knitting in the dark

I completed a long-lingering sock project in October, knit a complete pair, started a pair that will be given as a Christmas gift, and knit a hat.

This pair began way back in July; I started with the Bellatrix pattern (Ravelry link) and made it all the way through the first sock, but with this yarn it just looked warty and lumpy and the bumps occur in too regular a pattern for my tastes.

I think the pattern really needs a more varigated yarn - with more colors and short stretches of each color, because there are some beautiful versions on Ravelry… and maybe a change of needle size around the ankle to add some shaping there, cause this is not appealing:

I started the second Bellatrix but couldn’t get into it and it was quickly frogged and knit up into the first plain stockinette sock I’ve knit for myself.

I let my date do a few rounds one evening on the train (he already knew how to knit and wanted to trade his book, Look Me in the Eye, for my knitting)… but he knits extremely tightly and I always have to go down at least two needle sizes because mine is very relaxed - if our gauge isn’t compatible does that mean our future is doomed? Usually I rip out whatever few rows I let someone else do before taking my knitting back, but I thought it was sweet that he wanted to work on my project, so I left it in…

I ripped the first Bellatrix out back to the cuff ribbing and reknit the second sock in stockinette. It seems that there’s enough yarn left after knitting myself the pair to knit a third sock… I do have small feet, but the yardage in the skein seems generous compared to many other smaller dye companies.

The yarn is Lotus Yarns Buddha (superwash merino/nylon blend) and I love the dye job and the thicker cushy texture of the yarn. This color is called Bloodflowers, for a song by The Cure. I am absolutely looking forward to buying more yarn from this etsy shop, but I have to knit down some of the sock yarn already in my apartment first!

pattern: none
yarn: Lotus Yarns Buddha in Bloodflowers
needles: INOX 2mm dpns
started: 25 July 2008
completed: 13 October 2008

On a side note: my favorite part of Bellatrix was the reverse side of the stitch pattern:

I jumped up to post this morning while still high on yarn fumes from the NY Sheep and Wool Festival. I was a Rhinebeck virgin until yesterday, but now I get to do one of those “look-at-what-I-got-at-Rhinebeck” posts that show up every year. This year was the first I didn’t have to work Rhinebeck weekend since I first heard of the festival a few years ago…

I got on a bus with 55 other knitters in Park Slope at 7am (a group which had, perhaps strangely, voted to watch Iron Man and Chicago while on the bus). Until that point, I’d viewed knitting as a mostly solitary activity; sometimes I knit with my mother, but never with a group and never with other persons close to my own age. It was impressive, heart-warming, and a little overwhelming at times. I do have some new friends on Ravelry and I hope I will see them again here in Brooklyn, too!

The festival itself mostly felt like a big shopping adventure. I did spend some time watching the sheepdog trials and visiting with the sheep, goats, alpacas, bunnies, and lemurs. Yes, there were lemurs there for some reason… and a kangaroo or wallaby (I didn’t remember to check) and a tortoise. And at least a dozen border collie puppies that were OH SO CUTE. I really wanted to take them home and snuggle them. The bus organizer was pretty clear with us as we were getting off the bus: there would be NO room to take animals back to the city and we would have to find alternate methods of transportation for a newly purchased flock.

There was quite a bit of talk on Ravelry about the food being expensive, but I mostly skipped it. I brought water and ate breakfast before I left. While there I had a few local apples, samples from the variety of food vendors, and delicious peanut butter chocolate fudge. After the sheep’s milk cheese talk there was a tasting of the different types mentioned - about seven kinds - so it was quite a filling snack when accompanied by a few crackers. There was also maple sugar cotton candy, which looked surprisingly like spinning fiber in a clear plastic bag!

If I were a spinner I probably would have spent even more money - thank goodness I only bought yarn! I spent the same amount of money on yarn there as I had all year up until that point! But it is enough yarn for two sweaters and two hats and a pair of socks:

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Silkie in haida, because that is the one colorway I’ve been wanting to see in person and the line to pay was only three people long when I stopped by The Fold booth in the afternoon:

Wool/Angora blend yarn from Oak Grove in Vermont in “Ink” for a hat… probably Koolhaas (Ravelry link):

For a sweater for me, possibly short-sleeved a la Wicked or Glee (Rav links), 1200 yards of 50% Alpaca, 30% Merino, and 20% Silk; hand-dyed by Spirit Trail Fiberworks in color “Special.” This is gorgeous, gorgeous stuff… and more expensive than I would usually buy, but it was a special occasion!

