Excuse Me For A Moment

I just remembered that I wanted to talk about something that’s been bugging me recently. I want to admit that I have a Problem with skirts. And also dresses. Especially ones that are knee length or shorter and NOT worn with leggings or pants underneath. As a woman of a certain age one would think (erroneously) that I would be quite familiar with the wearing of such. After all, I always had to wear skirts in school as it was against the rules to wear pants in that bygone era. And I was totally up front and centre in the wearing of the micro-mini-skirt in the mid-1960’s. They were teensy-weensy and yet I managed to keep my knickers to myself! (At least most of the time. Heh.) However, somehow in the long intervening years I’ve lost my skirt wearing ability. How did this happen?

To wit, just the other day I was dressed in one of my mid-knee-length elastic-waist skirts with a collared T-shirt and a shorter over-layer that could be described as a pinafore. The proportions looked ok (to me anyway) and the colours coordinated nicely but I felt a little breezy somehow so I added some stretchy shorts underneath. And well that I did because whilst we were out walking it was very windy and my skirt kept hiking up annoyingly in front when the wind blew from that direction. Also I got heated from the brisk walk and would have suffered from the dreaded chub-rub without my shorts to prevent nasty chafing. How on earth do all the girls wear skirts comfortably? Is it just me? Or are they not quite as insouciant as they appear? I demand to know! What clue am I missing? Does everyone just sit around looking elegant all the time?

And then there are the maxi-skirts that are so popular right now. These are just as annoying, I swear! How does one go up a flight of stairs carrying things so that you haven’t got a hand free to hike up your skirts? How do you not constantly catch your heels in the hem? Inquiring minds want to know! Or maybe I’m not a Real Woman? Have I been turfed out of the club because I don’t wear makeup or dye my hair? Someone forgot to give me the memo.

The only skirts I can happily wear and most importantly function in come down somewhere between below the knee and the ankle. So delightfully 1980’s. So dowdy. Unless one is very very careful with proportion, fullness and shape. Sigh. And even then I still need to wear something underneath to prevent chafing when out walking. Any wonder why I mostly wear pants? Or at the very least leggings or tights underneath? My shapely calves and ankles are honestly some of my best features and they rarely ever see the light of day. So sad. I’m sure you can sense my frustration. I want to be all girly and wear cute sundresses too! Wahhhh!!!!

So, it is what it is. I must use subterfuge. OK. Nevermind. Rant over. On to new horizons. More soonest.

A Wee Rant

Computer talk coming!!! If you’re allergic to technical stuff, I suggest you skip this post and come back later. I’ll be back with my new sweater soon! Hint: love it. Debbie Double has it on right now and I want it back!

Well, I’m in a bit of a quandary these days. We have 3 computers in our house that run on Windows XP. It’s fine; it works; it’s all good. But unfortunately Grandfather Microsoft in its infinite <cough choke> wisdom has seen fit to chop poor XP’s little OS life off! Next week. Never mind that about 1/3 of the world’s businesses still run on it. Never mind that a bunch of the legacy software that I still use won’t run easily on any newer OS. And NEVER MIND that these computers (that are paid for and all and still work just fine thankyouverymuch) are so old and decrepit that they won’t run spanking new Windows 8.whatevertheheck. NO! They will pull support out from under good old XP anyhow. Curse their bones and pixels!

So I’ve been obsessed about finding out what my options are. I’ve tried to figure out how I use my computers, what software do I use all the time and what is just old unused stuff hanging about. I was happy to find out that Symantic has promised to keep my Norton security going for the foreseeable future since XP could very well become a particular target after the plug is pulled by MS. One worry down. Many more to go.

As if chopping XP off wasn’t enough, mean nasty old MS also plans to bail out on Office 2003 which of course is what I’ve been using quite happily for nearly ever. I’m angry enough at the moment to start looking for free open-source substitutes for Outlook, Word, Excel etc. I’ll have plenty of time to get used to the new stuff and integrate it into my system. I just might like it better. Who knows? Is MS aware that they are actually driving people away from their products? I can’t be the only one. Even Windows Live Writer, which is the offline blogging program that I’m using to write this post, is no longer supported. Ugh! In my research I haven’t found anything comparable in its functionality. In this case especially I think MS is missing the boat completely. They had a very good product there and foolishly let it drop.

Whatever. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be business as usual for the next while at least. Nothing is going to immediately self-destruct! However I’ve been carefully researching my options in case I have to buy a new computer in the future. For starters, my old flatbed legal-sized scanner will likely not work on a new system because it’s SCSI which needs a special connection. Yet another expense for a new one. Sigh. And there’s lots more questions that need to be answered here. Is each important piece of software immediately transferable to Win 8.1 or would it need to be upgraded - assuming an upgrade exists? Several of them haven’t been revamped in years. (I’m looking at you, Knitware!) Others I could live without I suppose. It’s kind of like cleaning out your closet. “Have you used/worn this in the last 2 years?” My crafty focus has changed somewhat in the last while so that’s a legitimate question to answer. A rather difficult one sometimes. If I get rid of it will I need it soon after? You know how it is.

It’s fascinating to me that “hobby” programs like weaving, knit charting, beading, sweater design, tabletweaving etc. are kind of one-offs, often created by a programmer husband for his crafty wife or sometimes by the crafty person themselves. The programs see a flurry of interest, maybe get an upgrade or two and then are abandoned by the programmers (and possibly the frustrated users too) even if there are no other competing options. A few have lasted over time. One example is Fiberworks PCW, my weaving software. (Thanks, Bob!) In fact I won’t put a warp on without looking at it in PCW first. I’ve been using this thing since it was a baby DOS program. Yes, that’s a long time! There is even an upgrade that I don’t have but will need before it will work with Win 8. It costs though. Again.

Obviously I don’t use computers quite the way most other users might, especially in a home environment. Apparently most people download and answer email, surf the Internet, watch videos, hang out on Facebook, Tweet and maybe write an occasional business letter, list or report. I do some of that (minus the Facebook and Tweets) but also tweak and design knitting and weaving patterns, edit photos, write up my makes, blog and read books from my public library. Among other things. I’m not what you might call a power user at all. I’ve just had a very long-time relationship – about 30 years. Ever heard of a Commodore 64. We had one of those. I learned word processing on it with no hard drive and an 8” floppy disk. So fun. Today my microwave has more brains than that thing did. Gotta start somewhere!

Anyway, I’ve spent the better part of two days futzing around with my main system. I’ve updated several programs to the latest versions. Next, I do a really careful backup of all the important stuff from both of my computers. Thom is already onto his but he has much less to deal with so he’s not nearly as flustered as I am. Only one of his computers is a PC and he doesn’t use it very much. His MacBook Air is his baby. Do not suggest I get one! I’m just not going there. Though if pressed I might consider an iPad Mini. But not while there’s life in my iTouch (5 years old) and my netbook PC (6 years old). And my desktop computer is older than either of them. Yes, I tend to take care of my things. I want them to last as long as they can.

I guess that’s the end of the rant. I digressed somewhat but hey, I’m allowed. This is my pond after all! More soon.

