novamade

mittenish

Thanks again for all the mitten love.  It's no secret that I love the mitts, I am glad you guys think they're snazzy too.  Knitting Anemoi has given me a true appreciation for mittens and knitting them.  I still don't think they are as practical as gloves, but they're pretty.  So instead of casting on for a pair of socks (you know, for a portable project) I started looking at patterns for mittens.  I was still feeling awfully puffed up with pride after my success with Anemoi when I cast on for these:

                                                                      

pride goes before a fall...

These cabled cuffs are the start of  Marcia Lewandowski's Aran Island Mittens.  I thought the pattern was interesting (even if there are bobbles that could have easily been left out); but, perhaps it's too interesting for me.  It took me longer than was reasonable to figure out the tree of life stitching detail.  My early efforts were spotty and there was quite a lot of ripping, finally I just went with what I had.  Stitching on the left mitten's lower left palm leaves much to be desired; but that's okay.  These mittens were originally intended as a gift for someone (yes, I know, back to the gift knitting); but, now I'm not sure what fate waits for these mittens.  We'll have to see what the finished product looks like, but I don't have high hopes for this project at the moment.

On a completely different topic, how many of you are solitary knitters as opposed to group knitters?  I tried knitting in groups before, in the early days through "meet up" groups, the only clicking that happened was from the knitting needles, and I sort of discovered the beauty of knitting alone while listening to audio goodness or watching television (which inevitably causes the loss of brain cells, so why not?).  I think I do okay knitting on my own, but I have started knitting with a group at work. 

While I was at a local yarn shop a co-worker who works very far from the library on campus told me about a knitting group that meets in the cafe of the library to knit during lunch once a week.  Well, first she asked if I was a knitter (which seemed like a ridiculous question to ask someone standing in line with an obscene amount of yarn, magazines and needles--I do what I can to help the local shops stay afloat).  So today will be my second session of knitting with this group of random librarians, professors, graphics designers and a coach from the athletic department.  While knitting last week, we drew the attention of some students, so we may see a few of them today.  I think I kind of like it.  It's an odd experience though because I just sort of assume that all knitters know about things like 1) knit blogs, 2) Knit Picks and Elann and 3) Koigu. It's a strange feeling to be looked at as some sort of knitting wunderkind because I know where to buy cashmere blends for a steal.  For the most part I knit thinking "my friends, have you not heard about this wonderful thing called the internet?!" But I don't ask.  I am just considering it a new mission to help these people spend as much money as I do on yarn, purely for there own edification, of course.  I haven't mentioned my knit blog to them, I don't feel like I know them well enough (funny, right?).

And just because I like it, here is a picture of some flowers that make me feel like spring is right around the corner even if there is snow piled up outside my window.

the fine art of knitting for one’s self

There is no shortage of Anemoi Mittens in the knitblogging community.  I have seen many pairs in various states of production.  My Anemois are done, and I couldn’t be happier.

Like many who have knitted this pattern, I too love it.  I love the pattern (and though I don’t actually know her personally, I think I might love Eunny for writing the pattern), I love the yarn I used, and I love the finished mittens.

Lest you think that I should have titled this post “mitten love,” I will tell you one more thing I love about these mittens:  I love that they are mine.  I have been a knitter for a little over two years now and since I picked up the sticks I have never knit a thing for myself.  No, nothing.   Maybe you are sitting there thinking, “what a crock, what about your first project?!”  No.  My first project was a garter stitch scarf made on size 19 needles with LB Homespun, you know the one, the pattern is on the ball band; I was so impressed with how it came out, I obviously couldn’t keep it for myself, it had to be given away.  At least the person I gave it to still wears it, all the time as a matter of fact—I need to knit her something else so she can graduate up to some wool or something, but that’s another post for another time. 

As I was saying, no knitting goods for me…you see, the idea never occurred to me.  Sure, I marked patterns and made mental notes of the things that I wouldn’t mind knitting for my own personal use or wear, but if it was an accessory or something-of-the-like it went to someone else if it came out half way decent (and trust me, when “half-way decent” is your benchmark, you can achieve success quite easily).  In truth, to combat this giving away of the goods I started knitting a sweater for myself (Arwen, what?) thinking, “well, if it’s made with my measurements in mind, then obviously I will keep it…” and then I let knitting for others get in the way of my finishing it, because “it’s just for me, I can wait…”  But then there were these mittens, these Anemois mittens with beautifully curved scrolls reminiscent of Kelmscottian design. 

