So Little Time, So Much To Know

RİP - Ruhi

2011-04-10T21:38:00.005-04:00

Oh how to say...
Anyone who has every had to put down a pet knows that it is awful. No way around it.
Ruhi was a rescued Siamese - a lilac point. A handsome dude who liked to bite knitting needles, gnaw on yarn, attack ukulele strings and claw up cardboard. He enjoyed his sun spots and could never get enough chin scratches. He was the world's messiest cat eater and would frequently ''treat'' us to a postprandial aria.
He was getting old. We never knew just how old but he had been on thyroid meds for 3 1/2 years and was suffering from kidney trouble and it was just getting so hard. For everyone.

I really miss the little guy and I think LuLu does, too.

My vet was wonderful - ever so kind - and she ushered him to the other side of the cat door in the gentlest way possible. And I am so lucky to have had such a great circle of friends who helped me care for him for the past few years.

Hey little guy - I hope where ever you are there is plenty of roast beef and loads of lap time.

Stripes and Squiggles - part 1 Karelia

2010-04-15T16:56:00.005-04:00

I am not sure when stripes started to get a hold of me but I realized that I LOVE stripes.
My long suffering friend Linda Turu took me to an Estonian Cultural Bash - gosh when was that?
Ages ago - but the stripe-iness from that event lives on in my mind. Hence the next couple of posts.

Here are some inspirational stripes...
These are cuffs from the Ethnographic Museum in Helsinki in 2008. The exhibit was about Karelian culture and history. There were a couple of wonderful sweaters. Well, I'll bet if you are reading this, you'll want to see those, too. I can make that happen. But first these. Wrist warmers are really important in northern climates but if I remember correctly, there were a number of textiles in this exhibit that were made with such care with the yarn. Certain colours especially were hard to get and hardly a centimeter would go to waste.
I am trying to remember the story about the woven pieces - somehow they were scraps that were left behind. The history of Karelia is a sad one, and during the Soviet era many people were forced to migrate. Over all this was a touching exhibit and had me thinking hard about how politics and power struggles mess up people's lives. But also how people keep going and persevere with resourcefulness...

2009 - the year that got away

2010-01-01T19:46:00.002-05:00

Well
I knit, I saw, I took pictures but...
I had a computer death (by rain) and went back to old technology.
I traveled frequently and lived out of bags and suitcases.
And here it is.
Another year. Whatever that means.
I have more moth (mis) adventures - but I am winning.
I have more yarn.
I keep stash busting and enhancing. Travel means finding yarn shops.
I still can't get enough Noro, or short rows, or colours.
I have 4 ukuleles. I am stopping at 4. Travel means finding ukuleles.
I thought about knitting a uke case but decided better of it. Sure, one could - but WHY?

Here's to finishing things we start. To learning what we have and how to use it. To keeping an open mind about life, the universe and everything. Here's to bicycles and wool, to friends and cats, to music and art and good books.

Cheers

Lynn, Lucy & Ataturk

2008-11-10T17:12:00.006-05:00

If my friend Lynn had survived her bout with cancer she would have been 46 today.
And it's funny, because in Turkey it marks a very sombre event, the passing of the modern republic's founder Mustafa Kemal Pasa Ataturk.

Lynn was staying at my apartment in Istanbul some years ago. It was a typical morning and Lynn being the sort of person that she was, wasn't making a fuss about her birthday and was happily reading the Guardian and drinking tea. Suddenly we heard several great blasts from the ferry boats and ships that ply the Bosforus, echoing from shore to shore and lasting about a minute. It shook the tea glasses! The ships were signalling 9:05 am, the time of the leader's passing. We chuckled at the irony of it.

Lynn was an amazing person, one of the smartest and kindest people I have had the privilege of knowing. Even as she grew more and more ill, she was sharp and alert. Some years ago, she had passed onto me a pair of wonderful Ojibwa slippers and she told me at the time the name of the person who made them. Lynn herself had had these slippers for a number of years. I, of course, didn't write it down, and soon forgot. When I was visiting her in hospice I asked her if she remembered them. "Oh yeah," she said, "Why?"
"Well do you remember who made them?"
"Lucy Knot. You can't forget a name like Lucy Knot. I always remember it because you must have had to tie a lot of knots to make those slippers"
That's how I remember it now, too.

Here's to you, Red! Wherever you are!

Lynn Macfie
November 10, 1962 - September 27, 2007

me and my chapeaux - 1

2008-11-05T12:41:00.012-05:00

Hey - this post got caught in the "drafts". Here it is February, with still a good six weeks of cold weather ahead, so maybe this idea from November will still be of use to someone. Here goes....

The wind blows chilly, the leaves are swirling in the gutter...
Hat making season is upon me as I'm sure it is upon those of you who also like making & wearing hats. And while I do try to vary my repertoire from time to time - I find I go back to my tried and true short row hats because they are fun, easy, look good on a lot of people and it seems that no two are ever exactly alike. Also, for me, they fall into the happily mindless category. Easy to pick up, minimal counting, minimal finishing, loads of instant gratification. Not to mention the stash busting potential and, after some incidents of weakness involving yarn stores on foreign shores the past few months, I do have a lot of that to do!!!

So how do you start?
Care to roll back a bit and read through the entry "when does a hat become a tea cozy" ?
The basic idea and beginning is really the same.
You need to have an decent idea of your gauge, an idea of the measurement of the head you are making it for, and some idea of the basic properties of the yarn you are using.

I am going to use my head and some Kureyon for this because I have both of them. Well my head does look like it is attached to my shoulders and I made coffee this morning, so something is working. I do want this hat to fit under my bike helmet, and Kureyon is a decent weight for that.
Slightly heavier weights work beautifully and knit up quickly but it can get tight under the hood there, so I am going to use Kureyon. Also I have given all my hats away!

These three photos show the same hat worn by two different people, my brother and his girlfriend. You can see that the same hat, looks different, the brim stretches and the effect is altered.
If you are making for a larger head, in addition to making it a little wider, you also may or may not want to add a few extra rows when you get to the brim. Ultimately it depends on who you are making the hat for, and what they want. Make the first one for yourself - I need one too so let's get started....

Mindless Pleasantries

2008-09-30T22:05:00.006-04:00

You know when every thing around you is going too fast?

Too much? Too many deadlines?

Yeah...

Been like that a lot lately for me. And lots of traveling.

So for the most part my knitting has reflected that. Or rather been an attempt to balance the hectic with the simple. Soothing, easy and satisfying.

A Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl from the directions by Sarah Bradley - so I don't have to think!

A bias scarf in recycled sari silk and some straw coloured rayon. Just cast on and go! (Modeled by the recipient, Emily)

Oh, I managed to finally finish the second Debbie Bliss classic cardigan for my wee niece....

and I did start a "Mitten of Insanity" which the cool and wet weather that is settling in is sure to encourage me to finish. But earlier this evening, when I had a moment, I picked up more colourful, soothing yarn and cast on for another bias scarf.

Mindless, pleasant.

There are enough challenges in the real world for the moment.

When does a hat become a tea cozy?

2008-07-09T22:21:00.016-04:00

When does a hat become a tea cozy?
...and vice versa

One day I got an “emergency” phone call from my sister who was working as a prop and wardrobe assistant for a TV show. “We need a tea cozy - do you have any patterns for one in your old knitting book collection?” I got a chuckle out of imagining what it would be like on the set when the need for a vintage tea cozy dawned suddenly and the flurry of phone calls that would ensue...but I told my sister that I’d had have a look as soon as I got home, that I was pretty sure I did have some and that basically she could tell her costume and wardrobe people that in a way, a tea cozy was just a hat with a couple of slits in the right places. All dependent on the style of tea cozy, of course. Some tea cozies have been known to double as hats and hats have been pressed into the duty of keeping the tea hot and a lot of things will do for that besides. But here I share my formula for a tea cozy that is also the basis for a favorite mindless hat....wedges formed by short rows in garter stitch.

Garter stitch has a lot of interesting features. When I first started knitting I couldn’t wait to do stocking stitch but over the years I have come to love and appreciate garter stitch for its simplicity, mindless ease, predictable stretchiness, flatness and squareness. Relatively speaking, of course. And some yarns look darn fabulous knit up in garter stitch. I think Noro Kureyon is one of those yarns so, let’s start with a ball (give or take) of Kureyon (or whatever you like along those lines).

Next we need the tea pot in need of a cozy. Have a look at that tea pot and take a few measurements. What is that charming little tea pot’s girth? And what is it’s cup size? How big is it from lid to base? Where is its handle and where is its spout?

For this cozy we need some needles (indeed) and as it is knit flat and seamed (seemingly seamlessly later) any needle of the correct size will do. The correct size is whatever needle you need to knit your yarn just a bit firmer than the recommended gauge. In my case I use 3.75 mm bamboos. I have noticed that Kureyon, unless felted, tends to relax over time so you can often knit it a little firmer than you think.

If you’ve used Kureyon a lot you will probably have a pretty good idea of how it knits up - but if you haven’t do a quick gauge swatch. How quick? How about 15 stitches and 6 rows (or 3 ridges). Right about now I can hear the champions of the gauge swatch murmuring and the thunder clouds roiling. For this task, this is enough to give you an idea. Figure out how many stitches per centimeter or inch you are working at. Take that number and multiply it by your tea pot's top to bottom measurement. Now destroy the evidence of your shoddy gauge swatch.

My teapot top to bottom was 6 1/2 inches and my gauge is 5 stitches to the inch which means I need to cast on 32.5 stitches, which is hard to do, so I cast on 33 stitches. I tend to cast on by knitting in between the two stitches. Leave 6 - 8 inches of a tail for the hanging loop later.
Knit across your cast on row. Now you have 33 stitches on one needle; your “tail” is at the top of the cozy. Slip the first stitch of the next row and knit across until one stitch is left. Bring the yarn to the front of the work, slip the last stitch and turn. Next row, you will knit into the back of the first stitch, then continue on as normal. This way of slipping and knitting creates a neat chain stitch edge. See?

Knit along until you are 2 stitches from the end of the row (the tail is there to tell you it's the top). Slip the next stitch as if to purl, bring the yarn to the front and transfer the stitch BACK to the left hand needle. There are 2 stitches on the left hand needle and 31 on the right. Turn the work around. The yarn should be in the back now, ready to go. Knit until you are one stitch from the end, yarn to the front, slip, turn (for your chain stitch edge). Start the next row by knitting into the back of the first stitch, knit along as usual to 3 stitches to the end. At the third stitch, slip stitch purl-wise, yarn to front, slip stitch back to the needle. Turn and knit to the end, do your chain stitch hem.

This is how to do short rows; the transfer of the stitch back and forth to the left hand needle without knitting it is called wrapping. It is very helpful for when we go to knit those stitches later as it prevent holes from appearing at the turning points.
Now just keep going, each time turning a stitch further from the end, so 4, 5, 6, etc. and keeping up your chain stitch hem.

We are going to go until we make a wedge. How big a wedge?
Well, take your little teapot’s girth and divide it by 6. My teapot was 18 inches around, so divided by 6 that makes 3, multiply that by my gauge and I get 15. I could do 15 turns and get a wedge that had 15 ridges on it. This will be just fine, but just because I yam what I yam, I do 14 ridges. I know this yarn is going to stretch a bit over time. So that means I will keep wrapping and turning until I have done it 14 times. It looks something like this:

After a while you will be able to see and feel which stitches have been wrapped and which ones haven’t. Do work with good light or lighter shades of yarn at first if this technique is new to you. It helps to see what it going on.

Now we have a wedge and we need to make more. 6 more to be exact.
Starting from your chain stitch hem knit along until you get to the last stitch you wrapped, in my case, #14. Have a look at that stitch and notice how the little yarn that was wrapped around the base of the stitch is lying there. I take my right hand needle and scoop up the wrapped yarn from the bottom then twist the needle and knit into the wrapped stitch. This seems like a lot of words to describe a little movement. Check around online or in your knitting how to books for diagrams. There is more than one way to turn a row. Also some people say with garter stitch you don’t have to pick up the wrap, but I beg to differ. Give it a try at least, it might be a good trick to have in your knitting repertoire later.

