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Garden!Yep. I spent all day Sunday pulling grass and other weeds out of the garden. The green beans seem to be making a recovery, and we've been seeing rabbits munching our "devil vine"*, so I think they are now too big to get into the garden. Len got chicken wire up anyway.Len also got the tomato supports up. We are now arguing about the best way to proceed: he has the twine tied to the plants. I think we should tie the twine to stakes, stick those in the ground and wind the plants around (which is what Smith describes in The Vegetable Gardener's Bible). He thinks that the root system is too big and we'll kill the plants. Since I refuse to operate the circular saw (or, indeed, get anywhere close to that killing machine) in order to make the stakes, he wins this round.
The Supersweet 100s are getting close (obviously, I didn't weed this part of the garden). I'll feel better when the heirlooms start getting tomatoes, since I raise those plants from tiny little seeds.
This thing appeared a couple of years ago. I don't know what it is, but I have great affection for this plant. In a month or so it will get really cool looking berries.
*The devil vine: some unsuspecting former owner of our house put up a little archway and planted a vine to drape prettily over the thing. The vine is now taking over parts of the lawn, a small flower bed, what seems to have been an attempt at a grape vine and it is trying to kill a very nice shrub, and a lilac tree. If the rabbits want to eat it, I will gladly allow them to breed on our property. Maybe I will build them a little house of their very own!
Due to a dearth of knitting pictures*, today I am presenting pictures of my very messy garden. Feel free to laugh.
To the far right you can see the beginnings of this year's attempt to support our 50 (or more) tomato plants. I have high hopes for this apparatus -- it's a trellis with twine. The idea comes from The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward Smith. It all depends on how lazy Len ends up being.
Is this a garden, or lawn? My goal is to get this weeded by this weekend. I have lofty goals.
Despite all of the weeds, the purple beans are growing very nicely.
The green beans are not. The edamame look even worse. But the rabbits are well fed. My goal for this weekend is to line our current fence with chicken wire. (Hahahahaha!!) It all depends on how lazy I am!
Maybe if I get the fence lined, I can set the brussels sprouts, broccoli and cabbage free.
*It isn't that I'm not knitting at all. I'm concentrating on Daffodil and one picture of a white blob looks quite a lot like the next. I'm still trying for mid-July. It seems, not that I am at the edging, the number of stitches is no longer increasing. Thank god.
..."Thanks, Barb!"
He certainly believes his humans do not appreciate the gorgeousness that is Himself nearly enough. If we did, we would not yell at him when all he wants to do is climb the new screen door (all 15 lbs of him!) He has been threatening to go live with our friends K & S, who have declared their undying love. He thinks they will let him climb their screens.
Judy, one the other hand, thinks we appreciate her way too much, and wishes we would lay off.
I had another go at weaving on the wire warp a few days ago and managed to get pictures last night. Bad pictures.
This time I tried pick-up. First, I have to say I have never done this type of pick-up on the inkle loom (or any other loom, for that matter) -- I've done the brocade, which involves warp floats, but not this technique which uses the warp for the pattern -- so if it looks really bad, that's one reason (I actually don't think it looks that bad). Second, the picture is showing more of a contrast between the brass and silver than actually exists. I think the subtle patterning would look fine using fiber (wool or cotton), but the wire really needs more contrast. I don't think this will end up being anything more than a reference piece, since it is more interesting than pretty.
I'm planning to cut this warp off tonight and will hopefully come up with some brilliant plan to finish off the beaded bracelet.
This is about 2 miles from where I live. I love how the color of the hay changes from season to season. In late fall to early winter it is the palest of green and was my inspiration for the very pale green in the fair isle cardigan.
Last summer I made a list of knitting projects I was knitting on, and while I had hoped to finish them, this year's list is remarkably similar:
1. Daffodil continues.
I've decided to give myself a deadline: mid-July. Last I counted there were 1128 stitches on the needle and I'm increasing by about 50 every other round, with about 20 rounds to go. Wish me luck!
2. The obnoxious Flower Sweater continues:
The back and both fronts are done and I have started the sleeves. I have no idea what book this is from, I made a working copy of the pattern and then lost it. I started this I-don't-know-how-long-ago, and I'm not really sure what possessed me, but I still like it enough to want to finish. I still hate intarsia.
3. Shedir:
In Rowan Calmer.
4. A pile of DK cotton:
This pile of cotton will some day become a cardigan. Nirvana didn't have enough of any one color (that I liked and could afford), so I bought a contrasting color and will put in a few stripes.
