Dogs Steal Yarn

Sick dogs and comfort knitting

Our long weekend was spent shuttling Diego to and from the vet. (Which meant car services, and one driver--whose dispatcher had been told we had a dog with us--who saw the tiny dog and refused to take us and thus left us standing in the street with a dog with a high fever who needed to go to the vet... Stupid man.)

I won't get into all the details, but the little hound had been, well...not himself for a few days. The first appointment was on Friday. On Saturday he was admitted and kept overnight. We got him back on Sunday and he has to go back for more tests all day Thursday. We're hoping it's nothing more than what the antibiotics he's now on can take care of. We'll know for sure after Thursday's tests. I hope.

We love our dogs. They will always get whatever care they need, and we're fortunate to have access to a good vet and to have the means to care for our dogs. However...let's just say that before this weekend we were planning to replace a few of our old drafty windows and that will no longer be happening this year.

Oh yes, there WILL be a yarn diet for sure now.

With all the waiting around on Saturday for test results and sitting around with an ailing hound on Sunday and Monday, there wasn't any out-of-house frolicking done. Nor was there any work done on my current freelance project or on the book. My mind was too focused on that little furry kid. So what was left? Knitting, of course.

I worked on the baby blanket until the sheer boredom overwhelmed me, and then I switched to lace. Ah, lace. You have to concentrate on it enough that the things you're worrying about don't have room to creep into the foreground.

Last week I had cast on for Kiri (pdf pattern link in the sidebar) using Fiesta Yarns Heaven. About thirty rows in on Friday night, I decided to frog it. The mohair was just too hairy and it totally overwhelmed the delicate pattern. No sense in working that hard on something I wasn't going to be happy with. I'm going to wait until I'm buying yarn again and then just get the Kidsilk Haze the pattern calls for.

Looking through the stash and patterns to decide on another lace project, I found a kit I'd bought well over a year ago. It's for the Leaf Lace Shawl, by Fiber Trends. It's almost identical to Kiri. The yarn in the kit is Gems Opal Merino sportweight. Nice smooth merino and a heavy gauge make for a very quick knit. I figured it would be the perfect project to warm my fingers up for all the lace ahead of me this summer. The next project will be laceweight. For now, I'm really enjoying how quickly the sportweight works up. Here's the progress so far. Of course, it isn't much to see until it's blocked, but you can get the basic idea:

Think good healthy hound thoughts for our little Diego, please!

Tired of hanging around, waiting for that Lizard Sock pattern?

A while back I posted a photo of a silly little sock I’d made that was inspired by the many pet reptiles of my youth. I was pleasantly surprised that some of you wanted the pattern. I promised to write it up soon, and then...well, I didn’t. But now, at long last, just in time for summer (that perfect handknit sock season!...yeah, sorry about that) is the pattern for the Lizard Sock. Enjoy!

Lizard Socks

The weather has somehow reverted to March. It's cold and rainy and gray. Not a problem if one has cozy handknit wool socks. Lorna's Laces Sassy Stripe socks, red shoes, orange trench coat... I'm having a good day. I feel like Raggedy Ann. Well, except that my hot pink yarn hair has faded to a weird shade of apricot. Yeah, not entirely unlike an apricot poodle. Gotta do something about that.

The baby blanket isn't done yet, but it's getting close. Just 40 rows left now. The baby can't have visitors until the weekend after next, and the blanket will definitely be done by then. I love my brother and his wife, lovelovelove the kid, and this blanket has been knit with all that love...but I am SO ready to be finished with this thing.

Predictions for Dogs Steal Yarn summer knitting: lace shawls and Aran sweaters. I'm obsessed with both lately, and feel a full-on binge in my future. I'm going to start with the Jade Starmore Valtos kit I bought for myself as reward for finishing first draft of the book way back when. Was that January? Yeah, January. In the Sea Ivory colorway. I regularly take the kit down from the shelf where it's stored to fondle the yarn. I've been dying to cast on for it, but there just hasn't been time until now. Next up on the Aran binge will be Demi from Rowan Vintage Style. I'll be using Reynolds Candide for this in a great teal-ish colorway. Don't think Miami Vice teal. This is more subtle. Think sea glass. Arans in summertime...I know. But I've wanted to knit both these sweaters for ages and just didn't have the time while I was in grad school.

As far as the lace part of the binge, I have a good amount of KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud in the stash, as well as some fantastic laceweight handpainted merino in very subtle desert-like taupes and pale golds that I bought at Rhinebeck in the fall. Also, there's an embarrassing amount of mohair lying around. I want to make the Bird's Nest shawl from Folk Shawls and maybe Kiri. I'll also be making a Flared Smoke Ring for myself and another for my mom. I'm still open to suggestions on the lace, so if you've got any good patterns to recommend...

