Vest Swatch

I'm really not trying to be coy with this particular project. It's a very special project, yes, but I'm not one to keep secrets when it comes to my knitting. It's just been moving relatively slowly. I'm now just slightly less than halfway through one pattern repeat on the swatch, but it's starting to take shape enough to be interesting.



You can see in this shot the vertical lines of the steek. I made a 5 stitch steek for this practice run, but for the real item I'll probably go with a 7 stitch steek, just to be sure. I probably won't go with this particular color combination, as it's higher contrast than I really want, but it's a good one for evaluating the stitch pattern. There are also some shaping matters to be worked out for the garment itself, but I wanted to check the stitch pattern first to make sure it's going to work well. It's promising, so far.

समर्टईम ब्लाह (Summertime Blah)

Not a great deal to write about this week. Work has been worklike and busy, as is usually the case in summer. It's been hot, but is supposed to be much nicer today. A little knitting has been getting done, albeit slowly. To prove it, here's a photo of Scout sock #2 with the leg halfway done - 35 more rounds of 2x2 rib to go and I can finally wear them. I'm just a bit tired of doing ribbing already, so the only motivation at the moment is that I love the yarn and want to be able to wear it.



Progress on the vest swatch continues slowly, too, and I'm currently still only 12 rounds into the 36 round repeat. When it's actually at a point where it'll look like something to someone other than me, I'll share a photo.

Oh, and in case you haven't clued in, I've been making progress learning Devanagari (Hindi) script. Not the language so much yet, but doing fairly well with the writing. If you can read the title and it doesn't look right to you (given allowances for the possible variations of phonetic interpretation, of course), then it's a problem with your browser and not my typing. I'm doing this in Firefox on a Windows machine at work, and it looks okay at the moment*, but Firefox actually doesn't always render Indic text very well (especially not on a Mac, which is my biggest beef with Mozilla).

What People Want

For fun I keep an eye on what searches are bringing folks to this blog. I do get quite a number of people stopping by for the Sherman short row tutorial or the generic widdershins. I'm even a fairly popular stop for people looking for "tricot machine lyrics", but in the past day I've had a search for "fox poo" and one overnight for "mouse poo in house". Who knew there was such interest?

*Actually, it looked okay until I hit publish. In the published version, it looks like hell in Firefox. IE renders it fine, as will Safari, I expect.

In Your Satin Tights, Fighting for Your Rights

Last week, while picking up a couple items for the workplace at the local wholesale club, I happened to walk through the video section and spied the complete third season of Wonder Woman. Then I saw Season Two, and I got all excited. Might they possibly have Season One? Yes!

I showed great restraint and only bought Season One, and David was every bit as excited when I got home and showed him my purchase. So we have been working our way through the episodes (interspersed with episodes of The L Word - such lesbians we) and having a blast watching them. I think the show was one of those iconic programs that really defined childhood for most of us who grew up in the 70's, and for gay men who grew up then, the campy and drag queenish nature of the show gives it special resonance.

I had forgotten that only the first season took place during World War II. The photo above is from Season One. After that, they moved Wonder Woman up to modern day and gave her a decidedly sexier (and higher budget) look.



We have been loving low budget Season One, though. It took them until the 4th episode to do the flash of light as Wonder Woman spins into costume. Before that it was a double exposure of her in two costumes, and one particular shot was used in two episodes. Then there are all the old stock footage clips spliced in, and especially the mountainous desert landscapes of Maryland and Virginia. And then there's Wonder Woman's feminism-in-tights message - so very 1970's, feminism à la Enjoli. It just doesn't get any better.

Of Mice and Wool

Like KnitNZu, we have been having some rodent issues. They actually moved in last fall and drove the cats nuts all winter long running around in the walls. We thought it was perhaps an infestation of elephants, but it appears that it's just mice. I bought two Havahart traps - one big enough for a rat and one big enough for a mouse - but I only recently set them up in our attic crawlspace where I had found evidence of some tunneling into the insulation.

The first mouse trapped met an unpleasant end, I'm afraid. After not catching anything for a few days, I forgot to check the trap for a couple days. It had not been long dead, as there was no odor, but the crawlspace is not well insulated and is on the south side of the house, so it gets hotter than a half-fucked fox in a forest fire (to use a colorful expression of my grandfather's). Something did die inside the wall on that side of the house a few weeks back, and it was rather unpleasant for a few days.

Since then, we have been much more diligent in checking and have caught two more mice. We have taken them way back on the farm property to release them. They might make their way back, but they may also become food for the fox or for the feral cat who has taken up residence in the barn. Either way, they're at least out of the house for now.