5. The fair isle will continue during times I can stand to knit with wool:
I'm so completely in love with this.
6. And Faye. Of course. I've made no progress whatsoever.
I planted our vegetable garden on Memorial Day. I decided to get it all done on that one day because I didn't want to feel compelled to do anything at all during the rest of the week. It worked out nicely because it ended up being in the 90s all week and I could barely tear myself away from the fan.
Things didn't start out well: we had seed trouble, cold snaps, late frosts and often felt like it would never, ever be summer. And yet, here it is:
Some day I will convince Len to go with raised beds, but this was not the year. From left to right: row 1. green (bush) beans; row 2. Edamame (soy) beans and purple (bush) beans; row 3. cabbage*, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and habeñeros; row 4. sweet red peppers, someday there will be cayenne and jalapeño plants; rows 5 and 6. heirloom Beefsteak tomatoes; rows 7 and 8. Amish Paste (heirloom) tomatoes; row 9. Supersweet 100 tomatoes (hybrids, but too good to pass up); and row 10. watermelon and pickling cucumbers (especially for my friend K and my sister, Krista). I still need to find room for leeks, considering we lost a bunch of tomato plants last night (damn rabbits!), that shouldn't be a problem.
*The cabbage was a mistake, we meant to get more broccoli plants, but the leaves look exactly the same. Oh well, we will make sauerkraut.
And besides all of the grass that's coming up, we have real plants coming up, too!
I love how the shoots come up with the seed pods still attached. This is the row with purple and soy beans.
We also have an herb garden: here are sage, tarragon, chives, oregano and mint. Cilantro plants are coming up, and I also have rosemary, thyme and Thai and Sweet basil planted.
And just because it's so darn pretty!
I'm back from, what can only be described as, The Best Vacation Ever. For many of you, great vacations may be about travel, beaches, sun, or some sort of water or snow based activity. For me, it's all about sitting around on my rear end, watching bad television, and doing little else. I was so relaxed by the end of the week, I practically floated to work yesterday.
Last year, NPR started a series called "You Must Read This" as part of their summer reading programming in which writers discuss their favorite books. I love the series. I love knowing what people are passionate about, especially when it involves books, and I wish they would ask me about my favorite book. Because, while I don't have a favorite color, and I'd be hard pressed to tell you what my favorite singer or movie is, I do have a favorite book. One that you should read.
I was 16 when I first read Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. I think I picked it off of a reading list, so it wasn't required reading for me. If this book got shoved down your throat as part of High School American Lit (or whatever other class you had), I'm very sorry. You deserved better and so did this book. It's so grand and angry, but full of grace and love. Over the dozen or so times I've read it (including once in French), Grapes of Wrath has given me insight into some big truths: compassion, fear, love, humanity, generosity, selfishness, justice, and injustice. And so on. Steinbeck's story of the Joad family's migration west to pursue a better life in California rings true now, as we try to deal with today's migration issues. To me, the most universal message we take from Grapes of Wrath is the danger in losing sight of the humanity of the dispossessed. Society at all levels, rich to poor, becomes uncivil, fearful and violent. If you haven't read this since high school, do try again.
In other reading news, the other night I finished Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. The plot itself is simple: an international group of party-goers are taken hostage in some unnamed South American country. But it isn't what you'd think. Patchett digs deep into the nature of love, relationships and beauty. It's a gorgeous book and I was heartbroken when it ended. I've already passed it on.
I'm also reading Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963, the first in Taylor Branch's compelling history of the Civil Rights Movement. Richly detailed -- Branch does not merely tell us why King's father changed his son's and his own name from Michael to Martin, but also discusses the importance of names in the Black community, both of themselves individually and as a group -- but never didactic, this book is Important and utterly readable.
What are your favorite books?
Thanks Christine and Valerie, for your comments on the beaded weaving. I'm still not sure where I'm headed with it, but there will be pictures when I get there!
Another jail rant: I got my first phone bill since A started calling me from jail ("Hello Dad? I'm in jail now! Say hi to Mom, from JAIL!" --Was, Not Was). A could only call collect, there were no other options. Two calls, 25 minutes total, cost $32.00, including the $2.49 per call to put them on my bill. I don't have any problem with A calling me, I do, however, have huge issues with her not having any choice but to call collect. Luckily the mail service was reasonably fast, so I could get information to her about treatment options, but she was very limited in how she could contact the centers since she couldn't call them. Plus, there's not a lot I hate more than a monopoly; when a phone company has a monopoly on collect calls, they get to charge you $2.49 to put their charges on your bill. That chaffs my hide.
