Knitting lace and US politics...

Note: the first draft of this was written about a week after the US election, the second draft a few days later. I liked the second draft, but it wasn’t properly saved before my computer crashed. I tried writing a third draft a day or two later but it was too painful, and then I came down with a nasty sore throat. So, here’s the third/fourth draft…

I don't like knitting with lace weight yarn. I like knitting and I like knitting lace, but preferably with at least sock weight yarn, preferably bulky yarn on big needles. The last (and first) time I tried knitting with lace weight yarn I was so frustrated by the amount of attention it required and that the ply seemed to untwist with every stitch. I took the work off the needles, rolled up the yarn and promptly hid it in my stash, deciding that I didn’t like lace weight yarn but acknowledging that I was not ready to part with the lovely yarn.

Fast forward a few years and I have been reunited with my stored yarn stash and knitting patterns and quickly discovered that somehow I have not one but four skeins of lace weight yarn. Oh dear… My preference really is for socks or things with lots of stockinet or garter stitch – the sort of things that are mindless and can be done while watching movies or the news.

And then the recent US election happened, and suddenly mindless knitting was just not cutting it. It provided no relaxation, no joy. Not even the challenge of creating a koala motif using yarn overs and knit-two-togethers for a vest for Jimmy was enough. I needed a distraction; I needed something to focus on that was not bad news or job hunting. I needed to make something.

Once we left the US, I almost stopped following the US election, until about a week out from the big day. Even though it seemed like Clinton had it in the bag (thank you algorithms), 44.4% of eligible US citizens did not vote. I’m not sure what upsets me more: that the US president it not elected through the popular vote or that nearly half the population did not vote in one of the most important and historically significant elections in their history.

Sometimes I am sick to my stomach and sometimes I am hopeful. Trump may actually improve employment and manufacturing in the US. Yet, deep down, I am glad we are no longer there, and my heart goes out to all my friends there, especially those who are foreign nationals. My relief is mixed with guilt and I hope they are alright.

With my stomach in knots, I turned to my stash and knitting patterns for something. I wasn’t sure what, but nothing easy. Nothing straight forward, but also something small enough that I would see results and receive some sort of satisfaction before the middle of next year. A lace pattern kept calling me. I wanted to use the lovely lace weight yarn for a shawl, but the one I had had in mind required 400+ stitches to be cast on (and I couldn’t find the beads I’d bought for it). A simpler shawl or at least something with few stitches to cast on was needed.

And it was there, in a different magazine – the one that I had tried to knit all those years ago, but had decided that the yarn was not right for the pattern. “Cast on 17 stitches” was almost enough to have me hooked, but I still needed to think about it. Would my yarn produce the same kind of fuzzy, lofty and light shawl? Was the colour mine or someone else’s? A few days later I cast on those 17 stitches and haven’t looked back since.

But I kept looking back at the US election, and kept reading articles about why Clinton lost or did not inspire or that the establishment was the problem and Trump will change that, because he’s (apparently) anti establishment. In some ways though, whoever was chosen as the Democrats nominee would have been highly unlikely to win this election. Why? Because for the last 8 years the US president came from the Democrats and like a yarn over following a knit-two-together, Republican follows Democrat. Not always, but the pattern is there and it would have taken a Democrat candidate even more extraordinary then Clinton to keep a Democrat in the White House. 

How the Trump years shape up? Only time will tell. Like blocking lace work (soaking, stretching out, pinning in place, and allowing it to dry before removing the pins), the work has been done but the result (how good or bad) will only be known after the work has been soaked, pinned and dried. One hopes it will turn out alright.

Unlike life (or a Trump presidency), knitting can be undone and reworked. A dropped stitch can be picked up easily - a person who falls through the cracks is harder to pick up. And it is easier to forgive the wonky stitching of an early piece of lace work because it all takes time and practice. Usually a presidential candidate has cut their teeth working their way through various political pathways, i.e. independent senator or Secretary of State. A brash businessman with no experience in the political realm? Hopefully he has as a good (or better) team than Regan.

