Get them while they're young

Last night, we celebrated MiddleJ's 17th birthday. I'm totally stunned at the fact the kids are growing up at light speed and turning into charming young adults. The milestones (birthdays, graduations, etc) feel like suckerpunches - we see all the kids with relative frequency, but it's the milestones that remind us all that they're growing up.

In any case, I decided to pull a few articles out of my winter closet for the occasion. It's been Very Very Cold (<60 F), which gives me a chance to wear my beautiful knits. I chose charcoal slacks, one of my Jackie O turtlenecks, a black silk cardigan, and my Juno Regina stole. I knit the stole a million years ago, and it doesn't get nearly enough wear. See?

Juno Regina, knit out of Handmaiden Sea Silk in "Pumpkin". 'tis the season, yo.

In any case, I showcased it by stylishly wrapping it around my neck with the pointed ends in front. The whole ensemble made me feel six feet tall, and like I was walking a runway regardless of what I was actually doing. (And let's face it, I have a FIERCE runway walk.)

Then, out of NOWHERE, came an amazing moment. Another niece, who I'll call Galette (because she is sweet, not fussy, and does her own thing), paid my Juno a compliment.

"Aunt Jasmin, your scarf is really pretty," says Galette.
"This? I knit this," I said, a little shocked.
"You MADE this?" Galette and LittleJ took time to investigate the pointed ends.
"I did."
"Could you make me one for Christmas?" Galette asked, hopeful.
I snorted, "Christmas is a month away. That is so not happening."
"Next Christmas?" Galette was still trying, and I found her optimism adorable.
"No. But, I can teach you how to knit, and by next Christmas, you could make one of these for yourself," I offered sincerely.

At this point, LittleJ mentioned that she had gone back to her knitting. I taught all Three Js to knit when Andrew was living in the cottage attached to their house, seven or eight years ago. The kids were interested, and as any self-respecting knitter knows, you strike while the iron is hot and plant that seed early.

It WORKED.

Long, long ago, LittleJ wanted to make a Gryffindor scarf. So, as any good aunt would, I enabled. I bought them Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick, hoping that the initial lessons would spark a lifelong knitting flame. LittleJ worked on it for a while, but her interest waned. It happens.

Fast forward to Thursday night, when LittleJ and her friends were all going to the midnight premiere of the new Harry Potter movie. LittleJ remembered her neglected scarf, and since they were dressing up for the event, she grabbed it in hopes that she could wear it that night. She noticed that it still was finished, so she grabbed her trusty knitting book, and flipped through it until she found the section for binding off. (For the record, she refers to binding off as just "binding". I dig it.)

In true knitterly fashion, her friends were in the car waiting for her, while LittleJ is saying things like, "I need to finish binding my scarf!!!" She did, she wore it, and I think she might just have gotten that little hit of knitting that has the potential to become a lifelong obsession. (Or perhaps it is I who is the optimist now.)

In any case, as the night progressed, it seems that all the girls there (MiddleJ, LittleJ, Galette, and the Equestrienne) want to start (or in some cases, revisit) knitting. When they started talking about this, the hills were alive with the sound of knitting, and I was Maria Von Trapp.

Since then, in my imagination, I'm leading the kids in a rousing rendition of "Do Re Mi" (but with a knitting twist "YO, a stitch, a hol-ey stitch. K, a simple knitted stitch. V, the shape a knit stitch makes..."). My imagination *might* have completely run away with me. Maybe.

Me? I'm just glad that I was able to leverage knowledge that evil industries have collected for good. Get them while they're young, and they'll be knitters for a lifetime.

Or at least, an aunt can hope.

Holy sock, Batman!

That's right. I can officially say that I have worn through the heel of a handknit sock. Proof:

I knit these in 2002 out of Silja sock yarn that I bought at the Yarn Place. (Someone, please tell me why I can remember that, but not what I ate for lunch yesterday? It's a puzzlement.) Seven years and a million washes later, we have a spectacular, spontaneous hole.

Tour de Fleece is going swimmingly- I have plied both the Mango Merino/Silk from Redfish Dyeworks and the Crown Mountain Superwash Merino (in Albatross) for Andrew. Of course there aren't pictures. Evidently, I can post cell-phone pictures of holy socks, but my Beloved Handspun(tm) requires a photo shoot. Puzzlement, part 2.

I am knitting like a MADWOMAN on my Adamas shawl. I'm hoping to finish it in the next couple of weeks so that I can do a huge blocking session out on the patio. I have not one, but three, shawls that need blocking. How is it that after a hundred hours of knitting something, blocking is what keeps it in the UFO bin? Puzzlement, part 3.

In regards to the Lace Gauntlet Throwdown (because nobody loves a challenge like I do), I have been slowly working through combing the Baby Cormo locks, and I think I'm going to bribe No-Blog-Rachel with wine (or mojitos) to come over with her Patrick Greene drumcarder so I can drumcard Frank and Luther. There is just NO way I'm combing all that.

(For your reference, it's taking me approximately one million years per ounce to comb - poorly - the beautiful locks. Sorry, Meghan, there is a real reason why I love Shari.)

I've sustained some minor battle damage, but I think Andrew might just dig fiber related scars.

"See this one? Combing baby cormo." Hm. Doesn't quite have that "tough guy" ring to it. (Considering I told a few people that I tore my chest muscles in a bar fight - because coughing hard enough to cause that damage just sounded sissified - I'm not above a creative story.)

