While I was gone... (Adriana)

I'm back! My computer has been returned to me fully functioning (or so it seems). It's such a relief to be able to do all the interneting I want! My beloved knitting blogs have been neglected for the past two weeks. I can't wait to catch up on everything.

Although there has been much drama lately, mostly to do with the computer problems, I've still managed to get in a fair amount of knitting. I finished Odessa, pictures to follow in a later post, but trust me, it looks awesome (think olive green yarn with amber beads)!

I finished the mystery project and am starting another one (I love secret knitting!). You can get a peek at it here. My hands are so cold now that winter has hit so I've started a pair of gauntlets from Sally Melville's The Purl Stitch. I'm making them at the same time on two circs out of some of my hand-dyed yarn.

It looks darker here than in real life. The yarn has lots of pinks and purples in it.

I wanted to knit my Granny a pair of socks for her 90th birthday this spring but I was faced with a bit of a challenge. In order to do the feet the way she likes I need to knit them top-down however she also requested really long socks so ordinarily I would have knit them toe-up and just continue until I ran out. I came up with a rather clever solution, if I do say so myself:

I did a provisional cast on so that I can do the feet as she wants and then knit the leg until the yarn runs out! This is Regia Silk in the Venice colourway.

The big project which has been occupying most of my knitting time these days is Birch! I was inspired by Heather's lovely version in Silky Wool (by the way, are we ever going to see pictures of that?). I am using Rowanspun 4ply in Midnight doubled. I cast on two less repeats and am almost 70% of the way through. I have a feeling that I will run out of yarn so I've been trying to think up things to do with another bag of this stuff. But enough rambling about yarn. Time for pictures!


Spread out on the table in all its unblocked glory


For once the flash actually helped to show off the motif


The obligatory close-up

What's next for this knitter, you might ask? When I look in my crystal ball I see Katy knit from Mission Falls and a shrug present for a summer birthday (not you Heather!). Also, I'm anxious to get my hands on the new Lace Style. Anyone else have ambitious future knitting plans?

One Step Forward... (Heather)

Wouldn't it nice to be one of those people who thrive on a challenge?

You know those people... a problem comes up and they come into their own, working out the perfect solution, feeling all enlivened and smug? I am not those people. At least not with knitting. I mean, my problem-solving skills are not totally remiss, it's just that with knitting, I see a problem, and I just have no desire to fix it... right away. It will eventually be fiddled with and some solution will be enacted, but until then, that project is inevitably shelved.

So, orange sweater? Meet design problem. Actually, it might be a body problem if you think about. You see, I wanted a nice fitted v-neck sweater, very collegiate. Very easy! All I need is a few waist-shaping decreases. I will measure my trunk and make a schematic to work from.

And herein lies the problem. After I measured, re-measured, got Mike to measure, even asked the cats for advice, the situation is clear. My waist is bigger than my bust. By about half an inch. Which is not significantly bigger, but certainly makes decreasing an issue. And really, who would think that I am such an odd shape to look at me? It is just simple body mechanics, I guess: love handles go all around, but breasts are only at the front.

Soooo... while I canvass family and friends for design tips, V-Neck A L'orange will be marinating in the WIP basket. Maybe I should have joined run-agogo?

Oh, if you want a progress pic on the Manos Odessa? Go back to my last entry. I finished the hat, (huh just accidentally typed 'hate' there) and discovered that it was half an inch too short. Since I am not willing to compromise on ear warmth on this one, it is now ripped back to the point at which you last saw it.

And, since I hate to blog without at least one photo, check out my almost-Flowering Quince!

Adriana's Status

Greetings all,

This is a quick note to let you know that I am not dead but rather computerless. Through a terrible twist of fate, the day after the boyfriend brought his computer into the shop mine died! His was supposed to be a quick repair but it's probably not going to be back for a few weeks and mine needs a new motherboard and CPU but should be back by Wednesday. Please be patient and I promise to show off pictures of Birch-in-progress when I return. I'm now 50% of the way through this fun pattern. Cross your fingers that I don't run out of yarn :(

Dribs and Drabs (Heather)

February is not my favourite month. Lots of good things happen in February, like lots of birthdays and sometimes Olympics, and leap years, but the holidays are all kind of arbitrary (Groundhog Day? Valentines?) and the weather is bleak and all we have to look forward to is March (ick!).