And in case you’re tired of seeing blue around here: pink! Also for a sweater for myself… pattern TBD. This is the hand-dyed Merino Twist from Maple Creek Farm in Pennsylvania. The color is called “Raspberry Wine” and each of those skeins is over 500 yards!

The only photo I took all day is of the view going over the Hudson. Lame, right?

It was a beautiful day up there and the leaves are starting to turn. Some trees matched the color of the Trekking XXL Hederas I worked on the way up and back. I cast on the second sock at the start of the ride up and this is what was completed when I arrived home:

These will be a Christmas present for a friend and I’m already only 12 rounds from starting the heel flap on the second sock! It is Socktober after all… I’ve already finished one pair this month and I’m getting awfully close with these - maybe I’ll get three pairs done this year?

Work has been more exciting than usual this past week.

We had a protest in front of the theatre the night of the first preview, but it’s almost always a mob scene in front of the theatre with this cast.

I’m not going into details because I don’t want search engines to pick up the celebrity names, but the production is actually quite good: a high quality revival of a mid-century American play led by a British director and design team. I would like to encourage everyone to see it, but I don’t get discounted tickets and many nights are already sold out.

On to the knitting front:

This pile of yarn is 16 balls of Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, color Boheme. My grandmother purchased it for some unknown project and passed it all untouched to my mother. My mother let it sit in a closet for almost a year before I ‘borrowed’ it while visiting in April.

Originally I swatched it for a sweater for myself inspired by this Cobblestone Pullover, which I started and then ripped in August.

And I started the ever-popular DROPS 103-1 Jacket, which I realized I didn’t like so much in the lighter weight. RRRIP.

Flipping through the books on my knitting shelf I rediscovered Demi in Vintage Style… perfect! During my time off before tech rehearsals for this show I whipped out the body in about eight days.

And since tech started I’ve been working on the sleeves during my 45-minute-each-direction subway commute.

The first is finished and I am about a third of the way through the second. The pattern is easy to convert to knit in the round and the cable pattern is simple enough to work without the chart after a repeat or two. The pattern is written for an aran-weight tweed, but I am loving the results with DK as well.

I’m hoping to finish by Rhinebeck because I’m hoping to actually go this year. I have both days off - I just need to find a way to get up there.

And on a completely unrelated note - I have new shoes!

I’d never worn clogs before these… and they are SO comfortable. I wore them four days in a row after I got them! Now I’m off to find some solid sock yarn

This sad Pomotomus of mine has been sitting in the mending pile for more than a year… I don’t quite know when or how the hole appeared. I found it coming out of the laundry one day, but it’s all better now!

I think it was the Yarn Harlot that said something like: when a sock needs darning, she says ‘darn’ and tosses it - I think it was in At Knit’s End - does anyone have a copy handy to confirm this? My copy is in Seattle. But there’s no way I’ll be throwing these babies away; this particular pair only had about a dozen outings before this hole appeared. Darn!

I used up all the leftover Yarn Pirate from those Pomatomus to make some baby socks when one of my father’s employees had twins last spring (the other yarn is from my zebra stripe Jaywalkers):

so I found an odd partial ball of grey Koigu left over from my Endpaper Mitts and used that. Hopefully it will be a little more sturdy than the 50/50 merino/tencel… if the Koigu wears through I suppose I could break out something with some nylon content. I have one in grey that wouldn’t blend quite as well but would certainly last!

On a side note as a follow-up to my last post: my WEBS order arrived Tuesday this week… so it took about 7 business days from the time I placed the order until the box arrived at my apartment. And the colors are such a welcome change from the normal blues, greens, and grey found around here! Look at this retina-burning orange (Trekking 145):

And five skeins of this beautiful deep red Ultra Alpaca destined to be (yes, another) sweater for me this fall:

Now I just need to finish the sleeves of my current sweater project and the foot of my current sock-on-the-needles so I can use these lovelies!

I have a good feeling about this year. *knock on wood* If history is any indication of future performance: the “odd” ages seem to be better than the “evens” (especially if one ignores my 19th year). I had a bit of a tough 26… with the car accident and resulting depression and subsequent falling out of shape, but I’m back on track! My birthday was actually almost three weeks ago now (August 16). My parents bought me some nice curtains, but my mother also sent me a surprise gift:

my first ever (I know - blasphemous!) skein of Socks that Rock! It’s the lightweight version in color Lagoon and it will probably just sit here on my desk for a bit while I figure out what exactly to make. Yes, probably socks, but which pattern?

