Not Plain Jane has moved!

Hello there! If you arrived at Not Plain Jane by way of notplainjane.blogspot.com, you can find me at my new home, not-plain-jane.com. Please visit, and update your bookmarks and feed reader, too!

See you there!

Passing time

Rosemary says "It's time to get up."

Oh, this Rosemary is quite a cat. She has me, hook, line, and sinker.

I seem to have been missing again—I'm sorry. The past few months have been so busy, so full of work and knitting and new adventures and yes, a few challenges.

In knitting, there was Rhinebeck—a weekend of new traditions for Rebecca and me, since Rachel and Judy couldn't be there. We had some fun anyway.

Coffee at Gigi's

The beautiful gardens at Bard College

There was the Knitter's Review Retreat, my annual dose of knitter love. It has to last the year.

Inn on the Lake, Canandaigua, NY

And then... there came The Great White Bale. I'll have to write later about the loveliness that is my job as Clara Parkes' Director of Customer Happiness, but let's just say I'm having the time of my life.

And those challenges—well, they're the kind you just rise to meet. My visits to Dr. Pearl continue to be happy ones, although I'm in need of surgery to deal with some scar tissue, and it's scheduled for mid-February. I'll keep you posted.

Two leaves

Brooklyn Tweed's Wool Leaves Pattern, with leaf appliqués added.

Queensland Collection Kathmandu Chunky Yarn

Rachel and Rebecca

My summer knitting can be revealed: two blankets for the Remarkable R's. I began knitting in early July, and I stitched the leaf on to the second blanket on August 1st. I love this pattern, and I'd like to make it again sometime. It was so comfortable to knit — repetitive enough to be easy but complicated enough to keep me interested.

As I went along, I though about how much the girls love each other, and how they'll miss their sis when they're at college. That's when I decided to make a little leaf for each one's blanket, using the yarn from her sister's. I was very proud to see the grey one folded at the end of Becca's dormitory bed as she unpacked on Saturday!

My second summer project has been a new blog, The 40-Year Round Trip. The R's mother Judy and I met on our first day of college, and here we are forty years later, taking her girls to college — so we decided to write about it. Judy wrote an especially lovely post on Sunday morning, after we'd delivered Becca to her dorm at Bard College. 

We'll be driving to Maine at the end of the month to take Rachel to school. By then I'll have something new on the needles — something for the fall, perhaps, or something to pass the time on the long drive, or maybe something to commemorate all these milestones.

Consumed

Yarn from Appalachian Baby Design

I've been a bit random in my knitting lately. I'm spending most of my time on a couple of secret gifts at the moment, but when I want to take a break from the luxurious Queensland Collection Kathmandu (merino, silk, and cashmere!) I have this wonderful yarn discovery to occupy my hands. It's sport weight organic cotton, loosely plied, and it's making the best washcloths ever.

I came across it near the end of a road trip I took a few weeks ago. I had some time off from work so I went down to the Eastern shore of Maryland to visit my friends Kris and Roy. Kris and I knit our fingers to the bone while the three of us had a wonderful visit. On my first day there we drove to Philadelphia, where I got to go to the incredible wish-it-was-my-LYS, Loop. It was everything I'd dreamed it would be: well-curated, full of natural light, and staffed by people who know their yarn.

Then we went to the Italian Market, where we purchased and consumed lots of things like this:

Cheese!

And this:

Cappuccino!

Back at home, there was lots of this:

Espresso!

And this:

Brunch!

And some of this:

Libby!

Kris and I even managed to start a summer knit along project. We're making Color Affection scarves with my yarn crush, Brooklyn Tweed Loft. Purchased at Loop, of course. He's probably finished his by now, while mine is waiting while I finish those secret gifts.

On the day before I went home, Kris and I went to Chesapeake City, Maryland to visit Vulcan's Rest Fibers, where I found the beautiful yarn at the top of this post. It's a little town on the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, and the yarn shop is lovely, with a good selection and great staff.

Today is one of those Sundays. It's hot, I have things to do at home (not just knitting!) and I'm happy to be here. So, here we are. 

"Why are you taking pictures of a washcloth?"

Better knitting

Us.

Up.

Close.

