Falling in love with cables

Remember back last winter when I knit those green thumb gloves and complained about the cables? I found the whole process so fiddly and annoying - juggling the cable needle along with everything else, keeping track of whether it went in back or in front, how much punishment I felt like the yarn itself was taking…

Now… I LOVE IT.

Forgive my elderly grandmother posture

I'm lapping myself here… this is actually the second of two cabled sweater projects I knit this summer, but I don't have pictures of the other one yet. That other sweater was knit with fingering yarn on size 4s, and by the time I was done with it I had decided I was going to take a break from knitting for a bit to focus on other pursuits (writing a book, say). Then I got my first whiff of autumn. NOPE.

The pattern is the Marylebone Sweater from Bristol Ivy. I forget, I'm sorry to say, where I first came across it, though I regularly troll Brooklyn Tweed patterns on Ravelry. I've had several chunky cardigans lined up for a while, but after finishing my other sweater I was raring for cables, and this pattern delivered!

CABLES

I wish I could have used Brooklyn Tweed yarn (I'm dying to use it for something!) but my local yarn store doesn't carry the Loft line. And, frankly, I shouldn't be spending that kind of money anyway! I went to what's becoming my standard (Knitwit is their flagship store, after all!) - Quince & Co. It's nice wool, fairly affordable and available in many colors. This is the Osprey (aran weight) in Sage. I tried to branch out - I came really, really close to going with a bold chartreuse - but in the end I folded and stayed in my dedicated colorway. I don't think I CAN own enough garments in dusty blue.

Of course, my hair is covering the cool construction

I LOVED this pattern. I've gotten confident enough in my knitting that when trying something new, I feel like with a little poking I'll be able to sort it out. This sweater was no different. It's a totally new-to-me construction (uh, I say this, but this is the first cardigan I've ever made). It's all knit in one - the shoulders are turned like sock heels and then the sleeves are knit flat from the shoulder, so the only seaming on the whole sweater is to sew up the sleeves! This lets the cable pattern flow up the back, across the shoulders and down the arms without breaking. Sometimes I worry about the mental state of the people who write these patterns. Just - HOW. I had a couple of WTF moments around the shoulder area, but a bit of frogging and contemplation sorted everything out.  It fits a bit differently than I expected, in that it fits PERFECTLY when I expected it to be slouchy. I can't complain about perfection, though!

This sweater has quickly become the most-worn handknit I've ever made. These pictures are from last weekend, when my husband and I made an impromptu trip to my alma mater in Vermont, my first time back since I graduated nine years ago. This is pretty much the most perfect time of year to go to southern Vermont! The tree covered Green Mountains on our drive up Rt. 9 looked like giant orange-gold cauliflower.

My pockets are a bit slapdash. But the buttons are spruce!

I'm a knitter-while-watching-tv, and have a longstanding belief that what I knit is imbued with the power of what I've watched. For example, I binged the entirety of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine while making my sister an afghan that turned out AMAZING. This sweater was knit to a combo of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Stranger Things, and… presidential debates. The jury's out on its spiritual provenance! I'm pretty sure, though, that I'll be knitting a few more of these. Maybe in daring chartreuse?
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Leslie Crusher Sweater: A Wesley Redux

Oops, what a break I took there! I truly didn't mean to be so long, but life intervened… for one thing, I got a job! Yes, like the responsible 31-year-old I am, I now work part-time in a Whole Foods bakery. It's actually one of the most stress-free, fun jobs I've had, and I get to be around delicious treats all the time! Tomorrow, for example, I'm going to spend 4 hours learning how to frost cupcakes!

The downside of my job is that I have to wear a white chef's coat, sneakers, and (UGH) a baseball cap at all times. Any clothing/accessory creativity goes out the window! So on my days off, I've taken to dressing a little more colorfully than normal.

The good news about my long break is that I have a serious backlog of finished objects to report! It's been a very knitty summer - knitting, after all, being the best way to procrastinate from doing important things (like, oh, writing a book). And finally, as it's mid-October, we've had what seems to be our cold snap. The past few days have definitely been jacket weather and while the summer was glorious, I am SO READY. Bring on the snow!!!

