From Point A to Point B

I'm usually pretty one-track in my knitting. I rarely have more than one project going at a time (let's ignore the projects that languish miserably in permanent WIP status); I get too distracted.

But recently I've been taken in by one of the most appealing traits of knitting. Knitting is a process, where projects go through stages, as a headband, mitten, sock or sweater evolves from a ball of yarn into a stylish, wearable garment. You can knit exactly what the pattern says, or you can modify to your heart's content- change yarn weight, needle size, pattern, or even make it up as you go. Once a project has been bound off, I still don't consider it done. Once it's blocked, photographed, and posted to Ravelry, then it's truly finished.

So, all of a sudden, I've discovered that I've reached various phases with a number of projects, with various levels of "involvement". Let's take a tour (Warning: lots of links for your perusing pleasure):

1.) (Front right): Just started: My umpteenth Whimsy headband, knit from String Theory Yarn Merino DK in color potluck. The original pattern is for a hat knit in two pieces; a headband and then an attached crown. I skip the crown and just knit the headband.

2.) (Large ball of yellow yarn and middle scarf): Chugging along: My Brioche scarf, which I already blogged about. I'm trying to maintain fealty to this project as my solely train-knitting project, but a couple rows seem to sneak in whenever I'm not looking... I took the pattern as it was- not messing with brioche!

3.) (Purple triangle): Finished forever: An Unwoven shawl that has been off the needles for months. I even took it to Sweden on vacation in May, but it's been hiding off-Rav all this time. Now that it's posted, it's finally, really done.

4.) (Purple wavy thing in the back): Almost there: Still unblocked and un-Raved, this was my second train knitting project that been off the needles since October. Knit from Fiber Optic in Grape Jelly; I'll admit to basically buying out her shop every time I see her at Rhinebeck :)

5.) (Mitt on the blocking mat): Heart and soul: My most involved project right now. The yarn my first hand-dye, so this is the second experiment with the yarn to see how it knits up. And the pattern is one I cobbled together from a couple stitch dictionaries and another wristlet pattern. It's involved lots of tweaking, obsessive trying on, and critiquing. But Mitt #1 is off and blocking to check for fit, and #2 is already on the needles.

... And then, just for fun, I also whipped out some more hand-dye this weekend! This isn't the greatest photo, since it's balanced precariously in the utility closet, drying. These are based off a Mark Rothko painting,

No. 12, 1951. I'm working on an artist series of yarns, inspired by an October trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

It's been a while since I've been inspired to dye, design, and knit, on lots of different projects, all at once. I'm trying to keep to a rhythm, so I don't get bored or overwhelmed. And there are always the projects that need to be picked back up, finished, blocked, photographed, and posted.

But the beauty of knitting as a hobby is that it's all about what I'd like to do, my pace, and my interests. So there's no harm in doing what I'd like to and enjoying the ride. It's not often that happens in life, even with hobbies, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Knittin' in the seat of a train...

Prior to my new job in Boston, I'd been braving rush hour to drive the half-hour (-ish... some days more -ish than others) to Lexington.

It became rapidly and readily apparent to me, however, that I could not, would not, would NEVER commute into Boston. My trip in for my first interview rendered me lost in Roxbury, driving around in circles, and then canceling my interview because I would be a multitude of hours late. Add to that normal rush hour traffic, Boston drivers, and paying to park in the city...

I resigned myself to my alternate fate- alternative transportation. Namely, that wretched hive

of scum and villainy: the MBTA.

Unlike poor ol' Charlie, however, my fate is learned, and I will often return. (I'm looking at you, Kingston Trio and Dropkick Murphys. Although I never understood why Charlie's wife didn't just give him a nickel instead of a sandwich.) Turns out, there are definitely worse things than riding the commuter rail into Boston. It's cheap, clean (enough), and quick.

Of course, one of the biggest perks of course is the free time I suddenly have NOT driving. It's the ultimate multi-tasking time, which I've used to do work, answer e-mails, play unholy amounts of Words With Friends, read, and knit.

Finding the perfect pattern for train knitting falls in a special category for me. It needs to be portable (no sweaters), memorizable or easily read off an iPhone (no charts, pages of instructions, or books), and able to be picked up and put down wherever you are (short stitch repeats, nothing too fussy).

The latest and greatest pattern to fit the bill has me completely smitten: the Reversible Cabled Brioche Stitch Scarf (Ravelry link). Once I got the hang of it, I don't even need directions (which

is both exhilarating and terrifying- I am absolutely a directions person), and I can throw it in my bag as the train pulls into North Station or I have to shove over to let another passenger into the seat.

