spud says hi

Various other knitting things

I am attempting to keep my knitting down to two projects on needles at one time.  I've allowed myself a bit of swatching or winding or planning for future projects, but no real casting on.

There's not a real reason for this, other than hoping to keep myself a bit focused, and also to keep my knitting basket from going chaotic.

(Actually, I'm a fairly ordered, organized person, at least for my job profile.  People are perpetually amazed at how neat my office is at school--there's much more of a norm of the crazy, messy professor than the relatively neat one.  I'm just like, I've got a huge file cabinet, so why not use it?)

So, I finished off my Noro socks this week.  For those of you who aren't knitters, Noro's a cool Japanese company that's particularly famous for deep colors and self-striping capabilities.  And they just came out with sock yarn (i.e., a thinner weight yarn than any they've produced before).  It's kind of a big deal--or at least a deal that people (knitters) are paying attention to. 

I bought some, and in particular a colorway that screamed spring to me.  The pinky purples, the greens... lovely. 

The sock pattern is more or less the broadripple pattern, here.  Except I added in some ribbing.  And knit them from the bottom up.  And I gave them different toes, meant to fix my toes poking through problem.

When I finished them, I started up something new.  Here we have the first pattern repeat and then some of a shawl I quite like, Lily Chin's reversible rib shawl from Vogue American Collection.

Basically, it looks like this on the other side, with the cables swirling the ribs a bit.  And it's just going on like this for a long time, until it makes a long rectangular shawl.  It's exactly the semi-mindless, semi-thoughtful knitting I'm in the mood for right now, as classes end and the term comes to a close.

The yarn is the black alpaca I bought from Laura before I left Colorado that has tried to be various other things.  Like, first it was going to be a top-down raglan cardigan.  Then I decided that was going to be too heavy and just not right, so I frogged it.

Then it was going to be the Union Square pullover, but then I decided that I so rarely wear pullover sweaters anymore, it would be a lot of boring work for very little reward.

Now, it's going to be this.  It'll be a significantly heavier shawl than the pattern describes, because the yarn's a bit heavier.  But I sort of love the idea of a big, black, alpaca cozy wrap, even as it starts to get warmer, and less cozy wrap-weather-like, outside.

The second thing I have on needles right now is a totally reconstructed version of the hex coat, which I started last fall.  It was far too big and long and wrong.  So I frogged the whole damn thing, which was a pain in the tuchus, because I'd knit a bunch of the hexagons AND started the process of weaving in the ends before deciding it wasn't working.

But, I did it.  And I reknit the body all in one piece, cutting WAY back on the size, like this would be an XXXXS according to the pattern as written (OK, a slight exaggeration).

I think I'm happy with the length and the size, generally.  It'll be kind of an open jacket in the end, which is what I wanted in the first place.  I should perhaps have made it a touch larger, but I think I'm going to decide that I need to trip my hips a bit, which is totally a fact, instead.

I've got three more hexagons to knit, and then I have to tackle the sleeves.  That does require a little tackling, mostly because I have to do a little calculating before I do them.  Particularly for the sleeve cap.  I hate refiguring out sleeve caps, because the geometry of how the armscye and the sleeve cap fit together is not entirely straightforward.

But, tackle it I will.  Yeehaw!  Math ahead!

The sort of boring project (and fangs)

I've got three projects going on now.  The blue lace scarf (not significantly changed since the last photo... it's longer, there are more of the leaves in the middle, but it's not that exciting, photograph-wise). 

The purple DNA (hee) sock.  It's also slightly longer, but not all that much because I kept messing up the pattern and then dropping extra stitches when I went back to fix things, and thus I've several times had to redo several rounds.  Again, I don't think it's terribly exciting to photograph it inching up my calf.

And this.  This is some alpaca I bought before I left Colorado.  I think my favorite yarn dyer had some, but not this color, and so I actually bought it elsewhere.

Basically, its a strand of black, a strand of chocolatey brown, and a strand of camel colored twisted together.  The result is a lovely tweedy look that I.. well, I just really liked.

Several times this past winter I noticed nice tweedy yarn being used in very simple sweaters or cardigans, ones that were basically all a thick rib stitch (like six by six stitches, as I'm doing here).  And so, I thought, that'd be a good thing to do with the alpaca.  In a cardigan, because alpaca will be warm enough to want to take off easily.

It's going fairly well; I'm doing the body all around, and when it gets long enough I'll think further.  I'm not going to do any real shaping, because I think it should be a bit boxy.  I'm also hoping it's a little drapey, too, and keeping it boxy seems to be a good idea with that.  The only "special" thing I'm doing involves the edges.  I added an extra six stitches on each end, and those stitches will be bent back and sewed up the side of the last rib, making a flat, double-thick edging up both sides.  I have no idea if this will work, and it's making button holes a slight challenge (doing them twice!), but I think it'll be a better edge than anything else I could think of.

I've taken to photographing things in my bedroom, since that seems to have the best light for it (and a crazy wide windowsill, visible above, to make things additionally easier).

That means that Ziti often follows me and jumps up to get involved.

He rolls around and flops upside down.  That means, too, that he shows off his claws in need of a trim.

