Breaking my own rules (a little)

I don't like to think of myself as narrow-minded. I appear from the outside to be a typical middle-class gal in a traditional family arrangement: I'm of European descent (white), I'm a little over-educated, I married fairly young, I currently stay home to take care of my child, and I've never dyed my hair or pierced anything but my earlobes. However, I consider myself accepting of and open to many ideas, kinds of people, ways of life. I won't judge you because you're gay or mentally ill or smoke pot or listen to Céline Dion (though I will wonder why) or live in a bus or dropped out of high school...you get the picture. I do get my knickers in a twist over certain grammatical errors, but we'll leave that for now.

It's a little different when it comes to knitting. I mean, I don't begrudge anyone their fun fur ponchos (though I think that trend has largely come to an end, thank goodness), but I have my own definite preferences. I knit with wool, occasionally acrylic blends (though I hate to admit it), and rarely cotton. I like stripes, but I don't get excited about color knitting. I won't do fair isle unless it's a small item like a hat. I love cables and textured knitting. I don't like yarn that is bulky, thick-n-thin, or self-striping, and I'm very picky about variegated. In other words, give me plain-jane wool in a solid color and a pattern for aran anything, and I'll be happy for weeks.

This is not to say these are rules etched in stone. You may remember the sbarf. I also recently made another scarf that violates every one of those principles, and I totally love it.



Bulky yarn? Check. (3.25 stitches = 1" on size 11 needles). Contains acrylic? Check. (About 50%) Self-striping? Check. Thick and thin yarn? Check. The thing is, I wanted a scarf with pockets out of soft, pretty yarn, and 3 skeins of Berocco Foliage and 3 days later, I got it. Let's hear it for instant gratification, shall we?

Now, about the "hardly ever knitting with plant fibers because it makes my hands tired" thing. There's this baby I've been wanting to knit something for for several months now. She's due in March, and her expectant mother is a woman I barely know, though she's a very close friend of a dear relative of mine. This woman - we'll call her "B" - has not had an easy life by any stretch of the imagination. She's also preparing to be a single mother, which I think is very, very brave. For all the complaining I do about how hard it is to be a parent, I ought to just shut up because I know a lot of incredible women out there who have done it or are doing it on their own (like this one, for example) and it's amazing to me that they manage at all, much less do it well. There are a lot of unusual circumstances in B's situation; a lesser person would not have survived the kinds of things she's been through. So I'm knitting her daughter-to-be a little pink cotton dress because she's the kind of person that deserves it.



The pattern is Debbie Bliss (of course) and the yarn is Paton's Grace, 100% mercerized cotton in "ruby." Why cotton? Because B lives in a place with warm springs and hot summers and I wanted to make something her baby girl can wear soon. This yarn feels like string coming off the skein, so I thought knitting would feel like a chore. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily it knits up. Sure, it's a little slippery, but it's soft and never splits. For once in my life I did a proper swatch and test-washed it and everything and wouldn't you know, it came out of the washer dryer with the exact same gauge as when it went in, despite the admonition on the label to "hand wash and lay flat to dry." (It's important to test these things for baby clothes, you know. Not everyone's willing to hand wash something every time it gets spit up on.)

If you've been paying attention the last several days, you may recall that I also have some of this yarn in pale pink:



(There's some sock yarn there, too. Don't ask why. I just got it.) I guess I just thought "why stop with one?" Stuart's cousin is expecting a baby girl in May, so I figure I'll make her one, too.

One last thing. Steph asked in comments what I would do with a small amount of Grace. Depends on how much there is. Debbie Bliss has a baby tank top pattern you could probably make with a 1.5-2 skeins if you made a small size; I think it's in the Baby Knits Book (sorry, tired of links by now). Otherwise, I might do a lacy hat - not for warmth, but for cuteness - or perhaps a useless-but-adorable little bag to hold a sachet or pacis or something. Anyone have other ideas?

Blizzy

Not two days ago I merrily piled some yarn in a planter, snapped a couple photos, and dreamed of spring. But you know, I live in Wisconsin and it's not even March yet, so does it surprise you that less than 48 hours later, this is what that very spot on the back deck looks like now?



That's a crapload of snow...and we shoveled the deck clean after the first batch yesterday, so you're not even seeing all of it! Sigh. (Jenn-Jenn the Mother Hen, I'm so jealous of you right now!)

Earlier in the week, we hit 47 degrees. It felt downright tropical. When I biked to campus for a rehearsal, I felt kind of funny: what's this? I'm sweating? My fingers aren't numb? I can feel my face? Suddenly, the thought of knitting warm woolly hats and sweaters wasn't very appealing, and I starting thinking about a 3/4 sleeve cardigan for spring, or possibly a lacy cotton top for summer. Alas, those fantasies were short-lived.

Anyhoo, since it appears I'll have some time yet to wear it this season, I've made some progress on the purple quickie jacket (Bubba-the-Turtle is there to keep it from sliding off the table):



I confess that after knitting like gang-busters on it, I quickly got to the part where it all goes together - then promptly put it in its basket where it sat for a couple of weeks. There's just something about joining sleeves that's exasperating for me. I guess it's all the markers and stitch-holders and counting and putting the whole thing on about 3 different circular needles; none of that is difficult, just fiddly. But now that I've finally gotten around to doing that, I'm rapidly approaching the finish line. Raglan decreases are so much fun! Every other row there are like 8 fewer stitches and before you know it, you've reached the top. I anticipate finishing it soon!

Eye-candy Friday: Can you tell I'm longing for Spring?

