Boxing Day

With Christmas Day already past, I'm beginning to feel the old year sigh its last, and sense the whispers of the new year to come. I'm ready to welcome it. Boxing Day is a good day to be at home, get some rest, and enjoy the beginning of winter. It's not too cold, but not warm; not exactly sunny, but not cloudy either. In between is a fine enough place to be.

Christmas was happy, peaceful, fun, and lasted just the right amount of time. This was the first of many lovely gifts I opened yesterday:


My sister Ellen knit this beautiful scarf for me! She modified Wisp from Knitty, making it narrower and without the button detail. It's so warm and soft, and it's even more special because this is the first thing anyone has knit for me. We three sisters are a crafty bunch, for sure.

I sent her this pair of Maine Morning Mitts, along with her very own signed-by-the-author copy of The Knitter's Book of Yarn:



I put the finishing touches on this Ripple Lace Linen Basket Liner (by Amy King from KBoY) for Judy and wrapped it up, but I knew that it was too small to fit her favorite bread basket. I'm going to undo the bind off row and add another couple of inches. She loves it, though, and I'm pleased that the whole family will get to enjoy something I knitted for them. The yarn is Euroflax Originals Linen in Mustard.


Sundara makes it very difficult to finish any of the knitting that is already in progress. The second mailing in the Autumn Seasons Yarn Club was this "Mossy" sock yarn. I might have to cast on a pair of Nutkin socks before the week day is out!

I hope your own Boxing Day is just right, whatever you're doing today, and that you're surrounded by the love of family and friends, as I am --

~:~

P.S. I almost forgot to report on my little mother (it seems like ages ago that she was back in the hospital, not just last week). She was home before Christmas, and spent yesterday afternoon surrounded by family and good food and lots of presents. Thank you to everyone who sent wishes and prayers!

Sweet tree

Here's my little Christmas tree, all decorated and sparkly, on my (finally) neat and tidy kitchen island. Isn't it sweet?

These are some of my snow people, and the little cardboard houses given to me by my sister Sarah. She thought I needed a little group of houses like this to remind me of the village we had when we were children. That one - with its very tiny houses, mirror lakes, and porcelain skaters - was our mother's when she was a child, and now it lives at our sister Ellen's house.

These are the beautiful wool felt trees made by my crafty and talented sister Sarah. She was inspired by this pattern. I just love them!

This is the Koolhaas hat I made for my coworker C. It's Malabrigo worsted merino in the Roanoke colorway. I used size 7 dpn's and knit the pattern exactly as written. I had such fun knitting it, and it took me just a few days from start to finish. I hope it will keep C warm all winter.

Here's a soft and cushy close-up.

I've also been working on a couple of top-secret last-minute Christmas projects. I photographed one before I sent it off, but I hope I remember to snap the other one!

So it's coming on Christmas. At about this time last year I was in a deep, dark funk. I was tired, melancholy, and uninspired by the season that had always brought me joy and hope. This year, though, I'm more myself. Not quite the Santa's elf I've been in years past, but my heart is in it, and I'm looking forward to what comes after we close up shop on Christmas Eve.

I've filled my little home with all the things that make me happy at this time of year - little bits of old and new that mean Christmas and Winter and Joy. My few shopping trips and a couple of knitting marathons mean that I have special gifts to give to the special people in my life, and there's wrapping to be done.

On this evening I'm surrounded by my Christmas while I wait for news about my little mother's latest hospital admission. What else can happen, we ask ourselves? She is in good hands, we're not too worried, and both of my sisters and one of my brothers are there. My heart is a little tattered, but safe yet.

Catching up

Where did all the days go? Wasn't it just Thanksgiving? It's already the Remarkable R's birthday! I have gifts for my favorite fourteen year olds, and there's a party this evening. Until it's time to go I'm happy to be home, and to have a chance to write.

I have been away from the blog, but there has been knitting. I've been meaning to take some pictures and post. It's just that the days are getting so short, and my time at home in the daylight is almost nonexistent. When I am home it always seems to be cloudy, or else I am under the weather myself...


