But is it knitting?

Since I finished the Architectural Rib Pullover, I haven't started another knitting project. I've been spinning, which is clearly not knitting; it's a fiber-related activity that provides me with the same mental relaxation I get when knitting. I've also been swatching and recalculating a pattern since I want to knit it in a lighter weight yarn than originally called for. I feel as if I haven't been knitting.

Yesterday I was mulling over my recent activities and asked myself "But is it knitting?" Which lead to an examination of what I consider "knitting". I realized that perhaps my personal definition of knitting was narrow, possibly too narrow. For many years, my definition of knitting has been restricted to knitting a clearly identifiable object such as socks, sweaters, etc.

Swatching didn’t count because it wasn’t an actual object to me; nothing useful, just a swatch. Still, while swatching I am engaged in the act of knitting. It provides me with the same tactile and calming experience I get as knitting a sweater. I can experiment with different size needles and play with stitch patterns if I want to without disrupting the shape. After all, it is only a swatch and there is not right or wrong place on a swatch to try something new. I am more likely while swatching to ask what happens if I change this and do it than when knitting an object. Although, the exception might be socks, which I frequently cast on without a clear idea of the final design.

So what about recalculating a pattern for a different gauge? Or writing an original pattern? Are these knitting? I suppose in a technical sense these aren’t knitting because they don’t necessarily involve sticks and string. The more I pondered this I came to realize that these are “knitting” in the broadest sense of what knitting comprises. I’m employing my knowledge of garment construction, fit and behavior of knitted fabric, all acquired through many years of knitting and tweaking patterns. I am imagining the outcome of such changes just as I imagine the outcome when faithfully following a pattern. I am knitting the item in my head. I am experiencing the satisfaction of problem solving; bring an idea to life by using acquired knowledge directly related to knitting. It is only missing the tactile qualities I so enjoy.

If I can’t imagine that sweater and work out how to construct it, I won’t enjoy the actual knitting—I also can’t enjoy the feel of yarn in my hands, the clacking of needles or the quiet state of mind I get when I actually knit.

So for now on, when I think about whether or not I’ve been knitting, I will consider all of the aspects of that thing called knitting.

A new friend, an old friend

Architectural Rib Pullover

Pattern by Norah Gaughan in The Natural Knitter

Yarn: Alice Starmore Dunedin in color 999

Used 7.5 skeins

Started 12/23/2007

Finished 1/27/2008

Yes, I'm lifting the format from Brooklyn Tweed. I followed the pattern as written since the construction is a bit unusual. If I were to knit this again, I would make the collar about 3/4" shorter. This is a relatively easy pattern, using make 1 increases and k2tog and ssk decreases to provide the shaping. The center front and back rib panels are knit as one piece. You pick up stitches along each side for the sides and sleeves. It only has two seams. This is the first Norah Gaughan I've knitted and I love how clever this is.

In addition to finishing the sweater, I started teaching my daughter to sew. We picked out fabric for a pencil skirt at Piedmont Fabric. I came home and got an old friend out of the closet.

My Bernina, which has not seen the light of day in about two years. Which is somewhat surprising because I used to make most of my clothes. Before we started the sewing lesson, I got my fabric stash out (it's quite small and fits in a large storage bin, which was not the case years ago). We looked at the stashed fabric and my daughter claimed several pieces for herself, which is fine because someone should use it. I got out some fat quarters for her to practice sewing seams on. Then we moved on to the pattern stash, which sadly is very small compared to the stash I had before my divorce. The best find in the patterns was a discontinued Vogue pattern by Issey Miyake for a raincoat. I don't think the sewing machine is going back in the closet for a long time because I want to sew!

Overdyed and repurposed

The weather here has been rainy and gloomy. To cheer myself up, I unraveled (I do a lot of that here, but usually it's not a knit item that is unraveling) a beanie I knit out of some orange handspun merino/tencel. For about a year I had a beanie, which I never wore, and a pair of matching socks, which I do wear. After unraveling, I had about 3 oz. of yarn, enough to knit a beret which I would undoubtly wear. Only I didn't want orange; I wanted red. So I hauled out the dyepot and my trusty dyes and mixed up a red that was pleasing to me. The orange yarn went for a little R&R in the red dye bath. It is now the red yarn cake in the picture.

I cast on and started knitting my red beret as soon as the yarn had dried. Only thing is I didn't like it as a red beret--a project that went straight to the frog pond.

