Knits

Well then… it’s been a rather busy week. I had another trip to Durham where it was absolutely beautiful on the Wednesday (but cold) and a bit yucky on Thursday although it had started to clear up by the time I was headed back south. Unfortunately I didn’t book a seat on the train which was totally crowded so got booted out of the seat I took more than once; it’s not fun having to stand up for 90-minutes in a crowded, hot, stuffy train when you’re hungry and have cramps.

On Wednesday I met up with a couple of Ravelers — stitchwort who kindly helped rehome four balls/skeins of yarn and lucyvanp who oddly enough actually works in the same building as I will be working in; unfortunately she’ll have returned to Manchester by the time I arrive. I made some good progress on my second Marigold sock on the trip up, but due to the train situation described above, I didn’t knit at all on the way down. I’m just about to finish the turning of the heel so that’s something.

I have finished the Fetching gloves for my co-worker. I really like how they came out. I followed the pattern this time (my previous attempt included several more cable repeats since I can’t read, apparently) and you know, it may be a pattern that uses one ball of yarn, but then you end up with “gloves” that only cover the palm of your hand if you’ve got larger hands like mine hence the extension on both the thumb and top of the glove so that they actually cover a significant part of one’s hand. I like this two-tone effect and may make myself a similar pair — just not in hot pink. Yuck.

And yesterday I received my first instalment of the Zen Yarn Garden semi-solid sock club (you people are of no help — I asked for some telling me no, and I got none). It’s more teal than I could get a picture of (believe me, I have 50 pictures that all look about the same, but none of them green enough — and that hot pink doesn’t photograph well either; you can hear the camera say “My eyes! My eyes!”). The band says it’s about 450 yards so it looks like I’ll get some very good boot socks which I will need in the north.

Speaking of which, my contract finally came through. There’s been a bunch of problems at the university end that were totally unexpected and I can’t go into here, but they seem to be resolved now so things are moving forward. I did speak to my current director yesterday and negotiated an end date so I have that now which is exciting and scary. It’s many, many weeks off, but there’s a lot going on between now and then so I need to start planning things out — even begin packing up things that I know I won’t be needing between now and then. I’m so looking forward to moving up there. It’s absolutely beautiful and the people are friendly. I can’t wait.

And no I don’t mean I managed to sit in front of the computer on Ravelry ALL DAY. I actually left the house rather early for a Saturday yesterday, headed to Bristol to Get Knitted and met up with a bunch of other Ravelers. It was my first knitting outing ever (I mean outside of me and fellow ex-pat getting together on our twosome and knitting). There was a pretty large group, but I only met and spoke to a handful since many arrived much earlier and had settled in to their spots.

Get Knitted is fantastic. I’ve ordered from them online several times and always have great service (they even include a pen and lollipop in your order). The store carries so much stuff and it was nice to finally get to see such a huge variety of yarn and get to touch and select a couple of things without having to guess whether the colour is right on my monitor or not. I was really restrained. I only bought three things: 2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM since I’ve never tried it and it is very pretty, 1 ball of DB Cashmerino Aran in a hideous colour to make some Fetching for a friend, and ordered some Cascade 220 Heathers as they didn’t have enough in store.

We hung out, we chatted, several of us got lunch, and we returned to the store, but my second visit was very short since the train was really only once an hour back (there were two trains an hour, but they were within minutes of each other). It was great to finally meet erqsome and several others I “know” from Ravelry including Robynn (owner of Purlescence), TussahSilk, ORK, YogicKnitter, and WoollyWormhead.

I even managed to finish sock 1 of the Marigold Socks. Hurrah. It came out quite tall - 10″ from floor to top of the cuff - so I’m quite pleased. I even cast on for sock 2 although I had to cast on four times because I am actually pretty incapable of knitting and carrying on conversation.

I’m really tired from sleeping badly. I’ve got some bad PMS/PMT symptoms going on right now so I’m going to stay in my jammies most of the day (all day maybe) and do some knitting on those Fetching (gotta get that wretched colour out of here!), have a nap, drink tea, watch Dylan Moran again ’cause he’s hilarious, and do some laundry as I think that’s the extent of my household duties that my back can handle today. I’m off to Durham later this week where I’ll meet two more knitters, but of course that’s not why I’m going to Durham — it’s work-related and I’m hoping to have a bit more of a peek around to since I hope to be resident there this spring.

