A Finished Object, A Started Object, Fun and Sadness

The Flutter Sleeve cardigan is done!

Here's the back view (no comments about my ass, please!):

Here are the specs: Flutter Sleeve Cardigan, Spring '08. I used the called-for Classic Elite Classic Silk, in the moss colorway. I used the needles called for in the pattern, except for the ribbing section in the middle, where I used US 4s instead of US 3s. I started out knitting the small size for my hips and midsection, but added about an inch and a half for my bust. I didn't block it too carefully, because my gauge swatch (after washing) was spot-on. I just pat it into shape. Now that I've sewed on the buttons and tried it on, I may try to block a little bit more ease into it. That, or lose the 5 pounds I've put on in the last couple of weeks. I like the sweater. I usually spend my summers in shorts and tee shirts, but this will be nice to have for going out to dinner.

I also started the doily I've been threatening to knit. It's "Annette" from "Knitted Lace," by Sonja Esbensen and Anna Rasmussen. (I got these a while back from Lacis.) Here's what I've knit so far, not really blocked, obviously. Please note that I've followed the pattern exactly:

Here's the picture of the doily in the book:

Can anyone spot the apparent discrepancy in the pattern? I'm having fun knitting with it. It's hard to put it down because I want to see each new row and motif unfold. Life, unfortunately, does not allow for that. I am wondering whether I'll need to rip it out and redo it to fix the seeming discrepancy, or whether it will work out the way it is, and I'm just an idiot.

As I mentioned, Monday was the school field trip to go see "Horton Hears a Who." 120 first graders and 70 or so parents trooped off in the cold rain to the metro station. We got there at about 10:00, which is still the tail end of rush hour here in the DC area. As a result, when we all packed onto the train, it was so full of bleary-eyed commuters that there were no seats left. As we hustled the kids in and got them to hold onto the poles and the seat backs, I could see that a lot of the passengers were wondering if they were going to be in for a ride that was just too noisy for their pre-caffeinated states. As soon as the train started moving, all 120 kids, in unison, said, "Whoooaaaa!" The passengers all laughed and smiled. We only rode for one stop, but I like to think we brightened a yucky Monday morning for a bunch of people.

So, on to the sadness. What do you say when a young woman in her early forties dies, leaving behind 3 children under 13? K. had been undergoing treatment for breast cancer since September, and seemed to be doing really well. I just saw her several weeks ago, and we had a lovely conversation about middle school, about life, about finding the inner strength in one's family. Even with the treatments, which can be really physically grueling, she still showed up for almost every PTA meeting and every meeting we had on school boundary changes. Apparently, she went into the hospital with shortness of breath, and eventually they diagnosed a blood clot in her lungs. Blood clots are, unfortunately, a potential side effect of chemo and radiation, as my father-in-law's doctors warned him. Her daughter is in Sr. Jr.'s grade, and they were in class together several years ago. Her youngest son is a year older than Jr. Jr., but was on the first t-ball team that Mr. T coached. When Jr. Jr. came home with the news, his eyes were wide, and I could see he was fighting off tears. I could see that he was really thinking about the fact that bad things happen, not just to mythical people "out there," but to people we know and love. It seemed to really hit him that the people he loves aren't immune from harm.

I think we take it for granted these days that breast cancer is treatable, especially if caught early. What we fail to remember is that the treatment itself is dangerous.

Harbingers of Spring

Blossoms on our plum tree:


Close up:

Cat, warming her tummy in the sun:

I would have added a picture of boys playing baseball, but I forgot my camera yesterday.

And yet, it's still cold!

It's been busy here, and there's been relatively little (OK, no) knitting. Between birthday parties, baseball games, errands, and post-game dinners, complete with junior mosh pits, we've been out of the house a lot. I tend not to bring my knitting to baseball games, because I help out, talk to the other parents, and chase after the non-playing kid. But it's all great fun.

Tomorrow, I'm going with Jr. Jr.'s class on a field trip to see "Horton Hears a Who." Somehow, they're going to get 120 kids and 80 or so parents coordinated enough to walk down to the Metro station, get their farecards and get on the Metro, get off at the right stop, and take over the movie theater, and then attempt to get everyone back to school. Should be quite the experience. I'll remember to bring along the Advil.

Fun Reading Material

The most recent Interweave Knits (I think, I don't have it in front of me) did a feature on Japanese knitting pattern books. Some of the featured stitches looked beautiful and unfamiliar to me, so I set off to find these books. Amazon came up empty, and I took one look at the Japanese Amazon site and realized that I wasn't going to be able to figure it out. Then a couple of other bloggers mentioned YesAsia.com. Cool! I ended up purchases four or five books, two of which arrived yesterday:



I haven't finished going through both books yet, but there are definitely some beautiful and new-to-me stitch patterns. Given that I already have almost every stitch dictionary printed in English, this is quite a feat. It's not hard to figure out how to knit these patterns, either. They're all charted, and there are very helpful diagrams along the bottom of the pages showing you how to perform the stitches. So when I come to a symbol I'm not familiar with, I simply look at the diagrams.

The books contain some neat ways of charting things, too, that I'll have to try to replicate in my Knit Visualizer software. When I was charting out the motif for my Deco socks, I followed the charting system used in the German stitch dictionary from which the motif was adapted. This required hand writing some stuff on the charts. This worked wonderfully for me, since I thought the notation was intuitive, and since there aren't any Euro/American symbols for some of the stitch manipulations used. It wasn't so great, however, in the event I wanted to pull the pattern together for future sale, since I can't easily replicate it on the computer. These books have a symbol for exactly what I was doing. Now I can play around with adding that symbol to the Knit Visualizer library and re-charting the pattern. (Yeah. Right. Since only three people seem to read my blog, it's not like there's a large outcry for this pattern.)

I'm ready to sew up the Flutter Sleeve cardi. I went to my LYS on Friday and got some buttons, but I don't love them. There wasn't a huge selection of the right size buttons. I guess I'll have to bop over to G Street Fabrics at some point this week to see if I can find anything better.

