I noticed in a conversation recently with someone near and dear that when asked how my day or weekend has been, I tend to lump “good” and “productive” together to describe whatever period of time we’re talking about. This is interesting to me for a few reasons. First, it’s strange, and probably very telling, that I usually group these words together. If I feel like I’m accomplishing a lot, or making some kind of progress, I feel good. If I don’t have some kind of visible work to show for my time, I start questioning how well that time has been spent. I think that’s a pretty dangerous (or maybe I mean dangerously capitalist) mentality. After all, don’t I feel just as good if I spend my time reading a book, doing a crossword, eating a snack, taking a walk, meeting a friend for coffee, etc? When it comes down to it, I don’t feel bad if that’s how I spend my weekend, but somehow when it comes down to actually describing the weekend, I feel like I have to justify having two free days all to myself by discussing them in terms of productivity. That kind of ties into the second way that this whole issue is interesting to me, which is this: Let’s look at what I actually mean when I say that my weekend was “good” and “kind of productive.” I spent time working on two projects, both of which are almost, but not entirely, finished. One is a pair of bunny hop slippers for my friend Islay
A long time ago, Islay gave me a necklace she had made, and asked if in exchange I would knit or crochet her some bunny slippers . I am FINALLY coming through on my end of that bargain. So a large portion of my “productivity” is actually just the construction of a present for a friend. And the other portion?
I’ve been embroidering myself a sign that says “you are invited to coffee” to hang above my desk so I can wake up every morning to my favorite kind of invitation. And other than that, I spent my time baking a carrot cake so I could bring a treat to some of the ladies I crafted with this weekend, watching movies, and writing a few letters. I actually in no way did anything that would result in income or be considered a typical grown-up responsibility, unless you count sweeping the floor and doing the dishes. Because I did those things too. To be honest, I don’t think I even put on a real pair of pants all day Saturday.
So I kind of wonder I guess how loaded the language I use is, when what I call “productivity,” most other adults would call “a really pleasant, indulgent, fun weekend.” (I mean, you could describe my weekend that way, right?) I guess if I have any real question here, it’s whether I’m reclaiming language, or if I should look for a more appropriate or accurate way to describe how my time is spent. If it feels productive within my context, isn’t that good enough? Or does it still reinforce the idea that in order for time to well-used, there should be some kind of product or end result to show for it? I know this is kind of poorly organized and rambly, but I’m mainly sharing because I’ve noticed a few other people touching on this subject recently, mostly in regard to the actual act of blogging, and so I feel like it’s relevant and I’d love to hear your ideas and opinions on productivity, crafting, language, etc. Hit me with your best shots.
PS. Worth reading: Dress to Kill, Fight to Win by Dean Spade, (via threadbared) which I think is really interesting in terms of gender presentation, but also all-over presentation. And (surprise) it even made me think about knitting, probably because that’s the only lens that I really have for looking at/thinking about fashion, and the kind of projects we choose and how unique/”other” they are, especially compared with clothing items we buy. I rarely buy clothes, but when I do, I buy things that are really deliberately plain. But when I knit, I want things with more elaborate stitch patterns, brighter colors, etc. Anyway, read it, it’s smart and inspiring one way or another.
So I finished my Emerald about a week ago, but have been too busy to stop and document it. This means two things: I have been actually busy doing real things that are not just knitting or thinking dreamy thoughts about knitting; and I have had plenty of time to break this sucker in and decide how I feel about it, because the truth is I have been slightly ambivalent from start to finish.
This sweater seems to have materialized out of thin air, honest. I started this just before Christmas, foolishly thinking that I would have time to work it in with my gift knitting, and therefore would have a new sweater to wear while I was home for the holidays. Obviously that didn’t happen. Instead, I’ve picked this up intermittently, knitting a few rows here and a few there, without any real sense of urgency. And then all of a sudden, it was done! A new sweater!
