Knitting on Impulse

Can't Talk. Hot.

Has it really been a week since I last blogged?  This heat has seriously addled my brain.  I realize that after two cold and rainy summers, I ought to be more grateful, or at least less whiny, but I am just not constitutionally suited to high 30's (95-100+) with stifling humidity and no AC.  (Rob, on the other hand, is in his element, and has no end of "this is nothing - when I was in East Timor/Darwin/the Persian Gulf" stories with which to mock me.)

Between the heat and the lack of school routines, each day melts into the next in a sort of befuddled haze, but I am slowly pulling together a little order and productivity from the fog.  Up early, put a batch of yarn in the pot, grab a quick bite, walk puppy with the daughter (sort of a girls' date), return to collapse in a sweaty heap with a cold drink and contemplate whether I have the energy to make a bit of jewellery. Pacify a dozen or more heat-induced spats.  Work on reading with the boy.  Mid-afternoon: apply a half gallon of sunscreen to already-sticky bodies and head to the pool.  Delay supper until the sun falls behind the mountain and the patio is marginally liveable. Twilight puppy walk, send kids to bed late, rinse and hang the yarn, stay up a little longer to savour the (slightly) cooler air.

There was a little excitement yesterday, as lightning strikes set the tinder-dry mountain above us on fire. It was up to 75 hectares of intense nastiness for a while, but an all-out effort by air knocked it back considerably, and the smoldering remains are being fought primarily on the ground today.

 

And that's that.  I'm working on both custom and web-destined yarns - just a little every morning, but there will be a new batch to show very soon.  The FLS continues, and the body is almost complete - I've got other projects and ideas, but I just don't have the mental energy to work on anything else.  Still, I'll try to be less of a stranger this week....

Saved by the Sweater

It's been one of those days, you know?  Feeling dumb dumb dumb, socially inept, talentless, stagnant, unproductive, dyspeptic AND way too hot. 

Since I don't really have the luxury of doing this:

 

I drowned my sorrows in knitting, and with some trepidation, paused to see what I had wrought after dividing the sleeves and body:

 

Amazing.  The body has appropriate ease, the sleeves are just right, and the neckline is no longer strangling me.  I think.... (though I hesitate to jinx the whole thing).... I got it right this time. 

Here's what I did:

1) Measured the neckline I actually wanted, added 7 stitches for button band overlap (which is oddly missing from the figuring in the original) and cast on the appropriate number of stitches, which was way more than called for in the largest pattern size.

2) Picked a reasonable number of stitches to mark off for the sleeve sections, based on the assumption that I was starting an inch or so lower than the neckline called for in the pattern (15 stitches, as opposed to 11, that is.)

3) Divided up the remainder and placed the 4 raglan increase markers, being sure to include the extra for the button band in the front. 

4) Worked out about how big I wanted the armscye to be, and how deep the yoke needed to be at that point, with the idea that I wanted the raglan increase lines to show all the way down, but bearing in mind that an initial faster rate of increase wasn't such a bad idea, given the square shoulders thing.  Played with the numbers for a bit, and it turned out that increasing on right side rows x 14, followed by increasing on every other right side row x 8 worked out just right.

5) Worked a couple of evenly spaced increases in the arm and back sections to bring them each up to a multiple of 7.

6) Took a bit of a design leap (the success of which won't be apparent until the body is mostly done) and worked increases across the front every 6 stitches (similar to the original) for a gently gathered effect, which will hopefully accentuate the bust in a babydoll-ish fashion. (And then fudged a few more increases on the following row for a multiple of 7.) I plan to work evenly spaced single increases down the side "seams" to gradually bring the back stitches up equal to the front, such that the bottom of the cardigan will skim the top of my hips in graceful fashion. I'm not 100% sure it will work, but I have my hopes!

Kids and Puppies

just go together, don't they? As much as it annoys me to play into gender stereotypes, the girl child is the preferred choice for sleepy cuddles, while the boy has a knack for getting the pace and intensity of playtime exactly right. 

 

 

 

 

As for me, I'm dividing my day between making jewellery, and pulling yarn for dyeing from the eleventy billion boxes stacked floor-to-ceiling at the foot of our bed, with a bit of FLS knitting to reward myself and give the thumbs/wrists/lower back a break.  I'll put some WIPs in another post.

When you don't feel like hiking back to the office

 

 

or negotiating the 213 foot ladder:

 

As for the puppy - we have action!

A Day Off

Morning:

 

(After)noon:

 

Night:

 

There was also a family trip to the library (strategically timed to precede the ice-cream) and some excellent doggie adventures, but as I am the designated photographer AND primary dog walker/trainer, the two roles are rarely simultaneously compatible.  You know, in case you wondered why the puppy is only ever pictured napping....

