This morning Spring hosted a baby shower for another of our friends, Therese. Since Therese will be moving back to Norway not long after the baby is born, the them was “books and booties”. I gave her one of my favorite books, the ever-delightful Green Eggs and Ham, and I crocheted a car seat blanket. A simple granny square was made more sophisticated by the beautiful Noro yarn. The rich colors motivated me to crochet just a few more stitches until I could see the next color emerge. The Ravelry project page is here.
It was fun to see all of the nice gifts, and even more fun to hold Spring’s little baby girl whenever I could get my hands on her!
A look through my Ravelry projects page makes me realize that I knit primarily accessories, and I give most of them away. Maybe it is the short attention span I have before something new and pretty catches my fancy. As I think about the knits that I’ve given away, I guess my favorite would be the Shetland Lace Triangle shawl I knit for my dissertation chair, a woman I admire beyond words.
I used Claudia Handpainted Silk Lace yarn, which was pure pleasure to knit. To make the gift even more special, I commissioned a custom shawl pin featuring a beautiful piece of turquoise from Romi. Sharon was delighted with the gift, and I was even more delighted the last time we chatted when she told me how much she enjoyed wearing the shawl. Perfect for an evening dining outside in Albuquerque!
It means the world to me when people use the knits I make them. Just like Reader-Response literary criticism depends upon the reader to actively make meaning in a text, my knits need to be worn, or they are incomplete.
Whatever happened to one of your favorite knits? Where is it now?
Soon these shelves will contain my yarn stash in a tres organized manner. My studio has been in disarray for over a month while Neal worked on them between other projects, and I’m hoping to be caught up enough with grading and writing to settle in on Sunday.
Over the fall, inspired by my clothing purging, I sorted out yarn I decided I was not realistically going to knit. I’m not good at keeping the stash organized, although it is pretty contained. Here’s hoping that between the yarn purge and the new shelving system, I’ll find it easier to stay organized, which really means that I will find it easier to focus on the projects that once seemed beautiful enough to warrant buying yarn. I’ve cut way, way back on impulse yarn buying, and now I want to create with some of the lovely fluff that lives with me.
Ravelry is a fantastic place to store information about projects and yarn, but that requires taking lots of pictures and doing some data entry. Better organization in my studio may just lead to better online organization, which in turn will help me find good projects for the stash.
For now, though, the yarn destined for a particular pattern is bagged in a big zippy (with pattern), and the rest is stored by weight. It’s nice when I want to start a project in fingering to pull out the right bag and play around with what’s in it. I guess even when I’m well organized online, I’ll still want to touch and compare my yarns before committing to using one for a particular project.
How about you? What’s your yarn-storage method entail?
My librarians cull interesting books for a special shelf. I always look there first.
Oh, how I love my library! I still remember signing my first library card. What a thrill! I read everything, and I mean Every. Thing. in the children’s section of my childhood library. My mom, who had worked at the library when my oldest brother was a baby, cut a deal with the librarians, through which they would guide me through the adult section of the library, helping me to select age-appropriate books. I would take out as many as I could carry, and in the summer, sit under the tree at the bottom of the hill near the library’s parking lot and read, read, read until my mom finished running her errands and picked me up again.
Later, during my lean years in Verplanck, New York, my ex-husband and I visited our library every few days. We couldn’t afford to rent movies, but oh, how we loved watching them. Fortunately, our library had lots of new releases and plenty of classics to keep us entertained. We took out loads of cds, and of course, books.
Since the mid-90s, I’ve been part of a college/university community either as a student, staff member, or faculty member. I’m happy to have not only my fantastic public library available to me, but also an academic library. The world is at my fingertips!
I guess I’ve covered a lot of my reasons To Use the Public Library, but in case you prefer list form, here goes:
1. Books. For free!
2. Movies. For free!
3. Music. For free!
4. Audio books. For free!
5. Browsing shelves. Isn’t it fun to discover books you didn’t know existed?
6. Free wifi. I don’t use it, but it’s nice to know it’s there.
7. Computers and printers to use. There have been times when I’ve been without either or both, and it’s a comfort to know I can print documents (for a small fee) or check email if I need to.
8. Downloadable books. My pal Rae told me about this feature, and it’s been great to access books from my bed.
9. Magazines. For free! I’ve tried to cut back on subscriptions, but I still enjoy reading magazines.
10. Information about cool stuff going on. I enjoy perusing the posters and brochures near the library’s entrance. I learn about all sorts of cool events I wouldn’t otherwise hear about.