Deck The Malls

Yesterday we took an extended public transit ride in the snow to the mall. Not just any mall either but the largest one locally. I usually have a good sense of direction. After navigating us across the continent and back one would think so! But I absolutely get lost and disoriented every time I step into it which is probably why I haven’t gone there in a couple of years. However we had procrastinated ourselves out of purchasing the only set of gifts we actually give this season – jammies for the grandbeasties. No hope for it then. The Mall at Excessmas. Yikes.

On a Monday mid-morning it thankfully wasn’t particularly busy. At least not crazy-busy! After much hunting around we managed to find what we hope will be suitable. Just guessing on the fit because child sizes mean nothing to me these days. While we were at it we also found a replacement floor attachment for our elderly vacuum cleaner.  The current one has no bristles left on it. Apparently the design of the connection hasn’t changed which is a miracle really in this day of planned obsolescence. We also had a yummy lamb souvlaki lunch which was definitely the highlight of the trip.

I shop so little these days (apart from groceries and craft supplies) that I was quite overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff for sale. Holey-Moley! Such a lot of it was Holiday Hideous! Does anyone really wear floor length dresses covered in cheap sparkly bits and frilly chiffon layers? And extra high platform spike heels to go with? Or perhaps I should ask do they actually wear them in public? Apart from the toddler/kindergarten set dressed in their princess play costumes, I thought most women would grow out of that mega-frou-frou phase. Or am I missing out on all the right parties? And I’m sure she was just dying to change into the adult-sized onesie with a giant British flag afterwards. Nevermind.

OK, I know! I’m definitely not the right Target Demographic! (Thankyouverymuch.) One good thing I noticed was that the girls clothing department was finally trending away from All Pink All The Time. Black, red and a smattering of other options. However, just try to find something without a licensed commercial image on it! Disney, Hello Kitty, Angry Birds, Spider Man…you pay to advertise for the corporations. And the kids are happy to wear recognisable “friends”. Guess this is just the logical extension of the Mickey Mouse ears that I used to wear while watching the TV show as a kid?

Yes, of course I could have sewed the Beasties’ jammies myself. And probably should have too. But I don’t have any of the right supplies nor their current measurements on hand so that would have meant thinking ahead! Didn’t happen. Maybe next year. Or not. Christmas is not a huge deal for me anyhow aside from spending precious extra time with family. I don’t enjoy the constant marketing hype, the shopping and decorating, the huge expectations and the inevitable letdown afterward. I know I’ve said this before but it’s gotten completely out of hand as a holiday, religious or secular. I’d rather ignore as much as possible and just pick out the parts that I can live with. The rest can go jump in a sleigh and fly away! Life is too short to worry and stress. I already have what I need to be happy. Santa doesn’t have to bring me anything more.

Annual Seasonal Rant Over! Moving right along. It’s currently snowing in Vancouver for the second day in a row. Yeah, unusual, huh? Tee-tiny snowflakes which don’t amount to much. It’s been warming up from the arctic chill we’ve had for the last week or so but still hovering somewhere around freezing. The fascinating sculptural ice build-up in the water garden is starting to melt:

It’s relatively warm enough now to take the blanket off my rosemary. Hope we haven’t lost any plants but we likely won’t know spring. Stay warm! Or cool, depending on where you are. More anon.

A Wee Rant And Other Things

This staggered line of rusty pieced metal forms that sway slightly in the wind that we found at the edge of Seattle Center is both interesting to the eye and softens the view of a parking lot near the EMP Museum. I quite liked it and wish that Vancouver could invest in some better street art than the "poodle-on-a-stick” that was recently erected in my neighbourhood. Blech. What a gigantic waste of money that perhaps could have been used to improve public transit instead of cutting back. I know art is in the eye of the beholder and all. And yes, a little controversy is not a bad thing. But as far as I know, nobody really likes the giant poodle (except perhaps the misguided artist herself and whoever approved this commission) not even our mayor. I won’t post a photo here. If you want to see, just click on the link to the news story above. Or this slightly more positive one. Or this one. The comments are telling.

Mini-rant over. Moving right along. Here’s the FO that I promised:

Rosa Grey Tunic

For: me

Begun: February 9, 2013

Completed: February 26, 2013

Yarn: Dilthy-Wolle Linum, 50% linen/50% cotton, colour 1907 (dark grey), dyelot 102701, 80m = 50g, 8 balls.

Needles: Addi Lace Cliks, 5.5mm

Pattern: Rosa’s Sleeveless Cardi-Jumper by Emma Fassio. Free pattern from Ravelry here.

Mods: My gauge is off because my yarn is much finer so I needed to adjust sts & rows. Luckily this simple pattern is easy to fix. I began with 94sts, divided 32/1/13/1/32/1/13/1. Then I worked the increases to 22 rows before binding off for the sleeves. I added 3 st under each arm for a little more room in the bust. Knit straight down until row 67 and then began increases for the hem points, I just kept going with the increases until it was long enough for a tunic length at row 130. This makes really nice long points!

Comments: Swatched with the dark grey linen/cotton yarn from deep stash. It’s at least 20 years old and already been knit into 2 different garments and frogged both times! Third time lucky - a garment I can wear. I love this simple but funky tunic! It blocked out really nice and flat with hardly any rolling on the hems. I’ve already worn it to an event and got several positive comments.

Note that there are still 6 balls left of this yarn! Sigh.

Plus I have another FO to show off today:

Shibori Bag

Completed: March 9, 2013

Materials: Kit from Kasuri Dyeworks. Includes piece of black and white shibori fabric, poly lining, 1 yard of kumihimo braid and instructions. Purchased at the Sewing & Stichery Expo, Puyallup, WA, Feb/Mar 2013.

Comments: For once I didn’t sit on this project for a decade! The finished bag is about 5.5” wide x 7.5” long. I didn’t follow the instructions exactly because the piece of shibori was not quite the right size and I didn’t want to trim it. The lining piece was somewhat shorter and wider so I trimmed a piece off to fit the width and after sewing the lining and the bag together I folded down the shibori inside at the top until the lining reached the bottom of the bag. This meant that the slots that I left for the ties were somewhat closer to the top of the bag than I would have preferred and the bag is a little longer proportionally. I think it worked out OK anyway and as a bonus I didn’t lose too much of the floral pattern. I was careful when pressing not to flatten the shibori texture too much. Now to find something to put in it!

Meanwhile I’ve been knitting away on my Orange Aeolian Shawl. So far I’ve done the Set-Up chart, the Yucca chart 6 times, the Transition chart and am partway into the Agave chart. Boy, did that last chart give me trouble! I knit the first row over and over without it coming out correctly. I checked the web for errata or difficulties. Nobody reported anything. I resorted to re-charting the last 2 rows of the transition chart and the first row of the agave chart to see how they corresponded. Looked all right. But I was missing something in the knitting of it. I had extra stitches that wouldn’t resolve. Out with the pattern sheets and…then I caught sight of the Symbol Key. There was my problem. I was reading a thick diagonal line as k2tog instead of k3tog. The same with the opposite slant and ssk instead of sssk. Urp. The symbols were too much alike and I was too tired to see the difference. This Knitty pattern by Elizabeth Freeman is beautifully written with lots of explanation and detail. The mistake was all mine and I paid for it with a lot of frogging and frustration! But I’m over that now and on my way again.

