Thirty Days Hath November

Gee, that means tomorrow is December. I reached another age milestone in the two weeks since last I wrote. Where did 2008 go? Is time moving in fast forward since I got old? There is only one month left to knit all those UFOs I'd planned to finish. It ain't happenin'! Not only will I not finish the earlier ones, I added more in 2008!

I promised you knitting wows and woes. UFOs are my woes. Hmmm, "UFOs Are My Woes." Should write a song about it. No, should knit or rip them. Anyway, here is one of my woes which occurred through no fault of my own:



These are "Italy Socks," so named because the slightly feminized camouflage color yarn caught my eye just shortly before the trip and I'd planned to knit socks from it in Italy. However, I had "Beach Socks 2008" left over from summer on the needles and they were finished during the trip. I didn't cast on the Italy Socks until the ride from Hotel Villa Pina, Frescati, to Rome Fumicino Airport for the return trip home.

For the first time in my sock-knitting-by-hand life, I ran out of yarn. It was a 100 gram skein of sock weight yarn, Colinette Jitterbug, 128. Using a US 1 (2.5 mm) as usual and doing my usual two inch, 1x1 rib cuff and six inch leg, scant 2-1/4 inch EoP heel flap and 7-1/2 inch foot before toe decreases, I had only the small amount of yarn left (shown above) when I reached that point on the second sock. I have a long foot and short toes, but not that short. Aaaaack! What to do? I went back to my favorite yarn shop, Woolbearers in New Jersey, where I bought it. The cupboard was bare. Myra ordered another skein for me last week and it's there now. These will be my most expensive socks to date, if I don't count my $3,000 first pair of sock machine socks. These will be $45 socks! I will mitigate the cost by knitting another pair, toe up, two at once, with feet long enough for my spouse and legs as long as I have yarn for.

I noticed that the first sock was wider around than usual. The yarn has a different twist than most and is quite springy. Did I swatch? Of course not! Sock yarn? What's to swatch? I can knit socks in my sleep, for goodness sake! Sock yarn weight doesn't vary that much. Famous last words. Will I swatch before the next pair? Of course not. I'll be using Opal or the like. I know what that does. More famous last words.

I need to come up with a knitting wow to end on a high note. Hmmmmm, let's see. Oh! I went to Stitches East in October and didn't break the bank. Driving down I-95 to Baltimore the Fall colors were at their peak and I thought some yarn in those colors would be beautiful. The first thing I saw at the Market Preview Thursday night was wide nylon variegated ribbon in the exact colors at Judy Ditmore's Interlacements. I had to buy it.

I wish I could start and finish the shawl before Fall is over. And if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.

Stay tuned.

Bona Fide Knitter

It's Not Over 'Til the Fat Lady Sings

I'm the Bona Fide Knitter and it's been exactly six months since my last confess . . . er, blog entry.

Where have I been, you wonder? Well, it was not to see the queen, but I did go to Italy and almost saw the pope. Before I give a full accounting of my absence I want to tell you just one small part about my time in Italy because the last time I posted to my blog was Mother's Day and there is a picture of my mother and me with Minnie Mouse in Disney World. It is only fitting that I start posting again with another mention of my mother before I get back to my knitting wows and woes.

One of the many pleasurable times I spent in Italy, was sitting by the pool at Castello di Santa Maria, in the Umbria region, where I stayed most of a week back in September while on a knitting themed vacation. The setting was idyllic. The Castello is high on a hill and overlooks the valley. The view in any direction is astounding. My travel buddy, Kathryn, and I shared a cottage on the grounds and our cottage overlooked the pool which is surrounded by fig trees, pomegranate trees and rose bushes. One particular afternoon the plan was to spend the few hours between one meal and another, or was it one excursion and another, by the pool, knitting. It was cool up on the hill, not swimming or sunbathing weather, but the sun was warm and inviting if you were fully clothed. At one end of the pool I arranged a canvas sling chair facing the sun with a garden chair in front to put my feet upon.

After baking in that direction for a short while I turned my arrangement away from the sun, having the sun against my back. The other women of our group were in lounge chairs along one side of the pool, a little distance away, chatting amicably about knitting and . . . I don't know what. They were just far enough away that their voices carried out over the valley much of the time.