This is my version of the Palindrome Reversible Cable scarf, which I found on Ravelry, naturally. My yarn is Foxfire Fiber and Designs Cormo and Silk DK. I made a couple of modifications to suit this yarn, including adding two rows to the repeat to give the cables a little room to relax, and I'm really pleased with how it's going. I began knitting on Monday night, in anticipation of needing a few days of mindless knitting.

On Tuesday I had to have a wisdom tooth "extracted." I hate that word. I suppose I must have thought of myself as lucky back in my twenties, when everybody else had their wisdom teeth taken out and I didn't have to. But now? In my fifties? Yikes. I'm okay and healing quickly, but this was the beginning of a long process of repair that will last for months. That's where mindless knitting comes in.

Last night I began a little not-so-mindless Christmas knitting for my coworker C:


It's Jared Flood's Koolhaas hat from IK's Holiday 2007 issue. I'm using Malabrigo in Roanoke, which is a rich chestnutty brown, and US 7 needles. I love the pattern, and it's another one of those complex but not hard knitting experiences that I enjoy. C deserves a special gift. It's been a long and crazy year, and he's been our first line of defense against any and all insanity.

I haven't found either good enough light or a teapot-like object that does justice to my cozy, but here's a little cable (and cat hair) close-up anyway.


I'm blessed with yarn bounty these days! The luscious Malabrigo, the luxurious Foxfire Cormo Silk, and two more yarns dyed by Sundara. The first is the final Petals Collection yarn:


It's named Magnolia. It will take its place in the stash next to some other gorgeous sock yarn for the time being, because of this:


It's the first installment in Sundara's new Seasons Yarn Club. I chose Autumn, and received 1000 yards of Copper over Bamboo Silk Lace. This amazing yarn is hard to photograph, especially on this grey day (there are many more beautiful examples of it on Ravelry). I'm thinking I might make Mim Felton's Juno Regina.

I'll decide in the New Year, because I want to begin something lacey and different. I have many possibilities in my queue and yarn in my stash to make whatever I decide on.

In the meantime, it's back to the cables and laundry for me!

All cozy

I've been doing a little knitting! This is the Cabled Tea Cozy from The Knitter's Book of Yarn. I finished one side a few weeks ago, but I had to wait for my Malabrigo order to arrive before I could start the second side and keep going. The green is Lettuce, and the blue is Indigo. I like the way they go together.

This pattern, designed by Jennifer Hagan, is just my kind of clever. There are all those interesting textures and cables and varied backgrounds, a sweet little i-cord handle that's kitchenered together, a simple stockinette lining, and lots of i-cord bringing everything together. Besides, it's fun!


I took these pictures this morning, after I had seamed the two sides together. Since this cozy will be lined I decided to crochet the seam. It was an easy out, I know, but I like how well the halves fit. I moved on to the very cool seed stitch i-cord that edges the seam, and not long after the photo shoot I was attaching it all the way around.


And now, after spending a wonderful afternoon knitting and watching old movies, I'm working on the lining, which is picked up around the bottom edge and knit in the round. There's another i-cord to make, and about six inches of lining left to knit, and then I'll have a beautiful cabled cozy for my non-existent teapot.

My dear friend Kris pointed out that he has not one, but two teapots in his house. And he uses them, too. Merry Christmas!


In keeping with my own weird tradition, I've already finished my KR Retreat New Beginnings project. It's the Diamonds and Pearls Shawl, also from Clara's book. Shelia January is the designer of this piece and several others in the book that I'm looking forward to knitting.


The yarn is beautiful worsted weight silk/merino dyed by Jen Heverly of Spirit Trail Fiberworks. I used just one 200-yard skein, less than the pattern suggests, because I was working with a very different type of yarn than Shelia used in her design. The finished shawl is a bit smaller than the original, which is just right for me.The fabric I was getting was perfect on US 9's so I didn't want to go up a needle size just to make it bigger.


I began knitting on Sunday the 11th, and I finished on Wednesday the 21st. I did a quick blocking this past Sunday afternoon (love those blocking wires!) and by evening I was prancing around the house with my pretty new shawl on my pajama-ed shoulders. What could be better?