Juno Regina pictures and Shetland Triangle progress

As previously promised, some pictures of the completed (and blocked!) Juno Regina shawl:

(Ravelry details here)

Pretty, isn't it? While we were [up too late] blocking Juno, Andrew announced that it was his favorite lace shawl so far. (He says this, very sincerely, about every lace shawl while it's being blocked. Sweet, isn't he?) I really liked knitting her. Maybe I'll host a Juno party, where we all knit on Juno Regina and watch Juno. Just an idea.

The Shetland Triangle is almost done. Really. All I have left to knit is the edging, bind off, and block. I think I'm definitely going to do a little beading on the edge. It adds the slightest bit of weight, a little shimmer, and a "fidget". (I like to feel the beads on the edging of my Lily of the Valley.)

For your enjoyment, here's an artsy shot of the Shetland Triangle. It's an artsy shot because shooting dark yarn and unblocked lace is incredibly hard, and frankly, this is the best shot (out of the fifteen I took before giving up):

(Ravelry details here)

Kill me, but make me beautiful

Saturday night, after Knit Knights (Knights who say “knit”?) I cast on the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. I’m using the Dream in Color Baby, which seems to be (thus far) just as nice to work with as the Smooshy is. I’ll do a fair and balanced review once the shawl is done and blocked.

Back to the shawl. I’m not a big fan of triangular shawls (or any non-rectangular shawls, really), but this one looked cute and contemporary. I cast it on, and despite the slight weirdness at the beginning (it’s a structural thing, and written clearly, it’s just counter-intuitive), I was on FIRE!

I knit three and a half repeats of the main body chart on Saturday night. I didn’t get to bed until close to 1 AM (or 2 AM, if you remembered to turn your clocks forward, which we didn’t). By Sunday night I was through five and a half repeats. Out of eight, plus the edging.

The one change I made (five repeats in, of course) is the double decrease that the designer has chosen. I think the way she suggests it looks a little messy, so I’ve replaced the S2KP to a S2KP2. I’ll save you a searching step:

• S2KP2: Slip 2 sts as if you were going to K2tog. K 1 st, pass 2 slipped sts over.

It makes a beautiful, centered double decrease, which follows the lines of the lace. It is one of my favorite decreases because of how tidy it is.

Other than that, I’ve cast Muir on, and it’s a little unwieldy for travel knitting, so I’m going to be working on a Jane Sowerby shawl (with a repeating and simple motif) as my public lace knitting. It’s not that Muir is all that involved, it’s just that the chart is a little large, and I could shrink it down, but then I wouldn’t be able to see it, and squinting is SO not my look for this season.

I know I’m suffering from knitting bravado, but I think if I buckle down, I can finish the knitting on the Shetland Triangle by the weekend, and have the shawl dried and blocked by Monday.

I’m also insanely compelled to add beads to the edging, despite the fact that adding beads increases the finishing time by a factor of one million. Or ten. But still, it takes a disproportionate amount of time.

There’s a saying in Farsi, “Kill me, but make me beautiful.”

That's about right.

Carrots and knitting lace

Except for my knitting, I’m generally a very goal-oriented and focused person. I’m very good about making deadlines (for work), and completing things on (usually ahead) of schedule. I recently came out and admitted to one of my co-workers that I don’t knit one project at a time, or finish more projects than I start. I’m lucky if I finish a couple of pieces a month, really.

Part of this is because I need different things at different times: socks for travel knitting, lace for when my brain craves more, sweaters when I’m inspired to knit them (at home). Different projects for different places.

I also prioritize my knitting; if I have an event to wear it to, it gets bumped up. If it’s a gift that’s due (which is really rare for me), it gets bumped up. This is when I start getting resentful of my knitting. The full moon rises and the Knitting transforms into Obligatory Knitting. Big, ugly, fangy Obligatory Knitting.

The only way (for me) to overcome the despair brought on by Obligatory Knitting is to plan a Better Project. Juno Regina was a Better Project (at one point), and my next Better Project is Muir.

See the planning? Everything needed is in a bag. Juno Regina is getting to the point where I’m going to have to start actively paying attention to it. Once Juno is done, Muir can begin.

The issue isn’t having concurrent lace projects- it’s more of a carrot. Finish one, start the next. I’m not as virtuous as you might think.

I have a Convertible on the needles.

Progress is inevitable

I have been making some steady progress on my Juno Regina. See?

I’m planning on making some adjustments to the pattern- one of which is to shorten it from eighty inches down to sixty. But.

CJ mentioned that the shawl is asymmetrical. I looked at the pattern, and evidently, the charts aren’t symmetrical.

But.

Looking at the photos, they appear to be close enough to symmetrical to warrant knitting it one piece- in lieu of knitting it in two pieces and grafting it.

Sssshhh! Lace in Progress!

My approach to most knitting projects is to get them to a “mindless” state- where I can work on them in public without having to do too much thinking or counting. Relegating a project to “at home” knitting is a good way of condemning that project to UFO purgatory.

Juno Regina isn’t quite there yet, but she is very pretty, and terribly fun to work on:

Clapotis, on the other hand, is well past that mindless stage. Perhaps because I mindlessly kept knitting on it. Dropping those stitches is addictive. Just… one… more… drop!