The sun warmed my back through the canvas chair. I had a shawl draped loosely over me. My knitting needles began to get heavy and I rested the knitting on my lap for a while. My eyelids grew heavy. I remember Diego, our innkeeper/chef, coming out and walking to the opposite end of the pool. I saw him open the door to the little shed at that end of the pool before he made his way to a chair to sit down to relax far away from his guests. And then the music started.

Okay, I'm in Italy, in Umbria, at a castle in fact. The language I'd heard most for the past several days was Italian, loads of lyrical Italian. I was even beginning to understand more of it. The music began, a woman singing, her clear, rich voice enveloping me from invisible speakers. It seemed to be coming from the valley. Quietly, richly, warm like the sun, I was bathed in the voice of Natalie Cole, in English, singing The Very Thought of You. I am so sure Diego played that particular CD just for me that you need not even try to convince me otherwise--an African American lady singer for the African American lady guest. Grazie, Diego.

What he didn't know, and I didn't either at first, was that particular singer and those particular songs would evoke some wonderful and pleasant memories and feelings for me. The CD is Unforgettable: With Love. After the initial song it goes on to It's Only a Paper Moon, Route 66, Mona Lisa, Straighten Up and Fly Right, Nature Boy and Unforgettable, to name just a few. Yes, Natalie sings her father's songs and ends in a duet with him singing Unforgettable. I am on my first transcontinental trip . . . all the way to Italy! I'm lounging by a pool at a castle in Umbria no less. Natalie Cole sings Nat King Cole, the music of my childhood, the music recorded on 78s that my mother, Margaret (I called her Mar) and my aunt, Ruby, played and sang along with on the big Zenith console radio/record player we had in our living room in the three-story, brick and brownstone, row house I grew up in. Most of you were not around for 78 rpm records, but you've heard of them I'm sure. They were before 45s and 33-1/3s--not to mentioln eight tracks, cassettes and CDs. This was in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In the last three years I've lost both my mother and my aunt. Those songs brought Mar and Ruby there to Italy with me. I could feel their presence. Actually what I felt was that on some level I had my mother and my "other mother" with me on this marvelous trip to Italy. As I nodded off and on and the familiar songs washed over me, I remembered fun times back then when we were all young and they were like older sisters to me, my grandmother being the mother of all three of us. My mother was a young widow and my aunt hadn't married yet. Their planning parties, singing along with Nat King Cole and including me in the fun is a wonderful memory. What I thought there by the pool was, 'Look at me, Mar and Ruby! I'm in I T A L Y listening to Nat and Natalie Cole sing our old favorite songs. It's 2008! Who woulda thunk it in North Philly back in 1948?!!!'

I could go on and on along this vein, but I won't. It's a fascinating marvel to me and probably no big whoop to anybody else. The feelings come back to me just typing about it! It was a great day, a great time, a great memory. I dozed. I napped. I snored and woke myself up a couple of times! But the music played on, over and over. There are over 20 songs on the CD and it played more than once. Diego dozed at his end of the pool and I dozed at mine. When The Very Thought of You came on again for the second (third?) time I roused myself thinking, 'This is where I came in.' Diego was gone. When did he leave? The sun was waning and I moved over to join the other women who were nice enough not to mention my snoring . . . that is until I asked, "Did you hear me snore?" It seems they heard snoring in stereo, Diego and I having both ends of the pool covered.

Diego, again I thank you. Grazie.

Bona Fide Knitter

Remembering Mar on Mother's Day

Marilyn, Minnie Mouse and Margaret
Disney World 1990(?)

On Mother's Day my thoughts are with my mother Margaret. I called her Mar. She passed away in February 2006. We had some fun times together. The picture above, a fading Polaroid, was taken during our dollhouse miniatures days when we did craft shows up and down the East Coast trading as Mari-Mar Miniatures. We went to Florida for two weekend shows, one in Ft. Lauderdale and one in Daytona Beach. We spent the intervening week in Disney World. What a fun time we had there. I believe the picture above was taken the day we were eating lunch in one of the park restaurants and it was announced that anyone wishing to march in the parade down Main Street "must line up now!" We shoveled the last bits of our salads in our mouths and bolted from the restaurant leaving our spouses behind with instructions where to meet us after the parade. We lined up and strutted our stuff down Main Street with kids and other adults as uninhibited as we were.

