Friday 30 October 2009
Why We Knit
Thursday 29 October 2009
On Mapmaking
Wednesday 28 October 2009
Information Overload
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Looking for the unknown.
I've enjoyed all the classes I have taken so far, the lace class, the combined knitting class, the fair Isle class and so on, and in each I learned what I was meant to learn, but often, there has been some special magic. Sometimes, it wasn't what I was supposed to learn that changed me. It was the unintended thing that has changed me more.
I took a class and learned that decreases lean the direction the tips of your knitting needles are pointing as you knit the stitch. That made life a whole lot simpler, in my topsy turvy, I'm not doing what you are doing to get the same thing done, world. Just these small words, the context the instructor said them in, changed how I look at all increases and decreases.
I took a class and learned that when doing colour work, purl with the hand I would commonly purl with and knit with the uncommon hand. It wasn't something that we were directed to do, just something small that I would not have thought of on my own. Or at least not until many, many tears had been shed.
I listened to an instructor teaching how to do an afterthought heel (I already knew the technique) but one small sentence changed everything about how I look at picking up stitches.
Sally Melville is here and I expect to to learn a whole lot about knitting from her. I'm taking workshops that ought to help me adjust patterns and make things fit me, rather than some 'normal' body out there (Just who is that 'Normal' everyone keeps sizing things for anyway? I want to meet her and talk to her about what she is doing to the rest of us.)
The magic stuff takes a little longer. Time plus working with the new skills you learned make the unintended magic become clear. When it happens, it is like getting the class all over again. You take out all the bits and words and things you learned upfront, refining and refocusing them and make everything, every word come alive in just a little different way.
In some ways, today is exactly like every other day. It is unknown, but, like most days, I have a rough outline of the form of my day. Class at 9:00, lunch, class at 1:00 (ish). But because today isn't like every other day, I'm going to keep my ears, eyes and hands open for whatever the day brings. Who knows when and where magic will strike.
I'm not sure what is going on this morning with blogger. Forgive the formatting, its the program, not the writer. Reeeeeeally. (Ok, Fixed. Maybe)
Monday 26 October 2009
Come Monday, it will be all right.
Friday 23 October 2009
Christmas Knitting
Thursday 22 October 2009
Wednesday 21 October 2009
Fascinating
Tuesday 20 October 2009
When you are restless.
And then you do this.
Monday 19 October 2009
Sunday Morning
this was our view bright and early Sunday morning. The only snow remaining was a small pile where made when Mr. Needles shoveled the inches of snow off the deck.
On the upside, it is as much moisture as we have had all year, and it went into the ground. We sorely needed it.
The knitting continues apace but it is incredibly boring for blogging. I am on to the front of the sweater I am working on in the Phil Light. I worked on socks, but finished none. I knit on the River Valley Shawl, but stopped last night when I found an error. I knit on the Ilga Leja capelet. I could not seem to settle.
I want to knit more on the sweater. I can't wait to see it complete but I think the miles of stockinette are driving me batty after all the intense lace of summer.
When I could not settle to knit, I made yarn cakes.
This photo does absolutely no justice to the richness of this yarn. Fleece Artist Blue Faced Leicester 2/8. Sigh. It makes me want to spin the BFL I have in the fibre stash. It is soft and strong, not the smooshy goodness of merino, but its own incredible take on just what soft is. I ought to have ordered 2. Still might source another.
Todays work is going to center around a blanket. The owners of the coffee shop where we meet on Tuesdays had their first little one, and it felt right to knit them a blanket. It is out of a lovely organic Cotton called Sprout, a sweet periwinkle blue. It just needs a little finishing. Seeing as the baby is 'finished' it is time for the blanket to be the same.
I really ought to go do some work now but I still feel deeply unsettled in my bones. Antsy. That is what it is. I could be driven batty by the urge to knit a thousand things at once, without the will to stick to any of them. I might be driven to doing the laundry. Housework and cleaning the kitchen can't be far behind. Sweet heaven, save me.
Friday 16 October 2009
Screwy weather
Thursday 15 October 2009
Full Speed Ahead
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Definetly a Novelty
Tuesday 13 October 2009
A Crisis of Confidence
Friday 9 October 2009
Do you trust the numbers?
Thursday 8 October 2009
The First Blush of Winter
These last few weeks corrected that. We’ve had days of big winds bringing in the colder arctic air. It hasn't been extreme cold, just normal fall cold. It's just a little hard to get used to the dramatic change when most of us are standing here, just wondering why we didn't put the patio things away while the weather was nice.
We have a skiff of snow on the ground this morning. There is something settling about the first skiff of snow, something restful and peaceful, almost mystical. Time stops for a moment and dreams of crystal mornings with sun sprinkled snow crunching underfoot and frost thick on windowpanes dance through your head. You sip your coffee and think of snow forts and tobogganing down hills and skating outdoors on your uncles pond.
Your second thought is when you make your peace with winter and accept the need for thick coats, mittens, scarves and the fact that dressing up to go outside is sort of a pain.
Your third and longest lived thought has a lot to do with crawling back under your blankets and just staying there for the next 6 months. You regret that you can't.
I’ll stop a few more times today to look out the window and see the skiff of snow on the ground. I’ll admire the lacy way it clings to blades of grass. Then I’ll go on, as I must, accepting.
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Smarties and the things you learn at knitting
Tuesday 6 October 2009
If its Tuesday
and if I don't start some serious spinning soon, it might push out the yarn. You can see my quandry.
Monday 5 October 2009
Lofty Yarn, Lofty Goals
This is going to be a plain zipper front vest, fit fairly close to minimize the look of the bulky yarn.