Thank you all for your comments on my Thanksgiving post. Balancing the demands of work and my need to feel close to family and friends is always tricky, but I seem to manage. I sometimes feel like I'm on the verge, but verging isn't always a bad thing. This year, as always, I spent a lovely day with Judy and her family. We created and enjoyed a wonderful meal, laughed a lot, and spent hours in good conversation.The store did well on the first holiday weekend, the customers were in fine form, and I remained sane. I can't wish for more than that.

With thanks

On this bright Thanksgiving day I remember my father, and I send love to my sweet mother, in whose honor I made the best gravy ever today.

I send hugs and kisses to my sisters and brothers and their wonderful families.

I thank Judy for sharing her family with me, and for using my grandmother's tablecloth on her Thanksgiving table.

And to everyone reading these words, I send a wish that you, too have known the joy and comfort of perfect gravy, well-loved linen, and family.

Retreat

I had a lot to say, but it feels like all the words I was going to use to describe my wonderful weekend at the Knitter's Review Retreat were lost to a crazy work week. Photos will have to do (there are more in my Retreat Set on Flickr), and I can ramble, I suppose. Here goes.

After all my fussing and fretting about getting packed and leaving on time, I managed, thanks in part to a bonus afternoon off on Wednesday. It was cloudy and only a bit chilly on Thursday, and the drive to the Seven Hills Inn took about four and a half hours. The Inn was comfortable and cozy, and who can resist a bed with six pillows?

From the Taconic Parkway on the ride up to Lenox

On Thursday evening the early arrivals had a nice dinner, a good visit, and lots of laughter. Then Friday morning arrived, and we spent a few hours learning how to knit in the Swedish Bohus tradition with Shelia January. I'd never done colorwork before, at least not successfully, so I'm thrilled that I got off to a good start on my little headband.

Friday morning preparation for Bohus workshop

The rest of the knitters arrived on Friday afternoon, and the fun and the decibel levels went through the roof. We knitted, we talked, we ate, we showed our stuff, and it was way after midnight before my head hit the (many) pillows.

On Saturday morning we had the great pleasure to take an inspiring lace workshop with Pam Allen. Many of us had knit lace before, but that didn't matter. Our swatches explored the effects of different arrangements of decreases, and we talked about so many other things as we knit -- yarn, reading charts, blocking, and the Next Big Thing in knitting (we might have arrived at a consensus, but I don't think so). While everyone was bent over their knitting I went around the room and took some pictures ...

Knitters' Hands

I spent Saturday afternoon assisting Ms. Clara at her table in the Retreat Marketplace, visiting with friends, and having an all-around good time. Saturday night there was more knitting and fun (and cake!) in the big ballroom.

On Sunday morning, after another late night on Saturday, we gathered for my favorite part of the Retreat -- we read the letters we'd written to ourselves last year (I didn't cry this time), wrote a new letter that we sealed and gave to Clara, and began our New Beginnings project. Mine is the Diamonds and Pearls shawl from Clara's book, designed by Shelia. I'm using some beautiful silk/merino from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, chosen for me by Purlewe on Saturday afternoon.

The weekend was too short. I was just getting going, just beginning to settle in with my dear friends for a visit (hey Martha!), just about to forget my daily life. I need more of this, these connections to the people and the knitting and the creative energy. I even stayed an extra night -- to keep from having to drive home late at night, of course, but also to prolong the goodness. Clara puts together quite a magical weekend. I wish I could describe it better, tell you just how much it means to me to be in that place with those dear people, and give you a real sense of it. Words fail.

Now that I've been home for almost a week, and life has returned to what passes for normal (normal does not really exist for a bookseller in the week leading up to Thanksgiving), I'm in a quandary. What to work on? Should it be Cormo?

Foxfire Fiber Cormo Roving

Or Cormo?

Foxfire Fiber Cormo/Silk Yarn

How about silk and merino instead?

Yarn archeologist

I went on a dig this morning, and I came up with a few things to put in the Stash Lounge at next week's Knitter's Review Retreat.


There are two bags of carded wool, a bag of miscellaneous cotton fiber, and a big bag of yarn. I could have continued excavating the closet, but I had had enough after about an hour. A good thing came of it, because I rearranged a few boxes to make things neater. I also found a brand new pair of corduroys that I bought last year and "forgot" about, located my bobbin winder, put the fan away, and added a few things to the stash bins.