Happy Mother's Day!

Bona Fide Knitter

Rows, Can Ya Count 'Em?

After freeing myself of the projects that weren't doing it for me by either cutting them from the yarn source, frogging and rewinding or filing in the UFO box, I returned to my extreme comfort knitting without guilt. I started another pair of socks, plain stockinette on one US 1, 32" long circular, letting the coloring of the yarn do the work.

The yarn isn't colorful, just neutral. It's wool with a little nylon, 75/25% give or take. I think it's Opal. The ball band got misplaced during windings. It had been wound from a skein to a cone for using on the CSM. However, such a light color might not have fared well on a machine that has been turning out dark wool socks. The color (or lack there of) is good for summer and good for hand knitting and mental therapy. So I wound it from cone to yarn cake, bought a hot pink GoKnit pouch to carry it around, as if I don't already have enough sock totes, and started striving to reach my zen. Buying the pouch was also a good excuse to boost a KnitPicks order up to free shipping level. I finally ordered that super-duper electronic row counter that I decided is the answer to all my problems when it comes to remembering what row I'm on in a pattern, or in plain stockinette for that matter.

Concentrating when the need to count rows arises, which seems to be all the time when I veer from sock knitting, is a major downfall for me these days. So much so that I have become obsessed with acquiring row counters of varied and sundry sizes, shapes and systems. I have a few of those red Kacha-Kachas; however, I just ordered a mini one, a green frog from Patternworks. He's just the right size to keep me in line while using my GoKnit pouch. To round it out, I ordered an indie-made beaded row counter. Not a bracelet, more of a stitch marking row counter. I can't explain it any better than that. Go see for yourself. Hurry, they sell as soon a they are listed on Etsy. They are mainly one of a kind right now. I ordered a red Chinese crystal number. Let's hope my fried brain can follow the directions for using it.

Bona Fide Knitter

How's that working for you?

How's that working for you?" That question is one of my favorite Dr. Phil-isms. I've been asking myself the question about my knitting quite often recently, each project I start anymore, it seems. My answer is, "It's not." My knitting is not working for me! I have started many projects that became UFO's. Those from six years ago (I'm talking six or so years ago not 30!) were the result of my taking on something beyond my abilities as a rank beginner of knitting, I mean really knitting, the year I learned I was purling backwards, corrected the problem and my knitting took off! In recent weeks I have started many projects only to find they were not working for me.

Lately, nothing takes off for me. The flirty lacy skirt took off for me in the beginning, until I reached the lacy part and ran into some yo's before and after knits and purls and got flummoxed. I wove in a life line with scrap yarn and went back to where all was well. I haven't gotten back to it. It's not working for me right now because I think I need to lose 10 pounds to fit in it. That's about how much I gained while staying off of my tedonitis ridden ankle and watching my belly get bigger.

I've swatched and started an afghan, a sweater, and a sock. When I can't get through a sock, something is definitely wrong. When I don't have at least one sock on the needles I am really in bad shape. I. don't. have. a. sock. on. the. needles. at. the. moment! I finished the mini marathon of Kureyon Sock socks. The lastest pair are these: (a little faded out from the flash)

They have been off the needles for weeks. I don't want to make another pair of Kureyons right now. I don't want to go back to those three projects I started. They are not working for me. They give me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about them. I don't like them. I'm feeling peevish. I need a change. It's time for: Now you see them . . . Now you don't. And off to the frog pond with them.

I feel better already, just making the decision. I'm falling in love with the the flirty lacey skirt again. I'm feeling the urge to finally block and send my samples in for Basics, Basics, Basics. I am not feeling an urge to start the afghan again, or the holey sweater, or the waffle socks after I frog them. I need NEW on my needles. But I'm not ready for the Vivia Hoxboro or the Hanne Falkenberg. What will it be? When will I do it? You'll just have to wait and see.

Bona Fide Knitter, just trying to make it work for me once again

Spring!

I wanted to start with a photo of forsythia in bloom, budding trees, something flowery from outside my window, but alas, there is no forsythia blooming and the budding trees are hardly visible because of the gray and gloom of this morning's weather. So here is the next best thing:


http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf


Click and drag your cursor over the page and create your own spring garden.


