So, remember that knitting lull I'd been in back in, oh, September or whatever? Well, it kind of lasted... and lasted... and lasted... until I started to wonder if I was ever going to knit something that truly excited me ever again. I kept knitting, but much of it was half-hearted. I did knit some gloves for Joel and a scarf for his mom for Christmas, but that was pretty much it. (I never did fix the botched beret, nor have I finished the seams of the Sunrise Circle Jacket I made last summer.) I kept looking through my books, looking through my magazines. The Winter 2006 Interweave Knits didn't do anything to help. The Winter 2006 Knitty didn't do anything to help. The three books I bought at Christmas (hooray for gift cards!) didn't do anything to help (except to point out that I've been buying the wrong yarn for what I really wanted to knit, and that I'm too poor to buy any more). Even the closing of the most awesome yarn store in Des Moines didn't help me much, because half of the yarn I bought over the phone is still in my parents' house, and I don't really remember what is there.
But! This week, a switch flipped. The Spring 2007 IK arrived in my mailbox this week. Suddenly, I'm sorting through my stash, figuring out what I've got that I can knit right now. I love, like, five of those patterns, and can't wait to start them. But I don't have any of the right yarn. Sooooo, I cast on for the Clapotis I've been meaning to make for a while but just haven't felt 100% thrilled about. But of course, now I do. I'm using a variegated olive-colored merino by Twisted Sisters, and my brand-new Lantern Moon size 8s, and I can't put it down. Thrilled!
Then I went to two different yarn stores yesterday and spent about $140 -- mostly on yarn, but I also bought LaceStyle, which I have been awaiting eagerly for months. (And the women at the LYS said they think I'm the first customer to buy it. An honorable distinction, surely.) Funny enough, I only bought yarn for one of the projects in my new IK -- the Clementine Shawlette. The rest was just random "oooh, I want that" yarn, or stuff for the Labyrinth Rug, which I started six months ago and put down because I was bored (19 and 3/4 yards of the same 22 stitches is a lot of very monotonous knitting). And with the new yarn for the rug comes a new desire for those monotonous 22 stitches.
So, now I'm knitting like a madwoman on my very first Clapotis, ready to jump back into the Labyrinth Rug, and plotting and planning for the Clementine Shawlette and several other projects as well. Oh, and this morning I designed a swing jacket while listening to the sermon, and I've got the yarn all picked out for that, too, I just have to go buy it. Wait wait wait wait. I only have so many hands!
It's good to be back.
18 February 2007
17 January 2007
Here's looking at you, kid
So, Joel's cat has finally taken to me. I moved in a year ago, and I am so incredibly pleased that Doc-the-kitty has started voluntarily climbing into my lap to sleep and purr and be petted.
Doc is a great cat. Smart, funny, still running and jumping and playing like a kitten, even though he's an old man of nine years old, and beginning to go gray, like one of those silverback gorillas, except he's a silver-cravat kitty. He's got the mellowness of middle/old age, observant and critical, yet detached and cool. He rarely takes an interest in my knitting. I think he's batted at a moving ball of yarn maybe twice, and only because the yarn was already sitting next to him. He would never, say, cross a room to interfere with my knitting. Or bother yarn that is just sitting there not moving or attached to anything.
So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise (and not delight) to come home from work on Monday and discover a lovely ball of Knit One Crochet Too's Douceur et Soie on the floor, severed by little kitty-teeth from the swatch I was knitting. Sigh. That's a $30-a-ball cashmere and silk blend. I have no idea how much he ate. It could have been nothing, it could have been several yards.
I guess it's nice to know that our cat has good taste.
Doc is a great cat. Smart, funny, still running and jumping and playing like a kitten, even though he's an old man of nine years old, and beginning to go gray, like one of those silverback gorillas, except he's a silver-cravat kitty. He's got the mellowness of middle/old age, observant and critical, yet detached and cool. He rarely takes an interest in my knitting. I think he's batted at a moving ball of yarn maybe twice, and only because the yarn was already sitting next to him. He would never, say, cross a room to interfere with my knitting. Or bother yarn that is just sitting there not moving or attached to anything.
So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise (and not delight) to come home from work on Monday and discover a lovely ball of Knit One Crochet Too's Douceur et Soie on the floor, severed by little kitty-teeth from the swatch I was knitting. Sigh. That's a $30-a-ball cashmere and silk blend. I have no idea how much he ate. It could have been nothing, it could have been several yards.
