Of Primary Importance

"The economy is by far the most important issue facing the country"??? 

Someone on NPR just told me that's what South Carolinians said in exit polls at the primaries today. 

???

The environment. Healthcare.

These are the two most important issues the next president will have to cope with, in that order. The economy is a minor fraction of a footnote. The economy goes up and down. No, it's not good right now. Witness my lack of income for the past several years. But it's a pendulum and it will swing back.

Unless, of course, there is a catastrophic global climate crisis, like Florida being underwater, or honeybees failing to pollinate, oh, say, everything in California. Or unless more millions of American children and old people simply no longer receive health care because it is unavailable and unaffordable. I could see either of those scenarios turning apocalyptic and having a deleterious effect on the economy. 

Jeez, come on people!

Vacuum

As a single mama, I'm starting to recognize the feeling of not only parenting, but living in a vacuum. There's so little outside interaction in a typical day for me that I begin to feel as though the outer world were not much more than a shadowy dream. It makes it hard to get up a lot of urgency about things like paying bills, accomplishing work, really anything that is not directly and immediately part of getting through the day. 

As I try to express this sensation it's sounding like depression, but that's not how I'm experiencing it. I mean - don't get me wrong, I have periods of depression, and a lot of it stems from my physical and psychological isolation, but that's not what I'm talking about here. It's a sense as I'm turning down the bed for nighttime or folding laundry that oh yeah, there's other stuff out there and I'm supposed to be engaged with it, but damn, what is it? And it doesn't really matter, does it?

I'm sure it's not an entirely unknown feeling to partnered parents of young children, but I'm also sure it's intensified by the lack of other people's face-to-face influence on my daily life. 

Pink Kitty

The cat is turning pink. Have you seen the pictures of that guy who made himself blue? I don't think he looks very blue, actually, more like an indefinable dark, but whatever. The cat is indisputably pink on the back of her neck and her paws. Haven't determined the source yet. I'm a little afraid to find out. 

I have discovered a fault in my cabling in the brim of Coronet. I'm sad, but no way I'm fixing it.

Steam Heat

It's really cold here. The coldest it's been since I moved back a year and a half ago. I've really thrown caution to the winds and turned up the thermostat to 62˚. 

I do have a woodstove, a space heater under my desk, an electric mattress pad on the bed, and a fan heater in the bathroom, don't feel too sorry for us yet.

Crowned

I finished my Coronet, in Noro Iro, color 60. It's a teensy bit … snug… and the colors are a little blockier and contrastier than I'd envisioned, but overall I love it and my head is warm. I nearly ran out of yarn, which is part of why it's not a little more spacious. 

I'm considering knitting another out of another colorway of Iro, for my aunt, but haven't decided. I don't think she'd be wild about the snugness, but then again I don't know that she's going to be wild about a hat at all. I've knitted one for everyone else in their household though and I'm worried she's going to take it personally if I don't do one for her. Expectations are so f*cked!

Hat Failure

That's harsh.  I made 7 hats I was proud of and gave them to people for Christmas. I had bought yarn for more hats but didn't have time to finish them by Christmas, so I started another after the Big Day. I just (sort of) finished it tonight, but I have no glow of pride. I thought I was going to finish it the other day, but when I took off my Myopic Knitting Glasses (patent pending) I realized that the thing was HUGE. It was like a Dr. Seuss hat. The fact that it's a cranberry color with skinny oatmeal colored stripes enhanced this impression. I couldn't believe how big the freaking thing was, and that it had gotten that big while I impatiently kept measuring to see whether I could start decreasing yet. 

I used the same yarn I'd loved using for two of the successful Christmas hats: lovely, warm, wooly Lopi. I used the same needles. I have not suffered any major blows to the head since knitting those hats. I don't know why I'm suddenly incompetent. So anyway, I ripped at least 3 inches (yes, 3 inches. This was truly Giganto Hat.) and started decreasing. I finally finished it tonight. It's still pretty big (I'm telling you, you have never seen anything like the Enormity that was this hat), but I'm not putting any more time into this Hat of Doom. 

