Category Archives: knitting

more agnes.

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Getting ready to bind off the body stitches this morning.


Bound off! I added 2.5 inches to the length, below the pockets, so that this would hit me just below where most of my pants sit on my hips. I’m both stunned and pleased that my back-of-the-pattern math seemed to yield a sweater that fits me well! (I’m a little anxious about the blocking — it might just get steam-blocked due to shower-proximity rather than a full out soak, as I don’t want it to grow too much.)


We’re trying things with the cone off today. So far, Boh has been mostly good about not licking his still-healing scar.

And then I made pancakes. These are a little grey/blue because of the blackberries in the batter, and they were delicious. I made a whole batch, and just finished off the rest for “lunch.” I didn’t even add any syrup to these — the berries were enough. (So good — the first from the farm this season!)

Here’s one more dark hallway shot of the first sleeve in progress. So far, my math guesstimating is working out well. I’m trying to be good about writing down how I’m adjusting the pattern so I can make the right sleeve match the left.

Time to put down the knitting for awhile — friends of ours (two-legged and four-legged friends) are on their way to hang out and take a walk along the path in the backyard. And the sun is out. A new week has begun.

nothing but knit.

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(Apologies for the bad pun. I can’t help myself.) You’re looking at today’s plan: if we do nothing, nothing bad can happen. I realize there are several flaws in my logic, but you know what? Today, it worked. After taking a friend to the airport early this morning, I climbed back into bed with Boh and slept in. Then I curled up on the couch with Agnes, a movie, and some podcasts, and knit, knit, knit. I’m loving my Agnes pullover, and I’ve only got a few inches of ribbing to go on the body.

Here’s to a new week! (Back to work tomorrow.)

uncle.

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It has been quite a week, dear readers. Quite. A. Week. Broken window, injured pup, wasp sting, leaky house, waterlogged mattress, and today’s addition? Expensive car repairs. (The good news? My car is no longer squeaking/groaning in reverse. Which is important, because I’m driving it a lot this fall.)

Here’s my message to the universe: uncle. I give up. You win this week.

I recognize that all of these mishaps/messes/expenses are quite small in the grand scheme of things. I am quite lucky to have what I have, be where I am, and do what I do. I get that, and I don’t mean to just whine self-indulgently here about problems like these. So instead, I’ll tell you about that bowl of ice cream. Oooh, and that swatch.

First, the ice cream. Chocolate ice cream was on sale, so I bought some. Also, randomly, I bought a jar of peanut butter. (It wasn’t on my shopping list.) Last night, I thought to add a few spoonfuls of peanut butter to my dish of ice cream. I think you should try it. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Now, the swatch. It’s for Agnes, by Melissa LaBarre, and it’s from wool, book one, available at Quince and Co., with designs by Melissa and Cecily Glowik MacDonald. Honestly, I’ve been looking at this collection because of Avery, a gorgeous textured cowl that can be doubled up around your neck. But the more I looked at the pictures, the more I began to need Agnes — a sweet but simple pullover knit in bulky yarn — with pockets! This is a comfort sweater. And with everything that happened this week, last night I decided I needed one. The thing is, I don’t own any bulky yarn. I do have some EcoWool, but I wanted to knit Agnes in something with a little bit more color than the greys and browns I have. And I do have some Peace Fleece, which would probably drape nicely on bigger needles, but I want this to be both sheepy and soft, the kind of sweater I’ll want to pull on when I climb out of bed to make the coffee. Let’s face it: I pretty much knew I wanted to make this out of Beaverslide, and I’ve got plenty in the winter wheat colorway.

So I swatched. And while this stuff is lovely on 9s/10s (I think I thought I was swatching with bamboo and then metal 10s, but the metal needles are actually 9s), it does not want to be knit looser. So I looked at the pattern, and (famous last words from this historian) did some math. And I came up with my own numbers to make my 3.5 st/inch gauge work.

And then I started knitting. And I did some more knitting this morning, breaking my rule about knitting before coffee. (I may have dropped a stitch marker when I picked it up this morning, which meant my raglan decreases were off in one section. So I replaced the marker, and dropped down 8 rows to add increases every other row on either side of the marker. I was able to get three of the four increases in there, and faked the fourth. It is really tight, but I’m hoping when I block it that section will even out. If not, I can live with it. I just needed to keep knitting.) I also knit until dividing for the sleeves while waiting for the expensive repairs on my car this morning. And really, I’m only not knitting right now because I’m blogging.

And here’s what I’ve got so far. I hate things tight around the neck, so I cast on and knit the ribbing loosely. I think when the weight of the sweater is there, it will open up even more, and be just where I want it.

I repeat, this is not a mock turtleneck, even though it looks like one.

Bear with me. I managed to capture some silly Boh faces. Here he is, with his tongue out.

And here he is, mid-yawn. As you can see, the bandage is off, and his cut is healing very nicely. A few more days in the cone should do it.

Would you believe I’m still knitting from the first skein? Awesome. Time to wind another and keep knitting.

when it rains, it pours.

