theknittyvritti

hanami's here

 

She's here! And I like her, although I did have my doubts about that transition while I was working on it. The two really different shawls do look nice together in the end.

My shawl is done in Jaggerspun Zephyr wool/silk. It was very inexpensive (try Sarah's Yarns), and great value, since it's strong, a pleasure to knit with, and dyed in such a way as to have the tiniest little bit of variation. And soft, soft, soft. I'll most definitely use this yarn again.

 

Here's a shot of that transition. Yes, it's a little strange, but I'm not going to be looking at the back of this much, and nobody else seems to mind it.

   

And here's a happy little accident. The ruffled edge is actually created by knitting two stitches into one one the fourth to last row, but I accidentally knit three into one. This produced a flouncier ruffle which I quite like and decided to keep.

On another note, just because I have the picture, allow me to show you the turkey that we called the supermodel. Just ignore that stray picture of the shawl, I can't figure out how to make it go away just now.

Named because of her long legs and small breasts, she (or he?) was a heritage turkey from the farm around the corner where I get a lot of my meat. I tried my best not to meet her before I ate her, and I think I was successful.

transitions

Whether you look up or you look down, there's evidence of transition. Fall is here, and winter is more of an anticipation than a memory. I tend to dread the passing of one season to the next, especially when we move toward winter, but once the transition is under way, I find things to like about it.  For now, I'm looking forward to holidays,  reading or knitting by a fire, watching snow out my window and the cooking I'll be doing--soup, stews, heavier warming foods. Dread is a phenomenon that I think about a lot.  I see a lot of it at work, and I tend toward it myself. At it's extreme, it's so wearing, and takes so much time out of a person's life. And often, the thing that is dreaded turns out nothing like we expect.

 

Hanami has had a transition as well. She's over half-way done. The basketweave half. The more difficult half. Someone asked me whether this would make a good first lace project and I would say that it does. Although there were a few rows (like lucky 13!), on which I got thrown over and over, it was overall not bad for lace. So I would say go for it. Nothing to dread here. 

stranger in a strange land

My lace projects, more than any other, seem to take on personalities of their own. The new one, the ever popular Hanami, revealed herself this weekend. Named for the Japanese cherry blossom, she is, well, a tourist.

Unfortunately for Hanami, she travels in my bag, which means that she has little control over her destination. No Radio City Hall or Metropolitan Museum of Art for this visitor. She goes where I go. And she makes the best of it, as I do.

This weekend, I volunteered to attend a soccer match . I managed to convince Hanami that these are major athletic events in our country.

She got pretty excited when she saw this guy. She's heard of David Beckham, and was somewhat disappointed to find out, that , no, he wasn't attending our game.

Hanami was impressed by the attentive audience. She came away with the idea that girls' soccer is to America what baseball is to Japan. So much excitement, people yelling, cheering, running up and down the sidelines....who could blame her?

Hanami enjoyed her balls' eye view of the proceedings......

And she loved stretching out on the"synthetic turf", whatever that is. At the end of the day, she is eager for her next outing. Maybe a supermarket? A trip around the block to walk the dog? Or if she's lucky, (make that, if I'm lucky), a yarn store? Oh, the places we'll go!