3/4 of an architectural rib

This is the Architectural Rib Pullover with one side and sleeve completed. It has been a pretty quick knit so far. I didn't work on it for a few days last week because I had the awful flu that seems to be striking everyone I know. The days I didn't knit, I slept. I seem to have recovered and am thinking I might be able to get a goodly portion of the second side and sleeve done this weekend.

This is what the sleeve and side look like laid flat plus a close up of the sleeve ribbing.

Oh, and I've been spinning. This is the targhee I bought in September. It was a dream to spin. The fiber was ultra clean and drafted easily. I loved the way this felt in my hands. Little fluffy clouds of softness. I had 6 oz. so I spun up three bobbins of singles and then made a 3-ply yarn, which yielded approximately 210 yards. I had some left on two bobbins and made that up as 2-ply, giving me approximately 80 yards. I would really like to spin more of this fiber. Not that I need to add any more fiber to the stash!

Some magnetic poetry fun

This is what happens when it is pouring rain and you are being silly.

And this is what I hope to find.

Not much to look at

I've finished the center panel of the Architectural Rib Pullover and picked up the stitches for one side and sleeve. And, as you can see, it looks like one big nothing. I was hoping to be a bit further along. Friday we lost our power for almost six hours. Since it was pouring rain and the sky was very gray, I had very little natural light to work in. Well with black yarn, it was a little difficult to see the stitches and I was still working the center panel where I needed to increase. So I needed to look at my work. I can't wait until I can see the shape a bit more clearly.

Archtectural Rib Progess Report

I've started on the back of the center panel. This has been fun to knit so far. I can't work on it too much at night because it is hard to see the stitches since the yarn is black. Hope to have the center panel done by Sunday.

Beginning of Archtectural Rib Sweater

I've made more progress since this photo was taken; about 26 rows until I work the cable row. It's kind of fun to watch the ribs merge and the hem take shape.

Riffing on patterns

This is my version of the Parallelograms scarf from Knitting New Scarves. It's for my daughter, the scarf queen. This was a fun, easy knit; perfect for BART knitting or while watching over the caramel pot (I made caramels on Saturday). I used two skeins of Noro Silk Garden on US 8s. It is about 4 inches wide and 6 feet long. Perfect for the child who believes that one must wrap your scarf about your neck multiple times.

I used the Tweed Beret pattern from IK Winter 2006 as the basis for this beret. I used an aran weight blue face leicester yarn I bought from Kristine earlier this month. This took one skein plus a little bit that was left over from knitting the Maine Morning Mitts. I started with a four stitch i-cord; increased to eight stitches and then increased 8 stitches every other round until it was the diameter I wanted. In the next round, I knit 2 together all around. I finished it off with 1x1 ribbing, knitting the last two rounds in the contrasting color.

Late last night I cast on for the Architectural Rib Pullover from The Natural Knitter. I'm using some Alice Starmore Dunedin I've had in my stash forever. I haven't gotten very far, so I haven't taken a progress photo yet. Besides it's black and I'm not sure a photo would show all that much detail.

A weekend for making stuff

"I'm going home to make stuff" I said to Kristine of A Verb For Keeping Warm as I departed from Glimakra Weaving Studio yesterday, clutching the yarn I had just bought from her. Kristine, Brooke and Maia of Tactile Fiber Arts were participating in the Open Studio weekend at Maj-Britt Morbrand's studio. I bought 3 skeins of BFL from Kristine; two skeins of "The Best Blue" and one of "Northerner". Glimakra Weaving Studio isn't all that large and was stuffed to gills with wonderful fiber-y stuff. I wanted to stay and take it all in, but I had to go home and start making stuff.

As soon I got home, I wound one skein of "The Best Blue" into a ball and started to knit Clara Parks' Maine Morning Mitts. These are going to be a Christmas gift. This first one was knit while watching A Midsummer Night's Dream and part of Chocolat. Since I'm not knitting much in the way of Christmas gifts, the second one will be done in no time.

While I was working on the mitt, I poached some pears. I got these from one of the attorneys I work with. They have a wonderful flavor on their own, but I like poached pears. These are dead simple to make and make your house smell wonderfully spicy. First, make a simple syrup of 2 parts water to 1 part sugar. Throw in some cinnamon sticks, whole allspice and fresh ginger. Add the peeled and halved pears and cook over medium low heat until tender. Cool.

