You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2009.
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“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
George Eliot
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What is your favourite part of autumn?
What a flurry of productivity this group knitalong unleashed in me: 10 Projects done in less than one month! I am all astonishment, as some Jane Austen character said. (Mr. Bennet?) And it’s not like fall weather had my fingers itching to knit – September saw the arrival of the only summer weather we’ve had all year: a stunning, sunny, hot month.
Single Skein September was invented at the Stash and Burn podcast (the very best knitting talk to be had) with the idea of focusing on using up those odd balls that we buy because they’re pretty or on sale or we’re wooed by the texture.
I let things take their own paths and found myself surprised along the way. I had set 4 projects up in my mind (and on the discussion board). Of those I knit…one: the hat for Tias. Instead of the modest Christmas gifts and a nice scarf for myself that I thought I might tackle, I took a complete detour towards a festival of hats and charity projects.
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1. Winter Eclipse Socks, 2. Thorpes, 3. Watch Cap, 4. Fussball Socks, 5. Cozy tea set, 6. Robin’s Egg Hat, 7. Watch (him running) Cap, 8. Tubey, 9. silly boy :: silly hat
Created with fd’s Flickr Toys
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– 7 hats in total, 4 hats for charity. For those of you looking for a Canadian collection point, I’ve finally found one. I think it’s a bit silly to spend the extra money to ship something to the States so that it can be shipped overseas when the money could be spent on more yarn for charity. The Warm Hands Network collects for 2 locations: Northern Labrador in Canada and Mongolia.
– 2 pairs of socks! Two! In a month!
– A tea pot cozy and mug cozy. So silly and happy-making.
I’m not saying I won’t suddenly start and finish something in the next few days while we’re still in September, but as my in-laws are here and staying in the room with all the yarn, the likelihood that I’ll whip out something is very low. Right now I’ve got another pair of socks for Rainer on the go. I’ve turned the heel on the first. Nice, plain, 2×2 ribbed socks ideal for working on while visitors are here.
Speaking of sock knitting, Socktoberfest begins soon! Have you made plans? I have just one main goal for Socktoberfest this time round. In a mash-up of Socktoberfest and Project Spectrum, and in a slaking of a long-term thirst for kneesocks, I’m going to knit some blue knee-socks.
Pattern: Shaping Knee Socks
Yarn: SuperGarne Aktiv
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After Matthias’ birth I was a size 16-18.
After losing 50 pounds I was a size 8 and super happy.
After learning to run and then increasing my mileage I teetered into a size 6 at times.
Then I started training for half-marathons, increased the mileage to 25-34 miles per week, and put on a lot of muscle – the scale actually says my weight is up a few pounds over this time last year. Today I went shopping. These jeans are a size 4. Size freakin’ four!
Not even when I was 12. Not even at 10. Not since I hit early puberty at 8 have I had legs anything like these.
Four. 4. IV.
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“Though no one can go back and make a new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new end.”
Carl Bard
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Where have you pointed your path? What wind fills your sails?
Thanks for all the great ideas you shared on my last gift post – I’ll work on adding them into the big list soon. If you were wondering, the new ideas are always added at the bottom of each section.
I’ve got a busy day today – carpet cleaning, cake baking,cycling with Rainer, soccer party, and a bit of knitting – but before I head off to start it all off with porridge, here are a couple of wonderful gift ideas I’ve come across in the last few days:
- sew these adorable and practical bags: grab bags – such a different approach
- make ginger ale syrup for that impossible giftee, and then use the leftovers for candied ginger for yourself or someone else. Waste not, want not.*
- super simple button-chain earrings
*There are a number of sayings that baffled me as a child. Like this one. If I didn’t waste it then I would end up not wanting it? How was this a good thing?
Finally, after a cold, sullen summer, we have a burst of fiery heat in September, just in time to push the delphiniums’ second flowering into gorgeous splendour. The wet, cool summer means that for the first time the grass is green everywhere you look – not just on certain suburban yards with sprinkler systems.
