For the SKA August challenge, finishing WIPs, I excavated a gray version of Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt that was cast on in November 2007. Needless to add, it's been a UFO for a long time. The most recent photo of it was taken in January 2008. Here's what the sock looked like then.
It's well-preserved, in the August 25 (2023) proof of sock photo it looks like it scarcely aged a day.
Er, or put another way, there hasn't been much progress on this work in progress in 16 years. Can I finish the pair before the end of the month? To be continued....
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.
Add Hurricane Isaias, which plowed through the I-95 corridor, to the 2020 list of calamities. For a named storm, it did relatively little damage roundabout Exit 151. The lights flickered but stayed on and my Zoom meetings went on uninterrupted. Thank you, PSE&G and Verizon!
I had planned for some hurricane knitting with a favorite yarn, Malabrigo Lace, colorway Violetas. The storm moved so fast I never got the chance. Things could have been worse, so file this under All's well that ends well.
The yarn is for August Camp Loopy. My order turned out to be from different dyelots that, indeed, are different. Before it shipped, Sheri thoughtfully sent a photo of the skeins and asked if I still wanted them. As I intend to knit Timeline of a Distraction by Mary-Ann Mace, I figured the different dyelots would give an attractive ombré effect, so I did. And I appreciate the thoughtful and alert customer service. Another bit of good after the storm.
The light is dim today, but I want to document a timely FO for July Camp Loopy. Behold Water by Sylvia McFadden, knit in Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper, colorway Koi Pond. I'll do a beauty shot later, suffice to say now that I love the fish-scale short row lenses. Six of them! Such fun to knit and ogle.
I've mostly missed the uproar over the new Ravelry design that led to this post from Jessica. That's not a request for breadcrumbs, nor a declaration of uncaring. It's simply an acknowledgement that I can't be everywhere at once, so am not informed.
Then there's the straightforward, sad announcement (and followup) from Cat Bordhi that she's dying of cancer, would welcome supportive email, asks that project photos be tagged #4catbordhi, and offers a free unpublished pattern, Rio Calina Cowl, as a lesson in letting go and a generous parting gift to knitting friends. The pattern link keeps displaying Bandwidth Exceeded, which so aptly describes how I feel right now.
Briefly, it's on to the interminable edging stage of Water. The edging is simple and doesn't look like much now, hopefully it will be more distinct when blocked out. The end of the month deadline for Camp Loopy looms, I hope I finish on time.
The experts say last summer was a mast year for acorns followed by a mild winter, with the inevitable consequence there are a lot of chipmunks roundabout Exit 151 this summer. They've discovered my vegetable patch, which is very bad news. They're also fast, so I have yet to catch them on camera. Let's hope deterrence works. To be continued....
Many of the usual FourthofJulyfestivities roundabout Exit 151 were canceled due to covid19, so a neighbor took it upon himself to put on a show with big aerial fireworks that barely cleared the trees. I like fireworks well enough, but it was loud, bright, and perfectly terrifying to experience them so close up.
Happily no one got hurt, nothing was set on fire, and the next day in the blessèd peace and quiet I cast on Water by Sylvia McFadden, worked in Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper, colorway Koi Pond. I'm liking both pattern and yarn very much.
The project is for July Camp Loopy, Zoology section (koi pond, water). I decided to press on despite ::cough:: not finishing my June project. As one does. Onward.
One week later, and I feel OBE yet again. Memorial Day weekend roundabout Exit 151 was somber and intermittently rainy, with the long shadow of covid19 looming over the unofficial start of summer. Many of the traditional observances at veterans cemeteries were simplified and restricted to family members with passes and face coverings, and some of the first-of-the-summer holiday revels took on political overtones, becoming either cautiously mannered or defiantly raucous. The grinding partisanship often didn't seem to leave much room for appeals to empathy and decency.