When was Rhinebeck — weeks ago? It all went by in a blur. I spent a lot of Saturday "helping" Clara Parkes at her book signing. It was something to see: a line of knitters, all waiting to tell her how much her books mean to them, how they love Knitter's Review, how they learned this or that from her, how much they love that she shares her morning coffee with us via Twitter and Facebook. Knitters are mostly lovely people, and I got to see mostly loveliness that day. Clara signed all the copies of the book that there were, and there weren't nearly enough!

The book is, of course, The Knitter's Book of Socks. Clara asked me to design a pattern, so I did. It came to me on a wintry Sunday morning in Kris' living room, over a cup of coffee in this cup:

Herend 2010.

The pattern is Hickory, in Sundara Sock Yarn. I'm delighted with how they turned out, and with the way the pattern looks and fits into in this incredible book. We are learning so much from Clara Parkes and her books, and she's helping us become better knitters — intuitive, knowledgeable knitters. It's beautiful to see, and that's one reason why standing with her at that table at Rhinebeck, with the line of better-knitters stretching down the aisle, was such an honor.

On Sunday, Judy and the Remarkable R's and I made the rounds at Rhinebeck. It was different because they couldn't be there for both days, but it was still wonderful. I just love our Rhinebeck Tradition. I don't need yarn, of course, but I brought home a little bit of Guanaco and a pair of glass circular needles to add to my small selection.

I've knit a lot since I got home — more hats and some mitts, and a bigger project that's not ready to show yet. I've been working on a design that is about to become a pattern that will eventually become something I hope you might want to knit. Don't tell anyone, okay?

Man Hats I.

 

Man Hats II, and Foxgloves on the needles.

Just like today

Errands, Long Beach, housekeeping, knitting.

Just a typical day off, nothing special. Ho-hum.

I'd like all my days off to be days like today, please!

Random things that are rattling around in my head:

• Rhinebeck is just over three weeks away! Road trip with the girls!
• I have started doing some Christmas knitting and shopping, which is not at all like me.
• Yesterday's Ten on Tuesday was a wake-up call. What is sour milk doing taking up space in my fridge? And more important, why did I tell the world about it?
• There's a little house that I pass on my way to Sag Harbor that I have dreamed about living in since I moved here in 1993. It's tucked under the trees, right on Noyac Road. Why doesn't anyone live there? What is its story? Today I went as far as deciding that a few trees would need to come down so there would be more light inside. Edited to add: This is the house on Google Street View. Isn't it darling?
• Days off should last longer than 24 hours, especially if they are days like today.

Ten on Tuesday: Road trip!

This week's Ten on Tuesday topic is "Ten Things to Take on Vacation." Vacation? I've almost forgotten what one is! No, not really, but my time off never happens at a "traditional" time of year, like Summer or Thanksgiving or Christmas. That's when I'm busiest at the bookstore. So I take my days when I can grab a few, usually in the Fall or early Spring. 

I love a good road trip. What do I pack?

1. Knitting. An easy-peasy project, plus one that requires a little more attention. And maybe one more, just in case.
2. My iPod and iPhone. There are always a few audiobooks on mine, along with my music.
3. A book to read, not just listen to. And a book of crossword puzzles to help me fall asleep at night.
4. The basics, like my toothbrush and toothpaste, and enough underwear.
5. My own pillow, if possible. If I'm staying in a hotel, the pillows are not always comfy enough.
6. My laptop. I like being connected. I just do.
7. My camera, along with the cord that connects it to the laptop, and a spare battery. I don't want to miss anything.
8. The GPS that Judy gave me for Christmas after I got lost in The Bronx on the way home from the KR Retreat last year. It's as much for her peace as it is for my peace of mind, since a panicked call to her office that ends up with a coworker giving me turn-by-turn directions to find my way out of there should happen only once.
9. Warm socks and gloves and an extra sweater. If I'm driving, what's an extra tote bag or two? I want to be warm enough. And if I get lost in The Bronx again, I won't freeze.
10. A little bag of trail mix, apples, crackers, and stuff like that. And water. See rationale behind #9, above. You just never know. 

Perspective

Calm waters at last... It's been weeks since I had a moment to be quiet, but today is the day. I'm catching up on all sorts of things, resting, knitting, and enjoying some time at home.

