Blues

Anyone feeling blue? I'm not, but take a look in my WIP basket and you might think I am.

Those are two almost-finished and two just-started projects. Beginning from the upper left:

1. Villane by Suvi Simola, aka 50 villapeikkoa. A beautiful seamless bottom-up raglan cardigan that's been lingering in my queue forever. DH gave me the yarn as a present a few years ago, before I knew that Malabrigo Worsted pills like… like… like… I can't think of anything else that pills as badly as Malabrigo Worsted. But I don't mind. I love the color (Paris Night: dark blues and purples--nom nom), I love that I got the yarn from DH, and I'm looking for a comfy, cozy wintery weekend cardigan that can do with some pilling… (and I also bought a little pills removing thingy). This is going to be "upstairs knitting," i.e., I'll knit a row here and there between making dinner and playing with Conrad and cleaning up toys, and therefore I don't expect to finish the cardigan anytime soon (I'm hoping for mid-September, y'know, before the Peanut's grand entrance).


2. In the upper right corner we have Kristen Kapur's (=Through the Loops) Mystery Shawl KAL project, also knitted in Malabrigo, this time a lace weight in Purple Mystery (how appropriate! I didn't realize this until now). As much as I want to love the shawl, I don't think I do, or will once I finished it. I have finished it twice already, including binding off super loosely and blocking. Still the edge is wayyyy too tight, and I'm beginning to think it isn't me but the design. There are so many ssk's and k2tog's in the final rows that the border just seems, well, tight. This saddens me, as I thought to make the shawl for a special friend who loves purple and is petite (the shawl is on the small side, nothing for my swimmer's/rower's/big girl back).

3. On the lower right is Lucy Neatby's Snowflake DK Baby Bonnet. OMG adorable! And: OMG difficult! The "DK" doesn't stand for the yarn weight but for "double knitting," not as in "yarn held double" or "stranded" but, you know, double knitting: I'm working with two colors, creating a dark blue fabric on one side, a light gray fabric on the other, switching yarns to make a snowflake pattern (gray on blue on the one side, blue on gray on the other side). While I "got it" doing a practice swatch in worsted weight yarn, I'm now using fingering weight yarn and #3 needles, which complicates things. But slowly, oh so slowly, and with the help of Lucy's Double Knitting Delight DVD, I'm getting better and faster (=a row a day). It's a really cool technique, and the bonnet will be very warm and cozy (did I mention I'm using a merino-cashmere blend?) for the Peanut--as long as I finish it one time and he actually gets to wear it. :)

4. Ah! The monster! On the lower left you see the cables-and-bobbles stole that I picked four-and-a-half years ago as my first knitting project. Since this is not, I repeat: not, a suitable beginner's project, I abandoned "Project Knitting" within weeks (luckily was converted in 2009). The stole had been such a traumatizing knitting experience that, even as I got much better at knitting, I could do only a repeat or two every few months or so. Alas, now I'm almost finished. A few more rows, weaving in numerous ends, washing and blocking. I cannot wait to get that thing off my needles and move on… (to another unfinished project I also started in 2007, similarly unsuited for a beginner's project).

Happy weekend!

Things for Bébé

Things are piling up! You know the booties and hat already but thought I made them for my future nephew--but I fooled you; they are for the Peanut (the blanket Green Leaves really is for him, though. I made my boy a different blanket... just keep reading!). The cardigan is my friend Sam's new pattern Greener Pastures, which I test knitted for her and which has just been released.

I really wanted to use Malabrigo Worsted, and I really wanted to use a variegated colorway, and I really really wanted to use Kaleidos, despite (or perhaps because of) the pinks and purples. So the cardigan may not have "boy" written all over it, but I think it'll be super cute over a blue onesie. I used just a tad over one skein and have plenty left over for the super cute Aviatrix hat.

To make up for the pinkish cardigan, I knitted the Peanut a very blue baby blanket.

It's Anne Hanson's Hourglass Throw, published by Brooklyn Tweed, and it is super duper übergorgeous. For the first time I tried Stonehedge Fiber Mill's Shepherd's Wool, and, gasp, after this I shan't return to Cascade 220. It is OMG-squishy and yummy and nom nom nom.

I knitted the blanket while watching plenty of British mysteries, but I can't recall a single plot. The pattern is cables and lace and different WS rows and... and demanding. Not difficult, just eyes-glued-to-the-chart demanding.

This, BTW, is the actual color (I just got Lightroom and am in the experimental phase... I go a bit overboard when it comes to color correction and sharpening... hopefully practice makes if not perfect than at least better):

I played with the pattern a bit to get a square, rather than rectangular, blankie; mods are noted here.

