knitting in the dark

Sometimes I think I take knitting and all my other crafts for granted. It’s only when I see someone just starting to learn do I really appreciate the time it took my mother to teach me how to knit, needlepoint, cross-stitch, sew, and quilt (not to mention cook and bake). My mother first taught me to knit when I was about five or six years old; I think I stuck with it for about 9″ of a “scarf,” nevermind that we lived in Seattle and there was no need for scarves! I wish she had saved that little bit of blue scarf for me - or at least a picture of it!

Last summer I taught a friend how to knit and, while she enjoyed it for those first few moments, she gave up the moment someone wasn’t there to supervise. I don’t blame her - it takes a lot of time and effort to solve knitting problems on your own the first few times you encounter them. And you have to know that you really want to solve it and to get better at your craft. When she was packing up to move from NYC to Portland last month, she found the needles and yarn and the bit of knitting she had done and gave it all back to me in one piece. And before I ripped it out to rewind it onto the ball I took a photo for us to remember it by:

If I hadn’t been knitting for so long I would want to quit now because my current knitting challenge is pissing me off. I am designing a pair of socks for my father that is masculine enough that he’ll wear them, but not too boring for me to knit. In the past I’ve made him pairs that are stockinette and pairs that are ribbed, but golly do those get boring fast. He’s not cable-adverse like some people tend to be, so I thought I’d put together some stitch patterns myself and see how it goes:

I thought it was going swimmingly (I love the braided cable) until I measured the leg diameter… it’s so skinny it wouldn’t even fit my little tiny feet! So I ripped. And wow did it hurt to rip all that cabling. And I tried again…

I added 12 stiches to the needles and added some plain ribs in between cables and tried a looser braid and it will fit now, but that braided cable is SO UGLY and needs to be tighter as in the last iteration. I’m okay with the ribbing and the small cables and I will keep those features in the next installment. So I’m going to pull it all out again… but the Brown Sheep Wildfoote rips easily and is holding up nicely. Thank goodness I didn’t try this with a mohair blend or it would be a big sticky mess!

I have a couple other projects that are in need of “fixing” as well… and I’m hoping to work through their problems before I start new projects. I bought some yarn while I was in Boston for work last month and I just can’t wait to get started with it. Fortunately it’s all sock yarn and I only have one set of 2mm needles so I have to finish these socks and the Fiesta Mittens that I started in February first!

I cannot even believe what whipup.net posted two days ago: pictures of and links to crocheted versions of the shirt-stripe quilt. They’re pink and adorable! And someone left a comment about how they looked “very Kaffe Fassett.” It just goes to show you that there really aren’t any new ideas in the world… amazing.

It isn’t really done. It still has to actually be quilted, which is done by hand and takes months and months and months, but my shirt stripe quilt top is finished! I finished it while my mother was here visiting - she pressed the seams and clipped corners, but I did all the seaming myself… I’m very proud, can you tell? I’ve already started planning the next one…

Here’s a picture of all the pieces laid out on the floor before seaming…

Then I pieced it into blocks:

And the finished top!:

I am so proud, but I’ve been in tech rehearsals for some shows at Theatre Row for the last two weeks and therefore unable to share it with you until now…!

My spring cleaning is well under-way and I have come up with a pile of things that I no longer need or want. The books that are still worth a little money I am selling on amazon.com and those that are no longer worth much I have listed on paperbackswap.com. (If you don’t know about paperbackswap.com, go check it out now!) Appliances and other such items I will eventually put on craigslist, but what do I do with the clothing and electronics that no longer work? Good news: the NYC Department of Sanitation 2007 Spring Cleaning Events are coming up soon!

Unfortunately, the Brooklyn event is way out on the border of Queens and not centrally located, but the Manhattan Electronics Recycling and Clothing Donation Event takes place on Sunday April 22 from 8am-2pm @ Union Square’s North Plaza, which is fairly easy to get to from the closer parts of Brooklyn.

They will be giving away free compost (I still can’t bring myself to compost in my apartment, but if you have a garden bring a scoop and containers), collecting used electronics for proper recycling/disposal, and either Goodwill or the Salvation Army will be on site to accept clothing and linen donations.

Electronics accepted: computers, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, tvs, and cell phones.

Clothing and linens should be clean, gently used items. “Place items in plastic bags and tie securely to avoid moisture contamination. Tax-deduction receipts will be available upon request.”