It’s hard to frog lace (frog: undo at least one row to correct an error) and it’s hard to wind back legislation one it has passed – although at least one Australian government has done so in recent years. It’s hard to know if the result will be as one hoped – only history or blocking will reveal whether or not it was worth it.

So much of this election had made me upset and angry and sick to my stomach, yet I am more determined than ever to be the change I seek in this world. Knitting lace with lace weight yarn has helped keep my calm, helped focus my mind and cleared my head when anxiety (job hunting and US election related) might have consumed me.

The therapeutic nature of knitting is well documented, but, for me, the therapeutic nature of knitting lace with lace weight yarn has surprised me: given that I nearly threw the yarn across the room in frustration last time I tried it. Now, all I want to do is knit this shawl. It’s coming along nicely and, as mentioned, it is the opposite of frustrating. I have less than half of it to go, and the ball of alpaca and silk seems to still be the same size as when I started – it’s not, I had to weigh it to make sure that it wasn’t a magic ball of yarn, somehow related to Norman Lindsay's Magic Pudding.

I am hopeful that it will be a nice shawl and that I, or whoever receives it, will like it. I am trying to be equally hopeful that Trump makes an alright president.

On the needles: EVERYTHING!

 

And by that I mean both knitting needles AND the sewing machine AND possible hand sewing of a hem...

Currently I am knitting a little baby cardigan out of handspun wool, using a pattern from What to Knit When You're Expecting (I bought it while expecting Jimmy), but it's proving to be a bit of a challenge because the amount of yarn was unknown and the weight of the yarn varies not just with a ball but between the different balls (of the same colour). The amount of yarn that is relatively close in thickness was (and still is) unknown and I've had to redo the sleeves and am working my way to the collar but am not sure how it's all going to end. I may have to undo some of the yoke and use a slightly thicker ball of yarn to finish the cardigan off. And no, it's not for any baby #2, it's for a cousin and his wife who have recently become parents to a little girl.

Then there's a quilt for Jimmy. As the seasons change from winter to spring proper and the night are no longer cold enough for heavy doonas but still cool enough for a wool blanket or two and a light quilt, I have realised that Jimmy needs a such a quilt. It was always on the cards - before having him, we bought fabric that we intended to use in a quilt and that's just what I'm doing.

I'm using a combination of leftovers from clothes we've made for ourselves, quilting flats bought at various times, and fabric bought with Jimmy in mind. I've been cutting and sewing and cutting some more, and after sewing some more fabric together (not shown), I've decided I need a little more fabric before I can sew all the pieces together. And yes, I'm using my Mum's sewing machine - I cannot hand sew quickly enough to race the coming summer and nights when sheets are not really needed.

The hand sewing is sitting on the sidelines, waiting for me to have the time and energy to address it, because hems and mending merino wool tops requires more of both than I can manage right now, between applying for jobs and the cardigan and the quilt.

On the needles: socks...

Just in time for the latest snow falls (3 times in 48 hours!!), I finished darning some holes in a pair of Michaels' woollen socks, and I finished making a pair of woollen socks for Jimmy. Michaels' socks will last a few more years, while Jimmy will outgrow his before May this year.

Darning Michaels' socks was made easier by using an old baseball inside the toe. It worked like a darning mushroom, only it didn't cost us anything as we have found a few baseballs while out and about. The work was quicker with the baseball in the toe and I'll use it again when I get around to darning a few more pairs of socks. While not the funnest of needlework projects, darning saves otherwise good socks from going to waste, and saves the replacement cost, which can be at least $15 per pair of knee-high woollen socks.

Jimmy's not-so-little socks were knitted using a Patons sock yarn, on 3 mm circular needles, based on the classic rib socks in Cute Knits for Baby Feet. I say "based on" because the pattern was a little unclear and odd in places, so I winged it when it came to the heel and then just checked the pattern to get an idea of how long to make the foot before starting the toe. Having knitted a few pairs of socks over the years, using really good patterns with really clear instructions, the socks turned out fairly well. They could be longer, but winter will be over soon and one way or another there will be no need for them.