Here is one of my discoveries:

It's my very first skein of handspun yarn! I'm pretty sure it's Romney, and I'm reasonably sure it was spun in 1978. It's funny that I no longer remember the exact moment that I learned to spin. I can't remember where I bought my first wheel, either. The cotton cloth in the picture is one of the first things I wove, in 1977, or thereabouts. I still use it.

Here's something else that surfaced:

It looks like just a messy pile of knitting, but it's my oldest UFO. I started this shawl in 1998, as far as I can recall. I was using a formula that my friend Susanne used to make the most beautiful shawls. She assembled all sorts of yarn, kept a stitch dictionary handy, cast on at the back neck, worked paired increases at the center and edges, and off she went. She changed patterns, switched yarns, and just knit.


I did the same thing here, with my friend Virginia's vegetable dyed yarn and some of my handspun. All the yarns could be considered vintage at this point -- there are a few rows of the very first yarn V dyed and sold, a nice round singles that she got as mill ends in the late 1970's, and that took color beautifully. There's some Gotland, some silk, and some this and that. The dyes were most likely to be madder, marigolds, cutch, walnuts, and water lily roots.

I still have one small box of yarn that V dyed back in the old days, and I think that one day some of it will become a knitted piece. I used to use it to crochet little bags that looked like landscapes, or like garden plots from a bird's eye view.

I don't know why I abandoned this piece, except that I think I was running out of ideas. And I wasn't a good knitter yet, either, because some of the stitch patterns are pretty messy. I might have stopped when there got to be several hundred stitches on the needles, or when I lost sight of the reason I started it, or when life turned upside down.

When I found it today I remembered why I liked it back then. It's like a knitted landscape.

I've been knitting a bit in between some work insanity and preparations for the Retreat (yes, there are preparations such as hemming of pants, packing of yarn and projects and fibers, and laundry, always laundry). The easy-peasy project has been this little scarf that I'm knitting with the Qiviut I got at Rhinebeck.

It's a simple pattern, a short garter stitch scarf with little double-knit holes to pull the end through. I've worked the shaping increases with a yarn-over and continued that all along the straight edge so that this little luxury won't be all garter stitch. It's Qiviut, after all, and it deserves a little something extra. Now all I have left to do is finish the decreases on the end, and I'll be ready for any weather.


I've started another project from Clara Parke's Knitter's Book of Yarn, but it's stalled while I wait for yarn in another color to arrive. This is Jennifer Hagan's Cabled Tea Cozy. It's the first time I've used Malabrigo, and I love the way the cables knit up in the yarn. That Clara -- she's so smart, she knew this would happen. Great stitch definition with a soft singles! Am I the only one who hasn't knit with this sweet yarn before now? I love it. Love it. I don't even own a tea pot! Yet.

I'm going to get up out of this chair now and head over to Sag Harbor to knit with Judy and the R's for a bit. We're keeping our Rhinebeck momentum going.

Rho and I are packing up and heading to the Seven Hills Inn on Thursday morning, so I'll be back to report on all the hoopla after the Retreat. This is going to be fun with a capital F!

Rhinebeck Part Two

I like to go to Rhinebeck with wide-open eyes. There are possibilities around every corner, and even though I'm sure I missed seeing or touching something great that I would have brought home with me, I'm so happy with what did find its way into the back of the car. I had a short list of a few things I needed (spinning wheel oil) and some things I wanted (qiviuk and lavender sachets), but the rest was left up to my intuition.

These are the fibers I found:

• The top one is natural-dyed Coopworth roving from Botanical Shades. I've already begun spinning it; it's not super-soft, but the colors make me feel like I'm diving into a flower garden.
  
• On the left is some "Nasturtiums" roving, which is 45% kid mohair, 45% wool, and 10% silk, from Steam Valley Fiber Farm. Again, the flowers; this looks just like nasturtiums, and it's very soft.
  
• On the right is a beautiful batt of dyed Moorit wool and kid mohair from Hidden Spring Farm. If I have any regrets about the weekend it's that I didn't purchase all three bags of this; in person, it's a stunning deep raspberry red.

