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Restingmotion

  • New Mail

    Lots of new inspirations came in the mail:

    Inspirations
    This is more dream-mail than actual useful sewing information but that’s fine by me.  We are actually out more than we are in this week and next so anything that fuels my virtual-sewing is loads of fun.

    I do have a pattern pulled out (or three) and some fabric prepped and ready to go should any substantial piece of sewing time materialize.  In the meantime I have gotten the neckline finished on "Rage Management":
    Ragemanagementa10

    Now I just need to seam it up and re-block since I did a fair amount of ripping and re-knitting after the first blocking.  I had hoped to wear it tomorrow, but I think it will still be wet, especially as it is after noon and I haven’t even started seaming and have no idea when I will be able to begin.

    I also need to make some serious progress on deciding on my next project, making swatches and plans, and find something portable as there appears to be a fair amount of sitting-and-waiting time looming on the near horizon.

  • Chocolatey goodness

    Today seemed like the perfect day for a little chocolate fix, so I made a batch of brownies.
    Chocolate

    We tend to be lovers of dense chewy, chocolaty brownies in this house.  Extra chocolate is always appreciated with perhaps a little less sugar.  These are gluten-free, although at the moment I am allowed gluten and am no longer deemed Celiac.  I still have issues with sugars though, so G will get most of the brownies.  I have gotten rather good at gluten-free brownies though and since I am told to still avoid wheat gluten-free seemed the way to go.  Brownies and ice-cream are a rare treat, but we all need treats now and then.

    The pistachios, which were the nuts I happened to have on hand, reminded me of my pretty green vaseline glass bowls. Somehow a treat served up in a pretty bowl seems all the more luscious.

  • Not yet…

    Spring….. It.Is.Not.Yet.Spring.

    Notspring2
    Obviously someone things it is, spring that is.

    Figgy sprouted this week and he (she? does it matter with figs?) is sending out a ton of embryonic figs.  So cute.

    Such a pain. 

    Each year I leave the poor fig out in the cold longer and longer, right up until the first really killing frost (for this fig that is somewhere below 20 degrees) in the hopes that he will stay dormant until some reasonable time in the spring.

    Most years Figgy thinks that spring starts sometime around Valentines day.

    But now I have to get him out of the back of my garage and someplace warm and sunny, which means a trip outdoors.

    Tomorrow is supposed to be the warmest day of the week which means I will be out  in the rain tramping around the semi-frozen slushy ground wrestling with a giant potted fig. I suspect the fig will get the best of that deal as it will have to be well wrapped up in blankets so it can stay warm and toasty and not drop those precious little fruits. 

  • Swatch

    Last night I suddenly, and yes, blessedly, found myself in possession of a little knitting time, where there had been none since Tuesday.

    But there was nothing to knit.  I would have settled for some hand-sewing but there was nothing to sew either, or at least nothing at that level of preparedness where I could just sit down and let my hands do the work.

    I can't even say the week was that stressful or that bad, just busy and filled with other things.  Of course there was that lovely Valentine's dinner and bottle of Cotes du Rhone that eliminated the possibility of productive work on Thursday evening.

    Rage Management was in limbo:  I finished the sleeves on Tuesday but had not yet managed to get them pinned out for blocking and I had not yet measured and marked the front so that I could un-knit and re-knit the pattern.  The measuring and marking just required too much precision to be done after a long, somewhat stressful day when I really wanted to be watching Monk.

    Maggie1
    Luckily I remembered that I had a collection of summer tweed sitting in my knitting basket, just waiting for me to make a swatch.

    An hour later I had this lovely little treat to contemplate.  I am in love, even though the swatch is not finished and I don't know if I have gauge yet. 

    This is always the problem with knitting, once something is started I become obsessed with it and want to do nothing more than spend all my time with that precious bit of fiber.  All other projects flee out of my brain as I concentrate on my current infatuation. 

    Well, it took me long enough.  This is the swatch for Maggie:
    Maggie
    Which, I believe is from two summers ago.  And here I am dreaming of sweaters from the new Rowan spring book while I still have projects two-year-old projects sitting around.

    I suppose this is always the way.  I might be rearranging my knitting schedule.  Oh Maggie has long been in the queue, but now that I have started she has just moved up, besides this looks and feels like it will be a wonderful transition into spring and later back into fall type of cardigan.

    But first, I MUST block and reknit Rage Management so that I can wear it while it is still cold.  Of course at the moment it doesn't look like "still cold" is something that is going to disappear soon.

