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Restingmotion

  • Update

    Work has been taking up a little more of my time than I had anticipated hoped and so there has been less progress on George’s vest.    It is after all the end of the fiscal year and all that end-of-year accounting must be done.  Even though I pretty much have everything caught up during the year and there should not be that much extra work, it always takes a little longer than I expect.  Of course the fact that October always seems to be a very busy month anyway does not lessen the load.

    Of course the other impediment to my sewing progress has been that I have been caught up in a fit of clearing up and cleaning out.  There have been too many unfinished projects, both in the house (some of them due to contractors over whom I have no control), yard, and my fiber-related life.  Since I have no control over those projects that are waiting on others I have been doubly determined to reduce my own backlog.  Projects that are planned but not yet started don’t count; they remain in the realm of dreams rather than reality.  This is a trivial (as some of these are quite necessary) distinction but a necessary one.  It’s all a question of semantics after all.

    I have started cleaning out closets, storerooms, the attic, and the basement, bits and pieces at a time.  I have also been tackling unfinished knitting projects.  There really no sewing UFOs at the moment, and I am reluctant to start a new one until I feel I at least have some control of everything else going on around here.  This does not mean I will finish all projects before starting anything new.  Even a little progress has helped considerably and everything feels much more manageable to me.  There is also a partly done quilt and a couple of embroidery projects that will remain UFOs for now; one of the embroidery projects will also eventually become a sewing project. I don’t have the incentive or peace of mind to start major embroidery projects at this time. 

    The other delay in cutting is that I had forgotten that the lining fabric was not ready to be cut.  I had pre-washed it, but it was waiting to be pressed.  Pressing prior to cutting is always a slow meticulous process simply because the fabric is so slippery and it is easy to let it slide off grain.  I tend to pin it to the ironing board in small sections, carefully squaring up each section before pressing it with steam and letting it cool and dry.  Sometimes I think one of those steam suctioning boards would be nice, but I wonder whether they would work as well.

    Truth be told, if I don’t pressure myself into rushing through the pressing stage I rather enjoy it.  It can be a great stress reduction exercise as one carefully pins the fabric, presses, and waits.  I can let my mind wander freely over future anticipated sewing projects, dream sewing projects (always more numerous than actual sewing projects) and various other things that have been lurking around my brain.  It is very refreshing and dare I say it, zen-like, in the best of circumstances.  Of course if one is using steam, there is also the facial aspect, another boon.

    I also washed and pressed a piece of black douppioni from Thai Silks..  I haven’t always washed douppioni, don’t often in fact, and I had forgotten how nice the hand of the fabric becomes after washng.  Of course this will vary considerably with the quality and weight of the particular piece of douppioni.  I might even like this washed fabric better than the original although I will not be sure until after I have worked with it a little more.   I have quite a few yards.  I was thinking of using a small bit of it as binding on some gray linen napkins, not a definite decision yet, but a strong possibility, and the douppioni would have to be washable for that use.  I was also thinking about using the fabric for a blouse, possibly one of LaFred’s blouses or I have a couple of Neue Mode Patterns that would lend themselves nicely to this idea.  I remember meeting Fred Bloebaum once when she was wearing a blouse of washed douppioni with pants of washed silk noil.  I had been very impressed with the drape and character of both fabrics in her garments. 

    I am hoping that the washed douppioni will not have to be underlined which makes it more suitable for a blouse.  Crisp douppioni must be underlined in organza or something else to keep from wrinkling all the time which automatically makes it suitable for only more structured and tailored, almost jacket-like tops.   I know that there is a lot of information available about this but I need to play with it myself and form my own opinions about how much I like this fabric, and for what uses.

  • Wine&Roses Cardigan Finished

    Winerosesa18

    Wine&Roses cardigan, no pattern.  Mixed yarns. 

