You Win Some and You Tink Some

The win: the afternoon tea shawl has the ends woven in and has been blocked. It is gorgeous and would be perfect if it was a little bigger. But there are people smaller than me on this planet and it will look stunning on them. But first: I’m not bragging about my knitting this shawl, but about the pattern and the designer Helen Stuart. OK, now that we got this straight, on to the pictures:

close up
close up

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Did I promise too much? It was the fabulous knitting part of my weekend.

The sorrow came with the mystery KAL shawl I’m working on. When clue number 5 came in I was 2 weeks behind. Immediately I finished clue 3 without major trauma if I remember correctly. But clue 4 brought tears and tinking and frogging. It was not difficult but for whatever reason, I lost the ability to count, follow directions, concentrate, etc.

I kept on thinking that I know how to knit, I know how to count to high numbers, but what about my ability to follow directions? Apparently I’m a bit challenged in that department. My first attempt was fudging it. I could force the right number of stitches (now in the 200s) by decreasing or increasing in inconspicuous places. That backfired, looked shitty, and instead of stopping before the point of no return, I kept on knitting. Really Marianna, you think this will fix itself?

I was facing the music 2 rows short of finishing up the week. Now the problem was tinking or frogging. Stephen, my numbers guy, could not resist telling me that I’m looking at tinking 11,500 stitches. Thanks for that information Steve.

Apparently I don’t believe in putting in lifelines, still have not learned that lesson. So what was I to do? No way was I going to undo stitch by stitch. I saw a few rows of plain vanilla knitting and decided frog back to those rows. With fast beating heart I reached the point and was about to pick up the stitches when friends arrived. They are not knitters and most likely did not understand the situation I was in. 250 plus stitches on the lose! There was no way this could wait and they sat patiently chatting watching me herd the stitches back on the needle.

I wish I could report that with heightened awareness I managed to get caught up without problems and: the end. Not so. I would knit 6 rows be off in the count, tink 2 rows, notice I had not made a mistake after all but was reading the wrong row in the directions, huff and puff and knit on. So went my Sunday. Very late at night I found myself with one row left and one extra stitch. No, no way. I put it all down for today when I will knit 2 together and problem solved. Go on to clue 5 and be caught up.

If I have this much problems with a pattern I put it down for a couple of days, or weeks, or years. But with this I can’t. I told myself I would keep up with everyone else knitting this shawl. And I’m sticking to it. Don’t know what life lesson is in there or if I even need any life lessons as I’m heading to the end of my life, OK, the last couple of decades.

The issue is I want to start another pattern. As so often happens coincidences collide in a major way and I can’t resist.

I was reading grumperina’s blog and found the following scarf: melon scarf. Go ahead, take a look at the scarf. I happen to have one skein of said yarn that she made the scarf with. Told you, life can be coincidental. I had no project in mind, just wanted to try out some seacell. The pattern, well, guess what, the library carries the book with the pattern: Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby. (This link is to Ravelry, you might have to be a member to see it. It’s free to sign up and definitely worth it if you’re a knitter, if you are not, then look around and ask the knitter in your life to make you something. Remember though, you have to be real good to this person so they will put hours and days of their lives into a project for you.)

See? Picture, yarn, pattern. What am I to do, ignore it?

I have a couple of books to recommend.

1. The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie McCuin
Being a spinner called for a spinning book in my library. It is a very informative read with lots of history and wonderful writing.

2. Sheepish by Catherine Friend
At first I thought she was trying too hard to be funny, but the book is growing on me. A light read to get out of the library.

I’m not doing major reviews here, go to amazon where others have done the work for me. But remember to get your books from your library or local book stores if possible.

What I like doing lately is getting the samples from iBooks to help me make decisions.

I also would like to include some rants today. No, let me just recommend some movies I streamed from Netflix this weekend. Wish I could say go to your local video stores. But they are gone now.

1. Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream. This link might get you to a free watching.

2. Hot coffee. here is a link to the web site. Streams on Netflix. We’ve all heard about the woman who spilled hot coffee on herself and sued MacDonalds. Now see the pictures and hear the real story without a corporation’s spin.

Better get to knitting, see you soon.

 

 

 

 

Another Project?

This weekend I started 2 more knitting projects. Really? (Is this what you really need? More half finished projects? Are you going for the record?) I have an explanation for this starting and not finishing business. I’m a gemini. And, it’s not winter and therefore no incentive to finish up to stay warm.

I must have mentioned that I’m part of a KAL? A mystery KAL. KAL = knit along. I know I’m making a shawl, but beyond that, I have no idea. Too late I read that this is for intermediate/advanced knitters. OK, I have knit most of my life, but never a shawl.

It takes tons of concentration to knit this shawl. So what do I do? I see another shawl I like and off I am casting on for that new shawl. How fickle is that? No commitment, no regret, and just a tiny bit of guilt. I will finish the old shawl, but I’m waiting for stretches of concentrating time.

Let me give you a picture of my situation. The top is the old shawl, the bottom the new one. Here we go:

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This last shawl is in The Afternoon tea pattern found here at Knitty.

Yes, I am having fun. You didn’t think I only started one new knitting project, did you? Noooooooooooooo, I had to start another pair of socks. If I paid more attention to math in school I could tell you exactly the exponential road I’m traveling, but, thankfully, I don’t remember. All I can tell you is that if I keep up with my sock knitting pattern I will have: LOTS!

This is how it works. I barely finish a pair, notice I still need to do kitchner ending and weaving in of yarns, I eye the new Koigu yarn I always wanted to try. Off I am casting on again. And even though the Koigu starts pooling immediately, I knit on. Why I can’t tell you. Like an addict, I keep on knitting, not liking what the yarn is doing and knowing full well somewhere in my mind (at least I hope I do) that this is not working out. But I ignore the voice screaming at me to stop, rip it, and start anew. Until the next morning. And I’m happy to say I got past the unraveled yarn and am happy.

So let me show you the almost finished and the new:

Fleece Artist yarn in Nutkin pattern
Fleece Artist yarn in Nutkin pattern
Koigu sock, 2nd attempt
Koigu sock, 2nd attempt

A note on the nutkin pattern: there is very little stretch and give in the cuff and leg area. It becomes a bit difficult to put on and perhaps blocking might take care of this, and if not, well, Stephen can get them on. I feel so lucky I’m with a guy who is willing to be experimental in his socks. All colors and patterns seem to be OK with him.

Shawls? Considering I never wore one in my life and neither has my daughter and my MIL is allergic to wool, well, one has to wonder what I’m up to and where I’m on that crazy meter scale.

There was some food in my life recently. I marinated some olives in zest of lemon and orange and added some garlic and rosemary and olive oil. The idea came from a recipe I can’t find anymore, but olives are an invitation to play.

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I see hot peppers in the picture. Yes, I like my food hot!

And then I had all these dried fava beans. What to do with them? One option is a kind of hummus and it works well for that but it’s a hassle to peel all those favas after cooking them. I now have an easier way with the favas. I cook them with some spices and mint and onions. I end up with a broth for bread dipping and favas that everyone can peel and pop into mouth. This recipe also came form somewhere else, did not grow on my compost pile as my grandmother would say.

Here is a pretty picture of the beans before cooking:

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And now it’s knitting time for me.