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Restingmotion

  • What’s the World Coming To?

    George was watching the news last night.  More bombings in London; more security in New York.

    How do we survive the terror?  More to the point how to we get away with feeling oppressed and terrorized when we see only a tiny part of the action.  Yes Americans die, and innocent bystanders also in peaceful cities.  But how do we account for all those innocent bystanders who happen to have been unfortunate enough to be born into the wrong country?  Do we hear about the poor Iraqi citizens, who are dying in far greateer numbers than we?  Do we think about what they go through everyday?  Do we ever even dream, in our worst nightmares, what it might be like to live in a place were your just surviving the day requires courage and luck, where every waking moment is spent in fear that your children might be the next to die, that your women might be raped, that terrible things beyond your imagining are just around the corner?  Each of us is saddened when we hear about a neighbor or friend of a friend who passes away, we think consoling thoughts about the remaining family members.  Do we ever think about the grieving wives, mothers, and children in Iraq?  Do we ever think of those for whose suffering we are largely to blame?

    What right do we have to feel sorry for ourselves when we are so out of touch with so many?
                                — Thanks to  Rebecca’s Pocket where I was pointed here .

  • Offensive Courtesy

    Are you courteous to others because you are generally kind and you want to treat other people well, or do you practice the "common courtesies" because you feel you should and you think that if you perform these little tasks it will prove to everyone else that you are a kind and giving person instead of the selfish mean little worm that you secretly know you are?

    I like to think that I am a basically decent person.  I try to be kind to others and try to show appreciation when others are kind to me.  Despite this, nothing brings out my inner mulishness more than when some kind citizen thinks he or she is doing me a favor, such as opening a door, and then says "you’re welcome" before I can even get a "thank you" out of my mouth.  Often the two phrases pass in the air, barely avoiding a head-on collision, and I wish I could desperately snatch those words out of the air and withdraw my thanks, even though I know that it is selfish and pig-headed of me.  I am most annoyed when the kind citizen you’re-welcomes me  when I am still several feet away from the door he is so kindly waiting for me to pass through.  I swear I want to turn around and walk the other way.  Who says I should walk through a door just to make someone feel better about his or her Good Samaritan status?

    I usually do thank people who are kind to me.  When passing through the door, I try to look the other person in the eye when uttering my thank-you, but I may sometimes be a little distracted and thank them as I actually pass, rather than beforehand.  What I dislike about being "your-welcomed" before the thanks have been tendered is the assumption that I owe this person something.  A courtesy is a gift one extends out of the goodness of ones heart, not in anticipation of a reward.  Once upon a time I was taught that it was courteous to be nice to people and to treat them the way you would like to be treated yourself.  A courtesy is to be extended whether it is appreciated or not.  It seems to me that by saying "you’re welcome" before the recipient has even had a chance to enjoy your courtesy, you are not offering a kindness, but instead, a cut.  In effect one is saying "Here, look at what a good person I am you ungrateful wretch".  The poor victim of the courtesy is automatically placed on the defensive, dammed without chance of redemption.   

    Yes, I know that it can get tiresome being nice; too many people ignore you or run right over you and take advantage.  Still, it is not nice to publicly humiliate them either, or correct them in public.  If you can’t be gracious about being gracious, it would be better just to mind your own business and not try at all.  No one would think badly of you, most people probably wouldn’t even notice.

    FINE QUILTING PINS

    While I was at the post office this afternoon,  I picked up a package from Londa’s .  I really hadn’t expected it to come so quickly.  After reading the article on pins in the last Threads magazine, I ordered the Clover fine quilting pins.  I had never ordered from Londa before, but she e-mailed me right away to tell me that there had been a rush on the pins (understandably so) and she was waiting for another shipment to come in.  I was in no particular hurry and informed her of this.  I was surprised when they came so soon, and was definitely in the mood for a present.

    Don’t they look pretty in their bowl?

    Pins_003

    Perhaps I should have ordered more.

