lace

The child's tomten is done, save the zipper installation. It's beautiful. I was so-so about it until I added some white trim, and now I am thrilled. Except that I need a small break from garter stitch, I can't wait to make another. Pictures soon; right now the sweater is draped across a drying rack in the basement after its bath in wool wash.

I'm temporarily cured of my finish-itis, and I've started something new.



This the twilight scarf/stole from A Fine Fleece (which is a fine book).

This yarn...



...is very, very special. It is naturally colored vintage shetland lace yarn that once belonged to my mom's cousin Ruthie, an avid knitter, who died of breast cancer in the mid-1980s. My mom kept the yarn after Ruthie died, but she never used it, and when I made my last trip to Kentucky this past March, I brought it home with me. (Remember doodlebug's sweater? The blue Patons Beehive was from that collection as well.) My mom isn't sure how old the yarn is. She inherited it over 20 years ago, but her cousin may have acquired it years before that, possibly while she was living in Scotland in the 1970s.

The yarn comes in four colors, and there are no brand labels with it. There is LOTS of it. I don't know the yardage for each skein, but there are at least 4 or 5 skeins of each color, and the yarn is so light there has to be a couple hundred yards per skein.



It's good, honest wool, sticky and delicate and airy, a fragile single-ply. I think it's beautiful.



I don't know how to combine colors in lace, and I'm not sure I like the look of that, so I've decided to knit a project for each color. I don't know how close my mom and her twin sisters were to their cousin (they come from a huge farm family and they have something like 40 or 50 first cousins), but it seems a fitting tribute to knit something for my mom and each of her twin sisters out of Ruthie's yarn. They all have birthdays in the fall, so I'm shooting for those deadlines, but I'm making no promises. I'm starting with simple designs for two reasons: 1) I don't have much experience with lace (yet) and I don't want to get all frustrated and screw up a lot. I know enough to know that fixing lace is a pain in the ass; 2) The yarn is not especially refined. The natural colors are heathery and the thickness of the ply isn't terribly consistent, so I think it is best showcased in a simple design. I'm not really a lace knitter so I could be totally wrong.

Oh, and I'm using my new Addi lace needles. Love 'em. Love. Them. All the k2tog and ssk are a total breeze. However, these needles are so expensive that I only have the one pair and I think that from here on out every lace project I do better work on 4mm size!

over it, and a meme

Gah, I am so over this child's tomten. I'm close to finishing, though, so I'm going to stick it out until it's donedonedone. I've got a bit of the sleeve, an applied i-cord around the edges, ends to hide, and I suppose I'll have to get a zipper for it, too. Because even though I'm over it, this thing has been so many hours of coma-inducing garter stitch, I want it to look nice for its future recipient. (Note to self: when trying out an EZ garter stitch design, don't choose skinnier yarn than she calls for and then increase the number of stitches by 30%. It's a really really dumb idea.)



I've decided not to save this one for Anya. It'll be a long while before she can wear it, I'm really not so enamored with this particular green, and some child in Afghanistan probably needs it way more than she will. I just hope Afghans for Afghans will take an item that is not part of their current campaign...I should probably check with them about that before just sending it off blind, eh?

Now, because I didn't have anything more interesting to show you knitting-wise, here's a meme I swiped from My Fashionable Life. There's nothing about knitting in it. Enjoy.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Holy cow, 10 years ago. Let's see. I was in between my sophomore and junior years of college. The summer of 1998 was a good one. I spent 3 weeks as a counselor for the KY Governor's School for the Arts (excellent, excellent program, and it's free for anyone who makes it in), then I went to Europe for about 6 weeks to visit friends in France and do a music/German program in Salzburg, Austria. After that, I went on a long road trip with my now-husband, whom I had just started dating. The fact that we didn't drive each other crazy after spending 2 weeks driving to the West Coast and back in his Chevy wagon (affectionately named "Bessie") boded well for our relationship.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
go to the park (check)
walk the kids to sleep (check for Daniel, not so much for Anya)
clean the kitchen (sigh)
fix curried kidney beans and chapatis for dinner (will happen eventually)
practice the music I can't quite sight read for the six auditions I'm playing for this weekend

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Bread and jam, cookies (I have no willpower with homemade cookies), graham crackers with peanut butter, walnuts, fresh fruit, half a grilled cheese sandwich Daniel didn't eat for lunch

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Set up my kids, my parents and my brother so they never have to worry. Buy a bigger house and put solar panels on it. Buy a grand piano to put in said house. Set up an endowment for the school of music so they can buy some really nice historical instruments. Get a vacation home in Italy and take my whole family there every year. Buy Stuart some t-shirts that aren't fraying at the collar. Give lots and lots to deserving charities. Adopt a whale.

