Sesquipedalian

Inspired by Ravellenics WIPs Wrestling, I searched for (and retrieved from under the sofa) a UFO that is this close to being an FO. Half a foot is all that's lacking, literally. Put another way, between the two of them the socks have one-and-a-half feet or are, in literary terms, sesquipedalian.


There's a tale of sadness behind all this. Back in October 2019, a month after bellybuttonknits passed away and Before Covid, I finally started knitting a replacement with this yarn for my beady, tabi-toed Send in the Clowns socks that suffered a double blowout the year before. It felt right: there was a BBK memorial KAL and Clowns is a BBK pattern. But the yarn, lovely Three Irish Girls Adorn Luxe, colorway Big Bang, didn't want to be Clowns. Nor did it want to be Kilauea, another BBK pattern. Simple Skyp just worked better, so Simple Skyp it was.

Progress was rapid – then 2020 happened. That almost sounds like a punch line, or the equivalent of the ??? lacuna in the Profit meme. As in the meme I'm not completely sure how I got from 2019 to 2021 – eventful as 2020 was, some incidents stand out crisply, but the overall sweep of time is fuzzy. A lot of last year was like that. And at some point the UFO sock ended up under the sofa, not exactly lost, more like in need of finding.

The Ravellenics end tomorrow: while I doubt these socks will be finished in time, I don't doubt they will be finished soon thanks to the Ravellenic spirit. So maybe the socks will win no official glory, but seriously, they're socks and we're talking about fake Internet medals.

To be continued.

And It's August

And just like that, it's August. I'm knitting along for the Ravellenics 2020 2021 on Team BBMF and for Yarnia Sock Bingo, wrassling WIPs and frogging UFOs. As one does in August. To whit...

Mock Sadness by Helle Slente Design, worked in Schachenmeyer Regia Cotton Color, colorway 2426 Tutti Frutti II. The pair is pictured with chocolate stroopwafels because the pattern was the second warm-up for this year's Sock Madness. Technically the FO is a wrassled WIP because I started it in early July for Sock Bingo (with yarn purchased at Yarnia), before the Ravellenics had started. Whatever. It's done, and Ravellenics glory is mine.


The pattern is fun, with a bit o' everything – mirrored cables, faggoting, and a wide picot hem that I swapped out for 2x2 ribbing because the wide hem looks pretty, but in my view is too hot for summer socks. I also subbed a wedge toe for the star toe because my feet are not shaped like pencil points. The yarn reminded me why I usually prefer four-ply cotton fingering to cotton sock yarn for pretty much everything, including socks. At least the pattern repeat on the yarn is consistent.


A different Sock Madness warm-up pattern, How to Tame Your Dragon by Dots Dabbles, that has been languishing since February 2018, got frogged. It's not the pattern, it's not the yarn (Colinette Jitterbug, colorway Tapis) – yet somehow after more than three years I just wasn't feeling the love. I've reconditioned the yarn, of course.


In Ravellenics past, there was a medal for frogging; now there's "only" a laurel. Nonetheless, more Ravellenic glory is mine.

To be continued.

Checkmate, Nihilism

Who knew? To knit socks (or hats or otherwise to cook, clean, grow, or create things), is nothing less than a way to defeat learned helplessness and existential dread. No lack of that going around.



So, behold, I have an Invitation to the Dance singleton. It is lovely, and I hope soon to have a pair. Checkmate, nihilism. Resistance is NOT futile.

Make Nine 2020

This Epiphany – in some Christian traditions the Day of Kings (el Día de los Reyes) – secular revelation comes not with a star, angels, and shepherds, but by means of a Tweet and Reply. There's the horror, the horror of an imperial, violence-prone presidency on full public display, in 140 characters or less, and the lawful rejoinder. Context here.

This Media Post will serve as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress under the United States Constitution. And that you should read the War Powers Act. And that you’re not a dictator. https://t.co/VTroMegWv0

— House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign) January 5, 2020

The contending assertions also provide a reminder that the religious text for the day plainly calls wise men and women to acts of resistance and civil disobedience against would-be tyrants. When fox-like Herod treacherously demands you play the informant for him, conscience and lucid dreaming will send you home safe by another way. It's not alternative facts, but an alternate road.