In other news: I have officially spent money on beads to do something other than knitting or weaving. I have an illness. The Crafty Syndrome. Or something.
I am taking text week off. Nope. I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying home and putzing. Putzing will certainly include planting the garden, maybe weeding, possibly cleaning, some cooking, most certainly knitting, reading, playing with beads and weaving. I seriously doubt it will include posting, so have a good week!
I don't have much to say about this little baby sweater, and apparently it did not want to be photographed, since all of the pictures I took (and I took a lot of pictures) are pretty lousy:
The colors seem to be pretty accurate, so that's something. The pattern is the cover sweater from Knitting for Baby. The yarn is Mission Falls cotton.
The buttons were kind of an issue. I bought some very pretty ones at a local yarn shop, but they were really too big, so I started trying out buttons from my stash (as it turns out, I have a lot of buttons!) I settled on these, which are fine. Since I made him sit through the entire process, Len decided he completely understands why I get a glazed look when he starts going on about home repair.
And here is a shot of it on my very messy desk. The edging was supposed to be a simple pick-up/cast-off in a contrasting color. I decided to go with the picot cast-off to fancy thing up a bit. I think it turned out nicely enough. Now I just need to get it mailed off.
I have to admit that the inkle loom, with it's wire warp, has been neglected since the last time I posted about it. Oh, I have excuses: the shawl needed to be finished quickly, then I wanted to knit a quick baby sweater (more on that in a future post).
But let's be honest. When have I ever let a deadline (especially a self-imposed deadline) get in the way? Once the excitement of warping and figuring out how to weave with the wire had faded, so did my interest. Meh. Wire. Yawn.
So. I've been thinking about beads and I've thinking about ways to make the weaving more interesting. I started trying to figure out how to put the two together, which isn't altogether obvious. The main problem is the weaving on the Inkle loom is warp faced and the beads would need to be added with the weft (on this warp anyway, since it already exists). In a perfect world, you don't see the weft, but this isn't a perfect world, and the weft is quite visible on the wire weaving. It occurred to me that could work to my advantage, so I went to the bead store (otherwise known as, to me anyway, House of Sin) and found some flat beads which seemed likely to work. I threaded them onto the weft and, after some fiddling to get the spacing to work, this is what I came up with:
It still isn't hugely exciting, but I think there is a lot of potential here. This is only 8 inches long, which isn't quite long enough to make a cuff, so now I'm trying to figure out how to lengthen it in the finishing (I have plenty of unwoven warp on both sides).
I present pre-knitting content:
If my dream life is any indication, I am suffering from a serious case of knitting envy: Saturday night I had a dream that we had a baby shower for one of the researchers here at work. Several of us gave her hand-knitted baby sweaters. Mine was a Baby Surprise Jacket (one of my standard baby sweaters), everyone else made fine gauge Fair Isle or cabled sweaters. The people that made those sweaters don't even knit!
My only explanation is that I am making a baby sweater for a friend of mine, and I am feeling a little guilty because I am so not on time. She had the baby two weeks ago.
Another possibility. I want to start submitting pictures to public groups on Flickr, but I am lacking self confidence.
I am currently obsessing about beads.
I have not yet succumbed.
But I want to. Bad.
I am a dumbass.
I finally managed to block the shawl. It seems I started this April 7, this picture was taken May 2. That might be a record (for me, anyway).
This is the "More than Circular" shawl from Best of Knitter's Shawls and Scarves, knitted with hand dyed 10/2 cotton*, with #5, #6, #8 and #10 needles. I meant to weigh the shawl and the leftover yarn to give you some idea of how much I used, but didn't manage it. I suspect between 600 and 800 yards.
I, painfully, shoved a bead onto each of the points, and managed to tie a knot. That was a long, convoluted process, which I am happy to forget. The beads are a nice decorative touch, and serve to weigh the shawl down, making it more likely that it will stay on the shoulders. I, myself, think it came out nicely.
After I dyed this yarn, Valerie had said not to judge it before sampling. She was so right. I was very unhappy with the yarn when it was in the skein; but knitted up it is so bright and cheerful, and the ugly faded bits blend in nicely.
Fade to Black
Swan
This is a view from a park about a half mile from our house. It isn't visible from the road, you have to walk up into the park.
