Lovely World

blue

Yes. There is more snow this morning. Heavy and sticky. Some vanilla frosting for the trees.

A knitting project almost completed.

A new doll. The figures I am painting have inspired me to translate them into cloth. I am making removable clothes for it.

An old print of forget-me-nots hanging on my daughter's bedroom wall. You can see her violet collection on the windowsill. My grandmother grew violets as a hobby. It makes me happy that Miriam enjoys keeping them too.

A niggly migraine hanging about my head for the past few days. Goodbye to it already.

It is a transformative experience to simply pause instead of immediately filling up the space. By waiting, we begin to connect with fundamental restlessness as well as fundamental spaciousness. (Pema Chodron When Things Fall Apart)

yarn

I have been moving slowly along with my goal of making a granny square crocheted afghan. I am enjoying the process, and I think I have gotten far enough along that I am now very motivated to finish. Since I started without a specific pattern I am making things up as I go along. Luckily, the granny square is very forgiving and flexible.

I went to the yarn store last week to purchase more yarn for the afghan. While there, I saw one of the most beautiful scarves I have seen in a long while. The store owner handed me the pattern and directed me to the Noro yarn that I would need. You can see the skeins in the above photo. I will hopefully cast on this weekend.

In the third photo you can see another corner of my work room. I really love the prints of models for wooden toys that I bought from here. I framed them in inexpensive frames I bought at Target.

Today we were hit by a large snow storm. The kids are home, and I have my friend's kids here as well while she is at work. Busy!

finally knitting

I've gone through almost two whole seasons without knitting a stitch. Has this ever happened to you? I was pleased to find that I hadn't become rusty. I just spoke with some members of my neighborhood knitting group today. We plan to begin our "cold weather" meetings in a few weeks. Then I'll really settle into the needles, I think.

Keeping Warm

After all the snow and cold, blowing wind yesterday, I'm happy that I finished knitting these lovely ribby wrist warmers. The pattern is from Kris Percival's "Speed Knitting" and the yarn is the jewel-like Brown Sheep Company Lamb's Pride Bulky, which has a nice touch of mohair. I love the stitch pattern. It is so simple but creates an interesting texture. The pattern is a repetition of 2 rounds: round 1, knit; round 2, *knit 1, purl 1* repeat until end of round. I must add that the original pattern makes a very snug wrist warmer. I ripped out the first one I made and cast on 26 rather than the 22 stitches the pattern calls for. I'll admit that I knit fairly tightly, but not obsessively so.

Inauguration Day (2 Days Later)

It has taken me two days to recover from the Inauguration Day excitement and make this post, but I had to share how happy (jubilant, tickled, relieved, hopeful, etc.) I am. I enjoyed a front row seat to the festivities in my living room chair - switching from CNN to PBS to CSPAN. As I find it hard to simply sit and watch TV, I kept my hands busy by folding laundry and knitting a scarf. This is my official inauguration scarf, made with the oh-so-soft Tahki Baby yarn. I love the celebratory orange.

David and I were invited to an Inaugural Ball Tuesday evening, organized by good friends. There were over a hundred people there, and everyone was smiling.  There was food, drinks, dancing, a live band, and, yes, Barack was there! I even got a kiss!

Catching Up On My Knitting

I have had too many (can you have too many?) knitting projects going on at once. I decided that I would finish up a few - clear the decks - so that I can start in on some new patterns I have had my eye on. I made the above fingerless gloves for Miriam, in anticipation of winter in her drafty classroom. The pattern is from Clara Parkes The Knitter's Book of Yarn (which, by the way, is a fabulous book). Below is a scarf I made from some vintage French acrylic yarn I found in my mother's stash. I started it during a trip to NYC on the Amtrak train out of Albany. I have taken that train so many times over the past five months to go to my appointments at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. It is the perfect length trip to get a lot of knitting done - often times a whole project. I made up the pattern for this scarf. When I finished it, Miriam put it on and claimed it as her own.