I haven’t started the new Red Blodgie’s Sweater yet but I’m nearly at the toes on both of the Speckled Socks for T-Man. I’ve also block-fused the Bravo Bella bra fabric together with the lining using Wonder-Under. This worked well for me in the ivory sport mesh bra so I’m hoping it takes some of the extreme stretchiness out of this ivory shiny/matte vaguely animal-print fabric. No wonder it’s so hard to make bras that fit when the fabrics are all so completely different! There’s enough here for at least 2 or 3 bras if I can get other elastics and findings for them. We’ll see how it goes after this first one.

BTW, I found out the 30-foot-high rusty installation is called “Grass Blades” by John Fleming (2002). More info (and better photos than mine) here.

Obligatory Seasonal Complaint

So how’s it going with you? Are you fed up with the holiday prep yet? Are you anxious and stressed? Or serene in the knowledge that you’ve got it licked this year. As you might know if you’ve been reading here for awhile that I am Mrs. Damselfly Scrooge and I bah-humbug all over Christmas. Not really, but I just can’t deal with the hype and the inflated expectations so I just ignore as much of it as possible. Although I was brought up Catholic, I haven’t believed in religion of any denomination since I was 13. (I won’t go into why because I know I’ll offend someone.) So the “real” meaning of Christmas is lost on me and all I can see are the huge overwhelming sales pitches and the unrealistic expectations. Bleh.

This year though it all seems a little subdued in some ways. The free biweekly newspaper still comes with pounds of flyers but I’m not seeing as much over-the-top decorating and in-your-face marketing going on in the shops. Even the seasonally-appropriate music isn’t nearly as annoying as usual. And most actually waited until well into November before ramping it up. Even folks putting up the lights in my neighbourhood seemed to happen later this year. Of course I just might not be noticing these things since I’m making a concerted effort to stay away from shopping malls! Either that or I’ve finally developed a more serene attitude.

OK, Yearly Rant Against the Inevitable over. On to the latest Finished Object.

Sucky Baby Mitts

For:  Rosebud (1 year old)

Begun:  December 2, 2011
Completed:  December 12, 2011

Yarn:  Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett, colourway 4455 (ember), dyelot 32636. 210m = 50g. Used about 15g.

Needles:  Clover Takumi dpns, 2mm.

Pattern:  My own, created on the fly. See my Ravelry page for pattern instructions.

Comments:  These are so cute! I had a special request for mitts to keep Rosebud’s hands warm on winter walks in the stroller. She still sucks her thumb so I thought a fingerless version would work best. Since I couldn’t find a pattern that I liked, I just made these up as I went. I didn’t like the thumb treatment at first thinking it was too tight so I pulled it out to fix it. Now the thumb openings are more similar to my favourite Jacoby Mitts. The high ribbed tops can keep her hands warm but still be folded down for finger access.

So far these haven’t been put to the baby test! They also need her auntie’s mitten clips to secure them to her person. However, if they work out OK I may be making more pairs. At least they’re quick now that I have a pattern.

So why do you think she might need sucky mitts?

I can’t talk – I sucked my thumb until I was 12.

I’ll post the second FO sometime after I gift it tomorrow. Which reminds me - I need to package it up still. I’ve also been plugging away on my Madder Rose Shrug. It’s the only knitting going right now so unless I cast on for something new, this is it! At least I’ve gotten into the body and established the rib pattern. It needs a marker to distinguish the centre stitch turning point and then it’s pretty mindless.

In sewing news, I’m ready to cut out the Minoru Jacket. I spent awhile tracing off the pattern first. It was refreshing to need so few adjustments but I don’t like to cut up the original pattern sheets. The Sewaholic patterns come in sizes 0-16 with all sizes on each pattern piece. That makes for a lot of lines to follow for your size. Plus the print is quite light and the lines are fine so it was easier to trace off my size, including my waist-widening and sleeve-shortening, onto fresh tissue. I could mark the seam allowances and check the measurements while I was at it. I also traced a pattern for the inseam pockets that I want to add.

In tracing off the pattern I was even more impressed with Tasia’s pattern-making skills. The reason why the lining pieces are printed separately is because they are not exactly the same as the main pieces. The lining has a little more width and the armholes are cut a little higher to prevent the outside from puckering. Elegant. The instruction sheet is pretty succinct but the illustrations seem clear. If anyone feels nervous about sewing this garment up, Tasia will be having a sew-a-long in the New Year. Her sew-a-longs are really well illustrated and she takes you through everything step-by-step. I’m not going to wait though. I want this jacket asap. I think I can handle it on my own. Heh.

Unfortunately my Minoru (which I immediately recognised as named after a park in Richmond, BC, and yes, I’ve been there!) is going to have to wait until later. I have to go get my hair cut and fetch some groceries first.

Winter Kicks Fall’s Butt

We’ve been having a slap of winter weather around here – right on top of the fall leaves, some of which haven’t even fallen yet. We also had a hailstorm yesterday on top of the inch or so of snow and a lot of the resulting mess hasn’t melted away as it usually does. Hardly anyone shovelled their walks either, thinking that it would all just go away by itself like it usually does around here. But it didn’t. This made walking rather treacherous today and I almost fell a time or two. Weirdly, most of the snow is in our neighbourhood. A half-kilometre in any direction and there’s barely any trace left. At least the sun was shining! I can still hear the cars crunching by on our street though.

Anyway, we did our civic duty and got out to vote in the municipal election, snow or no. There are people in the world who are giving up their lives for the right to vote in a democracy so I think the least we can do is make use of the freedom we have here in Canada. Your local government is the one that affects you most directly too. Water, streets, rescue and safety, parks, community centres, libraries – somebody’s got to run it all for us. Besides, if you don’t vote then you can’t complain about them not doing it the way you think they ought to. The right to bitch about our leaders ranks pretty high on my list of democratic freedoms and I try not to ever take it for granted. Wonder how many of the Occupy folks are voting today? Oh, all right. I’ll stop with the politics now since I try to steer away from that stormy sea on this blog. Just vote when you have an election going, ‘kay? Rant over.

So, I finally have a couple of semi-decent photos of my recent sewing. First finished is the Sleeveless Tunic:

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The inspiration came from a garment I saw awhile back on Fawbush’s website. (Love so many of their clothes!) This is a simple shape like an oversized undershirt that’s quite a bit wider at the hem, just two pattern pieces that I self-drafted. The fabric (detail, left) is one that I bought at Fabric Mart in Portland, OR on the way home from our vacation. It’s a kind of slinky knit in black with a graphic pattern in light gray somehow knitted into it. I cannot figure it out! I originally thought it was printed on but it’s not. It’s very spongy and extremely stretchy but has good recovery. The good news is that it’s pretty easy to sew and doesn’t ravel. This pattern only used a yard of 60” wide and I have another project which also uses this fabric. I had 2 yards total so it’s exciting to get two garments out of it.

