Jon's Knit Blog

"Ok, You May Have A Broken Ankle. And You're a Bitch."

Hehe! I loved that line on tonight's episode of "ER."

I also thought that "Will and Grace" was hysterical - especially when Debra Messing and Sean Hayes kept breaking into laughter. And that kiss between Alec Baldwin and Eric McCormack? Jeez!

Anyhow, I spent said TV time also in a somewhat loftier pursuit: knitting fair isle.

So it doesn't photograph well. I'm not exactly ready to take my knitting outside, search for good sunlight and then start snapping pictures on the streets of Manhattan. I may be hard core, but I'm not that far gone. Yet.

It's odd, though. People keep commenting on how impressed they are with my knitting, and honestly, I don't see what's so unusual about this. I mean, you have to count the pattern stitches and pay attention to tension, but then, even when you're knitting something simple, you still have to count stitches and watch tension. There's just more to pay attention to here. Right?

That said, I'm flattered that you're all impressed. Keep being impressed. The ego boosts are good for my ego! I mean... um. Um... Yes! That's it! The ego boosts flattery help keeps me blogging!

Hey, This Part Is Easy

I really like the current pattern section. It's very intuitive for me, I guess. I was reading Ann Feitelson's book on Fair Isle knitting last night (if you like this style, this book is a must!), and one thing she says is that in order to be good at knitting fair isle, you have to have speed, and an important part to speed is memorizing your pattern.

Now I have a good memory, but still... a 26 stitch pattern over 40 rows long? Well, there's only one row I've truly memorized - the single color one! But seriously, by the time you've done it two or three times, it starts to get intuitive and make sense. You start to feel where the stitches need to go, and by the time you've knit 13 repeats, it seems OK to be back at the beginning in time to learn another 26 stitches.

Or maybe it was just the fact that I had today off, and spent it mostly just knitting, and sort of got into the zen of it?

Anyhow, here's where we are:

I think I got 10 rows done today. Which is 3,490 stitches. Can you imagine how big that'd be if I were using chunky yarn? That's the only drawback to knitting with small yarn. It takes so long. But you know what? I love the feel of this fabric and while it will be a warm sweater, it'll be a lot more wearable than a sweater made from a superchunky.

Well, I guess that would depend on if either of them fit anyone, that is.

Anyhow, in television news, how cool was it to watch Geena Davis take the oath of office on "Commander in Chief"? Wow, I really liked that pilot! It gave me all the warm fuzzies that "The West Wing" used to - and more! That gets a season pass on my TiVo for sure! And speaking of "The West Wing," how heartbreaking was that job interview!??!

Do any of you watch "Nip/Tuck"? A friend turned me onto it, and at this point, I almost want to kill him. The show is decidedly a guilty pleasure, and on some level I feel almost... well... gross watching it. I mean, on the last episode, they did plastic surgery on a gorilla, and the character who's one doctor's son, who it turns out was really fathered by the other doctor, finds out that his girlfriend, the love of his young life, was really a post-operative transsexual, and so, in his quest for identity, he picks up a pre-op in a bar, flips when he finds out there's "something extra" down there, and beats her up. While his mom and his grandma are getting stoned together. Now that's what I call family TV. Not.

In other, non-disgusting-TV related news, because KellyO asked to see a photo of the wrong side of Zauberflote, I took one for you:

Sick of Progress Photos Yet?

I knit a whopping two rows tonight. Hey, it's still almost 700 stitches, so it's not exactly nothing. It's not a whole hell of a lot, though, I know.

I really love knitting fair isle. I don't know why. Part of it is, I guess, the texture of the resulting "fabric." It's really just nice, and especially with this yarn!

Anyhow, I feel like I should tell you something personal about me that's not knitting related. How about this? It looks like I'm going on a three-week long business trip next month! Can you imagine, living in a hotel room for three weeks? Yowza. I just hope they give me a little bit of time off so I can go shopping for yarn (and beer?) with this woman!

The Pattern Reveals Herself

Well, only the first 10 rows, at any rate.

Since it's the middle of the night and the middle of the weekend, I thought I'd answer a few questions posed by some of you beloved readers.

Colorado Jon wanted to know why I was knitting this flat. I assume he thought that since I was purling, I was knitting flat, which is not the case. I was purling every other of the first 10 rows, for the bottom band of "Zauberflote" is in Garter Stitch. In case you didn't know, gentle reader, if you're knitting in the round and want to make garter stitch, you have to purl every other round.