By grim coincidence the tally of confirmed covid19 deaths in the U.S. neared 100,000 during the holiday weekend, prompting the astonishing Sunday, May 24, 2020 New York Times front page shown to the right. It's a list of names with brief obituaries of 1,000 people known to have died of covid19 in the time since the epidemic began in the U.S., less than four months. Add in the unidentified deaths to the ceaselessly growing total, and it would take over 100 pages to list them all. As the headline reads, the loss is incalculable.
It seems to me one of the better ways to honor the memory of so many dead is to keep on keeping on with the single method that is proven effective: social distancing. Attempts to foster natural herd immunity, as in Sweden, have failed, at a high human cost. Many antibody tests have proven not reliable as a guide for personal behavior or public policy. Efforts to invent a safe and effective vaccine continue, as they should, although in the U.S. opinions on taking a vaccine are evenly split between Yes and No/Not Sure. The search for safe and effective treatments also continues. Overall, there are reasons for optimism and reasons for pessimism.
At the close of the holiday weekend came two incidents that pulled another veil off the reality of racism in the U.S. First, a white woman in Central Park got into a verbal argument with a black man, threatened to call the police on him, and indeed summoned police with a false story he was threatening her. He recorded the encounter, which went viral, with many consequences and much spilled ink.
The evening of Memorial Day, George Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis. Peaceful protests gave way to violence and looting, and documented concerns that white agents provocateurs like Umbrella Man and others from outside the Twin Cities had come to pursue violent agendas of their own. The protests, violence, and suspicions spread quickly to other cities amid pleas for calm from city and state officials and a flight from responsibility at the top.
As deadly serious as all this is, I am reminded that continued existence IS resistance. So I completed a pair of socks, Waterlily by Sivia Harding, in time to qualify for April/May SKA.
With so much going on, it's my first foot of 2020, and that will have to be enough.
'Way back whenever, a mere six weeks or so ago, this post started as a Sock Madness post. I had CO the SM14 qualifier on a train somewhere between Chicago and New York and had every intention of competing. Things seemed auspicious: by the most synchronous of synchronicities, the qualifying pattern was Wohin? by the ever-creative Caoua Coffee, a delight of clever technique (gentle readers know how I love technique). Wohin?, a lied in the Schubert song cycle "Die schöne Müllerin" (Op. 25, D. 795), translates to something like Where to?
Little did I suspect that the first week of March was to be the last Before Coronavirus (at least that we currently know of in this region) and the Land of Where To so far has been a place of constantly feeling O.B.E..
One sign of the times is the Times itself – here's a week of headlines for March 16-21, 2020, when reality began to sink in. Ordinarily the New York Times doesn't do full, six-column headlines all that often, so a solid week of them is unsettling all by itself. Then there's the subject of those headlines: the public health crisis and the economic crisis touched off by the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, covid19, and the leadership crisis in response. So much of grave import has happened that it seems frivolous to note, even on a knitting blog, that there hasn't been much knitting going on at casa Jersey Knitter.
Instead there have been many adjustments big and small, some bewildering in their rapidity and increasing severity. BC, I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show and, AC, I was too occupied to blog about it. Branch Brook Park was closed during cherryblossom season, along with schools and nonessential businesses. (Including malls. In New Jersey.) Spring elections were rescheduled or shifted to vote by mail. Restaurants were limited to take-out or delivery only. Supermarkets were required to limit the number of customers in the store; some placed one-way arrows to direct traffic in the aisles and sneeze guards at the registers; customers were required to wear face masks and gloves – some say food stores should move to curbside pickup and home delivery only. Although online ordering is so swamped, shopping at Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods is by invitation only. I learned about social distancing and flattening the curve and how to wash hands (for at least 20 seconds, with plenty of suds).
With all the adjustments come all the feels. So many feels. Gabrielle Treanor's "3 Stages of Pandemic Response" has it about right, except instead of making steady progress through the stages, I tend to pingpong back and forth between levels.
After all that, I cast on another sock, Waterlily Socks by Sivia Harding. It's got a bit o' everything: beads, small cables, lace. The yarn is Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock, colorway Sapphire. I've stopped worrying about Where To? It's one small consolation in a world turned up to eleven.