I ended up making a seam down the back (photo right) due to tight pattern placement on the fabric since I was cutting out both garments at once. The seam actually helped to make it easier to hem the neckline which was V-shaped at the back. I only used the sewing machine and not the serger to put together this quick top: a small zigzag for the regular seams and simple twin-needle hems. Since the fabric was super-stretchy I made sure to carefully stay-stitch the neckline and armholes before hemming. I had some trouble with the twin-needle stitching as one thread kept shredding and breaking. Turned out it was the needle and after changing to a fresh one, it sewed just fine. I luckily had a spare in the same 2.75mm width.

If I make this pattern again I’d like to add pockets! I didn’t have enough fabric for them this time. Either inseam or patch pockets would be really useful.

The second garment that I finished on Thursday was Banana Skirt Too, the second version I’ve made from BurdaStyle magazine, 07/2006 #125.

I love my heavy gray double-knit one so I decided I needed a black one as well. This fabric is a rayon/lycra knit and a lighter weight than my gray skirt fabric. It also creases easier as you might be able to tell from the photo! However, it’s very swishy and soft as well as quite stretchy. Very successful as a skirt. I had 3 metres so the rest of it is going to become a long-sleeved cowl-neck tunic and the contrast yoke and sleeves on a dress from the remainder of the above novelty slinky.

This skirt is really simple, just one asymmetrical pattern piece cut out six times. I forgot that you needed to cut each piece right side up though so they’re all going the same way! Luckily the fabric is identical on both sides or it would have been a disaster. I marked the pattern clearly so I won’t forget next time.

This time I used the serger more than the sewing machine and serged a wide 3-thread stitch to join the pieces and also along the top edge before folding it over and multi-stitch zigzagging a casing for the elastic. This is different than the way I did the elastic on the gray skirt but still simple and quick. The hem was cover-stitched. I decided in this case it was worth the effort to change the serger over to the cover stitch – though it’s quite involved and takes a few minutes to do it. Now I have to change it back again before the next project. It’s not hard but because I don’t do it often I need a cheat sheet to remember all the steps each time!

This skirt goes with everything and I’ve already worn it several times. Which is probably why it’s so wrinkled.

I Like To Rise When The Sun She's Rising

I just love tree branches against a pretty sky. That’s my walnut tree with some of the chestnut tree behind on the right, both all bare now.

We went to a housewarming at my nephew’s on Saturday and I managed to leave one of my favourite sock needles there. It accidently dropped on the floor and was found after everyone left. Now I have to wait until Christmas to get it back! At least I can use the spare from the matching set to work on either sock. I’m nearly up to the toes on the second pair of Frankensocks for Stargazer. Should be done by tomorrow or so.

My nephew and his lovely wife have a really nice new 2-bedroom condo with lots of room, lovely dark wood floors and a ground-floor patio that segues into common yard so there’s a view of greenery. Even with a migraine (boo!) I enjoyed the party with family and friends. I even had a lovely baby fix when I got to hold both a 15-month-old cutie (who didn’t last long in my arms but wanted to crawl around under the table instead) and a 9-week-old little guy with the loveliest smile. Yes, I adore babies. Doesn’t everyone? I love them best when I can give them back when I (or they) get tired! Babies are such wonderful little bundles of human potential. They grow up all too soon.

Then yesterday, after a quick 10-minute rainstorm, we went over to the craft fair that I helped jury just to check it out. It was very nice with a good mix of items and a lot of purchasing action going on. I chatted with one of the other jurors who had a booth for her silver jewelry and she said that everyone was happy with the fair and most were doing very well. T-Man had a good chat with a woodturner who uses local city tree woods. (Laurel is beautiful wood! Who knew?) And he also got to see the work of a glass beadmaker who’s work I absolutely loved when we were jurying. She strings her flattened oval or rectangular beads with Swarovski crystals and good-quality silver bead caps and findings. I don’t usually like too much of the sparklies but with her more subdued and often matte beads and the silver, they looked perfect. Now I’m wishing I’d gotten her card though if I really need her contact info I can ask the show’s organizer who is an old friend and neighbour. She’s got all the scoop.

Rant alert. Is it just me, or do others have a problem with someone selling a product that is a dead copy of someone else’s work that has already appeared in a how-to book? I can understand being influenced by the author’s work or using some of their ideas and techniques in your own work. We all do that in some way or other because nothing is really totally new and different. I just can’t understand copying stitch for stitch so that it’s so much the author’s style that you can’t tell the difference. Maybe for yourself or a gift but doing it over and over again to sell? Wouldn’t you want to develop your own voice and your own style? Or is it just all about making money by selling to folks who may not have seen the originals? Yes, there was one craftsperson at the fair whom I totally disagreed with because of the knock-off quality of her work. However, I was outvoted by the other two jurors who didn’t think that was a problem. Though they did reject yet another person who also used the same patterns but her workmanship was not as quality. I understand that the originator published his patterns for folks to use. But I don’t think he meant “please copy me exactly and make lots of money using my designs” even if that wasn’t specifically stated. I don’t have the book at hand to check. Regardless of copyright laws or whatever, I think it’s a moral and artistic integrity thing. Or am I just being oversensitive because I really loved the original idea? OK. Rant over.

We took a good look at everything there – but of course we didn’t buy anything! It was good to see handcrafts selling well right now though. Must be a trend to buy local and handmade instead of offshore and cheap – good news in this tough financial climate. Maybe the downturn has some good in it if it makes folks become more aware of where their purchases originated and where their money is going. Not to mention how much stuff one really needs to be happy. Refashioning or repurposing (why does that word crack me up?) is a hot trend as well. However I do think you need to consider if the item you are creating is going to be useful and pleasing over the long term or if you’re just making junk into more junk. Just saying.

Speaking of stuff, I was disappointed to have lost contact with the person who was going to sell me her drum carder. I don’t know what’s up but several emails and a plea to the Canspin Yahoogroup where I first saw the sale message haven’t born fruit. It’s been a week since her last message where she sent me the photo of the carder. Maybe her email went down before she received my reply with my snail address and phone number? I’m holding out hope. I can wait. It’s not like I need the drum carder Right Now. I would love to know what happened anyhow. I’m an understanding sort. It would be better than dead silence and my wondering imagination.

Olly-Schmolly

I might be the only person around who isn’t the least bit interested in the Olympics. (Can I even type that word without getting dinged for copyright infringement?) And it’s not just because last I noticed Canada doesn’t have even one single medal. Here in Vancouver, the host city for the next winter version of this international money-grab…er, sports contest, I’m already Olympicked out. I and my children and probably my children’s children will be paying for the sports venues that none of us will ever use. We’ve been stuck in crazy traffic while they upgrade the streets everywhere and build another Skytrain line (mostly underground so Sewer-Rat line would be more appropriate) while we still won’t have enough public transit and there’s still too many cars on the bumpy roads. If this is only a fraction of what those poor Beijing-ers had to endure, then I’m totally sympathetic. The only way regular folks (there or here) will be able see the events will be on TV like the rest of the world because tickets are extremely expensive and limited. Not that I’m interested in watching a bunch of overachievers (who aren’t on enhancement drugs, uh-uh, nope) skate/ski/run/throw/twirl .00002 seconds faster or prettier than the next guy. I’d rather watch raindrops fall or flowers grow. They can do it faster or prettier too. And I get to judge. And award the gold medals too.