After that, I get to ponder what to do next. Start a doily? Probably. Design a sweater using some of those neat new stitch patterns? Possibly. We'll just have to wait and see :)

AFO -- Almost Finished Object

Look what's blocking --

The Flutter Sleeve Cardigan, almost done. I have some shopping to do tomorrow that will take my near my LYS (Uniquities, Vienna, VA, wonderful place), so I'll stop off and get some buttons. After it's dried, I'll just sew it up, do the seed stitch border on the sleeves and the little tabs (if I decide to do them), and I'll be done. Looking at that picture, I see I need to go upstairs and do a little adjusting. Because my gauge was spot on, and because I was worried about this growing when wet, I didn't have to do too obsessive a job about blocking it. (Plus, I usually re-block it after all the seams have been sewn and all the trim added.) Overall it was a fun, fast knit, and I hope it looks good on me.

I did cast on the new Socks That Rock sock kit socks, even though I haven't finished my Spring Willow socks yet. The Spring Willow socks (aka Will Spring Never Come?) are knit on size 0s, while the STR socks are knit on 2s, so when I want to feel like I'm making quick progress, I work on the STR socks.

I was hoping to use the yarn that I'm in the progress of spinning to knit a doily, but I may not have the patience to wait until the yarn is done to cast on for that project, either, so keep your eye on this here bloggy thing for some pictures of that.

Spring is finally arriving, however, and that means two things here Chez T -- yardwork and baseball. It was 70 degrees yesterday, so I raked all the leaves out of the front garden and dug up a Mountain Laurel and a rhododendron (sob) that didn't make it through the drought-ridden past two years, even with my diligent watering. I have some ideas about what I want to replace them with, so it's off to the nursery for me soon.

Things get very busy with the baseball schedule. Sr. Jr. has practice three times a week, and Jr. Jr. has two practices. Add in all the other after-school activities, and it's a rare day when we're not rushing off somewhere. Games start next weekend. Some of Sr. Jr.'s games don't start until 7 pm, meaning we won't be home those (school) nights until around 9. In addition, he's on the "M1 call-up list." He plays in the M2 league for the 9,10, and 11 year olds. M1 is for the 12 and 13 year olds, but occasionally, due to illness or other conflicts, those teams are short a player, so they have this list of kids from the M1 league who are good players that they can call to fill in. I'm thrilled that Sr. Jr.'s coaches think he's good enough to be on this list, but it means there will be weeks with even MORE baseball than normal.

I'm still waiting for Vogue Knitting and Knitter's to show up, but Spin-Off arrived yesterday. I love Spin-Off. I usually read it slowly, savoring every last article and picture. I marvel at the beautiful skeins of handspun yarn that readers send in for the galleries. The Fall issue, however, was the only issue of Spin-Off I've ever been disappointed in. I actually skipped several articles! I know! Shocking! This issue looks great, though, so I'm going to savor it.

Finally, election politics. As I predicted, the extra long primary season has resulted in me being utterly sick of the whole thing. I thought Obama's speech on race was beautiful and brilliant. Like Jon Stewart said, "Wow. Someone's talking to the American people about race... as if they were adults!" Unfortunately, I don't think that the 24 hour news babblers are capable of acting like adults. In fact, I think it's in their contracts that they must scream and yell about everything and avoid any and all complexity or nuance. And it's not the point of opposition campaigning to act in an adult manner, either is it? Who will challenge McCain for accepting the endorsement of the religious right -- the same group that said America brought 9/11 on itself because of "the feminists, the abortionists, the gays, the lesbians, and the ACLU"? The very same people he once called the "agents of intolerance" are now his good buddies. This is just a slightly more sophisticated -- but no less cynical -- version of Willie Horton.

Back to the Grind -- With a Smile

The boys had a great time in Florida visiting their grandmother. MIL lives in Bradenton, but Mr. T grew up on Anna Maria Island, where practically everything was in walking distance of the beach. (Can you imagine a more idyllic place to be a kid?) One of the greatest things about Anna Maria is that it's on the west coast of Florida, which means that you get to sit on the beach and watch some spectacular sunsets. There's a great restaurant called The Sandbar, where you just sit out on the deck, eating dinner, watching the sunset, while the dolphins frolic in the water.

So while I had my Mommy Vacation, the kids had a genuine fun vacation. I was really rejuvenated by my time off, so I was in a very good mood when they got home. We had a nice dinner out, too. And this morning, when it came time to start the laundry and do the grocery shopping, I was still in a good mood. I made one of our family's favorite recipes for tonight's dinner, too, Chicken Gyros with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce. One of the nice things about the recipe is that everything gets made in advance. The yogurt sauce is in the fridge, getting flavorful, and the chicken is marinating. When dinnertime rolls around, I just put up the rice, quickly saute the chicken and nuke some peas, and dinner is done.

At the bus stop this morning, I ran into J, with her kids M (in kindergarten), and K, who's in preschool. K is an adorable little boy, but this morning he was still in his pajamas in his stroller, wearing a very cross expression. "It's been one of those mornings, huh?" I asked J. "Yeah," she said, "you had The Best Vacation EVER!"

Not much knitting to talk about, since I've been reuniting with the kids and doing household stuff. I did finish the main knitting on the Flutter Sleeve cardi, so I get to work on the buttonbands now. I'd like to power through them, but I suspect that a couple of feet of seed stitch will get tedious.

So, what next? I still need to work on the Bleeding Hearts Stole, which has gotten lost in the shuffle; the Will Spring Never Come? socks, (not even to the heel on the second sock); and the current spinning. When the socks are done, I'll start the next Sock Club installment, but I'll probably change it around a little bit, to carry the patterning all the way around the sock, rather than just on the front.

I've been hearing rumors around Ravelry that the Spring Vogue Knitting has started arriving in the mail, but I haven't gotten mine yet. Hmmm. I don't love each and every knitting magazine out there, but I do like to read them, and in the case of Knitter's, laugh at them.

So, any nice vacation/holiday stories anyone would like to share?

Ahhhh, A Mommy Vacation

Wednesday evening, I dropped Mr. T and the boys off at the airport for a trip to Florida to visit with my MIL. Since then, I have been blessedly alone. No arguing, no whining, no repeated requests to play video games. No making meals for anyone but myself. No one to wake me up in the morning. No baseball practices, no carpools, nothing. This is the first time I've been alone for this long since Sr. Jr. was born, 10 and 1/2 years ago.

