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Maroon Skirt done

Finishing the skirt didn’t take much time once I was awake and paying attention. The delay in posting was mostly caused by finding time and energy to take pictures, that and figuring out which top to wear with it. I thought I had several things that would go, and I do have quite a few garments in the same colors, but most of them did not work either due to size or shape issues. Still I have this knitted top for summer, along with the requisite summer tees in several coordinating colors. I also have several fall sweaters which will work and the color of the skirt will allow it to transition into fall quite well I think.

I like the way the skirt turned out. I will be using this pattern again for some fall skirts as it was easy, fit well, and is flattering. I have a couple of pieces of fabric in mind.

As is my wont I started with a ~~cheap~~ inexpensive cotton fabric, one that I feared might be too light for a skirt, but by the time I finished I ended up with a rather nice garment. The added piecing at the hem band helped weight the skirt nicely, as did the fact that I faced the hem with the same cotton fabric. You can see the faced hem below.

The outside of the hem band is on the folded up hem, showing the hem facing with its striped binding is on the right.

I also used the striped fabric to make the narrow waistband:

The fact that it matches the lining so well was just an added bonus.

August 2, 2006
Confusion

As I sat knitting last night while G watched various news programs on television, I wondered, why do we continue to be obsessed with Castro and Cuba. It was on every chanel in great length.

I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis (even though I was a small child — I remember the palpable and incomprehensible sense of terror I felt), but the Soviet Union is no longer a threat and Cuba is a very small country. Of course Cubans would feel deeply about this issue and well they should. But why is the media preoccupied with Cuba? Why do we, as a much larger nation, care and fear so deeply?

I am not going to argue whether Castro is good, bad, or none of the above. I know people with strongly held beliefs on all sides of this issue and I myself am not that thoroughly informed. But that is not germaine to my question. I am not asking abut human rights, or the fate and rights of Cubans, or any other issues. I am asking why does the fate of Castro and Cuba worry the US as an entity so deeply?

It just seems that there are far more important issues, issues that affect the welfare of this country and its citizens far more greatly than Fidel Castro. Why aren’t we obsessing about those issues, rather than spending hours of prime time media analysis on Castro and Cuba? Or is it easier to fret about some minor outside event than to deal with unpleasant truths at home?

August 2, 2006
Truth and Consequences

Do you recall that I mentioned that I went to Colorful Stitches with certain projects in mind? And that I did not find what I was looking for? Granted I found something pretty wonderful, but what, pray tell, was I seeking?

Well I was seeking a fall project inspired by the new fall Interweave Knits, which had just arrived in mail box that very morning. I had just come to the conclusion that I was not really going to start a new summer project, in the hopes that summer will be done before I wear it much anyway, and I needed a fairly simple project that could be knitted at knitting group without major pattern mishaps, so I was looking for something simple.

The first thing that came to mind was the cover sweater on the new Interweave Knits even though it is knit in alpaca which means I won’t be wearing it for some time, and quite frankly alpaca sounds terrible to knit with in the current 100 degree heat.

I love the sweater and its wide neckline. I really just has to hang well off the shoulders and then hang gracefully. In this instance it is good that it is not particularly fitted because it means I will probably knit it and still be able to wear it, another important consideration because I have finally made a commitment to some lifestyle changes over here.

More exactly I have admitted to myself that I am much too heavy and need to lose weight. Now anyone who has looked at photos on my blog will probably say to themselves “of course.” But I managed to deny that fact for a long time as I let the weight build up. You see, for most of my early adult life, certainly through my 20’s and 30’s, I was a thin person and putting on weight was not really issue because it just came off again. I had more trouble keeping weight on than taking it off, and I had no trouble maintaining that size 6 average on my 5’9" frame. The problem is that I have continued to think of myself as a thin person despite all evidence to the contrary, and so it finally came as a surprise when I noticed that I was not just a little heavier, but was in fact, chubby.

Now I don’t really think I will ever become that size 6 person again, and I am not sure I really want to be that person, but I still need to loose 50 pounds. Well, more exactly since I have now lost 13 pounds, I need to lose 40 more. I will accept another 30, but 40 is the goal. And I am determined to stick with it, despite occasional lapses and over-indulgences.

