09.27.07
Posted in Finished Objects, General, Knitterly Fraternization at 10:10 pm by Rachel
What do you know, I’m a few days early with the October issue of Lickety Knit! My editorial staff must have been working overtime. I am delighted that you are all so pleased with this blog’s reinvention as a monthly knitting periodical – the 30-odd letters to the editor in response to the last issue have validated my choice very nicely.
New in this issue: Lickety Knit in the mainstream(ish) press! Minty speaks out! Youthful indiscretions come back to haunt me! And a very special moment with Rachel Sr.
MEDIA COVERAGE
For many years I have been a big fan of writer and newspaper editor Dan Savage. Some years ago I even had the opportunity to humiliate myself repeatedly in front of him when I organized a lecture that he delivered at the university where I work. I picked him up from the train station, escorted him around campus, and said one asinine thing after another in an uninterrupted stream of idiocy whenever I was within his earshot for the duration of his visit. (Actual quote from when we were talking about his terrific book The Kid: “I thought your story? About your experience with open adoption? Was so great! It made me think maybe I’d get pregnant? So I could give my kid up for open adoption to a nice gay couple? You know, just to help the cause!”)
Anyway, imagine my delight when I discovered that Dan Savage had blogged me! (Photo from this post.) Sparkles came across it and sent me the link. Of course I had to leave a moronic comment immediately. Just so he’d remember me.
YOUTHFUL INDISCRETIONS
My appearance on Dan’s blog actually lead to another awkward moment (why yes, my life is just one long string of these, thank you). Last week I entered into uncharted waters with Lickety Knit: I revealed its existence to a work colleague for the first time. (And let me just say, totally unrelatedly, that I sincerely love my job! My co-workers are a delight! I always do my work and never surf the internet during the day!)
As I initially considered the potential consequences of this turn of events, I felt confident that I have not posted anything on this blog that would damage my reputation at work. Err, well, with the small exception of certain photographic errors in judgment from way back in the spring and summer of 2006, but I figured that my colleague’s lack of interest in knitting was a pretty strong safeguard against his ever making it back that far, so I didn’t worry too much. Of course, not one week later (today), he reads Andrew Sullivan, follows a link to Dan Savage, sees my photo there, sees the post from which that photo came, reads the comments, and follows Rebekkah’s link (in her comment) directly to one of those offending photos. (I am not providing a direct link, but the old timers here will probably know what I’m talking about, and if you don’t, you can probably follow the links yourself to satisfy your curiosity.) The end result is that I now get to live in fear that this particular (smart, handsome, clever, ethical, merciful) colleague will one day do a PowerPoint presentation at a staff meeting in which he highlights my X-treme Knitting and brings my career to a resounding halt. Pray for me, blog readers.
A CUSTOM ORDER
Some of you are probably here to see actual knitting, aren’t you? Fortunately, I recently knit something. As part of an ongoing effort to make peace between my sister-in-law (Rachel Sr.) and my knitting community, I offered to knit her a hat. You see, Rachel is nearly always cold, and she wears – indoors and out – one of those knit earband things (modeled to the right) for the entire winter, which for her spans from September 15 to June 1. (This accessory is such an integral part of her life that it even has a name. Its name is Earband.) I generated some enthusiasm for my offer by promising I could make the hat to her exact specifications. We eventually settled on colors, size, style, lining, etc. It was only after I was about halfway done that I noticed something funny. See if you can notice it:
Yeeeeah. I made Earband Hat.
Pattern: Basic stockinette hat with a 1×1 ribbed brim and a cotton lining, about 80 stitches in circumference (I really should have recounted before giving it away).
Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Silk in navy, orange, and cream; the lining is Knitpicks Crayon in orange.
Needles: Size 8, I think? I actually made this about three months ago but didn’t blog it until now. Pathetic. And I know, I know, I swore off Knitpicks, but it was easier to show Rachel Sr. some color cards than it was to drag her from one knitting store to the next looking for the perfect yarn.
Notes: Vague as usual, but I will say that I love cotton linings in wool hats. It makes them extra soft and extra warm, plus the contrasting color adds a bit of fun. The Crayon makes a particularly nice lining. I began with that, knit for a while (3-4 inches?), then knit one row in blue, then a purl turning row, and then continued on with the ribbing and the main body of the hat from there, later tacking down the lining on the inside. My purl row looks really loose and crappy, unfortunately, which I think has something to do with the fact that it abuts the ribbing. I might have been able to fix that by using a smaller needle for that row; I’m not sure.
In spite of my initial sense that I’d had a practical joke played on me, it seems that Rachel actually has every intention of using Earband Hat in conjunction with Earband. I was heartened by the fact that she continued to wear it after our photoshoot in spite of the fact that it was (seriously) 82 degrees out. “It’s so warm!” she kept saying enthusiastically, as though without it she would have been risking frostbite. One additional advantage of the cotton lining: it is very sweat absorbant! If I’m on the subject of observing Rachel’s quirks, I must take a moment to note that she has a somewhat distrustful attitude toward technology in general and blogs in particular: most notably, she thinks that leaving a comment on my blog will somehow automatically lead to the theft of her identity and the acquisition of least a dozen stalkers. However, as Minty and I have both learned, if you point a camera at her, tell her to pose in any number of ludicrous ways, and tell her it’s for the blog, she obliges wholeheartedly. I have no explanation (and don’t expect to get one from her in the comments).
ATONEMINT
So where were we off to after our photoshoot? To get together with Minty, of course! At last peace and harmony reigns among the three of us. During dinner Minty lamented that she was somewhat alarmed by the vehemence with which people had sided with me when I listed her minor offenses (stealing my husband, running over kittens with milk trucks, etc.) in my last post. In the spirit of our peace accord, I must tell you that I may have been mistaken about some — possibly all — of those. I sincerely apologize for besmirching her reputation. While I deeply appreciate your loyalty, dear readers, I hope you will join me in turning over a new leaf with Minty. The world is against us, knitbloggers, and if we don’t stick together, we’ll have no one.
