Knitterguy

Prairie Scarf - Finished

Earlier this year I fished a hat out of the front hall closet. I couldn’t remember when I’d made it --maybe 2004?-- and as much as I liked the hat I didn’t wear it. So I ripped, skeined and washed the yarn. I figured I could use it for something.

The yarn was spun by me, but I have only a vague recollection of buying the fiber and no idea when I spun it.  The fibre was commercial top, a blend of merino and alpaca, possibly a now-discontinued product from Ashland Bay.  As far as I can figure, it was brown merino with multi-colours of alpaca running the length of the top. The yarn was in short-ish lengths which varied in colour, so I expect I stripped the top lengthwise, spindle spun and plied the spindle-ful of singles into a 2-ply yarn. The hat had been worked with the yarn held doubled, which blended the colour variations. I didn’t even recognize the colour variations until I was well into working the scarf.

When I was going to NYC in May, inspired by the Helix Scarf in Spin-Off magazine, I cast-on Lucy Neatby’s “Sea Lettuce Scarf”.  After a couple of inches, I decided I disliked the feel of the fabric. The garter stitch fabric was heavy and felt clumsy. The project sat on a table in the living room.

Back in September when my back fell apart and I was laying in bed all weekend every weekend wondering if I would get to San Francisco, I decided to cast-on a knitting project for the trip. I mean, if I were to have a project ready to go for the trip, surely I’d be going, right? (Positive thinking and all that.) The book “All New Homespun Handknit” (Interweave Press, 2009) was within reach on the floor beside the bed and, flipping through, I considered the pattern for the Prairie Scarf by Nancy Bush, made from Judith McKenzie-McCuin's handspun bison yarn and using traditional Estonian lace patterns. On a trip to the kitchen for tea I saw the abandoned Sea Lettuce Scarf...a few things added up in my mind. I worked a small sample, liked what I felt in my hands and cast on for the scarf.

Well, almost. I read the instructions through and wondered if there’d be an easier way.  Nancy has you cast-on provisionally, work 3 ridges garter stitch (adding a 4th ridge when you take out the provisional cast-on edge) and then you work a couple of lace charts, finishing with an edging chart. You take out the provisional cast-on and add a fourth garter ridge and then work the edging. That’ll work, I’m sure. But I was concerned I might not have enough yarn, so I did the provisional cast-on and worked the second edging first, then took out the provisional cast-on and worked the scarf to finish. Turned out I had ample yarn, so I added a couple of extra pattern repeats and still have some yarn remaining. Here's a picture of it just started. (Lace in progress is glamourous in an ugly duckling kind of way.)

Estonian lace patterns are marvellous. Many --including the main pattern here-- are simple to work as there is a wonderfully clear, obvious logic in their design. Once you know what to look for in the fabric --and it’s pretty evident-- you can throw away your copy of the chart. Very easy to have the piece as something you can carry around to work on whenever you have a few moments. (Thanks to WonderMike for the image.)

Two small technical points. First is that I substituted “SSSK” for “slip 1, k2tog, psso” as a mirror to the “K3tog” decrease, since ““slip 1, k2tog, psso” doesn’t truly mirror “K3tog”. (Try it and see.)

Second is that I don’t slip the first stitch of all rows, as the pattern will have you do and is traditional in Estonian lace knitting. While it gives a very sharp, clean selvedge edge, it usually results in a shortening of the second-from-end stitch on alternate rows, which distorts the edge. If you think about this, you can see why. The edge stitch has to be long enough to span 2 rows -- and 2 very long rows when you consider that the piece will be stretched in blocking. Unless you take that into consideration and make the stitch extra long, it’s going to get the needed length of yarn from the stitch beside it. (When I saw the display of Estonian lace at Lacis in Berkeley during my trip, I looked very closely at the pieces to see if the Master Knitters of Estonia had this distortion in their work...and they do. I felt quite chuffed about this, actually. Here I am, just a lil ole nobody knitter in Canada, and the Master Knitters of Estonia’s work show the same technical issues that my work does. Then considered that maybe I shouldn’t be setting myself up as a Master Knitter based on a technical problem, and then also considered that maybe the Master Knitters of Estonia don’t find anything wrong with the selvedge distortion. Maybe they don’t even consider it a distortion, but just how the selvedge is.)