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Literally. And, apparently, inside.

Last night my yoga teacher mentioned that she had water in her basement. And then I thought to myself, hmmm, I wonder if my sweet old lake house is waterproof? When I got home last night, I did a carefully sweep of the basement and each room. Turns out, not quite. (By waterproof, I mean able to withstand the 5+ inches of rain we’ve had in the last 40 hours…)

I arranged some (colorful) buckets and mixing bowls under the leaks in the guest room (and a small drip in the office), and called my management company. They were here to take a look within ten minutes, and sent someone over to clean out the gutters and look at the roof first thing this morning. It sucks to have water damage, but it is nice to know that the folks that manage this rental are so responsive. Anyway, the guest futon mattress is waterlogged irreparably, so I’ve ordered a new one (guests can arrive in 5-10 business days), and properly disposing of the damaged mattress is on tomorrow’s list of adventures. (Hint: it involves a dumping permit and a visit to the county dump. So sad.) Unfortunately (fortunately?), futon mattresses are cheaper than my renters’ insurance deductible on overstock.com. So far, that’s the only casualty.

But that’s not what you came here for, is it?

I finished the decreases on my handspun seaman’s cap this morning, and I absolutely love the colors (even if they aren’t quite as vibrant as this photo suggests).

I’m not convinced that this style is the most flattering or practical for my head of curly hair, but I might keep it for myself anyway, if only for the beautiful greens, yellows, and browns in this yarn.

Okay, back to work. I’ve set up shop on the couch/coffee table so that I’m as far away from the fans/wet carpet smell as possible. And, of course, to be close to my silly, collar-adorned dog. (He hasn’t really left the couch this week — he seems to walk into all sorts of things with the cone on.)

i feel the need, the need for speed.*

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Or handspun.

Maybe it’s the weather, but all I want to do is knit with squishy handspun. And I’m okay with that. A few days ago, inspired by Lisa’s latest, I cast on another seaman’s cap — for me! I think this is handspun from Pigeonroof Studios fiber, and it is lovely. (*If Top Gun pilots were knitters, this is how fast they’d be knitting. Maybe.) I’m knitting the medium size (co 96) on US 7 needles, and I’m really enjoying how the greens and browns and yellows are interacting. Cool, damp, and rainy again today, which means I’d love to have a handspun hat on my head very soon.

Boh’s (mis)adventures over the weekend meant that I never shared some photos from last week’s research trip here. All of these (including the seaman’s cap photo above) come from my iPhone — I’m consistently impressed with the quality of the camera, which makes it easier to snap pictures without feeling like a tourist. Like when you really like the new chairs in the library you used to study in. (Note: this library has been seriously renovated since I graduated.)

My pedicure from a family wedding a few weeks ago — which, let’s be honest, is the only time my toes are painted. I looked through all the color options, and settled on this shade of deep burgundy/red/brown, partly because I needed a dark color to hide my black-and-blue toenail (TMI?) and partly because of the name. Lots of nail colors have frilly names, but this one spoke to me: Mrs. O’Leary’s BBQ. Love.

Alright, time to get to work. It’s already a few minutes after 9. Boh is snoring, which means I should be reading…

dog collar, wurm cowl.

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First, thank you so much for your concern about Boh. We both really appreciate it. He liked hearing your comments so much that he said it was okay for me to share more silly pictures of him in his ridiculous cone. (I probably would have posted them anyway…)

It is so hard to be this dog. Luckily, I’m not traveling this week, and had absolutely nothing planned for Labor Day except rest and recovery — for both of us. I did some knitting and spinning, went to yoga, and cuddled Boh (well, as much as one can cuddle a giant plastic conehead).

I finished my wurm cowl (though I still need to weave in the ends), and you were right — the colors aren’t too wild, and this will be the perfect cozy thing to wear with everything this fall. (And, since I’m paying my own heat at the lake house, I imagine this will help me to postpone turning the heat on until absolutely necessary…) I’ll take better pictures in good light with my real camera (instead of in a dark corner with my iPhone) very soon.

I also did some yarn untangling yesterday. I really should emphasize the “some.” This is a skein of malabrigo sock in Botticelli Red. I bought it right when this yarn came out — and the yarn universe wasn’t kidding when they said there were knots and breaks in this stuff. (ETA: I’ve heard that this was only really an issue with the early production of this yarn — I’ve wound skeins purchased more recently without a problem.) I first sat down to wind this yarn before heading to Chicago last month, and it was such a mess that I didn’t have time to tackle it before leaving to catch my plane. I did a bit more yesterday — but lost patience after about 45 minutes. Maybe I’ll try again soon, as this stuff is so pretty. I initially pulled it off the shelf to make Melissa LaBarre’s Skinner Hat, but that’s only going to happen if I can salvage most of a skein’s worth of yarn. Sigh.

By the end of the day, this guy was a bit more resigned to his fate: about ten days in the cone. I was so happy to see him sleeping/snoring in it, as I don’t think he slept much the night before. Sweet dog.