On that inexplicably melodramatic note (my brain is usually pretty addled once I finally send an issue to press), I’m signing off. I am pretty sure I’ll finish my Lotus Blossom Tank within a couple weeks, so there may actually be a special bonus issue of LK before too long! Contain your excitetment, now.
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09.01.07
Posted in Finished Objects, General, Knitterly Fraternization at 11:22 am by Rachel
What’s up, everyone? Long time no post! (Hmm, I like how that sort of makes it sound like your fault and not mine.) Since I last posted I have been caught between two extremes: first a series of 11-hours work days, then a two-week lakeside vacation with no internet access, and then an immediate return to 11-hour work days. While both of these are good things (yes, even the work, in its way), neither has done anything good for my posting frequency. I never though that I’d get to the point where my standard would become “at least monthly,” but here we are. For that reason, I’d like to encourage you all to think of Lickety Knit as less of a blog and as more of a monthly knitting periodical, sort of a (admittedly low-content) web-based magazine. Instead of “posts,” I now put out “issues,” as in “Have you seen the most recent issue of Lickety Knit?” or “I was happy to receive the fall issue of Interweave Knits, but what I’m really looking forward to is the new issue of Lickety Knit.” (Oooh, I like how I look in italics.) If you all agree to do that, then I agree not to be come LKQ (Lickety Knit Quarterly).
Before I move on to scintillating tales of my vacation (please enjoy the photo prelude in the meantime), I urge you to drop everything you’re doing and head over to Brooke’s blog at Drunken Money Knits. Remember when I said that I wanted to make many different colored shells for different occasions for Sheldon? Well, Brooke was way ahead of me, and she did it infinitely better than I could ever hope to. You will not regret going over to look at them. A few examples can be found here, here, and here (OMG and here — the shell is a little zippered backpack!!!), but there are lots of others and they’re totally worth poking around for. (Brooke, have you considered creating a section in your sidebar with links to all your different turtles for easy access? If the public is not already demanding it, I expect they will be soon.)
Okay, back to me now. I cannot recommend a two-week vacation enough if you are ever in a position to manage it. A one-week vacation barely gives you enough time to stop thinking about work before it’s time to start thinking about going back. A two-week vacation allows you to forget for a while that you even have a job — and that’s when the real relaxation can begin. (I will boastfully confess that the most thinking I did about work was when my boss called me to tell me I’d been promoted — I really ought to go on vacation more often! I wonder what I’ll get over the Christmas break? A corner office?)
My vacation (on Lake Winnipesaukee, in New Hampshire) was an idyllic, soft-focus world where I just floated from one leisure activity to another: snoozing, reading, eating, knitting, canoeing, eating, sunning, knitting, eating, hammocking, tennis (not real tennis — just enough light tennis to make me sound good on the blog), swimming, napping, reading, knitting, eating, watching the Red Sox while knitting, eating, sleeping. Doesn’t that sound divine? It was.
And whenever it started to get maybe just the tiniest littlest bit dull, people showed up! Early in the trip we had a visit from bloggers Fumblerette and Kris (not technically blog friends, as I know them through my husband and not the internet). Then some blogless friends from home paid us a visit. Then for two days we actually tore ourselves away from our lakeside utopia and had a delightful visit with my friend Emilie and her boyfriend J in lovely Portland, Maine. Finally, we were just starting to talk about whether we should stay through the final weekend or go home a couple days early so as to attend to the many chores that no doubt awaited us, when who should call and invite herself up to the lake but Minty?
Some of you may recall that one of the odder features of my relationship with Minty is her heated rivalry with my sister-in-law, whom she’d never met. Feeling mischievous when Minty called, I told her that yes, of course we’d love her to come up, but did she mind that Matt’s sister (Rachel Sr.) would also be coming? (I made a quick note to myself to call and invite my sister-in-law as soon as I got off the phone with Minty.) And wouldn’t it make sense for them to rent a car together for the six-hour drive? Minty, to her credit, agreed sportingly (as did Rachel Sr., against all odds), and I looked forward to a weekend full of high drama.
Everything went according to my plan at first, and you should read Minty’s first blog post about it for the full story with excellent photos. It all began well, with stony silences and tension-filled semi-truces.
But then things began to crumble around me. It became clear, first of all, that Minty was co-opting the rivalry for her own blog. But then, worse, it seemed as though maybe Minty and Rachel Sr. were actually starting to like each other. It all began with small things, like their cutely and awkwardly reaching for the pancakes at the same time, but by the end of the weekend they were totally cliquish and leaving me out of their little in jokes — jerks.
And now that I think about it, by Saturday she and Matt had started dressing alike, like some insufferable preppy couple…OH MY GOD SHE HAS STOLEN HIM TOO! I can’t believe I didn’t see it before now. Beware of Minty, everyone. Hide your friends and family. (I’m so enraged that I don’t even want to link to her second related post, but blog etiquette demands it.)
Yes, my personal life is in shambles, but the blog must go on. And since this is a knitting blog, after all, I offer you a small amount of knitting. (Yes, I did knit quite a bit while on vacation, but I didn’t seem to finish much. It does mean I have a good stream of nearly finished objects in the pipeline to be finished over the next couple weeks, though — if my job allows me any knitting time at all, that is.)
These are the Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks. The yarn is Regia Silk. I wound up liking both the pattern and the yarn quite a bit more than I expected to when I was starting out. In fact, at the point I finished the knitting I was ready to declare them my favorite pair of socks to date.
The yarn is delightfully soft and drapey — none of the stiffness that you can often find with wool or wool/nylon blends. It showed off the pattern beautifully. The only thing that wound up tempering my enthusiasm was the fact that after one wearing (the state in which you’re seeing them here), there was already a considerable amount of fuzzing and a little early pilling. You’d think that after multiple years of being disappointed by handknits in this way I would have come to accept it as inevitable, but I still manage to be discouraged by it every time.
Nonetheless, I expect that I will wear these socks often (they’re work friendly, which is another reason I love them). I knit them exactly as written in the pattern, by the way, so I have nothing useful to contribute to the collective knitting wisdom.
Okay, I’m sure I’ve exceeded any sort of advisable word count. Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone!
