just another raveller

Our long greyness has begun. We only see the sun for a few minutes in the morning before it disappears behind the cloud. As the sun came up the other day I was thinking about a mitten I would call "Rochester Sunrise." It would be all grey and soft like a cloud, except for the wrist which would be shades of yellow crescents soon to disappear inside the cuffs of the wearer's jacket. Here is what we saw on our drive to Ottawa over the weekend. I love the part of New York state north of Syracuse, along Black Lake. It's depressed but moody and beautiful. This is a picture of the only piece of knitting I have finished in the past month, apart from a little scarf. These are my sister's xmas socks but I gave them to her early. The yarn is  Nashua Handknits Best Foot Forward. And here's what I'm excited about now. This is a swatch in the Fleurette Stitch from Walker's 4th Treasury. Some of you may remember that I made a litt...

I am in awe of my yarn even though it's really not that great. I recently received and put together 3 IKEA  cabinets to hold it all. They are very tall and full of yarn and knitting books. They have glass doors on top and a series of drawers below, made from soft Spruce wood stained a pale gray brown. Two of the big drawers have fabric in them. The rest holds about 80% of my stash. It's all organized. It's all beautiful: lace weight here, sock yarn there. I can stand and gaze at it or just paw through it.  Terrible, just terrible. When it was stashed away in places where it probably shouldn't have been, I had to use my imagination. I would stealthily get it out and peer at it under poor lighting conditions. Maybe I would put it away again or maybe I'd get to work with it and make something wonderful. I would lie in bed at night and make plans. Now it looks at me face on. Pick me! Pick me! I retreat in horror to knit on a sock. I am unaccustomed to this op...

Sitting on a rocking chair in the Philadelphia airport, I'm knitting a pair of socks and observing the passing feet...I see a preponderance of what we used to call running shoes...slip ons for middle aged women, ballet flats and Uggs for the younger ones. A certain number of short leather boots are worn by women too, a few wear mid calf level boots. A little kid just called out "hello..." An older man shuffles by in carpet slippers. Black leather shoes seem mostly to be worn by people who are working, but hey, that's what I'm wearing, too on my way home from a conference....

Sunday morning.  Up here by Lake Ontario it is balmy 40 F (4 C) this sunny Sunday morning. The 50 year snow storm which hit the Atlantic coast missed us entirely. We had only a little frost on the ground and plants these past few mornings.   I have admitted Vitamin D into my wardrobe even though I think I'd look better in it if I lost 5 or 10 pounds. I got compliments on it at knit night on Thursday and at work on Friday. I will not post the side view. In any case, it's tremendously comfortable, soft and light feeling. You could easily amend the pattern to leave out the short rows and just knit it as a normal top down cardigan to whatever length you like. Note to self: keep on trying to buy trousers that fit properly.  Thanks for the comments on pattern choice. I am leaning toward modifying Celtic Dreams and knitting as a cardigan. It would be easy to do by leaving out the centre cable, lovely as it is, and maybe adding a couple more nar...

The Vitamin D is more or less dry. I tried it on. It fits but I don't think it's very flattering, but I'll give it a chance. I'm letting it hang on a hanger over night and I'll try it on again tomorrow over all black. I may have to find a new owner for it. Here's what I'm thinking of embarking on next, sweater-wise. Please do tell me if you think I'm on thin ice. The Longmeadow Farm yarn is aran weight and is enough to knit Beth Brown Reinsel's Celtic Dreams , which I think is beautiful. I'd want to make it into a cardigan though. OR, should I knit Nora Gaughan's Tweedy Aran , which has been on my radar for much longer?  The Celtic Dreams pattern sits before me, crisp and ready, while the Tweedy Aran lurks somewhere in a pile... I think I need to take a break and knit a shawlette!

Here she is drying. I feel hopeful, but still a bit nervous.  I'll just go straighten out that curve on the right front edging...and the one on the left hand side seam....

Vitamin D is now soaking. I just had it on. It could go either way. Very comfy though. I did the garter stitch rows to finish, not the i-cord as Aniko did . Then the instructions said to cast off loosely so I did that. Maybe too loosely. Before blocking, it was longer than I expected plus the bottom edges were all curled up and splayed.  I tightened up when I cast off the fronts and neck and that part is fine. I can always re-do the bottom cast off, but I'll take the iron to it first if need be. Wah!