***
Oh, yes, it’s still Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and today’s theme is all about skills. As I consider the body of my crafty work over the last year, I’m hard pressed to determine what new skills I’ve learned, but I do have one I’ve honed. I’m gaining confidence in designing hairpin lace patterns. I’ve got a number almost ready to share, and I’m super proud to have published the Picnic Mitts pattern in Craft Sanity. It feels like a real tribute to my mom and to my heritage as a crafter!
How about you? What skills in your crafting have you developed in the last year?
It’s difficult to chose a favorite yarn. As Princess Anne begins her pat speech in Roman Holiday, “…each in its own way…” Yet there have been some standouts. Foremost is the yarn that Scout custom dyed for me for my wedding shawl. The Zephyr wool-silk is a great beginner’s lace weight. It’s not as sticky as Kid Silk Haze, but it is sticky enough to enable the novice lace knitter some leeway when trying to fix a dropped stitch. I wouldn’t generalize lace weight yarns as workhorses, but Zephyr really is!
Selecting a yarn I’ve disliked is more challenging. If I don’t like a yarn, I shun it quickly. Life, as the cliche goes, is too short to knit with less-than-fabulous yarns. The one thing that comes to mind also reveals me for the yarn snob I am: squeaky acrylic. A few years back I had a lot of fun making amigurumi, and I purchased yarn that didn’t feel or smell like yarn should. I hated every moment of working with it, but I wanted to make my crazy octopus princess. As soon as she was completed, I threw the remaining yarn into a bag to donate!
How about you, yarny? What would your tale of two yarns include? The good? The bad? The beautiful? The ugly?
I knew Scout's 40th birthday was on the horizon, and since she is not only a good friend but also an amazing hand dyer, I decided the most fitting gift would be something knit from her yarn. Because, you know, she doesn't really knit so much any more. Ahem.
Knitting is how I met her, though, and even though I had been knitting for six or seven years when we met, she taught me a lot, and the quality of my work improved because of her. Well, if you know her, you won't be surprised that she kind of laughed at my wonky gauge for a while before she insisted that I learn English style knitting in order to produce items that would not swamp their recipients. She was right.
What to make? What to make? That was the dilemma. Then I thought about Mary-Heather's Simple Things Shawlette. Scout and Mary-Heather are pals, too, so how fitting, I decided, that she should get a gift made from her pal's pattern.
It's warm in New Mexico, but I hope when she needs a little something on her shoulders, she throws this on and knows how much love is in every stitch.
One sunny Wednesday last fall, I had lunch with my pal Amy. She squeezed me in between phone calls and moving trucks that were preparing to take her stuff to the west coast, to L.A. where she had landed an exciting job. We vowed not to cry, but as I drove away, I could barely see the road.
Amy and I met back in our New York days. Her mother-in-law is a professor at the college where I worked for many years, and one day as Dr. C. and I chatted, she said that I really should meet Amy, that we would hit it off. We were both married to musicians, both writers, both into fashion. Dr. C. is a good matchmaker. Before too long, we met, and a friendship was created.
Months into our friendship, my ex-husband and I separated. I lost several friends, some because they thought they had to pick a side, some because that is just what happens in divorce, I suppose. Amy managed to walk the line gracefully, though. She was kind to me when I needed to share my sadness, but she never spoke ill of my ex. She encouraged me when I decided to apply to MFA programs, even reading a shitty draft of my shitty first novel and giving me good feedback on it. She gave me my first taste of being taken seriously as a fiction writer.
There were other firsts: my first Kate Spade sample sale was with her; my first sushi (on the train…what fun) was with her. Amy was the only person among my friends and family to attend my first public reading of a story. She stayed in the city after she'd finished a long day's work, listened to a story that probably wasn't that good at the time, cheered for me.
When I moved to NM, we kept in touch a bit, but not as much as either would have liked. Then I discovered something wonderful: Amy had moved from NY to MA, to Northampton, only a 45-minute drive from me when I was at Neal's house.
Suddenly, living in CT, which had seemed like a kiss of cultural death to me (still does on occasion. I confess to snobbery) was not as bad. My writing pal, my fashion pal, my pal who had known me in that other life would be close by.
But now she's far away again. So after I wiped tears away as I started my drive home from that lunch last fall, I did what any self-respecting fiber fanatic would do: I stopped at Webs to pick up a few skeins of yarn to make something for Amy. Something that would let her know I love her.
