Tricotomania and more

I’m a big fan of public schools. Although there are some public schools in some areas which are doing badly, I think much of what is said about the quality of education in them is not well thought out. It’s become a widespread belief not based in the facts about the particular public schools in the particular area under discussion. Furthermore, taking your kids out of them only serves to make them worse. Middle class parents are more likely to fight to make them better. And when middle class parents aren’t sending their kids to public schools, support for the taxation levels required to support them properly declines.

One of the important aspects of public schooling, in my opinion, is that the funds get distributed to all kids. Our city has recently merged with the suburbs (who used to have their own municipal governments) and the advantage of this is that the tax base of the whole contiguous area gets used to support services for the whole area. One of the problems with inner cities in the US is that they are separate entities from their surrounding suburbs. So the taxes of the (relatively) rich folks in the suburbs only support the schools in the suburbs, and the schools in the (relatively) poor areas, only have the taxes of the (relatively) poor inhabitants to support them.

My daughter goes to a school in a reasonably well off neighbourhood. Not swishy, by any means, but most of the kids in her school are not suffering. My brother teaches in a school with a high refugee population, lots of kids whose first language isn’t English, and most of whom do not have lots of resources at home. He runs Canadian Tire money drives to buy basketballs and stuff for the gym. The ability to raise lots of funds from the parents in his school is pretty limited. But they focus on giving the kids a good education.

I’m starting to get really annoyed by the number of fundraising activities being run at my daughter’s school. From the School Council minutes you’d think there wasn’t a book in the place and we had to raise all this money to provide the necessities of a good education for our kids. There actually isn’t much sense of why we are raising money or what our target is. It is almost as if that is what School Councils do and let’s think up how many ways we can do it. I am wondering whether all those girls who were cheerleaders and on the yearbook committee and otherwise into ’school spirit’ at highschool have just transferred their energies to their kids’ school. Like somehow school is the centre of their world and all their activities focus on that. I wasn’t part of that crowd in high school and have no desire to be part of it now.

One indicator that I might be on to something here is a recent questionnaire that came from the School Council. One question asked how long my family had been in this school. I crossed that off and wrote “child”. Even if I had more than one child, it wouldn’t be my ‘family’ that went to school; just my children. Another is that several years ago I was in Vancouver for about a month and was renting a basement apartment. My landlords sent their daughter to a private school. One day the mother was making Rice Krispie squares for a bake sale at school. My reaction was that if I were paying fees for my kid to go to a school, surely I would be spared having to fundraise, too. But it seems that even there, fundraising is just part of what goes on.

I am not the least bit interested in making sure my daughter gets a better education than other kids. I want her to get a good education. But I also want other kids to get a good education. And fundraising at the school level means that those kids from families who have the resources to provide extras at home, get extras at school, too. And those kids who come from families who don’t have much, have fewer resources in their schools, too. I’ve explained this to my daughter and tried to help her decide which fundraising activities we will support and which we won’t. I want her to learn how to pick charities that she wants to support and to give generously to those, rather than feel that she has to give to every charity someone asks her to support.

In case you think I am leaving the education of my child up to others and not participating in her education, this is not the case. But education is about more than school. I do participate in her education and those discussions about charity are part of it. I take her to museums. I help her pursue passions that are not part of the Grade 3 curriculum (like history). I teach her to knit and spin and bead and any number of other crafty things. I don’t think that the school is remiss for not having these things. And I don’t particularly want to participate in her schooling or become part of a school community.

My frustration comes from the fact that I actually think the school is good. I live in a country/province in which taxes are not appallingly low (no apologies to any Americans or Albertans who think all taxes are too high). It is inevitable that we will disagree about the precise proportions of our tax dollars spent on various services but the schools around here seem well maintainted, class sizes are pretty small (under 30), and the books and other resources are there. My daughter’s school has lots of resources (including a library AND a librarian). And small class sizes (she’s not been in a class of more than 25 yet). Maybe people have unrealistic expectations of schools, too.

So this wedding, for which the grey shapely tank is being knitted, is just over 2 weeks away and what am I doing. Not knitting, that’s for sure.