I've been relishing this little vacation from mommy-hood. (Mothers everywhere will admit that family vacations, while wonderful, aren't true vacations for moms, who still worry about sunscreen and snacks and still have to hear all the whining.) It's not that I don't love my children, obviously, but it's been quite rejuvenating to be able to focus only on myself for the first time in a long time.

I got a lot done on the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan:




This is the back, left front, and some of the right front. I knit quite a bit more on it this afternoon, but due to user stupidity, didn't really get too far. Blithe complacency led me to fail to read the directions closely, so I had to rip out a bunch and remember to read ahead, to the part that says, "And at the same time..."

I also did a little spinning:




I still haven't finished the first 2 ounces of the 4 to be spun for this project. I'd like to finish it so I can get moving on some of my newer fibers.

I snapped some stupid cat pictures, like this one of the cat sunning herself while wedged in between the rockers on the rocking horse:



The other cat got all commando and decided to quell the insurrection that her tail was mounting, but I didn't get any good pictures of that.

I watched movies both girly ("Pride and Prejudice") and punk ("Repo Man").

And today, the new Socks the Rock sock club package arrived! I quite like it, both the color and the pattern. Very appropriate. I'll say no more lest I violate my sacred Sock Club oath.

When Monday rolls around again and I face the mound of laundry, the long grocery list, and the dirty bathrooms, I will smile, and enjoy what I am doing because of this nice little break.

Isn't Mr. T wonderful for doing this? More importantly, isn't my MIL wonderful for immediately understanding what was going on and wishing that I have fun?

Five Fruitless Years

Yesterday was the 5th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. Part of me feels like going on a very long-winded rant about what a waste this war has been on so many levels -- lives lost, trillions of dollars wasted, goodwill squandered, progress against al Qaeda stalled or reversed. Part of me is so very tired and feels like I've been beating my head against many brick walls over the years. I actually did oppose this war from the start. I loathed the way the Bush administration seemed to be careening headlong into the war, cynically manipulating the country into supporting war against a straw man. I also loathed the way the press fell down on its job of investigating and speaking truth to power. (But, man, give them a good sex scandal...) I was very grateful for the few voices out there who dared to speak out against the administration and the war. Seymour Hersh and Hendrik Hertzberg, in particular, wrote some amazing pieces in the New Yorker that I wish had been more widely noted.

I still loathe the way "patriotism" has been narrowly defined to consist of wearing a flag pin on one's lapel, ignoring that patriotism means not just standing up for your country, but actively working to make sure your country does the *right* thing. Free speech is patriotic. Having a yellow ribbon magnet on your car doesn't make you patriotic if you're supporting the erosion of our civil rights at the same time.

McCain wants to stay in Iraq, for one hundred years, if necessary. Clinton and Obama want to withdraw our troops. OK, but what then? We broke Iraq, but how do we fix it?

Other than those very depressing thoughts, I'm actually having a very nice Spring Break. It's quiet here, so I've gotten a lot of knitting and relaxing done. If only the weather were nicer, I could go out and get some exercise, too. I finished the back of the Flutter Sleeve cardigan, and started on the front. I'll be much further along by the time I go to bed tonight, but you get to see where I am now. Mr. T has the better digi camera, so the following photo was taken with the old Kodak:

The top looks big, right? It has the sleeves already knitted in, so I'm reserving judgment. This is a fast and easy knit, so maybe I'll actually have it to wear this Spring, when the weather calls for it.

Tomorrow, I think I'll get some more spinning done, as well.

Happy Spring!

Online, Again

Rumours of our internet connection's demise were premature. It was touchy for a day or two, but appears to be back of its own accord. I'm not sure if I should cancel the appointment with the cable guys or not. If I cancel it, the connection will fail again, I'm sure, but if I don't cancel it, they'll get here and wonder what's wrong. Hmm...

I finished the first of the "Will Spring Never Come?" socks. Just for fun, I added a ruffle at the top. If I wanted to push the Spring metaphor, I could say that the ruffle reminded me of the unfurling of plant leaves at the beginning of the season. But I've never been known to beat a metaphor to death, right? I didn't make the ruffle too big, because I wasn't sure how much of the extra little coordinating skein I had.

These are turning out to be quite cute, and are satisfying my need for something green.

I've also started working on the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan. I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern, Classic Elite Silk. I'm rejiggering the pattern a little. I've decided that I like the sweater best with 1 1/2 inches of positive ease (see my last post), but for me, that's a little bit more than the smallest size of the pattern. The medium would definitely be too big. However, while adding an inch and a half to the bust measurement works, adding that inch and a half to the bottom of the sweater, i.e., the hip, would make that part too big. So I cast on using the numbers for the small size, but I don't want the waist part to come in as much as the small size does (my hip/waist ratio isn't that big), so I'm not decreasing as much for the waist. So, small size for hips, small 1/2 (as Sr. Jr. calls it) for the waist and bust. I hope this works, or I'll have the mutant Frankensweater from Hell. So far, it looks innocent just lurking there, doesn't it?

Oh, Eliot

One of the favorite shows here Chez T is the British show "Coupling." We own the DVD set, and watch it whenever it shows up on BBC America. It's one of those shows that we can watch over and over again, and it still cracks us up. (BBC shows are getting me through the writer's strike, but that's another post.) One of the running jokes in the show is how one character's mother always says "Oh, Jeffrey," in this exasperated, disappointed tone of voice whenever she catches him doing something vaguely perverted (or even just sexual). So the first thing I thought when I heard about Eliot Spitzer's recent, um, troubles was "Oh, Eliot!"

I Aten't Dead

We're having some trouble with internet access and I may not have good access again until Tuesday.

Have a good weekend!