It’s been 26-30 degrees C for 3 weeks now. Sun, sun, sun. The world is feeling like summer and fall all mixed together. Bright green grass and lots of flowers but the leaves are starting to turn golden and crunch underfoot.
The sky is glorious. The CSA vegetables are pouring in. The family is smiling. Everywhere I go there is a feeling of relaxation – not the crisp bustle of a typical autumn.
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Do socks have feelings? Nope. Not at all. I know this. But I’ve discovered an interesting method of making socks that plays with the part of my brain that likes to tell stories.
The trick is to knit two socks at once on DPNs. Not on the same DPNs, mind you. I cast on one sock, do the ribbing, then switch sets of needles and cast on the second and do the ribbing. Then it’s back to the first sock for the leg. Switch again.
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Pattern: Slipped Stitch Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks 4 Ply, Winter Eclipse
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It’s a playful, leap-frogging kind of thing that makes me really motivated to work on the socks: I’m either eager to get ahead on sock one, or feeling bad for sock two that it’s lagging. Silly, but that’s where my brain’s at these days.
I think, in all seriousness, that the strong attraction of this method is the real sense of purpose I have each time I pick up the needles. I’m not ‘just knitting’. I’m either setting out into a new stage of the sock or I’m making sure the second one catches up. That translates into a greater motivation to pick up the project more often. Between the mental rewards of ticking items off a Sock Sections list and the increased time I spend knitting, I’ve a much greater sense of progress with this method. That just feeds back into the whole loop and kicks it into a higher gear.
Could also be that it’s playing to my personality with the sense of duty and purpose. Motivated to manage the whole world? Me?
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Checking it twice. Gonna find out if gift-making this year will be nasty or nice…
It’s time. Time to take the work of our hands, minds, and hearts seriously.
Last year we did a 100% handmade Christmas. It was a huge success: we found making things to give challenging but ultimately rewarding; people loved getting the gifts; and we inspired many of our friends to create more of their gifts. Our plan this year is to not impose a strict rule about handmade, but to encourage it and yet have recourse to the shops if the fancy strikes us.
Rainer and Tias had the hardest time, mostly because in their minds they aren’t as crafty as Sandra and I. I had put a lot of work into brainstorming a list of possibilities and that helped. It also helped that I tried to steer Tias towards gifts that had a bit of a 1-2-3-Presto! workflow. Big effects for little patience. The freezer paper shirt stencils, for instance.
You can see what I made here. And here is what the others made. Frankly, the memory game of our trip to Europe that Rainer made is probably the biggest hit of them all. Sure, the shirts are worn more often, but the game makes us talk, makes us happy, lets us share our trip with our friends.
I’ve got my knitting about half done for the year. It is a very good feeling. I started in January and have been stockpiling little bits here and there. The drawer the things are in is a nice place to visit – reassuring and squooshy.
Can you help? Let’s work together this year to make the list of gifts even more extensive and useful. Do you know of a few gifts that kids can make that people love to get? Do you have tutorials or pictures of finished items on your blog? Do you have great ideas knocking about in your brain?
And while I’m asking questions, how hard are bathrobes to sew? I’ve done a bit of sewing, but nothing too adventurous. Should I try to sew up a set?
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Simple is as simple doesn’t.
Sue Patton Thoele
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What have you chosen to include?
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Last race of the season. Rainer did the full, hoping to qualify for Boston. That wasn’t in the cards, but he had his second fastest marathon time. I did the half. I woke with a headache and had a hard day but really pushed myself. I left it all on the course, as they say. When you push that hard, telling yourself, “C’mon, you can do anything for another half hour. Just thirty minutes more…”, you look for every sign the finish is nearing. It was hard. Man, oh, man. I set a new personal best, but I’m more proud of the mental race than the time on the clock.
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The race director clearly has a sense of humour.