Okay, back to the wedge.
Once you’ve knit to the top again picking up your wrapped (or not) stitches, turn, slip the first stitch, knit to the end, do your chain stitch hem, turn work, knit to 2 stitches to the end, slip, wrap, slip, turn, etcetera until you have another wedge. 2 wedges down, 4 to go!
Complete your third wedge, but stop when you get to your chain stitch edge, don’t pick up your wrapped stitches, we need to make an opening for the spout. My spout was 2 inches high and 2 inches wide and it was just shy of an inch from the ground. Using my gauge, I know that the opening should be 10 stitches but me being me, I am going to make that 12. I need about an inch below the spout so I knit the first 5 stitches, then I am going to cast off the next 12 stitches and continue knitting to the top, picking up the wrapped stitches as I go. Phew.

Next wedge we are going to have to put those stitches back on so. Slip the first stitch at the top, and when you get to the hole, use backward loops to add the 12 stitches to close the gap and continue knitting to the end of the row. It is sort of a giant buttonhole. As you come across those new stitches on the next row, they may need a little coaxing but it should all even out. Now just knit your next 3 wedges the same, and when you get to the end of the last wedge, stay at the chain stitch edging. This is where things can get a little tricky. If you want to try the graft, read on. If not, bind off loosely grabbing your wraps as you go. Sew up leaving an appropriate opening for the handle.

Okay for the graft...
Dig out another knitting needle, finer than the one you are using and, starting from the top, pick up 33 stitches from the cast on edge. Try to be consistent about how you pick up the stitches. Here’s what we are going to do next. We are going to “graft” the live stitches to the cast on edge, except where we need to leave an opening for the handle.
And we may be picking up those wrapped stitches as we go (I like to try). If you end up with 32 picked up stitches, you can fudge it when you get to the top, just make sure you have a stitch picked up from close to the chain stitch edge. If you are more than 1 stitch short, try again. Break your yarn leaving a tail about 4 times the length of the seam. Grab your darning needle. If you’ve never grafted before I suggest trolling about online or consulting your knitting how to books for a description. It is also called Kitchener stitch . For this graft you do the same stitch on both needles. Have your live stitches in front and your picked up stitches at the back.

Take the yarn and pass it through the first stitch on the front needle as if to purl, leave the stitch on the needle.
Take the yarn to the first stitch on the back needle and pass it through as if to purl & leave it on the needle. This is just for the set up.
Go back to the front needle, slip the yarn through as if to knit, lift the stitch off the needle, go into the next stitch on the same needle as if to purl and leave it on the needle.
Now go to the back needle, slip the yarn through as if to knit, lift the stitch off the needle, go into the next stitch on the same needle as if to purl and leave it on the needle. To fit my handle, I did this 5 times. That is, I removed 5 stitches from both the front and back needle. Ah, at the 5th stitch on each needle, I ended with a knit and slip off, no following purl. Then I picked up my other 3.75 mm needle and loosely cast off the next 15 stitches from the front needle. I missed the first wrapped stitch actually, and by not grabbing the wrap I did leave a little hole, which I didn’t notice until much later.
Now drop the corresponding number of stitches from the back needle, in my case 15.
Reattach your darning needles and start the grafting again. Try to catch your wraps. This isn’t easy, I usually do a noodle-y thing and get the wrap with the “purl” part of the sequence. I have tried it by ignoring the wrap on the purl part and picking it up on the knit part. It doesn’t look too bad, actually. As long as you are consistent it will be fine. And remember, if you keep repeating something - it can become a design element!!
At the top you will now have two threads. Do with them as you will. I like to braid, twist or otherwise knot them into a loop. Great if you hang your cozy when not in use.

There you have it.

If this is completely incomprehensible, please ask.And this cozy took 40 grams of Kureyon, what am I going to do with the leftover???

Going Gracefully

2008-07-05T19:09:00.004-04:00

Amidst these busy summer days of visits and concerts and guests and events there remains the odd quiet moment to reflect, to pick up the knitting or mending, and let the mind focus in peace while a button gets reattached, a bead gets strung and a few rows of stocking stitch get added to a sleeve. One such moment was thrust upon me the day before yesterday as I waited outside a hospital room while my boyfriend paid his last respects to one of his oldest friends. Oli died quite suddenly, though not unexpectedly as he had been through the wringer to treat his leukemia and the sad reality that there was not going to be a cure was known to all. As I waited I thought and the little stitches hopped from one needle to the next, sometimes with very little help, like sand running through an hourglass.

Oli has done many amazing things in his creative life, and has inspired creativity and a sense of musical adventure in the lives of many others. He has nurtured an incredible next generation of musicians already. Knowing that his days where few, he was seized with the desire to do one last show before an audience. In less than 6 weeks the whole event was organized. On June 5th 2008, fighting fatigue that was imperceptible to the audience he gave an absolutely brilliant show with some closest of his musical collaborators. The program had as much new material as familiar and every person in the hall hung on to every note. The joy of the event, the beauty of the music and the intense awareness of all in the room that this concert, this performance was a gift from Oli was palpable. It was a gift from us to Oli, too. The show rapidly sold out the 80o seat hall and the love and appreciation he was showered with I am sure helped to give him an incredible sense of peace, of goodness, of knowing that he is loved and that he has living legacy. That is something few people get to experience - few people in his state of life are able to rise up to the inevitable and continue to create and give and be given. I think Oli recognized that gift to him.

He left in a way that was like some of his tunes. At concerts and even on recordings, I often wished he'd repeat the melody - "That was too short, Oli," I'd say in my mind, "Play it again from the top!" While he still had many projects and visions, while much was left undone and while he left us much, much, much too soon, he somehow managed to go like a note hanging off his violin, the strings vibrating after the last powerful draw of the bow. Rather than the cancer take him - small piece by small piece - he went all at once due to a complication. How odd, that a complication in a way simplified the end.

But it was his commitment to his creativity, to what gave him joy in life - music - and how his joy became the joy of others that has been the great shining beacon for me and the many around him who were lucky enough to know him. Life goes on until the last moment if we can let ourselves see it that way. I did not feel the least bit morbid or dark, sitting there knitting quietly by the door. Sad, yes indeed, but there I was making a sleeve for my little niece, a kind of commitment to the future, to life, if you will.

If you enjoy music that springs from tradition and wanders artfully and playfully in many directions, seek out Oli's recordings. I adore Camino. I have listened to it over and over without tiring of it. All his music is good but that one has a special place in my heart. It is beautiful music to just close your eyes to and let your ears paint pictures for you. It is lovely music to inspire you while you fill row after row with stitches and your mind wanders. Thanks, Oli. Godspeed.

Double Deutsche Diaper Duty..

2008-05-28T04:35:00.010-04:00

Since last Friday, it's been pretty well all babies, all the time.

My little nieces are gorgeous. Of course every auntie is going to think that, but the little imp & pixie are generally so adorable you can forgive them their complaints about tummy gas, teething pain, soggy diapers, hunger, tiredness and just general baby krankiness because they are so cute.

Here they are:
Clara Olive....

&
Josephine Rose.

Here are the girls modeling their new bibs Aunt Bee brought them from Helsinki...

What a sense of style they have already at the tender age of 6 months!

Aunt Bee has hardly had time to finish the Dreaded Debbie Bliss Cardigan #13 because there is just so much burping and dandling and carrying and cuddling to do.

But some progress has been made.
Still unblocked but taking shape. I am going to make a little facing at the chin to make the inside tidy as it tends to turn down and show all the joins. Ugly. I remember why I used to call Vogue Knitting VAGUE Knitting. Some of the directions are a little cryptic. Like "tack down the collar". To what? The pick up line at the neck back?? That makes sense, but what about the front points. We tried it on little Josie because she was awake at the time and with my seamstress sister we were able to figure out where the collar ought to be tacked. But you know, sewing patterns usually have things like the seam allowance, pocket placement and tacking points marked on them, built into the diagrams and numbered. At least knitting patterns could be a little more specific or include clearer diagrams or more photos of salient garment details. If we hadn't tried this on the baby, I don't think we would have figured it out so well.

The turned hems at the sleeves were especially popular with my sister. The sweater is the 1-year size and is currently swimming on them. It will be a couple of months before it is really wearable. So now comes the issue of the second sweater. Turned hem at the sleeves - yes. But along the bottom? I'm not sure & I still don't like the button band either. The collar seemed like an awful lot of yarn but then my sister pointed out the with the neck relatively high, it would really keep the baby warm. And it looks awfully cute. So sometime between bottles and bibs and poopy pants, I'll cast on sweater number two.

Time for a walk in the park!!!

Little Things

2008-05-19T12:47:00.010-04:00

My thinking exactly. And you can take that statement many ways.
There are so many little things in Helsinki.

There is a lot of symmetry. Often based on threes, or triangles as well as mirror images. In the old town, what they call the Design District, there are wonderful layers of Art Nouveau, Art Deco and things Nordic & Runic.....

All adding up to a bigger picture.

Drink Your Milk

2008-05-18T18:00:00.001-04:00

A reminder to carry in your pocket

2008-05-16T09:29:00.003-04:00

A box of pastilles or lozenges.

It's after Midnight in Helsinki

2008-05-14T17:30:00.004-04:00

But only just past 5 in the evening back home. I keep finding myself wide awake when I ought to be falling asleep.

I thought compulsively correcting the ghastly hem (gruesome photographic evidence to follow) on the darned ermm I mean DElightful baby sweater that I still need to make TWO of by the end of May, would make me sleepy but it has not.

Helsinki is a lovely city. The cast of actors I'm working with at the Svenska Teatern are terrific. They are going to sound wonderful. I've had some really nice walks after the rehearsals.

These guys really made me miss my gang (Cats & Boyfriend) (not necessarily in that order).
And what did I discover? That a really nice yarn shop (Menita) is less than a block from my apartment.
And there is another interesting shop full of Finnish Handicrafts (Taito Shop) that, little did I know, also stocks Finnish wool....
Oh Finnish Handicrafts are beautiful. I think our mum, who is a fan of Marimekko fabrics, instilled a love of this sort of thing into me and all my siblings at a very young age. It is going to be hard not let my inner magpie override my bank account......

May Bouquet

2008-05-01T10:41:00.012-04:00

It's the 1st of May!
I turned the page on my calendar and this is what it wrote:
All the flowers
of all the tomorrows
are in the seeds of today.
Indian Proverb.

Under the influence of spring,
which is a pleasant thing to be delirious about,
here's the sort of yarn and colours I brought home from the fair last Saturday.

I have to start with this.
I love to smell this yarn. It smells like clean sheep. I would put in next to me at night so I could inhale it in my sleep but I don't think it would go over that well with the Cats & Boyfriend.
It was only $3 a skein. I bought 2. True, it is not fancy and full of silk or merino but look at it!
Good honest wool.
One of the ladies sheared it from her brother's sheep though she didn't spin the fleece herself.
It was from the Roving Spinners.

Next up is Diana Latvian yarn from Headwater Wools.
This is another good solid yarn. Affordable. Not super soft, but soft enough. Chunky weight. I have a bit of this already. It knits up nicely and wears well. More to add to the collection. I think I might have enough to try a Wooly Thoughts Blanket.

A little purple silk from Fiddlesticks. It was reduced in price a bit. Perhaps I should have got more than one ball, but my intention with this is to strand it with the some silk/mohair blends I already have and do some more wristlets...

I actually won a raffle prize this year. Some Fleece Artist "Marina". With a pattern for it. "Coco". Not sure if I will go with the pattern, I rarely do. But I like the colours. The blues are wonderful. It is machine washable. I feel a hat coming on.

Linda and I strolled around, loosing track of time. Linda had actually brought some patterns she was planning on making up. She had a plan! What a concept. So some of our browsing was focused on particular types and weights. Then we hit the "GoodBuy" yarn stall. They have all sorts of yarns, ends of lines, discontinued, overstock, last year's shades etc etc. at least25 - 50 % off the original price. And this year they organized their stall by colour. We had too much fun. Linda declared that it was better than Winners. (If you're not near a Winners store, it is an emporium of mostly new clothing, some of it designer, some of it really rather nice and usually half the regular price.)
Here's what I dug out of the GoodBuy bins:
This lovely shade of blue Rowan Cotton Tape for making some Scribble Lace scarves and shawls with more of that mohair/silk stuff I've accumulated in my collection.