You can see the horizontal striping caused by the different colours of the yarn. Some people might not like that, but I do. Not sure why. The reason is not about looks; there’s something more philosophical about using beginner yarn. I really wish I could feel the original model, because I expect Judith McKenzie-McCuin’s handspun bison yarn is amazing, and would feel and perform very differently in the finished scarf than my merino/alpaca yarn does.

I have mixed feeling about the edgings. The body of the scarf is stocking stitch fabric; the ends are garter stitch. Garter stitch is a thicker, heavier fabric than stocking stitch, so, to me, the ends somehow feel out-of-place on this piece. On the other hand, their weight may help the scarf hang properly. I think that if I make this design again --a definite possibility-- I’ll work the edging in stocking stitch based fabric, ending with maybe 3 ridges garter stitch.

All in all, I think it turned out okay. The pattern is not difficult to follow; a knitter with some experience working basic lace should have no problems with it.

In Other News

There isn't any. See you later.

Um...September?

So where did that month go? Oh, I remember: it was swallowed up by work. (And then my low back fell apart, which was not pretty.)

Except for the last week of September, when I hobbled off to San Francisco. There are only a few pictures, because I am not good at remembering to take pictures, and my camera is doing this thing where it produces pictures that look like this.

Anybody know what’s happening? Is it time for a new camera?

The trip was great. I love San Francisco. I don’t know why. If it was in Canada, I’d move there. (See, I read stories like this about health care in the USA, and I get worried.) The trip came together at the last moment. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get away from the office, and then the low back thing hit and, as I said, that wasn’t pretty. Then it was hard to find a hotel room, as this was busy season. It finally all came together, with my only concerns being a) whether I could get a hotel room for the last night of my stay, and b) whether I’d be mobile enough to do anything other than lay in a hotel bed and eat pastries and sandwiches from Tartine. (Things could be worse than that.)

But on the appointed day, I hobbled through the airport at 5amEST and arrived at my hotel in San Francisco around 1pmEST or 10amPST (San Francisco time).  My hotel wasn’t ready for me, but they held my luggage while I hobbled around the neighbourhood. I knew that Tartine was kinda within walking distance and that there was a yarn store there somewhere, but I couldn’t find either. I didn’t have a map, was in pain, and sleep deprived. (I’d been awake since 8:30am the previous day.) Found a Starbucks with free-WIFI and using the iPad I charted my route to Tartine, where I had excellent bread pudding and a Morning Bun. Then back to the hotel; checked in, went to bed around 2pm San Francisco time, and slept to 6am next morning.

The hotel I was at for the first few days of the trip is The Willows, and I recommend it highly. My room was small, but everything I needed. There was a small fridge and a sink in the room, with shower and WC a couple of doors down the hall. The staff are great: friendly, knowledgable and helpful. Continental breakfast was fine, and Happy Hour was pleasant. The Willows draws an international clientele: during my stay other guests were from Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Brazil, Qua’tar and Germany. The owner explained that the building had originally been build as a storefront property on the ground floor with the upper 2 stories as boarding house; they are now the hotel. This tells you that, yes, there are a few stairs. (And it’s easy to miss the door for The Willows on the street; I walked past it a couple of times.) The hotel is a few steps from the above- and under-ground transit lines. (At some point I mentioned that my birthday was during my stay. Came home one day to find a birthday card from the staff and a single-serving of carrot cake from the neighbourhood bakery in the fridge.)

Partway during my stay, I moved down to the Hotel Whitcombe, also right on the transit system. This is a big hotel, and a totally different experience to the Willows. It was completely fine, and I’d stay there again. (Though I’d stay at The Willows first, preferring the intimacy of the experience and the neighbourhood.)

And despite having problems walking (and standing and sitting), I had a great time. There were some things I’d hoped to do that didn’t happen, but Serendipity worked some magic and unexpected things happened. I am so lucky to have wonderful friends in the Bay Area and we had fun together. WonderMike had supper with me early in the trip, and then spent the entire Saturday with me in Berkeley, stopping at A Verb For Keeping Warm, Lacis, and a visit with Nancy at Machine Knitting to Dye For. Andy chauffeured me to south San Francisco for some shopping, and then we toured part of the city which really helped me get a sense of here things are. Kyle and I hung out one evening, with a trip to the waterfront, then up to the GLBT Museum, and a stop in a diner for a lace knitting lesson. Bill took me to the yarn shop I couldn’t find my first day there, and then we went fabric shopping and then he sewed that into a light kimono-style robe for me. (Useful when travelling, staying in B&Bs and you need something to slip into for padding down the hall to the shower.)