There's been no sign to suggest they've gotten into my stash, most of which is in plastic bins and all of which is kept in areas where the cats have frequent access. I've tried not to think too much about the things stored in the crawlspace and how much mouse poo might be on them. I'll spare you photos of mouse poo, but the next time I catch a mouse, I'll try to remember to snap a pic of it.

Right now, though, there's some swatching to be done.

Beach Boy

When I got off work this morning and headed home, the weather was about as perfect as could be - sunny, breezy, warm but not hot. And as it was the first day of summer, it seemed right to go to the beach. Seapoint Beach, our little local beach, is only about 2 miles from our house. The photo above is a blurry Photomerge that I'll have to replace someday with something nicer, but you can see how uncrowded it is. There are no concessions, no touristy shops; the beach is a municipal park and only locals are allowed to park in the small gravel lot right at the beach.

The natural breakwater right in the center has a lot of tidal pools just like this.



So after I set up my little beach chair, I headed over with camera to see what I could find in them. Unfortunately, I don't have a polarizing filter for this lens yet, so my apologies for the glare.

A fairly large green crab trying to hide

The blurry peach-colored blob is an anemone.

And here's a brown anemone.

This urchin had used some of its hundreds of sucker "feet" to camouflage itself with snails, some of which didn't seem to thrilled to be there.

This little guy was about the size of a penny, for you folks who need a reference.

When I arrived, I set my little chair up at a respectful distance from any of the other 4 or 5 groups who were already there, as beach etiquette dictates. When I came back from taking photos, the beach was barely any more crowded, but two women with small children had set up their blankets and collection of beach toys only about 8ft. away from my chair. With about a football field's worth of open space available to them.

Not particularly caring to listen in on their conversation about which disposable diapers are best to prevent chafing when taking the children to the beach (yes, this was the actual conversation-in-progress), I put away my camera in the car, then came back and picked up my things and moved them about 200ft. further down the beach, to an area that was not only very open but also closer to the water, so that the incoming tide would wake me up if I happened to fall asleep in the sun too long.

Guess where they decided to bring the kids to play in the surf? Some people are just oblivious. A minor annoyance, fortunately, and not enough to ruin a very pleasant afternoon. My knees got a bit sunburned, but it should fade to brown in a few days.

Knitting?

Despite all the nature photography lately, I have been doing some knitting. Got a bit more done on the sock last night work, and tonight I started doing a swatch of the latest iteration of the wedding vest motif. I'm doing a circular swatch with steek so I can a) get an accurate representation of my gauge, and b) play around a bit with steeking, since I've not done it before. Photos of those when I've got something worth showing.

Scatological

I was going to do this last night but got caught up working on the wedding vest motif in Knit Visualizer, and now I need to get ready for work. Anyway, JoVE also wanted to see it, which means more than one other person is interested. Plus, I figure I've shown surgery photos and other gross stuff on here. So here's the fox poo.



Lots of vegetable matter in it, as they are very omnivorous.

And in a somewhat similar vein, here's a keychain my sister-in-law gave me the other day.



Don't see the connection? Well, look what happens when you squeeze the shit out of it.

Down Goes the Gauntlet

So I'm reading Steph's blog post today, in which she recounts more of her Alaska trip and her visit holy pilgrimage to the fabled and glorious Oomingmak co-op store. If you have ever held lovingly stroked qiviut, then you know. If you've only heard about it, then believe me when I say that it is truly that transcendental. Anyway, Steph is expounding away upon the glory that is qiviut and then she writes, "It's hypoallergenic and like wool, it stays warm even when wet...though it's 8 times warmer than wool (italics mine)."

Okay, here's the thing: The exact same claim gets made about alpaca (and pretty much any other exotic animal fiber, as far as I can tell), and the number varies nearly every goddamned time you read it. The problem is that neither David nor myself have ever seen any reference cited to support the claim, and he's got a background of 15 years in the fashion industry, including experience on the production & technical side. He's even discussed it with a textile scientist friend who had no idea where the numbers come from. Alpaca people write glowingly about the "superior insulating capacity of alpaca's hollow fibers", but the hollow ones are the coarse guard hairs that you don't want in a fine luxury garment, even though they work great to help insulate the animal. Alpacas have actually been selectively bred to try to minimize the number of guard hairs they have. But still people gush these numbers, while we just roll our eyes and remain ever-hopeful that someone will step forward with the data.

So I made this public challenge to Steph: If she can find a verifiable source (I'm talking cold, hard scientific data with a proper statistical analysis) for these numbers and share them with the rest of us, I pledge to buy her good beer (I am a proudly self-confessed beer snob) whenever our paths may cross...forever. We are talking free beer for life here, folks. I have even offered her our spare room here on the alpaca farm by the sea if that's what it takes for her to collect.