Even the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics had some parts faked with CGI. How do I know the sports aren’t also? I just can’t bring myself to care who wins. The whole point is pulling in money which mainly goes to a few while costing everyone else their peace and sanity and a whole load of personal cash to support the spectacle. Plus I’m truly unhappy with the Chinese government’s performance both internally and internationally. However that’s not why I’m not watching the TV avidly or even participating in the knitters version, Ravelympics. It’s mostly because as I get older, I get even less interested in competition of any kind. So what if somebody can do something better than someone else. Big deal. If you really want a challenge, why not do better things for the world. Something useful, kind, innovative, caring, helpful, sharing. Save lives, clean up the environment, cure Alzheimer’s or cancer, find a way to treat the mentally ill and drug addicted or whatever. Knit a blanket or a hat for someone who needs one. Or even clean out your aged auntie’s basement. Running around a track fast doesn’t accomplish any of those things. It’s just air displacement.

OK, my flameproof suit is on. Fire away! This likely won’t be the last of my complaining about this subject. We still have a year and a half until February 2010. I’ll need to stock up on projects and groceries to keep me peacefully in the house for those particular weeks. Though I could rent out my house for an alleged $5000 per week or at least that’s what somebody is asking for their house for 2010. Must be much nicer than mine. Maybe even has more than one bathroom…

And if you haven’t seen it yet, check out this fabulously funny post on the Olympics from the wonderful Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Meanwhile I’m starting to get over the sniffles. I’ve used only cotton hankies instead of Kleenex and feel very green about it. And speaking of green things, the woad is growing back something like 3 inches per day! If I had time I could do another blue dye session before we go away on holiday. But I probably won’t. Maybe when I get back because I should be able to harvest until October, though it supposedly doesn’t have quite as much blue in it by then. You’re supposed to be able to get several harvests from the plants from late June to early October, with the first and last being lighter and as many as 3 in-between ones giving the most colour.

Also green is T-Man working from home today to save a bit of gas and commuting time:


Doesn’t he look like he’s working really hard? Love the bare feet and comfy position in his big leather chair. Don’t think he gets to do it that way at the office, hey? Actually he works even harder at home and barely takes a break for the full 8 hours. He’s really lucky he has the type of job where he can telecommute sometimes. My job on those days is to keep him supplied with food and drink at his desk. And later to vacuum up the crumbs. Somehow I think I get the better part of that deal.

Good & Bad (But Not Necessarily Ugly)

So what important criteria do you consider when buying (or spinning) yarn? Is softness more important? Cost? Colour or multi-colours? Fibre content? Popularity with other knitters? Thickness: fine or heavy? Twist and ply: crisp, loose, single, fancy? I ask this question because I’ve seen some yarns lately that, although beautiful and soft, looked like they wouldn’t hold up worth a darn (hah! punny!) in a project that actually got worn and used. So what is the point of using a yarn that has absolutely no durability in a project that takes as long to make as something hand-knitted or crocheted? What a waste of time!

Durability is actually a combination of factors that all combine to help a yarn survive abrasion, snagging, washing and the like. The fibre content, length and thickness of individual fibres, preparation (parallel or more jumbled), thickness, amount of twist, number of plies etc. all are important. Of course some items see less of those than others: consider socks vs. a shawl. One is in your hot footwear being rubbed between your skin and the inside of your boots and the other is delicately slung around your shoulders. Socks need frequent laundering whereas a shawl may only get washed and re-blocked once a year, if that. A softly spun yarn made from short delicate fibres won’t hold up to hard wear in socks but may be just what you want in a shawl. Though I have discovered that lace shawls in particular are prone to snagging on things if you aren’t careful. Unless you keep your knitwear permanently in a mothproof storage bag in a dark closet, something is going to happen to it eventually! It’s inevitable.

However, creating your own garments or what-have-you means that you can choose carefully which yarn you will use, taking into consideration at least some of the nasty things they will be subjected to. That will at least reduce the chance of a short life for them, if not eliminating their eventual demise. For instance, I refuse to knit socks in pure merino wool. Pretty-squishy-yummy hand-dyed yarns of that type are available by the dozens but I won’t even consider anything without at least 25% nylon content or something similar to counteract the merino wool’s lack of durability. I don’t care if it means the yarn is not as soft as pure merino. My feet are more sensitive to bumpy stitches than to fibre content. (I knit tightly to compensate.) Add to that the criterion that sock yarn should be superwash too just to avoid accidentally creating socks for children out of adult ones after felting in the laundry. Commercial sock yarn with superwash wool and nylon either 70/30 or 75/25 lasts quite well both in wear and laundry. And it dyes really well too if I want the “handpaint” look. Why should I spend all my sock-knitting time on something that doesn’t hold up? Twenty years ago I used to knit socks from my handspun yarn but I don’t do that anymore just for that very reason. They were lovely socks but most of them wore out so quickly I couldn’t keep them repaired. I’m not especially hard on socks really but I walk a lot. And now that I knit them for other people too, I absolutely want them to last as well as they can. Or I’ll never be able to rest! Too many feet; not enough knitting. Yeah, I know I won’t stop anyway if only because I enjoy knitting them and my own sock drawer is full.

Another beef I have with yarns is the ones that are lovely in the skein but soon after knitting them up they pill like crazy. Berroco's Peruvia and the Malabrigo yarns are some of the ones I'd be particularly concerned about. (Though I hear Malabrigo is beginning to overcome the misfortune of the recent fire in their mill! Good on them.) These are all very softly spun singles. They don’t have the plying to help protect the fibres from being drawn out of the yarn. Those wisps ball up from abrasion which is what causes a pill. Some pills are pretty inevitable on any sweater but there is a limit to how much you (or the garment) can tolerate. You can pull them off or use one of those sweater stones or shavers, but eventually it either gets too bad to bother or too much fibre is removed and holes develop. Not good.

There are some really trendy yarns that I’m not tempted to buy. This is mostly because they remind me too much of handspun and for that I have the fibre, tools and ability to make my own. Noro in particular always surprises me with both it’s cost and popularity because it’s so crappy! Pretty colours and fibres but lousy quality. I certainly wouldn’t leave bits of sticks in my yarn when I’m spinning it anyhow, though some vm in a minimally processed fibre is inevitable. I also find some of their yarns harsh feeling but, since I’ve never used it, I suppose it’s possible that it softens enough after washing to be more acceptable. I guess I prefer to buy yarns that I can’t or won’t spin myself. I already have fibres and dyes in the stash.