I guess it's nice to know that our cat has good taste.
03 January 2007
Sunflower Tam in Action
Our friends Christy and Doug hosted a Scottish Night last week... any excuse to dress like a fool and speak with a brogue! If I can get this photosharing thing to work, you'll be able to see the Sunflower Tam being put to good use. If not, you'll probably just see a bunch of html mumbo-jumbo.
Hey, it worked! Sweet! My blog becomes a zillion times better, in the blink of a ctrl+v
Hey, it worked! Sweet! My blog becomes a zillion times better, in the blink of a ctrl+v
29 December 2006
Uncertain Times
A belated Merry Christmas to the three people who read my blog. My holiday, except for a wonderful Christmas Eve service, was... well, it left something to be desired. While carving out new holiday patterns of my own that I share with Joel and his family, I do miss my family's holiday traditions a lot. Suffice it to say that we're still working on figuring out what Christmas looks like for us.
I'm feeling very un-grounded tonight. Life is up in the air. My ordination process is up in the air (you'd think I'd be used to that). An out-of-country trip I am supposed to take in three weeks is up in the air. My friend's wedding (the reason for the out-of-country voyage) is up in the air. Work stuff has been up in the air for quite a while, and I don't know how resolved things will be when we return from Winter Break. My finances are up in the air.
I need to knit something that will bind me to the earth. Something that will bring clarity through the process of creating. Something that will solve all my problems (yeah, right!).
If anybody has any suggestions, please send them my way. The best solution I've come up with so far is running away to Scotland, but only if I can convince Joel to come with me.
I'm feeling very un-grounded tonight. Life is up in the air. My ordination process is up in the air (you'd think I'd be used to that). An out-of-country trip I am supposed to take in three weeks is up in the air. My friend's wedding (the reason for the out-of-country voyage) is up in the air. Work stuff has been up in the air for quite a while, and I don't know how resolved things will be when we return from Winter Break. My finances are up in the air.
I need to knit something that will bind me to the earth. Something that will bring clarity through the process of creating. Something that will solve all my problems (yeah, right!).
If anybody has any suggestions, please send them my way. The best solution I've come up with so far is running away to Scotland, but only if I can convince Joel to come with me.
16 December 2006
knitting as a spiritual discipline
My mom taught me to knit. I must have been about eight or nine, I don't really remember. But I remember sitting on the side of my parents' bed, my little fingers working intently on some horribly ugly scarf that I probably never finished. I remember the excitement I felt when my mom took me to the craft store (probably a long-gone Ben Franklin) to buy my very own knitting needles: a pair of size 9 straights, made out of a special kind of plastic that looks like ivory. I thought they were actually ivory for years. Until I stepped on my knitting, buried under a pile of something on my bedroom floor, and one of the needles snapped. I still have the intact needle in my stash, waiting for me to lose another size 9 straight, to form a mismatched pair. Since I use bamboo circulars pretty much exclusively now, that's not likely to happen anytime soon.
Knitting fell out of my interest sometime in middle school or high school. I'm not sure how it happened, but given the many and varied interests I pursued as a kid, it's not surprising that some of them slipped through the cracks. There is still a half-finished rabbit cage somewhere in my parents' basement, from when I built a trap and attempt to domesticate a bunny that lived in our backyard -- but I lost interest before I finished the building part of the project. Name an interest I could have had as a kid, I can tell you a story. I was going to be an astronomer, until I took physics. I was also going to be a cheerleader, until I went to a tryout and realized I didn't like or respect most of the girls in the room.
Unlike astrononmy, cheerleading, and rabbit cages, I picked up knitting again when I was in
college. My girlfriend Jennie invited me to join a design-and-knit-your-own-sweater class that she taught, and I had a study-heavy courseload and wanted a diversion, so I gamely went to the first session. And I haven't looked back.
So two nights ago, I had a hugely important phone meeting with my ordination committee back home. I've been writing a paper on-and-off for the last two years, and this meeting was The Big Grilling. Picture a dissertation defense. I was nervous. Each committee member had been asked to write three questions for me, and they simply went around the room asking things until they were out of questions. Nerve-wracking. They can ask anything, and they did. One of the committee members tried to back me into a corner and say that I think people who are not Christian are going to Hell. Another tried to get me to say that I should stick with working in an elementary school rather than pursuing my call to ordained ministry. And one asked me to describe any spiritual disciplines I follow.
