Annie Knits

Planalto

I'm knitting away on sleeve two of Planalto.  I've been listening to the Jim Dale CD of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with the kids, and it  is so much fun.  If you haven't heard Mr. Dale read HP, you should get yourself on the list at the library or better yet, get yourself the CD.  Great for travel and knitting.   And, I think I read somewhere that they based a number of the  voices (Hagrid, Mr. Weasley)  on Dale's vocal interpretations (he had done the first three discs before any of the movies came out).  And I'm picking up on details I missed in my hurried reading.  And now that I know the end, well, the clues to the outcome of the story really stand out. 

Small spoiler -- skip to below the picture if you don't want to know ANYTHING about the end of the book!

J. K. Rowling did an interview with the Today show this morning where she tells that the epilogue was a lot longer as first drafted, and contained a lot more about the character's adult lives.   Google it to see what she had to say.

Here are two fronts and a sleeve.  Whoopee.  The pattern instructions are kind of funny.  Like I've been told to pick up and knit a certain number of stitches around the neck band, but not to seam up the shoulders (and no it doesn't happen later in the pattern).  Now I know to seam up shoulders and then pick up stitches... but maybe someone else wouldn't know.  Maybe they would. 

And buttonholes?  The pattern has you make one at the top, in the neck band, but says to just push buttons through the "garter band" for the rest of the sweater.  What?  Like through the lacey open stuff?  Through the actual garter stitches?  Hmm.

And the increase and decrease sections of the fronts and the sleeves are weirdly wordy.  Things like, "knit three, make one, knit to the last three, make one, knit three on each 10th row 3 times with stockinette inbetween," and "increase on both ends of this row and in 4th alternate row 3 times".  You really have to stop and think and re-read.  Not rocket science, not fiddly, just kind of convoluted.  This is why I like me some charts.

Here is a picture without the flash, so you can see the cable.  Which is surrounded by faggoting. Which is just yarn overs in both the knit and purl row so you have just twisted ladders of yarn and a very open look.  Actually, the open nature of the stitch shows quite well in the photo above.  Very summery.

Neither is a great color representation -- deep orange, bright orange, deep claret, hot pink.   Love the yarn.  Color, that is.  Not the yarn.  The shiny bit is terribly snaggy.  No fun to knit with at all.  So what does it say about me that I keep at this?  That I'm driven by color?  Or cool feeling (cool as in temperature) yarn?  I dunno.  I just keep at it, doggedly, to the exclusion of MS3 even. 

Of which I've completed 10 rows of chart E.  And, it seems, the kerfuffle has passed.  As they often do.  Ah me, the dog days of summer.

I'm going to sneak this in at the end -- I am nearing a comment milestone (for me anyway), so whomsoever is that auspicious commenter will win something.  Some yarn I think.  His or her choice -- lace or sock -- I'll have to go stash diving and see what we've got. 

Musing

Not as in a-musing, just rolling an idea around in my head, trying to wrap my brain around it.

There has, of course, been a minor kerfuffle over at the Mystery Stole 3 Yahoo group.  With 6000 people participating, you knew there would be a few mis-steps, didn't you?

The disturbance has to do with all of the theme-guessing going on.  See, there is an unknown (as of yet) theme driving the design.  The clues to the theme are the design itself and the idea that it was recommended that we knit the stole in either black or white or some variation of either.  And maybe, although there is some disagreement about this, that one might not want to wear it to a wedding... whatever.   Oh, and that it is not linked to Harry Potter books.

So, there is, of course, lots and lots of theme guessing going on.  And it runs the gamut from the fairly benign -- bees, some kind of bug or beetle -- to the less benign, as in fiendish.  And, apparently, over on Ravely, someone mentioned Dante's The Divine Comedy, specifically, the Inferno bit.  So a gal posted that she was going to set her stole aside until she could really tell what the theme was so that she wasn't putting her time into something objectionable and possibly fiendish.  The kicker?  She identified herself as a Christian.  Well.  You know what happened...  because, I think, that knitbloggers (the preponderance of the group, I think) are a decidedly left-leaning group.  And, I think, that the decidedly left-leaning in our culture in general tend to sneer at anything that purports to be Christian.   Let's just say that several of the responses to this gal's post were less than tolerant. 