The special collections librarian in me that deals with rare books, of course, loves that detail.  So I got the pattern thinking that this would be the knit, for me, that I would get around to some day.  Perhaps it was Project Spectrum, or maybe it was my tiring of the cables in Arwen, but “some day” happened a lot sooner than I expected.  And I must say, this knitting for one’s self, it’s the cat’s pajamas (yes, I really do say cat's pajamas--yes, I know).

There are a some who dub knitting for one’s self as “selfish knitting,”  I never thought of it this way when I was doing all that knitting for others, or “gift knitting” if you wish, it just never really occurred to me to knit something for myself at the time.  But now, I have all sorts of crazy plans…but there will still be the knitting for others, because I am a giver (it gives me some sort of weird high,  I really like doing things for other people, it's a compulsion).  But, really a knitter knitting for the sake of producing personal goods, that’s not selfish at all.

I think there is a certain art to knitting for one’s self.  Pattern selection, is perhaps, the key to success, maybe this doesn’t apply to small things or accoutrement; but, with sweaters, it’s nice to know in advance that just because it looks good on that red head in Interweave Knits, there’s no guarantee it will look half as good on you.   So maybe that’s what scared me off of Arwen, because honestly, I am having my doubts about how it’s going to fit me, but mittens, they are a safe bet.  And well, these mittens?  Well, of course they will look good, and of course they are totally worth the effort, and of course I should keep them.

Another part of the “art” involved in knitting goodness for me was not obsessing over small details.  When I knit for others I usually obsess about the knitting (because to be truthful, I obsess over things in general), while knitting these mittens, I made it a point to enjoy the knitting, every moment of it.  I enjoyed knitting the Anemois so much when I noticed mistakes two are three rows back (as I did many times) I had no problems ripping back and re-knitting.  “Oh, rip back and have the opportunity to prolong the knitting of this Koigu fabulousness in this gorgeous pattern?  Yes, please.”  There are a few things that could have been improved, there is a “wobbly” stitch here and there; but, I can see the forest from the trees—I just don’t care.  And if I don’t care, then no one else should.

The last “art” I am going to mention is that of use.  Some of you may think that there is no art to using knit items, but I think there is art in all sorts of things, my friends.  For me it would be very easy to not use these mittens because of the work I put into them and the possibility that I could lose one (because, as you may remember, I love them).  And then there is the very likely possibility of getting them dirty…with things like baby drool …

But if they don’t get used, they wouldn't live up to their functional purpose, and what possible good would that serve?  And though I don’t like to draw attention to myself, for the most part (I mean, I do have a blog after all), I want people to see my mittens and tell me how great they are, because I LOVE them, and the recognition of their greatness gives my mitten love all sorts of validity.

So if you aren’t already doing so, go knit something for yourself.  You know you’re worth it.

Anemoi Mittens

Pattern: by Eunny Jang

Yarn:Koigu (love), 1 skein each of off-white (0000) and medium blue (sorry, I have no idea about the color code/dye lot)

Needles: Aluminum US 2s, Bates?  Boyes?  I have no idea, they were fast and smooth.

Modifications:  Just one, I knit the cuffs on 2s instead of the prescribed 0s.  With the 0s I kept getting a cuff that Special K “thought was the start of a baby sock…” 

a hitchhiker's guide

When hitching a ride to an aquarium for an afternoon of fun, here are some things to remember:

• Potential drivers like pleasant-faced people.  No one finds a scary face attactive, it's just scary.

• If your mittens are thumbless, your thumbs will be cold.

• Visiting the outdoor park area of the aquarium is not such a great idea if the area has just had a major freeze.

• Fish can be pretty cool.

• But penguins tend to be much cooler.

• Penguins might be the coolest thing ever.  Just go see the penguins first.

• Finish knitting thumbs onto your mittens prior to hitching.  Seriously.

in repose

As always, there is knitting going on; but it's happening in a rather slow unhurried manner.  I take great pleasure in knitting anything; but, these mittens have taken me to a new plane of knitting bliss, seriously. 