    And there is a growing pile of fabric on the cutting table, and a growing list of items that should be sewed, if I want to go out of the house that is.  Of course if I don't have clothes that I can wear in public I might just have to stay indoors in my jammies and knit.  Don't think I haven't considered the possibility,  I have merely reconciled myself to the unfortunate fact that it won't work.

  • New Rowan

    New Rowan books!

    Rowan43spring2008_2 I love getting the Rowan magazines and this one is no exception.  There are several designs in here I would like to knit, some immediately, and some that can wait.  And there are others that I think are nice. 

    I am always amazed when I go back and look at previous issues how many designs stand the test of time and I think this issue will be no exception.

    Most of the sweaters that I am attracted to in this issue are more classic sweaters that I can wear for a long time.

    One exception is perhaps Granite:
    Rowan43granite

    This sweater is just seriously cool, and I am really hoping to be knitting this.  Unfortunately it uses Bamboo Tape, which is not currently represented in my stash and my intention is to knit up a bit more of the stash and reduce new yarn purchases somewhat.  Unfortunately, although I can substitute, I think the shape of this sweater will really shine with the drape of bamboo and I would have to be very careful with substitutions.

    Rowan43mine

    Another sweater that uses Bamboo tape is this loose vest-like tank, called Mine.  I love the beads along the edge and I think this would look really cool over a pair of jeans with a close fitted tee or two underneath.  Because it is loose and drapey  I would want it to be short enough that a clingy tee would extend underneath.  This pattern is a bit short for me and I might make it a tad shorter, to maximize its layering potential. 

    Mine is simple but really already planted firmly in my brain as a must-have for spring and summer, so I might just have to get the yarn and the beads.

    As I said the other designs I really like are more classic in their appeal.  Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mabley are both represented:

    Rowan43kaffestripe
    Rowan43bandage

    I would make the men's vest in a small, making it for myself and adding a good bit of shaping to it so that it was much more close-fitting .  I would probably also lower the v-neckline just a wee bit to show a little more flesh at the neckline.

    Rowan43eerie
    I also love this delicate lacy tee by Sarah Hatton.

    It seems that I am increasingly attracted to delicate feminine things even though not so long ago I would have said that lace was really not my thing.  Apparently that is no longer the case and one of these days something like this tee is going to appear on my needles. I can't quite bring myself to do the whole wispy romantic look, but I can see this with a pair of sharply tailored pants as well.

    There is actually more.  A couple of RYC books arrived in the same package, but I have already gone on long enough, and not completed my chores for today, so I will have to continue later.

  • Domesticity and Southern Comfort

    Domesticity1_2

    I finally ordered Jane Brocket's  book and it arrived Thursday.  I have been interested in it since the beginning as Jane's blog is one I eagerly look forward to reading.  But when one's list of books to acquire or read numbers in the hundreds, and one's library in the thousands, sometimes things get delayed.  There was never any doubt that I would get the book, there was only some question as to when, especially as we have been weeding and rearranging the tomes on the walls, and there is nothing more daunting, nor more likely to make me curse under my breath and swear to limit the number of books coming into the house — for a short time at least.

    Domesticity2
    So this morning when I awoke to the continuation of my cold with throat still parched and sore and the symptoms migrating rapidly to my head, it seemed like the perfect time to curl up near a window to watch the dawn and slowly savor my new book and a cup of tea all wrapped up in a warm mohair blanket.

    I had a lovely, leisurely couple of hours.  I did not read quickly, allowing myself to slowly savor the treat, mostly starting at the beginning, but flipping through here and there when my some bit of thick-headedness would cloud my attention. Slowly wending my way through the book is like reading Jane's blog; filled with beautiful pictures and evocative words.  I loved just sitting and dreaming about my favorite things:  yarn and fabric, colors, beads, books, baked goods, chocolate, wine.

    I might not have, initially, thought I would be so enamored of a blog that did not revolve around knitting and sewing beautiful clothes, but I should have known better.  I am happiest with books, yarn, fabric, baking, flowers, chocolate.   I am basically a garment sewer and I love beautiful clothes, but I love more than that as well, and this book inspires a different creative impulse.

    Such a joy.
    Southerncomfort

    While I read, I set up a pot of grits in the double boiler where they could cook slowly at a soft simmer while I read and dreamed.    Grits still speak to me of home and comfort food, and are especially nice when I am slightly under the weather.  Although I grew up with smooth, quicker cooking grits, I have found I love the thickly textured stone-ground grits from Anson Mills  best of all.  They are not fast food, but they fill body and soul.

