Yes, We Have and/or Are Bananas

Oh hai. This month has been so full of alarums and emergencies that blogging did not occur. I did travel a lot, cook a lot, eat a lot (perhaps too much), visit a lot, and knit a little. To keep things sane, I decided early on that I wouldn't stress about the knitting, not that I ever do really.

As things turned out, while visiting family in Honolulu I finished two pairs of socks: a pair of cranberry red Fake Cross Stitch Sox by Claudia Tietze, knit in String Theory Bluestocking, and the recuffinated pair of carbon footprint Canada socks by Nancy Bush, knit in Heritage Sock. I'm very pleased with both and would happily knit either again. When I finished them it was much too warm to model them, which made me reflect, not for the first time, that as useful as it is now my childhood love of knitting was at the time a bit odd.

 

Perhaps the most frequent topic of table conversation in Hawai'i was why some people on the Mainland still seem to believe in birther nonsense, which nearly all people in the 50th state find perplexing and deeply offensive. All I could say was while I don't really know, I would tend to guess its cause and persistence have something to do with one's perceptions of authority. Or perhaps there's a failure to distinguish between having bananas and being bananas. There's no lack of bananas in Hawai'i – this quite ordinary supermarket had four varieties in one display, plus a couple others not pictured.



The weather transitioned from autumny to wintry while I was there. It's a false myth that Hawai'i lacks seasons, the changes are just different than around Exit 151. One sign of the season: work crews were out trimming street trees to smarten them up for the New Year and the coming winter storms. That is, they were removing old fronds and developing nuts from coconut palms, which become a nuisance and hazard when they ripen and fall. Coconuts on the tree are several times bigger and heavier than coconuts in the supermarket because of their large outer husk. I once saw a bunch of coconuts fall like a cascade of bowling balls onto an imprudently parked car, which pretty well destroyed the body and glass.



Another sign of winter: a festive tower o' poinsettias in front of the Starbucks at the mall. (There are indeed malls and Starbucks and giftmas in Hawai'i.)



Poinsettias, native to Mexico, do very nicely when planted outside in Hawai'i (and other places), becoming quite large and slightly scary-looking, with multitudes of colorful bracts (the true flowers are tiny) at the very tips of long, bare, spindly branches. The familiar potted plant is merely the tip of the iceberg, which (ahem) could serve as a metaphor for this post.

Moving right along, next up, the year end wrap up.

Notes for Next Time

One month after Superstorm Sandy, the greater part of recovery work is largely finished roundabout Exit 151, unlike in more severely impacted areas (including lower Manhattan). A minor surprise is it took far, far longer to get my regular Internet service back than cable TV. I thought both services were provided via the same wire to the same box, but maybe not. Or maybe when it comes to restoring service, the good old TV still trumps the World Wide Web. Huh. Anyway, I'm finally back to blogging without elaborate workarounds, at least until next time. I don't doubt there will be a next time – unhappily, blackouts lasting more than three days seem to have become an annual event. So, let me catch up with some quick notes.

As previously mentioned, there's more hurricane knitting (or more accurately, post-hurricane or blackout knitting) besides Clowder. The cowl was my night knitting. My day knitting was another Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, this one worked in Malabrigo Lace, colorway 228 Snowbird. It's my go-to pattern – beautiful, comforting in its familiarity, complex enough to remain fresh and entertaining – perfect for coping with post-Sandy privations.



It made sense to do lace knitting during the day when there was good light and worsted-weight knitting at night when there wasn't, but... an unintended consequence was night knitting was finished at night and photographed by day and day knitting was finished by day and photographed at night. Sorry about the murky photo of the day FO! I've thought about re-doing the FO pic, and may yet do so for Ravelry, but here on the blog it's a reminder of the times.



My knitting may have emerged from the storm in fine shape, but I'll grumpily admit my other preparations and improvisations often were not adequate to the task. This helpfully chatty post on the Bridgeton, PA Emergency Management website, "Blackouts Won't Get Any Shorter, So Be Ready," lists some useful items to have on hand that I didn't. Sigh.

