two knits of ivory

For over a week now my knitting mojo has been MIA. MIA. MIA. MIA. I think it evaporated once last month's siege of stress came to a close. I have been unable to count stitches for cast ons, for gussets, nor for anything knitting related, really. I have two projects still at the cast on stage after HOURS spent attending to them Friday afternoon and evening, and a small part of Saturday. I have never made this big a mess of casting on and frogging for as long as I can remember. So what was the commotion about? Moebius's or Mobius's, take your pick of the spelling. I thought I would try the free Mobius pattern Cat Bordhi has on her website. Well, it turns out it's only free if you already own a copy of her very unique cast on instructions, known as mobius cast on MCO). Even with a printout of the directions from her Knitty Gritty episode on DYI, I grew very petulant towards Ms. Bordhi and her CO from hell the more I spent time on it. With the hope of rectifying this pat...

I still have the remainder of a ball of Artyarns Handpaint stripes in my knitting bin and it whispers sweet nothings to me whenever it catches my eye. It's siren's call is getting harder to ignore. I used this yarn to make a pair of striped mitts a month ago which are now my office hand warmers. I absolutely love the combination of these colors. Yum yum yum yum yum. According to my ravelry calculations, I have about 244 yards. Enough for a Mobius to keep at work so that I can be all matchy matchy and nauseate my cubemates. Good times. But as I pondered how to mod the mobius to suit my own tastes, it dawned on me that a tubular cowl would be just the ticket to recreate the striping of the lime and blue malabrigo hat . I might not have enough yarn for a tubular scarf, but I have more than enough for a cowl scarf. Now it's just a matter of brewing up a pattern.

I want to thank everyone for the very sweet comments on both my blog and my sock. My social awkwardness looms large at moments like these. People say nice things and I have the urge to send expansive emails thanking them but I never do. There is a wall between me and the world wide web that I haven't yet learned to traverse. Emotionally, I feel like I know many of you intimately. You let me glimpse your own lives. I read about your good days, your bad days, and the fabulous knitting that happens either way. Intellectually, I feel very distant, as if you are like my favorite TV characters and so I shouldn't bridge the gap with even the minimal human contact of an email. Part of me thinks this is my way as an aspy, but part of me thinks that doesn't cover it. Other bloggers must feel exactly as I do. We are so intimate, yet we are strangers. Some people can befriend strangers easily, others, like me, cannot. I'm living and I'm learning and I'm very thankful for th...

The La Digitessa pattern by Yarnissima is perfection. My iteration? Not so much. That's not to say I'm not proud of my achievement, it's just that I know I can do better, and I will. I fully intend to make a second pair with a yarn better suited to the intricate pattern. The biggest problem I had was with the gussets. My increases were very holey. My next biggest problem was with the heel K2togs. My purl stitches are very wide and laddery. Yarn Lana Grossa Meilenweit 50 Seta/Cashmere 65% Merino, 15% Silk, 16% Polymid, 4% Cashmere This is a soft yarn with great stitch definition. The fluffy, splitty nature made for a difficult knit on the 2.00 and 2.50mm needles. I hard a much easier time once I transitioned to the 2.75mm. I used about 84 grams out of a total 96 grams, or 396 yards of yarn. Needles I used circulars primarily. I started out with size 2.00mm needles but transitioned to 2.50mm needles mid foot. Somewhere around the heel on both socks I transitione...

I have a love-hate relationship with this blog. Ever since hitting "publish" on my last post I have been cringing inside. Did I give too much of myself away? Did I make myself look foolish? Did I even make any sense? So much self-censorship is exhausting. Why can't I just throw myself out there, warts and all? I feel a world of judgment around me, always. And that is why this blog exists, truth be told. I need to stretch my boundaries of comfort. I need to allow myself to be foolish and inconsistent and prone to over sharing. That is who I am. This blog, on the surface, is all about knitting, but it is also about trying to find some pride of self, not just pride of workmanship. Sometimes, though, the public nature of the endeavor gives me the heebie jeebies. Well, often. I will say that all this mental self-absorption has been a distraction from the back and arm pain, which I am angry to say, still plague me. An epigram by Ben Franklin included in one of HBO's recent ...

I grew up on a densely settled, flat, barrier island, right outside of Queens, NY, on Long Island's south shore. I lived a stone's throw from the ocean, but we had no view . Between me and the water were six and seven-story apartment buildings that ring the shore, block after block after block. Ever since I can remember, I have loved New England. As a kid I was drawn to the cliche of New England. It was not only the rolling green hills and white steeple churches, but the hardscrabble tenacity of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome. I already had the hardscrabble background, all I needed was Wharton's austere country landscape to fill out this childhood fantasy of myself. In September 1986, at age 19, I found myself at college in Boston, Massachusetts. A month later the world's most famous ground ball error turned a man, and an entire region, bitter. When the Mets took the Sox in the World Series, the city lost it's breath. I paid no mind, I was a Yankee's fan. Slow...