If you are a textile scientist and have information that can help her in this challenge, then you are allowed to share it with her (Seriously, tell her and not me. More people read her blog, and I'd like this question answered for everyone). I really don't want to deny the woman beer, because I think it could get really scary. She has already tried fielding an argument that is not without merit to sway me, but there are many variables that would have to be taken into consideration when you consider a finished garment - fiber diameter, air space between fibers, scale structure & the related degree of twist required to hold the fibers together in yarn, etc. - so I'm thinking that a solid multivariate analysis is a necessity in order to answer this question. I'm also thinking that "8 times warmer", or whatever figure happens to get tossed around at any given moment, is just an arbitrary value along what is likely a fairly broad range - which is what happens when the final number is dependent on several factors.

David says she should get the MythBusters to look into it.

Fox Update

When I got home from work today, I discovered that the fox has apparently claimed both our lower driveway and the huge mound of cedar mulch at the top of our driveway (not more than 10 feet from our door, in fact). I was going to take pictures, but I think you all know what poo looks like and I don't know if anyone other than KnitNZu would really share my biology nerd interest in it.

Shawl Update

Carol received the shawl today. She e-mailed me to let me know that she put it on right away and sat in Bill's chair a while to remember all the love they'd shared. Which is why it wanted to be hers.

For H.P. Fans

In case you haven't already seen this:

The sorting hat says that I belong in Ravenclaw!

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Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose intelligence is surest."

Ravenclaw students tend to be clever, witty, intelligent, and knowledgeable.
Notable residents include Cho Chang and Padma Patil (objects of Harry and Ron's affections), and Luna Lovegood (daughter of The Quibbler magazine's editor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

Guess I'm gonna have to make myself a scarf. Should I do it in book colors or movie colors, do you think?

Foxy

Our upstairs bathroom window looks out over the boys' pasture, which is just behind the house. Yesterday at around 5AM, I was flossing and brushing before bed when I noticed the boys suddenly coming out of their shed and staring intently towards the back of the pasture. So I looked over into the pasture and saw a fairly large grey fox trotting across it towards the girls' pasture. When it encountered the fence, though, it turned and ran down towards the house and slipped through the small gap at the bottom of the gate, then across our small strip of back yard and over the stone wall into the neighbors' yard.

When I called David from work tonight for our usual bedtime (for him) call, he said that he had also caught a glimpse of it when he was out in the yard during the day. We've seen red foxes in the neighborhood fairly frequently (which is one good reason the kitties don't go outside and the landladies keep their ducks penned), but grey foxes usually tend to be a bit more elusive. This one seemed rather round in the belly, though, so I think it had either fed recently or may be a female about to give birth. In any event, the fact that it was spotted twice in such a short time period makes me think the den is probably nearby. We heard a fox yipping a few weeks ago, but I wouldn't know if it might have been this one or a red fox. I'm kind of excited to see if this one sticks around and if we start seeing any kits.

Rockin' Sock

No, not this. Remember this?



This is sock #2 from the merino/nylon sportweight I got from Scout as a birthday present to myself. I was about ¾ of the way through the foot on this one when I set it aside to start the shawl. So now that it's had a nice rest, I pulled it out so I can finish it and have a completed pair on my feet. I also just love this yarn, so it's been nice to have it in my hands again. I can't wait to have it on my feet.

Anyway, today the sock went to Boston with us for our birthday present to each other, viz this concert. And no, I did not knit through the entire thing. The need to shake my groove thang was a bit too great, though the shaking was, without question, rather sedate considering the need to avoid falling over the zip-tie-connected folding chairs. We were there early, though, and I had a while once the gates had opened to sit and knit, which allowed me to get the 12 rounds above the heel done so that I could start the ribbing. A bit more ribbing was completed after we got home while listening to the newest Cast On.

Of course, given the recent good news in Massachusetts, the mood was very celebratory. It was heartening to see so many couples sporting wedding bands. In fact, the couple seated next to us had rings very much along the lines of what we've been looking at. The half of the couple sitting next to me asked early on what I was knitting, so I asked them about their rings in return. They got them in Provincetown, so I guess now David & I will have to make a trip there, since we've never managed to come up with a good excuse to before now.

No photos from the concert, I'm afraid, since we don't have a camera phone and I'm a follow-the-rules kind of person when it comes to risking having my camera confiscated. One very pleasant surprise, though, was this band, whom I had not heard before. The combination of sexy, big gal blues vocals with a driving, stripped down rock beat is just impossible to listen to without moving. If you get a chance to see them, do it. If you hear them and don't at least start tapping a toe, then you are most certainly a zombie. There could be no other explanation.