Weather was lovely. Early in the trip I was sweating heavily, and chalked this up to being in pain and difficulties walking. Apparently, though, it was unseasonably hot and humid during those days. (I think it was about 85 degrees, which is considered hot.) No rain whileI was there. Near the end of my last day, there were some delciously cool breezes. (Locals complained that it was cold.)

Some photos.

Imagiknit, just down the street from Tartine. Great yarn store, nice selection of yarn. They didn’t even blink when Bill and I walked in, but then I guess they’re used to guy-knitters there. (Unbelievably, I didn't get a picture of Tartine.)

A hedge at a house. On the left is lavender, and the plants are about 3anahalf feet tall. (Not sure what is on the right.)

Thorough Bread Bakery, just down the street from The Willows. Excellent sandwiches.

SightGlass Coffee, where I had The Best Cup of Coffee I Have Ever Tasted. I couldn’t believe that coffee could possibly taste so good.

Andy and Stephen at SightGlass.

A Verb For Keeping Warm, where Kristine dyes yarn and fibre using natural dyes. (Natural dyes, for those of you who don’t know, means the chemicals that colour the yarn come from plant or animal sources, rather than being synthesized in the lab.) The yarns are gorgeous. I don’t know if it’s just my eyes, but there seems to be a gentleness about the colours that I don’t see in synthetic dyes, which somehow seem harsher. (First picture: nope, not looking through a beaded curtain. That's my camera doing strange things.)

As I said, Serendipity played her hand. I was in San Francisco for the Castro Street Fair. Andy and his partner Mike, and Kyle and I wandered the street. First pic is looking south down Castro Street, from the intersection of Castro and Market. Second pic is looking north from approximately the intersection of Castro and 19th. Third pic is about the same location; that’s Andy in the white shirt and black kilt.

Thank you to all my wonderful friends for companionship, conversation, and laughter. Auf Wiedersehn, San Francisco.

In Other News

Well, I’m now back. Life is as it is. Work is brutal. My back is okay, but not well. I have little time or headspace or energy to knit, spin, bake, think, plan.

Fall is setting in. Here’s a picture of the view from my balcony. (Click to enlarge.)

July Redux

At least, I think it's a redux. Maybe "redux" is the wrong word. Here, in point form, are thoughts about the month that was. Parts of it could be "The Year That Was", as you'll see.

• My Dad died on July 11th after a very sharp and rapid deterioration of his health. On August 7th 2010, Dad moved into the lodge ajoining the apartment building Mom and Dad had moved into a few years earlier, as his health and mind had been deteriorating and it wasn't safe for him or Mom for him to be in the apartment. His health had continued to deteriorate and it became clear that he needed a higher level of care than could be provided in the lodge, so the the next move up in care was to "long-term care" or the nursing home. Dad had always said he never wanted to go into a nursing home, and when he and Mom recently discussed it he said "Well, I guess this is the end of the line." Had he made it to September, they'd have been married 69 years. Mom is doing as well as can be expected.

• Naturally, this happened in one of the busiest months of the year for us at work when, coincidentally, the brand-new phone system crashed and could not get running reliably for 4 weeks; the airconditioning stalled out during the hottest week of the month in an office building with no windows that can be opened; the internet went down for a week, and; the writing of a report went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. On July 27th 2010, I was relocated to another office within the company requiring a 1 hour drive each way to work (in good weather: winter is another story), and a new business model and a new operations model. It's been an interesting time (as the Chinese curse goes), with a few too many 60 hour weeks and crying myself to sleep at night. On the other hand, the alternative of "no job" is no good either.

• I finished knitting the Alligator Scarf, a nice kit from Morehouse Farms. Great concept, solid instructions. There was enough yarn supplied that I added extra length. Lotsa fun.

• I finished spinning the merino top that I started at the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat.  Actually, I finished it this weekend past, so I really finished it in August. Dye-job is by Fleece Artist in the  "Pumpkin" colourway. It's a brilliant orange --like the rind of a ripe pumpkin-- shot with creamy white --like the flesh of a pumpkin-- and the rare bit of orange-smudged-with-green --like a spot on a pumpkin sometimes is. I think I am now finished with the colour orange. (I am not sure, but Fleece Artist may no longer be dyeing fiber. It's not listed on the website.) I wasn't going to post pictures of this for a bit as it is a gift, but the recipient doesn't read my blog so there's no spoiler. The photos show it more yellow than it is; it's really a brilliant orange. 100 grams; a generous 1050 yards.
 

