The Skies Are Cloudy All Day

Yesterday the region roundabout Exit 151 was awash in heavy rain and flash flooding, with some locations receiving what is ordinarily a month's worth of rain in a few hours from a storm characterized as smaller-scale. Welcome to the Anthropocene, when formerly 100-year weather events become both more common and harder to forecast. I stayed home (because I can) and worked on my Bonfire Crescent Shawl by Annie Lupton for the Yarnia Knit Collage MAL. Apologies for the bad-light photo, the sky today remains overcast.



So far both the MC and the CC are thick-and-thin Spun Cloud which as its name suggests is light and soft. I'm not much liking knitting with it. I used the backwards-E cast on to reduce bulk and will carry the MC through the color changes without breaking it, also to reduce bulk. Theoretically it should be possible to spit-splice the MC and CCs together (except for Wildflower, of course), but I plan to splice the CC ends together instead to avoid weaving in. To be continued....

Trying It

In this strange time, both post-covid yet also still not over it, I've become convinced we've collectively lost our damn minds. For a personal example, I'm ignoring my Excavated Object. For another, I tried Y3000 Coke, purportedly co-created using artificial intelligence. It tastes sweet n' fruity and the label is strangely soft-focus fuzzy. I don't plan to drink any more of it. I'm not sure why I drank it at all. Well, except to give it a try.



Through the end of October Yarnia is sponsoring a Knit Collage make-along. Despite misgivings, I decided to give it a try. I bought a US size 13 (9 mm) circular needle, shown here with a pen for scale. It's really big. It's what's specified in the pattern, Bonfire Crescent Shawl



I bought the requisite yarn, main color Knit Collage Spun Cloud in colorway High Vibes. It's a fluffy bulky-weight thick-and-thin yarn plied with two strands of lurex.



And I bought the contrast colors (and textures) in the Knit Collage Yarn Sampler Mini Kit, colorway Bouquet, which is comprised of 17 yd (15.5 m) lengths of Spun Cloud, colorway French Vanilla; Dreamland, colorway Circle Game; Wildflower, colorway Beatnik; Daisy Chain, colorway Grand Prismatic; Cast Away, colorway Chasing Rainbows.



It must be admitted I am a lover of strange yarns. This bundle is passing strange. Some of the yarn is badly overspun. Dreamland and Daisy Chain are plied with random bits of lace flowers and whatnot. Wildflower is knotted strips of thin cotton fabric. I've hand-wound the yarns into balls. Y'know, for the sake of trying it. To be continued....

Grateful After the Storm

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.

Bandwidth Exceeded

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 on Water

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....

Fireworks and Water

And just like that, it's July.

Many of the usual Fourth of July festivities 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.

Excessive Heat Warning

There's an excessive heat warning
noon Friday to 10:00 pm Sunday
please take care
Today I'm cowering inside in air-conditioned comfort, working on my ::cough:: sadly neglected July Loopy Space Camp project, A Shield Against Grief by Francoise Danoy aka ArohaKnits.



It's a lovely project, I just need to be more intentional about it. Onward! – at a prudent pace, it's dangerously hot roundabout Exit 151.

A Shawl of One's Own

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.

Attitude of Gratitude

This post was written in June but posted in July – and not even on the first of July – because June was the sort of month when the wheels came off. That was true literally, as with my hapless seven-year-old lawn mower, and in other ways as well for me, and perhaps for others too. Under such circumstances I try to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and to "knit on with confidence and hope through all crises" per Elizabeth Zimmermann. It doesn't always work, but it beats most of the alternatives.



So, in June, there was too much travel, of course. Which of course meant my Loopy Space Camp project for June, Tendril by Mary-Ann Mace, didn't progress very far – certainly not to completion. Perhaps it's in keeping with the space camp theme that instead of reaching Neptune (ie, a finished project of 800-999 yds (731-913 m)), it's become a UFO.



There was no June jamming for the FIJ Challenge either. Ah well. The July theme is stonefruit, and I really hope to get to can some. Meanwhile, Marisa was hospitalized with pre-eclampsia, which puts my woes in perspective. Here's hoping she and her twins pull through with flying colors.