For those unclear, misled, or deluded about larger causes, there's the tough talking Bloomberg Businessweek November 1 cover story by Paul M. Barrett and cover photo of an inundated, blacked out lower Manhattan. Risk and contingency management, including environmental remediation, has its costs – but the cost of ignorance, obstruction, and inaction is demonstrably far higher. Consider the source – this is business.

As the temperature dropped my key lesson learned is that lights and a fridge are nice, a cell phone helpful, hot water and a stovetop important, but heat is essential. (Maybe I'd feel differently if the water and sewer systems had failed, as they did in some places, or if power failed during a heat wave.) At present there's no alternative way to heat casa Jersey Knitter during a power outage, something that must be addressed. Hopefully the solution will not involve potentially immolating, asphyxiating, bankrupting or otherwise causing yours truly to get a frownie face. A multitude of hot water bottles just won't do, but as Nicholas D. Kristoff points out, expensive, inefficient private electricity generation won't really do either. What is needed is modern infrastructure, particularly a smart grid less prone to failure, easier to maintain and repair.



Some re-thinking of personal gear and gadgets is also needed. I have 'way too many things that require charging but won't run on standard batteries. My crank lantern worked well until the crank broke, as mechanical things will do. For reliability over a long haul, I've learned that standard batteries are the way to go. Hm.



Finally, after the storm it was remarkably easy to be thankful this Thanksgiving. Not just for all the good things I have in absolute terms or in contrast to the lack of others, but for their intrinsic goodness. I suppose that may seem egotistical or self-indulgent, and perhaps that may be true. But that's where I found myself on T-Day, speaking of my mental state. As for my physical state, that's fodder for the next post.

Socks of Serendipity

Sometime during Month 2 of the Summer of Socks KAL I had a brainwave to knit the then-TBD Month 3 sock using this old stash yarn, Zen String Lotus Toes BFL, colorway Iris (discontinued). This because my Month 1 sock has a lotus motif on its cuff and the Month 2 pattern was Lotus Heart... so I figured that to round things out the Month 3 yarn should be Lotus Toes. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I suppose one should note that in the continental U.S. July 2012 was the hottest on record. Coincidence?



I've always liked the lovely colors in this yarn, so evocative of irises, but I'd never knit anything with it because I suspected the short runs of complementary colors would end up contrasting as strongly as zebra stripes (only more colorful). When the official Month 3 pattern, Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku, was revealed, despite better judgment I plunged cast on. Sure enough, the variegation overwhelmed the pretty skyp stitch pattern. Plan A dashed.

Meanwhile, I had wound up the recently finished Crown Mountain Farms handspun in preparation for knitting gradient socks. That didn't work out either – the transitions weren't clean enough. Another Plan A dashed.



While I sat amid the ruins and potsherds of my plans, the obvious presented itself: Simple Skyp Socks in Crown Mountain Farms handspun. The socks knit up so quickly, they almost knit themselves. I kept thinking I should take some progress pix – then they were done.



Much to my surprise, only minimal editing was needed to align the bands of darker tones, including at the heels and toes. And despite my anxiety that there might not be Enough Yarn (particularly acute with handspun), all was well. The socks are knit to pattern specs for the sportweight version: 56 sts around, 24 pattern reps in the leg.



The pattern was a real pleasure to knit – fun, easy, quick, with handsome results. I plan to use this pair as hiking socks – but I'm thinking of knitting up a dressier pair in fingering. Given how rarely I knit socks twice, there isn't much higher sock praise in my book.

Winning

My last project for the knit-along presently known as the Ravellenic Games was a Knitted Wreath by Julie Weisenberger. I was cranking out the leaves while watching the Olympics™ Closing Ceremony...



... then discovered the deadline for finishing Ravellenics projects was before the broadcast started in the U.S. Oops. Nuts. I also discovered that substituting pipe cleaners for the wreath frame specified in the pattern isn't satisfactory, but brim wire works decently well.



There are quite enough hoops to jump through both in craft and in life as it is, so that's what I used. The wreath earned no Ravellenics glory, but I still think of it as my Wreath o' Victory. My version is beadless and has more of a wistful air than a domineering presence.



