You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2010.
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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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“I consider how unfailingly the sun offers its radiance and warmth – bestowing its rays equally on weeds and spring blossoms. Can I consistently offer what I have to give, even when my efforts don’t turn everything into beauty?”
Kaitlin Quistgaard
So many, many apples this year.
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Rain, rain, go away
Come again some other day
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Custom-knit arm warmers for a daughter who rocks a fedora.
This yarn is super soft. Rather intoxicating to work with.
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Pattern for Women’s Small
(Each increase of 6 sts will increase the circumference by an inch. If you are resizing it, you’ll need to play it by ear when it comes to the number of sts to do for your button hole.)
Finished circumference: 18 cm/7″ at palm and widest point of forearm.
Length: 30 cm/12″.
Gauge: 6sts and 9 rows per inch.
Yarn: Felici Sport, Chimney
Needles: 3mm, US 2.5
I used the buttonhole from the Voodoo Arm Warmers. Here’s the link. It’s easy and very stable.
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Cast on 44. Join in the round, and then triple check that you haven’t twisted it. (Just sayin’.)
K1P1 ribbing for 8 rows. Switch to stockinette.
Row 30: k2tog at end of row.
Row 40: k2tog at end of row.
Row 50: k2tog at end of row.
Row 55: k2tog at end of row.
Row 60: k2tog at end of row.
Row 65: k2tog at end of row.
Row 70: inc 3 using M1.
Row 75: inc 3 using M1. (44 sts again)
Row 84: knit across 17 sts, 10 stitch buttonhole, knit to end of row. (I would knit to 16 sts and use a 12 stitch button hole if I were knitting these for me.)
4 rounds knit plain.
7 rounds K1P1 ribbing.
BO loosely in pattern.
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“There are things that you can’t reach. But you can reach out to them, and all day long.”
Mary Oliver
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What do you stretch your hands out to today?
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3:10:50
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Yes, we did run 18.46 miles (29.7km).
Yes, we did very nearly circle the city.
Yes, 3 hours and 10 minutes and 50 seconds is a long time.
Yes, Rainer did drop me off and go for another 3 miles/5km.
Yes, I’m proud and happy and a little stiff. It’s 20 minutes/2 miles farther than I have ever gone.
Yes, I’m training for a marathon. Next year, though. I know my body and going from a half-marathon training level to marathon level in one season would be too hard on me. This year I wanted to run a sort of bridge – working up to a mid-level distance now, to make it easier next year. It’s an interesting fact, that our bodies remember what we’ve done. Rainer assures me that each spring his body finds it easier to train for a marathon, and the biggest difference was between the first marathon and the second. At the moment, I’m acting on faith for that part.
While I’m happy and really proud (and I do mean really proud because it wasn’t that long ago that I thought I wasn’t athletic in the least) and excited and relieved, there’s a part of me that remembers that I’ve still got about 8 miles or an hour and a half to add to this distance next year.
But for the next 7 months at least, 3:10:50 is the highest peak I’ve ever climbed, and farther than I once believed possible.
Don’t limit your choices by how you define yourself. Just try the next step and see where it can take you.
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comfortably reading
comfortably positioned
comfortably companioned
comfortably 13
comfortably herself
I have a new homeschooling club plan. “Oh, because you’re not organizing enough of the world and have so much free time?” asked the cynical and over-worked part of me. ” Too bad, Sarah,” answered my heart, “look at those pictures and tell me teaching kids to knit a square isn’t important.”
I’ve never knit a square. Not the kind for blankets. I’ve never been interested to, either. My charity knitting has centered on thick socks, mitts, or hats. But I followed a link on the Minimalist Knitter blog and was hit by the Knit a Square Project. The pictures drew me in. Beautiful big eyes peeking out from thick blankets. How could I say no?
I like the breadth of their goals:
“This knitting project has as its first goal to supply a blanket for every child in need in the Phiri Parish. From there, we hope to expand to the rest of Soweto, then to nearby squatter camps, and beyond, in South Africa, Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa.
That goal may seem unachievable, but a small 8″ x 8″ (20cm x 20cm) square is easy and cheap to knit and send.”
Little actions with big results. They want to blanket the continent. Literally. And it doesn’t take long to knit a square. Nelson Mandela wants us to do it, and he’s pretty sure we have the 67 minutes it takes. Seriously. I can’t disappoint Mandela.
What’s more, they’re making it easy for me to make this work. Realizing that many of the people sending in squares were children, they developed a Teacher Guide with lessons not just on knitting but also on southern Africa and AIDS.
My plan is to invite interested families over and teach them to knit. The next session I’m going to teach them the Grandma’s Favorite Dishcloth pattern. Because it’s diagonally constructed, no gauge swatch is needed. That means that the kids can just start knitting and measure it as they go. When a side is 20 cm or 8″, they can start decreasing.
Squares to change the world. I like it.
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Pattern: November Socks (free Ravelry pattern)
Yarn: Regia Loop Color, 5768
The eighth pair of socks for the year. (We’re traveling back in time here. The Ugly Socks jumped the story queue because they were such a matter of tragedy and triumph.)
The November Socks pattern is wonderful. Simple, but with something interesting every 6 rounds to catch your attention and show you that you’ve made progress. It’s super stretchy, too, and would be a good choice if you were going to be giving socks to someone and weren’t absolutely sure of their size.
I modified this to be for Rainer. It was simple, since the pattern is in multiples of 8. I simply cast on 72 sts.
The designer of these socks, Birgitte Zeuner offered these for free, but they’re part of a great collection of 12 designs called A Year in Socks. You can get them separately on Ravelry or as a (much more cost-effective) collection on Etsy.
