Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.
|
|
| Like The Queen Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content. |
|
0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Sunday, June 14, 2009 Cousins, Socks, KALs?Oh La! Classic Queen post - long, wordy, gushing, interesting, (at least, to herself)These are the things at the forefront of my mind right now - the wonderful visit we made yesterday (lots of driving through the lush Virginia countryside) and socks of course, because I have a ton of them to knit, and Knit-A-Longs. Yesterday we left early to drive west from here - west along my favorite stretch of highway in the whole wide world, Rt. 60; west of Powhatan Courthouse. West west west to my favorite small town in all the world, Bedford Virginia. Mind now, I deeply love my little town, which is also a Virginia town, and an old one at that. But it is not Bedford. Bedford is the fantasy town. It's the small town people really dream of living in when the think "I'd like to live in a small town". It's got about 6 or 7 thousand people in it - which is enough to really do something. It's along a divided highway that's not an interstate. It is also not the only road through town (says the gal who works in a town with only one road through it and knows about congestion), for there are many other smaller roads that lead in and out. This means speedy driving but not congested horror driving. It's the county seat of Bedford County and is halfway between two bigger cities so there is the option of commuting. It's nestled at the foot of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mts. Intrepid walkers could actually walk up to the mountains, but the town just has some gentle slopes supporting its sidewalks. The folk in Bedford have worked hard, and cooperatively, I am sure, to keep their downtown vibrant and active. There are shops and businesses and banks and grocery stores you can get to without having to drive into the thousand acre parking lots around walmart ... but there is a walmart too for those who need or want that option. It's just that it's out on that divided highway that's not an interstate. (460 for the curious). There is a Yarn Shop!!!!! in Bedford. Need I say more? I know there are all sorts of houses in Bedford but I when I think of Bedford I see our cousins' houses - all 19th century and early 20th century set back in big green lawns. Our beloved Aunt Anna lived in one that faced the mountains and had a history with a scandal, which she shared with me one long ago summer morning after I'd spent the night (on real linen sheets, my dears). "They eventually moved over the mountain to Alta Vista, but I heard they were never happy".... oh la I can still hear her telling me. Aunt Anna loved me and loved BD because we so adored her brother, BD's father. I had wonderful stories to share with her of his last years, the only years when I knew him. She gave us the blanket chest he made for her as a wedding gift in the 1920's. She knew we would treasure it and we do. It is full of yarn. Some things are truly truly sweet. Well. goodness. I sound like the tourist bureau. I guess I am in a way. For sure, though, if I ever had to leave here I would fly to Bedford. And not just because it is the perfect fantasy small town - but because there are Cousins!! in Bedford. Cousins we love. Cousins who watched a precious son graduate from high school yesterday. Cousins who welcome us whenever they see us. Cousins who love us. Cousins with a wide green lawn on which a surprise awaited us! LD had driven up to see W graduate. There was a party and there was delicious food and there were more hugs and some hastily made plans for fun later in the summer. And then BD and I drove home through the cool evening - dry in the mountains, dank and humid here in Tidewater - and got home to hungry dogs who wondered where we'd been. I am so glad I went. It was just the pick-me-up I needed. Thank heavens for Cousins. And Bedford, VA. If I can't live there, at least I can visit. Well. All that gush drove thoughts of socks right out of my mind. Let me see if I can reel them back for a few brief words. I promise. Brief! First off - there is that pair of socks I want to finish this weekend. I did finish the second sock, which was hanging on a size 3 Addi circular needle. I tried it on as I knit it and it was longer than the finished one. I had not looked closely at the actual knitting, only at the length on my leg and the fit around the heel. I am constantly growing bored with the last bit of sock knitting - the foot part - and knitting them too short and this was the case in the First Sock of this lovely purple pair. Sometimes I just wear the socks anyway. Sometimes I pull out the toes and knit a little more foot. Since this short foot actually made the whole sock a good bit shorter than the other I pulled out the toe, picked up the stitches with the now freed up #3 needle and began working on the toe. And that's when I remembered. I remembered what I was thinking and doing when