Retail Therapy

Wow, you really *can* buy happiness! And for only $5.75!

Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr laceweight, from Sarah’s Yarns
Color: Cinnabar
Destiny: Sarcelle, someday

Tagged!

Kasia has declared that I am it! So without further ado, the Seven Random Things About Me meme:

1. Antiques and vintage clothing give me the heebie-jeebies. I like retro and vintage styling, just not the actual objects.

2. Also, street clothes on my sheets = heebie-jeebies. Jammies only on the sheets, thank you.

3. I used to write Harry Potter and Firefly fanfiction. My kids now sap too much of my brainpower to write anymore, which I don’t mind, as I’d rather be knitting anyway.

4. I speak Russian.

5. I don’t like to take naps, 95% of the time.

6. I don’t consider myself high-maintenance (in the “When Harry Met Sally…” sense of the term), but one thing that I’m really particular about is my soda. I like *just* the right amount of ice, *just* the right spike of lemonade to my Diet Coke, etc.

7. I’ve yet to make my first pair of socks, and yet I have what you might call a “sock yarn problem”. I’m just a sucker for color.

And for good measure,

8. Once in college, a random guy visiting the apartment mocked me for being “domestic” (my sewing machine was out on the kitchen table). I got mad and threw a box of cake mix at him.

I really don’t know many knitbloggers yet, so if you’d like to take this and run with it, go right ahead!

Second Verse, Same as the First…

I really do like to try out new yarns and learn new knitting techniques, but you know, sometimes you just need “comfort knitting”. The kind of knitting that behaves just as it’s supposed to, that doesn’t throw you any curve balls. Sometimes, you just need *gasp!* predictability.

Yep, I’ve been revisiting a few tried-and-true patterns lately, and I make no apologies. So without further ado:

I’m sure this one needs no introduction! I deviated from my usual Silky Wool for this scarf, though, and used some KnitPicks Elegance instead. I didn’t think when I was knitting that it showed off the pattern very well, but as usual, BLOCKING made all the difference. Once blocked, the scarf took on an amazing and, well, extremely elegant drape. I want one for myself, now!

Two variations on the Sophie Bag, made with a single strap because I can be lazy of yarn shortage. The first is in Lamb’s Pride Worsted, the second in Patons SWS Natural Geranium. The SWS is gorgeous stuff, but please note — it felt with LIGHTNING SPEED. Seriously, check it after three or four minutes. That’s all it takes.

Lastly, a variation on the Booga Bag, made with three skeins of Patons SWS in Natural Earth. Such a pretty colorway! Seriously, I love any sort of earthy, muted colors. I didn’t have the pattern for this handy, so I just sort of winged it…which is why this only looks like a third cousin to the Booga Bag. Still, I think my friend will like it.

That’s it for now!

Miss B’s Purple Scarf

My four year-old son has big, blue eyes and a smile that will win you over in 0.25 seconds. He also has a few autistic tendencies and quirks that can make him, on occasion, a bit of a handful.

To be honest, I think he’s progressed far enough to no longer technically qualify for his earlier diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified. Still, his little mind doesn’t process the world in the same way as most kids around him, and he requires a very different sort of parenting than his older sister.

It’s frightening to watch a sweet, happy child “slip away” from you. I’d always noticed that he wasn’t very interested in toys, but I chalked it up to his individual personality. But then odd sensory-seeking behaviors began to emerge at 18 months – walking on his toes all day, incessant spinning, putting tight elastic bands on his upper arms. His burgeoning communication skills turned into what felt like all-day grunting, screaming, flailing, and thrashing. He stopped responding to his name, too intent on repetitively flicking a light switch or hooking a latch to look at you.

As he got older, I would hear the usual comments from family and our pediatrician: “Boys take longer to develop.” “He’ll talk when he wants to.” “Oh, he’ll catch up.” But when I’d try to interact with him, I wouldn’t sense any latent language skills lurking under the surface. No, it felt like speaking to a brick wall. No back-and-forth, no comprehension, nothing even closely resembling a conversation. Fortunately, he was always very emotionally attached to me and the rest of the immediate family, but that was about it.

