Too Much Wool

Bilaterally symmetrical?

We have had an interesting weekend. We, of course, being me talking in the 3rd person and using the royal 'we' which I lapse into when blogwriting in my mind. What is it about the royal 'we' that's so seductive? Nevermind, don't answer that. I spent the weekend alone.

After an unsettling and life-shaking phone call early on Saturday (which about 2 or 3 of you know about but which I'm not going to disclose to the universe at large because .... I'm not like that - no one died), I managed to recover something of my weekend.

I took myself out to a solitary dinner on Saturday. Have you ever walked through the East Village, alone, on a Saturday night? If you have, you'll know that They Run in Packs. Twos,  threes, fours, and often fives and sixes, but even as early as 6pm, there was no one else walking alone on a Saturday night. It was my choice, I am not bitching. It was kind of interesting, actually.

I managed to take at least one good picture. This is VERY good because I had run out of pics for my Saturday treasure trove of pretentious photos and was getting antsy about next week's Saturday post. Rest assured, there are more coming. Possibly a bit extreme, but there's something waiting in the wings. (Actually, its kind of funny that I think that anyone would notice.)

I knit(ted) on Saturday night. Watched a stupid funny movie and got some work done on the second half of the Backyard Leaves scarf. I love Annie Modesitt. Why this scarf project (its a SCARF!) is making me so happy is really beyond me. It's flat, its rectangular, but something about it is satisfying. The symmetry is slightly offset but otherwise the scarf is bilaterally symmetrical; I think that's the right term. This causes me weird flashes of .... something. It makes me feel like my mind is ambidextrous. None of me is ambidextrous but this pattern makes me feel like I've seen knitting in a whole new light. Light bulb moments, etc. No drugs, I promise, its just a great pattern. Almost as good as drugs.

To fend off the infernal clamouring for new knitting photos, I present the current progress on the second Hyrnan Randalín shawl.

Alice snuck into the picture. How she managed to understand that standing directly in the middle would be the best possible 'frame' for her pose is kind of inexplicable. Maybe she's a natural? Maybe I set the photo up? Who knows.

I'm quite a bit beyond where I was the last time I showed a picture of the shawl. I've been getting, on average a couple of very long rows per day done. Admittedly, I did choose the picture that had the most flattering angle of Alice, rather than the Hyrnan Randalín shawl.

It's been a rough weekend. Sue me.

the mystery

He who only knows, without seeing, does not understand the mystery.

Even should every detail of beauty be accounted for by the intellect, does such a tabulation lead to beauty?

Is the beauty that can be neatly reckoned really profound?

-Sōetsu Yanagi

thinking knitters

My list of my top 5 favorite thinking knitters:

#1. Elizabeth Zimmerman

The late, the great. The wonderful writer of books that make you think about your knitting. I came after the days of slavishly following patterns, and so didn't have a whole lot to unlearn, but by all accounts EZ was a trailblazer.  They're coming out with a new book of her essays, The Opinionated Knitter, hopefully soon.

#2. Priscilla Gibson-Roberts
My idol. Her book Knitting in the Old Way is fantastic reference book for designing your own traditional sweaters. No patterns, as such, but guidelines for proportions, design elements, and making your own patterns to fit. She spins, and wrote High Whorling, a book on spindle spinning. She's written two sock books. She introduced me to the book The Unknown Craftsman, by Sōetsu Yanagi,* for which I am infinitely grateful.

#3. Anna Zilboorg
Author of Knitting for Anarchists, a book with detailed explanations of what you can do, why you do it, and how it works in knitting. A book that opened my mind in many ways. She's also written the Magnificent Mittens book, a Turkish socks book, and at least one other sock book, Socks for Sandals and Clogs. A quote from Knitting for Anarchists: "In knitting, understanding gives us power."

#4. Annie Modesitt
Ok, there's one blogger on the list. Annie's self-published book, Confessions of a Knitting Heretic, is wonderful. I'm currently working on her Backyard Leaves scarf scarf from Scarf Style, which is one of the most enjoyable patterns I've ever worked with.

#5 Sarah Swett
To my knowledge, she hasn't had much published besides the patterns she's done for Spin•Off, but I like her. Her bio is in Knitting in America. You can see a few of her sweaters online, and her amazing tapestry work as well.

This list could easily have gone to #10, but because I had originally thought of listing 3 people, I compromised with only going to #5. Other contenders were/are:
Nancy Bush (for everything)
Beth Brown-Reinsel (for a dedication to traditional patterns and techniques)
Meg Swansen (because. and not just because she's EZ's daughter)
Barbara G. Walker (for her treasuries of knitting patterns)

A few caveats:

I've restricted the list to knitters I don't know.
These are my opinions only.
I reserve the right to change my mind whenever I feel like it.
I'm sure there are hundreds of other knitters out there who qualify.

