Knot Knecessarily Known Knitting

We've reached the final fortnight of 2023. I've leaned in hard on this holiday. When the calendar turned to December, I found myself being a bit paranoid. I kept thinking, "There is no logical reason for me to feel like something bad is about to happen. This is superstitious." Then I sat down and thought about the last few Decembers. 2022 My mother died . 2021 We skipped the holidays because we were packing the Maryland man cave . 2020 COVID Christmas. 2019 Not a bad Christmas, just the end to the awful change wave year. 2018 Father-in-law was in the hospital. He died a few days into the new year. 2017 Was that the one where we almost lost Vincent? 2016 Don't remember. 2015 Don't remember. 2014 Lost a fight with Concord covered bridge. Okay. Maybe I'm not being superstitious or paranoid. There's data. This year, I've been unabashed in my intentions. I bought a 9-foot artificial Christmas tree. I don't think we'v...

I need to get back to knitting. I got caught in that situation where you keep thinking, "I am almost done with this project. Just let me finish it." I like mesh bags. They keep crafting supplies together. They let fibers breathe. And you can see through the bag so you know what is in it. Hence, I was rather happy when I came across a nested set of three mesh zippered bags while cleaning out the house in Pennsylvania. The set included instructions to make a Threader Keep Adornment — a fob with a pocket. This project came from Napier Needlepoint in Stockton, California. The chart has a 1998 copyright date. I am not sure how this came into my mother's stash. Maybe it wasn't even one of hers? I don't recall my mother traveling to California. Picture on the kit from Napier Needlepoint, Stockton, CA. Many options! The kit included a small piece of canvas, a chart, a needle threader, and a metal clip. The stitcher supplies the embroidery thr...

Here's another post in my running series of finished items from my mother's stash. Mill Hill Buttons & Beads Autumn Series MH14-1623 "Haunted Laboratory" Image shown is 6×6 inches. This first one was completed by her. My mother was a microbiologist. She worked in a laboratory at the local hospital. For those of you who don't know, here's how stuff works. When your doctor takes a sample such as a throat culture or spinal fluid, it is sent to a laboratory. The laboratory technicians run the tests and then tell the doctors what they found. For infectious bacteria, the laboratory can run a test across a panel of wells with different antibiotics at different strengths. The results reveal where the organism is resistant (Ack! That drug won't kill it,) or sensitive (Hurray! This drug at this strength will help the patient get well.) The super-bugs that are antibiotic resistant are resistant across the entire panel — i.e. they grow ...

Here's another of my mother's unfinished projects, now complete. This one is called "A Whisper of Roses." It is a scissor case designed by Cheryl Schaeffer. The black and white pamphlet says the design was distributed by Susan Portra through her shop My Friend & Eye in Huntington Beach, California. When I attended a meeting of the Thimble and Thread Chapter of Embroiderers' Guild of America, there was someone else who had this project in almost exactly the same state of not-quite-finished. I am thinking this was a guild class? When I searched online, I could not find a picture of this design. Searching "Cheryl Schaeffer needlepoint" returns lots of lovely needlepoint designs, but not this one, not even when I added "roses" or "scissor case" to the search. There were a bunch of gnome scissor cases, but not this one with flowers. I never found a color image of the finished project. Black &...

I finished another of my mother's unfinished embroidery projects. This one is a Just Nan pamphlet titled "Gloriana." My mother had a folder with a series of these. "Gabriella," "Serena," "Celeste," and "Angelique" are already framed and hanging in the house in Pennsylvania. Pamphlets for "Evangeline," "Grace," "Joy," "Hope," and "Liberty" are in the folder, along with the pamphlets for the completed angels. There's even a packet of beads and embellishments for "Liberty" stapled to the pamphlet. The size of this image is 3 inches wide by 5½ inches high (7.5 by 14cm). I thought "Gloriana" fit the series, but when I see her next to "Serena," I can tell they aren't quite the same scale. And how can I check her against the other angels, if they are framed on the wall 750 miles from here? Because there is a second finished copy...

