The New Man in My Life

I have a new love in my life. He's unfinished, rough around the edges, stubborn, infuriating, migraine inducing, and my latest obsession. I've loved him from the moment I found him, and that love only grew when he showed up on my doorstep.

Meet Karl, my new love.

So, okay, there are no actual Y chromosomes involved in this, but still, he's so much fun. This was my Christmas present this year. I convinced Necropolis that all I really wanted was either a wheel or a really good camera, and since the wheel was the lesser of two bank account evils, that's the one I received.

Karl is an Ashford Kiwi model, double treadle (that means it has two pedals, Dr. Lucy) with scotch tension. Karl came in a box, dismantled, and MUC and I had a great time putting him together. Dispite a slight mishap with a flathead screwdriver and my left thumbnail, we all arrived at the finish line with no major difficulties. I immediately began to figure out the whole spinning phenomonnon, and promptly decided my wheel was definately a man in a former life. Oy vey!

Ashford is based in New Zealand, and the only New Zealander male I could think of at the time was Karl Urban, the actor (probably best known as Eomer from Lord of the Rings). Hence, the wheel was christened Karl. The more I thought about it, the more I decided it was appropriately named. Karl Urban has this sort of unfinished, rough look going, and so does the wheel. It's kismet.

And, I've actually somewhat conquered the mechanics of spinning. I'm not fantastic, but I can produce useable yarn. Here are some of my first attempts.

And, Lucy, you can stop humming Gretchen am Spinnrade now.

Lucy Manette Was a Fool, and I Need Instant Gratification

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way --

Despite my best efforts, I've spent much of the last couple of weeks feeling like a character in a Dickensian novel. I can't blame anyone. I know I have much for which to be thankful, just as I am aware life could be much, much worse for me and is for many.
After all, I could live in Iraq, Darfur, Kenya, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, and a long laundry list of places where the human condition doesn't even afford basic necessities of survival, much less a semblance of human or civil rights. Does that make me feel more like Madame Defarge than Lucy Manette? Well, yeah, but it still doesn't make me feel better about my personal situation.

I've been doing my best Madame Defarge impersonations lately. Snarly, snappy and somewhat upkept -- yes, that would be me. Poor Necropolis is usually the recipient of my ill temper. The things I say make so much sense in my head, but when the words come out of my mouth, and I hear them, I can't believe what I'm saying. I don't know if it's venting, or if my 'consider others' feelings' filter has been broken, but I've been more than a little acerbic and blunt. And, no Madame Defarge impersonation would be complete without needles. Never forget the needles.

Here's where the instant gratification kicks in. I can't hold my concentration for shit these days. Dr. Manette's got nothing on me for absent mindedness or the just plain crazies. Everything literally floats in and out, and I needed a project I knew I could see the end even before beginning, much less see through. I made dishcloths.

All three were knitted with 100% cotton. I couldn't tell you the colorways to save my life. This stuff has been in the stash so long, I have no idea where the ball bands are. The blue is done in the blockweave I used for the kid's Principal's Scarf. It's incomplete in the photo, but is long since completed by now. The green and blue variegated is a simple K2 P2 rib. The purple and white is very similar to that found in the Mason-Dixon knitting book. I would venture a guess it's probably almost exactly the same pattern, but I can't say that with 100% certainty. I found an example somewhere and counted up the rows/stitches, and did the math really quickly.

So, stay tuned for my next installment, where I redeem myself with my selfless good works.

It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done, it is a far, far
better rest I go to than I have ever known.

All quotes and characters in this posts are taken from A Tale of Two Cities, my personal favorite of the Charles Dickens' novels. Personal redemption, the power to reclaim self worth, is a powerful thing. Not to mention, more than once I have had to wonder at the intelligence of a woman who has a man profess to her, "You have been the last dream of my soul [....] You kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire," only to choose the other guy. What's wrong with that chick?

It's a Gift

I know it's been a while. I have several items I can share now that the holidays are over. Most of these were gifted to family members, so I had to wait until after the holidays.

This is a shawl I made for The Mother. It was from Victorian Lace Today and is called Ruby Scarf. I used 1 skein (about 440 yrds) of Handmaiden's Sea Silk in Mermaid and used all but about 5 yards of the stuff. It was a really lovely and drapey shawl look. The final blocked measurements were 13.5" x 75". It was one big scarf....more like a stole, really. Despite the apparent details of the pattern, it was actually a rather easy knit. The 'problem', if you want to call it that, was the yarn. It's very 'slippery', and I spent a lot of time keeping the yarn from sliding off the bamboo needles.

Next items are the hat, scarf and fingerless gloves I made for the sister. I found a pattern for a Hurry Up Scarf on Spindle and Wheel, and I incorporated the lace pattern into the hat and gloves. The yarn is my favorite, Blue Sky Alpaca Silk, in black. I think the three items took a total of 3.5 skeins (about 500 yrds).

The last item today is the Noro Hat I made for The Sister's boyfriend. I didn't follow the pattern, exactly. I sort of saw one and figured out the design before I knew there was a genuine pattern. So, I'm linking to the pattern, but it's not exactly the same as how I knit the hat. It took a little over a skein of Noro, and I can't remember at the moment which colorway it was. Noro has all those numbers anyway, and I bought several at one time.

The new item on the needles for me at the moment is a group knit I'm doing with some folks on Ravelry. I'm designing and leading a group knitting a mandala. It's a circular knit, and right now, all I've completed (and completed designing) is the center, but it's a start. It's been a tricky balance, as I didn't want the knit to be too boring, but it needed to be simple enough to practice mindfulness or meditation while knitting (the purpose of the group and the group knit). I've gotten a lot of positive remarks from the group, and that's been very reassuring that I'm going in the right direction. Now, to implement the second phase, which is the outer spiral.