P.S. I am declaring Bloglines bankruptcy, which frees me from the crushing weight of my enormous RSS feed backlog, but renders me completely ignorant of anything going on in your lives. So my apologies in advance if I come to your blog and comment that it looks like you lost a lot of weight (when in fact you gave birth to triplets) or that your cat must be such a joy to you (when he was hit by a milk truck two posts ago and you posted the photo as a silent tribute) or that it must be awfully nice to be able to buy so much yarn all at one time* (when in fact your stash storage shed burned down last week and this is the only yarn to your name).
*Because apparently I am a passive aggressive jackass in my comments.
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07.25.07
Posted in Knitterly Fraternization, Yarn and Tools at 2:43 pm by Rachel
I don’t usually travel hundreds of miles to visit friends I’ve never met.
But as I was already going to be visiting a friend in San Antonio, and Laura lives just 200 short miles away, we both knew it had to happen. Laura and I are cosmic twins (rather, that’s what I call us because it seems nicer than saying she’s “some girl who copies everything I do”), and chances to meet your cosmic twin don’t come along every day. So we agreed I’d just pop over to Houston for 24 hours before flying home — what could be more normal?
As Melissa, my (real-life) friend in San Antonio, was driving me to the bus station so I could make the four-hour trip to Houston, she asked me the question I’d been hoping all weekend she wouldn’t get around to: “Who is this person you’re visiting again?”
I admit that if I could have thought up a workable lie quickly, I probably would have lied. But Melissa knows me well, and I probably couldn’t have gotten away with it indefinitely. So I told her the truth. It sounded more or less like this:
“Okay, to be honest, I’ve never actually met her before. I know her from the internet. She, umm, has a knitting blog, and I actually do too, and we look at each other’s blogs and sometimes we Google chat? And we really have a lot in common? She’s a Williams grad. Um. I’ve known her for like two years — well, ‘known’ except that we’ve never spoken in person before. Look, if it was really a creepy stalker dude, he would have had to do a LOT of knitting over the past two years and get some random girl to model everything for him.”
There was a pause; then Melissa asked, “How do you know that isn’t the last girl he lured into his trap?”
I didn’t have a good answer for that. But as you can see from the photos, Laura turned out to be exactly as advertised on her blog — right down to her awesome cats — and not some sicko’s previous victim. We had a great time together. I got a full tour of her stash (she even sent me home with a tiny bit of it) and her FOs (it was like walking down Nimrodel70 Memory Lane!). I got to meet Peter (loved him almost as much as the cats). We knit, of course (Laura taught me the tubular cast on, which itself was worth the price of my bus ticket). I ate enough queso to fill a bathtub.
Although getting to meet Laura would have been reason enough to come to Houston, I also got to meet some other pretty cool people. On Monday after I arrived, we headed out to Yarntopia, a yarn store opened a year or so ago by Amy and Sheryl. I had never met Sheryl before, but Amy was the first person on whose blog I ever commented, and she was the first person who ever commented on mine. In fact, she organized the Honeymoon Cami knitalong that was my introduction to the cyberknitting world. I had followed Amy’s blog from before Yarntopia was a glint in her eye, through its conception, creation, opening, and success! It was pretty cool to meet her (she is exactly as I imagined she’d be), and her store is beautiful and inviting. My only regret is that I failed to bring my camera with me. Yep, I lugged the thing from Rhode Island to Austin to San Antonio to Houston just so I could take one damn picture of myself in Yarntopia, and I left it in Laura’s guest room. I have been forced to resort to shoddy Photoshoppery instead. (Note that Laura and I are modeling Laura’s versions of the projects we have knit in common.)
On Tuesday morning I went with Laura to her “Slacker Stitch and Bitch,” which is composed of a handful of people with flexible enough work schedules that they can meet mid-morning during the week. They gather for the 99 cent breakfast at Ikea — pretty clever, if you ask me. I had the pleasure of meeting Staci of Very Pink and Drew (a.k.a. the Crochet Dude); Sheryl from Yarntopia also joined us. The company and conversation were as good as the food was cheap.
Before I knew it, our time was up and it was off to the airport. Now it’s back to taunting and mocking each other over the vast chasm of cyberspace. I didn’t have to go home empty handed, though! Souvenirs from my trip include some lovely chocolate Koigu (actually from Hill Country Weavers in Austin), two gorgeous hanks of Claudia’s Handpainted sock yarn, four balls of Louisa Harding Kashmir DK, three skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (those items from Yarntopia), a hank of beautiful slate purple Texas mohair that Laura gifted to me, and a whole bunch of unflattering photographs and great memories. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality, Laura!
What do you think, fair readers: will I continue to do things I generally don’t do? Or will I revert to my normal activities — generating words without content and wondering when the heck someone’s going to recognize my unique and subtle genius and offer me a book deal?
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06.10.07
Posted in Finished Objects, Knitterly Fraternization at 9:16 pm by Rachel
Seeing as I have a blog and all. (Here I am foolishly thinking that most people will recognize that I am echoing my previous post with that title and opening, but of course my last post was FOUR WEEKS AGO — and I know only a small minority of you commit every word of every one of my posts to memory so you can recite them as the final project in your elocution classes.)
This has been a rough stretch for me. I don’t think I’ve worked so hard since finals period in college. There have been some moments of fun interspersed, for sure, such as seeing Minty in New York last week and Theresa at reunion weekend last month, but for the most part it has been a real slog. I kept not posting because I didn’t have time and I didn’t have anything to show. Also I felt guilty because I haven’t read any of your blogs lately, so why should I expect you to read mine? But the longer I went, the more I wanted to put it off, until I started to feel as though I just might inadvertently give up blogging. And I didn’t want to do that. I mean, I kind of do, but I wouldn’t do it without an emotional and high-profile farewell tour or two, and I haven’t had time to plan for something like that.
So instead you get…another pair of socks. Yes, seriously. Yes, I’m sorry.