One of those alternate paths for me includes the gentle Make Nine Challenge (#MakeNine), explained by blog, Instagram, and Ravelry group. Rather than attempt to Make All the Things and succumb to the pressures of fast fashion, this challenge is a thoughtful, intentionally limited ramble through a year of making. I've been trying to de-clutter, and that really should include my multi-craftual queue, too. So here's my collage and intentions.



1. Make some prayer shawls: maybe knit them, maybe weave them. While the production method may be in question, the current need at Church of the Improv is indisputably urgent. I've never before seen a time such as this. It's easy to feel anxious and overwhelmed.

2. Fold some origami cranes and take them to the June pilgrimage to Washington, DC.

3. Reduce the number of UFO socks, including Singular Sensation Socks. This could easily turn into a deep dive into a rabbit hole all by itself. To set some parameters, let me note the current number of Singular Sensations is 11; the lowest number is 7, achieved in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2016; the highest number is 12, a dubious achievement of 2009.

4. Sew a T-shirt or two. I haven't done any garment sewing in a long, long, long time and would like to get back into it, not least because I love wearing tees, inventory is running low, and I'm increasingly dissatisfied with storebought. Although I have a quibble... I prefer the finished look of facings, but patterns with bias binding would seem to be the current style, such as the knit 100 Acts of Sewing: Shirt No. 2 or the woven Grainline Studio Scout Tee, with sleeve variations. Perhaps more research is needed.

5. Free square, project to be determined. Of course there's a free square. There are many contenders for the empty space – Sock Madness, Tour de Fleece, and the Tokyo Ravellenics come readily to mind – but I want to hold it open for a while.

6. Sew some project and shopping bags, such as Grainline Studio Stowe Bag. I'm still trying to reduce my use of plastic.

7. Knit a Churchmouse Yarns and Teas Swingy Linen Skirt. I have the pattern, and yarn purchased for Camp Loopy 2017 (just when the most recent round of chaos started) and re-purposed in 2018. I haven't had the requisite time to knit, but I hope to remedy that this year.

8. Sew some aprons, such as Purl Soho Cross Back Apron. Or possibly weave some kitchen towels or spa cloths.

9. Can some things – apricot or peach jam, maybe; tomato jam, definitely; maybe dilly beans or pickled nasturtium pods; hopefully some cherries. Lately I've repeatedly missed cherry season because of too much travel. Sigh. The list could go on and on, but in the spirit of Make Nine, there's no pressure (har) to can All The Things.

I'm looking forward to learning lots of good ancillary things too. For example, that's my first photo collage above (yay, me) and I hope to become more proficient on Instagram, the format of which just boggles me. So here goes, and good luck to everyone Making Nine.

A Year of Treading Water

At the close of the year, it's indicative what sort of year it's been that my sole blogpost for December is the year-end retrospective. Sigh.

One of the lingering puzzles from 2018 is the number of strident objections, all from non-knitters, to the annual display of the Singleton Socks of Shame. There's the Tone Police and the Nonbinary Sock Police, and yet I'm the judge-y one, if you please. Huh. Well, never let it be said that I can't learn new things. So, behold, my Singular Sensation Socks, now with fairy lights!

Singular Sensation Socks 2019, left to right, oldest to newest: Meadowlands, Fawkes, Julesokker, Love Me Knot, Chain Link, Hanauma Bay, handspun Queen of Diamonds, Twisted Madness, Dropping Madness, Fée Dragée with a counting thread. Not pictured, Inky Madness.

That's zero socks down from the fairy line, one up, for a total of 11 Singular Sensation Socks. That's one less than the most ever, and more importantly negative progress. The strenuous effort of running as fast as one can merely to stay in one place could be a metaphor of my year. It would seem the experience of Waterlicht may have been more apt than I realized at the time.



