3-Ring Circus

Winter Woolies

2011-01-22T19:32:00.003-05:00

Middletown and Haddam knitters (and anyone else who's addicted to fiber)!
Rekindle your love of kniting
Winter Woolies knitting bee at the Haddam Historical Society repeats in February.
http://easthaddam.patch.com/articles/to-knit-or-not-to-knit

Hey Haddam and East Haddam

2010-11-25T11:13:00.003-05:00

I am psyched to join Patch.com as a local editor for Haddam and East Haddam, Connecticut. Look for my new hyperlocal news website in mid-to-late December.

Is this lampshade made from human skin?

2010-10-27T14:57:00.003-04:00

I read an excerpt of Mark Jacobson’s new book in the Sept. 5 New York Magazine, provocatively titled “Skin.” It was an excellent piece, enthralling and affecting, especially given the disquieting subject matter.
Jacobson, a self-described “big-nosed Jew,” is the award-winning New York writer whose pieces were the basis for the late-‘70s, early-‘80s Taxi television series and the 2007 film, American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.
The book, with a dust jacket of translucent paper (eerily reminiscent of skin) through which the glow from a tattered lampshade pictured on the cover can be seen, is a massively-researched account of this gruesome object, which enters Jacobson’s life and piques not only his curiosity, but memories of growing up Jewish in the 1950s. In Cold War-era Flushing, Queens, Jacobsen was often bullied by neighborhood kids to shut the hell up — or risk being turned into a Nazi lampshade.
Purchased by a friend for $35 in early 2006 at a rummage sale full of mismatched scavenged items in post-Katrina New Orleans, the lampshade is “hot-potatoed” to Jacobson by the friend with experience taking apart and reassembling vintage German guitars. Skip Henderson recognizes the solder connecting the panels as German handiwork. Almost as soon as he observes “the greasy, dusty feel of it, the veined, translucent look of it,” Henderson is told by the seller it’s “made from the skin of Jews.”
Not long afterward, DNA lab testing reveals the lampshade is indeed of human origin, confirming the niggling feeling of everyone who has touched the shade, with its tiny pores and unmistakably familiar wrinkling. So begins Jacobson’s search for the history of this palpable reminder of the Holocaust’s horrors, and his own complicated relationship this loathsome lampshade.
Like the heath in Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native, the main character in The Lampshade is the object — in all its immutability. With the lampshade in hand, its immediacy cannot be ignored, especially by a journalist whose own father, a member of the 133rd Engineers Corps attached to George Patton’s Third Army, had a photo taken of himself in June 1945 seated defiantly on Hitler’s balcony in Berchtesgaden, Germany.
Jacobson’s quest to retrace the path of a lampshade reportedly found in an abandoned house by a history buff on a pile of junk ceiling-high, “like a cherry on top of an ice cream sundae” (he eventually becomes so attached to it, he names it Ziggy, an Americanized version of Sigmund) leads him to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where from varying accounts, anywhere from 33,000 to 56,000 prisoners from all over Europe (primarily Jews) died during World War II.
There he explores the legendary “Bitch of Buchanwald,” Ilse Koch, wife of the Kommandant at the internment camp, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes, including “blithe defilement of the human body.” These offenses included rampant rumors of her selection of prisoners to be executed, skinned and made into lampshades by virtue of her fancy of their tattooed backs and torsos.
There are arguably more characters in this book than The Iliad and keeping them straight is an epic feat in itself. As to whether Jacobson’s detective story ends in certitude, you’ll have to finish the book yourself. If you can stomach its difficult parts, you’ll at the very least get a better understanding of how interconnected we all are, even participants in and victims of atrocities and natural disasters.

Get Your Needles (And Wallets!) Ready ...

2010-10-27T14:48:00.002-04:00

Can you hear the steady click, click, click of knitting needles metronoming in anticipation?
Stitches East, inspiring the annual pilgrimage of yarn addicts, avid knitters, crocheters and fiber enthusiasts to Hartford, is set to begin, running Oct. 28-31 at the Connecticut Convention Center.

If you don’t know how to knit or are a little rusty on the old needles, you too can participate because this year they‘re offering free learn-to-knit workshops Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday, 12:30 and 2 p.m. and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Learn to cast on, knit, purl, bind off, and go home with a pair of needles and yarn.
Dozens of classes are being offered ($30 per hour, $75 for three hours, $150 for six), such as Socks Without Sticks (knitting socks with two circular needles — easier than it sounds!), Entrelac Intro (the characteristic basket weave that surprisingly requires only basic skills) and Double Knit in Color (reversible knit technique — two sweaters for the price of one!).
And of course the true draw of the weekend — the marketplace, where you can peruse hundreds of yarns, notions, buttons and needles in a kaleidoscopic scene not unlike an Indian street bazaar (sorry, there’s no haggling allowed!).
The yarn vendors are more than happy to demonstrate the fine points of their products and you’ll be introduced to the cutting-edge tools of the trade, like the increasing popularity and ease of square knitting needles and the latest cult fibers such as shrimp and crab shells, milk proteins and seaweed. All of which are friendly to those knitters (like me) who are allergic to most wools.
Last year, there were even a couple of booths with “last season’s” floor model/demo baskets, where you can pick up a hand-knit vest, sweater or scarf at a deep discount.
The market (complete vendor list at http://knittinguniverse.com/stitches/east/market_floor) is open Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $8 (there is a $2 coupon online).
There you’ll find the familiar names of Connecticut fiber sellers, like Marji's Yarncrafts of Granby; barn-based Country Yarns in Wallingford; New England Yarn & Spindle of Bristol; Creative Fibers in Windsor; the terrific Sit 'N Knit of Bloomfield; Hither & Yarn based out of Torrington; and Meriden’s fabulous Yarn Garden.
Friday night is the key note event, the fashion show hosted by Knitter's Magazine editor Rick Mondragon and professional models donning handmade knitted items on the catwalk (6:30-8 p.m., $50; $90 with dinner), where you’ll see sweaters like these two featured at last year’s Stitches West.

If you go: Oct. 28-31, Stitches East 2010, Connecticut Convention Center, 100 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford. KnittingUniverse.com

Heading East: Fiber Fanatics Flock to Hartford

2010-10-22T13:23:00.005-04:00

Yippee!! The veritable Dylan’s Candy Bar of avid knitters, crocheters and fiber enthusiasts, Stitches East, inspiring the annual pilgrimage of yarn addicts to Hartford, runs Oct. 28-31.
The marketplace, which fills the entire Connecticut Convention Center, runs Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
To get an idea of the dozens of vendors, check out the list of those traveling from as far away as Australia: http://knittinguniverse.com/stitches/east/market_floor
Admission is $8($2 off coupon online).

This year's attendees from our fine state are:
Marji's Yarncrafts, Granby; Mocha's Fiber Connection, Columbia; Country Yarns, Wallingford; New England Yarn & Spindle, Bristol; Creative Fibers, Windsor; Not Just Plain Jane Knits, West Haven; Sit 'N Knit, Bloomfield; Still River Mill, Eastford; Tidal Yarns, Old Lyme; Hither & Yarn, Torrington; Indie Spun, Middletown; The Yarn Barn, Woodbridge; Yarn Garden, Meriden.
And we have to include New England's yarn Mecca, Webs, Northampton, Mass.

Hip-Hop Habit

2010-09-30T12:57:00.003-04:00

Just bought the pattern to make Ann Budd's Hip Hop Coat from the Interweave website.
I already have the size 13 circular needles, but alas, the yarn is no longer sold. Soooo.... I know!! Wanna be her! Gotta have it!! I went to Webs http://yarn.com and found Debbie Bliss' Como yarn (90 percent merino wool and 10 percent cashmere) in a firey orange color, ON SALE, for $4.99 per skein. DON'T you buy it BEFORE I do!
It's originally $8.95, which means buying it at full price would preclude me from making this sweater/coat because I need (get ready) 28 balls to feed my habit.

Cardinals Catch Fiber Fever

2010-09-30T12:47:00.007-04:00

Get your needles ready! Check out this Wesleyan Argus story about the knitting club up at Wesleyan University:

Graffiti, Philosophy, and Yarn: Club Finds Knit(che) on Campus http://wesleyanargus.com/2010/09/29/graffiti-philosophy-and-yarn-club-finds-knitche-on-campus/
"Creating Out of Chaos plans to devote time in the spring to art installations and yarn bombing."
"Yarn bombing, which has been called the least offensive form of graffiti by some, uses decorative displays of vibrant knitting and crochet to adorn public spaces."
No branch should have to shiver this winter.
Start knitting your tree turtlenecks now.

Goin' To The Party

2010-08-12T16:52:00.007-04:00

Tonight is the North End Garden Party on Erin and High Street.

Hard to believe it's been there for 10 years.
It seems like just yesterday when ground was first broken and as the years went on, colorful scarecrows emerged, Macdonough School children worked on the garden through the Northern Middlesex YMCA Kids Korner, and North End residents worked their magic to coax lovely herb, fruits and veggies from the soil.
http://middletowneyenews.blogspot.com/2010/08/neats-annual-garden-party-tonight.html
Bill Carbone and Friends are singing and there will be food, friends, and a birthday cake!

Feeling Crabby?

2010-07-01T15:43:00.007-04:00

The America's Knitting website has an awesome little cornflower blue, green-blue and orange sweater - a Rock Crab Sweater - that is perfect for those of us who can't get enough of the Connecticut shoreline during the summer months (love Hammonasset and Rocky Neck!).

These little guys look harmless holding up their claws as if in surrender, but in the aquatic world, both Pacific and Atlantic rock crabs are considered the meanest of the crustaceans.
They're big-eyed and popular for eating (don't read this part aloud!)
Three little crabs seem to dance across the bottom. It's lovely.
And made from a Fox Island Folkwear Kit. Purchased from eBay!!
http://americasknitting.com/projects.htm

Thar She Blows

2010-05-05T16:52:00.002-04:00

Wind turbines are in the news every day. He's a neat twist on the idea.
Thar She Blows: Knitting Pretty With Wind-Powered Yarn Factory

http://www.ecorazzi.com/2010/05/05/thar-she-blows-knitting-pretty-with-wind-powered-yarn-factory/

She designs dresses - and can knit

2010-04-22T10:31:00.004-04:00

Remember last season's Project Runway sweater drama between top contestants Althea Harper and Irina Shabayeva? I do, because I absolutely coveted both big-sleeved sweaters, so detailed and beautiful, almost coats.
The Spring 2010 Vogue Knitting has a story about Gordana Gelhausen now creating delicately patterned sweater dresses and a tunic.
See the story here.
http://www.vogueknitting.com/magazine/article_archive/project_runways_gordana_gehlhausen.aspx
She calls her line Goga and you can buy her designs at http://www.shopgoga.com
See her spring 2010 collection here: http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/2009/10/gordana-gehlhausen-spring-2010.html
Gotta have her creamy lace dress!

Mo Rocca Learns To Knit

2010-03-30T11:00:00.004-04:00

Knitters across the country listening to NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" are angered to hear Mo Rocca disparage hand-knit sweaters.
Knitting is a privilege, not a punishment.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6341081n&tag=cbsnewsVideoArea.0

Spring Knit

2010-03-29T15:15:00.006-04:00

I am working on a chunky satiny pink vest knit from the book, "Simple Style: 19 Innovative to Traditional Designs with Simple Knitting Techniques." I used Farmhouse Yarns' I Am Allergic To Wool in Dusty Rose.

I can't believe I've put off learning how to cable for so long. Actually I feel foolish at how simple it is to create these fat cables. They're lovely. One note: if you don't choose a flat color for your yarn (like the blue shown in the picture), the pattern won't show up so much in relief.

Crafting in the Cab

2010-03-29T14:47:00.005-04:00

Now there's a reason to do an about-face in your opinion of truckers. You know, those omnipresent behemoths of the highway that make drivers of "fuel-efficient" and "compact" cars (like me) cringe as they pass at 80 miles per hour and spew mud and rain and slap your windshield with slush?

Gotta read this. Looks like they do have redeeming qualities.
The Wall Street Journal publishes: "Idle Pastime: In Off Hours, Truckers Pick Up Stitching"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704896104575139990857438962.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn
There's something discordant in this: "Kevin Abraham-Banks, a 37-year-old trucker with a shaved head and dragon tattoos, passes time at truck stops with his cocoa and knitting."

All that racquet: Andre Agassi’s memoir gets intimate

2010-03-23T14:33:00.001-04:00

Open: An Autobiography
By Andre Agassi, Alfred A. Knopf, $28.95

The front and back cover photos of Andre Agassi’s new memoir, Open, epitomize the world-class tennis star’s life story.
On the front, Agassi’s 38-year-old face fills the entire cover, speckled with sun spots from three decades of hard time on the court. His amber eyes look directly at the reader.
On the back is a late-‘70s shot of a 7-year-old Agassi in a trim white polo and jean cut-offs, Dodgers-blue Adidas set off by red-banded crew socks, racquet poised to slam an incoming tennis ball.

