Our Romanian Christmas

In TheCastle, the rule is - the tree goes up the weekend before Christmas and the gifts go under the tree on Christmas eve - and no sooner. We have a big live tree that sucks up every inch of floor space in a room with a wood stove - a tree that needs to be watered daily. We have dogs who meddle with NewStuff on the Floor. I don't want to see freshly wrapped gifts either soaked with water or torn apart by pointy white teeth. In TheCastle, though, there is someone who wants to fondle and guess and anticipate - someone who is always asking when we can put presents under the tree. Mama Grinch tends to stand firm on this. You see,  I was never one to try to shake or peek into gift boxes. I don't want to guess what's inside. I like the anticipation of waiting for The Day to open my Christmas gifts. Who would ruin Christmas day by trying to know ahead of time what was in those delicious boxes?  So when BD asked me yesterday if I wanted to start a new Romanian Tradition (in honor of our new Romanian Darling, P) I was sort of non-plussed.

With sparkling eyes full of happy glee he begged "Don't you want to open a present early?"

Since we have only been married 39 years, I realize he hasn't had time to get to  know my likes and dislikes so I explained that  - no - I like to save all presents till Christmas day.

"That's not the right answer." he informed me.

I made a face.

He begged again - "Don't you want a Romanian Christmas? St. Nicholas' Day?"

I squirmed. No. I didn't. 

"Don't you trust your husband?"

"I like our established Christmas traiditions."

"Trust your husband."

"Well - if it's not a dryer, which I would be delighted to see today - I'd rather wait."

"Well, it's not a dryer but it's like one."

"Do I need this to make Christmas happen?"

"It will make Christmas better."

I couldn't imagine what would make our Christmas better. I really did NOT want to anticipate Christmas day by opening things early. I almost felt hurt that he'd tamper with our wonderful and already established traditions.

"Trust your husband" he told me.and I relented and said "Okay"

 "Oh. and where is the wrapping paper?"

He was off and back in a twinkling, with one of his boots in which he'd put a slender package. Upon opening it there were 5 pieces of copper wire from the enormous wheel of it we have out behind the tool shed. He picked it up somewhere back when we were still living in the Yurt. Over the years it's been used to hang pictures, tie up garden stakes, form wreath bases and in a hundred other helpful ways. There was a twisted piece with a loop and a hook - then a small piece with a loop and a bend - and 3 more longer pieces, each with a loop and a bend. 

It was a weird looking gift and he almost chortled with glee as he looked at my puzzled face.  Then he took me into the kitchen and asked "What's the worst thing about this kitchen?"

"It's the mess of the pot lids."

"Right first time!" he laughed and then showed me how to use the wire bits to form this wonderful, ingenious pot lid rack! And yes - I would rather have this than a dryer. We can get that any time - we're just too lazy to go down to Lowes and order it. But this? This is perfect. It's so wonderful to get those dang lids out of the way but without having to use some bulky holder for them or to step across the kitchen to some cabinet or drawer. They hang here like magic - you can hardly see what holds them up.

So - next time I will trust ThePrinceConsort and say yes the first time!

And for those of you who wonder how the Oatmeal Aran sweater is coming along - here's a progress photo. I really need to finish up the Christmas knitting today so I can settle back with this yummy temptation.

Stay indoors today - the wet freezy stuff is already falling here at Champlain. 

Knitting Mojo

It has been a long time since I have been inspired by knitting - or artistic creativity at all. I had an epiphany in the fall of 2012 and realized I owned Too Much Crap - most especially clothes - but also knitting supplies (yes you can have too much yarn) and art supplies. But it was the clothing that caused the revulsion - when I brought the winter clothes out of the attic and realized I owned 10 cream colored turtlenecks. Ugh. And sweaters? Oh la! There will never be enough cold days in Virginia to wear all the sweaters I'd made. I needed a break - a break from all things crafty - especially fiberishly crafty.

And so I shut the door on the spare bedroom/storage room/junk room upstairs and except for Christmas socks - which I know will go out the door almost as soon as they are off the needles - I haven't knit in over a year.

But that did not mean I was never going to knit again. I just needed a break. My yarns and needles and books and that little corner of my right artsy brain and my left mathematical brain knew this. They weren't worried. Especially that box of oatmeal tweed yarn by Cleckheaton. The yarn intended for an Aran Sweater. The one I swatched in October 2012.

And so.