The crafty year started so promisingly: with a Food in Jars can-along and Sock Madness. The can-along limped along, although I canned a bit more than is recorded on the blog. Last year I discovered that having a goodly supply of tomato jam is a necessity during the long dearth of winter, so a goodly supply was canned. That's no small consolation now that winter is upon us. As for Sock Madness, I advanced to Round 2 – about as far as usual, for the usual reason (too much busyness). But I have a pair of the qualifier (Smock Madness), Round 1 (Demogorgon's Lair), and Round 2 (Echoes) socks, and a singleton Round 3 (Inky Madness). It's no coincidence that I became truly, nuttily busy about the same time I neglected to take a picture of the singleton – so much so, I forgot about it until I started this year-end retrospective. I even forgot to include it in the Singular Sensation class photo. Yipes.




The rest of the year galloped by in an unseemly way. There was a failed attempt to participate in Camp Loopy, which at least added to my stash. I trialed a new tomato variety, Rutgers 250, side-by-side with the exemplar of Jersey tomatoes, Rutgers. As promised, in a Jersey garden Rutgers 250 matures a bit more slowly than Rutgers, resists more diseases, and the developing fruits are paler green and flatter than Rutgers, which tend to be pointy, perhaps their only weakness. When it comes to taste, though, I prefer the classic rich, sweet-acid flavor of the older variety.



Ah, summer.

In the coming year I anticipate a need to tie up some loose ends from this year, then maybe at last I can ease into a less hectic pace. Maybe there will still be travel, but voluntary and for pleasure rather than reactive and out of necessity. Blogging suffered this year, and I hope to post more regularly, or not – in any case without the freight of frustrated expectation. Less stress would be good. I don't really have goals in the usual sense, a list of boxes to check off. Instead I'm talking about being free, with the clarity of vision and purpose that 20/20 might imply. May it be so, gentle readers, and may your New Year be happy, healthy, and prosperous!

Blur

On reflection at year end, 2018 seems to have gone by in a blur. While it may not have attained 2016 dumpster fire levels of awful, the cumulative impact of winter snowstorms and autumn hurricanes, familial responsibilities, and especially the seemingly endless weary rounds of endless dreary travel really ground me down. There was sufficient miserable badness that the goodness was almost lost in the fog.

Almost. There were small consolations. Over the summer I discovered Marisa McClellan's much-celebrated tomato jams, and turned out red, orange, and yellow varieties because I grew red and orange tomatoes and got some yellow ones at the farmer's market. Now that summer is gone, a dollop of tomato jam on eggs or in a chowder is so very nice.



As hard as it is now to recall or even imagine there once were winter Ravellenics or Sock Madness 12, they occurred, and I participated to the limited extent that I could. Sometimes frogging and qualifying are all that one can manage.

 

Perennial optimist that I am, I also entered make-alongs with every good intention of finishing odd socks and weaving spa cloths. Alas, that didn't go as planned. Ah well, next year.

 

It should be no surprise that one sock – the SM12 qualifier! – went onto the Clothesline of Shame and none came down for a total of ten Singleton Socks of Shame. Not the most ever, but still backwards progress.

Singleton Socks of Shame 2018, left to right, oldest to newest: Meadowlands, Fawkes, Julesokker, Love Me Knot, Chain Link, Hanauma Bay, handspun Queen of Diamonds, Twisted Madness, Dropping Madness, Fée Dragée with a counting thread.

One last fibery consolation for the year is my last foot, just-finished holly jolly Cranberry Biscotti by Elizabeth Sullivan. I'm beyond pleased with the way they turned out. I added a beaded cuff, which while not super-visible, nonetheless makes me absurdly happy.



With the year closing amid increasing economic turmoil and willful political failures, more so than ever knitting has become both solace and expression of resistance. I have no sage advice to offer this New Year's Eve beyond the usual, perhaps all the more important in unusual times: take good care of yerselves...



... and see you on the other side.

Swallowtail and Tomato Jam

Some folk are marvelous caterpillar wranglers – patient, dedicated, knowledgeable. Me, sadly, not so much. I know just how devastating those tiny tiny jaws can be in the garden, so about the closest I'll get to intentionally having caterpillars near my vegetable patch is this new Swallowtail...



... and these quarter-pint jars of tomato jam, now safely beyond the reach of those tiny tiny jaws. Sorry about the weird lighting, it's been thundershowers all day roundabout Exit 151.



Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark is a favorite pattern. It's such a favorite I've knit five with somewhat spotty documentation – the first is pre-Ravelry, the second was not blogged because it was a gift, and so on. Each had its pleasures.



Swallowtail the fifth is knit in lovely SweetGeorgia Yarns CashSilk Lace, colorway English Ivy. It's a gift, too. I never tire of this pattern.



And I never tire of the magic of jamming. One starts with fresh fruit, its goodness lush yet fleeting, adds a bit of cauldron work, and ends with shelf-stable summer in a jar. Tomato jam is new to me, but why not? Surely worth a try. (Gentle readers, let's sidestep the highly partisan question of whether tomato is a fruit or vegetable, else we'll be here all day.)



I used Marissa's highly recommended Tomato Jam recipe. I made a two-fifths recipe, maths was involved. The warm spices – ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and red pepper flakes – give the jam gentle but definite heat. The fragrance at first seemed overwhelmingly sweet and Christmas-y, but as the flavors melded, the red pepper became more dominant, maybe too dominant (we'll see). Yield was spot on, three quarter-pints and a small cook's share. One jar failed to seal, a first for me. Not a problem, the open jar offers the opportunity to sample the developing flavors. I've been finding the jam is persistently too sweet for my taste; next time, I'd reduce the sugar by one-fourth. So far I've tried the jam spread on crackers, with cheese, and on an omelet – I bet it would make outstanding avocado toast.

Swallowtail and tomato jam... could be a cool BnB, LOL. Onward.

Along August

It's August, which means summer is stealing away and SKAers are finishing UFOs. Sure, I'll join another -along, I have ::cough:: a few potential candidates from the clothesline of shame. For starters, here's Hanauma Bay Socks by Adrienne Fong. Originally it was cast on September 1, 2013; it's pictured with an August 3, 2018 NYT headline noting Apple Inc attained a valuation of $1 trillion. How time passes when you're not paying attention.



Also noteworthy: I just finished the first book I've read purely for pleasure in ages, a marvelously epic yet intimate retelling of ancient Greek mythology through a feminist lens, Circe by Madeline Miller. It was quite wonderful – truly full of wonders – and erudite without being showy. I'd like to read another, but also want to slog through my long, long list of books to read not-for-pleasure. Happily, books (like UFOs) keep; I'll get to it.

March Sighs

March has come in roaring like a lion roundabout Exit 151! There was a big storm in the Northeast on Friday, and with the turn of the calendar, the qualifying pattern for Sock Madness dropped. I spent the Friday storm snug in casa Jersey Knitter swatching, swatching, swatching the pattern, Fée Dragée [Sugar Plum Fairy] by Caoua Coffee, and finally decided to go with this blue and white combination.



The color play is not what I expected. The blue yarn by itself looks rather steely, so I expected when paired with white it would be wintry. Instead, it's nautical-bright. I like the way the white slip stitch dots pop – I was hoping for something reminiscent of the horizontal snow falling outside when I cast on, and that at least is true. So it's a keeper. Also, I must knit much faster if I hope to qualify for competition.

Speaking of which, as expected for me this Ravellenics was not exactly covered in fibery glory. Instead, I earned two richly deserved Agony of Defeat consolation medals for two DNF socks. Oh well. But I did frog an ancient UFO from Area 151 – astonishing to relate, one that predates Ravelry but was documented by blog. Here's the required before photo of the UFO. One observer fancifully observed the welts resemble bacon. Er, maybe it's spring fever?



Here's the required after photo of the reclaimed yarn. The yarn is a multi-stranded bouclé, which added a degree of difficulty to frogging. The effort was good enough for an Aerial Unwind medal.



I'd forgotten how much I like this discontinued yarn, Noro Blossom. And I was reminded how annoyed I was to find it had two put ups, 40 g and 50 g, and (of course) I had the 40-g put up and thus Not Enough Yarn for the project I had in mind. Old loves, old quarrels. Ah, Noro. Sigh.