It is ghostwritten by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author J.R. Moehringer, whose memoir The Tender Bar Agassi devoured while competing in the 2006 U.S. Open. (Moehringer also wrote the L.A. Times magazine article about a homeless man claiming to be former heavyweight boxer Bob Satterfield that later became the film, Resurrecting the Champ.)
The book is so grittily honest and electric, you wonder if two years of collaboration tightly intertwined Agassi’s photographic memory with Moehringer’s journalistic gift for writing, causing the two voices to be inextricably and brilliantly bound for this project.
The story opens with the tennis champion mustering every ounce of verve he still possesses just to rouse himself from the floor, where Agassi sleeps most nights to assuage the excruciating nerve and spinal pain that have crippled this relatively young man’s body — making it more like that of a 96-year-old.
Even if you’ve never done more than volley a tennis ball over a net and couldn’t come close to understanding the game, let alone outline its major features, you’ll find Agassi’s account so compelling, his frank, staccato style so heart-pounding, that it won’t matter.
And that gets to the heart of the appeal of Open — what we consider a charmed life is actually fraught with strife.
It might shock some that Agassi reveals he has hated the game since as early as he can remember, when, he’s told by his mother, his father, a former Iranian Olympic team boxer, taped a ping-pong paddle to his infant hand and encouraged his son to bat at a tennis-ball mobile above his crib.
As a toddler Agassi is given “a sawed-off racquet” by his cruelly driven and violent father and told to hit whatever he wants with it.
“I specialized in salt shakers. I liked serving them through glass windows. I aced the dog. My father never got mad.”
At age 7, his father made Agassi train like a pro, hitting 2,500 balls a day. In seventh grade, his father sends Agassi to a tennis boarding school in Florida run by a former paratrooper, after he sees a story on “60 Minutes.”
Not being able to afford the annual tuition of $12,000, his dad sends him for three months to a place his mother later tells him is led by Nick Bollettieri, “who was in essence running a tennis sweatshop that employed child labor.”
The bombshell in this memoir is Agassi admits he was addicted to crystal meth and lied his way out of a positive drug test by the Association of Tennis Professionals that could have penalized him with a three-month suspension from the game.
From his rock-star hair and unconventional tenniswear, his on-court battles with greats Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, an ill-suited marriage to actress Brooke Shields, his notorious anger fits on the court, championship wins and losses, and eventual marriage to former tennis pro Stefanie Graf, the birth of a son and daughter, to his last tournament in 2006 and current charity work, you’ll ride the peaks and endure the sinkholes of this intimate look at an American Everyman. n

Skinny Legs Like I've Always Wanted

2010-03-22T17:13:00.007-04:00

Knitty.com spring/summer 2010 has an awesome pattern designed by young knitwear and T-shirt designer Craig Hunter CUBISTLITERATURE.COM of New York City. At first glance they do remind me of diaper covers, but glance again!! They're awesome. I just can't get over the male pattern, it's so cool the way the front has a little panel and the back has a semi-fancy seam going down the center. They're totally impractical (knit in wool!?!) and you could only really get away with wearing them around the house because otherwise you'll risk looking like the cyclists in the movie 1979 "Breaking Away" (Dennis Quaid in white short shorts!).
The lady's eye makeup is inspiring. Wonder if I could go five minutes in my house with the kids and the hubby and nobody comment. How come some people get to be "expressive" and I can't wear leggings with holes in them (a total fashion DO) without some clown making a comment?
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss10/PATTgams.php

The guys panties are knit in Harrisville Designs New England Highland but I'd use some sort of merino or cotton (and just may).
Another amazing creation from Hunter is this "bathing costume" he created using leftover balls of yarn from his stash.
"This is a wool prototype of a cotton version I plan to make.
It is inspired by men's bathing suits circa 1920's.
My color choice is arbitrary, as I was merely trying to use up
remnants of other skeins I had laying [sic]around."

Kudos for him posing in the thing. That alone sells it. How come when I try to combine balls from my stash into something I end up just frogging it because it look so awful? I have to get more adventurous.
Gonna go home tonight and knit something really out there: sparkly underpants and freakin' wear them OVER my pants and look really cool. See Elle magazine. They make it look so NORMAL.

The Knitting Bandit

2010-03-12T13:19:00.000-05:00

I heard this story on NPR yesterday morning on the way to work. They treated it wittily, however, there is something disturbing about treating knitting as graffiti.
'Midnight Knitter' Wanted In N.J. Shore Town
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124560111
The story is here: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/288919

From the story: "A person or group calling him/herself "Salty Knits" has claimed to be behind the colourful handmade decorations that show up overnight. There is a Facebook group for the 'mystery knitters who are sick of knittin kitten mittens.'"

Repurposed sweaters for a song

2010-02-25T16:52:00.004-05:00

I was delighted to hear a story on NPR last night while I was driving on the highway home from work in Hartford in the cold, pouring rain, "Mother, Son Create A New Life For That Old Sweater."

In the far, dim reaches of closets all over the world, there are stretched out, too tight, out-of-fashion sweaters. A small-scale operation called Reknit is taking these old sweaters and repurposing them into scarves, gloves and hats.
Here's the podcast link: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=124049118&m=124056022

http://www.rekn.it/
People can go to the Web site and vote on what item they want their old sweater to be turned into for that month. In January, the public voted for scarves; in February, it's fingerless gloves; and for March, hats are in the lead. On the last day of the month, Haik will redesign the Web site with new colors and next month's item, according to Gayane.

Wagging their tails behind them

2010-01-27T10:02:00.006-05:00

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;

I came across an amazingly lovely and soft Bo Peep Shawl pattern at farmhouseyarns.com knit in Trixie's Loopy Mohair, which is 90 percent kid mohair and 10 percent nylon. Two yarn color options stood out to me: Rainforest
Leave them alone, And they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.

and Tropical Punch
http://www.farmhouseyarns.com/joomla/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=901&category_id=16&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,
And over the hillocks went rambling,

The pattern is so light and airy: it looks like a boucle with lacy edging knit into a confection as dreamy as cotton candy.

And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,
To tack each again to its lambkin.

Knitters Try Spyn

2010-01-06T10:13:00.004-05:00

Here's an amazing story out of the UC Berkeley School of Information that unites new technology with the ages-old technique of knitting and sharing stories in the award-winning Spyn project created by students Daniela Rosner and Kimiko Ryokai.
http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~daniela/research/i9p22_23.pdf

From the link below:
"The Spyn project investigates how digital tools affect the creation, transfer, and continued use of everyday personal objects. We are currently studying people's use of Spyn during the creation and exchange of handmade objects. When a person gives a handmade object, the object may not simply be valued for its utility, but also for its affective and communicative potential. By studying people's digital augmentation of handmade objects we can investigate how digital interactions affect people's relationships with the craft practitioner as well as with the process and products of creative work."
Fascinating.
http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~daniela/spyn/

Everything is Illuminated

2010-01-06T10:06:00.005-05:00

New book will have you rethinking your diet
I was pumped to read this book after hearing what seemed like a dozen different NPR shows devote air time to discussing Jonathan Safran Foer's latest tome. The actress Natalie Portman wrote an ode to it on the Huffington Post, Colin McEnroe used it as a subject for one of his WNPR shows, and praise is heaped on the book jacket like a mountain of mashed potatoes on your Thanksgiving plate.
The premise: Foer spent much of his life as an on-again, off-again vegetarian (as many of us have). The impending birth of his son, he says, got him thinking about what exactly meat is, where it comes from, how it is produced. It's a quite natural response. When it comes time to move a baby from breast milk to food, what new parent's heart hasn't nearly stopped contemplating how to nourish a most perfect human being with entirely pure food, devoid of chemicals, additives, preservatives ... even (gasp!) poisons?

There's no doubt Foer presents a compelling argument against eating meat (notice his title's use of the word "animals") and exhaustively researched his subject — there are 60 pages of notes to back up his claims and Foer spent three years "immersed in animal agriculture," bringing his work to fruition.
The problem is the book just doesn't flow. It is divided up into chapters but with near meaningless titles, like "All or Nothing or Something Else," "Slices of Paradise/Pieces of S--t" and two chapters bookend the whole, both with the same title, "Storytelling." Obscure headers are fine, but they quite possibly only make sense to the author, because despite repeated readings, I still can't definitively understand what he's trying to say in many spots, other than "don't eat animals."
Be warned. Foer's accounts (he can only obtain second-hand statements from line workers because the inner workings of poultry, beef, dairy and pork producers are guarded more closely than Fort Knox) of factory farm slaughterhouses are horrifying. You'll find it near impossible to stomach flesh in any form after reading how brutally animals are treated, but did you really think your Thanksgiving turkey lived a full, humane life before it appeared in the supermarket frozen-foods aisle anyway?
Fine, you say, I'll only eat antibiotic-free, organic, free-range meat from small, independent farms. Well, the man Foer calls "the last poultry farmer" has got you there.
For 60 years, Frank Reese, the first and only rancher authorized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to call his birds "heritage," has raised turkeys and he'll tell you birds sold under the auspices of "free-range" can't fly (did you know turkeys should be able to take flight?), can't walk normally (because they're fed so much to grow so quickly) and can't reproduce.
He writes, "Every turkey sold in every store and served in every restaurant was the product of artificial insemination. If it were only for efficiency, that would be one thing, but these animals literally can't reproduce naturally. Tell me what could be sustainable about that?"
Even Foer has to admit Reese is a good guy. So good, in fact, he apologizes to every batch of turkey he loads up on trucks to ship to one of the last remaining USDA-approved poultry processors that he can pay twice as much to work half as fast, to slaughter his birds in a way that is as humane as possible.
If you want to know the truth exposed by Foer's investigations, and can see past the quirkiness of his style — like five pages of the words, "Influence/Speechlessness" over and over again, followed by the pronouncement, "On average, Americans eat the equivalent of 21,000 entire animals in a lifetime — one animal for every letter on the last five pages" — you'll find it in this book.
And by all means, skip the bacon and eggs for breakfast, at least for today.
Eating Animals
By Jonathan Safran Foer. Little, Brown, $25.99

Twisted Tilda

2009-12-11T15:07:00.004-05:00

A quick idea for a Christmas gift: grab some size 15 needles, some alpaca wool and get knitting. Henny Garfunkel makes and sells these shawls for $225 on her web site
http://hennygarfunkel.com/shawls/
modeled by none other than Tilda Swinton!
I saw a mention in the November issue of Paper Magazine. Photographer Garfunkel calls it "neck armor."
http://www.papermag.com/

All I Want For Christmas Is

2009-12-08T09:46:00.004-05:00

I am in awe of the lovely camel-colored merino wool cardigan and strapless top Charlize Theron wears in the October issue of Vogue, hand knit by the Uruguayan Knitting Collective used by Lutz and Patmos. The cardigan takes 35 hours to create; the top, which doubles as a scarf/cowl/hood, nine hours. And, most beautifully of all, both are on sale for the holidays.

Only black and gray are available.
See it here:
http://lutzandpatmos.com/ecological-wool/cable-cardigan.html
And here:
http://lutzandpatmos.com/50-percent-off/cable-tube-top-or-funnelneck.html

Pleasure Principle

2009-12-03T16:13:00.001-05:00

When I used to care for elementary school children, I made friends with a precocious and inventive 7-year-old second-grader who liked to check in on my progress as her father dropped her off in the morning.
One day she had a brainstorm. “I’m going to buy you a knitting machine, Cassandra, so you can knit a sweater all in one day.”
“That’s so nice of you, Julia,” I said. “But the first thing I would do is knit you a really long scarf in your favorite color.”
To her, knitting was a means to an end — a finished sweater — and she wanted to give me a gift that would hasten its completion. Much like the reaction of many people uninitiated to the pleasures of the process, she misunderstood why I knit. Like a really engrossing book you don’t want to end, a knitter’s work-in-progress is to be relished, patiently and perfectly executed, to be unraveled many rows down or “frogged” (think rip-it, rip-it) when necessary, restitched endlessly if need be.

So it was with great satisfaction that I at last discovered a book full of patterns that shared my design aesthetic, simple yet substantial projects to be savored.
Flipping through a book on the library’s new acquisitions shelf, I came across “Simple Style: 19 Innovative to Traditional Designs With Simple Knitting Techniques” by Ann Budd. The cover has a mossy green, olive and earth brown variegated wool sweater with the sleeves knit lengthwise with a big seam down the center of the front and back, boldly joining the two halves.
Inside were a couple dozen sweaters, a shawl and two skirts, minimalist and quietly lovely, each in its own way.
A cream A-line skirt knit lengthwise in two pieces, front and back, achieves its modest flair with short rows and judicious placing of eyelets at the hem.
A mustard-colored man’s-style v-neck vest is knit generously enough to hit just at the hips and a coordinating tie drapes the waist. In the place of side seaming there is a generous band of ribbing, providing just the perfect amount of stretch. It’s the type of vest you see in the store and buy in every color available, and use to anchor your fall-into-winter-into-spring wardrobe, since it’s knit in merino wool, cool enough for spring with a tee underneath, and warm enough for winter layered over a turtleneck and under a blazer.
The most stunning piece, and equally ambitious, is the sleeved shawl, really a seed-stitched cardigan knit in burnt umber alpaca yarn, with a fat braided cable in place of buttons, placket and neckline. The twist is one side of the front is knit extra long, a rectangle meant to be tossed over the shoulder and to fall down the back.
The quandary is … which one should I spend the next few months fingering first?

Simple Style: 19 Innovative to Traditional Designs With Simple Knitting Techniques, Ann Budd, Interweave Books, $24.95.

Freshly shorn

2009-11-18T16:12:00.005-05:00

The Coventry Farmers' WinterFresh Market is open Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Coventry High School, 78 Ripley Hill Road, through Feb 28, selling the most amazing Connecticut grown and produced foods like honey and beeswax candles, farmstead cheese, fresh chevre, maple cream and so much more.
It also features yarn from Tuckerwoods Farm in Coventry, which specializes in alpacas.

Other participating vendors are Morning Glory Homemade Goods, which includes stitch markers, hand-knitted scarves and hats; Bethany Homecrafts, which offers felted wool, sculptures, wall hangings, clothing, accessories, braided rugs and felted wool; and Sankows Beaver Brook, which, along with naturally grown lamb, veal, pasture chickens and eggs, offers wool hats, sweats and blankets from Beaver Brook Farm wool.
For lovely free scarf patterns, see tuckerwoodsfarm.com/pages/fiber.html. For information on the market, see coventryfarmersmarket.com and beaverbrookfarm.com.

Chunky New Knitting Shop

2009-11-17T13:07:00.003-05:00

Wool and the Gang is an awesome new shop to visit or dream about.

Saw this tip on the New York Times fashion blog.
"Hello to funky, fun knitting, or simply chic and basic. Top quality wool, produced deep in the heart of the Peru’s Andean Highlands."
http://usa.woolandthegang.com/en

It's Fun to Run and knit

2009-11-12T10:10:00.005-05:00

The Hartford Marathon Blue Back Mitten Run 5K (3.1-mile) run and walk combines two of my favorite things - knitting and exercise. Donations will be accepted at the Dec. 6 event and at Blue Back Square shops in West Hartford.

The goal is to collect 1,000 items (new mittens, gloves, hats or scarves) for The Town That Cares charity.
The event includes a kid’s fun run (1/4-mile, 1/2-mile and 1 mile), refreshments, entertainment and awards. The 5K begins at 10:30 a.m.
To register online, see http://hartfordmarathonfoundation.com

I've put a Hex on you

2009-11-11T15:26:00.026-05:00

I'm drooling over the newest issue of Knitty, which marks a vibrant redesign. On the cover is a sunlit Malabrigo red-orange shawl knit, "Hex," in lace weight. It's as if the color of a orange-gold oak leaf in fall was captured in the skein.