But that last question was easy. It was easy because I knit.
I talked about how knitting is a way to participate with God in the act of Creation, one slow, deliberate stitch at a time. I talked about how the final product is a gift that can warm a cold head, warm a cold heart, make the world a better place for someone else, even if only for a few moments. I talked about how humans are called to create, to care for each other and for the world, and how knitting is a part of following that call. I talked about the growing interest in knitting for charity, and how I work with the Knitting Club at school to get kids to knit afghan squares to donate to Warm Up America!, and I talked about the book Knitting for Peace. There was so much more that I could have said, about building community, and the practice of prayer, and how knitting is love, but I was afraid of spending too much time on any one question. But what I said was enough. I knew it was a satisfactory answer when the woman who had asked the question paused, and then said,
"I know exactly what you mean. I'm a knitter, too. Thank you."
Knitting fell out of my interest sometime in middle school or high school. I'm not sure how it happened, but given the many and varied interests I pursued as a kid, it's not surprising that some of them slipped through the cracks. There is still a half-finished rabbit cage somewhere in my parents' basement, from when I built a trap and attempt to domesticate a bunny that lived in our backyard -- but I lost interest before I finished the building part of the project. Name an interest I could have had as a kid, I can tell you a story. I was going to be an astronomer, until I took physics. I was also going to be a cheerleader, until I went to a tryout and realized I didn't like or respect most of the girls in the room.
Unlike astrononmy, cheerleading, and rabbit cages, I picked up knitting again when I was in
college. My girlfriend Jennie invited me to join a design-and-knit-your-own-sweater class that she taught, and I had a study-heavy courseload and wanted a diversion, so I gamely went to the first session. And I haven't looked back.
So two nights ago, I had a hugely important phone meeting with my ordination committee back home. I've been writing a paper on-and-off for the last two years, and this meeting was The Big Grilling. Picture a dissertation defense. I was nervous. Each committee member had been asked to write three questions for me, and they simply went around the room asking things until they were out of questions. Nerve-wracking. They can ask anything, and they did. One of the committee members tried to back me into a corner and say that I think people who are not Christian are going to Hell. Another tried to get me to say that I should stick with working in an elementary school rather than pursuing my call to ordained ministry. And one asked me to describe any spiritual disciplines I follow.
But that last question was easy. It was easy because I knit.
I talked about how knitting is a way to participate with God in the act of Creation, one slow, deliberate stitch at a time. I talked about how the final product is a gift that can warm a cold head, warm a cold heart, make the world a better place for someone else, even if only for a few moments. I talked about how humans are called to create, to care for each other and for the world, and how knitting is a part of following that call. I talked about the growing interest in knitting for charity, and how I work with the Knitting Club at school to get kids to knit afghan squares to donate to Warm Up America!, and I talked about the book Knitting for Peace. There was so much more that I could have said, about building community, and the practice of prayer, and how knitting is love, but I was afraid of spending too much time on any one question. But what I said was enough. I knew it was a satisfactory answer when the woman who had asked the question paused, and then said,
"I know exactly what you mean. I'm a knitter, too. Thank you."
10 December 2006
Long time, no write (a.k.a. two months of rambling catch-up)
Been knitting a lot lately, but not posting (even my mom's commented on the lack of posts!). Mostly I'm not posting much because I've been knitting Christmas presents, and I don't want to give anything away. I am excited about the presents, though. I'm making something for Joel that I've never attempted before, and it's turning out really well, so that's happy. His mom's present (Misty Garden scarf out of Plymouth Handpainted Originals) is finished, but not blocked yet. And, um, I'm making a set of felted coasters for a friend at work. Other than that, actually, I've been a total slacker on giftyness. Not cool.
BUT! I made the Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature, out of Cascade's bulky alpaca. That's totally for me. And I'm going to knit some slippers soon (probably over winter break, all hail the public schools and their built-in awesome vacation periods). Also for me. But first I need to figure out what the heck I'm going to do for co-workers. Maybe knit a handful of bookmarks, something quick like that. I'm thinking some pretty little argyle bookmarks -- shouldn't be too difficult or time consuming to make, I'll use yarn I already own, I'll make ten or so and give them to people who give me a gift. I need to break down and get a book for the art teacher (who is pregnant! with twins!) who befriended me over knitting. I'm thinking Big Girl Knits.
