What do I see?

I was tagged for this meme by reading it at Yarn~Knit~Read~Lit (one of the many interesting knitting blogs I've stumbled upon by browsing the SP8 list of participants):

Take a look around you. Other than your computer, peripherals, a desk/table, and chair, what are the five things nearest to you right now?

• Two reference books: The Chicago Manual of Style and Bryan Garner's Dictionary of Modern American Usage. (Yes, I am a word nerd.)
• A beautiful postcard from Bali that my SP8 sent me.
• A box of cedar incense cones that my friend Christy gave me around the time we graduated from college. (The box reads: "The fragrant aroma of smoldering firewood that is characteristic of the whole Southwest and the foothills of the Rockies." And it does indeed smell like that!)
• My raspberry red synchilla jacket that hasn't moved from the back of my chair since the summer swelter arrived.

(By the way, if you're reading this consider yourself tagged!)

Needling questions

Yesterday's mail brought the latest KnitPicks catalog. Right on the front cover are a photo and headline announcing the arrival of their own interchangeable needle system, called Options. I suspect these are intended to rival Denise needles.

My own needle collection is a mishmash of different types of needles (bamboo, metal, and plastic--but mostly bamboo) in lots of sizes. I have two sets of bamboo 10.5 straight needles because while working on a scarf two years ago I realized, during my commute to work, that I had left one of my needles in my car at the train station parking lot. Not wanting to be knitless during the hour-long train ride home, I went out during my lunch hour and bought another set of those needles.

Needless--or needle-less (groan!)--to say, I can never find the needles I need when I need them. Every couple of months I reorganize my yarn stash (which results in lots of "oh, I forgot I had that!" moments and plans to use a particular yarn for something nifty...plans which are, of course, completely forgotten the next day) and put all my needles back in their cases. Grrrrr.

So for the sake of organization (not to mention the fact that there are lots of needle sizes I don't have), I've been seriously considering getting one of these interchangeable needle thingies. I was planning on getting the Denise set, but with these Options now on the market, I'm not sure. Here's what I know: Denise has resin tips and cables that lock in place a quarter-turn twist, whereas Options has metal tips and cables that lock in place with a key. I'm not the biggest fan of metal needles, though lots of knitters swear they're the fastest. I do know that I want something that has a smooth join between needle and cable (on all of my bamboo circulars, I always have to "help" the yarn over the join).

Any thoughts?

Postcard!

Today's mail included this postcard from my SP8. The postmark is hard to read--it's the 13th of either the 5th month or the 6th month. Since my SP8 wrote that I should be getting a big package soon--and I already did receive a big package from her--I'm guessing that she sent this card last month, not this month. Somehow the Indonesian and U.S. postal services conspired to delay the arrival of this beautiful postcard from Bali.

Postscript to "D'oh!"

Today I stopped in the store where I bought the yarn for the wrap that has come to an abrupt--and unfinished--end. I found the bin with this yarn in it and proceeded to rummage around in hopes of finding something that matched the yarn I already had. After a minute or two of searching, I realized that the skeins in this bin varied widely: pea-soup green, yellowish-green, greyish-green. They all have the same color number (27) marked on the bands...but no dye lot. On the one hand, this is some small consolation to me, as I no longer feel like an idiot for buying yarn without checking the dye lot. On the other hand...well, it looks like I'm going to frog this wrap and use this yarn to make one-skein projects.

SP8 update

A few days ago, I received a very nice e-mail from my SP8, telling me a bit more about the package she sent me. I was mistaken about the pattern book: it's in Japanese, not Chinese. When I saw it, my first thought was that it was in simplified Chinese, and once I realized I couldn't read it I stopped paying much attention to the text and just focused on the photographs! Fortunately, I have several friends who are fluent in Japanese (including one who teaches it at a local college), so this will be even easier to get translation help for!

My SP8 tells me that the chenille is from Silk City Fibers--which, as it turns out, isn't all that far from where I live! She calls the other yarn a "chainette yarn"--a name that describes it perfectly!--and says that she found it at a small arts and crafts fair in the UK. The woman who made it said that the yarn is cashmere that will fluff up when it's washed. This will be interesting to see!

Hmmm. Just a little over a week until I can open up the bundle for July!

D'oh!

So I started a project in which gauge didn't matter, thinking there was no way I could possibly mess it up. Everything was going along swimmingly: my fingers got to "know" the stitch pattern, and I almost never made any mistakes that required going back and fixing them.

But then this morning, as I started a second skein of yarn (having finished the first one last night), I realized, after knitting a few rows, that the yarns are different colors. This is a light-green yarn with a very mild color variegation, and I didn't think the dye lots would really matter with it. So I bought three skeins of this yarn over a three-week period (one skein per week, using a "get 40% off one item" coupon I got in the mail each week). But no, this second skein has a definite yellow cast to it. Sigh. It just won't work. Now I have to decide if I want to rip out this whole thing and do something else with this yarn, or try my luck at finding a matching skein at the store...