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/index/php

I am especially obsessed with a crimson sweater called Ruby Red knit in merino superwash sock yarn.

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/PATTrubyred.php

It's a long cardigan with leafy wood hook-and-eye buttons designed by Anna Mikuskova of Maine. See it for yourself.

It's Gonna Be a Cruel Ride, Kid

2009-11-06T14:57:00.007-05:00

Only a guy that’s ushered his wife through two pregnancies and births can look back at the absurdity of it all. Not the miracle of life, of course, (cue angels singing) but the cult-like devotion first-time parents hold for what’s considered the childbirth bible — What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff.
With more than 16 million copies sold, the guide, originally published in 1984, is to expectant mothers as Bibles are to hotel rooms, making it the perfect fodder for parody — everyone has either seen it, read it, can quote full passages from it, or avoided it like the plague.
Enter David Javerbaum, comedy writer and former executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, whose target audience for What to Expect When You're Expected: a Fetus' Guide to the First Three Tirmesters (Spiegel & Grau, $15) is the most underserved of literary audiences, “the little child in some of us.”
Mom’s asked for advice from every female within a 1,000-mile radius, including the bag lady who picks out the beer cans from the recycle bin before the sanitation truck makes its early morning rounds, and dad’s playing the “mmm-hmm” card from his “I’m feigning attention/agreement/deep interest” repertoire, but who’s Cliff-Noting the baby?
Don’t fear, Javerbaum’s here.
Some excerpts:
“Changes are Mommy will be taking it a little easy these first three months, going to bed earlier, waking up later, canceling all but her most essential triathlons … The household’s entire collection of cookware may soon form a giant game of Jenga in the sink that stands in silent condemnation of Daddy’s astounding selfishness.”
“For her co-workers, Mommy’s pregnancy is sure to unleash a welter of conflicting emotions. … Then there’s Mommy’s boss. He had a lot of faith in her. He thought the company meant everything to her. Now this is the thanks he gets for choosing her over that asshole Phil in sales.”
And advice for week 38 of gestation:
“This week, your body is producing a lot of surfactant, fluid that prevents the air sacs in the lungs from … oh, you don’t care about this stuff anymore. … Remember the time between Obama’s election and his inauguration? When no one gave a crap anymore what Bush was doing, even Bush? Well, right now, this pregnancy is President Bush.”

Oh potty, how I love thee

2009-11-05T17:18:00.001-05:00

Its provenance was curiosity. Why are Nutmeggers so fond of these little houses with dollhouse proportions out back?
Leslie and Richard Strauss of Chester wondered aloud why residents of their 350-year-old village maintained their backyard latrines and stumbled onto a treasure of historical remembrances, anecdotes, lore, photos and even poetry — all centered on the most necessary room in (or out of) the house.
“Outhouses of Connecticut,” with photographs by the couple’s daughter Jessica Strauss Hunt, ($14.95, Strauss House Creations) offers a visual tour through colonial-era latrines lovingly kept up by their owners, but it’s also a repository of Connecticut history from the perspective of the people.
Some are miniature replicas of the main house, others have been repurposed as garden sheds, storage facilities, and a select few are still in use for the occasional hiker or during an unfortunate loss of water or plumbing indoors.
Read about the “Portland pooper,” three-seaters, the meaning of moon and star carvings which typically adorn a loo’s front door, the Moodus church pastor who conducts Sunday services while urging his parishioners to go light on the coffee before Mass, why many latrines have handles on the sides, and how one 90-year-old former project engineer neatly assembled a tiny carved outhouse inside a narrow-necked jug.
For information, see http://outhousesofconnecticut.com.

wooly deeds done dirt cheap

2009-11-05T15:34:00.003-05:00

Trying to unload some yarn 'cause I've been wheezing and sniffling while trying to knit a cardigan in what I thought was gray cotton, only to discover, halfway through the pattern, that the cotton was 30 percent wool, which I am allergic to. I have lambs wool and mohair:
http://hartford.craigslist.org/art/1444507703.html

Shorti Cardi

2009-11-05T15:18:00.006-05:00

I have been working on a cropped cardigan pattern, The Spunky Eclectic Shorti Cardi, ever since I found it while browsing for simple yet beautiful sweaters online.

I think the color is what arrested me: it's a lovely shade of olive green. http://spunkyhats.com/pattern_sprout.htm
While visiting Stitches 2009 two weeks ago, I bought a bag (10 skeins) of Di.Ve' Zenith in Cornflower Blue.

It is washable merino wool and knits up so easily; knitting with it is like manipulating a softer version of cotton. I'm just about finished with the second sleeve and will soon start the body from the bottom up.
I'm debating whether I should make the body longer because cropped cardigans are difficult to wear for busty women like me.

Eye Candy: Fiber Vendors Show Off Confections

2009-10-29T15:26:00.006-04:00

Indie film buffs have Sundance, graphic mag fans have ComicCon and fiber aficionados have Stitches — where all things knitted, woven, spun, crocheted or felted converge to entice crafters of all stripes.
Fine yarns by the truckload co-opted the Hartford Connecticut Convention Center last weekend for Stitches East 2009, a massive, vibrant showcase of fiber and accessories vendors, demonstrations, book signings and classes.

For those (like me) who list knitting among their Top Five Reasons for Living, Stitches events make you feel like a 6-year-old dropped smack in the middle of the world’s largest candy shop.
At the Kollage Yarns booth, Mark Moraca held out two yarns made from corn fiber. “Originally, we did a lot of market bags with this,” Moraca said, fingering Corntastic, because of the yarn’s elasticity.
It would be perfect for a sweater or tunic because when stretched, the yarn snaps neatly back into shape.

Moraca held up a harvest-inspired shawl, bands of coral, jasper, peridot, turquoise and citrine, alternating to form a wide-based triangle with swingy tassels.
At Universal Yarns, Michael del Vecchio slipped his hand inside a doggy sweater in pink ribbing edged in pink, white and lavender Rozetti Yarns “cocoons.”
“It’s been around for about nine months, but is getting popular now,” he explained, as his fingers made yapping motions. He then continued crocheting with the novelty yarn — skipping three cocoons, then chaining two. The resulting scarf was tendrils of tiny crescent-shaped lamb’s-wool clouds.
At Joe’s Fiber Tools booth, wood artisan Joe Hanes of Indiana pointed out his square knitting needles crafted from 100-percent reclaimed wood. Hanes, a self-professed Dumpster diver, salvages exotic wood scraps discarded by a custom woodworking business in his hometown.
He held up a pair of 14-inch Exotic Tinys, the square shaft carved from Osage orange wood, topped with bloodwood caps.
“If I didn’t take it, they would burn it,” Hanes says, referring to the shop’s precious discards, like tigerwood, ipe, cherry and mahogany. “I take the trash and embrace it.”
He finishes the needles with a rubbing of essential oils in lemon, orange or grapefruit, which Hanes says naturally cleans the wood.
His wife Kim calls her husband’s needles, which are not traditionally sized, but measured in widths — one-eighth, one-quarter, one-half inch — “knitting outside the gauge.”
The next Stitches event in Hartford is Oct. 28-31, 2010.
For information, see joesfibertools.com, universalyarn.com, kollageyarns.com

New 'Knitting Club' Alert

2009-10-29T11:02:00.006-04:00

Last week, Stitches, this week, it's a new Kate Jacobs book, just in time for the holidays. "Knit the Seasons," out on Nov. 3, follows the close-knit friends of dearly departed Georgia as they reminisce through the holiday season.

And the author is coming to RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison on Tuesday (rjjulia.com, 800-75-READS) at 7 p.m.

Word is, they'll be a raffle drawing for a $50 gift certificate from Madison Wool that night.
Knitting and reading, my two favorite things.

Stitches East is here!

2009-10-22T10:25:00.004-04:00

Today through Sunday, Stitches East 2009 is at the Connecticut Convention Center, 100 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford, 860-249-6000. There will be classes, workshops, demonstrations, a fashion show, prizes, market daily and so much more. I'll be there Friday covering the event for the Hartford Advocate.

Look here to find information about the market and to sign up for one-hour workshops:
http://www.knittinguniverse.com/STITCHES_E09Showbook/
Guests include Anna Zilboorg, author of "Magnificent Mittens & Socks," Ann McCauley, author of "Pleasures of Knitting Together or Separate," Jane Slicer-Smith, author of "Swing Swagger Drape," Clara Parks, author of "Knitter’s Book of Wool," Cynthia Yanok Wise, author of "Knit It Your Way: Change the Yarn to Suit Your Style," and much more.
I can't wait.

Rosy ribs

2009-07-08T11:16:00.007-04:00

I've begun work on a new project, a Rib-Knitted Mini Dress With Wide Straps.
You can find the pattern here:
www.elmore-pisgah.com/Rib%20Knitted%20Mini%20Dress%20with%20wide%20straps.htm

Ever since I saw Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Sherrybaby," I've been obsessed with knitting airy cotton tanks, so I happened upon this pattern designed by Hajnalka Lovrekovich. The dusty pink is lovely to look at, but I chose to go with Peaches & Creme double worsted weight cotton yarn in tea rose, which is curiously nowhere near the pink hue its name implies, but rather an electric orange.

I purchased it online. I've just come to the end of one 2.5 oz. skein, well into knitting the 31 inches that constitutes the body of the dress.
I only wish I could knit faster! When you see something luscious online, you want it then; but it takes a while to finish a pattern. I can't even imagine how many hours young women in earlier times sat, rocked and knit every day.
The solution? Much like my time in graduate school where five or six books were required reading per week, you spend every waking moment reading ... while making dinner, at family dinners, in the car (as a passenger!) -- so it is with knitting.
I got some kooky comments from my mother and sister during my sister-in-law's recent baby shower as I knitted a wool purse during the "present opening" portion of the event. They thought I was being strange, and in other circumstances it would have been rude not to help out, except for the fact I had fallen up the stairs the evening before and badly hurt the side of my foot.
There it is! Knitting's boon is the infirm knitter! I'm recovering from salmonella poisoning now -- a form of food poisoning more common than you think -- and as is my lot, I ended up hospitalized for an acute case and despite the queries of every person I've told of my ordeal since, I have no idea how I contracted it.
So here I am ... recovering, a state I often wished for (stupidly) to allow my frantic life some pause, with all the time in the world to knit.
And if you've made your way through this entry, you'll see I've all the time in the world to blog as well.
Happy knitting.

Hopping right along

2009-06-03T08:42:00.003-04:00

Ye ole Wonderful Wallaby is coming along nicely in salmon wool.
Yesterday was the first day that knitting merino in the near-summer became uncomfortable, which means one thing: It's time for full-throttle.
For the next several days, I'll be blasting through the yoke, ribbing the neck, stockinette stitching a hood, and sewing up the underarms.

There's an optional tie at the neck ribbing, with three choices: I-cord, crochet and twisted cord.
But that's thinking a little far ahead. I've set a goal: to finish the sweater by the weekend. Saturday and Sunday are forecast to reach a temperature high of 76 degrees. Wish me luck.

Dress up baby

2009-06-03T07:17:00.006-04:00

Several months ago, I chanced upon a delicate little baby bib, flipping through a glossy knitting book among the new releases at the library. I have a little one, whose sloppy mealtimes are far behind him, and didn't know a soul with a baby; still I so wanted to try this intricate little pattern.
"Sweeten up baby's mealtime, at least until the creamed spinach starts to fly, with this pretty petal bib," the pattern says. "It's shaped with short-rows and fastens with an I-cord."
Beautifully knit in melon cotton yarn; I couldn't resist. I've an Achilles heel for anything knit in cotton - big, bulky sweaters, vests with large loopy holes; I've even kept the ecru crocheted sweater I wore in my college days; still in pristine condition, long-sleeved, crew-neck ... of course it needs an opaque shell underneath, which means any color of the rainbow can peek through each lacy hole, making it the most versatile object in my closet.

The first time I knit the bib pattern, I used a robin's egg blue, yarn from Wal-Mart, a place I rarely shop for yarn; but the best place for affordable cotton in 1-pound cones. I've knit a sweater dress from Wal-Mart's cone cotton, combining the pale yellow with blue.
That delicate little bib sat in my "finished bin," items I've knit and then put away; they're too beautiful to wear because once you wear them, there's the chance of stains, of fading in the wash, of ... gasp! ... shrinking them or discoloration with detergent. So there it sat, safe in a sheer orange plastic bin from Wal-Mart and every once in a while I'd pull it out and admire it.
Then my sister-in-law announced she was pregnant; due in August. Out came the bib and at our Memorial Day get-together; then I presented it to my brother by draping it around his neck. While I sat enjoying portobella mushroom burgers and homemade guacamole and hummus, I began knitting a pale yellow bib, foolishly thinking (hoping) I'd finish it at their home and present it to them; a gift hot off the needles.
It took me another couple days at home to finish it and now it awaits my sister-in-law's baby shower for its moment in the sun. That's the wonderful thing about knitting gifts for people, not only does the knitter cherish each stitch and - even more - the completed item, but the receipient does too.
On a telephone conversation last week, my sister casually asked if I'd made booties yet for the baby.
Excuse me while I exit left ... and begin the search for the most perfect tiny boots for my soon-to-be niece or nephew's feet.

award winner

2009-05-23T07:24:00.006-04:00

I am happy to report that my post, "Mouseke-toodles!" won an honorable mention at the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists award dinner May 21.

You can read the entry here:

http://3-ringcircus.blogspot.com/2008/03/mouseke-toodles.html

Wool days

2009-05-13T16:09:00.001-04:00

On Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-25, at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Mass., celebrates “Wool Days.” Farmers will shear the sheep, and OSV historians in costume will demonstrate the wool textile process, from scouring and carding the wool to spinning, knitting and weaving the handspun wool yarn into blanket. Visitors can try hand carding the wool, and then see how the Village’s historic water-powered carding mill does the same job much faster.
When sheared, the OSV sheep each produce about five pounds of wool. They are a heritage breed descended from sheep brought by Spaniards to the U.S. Gulf coast in the 1500s and closely resemble the 19th century sheep breed commonly found on New England farms in the 1830s.
For information, call (800) SEE-1830 or see osv.org.