I've been really slack about keeping it all in my knitting book, too. You know, the book in which I write a little blurb about each item that I knit, and include the yarn label and a snip of the yarn, etc. Someday I'll get a digital camera, too, and then I can put knitting pictures up here and in the book, too.
I've also learned how to do Entrelac -- I made a scarf out of Noro Kureyon, and my art teacher friend was going to sell it for me at a craft fair... but alas, the scarf didn't sell. So that may be a Christmas present for somebody, to be determined.
Life has been crazy, and knitting and singing are the reprieves of choice. And I'm loving the new British TV series Robin Hood -- lots of fun handknits to admire. And in the History Channel's Mayflower thingy they showed again and again last month. Makes me want to knit my very own Pilgrim outfit. Maybe I will someday.
BUT! I made the Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature, out of Cascade's bulky alpaca. That's totally for me. And I'm going to knit some slippers soon (probably over winter break, all hail the public schools and their built-in awesome vacation periods). Also for me. But first I need to figure out what the heck I'm going to do for co-workers. Maybe knit a handful of bookmarks, something quick like that. I'm thinking some pretty little argyle bookmarks -- shouldn't be too difficult or time consuming to make, I'll use yarn I already own, I'll make ten or so and give them to people who give me a gift. I need to break down and get a book for the art teacher (who is pregnant! with twins!) who befriended me over knitting. I'm thinking Big Girl Knits.
I've been really slack about keeping it all in my knitting book, too. You know, the book in which I write a little blurb about each item that I knit, and include the yarn label and a snip of the yarn, etc. Someday I'll get a digital camera, too, and then I can put knitting pictures up here and in the book, too.
I've also learned how to do Entrelac -- I made a scarf out of Noro Kureyon, and my art teacher friend was going to sell it for me at a craft fair... but alas, the scarf didn't sell. So that may be a Christmas present for somebody, to be determined.
Life has been crazy, and knitting and singing are the reprieves of choice. And I'm loving the new British TV series Robin Hood -- lots of fun handknits to admire. And in the History Channel's Mayflower thingy they showed again and again last month. Makes me want to knit my very own Pilgrim outfit. Maybe I will someday.
28 September 2006
A Nice Contrast
The beret looks terrible. I'm gonna have to fix, uh, something. The problem is the brim, so I may have to take the whole thing out and do it again. Ugh.
But that's not the point. The point is that a wonderful thing happened to me this morning at work. Six months ago or so I had a disappointing incident with the art teacher at my (former) school, which I wrote about here.
This morning, one of the teachers at my new school approached me in the hallway and asked if I'd made my scarf (the Kata/Felicity Scarf). She then asked me what stitch combination I'd used. She then asked what yarn I'd used. ("It's, um, Alchemy? I had to go to North Carolina for it?" "Oh, yeah, I know that one.") She then invited me to help her lead the knitting club on Mondays after school. Aha! She's the art teacher!
"Come by my room, we'll talk fibers sometime," she said as we parted ways.
I am so working at the right school now.
And there is hope for the creative futures of our children.
Thank you, God.
But that's not the point. The point is that a wonderful thing happened to me this morning at work. Six months ago or so I had a disappointing incident with the art teacher at my (former) school, which I wrote about here.
This morning, one of the teachers at my new school approached me in the hallway and asked if I'd made my scarf (the Kata/Felicity Scarf). She then asked me what stitch combination I'd used. She then asked what yarn I'd used. ("It's, um, Alchemy? I had to go to North Carolina for it?" "Oh, yeah, I know that one.") She then invited me to help her lead the knitting club on Mondays after school. Aha! She's the art teacher!
"Come by my room, we'll talk fibers sometime," she said as we parted ways.
I am so working at the right school now.
And there is hope for the creative futures of our children.
Thank you, God.
27 September 2006
Lull
There has been a bit of a lull in the knitting.
First of all, I finished the Kata/Felicity Scarf from the previous post, and knitting with any other yarn just seems like kind of a letdown.
Secondly, I've been working on getting ordained. That takes considerably more time and effort when the people who are in charge of your process act like they have their heads up orafices that they'd have to be pretty stupid to stick their heads up in the first place.
Thirdly, I ran out of yarn and patterns that worked together. Well, I ran out of neither yarn nor patterns, really, but it sure felt like it for a while.