But first:


Back in the early days of the year, Will and I splurged spectacularly on three-day passes to the 50th anniversary Star Trek convention in New York. We're both huge fans (my engagement ring is a sterling silver Enterprise!) and I'd never been to a convention. We assembled costumes - for my birthday Will gave me a reproduction of Saavik's away team coat from The Wrath of Khan, a garment I have always coveted! I figured with some heavy makeup I could do a passable Kirstie Alley (though, unpopular opinion time, I much prefer Robin Curtis. I WILL FIGHT YOU).

Then, about two weeks before the convention, I came across this vintage knitting pattern:



The stripes spoke to me. They whispered gently, madly into my ear: "This would make a great Wesley sweater…"

I've made a Wesley sweater before. Years ago, for our second Christmas together, I improvised Will a sweater from a simple raglan pattern combined with a shoulder-pattern chart that some other blessed nerd had uploaded to the internets. The sweater is awesome, but of course, Will never wears it. I had forgotten, in my maker lust, that he's one of those nerds to whom screen-accuracy is golden. Luckily, I am not of a bitter temperament, and I've gotten plenty of use out of the sweater myself! (In fact, I got engaged in it!)

In 2014, on my way (unknowingly) to get engaged!

The fact remains, though, that it's a men's sweater, and I've always meant to make myself one to my own measurements. I'd never planned to do a retro twist on the concept, but once the idea was lodged in my brain, I couldn't let it go.

The update: 2016

As I said, I had this idea about two weeks before we left, and I feverishly cast on. I ended up staying up late to knit after work and waking up early to do more of the same. I took my needles to work and knitted during my lunch break! I ended up bringing the WIP to the convention with me and knitted as we walked around! Yes, if you were at the convention on that Saturday, you may have seen a fully-costumed Saavik draped in yarn. Jonathan Frakes did - we had a lovely conversation about it. His wife is a knitter! He clearly thought I was insane. In that moment, frankly, I was.

Knitting cleverly concealed in tote bag! But you can't hide the glint of insanity.

Anyway, that's all to say that as Will got dressed on Sunday morning for the last day of the convention, I wove in all my ends and put on the finished product! Due to the vintage and femme nature of the sweater, I went for a 30s look, and dubbed this the "Leslie Crusher sweater." For those not obsessed with Star Trek lore, Gene Roddenberry originally imagined the precocious teen on the Enterprise as a girl named Leslie. He later changed the character to our beloved Wesley, patterned on himself as a teen.




I got tons of compliments on the sweater, all from women about my age. It was great fun to make and then wear something that so perfectly melded all my interests, in the one place where people would actually get it!



The pattern is the vintage Bertha Sweater, uploaded for free by the wonderful Subversive Femme. I used Quince & Co. because I was trying to stay budget-conscious, but it worked wonderfully! I did have to stitch the Bertha yoke down to the bodice, and it still rolls up a bit, but it was such a rush job that I think it would be easy to perfect it.

The next time I wear this, I'll make one update: I want to alter my Starfleet comm badge into a vintage-style brooch, with plenty of rhinestones!
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Trash Doilies

Now for something a bit unconventional:



One of my prevailing interests is incorporating non-art objects or subjects into art. In this case, we're talking craft and trash! I am an inveterate doily-maker; 99 Little Doilies is my bible, but at this point I'm just riffing.

I wouldn't call myself a hoarder by any stretch, but it's hard to deny when I reveal that I've had several boxes of these teabag packets knocking around for years, the tea long since drunk. This shade of blue is my absolute favorite color, and I've kept these around mainly as color swatches, though I thought they might get a second life sometime.

The idea here, I think, is that eventually I'll have enough of these doilies crocheted up that I can connect them into one big wall hanging. It's a meditation on color and material. Sorry, that's my art school education shining through - one must find the meaning! I do believe that, actually, but I think it's important to recognize the ridiculous in art theory!

Pictured: my 1.4 mm needle and my sad fingernails.

If this comes together, I have a second one in mind - I've been collecting my husband's Big Red bottle caps for a few years now...

Green Thumb Mittens

I'm a plant killer. I should get that right out of the way, because these mittens are a lie! I can't even keep a spider plant alive. Anyway… mittens!