Twittering knitty

2009-04-22T14:50:00.009-04:00

Just got the latest knittyreader, complete with two new patterns.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTradiate.php
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTtarget.php
And, knitty has its own Twitter page at twitter.com/knittydotcom.
And I'm still working on my Wonderful Wallaby sweater in salmon merino. The torso is done and I've moved on to one of the sleeves - and am one-third through. Right now it looks like a really thick sweatband for the wrist.

FAQs for the sweater: http://home.earthlink.net/~adbatiste/WW_FAQ.html

And I found a Flickr site where you can upload your Wallaby photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67759291@N00/1952957673/in/pool-wallaby

Happy knitting!

Join us

2009-04-10T08:44:00.004-04:00

The Russell Knitters meet on the first and third Saturday of the month at the Russell Library, 123 Broad St., Middletown Meeting Room 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Knitters are invited to bring their projects and join this group willing to share ideas and expertise. No registration is required. We welcome new members! For information, call (860) 347-2528.

Shearin' time

2009-04-09T21:57:00.003-04:00

The Connecticut Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival take place April 25 in Vernon. It features fiber, craft and equipment vendors; fiber arts demonstrations, shearing, skirting and educational programs, a sheep dog trail and animal exhibits at the Tolland Agricultural Center. For information, see ctsheep.org.

Love that wallaby

2009-04-01T11:45:00.002-04:00

Last week on the phone, I lamented to my knitting friend how I never seem to finish my projects in enough time to wear them - before the season changes. She suggested I start to knit for the opposite weather conditions - wool in the summer, cotton in the winter.
I weighed whether the uncomfortableness of knitting wool in spring/summer would win over the pleasure of working with Farmhouse Yarn Andy's Merino, which is hand-dyed and American grown.
Out came my 8 skeins of salmon.

Already, I've knit nearly 9 inches of Cottage Creations' Wonderful Wallaby in adult size large. I'm alternating two balls of the salmon because my stash has such varying colors. There's no such thing as dye lot for Farmhouse Yarns.
It's called a wallaby because of the amazing pouch you knit halfway through.

I used size 6 needles for the ribbing at the waist, and size 9 for the body. The only thing that keeps getting me messed up (and means lots of frogging until I stop doing it) is that when I come to the beginning of the round, I often pick up the wrong yarn, which will give me a strange round count.
Other than that, I'm just happily hopping along on this project.

Nut-brown buttons a perfect finish

2009-03-31T09:23:00.004-04:00

I finally finished my second Inca-Dincadoo Organic Cotton Baby Sweater. Although I forgot to make the buttonholes, I wanted to find some buttons that would give the sweater some character, so I headed to Old Wethersfield's Sit N Knit Too and their extensive collection of handmade buttons in all sizes and types.

I was drawn to the oversized wooden ones, and purchased three in a complementary nut color, sewed them on, and it was done.
Last Saturday over lunch, I presented the off-white and yellow sweaters to my brother for his August baby.
He loved them.

'The Most Easy and Graceful Employment'

2009-03-30T09:28:00.003-04:00

This appeared in the Middletown Press March 19

By JENNIFER SHAFER WOOD, Special to Weekend
CROMWELL — Rebecca Bayreuther Donahue, vice president and longtime volunteer at the Cromwell Historical Society, has successfully combined her love of history with her love of knitting.
She recently gave a presentation on 19th-century knitting, "The Most Easy and Graceful Employment: Hand-Knitting in the 19th Century," in which the audience was shown patterns and articles knit from these 1800-era templates.
For her program, the use of the word "employment" is less of a modern-day connotation such as a "job" or "work," but more the original meaning, "an activity or the like that occupies a person’s time."

Bayreuther Donahue explained, "If you come in cold, knowing nothing about how people knit in the 19th century, hopefully this presentation will give you a start to do some more investigation." Her PowerPoint presentation ran through the social history of 19th-century knitting, to reading complicating patterns that are almost like reading another language to the uninitiated.
Her program is rich with pictures of original pieces of knitted garments from different museums. She also uses knitted examples that she knit herself using 19th-century patterns.

Bayreuther Donahue learned to knit in the seventh grade as an alternative to recess one rainy day. In college at the University of Connecticut, Bayreuther would knit through class. "I got some beautiful boat-neck sweaters done that way," she mused.
Bayreuther Donahue earned her bachelor’s from UConn in English literature/creative writing. She discovered a passion for history by reading historical fiction."The romance and the charm of an earlier day — that’s what got me hooked on history," she reminisced. While at UConn, she became one of four founding members of The UConn Civil War Reenactment Association, where she had her first brush with the world of living history. Bayreuther Donahue describes herself a living historian who is active in not only participating in historical reenactments, but also by knitting period clothing.
Bayreuther is the lead role-player (circa 1876) at Mystic Seaport, The Museum of America and The Sea.
As a role-player at Mystic Seaport Bayreuther Donahue became active with the costume shop and began to contribute to period costumes by knitting from 19th-century patterns. She explored different collections of knitted items housed in different museums. That was her first introduction into classic knitting, or knitting from another time period, she said.
Bayreuther Donahue explained that in the 19th century, cotton was very popular; especially cotton stockings, for in all the museums she explored, there were tubs full of historical cotton stockings. Her personal preference for knitting is with wool, especially handwoven. "I like wool. I know that for the reenactment and living history community, people tend to spin, or have their own sheep and hand spin, or hand dye. So wool is more available for doing that stuff," she said.

A local handspun yarn tends to have a few more inconstancies than a machine spun wool. A lot of knitters today really like that inconstancy, Bayreuther Donahue says. Not only for the feel of the wool, but also because the garment is made from an article handspun to one hand-knitted.

During the 19th-century, women had to provide the family with clothing. At the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the weaving mills for cloth and knitting were obsolete due to mass production.

Freeing women up from knitting as a necessity, during the Industrial Revolution, knitting became a pastime of the well-to-do housewife who had more time and domestic help to deal with the day-to-day tasks of life. The patterns and knitting needles changed to reflect the Victorian gentile, who sat in a silk dress knitting and sipping tea.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most books on domestic help and advice books of that period recommended that children as young as 5 should know how to knit their own stockings, hats and mittens.

Today, children and adults learn to knit as a hobby. The first stitch a beginning knitter will learn is the garter stitch, Bayreuther Donahue says, "which is the basic knit stitch, and you just knit, knit, knit. Without changing how you’re doing the stitch. The garter stitch is named such because one of the first garments knitted were garters, which would be tied around your leg to hold up your stockings up."

"Purling allows you to manipulate the yarn in a different direction and as the knitter gains experience, they can pearl. When you get the knit stitch and the purl, you can do basically any other stitch that there is."

Much hand knitting in the 19th-century mimicked what now is known as machine-knit, a fine-gauge pattern with small needles.

"The size of the needle determines the fineness of your stitch. For example, baby socks would be knitted with a small needle, like 000, and they come out to be a millimeter in diameter," according to Bayreuther Donahue.

The smaller the needle, the more the challenge, Bayreuther Donahue explained, because the knitting goes much slower and completing a project takes much longer. "But it’s all in the experience of the knitter," she said.

Knitting in the style of 19th century can be a lot of fun, especially knitters can get into the mindset of a 19th-century knitter. The patterns are much different to read than modern knit patterns. Knitters have to leave modern knitting behind by trusting the 19th-century patterns, Bayreuther Donahue says, "it was a much more organic process then we have made it today."
Modern patterns have all the materials at the top, such as gauge, yarn type, needles, special notions, ect., so knitters know what is needed before beginning a new project.
With the 19th-century pattern, knitters are likely to find surprises while working through it, as opposed to the surety of today. Bayreuther Donahue says, "modern patterns tend to be made by the big yarn manufacturers," who are interested in people buying their yarn to make a garment.
In the 19th century, patterns are written by people who weren’t interested in the success of the garment, therefore, there is no commercial tie and they were written with the idea of producing the highest quality garment rather the highest sales.
For information, visit www.cromwellhistory.org. Resources include "The Workwoman’s Guide By A Lady: A Guide to 19th-Century Decorative Arts."

I Am Allergic to Baby Sweaters

2009-03-13T16:08:00.002-04:00

I enjoyed knitting the Inca-Dincadoo Organic Cotton Baby Cardigan so much in ecru that I started another in marigold — a vibrant yellow. I used the same Farmhouse Yarns I Am Allergic to Wool, 85 percent cotton, 15 percent rayon, hand-dyed, and omitted the buttons this time. I’d like to say this was a design choice, but I realized late last night after work that I had forgotten to make the five buttonholes (whoops!). No matter, my fingers said, calmly. Just keeeeep knitting. No one will know.
I’m nearly done now, just 10 more rows and then the side and sleeve seams have to be sewn up.

Stop the presses! I just read the last line in the directions and it says, “with RS facing and beginning at lower right front edge, work slip stitch crochet around entire front edge.”
Oops! Didn’t do that the first time. That’s what the crochet hook size I/9 is for.
Thank goodness this isn’t a recipe or anything irreparable.
Think what I’ll do is visit Sit and Knit tomorrow and buy some little kid buttons anyway to jazz it up.
After I dig out that crochet hook, that is.
For information on the yarn, see www.farmhouseyarns.com; Connecticut Yarn & Wool Co., 85 Bridge Road, Haddam; (860) 345-9300, www.yarnandwool.com.

Stories of knitting

2009-03-04T16:10:00.002-05:00

Kathy Goldner, avid knitter and publisher of Knitting Out Loud, will speak on the history of knitting on March 19 at 7 p.m. in the Hubbard Room at Russell Library, 123Broad St., Middletown.
Any diehard knitter knows the demands of modern life often leave hobbyists with an agonizing choice - between reading about knitting - and knitting. Kathy solved the dilemma by producing audiobooks of the best knitting titles available.
This hour-long presentation, illustrated with photographs, knitted items and antiques from Kathy’s collection, explores the world of knitting past and present through stories. Grandmothers are a theme throughout this presentation.
Kathy’s knitting story began in pre-war Germany, where her grandmother learned to knit. She shed her Victorian upbringing to become a physician and psychoanalyst, ultimately fleeing Hitler’s Germany to immigrate to the United States.

Kathy also looks ahead to the future of this craft and the unusual and inspiring things people are knitting today.
For information, see www.knittingoutloud.com.

All things sheepish

2009-02-27T16:48:00.006-05:00

Motherhouse in Cornwall is offering a number of "back-to-the-earth" workshops - called "traditional arts" - the next of which is on wool gathering. Demonstrations will be offered on carding, spinning, knitting, weaving, crocheting, and felting with natural wool.
There is also a Sourdough Starter Course April 11, Organic Gardening May 9 and many others.

Save for visiting Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, I've never seen carding done. I do remember going many years ago, when my first child was very small, and being utterly drawn to the process, even pinching a little piece of carded wool to take home.
It's ironic I'm allergic to wool. Maybe I was a shepherd in a past life.
For information, e-mail debra@motherhouse.us, see www.motherhouse.us or call Debra Tyler at (860) 672-0229.
The posting caught my eye in the Edible Nutmeg winter 2009 issue (www.ediblenutmeg.com).

Crafty mamas

2009-02-26T19:23:00.006-05:00

The new March-April 2009 issue of Mothering magazine (www.mothering.com) has just arrived.
Inside, there's a big feature written by Jean Van't Hul (who blogs as the Artful Parent) about five creative women across the country who use homespun crafts as a way to stay close to nature.
Some are mothers, even a stay-at-home (called "unschooling")who sews most of the clothing her husband and four children wear. She's decorated her workspace with vintage smocks and dresses, which give it a sense that the items lovingly created by women in the past hold court with her newly inspired ideas.

Some of you may already be familiar with the immensely popular Amanda Blake Soule's blog, SouleMama, who lives on the Maine coast.
The inset photo of the crocheted beginnings of a ecru-colored recycled fabric rug has even got me thinking about picking up my own hooks again.

At the crossroad

2009-02-21T09:04:00.005-05:00

The town known at "Connecticut's Crossroads," because it sits at the crossroads of Route 9 and Interstate 91 in the center of the state, has a knitting club that meets on Friday nights.
I haven't visited yet, but I wonder if someone who has would fill us in.
The Cromwell Belden Public Library, 39 West St., (860) 632-3460, Adult Knit Club meets on the second Friday of the month from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Arch Room.

Knitters are invited to join other fiber enthusiasts and bring what is on their needles or a completed project to share.
Enter through the Town Hall entrance since the library is closed Friday nights.

Inca-Dincadoo

2009-02-15T14:40:00.003-05:00

My sister-in-law just announced she's having a baby.
Congrats! I told her.
Then thought: Oooohhh! A chance to make quick, tiny sweaters!
I picked up Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders and found just what I was looking for in Inca-Dincadoo Organic Cotton Baby Cardigan designed by Sarah Keller. It calls for medium-weight yarn knit. I had at home already Farmhouse Yarns' I am Allergic to Wool in Ecru and spent most of the day Saturday knitting it up.
I got three-quarters through the project.
It's so delightful to knit, I think I'll do a pair.

Knitting in 19th century

2009-02-13T11:36:00.004-05:00

A program, "The Most Easy and Graceful Employment" Hand-knitting in the 19th Century, will be presented by Rebecca Bayreuther Donohue Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. in the Music Room of the Stevens-Frisbie House.
The Cromwell Historical Society talk will offer period photographs and engravings, instruction books and period patterns, original pieces and reproductions to illustrate the depth of the art as it became associated more with leisure than with necessity. People may bring questions, comments and knitting.

Admission is free and refreshments will be served.
For information, see www.cromwellhistory.org or call (860) 635-0501.

Big and bold

2009-02-12T19:29:00.004-05:00

Tanis Gray designed the bulky lace scarf on the cover of the new issue of VOGUEknitting, winter 2008.
Anyone who reads fashion magazines is familiar with these Gulliver-sized sweaters, scarves and shawls — and if you’re a knitter, you’ve undoubtedly yearned to make one, if only for the rapid results size 19 needles produce.
The only problem is that luxury yarns are expensive, and you need an awful lot to complete these projects.