I also started the second twisted rib sock. After knitting the Maine Morning Mitt on a US 7 going down to a US 1 felt a bit weird. I normally knit on small needles and was surprised that I couldn't get my coordination right. So, I didn't get as much done on the second sock as I'd thought I would. But that is okay because these are for me and I'm in no rush to finish them.

I set today aside for spinning. I started spinning this merino/tencel up at the last pot luck Sunday spinning day at Maia's. I finished spinning 2 oz. today and will start on the second 2 oz. later this week. This fiber was one of my solar dyeing experiments from this summer. I love that the colors are softer than they would have been had I steam set the dye. I also started spinning the Targhee I bought in September. It is turning out a lovely oatmeal color. I've spun up 1 oz. and have 5 oz. left. I'm thinking of making a 3-ply for a hat.

Speaking of 3-ply, I made my first successful 3-ply late last week. I ended up with approximately 1.9 oz. and 190 yards. I dyed three separate pieces of merino top in three strengths of Jacquard Black using a low-water immersion technique. I'm going to use this to make another Purl Bee Beret.

Pizza

Yum, sort of homemade pizza. This pizza came into being with a lot of help from Trader Joe's. I used their pizza crust--in this case, garlic and herbs--their pesto and fresh mozzarella. And surprisingly, it came out quite tasty. It also made up for not having a refrigerator for two days, which pretty much put things to a stop in the kitchen.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I started this twisted rib sock using some Koigu from my stash. I really like this yarn, especially the color. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to knit with it because I'd used some of it to knit my former boyfriend a pair of socks. He wore them a few times and then they were lost to the infinite laundry pile he kept. I knit that man several pair of socks, which he said he really wanted, and which he proceeded to lose. So this yarn has some bittersweet memories associated with it. I don't even remember why I bought four skeins of this colorway.

The ribbing is from the pattern dictionary in the Vogue Knitting book. I was at my parents' when I started it and asked my mum for a stitch dictionary. And was told she doesn't have one. Mum has been knitting for over 50 years. How could it be possible that she doesn't have a stitch dictionary? Two days after I asked about this, she unearthed Mary Thomas's stitch dictionary. She had completely forgotten she had a copy. I don't understand how you can keep track of every issue of Vogue Knitting (going back to the sixties) and IK in your collection and not know that you own a stitch dictionary!

Dying fridge

Last night I returned from the Thanksgiving weekend to find that my fridge started dying sometime during the past four days. The freezer wasn't freezing and the fridge wasn't chilling. And the motor kept coming on about every three minutes, whining for about a minute and then going silent. I checked the fusebox to made sure the fuse hadn't tripped; I fiddled with the temperature settings; I discovered melted juice bars from earlier this summer that had completely melted. I also discovered that I can't move my fridge by myself to check the plug. Before the night was through, I'd turned the freezer off, which in turn stopped the motor from whining every three minutes. This morning the stuff in the fridge wasn't even a little chilled. Now, I'm waiting for the repair man to show up to tell whether or not I need to replace the thing. I bought this fridge six years ago and will be very disappointed if it can't be repaired.

I did get some knitting done over the weekend, which I did not photograph. I made the Purl Beret out of some Claudia Hand Painted and donated it to Caps for Kids in my hometown. This was a fun, quick knit and I will most likely make it again.

Added later: The repair man made my day--I don't have to replace the fridge. It needs a new compressor and something else. The parts and the repair man will be here tomorrow. I'm so relieved!

Not felting

For the last month or so, I feel as if I've done nothing other than make felt scarves. Which is not exactly true.

I finished my Thelonious socks. I think I would have finished them faster if I hadn't screwed up my stitch count a few times--mostly from losing yarn overs and other equally mind distracting things.

I finished spinning these singles from a Lorna's Laces roving I bought a few months ago. I also finished plying them but have yet to take a picture.

And I started spinning this up.

Yet more felting

I've finished thirteen felted scarves. I think this a good number to have at my employer's holiday crafts fair. I've had fun making these, but I miss spinning and knitting.

Both of these are numo felt.

These are merino felt. The one on the left has merino indigo dyed by Maia. The one on the right is made with some merino/tencel I dyed earlier this year.

This is a numo felt scarf made with silk I low-water immersion dyed and some more of Maia's indigo dyed merino. I wanted to see how the silk would like if I didn't felt all the way to the edge.

Left to right: merino from Ashland Bay Trading Co., numo felt, merino felt (it's black on the reverse side).

