Needles on fire

I'm getting married in the morning (actually, the afternoon).
Ding Dong the bells are gonna chime (no bells really).
Boys come and kiss me.
Say that you'll miss me.
But get me to the church (I mean la mairie) on time!

I can't wait until Saturday when life will be fairly normal again and I can get back to knitting.

have not knit in three days. in withdrawl. frog noticed me trembling today. think this might be related. very tired. must sleep. sorry for crappy post. bye bye.

hello. I'm back. I'm pooped. and still sick. I have about a million things to do before Friday. So real quick I just wanted to say hello and this:

I hope I didn't insult anybody when I said what I said about "why bother sweaters" and scarf knitting. It wasn't my intention. I was just thinking of what interests me. Scarves don't and I hate 99.9% of novelty yarns so that kind of eliminates the whole scarf trend for me although I did start to make one once. Loads and loads of stockinette stitch doesn't although I have been known to do it. I hate the way garter stitch looks so I rarely use it. I didn't mean to criticize. I was just babbling. And my point (as badly expressed as it was) was really supposed to be the following: isn't knitting great?! There are so many cool things you can do so why not challenge yourself sometimes to make something well. (by this I mean not fudging it as much as I often do and making something interesting where you learn something). Yeah ok. I have my own relaxing knits. The sock below is a relaxing knit and I could even classify it as a why bother sock, but I'm learning a lot by making it. I ripped it a few times and modified the pattern.



Happy knitting to you.

Lots of knitting going on here... well... just me. Not the Scots. And that American lady I bumped into in John Lewis yesterday might be busy with her new yarn. For some reason traveling always makes me want to knit socks. So I am (no photos b/c I don't have my cable) using the stripy sock yarn I bought in Austria. But I'm getting a bit bored and I'm only on the first sock, so I'm wondering if I shouldn't make gloves instead. Might do it. It's so freezing cold here that I wish I had some. I got onto the planes with my needles alright and knit my sock (and ripped and reknit and ripped and reknit again) all the way to London. Then on the flight to Glasgow a nice flight attendant confiscated my needles. That kind of sucked. I bought some DB silk alpaca (mom loved it and wants a scarf) and some Rowan yarn that I have big plans for and have already started playing with. Plus I bought butter with me, which is going nowhere. I'm even starting to wonder if I should make it or if I should just make a sweater or something. Don't know. I definitely won't touch the 4 skeins I brought with me.

Anyway, it's really nice to see my family since I can't even remember the last time that we were all together and who knows when it will happen again. Hope you all are knitting maniacs and enjoying fall!

bises, Kate

don't know when I'll be back again... errrr... actually, yes I do. I'll be back next Tuesday. I don't know if I'll be able to check email or post or anything while I'm in Scotland so the following are the things I was pondering tonight and thought I would share with you so you can ponder them as well if you care to. They aren't well organized thoughts and I wasn't too articulate. It's more a stream of consciousness thing. Feel free to discuss and comment in my absence. I look forward to seeing what you've got to say.

Isn't knitting the coolest?! I mean really! You take this string and these sticks and make a bazillion loops and you get fabric. You can even do it without seams. I was just sitting in the laundromat drying some clothes and reading EZ's knitters' almanac again. Brilliant. Seriously. Every time I read it I remember how great knitting really is and how wool is so beautiful (as opposed to all that man made stuff) and how much I really love designing. So this got me thinking about what I knit and what I design and why. I thought about some of the patterns I have seen recently and I looked at the sweater I was wearing.