  • Wish Book

    The fall pattern books arrived yesterday from Anny Blatt  and Bouton d"Or and they provided some happy time perusing the pages and dreaming of sweaters.  What can I say, I am happily pleased and love dreaming and reflecting time. 

    Actually I liked the Anny Blatt book more than the Bouton d’Or, but I realize that this is mostly just that there were more sweaters I would wear in one, although there are a lot of intersting ideas combined into what I would consider to be unfortunate sweaters in both books.  As usual there are a lot of sweaters I think would be lovely in different guages or with different yarns.  That is one of the beauties of this universe, that I can knit, or dream of knitting, what appeals to me while you can knit what appeals to you and we all remain happy.

    Annyblatt195I basically believe that I like the Anny Blatt book better because the sweaters are more classically elegant than the Bouton d’Or patterns, which are a little more trendy and youthful.  I guess I will just have to admit that I am a pretty boring person when it comes to sweater patterns.  I tend to do best with more tailored and classic looks and am not particularly comfortable with too many frills.

    To begin with.  I love the cover cardigan, even, for a change, in the design colors.  The color choice is not really a design issue, I just like blues, but it could be pretty in many colors.  One of my ongoing complaints with Anny Blatt is that I often like their multi-yarn patterned sweaters, like this one, but the yarn choices are limited in such a way that I cannot figure out how to make the sweater in a colorway that I can actually wear.  Here they have done the work for me.

    This sweater is knitted primarily in Angora Super, angora could you guess(?), and Victoria, a soft polyamide ribbon that knits beautifully.  I love victoria as trim or accents in sweaters and have knit whole garments out of it, but they are more for occasional wear.  Victoria makes great edges and cardigan bands.

    Following are some pictures from the Anny Blatt book.  You can link to all the photos and details here  and I will provide links to individual sweaters I like, but I cannot figure out link to the photo and have it show up here in my blog.

    I am particularrly fond of this shell, segue sweater, pattern #6, Angora Super.  It is just a classically
    lovely shell with a beautiful lace pattern that will be luscious to
    wear.  This is one that I will probably make eventually, although I may
    or may not make it right away.  I tend to assume that Angora Super will
    always be around, as it has for oh so many years.  But the temptation
    is great. 

    I am also thinking about this sweater, pattern #7, Halifax.  This photo is one I took of the magazine with a copy of the yarn sample card on top so you can see the yarn:
    Annyblatt195p7

    One of the things I like about Anny Blatt patterns is the shaping of their sweaters.  There are very few sweaters that are just basic rectangles with no shaping and I find that the look of their patterns is worth the effort.    This jacket is shaped much like a jacket you would sew.  It is knitted in parts, much like a jacket pattern, two pieces for each side of the front and three pieces across the back.  Each piece is shaped to match the figure.  A crochet join with a couple of yarns is used to piece the sections together. 

    The yarn is a novelty yarn, Mimosa.  Which I tried to capture at the top of the photo.  It looks very light and fluffy on the swatch but the illustration of the sweater seems to have a little bit of body, that could be the shaping and the crochet joins which will add structure as well.    I like the jacket; I am intrigued by the yarn but I wonder if it will be dissapointing:  it is @21% wool, 47% polyamide, and 32% polyester.  Of course the jacket could be knit in any novelty yarn that knits at 11 stitches to the inch and it would be a pretty fast project.  The goal here is to keep it feminine yet tailored and very light.  I get the definite impression that this yarn will knit up into a very light weight fabric although it may still be firm enough for the jacket.  I might just have to buy one skein to start just to play with knitting this particular yarn.  That swatch may satisfy my curiosity.

    Here is more detail of the yarn:
    Annyblatt195p7mimosa

    As you can see, it is kind of neat, but I think I am being lured into a temporary fabric lust situtation.  Better a skein to get it out of my system than a bunch of yarn that proves dissapointing.

