Introspection

It never ceases to amaze me, as humans, the sheer amount of information we fire off on a weekly, daily, hourly basis.

We Facebook and Myspace and Twitter. We YouTube and blog and instant message. Many of us are in a near-constant state of connectivity thanks to portable devices and wireless networks.

And yet, for all of this, how much do we really say? How much of what we shoot off into electronic space is real communication? In utilizing all these massive sources of information, are we simply creating a shield behind which we can hide and only reveal exactly what we want other people to see? Are we lulling ourselves into a false sense of security so thick that, when one of us chooses to reveal something a little more personal, a little more serious, a little more adamant...no one can handle it? Have we opened the door to a forum that requires us to constantly pretend, or otherwise be ripped apart by our peers--or worse, by people we don't even know?

By using these ways to "connect", have we simply exacerbated an existing problem? Have we amplified the flaws in our species ability to communicate?

I wonder all these things when I look at the electronic community at large, but then I think of sites like Ravelry, and of networks like the knitting blog community. I marvel at the way people of so many different backgrounds, religions, political affiliations, etc., etc., can suddenly push all of that aside--push aside the things that so regularly tear people apart--and become one truly caring community. I'm continually amazed how one common denominator, one shared hobby, can unite people as different as night and day.

And I wonder...why can't it always be like that, with all people?

Mood: conflicted
Music: Mutemath - Spotlight

"Here's Davy Jones singing 'It's Been Lonesome in the Saddle Since My Horse Died'!"

You know those times in life when absolutely everything that can go wrong, does?

Yeah, I've been going through one of those times lately. In fact, I've been feeling rather like Everything That Can Go Wrong showed up at my door like an uninvited houseguest, barged in, put up its feet, and has been eating me out of house and home.

As I'm sure many of you are aware, when this state of affairs hits, it can be hard to concentrate on anything for long enough to make decent headway. You get half a row into the shawl you're knitting, and suddenly Everything That Can Go Wrong is bellowing from the recliner that it needs another beer and, damn it, don't you get any decent sports channels?

But I have been persevering. Between determination and startitis, some good things have been happening on the needles.



The Twisted Flower socks are done! I've been wearing them here and there, and boy are they comfy. They look good, too, for which I'm glad. It's the second pair of lace socks that I've knit in superwash yarn, and I was a little worried that the pattern wouldn't look quite lacy enough, but once they're on, I think it pops. Plus I adore Trekking XXL. It's become one of my sock yarns of choice.



And this is a result of my startitis; the Print O' the Wave stole by Eunny Jang. I'll readily admit that the bug bit me when I saw the finished product on Franklin's blog. Despite all the concentration that lace takes compared to other things I could be knitting, I had to get this on the needles. So I pulled out the lovely Maple Creek Farm yarn I've had sitting in the stash (waiting for the perfect project) and cast on.



(The colorway is called "Tucan Sam". I don't know about you, but it does remind me of the original Froot Loops, back when they only had three colors.)

One distraction from this lovely pattern arrived on Saturday.



This is Zivah Faraday, "Zeeves" for short. With nods to two TV characters and a scientist, I realize it's a pretty big name for a guinea pig to carry, but out of all the names I looked up to consider, Zivah was the one that stuck.

Except for a rather skittish day yesterday, she's quite amicable and loves to sit in laps. She also loves to baffle me by completely ignoring the wooden chew sticks I bought her and electing to chew on the cage instead.

Now, I am not a "small, furry domestic animal" person. I've always had a rather distant relationship with dogs, cats, etc. I get along better with animals of the fiber-bearing sort. (Big surprise, right?) So, of course, I never intended to have any pets more demanding than fish. But on Saturday, my mom and I were at the mall and she wanted to make a trip into the pet store to look at rabbits. And wouldn't you know it, on one side of the rabbit pen, there were three guinea pigs: two a more camel-colored brown, and Zivah. Something made me want to hold her and, once she was in my hands, I knew I couldn't leave without her. And now that I have her home, I've found her nothing less than enchanting...except maybe for that moment yesterday when she tried to climb inside my shirt.

Two of the funniest things she does so far:
1) Runs around the cage in glee after I put her filled food dish in the corner.
2) Purrs at the sound of rock music. (I kid you not!)



That face. How can you not love it?

Oh my, I'm gushing. I think I'd better go work on the stole.