    Admittedly not the best photograph.  Matilda’s lack of arms does nothing to enhance the shaping at the sleeve cap or the sleeves themselves, which nicely hug the shape of an actual arm without being tight.  The problem here is the differing gauges and natures of the multiple yarns.   Unfortunately although the sweater shows off some of Matilda’s asymmetricalities, mine today are even greater, so you will have to live with the armless wonder. We all have our vanities after all.

    This cardigan started with several skeins of Indecita Alpaca Boucle in color #19 fuschia.  George and I were out driving around one day when we stopped at a little Alpaca shop and saw the yarn.  We both really liked it, but they only had a few colors, mostly brows that would have been unattractive on me.  The fuschia was the only color of which there was more than a couple of skeins in stock, and I thought I liked it so I bought a few skeins with the idea of making a vest.  As I knitted the vest I realized that I really hated the color knitted up; it was much too vibrant and strong, still, since George had picked the yarn I didn’t want to totally abandon the project so I started thinking about what other options were available.

    I looked through the orphan yarn bucket. And found several skeins of this Gedifra Cicco, left over from another project.  The color was much more muted than the alpaca boucle and I thought it might tone it down.  I placed the Alpaca and the Cicco in a pile and then added everything that looked like it might blend in from the bucket.  After winnowing things down I ended up with 16 different yarns and it was time to start sequencing the stripes.  I had more Alpaca and Cicco so they got used more than once in the sequence.  Basically I used a six row pattern using  Cicco in the  3rd and 6th rows and  the Alpaca Boucle every 5th.  The other three yarns in each sequence would rotate between the other 14 yarns in the sweater for a total sequence repeat of 27 rows.  Sounds complicated but it actually worked very well

    Needless to say, weaving in the ends was a daunting task and it took me six hours to finish just that portion of the sweater.  Even then, I did not weave in all the ends, but used a technique of knotting and making a short fringe, as discussed in Montse Stanley.   I also sewed a piece of one of the ribbon yarns used over the piece over the seam allowance on the fringed seams just to keep things flat, neat, and well secured.

    Wineroses_001

    It also took me a long time to settle on the button band.  I swatched many combinations of the component yarns before I found the perfect combination, using the Alpaca Boucle and this pretty bobbled yarn.  I have no idea what it is. 

    Winerosesa16

    The button band ended up being the perfect finishing touch, especially since I already had the perfect buttons.
    Winerosesa17

  • Stocking Up

    The rainy weekend inspired me to finally collect all the bags of vegetable and bone bits that have been cluttering up the freezer and catch up on stock-making.  I do need to make some primary stocks as well, both chicken and veal, but this weekend was devoted to secondary stock, that which is made from the various trimmings and extra bits that accumulate in the normal course of preparing dinner.

    There were 7 gallon Zip Lock bags all together although one contained chicken carcasses only so it was put aside for next week to join in the chicken stock festival.    There was a bag of grouse bones as well.    The grouse bones and a bag containing onions, fennel, and some oyster mushroom stems became a wonderful grouse stock, really quite nice and delicate, something I will have to remember, although grouse are not, quite frankly, a normal occupant of my larder.  The carcasses of four grouse and one gallon bag of vegetable trimmings became about six cups of very flavorful delicately perfumed stock.

    The other bags all contained miscellaneous trimmings: onion peels and trimmings, garlic peels, carrots ends and peels, mushroom stems etc along with a generous helping of chicken bones and maybe a couple of pork chop bones as well.  I am not a chef.  I do not segregate my trimmings into separate bags as I would never use them up.  They still make wonderful stock although sometimes surprises do occur – mostly pleasant. 

    The yield from 4 gallon-sized bags was a little over 5 quarts of stock.  Not a bad output for an otherwise miserable weekend, especially considering that it was not all that much work, aside from a little time straining and later defatting the stock.   One quart is already destined to become the base for tomorrow night’s soup.

  • Why even bother knitting?