A Sense of (Re)Purpose

So. It's that time in the biennium for the Ravellenic Games. As a point of fact, the fibery games start tomorrow (unlike a certain trademarked™ international sporting event that shall not be named for which official competition has already started) and I'm ::cough:: only now pondering what I'm doing. Advance planning has been quite the luxury lately at casa Jersey Knitter, so as short as the timeline may be, let me revel in it. Hmm... maybe I'll re-purpose the August project yarn from last summer's Camp Loopy, Cascade Hampton. The yarn was intended for a summer cardigan, Tailfeather by Heidi Kirrmaier, but it never got started or blogged (oops). Now I think I'd rather use it for something different – perhaps a different cardi or perhaps a twirly summer skirt.



Looking back at the wreckage and UFOs of last year's camp, which started so full of promise and dinosaurs, made me realize I not only did not finish a single camp project, I also did not blog about not finishing anything. Sigh. It was that kind of summer, and fall as well, the sort that makes one barely able to plan dinner while whimpering, "The horror, the horror." Looking on the bright side, it means at the very least I have yarn, and fiber too, that could become... well, 'most anything. I think that's mostly a good thing. Why, my hibernating CeCe could transform into a twirly summer skirt too. There could be twirly goodness for a second occasion! Or, I suppose I could just finish the beastly thing.



Looking a bit farther ahead, all the way to next week, Wednesday is both Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday. Ordinarily I'm not big on observing either, but a convergence like that is a must-do. Those into penitence and fasting will be so conflicted – chocolate or no chocolate? To be continued....

Sweets and Defeats

Happy New Year! It's unusually cold and unusually snowy roundabout Exit 151... and I'm starting 2018 with a catch up from the Old Year. There's 2017 sweets...

Food in Jars December challenge: Cara Cara Orange Pâte de Fruit. Cute, tasty, exotic, and too full of sugar and soluble fiber. I'm glad I tried making them, don't think I'll make them again.

... and 2017 defeats...

Singleton Socks of Shame 2017, left to right, oldest to newest: Meadowlands, Fawkes, Julesokker, Love Me Knot, Chain Link, Hanauma Bay, handspun Queen of Diamonds, Twisted Madness, Dropping Madness.

... and even a bit of culture.

Food in Jars November challenge: Yogurt made in a mason jar and cooler. So good, I may never buy commercial yogurt again.

There's so much more that could be said, but right now I'd rather not re-tread old soles. Instead, onward to the first foot!

Ends with a Whimper

As sometimes happens at year-end, I came down with the flu. While this one is not the worst ever, it's been a doozy with the full complement of extreme fatigue and weakness, head and body aches, joint pain, fever, chills, and heavy cough – a fitting closeout to a dumpster fire of a year. For fellow US peeps and indeed globally it may well be that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were a greater national tragedy and the financial meltdown of September 2008 a greater threat to economic stability and well-being. But 2016 was chock full of its own exceptional stinkiness. So between periods of blank misery, I made a dumpster fire ornament and put it on my Christmas tree. Of course.



DH claims it's not a proper dumpster because it lacks a lid; ergo, it's not a dumpster fire but a mere fire in a box. Everyone's a critic.

At least this year's knitting went reasonably well. I had a decent 10th anniversary Sock Madness – I advanced to Round 4, a personal best, then missed a spot in Round 5 by 35 minutes. That translates to a modicum of glory, a quartet of lovely socks: SlipStripeSpiral, Rose & Thorn Socks, Waimakariri, Sweet Nuttins.

     

Camp Loopy 2016 was similarly gratifying, not least because I knit my first skirt. Dunno why it took me so long – I love knitted skirts – nor why I still haven't taken a decent FO photo. The same could be said for my Tour de Fleece spinning – I fractal-spun some truly lovely fiber, yet have largely been ignoring it.

At year end, the Singleton Socks of Shame collectively form a bright ray – in 2016, one sock came down from the clothesline of shame, none went up for a total of seven Socks of Shame. That's tied with 2011, 2012, and 2014 for the minimum.

Singleton Socks of Shame 2016, left to right, oldest to newest: Meadowlands, Fawkes, Julesokker, Love Me Knot, Chain Link, Hanauma Bay, handspun Queen of Diamonds.

That'll just have to do. Onward to 2017!