Felicia wanted to know if I think the stripe-steek is more stable and less fray resistant than the checkered steek. My answer is, "I don't know." Honestly, I can't see why there's a difference. My reason to prefer the stripe-steek is that it gives me a super-clear line of EXACTLY where to cut, and that gives me more confidence during that trauamatic scissor moment.

Laura asked, quite simply, "What is a steek." I sent her a good answer in an email, and I'll paste it here:

Steeks are where you cut the knitting. When you're knitting Fair Isle, you knit in the round - so that you're always carrying the unused yarn along the back of the work, and you're always (except on the bottom band, for example) only knitting. But if you're making a Cardi... where is the opening going to go? Where is the armhole going to be? So that's where the steeks are. They're usually 8 stitches across, and part of finishing a steeked sweater is cutting the steeks open, picking up stitches on either side to knit, say, a sleeve or a button band, and then crossstiching the steek so the stitches don't unravel. You only do it like that if you're using Shetland wool, which is VERY sticky and tends not to want to un-stitch itself. Even still, you steam it so it slightly felts before you cut the steek open. And no matter how many steeks you've cut, there's still something scary about it!
:-)

And Steven asked what kind of camera I use to get such "clear close up shots." Well, it's a Nikon D70. And it's cheaper now than when I bought it. Grr. I use a really nice lens which has great macro capability. This is one of the cameras (and one of the lenses, too) that I took with me to Africa. And since we're on that topic, I'll close with another photo from Africa! Can you tell that those blurry things in the background are antelope who are staring, terrified, at the lion?

Steeky!

I love steeks. I love 'em. There's something amazingly cool about knowing that you can change colors of yarn without ever having to worry about weaving in ends. Because that's where you're going to cut your knitting. With sharp scissors.

Months from now, of course, when you're actually finished with the body of this sweater which you know is going to take a really long time.

Anyhow, there are, as you may know, two schools of thought on steeks. One is to alternate your colors so that the steek grows like this:

X O X O (cut) X O X O
O X O X (cut) O X O X
X O X O (cut) X O X O

That way is all fine and dandy, and some people say it's the stronger way, but I prefer the

X O X O (cut) O X O X
X O X O (cut) O X O X
X O X O (cut) O X O X

method. Why? Well, for one, it makes cutting TONS easier because you've knit a clear line to show you exactly where you're meant to be cutting. And two, it makes for cool photos. I like the stripes. (See above.)

Anyhow, that's today's news and today's progress, which is 8 rows. 3 of which were purl rows. That's a total of 2,792 stitches today, which ain't half bad, now is it?

(Note, added later) This is being knit in the round, in case you can't tell. The purl rows to which I refer are because the first 10 rows were knit in garter stitch. Last night, I knit the first two main body rows in stockinette, and I will have no more purling to do until I get to a neck-band or a cuff, whichever comes first. Sorry if I confused anyone...

It's Fair Isle Fall!

So wouldn't it be swell if my camera actually liked to photograph Shetland 2-ply?

Anyhow, I cast on the 349 stitches and got the first four rows of "Zauberflote" done. (Hey, stranded purl rows are slow! And 349 stitches, remember?) I didn't have to swatch because I've used this yarn before and I know that I get gauge. It's been a while since I did Fair Isle, so it took a little while to get back in the swing of things, but I find that I'm already anxious to be done with the garter stitch section and move into the main stockinette part. I hate purling with two-color stranded knitting, is that so wrong?

In other news, I saw Elton John at The Garden tonight. That man puts on the most incredible show ever. He started singing around 8:10pm and the show didn't end until 11:30. And there wasn't even an intermission or anything. One brief costume change, but seriously, non-stop music. Amazing. He just sang and sang and sang, and the audience ate up every note.

But the whole thing paled in comparison to the fact that I was sitting next to a family who was clearly there under the aegis of The Make-a-Wish Foundation or a similar organization. The boy had maybe MS or something, it was so sad... but the whole family had VIP backstage passes, and Elton even said his name from the stage - and the whole family cheered extra loud - and then Elton dedicated "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me." I wept. It had been clear the whole time that the guy was a huge EJ fan - he was singing along, and he knew the words to every single song. Even the ones I had never even heard before.

The last time I had heard Elton dedicate "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" to someone, he dedicated it to the memory of Matthew Shepherd, which also made me weep. I get weepy. So sue me.

The bottom line? If I hadn't already given so much money to Hurricane Katrina relief, I'd have come right home and donated more money to Make-a-Wish. But with Rita looming in the Gulf... wow, what a scary time for this country.