On the bright side, the prize haul in June was quite handsome. I received a Sock Madness 13 prize, a beautiful personalized Party Palette from Belchickie, for improvising a crochet hook and knitting on with confidence and hope etc on my Demogorgon's Lair socks. My thanks to the Sock Madness mod team and to Belchickie!



And UFO or no, my Neptune swap partner, Cascott, sent a rich and lovely package: a sweet note; astronaut ice cream that I'm going to save for the big anniversary, July 20, 2019; a crochet hook/cable needle Handi Tool; Black Elephant Superwash Merino Singles, colorway Lights Out; stitch markers; and a space-themed project bag, lined and finely finished with a measuring tape scissors leash, sparkly pull tabs, and a rocket zipper pull (check out that planetary pattern-matching). My thanks to Neptune moderator UnravelingSophia and to Cascott!



While I was traveling Ravelry adopted a new policy banning expressions of support for the Trump administration as equivalent to hate speech, which rapidly became national news and inevitably national parody. The strong stand also provoked a backlash that involved threats against Rav staff, trolls and (possibly Russian) bots who mostly posted threatening and pornographic messages and images on the website, and DoS attacks. A few politically conservative groups closed and a few members quit. Some designers and yarn shops received threats and, curiously, some conservative knitters also received unpleasant messages. I have to wonder about the source(s). It's troubling to know Big Brother is watching, and cares enough to actively seek to create contention. Hm.



Also while I was traveling, one of my overwintered leeks started growing a bulb. I didn't think leeks did that, but there it is. I'm going to go with that bit of serendipity, and start a July project for Loopy Space Camp and spin a bit for Tour de Fleece, which starts July 6. More on both, and FIJ, later.

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.

Some Good Stuff

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.

Baltimore Convention Consolations

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.

Another

Another Thanksgiving at Casa Jersey Knitter gone by – this one was a happy feast, not least because DH and I celebrated at home. Instead of the anxieties, disruptions, and hardships of the past several years, our biggest worry this T-Day was finding the perfect turkey and roasting it without setting off the smoke detectors. I'm deeply thankful for that. The only very small complaint: despite a diligent search there were no extra turkey giblets to be found to enrich the stuffing. Huh. Back when I used to order my turkey from a butcher, they always came with giblets from a much bigger bird, which was a little strange, but very welcome. The past few chaotic Novembers a supermarket bird (with its own, proportionate giblets plus some extras when available) has had to suffice. But perhaps next year I can hope to order from a butcher again.



Meanwhile, the first Homespun woven prayer shawl eventually worked out so well, I made another. This time I made sure the selvedges wound onto the warp beam evenly. It helped that I found a roll of craft paper the same width as the weaving width of the loom, so had a continuous length separating the layers instead of the taped-together paper I had been using. My third weaving project drafted easily, wove up quickly, and made a pleasing FO. I may never knit another prayer shawl. Although I did knit up more shawl ministry pins for my group.



My backordered 10-dent heddle finally arrived over the holiday weekend. Newbie weaver that I am, I was surprised by how big a difference in fineness there is between the 8-dent and the 10-dent heddles. I wouldn't have thunk it, but the 8-dent is for worsted weight yarn while the 10-dent is for fingering.



So, I guess I have myself another hobby. Pity about the 15-inch weaving width though, it really would be nice to have a wider shawl. It seems very soon to be saying this, but... one would need another loom for that.... Danger, Will Robinson, danger!

Newbie Luck

As it turns out, quite a lot can go wrong, but sometimes newbie luck is almost as good as skill.

It was easy to weave with Homespun – my selvedges were good! But, somehow the warp wound around the warp beam a lot more tightly at each selvedge than in the middle. So of course the resulting fabric was shorter at the selvedges, longer in the middle – an unintended, undesired ruche effect. I also wove much more tightly at the beginning than at the end, with unfortunate (or comic) results for the drape of the shawl. Both effects, obvious to the hand, were subtle to the eye and difficult to document with my poor digicam, so there's no pix of the sorry fabric. Perhaps that's for the best.

