Purlene’s Corner

A photo post, at long last! Before we go any further, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post (except for the rotten spammer, grr). I didn’t realize I’d gotten comments at all, and was pleasantly surprised! (krysten – Teen Girl Squad for the WIN!)

First up, an update on Chara’s mittens:

As you can see, I am just past the afterthought thumb line of the second mitten, which means if I really work hard, Chara can have them Monday when I pick her up from the airport. She’s been on the West Coast visiting family, and I miss her like crazy. (Chara [not her real name], for those of you not in the know, is my best friend and platonic soulmate. She’s awesome and I’m glad to have her in my life, even when she drives me bazonkers. Which is often.) I’m using Cascade 220 and I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s perfect for this project, and I really like the color, but it’s kind of a stiff yarn that isn’t really tons of fun to knit with. I feel almost like I could take the rest of the skein and weave a fishing net.

(Sidebar – I have a vague memory of my dad making a net, which I may have invented, as I would have been about seven at the time. But if it’s true, then there is a basis that my mom can use to teach Daddy how to knit! Not that she’s expressed any interest in it, but I think he’d enjoy it. He’s an engineer, I think he’d be an awesome sweater-designer. I also think my older brother would love it, but THAT will never happen.)

MOVING ON.

The Brown Scarf. I wish I had a better name for it, but I don’t. It is what it is! I’m really digging it – this is the Multidirectional Scarf Pattern from douma.net, although if you just type in douma.net, you get a pretty little flickering flame .gif, and that is ALL. ‘Tis ok – I linked for you. Rowan Tapestry 173 Antique, size 7 needles. I haven’t decided if this is a keeper or not. If it isn’t, I’ll probably mail it to my older brother.

THE ZOMBIE CHICKEN IS COMING FOR YOU.

Ha! OK, the only reason this is a zombie chicken is because I haven’t put on the eyes yet. Also, the picture is so much better than the actual item, you have no idea. :D Awesome pattern by CraftyAlien , not-so-awesome execution by me. I’m going to have to make this again, because it was too much fun not to, but with better felting and less-demented sewing on of stuff.

And now, my current pride and joy. This is like the sewing equivalent of the kindergarten pictures on the fridge.

I made a dpn holder! I’ve been wanting one for a while, and realized that dude – I own a sewing machine and I have tons of old placemats (ok, I have four old placemats), and why can’t I just flip up the bottom and make one of my own? It isn’t perfect, but I love it like crazy.

So the current plan is to finish the mittens and the brown scarf, and give the demented chicken eyes. I should be able to do at least two of those things this weekend (yay for four-day weekends). Then I need to finish a second sock that has been lingering since May, and mail those out, and Chara’s hat needs redoing, and I think I have too many projects for other people. Yeesh. 2008 will be the Year of Knitting for Me (at least a little) and hopefully the year of knitting primarily from the stash. Wish me luck!

There’s a long thread on Ravelry right now talking about giving away handcrafts, and the expectations that come with them. There seems to be a sense that if people don’t use the gift “correctly”, or appreciate it “enough”, then they don’t deserve handknits. “I’ll give them a gift card instead.” Apparently, for some people, it’s either handknits or gift cards – what the recipient wants or would appreciate is totally immaterial. One woman said, “if I see something I’ve made used for a dog bed one more time…well, excuse me if I scream and run from the room.”

This one actually made me smile. See, I come from a long line of quilters and crafters. My grandmother keeps the family in quilts – I’ve got several, and another is in the works (woo-hoo!) Once the quilt is in our hands, it’s meant to be used, slept under, thrown on the ground for a picnic, tossed in the laundry, “romped” under (ifyouknowwhatimean), the works. My mom quilts as well, and I took a charming “scottie dog” quilt to college with me. It lead a collegiate life. Still got it.