Then I went to a therapist for a day (part of the ordination stuff -- "they" have to make sure I'm not crazy. And I'm officially not!), in a part of the Atlanta metro where I almost never go, and so I spent a bit of time at this yarn store. I spent a bit of money there, too. I'm just sayin'. It was a good store -- if it weren't an hour away from any place I ever want to be, I'd go there more often. But I have new yarn now, which means new knitting inspiration.
I've been needing some inspiration lately. I was going to write a post titled "Inspiration," but I just couldn't get excited about it.
Anyway, inspiration. I now have yarn with which to make Christmas presents for Joel and for his mother. I think I'm going to start, though, with a beret for myself. I'm feeling the beret again this season, which is nice. I used to be a beret kid, back when I was a kid. I think it's time again. I'm hoping I bought enough of the yarn I plan to use, because I misread the label in the store and may have underbought. And that store is at least an hour from my house.
And I have two discoveries to share. The first is that my old-new favorite yarn store is no longer a favorite (they're moving away from the yarns I love, toward lots of yarns I don't love), which is especially too bad because my job is a less-than-five-minute drive away. The second is a new-ish blog that has quickly become a must-read for me: PeaceBang's Beauty Tips for Ministers is a hilarious read (the Manolo meets New England Unitarian Universalism in the form of a fabulous single female minister who just wants us all to look as good as God intended) by a dedicated almost-daily blogger with a sense of decency and style. If PeaceBang had an email address, I'd let her know privately how much I enjoy her blog, but as it is, she has no contact info on her Blogger Profile, and so I must share with the world my love for her (and let her know about Ann Taylor LOFT's new "Julie" trousers, which are the most flattering trousers I have perhaps ever found for the very-bootylicious ministers among us). Thank you, Ann Taylor LOFT. And thank you, too, PeaceBang, for your unending quest to bring a little bit of taste to those who think they are not of this world (but who still have to live in it!).
Now. To the beret!
First of all, I finished the Kata/Felicity Scarf from the previous post, and knitting with any other yarn just seems like kind of a letdown.
Secondly, I've been working on getting ordained. That takes considerably more time and effort when the people who are in charge of your process act like they have their heads up orafices that they'd have to be pretty stupid to stick their heads up in the first place.
Thirdly, I ran out of yarn and patterns that worked together. Well, I ran out of neither yarn nor patterns, really, but it sure felt like it for a while.
Then I went to a therapist for a day (part of the ordination stuff -- "they" have to make sure I'm not crazy. And I'm officially not!), in a part of the Atlanta metro where I almost never go, and so I spent a bit of time at this yarn store. I spent a bit of money there, too. I'm just sayin'. It was a good store -- if it weren't an hour away from any place I ever want to be, I'd go there more often. But I have new yarn now, which means new knitting inspiration.
I've been needing some inspiration lately. I was going to write a post titled "Inspiration," but I just couldn't get excited about it.
Anyway, inspiration. I now have yarn with which to make Christmas presents for Joel and for his mother. I think I'm going to start, though, with a beret for myself. I'm feeling the beret again this season, which is nice. I used to be a beret kid, back when I was a kid. I think it's time again. I'm hoping I bought enough of the yarn I plan to use, because I misread the label in the store and may have underbought. And that store is at least an hour from my house.
And I have two discoveries to share. The first is that my old-new favorite yarn store is no longer a favorite (they're moving away from the yarns I love, toward lots of yarns I don't love), which is especially too bad because my job is a less-than-five-minute drive away. The second is a new-ish blog that has quickly become a must-read for me: PeaceBang's Beauty Tips for Ministers is a hilarious read (the Manolo meets New England Unitarian Universalism in the form of a fabulous single female minister who just wants us all to look as good as God intended) by a dedicated almost-daily blogger with a sense of decency and style. If PeaceBang had an email address, I'd let her know privately how much I enjoy her blog, but as it is, she has no contact info on her Blogger Profile, and so I must share with the world my love for her (and let her know about Ann Taylor LOFT's new "Julie" trousers, which are the most flattering trousers I have perhaps ever found for the very-bootylicious ministers among us). Thank you, Ann Taylor LOFT. And thank you, too, PeaceBang, for your unending quest to bring a little bit of taste to those who think they are not of this world (but who still have to live in it!).
Now. To the beret!
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