These were my first purchases of the day on Saturday. They are beautiful sachets -- dupioni silk, hand-embroidered, and filled with lavender -- made by Susan Borger. In addition to sachets, Susan makes the most beautiful wool-embroidered buttons I've ever seen. Her Etsy shop Lavender Trifles will be up and running soon.


I can't go to Rhinebeck without getting a couple of skeins of Morehouse Farm yarn. This is 3-Strand Merino in Fern Glen.


Another booth I can't pass by is Brooks Farm. This is Solo, their newest wool yarn. It's a soft but sturdy singles, and each skein has 400 yards. Three of them ought to be enough for something, I think.


This little ball of yarn, all 1 ounce and 218 yards of it, just might be the most precious yarn or fiber I've ever had. It comes from Windy Valley Muskox. All it needs now is the right little lace scarf pattern. I decided that I craved it, and that I would need just one ball to satisfy the craving. Done.

I don't have any photos of the beautiful yarn and fiber that Judy chose -- Brooks Farm Four Play in a deep scarlet, some Morehouse like mine only in Autumn shades that go with the scarlet, a bag of wool and mohair fiber in a rich rusty orange blend. She also brought home a special gift for herself, one that she has been contemplating for several years -- a felted vessel by Heather Kerner of SpiralWorks.

The R's dove in, too. PhotoStylist R chose yarn from Spirit Trail and Brooks Farm, and SockModel R sought and found needle felting supplies, fiber and a great kit to share with her sister at Black Sheep Designs.

We had a grand time, even though the crowds made me slightly cranky. We came home with so much to inspire and delight us that we're planning a fibery Sunday in a week or so. We want to get together to spin and knit and felt, to keep this momentum going.

I'm so happy that for the four of us Rhinebeck hasn't become a mad frenzy of acquisition and burnout and stress. We love our traditions, our time together, and the re-energized creativity that it fills us with. We have some grand plans, some little ideas, and a few germinating desires for new or better skills to keep us going until next October!

Rhinebeck 2007

We're back from Rhinebeck, still dazed and slightly worn out by the trip, but we had a wonderful time. Judy, the Amazing R's, and I left home on Friday afternoon in That Rain, which had slowed to a drizzle by the time we arrived at our motel.

We have Rhinebeck Traditions -- very important rituals -- that we vary only by consensus. This year we wanted to arrive in time to have dinner at the Eveready Diner. It was loud with a capital-L. We tried, but next year we're going to bring sandwiches from home and spend Friday night in our room, knitting and spinning and needle felting (the new new thing).

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, as seen from our motel room.

We got to the festival at around 10:00, and stopped at the Spirit Trail Fiberworks booth first. We hugged Martha, Jen, Anj, and Shelia, met Amy, and ran into Kathy. Then we went out and shopped and looked and wandered and looked some more.


We saw sheep, of course. Later in the afternoon we saw Clara, and the Remarkable R's got to meet her and show her their Hedgerows. Judy had her sign The Book, too.

The festival was crowded with a capital-C. In our book, it's not much fun to shuffle through hot barns filled with careening knitters and spinners, all of whom seem to be carrying or wearing incredibly large bags filled with Stuff that invariably whaps you as they turn, or that you can't help but run into as they stop dead in the middle of the aisle to gawk or greet or whatever it is knitters and spinners do when in the wild.

I wished there could have been a little traffic control, or common sense, or something. Besides, I'm pretty short; so if you are a tall person, and you are in the middle of a crowded booth, chatting away with your hands on your hips, oblivious to all around you, I have to worry about losing an eye. Common sense, knitters.

Back out in the open (which was by far the safest place to be) we ran into Kay and Ann, and there might have been a slightly embarrassing deep fried pickle incident, but that's all I have to say about that. The maple sugar cotton candy made up for it.

You've heard by now that it was hot with a capital-H, but it was also quite a beautiful weekend. After days of weird and rainy weather, it was wonderful to be out in the sunshine. I never seemed to manage to drink enough water, though. I was parched with a capital-P.

This trio is most likely the most blogged-about attraction of the weekend.