This is what I did for a pair of socks that will fit a 12-18 month old who wears size 4-6 shoes:

• Using sock yarn and 3 mm needles (circular or double pointed) cast on 36 stitches (I used the Old Norwegian cast on), join for working in the round, place stitch marker at the beginning of the round;
• Start a 2x2 rib, work for 33 rounds;
• Heel: knit 9 stitches, turn, slip first stitch, purl 17 stitches, turn, slip first stitch and begin working short rows until there are 6 stitches between the two sets of wrapped stitches, knit across the wrapped stitches (as for short rows) until there are no more wrapped or slipped stitches, ending with a knit row.
• Foot: continue the 2x2 rib for 26 rounds*
• Toe: knit 6 stitches, slip-slip-knit the next 2 stitches, knit 2, knit-together the next 2 stitches, knit 12, slip-slip-knit the next 2 stitches, knit 2, knit-together the next 2 stitches, knit 6, knit one round. Continue decreasing, alternating with knit round, until there are 16 stitches on the needles. Graft stitches and weave in ends.
• Knit a second (or third or fourth sock).

Done!

*I would actually make the feet 28 rounds long, possibly 30, because Jimmy is wearing size 6 and size 6.5 shoes and the socks are a little short for his feet.

1/52

a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2015

Jimmy: DOWN!

The light, cardboard blocks were a Christmas present from Granny and Pop, they sit one inside the other and they stack. And they can be knocked DOWN. It's almost Jimmy's favourite thing to do. His favourite thing to do is run around the apartment without his nappy on, but we prefer having knock boxes down. It's been cold and windy, so we haven't been inclined to go out much, so knocking these boxes down happens several times a day. More times than vacuuming this week.

Thanks to Michael for taking the first photo of this year's 52 Project. We're joining Jodi, of Practicing Simplicity, and many other bloggers, for our second year, in this long running annual project. Michael also made a little gif of the whole process. Enjoy!

I would also like to thank the 30 people who visited here on Sunday, but who left without seeing a new entry (yes, I can see how many views the blog gets on a daily basis - some of the stats blogger collects are pretty cool). I have limited my screentime since New Years Eve, and while not a complete break, it was refreshing and has been good for me, and my knitting (if you look closely, you'll see a maroon thing with yellow spots in my lap - that's Michael's vest and I was working on one of the side seams, shoulders and some trimmings to go!).

On the needles: Possum fur beanie...

Yes. That's right: possum fur. From New Zealand. where Australian possums are a pest, and it's ok to kill them. Not wanting to let the beautifully warm and fuzzy possum fur go to waste, the Kiwi's are mixing it with Merino wool and making lovely, lovely woolly warm things for the cold climate that New Zealand experiences.

My lovely little sister went skiing there a year or so ago, and while she made a point of not buying touristy things for friends and family, she made one exception: me. She saw the wool mixed with possum fur and couldn't leave it behind. She bought me two skeins: one sock weight and one lace weight (I can't remember if this skein actually has possum fur in it or not). I brought the sock weight with me because it gets really, really cold in Kansas.

The skein I brought over was a Touch Yarn skein of Possum Yarn, in C1, and I tell you what, it's not an easy colour combination to photograph - let alone work out what to do with it!

A quick cold snap after our road trip convinced me that I needed a beanie of my own. Michael has a few, Jimmy has a few, but me? Nothing. So, I decided to turn this lovely yarn into a hat...

After posing for some silly selfies, of course... I had to make sure that the colour combination would suit my skin tone, right?

In addition to deciding what to knit, choosing a pattern, and actually knitting said beanie, there was the task of turning the skein into a usable ball of yarn... And I very sensibly started this task outside, with Jimmy, while he was wandering around and while he had a little feed too... yep... I take my multitasking seriously...

I didn't wind it all in the one session and ended up improvising one of these, by turning our laundry basket upside down and slipping the skein over it. (Actually this worked really well, and I would recommend it to any crafter on a budget.)

Yarn wound, all I needed was a pattern... I loved the way the colours dispersed as I wound the yarn, but I knew it would pool a little during the knitting, so any pattern would have to work well with that. After a quick search on Ravelry, I decided that the Wurm would work better with the yarn than the first pattern I liked, that uses the same wool (but in a solid colour) - I'll make in with a different yarn, if I get around to it...