Now that I live in the cold north, I'm having so much fun knitting things that I'll actually get a chance to use! The other day I got very covetous of the mittens I saw on Wool & Wheel's blog. Since I'm trying not to spend money right now, I scoured Ravelry for a similar, but free, pattern. I came up with Eugenia's Mittens. (Though I'm saving Grove in my pattern folder for when I have the funds!)



The pattern's a little wackily written, but I found it easy enough to follow as a novice mittener (and a fairly new cabler). I still don't like cables, but they're not the worst thing in the world. And once again, I was amazed at how quickly a project knits up when you're using size 7 needles! The world of socks has really warped my mind. I shortened the cuffs a bit because I was afraid of running out of yarn - and as a matter of fact, that's exactly what happened!

I'm still working through stash yarn, but luckily I had this beautiful dried-lavender Brooklyn Tweed. It's the first time I've knitted with this brand - I've been lusting after it for MONTHS, and so I bought a skein of Shelter (colorway Blanket Fort - what a great name!) before the holidays without a project in mind just to see how it knit up. Oh, I love it! It's got a bit of scratch to it - I wouldn't use it for a cowl - but it's incredibly light and squishy, and of course the color variation is to die for. There was quite a bit of vegetable matter, but I kind of like that! It felt like what I would like to spin, if I ever get good enough. 



Of course, my skein didn't go quite far enough, so I had to improvise on the thumbs. Since I didn't have anything remotely matchy color-wise, I decided to have fun with it. I had a bit of green Quince & Co. Owl left over from a hat I made my sister, and texture-wise, it's almost identical! (a little softer.) I can't decide if the end result is ugly or awesome, but I'm pleased with it!

I have a few more fibery things in the works - I took a drop spindle class last week, which was amazing (I'll write about it soon) and it finally got me in the mood to sort out my Country Craftsman wheel, which I've never been able to get working! As of a few days ago, it's spinning like a slightly rickety charm - so more on that soon as well! In the meantime, I'm off to pick up the newest member of my family - A CAT.

SLIPPER SOCKS! MEDIUM!

I hope you've all seen that classic scene from one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time? If you haven't, go seek it out. 

Our house is uncarpeted and 100+ years old, and all the warmth seems to seep out of my feet every morning when I come downstairs. I was in desperate need of some slipper socks!



I'm taking a small break from buying yarn, so I dug through my stash and found this nice bulky-ish 100% wool by the Sheep Shop Yarn Company. I have NO idea where I got it, but I have two skeins - one in blues, and the other in these nice gardeny pinks. It's wonderfully soft singles, made in Uruguay. Certainly not appropriate for socks - it's far too soft and fuzzy - but these will never see the outdoors or the inside of a shoe.



I scanned through slipper sock patterns on Ravelry and liked the looks of this one. I made a few alterations - I sized up to a size 8 needle to make gauge, I lengthened the cuff to 2", and I did an anatomical toe because my feet are quite wedge-shaped! I read a few comments complaining about the overly pointy toe, so I stopped when I had 12 stitches left and kitchenered. I'm quite happy with the result! They aren't sock-like, really - they wouldn't stand up to much of a beating - but they kept my feet warm as I surfed the internet this morning, and as I wrote this post. And they were incredibly quick knits - I cast on yesterday morning and wove in the ends as I watched tv that evening!

I might go back to a size 7 needle if I make a second pair - they could be a little tighter without issue - and I also might make the cuff a bit taller, just to keep my ankles warm.



We left D.C. just in time to miss all the fun, it seems. We didn't get any snow this weekend, but we still have quite a bit on the ground from our last storm. For now, that will have to do - but I can't wait to get really clobbered!

Pillow Madness

My mom gave me a sewing machine for my birthday last year, but I didn't have any room to set it up in our jam-packed apartment. It sat sadly in its box for almost a year while I dreamt of a simple hand-sewn wardrobe and no trips to H&M and Old Navy ever, ever again. 

Finally, in my studio in our new home, my dream could become a reality! I put myself to work with something simple, since it had been about 20 years since I'd touched a sewing machine - sewing curtains for the many, many un-shuttered windows in our house.  Next thing I knew, I had been bitten by the sewing bug, HARD.

