Author Archives: pdxknitterati

Josephine of my dreams

Posted on July 1, 2008 | 5 comments

and the Josephine on my needles aren’t quite matching up. :sigh:

I finished one shoulder of the front this evening, held it up, and realized that the eyelet row wasn’t going to land where I want it to be (under the bustline, not on it). But in order to add some length on top, I have to take it back to the armhole bind off, and add it *before* the armhole.

So I frogged back to the armholes. Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it.

I’ll have to redo the back, too, after I finish the front. :sigh, again:

But look at all the practice I’ll get with short-row shoulders! Hey, I’m trying to find the bright side. Work with me.

Sunday’s piano party was fun. The premise of the group is that the more you play for others, the more comfortable you’ll be playing in public. It’s a small, non-threatening group. So far, so good. I also go to a bigger group that meets bi-monthly at a local piano store, but I’ve missed the last several meetings. Something about spending all my free time knitting instead of practicing!

I wore this:

I love this pattern; it’s ingenious. It’s knit smaller than body size, and it stretches to fit (negative ease). The ribbing on the back makes it work. The pattern is the cabled tank from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2007. A quick knit with 6 skeins of Berroco Cotton Twist (cotton/rayon blend).

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, music, piano

Tagged cabled tank, Josephine Top, Knit, piano

You can’t make me knit socks…

Posted on June 29, 2008 | 4 comments

but I seem to have knit a lot of them.

One of the cool things about living in Portland is having Powell’s City of Books right here. It’s the largest used and new bookstore in the United States, covering a full city block. The kids and I went there yesterday to sell several years’ accumulation of excess bookage. We came out with $190. Only $42 of it was mine. I restrained myself in the very well-stocked knitting section, and bought one book. It’s Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.

I still don’t consider myself a sock knitter, but I seem to have knit a lot of socks, and designed some, too! So I thought I’d learn about some alternate construction techniques. I really want to try a toe-up sock with a heel stitch flap *under* the heel, because that’s where my socks wear out. But you can’t make me give up my dpns. No magic loop or two circulars for me; I’m big on that knitting with sticks, Little House on the Prairie experience.

My other favorite sock book is Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. I love all the heel and toe options and explanations, along with the beautiful patterns.

I won’t tell you how many other sock books I have. Because I’m not a sock knitter. Really.

4 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, socks

Knit haiku

Posted on June 27, 2008 | 1 comment

I wrote a haiku the other day. I’m not really in the habit of doing so, but Dee at Cooking with Dee is having a haiku event, and I wanted to send her something.

Knitting in sunshine
Pink yarn on smooth black needles
Poetry in lace

I made some more stitch markers yesterday. They’re pretty, but not as fun as the first batch. I think the difference is that it’s just the one bead, and that wasn’t as much fun as picking several beads for a marker. It was more of a job than a creative activity. But here they are, anyway:

Pianists, note that this picture is on the back of a Schirmer book. The previous markers were on Henle blue; I thought I’d continue the theme! Henle is my favorite urtext edition.

I’m going to a piano party on Sunday, so I’ve started playing again. Nothing like a deadline to get me on the bench. At this point in my piano life, I’m not practicing enough to learn something new, so I thought I’d try to resurrect some old repertoire. I have several pieces that are easily revived, but I’m reaching further back and trying to re-learn some other things, notably the andante from Mozart’s G major Sonata K. 283 (I used to play the allegro, too, but that’s an ambitions resurrection right now), and Beethoven’s G major Sonata Op. 49. No. 2. Neither one will be ready for Sunday. I’m enjoying it, anyway.

1 Comment

Posted in Knit, music, piano

Tagged haiku, Knit, piano, stitch markers

Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell: Minor surgery

Posted on June 24, 2008 | 6 comments

I subscribed to Interweave Knits magazine last summer. When my summer issue came, I fell in love with this: the Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell by Angela Hahn. By the time I finished, it was definitely fall, so I put it away for the winter.

This morning, I took Lutea out of my closet and put it on. I didn’t like the way it fit. It felt floppy, drapey, and the armholes were gappy. Bleah. I poked at it a bit and decided the armholes were too deep for me.

