Etherknitter

Ten on Tuesday

Carole set the theme this week:  Ten Ways to Get Through the Rest of Winter.  I'm not sure I can be entirely sympathetic to the shivering feelings around this that so many feel.  I should post a Ten Ways to Get Through the Rest of Summer when it is 96 degrees and 96% humidity.  But then that also will zig when the rest of the world zags.  I know that about me.  This post is far more fun than what I was going to post:  Why I am Completely Unhappy with Everything I am Spinning, Most of What I am Knitting, Which is Why I Haven't Posted in Two Weeks. 

1.  Ski as much as possible.  Cross-country, downhill, no matter.  It is all about luxes - how much light our pineal glands are getting.  Snow reflects light, and gives our poor starving pineals a boost.  Since much skiing counts as exercise, this overlaps with #2.

2.  Exercise.  Yeah.  Endorphins, new neural connections, feed the brain more oxygen, build new blood vessels, like your body better.  I can hate exercising 1/2 hour a day, but then feel better the other 23 1/2 hours.  The alternative is to feel out of shape and dull for 24 hours each day. 

3.  Braise dinner.  Nice, warm, nutritious braises can be meat, vegetarian, gluten-free, calorie controlled, and tailored for whatever your dietary restrictions have become.  I love what long, slow, moderate heat does to beef, duck, rabbit, chicken.  I truly miss these dishes in the summer.

4.  Knit wool, alpaca, cashmere, camel.  All the stuff you can't stand in your lap during the summer warms you twice in the winter. 

5. Drink soothing, comforting beverages.  For me, the primary beverage is hot tea.  Wine is a comforting second choice on some nights.  Winter calls for red wine.  Type of beverage is less important than wrapping your hands around a capacious mug, inhaling, smiling, and sipping slowly.

6.  Spend time with friends.  I carve out a bit of time to knit or spin with my homeys.  This feeds my social soul.

7.  Do the stuff IN the house that I neglect in the summer.  Organizing my home spaces feels good.  Less time wasted looking for receipts, files, bills, patterns, needles, everything else.  This is less about obligation and more about lightening psychic load.  Stay organized in the first place?  Never.  Nobody is perfect.

8.  Enjoy the perks of winter.  Look forward to lengthening days.  No insects.  No yardwork.  No weeds.

9.  Wool is king.  Wear your handknits.  Look forward to the upcoming fiber festival season.  Lambs are just weeks away.  Shearing is happening soon before the lambs arrive.  The renewal of life cannot be appreciated as poignantly without the pseudo-death of winter.

10. Just get over it.  Yeah, I know, no sympathy.  Cold, cruel Etherknitter.  But I take care of people every week who have little chance of seeing NEXT winter.  Or this summer.  Every day I wake up with health is a good day regardless of the minimum and maximum temperatures of the day.  I don't really care if it is cloudy, sunny, rainy, snowy, foggy.  Just as long as it IS.

Cross-country ski day at Bretton Woods.  Ten kilometers, tired, felt good, finished the trail called Coronary Hills simply because it was called that, and we had to do it.  The sky and the dogs were incredible.  Color camera, but who can tell? 

 

Red sky in morning

He runs the gym where we work out.  He knows I knit, and never asked for anything.  Just before Rhinebeck, he asked me to knit him a hat.  We discussed color choices.  He pointed to his Dawn Boot Camp flyer, which is printed on a color of sunrise that would make a sailor take warning.

I knew Brooks Farm would have the right yarn in the right color.  Armand shaves his head.  The yarn had to be soft.  Solana quickly came to mind: super soft, superwash.

Pattern:  Smariek's 3am Cabled Hat
Needles:  Lantern Moon #7 dpns
Yarn:  Brooks Farm Solana, purchased at Rhinebeck 2009
Started/Finished:  December 2009

One thing always leads to another.  Mr. E's jealousy could only be assuaged by a new hat of his own.  This one will be made out of handspun.  My notes are sketchy:  Spinderella's thrums, spun 8/08, which means purchased in the fall of 2007.  It's a three-ply worsted gauge, spun woolen.  Shockingly, I could not find a blog post showing the handspun. 

New Year's reminders

These are not resolutions.  The post holds me accountable to myself, and serves as a reminder for what I would like to focus on for 2010.  New Year's focus?  That would also be accurate. 

1.  End the year with less yarn.  That is easy math:  Skeins used minus purchases should be a positive number.  How do I count partial skeins without having to weigh and measure them?  That will be a fair and arbitrary choice of estimated remaining yardage.  Historically, this has been a very difficult reminder that I routinely ignore at fiber festivals.

2.  Make things out of sock yarn other than socks.  This is self-explanatory.  Perhaps I should add that less sock yarn needs to float into this house from the Loopy Ewe and others.

3.  Finish the Penny Straker vest/Grant Park pullover/Leilani cardigan.  Non-negotiable.  If these are not done by 12/31/2010, come flay me.

Did you notice that today's date is binary?  01.01.10

4.  Finish the organizational nightmare that is my life.  Getting there.  Progress has been made in each of the last two years.  I plan 1/2 hour per day of work on the project. 

5.  Lose the 8#/aerobic exercise at least 4 days per week/ yoga 2x per week.  I already do weights.

6.  Stick to the anti-inflammatory diet 75-90%.  (Yes, I am realistic about stuff like this.)

7.  Play with origami this year.  I have the books, I have the paper.  Make a crane or two.

8.  Find a place to throw pottery.  This is the least likely reminder to be finished by year's end.  But I'm putting it out here to remind myself.

Chevron Love Mittens, Rhapsody in Blues in progress: 

Nice yarn, fun pattern, good practice for my eventual Starmore or Jamieson.  (Am I the last person to find out that AS is discontinuing her 3 ply yarns?)

The floats are looser and more consistent, but stitches at the start of the row are wonky at the junction between the first two needles.  Add tension issues to that stitch being the start of the next round on the spiral.   I tried switching to the HiyaHiya 12" circ, but think I need to go down to the 9".  Ommmmm.

Swatching for the Bed and Breakfast Pullover was eye-opening for this knitter. 

Classic Elite's Bazic (bottom) has a thick and thin ply structure that does nothing good for ribbing at this gauge.  Rowan Cashsoft Bulky (middle)  and Webs Northampton Bulky (top)  looked too bulky.  Duh.  I COULD get away with wearing this even if I don't lose the 8 pounds.  But as preference rears its sleek head, I can't picture me stylin' in a bulky yarn sweater.  This was a relatively inexpensive lesson.  Other people on Rav have knit it in Aurora 8, with the obvious gauge modifications.  This gets bumped back in the queue, and Perl Grey's Jo comes forward.

Today is my fifth blogiversary.  Amazing.  You have added so much to my life, both virtual and real, far more than I ever imagined was possible when I hit "publish" on the first post.  I hope I have given at least as much as I've received.  Thank you for riding along with me!