New Japanese Books arrived in the mail!
It looks like there will be lots of fun pattern play ahead.
Restingmotion
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Vogue Knitting Winter 2008
The new Vogue Knitting arrived in my mailbox today. I was rather sad to see that it was, overall, fairly disappointing. I have been buying Vogue Knitting since they reintroduced it in 1982 even though I did not know how to knit at that time. I had faith that I would learn. Since I did not knit I did miss a few issues, but not many, only 2 or 3 issues are missing from my collection.I can honestly say however, that never, in all that time, have I been as completely uninspired by any issue as I am by this one. The cover looks promising, the colors are thrilling, but the patterns themselves do not encourage me to whip out the needles and rifle through the stash, much less fire up the mouse and start seeking out new yarn.
Perhaps it is just me.
Even the story line entitled "Oh Cables" did not brighten my spirits although I seem to have been tempted by cabled sweaters elsewhere:
Look at this wonderful cabled sweater currently on sale at Net-A-Porter. . Here is something I am inspired to knock-off, although I would change the length a bit to fit me and perhaps change the shape a little bit as well.Here is a detail photo of the cables:
The combination of the jacket shape and the hood and the cable pattern makes me itch to find some yarn and needles, although if it continues warm I probably won't need it this year and I already have a generous supply of sweaters that are too warm to wear.
I can't even say that I am attracted only to high-end designer knitwear. I am also thinking about this cabled sweater from Moda Dea, a branch of Coats and Clarks. The tie front isn't really for me but that is easily adapted to a simple narrow belt. and I just love the combination of pattern and the lines of this jacket.Both of these are styles that I would find fun to knit and would love to wear for a long time.
The designs in the Vogue just don't pass that test for me. Some of them are moderately interesting. And I am not one to shy away from fashionable or trendy designs, but the Vogue patterns don't seem to have either enough spark or enough versatility to capture my attention.
Or perhaps it is just that I have too many one-outfit sweaters and am looking for something a little more basic.
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Is that it for winter?
At some point during the fall we were told "December would be a real winter". We had snow, snow that actually stayed on the ground for a couple of weeks granting us that fabled "white Christmas" which is actually fairly rare around here. And then we were told it is basically over, that the rest of the winter will be warmer than average leading into a long cool spring.
Has winter come and gone? Certainly the beginning of the year has been interesting enough. 2007 ended with 9 inches of snow. 2008 began with another 7 inches of snow. Then we had a little cold front and on Thursday the temperatures dropped below zero. I suppose if this is all there is to winter we have still met our average minimum temperature requirements for zone 6 (0 to -10) and so we could let winter rest peacefully. I can’t say that I would mind if the rest of the winter were mild.
The ground was still frozen solid and covered in snow Saturday morning. By this afternoon large swaths of brown grass and semi-frozen mud have appeared. Walking to the compost bin requires crossing a combination of hard slippery ice, slush, and wet marshy semi-frozen sodden ground. Perhaps the muddy season is upon us. Only time will tell.
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In the corner with new books
The new year has begun and if I had great plans for being efficient, together, working hard and not sloughing off important tasks I would have failed. Fortunately no such resolutions were made, although I do intend to spend a little more time on the exercise bike, accompanied by books of course.
In fact reading seems to be the main accomplishment of the year so far. I sneak off to a quiet corner whenever possible to lose myself in someone’s prose and it is a quite enjoyable habit, one I have never managed to quite outgrow.
I have finished:
Musicophilia which was interesting and entertaining. Like most of Sacks’ books, it revolves around numerous case studies, each illuminating different points, pathologies, or aspects of how the human mind approaches and understands, or fails to understand music. In that sense it was a quick read because it was easily picked up on a whim and just as easily abandoned. Do not think this is a criticism of the book. I enjoyed it and it has made me reconsider many of my thoughts and preconceived notions about how we as humans process and approach our sensory input. Sacks has a way of giving us just enough information to lead us to reflect on what we have read, pointing us in a particular direction perhaps, but leaving the reader to ponder implications not previously considered.
In fact the book has reminded me of my own discomfort at criticism — such a subjective analysis and prone to so many biases. I am reminded how my own judgment of a book or a musical performance can be highly influenced by my own expectations as well as my emotional or mental state. As humans are we ever so purely intellectual and neutral that we can make a purely rational judgment on facts alone? I aspire more to the summary view, something along the lines of "I read x and it made me think about y". As usual, for good or ill, well-written or total hack-job, I remain uninterested in anything that does not lead me on to ponder something, good or ill, complex or mundane.