How's this. A skein of Noro Iro. I don't care what I do with this eventually. I just like looking at it.

I don't think you can really go wrong with Noro yarn. If I ever get to Japan again, I am going to try really hard to visit the workshop. I must see Mr. Noro in action. How do they do it?

One ball of Noro Aurora. Yes LuLu, that's right is does pick up the blue in your eye.

A skein of Cotton Fleece. Terracotta. Just right to highlight some greens and turquoise that I have of the same yarn...

The variegated green yarn is called Joy, from Needful Yarn. It is pure Merino and looks like it will be good for felting. Actually it looks like it was made for felting.

As we were paying for our finds, the young lady told us that GoodBuy does a big yarn sale every Thursday in July and August at Village Yarns.
I have a sneaking suspicion I know what Linda & I are going to be doing on the odd Thursday in the heat of the summer. We will drag new knitters on tight budgets and let them have a go at all this great stuff. Well, maybe we'll make sure to tell them to come about an hour after we get there....
This lovely heather fingering has been in my collection for too long. I have 10 skeins of it. I got them all for 10 dollars at a second hand store in Beacon Hill , Boston. 15 Years ago. Never knew what to do with it until I saw this:And I think they are rather nice together.
Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift from Camilla Valley Farm. Gee, looks like a nice place to take a drive to or better yet, bicycle to.... hmmm...
I have to get over my sweater-phobia one day and do a fair isle type garment. But I think some hats or mitts might be quite nice with this. Or a shawl.
Anyway now the purple yarn has some friends and it seems happy. I hope it doesn't have to wait another 15 years before it is knit up. I wonder how old it really is....

One final purchase (well there is one more but I'm not ready to expose it yet).
A skein of good honest yarn, Cascade 220. Part of which was destined to become my first attempt at a Klein Bottle hat as taught by Debbie New.

Which so far only looks like this
and is big enough to make a smashing egg warmer. Debbie New is on a different plane. Multi-dimensional.

...What's that LuLu? You think I'm spending too much time out here playing with yarn instead of you? Yes, I suppose the clouds are rolling in, it does look like rain, doesn't it. Fine, we'll go in. Yes, I'll wait until you've finished nibbling your grass...
I'll admire my bouquet.

Good Slipper!

2008-04-29T13:14:00.009-04:00

I feel a little Dorothy with these slippers.
Note how the sunlight glints off the faceted beads...
(Okay, in the books, Dorothy's slippers were silver)

Both pairs are constructed the same way. I think from the ankle opening down in garter stitch with increases across the front of the foot. Then it looks like the sole is picked up along the center and turned up the back. A little crocheted edging is added. Turkish ladies do like to have those finishing touches. I love 'em. Beaded Slippers!
Both these pair were given to me by Selma Sagbas who is a wonderful singer of Turkish Classical Music (and who is Texas doing concerts as I write!). She got them in Kutahya.
I made the mistake of admiring them when I visited her in Istanbul last fall. A mistake because when you praise something you'll often find it being given to you. When you try to refuse, it then becomes a point of honour on the part of the donor to make sure you leave with something worthy. Then things can get complicated, because you have to accept something, and it can keep escalating. "What, you don't like these?? Well perhaps you'll like these! Oh, and how about this? Please you must take this also!" I have learned to try and express interest and appreciation without too much fanfare but every once in a while gasps or giggles escape and I have to accept something or risk either having to carry home a large piece of furniture or insulting my host.
LuLu shares my delight in these slippers and wishes Selma joy, happiness and success with every step she takes.

Bad slipper!

2008-04-29T12:53:00.005-04:00

Here is my Achilles' Heel.
Right now this slipper looks like a slug that crawled over a psychotropic fungi.
I did not think as I did this. I just did. And since I've been doing a lot of knitting in garter, I somehow forgot that plain knitting has more rows than stitches. Garter is more or less the same number of rows as stitches.
See that silly curl?
I could pretend that I wanted the slipper to have the Aladdin look.
However, it is not what I want. So these will be ripped back and re-heeled.
And I will be taking more stitches from the sides, a ratio of 3:4, as I knit up the heel back.

The Swift & Winder

2008-04-27T18:42:00.002-04:00

If I could open a bar for knitters, spinners & weavers, it would be called The Swift & Winder.
And there would be a wooden table with a good swift and winder set up.
No billiards.
Good lighting.
A bar that serves drinks of quality, with and without alcohol, and a kitchen which serves suitable fare.
No cigarettes. Knitting needles and bits of kit as necessary. Perhaps skeins of handspun behind the bar. Like a movable gallery. Or a mutable one. Maybe from time to time a skein that was taken away will come back as a piece of art. And treasured as such.

The Much Better Way

2008-04-26T23:28:00.005-04:00

I think Linda and I are entitled to say that we really went on a
Stash Enhancement eXpedition eXtraordinaire.
At midnight last night the Toronto Transit Commission went on strike. We were planning to take the TTC up and across town to the site of the Knitters' Frolic today. We had enrolled in "educational" workshops, so we HAD to go. A cab was out of the question. Way too much money would be spent on taxi fare that could be spent on lovely yarn. So we biked.
The weather favoured us, never raining even one forecasted drop. We had a bit of head wind coming home and I suppose knowing that we had to carry all our spoils on bikes might have resulted in some restraint on our parts. Well, Linda did pretty well as far as not getting toooooo much, can't say as I did. But the ride was pretty nice, easily 26 kms there and back, which is not a huge distance at all but there were some hills and for both of us this was probably the longest ride since the fall.
We did a short cut/detour through the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, stopping to say hello to some of Linda's relatives and William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Taking advantage of the TTC strike, we rode on along the raised street car tracks on St.Clair. It was like a deluxe bike lane. With our lovely new yarns stuffed into bags and strapped to our bikes it was really the Much Better Way.

Mr. Edison's Ear

2008-04-25T23:28:00.004-04:00

Got to see a couple of films at the Hot Docs festival today. All of them left an impression. I think documentaries tend to do that. One of the short films was particularly poignant for me. Mr. Edison's Ear was a collage of largely archival footage which somehow managed to convey Edison as a complex being and underscore the impact of emerging technologies at the same time. Technologies that have shaped our lives and world, that seek to capture such essential ephemera as sound and motion. And it did so poetically. The filmmaker, Francisca Duran, chose a really unsettling sequence to close the film, the execution by electrocution of Topsy a 'dangerous' elephant in 1903. In the Q&A after the screening she explained that Edison chose that event to document because he was trying to prove the superiority of DC current and elephants are big animals. It was dramatic. She chose it because she felt it carried a lot of layers of meaning and one of the main ones was "at what cost all this technology?".

Slip-dash

2008-04-24T09:25:00.002-04:00

Four little slippers from the Aegean coast of Turkey.

I got them over a period of many years, starting in 1989!

They all use the same basic construction from toe up. The toe cast on is quite wide and creates a rounder toe than the Sivas socks and slippers. All the detail is at the toe and ball of foot. When divided for the foot opening, the knitters switch to garter stitch. A simple heel is turned. You can see that they are not very durable. The relatively loose gauge makes them soft. The white yarn is usually a homespun while the coloured yarns are anything, often commercially made and often acrylic. The gauge is around 6 stitches to the inch, depending on the slipper.
A nice way to use up bits of yarn?

Must dash.

Flippin' hems

2008-04-23T12:26:00.004-04:00

I hope three times is the charm, because I am making two Debbie Bliss Classic Baby Cardigans for my wee nieces JoJo & Clara in Potsdam and I hope that what I learn from the first one will make the second one go faster. It's the hem. I didn't really like the way it looked in garter stitch which is what the pattern calls for. So I ripped it up and did a turned hem.
I am not happy with this. It flips.
I used smaller needles.
I did a nice purl row to define the hem.
I thought I carefully counted the rows before knitting the hem to the body.
I did something wrong.
And you know how suddenly you notice something and -boom- it's everywhere. So it is with this hem. Knitting Daily did a posting on the turned hem. If only it had come out before I cast on. I am going to CUT just above the hem and knit a new one down. I just want to finish the rest of the sweater so I don't run out of the green in an unfortunate spot.

Oh well.

This is what I have learned.
1) Do a swatch. Dr. Knit (Denise Powell from DKC) gently pointed out that this would have saved me a great deal of time. She also suggested casting on 5% fewer stitches to allow for the thickness of the fabric. Thank you, Denise for not laughing at me.
2)Use a provisional cast on. I can pick up stitches from a cast on edge with little or no hassle so it did not occur to me to do otherwise. It might have helped.
3) Think!!!

Manufacturing Landscapes

2008-04-22T12:06:00.001-04:00

The Hot Docs film festival in underway. I think if the weather were rainier I'd be more inclined to see movies in the middle of the day. Today would be the perfect afternoon to while away in a theatre, overcast as it is.

Last Sunday I took the Boyfriend to see Manufactured Landscapes, a film about the work of photographer Ed Burtynsky as he travels to China to capture what he sees. The scale of human endeavour is staggering, as are the implications to human spirit and the environment. There is a sequence in the film where the camera focuses on a woman as she assembles switching boxes by hand. All the parts are pre-made, plastic, metal and what not. Her hands just fly, she says she assembles about 400 a day. Assembled by hand. Is it hand-made? What is the difference between what she does and what we do, with stitches and knots over and over again? Intention, largely. But it left me feeling both extremely fortunate that I can more or less decide what I make and when, and sad that so much of the world, so many humans are locked into a series of repetitious and unrewarding tasks. I wonder if the lady who assembles switches (or the one who wraps wire around a joint, or tests nozzles endlessly) allows her mind to wander. Do songs find her and sing themselves in her head?

How many hands made all the parts and pieces that make up my computer, and the electrical & telecommunications systems that supplies it. Staggering.

Almost as an antidote (and consumerism is a dangerous drug), I bought some Cestari yarn. "Manufacured Exclusively by the sheep and shepherds of Chester Farms". It smells like lanolin.

Foiled Photos!

2008-04-22T10:44:00.004-04:00

One beautiful day after another. Lots of knitting in hand and on because it's cooling off at night.
Last week I went to visit my new nephew's Mama (today's complicated parental relationships produce equally complex nomenclature for all involved). A beautiful day, like today, and we were going to sit out in Christa's yard and I was going to get her started on knitting. I filled a bag up with various bits of this and that, some acrylic, some wool, some merino & silk, and a selection of old needles so that if Christa's two-year old goes on a rampage of destruction, at least she will just bend up some metal as opposed to snapping wood. I put in my newly finished sweater for my wee nephew Austin, the ends finally darned in. I didn't take a picture of it because I tossed my camera into the bag, too, thinking that with the lovely sunshine AND with my little nephew as model, I'd have a delightful photo op.

When I got there, my wee nephew and his older sister were sporting sweaters that I had made for my older nephew Lokesh. His Mama Anne (today's complicated parental relationships continue to produce equally complex nomenclature for all involved) had generously passed them on to Christa for her little ones. You don't how happy it makes a knitter feel to see a child's sweater passed along. A lot of work goes into them, and you just KNOW that the child is going to grow out of it sooner rather than later so to see the garments move through family and friends is a special kind of joy. Rather like planting a tree. (Happy Earth Day, by the way).

We got settled in the yard and I pulled out my camera.
The batteries were dead.
Sigh.

Well, there will be other sunny days and the weather is such that the kids will be in sweaters.

Later that evening, at the DKC meeting
(Veronik Avery graced us with her presence - what a fine, fine knitter, designer & artist!)
when sitting with Linda & Reet and chatting about what was on our needles,
I had my lovely baby cardigans started for the wee nieces in Germany,
when Suzanne turned, looked baffled, and wordlessly communicated,
"Knitting for babies? but they just grow out of it!"
I was able to effuse about the wonders of seeing the little sweaters all over again,
scooting around in the grass,
dozing in the sun,
playing in the park.
With the little people in them of course!

When all else fails - felt?