Let me digress to tell the story of my sweater and then I'll go back to my original meandering train of thought: I really wanted to make a nice, simple, green, cotton sweater. I found the perfect yarn on sale at Phildar and bought it and hadn't got around to using it. Then I went to Austria, but my baggage didn't. Feeling hot, dirty and poor, I went to H&M to buy emergency clothes and found a green cotton sweater for 15 Euro. It was exactly what I had wanted to knit, so I thought why bother! and bought it instead. OK, back to my original train of thought:

So I was thinking that I've seen a bunch of why bother patterns lately. What I mean is sweaters that look like (and strive to look like?) exactly what you can buy in the stores. And not even the interesting stuff in the stores. The boring, standard stuff. I don't want to knit or design why bother sweaters. They're too darned boring. Pretty boring to design. Really boring to knit. And I was just hoping that I'm not alone out there. I think I'm not, but I hope that there is a growing population of people who love beautifully designed, beautifully knit items. I know there are loads of people out there learning how to knit and making scarves and stuff (I won't bother to rattle on about that since Julia already did it eloquently a while back - see "Stop the Scarf Knitters") but I hope that the growing popularity of knitting will turn into an increasing appreciation for the art, rather than a quick fad, or worse, a dumbing down of patterns and magazines in general. I mean, isn't part of the point of knitting to make things that you couldn't buy in the store? Things that are more beautiful, more personal, fit better? It's certainly not cheaper. I guess a plain old St st crew neck sweater can be that when it's handmade, but it can also just be boring, unoriginal and no better than something machine made and store bought, depending on the pattern and the execution (dare I call it a waste of time?). I don't want to knit things I could find in any chain store. So I guess what I am saying is I am going to try to knit more quality, rather than quantity. That said, I would like more quantity too.

Thanks for reading my rambling. I hope you have a wonderful week filled with new discoveries and beautiful, high quality knitting.

Thanks for all of your ideas. You gave me lots of good ones, but I've just decided that there is no particular project I am DYING to do with a yarn I already have that could actually be finished in the next 5 days without stress, so I am not even going to bother trying to make anything. It's just one more thing I don't need to think about. I'm more interested in getting back to my capelet and making it work in butter. Plus, that will be a good travel project. I have already written out the instructions. I just have to modify them for the aran weight. The circs will be nice for being on the plane and in the car. Here's hoping the airline doesn't give me any trouble. I need a little vacation from knitting under pressure. I am going to knit for the sheer pleasure of it and that thrills me! I might bring the alpaca along to play with. I might not. I might try to find some yarn over there but here is my solemn promise:



I have been thinking that I should do a little destashing. And I have examined the contents of my stash. The overwhelming majority of my yarn is random single balls of yarn I liked but had no plans for. Now many are discontinued and I don't have enough of any of them to make anything if it doesn't involve incredibly small sizes, intarsia or stripes of lots of colors. So I have determined the best way to avoid building my stash is actually by buying more yarn. How's that for logic?!

Side note: The title of this post was by no means meant to insult or even refer to my friend who recently lost a testicle in a motor scooter accident if he is out there reading this (which I HIGHLY doubt he is). I just couldn't resist.

Ya know, if I had some paper doilies, red construction paper and glitter I would make you all a valentine. I don't, so all I can do for now is give you a big fat THANK YOU! for being so sweet and sympathetic to me about my hair. It's so silly! I know it is. But I'm so glad that you all understand! I went and yelled (or more accurately - cried) at the hair guy yesterday and feel better. Plus he's going to do my hair for free the day of the wedding and give me a free haircut after that (if I dare). Knock on wood that I'm not in tears the morning of October first. I don't want to spend the day thinking about my hair or letting it put a damper on the day. I'm really going to try to go into it with a good attitude... ok enough about stupid things like hair. Let's talk about the really important things in life, like yarn!

In short, I have too much of it. I have 3 yarns for the same project. Let's look them over (and look at the photo of the dress while you're at it. I replaced my lousy drawing in the last post):






So here's what I think, and please feel free to give your opinion: I don't have time to make anything. My mom found a black, wool jacket for me which I hope I will like and which will be a little dark, but better than my turquoise jacket with the prune color. So I'm not really so worried. If I make something, I make something. If I don't, no biggie. Too bad, but no biggie. I'm going to go through my stitch pattern books tonight and see if anything jumps out at me. Actually, now I' m thinking...

