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Purple Bells

Well yes, there is knitting going on here.

I found myself between projects. I fell short of yarn in my supposedly current project, which was anticipated and wholly my own fault as i was knitting the recommended yarn at a gauge which was tighter than was recommended in the pattern. While I was waiting for additional supplies to arrive I needed something to work on.

Enter a few skeins of Road to China yarn by The Fiber Company in a lovely reddish purple color named "rose de France". I purchased this during an evening of hunting and pecking through the remaining stock at my LYS, Yarn Central, before they went out of business. There was not really enough to make a sweater, but I thought there was enough to do something. I was right, although just barely.

I had seven skeins. Seven 80-yard skeins yields 560 yards of yarn. Searching for patterns for an adult sweater using that little yardage yielded very little. Originally I considered a vest pattern which required a little over 600 yards, more than I had, but I thought I could risk it as I tend to knit long skinny stitches and fewer rows per inch means less yarn is used. But then I found this pattern, which was actually written for the yarn I was using and required the exact yardage I happened to have on hand: Bells of Ireland from Interweave Knits

That is, my yardage would work if I knit the smallest size, which produced a sweater with a 38" bust. This would technically fit my 37" inch bust, although the sweater shown is pictured with "several inches" of positive ease, which means, I guess that the model's bust is around 33 – 34.

I could work with that.

I made the smallest size. However I made some changes. This sweater, like most knitting patterns is designed so that the circumference around the sweater is divided equally between the front and back. This means that if a sweater is 38 inches at the bust, it is divided so that there 19 inches of width across the back, and 19 inches across the front. This might work if the person wearing the sweater is built like Gumby and is roughly the same front and back, but most humans aren't designed that way. Most of us are narrower across the back than we are across the chest. I thought that if I redesigned the pattern so that I had extra volume at the front to accommodate the fuller bust measurement I might be able to pull it off. I used my actual back measurement at the bustline for the back of the sweater and put everything else in the front. This did not affect the knitting significantly until I got to the raglan shaping where, luckily for me, the shaping was done over the course of a six-row repeat. Rather than decreasingly equally in the front and back, I needed to decrease three stitches in front for every one stitch decreased in back, a proportion that was easily worked out over six rows.

Of course, since the sweater is knitted in one piece from the bottom up, I wasn't going to know how well it worked until I was almost done. But I figured if the math was right it had to at least fit. Whether it would be flattering or not was another issue. I was going out on a limb here as I've never worn anything quite like this before.

Here are the results:

I think it works. Of course it appears substantially shorter on my tall 5'9" frame and long torso than it does on the model, although I can assure you the length exactly matches the pattern specs. It is not ideal, but it is not bad. I even think it would be rather nice over a simple dress. Unfortunately I don't have any simple dresses I could wear it with at the moment, a situation that probably needs to be remedied. I am actually happier with the style than I am with the striping and color changes across the sweater. I did check the labels and all the yarn was from the same dye lot, probably originally from the same bag, so I am wondering if the color varation is due to differences in light as the yarn was stored. I didn't see the color difference in the skeins before I started knitting, or I would have made an effort to work the color progression a little differently. I think I will wear it, at least for now. I'm wondering if the disappointment in the color will bother me over time, if it will be possible to over-dye it, or if I will just accept it as one of the many imperfections of life. Whatever I decide I can't complain about the results considering it was sale yarn and a couple of weeks worth of nightly television knitting.

October 21, 2010
Front Yard Revealed

The front yard is "done".

At least the hardscaping is done, and the men in boots are gone. My work is just beginning.

October 20, 2010
New York State Sheep and Wool

We did go up to the New York State Sheep and Wool festival last weekend, although I had rather mixed feelings about the whole thing. I have lots of yarn, I have lots of projects in various unfinished states, and although there is more to the festival than the purchase of yarn, I have few illusions about my ability to go to a wool festival filled with a couple of hundred vendors and not walk out with something.

In the end we went, I bought, but only a little, and we left. It was a sweet day, walking slowly, hand in hand with G as he marveled at the yarns, the knitting, and the spinning wheels. We didn't make it as far as the sheep or the alpacas but we did sit on a bench eating a chocolate covered apple, G marveling at the combination of sweet, creamy, crisp and tart.

G was fascinated watching a vendor making cord with a lucet. He thought this was something he would like to try and hoped it would be easier than knitting. I don't know about that and his knitting lessons are progressing very very slowly, but I was more than willing to give it a try.

As you can see, above, I did buy yarn, but only a small amount, from Helen Hamann's booth. Perhaps I should have bought more. I loved the yarn and the colors were fabulous. Really, I wanted every single color in the booth, it was a color-lover's fantasy. I may regret not buying more as it is not carried locally, but I restrained myself and purchased only the yarn I needed for a project that has been floating around the back of my mind.