And herein lies the problem. Knitting takes time and a lot of effort goes into each project. I don’t want to knit something that is not going to fit when I am done with it. At the same time it seems somewhat arrogant to knit something too small, I don’t want to tempt fate that much (or does this really just mean I am afraid of failing). So I decided not to knit another summer sweater even though there are several I wanted to knit, including this one:

MAGGIE from RYC Classic Beach

which had been scheduled to be the next project on the needles upon the completion of Otto. But it is unlikely that I will wear this sweater much this year and I do not intend to be the same size next summer.

Enter the fall Interweave and my hopes of knitting Equinox. I have yarns in the right gauge, but not with the right fuzziness that the Inca Alpaca has, and part of what I like about this sweater is that bit of soft blurring caused by the fuzz factor in the yarn.

There are, of course, several other sweaters in this issue I want to knit. In fact, to my mind this is a rather promising issue.

I love both Coral Crossing and Gatsby Girl and don’t see them as being so similar that I wouldn’t want both.

Now although my waist has returned, it is not quite where I would like it to be in those sweaters. They will have to joint the ever expanding list.

I also love Weekend by Veronik Avery; it is precisely the kind of classic pullover that I love to wear, but once again it is fitted. And I want it to fit me the other me, the one that has been hiding, but is determined to get out. I knitted one of Veronik Avery’s sweaters years ago, and people have told me they are difficult or something, but I don’t remember that. It may have been but I tend to just get going and work my way through any problems or errors I find and then forget about them, lost in my own little knitting world. I am not one to get easily frustrated with a sweater unless I just don’t like the knitted fabric itself.

The Wanderlust Hoodie is also high on my list, but then I have long been partial to Shirley Paden’s patterns even they are almost always too short and need pattern revision. I have always just assumed that the designer is a much shorter person than I, and that she designs her sweaters accordingly. This sweater particularly seems like the kind of thing to wear walking around the Vanderbilt Estate on a crisp cool day, or perhaps up at Mohonk Mountain house. It seems like the perfect Hudson Valley kind of sweater, but again it is a little more fitted, and it is in a bulky yarn. Even though Aurora Bulky is a squishy yarn, I would rather squish it around a smaller me and this sweater is a lot of work to have to do over.

The other two sweaters I like, Sienna and Supernova were possible, but they both need more work for me to wear them.

Supernova reminds me of the sweaters in Knitting Nature, which I love. And I love the yoke on this sweater too. I would add a little more shaping to the body and that is really an easy enough thing to do. But I would want to find a yarn very similar to the stated yarn or I would fear problems with that yoke.

Sienna has promise as a basic cardigan. I like that it has just a touch of pattern running up the front along the band. I dislike the collar. I really seem to have a thing about small shawl collars and I would have to devise something different before I would wear this sweater. At this point I could knit and wear the sweater, but I did not want to do the work involved even in changing the collar.

But then who knows how much work the Mermaid will be. It is a jacket so although it is shaped, I do not want all too close to the body. But there are no diagrams, at least none with dimensions noted, so I am going to have to read the instructions and do the math before I get too far along.

But Mermaid, I think, was meant to be.

August 1, 2006
Native American Art

Sunday dawned bright and free of obligations. I hoped to seize the opportunity to spend time on my knitting and my sewing, as I am getting to a point where I am pretty desperately in need of clothes. Indeed I did spend a few hours at the sewing machine even though that meant spending less time knitting.

Whereas I looked forward to a day with "nothing to do", G was less thrilled and was, immediately after breakfast, scanning the papers looking for diversions to occupy our time. I have enough diversions here in the house. There are times I could happily spend days here not going out, just knitting and sewing. But not so the male member of this household. Instead he suggested an excursion consisting of lunch and a museum visit, not at all a bad way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon.

Following a nice lunch of Vietnamese cuisine we ventured over to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College where we wished to peruse an exhibit of Native American Art called Forms of Exchange.

The exhibit was well worth while, small but choice, primarily
consisting of contemporary pieces of artwork from three distinct
groupings of Native Americans. I think most of the pieces were
stunning and the development from some older styles, and the occasional
cross-referencing of forms and ideas between peoples and with modern
western culture were very interesting as well.