I can feel the Peanut kicking and punching all the time now; even Conrad felt him and almost jumped out of my lap. We're getting ready to meet him. :)

***

And speaking of Bébé, have you noticed the title Bringing Up Bébé in your bookstore? I thought only my mommy circles paid attention to this look-how-seemingly-cruelly-French-women-raise-their-kids book (apparently very differently from Americans, who, according to a recent Time article [complete with controversial cover photo], by and large follow Dr. Sears' philosophy of Attachment Parenting, by which mom never leaves baby's side), but it was mentioned in a very, very good article in the NY Review of Books. and now it's sitting on my night stand. I haven't read it yet; I started with a different book, also mentioned in the NYRoB article, which is an excellent read: should you have the slightest interest in evolutionary biology, the politics of parenting, feminism, the mommy/career debates, or are a mom, or have wondered about what the "maternal instinct" really is--and whether it exists--, I highly recommend anthropologist's Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's 1999 Mother Nature. Great read!

Enough about moms... Happy Father's Day!!

(The Saga of) Ashby

Finishing Ashby, a Brooklyn Tweed design by Leila Raabe, took much, much longer than it should have.

The triangular shawl is knitted from the outside in, first by working the cabled border, then by picking up stitches and filling the body. Ashby is an incredibly gorgeous shawl; it's among the most beautiful things I've made. And it's not a particularly difficult knit either, as long as you pay attention to the direction in which your cables travel. And have enough yarn.

I had knitted the border in no time and was one fourth into the body when, ahhh!!, it became obvious that I was going to run out of yarn.

The pattern calls for 700-740 yards of worsted weight yarn, and rather than going with BT's Shelter I chose Imperial Yarn's Columbia to achieve a more rustic look. Somehow I had "Montana" on my mind when choosing the yarn. My LYS carried three skeins in that rustic, Montana-ian yellow my heart was set on, and an employee* offered to give me her leftover yarn--another 1/2 of a skein--for a total of about 770 yards. No problem there, right?

Right. Only, it didn't work. I had just a little over one skein left for the body and knew it wasn't enough. In the meantime my LYS had received another shipment of Imperial Columbia, alas, the color "Wheat Heather" came from a different dye lot and looked much more yellow. Nothing like a good challenge, the owner of my LYS decided, and together with a few other gals she started calling and emailing everybody: folks who'd previously bought "my" dye lot at the store, online retailers of Imperial, Imperial itself, Ravelry stashers of Imperial, trying to hunt down one skein in the correct dye lot. After three weeks--three weeks!--I had enough, called off the rescue team, and bought a skein from the different dye lot. And of course, the two dye lots clashed.

(Can you see the difference? I can't see it on my computer screen, but it's very visible on my iPad. Blimme, it was very visible in natura, too).

Not only was the color different, the new skein also felt different: it was softer, bulkier, less Montana and more Kansas.

What choice did I have but to rip back the entire body? It seemed painful at the time. In the end it took all but one rainy Memorial Day weekend, in which we were trapped indoors, to redo the body, alternating rows between the old and the new skein, hoping for the best: a non-stripy but happy marriage between two differently colored and differently structured strands of yarn.

On a cloudy day, the attentive eye detects stripes. Surely, the difference in color between the border and the body is noticeable. But again, only to the attentive eye, probably to one belonging to a fellow-knitter.

But on a sunny day? Perfect. Stunning.

I gotta say, I really, really love my Ashby. I can't wait for that cold autumn evening when I will first wear it, probably while cradling my new-born baby boy.

***

Why exactly I ran out of yarn is beyond me. I got gauge, I had good yardage. I used up almost all of the new skein, that is, there are 900 yards in that puppy, not 740. Mistake by the designer? I'm sure others would have complained about it. Incorrect yardage stated on the yarn label? That would be mean. Do I knit too loosely? But I got gauge!! Hmpf. Who knows, and, looking at Ashby, who cares?


*This sounds awfully impersonal. I'm talking about Chris, who is awesome, both as a knitter and as a person.

Peanut!

Ah... remember the summer of 2010? We spent two months in upstate New York, watched a lot of soccer (and despite our passionate cheering, Germany did not win the World Cup), and I was getting more and more pregnant with the Bean...

Yepp, that's what I looked like.

Only, it's not a 2010 pictures. It's a bit more recent. Shot three weeks ago. 'Cause... I'm pregnant. With the Peanut. 26 weeks today... 14 more to go. A September baby. Another baby boy. Conrad's little brother. Eeeeeeeeeek!!!!!