Fortunately, because I still don't have a good sense of how much warp translates into a given length of fabric, I wove 'way more cloth than needed for a prayer shawl. That gave me leeway to cut off most of the tight end and to gently spread out the remaining weft across the remaining warp. The process probably would have been impossible in wool yarn, but is do-able in slippery acrylic yarn like Homespun. After several days of patient spreading whenever I watched TV (a process that may include posteriors as well as wefts), I ended up with a shawl that still was denser at one end and airier at the other, but not quite so inordinately so. I made some twisted fringe and called it a Finished Object. I am really loving twisted fringe.



DH thinks the FO is kinda bright, but I like it. Ordinarily, I like a wider prayer shawl, and I do find myself wishing for wider weaving width... a dangerous wish that I'm keeping firmly suppressed. If I stick with rigid heddle weaving, I could see wanting a simpler, smaller loom for quick samples and experiments, and a bigger, more capable loom for bigger projects. The rabbit hole beckons....

Weaving Improv

Halloween night was a three-bagger at Casa Jersey Knitter, well within the middle of years past. This year I didn't recognize most of the trick-or-treaters, who were evenly split between small, precociously verbal preschoolers who readily offered lengthy, precise explanations of their costumes and largish, already rebellious pre-teens who were attentive to their friends and scarcely deigned to notice the person giving them candy. None of the costumes were nearly as scary as Gnarly Tine, Destroyer of Gardens, who showed up to snack on my yew hedge.



Emboldened by the semi-success of my first weaving project, over the weekend I started a second using Lion Brand Homespun. Like many prayer shawl knitters, I have an overly-large stash of the stuff. Coincidentally, I've gotten a little tired of knitting prayer shawls, so I had ulterior motives in seeing how this weaves up. As I only have an 8-dent (worsted weight) heddle at the moment, I improvised and threaded every other slot-and-hole to get a draft spread out sufficiently for the bulky bouclé yarn. This time I'm using the full weaving width of the loom.



What could possibly go wrong?

Yup, I'm Up

Tonight I'm staying up late to record a midnight cast on of a currently underappreciated pattern, Llama Llama Duck by Adrienne Fong, worked in Spunky Eclectic Skinny Sock for the BBK LLD KAL and also for February Sockdown. Here's the photographic evidence.

At 11:44 p.m. EST on January 31, I'm watching David Letterman, needles are down, everything is lined up and ready to go.



My progress as of 12:56 a.m. EST on February 1. Jimmy Fallon seems duly impressed. Either that, or he's mocking emulating Rob Ford.



My sock is project #15, it says so on the screenshot.



I trust that's adequate documentation.

As long as I'm up and alonging, here's a photo of my recently completed Moulin Rouge by Kirsten Kapur, worked in Classic Elite Yarns Fresco.



I'm not feeling very chatty at this hour, but do want to mention I really enjoyed this pairing of pattern and yarn. The pico cast on was fun and the short-row shaping graceful, a nice match for the soft, slightly limp, slightly fuzzy yarn. More a bit later.

Not in Our Stars

There's been still more chaos, with the result my NaKniSweMo was a bust. Happily, I was home for most of Thanksgiving weekend, progress on Loni cardigan continues, and DH got to decorate our pie. I was hoping for a likeness of Comet ISON, but as that went bust too, perhaps it's better he instead opted for slender leaves.



At some point I decided I wanted an anise Annis. Attempt #1 – need it be said if one's attempts are numbered, that does not bode well? – was in Malabrigo Lace. I hated it.



Attempt #2 was in Classic Elite Yarns Fresco. Hated that too.



The fault, dear Grumpy Cat, lies with neither pattern nor yarn, but rather with the intolerable mismatch between them. I like everything about the Malabrigo Lace except its colorway, Tortuga, which would be fine in another project. I like everything about the Fresco except its sproing, which again would be fine in another project. And at least the Attempts have served to clarify what I want: a solid black Annis of 291 sts. So no real harm, no foul: I'm going to look for a skein of solid black Malabrigo Lace and a different pattern for the Fresco, and knit on.

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.