Sassy Does It

Well, my friends - here she is.

Fifi by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes for French Girl Knits (download)
Size:  Small, with modifications
Yarn:  Rowan Calmer in Tree, 5.75 skeins (with lots of extra length - would have been less than 5 without it; see below)

More pics at my Ravelry post here.

Finished dimensions:

Bust = 29 inches around, unstretched, after blocking (pinned out to 32″)

Length = 27 inches (top of shoulder to bottom cast-off; longer than designed)

Widest part of neckline = 9 inches straight across at top (pinned out to 10″)

Modifications:

Sleeve length (from cap sleeves to short sleeves)

Torso length (from cropped to tuck-in-able)

Verdict:  Beautiful pattern, fun to follow, polished-looking result.  When knit with Calmer as suggested, the yarn works its magic to deliver the look that the pattern promises. 

There are a few corrections to check out, but nothing too extensive.  Not much else going on at the French Girl Knits website; best information is on Ravelry.

Only thing I would do differently is bump up a size.  I’m taking a less whiny approach to this topic than I did in my last post since I’ve decided it’s not as bad as I made it out to be.  The bust fits fairly well; the 29″ finished size as knit (32″ as pinned at blocking) stretches comfortably to hug my not-quite-B cups (~36″, over the sweater).

In choosing the size to knit, I decided to stay small because my boobs are, well, small.  Even though my frame, and therefore my abdomen, is not petite in circumference (mistake #1). 

I figured the clingy thing from boobs to waist was the whole point.  How could this be bad?  Sexy fit!  But I kind of forgot that clinging to unwanted curves is er, unwanted (mistake #2).

I had a little pout-fest halfway through the torso after trying it on and realizing that I didn’t look as svelte as I wanted to, and I had to put Fifi away where I couldn’t see her for a few days after that.

Then I decided that A) as knit, it’s an encouragement to get back to the gym, and B) probably, blocking will help.

Ultimately, upon trying on my FO again a few weeks after initial blocking (which didn’t help that much – alas, it’s cotton), I decided that wearing this with skirts will improve the look in the short term. 

I still have to suck in my gut, which was necessary for modeling here, but the waistline of the skirt is more forgiving since it can ride higher on the waist without looking dorky.   I have trouble with things that sit “just below the natural waist.”  See my rant on denim below.

On the yarn:  My advice to those weighing the cost of Calmer vs. a substitute is to wait for the Calmer - wait for those sales.  It’s worth it. 

Blocking: I stretched this a lot in the boob/abdomen area and did some shaping around the neckline and shoulders. You can see that the mid-to-lower torso pattern with 2×2 ribbing does stretch appreciably with the added touch of microfiber twisted into the cotton. Not enough stretch in my case, as we’ve already covered, but once I get rid of the extra flab it should – in theory – have a slimming effort.

Length:  I know, I know, it looks like a tunic on the blocking board.  Why so long?  Well, I’ll tell you.  My long torso combined with a sizeable booty require special needs when it comes to anything I might end up wearing with jeans.

Two things about jeans that don’t mix well with my body shape:

Denim – even stretch denim doesn’t stretch enough to hug this butt when I go to sit down.

Low-rise anything - High waisters aren’t exactly “in”, but with low-rise trousers, unfortunately I risk revealing more to the bleacher seats behind me than I bargained for, if you know what I mean.  I wear the low-rises anyway because I agree with Mother Fashion’s guidance on this (I’ve no desire to re-live junior high, thank you very much).  But.  You get the gist of my issue here.

As such, I decided that I wanted this sweater to be a tucker-inner so that I could wear it with jeans and sit down without constantly feeling around back there to see if I was giving the person seated behind me a little show.

As I said above - tuck-in or no tuck-in, after experimenting a bit, I’m happier wearing this with a skirt for now.

Sleeves: I added a couple of inches.  I don’t quite have the Michelle Obama arms I want yet, so cap sleeves don’t do me any favors. Not that short sleeves hide much more, but they do help the cause.

You can see below that the red yarn line was the point at which I began adding.  I threw in an increase on each side of the seam under the armpit every row for a few rows, then every other row for a few more, before knitting even for a bit until I was happy with the length.

Neckline:  I liked the way that some of the Ravelry FOs had a nice wide boat-necky ballet-like neckline, although I was puzzled by the way the neckline look varied widely (without declaration of modifications).  Maybe it’s just different body types (shoulder width and length from top of shoulder to bust).