Another problem is the striping. I was all whimsical and devil-may-care when I cast on. I loved both the yarns and I was excited to play with them and design a delightfully unique yet classic striping pattern. What I ended up with… well, it looks like an experiment I guess. The brim is oatmeal with single rows of cranberry. The body (head?) of the hat is the opposite. I thought I'd let the spacing be random, but once I got going I had trouble envisioning my charming folksy spontaneity on the head of my sartorially conservative uncle, whom the hat was meant for. So I reigned in my entropic impulses and made regular stripes of one row of oatmeal for every 3 of cranberry. Or every 4. Which was it? 3? 4? How many has it been, anyway? No big surprise, I was unable to remember or recognize or stick to my regimen. So mostly it's every 4 rows, but not always. 

Then there were the jogs at the beginnings of the rounds. I have more experience with socks and mittens on small needles, where the join is much less obvious, so I didn't do anything to correct the stair-stepping, and I didn't notice it until I was halfway done, by which point I wasn't going to rip. 

So, it's done (except for weaving-in), but I don't know what to do with it. I don't think I can stand to give it to my uncle. He might wear it, but… probably not. Maybe he could wear it only on the farm, for mucking out the horse barn or something. I'm not sure. It's lovely and warm and cozy, and I did spend a bunch of time on it, but…

Oh, and what with global warming and everything, it's really too warm for what seems to be the climate here now.  Seriously, we haven't had more than a week's worth of Warm Hat Weather yet this winter. 

If I manage to blog again soon I'll try to provide photographic evidence.  

Hijacked!!

Seasonal madness is upon me. I've been to the yarn store (and website), and yarn has been bought. Hats are suddenly planned for various random people, and all other projects are suddenly relegated to back-burner status: RPM socks, M.M.'s moose, Bernadette's sweater, Ming's mittens (ok so a lot of these were kind of back-burnered already. So sue me).

Behold, the hijackers:


And also:

RPMs stuck

The needle is stuck on the record of my RPM socks. I keep knitting half a round every two days or so, and at this breakneck pace I'll finish them by at least, I don't know next July. Harrumph.

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Mourning

The first pair of socks I ever knit for myself have a big old hole in the sole. Speak not to me of darning.

Simply Gloating

I am down a pants size! I'm not telling from what to what, but it's very satisfying progress. Also, this means I don't need to buy new jeans because I can wear the ones I didn't fit in before. My current pairs are getting quite holey – not appropriate for the Montessori Mommie set, and I don't want M.M. to be an outcast because of my eccentricity quite yet.

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RPM socks

I love the short row heel, I really do. I love not making a heel flap, I love avoiding all those tedious decreases when the heel is done already, let's get on with it, and I love the way it looks when it's done.

I need help though. I can't make it work, I've knit the whole thing twice now and ripped it out with no clear idea how to fix the problems. To wit:

• the yarn overs: when beginning the right side rows - the pattern instructs me to bring the yarn between the needles to the front of the work, over the right needle to the back of the work, and then purl the next stitch. Purling doesn't seem right. It's awkward, and it's a knit row.

However, I do seem to get holes by not purling. Hmm.

• I can't make the counting come out right. I'm really concentrating, really. Really. And I'm not winding up with the right number of stitches at the end of the increases. Then there's the gaping hole when I start working in the round again.

I'm going to try again. But I'm feeling flummoxed.

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Woohoo

I finished the blanket! Ok, the ends are not woven in. It's not technically blocked. But it's all knitted! Pictures tomorrow, maybe.

wind and water blanket

wind and water blanket
Originally uploaded by mariamaroo

Behold, in progress. Nearly done. Except for all those @$(*% ends.
I'm not thinking about those.

Blanket Statement

Hehe, I'm such a Merry Punster. Oops, there I go again. My Pastaza blanket, one of the many things I haven't been blogging about, is nearly done. Like, about 3 more pattern repeats and weaving in of ends and that's it.

Not to be daunted by mere details, M.M. and I have been lounging under it already, needles and all.

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Long Time No See

Well, I've joined Ravelry. I put myself on the waiting list at some point over the summer and got my invitation today. I suspect it will end up being another thing (like this blog, and my other one) that sucks computer time, which I long listlessly to cut down anyway, and about which I feel guilty and inadequate. But all those organizational tools are completely irresistable.