Hope the work week (or the semester, if today’s your first day back to school) starts off smoothly. I may be keeping my pajamas on for awhile longer, but I plan to be working studiously by the time 9 AM rolls around too.

conehead.

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This is me, knitting on my handspun wurm cowl, not on my couch. Why am I not on my couch in this photo? Because someone (ahem) cut himself on a piece of glass from the window he may have been involved in breaking this morning — BEFORE I poured my coffee. After cleaning up the glass, putting a makeshift bandage on Boh’s leg, and calling the animal hospital to figure out if we needed to come in (we did), I got dressed, and on the way out the door, grabbed my cowl-in-progress. I’m so glad I did, because I spent about four hours there today, at least half of them without Boh at my feet. The result? A clean wound (no stitches), antibiotics, a good bandage, and a very silly cone. (They call these e-collars. E for Elizabethan!)

Oh, Boh. I’m so glad you weren’t seriously hurt this morning. Let’s try to keep our paws on this side of the glass, okay?

handspun purl ridges.

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This project is inspired by CatReading’s wurm cowl. (If you have time, look through her other projects — her knitting is lovely.) I wound up my Rhinebeck cauldron handspun on Thursday morning, and took it with me for the weekend. I cast on roughly 180ish stitches and got to work. A few mornings at my parents’ kitchen table with a mug of coffee, and an afternoon pedicure with my mom created ideal conditions for serious progress — I’m well into my second skein. The squishy-ness of this yarn makes it absolutely addicting to knit. I’m optimistic about the outcome, but there’s a chance this will be too wild for me. I guess I’ll just have to keep knitting to find out…

Boh enjoyed our weekend trip, but I think he’s happy to be home. I’m off again tomorrow for another research trip, but Boh will stay here with a friend of mine. (I sort of wish I could just curl up with Boh on the couch for the week.) After this trip, I’ll have a few weeks without travel, and I’m really looking forward to settling into a routine that encompasses more than just planning for and recovering from trips!

back to life/back to reality.

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You guys remember that song, right? Okay, hold on, I need to Google it. Soul 2 Soul, Back to Life (However Do You Want Me), big hit in 1989.

Anyway, this jam (isn’t that what we used to call them?) popped into my head when I was thinking about how the routines are starting up again all around me, but that I’m not really going back to school (get it?) this semester. Instead, I have a semester of dissertation research and writing ahead of me, without any teaching obligations. (I’ll be teaching again in the spring — this time, my very own course.)

So instead of a back to school photo, you get a back to life/back to reality photo. This one’s not blurry. And it counts as a stripe-study-in-action shot! (I’m not sure it is actually cold enough to wear this out of the house, but at this very second, it is about 52 degrees outside. And on my porch. So I’m going for it.)

I’ve also got some baked goods to share:

This is Deb’s raspberry buttermilk cake (I know I’ve linked to it before) — super simple, incredibly delicious. I might have eaten it for breakfast AND lunch yesterday. Might.

And last night, when I got home from yoga, I scurried to get this tomato tart (farm tomatoes, local goat cheese, mustard, honey, thyme from my yard, and pie crust) in the oven. It took longer than usual because I was using a pie crust from a batch I made over the weekend rather than the tart dough that this recipe calls for, so I was pretty hungry by the time it came out of the oven. Leftovers for breakfast!

flour to scale.

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So, sometime-blogger, always-friend K. hopped a plane to a place where the words are very long. And she left me a big box of treats from her pantry, including this enormous bag of flour.

I’ll be honest. I’ve been struggling to reclaim my cooking mojo. Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the traveling, maybe it’s that I don’t really have anyone to cook for right now; I don’t know. But I haven’t been playing in the kitchen anywhere near as much as I’d like to want to, if that makes sense.

Enter that big bag of flour. I just had to bake something. So out came the measuring cups and spoons, and out came the loaf pan and an enormous farm zucchini.

And after an hour in the oven, voila: zucchini bread. This is the basic recipe in Mark Bittman’s big yellow book — nothing fancy, but it sure is delicious. (And this loaf had a touch of freshly grated nutmeg, courtesy of K.’s bag o’ treats.)

That was Friday.

I’m glad I enjoyed most of the zucchini bread Friday and Saturday, because today, I left the last sixth of it on the counter. Which, by the way, is where I leave most of my food. But this weekend, Boh and I have a house guest in the form of Tango, my neighbor’s loveable 3-year old ball of energy. Tango has taught Boh a thing or two about mischief…including, apparently, how to get the rest of a loaf of zucchini bread off the counter. Here’s hoping Boh was simply a witness, rather than a full-on accomplice.  All I know is that trouble has never looked so cute.

Oh, and here’s a bit of knitting! Like the zucchini bread, it’s nothing fancy, but I sure do like it. This is Ishbel, take 2, in what I’m pretty sure is still Yarn Pirate yarn from when I belonged to the Booty Club in a deep variegated purple. So lovely. Also, a little biased, because when I ripped out last time I wound it right back into a ball. Hoping I’ll be happy with it once I re-block. (Note to self: don’t be lazy about rewashing yarn…)

More soon.