The yarn is the lovely Bark from Maple Creek Farm. No website, unfortunately- I found them at Rhinebeck a couple years ago.

I cast this on two weeks ago and I'm flying. I've broken my own rule and have been knitting it off

the train too... But it's so catchy! In no time, I have this:

Despite the oddball times, much longer commute, and occasional oddity of my fellow passengers, knitting on the train has become an all-too-brief respite for me. I'm still often doing six other things, but I throw on NPR, pull out my needles, and manage to find the smallest iota of calm and tranquility amidst the chaos.

Where do you find two minute's peace? How? If you knit, what's your train-knitting pattern?

Reinspired and it feels so good…

Needless to say, it’s obvious that at least one of my resolutions from 2010 went down in a fiery ball of too much ambition and not enough follow-through, also known as oculintestinamaximasitis (a debilitating disease where your eyes are bigger than your stomach).

Yet as 2012 opens, out of the ashes, the keys start clackety-clacking and a long list of topics, photos, words, phrases, notions and ideas patch themselves together. It’s been an incredibly long couple of years, featuring: leaving one job and starting a new one that is challenging and rewarding and all-consuming, the loss of two grandparents, running my first half-marathon, rediscovering old hobbies, a trip to Sweden, starting to house-hunt, and more travel, hosting, cooking, running, visiting, weddings, hockey games, and parties than I can count (not that I haven’t tried).

Of all the things I’ve learned since January 24, 2010, two have drawn me back to a blog that has been perpetually kicking me in the back of the brain:

1. I’m still seeking that magic 42 in work, running, cooking, reading, and knitting.
2. I miss writing. Maybe that’s why I’m still working on #1. Writing makes me put words down one at a time and hope they come out in some semblance of order. It gives me inner peace and makes me accountable (even if it’s to the vast nothingness of the Internet). Plus it’s kinda fun.

So, here we go again. Ambition (and other delusions of grandeur) have taken hold again, so I may as well ride the waves until I see another shiny object.

I’m going to pretend each post is going to end with a picture that’s a preview of the next post… starting next time. Can’t set the bar too high now…

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again- the beginning of it. Even though every day and week is new, the less-frequent (usually about annual) new-ness of a year causes some to pause, reflect, and revamp. I'm not always one of those people, but since this is my first whole year away from school, I thought it might be an appropriate time to resolve.

.... Of course, it's nearly the end of January, which gives you a good indication of how well my resolution not to procrastinate is going. But all hypocrisy aside...

Knitting: My knitting resolutions spiraled rapidly out of control, and have become more of a glorified "To Do in 2010" list, which looks something like:

I'd be more concerned, but I'm really excited by my list, and isn't that what makes your resolutions attainable? The nuts and bolts of my knitting resolutions for this year are:

Love the stash I have: My stash has grown considerably in the past year, partly from my own obsession and partly from the generosity of friends and family who love my Loopy Ewe wishlist and point and click without asking too many questions. My stash looks something like:


It's big and bright and beautiful and I love every yarn in it. It's also nearly 15 miles of yarn, not including the hundreds of yards of scrap yarn in the little red box. I don't want to preclude myself from buying some gorgeous new stuff, I just want to appropriately love and squeeze... and occasionally, you know, knit... with all the great stuff I've already accumulated.

Go big or go home: I have tons and tons of projects in mind for the year. Knitting sweaters, knitting in tons of group KALs, dyeing sock yarn, looking into buying a loom, designing Solstice gifts for my family... My resolution is to get as much of it done as I can. It's about as Miss-America-generic of a goal as I can have but... well, the list above takes care of the details.

....while retaining a semblance of balance: Occasionally, non-knitting things happen. Like husbands and puppies and work and having an apartment. Integrating my resolutions with the rest of life is what will really make them successful.

Check in occasionally: I promise, no more 6-month gaps in my blogging.

Non-knitting: It's my first whole year in the real world, so I have a lot of good eating, exercise, and reading to catch up on.

So, being the good government employee I am, I have my lists and my timeline and my evaluation criteria. Now, it's just time to put it into action. Ready, set, go!

Knittin' Sox

This is a short and easy post. And it is still more than a month overdue. I enjoyed much of the month of June off, between the end of school and the beginning of work. We did lots of fun and less-fun things, like moving into a new apartment, enduring the sewage-watered flood of said apartment, and exploring (read: consistently getting lost in) our new hometown.

I knit a lot as well and finished some pretty cool projects. But this is, without question, my most important summer knitting achievement.