Alas, (Almost) No Pictures

Today I'm working upstairs on the laptop, because the main computer appears to be fighting with them there intertubes. Unfortunately, the laptop doesn't have any recent photos, so I can't show you my finished "Will Spring Never Come?" sock, made with that springy green duet yarn I showed you in a prior post. I did a straight stockinette toe-up sock, but added a ruffle at the top using the coordinating skein of green yarn, just to symbolize the flowering plants that I want to see, and soon. It came out very nicely, but you'll just have to take my word for it, right?

I also haven't gotten back to the spinning wheel since last week. Every time I think life will slow down, it speeds up. I think I will designate Friday as spinning day this week, because my calendar appears to be empty that day.

Baseball practices started yesterday, with both boys needing to be in different places at the same time, of course. Practices are 2-3 times a week, depending on which child you are. This makes dinner planning very awkward, too, but we all have fun, especially once it starts to warm up.

I think I will start swatching for the Flutter Sleeve cardigan this evening. It's cute, but I'm not sure how the sizing will work. The folks at Interweave Knits have an email thing going, called Knitting Daily. One of the neat things about Knitting Daily is that they do "sweater galleries" for the sweaters in the Knits issues. They put the featured sweaters on a bunch of different women who work there, and tell you what their measurements are compared to the sweaters, so you can see how they fit different women. This has been very educational for me! I've always worn my sweaters a little big, partly because I'm never sure exactly what size I am, and partly to avoid getting the girls too much attention, YKWIM? Looking at the gallery for Flutter Sleeve, I decided I liked the fit best when it had one and a half inches of positive ease, meaning that the sweater was one and a half inches wider around than the body it was covering. At my widest point(s), I measure 36 inches around, so a 37.5 inch sweater would be ideal. However, the sweater is sized for 36 inches or 40 inches. I'm going to look at the pattern more closely to see whether I can just add a few stitches to the 36 inch size, or whether a more complicated fix is required. I'll lay it all out for you when I figure it out.

In the meantime, here's a great picture of Mr. T. Isn't he a hottie?

(photo by Kevin Dillard, http://www.demoncats.com/)

Now That We've Arrived in Hell, Can I Get Out of This Handbasket?

Every time I think the current administration has reached its nadir, George W. Bush proves me wrong. I won't repeat the litany of stubborn stupidity that has characterized the administration from 2000 until now, because that's well documented almost everywhere. Yet even now, in the twilight of his term, the man can't help but continue to foul things up. It was bad enough that he refused until only very recently to concede that the economy is in tatters. It's even worse that he somehow believes that a quickie cash payout will make any bit of difference to an economy in which people are losing jobs and homes at a pace unseen in a loooooonnnnnggg time. But the worst -- the icing on the shit-filled cupcake of this adminstration -- is his veto of the bill that would have banned waterboarding and a host of other torture techniques. His rationale? "Why should we give up on a technique that has gained us so much in the war on terror?" Never mind that military intelligence experts have repeatedly said that torture doesn't produce any reliable information. Never mind that our standing in the world just clunked down at the bottom of the sewer. And most certainly never mind that we won't have a leg to stand on should other countries or terrorist groups torture our soldiers and citizens.

How can John McCain -- himself a survivor of torture -- look that man in the eye, shake his hand, and accept his endorsement? I'm not a huge John McCain fan, nor do I have extremely strong feelings against him. I don't support his candidacy for President, and I have many reasons for doing so. But the hypocrisy embodied in just that single act of accepting an endorsement from a man who supports the use of torture would be enough, on its own, to keep me from ever voting for him.

As for the economy, it's anyone's guess as to when things will get better or how. I went to get my haircut last week, and while I was there, the woman who had the appointment before mine called to say that the gasoline had been stolen out of her car while she was there. In broad daylight.

Deco Socks -- Better Pictures

The stars aligned. The sun is out and Mr. T is home. Alas, the pictures: not so good. I'll include the two that came out the best, just to give you a clearer picture of the motifs:

I may (may) write the pattern up for sale.

Current knitting has been scarce. Spinning has been nonexistent. Mr. T is about to take the boys out to do some errands, so I think I'll grab the Bleeding Hearts stole and get to work!

SLWY -- Now With Even More Woolly Goodness!

I mentioned in my last post that I had gotten some nice Springy fiber and that my spinning wheel had been calling out to me. Well, dear readers, I answered that call. I didn't start in on the pretty new fiber. It's been a while since I sat down to spin, so I got out some plain-Jane merino top to get back into the swing of things:



I got this some years back at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. (I'm SO going this year. I haven't been since 2002, I think. I can't wait!). I'm aiming for a heavy laceweight/fingering weight yarn after plying:


My wheel is a Jensen Tina II, with a Woolee-winder. I love both of them. As someone who is somewhat tall, I like upright wheels so I don't feel like I'm hunching over to spin. The Woolee winder allows me to spin without having to stop and move the yarn from hook to hook, which makes the spinning go a lot smoother. Plus, it's just plain much more fun when I can just keep going and going until I run out of fiber.

The thing I find challenging about spinning is judging how thick or thin to make my singles in order to get the finished yarn the right size. Think about a laceweight yarn, for example. You have a general idea of how thick a laceweight yarn is, but in order to spin a laceweight yarn, you have to remember that the separate plies are even thinner. After knitting for a while without spinning, my sense memory focuses more on the final yarn size than the ply size, so I have to consciously make the singles thinner.

So far, it's going very well. I'm about a quarter of the way through this batch of fiber. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like, and to knit something with it.

I haven't neglected the knitting, of course. The Bleeding Hearts Stole is going, but slowly. I don't think progress pictures would be very interesting, because it doesn't look that much different.

Now that I finished the Deco Socks (FO pictures coming soon, I promise), I needed a mindless sock project to work on in between the stole and bouts of spinning, so I cast on using the spring green Duet sock yarn from my last post:

While this isn't a color I generally wear, it's making me insanely happy right now. After a long, dreary winter, I need to see shades of green. I love the yarn, too. It's very soft. The main yarn comes with a smaller skein of coordinating yarn for the heels and toes which blends in very nicely(as you can see in the picture). I'm knitting these on size 0 needles, so they won't go as fast as my last couple of pairs of socks.

