November

Can there ever be too many nature photos? BD often asks me why I am always taking pictures of the same thing - I suppose because each photo I take is an attempt to capture a moment - a rush of feeling - a gasp of wonder - to suck in the fragrance of a season and hold it tight inside. Whatever the prompting - there's no denying I find each one special and after all, this is my blog, my camera, even my forest. And confess - aren't you tempted to venture down this path? Wouldn't you like to peer up through this window to see this heavenly sky? 

Today is the library Friends' autumn event which they are calling Tastes of the Season. Local cooks who bake for sale have been invited to bring a single dish to the library and all the Friends have been invited to come and taste - and order if they should like - a signature dish for the holidays. We have 8 cooks, caterers and small restaurants represented. It's the first time we've done something like this but if we all enjoy it, I think it would be a splendid way to kick off the holiday season around here. 

This is also the last New Thing I have on my autumn schedule. We still have lots going on over the next 2 months, but they are all things I've done before and feel confident I can carry off with aplomb.  After today I am on track to slide into the holidays with ease. In fact - before you know it - this will be the natural beauty I'm looking for on my walks through the forest. 

So - may your Sunday be sweet.

The E-World - all text, no photos.

This weekend a special friend will be watching her daughter get married. I wish I could be there just to see the glow in her eyes as the pageant unfolds. What is special is that we are Internet buds - we met on-line and though we've also gotten together IRL as I used to see people say ... in fact, we are very much real friends.

This has me thinking about all the contacts that happen due to the magic of electricity. Most of my on-line buddies are knitting/spinning/fiber friends - though now that facebook has us all chattering with bits-0-info, I'm at least keeping up with long lost cousins and grown up Story Hour Kids who are now out in the world getting ready to take the power out of us old guyz handz. And then there are the odd connections - the random bumping into each other that happens, probably when someone clicks a next button. One can follow that path down the most winding landscape to discover such stumblings and puzzlements. For example, Blasé left a comment on yesterdays goofy angst ridden post about choosing a yarn for a project ... and I had to wonder why - so I followed back through the layers of webpages to discover a blog displaying the quirkiest sense of humor about random happenings. I can only figure I was what popped up when he hit  next.


Random. That's the real surprise about TheInternets. It's all just out there and you never know what you're going to bump into. 


So. It's Saturday. I have fortylevendyhundred mountains of laundry to do now that it's stopped raining and I can get clothes hung on the line. Tomorrow is a Library Event - the last big one of the autumn - after that I am going to coast downhill into the holidays, with lots of Days Off. It's been a jam packed 3 months of truly wonderful things at work, but the pace has been grueling. I am completely, utterly, totally, ready to take a break and merely check books in and out and be nice to 150 people a day. 


Mr.Horoscope, though, has this to tell me:  What are you now tempted to attempt? They say, 'There's no harm in trying...' That all depends, though, on quite what it is you are trying to do. Attempted crimes, for example, still attract a big sentence. Nor, is it ever a good idea to try someone's patience. If, this week, you try something there truly is no harm in, you may yet do an awful lot of good. Make an effort. Do all you can to be a healing presence; a kind supportive soul, and an island of wisdom in a sea of insanity. You may, or may not, achieve total success but you will gain a real sense of victory through striving to do the right thing for the right reason. 


Well. I am sure that is just the advice I need to start knitting a garment with seventy-bazillion stitches in it. You all will be delighted to know I bought the Camelino yarn yesterday. Let us hope that is what he is referring to, since I am hardly likely to switch over to a Life-0-Crime. Let us also hope I don't have a lot of people expecting me to wade around in their insanity healing them. In fact, it is time for EveryoneElse in my world to pamper me. I have been busy enough. 


Happy Saturday to you all.

Swatches - and tough decisions.

