Nature

Things are undergoing some change here at Y2Knit West. More on that in another post, today we're looking at nature!

We are hopeful we have reached the end of the rainy season because we are completely and totally sick of the rain. As a result, we have had lots of vegetative growth, but I also hadn't seen my hummingbirds for over a month. We have bees and butterflies

, but no hummingbirds. I often don't see them but know that they are there because the nectar supply in the feeder goes down down steadily. But more than a month and nothing--no sightings, no fluctuation in nectar. So I was delighted to see them on Wednesday. Also the quail, sparrows and jays have been around.

I run on Tuesdays and Fridays. I missed the last two Tuesdays because of rain. Last Friday as I was on my last mile, running by a park, I saw these tw

o green parrots streak by. There are wild parrots in SF, but I'd personally never seen them. Kind of fun, and definitely a nice distraction as I ran uphill. Today's nature was a squirrel. I know

, not very exciting, but he got in front of me on a path, and he couldn't figure out how to escape--I was continuing to come along, he was running as fast as he could--looking back occasionally, as I got within about 5 feet of him he dove under the fence between the path and the planting beds. Otherwise, my nature is mostly dogs. SF is overpopulated (I say that as a non-dog owner, I know others feel differently!) with dogs, which must be walked. But everywhere right now is green and lush and blooming and pollen-y!

I have this crazy passion flower vine that covers much of our back slope. It produces varying quantities of bright peachy flowers all year round, getting particularly lush in the spring. Because of the rain, my back garden didn't get cleaned up for a couple of months and the passion vine got a little closer to the lower garden than usual. I was surprised to see that it has this cool-looking center which I had not ever seen from the distance I usually view it from. I had always been slightly jealous of Susan's which has this type of center. I was rather precariously perched trying to get this picture, so it does no justice to the awesomeness of the flower.

Knitter, heal thyself

Some physical symptoms over the last couple weeks resulted in a visit to Boonsboro Wellness Center yesterday for an evaluation and some acupuncture. I knew from following it myself that my blood pressure was up. There's no justice, clearly, as I take good care of myself. When I ran through the list of things to do to help lower blood pressure naturally, I was on mark for everything. Well, almost.

My self-reflection revealed I don't relax very much. I used to have some quiet time in the morning, meditative and/or knitting. Lately I haven't been doing that. It's the cobblers-children-have-no-shoes syndrome. I am very much aware of the benefits of quiet time knitting and tout them often. Apparently I need to pay more attention to myself. But not take myself to seriously. Relax. Enjoy! Knit!!

Boonsboro Greenfest

I'm looking forward to participating in this fine event on May 8. I checked out the website today and was very impressed by the recycling opportunities. I can donate the sewing machine that doesn't work.

Y2Knit will have a booth to educate about the joys of knitting and the wonderful eco-friendly products we knit with. Peni Renner, who crochets bags out of "plarn" (grocery bags made into yarn) will be with me. She's now spinning the plastic--don't ask me, just come out to see for yourself. I might try knitting some of it.

From the list of vendors, I expect some good food treats, educational and networking opportunities, and a chance to meet some great people. I asked to be near a couple of plant people I know, so herbs and starter plants are on the list of things to bring home. Last hear I got this awesome purple cauliflower from Deb (Harmony) that I hope she has again this year. It was so beautiful and tasted great.

If you live in the area, this is a great place to learn about sustainability projects and products in Washington County and to support your local businesses.

Yesterday was just a rush of activity that seemed not to stop until I went to bed. Susan and I had a call with our marketing consultant, followed by my AKD board meeting which was moved forward a day to accommodate Stitches South. I grabbed a quick lunch, packed up my things for teaching and Pilates, did some research on design companies (I have to understand each of the 15 companies--two students are doing the same one--so that I can guide them through creating their portfolio) for my afternoon class, then headed downtown. I got off the train and went to pick up a top I had ordered that had come in and picked up pants that had been relined from the tailor for Mitch. Spent 15 minutes giving tips to the tailor on how to make his website a brand statement and information source, then went to school. My class went by pretty much in a whir because I have to meet one-on-one with each of the 16 students. I brought a kitchen timer, gave it to a self-described ADD student who manned it for me (giving each student 5 minutes) while students worked in small teams. Some discussion on homework, showing previous portfolios, answering questions, following up with a few students and 2.5 hours is gone! Then a student asked me some questions while I packed up, my department coordinator passed on some information to me when I returned the portfolios, I put my things away and went to Pilates.

