Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Kiri's Home!

Many many moons ago....sometime mid fall....October I think....this knitter decided to attempt her very first lacy shawl pattern. Prior success had occurred with lace scarves...fishtail lace, horseshoe lace....Various sources reported that Kiri was an excellent choice for a beginner shawl.

The knitter dug through the stash and found a variagated pink, rose, blue yarn that she and pal "R" had home-dyed waaaaayyy back in February of '06. It was a worsted wool. Nice and sturdy. Fairly soft. The knitter downloaded the pattern and cast on. She knitted and knitted and knitted and came to the last two repeats before the edging. Sadly....through no apparent fault of her own (other than normal distractions....general knitterly clutziness...etc..) the last few repeats proved more than the knitter could handle. She frogged and reknit...and frogged and reknit...and put the Kiri in timeout for several weeks until she learned to behave herself.

The knitter felt remorseful about the long timeout and devised a strategy to end the misery formerly known as the Kiri. It must be said here and now...the color did not help. The irregular runs of sick pink marled with blues became known as "Gravid Uterus Pink" due to its' resemblence to an organ with which the midwife was very familiar. Pearl was not shy in her display of contempt for the Kiri.



The strategy to completion was simple......have enough people nag the knitter often enough to assure regular time spent with Kiri....and that SHOULD have been enough.There were suggestions. There were helpful hints. But still...the last repeat and edging were impossible for the knitter to wrap her mind around. Thankfully knitbud Grace kindly offered to fix and finish the Kiri and her dangling ball of fugly. With a quick kiss goodbye to the Lady E, Kiri wound her way across North America to the Jersey shore!



Grace had kind words about Kiri. Evidently she behaved herself very very well...no missed stitches...no lost YOs.......Soon, Grace was finished. A perfect final repeat...and a perfect edging. But Kiri's journey was not over. That sweet Grace sent Kiri clear back across North America to Vancouver to visit Jayne, master yarn artist extraordinaire. Jayne worked her magic on the finished Kiri. And magic indeed it was. The pinks and roses of "Gravid Uterus" became warm teals, the blues acquired hues of turquoise. Hints of the reds still show through here and there, giving movement and drama to the overall effect.



The knitter was stunned speechless by the transformation. Not just the transformation, but the positive energy from collaboration and caring displayed by knitbuds nationwide. Originally, the knitter thought about using the finished Kiri for another nurse-midwifery scholarship fundraiser.......but now that she's home......she's just too personal and imbued with too many warm and comforting intentions to go to a stranger. Kiri and the knitter are settling into a new routine. She is the shawl of choice for a morning cuppa' in the garden. Here's hoisting a mug to a long and happy future for Kiri and the knitter!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007



The Luna....in Elann's Adara...color Fern...
I am through the 3rd pattern repeat.This pattern is EASY! Intuitive! It has RHYTHM!
Now, I don't know if that's because it was hard on the heels of the SunRay, which was
fast behind Kiri (who should be home soon I hear...with that shawl..well, you just never know what's going to happen next!)
Anyway, maybe the lace mojo hit....maybe it's just hours and hours of practice..(I think with SunRay I tinked at least one row for every three)...but I am only tinking maybe 1 or two stitches every pattern repeat. Seriously! Obviously it's the pattern...SK...your wonderful design and clear instruction make me want to just try more and more lacy patterns!

And just a few words about the Adara....I was worried that this yarn would be stiff and rough due to the cotton/linen construction. I shouldn't have worried. It's not butter....but it is really really soft, think cottonball soft only with more "crispness" for lack of better term. It doesn't split (even on my pointy KPOs-size 9 as per pattern if you're interested) and the color is really lovely. Folks at work and my daily drivethru latte' lady comment on the color everytime they catch me knitting. This yarn behaves itself very well. I think it will be a lovely summer weight shawl. I only have 6 skeins though, and have used 2 and started the 3rd already. I'm going to order 2 or 3 more skeins. I plan to do 6-7 repeats total. Will keep you posted!

And just 'cuz I thought it was interesting....take a look at this!