I probably should finish the Corset Pullover before casting on for any of these new projects. I probably will.

And yes, the Lizard Socks. I know some of you are waiting for that pattern. I'll write it up and publish it by the end of the weekend at the latest. I promise.

Oh--and I'm saying this in public, so feel free to hold me to it: All knitting this summer will be done from the stash.

The life-affirming stuff

Dogs asleep in a sun spot on the first really warm Saturday of the year:

A growing baby blanket for a beloved nephew:

A husband who'll rock out to "Psychotic Reaction" while wearing gaboinga gaboingas on his head and then let me not only photograph it but also post the photo on my blog:

It's spring, the sun is out, there are babies everywhere...

...and yet.

A bit down today, a bit scattered. Transitions are hard, even when transitioning from one good thing to another. I'm on the verge of maybe getting everything I've ever wanted artistically, or maybe failing miserably, or most likely settling somewhat comfortably between those two poles.

I'm terrified.

The novel is almost done. Just minor revisions left before I have a final draft. It's going to go out into the world relatively soon (fingers crossed, folks), and I won't be able to protect it any longer. Some people will love it, some people will not love it, and as with most books, most people won't even know it exists. Of those who don't love it, some of them will hate it. A good chunk of them will be offended. (No, this does not concern me.)

Just when I most want to crawl into my cave, I find myself with a million social obligations. I'm going to see The Hold Steady tonight and don't even feel like doing that.

And even as I type this I feel ridiculous. We found out last night that a friend of Billy's killed herself. THAT'S pain. All I've got is stage fright. I can't imagine that urge. I've had my share of bad. I really have. Things I don't blog about, and never will. But I just can't get my head around how much pain she must have been in to take her own life. So I hurt for her. But I'm also angry at her. Really angry at the selfishness of it. She left a teenage son behind. My father died when I was the same age as this kid is now. My father didn't kill himself, and still... This poor kid is going to be fucked up over this loss probably forever. Some part of him will always think that his mother preferred death over being there to watch him become an adult. Maybe not the rational part, but how can you be rational about loss... I'm sad, and angry...

So maybe it's not about the book today. I was feeling angsty about the book yesterday and the day before...but no, I realize now that the way I'm feeling today is because of her. I won't publish her name or how she did it, out of respect for the family. Out of respect for that kid.

Should I hit publish on this? This isn't the kind of thing I usually blog. You get a lot less of me here than you probably realize. So should I post this? I think I will. I'll trust you folks that much.

Be good to each other. Please.

Nephew! Nephew! Tiny tiny nephew!

The baby is gorgeous. I hopped on a train and traveled out to see him the day he was born. You'll have to take my word for it that he's gorgeous, because my brother is very understandably hesitant to have photos of him posted online. So here's the scoop:

Craig Bokmon (insert last name here. Withheld for obvious reasons.*)
7lbs, 6.8 oz
19.5" long

Craig was our father's name and Bokmon is an approximation of my sister-in-law's father's name. (Apparently the actual name as it is in Korean was cumbersome for a middle name.)

Billy and I will be seeing him again (and his parents. Sure, we're there to see them too. Ahem) this weekend. I'm hoping to have a finished blanket to present to them. We'll see. I'm two-thirds done. I think I stand a somewhat decent chance of finishing it in time.

Maybe if we all focus really hard I can finish the blanket... Kind of like whatever that thing is at the end of live performances of Peter Pan where kids in the audience are supposed to either concentrate really hard or clap really loud to save Tinkerbell. Am I making that up? And is it concentrate or clap? Is that some kind of weird pop culture delusion I've been carrying around? Someone with a child or at least a better knowledge of these things, please set me straight.

Anyway, calling on the collective goodwill of all you dear knitters to speed my fingers and get this garter-stitch beast finished so my nephew can be nice and warm beneath a handknit blanket.

*Darlin', of course I trust you. It's that guy reading this over your shoulder at the library, and that woman who stumbled onto the site via a Google search for "How to Steal My Sister-in-Law's Dog" who don't need to know the baby's last name. (No, it's not the same last name as mine. I've been married twice, remember. Nice try, evil baby-stalkers!)

Just call me Aunt Cari

It's official. My brother's wife gave birth at 4:30 this morning to a healthy baby boy. Everyone is doing well. More details and pictures when I have them.

My baby brother is a father. Bizarre. He's going to be an amazing dad...