Spring in a Box

And a closer look at the colors:

I'm really craving Spring. It seems like this Winter has gone on forever. I think you can see my cravings made manifest in my most recent fiber purchases! Here we have some Duet "Skinny" sock yarn in Spring Willow. It's unbelievably soft, and looks like it should be knit on size 0 or 000 needles. The colors remind me of the greens of the shoots of plants sprouting for Spring. The fiber with blues and greens is Tempted's handpainted merino and silk roving in the "Heavenly" colorway, while the roving with the apricots and browns is Blue Faced Leicester "Rufus Lupus." All of these tempting goodies were purchased from the lovely people at The Loopy Ewe. Did I mention that my spinning wheel has been calling out to me?

I probably won't start any spinning this weekend, however. My sister in law is in town with her husband and son, visiting my father-in-law, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments for lung cancer (not too severe or advanced, thank goodness), so we're going out to spend the afternoon with all of them. SIL's son, M., is the same age as Jr. Jr., and they get along wonderfully.

Soon I hope to have pictures of the finished pair of Dove Socks (I'm halfway through the second). Hopefully these pictures will be better than the last, so you can see the detail better.

I'm also anxious to see what happens in the primaries on Tuesday. The Democratic race is certainly getting heated. Curiouser and curiouser!

On the funny kid note... I had Jr. Jr.'s school conference yesterday. It was all very good, but you've gotta love a teacher who says at the end of the conference, "He's less of a weasel now than he was at the beginning of the year," referring to said child's propensity to try to bat his adorable eyelashes to get out of trouble!

Allow Me to Introduce... the Deco Sock(s)

I know there are a lot of pictures, but Mr. T isn't here to take pictures for me, so I put in as many of my bad ones as I could to help you see the sock better. The motif runs up the outside of the foot and leg. Each side mirrors each other, as does each sock. Pictures do not do this sock justice at all. I finally broke down and invested in Knit Visualizer, which was great fun to use. I've used other design software in the past, including Sweater Wizard and Stitch and Motif Maker, but Knit Visualizer definitely has S&MM beat. I entered one side of the pattern, copied, pasted, hit "mirror horizontal," and I was done! It was easy to use, and I like how it includes a stitch legend with each pattern. Now that it has color, it's going to be a real staple of mine. I'm incredibly pleased with how the pattern turned out. It was fun to knit, too. When Mr. T is around for more than 5 minutes, I'll have him take better pictures, so you can see the stitch detail more clearly.

Just What is an I Master, Anyway?

There are three boys named Will on our street -- big Will, who's in 7th grade, Will (formerly little Will), who's in first grade with Jr. Jr., and little Will, who's about 3. Big Will told Sr. Jr. a joke yesterday, which Sr. Jr. decided to repeat at the dinner table. The aim of the joke is to get the jokee to say, "I master bait." Given Sr. Jr.'s disgust at some of the "boy talk" he's been hearing from his friends, I was surprised that he would repeat this joke 1) at the dinner table; and b) in front of his younger brother. I told him that the joke was not appropriate, and he looked at me and said, "What's an I Master? Why is it inappropriate?" Now, Sr. Jr. is 10 1/2 and in 5th grade. We've had "the talk" with him and he's had Family Life at school. I looked at him really closely to see if he was just yanking my chain, but he really didn't seem to get why the joke was inappropriate dinner table conversation. Later, I asked him if he knew what masturbation was, and he said he didn't! (How did we miss that in our talks?) I explained it to him, briefly, and his response was "Eeeeeeew, yuck."

I told him that I fully expected that I'd have to knock on his bedroom door every time it was closed when he was a teenager :)

Hillary Clinton Needs To STHU

I've been watching as Hillary Clinton really ratchets up her attacks on Barack Obama. All she's doing is repelling this voter. How about you? She seems desperate, calculating, and clinical. And Obama's refusal to get down to her level makes him seem more gentlemanly and statesman-like, in my opinion. Obama's criticisms of her health care plan are nothing new. In fact, I asked the very same question in this here little ole blog, long ago. How do you mandate health care coverage without providing for some sort of penalty for people who fail to comply? How can you justify penalizing people who are forced to choose between food and rent and health insurance?Unless you're doing an outright national health care plan, in which every American citizen is automatically enrolled, you're going to run into trouble. If there's no penalty for not complying with something, it's no longer mandatory. It's a question I have yet to hear her answer, even when asked about it directly in a debate. For her to come out crying "Shame" right before primaries she's got to win to stay in the race just makes me roll my eyes. I don't know what effect it's having on voters in Ohio and Texas, but polls have her once-formidable lead in those states shrinking fast.

I talked to my neighbor the Hillary campaign worker yesterday morning. She had lots of stories to tell, which I will not repeat because I didn't ask her permission. However, she was dead certain that Hillary would end up with the nomination. "Oh, she'll win it," she said, "but it will be bloody."

There really seems to be a disconnect between Hillary's campaign and reality right now. Do they honestly think they have a chance of winning the nomination? Obviously, they do. Is it really a possibility? Of course it is, but the question is how likely a possibility? What would have to be done to achieve that goal? Can she win the nomination, but only by hurting herself and the Democratic party? Does she want to win the nomination so badly that she'd sacrifice the general election?

There was an article mirroring my thoughts this morning in the Washington Post. Two of Clinton's high level campaign staffers, including Ickes, met with reporters at the Post to discuss the issues. The reporter noted that either the campaign was in deep denial, or was disastrously, and dangerously attempting to win at all costs.

Personally, I don't know how much of a chance Hillary has to pull this out. I never thought I'd have anything much nice to say about Mitt Romney, but his recognition that it was time to pull out of the race with honor, to elevate party over person, was the right thing to do for the Republicans, even if many of them did not agree at the time.

I know there are people out there reading this from Texas (in addition to Kippi) and Ohio. I'd love to hear what you have to say. What are you and the people around you feeling about the Clinton/Obama race at this point?

Sneak Peek

This is a sneak peek at the sock pattern that I've been working on. I'm really pleased with how it's working out. I hope to have the first sock finished today, and the second one started by tomorrow. Of course, life could get in the way. The sock is knit toe-up out of Dream in Color's Smooshy yarn, one of my favorite sock yarns.