2008-04-06T23:27:00.005-04:00

Far from perfect. No where near art. Craft barely applies. Yet they are functional.ExpenSive Felted $lipper$ !!
Shrunk about 30 % in the washer. No dryer - that would have resulted in slippers for the Boyfriend's niece and the colours are no longer bright enough for that. A good lesson in humility. Second pair of slippers, ala turka, from the much maligned Fleece Artist Country Mohair just need finishing touches. Hereby launch this week as knitting finishing touches week.

Bit too much Viognier at dinner (but nice work if you can get it!)
(erm I mean wine) (and I don't usually get too enthusiastic about white).

Had a wonderful thought walk in the woods up on the Niagara E scarpment. Much melting snow causing chilly swamps but life bursting all over. Waterfalls to set the soul to singing. Little bits of brave green soaking up the warm April sun. Gorgeous ruddy fungi. And closer to home the willows around Grenadier Pond are that harbinger yellow. Spring!

Didn't bring my camera so must rely on Boyfriend getting around to downloading his snaps. I will not hold my breath. Neither should you. Breath deep. The frozen earth is releasing the seeds of promise.

Slippers - Sivas style

2008-04-05T14:10:00.009-04:00

The gallery of Turkish slippers continues with two pair today.

These blue & white slippers were given to me by a friend in Istanbul who said she got them at the outdoor market in Kasimpasa. If you are looking for handicrafts in Turkey and can find out when the neighborhood "pazar" is, you can often find handknit items, oya/crochet edged scarves and that sort of thing. Depending on the demographic of the neighborhood, you can find regional crafts. I am not sure that these slippers are from the Sivas region of Turkey but they are very much like Sivas slippers.
They are probably acrylic or maybe a wool acrylic blend, about 20% wool, 80% acrylic is fairly common. The gauge is 7 & 1/4 stitches to the inch.

The pink and blue pair are from Sivas or nearby. I bought them in wool shop in the Besiktas neighbourhood of Istanbul a few years ago. The shopkeeper told me that her brother was getting the village women to make them. They were expensive by Turkish standards, I don't remember exactly but they were probably double what the market slippers usually cost. They are very beautifully made and are in fact at least two times as nice as any market slipper I've come across so certainly worth the extra cost. The gauge is 9 stitches to the inch. Again, it's hard to say what the exact content of the yarn is, probably acrylic with some wool.

At the time, I bought two pairs of slippers and some little bags. The other pair of slippers was scooped up by Megan at Lettuce Knit. I went back to the Besiktas woolshop a few months ago and the lady who was minding it told me that any of the remaining socks and bags in the shop were not for sale. I'll try again on my next trip because I don't think she was the lady I spoke with before. I'd really like to encourage the enterprise. Also I'll photograph the bags. I think they are really well made.

I wish I had some older slippers left. Socks often survive longer because many socks were made for special purposes or as part of a dowry etc. Also I've noticed that a lot of the very traditional socks don't fit feet all that well. Slippers are made to be worn and consequently get worn out and replaced.

I used these two pair as a models for the nearly finished slippers - just have to tidy up the ends - but I am mystified. The heels here are turned so neatly and mine are close to disaster. Almost the the point where I might rip them out and try again. If I could figure out what I did wrong. I KNOW that stocking stitch is longer than it is wide, so the fact that my heels are too long makes sense. Hmmm. Think I need to really look at these and count rows & stitches. Enought for today.

ankara corabi - the ankara sock

2008-04-02T13:48:00.009-04:00

If I could figure out how to put music on this page as it loaded, I'd program Erkin Koray's Ankara Sokaklari....

This is one of two pairs of socks that I have that are more or less identical. Both were given to me about 15 years ago. They are truly lovely.
They are called Ankara socks in Turkey because they are made in and around Ankara using the fiber that got it's name from goats that are raised there: angora or mohair. In Turkish they call the fiber tiftik. Both pairs appear to be made from handspun yarn and are the same pattern, a variant on feather and fan or shell stitch. They are made from the toe up. The plain knitting on the toe and on the soul uses a twisted stitch. Actually this twisted stitch seems to be used throughout, even in the patterned areas. Averages about 9 & half stitches to the inch on the stocking stitch areas.

I've worn them a lot and they all have holes now, so they are languishing in the darning pile at the moment.
I thought when I was first given them that they would be scratchy but they are not. And they are very warm for their weight.

I got some Turkish sock yarn in Istanbul a couple of trips ago, from the RAM company I'm pretty sure. It is an acrylic/tiftik blend. Primarily so that I could repair these with something close to their original (I think the only place you could get handspun was from the village woman who spin it...) I also thought it might make a nice shawl and yes maybe one day I will try the Ankara sock itself.

slipper o' the day

2008-04-01T14:26:00.005-04:00

I got these slippers from my friend Suze Stentz who, with her partner Richie, travels to Bulgaria every year to seek out folk art and music. Back in the US, they set up a traveling peddler's caravan and they go to all sorts of folk and craft events - look for them if you are into that sort of thing. OPET.

Suze and I often commiserate on what Americanski will and will not buy. Various bags and pouches seem a hard sell - although they are often of exquisite workmanship and potentially practical. And slippers. Maybe because Richie & Suze are based in North Carolina that they find the slipper buying public scarce but I find the same farther north. Well, them's that like 'em do.
One problem actually is that they are often made for smaller feet than your typical North American. ANYWAY.

I love this pair.
They are very simple but well crafted from a lovely loose handspun. I think the foot bed is made first & joined along the sole. The toe section is picked up and knit in the round with decreases every ridge. They suffered some moth damage a few years ago (not at my house!!!).
I have some scrap Lopi set aside to try and replicate them. One of these days.

Blast it is blustery today - but I'm still going to bike to the divine Yarn Harlot's book launch! Must be "the" knitters of Toronto event of the year.

You're Welcome!!!

2008-03-31T13:01:00.003-04:00

Hi Brenna,

Here's a very cute picture of Chloe wrapped in the now famous 'Brenna blanket'...............
Much love, Polly

n.b. and she already has her own website!
http://chloeferber.com/

Slippery busy-ness

2008-03-30T19:41:00.015-04:00

The world can be divided into two types of people.
Those who, like me, think slippers are great.
And those, like my friend Linda who says quite candidly,
"If you are thinking of giving me a gift of slippers...don't"

I don't think I'm that bad - but perhaps I have shown some signs of obsession which could be mistaken for possession. Maybe I talk about slippers more than I realize, a sort of Tourette's of the tootsies.

Could be. I do have a small collection of them.
I do like giving them to people.
And you know, some GUYS really like them and often drop hints that they would like a pair of comfy slippers like *insert aged female relative's name here* made them. Much less stress and trauma than a sweater! Of course, most guys are still not going to wear garish pink and blue slippers but you might be able to venture into a little pattern work or more than one colour that is not a shade of grey. Maybe.

Here are some things that I have learned about slippers. They are:
1) much maligned and often under-appreciated
2) a great source of knitting & creative satisfaction
3) as simple or as complex as you care to make them
4) a great opportunity to practice techniques like pattern work
5) an ideal way to use up left over bits of yarn and elements of your collection (aka stash)
that are languishing due to lack of inspiration.
6) small and portable (like socks - which means they also, alas, carry the curse of the second slipper syndrome)
&
7) you can often find an appreciative foot to wear them.

After I severely mistreated the Fleece Artist Country Mohair, I felt a little (but really only just a very little) guilty. The yarn is nice. I did buy it for the colours. But the slippers I ended up making with it were, well, kinda crappy. They are in the washing machine right now. Hmm I wonder how they felted this time. Anyway. I kept thinking that there had to be a better way.
I was at Romni Wools buying some Lopi-like yarns to do some repair work on more of Boyfriend's moth eaten sweaters. And when I got the yarns home and put them down, by chance, next to the Country Mohair, they clicked. A navy blue looked GREAT with the wild colours of the CM, and the weights were compatible. Okay, I thought, you two look like you go together, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel. And besides I should be finishing up a baby sweater for my nephew and starting on my twin nieces cardigans AND doing a lot of busy work and email and practicing and detail dribbling and copy writing and translation and basically anything BUT starting another, more or less unnecessary, knitting project. No stumbling around in the dark. I have to find the right pattern or template for this.

It is right under my nose of course. THEY are right under my nose.
Kenan Ozbel's Turkish Sock Patterns, Fancy Feet by Anna Zilboorg and my collection of slippers from Turkey and Bulgaria - if there is not enough information there to lead me in the right direction, I don't know where I'm going to find it.

Here's the first slipper, using the Turcoman's Earring motif from Anna Zilboorg's book. This is on a MUCH larger scale than anything else so rather than several repeats, there is just one.
This is before I ripped it back to the central medallion because I hadn't centered the ankle opening correctly and, after looking at the real slippers, I noticed there were better ways to do the edges. The bottom, pictured below, is more or less the same. I wanted to make the soles as thick and solid as I could. I have made slippers before and worn homemade slippers for years and they will get holes, so the sturdier the sole, the better.

(ooo bad bumper sticker: Slipper knitters are full of sole...)

I have yet to master the art of digital photos that are true to the natural colours - the yarns are more vibrant than appear here.

Since I am only looking to the books & models for Guidance and not a Pattern, I am currently working on getting the second slipper to more or less correspond with the first.
Slight consolation is taken from examining the "real" things and noticing that they are not always precisely, exactly the same. Part of the their charm I daresay.

Best part: the shoe fits the Boyfriend and while at first he said, "Those are pretty wild colours...I don't know B..." After about 5 seconds on his foot he wanted to know when its mate would be done.

Now, I want to see what happened to the original Ex$pn$ive $lipper$. Down to the washing machine.......

PS. the photo at the very top is one of my favorite slippers from the Aegean region of Turkey. The gauge is fine - at least 11 sts to the inch, while what I'm doing is more like 3.5 to the inch. A slipper gallery coming soon!

Oli

2008-03-25T11:21:00.004-04:00

I tossed several balls of interestingly coloured yarns into my bag. Hmm, is this too pink? How about purple? Greens? Grabbed a hat fresh off the needles, and a colourful scarf. Into the tote they went. "I was going to ask Oli if he'd like a hat," I said as my boyfriend waited for me to be ready to actually leave the house, "Do you think he'd like one?"
"Yeah, I think he'd love one. That's a great idea. Here, this ball looks like Oli colours...".
"The green one? Yeah, the hat I'm wearing's made of that, so we can show this to him. What else?"
And so we pulled a few more balls off the pine shelf (and I cannot ooze enough joy at having my yarns on display like this...)
And went to visit with Oli at the hospital.

Oli, known in some circles as the world's tallest free standing fiddle player, is a damn fine musician and he has been coping with leukemia and its various treatments for some months now. In and out of the hospital. Lots of hope, then something happens and the hope is on hold and more tests and treatments and considering grim options. It is not a good time. At least not for most people. But Oli is somehow making the best of it. And friends and well wishers come from across Canada and beyond to send messages and visit with him when they can. Last night his dear friend Kate and his students Emilyn and Jaron turned the sterile hospital cubicle into a music room. There were fiddles and a keyboard set up, you might have mistaken all the tubes and monitors for cables and studio gear.
"We've been officially told to shut up," said Oli. The sounds were traveling beyond the room and, this being a cancer treatment ward, not all the patients were up to the sounds of merry making. Em and Kate had gone out for food so we chatted with Jaron who was just back from six months studying Indian violin in Chennai and Varanesi. I should add that Emilyn and Jaron are from B.C., and haven't missed an opportunity to come and see Oli in Toronto, their teacher and mentor of sorts. It's really lovely. Emilyn and another student of Oli's, Chelsea, revived one of Oli's projects, The Twisted String, and brought about 18 young fiddlers all the way from British Columbia to Toronto to play at a benefit for Oli at Hugh's Room last month. (Hugh's Room - you can bring your knitting but sometimes the lighting is really bad).
So we were chatting and Oliver was drifting in and out of the conversation and suddenly he said, "That's a great green hat."
"Perfect segue," laughed my Boyfriend.
"See, I just happen to have this bag of yarn here..."
Maybe you can already guess what happened.
I could easily have sold this hat 10 times over and given it away 20 times. It is a particular shade of green. Very fresh, very rich, very alive I think. And longish winters seem to bring out a strong longing for green.
I pulled it off my head and tossed it to Oli to try.
It's his hat now.