I began these socks. I had knit the first sock on smaller needles - a #2 or #1. And I had wondered if you could use this tightly spun bouncy sock yarn to knit a bigger sock without changing the stitch number ... because the pattern would look good with either men's or women's clothes. And yes. This stretchy bouncy yarn knits up a nice, if loose, sock that would fit a bigger foot. Alas, if one were hard on socks, as, for example, BD is, then I would have to recalculate the numbers. If one weren't too hard on them, as, happily, TheQueen is, one could wear this looser sock a long time. Since they're for me anyway I'm glad but if/when I write up the pattern, it will be for standard woman's sizing. But isn't there always a but? I had to pull out the new knitting on the First Sock toe - because on #3 needles it looked simply horrible. I must now find a smaller needle (or pull one from another sock project) to finish up the toe of that sock. Which I will do. Because I will will will finish that pair of socks today!! I'm also thinking a wee bit about a Summer of the Sock Knit-a-Long. I'm not actually much of a knit along type but I have joined one or two when I wanted a little extra support to keep me on task. Reporting back to Others helps me do DOOTIFUL things and while I love all my sock yarns and want all the socks they'll turn into, completing them still carries with it a hint of Dooty. And so. And so. I wonder if anyone would want to join me in a KAL. I know One person does - the person who suggested it to me. I will ponder this a day or two more and then Make an Announcement. But now - the needles call. so does a lonely BD, who would like company with his breakfast. I am off. Happy Sunday. Labels: Bedford VA, cousins, Family, KAL, Knit-a-longs, Socks posted by Bess | 8:06 AM1 Comments:Crafty gal! Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Tuesday, October 02, 2007 It's hard to believe that FFF is only 4 days and some hours away. It feels a little surreal as the days zip past. I'm feeling particularly un-literary today so I'll just post a few (better) shots of my current project. This is Yarn.  This is yarn knit into a sock cuff.  Looks a little spooky, doesn't it – floating in the air like that. Maybe even a little spectral? Perfect for a Halloween Sock, hmmm? The color is much more true at 5 o'clock in the evening out on the back porch, than at 5 o'clock in the morning in my kitchen, but the green still isn't showing up right. It's really much more leafy green. The stitch pattern is another BW but there are some techniques I'm putting into the sock pattern that might not be so well known. Also – I believe I'll size this one for children as well as women. After all – it is going to end up being something of a novelty sock. After ripping out and picking up a dropped stitch (this is not an easy fix stitch pattern when it comes to dropped stitches) I'm moving along at a good clip. Might just have that pattern written by the weekend. Might even have it ready for J to take to Rhinebeck. Happy Tuesday to you all. Hope to see (some of) you on Saturday. Labels: Socks posted by Bess | 7:48 AM2 Comments:How about WendyKnits' basic feather-and-fan sock? That's horizontal and chevron-like. And perhaps instead of yarn-overs for the increases, you could do a KFBs? How about Grumperina's Jaywalker socks that everyone (including me) was doing a while ago. It works great with stripey yarn.
By Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Tuesday, September 25, 2007 This Lovely Cherry Tree Hill Yarn.I've been fiddling with this sock yarn for a long time. I am determined to match the stitch to the yarn. I am also determined to knit it now. I've had it a year. It was a gift from a special friend. I want to dance in socks that give me happy thoughts of someone who cares for me. This is a nice springy yarn, though not the most tightly springy of them all. Just politely springy. And it is silky. But that makes it slippery and soft too – one of the reason's it's not springy to the max. It is also a dark yarn with a black stripe to it; one that slopes just a little when you knit a tube with it using 60 stitches. On size 2 needles. Addis. The moment I saw this yarn I thought it ought to be knit into a textured pattern. Easypeasy. Lots of textured patterns out there. But it also has to be simple to memorize. I don't like having to carry a pattern along with me when I knit. I don't even like having to check back with a pattern when I'm at home. I like clutter free knitting. This yarn would love to be cables. 4 stitch cables traveling about the place. Alas. This dye pattern does NOT want to be cabled. That black stripe interrupts the vertical lines of cables in a manner that won't be ignored.  