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What to knit when you have no time for knitting....socks! I've been toting these around with me this week - a row here, a row there and I finished the first sock. This is luxurious Mountain Colors - "Banker's Socks" - a pattern written for the yarn. It's basically a simple ribbed sock on size 2 needles. These are samples for my LYS - it's going to be hard to give them up when they are done. Have a great weekend!
Yesterday, I worked my first day as a school-based Occupational Therapist.
Some of you may remember me posting a few months back about an interview...
It was for a corporate job with 70% travel and big fat salary and benefits. Oh. I forgot. I have three kids in grade school and my husband travels and I wouldn't really be able to do it. Kinda let that slip out during the "wrap-up" with one of my 5 interviewers. That's the great thing about being older - you really know your limits.
Weeks go by and I am uncertain what will become of me.
Then I remember. I have an undergraduate degree in OT. They do OT in schools. School-based jobs have school hours and so do my kids. I could do that. Days are spent networking and gathering documents to reinstate my license. A call is placed. Someone went out to have twins, might I be able to cover?
So here I am, doing what I did 20 years ago. But for entirely different reasons. And with some life experience, which makes me see children and the work environment in a totally different light.
"Having clawed our way into the male hierarchies of business, science, academia, and the professions, new questions are being asked. Why don't more women make it to the top? Why are more women "opting out", too tired to keep fighting? The answers to the questions tend to read like close-ups of someone dripping wet without revealing that they're standing in a hurricane - all symptoms, no cause. Let's talk hurricane: The highly trained women leaving offices, labs, universities, hospitals, and law firms are not opting out. Many are torn up by conflicts between mother love, inflexible career structures, and substandard childcare. They're being squeezed out of organizations that have quietly but determinedly resisted their presence by not adapting to their needs." ~Shoshana Zuboff, "Career Taxidermy"
(note ~ thanks to all for the generous comments about Celtic Dreams! I might be knitting and blogging a little less for the next couple weeks as a I adjust to my new schedule.)
Notes: Size - 40 inches. Backward loop cast on with waste yarn for saddles, top down construction, neck band knitted with 5's, cast off with 6's, 6 pattern repeats for the body length. Consider a repeat performance with larger needles or up-sizing for a roomier, longer sweater.
She's blocked. I cast off and squeezed my chubby self in, thinking this will never work. All night I thought of possible solutions - gift, but for whom?, donation?, hope chest for 11 year old daughter? But this morning, into the Eucalan bath went a stiff scrunchy sweater and after a soak and a spin, out came CLAY! I molded it with my hands, gently pushing and pinning (without putting too much pressure). Low and behold, I got it to the pattern measurements for my size, 40", less an inch or two in length (which is fine with me)!
I feel a bit like the boy who cried wolf, although I won't be convinced until it's dry and I try it on. But thank you thank you thank you for all your encouraging words! I will never ever again underestimate the power of blocking!!
Closing in. You can learn a lot by knitting more than one sweater in the same yarn. This is my second Blackwater Abbey sweater, Celtic Dreams, which I started soon after finishing Halcyon Aran. Both have been a pleasure to knit and I have enjoyed the yarn's heathery tones and beautiful cable defination. I have "Marilyn" in mind for my next knit and just need to select a color.
I take gauge seriously, do my swatches, even wash them before measuring. It's interesting that Halcyon Aran was a gauge of 17 stitches, Celtic Dreams, 18 stitches, Marilyn, 20 stitches. I got 17 with a 7 needle, 18 with 6 needle, 19 with a 5 needle.
So why, I have asked myself many times, did I do CD on 5's? I can only recall measuring the swatch and it being a hair under and so I went with the 5's, but in re-measuring it later (with my trusty clear plastic ruler this time) it is clearly under.
I knew I had plenty of give in the size I chose, and I do still think it will work out with blocking, although it will be a bit more fitted that what I expected. What I didn't anticipate was the impact of the tighter knit on the row gauge - how much shorter it would be, and the fact that the large pattern repeat causes you to have to make a big jump to add length.
I always go through this at the end of a project - a lot of questioning and what-if's and if-I-were-to-do-it-overs. (Sometimes, I have kind of a disgusted feeling - like tossing the project in a drawer and never wanting to see it again!) But not this time. I love this sweater, can't wait to block it, and am having knit-fantasies of making it again (this time with 6's!).