My head felt a little cold on the way home. But I felt warm.
And the green hat looked vibrant with a lovely orange shawl that Oli had on his bed.

Green & Orange.
Full of life.....

Gratitude

2008-03-14T12:43:00.005-04:00

It is good to think of things that are good when much around you seems daunting.
When it seems like there there too many decisions, too many chores & too many deadlines looming, the ol' count your blessings adage is a good one to put into play.

I have a lot to do today, but I'm stealing a bit of time from myself to remind me what I can be positive about in life. This is beyond the stable of good friends and family who support me and endure me through my craziness. They require a whole world of ever swirling sparkling love and thanks that simply cannot be quantified.

*pause*

In that moment I let all the good things flood in, Rob Brezny Pronoia -style.
The walks in the woods, the books to read, songs to sing & music to listen to, the yarn to knit, the places to do it, the friends and loved ones to do it with, swifts and ballwinders, coffee and good chocolate, lemon infused olive oil & balsamic vinegar, the process ... really, "mustn't grumble".

But I have to share this:

brenna you are going to need deknitting therapy soon.
knitting addict in german is strichtsucht
when in doubt wear black for the diva gig. i doubt any one expects you to be a diva. just a good singer.
xoxh

Okay, now I am most grateful for the sartorial advice from my most fashionable sister.
And okay, I can see how some one might think I knit too much. But therapy??
Hmm, well, thanks for the advice sis - and glad you like the wrist warmers I made at your request to match the KidSilkHaze shawl I made to your specifications for your wedding outfit.
*insert image of maniacally grinning idiot here

And I am grateful for the prod to stop worrying about the surface and take care of the foundation. Must close the computer, hide the sticks and string and enter the joy of practice for a while.
And feel warmly grateful that I have the place and time to do it.

Expen$ive Le$$ons

2008-03-07T11:27:00.009-05:00

I think the day I stop learning things, is the day I stop breathing but I wish I could learn a few things faster. As a friend quipped to me after an airport mishap that cost me close to 500$ (pesky 24-hour clock - who would think the flight was really at 3 am??!),

"Tuition for the School of Life is very high, and you've just learned an expensive lesson."

I take some consolation that lessons from knitting are not quite so costly - at least not individually. The collective cost of yarn as yet unused, perhaps purchased rashly, and the associated guilt can take their toll but generally errors in knitting can be resolved by ripping the thing out and starting over. How many things in life have that advantage?

So, to the slippers,
whoops that's
$lipper$.
I made a second $lipper to match the first. More or less.

Le$$on 1: I actually love mohair and I know it sheds. I have a black mohair bolero that I made from a fine Italian yarn 15 years ago. It still sheds. Mohair sheds. Period. Leaves fall off of maple trees in the autumn, mohair sheds. How can I be upset with a yarn for shedding if that is in its job description? Working with the yarn I began to remember why I love mohair. It has a unique silkiness and a warmth. It is animal. Maybe that was the problem with this yarn. Maybe the colours weren't animal enough (unless you are in fact a tropical fish or the snout of a baboon). Maybe if it looked animal, I wouldn't mind the fuzzies. I meditated on that.

Le$$on Two: When fulling or felting, consider the colourfastness of the dyes.
Which I did not.
Once $lipper number 2 was finished, I decided that a little tightening up of the fabric was in order. They might shrink to be too small for me, but that was okay. In a shoes off household, a good supply of slippers in many sizes is only hospitable. I tossed them in a pot of boiling water - going for the old stove-top method. Away they burbled. I took a break from researching grants and tour proposals to give it a good poke and vigorous stir every 10 minutes or so. Hey, what's this? The water is sure getting murky. Hmm I guess a bit of the dye is being released, well, that's okay. They are $lipper$ after all. Fibres are coming up, but gee they don't seem to be getting any denser. Oh well, let 'em percolate a little longer. Hey now that's funny, the water is getting clear again. How long have they been bubbling? Nearly two hours. Okay time for the cold water plunge. Ugh. In spite of the loose knit, in spite of the fact that mohair will mat, very little shrinkage. Loads of fluff (especially on the garter stitch sole which turns out to be good for dusting the floor). And the colours? zapped, blanded, made mud. They are actually not bad. Maybe they are even looking a little animal (if you happen to be a fox with a penchant for muted Manic Panic), but the rich Fleece Artist hues have been browned over. I think the reds must of leached out of then back into the yarn with the heat. The blue is gone! I can't call them clown feet anymore. But I did clown around a lot while making them.

Le$on Three: This is actually a revelation. You can revere a fibre too much. Perhaps it is because when I first learned to knit, I had basically no money. I loved wool and angora and mohair but I put it on a bit of a pedestal. I questioned my worthiness to even touch things with silk & cashmere in them. I bought wool whenever I could and used every little bit of it. I have little balls of leftover wool from the first sweaters I made. That was 22 years ago. I still like to use my fibre like that. Even if it did grow on trees (like rayon, bamboo & banana silk), it has been through the mill (literally) and a great deal of energy (oil) has gone into its growth, manufacture and distribution. Dyeing it can add more chemicals to the environment, and lets meditate for a moment on sheep, goats and other ungluates. There is the whole issue of methane emitted by the sheep, not to mention what grazing does to the landscape. Goats have had a HUGE impact wherever they are raised in any numbers. Okay, so we can credit them for turning us on to coffee and I love them for that and their sheer goat-iness but really, they are hard on the planet. And then there are things like water contaminated by manure, antibiotics & pesticides & chemicals used to clean and treat the fleece etc etc. Yup, wool and fibre are to be respected and used judiciously. Unless you are raising your own animals for fleece and spinning it, or buying it from your neighbours, you are partaking of an industrial product at some level or another. And if you've seen the amount of skilled labour and hours it takes to go from "sheep to shawl", you know that it is not a substance to be squandered.

But you still have to have fun and be creative and create lovely things.
Yet I can't bring myself to make silk gift bags. Or cashmere cat beds.
& what do you do when good yarns go bad? Its a dilemma - and one must try to strike a balance.

I realized that my $lipper$ were cathartic. I actually LAUGHED when I cast on to make mohair slippers, and giggled when I discovered I had no plan or gauge swatch. I realized that I have been hoarding and waiting on quite a bit of yarn because I am a little afraid of it. I fell in love with it enough to buy it, and since I'm usually between jobs that means I probably overextended myself to get it. I don't want to make something ugly and ill fitting with it. It might happen. I have certainly committed more than my fair share of knitting disasters. BUT, I can probably rip it out, start again & learn something in the process. And I am so lucky that I have a really nice collection of yarn to play with and explore. (And this is just part of it!)Co$t of this le$$on? 2/3 of a skein, that's 20 dollars, and a couple of hours of knitting.
What to do with the remaining yarn? Make more slippers using a real template? Pass it on to someone else?

As yet undecided. But I have miles to knit before I sleep.....

Ex$pen$ive $lipper$

2008-02-27T18:00:00.012-05:00

A few years ago I wandered into the Wool Mill in Toronto.
It was early in the spring & I was in the mulligrumps - hated school, had all sorts of exams and deadlines, flat broke, lots of bad news on the horizon sort of day. Not really the best of all days to go into a yarn store but I think I was probably intending to get some sock needles. Something innocent. Harmless (unless provoked). Not Expensive.

But because I was blue, I was weak.

The Wool Mill has a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
The "that" was Fleece Artisit "Country Mohair".

It was glowing in the afternoon sunlight,
sheening skeins and the slight halo that suggested softness
seducing you to touch its slinky silkiness,
looking like coiled serpents. They slithered to the touch,
slipping across my fingers, freshly dyed
and with a cool dampness and the slightly acid smell of vinegar.
It could have held out an apple.

My senses must have departed me because I bought not one
but two skeins. At thrity dollars each. Plus applicable sales tax.

At home, I draped the rainbows over my bookshelf.
So that I could admire the riot of colours.
One day, when the exams were done, the days were warmer but the nights still cool,
I took courage and wound up a skein into a ball.
I played with it, to see if it would "talk" to me,
because I didn't have a specific pattern in mind.
A shawl or a wrap?
I didn't like the way the colours fell, I couldn't get the rhythm of them.
Different stitches only succeeded in looking chaotic.
I put it away.

It left wisps of mohair everywhere.

Months passed.
I took it out again. Maybe it needed a friend?
I pulled out some other yarns.
I played with different solids, different textures to complement the shades.
It seemed to overpower everything
& it left wisps of mohair everywhere.
I put it away.

Months passed.
It would haunt me every time I brushed past it.
Taunting me, it would say, "You don't know what to do with me, do you?"
I began to suspect I had made an error in judgment.
Could I use it to make mittens?
If only the fibres didn't come off so easily.
Funny I should be bothered by that,
because I frequently am adorned with a dusting of cat hair.
I should just give it away - someone else can figure it out.
But it is so silky soft, so rich in hue,
and I paid sixty dollars for it.
It humiliated me.

Years past.
I checked the Fleece Artist website,
maybe there was a pattern for it.
The yarn was discontinued.
Somehow, that did not surprise me.
And then I read this:
Mohair Minisweater Monstrosity

I am not the only person on the planet who thinks this yarn is a pain in the bum!!
Cyn at Half-Asssed Knit Blog has inspired me to give this yarn what it deserves.
It must be walked upon, trodden, dominated, subdued.
It is soft. It is colourful.
It is heavy and it sheds like a bitch.
I don't think it is a particularly versatile yarn, EXCEPT it will keep feet warm. It can do that. And polish the floors at the same time. Part of me SCREAMs that something so expensive & fine as mohair should be treated this way, but this is no ordinary mohair. Oh yeah, verily, redemption is at hand. Or Foot.

Ex$pen$ive $lipperr$!!!

The colourway reminds me of something...hmm... tie-dyed t-shirts and outdoor music festivals. Like, Cosmic, whoa. The photos don't do it's primary psychedelic wow-ness justice. I have to make another one to match. And I will still have more than a skein left. The colours almost tricked me into making a hat. But I know it will generously scatter fibre on the neck and shoulders of the hapless person who dares to wear it. No, more slippers, ex$pen$ive $lipper$....

And just maybe I'll full them.

Evil Moth Bastards - Part 2

2008-02-25T19:17:00.011-05:00

Evil Moth Bastards
Part 2 - The Uneasy Truce

(Sorry these Evil Moth Bastard posts are so long. I have a lot to say about them it seems.)

After much clean up.
After much sorting through and getting ridding of some seriously useless and outdated, umm, junk.
After finding not just one but several evil moth bastard lairs.
You can breath a little easier, but only just a little. Because they will come back.
You can’t possible get them all. Their nasty eggs are lurking, just beyond the suction power of your vacuum, or in that wool hat that came out of the car trunk (finally) in June.

Moth eggs, I was very sad to learn, can remain dormant for quite some time and will hatch several weeks to months later, when the insidious critter senses that its conditions for life can be met. Not unlike cockroaches. Blech, or as I like to say, Blattes. But you can keep on top of them. You can make it very hard for them to re-establish themselves in your home.

Here are some things that I have found helpful.

Moth traps.
These are kind of ugly looking paper boxes with a gluey coating inside and some sort of little disk or pad soaked with Scent of Female Moth. Moth traps don’t eliminate the evil bastards, but they help you get on top & keep on top of them without resorting to harsh chemicals. All they do is attract the males who once inside the trap get stuck and fail to knock up any females. No more eggs, no more larvae, no more evil moth bastards. The lures last for a few weeks to a few months. Some types of traps sell extra lures, because the adhesive remains sticky for longer than the lure works. There are two kinds of commercially available moth traps for indoors. The difference in them is the kind of pheromone lure inside, which is prepared for either “food” moths (Indian Meal Moth - Plodia interpunctella) or “clothes” moths (Tineola bisselliella & Tinea pellionella). Get both kinds. Seriously.