Meanwhile, after that kerfuffle over names, I was surprised to read in the Wall Street Journal that USOC has no plans to stop the Romney Olympics. (No surprise the WSJ knows about Ravelry.) I was further taken by WaPo's account of the candidate's competitive streak and reaction to losing the Romney Olympics triathlon – he changed the rules to favor himself. Huh. While I do enjoy winning, I've never been big on competitive sports one way or another – it's the hardcore fans who say sports not so much shapes character as reveals it.

Medal Tally

Behold, Ravellenic Games glory is mine! Or at least it is for the two out of three projects finished on time: the pair of socks for Team Tufty and a scarf for Team UCC. I thought I had until midnight local time the last day to finish a third project, but the rules specify a deadline of 11:59 pm British Summer Time, which was already past by the time I sat down to knit and watch the Olympics™ Closing Ceremonies at 9:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time. The delayed broadcast got me! Ah well.

However that may be, I'm very pleased with my handspun Lotus Heart Socks. I'm especially pleased with the way the hot spots in the roving translated in the FO. I don't have enough experience to be able to look at a braid of roving and know if it will spin up suitably for the project at hand. As things turned out, the mottled yarn does obscure the lace pattern somewhat, but the stripes are not as strongly contrasting as some.



Incidentally, after all the fussing with contrast cuffs/no contrast, there's a subtle tonal difference between the cuffs and legs that wasn't planned, it just happened as I knit.



During knitting, the sock initially seemed far too small. That caused me a certain amount of freaking out and frogging, but persevering knitters should trust the pattern, keep calm, and knit on – the pattern tweaks I tried only made the sock far too big = more frogging. (At least my handspun held up to the hard use.) In the end, the only mods I retained were the mirror image cuff and an extra pattern repeat in the leg, because I prefer a tallish sock. Because the cuff tends to flare, the sock fits better cupping the curve of the calf anyway. Go figure.

Speaking of which, that's two badges for me.



I also finished another scarf for my church project, for three more badges. This one is a bit more subdued in color, for those who might appreciate something less BRIGHT. It's still el Corazón Rojo, though, so the texture leaves much to be desired.

     


Project #3 is finished as well, but as it doesn't figure in the medal tally, I'll blog about it, and finish my Ravellenics musings, in another post. To be continued....

Whirl

As long as I had the dedicated fiber pot out, I finished some more yarn. These skeins were spun over a period of time from a beautiful and seemingly interminable braid of Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop roving, colorway Blue Suede Shoes. Rather by accident, they span a decent color gradient.



I can see my spinning progress in these skeins. This isn't all of what I've spun and plied from the braid, but some skeins are so very different from these – and from how I'm spinning now – that when I compared it all to what I just finished for TdF it seemed best to finish this batch and re-set the counter. It's a milestone of sorts and I'm oddly gratified. Dunno what I'm going to make with this yarn just yet, but there's 367 yds (335 m) total.

Meanwhile, I've been working on my first Ravellenic Games project, Lotus Heart Socks by Gina House. Knitting for real (as opposed to swatching) posed a few difficulties, but after an inordinate amount of frogging, I finally knit a cuff that fit properly. The differences in gauge between the leaf lace, the garter stitch border, and the slip stitch edge make the cuff want to ruffle, twisting S.



Once I figured out how to knit a cuff that accommodates my athletic legs and Frankenfeet, I knit a mirror image cuff, because knitters can. (Sorry about the lousy pix, it's been raining.)



I'm pleased my handspun withstood all the abuse. Speaking of abuse, would-be knitting police take note: the provisional cast on is green for the practice swatch, red for reals. No throwing matches, doping whispers, questionable umpiring, or international gaffe-fests here!

Counting

Yarn's dry! In total there's 607 yards of two-ply fingering, plus the felted ball. The hot water bath re-activated the latent twist in the yarn, which turned out to be somewhat overspun. In this case, that's a good thing, as I hope the high twist will discourage felting and partially compensate for the non-Superwash fiber. So Plan A is a go: to knit Lotus Heart Socks by Gina House for Summer of Socks and also for the Ravellenic Games.