Hundreds with sinus pressure was agony. But after that I seemed to be fine, if a bit tired! My instructor Keegan always makes the hour go quickly, dishing out little bits of torture in amusing and realistic bites. I got a seat on the train (unusual), but I almost feel like it makes the trip up the hill more difficult as I start to relax. Mitch was out at a business dinner, so I made myself dinner and worked on some design knitting until he came home. We watched The Daily Show and I went upstairs to read.

Even though I did a lot, I didn't feel like I got any work done.

Earth Day

I wanted to do something in the shop around Earth Day, but never got it together. Still, I want to share how Y2Knit makes choices about yarn that we hope are friendly to the planet.

We consider how yarn is made and where it comes from. We favor small companies because we can trace the yarn more easily. We feel fortunate to work in an industry where many companies are making eco-friendly choices.

Here's some of the stories we love:

Brown Sheep Company, a USA company that sources most of their yarn from the US, built a water reclamation system so they can recycle most of the water used in processing the wool. I asked Peggy Jo what motivated them to do this and she responded, "because it's the right thing to do." I love doing business with a company whose owner talks like that!

Frog Tree Yarns is a non-profit works with native communities to provide livelihood through fiber processing. They know that employing women means kids eat and get educated. Frog Tree is part of Community Links, an environmental and international educational program focusing on the environment, community based education, fair trade and social justice.

Be Sweet is a certified fair trade company providing jobs in areas of high unemployment in South Africa, where 65% of the mohair in the world is raised. Again, women are earning money through fiber processing and adding substance to their communities.

Everyone loves Malabrigo for their lovely fiber. We also love them because the work with cooperatives to have the yarn dyed, providing jobs in Uruguayan communities.
Frabjous Fibers imports recycled silk and mixed fiber yarns. All of their products are fair trade, meaning that the spinners of the waste fibers from the weaving mills are paid a fair wage. We thank those who make our beloved felt balls!

Zitron, distributed by Skacel is another favorite. Not only does Zitron make great Trekking sock yarn and other delightful yarns in fabulous colors, but they are certified 100% organic. We appreciate their commitment to the environment.

This list is not limited to these companies, they are just some that come to mind now.

Tuesdays are always a little crazy for me. I start my day by running, which is nice, but it means I get a little bit of a late start. Today I didn't run. I've got what I thought might be flu, but now think is just sinus issues and it was pouring rain. I missed Pilates last night because I did think it was flu (my mother is under quarantine with noro virus) and I didn't want to infect the studio. So I should be feeling more on top of things because I have extra time, but I have more-than-usual to do, so instead I'm already feeling a bit frantic. The other thing that makes Tuesdays a little nuts is that I have to shift gears from Y2Knit to FIDM so I can go teach. Although I tend to teach the same classes from quarter to quarter, there is always stuff that needs updating, new ideas to be put into practice, and then the bane of any teacher's existence, grading homework! This quarter I'm teaching a class which was newly introduced last quarter, so although I've taught it once, we tweaked it a bit over the break and my class is twice as large as it was last quarter. I brought in a guest speaker, Josh Zerkel, last week for my Tuesday class, so now we've got to cram two classes into one! This is funny since Josh was talking to us about being organized and how to keep track of our busy lives!

So I post this to show my commitment to posting, but I've got too much to do to add photos!

Interchangeable Needles

A bit confused about interchangeable needle sets? Y2Knit carries the addi and Hiya Hiya. Here's the summary of what each offers:

The addi Turbo® Click system provides 10 different sizes of addi Turbo® tips (3.5mm, 3.75mm, 4.0mm, 4.5mm, 5.0mm, 5.5mm, 6.0mm, 8.0mm, 9.0mm, and 10.0mm), three different lengths of the new, extremely pliable blue cord (24”, 32” and 40”), and one connector piece which helps to either store stitches or combine your cords.

The Click tips require no tools to change; simply insert the cord deep into the tip, twist and release. The tips will remain secure until you change them, thanks to the Click’s revolutionary locking mechanism!

Click tips and cords can be ordered separately. The replacement/additional cords come in packs of 3 of the same size or a combo pack of the three sizes.

Taking orders now for the addi Lace Click system, which provides 8 different sizes of addi Lace tips (3.5mm, 3.75mm, 4.0mm, 4.5mm, 5.0mm, 5.5mm, 6.0mm, 8.0mm), five different lengths of the new, extremely pliable blue cord (16", 20", 24”, 32” and 40”), and one connector piece which helps to either store stitches or combine cords. Separate cords and tips are not available yet, but will be in the future.

While the 24”, 32”, and 40” cords from both addi Click sets are fully compatible with any style of tip, the new 16” and 20” cords are not compatible with the Turbo® tips. The length of the Turbo® tips combined with these smaller cords, will not allow for proper knitting.

