Book review!

Note:  This is not about a knitting book!  Knitting content will resume after this!  Probably.  My track record lately isn’t so good…

I want to take a little break from my usual knitting fare to talk about my friend Carrie Snyder‘s new book. I hope I can do it justice – I loved it, and I hope I can increase its exposure to my knitty friends.

Carrie recently published a book, her second, called The Juliet Stories  A novel-in-stories, it’s a collection of short stories tied together through the main character, Juliet Friesen.  The first half or so of the book takes place during Juliet’s childhood, when her family goes to Nicaragua to protest the American involvement in the post-revolutionary war there, and the second half features Juliet as a young adult, after her family returns to North America.

I have to say, I wasn’t sure at first how to approach this book – I’m not generally a lover of short stories. I recognize that they are meant to show you a snapshot in time, rather than tell a whole story, but I guess something about the geek in me needs a plot.  Knowing that these were all short stories, I intended to read just one per day.  Since I knew it wouldn’t read like a novel, I would just go slowly, one story at a time, and leave some space in between.  However, I was surprised – I was hooked from the beginning.  The fact that the stories all tie together gives me that sense of narrative, while at the same time giving me little snapshots of Juliet’s life.  I ended up reading the whole thing in a few days rather than the couple of weeks it would have taken me if I’d stuck to plan A.

Carrie’s forte is creating mood.  She sets a tone in her stories, and I can feel it for a long time after I’ve put the book down.  I felt this most at the beginning, during Juliet’s childhood.  Those stories, told from the point of view of a child, convey a sense of timelessness.  A world full of conflict and turmoil, both external to her family bubble and within it, which Juliet is trying understand.  Time seems to stretch on.  The world is just happening around her, and she’s navigating through it.  As Juliet gets older, the stories happen at a faster pace, the world around comes into sharper focus and time seems to move more quickly.  This rings true – even though my childhood was nothing like Juliet’s, that is how I remember it – a blur in which bits memories stand out in sharp focus.

The high point of the book for me was one particular story, The Four Corners of a House, near the middle, where the narrative style takes a detour and other voices join Juliet’s for a little bit.  This chapter is pivotal, marking a turning point for the Friesens.  It left me heartbroken.  And a little in awe.

I hope you have the opportunity to read it – and I look forward to seeing more of Carrie’s writing soon!

In which Nath is grumpy, and then she isn’t

I have a cold. I’m generally pretty good about that kind of thing, but this one’s making me grumpy.  I spent the morning in a pissy mood, and, on top of it all, I’d planned my day wrong, and felt sorry for myself because all the things that needed doing today wouldn’t get done.  And then, lucky break, the work at the choir office this afternoon was quick, leaving me with extra time to not only get everything done that I needed today, but also to get home in time to have a half hour to myself before the kids needed to be picked up.

Yep, that’s hot chocolate.  Because, while coffee is the elixir of life, hot chocolate is some of the best comfort food around.

And then, I felt better!  Day still grey.  Cold still there.  But I felt better.  See?  Knitting makes me a better person.

Doesn’t hurt that I’m totally in love with this yarn and this pattern (Royale, by GlennaC, with Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label Aran)

Disclaimer:  Grey, grey day + lens I don’t like + too lazy to change said lens or play with shutter and aperture settings = super narrow depth of field.  Sorry about that!

A contest!

My friend Carrie has a new book coming out in March – The Juliet Stories.  I love Carrie’s writing – her blog is one of my favourites, and her first book, Hair Hat, was excellent – she has a great ability to create a mood that stays with you for awhile after you put the book down (or walk away from the computer after reading one of her blog posts).  She currently has a contest on her blog – enter a comment after this blog post for a chance to win the latest copy of The New Quarterly, in which there is a chapter from The Juliet Stories, and a signed copy of Hair Hat – you have until Friday the 27th to enter.

