theknittyvritti

finally

 

I really don't remember when I started this sweater on size .50 needles. All I know is that it has been a very, very long time, and I am giving thanks that it is done.

I'm grateful that this sweater fits, that I like it, and that I had enough yarn to finish it. I'd say I had about 50 yards left when I was done.

I'm grateful to Sally Melville for her design, complete with grafted on, buttoned cuffs.....

 
And ingeniously designed collar, which is folded over into double thickness and grafted on as well.

 
And I'm grateful that I have something to wear for Thanksgiving. 

By the way,  although I didn't notice it at the time, the blog had it's third birthday on November 4. I haven't really been much for soliciting comments, but I do know that someone is reading, because Typepad shows me so. Just this once, I'd like it if you said hi when you stopped by. Have a great holiday.

 

 

order and chaos

 
When the needle and pins come out, the sweater is almost finished. My faithful attention to the classic shirt has finally produced a garment...or will do in just a few more hours when the last bits of finishing are.....finished.

Recall that I have been utterly faithful to this project. It's been difficult, no wonder, then, that the last few days have been filled with alternating bouts of sewing and selecting, swatching, and packaging new projects. Four in all.

Chaos is returning. And I am looking forward to it. Utterly.

 
There will be Ann Hanson's Bel Air, in Spirit Fiber Sunna. In a beautiful bottle green.

 

From Baby Cocktails, Dark and Stormy, in a red-black-gray Acero from Brook Farms. 

 
Amber Allison's cozy Fireside Sweater in Peruvia.

 
And Ostara, A Rene Leverington shawl in this limited edition Sundara silk lace.

I feel so organized as I assemble my project-pacs. I'm having a great time assigning yarns to projects, and I'm even entertaining a grandiose fantasy of making  more of these little parcels of potential.

Nagging at the edges of my awareness though, is the realization that these four are already going to wreak havoc, as each of them, pressing to be finished, competes for my attention.

That being said, I'm going to sign off and head down to the basement. I have an idea for some Colourmart merino.......

 

equipment geeks

Operations Man is an equipment geek. Like any guy, when he got interested in baking, he immediately ordered a raft of tools.

Me, I tend not to realize how efficient it is to have the right tool for the right problem. This in spite of watching OM get to the heart of the matter over and over by knowing what to use when.

 

Instead, I try to use my brain for everything. So I simply tried to obsess hard about whether I had enough yarn to make my sleeves as long as I wanted them. Try as I might, staring at the yarn and the already knit sleeve parts gave me no insight.

Although I have vaguely thought that a scale might be helpful for knitting, I never bought one. Fortunately, a scale is also helpful for baking, and OM has one now.

 
So I was able to try a new and more empirical approach to the problem.

 
This looks like pretty empirical evidence that I can make the sleeves as long as I want them, but oddly, I'm not believing it. The human brain is a sloppy machine......

 
At least mine is....

OM is baking everything. Including bialys, a favorite childhood comfort food. So even if th scale is wrong, I will be able to assuage my pain with his food.

I am loving being cooked for, I never thought this would happen.

slow knitting

 

Blogging doesn't lend itself to the projects I'm currently working on. There's no way to churn them out and throw them up on the internet. They are each large, complicated items knit on small, small needles. Working on them is making me think about all the things in life that just take time, that can't be rushed.  And how fast we all want everything to move, especially today.

Funny I should be thinking about this, since I'm also writing (for work) about a psychotherapy in which the beginning evidences of arriving at the end results, while they are here, took much longer than even I expected them to. It has been almost excruciatingly moving to witness as the combination of hope and willingness to take tiny steps has resulted in the beginnings of a certainty that the desired ends will be achieved. At times, watching this effort has almost brought me to tears. So much so that if the goal was never reached, the effort would stand as something beautiful and meaningful anyways.

I feel similarly about these projects. They are each in their own way so exquisite, the work is so pleasurable, that if they were never finished, I'm not sure I would mind. How long I wonder, would you be willing to stop by and visit them? Would I be able to convey the satisfaction I find in them? Are you willing to find out? Or do you need an end product, a finished object, to feel like something is happening?

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.....)