    Agatharuizdelaprada
    photo courtesy of Lecturas MODA, Pret a porter Fall/Winter 2005/2006

  • Mardel’s Stash Building Blog continues…

    Yesterday was a bumper day, mail-wise.  The new Vogue and Bazaar came, filled with eye-candy for my continued perusal and inspiration, and a stack of knitting pattern books from Filatura di Crosa and Stacy Charles as well.   Also in the mail haul were swatches from Leandro Fabrics and Michael’s. 

    Leandro sent a stack of gorgeous super 120s wools, and, in a separate package, a new Chanel boucle in shades of olive with a deep fuschia pink yarn running through it.  Most of the colors of the 120’s were nice but did not inspire me, even though have been thinking of suits in plain fabric again.  However there was one deep maroon that really caught my fancy, as well as the Chanel boucle

    Stash2

    Michael sent a collection of Swiss cotton shirtings that were absolutely gorgeous.  The fabrics are great quality and have a truly sinful hand.  They remind me somewhat of the cottons used in George’s Charvet shirts.   At $12.50 a yard I really don’t think they are unreasonable for the quality.  I ordered three, shown below.

    Stash1

    I finally opened the package from Emma One Sock.  It actually came a week ago  Friday but I was in NYC that day and spent most of that weekend otherwise engaged. After that the box served as a resting post for my NY Sheep and Wool purchases until I could get them sorted out and put away.  Although I am usually tempted to open a package immediately, and probably would have had I been home when it arrived, I was afraid to do so with this because I knew I would want to delve right in. 

    My fears were well founded.  The knits are wonderful and I want to start sewing them but it is the red Oscar de la Renta wool that is truly fabulous.  It is much more vibrant and drop dead gorgeous  in actuality than could have been conveyed by any photo.  I hadn’t planned on getting to it right away but I am beginning to wonder if I should change that plan.    Sawyer Brook had a similar fabric in a muted gray/blue which was much more subtle – it spoke casual, country sophisticate to me, whereas this fabric screams feminine charm with a touch of glamour.

    ——————-

    I have finished the muslins for George’s vest.  I am pretty weary now, even though it is early yet, only 9:30.  I will cut another time, when I am less likely to make mistakes.  I have one more alteration to make, but it is simple, one shoulder leans more forward than the other and is less wide.  This is an alteration I make for myself frequently and I have marked it on the muslin; I will transfer it to the pattern tomorrow.  I knew that George was curved over a little more since he has had some collapsing in the vertebrae but I had not expected it to be as noticeable as it is.

    The sun came out a bit this afternoon so I went outside to start dividing daylilies.  The daylilly bed I am working in is pretty much packed clay and the ground is wet enough now to dig them up pretty easily.  I am surprised they grow at all in that area.  This is the one bed I paid a landscape company to build and plant and they did not do nearly as nice of a job as I usually do.  They cost me a pretty penny as well.  Nothing else grows there, the soil is too packed and they did nothing much to amend it except sprinkle an inch of soil on top. Some of the daylilies will go into the new stone bed under the kitchen window and the others will go into a temporary holding bed while I double dig their current bed and seriously amend the soil.  I didn’t get far today, the blade of the shovel broke at my third clump, not that I am that strong, there has been a fracture line across that shovel for some time. I guess that means I will be going shopping tomorrow on top of normal Monday work, gym, and household tasks.  I might not get to the vest until Tuesday.

  • Great Floors I Have Known

    The following post owes a debt of gratitude to Franklin .
    Reading his post resurrected some memories that had been temporarily misplaced.

    When I was 7 we lived in Spain.  My parents were determined to take advantage of this great opportunity to travel around as much as possible and show us the wealth of history and art that was available outside our native Texas.  I have always appreciated the effort as well as the fact that I was allowed to attend the local village school.  I am not always convinced however that the lessons learned were the ones my parents would have wished for me.