These are basic garter rib socks (though a 3×2 garter rib, rather than the more standard 2×2; I prefer how it looks). The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Gold Hill. While I sort of hate to post socks on my blog (boooooorrrriiiiiiinngg), I do think these give me an opportunity to offer a useful (if semi-obvious) sock-knitting tip. If you look closely, you can see that the legs of the socks are completely without pooling, while the feet have a distinct (if not too offensive) pooling effect going on. This is not because the stitch count or pattern is different on the feet; it is because I had two skeins of yarn that behaved completely differently (yes, same dye lot). I discovered this after knitting one entire sock in the non-pooling yarn. When I started the second, I couldn’t believe how different it looked. It looked so different that Matt noticed. I really didn’t want to have such dissimilar socks, so I frogged what I’d knit of the second sock as well as the foot of the first sock, and I knit the foot of the first sock with the pooling yarn, and then I split the yarn the same way on the second sock. So while the feet and the legs look different from each other, at least the two socks match. (I did this once before when I fell in love with a Koigu colorway but they only had one skein in the dye lot I liked so much.) Anyway, I recommend this for anyone who finds that their two skeins of sock yarn are not as closely related as they might like.
So, if I’d had only those lame little socks to show, I might have put off posting even longer. Fortunately, Nova came to the rescue and gave me a reason to post: a present! I had left a comment on her anniversary contest post — I’d shared a funny link I’d come across while attempting to Google stalk her to obtain the answer to her contest question — and she awarded me an honorable mention! This news brightened my day in a much-needed way.
Three balls of Debbie Bliss merino aran in a really great color that will probably become a baby garment of some kind (my friends and coworkers are astonishingly fertile these days), two awesome candy bars that appeal both to my nostalgic childhood tastes and my sophisticated adult tastes, a handwritten card showcasing Nova’s lovely calligraphy, and taffy! Thank you so much, Nova. Your generosity was a wonderful surprise and finally gave me the reason I needed to get back to blog posting!
One last thing. Around the time of my last post people were all posting 7 or so random things about themselves on their blogs. I was tagged a few times, but since the craze has clearly passed, I will compromise by posting just one. Or maybe I’ll post one per post for the next seven posts (which, at the rate I’m going, should take us through to about December). Anyway, here is the first/only one, and I have an ulterior motive for sharing this: I want all the rest of you to adopt this random thing as well.
I always mail back the business reply envelopes from all credit card offers I receive. Empty. I’m not saying I actually apply for all the credit cards. I simply remove the pre-paid envelope from the mess of brochures and offers, seal it, and stick it back in the mail. Since I have to open the offers to shred them (which I assume you are all doing as well, right? Identity theft is not fun — it has happened to us), it is no extra trouble to pull out the envelopes. Anyway, while the few dollars per year that I am costing the credit card companies won’t hurt them, maybe if lots and lots of us adopted this practice we could be a little thorn in their giant sides. Who’s with me?
P.S. For sanity’s sake I am clearing all my Bloglines and starting fresh, which means that when I next read your blog I will have missed a few posts. If you are pregnant, have been promoted, had a book published, achieved Nirvana, or otherwise had a monumental change in your life, will you just drop me a line to let me know so I don’t make an ass of myself in the comments of your blog as a result of my ignorance? Thanks so much.
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04.06.07
Posted in General, Knitterly Fraternization at 7:34 pm by Rachel
I considered spending the whole of this first paragraph apologizing for not having posted for three weeks, but I decided that that’s boring and that none of you have been irreversibly harmed by my semi-extended absence. I will tell you that April-June is the busiest quarter at my job, plus I have taken on a hefty freelance project that is eating up my evenings and weekends, plus I seem to have gotten a poorly timed but powerful urge to play The Sims again, which means that my blog posts will remain erratic for the next couple months. I thought about taking an officially declared hiatus, but I think I’ll stop short of that. So just leave me in your Bloglines and we’ll see each other when we see each other.
Now for some out-of-date content! Some of you may recall that several presidential administrations ago the Yarn Harlot launched her most recent book in New York City. I, along with the 500 or so bloggers who managed to post about the event within an ice age of it happening, was there. I am lucky enough to travel to New York for business every few weeks, so after the launch was announced, I planned a work trip around it and found myself a date. I also joined the New York Sit n’ Knit Meetup when said date tipped me off that the group had somehow obtained an assurance of priority seating. Pleased that whomever was approving membership requests didn’t scrutinize my home state information too carefully (though I did once meet someone who thought that Rhode Island was one of the five NYC boroughs), I RSVPed that I would attend, arrived an hour and a half early, and thereby secured three seats in the second row. I used that hour and a half to royally screw up my Go with the Flow sock.
Many have described the event already, so I will be brief. I was more impressed with Stephanie than I expected to be. I was far more impressed with her sweater than I was when I saw it on her web site. I was not entirely enamored of the knitterly audience, which I found to be a cross between a Jerry Springer-type talk show (lots of booing and hissing at the mildest prompting) and a very receptive church congregation (I don’t think anyone said quite the yarn equivalent of “praise Jesus!” but the sentiment was there). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind audience interactivity, but some of the chatter bordered on foolish and herd-like, in my curmudgeonly opinion. The “Q&A” was even more annoying. Let it be known, people, that “question” and “testimonial” are not the same thing. Nor are “question” and “obsequious fawning.” (By contrast, “Rachel” and “humorless crank” do seem to be synonymous.) Anyway, Stephanie handled every single comment with a grace and humor that made me like her even more.
The best part of the evening, though, was my date, Minty! Minty and I had such a nice time together that I was surprised when I realized, after we had parted ways at the end of the night, that it was in fact only the second time we’d ever met in person. In my mind she had become firmly established as a plain old friend, not merely an internet acquaintance.
Minty and I kicked off the evening by taking several bad pictures of ourselves. We then moved on to knitting our squares for Warm Up America (she finished her seed stitch one in about the same amount of time it took me to knit half my garter stitch one, so as punishment for being so much faster than I am, I made her finish mine while I selfishly knit my sock). Then we went and poured out our souls for hours over edamame and sushi, then walked back to my hotel, then went up to my hotel room where we marveled at the hotel’s “pillow menu” (I was offered the choice of goose down, buckwheat, hypoallergenic, or Swedish space-age superfoam or whatever it is). Finally we forced ourselves to say good night, though I was tempted to invite her to order up the pillows of her choice and sleep over in the other bed (after some pre-bedtime knitting, of course). Maybe next time. (Does this paragraph make it sound as though Minty and I almost hooked up? Because as far as I know that wasn’t the case, but I can’t seem to write that last part of the evening without that overtone. Maybe it’s something inherent in going up to someone’s hotel room. Or maybe none of you were thinking that at all. Until now, of course.)
