Life's a Stitch

A perfect end to the birthday weekend. Bloglesss Marsha, D, C and I considered going to one of those bars where, for a flat rate, you get all the supplies necessary to paint a picture with added inspiration provided by good wine and food. Wait! said C. We have wine, we have food, we have painting supplies, why pay $55 each to paint a picture? And we don't have to worry about driving home. Birthday flowers provided the subject matter and three inexperienced acrylic painters went to work. What fun:

We each had our own style:

It was the best birthday ever, summed up so eloquently by the gypsy swing violinist. Yes a gypsy swing violinist, friend of the boy's, the talented Michael Fraser, who played just for me and said " I want to have a birthday party just like this when I'm midddle-aged." 

A not so in focus Michael and Bryant jamming – it was hard to shoot an ever-moving target:

It never felt so go to be middle-aged, as well into it that I am. Thank you C and B, and all my friends who helped celebrate.

Immediately after my father died when I was 16, I remember thinking about things that I wanted to tell him, things that made no sense at all. For example, wanting to share with him details of his funeral that he would have liked. Cold, hard reality snapped in and my teenage mind realized that of course, that wasn't going to happen. 

Many years later, the death of my mother, I know she's gone, but there are life experiences that I'd love to share with her. Not as personally significant as the birth her first great-grandchild, but everyday things. For example, I just finished the autobiography of American Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor. My mom would have loved that book.They shared the same background as a child of very new Puerto Rican immigrants, my mother born just months after my grandparents emigrated, and both grew up in the Bronx. They also lived similar values of perseverance and doing the right thing.

In recent days we would have talked together about her being glued to the TV with the Papal goings on. Or I would have shared the fact that this week, great Dane that he is, my husband is cooking a Puerto Rican meal for 18 for my birthday!

I don't know the point of this post, I guess it's just a slice of life.

Back in my midwest days, long before I lived in a rain forest, I learned the self-explanatory expression "You can't win for losing." It makes sense except for this: sweet Audioknits sent me a prize for losing her blog contest:

There's some yummy Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight, baby yarn and my first taste of Dalegarn Heilo. Thank you, Kristen for a nice treat.

Come to think of it I won for losing with my second pair of glasses, the funky blue ones I mentioned in my last post. These were the frames from the pair of glasses that I returned to Costco in WA. Costco progressive lenses are a good deal if you fit the most common denominator prescription-wise. That is, if you are a typical middle aged nearsighted person. Farsighted me didn't adapt well, so I reluctantly turned them in.

Six weeks later, finding a two-for-one sale at North Vancouver's new Hakim optical, I couldn't find a second pair of frames that met my expectations. Finding glasses, for me, is right down there with bra or swimsuit shopping. I called Costco and they still had my failed pair in their drawer. Add to this, my romantic practical husband who offered, as a Valentine gift, to drive down to Bellingham to pick up those frames for me:

They remind me of a Gaudi mosaic: 

Can't end this without commenting on the great customer service I received at both Costco and Hakim. Dealing with this customer and her unique prescription can't be easy. 

Have I really knit five of these? Let me check my archives. #4 was the narrower silk garden variety. I recently considered frogging #3 to use the yarn in weaving, as the rayon metallic has proved too drapey for the clap. It hangs like a limp rag around my neck. #2 was a gift, not photographed and #1 was my favourite until now. It was my pilly but comfortable Silk Maiden Clapotis, a perfect hiking scarf.

They say practice makes perfect and this is it. No forgotten lines of intentionally dropped stitches and the best yarn I have ever knit with – Madelinetosh Pashmina. I'll report back in a year regarding its colourfastness or pillage. 

Pattern: Clapotis, free from Knitty

Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina Colour: Spectrum

Needles: US Size 7

Modifications: added four repeats in the middle straight section

Thoughts: Bring on #6 as long as I can knit it with Madelinetosh Pashmina. Bring on anything as long as it's with Madelinetosh Pashmina.

New glasses (the first of two in the buy one get one sale) and new hiking scarf: I discoverd a setting on my camera, anything to avoid the dreaded outstretched arm "selfy." This is a timer that snaps the shot two seconds after it detects a face. Pretty smart, that camera. A more natural angle:

In continuation of the last post, it got me thinking. When did you consider yourself a good knitter? I think for me it was after I finished my first Charlotte's Web shawl. Is it when someone asks you to make something for them? Or when you're approached to teach others a specific technique? I know one thing. I'm good at knitting clapotis now that I'm on clapotis #5. Almost done!

It's difficult for me to take that step, to admit to being good at something, as you could probably tell by my last post. I took my latest painting to work and someone said "I didn't know you were a painter." I didn't either, but I owned up to it, replying "I guess I am." Thanks to all for your encouragement.

I was really good at my 10,000 steps a day plan until my recent ankle fracture. Turns out there was a toe fracture as well that went unnoticed, as when I complained of ankle pain the x-ray was ankle specific. That, and the worst rainy winter in my memory, has delayed my re-entry into 10,000 steps until recently. Today there was an opportunity to hit my favourite trail:

Maybe that'll turn into a painting eventually.