In an effort to ::cough:: increase productivity and avoid UFOs, for July Loopy Space Camp I'm starting earlier in the month with a shorter-mileage project. I neglected to blog that June projects had to be patterns published in 2019; this month's rules stipulate a pattern by a star designer, one with three or more pattern pages on Ravelry. I selected A Shield Against Grief by the stellar Francoise Danoy aka ArohaKnits.
ArohaKnits, to use her Ravname, identifies as a Franco-Maori American-Australian knitwear designer + coach living in Osaka, Japan, a bi-racial multi-cultural queer crafter of color. Those multiple belongings clearly inform her patterns and her business practices, and I've been deeply impressed with the way she shares and builds on her experiences. I'm impressed, too, with the intentional way this pattern explores compassionate strength. I look forward to knitting it out of Malabrigo Rios, colorway Valentina. (The photo is rather blue, it's been cloudy here.)
The shawl is to be a bit of selfish self-care knitting. Having had so many dumpster fires raging for so long I stand in need of a knitted hug and, happily, I have the necessary to make one. The deepest grief is lessening and the piling on has slowed, so it will be a lighter shade of mourning and also a color of the heart. It's time.
So. I joined the Camp Loopy knit-along. This year's theme is outer space, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969, and blast-off was June 1. Which may not be the wisest move – joining, that is, not the choice of theme or the start date (or believing the Moon landing was real) – as my last blog post was ::cough:: eight weeks ago... and I haven't yet cast on. It's the usual, too much travel.
So. While I remedy both regrettable states of affairs, howabout a photo of the Moon, taken last night because I couldn't get an image of Jupiter and its moons, which were in opposition on Monday. It's handheld because the tripod had one leg ripped clean off during a chaotic night shoot in February. The damage is beyond duct tape, sigh. Anyway, I love how the lunar terminator, the divide between bright and dark, highlights the craters in light and shadow.
Sock Madness Round 7, the round of champions, starts tomorrow. I dropped out after Round 2 for the usual reasons, although I made scanty progress on the Round 3 sock, inky madness by Susan Gehringer. And I want to knit the Round 4 sock, Canon by Caoua Coffee and the Round 6 pattern, Swirlagon Socks by Kirsten Hall. So many patterns, so little time!
Somehow I got out of sync with the FIJ Challenge monthly challenges, too. June is jam month, so in the time remaining I'll try to put up some old favorites and try a new recipe if I can manage it. The big discovery from last year was tomato jam and I want to put up mass quantities for the lean times – last year's hoard was barely sufficient! But of course it's not tomato time yet and (of course) I have yet more travel scheduled. Well, the journey of a thousand miles starts with consulting a lot of maps.
It's typical of Sock Madness that while I hitherto did not know what a demogorgon is, I speed-knit a pair of socks called Demogorgon's Lair by Dots Dabbles, trusting that when the madness passes, I (among thousands of other hapless sock knitters) will not have reason to wail, "What have I done???"
The pattern dropped while I was traveling, of course. Fortunately, I had stuffed the equivalent of the contents of a small yarn shop in my luggage... except for a crochet hook. So while I had ample choices of yarn, of course the pattern calls for a crochet hook to work the Magic Circle Cast On (aka Emily Ocker's CO). Undeterred and working with what else was on hand – a bent paperclip, a ballpoint pen, and some masking tape – I was soon knitting along using one of my favorite sock yarns, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colorway 907 Envy in the old put-up.
Charmingly (or perhaps appropriately, I know not), Demogorgon the sock has different left and right legs. To comply with Sock Madness regs, I dutifully posted photos of the fronts of the socks. Thanks to the different leg patterns, to reach the same length the left leg has five pattern repeats, the right leg seven.
I'd used the left leg lace pattern before for three pairs of shortie socks that also are knit in Shepherd Sock. They're shortie socks to make the most one skein of the old put-up. The oldest pair pre-date Ravelry; all're on the blog here, here, and here.
