Author: BeverlyArmyWilliams

STITCH AND BITCH
Stitch and Bitch
Stitch and Bitch
Stitch and Bitch
Stitch and Bitch

Chant it with me, sisters and brothers. Learn more here.

I propose that any knit bloggers who think this whole case stinks like last month’s garbage start every blog entry for the next week with the forbidden words, just like Scout: Stitch and Bitch.
If you want to see what Stitching and Bitching is all about, visit Scout and Carole to see pictures of eight of us casting on for Jaywalker at the same time, and two of us paying tribute to Johnny Cash. We walk the line, baby, but not if you’re getting our yarn in a knot!

That’s it, the last yarn purchase until the end of the semester. I plan to make the Loop-d-Loop Paisley Carpet Bag with this. Aren’t Noelle’s yarns yummy? I may add some pink to the mix.

I like Jenny’s check in method for her resolutions. I think I’ll follow her lead, there. BTW, she’s the inspiration for my semester-long yarn embargo.

I’m going to start cataloguing my yarn, too. I have another blog, which I don’t use for much other than keeping track of my projects (ok, already, I don’t know much about sidebar stuff, but strange little mama’s going to help me! ). Anyway, I’m going to take pictures of each set of yarn, along with my plans for it. Any I don’t have plans for, I’ll probably sell or trade. I’m moving in May, remember? And I don’t think there’s enough room at N’s for my entire stash!

Maddie: Mama, what you been doing?
Mama: Knitting, baby.
Maddie: Mama, what you been knitting?
Mama: Jaywalker socks, baby.
Maddie: Let me see.
Mama: Shows tonight’s knitting
Maddie: Mama, that don’t look like a sock.
Mama: It will be, baby, it will be.

So, I cast on, and I got one complete round done and a second almost done. I’m a big slow knitter now, but I’m gonna get gauge, dammit.

Remember the booty back in October? My gauge was a running joke with my AbqSnB girls, as well as my knitting pals back East. Now that I’m more interested in making things that need to fit (socks, sweaters), gauge needs to stop being a joke to me. Scout and Carole showed me English knitting, and although it felt awkward, I decided to give it a try.

Skip this if you already know the difference between English and Continental knitting. If not, the most basic difference is that in the English method you hold the yarn in your right hand–the left does no work other than holding the left needle–and you throw the yarn. In Continental knitting you hold the yarn in your left hand and “pick” it with the right needle. When I was first learning, this was the method that felt more comfortable to me. Very comfortable apparently, as I’m a crazy loose knitter (my stitches, folks, my stitches). One of the reasons, I’ve discovered, is that I wasn’t wrapping the working yarn enough; I wasn’t creating enough tension.

The first picture, in which my gauge is 4 sts/inch, was knit the way I normally knit. The bottom was also knit Continental, but I knit mindful of my tension, as suggested by Ramona, and it came in at 5 sts/inch. The picture on the right is of my first attempt at English. Sit down. Six sts/inch. That’s right, my gauge changed a full two stitches per inch. I like having both methods in my toolbox now, and I may end up working in Mindful Continental.

Tonight I cast on for Jaywalkers for our AbqSnB KAL. I’m going to use 1’s. Not 0000’s. Mission Accomplished.

I finished the Stitch and Bitch Nation Basic Cable hat on Saturday at Knitters Not Quitters. Byler Bear is modeling it in the back yard. He’s from Pennsylvania Amish country. Doesn’t he look dashing?

Cable Close up. Cables are fun.

Today I worked the Continental swatch as my sewing machine was being repaired (she’s all better, thanks for asking) and started in on the English swatch. I’m starting to get the hang of this style, but it’s still slow going. I took Ramona’s advice on the Continental knitting–I pulled each stitch, and I was mindful of what I was doing. I also took the advice I got at Village Wools, which was to hold the working yarn wrapped around another finger.

If you’re in Albuquerque, be sure to give yourself a treat and go see Talking With by Jane Martin at the Vortex Theater near UNM. My girly Martine has a role in it that will have you falling out of your chair, and the other actresses are pretty strong, too. I promise, it’s better than Dancing with the Stars. And you know I love that show.

Here’s my plea. I want to pretty up my blog. I’d like to add sidebars where I can list my “on the needles” as well as the projects I’m hoping to do. I’d also like the button area to be neater looking. The other thing I can’t figure out is how to post pictures and have text under them, as a caption sometimes, other times just a little paragraph. Be honest with me. Am I gonna have to migrate from blogger to really get a more sophisticated look? And if so, what do you recommend, dear reader?

As an aside, my SP6 giftor, the sweet Brianne continues her sweetness…she’s planning to pass on a good book to me…as if she hasn’t already defined generosity!

