Pischi Days

Merry Month of May, I Hope...

All in the merry month of May,
When green buds they were swellin',
Young Jemmy Grove on his deathbed lay,
For the love of Barbara Allen.

Enjoy this little snippet from a favorite movie, "Songcatcher".

It has already been a whirlwind Month' O' May. To begin, May 1st was not only "Tag der Arbeit", but the beginning of my 50th year on the planet. OY. Thanks to my wonderful friends and my kind husband for the lovely surprise party. In lieu of gifts all the food items, 10 bags full, were donated to our local North Brevard Charities. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I received a very special present from my aunt in Germany, a lovely Morgan silver dollar minted in 1884. I love that it has been passed down through the family. I feel you're with me when I hold you in my hand. 
Thank you Krista for the fabulous stiletto needles and the Noro. Where have you been all my life! You, dangerB, not the Noro...
My May 1st Thursday started out with knitting on the group, upstairs in the bakery. Susan, my friend and knitting ingenue, was having another tiresome tumour removed from her lung so we filled her spot with the lads from the flight school. They became tiresome and begged for cashmere and complained when we wouldn't share provisional cast on techniques. Come back Susan, they're not staying!
My month was further enhanced with a last minute trip to ever lovely Alabama and a trip through the Wellborn Forest plant. I processed much information on kitchen design, rift cut oak, as well as drink mixology prior to 10 AM. Some of us had the good fortune of flying back home in the corporate plane . Nutkins took a ride too. This method of travel superseded the six-hour car ride there.
I was hardly unpacked when Lisa whisked me to New Smyrna Beach and our favourite fish camp for real crab cakes, boiled shrimp, and pinot noir. Naughty Nutkin is stealing the lime light. We watched the dolphins play and the sun set before we headed back down US1 south in the old lime green del Sol, topless of course (the car, not us).
For the last surprise, a present to myself arrived, a new swift and woolly winder.
The only shadow on my reverie is the sale of our little shop to new owners. Nancy and our canine companions will be sorely missed. I am treading water and trying to conform into new environs and culture. The next 50 years will be telling...

One Eye Sees, the Other Feels...

Everything vanishes around me, and works are born as if out of the void. Ripe, graphic fruits fall off. My hand has become the obedient instrument of a remote will.
Paul Klee
 

I am in a titch of a knitting funk and so am succumbing to the malaise by knitting in glorious cashmere Technicolor. I can't seem to knit those damn socks with much joy these days and so I switched needles and cast on for the decadent, yet understated Klee Scarf from the workshop of A.L. de Sauveterre. The kit was an impulsive splurge, a whim, after reading a thread on Ravelry.  When I found the site, I was captivated by the simplicity of the project and the delusion that if I knit this scarf and wrapped it around my neck, I would suddenly become blond, svelte, and winsome...and fluent in French. Leave me my dreams, please.

 
Instead, I am knitting and knitting row upon row of K3, P3 in beautiful blocks of colour. Now and then I intersperse a block of jet black into the mix. I knit and read. I knit and listen to "The Cat Who..." I knit in bed, I knit outside. I am knitting out my daemon.

Footnote:
Remember this year, on Thursday, May 1, 2008, to please take a few moments to learn, discover, and remember the Holocaust. I will be lighting a candle in memory of my father who was liberated from Bergen Belsen April 16, 1945. He began his journey through the camps in 1936 and spent 9 years in Buchenwald and Flossenburg. He wore a red triangle.