    As I continue to look through the book, I see that there are a number of perfectly nice sweaters that could be knit in these yarns or others, perhaps by changing a detail here or there.  I would bore you with all the details. #9, Nassau   could be nice if one ignored he fur trim and just knit the sweater.  It really has enough going on and does not require the extra embellishment.  At 6 stitches per inch, Cashmere Anny is a light enough yarn to make such a heavily textured sweater still quite wearable in many overheated indoor venues.  I probably would not make it out of Cashmere Anny though.  It is a lovely yarn, but at only 10% cashmere it is nice, but not nice enough to always justify the price tag in my mind; there are other nice sport-weight wools that I could use just as easily.

    Sweaters 11 – 17 all have lovely classic shapes and great shaping: I personally would leave the rose off #15, Charleston  but that is just a personal observation.  #38, Regina is also lovely and would make a wonderful sweater to wear out to dinner.

    The combination of the border and the body fabric on  #24, Yalta  really intrigue me although I don’t really like the idea of a cape for me.  I always get my arms tangled up in the fabric and tend to look like a crumpled up walking garbage bag — where do I put my purse, how do I hold things?  Capes are better for those less encumbered than I.  Still, the border is neat and could look great on a cardigan or coat with some interesting novelty yarn combination body.  What I like about this design is that it makes me start imagining other possibiliities.

    And while I am on the subject of interesting ideas/knitting fabric, #28, Vancouver  has really captured my attention.  This sweater is knit out of  Mango, which is a fine cotton/modal blend that can knit up as tiny as 8-10 stitches/inch , alternated with Fleur, which has these neat flower like loops worked into the yarn.   It looks like a wool in a netting, with little flowes pulled out.  You alternate rows of stockinette mango with crochetted Fleur for a combined guage of about 6 stitches/inch.   It is the photo of the combined fabric, and the yarn that really intrigue me, as well as the fact that sweater seems to be an interesting design and intelligent use of a novelty yarn. I like the way the Fluer makes little flowers or popcorns in the jacket.  Actually the little bumps look like the four-leaf clovers you find in Lucky Charms cereal.  Perhaps I like it because it reminds me of a grown up version of a childhood treat.  This could just become one of those "happy sweaters" that make the day bright just because you are wearing them.

      Here is a photo I took of the pattern photo with the yarn sample next to it:
    Annyblatt195p28

  • Fiber-Free Zone

    I have been reluctant to pick up my knitting and continue with the Phildar shell, or to weave in the ends on Wine and Roses.

    I got poison ivy last week, and although it did get all oozy, infected and crusty, I thought I was gettting better over the weekend in NYC — despite having to wear long sleeves and then take refuge in any air-conditioned building to cool back down.

    Unfortunately, in the mistaken belief that I was iimproving, I went to the gym Monday and the energy expenditure seems to have given my PI more of a kick in the butt than it gave me, and I was back to the rampantly spreading, oozing, nasty stuff within hours.

    I am reluctant to knit because my arms seem to have found their inner connection to the primordial oooze.  Despite the fact that they are wrapped in guaze and bandages and I am wearing long sleeves, a change of layers and clothing is required every few hours, luckily coinciding with my therapeutic soaks.  The entire thought of some nastiness leaking onto my lovely yarn is enough to keep the needles out of my hands. 

    It is possible that the incipient socks may be small enough that I can work on them without achieving contact.  My hands are not infected although my wrists are.  I might be able to manage the double-pointed needles.  Since my arms are swollen up and swaddled I look something like Bibi, the Michelin man, and it may be humerous to imagine my round swaddled arms hunched over those tiny size 0’s.

  • Swamp Thing

    My Poison Ivy saga continues,– or at least the poising ivy continues to crawl its way around my person, so any sewing is still on hold, at least while my wrists and arms remain in a crusty oozy stage.    It has been over a week now and the original site of infection is healing, so I do see a ray of hope on the horizon.  To think that I used to be the designated PI person in the household because I never got a rash — goodbye to all that.

    On Friday I did get the crotch seam sewn on the linen pants and then I dripped PI ooze onto the lovely yellow linen.  They went in the wash and I was so disgusted I haven’t touched a sewing project since.   Closet cleaning and reading old sewing old Threads Magazines will have to continue to do a short while longer.