The Wurm is an easy knit, and a little appropriate for this arthropod lover. I added an extra 2 purl sections, for a little more length, but I'm not sure that they were needed. I'm also not sure that I knitted the right size for my head, but that's what you get when you don't do a gauge swatch... ah well, it's a good beanie, and probably just needs a warm (hand) wash or two to get it a little more snug around the ears.

Once all the knitting and tieing off were done, I tried to get Jimmy to model it for me, but he had more fun taking it off before I had time to take a photo. I wore it when it snowed, but am yet to block it. I'll wash it sometime this week, while we're enjoying a warm spell.

Five happy things for five days...

Jimmy smelling the roses, while they were still there to be enjoyed.

A month ago a friend invited me to take part in a "5 happy things for 5 days" challenge that was doing the rounds on Facebook. I gladly took part, especially as I was enjoying reading what my friends were putting up for their 5 happy things each day. How hard could it be, right?

Well, it wasn't always easy to find 5 things every day to be happy about. It might have just been that week, but for some reason I felt rather down, kinda flat really. Whether it was highlighting the good when we're so far from family and friends, hormonal shifts as Jimmy breastfeeds less and less, or that I'd abused my sourdough starter so much that it basically wasn't going anywhere, I don't know. It could have been all of those things.

During the following week my sourdough starter picked up again, thanks to some tender care and double feeding (more later?), and my mood improved too. A friend who was also doing her 5 happy things pointed out that now, this day and age, is actually a really good time to be a woman: we have so much more control over our lives, so much more say in what happens, so many more rights, so much more freedom, than any of our female ancestors (collectively, and yes, there are still improvements to be made in the general standing of women, but we have come along way and being reminded of that made me happy). And the weather improved.

I also made an effort to get out a little more with Jimmy, whether it was just the two of us or with friends, and that helped too. So did contacting friends back in Australia, some of whom I hadn't really spoken to in a few months. 

So, here are my 5 happy things for 5 days:

Day 1:

1. Having a little boy who was happy to play with boxes, laundry baskets, and a doona all day;
2. Michael. This guy rocks;
3. Not having to worry about how I'm going to get the nappies dry on a cold, wet day (yay for tumble driers!);
4. A special group of mummies for oversharing, venting, and support, even if we're separated by the Pacific Ocean;
5. Having friends in Manhattan who found today just as cold and dreary.

Day 2:

1. Seeing Jimmy interact with other small children at playgroup;
2. Turning lovely wool, from my lovely sister, into a (hopefully) lovely beanie;
3. Homemade sourdough bread, with blue vein cheese;
4. Watching Michael and Jimmy together. The joy is immense;
5. Ice cream at the end of what turned out to be a long day.

Day 3:

1. Baby hair;
2. Baby smell;
3. Knowing that baby smell and baby hair make Michael happy too;
4. Nursing my baby to sleep;
5. Being physically exhausted from babywearing, because my baby is growing big and strong.

Day 4:

1. A healthy child;
2. Having a doctor agree that Michael and I have a healthy child;
3. Vaccinations to help keep my child healthy;
4. Coffee and monkey bread to make up for an early start;
5. Living in a complex that hosts dinners for its (warm and friendly) residents (read: not having to cook dinner after a long day, and chatting with locals). 

Day 5:

1. My family and friends, here and around the globe;
2. Knowing how to knit and sew, because I learnt these skills from family members - thanks Mum (aka Granny)!
3. Eating waffles while playing Worms - thanks Michael!
4. Having friends around the world who care about our planet enough to spend their lives looking out for it, working to improve our environment through conservation or sustainable agriculture or education;
5. Reading what friends have said in their 5 for 5, especially when they remind me that now is a really good time to be alive, especially as a woman - thanks G!

Reading these happy things I can pick the days that weren't so great (Day 3 in particular), but I think Day 5 was pretty good. It was an interesting exercise, and enjoyable too. It also marks our halfway point - 6 months down, 6 months to go... We're over that hump, but our future is not clear and I may yet to another 5 happy things for 5 days, when I need to remember to enjoy the now and distract myself from uncertainty in the future.

45/52

"a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

Jimmy: Dressed for the conditions, he sets out to explore the bike racks of Kansas State University.

