Missing color

Someone took all the color right out of this day! That's too bad, because I finished the Japanese Vines scarf, and if there were any color to be found in the atmosphere, these photographs might have done it more justice.

I fiddled and fooled with the color in my photo program, and I thought I brought out some of the beautiful purple and green haze.

But no, I guess not.

Please use your (vivid) imagination.

I absolutely adore this piece. I love the way the leaves tilt, and aren't those stitches divine? The yarn is the best part -- soft and lovely to knit with, and after a Soak it's full and sweet and oh, just perfect.

• Japanese Vines by Michelle Molis
• Silk/Merino Yarn by String Theory in Maine, 3-ply, approximately 560 yards
• 3.5mm/US4 KnitPicks Options circular needles (nice for this pattern and yarn)
• Modifications: I cast on 63 stitches rather than 47 or 55 and worked 16 32-row repeats
  
• Finished size is 73" long by 6" wide

Now that my New Year's Day project is finished, I'm not quite sure what to start next. There are many many ideas in the queue, and some incredible yarn has come my way lately, but I don't have that one thing that I'm itching to cast on right away.

There are always socks going on, so it's not as if I have nothing to knit. I'm just about to finish the second Pie Crust sock, so I won't bother to show them now. I think I'll just knit the sock and see what happens.

Great, now the sun is coming out.

D is for

DPN's

I love knitting with double-pointed needles. They're so compact, so efficient, so perfect for socks. I like to use them for hats, mitts, and sleeves, too. Though I know how to knit small things in the round on one long or two circular needles, I would rather use my beautiful DPN's.

I love the way they feel in my hands. Some of my DPN's have developed a sweet curve over time, a slight bend that seems to fit me. I have metal, plastic, bamboo, rosewood, and birch DPN's, but my favorites are Crystal Palace bamboo and Brittany birch.

Working with DPN's is one of my favorite things about knitting, especially when I'm knitting socks. I like to use five needles, and I love the little collapsible square that forms. It's so symmetrical and precise, and it's as if I'm building a little dwelling as I knit around. With practice I've learned how not to make ladders, or drop a needle, or lose stitches off the end. My DPN's and I are in sync.

Whenever I am in a yarn store, I look for my favorite sizes of DPN's. I can never have too many!

Calming

When my world feels too crowded, or cluttered, or busy, I try to find a place that's simple, like the end of Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. Water, horizon, and sky; that's all I need.


Sometimes I go in search of a quiet corner of beach, like Sunset Beach in North Haven. There's nobody around at this time of year.


I return to these spots again and again. This afternoon I could stand the wind and cold for just a few minutes at a time, even wrapped in a big shawl. It was enough to quiet my racing brain, and I came home happy.

Did the pretty pictures distract you enough to keep you from wondering if I still knit? I do -- the same socks I started the other day. I hope that I can finish them soon and move on to a few more finishes -- there are more socks, a couple of scarves, and a baby sweater waiting for me to take an interest.

Prescription

I took today off because I had an appointment at the dentist. What I thought might be one of those appointments (you know, the ones that hurt) turned out to be nothing but a few minutes getting a panoramic x-ray of my jaw. So what's a knitter to do when she gets a reprieve? Why, knit a sock, of course.

This is Dahlia, a Petals Collection yarn from Sundara. I picked a simple pattern from the stitch dictionary in Vogue's Ultimate Sock Book -- Pie Crust Basketweave. It sounded good (ha!) so I went with it. I'll be turning the heel in no time.

I really should be doing something constructive, but this just isn't the day for it. I spent yesterday being plenty constructive. I was trying to make my scanner talk to my computer again. They don't get along, and have had an on-again, off-again relationship for quite a while now. No matter what I did, or how often and in what perfect sequence I reinstalled the software, the scanner still refused to cooperate. It's old and cranky anyway. Still, all I wanted to do was scan a couple of knitterly things, and a photo or two. Was that too much to ask?

