Tricotomania and more

I have a spindle. It rained while we were camping so we went to Gemini Fibres on Monday afternoon. I bought a granny spindle that weighs about 37g. It is some sort of light hardwood and very pretty. If I could find the tag, I could say exactly what.

I also picked up the summer issue of Spin Off (with a basic tutorial on spindle spinning — a pdf is available from the website) and some fleece. 100g each of corriedale and black blue-faced Leicester. The latter is lovely and soft and really nice brown colour. I’ve spun about 60g of it today. It is skeined and washed and hanging with a weight on it in my utility room as I type.

It is the first thing I’ve spun and I read some basic instructions and went ahead and tried it so it’s pretty uneven but I’m very happy with it. I might just knit up a 6″ garter stitch square to see what it’s like and make that bunny on the Heartstrings website. That seems a suitable project for my first handspun. I might have to order some more of that fleece as well (it was carded and everything, ready to spin).

I’m thinking about doing what Norma did last winter and spin up a bit of that blue stuff I bought to do a stripe around the cuffs of some thrummed mittens, using (some of) the rest for thrums. (I’m sure she did this with some spicey coloured stuff Ann sent her but there doesn’t seem to be photographic evidence in her gallery.)

I also picked up a copy of A Gathering of Lace while I was in there just because I’ve heard good things about it, it looked nice, and it was there. I probably shouldn’t be buying pattern books but stitch dictionaries and other reference books given how I go about this whole knitting business but there you are. I like other people’s patterns as references.

BTW, I survived the family party. I actually had a good time. My first cousins are quite a bit older than me and that, combined with the fact that we lived in Nova Scotia when I was a teenager, meant that we never built strong relationships earlier in life. Now that I am over 40 and they are over 50, the difference is hardly relevant (though it means that their kids are much older than mine). It was nice to chat to some of them.

I also met a second cousin whose existence I was only barely aware of though I know his parents a bit. He’s younger than me and was dreading this party more than I. His mother is kind of reticent about discussing his occupation so he was expecting to have to be guarded about it with the family. He was so pleased that I was happy to talk about it and didn’t care that my kid knew and all. He doesn’t do anything scary but he is a performer. And he seems to be good at drag (which he got into after dragging up at Halloween once) so he’s recently been touring a drag show. He sings his own songs and also has a whole bunch of stories he tells. Sounds fascinating. Like me, he’s not good with the high heels (”I prefer to impersonate lesbians. Then I can wear comfortable shoes.”). But he seems to be enjoying himself. Not making much money but that’s the actor’s life, I suppose.

So now we are home. School starts next week in our board. The kid is keen on the whole spinning thing and actually sat knitting for quite a while while I spun this morning. She also tried it a bit this afternoon before going out to visit some friends that have been away in Whitehorse for a year.

Things to Read

I’ve recently started buying the Guardian Weekly. Since returning to Canada, I have found it difficult to get into the habit of reading the newspaper regularly. The style of journalism is very different to what I became used to in the UK. And the country seems to be preoccupied with political issues that I find trivial or uninteresting and shockingly unconcerned with issues that I care about. I could do as my partner does and read the Guardian on-line (and other papers like the NY Times) but I really dislike reading the paper on line. My style is more to leaf through it looking at the headlines and photoes and then go back to read particular things in detail. I find it hard to browse online.

So, I came across a book review that some of you might find interesting. The GW reprints articles from The Washington Post and Le Monde as well as from its daily sister paper, and this one came from the Post. The book is a history of red dye, specifically cochineal but set in the context of other red dyes and linking it to a whole politics of the colour and colonialism and whatever. Well, you can read the review yourself but it looks pretty nifty.

… and on the topic of issues I care about, this book review was right above it in the GW. You may have to register to read it but registration is free, the email promotional stuff that might come of it is ‘opt in’ rather than ‘opt out’ and is clearly marked on the registration page so you shouldn’t be lining yourself up for unwanted e-mail. And it’s a good paper. Polly Toynbee (who wrote that review) frequently rights on issues of inequality and social justice. And Gary Younge is probably the best journalist alive covering race issues. He’s based in the US right now so often writes articles about the US situation or comparing the US and UK. You could learn a lot from him. I have.

