You Know You Knit Too Much II

...when you see this on your national news website (RTE) and think that President Obama is worried about yarn.





Seriously. I did.

(Betcha it's Kitchener Stitch that's the problem.)

.

When You Knit My Sweater

Home at last. We had a really great holiday and there was lots of knitting done, tho' Iced isn't quite finished.

Photos and more details in a few days.

In the meantime, look what I found on the ever-entertaining blog of Sheknitupthatball.

---

by Gayle Brandeis

When you knit my sweater,
leave some holes, some knobbly nubs,
I want to see where your hands have been.
I don't want anyone to think a machine
has knit this, don't want anyone to think
it came from a store. I want you to breathe
through the gaps in the wool, want your knuckles
to bulge at the collar, the hem. I want to feel
your knit and purl like an inhale and exhale,
surrounding me like a fly in the perfect,
imperfect, spiderweb silk of your love.

---

Isn't that just wonderful? I defy anyone not to be moved by that, and especially knitters.

You already know that I'm very sentimental so I'll freely admit that I got a lump in my throat.

.

Bon voyage

Finally the time for holidays has come and we are off to La Belle France tomorrow. The girls are beside themselves with excitement and I'm not far behind. This is a picture of me singing an Aria of Happiness in honour of the occasion.

Er, ok, seriously tho'. I have shorter hair. This is from the latest Knitty, a pattern called Iced with which I instantment fell dans huge amour. Isn't it wonderful? Cool, casual, stylish, flattering and ideal holiday knitting. It's by the fabulous Carol Feller and I gotta say, she just keeps outdoing herself. Her patterns are wonderfully produced with great photography so I'm a bit of a fan.

It just so happens that I scored 6 skeins of Araucania Nature Cotton in a lovely cream colour at The Yarn Room 1st Birthday sale last weekend.

Soon as I realised that Iced was a perfect project for the yarn it became clear that I didn't have enough yarn with only 600 metres. I swooped down on the YR last night just before closing time and snatched up picked up the last 3 skeins available. If it wasn't for the fact that I did pay for my purchases it was more like a drive-by yarn mugging, since I had to divert at high speed from my commute. Talk about a Yarn Dash.

I haven't had time to swatch properly yet so I had to swoop down again this evening to get more needles, just to be sure that I have every possible needle size that I might need depending on gauge. Can't be too careful y'know.

Also in my suitcase is this book, Confererates in the Attic, by Tony Horwitz, a travelogue/series of essays about the American Civil War. Since I love love love history and especially social/human history, I'm really looking forward to this.


Plus I have Love of the World, a collection of essays by John McGahern. Just because there isn't enough John McGahern in the whole wide world.

AND Ghost Light by Joseoh O'Connor. As a writer he just gets better and better. Plus see above comment re human history. This is a fictionalised story of a woman who had a long affair with the (real) Irish playwright J.M. Synge, famous for his play The Playboy of the Western World which was part of an Irish Nationalist artistic revival in the early 1900s. It's a great play of human nature which I believe has stood the test of time.

There are in fact more books to bring, but who am I kidding? I'm not going to get that much solo time, not to mention the knitting that I'm so looking forward to. Which brings us back to where we came in.

So, this is by way of an au revoir for a while. Needles crossed that the knitting goes ok. Needles crossed (and fingers and toes) also for a smooth crossing to Cherbourg tomorrow. There was a big swell on the sea today and today's crossing was rough. I am a very very very very very bad sea traveller so I'm praying for Neptune's Mercy tomorrow.

Take care ya'll and happy knitting.
.

WIP

Not much to say about this other than it's part of an ongoing design process that has occupied me fully for the past few months. It's for a 2-colour bag roughly 16" square. With wooden or knitted or I-cord or leather or something-else handles. You can see that I'm winging it I've really thought it through.

Seriously tho'. I've learnt something very important here. I spent weeks tricking around with the design elements, (colour combinations, charts etc.) before I picked up the needles. Once I started knitting, 80% of what I'd planned went out the window and the other 20% was on shaky ground.

