Knitterguy

Wanted: The Perfect Gadget

Richard’s post about a nifty I-Phone application reminded me of the recent conversation I had with K. about acquiring some technology.

A conversation between me and my nephew about getting a Mac has been documented here, and there have also been ongoing discussions about my getting a cell phone. (Actually, I think everyone in the family is tired of the discussions about that one.) Every so often I make noises about a portable music-player-thingy that I can plug into my car’s sound system as well as using with earphones or earbuds or whatever they’re called.

And then there’s my desire for a GPS which will interface with googlemaps, so I can plan my route and download it to the GPS, rather than the GPS trying to put me on every toll road on the continent when there’s a perfectly good no-toll road providing a more direct route to the destination just a little further along the way.

“I-Phone,” my nephew said. “Get an I-Phone. It does it all. It will take pictures: you can throw away that digital camera that you can’t figure out how to use. Then you can instantly upload the picture to your Flickr account. You can search the web. You can have googlemaps open and running while you’re driving the car; you won’t need a GPS. You can read your email. You can text people. You can use it like a “portable music-player-thingy’. It will do it all. There are all kinds of applications to do everything. There’s probably even an application to run a knitting machine, if you have one. By the way, have you bought a Mac yet?”

(I don’t. I haven’t.)

The I-Phone sounds great, except for a few things. I’d considered dumping my landline and using only a cell-phone. But I have maybe 4 phone calls in and out of my home on a weekly basis. Maybe 4; likely fewer. One of those calls will be long-distance to the USA. Canadian readers with cell phones have already seen the issue here: this is going to cost money because of the way the plans work. Further, I really don’t want to have a phone in my pocket, because there are plenty of times when I just don’t want to talk to people (having done it all day at work). Yes, I could simply turn it off, but then why have one? Why have a cell phone to be accessible and then turn it off so you're not accessible. (Unless you're in a concert or church service or class or some situation where you --and everyone around you-- shouldn't be interrupted.)

A cell phone would be convenient if I’m in downtown Toronto and need to call my dinner companion to see if I’m really in the right restaurant or am I in the wrong one or did I get the time and date wrong. Or if my car breaks down on the highway and I need to call CAA for a tow. Or when I'm in the grocery store and need to call Mom and ask her to clarify: "Did you want the low pulp, no pulp or regular pulp orange juice, in low acid or regular, with or without added vitamin C and/or calcium?" But I’m not in Toronto very often, and if my car is going to break down on the highway it will likely be in the USA, so I’d be paying roaming charges and so on, if I can figure out which plan I need that will give me service in the USA.

Mom writes very detailed shopping lists. On paper.

I am not convinced that I want to be able to access email, or send text messages, from anywhere in the world at any time of day. Sometimes, I think, it is useful and important to get away from that immediacy communication.

It sounds like the I-Phone would be supplying me with functionality that I'm not interested in having in the first place. And I think I would be paying a lot of money for that functionality.

So what do I want the I-Gadget to do for me?

• Play music. Earbuds or plugged into the sound system in the car. Especially if I can rip tunes from my CD collection. (Is that even legal?)

• Websearching would be useful. Occasionally accessing a hotmail or yahoo account would be useful, and if I can search the web, I can access those.

• Maintain an address book.

• Be able to take short notes about whatever. The shopping list. Write a reminder to myself to do something when I remember to write the reminder, since I sometimes forget to write myself a reminder when I really should have remembered to do so. (Did that even make sense??)

• Take photos on the fly? Maybe.

• GPS. Maybe. Especially if I can plan the route. (See above.)

• Clean the bathroom. Absolutely.

So, Dear Readers, if you wanted a gadget to do those things, what would you  buy? And what am I not considering that I should be thinking about?

Retreat!

So here’s my redux of the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat. I’d like to say I took ooodles of photos, but I didn’t.

I started by driving down to Alan’s place near Niagara Falls after work last Tuesday, and we left Canada early Wednesday morning, smoothly crossing into the USA at Buffalo. The drive to Easton Mountain was uneventful. I love the landscape around Herkimer; Alan remembered the Beechnut factory. We arrived mid-afternoon (I think) and spent the balance of the afternoon knitting on the lodge’s veranda. It was a warm, bright, breezy day; a real contrast to the balance of the weekend when it was generally cool with lots and lots of rain. Jeff, from Florida, had also arrived a day early, and it was great to get caught up and look at what he was knitting. Last year he was a true Knewbie Knitter; this year he was barreling along on a baby blanket made from mitred squares. (Excellent craftsmanship.) After dinner on Wednesday, Scott and Dave (who live at Easton Mountain), and Jeff, Alan and I made a stop at the local ice cream stand (“Strawberry Daiquiri” flavour is highly recommended, and watch out for the portion sizes: they’re ginormous) and then headed up to the coffee shop in Saratoga Springs to knit.

