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Knitting is one of the most useful parenting tools I have. It keeps me from striding about the house like a caged animal. I don’t know how many homeschoolers think of it like that, but I sure do. Knitting and homeschooling go together like hand and glove, like wool and needles, like tea and sunrise. You’ve got to be there, near them and available for questions, keeping them from wandering away, smiling at them occasionally. But if you’re a person who hates to just sit, that’s hard. Really hard.
I can sit and knit, though. Different projects for different times. Better parenting at all times.
Birthday present socks for Rainer, knit all stealthy-like when he was from home. Yes, they were indeed knit to go with his Long-Awaited Sweater. If you’ve got a man who likes colour and loves handknits, you cherish those facts and you cherish him.
Pattern: Waffle Rib by Charlene Schurch in “Sensational Knitted Socks”
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Sunset in colour 8706
Needles: 2mm
Prompted by a thread at Ravelry, I totaled up the yarn I knit last year. It was approximately 11,500 yards. Being a mostly metric person, I don’t have a sense of the larger distance for that, but I do know it’s quite a lot. I wonder how many stitches it represents. Or how many moments of patient waiting, how many kilometers of driving, how many math questions.
Sandra had a great birthday. Swank yarn, Calvin and Hobbes, books on painting fairies and the history of underwear…all opened in bed after a breakfast of chocolate chip banana pancakes.
Obviously, she got the day off formal homeschooling because, like, d’uh. But she exploded in creativity, clearly inspired by How to Draw and Paint Fairyland and a DVD on P.J. Lynch’s illustration process for The Bee-Man of Orn which we’d watched a few days earlier.
It’s not often that I remember to take process photos of the kids’ work, so I’m really glad I was able to both watch her and record her.
Sandra was clearly affected by Lynch’s complex layering of colour and texture. I loved watching her add to it. At every stage I would think, “Yep, that’s it. Great. Ooooo…No, no! I dunno, is she going to overwork it?” and she’d do something and I’d be so happy with the visual energy and the way things tied together.
I became quite jealous of her freedom. I’ve gotten away from art, largely because it’s assumed such a serious mood. But Project Spectrum is inspiring me and I’ve already played with the paints again. Just played. It felt so good.
She gave me the finished picture. I asked her, “It’s your birthday, so why am I getting the best gift?”
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“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.” Betty Ford
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Will you join me in wishing Sandra an extraordinary 12th birthday?
Strike out, dear one, into your life with boldness and an uncompromising delight in being you. Let the energy of each moment teach you more about what you love to do. Let the strengths that make you vital and beautiful carry you forward.
I’ve been going through my Project 365 Flickr set, trying to get everything in order because my year is over. It has been over for weeks now, but I’m just today uploading the last of the pictures, overwhelmed at the end by the flurry of activity and the blizzard of photos I’d taken. I’ve gone through the entire set and located more than 15 days without pictures, but I can only remember forgetting to take photos on about 3 days, so I must have 1) not uploaded photos for those days, or 2) uploaded them but not sent them into the set, or 3) I really did forget to take a picture far more often than memory accounts for.
You can’t come to the end of a project like this without reflecting upon it. It was wonderful in all the ways I’d hoped: prodding me to document the little moments, helping me become a better visual storyteller, and motivating me to be bolder in pulling out the camera. It was hard in all the ways I’d expected, too: feeling like I was trapped some days with only blandness to document, or worrying that a photo showed a side of our lives or our house that I wasn’t feeling like sharing.
Going through all of them for housekeeping purposes revealed patterns in our lives and in the things I’m drawn to capture with my lens.
There were self-portraits
and adventures
and food
and light and shadow
and creativity
and learning
In the end, it is the little moments, easily forgotten, that make me most glad that I undertook this year-long documentation of our days. Looking back through the photos I am sometimes startled by moments I’d cherished at the time but that were pushed out of my thoughts by the momentum of living.
I’m incredibly glad that I did Project 365 and will certainly be doing it again. This year, though, I need a bit of a break from daily obligation. I still want a creative focus on photography and I’m working on setting up another project, this time a collaborative one, and am really excited by the parameters that we’re creating. Hopefully I’ll be announcing it soon.
“Not vest but false sweater.”
“I, Henry, king by the grace of God, with all of my Bishops, say to you, ravel down, ravel down, and be frogged throughout the ages.”
The Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope, having sent emissaries and deputations, have reconciled themselves to the fact that I will appoint my own knitting patterns and try them according to the common law of the Land of Knitania.
Veste the Second:
Devon, knit in Jaeger Matchmaker Merino, with a panel of “Twist-Stitch Lattice” from the second Barbara Walker Treasury. My first garment knit out of fingering weight yarn. It will most certainly not be finished by the end of the month, but is a pleasant knit and makes me happy.
*Warning: History geek household. What does it say about me that I’ve been looking to use an Investiture Controversy pun or reference since the beginning of the month?