Yummy Yummy Yummy

It's a really good thing when this is the postmark on the package you get in the mail:

Since it's an international package, there's bound to be a customs declaration.

Pure wool yarn? What? Hooray! And when you open the box, there's that glowing and the special angelic choir singing, for this is inside:

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, are you ready for Fair Isle Fall?

This yarn is going to become Jade Starmore's Die Zauberflote. Can you believe it looks that ornate when there are actually only six colors of yarn?

In other news, who needs other news? It's Fair Isle Fall!

Don't You Hate It When...

...you need a set of US 6 DPN's to finish something that's nearly done, but you get 4.25mm instead of 4.0mm needles?

...you miscable an "unforgiveable" row?

...you go to "Boyz Night" at your local knit shop only to realize that you left your backpack, with all your knitting in it, at home?

...the only yarn you really, truly love when you decide that you might as well pick something up so that you have something to knit, is $27 per skein?

...and you need two to make a man sized scarf?

...you don't have enough time to "really" take photos of said expensive yarn and create a "real" blog entry?

Me too!

George's Note to Condi

Have you seen it?

Oh my.

It's Not Krispy Kreme

But doesn't it look like a donut from some odd planet where donuts are knit in luciously soft merino wool, and with cables?

And in keeping with the spirit of having to knit part of every square on this project more than once, you'll be happy to know that for my first try on this square, I knit a Moebius band. And I didn't even realize it until I was on the sixth round...

Now, though, I'm at the point where it's really tough to deal with this few stitches using the 2 circular needle method. Gotta see if I have some US6 DPN's around here in the midst of all the clutter.

In non-knitting news, I had a really weird moment tonight: Dad called, and just wanted to talk. Mind you, my dad is fine... but we don't have the chattiest relationship and although we love each other, we're not the communicators that Mom and I have historically been. So when Dad starts in telling me about this feud he's been having with the guy who used to be his best friend, but voted for and is donating more money to W, "the President;" and then on top of that goes and hires a contractor who my dad is suing, well... but it was just weird to actually spend 40 minutes on the phone with home and for Mom to not even pick up...

And to think I was on a weird row of the Donut and couldn't even knit during the call!

[Ed. note: Yes, I knit that all in one day. Including the Moebius false start. I am not some superfast uber-knitter. I seriously spent the whole day (except the part where I was on the phone, or eating lunch, the only meal I had for some unknown reason) knitting. So that's a long day's work at the needles, OK?]

Alchemy

The alchemy of the knitter's art was in full force tonight at Casa di Jon Blog.

You see, I finished square number four:

Looks perfect, almost? No? Well, let me tell you something about square number four. Dear ole' foursie.

Up until this evening, square four had a few challenges - a series of mis-crossed cables, and some openwork that maybe didn't quite go the right way. But there was a rhythym and everything seemed to be in place.

Up until this evening.

Then all hell broke loose.

I was knitting along, and then I realized that a stitch had somehow gotten dropped. Not just any stitch, but the one on the outside of the "pretzel" of the cables. And it unravelled down six or seven rows. And being the knitful alchemist that I am, I laddered it back up where it needed to be.

Then I knit another couple of rows. And then I realized that something was wrong: I only had three purl stitches in a spot where I was meant to have four. I didn't see any dropped stitches. Probably because I didn't have on my "crafting" glasses (they're pink, you know). So when I was on the reverse side of that row, I found the dropped stitch. But somehow, when I was trying to get it to go back up to the right spot, I ended up with this:

I couldn't even begin to know what was going on here.

But, thanks to the strategically placed stitch markers between the patterns, one of which (stitchmarkers, not patterns) was borrowed from the intrepid Miss Em, I figured out how many stitches I had dropped. And I found every single one of them.

And I did this:

Then this, which involved a rather odd approach to cabling:

And when I got to this point, where everything was right and all worked back up to the row I'd been on when hell had broken loose anyhow, I went to the kitchen and got this:

And even after my reward, I still ****ed up the pattern: I forgot to cable over the faggoting. But I realized that on pattern row 9, when the cross was meant to be on row 7. So guess what I did? I ladder-dropped the stitches down only on those four stitches, and worked them back up - with the cable cross in there - and everything was right with the world.

Now go back to that first picture of the square. Can you believe it? Neither can I. Give me some lead, baby, 'cause we're turning it to gold!

Faggotting

Weird. Only in knitting (and if you're talking about a pile of sticks, in some circles) are you "allowed" to use this word.

Because there are things called faggotting in knitting. And they look nice next to cables. See?

