Neither Hip Nor Funky

I am a lover of lists; I make them all the time. In addition, I am one of those people who obsessively checks things off my lists, and I have a certain way of checking items depending on if they are fully accomplished, eliminated from the list, or moved to a different day. If I do something that is not on the list, I often retroactively put it on the list so that I can check it off. And yes…I am also one of those people that sometimes puts things like “shower” on the list. Hey, I still get to check it off, and it is such an easy one to accomplish. (I haven’t done that “6 weird things” meme” circulating the wide, wide world of web, so just consider this one of the weird things that you now get to know about me.)

So here I present my knitting list from this past weekend (sans elaborate checking system which can only be done by hand):

1. Make the picot edge for 2nd Happy Sock:

Done. I made the first Happy Sock before Christmas knitting ensued. I meant to start this second one earlier, but I never wanted to do the cast-on when I remembered it. When I was in the mood to make this sock, I just wanted to make pretty colors out of mindless stockinette. Now, it is all started and gets to be carried around to work meetings with me. What a lucky sock! Not only are the meetings riveting, but they are extremely efficient also. (Oops…sorry if that sarcasm just dripped on you.)

2. Finish Clogs

The clogs have been freed from being a cat bed and progress has been made. I finished the main part of each one, but I still need to make the second sole for each one (the soles are double thick).

3. Finish Cropped Cardigan

Done and currently drying in the front room.

4. “Take Care of” Handpun Basic Sock

It swims with the frogs. I will redo it later; it just wasn’t meant for size 1 needles.

5. Sew Up Bobble Bag

Procrastinated again. This is a very old picture of it languishing on the bed. It is my first and, so far, only crochet project. I have had both sides done since early October, but it is still sitting in the bottom of my knitting basket.

After reading my post on stash-busting and my desire to expand my knitting library, my secret pal sent me an Amazon certificate so I could pick out some books. I was so excited that I immediately went and ordered these:

I’ve been following the Zimmermania for a while now, but I didn’t have any Zimmerman books of my own. Now, I can try to follow in the goddess’s footsteps. Thanks again, SP.

I have also been trying to read more again in general. I sometimes have problems finding a book that has the right balance for me. I get enough drama at work, so I don’t want book that are so real or serious that they evoke too much of an emotional response. However, I love to be completely absorbed in books, so I can’t get too much of a “light” read. I want to feel a connection with the characters; I want to believe that the characters are real. When I was younger, upon finishing a book it was hard for me to accept that a character did not exist. Although I now know that the characters are not real, I still have a small feeling of grief or loss at the end of a good book, as I can no longer follow that character’s life.

This book is the first book that I have become truly absorbed in in a while. It follows a Chinese family’s adjustment to living in a small Canadian town in the late 50s and early 60s. It is told from the perspective of the young daughter who is five when they arrive, and shows the difference in her perceptions versus those of other family members and the struggles within the family. I’m nearing the end of the book, and I know that the girl will be a character that I will definitely miss when I am finished.
It is part of the Portland Library’s Everybody Reads series. Each year they pick a book, and provide copies of it that you can grab and keep out as long as you want. They then have a series of event ranging from kid’s crafts to author lectures on the book and its themes.

-I should have an update on my weekend knitting tomorrow, I have one FO blocking in the front room and another on the way.

Edited to add:
A good book and good knitting deserves a good drink.  Normally this would be tea, but I am often a test subject for P-funk’s hobbies and this includes testing food and drink items.  If you are interested in seeing what I am eating and drinking, check out his blog: Lamb Martini.

What could go better with knitting Tech Guy socks than PacMan drowning in liquor?

This has been a mindless knitting week for me. It’s been one of those weeks where that is all I am capable of at the end of the day. The Cascade 220 above is slowly becoming a sweater for Phil. I’m just going round and round 200+ stitches in a 4×2 rib and I’m lovin’ it. I’m quite easily pleased sometimes.

I shall move on from it a little and keep it around as a weekday project. This weekend I must tackle the growing list on my On the Needles page and get it under control…or should I say WIP it into shape?(he, he…come on, you know you smiled a little). My Knitter’s ADD is out of control recently and all I want to do is cast on for more projects. One of the teens that I work with did try to sell me his ADHD meds this morning…maybe I should have taken him up on it.

I’m in love with the colors of this yarn, Schaeffer Anne in Kermie. I find combination of greens beautiful and comforting. While knitting this sock yesterday, the color sparked a thread of associations, combining many current thoughts with past memories, leading me to think about knitting and ancestors. I was taught to knit by my friend Denise (who makes amazing paper art). A recent post by her on her ancestors also added to my train of thought. While I was not taught to knit by family members, I do have some strong connection with ancestors through my knitting.
Green: The first place that my brain jumped to was my green wool coat, the cuffs of which were seen in the last post.