Mood: annoyed
Music: Tom McWatters - Dishonesty is the Second Best Policy

Visually uninteresting

I often hesitate to make a post here without any pictures, which is sort of strange, since I blogged like a fiend on LiveJournal for years without worrying about anything but words. Granted, that was a personal blog and this is more about knitting, but I still probably shouldn't be worried about whether or not every single post is visually entertaining.

I'm posting now because I just spent a bit of time catching up on blogs via my GoogleReader feeds, and as I read one of Franklin's recent posts, I realized something. Something sort of depressing. I realized that it's been a long time since I last knit something that truly captivated me.

Now, I love knitting in general. I love shopping for yarn, choosing patterns, knitting up patterns...everything except finishing, which I think just about everyone harbors a secret (or not-so-secret) grudge against. And it's not that I dislike what I'm knitting now--far from it. I have thus far found it quite impossible to dislike a sock designed by Cookie A. It's just that I feel like I've been working on my WIPs forever, even though I haven't and there are only two of them. It's knitting ennui; I want to try something new and exciting.

By "new and exciting", I mean new yarn, as well. My stash is a good stash. It's a servicable stash, with some real gems hiding in it, some of which I know exactly what to do with and some of which I'm still trying to decide on. But in going through it recently, I haven't touched upon a yarn that screams, "Knit me now!" For someone on as tight a budget as I am at the moment, this can be a bit of a problem.

I have decided, however, to say screw budget this one time, and to buy myself some brand-new yarn to knit this beautiful cardigan (the Saddle Shoulder Aran by Meg Swansen for those of you not on Ravelry). I've been eyeing it for ages, and it's time. It's time to knit something a little bigger than a pair of socks (much as I adore socks), something that's going to give me not only a new garment to layer up with, but also the satisfaction of seeing a large pattern come together. The satisfatction of knowing that yes, I knit this, I had a good time, and I'm damn proud of it, thank you very much.

I've also been eyeing larger lace projects, but I'm not sure if I ought to dive into one of those yet. I must be having a more wicked case of startitis than I thought.

Mood: impatient
Music: They Might Be Giants - My Man

Late again

I've gotta knock off this month-between-posts stuff. My online presence has been far too lacking lately! This is due in part to being rather sick and spending half my time sleeping that off, and also in part to the fact that my laptop is off for repairs, so therefore I can't laze around on the futon while simultaneously using the computer.

I can, however, knit!



First Twisted Flower sock, done!

I also made these for one of my mom's very pregnant co-workers:



Because, come on, how can you resist little Converse booties? I hear they were well-received. Hopefully I'll get pictures of the little recipient wearing them once he's born!

Other than that, I'm afraid there's not much to report. Life has been slowed to a crawl with the illness-and-resting bit, leading me to watch more House and play more Facebook-based Tetris than is probably healthy.

On the upside, all that time on Facebook led me to discover Paperback Swap. How cool is a site that lets you get rid of the books you never read (or bought in error...yeah, that never happens to me *innocent whistling*) in exchange for ones you actually want? It's like a library, only far, far more vast. Very cool, in my opinion.

Now for more of that "resting" stuff. Illness does go away at some point, right?

Mood: tired
Music: Iron & Wine - Naked As We Came

Arctic knitting

It's 8:15am, it's freezing ice cold out, and I'm curled up on the futon, drinking Cherry Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper. I realize that, given the weather, this may be a tactical error, and that there are much warmer things like coffee and tea at my disposal, but man...cherry vanilla.

I have also finally been jumped by the cold that's been trying to get me for weeks, and have thusly been rendered lazier than usual. Alas, after I post this, I'm going to have to venture out into the arctic air to do the grocery shopping, because it's very hard to eat food that we don't actually have.

But, as I was saying to a couple of friends last night, I knit, therefore I have wool things, and thank God for that!

Speaking of wool things, I am once again on a sock kick. Trystero is done:



And I've begun Twisted Flower, which is a simply gorgeous pattern:



(The yarn is Trekking XXL in color 329. Nice, no?)

Also on the needles is a pair of Broadstreet mittens for my mom, but given the pattern's tendency to run large and the fact that I'm substituting a yarn with a different gauge, it's mostly trial-and-error at this point (i.e., I did the ribbing, convinced that I had all the stitch counts right, and it turns out I need to rip it all out and go one size smaller with the needles).

So there's wool on the needles, wood in the stove, and blankets easily at hand. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to try not to freeze while buying produce and such.

