two knits of ivory

Many, many, many moons ago I went through a Herman Hesse phase. I devoured, rather than savored, each book of his I read. So it is no wonder that I remember very little. Only one idea I came across in his writings took root in my chaotic mind and this was the supposition by a character that the act of biological reproduction is a necessary psychological step, or evolution, for man. The narcissism of youth must make way for the selfless devotion, an all important transformative experience, of parenthood. Now that I am an adult, and a little less naive, I can plainly see all around me that birthing babies doesn't cure narcissism. My birth sure as heck didn't cure it in my family. But that doesn't mean there is no truth to Hesse's belief. I still believe in his theory even though I was never able to test it out myself. By the time I was healed enough to embrace motherhood my body no longer could provide for me. I am both proud and angry about the four years I ...

Sweater pattern knitting is all about Trust and Faith. These are two things of which I am in constant want. Yet I am driven to knit sweaters. Driven, as in obsessively thinking about this and only this when I should be doing any number of things adults need to do to make money and keep a roof over their heads. (Deep breath taken; slowly exhaled.) My first two sweaters were disastrous affairs due to my poor choice of materials. They fit physically, but they weren't fit for public consumption. The third sweater was a success and saw many years of useful service until recent evolutions in color fashion have given it a dated appearance. My fourth sweater, though, is a minor masterpiece to me. No, I had no clue on how to measure yarn gauge, so it does not fit my husband perfectly. And, no, I had no clue how to adjust the cable patterns to account for the shoulder decreases, so the cables on the shoulder look a bit odd in places. But, but, but, I designed the Aran panel myself an...

My Sunday morning waking dream was the design of a sweater using the much neglected Cascade 220 Superwash that's nearing a year in my stash. Ya know, cuz the best time to knit a sweater is the cusp of summer, right? :-/ This lovely yarn has been the subject of several design schemes, none of which came to fruition, including a sweater or two. The heathered tones scream out to become the vining twine leaf pattern I used in Project Stole . I'm thinking of just transposing the stole's motif right onto the front and back of a sweater, paired with a mini cabled rib for the neck, arm, and waistbands. But before I even think of designing something as ambitious as that, I've got to find the end of the Sunshine and Shadow Shawl , which has, by nature of my pattern dyslexia morphed into a leaf and medallion triangle. Who knew that the patterns in a book called "Knitting Lace Triangles " were the size of large hankerchiefs and not adult-bodied-sized shawls. Yes, ...

A major contradiction in this knitting hobby of mine wont stop rearing it's belligerent head: I love textured knitting and I prefer variegated yarn. I just went through this a couple of weeks ago, didn't I? Oh yes, I did. Yet, it took another two toes to remember this. Again. I am a olympic learner, I am. I am commited to knitting Eunny Yang's Bayerische . I am also going to try to remember to commit my variegated yarn to plain or ribbed socks. Since there is nothing in my stash that will work with the Bayerische pattern, I was forced (oh yes, F O R C E D) to tramp out to an LYS on my lunch hour yesterday and I scored! Not only did I get yarn for the Bayerische, but I finally nabbed that navy blue skein of Dream in Color Smooshy I've been eyeing for eons and a copy of IK's Favorite Socks . Last night I settled something else. For about five or six days I've been mulling over whether I should go to NH Sheep and Wool this weekend. It may be the only New...

It remains a mystery why the USB port on my camera refuses to work. It's thrown my blogging off kilter. When I finally had access to my pictures at the same time I had time to blog, I lacked inspiration because everything I had to blog about felt so yesterday's newsy. So what have I been thinking about? I'm excited to take more time off; I'm padding an extra day and a half onto a three day holiday weekend (Monday is Patriot's Day aka Boston Marathon day in Massachusetts.) and glad to be facing some bonafide spring weather. I was surprised to see these last week: I always associate daffodils with the beginning of May, not the beginning of April. I know I'm no expert on nature, but I swear these are early. They came just a week after the crocuses. Maybe the crocuses are late? I'm seriously trying to get inspired to blog about my knitting here. I use my blog to keep track. I lost the start date to my Herbed Carrot socks to the mists of time. Was it the same...