No, I didn't go to Maryland

...but as Cassie said, if you live in New York you get to meet everybody anyway. You're already going to know everything I'm about to say from Cassie's blog. She blogs in the middle of the night and scoops everybody. Plus I'm way late on reporting about Friday's knitting, but, hey... I'm telling you now, right? That's got to count for something.

So yeah. Friday Norma and Carolyn rolled through town on their way to Maryland. Look, evidence. We all met up at The Point. There was knitting of socks and eating of sugar. There was a Crystal Palace tragedy. It was a full day. (I'm not sure why Mindy looks angry. Maybe I had just accidentally kicked her. That's my red-socked leg. You don't want to see what the rest of me looked like in that photo.)

Yesterday Rachael and Lala came to visit on their way home from Maryland. Okay...technically Brooklyn is not on the way home to Oakland from Maryland, but I'm glad they made the extra schlep. I've missed my Rachael terribly and I was dying to meet Lala.

The knitters gathered at my house last night. The dogs were beside themselves--they thought everyone was there just to see them, of course. Here's everyone. You know the names by now, yes?

(Okay, okay. Links, but only for those not linked above. You don't really expect me to link TWICE, do you? Scroll up, for crying out loud.) Cassie, Jackie, Iris, Rachael, Lala, Emily, Em, Anne.

More photos! Here are Rachael and Lala.

And here's Jackie with her miles and miles of st st.

Rach and La headed off to the airport this morning. Today I turn in my thesis and then go to my last lit class probably ever. There are student readings two nights this week and on Thursday my last workshop definitely ever. A week from tonight is my last mfa obligation. Crazy. Is it just me, or did these two years zip by at an alarming rate?

Introducing Olivia Eden

(last name withheld to protect the impossibly cute)

Here she is, the little girl I knit the placket-neck pullover for. My friend Rebecca made the baby. She and her husband do nice work, no?

Rock stars in Midtown

I ran into Craig Finn of The Hold Steady in Midtown today, and I realized after chatting with him and going on my way that it was the first time I'd seen him in daylight. It's good to know he exists in the real world, outside of rock clubs and my iPod and my own head.

Their new album came out yesterday (now two days ago, actually, since it's past midnight here). I pre-ordered it but it hasn't arrived yet. (What, then, was the sense of pre-ordering? I'm dying over here. Where's my damn cd? Gah.) They're playing the Bowery Ballroom on the 19th--one of my favorite places to see shows--and Billy will be going with me. His first Hold Steady show and our first rock show together, even though we will have been together for three years by that date. Very exciting. (Drafty Ladies, consider this your advance notice of the show. I hope to see you there!)

Sadly, I'm letting grad school and work get in the way of my responsibilities as a rabid fan, because I didn't know they're featured in this week's Village Voice until Craig told me. Yes, I'm ashamed. (Okay, I'm not really ashamed. That was a wee little lie, just for the sake of lying. Plus is sounded good when I said it. And you believed me, ever so slightly, didn't you? Anyway, if I knew everything that was happening with the band that would just be creepy.)

Enough of this. I must get my butt to bed. Tomorrow is a full day of work followed by a full evening of workshop followed by a night of hanging around a dive bar watching classmates get drunk.

Have a most lovely Thursday, folks. Friday will bring tales of visiting knitbloggers, and Monday will bring yet more. It's the season when the knitbloggers get the travel itch. News and photos as I have them.

Now go read that Hold Steady article.

Why it's more fun to knit socks for women

It's true. I'm sorry, but it's true.

I present to you exhibit A. Take a good look, as there will not be an exhibit B.

What you have before you are two socks, one from each of the pairs that I’m currently knitting.

(“What?!” you say. “You were supposed to be knitting that baby blanket and nothing but the baby blanket.” Yes, true. However, let me say that A) The baby-to-be seems to have agreed to wait for his previously scheduled birth date and B) I’m out of yarn and waiting for more to arrive. So then you may say, “And that Corset Pullover?” I am working on that as well, but it makes for lousy subway knitting. There. Satisfied? I’m totally justified in knitting socks right now. So there. Can we move on now? Great.)

Let me start out by saying that the big male socks I’m making are being knit with lots and lots of love, and that I would happily make many more pairs for the recipient, as he is one of my favorite humans. The big blue sock is the first of a pair I’m making my very dear friend Cree for his birthday. His birthday was in March, but he loves me so he’ll be fine with getting his birthday socks just in time for flipflop weather. The second sock is nearly done, and maybe he’ll even get to wear them once or twice before the heat hits. In my defense, I will point out that Cree has size thirteen feet. Which brings me to the first thing that makes women’s socks so much more pleasing to knit.