I am enjoying every second of knitting on these mittens.  I have had to rip back and re-knit a few rows because of my inability to keep track of which row I am knitting every now and then, no matter.  I have found that with Koigu even tinking and ripping can be somewhat pleasant.  I am actually drawing out the process to further my enjoyment I think, because these mittens could, in fact, be a very quick knit.

I hope there are good weekends all around, particularly for those with long weekends (lucky you!).  Little Sir will get to experience the wonder of aquatic life for the first time tomorrow.  It will either freak him out royally, or leave him awestruck.  I am hoping for the latter as the former might involve screeching.  Happy weekend!

valentine loves sleet and so do i

They are calling it a "snow day," but it's really a "sleet day."  There isn't much snow on the ground in southern Connecticut but we are cornering the market with sleet and ice.  I am not complaining, mind you.  I am home, inside and very warm; and, pretty soon I will be knitting and watching Netflix movies that I have had for months.  So yes, I will take a snow day any way I can get it!

I plan on knitting more of Arwen today, but really I just want to work on the Anemoi mittens.  I love the pattern, I love the yarn and with every row I feel so accomplished.  Truly.  Check out the ribbing, it makes me so happy!

And because it's Valentine's Day and I was feeling so inspired, I decided that I would make some cookies.  Martha's recipe, but if you make them either subtract 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar or add 1/4 cup of butter (well, really you can do what you want, but if you want to be able to roll the dough you might want to add or subtract accordingly--and Martha says not to re-roll but that is just being wasteful--I re-rolled the leftover dough and they look fine).

   

I was going to take them to work, but since I am home, Special K got to take them to share with his peeps.  But really, I wish I could give every one of you a cookie!

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

all wound up

I have already written about my love for winding yarn.  It took all sorts of effort to restrain myself from  winding all the hanks in my current resource stash into nice little cakes of yarn ready to be knit into all sorts of fabulousness.  Winding it all would be kind of silly, I may not get through the whole pile and then I would have all this yarn sitting in a state of tension and not at rest, or whatever.  Also, that would leave less to wind later (travesty), so I just wound what I needed for my next project, a pair of mittens.

I think it may be too much yarn, but we'll see.  I was going to try and get more of Arwen (I really think we need to come up with a new name for the sweater.  "A Cardigan for Arwen" is simply too long and "Arwen" doesn't quite do it justice...) done before starting on another project, but the rough yarn of Arwen was getting to me (my hands, really), so what better solution than knitting with some Koigu?  And really, two projects at a time, that's actually pretty conservative for me...

yearning for spring

The warm hat I knit for Little Sir was not knit soon enough to arm him against a battle to fight off the misery of sickness. We have spent the last couple of days holed up in Chez Archives trying to recover from sickness and stay warm--difficult to do in a drafty New England home.  It's been quite cold in New England for the last two weeks.   We are reaping the returns of winter's earlier absence and it's not so enjoyable.  In the past, February saw us surrounded in snow; but, this year, it's just cold, miserably so. 

Around this time every year, I start to think of my favorite poem that I discovered when I was ten years old.  Inspired by Ms. Frick and the winter chill, I thought I would share it with you all, I hope you don't mind.  Happy Friday and happy weekend!

in Just-
spring             when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles       far        and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far         and           wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and

        the

               goat-footed

balloonMan           whistles
far
and
wee

in just- by e e cummings

starting small

As we packed our car for the drive up to Vermont on Friday I grabbed Little Sir's hat that I made a few months back.  I figured, Vermont=cold, cold=hat, right?  The only problem?  The cute hat was way too small.  Somewhere in the past four months, Little Sir's noggin got really big (like the rest of him, I guess).  So I grabbed that random ball of Cashmerino Aran from the Project Spectrum resource stash and knit the kid another hat.

It's just another simple basic hat using Ann Budd's great template-y book, the only reservation I had was the length of the hat, I think it a little longish, but that's okay.  The hat serves its purpose, it keeps the kid's head, ears and forehead warm, which really was the point. 