Thursday morning, Joe arrived (surprisingly early) and we did some set up for the event. We packed the participants’ knitting bags, and set aside some of the wonderful donated items to be given as gifts to the guys who taught classes. In late morning, Dave headed to the airport to pick up a few of our group, and then we met at the local Turkish restaurant for lunch. Scott took Kyle, Chuck and me to the yarn store in Saratoga Springs, and then back to Easton Mountain where the majority of the group had arrived.

At this point, it all pretty much becomes a blur of laughing, learning, knitting, crocheting, eating, sharing stories, late nights and early mornings, more laughing, more eating, more knitting and crocheting, and show’n’tell (some spectacular lace from Joe, Chris and Alastair). It was wonderful, truly, to see familiar faces from last year’s 2 retreats: Chris, Kenny, John, Bob, Kyle, Chuck, Jeff, Sean, Josh, Thad, Michael, Tom, Paul, Guido, Stephen, Steve -- I know I’ve missed some of you. (We had 6 guys who’d look up when you called the name “Steve” or “Steven” or “Stephen”). We welcomed some first-timers: Daniel, Lars, Stephen, Gary (fabulous weaving), John, Joseph, Matthew (who presented me with early birthday gifts from himself and Kate), Peter from OZ, Solomon from Mexico, Juan, Mark – who have I missed?

It was different to last year’s Spring retreat, but of course it would have to be. Same lovely space to gather; same relaxed pace; but we were a different group of people in a different time. Everyone, I think – I hope – had a really good time.

Post-lunch on Sunday, the majority of the crew packed up to return home, leaving Alan, Peter, Bob and me. I dashed out to the local garden centre with Leo, who tends the gardens at Easton Mountain, to pick up some annuals and a couple of shrubs. Supper was with the residents who live at Easton Mountain, then a trip to the coffee shop in Saratoga Springs for knitting and conversation.

Alan and I headed out Monday morning on our trip home, arriving at his place in time for supper. I fell into bed and, yesterday (Tuesday), after a leisurely breakfast, started the drive home. A short stop for lunch with K in Guelph, and then a shorter stop to see Buffy at Shelridge Farm and deliver the lace scarf I knit.

I like to say, because I think it’s true, that while Joe and I handle the administration and planning of the event and generally steer things day-to-day, it’s the participants who make the event a success. It’s their willingness to come together and share, to laugh, to be respectful, to go with the flow, etc. Many thanks to all the guys who attended this year for their part in making the retreat a good time.

While I’m extending gratitude, a huge thank-you goes to our sponsoring businesses that donated items we used as thank-you gifts to the guys who lead workshops or that were given as prizes in the opening night ice-breaker activity. These businesses are, in no particular order,

Unique Sheep

Wild Geese Fibers

Black Bunny Fibers

Schoolhouse Press

Nomad Press

Green Mountain Spinnery

Shelridge Farm

Louet North America

Hyphen Boy Designs

Danny Ouellette Knitting

Kristin Spurkland and Ten Speed Press

Briar Rose Fibers

A Touch of Twist

Oceanwind Knits

knitspot

The Bellweather

Woolen Rabbit

Tradewinds Knitwear

Skacel

Gnomespun

Wasatch Watercolours

The Joy of Yarn

Nature Buttons

Straw Into Gold / Crystal Palace

A Verb for Keeping Warm

Puff The Magic Rabbit

Universal Yarn

Woolcott and Company

Spinner's Quarterly

We’ll see you next year!

Triinu Scarf - Finished

Alert the media: I've knitted something.

A coupla months ago, Buffy Taylor of Shelridge Farm asked me if I'd work this design for her to have as a shop model, as the design calls for her laceweight yarn.

I read through the pattern and immediately found a couple of things I'd do differently. However, as this is a shop model, I chose to follow the pattern (almost exactly) as written.

(Sorry for the poor pictures: I couldn't find good light for the photos. I'm on a really tight schedule today as I'm scrambling to get things done so I can get on the road on Tuesday immediately after work to get to the Men's Spring Knitting Retreat. BTW, this scarf will be part of my show-n-tell.)

The design is simplicity itself, and honestly, the centre pattern is one of those that relies on the most basic elements. A chevron enhanced with a couple of nupps. This is well within the skills of the novice laceknitter, and a knitter with a good understanding of basic technique will have no problems with it.

I do, however, have a couple of cautionary comments. Firstly, Nancy has you slip the first stitch of each row, which mean that this stitch has to span 2 rows in a garment that will be severe stretched in dressing. You have to work this stitch (and, likely, the one beside it) very loosely, because if it is not long enough, the edge will bind and you won't be able to dress the scarf properly. Work a sample, pin it out, wet it and let dry: I was surprised by just how loose and long that stitch had to be.

If you usually think "Samples: oh pish, who gives a rat's ass..." this is one case where the sampling is a really, really good idea.

Secondly, I think the scarf would benefit from being worked at a closer gauge. (And I think that about a couple of the other projects in the book, as well.) The fabric feels a bit flimsy, and it "clings" rather than draping. Maybe this is the way traditional Estonian lace fabrics perform, and if so, I'd break with tradition. I'd be interested to see how it performs in wear.