I would like to say that you will be seeing this take shape soon, but I know that my dreams are often far bigger and more numerous than my ability to bring them to fruition, but it will appear, one of these days at least.

October 19, 2010
Twenty Four

Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. It is a quiet day, following a quiet weekend. Celebrations don't tend to big things at the moment in our lives, but that makes them no less special.

Friday night we opened a case of Chateau Clerc Milon 1995 and drank a bottle curled up on the sofa, mostly reading, but often dozing on and off. The wine was very smooth and mellow, with a mouth feel much like the delicate brush of silk charmeuse on the skin, not weak, but with a good balance of hard and soft. There is still bit of intensity on the finish and a touch of unresolved tannins.

It is a good wine for an anniversary weekend and the beginnings of our 25th year as it is smooth and balanced with a bit of sweetness, mostly harmonious and well-integrated, but still with a hint of graphite on the finish. From brash youth to mellow age: Good for a wine; good for a marriage.

I'll remember to open a bottle early tonight. It seems to be at its best about 3 to 4 hours after opening with a hint of currants and chocolate rounding out the flavors.

October 18, 2010
Who Am I? Living Room

When I was posting photos for Mette's challenge earlier in the week I was having a great deal of trouble stating what these pieces said about me, how they defined me in any way. My post became verbose, not at all surprising to anyone who has read my previous blogs. I will probably still be long-winded, but I hope to at least be coherent.

I am still not sure that, in my case at least, that individual pieces can be evaluated apart from their setting. Perhaps they can. Perhaps I have simply not yet come to terms with this.

I do think however that the setting can say much. Take this section of our living room (this photo was originally posted on my earlier blog, sewdistracted, last spring). I love this portion of this room and am inclined to think it shows you far more about me than three simple pieces ever can. You will note, however, that two pieces from Tuesday's post reside here.

Next to the sofa is a piece of brickwork. It is actually the matching piece to the one I showed the other day. They are part of a pair, which fit well together to form one long piece, but also work separately as they are used now. These pieces were part of the original Vassar Hospital Building in Poughkeepsie, and G rescued them when the building was being demolished. They are among my favorite pieces of furniture. I love the fact that they were once something else, and have found new life in my home.

On the far right side of the photo you see the corner of a Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer. This is the same chair, but this time it is in its normal position. I had to turn it in order to get a photo. Obviously it is not original; the original models had canvas rather than leather. I do love the shape of the chair. I find it extremely comfortable. I like the way it uses industrial materials (tubular steel) and leather. And although I tend to see this chair more often with black leather, which offers a stark contast to the steel, I would not own the black version. I find it cold and impersonal. I like the warmth the brown leather brings to the cold steel. This chair was a gift to me from G early in our marriage. It was a very thoughtful gift and I appreciate the effort he went to find it. It is important to me that he bought the licensed production version with real tubular steel as opposed to the cheap chrome versions that were, and still are, available. Lastly, the positioning of the Wassily chair next to the brick work is new, and it makes me very happy. They work well together and I sit here every day.

I find this area warm and inviting and I like the mix of new and old. It is also one of the few areas of the house where the furnishings are truly the result of cooperative enterprise. The house came with the husband, completely furnished. I don't really like the paneled walls or the wall to wall carpet, although there is much to like about the house as a whole. I did not like the original furniture, or most of it, and although most of it has slowly gone over the course of 24 years, some still remains. Unfortunately some of the pieces I did like have also gone due to decisions or circumstances that seemed right at the time.

The brickwork was George's. The lamps were mine. They need new shades, and I know exactly what I want and merely need to get around to having them made. Everything else, the sofas and the tables were a cooperative enterprise, sometimes immediate and easy, sometimes difficult and protracted. This is not surprising when two strong willed people with definite opinions about design join forces. The paperback books on the ceiling beams were my idea, and although they are somewhat difficult to access, they make me happy up there, peering down on whoever is in the room. The black tubing around the rim of the table is not a part of the design but is simple pipe insulation picked up at our local hardware. G can no longer see the edges of the clear glass and over the course of the last year he has had many injuries where he simply ran into the table. Yet he did not want to lose the table. This was a simple, stylish and practical accommodation to the reality of aging.

I see I haven't really addressed the yellow Panton chair. It is part of a set of 4, two white, two yellow. They are outside on the deck at two small tables where we often sit. They were my choice. G hated them when he first saw them and I dreamed about them for years. When the deck was finished a couple of years ago I bought myself two as a birthdday gift to myself. Since then G has come to appreciate them and their comfort. Last year he asked that we get two more. He also asked that they not be the same color, that was "too boring". Soon I will be taking them into storage for the winter. I will miss them. Every spring, when I bring them up to the deck, I giggle like a schoolgirl and can't wait to sit in them. I sit there, swinging my legs like a small gleeful child, feeling the chair rock gently with me, with an enormous grin on my face. These chairs bring me great joy.