At two and a half, my son entered an early invention program. It was a godsend. Bit by bit, he learned to point and (occasionally) make eye contact when asking for something. He would use (sometimes) join in during Singing Time, and even sit in one place for more than a few minutes. I’ll never forget the day when he held up a puzzle piece of a sheep, pretended to feed it, and said, “Sheep eat corn”. Most of his language up until that time had consisted of one-word requests for immediate wants, such as “bread” or “water”. Shortly before his third birthday, I heard him say his own name for the first time.

He continued in early intervention for a few more months, later transitioning to our school district’s “special needs” preschool program. Last fall, he gained a new teacher – a loving and committed woman named Miss B. He began to thrive in her classroom.

You’re probably wondering how knitting ties into this, if it does at all. Well, I began knitting after my son turned three, tempted for months by the beautiful things that my LiveJournal friends were making and displaying. I had learned to crochet as a kid – knitting couldn’t be much different, right? Just one more thing to hold? And it was certainly more transportable than my sewing hobby. I started out with the requisite cheapie needles and Sugar ‘n Cream, and eventually discovered the fun of wool, alpaca, and silk. I’d been knitting for almost a year when, one November day, my son made a surprise request:

“Mama,” he said, “you want make Miss B purple scarf?”

I did a double-take. This was the child who used to stare through his grandparents when they’d try, again and again, to get his attention. The child who would circle and observe other playing children, but never show any interest in joining in. The child who used to have absolutely no concept of social gatherings. (When guests arrived for his second birthday party, he screamed at them, ran away, and hid in the basement for two hours. Getting him to join us and stay at the table for a family dinner had been a nightmare.)

But now he’d made a connection with Miss B, and he wanted her to have a purple scarf.

After checking in with Miss B to make sure that she actually liked the color purple, and didn’t have a drastic wool allergy, I got to work. It wasn’t a terribly special gift – a skein of plum Cascade 220, the Roman Stripe stitch, and a bit of fringe – but the end result was pretty. More fun than the knitting itself was watching my son monitor the scarf’s progress and enact, with dramatic “ooohs” and “aaahs”, how “boootiful” his teacher would say it was. Miss B later told me that on that last day before Christmas break, he wasn’t even off the school bus before he yelled out, “Miss B, I got purple scarf for you!!!”

Thinking over this, I wonder if it’s the “spectrum” part of his nature that makes knitting so fascinating to him. I once saw a video that illustrated the subtle differences in play between autistic and “neurotypical” young children. The normal child listened and took in the story while a book was read to her, looking and pointing at the pictures. The autistic child ripped the book away and turned it around and around intently, as if to say, “What is this thing, how is it put together, and how can I take it apart?” I used to even call my son “my little engineer”, given his fixation on motion, construction, and mechanics.

But really, all I know is that with that one request, my son moved beyond “handful” to “hand-knit appreciator”. And those are always great to have around.

Have You Seen…

…Bonne Marie’s latest design over at ChicKnits.com? Dang, that’s cute!

*buys it, despite ever-growing project queue*

Wicked!

I finished this sweater just in time to wear for Easter Sunday, and yes, I did question whether that was appropriate, given the pattern’s name.

The details…

Pattern: Wicked, by Zephyr Style
Yarn: Cascade 220, color 9407 (celery - about 3 1/2 skeins)
Needles: US 8
Time: Errr, off and on, over 3 or 4 weeks?

My gauge was small on both 7s and 8s, so I decided to go up a size and hope that move would work out. I probably could have done fewer raglan increases, but I’m still pleased with the fit (I wanted something comfy, not super-snug). For the pocket, I picked up stitches on the body and began knitting it from there, and not as it’s own separate piece. I think this created a nice even line across the top of the pocket. I also did the bottom in the cross-over rib, as seed stitches takes me an eternity.