And I haven’t forgotten… Thank you for sending your thoughts to me about Trigger. It was a real shock to hear that she has cancer, but what sets me off crying is the sympathetic ear. She’s okay right now and there’s nothing different about her. I’ll have to talk to the vet to ask him more about life expectancy, what I need to watch for, etc. I pretty much immediately decided that I wouldn’t take any drastic measures (i.e. going the route of radiotherapy) as I think it would be all too stressful and painful for her and if she’s content with life right now and I can keep her comfortable, that was a much better option.

That’s how I let my mom know I’d arrived. A friend did an enormous favour for me and picked me up at the airport despite her incredibly hectic schedule as she prepares to fly off to go adopt her baby! Knitting for the wee thing is definitely in my future.

Now, not to overload you, I’ll just tell you about two finished objects today and then sometime in the next couple of days we will document the stash additions and books that I’ve managed to collect in two days haha. Well, a lot of it was pre-ordered before I arrived, but it’s now all in my hot little hands.

First off, Clapotis aka The C. Turns out my sister doesn’t know where this blog is (apparently she doesn’t Google my name) so I could’ve just called it by what it is from the start. Anyway, I didn’t get it finished before I arrived. I somehow got a lot of it done though because I thought I was pretty close to the end when I decided to quit dropping the stitches as I went along. In fact, I waited until the end and found out I had hundreds and hundreds of stitches to drop which was no fun whatsoever.

I tried to be sneaky finishing up the last 20 or so rows and my sister went all stealth and caught me. I think it ruined the element of surprise even though when she asked what I was knitting I told her to piss off. =D I finished it up and handed it over without washing it. She likes it and ended up falling asleep with it on and then waking up baking hot. That’s what she gets for being sneaky. I’ll wash it up as it is suddenly giving off that slightly fishy smell silks sometimes do. Yuck.

And I finally finished my Charade socks on the aeroplane. Thank goodness I even brought the first one with me since my mom’s house is like a morgue. I really like these socks. I love the colours in this yarn and despite first appearances, I think I rather like how the pattern and the yarn worked out. I need to write up the full details for both of these projects yet.

I will share one stash enhancement with you. Ava of TwoBlackSheep and I were emailing back and forth and I asked her about a book. She said she had said book and was actually about to give it away to the library, but instead she’d send it to me. How completely generous! So upon arrival at my mom’s I set to opening up all the packages I’d received. There was a rather big box and I thought “Oh god, what did I order and forget about ordering?!” Alas, it was the box from Ava with the copy of Sensational Knitted Socks and this gorgeous sock yarn from an indie shop from her hometown.

 
Yarnsmith’s Casapa

Now, despite my recent post on Knitting Snobbery, I know that for the most part knitters (like all people) are kind and generous. I was completely grateful for receiving a book in exchange for some British chocolates, but to get the added bonus of gorgeous, hand-dyed cashmere and alpaca sock yarn? Awesome. And in the spirit of generosity, if you have been loving Ravelry as much as me and if you haven’t donated already (or can afford to give a little more), there’s a drive to have a whole bunch of donations come in during this Thanksgiving weekend started by an fellow Raveler who’s just very appreciative of what Jess and Casey have given the fibre community. It’s all been kept secret from them and as they’re away, being helpful in another way, they’ll come home to hopefully see how generous a community we really are for a couple of people with a fantastic idea.

Happy Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day (although I think donating is okay for buy nothing day).

I still love Ravelry very much. I spend hours getting lost looking at patterns, adding things to my favourites and queue, seeing if anyone is offering any Cider Moon for sale or trade. I venture into the Forums, but find myself too annoyed with the opinions lately. I don’t know if it’s just me and my mood or what, but there is a real snobbery bubbling over, not even just brewing, as the site is growing and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

There are so many threads about the annoying things non-knitters say or how to combat the attitude non-knitters have towards the money and time knitters spend on projects. There’s even snobbery between types of knitting - knitters who don’t see why people like to knit socks or dishcloths or a particular pattern. To each her own, I say. I see beautiful lacework, but I’m not at the point where I’d knit a shawl because I can’t see where I’d ever wear such a thing. I’m not going to say “What’s the point in knitting shawl after shawl after shawl?” I suspect one day the lace bug will bite me just as the sock bug did. I may not have need for a shawl, but some of them are so pretty and I can see the allure of it. Or snobbery about the types of fibres one uses - animal vs plant vs man-made. And I just get so baffled at the hundreds of posts these threads get.