I am going to wrap this post up here, but with the preview that my next post will also feature Minty fairly prominently. You see, not all is happiness and light in my acquaintance with Minty. In fact, Minty-based strife is threatening to tear my family apart. I kid you not. Okay, I kid a little. But still, stay tuned.
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03.17.07
Posted in Knitterly Fraternization, Yarn and Tools at 8:03 pm by Rachel
Two weeks ago I was idly exchanging blog comments and emails with Ashley. She said something about coming east but not all the way to Rhode Island. I said something about wait, what, where in the “east” are you coming, and she offhandedly said, oh, Philadelphia, and I was like, dude, when? And she said, next week, and I was like, DUDE, I AM GOING TO BE IN PHILADELPHIA FOR WORK NEXT WEEK. And then she was like OMG!!!!!11!! And three days later:
Yes, readers, you are seeing correctly. That’s not clever Photoshop. That’s me sitting next to Ashley of Dogged Knits. She’s wearing her awesome chevron scarf. I’m wearing my not-at-all-itchy-no-siree alpaca scarf. She’s holding her Jaywalker-in-progress. I also had a sock in hand, but it turns out I am not able to hold a camera at arm’s length, smile woodenly, AND hold an object aloft at the same time. It’s just too much.
My work schedule and her family outing schedule gave us only two hours together, but we got lucky and got two cushy chairs at Starbucks in which to pass our time together (after Ashley stood in the long annoying line to get our beverages — how many of you can say that Ashley has stood in line for your chai tea, hmmmm?). We then took a picture of our feet (my Hederas and her Jaywalkers) and settled in for some furious sock knitting and gabbing for the duration of our too-short time together.
Ashley is just exactly like I imagined she would be except taller and more curly-haired. She also exceeded my high expectations for dry humor and good company. And her airport limousine service was worth every penny I paid for it. The only downside of our meetup was predictable: now I’m even sorrier that our paths are unlikely to cross with any regularity. Is it better to have met a favorite knitblogger and lost than never to have met a favorite knitblogger at all?
My get-together with Ashley was not my only knitting-related activity in Philadelphia. I had expected to have various work appointments during the daytime before my work conference began, but they didn’t materialize and I had an entire day in the city to kill. This, combined with a birthday gift certificate to Loop from my sister (who lives within 4 blocks of both Loop and Rosie’s Yarn Cellar, the lucky duck), combined with my newfound resolve to keep all LYSs in business, combined with my weakened will power in the face of sock yarn thanks to Erika, resulted in these lovely purchases. The colors aren’t terribly accurate in this photo, but I love them all: Koigu PPPM in neutral colors with just a tiny hint of purple (it is actually less purple than it looks here — more taupe); Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Gold Hill; and Claudia’s Handpainted Yarn in “Oops” (a name that reflects the fact that I intended to buy yarn for only one pair of socks at Loop).
See how nicely they’re all wound? This (in the photo) is how I did it. I’d heard about this tip (to unscrew the thingy at the top of a lamp so that the lampshade spins freely) long ago on the Knittyboard but had been skeptical; however, after spending a full 35 minutes at my ball winder fighting with the last 30 yards of a recent ball of sock yarn, I was ready to try anything (and I’m glad this worked, because the only other remaining option was to drop $65 on a swift). It not only worked, it worked flawlessly. Now if only I could sell tickets to my captive audience, I could fund future sock yarn purchases.
Okay, thank you all for sitting so nicely through my sock-yarn discussion when I know you’re really here to see who won yarn in my blogiversary contest. The answers, quickly, are as follows: 1) Oklahoma! 2) Once on This Island 3) Peter Pan 4) Carousel 5) Into the Woods 6) Phantom (not the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, the better version) 7) Sweeney Todd 8) The King and I 9) The Secret Garden 10) Cinderella (Rogers and Hammerstein).
As for the bonus, two people guessed that all the shows are based on previous material (a play, novel, or fairy tale). While this is not what I had in mind, I am forced to admit it is true (though I will grudgingly point out that it is far more difficult to find a musical not based on previous material than one that is). My (self-involved) answer? I was in all of these musicals as a teenager. Anyway, I’ve decided to award credit to either answer.
Seventeen brave readers submitted guesses (including Shelley, who hilariously guessed “Oklahoma” for every lyric and suggested that the bonus trivia was that they were all from “Oklahoma”), and four people got maximum points. Of these four, a random number generator has selected SarahJanet as the winner! Congratulations, Sarah! Email me with your choice of the two colors.
As for the comment-based contest, the person who will receive Sarah’s rejected yarn is HPNY Knits! Email me with mailing address info and I’ll send the prizes along to you both.
Thank you all for playing along and confessing your theater geekiness, your lack thereof, or your willingness to fake it for a prize.
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03.11.07
Posted in Knitterly Fraternization, Yarn and Tools at 7:32 pm by Rachel
After the brash celebration of my own generosity and the gloriously good nature of my own heart in my last post, it seems only right to give other gift-givers their due (there! more evidence of my kind and munificent nature!), as I am lucky enough to have been on the receiving end of such generosity recently.
Sock Yarn
I was pleased and surprised when Erika of Sloth Knits (and my bus knitting friend) came to my informal birthday party last month. I kicked it up a notch to thrilled and floored when she presented me with a gift certificate to the local yarn store! You see, Erika has taken it upon herself to exacerbate my recent sock yarn weakness. She gave it to me with the intention of tempting me with the store’s new stock of Colinette Jitterbug. She didn’t realize that this minorly devious gesture would open the sock yarn flood gates for me, but for now let’s leave that as foreshadowing of my next post.