My final knitting news for the day. I met up with Carole, Ramona, and Scout today for an impromptu breakfast knit. I was swatching for the Jaywalker-along that we’re starting on Tuesday. I, as we all know and are getting tired of hearing about, have gauge issues. I knit Continental style. I’m no snob…I don’t think one way of knitting is better than the other, this is just what felt more natural lo those many years ago when I was a new knitter. So I was swatching on 0’s, which I find super uncomfortable. Scout took a look at my growing swatch and told me, as she so often has to do, that my gauge is way off. She and Carole both agreed that I should learn English style knitting and taught me. Ramona, on the other hand, felt that I might be able to stay with Continental if I knit more mindfully, tightening my stitches more than I do. One of the girls said I must be the most relaxed knitter of all time! Ha!

Anyway, one of my knitting goals for 2006 is to master the Norweigan purl (which includes learning how to spell it), and I’m going to add to that a goal of getting my gauge to be closer to “on”. To that end, I’m going to make two swatches, using larger needles than 0’s, one Continental and one English. It may teach me a thing or two. When I have it done, I’ll post pictures. Any other gauge tips are appreciated. I’m gonna win this battle!

Dan Mueller and Julie Shigekuni, two of my workshop teachers, recommended James Salter to me after reading one of my stories, “Splinter.” Dan thought his newest collection was the best purchase for me, so I sent away for Last Night. The title story is the last in the collection. In it Walter and his wife, Marit have agreed to assisted suicide rather than have her suffer a prolonged illness. Their friend, Susanna joins them as support for Walter.

This is one of the most startling stories I’ve read, and frankly, along with next week’s entry, it’s in my top five favorites.

Dan often reminds his students that stories should have plots that are surprising and inevitable–both are necessary for a satisfying reading experience. I sometimes struggle with that, unsure if what I consider surprising will also seem inevitable. Salter achieves that combination. His writing is uber confident, and while the story does not lack in richness of detail, it is a spare story, told with a cool distance…but I don’t feel distant from the characters or the story.

That spareness is why Dan and Julie sent me to Salter. I’m trying to get to that in my own writing. I don’t want to underwrite, but I’m intrigued by seeing how little do I need? How much is there without piling it on?

Here’s a line describing Marit:

“She was almost a different woman from the one to whom he had made a solemn promise to help when the time came” (123).

And another one, from close to Marit’s pov:

“The rest was a long nove so like your life; you were going through it without thinking and then one morning it ended: there were bloodstains” (122).

The dipping in and out of characters is another thing to admire about the story. We’re close to all three of the characters at different times. And this is a story in which that’s beneficial.

As you probably know if you’re reading this, I’ve been worried about this upcoming semester. I’m taking 13 credits instead of the recommended 9…I took 12 last semester and it about wiped me out. Luckily I have a few good cheerleaders and some great knitting friends, all of whom kept me positive and excited about what I’m doing. So why the push? Sharon, my dissertation chair, agreed that I could work long-distance, which means that I can move back East in May. Why do I want to do that? Neal, the dogs, my parents. Trees. Green. Water. Sarey and Cae. Proximity to NYC, Cher, Boscobel, my Mercy pals, my NY bookgroup. Pizza. Fluff. Whoopie Pies. The ocean. No particular order there, just the people and things I miss.

In order to do that, though, I need to have all of my coursework done, only dissertation hours left. And, as you may have guessed, that is the reason for the impending insanity. I will have one more course to do in the fall, but one of my professors has agreed to do a long-distance independent study with me.

To top this off, I will need to sell my townhouse (it’s super cute, great location in the North Valley, let me know if you’re interested…) and get packed to move by mid-May. Neal will tell you what bad shape I was in for the move out here. Oh, he’ll regale you with details about that, but he does exaggerate a little (such as when he’s telling me how naughty my Maddie girl has been). I want to do a better job with the move this time. There’s less emotional baggage to carry in this move…the last time around, I was leaving the first place I’d owned (ok, so the bank owned most of it), the place in which my marriage came apart, but where I still managed to find peace of sorts. The place where Neal and I first fell in love. Odd, that, to have a relationship crumble, and a new one grow, all in the same place, in the same year, but now I’m rambling.

I’m pretty certain that the only way I can make it through until mid-May without hysterical meltdowns that result in Rachel offering to pray for me and Randall offering the advice to go have a drink is to be disciplined and to take care of myself.

