It's All About Knitting Today

Monogamous knitting does not make for interesting blogging, so I thought I'd show you a picture of project that you haven't seen for a while, my Pelerine Shawl. I keep it by the couch and use it as my TV knitting.

We don't watch much TV, so this is going to take a while. But it has to be done by July 1 because I'm going to Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp! I was only going to go for one year, but my friend Marsha really wants to go together -- and so we are.  Show and Tell is a big event at camp, and it's always fun when people model their EZ patterns.

I finished reading Malice, and I recommend it for anyone who likes puzzle-like mysteries. I haven't settled into a new book yet, but I did stumble on a beautiful knitting book on the New Books shelf at the library: Magpies, Homebodies, and Nomads by Cirilia Rose. First, let me say that Jared Flood did the photography, so you know it's gorgeous.

It's not a book for novices, which is nice. Instead of lots of knitting 101 text, there are interesting essays like "I Am, As I Suspect Many of You Are, Addicted to Yarn." The patterns, in my opinion, run the gamut from drop-dead gorgeous to would anyone really wear this? For example, the Tisane Tank is, well, odd.

My favorite pattern is the L'Arbre Hat and Mitts. It is beautiful and practical. And I'm trying to knit things that I'll wear -- not just things that are fun to make. And I love the Isla Cardigan, which is featured on the cover.

I'll be checking in with Ginny's Yarn Along. Hope to see you there.

From Big to Small

Some weeks are just harder than others. Monday morning, I received a significant neck/back injury at school -- by a student, completely by accident. The student felt really bad and apologized very sweetly. Nonetheless teaching with pain isn't the easiest thing I've ever done.

I am almost done with the Pelerine Shawl that is going to be gift. I feel like I've been knitting it forever.

Even though I haven't quite cast-off, I couldn't resist casting on for a much smaller project, ZuZu's Petals, which is a cowl that looks like a small shawl. I'm using a beautiful ombre yarn from Knit Circus, which has cashmere in it -- hey, my neck is sensitive!

I picked up a novel last night that I think I might be able finish. The first few pages, at least, are written in stunningly beautiful prose.

The Grief of Others is about the effect on a family of a disabled newborn who dies a few days after birth. If the writing stays this strong, I think I'll be able to stick with it regardless of the plot!

I'm joining up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Quiet Saturday: Cleaning and Knitting

I know there were only five days in my work week, but it felt like 10. Usually I feel settled into the school year by mid-October but this year feels twitchy. I know that one factor is the continuing stream of new students we are getting from Milwaukee and Chicago. I got a new student this week, but he seems like an awesome kid. Still, every new special ed student needs a boatload of paperwork completed!

At least I'm not alone in feeling like this is a tough school year. Friday morning one of my co-teachers walked in the door of our classroom and asked, "Who needs chocolate?" as she held out a bag of mini 3 Muskateers candy bars.

So, I was ready for a quiet weekend. And my house is more than ready for a decluttering. I started the day by heading out for coffee with a friend. She wanted to go to The Sow's Ear, a coffee shop/yarn store in a nearby town. It was a beautiful drive. The sugar maples are showing their richest scarlet color, and the fields are a lovely fall gold. And, I managed not to buy anything!

Then it was time to get down to work. I started with kitchen and then moved onto the bedroom. Then it was time for a knitting break:

I've begun to call this "My Big Dumb Shawl." It really is beautiful, thanks to the unspun Icelandic yarn, but it is a LOT of garter stitch. And now the rows are really long!

Then it was time to start on the really hard room, my craft room:

 

Can you believe I'm even showing this in public? I'm a bit surprised myself! It really is awful. I just have so many projects going at once. And it is so much more fun to create than clean up, so every 6 months or so I have to do a major decluttering and reorganizing. This time I'm going to try to get rid of some stuff, too. Maybe a lot of stuff. 

This may take a while ...

Oops! I Did It Again

Not long ago, I messed up my very simple Pelerine shawl by missing the end of a round. Inadvertently, I began knitting in the round, which totally disrupts the garter stitch. I painstakingly pulled apart the Unspun Icelandic wool and reknit. ... until I made the same mistake again.

I decided that there was a message behind making the same, very stupid mistake twice. I pulled out the needle and cast on a second Pelerine.

I'd realized that I needed to make one as a gift, but didn't want to buy a second needle so I was rushing through the first one. Hence, the mistakes. You may wonder why I didn't just finish the first one and give it as a gift. Well, here's why:

It's all about the colors. The pinks and blues in the first one are my colors. However, the person I want to gift prefers Earthy colors. So, I ordered a few disks from Schoolhouse Press and launched into a second shawl. And I'm so glad I did. I hate rushed knitting. What's the point of that?

Did you notice how the disk of Unspun Icelandic in the first picture has been elongated? That's what happens when you leave the disk sitting around the living room of a house with cats!!

It's a beautiful sunny day here, but cold. I went for a walk with a friend this morning and we both wore mittens. Oct. 3 is a little early for that, even in Wisconsin. There is so much around the house that I should be working on, but I've been having quite a bit of neck pain lately, so I suspect I'll have a lot of knitting time while I apply heat.

Any home remedies for neck pain?

Yes, It's Possible To Mess Up Garter Stitch

How, you may ask, is it possible to mess up garter stitch? Well, when you have a LOT of stitches on a circular needle and you are knitting back and forth, it's is quite easy to miss the fact that you are at the end of a row. Without realizing it, you (or should I say "I"?) are suddenly knitting in the round.