The autumn show season is behind me. I plan to be home until mid-January. The sentiment, "There's no place like home," feels very strong right now! There is, of course, plenty to do. I have handouts to write. I have proposals to submit. A houseful of tasks have been delayed. I find myself trying to make up the last 10½ months in only 6 weeks. Probably not possible. Likely not a good idea. I have done very little knitting this year. On the other hand, I've rediscovered my love of embroidery. My mother had a surprisingly large number of nearly-completed projects. While I gave away a bunch of things in the half-done state, there were others so close to completion I figured it was almost faster just to finish them. Here's the first one. This is a project from Cross Stitch & Country Crafts magazine May-June 1991 , pages 4-5 & 10-11. It is titled "Iris with Blackwork." The completed piece is about 8¼ inches square, mak...

Geometry is interesting. And mistakes happen. I have two patterns in the handout for my "Liberating the Labyrinth" class. Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting has beautiful sweater patterns in this technique. The downside from a pedagogical perspective is these are large, complicated sweater patterns. And sweaters need to fit! For the purposes of learning, I thought it would be better to have a couple smaller, easier projects for practice that are good regardless of size. I devised two cube patterns. Each uses 6 modules. That's enough to give the flavor of the technique without overwhelming. One cube is a zig-zag cube. The pattern is 1 selvedge stitch, decrease (D), increase (I), decrease, increase, decrease, increase, 1 selvedge stitch. The cube is worked back and forth and then seamed. You could also work it in the round. I am pretty sure working DIDIDI or IDIDID doesn't matter. You'll still get a cube. The pattern is commutative...

At the moment, I am very happily home in Georgia! As we head into the fourth quarter of 2023, there are 92 days remaining. Of the 273 days so far, I have spent 145 days sleeping somewhere not my house versus 128 days sleeping in my own bed. Ack! The away team is winning. Most of that away time has been resetting the house in Pennsylvania. As of 14 September 2023, the house is no longer my late mother's house. As it is a house with no mortgage, my sister and I will use it to benefit family in whatever way seems sensible. For October, that means it will be my launching point for New York State Sheep and Wool Festival , a.k.a. Rhinebeck. To maintain my sanity, I've inserted bits of joy throughout the ongoing challenge of reclaiming the house from the chaos. For September, that included teaching at Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival , which is only a couple hours' drive. I had never been before. Several of the vendors from Carolina Fiber Fest , Bl...

I finally finished a knit project this year. Actually, two projects. As I previewed in progress last month, I've now finished my drink carriers. These are the very first items I've knit in 2023, other than the sample socks for Blue Ridge Fiber Fest. Something I've learned: a drink caddy is essentially a sock with a flat circular toe, no heel turn, and a strap at the top. Implication — if you see a sock pattern you like but you only want one, you can turn it into a drink holder instead. Both pattern are worked in versa lace. You could, of course, work them in regular lace. The advantage of versa lace in this case is the stretch. Linen yarn is not elastic. That's great in the strap. Having a little give in the holder is nice, as it makes the cozy "grip" the mug or water bottle. And the versa lace provides more room for error or, alternatively, allows the cozy to fit a wider range of bottles and travel mugs. The spiral...

There's nothing quite like a Ravelry Projects Page to remind you how little you have accomplished. I've accomplished a lot this year, but very little of it involved knitting, crochet, spinning, or weaving. The only two finished objects I have for 2023 are a couple pairs of socks I made for Blue Ridge Fiber Fest. Sometimes desire pushes something to the top of the queue. Sometimes necessity. In this case, it has been the latter. I have two Joe Mo XL travel mugs I use daily. I joke my car will not go without the drink. The mugs came with fabric carrying sleeves. I've had these mugs for 15, maybe 20 years? The travel sleeves have torn. Time for the trash bin. Replacements are not available on the Highwave website. But I still need to carry my mugs! The bottle holders are a quick versa lace project. The spiral one worked up very quickly. The other one is taking longer because it has reversible double-decreases in it. Dang, those are slow! I...

Today is six month's since my mother died. Grief is a complicated emotion. You don't want to move through it too quickly or too slowly. I burned off a lot of my anguish and anger in January through March. In the end, everything was worse than I thought. There were many, many monkeys to wrangle from multiple circuses, not of them mine. There will doubtless be future moments of grief that crop up and smack me. But at this point, I've made it through my birthday, Easter, and Mothers' Day. I've watched barren winter transform into verdant summer. Gratitude abounds. Sometimes the ending of a path is necessary for another path to open.  I am grateful for: Helping my sister. Being present in Pennsylvania. Being there for her. Helping my brother in the nursing home. I got him set up with streaming television. He likes Star Wars . Now he can enjoy Disney+. Now he can watch airplane videos on YouTube. Encour...