Things to Knit

On the knitting front, I have both decided what to knit with the lovely red Manos and finished the back. I decided to do a sweater from the summer Vogue Knitting (no. 3 if you have the issue, can’t link to a photo since VK only have the current issue on their site). The original is in cotton but the gauge is right and I even swatched the pattern stitch (it has eyelets and tucks). They look fine, particularly after blocking. Yes, I blocked a swatch. Remember that. It doesn’t happen often. But the Manos has a really nice drape once blocked even though it’s thick and I’m taking Stephanie’s advice and knitting it a bit tighter than the ball band suggests (I’m using 4.5mm needles) to try to minimize pilling. Acres of stockingnette will be good for an upcoming long car journey, too.

I also knit a shawl for a friend. She had a rather traumatic pre-mature birth a few weeks ago involving an emergency ceasarean which she is still recovering from physically. Her baby is going to have to stay in the hospital for a couple of months though he breathes on his own and all that good stuff. I knit him (the baby) a couple of little hats with some leftover Svale. Very soft. Very cute. Apparently one of them matches his Pooh bear sleepers (that’s baby-gro for my UK pals). He wore it yesterday. We’re taking the shawl around later this morning.

That shawl was pretty quick to knit due to the acres of garter stitch and looks good. I did it in the alpaca and silk blend I got in Prince Edward County (made from local alpaca). Very soft. As you know from my previous post, I prefer a fiddlier lace thing but with a purpose in mind, this one was very nice. And I just love the shaping of Faroese shawls. I need to learn how to design one. I must say that I think I prefer the way that Lucy Neatby starts hers to how Sivia Harding does. But I’ll have to look at the two patterns in more detail to figure it out.

I’ve also started the Diamond Fantasy Shawl in some Fleece Artist Kid Mohair and Silk. The colour is what attracted me to the yarn in the first place and it is even better knit up. Although the ball band says 20sts/4″ on 4mm needles, it is knitting up very nicely in that pattern on 5mm needles (I’m a bit of a loose knitters so others might want to try 5.5mm). I learned from the folks on the GLBT knit list that the key thing to look for in decided a needle size for lace is the look and feel of the solid bits. So you can just cast on the DFS and knit the first point and see how you like it. If you want it tighter or looser, rip it and start again. No great loss.

I bought this pattern back in June when Cate was knitting it. It’s been sitting there while I think about what yarn to use and whether the heavier Fleece Artist will work, etc. In the meantime, lots of other people (including the harlot) seem to have found it, too. Yeah Cate for sending us all there. As you can see, from the above, I’ve also purchased other patterns from Sivia when I went looking at that one.

As always I’ve got socks in my handbag for the bus, waiting rooms, and other occasions where small portable mindless knitting is required. I’m doing spiral rib socks with no heels for the little one. The great thing about kids socks is that you can do a pair from one ball. Also my kid is very appreciative and likes wool socks.

I’ve started a chenille sweater for her too. I got some chenille from someone who was clearing out the stash last spring in a nice pale blue. I’m just doing a 2×2 rib. I used a bit of leftover ribbon yarn in a darker blue for 2 rounds at the bottom and will put it at the bottom of the sleeves and around the neck. I’m planning to do a bit of a crossover thing on the chest. A cable that just looks like the ribs are criss-crossing. I saw a dress like this in the Hot Knits book when I was browsing the book shelf at the LYS and tried it one a swatch and can work it out myself. I figure a V-neck will look good above that. We’ll see when we get there. I’ve pretty well decided to do set in sleeves (rather than raglan) because the raglan line will probably compete with the V and the criss-cross thing. So far I’ve measured her and one of her sweaters, done a swatch to pick the right needle size and work out how many to cast on and am knitting in the round in ribbing until I figure it’s about the right length. I’ll check it on her or next to her sweater when I get there.

Things to grow

I don’t grow things. I admire what my partner grows. And enjoy eating what he grows and cooks. But I must recommend eggplant/aubergine. The plants are beautiful. The flowers are beautiful (purple, decent size). And the fruit is beautiful. You could put these in your flower beds.

Kid stuff

I’ve been child-free this week. I put the kid on the train on Sunday to go visit my parents. They live in the Niagara Region but she’s too little (at to change trains so they picked her up in Toronto. She was so excited to go on the trian by herself and packed a bunch of stuff to do on the 5-hour journey. In the end she just played with her doll and looked out the window. You sign them over and all the unaccompanied minors sit together and my parents had to show ID to get her. All safe. One of the other kids had done this before and his dad bought french toast sticks to share. The world is actually a much safer and nicer place than the media likes to make out.