Independence, exploration, and being outside or just not at home. Jimmy just wants to get out there and explore. I can't blame him: the weather has been mostly nice, at least nice enough to go out for a few hours a day; running is happening; and last week we spent so much time indoors because of his cold. Jimmy's still a little snotty, but he's an energetic, hungry, inquisitive little thing, and it's really hard to keep him indoors - especially when it might be far too cold to even think about heading out in a few weeks.

Jimmy is moving so fast that he's being coming a challenge to photograph, but Michael managed to take this lovely one of Jimmy, and all of the following photos too:

It's definitely autumn, but Saturday mornings are still good for an adventure outside, especially when rugged up in wool, corduroy, and dinosaur gum boots.

No, not going to... sneeze! "Dadee, put that camera away so I can throw the ball to you!"

"Why aren't we moving? We should be heading off on our adventure... Where is everyone?"

The camera was put away, adventures were had, and the bus was taken home. This last photo is similar to this one, oh but Jimmy's grown so much since then!

And seeing Jimmy in this particular jumper makes my heart swell - my Granny knitted it, for one of my cousins or for me, at least 30 years ago, and it is in such good condition that her great-grandchildren are able to wear it too.

37/52

"a portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014"

Jimmy: taking it all in, taking it in his stride.

Doesn't he look so grown up? He keeps growing and changing - he's very good at his job.

It was a lovely cool morning, we were heading out to the Discovery Center, and decided to let Jimmy do some walking before catching the bus. Ok, so he actually wasn't interested in walking, but he was happy to stand around, take a few steps, and pose for me while I gushed over how good he looked in the jumper I knitted him for his first birthday. And when I say "we", I mean Jimmy, Dadee, me, and Uncle James.

I know I've missed a few weeks, so I thought I'd sneak in 37/52 before 38/52 comes around. I don't know if I'll catch the other weeks, let's see what happens.

Distractions...

It's not what you think! I've been a little distracted by knitting a vest for Michael and reading William Powers' Twelve by Twelve... I'm excited to be knitting the front of this vest - the cables look like DNA... And Twelve by Twelve is speaking to me on a few levels and making me think about how I'd like us to live. More on both sometime soonish.

Plus we've been entertaining guests for the past 3 weeks or more and have a few more wonderful days of entertaining to go. We've also been doing some sightseeing and road tripping and visiting family. Actually, it's all rather fun and busy.

And with all the goings on and entertaining and planning and prep and traveling, it's been hard to set time aside for blogging. Actually, it was hard to do anything online, and I kept it to emails and fleeting glances at Facebook. Having time away from my computer (and the internet) was nice, but it's almost time to make up for my absence.

Stay tuned for photos and details of our entertaining and adventures :)

On the needles: Striped Boatneck Sweater

I managed to finish this jumper for Jimmy, in time for his birthday!! It was fresh off the knitting needles 1 week before the big day, giving me a week to sew all the seams. Sewing seams is really satisfying. All it needs is to be blocked lightly and then we just have to wait until the seasons change, so that it's actually cool enough for Jimmy to wear it.

I'm really proud of how it's come out. The pattern is from a lovely book titled What To Knit When You're Expecting. I bought it in my 3rd trimester, which was a slight oversight on my part. Ah well... I cast-on the sleeping bag while in hospital but Jimmy grew very quickly, quicker than I could knit, so it's still unfinished...

Because of this, I was really worried that if I followed the pattern for the Striped Boatneck Sweater, it would be too small for Jimmy when it was needed, so I added a 2 stitches to every piece that was knitted. I had bought the yarn used in the book, it's lovely and light but it should be lovely and warm too, but I knit tightly so I had to check my gauge to see if I needed to go up 1 or 2 needle size. After checking my gauge, I went up 1 needle size, because the knitted swatch was too open, and then used instructions for the largest size. I figured that by going up 1 needle size and adding the extra stitches the sweater would be a little too large for a mid year winter but about the right size by New Years.

We were starting to pack up when I started the body of the sweater, and I finished the second body piece before leaving Australia. Once we were moved into our apartment I started on the sleeves and decided to knit both at the same time... It was slow going and some nights I didn't have the headspace for 4 balls of wool but it was worth it.

