Hello Blog!
July got away from me. I had a few minor setbacks in terms of my ability to do things, nothing horribly serious but I felt like July was spent more in the latter part of the “two steps forward one step back” idiom in terms of my ongoing attempt to regain movement and flexibility. There were days when I felt like I was more in “three steps back” mode, except that I know that isn’t true. I’ve been in PT for three months, and I have made progress, but my body has spent more than 50 years stiffening itself up, and three months of PT is just a drop in the bucket. I can admit I’ll never move normally, in fact I’m not even sure I know what that means. I just want to move, and realistically, three months is minuscule compared to the previous 57 years, remembering that I was first put in a Milwaukee brace at age 10, the majority of my spine was fused at age 16, and the last couple of non-fused disks in my lumbar spine have probably finally self-fused in just the last couple of years.
But that is not what this post is about.
When I was up to shifting things about, I reconfigured the pressing station in the studio. The rectangular pressing table was already there, I shifted it slightly and moved the ironing board from the laundry room, in the basement of the house, to the studio, which is above the garage. I’ve not been doing routine ironing in the laundry room as there is a wiring issue, which I’ve put off correcting while I made some decisions regarding additional electrical work. That ironing board is heavy, a vacuum board, and I was not using the vacuum feature in the laundry room but will use it in its new location. Moving it was work however, and it took me two days. The first day I hauled it up out of the basement, across the deck and into the garage. The second day I wrestled the board up the stairs to the studio, which are steeper than the older stairs in the house. Then two days after I got the ironing board moved and my pressing station reconfigured, my 20-some-odd year-old Naomoto gravity feed iron gave up the ghost. The new iron arrived this past week, and I’ve been catching up on ironing ever since.
Other than catching up with ironing, an ongoing process, especially in summer, when I tend to live in linen, I’ve been working on knitting projects. Those have also fallen into a sort of “two steps forward, one step back” pattern. I knitted two new garments, one of which is still blocking, but both of which I love, and spent some time fiddling with three less than satisfactory older projects.
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My first project was a tee, which I called adrift at sea, knit in a silk and linen yarn by Anzula called Vera. I originally purchased the Anzula for another project but did not like the yarn in that pattern. Instead, I used a pattern called Driftwood Tee by Mercedes Tarasovich from the summer 2014 Interweave Knits. The pattern is still available from Interweave. I basically made the pattern as written except that I wanted a deeper scoop so I altered the front neckline. I am very happy with the results.
I have just finished a second tee, but details of that will be in a future post. In the meantime, I’ve been fiddling about with other things.
Last fall I finished a fluffy coral sweater that was languishing in the UFO pile. This was a simple front cable pullover in a cotton/wool blend yarn from GGH that has since been discontinued. The original pattern called for finishing the sweater with a simple crochet edge at the neckline, and this is what I did. Although I loved wearing the sweater, I hated the way the neckline looked. I always wore it with a scarf or shawl wrapped around my neck. One day last month, I simply broke down, ripped out the neckline, and reknit it in ribbing. Now I am much happier with the sweater and am looking forward to the advent of cooler weather and snuggly sweater season. Given how much I wore this sweater in the house last winter, I predict it will see much wear in its improved state.
Continuing in this fit of reform zeal I next picked up two other projects that had been plaguing me: a ruana knit in two shades of Lang Cashmere Light, and a linen shell knit this past spring but never fully finished as I was exasperated with all my finishing attempts. The ruana was a simple project. I had already decided I would prefer it as a poncho, so I simply seamed the sides. As I think about it further, I might also want to add a cozy collar at the neckline, but I first need to pull out the odd ball box and see if I have enough yarn. No rush on this, as the ruana is perfectly wearable now, and cold weather is probably still months off. I am content to wait.
The small, green, white and turquoise piece on top of my shawl is Anni, by Gina Röckenwagner, and it is far more problematic. I loved knitting this, and I love the fabric created, but I’m not convinced that the Juniper Moon Zooey is one of my favorite yarns. Even worse, I have been completely frustrated by the process of finishing this sweater. I can’t seem to pick up and create a neckline that makes me really happy, although I now, after 4 attempts, have a neckline that just edges (barely) into “good enough”. Seaming has been an even bigger headache, and I have not been able to seam the pieces in a way that looks at all professional or properly finished. I finally gave myself permission to toss the unfinished project and remaining yarn into the UFO pile. I do have a few ideas about how to save it, including frogging the whole thing and reknitting it with some minor adjustments to the pattern, but at this point I am too emotional about the whole experience to approach it any kind of clear-headed manner. Best to wait.
Last but not least, I ordered Marie Wallin’s Fairisle 10 kit, the Tree of Life Throw. I’ve been itching to do some stranded knitting for a while now, but I don’t have a lot of need for stranded sweaters since I’ve moved south. This blanket will be a labor of love and a long term project. I have never planned on keeping up with the knit along. I worked on my swatch during July and got gauge on the third attempt. Even the process of swatching has been relaxing and fun, helping my fingers become reacquainted with a forgotten skill. It has been a good decade since I’ve done stranded knitting. The knitalong has already started but I don’t plan to actually begin until mid to late August, after some travel. You’ll be seeing this off an on for a long while to come. In the meantime I absolutely adore the range of colors, which you can see at the top of this post. Just looking at them makes me smile. .