The one thing on the shopping list for Rhinebeck was a spindle so I could reclaim the one I bought this summer and actually do a bit of spinning. All is now well. Freya is using the new one. That woman who commented that she will be better than I am before I know it and I will try very hard not to hate her for it had something. I won’t hate her. And she doesn’t stick with it very long. But she’s doing fine.

But I have been spinning. I finished up the white corriedale that I had with me on the trip. That is now plied with the skein of singles I spun up before the kid stole the spindle in September and I have 2 skeins (approx 70 yds each) of some rather nice yarn (about 13wpi though I’m not convinced it’s that even). I’m thinking hat. But also dye (first).

After that I did some little samples of the 2 I bought at Rhinebeck. Actually, I did that after spinning the 2nd skein of singles and before plying it so these were my first experiment with plying. I tried out that Andean plying Lee Ann was talking about. Looked it up in Priscilla Gibson-Roberts High Whorling. I like it.

Someone has now knit a doll scarf with those wee skeins. The orange and blue look very nice together. I am told (by the little person) that this is because they are right across from each other on the colour wheel; and that ‘complimentary’ is hard to remember because it is such a big word. In any case, that particular bunch of blues and that particular orange look very nice together.

And then, while that second skein of Corriedale was drying, I started spinning up the 50% Angora, 50% Romney that I picked up this summer before I even had a spindle because it was so soft. It is in 3 very loose batts and the total amount is 95g. I started out thinking I was probably being optimistic that there would be enough to knit anything useful but I was hopeful that a skinny lacey scarf might result.

A couple of hours on Monday night (before CSI Miami) and then the better part of yesterday morning was spent spinning and plying one of those batts. I got a nice plied skeing of approximately 90 yards! 19 wpi. Lacey scarf, here I come. I started another one last night and it is drying as we speak. I think my spinning is getting a bit quicker, too.

I did discover what Lee Ann was talking about with the middle finger though. Wrapping all that yarn around my hand did create a bit of a circulation problem but it was temporary. The bunny also sticks to itself a little bit which can be frustrating when it isn’t strong enough to cope with the little tug and breaks while plying. This is an easy repair though. The real frustration is when you can’t see the end.

So maybe if I spin up that last bat (for 3 skeins of bunny/sheep stuff) I can go back to knitting. Well at least temporarily until that damn top gets done and I have something to wear to the wedding.

I’ll knit tomorrow night for sure. I’ve been invited to join a bunch of folks for a crafty night in the pub. I thought about bringing the spindle but Mat pointed out last night that I am clearly incapable of spinning and drinking beer. So that’s out. Knitting it is. I have tried it. It combines well with drinking beer. And the pub we are going to has very nice beer, thank you very much.

Just to remind you there will be no photos. I did take a camera (the old fashioned kind with film) and took a grand total of 2 photos (both the same shot) of the little girls. That’s it. But you didn’t really expect it of me anyway.

My main reason for going to Rhinebeck was to meet people in person. I’m not good at this whole meeting on the internet thing. Well, I’m obviously good at it because I’ve made some friends that way but it still feels a bit odd. People who emigrate to move in with or marry folks they’ve met on the internet amaze me. And within that, I find that e-mail feels more comfortable than blogs. I read blogs and comment but unless there has been at least some e-mail correspondence it seems even more odd. Maybe it’s the two-way communication part.

So Rhinebeck was an opportunity to be in the same physical space as some of the folks I have been corresponding with by e-mail and whose blogs I read. In particular, I wanted to meet Cate (who enabled this blog and the spinning and who hooked me up with a local blogger with whom I got a lift down there) and Sara.

Given my goal, Rhinebeck was an amazing success. All my pre-trip jitters were uncalled for. We all got on well. My kid and Sara’s kid spent the ENTIRE day together on Saturday and were giggling way too late into the night. (A sleepover was involved.) Walkie-talkies are the best parenting accessory ever, particularly in a safe closed environment like a Sheep and Wool Festival. They spent some time with us but when they got bored they just went off and did kid stuff (hide and seek in the hay maze was one option but they found others). The nutritional value of the weekend was dubious (lots of fries and pizza) to the extent that my kid was demanding we eat somewhere that had salad on Sunday evening.

