Serendipity

I came home from work last night at 11:30, which is unusual because I normally come home at 7:30 in the morning. I occasionally get these little gifts of extra free time, and since I have been lately thinking about writing here again, the moment seemed ripe for starting.

It has been almost a year since my last post, but I prefer to say that it has been less than a year since my last post. The devil is in the details. As with many other time periods of less than a year, many things happened-- and not much happened-- but I have let it all go by without comment. Which I don't regret, entirely.

I wasn't sure I wanted to write about anything, least of all knitting. I haven't been trying to come up with things to say, but I also haven't been deliberately avoiding it either. I guess I have just been waiting for something to push me in one direction or another-- either to definitively stop or definitively start.

What I have noticed is the desire to write slowly returning to me. I want to organize thoughts into words, words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and so on. I remember handing in my last paper senior year of college, and thinking, with great pleasure, "Ha! I never have to do THAT again!" Strange to find myself here, ten years later, wanting to write about everything.

And by everything, I mean a lot of things that are not knitting. When I think about knitting, more often than not, I think IN knitting, if that makes sense. And I dream in knitting quite a bit too. But someone once said that writing about art is like dancing about architecture -- the translation is complicated. I'm also beginning to think that I started a knitting blog (or two) to disguise any notions of being a "serious" writer-- which isn't really fair to knitting as a craft or as a topic worthy of  consideration. A blog with few readers flies under the radar no matter the subject, so I suppose I'm free to choose whatever subject I like.

I have a feeling knitting will come up at some point.

Now that is started, and with some of my remaining unscheduled free time I think I will try to finish something else-- a sweater, a nearly done sweater with a mere handful of ends to be woven in. It has been sitting there for almost three weeks. Or as I prefer to say, less than a month. The moment is ripe-- the universe demands it.

Vacation Dye Kitchen

Here's a bit of what I got up to during my vacation earlier this month:

This is destined for some kind of summer-y garment. I was aiming for a slightly more subdued color, and it may end up in the dye pot again before I'm finished... but overall it was a very satisfying experiment.

These should be done by now

Yet there they sit, in nearly the same position they sat last Sunday, when this picture was taken. Pretty cute, huh?

I decided I've been suffering from Hare Syndrome-- capable of impressive speed but also of taking a nap within sight of the finish line.

Perhaps I've proven myself already in feats of knitting speed and endurance, but it would be nice to move these to the done pile...

Do-over

The past two-and-a-half months have been difficult-- lots of unwelcome surprises, disappointments, aches and pains both physical and mental. I haven't written much about it because I try to avoid complaining, but if I had the option to start 2012 over again tomorrow with a clean slate, I'd have a hard time saying no.

I found out Sunday that my row gauge for White Pine was off by quite a bit-- another addition to the series of unfortunate events. This wouldn't be a problem at all if there was no waist shaping and it isn't really a problem in the Grand Scheme of Things... but my desire for a do-over was irresistible. On Tuesday I ripped out ten inches of the body. It's now just yarn again:


What is (relatively) easy in knitting is so so much harder in life-- at what point do you decide to stop making small adjustments? At what point do you just roll the dice and move to Argentina (for example)? I don't think I'm there yet, but how will I know when I am?

Do they raise sheep in Argentina?

Oh Hello

I seem to have forgotten to check in here-- maybe my knitting break made me relax too much? In any case, the break is over, and has been for a week now. My wrists feel better, but I seem to have lost some of my knitting mojo. I knit just 10 rows on White Pine between last Tuesday and yesterday-- among other things, I've been spinning like a fiend. The evidence is hard to ignore:


I finished spinning my first batch of singles a week ago Friday, and I couldn't wait to start plying. It actually took longer to make my plying ball than it did to ply the singles. Not to go into great detail, but if you ever want to test the strength of your marriage, sometime try winding a three-stranded plying ball of super high-twist singles with the assistance of your husband/wife. Bonus points if you're both perfectionists and eldest children.

Somewhere around the end of February, I seem to have picked up speed with my spinning. I started in on my second batch of singles Friday-- it's taken me about two and a half hours* to spin as much as I spun in the whole month of February:


At this rate, I think I'm going to finish my sock yarn by the end of April! Huzzah! Meanwhile, I'll have roughly 1/3 of a sweater...



*And I know I'm a huge nerd for keeping track.

Done!

Last Saturday I finished my Shadow-- I ripped out and re-did the collar facing, wove in all the ends, and steamed the seams. I can hardly believe that I now have a hand-made garment. It seems wrong to fold it up and put it in the same drawer as my store-bought clothes, so it has been sitting on top of my dresser.


I wore it on Tuesday. I take so much care taking it on and off-- I have to remind myself that this is a solid garment that will probably last for years.

I do love it-- it's warm and comfortable and the fit is perfect. Maybe if I take some pictures of myself wearing it, it will start to seem more real. Stay tuned.

Pause

My wrists have been giving me trouble-- both of them, so I'm pretty sure it's not knitting that has done it. I'm provisionally blaming physical therapy, which has recently done wonders for my back. But knitting definitely bothers the left wrist, so I'm forcing myself to pause for a few days, and I'm going to take this opportunity to show you what I've been up to.

I started these at the end of January:


As I have mentioned before, I have been putting off sock knitting for a while for fear it would become an all-consuming obsession-- as it turns out, I'm not finding it all that compelling. The self-striping yarn does make me very happy, though. As always.

I can't locate the bag that contains my other project-- White Pine-- but here's my swatch:


This pattern has been in my queue for a while, waiting for me to choose a color. The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Flannery Red... I'm madly in love with the color, which is-- sadly-- discontinued. I managed to track down enough for the sweater. Lucky me!

With rest, ice, and NSAIDs-- and maybe some sewing to keep my hands busy-- I hope to be in fighting trim again soon. Still, it annoys me that I can no longer afford to ignore my body's little complaints as blithely as I used to do. My patients have often warned me not to get old...