    It is lovely to have an excuse to lounge about and read, but the forced inactivity is getting to me, as well as the general annoyance and disgust factors that are at play in my personal image awareness.  Still, things are improving, PI is not fatal after all, and fiberly activities will resume.

  • Weekend Break

    I really did not get much knitting done this past weekend in the city.  It was too hot and sticky, when I was indoors I just wanted to let that cold air conditioning flow over my body unencumbered by yarn or any activity whatsoever.   I did catch up on sleep and some reading, both of which were badly behind.

    I managed to get 20 rows of knitting done on Phildar.  I am now definitely well established in the front pattern and it is pretty set in my mind.  Only 42 rows more before armhole shaping.  A little progress is better than none.

    Despite the lack of fiberly activites** I feel refreshed and ready to attack my various projects with new energy. Of course, the continued humidity may cruelly cut that new-found energy short.

    ** we did go to Habu Textiles, new territory for me, but I was overwhelmed by the wonderful and amazing yarns and fabrics.  Luckily I know I can go back.  My brain is swirling with thoughts when I let it venture that far.  Sometimes with something so amazing I need time to absorb the possibilities.

  • A step out of the Routine and Catching up

    I had a lovely weekend in NYC with my friend Mary.  It was hot and sticky and we spent part of each afternoon napping, but all in all it was a nice break from the normal hectic routine. 

    Friday we walked down Fifth Avenue to 28th street to go to Habu Textiles, which was an amazing place with really unusual Japanese yarns and handwoven silks and linens in textures and quality one does not normally find.   It was almost too overwhelming and we did not stay long.  I am already planning a return trip, but not right away.  Renovation expenses force me to keep my distance in the short run.

    Mary needed a nap in the afternoon as she is recovering from a cold; I was hot and sticky so returned to the hotel as well.  I had a wonderful roasted vegetable salad for a late lunch and a pot of coffee and then went for a short walk up Park Avenue to Walter Steiger (we are staying at the W New York on Lexington and 49th Street).  The fall selection was slim yet but looks promising with some attractive evening shoes and some very nice suede pumps with round toes that look comfortable and ladylike, unlike the rather childish or Betty Boop inspired styles that seem to have been so popular of late.       

    Later, Mary and I met at the bar for a drink.  I really like the way the public spaces in this hotel are arranged and designed.  They are modern and hip yet friendly and relaxing too.  The staff have been very helpful and accommodating. 

    Dinner at Aix on the upper west side was excellent.  The fish was superb, well chosen and well-repaired and the combinations of flavors were very well matched and balanced, just unusual enough to draw your attention, but so well done that they really stuck in one’s taste memory, as if they were meant to be and you had always known you would like that particular taste sensation even though you might not have encountered it yet.

    I tend to get up early in the mornings so I used this time to catch up on my reading backlog of old magazines.  I suppose I should have been knitting, but somehow I was more in reading mood.  There is no real accounting for what will be the plan or activity of the moment.

    I read a Forbes Magazine from last week.  It is filled with many interesting short articles, such as the one about China stealing technology through the use of Trojan Horses which invade computers and steal important information, eventually routing it back to the home computer.  Such things are notoriously difficulty to eradicate once acquired and they are also very difficult to trace.  It seems evident that China and India are going to be huge power forces in the future world economy and China certainly has an excess of human brainpower and willingness to work hard and achieve and compete on a global scale.   Still, I hope that this enormous use of mental ability is not used to shortcut the process.  China is already well on its way to success in the global economy and should not need to resort to short-cuts such as stealing ideas, rather than spending money and time on education to prepare a population to developed the next generation of ideas and their resulting products.  I believe that there are many in China who want to replace the Untied States as the center for new ideas and technology and they seem to be well on the way.   I would think that creating the atmosphere needed for innovation will put China at the top of the technology and manufacturing heap, not stealing old information, no matter how tempting that may seem in the short run.  Of course the powers that be in China may be counting on the possibility that by the time world figures out what happened, China will already be dominant and there will be no stopping them or turning back the tide.   If so, I think they are misinformed.  Already, according to something I read somewhere, Bill Gates, has said the best new ideas in R&D are coming out of Microsoft’s China facility as opposed to Seattle or Europe.

