WIP Wednesday: Background Radiation

This week I'm going to show some love to a project that I keep forgetting about in the context of WIPs. It's like the background radiation of the universe: always there, humming along.

The pattern for this shawl, "Mie," was originally written in Danish and then translated into English. I'm surprised it's only got 47 projects on Ravelry... especially since it's free! My project page is here.

I bought the yarn at Stitches Midwest 2012, and started knitting it last October. This photo shows it a little past halfway done. It's a simple end-to-end garter stitch pattern with a ruffle formed by short rows. It takes about four rows to memorize the pattern. Therefore it's become my social and stoplight knitting. I barely have to look at it. I've also knit on it while reading.

It's so perfect for those situations, in fact, that I seriously wonder what will take its place when it's finished!

The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the colorway Lowland, which doesn't appear to be available any more. It was actually a limited run of short skeins (which was stated up front and priced specially because of that). It was a case where I saw the color and said "Oh my," and made a wild guess how much I would need. I bought two skeins at first, then went back and bought a third skein, thinking that might be enough for a sweater.

Ha! nope. After I got home, I strained my Ravelry search skills to the limit trying to find ANYTHING within the yardage I'd purchased. I wanted to use as much of it as possible, but it seemed I'd bought exactly the wrong quantity.

And then I ran across Mie.

Although it's not written that way, it seemed to me I could weigh my yarn, knit increase rows until I'd used up half of it, and then knit decrease rows until I used it up. It might actually turn out incredibly long... but I have ahem a generous circumference, so that'll probably be fine.

So that is exactly what I'm doing.

The pattern IS written for striping two colors. Since Madelinetosh is notorious for color pooling, I decided to knit from all three balls in succession. I switched every time the pattern called for switching colors (which is every time you get back to the straight edge). I think this scatters the colors nicely.

My photo doesn't do justice to the colors... When it's finished, I hope to get some really nice photos. Closeups and all that.

I like a challenging knit as much as the next yarncrafter, but there's a lot to be said for the elegant simplicity of this pattern.

A scarf pic, finally! (WIP Wednesday)

I've talked about this scarf in every WIP Wednesday post... now I can finally show you a WIP photo. I had to get my husband to snap the picture while I stretched it out between my fingers.

Pretty yarn, eh? It's the "Happy Forest" colorway in Dream in Color Smooshy. Obviously it'll have to be blocked severely when the time comes. The pattern is "Not a Drop" by Arlene's World of Lace.

I'm in a finishing mode this week... I finished two items already, and I just got the hook & eye tape in the mail today for my cardigan--everything else is done. I'll have to create a Finished Objects post sometime when it isn't Wednesday.

That's it for today. I have a couple pictures to take--can't do it now, though, there's a storm wrecking the light.

More on "holity"

I have further thoughts on "holity" that didn't quite fit in the page for it. I originally planned to include these in that page, until I realized it needed to define the word more than anything.

I mentioned not wanting to write just a Christan blog. That's not to diss those who do write Christian blogs. There are reasons why that's not such a great idea for me.

Compartmentalization

I have to guard against compartmentalizing my life into "spiritual" and "not spiritual." Maybe a lot of Christians do, but it's been such a strong tendency for much of my life that I still find it rearing its ugly head.

I looked for a definition of the word "compartmentalization" and found it's used in psychology, which I didn't know. Wikipedia says: "Compartmentalization is an unconscious psychological defense mechanism used to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person's having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves."

I don't think I achieved pathological levels with it, but I think this could describe the nominal and/or weak Christian who does things during the week that they hope no one at church hears about. Yes, that has been me from time to time, of course. And that's a huge reason to guard against it—because compartmentalization can lead to hypocrisy.

On a milder level, though, it can mean merely thinking that there's church/spiritual life and then there's "real life," and that they don't have a lot to do with each other. That my job, my hobbies, my activities during the week, my Facebook wall, my friends outside church, are somehow separate from my spirituality. This is a lot  more insidious and hard to detect, and yet it can probably lead to the hypocrisy I mentioned in the last paragraph.