This afternoon, I picked out the three needle bind off at the shoulder, ripped back four rows of lace on the front and back, and re-did the three needle bind off. Had to try it on to see if I was on the right track. YES! I did the same surgery to the other shoulder, worked in the ends, and voila! A well-fitting shell. It no longer feels floppy and drapey, either. Amazing what a little surgery can do.

Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell by Angela Hahn. Knit with KnitPicks Shine Worsted, US size 8 needles. Modifications: Garter stitch hem instead of a rolled hem, shortened body by an inch or so, and the shoulder surgery described above. I’m going to wear it tomorrow. Summer is finally here! Many thanks to Kid2 for patiently taking a bazillion pictures until I saw one I liked.

While reviewing the pictures in the camera, I saw this!

It’s dated today, 3:38 pm. Kid1 must have taken it while I was out this afternoon. I was flabbergasted. I thought I had vanquished my little friend Onan, and had even started a blog post about it (still in draft mode, waiting for a slow day). Apparently I was a bit premature with my victory dance. I emailed the picture to The Husband (away at guitar camp), and he said, “GAME ON!”

6 Comments

Posted in Knit, the squirrel

Tagged Angela Hahn, Knit, Lutea Lace Shoulder Shell, squirrel

Josephine’s shoulders: short rows

Posted on June 22, 2008 | 6 comments

I’m a big fan of the three needle bind off for shoulder seams. I’m in this for the knitting, not the sewing! Fewer sewn seams = happier knitter. Josephine has slightly sloping shoulders instead of a straight across seam, so I needed to learn a new trick before I could use a three needle bind off. Short row shoulder shaping! I found a very good tutorial at Knitty. Worked like a charm. I couldn’t figure out how to simultaneously short row the neck shaping (I ended up finishing in the middle of the shoulder when I tried it), so the neck has a stairstep bindoff, but the shoulder is perfectly smooth. No problem; picking up stitches for the neck on a stairstep bindoff is easy. Here’s the back of Josephine:

And the shoulder:

Modifications so far: shorter on the lace portion at the bottom (reduced by 1/2 repeat) because I’m short and want it to end at hip length, and also I think I’ve arranged things so that the eyelet row that will hold the drawstring will be right under the bust, instead of on it. I think it will look more flattering that way.

On to the front! The other modification that I’m planning is to raise the V-neckline. I hate wearing layers; I don’t want to have to wear a camisole under this. The pattern as written has a very deep V-neck, suitable for a cami underneath, or else a sewn-in lace inset. Neither idea excites me, so I’m just going to start the V neck a bit higher. Fingers crossed!

On the piano front: I finished reading Katie Hafner’s A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano last night. I’m not much of a Bach fan; my preferences tend more towards Mozart and Beethoven, but I do love all things piano. I didn’t know much about Gould other than that he recorded two definitive versions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, early and late in his career. It was really interesting to learn about him as a person (beyond idiosyncratic) and the piano he loved, but even more interesting to learn about Verne Edquist, the piano technician who tuned and regulated the piano to make it into Gould’s dream come true. You can learn more about the book here:

Look Inside this book

Back to knitting!

6 Comments

Posted in Knit, piano, ravelry, Uncategorized

Tagged A Romance on Three Legs, Josephine Top, piano, short row shoulders, three needle bind off

Old Knit Friends

Posted on June 20, 2008 | 3 comments

I was looking in the closet the other day, and I found our old friend Wocket. I knit him in February 1998. He’s a cross between two projects in Debbie Bliss’ Toy Knits: the Small Teddy with Sweater and Wellingtons, and the Pirate Rat. Kid2 had an affection for all things mousey back then, and it was fun to knit something he really liked. The sweater is made with leftovers from Kid2’s sweater.

While I’m thinking of knit toys, here’s one from 1996. It’s Gromit, as in Wallace and Gromit, the claymation characters. The pattern is by Alan Dart, and was published in the magazine Woman’s Weekly in the UK. I was on the KnitList (still am), and someone offered to send me the pattern. Thanks, Norma!