The Knitter's Review Retreat was -- there are no words for how wonderful it was! I drove up on Wednesday afternoon with a car full of yarn and my spinning wheel and what felt like my entire house. By the time the rest of the knitters began to arrive on Thursday I'd settled in nicely.

[For a better description of the weekend than I could ever give, read Minh's wonderful three-part blog series. I failed in the photography department, too (not one picture!), but Minh also happens to have taken lots and lots of great pictures.]

My friend and roommate Kristopher arrived very late on Thursday, after working all day and driving for something like eight hours. We hadn't seen each other since last year, so we were looking forward to catching up in person (yarny phone calls just aren't as satisfying as yarny face-to-face conversations). The entire weekend was filled with yarniness -- all my senses were overloaded with yarn, knitters, good food, laughter, friendship, generosity, and fun!

I found myself thinking about my year -- a lot. Last year at the Retreat, I was just about to enter that long, dark winter of chemo and sickness, but I didn't really know it. This year, from the other side, I looked back with a lot of perspective. Surrounded again by all the people who kept me going, and able to (I hope) tell them how much they mean to me, I was happy and nostalgic and teary for most of the weekend. I saw myself differently -- through the eyes of my lovely, caring knitting friends -- not just as a survivor, but as having thrived, too. It's hard to explain, but I love this Jane, from her new hair down to her annoyingly-numb toes.

I started a simple New Beginnings project this year, since last year was the first time I didn't finish what I started on Sunday morning. It was a lace scarf with a provisional cast-on and charts, and apparently, not meant to be. So this time I brought out a skein of merino-alpaca, a beautiful limited edition yarn from Chris at Briar Rose Fibers in greens and blues and browns. I cast on a few stitches on US 10 needles, and began Clara's One Skein Shawl from Knitter's Review. I added some lacey rows, but it's mostly garter stitch, so it's chunky and warm, and above all, easy.


Just what my tired self needs. I'll probably finish it this afternoon.


So the Retreat is over, and Thanksgiving has come and gone, too. I had a great day with Judy and her family -- and I would have stayed longer if I didn't need to be ready for the big weekend at work. Black Friday passed quickly, as it always does, and Saturday was busier than Friday. For the next few weeks my head will be spinning, and then it will be 2010, and I'll get to relax a little. At least I have a goal!

Road trip

It's time to pull out the little overnight bag, pack up the knitting projects, and choose some warm wooly things to wear to Rhinebeck. This year, rain gear is a necessity as well, unless the weather report changes soon. Judy and the R's are due at my house at around 4:00 this afternoon, so I have lots to do between now and then. There's the matter of that pesky work day, too; I have to fit that in somewhere.

We're all excited, as usual. The road trip, the laughter, the Eveready Diner for breakfast. The wool and sheep and alpacas and llamas -- oh my. The too-short visits with dear, dear friends, and the possibility of meeting up with treasured blog-friends. The surprises that could await us around any corner or down any aisle. Rhinebeck -- there's nothing like it!

I won't be taking this warm hat with me this weekend because it's bound for the donation table at the Knitter's Review Retreat in November. It's the Hill Country Hat from The Knitter's Book of Wool, designed by Clara Parkes. She's offered it to all of us in this week's Knitter's Review newsletter. It took me just a few hours to knit, and I used Rowan Purelife Organic Sheep Breeds Chunky in Shetland Moorit. I think I'll make two or three more!

I'd better get going, or I'll be late before I'm ready. Thank you all for your comments about the shawl, and for taking the journey with me.

Emerging

My Christmas Cactus bloomed on Election Day this year -- a good, healthy omen. The flowers looked like angels, or birds. This plant astonishes and delights me every single year!

Life is so hectic these days -- with work (busy as we prepare for Thanksgiving weekend), and chemo (going well; four down, three to go), and the Knitter's Review Fall Retreat (I've started sorting and packing, and I can't wait to get on the road!) -- I don't know where the time has gone.

I have a little knitting on needles, but nothing to show and tell. My goal is to have something simple to knit while I'm at the Retreat (socks, of course), along with an idea for a more complicated project to start while I'm there. I'm on the way to finishing up a pair of socks that I might take along. There's a little spinning going on, too -- some Spirit Trail Targhee/Silk/Alpaca/Cashmere roving that's been marinating in my fiber stash for long enough. We'll see.