Besides curtains, I've made several basic garments at this point (Lotta Jansdotter's book has been a godsend!). But this week I finally got round to a problem in my living room: a distinct lack of squish.



When we moved, I scoured all the local antique and thrift stores, and found a collection of living room furniture that fills me with delight every morning when I come downstairs. A pink wing-back chair, a dark blue fainting couch (I have ALWAYS wanted a fainting couch!) and a fabulous chartreuse squared-off sofa. They all have dark wood accents which pull them together, and they are all somewhat understuffed (or, in the case of the squared sofa, completely uncontoured to the human form). They scream for pillows. As of this week, I had finally collected enough pillow forms and somewhat complimentary fabrics to make my dream a reality.

I used this envelope pillowcase tutorial, which was incredibly simple and helpful. It took me only a few hours over two days to churn out what feels like a very excessive amount of pillows!

I didn't make the Zac pillow - it was a gift from an understanding friend!

I had so much fun making pillows that I'm considering starting my own pillow empire. As good a way as any to make my millions, right?

SQUISHINESS FOR ALL.

Holiday

I've been incredibly industrious and crafty lately, but unfortunately all the yarn fruits of my labor must remain hidden for the time being, as they're gifts for people I love. Even though no one knows this blog actually exists, it still seems like tempting fate to toss up pictures!

I will say that everyone should go to Ravelry and drop $5 on this Feminist Killjoy hat. It's amazing. I can't wait to see it on the recipient's head, and I'm already planning to make another for myself. (I would recommend adding some repeats at the brim and the crown - the prototype I made was pretty shallow.)

I made cassoulet last night. It's one of my all-time favorite dishes (probably because it's replete with duck, for which I have an all-consuming passion) but I had long considered it way too complex for home-cooking. This recipe, which I found through David Lebovitz, convinced me otherwise. I couldn't even track down duck fat (and this in a city with a RESTAURANT called Duckfat!) and it was still the MOST delicious thing that has ever come out of my kitchen. I'm heating leftovers for breakfast as we speak. I have a lot of leftovers because my husband refuses to eat beans. MORE FOR ME.

TRANSITION

Have you all seen Holiday? The third-best-well-known Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant team-up is less aggressively brilliant than their most famous outing, The Philadelphia Story, and less bonkers than the almost exhausting Bringing up Baby.  It's absolutely wonderful.

First of all, this poster is quite misleading! Million dollars aside… one of the most fun things about this movie is that, against type, Cary Grant is playing something close to what he actually was - a working-class guy. (A working class guy who can do back-handsprings, which former acrobat Grant actually did!) He's worked his way up with a flair for business, and is on the verge of making that promised million, but Johnny Case is not the cultured man-about-town that we're so used to seeing Grant excel at. When we meet him, he's arriving at his fiancé's house for the first time. He assumes that she's a maid in the giant mansion, and is both delighted and weirded out when he realizes that she's a daughter of a household with a full staff and an elevator. 

It's a very small story, really - a couple gets engaged and then finds out if they actually like each other. But there are so many layers, mainly expressed through the diverse characters. Besides Grant, you've got Edward Everett Horton as his best friend, a middle-class professor (it's quite fun to see Horton in a non-bumbling role!). Lew Ayres is completely heartbreaking as the baby brother of the millionaire family, who stumbles about in a drunken stupor to avoid his reality as a disappointment to his authoritarian father. And then, of course, there's Katharine Hepburn as the black sheep of the family. 

It's funny to look back on, given that Hepburn is the Meryl Streep of Hollywood's golden age, but in 1938 she was still famously considered "box office poison." The label would not be rescinded until 1940's The Philadelphia Story, where she sent up her icy, snobbish persona to great effect. Hepburn had, of course, an undeniable personality that stamped itself on every role she played. Her authoritative bearing, her exaggerated transatlantic accent, her high cheekbones - she was arrogant! Many people found it hard to swallow. In retrospect, she is a force of nature. 

She struggled to escape the inescapable. In 1937's Stage Door, she played a rich girl who wants to act and assumes it's easy. It's an unlikeable role, not helped by the fact that in the end she achieves her goal through the death of the movie's sweetest character! In 1938, the same year as Holiday, she played against type in Bringing Up Baby, which is now seen as a perfect example of screwball comedy. It was a huge critical and commercial failure at the time. Personally, it's not one of my favorites - Hepburn is brilliant, but I find her chattering character exhausting! 