An update, for Barb! Well, to be honest, I've been planning to do a post about the wire weaving and my (abject lack of) progress. I've been focusing on getting a shawl done -- it is now off the needles and waiting to be blocked -- so I haven't been as attentive to the weaving as I should be.
To recap, the warp is 28 gauge silver and brass. There are 24 silver ends and 22 brass ends. I didn't have any kind of plan when I started, because I didn't really know how to plan, so I just warped until it looked wide enough for a bracelet. Even that is hard to see, since the wire doesn't lay as neatly as cotton. It turns out be about 1/2 inch wide.
This is my first attempt at weaving, using some of the brass wire left over from the warp. It got a little easier, and better looking, as I figured out how to make the wire behave. I didn't want to stick with the brass for the weft, since I have silver warp on either side.
I happened to have some 24 gauge wire hanging around and tried using that for weft. It doesn't work, at least not with something this narrow and warp-faced, it is too thick to bend into the necessary sharp turns.
Silver, 28 gauge warp. This is still plain weave, I'm planning to try some pick up in the next bit that I do, but I wanted to get a feel for the wire before trying anything else.
And this is how the wire looks when the tension is loosened. Yeesh.
What does not show up in the pictures is that the weft is clearly visible through the warp. It is still warp dominant (rather than balanced the way a mesh would be), but the weft does show up. I don't know how to fix it (maybe a finer gauge weft?) or if I care very much, at least for this project.
Sorry about the relative silence, lately. It has been a completely insane couple of weeks, in good and bad ways. I won't comment further, since it is all work related.
Instead. Knitting progress.
Here is a detail shot of the shawl I've been knitting. I'm almost done with the knitting, then I will employ some sort of crocheted cast-off, block it, and then maybe string beads on. We'll see how ambitious I am.
And since I actually have to watch the knitting on the shawl, I've also made quite a lot of progress on the body of the Equinox Pullover. No picture, though, it's really too boring to show. Instead, have a daffodil:
I was going to say something else, but I don't remember what. That's the kind of week I'm having.
*********************
Valerie, I like that question from your son's Econ Class. It reflects, I think, the very complicated relationship between wealth and poverty in this country.
I have a young friend, A (she was my Little Sister through Big Brothers/Big Sisters*). Due to a variety of circumstances, A is in county jail until mid-May. In order for her to write letters, she needs to have stamps and envelopes. Her mother (or I, for that matter) can't take her stamps and envelopes, they have to be purchased through the commissary, which is now online only.
On the one hand, it is nice that I can buy a few things for A, given that I don't live anywhere near her. On the other hand, it seems to me that the friends and family of those in this rural county jail are exactly the population who have been left on the wrong side of the digital divide. Most of them probably do not have computers or internet access at home, so they need to find the time and know-how (not to mention the non-maxed out credit card) to access the online store from somewhere else (like the public library). Seems like a lot to ask to me.
In addition to the stamps and envelopes, one can also buy a variety of care packages. One of these is called "Big Slammer". You know. For your loved one, who is in the slammer.
I see this every day driving to work. Worth risking a broken axle for, don't you think?
And have nothing else to show:
This is how last night went: I got home around 6:00 pm. Len had already sunk into the couch (it's freezing out and he has a nasty cold). I joined him. We had left over lentil soup and stale bread for dinner. We watched Antiques Roadshow, then a really interesting and depressing documentary on Jim Jones. Then we went to bed.
This morning I remembered. Yesterday was our 4th anniversary. Doh!
In other boneheadedness (this time not on my part): it was pretty foggy this morning. It wasn't so bad that you couldn't see the road in front of you, but bad enough that you really couldn't pass the guy going 45 mph in a 55 mph zone (nor was it so bad that you needed to go that slow). Not an insignificant number of people were driving without their headlights, some may have just not thought about it, but others were driving with their parking lights on. What's that about? If it's dark enough for the parking lights, isn't it dark enough for the headlights?
Comment:
Valerie - they are string heddles (DMC Cebelia, size 30 - I have a boatload of the stuff). It seems like they will hold up, but I haven't really started weaving yet. The germ of the idea came from episode 5 (Inklings) of WeaveCast. Syne Mitchell's guest, Robyn Spady, mentioned that she had used her inkle loom to weave wire. They had just enough of a discussion of how to do it (i.e. don't warp the whole loom, just use the perimeter), but not enough to make it seem indimidating. Then again, I am a bit dim. I've only thrown a couple of shots so far, it didn't go well. I'll play with it more tonight. It should be interesting. Or a big mess.