When it came to attaching the sleeves I couldn't use the measurements from the pattern, so I gently stretched out the sewn sleeves, measured the large opening, and pinned and sewed the side seams. Then I attached the sleeves. This seems to have worked and the sleeves sit well in the body.

While we're yet to see the sweater on Jimmy, it is nice and long, and roomy too. He's going to look so dapper!

Jimmy's turning one...

And I'm starting to get excited!

I was trying to play it cool, because, well, you know, it's not like he's going to remember it... We just need a cake and photos of Jimmy with said cake, a book or small toy as a gift to mark the occasion, something to take back to Australia, a few Skype dates with family and friends, and just generally make it a nice day, and later, once Jimmy is in bed, Michael and I can get all nostalgic about the little man's birth and those hazy, but intense, newborn days.

But then a package arrived from Jimmy's Grandma...

And then another, from a close friend, who we call Auntie K...

And then the jumper I've been working on started to look like I might finish it in time (not that it's cold enough, but you know)...

And this is after buying things to make a carry-on-friendly growth chart...

I've even done a trial run on the birthday cake, because our oven and the recipe needed testing...

Granny and Pop are sending something too...

And now there is a pool party organised for our Swimmy Jimmy - oh I hope the weather is nice next Saturday!

First impressions and other things involved with settling in...

Photo credit: Michael.

What does the sign in the photo say? Have a good look. Yes? You've read it, re-read it? No, don't plug it into Google Image. Select "Read more..." and I'll tell you what we thought it said and what it actually says and we'll see if we saw the same thing. Go on...

The cost of living...

Metric measuring cups, $2.99 from Goodwill (imperial ones cost $0.49)

When was the last time you took a good long look at your finances? No, not just scanning your bank statement, but actually writing down what you spend on day-to-day living - when was the last time you did this?

Me? I've never really done it, until now. A few years ago Michael spent about 6 months entering every dollar he spent and where it went and came up with a very pretty and interesting Excel spreadsheet, with pretty graphs showing his savings going up. I might have the patience for knitting, but I wasn't really interested in doing something so... tedious?

As the "home maker" Michael has charged me with such a task, because we have been living off our savings for the past 4-5 months, and really don't want to dip into our savings now that Michael is being paid (yay!!). We're actually hoping to save money. Strangely enough, doing it fairly simply, it is actually interesting and reassuring to see where our money is going.

Now, I'm only using broad terms like: food; eating out; rent; utilities; hygiene (although this sort of comes under household items); alcohol; clothes/home (which includes crockery etc, linen, shoes, books, computer and camera bits, wool...); and touristy activities. Initially there was also a column for establishment costs, just to keep a record of how much it has cost to set up our apartment, even in the little we have done, because it'll give us some idea of how much we'll be spending on that sort of thing when we come back to Australia*. There are no columns for: living on a very low income and savings for 4-5 months; US Visa processes. Needless to say these two columns would be scary.

So, after about 1.5 months living in Manhattan, KS, I think we'll be ok... but we've been a little overwhelmed by the whole process and may not have always been thrifty as possible, i.e. we were buying 1/2 gallons (1.89 litres) of organic whole milk for $3.50, when 1 gallon (3.78 litres) of the home brand whole milk costs $3. That's all part of the learning curve, just like finding bread without sugar and learning that Acetaminophen is Paracetamol.

Once we've been here for a few more months I think we'll have a better idea of where we can save money on food and minimise food waste, buy in bulk for stockpiling, and minimise water and electricity usage. For now we're focusing on eating as simply and cheaply as possible without compromising our health, making do with what we have, buying second hand where possible and lower-mid range where it's not (in the hope that these items will last the year), cheap thrills, and, as Michael would say, not dying.

And if we can afford to pay $2.99 for measuring cups, when we already have imperial measuring cups ($0.49 from the Salvation Army shop), for my sanity (not just because they're pretty), I think we might even be able to travel a little outside Manhattan, KS. But we still have to watch the money.

*We have some homely things in storage, so the cost of re-establishment should be less, but there will still be costs involved.