So she had tried two extremes - playing her persona to the hilt, and tossing it aside completely. In Holiday she did something subtler. Her character is to the manor born, but dissatisfied with her privilege. She's a prisoner in a golden cage. It could come off as "poor little rich girl" but instead it works - maybe because Hepburn felt herself to be in a similar trap.

In 1938, America was still feeling the effects of the Great Depression, which wouldn't entirely fade until war production ramped up a few years later. It was perhaps a daring choice to make a movie about unhappy rich people. Not that there weren't movies about the rich - the depression years were filled with escapist fantasies (several of the Fred and Ginger movies come to mind). Stranger, though, was a movie that posited that a poor man was in fact happier and better than a rich one, and that money would not buy happiness. Audiences without enough to eat, who would presumably identify with Cary Grant and his friends, were asked also to feel sympathy for Lew Ayres and Katharine Hepburn, who had an elevator in their home but no love, no joy. It's a nice grey scale of characterization that gives depth to what could be a lightweight comedy (though we still get the cartoonishly avaricious rich in the persons of Grant's fiancé and her father).

To a modern viewer, it works. But although the film was critically lauded, it didn't make money - contemporaries still didn't like Hepburn. Her next professional move was to leave RKO and Hollywood to star in Broadway in the play The Philadelphia Story, written especially for her. She didn't make another movie until she starred in the movie adaptation of that play, two years later. The rest is history.

A few notes: 

Lew Ayres, most well-known from All Quiet on the Western Front, is completely heartbreaking in this film as the depressed, drunken brother who doesn't have the willpower to escape his misery. When World War II broke out a few years after Holiday, Ayres registered as a conscientious objector - his work on All Quiet had exposed him to the horrors of war. He served as a medic in the Pacific theater, but public opinion was vicious. His career was irreparably damaged. 

Fun fact to offset this horrible story: He was briefly married to Ginger Rogers!

Holiday was directed by George Cukor, a giant of classic Hollywood, who was one of Katharine Hepburn's champions. By 1938, Cukor had already directed her in Little Women and Sylvia Scarlett (the latter with Cary Grant). He would go on to helm many of her collaborations with Spencer Tracy, as well as that little tour de force, The Philadelphia Story. Cukor was famous for being great with actors, particularly women. He should get a lot of credit for continuing to champion Hepburn when most of Hollywood had turned away. He deserves his own article!

I feel like I've mentioned The Philadelphia Story more than Holiday in this essay! It's hard to get away from it when writing about Katharine Hepburn, and especially her collaborations with Cary Grant. Its importance in film history aside, it's a perfect movie that I'll write about one day when I'm feeling brave. 

A last note: Cary Grant's Johnny Case seals a business deal over the course of the movie that nets him a tidy sum. He decides to retire on the profits, because he'd rather enjoy life as a young man and go back to work when he's old. He is 30. I will just say that his decision reads very differently to me, also 30, than it did when I first saw this movie a decade ago. Also, this sort of undercuts the movie's thesis that money can't buy happiness. Guess what - it does!! It's WORKING that stinks, duh.

Despite this movie being called Holiday (and my writing about it in December) it's not a Christmas movie (although it does take place over the New Year). The holiday of the title refers to Johnny's dream of a life on holiday. Nevertheless, it's wonderful holiday viewing! It's heartwarming, funny, and you get to see Cary Grant do acrobatics (and, at one point, a routine where Hepburn somersaults off his shoulders from standing height. It's very impressive!). What more do you need?

Have I Been Busy!

Oh, boy! Changes, they are a'coming. There are a lot of exciting things on the horizon for my little yarn studio this month - a big location change and a huge increase in space, which will hopefully give me some more time to focus and figure out just what it is that's been tickling me so much about fiber for the past few years. 

In the meantime, my yarn stash is packed up and even my spinning wheels have gone into hibernation! I couldn't put it all away, though, so I figured keeping a set of dpns and a skein of sock yarn out couldn't hurt me… right? 

HA.

