Knitting and Reading in Autumn Glory

The weather continues to be just glorious. I've been walking to and from work to take advantage of the mild temps and the scarlet leaves. It does mean I have to make sure I walk less at work -- but it's worth it.

Between work and the Jewish holidays, it's been hard to find time to knit or read. I did manage to finish the collar of my Vodka Lemonade sweater. I love seed stitch, but it makes for slow knitting

I've had to restart Where the Jews Aren't a few times because I usually read at bedtime, and I have been too tired to absorb everything. It's the interesting and quirky true story of how Russia set aside land near Mongolia in the 1920s to create a Jewish homeland. Obviously, it didn't work. I just started How It Went Down because I need to have a longer list of books to recommend to teen boys.

Last night my art group met at Tsela's house. I thought you'd enjoy seeing how her cat Cecil luxuriated in yarn.

I'll be joining up with Ginny to Yarn Along. See you there!

The Fourth Time is the Charm -- I Hope

One of the key ideas in Sequence Knitting is that it is supposed to require a minimum of thought: Memorize the sequence and knit. Of course, nothing is that simple in my knitting world. I ripped out the first cast-on because I though (mistakenly) that I had made a mistake. I recast on and then ripped it again because I didn't love the colors. When you are knitting with 800 yards of fingering-weight yarn, you must love the colors!

Then I picked out these two colors from the stash. I've been looking for the right use for the red ball, which was a gift from my daughter.

I was happy with the colors but my stitch count was way off after knitting 8 rows of the 3rd attempt. So I ripped a THIRD time. I'm hoping the fourth time will go better.  As you can see, I put in some stitch markers.

Cecilia of Sequence Knitting holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry (the very definition of super smart, in my book), so maybe what's easy for her isn't so easy for an English major like me!

Sequence Knitting Really Is All That

I first heard about Cecelia Campochiaro's book Sequence Knitting at Knitting Camp this past summer. Meg Swansen sang its praises, and I was able to page through a copy, but I didn't get what the hoopla was about. Besides, it's a large book with a price tag to match.
Then I saw that Campochiaro was going to be speaking at our Guild and teaching an all-day class on a Sunday. OK, I thought, it might be fun to take the class. And it was.

The book, my notes, and one of my sample knits

A Ph.D. chemist who works in Silicon Valley, Campochiaro is smart, funny, and down-to-Earth.  She is a patient teacher who knows how to start with one skill and build on it. She brought a trunk-load of samples, and they sold her method (which I'm not even going to try to describe for fear of not doing it justice) as much as her lively enthusiasm. I was experiencing a lot of pain on Sunday, but her class was both fun and calming -- and for 6 hours I was able to ignore the pain!

Samples from the class. Mine is the blue one in the center.

The scarf in the photo above is my next project. I've been auditioning yarn from my stash. When you are knitting a scarf out of fingering-weight yarn, you need to love the project; you are going to be knitting this for a good long time!

As for reading, I just finished The Light Between the Oceans. It is, as my friend Joan claimed, a very good read. It is also a heart-wrenching story and there were times when I found it a bit hard to read. I'm not sure how I feel about seeing the movie. I don't know how it could live up to the book.

I'll be joining up with Ginny for Yarn Along. See you there!

"Yarn" the Movie

A couple of friends and I dragged ourselves out of bed early on this Saturday morning to see "Yarn" the movie, which was playing in Stoughton, a small city about 30 miles from Madison.

The movie is entertaining, but kind of a disappointment. It's only about a small group of yarn artists -- and crochet is the main technique involved. There are beautiful scenes of Icelandic sheep in their native habitat, but no explanation of why these scenes are included. There are some nice street scenes from cities like Copenhagen and Havana. If it's convenient, go see it. But I wouldn't recommend going to great lengths.

The movie was sponsored by a Stoughton yarn store, Spry Whimsy Fiber Arts, and we enjoyed looking around there. One of my friends bought a skein of yarn, but she was more interested in their felted items:

They specialize in felting, needle-felting, and spinning. They have  small but lovely selection of yarn.  I stuck to my yarn diet  and came home with no wool! Yay for me!

The Last Days of Knitting Outdoors

I'm sure I'm not the only person who read that we just finished the warmest September on record. While that is not good news for Mother Earth, it does make for lovely knitting in the late afternoons. I've been able to make some progress on my Granola sock.