In my mind, a thinking knitter is one who, whether within or outside a pattern, teaches you to understand what you're doing and how to apply it to other projects. Teaches you to read your knitting, get inside a pattern, and truly know it.

Really, I hope I don't sound pompous. These are just people that I really appreciate in my knitting, who have changed the way I feel about wool and what I do with my hands. I'm not any kind of an expert, and these are just my personal opinions.

*Sōetsu Yanagi was the founder of the Japanese craft movement in the early 20th century. The Unknown Craftsman is just a selection of his writings, on everything from the concept of craftsmanship to the Buddhist idea of beauty. I find his writing as inspiring as just about anything I've ever read. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this book changed my life.

And a mini rant:
As I said, I'm loving the Backyard leaves pattern. I'm pretty sure I can write an entire post about it. Not ... um... having read through the pattern before starting it, it hadn't occurred to me that the bizarre bunny-eared shape of the graph had to do with the fact that the end of the scarf splits into two pieces. Very cool.

I finished the first half (its done in halves and then sewn together) of the scarf today. When I got to the end, I realized that although there were three pictures of the scarf in the book, NOT ONE showed the cool, fish-tailed ends of the scarf. Three pictures, and the only one that showed the ends blurred out any kind of detail. C'mon, people!

Below is one 'fish-tail' leaf from the end of the first half of the scarf.

 

never forget

I had intended to write about lace knitting tonight.

I was afraid that this might happen.

Instead I watched a PBS show on Auschwitz, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camp. I worried that this might render me incapable of any coherent writing at all.

My grandparents were interned in Nazi work camps during WW II. The incidental fact that they were my adoptive grandparents rather than blood relatives is actually irrelevant. They were the only paternal grandparents I've ever known. I grew up with them. I heard the stories. I saw them cry every time they told us what had happened.

They lived in Szydlowiec, a small Polish town. They were interned in the Skarzysko work camp through the war. Both of them, miraculously, survived.

The horror and the tyranny inflicted by prejudice and ignorance is incalculable.

Sixty years is but a heartbeat, in perspective.

I really don't have it in me to say anything more right now. This is a subject deserving of eloquence. Instead, just trying to fathom it brings me to tears.

There aren't any words that can calculate the effect of hatred.

Never forget.

that place of beauty

I have had a revelation. This could be due to PMS, lack of sleep, or any number of other things. There was a sudden and very thorough awakening to the fact that ....
there's a damn lot of wool in the house. (Don't remind me of the blog name. I just like the way the words look together. tOO much wOOl. Don't say it too many times, its hypnotic.)

I think I mentioned my revelation to someone. I can't remember if there was cackling, or agreement. There certainly wasn't any kind of opposition. I think something was said along the lines of, "Yes, you have a lot more stash than I do." This may have been after the cackling stopped.

For several days, I was content. A contentment relative to the fact that the weather was too cold to really think about making unnecessary trips. A satisfaction somewhat related to the blizzardly conditions that made going outside painful all weekend (and cancelled my weekend job so I didn't even have to leave the house.) A grim determination to get some knitting done so I'd have something to write about. Honest. I'm nothing if not honest.

I avoided Elann, even though there were excellent yarns going on sale at ridiculous prices. I have boxes of "excellent" and baskets of "ridiculous prices" to show for prior moments of frailty. I didn't need more. I even tried to talk a friend out of an online purchase of wool, pointing out that surely something could be made from stash. Other people do it, I argued. [I think I've heard that Claudia is one of these mythical creatures. The non-stashers. The ones who don't worry that the world's supply of wool is going to come to an abrupt and devastating end, requiring us all to knit with cotton and acrylic and other similarly nasty things.]

I think that thinking about wants, needs, and the meaning of life caused me to have a real paradigm shift. I had enough to work with. The marriage of yarn to pattern isn't tyrannical. There is ebb and flow, a dance between the two that creates beauty and graceful music on its own. I just needed to let go and let the dance begin. Let the waves of inspiration take me to that place of beauty.

There's a certain amount of bullshit inherent in any story that gets a little too poetic for its own good, don't you think?

On Tuesday, I did not knit one blessed stitch. I convinced myself that the trip to the LYS was to return some yarn I had bought in a moment of weakness and come home with a book. The book was going to inspire me. I can excuse almost anything that provides inspiration.

The book didn't come home with me. Meet my latest inspiration.

The moon is full and that's enough for me. Ebb and flow. Waves. Tides. Moon. I'm making perfect sense.

Frailty, thy name is wool.

non sequiturs - non sweaters

If you came here looking for news about the infernal beast you can stop looking. There isn't any.