That's what I want to guard against. It would be too easy to chat about knitting without ever thinking about God. So what's wrong with knitting? Nothing, in and of itself. And yet, I observe some things in the knitting community that I'd like to write about sometime from a spiritual standpoint.

And sometimes I just want to write about knitting, or gardening, or whatever. Like I said on the definition page, it'll be the whole of the blog, ALL the posts, that combined will show who I am (especially after I've been at it a while).

Spiritual vs. Secular

The other swing of the pendulum from compartmentalization is the idea that if you're a Christian, the only thing you should talk about or think about or read or do is overtly Christian ideas, books, activities. Perhaps that's how some people guard against compartmentalization—but that's no reason to go too far in the other direction.

God created the whole world and everything in it. He created our creativity and our intellect and our appreciation for beauty. He created sheep and their wool, and created them so they're better off if they get sheared every spring. That wool is amazingly versatile. We can use it only to keep warm, but how much better if we also use our talents to make warm items that are also beautiful? Part of the "image of God" in us is that he made us creative, like He is.

That's just one example of "holity"... the sort of holistic approach I'm talking about and hoping to achieve.

WIP Wednesday: starting to look like a cardi!

My Andie's Cardigan is all seamed up—it looks a lot like a cardi!

Now all I have to do is pick up & knit the collar and the i-cord trim down the front, and sew in the hook & eye tape... as soon as I find some hook & eye tape. Tried two stores the other day, no luck.

While I was at Jo-Ann's, I picked up buttons for my Comfort of a Friend shawl. Vintage look for a vintage design.

 

The scarf is proceeding slowly, and I just knit 2 more swatches for the baby cardigan. The first swatches didn't give me gauge so I am trying a larger needle size, and you have to swatch both plain stockinette and the stitch pattern. I haven't measured yet.

 

I am starting to think about picking up the socks that have been in time-out since last winter. I've got to rip back a couple inches, yuck. But is it really THAT bad? Well, the difficulty is I'm knitting two-at-a-time on two circulars and I'm worried I will muck them up.

 

Still, I should just get going on them so they aren't nagging me in the back of my mind.



WIP [Wednesday] Thursday

Considering I completely FORGOT to write a WIP Wednesday post last week, I think a few hours late is an improvement.

Updates

Happy Drops, the scarf I have to really concentrate on, had a bit of a setback... I somehow messed up one of the drops, so once again I tried inserting my needle at the base of a row of drops as recommended by the designer. She then goes on to say you'll have to tink back a couple of rows (because odds are you didn't get the needle inserted into only one row... it's really hard to tell). I must have tinked back 15 rows before I finally felt like all the stitches on my needle were correct. But that beats starting all over. No new picture yet.


Comfort of a Friend, blocking & being cat-scanned.

My Comfort of a Friend shawl is done except for the buttons. I have to go shopping for buttons, and that's waiting for June because I am almost out of spending money for May. This is for the first KAL for the book What Else Would Madame Defarge Knit?, edited by Heather Ordover. Actually, this pattern isn't in the book—rather, this pattern is available in doll size and child size in the book. The adult size pattern was a bonus for those of us who pre-ordered the book; however, it's available for purchase on Ravelry.

The most exciting update is for my Andie's Cardigan. I've finished all the pieces!

Andie's Cardigan, the fronts and sleeves blocking.

Tomorrow, or maybe tonight, I'll start seaming the pieces together. Once that's done, I'll pick up and knit the collar, then pick up and knit the i-cord trim down the fronts. Meanwhile I'll purchase the hook-and-eye tape for the closure. I never heard of hook-and-eye tape before reading this pattern. Brilliant idea!

Naturally, by the time I finish this up, it'll be too hot to wear even though it's short-sleeved. The yarn is Berocco Ultra Silk (discontinued), which I picked up on clearance. It's aran weight, 40% nylon, 40% rayon, and 20% silk. Interesting construction—it's a knitted tube with filling. I imagine the tube is the silk and the filling is the nylon & rayon. It's very drapey, and I hope it doesn't grow outrageously in wear.