    I thin the US has been neglecting China for long enough and it is time to begin to pay sharp attention, attention moderated by intelligence.

    Also interesting were articles on the EU and the vote in France as well has how Great Britain is becoming a model for economic reform which many in Europe are looking toward to help with solving many problems in the European economy.   France and Germany are crippled by high taxes and expensive protectionist policies and these could eventually cripple the entire European community if a way is not found to integrate the future with the needs of the past and a way to integrate new EU members with old established economies.

    Other articles that got me thinking, although my thoughts are by no means coalesced yet, were the article on the agriculture and land boom in Brazil, and the wild-west atmosphere and enormous profits to be found in farming in the central regions of that country.  Those of us in old established agricultural economies tend to assume that farm subsidies and protectionism are the only way for agriculture to survive.  Instead it is expensive and stifling.  This really gives one pause.

    Last but not least was an essay on world health issues and the cost of solving these issues.  This particular article dealt with treating HIV infected persons with expensive drugs, which may not be the most cost effective method.  Oh the drugs may well be effective in helping those who already infected but they do nothing to stem the tide.  For that, treatment of other sexually transmitted diseases that lead to open sores, and education may be the best treatment.  Treating existing cases does not help if more cases keep appearing daily.

    The whole issue of aide to Africa, and much of the third world, is such an interesting topic for research and thought.  Yes great sums of money are needed but getting materials and supplies to needy areas is just the bare minimum edge of what is needed to solve the problems.  You need to get the materials to people, pay the workers, educate the population so that they see the work of the aid that you are offering.  It is easier to raise money to buy things that it is to educate populations and pay workers.

    It seems that if we want to really have a world with equal opportunity and rights we really need to rethink what those terms entail and what is actually needed.  So much of our attempts at solving the ills of the world are half-assed.

  • Linen Pants

    I finally started working on my linen pants.  They should be a simple project but I seem temperamentally incapable of just whipping something up.  Of course I would start a new project just hours before going away for a couple of days… well, this way I have something to look forward to when I return.

    I decided that I will let the lining hang free on these pants, not my usual method, but I think more appropriate for this lightweight linen.  That means that I have to finish the seams more nicely.  If I were completely bagging the lining I could just serge the edges, but somehow can’t bring myself to do that if they will be seen, even if only by me.  Besides, this is a fairly ravelly linen and I don’t trust the serging to hold.  So I made French seams instead.  They are only one seam pants so that was not so bad, but I French seamed the lining too.  On the linen I also zigzagged in the seam allowance as the  sheer parts of the linen were starting to pull out of the seam stitching already, and I thought this would be extra protection.

    Yellowlinen1
    It may be merely excessive and I may regret it.  I hoped that the weight of the seam will help the hang of the pants, but it may not work.

    I also got the zipper in and the lining attached at the zipper, but I have not sewn the crotch seam yet.  Somehow I am having trouble keeping my legs straight and am getting them all in a tangle.  This could be because it is nigh unto midnight.  With a clear head, sewing the crotch curve is a piece of cake, but I am not confident of my late night mental competence.

    To be continued upon my return.

  • All Tangled Up

    I wound the skeins of Lorna’s Laces yarn that I am using for the socks tonight.  I thought I would take that project along to NYC with me, in case I get bored of knitting Phildar.  Of course, the reality is that I have far too much knitting packed and will probably not get to any new projects.

    This is what happens when you try to wind yarn while simultaneously making dinner and chatting with the beloved husband:
    Socks1

    I had never done anything quite like that before.  Some new challenge is always arising in my knitting life.

    I did successfully get the mess untangled and both skeins wound. 

    Sox2

    The yarn looks much more interesting in the ball.  I can’t wait to see what the socks will look like.

    I suppose I must have been acting very pathetic, pissing and moaning about my itches,  because my darling husband has said that I should just stay cool in the city this weekend (ladies weekend) and go to the Plaza, or some other place, sit and drink tea  or champagne and knit all weekend while watching the people go by.  It actually sounds very relaxing, but I somehow don’t think that is what will happen.