Get one food trap for your kitchen and if you have a rec room or other spot that has soft furnishings AND where members of your family habitually snack, get one for there, too. If you have dogs or cats and store their food in a location different from yours, get one for that spot too. Why? Peace of mind. They are non-toxic and will help you identify an evil moth bastard (clothes moth) from an icky food moth quickly. If you have food moth lures in an area where you still see moths flying around AND you aren’t finding any food moths in the trap then either your lure has pooped out or you have evil moth bastards flying around looking for a nice place to lay their eggs. (That wool tea cozy in the back of the drawer perhaps?).

For the clothes moths get several. I have two in the bedroom (one inside the closet and one out), one in the living room, one near my yarn collection, and another in a corner of the house that had a lot of moths flying around when I first moved in. They have all trapped moths. At one point I though the lures must have been duds because I wasn’t trapping any EMBs, but then suddenly - whammo - there must have been a hatching cycle because there were nearly a dozen. I did a yarn & fabric investigation, found a few dead moths (females?) but my collection was all okay. Thank you, moth traps.

You can get moth traps at Home Hardware, Grassroots (a Toronto natural products store), garden centres, pest control places, museum supply places etc. Check the web and see what is near you. Many places sell the food moth traps, sometimes you have to look a bit farther for the clothes moth traps. The prices vary widely. I am due to get some more soon and I may try a couple of different brands.

Dust, Dark and Damp are friends of evil moth bastards.
I am hardly the world’s most ardent housekeeper. My mother gives me vacuums because she vacuums everyday. I kid you not. I vacuum when I see puffs of cat hair, or feel the grit or whatever. You get the picture. But evil moth bastards and other varmints that will eat your lovely fibres and textiles can live and breed in Dust and Lint. So you just have to clean from time to time. Especially if you have pets. Pets hair is super larvae food. Pet sleeping areas, especially.

You have to let the sunshine in when you can. Make your home less hospitable to them.
Take out things like blankets and large sweaters and turn them inside out so they get a good airing when the weather is good. Open the piano lid. There might be felt in there.

Did I mention that you have to watch your vacuum cleaner? If you are sucking up dust and lint and pet hair and human hair and other sources of moth nourishment and it sits there, quietly, in the dark, what do you suppose happens?? Do you know that they don’t seem particularly perturbed by the vacuum running??? If you have just done a major de-mothing, don’t keep that vacuum bag around too long. Toss it outside and seal it in something before you do. I have seen the vile moth larvae writhing in the vacuum cleaner bag. Don’t despair. Know you are winning. It is actually not that easy to suck up moth eggs as the females glue them down when they lay them. Evil moth bastards.

And this is why they can keep reappearing. Evolution has given them the “gift” of being very tough. So you could have eggs in your floorboards underneath the carpet, larvae munching on Fido fur-rich lint for months (or even years apparently) until they become moths and try to mate. They may skip all your lovely clothes and fibers for a while. Until you get cavalier and suddenly you have holes in your textiles and breaks in your yarn. Be vigilant.

And Dampness. Make sure your fibres are clean and thoroughly dry before you store them. If you do live in a damp environment, be extra vigilant for moths & larvae as they can multiply faster.

Storing your Things

I have a lot of yarn, not as much as some people but still it takes up a lot of space. I have nice textiles that I have gathered and interesting bits of this and that with silk and horse hair. I consider it all my collection. Some of it is collection to be further acted upon, like yarn and fabric, and some of it is collection to be enjoyed for its workmanship and/or inspirational value. I actually rather dislike that most of my yarn is not in view. So a few months ago, after inheriting a really gorgeous pine sideboard, I decided that it would be for yarn collection display.
My yarns can come out, and I can admire them and be inspired and awed and maybe even intimidated by them (ooooo silk). I thought that as one clutch of yarn got used, another could be released from the prison of zip lock bags and storage bins that we have all adopted to keep our goodies clean and safe. It’s getting there. I have a few other storage issues to contend with but it is getting there and I have to say, it is really helpful to really see what you have. I forget sometimes. And there is one of our, umm, problems. A surfeit of goodness. The yarn “stash”.

I know that non fibre people look on accumulations as a weakness, they don’t understand. But if you, like me, have ever forgotten about a yarn until you spy it again, well, do you really need to keep keeping it? Less to keep means less to care for. Fewer ugly plastic tubs. Fewer things to keep the moths away from. Sort of harsh I know and it is very very hard for me to practice what I preach but it has to be done. I hope to dig through my bins and bags every couple of months until I’m down to a more manageable level. I love my yarn, it inspires me, but I’m not a designer - I have to ask myself, “How much of this do I really need?”

So here comes the big question. What is the best way to store yarn.? I don’t know.
Re-sealable clear plastic bags work for me. And those big storage bins, preferably clear. I only used mothballs once. When I was going away for what ended up being five years. Mothballs sort of work, they can kill moths if used in enough concentration but they are also not good for people. My grandmothers and mother all used mothballs, the smell lingers forever. You have to air the items really well before using them. I think mothballs go under the drastic heading. And I have heard reports of naphthalene resistant larvae. I shudder to think.

Make sure the yarn is clean and dry - especially important if you dyed it.

Aromatics help keep evil moth bastards away. They don’t kill them at any stage.
Aromatics include oils of cedar, eucalyptus, lavender, sandalwood, rose, mint, cloves and the whole woods and herbs that produces these oils. Cedar oil is supposed to kill larvae on contact (yeah!!!!) but it must be strong and they need to get it on them, not just smell it. I use soap and incense. If someone gives me a nice gift bar of scented soap, I toss it in a yarn storage container or put it in with my sweaters, winter wear, blankets etc. When the item gets cycled around in season, I check the soap and put it in the bathroom if its scent is diminished and find something fresh to put in. I especially like sandalwood for this. I also grow aromatic geraniums which I dry and put in with nice fabrics and fibres.

Plastic is alright if you are using and moving your stuff around. Seasonal items at least get moved and checked once a year. If you really care about something, an heirloom shawl, quilt, sweater etc. that may spend a lot of time in storage, consider special boxes like they use in museums and archives. I love the Carr McLean catalog for this. If you have a few friends who are also trying to preserve some things maybe you can get together and put in an order. Notice they have special tissue for wrapping and acid free boxes. But that is really for serious stuff, with a serious price-tag. Talk to a textile conservator for the real skinny on heirloom pieces. Remember, if it's worth keeping , it's worth keeping well. I have never had anything adverse happen to my things in plastic. Just make sure no bag has printing on it that can rub off.

And don’t assume that because something is sealed in plastic it truly protects it. I had a mouse pillage some yarn for a nest, and she made a nice big whole in the bag for anything else to get in. People say that nasty larvae can chew through plastic bags. I have not seen that but I think it is possible. And if the seal is just a little weak, I’m sure they could figure that out. Still, I think plastic helps keep the buggers out.

Quarantine
I do isolate new things, especially if they are coming from somewhere that doesn’t have good storage practices. I buy stuff from the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and there are always moths flying around in there and so I don’t trust anything to be moth free. I seal items in zip locks and observe them carefully for a few weeks. A seemingly innocent, very clean looking, brand new, felted Christmas ornament from an women’s co-op in Uzbekistan proved to be the source of a nearly disastrous outbreak. The eggs must have been INSIDE the stuffed item, and the larvae were worming their way out - ugh. But because I had popped the item into a bag, I noticed the little bastards before they spread to anything else. And it was just one ornament out of several. It only takes one clutch of eggs to get them started.

Freezing
I’m not sure how well freezing really works. I have done it. I will do it again. I once spoke to a buyer for the Textile Museum and he said they freeze anything coming in to the museum as a precaution. I think he said they put them in the deep freeze for three weeks. That was about 8 years ago and I’m not sure if they still do that, I'll have to ask next time I'm over there. I left some Turkish socks in my freezer for months because I feared insidious moth eggs. Some people say it doesn’t work. And moths are tough. I’m sure it kills adults and larvae. It is certainly worth trying it for yarns. Obviously filling your freezer with sweaters is not going to go over well with people who think its for ice cubes and ice cream. So I have to wonder how practical it really is for most of us. If you live a climate where you get long really cold spells you could try leaving it in a shed or something but the temperature has to be really cold for a while. Most winters in Toronto aren't predictably cold like that.

Getting Drastic

Dry Ice
Never tried it. I wish that I had known about it because I think my Boyfriend would have enjoyed the process. I mean, dry ice, whoa. Research this well before you try it. You have to protect your hands, skin and make sure the cold bags don’t harm any surfaces they are placed on. You must use very heavy bags. You have to use the right amount of dry ice with the right amount of clothing/yarn. This worked for a friend of mine who didn’t want to dry clean. Since dry cleaning skeins of yarn is not usually done, this may be good option if you are trying to salvage a collection in peril. But use proper handling techniques!

Dry Cleaning
Often recommended for cleaning moth infested clothing. I consider it a last resort. By all reports it gets the eggs and kills ‘em dead. I would be very hesitant to subject fragile, rare or otherwise delicate things to most dry cleaners though. Ask around if you have something really precious that needs dry cleaning - there may be a place that specializes in the handling of super fine garments that costumiers and conservators could recommend. It will likely be more expensive than usual. I have never heard of anyone dry cleaning skeins.

Professional Pest Control
In my mind, a last resort. Your situation may require it. You may not have house pets who get into everything. There are a wide range of chemicals used to kill pests. Find out what the exterminator plans to use and research it. You will probably still have to do a major clean and inspection beforehand. So I figure, try and do it yourself without the chemicals and if you find that you are fighting a losing battle, then call in the big guns...but I think you can do it.

Not just moths.
Other things eat fibre. Mice and rodents. Odd Beetles. Carpet Beetles, If you are finding damage but no signs of moth you might have a different problem. Some of the measures you have to take are the same.

But there is hope.
I moved into a house with a serious moth problem, and less than a year later, there are far, far fewer of the evil things. My yarn is (knock wood) un-savaged, my rugs appear sound and my sweaters and knit items are whole. I can’t say the same for my Boyfriend’s things, he’s still finding holes. But maybe that’s because he hasn’t worn the things for three years? The above blah blah blah is all either from my experience or from that of my fibre and fabric loving friends. It is not really scientific. There is a lot of information out there on the internet about evil moth bastards and how to get rid of them. Do a little research. Get out the vacuum cleaner and banish them from your house.

This has been a very long public service announcement. Thank you. Have a nice, moth-free day.

Oscar for Best Knitter ;-)

2008-02-25T12:14:00.005-05:00

La Vie en Rose tells the life story of the great French Singer, Edith Piaf.
If you haven't seen it yet, you should.
Not only are the cinematography and art direction wonderful, Marion Cotillard is quite brilliant and deserved the Oscar.
Edith Piaf was a knitter!
There's a great scene in the movie where she appears on stage with a sweater with one sleeve missing - she couldn't finish it in time. And several times in the movie she appears knitting. My favourite sweater is the one she wears on the beach during her "rehab". I wonder if there is a pattern out there for that one.....

Ravelry is dangerous

2008-02-24T00:32:00.003-05:00

Worse than Solitaire 'til dawn no wait, WAY better than Solitaire 'til Dawn.
Just looking at all the projects, the skills, the creativity. It's inspiring.
The downside is I haven't been getting a lot of knitting done, or grant writing, or about 100 other 'shoulda' s I should be working on.

Here is a lovely example of Turkish Oya, in this case Igne Oyasi - or needle embroidery. Adds a little colour to these wintry days. All our snow has got that nasty grey, icy, dirty crust on it. Blech. These always remind me that spring is not far away.
.

Evil Moth Bastards - Part 1 Recognition & Eradication.

2008-02-20T15:57:00.004-05:00

Know your Enemy & Attack!

“Look,” said my Boyfriend, “Moths got this sweater, too. Can you fix it?”
It’s an awfully fine Italian knit.
“Do you have the little bit of yarn that came with the tag?”
*Blank look* “Umm...”
“Okay, I guess not. I don’t think I can do as well as I did last time. The repair will show. And it’s right in the middle of the front...”
“Maybe I should take it to a tailor??”
“Yeah, you might want to try that. I’m willing to give it a go, but it won’t be invisible”
“Do you think a tailor is going to do a better job than you?”
“Probably - they might have more thread to match with and more experience with fine knits.”
“But you saved my favourite sweater. If you do this one, you’ll at least care about it, nobody cares about their job anymore. Someone in a tailor shop is not going to care about my sweater. Maybe you should do it.”
“Well, yeah, sure, but I can’t promise that it will be perfect.”