My sister Ellen came to stay last week, while I had chemo. I love having my sisters around me. I'm surrounded by so many wonderful people all the time, but there's something special about being with a sister, who can giggle with me and tell me that now that I don't have any hair, I look just like our grandmother (no, she wasn't bald!).

There's a little more packing I can do before it gets dark, and before I lose the rest of my momentum. All is well enough, and I'm so pleased that I can travel a little, work, and enjoy the good days. I wish the same for you!

Swirling

My (very late) Rhinebeck report:

This is the only picture I took. We had a wonderful time! I managed to maintain enough energy to make it up and down and around the fairgrounds on both Saturday and Sunday, and the four of us enjoyed our meals at the Eveready Diner and Gigi Trattoria (best calamari ever). There was some consumption of maple sugar cotton candy, but no artichokes. We'll take the cotton candy.

Short but very sweet visits were had with the crew at Spirit Trail, both during the show and back at the motel (oh, those scones Lanea made!). I didn't make many purchases -- a bit of fiber from Botanical Shades, a Grafton corriedale batt, and some pretties from Lavender Trifles -- but I did come home with a beautiful pair of Sheila and Michael Ernst's glass knitting needles. Now to find something worthy of knitting on US 7's...


Back at home, I finally photographed the Honeycomb Hat I made before I left. It's so comfortable and warm that I'm wearing it right now. It's cold today, even indoors.


This is the neckwarmer I'm knitting to match. It's a simple Mistake Rib, round and round, which is all my chemo-brain can handle right now. Chemo brain explains everything if you want it to, and it's as good an excuse as any for being forgetful and distracted!


I like the way the trees outside my house look woven, like a basket. The colors are almost at their peak here, and the wind blowing the leaves on these stormy days gives off an energy that's hard to resist. I'll take some, store it up, and use it later, thank you. It seems that Autumn is whirling and swirling past at a crazy pace -- or is it just me?

It's time to move on to thoughts of the Knitter's Review Fall Retreat -- in just a few weeks I'll be in Williamstown, MA for a weekend with my peeps. Better get started on that class homework!

Time for a break

Waiting Socks, Working

They did their job well during chemo last time -- every time I looked down at my feet I felt better, and they kept me warm, too. Two treatments down, five to go.

That photo will have to represent all the knitting I've been doing. I haven't had time to photograph the three hats in Malabrigo and two in Morehouse Merino that I've completed for this year's Knitters Review Retreat charity project. I don't have a picture of the Honeycomb Hat in The Knitter's Book of Yarn that I made for my own hairless head in a lovely plummy shade of Sundara's Aran Silky Merino. (Hmm, my hat looks almost like Clara's!) I'm trying to finish the second blue Hedgerow sock for one of the Remarkable R's before we leave for Rhinebeck on Friday. She wore the first one last year, so I think it's about time she had the pair, don't you?

Rhinebeck is my goal for the week. I'm working my way towards it in a methodical way. Do this much at work. Get that many hours of sleep. Pace myself with the laundry and the errands. On Friday afternoon I'll be fetched by Judy and the R's, and off we'll go on our yearly adventure. Road trip + yarn and fiber sniffing + good food x four friends = a blissful blast! I hope to get to spend a little time with Jen, Martha, Lanea, Beth, and Purlewe, and I hope I'll run into lots of fellow knitting friends.

It finally occurred to me that I am in dire need of a break from my life. Just a wee one will do for now. My world has been constrained since June, confined to a little corner. I spend all my time tending to the necessary concerns of my health and my spirit, which is as it needs to be. This is my chance to break free for a little while, and it comes at at time when I have some energy and I'm experiencing relatively few side effects.

The chemo cycle starts again next Thursday. At the beginning of all this, when I counted the days on the calendar, I was relieved to find that Rhinebeck and the KR Retreat fall in between treatments. That one-week delay made all the difference! I don't want to mess up the schedule, so I just have to make sure I take really good care of myself, and that my blood counts stay high enough each week (there's only so much I can do about that, but I like to think I am in charge of my bone marrow, you know).

Time to get on with the day, I suppose. There's work to do at the store, and since I'm grateful for every spare bit of energy I have for it, I'm happy to do it!

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!