Personally, I have a friend who said it best, and she can identify herself if she wants and take credit for this nugget:  If you think that your God objects to your knitting?  Well.  Maybe you just haven't heard him correctly. 

Puts me in mind of my favorite moment in a show we saw recently, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, where the cute little Catholic School girl, who cusses like a sailor (this show was an equal opportunity offender -- very funny) says in response to being asked to spell a pretty easy word, "Jesus, could you give me a harder word please?"  And there is an angelic kind of sung chord, and up in the balcony appears a Jesus character, dressed in white and with his Sacred Heart beating on his chest.  And he says to her, "Well, that's not really something I spend a whole lot of time pondering..."  Huge laugh.  And hitting right where we live.

I'm not really musing about the content of the concern, though.  Hey, if this person hasn't read Dante's Inferno (and really, how many people have?) she might not realize that it is a profoundly Catholic work.  About the wages of sin and hell, but it's certainly a cautionary tale.  And probably one ministers draw from without telling congregations.  Maybe it gets a bad rap in Evangelical circles due to it's Catholicism.  Who knows.  The 14th century was all about warning folks explicitly about sinning, wasn't it?  Hmm...parallels to today?  Medieval/Renaissance Left Behind series?   Hmm... just different cloaks.

My musing relates more to the piling on that happened in the name of liberalism.  The sneering dismissal, the fun-poking, the general dismissal of deeply held beliefs.  We all do it, don't we.  And I think it digs the chasm between us just a little bit deeper every time. 

Yeah, I object to voting according to a single issue -- letting the one tree right in front of you blind you to the rest of the forest and it's needs seems uneducated to me.  Seems small minded somehow, to draw such a small circle around your impact on the world.  And there, my friends is the source of the sneer, I think.  The Cardinal Sin, if you will... appearing uneducated.  Un-lettered, so to speak.  Un-traveled.  Because, to liberals, these things give us empathy.  We can give credence to the beliefs of others, can validate them as powerful.  Because we empathize.  Unless the recipient of the empathy is unempathetic -- unwilling to accept the views of others as powerful (which by the way is the strongest objection I see to liberalism -- that we don't take a stand for our beliefs, that we don't know right from wrong, that our very core belief in tolerance and affirmation makes us by definition wrong), then we are startlingly and nastily intolerant. 

Hmm.  See?  Musing.  Not a-musing.

I'm finished.

No, silly, not with Clue 4 of the Mystery Stole!  With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Anyone else finished so we can discuss?  Via email of course... no spoilers here.

Really.  Leave a comment or email me if you're done with the book so we can talk.  Seriously.

All Kinds of Crazy!

I'm of the 'Thriller' generation.  So when I saw this, I had to pass it on.  Ok.  Click on this and watch it.  Really.  It's either totally disturbing (and safe for work) or it's awesome.  I can't decide which.

The only knitting here is MS3 and I'm starting the 4th clue.  Google that and see how many hits you come up with and go look at one of them.  Looks just like mine.  Only mine is brown... ; )

And a Good Friday Morning to You Too!

How are you?  We're good here.  We've been to the St. Louis Zoo (number 1 in Zagat survey this year!) and the new Harry Potter movie this week.  The Zoo just seemed like a logical choice yesterday, seeing as the temperature was a low as it's going to get this week -- mid 80s -- and the humidity was low too.  Seemed like an outside day was in order.  Even for the 14-year-olds.  So, Amanda and I took  the 2 14-year-olds, 3 10-year-olds and a 7 year-old to visit our old zoo friends. 

Earlier in the week, the kids and I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  We liked it, but it's not really for those who haven't read the book, I don't think.  It really moves fast and furious, dipping a toe into numerous plot twists.  As an inveterate Potter-head, I wanted to see more.  Ah, me.  The kids liked it though.   We can't wait for the last book to come out the 21st.  We're already squabbling about who gets to read it first.  I guess I'll have to get the audio so I can knit....