Size. Men’s feet tend to be larger than women’s feet. Some men’s feet are significantly larger than other’s, granted. (Bless their hearts.) Apparently there are also some women with exceptionally large feet, or so I’ve been told. (Often from Viking stock, I’ve heard. I don’t know any Vikings personally and so don’t tend to knit for them. Don’t tell Billy, though, because I have long told him that I, in fact, am a Viking. It’s a point of much debate in our house. “I’m a Viking,” one of us will say. And then the other will say, “You can’t be a Viking because I am a Viking” and so on...) And yes, there are men with small feet, and we don’t love them any less for it, do we? Perhaps we love them more, as their socks are quicker to knit... But we’re talking in broad terms here today, making gross, sweeping generalizations. Just for the hell of it, really.

Taste/Wardrobe Conventions. The reason why the larger size of most men’s socks can be a drag? Because it’s the larger size combined with the sheer boredom induced by what most men are willing to wear. It is the rare male indeed (in my experience) who will wear a nice lace sock, or one in a pleasing, colorfully variagated yarn. Yes, they’re out there. Yes, I have made socks for a couple of them. For the most part, though, we’re talking solid colors and many many many rounds of stockinette stockinette stockinette. I’ve heard a rumor that these socks are often gray or brown, but I haven’t traveled down that road, myself. They want grey socks? They can damn well buy those in a store.

Yawn.

Okay, I lied before. Here’s an exhibit B.

Please note, if you will, the lovely pattern in my dainty little pink sock. It’s Go with the Flow from the latest Interweave.

And then there’s this. Forgive me for stereotyping. It’s shameful, really... And yet... I would hesitate to make socks for a man out of a yarn that would require handwashing. See my pretty pink sock there? That’s Elann’s Baby Cashmere, baby. Handwash all the way. What a pleasure to knit, something I’d be happy to work with for all twelve mind-numbing inches of Cree’s sock... but it’s handwash. I love Cree. I think he’s a well-groomed, responsible adult. I just don’t see him washing his socks by hand. (Am I wrong, baby? Have I gotten it all wrong? Say it ain’t so, Cree.) So when making socks for men, no cashmere blends, no Koigu. I'd really hate to put in the time for ten to thirteen (or bigger? Oh my!) inches of foot, only to have it felted on the first washing. One can, though, use Lorna’s Laces—provided it’s one of the more austere colorways, like Blackwatch, or that I’m making socks for a man who isn’t afraid of color, like the socks I made for Michael Cunningham in the Tuscany colorway. (When I asked him what color socks he wanted, he said he wanted something “fun.” So there ya go. He loved them.)

Maybe Cree isn’t afraid of color. Maybe I’ve gotten it all wrong. Oh dear.

I was going somewhere with this. Really, I was. It wasn’t just me whining about how long it was taking to finish a pair of size 13 stockinette socks (And he's single, boys. Local, only, please. He isn't allowed to move.) in a perfectly nice and soft yarn in a good color but without any of the joy of pattern or variagation... It was really much broader and more important than me and my little boredoms... wasn’t it? Er...

Oh, right. A knitter’s subtle revolution, maybe. Yeah. Something like that. So what if we started knitting colorful socks for the non-knitting men and boys we love, or socks with interesting texture, or texture combined with color... What if we started knitting them fantastic lacey or cabled socks out of Lorna’s very brightest colorways...and then got together as a group to compliment these men on their fantastic anklewear when we saw them in public.

Imagine this: You’re riding on a bus in your town, and you see that the man sitting diagonally across from you has just a hint of Lorna’s Laces Motherlode in a diagonal rib pattern peeking from beneath the hem of his pants. He isn’t knitting, so it’s a safe bet he didn’t make them himself. Well, then, somewhere out there is a knitter who loves him, and who made him these purple and gold socks. And he’s bold enough to wear them. Put your knitting away so he doesn’t suspect your bias, and compliment him on his fantastic socks. Make a big enough deal that the other men on the bus are jealous.

If we each do our part, one pair of ankles at a time, making interesting socks not just acceptable but fashionable for menswear, we could be free of boring sock knitting forever. Forever!

A sock yarn revolution!!!

Um.....

Or perhaps not. Perhaps it’s just that it’s a lovely Sunday afternoon and I’m inside at my desk working when I’d much rather be outside playing.

And so I make up all kinds of awful and untrue stereotypes about men and what they’ll put on their feet just because I’d much rather be knitting a sock on my deck than sitting in here and proofreading. Yeah...that could be it.

Never mind.

I’d better get back to work.