Feral Knitter

A Quick Non-Knitting Update

I brought Mom home from the hospital on Friday--she's doing as well as someone with COPD, a progressive disease that cannot be cured or reversed, can. She made the decision to move to a local assisted living retirement home, so I am busy helping with all the details involved with moving a month from now.

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes! The next month will be stressful for all of us--I will return to California after teaching the workshops up here, and then I'll come back to Seattle to facilitate the move itself. I swear, it's like I never moved to California, all the time I've been spending up north....

Thank goodness for knitting! I'm looking forward to teaching the workshops (the 3-day one is full, but last I heard there was still some space in the 1-day color class on the 31st).

Normal blogging will resume soon, I promise!

You Never Know What the Day Will Bring

On Wednesday I answered the phone, a simple occurrence, right? only to learn that my mother was in the hospital in Seattle. She was diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a nasty stew of emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma) about 10 years ago after suffering from a stroke in her eye that has left her blind on one side. She's been getting frailer and shorter of breath since then--and now suddenly the COPD was been "exacerbated" and she might have pneumonia, but they aren't sure.

[Side Note/Rant: Most people don't realize that lung cancer is not the leading killer of smokers--it's heart disease and stroke that you've got to worry about. They just aren't as "scary" to laypeople, but lord almighty you don't want to be in the emergency room with someone who realizes after 50 years of smoking that her eyesight is endangered because of it. And the ultrasound technician could tell just by looking at her enlarged heart that mom was a smoker. PLEASE don't smoke! ]

Where was I? Oh, Mom isn't in acute danger but she isn't well--I anticipate that she will need daily help for some time once she's released from the hospital. I'm more than halfway there, having hurriedly packed for self and upcoming workshops, cancelling appointments, activating backups.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post next, but this very nice hotel in Salem, Oregon, has a good connection--Mill's Creek Best Western, VERY nice!--there is even a reclining chair in the room (it's pretty easy to please me). I'll be in Seattle for the next 2 weeks at least.

You know what I'm grateful about? The fact that I have a loooong stretch of plain stocking stitch to work on right now.

Thoughts of the Blogger on Writing Her 350th Post

I kinda thought that my 350th post would be more, you know, memorable! But what can I say--knitting the sleeves and body of a yoke sweater can suck the blog-writing energy right out of a person. The Zen of long, soothing lengths of stocking stitch has been lovingly sung by others--and of course it's true, and I'm enjoying the sheer regularity of it all.

However, that still leaves the hapless blogger with not much to say. That is, unless she lets her mind wander to the NEXT project! The Starry Night yoke sweater, out of wonderful Elemental Affects Shetland yarns, the next in the series of top-down yoke sweaters I'm creating for a new workshop:

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland last weekend was FABULOUS! I'm not much of a playgoer, having held the opinion that movies could show so much more, so I was happily surprised by how moving and immediate the plays were. The behind-the-scenes backstage tour helped me to understand how plays are produced and added another layer of respect for the process. I was particularly affected by the production of MacBeth--the last time I saw this play was 10 years ago when Gingko's 4th grade class put it on (Gingko was one of the servants--let it be noted that she was remarkable and carried the bottle of wine to the king in the most moving performance I have ever witnessed). Although the Olympic View 4th grade class was pretty impressive, I've got to admit that the Ashland actors were able to wring meaning from the text that the 10-year-olds sort of passed over. I was in tears.

The surprising thing about OSF is that not all of the plays are by Shakespeare--in fact, we saw 5 plays and MacBeth was the only Shakespeare being offered this early in the season (in June, when the outdoor theater opens, three other Shakespeare plays will be performed). The Music Man, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Equivocation, and Death and the King's Horseman were the other plays we saw, a real mixture that somehow fit together thematically. In particular, Equivocation--about politics and truth and parents and children--touched me deeply while it made me laugh, and I'd love to see it again.