• Speaking of the men's knitting retreats, there are still 3 scheduled in the USA for 2011. The indefatiguable WonderMike is shepherding the West Coast retreaters (always an intriguing group of men) in Seattle (Sept 1-4) for the 4th year; Barry is coordinating the Midwest Retreat again in Michigan (Nov 10-13), and; Rusty is hosting the first South East Retreat in South Carolina (Nov 11- 13). I believe there are still spaces available for each retreat, but you should check with each coordinator to see. If you are thinking of attending, don't dawdle on contacting the coordinators.

• Since getting the iPod a couple of years ago and the iPad earlier this year, I've been buying music through iTunes. It's fast, reliable. This weekend past, though, something struck me about what I don't like about that, and why I like CDs. I like reading program notes. I like reading what the musicians have to say about the music; I like reading the names of the performers on each track of music and details of how the music was put together. That info isn't there on downloads. After sampling the wonderful collection of music "Los Impossibles" by Christine Pluhar, her band (L'Arpeggiata) and guests, I wondered what I was listening to. It took some hunting around youtube to find this clip where Pluhar talks about the music. It's really very interesting; well worth a watch/listen. (And the music is wonderful.) But nowhere on the downloads from iTunes will you find any information about where the music came from. (And what a surprise that is.)  Or the names of the performers: who is the soprano singing "Marizápalos"?  And is that a banjo playing in "El Guapo"?

This, I think, is all for now.

NYC 2011 - Part 2

Lots of photos in this post, which finishes up the second week of my trip in NYC. Jack and I got home from the men's knitting retreat, and spent the next day -- Monday -- regrouping. I had a summer cold, and spent some time coughing and sniffling. I have to say, we had perfect weather this week: it was mostly hot, and bright and sunny: big contrast to the previous week. Oddly, I got lots of pictures of flowers, but not many of anything else. No idea why it played out that way.

Tuesday, Mar and I connected and took the train into The City. We passed through the station in Secaucus, with its marvellous statue.

 

 

We went to Habu, where I may have bought some yarn. When you step off the elevator in the building holding Habu, there's this lovely design in the floor.

We wandered through the city. I think we were generally in the wholesale flower district. (First and third photos, BTW, are of artificial flowers. I loved the colours.)

Overhead walkway at  32nd Street.

On Wednesday, Jack and I headed into the city. We met up with Michael and crossed over into Brooklyn to Brooklyn General, the yarn and fabric store. I may have bought some yarn and a few do-dads. (Excellent pizza in the small shop next to Brooklyn General.)  Weather was very warm, clear and sunny (actually, the clearest day of the week, I think) which was very good as we took the ferry to Staten Island. (The ferry was very crowded: I couldn't get close enough to an open window to take pictures.

On Thursday, we went to The Cloisters. The subway stops just south of Fort Tryon Park, which flows beautifully into the property holding the museum. (Or the museum sits within the Park: not sure which it is.) It was a gorgeous day to walk the  Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park. From the park, you can see the George Washington Bridge crossing the Hudson River.

 

Peonies and irises were in full bloom in the garden.

We visited the Cloisters museum. I saw one of my favourite statues, and then strolled through the gardens. (Which includes an espaliered pear tree.)

 



 

We subwayed back downtown, and met Mark for supper. Some walking through the neighbourhood and then home. (I think we went past the Stonewall.)

Friday was my last day for sightseeing. We subwayed up to The Cathedral of John the Divine, where I hoped the fountain would be operating. (It wasn't.) The Cathedral is just above Morningside Park. You go down steps into the park from the street. (Just one of the many flights of stairs I went up or down in NYC.)

There's a beautiful water fountain in the park. It wasn't running, but you could see the 2 pans that would hold water.

So we visited the grounds of John the Divine, went across the street for iced coffee and pastry at the little Hungarian pastry shop. (Well worth it!)

And then we walked the length of Central Park. I could walk that every week. The batteries in the camera died partway through, so I got fewer photos than I wanted.

Here's the fountain in the centred of the French-style section of the Conservatory Garden.

One of the shaded paths in the Italian-style section of the Conservatory Garden.

And the English-style section is also beautiful.

And that's about where the camera died. We finished the walk through the park, and headed back home. Pizza and beer for supper -- some of you will note that I ate pizza on 3 consecutive days -- and then I started to pack up for the flight out next day.