The two big hanks are 253 and 250 yds (231 and 228 m). Pretty good spin control, if I do say so myself, and ample for the task. I love the extra sproing of the yarn, although I do wonder if it will distort the fabric – and if something strange will happen when the socks are wet. The sock pattern stitch is balanced, which I think will help stabilize the fabric. Well, we'll see.



As a spinning experiment, I divided a small amount of the roving into dark and light bits, then spun them up separately. The finished yarn is 21 yds (19 m) dark, 13 and 7 yds (11 and 6 m) light, also decent spin control. I'm surprised that the difference in color saturation seems greater in the finished yarn than in the bits of roving.

 

Initially I thought a contrast cuff might look well on the socks. To make certain I have Enough Yarn for that, I did a bit of Ravellenic Games training and knit up two repeats of the cuff motif. Along the way, I started liking how the non-contrast yarn looked and began thinking maybe contrast cuffs aren't all that after all. Perhaps that beauteous BFL sheen is ornament enough.



Even so, I went ahead and frogged the leaves and measured the yarn used. Each leaf takes just under 3 yds (2.7 m) of yarn.



So there is Enough Yarn for contrast cuffs, but only for fraternal cuffs – one light, one dark – not for identical ones. Gentle readers will hardly be surprised that for me that seals it: non-contrast cuffs it is.

Sock of Changes

My latest cycling socks are finished. They started as a 4th of July study of stripes, but finish not merely stripeless but also with a floral air. I decided to call them Padma, from the Sanskrit word for lotus. (I've been resisting the puckish impulse to call them Padma Peds or Pedma, Padma Pedals, Padma Cycle, etc.)



The new twist rib cuff reminds me of a lotus blossom, the rays of sunrise or sunset, fireworks, or perhaps even an awakened mind. The cuff is knit top down, so it was grafted to the de-cuffinated sock – the second sock was knit normally. It's so hard to tell them apart, I promptly forgot which was which.



Lest any would-be knitting police kick up a fuss, Padma has a regulation 3-inch (7.6-cm) leg and cuff – see, the dressmakers gauge says so – so they qualify as true socks.



The Merino/Tencel yarns used, Zarzuela's Fibers Shiny Sheep and Yarn Botanika Radiance Fingering, are noticeably more comfortable in this heat than many other yarns. We'll see if they hold up to the rigors of summer cycling – if so, I may have to revise my opinion of Merino/Tencel blends.

Redacted

While we wait with bated or unabated breath for the new name of the Ravelry event formerly known by a name that rhymes with and supposedly infringes on the Olympics™, I've been going back and self-deporting various words and images from my blog and Ravelry notebook. I'll use the new name going forward; going backward, I can't decide which redacted form I like best: Ravel*****s or Ravel-----s or something else. In any case it's an ironic project heading into the 4th of July, the U.S. holiday that celebrates liberty.

Reviewing the blog in order to purge it made me realize just how much I've been slacking lately when it comes to posting – I used to post far more frequently. And this when I have FOs to show off. So without further ado, here's Honey Badger by Irishgirlieknits. I love these socks.



The pattern is well-written and cleverly designed. I especially like the way the pattern row repeat changes from every fourth row in the cuff to every eighth row in the leg and instep (kinda like my blogging, oops). I added an extra half pattern repeat for a taller sock and substituted an eye of partridge heel.



The yarn is (sadly discontinued) Fleece Artist Basic Merino Socks, colorway Seashore. In the skein it looked to be comprised of chalky pastels, but knit up it's flinty blues, all the while somehow retaining a sense of salt air and water-rounded pebbles. It's pure pleasure to knit with – I wish I had more.

Speaking of more, my sock drawer is starting to overflow. How can this be? I still have extant Socks of Shame and I have yet to achieve my carbon footprint goal – and I have LOTS of sock yarn in stash that I want to knit. It's empiric evidence that despite my slacker ways, acquisitive habits, and disbelief, given enough time and vegetable love even a process knitter can be – dare I say it? – productive.

A New Attitude

A good knit changes everything. String is transformed; so too, the knitter – perhaps even the world. Back when I was mightily annoyed with the all-male birth control panel, I started Scylla with my scariest sock yarn. In the process, I think I've stumbled upon a formula for toe-up socks that fit my Frankenfeet. It may not be on par with a cure for cancer, but my mood improved markedly.