Market day

begins early - up at 06:30, shower, hustle the kids out of bed by 7. Rob loads the truck (which now includes heaving a large dog crate out of its spot wedged between bed and jewellery bench, dismantling it to fit through the bedroom door, out the condo and into the elevator, out front the building because it makes the car too tall through the parking garage door, team-wrestling it to the roof rack while praying that semi-wakeful kids don't squabble over-vociferously in our absence and annoy the paying guests in adjacent units.) Rob heads down to begin set-up, while I recall last minute stuff, leash the dog, hustle kids out the door by 8. Pointedly lament the fact that it is instead, well after 8 and I will be SO late setting up, which means no sales, no money for birthdays and Christmas, and all because certain Someones couldn't make up their minds which stuffie to bring for a 5 minute walk.  Deep breaths, walk to tent site, praying puppy doesn't create more poops than I have poo bags.

Then.... magic.  Our very astute market manager has hired a local musician to accompany set-up: frayed nerves settle to the soothing strains of acoustic guitar and classic refrains, the uber-sensitive girl child stretches out on the tailgate to soak up sunshine and melody, the boy disappears into a patch of forest with his sticks.  Only the vendors are about as yet, the air is crisp and fragrant, the mountains majestic against a pure blue sky, and I remember that this is a good thing, a way of being long awaited. 

The display takes shape over the next couple of hours, shoppers drift into the stroll, and another hot, busy Sunday melts into being.

 

 

Perfect Puppy?  She just hangs out - quiet, content, occasionally watchful.

Saturday Morning

Early morning screen time (puppy likes anything that moves; the cat enjoys family time, but finds the talking dinosaur genre a saccharine affront to his intellect):

 

Even as I write this, I feel vaguely guilty for permitting such mindless diversions (though there's something quintessentially Saturday about tiptoeing to the couch all rumpled and sleepy, to start the day in completely indulgent fashion.) And it did allow me a few peaceful moments to work:

 

Besides, homemade scones for breakfast is a tick in the Good Mom column, right?

 

Scottish Scones (from the long out of print Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking).

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup milk

Combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork, until crumbly.  Add milk and stir until moistened.  Knead  a few times to make it stick together.  Place on a greased cookie sheet (I prefer a Silpat) and pat into an 8 inch circle.  If you feel particularly indulgent, brush with melted butter and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. Cut into 8 wedges, separate slightly.  Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes, or until golden.  Serve warm.

Still looking for my fit mojo...

I thought the February Lady would do the trick, but.... no. The first clue should have been all the accolades about fitting "real women" because I am steadily coming to the inescapable conclusion that I am not real.  I got this far:

 

Now, I am totally fine with gathers above the bust, and a swingy sillhouette, and I think bell sleeves are kind of sweet, however my first clue should have been the instruction to work at least 3 rows of garter stitch after the big increase row.  A quick look around Ravelry reveals that almost everyone works 3-5 rows here to get to the point where the armscye depth is adequate - I worked 26.  So rather than a fetching babydoll-ish look, I have a series of lumps halfway down the yoke.  

You know, little tummy bulge notwithstanding, I don't look all that freakishly disproportionate to myself in the mirror.  Nevertheless, I seem to be the only 5'10" woman in the world with a 36 inch bust and wide, square shoulders, and even when my hips and posterior were covered in nothing but lean muscle, they were still significantly bigger than my bust.  Because my shoulders are so wide, I don't look like a traditional pear, but the bust sizing trips me up every time.  I don't know why it takes so long to get it through my head that my shoulder and yoke size is better based on my hips - I think it's that I fear I'm going to be stuck wearing shapeless tents all the time.  It rankles all the more because I am actually really good at math - it is one of my natural affinities, and my inability to knit a properly fitting sweater feels like an intellectual failure of monumental proportions.

I think I'll frog it entirely, and start over with hip-based sizing... stay tuned!

Obligatory cuteness:

Red Tulip

Sometimes these rich reds feel like a self-inflicted wound to create - so much work to achieve that deep saturation in a colourfast form, so frustrating to do them justice with a camera.  But so worth it in the end:

 

Fuschia undertones, and a fierce red body, topped with a kiss of sunshine - these are what I would term shaded solids - very little overt variegation, but loads of subtle light play:

Merino Lace:

Bluefaced Bliss:

 

Blissful Sock - my new superwash BFL sock yarn - same fabulous yardage as the Summit Sock, amazing BFL woolly softness.

 

Merino-Silk:

 

Summit Sock:

 

Merino Worsted:

 

BFL Worsted:

 

Merino Aran:

On a Cold and Rainy Monday Morning While Mom Packs Orders....

 

 

No, we're not techno crazy - the far laptop is a an ancient "refurbished" one that will consent to load a couple of older quest-type games, and the near one is a suprisingly affordable HP notebook for keeping website stock levels updated while at shows and markets.  (Though Rob appears to have discovered an alternate use!) The last few issues we've had with the our primary (desktop) computer have also brought to light the fact that the industry now operates on the assumption that everyone has more than one means of internet access. We were repeatedly told to get online and fill out forms to get our broken computer sorted out (how exactly??) and then discovered that internet cafes seem to have vanished in the last year or so. I still remember when a single PC was a big deal - does everyone really have multiple computers these days?