I wish that every thing in my life could bring such joy, but of course that is not the way of world. Yet it is what I strive for everyday.

October 14, 2010
Thai Chicken, Zucchini and Tomato Curry

This has become a favorite dish. The recipe is from the May 2009 issue of Food & Wine magazine and I make it pretty much exactly as written although I sometimes use more curry paste, depending on the brand I happen to have on hand at any given moment and its relative heat. The grocery store brands are usually milder than the one I used to get at the local Thai grocery, but the Thai grocery closed and now my options are more limited. You can find the recipe online here.

These may have been the last of the local zucchini as we had a mild frost a few days ago and again last night. Tomato production has moved into high gear on my plants since I moved them to the warmth of the sun porch and I had enough tomatoes to make this dish and have more during the week. It is kind of nice to have something still ripening on the vine as everything else is dying back and preparing for winter. Although I buy as much as possible from local farmers, I had forgotten how nice it was to have food grown by my own hand on the table.

October 13, 2010
Three Pieces

Last week Metscan posted three pieces of furniture as part of a series called "Who Am I".

Uncharacteristically, I shall refrain from verbiage and leave you to your own interpretations.

October 12, 2010
Crunch Time

Saturday it seemed like everyone was working in my front yard. It wasn't quite so, only the landscaping crew but it was exciting to watch as we are getting so near the end of the job. I almost felt bad about not being out in the yard working myself, but I would have just been in the way. Besides, the mason tells me he will be done on Thursday and that is when my work really begins.

We came home Saturday evening to see the final results on the north side of the house. Final for now anyway. The mason's work is done, the gravel is done, but the two other planting beds, the ones framed by cedar landscape timbers on either side of the gate are still to be built. That is my job. The final beds will be higher, even with the bottom rail of the fence behind them. Once I have built the beds, I still have to plant everything, but planting here will wait until next spring.

There is still masonry work to be done on the front yard, but here is a glimpse of progress so far, again a shot at dusk. You will have to wait until the end of the week for more.

And of course, after the crews go home, the fun part will begin. It will take me some time to work my way through the various beds, planning and planting, but I am looking forward to it. Well, frankly, I was looking forward to it, but now I wonder if I have lost my mind. After spending a few hours clearing out overgrowth from the old vegetable garden so that I could make space for some sun perennials that need relocating as well as a place for a few hundred tulip bulbs, every muscle in my body aches. I can't believe I used to do this on a daily basis, although I assume, if I've done it before, eventually I will get those old gardening muscles back. At the moment that looks like it will be a lifetime away, but I'm determined to give it a go.

October 11, 2010
Seasonal Find

Yesterday's surprise find:

Fresh Chicken of the Woods mushrooms, still young enough to be tender and beautiful.

We had some of them sauteed them in butter with tender small fennel and finished with a small bit of cream. This mushroom doesn't really shrink up when you cook it. Even a small amount has a rich and luxurious flavor.

Tonight there will be a rich mushroom risotto.

October 9, 2010
A Clip and a Comb

I had a couple of errands up in Rhinebeck the other day and I stopped to check out local designer, Haldora. It was kind of silly really, timing wise, as I had just recently joined Weight Watchers to knock off the pounds I had put back on plus a few more and was therefore a little reluctant to buy nice new clothes, at least right away. And, secondly, I had just come from my favorite jeweler's, where I was so dazzled by the offerings I had vowed to buy no more clothes and save all my money for jewelry.

I didn't buy any clothes, but I liked a lot of what I saw so I will be back, because, of course, I will buy clothes again. There was however a lovely assortment of hair accessories, and I am rather desperately in need of nice hair clips and combs.

The last time my hair was long enough to put up, I had a collection of long elegant metal clamp like clips that looked like beaks. I don't think I got rid of them, but I might have; I certainly cannot find them right now. Haldora did not have any of these beaky clips, but the barrette here works almost as well.

Just in time too. The furnace went out yesterday morning, the new furnace, and I am not fan of an ice cold shower. I managed to easily twist my hair up with the barrette and clamp the front sweep of my ex-fringe with the comb firmly enough that my hair stayed up all day, with just the occasional wispy bit, despite the fact that I was running in and out and all around for much of the day. Yesterday was the first sunny weekday since the previous Wednesday. Between carpenters, masons, landscapers and furnace repair, I had 8 trucks in my driveway at one point.

Prior to this, I had decided that my hair was too long. But now I have doubts, I like being able to wear it up. But will I succumb to the lure of always wearing it up, which was the problem in the past, or will I bother to dry it and style it and wear it down? I have an appointment for a cut next week. Decisions must be made.

October 7, 2010