Last weekend Erika and I met up at Starbucks for a little knitting in public (she on Eunny’s Bayerische Socks, I on a lame little soap holder for Ashley, but that’s more foreshadowing for my next post), and then we headed over to the LYS so I could spend my birthday present. I will say that the Jitterbug colorways were very nice. However, has it ever happened to you where you go into a store and you look at a wall of sock yarn and you just immediately fixate on one of the colorways — it just locks in perfectly with your current mood or your personal rods and cones or your horoscope — and you can’t seriously consider any other options? That’s what happened to me. I saw this blue and silvery gray yarn and it made me think of frozen streams slowly starting to thaw, and I don’t know, maybe it was the unseasonably warm March day, or maybe it was the fact that it suddenly triggered a thematically related Broadway musical song on my jingle channel (”I said be gone, ye howling gales/Be off, ye frosty morns/All ye solid streams begin to thaw” — anyone want to name it?), but all I wanted was that melty stream yarn and even though it was Artyarns Ultramerino, Erika didn’t mind that I got it instead of the Jitterbug. I have a pair of socks in Artyarns Ultramerino already and they have held up incredibly well and are the softest of all my handknit socks. I’ve already started knitting my new yarn. Thank you, Erika!
New Knitting Bag
One of my first projects when I returned to knitting two years ago was a felted knitting bag. It didn’t come out terribly well — I attached the handles incorrectly and didn’t exactly pick the awesomest colors or design — but it served me well. However, when I started wandering around Etsy waiting for Ashley to post more of her cool bedwarmers, my attention was captivated by some of the beautiful bags being produced by independent crafters. I mentioned this to my mom, and she and my stepfather agreed that they would get me the handmade bag of my choice for my birthday. After frittering away approximately 200 hours agonizing over the choice, I contacted a seller whose bags I liked (mintworkshop) and asked her if she would be willing to do a custom order.
She was, and this is the result. I adore it. It is beautifully made and meets my every specification (clicking this photo will take you to Flickr, where you can get an in-depth tour of the interior). It is very roomy but not so big that it’s not easy to grab and take with me anyplace knitting might be required or permitted. It stands at attention at the side of the couch, making it easy to access its contents. It is conservative yet attractive. It is one of a kind. I also like that I was able to support another passionate crafter. Etsy is way cool. Thank you, Mom and Mark!
When I moved all my stuff from my old knitting bag into my new knitting bag, I felt a little sad for the old one. I wasn’t quite sure what future use I’d ever find for a dingy, misshapen bag, but I really didn’t want to just throw it away. Fortunately someone else in the household found a new use for it, and neither of us could be happier about it.
Balls!
Lastly, I have been remiss about thanking my good friends Andrew and Leigh for this abundant woolly goodness. Andrew and Leigh went on a six month jaunt through South America, and somewhere along the way (the island of Chiloe, to be precise) they picked up these two giant skeins of yarn, essentially straight off the sheep. Apparently Leigh sat down in the street and wound them into balls immediately, and then the two of them lugged them along on the entire rest of their journey (and this was a backpacking and camping kind of trip, not a luxury transport and Four Seasons hotels kind of trip, so I do not underestimate the commitment it took to haul these babies around).
When Andrew and Leigh came by our house for the first time after returning, they walked in carrying these and the very first thing they said to us — after six long months away — was “BALLS!” (Apparently they had been making this joke to each other regularly for several weeks, often accompanied by juvenile yet hilarious behavior.) I haven’t yet decided what these balls will become — probably something felted (something about the context here makes me want that to sound dirty, but I don’t think it actually works as innuendo, sadly). Thanks, Andrew and Leigh!
And just so you don’t think I’ve become all get and no give, I sent off these squares for the Blanket of Hope that Rebekah at Knit Knack is putting together for Sonya at Cottage 46 Knitter, whose husband has been struggling with some cancer-related health issues. I think it’s incredibly kind that she organized this effort, and the outpouring of support has been so great that she actually has all the squares she needs now. I can’t wait to see the finished blanket. May all our knitted hope translate into a very hopeful prognosis for your husband, Sonya, for years and years to come.
Later this week: Ashley! And sock yarn! And Minty’s arch nemesis! And my blogiversary!
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03.01.07
Posted in Finished Objects, Knitterly Fraternization at 11:18 pm by Rachel
On June 13, 2005 (my junior high school boyfriend’s birthday — why is my brain still devoting space to remembering that?), a knitter named Laura commented on my blog for the first time. Since then she has commented 85 more times. She has twice sent me gifts of yarn in the mail. We email often and sometimes Google chat during the day. I am even planning to go to Texas to visit her sometime this year. She is without question one of my closest and oldest “blogfriends.”
A few weeks ago Laura responded to a post in which I confessed my love of sock knitting and admitted my betrayal of her as co-founder of the Apathetic Sock Knitters Club. In her comment she said: “I have to admit that I actually want some wool socks this winter. (It’s amazing how cold the first floor of our house is when the other two floors are a pleasant temperature.) However, I’m trying to find ways to have socks knit for me rather than having to knit them myself.”
I wrote back asking whether she wanted thick warm socks, or thin socks she could wear with shoes. It is important that you know here that I was asking this question with one thing in mind: I had recently used Knitpicks Shamrock yarn for a Christmas stocking for my stepmother and had been thinking what cozy socks it would make, so I asked Laura her preference with the intention of making a recommendation of that yarn if she said she wanted the former. When I got Laura’s response, however, I realized that my question had implied something quite different: “Thin socks to wear with shoes would be ideal. I like pinks, reds, and purples, but I probably didn’t have to tell you that.”
Whoops! I started to write back explaining my original intention, but then I realized, you know what? I could make socks for Laura. Not only would it be a nice thing to do for a person I really like, but it would mean she probably couldn’t reasonably expect to get away with harassing me about abandoning the ASKC ever again. Within an hour I’d ordered the yarn. Knowing that the “cold” season in Texas was passing us by very quickly, I cast on the moment I received it and knit nothing else for the 10 days it took me to complete the socks (Laura will probably feel compelled to point out here that she knit an entire Starsky in only 2 days more than that, but I have never claimed to be a particularly fast knitter).