Option 4: make something and buy a different yarn - I should have bought the Colinette Graffiti that was purply instead of the Rowan Polar and made a capelet like Patty suggested in the comments of the last post. I probably wouldn't follow the pattern, but I could certainly make it up or follow the pattern loosely. I think what bugs me about the polar for a cape is that it is chunky and not very interesting whereas the Colinette would at least have color and thickness variations. hmmm... I might have to go to the bon marché today, but I think they only had 2 skeins and I probably need 3 or 4.

For once I actually did everything on my list and I wish I hadn't. What happened? A really bad hair cut. I know it's not the end of the world and I know that there people all over the place with way bigger problems than bad hair, but that didn't stop me from feeling really bad and crying a lot anyway. My curls are gone. and most of my hair is gone. I'm trying to decide if 2 weeks is enough time for it to grow in a little or if I should just go Jean Seberg again. I get nauseous every time I think about my head. No you can't see a photo.

In knitting news I bought some Rowan polar to make my shawl or stole or whatever because it will knit super quickly. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to make it and go pick up the dress. Do I HAVE to leave the house? So, tell me: Should I make a stole, a shawl, a shrug?

For any of you who have wandered here through knitty, first of all, hello and secondly, Julia FC is hosting a clapotis along if you're interested. And any of you who hang out here on a regular basis (thank you) or got here by some other way, hello to you as well.

On today's agenda: If you don't care, don't bother reading... it's not all knitting related. It just helps me think straight if I get it all down and then I feel obliged to do things rather than letting the cough medicine win by spending half of the day napping.

go to la mairie to drop off ANOTHER copy of the frog's birth certificate, because you know it has changed in the last 3 weeks since he was recently reborn and all and we really must have the NEW one there on file so nobody gives us any problems on the first of October. Oh crap. Now I'm thinking I shouldn't have been nasty and sarcastic. By doing this I have certainly angered les dieux bureaucratiques and they shall smite me by finding obscure papers that are missing but nobody ever told me about and that I can only get by standing in 3 hour lines at the embassy on Tuesdays when there is a full moon between 11 and 2 (closed for lunch between 11:15 and 1:45) and have translated for a measly 70 euro fee but only by a state approved translator - wish me luck

give a teacher training class

haircut - I am so so nervous.

buy yarn at la droguerie

buy ribbon for boxes of dragées

I'm already running late so I must run. I'll show you my yarn later.

But now that it's not the middle of the night, here are a thousand words for you: I only ended up doing 16 repeats. I just couldn't bear the thought of another repeat and it was really long already, so I said Basta! and stopped. Because of my little dropped stitch fiasco (see July 13th post), and my inexact method of fixing it, my seed stitch ended up one stitch off, instead of matching up with the left border. So I ripped the entire thing and reknit it! Yeah, right. Nope, you know me. I added a stitch and kept going. You can't even see the error. No I won't show it to you. You can't see it I say! I was surprised how much pink came out in the water when I washed it to block. Then I rolled it in a towel and stepped on it and then put it on my pull out couch to pin and realized that the stole was too long for the couch. I don't have carpeting and my hall is actually narrower than the stole, so I did the best I could and used the sides of the mattress. If I had had a huuuuuge bed or lots of floorspace I probably could have stretched this thing pretty far, but as I said, it's long enough. It was pretty darned dry by the time I got all of the pins in so I misted it and went to bed. Now my stole is neatly folded and waiting for me. I'm going to freeze my butt off I tell you. No matter how long this thing is.

I really thought that I would feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I finished. I don't really. Maybe it's just because I'm tired and kind of tired of all things wedding, but I'm just kind of blah. Somehow, Look what I'm making felt much more impressive than Look what I made. Maybe I'll feel more proud of myself when I put it on. It doesn't look nice with the pyjamas I'm sporting at the moment, so I think you might have to wait until "the big day" to see a nice modeled FO photo.