     

  • Book Update

    I finished reading James McBride’s The Color of Water  which apparently came out a few years ago and was a bestseller?  Well, it may or may not have been, I can be pretty oblivious.  It was an interesting enough book but nothing memorable.  I had expected more from it, it seemed like the story had so much potential.

    I also managed to get all the piles of books moved out of the future library room (old den) although G is still sorting through the piles of things that are hidden in the drawers of his desk, a desk that has really only been cursorily used for years.   I picked up Knitting under the Influence  which was slated for gym-reading.  It worked perfectly well for curl-up-under-a-blanket-with-a-cold reading as well.  A few hours and nap later it was done and there are two more books  to be added to the donation pile.  They wee both entertaining in their own ways but which have not won permanent space on the shelves.

    I think it was serendipitous that I planned to make chicken soup tonight.

  • Reputation and Instant Access

    I have had every intention of writing about the book I finished last week, The
    Future of Reputation     by Daniel Solove, but I have been laid low by a
    cold that just won’t let up, and usual when I have a head cold, my brain seems
    to go into some kind of "power conservation mode" and leave me
    floundering a bit.

    When I first picked the book up from the library I delved into it right away
    — it is fascinating and really makes one think about how the internet and the
    almost instantaneous exchange of information is changing our views of what is
    private and what is public in our lives.  In fact I was so wrapped up in
    the book I read most of it that first night.  Then I put it down and
    didn’t get back to it, not because it wasn’t interesting, but just because
    other things got in the way.  The fact that I did not get back to the book
    did not mean I stopped thinking about it though.

    Many people I know worry about the internet and their children’s exposure to
    it and although many of my friends would consider themselves rather technology
    savvy, they are often amazed by how adept their children are with new
    technology that still confounds them.  What I am increasingly wondering
    about is how all of this exchange of information affects how people see their
    place and their role in society.  I suspect that the future isn’t just
    about being more connected but that this same connectivity will bring about a
    profound shift in how we view the role of the individual in society. 

    Increasingly I believe that my view (and the view of my generation) of the
    role of public versus private is nothing like the view of younger
    generations.   Perhaps it is some aspect of my own "fuddy
    duddy" views (to use a previous generation’s term) but this shift could be
    either liberating or enslaving and there is potential for greater good here as
    well as for greater control and less freedom.

    It is imperative that we look at these issues.  It is imperative that
    we leap into the pond, even when we are not sure we understand all the new
    rules.  After all, even though the young may understand the technology
    better, and we may feel lost in this new world, it is still our duty to prepare
    our young to survive in this world which we may not even understand.

    I highly recommend this book.  It doesn’t hurt that it is often fun to
    read. We all need to consider privacy and how one is protected and what one’s
    rights and obligations are in this "brave new world" we are all
    dealing with and pretty much taking for granted every day. We all know of
    situations where what seemed harmless or meaningless suddenly got out of hand
    and turned ugly and we have all been surprised occasionally to learn how little
    control we as individuals may have.   We have to remember that much
    of the instant access granted by the web is viewed completely out of
    context. In fact this may sometimes be
    the point. There is danger here in that
    in any given moment in any given life there is so much that can be
    misconstrued. But the effects of that
    moment may haunt us forever.

    I think we all owe ourselves the effort to think
    about the implications

  • Have you seen…

    Have you seen the new New Yorker cover?
    Eustacetilly2008

    courtesy of The New Yorker

  • Find the error

    Well I have been making great progress on Rage Management.  I finished the body and one sleeve and have started the second sleeve.  Or, more exactly I thought I had finished the body.

    Ragemanagement8
    I was pinning it to the blocking board today, oh so proud of myself for being almost finished with a sweater and looking forward to starting the next one.  I even thought I could give myself a little bit of a treat and wind up the yarn for the next project tonight.

    But then, I realized that something was amiss.  In fact there is something terribly wrong with this sweater, wrong enough that it was quite obvious even through my self-congratulatory fog.  It was obvious even though my mental faculties are somewhat crippled by a head cold and a two-day old sinus headache. 

    If you haven't noticed yet, it will be quite obvious in the next photo:

    Ragemanagement_005
    Notice the lovely garter ridges made by the pattern stitches on the back?  Look at how plain the front appears in comparison.  I was supposed to do the same pattern stitches and continue the garter ridges. 

    Somehow I forgot.

    It is not that it is not that much knitting.  The pieces are really quite small, it is more that I would have rather not made such a silly mistake, and then, I would have rather realized the extent of my error before I washed and blocked the sweater.  I see that it really does help to pay attention to what one is doing.

    Bummer.

    Well, I have already started the last sleeve and there are no garter ridges on the sleeves.  Besides the pieces have to dry now.