New

I've started swatching for a cardigan for my nephew—the pattern is L'illo by Susan Power. I'm making size 12 months, out of Takhi Cotton Classic Lite, a sport-weight 100% mercerized cotton, in a darkish green. Tried size 3 needles, next I'm going to try size 4.

A minor discovery

This morning I ripped out the first swatch of the Cotton Classic Lite, and balled it up, but it's kinky even though it hasn't been knit up all that long. So I had an idea... I used my Amish swift to re-skein the yarn from the ball.

 I made a slip knot and put that over one of the dowels. Then just held the ball with one hand and spun the swift with the other. After all the yarn was on the swift, I tied it halfway between each dowel and voila! ready to soak and hang up to get the kinks out.

Maybe that tip will help someone! I don't know if it would work with an umbrella-style swift... I have no experience with them.

Happy knitting, all!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday!

I've decided to join in the Work-in-Progress Wednesday meme. It looks like a fun way to incorporate some knitting posts into my blog. To learn more (and to join in, if you're so inclined), check out this post in the Tami's Amis blog.

Alas, my WIP's are kicking my tail this week.


The left strap of the "Comfort of a Friend" shawl.

I'm in a knitalong for the Comfort of a Friend Shawl. It looks really nice so far... except I've discovered I did some purling. It's a garter stitch pattern—there isn't supposed to be any purling! I guess I did that because I'm going back and forth between this and a stockinette project.

(Now that I think of it, the stockinette project is NOT kicking my tail. Maybe I should work on it some more!)

The hard part is the purling is right below the place where the middle is bound off, so I'm afraid to rip out. So I'm using my Fix-A-Stitch tool. Which works great but it's slow going.

The other WIP that's giving me difficulty is the Not a Drop scarf. I took this picture before I started having problems.

Yeah, I didn't get very far before I started having problems.

It's just that if you make one tiny little mistake, it's extremely difficult to fix it. The designer does have some tips in a thread in her Ravelry group, and yet I've had trouble following the tips. I mess up the tinking back, and next thing you know I'm ripping the whole thing out and starting over.

I've decided my strategy for this scarf will have to be not to do more than one or two rows in a sitting. If I go much longer than that, I start getting into a rhythm (because there IS a lot of repetition) and next thing you know I'll miss the next shift in the pattern.

I hope to have better news next week!

You are the branches

It's not the greatest photo I ever shot, but I hope you can tell what's going on. There's a detached limb hanging from the tree by its twigs. This tree stands in my neighbor's back yard.

John 15:5-6—I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. [English Standard Version]

This limb has been hanging from this tree all winter... like it doesn't know it's dead.

We had a sermon recently where the pastor quoted the movie The Sixth Sense—"I see dead people." This disturbed some of my friends. Surely our church is better than most? Surely there's no need to be so negative? Jesus is about love, right?

Yes, Jesus is about love. God IS love. And, it would not be love to withhold a hard truth—especially if that truth holds someone's eternity in the balance.

Every church has at least a few people who are like this branch. They are not abiding in Jesus—they are not attached to the tree. There is no spiritual life flowing into them. And yet they think they ARE in the tree, because they're hanging up there with the branches and not touching the ground.

Last week, a storm came through. No worse than any other storm we had over the winter. But this storm, for whatever reason, hit that branch just wrong—and down it came. Now it's dead wood lying on the ground, and someone's gonig to come chop it up and put it in their fireplace.

This is merely the final result of what's been true all winter. It's been dead all along. Dead branch hanging.

I hope no one who is reading this is a dead man/woman walking. But if you have even the tiniest inkling you might be, don't ignore it. Pray... search the scriptures... talk to a pastor. Perhaps it's only a lie of the enemy. If so, you can receive assurance. Get it settled.

If not, the miracle that's available to you is that unlike this dead branch, you CAN be grafted in.

[p.s. I hate when I publish a post and THEN realize (in the shower) that I need to edit a couple of things! *sigh*]