A Bland Update

My mother drove 4 hours on Thanksgiving Day to spend it with me after backing out of a commitment to spend it with some of her friends (I'm so thankful for that!). She drove a thawed, seasoned bird in the passenger seat the whole way. After a late dinner and several hours of post-prandial unconsciousness, we awoke to her realization that she forgot the pie crust for pumpkin pie. Meanwhile, the filling had sat mixed in the fridge all day.

Something had to be done. We are a bit nuts about trans fats and hydrogenated fats, and the crust she was to bring was homemade. We simply don't do "boughten" crusts. Continuing the health food trend at my apartment, I only had whole wheat or rye flour--not exactly crust-worthy. So at 9 pm we made a grocery store run for all-purpose flour, made the crust, and had pumpkin pie by midnight. It's just not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie!

I have officially scrapped the Teriokhin braid. Don't get me wrong, it will happen again. With much different yarn. This is 100% merino and WARM (I think I've explained my problem before) and for some reason, the armholes are a bit binding. So I have started Fleur from Rowan Vintage Knits.

I'm not thrilled about more stockinette stitch. My philosophy is, if I'm going to knit a sweater, I'm going to knit a sweater. That is to say, it will be textured and adorned as much as possible without looking stupid. If I'm going to take all that time to knit, I expect to turn some heads with the finished product. The exception to this is that I will knit stockinette if there is some other enormously redeeming aspect about the garment. For the Teriokhin braid, it was of course the neckline.

With Fleur, there is nothing there. This is mainly an excercise in utility and a testament to poor planning. I have yarn to use, not enough for aran knitting, but enough for something small. I've already blocked and have no desire to refresh the yarn (AGAIN), and this can be knit on needles one size smaller than Teriokhin, so there is no wonkage from the un-refreshed yarn.

The ivory blob you saw in previous posts will meet a similar fate. It's not fitting the way it should. It's too short and makes me look pregnant. Looking pregnant is fine, but only when you are pregnant. And I didn't like the collar and couldn't think of any way to spice it up and perhaps redeem the whole thing.

I have an idea what I'll do with the ivory yarn (again, 100% merino). I bought Phildar's Best Irlandais booklet. Problem is, it's in French. Which is OK, I think, because I know that language well. Just not the words used in knitting. I've been so unhappy lately with patterns being offered (Vogue Holiday being the exception), and everything I do like requires learning a new skill--intarsia, Fair Isle, knitting into the row below, knitting into the back loop, etc. I'm really not in the mood to stretch my brain.

Once a comedian asked an Ohio senator, "Senator, the state of Ohio has produced more astronauts than any other state. What is it about your state that make people want to flee the Earth?" It's kind of the same way with knitting patterns. What is it about the current pattern offerings that make me want to try something with a foreign vocabulary that I don't know?

The cowl neck sweater from Knitting Nature has been haunting me. I desperately want to knit it. A wave of panic washed over me when I read through it and learned that steeking was required. I just don't think I can cut my knitting. Maybe I can knit it as if it were cut. This is going to require some strategy before starting. But seriously, is this not the best design in the whole freakin' book? How clever!!

The riding jacket from Loop-d-Loop has been haunting me, too. That one will be happening sometime in the future. It's totally me, all English and paneled libraries and hunting dogs. I'd really like to use up the (used) yarn I already have first, though.

Oh, and I bought a Debbie Bliss booklet! The alpaca silk collection. I doubt I'll be using alpaca silk. I found some ghetto yarn with the same gauge. :o)