And as a gift to myself I ordered some dark red Ultra Alpaca from WEBS to make myself a Notre Dame de Grace - hopefully the pictures on Ravelry are close to color-accurate. Some bright orange Trekking XXL also fell into my cart when I realized it would put me over the “discountable” minimum and the skein would therefore cost less than $7. That’s probably destined to become socks for a friend whose favorite color is orange and is moving from Portland Oregon to Brisbane Australia in about two months.

Does shipping from WEBS take a long time? I’ve been spoiled by The Loopy Ewe’s nearly instant gratification online shopping.

I’m going away for the weekend again. This time to Cape Cod with some theatre friends. I was supposed to be loading-in to the theatre for Godspell on the Great White Way right now (there are still posters up all over Times Square and the LES) but that’s been put on hold, so I’m filling time and designing a few shows of my own instead of assisting for the next two months. If you know anyone who needs some good lighting…

Okay, okay, I confess: I’ve been out of town avoiding my life, but I’m back in Brooklyn and feeling pretty good (helpfully, I have a really busy fall coming up). I visited my parents in Seattle for a week and my brother in DC for a long weekend. And I finished a sweater that was started pre-blog in 2005…! When I left for Seattle I needed to seam a sleeve and up one side and sew on the buttons. Coming from steamy NYC I didn’t realize I would want to wear that sweater while in Seattle (it was awfully cold there for the end of July and I didn’t take anything other long-sleeved clothing items), so I promptly finished up and wore it the rest of the week and conned my mother into taking some photos - so much easier than self-portraits!

pattern: Moonlight from Rowan 34 (ravelry link to my project page)
yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair, color: Raven
needles: US 8
started: July 2005 (!!!)
completed: 29 July 2008

modifications: None; I started this sweater before I felt comfortable enough with my abilities to alter much. I don’t think I did a gauge swatch, but it fits pretty well (I could lose a few pounds around the middle right now, though), so I’m not complaining about knitting blindly from the directions, except maybe about seaming the reverse stockinette - it would be easy to convert to a no-seam knit.

Ah… sunbathing in Seattle in July apparently requires a heavy wool sweater!

I purchased the buttons before I left New York at M&J because if anyone anywhere had a better selection it would make my head explode:

We had quite a steamy weekend here in Brooklyn… in fact, ConEdison called thousands of customers, including me, yesterday morning (at 7:30! *grumble grumble*) asking us to turn off and unplug all non-essential items, but specifically mentioned that we could keep our refrigerators plugged in. Gee - thanks! I complied and kept my air-conditioner and computer and things off almost all day. It gave me an excellent excuse to go browsing around the neighborhood shops (free AC!) and to buy a pint of my newest favorite dessert: yes, that does say “grapefruit campari” sorbet! Delicious!

When I plugged the AC back in last night and my apartment cooled down a bit (I usually set it at 78 degrees - just low enough to take the edge off), I finished seaming and weaving in the ends on my Tour de France Knitalong project: Thermal! She’s done! And I dare not go outside to take action shots of the sweater because it’s supposed to feel like 100 degrees out there today (for the fourth day in a row *grumble grumble*). Maybe - hopefully - soon it will cool down just a bit…?

pattern: Thermal (Ravelry pattern link) from Knitty Winter 2006, size B (with ribbing unstretched it’s about 32″ around, but after a wash it should relax some)
yarn: less than 4 skeins of Araucania Ranco Solid in Teal
needles: 24″ 2.5mm Addi Turbo and INOX 2.25mm dpns for sleeves
modifications: The front pieces after the neck split are one repeat narrower than designed to try to prevent the shoulder seams falling off my shoulders. What else…? Oh right, I’m skipping the buttons in favor of an open V - and if I hate it I can always sew it shut and put some non-functioning buttons on there.

notes: Alternated between 2 skeins changing each row - what a pain! And I don’t love the semi-solid look anyway, so I probably won’t be doing that again anytime soon! I do, however, love the lack of seaming created by knitting both body and sleeves in the round.

And then I started swatching for my next project!