To that end…I’ve created a little chart on which I’ve filled in the hours of my week (there are 168, which I discovered last semester mid-breakdown) that are obligated in a firm way. Next I started plugging in things that I want to do to take care of myself–daily yoga in the morning, jumproping at night, morning pages, Knitters not Quitters and ABQSnB every week, zone out to Sex and the City. But I also need to do a good job with things like keeping the house orderly (chaos begets chaos, I truly believe) and eating healthy food. I existed on pasta with olive oil, salt and pepper a lot last semester, and that’s not good in so many ways. My poor deprived taste buds! Anyone have good vegetarian make-ahead recipes? I’ll be getting home late three days a week and will need quick heat-up meals…but part of my 168 will be spent cooking on Sundays.

Speaking of Sundays, another way I’m going to treat myself right is to commit to a little project, what I’m going to call “Short Story Sundays”. I came to this from reading (haven’t finished yet) Jane Smiley’s Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel and from writing my morning pages, which by the way, changed my life a few years ago (the morning pages, not Smiley’s book. C’mon, it was just published!). So here’s what I’m going to do: each Sunday I will read a short story–either one recommended to me, one I’m reading with my students, a New Yorker story, whatever strikes me. I will spend time thinking about what I think works or doesn’t work in the story, and I will try to figure out how the writer wielded craft in order to make me envious or disgusted, or whatever I am after reading the story. Then I will write a blog entry that will provide a link to the story or the collection in which it’s found, a synopsis of the story, and my thoughts on it.

We need to read more short stories is one of the reasons I want to do this project. There are so many out there, though, so maybe this will help someone to figure out what story to read. I want to understand writing better is another reason. I’m curious is the final reason.

So, stay tuned for Short Story Sundays. And if you have story suggestions, let me know. And if I seem to have gone over the cliff, at least you’ll understand that it is the damn 13 credits, that’s all. I’ll be ok come June!

I like to think more folks than, say, me and my SnB read this. Alyce, for one. You ‘fessed up, yet I don’t see Knoxville on my Frappr Map. MB, there’s no TN there, now is there? Well, folksies, you hordes reading my every word, let me know you’re there. It’s national DeLurking week. Comment and go over to the Frappr Map. Let me feel that more than just three others exist in my posse, ok?

MWAH. A big kiss for being brave.

I live in an adobe-style townhouse with a flat roof. There’s something skittering around, and it’s creeping me out. It’s an animal, and its little claws are scratching above me. I’m sure it’s not a monster. It’s not a monster, right?

I’m sorely lacking pictures. I couldn’t fit my camera into any of my bags, and I didn’t have time before my trip to take pictures…but here’s what I gave away as gifts this year, with links to patterns where and when available. Doesn’t that sound formal?

—ipod mini cozy with Noelle’s adaptations.
–mini felted tote (sorry, can’t find the pattern or link).
–Kate Gilbert’s Gifted mittens (sorry about that one freakishly long thumb, Brian).
–Another pair of mittens, knit in the round. I like knitting in the round better. I don’t like seaming. But I have a little crush on K.G. Her patterns are so lovely.
–Garter stitch scarf.
—OSW for a 12-year-old. It fit. She loved it.
–Chunky garter stitch scarf for her sister. I don’t think she loved it.
—Two spiderweb capelets. Both well received.
—Three airy scarves. Two well received. One lukewarm.
–Convertible shruglet in Noro Silk Garden. Quite well recieved.
–Promises for two pairs of socks. Happily anticipated. Neal wants silver stars on his, though, which worries me. I’ll give him gray ribbing.
–Annah’s easy neckwarmer, still to be gifted (pattern to be posted).
–A purse of my own random design. Not worth replicating. To be gifted.
—Black cabled hat, to be finished, um, tonight.
—Pink legwarmers. Not sure if recipient has picked them up yet.

As far as I can remember, that’s my list. I have a cabled neckwarmer that I failed to send to the intended recipient. I still may. If I think I’ll really make it to the post office. Otherwise, next year. I’m trying to think of what else I knit last year, and here’s what I can come up with:

–brown and black legwarmers (also from the Sally Melville book. I used Cascade 220, and I only cast on 46 stitches for the pink ones. I felted mine as they were WAY too big. We don’t have to mention my gauge issues).
–3-hour capelet for me in crazy pink and yellow superbulky. Still need closure. Like, ribbon or a brooch.
–Prayer shawl for my mom’s birthday (pictures posted earlier).
–Convertible shrug for MB (hey, take a picture wearing it and e-mail me already, ok?)
–Gargantion hat for Neal. Gauge, gauge, gauge.

ETA: I also made two pairs of the Weekend Knitting fingerless mitts–a fast, easy pattern that taught me short rows; and the kerchief in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Although it took a hell of a lot longer for me to knit than the book suggests. I’ll add whatever else I remember!

Can’t think of anything else. I’m gonna keep better track this year. I’ll tell you about my other resolutions tomorrow. ‘night.