It just goes to show that all the overthinking and planning in the world is no substitute for the practical work.

Plus I somehow thought that it had to be 'right' before I could even start it. And that the design process was mostly a mental one. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Another lesson learned as knitting kicks my ass once again. Le sigh. Still, I'm happy that it'll be an improved version in the end, so I forgive it.

.

.

Mystery Solved

I'm really delighted to be part of the Midsummer Day's Dream series over on LightingLittleFires.


This is a series of 12 creative and thoughtful projects which LittleFire introduces:


'Starting on the 21st of June, the Summer Solstice and longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, I propose a fortnight (yes, 14 days!) of crafting, baking, music, articles, fun, community spirit and with any luck a little bit of sunshine.

Every day for 2 weeks something new to make, do, eat, drink, laugh about, think about or listen to will be posted right here for your enjoyment, in the hopes of making your start to the summer that little bit sunnier.'




The projects so far include yoga, baking, crochet and knitting. Can't wait to see what's coming!


Isn't it a cool idea?



PS: Just to be clear - the typos in the instructions are all mine!

.

Sneak Peek

Recently I was invited to contribute something to something.

It's almost ready.

.

Mon Escapade

Things are sooooooo busy here it would wear me out to describe it, and you to listen.

Still, there is some knitting going on and as always, overly ambitious plans for other knitting.

As part of the general daydreaming, I'm looking for a holiday rental in France, hopefully in July.

Part of the search takes place at Mon Escapade, an online holiday rental business run by my friend Sylvie, aka the talented crocheter Chezplum.



A couple of weeks here wouldn't do any harm, now would it?

Of course, there may be some translation issues, but I'm sure we can sort that out.

Wish me luck!





.

Knit knit rip rip

Knit, knit, rip, rip, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, rip, rip, rip, knit, knit, knit, rip, rip, rip.

Sigh.

Note to self: Make your mistakes with the chart on a sample piece, before you cast on a full garment in the round.

Also, try to see a serious mistake in the 2nd row before you get to the 20th row.

No biggie. Just do your best. That's all anyone can do.

That's all I'm sayin'.

.

Word up

.

'I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying'

-- Oscar Wilde

Just wondering.

Am I the only one who unconsciously tries to pronounce the word presented by the word verification thingy?

---

Bed-asta. Like bad-ass, only not quite.

---

And sometimes in in funny accent.

Suupp-elle. (French accent of course.)

---

And wonder what it means. Wingen.

To be on the wing, i.e. birds or fairies in flight.

---

Pire-a-dab. Definitely something unpleasant.

In the medical line.

---

And my personal favourite.

His Excellency Zez-zzul. A royal advisor to an ancient Court of Kings.

---

Fanciful? Moi?

Whatever gave you that idea.

---

.

2010

Look.

It's been a difficult year around here. Bad stuff happens to lots of people.

Noting new about that. But some good stuff happens too. And frankly, for me, lots of that has to do with knitting in general and you guys in particular.

So thanks. Everyone.

Back to normal schedule shortly.

ETA: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Note to self...

...when you've been knitting a hat design out of your head over and over and OVER for ALMOST A MONTH and you've ripped it out SEVEN times and you have finally hit on the right construction and you eventually find the perfect balance of decreases for the crown using both the even and uneven numbered rounds to create a delicate crown of just the right curve.

Take some goddamn NOTES, ok?

I'm just sayin'.

Self. Don't make me say it again.

Jeez!


.

Busy-ness

Another class at the YR this weekend, a craft market in the afternoon and a local concert in the evening. Busy busy busy...REALLY busy.

Can't be good. Unless you're busy knittin' too.

Lots going on and some knitting to show you. With any luck a new pattern.

Soon my pretties, soon.

In the meantime...for those of us who are stuck in the wind and rain.





Ah...memories.

.

She's back!

Back from my trip and absolutely exhaauuuuusted!

Almost (but not quite) too tired to knit. Definitely too tired for housework.

