground of art is absolutely astonishing. Its nearly impossible to soak it all up in a week and a half, although I did do my damndest in trying.

Although the nostalgia for Italy comes back and haunts me, in fits and starts, spring in NY is amazing this year. My coffee situation has barely stabilized in over a week at home. I really do need to write more about that....

day two in Italy ...

My second day in Italy was a little jet laggie, although I did manage to get a glorious nine hours of sleep after the night of nearly zero sleep on the plane.

The main (or should I say the only) sightseeing thing I did that Thursday was a visit to the Palazzo Davanzati, which was around the corner from my hotel and quite interesting.

First of all, its kind of hard to resist anyplace that has a Sala dei Pappagalli (parrot room!):

Notice how the painted wall is made to look like a tapestry that's draping at the corners of the room?

And the pappagalli:

There were several gorgeous, furnished rooms that were open, but I think my favorite part was the lacework and the spinning tools.

Looks like a hackle to me.

 

Spinning wheel in front, skein winder (!) in the back.

The lace display, however, was absolutely mind boggling. I don't think I saw all of it (there were pull-out drawers, many of them, with more pieces) but I took several pictures of the pieces displayed on the walls in the lace room.

(you can click for bigger on all of these, by the way)

I might also mention that there was no entrance fee to get into Palazzo Davanzati, and its right downtown, in the old part of town, very close to some of the main piazzas (I don't know how to say 'piazza' in plural, sorry - piazzi? piazze?). Firenze makes a lot of its income from the tourist industry, so anywhere with free admission - not to mention no crowds of tourists! - is worth taking a look at. There are nearly-hidden gems everywhere you turn, and a lack of tourists doesn't mean a lack of beautiful things to see.

The rest of that Thursday involved my unpacking my suitcase to discover that I had underpacked. I do this all the time, actually, it should be no surprise. So I made a quick stop at H&M and bought some clothes. I also had a fabulous cheap sandwich and glass of wine for lunch, followed by my second macchiato of the day.

While Firenze is supposed to be an expensive place, my daughter had told me that you can get a simple sandwhich just about anywhere for about €2, and she was right. Add to that a glass of really good house wine (at my favorite place it was €1,80) and you have yourself a respectable and affordable lunch.

Its probably best not to get me started on the coffee prices. Morning cappucino - €1,20. Afternoon macchiato - € .90. I've been in desperate search of comparable espresso drinks since I returned to NY, and I've been sorely disappointed. Nothing (and I've been to "good" coffee shops, not chain stores) has compared in taste. And the prices here are at least twice (if not three times) as high as they were in Italy.

I know its probably a cliché, but its true. Food is better in Italy. And coffee - incomparable.

Firenze, day one recalled

I've been home for four days now, and yet I feel disjointed. Jet lag was actually worse going to Italy than it was coming home - that is, if you don't count waking up at 5am every day since I returned 'jet lag'.

In case it wasn't obvious from the posts on the trip (brief as they were), I had a fantastic time. I heard from many people, family and friends both, that "Florence is nice, but Venice was my favorite city." However, I wasn't going to Venice, the kid was in Firenze/Florence, and ... honestly? Either they didn't visit the same city I did or they didn't spend enough time there.

Come to think of it, I didn't spend enough time in Firenze. I had eight days, and it wasn't nearly enough time. I could have spent another month there and probably not seen everything in the city, never mind the two or three (or six) bus or train trips to nearby places that I would have liked to have made.

First things first. My hotel. I stayed at Hotel Cestelli, a place I had researched online as much as I could, as much as one can on the internet, but finally chose for several reasons. One was proximity to my daughter - the hotel was less than two blocks from her apartment, another was mostly fabulous reviews online, and then there was also the price. It was extremely affordable for Firenze in high season.

From the first minute I got there, Hotel Cestelli exceeded expectations. Not just spotlessly clean, not just the nicest owners you can possibly imagine, but also close to absolutely everything. A block from the Arno river, several blocks from the Uffizi galleries, walking distance to absolutely everything. My room (which I sadly negelected to take a picture of) was simple and beautiful, furnished tastefully and simply with antiques. By the time the jet lag started to wear off (about two days), I already felt entirely at home there.

Seriously - if you go to Firenze, stay there. It was an oasis of calm in an otherwise busy city. I realize that not everyone is willing or wants to live without internet access during a vacation, but it was a welcome break for me. Also, no TV, which was excellent - I spend enough time worrying about the news when I'm at home, who wants to do that on vacation? The owners, Alessio and Asumi, were full of great information on places to eat, recommendations on what not to miss seeing, and absolutely always gracious and wonderful to be around. I really can't rave enough about them or the hotel.

When I got to Firenze, it was hot. It had been hot there for days, maybe weeks, but sadly it was the last really warm day of my stay. The weather changed that first night, and we had a bit of rain or clouds every day after that.

On the first day:

I just kind of walked around. This picture is of the Ponte Vecchio (the "old bridge"), which was less than two blocks from my hotel. I wandered in fairly tight circles at first, as the streets in the old part of town can be maze-like and don't run in straight lines at all. (Actually, I'm not sure that any streets there run in straight lines, but the mazes of alleys and small blocks near the hotel were a little confusing until I got my bearings.) Of course, I'm one of those stubborn people, the kind who hates walking around with a map in hand (like all the other tourists), so any walking-in-circles that happened was entirely my own, stubborn fault.

I met my daughter after her class (she had finals the first few days I was there), and we walked around a bit around sunset, when I took a picture of the Duomo (cathedral) which dominates the city skyline:

If you ever plan a trip to Firenze, try to read Brunelleschi's Dome before you go. The dome is amazing and the history of the city in the Renaissance and what went into building the cathedral is excellent background.

Here's the front of the church, also taken at twilight:

My daughter and I had a great dinner at a little place called Casalinga (housewife, more or less) that first night. Maybe I've been living in a cave all my life, but ravioli with butter and sage? Absolutely to die for. I'm going to grow sage all summer so I can recreate something like that first meal in Italy.

Interesting point to note - in Italy, it is apparently considered incredibly rude for a waiter to bring you your bill without your asking for it. The assumption is that you will have a long leisurely meal, and cutting that short or even suggesting to by bringing a customer an un-asked for check is just. not. done. Which resulted in much hilarity as my daughter and I tried (very hard) to get our waitress's attention in a very busy restaurant. No complaints, though - its a wonderful change from NYC eateries where they seem to want to turn over tables as quickly as possible.

Theoretically, I could go on and on, and this post would never end. I'm going to try to recreate most of my days there, as much as possible (or at least the highlights) and post about them. Mostly with pictures. Thankfully, I kept an extensive journal while I was there, writing once or twice a day about what I did and saw (and thought, and ate, and ....).

So... more soon. For now I'm back to reality and trying to declutter my house, after staying in a hotel for 8 days, a spotlessly clean and uncluttered place (not having dishes to do, not even having to make my own bed), I want a little more breathing room here at home.

I won't even get started right now on what's happened to me and coffee after being in Italy. I'll say more about that some other time. It might deserve a post of its own.