I haven't forgotten about the Bleeding Hearts Stole. It's just required a little more concentration than I can muster on days when my kids are around all day, especially when there's been an ice storm and school is cancelled and everyone's stuck in the house.

Otherwise, this is just a quickie post, because there's lots to do before the weekend ends!

Update Report, Plus a Dose of Stupidity

Knitting time has been scarce here, for a number of reasons, none of them happy. I'm spending all too much time helping out other people... and I'm not complaining because it's any kind of burden on me, but because there are altogether too many people having bad things happen to them right now.

I have been working a bit on the Bleeding Hearts Stole, which is going nicely, but slowly. The main motif calls for patterning on both sides, so there's no nice resting purl rows. This isn't really a problem because the pattern is so geometrical that it's easy enough to follow without getting confused, except that you have to remember that on one side you end the motif with one kind of decrease and on the other side you end with it's opposite, which keeps it from being truly mindless. Here's a progress shot:

And here's a close-up:

It's hard to photograph this yarn, but it's really nice in person. It brings out my latent inner Goth ;) I'm knitting this on size 4 needles, as called for in the pattern, because I think the yarn, yardage-wise, is about the same as that used in the original pattern. However, it seems a bit thick. I wonder if I should be using 5's instead? Maybe it will block out...

I'm also working on a sock pattern for my Smooshy socks. I started working on it on the bit of sock that I had already started, then I realized that I had to rip it out and restart it to really get the pattern to pop. If it works out the way I envision it, it will be really nice. Hopefully I'll have some good progress to show you in the next day or two. We're due for another ice storm tomorrow that I suspect will close the schools, so I don't know how much knitting I'll get done.

Now for the Stupid Human Trick confession. The other night I ran into a friend at a meeting at school. She mentioned that she was going in for a lumpectomy today. Her doctor had found a lump in her breast that turned out to be 4 cm and tested at a Stage 3 after the biopsy. She expected to find out more by Monday, after the pathology report came back. I offered to take her son, A., after school today in case things got busy at the hospital and no one would be around to get him after school. She said that she had told A. that she was going in for a minor procedure, but that he didn't know the exact nature of what was going on. At this point, several other friends came over and she repeated all the information for them, too.

So I called her partner today to repeat my offer to take A., and to see if they needed any meals, and to let her know that I would always be willing to help out if it should turn out that C. needed chemo or radiation. "Oh," said M., "she told me that the biopsy came back negative, but they just wanted to get it out of her anyway." Ack! C. told a bunch of us about the Stage 3 diagnosis, and also that she hadn't told her son, but she didn't mention that she hadn't told her partner! What a terrible way to find out! I felt awful.

A Tale of Two Toes

Warning -- If you do not want to see a completed STR January Sock Club sock, stop reading.


I finished both of my sock club socks, finally. The original pattern calls for a star toe, which looks quite nice with the flame pattern of the main sock. However, it bunches up a little on me, which would be uncomfortable in most of my shoes. So I knit the second sock with a regular toe, and you can see the difference (if you look closely), here:


The sock on the right has the star toe, and you can see the bunching toward the outside of my foot, especially compared to the sock on the left. I will be ripping and reknitting the star toe, however aesthetically pleasing it may be. If I had to do these socks over again, I'd also knit the heel on fewer stitches and make it a little shallower. I feel like there's an extra little point of fabric at my heel that could annoy me later. Otherwise, this was a nice pattern to knit -- easy enough to be fairly mindless, but with enough interest not to be boring. I think it would translate really nicely to a plainer yarn, where the undulations of the pattern would be more visible.

I've also been swatching for the Flutter Sleeve cardigan, for which I may cast on tonight, if I don't get pulled in by the Bleeding Hearts Stole. I did not get much knitting done this weekend, unfortunately, so I don't have a good progress picture of the stole.

Today the kids are home for the President's Day holiday, so, of course, not much knitting is getting done. Fortunately, after all the ice and slush of last week, it was 70 degrees here at lunchtime today. The boys were out in tee shirts and shorts, playing football and basketball with a rotating bunch of neighborhood boys. It's starting to rain now, and a cold front is coming through, so I guess we're back to winter :(

A Knitter's Magazine Question - An Opinionated Rant


Knitter's Magazine under the current editorial team is, in my opinion, drek. Most of the designs are hideous, knit with violently colored yarns, with a misguided attempt to be "fashion-forward" without regard to what normal people would actually wear. Out of curiousity, I sometimes go to the "vote on the cover" section of their annoying website. I've noticed that, in most cases, the editors pick a cover that does not win a majority of the votes. Does this mean that they don't pay attention to what people like? The contents of the magazine often bear that out. They have three sweaters up for vote for the Spring cover -- two headache-inducing variegated knits, and "Wasabi and Ginger," a pretty little cardigan with lace detailing using two colors. I'm betting that Wasabi and Ginger will win the voting, but not end up on the cover.

Lace on Parade! Plus Bonus Weird Kid Story!

It's finally sunny out, so I could get some pictures of lace out in the wild:

It's Miss Lambert's shawl, off the needles and out in real life.

I also have lace in captivity:




The Bleeding Hearts Stole, complete through the border charts and the transition chart, and into the main body chart. At this point, there's lace patterning on both sides (knitted lace? lace knitting? I can never remember which), so it's a little slower to knit, but the pattern is so geometrical that it's easy to get into the rhythm of things. I'm still enjoying both the yarn and the pattern.

When I was a kid, I remember handing out Valentines to everyone in my class, but I don't remember having big in-class parties planned by and heavily attended by parents. In fact, after about first grade, I don't remember parents coming to anything at school aside from conferences and official school concerts, plays, etc. I thought about this phenomenon this week, when I realized that it was the room parents who had planned Jr. Jr.'s class Valentine's party, and not the teacher. Same for the Halloween party and the end-of-the-year Holiday party as well. I wonder if she thinks it's a big pain that interrupts her teaching time? I'll have to ask her next week at conference time.

Anyway, at these parent-planned parties, "crafts" and games (waste) eat up a large amount of time. One activity the kids had to do at this week's party was make a Valentine. Red and pink paper were handed out, along with the requisite doilies, stickers, ribbons, etc. All the kids dutifully made Valentine's, mostly for their moms, some for their dads, and one intrepid boy made one for one of the girls in the class.