And while I’m here, here’s my progress on the Back-to-School vest from Fitted Knits (love this book!):

Drooly drool drool…

There aren’t even images available yet, and still I’m drooling over the thought of a WHOLE BOOK of Veronik Avery designs…

Thoughts on Handknit Gifts, and Katinka’s Knitting Queue

So, I used to cross-stitch quite a bit. And from time to time, I would spend WEEKS making a special cross-stitch, for a wedding or a birthday or some other such event. Sometimes, it would be greeted with “ooohs” and “aaahs” — other times with a quick glance and a “hey, that’s neat.”

Now, I don’t expect everything I make to be received with fanfare and confetti. I completely understand that for some people, handmade gifts just aren’t their thing. But it’s always fun to discover the people who are delighted by them, because creating a gift for them is an entirely different process. It’s a joy, not a drudgery.

Why have I been thinking about this? Well, last Christmas was my first season of giving knitted gifts. One person requested “Branching Out”, in a pretty periwinkle shade of Silky Wool. I came across the scarf again two months later, still in its gift bag, still sitting on her dresser (in her defense, she’s probably of the “It’s too nice to wear!” mindset). But then I happened to see my grandmother last week, for the first time in several months. One of the first things she said to me was, “I love the scarf you gave me for Christmas! I wore it all winter!” I had to stop and think for a second, before remembering that I’d also whipped up something for her, a simple lace pattern in Silky Wool. And she’d worn it all winter!

So, yeah, Grandma is getting cashmere for next Christmas.

And now on to the KNITTING QUEUE…

(I must preface this by stating that I seem to be one of those boring monogamous knitters. I just can’t take the guilt if I have too many projects on the needles at the same time!)

In Current Production:

Wicked (from Zephyr Style — I should finish this by Easter!)
Back-to-School U-Neck Vest (from Stefanie Japel’s Fitted Knits - join the book’s KAL!)

Waiting in the Wings:

CeCe (from ChicKnits, in Soft Gold Cotton Fleece)
Socks! (I’m going to have a go at the Jaywalker, Pomatomus, and Monkey patterns)
Saturday Market Bag (for Mother’s Day, in Mauve Cotton Fleece)

Of course, that’s not all the yarn I’ve got flung about here, but those are the projects I plan to dive into next.

(And so this post isn’t just a jumble of links and words, here’s my swatch for the U-Neck Vest!)

Inaugural Post!

Hello! What better way to kick off my fledgling blog than with a FO?

The Details…

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie, from the Fall 2006 Knitscene

Yarn: Brown Sheep Waverly Wool, in the most glorious shade of red imaginable, purchased from these nice folks

Needles: sizes 6 and 7, mostly KnitPicks Options Circulars

Comments: This was my first adult sweater, and I love it to itty-bitty bits! (We’ll ignore the fact that 2/3 of my existing wardrobe is already red.) It’s warm, squishy, and the cables look deceptively harder than they were. I began it while recuperating from foot surgery, so considering I was knitting on painkillers, I’m glad it turned out as nicely as it did! It’s not perfect, but I did my best, and I’ll fear the cables no more.

I waffled for some time over whether or not to add buttons, but it think it looks nice as it is. I hate straining buttonbands, too. Although I have a 38″ bust, I’d heard the CPH ran snug, and so I went up to the 44″ size. My gauge was a teensy bit small, and so this move worked out perfectly.

Lessons Learned: I was concerned about yardage, so I thought I’d take off an inch of ribbing on the bottom and sleeves (I have short arms). Of course, then I went ahead and forgot to actually subtract those inches from the final measurements of the pieces. Oops. Fortunately, I had over one skein of yarn left (which means I only used $36 dollars worth!), so yardage wasn’t an issue.

So without further ado…

Katinka’s CPH:

Sleeve detail:

Hood detail:

Artsy photographs courtesy of my kindergartner.