In fact, the instructions call for 20 100-gram hanks. At an average price of $10.80 per skein, you can really rack up quite a bill.
The bold pattern is knit in Blue Sky Alpacas’ Frost — the perfect robin’s-egg blue. (blueskyalpacas.com)
In my newfound spirit of making do with what is at hand whenever possible, I opened my stash to find a bulky substitute.
I discovered six 60-gram skeins of Plymouth Yarn Yukon, 35 percent mohair, 35 percent wook and 30 percent acrylic, in beige, cream and rosy pink, then alternated the 24-row pattern blocks. The result is the warmest of neck coverings, more a cowl than a full-on scarf, due to its final length, 42 by 13 inches.
I downloaded the instructions to block the scarf, as I have never done it before (www.vogueknitting.com/node/230).
I think not using a single color really affected the three-dimensional effect.
Tonight, I’ll be turning my king-sized bed into a blocking station.
For information, see www.vogueknitting.com.

The baffling resiliency of little ones

2009-02-09T11:39:00.001-05:00

Last night at about 2 a.m., I heard my bedroom door squeak, then open slightly. What always emerges in the wee hours is a sleepy 5-year-old who scrambles into my bed, settles himself under covers, then falls asleep. This time I wait.
Then hear that sound parents know all too well: the splattering of stomach contents onto the floor. The reaction is instantaneous: the mad search for a receptacle of any type, then something to wipe the face afterward.
I expected to touch burning skin at his forehead but found none. Strange, I thought, drifting off to sleep; kindergartner glued to my left side. In the morning, I thought for sure I’d be trying to juggle a little boy home from school with my and my husband’s work schedules, but the sun rose and ... T was fine. Screaming obnoxiously for no reason, bugging his brother, doing cartwheels on the bed.
I’d been through this phenomenon with his older brother many times, yet every time it leaves me shaking my head.
It feels so ... expeditious. Expell offending substance, resume life of constant fun. Mom cleans it up.
I did try to get dad to help, once morning arrived. (Yes, I covered the soil with a towel, hoping it would disappear by morning).
“I was up all night with T,” I moaned. “Will you clean it up? It’s all over the door, walls and floor!”
Dad: “No, I’ll let you do that.”
The silver lining? I did get T to finally change those black jeans with the tattered hems he insists on wearing for days at a time. (He’s convinced he’s a skateboarder).
I told him he threw up. And it dried overnight.
It worked.
Sort of — off into his bedroom, T leaped, changing into his other pair of black jeans.
Hopefully the teacher won’t notice.

New York nod

2009-01-30T14:29:00.002-05:00

A reader generously tipped me off today that this little Middletown, Connecticut, blog is mentioned on Page 18 of the Winter 2009/09 VOGUEknitting International magazine under Cyberstitches in the Extras Extras section. It details how newspapers have gone online and knitting blogs are among the offerings.
See http://www.vogueknitting.com for information.

Scenes from a madhouse

2009-01-30T14:25:00.003-05:00

Scenes from a mother determined to eke out a few rows
10-year-old sitting on mom’s bed. Needs socks. Mother suggests he try on a pair of wool ones she just completed. Son inspects them. “You pull it on for me,” he says. Mom obliges, thinking, “boy, his toenails are sharp.” Second-guesses idea of giving away socks to kid who won’t appreciate them for an instant while repressing urge to suggest nail clippers. Sock fits perfectly. Mom: “These are very special. They took me a real long time to make.” Son: “Mom, do I have to wear them to school?” Mom grabs socks back, rolls up, places in her drawer. Leaves room.

Mom trying to complete knitted rectangular washcloth on Saturday. Just golf ball-size of yarn remains in project. Eighty stitches in each row of basketweave stitch, eight per section. Mom barely completes eight stitches before she’s interrupted by 5-year-old asking her to “look it.” At him maneuvering Tech Deck minature skateboard over miniature stairs, down railing. “Now you do a trick, mom.” Run back to knit a few more stitches. “Mom,” 10-year-old yells from kitchen. “Where’s the Ovaltine?” Down goes the knitting, into the kitchen mom walks wordlessly. Grabs Ovaltine from shelf, puts on counter. Hears 5-year-old running toward couch, then sees him flipping over it into headstand, landing all over washcloth, knocking stitches off needles. Sighs. Puts project away.

Stash Swap

2009-01-23T10:09:00.003-05:00

The Knitting Nook in Coventry, 3466 Main St., is having a unique benefit Jan. 31 from 4 to 6 p.m.
The Stash Swap is a fund-raising event to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. A minimum $5 donation is requested for participation.
Swap yarn will be collected from 4 to 4:30 p.m. and put in one of three different bins according to approximate quality and price range. Colored tickets will be issued equal to the number of skeins.

At 4:30 p.m., knitters can choose the same number of skeins from the bins.
For information, see www.knittingnookyarn.com, call (860) 742-0300 or see www.jdrf.org.

Lap of luxury

2009-01-12T11:37:00.004-05:00

I found out about a brand new knitting book last week, "Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders," ($18.95, Storey Publishing, www.storey.com) edited by Judith Durant. I flipped through the pictures and couldn't believe my eyes - as if Durant could top "One-Skein Wonders" and "101 Designer One-Skein Wonders," but she certainly has.
Cashmere, alpaca, silk, soy, linen, bamboo, corn, mohair, qiviut (Musk Ox yarn) ... all these lovely little hats, scarves, necklaces, baby sweaters, shawls, gloves, socks are luscious. I can't wait to begin a project with the alpaca yarn I already own.

I have about 1/3 remaining on my sock project and every day I furiously knit as fast as I can to complete it.
Meantime, I carry around this new book in my bag and sneak a look every time I have a free moment.
See www.oneskeinwonders.com for information

Knit Two

2008-12-31T12:18:00.002-05:00

I'm reading the fabulous follow-up novel by Kate Jacobs to her best-selling "Friday Night Knitting Club," called "Knit Two," (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $24.95) which revisits the characters of the first book five years later.

Georgia may be gone, but Walker and Daughter still bustles along with our favorite characters: Lucie has five-year-old precocious Ginger; Darwin is pregnant with twins, Dakota is in college, Catherine is running her antiques shop, and Peri is in charge of the store and still working on her purses; poor Anita wants to marry Marty but her sons object.
I'm on chapter eight. It's snowy and so blustery that the big fluffs of snow are actually funneling upward outside my window at work. I'm headed home to cozy up on the sofa with a warm blanket and perhaps some honeyed tea.
The two things I love most in the world (family excepted, of course): knitting and reading are combined in this delightful hardcover.
Don't tell me how it ends!

A manly project

2008-12-23T08:58:00.004-05:00

"Knitting With Balls" has three variations on the basic washcloth, or utility cloth as it's called here, illustrated with a handsome young man polishing the chrome on his Harley with a mustard-colored version.
I used Line 12 Clip by Online in an navy blue color, and chose the basketweave pattern.
As you can see, it's coming along nicely. And it's an easy pattern to manage when you're devoid of much cranial space from the stress of the impending holidays.
Just remember to count eight stitches and alternate between knit and pearling or you'll end up taking out a number of stitches.
Happy polishing.

Ode to a simple cap

2008-12-23T08:50:00.004-05:00

I started a little project a week ago - a type of palate cleanser - after spending far too many months knitting my crimson sweater.
My 11-year-old needed a hat for the winter - which swirled in so fantastically with one big Nor'easter, a follow-up day of snow and sleet, and now we're anticipating another storm tomorrow during the day.
Hello, Winter.
The snow is solid now; and icicles dangle from housetops, growing longer and more like sicles daily as the melted snow drips along the length, then freezes.
This little cap was knit with two colors of Farmhouse Yarns Fat Sheep on a size 10 1/2 double-pointed needles.
I love the neatly increasing rows, how the cap sits tight along the head.
My son wears it indoors only, to keep him warm against winter's drafts. He says he doesn't like it otherwise.
Oh, but I do.

Winter lace

2008-12-19T10:56:00.005-05:00

Just got the word on this amazing workshop coming up next month. The Arts Center at Killingworth is offering a Designer Fashion Knitting Workshop Jan. 25 from 1 to 4 p.m.
Graphic artist and designer Kimberly Conner will guide people to create an elegant lacy wave scarf. Experiment with new colors and textures to create a one-of-a-kind fashion accessory.

Basic knitting skills, such as casting on, knit and purl stitches, and binding off are required. The cost is $50. To register, call (860) 663-5593,e-mail artscenterkillingworth@gmail.com or see www.artscenterkillingworth.org.

Winter Tomato

2008-12-17T11:51:00.003-05:00

Finally, this past Saturday, I finished my short-sleeved sweater, Tomato. What a long project this was, lasting from mid-summer to nearly winter. I’ll attribute that to the size 8 needles, not the knitter’s lack of dedication.
If you feel the need for inspiration or camaraderie from fellow fiber enthusiasts, as we’re so often referred to as, here is a roundup of local knitting clubs.
In Middletown, The Russell Knitters meet the first and third Saturdays of the month at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Meeting Room 3 at Russell Library, 123 Broad St. No registration is required. For information, call (860) 347-2520. It’s Only Natural restaurant, 386 Main St., Main Street Market, offers a free Stitch n Bitch with Amy on Thursdays at 6 p.m. For information, call (860) 346-9310. In Cromwell,
The Adult Knit Club meets at the Cromwell Belden Public Library Arch Room on the third Friday of the month at 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Enter through the Town Hall entrance, since the library is closed Friday nights. Call (860) 632-3460 for information. The Nutmeg Knitters Guild meets on the third Wednesday of the month, September through June, at 7 p.m. at the Bethany Covenant Church, 75 Mill St., Berlin.
On another note, Stitches East is coming to the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford Oct. 22 to 25. You can request a brochure listing events and classes offered at: http://www.knittinguniverse.com/brochure/index.php.

Fancy little projects

2008-12-10T11:06:00.002-05:00

She's much loved by fiber enthusiasts around the world, gives weekend and weeklong workshops between Connecticut and Florida - and spends much of her time right here in Middletown. Charlene Schurch's newest book, "Little Book Of Sox," ($19.95, Martingale & Co. Inc.) which she co-authored with Beth Parrott, has received nothing but raves online, even inspiring some knitters to say they love her and want to kiss her!
I have her books of hats, "Hats On!" with folk-inspired hats, and even tiny ones for ornaments on the Christmas treet.
A lifelong knitter, Schurch has worked as a knitting, spinning, and dyeing instructor for 10 years. Her work has been featured in Knitter's Magazine, Interweave Knits and Piecework.
Perfect for last-minute Christmas gifts.
Get your size 2 needles ready.

One thing in life that's free

2008-12-10T10:55:00.000-05:00

Wondering what to do for that special person on your Christmas list? I’ve been making small gifts this year for close family members. It began with a pair of fingerless gloves that I made for my mother in wool/mohair on chunky needles in a dusty rose color. Now that I’m minutes away from finishing my current project, there is just enough time to eek out a couple more gifts. And ... if you need inspiration, the local yarn shop, Connecticut Yarn and Wool, in Haddam and Madison, is offering free classes for the remainder of December.
Friday is a potholders class from 5 to 7 p.m. Once relegated to the kitchen drawer, potholders can become wall art when not in use if you choose a yarn with striking colors, chunkiness or sheen. Quickly knit four of them and tie like a present with grosgrain ribbon and voila! Instant gift-giving from the heart.
Saturday, the class is a Chain Link Scarf from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday is Larn to Knit from 2 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, make a Last-Minute Ski Cap from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Dec. 18, learn to make a Nordic Ear Flap Hat from 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 19, the focus is Mittens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Dec. 20 is Last-Minute Gifts, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Dec. 22, Learn to Knit from 2 to 7 p.m. Dec. 23 is a Finishing Workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Dec. 26 is Learn to Crochet from 5 to 7 p.m.
The Connecticut Yarn and Wool Company, LLC, is at 85 Bridge Road, Haddam, (860) 345-9300; and 25 Boston Post Road, Madison, (203) 318-8787; info@yarnandwool.com.

Shop locally

2008-12-05T10:55:00.003-05:00

I just ran downstairs to the first floor of our building and found local artisans setting up their booths in the expansive former It's Only Natural supermarket space.
The Creative Juice Holiday Gift Shoppe is open in the Main Street Market, 386 Main St., Middletown, today. There are wares, including Judyth Crystal Arts, Ray Ross Photography on Dec. 13 and 20, Curtis Studio of Photography LLC, and Karen’s Kreations — offering fine arts and crafts, photography, concert tickets, young children’s music, hand-knitted items, beaded jewelry, mixed media paintings and cards. Hours are: today all day; Saturday and Dec. 13 and 20, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Look for the week before Christmas, when the Shoppe will be open daily.

Vegans do it

2008-11-25T12:59:00.005-05:00

This just in ...
It's Only Natural Restaurant is forming a Stitch 'n' Bitch With Amy group on Thursdays at 6 p.m., beginning Dec. 4.
Co-owner Renana Magee, sporting a hot-pink big knit shell, and my server, who says she's addicted to knitting, told me the good news.
For information, stop by the restaurant at Main Street Market, 386 Main St., rear; to pick up the December menu.

And - happy knitting!

Stop and listen

2008-11-25T09:57:00.001-05:00

Nov. 28 is the National Day of Listening.
I've been hearing about the StoryCorps project for a while on on NPR radio, so I decided to check out the sample list of questions.
The idea is that you sit down Friday with someone important in your life and record a conversation as you ask questions - any that you'd like to, or the Web site has an extensive list of sample questions at http://www.storycorps.net/record-your-story/question-generator/list
So, I thought it would be a neat idea for me to select some of the questions and give them to my family members and close friends, asking them to answer which every they'd like, since I'm not seeing many of them for the upoming holidays.
I thought it would be more evocative for them to handwrite the responses, and I'll compile them into a binder and give everyone a copy.
Here is a sample if you'd like to try something similar this Friday.
Happy listening!

Great questions for anyone
What was the happiest moment of your life? The saddest?
Who was the most important person in your life? Can you tell me about him or her?
Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did they teach you?
Who has been the kindest to you in your life?
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?
What is your earliest memory?
Are there any words of wisdom you’d like to pass along to me?
What are you proudest of in your life?
When in life have you felt most alone?
How has your life been different than what you’d imagined?
How would you like to be remembered?
Do you have any regrets?
What does your future hold?
Is there anything that you’ve never told me but want to tell me now?
Is there something about me that you’ve always wanted to know but have never asked?