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate winter per se, I just get tired of it by the end of January. The only thing February has going for it is that it is short, at least.

Anyway, all that served to do was explain that February ennui has extended to my knitting.

As previously noted, I finished an orange sleeve, one subway sock for Mike, Mike's hat, and started a bunch of projects which were promptly banished to the basket. I ripped my manos-hat-in-progress and reclaimed the wool. I did finish spinning my Fleece Artist Wensleydale-Teeswater single:



and even plied it. proving that it is perfectly possible to regress completely in one month of spinning neglect.



I am thinking it would be much easier to ply with a wheel, not least of all because the singles would be on bobbins instead of on the spindle you need to ply with... this requires me to wind off my singles into skeins and then into balls, which even washed are very kinky and unpleasant to work with. I ruined quit a bit of single when it tangled irreparably on the swift. And I hope that my plying will even out when I don't have to stop to wind every metre or so.

Upon some urging from Adriana, I swatched for Odessa with my reclaimed Manos... I did a massive swatch to see how many repeats I would need, since the gauge was obviously very different from the pattern. I did a little quick and dirty math, pondered it for a day, and then cast on 80 stitches... and it worked!



I can't believe how long this is taking. For lack of knitting. I finished a regular Odessa in about 8 hours. This one has taken a week, just because I am only doing a row or two at a time. I am really starting to adore it, though, and that combined with this cold snap might motivate me to finish it. If I have to wrap my clap around my head one more time people are really going to be wondering...

The Saga of the Trekking Socks (Adriana)

I've been having some unsatisfying knitting these days. First there was the whole thing with the Manos hat, which I still haven't figured out. Now I've run into problems with my Trekking sock.

Before Christmas Heather and I decided to help each other out with Second Sock Syndrome. Since the first sock is the fun one to knit and the second one always drags, we thought that by knitting one sock and then giving it and the remaining yarn to the other person, we would eliminate SSS. I knit up a footsie sock from Heather out of some Austermann Step and she decided to finish the Trekking sock which she was started but which turned out to be too big for her, coincidentally the perfect size for me.

I dove right into this sock and greatly enjoyed the transitioning colours. I measured it carefully, trying to copy what Heather did which fit me perfectly. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, I screwed up.


The perfect sock


The imperfect sock

It looks like I started the heel too soon. I like a tight sock but this is too tight. I just can't face ripping back several days' work so I'm putting these socks on ice and turning to Odessa and a mystery project (sneak peek here).

Knitting in Public (Adriana)

Though there has been much knitting, at least by me, nothing has reach photographing stage so I've decided to distract you with pictures of knitting in public.


This picture was taken at the airport on our way to Vancouver in May 2005. I had just relearned how to knit about 3 days before that so I was still practicing on acrylic. Heather is knitting a quick woolly sock for me.
(Click here to see what our guys were doing while we were knitting)


Here I am knitting at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I'm afraid that I'm not as brave as the Yarn Harlot and able to give my knitting a real thrill (plus I was knitting a poncho which is a little more dangerous to dangle from a bridge than a sock).

Well, that seems to be all of my knitting in public pictures. Maybe Heather has some to share.

(Silent) Sappho (Heather)

It's St. Brigid day, and all across the blogosphere people are posting poems.

Last year I featured my favourite modern poet, this year I thought I would showcase a favourite ancient poetess.

168b
The sinking moon has left the sky,
The Pleiades have also gone.
Midnight comes -- and goes, the hours fly
And solitary still, I lie.


31
He seems to me equals to gods that man
whoever he is who opposite you
sits and listens close
to your sweet speaking

and lovely laughing - oh it
puts the heart in my chest on wings
for when I look at you, even a moment, no speaking
is left in me

no: tongue breaks and thin
fire is racing under skin
and in eyes no sight and drumming
fills ears

and cold sweat holds me and shaking
grips me all, greener than grass
I am and dead - or almost
I seem to me.

But all is to be dared, because even a person of poetry...


Both are modern translations of Sappho, I can't remember who translated the first, but the second is a translation by a wonderful poet named Ann Carson. Most of the fragments that remain by Sappho survive only in snippets and tiny fragments, sometimes of a word only. Sappho 31 was adapted by my favourite Latin poet, Catullus.

Hope you enjoyed it!