While I’m on this rant, I’d like to reiterate my constant complaint about yardage in the ball. Most fingering/sock yarns and laceweights have considerable yardage because of their fineness. Recently I’ve noticed that most manufacturers have gone up to 100g balls, enough for a pair of medium-sized socks, from 50g, where you need two for anything more than small child size. But heavier yarns are dismally scrimpy in the ball, particularly bulky yarns. (Not that I use them hardly ever, rarely venturing much above sport weight.) If a pattern for a sweater calls for more than, say, 8 or 10 balls for a medium size, then the yarn should really be put up in larger skeins. I know the argument is that knitters just want to buy the exact amount for a sweater and not have leftovers but, come on — who wouldn’t rather have half a large skein left over than try to find eleventeen balls on the shelf with the same dyelot? Or another single ball months later when you run out on the collar or the last sleeve cuff? And who wants that many joins in a large sweater knit in the round when you can’t hide them in the side seams because there aren’t any? Perhaps I’m just used to the large skeins I get from my spinning wheel or the cones of yarn that I can buy for weaving. A mere 60 yards per ball the way some commercial yarns come just seems wrong. It wasn’t manufactured in short lengths — they had to cut it all up. Sacrilege!

Or is it just me and my skewed perspective?

So I’ve cast on a new pair of socks for Milord Son-in-Law even though I haven’t finished the A-Maizing ones yet. Naughty Damselfly. But I had to have something more mindless to work on at the guild meeting last night and on our little 4-day camping trip that we’re leaving on tomorrow. We’re meeting up with our kids at Lightning Lake in Manning Park. Unfortunately Nana decided not to come with us in the VW Westphalia after just having returned from a tour of the Maritimes. I think it’s the jetlag talking but they kept her pretty busy while she was away and, at 80 years and counting, she probably is pretty exhausted. She even met previously unknown-to-her relatives in Gander, Newfoundland! A trip of a lifetime for her. We’ll try to have fun dancing with the mosquitoes without her this time. Wish us well with the weather. You never know what can happen in the mountains.

Happy Earth Day!

There was frost last night. Yipes! That’s very late for us. We usually don’t have much more than a light frost after mid-March. Now I’m not feeling so bad about being late with planting my garden! It’s lovely and sunny right now though with a gorgeous robin-egg blue sky.

What am I doing for Earth Day? The usual stuff: composting, gardening, walking, not buying anything, and trying to figure out what to do with all of the non-recyclable plastic that takes up 90% of my trash. Packaging. Over-packaging in most cases. I consistently use cloth shopping bags and my backpack and I still have heaps of plastic to throw out. It’s convenient and helps produce stay fresher and last longer but I wish there was something I could do to reduce the amount in my bin. I do use a lot of plastic containers in my fridge to keep food fresh and they last much longer than plastic bags. Years even. But how do I bring home produce without the bags to protect them or keep them together. And how do I convince manufacturers that they don’t need to put everything in that hard plastic clamshell stuff that slices you into ribbons when you try to open it. It should at least be recyclable in the city’s blue boxes. And what’s with the organic soups being in tetra packs that aren’t recyclable, at least locally? How about glass containers then? They cost more but they could be reused like I do with the pasta sauce jars. My milk comes from a local dairy who still uses glass bottles! In future I’m going to be avoiding over-packaged goods as much as possible. My eco-rant for the day.

I’m nearly finished the 8 Hearts swap project. I have the notes printed out and 2.5 hearts left to bead. Then I have to figure out how to package them up for mailing in the most economical way. They’re kind of puffy so it’s going to be fun putting them in an envelope! At least they aren’t fragile.

I’m possibly going to be babysitting the grandkids today (yay!) so this will be a quickie post.

On Photography

Sweet Georgia’s lecture yesterday evening at the weaver’s guild meeting was great! I’ve learned a lot about photography over the years but I wouldn’t say I’m an expert. Some of my photos are good and some craptacular. Though I have improved a zillion-fold since I got my precious digital camera. Felicia clarified a few things for me, especially about diffusing light and depth of field. Now I have to go read my camera’s manual yet again. I did disagree with her somewhat about film. I think it has limited uses in everyday photography. Maybe for artistic purposes but even print media no longer want anything but digital. Now that we have high-megapixel SLR cameras the quality is plenty good enough for most purposes. For myself, digital has contributed to my abilities. Look! I can take a whole bunch of pics and see the results right away! No wasted film or chemicals or money. Pixels are free with the equipment. (In case you were wondering, I have a mid-range two-year-old Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ3. I’m very happy with her.) And then I can mess with the photos later in Paint Shop Pro. I loves me my brightness-and-contrast and my crop tools. Just to tweak a bit in case my original photos aren’t perfect already, you understand.

However I was a little peeved at the meeting attendees’ attitude about set-up and take-down. First off, it’s in a community centre. They require us to set up our own chairs and tables and put them away again after. Entirely reasonable and no biggie really. The set-up part seems to happen pretty much OK — early-comers start putting up chairs if none are out already, but take-down is another story as everyone either stands around yakking or scurries away after the program. I don’t mind doing some of it but I don’t want to have to do it all by myself Without Any Help! I realize that we are almost all female and a large percentage are older and have health issues. Heck, I have health issues myself! (And I ain’t no spring chicken either but we won’t mention that.) But many hands make light work as they say. I was lucky and there was a spare husband available to help with the chairs (thanks, Jim!) but I also put 4 banquet-sized tables away, 2 of them completely by myself. Then I didn’t sleep well last night because my muscles (such as they are — don’t laugh) were feeling the strain. I remember catching myself at one point snapping to a group of chatterers in my way, “If you’re not going to help, then don’t hinder”! Which immediately got me a temporary assistant. But jeesh, people! Lend a hand, eh? I’m really lousy at asking.

I did get quite a bit of Milady Daughter’s TulipTwo socks done while at the back-to-back meetings (executive and general, oy!). I’m past the heel turns on both but I’m not much liking the light/dark demarcation line at the instep. This yarn shades subtly from lighter orangey red to darker burgundy red and although it began the heel at the lighter part, after the heel turn it was up to the darker area. So there’s a more definite line between. And to make it worse, the upper section has the tulips and the lower one is plain knitting. I’m not going to do anything about it though. My first pair of these socks are similar and I don’t think there’s any way around it without doing a short-row heel which I hate. (They don’t fit my foot as well and they don’t last as long as heel-flap-and-gusset, so there. YMMV) Of course in the other sock it’s more gradual and not so obvious of a line. You didn’t think they’d match, did you? Photos later.

Question to Ponder:

Does anyone else see the irony in driving to the gym? Yeah, I’m back on my elliptical trainer, to which I have to walk since it’s in my basement. If I had to go to a gym I just wouldn’t. I’d clean my house instead — which actually is exercise. But apparently not the right kind.

The House That William Built

I forgot to mention earlier that we went to the Open House next door just to see what the inside of the house looked like. This is the one we’ve been watching for nearly a year and a half, from being torn down to not much more than the foundation and four one-storey walls and then built up again to a two-and-a-half stories with basement suite.

