Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.
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| Like The Queen Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content. |
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0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Monday, January 05, 2004 Whew! Finished the heel flap on LD's second sock. I don't know why this is taking so long except that I'm getting that numb ring finger on my right hand again. I used to only get it with small dp's but with this pair of socks I'm getting it using my long Addi turbos too. Bummer this, since I like hand knitted socks, and I don't have many pair for myself. Nearly all of the ones I've made have gone to the Ds Anyway, I always feel once I get the heel flap done I'm half way there. This is a very pretty sock in a variegated yarn from Interlacements in shades of brown, rust, white and black. There will be enough left over for a second pair. That's one of the things I like about Interlacements sock yarns; you get a lot. It's also soft to the fingers and a little thicker than most sock yarns so it goes a little faster - good thing for me, huh? Last night I did the math for the Stars sweater. It really does get 2.5 stitches to the inch so I expect it to go fast. I'll do it in the round with garter edging, 3/4 length sleeves and when I get to that last section of the yoke I'll decide if I want to try switching fibers to that shiny gold Rowan yarn. I like the idea of dual duty (multitasking?) clothes and if there is enough for a detachable cowl I can have a glittery nighttime sweater that converts to a funky daytime one. Once the socks are done I’ll jump into that. Yesterday was another glorious warm windy one and my yard is all the better for it. The front and side yard, the most vulnerable, are raked and green!!! and huge portions of the back yard are leaf free. If I get another weekend like the past one, the rest of the yard will be clear and if I get 2 I'll tackle the garden. Usually I do all this in late February or March, always regretful that I hadn't done garden clean up in the fall, of course, and susceptible to the leaf mold that grows all winter in the mounds of oak leaves that gather around the porch. I'm feeling very smug about this weekend's industry but I must give some credit to WW because: Who would have known yard work would be that much easier with all that weight off? Man, what a difference! Well. It is a lot of difference. I'm still getting used to the new body - a slightly wrinkled version of an old one I had back in the 1980's. It's fun, too - much more fun than enduring - I can't say I ever got used to - the body that kept gaining weight. There is a danger of overspending on clothes right now. For a long time I had to snatch up anything that fit and looked half way decent, because there was so little that met those requirements. We will just say that I haven't yet broken the bank. One odd thing I'm having to get used to, something I just realized is contributing to my reluctance to settle down to knitting sweaters right now, is that I'm having to readjust the sweater template in my brain. Oh - well. Self discovery is so fascinating and stream of consciousness writing is so helpful at opening doors onto that mysterious self! I sewed all my own clothes for fortylevendyhundred years. Daddy had 4 daughters and dressing them through their teens would have been prohibitive had we not all learned to sew. I understand, from my beloved Florence King, that sewing is elemental to southern womanhood - where one whips up something on the machine, a la Scarlet with the green velvet dress. But for this teen-that-was, along with the tactile pleasure of handling fiber and the engineering challenge of making 2 dimensions become 3, sewing my own clothes was a major cost cutter. Fabric was cheap, clothing was expensive. At least, if you were skillful, you could make clothing that was as good as expensive clothing for pennies. And skill required only practice. Eventually I became an excellent tailor. But as I gained weight, I had to constantly adjust my sewing decisions to match a new, unfamiliar and most unwanted body. Eventually I sewed less and less. Marching along with my own disillusionment was the demise of fabric shops and the rise of cheap, but well made, clothing. You can buy really well made jeans at walmart for $16 now and that's what they cost in 1980 and in 1970 when minimum wage was $2 an hour. Eventually tiny little fingers in foreign countries will make wage gains and the era of inexpensive everyday clothing will be gone - but at the pace of social progress, I'll probably be too old to care what I’m wearing. It's no wonder I quit doing something that reminded me of how unhappy I was with my body. It oughtn't to be a wonder that I'm having to readjust to a body I like better, but don't know very well. A fit 50 year old body is very different from a fit 38 year old one, so it's familiar, but not the same. Anyway, all the body talk is because I'm still not sure how to knit for me. Since I picked up knitting again in the late 90's, I've grown used to how many stitches around, how long, how wide, what the neckline should be, etc. to knit for myself. Now I'm knitting for me as if I were knitting for someone else. In short - I have to make a template garment, maybe two, to imprint the new information onto the brain. I caught up with some friends via phone yesterday and I'm longing now to go see them. One of them is a knitter and we're thinking of meeting up in Charlottesville or Fredericksburg but then I think Hunt Country Yarns. So many yarn shops - so little of everything else. So - today it is back on track. I've made up a little to-do list, and my lunch hour will be devoted to the 3rd session with the PT at the gym. I'm not sure what else there is to do at work, beyond getting the network tweaked again, and mostly that involves pinching someone else to do it. I suppose I shall just let the day surprise me. Oh! and my favorite horoscope writer says for me to KeepYerMouthShut!. posted by Bess | 7:32 AM |
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