They Read It!

An excerpt from this post was read tonight on the Open Source radio program's Blogsday 2007 show. It's near the end of the program and edited ever so slightly for radio audiences, but it was just unbelievable to think that something from this little blog, something that I wrote, would be picked up for general consumption.

The show itself is just an incredible listen. It's fascinating to read/hear what other people are writing about and get just that tiniest glimpse into other lives. It also makes me think about what motivates people to blog. I know that for me it was nominally to write about my knitting, but it's also been an interesting and challenging way just to make myself write. I enjoy the way it stretches me to try to write something that will be of interest to others. I've always been a bit of an essayist, but I see so many other writers out there who are much better at it than I and it inspires me and challenges me to push my abilities in this realm.

A really good blog post isn't something that I just sit down and zip out. I will typically spend a couple of hours thinking about what I want to say and how best to say it, because I know that other people will be reading it and I want to do the best I can to give those readers a little insight into what's going on in my head. In some respects it becomes a didactic exercise - how best to release my inner academician - but it's also something more, a part of something bigger. At the risk of sounding pretentious, I think that blogging serves as a mirror of Zeitgeist.

Taken collectively, the blogosphere offers an incredible look at not just the "big issues", but also the tone and shape of our mundane lives at this point in time. And while some people may conflate "mundane" with "boring", I think it's anything but. Okay, perhaps PhD dissertations about life in the "post-modern" world tend towards the dry and self-important, but people's real lives are vibrant, tragic, joyous, tear- and laughter-filled, and sometimes deadly dull and boring, and I want to chronicle my little piece of that, for whomever wants to read it.

That someone felt it was worth reading to the world, well, that's just about the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me.

Washed & Blocked

Pattern: My own design, traditional Shetland stitch patterns
Yarn: Merino Lace from Knitivity
Colorway: Grape Ice
Needles: Addi Turbo circular, 3.25mm x 80cm


And a Big Doh!

With all the buzz lately about Ravelry, I was pretty sure I had put my name on the waiting list, but my memory being what it is, I got to thinking that I should see if I could find anything in my e-mail about it. I found something all right. Turns out Stitchy had sent me an invite to sign up over a month ago, which I had stupidly set aside until later and then, predictably, forgotten all about. Thanks, Stitchy!

So now I'm signed up, and can see myself wasting a lot of time playing around on the site. And taking photos of all my stash (Well, maybe not all). One funny thing, though. On the map feature, where people's locations are marked by red pins on a Google map, Brenda Dayne's pin is actually stuck in Richmond, Maine, which is not even remotely close to Wales. Wonder how that algorithm got messed up.

Off the Needles!

The end was in sight this evening, and I decided that it would be helped along by a little blast of knitterly energy. So I got up and showered in time to make it to Chicks with Sticks night down at The Yarn Sellar with this bunch of rowdies.



Actually, there were more rowdies than these, but I was a man with a mission and didn't pull out my camera until the very end of the evening. My diligence paid off, though.



Thanks to Julie for snapping the photo. Tomorrow I shall be washing and blocking, but it stretches out very nicely and should be perfectly shawl-sized. This project has been a labor of love and has been my sole project since April 26, but I'm glad that I shall soon be able to let it go, as I've put quite a bit on hold over the past month and a half.

Gobsmacked

I can't think of a better word to describe my reaction to this comment, which I received today:

Hi Mel,

I'm writing from Open Source, a public radio show based in Boston and distributed around the country.

Two years ago, we started what's become a yearly tradition for us called Blogsday. Based loosely on Bloomsday, which celebrates "Ulysses" as an evocation of the world in a single day (in Joyce's case, June 16, 1904), the idea is to create a mosaic portrait of the blogosphere by reading excerpts of blog posts written all over the world on the same day, for one night, for one hour, on live radio. This year, we chose this past Tuesday, June 5, to collect posts from, and the show will air Thursday night from 7-8pm EST.

I'm writing because we loved this post, and it's on the shortlist to be included among our Blogsday Best of the June 5th Blogosphere collection. Congratulations!

....

I won't get my hopes up too much that my post will be included, but it's just staggering to me that it would even receive this much recognition. I still plan on listening to the show, though. Just in case.

One More Thing

I have before mentioned Glenn Greenwald's political blog on Salon.com. If you're not a reader, I highly recommend it, as I find his writing to be very insightful and well-reasoned. Today's post has a quote from Gen. Wesley Clark that is particularly worth reading.

You Know You're a Goner When...

... that 3.25mm needle you've been working with is starting to look huge.

Only 7 more edging repeats left on the shawl. FSM willing, I should finish it tonight!