Speaking of Laura’s Starky, when I was just starting the second stock, knitting furiously away, Laura posted this on her blog. In that post she a) called me longwinded, b) suggested I was a nag and a pest, c) accused me of wanting her to make Starsky only so I could lord it over that she was copying me (never mind that I first discovered Laura when I saw her gorgeous Reversible Rib Shawl and had to knit one of my own immediately), and d) declared it her intention to drive me insane with jealousy with her superfast knitting.
My jaw dropped. I looked down at the mess of yarn and DPNs in my lap, which a moment before had been a lovingly handknit gift for a dear friend. At that moment it almost became a lovingly handknit gift for myself. But then I realized that I could do even better: I could send her the socks anyway and then relish the shame and remorse she would feel for ever having defamed the character of such as saint as I. I knew she’d have to acknowledge to herself what I wonderful person I am (and how spectacularly wrong she was about me) every time she wore them. My revenge would be through generosity and kindness. I returned to my knitting with a “bwahaahaaahaa” on my lips.
Pattern: Cable and Rib Socks from the Spring 2005 Interweave Knits, although I got it out of the new Interweave Press book Favorite Socks.
Yarn: Trekking XXL (I picked it because it’s one of the thinner sock yarns — Laura does live in Texas, after all) in color 78.
Needles: Size 1 Clover 5-inch birch double pointed needles — I can’t tell you how much I prefer short DPNs to the ubiquitous 7-inch ones for socks.
Notes: At first I was pissed when I realized that the cable didn’t continue uninterrupted down the length of the sock from leg to foot (the photos in the book are mighty coy about this fact). I almost ripped out the leg when I realized this. I’m glad I didn’t, though, because I actually wound up thinking that the transition at the heel is interesting and elegant. I really liked this pattern and am actually 3/4 of the way through a second pair.
Laura, enjoy! Thanks for being the best cyber knitting friend she’s never met that a girl could ever have.
OTHER SOCKS
Just before starting Laura’s socks I finished a pair of Hedera socks from Knitty. It was a great pattern and quite easy, and I think the result is lovely. The only complaint I had (and I saw this in other places on the internet with no great solution) was that the first YO on row one of the pattern repeat was always noticeably smaller than the second (because of the surrounding stitches…it’s not worth explaining but you could go look at the pattern). The way I (accidentally) discovered to solve this was to not make the second YO (when knitting row 1) and then pick up a YO from the row below when working the second row. This makes both YO holes small but the same size. I know this doesn’t make much sense to anyone who hasn’t knit the pattern, but I’m just putting it out there in case anyone is ever doing the same Google searches I did while trying to figure out a way around the discrepancy in the size of the holes.
Oh, I also thought the pattern called for the heel flaps to be bizarrely long.
The yarn is Paton’s Kroy, which was included in the generous gift basket I received when I was the guest speaker/messiah at the Ocean State Knitting and Crochet Guild last year. The color of the yarn makes for great dress/work socks. I am not sure I can wholeheartedly recommend it, though: it is not very soft (and it did not soften up after washing). I optimistically told myself that its lack of softness was an indication that it would wear like iron, but, unfortunately, this photo shoes the wear evident after only one day. I’m not saying I’m not going to get a lot of use out of these socks, but I thought that others should know that the yarn has shortcomings.
Next post: more gifts. But this time most of them are for me me me!
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12.16.06
Posted in Finished Objects, Knitterly Fraternization at 7:10 pm by Rachel
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Yarn: Belisa Cashmere in pink (100% cashmere, 500 yards/ball), less than one ball
Needles: US size 4, 3.5 mm
Finished dimensions: 57 inches wide, 25.5 inches tall
Notes, short version: I’ll just give some abbreviated notes here and give some extended comments below, which most of you, being very busy people with very busy lives, will probably want to skip. Yep, at the end of this paragraph, you’ll just want to click on to your next web site or even shut down your computer all together. That’s what I highly recommend. Anyway, given my recent awful track record with my knitting (see my previous blog entry), this sure is a gorgeous finished object, isn’t it? Delicate, airy, and not a mistake in it. The yarn is soft (cashmere!) but feels strong, and it’s a shade of pink that falls within my very narrow range of acceptable pinks. And honestly, it took me no time at all to knit! It’s a little on the small side, but so what? It is a lovely, sweet, flawless piece of knitting. Something I haven’t seen much of in a while.
Notes, extended version: Fine, if you want to stick around and hear all the details, I supposed I should begin by telling you that I did not make this shawl. Laura made this shawl. 1800 miles away from me. Without my help. Without even having me in mind. This shawl had literally nothing to do with me.
But when Laura posted it on her blog, declaring it too small and indicating she would be frogging the whole thing to reuse the yarn, I knew that such an affront to hand-knitted artistry could not be borne. Drastic steps had to be taken. Always the quick thinker, I offered to send Laura the replacement yarn if she’d send me the finished shawl. I mean, think about it, a handmade cashmere lace shawl for the price of a ball of yarn that I knew I could purchase with a 20 percent off coupon?? Merry Christmas to ME!
She readily agreed to the trade (in fact, she called it “the best trade ever” in the cute Hello Kitty card that arrived in the package with the shawl, which is a nice bonus because making Laura happy is not something I’ve done a lot of this past year, what with my betrayal of the Sacred Order of Apathetic Sock Knitters). While it’s true that it’s a little on the small side, there are so many possible uses for a small shawl! How about a dressy scarf, as above? Wouldn’t you say it gives me a touch of elegance? Maybe even a giant heaping truckload of elegance? And I bet I’d blend right in at any 19th century ladies tea party, should I ever fall into a time machine by accident. Which could totally happen. Don’t you people watch Doctor Who?
Of course, the lace isn’t entirely practical as a scarf in this climate, and if you were to press me on it I’d be forced to admit that the time machine scenario is not altogether likely. I’d hate to let it just collect dust in the closet, though, so it’s a good thing there are so many other possible uses for a diminutive shawl! Let’s see, what else, what else…. Oh, here we go! Have you ever seen a prettier, more feminine kerchief? GREAT for keeping the hair off my face while doing housework. As soon as Laura sees this photo she’s going to be so mad she ever let that lace bandana out of her clutches.