At any rate, this fantastic mini-vacation was made even more special by a quick visit to The Web-sters yarn and fiber art shop, where Carol gently prodded me to post more frequently. They had the very color I was missing from my Shetland collection--a shop that carries yarn for Fair Isle sweaters set in a charming town set in glorious mountain country, what more could one ask!

 

Thank you, loyal readers, for encouraging my blogging efforts over the last few years. The process has been 100% rewarding for me: I've met great people, learned new techniques, been inspired, and grown as a knitter and as a writer. The discipline of writing has helped me understand my world a little better and helped me remember those fleeting moments of wonder.

Before I Get All Cultural

Quick reminder as I head out the door to the Ashland (Oregon) Shakespeare (and others) festival:

There are still some openings in my 3-day Design Your Own Fair Isle workshop--how to determine colors, motifs, and garment shapes--being held near Seattle June 5th-7th. Suzanne Pedersen of Madrona Fiberarts is organizing this, and she will pick up plane or train travellers and bring them to the site. You can stay at her lodge-like home for free--when you combine this with some record low plane fares right now (like, approximately $140 round trip from the Bay Area), this workshop is quite a bargain.

Plus, we have a LOT of fun! Please contact Suzanne at suzanne@madronafiberarts.com

And don't forget the 1-day color workshop at Village Yarn & Tea just north of Seattle on May 31st!

I'm packing up 7 boxes of samples and handouts and 250 colors of yarn to play with.

The Provisional Cast On Wimp's Way Out

I really do not like to cast on provisionally. I mean, really don't like to. The twisty-turny, eency weency spider, long-tail provisional cast on method seems to fall apart on me--it twists around the needle, is hard to count, and makes stitches that are not reliably standard when you prepare to work with them.

The crochet chain method is also a difficult one for me--if I make a chain that is the appropriate gauge for my knitting, I find it hard to locate the exact spot where the knitted stitch should be created.

Now, I agree with those of you who think I just need to practice more or try this or that method. Perhaps if I were a better person I would not have this BLOCK. I don't care--some things are worth learning to do well (pie crust, driving, Fair Isle knitting) and some things are not worth fussing with. Traditional provisional cast on, in my opinion, falls in the latter category.  

That said, there are many times that I need a provisional cast on. Here is how I go about it. Maybe this will work well for you. I've taken photos of my current project--a top-down yoke sweater--to show how I do it:

In this case, I need to provisionally cast on 27 stitches for each underarm. I've knit two little 27-stitch wide swatches (one for each armpit) using Tahki Cotton Classic. Simple: cast on, knit one row, purl one row, knit one row. Do not cast off! I like to have a little HEFT to this piece because I am usually working with large numbers of small stitches; thus, the 3-row structure. Here you see the two pieces on the needle (put on your sunglasses to protect against the glare of the flash).

When I hit the marker for the underarm, I put the sleeve stitches on a holder and begin knitting on one of the 27-stitch swatches.

 

Knit up to sleeve marker

 

Sleeve stitches on yarn holder

 

Start knitting on provisional swatch

 

Knit across provisional swatch and start knitting on the body

When I am ready to pick up for the sleeve, I pull the holding swatch yarn out (that's why I use a very silky yarn--it WANTS to slide out!) and pick up the waiting stitch, which is docile and perfectly shaped.

  

Pulling out provisional stitches--see the waiting stitches ready to be picked up?

Fair Isle Yoke Sweaters

I'm developing a new workshop on Fair Isle yoke sweaters based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system--here's one of my class samples: the Esther Yoke Sweater, named after my Great-Aunt Esther who died last week. The motifs in this sweater are all traditional Swedish patterns and, since Esther was the daughter of Swedish immigrants, I felt that the name fit.

I love the yoke sweater concept, but often the designs seem a tad girlish for a grown woman. I'm playing around with patterns, placements, and colors to change that perception.

I am having a lot of fun with this!