I've been in a bit of a knitting funk for awhile now. On the flip side, I've been doing a lot of other creative things. I have lost track of the number of items I've repaired from my mother's house. The first was a saucer-sized decorative plate with a very clean break. It just needed to be glued together with a drop crazy glue. There was already glue in a drawer in the kitchen. It took less than 10 minutes. I lost track of how many times I went back to that opened tube of crazy glue to repair other things. There were multiple items that needed wood glue, including a chair. Did my mother not know what wood glue was? Had everything become overwhelming; but she didn't want to ask for help? Or was it like my household, where you walk by something and think, "I'll get to that another day?" My most recent trip was the bring stuff home trip. I had moved several of the lighter or smaller items between locations. However, this was the d...

You, dear knitter, already know that gauge matters. Sometimes it is nice to see proof in the world. The Quotidian Quest socks I designed for Blue Ridge Fiber Fest were originally designed using some scrap sock yarn. I think this was the yarn from Merike Saarnitt's dye class at STITCHES South 2013 . It was basic sock yarn. That worked . . . until I got the yarn from Blue Ridge Fiber Fest. That yarn turned out to be much thinner. It's good yarn from Mountain top Fibers, but not what I anticipated. There are a couple ways to deal with this. Since getting a sample worked up and photographed was a high priority, I did the easy thing and worked the yarn doubled. This gave me something close to the gauge I expected. The pattern was designed for 24 stitches in 10cm/4 inches. The sample sock is 28 stitches in 10cm/4 inches. It fits a slightly smaller foot than mine. But, overall, it works. I realized from swatching this fine yarn would make a lovel...

Well, 2023 is definitely turning out to be not a year I envisioned ahead of time. It isn't all bad. It just isn't what I would have chosen from a menu. In January, I slept not at home 15 days. In February, 18 days. In March, 16 days. In April, 10 days so far, and another 6 coming up. The first 120 days of the year (which takes us up through the last day of April), I will have slept somewhere else 65 days and at home 55 days. I am spending about as much time at my mother's house in Pennsylvania as I am at home in Georgia with my Cuddly Hubby. Thank goodness Cuddly Hubby is home to take care of the house, the plants and the Siamese feline pharaohs. As I write this from home, I'm at the end of a quick fortnight in Georgia in between two three-week trips to Pennsylvania. I have not put a single stitch in the big orange blanket in over a month. It will likely be at least another month before I do. I hope I remember what I was doing! On th...

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. To be accurate, the vernal equinox is at 17:24 EDT tomorrow. Winter is supposed to be a time of rest, reflection, and renewal. It is the time to recharge ourselves so we are ready for the opportunities spring brings. Of course, this is not how my winter has gone. I think I need to stop saying out loud what I want, because I seem to be tripping a jinx. I wanted to spend more time with my Cuddly Hubby. I wanted to stay home for the end-of-year holidays. I wanted to catch up on Disney+ and Netflix. I wanted to travel less in the early part of 2023. I wanted to catch up around my home, play more games, and get work done on stalled projects. What happened in my life instead has been a big, "No!" Tomorrow I head back to Pennsylvania for three weeks of resetting my mother's home. This process is increasingly bittersweet. It is good to connect more with family and friends. There are things I find that kindle ...

I used the December downtime to look around our neglected house. We are still reorganizing from Cuddly Hubby moving home January 2022. The 10 long boxes of comic books are in one corner of my studio. The weaving equipment previously in that corner is stored securely in a closet under the basement staircase. Some clutter remains. How could I organize my work space? Among the clutter was the pile of orange yarn . This was acquired in an Atlanta Knitting Guild auction on 11 July 2019, back in the Before Times. It is 48 skeins of super bulky 50% alpaca 50% wool from Blue Sky Fibers. I bid $40, thinking no one would let me get this for less than $1 a skein, right? Wrong. It is over 10 pounds of yarn — almost 5 kilos. The price was almost criminal. Orange is not a typical color for me. Of the almost 500 entries in my Ravelry stash, only a dozen are "orange." And at least a few of those are gifts or door prizes or a pale peach color rather than a true orange. ...