As Kathy noted, to some eyes the toes and heels of the Demogorgon resemble bewbs and nips. My Frankenfeet can be hard to fit and, sure enough, while the bewbs fit OK, the nips will need reknitting. When I have more time (har!).
It's said the demogorgon lives in a parallel dimension public library (?), which I suppose means my Frankenfeet live in a library. That doesn't sound too bad. The sock Demogorgon's Lair is an inventive and entertaining knit – even more meaningful to members of the fandom, no doubt. For my part, I'm happy to advance to Round 2. It looks like I'll again be traveling when the pattern drops, so I'm stocking my mobile yarn shop accordingly.
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.
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.
Once away from airport hell, I noticed I'd cast on Geology Socks incorrectly. Fixed that.
And, despite the dearth of FOs this crazy over-committed summer, I immediately signed up for a bath-related weave-along. Because, sure, I'll take one of those.
So. The travel plan for this week ran smack into airport hell, complete with weather, power outages, tarmac captivity, flight cancellations, and screaming people unwisely threatening airlines staff and inevitably being questioned by police. All I can say is it's good to have knitting during airport hell, even while or perhaps especially while keeping a cautious eye on extremely agitated people.
Although I finally staggered home, my checked luggage would seem to be off having rather extensive adventures without me. I thought in this security-conscious age that was not possible. Somewhat disturbingly, after providing full information on the tags on the luggage and its exterior appearance, I was asked to describe its contents. Erm. I hope I see everything again soon. Meanwhile, just keep knitting, just keep knitting....
It just occurred to me I neglected to mention I finished my Baltimore shawlette back in July, right before my summer went from being a bit too busy to plain crazy. Not to mention it was a positively steamy day in July when I blocked it, so I cooed over it, then put it away for cooler weather. It's cooler now, and I've been enjoying it.
The pairing of pattern and yarn was most enjoyable. The pattern, Lionberry by Narniel of Endor, has a little bit o' everything – lace and fancy texture, nicely curved crescent shape, just-right size. The tails of the shawlette fall in adorable ringlets. The yarn, Neighborhood Fiber Co. Capital Luxury Lace, colorway Del Ray, is a beautiful 80/10/10 MCN, so nice to knit. Ah, some good stuff... for a change.
All the to-ing and fro-ing has wreaked havoc on my knitting, spinning, canning, blogging, etc but one consolation is when in Baltimore for a convention I was able to visit Neighborhood Fiber Co. It's in a converted firehouse – there are still lunettes in the ceiling where the poles for the firefighters to slide down used to be. They really, truly used to do that.
For conventioneers, the shop is easy to get to (from the Baltimore Convention Center it's a short ride on the light rail) and well-worth a visit. I splurged on a braid of absolutely lovely Cobblestone Roving (75/25 BFL/Silk) in colorway Sandtown-Winchester for my Tour de Fleece project and some other goodies. I dunno when I'll have time to start it – the Grand Départ was July 1 – but that's another matter. At least I'm ready to start.
There was a lot of sitting in large groups during this convention, ideal for working discreetly on a small project like a Lionberry crescent shawlette. Mine is knit in Neighborhood Fiber Co. Capitol Luxury Lace (80/10/10 MCN), colorway Del Rey.
When I bought the Sugar 'n Cream at the big box store I had the foresight to also buy a circular needle. While I've had decent experiences with some big box store knitting needle brands, such as Susan Bates, Clover, or Boye, alas, this no-name one turned out to be very poorly made. The suffering inflicted by the poor quality needle almost canceled out the pleasure of the lovely yarn. Note to self: don't do that again.
Some of my fellow conventioneers had good views from their hotel rooms into Camden Yards, which indeed is a most beautiful baseball stadium. I just had a view of the convention center complex. Interestingly, one of the buildings has a green roof. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the plants are very closely spaced and some appear to be three or four feet (0.9-1.2 m) tall. I don't know if this green roof has much impact on pollution or the urban heat island effect, but it was more pleasant to look at than an ordinary roof.