New project and new pattern coming very soon. With pictures, I promise.

If you're in the vicinity, come on down to the opening party at The Yarn Room on Saturday afternoon...starting at 5pm.

S'gonna be fun!
.

Unusual But Effective Strategy

I met a knitter this morning at the Yarn Room (surprise surprise) and we got to talking (as you do) about all our projects and plans an' stuff and about how nice a distraction knitting can be from work commitments, chores and other tasks.

And about how this can be a bad thing for achieving deadlines etc.

She confessed that when she has to concentrate on getting some work done, she puts her knitting into her husband's car so that she has no access to it during the day.

Genius!

Of course, I'd have to put the whole stash and needle supply into the car as well, but I like the idea so I share it with you here.

Make of it what you will my lovelies.

.

Good ol' Dorothy

I realise that the blog is a bit light these past few weeks. All's well here over in Nic-land. Just a bit swamped by work and other commitments for the next month or so.

To tide yiz over, here's some of my favourite Dorothy Parker.

--------------------

Four be the things I am wiser to know:
Idleness, sorrow, a friend, and a foe.

Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

Three be the things I shall never attain:
Envy, content, and sufficient champagne.

Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.

Dorothy Parker


.

Beauty

There be none of Beauty's daughters With a magic like thee;



But wait...look, there's another one.






.

Knit email provider

Tee hee...

You know you've been thinking about knitting a lot when you enter your email address as ......@eircom.knit.

(Phwwwt! Snort!)

.

Teaser

So what's this for?

Stick around, you'll find out on Saturday.

.

Jinxed

Well, I'm not usually spooked, but how would you interpret the following occurrences over the past few days:

- the power unit/transformer for my laptop started squeaking (seriously, it squeaked) over 2 days and suddenly died. Dead. Nada. Zilch.

- on the very same day the motherboard on my laptop had to be replaced due to a faulty network connection.

- squished my fingers in a window hinge. An accident, and yes, it was agony. This is the worst item to report. Knitters will understand.

- hit a pillar in my own driveway and severed a wing mirror entirely from it's moorings i.e. the car. Absolutely amputated. It's a good thing that a car isn't a living creature or it would have been a bloodbath. Good thing the hubby is a dab hand with an electric drill.

- got utterly lost on a visit to a familiar neighbourhood (in which I grew up). I blame the recent development of roads and the introduction of a one-way traffic system.

- the light bulb blew in Little Mouses's bedroom.

- the light bulb blew in my bedroom.

- the light bulb blew in the hall.

- lost my mobile phone temporarily (a minor event, it turned up within 3 hours).

- the base unit for my cordless phone appeared to fail. Turned out to be a wonky wire.

- ran out of petrol on a short local journey (rescued by a kind neighbour - THANK YOU!)

- burnt more than my usual amount of saucepans while chasing kids around the house.

- Little Monkey opened a set of paints on the car and exploded blue paint all over her good outfit and the car upholstery. A blue bloodbath.

- lost my mobile phone (again) - a major event as it didn't turn up for more than 36 hours.

- and just last night when I opened the dishwasher, a jet of hot water and dishwasher powder shot straight into my eye. Unbelievably painful.

This morning I was afraid to get out of bed in case a piano fell on my head.

If we meet up, I suggest that you sit at another table.

A jinx?

Dunno.

Temporary?

I hope so.

Spooky?

Definitely.

.

Taking No Chances

Turns out that sponge painting with the kids and knitting an off-white sleeve are incompatible activities.

(Don't worry, no knitting was hurt or damaged on this occasion.)

I kept looking at my knitting longingly and moving it further and further from the centre of the paint storm and finally took it out of the room altogether and put it on a high shelf.

You really can't take any chances with 2 gleefully paint spattered and over-excited children. The Deadline Knitting schedule takes a serious blow.

But...unrealistic knitting optimism is a powerful force of it's own. I can still crank out a couple of elf hats an' boots by Thursday morning, right?

Right?

I said RIGHT?

Thank you. I thought so too.

.