The faggotting part is actually rather messed up: I cabled the wrong way the first time I cabled across the faggots, so I just kept doing that. Then in the 3rd pattern repeat (aka tonight, when I was paying more attention to "Little Britain" on BBC America, I reversed the faggotting totally. But we're the only ones who will ever know. To a non-knitter's eye, there's probably nothing wrong with it. And we all know I've already frogged enough in this greenness.

I'm really looking forward to my new A* and J* designs coming in the mail. Would you believe, though, that Visa's fraud prevention bureau called me to verify that the Virtual Yarns charge was really mine? Clearly, my bankers are not knitters. Otherwise they would know the glory of shetland wool. Which is second only to the glory of merino!

Fancy a Laugh?

Have you seen this website? Stuffonmycat.com. It is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.

In other news, I've been too busy working and drinking and going out all weekend to have much knitting news. I will say that we had a very poorly attended boys night on Friday. There were three boys, including me, and we had a good time, but it was definitely a "quiet conversation" type of night.

In other, other news... remember when I said that I want this to be Fair Isle Fall? Well, I'm not letting the GGAAA get in my way! Alice and Jade, have at me, ye fair lasses!

News from New Orleans

This column, from the New Orleans' Paper, the Times Picayune is just so... well... so... so... I just had to post it. Read on...

In city of melted clocks, scribes paint Dali scenes
By Chris Rose
Columnist

You hear the word “surreal” in every report from this city now. There is no better word for it.

If Salvador Dali showed up here, he wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of it. Nobody could paint this.

He did that famous painting of the melting clock and our clocks melted at 6:45 the morning of Aug. 29. That’s what the clocks in the French Quarter still say. That’s when time stood still.

The Quarter survived all this; you’ve probably heard that much. Most of what remains unscathed – and I’m using a very relative term here - is a swath of dry land from the Riverbend through Audubon Park, down St. Charles and Tchoupitoulas to the Quarter and into the Bywater.

It’s like a land mass the size of Bermuda, maybe, but with not so many golf courses.

There are other dry outposts in the great beyond – little Key Wests across the city – but I haven’t seen them.

The weather is beautiful, I don’t mind telling you. But if I wrote you a post card, it wouldn’t say Wish You Were Here.

There are still hearty rose bushes blooming on front porches and there are still birds singing in the park. But the park is a huge National Guard encampment.

There are men and women from other towns living there in tents and who have left their families to come help us and they are in the park clearing out the fallen timber. My fellow Americans.

Every damn one of them tells you they’re happy to be here (despite what you’ve heard, it still beats the hell out of Fallujah) and every time I try to thank them – on behalf of all of us - I just lose it. I absolutely melt down.

There is nothing quite as ignominious as weeping in front of a soldier.

This is no environment for a wuss like me. We reporters go to other places to cover wars and disasters and pestilence and famine. There’s no manual to tell you how to do this when it’s your own city.

And I’m telling you: It’s hard.

It’s hard not to get crispy around the edges. It’s hard not to cry. It’s hard not to be very, very afraid.

My colleagues who are down here are warriors. There are a half-dozen of us living in a small house on a side street Uptown. Everyone else has been cleared out.

We have a generator and water and military C-rations and Doritos and smokes and booze. After deadline, the call goes out: “Anyone for some warm brown liquor?” and we sit on the porch in the very, very still of the night and we try to laugh.

Some of these guys lost their houses – everything in them. But they’re here, telling our city’s story.

And they stink. We all stink. We stink together.

We have a bunch of guns but it’s not clear to me if anyone in this “news bureau” knows how to use them.

The California National Guard came by a wanted an accounting of every weapon in the building and they wrote the serial numbers down and apparently our guns are pretty rad because they were all cooing over the .38s.

I guess that’s good to know.

The Guard wanted to know exactly what we had so they would be able to identify – apparently by sound – what guns were in whose hands if anything “went down” after dark here at this house.

That’s not so good to know.

They took all our information and bid us a good day and then sauntered off to retrieve a dead guy on a front porch down the street.

Then the California Highway Patrol – the CHiPs! – came and demanded we turn over our weapons.

What are you going to do? We were certainly outnumbered so we turned over the guns. Then, an hour later, they brought them back. With no explanation.

Whatever. So here we are. Just another day at the office.

Maybe you’ve seen that Times-Picayune advertising slogan before: “News, Sports and More.”

More indeed. You’re getting your money’s worth today.

Why Is It?