 

In an empty house

I unexpectedly have a free afternoon, and I’m sitting here, in my quiet, clean house.  I just had lunch, and will probably take a nap later.  It’s a good life!

We’re having a ridiculous winter so far.  Second warmest December on record,  and January hasn’t been much colder.  Not enough snow to really do anything fun in – the kids are annoyed.  And the walk to school in the pouring rain probably didn’t help.  We’ve only had to shovel three times so far.  It’s almost time to start planning the garden and it feels like we haven’t even hit winter yet!

It’s also been weird because I’ve been a single-project-knitter since last November.  That’s not like me at all.  I usually have a bunch of things on the go because I’m fickle, and different things lend themselves to different situations.  I like a sock for my purse for unexpected waiting times when I’m out and about.  Something larger for evenings at home.  Something lacy.  The occasional hat or mitten.  But it’s been nothing but socks since November.  Remind me that if I’m going to make a ridiculous pronouncement like “I’m knitting everybody socks for Christmas” ever again, that I shouldn’t wait until November to really get going.  Yeesh.  Anyway, I finally got the socks sent out on Saturday (yes, Astute Reader, that means I missed the 12th day of Christmas by a long time.  In my defense, I had them all finished by January 7th – I just didn’t send them off until last weekend.  Which isn’t much of a defense, now that I think about it) I’m knitting socks now (late Christmas/birthday present for someone I’m not related to).  And after those are done, I have plans!  Oh, yes!  A sweater!  A bunch of these!  Some hats and mittens!  No socks!

However, in the interest of documentation, here they all are.  If you are an adult member of my immediate family, avert your eyes until probably Wednesday…

In order of completion:

Pattern:  Angee, by Cookie A from Sock Innovation. Yarn: Shoppel-Wolle Zauberball.  These were for my mom.  Excellent pattern, beautiful yarn.  I actually finished these last fall, but didn’t finish tucking in the ends until about a month ago.

Pattern:  Leyburn socks, by Erin over at pepperknit.com.  Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks 4-Ply.  Those were for my stepdad.  He picked the colour – he wanted the socks to match a sweater his mom had made him years ago.  This colourway somehow manages to defy camera focus.  No matter what I did.  Magic!  The pattern was fine – I was just a doofus and kept second guessing the pattern, and making dumb mistakes, and not taking notes (actually, I never take notes.  I always think I’ll remember what I did, which would be fine if I ever did, and didn’t have to count the rows and stitches on the first sock to make sure the second matches.)  They turned out a bit big (my stepdad has feet about the same size as mine!), but not so bad, I don’t think.  After reknitting each sock twice, I just couldn’t face up to doing it again, so I hope these work.

Pattern: Wanida, by Cookie A., idem  Yarn: Koigu PPPM.  For my sister-in-law.  Another genius pattern by Cookie A.  Second time making these, and still a pleasure.  And I love this yarn, so, overall, a win.

Pattern: Earl Grey, by Stephanie at yarnharlot.ca  Yarn: Koigu PPPM.  For my dad.  Nice pattern – simple enough to work up quickly, but with a little cable to keep your brain from turning to goo.

Pattern: Sunshine, by Cookie A., idem (am I using that right?)  Yarn: Koigu PPPM.  For my stepmom. Pattern was brilliant.  The colour of this yarn (somewhere between what you see in the two pictures) made me very happy. And made Zebula a little covetous.  These win the prize for having been knitted the fastest – six days.

Pattern: Earl Grey, as above.  Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label.  These got restarted a couple times – I couldn’t figure out which pattern to make, and settled on Earl Grey again, both because they’re nice and they work up fast.

Cheesy group shot:

 

Almost there

I’m almost done with my Chrismas socks.  I’m kinda banking on the fact that Christmas is 12 days long and ends on January 5th (or 6th, depending how you count), and should have these all sent out before all the Christmasness is over.