Family stuff

Like Cate, I’ve got a big family party coming up this weekend. Tomorrow we are off to Niagara for my uncle’s 80th birthday. I’ve decided to stay at a hotel. F. was given an option and has decided to stay with my parents (where she is already). My brother seems to have also decided to stay at a hotel and surprisingly my mother doesn’t seem to be freaking out. This is a good sign. My brother and I have had a conversation about counteracting my mother’s tendency to want us all there all the time. We have a plan with overlaps and one big family meal (breakfast on Sunday). Hopefully that works. It means that Mat and I might go for a nice walk on Saturday morning.

The big family party itself should be okay. My family isn’t that big. I have 3 first cousins. All are older than I am and very nice. I’m not sure who all will be there but it’ll be fine. And there will be beer. The biggest issue with that crowd is that they have a tendency to comment on your weight. I’ll ignore that.

After the party we are going camping for a couple of days on our way home. I’ve planned this so that we can incorporate a trip to Gemini Fibres. I’m going to buy a spindle. The kid is very excited about spinning, too. Might also pick up some fibre. Mat seems to be fine about all of this.

the end

Ok. That’s enough. I’m going to try to post more frequently and may even sort out my own account instead of sponging off Cate. Not likely to be more photo intensive as photography is neither an interest nor a strength. We go on holiday without the camera on a regular basis and when we do bring it we forget to take photos. When she was born, Mat had to go out and buy a camera so we could take photos. We didn’t take any photos of the kid’s 8th birthday party (a friend took photos of her 7th). Knitwear in progress isn’t going to happen.

There is a lot said about knitting as process. But I’m going to weigh in anyway. Personally, I’ve struggled a bit with this. Initially, I really needed a product with a defined use to justify buying wool and starting a project.

Then I started getting interested in lace. But I couldn’t think who I would make it for. I’m not terribly butch but I don’t wear much really frilly feminine stuff and lace seemed frilly and feminine to me. I also couldn’t imagine wearing a shawl. And although I’m a pretty good knitter (and really good at learning things from books and instructions), I was dithering about how complicated lace might be.

My first lace project was the Claddagh wrap by Alice Starmore. It is done in aran weight wool (I used Mission Falls) and the pattern is pretty easy to get the hang of so it goes pretty fast. I did it in a colour that would suit my MILs decor and gave it to her for her conservatory. She lives in the Lake District (in England) and the back wall of her conservatory is a dry stone wall so it is a bit drafty. Even if she wouldn’t use it, I figured some of her many guests might appreciate something warm around their shoulders. They use that conservatory all year for various social things including playing string quartets with friends.

Last summer, I decided to make Lucy Neatby’s Faroese Flower Shawl. In order to take the leap, I had to imagine who it would be for. I decided to knit it for my mother on the grounds that if she thought it was a bit old lady-ish, I could argue that she actually is an old lady (she will be 78 this month). But my main reason for doing it was to try a complicated lace pattern. I’d tried the doll size Faroese at Heartstrings to get a sense of the shaping. And the Flower Shawl was attractive because it was an all over lace with some variation (big and little flowers).

I didn’t tell my mom that I was making it. There were two reasons. One, I didn’t want her to tell me that it didn’t sound like her thing. Two, and probably more importantly, I didn’t want to feel under pressure to finish it. I figured that if I finished it by August, I’d give it to her for her birthday. If not, I’d give it to her for Xmas. Or the next birthday. I enjoyed the knitting of it so much that I gave it to her for her birthday last year. She loved it.

And it was the complicatedness of the knitting that I enjoyed. Having to follow the chart. Seeing how the marks on the page translated into ‘flowers’ in the lace. Learning to read the knitting. I also really like the shape but many of the Faroese patterns I see have substantial amounts of garter stitch in them. Boring to knit and not much to look at (though probably very practical). Maybe the Flower shawl isn’t very traditional but it was great fun to knit.

