Etherknitter

Auntie 6/12/1913 - 6/28/2010

I don't understand why I am still here.  Thought my blood pressure would have killed me years ago.  That sound of blood rushing in my ears?  The doctor said it wasn't anything to worry about.  I thought I was going to have a stroke every time I heard it.  He was right, nothing ever happened.

My memory isn't what it used to be.  At first, I couldn't recall names.  I would get to the grocery store.  If I didn't have a list, I was in trouble.  Then, I forgot that I had a list.  Made sense to buy orange juice and milk, since that seemed to be what I always needed.  After a few weeks, my refrigerator was full of orange juice and milk containers.  I knew I wouldn't run out, so I left them.  I suppose now, I would have to sheepishly admit that you have to remember they are there in order to throw them out.

Memory is like long tentacles that reach out through my thoughts.  I can grab this or that from my past and present as I need.  One day, some of the tentacles seem shorter.  I can't quite find a word, or a name.  Later, it comes to me.  My doctor said this is nothing unexpected at my age. 

The tentacles shorten slowly and steadily.  I know those parts of me are still there, those memories, those facts, but I can't find them.  More and more disappear.  I'm worried.  Where is my checkbook?  I have to pay my bills!  I call my niece, who tells me she has the checkbook and is paying the bills. 

But then, I call her again the next day.  She tells me she has the checkbook.  Didn't she tell me that yesterday?  I think so.  I can't remember completely, but I think so.

Seems to take awhile, but the tentacles are gone.  All I have is the big octopus body sitting in the middle of my head.  I can remember some things and I don't know how I do that.  Some things are automatic.  Eating isn't a problem.  The woman who hands me yarn and needles seems to like what I knit.  I had forgotten I could knit.  I just don't think about it, and there it is.  Most days, I can't remember having cast on.  I'm sure I've picked up someone else's knitting, but no one seems to be complaining.  I'll just keep knitting.

I have some pain in my stomach.  The nurse tells me I'll be taken in an ambulance to the hospital to see what is causing the pain.  I hope it's nothing serious.  I've had a good life.  I'm ancient.  I think I'm 92.  Maybe I'm 95.  No matter. 

I hope they give me dinner tonight at the hospital.

"Waiting for Fleece"

The day arrives.  Your email contains a notification and bill from Morro Fleece Works.  Your fleeces are done!  They are on the way!

You have waited MONTHS for this day.  You will finally see how your gleeful and optimistic purchase has been transformed.  Caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly? 

You track the FedEx shipment throughout its circuitous and endless eight-day trip.  You are at work.  Your husband is home.  It is on the truck and scheduled for delivery THAT DAY. 

You email the DH.  "Watch for the fleece delivery!  Tell me when it arrives!"  You don't want to see it sit out on the step in the sun or the rain. 

He sends you an email.  It is titled "Waiting for Fleece".  A picture is attached.  Did he take a picture of himself waiting for fleece?  No.  Did he take a picture of the empty step?  No.  Did he take a picture of the step with the box just delivered?  No.

He mocked me.  He took a picture of:

the competition.

Seven on Twednesday

A drive-by post.  I tried to think of ten, but no.

1.  Black Beauty.  I loved horses. 

2.  Frog, The Horse That Knew No Master.  The horse always had fire in his eye.  He bucked everyone off and attacked them with his hooves until the handsome lieutenant loved him.  Boy, talk about transference.

3.  The Phantom Tollbooth.  This is nominally a children's book.  Jumping to the Island of Conclusions?  The disappearance of Princesses Rhyme and Reason?  Very fun. 

4.  Ditto Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Of course.

5.  LOTR/Hobbit.  I think I read it as a teen.  Total immersion. 

6.  The Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, and all sequels.  One of my teachers read all these aloud to us.  Magic.

7.  The Enchanted Castle.  E. Nesbit wrote this about a hundred years ago.  It is still in print.  Compelling when I stumbled across it in the middle school library, I ordered it from Amazon last month.  Very fun story.  Might be a touch scary for today's tender ears and eyes.  We were built stronger back then.

Leucojum aestivum, summer snowflake, from the garden several weeks ago.  Good green foliage that stays fresh, no pests, survives voles and deer.  (I have not finished my morning tea, so sentence structure is elusive.)  Snowdrops are a close relative.

Cummington 2010

The day was perfect.   Morning cool became afternoon sun and breeze.  Fiber friends crowded the booths.  Manise and I prowled, then wandered.

Marcy brought her twin nieces, Lydia and Erica.  They spin. 

Lydia had an African porcupine quill that she made into a spindle.  She had fired a ring of clay in her baking oven to counterweight the quill.  She was spinning cotton. 

Some small part of me, the part that started spinning later in life, wishes I could be 25 years old once more.

I have an FO that has reached its recipient. 

At the TKGA Marketplace in 2007, I purchased stainless steel/silk from Habu.  I watched Takako knitting a fine mesh on #3 needles with her fine hands.  She made it look simple. 

I unvented a version of Kushu-kushu.  Even if I had known the pattern was available, my scarf path would still have been different.  Four inches of steel/silk, then fine merino and metal held together, then finish with four inches of the steel/silk yarn.

The knitting was epic.  Three or four needles were trialed, until finally an Inox coated aluminum version allowed stitches to slide in a controlled manner from needle to needle.  I worked on a row every few weeks.  (Really.)  Finally, this spring, knitting monogamy seemed like a more productive plan.  (I found a picture of the scarf's start in October 2007.  Time to get it DONE.)

Yarn:  Habu stainless steel/silk, grey; Habu extra fine merino, rust
Needles:  Inox coated aluminum dpns, #3
Pattern:  60 stitches, 4 inches of steel on each end, steel and merino held together, total length, approximately 32" per MIL request, st st throughout

The yarn required no patterning for visual interest in the FO.  I did not felt it, and do not intend for felting to occur. 

My MIL sent an email thank you:

"I can't believe this incredibly supple network!  How do you even knit such a material?  It seems to stretch endlessly, can be configured a myriad ways, and has a memory! 

 

I certainly would have never thought of such a sci-fi material- where do you find it?  

I can't imagine tricked-up silkworms producing steel-reinforced fiber.

 

 I have to admit I have been using steel cable covered in nylon for stringing for a long time, but was never able to knot it successfully as it is too stiff.  So to see a steel fiber being knitted boggles the mind.  And a combination of steel and silk!  Who uses it? 

 

I am obviously delighted to be the recipient- I'm thinking  the piece  can be used many ways, even shaped into a flower to wear on the lapel.  I even wonder whether it will keep me warm in winter, but think probably not, the steel might conduct cold! We should put it in the freezer briefly and find out!

 

I really like the  artistic color combination.  Can you send a small piece of the silk/steel material for experimentation?"

I have offered to make a scarf suitable for winter wear.  I'm thinking lace...intricate patterning...but it will be hard to top this one.