(P.S. Is anyone else massively excited about next Wednesday?)

Mood: cold
Music: Ani DiFranco - Napoleon (Canon version)

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

I haven't a clue how it got to be after Christmas already. Surely some sort of quantum weirdness--a freak wormhole, perhaps--is responsible, because there is no way that 2008 could possibly have passed this quickly and shuffled us all into the tiny space between Christmas Day and the dawn of a new year.

I understand that some people like New Year's. I don't. When it comes to a new year, that "brand new start", I am not a glass-is-half-full sort of person. I am a "how the hell did the old year go so fast, and how did I do such massive amounts of nothing?" sort of person. I think part of the problem is that it's a human tendency to look at other people's accomplishments and measure our own against them. This is, of course, one of the greatest follies of humankind, since what we accomplish is unique to each of us, but I think a great many of us do it anyway.

Maybe that's why we take stock at the end of the year. The advice to count our blessings may not be as cliché as it sounds.

In lieu of any sort of "this was the year, this was what happened, wasn't it grand?" sort of blogging...let's move on to the knitting.

The cardigan is finally, finally done!



I checked my Ravelry queue...that thing had been on the needles since July. July! I knew I'd taken a few little breaks here and there, but I had no idea that it had been quite that long. But it was worth the wait. The yarn is great, the adaptations I made to the pattern worked out just fine, and it looked perfect as it was sitting there, blocking.



After blocking, it fits like a dream. It's rare that a women's pattern has the proper armhole and sleeve sizes for me, but between the pattern and the cooperative nature of the yarn once it was wet, everything worked out great!





Modifications: only one, which is the obvious one...no hood! I was using this yarn for another pattern at one point and, due to a miscalculation of gauge, ran out before I finished. I was afraid of the same thing happening with this, so instead of adding the hood to the left and right fronts, I bound off, then added cabled edging around the neck, picking up stitches as I went. It was the first time I've ever knitted an edging onto a finished piece that way, and I think it worked out well!

All I have left on the needles is the second Trystero sock, and then I'll be ready to pursue new and exciting patterns! And also make a pair of Broadstreet mittens for my mom, because she loves mine and thinks it's a great idea.

For those of you who can manage it better than I can...Happy New Year. :)

Mood: disappointed
Music: Savage Garden - Promises

Personal accomplishments

Holy foop, I can't believe that I haven't posted since Rhinebeck! I guess I haven't been in a bloggy mood. That, and my body has been demanding more sleep than I feel is strictly necessary, so my usual online night-owl activities have been kind of lacking.

But I'm back now! I am here, I am alive, and I have been knitting!

First, though, one other reason that I haven't blogged much: this year, I once again participated in the insanity that is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. And I wrote about...wait for it...knitters! Well, knitters and quantum physics, but knitting was a big part of the story. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with it, but I am proud to say that I worked hard enough to be able to display this here:



I feel strangely less accomplished than I did last year, maybe because I wrote a great majority of my novel in bizarre chunks using Write Or Die, an online application that gives you a variable grace period after you stop typing before it starts playing annoying sounds at you. Yep, annoying sounds like squeaking violin practice, noisy goats, and Hanson singing "MmBop". It's amazing. If you suffer from writer's block at all, I highly recommend giving it a try. It gets you typing, and I found that I was more inclined to roll with my crazy ideas rather than spend inordinate amounts of time debating about whether or not they would work.

Now for the yarny stuff. Remember that multicolored merino I got at Rhinebeck?

The blue stuff is yarn now.





I think I've mentioned that I love spinning merino. I'm a compulsive predrafter, so once I'm done with that, the roving practically spins itself. This spun up into a beautiful blue-purple two-ply with occasional slubs of yellow.

And, due to a silly incident that wasn't comical at all and which left me with only one glove, that yarn became these:



Broad Street, from the young days of Knitty.



I gave them a test run last night, and I have to admit that I don't miss my old gloves at all.



(They're less purple and more blue in real life.) I'm still not sure if I'll sew on a button to keep the mitten flap down when they're open, or just skip it. For now, they seem to work well without one.

Other things that have been giving me those little moments of joy lately: the Twilight soundtrack, hot cinnamon spice tea, and Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot. Plus I'm knitting another sample for the local shop, and finishing the mittens gave me a big boost of energy with which to attack my other WIPs. All in all, knitting and life are good right now.