Huh. digital color is so strange. that sock was on a piece of white typing paper - not some pretty blue background. Weird.I love this cable, though – It's a 5 stitch cable with a purl line growing up between the twisting K2's. I'm going to use it on a more subtly dyed yarn from Spirit Trail Fiberworks. But I am not going to ask this colorway to play nicely with cables. What I think would work would be chevron stripes made with decreases and increases and somewhere in my collection of stitch pattern books I know there is one. Or it's in a sock book or a magazine. I just can't find it. And I'm about done up looking for it too. But here are two more stitch patterns I'm considering and will try, just adding on to the sock I've knit so far.  There's lots I like about this stripe except I think it's too wide. Alas. I think the decrease section is too wide, not the garter stitch. I'll just have to try it, though, and see if I can make it work. This is the width and depth I'd like, but I really wanted horizontal stripes. But my mind can be changed here - via empirical proof. After that, I have one or two more places to look for that horizontal chevron stripe that's in my mind – that place of clutter. But if I am still unable to find it - after today - this sock is going to be knit up in a K3P2 rib and be done with it. It's too nice a yarn, to silky springy sweetly hugging a yarn to be separated from my feet any longer. So There. Vivid, exciting, challenging but fun stuff is going on at work. I'll write about that later this week. Maybe. Happy Happy Tuesday to you all. Labels: Knitting, Socks, Stitch Patterns posted by Bess | 7:29 AM4 Comments:Yes. It's Cherry Tree Hill. And it is springy. Not as springy as Koigu, more like Jitterbug. So glad you had a great birthday. The shoes are definitely more than "Yes" and they're not blue. Enjoy your weekend. Rain sounds good. We're getting a bit but not what we were promised.
Ahhh yes. But it's silkier than Jitterbug. Glad your birthday was happy! :-) Love those shoes! I'm glad you had a delightful birthday. :-) Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Saturday, September 22, 2007 Birthday ReportThank you everyone, for the happy birthday wishes. It was a perfectly perfect happy birthday. It began happy it continued happy and it ended so as well. There were presents   A bit of back story about Gift Shoes. About a month ago BD and I were walking down Caroline St. in Fredericksburg, after dark, after the shops had all closed up. F'burg is fairly trendy for a small Virginia city and what isn't chic and expensive is antiques and collectibles. In the window of a shoe shop that looked to be filled with foreign (expensive) stuff, was a pair of the most comfortable looking shoes. Usually if they look comfortable they also look either clunky or ugly or athletic. These, though, looked like you might be able to wear them with a skirt that is not flounced, ruffled, and well below shin level. I don't usually discuss fashion with BD. I have decidedly strong, eclectically classic taste and he likes blue. What's the point? But I did comment on these shoes, made a mental note to come back one day and try them on, promptly forgot where I put the mental note and strolled on down the street. This is a man whose only clothing opinion is that the legs must be 30 inches long; whose, to the best of my memory (which I shan't claim is perfect on this count), sole fashion compliment is “Yes” - as in: Sample questions - “Do I look good in this? Do you like this? Isn't this pretty?” Actual answer - “Yes”. Who'da thought he'd go buy those shoes for me!? And lawsee they are comfortable. Orthopedic slippers. Yep. That's how I'd describe them. Decidedly European, though they are actually made in Israel. So comfortable I thought I might like to sleep in them. He dun' good. There was also pampering   (Mama! Get your feet offa me! and feasting (didn't get any photos there, but I did get to eat out for both lunch and dinner and though I really splurged at dinner I'm still good WW-wise for the week.) and no real work that demanded concentration or even much thought. It was Friday to boot! Which means I get to stay home for 2 glorious days and play with toys. And this is the birthday toy I plan to play with.  Yeah - I'll take a better photo when the sun comes up. Last year – when I could have NoNewYarn (Jan. 13 post)– at least, not purchased by me – several loving friends gave me yarn for my birthday. This came from L. I'm embarrassed that I can't remember what it is, but I think it's Cherry Tree Hill Yarn and it is the silkiest springy sock yarn I've ever knit with. I cast on a sock with it last year but wasn't happy with how it was turning out. Frogged, wet-set, and re-skeined, I let it languish in the SheepBasket for months. I've cast on a different sock – but I'm not satisfied with it either – because this yarn says it wants to be cables – 3x3 cables of some sort - even if it is a dark, multi-colored yarn. I believe Barbara Walker has the stitch this yarn wants to be knit into and I'll give it a try later today. In fact – I'm thinking of just switching the pattern where I am and trying it out. If it turns out I don't like that one, I'll try another till I find one I'm satisfied with. Then I'll rip back to the ribbing with confidence. This is a sock pour moi, merci. Happy