Cate may be a great enabler but I can vouch for the fact that she isn’t pushy. I had to ask her to enable some fibre purchasing. I now have some very pretty wool and mohair that will eventually make a nice scarf for my mom (the colour of her winter coat is in the mix) and possibly a hat and mitts since Cate, like me, clearly likes to err on the side of too much. More importantly she gave me some good tips on what might be easier and harder to spin. And I got an outside opinion on the quality of my spinning (which I had learned from an illustrated article in Spin Off).

Cate had also enabled the trip by introducing me to Justine. I did have a minor pre-trip panic about spending 8 hours or so in a car with folks you’d never met before. What if we didn’t get on? And I was bringing an 8 year old! Again, everything was fine. And Justine had also invited Tara from the stitch ‘n’ bitch. It worked great. I now know some folks right here in town. By next year, I should be more confident driving on highways and have my full driving licence so we can take the station wagon.

Cate had also arranged for Cassie to meet with us on Saturday morning. It was good to put a face to a name though I wasn’t concerned about finding lots of time at Rhinebeck to chat to Cassie. I have to go to NYC in mid-November and had already arranged to get together with her then, booking my flight so that I have time to do so.

Stephannie and I also got a chance to meet at lunchtime on Saturday. We’ve had long e-mail discussions about jobs and kids and whatnot so it was good to finally meet her. She works for someone I knew in England which is really odd in a small world kind of way. Of course, the distance from Toronto to Ottawa is much shorter than either of us travelled to get to Rhinebeck so maybe we should get organized and meet somewhere closer. I suspect we will.

Briefly, I also met Joe, Mar and Franklin. Talking to Joe in person confirmed impressions for both of us. And despite thinking he doesn’t know much about kids, he had a great conversation with Freya. She complained to him about how I’m not finishing her sweater and he gave me some good tips on knitting sleeve caps top down without a pattern.

There were a few others on the way out, including Norma. I realized that I don’t read very many blogs at all. I don’t subscribe to bloglines but have a Bookmarks folder in Safari with about 25 entries that I read regularly. I’ve added at least one after this weekend but I’m not sure how much time I want to devote to reading blogs. Like I said, e-mail is more my style. Blog entries sometimes feel like the beginning of a conversation but the form isn’t really conducive to that interaction. Sometimes the interaction starts in the comments and continues by e-mail but how many people can you have those ongoing relationships with?

In conclusion, Rhinebeck was a great success. Although a bit of a trek, it seems perfectly reasonable to go again. I am tentatively offering to drive next year. I reserve the right to change my mind or to go somewhere closer (like Vermont). I might consider a spring festival. Maryland is too far away. Don’t even try. New Hampshire on the other hand…

I know, here I am again in less than 24 hours. Not so long ago you were lucky to get a post every couple of weeks. But that’s life. The blog topics sometimes come thick and fast. This one is related to the last one but you can read them in any order.

So today, bright sunshine, fully caffeinated, I decide to steam block and seam the pale grey Shapely Tank (link in last post) and then make decisions about borders. My seaming has improved greatly and today I did it sitting at the card table in the living room in front of a large south facing window. Great spot. My patience was working today, an absolute requirement for good seaming. And the kid gave my seams the best compliment ever — “Wow, you can hardly see where it is.”

Once seamed (and ends sewn in) I tried it on. Now, I’ve made versions of this pattern 3 times. I did a swatch and measured my gauge (though I may not have steam blocked the swatch) and I checked not only the scribblings on the pattern but the various notes for variations I had made on other versions. I do NOT suck at math.

The top is too big. It gapes at the underarm. Rather badly.

Luckily my patience is working today. I grab a couple of pins and try to work out what is wrong. I make a fold in the centre front and pin it. Better. I take it off and make a similar fold in the centre back. I pin in 2 places. I add a pin to the front. I put it back on. Much better. I try to work out whether the armscye is too deep but it’s probably okay. I haven’t got edgings on yet, remember. And I plan to do more than just a row of single crochet or something. I have enough yarn to actually KNIT and inch or so and I’ve got that Nicky Epstein book (see the last post if you haven’t been there yet). I digress.