It's amazing how there's a yarn store in every town. A yarn store with the perfect skein of sock yarn that's been waiting for you, obviously, like a rescue puppy that just needs you to take it home. Ok, I made myself sad there. I don't know why every X-Files marathon on Chiller needs to have multiple animal-abuse ads thrown in there. What demographic are they aiming at? It's breaking my heart!

I got sidetracked. Sorry.

When last we spoke, I had just started yet another sock, with yarn I found at a yarn shop in Frederick, MD. It was with the best intentions - the yarn was the perfect color for my ailing aunt, and I thought it would match up well with a pattern I'd been eyeing for a while.

The yarn is French Market Fibers Warehouse Sock yarn, in colorway "Muses"

The yarn was nice to work with - very soft and drapey, and I like the way the colors marbled rather than striping. The socks flew together, thanks to the easy pattern (with lots of lovely stockinette, something I haven't done much thanks to my propensity for choosing absurdly complex patterns) and many, many plane trips. 

Socks are perfect for airplanes. They're small, repetitive, easy to pick up and put down at a moment's notice, and identifiable (if you have people constantly peering at you). This past month I flew to Portland, ME, Los Angeles, and back to DC. And every single flight had a connection. Hell. But very productive for my sock empire.

As I was making these socks for my aunt, I tried to size them a little smaller than usual. I may have gone too small - we'll find out tomorrow when I give them to her. I'd never done an anatomical toe before, but I really like the look and feel of it. I did have one toe start to unravel oddly - as in, not from the end - when I tried them on. Maybe I fouled up the kitchener? I did some lumpy grafting and it seems to have sorted itself.

I did find myself with a few… not complaints, but quibbles as I finished the socks and tried them on. It seems I've reached a comfort level with sock-knitting where I now have opinions about what I like and don't like. I thought the cuff on these was a bit short. I also didn't like the straight stockinette heel flap - every other sock I've made does the thing where you slip every other stitch on the knit rows, and I like the thicker, elastic heel that gives you. But the pattern was fantastic - easy to knit, and I love the look of the finished product. 

So what to do? I decided I had to repeat the pattern immediately, subbing in my preferences! My first shot at altering a sock pattern. And wouldn't you know, I had just found the PERFECT skein of yarn at an awesome shop in Portland. So away we went.

Yarn is Frolicking Feet (a Maine company!) handpainted in colorway "Seafoam"

First of all, I LOVE this yarn. The pictures don't do its color justice at all - I'll have to try to get some in better light. It's a lovely slate blue, with shots of greenish ocean color - particularly suited to this pattern's wavy structure. It's a little thicker than most of the other yarn I've used, and feels stronger.

I really feel like everything came together with these socks - it's the first time I've put on a finished sock and thought, "Yeah, I could wear this all day!" 

I did an extra half repeat on the cuff to lengthen it, and knit my preferred heel. The sock feels snugger and more structured (which is also probably because of the yarn, which is much stiffer than the purple). I think I've gotten the hang of picking up the heel flap stitches, after many, many messy attempts. No gaping holes!

In conclusion: I've gone sock-mad. But I think I've found a keeper pattern, and a great new yarn - an appropriate one, too, because in less than a month I, too, will be a Maine local!

On Incorrigibility

I'm great at beginnings. I have at least a dozen screenplays started on my computer, half-finished knitting projects tucked into dedicated bins, and sketched-out paintings stacked behind my filing cabinet and under my bed. This tendency, to start something full of promise and fail to follow through, reveals itself in more harmful ways too: at 30 I've never settled into a career, skipping instead from city to city, from job to unfulfilling job. I want to be a painter, a cheesemaker, a small-business owner - and I can't follow through on any of it.

Sometimes, this gets me down - I feel like I've failed at being an adult human, or that this flightiness is the outward manifestation of some deep, fundamental flaw. On the other hand, I like being a dreamer - I almost always feel like there's something big and special out there waiting for me, and I just haven't found it yet. But maybe just around that corner --

I've started yet another pair of socks. The yarn just leapt out at me, a purple glow in a wonderful shop in historic Frederick, MD. I was in town for my aunt's wedding, but the yarn reminded me of my other aunt, who has had a tough year health-wise and is preparing for major surgery. Her favorite color is purple.
I tried to make vanilla socks -- I tried. I started a perfectly nice ribbed pattern and realized, not even through the first cuff, that I was going to be bored. So I frogged it and went back to a pattern I've been poking at for a few months, a little scared. It requires reading a chart and the toe is anatomical, which I've never seen before. And I was just getting the hang of the kitchener stitch!

