3/24/2006
Lots of great ideas of causes for KADD (Knitter’s ADD) were mentioned in the comments yesterday. Only Cindy and Terby hit the nail on the head for what I suspect is my cause of this bout of KADD. Stress! Lots of things I cannot control; lots of waiting for news or answers; in general, lots of uncertainty. My mind is running 100 miles an hour and as soon as something gets slightly dull or requires too much attention (like frogging or tinking) I want to toss it aside and start something new.
There are concerns taking place here in my own home, well, really here in my own body but there is also a waiting game going on in Minnesota as well. A little over two weeks ago I developed some rather severe (though not acute enough to warrant going to the ER) abdominal pain. So I have been poked and prodded multiple times and had many tests and procedures done in the past two weeks. This has of course meant lots of waiting for results. After the results of yesterday’s tests come back if there is no answer the doctor is chalking it up to stress for a couple months and then we will re-evaluate. There definitely has been a lot of it recently. My hard drive crash happened only three days before the pain started and on my way home from the first appointment about my abdominal pain I got stressful news from Minnesota.
Grandma Schueler whom I flew out to Minnesota to visit in early February took a drastic turn for the worse last week. Fluid is pooling on her lungs once again and they are thinking she may be developing pneumonia, but at this point there is no sign of her body fighting an infection – no fever, no elevated white blood cell count, etc. But, they cautioned everyone that at her age and with all the compromises to her body already her body may not even fight it. A week ago I called and said goodbye and that I would always love her and would always miss her and that if it was her time and she was ready to go it was okay to let go of this world and continue on to the next and be reunited with grandpa. I have to say that is the hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make. Now I guess she has kind of rallied. On Thursday morning instead of saying that she was sad she work up here and not in heaven she said she wasn’t sad and would get dressed. That said, mom has told me there is little chance of a real rally for her. So, it is only a matter of time. I’m on pins and needles and jump every time the phone rings and I’m not turning my cell off at night. Though I have to say I am not missing the before bed phone calls each night where mom or Amber tells me that everyone has a feeling it will be tonight. In fact, I actually got a decent night’s sleep last night for the first time in two weeks.
Last Thursday was a wonderful respite. All the road trip energy and activities mostly kept my mind off of both of the worries and it was a wonderful gift. Thankfully I’ll be having a similar distraction this weekend as Liz is coming to visit. She arrives this evening and is staying with Snow, but there is a weekend full of activity planned, including another tea at my house on Sunday. Though this time I’m accepting help from others in filling the table. We’re doing a celebration of Colorado and featuring Colorado-made food and fiber. DH is contributing a lot via his skills of cheese and liqueur making but he will also be making the scones. It’ll be a great time. We’ll even have the pleasure of her company at SnB on Monday night! Woot!
I do think the many suggestions in yesterday’s comments stating the time of the year as a cause is probably also a contributing factor to my case of KADD as well. The change in seasons makes me want to switch the focus of my knitting to things that aren’t quite so seasonal in nature or wrap up things that are seasonal. I never wear socks in the summer as I’m a sandal gal so I’d like to decide what I want to do with the Siren Socks and get those wrapped up. Wear Everywhere would be a good evening sweater well into June most years as we can get quite chilly at night due to the dry climate and I’ve just got the sleeves and yoke to finish on it if I could finish it soon. Skyway Scoop is a tank, but then again I’m pretty sure with my bust being down 2 inches and my waist down 2.5 inches and my hips down 3.5 inches since I cast-on for it last year that it won’t fit when it is done. But, then again my mom will be here the middle of next month and if it is done and it fits her she could take it home with her and I’d save myself a trip to the post office. And Seraphim I would like to have done at such time as I have to return to Minnesota for grandma’s funeral. It has been a prayer shawl of sorts, filled with prayers for grandma and memories of her with each stitch and I hope when I wear it it will be like a hug from grandma. So, that has been getting the majority of my actual knitting attention since I cast on for it, but those other projects are pulling at me and I’m a little afraid that once I get to the real lace knitting on Seraphim it will end up aging in the knitting bag like Leaf Lace (though Leaf Lace need some serious attention and deciphering of what row I’m on which is why I haven’t picked up in so long).
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I know I intend to despite everything.
3/23/2006
I currently have two projects active and on the needles – Seraphim and a baby hat to go with Nautical Blankie (BTW, go see Snow’s color scheme in progress) and the Flower of Life scarf. I have several others in non-active status – Wear Everywhere Pullover, Leaf Lace Shawl, Siren Socks, and Skyway Scoop, plus I still have Mitten from Holland #2 to knit. Yet I’m itching to cast-on a new sock??? I’m also sort of itching to pull out Wear Everywhere and to finish up Skyway Scoop if I can even remember what the problem was (other than the fact that I’ll probably be drowning in it now – but it should fit my mom if it isn’t scooped too far for someone without a chest). I also want to cast-on for Wobbly Circles and I want to dye some yarn. I have a few books I’d like to get bound here before the weekend too. Oh and there is the site redesign floating around in my head along with setting up a non-yahoogroup-based site for our Monday night knitting gang.