Coveting luxury

2008-11-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

Ever wish you had all the leisure time in the world to knit?
I wish I could knit a sweater a week and my entire wardrobe would be lovely handknit items — for all seasons.
Alas, I’m still knitting my Tomato short-sleeved sweater — a months-long project, probably because I only have about 20 minutes a day to knit and the needles are a size 8.
So when I was flipping through my InStyle magazine this weekend, I happened along an ad for 525 America sweaters (www.525america.com) and found chunky knit bell-sleeved sweaters, cardigans, dresses, tunics, motorcycle jackets — Help!!!
I am in love.

Oh, but they’re so expensive.
Overstock.com has them cheaper — with a small selection.
My budget can’t justify a $125 sweater. Even for Christmas.
So, I’m on the prowl for patterns that’ll satisfy the 525 America ones whirling around my cranium.

Icy fingers no more

2008-11-05T13:27:00.003-05:00

I was beginning a project — a bulky cap hat for my husband, when my mother asked me to make her some fingerless gloves. She’s a diabetic and suffers from cold extremities, so naturally I started her project forthwith.
I chose to make Fingerless Mitts, from a Farmhouse Yarns pattern by Ann Ameling.
I made a pair for myself last year that I’m still using now in Farmhouse Yarns’ Lumpy Bumpy Yarn by Charlene (99 percent Merino, 1 percent nylon).

It calls for bulky yarn and I found a Plymouth Yarn Yukon, which is 35 percent mohair, 35 percent wool and 30 percent acrylic, in pale pink. I am using size 10½ double-pointed needles. The gauge is 3 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch. I am making a size medium for my mother.
Cast on 24 (28, 32) stitches. Join in the round. Place marker for beginning of round. Work K1, P1 ribbing until 4 to 6 inches long. Thumb: Bind off 4 (5, 6) stitches. Continue working in pattern to the end of the round.
Next round: Cast on 1 stitch. Slip cast-on stitch to left needle, knit into front and back of stitch. *Slip last stitch just knit onto left-hand needle, knit into front and back of stitch. Repeat from * 2 (3, 4) times. Work ribbing until end of round.
Continue knitting in round in K1, P1 ribbing until work measures 2 to 4 inches from thumb opening.
Bind off, weave in ends.
Repeat for other mitt.
See www.farmhouseyarns.com and www.yarnandwool.com.

Wiggle room

2008-10-31T16:27:00.004-04:00

This morning, it was cold. Not bone-chilling, but cold enough for my entire car to be coated frost. My son missed the 7:41 a.m. bus (again), so there I was scraping the windows while he fiddled inside with the radio dial. Forethought kept my fingers warm as I scraped — a couple days ago I pulled out my wool fingerless gloves made with Farmhouse Yarns’ Lumpy Bumpy wool in Rose Garden. My 11-year-old asked me for a pair.
“You want me to knit you some?” I asked.
“Yes. They’re cool,” B. said.
So today, I’m online looking for a suitable pattern for an adolescent boy, thus assuring that he’ll at least wear them once.

I found the following on Interweave Knits, perfect for the occasion.
http://www.interweaveknits.com/freepatterns/ pdf/Hands_Up_Instructions.pdf
There’s also another neat pattern here.
http://knitting.about.com/od/mittenpatterns/p/fingerless.htm
B. couldn’t believe that I’d possibly complete them by Sunday.
It’s really quick knitting in the round.

I’ll just let him believe I’m amazing — a regard he had for me perpetually years ago, but somehow lost toward the end of grammar school.

Holly Golightly is having breakfast

2008-10-24T13:43:00.002-04:00

Recently, I checked out the film, “Capote (2005)” from the library.
I had seen “Infamous (2006)” several months prior and had become fascinated by the character of Truman Capote, even though my first exposure to him was as depicted by the actor Toby Jones. His Capote was wildly unappealing to me, although I loved the movie and watched it two or three times. Sandra Bullock stars as the school marmish Nell Harper Lee.
“Capote” stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote and Catherine Keener as Lee. Hoffman won an Oscar — Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role — an award a long time coming in my opinion, having seen him in countless character roles over the years. As after watching “Infamous,” I made a mental note to get the book, “In Cold Blood.”
Today, Vintage Trade Paperbacks send me the 50th anniversary reissue of Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” the book that inspired the movie starring Audrey Hepburn, and includes three of his short stories.
I can’t wait to read it. The book hits stores Nov. 11.

Nutmeg Knitters

2008-10-24T11:26:00.001-04:00

A couple of the ladies in my Russell Library Russell Knitters group have joined the Nutmeg Knitters Guild. It meets on the third Wednesday of each month except for July and August in the lower level of the Bethany Covenant Church, 785 Mill Street, Berlin, at 7 p.m. There are nominal membership dues, trips, yarn samples, coupons for locally owned yarn stores and many other perks of joining. I’ve yet to make a meeting, but perhaps you can.
Nutmeg Knitters brings together individuals with a mutual interest in knitting who gather in friendship to share knitting ideas, to build on knitting skills, to teach and inspire others and to knit for charity. All skill levels are welcome. For information, see www.NutmegKnitters.org.

The Wind’s blowing South

2008-10-09T12:45:00.000-04:00

This weekend looks terrific for weather — daytime highs hovering around 70 degrees. What could be better than a yarn-inspired family trip? I’m eyeing the Southwind Farms Annual Fall Festival & Open Farm Days on Saturday and Sunday, with new alpaca products, yarns and events from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jim and Penny Mullen run the farm at 223 Morris Town Line Road, Watertown; (860) 274-9001; www.southwindfarms.com.

Mad mommy

2008-10-07T16:32:00.002-04:00

My husband calls this portrait of me in blue marker by my 5-year-old son, “Mean Mommy.”
He delights in recalling this picture whenever I scold the little guy. Just to bug me.
“Mean Mommy’s at it again,” he’ll say. As if my son doesn’t deserve to have his mouth washed out with liquid Dawn (just a swipe on the gums, mind you) when he calls me, “UR@!&$%$#*”
Saturday’s kiddy terrorism sent mom to new heights of fury.
I had my organic cotton yarn skein set around the back of my rocking chair. I began to roll it into a ball. My cell phone rang, from the kitchen. Usually I am supremely careful of all my projects, each in a plastic zip-lock bag, then inside a shoulder bag at all times. If liquid, food, a child, snow or anything with a remote possibility of stain-ability is near, zip-locks are employed.
Go figure. The one time I innocuously answer a telephone call from my stepmother, certain my little man is occupied with his drumset, mid-conversation I sense an uncanny stillness from the living room.
I cut the call short.
Walk to the other room, to see my craft scissors strangely open on the couch. And my precious yarn cut through six times.
And, the ball I had begun is missing. I sense someone hiding in the other room (mom-dar).
Leading to my husband’s desk is a long string of red yarn, criss-crossing the desk legs like a spider web. I lunge for T and the ball. He scrambles out the front of the desk, with the yarn ball, tangling it around chairs, through the TV room, into the kitchen, lickety-split.
And, gasp! — into the bathroom, around the toilet base.
Well, if there is a silver lining it is that I am fanatical about cleaning the toilets in our house. With three “boys” at home, it’s not uncommon that one or another or ALL miss the toilet substantially.
God must have been smiling down at me that day. At the very least — laughing understandably, because I had just cleaned this one.
I retrieved my ball, SCREAMED at T, then rolled up the remainder of my yarn into six balls of varying size.
And cursed, most likely looking very much like Mean Mommy.

Eco hooking

2008-09-26T13:07:00.002-04:00

There will be a cool workshop, an ongoing series, on how to crochet plastic grocery bags Oct. 16 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Hubbard Room at Russell Library, 123 Broad St., Middletown. You may have visited the library a couple months ago and saw these colorful eco-sensible creations on the first-floor display case. Library staff advise that crocheting knowledge is necessary. People should bring a large crochet needle (size G or H or over 9 mm). This program is for children over age 9 and all adults. Registration is required and limited to the first 25 people who sign up. To register, call the Information Desk at (860) 347-2520. The event is co-sponsored by the Rockfall Foundation, Russell Library, and the Middletown Resource Recycling Advisory Council.
The City of Middletown Public Works Department featured a pattern in a recent newspaper, courtesy of the Recycling Coordinator, for recyclers to crochet, reprinted here: http://www.knitting-crochet.com/crochet/plabag.html.
There is also a pattern conversion available for knitters.

Downy soft and sneeze-free

2008-09-25T16:27:00.003-04:00

I actually had gone to the Wadsworth Mansion Open Air Market and Festival in late August and found out from one of the vendors that alpaca is non-allergenic. Since I am very allergic to wool, I was delighted. I touched a soft as rabbit fur purse in green and pink, and was told it was made with Misti Alpaca yarn, baby alpaca. I had to have it. I looked on line and found the Web site, then saw that it was sold in Meriden at The Yarn Garden.
During my visit there last Saturday, the owner had only one type of Misti yarn, baby alpaca, but in lace weight and brown. It was terrific, but I had my eye on a particular scarf that looks like it’s almost woven, in a Crayola box of colors, free from the Misti Web site. It is called “Le Petite Echarpe,” or “little scarf.”
(The pattern is at http://www.mistialpaca.com/downloads/ Misti_Alpaca_FREE_Le_Petite_Echarpe.pdf).
What I did find at the Garden is Classic Elite’s Inca Print in a rustic color, 100 percent alpaca and soft as down. The scarf pattern calls for a chunky yarn (size 11 needles), 1 hank, 109 yards. The Inca is the correct yardage but far from chunky, calling for a size 7 needle. And the scarf pictured is very short to my taste — 4 by 25 inches. So I bought four hanks of the Inca and plan on making it longer and just as thick by doubling the yarn.
I’ll report back as well on what my sneeze-o-meter registers as soon as I undertake the project.

Not your average dishcloths

2008-09-24T13:38:00.006-04:00

I purchased three skeins of On Line Linie Clip 100 percent Egyptian cotton, which is mercerized — a process that give the yarn a shiny finish. I chose eggplant, royal blue and an emerald green. The pattern I used was from “101 Designer One-Skein Wonders,” edited by Judith Durant, following the not-your-average washcloths pattern. The project took just a few hours and yielded a lovely 7-square-inch purple washcloth that alternates four garter and stockinette stitch squares. The loop called for a crocheted chain, but I modified mine, using much smaller double-pointed needles (size 4) and knit an I-cord loop.
I purchased the yarn from a lovely little yarn shop at 194 Elm St., in Meriden (203-237-6446, www.yarngardenllc.com), The Yarn Garden, which has absolutely every type and brand of yarn you can think of or desire. Next up? Royal blue. Only this time I’m feeling more adventureous and will use the patterns from the book “Knitting With Balls” by Michael Del Vecchio, which offers three types of “utility cloths,” shown in the photo being used to shine up motorcycle chrome (gasp!).

They’re more complicated and the cloths can be made in 8- to 12-inch squares.
You can bet one thing I won’t be doing with them is dusting.
Not if I’m knitting them.

The Sky is always Blue

2008-09-17T11:07:00.007-04:00

I’m loving the Blue Sky.
As in Blue Sky Alpacas organic cotton, color: Tomato, kind of an orangy crimson.
The pattern is Tomato, designed by Wendy Bernard (www.knittingdaily.com).
Seven inches knit so far!

What’s really interesting is that it is knit from the top down, with a deep square scoop neck, so soon I’ll be knitting in the round, tapering the bust and waist.
Soon I’ll be working on the simple band of herringbone that circles the bust, in Nut.

When I finish it, it’ll be crisp, cool fall; but one of those days, probably in early October, check out the lady with the handmade, short-sleeved sweater on Main.

The colors are, from top, cumin, tomato, thistle and pumpkin.

Knit One, Save One

2008-09-10T13:33:00.000-04:00

“Knit One, Save One,” launched by the global humanitarian organization, Save the Children, and the Warm Up America Foundation, seeks to engage knitters and crocheters to take action for the 4 million babies who die each year within the first month of life in poor countries.
Save the Children’s Knit One, Save One initiative is asking knitters and crocheters by Dec. 318 to knit or crochet one baby cap; and to write a personal note to the President-elect asking him to lead the way to save millions of babies globally.
In November 2006, I knit four caps and mailed them to Warm Up America, and received a personal postcard in response, thanking me.
I think I’ll start tonight knitting up a few quick caps with all the warm wool and alpaca I have at home.
To see the story I wrote for the Middletown Press, “Knitters join national cause,” at http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=17533425&BRD=1645&PAG=461&dept_id=665536&rfi=8
To download the action kit, or to learn other ways to support the initiative as a non-knitter, go to savethechildren.org/knitonesaveone or call (800) 728-3843. To join the online community and share experience, visit savethechildren.org/friends.
To find a local knitting or crocheting group or to learn tips, go to www.warmupamerica.org.
Happy knitting!

The knitting bug

2008-09-05T10:34:00.004-04:00

I peeked into our mailbox the other day and found a most wonderful surprise.
The fall Webs catalogue.
The Holy Grail of knitting.
Every page is filled with luscious yarns and gorgous sweaters, shawls and blankets knit up in dazzling colors.
I'm almost afraid to crack open the cover.
Afraid that I'll lust after each and every item - and even worse, buy yet more yarn, far too much yarn for one woman to ever knit in a lifetime.
Perhaps ...
... there's a way to knit 24 hours a day.
I've been bitten ....
... and it aches.
(Get your own at www.yarn.com or 800-367-9327 - if you dare!)

Parting ways

2008-08-27T14:04:00.005-04:00

I’ve been working on the same shawl since February.
You’d think it would be measured in feet, or tens of feet, by now, but the length from tip to working edge is a mere 25 inches.
It’s embarrassing to admit that I finished my last project in the first days of July.
“Why are you making a shawl,” my older boy chides me. “Aren’t they for grannies?”
Well, X, I might just be a grandma when I finish this thing and at last can drape it over my shoulders.
The time has come to diverge, dear shawl.
Not for lack of interest, or amour, but for dignity’s sake.
My own — this pattern is so difficult that I often knit three rows and tear back two because I made a mistake.
Which are very difficult to catch.
Another reason I have soldiered on is that it is easier to knit what you already know so well than get into a new pattern’s stitching. I don’t have to think as I watch the movies “Frida” or “Hotel Rwanda,” my fingers just move along in the established way.
Loop over, slip, knit, knit, slip slipped stitch over ...
Alas, dear shawl, it’s time to bid you adieu.