Because I was too lazy to modify via increased cast-on stitches, I simply cast on very, very loosely and let the initial row stretch out a bit more than as written.  It might have added a bit of width between bra straps, but nothing dramatic.  The edge looks smooth, anyway, and I’m happy with it.

And, that’s all I’ve got on Feefers.  Highly recommended.

Even if it ends up a size or three too small for your body size.

[scurries off to gym, a trail of variegated burgundy sock yarn in her wake]

Well, well – somebody’s been absent from blogworld for a while.

And by absent I mean floating adrift in a real pisser of a month.  I feel like I’ve been dog-paddling along in the wake of life as it’s plunging forward, mightily, without so much as a glance back in my direction.  I’ve been struggling in spectacular fashion, but today is when I pull myself up by the bootstraps.

Help me up, girls - I’ll emerge from this yet.

Finished my Curlicue blanket for Kymber’s baby girl – what was it, two weeks ago?  Just needs blocking.  Little K is actually past due, so my shocking pink creation will need to hit the mail any day.  Somewhere in Holland that baby could be entering the world right now.

I’ve been waiting on the blocking because I haven’t wanted to give it my usual (still-frosh) effort: a quick, 30-second soak in the sink followed by a roll-up in a towel to suck out the excess water, and then a layout flat to shape.

My soak in the sink has always included a few drops of Downy (standard April Fresh, thank you) in the water.  No soap - just Downy.

I know – not really a lot of thought about the possibility of my beloved Downy leaving any waxy fabric-softener residue on my little treaure of fine fibers, freshly knitted.

You’d think I’d put more time into thinking it through, given the time spent on the knitting part.

I’ve never put much thought into cleaning my clothes beyond the following:

1. Toss it all in the washing machine.
2. Toss it all in the dryer - unless it’s “delicate” (meaning “might shrink” and make it look like I’ve put on weight).  If delicate, [sigh] air-dry.
3. God forbid it doesn’t fall into one of these categories, which is rare, it goes to the dry cleaners.

It makes sense that I don’t have a good feel for the care of fine fibers, since I’ve not had the luxury of being a person who lines my closet with cashmere sweaters (awww, poor Amy).  Even if I did, they’d probably fall into category 3 above.

Pictured here with its
new-fangled labeling

I have a vague recollection of Woolite being on Mom’s laundry shelf.  I don’t recall seeing it used, but I think I may have inquired once what it was (”but why do we need extra soap when we’ve got the magic of Tide?”).

This curiosity arrived around about the time I reached that plateau of womanhood at which first-ever pairs of pantyhose and the dowdiest of rubber-heeled pumps are bestowed upon thrilled-beyond-words pre-pubescent girls.

For me, I’m pretty sure this occasion coincided with some type of after-school event in sixth grade that involved – oh, dear heavens – square-dancing. 

Emphasis on the square.

I grew up in the Midwest, what can I say?  This is what we did in gym class when we weren’t pelting each other (in my case, being pelted) with surprisingly painful rubber balls.

As I recall, I made it through one wearing of the stockings, miraculously, without any (super-obvious) runs or ladders that required retiring them to the bin.  Hence the onetime use of Woolite to wash my delicate, delicate, $1.99 Leggs pantyhose before they were trotted out for the next later-embarrassing grade school social event.

After that I promptly forgot about Woolite or anything resembling it.

So you get the picture – I’m not well-versed in the blocking or washing or even rinsing of delicates.

But now that I’m a knitter and all, I probably should be.

It’s been on my list to order up some wool wash of some kind.  I remember reading about Kookaburra first on somone’s blog - darned if I can remember whose - and then on another and another.  Something about making your wool super-soft and super-supple.  Super-supple!  Gotta get me some of that.

Then, recently, when the plan to order some Kookaburra was near the top of my mind, SouleMama made a loving reference to Eucalan, of which I had also heard rumblings.  It seemed compelling enough to give me pause about my choice (probably her fantastic photography added to the delicious appeal of her choice), and this put me all in a jumble.

It dawned on me, as if it were a surprise this would happen, that a decision between more than one option would be required, which would necessitate (possibly months and months of) analysis.

You know, since I’m me, and I can’t just pick one without going through the analysis.  Or just buy freaking both of them in small quantities to try - because doing that would be wasteful.

Oy.