There were wonderful Inuit drawings and prints, some shocking modern, some quite tradtional, several of which made wonderful commentaries on the juxtaposition of traditional and modern lives. The detail and the spirit in many of these pictures is amazing. Aside from the merits of this painting as a work of art, I can’t get the combinations of colors and shapes, the flow of space out of mind. This appeals to the part of me that loves to play with color and fabric and yarn, as well as the part of me that enjoys looking at art.

The pottery was from the southwest and was overwhelmingly beautiful. I kept wandering around pieces, staring, studying the patterns, admiring the skill, the development of skills and culture over time, the evoltuion of art. Gee that sounds tremendously pretentious doesn’t it. Not so. Tremendously overwhelming for a small exhibit it was, at least for this paltry brain.

I loved looking at the traditional shapes, which of course I have seen many of in the past, and even more appreciated studying these contemporary works which all draw upon traditional forms and patterns but are strikingly modern, sometimes almost startlingly so.

The Iroquois baskets were beautifully intricate and delicate looking and the witty modern basket made from film strips, shown if you click on the link to the gallery above, makes me smile just with the thought of it. The embroidery was also stunning. The skill and detail appealed to the fiber artist in me, even if the form of the work did not appeal to my more modern and geometric aesthetic.

You don’t really get a sense of the work from this photo. What looks like embroidery on rough cloth is beadwork on velvet or velveteen. Stunning. This is a contemporary work done in an older style. I marvel at how nicely the work is done and I can’t imagine doing anything like it myself.

July 31, 2006
The Drawing of the Three

I finished the second of the books in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, The Drawing of the Three and it was quite good, better than the first I think. Here Roland is joined by companions, but as in the first book, things are not always what they seem and nothing is obvious or clear cut. Roland himself is also expanding and evolving as he "draws" his companions. Everyone in this book as a long way to go on their quest and this does not involved just the physical journey.

As you know I get well wrapped up in a good story, and this is a good story. It is also complicated and thought provoking, modern and archetypal all at once. I am not going to discuss the plot, it is a straightforward quest, but as in all quests there are many subplots, distractions, and sink-holes along the way. I do love the way Roland’s course, and the lives of his companions are all inter-related, even though they do not yet know this, and all quests merge into the one quest. And yet, we don’t really yet know what that quest is, even though we have an inking of this, after all they are seeking the "dark tower". But what is the dark tower? Where will the journey take them? Why are these people chosen? Is there redemption from the choices we make in life? There are no obvious answers to these questions, just as there are no obvious answers in life.

Leave it to me to take a simple fictional story and start pondering metaphysics.

Needless to say it is a good book and an enjoyable read. But there are no easy answers and no easy escape here.

July 31, 2006
Encircled

I lost the sewing spirit for a couple of days there and then, as tends to happen, the weekend was upon us and life got busy once again, going hither and yon. Sunday was a relatively quiet day however and I got a few hours to play with my ideas for the hem band of the maroon printed skirt. I played with some striped pieces of Kaffe Fasset cotton and this is what I ended up with:

I had intended to finish the skirt and photograph it today but it was not to be. Obviously I have been out of the sewing groove far to long as t here were setbacks.

Most importantly at this point is that I am out of thread:

This was not anticipated. I had a full unused spool of thread which should have been enough, but last night, either because I am out of practice or I was not paying attention I wound a new bobbin and messed it up, creating a long tangled knot of thread that was not on the bobbin. I probably have more bobbin thread than I need at this point, but it is easier to just run down to S&S later today and buy another spool or two, especially considering I need a thread stock refill anyway.

I still need to finish the hem band, the inner band has not yet been sewn to the skirt. I also have to attach the lining and add the waistband. None of these projects is time consuming or difficult, but they all require thread, more thread than is currently available.

July 31, 2006
The current obsession

Summer is always cooking time in this house, even when there is no actual cooking going on because we are dining on salads. Fresh produce abounds and it difficult not to be excited about food. This year however, the emphasis on food, and most certainly the time spent on food, has been considerably greater than in the past. I spend hours planning menus and revising recipes, checking nutrition information. It seems like I am always planning what to eat or cooking it.