So I sit back down at the table in good light with my pattern notes, a pencil, a tape measure and a calculator. I measure the new width across the chest. I measure the old width across the chest. I measure my actual chest. It was too wide anyway but I swear my chest is smaller than the last time I measured (though it has been this measurement in recent history; that could be a sign that I am losing a bit of weight, possibly a good thing).

I also checked the gauge. 22 sts to 4 inches. On my notes I have 23 stitches. I do some quick math. That would make a substantial difference when we are looking at a width of 22 inches (planned). It came out at more like 23 or 23.5 and my adjusted is more like 20.5 measured with the pins in (and aiming for 42 all the way around though given the nature of the yarn, I’m aiming for zero to negative ease). Clearly, though I don’t suck at math, I suck at measuring gauge swatches.

So I start recalculating and thinking I need to rip the whole thing out and start again and then I decide to check my hip measurement with my pants on since this top will be worn over those velvet pants. I measure it with the pants I’m wearing (chinos but not dissimilar style; that sort of finicky detail is probably what gets me in trouble but I just can’t be bothered to go upstairs and change) and determine that if I do the hip measurement the same as the chest measurement, this thing is going to pull and/or ride up at the bottom.

Measure my waist. Calculate stitches required using new gauge. The increases from waist to bust will remain the same but the hip to waist needs to double. Decide that that will look goofy if they are all on the side (every 2nd row instead of every 4th) so figure I’ll stick with every 4th but decrease at the side AND 6″ in for a bit of a dart. This design has a few short rows at the bottom so the edge is curved. [If this is a stupid idea, please say so in the comments. Explain your reasoning and give me some ideas about what might work better. Thanks.]

I then turned my attention to the armscye. Even though it wasn’t a major problem I had been ambivalent about the number of stitches cast off (as opposed to decreased) so I redesigned that a bit too. Then I figured out how the V-neck was going to work, and the back neck (which is a bit scooped).

So the math is done. My notes are updated so I know what I’m doing. And the upside is I only have to rip back to about 2 inches from the beginning. And take out all those lovely seams. I guess Nicky E. has to wait for another day to get any real use.

I hope this tale serves as a reminder that measurement is important and that being one stitch off in your gauge calculations can be disastrous. Will it mean I swatch more often? Not likely. Will it mean I always block my swatches? No, probably not that either. I do sometimes but sometimes I take a risk. Will it mean that I’ll make sure to measure my bust with the bra I intend to wear under the finished garment. Now, that is starting to get ridiculous. I’m just not that sort of obsessive with detail kind of person. Plan a bit and dive in is more my style. Mostly I don’t have to rip the whole thing out.

But it also says something about the importance of checking the measurements of your actual body even when you haven’t been trying to change them. (I don’t believe in dieting or worrying about my weight so that’s not what’s going on.) And the importance of checking your proportions in relation to the assumptions made in clothing design. In women’s clothing, it is usually assumed that your bust and hips are about the same. My bust is smaller (by a good 5 inches). Some people might have the inverse problem either temporarily due to breastfeeding or permanently due to being what some people call ‘well endowed’.

I still use short rows by the way. My breasts are big enough that sweaters fit better with that extra length in the front. But if your bust measurement is larger than your hips, you might find that in addition to short rows (to add length), you need some extra increases from the waist to the chest to add width. I’d be tempted to put this directly below the point of your breast. Don’t worry. They should end before they hit the actual point so you won’t be doing a Madonna impression circa 1989 (my dates are probably bad there but I’m sure you know what corset I’m referring to). The combined effect of the increases and the short rows should be similar to darts in a dress. Of course I haven’t tried this because my breasts are a bit small in relation to my hips.

I guess this new understanding of the shape of my body is going to lead to a bit of thinking about other stuff I plan to knit. That Classic Slant Cardigan doesn’t have any shaping built in (it relies on the ribbing, I think). But maybe I ought to add a bit of width at the hips and some side decreases so it doesn’t either pull like crazy across my hips or ride up. The colour will also go well with those grey velvet trousers or my grey tweed trousers both of which have a lower waistband. I am too old to be showing off my belly (and I’m a beer drinker so it isn’t really the belly to show off).