Very popular are the Hiya Hiya Interchangeable kits. These kits come in four options:
4" small (sizes 2-8)
5" small (sizes 2-8)
4" large (sizes 9-15) (available soon)
5" large (sizes 9-15) (available soon)

Each kits comes with the designated tips and four cord lengths. A long screw ensures these won't come undone easily.

Additional tips and cords can be ordered, ala carte: tips in the sizes available in the kit and cord sizes 16, 24, 32, 40 and 60". The 60" cord is not in the kits. The cords for the small and large kits are NOT interchangeable, but work on both 4" and 5" tips for the small or large needles.

Body Progress

These pictures will make sense as you read this. I'm tired of trying to get them where I want them!

I have cast on, knitted the trim, decreased to the body, and worked my first decrease for the waist on my Sea Shell. The mistakes I made getting going on both my sleeves didn't plague me this time, so I have apparently internalized the pattern.

I have made my sleeves slightly shorter than the pattern, and will have to assess the body once I get a bit further. I am very short waisted, so I always want to avoid having too much that calls attention to that in a negative way. Because I have long legs I tend to emphasize that by keeping tops shorter and favoring sleeves that are shorter if they are above the elbow. By keeping the sleeve length more proportionate to my body I can keep myself from looking too body-length challenged.

We got up early again this morning so I got to knit for 15 minutes. It was kind of a cheat because I had already used some of that 15 minutes to tidy up my jewelry, but no one was here to know that. I got the idea to redo my jewelry shelf the other day using one of those stair-step shelves you buy for kitchen shelves. When I went to the Container Store (one of my favorite stops) they had a stainless steel one. I had measured my shelf and knew I would only need half of the pair so bought it with the thought that I could use the other half in the cabinet next to the stove where the spice overflow, salt and pepper, olive oil, etc. live. I arranged that Friday morning because I had to get it off the counter before the cleaning guy came. It is lovely and makes a rather limited space very attractive and useful.

So today to the jewelry. I have a beautiful box which Mitch bought for me at my request, but it was wasted in the closet because I never closed it so you couldn't see the lovely top. It didn't take long to take out my current arrangement and replace it with my nifty shelf. Hopefully this will forestall the panic I often feel when I can't immediately find the pin I'm looking for. I wear a pin almost every day and when I walk into my closet to get one I almost always know what I want (occasionally my first choice doesn't work, but I've been doing this a while!), but since I have no system, I often have to dig around looking for one. Sometimes I forget to take them off my clothes and I have to go look in the laundry.

But now they all sit proudly on their shelves! This suits the dimensionality of some of them, and the flatness of others. I feel badly when I forget about one of them and don't wear it for a while. That cool almost-circle one at the top was given to me by my sister Sally many, many years ago and is still a great pin; with necklines currently being fairly low it is a challenge to wear.

What do knitters want to knit?

We were asked this question recently. It's a tough one to answer, mostly because there isn't a simple answer. Not only are we all different in terms of what we want to knit, but we also have different interests at different times.

Kim, who you could count on to be knitting lace, spelled by socks, is whipping out a sweater. As the weather warms, we might put aside heavier projects and pick up lighter ones. Audrey has decided that wool is okay in the heat, if it's lace weight Malabrigo. I love the intricacies of garments, but I'm having a great time with Trapezoid, Jill's latest pattern that is quite simple. I'm just watching the fabric grow. I'll be wearing this very soon!

So many things impact our desire to knit a particular item. Yarn, stitch patterns, needle size, time. What's going on in the rest of our lives is significant. Traveling, working hard, taking a vacation and family obligations will have an impact on how much we can pay attention to our knitting. Sometimes a washcloth or scarf is all we can manage.

While WHAT we want to knit may not always be clear, that we WANT to knit is.

And There Were Two

I finished my second sleeve!

Yesterday was a crazy day. Just odd, not bad, just not really under my control which is unusual, but more unusual, I managed to not get freaked out about it. How this is in any way related to my second sleeve is that in the craziness I suddenly had almost an hour of time with nothing to do and the only thing I had with me was my knitting! I knitted for a while, then cleaned out my purse which had been driving me crazy because there was so much paper drifting around in it, then knitted a bit more.

I continued to knit while I got a pedicure, and in fact overshot by an entire pattern repeat (8 rows). So when I finally sat down last night to knit, I ripped back to Rnd 7, bound off my stitches and moved the sleeve to waste yarn! After dinner I cast on 192 sts for the body and got most of the way through the first row of the body. Reading that it sounds like I must be the slowest knitter in the world. But if you don't eat dinner until after 9 pm, there isn't really that much time to knit if you also read the newspaper and eat dessert and go to bed at 10:30.