    We went to Granada to see The Alhambra.  I know we did this as I have been reminded of it many times.  I don’t remember the city of Granada nor the actual structure of The Alhambra itself.  I remember remarkable little of this great monument and yet it is etched permanently in my mind.  I remember a floor.  I remember that floor vividly.  I can conjure it up in my mind on a moment’s notice.  I don’t remember what my parents were looking at or whatever else was happening around me when I noticed that floor and yet that floor has become a permanent part of my makeup.

    When I returned to Granada 25 years later I was eager to see the Alhambra and find out if I remembered the floor correctly.  As we walked up the hill from our hotel to the Alhambra nothing looked familiar; the same as we ventured inside.  There were many different floors in many patterns, but not the floor of memory.  Initially I was disappointed.  I assumed that since The Floor held such a high place in my memory it must be in an important room, a floor in a place of honor.  Finally I found it.  It was exactly as I remembered.  I stopped.  I walked around the room.  I stopped again.  Memories flooded back, not so much of things, but of place.  This room, this floor, was MINE, in some mystical way I could not account for.  This was something like the feeling one encounters in the Rothko Chapel in Houston.  A feeling of belonging, as if one should always be THERE.  George left, not realizing that I was not following behind, and came back.  The room was otherwise insignificant, yet we spent a considerable amount of time there.

    I had not yet learned to knit at that time.  Thinking about it now, I realize that the floor could be charted into a nice knitting pattern.  I may have to go back.  Or I can just do it from memory and make the design truly my own.  I tend to see knitting patterns everywhere, in the patterns of rocks, leaves or trees.  I once collected photos of trees just because they made me think of knitting patterns.  I think there is one vacation where there are no photos of interest about where we went or what we did, just trees that captured my imagination.  I am not trustworthy with a camera..

    At Bard last summer, during one of the concerts in Olin Hall, I was sitting staring at the stage.  Actually I was lost in thought (the music was not that inspiring at that moment) looking at the columns and the variations in width and spacing between them, combined with the play of the afternoon light as it came through the windows on the side, casting shadows across the back of the stage.  Some the shadows were tinged in shades of greens reflected from the trees outside the windows.  The whites and ecru shades of the wall, with the graying and greening of the shadows was entrancing.  Again I thought of cables and subtle color work.  I must be knit-brained.

    Will I ever knit all these sweaters?  Not likely  I have little pieces of paper collected in a box where I have sketched this idea or that, little lost leaves of thought.  Sometimes I have purchased a particular skein of yarn just because it reminded me of one of these assorted knitting wisps.  They sit, waiting patiently, knowing that someday something wonderful will be born.

  • Trpceski plays Rachmaninoff

    I haven’t told you about our trip to New York on Thursday because I just haven’t had a few moments to compose my thoughts.   Thursday was not our normal subscription night but the Philharmonic was hosting a dinner for patrons with a concert to follow and, as we usually enjoy this event, we decided to go in.  George was especially happy as he actually finished all his work early and did not have to go in to the office on Friday to dictate.

    Unfortunately the trip did not start out terribly auspiciously.  The train station was full – there was no parking – nada – nothing.  We were told we would have to wait for someone to leave, a surefire way to miss a train in my book.  The nearest metered or otherwise available parking space was about 4 blocks away, not option when the train was departing in 10 minutes.  George spotted a bunch of parking spaces for the neighboring pub and shops but they were limited to 4 hours, and did not become available for unlimited parking until 9 PM (it was fast approaching 3:30) I figured we would have 1 ½ hours where we would risk being ticketed and paying a $50 fine, or we could drive in.  George opted to drive.   Later, afer we were on the Taconic, he figured that if we weren’t lucky in finding a parking spot we may pay $50 in parking and gas.  We did find a spot.

    In fact the trip down was uneventful and quick, downtown Po-town to Lincoln Center in about 1 hour and 40 minutes.   The trip back was slower.  We drove back up the Thruway as it is brighter and easier in the dark.   Unfortunately we did not anticipate construction on Route 17.  Since George took the driver’s seat for the return trip, it was a fine opportunity for me to knit in the bright lights of shopping-mall-alley.