July Wrap Up

July was alternately so miserably hot and so torrentially rainy and there was so much negative stuff going on off the blog that the month seemed interminably longer than usual. And then it was over without any blogging. Well, let me catch up with an interminably long wrap up post.

At first I balked at writing this and wanted to insert various qualifiers, but on reflection this year's Tour de Fleece was a success, unqualified. I accomplished my goal of finishing a half-braid of fiber using a new-to-me technique, sampled a luscious new-to-me fiber, and spun another sample using another new-to-me technique. All cause for happiness and satisfaction, but it's only in retrospect that this has sunk in.

The half-braid of Gale's Art Polwarth, colorway Sweetness and Light, turned into 297 yds (271 m) of fractal-spun 2-ply with 63 yd (57 m) of plied-against-itself 2-ply left over. I was surprised by the way the colors of the fractal-spun aligned – there were far more sections of solid color and far fewer sections of barberpole than generally occur in random spinning. I'm curious to see how the yarn will knit up.



The luxurious Victory Farm Paco-Vicuña also was a surprise. I had expected the downy-feeling fiber would be difficult to spin, so spun it July 9, one of the challenge days. It turned out the lovely fiber spun so easily and beautifully the only challenge was stopping with a 12-yd (11-m) sample skein. The results remind me of baby camel – I'm going to have to rummage through my stash to find that sample skein and compare the two.



While I'm glad I tried ply on the fly and I'm pleased with the end product, I did find the three steps forward, two steps back process more time-consuming than I like. There's 52 yds (47 m) of ply on the fly and 72 yds (65 m) of ordinary 2-ply spun from Zarzuela's Fibers SW Merino, colorway Santa's Coming! pictured below. Unsurprisingly, the ply on the fly has long segments of pure color while the ordinary 2-ply has delightful barberpole effects. I do rather like the barberpole effects. Somewhat surprisingly, the POTF felt like a crepe yarn while it was getting its finishing bath, a difference I don't notice when it's dry.



At some point in the spinning action, the hook on my (apparently camera-shy) birdseye maple Bosworth got bent, which of course made it spin eccentrically. I was afraid I might have to send it back to Journeywheel for repairs, but was able to straighten it out with (padded) heavy pliers. Whew! I love my Bossies – the longer I spin, the more I prefer them. Indeed, while mousing around the Journeywheel website, I noticed this beauty, a 30 g pau amarillo midi...



... and clicked. A new bright yellow spindle, reminiscent of the Maillot Jaune, seemed a fitting conclusion to my TdF.

Having watched the Republican National Convention, of course I watched the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Inspired by the most moving speech of the convention, I made myself a pocket U.S. Constitution. As my puny stapler can't possibly secure so many sheets of paper (mighty in thickness however small in size), I sewed the pages together.



I also blocked and seamed my July Camp Loopy project, Simple Straight Skirt by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, knit in Cascade 220 colorway 4002 Jet. I dislike finishing, but also hate to see anything less than the full effect. In this case, mattress stitch seams.



Blocking, seaming, and the addition of waistband elastic transformed the skirt from a vaguely skirt-shaped lumpy mass into an honest-to-goodness skirt that fits perfectly. What an excellent pattern – well-written and perfect results. I don't know why I've had such a mental block about knitting skirts, but now I want to Knit All the Skirts! It's too hot right now to comfortably model a wool skirt, I'll have to remember to do that when it cools down.



Last but not least, another singleton sock came down from the Clothesline of Shame, Clouds by Rebecca A., worked in Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fasset, colorway 4261 Landscape Caribbean. A fun pattern and a fun yarn, it's just everything that intervened that made it take so long to finish the pair. One sock uses wrap and turn short rows, the other uses Japanese short rows.



Now it's on to the Ravellenic Games 2016. I needed some jollying along – the antipathy I've harbored against the Sports Event That Shall Not Be Named has only increased in two years, and the multiple hazards of the host country and my own general state of blah were formidable obstacles. Sometime this week that turned around (hence the need to wrap up July). I've joined Team Loopy 2016 and Team BBMF 2016 (rated M), and am ready for the Mass Cast on tomorrow!