The pattern is called Kalajoki. It's a plain stockinette sock with a meandering, wavy ribbed river that rolls all the way from the cuff to the toe. The chart isn't complex - as usual, the hardest thing is keeping track of which line I'm on! The flowing line appealed to me for my aunt - undulating and unbroken, maybe it will convey some relaxing quality to her as she convalesces.

When I reach the end of this sock, I'll start on its mate - or maybe I'll see something shiny, find another skein of yarn, decide I'm done knitting and take up throwing pots. Until then - the wave continues.

Socks: Two Down, Two to Go!

My brilliant plan to trade off socks has reached its midpoint. The left foot is wearing My Cup of Tea. Unfortunately I've lost the label of the yarn, which I bought to take on our honeymoon - amazingly, I didn't actually get any knitting done! I used size 2 needles, so the sock came out larger than anticipated (the pattern only comes in one size.) Luckily, I happen to have a sister with much larger feet than me! I really like this pattern - it reminds me of Johnson's Wave, which I've knit before, but with a written-out pattern as opposed to a chart. I find it harder to keep my place on a chart, though I'm trying to get better! Also, the wave pattern is combined to the front of the sock, which makes it a faster knit. 

The right foot is wearing Jaywalker. I really enjoyed knitting this pattern, more than any other sock I've done, but the final product isn't actually my favorite! As pointed out in the notes at the beginning of the pattern, this sock has almost no stretch - a side effect of the stitch pattern. Every time I pull it on, I feel like I'm yanking it to death! Once on, however, it's very snug and comfy. My only other complaint is that because of the zigzag pattern, the top cuff of the sock is sort of bubbly and wavy and doesn't sit snug with my leg. There must be a way to remedy that! This is the first sock I've knit on #1 needles, and it fits much better than the socks I've made before! 

I think I'm slowly figuring out some general sock know-how. These socks had very different toes - one had me grafting the toe stitches with 14 stitches on the needle, the other just 7. I still have to use KnitWitch's kitchener stitch tutorial every time - eventually I'll have it memorized! I'm not sure which toe I prefer, but once I figure it out it's fun to know that I'll be able to customize my socks to my preference! I also found both of these socks a little long to me - I mean, they go up my legs a bit too far. If I can figure out how to lose a few inches of pattern, I wouldn't mind saving the yarn and having more low-rise socks. This will be easier on more vanilla patterns. I've actually never tried a straightforward vanilla sock - maybe that should be my next project!

But first, off to cast on socks #2...

WIP: Jaywalker Socks

As I've gotten back into knitting, I've found myself getting more and more interested in the kind of projects that once had only a utilitarian purpose. The making of basic objects that are now mass-produced fascinates me - wheels of cheese, loaves of bread, and pairs of socks, of course. I like getting back to the more personal focus of spending time and care creating the things that go onto and into our bodies.
Socks, as a project, are just so satisfying! I've gotten seriously obsessed. They're portable, quick, and useful once made (though I find it hard to wear them, honestly. I'm still too precious about them - I can't accept that they're meant to be used!) I've made a few pairs at this point, and I learn so much each time.

Right now, I'm in the middle of my fourth pair (well, I'm still in the middle of my third pair too!) I'm following the Jaywalker pattern, and it's by far my favorite pattern so far! It's easy (no complicated chart to reference) and, if you've chosen the right yarn, it's so fun to watch the zigzags form! The woman at my local yarn store recommended Frolicking Feet as being a very satisfying self-striper (which I've never used before) and she was right! I'm using the colorway "Sailor's Delight" and it's AWESOME.

As I said, this pattern is so easy - the zigs are made by a simple repeat of making extra stitches and then passing stitches over. I guess it could seem monotonous, but I've found that watching the stripes form balances that out. Besides, this is an ideal knit-while-watching-a-movie project - my favorite!

I'm almost done with the first sock. Of course, a fact of sock knitting (and a possible drawback) is that after you finish one, you have to start all over again with the other. Luckily, as I said, I have another sock project going at the same time! Maybe I'll trade off socks indefinitely, and never get bored...