Since then I have done things like buy a skein of mohair from the sale bin at the LYS and make a simple shawl for myself. I wear it a lot in the winter when watching TV or when sitting around. You know those times when you are doing something relatively sedentary and the heating doesn’t quite feel like enough. The shawl makes a huge difference. So, I can now imagine myself wearing a shawl. And my 8 year old daughter also wants one. (That I’ll have to design myself, probably. Have to seen a pattern for a child-sized shawl?)

After the Faroese Flower Shawl, I started looking at other patterns and was really drawn to the Peacock Feathers shawl from Fiddlesticks. I thought about that off and on for a long time. Eventually I saw some nice fingering weight alpaca at Elann in a colour I liked and bought enough to do something like that. I ordered the pattern. And this spring I knit that shawl.

It is quite complicated. The pattern changes as the shawl gets bigger, partly mirroring the way that the peacock feathers are larger at the end of the tail than on the back of the peacock. I made beaded stitch markers to mark off the repeats so that the knitting of it was as pretty as the wearing of it. I ended up making a small diversion into making beaded stitch markers and sending some to friends. The shawl is huge but it didn’t really take that long to finish because I enjoyed it so much. It really was the process. The pattern was complicated enough that I had to follow the charts, mark off the repeats, count my stitches to make sure I hadn’t missed anything … but it was incredibly meditative to knit. After a while there were several repeats to a row so I didn’t need to keep looking at the chart all the way across.

When it was finished it was so big that I couldn’t block the whole thing on my queen sized bed. The tips were left unblocked (and later done with the iron — just holding it over the knitting and hitting the surge of steam button while stretching out the lace and trying not to burn my fingers). And it is really big on. But it is stunning. I’m now trying to find an occasion to wear it and something to wear with it. A very close friend is getting married in early November which might be a perfect occasion.

After this experience I just want to knit more lace. I’ve done a couple of scarves and recommend the summer issue of Vogue Knitting for a couple of patterns. I have a weird block about doing leaf lace in colours leaves don’t come in but I’m sure I will get over that sometime. I did an FBS though got somewhat frustrated that the central decrease in the basket is right slanting rather than centred. I gave the benefit of the doubt to the designer and assumed she intended it that way but wondered, all the same.

I have purchased both Folk Shawls and Best of Knitters Shawls and Scarves but am not finding myself drawn to many of the patterns. I have swatched a couple and find the shape of the motifs a bit off in some cases. Maybe it’ll take a particular yarn. I did do a smaller version of the Kimono Shawl from Folk Shawls in some Fleece Artist sock yarn. It is the same width as the pattern but just less than half as long. I’ve decided it is a baby blanket and given it to a pregnant friend (who thankfully doesn’t plan on pastel colours).

I’m having difficulty finding patterns I like though. ‘Easily memorized’ and ’suitable for the beginning lace knitter’ really put me off. I want to knit lace for the challenge and that meditative quality. This means I also tend to like things where the lace pattern changes as the shawl grows. Those patterns are harder to resize and, of course, I’m not one for using the recommended yarn. I think I could design something myself but designing takes a lot of time. And what I really want to do is knit, follow the chart, mark the repeats (with pretty markers), and watch the marks on the page get transformed into lace.

I have done a scarf designed by Sivia Harding that was suitably complicated and am tempted to do a second one (shorter) with the yarn left over. The only thing holding me back is the worry that it will be too short to be useful. I knit lace for the process but the product still needs to have some use, it seems.

I used the search feature on Elann yesterday to find interesting shawl and scarf patterns and ended up order just under $50 worth. Some of the more complicated ones are trying a bit too hard to be representational which was putting me of somewhat. Funny, since I liked both the flowers and the peacock feathers so much. I also just don’t get square or round shawls. Why do I want to knit something that has to be folded in half? I understand the limitations of the triangle but would like to see more in the faroese style, perhaps.

If you have any interesting lace patterns that you might recommend, let me know. I have about 2000 yards of some lace/fingering weight alpaca and silk I picked up in Prince Edward County that I intend to use for that purpose. I’m also debating whether the Fleece Artist worsted weight (500 yards) I picked up might make a nice shawl. Imagining lace in heavier yarns is harder but then I did that Claddagh wrap in aran weight.

Anything that would use up about 175 yards of lace weight cashmere would also be welcome. Or, if you have a slender neck and live somewhere where a scarf would be mainly decorative (and might not need to wrap around your neck), let me know. I could trade a lovely red cashmere beaded lace scarf for something….