Saturday. I smell rain. Labels: Birthday gifts, Socks posted by Bess | 7:35 AM0 Comments:Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Tuesday, September 04, 2007 if a symptom can be successfully suppressed without undue side-effect - perhaps there is no need to identify the root! And a cure, no matter how efficacious, is unlikely to be appreciated unless it has an impact on the superficial manifestation. Never mind the theory behind a problem today. Just apply a solution that works. Hmmm. From MrHoroscope. Probably a good idea, since I left the library on Friday with something that needed curing but at whose root cause I shall never be able to get – nor am I inclined to make an attempt. I'll just get on with getting on. And go to WW tonight because I haven't been all August and the scales are groaning and the waistband is straining. And though I am happy enough when I look in the mirror, that is not because I look so great but because I have such a monumental ego (and a magic mirror that takes 10 lbs off you when you look into it – got it from a bunch of dwarfs and their tall girlfriend) that, like zaphod beeblebrox – I can get pretty complacent about myself.  Three arms, two heads, and one big egoMy lovely weekend is over and I came to completion over those kitchen cabinets. Every one of 'em is sparkly clean. No dust, no gunk of years, no unwanted objects, unless you count that little bamboo steamer, which I only kept because we just bought a big bamboo steamer, so it seemed kind of mean to separate them. If I haven't used it by the next time I clean kitchen cabinets I will send it down to the goodwill – where I shall be going this morning to unload the 4 boxes of useless to me stuff. Hallelujah! But here's proof that I really did knit over the weekend. Here is the unisex sock, knit to man's proportions, that will be available as a pattern from Spirit Trail Fiberworks at the Fall Fiber Festival in Montpelier, come the first weekend in October.  Yup. Looks like a formal fingerless glove at this moment.  Here's the back – sorry it's so dark, but note the lighter yarn stripe. That's where I'll be putting in the afterthought heel. I'd hoped to have this all knit up by today but those cabinets took a lot longer to clean than I'd planned. But I shall be done with them by the end of the week. And now it's Monday – thank goodness it's really Tuesday! Ta. Labels: Socks posted by Bess | 7:47 AM2 Comments:
On almost every heel I know, I end up picking up an extra stitch at the end of a row and working it together with the last stitch before I start working in the round again. It just makes sense that if you're going to be working back and forth on something like the heel, that little section of fabric is going to be a tiny bit longer than anything else.
Hey - thanks for the shout-out about the sheep-shearing. Patsy wrote a beautiful description and I felt it shouldn't be wasted on my eyes alone. Glad you enjoyed it! Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom] Monday, February 19, 2007 Yo! Mary! I tried to comment but blogger wouldn’t let me. I so so so thank you and Patsy for the wonderful peek into the window of sheep shearing. I am sure it was a magical experience, because anything to do with Barbara Gentry is full of gentle magic. Now. TheQueen’s post. Ahh the joys of being a government employee. They're few and far between, but I guarantee you, they can be felt on those Monday holidays. It’s ten0seven and I don’t have to hustle along at all, but may leisurely poke about on the creaky dial-up internet to see how friends are doing. As for how I’ve been - well - delicious is the first word that comes to mind. J and her daughter C got to my house about dinner time on Friday and very swiftly we were pulling out knitting and catching up on everything that has happened since last November. New house, new knitting, new plans, new hopes. It was a great catch up evening. Then, at Crack of Dawn we were up and dressing and breakfasting and heading to Richmond where J was holding a trunk show of her spinning fibers for Clotho’s Children - the Richmond area fiber guild. The guild meets at St. Joseph’s Villa which is part of the interesting lore of Richmond, and a tiny bit of the Lore Of TheQueen too, since for a very brief time when I was struggling to become 10 and worrying about homework and wishing I were an orphan so people wouldn’t have such high expectations of me, we were a host family for a little girl who lived there. It’s a good sized organization - maybe 50 members and there were 25-30 of them at Saturday’s Valentine’s Day Tea. Best of all we knew some of these members from previous KRRetreats, so there was a feel of reunion to the gathering. I would reeeeeeealy love to join this guild and I could, if I would commit to some Saturdays in the city. After all, they only meet once a month and there’s no requirement that you attend every meeting. Really - I ought to join. In fact, I am talking myself into joining right now. Even if I could go only twice a year - it’s