green.ketzle.net: knitting

ignore the hair, the goofy expression on my face, and the strange angles of me trying to get as much of the sweater in the photo as possible. if you ignore all that, you'll see a very lovely cardigan. i am very fond of it.

originally, i was going to leave it as is, but the more i think about it, the more i think i want a zipper. so, i must now find one that matches. and then must figure out how to sew it in. can't be that hard, can it?

27 february 2006 gold

through a series of unfortunate idiocies, i have just this hour arrived home from the vacation. but, in my still packed suitcase i have one completed rosedale! i reckon i was parading around in her on someone's back deck about the time the closing ceremonies began. perfect! pictures and more after i sleep. i have copies of the sweater pics on the laptop; the camera is still on vacation with the man.

18 february 2006 leaving on a jet plane

and now the challenge really begins. this is how far i am on the body. let's not talk about the corrugated ribbing at the bottom which refused to resolve into two different colors even with me changing skeins at one point. it was not meant to be and i did not have the patience, nor the time, to pull apart skein after skein to find one that would play nicely. it'll do. i have finished all the decreases for the waist shaping and am about 6 rows or so from starting the increases.

so, here are all the pieces, waiting to be unceremoniously shoved into a bag in preparation for hopping a flight. we're taking the red-eye tonight, so i won't be doing much knitting until we arrive. let's all hope i can squeeze in enough time with the yarn, while properly vacationing, that i can finish on time. we're flying back on the 26th, so i expect i will be frantically dealing with last minute finishing on the airplane...

15 february 2006 armed

i actually have both sleeves done but haven't taken a picture. and corrugated ribbing? completely different animal when done flat as opposed to in the round. the latter i had a bit of a handle on. the former? hate it.

10 february 2006 slow

corrugated ribbing? i think i might have finally found a rhythm, but it didn't come easily and it didn't come quickly. i do quite like the look of it, but the huge amount of it at the cardi's bottom edge is looming rather dreadfully in my future. maybe by the time i finish the second sleeve, it won't seem so daunting.

09 february 2006 one down, one to go

crisis number one, the missing yarn, has been resolved. the yarn was hiding in a drawer, not in one of the giant rubbermaid containers where most of the yarn hides. see how pretty?

the pattern, rosedale, calls for 15 balls of noro kureyon for the largest size. i have 16 balls, in three different dyelots, but they seem to be close enough so as not cause a worry. if i knit throgh one ball a day, i should meet my olympic challenge.

crisis number two? i can't find my 16" needle. can't start the sleeves without it...

04 february 2006 go seahawks!

the scarf is finished and indeed, it is very long. 13 feet! and only 4 inches wide. i love it, and think i will wrap it around my neck several times tomorrow when i snuggle down to watch the superbowl.

03 february 2006 stashbusting

there may be a problem with my olympic entry; i can't find the yarn. stay tuned for late breaking developments...

while looking, i found a ziplock bag of four skeins of yarn that looks like lamb's pride, but is really an acrylic imposter. i think i found it at goodwill for 69 cents. if the black yarn were green, i would have had the perfect set of colours for a seahawks scarf. as it happens, it is an almost hawk scarf. i cast on 300 stitches with size 15 needles. and started knitting stripes. i expect it is going to be very long and not all that wide. we'll see.

02 february 2006 (silent) poetry reading

from Grace's Poppies came to call for a silent poetry reading. i used to be much more into poetry and online poetry groups than i am now into all things knitting. i am still the coeditor of an online poetry zine, though i am embarrassingly behind on answering submissions. and i haven't written a new poem in more months than i care to think of. lately, i've been feeling the itch, the one where fragments of lines are constantly floating around my brain, desperate to find a home. i think it won't be too long until i am writing again...

in the meantime, here is one of my favorite poems by someone else. and one of my poems that used to be one of my favorites, but now upon reading it, i want to go back and edit. a lot.

William Carlos Williams - Danse Russe

If when my wife is sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping
and the sun is a flame-white disc
in silken mists
above shining trees,-
if I in my north room
dance naked, grotesquely
before my mirror
waving my shirt round my head
and singing softly to myself:
"I am lonely, lonely,
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!"
If I admire my arms, my face,
my shoulders, flanks, buttocks
against the yellow drawn shades,-

Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?

katrina grace craig - like hyacinths

listen once. notice. it goes like this:

there are days when i see the world
constantly in motion. clouds skittering
across mirrored buildings like crazed
paramecia; a funnel cloud of small black
birds; silver snaking down collarbones

there are days i am intoxicated by my
smell. spend hours with my nose nestled
in the crook of my wrist, turning my head
to breathe the scent of my hair

but mostly my days are black and white
photographs i watch while waiting for
dreams of technicolor bruises, blooming
greens and blues centered round purples
edged in yellow. full length movies unwinding
manic in my remembrance

silent and scentless.

01 february 2006 olympiad

stephanie started the madness now known as the knitting olympics.

i, being just a little mad of late, felt obliged to sign up. i am planning on knitting the rosedale cardi from an early issue of knitty. i know i have the kureyon floating around somewhere, i just have to unearth it.

this will be an even greater challenge for me as there will be a vacation in the middle of the olympics. i'll be flying cross country with sophie and jim, vacationing for a week, and then flying home with sophie while jim stays behind for some extra fun. it could go either way -- i might have more knitting time than usual, i might have significantly less.

green.girl knitting: commentary