Last week I treated myself to this sweet book of hat patterns, Hats On!, by Charlene Schurch. There are mostly classic styles, watch caps, two and more color and patterned knitting. I started to read through and noticed that there were no yarns specified, but very clear hints as to what yarns were used. For example, the Topflappen Cap on page 80 calls for Worsted Weight, 85% Wool/15% Mohair, 190 yds per 4 oz. Now any knitter who's been around the blocks a few times knows that that must be Lamb's Pride Worsted - right?
So now I'm hooked. Let's see, Andean Cap with Earflaps: Worsted Weight, 100% Wool, 4 ply, 210 to 220 yds per 3 1/2 ounces. Okay, it's Cascade 220 for the 220 yard version. But how about the 210 yard selection? Here's some others that I got:
Bohus Patterned Cap: Shetland Jumper Weight yarn, 150 yards per 1 oz, 8 1/2 sts/inch - Jamieson's Shetland
Komi Cap: Fingering Weight, 310 yds per 50 g, 10 sts/inch - Lamb's Pride Naturspun Fingering
Doublemassa: Fingering Weight, 230 yds per 2 oz, 6 1/2 sts/inch - Your Guess?
Ullared Cap: Sport Weight, 100% wool, 5 ply 246 yds per 3 1/2 oz, 8 sts/inch - Gansey Wool? Your Guess?
Danish Earflap Cap: Smooth Worsted Weight Wool, 109 yds per 50g, 6 sts/inch - Your Guess?
The vast majority of the patterns call for worsted weight, most likely Cascade 220 or Lamb's Pride Worsted, and this reminded me of how I purchased a bunch of single skeins of Cascade 220 last year in different colors, from the Webs sale, which is going on again right now. I still have some left and although I think the orginal plan was felting, it now might be hats!
OK, you all blew me away with your great suggestions for off-to-college knitted gifts! My heart was warmed to know that college kids still need to wrap themselves in knitted warmth in whatever form it comes in.
Comments revealed that socks are a personal item, risky to knit for someone who may not like the hand-knitted variety. I tend to agree. And there are the laundering issues? Uh, no socks.
Hat, scarf and mitten sets got some positive votes. Considering...
A new suggestion was a knitted hoodie, which made me immediately think of Rogue! Isn't it just the perfect look for a college student? (Another fun garment idea was a magknits tee shirt, although there would be fit issues.) Rogue gets "seriously considering".
What really got to me were the personal anecdotes about the afghans. Kids STILL love afghans in college, according to those still there and those who have sent kids there. Cool. So now I am mulling over the fact that it would have to be washable, stylish in a log-cabin or mitred squares kind of way, and it would have to be fairly quick to knit.
High School Graduation is a couple months away. I better get on it!
My niece is off to college in the fall! She is going to a large state university. I am feeling knitterly urges to send her off with something in her school colors - she is a sporty type and will be attending sporting events. But I can barely figure out the trends for the middle school set, let alone, young adults.
It used to be that moms and aunties knitted afghans for their nieces and nephews as they went off to school. But aren't most afghans kind of tacky? Plus you have the roommate and college dorm decor, and it all seems like a lot of work for a questionable outcome.
How about some mittens or a hat or some socks in her school colors? Don't be shy - clue me in so that I can be her "cool aunt who knits"....
Have a great weekend!
It's 5:00 p.m. and I am making chicken for dinner - a family favorite, the Oven Baked Chicken with Almonds from the South Beach cookbook. I'm rolling the chicken in olive oil, then in the wholewheat breadcrumb, crushed almond and parmasean cheese mixture. The boys are at the table doing homework.
First Grader: "Is a stick a cylinder?"
I think for a minute and say: "Yes."
Third Grader: "No it isn't. A stick is not hollow."
I'm embarrassed, but I just keep dredging the chicken. I grumble to myself "well that's a big much for them to be doing in First Grade." Silence for a few minutes.
First Grader: "Is a picture frame a rectangular prism?"
OH COME ON!
On the knitting front, I am always amazed at how many new sources for patterns there are out there, some free, some for sale. Recently I learned about:
Dawn Brocco from Joanknits - OK, I was a total copycat and ordered the Working Cables Cardigan - how excited was I to see such a stylish design written for Peace Fleece!
Blue Alvarez Designs from Fig and Plum - The Hot Lava Shrug (free pattern) is a great way to make something with a minimal investment in Manos (4 skeins).
Lisa Lloyd Designs via Blackwater Abbey - Halcyon Aran became my husband's favorite this past winter.
Do you have any to add?