  • Unsettled

    I have been a little unsettled the last week and not able to focus my attentions on sewing.  This seems to happen a great deal.  I have thought about sewing.  I have a project cut out and ready to go; it will not take long, but I diddle about with other things. After guests leave I always need a couple of days just to wander about and kind of re-connect with my space.  It is not like anything really changes, but all the extra fuss and stuff, and disturbance, gets me off balance.  I suppose I am too solitary and too much of a homebody.  I certainly can sympathize with Miss Cat when she comes home from boarding – she has to wander about and look at everything, try all the napping places, kind of get resettled.

    A VHS tape arrived today showing the fall Carlisle Collection and I started to look at it.  There was nothing spectacularly interesting there:  some interesting trapunto stitching on one jacket, one nice suit made of a lightweight boucle with coordinating charmeuse piping and a pretty skirt made of boucle with godets of the same charmeuse.  It looked like a pleated skirt or a “car wash” skirt with the charmeuse behind it.  There was certainly nothing I was tempted to buy and very little I was tempted to make.  The whole thing was so boring that I had to stop the tape half way through as I was falling asleep. I think I am better off just looking at the designer fashion show photos on the web.  I still have the Armani CD I got two years ago and I would love to get a Ralph Rucci CD as well, but have to recognize that I simply don’t spend enough real cash with these designers to ever get on their CD lists.   I am sure that Carlisle is trying to lure me back to the fold

    When I look at clothes now I am most prone to saying “I could make that”, except for a few really special designer garments where sometimes I am taken by the workmanship or unusual design.  I will admit I sometimes just fall in love with the fabric.  Then there are the garments I look at and say I would have to make that, those that would be difficult to fit on me from ready to wear.  I could make them look good but there would be a good bit of pattern preparation beforehand.  They fill my head with ideas and inspirations, often with plays of cut, color combinations, and design I would have never come up with on my own.

    Of course if I don’t shop and I don’t sew I will have to live in brown paper bags – that will not happen.  I am just more in knitting and landscaping mode than sewing mode right now.

    Truthfully part of my general sewing malaise stems from the entire fit issue (again).    I have had trouble standing up straight lately–I list forward or to either side.  I don’t feel any pain, I just look funny.  If I try to stand up straight, that’s what hurts.  I feel as if my hips and my back have somehow become disassociated from each other – I know that is not what has happened, something has settled, that is just how I feel when I try to make them work together.  The good news as there is nothing new or major wrong, I am able to do most things, sometimes more slowly than I used to, and  I have far less back pain than I have had in years.  The bad news is it is hard to get clothes to fit.   The dress I made for Neil’s wedding looked terrible when I tried it on last weekend, but it looked great when I made it, or at least it did the one part of one day when I was pretty upright.  The problem is in the middle, the waist area, where the bodice and the skirt have to meet – it pulled on one side and had a big buckle.  That was due to the way I was standing. 

    In desperation I tried on the dress I made for Adam’s wedding last summer and the good news was that it was now to big through the hips, and easy fix, but it had the same pull and buckling through the waist.  Separates work better because top and bottom can each just go their own way.  I wore a pantsuit to the wedding,  a nice one, but some part of me feels that weddings are for pretty dresses. 

    I think the fit issue has been a large part of why I haven’t bothered sewing anything particularly complicated,.  The separates I have made lately have fit well and have become favorite outfits.  Even they fit better on some days than others.  Matilda is a much better model as she consistently stands straighter than I.  I suppose I am just not ready to reconcile myself to the bent over life – I am convinced that new exercise and stretching routines can help, and am giving it a go.  The new routines, and training help, take a lot of time and cut heavily into my available sewing time but the long-term payout should be worth the effort.  Improvement so far has been slow but I am hoping it will increase with time.  If in the end, I need to alter my fitting skills again and adapt to a more angular existence this is a manageable fate.  I’m just not willing to give in without a bit of a fight.