I have been making quite a few birthday hats lately. I made the one below for my 15-year-old nephew Jeremy. It looks a bit big as modeled by Adam, but it is incredibly warm and cozy. I was thinking that it would look very cool if I had had some sort of patch/badge to sew on the front, but I wasn't sure exactly what would be a cool image for a 15-year-old boy. I may look into some web sites for patch/badge ideas.

Miriam has started a knitting class at the public library. It met for the first time yesterday afternoon. We spent the better part of the hour making knitting needles. The tops are made out of Fimo clay (AKA Sculpy). This was a very seductive project, and I can see myself making a few of these at home. Here are the two pairs Miriam and I made:

Here is a bouquet of knitting needles made by the teacher, our faithful children's librarian Mindy. I love those strawberries:

Fiber Twist

I was excited to escape from Williamstown yesterday.  Miriam and I traveled over the Mohawk Trail to check out the Franklin County Fiber Twist in Greenfield.  It was a rainy day, and much of the drive over the mountain was in the fog.  The muted dullness of the day made the blast of color and verve that greeted us as we walked into the event all the more welcome.

The Fiber Twist showcases local sheep and fiber farmers, spinners, knitters, dyers, felters, weavers, rug hookers - all things fiber.  Miriam had the opportunity to try spinning on a 150-year-old spinning wheel.  Watching her patiently tease the wool into a reasonably consistent-sized yarn made me thankful for all the easily-available pre-spun yarn that I often buy without a thought to exactly where it came from.  If I had to raise an animal, sheer it, wash, card, spin, and dye the wool - how much actual knitting would I get done?

I was glad to see that knitter and embroiderer Kristin Nicholas had a booth.  I have been attracted to her work since I first saw her books.  I love her choice of bright jewel colors and whimsical design.  Here is just a glimpse at her display.

It is energizing to attend events such as this.  I drove home with ideas for future projects, and simply happy to have gotten out of my own head for a while and into the creative space of others.  And to top it all off, I was able to meet my lovely, new(ish) friend Liz for an excellent lunch and visit.  A day well spent.

Hats

I have been making a lot of hats lately. I have liked the feel of knitting in the round, and the satisfaction that comes with the last decrease before the top of the hat is complete.

I really like this hat. I've made these three, plus another that I gave my niece. The pattern is from Cathy Carron's "Hip Knit Hats," and is called the Mari. I absolutely LOVE the yarn used on the two blue ones. It is Bazic Wool by Classic Elite Yarns. The orange one is made from Ella Rae Classic yarn.

These are simple rolled-brim baby hats I made from the most fantastically soft baby alpaca yarn. It is from The Plymouth Yarn Company.

This hat is a variation of the pattern "Kim's Hats" in Joelle Hoverson's "Last-Minute Knitted Gifts." It is made from a Lorna's Hand-Dyed Yarn called Swirl DK in the color Seaside. This yarn was an impulse buy from Metaphor Yarns in Shelburne Falls, MA. I also found the baby alpaca yarn there.

These hats represent a form of knitter's torture to me. I have been trying to work out this pattern for a while. It is the Pagoda Cap from Morehouse Farm, designed by Evi Westmore. I used Ella Rae Classic yarn for both of them. I made the orange one first. My five year old can barely force this onto his head, the patterned band being way too tight. For the pink one, I used a larger size needle and tried to knit loosely. It still feels tight, although my eight year old has stretched it out and claims it fits her fine. I remind you, this is a pattern for an ADULT hat. I am now in the process of trying for a third time. I have the top of the hat to go, but here is what it looks like so far. I so want this to fit a grownup head. I've used some inexpensive acrylic/wool blend by Patons called Shetland Chunky. I'm hoping the thicker yarn will help make this work.

The final hat is from a pattern I found on Soulemama. It is a nice hat for when it is not-too-cold/not-too-hot. I made it with Ecologique Pure Merino Nuance. I love the subtle color change in the yarn. I made it as a gift for my mother-in-law's birthday.

I'm hoping to move away from hats and into socks, fingerless gloves, and some knitted stuffed animals. Winter is coming and there will be ample time to sit in front of the fireplace and pick up my knitting.