All in all, a really nice project. Didn't find any errors in the instructions or charts. But, consider my 2 comments, and work and dress some samples so you know what you're dealing with. One skein of yarn for some good knitting. Highly recommended.

To Recap
Pattern: “Triinu Scarf" from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia (Interweave, and available lots of places)

Yarn: Shelridge Farm "Soft Touch Lace"  1 skein. Colour is "Rust", same as used in the book. I had about a dozen yards remaining. (The yarn retails for about $11 CDN.)

In Other News

I've done some spinning. 2 ply laceweight yarn. The skein weighs between 38 and 40 grams. (I've weighed it 4 times, and it keeps changing.) It is 48 inches in circumference, and I've counted out the number of threads in the round and put them into groups of 50. (I'm sure there's some correct terminology for a round in a skein. Anybody?) Counting it all off and doing the arithmetic tells me there are 20061 inches, or about 557 yards.

I think it could use more twist.

Hand combed merino locks; singles spun on a high whorl spindle and wound off onto felt balls. These were wound doubled on to another ball, and then plied from that using my wheel.

That's it for now. Next post will be after the knitting retreat.

Five-Oh

This year I will be 50 years old.

Perhaps I spend a bit too much time thinking “So: when are you going to get it together and actually do something with your life? When are you going to have some kind of meaningful impact on someone’s life, or really help someone with something, or make some kind of meaningful contribution somewhere along the line?”. I believe there’s a Jewish saying that goes somewhere along the lines of how you don’t actually contribute anything to the world until you’re 50, because up until that point you don’t have enough maturity or know enough. I get some hope from that idea. (A lot of "some" in that paragraph.)

Frankly, somedays I marvel that I’ve even made it this far.

Given that I barely notice birthdays at all, it’s odd, I think, that I’m considering marking this one somehow. Assuming I still have a job (read: sufficient disposable income) in a few months, there are some things I might do.

1) Go to SOAR. Though in all honesty, I think it would be prohibitively expensive for me. And I don’t spin well enough.

2) Take Abby Franquemont’s class on Andean backstrap weaving at Beth’s shop. (Maybe I could get a spindle-spinning lesson from Abby while we’re both there?) Except that it’s in July, which will be smack in the middle of busy season at work. (That’s assuming I have a job.) I’m sure the class would be excellent, and backstrap weaving is something I was interested in many, many years ago. But in the middle of busy season, I don’t think I could focus on it.

3) Go on a cruise. I don’t enjoy hot weather, so the tropics are out. Last year my sister and her daughter did Vancouver to Alaska, and enjoyed it immensely. They got off the boat at each port stop, and did things like visiting a dog-mushing camp, and snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean.

I’d need someone to share a cabin with.

Then I started thinking that I’d have to get across the country to Vancouver and the flight would cost as much as the cruise, and I wondered if there were cruises a bit closer. Holland America has one from Boston to Montreal (or vice versa), which I think would be quite lovely, and the end ports are (considerably) closer than Vancouver. Apparently, with the sad state of the economy, cruises are practically being given away, so if you want a cruise, this is the time to go. (Except that I noticed the Boston-Montreal run jumped $500CDN last week.)

And then I started thinking, so what if a group of us went? Surely I could find someone to share a cabin with. Maybe we could get a group rate? What if it was a group of spinners/knitters, but we didn’t run it as “Knitting at Sea”? We’d gather as a group to do some of that each day, yes, but we’d also do other things...just so we weren’t –as a group- spending 9 hours a day sitting and knitting. That way we could learn about each other, share other common interests, enjoy the companionship. What would that be like? I mean, if people really wanted to sit on the deck with knitting and a martini and watch the scenery go by, well, yes, they could choose to do that. But the point would be to do other things, find other common interests, share ideas, have conversations. Get away from cell phones and computers and email and just hang out.

I’ve mentioned it to a few people, but nobody has bitten at the idea.

4) Spend a few days at a B&B, after Rhinebeck. I expect I’ll get to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival again this year to see Joe and Mar and Carol and Mel and David and whoever else gets there. I was hunting around for something online and found the Frog Meadow B&B near Newfane Vermont, and thought “If you're at Rhinebeck you’re 3/4 of the way there, so why not just hop over for a couple of days. There’s got to be something fibery to do in the area. Green Mountain Spinnery (which sends yarn for the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat) can’t be that far away. SpiderChick is over there somewhere. Chris is in Vermont, somewhere. Surely we could meet up?”

Dave and Scott have a beautiful place, judging by the pictures. While Frog Meadow looks like it might be more welcoming to jocky, sporty types than a sedentary knitter, perhaps, if the apples are on the trees in October, I could simply sit and knit and take in the smell. I love the winey smell of ripe apples. They have a hot tub. Dave is a licenced massage therapist, and if I survive the busy season at work, a thoughtful, skilled massage would be a very good idea, indeed.

5) Go to NYC for a couple of days. Also likely post-Rhinebeck. Except I don’t want to be alone in NYC, and everyone I know there has a day job.

What would you do to mark your 50th birthday?

(Next post will be knitting-related. I promise.)