This coat was knitted by my Grannie (my great-grandmother) for my Grandma circa 1960. When my Grandma was cleaning out the upstairs rooms a few years ago, she had a pile of things that she was asking if anyone wanted. This coat and a red crocheted poncho were in that pile. I was away at college at the time, but my mom and middle sister knew that I would love this coat and soon afterwards it was in my possession.

My Grannie died when I was two and a half, and I don’t really remember her. I have one fuzzy memory of her sitting in a chair in my Grandparents den. At the funeral home, I was apparently to young to know what was going on when I asked loudly, “Why is Grannie sleeping in the corner?”, my oldest sister ran out of the room upset.I may not have clear memories of her, but I have a new connection with her and a strong admiration for her through my knitting. She is the only family member that knit. By wearing her amazing work, I feel connected. Without knowing it, she has kept me warm and protected.

Green: it was also the color of my Granddaddy’s, Grannie’s son’s, eyes. Although they were a more muted tone when I knew him, my mom remembers his eyes being a vivid, bright green. My Granddaddy passed away last April. I sometimes think of him at unexpected times, such as when knitting this sock and admiring its vibrant greens.

Although I often tear up when this happens, it is not as much out of sadness as just out of an appreciation for him and being honored to have had him for a granddad. I don’t cry that he is gone as much as I cry for who he was. He was a person who loved being a Granddaddy and we all loved him for it. Random memories will pop up, memories such as walking into his kitchen and meeting his standard response of grabbing his chest with an expression of mock horror and exclaiming, “Look at that ugly monkey!”

My oldest sister sometimes is worried that her daughter won’t remember Granddaddy, but I was recently thinking of how she will still have a connection to him because he has left his mark all around her. My niece was at my Granddaddy’s funeral, and she was little younger than I was at my Grannie’s funeral years ago. She didn’t quite understand either. She wanted to close the casket lid because she likes things to be closed. At the funeral, when we were crying and wiping our eyes with tissues, my niece reached over to her mom and took the tissue, dabbed at her own eyes, then dabbed at her mom’s eyes, causing us all to laugh a little in the middle of the service.

She may not have vivid memories of him, but she will have a connection. In fact she already does. My niece loves music and dancing and already has very particular tastes in music, and my Granddaddy was an amazing musician. He sang his whole life, up into his last years. When he first met his great-grandaughter, as soon as she was set in his lap, he started to sing the same lullaby that he sang to my mom years ago when she was a child. He sang at my wedding when he was eighty one. The great thing is that we have so many records of this*; records that my niece will be able to hear and enjoy, too.

Even if we don’t have strong memories of ancestors, we are able to rediscover and connect with them later. It is a beautiful thing about families.

Green: Sometimes things come full circle. Green is also the dominant color in the lap blanket that I was able to knit for my Grandma last Christmas. It is a comforting thought that I could try to do my own small part to keep her warm and comforted, following in my Grannie’s stitches and my Granddaddy’s love. I was also able to pass on the family knitting love by teaching one of my sisters to knit over the holiday.

A green tune:
*Click on this link to hear a recording of my Granddaddy singing part of The Rose of Tralee, recorded when he was in his late sixties.

Pattern: Anemoi Mittens by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss in Pumpkin and Cocoa
Needles: US1 Bamboo DPNs, US0 Knitpicks circs
Start: Dec 30, 2006
Finished: January 17, 2007

I loved knitting these and I love the organic quality of the pattern. Once I got it the rhythm of the colorwork, it was a lot like painting to me. Since my painting has taken a backseat to my knitting this past year, it was nice to have that feeling back. It definitely inspired me to do more colorwork projects.

I stuck with my original dominant yarn mistake, embracing what Laura wrote in the comments that Meg Swanson made a comment to the effect that: A mistake, repeated enough times, becomes a design feature.
So, um….yes, this was a design element of the mittens. Since my color choices didn’t have a high contrast between them, by holding my dominant yarn in the wrong hand I was trying to acheive more of a subtle, shading effect rather than clear pattern lines.
I’m very pleased with how they turned out, but my tension was a bit odd in parts of the second mitten as I kept over correcting because I was worried about the mittens being the same size. I had become worried about this because my tension on the cuff was very different, making one cuff much longer than the other. I just ripped back a little. So now the cuffs are the same length, however one has five fewer rows. (Yup, also a design element.)

A little voyeurism opportunity at the end of the post: If you want to check out the state of my yarn stash, go to my Google spreadsheet. I was inspired by Elli’s post about her stash stats, and wanted to do a similar thing to track my attempt at a little stashbusting. Although I am often not a super organized person, organizing is my activity of choice when I am stressed out. It makes me feel like at least that one part of my life is peaceful. I know I only had a two day workweek, so I shouldn’t be stressed. However, those two days completely wore me out; they felt like two weeks. So now I have a peaceful stash, which makes my knitting feel more relaxing.