Normally, I hate to frog. I almost never rip. Sometimes, I'll tink back a few stitches, maybe even a row. But you all know how many mistakes there were in the Blue Cable-y Goodness. There were even a couple in the intarsia hell that was the Rosetta Blankie. And undoubtedly there are a few in the three squares I have finished so far for the GGAAA.

So why is it that I have ripped so much out on this project? I ripped one square, which I was up to row 10 or 12, out entirely - twice. And I ripped again last night, although then I was only having problems on row 3 (or was it 5?)...

Maybe it's the fact that these squares are all so small that I don't feel so invested in them? Maybe it's the fact that since they're each so different, I want them to be right?

Or could it be that green yarn is just meant to go ribbit... ribbit...

Next Square, Please

I decided on that title for today's entry for two reasons. One: I finished another square for the GGAAA, and started the next one. The next one, in fact, will not have a single bobble, but it will have yarn overs galore. Hooray!

My other reason for that title is that I know how generous the knitting community is... I've watched the amount rise over at Give a Little, but I have a question for all of you out there: What do we all think about starting an Afghan-along for Katrina victims? I mean, sure, they live in hot, humid places, but it gets cold(ish) in the winter, and a lot of people are real sensitive to air conditioning... so who would knit a square or three? Do people think it's a good idea to start this? (Or has someone started it already and I just haven't found mention of their blog yet?)

Let me know what you think, OK?

It's Not Easy Photoing Green

Every picture of this ****ing color looks different. It's really a lovely color, and I wish you could see it. Here is another photo of it (from a yarn shop's site) which also has a different look than any of my photos of it.

Regardless, it's a lovely color. And it makes lovely bobbles.

And it's a whole heck of a lot happier to spend time knitting this yarn than it is to read the ****ing news. Seriously, I might just stop. (The news, that is...)

I am enjoying the patterns of the GAAA so far. The ones I have done have been very easy to do - rather memorizeable, in the case of the first one and this one, and even the cables on the side of the tree, and in the case of the tree itself, rather intuitive. Or else I'm just getting into the "zone" with the whole cable thing. I'm off from work tomorrow so I'll knit and ponder this some more...

I Like Bobbles

I finished the Tree square:

And I started another bobble-y square. I really don't understand why you all don't like bobbles. Then again, I'm the one who made a crazy insane intarsia blankie and had fun doing it. So clearly, I'm not 100% on my knitting rocker.

This is actually the second time I made all those bobbles, as I somehow didn't pay attention to the fact that there was a cross on a wrong side row, not to mention some other strange errors I had made. (Not to mention the fact that the pattern said to use larger needles which, astonishingly, resulted in a larger square...) Now, though, it seems to be going well. Right size, right twists, right crosses, lovely bobbles, and about the right size.

Which is especially impressive given that I knit all of this after coming home at around 11:30pm, drunk off my ass, having had an entire bottle of wine at dinner... and vodka, too!

Please pardon me while I go sleep it off...

(Random PS: the colors of all these squares is the same... the photo of the tree square in this entry is rather on target.)

Help... and Eat!

Del Frisco's, Texas Land & Cattle Company, Lone Star Steak House, Frankie's, and Sullivan's - this entire chain of steak houses will donate 100% of all their proceeds on Monday, September 5 to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

So please, if you're near one of these restaurants, enjoy their steaks on Monday! The NYC Del Frisco's, which is one of my favorite places for steak, is at 6th Ave and 49th St. and is open from 5pm until midnight.

Give A Little

The Red Cross

Please take the time to do what you can. This isn't the time for knit-a-longs of things to send down there; after all, it's pretty warm where these people live, and they need houses before we send them things to put into them, but instead of buying yarn this weekend, send some money to the Red Cross. Because you probably have enough yarn already.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Manhattan

So I'm on row 52 now. That means that there are three more of these big huge bobbles left.

Bobbles are fun... but I had to knit the first one about 8 times before I finally figured out the instructions for it. Yowza!

I spent much of today feeling sorry for the people of New Orleans, but I am happy to say that I was able to reach a friend on the phone - and he's safe in Houston. I emailed my college roommate, who's from there, but of course haven't heard back. Could be ages before I do, if I do at all - we haven't been the closest of friends over the years. But I do hope that he writes.

TiVo just helped me discover the wonder that is "Malcolm in the Middle." It never occurred to me that I might want to watch a show about a family like that, but oh my! It's really quite fun.

Anyhow... I have to work overtime tomorrow - 11am to 10pm. Bleah! But hopefully I'll find time to create a few more bobbles.