I had a splendid 2 weeks, even with the sniffly and coughing of the cold. Many thanks to Jack and Judy for their hospitality. Their lovely little home is a great base for the city, and I am so grateful that they allow me to visit.

MSKR 2011

Jack and I left very early on the Thursday morning, driving through rain and fog, to meet a group of retreat attendees at Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, Vermont. A tour of the mill had been arranged prior to the retreat for anyone who wanted to go, and as I think that everyone who knits should see how yarn is made I was really pleased by how many guys attended. After seeing the process from raw wool in the storage area through washing, teasing, carding to spinning frames to skeins winders to shop shelves, the guys did some selective purchasing. It was the first time I’d seen a couple of these guys in 2 years, so it was a great opportunity to chat and get caught up. Then it was time for lunch: the Front Poach Cafe had been alerted that we’d be showing up, so they set a table for us on...well, the front porch.

Easton Mountain was beautifully green. It rained a lot while we were there.

The retreat was really enjoyable for me. I hadn’t rushed in, as in past years, and I was a lot less stressed about life, which has been a problem in the past. I really enjoyed myself, and thank Joe and Willy for organizing a great gathering, and the staff at Easton Mountain for keeping us fed, and all the attendees for going in with the best intentions that we have a successful gathering. Many thanks also to the companies and businesses that contributed yarn and books and fibre and gadgets for swag and for prizes.

We had workshops.

A trip to Foster Sheep Farm.

A full bowl of candy for those moments when you’ve dropped a stitch and need to reinforce your spirit with a hit of chocolate.

 

There was lots of time for chitchat, knitting and spinning.

Duing the retreat, Joe, Mike and I went into the studios of WRPI-Troy as guests on the program “The Quest of Life”, hosted by Harry Faddis and Steve Simms. We spoke about the men’s knitting retreats, about men knitting and I can’t-remember-what-else. I think we all did really well.  The interview has been archived here: you’ll need the basic Quicktime player to listen to it. (That's Harry, then Steve, in the studio.)

  Save

And of course, we had show’n’tell. I had 4 items this year. Two have been shown on the blog: the spindle-spun white scarf (I took it so the beginning spindle-spinners could see that with practice you can make enough yarn to make something real), and; the grey scarf from the fleece that I bought last year at from Carole at Foster Farm. (The scarf has gone to live with Carole.)

The third item was the Pink Poodle Scarf from Morehouse Farm. I saw it on their website, thought it a hoot, ordered the kit. I don’t think anyone got a picture of me modelling it, so  here’s one I just took in my apartment. I dunno; somehow I’m not sure it’s Me. 

 

The last item has a bit of a story.  Back in 1987, I was one of a dozen male knitters interviewed by Knitters magazine (issue 6; Spring 1987). None of us was a “knitting personality” or a “name” in the knitting biz: we were all just guys who knit. (I think a couple of the guys owned yarn stores.) It was an interesting article for a craft magazine to run, since the content of craft magazines was (and is) about patterns or product news. But Knitters was in an early development stage (Issue 6, after all) and, I think, experimenting with what its content could be to appeal to a target market.  (I understand that customer response was extremely negative.)

One of the retreat attendees emailed me shortly before the retreat to ask if that was really me in the article. I dug out my copy of the magazine to look at what I’d actually said -- or rather, what they chose to publish of what I’d said during the interview. (Wow; I was young back then.)  Buried in the few paragraphs of my interview was a mention of my first knitting project. I was somewhere between 8 and 10 years old, at home sick with a bug of some kind. Restless. I had craft books from the public library; one had a pattern for a teddy bear.  I’d been watching my Mom and grandmums knit for as a long as I could remember. One thing led to another, and I turned out my first knitting project. Primitive from many perspectives, but it worked. I still have it, and took it for show’n’tell. Here it is.

Eventually we all packed up, said good-byes, and went on our ways. All in all, a very good weekend.

 

NYC 2011 - Part 1

I took a chunk of my vacation days in late May and went to NYC. Embedded in that trip was the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat, held as usual at Easton Mountain. I’ll talk about it in another post; this post will be 1 of 2 about the trip to NYC.

I flew into Newark International Airport and stayed with Jack and Judy at their little house in a small town in New Jersey. It’s really a great spot, being 3 blocks from a commuter bus that takes you to the Port Authority in Manhattan for $12 return in about 30 minutes, depending on traffic. (It costs $8 to get through the Lincoln Tunnel, so $12 seems a great deal.) Weather was overcast and rainy when I arrived, as it was for much of the week.