I feel okay about it. I needed something warm and comfy that I could put on over basically anything I own and cuddle up in at work. This is totally that. I used one and a half skeins of Cascade Eco +, which means this was totally affordable and fast, and I don’t mind biking in it. (I’ve worn it most days this past week, and it hasn’t pilled, stretched, or absorbed the smell of my sweat – this is a miracle sweater!)
It’s still blowing my mind how this garment crept up on me. So nice to have this finished and to know that it is toasty, resilient and more or less just how I pictured it/wanted it to turn out. The cables and eyelets at the shoulders are really nice; I think without them I wouldn’t have been so drawn to the pattern. I did change the cables so they would mirror each other, and I only did about half of the recommended neckline shaping, but other than that I knit this pretty much according to the pattern.
And I got to use toggles! I’m not going to lie, when I first set out to find a pattern for this yarn, I really wanted it to be a pattern that would accommodate toggles. I love ‘em.
But I do have a small problem. This problem may or may not be my over-zealous love of turquoise. Now that I am done with my Emerald, I have been working on these little gems:
Spinning some alpaca/corriedale single ply yarn, hopefully for some kind of lacy shawl/scarf extravaganza (I had thought Multnomah, but time will tell) and very casually knitting this Anastasia sock in Colinette Jitterbug, coloway Ischia. This yarn has been a lesson in buying what looks beautiful as a skein but does not seem to want to be any actual knit item. It’s so freaking variegated! I truly can’t tell if I love or hate this sock, but if nothing else, I will have another pair of socks soon, and I’ll never complain about that. This does beg the question though: how many turquoise knit items does a person need? I’m in a pretty major rut. I won’t complain too much though; listening to a Julie of the Wolves audio book and spinning gloriously soft turquoise yarn in your cozy room (with turquoise lino flooring! oh my god!) does not a hard life make. I’m going to shut up. Then I’m going to pick a color, any color, just not this one.
Briefly: been finding time for quality hanging with new and old friends, saw Anthony Bourdain speak at PPAC (for free! thanks Amelia!!) made some of this coleslaw (delicious, but does not quite meet the needs of my faux-Primanti’s sandwich), finally working on an embroidery project I’ve been thinking about for almost a year, putting in long hours at the day j, trying really hard to catch up on all the letters I owe people, and coming home some days to really great mail left at my house by friends:
Sent out those yoga socks to my mom’s instructor. I hope she likes them and gets some use out of them. I used some stashed KnitPicks Gloss Sock yarn – one skein was plenty for the pair. This is my first time using Gloss, and I probably would not buy it again. I feel like KnitPicks is really hit or miss. But this yarn worked out pretty well for this project, and I feel okay about the end result.
I used this pattern but modified it slightly for sock weight yarn. I used a size 2 needle, cast on 64 stitches, and left out all of the leg decreases. These mostly flew right by, and the cable chart was pretty easy to memorize. And I do like those cables. These socks make me hungry for pretzels.
A little more destash, and a fun treat for me: I did a trade with nontrendy. I knit up a basic hat in some vintage red yarn I had stashed, along with a little crocheted pouch and a small stack of zines that I used to distro way back when and a copy of my last zine. And in return I got this excellent shirt. Honorable mention!
I’ve been rereading a lot of the zines I’ve saved over the years, and I feel like this one really stands out as one I’d like to recommend: Vitamins, Minerals and Mental Health. Mike brought this back for me from Philly years ago, and I was really impressed by it. It’s definitely a resource I’m glad I’ve held on to, as taking care of myself through diet and exercise has been the mental health plan that’s worked best for me over the years. I like this zine because it is a really good introduction to self-care from a physical health perspective, but it isn’t judgmental and doesn’t discourage others from pursuing other forms of treatment (medication, etc.) Taking care of yourself with vitamins and minerals isn’t always enough to deal with depression and other issues, but I personally think it is never a bad place to start, or a bad idea to accompany whatever other kinds of help you choose to employ. This is a nice starting point if you’re interested in learning the basics of vitamin and mineral functions. This zine is at least four or five years old, so I don’t know if the contact info is still relevant, but if you click the link above, you can download a pdf from Zine Library to skim through or print out for future use, and the author’s email and livejournal are listed in the outro.