(And Saturday the Euro Cup starts. Germany better win this one.)

When to knit or not to knit?

My friend JayJay, fellow-knitter, -blogger, -mommy, and -professor, asked in her comments if we have house elves or how else I get so much knitting done. Sadly, rent for the house doesn't include the services of house elves, and the majority of cleaning gets done by yours truly. Since I have a full-time job (at least during the semester) and a toddler, JayJay wants to know when it is that I get a chance to knit.

Ever since Conrad was born, DH and try very hard to do work at work, that is, not bring work home with us. This is difficult, particularly for DH, whose teaching interferes with his research, which means he needs to do research "on his own time," i.e., on weekends, at nights, and during summer breaks. It's much easier for me to leave work behind; I have a teaching position and am not expected to do research. While "getting ahead" nevertheless depends on my research record (one of the ironies in my job), I put research on the back burner for now. When I come home, I'm home. I work my butt off at the office and do all class prep/email/"service" (faculty meetings, advising etc.)/research there, usually four days a week. The last two semesters I had Fridays off, and I use that day to clean the house and do the laundry (incl. ironing. OMG, I hate ironing). I could (and should) do research on Fridays and wait with the cleaning until the weekend when DH is around, but I really want to spend weekends doing fun stuff with Conrad and DH, without worrying about dirty bathrooms. So, for now at least, Fridays are cleaning days. I don't mind Fridays; they give me a chance to listen to NPR all day long (local news from 9-10, two hours of my favorite news/talk show On Point, The Story at noon, then I switch off the radio because I can't stand Fresh Air's Terry Gross, and the radio's on again for the BBC News Hour. By 3 pm I'm usually done).

DH and I pride ourselves in not watching TV, which is, in truth, a big fat lie. We don't have cable, but we do have Netflix. Over the years we've watched a number of series (mainly British mysteries, such as A Touch of Frost, Wire in the Blood, Inspector Lewis, our much beloved Inspector Morse; also American shows such as The Wire, Mad Men, and Big Love), and these days we watch about 45-90 minutes of Netflix on most days after Conrad's gone to bed and we've cleaned up whatever Conrad- and/or dinner-inflected messes there are. The TV is downstairs, in the finished-but-unheated basement that is, for the most part, a Conrad-free zone, and we're never tempted to turn it on unless in the evenings. And even then the TV is just background noise; DH usually checks relevant soccer information online and I knit. That's when I do "complicated" knitting--anything more involved than stockinette or garter stitch. I guess I get about six hours of knitting done this way per week. Earlier this year I also started going to knit night, which adds two to three hours of knitting to the weekly tally, albeit "light" knitting, that is, nothing complicated. So now we're talking eight to nine hours of knitting.

In addition to "complicated" knitting downstairs, I keep a project of "light" knitting upstairs: a garter or stockinette stitch something, on which I work whenever I'm watching Conrad and am able to squeeze in a row or two (or sometimes just half a row) while he reads. But mostly we play together, so I don't knit much. (I started this very easy, stockinette stitch cowl in February and am hardly near the end. That's "upstairs knitting.") I also knit when I talk to my mom on the phone, usually during Fresh Air on Fridays. One of our little family traditions is for DH to read out loud one or two pieces from The New York Review of Books on Saturday mornings, while we're still in PJs, and I knit during that time. Let's say I get one to two hours of "upstairs knitting" done per week.

That's nine to eleven hours of knitting per week. You tell me: is that a lot? I have given up almost every other leisure activity for knitting: I hardly read for pleasure anymore except those 20 to 30 minutes in bed at night before I fall asleep (usually dropping the book in the process and then waking about again from the noise); I hardly ever go to the gym or the swimming pool (but we do go for long, long walks and hikes on weekends with Conrad); we no longer visit friends or entertain them (we still haven't made friends here); I'm very bad about staying in touch with friends via email or over the phone; I don't facebook; I seldomly blog; difficult to admit, but I also don't read as many blogs anymore; I stopped going to art shows; I no longer cook anything that takes longer than 30 minutes to make (we're fans of Cook's Illustrated 30 minute recipes).

(Gosh, I'm getting depressed just writing this. Knitting stole my social life! I'll end up as the bag lady who keeps thirteen cats at home and dies without anyone noticing it. No, seriously, it's not that I knit every free second I got. I spend most of my free seconds with Conrad and DH, so hopefully I won't die alone and forgotten. It's those free seconds after Conrad has gone to bed that I spend knitting rather than reading, socializing, etc.)