Momma’s found a short-sleeved sweater earlier in the summer that I must confess I long to begin.
It’s called Tomato, designed by Wendy Bernard, and uses worsted-weight Dyed Cotton in #619 tomato and Organic Cotton in #82 nut.
Interweave Press published the book "No Sheep For You," where it is found.
Find the free pattern at http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/ patterns/archive/2007/06/19/tomato.aspx.
I ordered the yarn online from Blue Sky Alpacas (www.blueskyalpacas.com) on a Sunday afternoon and it was in my mailbox the next day — at no extra charge.
My knitting bag was snug this morning as I packed both projects together in my carrying bag.
I’m sure the brown shawl felt jilted.
Breaking up — it’s so hard to do.

Looking ahead to Election Day

2008-08-26T11:43:00.002-04:00

If you want to hear some great local music, check out Terry Woolard's latest CD, "Black President: White House Under New Management."
I wrote a story about him last week (Aug. 21) for the cover of my Weekend section in the Middletown Press.
The title track is superb.

Rustic fibercrafts

2008-08-25T12:07:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I visited the Open Air Market and Festival at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown. This annual event attracts vendors of all types selling garden fruits and vegetables, honey, artisan breads and cheeses, handicrafts, jewelry, artwork, milk and so much more. I was particularly drawn to the heirloom vegetables — fat and ugly tomatoes, eggplant, beans, radishes, all of vibrant hue — and fiber arts, alpaca, goat and sheep yarn hand spun and dyed colors of the natural world.
Vivienne McGarry of Cold Goats Farm of Haddam Neck was there with two bleating sheep, showing off her felted pumpkins, apples, purses and knit shawls, scarves and sweaters. Laurie Sanford of Twin Gate Farm in Killingworth had some of the softest yarn I’ve ever felt — baby alpaca, she said, from Misti Alpaca (www.mistialpaca.com) and her own handspun alpaca and angora goat yarn. She, too had needle-felted items (pet rocks with silly eyes), short scarves in a rainbow of colors, children’s vests and sweaters, felted and recycled sweater purses and bags and necklaces from felt. Patricia Fortinsky of Old Lyme’s Tidal Yarns (www.tidalyarns.com) sat barefoot, spinning some purple roving into yarn, surrounded by skeins of her naturally dyed and handspun yarns in lemon yellow, mustard, crimson, salmon, chocolate colors.
As I fingered each item and skein, I kept thinking, “my stash, my stash,” keeping the image of that mass of yarn at home which only seems to grow fatter, then peeled myself away from each booth, buying only a knit wool pocket pouch in evergreen, punch and rustic browns, marked down in the sale bin.
Too bad this only happens once a year.
But good thing it’s now the start of Connecticut’s fair season, beginning with last weekend’s Chester Fair and continuing this weekend with the Haddam Neck Fair Aug. 29, 30, 31 and Sept. 1; the Durham Fair Sept. 26, 27 and 28; and Portland Fair Oct. 10, 11 and 12.

Berry, berry quite contrary

2008-08-20T13:13:00.003-04:00

A representative of Lyman Orchards stopped by the office this morning to drop off a sample of its Apple and Bumbleberry pies. Also included in the package was a sample of Applesauce and Corn Relish. Ever-eager to taste test items for my readers, I sampled the Bumbleberry Pie immediately.
What is Bumbleberry Pie, I wondered, as did my son — who was more than happy to sample a generous slice of high-top apple pie.
A little research on the Web led me to discover that “bumbleberry” isn’t a berry at all, but a term for the melange of berries currently at hand for a cook about to make a pie. Whatever is in season is the best to start with, although I am certain frozen berries will suffice.
Lyman makes its pie with apples, raspberries, cherries, blackberries and blueberries.
The result is a thick, jammy crescendo of flavor balanced by Lyman’s famous browned and crackled crust.
Head over to the Apple Barrel at 32 Reeds Gap Road, Middlefield, yourself for a slice of heaven.

If you want to replicate the taste at home, I found this recipe from Good Housekeeping online:
Deep-Dish Bumbleberry Pie
Pastry
2¼ cup(s) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon(s) salt
½ cup(s) (1 stick) butter or margarine, cold, cut into pieces
¼ cup(s) vegetable shortening
5 tablespoon(s) (more as needed) ice water
Berry Filling
¾ cup(s) sugar
¼ cup(s) cornstarch
2 large (1 pound) Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¾-inch chunks
5 cup(s) assorted berries such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and sliced strawberries
1 tablespoon(s) milk or cream
2 teaspoon(s) sugar
Prepare Pastry: In large bowl, combine flour and salt. With pastry blender or 2 knives used scissors-fashion, cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with fork after each addition until dough is just moist enough to hold together.
Shape dough into 2 disks, 1 slightly larger than the other. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or overnight. (If chilled overnight, let dough stand 30 minutes at room temperature before rolling.)
Prepare Berry Filling: In large bowl, combine sugar and cornstarch. Add apples and berries; gently toss to combine.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to lowest position in bottom of oven. Line large cookie sheet with foil; place in oven while oven preheats.
On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll larger disk of dough into 13-inch round. Ease round into 9½-inch deep-dish pie plate. Trim edge, leaving 1-inch overhang. Spoon filling into crust.
Roll remaining disk of dough into 12-inch round. With floured pastry wheel or knife, cut dough into 1-inch-wide strips. Brush edge of bottom crust with some milk. Place half of strips, about ¾inch apart, across top of pie. Place remaining strips perpendicular to first strips or use to weave a lattice. Trim ends, leaving 1-inch overhang. Press strip ends onto edge of bottom crust to seal. Turn overhang up and over ends of strips; pinch to seal and make a high fluted edge. Brush lattice with remaining milk; sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons sugar.
Place pie plate on hot foil-lined cookie sheet. Bake pie 20 minutes. Reset oven control to 375 degrees F. Bake pie 1 hour and 30 minutes longer or until filling bubbles and crust is deep golden brown. Cover pie loosely with foil after first hour of total baking time to prevent overbrowning. Cool pie on wire rack about 2 hours to serve warm, or cool completely to serve later.

It's never too hot for ... wool!

2008-08-19T13:33:00.003-04:00

It's probably absurd to be thinking about wool in August, but I came upon this photo today and couldn't resist daydreaming ... and surfing the Web.
Below are a few fun facts I discovered while visiting a Web site designed to show you how you got that wool sweater.

How to Care for Wool
Wool should be hung on padded hangers.
You should always give wool 24 hours between each wearing.
Spots and stains should always be removed promptly.
You should always clean your wool products before packing them away for storage.
Wool clothing should always be brushed before and after each wearing.

How to Remove Common Stains
To remove ink you should submerge the garment in cold water.
To remove red wine, you should submerge the garment in cold water.
To remove butter or grease, you should sponge the spot with a dry cleaning solvent.
To remove blood the garment should be blotted with starch paste, and then rinsed with soapy water.
To remove lipstick, a piece of white bread should be rubbed firmly over the spot.

Other Wool Facts
Wool is comparatively stronger than steel.
Wool is fire resistant
Wool can absorb up to 30 percent of its weight in moisture

(Source: http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/sheep/ansc442/Semprojs/wool/index.htm).

Join the Russell Knitters

2008-08-14T13:59:00.004-04:00

The Russell Knitters have been meeting at the Russell Library at 123 Broad St., Middletown; (860) 344-2528; for more than two years. We meet the first and third Saturday of every month in the third-floor meeting room from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Knitters are of all ages and abilities. Membership lessens in the summertime, so now is the perfect time to stop by with your project.

Wonderful Wallaby

2008-08-14T13:57:00.000-04:00

Cooler temperatures today, coupled with frigid temperatures inside the office (air-conditioning’s Arctic blast) got me thinking about sweaters — an otherwise incongruous thought in mid-August. These are, after all, referred to as “the dog days of summer.”
Into my head popped (or bounded, more aptly) the Wonderful Wallaby Sweater. I made one last year (my first sweater and ambitious project) with Farmhouse Yarns in evergreen.
The pattern, which is surprisingly simple and easily adapted to children and adults and can be made with or without a hood, can be obtained at this link: http://home.earthlink.net/~adbatiste/WW_FAQ.html#pics
I’m still working on my brown cotton shawl, and wished this afternoon I had knitted it more ambitiously so I could drape that over my shoulders here during the workday, rather than run home and get another long-sleeved garment I hadn’t made but purchased years ago from the now-defunct Tweeds catalogue.
It’s olive color got me thinking about the Wallaby.
And how I’d really like to knit another in salmon.
Looks like after work I’ll be sifting through my stash of woolen hand-dyed yarns for the eight-or-so skeins that complete the pattern.
Try it for yourself. You’ll be soon hooked.

Superdupernatural

2008-08-13T13:37:00.002-04:00

I took my 10-year-old to see “The X-Files 2: I Want to Believe” on Sunday night.
It was not my first choice for movies, in fact it wasn’t even on the list. I’ve been trying to get to Destinta to see “The Dark Knight” ever since I watched “Batman Begins” on DVD. I wanted to do my “homework” first. I am a huge fan of the “Spider-man” trilogy, as embarrassing as that is to admit, so I figured that while waiting for “Spider-Man 4,” I could get hooked on another over-hyped, commercially successful mega-hit.
All the planets had aligned: I had a two-hour period free, without obligation, whereby I could sneak over to the movies with X.
Then he tells me his uncle told him some harrowing scenes from the film and refused to watch it.
Despite my pleading.
So we settled on “X-Files,” which I barely knew anything about, not being a fan of the wildly successful cult hit Fox series many years ago, and its first movie, released a decade ago.
It wasn’t exactly bad — but it wasn’t good, either. And normally squirmish me had to cover my son’s eyes many times throughout and for the last fifth of the movie, because of all the potentially nightmare-inducing medically graphic scenes.
He’s in a stage where he’s nervous about everything — and afraid of everything.
B left the film still munching his overly salty, insanely expensive popcorn; satisfied with the experience — but lacking a huge plot element.
That perhaps more reflects on the film’s overly gratuitous gross-out factor than my son’s understanding of film plot.
Regardless, I left with that creepy “X-Files” trademark score in my head.
The next night I watched “Michael Clayton” at home on DVD. I couldn’t finish it that night because of successive child interruptions, so I played the last couple scenes in the morning before work.
My 5-year-old played on the couch with his cars and motorcycles patiently while I infringed upon his “Bob the Builder” TV time.
“Is that the bad guy?”
“Is that the good guy?” he kept asking, hoping to ascertain the movie plot on his terms.
Wonderfully gripping all the way until the end, the flick’s end credits ran with George Clooney taking an extended New York cab ride as he periodically looked out the window at traffic.
I gathered my knitting, my ice coffee and the DVD in the case, walking to the kitchen, drinking and reading the back of the box.
All of a sudden my glass exploded in hand, projecting ice coffee and cubes all over the floor, the table, my shirt, and most disturbingly, the shawl I’ve labored on since February.
Glass was everywhere.
Y ran into the room.
“What the heck happened, Mom?” he asked.
I couldn’t help my answer.
“I was walking by the window, drinking my coffee and a bad guy across the street but have tried to shoot me because I knew the truth of this movie we just watched!”
“The glass must have saved me!”
Y was agast.
For a second.
Then he continued the fantasy.
“I’m gonna get that bad guy with my cop car and army guy on his motorcycle!” he chirped.
We banted such nonsensical scenes as I gingerly picked up the glass shards.
It was just one more supernatural occurrence in the crazily creative mind of my 5-year-old.
And maybe mine as well.

I'm an Olympian

2008-08-07T20:36:00.006-04:00

No, not THOSE Olympics. I'm competing in the Ravelympics (by the way if you knit and don't know about Ravelry you really should check it out - the wait to get your account set up is down to just a few days and oh so worth waiting for) in the giftknitspentathalon.

I've been slowly and steadily knitting, but now that the James is moving a mile a minute I haven't gotten nearly as far as I wanted. But a sweater vest for my grandfather is complete through the armholes and I'm patiently working on some socks.

But for the next 17 days from the opening ceremonies until the moment the torch is put out I'm in competition to get other gifts done. Here's what I'm hoping to finish:

2 kitchen towels sets consisting of at least one hanging towel and two dishclothes.
1 a-very-plain-hat
1 ninna beret http://www.arteeni.fi/neulonta/ninna-en.pdf
1 wrap-around-scarf oddly enough in that exact same yarn and colorscheme
and
anywhere between 1 and 3 pairs of Easy Mittens
http://www.mediafire.com/?1cjxhzteczx

yes, I'm overly ambitious, but pushing yourself to your limits is what the Olympics is all about.

Now I'm off to finish my final training session (winding of skeins into balls).

Ye ole swimming hole

2008-08-07T15:25:00.011-04:00

The summer of 2008 has well worn our family of four's bathing suits.
A lifelong swimmer, my husband takes every opportunity he can to sneak over to the Higganum reservoir for a quick dip in the water.
Set back from the road, and down a dirt path in the woods at the end of a cul de sac, the water there is lightly rust-colored and has small to mid-size fish sharing the lake and you'll always see a number of swimmers, in pairs, singly or with children, if you stay there long enough. The water is very clean and oh so cool.
My 5-year-old can play happily in the shallow beginning portion or paddle around on his noodle. My 10-year-old swims for as long as we're there, and often begs for us to allow a friend or two to accompany him.
My favorite place to swim is Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison. When I'm with the children, we visit Meigs Point, because they enjoy walking out on the pink sandstone rocks that jet out into the water quite far. There, adults and little kids go crabbing and fishing. There's also the Nature Center, which has tanks and tanks of crabs, mice, turtles, snakes, and even a touch tank in the basement which never ceases to delight the boys. Once the season officially opened June 21, there are foods offered in the pavilion and (my guys' favorite) an ice cream vendor. You can walk on the nature trails, hunt for shells, search for crabs when the tide goes out under rocks, or swim in the salty water.
There are walking trails that connect all three beaches - West, East and Meigs Point - and if you are industrious (which I am when I am alone), you can park at either of the flanking beach parking lots and walk the entire shoreline back and forth, stopping to cool off in the water when it's needed. A boardwalk even travels the length of the center beach.
My 5-year-old loves Wadsworth Falls State Park, which is a tamer place, when he can swim or make sand castles on shore. There are lifeguards there until 6 p.m. daily and it's free during the week. Both my boys love our ritual of crossing the Coginchaug's brook which winds through the area, under a covered bridge (where we say a troll lives), then running full-blast into the water. It is very much frequented by families and the water is tested by the DEP and has not yet this year been closed for bacteria, and though it's cool and refreshing water, you do have to contend with geese that waddle their way along the beach and possibly not the most desirable water cleanliness.
And you can always take a picnic to the falls portion of the park, which is about 1.15 miles up the road toward Middlefield/Durham. The kids love to throw rocks into the falls and marvel at their sound and strength.
Last year we got a pass for Crystal Lake in Middletown, $1 through the Parks and Recreation Department, and swam there a few times. If you work as I do, it's tough to get to after you leave work and gather the children from their various daycares/camps and swim before the lake closes at 6 p.m. However, the water is very pleasant, and probably somewhere in between the cleanliness of the Higganum Reservoir and Wadsworth Falls. Last year, we sighted many ducks and even a turtle out at the ropes which mark off the public swimming area.
One of the most diverse of the area's natural places to swim has to be Seven Falls State Park on Route 154 in Haddam. There, you can picnic and grill your food, walk on the monoliths and swim in the cool pools of water that cascade down the "seven falls," (we can't count that many). Even my little one loves finding flat rocks to skip out into the water and splashing around in the water fed by the falls.
There are hiking trails there too, which means you can walk and then dip your toes afterward as a way to banish any sweat you've worked up.
The state parks incur a fee (I bought a $50 yearly pass which admits your car anytime), and the reservoir and Seven Falls are both free.
Happy swimming!