And then he inches closer, and shows off his fangs.  Seriously, he's got some wicked fangs, if he ever chose to use them. 

But fortunately, he's really all about the love.

Old/new

I lived in and around Chicago for the first 28 years of my life.  And if you count the year spent in Urbana, 29 years.  Of course, there were bits and pieces in there spent elsewhere, but the longest away period was about seven months, and even then my real home was always back here.

Now that I've lived away from it for (again, depending on whether I count the Urbana year) 5 or 6 years, every time I come back I'm hit by a strange combination of familiarity and shock.  It's a little trite to say that cities change enormously, but it's so true of Chicago recently, especially in some places.

You can see it on the web, of course.  Google's satellite images of the city are a bit out of date, sometimes in obvious ways, sometimes not.

The number of condos that have been built all over the city never ceases to amaze me.  And the number of old houses in old suburbs that have been torn down and replaced by mega mansions (in some places, at least) is also deeply strange.

I was down in Hyde Park last week, meeting friends by the University, and then later for dinner.  Some parts of that neighborhood are so the same as when I left.  Bookstores, restaurants.  I ordered something I thought a bit at random for dinner, and as soon as the plate came I had such a strong visual and then taste memory of having exactly that meal there at some point in the past.

An odd personal landmark for me out in the suburbs has always been Sawa's Old Warsaw.  It's a restaurant I've never actually ate in, but which I've passed by countless times.  I've always been intrigued by its logo, by the fact that it's a "Polish smorgasbord," and...well, I don't know.  It's still there, and looks much the same as always, at least from the outside (and from the website, it looks unlikely that the insides have been updated recently.  But now it does have one new feature:  free wireless internet.  Which just brings up so many questions.  Do enough people bring their laptops to the Polish smorgasbord to warrant such an innovation?  How long do people usually stay?

Anyway.  Here's another bit of something new.  My finished Oz socks.  Yarn:  from Australia.  Pattern:  basic toe-up sock, with figure 8 cast-on, short row heel, and an eyelet rib pattern to make it interesting.

I can't remember when I started them.  After I moved to Toronto, I know.  But exactly when... I'm clearly not a good knitting blogger, as I fail to keep track of such things.

They're quite comfortable, and the all-over rib is nice and snug.  They're also 100 % wool, I think, and I also think non-machine washable.  But the label is back in Toronto, and I'm here in Chicago, and won't be back there to check on it until... July.  Crap.  Crazy.

So, basically, yay for the socks.

I'm, less sanguine about the future fate of another project, however.

In some ways I'm very happy with my top-down, raglan sleeve, black alpaca cardigan.  The fabric's quite nice, heavy, but not too heavy.  I did a turned under hem for the first time, and although it needs a strong blocking, I'm more or less happy with it.  It might be a touch too heavy, but I think probably not.  The first sleeve is just about done, and it's a good cardigan size; just loose enough to go over things, but not overly floppy.

The problem?  I'm not sure I want it to be a crew neck anymore.  I started it as a replacement for my beloved black cashmere cardigan, which started out as part of a twinset.  But in the course of going to after-Christmas sales, I've replaced that.  So now I'm thinking maybe I'd like this better as a v-neck.

Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, Happy New Year!  С новым годом!  Best wishes for good luck, happiness, and health.

Travel knitting

So, the last two weeks have been busy, but this time with travel, not with all the other stuff.  Not, of course, that the other academic stuff went away, but the particular business involved going to a conference last weekend (aside from which I got to visit with a college friend), and then heading back to the US for Thanksgiving (first to Chicago for a brief stop at my parents', where shopping and baking happened and I saw a few friends [and the first episode of the current season of The Wire] as well, and then to Madison, for TG itself at my sister's [and, of course, brother-in-law's] new house).

Whew.  And, of course, there's the whole keeping up with classes and attempting to do a bit of other work, too, none of which is easy when flights and all that loom.  But, slowly, it's all getting done.

Now, of course, a nice thing about travel is the time to knit.  On planes, for example, or otherwise around town.  On the various travels, I worked on three projects (though only two warrant pictures).  First, and most recently, this.  A black alpaca cardigan.  Very simple.  I'm using yarn I bought from Laura before we both moved from CO, doubled, on size 4 (I think) needles.  Yes, it's relatively fine yarn. 

I'm also  trying something new:  a top-down raglan design, which is totally intriguing.  I've gotten the yoke done, have put the sleeve stitches on string, and am now just booking my way through the body. It's sort of awesome, and very good for mindless TV/travel knitting.

The unshowable project is a new iteration of the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl, this time doubling the yarn.  It works much, much better.  I'm nearly done with the first chart, which is all set up, really.  Then there are a gazillion repeats of chart 2.  And then two different edgings, basically.  Yeehaw.  Or yipes.  One or the other.  I'll admit, I'm wanting more immediate gratification, and so the cardigan has been calling me far more frequently.  And there's no picture because at this point it's a blueish blob more than anything else.

Also, there's another sock, in yarn I bought in Australia.  It's actually gently striping, which I didn't expect and am enjoying.  The pattern is an eyelet rib from Barbara Walker.  Very very simple, but nicely elastic.