My kid? He made a Valentine for his ear. "Dear ear," it said, "you are the best ear ever." When I asked him why he made one for his ear (didn't the other one get jealous?), as opposed to, say, his mother, he said, "What?? My ear never gets any mail!"

"February is Nature's Way of Saying 'I Hate You!'"

Ice, ice, baby. Clearly, I posted my happy place pictures and tempted Nature to get back at me. Bitch.

I finished the first repeat of the border chart for the Bleeding Hearts shawl:

I like how it's turning out so far. The yarn is Laci, from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, in the Corbie colorway. According to my calculations, it has more yardage per pound than the yarn used in the original shawl, but this feels like a pretty heavy laceweight to me. It's soft, cushy, and warm, so will make a nice comfy shawl. This shawl is knit from both ends inward and then grafted in the middle, which leaves a line up the back, but allows for the directionality of the lace on both ends to match. The border transitions into the main chart, so you really can't knit it all in one direction and just tack on the border. We'll see how it looks. I'm not too worried.

Interesting results in the Potomac primary, huh? It was a sweep for Obama and for McCain, but it was a closer race for McCain. What the Republicans should really worry about is the fact that nearly twice as many Democrats and Republicans voted in the Virginia primary -- could be a bad omen for the general election.

Sorry to post and run, but it's time for me to slip and slide my way down to the bus stop...

Potomac Primary Day -- Rain, Sleet, Flu & Assorted Other Miseries

It's cold and rainy here today. I had to go pick Sr. Jr. up from school, and the rain froze to my windshield as soon as it came down, making it very difficult to see. Don't worry, he's not running a fever, just coughing and being dramatic. When I was in the school office waiting for him to get his stuff together, two other kids from his class were being picked up, too. It's just that kind of day.

Voted in the morning, and the lines were pretty long. There was no Clinton campaign person outside, although there was an Obama rep and a McCain rep. Both Mr. T. and I wondered if that meant she was writing off the Potomac Primary, where Obama is thought to be leading, to focus on upcoming big-delegate states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and commenter Kippi's Texas. Can't wait until the polls close to see what happens. Sr. Jr.'s school is also a polling place, and the ladies in the office report that turnout there was pretty thick, too.

I cast on for the Bleeding Hearts shawl and got all of six rows done before the school called me to pick up Sr. Jr. I've also gotten word that a good friend S's mother is very ill, too. S's mom has been ill for a while, in and out of the hospital with something in her lungs (not cancer), so to hear that she's very ill must mean it's quite serious. I left a message, but I imagine she's with her mom. She's also gotten some bad news recently about her son, who has a rare genetic condition, so the poor thing has had quite a rough time lately.

Because it's so grey and depressing here, I thought I'd share some pictures of a fantastic summer vacation. The pictures above are from our August 2006 trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We all loved Jackson Hole, and especially hiking in the Tetons. The first picture is of some Bison we saw along one of the roads. There were probably a thousand Bison milling around, blocking the road, wallowing in the dirt, feeding their babies, and mock fighting. It was an impressive sight. I could only imagine what that area was like hundreds of years ago, before humankind came along and almost wiped out so much of the wildlife. The kids decided Bison should really have been called "Beefalo."

The second picture shows the early morning view off our condo patio. The pink sunrise against the mountains was hypnotizing. I could stand there all day watching the path of the sun across the mountains.

The final picture is Taggart Lake up in the Tetons. This was a great hike with sensational views. One day, we saw a mother and baby moose off in the distance, and just stood there watching them for about a half an hour. The lake is so clear and crisp you can see bottom a good way out. I could probably post another 50 stunning pictures from that trip, this is supposed to be a knitting blog, eh?

If the sickness situation in the house allows, I'll post Bleeding Heart progress pictures tomorrow.

Miss Lambert Done, on to the next

Miss Lambert's shawl is done and blocking. Here's a shot of the edging:

Here's a shot of the body:

Here's a close-up:

And finally, because photo loading is going soooo slowly today, a shot of the corner:

I like how this turned out so far. We'll see what happens when I pull the pins and the wires out. The yarn is 100% alpaca, which doesn't hold a nice, crisp block like a blend does, so I blocked it pretty hard to try to compensate. The whole shawl is 5 feet long, which is a bit shorter than I prefer. The whole thing was a pleasure to knit: just complicated enough to hold my interest, but easy enough to be kind of mindless at the same time. I'm not sure my corners are as perfect as I could get them, but I'm pleased nonetheless.

So, what now? Luckily, the new Interweave Knits arrived last week (Friday?) to provide inspiration. I thought the Winter Issue was pretty boring, to be truthful. Spring, however, was wonderful. There are a number of designs in this issue that I really like a lot. A couple seem a bit on the young side, but can be adapted a bit for a more (ahem) mature woman. The "Flutter Sleeve Cardigan" is going on my to-knit list as soon as I can find a yarn in stash that will work for it. It's a very flattering design, and looks to be a good mindless knit, too. The "Mirabella Cardigan" is also very pretty, but a bit on the fussy side for me. Same with the "Sylph Cardigan." This is the one that seems a bit young, but would be great with some adjustments. The "Auburn Camp Shirt" is another great basic that looks like a fun knit. The "Printed Silk Cardigan" is stunning, but I'm afraid I'd never wear it. If I worked in a chilly office, I'd have much more use for these kinds of sweaters, but otherwise, the heat and humidity of a DC summer preclude them.

The design that's going on my needles right away is Anne Hanson's gorgeous "Bleeding Hearts Shawl." This shawl has just the right balance of design elements for me. While I think that extremely complicated shawls are beautiful, I tend to be attracted to and to wear simpler designs. The BHS, with its main panel, simple outer design, and pretty edging, is complex without being too complicated for me. I'm going to use my Blue Moon Fiber Arts Laci in the Corbie colorway for this. (I did get the replacement skein of the Rook-y colorway did finally get here, but was still not exactly what I'd hoped. It was better than the other skein, but I think that the more tonal nature of the Corbie colorway will work best for this shawl.)