Lucky, lucky me

Tonight was the monthly meeting of my local knitting group. I got to hang out with a fascinating (and oh-so-knowledgeable about knitting) group of women, which is always a treat. This month, instead of meeting at a local community center as we usually do, we met at the home of one member, Pat, because she wanted to give away a ton of yarn.

The yarn belonged to a good friend of hers, Jan, who unexpectedly died two years ago. I never knew Jan, but tonight I heard lots of stories about her--and saw some of her amazing unfinished projects (most of which, unfortunately, will remain unfinished, because there are no patterns with them). Her husband asked Pat to take the yarn, and Pat, who has a huge stash of her own, decided that a great way to honor Jan's memory would be to distribute the yarn to other knitters. Her only request is that we use some of the yarn to knit something for charity, since that's something that Jan did regularly. It looks like we're all going to knit afghan squares to be pieced together into one big blanket (this should be fun--my first afghan experience!), as well as hats and whatnot.

And Pat was on a mission to get that yarn out of her house: she kept urging people, "Take more! Take more!" There were some multiple-ball/skein sets of yarn, but most of the yarn consisted of single skeins of one thing. So with a lot of help from Pat and other knitters there, I managed to put together some interesting combinations, each of which ought to be enough at least to knit sweaters for Sylvia.

Here are five skeins of Noro, which I've heard of but have never knit before. I'm looking forward to giving it a try! We didn't think it would be enough on its own for a sweater, so Pat helped me find several odd balls of yarn in colors that are in the Noro. I'm thinking this set will make a fun striped sweater.

There was one single skein of this brightly colored yarn. I don't know what it is--the label says "cotton iroha." Together with this bit of red yarn, I think there's enough to make a hat.




These six skeins of cotton are actually purple, but my camera really wants to portray them as blue (and my photo-editing skills are just not up to par to fix this). This yarn has a very soft, silky feel. My friend Beth urged me to use this yarn for a sweater, saying that she and her daughter both have sweaters knit from something like this, and she loves how they feel. Six skeins ought to be enough to knit something purple-not-blue-you-stupid-camera for Sylvia!

And here's the last set of yarn. They don't all go together (well, a couple of them might), but I'm putting them in one group photo anyway. I don't have definite plans for any of this yet. (Suggestions, anyone?) I may end up purchasing some yarn to accompany some of these skeins.


As you can see, I came home with a lot of yarn. (And this isn't all of it: I also have some acrylic, which will be used for the afghan, and five balls of Patons Pearl Twist acrylic/nylon thread, which Pat gave me to pass on to my husband, Jan, who has taken up crochet.) There were about ten women at the meeting tonight, and everyone took home lots of yarn...and still, there was a ton of it left.

Alien invasion

Judging by the rapidly increasing number of UFOs in my knitting corner, I'm half expecting to see a bunch of grays strolling through my neighborhood.

I haven't redone the too-small sleeves for the brown cardigan in baby cashmerino. I haven't finished my version of the Beatles sweater. I haven't repositioned the side tabs on the Anouk pinafore. I haven't finished the sleeves for the cardigan I'm making to go with the Anouk pinafore. And I haven't knit the companion for the lonely little sock I made in March. What I have done is start another project: this time it's a wrap. Here's a picture of the front...

...and here is the back. After months of doing sweaters and socks (okay, okay--one sock), I decided I wanted a project that didn't require me to look at a pattern constantly or to keep track of rows and increases and decreases and whatnot. Sometime I could do while sitting around chatting with friends or watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In short I wanted something that didn't require my undivided attention. I thought about doing a scarf (it's been a long time since I last visited scarf territory) but settled on this wrap, which has a very simple, easy-to-memorize pattern. There are lots of yarn overs...which is why there are lots of holes...which is why I'll have to block and shape the thing when it's done. I'm using a worsted-weight Andean wool in a lovely green. The best part about a pattern like this is not having to worry about gauge. And the second-best part about a pattern like this is being able to bind off and end the piece anywhere I like (since it's just a long rectangle), so there's no stress about having the "right" amount of yarn. Hooray!

My great SP8

Today's mail brought a huge envelope from my SP8! I opened it up to discover a treasure trove of goodies! She explained in the accompanying note that she decided to send everything all at once and the two wrapped packages ("New technique" and "New skill") are not to be opened yet. I can open one in July and one in August. I hope the curiosity doesn't drive me nuts!

She sent one pattern for a child's sweater, which I think Sylvia might enjoy wearing (especially if I can find a super-fuzzy yarn for it!), and one pattern book. The book has some very nice designs in it...but although there are detailed schematics (with measurements and whatnot) for each one, all of the text instructions are in Chinese...which I don't know how to read, unfortunately.




I think I will take the book to the next knitters' group meeting to get their advice. I don't think any of the other members can read Chinese (if they can, that would be great!), but they are all so experienced and knowledgeable about knitting that I bet they could look at the photos and the schematics and figure out the directions. And if that doesn't work, I can always ask my mom to translate the instructions for me the next time my parents come out here to visit (or when we go to Illinois to see them).