This scene has been enacted a few times around our house. While our moth problem is currently under control, I still find holes appearing where they shouldn’t, usually in items that were exposed to the critters in the pre-eradication era. In my dear Boyfriend’s eyes, I have performed some nearly miraculous sweater repair. Really, not that miraculous - If the knit is straightforward, when you can find a bit of the original yarn and depending on the position and extent of the damage, you can do some pretty tidy repair jobs. Complicated stitches and patterns can ‘hide’ the patch, if there is a lot going on, the eye isn’t drawn right away to the damaged area so exact stitch-matching isn’t key.

But this blog entry wasn’t going to be about fixing holes, but about the nasty winged creatures that cause so many of them and are a threat to all your woolen garments, blankets, furnishings and yarn collection. (And let’s honour our hoard with the title “collection” - more on that in another ramble.)

The culprit is the larvae of several species of moths; Tineola bisselliella & Tinea pellionella being the most likely suspects. The larvae are able to convert the proteins found in natural animal fibres like wool, cashmere, silk & alpaca into food. They also enjoy feathers and fur, have been found to munch on wool/synthetic blends and some say even cotton! I don’t know about that, but I have seen the work they can do on a 50/50 blend and it is not pretty. They also like items that are soiled, stained & sweaty. I always thought that was because it was more food for them, and maybe it is, but it appears they also need the moisture that goes along with the stains. Some species of moths will go for human food in addition to clothing. They are not all exclusive fibre diners. They can do quite well in the lint, dust and pet hair that builds up in corners, cracks & crevices around the house. The evil clothing moths and their nasty little larvae generally keep in the dark. They are not attracted to lightbulbs like some of their other cousins. In fact, it is good to keep in mind that light is the moths’ enemy and therefore your friend.

Before I moved in with my Boyfriend last April, it was clear he had a “moth problem”.
This is not something to be treated by mothaholics anonymous, but requires patience, hard work & vigilance. And also the ability to ruthless dispense with items infested beyond reclamation. The nasties flew boldly around the the house, the erratic flutter more irritating than a mosquito in the tent at night. I had to question my sanity. I am going to move in with moths!? I must be out of my mind.... but the moths must go!!!
“I know I have a problem,” he’d say, “The only solution is to spray.”
“No! Don’t spray. We can get rid of them without spraying!”
“It sounds like a lot of work.”
“It is but we have to do it anyway. No point keeping stuff it you don’t keep it well, I always say.”

What follows here are the steps we took to make the house less moth-friendly without resorting to fumigation - which is what my Boyfriend wanted to do. Frankly, I don’t see that as anything but a short term solution. According to the pest control people, the fumigation wouldn’t be effective without a serious clean up which included getting rid of cardboard boxes. Well, ANY successful clean up or pest eradication programs requires that. There are so many chemicals bouncing around in our environment, why add more if you don’t really need to. Getting on top of the moth problem, getting ridding of the evil bastards AND keeping them out, often requires changes in habit and maybe even lifestyle. If you have lovely woolens and fabrics from your family & your travels and a treasured yarn collection - not to mention all the items you and your friends have lovingly created with it - a few changes are worth it.

Get Outta my House, Moth! (with apologies to the Shuffle Demons)

I may be a Magpie, but my Boyfriend is a Pack Rat. He has socks from when he was in high school which was about 30 years ago. They don’t fit, he doesn’t wear them. He has a hard time letting it go. Add to this, his propensity for acquire more stuff ( a habit we both have but his stuff is generally larger) and which he has no place to put. So it pools around in heaps and caches all over the place. Even though he had a cleaning lady come every other week to give the place a good dusting and once over with the vacuum cleaner, there is a limit to what a cleaning lady can do. Shifting piles of scrap metal, orphaned electronics and power tools heaped in the middle of the living room are not usually in the job description of most housekeepers. And the piles stay there, for weeks, for months, dare I even say it, for years? Can you see the picture here? Lots of clutter, hard to clean, piles of lint and dust growing in the clutter. Add to this the floorboards, which are gorgeous wood, but alas were installed too wet and some rather dramatic gaps have emerged. These are especially well suited to trapping more dust, lint (and pet hair) and resist the suction of the vacuum unless you are being really, um, fastidious ( I was going to use the ‘a’-word) about this and get out the special attachment and follow each and every groove in the floorboard to clean them.

Okay, so we have DUST. Dust is Bad. Dust-mites, fleas and evil moth bastards all like dust. Dust must go.

For various reasons, he keeps the blinds shut during the day - mostly because he’s a busy professional & gets up early, leaves the house soon thereafter and gets home late. Light doesn’t penetrate much of the area.

Okay, now we have DARK places. Too many dark places. Nasty moths like the dark, so we must let the sunshine in whenever we can.

Both my Boyfriend and I like to keep the humidity at a place we find comfortable. Unfortunately, this can make the moths happy. Yup DAMP is bad. If you live in a really dry house, you actually have something going for you in terms of moth control. That’s not to say you won’t get moths or that they can’t survive, but they need to work harder to get the moisture they need and will develop more slowly. Added to DARK and DUSTY, though, DAMP makes your home very attractive to moth colonies. (and I moved into this place!! I must like this guy :-)

Next, the stuff. Here is the tricky part. It is also the part that you have to do no matter what. You have to go through your stuff. All of it. Especially if it contains any parts edible to rapacious moth larvae. This can be more than clothes and yarn. Oh yes. Cat toys languishing behind a piece of furniture, an unused accordion or clarinet at the back of a cupboard, the inside of an old instrument case, a jewelry box, stuffed animals, shoulder bags, felt shoe inserts - all these things and many more can contain enough fibre for a colony of evil moths to get established. Daunting, isn’t it? But you have to take things one by one. Closet by closet. Item by item.

This was the thing my Boyfriend, being the pack rat that he is, had the hardest time with. It was hard. Really hard. We picked a nice sunny spring day and started with the clothes cupboards at the top of the house. We have a very convenient sun-deck which became a staging area. I pulled everything out of the main clothes cupboard. Everything. And put it on the deck. Then I vacuumed the heck out of the cupboard. Each item of clothing was inspected. Some progress was made in terms of passing things on. Any item with evidence of moth attack, holes or more especially, the various casings, was left out on the porch so that sun & wind could do their part.

Does sun help? Yes. If your the dyes on your fibres can take a little direct sun, it is a good thing. Sun also dries things out. Sun won't cure a bad infestation, but exposing your fibres to a gentle sunbath is good, if and only if the fibre & dye can handle it. A good airing out of direct sun is also not a bad thing.

Here’s a disgusting little side story. I was helping an old boyfriend clean out his place and when I tried to vacuum under the bed, I met with great resistance. I looked and there were dust creatures under there the size of gophers. And a big heap of stuff. I pulled out the stuff which was some pictures wrapped up for storage in a small wool rug crawling, I kid you not, crawling with moth larvae. Suppressing the gag reflex I put the whole pile straight outside on the path way. I separated the pictures from the rug. It was a nice sunny day. Ha-ha! I thought, the powerful sun will fry the horrible moth larvae. Kill, kill, kill. (This is not like me. I leave spiders where they are and mostly ask things to leave but moths, fleas and cockroaches are given harsher treatment). I went back into the house and became a vacuum freak worthy of my mother. Every corner. Opened up the clothes cupboard and found the musty sweaters & old suits from high school with moth damage etc. etc. Sorted the damaged from the good and organized into bags. Then went out to see if the rug was still in the sun. Wouldn’t want a tree to cast a shadow and reduce the potency of the sun’s death rays, would we? Nature is truly beautiful and wonderful and thinks of everything. There was an anthill near the rug. The ants were carrying away the larvae. It was a bit gruesome really, but they were terribly efficient about it. They were getting the larvae that were on top AND underneath. They came back for the eggs. By sundown, the rug was rid of moths. It had also been moth ridden and had big holes in it. When then boyfriend came home, I showed it to him. He sighed but we decided that the rug could live outside for his dog to flop on and that the pictures could be protected with something less interesting to moths. Moral of the side story: Nature is your friend. Ants are good.

Back to my house. Next we tackled the cardboard boxes, many of which had not been opened since he’d moved into the place 3 years earlier.
“But they’re fine! They are all taped shut!”
“That is not going to stop a moth”
More moth eaten things discovered. I won’t go into it but, as I mentioned, it’s not just clothing but many other items with protein rich materials that evil moth bastard larvae feast upon. And then we found IT. The mother lode, the tinaeoid piece de resistance, a beautiful Afghani saddle bag, you guessed it, crawling with larvae, laced with their webby casings and gritty with their excrement. Out, out, out.
“You can’t keep that.”
“But it’s so nice!”
“Was so nice. It’s been destroyed, they’ve weakened the whole structure. It is infested. It must stay outside.”
“Maybe it’s valuable”
“Not anymore. It has to stay outside until every trace of moth is gone.”
“Won’t more moths eat it.”
“No - clothes moths don’t like it outside in the sun.”
“What about at night?”
“Too cold for them yet. The saddle bag stays out.”

A few days later, the saddle bag was inside.
I took it and threw it over the side of the deck so it landed firmly in the back garden. If there were any ants waking up from their winter hibernation, I encouraged them to come out and and peruse the larvae bar.
“That has to stay outside - look, there are probably eggs all over it.”
“But it was going to get rained on and ruined.”
“I don’t think so. It is already ruined. Look at the holes.”
“I still think it’s too nice to throw away.”
“Well if you think so, take it and have it dry cleaned but it stays outside until then.”

A few days later I found it in the basement. Apparently a friend of my Boyfriend’s was over helping him do some work in the yard & thought it shouldn’t be left outside. It appears he was not briefed on the moth situation. I took the poor saddlebag out and left it under the stairs.
“If you think that saddlebag is nice enough to keep, then either have it dry cleaned or take to a carpet place and get their opinion on it. It was nice, but I don’t think it is especially old or valuable. It’s a liability now and it’s falling apart.”
“Yes,” he said with resignation.
It has gone. I don’t know where, but I don’t think he could hide it on me in the house, even with all those piles of gear and file boxes.

Hmm. Time flies.
There is more. Like how to keep on top of evil moth bastards and some dramatic ways to eliminate them.
But this post is loooooooong enough.

At a loss, or the needle in the toy box

2008-02-17T22:33:00.007-05:00

We all have them: little bags, pouches & boxes with our favourite & most necessary tools in them. And you don't know how much you rely on them till you misplace them.

I joined some friends up the street for a knitting afternoon & potluck. A few kids, lots of chit chat, good advice, catching up with old friends and some knitting. A scarf, a shawl, a baby jacket and a felted bag were the projects the knitters were working on. I had my little tool box out. I always keep it close at hand. And somehow, with the moving and shifting and making way for more folks, it vanished. I went to cut a thread and it wasn't there. I was in a kind of shock. I never lose it. It could have fallen behind a cushion on the couch, perhaps got kicked under another piece of furniture. Pull out the cushions, crouch down on the floor, go through the tote bag three times. Couldn't find it. Well, maybe I shouldn't be so attached. It'll turn up. The hostess promises to keep an eye out for it when she cleans up tomorrow. I hate to bother her. I feel like I'm making a bit too much of a fuss. She's got two young kids, a third on the way, her husbands away for two weeks and she has a big show coming up. She has more pressing things to worry about than my little box of knitting knick knacks.

There are toys everywhere. A little one could have picked my kit up when my back was turned, thinking it was an interesting, pretty little box. After all, it was green with a friendly looking bear making a pot of tea on it. It's just a freebie tin from a box of Celestial Seasonings tea....

And then I really started to worry. It's full of needles both sharp and blunt, folding scissors and pins and small things like stitch markers & a row counter that a toddler might try to munch on. So I mentioned to the hostess that it might be serious. We don't want to find a toddler fiddling with the box. Oh dear. Earlier one of the mums found she was short a needle. A 7mm needle. Hmmm. Is one of the kids starting a collection so he or she can knit with us? I'll show them how!

