theknittyvritti

thermal's debut

Here it is, finished, and a joy to knit from beginning to end. Well, except for the learning curve on the dpn's, which could have happened on any project, so we can't blame thermal. It fits perfectly, and feels good on, disconfirming my fear that it would be suffocatingly hot or itchy. It's neither.

The details are worth noting. First is the interesting bind off for the front and back. It makes a nice transition between body and sleeve. As simple as it is, I had never done it before. There was one executive decision for me in this pattern. It was a bit difficult to figure out whether this same finishing was to be done on the sleeve cap. I decided not to use it, since I did not want a top of the sleeve cap that didn't have it. This way, the line of finish goes all the way around the armhole in a uniform fashion.

And one last look at the neck detail. I will replace these buttons for something more interesting, but this is what I could find locally. And I may add a snap closure to the top rib, because I may like the way the neck lays a little better if the ribbing closes. all in all though, a near perfect knitting experience. Thank you Cosmicpluto (aka Laura Chau), Mistress of the Knitting Universe!!!!!!

the ides of march

I know it's supposed to be one of those ominous days, and I hesitated to make it my deadline for thermal, but here it is, March 15th, and thermal is finished. It happened last night. No hubris, now, because it is, after all, the Ides of March.

I am waiting for Operations Man to wake up and get a little conscious, then I'll ask him to take some pictures. He is getting used to this annoying request, and before long, I think he'll be enjoying it, but for now, it's still an annoying request.  We're up in the Catskills, where the internet connection is not so great, and everything takes forever, so I will have to wait until tomorrow to post them.

In the meantime, High Test and I are planning a trip to the LYS up here--we've never been. There's a big hole in the stash drawer where thermal once resided, so it's perfect timing. In the meantime, I've got two mad exciting projects on the sticks, and, oh yeah, what's that, a paper revision to do?

Deal with self---one and a half hours on the paper, and the rest of the day is free. See you tomorrow!

kind of blue

Awful chin shot, but isn't it just like a woman to point out her flaw?

More importantly, this is the second last time that thermal will grace these pages. The neck edging is finished, the sleeves are almost done. Next time you see it, it'll be finished, which means that my relationship with thermal is going to change. Sure, I'll take it out of the closet regularly in the cold winter days, but things just won't be the same. Instead of being my constant companion, it'll be bonding with all those other sweaters on the shelves.

Thermal and I are both too resilient not to weather this change with grace.  And guess what just jumped into my work bag this morning? The alpine lace shawl, which is gunning for the position of next finished object. The challenge is to finish it in time for the blossoming of the huge magnolia in the back yard--it'll make a beautiful photo, the two of them together. Let's see if it can be done......

coffee, the paper, and...

Thermal grew all weekend, a little at a time, in between all the other things that needed or wanted to be done. Friday is the supposed deadline, and while I'm not sure it'll be finished by then, it won't be far from done. Here are the button band and buttonhole band, enjoying Sunday morning.

Life for Thermal will not be so wonderful once it is finished--it's been so many places during it's time as a work in progress, and as a sweater I'm afraid it'll see the light of day only once in a while.

get a life, girl

It's Friday morning, the beginning of my weekend, and this is where I'm at with thermal. It's creeping together at what could be considered either an impressive or an embarrassing pace, depending on how one thinks about knitting so quickly.

There is a side of me that would spend the entire weekend watching bad TV and knitting. Another side of me says, get a life. This weekend will be a seesaw between them. I'm in the zone where I'm eager to see the finished Thermal, and I did say something to myself about March 15th as a target date, but spring is in the air around here and it would be kind of nice to take a long walk. Maybe to the button store?

tolstoy

Tolstoy opened his novel War and Peace with the famous epitaph, "All happy families are the same, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way". He was explaining why happy families did not make great literature--there just wasn't much to say about them. Well, after thirty years of doing therapy, I'm not so sure that there are all that many different ways to make yourself unhappy, or for that matter, that happiness has to be such a boring state of affairs.

I do know, though, that it's not so easy for me to think of what to say about my relationship with Thermal anymore. It's going well. The pattern is still very understandable. Umm. Umm. That's about it. Fortunately, I think I'm going to finish it soon, so there's not even any deadline stress. I guess this does make for bad blogging, just like it would make for a pretty boring therapy session, and not even a very good fairy tale. No dramatic tension here.

It does, however make for great knitting. Call me boring, but I'll take a non-dysfunctional relationship with my projects any time.

just call me edward scissorhands

Thermal and I are in the more measured phase of our love affair--you know, when you must integrate positive and negative feelings about the object of your affection. I still love Thermal, but there are struggles. Mainly over these double-pointed needles (dpn's), which feel like having long spikes attached to my fingers. Since I am not a sock knitter, I don't have much experiences with dpns, and I've been struggling to figure out a way to use them that is smooth and rhythmic, relaxing, not like struggling to pet a porcupine. So far, it's touch and go.