Time to shower and accomplish things.
Today's list:

Fix mon petit spawn of satan

Clean up mess from blocking

Laundry?

and what's for dinner?

Just knit the last row of the stole. Binding off.

I picked up my wedding dress and returned 4 out of 5 skeins of the yarn from hell. I exchanged it for another yarn which looks a heck of a lot like kidsilk haze except it has got polyester, not silk in it. I also went to the droguerie. They have a nice alpaca that would go with my dress for my cousin's wedding, so I might go get that and forget about the kidpolyester haze. The alpaca would be thicker, faster and I would probably be more likely to wear it later.



I also bought a ball of angora which was a third of the price of the angora I was using from Anny Blatt and it sheds a lot less. I know. I know. I swore I wouldn't buy any more fuzzy yarn, but I couldn't stop myself. I bought it just to swatch with in case I didn't like the kidsilk fake and before I saw the alpaca that I think I want. I'm swatching this. I think I would modify it so the triangle wasn't as deep and since I will be using thicker yarn, it will certainly be different. We'll see, we'll see. I'll have to think about it tomorrow. My cough medicine is making me too sleepy to do anything.

So I managed to get some work done on my stole last weekend. I have 15.6 repeats worked. It's pretty darned long. I'm wondering if I should even go to 17 or just stop at 16. If I had stopped after 15 I would have been able to finish the whole thing without starting a 4th ball. But I didn't. So now that I have already started a new ball, I wonder if I shouldn't just keep going. At least until I have done 17 repeats. I think I 'm going to freeze my butt off no matter how long it is. I would have to make it about a million miles long and then wrap myself up like a mummy so I stay warm. I don't think it's going to grow that much when I block it because the edge stitches are slipped so they are pretty tight. I think it will stay about the same length. I could make it a lot wider if I wanted to, but I don't like the way the waves look when they are really wide. Anyone have any kidsilk haze blocking advice? I might be blocking tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

In other news, I started messing around with the yarn I bought for my crazy project. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it! UGH! It's so sticky and hairy and you can't find the loops. It's awful. I was knitting it on my size 10 1/2 Denises and it was a nightmare. I am going to try it on some straights I have or on my biggest addis (which won't be big enough) and see what I think. If it continues to be the yarn from hell I will probably return it and buy something else. After the angora, I swore I would not buy any more fuzzy yarn, so I will have to see what I can find. I have to admit, I kept thinking the angora would be perfect for this one shawl I wanted to make... but I'm afraid I'm allergic to it. I stayed awake thinking about it last night. I just want to figure out what I am going to use so I can make it on the airplane. I'm not even planning on starting it here. A trip to le Bon Marché might be in order since my local Phildar is closed on Mondays... Forget it. I'll worry about it tomorrow (after all tomorrow is another day!). Today is already blown since I have to go to the doctors (yes again!) and run a billion errands.

Hope you all are having a blast doing everything you do. And my continuing apologies for not responding to comments. I read them. I appreciate them. I love them. I will write you after the wedding is over.
Yours affectionately and covered with mohair,
Scarlett O'Hara

Dr: So, Kate, tell us about this stole you're making...
KG: I making a stole to wear for my wedding.
Dr: Oh that's wonderful. When is it?
KG: In 20 days.
Dr: Are you almost done with it?
KG: Well, I have worked 14 repeats.
Dr: Out of...?
KG: 17.
Dr: Only 3 repeats to work in 20 days. That shouldn't be a problem, should it?
KG: Well, actually, each repeat is 32 rows and then there is the edge... and I leave for Scotland in 10 days... and I still don't have shoes, a photographer, flowers...
Dr: Do you want to bring the stole to work on in Scotland?
KG: Not really. I don't think riding around in the back seat with my grandma will be condusive to knitting.
Dr: So how many days do you really have left to finish the stole?
KG: *weep* 8 (plus one day to block it). *sniffle*
Dr: And you wanted to knit something for your cousin's wedding which is in how many days?
KG: 14 *cry*
Dr: And why don't you tell us where this poor stole is!
KG: In a pile on the dresser.
Dr: Is that where it should be?
KG: Huh? Uh... no I guess not.
Dr: Is that any way to treat 60 euros worth of Kidsilk Haze and probably 60 hours of your labor?
KG: *sniffle* no...

which means the new knitty is here and there are lots of new, free, gorgeous patterns for you.