I realized the mistake fairly soon, but I thought I could just cut apart that row and keep going. I am knitting with unspun Icelandic, so I figured I could spit join the little ends. I had knit quite a few more rows -- I'd even begun the next color, a dark blue -- before I realized that the row where I knit in the round disrupted the garter pattern. I had an awkward wedge of stockinette stitch!

I guess the good news is that it is possible to frog Icelandic wool and get it back on the needles with no problem. These rows are incredibly long, though, so it's kind of a bummer to have reknit them. But there was no way I could live with a mistake that big!

As for reading, I haven't quite finished Keep the Aspidistra Flying by Orwell. That man was an amazing writer. This novel, which looks at the role of money on personal relationships, is both engrossing and thought-provoking. I isn't a beach-type read, however.

 It usually doesn't take me this long to finish a short novel, but work has been exhausting! I fall asleep after reading just a few pages. When I do finish, I'm going to try this book, which has been recommended by a number of bloggers:

I'm joining up with Nicole at Keep Calm and  Ginny for Yarn Along.

BONK!

BONK!

That's the sound of my head hitting the wall of reality. I've been back to work for two full days of trainings and meetings, and I'm so missing the pace of summer -- and the time for knitting and other crafts, family, and friends. I am excited about the 8th-grade team this year. As a special ed teacher, my work life depends a lot on the teachers I'm teamed with.

I've been nibbling away at my Elizabeth Zimmerman shawl and mitten. Since I showed the mitten last post, I thought I'd mix it up and show the shawl. I love the unspun Islandic yarn, partly because it is simply different.

I finished All the Light We Cannot See, and I didn't love it. I'm not even sure I liked it. I realize this puts me in a tiny minority. The writing is breath-taking, but the characters didn't feel real to me and the plot held few surprises.

 

The Liar's Wife also is beautifully written. I enjoyed the first novella, which shares a name with the title. Gordon writes with such simplicity and authority. Her characters feel very real. 

I'm not sure how far I'll go with On the Run, which is written by a UW-Madison professor who recounts her experiences living in a crime-ridden area in Philidelphia. As a teacher of inner-city children, I am always interested in learning more about the various communities they come from. However, serious questions about the veracity of this book have been raised. I haven't decided yet if I want to read a book that might not be as true as it claims to be.

I'm joining up with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Knit Along.

Knitting Something Other Than Socks

My brother and his family left to return to Virginia today, and my daughter goes back to Florida Tuesday morning. All this wonderful family time has interfered with my blog reading and commenting, but I promise to catch up this week!

There has been a long run of sock knitting, but now that I am home and family activity is slowing down, I've added a few rows to my Pelerine shawl. I can't have the the shawl laying across my lap because it has been HOT here. I'm talking heat indexes between 95 and 100 degrees F. The unspun Icelandic is light, but, boy, is it ever warm!

Saying good-bye to my brother, his fiance, and their two sons this morning was hard. As some of you know, both my brothers live on the East Coast, and I miss them so much! We had a great week with hiking, swimming, games, art gallerying, and lots of food and laughter.

I'm cushioning the blow by having my parents and children over for Pastrami on Rye and a Jewish movie this evening. The movie is "Hava Nagila: The Movie." It streams on Netflix. It's a short funny but also informative film. Kitchy, I think, best describes it. It is actually part of American culture so I think it would appeal to people who don't identify as Jewish.

Years ago, I was a scrapbooker and one advantage to that is that I documented every family gathering. Without the goal of filling scrapbooks, I've become a lazy photographer. We were so busy this week that I only have one photo, which I snapped at the Madison Children's Museum:

It's a good photo of my daughter, but I have to share that my nephew is on the spectrum and sometimes we get unnatural smiles. Still, I'm happy to see his face in any form!

Tomorrow, I have a full day of crisis training for work. Summer is just about over for this teacher!

Camp Knitting and Reading

The child's Swirl Yoke Sweater was optional homework for camp. I'm so glad that I started it at home because I really needed help at camp! I would have given up on my own.

I knit up to the armholes at home. The sleeves knit up quickly at camp, but I could not figure out how to get them onto the circular needle without help. The swirl pattern confused me, too, but a camper helped me with that.

Then there is the Pelerine shawl. This is something I would never have appreciated if I had not gone to camp. Pictures simply don't do it justice. Nor can a photo convey the lofty loveliness of unspun Icelandic yarn.

Yes, it is scratchy stuff, but this shawl will be perfect for winter, when it won't touch my skin. I love the history of this yarn: The Vikings brought these sheep to Iceland about 1100 A.D. and the sheep lineage has been kept pure. When you knit with this yarn, you are using the same fiber that the Vikings did! How cool is that?

Unspun Icelandic is carded, but not spun. Instead, it is peeled into strips and wound into "plates." The tables of plates for sale at camp were downright delicious! It is a bit fragile, but you can spit-felt it back together quite easily, which makes colors changes a snap -- and eliminates tails that must be woven in later.

John Green's Paper Towns was my bedtime reading at camp.

I wanted to read it before the movie comes out. You may recognize Green as the author of the best-selling book (and movie), The Fault in Our Stars. Like Stars, Paper Towns is well-written with witty dialogue and a well-planned plot. It mulls over some pretty heavy philosophy, too (in a good way).  It wasn't quite as good as Stars, but if you want more John Green, pick up this one.

I'm joining up with Keep Calm Craft On and Yarn Along. See you there!