We dined at the Eveready not once, not twice, but three times. We think we overdid it. On Sunday, back at the festival, we made return visits to all the booths we meant to take a closer look at, made a few purchases we missed the day before, and gave farewell hugs to all our friends. I finally managed to meet up with Sandy, which was a treat and a smile and a Mission: Accomplished. We ran into Sandy and Norma and Claudia on the way out, too -- another treat.

We had a blast, but by Sunday afternoon even the yarn was looking forward to going home. Next year: sandwiches on Friday night, more knitting, better pictures, dinner at Gigi Trattoria on Saturday (oh heavens, that was good), and a better hydration plan.

Tomorrow I'll trot out the purchases. There weren't many, and I am in love with every one.

Fidgety blathering

I don't even know where to begin. I don't have anything monumental to share, and nothing is urgent or difficult or strange, or at least no more so than usual. But I haven't had time to post, and I can't figure out how that happened. Could it be that I am busy?

I tell everyone that this is the quiet time of year at work. We're in between summer and the holidays, so there aren't many people around, and those who are here seem quieter and less ... insistent.

This hasn't turned out to be a quiet time for me, though. I have so many things to get to that had to be abandoned during the summer that it may as well be summer. I don't have the desire to put in the kind of hours I do in the summer, though, so at this slower (but healthier) pace the work seems to take forever.

It's a good thing that Rhinebeck is just a few days away, then! I need a break. More than two and a half days would be nice, but I'll take these for now. Judy and the Remarkable R's and I are planning to load up and head out on Friday afternoon, the minute the girls' school lets out.

We're going to rumble up the island, and cross those bridges, and roar into the Eveready Diner parking lot in time to grab dinner before we check in at the motel. We're going to spend the drive in fidgety anticipation of all we'll see and do (and eat, I guess) all weekend.


We'll hope to run into Ms. Clara, whose new book is hitting the shelves on Tuesday. The Knitter's Book of Yarn is so amazing that the minute I got my preview copy the other day, I wrote an embarrassing post on KR. I almost wish I'd waited.

Part of my daily job is talking about books, and publishers want me to talk about them, and to that end they send me copies so I can read them, and then they hope that I'll gush and praise and ... sell books. This is a little different for me, since I know Clara and I'm excited for her, and KR is like a big room full of my friends.

I might have gushed and praised a little prematurely, since only a handful of people will get to have a copy before Tuesday. It might have been a little like being told you can have a treat, but it's locked in the cabinet and only a few have the key, but oh yes, the treat is in there all right, and it's a doozy, too bad you can't see how great it is yet. That doesn't seem fair.

This book will have been worth the wait, I promise.


There has been lots of knitting going on. I took this picture of a slightly damp blue Hedgerow sock so you can see what happens when you knit the pattern on smaller needles. Yes, the sock really is smaller, just as I predicted. I used 2.25mm needles for the leg, and 2.0mm needles for the heel flap and foot.

PhotoStylist R has very narrow feet, so she's getting this pair. SockModel R has regular feet, so the originals fit her perfectly. I also decided to go with a longer leg and a regular shaped toe on the blue pair, because I think they'll fit their intended feet better. See? You can do whatever you need to do with a sock pattern to make it fit or feel better, or suit your knitting style. That's the beauty of knitting.

I finished the Ripple baby blanket and gave it to my friend at work. She loved it, and I was very pleased with how it turned out. But did I take a final picture? No, that would have been sensible!

My diagonal ribbed scarf is off the needles, too. Gee, it only took a year! It was my carry-around knitting most of the time. I'll post a photo after it's washed and blocked. I liked working with the Brooks Farm Acero yarn, which I got at Rhinebeck last year.

I have a confession. I've lured a knitter over to the other side. I drove Rho up the island today, to Rumpelstiltskin Yarns in Sayville, where she purchased - on her own, without any poking or prodding - an Ashford Joy wheel. We took it right to her house and put everything together, and by the time I left she was on her way. I've been getting these sweet little emails since then - first she treadled for a while, then she made yarn, and then she ordered a couple of Patsy Zawistoski DVD's. I think we've got her, don't you?