Knitting the Blues

YouTube Saturday

Despite it all, the madness, the unfortunate downslide, all of the controversy and just bad stuff, at one time there was the genius.  This is my favorite song and I remember this great performance.

Seventy-seven.

Peak ExperienceFinishing Friday

What is that peaking out from behind my newest shawl?

I got myself a little present.  When something special comes along, you just have to go for it, right?  It remains to be seen if this will get me spinning all of that fiber I have.  The arrival of the really nice fleece I sent out for processing might help....

Now, the shawl.  I LOVE THIS SHAWL!

 

• Pattern:  Mountain Peaks Shawl by Miriam Felton of MimKnits. (ravelry link)
• Yarn:  Ball and Skein Hand-Dyed Zephyr in the very special and wonderful colorway, Manise.
• Needles:  Addi Lace size 5
• Cast On:  May 20, 2009
• Bound Off and Blocked:  June 22, 2009

This yarn came to me over a year ago at SPA and the second I saw it I knew exactly what shawl to knit with it.  Came to me in a flash of brilliant intuition and boy, was that intuition right.  I really wish I had been blogging it as I was knitting it.  I remember thinking along the way that I would be sure to mention 'this' when I blog or 'that', but can I remember it all?  I even went back and looked at the charts and tried to shake some of the memories out, but this is all I can come up with.  First, this shawl challenged me with a couple of new-to-me techniques that weren't difficult, but kept me on my toes.  The first is lace work on both sides of the work.  The first chart has yarn overs and decreases on both sides of the work which had me married to the chart (actually, I was attached to the charts the entire time).  This was not the knitting to take to parties and knitting in the car (or on a bus ride home from NYC that took all day) usually had me tinking out to find errors quite a bit.

 

If I am making the knitting sound like a chore, I really never felt that way.  I loved every second of knitting and most of the tinking.  The other thing I haven't done is knit a border onto a lace shawl, and that was a huge mental block for me.  Not really the concept, I totally get how that works and it went well.  The border chart is repeated twenty-four times and I never really got the hang of it, I'm blaming the lace work on the wrong side, it never felt intuitive to me and I'm not sure if that is me or the knitting.  To be sure, there are some definite patterns to the beginning and end of each of the rows, some of which clicked for me about half-way through and the rest in the final repeats.  That is unusual for me and I think maybe my mind was elsewhere over the last couple of weeks making it hard for me to see the obvious. 

 

The bottom corner is knit on using short rows and I probably should have knit that in a quiet room, free of all distractions because when I got to the end of it I had too many stitches, by one.  So I knit three together instead of two and went on my merry way, but the corner just looked, well.  Wonky.  I pulled it back and redid it, thank heavens, all went well the second time and it is lovely. 

 

What else.... Did I mention I adore this shawl?  It is difficult to photograph, but this shot shows the lace work, if not the color, pretty well.  Look at the mountains in the border!  This entire work just charms me to paralysis, I can't stop looking at it.  Can we talk about the color for a minute?  Judy outdid herself in my opinion.  I would knit this colorway forever, it is just that beautiful.  I don't see any on her website, but maybe she will put it back in the dye vat?

I'm not sure what took me so long to knit this shawl.  I did notice that the knitting went quite a bit faster on the second and third charts, which have plain purl rows on the wrong side, but even though the border chart has lace work on both right and wrong side rows, there aren't that many stitches.  I started the border on the weekend I was in NYC and it took two weeks for me to work (knit, knit, tink. Knit, knit, tink), which surprised me.  I had even brought another project with me on that little jaunt, delusional in the thought that I would need it.  There are long stretches on the second and third chart of only knit stitches.  My tip for you:  Count them ahead of time and write in the stitch count, saves a lot of time.  I also did it on the the border chart and with the number of repeats on that thing I can only imagine it saved me hours of counting, miscounting, tinking and reknitting.  Did I mention that I have a huge crush on this shawl? 

Hey!  Have you contributed to Claudia's MS Ride yet?  She is hasn't quite met, but is so close to her goal.  Can you spare another $10?  Look at what it might win you, there are some great prizes.  Your last chance is Sunday morning.  Go!  Donate!  Every little bit helps.

Seventy-six.  I'm feeling the need to knit a sweater or something.  It should come as no surprise that I have more lace shawl on the needles.  

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things You'd Bring To A Deserted Island.  Keep in mind, my vision of a deserted island is less Cast Away and more Gilligan's Island.  Just so you know.