Walking home I was wrestling with the feeling of losing something that has almost been a charm to me, and the more unsettling feeling of what if some harm came to a child. My scissors were not just folding scissors. I keep a Leatherman micra as my main tool. I love my Leatherman, it comes in handy at picnics and while traveling. It opens letters and boxes as well as cutting yarn. It has tweezers and a ruler, screwdrivers, a bottle opener and a very sharp little knife. YIKES. Please let that box turn up somewhere harmless. And next time I go knit in a place with lots of kids running around, I will just bring the most innocuous scissors and bluntest needle I can find.

Justification for bringing your knitting bag to the restaurant.

2008-02-16T21:57:00.003-05:00

As I was leaving the house this evening I grabbed my knitting bag and tossed it on the back seat. Just in case we got stuck in a snow bank, or just in case the people we were meeting uptown for dinner got caught in a snow bank on the way to the restaurant.
My boyfriend picked up couple of bottles of nice wine to give our dinner guests (part of the thank-you package which included the meal). Of course, there was no bag to but them in. Boyfriend was so worried about being late that he hadn't thought ahead about this little point. I had brought a very restrained (small) bag as my purse. Boyfriend wasn't toting anything.

And then there was the knitting bag.

A big canvas tote with from 'dujoo' filled with lots of soft, cushy balls of yarn to protect the wine. GREAT! No worries about whether or not this was the sort of restaurant where a knitting bag might be tres gauche. It's a moot point. The bag is carrying a gift, the knitting just happens to be extra. The bag behaved nicely the whole meal. No balls of yarn were ejected at inopportune moments. Of course I wasn't going to relinquish the bag, so at the end of our very nice dinner M & E had to carry those naked bottles of wine out into the cold. Makes me think I ought to tuck a cloth bottle bag into my knitting kit for just such emergencies.

N.B. Photos are re-enactments and have been altered to protect the identity of the wine.

Wee things & more wee things.

2008-02-13T10:11:00.021-05:00

First, my sister Heather had twins in November....
and now.....
...the little "Wilde Childe" (first name to be determined) arrived 6 days ago. It's my brother Lex's second boy. And because I was so caught up in making two of everything for my sister's girls, I hadn't thought of what I was going to make this little human yet. And now he's here!

I think a Baby Surprise is in order and I've been eyeing my little hoarde of Dream in Colour... but...No, I think I'll use up some odds & ends of Lion Microspun. Yeah, it's not wool but I know it withstands baby barf and frequent washings. And at this age he's going to grow out of anything almost as fast I can make it. I'll save the Dream in Colour for a 1-2 year old sized thing.

Here are some photos from my sister of the wee girls at about 1 month.

I have no idea whether this is Josephine or Clara in the green, I think Clara, but she is almost fitting into a jacket of Microspun based on a pattern from one of my grandmother's old Patons books. I love using my Nanny's pattern books. I know if she were still alive she'd be cranking out the booties and sweaters so I feel like I'm doing it for her sometimes. Nanny would NEVER have used these outrageous colours, but she would have liked the yarn. For a synthetic it feels quite nice, it is very soft and forgiving. After a couple of washes the stitches really even out. I did one sweater on bamboo needles and the other with Addis. The Addis were much better, I thought. The plys can split apart as you knit the yarn, making it a bit annoying at times and because the yarn is quite slippery, the ends are evil and peak out again. Perhaps one day I will resort to clear nail polish or whatever it is that people use to 'glue' ends in. But I have rationalized that the odd end poking out there now and again subtly advertises the garment's hand-made quality. Ahem.

Jo-Jo, ( I think) in the lavender edition .

If you look at the label of the Lion Brand Microspun, it reads that it's made in Turkey. As I am fortunate enough to travel to Turkey every so often, I knew that if I had the time to poke around a little, I could probably find the Turkish equivalent on the market there. And a couple of years ago, I did. It goes by the name of Nako "Saten". Let's see, a 100gr ball in Turkey cost 1/2 of what a 50 gr ball cost in Canada. Deal. But I didn't go overboard. I did pick up a couple of balls of colours that Lion does not have in it's line, the deep burgundy & soft green that you see in these sweaters and a good supply of black. All the other shades are in the Lion Brand line.

Ahhh, one more while I'm on the topic of Microspun. Here's the Meg Swanson Baby Surprise Variation that I think was in Spring '07 Vogue Knitting.

I think the model might be Josephine. The colour combination reminds of a delicate little petit four.

Okay, must start more baby garments!!!

Meanwhile mitre-itis continues unabated, to which has been added chronic log cabin fever.
Noro, Noro, Noro!!!!

Scarf & Hat (& *sweater)

2008-02-11T19:43:00.000-05:00

Febrrrrruary is living up to it's reputation with one heck of a wind chill whipping around out there. I met my friend Omer Kardes Yukseker for brunch yesterday at the glacially slow Lakeview Lunch and he caught me de-layering as only a person who lives in a cold and windy climate can.

I am not trying to hang myself.
I like the cold & I like layers.
I mean, I don't mind the cold when I have layers.

I made the scarf 12 years ago when I was living in Istanbul. Yarn selection was limited to stuff with acrylic and I didn't have a lot of money anyway, so I started playing with leftover yarn & knit squares to make a sampler. I have yet to make a sampler because every time I start a square I get "ideas" and sort of run with them. (i.e. Hmm, what could I make out of this stitch, what would it look like in different yarns, what happens if a make a triangle etc.). I think one day I counted over 60 yarn changes in this scarf. That's 60 sets of ends to sew in. And dang, I must have been really on my finishing game the day I did that because the plague of re-emerging ends has yet to manifest itself after 12 years. Proof that it can be done. I have since made variations on this scarf, oh I don't know, a dozen times? That makes about a scarf a year. I'll try to round some up (most have gone as gifts), because no two are exactly alike. I get a lot of comments on it and lots of people have asked how it's done (ans: easy). So coming (probably not that soon) to a blog near you, The Lite-brite Scarf!

The hat is my favourite mindless hat. It is a short-row hat. All garter stitch. This one elicits a lot of positive feedback too - I think it is the colour. It's made from one ball of Lang "Tosca Degrade" yarn that I picked up in Germany when I was visiting my sister last fall. It's 55 wool/45 acrylic- not my usual preference but the colour (663.0203) was irresistable & it's holding up well. I find acrylics often have a special way of pilling & this hat has become somewhat fuzzy and I think will lean toward matting over time. It's not a mohair/cashmere/alpaca/wool bloom - it is fuzzy. I made my first of these hats about 6 or maybe 7 years ago for a friend who was undergoing cancer treatment. I wanted to make him something modern and mediaeval and soft all the same time. Since then I've probably made 20 of them in different yarns. I think they are easy and if you are comfortable with grafting techniques and picking up stitches, there is really not much to 'em. It's a lot of words to write out 'though & one day I will do it because people keep asking me. But don't hold your breath.

The delicate pink scarf is a Turkish Oyali Yazma. It is fine cotton, block printed with a floral pattern and then edged with delicate little flowers. In this case the flowers are made with a straight needle and fine cotton thread. It's an older piece easily 40 years old and probably a bit older than that. I love yazma. I have a somewhat obscene collection of them. Maybe one day I will learn how to do it. Before my eyesight fails. It would take spending a good deal of time with ladies who know the art & craft of it. It is a true folk art, if you ask me. (Okay you didn't.)

And finally, (*the sweater).
Ummm, I didn't make it.
Isn't it amazing that those of us who knit often find ourselves muttering under our breath, "*I didn't knit it", or "*I bought it," when anyone compliments us on something that we didn't make ourselves? And frankly, if I knew the soul (or souls) who created this, I'd proudly state that my friend, mother, sister, neighbour or whoever had a hand in it. It's DKNY. I bought it at Winner's for a good deal less than the yarn would have cost. It is pure wool & soft and warm and lovely. It's a cardi knit in one piece for the body with the sleeves and collar knit separately. I would describe the stitch as a knit/purl chevron. It has nice shaping and little plackets at the back reminiscent of jacket details. Oh, I wish I'd come up with this!!! The only drawback is that the three buttons tug at the button holes - they need a little finishing. I have worn it 5 out of 7 days this season so far. It forced me to abandon a black sweater for myself because as long as I have this lovely sweater (which also to it's credit fits easily under all my coats), why should I suffer through making two identical sleeves???

I suppose bakers and chefs might mutter that they picked the hor d'oeuvres from the freezer at Loblaws but who else besides knitters fesses up in such a.....sheepish way?

Laurel's Birthday

2008-02-05T18:25:00.000-05:00

February 4th was our friend Laurel MacDonald's birthday.
Her significant other, Phil Strong, organized a wee surprise get together that was in fact a wee surprise. I have to say that Laurel is so photogenic! Wow even the evils of close range flash don't diminish her loveliness. In this candid shot she is wearing the marvelous ribbons that wrapped a DVD from Mark & Kate. And if you look very closely on her right arm, you can see two bracelets that I made for her using a beaded crochet technique I learned from Martha Forsyth. I didn't think to photograph them up close when I finished them but I'm glad they fit Laurel!

Is Never Better Than Late? By way of introduction

2008-01-31T19:07:00.000-05:00

I think it's rather sad that it takes a nasty cold (usually I call that an F'n cold) to get me started with this whole thing. It's all about time really. Oh sure, I'd like to do a eye catching page with groovy graphics but I frequently complain that there are not enough hours in the day or days in the week as it is. And I already spend (in my boyfriend's opinion) too much time on the computer. EVERY body spends too much time on the computer. And when I'm lulled into YouTube submission it is because I cannot believe how much stuff is out there. Whoa. When I first got interested in folk music and music of different places, the options were pretty limited. Now? Endless. Endless I tell you. Well. It always has been endless, it's just that now we are so much more aware of the endlessness of it all. The depth of our ignorance increases. And knitting? How many knitting blogs and KALs are there out there? Why count? It would take time. And I'd rather spend the time knitting. My dear boyfriend has also suggested that I spend too much time knitting, which can't be, because I still have too much yarn. It seems that every time I enter into a Stash Reducing Project, I have to buy more yarn. Let's not go there now.

Here I enter my first photo. Something that I finished recently. I think it was the last thing I finished actually. In the photo it is not quite finished, it's being blocked.

It is made from darn near 5 skeins of single ply loosely spun yarn that my friend Haig bought from the Union Square Farmer's market in New York City. I was staying with another friend in the same apartment building in the Lower East Side. It was just before American Thanksgiving and Haig was going to the market frequently so I tagged along with him. I should have brought my camera because it is one beautiful farmer's market! I think the wool people are there on Mondays. (I have a sheet with all their information on it but I had to do a quick "cleanup" for guests and I can't find it yet.) They have one and two-ply yarns which they dye using natural pigments. I really like the shades. Many are quite muted. We bought some two-ply dyed with indigo because I promised Haig I'd make him a hat. Which I did. I forgot to photograph it, so if I can get him to send me a photo of him wearing it, I'll post that one day. Back to the blanket.

Our friend, Polly in Santa Fe, is about to become a grandmother for the second time. For her first grandchild, Haig bought her a sheepskin from the same farmers. We thought it would be fun to do something together this time. (Haig, Polly and I play music together with some other friends from New York, Boston & California). I bought a little sample pack of some of their one-ply to play with and get ideas. Then went back to Toronto. I figured 5 skeins should make a decent sized baby blanket and so Haig went back to the market and got them & mailed them to me. Three indigo blue & two white.

I was going to start from the center and work out, using a very simple plan, alternating garter stitch stripes, but after much swatching and frogging I did the core in blocks (or triangles) of garter and the edge in bands of stockinette and garter. It is a little hard to see in the photo.

I hate seams so there are no seams. Each piece is picked up and knit from (and sometimes to) the piece next to it. Sort of hard to see from the pictures. Finished size is 92 cm square - a yard. 6mm needles. As soon as the cold gets better I'm going to post it to Polly. Her new grandchild is due any day now.

Snow day here in Toronto. I'm playing with mitered squares.