Take care & stay warm!
Just a little mid-week inspiration from one of my favorite movies. If this doesn’t start your day out on the right track, I don’t know what will.
Also, quickly, maybe right now is a good time to buy some of those Ravelry patterns you’ve been thinking about buying. A portion of many of them is going to help earthquake victims in Haiti. In most cases about 50% of the pattern price goes to various organizations, but I’m seeing a lot that have upped it to 100% also. If you log into Ravelry, you can search really easily by using the Help for Haiti tag. I took this opportunity to buy Laura Chau’s Honeybee Cardigan, and Pamela Wynne’s Pickadilly. There are some really amazing patterns that benefit this cause, and while it might seem like just a few dollars for you, I’ve been really blown away by how much some independent designers have been able to raise and donate. Very admirable, and admittedly, a great way to justify buying so many patterns I’ve meant to buy for a long time.
(If you’re a non-Ravelry person and would still like to donate money by way of purchasing handmade items, I’ve been directed to the Craft Hope Haiti shop a few times, and I’m especially charmed by the 2010 Overdue Book Calendar. You can also donate your own handmade items to the shop, and 100% of the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders.)
January 11th! I’m totally feeling, maybe for the first time ever, that New Year’s adrenaline rush. I’m feeling pretty productive, and at the same time I’m somehow managing to catch up on all kinds of rest. I’ve been admittedly still gifting. Friend gifts usually wait til after Christmas, so I can work on them while I’m visiting the family and relaxing out of town, so they’re generally more like New Year’s gifts, which I think is also alright. These gifts are also all destash, which is a great way to start a year out.
I worked on these socks for Jess mostly while traveling. I had a lot of travel time to kill – airport time going from Pittsburgh to Philly to Providence, then the following day train time from Providence to Boston and plane time from Boston to Plattsburgh. These socks made me several new friends along the way. A lovely elderly lady and really funny 6 year old boy in the Philly airport started conversations with me over them. And waiting for the commuter rail in Providence, a really nice woman from Georgia who had just learned how to knit saw me working on these and started chatting. We ended up sitting together and talking for the full train ride, and it made my trip a lot more pleasant. This kind of thing happens to me a lot when I’m knitting while traveling. It’s a really good reminder to keep a project on hand and your headphones tucked away. I always meet really kind, interesting people who either knit or are just curious about it, and every time it’s an experience I’m glad to have had. Anyway, the socks:
Just some wool/nylon self-striping sock yarn I had stashed, using a plain sock recipe, but I think they’re pretty fun. And that’s two skeins that no longer live in my yarn suitcase. A great feeling!
I knit this Seaman’s Cap for my mentee. I had originally thought of knitting him a scarf, but then I thought maybe he’d be more likely to wear a hat, so I knit him this and bought him a book, and he was actually pretty excited about both. The hat pattern is really simple, but it makes a pretty perfect hat. I’ve already cast on one for myself, as I’m seriously lacking in winter hats.
I used up almost an entire skein of random black worsted weight wool I had stashed, so that’s three skeins down already this year. And I’m using up probably another full skein on the hat I’m making for myself. Suddenly I’m looking at all those single skeins lying around my room and envisioning them as hats. Why has this never occurred to me before now?
Annnd I’m totally saving the best for last here. Oddly enough (or maybe not oddly at all), this pattern was one of the first that I queued when I signed up for Ravelry about a year and a half ago, but I never got around to knitting it. I was recently motivated to change that, though, when Nicole mentioned that she wouldn’t mind having a knit banana.
