Spicy dicey.

This scarf is actually rather pretty, in a feisty, Mardi Gras kind of way. It was a gift for my (wicked)* stepmother's birthday. I used the same gorgeous-yet-horrific rayon bouclé from Fiesta Yarns' La Bohéme collection that I used for my mom's shawl, except in Jamaican Spice. Anyway, here's a dreadful picture of it. I tried to color-correct, but I'm still learning about white-balance.†


I won't include the mortifying details of the creation of this project, as the yarn became more snarled and tangled than the relationships in the 2nd season of LOST, and as I realized that I know more curse words than any decent English teacher should. "Blast" and "darnit" don't count, by the way. All I will say is that it is only advisable in the most extreme circumstances to ever, EVER cut the knots out of a skein of yarn. I wove in something like . . . oh, I dunno, eight or nine dangling ends. Not counting the bind off length. For a single-skein scarf.

The great news is that the drape of the fabric is just about that which I'd hoped. I worked on size 10 circulars, knitting flat, and the guage made the scarf lightweight, but not overly flimsy. It's 26 stitches wide, so that when it hangs around the neck, it folds and twists in a suprisingly flattering way (are you noticing all of the "f" adjectives? no idea where that comes from . . .) I had considered fringes, but the nature of the yarn made that an unnattractive option, since it was so splitty that the fringes just looked messy. The edges don't seem very "neat," but with the drape and the width, they almost seem purposefully ruffle-y. Folded in a drawer or elsewhere, the scarf may appear less-than finished, but I think it will be perfect on a black suit, even for a more formal occasion. I'm sure that Peggy will have a great place to wear it.

And now! I have five whole rounds done on the Honeymoon Cami. I am no longer afraid! The pattern is emerging from the needles, and I wish I could express how thrilling that is! Now I have something to fully occupy my poor anxious brain while I wait for . . . The Phone Call. From those people (about the job).

Seriously. It's got to be soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~
* Peggy is not really "wicked." She is the rare breed of stepmother that doesn't usually appear in fairy tales. She's actually a cool lady. (do I get my favored child status back now?)

† What did I learn from this project, you ask? Since my goal is to learn something each project, here's my response. Do not ever, ever, ever, EVER buy rayon bouclé again. Ever. And don't cut knots in frustration. And use a white piece of paper for white balance in photographs. I am now enlightened. The end.

Beyond the Tesseract

This is the kind of geek that I am.

Imagining the Tenth Dimension.

Please, enjoy. Learn. Be enlightened.

Anticipation.

sucks.

And yet, I must wait, fingers crossed and eyes lifted heavenward. Oh, help me have faith in what must be.

(meanwhile... tap, tap tap goes my foot.)

~~~
degré de solvabilité d'image: Dessin Gwendal, de Massilia Sound System. du cet site Web

"Do you not hear me speak?" UPDATED!

I have just been cast as "Antonia," the female version of Antonio, in Town and Gown's production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Yeah, she's the bad guy. Wicked, scheming, devious, evil... we love her.

And I would put someone else's role up here, too, but I'll let her share the news.

At the request of my readers, I add the show dates:

September 22 - 24
and
September 29 - October 1

Town and Gown Theater
Athens, GA

Fri-Sat: 8pm
Sun: 2pm

I hope you're hungry.

This from a friend to whom I send many kudos.

Poetry, dear readers. That's what this is. Beautiful, beautiful, poetry.

(po'tree, even)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mom celebrated her birthday on Sunday, and though she probably hasn't received her gift quite yet, she's already seen the pictures I'm including here.

On a close inspection of my face, it appears
that I must be about to say something terribly profound.
Too bad you'll never know what it is...

The shawl that I made is from a super-easy pattern (CO 36, knit one row, increase second stitch of every subsequent row, BO, weave in ends, and voilá!) But the yarn, OH that yarn. So pretty, so tempting, with its tasty colors/flavors (raspberry mocha is the one I chose for my mom). On the size 15 needles, however, the bubbly rayon bouclé that looks so enticing dangling from the yarn store rack rapidly became the stuff of nightmares. It took almost two months to create this supposedly "simple" pattern, as I started and stopped and ripped and shouted my way through the first 20 rows.

"Oh no," I'd think, "did I remember to increase this row?" Well... since my original 36 stitches have now increased to over 50, but also since I haven't been counting and it's impossible to count rows with this yarn, I'll guess, "no," and go ahead and increase riiiiiight now.

Ring, ring. "Hello," I answer the phone, holding my knitting less-than-perfectly-carefully in my other hand, watching in horror as the giant stitches of bubbly yarn slipped off the needle before my helpless eyes. Where did they go? Lost forever! Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!! Over and again I dropped these ridiculous stitches. I once was just sitting and knitting with Mel when I glanced in her direction to laugh and then looked back: at 3 dropped stitches.

Suffice to say, by row 112 (or so), I had learned to find those pesky fallen friends and wind them all the way back up to my live row. At one point a little one had slithered its way down 6 rows, but with my now-well-trained eyes, I caught the little bugger and twisted him back up to where he belonged. I can barely express my self-satisfaction at that point. Ha-HA!

Melanie, again, proved a lifesaver. Apparently, this skein was two smaller skeins knotted together, which, in my infinite observational skills, I failed to notice until about 1/3 of the way through the row in which the knot should appear. In her infinite wisdom and patience, Mel helped me go backwards through the tangled jungle of rayon insanity and start the second 1/2 of the skein at the edge. How she accomplished it, I'll never know, since I still can't see the RS or WS of the knitting with this stuff.

I learned quite a bit on this super-easy pattern, of which the quality of perserverance as it applies to knitting is not the least. I also learned to beware of rayon bouclé. Its dangers sneak up and nip, nip, nip, until the "little project" turns into a marathon. The point, however, is that I have accomplished my general knitting goal, even with something this seemingly straightforward, which is to learn something new from every piece that I create. Thanks, Mom, for that, even though you had no idea you were still learnin' me sumthin'.

Happy Birthday, Mom!
I hope you get to wear it somewhere delightful!