A Tale of Tulip and One Nutkin

I have not mastered the art of the sweater. There are two on the needles that I have yet to complete. The two that I knit since my entry into the knit blogosphere, they hang unworn in my closet. Still, I dream of the perfect sweater that I know exists to fulfill my knitting destiny.
Now socks; on the other hand, or should I say foot, has been a relatively " aus der Hand" (out of hand) pursuit. I rarely had difficulty with pattern, execution, or fit. I wasn't always thrilled with my colour choices but that aside, sock knitting has been pleasurable...until lately. 
It started a pair of socks in the past. Pomatomus took months to finish. Sock one, no problem; sock two had me rip out three times. The heel and needle size were my problem areas.
The saga continues with Achilles' heels on Nutkin and Tulip, respectively. Both sock patterns are written with short row heel instructions. Both socks use a different method. With Nutkin the number of stitches decrease with the yarn over, knit or purl to result in pairs of stitches that are later knit together with the live stitches to result in a heel cup. Tulip is much simpler, leaving on stitch on the needles as on decreases and then picking up those stitches below to result in a heel cup. Sounds simple, right. Well, it is if you don't mind holes in the gussets. This was something unexpected and unwanted. I  knit short row heels two other times, the Sixth Sense socks and Hippy Crunchy with different techniques that resulted in pleasing gusset turns and no holes.
Nutkin had me so flummoxed and I just threw up my needles and knit a heel flap. With Tulip I persevered and have an eyelet gusset that resembles the picture. I also would like to perfect the "jogless jog". I will try this on the second sock.
So, there you have it. Hopefully three pair of challenging socks will be the end of my Achilles' heels.
Next up, further destashing from the sock basket. I still have the 2007 series of the Rockin' Sock Club waiting to be cast on. According to my stash on Ravelry, I have 30 further opportunities to finally master the short row heels.
A quick  "footnote", here is the Wee Tiny Sock that was my prezzie, all the way from Lake City, Florida. Thanks to Knitting Gnome who also knit the sock from Lornas' Laces scraps, just like I did. Great sock knitting stashes yield great leftovers.

Animus Pomatomus

The danger of starting a sock in December and then putting off the second sock until months later the confusion that accompanies folly.
I have long admired the clever design that is Pomatomus. Thousand have knit this pattern since it first appeared in Knitty Winter 2005. That was also the issue that contained the famous Mrs. Beetons, Thuja, Tempting II, and Danica.
But I digress, this is about my adventures in Pomatomatry. With knitting up my stash at the forefront, I pulled out some of my older sock yarn, two skeins of Cherry Tree Hill. The blue skein was made up of such vibrant blues, green, and purples that they were destined to become a pair of socks named after a Blue Fish. Sock one went swimmingly and I was surprised that I finished in a little over a week. The holidays got in the way and I started some other projects, fully intending to cast on the mate. When I did, disaster came in may forms. I bungled the heel turn several times. When I finally got it right I put the socks side by side and realized the  unfinished one was smaller. I revisited page 2 of the pattern only to realize that, in my haste, I grabbed the wrong size needles. The socks were to be knit on a size 2, not a size 1!  I unravelled, yet again. At least I can speak up for the fortitude that the sock yarn had shown up to this point. I cast on with my old dusty, trusty DPN's and knit like a fiend.
Here are the results. I think they are the finest pair of socks that I have made to date. I love the clever pattern and the colours in the photos don't do the socks justice. 

So what do i have on my needles now?
I'm working on Nutkin, the second of the Cherry Tree Hill skein bought so many years ago from Seattle's Little Knits. This is also a sock fraught with disaster, this time involving the trails and tribulations of the short row heel. The heel had so many holes in the gusset that I had to correct to problem. Again, many hours of knitting and reknitting until I decided to let go of the intended heel and just knit a simple heel flap. I am knitting the gusset and plan on an early April finish.
I have more knitting to share, in the form of two delicious knits, one of which arrived in the mail last week. The other one is still at large. This will have to wait for another post.
To cap off the week, Yarn Miracle is hosting the Wee Tiny Sock Swap. I couldn't resist. I am knitting up my little sock as we speak and sending it, Monday, to my swap partner on the Pacific Coast. Never mind, done.
Here is my completed Wee Tiny Sock...

Easter Greetings...Frohe Ostern

"March is the month of expectation,
The things we do not know,
The Persons of Prognostication
Are coming now.
We try to sham becoming firmness,
But pompous joy
Betrays us, as his first betrothal
Betrays a boy."
-   Emily Dickinson, XLVIII

Spring Fever

While the snow and sleet has been nonstop in the northern climes, spring has arrived in our back yard. My little Anthropologie knitter is peeking out the window to admire the azaleas that are just beginning to open. Our bushes are now at their peak and will soon start to shed their spent blooms.

The citrus is slowly starting to bloom. I can catch the scent of orange and grapefruit blossoms in the air at night. We still have an abundance of grapefruit hanging from the tree.
I spent most of my afternoon on the back patio watching the urban wildlife (squirrels and assorted birds) frolic in the bushes. The weather has been grand. In the midst of all this spring fever I had to cast on something new.

The Tulip Sock and the accompanying balls of Knit Picks Palette have been in my stash for two years. I bought the yarn because I thought the socks were so pretty. I have almost destashed the yarn and pattern a couple of times because I thought that a fair isle sock was too much work. It's not really. I cast on and frogged a portion (damned error in the pattern) and reknit. Here's what I managed to accomplish. All this in between baskets of ironing and sorting through my tax paperwork. Not bad at all. I love to change colors and watch the pattern emerge and I have not knit anything fair isle since the Red Light Special.
I didn't need to start another thing. I still have Pomotamus and Nutkin on the needles, not to mention a couple of sweaters that I'm too ashamed to even bring up in this post. But thats what spring weather will do. Bury the old and bring on the new!