I have had this beautiful Lorna's Laces yarn for forever and a day. The photo properties indicate I shot the yarn in September of last year, so I must concede this is barely a blip in the history of stash hibernation. I had hoped the yarn would become Firestarters , but it had other plans, plans I am must admit, I am not yet privy to. Last week I began a toe up sock on a pair of US0/2.00mm circs. I cast on 70 some odd stitches and found the fabric too tight. The colors began to pool diagonally, but since I frogged it, I can't say for sure if I would have found that to be a good thing or a bad thing. I reduced the stitch count and began again on a pair of US1/2.50mm circs. The stitch definition was improved, no pooling was evident, but the stitches seemed a tad loose. I frogged this toe, too. I'm hoping the 2.25mm US1's coming in the mail tomorrow will be just right. But really, I'm not sure if it is the yarn that is so persnickety, or me. I think all the fussing ove...

That is when my Knit Picks needle order is slated to arrive and that is when I think I may be done with my La Digitessa socks, which is une belle cause c&#233l&#232bre! My Knit Picks order has been stalled out in Grove City, Ohio since Monday, but my first La Digitessa was finished last night. It was just in time to catch the last rays of sunshine to photograph. In mine eyes she is beautiful. I had thought the criss crossed traveling stitches would make for an intractably stiff stock, but it hasn't.

Knitting Kris called me out on my literary allusion in yesterday's post, and I'm sad to say I have so little memory of the either the Milan Kundera movie or book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being . I devoured a handful of his books a lifetime ago but the melancholy they left in their wake has proven easy to resist. They did survive the great book purge of aught six because I do look forward to reading them again, this time with the lens only age and experience bestows. So long story short, Kris? I can't say with any certainty, but maybe someday I may. :-) Someday. Well, as soon as I stop knitting with all my free time, that is. I must admit, I did not finish my first Digitessa sock. Nope. I'm just on the cusp of done. Today, though, I wanted to confess my binging ways, and with a woot! Over a week ago, I put in some time on my Log Cabin Afghan . I finally decided which direction to go with the color integration, only to be hampered by my needles. This projec...

Having just three projects on my needles feels crazy fabulous. I think it is because I've turned the corner on the problems which loomed large over them. My knitting basket is now as light in soul, as it is in it's corporeality. Last Tuesday, though, I hit a very rough patch at the beauty parlor. It was a marathon four and a half hour ordeal and for a low maintenance woman like myself, this constitutes an evening in Hell. (And my hairdresser wonders why I come in ever twelve weeks rather than every six? Who has the fortitude to withstand this much primping?!?) At the hairdressers, I felt the pull of La Digitessa and threw myself into her completely. Hours later all I had to show for it were about 22 rows. 22 Rows. And into each and every row I grafted a misery so potent I couldn't look at the sock for days without revisiting it. I hated on the pattern and the yarn and the sock itself. And then I got over it, though I don't have the photographic proof. And there was gl...

It may be Blueberry Moon's week and not La Digitessa's . Facing miles of stockinette just seems more palatable at the moment, and might remain so for the rest of the week. We'll see. I've got my marathon hair appointment this afternoon and I've brought both of these projects, as well as a cake of sock yarn. Here she is with the sleeve I finished Sunday night. I had to frog the cuff last night and add a few rows; it was just a smidgen short. I've never frogged and reknit something that had been in it's knitted form for very long. I've frogged dormant projects, but I either gave away the yarn, or it's still sitting in my stash. It's a leap of faith to look at all that wrinkliness and assume it will look normal after a good wash. Faith is not something of which I'm well endowed. Love of the Big Mac, sadly, yes, but faith? errr, not so much. With this sweater I am 100% a project knitter. I bought enough yarn for a sweater, and a sweater I will h...

Hubby had a grand old time being my foot model. He has no reason for modesty, and clearly he knows it. As you can see my Blue Wavering socks are done. One good wash and they'll be ready for the post. With a second cast off to tighten up one sock's bind off, a weight was lifted off my shoulders. As I contemplated the status of my knitting basket, (near empty!), the elephants meandering out of the room were near tangible. Who would have thunk three and a half ounces of knitted wool goodness would have such import? Really they don't. I know it in my heart. Time is working it's magic and it has coincided with the conclusion of these socks. I've still have a way to go, but after seven or so months of stress it's nice to breath some uncomplicated air. Seriously, though, my knitting basket is near empty! This is such a hallelujah! moment for me. I decided to put the Malabrigo yarn away and I resisted casting on another sock. As of today, I have Blueberry Moon , La Dig...