I asked my friends on the Ravelry techniques board--a lifesaver more than once--for their secrets. MMmmm.

"Use three needles to hold stitches and one to knit them."Use four needles to hold stitches and one to knit them". "Put the needle you are knitting off of in front of the needle you are knitting onto". "Put the needle you are knitting onto in front of the needle you are knitting off of". "Start with the needle you are knitting onto in front then put it in back." The common thread? "Remember that you are only knitting on two needles at a time." Huh? I hadn't even thought of doing otherwise. the other common thread was to use bamboo needles, which fortunately, I was doing. Five, that is, I seem to like it better than four.

So I've developed a few strategies, none of them perfect. First is the flattened tube approach, in which I hold the knitting low and go.

                                                                                                                                                

Next is something I call the air tube method. Very similar, but the knitting is held mid-air, where the needles have a tendency to flop about a bit in unexpected ways.

                                                                                                   

My favorite technique is this one, in which I hold the knitting mid-air in the shape of a square and knit my way around it. There's something geometric and spatially pleasing about it. In my mind I call it the box-step, and sometimes I feel like I'm dancing around the needles with my fingers. I'm a romantic, like Edward. I'm sure it doesn't look as graceful as it feels, and neither did he.

In other words, keep going and you will find your own way to do this. Or you will learn to do a magic loop. Or you will learn to knit on two circular needles (Ruth, you dirty dog sock fiend, I see this is your secret!).

placket, placid, placate

After the recent harrowing experience of knitting the Ruffled Cardigan, I have been soothing myself with Thermal. Anyone who has been on Ravelry for more than two hours probably knows Thermal--seems like everyone has one. There's a reason--no there are reasons for this. First, it's one of those genius simple ideas that no one seems to have thought of before Laura Chau designed the pattern. Second, it's a free pattern (on Knitty.com), which seems a shame, because it's worth buying. Third, it is one of the most beautifully written patterns I've ever seen. With little warnings like "read ahead" when things are about to get complicated. Genius. If you follow it, you will have a sweater. And you will probably not have a nervous breakdown.

One of the things I've noticed in reading other's accounts of their Thermal experience is that the sweater done in a wool/silk blend tends to stretch out of shape. I want a snug sweater to wear with a certain skirt that has never had it's own sweater, so I'm knitting it in a 100% wool by Ella Rae called Classic. I'm somewhat obsessed with finishing it in time to wear it this winter. Dark and dreary days have been keeping me inside lately, so I may make it. Target date: March 15th, hopefully just in time for one of those great March snowstorms that sometimes grace us before spring arrives.

thermalopolis

The world is Thermal's oyster. I take it everywhere I go. Thermal went to Palm Beach last weekend, and now it gets to come with me to work, every day this week. (Thermal is discreet, and will never tell the stories it has heard in the secret space of the office). I appreciate the wonderful, mindless ease of the waffle stitch, stretching on for the equivalent of of miles and miles. But it looks like there may be trouble brewing for me and Thermal.

I have been reading ahead on the lovely and explicit directions, and have discovered that the sleeves are knit on double pointed needles. Something I conveniently didn't face when I chose Thermal. And something I'm not looking forward to, as double-pointed needles, in my opinion, are the Devil's instrument.

Hopefully, I'm mature enough to take the good with the bad in this relationship, hopefully, my love for Thermal will not be too much damaged by the tensions that are likely to erupt while I work on the sleeves.

Did you ever notice that your relationships with your projects are a little weird? (Hoping I'm not alone here). We all know about anthropomorphizing--imbuing animals, like pets, with human qualities. But this is a step forward into what can only be called a schizotypal delusion (as close as I can get to an accurate diagnosis after a quick perusal of the DSM-IV-Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, that is, the compendium of mental disorders). I guess I know that I don't really have relationships with my projects, which means that I'm not totally crazy. But wait, I think I hear Thermal protesting----gotta go!

when knitting imitates life--or vice versa

This is my thermal sweater. After some considerable investment of time on it, I've decided that I need to make it one size smaller, so the one on the left will get frogged, while the one on the right just isn't much to look at.

Perhaps there's something in the stars, but it seems like this week has been the week of going nowhere fast. A few months ago I submitted a paper for publication, and when I returned from vacation, there was a long letter basically saying that while one reviewer loved it as is, another found it lacking in conceptual depth and development. The editor who was assigned to it, and the tie-breaker, also felt that I had failed to achieve my stated goals, and while they encourage my re-submitting it, at this time, they are rejecting it.

What can I do? I guess I'm starting over, both with the sweater and with the paper. I just don't feel done with either one, although at this point I don't know if either one of them will ever see the light of day.

I'm going back under my rock now.......