Caricia-Finished

 

It took me about a month to complete this, which is a testiment to how much I loved this project.  I can barely finish a pair of socks in less than a month these days.  I was confused at the beginning, but that was due to my lack of experience with triangular shawls.  Once I let Anne be my guide, it was amazingly quick.  I’m not sure what the finished dimensions are (maybe 56 inches from corner to corner?), but I think it’s just the right size for a simple and elegant way to cover the shoulders on a chilly evening.  I found a shawl pin shaped like a wine glass that will be the perfect companion for this. 

I do need to get more blocking mats.  Once again, I didn’t have enough and I really need them.  The area rug that I have pinned the last two projects on just isn’t thick enough for the pins to really stick into.  Add to that issue a couple of cats that can’t resist playing with the pins, and it was a little frustrating.  It dried quickly, so I was able to repin when needed, but the pins would have been much more secure in the blocking mats.

It Wasn’t Meant to Be

Sock Summit, that is.

When I first heard about this, I planned on going.  It’s in Portland, which is an 8 hour drive from me.  That’s far, but it’s closer than any of the other big events.  And, since I do love to knit socks, it seemed perfect.  I planned on driving there on a Wednesday, taking classes, knitting, and shopping until Sunday, and then driving home.  That would require spending four nights in a hotel and money for gas, meals, and yarn, but we’ve been saving, so it was possible.  

Then, as you know, Josh’s hours got cut in half.  I just couldn’t justify spending that much money, even if we had it, when his job wasn’t as stable as we had thought.  I was bummed, but not crushed.  I hadn’t even gotten around to making hotel reservations yet, so I wasn’t really committed.

It turns out that registration was on Monday, starting at 10:00 A.M.  At that time,  I was on a school bus taking part in an all-school field trip.  There was no way I could have registered, even if I was planning on going.  So, no big deal, since I had already made the decision not to go.  The stars were not aligned.

If you haven’t heard, registration for Sock Summit was very ah, problematic, to say the least.  There were 4000 spots open for classes, and the server got 30,000 hits.  I’m no math whiz, but even I know that’s not a good thing.  Chances are, even if I were able to be in front of a computer, I wouldn’t have gotten the classes I wanted, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to register at all.  Many people were turned away, as you can imagine.  I might have managed to spend 15 minutes trying to register, but, given my job, there’s no way I could have spent more time than that until much later in the day.

I felt okay about not going before, but it seems to me that it probably just wasn’t meant to be for me.  I’m going to see if there is a class at the not-so-local yarn shop going on this summer that looks interesting.  That’ll be enough for me, for now.

The first time’s a charm

I swatched for the Banded Peasant Blouse today.  I did my guage swatch, and then did a swatch of the fair isle bands.  I had a couple of color options and I wanted to see what they looked like before I committed myself.

And, I’ve never done any kind of color work before.  Ever.

 

I’m pretty happy with my results.  I chose to go with colors on the top, since the main body is going to be the light tan color that is pictured on the left.  The bands are at the neckline and on the sleeves, and I think the top configuration will stand out better.  The knitting looks nicer on the bottom portion and you get a better idea of the general motif, but I think it’s mostly due to the way I pinned the swatch down. 

My floats:

Pretty good, from what I can tell.  The motif is very easy, with only two colors on each row.  When I first learned to knit, I learned English style (held the yarn in my right hand).  It was fine, but I’m left-handed and another knitter I knew was left-handed and showed me Continental.  It’s worked great for me and I would never go back, except when doing colorwork.  I ended up knitting the main color for the row in Continental style, with the contrasting color for the row in English style. 

The overall pattern is pretty simple, but the bands add a nice detail.  It should go fairly quickly once I get past the neckband.  The main body is pretty much stockinette, with a couple of yarnovers and k2tog every once in awhile, which is another nice detail.  I prefer very simple clothing in neutral colors, but I do like elegant details sometimes. 

I can totally see myself wearing the completed sweater while sipping wine on a terrace in Italy.

Spring Socks

 

I’ve been working on these for about a month.  Since I’ve been involved in other knitting, they’ve been slow going.  When I started them, I was craving some bright, spring colors.  These are certainly bright!  The pattern is the Rib Fantastic from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn and the yarn is Michelle’s Pretty Pink Cactus from the Loopy Legends line.  The pattern and the yarn were a pleasure.

 

In addition to my lace work, I’m learning something new:

 

This is my first toe-up sock.  I got Wendy Johnson’s book, Socks from the Toe Up, about a month ago.  I really like her patterns, but didn’t know how to knit starting with the toe, rather than from the cuff down.  This book really gives great instructions and it’s been easy to follow.  I do like the look of a heel flap, rather than a short-row heel, so I was glad to see that as an option.  This sock is the Slip Stitch Heel Basic Sock pattern, to which I’ve added some k2, p1 ribbing.  The yarn is Trekking XXL in colorway 132.  I’ve had it in my stash for quite a long time and bought it just to try out Trekking.  I probably won’t buy Trekking again.  It’s okay, but the nylon is a little squeaky or something.  If I’m looking for sock yarn that has some nylon in it, there are other yarns that are softer and nicer, in my opinion.  I’m not thrilled about the colors, but it’s fine to use as a learning sock. 