This one is from me, to you with bisous. Knit in good health. And here's the pronunciation guide if you want it: clapotis (clap-o-tee) - noun little splash. The scarf kind of makes little waves and ripples. Everytime you put it on it looks different. That's why it ended up with a water related name. The English name I had picked out was too close to the name of a project in a previous issue so Amy and I settled on this. I know it doesn't use the cheapest yarn in the world, but I promise it's worth it. If you must replace it, use something pretty smooth. Anything kind of fuzzy or sticky will be a nightmare to drop the stitches in.

It's 2:44 am. I slept. Now I'm up doing useful things like cleaning the oven and farting around online. I thought I should take this opportunity to make a confession. Until now, I had only told Caroline and Julia fc who immediately responded, "Are you frickin' insane?" She quickly realized that was a question that didn't need answering. So here goes: I bought a dress for my cousin's wedding today. And I have nothing to go with it. And the stuff in the stores stinks and is expensive too. So I bought 5 skeins of yarn with the thought that in my spare time (don't laugh yet!) I could maybe knit something. (That's right. NOW you can laugh.)



But in my defense, I didn't think I would make anything big or complicated. Just like a stole or something on big needles in a simple pattern. Or what about a shrug? They have to be quick. Like those boob holders everyone is making but long sleeved. And it's not like I've started it yet. I have priorities, you know. Also, these 5 skeins only cost me 19.50! There's not even a tag on them. It's mohair. Or maybe it's Moe's hair and that's why there's no tag. I don't think I will even need 5 skeins but the lady I love at Cat'laine insisted I would so I decided it was quicker to buy them all at once rather than going back for seconds. For the first time in my life I'll take back what's left over.

This post has been brought to you by Pneumorel, Carbocistéine, Augmentin and Deturgylone. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Needles on Fire management. We apologize for the cheesy mohair joke and wish you clean ovens and showers without calcium stains. Goodnight.

I didn't cure cancer and I didn't dry the laundry (which means it's getting moldy in the caddie) but I managed to do the other stuff on my list from the other day (4 days late, but who's counting). Thanks to everyone for your nice get well wishes and for rooting me along in the homestretch. I would like to write a note to each and every one of you, but in accordance with EFFICIENCY MODE, I'm going to say a big fat collective THANK YOU! here instead. My bronchitis has turned into a sinus infection and some other lung thing that I don't know the translation for in English so I'm just trying to rest up so I won't end up deathly ill on my wedding day and for my entire trip to Scotland. In fact, I'm going to go take a nap right now. Then it's cleaning time because the in-laws will be getting here on Saturday. Maybe I'll hire a cleaning lady. I'm really thinking of it. Of course, I would have to pick up the pig-sty in order for anyone to clean anything, but...

New to do list:

Finish Baltic Sea Stole - I'm a day or two behind.

Fix the problems with mon petit chou for once and for all. I should have called it mon projet chiant instead.

Get haircut appointment.

Find shoes to go with dress.

Sleeeeeeeeep.

Pick up wedding rings.

Clean like a mad woman.