Just felting

I'm getting ready for a craft fair at work and have been consumed with making felt scarves. See...











Yesterday I took a break from felting and went to spinning potluck. Which was a good thing to do.

More felting

This became this.



Another view. This shot is closer to the true colors of the finished felt.

Felting Sunday

I've had this need to finish something other than socks this week. So I decided a little felting was in order. I had to set up a felting area where a bit of water spilled on the floor wouldn't matter. I have the perfect space in my dining area. I covered the floor, which is wood laminate, with a plastic drop cloth. An inexpensive solution that can just be rolled and thrown away when I am finished. I set up my handy dandy multi-purpose folding table. Cut a length of ridged shelf covering a bit longer than the table. Heated a stock pot of water. Found the bucket of homemade soap gel I use for felting; donned my denim apron and set to work.

I started with this--about 4 oz. of roving. One hank was merino and the other was merino/tencel. The colorways were similar and had been stewing in my fiber stash for a long time. I know that both of these came from Deep Color and had been dyed by Jen.

I proceeded to lay out lengths of roving shingle style for the first layer. This took all of about 15 minutes. Each bit of fiber is about a staple length. Next I laid out a second layer of shingles running cross-wise to the first layer. For the third layer, I laid out fiber more or less going in the same direction of the first layer. More or less, meaning I was much more random in placing the fiber so that there would be some "movement" in the finished felt.

The first stage of felting looks like this. I wetted the fiber sandwich I just created, lay a net bag over it, drizzled a bit of soap gel over it, and patted it. I kept on patting until I couldn't see any air pockets. I moved my net bag over to the next section and patted. Once I was sure that the fiber was wet all the way through, I started moving my hand in a circular motion to start the agitation process. I kept the net bag over the felt while doing this. I turned the piece over after I was pretty sure it was holding together. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the ridge marks from the plastic I used underneath. I continued rubbing the felt, making sure to work the edges so that they weren't all feathery. I kept doing this until I thought it looked done and could stand up to a bit of rough treatment like being rolled up and rolled around with pressure. I did this until the felt was "hard" enough. I rinsed it out under running hot water until all of the soap was out. Then give it the cold water shock treatment. I wrung it out, twisting hard.

About an hour and a half later, I had this. I'll be able to wear it tomorrow if it is dry. I then cleared up my work table and started another scarf. The second scarf was made out of a merino/tencel roving hand painted by Jen at Deep Color--again, fiber from the stash. Pictures to come.

Since last week, I finished the Flame Wave Socks. These are for my daughter's friend Emily. I thought I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the toes so I used a multi-colored I bought especially for these.

After seeing Kristine's Pomatomus socks, I dyed this Henry's Attic Kona superwash sock yarn with alkanet and madder. While waiting for this to dry, I started Cookie A's Thelonious socks using the Fleece Artist Basic Merino Sock I bought at Knitty City in New York.

Oh, oh I spun some the Lorna's Laces superwash roving in Red Rover. No wonder I feel I can't get anything finished. I don't have the attention span to focus on just one thing.

Overheard in Beverly Hills

Yesterday my daughter had a casting in Beverly Hills. While having lunch, I overheard a man tell his companion that they really ought to get a panini grill. When asked why, he responded that that way they could make ham sandwiches at home. For some reason, this struck me as really funny. I'm easily entertained.

Tart

The top down sweater is really, honestly finished. I've wet blocked it and it is drying as I write. Once I stopped over thinking the math to get the shape, it fairly flew along. I started this version Sept. 21 and finished knitting and blocking it October 14. And one of the best things is that the rainy season has arrived a month early. It is cooler, damp and sweater wearing weather.

This is the Sunday Spinning potluck tart before baking.

This is after baking and before being putting in a fancy-dancy banker's box lid for transport to Maia's on Sunday. Kristine was there with her beautiful hand dyed yarn. As was Linda and Kathleen. Maia's husband Roger was there for a short while entertaining us with a story about Independence, MO. Even though we were a small group, we had a grand time. I got to model Maia's shetland sock. It is the most amazing shetland I've ever felt--soft, squishy, yummy. I wanted to take this sock home with me. Alas, only one has been finished. I started spinning up some Chasing Rainbows merino tencel I bought from Carolina Homespun in Boonville last month. It is so lovely to be with a group of like-minded people and spin, eat and drink coffee. I can hardly wait for next month.