Next day, Jack and I headed into Lincoln Centre to see the American Ballet Theater’s production of “Don Quixote” with music by Ludwig Minkus. (I know: I’d never heard of him either.) The principal dancers were Paloma Herrera and Jose Manuel Carreńo. Apparently Jose is retiring at the end of this year’s season, and according to Jack he danced like a guy 20 years younger, pulling out all the stops. (Um...pipe organ metaphor; sorry.) The audience loved him. This was my first time at a ballet, and I note that ballet-ophiles are as wildly enthusiastic as opera-ophiles: cheering and applause after individual numbers. (Quite different from your standard classical music concert where We Don’t Do That Kind of Thing.) I thought the whole thing absolutely dazzling. Dancers really are amazing in their attempts to beat gravity. That's me, in front of the  Metropolitan Opera House, one of the 3 buildings at Lincoln Centre.

Before the concert, we wandered around a bit. Weather was a bit iffy, as it had been raining, but mostly the rain held off for us. The flower beds in front of Lincoln Centre were full of Allium Gigantium. When I was taking this picture, a passerby pulled herself up short so as not to put herself in the photo, asked if the flowers were anything special and whether she should take a picture of them. “Absolutely!” I said, and after she finished taking her pictures I took one of her in front of them. (She did offer to take one of me, but I declined.)

We wandered down (up?) to the Apple store so I could buy a cable adapter for my iPad. The cashier said it was a quiet day.

 

We saw some interesting architecture. (The sign over the door reads “If fraternal love held all men bound, how beautiful the world would be”.)

 We wandered through and past Central Park. Rhododenrons were full in bloom. All the plants were about 2-3 weeks ahead of ours here at home. Lilacs, for example, were finished blooming in NYC when I arrived. They’d not started blooming here when I left, but were in full bloom when I returned, as were the late tulips. But I didn’t see a tulip anywhere in NYC. (These pictures enlarge nicely. Click on them.)

 

Eventually we ended up at Columbus Circle.

Along the way, we saw the Tardis.

Next day it rained.  We took a fast trip to the yarn shop in Montclair, “Stix-n-Stitches”, as I needed to buy a needle. (And while there, got a copy of EZ’s “Knit One, Knit All”) Here’s the shop greeter.

And here’s the shop coffee table. Apparently it’s an Ikea product. The table is a series of  boxes, covered with a piece of glass. In the shop, each box holds a novelty yarn. Pretty neat.

A quiet evening followed. We packed, as there was an early day ahead of us to drive north for the Men’s Knitting Retreat.

Check-in

Um. Where to start.

• Last weekend I went to Jordan to see Alan and John, and met up with Linda on the Saturday. Linda is an accomplished knitter, spinner, artist, bookbinder and wine connoisseur; we've known each other for about 15 years through online communities. She was coming to Ontario for family businesses, and emailed to ask if I wanted to meet at the local Tim Hortons and knit for a couple of hours. "Howzabout we meet in Jordan at John and Alan's place, and fondle fibre and sample wine?" I wrote back. So we did. We had a splendid time with much conversation and much laughter. John got this picture of Linda and me, and Linda caught me knitting. (Wowsa: I need a haircut.)

• Men's Spring Knitting Retreat is next week. I have my show'n'tell item(s) nearly finished. I'm now trying to get something cast-on so I have some travel knitting. I'm flying to Newark next Monday and will stay with Jack and Judy, who graciously hosted me last January. I'll have some days before and after the retreat to hang out in NYC. Maybe there will be a trip to NY Botanic Gardens, and to the Cathedral of John the Divine to see the fountain in action and go to the little cafe across the street for pastries. A half dozen people have insisted that I go to Habu to look at weird yarns. Mar and I both want to go to the Cloisters. I'm sure I won't be bored. Wave if you see me wandering the streets.


• During the retreat, Joe, Mike and I will be radio stars. We'll be interviewed on Friday May 20th about men and knitting, and men's knitting retreats by Harry Faddis, who does a weekly radio program called "Quest of Life". Broadcast from a studio at WRPI-Troy (that's 91.5 on the FM dial), QoL runs noon - 2pmEST on Fridays. Harry focuses on LGBTQ-related issues, although if you listen to past programs you'll recognize that much relates to you str8 folk as well. If you can't reach the signal on your FM dial, you can listen online at the same time. And if you simply can't arrange your life to listen to us then, the interview will be archived here. And I think you can find it on iTunes, as well. It takes a couple of of days for interviews to be archived to both locations, so please be patient. (You've seen me; you might as well hear me. Friday May 20, noon EST.)