I have project ADD right now. Me and project ADD don’t often get along real well because I also have a problem of liking instant gratification and as those who finished the Knitting Olympics can attest to – project monogamy leads to fast finished projects. Now, I’ll never be completely faithful to one project, that just doesn’t work for me as I always have to have a relatively non-thinking project on the needles for knitting gatherings. Nevertheless my current urgings are totally ridiculous!
Do you get spurts of knitting (or just general project) ADD? What do you think causes yours? Does if come after the completion of a lengthy project so you are just wanting to get going on all those other projects that queued up in you wish list while working on that big one? Does stash expansion contribute to it? Does it come when you are under stress and are just having a hard focusing on anything? I’m curious…
I’ll share my suspicions as to the cause of my current project ADD tomorrow so as to not skew your thoughts on the subject.
BTW, we are getting ever closer to the 1000th comment. If comments continue apace the magic day will likely be somewhere around April 10th and as I’ve mentioned before there will be a special prize package for that special person to leave the 1000th comment…
3/22/2006
As mentioned last week, Snow kindly gave me a copy of this book (along with many skeins of KnitPicks Color Your Own fingering weight yarn). I promptly finished reading the book and have since been ruminating on it and rereading sections and perusing the projects so I can give a thorough review of the book here for those who requested one.
To start with the basics, Yarns to Dye For by Kathleen Taylor (yes the same one who has designed many patterns for KnitPicks) is published by Interweave Knits. It is a relatively small volume of about 100 pages split into two main sections - an introductory how-to entitled principles and a projects section.
The “Principles” section coves the usual information such as tools and supplies needed as well as the various basic techniques that will need to be applied in the project section. It is roughly 1/3 of the book in length. Taylor shares her experiences in dyeing by recommending certain dyes and the pros and cons of those dyes, her recommended skein length, as well as her basic techniques for large graduated color bands, what she calls zig-zag yarn (non-striping varigation), faux fair isle, and self-striping yarns. She also has a small section on immersion dyeing in case you want to dye some solid color yarn to match your multi-color creations. The section on heat setting yarn includes both stove top steamer and microwave techniques. She does caution that one should probably use a microwave no longer used for food if going that route.
Once you have the basics down it is onto the project section which takes up about 2/3 of the book. There is a chapter on each type of hand painted yarn - graduated color bands, zig-zag, fair isle, and striping. Within each chapter are projects including the dye and painting recipes as well as the knitting pattern. Each chapter has between three and ten projects in it, many of those projects are geared and sized towards children, but there are also some adult-sized projects and a home decor project in there. In general, the projects are pretty basic and could be put together on your own if you are an experienced knitter, they include things such as hats, mittens, scarves, gloves, fingerless gloves, socks, tank tops, throw pillows etc. However, if you are shy about your color skills the recipes in there for painting the yarn could be really useful.
For me, the best part of the book was the first section (though I was already familiar with a lot of the information provided there) and the painting recipes in the project section to see what sort of lengths were being painted to achieve the different looks. I personally will probably not be dye and knit any of the projects in the book, but then I rarely knit a pattern as directed anyway (I knit how I cook - recipes and patterns are guides from which to start but then I add in my own flavors). Well, I might find myself knitting a pair of watermelon socks, but that is probably the only project in there that stands a chance of my knitting it. The finished projects do stimulate some ideas and remind me of other dyeing options.
While I thought for the most part the first section of the book was pretty thorough I felt Taylor was missing one huge puzzle piece. Here she was calling for a ginormous skein circumference and she instructs one to have pegs screwed into a wall at 1/2 that circumference. I don’t want to give away her information, but let’s just say we are not talking pegs that are just a few paces from each other, we’re talking many, many yards apart. Not only do I not really have any space long enough for stretching out such huge skeins, but I don’t have the stamina to walk a 440-yd or 880-yd skein around pegs that far apart.
Earlier this week in an itch to dye some April Project Spectrum sock yarn I decided my best bet was to wrap my yarn around the railing to our basement stairs. Well, it only took about ten trips up and down before I realized what a stupid idea that was. I decided I’d just take the ball with me whenever I went up or down the stairs. Only I discovered most of the time my hands are full with something - laundry, dog toys, glass of water, plate of food, etc.
No matter what you do, re-skeining to a large skein size is going to be a bit tedious. But it doesn’t have to be physically exhasting as well. I mentioned my railing tactic at SnB on Monday evening and a couple people mentioned warping boards. I knew of their existence, but didn’t know what they looked like or how they were used. So I sat down and had some nice quality time with Google yesterday…
For those of you unfamiliar with what a warping board is, it is traditionally a frame with some pegs on it and by wraping the pegs in a certain fashion you can achieve different lengths of yarn. Weavers use the warping board to prepare their warp. When wrapping the board they put a twist in the wraps so that the order of the yarn stays in order making it easier to transfer the warp to the loom. Now, a warping board can also be used to create a long skein length, you just need to wrap it such that you don’t have a twist in each pass.