1. Tea.  Lots of tea.  A boatload of tea.
2. My iPod and laptop, with a card thing so I can download books and music and other audio from the satellite internet.  (Remember.  Gilligan's Island)
3. The professor (see #2).
4. That crate with my spinning wheel, drop spindles and lots of fiber.
5. Maybe a sheep or two, in case I run out of the fiber.
6. Another crate with yarn, needles, stitch dictionaries, some patterns.
7. Sewing machine with lots of fabric to make quilts and clothes and stuff. (See, the professor will really come in handy on my deserted island.  They should have brought him along on Oceanic Air.  Or at least when they returned to the island.  Didn't anybody watch Gilligan?)
8. Books.  Fiction, history, lace knitting, other knitting.
9. The crate containing olive oils, flax seed oils, oatmeal, cooking utensils, fishing equipment (I love my seafood) and some seeds and stuff for veggies.
10. Pete, for obvious reasons.  I need somebody to carry and fish and plant all that stuff, don't I? (wink, wink)

Seventy-five.  I was going to bring the girls, because you know I would miss them terribly, but then I realized they would bring their ten things and I heard myself, "Would you people pick up your stuff!  What is somebody dropped by unannounced to rescue us!?  All they would see is what slobs we are!  This beach is NOT YOUR PERSONAL CLOSET!" or "Didn't I just pick up this lagoon?  For once I would love it if five minutes later I could walk into a nice clean lagoon!"  Or the arguing, or demands at dinner time.  Forget that!

Now, Summer Can Begin

The warm weather was just waiting for my sandal ready toes!  While it is rarely worth the time and effort to do my fingernails, I just couldn't resist. 

Yep, they are chipping already.

Sandal Ready!  Bring on the HEAT!

Seventy-four.  Why do my photos look all washed out in comparison to the way they look in my photo editing program?

A Great Weekend In NYC With The Daughter orIt Says A Lot About A Bus Company That Sends A Tow Truck To Get Their Bus Off The Side Of The Highway Before It Sends A Bus To Pick Up Their Passengers and Ten On Tuesday

In a spontaneous move for me I hopped on a bus on Saturday and spent the weekend in NYC with Gillian.  It was mostly low-key, I was pretty tired by Saturday night so I stayed in and slept while she headed out to a party.  The day was a perfect day to be in the city, warm, but not too.  Sunny, but not too.  Breezy, but not too.  Crowded, but not too.  We hit the garment district and a little bit of fabric was purchased, but I did not find a copy of the most recent Burda World of Fashion Magazine (June 2009), which I have been searching high and low for.  (Anybody?)  It seems everywhere I went they had just sold out or had it, but in languages I don't read or speak.  The search continues. (Update:  I found it on ebay.  Yay.)

On Sunday I took a brrr cold shower (the super was on it, but not early enough to start my day) and we headed out to run some errands (I got a great canvas bag at Target-I'd not really shopped at Target before!  That place is great) and then back into Manhattan to just walk around, have lunch and watch people.  Some of the people gave us more to look at than others. 

What is this? Fantasy Fest?

After that it was dinner and the Tony Awards!  There is so much I could say, but really, it was so.much.fun.  It is a black tie event and to be in a theatre where, with few exceptions (umm, Carrie Fisher?  Hello!) everyone is dressed in their best is a blast.  And rare.  Who dresses up anymore?  Remember when you dressed up just to go out to eat?  Or to a show?  Or church?  Or school?  Or work? (I know it, another day another post.)  Even after it was all over, walking around the city after it was fun to see so many people in gowns and tuxes.

  

See?  There is Radio City Music Hall (a theatre with the most comfortable seats ever!) up ahead.  Gillian is the pretty poser in that photo.  I have to learn to pose.

 

When we arrived the line wrapped around the block and back again, walking through it gave the opportunity to see everyone's dresses and hair and botox jobs, cosmetic enhancements.  The people?  Hmmm, let's just say they like to see and be seen and talk about it the whole time.  A far cry from my real life, but fun to peak in at.

  

That photo makes the stage look a lot farther away than it was.  We had great seats on the second balcony and could see everything really well.  Even Bret Michaels almost losing his head.  Whew, that was a close one for the lip syncer.

