Fridays Are Good

...especially when it's a day off from school. The sun is shining brightly but it's chilly. Here are a few photos - in natural light - of the Malthese Shawl, which is about 90% complete!!! So much for making inroads on the stash in 2012 - who knew this would take 4 months to complete?

Today's selection celebrates the colors in the shawl - white is the only color mentioned in Rossetti's poem not present in the garment. 

Malthese with top border folded under but not sewn yet

Even though it's steeked, you STILL can't see the triangle

Seems like an awful lot of yarn is still left -
the chartreuse is the only small ball

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Color

By Christina Rossetti

What is pink? a rose is pink

By a fountain's brink.

What is red? a poppy's red

In its barley bed.

What is blue? the sky is blue

Where the clouds float thro'.

What is white? a swan is white

Sailing in the light.

What is yellow? pears are yellow,

Rich and ripe and mellow.

What is green? the grass is green,

With small flowers between.

What is violet? clouds are violet

In the summer twilight.

What is orange? Why, an orange,

Just an orange!

 

...and March fades away

(excerpted from The Waste Land, by T. S. Eliot) APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

(excerpted from The Waste Land, by T. S. Eliot)
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding

 

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

 

Memory and desire, stirring

 

Dull roots with spring rain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malthese Shawl - first half of the top border - the second half will fold backwards onto the first half, wrong sides together.

My lack of posts is criminal. My dear college friend Carol gave me a very gentle kick in the pants via Facebook yesterday. Thanks to her, I'm back. All I can say in my defense is that the Malthese Flowers shawl has taken over my non-professional life. I work on it and work on it and work on it and work on it ad nauseum yet never seem closer to the top of the piece. I was taken unawares by the fact that the border on all three sides has to be knit twice so that the second one is the facing of the first one. That added a solid week and more to the project. It's not looking good for Paris. But maybe it's just too BRIGHT for Paris - I would stand out like a double dahlia amongst all the sober, chic BLACK.

Speaking of black, I did purchase yarn and a new pattern booklet for a simple, shaped tank. That's the first yarn purchased this year, I do believe. Marji had a model on display in her shop, and my resolve vanished.

DeGraw tank pattern with black "Ripple" yarn - Tahki Stacy Charles

The only other yarn purchase was a carton full of Knit Picks Cotlin - 20 skeins in all. These will be used to knit up a new armada of string bags for Zig, as the ones he currently has are much the worse for wear, with runs and breaks and all kinds of knitterly havoc. It pains me to knit an entire new set in BEIGE, so I ran wild with color selection:

Knit Picks Cotlin for string bags

I justify this purchase by filing it under "Household Expenses".

No progress AT ALL on handspun - the photos here are probably the same as in the last post but it's Thursday night and I'm tired and too lazy to go check:

First half of Tartan

Wimpy start on second half of Tartan

As regards diet and weight loss, I'm stubbornly hanging in there with diet and exercise, but not seeing much reduction. I do, however, feel really good, and it seems as though my clothes fit me better, so I count that as progress toward the desired goal.

Conference Week

It's the second of two crazy school weeks. The first was back in November, after the first trimester report cards were sent home. Now we're done with the second trimester, and parents are streaming in for evening and/or after-school conferences. Our school is always bustling during these weeks - the PTO holds a Scholastic Book Fair in the gym, sells Hartland clothing in the front hall, and a town resident who is a portrait photographer sets up her portable studio in the library to shoot photos of kids. Kids stream in and out of the library while their parents meet with teachers. We enjoy it, but we all breathe a sigh of relief when the week ends.

Zig's traveling this week - gone for two nights. As always, I'll toss and turn...

Knitting and spinning. The spinning (Falkland wool) has been spectacular. I'm now plying (2-ply) the singles, and the finished yarn should be lovely. Knitting-wise, the second vanilla sock is on hold. I'm working on Malthese in the morning before school, and on the Tour Eiffel shawl during lunch and in the evening.

It's March, but it's still pretty darn cold:

Winter Clothes
by Karla Kuskin

Under my hood I have a hat
And under that
My hair is flat.
Under my coat
My sweater's blue.
My sweater's red
I'm wearing two.
My muffler muffles to my chin
And round my neck
And then tucks in.
My gloves were knitted
By my aunts.
I've mittens too
And pants
And pants
And boots
And shoes
With socks inside.
The boots are rubber, red and wide.
And when I walk
I must not fall
Because I can't get up at all.

Snow Day

A snow day on March 1st? Unheard of in these parts this winter - we haven't had a snow day since November 4, 2011. It's been (indoors) a lovely, relaxing day with lots of knitting, spinning, and exercise. I started listening to 11/22/63 and am enjoying it immensely. It's been awhile since a audiobook has captivated me like this.

Great progress on spinning Falkland - I finished the first half (approx. 2 ounces) and started the second half. I hope to dedicate some time on Sunday to washing and flicking all the yarn I've spun recently - I have four or five different types of handspun awaiting this final process. Then I can figure out what the yarn weights are. I find that I spin mostly DK or sport weight with the occasional worsted weight thrown in. I would love to spin finely enough to produce a laceweight yarn. 

Cruising along on the Malthese Flowers shawl, as well. I almost let it go into hibernation earlier this winter, but I pulled it out last week and haven't put it down since. It's still far from being even 50% complete, but that's okay.

Tomorrow is my 53rd birthday. We're going to see "The Descendants" at the Gilson Cafe/Cinema. What with all the dining out this week (Monday, Tuesday, tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday), I don't think tomorrow's weigh-in will be an occasion for celebratory fireworks, but I am feeling SO MUCH HEALTHIER and energetic than I was at Thanksgiving. And my clothes fit better. Numbers don't mean quite so much as those two intangibles.

No photos today - it would just be more of the same, albeit a bit more.

Dare I post this poem? Am I tempting the gods of frozen precipitation?

Last Snow

By Heid E. Erdrich

Dumped wet and momentary on a dull ground

that’s been clear but clearly sleeping, for days.

Last snow melts as it falls, piles up slush, runs in first light

making a music in the streets we wish we could keep.

Last snow. That’s what we’ll think for weeks to come.

Close sun sets up a glare that smarts like a good cry.

We could head north and north and never let this season go.

Stubborn beast, the body reads the past in the change of light,

knows the blow of grief in the time of trees’ tight-fisted leaves.

Stubborn calendar of bone. Last snow. Now it must always be so.