Mood: decaffeinated
Music: Iron & Wine - Flightless Bird, American Mouth

Defying (financial) gravity

Remember how I said something about probably not being able to go to the Sheep & Wool Festival because of budget?

Well, I was industrious. I spent weeks not buying anything that I didn't need, and letting things that could wait, wait. And today I brought home a nice haul from Rhinebeck (for a relatively small amount of money)! I rode out with the lovely Stephanie and her friend, Tomi, and we had a wonderful day.

First, the non-fiber stuff:



Eucalyptus, chai tea, and choco-mint soaps from Merriweather's handmade soaps. Holy cow, do these smell good! I love natural, hand-made soaps.

And, though I missed Franklin's book signing because I couldn't go yesterday, this



miraculously turned up in the hands of someone I met while futzing around the author building. He was just browsing, and kindly handed the book off to me to buy. Dude, I owe you one! This book is a gas.

Now, for fiber! Yes, fiber. I tried to stay away from yarn this year mainly because I still have yarn from last year that I haven't gotten around to, and my stash is fast outgrowing its plastic tubs. I figured that I couldn't go wrong by procuring some stuff to spin, since I don't spin a ton but get a great amount of enjoyment out of it when I do.

I wish I could remember which vendors all of this came from, but alas, I don't have cards from all of them. So here it is, in all it's fibery glory. And to all you fiber dyers/sellers out there, you rock!



Six ounces of pretty, solid-color merino. I'm not sure exactly how I'll handle it when I spin it, but I thought the colors would go nicely together.



Multi-colored merino! I looked at a lot of this stuff today, but finally decided on these two. Blue and blue-themed colorways are usually what I go for (in case you couldn't tell), so I added the brownish one instead of another blue one I was eyeing. I thought it'd be fun to mix things up a bit and spin something in a color I don't already have tons of in other projects.



The "I bought this, want to touch it? You know you want to touch it," item of the day: bamboo! I was too afraid of messing it up to buy more than a couple of ounces, but it is so, so soft. You know how kids imagine clouds should feel? Yeah. That's what this stuff feels like. It might be destined for the drop spindle, after it's served some time in the stash, being petted at random intervals.

And yes, I did buy yarn. I'll admit it. But the yarn I bought is all...drumroll please...sock yarn! Yes! Yarn I might actually use up before next year's festival, yarn that won't sit in the stash until I'm 105 because I couldn't find the time or the right project or the stamina to use it up!

I treated myself to some Socks That Rock in lightweight (Basan) and medium weight (a nice dark colorway, one of their Rare Gems):



And I picked up the Poseidon sock kit by Tsarina:



It took a while of looking at display socks to decide on this one. I was initially drawn by the Vintage kit, but this caught my eye even more. I love the dolphin pattern on the leg!

I also picked up three patters by the astoundingly talented Cookie A.: Trystero, Stricken, and Twisted Flower. I've been eyeing the Twisted Flower one for ages, and snapped it up when I saw it. I have a feeling that I'll be having a lot of fun with these!

And last, but certainly not least, the social stuff! Because there most definitely is a lot of that going on wherever knitters and lovers of fiber gather.

I waited in line to get a book signed and say hello to the ever-amusing Yarn Harlot again this year:



and was privileged to meet and hang out with geniuses of Ravelry at the Ravelry meetup.



I met and hung out with a bunch of other fun people, Ravelers and non, and had a wonderfully relaxing day. It never ceases to amaze me that, despite my hatred of big crowds and being around tons of people for long periods of time, there is always a certain peace to being in a place where everyone loves the same thing. There is always a common ground, always something to talk about, and always something to learn about each other and people in general. It's a great way to disconnect from all the craziness that goes on in the world every day, and reconnect with the way the world ought to be.

So that was my day at Rhinebeck. If I met you there, hi! If not, hi anyway, and I hope you had at least as much fun as I did.

Mood: fibery
Music: The Frames - Denounced

Comfort food

It seems that, like on a real diet, a knitter on a yarn diet craves "comfort food".

I'm on both, and it sucks.

I've been on the food diet for 10 days, and it's going okay, except that counting calories is driving me nuts. Due to lactose intolerance and other various factors, I'm having a hell of a time 1) getting enough calories every day, and 2) getting the right balance of calories. Adding healthy fats without being able to consume much dairy has been an interesting challenge.