Highlights for me?  Oh wow.  I don't even know how to narrow that down.  The opening number was so energizing and ignited the excitement for the night.  Angela Lansbury won her 5th Tony Award, standing ovation well earned.  The cast of Hair took me back to my elementary school days.  Neil Patrick Harris, who couldn't just love him?  Liza Minelli brought the house down.  The entertainment moved on and off the stage flawlessly.  It was amazing to me that everything was on time and so well executed.  Even the audience was reined in and corralled like kindergarteners at nap time.  As if it isn't enough to get what happened on tv promptly performed, moved, cleaned and moving on and off, there was entertainment for the theatre audience during the commercial breaks.  I always thought that the audience was left to mill around and chat, but no.  We were treated to film clips about some theatre history, former actors and actresses, live entertainment from upcoming shows, other previews and a glimpse into some fundraising events.  That is one way to keep the kindergarteners on their mats audience in their seats.  You know you can't just tell them to stay there.  You should have seen what it really took to get people to sit.down.the.show.is.starting!   I always thought the cameras must get in the way at these things and I hardly noticed them at all.  It never ocurred to me that I would go to any award show, I didn't really have the interest it making it happen, but I'm so glad Gillian invited me and that I went.  Only down side?  This is the first year that I had not seen most of the shows and one or two of the plays nominated.  Weird.  I had a blast.

Monday morning:  I've been wondering just how to blog this, and I think I can do it without much of the emotion, the anger, discomfort or fatigue.  You'll.Just.Know:

• 9 am.  Leave Gillian's and take the short bus ride to Port Authority to catch my bus home.  Looking forward to listening to my book and knitting my shawl.  Perfect end to a perfect weekend.
• 9:45ish:  After grabbing some fruit and an iced tea for the ride (had I only skipped that iced tea run!) I get in line for the 10 am Peter Pan/Greyhound bus to Boston, I should be there by 2:30 (this is important to remember).  No bus, long line.  At this point I had the fleeting thought on that gorgeous day to just stay in the city and take a later bus home. 
• 10:15ish:  Busses arrive and load.  I hand over my ticket to the driver and get on the bus.  No place for me to sit.  Off the bus with the assurance that another bus is being sent for the 15-20 people that have been sold tickets for seats that don't exist.  This is the first of many false assurances the PETER PAN/GREYHOUND employees gave this day.  That must be their main training.
• 11:00:  No bus.
• 11:30:  No bus.
• 12:00:  No bus, not even the 12:00 scheduled bus.
• 12:20ish:  After seriously considering just skipping the ride altogether (why, oh why don't I listen to that inner voice?!) and standing (you only get to stand in a bus station and don't abandon your place in line to complain, go to the bathroom, or get another drink because that iced tea you got for the ride? Long gone!  You will lose any chance of getting on a bus if you leave your spot in line) I finally board a bus and think I may still make it home for my ride (Pete has a flight to catch after he picks me up).
• 1:30-2:00ish:  Bus pulls over on the side of a very busy US95 in Connecticut.  This does not look good.  We are assured by the driver that this is a few minute fix, some computer code thing, and we will be on our way. 
• 2:15-2:30ish:  Okay, waiting for someone to call with correct code, none of the codes the driver has works.  A little longer on the wait.
• 2:30:  No go.  PETER PAN/GREYHOUND is sending a bus to pick us up.  From NYC.  Ninety minutes away.  (Alright, at that moment I totally understood that there was not a driver and a bus sitting there just waiting to come and help us out.  I knew that right then, but I still had hopes that I might be home by six or seven.)  We are to stay on the bus for safety reasons.  HA!  Did I say busy highway?  On the bus, off the bus, we are not safe and we are hot and cranky.
• 2:30-3:00:  People are getting off the bus.
• The exact timing of the following is sketchy in my memory (at some point isn't everything a blur?):  CT State Trooper arrives and says that we really have to stay on the bus.  About 30 minutes or so later he relents and lets us sit outside, reminding us that we are near a big city and we should be careful to not sit on hypodermic needles that may have been thrown from cars.  And I don't think I need to tell you just how bad the "rest room" on the bus is getting with no circulation or air moving around in it.  There is a rest area in our sight with a McDonald's and bathrooms.  We are not to walk there, the state trooper says no (we hear stories of pedestrian deaths on this highway happening every seven something. Seconds? Minutes? Hours?  Our driver is getting no information about the bus that has been dispatched to pick us up, so the state trooper takes over.  Long story short (?) he cannot get any info out of PETER PAN/GREYHOUND (at this point it is important to say that the driver cannot get through to them either) so he calls the emergency number at the Port Authority to get through.  He threatens (and follows through) to call a tow truck for the bus himself to get the bus off the highway, which will cost PETER PAN/GREYHOUND money and that gets them on the ball.  Sort of.
• 4:30ish:  We learn from our favorite CT State Trooper that no bus has left NYC to get us.  Wait.  I haven't maybe given that the proper emphasis:  NO BUS HAS LEFT NYC TO GET US!!!
• Sometime after that:  Tow truck arrives and tows bus with passengers up the road to the rest area, offering us if not any hope of getting home, safety, a bathroom and food.  We sit outside and wait.
• 5:30-6:00:  A tow truck arrives from PETER PAN/GREYHOUND to get the bus (being held captive by the first tow truck driver who I am sure is charging for every second he sits there) because THAT would be costing them money.  Meanwhile, we watch many PETER PAN/GREYHOUND busses drive by.  One stops and can take five passengers. (WHAT!?)
• 6:30ish:  After a day of lies and misrepresentations from the PETER PAN/GREYHOUND company and employees (two actually laughed at us in NYC when we inquired about the bus they were sending for us), a bus arrives and we are on our way. 
• 9:30ish:  We arrive in Boston.  We are safe.  We are sound.  Sort of.
• There was another blogger on the bus and she posted about our day as well.