I hope my musings about measurement and my day of recalculating might help you work out how to make better fitting sweaters too. Cassie is right. Shawls are easier somehow.

Believe it or not I have 2 design-as-you-go projects on the go at the moment. Both have now come to a place where serious thinking will be required. Luckily that little flurry of paid work seems to have died down and I might have time for some.

Project 1 is for the kid. It started last year when Norma was documenting her stash and selling some stuff. She directed people to Theresa who was doing the same. Theresa had some pale blue chenille (if you click her Stashbusters link, it is the first thing on that page). The kid likes pale blue. Gap seemed to have a lot of cute chenille sweaters I wasn’t going to pay them for. The quantity was about right for a kid’s sweater. Pale blue chenille finds a home in my stash.

Jump ahead to the end of the summer and I get it out. I decide to just start in the round in 2×2 ribbing and see what happens. I actually have a bit of blue ribbon yarn that coordinates quite well so I started with 2 rows of that (and plan to put some at the bottom of the sleeves and maybe around the neck). I swatched a bit to get a needle size I liked. I cast on more than once to get the right circumference (I measured one of her tops).

I had a plan for something that had been mulling since I flipped through Hot Knits in the LYS one day and decided that nothing in there was worth the cover price since you could knit almost everything without a pattern. EXCEPT the dress that was basically ribbing that came to a neat basketweave cable thing below a V-neck (scroll down that link; it is the red one). That looked cool. I decided maybe this little sweater needed something like that. I tried it in a swatch (by the seat of my pants).

When I had several inches of body I spent an evening measuring a top that fit her well and decided where the armholes needed to go and how deep the armscye needed to be and how deep the v-neck should be. Then I spent some time charting my swatched cable and then fixing it. Nice chart now. Measured the gauge on the actual sweater and worked out when to start the cable.

In the process, I realized that if I knew all this at the beginning I would have cast on a different number of stitches. The ribs are going to reverse at the shoulder seam. and I’ve got knits next to the armhole on the front and purls on the back. Oh, well. No biggie. Live and learn. I am almost up to the top of the back (and need to decide when to bind off the neck stitches at some point). And then more paper and calculators need to come out while I plan the sleeve. I’ll probably knit it top down. Must consult Barbara Walker regarding sleeve caps this way.

Project 2 is the result of buying very nice velvet pants to go with the blue kid mohair and silk Diamond Fantasy Shawl. A wedding is upcoming. I took the DFS and the pants to the LYS in search of yarn to make a plain, v-neck, 3/4 sleeve sweater based on the Shapely T pattern I like and have used so often as the basis of designs. Came home with pale grey Dale Svale (in 2 dyelots but they are practically indistinguishable and I’ve used one for the front and one for the back) of which they only had 9 balls but they were on sale (since they won’t be carying it any more). No sleeves for this XL girl.

At the suggestion of the lovely woman in the LYS, I started with a provisional cast-on to enable me to decide on an edging once I knew how much yarn was left. I’m doing better than I thought. When I was in the LYS at the weekend buying needles for another project, I decided I needed Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge to help in the next phase. I have lots of Svale in other colours to swatch with without using up the precious grey. First I must block and seam. I intend to do all the edgings in the round (well, the bottom might be knit horizontally and joined as I go, but I’ll do the whole thing at once).

In between, I have completed one Go Leafs sock for my brother of the large feet. Worsted weight socks go fast. 2nd one started. The Shelridge Farm worsted is yummy soft and the colours are nice. I might have to spend more of my money there and make a sweater or two…

The kid and I made knitting needles on the weekend. Instructions in Melanie Falick’s Kids’ Knitting (a great book, IMO). Much fun was had and beautiful needles created for her projects. Wood is lighter (than metal which is what I have a bunch of) and you can make them a sensible length for the knitter or project. She’s swatching the Mission Falls and getting pretty good with the purl rows (newer to her) before starting on a baby sweater. Plan is to get it cast on to knit in the car on the way to Rhinebeck.