Mystery Stole 3 knitting continues this morning.  I finished the second clue on Tuesday morning and I was missing knitting on lace.

Here, I'm a couple of rows into the 3rd clue.  This clue will be an easy knit as it's mostly geometric and repeating patterns.  That stack up.  Easy to make sure I'm not making mistakes.   I found the first clue to be the most difficult so far... with that medallion.  I'm not a medallion kind of girl.

This is a more lifelike representation of the color.  And as you can see, I'm my stole is about 18 inches wide, unblocked.  The stole, knit by Melanie in Zephyr, is only 20 or so inches, I think.  Mine'll be bigger -- this cashmere will certainly fluff up too.  Hope it's good.  I'm fighting the urge to take it off the needles and wash it just to see.

To satisfy my lace-knitting urge this week, after I finished up Clue 2, I cast on for several lace weight shawls.  Two from Victorian Lace out of Kid Silk Haze.  One of the scarves -- the Scarf with a French Trellis Border?  Nah.  The needles were too big and the pattern was too fussy.  How about the Shoulder Shawl in a Syrian Pattern?  Nah.  Not enough lace early on to sink my teeth into.   Neither still exists in knitted form...  Knowing there had to be something in my stash that would work, I got out the Diamond Fantasy Shawl pattern and surveyed my yarn choices.  Ahhh.  This was just right. 

Judy's Handyed Merino and Silk, Echinacea colorway.  Doncha think?  And if you've fallen off the Stashalong wagon, go on over and shop.  Her dyepot has been busy lately...

I took time out from lace knitting this week to finish seaming and weaving in the ends on the Baby Buckeye Sweater.  Baby nephew's baptisim is this week-end and Dear Son and I are going for a visit.  Just in time for the OSU pre-season.  Little gray buttons go on later today when it is dry.

If you don't remember the particulars:  Candace baby sweater from Bee's Knees Knits; stash self-striping jacquard sock yarn and plain gray sock yarn -- who knows what this stuff was, all I know is that it's discontinued; size 2 and 3 US needles.  See the little intarsia square on the back?

So.  I've got to get back to Mystery Stole knitting this morning.  So I can work on the DFS.  Or Planalto -- I've gotten half-way up the second front of that sweater, but no pics.  Second verse, same as the first.  Or some Harry Potter socks (remember this yarn?).   

Holy Mystery Stole 3, Batman!

Wow.  You can't shake a nostepinne around the knitblog world without hitting a MS3 knitter.  I mean there are now more than 6000 folks signed up for the Yahoo Group (sign-ups end at midnight if you've been under a rock). 

I admit freely and without reservation to being entirely caught up in the hoopla. 

My progress as of noon today.  The lifeline is the end of Clue One.  Not just a ton of progress, but I had to tink back a few times.  Lack of concentration.  I guess I could do some handwringing about how there is not the degree of looseness I usually get with lace yarn.  And this stuff fluffs up after a good soak too.  Remember the swatch?

Really fluffs up (the shawl picture is a better representation of the color of this yarn).  But you can still see the stitches and the yarn overs.  It'll be warm and yummy and cashmere. 

There have also been rumblings (on this group and apparently on other groups as well (hey, is it "on" a group or "in" a group?  I wonder.  But I digress...)) that the Addi Turbo lace needles are turning odd colors on some folks.  I have to say that I love my Addi Turbo Lace Needles.  With a white-hot-lacey love.  Ahem.  Some complain of a metallic smell too.  I'm not noticing it -- my yarn for this project is oiled and smelly as it is.  Perhaps the oil accounts for my not having trouble with the needles as well.  Good enough.

While I waited for the 2nd clue to be released, I finished the front of Planalto.

That variegation doesn't really show in person.  The hot orange and pink kind of vibrate so you don't notice it... ; )  I love this sweater too.  The yarn is snaggy, but it's so pretty that I can get past that aggravation.  Second front is begun, but waiting for me to finish Clue 2. 