Soho Dress Swatches

I cast on two swatches last night, the Elann.com Highland Wool and the K1C2 Camelino.  I was lookng for 4  things: 

What the fabric looked like

What it felt like

How easy to knit the yarn was

How fun to knit the yarn was

I switched back and forth between the two swatches so I could get a good comparison. I really like the Highland Wool color - it's a deep russet brown - almost a sassy color. It sort of twinkles, which is something you won't pick up in an amateur photo shot in my kitchen. Knitting it was pleasant with little splitting and a cooperative stitch definition. The fabric created had a nice texture but nothing out of the ordinary. There was still the hint of scratch to this wool, though, that worried me. As the swatch grew I kept placing it on sensitive body parts, hoping to find a definite "Yes" or "No" reaction. It never happened. The itchiest place was right at the base of my neck ... and the dress doesn't really touch that part of my neck. all those other sensitive spots had no complaints.

The Camelino is a softer, duller color. It also knits into a softer plushier fabric. On #7 needles it came in at 4.5 spi in contrast to the Highland wool's 4.25. In either case I have to go down to smaller needles to reach the 5x7 SxR gauge called for in the pattern. Truth is - the knitting pleasure factor of this yarn beat out the previous swatch, hands down. The thought that kept coming to the surface was "Butter!"; not just with the stitches on the needle, but also with the delicious, plump fabric I was making.  And at 10 o'clock at night, I was sitting up in bed thinking "Boy! Knitting this yarn is FUN!"

It's just a wee bit more expensive - but there is another secret savings stash in my house that could pony up the extra $30 or so needed to support my SILM jar contribution.  And when I think of the millions of stitches I'm going to have to knit to make this dress - I believe the actual knitting pleasure is as important as anything else.

So. Why haven't I placed an order yet? Well. I had to get my thoughts in order, of course, which is why I'm writing this out. And then - there is color issue. The Camelino's soft color - which matches the soft fabric vs the Highland Wool's bolder color, and somewhat itchier fabric. I'm more of a big bold color sort of person. Even when I try to mute it down, I tend to pick louder colors than anybody else in the room.

Still and all - this is a WHOLE LONG SLEEVED DRESS. Do I want a lighter softer color all over my body or do I want to go big bold. Well. The highland wool isn't big and bold. It's just a sort of twinkly brown. But it isn't plush. Honestly this is a tough decision,  being pushed by the fact that the yarn is on sale ... and could be sold out quickly.

Sigh

Decisions, decisions.

Choosing a yarn

My package from Elann.com came yesterday - the one I ordered on Friday - the one full of different red yarns. Alas, the photo doesn't really do justice to the colors, but right away there was an elimination. The Sonne is the wrong red. It's a bright cherry red that longs to be stranded with some beautiful  whites and greys and blacks, or put together with a kelly green, lemon yellow and sky blue to make some little girl her favorite jacket. Alas for this. It was $1.85 and would have knit me up a dress for $50 which is just about what was in my SILM jar.

Of the other three, this is the one that had the most delicious color. It's Elann.com's own merino/silk/bamboo yarn and is of a redness that makes my mouth water. The silk gives it glow, the wool gives it heft, the bamboo gives it a next to the skin softness. Alas. It is also the most expensive, coming in at $3.98 a ball (still very reasonable) and I would need $104 to make this dress. I'm a little worried, too, about the sag factor. I haven't actually ever worn anything with bamboo in it and, really, the butt sag worries me with this yarn.

Elann.com's highland wool is a wonderful color - a little browner than red, but still very Bess-ish and Queenly and a dress this color would be flattering to me. At the end of the day, when I'm a little more tired and a little more sensitive, this yarn had a little more of a scratchy feel to it. Since I'm considering wearing this yarn over my entire body ... itch factor plays into the equation. This morning, all rested and post-morning coffee and feeling snuggly and relaxed, I can't find any scratchiness to it at all, so this not only a definite possibility, but also puts this yarn in the lineup for a swatch.

Alas, when I purchased this sample skein last Friday they were selling this color in blowout sale bags of 10 for something like $1.98 a skein. That also put this yarn in the front running since it would knit up a dress at $53, which is what's in the SILM jar. I can't find it on sale today - but them's the breaks with a place that sells remainders. Its regular price is still low enough to bring me in a dress at around $67.