Welcome to Reel and Skein!

SKEIN

I remember the first time I picked up needles and yarn and made something. I have no idea how old I was - young enough that learning new skills was my constant state of being. I asked my mom to teach me. She kindly overlooked that I had always refused to wear her knitted creations - the sweater that was too itchy, the adorable striped hat whose Winnie the Pooh buttons embarrassed me at school - and sat me down with some nice fat size 13 needles and the stockinette stitch. I worked a few rows back and forth and then went to her, bored. "I'm done practicing, can you show me how to do it for real?" Laughing, she showed me the tiny bit of knitted fabric I'd produced. "You're doing it for real. That's it!" My boredom vanished. I'd thought I was just wasting my time - but the whole time, I was actually doing it! I was hooked.

Actually, the hooks came later. When I was a teenager, I noticed my cousin twisting up granny squares at an incredible clip, and was drawn in by their retro-ness and her speed - I'd gotten a little impatient with the tedium of knitting after producing an endless snake of scarves and one ill-fitting sweater. With the help of my cousin and my grandmother, I was soon churning out my own squares. What followed was years of obsessive practice, the growth of a terrifyingly large collection of crocheting books, and many, many projects, from afghans to doilies to a creepy Zac Efron doll.

A few years ago, I finally acted on a childhood desire to learn to spin my own wool. (Sleeping Beauty was my favorite Disney movie, and I somehow missed the underlying message that spinning = DEATH.) I took a beginner's class at the Art League school in Alexandria, VA, and another obsession was born. Within a year, I was the proud owner of a Babe Production wheel and a Country Craftsman (the second an antique store find from a friend). I've been spinning ever since, though I'm still an extreme novice.

Funnily enough, spinning brought me back to my first love: knitting. Crocheting, fast, easy, flexible, also eats quite a bit more yarn than knitting. When I wanted to start crafting with my early spinning attempts, I was too miserly to want to use them up too quickly. For the past year or so, I've been re-learning a lot of the knitting skills I'd forgotten over then past decade or so. It's been rewarding and ridiculously fun.

REEL

My parents are both film nuts, and my childhood memories are laced with moments of sharing movies, having them on in the background while cooking or eating or just hanging out. They delighted in choosing the right moments to introduce us (my brother, sister, and me) to the classics. I remember being sat down to watch the original Star Wars for the first time; my dad had to fast-forward through Dark Star, which was recorded on the tape before it.  When I was about ten, they showed us Blazing Saddles, and my mom told us how she had literally fallen out of her chair laughing when she first saw it in the theater. For my 13th birthday, they showed us Harold and Maude.
Beyond these introductions, there was a whole world of film that was as familiar to me as the music of the Beatles; I can't remember a time when I hadn't seen the best Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers collaborations, The Philadelphia Story, or The Maltese Falcon.
But lest you think we were a snobbily erudite family, my parents instilled in me a great love of schlock as well. From old classics like Ben-Hur to modern awesomeness like Congo and Damien: Omen II, we watched it all. My film education was wide, discerning, and varied.

In college, I studied film along with fine art. I met friends who shared my enthusiasms and introduced me to brilliance even my parents didn't know: John Carpenter, Bruce Campbell, and the entire horror genre in general. I had an amazing film and screenwriting teacher who put into context all the movies I had grown up loving - I learned about the evolution of musicals from Swing Time to High School Musical, and how the strictures of the Hayes Code inspired daring filmmakers to get creative with their sidesteps.

After college, a two-year stint in Los Angeles (and a one-week job on a movie set) convinced me that maybe being an active part of the movie business wasn't in my DNA - but it didn't dull my enthusiasm for watching, devouring, enjoying (or despising) movies. I try to go to the movies as much as possible, to see modern as well as classic films, and my husband and I have a truly obscene private collection that we spend a lot of our time screening.

I hope that this blog will be a mixture of my enthusiasms - movie reviews, works in progress, musings on film, techniques, and artists and craftsmen I admire. Those are the kinds of blogs I like to read. I think there's a strong connection between creating and enjoying the creations of others, across mediums and through computer screens. I hope you feel the same way!