There are many warping boards on the market. There is one made specifically for striping sock yarn by Forsyth. I could not find any information on what length of a skein it makes, though it does come will full instructions. I suspect it is a much smaller skein that what Taylor calls for in her book and the larger skein you can make the longer your repeat. When you get to a size that can handle 20+ yard lengths they start getting expensive. I’ve also been told that those sort of lengths can be tough on the arms and shoulders. In which case a warping mill or reel may be a better solution both physically and time-wise but they are even more expensive.
There are a couple places on-line that describe making your own warping board…
- In the Wood Shop
- What Housework?
I was not successful finding info on-line about building your own warping reel, though I suspect there must be something out there about building your own yarn blocker and there should only be a slight modification from that to a warping reel I would think. There are supposedly plans in Spinning and Weaving with Wool by Paula Simmons if you can get your hands on a copy.
I’d say Yarns to Dye For is a great place to start learning how to dye yarns that will stripe or specifically not stripe. This is especially so if you are not comfortable with color theory or designing your own knitting patterns. If you are comfortable with both of those you might be better off checking it out from your local library or through ILL. I do suspect I’ll still pull this one off the shelves regularly for some inspiration. I do think Taylor has done a bit of disservice to her readers by failing to mention another option for creating the large skeins called for in the projects. Obviously I’m not ready to go out and drop $100-$400 on a warping board/reel/mill right now so it is nice to know there are options that do not cost me additional money, but it would also be nice to know of tools that would make the process easier.
3/21/2006
Well, despite my picking up Nature Spun Sport at Brown Sheep last Thursday rather than a fingering weight yarn, Miriam convinced me to continue ahead with my plans of using the 4 balls (7 oz total) of Chuck Berry Seconds I picked up on our road trip for Seraphim. Since I find Brown Sheep yarns to be on the thin side of the spectrum of yarn weight for which they are labeled it isn’t that big of a stretch. I did go up to a US6 so that I would have a bit more drape to the final product. When I completed the first ball though I was at 18% completed (thanks to the the shawl progress calculator that Jessica has on her blog in the sidebar) if I worked the pattern as written, 20% if I took out one set of 6 rows of stockinette, I would have to take out 30 rows to be 100% positive I wouldn’t run out of yarn. I had written to Brown Sheep to see if they had two more balls remaining since my visit and if I could have them shipped, but I still haven’t heard back.
I also e-mailed back and forth with Miriam to figure out what number of stitches would get me close to the same dimensions of shawl as the pattern calls for. I didn’t trust my math since I have yet to finish a triangle shawl. To accurately figure that I needed the blocked gaguge so I transfered all 187 sts to a lifeline and steam blocked the shawl on the guest bed. We decided I’d be closest if I only took out 6 rows. So, that meant I was sitting at 20% of the knitting complete.
Since the top is dense being just stockinette I very well may be okay with my four balls of yarn. I’m a little nervous about it running short, but Snow, Miriam and I decided it would also be acceptable to knit the edge chart and bind off in a contrasting color. I’ll probably hold off until I’m closer to done before getting a contrasting color, but I’m thinking perhaps a charcoal gray if one is called for.
Did you notice the uneven dyeing in that photo of the shawl blocking at row 92? I suspect that is why it was marked as seconds. But, I like it. It gives it that kettle dyed look. I don’t think it is strong enough that it will detract from the lace and it gives some added interest to the stockinette portion.
I did make a poor choice at the beginning of the shawl. Two cast-on options were offered - backward loop and cable. In reading about the cable cast-on one of the “disadvantages” was that it is not very stretchy so I thought that would make it a poor choice for this shawl. I was afraid of a pucker at the top where the cast on is if the cast-on was too inelastic. So, I opted for the backward loop and now I have what looks like “break” in the top edging. I’m thinking I’ll try use the tail and some crochet to bridge that gap a bit. What do you think?
BTW, all this wondering about whether I would have enough yarn or not led to a discussion amongst myself and Sansablog about the math in the shawl calculator and whether it was accurate. If anyone is interested in seeing how the equation used in that came about, give me a holler as I even have a graphic to back it up… What can I say? I’m a big geek and was only one course short of a double major with math!
3/20/2006
From the driveway of Brown Sheep we had a lovely view of Scotts Bluff National Monument. So, before heading for home we took a *very slight* detour (we’re talking less than 5 miles out of the way) and made a stop at Scotts Bluff National Monument where MC and I went a little crazy with the cameras. But, it was totally worth it…
There is a visitors center with some museum stuff and the requisite tourist items for purchase such as postcards and books. From there you can drive up to a parking lot near the summit and take your choice of two short, paved trails to some scenic overlooks. On the way up and down there are three tunnels that you drive through. If you are a die hard you can make the climb all by yourself as well. I personally think I’d rather walk down that trail than up, but it would be good exercise either way.
The three of us were quite surprised at the delicate nature of this rock formation. The slightest touch produced very fine sand. It made it clear why there were so many dramatic gourges visible from the overlooks!
You can see the entire set of decent photos from Scotts Bluff National Monument on Flickr. Check out MC’s photos of the trip on Flickr too!
It was one of the best road trips I have had in a very long time! Fibery goodness, nature goodness, fun female energy of my companions and the music. It was great! Thanks guys for inviting me along!