During free time while some people took in a baseball game and others went to the Inner Harbor, I visited Lexington Market to try crab cakes and soft-shell crab at Faidley's, which were pricey and very good. Many crab cakes are too highly seasoned to my taste, but these were just right. As for the soft-shell, I was told that the proper way to eat a soft-shell crab is fried, in a sandwich with the legs dangling out. I was veddy proper. (Faidley's also has all kinds of other seafood.)
Thanks to the conference I spent the Fourth of July traveling, then at home blissfully making up my sleep deficit. Sigh. Every year I vow: Never travel on a holiday. Then I end up doing it anyway. Ah well, at least this time there were consolations.
Happy April Fool's Day! This is a post-factum post, a catch-all catch-up, and it would seem the joke's on me. In true Seussical fashion, after I made shrub (also known as drinking vinegar or switchel) for the March FIJ Challenge (jellies and shrubs), I started seeing it here and there, I started seeing it everywhere. I saw it at an Asian supermarket (the signs say it's a healthy drink)...
... in a deli refrigerator case...
... and at the Tait Farm Foods booth at the Philadelphia Flower Show. They were giving away samples, which tasted predominantly of fruit, sweet and tart, with that sour-funky vinegar flavor only at the finish. Quite nice, very refreshing. I bought a few bottles for research purposes.
Alas, after much judicious sampling I have decided shrub just isn't my thing. I can see why some FIJ Challenge participants match a mix of 3 parts red wine vinegar and 1 part balsamic vinegar with strawberries or Braggs apple cider vinegar with citrus, pairings that would not have occurred to me before. So I'm happy to have expanded my palate and learned something new, even if I don't think I'll re-visit the topic. It does tug at my imagination, though, in ways that soup base does not.
Speaking of re-visiting topics, one February Sockdown category was repeats, so I knit another pair of lovely Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt, this one in Opal Uni-Solid, 2600 Purple. They're the liturgically correct color for Lent, and they're finished, although one day past the Sockdown deadline. Oh well. I tweaked the pattern a very little: substituted 2x2 ribbing, varied the pattern by a half-drop, fiddled with the star toe for fit. Otherwise, it's a beautiful and truly repeat-worthy pattern!
For a second March FIJ Challenge project I made Wine and Herb Jelly by Cathy Barrow, using a Riesling Auslese instead of the Gewürtztraminer specified in the recipe. It was easy, pretty, and tasty, with a nice soft set and excellent yield; something to do at a time of year when there's not much fresh local fruit roundabout Exit 151. I put a sprig of thyme in the jars for decoration, but think the wine jelly would be equally good without it. The Auslese has such a luscious peach flavor, I suspect it might make an extra-luxurious and flavorful base for pepper jelly.
Obviously I'm having a lot of fun with the challenges. I'm particularly appreciative of the expertise and creativity of other participants, which leads to a phenomenon familiar from knitting: so many great recipes, too little time. It turns out almost anything can be made into jelly! Among the many recipes I'd like to try someday: Stout Beer Jelly, Grape Juice Jelly, Jalapeño-Confetti Jelly (in Preserving with Pomona's Pectin). As I don't much care for the massive quantities of sugar in so many traditional jelly recipes, I'd very much like to try Pomona's pectin, which would allow me to reduce the amount of sugar and let the fruit flavors shine.
I was down to one small jar of January's blood orange marmalade, so I made more. The January batch was rose-gold, but the March batch turned out ruby red. They taste about the same. Huh. I put up this batch in three 4-oz and three 8-oz jars to suit the excellent marmalade cake recipe – pity I don't have any 10-oz jars. Hm.
As one does in August. To whit...
Many of the traditional observances at veterans cemeteries were simplified and restricted to family members with passes and face coverings, and some of the first-of-the-summer holiday revels took on political overtones, becoming either cautiously mannered or defiantly raucous. The grinding partisanship often didn't seem to leave much room for appeals to empathy and decency.
this month's rules stipulate a pattern by a star designer, one with three or more pattern pages on Ravelry. I selected A Shield Against Grief by the stellar Francoise Danoy aka ArohaKnits.