The knitting secret appears to be starting the gusset nearly an inch sooner than most toe-up patterns specify, thus knitting a deeper gusset. Scylla is written that way – I applied the principle to Dicey with success and plan to try it with Frick-N-Frack. It's so simple, yet I'm seriously chuffed. Let there be toe-up socks!



As for transforming the world, I note the importance of having a new attitude is not to be dismissed lightly. I don't mean in this in a self-centered existential way – I'm not so egotistical as to think the world is solely my mental construct. Rather, it's a determination not to cede the power of self-definition to the bigots and bullies – religious and otherwise – by losing heart (or temper), succumbing to apathy, or failing to exercise power by, say, failing to vote.

Cranking

It's the day after (U.S.) tax day and there's not much to say. In between working on taxes I've been cranking out scarves of Red Heart for my church project. I've forced myself managed to finish two so far. shudder

   

Corazon Rojo has proved to be surprisingly full of knots, a minimum of one a skein. I woulda thunk yarn shot from spinnerets would be immune to the problem. The knots do not disrupt the color runs, unlike knots in Noro, which often do. I suppose that means Corazon Rojo is spun, then dyed while Noro is dyed, then spun.



I've also been cranking out granny squares to use as hotpads, vaguely inspired by Granny Circle Placemats and using the Adjustable Loop start. They're strangely compelling – can't make just one.



To do my bit for informed citizenship, I crunched the numbers and calculated my nominal and effective federal income tax rates. It's not difficult. To find your nominal rate, look up your adjusted gross income (Form 1040, Line 37) in a rate chart or plug it into an online tax calculator. To figure your effective tax rate, divide your total tax (Form 1040, Line 61) by your adjusted gross income (Form 1040, Line 37) and multiply by 100.

No surprise, my nominal rate is much higher than Mitt Romney's effective rate on much less income. I get a deduction for state and local taxes paid, so my effective rate is lower than my nominal rate. But if Mr. Romney were to have his way, his federal income tax bill would decrease further and mine will more than double. He's OK with that. I'm not. Like I said, no surprise.

Madness, Anyone?

If the turn from a mild winter (at least roundabout Exit 151) to a blustery spring isn't sufficient to turn one madder than a March hare, howabout a touch of Sock Madness 6? This year there are three warm up patterns – this one is Wimbledon by Ros Clarke, modified for cycling but styled with DH's old tennis racquet and the least-scraggly patch of grass in the backyard as a nod to its origins.

Gentle readers of eagle eye may have surmised DH hasn't played in a while: his racquet is wood laminate with nylon strings, has a classic oval head, and is branded, "Pancho" Gonzales.

The first competition pattern is due to be released any day now. There's an intriguing item on the otherwise unremarkable list of supplies:

     400 yds solid or semi-solid fingering wt yarn
     US 1 (2.25 mm) knitting needles
     1 or more six-sided dice
     cable needle
     tapestry needle
     stitch markers

I've never knit with dice before. Huh.

Under the Influenza

Suddenly I've developed the nastiest of all nasties, like a flu in onset, like a heavy cold in misery. I haven't been this congested since the last millennium. When you mix general bleariness and a whole lot of OTC cold remedies...



... with a charm pack and a quilt block project for Church of the Sharp Elbows...



... wobbly crafting ensues. You know how the cold remedy labels advise, "Do not operate machinery"? Apparently that includes sewing machines. Yet I persevered and crafted on.

Here's my first quilt block. In my current state I'm somewhat amused that the house – yes, it's supposed to be a house – would appear to have settled, which ::cough:: explains why the walls and chimneys aren't precisely vertical. Nothing a bit of sashing couldn't fix. Also, the walls and the window don't contrast enough. I'm tempted to fix that with a laundry marker.



This was my first attempt at paper piecing. I can see why quilters like the technique – it's a simple way to achieve a high degree of fussy. Speaking of which, this block most likely isn't up to the high standards of the Quilting Guild at Church of the Sharp Elbows, which means I'll be keeping it and making another to donate. So what does one do with just one quilt block?