Also, thank you to everyone who either commented or emailed me relationship condolences; it has really been very nice to hear from you. As I said in a reply email to Opal (who just opened an etsy shop with her handspun - go check it out), “relationships come and go, but knitting is forever.” And knitting (and blogging and Ravelry) has definitely been very helpful keeping my mind off the sad stuff; and so again - thanks.

Unfortunately for my brother, he got stuck overnight while flying through JFK on his way from Seattle to DC. Fortunately for my brother, I live in Brooklyn and he was able to take a taxi over and we pulled out the inflatable mattress and he was able to sleep in a bed with clean sheets rather than on an airport bench and take a shower in the morning before going to the rescheduled flight and then directly to work. And his unexpected visit prompted me to do some apartment cleaning (and believe you me, the place needed it desperately after breaking up with The Boy last week). I did the dishes and picked up my floor and did a load of laundry and cleaned the toilet and bathroom sink - hooray!

To catch up on other matters, the Tour de France is happening right now (and, therefore, the fantastic annual Tour de France knitalong), and I haven’t been able to watch ANY of the coverage due to my work schedule - but I have been getting some good knitting time in during my reverse-commute to Connecticut on Metro-North every day. And now that job is over so I may actually get to watch a little of the Tour if my internet connection continues to work smoothly (I don’t own a TV)…

I started Thermal (from Knitty Winter 2006) back towards the end of May and flew through the body and the first sleeve in just over a week, but hadn’t started the second sleeve yet. I’d heard some pretty sad stories of never-ending Thermal projects because the whole thing’s knit in the round in fingering weight in a sort of ribbed/waffle pattern and I didn’t want mine to become another long-lingering work-in-progress. So on July 5th, when le Tour started in France, I started the last major piece of the sweater. There is a bit of a tighter-tension issue from the knitting I did the day after the break-up, but it’s not too bad - not at all noticeable while on my arm - and a wash should help to further even it out.

And I’m already working on the cap! I should definitely be able to finish the sweater in the next week. (Isn’t that when the race is over? I’m so out of touch… oh nevermind, it looks like it ends the 27th - PLENTY of time!)

And to keep the good vibes going around here - a macro shot of the stitch pattern then I’m off to ride my bike around Prospect Park a few times!

The person who would have taken pictures of this sweater has been forcibly ejected from my life… he didn’t really want to be in a relationship anymore and I wasn’t feeling valued in that relationship (big surprise considering his feelings, right?); it was very mutual, but not so amicable. I’m angry and hurt, but slowly coming out of the immediate post-breakup funk.

Fortunately, I had a little free time in the park two days ago in Westport, CT, between rehearsal and preview for the show I’ve been working on all month to take some pictures using my camera’s lovely shutter-timer feature. It’s one of the best-fitting sweaters I’ve made myself and should see a lot of use, though it’s a little warm in Brooklyn for wool right now! It’s definitely coming with me to Seattle in two weeks when I visit my parents.

pattern: Penny from Debbie Bliss Summer Essentials (Ravelry links)
yarn: O-Wool Classic 2-Ply (delicious!)

started: 5 April 2008
completed: 26 May 2008 (the knitting was much faster than this, but it took me a long time to sew the ribbons on)

notes: shortened both the body and sleeves

I’m super excited to be knitting again - Penny has been blocked and I’m seaming her up and going to buy a ribbon for the wrap ties this afternoon. I’m also working on a pair of socks for my friend James that I promised him way back in the middle of December (!). But while my left hand was in a splint I had the time to catch up on some books I’ve been wanting to read. I’d been in a reading slump for months and it was nice to find that I can still enjoy a good book:

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Color by Victoria Finlay
The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs
Talking to the Dead by Helen Dunmore
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

and I am now most of the way through A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Lucky Girls and Talking to the Dead excepted, I really enjoyed and highly recommend each of these. The Other Boleyn Girl is complete fluff (perfect summer beach reading) but very good entertainment. Eat, Pray, Love is just as good as everyone says. And The Complete Persepolis was beautiful and absolutely changed my preception of graphic novels; I can’t wait ’til the movie comes to me via Netflix sometime in June.

Does anyone have one of those Amazon Kindle digital book-reader things? I think I want one (I’m envisioning a sort-of ipod for books in terms ease of use and portability), but I also think I might miss the physicality of turning pages and holding paper. I suppose if I started carrying that everywhere I wouldn’t get to do much subway or in-line knitting… audiobooks (especially on my ipod - which is many years old but still running like a champ) would allow me to do both, but audiobooks are so expensive compared to hard copies!