theknittyvritti

tying up loose ends

It's been a busy year, too busy by far for the blog, or my knitting for that matter, to flourish.

I did have a burst of knitting energy over the last week. I have given myself permission to delay work on professional projects until next year. That has enabled me to focus on a few other things, reading, knitting, house projects. And most, happily, I have finally finished my pair of Soft Mit gloves.

When I made the last glove, the dog was still with me. That means it was over two years ago. I apologize, I know this is a bit sad, but around here time is measured in dog years as well as calendar years.

Now there is a new dog, with an impressive snout of her own.

Sorry, it took two of us to get even this picture.  I know it doesn't really show much of the  glove, but Op Man and the dog have limited patience for the camera. And even tho' I'm showing the same hand, there really are now two gloves. They are identical and conveniently interchangeable. And identically adorable and sensational-feeling on the hand.

Maybe 2012 will be the year that this style takes off.....it's brilliant, an elegant, mitten that provides some needed dexterity in the cold. I've never understood why so few people have been moved to make them.

 A short re-cap of the year:

IntSweMoDo 2011 was a total flop. I finished four sweaters and plan to frog two of them. I'm not sure how that happened, but I suspect it had something to do with also finishing two very impressive and time-consuming shawls, and more hats and gloves than usual.

I have signed up for IntSweMoDo 2012.

This last partly because of another failure, my really quite resounding failure to reduce my stash this year. Since I tend to buy in sweater quantities, IntSweMoDo may be a saving grace.

I will never make any resolutions about stash reduction again. In fact, I may never make a resolution again.

That being said, I hope that your 2012 is filled with promise and possibilities.....

 

belly up to the bar

 
We introduced the fountain in the park to the dog last week. She now drags us over to it after her park time every morning, anchors herself to it with her huge paws, and drinks like a soon-to-be drunken sailor for as long as we let her.

In other news, sweater coming soon......just needs to be sewn and steamed. Looks like it might be wearable.

 

relaxation

 

After a hectic round of medical scares (we are all fine!!) and heavy work obligations, we are now relaxing. Some of us can't remember where the comfortable chairs are........

static

 

Seems like nothing ever changes around here. Snow, snow and more snow.

Even the dog is tired of winter.

 
There's still about a foot of icy, hard snow everywhere I look.

Yes, it's great knitting weather, but there is little to show for it. As Jeff Probst says to the Survivors (have I mentioned that I've seen every season....Dr. KV does not approve of my low-brow tastes), "I've got nothing for ya...go back to camp." Everything I'm working on is really very mid-project, and not very photogenic at the moment.

 
Okay, one beauty-shot of the whole lot. Only because I realized how beautifully the yarn, bag and even stitch markers coordinate. But I'd best go back to my knitting. I miss having something to say, but I've never been silent for long, so stay tuned.

 

single-minded

 

It is very difficult to say "no" to the dog when she wants something. Imagine this face (minus snow, that comes later) in your face at seven a.m. You are warm in your bed, barely awake. It's ten degrees outside, but she couldn't care less. After all, that built-in fur coat means that she barely registers the extremes of cold.

One of the reasons I ultimately opted for childlessness was my suspicion that I would utterly resent the obligation to take my child on play dates. I wanted my schedule to be mine. At fifty-five, I am finally mature enough to cater to the needs of another being. So I hop out of bed, cursing loudly, put on layer upon layer of clothing, and take my dog on a play date. 

 

It's a huge daily play date, every  morning before nine, with dogs from all over the neighborhood. She loves it so much that she screams with joy when she arrives, then spends about an hour running madly from one group of dogs to another. Although getting there is a bitch, it makes me happy to watch her so happy. Perhaps in a few years, I will be ready for a human child....

 
Or perhaps not. I hear they require considerably more than an hour a day of entertainment. Which would take me away from my own single-minded pursuits. Like this sweater, which has taken up most of my weekend. It's the kind of quick and simple knit that brings out  that desire to have the world just...go away...until it's finished. Or a desire to learn to knit in ten degree weather while smiling at a German shepherd lost in her own obsessive play?

 

she is learning patience

 

The dog turned two today. When we adopted her, we were warned about the terrible adolescence that she was going to have, the way she was going to test us and try to dominate us,  but my impression is that she quite likes being a good girl. After all, it does result in cookies.

 

While she is learning to wait, I am learning about the pleasures of instant gratification, something I have deprived myself of for too long. When I was in grad school, we studied a series of experiments that tested people's ability to defer gratification. Those who were able to turned out to achieve more. As you know, I have more than demonstrated my ability to defer the gratification of a new sweater by knitting something ridiculously complicated.

Turns out, though, that I quite like not waiting. This sweater took two weeks, has no seams, could knit itself in the dark...

 

The only arguably complicated aspect of it was the three buttonholes, but really, I think that's pushing it. This would be a great first sweater if you've been too afraid to try one. Although it may be a bit misleading about what is involved in sweater construction, since I've never seen anything quite like it.

 

There she is, the birthday girl....and to think I was afraid of her when I got her.......

i really do knit

Look, I realize that there has been a lot of filler, if anything at all, on these pages recently. It's not that I'm not knitting, it's what I'm knitting that's creating a paucity of knitting-related material to feed the blog.

Case in point, my classic shirt, from "Mother-daughter Knits". I chose to knit this one on size zero needles, with a patterned stitch, creating hours of work for myself. I don't really mind, but when you are making things like a double sided collar (pictured above in it's unassembled state) in this fabric, a fast finish is the last thing you're going to see.  I am very much enjoying this project, there's just not a lot for you to enjoy as a spectator. Still, I did not want you to miss the ingeniousness of the collar, which is the pinnacle of how one might combine tailoring and knitting in my opinion. And bear with me as I fill in the spaces with dog pictures or reports on other people's activites......along with occasional evidence of my progress.

(and there is a bit of a stealth project also going on, but i fear i have miscalculated the knitting time on that on, so don't be checkin' in daily for it.....)

peripatetic

Peripatetic. It literally means to move hither and yon. To learn why, go here. It's also how I feel, given my inability to focus on one project. I'm going to spare you the pictures of three more works in progress, trust me, they exist. And I have been moving from one to another, in no discernible pattern. Peripatetically.  While this has been perfectly satisfying, it makes poor blog-fodder.

The dog is anything but paripatetic. She's utterly focused on just a few things, one of them being her red Kong balls. And she's a genius. Last week, after a week downstate, she ran into the house and ran to a kitchen cabinet where the balls had been put for the first time and began leaping up and down. We of course, forgot that we had put them there, and couldn't figure out why she was carrying on. Genius.

a little work, a little play

Yes, it's been 100 degrees, but the animals still have to earn their keep.

 

The dog helped out with the latest construction project before it got too hot.

 

Then she moved inside for a little secretarial work.

 

The Yarn Eater stood sentry most of the morning.

After their shifts were done, there was still time

 

for a little rest

 

and relaxation.
 

 

snow day

 

After a long walk in a beautiful snow, some of us get to rest. Others are going back out to buy dog food and toys.

There will be a finished object next week.........

Happy holidays everyone! I hope you've had a wonderful year.