But the effort seems to have paid off.

First a little history:

I have Celiac Disease. I apparently also have Irritable Bowel. Apparently there are several forms of Irritable Bowel and I do not have the most common varieties as I have neither constipation or diarrhea, just constant, overwhelming volumes of gas and subsequent bloating. For a long time I felt like the Hindenburg on most days. I would inflate as the day progressed whether I ate or not.

My first GI Guy, the one who doesn’t believe I have celiac but always believed I had irritable bowel, is no help. He tells me that “you can’t eat anything anyway” and to take fiber supplements. But fiber supplements make the gas worse. I gain two pounds and four inches through the waist. I am always uncomfortable. I become depressed. I eat even though it does not make me feel better, because I feel bad even if I don’t eat.

I find another doctor who refers me to another doctor and a nutritionist. Yes I do have Celiac Disease. Yes I do have Irritable Bowel. I probably always had both but it is possible the celiac masked the irritable bowel and protected me from the worst of it’s symptoms.

My goal is to change my diet to get as much fiber as possible without taking fiber supplements and without eating wheat bran, or oat bran, or the other common sources of fiber because I am celiac and can’t eat them. Apparently there are one or two fiber supplements I might try, that are less likely to cause gas and bloating, but I should only take them in moderation. This might be good to know when we travel again, because I see myself running around the world with apples and carrots and stopping in markets all along the way.

I immediately feel better. I no longer feel like a hot air balloon. Vegetables and beans do not make me gassy. I lose 3 pounds and 5 inches around the waist the first week.

The diet begins on a very limited note, but expands to include most food. The secret seems to be getting a good bit of natural vegetable fiber with every meal. I learn to love vegetables. Well, I always loved vegetables and fruit, but now I love them more. I begin to think about and enjoy food in an entirely different way. It is a lot more work, to plan these menus. But I am beginning to get a feeling for what to eat.

I download the USDA nutrition tables to my recipe program. I start cooking more. At first I just ate apples and simple proteins. Then I added simple steamed and raw vegetables. After a couple of weeks I could start adding dairy, starches, and more meats. I still feel good. My taste buds begin to change. Processed foods don’t taste as good as I remember. I eat a lot. It takes a lot of broccoli or other vegetables to get 40 grams of fiber a day. I go grocery shopping a couple of times a week because I can’t fit all the vegetables I eat into the refrigerator. People stop me and ask if we havy company, then marvel that G and I eat all that food just between the two of us. I am full at the end of the day and can’t bear to eat more. But I am eating fewer calories.

After 5 weeks I feel loads better. I no longer have constant gas and bloating. I have more energy. I have lost 13 pounds. I don’t know how much more weight I will loose, or even if I will lose any more but it is likely. By analyzing the nutrition values of all I eat I learn that this diet high in vegetables and green leafy vegetables especially is more than providing all the vitamins and minerals I need in a day, except perhaps calcium. I drop all the vitamins except the calcium supplement. I can probably add a little more yoghurt or cheese into my diet and eliminate another pill.

Best of all, I can still indulge my love of cooking and eating. I don’t have to eat food that tastes like “health food” although we are eating a lot more Asian dishes.

Pork and Noodle pot with turnips. Thinly sliced pork loin, fresh rice noodles cooked with turnip greens and steamed Japanese turnips. A sweet and spicy cucumber salad on the side.

Chicken breast baked with broccoli raab, turnip greens, and goat cheese. Beets on the side. G had potatoes as well but I actually ate more beets than are pictured, by which point I was far to full to enjoy a potato. Beets seem to be a very happy food, too bad they really aren’t portable.

July 30, 2006
Otto Goes to the Opera and catches a mermaid

Well, actually Otto missed the opera, he had to stay in the car. He was glad he did, it was possible he may have drowned had he ventured out.

Progress had been spotty at best; at knitting Thursday night I got a lot done only to have to rip about half of it out near the end. At that point it seemed quitting and heading home and to bed were the best options. When I examined the remnants of my first sleeve the next morning, I found I had made another error quite a ways back, before I had started shaping the sleeve cap. I had knitted a row I should have purled, and this was quite a jarring error, and so a major step backwards was required.