 The knitting has been aided by my current audiobook: Belgravia by Julian Fellowes, who you may know as the creator of Downton Abbey. It is far from a great work of literature, but it is frothy and engaging. I'm not sure I'd get through the book, but the reader of the audiobook does an amazing job with the voices. Perfect for escapist knitting!

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone at Ginny's Yarn Along.

Happy New Year!

It's been a few weeks since I blogged.  I love my new school, but it's going to take a while before I figure out how to do this new job in less than 50 hours a week.  So it's nice that the Jewish New Year is giving me a three-day weekend to catch my breath and regain a bit of balance. I'll be attending services tomorrow and I'm looking forward to the peacefulness that brings me.

To mark the new year, I cast on for what I hope will be successful sweater number 2.

The pattern is Vodka Lemonade by Thea Coleman. Like my first successful sweater, it is a top-down design with an open front ...no buttons or button-holes! It is a little bit more challenging than my Harvest sweater, but not too much. I don't want to risk any more failed sweaters!

I've begun trying to catch up on my blog reading and I'm looking forward to seeing what each of you is up to.

Getting Things Off the Needles

I haven't had an FO for more than two months, so it's clearly time for me to focus and show a bit of knitterly discipline. I'm starting by near-monogamous knitting on the Three-Color Cashmere Cowl. It is a super-easy knit -- perfect for these evenings when I'm tired from adjusting to a new school.

I can show embroidery project that soaked up much of my summer because the Madison Contemporary Fiber Artists show opened this weekend. Here is my piece, Original Garden:

The main panel is all hand-embroidered with plain-old DMC thread. I drew the flowers as I went along. It was a much bigger undertaking than I realized at the beginning and I'm still kind of amazed that I finished it. Each flower is native to Wisconsin (which was required to be in the show).

The opening reception was Sunday, and I am so grateful to the friends and family who were able to come. The show is up through October at the Arboretum, so I hope to get back and take a better photo.

Last night I started Mao II by Don DeLillo. I have never gotten very far in any of his books, but this one is calling out to me. I can say that the beginning is much more readable than other DeLillo books I've tried. We'll see.

Joining up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

I Swore I Wasn't Going But ...

A friend talked me into going to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. (Don't you love how it's not my fault?) "But I'm on a yarn diet!" I protested.
"It would be a great place to sketch," she countered.
How could I turn down an offer like that?

 So, we headed off to look at these guys and, yes, we just had to wander through the market. I was quite restrained, but couldn't resist this pattern and yarn. If you look closely, you can see that the buttons have little bikes on them. The whole package is from Jenny the Potter's booth.

 I asked Jenny how our festival compares with Rhinebeck and the Maryland festival. She said that those festivals draw a lot more people and are more profitable, which makes sense, given the population density on the East Coast. However, she lives in Minnesota, and enjoys how easy it is to get to Jefferson, Wisconsin, and the mellow nature of our festival.

And, yes, there was drawing. We perched ourselves on the bleachers and watched some of the competitions:

Full disclosure: There was one  other purchase but that deserves its own post!

Sometimes Progress is Slow

I'm afraid my knitting is rather boring as I'm just working on the heel flap of the Granola sock. I'm hoping that things will calm down around here and I'll be able to make better progress soon. I am making the leg much longer than the pattern because, well, I live in Wisconsin.

I read Regeneration by Pat Barker at least a decade ago, but I picked it up last night and it is still an amazing book. I was inspired to pluck it out of the bookcase (ok, one of the bookcases) by the Audible book I'm listening to, The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. Both books are about World War I, and both involve a doctor character who is interested in what came to be called "Shell Shock."

Don't forget to link up with Ginny for Yarn Along.

It's a Lovely Weekend

 It is a picture-perfect weekend here, which is especially nice on a holiday weekend. It's really too bad that we have a three day weekend after two days of school. The year is off to a great start so I certainly didn't need a break!

 I snapped this photo of a compass flower on a bike ride yesterday.

 I have finished the knitting part of Arika. It's hard to believe it is going to turn into this.  It's all in the blocking!

 Today we are going to take my dad to Chicago for a family gathering. Sadly my mom has the flu, so she won't be joining us. Here's my contribution:

I hope the weekend is a lovely one for all of you!