Suffice it to say that after a bit of Googling, I forced myself to stop with this review, which was scientific enough to whet my OCD appetite as well as lead me to a conclusion.  In a nutshell: both leading brands are great.  No perceivable differences in method of use or in the look and feel of finished garment.  Both environmentally friendly, both contain lanolin, both excellent washes for any natural fiber.

By this account, only variations in scent seem to separate the choices (and perhaps a slightly different potential for repelling moths, which wasn’t at the top of my concerns list).  Although I’m as picky as the next girl with smell, I couldn’t tell over the internet which I preferred (I’d already contacted my LYS about whether they carried wool wash – ah, no).

Ultimately it was personal preference, and by all accounts I’d read, each of the multiple scents available was very nice.  Subtle, in every case, which helps.

Could have gone with unscented – but what’s the fun in that, pray you?  This recovering Downy Girl needs some kind of scent to remind her that this garment has been pampered in some special way, just like Mom would have done.

So I flipped a virtual coin – something that is very hard for me to do, even virtually.

I went with Eucalan.  Original eucalyptus scent.

I ordered it from Webs, along with some new blocking equipment, since I don’t have any.  I’d purchased some T-pins a few months ago whilst whisking through Jo-Ann’s for something, but alas, T-pins don’t do much good without something like the soft surface of a blocking board in which to stick them.

Yes, I know I could get creative and use a pile of towels, a spare bedspread, even part of an ironing board.  Yeah, that hasn’t happened.

I sprung for a blocking board, the big one, deciding that I’ve waited long enough - and if I’m going to get a blocking board, get a blocking board, you know?

Of course then Webs e-mailed me to tell me it was out of stock and would have to be shipped later.

Oh well.

Good thing I had one other goodie in the shopping basket, besides the aforementioned Eucalan wash, which is en route to me now:  Fiber Fantasy Sweater Blockers.

Sounds exotic, and I’m expecting to be impressed. 

While researching all things blocking that I had been missing out on, I discovered the existence of these little guys.  It’s a set of blocking needles that can be used for more than just your mama’s sweaters.

“Great for scalloped edges”, I read – hey, my Curlicue blanket has scalloped edges! – so I read on.

Twelve of the fourteen needle thingies are used for standard straight-edge blocking (8 are 36″, 4 are 18″); the other two are flexible (but not permanently bendable into a new shape).  Thus, these later two are touted as a nice solution for blocking the curve of the top of a sleeve or, better yet, stretching out and holding an edge pattern by winding wires through the ends of your knitting, locking the design in place during blocking.

There’s a great review of these here, which is where I also found this photo.  [Note to Angelika at yarn-store.com, from whom I also considered purchasing the blocking board: the extra $20+ in shipping for the board couldn't compete with the free holiday shipping offered by Webs, but now that I've found your store, you are on my list of vendors!]

Not rocket science, this bendy wire idea, but since the concept hadn’t occurred to me, it felt like it.

My previous attempts to get scalloped edges to lay flat (for Maizy’s and E-dot’s Little Girl’s Shrugs) involved the traditional approach of pinning the fabric down flat and then steam-ironing the heck out of it – and this did not result in what I’d call a success.  Stubborn, those scallops.

The memory of that challenge made me click on “buy” without much further delay – mercifully, I spared myself further research.

So - it took me all that to fill you in on where I stand with Curlicue.  Final pics once the blocking is done.

Sheer Poncho is moving sssslowwwwly in the midst of tumultuous life lately, but over the weekend I finally got my booty into the LYS to procure some US 5 Addi Turbos.  The cashmere stockinette is looking lovely, but with only a fat inch or so on the needles, my cheapo Michael’s circulars weren’t cutting the mustard.

In my frustration to just Turbo it already, earlier last week I’d swung into another yarn shop (off the beaten path from my usual LYS; I might add that stepping into Someone Else’s LYS and passing it off as my own with the sales lady was seductively naughty, especially since it was such a cute shop) for this purpose.

I was tacking on the quest for these needles to a list of already annoying errands and trying to cram it all in to not enough time (shocker).

I arrived at SELYS four minutes before closing, breathless yet triumphant that I’d actually located this place before it closed.

No standard US 5 Turbos on the shelf – curses! – only the Lace Turbos.  I’d thought about whether to Lace or not to Lace my Turbos before walking into the store.  I’d pretty much decided not to Lace.  Worried that they’d be too slow for simple stockinette; that the previously appreciated fine drag wouldn’t be appropriate for this project or this fiber.