So I ripped and began furiously reknitting. It is not that I mind knitting sleeves, I really don’t, but by the time I get to the sleeves, especially in a sport weight sweater, I am ready to move on to something else. I have considered knitting sleeves first, but then the same thing happens only I am knitting the front or the back and it is no more encouraging, often less so simply because it is bigger and harder to get through when my mind is wishing to race ever onward.

Luckily we had planned a trip up to Tanglewood on Friday and I had a nice stretch of car time to put to use knitting. It went well, with no errors this round. By the time we arrived I was well into the shaping at the top of the sleeve cap.

I have long wanted to attend the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood, but for quite a few years it was always held one of the middle weekends of August, the same weekends as the Bard Music Festival and so we were never able to make it up to Tanglewood. This year however, it is earlier, and I was eager to hear something. G thought a whole weekend of modern music might be a bit much, and he is probably quite right, as we have two music packed weekends awaiting us next month and three music intense weekends in a month’s time is probably more than even I can bear.

But this first concert, a program of three short Twentieth-Century Operas sounded very interesting and the concert was lovely and great fun. The performances were spectacular, the staging was witty and charming and everything was lovely.

My favorite was "There and Back" by Hindemith because it was just so charming and witty and fun. The staging was a gas, the singing was exceptional, and frankly I don’t remember the music much, it seemed to follow the story but not stand out on its own. That is neither criticism or recommendation, just that it didn’t stand out for me. Odd, because I usually love Hindemith and have done so since I was first introduced to his music in college.

The second work was by Stravinsky, "Mavra" and the music was much more forward and present in this opera. The music shaped the settings and the scenes, although there was also a lot of wit and a bit of kitch thrown in. Some of the songs were positively beautiful.

The first two operas were light and witty, certainly not serious ponderous works. The same cannot be said exactly for the last work by Elliot Carter, called "What Next". Now both G and I were uncertain that we would like the Carter as neither one of has ever developed a feel for his music. It was a strange and difficult piece and there the rhythms could be very difficult to discern. It could not have been easy singing. I might have enjoyed it more had I understood the words better, they were in English, but I had trouble making out the actual words. This could have also be because the heavens had opened and there was a deluge outside the concert hall during much of this work. It did make me think that perhaps I should try listening to Carter’s works for voice as opposed to the instrumental works, which I have not found inspiring.

It was still raining when we left the concert and the first parking lot, the one closer to the gates, was deeply flooded. Upon arrival G had complained that we had to park so far, but this proved to be a lucky thing as we were high, on gravel. The first lot was completely flooded and there were cars so deep in water that the water came up past the wheel wells and over the bottoms of the doors. We had to walk through the rain but we the car was at least dry.

Lenox is also home to a wonderful yarn store, Colorful Stitches, and G offered to take me there after we left Tanglewood. Of course I agreed.

The first thing we saw upon entering the store was Hanne Falkenberg’s Mermaid in the gray and pink colorway.

Now I have been intending to order this kit but I hadn’t gotten around to it, and I had been torn between this colorway, #6 and colorway #8. I was afraid that this would be too pale, but it is not, or that #8 would be too bright. I don’t know about #8 because it was not in the store, but this would be perfect for me.

Also, G saw the sweater and said "you must knit that", followed by some comment about an anniversary coming up next week (the anniversary of the day we met), and the kit was a done deal.

They had lots of other beautiful yarns, but not the specific things I had in mind. My brain was still all wrapped up in the music and the opera sets and I was really having trouble changing my stream of thought from music to yarn so I was somewhat overwhelmed in the store.

I suppose G should keep that in mind, take me yarn shopping after a fabulous musical experience and I will exit with fewer bags of yarn.

Hmm. I don’t think I’ll point that out to him. Perhaps he hasn’t made the connection.

So this will probably be the next project on the list when I finish Otto. I might intersperse a few quicker knits; but then I may just become obsessed.

Meanwhile, I ripped through the rest of the first sleeve and got it on the blocking board last night. It looks like it will work out well. The last sleeve has been started.

Mermaid awaits.