Our holidays have been very quiet this year.  It’s been just us this time.  I like to stay in town on alternate years, and none of my family made the trip down.  In between merrymaking with lovely friends, we ate lots of cookies, Christmas dinner was simple but delicious, and the kids have been in a happy state of Wii-induced catatonia since Christmas morning.  And Hanukkah was late this year, so in addition to all that, there were latkes!  It’s been good!  And I had three quiet days at work, which were nice too.  It’s going to be hard to transition back to my normal life where I don’t spend entire days munching on chocolate, knitting, and basically sitting on my butt.  And where I get exercise regularly.

I hope your holidays were/are good, whatever you celebrate!

Argh!

I’m typing now, at 11:41 in the morning on December 18th.  In the last 14 days, I have had six choir rehearsals and four performances, and another coming up later today.  I was a single mom for a week while Dr. Thingo was away at a workshop.  I made it to work when I was supposed to.  The house didn’t fall down.  The kids are still alive and well-fed (though not as nutritiously as I’d like).  I sent presents out for my nephews just in the nick of time, though not for all the grownups in my family (more on that later).  It doesn’t sound like much when I type it out like this, but it’s felt totally crazy.  I haven’t done any holiday baking, or decorated the house.  And, this year again,  I’ve sent zero holiday cards (my out-of-town friends all probably think we vanished).

None of that excuses the lack of posts, though!  I was shocked when Mom-of-Dr.-Thingo chided me during her last visit  for not having done a Hallowe’en post with the kids in their costumes.  I was sure I had!  But, no, my last post was just before Hallowe’en, showing off Zebula’s Gryffindor tie (it still tickles me that I made it.  And now it’s been integrated into the play pile, and resurfaces often).  Which means I haven’t posted for nearly two months.  It feels like not much has been accomplished in that time, so this post is as much to reassure me that, no, time isn’t just running away with me, as anything else.  Though I do feel like a bit of a show-off with these sporadic posts.  It all looks more impressive when I put two months’ worth of stuff up at a time than it really is, honest!

All right – this is not a Whining About Not Having Any Time blog, it’s a Stuff I Made Blog, so let’s get to it!

This one’s for-Mom-of-Dr.-Thingo:

Optimus Prime costume purchased at Shopper’s Drug Mart with years of accumulated Optimum Points.  Hermione costume made with tie from last post, robe hastily assembled from an apron pattern, and chopstick wand (not in photo).  I’m surprised the robe was wearable at all (the neck was a little big).  The Gryffindor badge is printed out, ‘laminated’ with packing tape, and sewn on.  Unfortunately, the robe made a trip through the washing machine a couple of weeks ago.  The packing tape remained intact, but the badge inside disintegrated into zillions of little tiny bits of paper.  Oh well.  Easy come, easy go.

There was this:

That oddly-shaped thing is a doggie sweater, knit for a friend’s dog, in exchange for her delicious canned goods.  Best garlic dill pickles around, as well all kinds of other goodies! I even got to see its recipient wear it for the first time, a little bewildered at that thing on his back.  It’s a little big for him now, but he’ll grow into it, just like a furry toddler.  And, unexpected bonus: it also looks like a Doctor Who monster.

Aside:  I’ve been watching lots of Doctor Who lately.  I’m kind of in love with David Tennant.  I know they’re going to kill him off any minute now, and it’s making me sad.  Which makes me feel ridiculous.

I’ve also managed to finally get a shot of Dr. Thingo in his new sweater.  Supermodel shot:

Closer-to-reality shot:

He seems pretty happy with it, which made the endless sleeves worth it.  Sewing in the zipper wasn’t as bad this time around.  I’m either getting better at it, or my standards are getting lower.  I suspect it’s the latter.

Speaking of zippers, and sewing, I finally cut the fabric for the roman shades I’ve been planning on putting in the living room windows.  Well I cut the fabric about a month ago.  The fabric that I bought in October.  Of last year.  I bought some hardware last month too.  The shades should be completely finished in five years or so.