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Irish Wheaten Bread
Preheat oven to 375.
Mix:
2 c all-purpose flour
2 c whole wheat flour
(or 4 c flour of your choosing, I like adding extra wheat bran, and I’m going to try adding 2 Tb of cornmeal to it next time for a little extra texture)
2 Tb sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Cut in:
3 Tb margarine
Mix in measuring cup and pour over dry ingredients:
1 1/3- 1/2 c buttermilk
2 egg whites
Stir just til moistened. Knead 10 times. Don’t over do it. Gentleness will be repaid by tender, flaky bread.
Pat into an 8″ wide flat circle. You can bake it in an 8″ round cake pan, if you like. I just pat it out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Score it with an X, about 1/4″ deep.
Bake at 375 for 45 min. Easy tip for checking any bread: it should sound hollow if you rap it with your knuckle on the bottom. Cool on wire rack. Cut into 12 wedges. Serve with stews or salads. Hearty and satisfying. Great to whip up and put in the oven while you make the rest of supper.
A bread to make your loved ones feel tended.
180 cal, 6 g pro, 3.5 g fat, 3 g fiber
You wouldn’t think that Rainer having a meeting which involved over 4 hours of driving would be a chance for adventure, a feeling of luxury, a day of sweet, romantic time. But it was. Yesterday was one of the best days I can remember.
I found playdates for the kids and called my sister in to manage in the in-between times. Knowing that they had a fabulous day set before them, I knew I could relax and indulge. I popped a big bucket of popcorn, made tea, and drove to pick Rainer up from his office. The trip into Winnipeg was wonderful. Bright blue skies, sun bounding off new snow, clear roads, and Making Money by Terry Pratchett making us giggle.
I had finished and blocked the Karius scarf, and wearing a new knit always feels good.
I cast on for my second vest as we left town, Devon from Magknits. The pattern’s not available anymore, sadly. It’s a super simple, classic vest knit in fingering weight yarn. I’m making mine a solid black, in Jaeger’s Matchmaker Merino – the only time I truly scored in a second-hand shop. It was the first time I’d thought to look for yarn in Value Village, and I found nearly a sweater’s worth of fabulous wool for $3.99. And haven’t found a thing worth buying since. Beginner’s luck.
Once in Winnipeg, we did something I’ve been trying to do since Tias was a baby: eat in a Thai food restaurant. Foiled first by having no money and being parents of small children, and later by having no Thai food for over 200 km, I have finally eaten Thai food made by someone who knows what they are doing. Delish! And it’s another item off the list of 101 Things.
Munching on the largest chocolate macaroon I’d ever seen, we made our way to Wolseley Wardrobe. An hour or more of mindful living followed: each yarn contemplated, touched, mentally knit into a dozen projects. Rainer’s a great yarn shop companion. He’s encouraging, full of great ideas, loves colours, and likes to see me happy. Generally, we just like being together – even grocery shopping – and a day of wandering with no time pressures made it that much better.
The Queensland Collection #9 caught both our eyes. There are so few good pattern books for men. So many North American patterns are just dowdy. This book, though, had an incredible mix of patterns that walked the perfect line of being stylish without being too forward. Tom was a big hit with Rainer, possibly the first hoodie to ever catch his eye. Strangely, we didn’t buy the book. That’ll have to be fixed, and soon.
We bought three yarns. Lorna’s Laces for a family Christmas gift project, orange baby llama (!) for the Eyelet Front Vest that I covet so much, and a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock just for fun.
Rainer’s meeting was from 5-8, but I was in a library with more knitting books than I had time for. I settled in with a stack of knitting books among all the super-intense students doing their homework and started to knit. I’m adding a false-argyle stitch pattern to my version of Devon, but as it’s just a panel running up the center front, there’s lots of stockinette that I can do while my eyes linger on patterns.
Oh, creativity! The ideas, the sparks of delight as a new concept races through the connections between neurons. The way that each new colour, each new texture, each new pattern can be a sudden mental journey into possibility… I think I made it through 6 books. “Fitted Knits”, “Knit 2 Together”, “The Yarn Stash Workbook”, “Son of Stitch and Bitch”, “Modular Knits”, and one whose name escapes me. I’ll definitely be buying “Fitted Knits”. My Forecast sweater by Stephanie Japel is my favourite cardigan and there are a few patterns in the the book I know I’ll like. “The Yarn Stash Workbook” had some great ideas, particularly the idea of ‘colour weight’. The whole book made me realize that while I love texture and projects that use more than one yarn together, I mostly knit with just one yarn per project. I’ll have to work on being more adventurous. I didn’t have pencil and paper, so I had to resort to photo note-taking.
Those of you with a good library, be sure to enjoy what you have and be sure to let someone know that you appreciate it.
The luxury of time. A whole day’s worth. The luxury of ideas and inspiration. Months worth. The luxury of a relationship that’s almost 19 years old. Yesterday was a day of possibility fulfilled.