But with only the Lace variety available, and time ticking away – oh, I couldn’t wait – I just went for it.

Shifted the stitches from the cheapos to the Lace Turbos that night, gagging for a few quick rounds of Sheer Poncho before beddy-byes.

Oh, poopy pants - too slow.  Not an improvement, even in all their pretty gold shininess.  Drag not appreciated, cashmere too clingy.  Darn.

But.  Now I’m all set with the right ones - straight up, slick as all get-out, standard Addi circulars.  I’ll be non-Lace Turboing it up for the rest of the week.

Thanks for sticking with my blog and with my writing-lots-of-words-makes-me-happy ways.  I’ve missed you.  

Curlicue Glamour Shots coming soon.

I had brunch with my best friend over the weekend.  It had been a while since I’d seen her, and it made me sooooo happy to catch up. 

There are a boatload of reasons I couldn’t live without Lish.  She’s an amazing person.  Although we both live in California these days, we met far, far away in a land called New Jersey.  We both come from tiny towns in the same Midwestern state, although our paths didn’t cross until we were knee-deep in all things Jersey - back when we were wild-and-crazy twentysomethings. 

Familiar, anyone?

Both thoroughly white-bread and corn-fed at the time, with pale skin that could blind you in winter and (arguably more importantly) not much experience yet in the way of street smarts, we stuck out *just* a tad amongst the been-around-the-block-a-few-times Italian-American brew that is Northeastern NJ.  Our specialty was dancing in bars that weren’t actually set up for dancing, as well as harassing DJs until they would play “Sweet Caroline” for us (so good! so good!) and hurling ourselves toward the stage when local cover bands struck our fancy.

Since then we’ve taken our show on the road to any state, country, or continent that will let us in.  Our passports have taken a nice beating together, and it’s fair to say we’ve gained a fair bit of worldly wisdom (some days this is debatable).  One jet-set long-weekend trip took us to Portugal - my recollection includes a very sweaty hike up to the top of a Moorish castle and some guy named Paolo? Marco? Marco Paolo? - but that’s a story for another post. 

However (here comes the segue) - Portugal is the place that harbors the location that inspired my new knitting project.

I’ve had this project in my unofficial queue for a while now, but haven’t Ravelried* it yet because I’m kind of making it up as I go along.  I wouldn’t say I’m designing this sweater, really; I’m loosely basing it on a sweater I picked up a few years ago when I was at The End of the World. 

Ah, yes - good question.  Basically, this is a very, very windy place on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Atlantic at the the southwesternmost point in Europe.  Back in the day, before their little boats made it over to the Americas, the Europeans considered this the edge of the world: a horizon of churning water stretched as far as the eye could see, beyond which lurked the abyss.  Whodathunk there were a bunch of people across the pond, eh, guys?  Silly landlubbers.

Fisherman's Sweaters

Right.  So when you’re at The End of the World, it’s not only a minor tourist attraction with a nice view and a story to go with it, but also an opportunity to freeze your patootie off.  Even on a bright, sunshiny mid-summer day like the one of my visit, it was nippy, with wind gusting in every direction.  I need to find the photo from that trip to properly illustrate this; the one in which I’m still shooting for glamorous with my pose, but all bets are off with my swirling hair captured with all split-ends pointing north - straight up, Paula.

It’s-Not-Really The End of the World was a draw for me as a side trip from the warmer climes of the beach far below mostly because of the “seaworthy sweaters” that my guidebook told me were on offer there.  I envisioned a weather-beaten crinkly-looking Captain Ahab, perched next to his ramshackle lean-to of a vendor stall, balancing on the leg that wasn’t his peg-leg, eyeing me suspiciously, ready for me to barter with him for one of his authentic salty-sea-smelling jumpers.  Of course, these would be hot off the needles; pleasantly-irregular creations that the missus was whipping up for him back down on the boat in his quarters.  Maybe after we shook on the deal for one of his wife’s crafts, he’d mutter “Arrrrrrr” gruffly under his breath as I walked away.  In my last glance back at him before forging ahead to the mighty sea, I might even catch him picking at his teeth (what remained of them) with his steel hook of a hand.

Hmmmm.