There was one large project that I won’t talk about that took a bit of time, but the recipient hasn’t received it yet.  Which is silly, because it’s been done for three weeks.

And socks.  Oh, the socks!  Next time I decide to make all the grown ups in my family socks for Christmas, I will start on December 26th.  Pictures after they’ve been sent to their respective feet.

Happy Whatever You Celebrate, everyone!

**edited to fix a typo.  Thanks, Jorge!**

I made a tie!

I don’t know why this tickles me so much, but it does.  And it’s not even crappy.  It lays flat and everything.

Why a tie, you ask?  This year, I told the kids I wouldn’t be making their Halloween costumes, as it’s been busy and I have a concert to sing two days before, which means many evening rehearsals.  So we went looking.  The prices are crazy!  So I ended up getting Vorlon a cheap Optimus Prime costume from the drugstore (and using up a bunch of Optimum Points that I’ve been accumulating for about 9 years).  Zebula wanted to be Hermione from Harry Potter.  I decided that for the ridiculous price they were asking for what essentially boils down to a poorly made polyester robe and a tie, I could make a bunch of costumes, so I caved.  She and I went to the fabric store.  I got an end piece of black broadcloth, two small pieces of red and gold and a frog to keep the robe closed (why is it called a frog, anyway??).  Total cost of materials, less than $10.

I got the red and gold stuff because they didn’t have anything stripy to make the tie.  So I made stripy fabric by reducing my quarter-yard pieces to 2 inch strips and sewing them together.

Having all those seams ended up working to my advantage – I didn’t need to use any interfacing to stiffen the tie, which saved me some measuring and cutting.

I cut the tie out of the resulting fabric, and followed this tutorial.  Voilà, tie!  I really liked making it, which is surprising, since it’s almost entirely hand-sewn.  I must be getting more patient in my old age.  If it hadn’t been for the fact that I basically had to make the fabric, the process would have taken less than an hour.  If you need a tie, let me know.  I’m making the robe using the pattern from last year’s pioneer girl apron with some crazy modifications.  We’ll see how it goes.  Time’s running out fast!

After all that, last weekend Vorlon rediscovered his Bat Guy (it’s not *exactly* Batman…) costume from last year, and has basically been living in it when he’s not at school.  ”Why couldn’t you have just been that again this year?” I asked.  ”Because that’s what I was last year!”  Silly me.

I’ve been knitting a lot, but on large things, so there’s not an impressive list of finished things to show you since last month.  I am nearly done with Dr. Thingo’s sweater.  Remember the Sleeves of Death?  That were taking forever because I had to make them longer?  I made ‘em too long.  I measured Dr. Thingo about a half-dozen times to make sure, I measured the pieces, I assembled the sweater.  But I had him try it on after I sewed  everything all up, and it was too long.  Way too long.  Like, roll-up-the-cuffs-twice-and-it’s-still-too-long too long.  I don’t know.  I think it’s the way I measured him.  Not making that mistake again.  After some time in the in-progress basket, where it could think about what it had done, I took it out again, removed the sleeves, unraveled them both down some, and will reattach them.

While the Green Albatross Sweater was in time out, I made this:

I test knit it for a friend.  It’s a secret.  All I can tell you is that it’s ribbed.  I really liked working on it, and it fits well.  I’ll put up real pictures when I’m told I can.

I whipped up a little scarf for Zebula.  She loves it.  From the book Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders, it’s the Autumn Rose Neck Wrap.  Crocheted out of some Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight, in Aquarium.

And I made this pillow for a fellow choir member who got married a couple weeks ago (congratulations!!).  She was furiously knitting on a beautiful red Rock Island Shawl to go with her dress a couple weeks before, and I asked if she had other knitting left to do, and could I help.  She immediately produced a breathtakingly beautiful skein of blood-red Wollmeise (same as the shawl) and said “Can you make a ring pillow?  Basically, a hexapuff, only larger.”

The picture doesn’t do the red justice.  Now I know what all the fuss about the Wollmeise is about.