You know, stuff happens.  I get that.  But how a customer is treated says a lot.  Sending the tow truck before the bus, leaving us in harm's way?  And had it not been for the state trooper's involvement, I can't even think of how the day might have gone.  The driver was getting nowhere with the company he drives for.  Twice Gillian offered to come get me, and twice I told her no because I thought the bus would be there before she would.  I was so.wrong.   

It feels good to be home and I cannot wait to get back to spend another weekend with Gillian, we had a blast.  I think I'll be driving though.

Ten On Tuesday.  Ten Favorite Things To Do During "ME" Time.

1. Beach.  I know, you are surprised.
2. Fiber festivals.
3. Mani/Pedi.
4. Massage.
5. Workout.
6. When I have the house to myself (ahhh) just enjoy the quiet and:
7. Sew, knit, spin, listen to books.  Especially on my back porch with iced tea or martinis.
8. I love checking into a B&B for a weekend, preferably at the beach, and just hanging out. 
9. Visit with friends.
10. Hang with my peeps, like Gillian this weekend.  My family makes "me" time fun.

Seventy-three.  Yes, I brought knitting.  You'll be surprised to know it involves yarn overs and ssk.  Really!

YouTube Saturday

The Tony Awards are tomorrow night.  In my house I am the only one that really gets into them now that Gillian has moved to New York, and this year I have been looking forward to instant messaging her through the whole show while we watched together across the miles.  Here is last year's award for Best Musical going to In The Heights. 

This year, when the award for Best Musical is announced, actually as they announce every award and perform every song and dance and all of it, Gillian and I have something really special planned. We.Will.BE THERE!!!! In PERSON!!!!!! So in a last second twist I am on a bus this morning headed to NYC to spend the weekend and go to the TONY AWARDS!!!! (Wish me luck, I am not such a great spontaneous traveler-send good thoughts for calm and relaxation.)

Seventy-two. ACK! I'M GOING TO THE TONY AWARDS!!!

Shawls, Shawls. Everywhere Shawls.

Have I told you all how great it is to read the comments you write after I post a finished project?  You know how to boost a girl's ego!  All I do is match up a pattern with some yarn and knit it.  LOTS of people do that and do it well.  The real credit goes to the designers and dyers and yarn people.  I'm doing the easiest part.  Case in point:

In case you haven't noticed I've been bitten by the lace bug and bitten deep.  It's an itchy bite and I keep scratching. 

• Pattern:  Forest Canopy Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence (ravelry link)
• Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Whisper Merino Lace in Herb Roberts (recognize it?)
• Needles:  Addi Lace in size4
• Cast On:  May 19, 2009
• Bound Off:  May 28, 2009
• Blocked:  May 31, 2009

 

My head so firmly dreaming in the Forest Canopy of lace and having more than half the skein of yarn left from the Norwegian Woods Shawl, I cast on for this as soon as I finished it.  I had yarn and I was bound to use up as much of it as I possibly could.  If.It.Killed.Me.  And it just about did.  Using the Shawl Percentage Calculator at Rose-Kim Knits (thanks, Jessica!) and my postal scale I calculated as I went along, doggedly determined to knit every possible inch.  As enjoyable as this knit was (and it really is-if you knit it as written there are far fewer repeats of the lace pattern-not nearly enough to send a person to the insane asylum) , there was a race to see what would win out, my will to consume the yarn or my will to live.  You can probably guess at the internal battle.  At a certain point, when the shawl had grown to a generous size and there was still a hefty little ball of yarn left, I kept bargaining with myself.  Each repeat was to be the last.  It was all I could take.  And then I would do the math, weigh the yarn, knit another repeat.  The winner?