Did I mention I was wrong on the price? They want $1.79 million. After our little tour we think it’s totally not worth that much even though houses around here — or should I say the land — has risen to ridiculous heights in the last year. Why do I think it’s not worth the asking price? There’s nothing particularly remarkable or special about this house. It’s on a regular-sized city lot (ours is much bigger but our house is old and much smaller) and the materials and design are totally ho-hum. The only thing that we really liked was the shower on the second floor. Now that was some shower! Double-sized with jets and rain and all the bells and whistles. To die for. Everything else, not so much.

The main floor has a large living room, a dinky coat closet and an alcove with a built in desk to serve as the “office” or computer corner. Totally inadequate. My computer desk is about twice that size and we’re a two-computer family. (His is in our bedroom. On another desk.) There’s a small powder room and a mid-sized kitchen/dining room also on this floor. Oh and a broom closet. Not much storage in this house. Odd actually.

The appliances are supposedly “gourmet” but all I saw was some mid-range stainless steel. A free-standing counter (granite I think) and not a lot of cupboard space. The dining room area has French doors that open onto the very plain wooden deck. That nobody had bothered to sweep or clear the building supplies off for the sales presentation. Tacky.

On the second floor there’s the aforementioned bathroom, a big room with the toilet in its own little space with a door. Pee in private! As well as the great big shower, there’s a claw-foot tub. The washer and dryer are stacked in a small niche opposite the toilet. The sink is a single one with a nice marble counter but there’s not much room for personal items. You’d want some free-standing furniture for towels and such. This bathroom serves 3 bedrooms, none of which struck me as a “master” bedroom and none with an ensuite. The closets are fairly small as these things go with some built-in shelves but with mostly unusable space above the top shelf. Only small items would fit up there and you can’t really get at them easily. See? Not much storage space.

The half floor above this one has two open spaces with sloping ceilings and a skylight, one of which could be a bedroom and one an office or another bedroom. There’s a closet in each. And some little doors to attic spaces that totally reminded me of the ones in my house but smaller. Still too small to be the master bedroom. A queen-sized bed would barely fit and I’d be so jealous of that shower downstairs! The small bathroom up there only has a regular shower. Definitely not as cool. I checked to see how much of my house you can see from this window because it faces our bedroom down below. Hard to tell really. I’d have to see it in the dark with the light on in our bedroom. I think the angle is too acute. Or I’m totally making a curtain for that window.

The best part of this top floor is the “sleeping porch.” (Yes, that’s what they called it in the brochure.) It’s the little balcony under the eves on the front of the house. The one where the persistent pigeons had to be discouraged from nesting by the builders. This is the only place you can see the “view” touted in the brochure of the mountains and some of the downtown highrises. It’s quite a nice sight right now with the dusting of snow on the North Shore but wait until the huge old white ash trees on the next street leaf out and there won’t be much left of it. Just saying.

The basement suite is even more disappointing. They substituted even cheaper materials and appliances and it’s so very ordinary. The small bathroom has no window and just a bathtub with no separate shower. But it does have a closet with the washer/dryer, hot water tank, and hot-water heating system for the whole house in it. There’s two bedrooms and the living room, dining area and kitchen are all one open L-shape. Most of the windows are small and dark and the best light comes in the south-facing door and larger window beside it that looks out into the sunken patio space. Needs some decorating there for sure. It’s just ugly bare concrete. From the east bedroom you can look straight into my basement where my elliptical trainer is. (Remind me — NO workouts without proper clothing!) This suite could be for the in-laws, the nanny or a mortgage helper. You’d surely need a mortgage helper unless you are have lots of money and/or a really good job. But even if I could afford it I wouldn’t buy this house. Good thing I already own the teeny little old one next to it. With the big yard and nice deck. No wonderful magic shower though. Can’t have everything I guess.

BTW, this is my 600th blog post today. And I thought I'd never be able to keep it going...

Yahoo Is Making Me Crazy

For the last couple of days YahooGroups has been sending messages up to 10 times each. I’m on a lot of groups so it’s pretty annoying to fish through the hundreds of copies for the ones I haven’t read yet. Argghhh…Hope they fix it soon! Or I’ll go on No-Mail until they sort it out. There is nothing more disconcerting than finding about 400 emails in your Inbox. Yikes.

And I’m already crazy from all the banging and crashing and hammering next door. I had to ask them to remove some boards from my flower garden where they were flattening my poppies. I was polite and the guy I asked jumped to fix the problem quickly. However, the fence (belonging to their side luckily) is broken in about 4 places now and bricks are lying on our side of the divide between the houses. See the view through my basement window?

Some of this is inevitable but I hope they don’t trample everything in an effort to remove the debris. I’m not encouraged to worry much about the gardens on the west side of our property this summer. I’ll be happy if we get away with minimal damage. Meanwhile it’s encouraging me to either work in my studio on the opposite side of the house with earphones on my head or to go out for several hours during the day. Today I plan to do both.

I’ve finished my granddaughter’s bright blue overtunic for the wedding and I have to say it turned out very cute. I’m almost finished the sunny yellow undertunic and hope to be done that today before I go out this afternoon. Tomorrow I will concentrate on cutting out my DIL’s outfit. She wants a bit of a train on the overtunic so that should be fun to figure out. Good thing these are fairly simple shapes and I have a lot of sewing experience. (Got my first sewing machine when I was 8 but I won’t tell you what goofy things I made on it! I’m sure you can imagine.) It’s a matter of making it up as I go along, drafting the pattern directly on the fabric and sewing without a model to try it on constantly as I go. They’ll be over next week for us to babysit though so I’ll have a chance to get some preliminary fitting.

I’m turning the heels on the T-Man ribby socks. I should learn not to knit while watching a very exciting movie though. I had to fix a fairly large mistake this morning. We watched Children of Men and WOW! is that ever a great movie! Very thought provoking as well as superbly acted and amazingly filmed. It’s like a documentary and the people act very much as anyone would in such a tough situation. Clive Owen’s character is very much a hero but not in the usual kick-ass sense. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend this movie. Just don’t knit while you’re watching it.

I’m heading over to my friend’s house this afternoon to meet with some of the members of our Spectrum Study Group. Several of us missed the last meeting so we’re trying to catch up on our felted jewelry. I used some acrylic medium last night to stiffen my felt leaf-shapes and I realized that there’s a learning curve here and I need to experiment more. I have about 4 different kinds of acrylic medium and the one I used is a matte varnish. It worked fine to stiffen but dulled the colours just a bit (especially the black) and left some little plasticky bits on the back where it pooled while drying. I need to make sure it gets squeezed out more carefully so there isn’t any excess medium. Maybe matte wasn’t a great choice either because it probably contributed to the dulling effect. Next time I’ll try the gloss version. The leaves will definitely hold their shape well for a necklace though.

My smaller Christmas cactus thinks it's an Easter cactus. Don't think I'm going to argue with it — it's so pretty.