    Nyp1020

    But back to the concert.  Dinner was fine as  always.  The Philharmonic is not going to skimp on its Patrons; after all it needs us to shell out the bucks.  The concert was also nice although the beginning was less than promising.  The first work, the Bartok Dance Suite was downright boring, a surprise for that piece which has wonderful folk-inspired melodies; it usually makes me feel like swishing away.  Noseda may have been dramatically conducting but he was not moving the orchestra out of somnolence.  The Britten, Sinfonia de Requiem, was better, but still not up to the quality that I would expect of an orchestra like the New York Philharmonic.

    The second half of the concert was spectacular though, at least to me.  I have read the review, although I was not waiting for it, and I was apparently one of those audience members who was swept off their feet by Simon Trpceski’s playing.  I thought he was spectacular.  Yes it is true that the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #3 was not as lush and romantic as it could be, probably here a combination of the youth of the pianist and the “play it safe” attitude the conductor seemed to be taking with the evening.  I don’t tend to expect great emotional depth in young performers, probably a great shortcoming of mine.  Still he made the piece seem easy, as if he could do it in his sleep (maybe he was asleep) and it is not an easy piece to play.  And he still had force and character, he did not just hit the notes.  The audience at the Philharmonic does not usually leap to its feet en masse, but it did that night; maybe we are all just swayed by a limp wrist, fast fingers, and a pretty face.  If so,  I joined them.  I truly enjoyed the concert and it was an evening I will remember.  If I was “seeing only the trees and not the forest” I don’t feel as I missed much.  The evening was worthwhile for what it was and that was pretty spectacular.

    I probably need to learn a lot more about music.  I hope that in doing so, I don’t lose the joy of listening.

  • Out of the Depths

    I have been in project reduction mode even though I really want to start something new.  It struck me that everything in my bag now is plain stockinette or garter stitch as in Tesla and the socks, and the two unfinished projects are both novelty yarns in simple stockinette.  I want to knit something with plain yarn with either color or texture. 

    At the same time life is in such disarray right now that I cannot stand to have more unfinished works floating around.  I must finish my UFOs just for my own peace of mind.  Imagine my absolute horror yesterday when I found another knitting project in the back of the closet, one I have no memory of ever starting although I obviously did because it is sitting on the needles.

    PIDDLE!!

    Now I have two current projects, three UFOs and one sweater reconfiguration waiting to be done.  There is no end in sight.  I thought of throwing the new sweater back into the darker recesses of that particular closet but now that I know it is there I can’t do that.

    How could that happen?  This is a truly disturbing thought.  I had previously thought that, even at my most overwhelmed, I always knew what I had – I might not know where it was – but I knew it was somewhere.  Now this!!!!  Stash yarn doesn’t bother me, it exists for its own sake, but once started a project cries for completion even if not into its originally intended form. 

    When I was younger I loved having dozens of unfinished projects lying around.  Now I want simplicity.  I want only a few things crying for my attention at any given time.  I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by these various unfinished things.  I want to get them all wrapped up, only then can I start something new, and no matter what I am always thinking of new projects, and not just of the knitting variety.  This new(?) sweater is not what I want to knit right now, but it should go fast.

    Anna1

    I don’t know why I stopped it.  Did I not like the way it was turning out???  I will have to pick up where I left off and see.  It looks nice, kind of a bulky turtleneck shell.  This morning, since the house is cold, that actually sounds nice.

     

    On other fronts I am below the instep and working and about midway through the arch of the foot on the sock.  I had hoped to be further, had hoped to knit on the train to NYC on Thursday, but the train station had no parking, the nearest spot was BLOCKS away and we would not have made it back to the train in time.  I just drove instead.  George did drive back after the concert.  Socks on size 0 needles are not the best car knitting in the dark but I did manage to make a little progress, very slowly, and did not make a mistake until we got to Fishkill, 3/4 of the way home.  It was too dark to fix in the car so a little surgery was necessary once we got home.  Since then there has only been about an hour of knitting time as I spent as much daylight as possible in the yard in anticipation of another rainy weekend and the evening ended up being occupied by other tasks, not unusual around here.