Have a great knitterly week!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Ipod Shuffle 5-11-07



1) "Stars on the Water"-Jimmy Buffett
2) "When You Come Back Down"-Nickel Creek
3) "Unchained Melody"-Righteous Brothers
4) "High"-James Blunt
5) "Where the Streets Have no Name"-U2
6) "Brand New Day"-Sting
7) "Because of You"-Nickelback
8) "Dancing in the Moonlight"-Van Morrison
9) "Drift Away"-Uncle Cracker
10) "Who'll Stop the Rain"-Creedence Clearwater Revival

It's a beautiful sunny day in Anchorage...I'm getting flowers at the nursery today! (PS...I finished the first repeat through row 34 of my Luna in the Fern Adara...wow...it's a great knit. more later!) Knit On!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

GirlyCamo and More

I know, I know, I told you that I was going to cast on for my Luna with that gorgeous summery elann.com Adara. But I didn't..yet. I will soon. But I needed a no brainer knit on the needles too. You know the kind...top down, lots of just plain knitting in the round...a little shaping here and there. Take along knitting for things like last night's high school band concert. The interminable band concert. The concert that lasts for 3 hours and THEN has awards for many of the band members. DD rec'd two awards...."Most Likely to Get Kicked Out of Class" and "Most Likely to NOT Show Up For a Concert"...That's my girl....(grin...aaahhh...she's following in her mother's footsteps!) So of course, there was knitting. Seemed like a LOT of knitting...but on morning inspection...not so...guess that's what happens when you are on size 5s!
But I'm getting ahead of myself again.

A month ago or thereabouts, when DH was out of town again...I got a little pity party going on....I got a little self-indulgent....I got a little bit of yarn. Just a little...but OMG...is it not just gorgeous? It's Girly Camo by SJK yarns! Buttery soft, washable merino DK....hand painted by our own dear JAYNE! in a colorway that just sang to me from the computer screen. A few weeks later...here it was in my very own home! Stunning!



I'd thought long and hard about what to make with this treasure. I knew I wanted top down...I knew I wanted something fitted...but simple enough to really show off the yarn. So.....I'm knitting up the Picovoli only I'm going to add 3/4 length sleeves, knitted in the round with a folded hem picot edging at the end of the sleeves. (This is Alaska after all and a gal's just gotta have some sleeve action most days).

Here's the progress so far.....doesn't seem like much for 5+ hours of knitting, but that's ok.......the fabric is luscious at 6 1/2 st/inch. My row gauge is off for the pattern (as usual), but I'm doing the length measurement and math thing and I think the pattern will be forgiving enough and I can adjust enough...and hey...if it doesn't work...well....we'll go to plan B (whatever that is!) Truly, the pics do not give this yarn colorway justice! It has such a melange of Reds (pinks/scarlet/russet) and greens (olive/forest/kelly.)..If I'm at the nursery I tell you, I'd blend right in with the geranium section! I LOVE this yarn!






I've had a really funny thing happening at work recently. I'm one of the general CNMs for the Alaska Native Medical Center, but I'm also a specialist in substance abuse/addictions and have a separate clinic off the hospital campus for substance abusing women. I frequently receive referral calls from the obstetric and perinatal care providers from the ANMC campus as well as from within the private sector so it's not unusual for me to receive pages and phone calls several times a day. Recently however, I've rec'd 3 pages and a half dozen phone calls from physicians and nursing staff.....needing assistance with ....get this......KNITTING!.....example:

Me: "Hello, this is Lisa W returning your page/call"
Dr XYZ" "Oh, hello Lisa, thanks for calling me back. I got your name from so and so over at the hospital. She said you might be able to help me with a knitting question...do you mind"
Me: "Huh...oh..oh sure...ummm....(thinking...and I'm in the middle of clinic right now)...perhaps after hours or at lunch time....

I'm getting a reputation as the local "knitwife" instead of "midwife" haha... My (non-knitter,non-blogger) pal Laureen calls me the "local kniteratti" (like glitterati...get it..hahah)

anyway...i thought it was funny...Something else (especialy for you Jayne) that is funny is that I missed Pearl's spring haircut appt. There is ONLY ONE groomer in Anchorage that does cats. And she only does a few cats including mine (because she's done her for 10 years) and it takes at least 5-6 weeks to get an appt with her...and honestly she's really a grouch to her customers....but hey...I don't want to take the clippers to Miss Pearl.....so anyway....now it will be almost the 4th of July before Pearl gets her summer cut. She is NOT amused. And proceeded to show me her disgust with my lack of planning and atttention to detail by horking up a big nasty wet furball....on ....my .....WREN....which is why I haven't posted pics yet. It was already dry when I saw it...so...gross.