I'll need a simple knit to balance out the shawl, so I will cast on for one of those doilies, as well as, perhaps, the Flutter Sleeve cardigan (when I find the yarn.)

On the political front, I am still undecided. I change my mind from hour to hour, practically. So far the candidates are running pretty even, but Saturday's Obama sweep might change the delegate count. I am frightened of the prospect of a convention in which the superdelegates, and not the primary voters, control the outcome. Clinton, it seems, has more superdelegates than Obama. Could this lead to a situation where Obama gets more of the popular vote, but the nomination goes to Clinton? I HOPE NOT. I hope that we learned from 2000 that legitimacy and the popular vote go hand in hand. Even if most Dems would be happy with either candidate as nominee, resentment can build quickly. The last thing the Dems need is to shoot themselves in the foot by anointing a candidate who didn't win the popular vote. If I were a candidate in the position to win in that manner, I would direct the superdelegates to vote for the candidate with the popular vote, but perhaps that's yet another reason why I don't go into politics.

Super Tuesday -- Late Edition

There's not too much knitting to talk about today. Poor Mr. T. is home today with a bad case of the flu. The kids and I all had our flu shots, but he did not. He was supposed to go to NY today for a meeting, and then from NY to California for a preliminary injunction hearing, both of which he is going to miss. He's seriously sick to even contemplate missing those, pobrecito.

I'm working away diligently on the edging for Miss Lambert's shawl, having gone up one long end, around the corner, across the top, around the next corner, and about halfway down the opposite long side. I'm not finding it tedious at all. It's an easy edging pattern -- 12 rows long, not too many stitches wide, and memorized quickly. I feel like I make quick progress, which is good on a shawl that will be 5 feet by 19 inches. If I have to knit something that's 13 feet 2 inches long, I'd better enjoy it! It looks so pretty that I stop to admire it often. If I keep at it at my current pace, I might just get this finished by early next week.

I finished sock #1 of the STR January club pack, but I don't think I can show a picture of it yet under club rules. The sock was an easy and quick knit, but I don't love it. It's a tad big, but wearable, but I don't like the star toe. It bunches up a bit on the top of my foot. If I weren't so lazy, I'd rip it back and use a plain toe, but I am, indeed, that lazy.

I also haven't gotten too far on the Smooshy socks. They've been on the bottom of my knitting list lately, but since Sr. Jr. has a long physical therapy appointment today, they'll grow a bit. Here's a pic of the toe so far, and I think you can see the ravishing beauty of the color:


How's that for some hot sock on sock action?

So, how did we all do in our Super Tuesday bets? On the Republican side, I wasn't too surprised that McCain did so well. I had a feeling that Huckabee would do well in the states he did do well in, but I didn't think he'd win them. On the Democratic side, I'm not at all surprised that things weren't settled. Both Clinton and Obama are very attractive candidates with very similar policy positions. We'd do well with either one of them. I think for a lot of people it really does come down to personality and vision of what our next Presidency will look like philosophically. On the Republican side, there are some distinct and important policy differences between the candidates, which says something about the state of the Republican party post-Bush.

Did you see that Ann Coulter said that she'd be supporting Clinton if McCain turned out the be the Republican nominee? Don't you want to know how Clinton reacted to that?

Yesterday's primary results do make things more difficult for me. I've never been this undecided at this stage in an election season and been in a position where my vote would make any difference. Now, the DC-MD-VA primaries next week could well play a big role in determining the nominee. I honestly don't know what I'll do next week. CNN reported a lot of people did not know until they got into the voting booths yesterday who they would vote for, and I may face the same dilemma next week. I'm attracted to Obama's message of change, hope, and unity, but I'm skeptical of his experience. He hasn't even completed a single Senate term. I've heard people mention that they were inspired by his speeches, but were turned off that he didn't answer questions, whereas Clinton spends a lot of time answering questions and directly engaging with voters. As for Clinton, I admire her strength, perseverance, and experience. She's smart and capable, but does she really have the temperament to rise above the partisanship that will inevitably pour forth if she's elected?

I'm avoiding talking to my neighbors, who are big Clinton supporters and work on her campaign. I know exactly what they'd tell me if I asked them how they'd convince me to vote for her. I know exactly what Obama supporters would say, too. I just have to decide.

Turning a Corner; or How to Beat a Metaphor to Death

(I know this is a crappy picture. It was a quick, Sunday morning photo shoot, and unblocked lace...)

Anyway, if I were some Famous BloggerTM, I would use this post to wax poetic about the act of turning corners. I would, perhaps, mention the election, analogizing the long trek up the side of the shawl as the primaries, and how we as a nation are poised to turn the corner on seven horrible years of an administration that we'd like to forget, but whose damage, unfortunately, we must now try to repair. I'd say that turning that corner is like looking to the future, which we'd all like to do at this point.

I could even mention that yesterday was Groundhog Day, the point at which winter turns the corner and we start heading toward spring. Everyone's heartily sick of winter now, right?

I could talk about my oldest son, who's finishing up elementary school this year. He's certainly poised to turn the corner from little boy to big guy -- entering middle school, starting puberty, becoming more independent. This is certainly a transition year for him. Friendships are realigning along different fault lines, as kids try to decide who they're going to be. It's not been an easy year for him, poor guy, and I hope the corner turned into middle school brings him into new focus.

But then I'd remember that after this corner is another corner, which would take me.... back in the opposite direction. What would that mean? And then there are more corners, and we're working round in a circle. A circle, hmmmm. Circle, cycle, circadian...

So, as we look forward to change in politics, will we head back where we were? Politics is cyclical, after all. We've swung to one extreme, and now it's time to turn back.

And we all know that the seasons are cyclical as well. We look forward to the turn toward spring, when all that growth and beauty wakes us from our winter's discontents. Then summer comes, hot and sticky, with the dreaded mosquitoes and the endless Washington heat, and we look forward once again to turning that corner to fall. Fall! Crisp air, pretty leaves, school starting again, the mad dash from Halloween until New Year's, when we'll start longing for spring again.

And that, my friends, is how we beat a metaphor to death.