Coming Clean

So what’s with the fascination for knitting washcloths, also referred to as dishcloths? I know they’re small and you can play with shapes and yarns and pattern stitches, but come on! People, the darn things are useless! They’re stinky, germ-ridden and they never ever dry. Yuck! I don’t have a dishwasher so I do dishes by hand every day. I use a small plastic scrubbie for dishes and a cellulose sponge for wiping, both of which can go in the microwave often to be sterilized. (I don’t do bleach.) They actually dry out occasionally. And when they get tattered and grubby I throw them out without a qualm because they are cheap and plentiful. I once tried to use a handknitted washcloth for bathroom use, but it actually went mildewy and smelly because it was permanently wet. (Probably started to compost!) Inexpensive cotton terry washcloths dry overnight and can be reused a time or two before becoming laundry. So I repeat — what’s with the knitted dishcloths? I do not understand why anyone bothers with them. If you want to play with patterns in a small space, make afghan squares or something. Oh wait — you want a Quick Gift! Because you don’t use the darn things yourself so you give them to other unsuspecting folks instead maybe? May I suggest wrist warmers? A scarf? A sachet? A beaded knitted bracelet? How about potholders? A tea cosy? I hate knitting in heavy cotton yarn anyway. It hurts my hands.

On the Pomatomus front, I’ve got the legs done on both and am working on the heel flaps. These are in twisted rib as opposed to the usual heel stitch and I’m hating doing the p-tbls that are needed on the wrong side to match the k-tbls on the front. It’s not enjoyable because I have to do a much larger hand manipulation than normal to accomplish that stitch. And then the rest of the instructions for the heel turns, picking up the gussets and continuing are definitely not the way I usually do them. I’m afraid to “adjust” the pattern to my way because I don’t want to get lost and not get the feet right. So I’m slogging along reading directions and doing it Cookie’s way. Sigh. It seems so much harder somehow. Maybe after I do it once I’ll be able to see how I could shift things to my way, but I’m never going to do this sock pattern again! Even though I love the scaly design and the way the ribbing segues into and out of it. Nobody, not even my own self, is worth the time and effort these things cost me! It just isn’t fun and if it isn’t fun, I don’t want to do it. I have to drag myself kicking and screaming. Or bribe myself with promises of knitting on the other DS (aka Damselfly’s Standard) socks while reading blogs for equal time.

I’m sure everyone has their own favourite way to do socks. As you might know if you’ve been reading awhile I like ’em top-down, heel-flap & gusset, standard toe and mostly plain knit on a set of 5 dpns. I can do those ones in my sleep. Which is probably why I go a little nuts doing anybody else’s sock patterns. I’m stuck in a Sock Rut of my own making and it takes brute force (aka a really spectacular pattern that I’ve just gotta have) to heave me out of it. Or I just have to design it myself which keeps me engaged enough to do the knitting. The advantage is if I designed it, I designed it with my way of sock knitting in mind. Then I don’t have to bend my brain around someone else’s sock knitting style which is likely completely different from mine. Cookie A. does tend to create some delicious-looking socks though! Which is why I’m persisting because I also want to do her Monkey socks.

In techie news, after almost 2 years of blogging I have finally added a site meter so I can see how many folks visit at this here damselfly’s pond. I haven’t really been too concerned up to now, but I seem to be getting more comments so I want to know a bit more about what’s going on and where you’re coming from. And why you’re all so darned quiet! Well, maybe it won’t answer that last question.

Is It Just Me...

Or do holier-than-thou folks get up your nose hairs too? I’m specifically talking (this time) about vegans. Puleeze — not even wearing wool? It’s not like shearing is any more traumatic for the sheep than having your hair cut. And yes, I’ve been present at a number of sheep shearings. Significantly less traumatic than trimming a three-year-old child’s hair! (Ask me how I know.) I mistakenly thought that vegans were such because they valued animals and their feelings and championed more humane treatment, but obviously I’ve got it wrong. They don’t think that domestic animals have any reason to exist! Don’t they know there are many animals with a long history of close human ties who would not be able to survive without their human caretakers/companions. Most modern sheep for instance. Does that mean they should not live at all? Just chuck them out in the cold and let them fend for themselves, hey? I have so many arguments against this, I can’t even begin! I would ask for the reasoning for this idea from one of those who profess to be vegan but I won’t for fear I’d just become incoherent. I’m not very patient with narrow points of view. (Must be a reaction to my Catholic school upbringing.) And if you actually know any vegans, do let me know if they have a pet or shave or eat gummi bears or secretly wear silk undies. (I used to know a professed vegetarian who thought that chicken broth from a powdered mix was ok because there “was no meat in it”.) Just how far do you take this kind of thinking anyway? And FYI, plants have feelings too. Why not give them a break as well? But then what can you ethically eat? Hmmmm…

Whew! Rant over. I hope. Don’t ask me what started it or I’d have to tell you. So let ’em wear plastic. More wool and silk and alpaca and qiviut and other yummy un-vegan things for me. And we won’t even mention what I had for dinner. It was good.

I must be cranky because it’s so darn dark and rainy around here. Warm-ish too so I guess I shouldn’t complain. There are flowers starting to show including snowdrops, witch hazel and other of the earliest bloomers. Spring is coming. Eventually.



After looking through all those magazines last week, I’ve got some opinions on what styles might look all right on me and what doesn’t. (OK, I always have opinions. I’m a Scorpio. I can’t help it.) I’ve always been short and pear-shaped with small sloping shoulders, medium-small bust, wider hips and a definite tummy. I have a small frame with short extremities and the upholstery all in the centre third. Now that I’m past middle age, it’s even more so. This makes it hard to wear surplice or wrapped styles (they gap between tummy and boobs), wide dolman or dropped sleeves (they bunch up under my arms), raglan sleeves (they make my shoulders look even smaller), low necklines (you don’t want to see), skirts (they ride up in front over my tummy), or empire lines (they make me look pregnant). Too tight is not good nor is too loose. Not too overly trendy or “young” not because I care what others think but because they’re usually not practical enough for my lifestyle.

What’s left? Styles that skim the body, have a proper shoulder slope, and not add bulk in the middle. I love jackets, cardigans and button or zip-front vests. I like the length to stop just past my waist (what there is of it) or go down past my behind, not stop in mid-butt. I like the shoulders to fit to my back width and necklines to come to the right spot. Many styles right now have long elegant bell cuffs but though they look great, they would drive me nuts. I routinely shorten sleeves by as much as 3 inches because my arms are short and three-quarter length sleeves are great because I don’t have to adjust them. I tend to wear stretchy pants or sweats (never jeans) and instead of skirts I prefer jumpers or dresses, though I wear them rarely even for dress-up occasions. There aren’t many dress-up occasions in my life anyway. I also love accessories: wristwarmers, gloves (not mitts), hats (wild!), scarves (long and narrow), and small triangular shawls.

All these likes and concerns tend to somewhat limit my choices if I was stuck with the patterns that are available. Luckily I have a long familiarity with dressmaking and pattern drafting so I can make garments that (mostly!) work for me. The problem is that fashions keep changing and don’t always coincide with my taste. I guess the advantage of being a “granny” is that I’m becoming more invisible so nobody expects me to look fashionable! Both a blessing and a curse, I’d say. Somebody should give fashion designers the heads-up that we baby-boomers are a large force with money and taste and would like something that suits us better than styles made for tall skinny 20-somethings. Oops. Ranting again. It’s just that kind of day. Back to knitting socks.