5) Places I have lived:
New Mexico, Kansas, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Austria (it was only 5 weeks, so it doesn't really count, but it's so much more exotic than any place I've really lived)

6) Jobs I have had:
Server at Sonic drive-thru (I lasted a month), receptionist, waitress (I lasted 2 days), camp counselor, drink stocker at the Interlochen Arts Camp store (they didn't trust me to run the register; apparently upon first impression I come off as really, really stupid), piano teacher, accompanist, grad student/teaching assistant, mom

7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:
I don't tag anymore! I found out that some people actually don't like it. Plus, I enjoy getting to know everyone better. Do the meme, leave me a comment, I'll go read it!

tomten revived

Back in September, I started an EZ tomten. I had intended to send it off to AFA for their children's sweaters campaign. I was entering my third trimester of pregnancy with Anya, and I was a mere three weeks away from the deadline for turning in my dissertation. What the hell was I thinking? Obviously, it didn't get finished in time. I made it through the body of the sweater and put it down. Until last week.

Since Daniel was born, I've gone through spells of somewhat anal retentive behavior, where I want to be efficient and organized about everything - meal planning, doing the dishes, how stuff on the shelves is arranged, getting rid of old clothes, the yarn stash... I think it has to do with control and how I feel like I don't have much control of my life, plus I spend so much time at home that disorganization gets to me. And I get bored. Personal issues aside, when these periods of organization (which, in and of themselves are not a bad thing) often leads to some frustration over just how many projects I've started and abandoned. It bugs me.

I have several inner knitters. One wants to knit lace just because it's so dang pretty, even if there's no way I'll ever use it. One wants to make a dozen plain sweaters because they would be practical and wearable, if boring to knit. One wants to start a million things with no worry about when or how they will get done. And my anal retentive inner knitter, the one who is speaking to me right now, can't stand that there are so many unfinished objects lying about for no other reason than the fact that I am easily bored, a project floozy. So as badly as I want to start a new sweater pour moi, I've got to finish up some of this stuff that's been festering and taking up space and making me feel a little guilty. So before I do anything else, I'm finishing up this pup.



That's a whole lotta garter stitch.

Question is, what do I do with it when I'm done? Will AFA take it? Should I save it for Anya? She'd look nice in that green.

finished! celtic lace scarf

My friend Julia and I both got our doctorates this May. She got her DMA in vocal performance in Houston, and I got mine here in collaborative piano. ( I actually finished in December, but went into labor with Anya the very day I was supposed to deposit some important paperwork at the graduate school, so I technically didn't "graduate" until this spring.) Julia is an incredible singer, smart, one of my most favorite musicians to work with, and on top of all that she is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you could ever meet.

I had to knit her something. But what? Because she just spent the last three years in Houston, Tex-ass where it is hot all year round, I had to wait until I knew what is next for her. Turns out she's spending the next academic year in Salzburg, where she'll be studying at the Mozarteum, hopefully with Barbara Bonney. Whereas I'll be spending the next year wiping poopy butts and trying to keep the house clean...but I'm not the least bit jealous, oh no.

Anyway, since Dr. Julia is a singer, and singers can NEVER have too many scarves, and I'd been admiring the lace scarf from Celtic Knits by Debbie Bliss...well, there was my answer.



I used almost 2 skeins of Bristol Gallery Buckingham, a fingering weight alpaca/silk blend in a lovely periwinkle that I bought at WEBS during this year's anniversary sale. The yarn is wonderfully buttery soft. I didn't get tired of knitting this scarf, even though the pattern repeat was easy to memorize and should have been boring. I love the simplicity of this pattern, the simple zigzaggy lace, the delicate roll of the edges.



Congratulations, Dr. Julia! I hope this keeps you warm in Austria!