And then there’s this whole issue involving the Beta t-shirts. Many a Raveler is upset at selecting a t-shirt that is meant to be a snug fit and finding it is in fact, too snug for their liking. This is after seeing a picture of a shirt modeled and a warning that said shirts run small. There are people giving Jess and Casey LEGAL ADVICE on how, now as business owners, it is their responsibility to make it clear that they represent the product accurately. Give me a fucking break.

There is post after post about how many knots people have found in their Colinette Jitterbug and Noro Silk Garden yet I don’t see people saying that Noro and Colinette should state that their yarn may contain numerous knots in a single skein. Jess and Casey chose a brand of t-shirt based on a number of reasons that are important to them and fair labour is one of them. The fit of the shirt is very popular (it’s the same shirts that Threadless use for many of their designs) since it is an actual fitted shirt (i.e. it is curvy) for the ladies. They had to make the best choice for them based on their business and obviously are not going to be able to predict how 15,000+ people like their t-shirts to fit. It’s all because we “know” Jess and Casey since they are so involved in the community.

On my train journey north there were two teams of train staff. The train managers (person who checks the tickets, announces stops, etc.) in both teams stopped to talk to me about my knitting. They said it was beautiful and I was practising a dying art. There was no negativity or looking down their nose at me for doing it, even as a “youngster”. All too often the threads on Ravelry perceive all non-knitters as being inferior since “they don’t get it”. I actually think both of these women are or were knitters, but that’s not the point as generally people seem to express annoyance when anyone comes up to them and makes a comment — they immediately take the defensive.

The other week a woman at work who did knitting 30 years ago said that the knitted dishcloths I’ve made are stupid because you can just go to Tesco’s (national supermarket chain) and buy some dishcloths and throw them away. I said mine are pretty and last longer. She didn’t care. She complained they were too thick because she likes to neatly fold up her dishcloth and hang it on the side of the sink to which I asked her if she actually got out the iron to make sure it was good and flat and crisp. It shut her up. To each our own. [It should be said that this woman does tend to not understand the thin line between expressing one's opinion and being flat out rude which is what a lot of people seem to lack.]

I wish these people with the snobbish attitudes realised they were being just as rude and snobbish as they think non-knitters are (and they’re applying that snobbishness to both non-knitters and their peers) and that the whole thing is just ugly. I wish I could stop looking at these threads but it really is like a car crash because I read these opinions and they’re expressed in such an ugly, unfriendly manner that my jaw just drops. They feel they can get away with it because it’s their opinion and everyone is entitled to such a thing.

Sorry for going off on a rant there, but it’s been brewing.

I think I’m inadvertantly becoming a weekend blogger. I think a lot of it has to do with finally have so much on at work, I can’t compose posts during all the down time I had in the past. It also has to do with wanting to add pictures to the blog to break it up and I just haven’t been shooting very many pictures lately of anything. And outside of the weekend, I’m not home when there’s still any sort of light to take knitting pictures in. I love that you all read this, but I also love my sleeping so I’m not getting out of bed, groggy-eyed, to try to snap a few photographs for you during the working week.

The C is an addictive knit because it’s so simple. I’m into to the straight rows and have now dropped two ladders of stitches. I haven’t been home the last couple of nights so there’s been no knitting on that, but tonight, that’ll be my focus as I watch a movie. The pictures below are of the edge of The C.

So on the left is the edge if I followed the recipe as described. Horrible, ugly bumps along both sides from the increases that are done at the end of every row. On the right is the cleaner increase to make it a nice edge. It looks so much better. I realised that I should’ve been doing the increases on the purl side slightly differently, but I’m not bothered by how they’ve come out.