I recently had a beloved dog die. He was my total soulmate, and my furry best friend. The last few months of his life, I lined his crate with a quilt my grandmother made for me when I was a child – applique cats, actually. I couldn’t stay with him during the day, but here was something I could give him, something that smelled like me, that was imbued with as much love as exists in the world, and yeah – he was sick on it, he peed on it, things happened. But he spent the last days of his life wrapped in love even when I couldn’t be there. We wrapped him in it for the final vet visit, and I had something to cry into on the drive home. I still have the quilt (cleaned, of course). It’s folded across the back of my couch, and I get to have it as a reminder of both my grandmother and my puppydog. (The fact that it hides where my roommate’s cat scratched the couch is a bonus.)

The poster who inspired this little trip down memory lane would be horrified to see how quilts are used in my house. Two on the bed, one folded up on a toy chest, one draped over the couch, that gets pulled down when I’m chilly and has consequently had everything from soup to coffee spilled on it. I know not every quilt is meant for this kind of treatment. There are gorgeous art quilts that are For Display Only. I don’t own any of them. I don’t want them. I can appreciate them, and admire the work that goes into them, but I would rather a quilt that can be used.

Along the same lines, people were sharing heartbreaking stories of portraits being tossed in the garbage, embroidery lying crumpled on the couch and they all made me think – is a gift a gift if the recipient has to do something to it to make it usable? Not to discount the sadness of the giver, or excuse the rudeness of the recipient, but there is something to be said for giving a framed portrait, or an already-mounted embroidery piece. You wouldn’t give someone the parts to a sweater and expect him to seam it himself, right? It creates a sense of obligation in the recipient that really doesn’t belong with the spirit behind gift-giving.

I made a baby sweater a few years ago for a close friend and her family, while she was still pregnant. She had a fat little buddah-baby who was born wearing three-month old clothes – I exaggerate only slightly. She squeezed that kid into the sweater I made, took a picture to send to me, then popped it onto a teddy bear that resides in his room. I love that story. I gave her something that ended up being completely useless, but she loved it, she loved that I made it for her, and hey – now the kid gets to enjoy it with his teddy bear! And you know, that’s all I want from baby clothes. Show me a picture of the kid wearing it, or at least propped up against it, and I’m happy.

Shawls treated like scarves leads to the recipient never getting a handknit ever again. Why not? Just don’t give her a lacy shawl, give her a hat that can handle rough treatment. Match the gift to the recipient – it’s a hard lesson, and one I’m still learning, but it can be done. But looking at handknits as the ne plus ultra of gift-giving, and everything else is second-rate seems awfully wrong. It elevates something that is done for love and for fun into something that is done for a certain response and level of enthusiasm from the recipient, and dude – gift-giving is stressful enough.

Just a quick note to say that I have a progress bar! It currently reads “Brown Scarf” which tells me the following:

1) I need to think of a better name for that scarf
2) I need to seriously update what I’m working on, because I have, like, a zillion projects going on, and this is making me seem much more on top of things than I really am.

Well, my goodness. I posted something similar to my Cat Bordhi paragraph below on a Ravelry thread and about got linked to death. Picture after picture of people’s New Pathways socks, this pattern, that pattern, ad infinitum. And you know – some of them were really cute. So, I swung by the LYS today to look at the book again (and in an amazing show of strength, I walked out with only the four buttons I needed). After perusing the book, and looking at all the pictures, I learned something. Or, to be more exact, I remembered something I already knew.

It’s all about the yarn choice.

A pattern that didn’t interest me at all in the book is completely charming when paired with a yarn that I liked, in a colorway that doesn’t obscure the patterning. It amazes me how many people will take a great pattern like Monkey, and then use yarn that is so busy you can’t even see what’s going on in the sock. And, for me, that’s what happened with the Cat Bordhi book – I can’t tell what she’s doing in the book, but seeing other pictures made it more clear. While I’m still not “OMG MUST HAVE NOW” about it, I definitely would like to poke around and knit up some of the practice socks. I may have to grab a copy after the holidays, see what it’s about. Lord knows, I have plenty of sock yarn to burn. (And I will also admit that some of my “meh” attitude can be attributed to my contrary nature. The more people squeal over something, the less interest I have in it. I miss out on some good stuff because of that particular personality quirk.)