Ok.  So.  Riddle me this, Batman:

• Why can't the city of St. Louis decide to return to neighborhood schools in light of recent high court decisions?  We are in receivership, so to speak, the state has stepped in to run the system.  We have spend 7.4 billion (with a B, folks) on forced busing since the beginning of the deseg program in 1974.  Imagine the schools we could have if that money had gone into buildings and teachers rather than buses and gasoline.  Said program is, in my mind, singlehandedly responsible for much of the blight in our urban areas as it resulted in flight and the centralization of school control and it further marginalized poorer families who now can't even walk to teacher conferences and PTA meetings.

• Will Missouri drivers ever learn the road rule "Left turn yield?"  As in when I want to turn left, I wait for you to go on about your business.  You don't stop traffic and try to make me turn in front of you and then flip me off when I won't.

• Why is the Democratic Party putting forth Hilary Clinton as a presidential candidate?  I mean, I like Mrs. Clinton and I think she is savvy politically and all, but the right, many members of my family included, has such a knee-jerk, vitriolic response to her, (for whatever reason, I still don't get it) that I can't think of a better way to unite Republicans and get them to vote in droves than to put Mrs. Clinton on the ballot.   Come on guys.  Let's find someone whose sheer existence doesn't work against us.

Now.  Go back to your knitting. 

Happy weekend!

Hi Ho!

It's Kermit the frog here.

Actually, it's not, I just thought that would be a good title if I had to frog something.  Which I don't.  And if I just save it for later, I'll forget it.  So.  I'll use it today.  It's just not as good as if I were frogging things.  Which would be bad.  Ahem.

So, before I cast on for the Mystery Shawl last Friday, I finished my Kiri.  Here she is blocking.  She is lovely.  I can't wait until it's the kind of weather where she'll do me some good.  Like in October.  **Heavy Sigh**

Un-named merino, kind of a duskier blue than this picture, on 9s which makes her very light and airy -- maybe too much so, but she is warm so... ok.

Then on to the MS3.  Which, I have to say, intimidated me at first.  The charts are large and there are no repeats.  I shouldn't have been surprised.  Melanie's last shawl, Scheherezade,  has a center medallion and it is absolutely lovely.  So.  I dived in and ... well, ... I didn't feel the love right away.  But about 30 rows in?  Couldn't put the thing down. 

Except for the beading.  Which I don't particularly like to do.  It interrupts my flow.  But I do like the effect.  The other problem is that there aren't any crochet hooks small enough to fit through my beads in any of the yarn shops locally.  And as I said, I can't put the thing down.  So I got out my old jewelry making stuff.  Lo and behold, I have some Tiger Tail wire.  And I've read about folks in the Yahoo Group using a folded twist-tie ( of which, for the life of me, I have none!  How can that be?!  All my bread and what not comes with a plastic tab thingy now.  Sheesh!) so I made a tool.  It's got beads for a handle and it holds about 10 or 12 beads at the ready for me.

I pick up the stitch to be beaded, fold up the tail and slide the bead over both wires and down over the fold,  and onto the stitch.  Easy.  Except that you have to stop knitting to execute this maneuver.  Yeah.  Whatever.

My progress so far?

The yarn is a 3/28 100% cashmere from Colourmart.  Size 4 US needles, Addi lace.  The beads are a mix, they kind of remind me of tortoise shell in the bag -- browns, mattes, some clear with silver lining, some clear with brown lining.  I like the dappled effect.  I'm showing it as a triangle, but I think that this will be one corner of a rectangle.  Just a guess, because we don't know!  I'm up to row 83 of the chart -- there are 99 rows in this clue. 

Speaking of clues -- the second clue comes out Friday and that is also the last day to get in on the fun.  After that you'll have to buy the pattern after the knitalong.  So... what do you have to lose, except mailbox space ?  (There are the usual million emails a day discussing all facets of the project -- I suggest going Special Notice on this one as there are now more than 4000 participants.)

Tomorrow is the 4th of July.  Happy, safe day to all here in the States.