K1C2's Camelino is another strong contender. The color is much more a clay color than a red, but that's still a lovely shade for TheQueen. I can wear just about any earth color. This yarn is very smooth. It doesn't have a lot of bounce to it and is more tightly spun than the highland wool. It has a fabulous next-to-the-skin feel to it. A dress in this yarn will come in at $80 but I'd have to jump on it toot sweet. This is in their discount bargain bin. Today there are still 50+ skeins in stock but I would need 27 of them to knit up my dress.

Guess what I will be casting on today.

And in case you are wondering what TheQueen has been knitting on the past week or so - I am sad to say ... it is not the Shawl Collared Vest which is languishing on a dresser by my bed - but somewhat out of sight. I have been making hats, from other yarn that has been languishing ... more in my line of sight, on the chair by the window. Evidently if I have to stare at unknit yarn long enough, it's misery will register and I will knit it out of it's unhappy state.





Here I am trying on the hats I've been knitting - this one is of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and something south american ... maybe Manos ...  a single ply in variegated colors - I'll get better photos when it's actually done.

And here is the sample hat I've been knitting along with my students. I think it's a little big because the brim covers up the first row of colorwork, but hey - it's a sample. 

Getting that holiday feeling

Certainly I don't want to give Thanksgiving short shrift. It's one of my favorite holidays, redolent with soft loving memories, long enough to really feel like time off, early enough in the season to be likely to have good weather and plenty of More Holiday Fun still up ahead.  Yup. I heart me some Thanksgiving. LD will be here to share it with us and so will H's girls. And best of all - I will have completed all my deadline driven, task oriented, worry creating, activities at work. I will be able to kick back and coast on through the next few weeks.

And just knowing that has me thinking about the light show at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. We went there in 2007 on a bleak cold Friday before Christmas. We were with a small gathering of friends with whom we traipsed through frosty air, singing carols and giggling with excitement at all the beautiful lights. It was one of the sweetest holiday festivals I'd ever had. We've repeated it since then and last year expanded the group to include my sister and her family. I can pretty much guarantee that if you were ever lacking that holiday spark, this would be the place to kindle it.

This year I am hoping to talk some of my Other Wonderful Richmond Cousins into joining us there again. If the whole family can't come, I do intend to kidnap a certain special someone and take her with us.

I never feel like too much is made of the Christmas season. If decorations are out too soon, I just don't look at them. I like to listen to audio books in the car so I don't get overdosed on Christmas music. I like to Make Plans - so thinking about holiday things now feels very much LikeTheQueen. It feels good.

I promise to be circumspect here - to refrain from overdosing my readers with Happy Holiday Cheer - but today I am smiling, thinking about the wonderful light show at Ginter Park Botanical Gardens. Happy Hump Day to you.

Worts and Roses

Worrywort

Wort:  A plant. Often used in combination: liverwort; milkwort. [Middle English, from Old English wyrt; see wr d- in Indo-European roots.]wort 2 (wûrt, wôrt) 

So if a wort is a plant, this must be a worry wort and too many of them bloom in my garden. I was thinking  brooding about this all day Sunday as I did the housework. (my prime brooding time) Thinking about how I anguish over things that are Up Ahead and wishing I I could leap over time. Thinking about how I waste precious chunks of time just feeling anxious. 

And I am wondering how much of worry is superstition .... trying to jinx any imps lurking out there. Or perhaps I worry in a sort of mental tight shoe effort ... so that no matter what happens it can't be as bad as I'd worried it would be.  

During a typical worry session I begin to envy Other People who, obviously don't have anything to worry about. And I wish I were Someone Else living in a worry-less state. Someone who has few obligations so she has little or no opportunity to fail. Someone who everybody likes and so is confident of forgiveness. Well, pretty much all the rest of the world. All those Other People who have nothing to worry about!

And as I type this I realize that most of the things I worry about have to do with all those Other People. If it's just me, or just me and BD, or just me and BD and the dogs ... well. If I'd just stay home all the time, my life would be filled with endless days of ease and comfort and honestly, why would I ever go out into the world at all? 

Only, of course I go out because I like people and I like coming up with things that are fun to do ... and then doing them. And I want to be loved. I want the friendship of all those Other People. Or at least, some of them.  But the flip side of not being a hermit is a landscape crammed with opportunities to fail, to look stupid, to be foolish. And of course nobody out there could ever fail, look as stupid or be as foolish as I. 