This post should be titled “ames eats crow”, haha.

In other news: Well, I have no other news, actually. I started the Anemoi mittens and frogged them immediately because the wristband was about an inch across. I have no idea how that happened – I don’t think I knit particularly tight, but apparently when I do a tubular caston, I do. Or something. I googled and saw that I am not the only one this happened to (although I did see one woman who dropped down to a size 000US needle, which baffles me, as I am contemplating jumping to a US2), so I don’t feel bad about my massive gauge failure. I also frogged a sock that I’d lost my way on the pattern, and wound up some yarn and basically – no actual knitting got accomplished. Such is the way of the world.

My new hat!

Modeled by Sergei, who was not pleased. Swirly Hat by TChemGrrl. Quick and easy, although I think I may rip out the top and redo that part to make it less poofy. I always have poofy pointed hat tops, and I just don’t get it. LE SIGH.

Things in the knitting blogosphere that I have thoughts about:
a. New Pathways in Sock Knitting – not really interested in it enough to buy. I feel like I’m going to get smited by the knitting blog gods, but the patterns aren’t attractive to me. I guess I’m still fascinated by standard-constructed socks with pretty lacework and whatnot; I don’t need to understand the deeper construction behind socks when a heel flap and gussets down the side work beautifully for me. I’d try it out except that I really haven’t found any of the knit socks appealing. Fortunately, 90% of the knitting world does, so Ms. Bordhi isn’t going to live or die by my opinion.

b. No replies to comments. In my other online journals (of which I have two), comments are replied to. Each one, if possible. Entire conversations happen in the comment pages, and it can become very interesting. It’s a thing in the culture of those particular services. However, those journals are kept on Vox and LiveJournal, which are designed for that exact circumstance. (OK, Vox, not so much.) Blogger isn’t set up for comment threading, or replies to each comment individually. It’s a totally different environment. It baffles me. I feel like comments are just floating out there ignored. Poor lonely comments!

c. Pictures of cute babies. I heartily approve. Keep ‘em coming.

d. a new broadening of craft interests! Suddenly people are quilting, crocheting (YAY – let’s kill this anti-crochet thing once and for all, ok? It’s just a craft, it’s not The Evil Hook from HELL, good grief), sewing. It’s all very exciting.

e. Panic over holiday knitting deadlines. I find this endlessly amusing.

I’ve seen very little discussion about the new knitty. Interesting. Granted, there isn’t a lot in this particular issue that caught my eye for good or for ill, so maybe that’s the general feel?

Anyway, I’m fairly pleased with my knitting progress recently. Finished kiffle’s socks (forgot to take a picture, I suck), finished the above hat, got a running start on thrummed mittens for the BFF, worked on a neglected scarf a little more (not that one, for those of you in the know. I still hate that one), and am poking the stash to see what wants working on next. I’m on a total knit-from-stash binge right now, which means lots of socks. Woo! I love socks.

We knit for many reasons. We like the feel of the yarn, or we enjoy playing with color. Creating something from something else is appealing and enjoyable. And sometimes, we knit because knitting is magic. I give you: The Baby Surprise Jacket.

It doesn’t look like a darn thing, does it? All floppy and wrinkly, totally shapeless. Where’s the top? Where’s the bottom? Are there sleeves at all? And then a flip and two seams later, and you get this:

A baby sweater, completely charming and miraculous. To be sure, this one is only about 90% finished – I haven’t done the shoulder seams yet (I promised my secretary I’d show it to her unsewn), but this is basically it. All garter stitch, color changes when I wanted to, size 7 needles, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I’m completely enchanted by it.

The back. Just as charming as the front.

And now that I can tick this off my to-do list, for all intents and purposes, I have a sock to finish, two sets of mittens to start, a scarf to work on, and yes – I cast on for another set of socks the other day. Cables. Very complicated. I’m excited.