One word: authentic

Ahab turned out to be a Portuguese kid wearing a Yankees T-shirt and outlandishly shiny bling.  The missus was nowhere in sight, but I suspect she may have been kicking her feet up after hitting the “go” button on the industrial-grade knitting machine a few hundred times. 

Even though it was a teensy bit different than I’d imagined, there was still a nice display of sweaters that did indeed look seaworthy.  Machine-made with acrylic or not, these little fellas had led me here - I’d come a long way and was going to have a look.  Plus I was starting to get pretty cold, and they were looking mighty warm.

The Fisherman’s Sweaters weren’t incredibly ornate - just very simple Aran-inspired designs, most with a few cables and big cozy collars or turtlenecks; some with cheesy design patterns, some more plain and to the point, which were the ones I liked best.  Bulky knits, as you’d imagine, and in an array of earthy tones.  True, the cardboard boxes they came out of didn’t foster that handmade feeling, but I still decided I needed to take a sweater home with me (and/or immediately pull it over my wind-whipped mane and shivering blue lips).  I chose one in a heathery sandy color with a short zip at the top to keep out the wind, and proceeded to speedwalk out to the edge of the cliff for a gander before scampering back to the safe haven of the car.

When I bought this sweater, I wasn’t yet a knitter, and frankly, would have been shocked at the time to learn that I’d ever become one (such was my aversion to anything approaching a domestic art).  However, since I’ve picked up the needles, it’s crossed my mind that it would be fun to re-make this sweater with a nicer natural fiber and a few modifications to make it just right.  I’ve seen a host of patterns out there for something similar, but I’m going to give this a go with making my own measurements and building a pattern based on the gauge of the yarn I choose.

Color: Driftwood, 161

And that yarn is:  Rowan Plaid.  Poor Rowan Plaid.  Why discontinued, why?  Not that I’ve made anything from this yarn yet so as to form a strong attachment, but it just seems so well-loved by the knitting community at large.  I’ve had a few Ravelrers message me to ask if I’m willing to sell part or all of my Driftwood colorway, but I’ve had this stashed specifically for my Fisherman’s Sweater since the Rowan Plaid pattern book caught my eye with its chilly-seaside photo spread.  I grabbed the last of this colorway on sale at Jimmy Beans (after a flirtation with and eventual purchase of Sea Kelp for another project) when they were liquidating the last of their Plaid inventory last year.  So sad.  The fact that they were getting rid of it, that is - not the fact that I was lucky enough to snag it before it was gone!

Chilly. Seaside.

Bottom line - my baby’s now on the needles, and I’m lovin’ it.  No good light for a photo of my work yet, but will do this soon.

If it turns out as fabulously as I’m planning for it turn out, I’ll post the pattern for anyone who wants to give it a shot.  Easier to decide if you’re in this category, of course, after you’ve seen the final product.  When I’m finished we’ll decide how the original acrylic prototype - the photo of which I will hold in suspense for now (meaning I haven’t gotten around to taking it yet) - stacks up to my creation.  Here’s hoping this moves along without any tears, other fits of drama, or industrial-grade knitting machines.  Stay tuned, just in case.

 
*Oh, ravelried - don’t you just love the verb form?   I’m sure it’s been done before, but I’m now declaring “ravelry” as not only a noun but also a verb, in all its glory:

¹rav·el·ry  \ˈra-vəl-rē\ noun —  website community where all the cool knit-kids hang out

²rav·el·ry  \ˈra-vəl-rē\ verb —  to enter the details of a knitting project, pattern, fiber, or accessory on one’s profile on the aforementioned website, so that everyone can see what you’re up to, or plan to possibly be up to in the future

 

Inflected Form(s):

rav·el·ring; rav·el·ried \ˈra-vəl-riŋ, ˈra-vəl-rēd\

 

Related:

rav·el·rer \ˈra-vəl-rər\ noun — one who ravelries

Nearly done! Still to finish:
tie-wrap ends, arm seams

I’m super close to being done with my Airy Wrap-Around Sweater.  It’s getting very big and fluffy as the second wrap-around flap is rounding the bend.  I stopped shy of the 55″ recommended length for the right flap, pulling back the reins at about 42″ and running scrap yarn through to hold that length while I bring the left one up to speed.  My homies on the Fitted Knits KAL (Knit-ALong) on Ravelry as well as those on this one running independently had noted that the ties ended up being way too long for most of them as written, so I’ll be prepared for the modification.  Lordy, I hope they’re headed toward being way too long for me as written, too, or else me and my thick waist will have to go into hiding with Ben & Jerry for a while to wallow in our excessive girth.