My mention of being off my feet and off my feed had some wondering if I were worse off than I actually am. Not to worry. It is tendonitis in my ankle. I ended up in a soft cast and have been vegetating in a chair with my foot up as much as possible for the last month. No exercise, no activity and some dental planing had me off my feed as well. What a mess I am from head to toe! Just when I was about to wallow in woe I listened to a knitting podcast where someone was reveling in the fact that she recently had a full day to knit. So how can I complain? I've had four weeks of almost every day being full days to knit.


Too much of a good thing? Yes, I fear it would have been. I broke it up with limping trips out for provisions, a few restaurant meals and lots of laptop Internet surfing and shopping--the latter not being such a good thing.


I've made three pairs of Noro socks, finished an afghan, made some discoveries about my flirty skirt (If I gain another pound sitting around, I won't fit in it if I ever finish it.), swatched for another afghan and plan on swatching for a sweater today. No it is not for the Hanne Falkenberg Mermaid jacket. I am hoping that my Guru who will guide me through the knitting of this masterpiece is not ready to begin. "Let sleeping Scarlet Knitters lie" is a good mixed metaphor for the moment. I have some prep work to do, like rewriting the directions to include every little nuance row by row. No "AT THE SAME TIME dec 1 st inside the outermost 2 edge-st of the collar" for me. I need it spelled out row by row. I also need a new row counter. I have a collection of Kotcha-Kotchas, but this calls for one of those electronic marvels, the ultimate one that keeps track of multiple counts.


Since the weather outside is frightful, I will leave you with the view inside my kitchen window . . .





Bona Fide Knitter

Where Have I Been?

I can't believe a whole month has slipped by since I last blogged. I've been off my feet and off my feed. Noro socks have been flying off my needles during this period. Check this out:

Remember the pair of socks that brought out the OCD in me because they didn't match? I've made them into two pairs, matching pairs. This pair:

And the pair on the right:All is right with the world. I'm currently working on another Noro sock which I am determined will have a matching mate. I have a Noro sock yarn stash. I'm in a Noro sock yarn frenzy.

I also finished the throw I started last winter, a Knit Picks pattern the Abundance Throw, soothing garter stitch of from Knit Picks. I love the sand and sea colors of it and the soft comfy feel. I'm saving it until the garage conversion to "my studio" is complete. Hopefully that will occur before summer is over. I have plans to move my hobbies, which have taken over the living area in this little house, into their own domain. The Abundance Throw will be my security blanket when I work in my new room next winter. I can see it all now . . . the room might get a little chilly and I will hunker down in a comfy chair with my feet up and knit to my heart's content with audio books or TV as company, my yarn stash as insulation, my comfort of dolls for company. Neither dogs nor spouse will find my studio comfortable for long periods of time, no bed or comfy sofa.

During my confinement I did quite a bit of Internet shopping. More yarn, more patterns and a Hanne Falkenberg kit, the Mermaid Jacket in shades of orange.

What was I thinking?!!! Actually I was thinking more easy, soothing garter stitch. However, this is not your grandmother's garter stitch. Start with an I-cord border. Pick up stitches in color A. Or was that B? Knit. Short row. Keep going and in the meantime shape neckline. What?!!!

My knitting Guru, The Scarlet Knitter, is going to hold my hand through this. She's the one who got me all gung-ho to do this particular Hanne Falkenberg knit. "It's easy," she says. I cannot lay too much blame at her feet. I am very impressionable when it comes to hobbies. Just mention something to me and I'm off and running.

Which brings me to another activity I've been engaging in during my down time, . . . Ravelry! Oh boy do I love looking at the projects and people in Ravelry! I end up finding people who, in addition to knitting, have other interests similar to mine. Cross stitch comes to mind. I went through a cross stitch period some years ago. It was right after my needlepoint phase. Needlepoint . . . hmmm, but I digress. I find myself being tempted to whip out a little cross stitch project just to see if I remember how. So many hobbies, so little time.

I really do wonder if there are any needlepointing knitters. I think I'll go check Ravelry now . . .

Bona Fide Knitter