And then there was none some, but not enough for another repeat.

  

Did you figure this out yet?  I also had beads left from both the Spring Things Shawl and the Norwegian Woods Shawl.  What the hell, throw those in, too.  Why not?

As simple as this shawl is, one repeat until the border, it is deceptively elegant.  The yarn has a beautiful drape and the beads add that sparkle of blue sky glimpsed through the Forest Canopy.  Aren't beads and lace photogenic?

Don't you just want one?  Well, you could have one.  I'll be donating this shawl to Claudia's MS Ride raffle.  Each $10 donation provides a chance to win fabulous prizes and even better, help with research and treatment of people with Multiple Sclerosis.  Go.  Donate. 

Seventy-one.  Another finish.  Another Shawl.  Have I started another?

Another Week, Another Shawl

I'm definitely in the mood for lace in the shape of triangles lately, no?  This will be the fourth I've shared this year, and I have another to share (blocked and everything!) and another on the needles.  And dreams of future lace triangles are skipping through my imagination even as I am barely half-way through any one that I am working on. 

I had it in my head that I had to knit the Spring Things Shawl in the spring.  Just because I am weird like that.  Then I had to knit the Fountain Pen Shawl because I just had.to.have.one.  Wasting time Doing some serious research on Ravelry for my next shawl to knit I came across the Norwegian Woods Shawl/Scarf.  I love the story of the shawl, the names of the charts enchanted me and reading the description I visualized the perfect yarn for it.  Best part?  It was already in my stash.

Knowing the shawl was a story of a forest of trees progressing from winter through spring, I imagined the finished shawl to have a sense of the forest canopy on a hike, green leaves and buds with the breeze whispering through them and glints of the sky, bright, sparkly blue or a little bit hazy with that greyish lavendar look it can get, peaking from above the leaves.  A skein of Woolen Rabbit Merino Lace Weight in Herb Roberts seemed just the right yarn for the job.

It was made all the more perfect when the knitting was happening on my back porch and everything matched so well!  Knitting synchronicity.

 

• Pattern:  Norwegian Woods Shawl by Sivia Harding. (ravelry link)
• Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Whisper Merino Lace in Herb Robert.
• Needles:  Addi Lace size US 2.5, 3mm.
• Cast On:  May 9, 2009
• Bound Off:  May 19, 2009
• Blocked:  May 20, 2009

With charming lace patterns named (from top to bottom) Winter Branches, Budding Twigs, Emerging Leaves and Leaf and Bower, I felt I was knitting the tale of spring even as I was living it.  I feel I created a version of a bower, a shady place among leaves. 

Sivia Harding loves her beads, so beading was a part of the pattern.  I almost went and got some green beads, but I had these left over from my Spring Things Shawl and thought they were the perfect thing to add the sparkle of a sunny blue sky to the shawl.

The Knitty Gritty:  Having a hefty hank of yarn my plan was to knit the large size of this shawl, but then I really thought about the dimensions and realized that was crazy knitting for a shorty like me.  I changed my mind and proceeded to make the scarf size which, if a teensy bit small, a more appropriate size for me to throw over my shoulders.  I do think another repeat of the second or third charts would have been a good idea, but after all of the beads were on there....  Well, you know.  I was done.  The knitting of this scarf was absolute pleasure.  I loved every second watching it grow into my vision.  The blocking, there is no easy way to say it, SUCKED!  I spent two hours one night, only to pull the pins out and leave it to the morning.  I was trying to avoid pinning out each scallop, and that was a mistake.  The next morning I put in another two and a half hours or so, making it necessary to re-wet the shawl so it could block.  Had I not changed the bind off rows a little bit (I was afraid they wouldn't be stretchy enough), the scallops might have looked more uniform.  I think I added too much into them by working extra yarnovers on the row before the bind off.  A mistake I am willing to live with.  (I think I am getting a little more tolerant in my old age.  Who knew?)

I wish I could say that even one of these photos captures the color and the fantastic pairing of yarn and pattern, my vision come to life.  The only downside was the amount of yarn I had leftover.  UGH.  I hate leftover yarn, and this shawl used up less than half the skein.  Having my head in the Forest Canopy through the knitting of this shawl made it easy to immediately cast on for another.

Seventy.  How long can this shawl madness last?