That's my knitting at Fenway Park at my very first Red Sox game. It didn't get knit while at Fenway, but I brought it along just in case I had a chance. I was too busy screaming like a pre-teen at Jacoby Ellsbury and drinking ONE pint of $7.25 Bud Light (there are so many things wrong with that phrase). That knitting project did eventually become this:



I love this scarf-lette cravat thing. It used yarn from one of my favorite hometown shops (String Theory Yarn). It's a great accessory for my work wardrobe. But, most importantly, it went to Fenway.

For others

Well, my first post wasn't supposed to be my last. But the completion of my degree, graduation, the job search, and moving to a new town necessitated my retreat into survival mode, which removed all pleasantries from life including exercise, sleep, and reading, writing, or otherwise living for anything other than school.

We have now moved to our new town, and I am taking a much-deserved vacation before my job starts in July. So far, the vacation has involved more or less setting up the new apartment, failed attempts at finding a couch that is neither ugly nor expensive, and spending inordinate amounts of time with the dogs, uttering phrases like "Molly, please stop killing our umbrellas" and discovering that Murphy is a grass snob and only stands on the coffee table when he really wants your attention.

I've also managed to squeeze in some knitting and yarn shopping as well. One of my biggest accomplishments in the past few months has been the completion of a series of hats knit for a local women's shelter.



There are many names for this kind of knitting. Charity knitting, service knitting, RAKs (Random Acts of Kindness- this term doesn't only apply to knitting). But no matter what you call it, whether the recipient is anonymous or known, whether the knitting was requested or truly a surprise, I love, and often require myself, to have something on my needles that is not for me.

Why knit for others? The impetus for the hat project was to use up yarn left over from a project that failed catastrophically several years ago, leaving hundreds of small yarn balls in its wake. (There are still hundreds more of these balls of yarn, to continue to be used in smaller projects until they are gone... or until the Sun starts revolving around the Earth. You know, whichever comes first. Probably the latter.) Knitting for others also allows me to use yarn or patterns that I don't want to make for myself, but that I want to try.

There are far less practical, but far more important, reasons why I knit for others. Any kind of work for others gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling (insert debate about whether or not true altruism exists here), and being able to combine that act with a craft that I love makes it all the better.

Then again, there are just as many reasons to not knit for others. A Ravelry group called "Selfish Knitters" recounts hundreds of stories of handknit gifts being called "cheap," sold at yard sales, thrown away, and insulted. Experiences such as these could make any gift-giver want to curl into a ball and down an entire pint of ice cream with a vodka chaser. I'm lucky not to have experienced this myself- I have had wonderful friends and family that always adore, and sometimes even request, knitted work from me. I wonder, though, if an experience like that would bother me. Undoubtedly yes, but at the same time, I revel in the process of knitting and the feeling that I'm knitting for someone else. And when I'm knitting for charity, someone else gets to decide if they like my work, and I'll never know either way!

And so I continue on my quest to knit as much for others as for myself. But what about you? Gift-giving, knitting gifts for others, knitting gifts for charity. Whatcha think?

Why should you read this blog?

You know, that's really an excellent question. There are millions of blogs out there, and I'm about to add yet another byte-munching, time-consuming (hopefully more so for me than for you) star into the constellation. So what makes THIS blog, out of the millions, worth your time and perhaps a few of your thoughts?

I think the fact that I really want to write a blog should mean something, although what, I'm still not sure. I maintain that every single person in this universe is unique (yes, even twins), so every perspective you ever encounter is unique. By this simple equation, what I have to say should present a unique view on the world, and my concern about finding a niche market should be solved.

But will this blog be interesting? Thought-provoking? Maybe I should take a couple lofty steps back... will it even be read? Some of that's up to me, some of that's up to you. I titled this blog "Knitting and 42" because knitting has really taken on a focal point in my life. I love shopping for yarns, choosing patterns, knitting while listening to NPR podcasts, and I hope to soon dabble in the art of handpainting yarn. (I'll be perfectly honest, spinning scares the hell out of me. It looks expensive and complicated and space-consuming, and knowing me, I'd impale myself on a spindle before ever producing something usable.)

But my life, as all are, is about more than just one thing, and it's certainly not my intention to step on the toes of those who have very successfully made their blogs (and their lives!) all about knitting. In addition to being an avid knitter, I run, cook, read, and study public policy. I believe that these five activities define who I am and how I approach life, and I hope that this will yield a blog that provides insights, thoughts, stories, bits of humor... saomething of the sort... that others find worthy of a few moments of their time. And perhaps, in reference to the indefatigable Douglas Adams, an approximation of the meaning of life.

So there you have it. Consider the star launched. Next step: a second post. Hopefully before the next Superbowl. Likely not before I get my Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean yarn. And then again, what are stars really but balls of flaming gas and hot air?