While taking these pictures for the blog yesterday, I was just getting ready to demonstrate how the shawl makes a wonderful pocket hanky when from behind (and below) me I heard a familiar “ahem,” and I knew in a moment that my hopes of ever using this shawl for myself were lost. I turned around to see my dear old friend the penguin, standing with his wing outstretched, foot tapping in impatience, eyes on the shawl. Reluctant but resigned, I handed it over.
I am forced to admit that the shawl suits him, and he wears it well. I also think his stint on America’s Next Top Model did good things for his camera presence, although not such good things for his ego (while I drew the line at two pictures on the blog, he demanded in a tone bordering on hysteria that I post several more photos from the shoot on Flickr, because he is convinced that modeling agencies troll the site for fresh talent). Anyway, while I shall miss having use of the shawl myself, it is worth it to keep one of the more high-maintenance members of my household happy, relatively quiet, and out of my way, at least for a while. And isn’t that what the holiday season is all about?
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11.20.06
Posted in Knitterly Fraternization, Works in Progress at 11:14 am by Rachel
Help me, internets! I need your collective knowledge and guidance. No time to be clever or verbose today — I urgently need advice. As a little background (cue collective thinking: “Didn’t she just say she had no time to be verbose?”), this weekend I went to the SNEKnitBlogCon (the Southern New England Knitbloggers Conference — I don’t think that’s what anyone else called it, but it’s what I call it), which was graciously hosted by Sarah Cooper, owner of KnitWits in Westerly, R.I. It’s a lovely store with very pleasant staff, and if you ever find yourself crossing the border between Rhode Island and Connecticut on I-95, you should swing by.
The group included Kristen of Audio Knits, Debby of She Knits by the Seashore, Sarah of The Knittin’ Kitten, Lorraine of Stuff, Junk, and Whatnot, Erika of Sloth Knits, and me. I really hope I’m not forgetting anyone. Sarah had a wonderful array of yummy goodies spread out for us, and we all snacked and chatted and knit. (A couple photos of a good time being had by all can be viewed here.) The group scattered to all corners of the store, however, when Sarah distributed 15 percent off coupons to each of us, at which point current knitting took a fairly decided back seat to future knitting. I don’t think a single one of us walked out of the store that day without a powder-blue KnitWits shopping bag bulging with goodies. Which leads me to my purchase, which leads me to my need for advice.
For several months now I’ve been fairly sure that I want the Gatsby Girl Pullover from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits to be my next sweater. That desire became even more intense after Paloma finished and posted about her finished version. I’m generally very very good about knitting from my stash and only buying yarn for projects I’m really truly about to start, so I was happy to be looking for an opportunity to pick up the yarn for this project. A 15 percent off coupon and 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in the same dye lot fairly screamed opportunity, so I snatched it up and didn’t try to cast on while driving home only because Erika was with me and might not have felt entirely safe had I done so. (We had already had one brush with danger when Erika realized that a spare alkaline battery in her purse was, on its own, heating up to an alarmingly high temperature. I pulled over and, with visions of permanent scarring from battery acid dancing in my head, popped the battery into a Ziploc plastic bag. Hey, I figure if a zip-top bags protect us from terrorism via toiletries, they can certainly protect us from exploding batteries! We made it home without incident, though Erika did take the battery with her when I dropped her off, and I haven’t heard from her since….)
Aaaaanyway, I got home and immediately swatched for the sweater. I got gauge perfectly on size 3 needles (why oh why do I keep choosing these ridiculously small-gauge sweaters?), took my “new project” photo for the blog, and was on my way. Lovely yarn, beautiful pattern — I couldn’t have been happier. Except…well. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this yarn was not, in fact, a good substitute for the Rowan Cashsoft DK called for in the pattern. This feeling grew and grew, and I spent HOURS going over it in my mind, agonizing over whether I should stop now and get new yarn to avoid the risk of ultimately discovering that the yarn was, in fact, all wrong, or whether I should persist on the chance that everything really would turn out fine. Instead of making a decision myself, I’m asking the internets to make it for me. Here are the very detailed specs. Please try to stay with me and then leave a comment telling me what to do and I promise to obey you.
The DB yarn and the Rowan yarn are virtually the same content. The DB is 125 yards per 50-gram ball. The Rowan is 130 yards per 50-gram ball. Based on this, I concluded that the yarns were close enough to identical to safely substitute one for the other (even though DB also makes/made a cashmerino yarn that is officially a DK weight — which also seems to be 125 yards per 50-gram ball but with a gauge the same as that of the Rowan DK). Given the weight and yardage similarities, it would seem to me that all these yarns would be basically the same. If this assumption is not true, I’m looking for someone to tell me (and tell me why).
Where things get confusing is with gauge. The gauge on the DB is 6.25 stitches per inch on 3s. The gauge given for Rowan Cashsoft DK is 5.5 stitches per inch on 6s. (Someone tell me why yarn can be the same yardage per weight but call for such different gauges?) The gauge given in the pattern is 7 stitches per inch on 4s with the Rowan. This is where I start getting stressed. The designer of the pattern clearly knit the yarn at a tighter-than-suggested gauge. I am knitting only at a slightly tighter gauge than suggested on the ball band (my gauge swatch was spot-on). So tell me, is my yarn too skinny? Will the weave of my sweater be too open when stretched (it’s a clingy sweater)? I pinned it out to the approximate width shown in the pattern schematic and I think it looks okay:
Of course I lay awake from 4:00-5:30 this morning thinking about this. Yarn content and yardage are the same! So the yarns are equivalent! But the suggested gauges are so different — so they’re nothing like each other! I’m going to be wearing a translucent sweater and everyone will think I’m a harlot! I will be cast out of polite society!
If I were to read this on someone’s blog, I’d probably advise that she use different yarn for peace of mind alone. However, the store from which I bought the yarn is an hour away, and I can only get store credit (not a refund). I’m not saying that’s a reason to keep me from using different yarn if I really should, but it’s a reason to keep me from going with that option automatically just to stop freaking out.
So, internets, what do you advise? I’m putting all my faith in you — please don’t let me down.
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