Moving' On Up

2008-08-05T19:43:00.006-04:00

I gave notice to Y's preschool today that he would be leaving at the end of August. School begins the Thursday after Labor Day this year, the latest in many years. My 10-year-old will be going to Keigwan, a sixth grade that matriculates every child in the city. So instead of eight elementary schools, kids will be bottlenecked into one school.
It's actually located very close to the new Middletown High School, which will open this September. Some are already referring to the "old" Middletown High School as the "new" Woodrow Wilson Middle School. It's all a lot to comprehend.
So this September is a turning point of sorts for me, with both my boys going onto new frontiers. With X it was easy to skate by as each new year began at Macdonough Elementary School, knowing the teachers - and the principals - as I did throughout his six-year tenure.
Y is the last to fly the coop, and it's time for me now to "adjust," let alone each of my boys.
Sounds sappy, but I'm still growing up - alongside my kids.

Grabbin' some air

2008-07-29T16:19:00.004-04:00

Sunday morning before work and my 4½-year-old son is unwrapping the cellophane from his new skateboard.
His former skateboard met a quick demise — not at his hands, or feet rather, but the neighborhood boys.
Y left his board down the street at a friend’s house overnight, forgotten. The next morning it was cleanly broken in half. My husband thought it the work of some neighborhood hooligans, I envisioned someone trying to jump the curb and it snapping on the axis point.
So Y's got a SpongeBob SquarePants board now, K-Mart’s finest.
And he’s demonstrating to me how to do a kickflip, then an ollie, an 180 and 360. Y adds in a couple of other tricks he says his dinosaur taught him (imaginary friend alert): the flower, the grass and the toe-twister. All these are of increasing difficulty, all end with a tumble over the concrete sidewalk onto our lawn, with Y subsequently scrambling up unscathed.
(He’s our little stuntman-in-the-making.)
Y’s fascination with the skateboard began when he was just under a year old and I would prop him up in my window at work, in the former Middletown Press building on Main Street (since demolished). We had quite a view from the second floor of the neighborhood skateboarders down below who often used our stairway as a jumping ground and gathering place. Every day around 2 p.m. I’d hear the crack of wood and wheels on concrete, as jump after jump was perfected.
One day at age 3, Y ran home after being at work with me and grabbed his older brother’s never-used skateboard from the cellar, then proceeded to replicate the moves he’d witnessed on our wood floors. It was so cute we let him continue.
Almost two years later, it’s not so cute — or harmless — in the living room anymore.
So, he’s been relegated to the sidewalk outside our house, where boys and teens whiz by on skateboards and waveboards, showing each other the tricks they’ve learned.
One funny scene unfolded while I was sitting on a yard chair knitting, keeping an eye on things.
A 10-year-old boy watched Y work his board, then asked, “Can you do an old-school pogo?”
“What’s that?” Y asked.
K put the board perpendicular to the ground, stepping on the lower set of wheels with both toes, then hopped vertically three or four times.
“Sure I can!” Y piped, and proceeded to replicate it exactly.
About an hour later, the boy had drifted off to other neighborhood activities.
Three boys walked down the sidewalk toward me, carrying their boards, the oldest in the lead, followed by younger and younger boys.
Y silently brought up the rear, unknown to them.
“Hey, looks like you guys have an honorary member of your skateboarding team.”
They looked back, then laughed.
Then they all stopped to hang out.
Y started doing his patented jumping-on-the-board-then-ollie move.
“Hey, Y! How the heck are you doing that?” one boy yelled.
Y proceeded to show him. No one could replicate his spritely move.
“Hey guys, look at this!” he yelled. “This is an old-school pogo!”
The kids were fascinated, then proceeded to try the trick out for themselves.
No wonder he wants to keep up with the big boys.
He admires them.
And they’re starting to return the favor.

All good things must come to an end

2008-07-24T16:01:00.003-04:00

Back in 2002, shortly after I was named the editor of The Middletown Press I was asked to be the speaker during a lunchtime Rotary Club meeting here in the city. So despite my profound fear of public speaking, I did my duty and talked about the future of journalism, the future of this paper and took plenty of questions from the audience.

I believe the second question I was asked (the first being "when is The Press going back to an afternoon paper?") was how long I planned on being here. The paper had been through quite a rough patch when it came to editors, I believe the average lifespan had been 8 months.

One former reporter once told me that in 8 years she worked under 12 editors - and that was after I had been at the paper for a few years already.

I answered the question as honestly as I could -- I was happy to be back at my hometown paper and I had no intentions of moving on in the near future.

Now I can give a more definative answer -- I would be editor at The Press for 6 years and 2 months.

I've been offered the opportunity to work with my current publisher to launch a new publication -- an opportunity and a challenge that I'm extremely excited about. But leaving is also very bittersweet.

I grew up reading this paper - I looked for my name and the names of my friends and family in Fred Post's old column -- Keeping Posted. There are scrapbooks either at my house or my parents that have clippings from The Press sprinkled throughout -- honor rolls, sports stories, scholarship announcements.

The readers of this paper gave me support and encouragement during the time when I learned Nikki would be born with Down syndrome as well as a heart defect. They prayed for her when she had her open heart surgery and they celebrated when she came through that surgery with flying colors. The notes and cards I received during that time are still much cherished.

And the readers who so graciously welcomed my work into their home were never shy about telling me what I could do better. Sometimes the criticism was harsh, but I did learn something from each and every person who ever contacted me.

There are too many people to thank for me to list them all but to all the past and current staff at The Press, it has been a true honor putting out this paper alongside you. The process really is "a daily miracle."

I'll still be blogging here alongside Cassandra and the two of us are sure to have plenty of adventures to write about this fall as Nikki and T both head off to Kindergarten (and we both have serious pangs about our "babies" growing up).

To the readers of The Press - two final words -- Thank You.

Verena arrives stateside

2008-07-16T15:58:00.002-04:00

My husband picked up a knitting magazine for me the other day at the supermarket. Billed as “Europe’s top knitting magazine,” Burda’s Verena Knitting has been published for years, but only this summer is available in the United States with sizes and needles for American enthusiasts.
Patterns are grouped by fashion style — direct from the runways. There are “Ahoy There!” nautical-inspired, “Back in Khaki,” safari-style, “Sorbet Coolers,” fruit-colored tanks, “In the Red Zone,” and children’s sweaters. I’m especially enamoured of the tank tops: thick-strapped lime-green and ribbon v-neck in lemon yellow.
Check it out for yourself at www.verenaknitting.com.

1, 2, 3, 4 ... 9 A Day

2008-07-15T16:11:00.004-04:00

Remember back when the Food Pyramid urged us to consume at least five servings of fruit and vegetables a day?
When my older son was a toddler, Dole sent me a compact disc at work with catchy tunes for children promoting the government’s then 5-A-Day campaign. I can still hear the strains in my head (“One, two, three, four, Five A Day, that’s the fruit and vegetable way ... ”).
In fact, the CDC now asks Americans to shoot for nine servings a day. At www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov, there is a handy calculator that tells you, based on your sex, age and level of physical activity, exactly what you should aim for.
My goal should be 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables every day. Not as impossible a goal as “9 A Day” sounds.
By that measurement, the pint of native blueberries I purchased this morning at the Middletown Farmers Market will fill my day’s requirement of fruit.
And do I love berries.
What a boon are the summer months to those of us who love fresh and local produce. No pesticides or waxes mar their unique beauty and taste. Tomatoes are often “ugly” by grocery store standards and the prices are a bit higher than you’d find at a supermarket, but I’m willing to pay that for something rarely found in these mass markets — flavor.
Can you remember the last time a grocery store tomato wasn’t pale and mealy tasting? How about a peach that’s succulent and intense?
Today, the farmers market opened on the South Green, across from where the old Middletown Press building stood. It runs every Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon until October. Gotta’s Farm of Portland and Killam & Bassette Farmstead of South Glastonbury staff were among those manning the table, offering just-picked spaghetti squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peaches, cherry peppers, green beans, corn, cucumbers, beets, lettuce, plums and blueberries. Homemade jars of jam stood in neat little lines. Linda Rumsey’s Sweet Memories of Portland offered her pies, scones, lemon bars, fruit and nut breads and pastries.
Tonight we’ll enjoy the early ears of corn with butter and sea salt. My son will love fat slices of heirloom tomatoes drizzled with olive oil. I’ll have to “steal” a sprig or two of basil from the neighbor’s garden to complete this simple appetizer.
Fuzzy peaches will ripen in a brown bag on my counter, then delight my preschooler’s unending lust for fruit.
I eyed the zucchini for purchase on Thursday for the sweet bread my husband loves made with real butter and walnuts.
Sorry guys, the blueberries might not make it home tonight. I saved those fatties for myself. I can always nab another pint in a couple days.

Now we're cooking

2008-07-10T20:25:00.001-04:00

A few months ago I switched shifts, going from 9 to 5 to more of a second shift 2 to 10. The change came about when my husband's new job caused him to change his hours. And while it's nice to be at home in the morning with the kids, it created a bit of a problem -- dinner.

The crock pot and the timed start on my oven are becoming my friends, but I've felt like I've had my family in a bit of a dinner rut. Something chicken one night, pasta another, pork a third, then quick and east options such hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and pizza rounding out the choices. And within those catergories my reportoire was a bit limited. (When I was making dinner I would often "throw" something together using what was in the cupboard so I didn't always plan out dinner).

I started looking for new recipies shortly after I changed shifts as well as looking for good ideas for make-ahead meals. I hit paydirt with Diane Phillips' "You've Got it Made: Deliciously easy meals to make now & bake later." Its 150 recipies cover everything from appetizers to desserts.

Even better it includes a list of all the ingredients that are used in the book's recipies in the first few pages, with the idea being that if you have those items on hand you can make any recipe in the book.

The big test for any cookbook is if I can actually find more than three items that I can make for my family. After all I have a 1-year-old, a nearly 5-year-old and my husband to please (oddly it's often the husband that perplexes me the most) as well as my own desire to make something that tastes good and is healthy.

There are plenty of items that should please all (and here's where I knock wood and note that I've been blessed with two not so very picky kids and two kids who don't object to spices and flavors) -- penne, sausage and meatball bake, pesto ravioli bake, arroz con pollo casserole, French toast cobblers, various enchilada and strata recipies, pot roast, stuffed pork tenderloin, oven-fried chicken, chicken cacciatore, pot pie, do-ahead mashed potatoes, eggplant rollatini, fruit crisps, and log cookies all make the short list.

Each recipe is divided into two parts -- make it now and bake it later -- and include refrigeration and freezer time limits. The instructions are easy to understand and none of the ingredients are outlandish.

Happy eating.

Pro-cras-ti-NA-tion (sung to the tune of Carly Simon’s “Anticipation”)

2008-07-09T15:48:00.001-04:00

I finished another project last week: the Frock Camisole from Interweave Knit’s Knitting Daily (free pattern at www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/patterns/archive/2008/04/11/frock-camisole.aspx). The yarn is Red, Gold, Beige #8 Cinnabar by Louise Harding, but I knit mine in #10 Light Blue.
It took me a couple of months to complete, mostly because the stitches are on a size 7 needle.
After weaving in the ends, I tried it on my dressmaker’s model: my almost-5-year-old son. That way I can see what it looks like from all angles, and he’s happy to oblige as long as I am quick. I’m happy to say it would make a lovely little girl’s dress — all you need to do is make shorter straps.
Now I feel a little lost. I’ve picked up my long-term (read: never to be completed) shawl project in light brown cotton. But I feel antsy, restless. Without a real focus. I do have another project waiting upstairs in my knitting area: it’s an ecru sleeveless mercerized cottong sweater with a twist at the bust and cables in place of seams. It was georgous when I saw it in lavender at the Yarn Garden in Meriden (www.yarngardenllc.com), on a softly padded hanger at the rear of the store. Everything is ready in a little bag — even the pattern so graciously given to me by owner Denise Edson is already laminated. It’s all ready to go.
But I’m not.
The lazy, hazy days of summer have made me an equally lackadasical knitter. Not that I’m NOT knitting anymore, just less aggressively, less fervently. I’m wet and sweaty when I get home and it’s hard to get comfortable in my favorite spot on the couch, under the floor lamp.
Maybe tonight’s the night.
Thunderstorms are supposed to roll in and cool us off for a spell.

mmmmmm cake

2008-07-08T20:40:00.004-04:00

My mother-in-law and niece collaborated on a small birthday cake for James during the 4th of July picnic (his actual birthday party will be a little later this month). It was very cute -- white and blue icing with sugar candy bugs dancing along the sides.

James looked a little confused at the cake and candle sitting before him while everyone sang, but the confusion ended once a slice was placed in front of him. He picked up a little piece with his fingers and tasted it. One small taste was all he needed because he dove right into it.

Face first.

And when we all laughed he did it a second, a third and even a fourth time.

It was one of those classic, classic first moments.

When he has his actual party later this month, I'm hoping for a replay and this time we'll be ready with the video camera.