And so - the urge began, as a soft prickling at my temples (where all my urges seem to begin). The frontal lobe just frowned and said "Forget it. Too complicated" and the little urge began to tickle the back of my head where it could get at the lizard brain. Everybody knows that the poor bossy frontal lobe is no match for the lizard brain stem.

Not that the frontal lobe didn't put up some good arguments.

"I can't remember how to do the set-in sleeves"

"I don't think I can figure out a top down version with a crew neck and central panel"

"I really don't want to do the sleeve math"

But that little urge just sat at the back of my brain and whispered "Oaaaatmeal tweeeeeed" "Aaaaaaaran Cables" When the first chilly days of autumn hit I was practically salivating with desire for an oatmeal tweed aran sweater. After a particularly stubborn sounding "NO" from the front of the brain the urge said "It doesn't have to be hard. It can be easy. Use the design you worked out for your favorite hat - easy math. Knit from the bottom up and worry about the sleeves when you get to them"

That toppled all resistance. I really love this combination of cables, seed stitch and garter striped panels of plain stockinette. I actually knit this hat twice I liked it so much. It's an easy cluster of repeats. It feels rich and delicious and it's almost - but not quite - mindless knitting. It has just enough variety in the knitting action to keep it interesting.

So, once I got the Christmas socks far enough along to know I'll finish them in time - I pulled out the the yarn and needles and began knitting.

Of course - I didn't knit a gauge swatch. I didn't want to knit that. I wanted to knit an Aran sweater. So of course - you can guess what happened:

The seed stitch panel is supposed to be the center focal point and it's too  narrow. Also, the flanking cables disappear on the outer edges. They are also crossed too soon - making them bunchy and also bringing the tricky round around too frequently. Here they are crossing every 6 rows.



I redid the knitting math












And then did the only thing I could do - Ouch!

See?  Much better. I'm doing the crosses and the garter stripe every 8 rounds. The cables are flanked on both sides with a PKbP divider. I also combined the two outer garter stripe rounds into a single one and made the seed stitch panel 2 stitches wider. I love this all over textured pattern. When I imagine putting on a scrunchy cozy Aran sweater some chilly winter day I see this fabric in my mind's eye. Yep. I've got this one.

So. 

So. It looks like I've got my Knitting Mojo again and it looks like there will be some knitting blog posts in December. 

Swatching swatching swatching

Oatmeal Tweed Aran

I always do at least a little swatch whenever I start a new project. Of course - I seldom knit from patterns so I had better get gauge - stitch gauge at least. Once I have some of the garment knit I can measure row gauge if I need to know it. And I usually do. Here are photos of the cables I'm going to use in the Oatmeal Tweed sweater that I will start once I pay off the Visa bill so I can order New Yarn. Or after I finish the Christmas Socks. Or after I knit the red and white lacy thing I talked about yesterday. Or maybe just someday. The fabric is still a little damp but I wanted to see what the real gauge would be on those cables.

I'll double this wider cable and place it in the center with nothing separating the two. I might even cross the diamonds where they touched. 

This narrower cable would be on either side of the center panel with a few extra purl stitches on either side and framed by a twisted stitch mini cable.

The underarm portion on both sleeve and body would be in moss stitch - and here you can see why I didn't just make a swatch but wet blocked it too, because just look how the moss stitch, which is just a broken up garter stitch - both shortened and widened the fabric! 

And suddenly I am thinking I may have inadvertently solved a design problem. Anyone who reads TheQueen knows I need more length in the front of my sweaters than in the back. I have been flirting with Knitting Math to see how to fit short rows in the front of this sweater - a doable task - but also wondering how I will keep track of the different cable stitches I'd be knitting on each row once those short rows had been finished. I could knit the entire back of this sweater in moss stitch and the natural shortening of the row gauge might just take care of the issue for me. And honestly, people only ever look at the front of a good looking sweater. Maybe a knitter will look at the back, but the general public? Nope. Just the front.

Even if I decide to put those cables on the back, though, I shall knit this sweater from the bottom up so that I will have to pay attention to the differences between front and back for only the 10 or so inches I'll be knitting from underarm to shoulder seam. (instead of the 16-18 inches in the sweater body should I knit this from the top down)

As for the width - well - there - everybody knows moss and seed stitch widen your knitting - but wow - the narrow cable and the moss stitch are both the same number of stitches - but just look at the difference.