The dimensions are a little off as I model it here - without the sleeves seamed and both sides of the wrap done it’s hard to get it to sit just right - but you get the idea.   Blocking this puppy is going to be very interesting - the combo of sticky wet mohair and lace stitching will be a new one for me.  If anything it’s a bit roomy for my taste at the moment, so we’ll see how we go in getting it to hug me just right (and avoid any accentuation of the aforementioned possbily thick-looking waist in the process). 

So here I am with a weekend day, left unexpectedly to my own devices.  Oh joy!  Oh blessed event!  What shall I do with this time?  So many things on my little list of Amy-time projects, but knitting seems to always win.  I want to finish Airy, but I may save that as a treat if I can manage to get a few other things accomplished (insert reality here):

1. Finish this blog entry
2. Go to the bank
3. Go to the post office
4. Clean up my messy house

Looks like I’ve got a few craftless hours ahead of me, but I guess it isn’t all fun and games.  However - I’ve still got some time left with you here on my blog, so I’m going to roll around in it and enjoy while I can.

A few things I’m been thankful for over the the last week or two:

• Dancing with Sissy B - The abundant joy already inherent with a nearly 2-week visit from Sissy B and her wee girls was ceremoniously trumped with a mid-week 80s night at a bar up the street.  We arrived glammed up and ready to go, ordered up our little drinkies and proceeded to wait - the DJ was late, and wherever he was, he had our tunes with him.  We were getting a bit nervous that our soujourn’s wings had been clipped.  Alas, he eventually showed up - but we were none too pleased with the weak effort of his debut, starting with mixes of lesser-known not-so-crowd-pleasing minor 80s hits that just weren’t cutting the mustard.  Just as the mutinous crowd (read: my sister and me) was on the brink of highjacking Master Mix’s booth, he came through with “PYT” - and continued with a steady stream of sister-approved, shout-out-the-lyrics, jump-up-and-down old standbys.  Much hilarity ensued, with squeals of utter delight and DJ-directed declarations of, “I love it! I LOVE it!” and “Yes! YES!”.  Even though we initially cocked our eyebrows at his unorthodox mixes toward the end - Fergie and Metallica? - we had to admit he had a pretty cool sound going.  Bon Jovi took us over the edge with “Livin’ On A Prayer”, and we left with our voices hoarse and perma-smiles plastered on our faces.  We still got it, baby. 