Yup. I don’t really know what to say. It came out pretty well? That peel comes completely off, but trust me, the naked banana is even weirder looking than the banana in the peel. I kind of feel compelled to knit more food. I used stashed yarn for this project too, but of course it barely put a dent in any of the three skeins. This project gave me a really satisfying and simultaneously perverse sense of accomplishment.
What now? I’m working on that hat for myself, wanting to work on a sweater I started for myself before the holidays, and also actually actively working on some cabled yoga socks for my mom’s yoga instructor. Also, after roughly a six month “vacation,” I’m back to reading Ulysses. I made it through the section that I really wasn’t enjoying, and am back to maybe kind of liking it again. I don’t know what it says about that book, or about me, that I needed to take a six month break from it, but whatever. 2010, taking care of all kinds of business.
2009. It’s over! I feel totally okay about that. Looking back, it’s a bit of a blur. I know I spent a lot of the year hermiting with my cats, listening to audio books, and knitting. Sadly, the year was largely characterized by the escalated health problems and eventual loss of my little orange cat, Beary.
It was definitely a hard year, but I’m also really lucky that I got to have as much time with this little guy as I did, and I definitely don’t regret the months that I spent coming straight home from work and staying in to keep an eye on him. He made my life a lot better just by being his weird, chirpy little self. And in between inhaler treatments and making sure he ate and slept well, I got a pretty good deal of knitting done. To keep things from getting too sad here, I give you the requisite year-end knitting mosaic.
This isn’t actually even close to being all of it, but I think it makes its point. I left out several pairs of socks, all pretty similar to the other two-tone toe/heel/stripe pairs that are included there. I knit a fair amount of hats as well, all also pretty simple. I didn’t do as much spinning as I might have liked, but just for the sake of making more mosaics, let’s take a look.
I feel like it was a fairly productive year. And I still found time for (some) reading, running, biking, swimming, traveling, writing and continuing to make really amazing friends. I’m starting 2010 with only two projects on the needles, one of which should be done in the next day or so. But I have big, big plans. My knitting agenda is out of control, and even outside the realm of knitting, I have a lot that I’m excited to try. Let’s make it work, people.
Filed under: gift knitting
Um yeah, I’ve maybe resorted to using CIV references as blog post titles. So, that’s cool.
Perhaps you’ve been wondering how the rest of my Christmas knitting went over? All members of my immediate family were pretty psyched on their gifts. However, you won’t be able to tell that from some of these pictures, and that’s because I made my mom and brother wake up at 4.30 am before I had to be at the airport so I could document the gifts. Thank you, patient and generous family.
This went from being the project I was most ambivalent about to being the gift I was actually most excited to give. I used the hacky sack hoodie pattern and its suggested yarns (Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride worsted and Noro Kureyon) but went up a needle size (to a us 9) and pretty much fudged the sizing because my gauge was nowhere near the pattern’s given gauge. This seemed to be a problem a lot of other knitters were having, so I decided early on not to worry about it. The raglan shaping made it pretty easy to just work with my own gauge to the measurementsIi thought would fit my very tall little brother. Being a 22 year old boy, he did not send me his actual measurements, so I had to do a good deal of guesswork there. But it turned out okay! It fit him really well. I stretched the sleeves to be a bit longer during blocking, and I think we were both pretty much pleased as punch with the end result.
I knit Nikol Lohr’s woodland shawl for my mom in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine. The color was I think spiceberry mix, and I loved it. I have some left over and I have every intention of using it for myself. I got really tired of knitting this, admittedly. The disadvantage of an easy lace pattern is that it an just be really repetitive. But in the end, definitely worth it.
First, do you think maybe my nana and papa are the cutest people ever? I think they might be. I knit Grumperina’s dad’s sharfik for my papa in Cascade 220 walnut heather. I really liked the pattern and the color of the yarn. This is totally something I would make for other guys, but also probably for myself. I never used to be interested in knitting scarves, but I think that’s changing. I totally want one of these. and I knit a palindrome in burgundy Malabrigo for my nana. Another really pleasant and quick scarf to knit, and I feel like a Malabrigo scarf is a prettty good gift for anyone. I would wrap this around my neck all day long.