July 29, 2006
Homage

I met Jane when I was a budding teenager and she was in college. She took time for this young person who didn’t yet know where she was going or what she wanted to be. She offered my first encouragement and support in my budding interest in fashion and clothes. At first she showered me with interest and guidance. She taught me about style and that dressing well was more about looking good and knowing one’s own style than about designers and labels. She taught me that elegance and style had nothing to do with height, size, shape or money. She also became my friend.

Jane was a bright light that could light up a room. She was warm and embracing. She could cut through bull like a knife. And even though she was very short, and more often round than not, she had more style and class than most people ever dream of commanding.

Although our lives had taken us further apart, the occasional phone call would brighten the world. I did not make enough of those calls.

I would not be the person I am today without Janes friendship.

Jane collected Vuitton bags. She knew what she had and what she pursued what she wanted. Jane was a monogram canvas kind of girl. I most definitely was not, and although I was always attracted to the structured Epi leather bags, I put off buying one for years and years. When I got my first Vuitton bag, this past spring, the first thing I did was call Jane. She was thrilled and we screeched and giggled like the young women we once were.

I’m sorry I never got to show Jane my first Vuitton.

Jane: 1951 – 2006

July 26, 2006
Waiting

I would sneak up to the sewing room when I had a chance yesterday and look at different fabrics and trims, thinking about the solution for the maroon skirt. Whenever there would be a lull or a pause in whatever I was working on, my mind would slip away and ponder the possibilities. Miriam’s suggestion made me think about the skirt in a new light and several alternatives presented themselves…..

but still they weren’t quite right.

By early evening I was ready to escape to my own little fiber refuge and resume construction. I got the skirt put together and the pleats sewn and the skirt fits beautifully and looks lovely.

I certainly have no complaints about this pattern: it is very nice; it goes together easily (its a skirt for goodness sake); it looks nice; it fits exactly the way the pattern says it will for the size chosen; and it looks just like the drawing on the pattern envelope. That sounds obvious, but often it seems patterns don’t turn out so simply.

As I went downstairs to watch THE CLOSER with George and knit a bit, I suddenly envisioned how I would finish the skirt.

I came back to the sewing room after the show and thought I should finish the seam allowances before I played with the hem. I didn’t want to serge the seams and I didn’t feel like cutting bias strips from the lining fabric to bind the edges. I remembered that I have a roll of rayon seam binding that I found when I cleaned up the sewing space. It is a beautiful dark green, not the same color as the skirt, and it coordinates beautifully. As I started to apply it to the skirt I had a sudden vision of it bleeding over my skirt after I put all this effort into it, even though I know it is supposed to be colorfast, so I stitched a bit on a remnant of fabric, washed it, and left it to dry overnight.

Better safe than sorry after all.

This morning at 5 AM I was relieved to see that the seam binding neither shrank or bled onto my fabric so I promptly went to work meticulously folding the seam binding, pinning it to the skirt and sewing it on. It looks nice.

I realized, after I did all this, that my Bernina must have a foot that will accomplish the same task in far less time than I did working by hand. So by 7 AM I was on the web perusing the sewing machine foot options. Shortly after 9 I phoned S&S, my local Bernina dealer, to see if they had any of the feet I wanted in stock; it did not surprise me that they did not, I doubt they have much call for feet that either fold and apply binding or apply prefolded binding to seams. So I ordered them, along with a couple of flat fell feet as well, the smaller and the larger one, figuring I might as well order several things at once. They usually place orders on Thursday and I should have my feet next week.

I can make an apply binding by hand. I can flat fell seams. But why make life more difficult than it needs to be. I keep forgetting that I have a new machine that does all these things that my old beloved machine did not.

Now, why I didn’t think to wash the fabric that I need for the new bottom band last night when I washing the seam binding sample is beyond me. So I sit. I washed two fat quarters of Kaffe Fasset striped cotton and I must wait for them to dry. I did consider running them through the dryer just so I could get back to work right away, but even I am not that profligate with energy that I will run an entire dryer cycle for 1/2 yard of fabric.

I didn’t put on the waistband or attach the lining. I might want the waistband to match the bottom hem.

But here is the skirt so far:

I like it, I really like it.

July 25, 2006