• Organic produce - OK, I’m still a relative newbie to all this business of “social awareness” and “healthy lifestyles” (think Chris Farley as the finger-quote guy on SNL’s Weekend Update), but I am getting a big-time eye opener lately.  It only took 34 years.  California has definitely gotten her hooks into me, as impervious as I was initially to her Mother Earth wiles.  I had no interest in even recycling when I moved here 5 years ago, and now I’m practically an evangelist of environmentalism and healthy living.  The story of how all this happened to the most reluctant of Midwestern girls I will save for another time.  Suffice it to say - on the food front, I’m a new woman (now that I’ve put down the Cool Whip - oh, sweet, gorgeous Cool Whip - and taken a look around).  I’m in love with farmer’s markets and everything in them.  Love the vendors, love the customers, love the samples, love the smiles.  Love the prices, too - I’ve come round to seeing why it’s worth all the crunchy hype.  I was never willing to spend a dime more on something organic - not only because I’m tight with my money at the grocery store in general, but also because I persisted in using the old adage, “Listen, there’s nothing wrong with chemicals - look at all the non-organic food I ate growing up, my mother too, and look how I turned out!”  To make matters worse, I studied chemical engineering, so I’ve gone around trumpeting the praises of using whatever modern means we have available to get things to be cheaper or lower in fat, sugar-free.  But - without anyone shoving this down my throat, which would have been a sure-fire way for me to be even more impermeable - I’ve seen the light.  First, I began to scrutinize (in following my sister’s lead) what kind of food was allowed to pass my nieces’ lips, not only in terms of nutritional value, but in terms of what was actually safest for them.  Even if I wasn’t sold on the “benefits” of organic food at all, latent doubt did give me pause enough to agree that organic baby foods would be better for the girls - “just in case”.  It took another year or two for this logic to seep further into my brain to its natural conclusion that I - yes, me myself - might want to think a little more about the origin of what I put in my body, chew up, and swallow.  No matter what I’ve eaten over the course of my first 30 years, why oh why would I put anything into my body that has even trace amounts of something I wouldn’t spoon in there on purpose?  Nagging suspicions began to accumulate, and finally I let myself actually read and absorb different viewpoints so that I could form my own objective opinion.  Nowadays I don’t need something to be proven a carcinogen to be wary of it.  If it needs help to grow out of the ground when 50 or 100 years ago it did so without any help, doesn’t it make you wonder?   Why douse it with something toxic?  It’s cheaper, you say, to grow food this way - ah, but we’re still paying for it, more so every day - just not at the grocery.  A lot of other people are making money off of moving truckloads of little veggies and fruits around (ask yourself why the U.S. exports 1.1 million pounds of potatoes annually and also imports 1.4 million pounds every year…hmmmmmm).  Although I’m determined to NOT to beat anyone over the head with this, I can’t help but list the discovery of all things organic on my list here, because it just is something I’ve very grateful for.  More later on what I’m learning, because I won’t be able to help myself - but in the mean time, if you’re curious - check out Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  She’s not shoving anything down anyone’s throat either, which is why I became enamored with her friendly, engaging, fact-based writing style.  Her husband and teenage daughter (now studying nutrition at Duke) also contribute and the collective effort makes this a surprising page-turner.
• Oh, my knitting, of course - in a world full of stressors (does anyone else feel like their days can turn into a “Space Invaders”-esque challenge where nothing can be allowed to pass by you unaddressed, or else the whole world will blow up?), my humble stitch-laden needles are such a solace.  Cute little furry things they are right now, with lavender mohair all over them, surrounded by Airy’s billowy-ness.  Just a few minutes is all it takes and to start bringing my focus on all things calm and rational back into line.  More than a few minutes is always better, you understand - that’s why I surreptitiously slide as much time with my needle-friends each day as I can.  That and I’m a junkie - I’ve got an addictive habit to support here.

Speaking of a few minutes, I’ve dilly-dallied more than a few with the indulgent rants of my blogging, and now I must…I must…I must increase my bust…(Oh Margaret, where are you now?).  I mean, ahem - I must, I must, I must go do my housework.

Why is it July already?  Not that there’s anything wrong with July - it’s all just happened so fast.

My sister and her girls are with me this week and I couldn’t be happier.  It’s heaven to be with them so I’ve taken time off to bask in it. My almost-three niece wants me to make her a sweater, so I’ve got toddler patterns on the brain.  She is waffling between “something purple” and “something red”, and “maybe…something…with short sleeves”.  Makes sense since it’s a touch warm outside, and who wants to be all bundled up for summer?  I picked up Adorable Knits for Tots by Zoë Mellor, without much research other than a quick leaf-through at Michael’s while we were picking up craft projects for the kids.  Jennifer at http://loopyknitter.wordpress.com pointed me in the right direction to find the errata (which DebbieKnitter went through quite a bit to find) - just in case I end up making something from this book.

My niece’s request for purple may be inspired by my continued sneaky attempts to work on my Airy Wrap-Around Sweater from Stefanie Japel’s Fitted Knits.  It’s coming along - it would be faster if I could tear myself away from the aforementioned toddler pattern search in the time I have free during nap time.  I like it - the floatiness of the lacy stitching is still a novel drapey feel for me while I’m knitting, so it’s fun.

Just about done with the back so I can move on to the sleeves, which I’m thinking about making a bit longer than 3/4 length per the pattern.  I lengthened the torso of the back by a couple of inches; instead of doing only 16 rows of stockinette repeat before starting the cabling, I added an extra 8 rows.

One of the other patterns I found on Ravelry last week that I’ve been dreaming about since is the Sheer Poncho by Amy Arifin, who has kindly included this beautiful pattern in the free designs section of her cool website.  I was searching for cowl neck patterns (I developed a hankering for one after seeing a funky pink-striped sweater on Alicia Keys in her “Teenage Love Affair” video…I know, how did I stumble into hip? An MTV indulgence is rare but it does happen!) and spotted a photo of Amy’s poncho. 

Then I saw the alternative ways to wear it and became enamored with the fabulousness.  What fun!  This one is headed for my queue.

I hear the stirrings of my youngest niece emerging from nap time…auntie to the rescue.  Back soon!