UFO : knitting : : incomplete : painting assignment

Analogies, do you remember them? Readers from the US will recall SAT's and GRE's. Those from Canada, the anti-standardized test country, might have learned about them in English class. I get to sit on the fence as very soon, I'll have lived in Canada for as long as I've lived in the US. Truth-be-told I believe in standardized testing, a holdover from my American education, Kindergarten through Master's degree.

I can attest to being a skilled knitter, but I'm still a watercolour painter who lacks confidence. Almost five years ago I started a snow painting for my sister's 50th birthday. Half done, there it sits. My excuse is that I haven't learned enough in painting class to complete it. I can honestly say I had given it my best, I just wasn't there yet. Today though, after my barns in winter class, I think I might have started to break through the snow painting barrier.

My time-line has been protracted (I think I recall that vocabulary word from one of those tests), but my goal is to follow through on my promised gift prior to her 60th.

I think I have a few knitting projects as well, that fit that bill, and bracelets in my beading box… Uh-oh I hear my ninth grade high school math teacher, Miss Lahrman's, haunting quote "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."  

Realized that in the commotion of the holidays, C's detached retina, grant deadline month at work, I forgot to post a finished project:

You can tell it's been awhile because of the sun. Remember? I live in a rain forest.

Pattern: Pretty Thing by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. adding repeats for more length.

Yarn: Design Club Duo Silk Merino (Denmark) Laceweight

Needles: Addi turbo size 5 or 6. Pretty sure it was a 6.

Thoughts: If it has to fit over your head, needing the elasticity of a sewn bind off, why not use the complimentary provisional cast on? You know what I mean, knitters? Why would you want only one end to be stretchy? Also added a more finished top edge, not wanting the folded over look in projects that added length, by using my provisional cast on to add a 1×1 ribbed top with a picot edge, so it’s technically up-side-down. 

Would I make this again? Maybe, definitely adding in the ribbing on one end. 

How is the patient? Exhibiting a sense of humour while visiting the hospital for a followup visit:

Mr C is keeping his record up – four emergency surgeries in eight years. To date the detached retinas are winning. Better that than that open heart surgery I suppose. Perhaps we should consider getting off of this train. But how?

Time for some comfort food. How about homemade pizza?

Let's look on the bright side. There wil be plenty of waiting room knitting.

After two years on my Kromski rigid heddle loom, the Starry Night scarf has been sprung. It had deep gouges where the loom's cords had caused pressure on the fabric, but nothing a short soak couldn't delete. Had to keep it brief, though, as this yarn bled like crazy. As soon as I noticed the blue blood letting, I added some vinegar to the mix. Three rinses later I called it quits as I was afraid of ending up with a robin's egg blue piece instead of the sky at midnight colour it was intended to be:

Now for the choice: what do I do with the fringe? The choices are to leave it as photographed or do the neatly braid thing, a nice finished look for woven items:

Starry Night Scarf

Yarn: Blue Heron Rayon Metallic, 1 skein

Loom: Kromski Harp 23" – 8 dent heddle, 106 ends

Finished size: 67" long, 10" wide.

Thoughts: rayon produces a drapy fabric, perfect for this size scarf. I'm considering frogging a knitted item in a similar yarn and recycling it into a more colourful version of this scarf. Hopefully it won't languish on the loom for two years until it's finished. 

That old question: if you were stranded on a deserted isle, what yarn would you like to have with you? In years past I would have answered Koigu Painter's Palette Merino or Noro Silk Garden. It's time for those two to move aside. In 2013 my new deserted island yarn is Madelinetosh Pashmina. 75% merino, 15% silk and 10% cashmere, what more can you ask for? A lower cost yarn, maybe, but for an occasional indulgence and if I'm going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere for an undetermined amount of time, this is the one. Truthfully, I haven't bought yarn in about a year (can you imagine?) so I was overdue. I foresee one more pre-retirement splurge and this will be it.

It all started way back with my original Clapotis. This one will be my fifth. Not bad for someone who was part of the Clap resistance way back when. The first was my favourite most worn project despite its tendency to pill. Of course that was a case of yarn choice folly. Note to self: Handmaiden Fine Yarn Silk Maiden is high on the pillage factor. The one thing I've learned through my years of yarn splurging is that soft single ply silk or silk blend yarns pill. Worth remembering. That project was pilling prior to its completion. It's a moot issue, that scarf is hiding from me, having not been seen in months.

Wanting a reliable replacement, I did my homework and found Pashmina, a tight but soft three-ply that has shown a high resistance to pilling. To me, it's heaven by the yard. The coincidence? Without prior consultation, Blogless Marsha and I ordered Madelinetosh yarn from the same site on the same day. Here is the result thus far:

So I wonder, what are your dream yarns and what project have you worn more than any other? And were you lucky enough to put the two together?

UPDATE: Sadly this Clapotis has acquired a case of the pills, mostly toward the ends. A scarf of that length gets more wear and tear on the far ends, exacerbating the pillage. Recommendation: reserve the use of luxury yarns, such as the Tosh Pashmina, for smaller more tightly knit projects. I've had no issue so far with my Summer Flies project.