The Easter Grass IS Greener...

Aside from all the knitting blogs, I dearly love to indulge in the many design blogs out there. My favorites include How About Orange, swissmiss, Cool Hunting, core-77, and pan-dan, just to name a few.
Clicking on any of these leads to worlds of wonder and creativity that makes my head spin and gives me a daily dose of inspiration.

Recently, I noticed a simple white ceramic ring planted with prairie grass. The planter sold for $150.00. Wow, I remembered that I had a set of Crate and Barrel ceramic pieces that I have never used to serve anything. Perfect for my planter. I always wanted to have an Easter basket planted with real grass. This is just the ticket to satisfy that childish urge.
I secured two pounds of rye grass seed, courtesy of my neighbor, a bag of vermiculite, a plant mister, and some empty egg shells to start with.

First, I tried planting egg shells to great success. Here are they are in an old German Easter egg holder.
I've started the seed in the white ceramic and they've already germinated. I hope to have several small tabletop lawns by next week. Please, try this at home for some instant gratification.
Added bonus, the cats love it! Now to go and trim the grass...

Icarus, Ἴκαρος, Íkaros

I started the Icarus Shawl to show solidarity for my friend Bonnie, who has taken up the needles with full force.
For those who have followed my adventures, she and I traveled north to SAFF last October. In the midst of all the yarn surrounding us, she was smitten with an Icarus shawl knit in a fingering weight merino in the Knitting Notions booth.  The yarn and the pattern were quickly purchased. She convinced four of our Thursday morning knitting group to kit along. I groaned and complained. There was no lace weight in my stash and I didn’t want to buy any yarn since taking a vow of yarn abstinence. Not wanting to be left out, I traded two skeins of Spunky Eclectic sock yarn for eight skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud and Shimmer in various colors.
I chose the Alpaca Cloud Tidal Pool and cast on. After a few false starts and recoveries, I was off and knitting. Those cute  dangling stitch markers were quickly replaced with boring plastic rings. The lace weight tangles too frequently. 
I first heard about the Icarus and MimKnits on Knitty D and the City podcast. I never thought that I would knit lace, especially a shawl. The pattern can be found in the Interweave book ,Our Favorite Designs From First Ten Years. As books go, I could knit my way through every pattern.

Here is the result. It is truly a wonder how lace transforms from a spongy clump until washed and pulled into shape. I blocked this morning using the puzzle piece mats that lay in front of my washer. This is a perfect blocking board. Thanks, Julie, for giving me the idea. Koko is very helpful. Here she is pulling out the pins after the shawl has dried.

So, here is the final finish. I am pleased with my efforts. The shawl will be a donation to a silent auction for a local educational foundation that pays for private school scholarships. I can only hope that it fetches a high price and gives a young person the wings to fly high, but hopefully not too close to the sun.

It's the Small Things

For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese [choose] his make [mate].
-Chaucer

My earliest Valentine's Day recollections were decorating a Kleenex box with red construction paper and doilies. These were then placed in the classroom and used as letter boxes for the pending onslaught of Valentine cards. This took place in the 60's when teachers did not mandate a Valentine for each and every child. As you may well guess, the boxes became drops for popularity ballots aka Valentines.

The little hearts above have bred into a large bowlful of Valentines Day softies. The pattern is very simple and quick to knit and can be found here. I use size 4 dpn's and a skein of Classic Elite Sky Tweed. These were felted prior to sewing them up.

I hope you all are showered with hearts, hugs, chocolates, and roses. I was bowled over by my basket of miniature roses that arrived per post at my work place. This morning I was greeted with a valentines vignette of chocolate on the side board. The sender sped south to Miami this morning to bask in boats and sunshine.

Thank you dear, I love you too!

Lent It Be

Today, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. For some, a time for a bit of soul searching, repentance, and taking stock.

My personal objective for the season is to reinforce my goal of yarn abstention and continue to knit from the stash. Consume less, knit more is my motto...40 days isn't that long, is it?

On that note, here is an article that was published in Philadelphia Weekly not too long ago. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Here is the follow up article. Knitzkrieg indeed. Hold on to your needles and enjoy.

You'd better hide, Mr. Wells.