Instead we have the Backyard Leaves scarf, from Scarf Style. The pattern is by Annie Modesitt. I started this before Thanksgiving, for my daughter. Realizing it would never be done for the holidays, I decided to finish it for her birthday (2/17). I picked it up again today and got two full repeats (about 20 rows each) done.

Yes, this is a total non sequitur. I did work on the shawl again, but only a few rows, which would hardly impress anyone by a photograph, so I decided to show you this instead.

I'm using the exact yarn called for in the pattern, Karabella Aurora 8. It's very squishy but extremely soft (merino, I think). The pattern is lace with patterning on both the right and wrong sides. But since the scarf is narrow and the stitch count is small (varying from row to row to create the scalloped edges) its really not that hard. I find it quite soothing, and the rows go very quickly. The edging detail is actually worth the whole process of digesting the pattern instructions. I've just used up the first ball of yarn, and the pattern calls for 4 balls, so I'm about a quarter of the way done.

Anyone who has been reading a while and paying attention may have noticed this scarf  before (there's an earlier picture in the WIP photo album). I haven't updated that in a while, though. And anyone paying a lot of attention might notice that I didn't even include this scarf in the list of WIPs that I posted recently. I never claimed that it was a complete or exhaustive list.

The RedThing needs a deep breath, some time with the swift and ball-winder, and a good reading of the pattern before I pick it up again. However, my birthday is in February too and I'm kind of shooting to get it done by then.

NYC continues to be slippery and cold. Okay, not as cold as 'north of Boston' (who knew this was an actual place where people live?) or as snowy as some places. But the trains are slow and everything seems dragged out, almost slow motion - I saw transit guys out today *sweeping* snow off the tracks with brooms - everything feels a little out of sync.

Non sequiturs are perfectly appropriate. Especially now.

Knitfunk

So, Saturday night with the blizzard (piddly blizzard, in the scheme of things, I think we got 18") raging, I picked up my wannabe-whaddayacallit. The one that looks like a vest because I don't have the sleeves done. And I finished the body and bound it off

dot dot dot

and then I had the sense to try it on before I cut the yarn.

In spite of the pattern designer's extremely considerate instructions to switch needle sizes for the seed stitch border at the bottom, which I did, I still managed to loosen up my gauge enough that the seed stitch pooched out and my bind off was too loose and I wasn't happy and thankfully hadn't cut the yarn yet so I was able to

[deep breath]

rip out the entire bottom edge of the whaddayacallit. Thing. Infernal imp. Demon spawn.

Not only that, when I tried it on I felt like I looked fat and dumpy (considering how the last few days have been, I probably did look pretty disshevelled). This made me hate (choose one):

a. myself
b. the sweater
c. the pattern
d. the yarn
e. knitting

To my credit, I immediately picked up the stitches and did two rows of the new, improved (tighter) seed stitch border. Not to my credit, I also seriously contemplated casting on for a different sweater. A harder sweater. A sweater that wouldn't make me look like a total idiot if I screwed it up because it's labeled "for advanced knitters".

Now, that makes sense, doesn't it?

Thanks to a lot of time on my ass in front of the television, I did make up the time I lost by ripping. And having put on a shirt that isn't three sizes too big for me, I also don't look as bad as I did the first time I finished the thing off.

Amazingly, the infernal beast looks better with only 1" of seed stitch at the bottom. Just like the pattern said. Before I ripped it, I had done a 2" border. The 2" border inexplicably made me look like a potato.

I feel this is a great improvement. I need to do whatever it is I'm supposed to do for the sleeves (pick up stitches, find my 16" 4mm circular, take stitches off of waste yarn ... like that).

Also, please excuse the hanging thread and stitch marker. I was so glad to be done that I had to take an immediate picture. Before it unravelled, or something.

Can I knit on my shawl now?

I bet everyone is going to be happy when this is over.

Live from NY...

......it's Saturday night.

I took this right before it got really dark. About 4pm or so. It's no longer possible (7:30pm) to take a picture, but the snow is coming down intensely.

I had no plans to post again, but the snow picture came out so well I thought I'd share it. Soup's on, there's plenty of warmth, wool, and food.

On the phone with my sister, I tried to describe the hypnotic effect of the snow rippling off the eaves of the house. How it looked like liquid flowing, how it was almost like being able to see the wind.

And she said, "You're a hopeless romantic." And I said, "Is there something wrong with that?"

I guess its obvious, I love winter. Keep it coming.

the gate

Cemetery gates. St Patrick's Old Cathedral. Mulberry Street.

(last week's 'undiscover'd country' photo was taken through the keyhole of this gate, left door)

“All it requires for the forces of evil, bigotry, superstition and ignorance to keep their grip on the minds of the people is that good men and women continue to do nothing.”

-Voltaire

And the winner is....

(The names are in the hat, above)

And the winnner is .... Tamara

Her (winning) quotational contribution:
   
"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." Abraham Lincoln