• I bought an iPad 2. I think you have to forget about files and folders and directories to use it or you'll go crazy. Given that I shilly-shallied for about 5 years about moving from WIN to Mac, the fact that I bought the iPad a year after getting the MacBook is quite something. (I'm pretty much on the trailing edge of technology.)

I think this is all. See you later.

Last Call

Friday, April 29th is the last day to register to attend the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat, held at Easton Mountain, near Albany NY.

The retreat starts at supper on Thursday May 19th, and ends with lunch on Sunday May 22.

For more information on fees and how to register, see here.  This is a great event, wonderful company, a great time to kick back and relax.

 

Ene's Scarf 3 - Finished

Back in January I consulted with a counsellor as I felt I really needed a check-in about some areas of my life. The appointment was useful; it confirmed and validated a few things I had suspected. I was a bit surprised, though, when Rob expressed concern that I wasn’t knitting and that I couldn’t remember the last time I worked a stitch. (I think the last project I’d worked was back in Sept 2010, but I’m not sure.) He also recommended that I needed to “excavate my soul” or I was “going to be in big trouble”. Maybe I should have gotten out the pickax and shovel at that time, but I didn’t. At the end of January I ended up in trouble. Not “big trouble”, thankfully, but I was in trouble. I won’t discuss it -- thank you for not asking -- except to say that I did not end up in hospital, and there are no medical, legal or financial concerns. My trip to Easton Mountain in Feb was incredibly rejuvenating and comforting. I’m doing well now -- quite well, actually -- but there are some residual things: some conversations about unpleasant topics that I am avoiding; I’m staying away from interactions in large noisy groups; and I think my priorities are shifting in an internally driven and organic way. We'll see.

As part of the excavation process, I decided to tackle a spinning and knitting project and chose my third crack at Nancy Bush’s lovely “Ene’s Scarf”.  This is a simple and satisfying-to-knit design (for me, anyway). The previous time I worked it I tinkered a bit with the design to smooth out a few things I found jarring visually, with some success. This time I decided to work with handspun, and to tinker again with the design.

The Yarn

During Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat 2010, we roadtripped to Foster Farm to see the sheep. Brady pointed out a fleece to me: a nice froth from a Cormo x Border Leicester ram named “Oreo”.  I dropped off Oreo’s haircut at the mill on my way home from the retreat, and picked up the bag of roving last October or November. (I think; I can’t remember.)

For this project, I weighed-out 1 ounce lengths of roving and split each lengthwise in thirds. The roving has a “direction” to it: spinning from one end of the length was easy going, but from the other end, I needed to carefully pull out a lot of slubs. Using long-draw and double drafting-ish techniques, I spun each third using a high-whorl spindle and wound off onto a nostepinde, joining the lengths to build a 1 ounce ball.  I wound that into a 2-strand plying ball, and plied with a heavier spindle, and wound it into a skein. These were tossed into the bathtub filled with hot water for about a half-hour, and then laid flat to dry.  The resulting yarn is springy and bouncy, though it has a crisp edge. (It is also remarkably uneven in twist and thickness; I must spin more roving using long-draw.)

The brown colour of the yarn has a bluey-grey undertone, and I think would be improved with dyeing -- perhaps dark teal or turquoise, maybe burgundy or cranberry, or perhaps purple or pumpkin orange. Maybe a deep mustard yellow? (I think I have about another 4 pounds of the fiber, so there’s some for experimenting.)

The Design

There’s nothing at all wrong with Nancy’s original design, and except for casting-on more stitches than called for, making a minor pattern substitution, changing the shapes of the ends and middle point, and changing the decrease rate to alter the shape of the design, I followed the instructions exactly as written.

Here’s a picture of my first working of the scarf (aka Version 1), following the instructions as written. This lives with Michele Minty, who owns the Shetland sheep from which the yarn was spun.

Note how the shaping of the bottom point and the ends (upper left and right) truncates the diamond shapes in the border. I wondered if the shaping could be altered to better preserve the diamond shapes at these points.

So, for Version 2, I did some reshaping. I retained the full diamond shape on the ends. 

I like this, and did it for Version 3.