So here I am, trying to logic myself out of this terrible bad habit. To use math to subtract it away. Because really, the things I angst over always ... well, 99% of the time ... turn out to be Not So Bad and the really flat out hideous stuff tends to come out of the blue. And now I'm starting to feel foolish and wondering what in the aich I am doing, torturing myself like this. And even if I do fail miserably at something ... who the heck cares? I mean .. just do the math. Let's say I'm planning an event and I'm not sure it's going to turn out alright and I've done pretty much everything I can think of, even if that's not everything that could have been done - because there is always something more that can be done. What possible good could happen as the result of me worrying about it? Zero. Is there anything else I would do if I were guaranteed to get Zero results from my actions? No. Okay. This is simple math. I really just need to let it go. Have fun now doing Other Things and spend the hour or two the event is happening doing all my feeling and worrying and angsting. And the rest of the time ... don't just smell the roses - be one!

Or, as Julie Andrews and Richard Burton sang in Camelot ... do like the simple folk do.

Mail-order Treats

Saturday a pretty little package was in my mailbox when I got home from TheCity. You are all well aware of my preoccupation with the right yarn for a knitted dress - and before I realized I could add long sleeves to the Soho Dress from Modern Top-Down Knitting I was searching for sport yarn to knit the Promenade Dress at the end of the book. (heh heh I will spare you any cliches about loving this book from beginning to end, or first to last, or start to finish.... but you know I'm thinking them.)

The big surprise to me was how hard it was to find sport weight yarn! DK weight ... slightly thicker than the once more common sport weight - is all the rage now. Mind you. I like DK weight. And I appreciate the efforts of all the fiber councils to get us to refer to yarns by their international yarn number. but old habits die hard and I've always called them sport, worsted, bulky ... I can never remember that sport weight is #2 and worsted is #4.

After checking out some of the larger on-line sites and leafing through the fall Patternworks catalog, in search of more options for sport weight yarn, I turned once again to that font of yarn information, Clara Parkes and her vast, rich, deep yarn review resource. I always go to MissyC first because I trust her research and unbiased reporting more than anybody else. And she did not disappoint me - because among the dozens and dozens of yarn companies she writes about I discovered Quince & Company. Rediscovered, actually, since I remember reading the review when it was first published.

I was looking for a reasonably priced sport weight yarn in solid colors to knit the Promenade dress. Something with some spring to it and a nice texture. I don't need merino softness, but I certainly didn't want anything scratchy - this is going to cover my whole body. I wanted a fairly firm twist to this too - nothing loosely spun. It's got to stretch over a derrière that occupies a chair 50% of the work day.

I've been a big fan of Pam Allen, owner of Q&C for quite some time. I love her ...Style books, put out by Interweave Press, especially Scarf Style. The Q&C yarn looked like it might just be what I was seeking. At $5.75 for a 181 yard skein, the price certainly hit the target. The web page was fun to search. Simple, but deceptively so. I ordered a skein of sportweight Chickadee and the irresistible fingering weight Tern, a blend of wool and silk. Just to play with, you know? And, just in case I fell in love with all the Q&C yarns, I ordered her color card so I wouldn't have to depend on my monitor to make future selections.

And the package came on Saturday - less than a week after I placed my order. all wrapped up in pretty tissue paper with a sweet little postcard welcoming me to the fold, signed by Pam. It was much more like getting a present from a friend than a purchase from a store.

The yarns are lovely. Smooth and springy, the sport wt wool has no itch factor (for me) and the wool/silk blend is just slightly silkier. duh. it's got silk in it. I can tell these yarns will take some abuse before they begin to pill. The ply and the springiness of the yarn gives it resiliency. The colors are muted. Even in the color card the bright colors don't scream at you. They are bright. Not loud. I know where I will look when it's time for me to start my next big colorwork project.

And so here I am with these 2 single skeins plus the 4 red samples I ordered on Friday on the way. It seems to me that the next few months will be all about the Swatch.