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 am one of those people that looks at the clock on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and thinks woefully "Gee, if I sit down now, I'll only have six hours to knit." Yet, if you put me in a car or on a bus, train, or plane for more than an hour I'm a friggin' Mexican jumping bean. On my own I'm quick to find a couch, but once I'm cooped up with no choice of movement, I'm a ball of nerves. Recent discoveries in technology have changed all that. My hubby bought me a portable DVD player two years back and it's therapeutic benefits are consistent. I can now face being cooped up with aplomb, as long as I'm well stocked with movies. I can look forward to the five or six hour plane ride with thoughts of productivity, not hysteria which is good because in the last few years my Christmas tradition has taken on the form of travelling across the country to see my sister and her family in one of the least Christmassy of locales, the American southwest. It...

I am of the opinon that a good indication of how I'm doing can be divined by a quick look into my knitting basket. This morning my basket looks like this: It's messy and filled with considerable project detritus made worse this past week when I tested out a couple of new projects. I'm letting prior work like the prefrogged Firestarter sock and the twining vine leaf motif swatch clog up my bin. This is a tangible representation of the intangible, my clouded mind. Last weekend I wanted to knit so badly but I really didn't have the time, or more importantly, the mental energy, to face knitting issues which had become irrationally monolithic. So Sunday I whipped out my Mason Dixon Knitting book and tried to create one of their felted garter stitch boxes. I looked over the pattern and found it easy to redesign for a much smaller, test version, so that I could in turn test a lid pattern for the box, as their pattern is lidless. Here it is pre-felting. I used Manos del Urugua...

One of the interesting things I took from my first read through of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Opinionated Knitter was a project idea using scrap yarn. If I recall correctly, she mentioned she put aside like sized yarn scraps into nearby containers to use together for knitting something, I don't remember what. I loved this idea. I am plagued by what to do with yarn scraps. My natural sentimentality dictates I should keep a reminder of the yarn I used, especially for those projects which went away from me as gifts or failures or even natural attrition. I've kept this idea in my mind and then somehow it melded with the log cabin knitted afghan project from another book I read through this summer, Mason-Dixon Knitting. Maybe something brought these things together outside of my mind but for the life of me I can't remember what it was, if it was anything at all. Two things have stopped me from starting this project. First and foremost is which design philosophy to employ. Do I ...

The trip to Patternworks this weekend piqued some self-reflection. Four months ago when I went up there for the first time I knew only a handful of luxury yarn brands and very little about the actual yarns themselves. This time I walked in and I saw so many familiar names, and even more familiar yarns, I kinda felt like a true knitter, as opposed to the knitting tourist I felt like in June. Yes I knew how to knit but the palette of my knitting was so limited. I totally have the blogosphere to thank. Reading other people's feelings and thoughts about patterns and yarns I began to lose my natural fear in trying new things. One $20 skein of CTH supersock yarn purchased last June was the first step and I hadn't looked back until Saturday's trek to Patternworks. It's been a great trip. Now on to actual knitting news: My second goal in going to Patternworks was to purchase some Koigu, or other fingering weight yarn, to complement this vivacious skein of Violas from MadelineT...

The other day I was on Ravelry doing my thing and realized that maybe I should spend a little time seeing what other people were doing. I began my poking with a search on Jo Sharp Silkweed Aran yarn, that yarn I made my Steely Winter Set out of. I might not have made clear how in love with this yarn I am. It feels like heaven knitting. It feels like heaven once it's knit. A Ravelry member named Andrea is using this yarn on a hibernating project from the Fall issue of Interweave Knits. Dos_Cable_Shrug1 Originally uploaded by andrea_murley This project, or type of project would be perfect for me. I love cables, the Silkwood Aran would look beautiful cabled, and the yarn would make a very warm and cozy shawl which I need since my work cube is freezing year round. I think I could design a beautiful shawl in the icy baby blue shade of empire . Question is do I wait to buy the yarn until I finish some projects or do I splurge now. Since I'll have to buy this yarn o...