I finally got to warp my inkle loom with wire. Once I put the brass wire on a shuttle, the process went very smoothly.
However, as it turns out, wire does not behave the way cotton yarn does. I know. That came as a complete surprise to me, too! Warping with wire, easy. Weaving with it. Not so much.
This contraption raises and lowers the windows in the roof of our greenhouse. We have a greenhouse. Which would be useful if were above freezing. Or sunny.
The socks I started are the Cable Rib Socks from IK's Favorite Socks (also a recent-ish issue of Knits, but I don't remember which one. They are in green Louet Gems Pearl. I had originally bought the yarn to make a different pair, but lovely as it is, it turned out to be utterly wrong. Ah well.
The sweater. The sweater is my own version of the Equinox Yoke Pullover from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits (one quibble: it is described as a "not-so-classic take on a traditional Fair Isle sweater". I fail to see how there is anything traditional about this sweater in construction or color pattern. It has stranded knitting, and if anything, takes it's cues from Bohus knitting. Anyway.) I am making some major changes. I'm combining some of the colors, e.g. all of the reds and oranges will be a single red. The original pattern has the body and sleeves knit flat up to the yoke, then it gets joined up and knit circularly. Why not do the whole thing circularly? So I am.
But wait! There's more! When I started thinking about making this, I thought it was too bad it wasn't a cardigan, since I probably wouldn't wear a pullover. But because of the shape of the neckline, and having somewhat limited imagination, I couldn't see it as a cardigan. But then the next issue, Winter 2006, had a pattern for the Enid Cardigan (which really is described as Bohus-inspired), which has a very similar neckline to the Equinox. Now I can picture it. And since I have already decided to knit this in the round, that means steeking. Yep. Taking scissors to the knitting. What the hell.
But then yesterday late afternoon, I was asked to donate something to a silent auction. This is for a fund which helps staff with educational expenses. The University I work for is fairly crummy about staff education, so I'm all for this fund. Which means that all of the above is about to be put on hold while I whip out something by May 1. I'm going to make a small shawl out of this yarn.
(I just want you all to know about my mad multi-tasking skills -- I've been doing my job the whole time I've been writing this. That explains the bad grammar!)
I was going to call this post Knitting News but that is cliche and I've used it already.
The bathmat is done and on it's way to my sister.
Here is a small picture 'cos it sucks (the picture, not the bathmat).
To make this very mat yourself you will need Sugar 'N Cream worsted weight cotton yarn, 2-3 oz. balls of Color 1 (the solid blue) and 3-3 oz. balls of color 2 (the variegated). I used size 10 (U.S.) needles.
Cast on 70 stitches using Color 1. Knit 2 rows. Add Color 2 and knit 2 rows. Continue knitting using the Fibonacci sequence (count the ridges, rather than rows): 0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, etc. The largest stripe is 21 ridges and then reverse the sequence. Does that make sense?
In celebration, I started a sock and a sweater. I don't have pictures of either object. And I have just spent way too much time trying to find references for them (the sweater has an exceptionally complicated story), to no avail. I will write a post about both of these tomorrow.
I had promised myself I wouldn't start anything new until my sister's bathmat is done. 'Cos long stretches of garter stitch, knitted with string at a slightly too-tight gauge? That's my idea of a good time! But then I ran out of yarn, on a Friday. With no access to more yarn until Monday. What's a knitter to do?
As luck would have it, before making the above promise, I had casted on the cuff for the MS Cardigan (it is possible that I casted on just before making the promise). I decided to start with a sleeve for several reasons, most of which had to do with the inevitable ripping out which I was sure would be necessary. I was switching out some colors, and rather than knit another swatch, I thought the sleeve at this point would be a nice stand in. As it turns out, I did hate one of the colors and it has been ripped out and reknit (the other color makes it's first appearance in a later chart, so far I'm ok with it). Starting with a sleeve also gives me a chance to check and double-check my math and then measure it against reality. Always a good thing for the mathematically challenged among us.
The lightest colors should have a greenish hue, and the black is actually very dark purple. I am through the first chart (which you can just see at the bottom of the picture). I love this knitting. I love the colors, the yarn, the charts, I love that it is kind of hard and looks even harder. I do not love, however, doing this on double-points and will be grateful when I have enough stitches to switch to a 16" circular.
In the meantime, I procured more yarn for the bath mat and finished it, I do keep some promises.