  • Obsession

    The past couple of days I have been obsessed with finishing the body portion of Tesla.  I love the yarn, I love the knitted fabric even if it is not as open and metallic as the original sample at ArtFibers (I am knitting at a much tighter gauge after all) but I hate knitting this big lump of garter-stitch body in the round.  At 4 3/4 stitches per inch I wouldn’t think that each row would be so onerous, but going around the body instead of just front and back is a pain.  I am getting more than the original estimate of 33 rows per 4 inches as measured on my swatch however; in the actual garment I am coming in closer to 37 to 38 rows to 4 inches and they take forever.

    I must face the fact that in the normal course of knitting I don’t mind seaming and I like looking at the flat piece.  I can see where I am, I can eyeball the shape and tell how it is going fit-wise.  This round thing just looks like a lump to me.  It is a pain to take it off the needle, put it on yarn or thread, and try it on.  I suppose I could use a longer circular needle so I could try it on the needles, but I hate having extra needle looping around in my lap while I knit.  Who knew that I would become such a pig-headed obstinate knitter?  Still this fabric would be a total pain to seam and I am happy knitting it in the round.  I just can’t wait to get to the sleeves which are smaller and have shapping, besides which I will knit them on DPs which is more interesting to begin with.  The yoke, where I join all the pieces will also be interesting.  I just had to finish knitting the boring body.

    Tuesday night after Group, I was determined to get the body finished.  I had 2 inches to go, and you would not think that would take too long, would you?  Well I get 2 to 3 rows done per half hour, do the math.  I suppose I truly am a slow knitter. 

    There was some interest however as I had added some waist shaping, not originally called for in the pattern, but who cares about that, and so I had to add it back before the sleeves were attached.  I came within about two rows last night when I went to bed because the husband would be a grumblebug today if I kept him up to long, and I got up early and snuck away early this morning to finish.

    Tesla7

    It doesn’t look like much does it?  But I was so happy I was dancing around the kitchen floor making breakfast this morning. 

    I should get the sleeves started this weekend, not tonight, as I don’t want to take this project to knit on Metro North when I am tired after the concert.  The socks will go to Manhattan with me today.

  • A Vest for George

    I bought this fabric for George some time ago at Leandro Fabrics (Adam’s wedding) but never made it up. The fabric is a beautiful wool and cashmere blend in charcoal gray with subtle caramel woven checks:  The photographs I am getting are either too dark and you can’t see the pattern, or too light:
    substantial fiddling with Photoshop has occurred and I still don’t have it quite right but I am no expert.  The problem seems to be with getting the white balance/light settings on my camera set correctly but I can’t seem to quite manage it.   I suppose I should consult with George, he is the photographer after all, but then we will spend an afternoon fiddling with it and I would rather be sewing. 

    Glsvest1_1

    This is pretty close and I love the subtle variation in the two shades of caramel.  I actually bought a good bit more than I need.  What was I thinking??  Was I thinking at all?  I might have enough for a skirt as well.  The trick then will to be to convince the darling spouse that he is not doing me a favor by wearing the vest that matches my skirt when we go out together.   Hmmm…. Perhaps I should rethink this.

    This is the pattern:
    Glsvest1pattern

    I really am not sure of the fit.:  both of his existing vests fit badly, in different ways, so they don’t even provide consistent pattern help.  He is in between two sizes in men’s jackets so I will just work from there.  I did find a few minutes yesterday to cut a muslin and get it stitched together for a try-on.  Here are the results:

    Glsvest2

    I might get another muslin constructed today:  they don’t take all that long after all, but Thursday will be a complete wash-out in terms of sewing time as I have to go into NYC and if the weather is nice the weekend must be spent in the garden dealing with the partially landscaped pile of mud and leaves that is left behind after last week’s rains.