Finishing School

Friday night finishing, originally uploaded by yarntherapy88.

Things to never, never say when you are finishing: 

1. “It’s not that bad.”

2. “No one will notice (fill in blank).”

3. “I can watch TV while I do this.”

4. “If I hurry, I can get this done now.”

5. “Another round, here, bartender!”

6. “I don’t need to tear my house apart, looking for this book.“

7. “I don’t need to see this again…or this…or this!“

8. “Of course I can blog while I’m doing mattress stitch…”

Friday night finishing

Stitch…stitch….stitch…., originally uploaded by yarntherapy88.

Just me and the sweater tonight…some good light, and my trusty Vogue book to guide me…

The shoulder seams look a little funky and I’m trying not to notice. First they were too tight, so I frogged and tried again. Now, are they too loose? Hmmm….

(Sigh.) My life is just too exciting on a Friday night.  I want this to be done soon!!   And while I am wishing, I would also like a pony.

A sweater for Lucy

a sweater for Lucy, originally uploaded by yarntherapy88.

I love to knit for kids! I wish I had finished this one before Easter. It has more colors than an Easter basket.

Lucy likes red….see, it has some red in it! Do I like these colors more than Lucy does? Dear Lucy, even if you only wear this in my imagination…it is a fun knit!

Memoriam

A call that we all dread…it came, last night.

“Grandpa died,” said my relative, briskly, into the phone. “At St. Vincent’s. 2 AM.”

“I’m…so sorry,” I murmured.

I am not resigned
to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be,
for so it has been, time out of mind…

“He was peaceful,” she said. “His breathing was bad. And he had some infections. Pneumonia, I think. And anemia. And something with his sodium.”

Crowned with lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned…
Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

“And you know, he was going to be 94 next week. He had a great life, didn’t he?”

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom.
I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

“OH! And one more thing,” she said. “We want you to know…we’re going to bury him with those socks you made for him. You know, those nice ones.”

“My socks…?”

“He loved them! He wore them all the time! So we are making sure that they go with him. We just wanted to tell you.”

“Er…thank you. Um, thank you, very much.”

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Goodbye, Grandpa Hugo.

-Dirge Without Music, Edna St. Vincent Millay.

“Project Spectrum” love

Lolly is a wonderful knitter, weaver, and blogger. Her Project Spectrum is inspiring! This year, her theme is “Elements” (as in earth, air, etc. — not uranium!) – and this month, we are challenged to make something “fiery.”

Oooh, I found something fiery in my stash….(who knows when or why I bought it? That’s the story of most of my stash…)

It just happens that my other challenge this year is to “Knit Down the Stash.” (Husband will kindly stop snickering! Thank you.) What a wonderful (stop laughing, I mean it), charming way to knit down some of my stash! The colors remind me of a glowing sunrise that we saw last week:

Here, then, is my “So-Called-Project-Spectrum-Noro-Stash-Knit-Down-Scarf.” (Whew! That’s a mouthful.) And my stash is a tiny bit smaller. Er, I can’t really go yarn shopping yet. Dang!

The Great Knitting Caucus of 2008.

A cable news transcript:

Jeff Greenfield: If you’re joining us from home, this is a very special night in the LYS. After hearing about new yarn and fiber for so long, a group of knitters is finally going to step up and decide: what is their next project?

Wolf Blitzer: It’s a big night, Jeff. Let’s see how knitters are evaluating their first skein.

Dan Rather: It’s an organic wool-cashmere blend, DK weight, in subtly variegated earth tones. That’s all we’ve been able to uncover.

Chris Matthews: I was talking with some of the knitters. While they’ve obviously given this a lot of thought, many seemed ready to back Socks.

Anderson Cooper: Socks have received major endorsements from several knitters, and they clearly have name-recognition among the general public. They’re heavy-hitters in this race.

Jeff Greenfield: The knitters are conferring. I wonder what they’re discussing?

Keith Olbermann: Maybe they want to know the dye lot. Or, does it have knots? They seem to be making swatches of some kind .

Doris Kearns Goodwin: Well, it hardly seems to matter at this time, Keith. Socks have a well-honed message of complex pattern instructions, and a track record for getting lost. These knitters, facing uncertain times, can’t afford to back a dark horse project now.

Larry King: I think I heard one knitter mention “mittens.” What do you think of that?

Jeff Greenfield: Mittens are very popular among this demographic.