I purchased a number of items on Amazon.com and have been browsing where to buy that ShiBui yarn. Well, as beautiful as the colours are, and they are exactly the sort of colours I love — rich and saturated and subtley blended — sadly, looking at the projects knitted on Ravelry and reading some reviews shows that the colour pools like a Mofo pretty much regardless of the pattern. Can anyone suggest some other semi-solids in such beautiful colours?

Also, I have been trying to Destash, so if you’re on Ravelry you can have a look at my destash page. For those in the US, I am headed over for Thanksgiving so the same prices as listed will apply (they currently include shipping in the UK only) since I can bring it over with me and post from there. For those of you that read this and aren’t on Ravelry, see the list below the cut of what’s available.

And lastly, I went to see The Shins last night. It was fantastic. I am feeling old today though as I am completely exhausted from getting in at 1am and having to wake up at 730am since I was really clever and booked a grocery delivery for between 8 and 9 this morning.

» Read the rest of this entry …

I know, big whoop. I don’t really know why I’m on such a dishcloth kick right now. I guess it’s because they’re quick (get them mostly done in a night) and satisfying really. It’s not really using up my stash in a hurry, but it is decreasing the numbers slowly while making usable things. Maybe I should just knit a bath towel hahaha. The above is the Lacy mock cable dishcloth.

I’m still addicted to Ravelry, but am getting better at not spending endless hours there even doing the volunteer editing thing. I added a lot of my stash and still have more to go; I may get around to adding some older projects too.

I’m home again because I started seeing flashing lights last night. It was like power surges or light bulbs popping, but it’s all in my head (I hope). I get migraines, but usually they are absolutely throbbing pain with a bit of light sensitivity and the only thing to do is take some meds and fall asleep until it passes. This is, hopefully, a migraine without the pain although it’s been going on for more than 12 hours. It’s not so bad this morning, but last night it was sort of constant until I went to bed at close to 1am. I say it’s hopefully a painless migraine because the other alternative is a retinal detachment which sounds absolutely disgusting and frightening. I am not a squeamish person, but when it comes to things involving the eye, I am. I wear glasses even though I could easily get contacts because putting something on my eye freaks me right out.

Oh I am into the single digits in my blog reading so that’s good. And, via Ravelry, it’s rather exciting to see people add my Flutter-by socks to their queue (I can’t see who has them queued). There is one person actually knitting them and has posted some in progress shots and that’s totally exciting and humbling. I can’t wait to see how others turn out.

I know it hasn’t been all that long since I last posted (5 days), but I have suddenly become very neglectful of both my blog and my blog-reading. Why is that? Ravelry.

I thought the initial addiction of adding a few things here and there and doing a whole lot of browsing was addicting — nevermind admiring how clever it all is. Then I discovered that users can “adopt” patterns / pattern sources (e.g. books, web sites) / lines of yarn and edit them — as in fill in all the detail, select pictures to highlight the yarn or pattern, etc. Now this probably sounds like no fun whatsoever to a majority of people. However, this completely appeals to my librarian instinct of cataloguing the bejesus out of things. Getting to tidy up data and make sure all the bits and bobs are there? SIGN ME UP. So I have spent way too many hours the last several days doing this.

In addition to cleaning up patterns and a few yarns, I’ve been reading the editors discussion boards. I’ve never actually been big on participating in discussion boards so it’s actually sort of weird to be in this refresh-every-30-seconds-to-see-if-something’s-new mode.

Anyway, Ravelry, definitely addicting. Definitely amazing.

I have done really boring knitting - a ballband dishcloth and a Tribble mostly because they are quick “wins” and to use up some stash. Well the Tribble needs sewing up, but that’s about 5 minutes work. I actually had started on another more plain sort of dishcloth because I am going to teach myself how to knit continental. I’m not going to correct it if it’s wonky (which it definitely will be), but I messed up the pattern so ripped it out because the perfectionist bit of me just couldn’t leave that. Because knitting in a new style is well, new, it’s like learning all over again and going so slow. It’s hard to fight the urge to just go back to English method. I know in the end though that knitting continental will be quicker.

And here’s my new pencil case. It’s a tin case with three compartments:

Ravlery: so addicting I had to add a new category to my blog.