Here's when I don't knit: I never take knitting on the bus or to the doctor's; that time is reserved for reading one of the half a dozen of magazines we subscribe to (my fave: Harper's). I don't knit on the airplane (try that with a toddler!). I don't take knitting to work; if I do take a longish lunch break, I meet with DH and we read different sections of The New York Times, which we get for free on campus (awesome perk of the job). If I were to go to bars, the movies, dinner parties, restaurants, soccer and other games, or concerts, I wouldn't knit there (we don't go because--you guessed it--we have a toddler, not because we're that anti-social). We don't drive enough for me to take knitting along in the car. In short, I'm not the knitter who always carries a project around with her.

So, JayJay, that's how I get my knitting done. For spring break we went to see my in-laws, and I knit more than half of the Amelia cardigan during those 8 days or so, because my in-laws are just gaga over Conrad and won't share him even with his parents. :) I knitted a lot during that time.

Now you tell me, when do you knit??

I Love Lucy

Not this one, but Lucy Neatby, a.k.a. the mum of happy stitches!

I learned to knit as a child, but I didn't learn to love it until three years ago, when a fiberholic friend gave me Clara Parkes' The Book of Yarn as a birthday gift. Ailed by a post-birthday party hangover (those were the days!) and confined to bed, I read the book cover to cover the next day, then went to the bookstore to grab a very basic "how-to" knitting book, left the closest yarn store with two skeins of Cascade 220, and picked up the needles the very same night. As you know, today I'm a knitting addict. If it weren't for writing dissertations or delivering and then nursing babies, not a day would go by without knitting. It's what I do every day (except when... see above). I'm sure there have been days when I knitted but didn't take a shower (a period of time also referred to as "Christmas holiday").

Ok, now that I got sidetracked completely, here's the Clara Parkes/Lucy Neatby link. I'm a fan of Clara's and love her Knitter's Review. So when I first ventured into the wonderful world of knitting I looked at her for book recommendations, and on the one page in The Book of Yarn that covers "Recommended Reading," Clara writes: "And to see many of these techniques in action, treat yourself to a set of Lucy Neatby's Knitting Essentials DVDs. They're among the finest how-to DVDs I've seen yet" (2007: 242). Since then Lucy has been hovering in the back of my head as a "must meet/learn from" knitting queen.

And last weekend I got the chance to do exactly that: meet and learn from her. My LYS invited her to come to SLC for a few days after Susan, star knitter (and teacher) in residence, had taken a class with Lucy three or so years ago and concluded that bringing her to SLC would change our local knitters' lives (which it did. Read on). After many moons of planning, Lucy came to the store last Friday for an informal meet & greet and to show some of her designs.

Socks, for instance.

Oh... that tractor sock! I love it! Conrad's totally into tractors, and so is Lucy's (grown-up) son, who owns a number of antique-ish tractors he is restoring, one of which is for Lucy so she can roam around her tiny island (population 120). Ah! Those were the stories we got to hear over some very good Italian food and wine iced tea (too bad it was too hot to run the fireplace).

I'm getting side-tracked again. There's another sock of hers I want to show you:

The white one, third on the left: Lucy's Fiesta Feet. Love 'em so much that I bought the pattern and will cast on as soon as I've cast off my current project(s) and found the perfect sock yarn.

After an evening of happy chit chat, Saturday meant business: I hiked up to campus to take Lucy's classes, one on Finishing Techniques, one on Intarsia--both mind-blowing, in the I-didn't-know-I-didn't-know-this and the OMG-why-has-no-one-told-me-this kinds of way. I wasn't the only one experiencing a series of Eureka moments. We all went home equally humbled (we know so little!) and excited (let's learn!). Many in the group returned the next day to take classes on Double Knitting, alas, I couldn't make it on Sunday. But one day gave me enough food for thought: perhaps not on this or that knitting technique (although I learned new, brilliant techniques) but on the architecture of knitting itself. It's as if Lucy is a knitting philosopher and let us in on some deep knitting wisdom.

Ok. Now I'm beginning to sound crazy, so I'll stop. Just one more thing: I did end up getting Lucy's Knitting Essentials DVDs, and they are amazing. She's an incredible teacher, both in person as well as on screen. I pop in the DVD and have Lucy in my home (or rather, her hands, since you don't see the rest of her). I'm sure her other DVDs--Knitting Finesse, Knitting Gems, on double knitting and intarsia--are just as beautiful. (Is Santa accepting wish lists already?)

(We're resembling "happy stitches." Find a copy of Cool Knitters Finish in Style to find out more.)