That's what we crafters do. We put our sadness, our love, our friendship into every inch of a scarf. We create a visceral way to share our feelings, to keep ourselves close to those we miss.
Tomorrow the bi-coastal scarf will be in the mail, wending its way to that other coast. I hope every time Amy flips it around her neck, she thinks of our fabulous times together and hopes, as I do, for more of them.
What girl can't use a cute pair of shoes? Inspired by Sarah's adorable Saartje's Booties in angora, I made these for a new baby girl. The buttons are my favorite part–I totally want to knit a close fitting cardigan and use the same buttons on it.
We've had such a pretty fall weekend here in Connecticut. I hope we have the same weather in Rhinebeck next weekend. Yesterday after I finished up some grading and Neal some renovating, we hopped on our bikes and did a quick 14 miles on our nearby bike path. As much as I feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere in this little town and miss my city life, I am fortunate to have so many great places to play. Neal took Africabike on the path while I rode Trixie Trek, and he fell hard for the fun, fun ride she provides. I think there may be another townie bike in our future.
I'm off to do more grading. I reward myself every few papers and after really painful-to-read papers with a few rows of knitting. Hope your Sunday is restful and rewarding, too!
I'm usually more of a Guinness girl, but I couldn't resist a little something different.
The Clapotis and I had a little bit of a spat. Okay, I got frustrated by knotty yarn and knowing that I could not finish for Rhinebeck unless I gave up, oh, everything else I do day to day. Last weekend I cast on for Dandy using the Green Beer I purchased from Beth at Sugar Spun Yarns. The color had the girls at SnB cooing, and the yarn's springiness has made knitting a pure pleasure. Beth has more of her fabu handspun for sale–she's assured me that the Honey Mustard is from a similar batt and spun just like the Green Beer. I just nabbed a little Candy Corn from her because I discovered over the summer that orange is my new pink.
This weekend I'll be back in the grading frenzy. I have a really nice group of students this year, even if the first paper I read had me shouting to Neal lines that were so fraught with meaninglessness that I had to stop for a few sips of Green Beer to relieve the pressure that threatened to make my brain drain from my ears.
Also? I'm a little worried about the situation with NASA crashing into the moon. I mean, I know they are smart people and all, but I can't help feeling alarmed, like this is going to set off the plot of a bad Sci-Fi novel.
Finally, I'll leave off by saying that I'm thrilled about President Obama winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The haters may get off on saying that he hasn't done "anything" yet, but I think a reading of the committee's statement makes it clear that the President was an excellent, timely choice for the prize.
Enjoy the weekend! I'm looking forward to plowing through my grading and taking those Green Beer breaks regularly!
It was either this or a picture of Coco with a Q-tip hanging out of her mouth like a cigarette, a move my cat used to make all the time. Just this week, the pup developed a penchant for Q-tips straight from the bathroom trash. Funny how she was all trained not to be a garbage picker and now she is again. Even funnier is how a tiny little dog can stick things that seem too big for her in her mouth to hide them. Like big chunks of bark. She sneaks them into the house, runs to a safe spot where the big dogs can't reach her and chews away.
So, the picture. Taken with George, my iPhone. I saw this tutorial about 15 minutes ago and decided to convert an Old Navy stretchy long-sleeved t-shirt into something more useful. It's cozy, all right, and will be perfect over a tank top while I sip coffee in my pjs on these chilly (I'm NOT complaining) mornings. A second benefit is this: it can act as a mock up of a Featherweight Cardi, which I want to make. I wasn't sure about the style, what with my slim back/large chest figure, but I think it may work. I don't know. I'll keep my new t-cardi on for a while and see how I like it. I do know that I'm all about the sleeves stopping just above my elbows.
I better go wash my dishes. I've been avoiding it since I have to wash them in the tub. Having sleeves above my elbows helps. Don't you hate when you have long sleeves that you've pushed up and they roll back down just as you've plunged your arms into the pan of dishwater? Won't be a problem today!
This morning Spring hosted a baby shower for another of our friends, Therese. Since Therese will be moving back to Norway not long after the baby is born, the them was “books and booties”. I gave her one of my favorite books, the ever-delightful Green Eggs and Ham, and I crocheted a car seat blanket. A simple granny square was made more sophisticated by the beautiful Noro yarn. The rich colors motivated me to crochet just a few more stitches until I could see the next color emerge. The Ravelry project page is here.