I felt pretty good about my gifts overall. And I received a few treats that really knocked my socks off. I really felt like I took WTF December in stride. There were some gross points, but I think I managed to give the year a good, final kick in the face. Now I’m settling back into regular life in Providence and feeling pretty good. I hope everyone else is recovering from the holidays just as well. Time for this old lady to find more coffee.
(PS What’s up proper capitalization? Totally trying to embrace it this year. Let’s see how long this lasts…)
Filed under: gift knitting
i’m sure it is not at all surprising to hear me say that it’s still blowing my mind that christmas has come and gone. and of course, i’ve forgotten to take pictures of most of my finished gifts, so those will be coming in bits and pieces. but i did take a few yesterday of my little sister in her mi escuelita.
as you can see, i decided not to kni the shawl collar. i personally thought it was really cute, but i wasn’t sure whether or not it would be something lily was particularly into. so i knit a regular old raglan crew neck, which i think looked pretty good, although the neckline was a bit wider on lil than i’d anticipated. but not too wide. also, the green is a little more vibrant than it looks in those photos. more like this:
i can’t say enough about how perfect the ultra alpaca was for the sweater. so warm and just fuzzy enough without entering the neighborhood of too fuzzy. i have a little left over, but no plans for it just yet. in any case, i’m really happy that the sweater turned out alright and that lily liked it. it also feels really good to have christmas knitting out of the way. now i can start working through the many many projects piling up in my ravelry queue.
well, a few friends on flickr may have noticed that i looked gloriously fancy yesterday. this is because i got to spend my afternoon at a photoshoot for berroco. what! i know! i will tell more for real when the patterns/photos come out. i will say for now that i was so psyched that cirilia asked me to be involved. i’ve not really done anything like this in the past, so i wasn’t sure what to expect. it was a treat to meet norah gaughan of course, and everyone involved was so nice and it was such a fun and relaxing experience. i hope i did an okay job and the pictures come out well! i do have a knack for making awkward or hammy faces at inappropriate times. we will see! for now, i stole a few of cirilia’s pictures of the shoot:
see what i mean about hammy faces? i was supposed to look mean. even in wtf december i have a hard time making a mean face. especially during such a fun experience.
also worth mentioning is that pretty much every pattern that was photographed is something i really, really want to knit. knowing that these knitting adventures await really reinforces my belief that 2010 is going to be a good, good year.
back to the end of my christmas knitting, as per usual! take care, stay warm and be good!
well, less than two weeks to christmas (and only one week until i go to pennsylvania to hang out with my family) and i am making some serious strides back toward sanity.
meg and i mailed our red scarves to the orphan foundation of america on saturday. it definitely felt good, both to cross a project off the list, and to do something that hopefully will make someone else’s winter a little nicer. i definitely will do this again next year, except this time around i think i’ll make a few scarves throughout the year so i can send in more than one. it’s a cause that’s become pretty near and dear to my heart throughout my time at my current job, and this is a nice way to pitch in and do a little something extra.
annnd today was mass market. that just snuck right up on me! i did a really good job in terms of photograpic documentation, right? but really, the event was a nice one. i split a table with courtney at mass market 4 this past june as well, and i have to say that of the few craft fairs i’ve done, this one has been maybe the most consistently pleasant and successful. it’s nice to chat with people about crafts and make a little extra chunk of change while i’m at it. what will i spend said disposable income on? well how about a trip to the vet for felane because she’s due soon. and then the leftover can buy some wool, obviously. because when christmas is over i just want to sit down at my kiwi and spin and spin and spin.
anyway! this is all from me for a little while. i’m glad i’m done being stressed out/worn down. i’ve had a few pleasant surprises in the last week or two, and some good things coming up this week, and then home! hang in there, kitties!