 

I plan on getting the Caricia Shawl done today and hopefully get it blocked.  My next order of business is to swatch for the Banded Peasant Blouse, which I bought Cotlin for.  I would like to take it to Italy, but I’m running short on time, so I need to get going.

Normal

I think that, as a teacher, when a student has a problem, most parents just want to be reassured that it’s a normal thing.  Frankly, most of the things that kids do are normal.  It’s totally normal for fourth grade girls to be overly dramatic and moody.  Come to think about it, it’s also totally normal for tears to fall every day in my classroom by at least one girl in crisis.  The crisis today was, “I’m not understanding this completely new math concept the first time it’s been presented!!!!!” 

I’ve had a bit of a rough year in many ways.  My students have been one cause for stress.  I have ten students.  Seven out of the ten students are girls.  Two years ago I had a class that was about the same size, but only had one girl in the class.  It was a very interesting year and I miss those boys. 

These girls have driven me crazy many, many times.  They all have strong personalities and they are all very dramatic.  There has been a lot of jockeying for attention and power, and even some bullying (not normal, if you’re wondering).  The benefits of a small school far outweight the problems, but there are problems.  If you don’t have a close friend, or if your close friend acts like a jerk, your resources are limited.   

I really will miss these girls.  They have grown so, so much.  I’m not seeing ignoring someone as a way to demonstrate power over them used anymore.  I’m not seeing them exclude each other or refuse to play with each other.  I see them involved in group games and activities and when there is a problem, they try to resolve it and they think about the feelings of others.

I know that this was a very normal year and the girls behaved in normal ways.  They didn’t always behave appropriately, but it was a growing process that they needed to go through.  I’m so proud of them.  They’ve made it through with flying colors.  

More importantly, I’ve made it through. 

 

Check out the Madhouse.

An Ode* to Anne

Anne Hanson, that is.  Best. Lace. Designer. Evah!

The proof is in the pudding:

Cluaranach is done!  My blocking skills leave a lot to be desired, but I think I’ll be able to live with the end result.  It’s the first time that I’ve used the KnitPicks blocking wires and I’m extremely thankful that I had them.  I really doubt it would have ever gotten blocked if I had to pin the straight edges by hand.  I also bought the blocking mats from KnitPicks, but this is way too long for the mats that I have.  It’s about 7 feet long and 19 inches wide.  According to the pattern, the finished size that I made (petite wrap) should be 6 feet long and 21.5 inches wide.  So, I’m a little long, which I knew I would be, and not quite as wide.  I could have blocked it wider, and I will next time. 

 

That is not all.  Oh no, that is not all.

 

This is Caricia.  I started it at the end of April and I’m getting pretty close to done with it.  I love it.  I used Fearless Fibers Merino/Tencel in the Serenity coloway and US size 5 needles.  It’s my first triangular shawl, but I’m making the Boxleaf Triangle Shawl next, for sure. 

If you are the least bit interested in knitting lace, I highly recommend any of Anne’s patterns.  She has adorable little scarf patterns if you aren’t sure about a larger project, not to mention sock patterns, mitt patterns, and hat patterns.  I think she’s also going to come out with some sweater patterns soon, too. 

*Fortunately for everyone, my attempts at creating an actual ode failed miserably.

Time in the Big City

I have spent the last three weekends in the Big City.  This has severely cut into my lazy.  I took the day off today to get caught up.  I wasn’t as lazy as I would have really liked, but I thnk I’ll be okay.

On Saturday, Josh and I spent the night in the Big City and saw Spamalot.  Monty Python isn’t my thing, but I really enjoyed myself.  It’s a great show, with great songs, and not much of a story.  We had a great meal and spent a little money in a bookstore.  LouLa spent the night with Josh’s mom.  I was pretty sure she would call at the last minute and say she couldn’t do it (she’s done that in the past), but it all worked out.  We also got a ton of flowers and yard stuff, so when we got home on Sunday we worked outside. 

Last weekend I traveled to the same Big City with a friend and ran/walked a 12K.  It was actually fun.  Last I head, about 45,000 people participated in it and they had bands playing music all along the way. 

The weekend before that, we met my dad & Co. in the Big City.  We had some great meals and it was nice to see everyone.

No more traveling for us until July.  Next weekend we’ll get the garden together.  I have my flower beds ready, but I’m holding out planting for another week.  The threat of frost is still pretty real, so I’m trying to hold out.  I’ll also get a picture of my newest knitting project.  It’s lovely and it’s been my obsession lately.