I also read Phoebe Damrosch’s Service Included which was interesting because most of the books I have read about the restaurant world are written from the point of view of the chef and this is the first book I have read from the view of someone working in the front of the house. I found it interesting and entertaining. I would think anyone who likes to eat out and occasionally go out to high-end restaurants would find it interesting.The person who passed it on to me expected it to be more of a titillating read, expecting more celebrity gossip and tales of the misbehaviors of the rich and famous. I frankly found the lack of the titillation factor to be a good point and as I said I enjoyed reading the book. It is not something that I will treasure for ages, I don’t suppose it is meant to be. But it was fun, entertaining, at times enlightening; at times it made me laugh and at other times I laughed at human foibles. I didn’t find it as gripping as the NY Times review seemed to intimate it might be, but I found to to be fun. And although I have never eaten Per Se, I have wanted to do so since it opened. Reading the book has only added spice to the dream, not dampened the anticipation.
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Detanglings and Unclutterings
I am deep in re-organizing, decluttering, and generally clearing my thoughts and my sewing space for finishing up old projects and beginning new ones.
After a long period of just having too much going on followed by a long fallow period where I just had no motivation to make anything, ideas are flowing again and there is much I want to get done.
But I don't want to jump into all the new ideas and leave all the things that I started last year unfinished, so I am sorting through projects and ideas, thinking about what I still want to work on (quite a bit by the way) and also trying to leave room for new inspirations. I think I am actually coming up with a pseudo-plan, or at least a rough guide, and I will be updating you about that in the coming days.
Meanwhile, I am sorting through piles, untangling knots, both physical and mental, ripping a few knitting mistakes.
I have a stack of sweaters to work on and far more dreams than I could ever knit.
I also want to finish up many sewing projects that I started last year, and although I also want to jump into new projects, I want to wear the garments I never made as well, so it time to tackle all that stuff so it no longer weighs me down.
Oh, and I did write Patrones. I should be hearing from them this coming week. Thank you all for the comments and encouragement. Thank you also Natasha for inspiring me to move forward with this.
One of the decisions I have made is to actually get one of these Patrones patterns made up, sooner rather than later, although I may alternate working on it with finishing up a few of those old projects.
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Patrones??
As I was sorting through magazines and catalogs that came over the holidays I was reminded that the December Patrones had come just before Christmas but due to the general holiday mayhem, it had been put aside without a really good look.So I pulled it out and was reminded how much I like the fashion-forward emphasis of this magazine. As usual there are quite a few designs I am interested in making.
Now this also poses a problem of sorts, because this was the last issue of my Patrones subscription and I need to decide if I am going to subscribe again or not. Last year we subscribed through clicking on an option on the website. The website has been redone and this option is no longer available. There is an email address for subscriptions, but then I started thinking, and I haven’t written them yet.
Last year the subscription price for all subscriptions outside the EU was 288.4 Euros, most of which goes to airmail postage. At the time I subscribed, in December, the exchange rate for US dollars was quite good and I paid roughly $322 for the subscription. It was expensive, but I could rationalize it.
The dollar started going down against the Euro. In April I checked the price following some inquiries and found that one could subscribe through Amazon.com for about $425.00 which seemed pretty pricey, but when I did the math with the exchange rate at that time I found the direct subscription to be $393.72 (see my post of April 28, 2007). That was pretty expensive and really not that far out of line considering that Amazon probably doesn’t get that many subscriptions for Patrones, they probably get them all delivered to their warehouse and then redistribute them to subscribers. I am sure the people at Amazon have figured out a pretty effective formula for balancing the profits on losses on individual items based on demand and desirability in such a way that the business remains profitable.
But back to the topic at hand. I figured the subscription price has to be at least what it was last year, and it may have gone up. I didn’t want to write to the publisher without at least having a vague idea of what I might be getting into. So figuring the price of 288.4 Euros at the current exchange rate (as of Wednesday) I came up with approximately $424.00 US dollars, which is more than $100 more than I paid a little over a year ago.
This gave me pause. The current Amazon price is $450, again maintaining about the same $25 markup for shipping/handling and processing. But although I love the Patrones magazine, and there are usually several patterns I want to make I need to think about whether there are enough patterns to warrant the price. If the subscription price was $424 for 12 issues it would come out to $36.00 an issue. I could probably get them on ebay for $24 an issue, perhaps a little less, figuring on using the express air-mail shipping. There are probably at least 3 patterns and often much more in each issue that appeal, so that works out to $12 a pattern. But there are two children’s issues which I don’t use.
On a price per pattern basis I don’t find it outrageous. I don’t usually manage to buy patterns on deep sale because the stores that offer those discounts are not located near my home.
But still, I simply cannot wrap my head around the idea of spending $425 for a magazine subscription, despite the fact that many professional journals cost more than than that per year. DH’s professional journals are more than that. When I was active in IEEE and ACM and subscribed to several journals I spent considerably more than the price of the Patrones magazine. But those were professional expenses. I am not sure I can rationalize a sewing magazine for a hobby the same way I can justify an academic journal which is used for professional education.
Well. I have to think about it. I might be looking for those issues on eBay and calling Around the World more frequently.