Gromit graces my grand piano, and he’s my Ravelry avatar, too.

3 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged gromit, Knit, knit toys, wallace and gromit

Bike First! Lose the Training Wheels

Posted on June 18, 2008 | 3 comments

So, a quick non-knitting post today. I’m spending mornings this week volunteering at a bike camp for special needs kids. I volunteered with this organization last year, too, and it was the most meaningful week of my summer. Bike First! is part of an amazing program called Lose the Training Wheels. It uses adapted bikes with a succession of rollers on the back to teach children to balance. Each successive roller is more tapered, requiring more balancing skills from the child. It’s not a far leap from the most tapered roller to a regular two-wheeled bike. I had tears in my eyes when my camper mastered a two-wheeler last year. Here’s her story.

Knitting is a fairly sedentary hobby, and I’m feeling pretty decrepit after three mornings of running behind bikes for three hours. But it’s wonderful, and it’s worth it. Please pass the ibuprofen!

Back to knitting tomorrow…

3 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged bike first, lose the training wheels, special needs kids

WWKIP Day

Posted on June 16, 2008 | 6 comments

Saturday was World-Wide Knit in Public Day. There were lots of activities going on in town, but I was out camping. I love getting away; it’s like getting new eyes. Everything looks different.

My camping gear worked out fine, except for one missing item. Wool socks. I couldn’t get my feet warm enough at night, and that made me regret not bringing these.

I made these in 1997, I think. They’re from Anna Zilboorg’s book, Fancy Feet. I was lucky enough to have a class with Anna at Stitches that year; she taught me to carry both colors in my right hand (I knit English-style). I had previously taught myself to knit continental style so I could carry a color in each hand, but two in the same hand was much faster for me.

Back to WWKIP Day. What did you do? I spent the afternoon on a blanket in the grassy part of the campground. I made a bracelet (beading), worked on Josephine, and on my log cabin blanket. Bev and Laurie were knitting with me, so I think that counts as our contribution for WWKIP Day.

I’m not sure when I’ll declare the log cabin done; right now it measures about 34 inches square. It’s not big enough yet, maybe 48 inches will be the right size? I’ll have to buy more yarn soon. This was perfect campfire knitting, too. No need to look too closely, just knit, knit, knit, until it was time to pick up a new color.

We had a great campfire singalong Saturday night. I can count the chords I know on two hands, but it’s enough for a good singalong, and that’s enough for me.

6 Comments

Posted in Knit, music

Tagged Josephine Top, Knit, knit socks, log cabin, singalong

Camping Gear, PDXKnitterati-style

Posted on June 12, 2008 | 1 comment

I’m going camping with some friends this weekend. It’s a good thing they’re in charge of important things like cooking gear, because I don’t own any. We’ve been camping with most of the same people for 7 or 8 years. It started as a cub scout outing when Kid2 was younger; now it’s just a bunch of families having a good time.

It’s been cold and rainy here for weeks, so I’ve pretty much had my head in the sand about this trip, refusing to believe that it’s going to happen. But today, the sun came out, and it’s supposed to be nice for the weekend. Time to inventory the camping equipment:

Tents and tarps, camp chairs

Sleeping bags, air mattresses, extra blankets

Guitar, song books, music stand

Knitting, knitting, and knitting projects

Jewelry making supplies (more stitch markers!)

A new book to read. This arrived yesterday, and I’m looking forward to diving in. If I’m not playing the piano this weekend, at least I can read about it. A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano.

I think I’m set!

1 Comment

Posted in Knit, piano

Tagged A Romance on Three Legs, Knit, piano

Josephine in her finery

Posted on June 9, 2008 | Comments Off

The Josephine Top is coming along. I’m at 8 inches on the back; it’s time for the second set of decreases in the ribbing section. The pattern is easier to remember than I initially thought, so I’m cruising along with only an occasional glance at the chart.

Here’s a closeup of Jo with her new stitch markers between each ribbing and lace section. See the bright lime green rubber one on the end? I need one more new marker!