The weather here is dreary, damp, and unpleasant; a fog has begun to settle in among the trees, and even though it's not exactly raining, everything is dripping. Staying home with a sock and Made for Each Other is my prescription for an excellent day off. I hope yours is excellent, too (if you have one, that is).

C is for

Cotton.

I don't suppose too many people have a little bundle of cotton in their collection of family heirlooms, do they? I do. My grandfather was a cotton classer from the 1920's through the 1940's. He started out in Texas, and his company sent him to work in Brazil in the 1930's.

This paper-wrapped bundle is what he brought home as a souvenir. It was a favorite item for Show and Tell for all of us kids, and somehow it has remained intact. I think my grandfather must have been good at classing cotton; he was meticulous and focused. I don't have any idea what grade this bit would be, though.

This is my father at about age ten, with my grandparents, on the ship to Brazil. What adventures were they imagining? I know that they loved living there, in Recife and Sao Paulo, and that they made many life-long friends and good memories. [Wow, I look a lot like my grandmother!]

My sister has much of the correspondence that went back and forth between them and their families, there are boxes of documents to sort through, and I have the one photo album from their time there. Shouldn't we put them all together one of these days? I'd love to know the whole story!

C could also be for Miss Nosy-Cat.

Annie hearts yarn

But I sure do wish that her devotion didn't include drooling.

It was all I could do to get an unobstructed shot of my new favorite thing in the world (besides the cat, of course).

This is Buffalo Gals Bison Merino 2-Ply in Garnet. Clara Parkes reviewed its cousin, Bison Merino 3-Ply, in this past week's Knitter's Review newsletter. I don't post about most of the yarn I find, but this one deserves the spotlight. It is so soft, so sweet, and such a deep, rich color.

I happened to click on the newsletter just as it was posted late Wednesday night. This yarn spoke to me in a sweet voice, yet a firm one. I didn't even attempt to think it over. I was also extremely impressed by Judith MacKenzie McCuin's journey with this fiber, and I wanted to support her effort. Before the page had finished loading I think I was on my way over to Carolina Homespun to place an order (I heart Morgaine).

Now that I have it in my hands (or wrapped in a cloth to keep somebody from rolling in it) and can feel it and make plans for it, I want more. I'm resisting for now, but that Montana Nights blue is gorgeous. As Clara pointed out, this is not an inexpensive yarn, but it's also in limited supply. I know I'll treasure the knitting and the wearing.

I don't have any knitting to write about. I've been working on Stuff, but most of my time has been spent dealing with work things. Yes, I know that last week I rhapsodized about how much I love my job, how I love to go to work every day, how I look forward to the possibilities...

But some days -- some weeks, even -- my idyllic, romantic job leaves me drained and speechless. It's over now, and it wasn't a crisis, but it sure was complicated, uncomfortable and exhausting. Now I really am looking forward to going to work tomorrow!

B is for

Book(store).

I spend an average of ten hours a day, five days a week in this long, narrow, creaky-floored, book-filled space. It is my second home, my responsibility, my daily challenge.

Each morning when I walk in the door I take it all in, survey my domain, take deep breaths. What is on my list today, orders? Will I have a chance to get to that reorganizing project? Will we be busy? Do I have enough of this or that title?

I'm fortunate. I have an extraordinary job in an extraordinary independent bookstore. It has weathered the stormy waters of the book business for thirty-seven years. In my almost thirteen years here it has been rare that I wake up thinking I wish I didn't have to go to work. It's only when I'm still worn out from the day before that I want to stay put...

...or, sometimes -- I must confess -- when I am in the midst of some knitting that consumes me!

(Silent) Poetry Reading

LOOKING AT THE SKY

I never will have time
I never will have time enough
To say
How beautiful it is
The way the moon
Floats in the air
As easily
And lightly as a bird
Although she is a world
Made all of stone.

I never will have time enough
To praise
The way the stars
Hang glimmering in the dark
Of steepest heaven
Their dewy sparks
Their brimming drops of light
So fresh so clear
That when you look at them
It quenches thirst.

Anne Porter
Living Things: Collected Poems