He didn't have it to sport about town while in Vermont (which was fabulous, by the way; if you are looking for a good place to knit in southern Vermont visit the good people at Nutmeg  Country Inn in Wilmington, Gerry and Sue will treat you right (and best of all they feed you the best of all possible breakfasts to get you started for a long day of skiing or knitting or whatever else you can think of); but since I finished the hat on the way back home yesterday Little Sir was able to wear it to school this morning.

While in Vermont I made a few yarn purchases, nothing ridiculous, just a few things that called out to me in persuasive hushed tones, you know how it is.  I went to a farm that sells handspun yarn and bought two skeins of fingering weight merino, it's soft and luscious and smells like nature itself.  I also visited a local yarn shop in Wilmington which is still in the process of being set up.  I originally went in thinking, "oh, I can get some other shade of Cashmerino to make a hat of stripey goodness for Little Sir (a la Ashley's hat for Isaiah), but no luck on that front, there was no Cashmerino to be found...but there was plenty of Koigu and Rowan Yorkshire Aran Tweed 4-ply (on sale even, you know it's been discontinued, snap it up when you can).  The colors are bright and shocking and totally not me, but we all need to mix things up some times.  I will share the outrageousness of color in the not too distant future, I wouldn't want to shock you too much.  So instead I leave you with a small touch of gray, which is quite kid friendly, if you think about it.

Basic Toddler Hat

Pattern: from Ann Budd's A Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, 1 skein (I had 8 inches of yarn left)

Needles: Bamboo DPNs, US 5

Modifications:  None, just followed the template for the appropriate size and style

A very simple knit.  This took less than four hours to knit, it could have taken less time if I had not unnecessarily knit the prescribed length for the crown, like I said, a bit longish.  Sometimes you need to be careful with the Budd book, use your best judgement--be the boss of your knitting, and all that.

go big, or go home

I am not sure what the phrase origin of “go big, or go home” is, but I have always liked it, I am not really sure why.  In a lot of ways it makes no sense; but, in a lot of ways, it sort of does.  In any case, I plan on going “big” for Project Spectrum 2.0 (well, big for me).  Usually after I finish knitting something I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to knit next…and then I buy more yarn for some undetermined project and the waters get muddied further (and the newly bought yarn gets sent to the stash).  I have a list and everything but there are a kajillion things on the list and they are categorized by project, not listed by priority; not so helpful.  So for PS2, I am pulling yarn and projects from the stash.  For the February and March cycle I pulled out all the white, blue and grey yarns I could find.  I tried to remember what projects I bought most of it for…not a lot of success there, but that’s okay. 

I had to put some things back.  Baby Silk for an undetermined shawl…how many shawls can I really knit over a 2 month period—with other projects?  There is bag of gorgeous blue Noro Cash Iroha that would love to be a sweater (and I want it to be a sweater, honestly and truly I do), but I can’t commit to another me-sized sweater until I finish Arwen, so I put it back… going big is very different from being stupid.  I am trying to be somewhat realistic.  So this is what I am looking at.

If you are at all interested in what these skeins, hanks, and what-have-yous may eventually become, go here.  When you stop laughing, please come back.

In addition to knitting all sorts of randomness in celebration of white, blue and grey, I will also be continuing my relationship with Arwen, because I will finish this sweater this month…if it kills me (and it very well might).  There were some issues with short rows while shaping the sleeves (mostly involving my inability to follow directions—shocking, I know), but I have ripped and re-knit, so all is well.  While the ripping of 32 rows of cables and 2, 260 stitches (yes, I calculated) was sort of traumatic, it was nothing compared to Cara’s ordeal which involved a surgical procedure so I didn’t even post about it, it seemed the stuff of small potatoes.  I figure at this point Arwen and I have been through so much…I have invested so much time, energy and effort into our relationship...I just need to see it through.  If I go too long without mentioning her, please keep me honest and ask how she is doing.

I am anticipating a lot of knitting this weekend.  We Special K will be skiing this weekend in Vermont with friends.  I have never been a skier.  I have been a person on top of a mountain wearing skis inching her way down the mountain with various body parts “cushioning” her descent (none of which were attached to skis), and since that is about as much fun as it sounds I will be knitting, thank you very much.

I hope you all have a great weekend!