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“There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.” Alexander Pope
Who am I trying to impress anyway?
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I really like the design and I’ve fallen for the cable. I love it…the way the center seems to spin and spin, like a child looking up at the sky and whirling arms outstretched, while the outer strand gently bends over, leans in, and is caught up in the motion.
The neckline is higher than traditional for a vest, but it seems to lend itself more to wearing with more casual styles of shirts. I haven’t tried it with a collared shirt yet.
Pattern: Ticuna from Berroco.
Yarn: Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks. Colour: Mink Heather. Used about half the yarn I expected to based on what the pattern called for, 5.5 balls. I was knitting on tiny needles to get the gauge (3.5mm), so it’s not that I was all loose and floppy. That makes this a $12 US project, which is pretty sweet.
Mods: I added waist shaping and omitted the ribbing at the armholes. The waist shaping I added for obvious reasons, but the ribbing isn’t as obvious. I had knit it on, but had to remove it.
Somehow, my armholes aren’t right. Partly a problem with them being not deep enough, I think. Partly a problem with my waist shaping, I’m sure – probably should have made the increases a little more quickly so that there was a longer stretch of straight knitting before the armhole. Also possibly related is that my bust has (sigh) shrunk since the last time I measured myself. Yay for the half-marathon running, but boo for the bust. I removed the ribbing, picked up stitches, knit a round, then purled as I was binding off – I really like the sleek, trim edge that produced. Must remember it. I’m hoping that a stern blocking with attention to lengthening the armholes will help the problem.
It really does add a lot of warmth while leaving my arms free – a wonderful springlike feeling. And the colour is so creamily warm that it will be a joy to wear in fall when I have that surge of longing for autumnal shades.
It took 2 weeks, half of Vest-uary. That leaves me time to work on a second vest. I’m really craving a cardigan-style vest, but I’ve run into a yarn problem. I started swatching for the #11 Eyelet Front Vest with some more Wool of the Andes, but I realized I don’t have any yarn nice enough for that pattern – I want something soft curling up against my neck for any season, and if I wear it in summer with tank tops or sundresses I’ll definitely want something soft. So I’m back to debating knitting Devon with black yarn on smaller needles, or trying to do something with the heathered blue Wool of the Andes. If I go for the blue, it’ll mean bigger needles and something with a deep v-neck or scoop neck. Something to go with collared shirts.
I’m a scarf person. I love the warmth they add. I love the style they add – an instant dose of urban edginess or soft sophistication or bohemian quirkiness . And yet I have hardly any knitted scarves.
I know. The mind boggles.
I missed the whole scarf stage of knitting. Sure, I knit a scarf as my first project – the ridiculously long scarf of my dreams. The scarf that I’d wanted since I was 10 and dreaming of studying literature at Harvard or some other place in an eternal fall…the scarf I’d wear when that dashing foreign student saw beneath my brainy, shy exterior and wooed me with poetry. I knit that scarf for endless weeks and still love wearing it. But after that, I moved swiftly into hats and then sweaters. I was cold, man. I needed the big items.
But I’m a scarf person. And I live in an area devoid of fabulous stores, and certainly thousands of kilometers from the pedestrian zones of Europe where scarves hang in a rainbow of colours, an eternal temptation of texture and hue. I need to look to this wardrobe gap.
Which brings me to the Personal Yarn Club. Before the new year, I bagged up a number of yarns and patterns, handed them to Rainer, and asked that he deliver one to me each month. A yarn club of my own making. The reason I haven’t written much about it is that the first delivery brought yarn for a Christmas present. No spoiling surprises – what fun is that?
This month, Rainer brought out a bag on February 1st, much to my confusion since he’d declared I would have to have finished the previous project before a delivery would come. A little added motivation. So I was puzzled that he’d changed his tune. When I opened it, I was floored. The yarn was a total surprise. I’d never seen it before in my life. Never even heard of it, actually.
He’d been away at a library conference in Toronto that week and had walked to a yarn shop in order to bring something home. He’s been to more yarn shops than I have since he travels more, and always buys the sweetest treats.
The yarn, Diamond Foot Loose in colour 12 (Harlequin), is full of short repeats, just enough for a stitch or two per colour: orange, red, olive, and navy. It is becoming a Karius, the stockinette version of the side-to-side scarf pattern Baktus. Easy knitting for moments when I’m reading or traveling.
It’s such a nice project to work on, knit on 3.5 mm needles for soft drape, mindless and soothing. Watching the stockinette roll is pure delight – wrapped around my neck it’s going to have just the right look. The multiple hues will mean it fits with a wide range of clothes. That the pattern is named after a moralistic Norwegian story about tooth trolls…priceless.
My eye is also caught by a Glampyre pattern called Reclamation. Another triangular scarf, this one knit in the traditional direction. Simple but with a texture that would make a yarn show it’s best side. I’ve a number of single skeins in my collection that might just have found their future.