not any further than the other fiber guild that meets across the river (and down by the bay). But what we did do was unload all of J’s bags of fabulous spinning fibers and set them up in a large U of tables, opened them up, clipped their little labels and samples on the outside and stood back. J specializes in rare breed fibers, though there are the occasional more common ones which she has dyed in her own glorious colors. Some of these are blends, some are straight off the animal’s back with only careful washing, most have been carded into rovings. Happy for me, I am no longer restricted so I could "shop" too, though I was careful to wait till we were packing up before grabbing that bag of Border Leicester and measuring out a pound of it. It’s a fluffy soft grey. It’s a long wool that hazes just a tiny bit like mohair and spun fine it will still knit up at 5 stitches to the inch. Yes sir. At that rate this baby could become a sweater. Would you believe it - I have been so aswamp with knitting this winter I forgot to take a spindle with me! Sort of forgot. It did once cross my mind but the mind answered that I ought to remember that I was going to be busy the whole time - and I was. C - who is only 7 - was an absolute angel. A child with a naturally good temperament nurtured by very good parents, she spent the entire day actually helping us measure up and label the purchases. Not just for a little while, but for hours, this little girl was a happy helper. I don’t think even I could have been that good for that long at that age. In fact, the closest thing to a melt down she exhibited was .... nothing. I can’t remember one moment when C wasn’t pure joy to have around the entire weekend. Needless to say, BD was in his element - for he always wanted a daughter of his own. It was he who did the bedtime story reading and he knew to read the book about the Chinkoteague ponies. I was pleased that my bald eagles put in an appearance, since I’m inordinately proud of them. It’s so cold these days the bay is frozen so there’s no point in them hunting over the water. They’re out in the fields instead, looking for mice. We had just pulled onto the farm when one flew up right beside us and into a tree. I always feel like a bald eagle sighting is a blessing - a sort of benediction from the eagle spirit - and happily - I get to see one almost every day. Before J left I pumped her about those short row heels - I located both the instructions and the sock I had been knitting - and we talked it over. The funny thing is - though J forgot exactly what to do she remembered enough to prompt me to actually read the durn instructions. I don’t know what I was doing the last time I tried to knit that short row heel but this time the directions made perfect sense, the double wraps closed up the gaps in the seam line and the heel turned out almost just right. The instructions did have you begin the wrap and turns on a knit row and end on a purl row - and there was nothing in the instructions about whether or not to knit back across the heel and then start kniting across the instep, but I certainly didn't want to purl the rest of the sock cuff! But knitting back left big holes at the corners. I ripped and tried it again starting with a purl row, and that left only one smaller hole on the purl row. It’s a small enough hole I can close it shut with darning, but the next time I am going to start with a knit row, join the heel to the front on that last knit row and pick up the last purl wraps when I come around to the heel again on the other side. I feel triumphant. I dug other things out of our Microsoft Word archives. I am getting ready to teach some classes and need my handouts. That prompted me to start on another mini-sweater to be sure just how much yarn is needed. I’ve always made them with scrap yarn and I have only the original mini-sweater that’s on my Knitters Review Bear. He does not want me to send it off to the shop as a sample so I am making one that will go into my Teaching Box. (Yes, I do anthropomorphize my inanimate objects. Read Asimov’s Foundation series, book 4 if you want an explanation.) I have some grey Aurora8 in the stash. Yarn that has languished because I don’t wear grey and I’d never thought about knitting a hat for BD and who makes doll clothes out of Aurora8?!? Well. I do. Or am doing. It’s a cute thing. I’ll finish it up today. Switching to size 7 needles after all this KipFee knitting and sock knitting ( I didn't do any KipFee knitting but I finished the first of those Interlacements socks I’m knitting for Mom this weekend.) felt like knitting with pine trees. Wow! size 7 needles! Man. They’re enormous!! All in all - it was the most knitterly of weekends. It was companionable. It was fun. It was sweet. It was restful even though we worked hard on Saturday and conked out at 10. It was productive. It was happy. And best of all - it isn’t over yet! Thank you Mr. Presidents! Photos soon. posted by Bess | 7:42 AM |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||
|
|||||
40