My user name is mariamaroo. Say hi.

test for Jes

Moving On…

Tragic, really. By the time I finished M.M.'s second sock, only a week or two after the first one, she had outgrown them. She's been in the middle of a massive growth spurt, and I swear the first one fit when I finished it. I'm going to try blocking and stretching them out, I guess, but I think they're destined to be a giveaway. Sadly, Blogger is not showing me my preview, so I'm not sure whether these pictures are in the right order.



Now I'm working on a blanket. Wrong time of year. But I'm slow, it'll (I hope) be ready for wintertime, and the yarn was on sale at Webs. I'm using exactly the yarn and needles called for in the pattern, and I confess I haven't actually measured a swatch, but it's waaaay too loose, whatever the gauge is, or is supposed to be. Since taking this photo I've aquired a smaller needle - size 11 instead of 13 (why, please, why is there a size 10 1/2 needle but no size 12? What kind of crazy system is this??) – and cast on yet again (4th time for this project so far…) with a larger number of stitches to compensate for any width lost because of the smaller needle. I'm hopeful that I'll get closer to the fabric I was looking for with this substitution.

There is always the possibility that when I get into the patterned sections I'll discover that there was a reason for the big needles, that what is way too loose in garter stitch and for the first few rows of the pattern is tight and unmanageable on the smaller needle when the pattern is established… stay tuned for new developments.



Oh, and I got some really really beautiful STR in a colourway that I can't be bothered to go look at the name of remember at the moment. Once this blanket is well underway I'll be starting some RPM socks with that. I already can't wait.

Short-Row Heels

I finally got my act together and photographed some of the recent sock projects. Pink toe-up, check:



One and a half little kid socks in Claudia's Handpainted, check:



And a touching duet to finish off:



And coming up, we have the Opal Gems from MD S & W, destined possibly to be toys from World of Knitted Toys:



And Cascade Pastaza for a blanket from a pattern given me for Christmas (the card with the pattern is visible on the right). The color on the right is actually a plummy eggplanty purple, not the navyish royalish blue it appears. I'm going to use that purple for the darker stripes on the pattern and alternate the green (really more seafoamy) and blue, hopefully to produce a watery wavy oceanish effect that will also coordinate with my purple couch:

MD Sheep & Wool

I was determined to get to MD Sheep and Wool this year, now that I actually live in Maryland (and considering that I'm not sure how long that will last). So although I was on the fence about going as late as 9am this morning, I finally did get in gear and with a great burst of motivation get myself and M.M. as well as my cousin Laura and her mom Bernadette in the car and out to Howard County Fairgrounds.

The weather could not have been more perfect: chilly in the shade or when the breeze kicked up, perfectly warm in the sun, sunny and dry. First was FOOD. Lamb kebabs and burgers all around, and then straight to the sheepdog demo. M.M. loved watching the dogs control the sheep and watched the full half hour demonstration in rapt attention – and wanted more. I'll definitely have to seek out some local sheepdog trials and take her to see them. I was even a little choked up at the perfection of the dogs for the work and their intensity and obvious joy in their jobs.

The wander around the exhibition halls and vendors was eye-popping and a bit overwhelming, and frustrating because paying attention to M.M.'s whereabouts and safety didn't allow for much yarn shopping. It was still fun to stroll around and gaze at colors and textures and fleeces and wool paraphernalia. We did stop and watch some spinning for a while, and M.M. would actually have been happy to watch longer, but I was impatient. I am not allowed to get interested in spinning because I already don't have enough time to pursue my knitting jones habit hobby. Although I am going to start dyeing yarn this spring. (What slope? I see nothing slippery anywhere near me.)

I had vague but grand notions of shopping before I got there, but two things interfered: 1) it is impossible to shop in such an overstimulating environment while in charge of a 3 year old; 2) it is nearly impossible for me to shop in such an overstimulating environment, period. Three year old or no, I get overwhelmed and fall prey to Squashy Head Syndrome when faced with such an array of goods, not knowing what even better delight might be around the next corner, with all the people and excitement and noise everywhere. I sometimes wonder where on the autism spectrum I might be were I a child nowadays.

