Smatterings

  • Weekending

    The weatherman got it right, and with plenty of notice. Saturday was beautiful, sunny and warm. The rain held off until Sunday morning, around 11 am. Not a bad forecast and one that meant I easily fit a hike into both days, a bit over 6 miles on Saturday and nearly 5 more on Sunday. Right on cue, just as I got into the car to drive home from my hike, the rain started.

    In a funny kind of way, it was a relief. I’ve been moving pretty fast. A rainy afternoon is a great excuse to stay in, watch a movie and knit.

    At some point during the afternoon, we lit the wood stove, then the oven, and baked a delicious blueberry pie. A pretty good weekend, I’d say. How was yours?

    8 responses to “Weekending”

    1. That sounds wonderful. I would have loved a rainy Sunday afternoon at home but we had a wedding to attend. Special in it’s own way but one I would have preferred to postpone until after I’d had a day at home.

    2. Katie K

      That’s lovely! What are you knitting?

    3. Manise

      We got 3 inches of rain. A welcome relief to my wee wetland. The vernal pool has gone from literally dried up bone dry to wet and puddly again. The peepers finally came out and sang glad for the wetness and the trees have pushed out numerous leaves. Hoping we get more rain for the few painted turtles out there.
      Love the texture in your knitting. Very cool photo!

    4. After traveling last week it was awesome to stay in, watch movies and sew. I’m having trouble deciding what pattern to use wiith some beautiful homespun cormo that’s been staring me in the face. So glad our stove’s still going.

    5. Loved my weekend. Knitting. Porch on Saturday. Relieved that the ground was moistened with such lovely rain. Went nursery hopping on Sunday. Recovering successfully from multiple bodily injustices from out of the blue. BLUE! You would think blue would be good for me. Nope.

    6. I had to work. Both days. *sigh*
      The rain has really helped green things up, so that makes me happy.

    7. The rain was welcome here too…odd to have such a dry spring! Better rain than snow, those to west of us had some of that!
      And yes, had to fire that stove back up!
      Lovely stitches!

    8. Ann

      What a nice weekend! What is the lovely knitting? Please do tell.

  • Friday’s Photo

    I'm going to try something new. On Friday, I will publish one photo taken during the week that I particularly love. It maybe something beautiful, or maybe something that tickles or disturbs.

    IMG_1446 copy

    5 responses to “Friday’s Photo”

    1. I love this idea.
      cant wait to see more!

    2. Manise

      Awesome! Looking forward to more Fridays here.

    3. Thanks. I take pictures everyday. With all the mobile apps, Im hoping I can pull it off from anywhere.

    4. I always like your eye.

    5. Great idea and I look forward to seeing a photo each Friday!

  • and on Sunday..

    I went to a worksop.

    Last Sunday morning, Slater Mill offered a Double Knitting workshop, taught by Alasdair Post-Quinn.   Terrific workshop!  It was only 3 hours, barely enough time to cover the basics.   I found myself wishing it were longer.    

     

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    If you aren't sure what double knitting is, think back to the old Starsky and Hutch show.  Starsky had a big Mexican knit sweater that I am fairly certain was double knit.  If his wasn't, certainly others that are similar are.

    Mex sweater1

                                               ~photo from Mexchic~

    Sometime in the 80's, while traveling during a cold rainy season in the mountains along the Guatemalan border, I bought one for myself. It wasn't really at all like his. It had a much more inticate design, one that I puzzled over for all the years that I had it.  The inside and outside were the same pattern, but in reverse tri-coloring.  

    Here's what we did..

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    the other side..

    IMG_1442

    My edges aren't very good and my stitches are uneven.  But, I am very pleased.  I tried holding my yarn as if to throw and found that was not only very slow, but also very awkward.  Then, thinking that it made the most sense to hold both strands in one hand, I tried kniting continental style.  It was better, still slow and awkward on the first couple stitches.  My very 'sticky' coarse yarn made it worse.  I'll give this method another try eventually.  Finally, I used combination knitting, one color in each hand, as if to do colorwork.  That for me, was the method that felt right.  I was faster and my stitches improved. 

    The bind off..

    IMG_0139

    3 responses to “and on Sunday..”

    1. Sounds like a GREAT workshop.
      (And I cant wait to see the Starsky and Hutch Sweater you knit with your new skillz!!)

    2. I’ll warn you it’s addictive… I keep mentally translating everything I see into double-knitting.
      I use the combination method, too. Though I’m tempted to work on the both-yarns-continental technique, since I think it would be faster in the long run. Maybe with one of those finger-tensioning gizmos?

    3. Haven’t tried this. I think my brain would ‘splode. One strand in each hand is how I do color work, so that is what I would try first. I found the finger tensioning gizmo awkward, but I may try it again if I have three colors to juggle.

Our lives are dyed the colors of our imagination.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

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