And there was a birthday party (Zebula turned 9!).  The usual, lots of giggling girls, much running around.  Cake.  Cupcakes this time – nice, but nothing too exciting.  We had a beach theme, so I had some dressed as sand dunes, and some with little marzipan fishies on top.  I loved the fishies.

No progress on Christmas socks.  And that’s all I have to say about that.

Because Kim told me to

Summer’s over – the air is deliciously chilly, the kids have been back to school for a couple of weeks, choir has started up again after the summer hiatus, and life is suddenly ridiculously busy.  Zebula turns 9 tomorrow, which seems so old.

I was having lunch with the lovely and talented Kim last week, when she ribbed me for not blogging in so long.  So here I am.  Maybe someday I’ll graduate from just giving you a quick collage of stuff I’ve finished, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you…

I made this for my lovely yoga instructor, because it’s a bad pun (Pattern is My So-Called Pidge, by Kerry Newbill):

One of the kinds of yoga she teaches is Kundalini.  Dr. Thingo calls it the Yoga of Self-Punishment.  I call it Transcendence Through Repetition.  Basically, one repeats the same movement for a long time (10-15 minutes sometimes), while often incorporating breath of fire.  At first, it feels a little like torture.  Eventually, you stop needing to consciously make the movement, as your muscles just take over, and your head is free to wander.  I like the places my head goes in those conditions.  Anyway, the poses in this practise are called kriyas rather than asanas.   Baby alpacas are called crias.  The yarn for the cowl is baby alpaca I spun a couple of years ago (scroll down a little).  Get it?  Cria/Kriya??!?  Yeah…

Then came July.  I got to go to Portugal with Dr. Thingo, which was fantastic.  We hadn’t been on a vacation alone together for three years.

This is me on vacation

Portugal is beautiful, and the weather was fantastic the whole time we were there.  Hot, but not all muggy and gross like it is here.  Hilly.  Old (we went through ruins that dated back to the Emperor Augustus).  I thought my weak knowledge of Italian and even weaker knowledge of Spanish would get me by in Portuguese.  I was mistaken.  But I managed to get my point across when needed, got lots of rest, did a huge amount of walking uphill both ways, and ate lots of fish.  While away, and during the flights there and back, I got a couple of shawls done.

This is an Acanthus Shawlette, by Caroline Wyborny, made from Shall We Knit’s Willow Street Silk.  The pattern is good, though the pattern chart is a little hard to follow, and once you’ve done the lace border, the stockinette crescent basically knits itself.

And then I made another Citron, which was my backup project, in case I got through or totally gave up on the above Acanthus.

Sorry about the end-of-my-arm shot – couldn’t be bothered to set up the timer.

I’ve made three of these so far, and I’ll probably make more.  The constant stocking stitch is perfect for vacation knitting, and knitting while keeping the kids entertained on the train.  And I like how it sits on your neck.  I think the next one will be in fingering weight, rather than lace weight, for something a little larger and more shawly.

I also made this in July:

It’s a Hana-Bi shawl, by Katherine Matthews (mine is the only project for this pattern in Ravelry!  I win!)  I have mixed feelings about how this turned out.  The pattern was impeccably written, and I like the beading, but this yarn (Malabrigo lace), while squooshy and delicious, is too busy and detracts from the lace pattern.  I think I might make another one with either a plain yarn or a more monochromatic colourway.

And, after months of it sitting on my dresser, needing only for the ends to be tucked in and to be blocked, this Itasca Scarf:

I offered the four scarves/shawls above to the person who drives me to choir as a thank you for doing so.  I had originally intended to give her the Hana-Bi, but figured since I had a pile of finished items, she may as well pick something she really likes.  She ended up picking the Acanthus.  So now I’m up to here with scarves – maybe I should start wearing them more.