Despite these handicaps I was able to purchase a nice Lantern Moon needle roll, with pockets for both straights and circs and a nice zippered pocket and a big flap that folds over to keep everything from falling out. I also got some sock yarn. I had gone with the express desire for some solid sock yarn to use in some lacy sock patterns. All I've been using is beautiful variegated yarns, and I'm in the mood for something that shows the stitches a bit more. So I got some, Gems Opal, in a nice French Blue and another kind of seafoam-aquaey color. They're nice.

But I have this problem. Every time I buy sock yarn I get into some kind of weird fugue state and I forget to buy enough. I always buy one skein. I get so focused on the color (or something) and I think of it like software (or something): If I buy it, it's like I'm buying the color and I can make as many socks as I want. After all, once you buy the license to Word you can make as many documents as you want. It makes no sense and shows you, really, why I am such a sucky yarn shopper. So that's what I did. One skein each of blue and aqua. Enough to make probably one and a half socks of each color. Or three striped socks, but the whole point was to make solid colored socks.

I'm debating between ordering another skein of each color and taking my chances with the dye lots, and saving these for kid socks and ordering some entirely other solid sock yarn in the proper quantities for grown up socks (online I am a perfectly fine yarn shopper, thankyouverymuch). We'll see.

I have no batteries for my camera, so I have no photos of my purchases or of actual knitting. But what the heck, I'll throw this in:

M.M.'s ballet recital is coming up in a few weeks. They're doing Alice In Wonderland, and her class is playing oysters. Cute and somewhat baffling to us non-Disney-ites.

Seasonally Disfunctional

I still have no pictures of the pink striped toe-up socks. I just haven't managed to get them and the camera in operation at the same time. I have been wearing them, though, and they're nice and comfy. I loved doing the short row heel, and I like how it looks. I'm going to incorporate it into future socks, for sure. The cast off is not stretchy enough though. The first one is way too tight, almost impossible to get the sock over my heel (though it's comfortable enough when it's on). The second is a bit looser, but still completely unelastic (?) and a bit difficult.

Is there an elastic cast off technique that I don't know? I looked in my Knitter's Handbook and found nothing helpful.

I've since started on a pair of socks for M.M. (ridiculous really, since the weather is changing fast and the chances that she'll need these socks before she's too big for them are slim at best). They're in a nice bright purple/blue/pink colorway from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns (maybe 'Twilight'? Not sure anymore…). I started with too many stitches (68) and got about 3 or 4 inches down the leg before conceding to reality and ripped out. I've now started again with 60 and am hoping for the best. I've got a scant inch of ribbing and another of straight stockinette done so far and it looks more reasonable for a M.M.-sized calf, but I'm still a little nervous. Maybe I need to go down to 56? Or something? The nice thing is that reducing the number of stitches makes for faster progress on future iterations.

I also got a whole big freakin' bunch of yarn from Webs for a blanket (again, what the hell am I doing? Starting a blanket at the beginning of summer on the Eastern Shore? Certifiable, absolutely). I got a gifty box of blanket patterns on laminated cards for Christmas, and just happened to notice that one of them called for Cascade Pastaza. Which just happened to be on sale at Webs. And I guess I might have been in kind of a retail therapy mood or something, because next thing I knew I was ordering 12 skeins of the stuff. It's verrrrry nice, llama/wool, and if I actually get through the blanket, it oughta be lovely and cozy for cuddling on the couch. In, you know, like eight months.

I thought I'd be working on a tricky lace shawl this summer. Who knew it'd be utterly seasonally inappropriate items all around. And don't talk to me about my aunt's sweater. I'm not going to forget it.

Here is what my living room looked like the other day. You may extrapolate what you will about the rest of the house from this picture. This morning M.M. woke up and said "Mama today I want to get out all my toys again." Luckily the weather was finally beautiful enough to be outside all day picking flowers and mixing them up with mud, potting soil, sand from the driveway, and rocks and sticks to make "dessert".