We got up at 6 am today because Mitch had to be at the office early. I always try to do something I wouldn't normally have the time for when I have to get up early, so I put the gas grille grills in to soak and finished my first row, joined and worked my first two rounds. Body is officially underway.

Buffalo Gals

Jill and I are visiting Buffalo, WY next month. When I booked the Bunkhouse Room at the Occidental Hotel, Angela reminded me that our arrival night (Thursday) is Bluegrass Music night. I'm so excited.

We'll be visiting Buffalo sites in anticipation of our upcoming event in September.

While listening to Fresh Air podcast this morning, I learned that the recently deceased Malcolm McLaren had a song "Buffalo Gals." Published in the 70s, it has a hip hop sound. Lyrics aren't notable, unlike the more traditional "Buffalo Gals." The Boss has a good rendition of the latter version. Every Time I Die also did a song "Buffalo Gals."

For May 13-16, we'll be Buffalo Gals.

Late Night means Progress

I sat down to knit last night about 8:30. I taught a class at FIDM and then came home and puttered for a bit then buckled down and did some ironing which I had threatened to do earlier in the week. I still have 5 shirts left, but I got all my stuff caught up which was nice. I was pretty tired (always takes a lot of energy to do the first day of class), but it was Mitch's Board night so he would be late and I figured it would be good knitting time--which of course it was, if you don't count the 2" I knit that had to be ripped and redone. But I got all the green done before I got too tired to knit, so I'm about halfway done with the second sleeve. I'm going to challenge myself to get it done tonight so I can cast on the body! Then, I think I'll challenge myself to see if I can just do the knitting correctly the first time! Jeesh, you'd think I could follow a pattern!

Great Writer

Last night we took Mom to see Ian McEwan at City Arts and Lectures. I love these talks because I am so interested in how creative people make lives and careers for themselves. And it is so fun to see people whose work you admire. I have read most of what Mr. McEwan has written (not his children's books or all of his non-fiction) and much of what has been written about him (thanks to Mitch's clipping service). This was a standout though. Funny, smart, humble, educated, writerly. Even the audience didn't ask silly questions.

I carried my knitting with me all day, but never had a minute to knit. I had maybe 7 minutes before the CAL where I could have knit, but I didn't. I talked to my mom instead, which is also important. By the time we'd dropped Mom off at the Heritage, drove home and fixed dinner, it was 10:25 pm.

All that I have to show for knitting yesterday is that I got my knitting into a project pack and got the pack into my bag.

Malabrigo Clearance

Spring finds us with odds and ends of Malabrigo. I really want to freshen this, so I need to sell some first. All colors and quantities are posted on Ravelry.

Malabrigo Lace: $7 each

Malabrigo Silky Merino: $9 each

Malabrigo Worsted: $9 each

Malabrigo Chunky: $9 each

Progress

It was nip and tuck but I got my first sleeve done on schedule. I even contemplated starting the second, but was just too tired. Not only am I challenged by lack of time, but lately by lack of sleep. Too many things in my brain to handle in the awake hours, so the brain turns on mid-sleep. But I did get started today while the repairman was fixing my stove. So I'm actually on track and ready to work on it tonight after Pilates and garbage and ironing.

This has been a crazy day, but I do have photos, so that's how I'll end.

Music

Here are the photos you should have gotten yesterday. Just for fun.

Last night the show at Yoshi's with Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot was just mind-blowing at times. This often happens to me at concerts where they are playing new music. I just get completely overtaken by something I never expected. Last night was unexpected. I was expecting a show of more experimental jazz and what I got was American Songbook, but it was played in the most unexpected way. Apparently the unnamed (as yet) group has done an album of country songs featuring singers (not necessarily country), but in arrangements that are completely not country.

Let's just say that I will never think about Roger Williams and Dang Me! in the same way. When Bill and Marc got their guitars screaming it was really quite incredible. Marc also sang, in a really pleasant, non-professional voice, and the whole thing was really eye-opening. Great to see musicians enjoying themselves and each other. Whew.

Jazz reminds me of designing.

Today's post will be photoless until the battery recharges on my camera. I guess I also need to get in the habit of regularly recharging that. I am often caught with a dead battery on my cell phone because I don't use it except to let Mitch know I'm on my way home, or occasionally to ask a questions of him when I'm out, or call my mother to let her know I'm running late, so it just doesn't get used much. It is, at this point, probably four or five years old--maybe even older than that. We got the same phone whenever we bought them, and at some point I dropped mine and it lost a button which made it difficult to use some of the features, but I didn't use them, so it didn't really matter. Last year Mitch got a new phone and took my phone number chip out of my phone and put it into his phone so I could have all my buttons. I have since learned to use that button to find missed call numbers, but that and accessing my recently called numbers are all I do. Mitch frequently calls in and deletes messages for me. So, long and short, I have no habit for recharging things--and this camera seems to go through a charge fairly quickly.