I've been on the yarn diet (mostly) since June, when I bought that KnitPicks lace sampler. I've bought a bit of sock yarn here and there since then, but have made no significant yarn purchases and have been knitting solely from stash or working on UFOs. And now...I'm sick of it.

I want to buy a bunch of nice, comforting worsted weight--since all I've been working with is lace, fingering, and sport--along with a nice, comforting pattern, sit my ass down, and just knit all day long. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, I can't afford to do any of these things, so it's back to the UFOs while startitis stalks my brain.

In this quest to tackle knitting without actually buying yarn, I did finish the socks Glen Hansard lent his awesomeness to:



I love the colorway (Berocco Sox 1426) and would have no problem knitting with it again in the future. I've already made some very tiny socks from the leftovers as a dangler for my key chain. 18 stitches on size US1 needles makes for one adorable little accessory.

As far as comfort knitting goes, I'm in the mood for something big, warm, and cabled. Something like the Dickinson Pullover, or the Must-Have Cardigan. (I'll admit to being in love with that cardigan ever since the Yarn Harlot blogged her way through knitting it a while back.) Even Camden is looking pretty good right now. I just want something that feels comfortable to knit, looks great to wear, and is just plain fun. The macaroni-and-cheese, or mashed potatoes, or big-bowl-of-ice-cream of the knitting world. (I haven't had any of these foods recently, either. Mac & cheese makes me sadly ill, mashed potatoes are a bit out of season, and even with a calorie count leaning toward "not enough", I haven't managed to sneak any ice cream in.)

Alas, I crave all these things without the current budget to support them. I'm still wondering how I'm going to manage the Sheep & Wool Festival this year (hint: it's looking like I won't be able to). Although I suppose it's all for the greater good. Ending a diet with a binge isn't that great of an idea, right? Even a yarn diet.

Right, I'll try to justify it that way.

In the meantime, Anne Shirley is looking promising as something that could be satisfactorily knit from yarn I have on hand.

Mood: decaffeinated
Music: Gillian Welch - By the Mark

Necessity

In pondering life, I occasionally come up against something that seems impossible to resolve without causing a paradox when its principles are applied on a broad scale. No matter what angle I look at some things from, it seems that there's no way to settle on an agreeable explanation that makes sense in every situation. So often is the case with important matters.

In the midst of this, I've come to one definite conclusion: there is only so much that each individual person in this world can care about. And yet, in realizing this, it's also important to remember that, just because we don't all care about the same things, the things other people care about are not less or beneath the things we care about. Everyone cares about a different subset of things because there has to be a balance. If we all tried to care about everything that needed attention, the world would come to a screeching halt.

The point of saying all of this is to declare that I'm going to try my hardest to stop feeling guilty about the things I care about. I'm going to try and appreciate the time and energy that goes into and is required by the things that are important to me. I'm going to stop minimizing myself.

And one of the things I care about greatly is (big surprise) knitting. And yarn.



My first attempt at using Jacquard acid dyes! I was going for more balance between the yellow and green, but I'm still quite happy with the way it came out. It reminds me of early-to-late spring when the new leaves have just come, and everything is getting green again.

I dyed this at my grandmother's house, which is in much more of a city setting than I'm used to. I'm a country girl at heart; I grew up and still live in a place where it takes ten minutes to get to the post office and longer than that to hit a grocery store. My grandmother, on the other hand, lives a hop, skip, and a jump away from just about everything, from banks and grocery stories to soft-serve ice cream and Chinese takeout. It's interesting to spend any length of time down there. It's a really different world for me.

Her house also has a couple of things mine doesn't that make yarn dyeing that much easier: 1) a full basement with surfaces on which to lay out yarn and other materials, surfaces that have never and will never be used for food prep; and 2) a giant, two-sided metal sink with its own taps, perfect for wetting out and rinsing out yarn, and also for hanging yarn to do its initial drip-drying. I had a great time dyeing this yarn and hope I can do some more in the near future.

Because of the colors and where I dyed it, I've dubbed the colorway "Springtime in the City". It's for sale over at my Etsy shop if anyone's interested!

Now that I've waxed personally philosophical, and rambled about yarn in true knitblogger fashion, I'm off to play with the new Sims 2 expansion. And knit. 'Cause Sims is awesome like that.

Mood: depressed
Music: Michael Nesmith - Back Porch and a Fruit Jar Full of Iced Tea