Pattern: Alpaca lace scarf from Celtic Knits by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: almost 2 skeins Bristol Gallery Buckingham (80% alpaca, 20% silk, 220 yds/50g skein) in periwinkle
Needles: size 5...don't know my gauge, but I had to reduce the number of stitches in order to make a scarf rather than a bedsheet
Made for: Dr. Julia!

Finished! Classic cable scarf

Pattern: Cable scarf from Classic Knits by Erika Knight
Yarn: Savoy, a merino/silk blend in aran weight, about 2.5 skeins. I bought 4 skeins, so I've got quite a bit leftover that I'm not sure what to do with (charity hat?). This yarn is super soft and the color is a brilliant, saturated red (I can't do justice to the color with my limited photographic skills), but it doesn't feel very durable. There's no way I'd knit a whole sweater out of it.
Needles: size 7
Gauge: I didn't bother to check, since it's just a scarf, but I think my gauge may have turned out a little tighter than the pattern called for
Comments: What a cool pattern! I thought the construction was clever from start to finish, what with the little keyhole and cables going in different directions and all. It still took several months from start to finish because I kept putting it down for other projects (I am fickle that way.) In fact, I finished the scarf at least two months ago, then didn't get around to blocking it until about 2 weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to blogging it.
Made for: Not sure. Maybe me. Maybe I'll save it for a Christmas gift. Summer is upon us and it will be a while before anyone needs a warm wooly scarf, so I can store it away until I decide.

two years: a resolution

I am not going to buy any yarn for two whole years.

That's right.

Stuart and I have been talking for a long time about The Next Big Thing. As in, where we're going to live next. Madison is a wonderful city in many ways (atrocious winter weather notwithstanding), but we are hundreds of miles from anyone in either of our families. Now that we have two children who love to see their uncles and grandparents, we are feeling the strong urge to move closer to family. Thus far, several factors have held us back: I had to finish my doctorate, Stuart has a pretty good job, we have a house...but the main thing is that we just couldn't narrow down the choices. Right now we have parents and brothers in Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia and (in a couple weeks) North Carolina. Quite spread apart, as you can see. We learned recently, though, that Stuart's parents are more or less planning to move to North Carolina when they retire. My parents have lived in Kentucky for almost 25 years, and they don't appear to be going anywhere. So now it looks like we can narrow our options, mostly likely, to one of those two places.

In two years, Anya will be nearly pre-school age, and I might be able to look for at least a part-time job or some more independent work accompanying and teaching. In two years, Stuart will have enough experience to feel comfortable looking for a job he'd really like to have. Maybe in two years the economy won't suck so much and we'll be able to FIND jobs and sell our house at something other than a loss. Two years is about as long as we can last in this 900 sq ft house before our family of four truly outgrows it. So we're thinking two years from now is our goal, our deadline.

Here's where the knitting part comes in. I took a hard look at the stash, and I don't want to move all of it. For one thing, I don't want to see it all in one place and admit how much I've got, and I certainly don't want anyone else to see it and think I'm some sort of crazy, irresponsible yarn fiend. For another thing, I want to alleviate my [ever so slight] guilt about having more than I can use. So I'm going to knit from the stash and the stash only and see how much I can use up. This applies even for gift knitting. If I want to knit something for someone else, the yarn must come from the stash. (This is partly because gift knitting has often been how I justify buying yarn, even when I know I won't have time to knit it up in time for that birthday/baby shower/Christmas celebration.) Except for yarns I just can't part with, what can't be used up will be sold or given away.

This means real discipline. This means better planning and prioritizing of projects. This means no trips to the yarn store for no particular reason (that's always dangerous.) This also means I may do some preemptive de-stashing here, so keep your eyes open for some free stuff in the next few weeks.

So that's where it stands. Think I can do it?

I think this will force me to be more honest with myself about how much I can reasonably expect to knit in a certain amount of time. Take this scarf, for instance:



This is quite literally all I have been working on for about three weeks and it's still not done (though I think I'm close). It's not at all difficult or especially large or knit on especially tiny needles; it's just the reality of being a busy lady with two kids and a messy garden that need constant attention. Even with my so-called career on hold, I never get as much knitting time as I'd like.