Teresa thinks I'm sad. I'm not sad. Jenny thinks I'm hard on myself. I may be hard on myself... but let me explain something. I have gone into EFFICIENCY MODE (thank you Ellynne for the name since I had never been able to put this into words). I'm one of those people who is great at handling something at the last minute and great and getting work done under a tight deadline, but when that happens I go into EFFICIENCY MODE (yes it has to be in caps). That means I try to be polite and end up sounding curt because I don't have time for chit chat and I don't have time to screw around because I am so, completely focused on the things I have to do that I can't talk or think about anything else. So, since I now have 2 days to mail a submission to IK if I want to do so and exactly 14 days to finish my stole and all of the preparations for my wedding (don't have a photographer or a band or about a million little things yet) and I have a thousand things to do for my "real job" plus I have bronchitis as the cherry on top, I have gone into LEVEL 5, CODE RED, HARDCORE EFFICIENCY MODE. It's kind of hard to explain, but maybe some of you have a similar thing? Anyone? Please? Tell me that I'm not just a bitch and all alone in this? In any case, you all will have to bear with me because this is just part of the mish-mash of faults and qualities that makes a Kate.

So here is the rundown of my work accomplished:

Project Neck is almost done and ready for submission if I deem it worthy. I'm still debating if it is or if it has just been a colossal waste of time and money.

My stole has moved forward two rows which means I am still ahead of schedule.

I have a meeting with the restaurant tonight so my wedding guests will not starve to death.

I got 4 loads of laundry done - I know this is a knit blog but I'm convinced that my laundry and dishes have some sort of Feng Shui power over me and what I accomplish on my knitting projects. Plus, I often knit while I'm at the laundromat.

To do list for today:

Finish project neck.

Write knitting philosophy.

Find a dress for my cousin's wedding.

Go to la laverie to dry the two loads of laundry I did last night.

Call la docteur for more powerful drugs.

Cure cancer.

By the way, I forgot to tell you all a while back that I saw Teresa when she was in Paris. It was the night before I left for Austria so I didn't post about it (being in pre-trip efficiency mode and all). Thankfully, she did.

I have completed 13 repeats on the stole. That was what was on the knitting schedule to be finished by the end of Monday. I finished them yesterday, but so what. It's the only thing that I was making any progress on so I worked on that and I was right to do so because I keep finding progress begets progress. In a burst of energy I got some stuff done on Project Neck. I intend to finish it today. As well as Frog's web site. Wish me luck. If I want to send Project Neck to a particular magazine, I have to include my knitting philosophy. I'm trying to figure out how to put that into words... I knit therefore I am??? You all have the right to virtually kick my butt if I have accomplished nothing by the time of my next post.
If you are celebrating Labor Day or Labour Day tomorrow, enjoy your day off. Eat some corn on the cob for me.

sick. too tired to knit. no progress. breaking knitting schedule to start work on stole again. all other projects abandonned. dishes piling up. laundry reproducing like horny rabbits. nothing done for wedding. giving up hope. productivity not possible. full sentences too difficult. time for sleep and bad tv. better post monday. good weekend to you.

This afternoon I met up with Caroline and we walked and talked and walked and shopped for yarn and walked. I had no intention of buying anything. Neither did she. She left Modes et Travaux empty handed (I bought 2 balls of Bouton d'Or Dandy) and in Cat'laine, she got 3 balls of cotton and 4 balls of superwash baby wool and I only got one (Fonty Calypso) I just couldn't resist it. It was so... so... red and so... half the price of most things I usually buy. The lady at Cat'laine is awesome by the way. She's young and funny and nice and helpful, in other words, the polar opposite of what you find in certain other yarnstores. Then we went to La Droguerie and touched all the yarns and bought none. I also got to see her lace along project in person. She's giving it to her grandma. How sweet is that! Here's a photo of what I scored today:



And did you see the thoughtful presents from Caroline? Rice-a-roni and clam chowder! The yellow in the picture is my butter capelet swatch. I very rudely ripped it off the needles to fool around with Calypso on the way home. Butter does not appreciate my infidelity and disrespect, but there was nothing about it in our contract, so who cares. I'm fickle like that.