George Stephanopoulos: You know, mittens have surprised me a lot recently. Women *and* men seem pretty impressed by the track record of knitted mittens, and their vision for the future. This is one project they don’t want to overlook.

Larry King: Well, here we go. The knitters have made their purchases. And there’s the receipt! We are calling it for Socks!

Wolf Blitzer: Amazing. You know, grassroots organization really carried Socks in this first key project of the night. Everybody knows somebody who wears socks — and that kind of familiarity really figured into the knitters’ decision-making.

George Will: And, you know, as I look across this yarn shop, with its hundreds of skeins, I really think Socks are going to run the table tonight.

Jeff Greenfield: You think every fiber will become a sock?

Anderson Cooper: Socks have the momentum, Jeff. Their brand is strong.

Chris Matthews: Socks have arrived out of nowhere.  They “get it.” We’re ready for them. And these knitters are just blown away by their broad appeal across so many key demographic groups. They’re true believers.

Jeff Greenfield: Here’s another skein. The knitters are evaluating it. How do you think this one’s going to turn out?

Ted Koppel: A wise man once said, if you want to know what a knitter is going to knit, you must ask the knitter.

Chris Matthews: I don’t know, I’m ready to just call this one for Socks.

Sean Hannity: Socks are a *juggernaut*. The other projects should just *give up*.

Dan Rather: You know, the other day I was talking with someone knitting Hats… From a certain point of view, Hats and Mittens have a lot in common.

Chris Matthews: The time for Hats has passed. It’s embarrassing that Hats are still on the ballot.

Larry King: The knitters are looking up something… pattern info, it would seem. And now, orders are going in.

Dan Rather: I don’t see any double points or magic loops. We may be looking at a major upset.

Larry King: They’ve ordered 20 skeins, and an afghan pattern book. And they’re moving on!

Tim Russert: Afghan throw! The knitters have spoken.

Jeff Greenfield: Unbelievable. This is a huge setback for Socks.

Wolf Blitzer: But what an amazing comeback for an old standby. Lately, afghans didn’t really seem to have the vision, or the ability to reach knitters on a visceral level anymore. Tonight it seemed almost like an afterthought, especially with that first project.

Dan Rather: Knitted afghans have pulled themselves back from the knitting abyss.

Tim Russert: I have to wonder what the knitters are basing their decision-making on. It’s almost as though there are factors besides momentum that play into their thought process.

George Stephanopoulos: I think knitters were trying to send Socks a message – Socks have got to earn that spot at the top. The knitters aren’t so enamored with it anymore, that’s for sure.

Anderson Cooper: Well, it just goes to show, knitters are a fickle bunch. There’s still a long way to go, and now the yarn store is a battleground for projects. Are expectations too high, do you think?

Dan Rather: This is where the fun starts.

(with thanks and apologies to Nick)

Love, lost…and found.

Lonely scarf, originally uploaded by yarntherapy88.

Three feet into this scarf, I set the needles down and wandered away. My fickle, fickle heart…what happened?

Picking up where I left off…or, where I think I left off…I’m starting to remember.

Entrelac. It’s so repetitive…but not so mindless that I can watch “Lost” as I knit and turn, purl and turn…tire of turning…then knit backwards…or purl backwards…

This scarf whispers, “Pay attention to me!” It is a jealous, demanding scarf.

Plus, it’s Silk Garden. Little knots. Little bits (or big bits!) of twigs. Hey, it’s not so bad. I can do this.

And……whoops. It needs a bath! I think it also needs some mitts…and a hat…

Yes, we shall reclaim our lost love. It’s happening.

Yarn love.

The yarn that started it all for me…the first yarn that I truly, truly loved…

is Noro.

Back then, I knew nothing about yarn. Nothing! I didn’t understand fibers, textures, “stray bits of veggie matter” embedded in the yarn…and I didn’t care. I was in love! Those colors just…did it for me.

And I bought it. I bought a few, then a few more…then, a lot more. I have boxes of it stashed in my closet. I have unfinished Noro projects, scattered all over the place.

“More yarn?” asked my husband. “Can we eat the yarn? Can we burn it for fuel?” LOL…I did slow down the Noro buying binge, a bit…

But then, something happened. I discovered other yarn.

Today, I looked at my Noro boxes. I still love you, Noro. I think I will try to finish this:

A knitted thing.

Would you like to see a scarf?So-called Folktale Fibers scarf.

Testing. One, two, three…

Another knitting blog…

and, why not?