I was all jazzed about a new-to-me yarn from Schaefer Yarns called Audrey. What got me going on this yarn was her Memorable Writers colors. Not that the Memorable Women colorways aren't fabulous, but I just loved the idea of pairing a knitting project with a reading project!

I'd been rolling a cardigan concept in my head for months, maybe years, but it was actually quite simple and needed the right yarn. So when I saw Audrey, I knew it was a match made for knitting. Cheryl Schaefer graciously agreed to provide yarn, and while waiting for the undyed product to arrive at her studio, sent me a bit to swatch so I could finish my pattern while I wait. This yarn bit arrived in yesterday's mail and before I left for Pilates I cast on so when I got home I could knit as soon as I had a minute. So I have about 5" to show off, but no camera!

BTW, the yardage on this yarn is awesome--700 yards to 4 ounces. Fingering weight, silk and merino single-ply. Swatching on size 4(3.5mm) needles and getting about 6.25 sts/in. The ball band suggests 8 sts/in on size 1, but this is a cardigan, and I want it to be slightly open, so 6.25 is great.

I feel a bit disloyal as I have not touched my Sea Shell knitting since Monday. I got distracted by my swatch to test out my lace trim on Tuesday (which I haven't finished either) and then by Audrey yesterday. Tonight I go see my favorite musician, Bill Frisell so I won't get much knitting done.

Another Thread

In the interests of efficiency I am trying to combine two projects. How can that be, you might ask. I am having a session with a videographer today to figure out what I need to know to create videos for online classes. Presumably I will need to show her something so she can test out possible processes, I need to write a class plan, and have some technique to demonstrate.

I'm working on a trim for a shawl. When I say that, I mean I'm trying to figure out the trim for a shawl that is currently being knit in Bijou Basin Laceweight yak. I'm looking for a way to adapt a crochet technique to knitting needles. Surprisingly, I thought about it for a while and I think I've got it! But then I needed a swatch to try it on, and it needed to be using larger-than-laceweight yarn, in a light color. Lucky for me I have many lovely yarn offerings from Yarnsisters and Zealana, so I picked up the pale lilac Cashmere/merino--I mean why not make a swatch from the best possible yarn?

That was what I knit on last night. Sadly, at some point about Row 11 of the swatch I missed a YO so I had to do some frogging to get back to that Row and so I'm not finished yet. I did take a couple of pictures to demonstrate starting from the center for a counterpane and how it looks a few rows in, and establishing a lifeline in lace.

I am determined to get into the practice (and hopefully learn to use my camera) of documenting my progress on some of my knitting projects.

We have reconstituted the Sea Shell Knitalong on Ravelry and I am back to knitting it. I am working on my sleeves, which will have red trim, then lime for the rest. I had a bit of a rocky start, but seem to be moving along

nicely now. This is a mediocre picture of my trim. I kind of got going late last week, but realized I'd done the pattern wrong,

so ripped back to the trim on Sunday while waiting for dinner to cook. I got back into knitting it after dinner, and got past where I'd ripped Sunday. Mondays I don't get a lot of knitting done because I usually work in my office until I leave to run (often literally!) to my Pilates class, then I get home about 8 p.m. and put the garbage out.

I have a little knitting time while waiting for Mitch to get home from his Pilates session, then a little more after we have dinner about 9:30. So I'm lucky to get an hour of knitting in. But last night I did get about another 1.5 inches done. Today I put in Stitch Dots, and while cropping my photos, I realized that I have actually done one more increase than I have marked, so I only have about another 1.5 inches left to knit before I put this sleeve aside.

These plant fiber yarns are really a pain when the ball starts to fall apart. I had saved a mesh vegetable bag (I have another one, probably in a drawer in the kitchen--I need to find that), and tamed the yarn that had come undone on the outside of my ball and put it in the mesh bag. Nicely behaved yarn. I think I bought 5 lbs of potatos in that bag! I buy all of my produce at the local farmers market and actually avoid buying the ones that come in these bags because they seem wasteful, but I'll have to remember this for plant fiber yarns. I've had a bit of time lately unravelling messes of plant fibers.

If you're interested in the Knitalong, check this out. http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/sea-shell-knit-a-long-is-back-on-april-1st-2010/1063402/1-25#14