Knitting Relics: More Socks

I was in Kansas for a quick trip over the weekend to play a recital at the school where I did my undergraduate work. Our suitcase arrived a whole day after we did, and my duet partner got stuck in Chicago overnight and didn't get into town until about 6 hours before the performance, but despite those hitches, everything went quite well.

As it happens, I have quite a lot of family in central Kansas, including my parents-in-law. A couple of years ago, I made each of them a pair of socks for some occasion - probably birthday presents. How thoughtful of me, no? I'd completely forgotten about these pairs of socks until my mother-in-law brought them over to me. Let's see how they held up, shall we?

Example 1: blue socks for my father-in-law.



It appears that I

1. used regular non-superwash wool, and
2. failed to tell him that they shouldn't be machine-washed and dried.

Oops.


At one time, these blue beauties fit a medium-sized man's foot. Now they're completely stiff and too small even to be oven mitts. Perhaps I can salvage them by cutting out mittens for Daniel. (Yes, even though I make hats endlessly for my little guy, I have yet to make him any mittens. I'm a bad, bad mother.)

Example 2: brown cabled socks for my mother-in-law



I chose the color so carefully; she wears a lot of deep, dark brown. I chose the pattern so carefully; a pretty cabled number from Knitting on the Road. I knit them up so beautifully. I also finished the toes so crappily they came apart the first time she wore them.

Bugger.

A Few Words About Productivity

One of the hardest adjustments to motherhood for me was how it suddenly took so long to get anything done. Where I had once been able to collaborate for six recitals ("accompanying" is the less PC term)and churn out a couple term papers in a semester while reading and gardening and knitting on the side, after Daniel came along, most of that came to, well, not a screeching halt, but at the least a marked slow-down. Now I can do exactly one thing at a time, school-wise. Last semester I had one doctoral recital, and when it was over, I took my prelims, and didn't have time or energy or focus even to consider what was coming next. This semester I have a few more performances, but my only requirement for my degree is a lecture recital, not to happen for at least three months, and I'm already panicking a little about how to get it done. I'm playing far, far fewer pieces than I used to because of limited practice time and even more limited rehearsal time (when you are paying for child care, most gigs aren't worth it). It's been months since I finished reading a book I started for recreation. Daniel's naps, while improving somewhat, are still brief and relatively rare. I'm lucky if I get more than an hour a day, and I usually spend that reading for my lecture recital and catching up on school-related email. (Or I squander it blogging, but I can sometimes blog while he's nursing.)

You'd think with all this going on in my life, I wouldn't be a very productive knitter. Or that I would at least have the wisdom to stick to just one or two or at the very most three projects at a time. For a brief period (like, a week or maybe less) I tried that. But the more I resolved not to succumb to startitis, the more I would yearn to start new projects, and make up excuses to do just that. So-and-so is having a baby in six months? Better get started on a wee sweater... So I just gave up the whole idea of giving myself rules for knitting. Knitting is a joy to me. Knitting is the only part of my creative life that is not constantly under scrutiny. You think musicians are all sensitive types? You've gotta have seriously thick skin to keep going in this business or you'll buckle under all the criticism, constructive and otherwise.

So if I want to start a sweater, two hats, a pair of socks and a scarf while planning about a dozen other things all in the span of two weeks, who's going to stop me?

I'll just give you a glimpse of what's currently in progress.

Exhibit A: The purple and red jacket



Specifically, the sleeves. After my recent fretting about gauge, I decided to just start the second sleeve, try and knit a little looser, and see what happened. As far as I can tell, they're exactly the same size. Shelly mentioned in comments that often one gets a tighter gauge knitting in the round. I know that's true, but this is honestly the first time it's happened to me. I've knit lots of things in the round after swatching back-and-forth, and it's always worked out. I thought I was just über-consistent. Of course, this would come back to bite me in the arse when I'm doing a whole sweater. However, the sleeves fit well over my arms, the gauge difference is so slight that it hasn't significantly changed the texture of the fabric of the sleeves compared to the body, so I'm going to leave it. If something looks weird when I put it all together I'll have to swallow my pride and frog. For now, I'm taking my chances.

Exhibit B: A scarf



Plymouth has this new yarn that's a lot like Noro but a lot cheaper. Wahoo! This one's for ME...and I'll probably finish it when the weather warms up (sigh). It's drying out right now after being artfully draped across the snow.

Exhibit C: A hat for Stu.



I got all the decreasing done last night and tried it on him and it looked...well...silly. Like a beanie lacking a propeller. So I'm giving it another go.

Exhibit D: Knitter in the making?

Baby, it's cold outside!

Seriously, folks, I think the high today was around -3. It's been quite cold all week, prompting me to set all my other projects aside (What was that? I said I was going to limit myself to three projects at a time? I don't know what you're talking about!) and whip up another hat for Daniel. While the last one I made for him is mighty warm and mighty cute, it's also getting to be small, and pulls up off his ears whenever he wears it. After all, if your ears aren't warm, what's the point?

Here he is, pretending to like it...



Side view:



And now removing it, as he usually does about 5 seconds after having a hat put on:



Yarn: Cascade 220 in dark blue and lighter blue from the stash (woohoo! stash-busting!) The ball bands went to the great Skein in the Sky a long while ago, so I don't know the actual color names.
Needles: Size 7 circulars and DPNs, as well as size 6 circulars
Pattern: Totally my own creation, which makes me feel rather clever. It's got a partial lining and double-thick ear flaps for extra warmth. I even came up with the zig-zag color pattern on my own, not that it was hard. This hat is actually a test run for a larger one I want to make for my husband, and I'm not revealing any details of construction because if it turns out well enough I may actually write it up for submission somewhere...you know, because the Universe needs another hat pattern. There's some tweaking to do first.