I finished some Christmas socks for my stepdad, but discovered that he has much smaller feet than I thought, so they will be reknit (no pictures, as there is a non-zero possibility he might read this).  However, I finished some socks for my mom without incident (ditto about pictures).  I used Zebula’s feet to measure – how crazy is that?  She needs to grow into her feet or she’ll look like she’s walking on snowshoes all the time as an adult.  I also finished this for EcoMonkey:

But it needs buttons.  Which is the kind of bottleneck around here that guarantees she won’t get it until she’s 16.

And I finished this cardigan (Tempest, from Knitty, by Anne Weaver).  I never did put buttons on it, but I think I’ll leave it that way – they would probably gape when I closed it up, so it can just be an extra layer when I’m chilly.  I think I showed this, unfinished, in my last post, but somebody asked me for a more finished photo.

 

I’ve been working on a sweater for Dr. Thingo.  He has really long arms.  I’ve done the body.  I’m working on the sleeves, and doing both at a time, and they’re stuck in this time-space distortion where I knit them and knit them and they don’t get longer.  If anybody knows how to get out of this, let me know.

A weight lifted

I finished this a couple of days ago:

This was commissioned by a friend whose mother-in-law had started it, but couldn’t finish.  The pattern is by Tivoli Spinners, from Ireland.  I believe the yarn and pattern were purchased on a trip to Ireland years ago.  Unfortunately, I gave it back, and the pattern, without ever taking note of what pattern number it was, and I can’t find it online.

I did not enjoy this project.  I mentioned it in a previous post: it hurt my shoulder to knit it, as I think the yarn was a little thick for the desired gauge.  I didn’t like the combination of stitch patterns.  But I will say that the pattern itself was very well-written and detailed.   It took me far longer to finish than it should have.  But it’s done, it was very well-received by the person who commissioned it, and I’m movin’ on!

Since my last post, not much knitting was finished.  I just didn’t feel the love.  I needed to get this sweater done, and I felt a little guilty working on anything else, so I didn’t really knit at all.  Things picked up in the last few weeks, though.  I did make a blanket for a Seattle friend’s new baby.  Another Baby Shane Blanket, with Tanis Fibre Arts yarn.  I loved working on this one just as much as I did the first one.  And, I just realized, by going back in the archives, that I never posted a picture of the blankie I made for Ecomonkey last year.  So here they are, in chronological order.

Different colour scheme.  I loved them both.  I’ll probably be making more of these – the pattern is very compelling, and the yarn is lovely.

The women in my choir had a very intensive week of concerts with the KW Symphony at the end of May, during which time I made a large portion of this:

That mess of stuff (yes, more Tanis Fibre Arts yarn.  It’s my favourite lately.) is a Tempest Cardigan.  All that’s left is to finish casting off the buttonband and collar, and making a lower hem.  I bought this yarn in the early spring when it was super dreary and cold and it makes me happy when I knit it.

I also started a thank you shawl a couple of days ago.  This is for the very nice lady who drives me to choir rehearsal every week.  This will eventually be a Hana-bi shawl, in Malabrigo Lace yarn, complete with beads.  I love making lace!  I’d do it more, but I hardly ever wear it…

Milestone:  Vorlon turned 6 a few weeks ago.  So I am officially no longer the mother of small children.  We had a birthday party for him that mostly involved a bunch of little boys running around in the back yard.  Vorlon requested a Millenium Falcon cake.

Sure, if I were a professional, this would’ve ended up on Cake Wrecks, but I think it turned out pretty well, though I had some serious doubts when I was at this stage:

And finally, a shout out to my friend Carrie, who competed in her first (and almost certainly not her last, given how she kicked butt!) triathlon yesterday.  When this lady sets her mind to something, she goes for it, no looking back!  Great job, Carrie!

Fighting the grey

Just a brief post because I’m already behind in my blog posting and my camera won’t cooperate.

I finished the bartered afghan for Sue this weekend:

The weather this weekend was dreary, and seeing the wildly coloured finished product made me happy.