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A New Year
Happy New Year!!
The end of 2007 got a little out of hand. Life intervened in a really big way but I did get a fair amount of gift sewing done. Unfortunately none of it was documented and I have decided not to begin this new year by itemizing the successes and failures of the past.Actually 2007 went fairly well considering there were some pretty big upsets, and although I did not accomplish as much as I would have liked, and who ever does, I still met my goals in the most minimal of fashions.
So 2008 looks bright and I have high hopes.
I did manage to integrate a lot of parts of my life that seemed disparate and disconnected. I also rediscovered my sense of style and my love of clothes and pretty things, something I was actually surprised to have lost and despaired of finding again. I know now that everything else, including my creativity will return in its own good time and I am not worried. In fact I am dreaming a lot. I am dreaming of colors and fabrics and yarns and music. The ideas are tumbling around, more fragmented at the moment but occasionally falling into discernible patterns. Eventually some of these fragments will coalesce into actual projects.
I hope that the year is filled with dreams, and that some of those dreams become realities.
Oh, and the vase? That was a Christmas gift. It is felt with a glass liner and I think it just so cool.
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Different fiber, Different look
I finished the second shrug, and it is perfect. It seems apparent that there is much to learn in terms of the properties of various fibers, the effects spinning and structure has on the yarn, and how to compare and substitute fibers.
This is exactly the same as the striped shrug in terms of critical measurements. The gauge is identical, the same pattern was used and the finished objects share the exact same dimensions.Looking at the photo however, one can see that the alpaca shrug, shown here, has a much softer hand, it hangs rather than curls and it drapes differently around the body. I think this is perhaps more flattering, although careful examination of the photos indicates that the differences are slight.
This sweater drapes over the body whereas the striped wool shrug hugs the curves.
Had I perhaps been a little more astute in my observations, I might have discerned the difference the yarn would make. If you go back to the previous post and look at the two pattern photos, you notice that the striped sweater is appears much closer to the body than red one. Yet, as I mentioned earlier, the patterns almost the same and have the same dimensions. The difference must be more in the fiber than in the pattern itself, as the differences in directions would not account for the difference in fit, and I do not believe that this can be described entirely in terms of potential size differences with different models.
Although I am happy that this shrug lived up to my memories and expectations, especially following the initial disappointment with the first shrug, I find I am most intrigued by the difference fiber choice made in the outcome.
I know that fiber makes a difference. I am well aware of the differences between say silk, and wool and cotton. But in the past I have tended towards indifference concerning any perceived difference between wool, cashmere, and alpaca for example. Obviously this attitude is incorrect. Just as sewing a dress with the same pattern in very different fabrics can give widely differing results, and different issues with fit as well, I can see that these same issues apply to knitting. I suppose I have always known this intellectually, but have not always made use of this knowledge in any practical away.
In the past knitting is something I did mostly to have something to do with my hands, for relaxation, for sanity, and for the love of knitting. But I did not really think about what I was making in terms of how I would wear it and how it would work in my wardrobe. I just knitted something because I needed to knit something, or I wanted to try a pattern or technique.
I want to change all that. I do want to incorporate my knitting more into my wardrobe, even though a knitted project takes longer than a sewn project (well perhaps except for the truly special garments). I also need to pay far more attention to how I actually want to wear my knits and how the choices I make affect the wearability of the finished garment.
Oh dear, that sounds like so much work.
Quick, give me something mindless to knit.
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First Snow
This is what I love about winter:
View from the front door in the (fairly) early morning light, about 7 AM.It looks like it was only about 10 inches, or that is what I have this morning at our snow-measuring station. It is possible it might have settled overnight, but it is fairly light snow. The official measurements are 6.5" in the town south of me, and 8.2 north of me. Both of those measurements are taken about 5 or 6 miles inland from the Hudson River. Our location , on the river with the cliffs behind us, seems to always have more or less snow than the official measurements indicate, this time slightly more, although there have been days when I had but a dusting and I went over the hill and onto the highway and saw 3 inches or more.
After 30 years I still love the snow. Although it was even nicer before the house you see in the picture was built (about 10 years ago). Before, there was one property owner between me and a large National Historic Site and I could cross country ski from my front door all the way across. No more. That neighbor had to sell off part of his property because the taxes were killing him — he had over 20 acres and the area was zoned for 1/2 acre lots. He had to pay 40+ assessments for fire and water taxes. The laws have changed now, but too late for that neighbor. Now I have to get in the car and drive 1/2 mile in order to ski.
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Goodbye to All That
If you want to see a picture of me wearing the Vignette shrug, go look at my other blog, SewDistracted.
I have decided that my life no longer needs to be fractured into many different pieces, and I am going to be combining all my fiberly activities in one blog. This blog will continue to exist and shall serve an archival function, but www.sewdistracted.com will hold all future knitting as well as sewing activity.
I hope to see you there.