I tinkered with the bottom point as well. I’m not sure it’s much of an improvement over the original.

And I’ve had some ladies tell me that they don’t like the way triangular shawls point to the location of their buttcracks, so I removed the point altogether in Version 3.  Still not sure about it, though. 

 

For some variety in Version 3, I replaced the break pattern (the row of holes) between the border and the main pattern with a stitch that forms little "stars".

And the last change was to shift the shape of the scarf. As you can see from the picture of Version 1, the scarf is a right-angled triangle, formed by 2 smaller right-angled triangles "joined" at the centre decrease line. Here's a picture of Version 2 folded along the centre decrease line.

Compare with Version 3. (Please ignore the toe.)

 

People often complain that the right-angled triangle shape is difficult to wear, because the straight edge doesn't curve around the neck very well. This has a bit of curve, so hopefully will fit better.

All in all, a nice knit. It should be part of my Show'n'Tell at Men's Spring Knitting Retreat in May.

In a few hours, we will have the Official Start of Spring, and I am delighted to see it.

This is it for now.  

Roadtrip

I’m just back from a hop down to Easton Mountain. The trip came together rather quickly once vacation leave was approved late in the previous week. There was a flurry of phone calls to set it up in very short order. As it turned out, there were a lot of flurries on this trip.

I left last Monday and drove to Kingston Ontario. After supper I met up with a former work colleague: great to see Shannon and get caught up. Next day I crossed the border into the USA at Ivy Lea: a lovely crossing in summer and really nice in winter. The view from the bridge over the St Lawrence River is a treat. My normal route from Kingston to Easton Mountain is to fire down I-81 to I-90 and then blast over to Albany, jump to Troy and up highway 40 to Easton Mountain.

This trip I did things differently. I turned off I-81 and onto smaller country routes, eventually roller-coastering through the mountains in Adirondack State Park to Saratoga Springs. Then my GPS took me the long route down to Easton Mountain. All in all, a nice drive, and much less stressful than the high-speed drive on the interstates and the congestion around Albany.

It’s peaceful at Easton Mountain this time of year.

They’d had a group in for the weekend, and there were 2 participants who’d stayed for a couple of extra days. There was a guest up from NYC working on a magazine article, and the 2 interns working on various projects. Most of the permanent residents of Easton Mountain were there. I settled in for some knitting, and after supper, Dave and I headed up to Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga Springs for tea and knitting.

On Wednesday, Dave and I drove over to Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney Vermont where we met up with John.

We watched the machines operating -- I find them endlessly fascinating. (Thank you to John for the pictures.)

 

 

John (on right) facilitated Dave’s yarn purchases. I needed no help.

Lunch was sandwiches at The Front Porch Cafe. Wonderful conversation and camaraderie. John headed back north to teach his printmaking class at Dartmouth College, and Dave and I headed back to Easton Mountain. After supper we headed to Uncommon Grounds for tea and knitting.

On Thursday, I knitted. Aaron had contacted me via Facebook to let me know that it was open-knit-night at his LYS, Trumpet Hill Fine Yarn and Accessories. Dave and I headed to Defazio’s for one of the best pizzas I have ever eaten: highly recommended if you are in Troy. (But take cash, because they don’t accept plastic.) You know how you start at the point of the slice and eat out, and you get to the crust and think "meh...". Not with this pizza: organic whole wheat, soft, tender, delicious -- you'll eat the crust! Amazing. Then on to Trumpet Hill for knitting and conversation, and when that ended --surprise!!-- we headed to Uncommon Grounds for tea and more knitting.

I had planned to start the drive back to Canada on Friday, but when I woke up, it was snowing. And it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed and snowed and snowed, and snowed, all day. Can you see the mountain in this picture?

I had a wonderful conversation with Harry Faddis, one of the founders and permanent residents at Easton Mountain. He is a remarkable and inspiring man. Eventually the plow came down the driveway, and after supper, Dave and I headed up to Uncommon Grounds for tea and knitting.

Saturday was a glorious morning at Easton Moutain.

After saying good bye, I drove to Buffalo (where it was snowing) to cross the border, eventually ending up at John and Alan’s place in Jordan. Remember Alan and John? They have the fibre/spinning store that doubles as their home. Well, now they have an online shopping presence as well, so you can buy some wonderful fibres from the comfort of your spinning chair.

All in all, a lovely trip: great locations, intriguing conversations, wonderful friendships. Thank you to my wonderful friends.