That's it for today. I'm off tomorrow (HOORAY) and will try to get the KAL weekly wrapup done then! Have a great knitterly day!

Monday, May 07, 2007

SunRay Saga

Once there were a few skeins of Highland Wool in Violet Heather. That wool wanted to be lace. But she was thick, a worsted in fact....could this wool ever dance and float with the breezes? The wool's knitter, a crafty bitch with years of knitting expertise, decided to try knitting lace once more.

Even though the knitter had other chores that she ignored....(like painting the decking)...she cast on....with huge size 10 Brittany Birch needles...for the points you know. Soon, there were two repeats...and the beautiful SunRay pattern was beginning to shape up.



The knitter filled her straight needles and prepared for the transfer to her KnitPicks Options circular size 10s....but sometime during the transfer process, a Brittany was...well...sat upon...and a painful break ensued....



Not to be swayed from her mission, the knitter enlisted supervision....



Very close supervision in fact....



But there were interuptions...



Determined...the knitter knit on....keeping to the straight and narrow in every effort to avoid another Kiri debacle....and eventually, she finished....



The wool was stretched......and pinned....and threaded through in a form of blocking torture well known to Russian lace knitters....the picots were perfection....

EDITED: CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR LARGER VIEW ON BLOCKING!..
All I did was pin out my top to the width i wanted/liked...stretch my bottom point out to the length i wanted, then threaded a chibi with scrap yarn and starting with the edge point picot, threaded through each 5th picot. I then pinned out the threaded picot to make a point on the edging. Really simple and took 20-30 minutes tops! Truly Easy Peasy and no need for blocking wires and things like that, although i'm sure that would be fast and easy peasy too!



And at last....she was ready to rest.....



and 24 hours later....Voila! Thank you SK...for a wonderful pattern!



Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up!



Aaaahhh SunRay....I love you!

Saturday, May 05, 2007

A Few More Thoughts on Dionne Warwick



I am such a child of the sixties. One of my best early memories of getting to watch a "non-kid" movie comes from about the age of 9 or so when my babysitter let me watch "Valley of the Dolls". I was mesmerized. This was a story about stuff you overheard grown-ups whispering about. Shameful, hush-hush, don't say anything....Riveted to the TV screen. And the music......the soundtrack...the theme song especially.....playing all over the radios...evidently a #2 hit single for Dionne Warwick in the late 60s. I was and continue to be a fan for life!

Dionne Warwick, however, was not the theme song singer (say that three times fast!) here for the long version.

So,anyway, those were a few more thoughts on that subject.


Local smut....hey Bets...and Joan...you're gonna love THIS. I'm past speechless...seriously..i cannot even put my thoughts into a coherent order due to the emotions this evokes. We have an awesome new governor. She's all about ethics, trust, reform. I have some sense of hope for our state government. Some.

Knitting...on Row 26 of Repeat # 5..whoo...i'm loving it...even though i seem to tink an awful lot....that's what I get for watching...




........ and trying to knit lace! More later! Happy Knitting!

Friday, May 04, 2007

Friday Ipod Shuffle

The midwife business is busy this time of year. 3 new babes this week already.....all with first time moms...(translated means looooooonnnng hours for this baby catcher). I have a boatload of pics to show you, not only of my sweet Wren, but my SunRay which is now somewhere in the fifth repeat. I saw Jayne's post about Kiri! I tell you I didn't even recognize my own shawl in that little sneaky peek she threw out there! Had to do a double take after reading her post....oooohhh...so pretty! The color is perfect! Grace, Jayne....you two are amazing and wonderful and talented.......and I think this lil' clip says it best!




Here's the shuffle...Gotta Run....will post more this weekend!

1) "I've Got a Life"-David Guetta & Joachin Garraud Eurythmics remix
2) "What the World Needs Now"-Dionne Warwick
3) "Close to You"-Carpenters
4) "Purple Rain"-Prince
5) "Take it to the Limit"-Eagles
6) "Nothing Compares to You"-Prince
7) "I Can See Clearly Now"-Otis Redding
8) "Stuck in a Moment"-U2
9) "Wasteland"-10 Years
10) "Jumping Jack Flash"-Rolling Stones

Have a great knitterly day!