Also included was a pair of round drop earrings made of a beautiful brown stone (the photos I took didn't turn out well, so use your imagination). And, not surprisingly, there was some yarn! My SP8 says these three small balls of brown yarn are chenille. I've never knit with chenille before, but these have a wonderful feel to them, and I'm looking forward to taking them for a spin on the needles. She suggested using them for a hat for Sylvia, and I may do just that!

And there was a skein of a wool yarn unlike anything I've ever seen before. It's in a beautiful brown color, with tones of green and purple. (My SP8 chose great yarn colors for me--right in my favorite palette of earth tones.) It looks like the yarn is actually a braid of sorts. Very interesting! I'm not sure what to do with this yarn. I want to knit something that will actually show off the braiding in it. Any suggestions?

Everything came stuffed into this fabulous green bag, which, as you can see here, Sylvia also thought was fabulous. If there had been an SP8 questionnaire item that asked, "Are you a sucker for tote bags?" I would have answered with a resounding "Yes!" Some people have a thing for shoes, and some people have a thing for purses. Me, I like tote bags. This one is not too big and not too small: it's the perfect size for storing and carrying my current project.

My SP8 kept Sylvia in mind while putting all of this together, even to the point of including some adorable goodies just for her: a top and two dresses. I wonder if this makes Sylvia the youngest sort-of-participant in SP8... Hmmmmm!



Thanks, SP8, for an awesome package! I am really looking forward to opening the rest of it as the summer progresses!

Inspiration from Oz

Today I received an amazing birthday package from my dear friend Valerye. She and I became pen pals (the pen-and-paper type--not e-mail pals) in the spring of 1993, when I was living in the Midwest and she was living just outside of Montreal. Over the years, we've written to each other about our boyfriends, our marriages, our jobs, our children, yoga, cooking, photography--pretty much anything and everything. We've managed to keep in touch while I moved between Illinois, Oregon, and Pennsylvia, and while she went to Australia to be an au pair for a year and then decided to live there for good. (Yes, there was True Love involved there.) Here's the kicker: we've never met. We did talk on the phone once (right before she left Canada to move to Australia), and there are times--like now--when most of our correspondence is through e-mail (we both have one-year-olds, and sometimes it's really difficult to find the time to handwrite a letter), but the bulk of our writing has been on good old-fashioned paper. I have a big box of letters and cards and photographs I've received from her, and I imagine that one day--maybe when we're both old and gray--we'll finally meet and sit down to go through this shared material history together. That will be a trip.

But one thing that's not going in that box is an amazing book she just sent me. It's a book of patterns by an Australian handknit designer named Jo Sharp. I've never heard of her before, but after browsing the book and her website, she strikes me as a sort of Australian version of Debbie Bliss. Sharp even has her own yarn, too.

The book is called Village, and it's "book number six" in Jo Sharp's series of hand-knitting collections. She's used some beautiful yarns in there; I haven't seen them in any of the stores I've visited, but they are available online (isn't everything?), so maybe one day I'll try some. First, though, I have to decide which of the many terrific projects in this book I am going to tackle first!

Annoyed at the post office

Usually, I'm a big fan of the U.S. Postal Service. Seriously. I mean, think about it: it delivers millions of pieces of mail pretty quickly and at low prices. (Try sending mail in Europe or Canada, and you'll see what I mean about the prices.) Sure, once in a blue moon something shows up in my mailbox in one of those "sorry we destroyed this in transit" plastic bags, but for the most part the USPS's record is good in my book. Today, however, I had one of those experiences that made me think "Good grief."

I went to my local post office to mail a package to my secret pal. I decided not to go with the Dutch yarn, which really isn't anything special except for the fact that it says "Holland" on the tag. It's not even an interesting color--just a very plain brown. (The shop where I bought it had a very limited selection.) Instead I sent some typical Dutch sweets, because she mentioned in her SP8 questionnaire that she loves candy. The summer swelter is nigh upon us here in the Mid-Atlantic, so I couldn't send her any Dutch choclate or anything else that might melt. Therefore she's getting hopjes (coffee candies--positively delicious!) and salt licorice. Yup, the Dutch are nutso for black licorice with salt on it. (They even make super-mega-salty varieties. *shudder*) We'll see if my secret pal goes nutso for it as well. Not everyone likes licorice, though--and I suspect even fewer people like salt licorice--so if she hates it, I won't be too offended. But at least she'll get to try something she's probably never had (or heard of) before.

So I get to the post office with my spiffily wrapped package with "SP8" as the return address. The dour postal clerk informs me that a package that weighs more than one pound (as this one did) must have a complete return address. If not, it will probably be opened, searched, and very likely put in a dead-letter file and never reach its destination. I know they are worried that a package might contain a b-o-m-b (just typing that word makes me worried that a slew of NSA agents will swoop down on my house as soon as I publish this post...), but this seemed a bit much, because I was actually handing the package to someone (so my fingerprints are all over it), I was probably being videotaped (do they have cameras in post offices?), and there wasn't one iota of brown-paper-bag wrapping (I used a gold-foil Godiva box, actually). So I reluctantly wrote my address (but not my name) on the box and sent it on its merry way.