I’m encouraging all my family and friends (that means you!) to find new homes for their unwanted belongings instead of just throwing them away… and year-round, not just in April because of Earth Day or whatever.

I have not disappeared; my mother came to visit, but she left early this morning so I can get back to work. There has been some exciting progress on the shirt-stripe quilt (piecing is so my faster when your mother does all the trimming and pressing). But for now, may I present some daffodils purchased in Park Slope now sitting in my bedroom windowsill:

I’m still here. And I’m still plugging away at the shirt-stripe quilt. My mother’s coming to visit for a week next Wednesday, so I want to make sure I have all the triangles sewn into squares so she can help me complete the top; she’s much more practiced than I am with the long straight seams.

I have 209 completed squares and 142 half squares… not too much further to go. But I hate the pinning step before the final seam in each square.

I’m still really excited about this project (three years later…) and I cannot wait to have all the squares ready and move on to the layout!

The pieces for this sweater have been done for months. And the Project Spectrum blue/white/grey months are almost over, so I need to finish the two sweaters that were my goal for the first two months instead of starting new projects…

I’d never blocked a sweater properly before yesterday. I went the cheap route and bought two 32″x40″ pieces of 3/16″ foam core board from my favorite local art store, Pearl Paint, and drew a one inch grid onto them. Then I covered them in clear plastic recycling bags for “waterproofing.” They seem to work just fine for a total cost of under $10.

I love the way the pins line up. I used every single straight pin I owned and still would have used more if I had them!

It’s amazing the difference it makes in the fabric - I never would have guessed that it would have such a positive effect on this pattern! I always thought blocking would make things look sort of, well, flat. And it does, but not in a bad way. As Eunny says in her blocking tutorial, Block Me, Amadeus: “it’s the difference between a sweater that looks ‘homemade’ and one that looks ‘handknit.’” So I gave it a try and I see now what she meant!

Hopefully it will make a positive effect on the ease of seaming and how the whole thing drapes while worn, but for right now it smells like wet wool in my bedroom…

Ta da! Charcoal grey and white-striped Project Spectrum Jaywalkers:

started: 10 March 2007

finished: 21 March 2007

pattern: Jaywalkers (just like pomatomus: I think I’m the last one to the party)

yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in a self-striping purl exclusive colorway

needles: 2mm INOX dpns

notes: The Jaywalker pattern is great - it’s so easy and makes a very flattering fabric. Shepherd Sock is likewise awesome… why wasn’t I told about this yarn sooner? We’ll see how it holds up, but it’ll probably do well due to the nylon content. I made the leg longer than the pattern said to, but I have short feet so there’s always leftover yarn… even with this adjustment I still have a 3″ diameter ball left to make a pair of self-striping baby socks with:

I am starting my spring cleaning and have decided to organize my yarn and fabric stash this year. Most of the yarn is for planned or actual works in progress, but some is not; I put some things up on DeStash - Cash For Your Stash and some yarn I’ve given away. But the best part is that the yarn portion of the giant mess in my hallway:

Is now contained in a smallish (17″ x 13.5″ x 7″ tall) west elm media box, which fits on top of my bookshelf very neatly:

(The fabric portion of the stash is still to be sorted and organized, but I hope to clear out the rest of the plastic containers in the hallway by the end of the month…)

I’ve been feeling awfully uninspired to write for the last week. Mostly I was busy in tech rehearsal for AS YOU LIKE IT (see below), but then I had just a little spare time and mostly just wanted to actually knit and sew rather than talking about it. I did, however, take pictures. Here’s the Project Spectrum knitting I’ve done since you knew me last…

I purchased some purl soho exclusive self-striping Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn:

And why didn’t anyone tell me how soft and squishy this yarn is? I love it!

This is the first completed sock - my very first Jaywalkers! On a color-appropriate background…

I don’t particularly like the way the colors overlap themselves for a few stiches every round and that the join spot rotates around the leg and foot, but it’s not so obvious when it’s worn instead of just sitting on the radiator. I absolutely adore how good Jaywalkers look on feet… they’re nice and slimming, even if one already has little ankles:

So I cast on and started the second; I tend not to get SSS as I really like to wear handknit socks and I usually can’t wait for the first sock to become a pair. The picture below is how far I got on just the first skein of yarn; there will be plenty of yarn left to knit baby-sized socks for either my new cousin or our friend Maud’s soon-to-be-born twins. I guess that’s one benefit to being a small person and having little size 36 feet.