the Akamai Knitter

Blue Hydrangea Silk

I’ve been absolutely bored to tears with the projects I have on hand so this weekend I pulled some silk I got as a gift from Jenny K. It’s hard to believe that even though Jenny and I have never met, we’ve been friends for almost 10 years. We’ve even knit a shawl together!* It was the very first lace shawl that I have ever in my whole life made. So of course it was a complete disaster.

It was the absolute Shawl from Hell. Not only did I end up quadrupling the number of required stitches a few times, one of my cats ended up *peeing* on the durned thing! Thank goodness for baking soda and lemon juice and lots of hot water. In defense of the now deceased cat, he was a sick puddy tat and he only got a small portion of it. Plus his Momma left the shawl in a spot that was unwise to say the least.

So not only did I have a shawl that looked about 6 inches long and say 6 feet wide, I also had a shawl that stank to high heaven. It was just about the most discouraging project I have ever encountered in my knitting career.

Since I took so long in actually knitting and sending off the shawl, it’s no wonder that I’ve waited so long in actually blogging about it. Every time I think of that shawl I break out in chills and sweats all at the very same time. It’s a wonder that I ever picked up the needles to knit another shawl again. From what I recall it took me about 2 years just to send the unfinished shawl to Jenny in England. It was so long ago, I have no pictures of the shawl. It might have even taken place pre-camera!
I can write about it now because it’s finally finished and I can finally remember some of the details again. I had stuffed the memory of the shawl so deeply into the dark recesses of my mind it took a lot of work just trying to figure out what I could remember about it.

Now I can put it all behind me and look forward to the droning monotny of ruffles. Lots and lots of ruffles… oh but there’s silk too. Pretty silk. See?

*Details and pictures of the shawl are all on Jenny’s blog

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After reading Mim’s blog entry on knitting celebrities, I got to thinking about why I admire certain knitters more then others. I have to say it’s not because they don’t seem like real people, but more because they do seem so very real to me. The same goes for any celebrity that I admire. The more I know about them, the more I can relate to them on a very human level and the less they appear on a pedestal.

That’s why blogs are so wonderful. I love to hear about the pitfalls people have with their knitting projects just as much as the successes. Not because I glory in other peoples mistakes, but because I love to see how other people learn from them. And I love to see how often we knitters often make the same mistakes no matter how long we’ve been knitting or how talented a knitter we may be. It’s a common thread and it connects us in a way that I often have a hard time explaining to those who are on the outside.

It’s like when I find out someone is also bipolar*. There’s an instant secret handshake and a nod of acknowledgement of “Oh yeah you know where I’ve been and just what all I’ve been through”. Knitters have that same secret handshake without having to cross those sacred intimacy barriers that makes everyone uncomfy about oversharing.

I find it amazing that a simple hobby can connect so many people. The waves of impact this connectivity has seems to just echo through the universe like a tidal wave force. It breeches the walls of social structure and brings strangers together in special ways.

I see knitting celebrities as leaders of the pack. They represent the best of us and while they represent only some of us, they do represent the best of us. I don’t think that they’re becoming moral compasses or anything like that, but they are symbols of our community. My admiration for them is also symbolic in the sense that it’s not only the person that I admire but the very journey that they take on their blogs and the courage they have in putting it all out there for the world to see.

So my hat’s off to those enterprising folks who have the courage to put their personal lives along with their knitting on their blogs and my hats off to those adventurous knitters who show us the way to put our fears away and just take the plunge, however that may be.

As always I write for me and hopefully for the reader who can relate to me.

*Special thanks to the Knitting Curmudgeon for her post.

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I’ve been taking a long hiatus from knitting and spinning to rest my hands. I’ve also been taking a break from typing as that seems to bother my hands more then knitting and spinning put together. I did manage to finish one Gentleman’s Sock last week and I’m slowly making progress on the second as well as getting the Flirty Ruffles done.
I picked up Rosamunde Pilcher again. My all time favorite book of hers is Shell Seekers, but Coming Home is a close second. Her books are like old friends to me and I love to return to them every now and again whenever I’m in need of comfort. If you haven’t come across her before, I really do suggest you try her.

:-)

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This weekend has been about resting my hands and spinning. The root canal I had done went really well. I hardly felt a thing and I’ve never been so thankful. If I could use this dentist for all my dental work, I would, but he only does root canals and I only plan on having one. I was still a little tender, but nothing like how I was prior to my appointment. I’m so glad that I didn’t wait to get this done.
The Cranberry Spray is a Merino/Silk blend that I spun up. This will be on its way to Wendy M. as soon as I can think of some other goodies to accompany it. I wouldn’t want the yarn to get too lonely.

The Poiple Stuff has been plying into a really pretty yarn. I’m not sure if I’ll use it for a shawl though, which is too bad since I already ordered the Waves Shoulder Shawl. Thanks again to Jeanne for suggesting that pattern. I do have some other handspun that I might use for that pattern. I just have to dig it out and see how many yards I have and spin some more of it up. All of which will happen after the Poiple Stuff is off the bobbins.

I think the Poiple Stuff is a little too soft for socks, but the marled effect is reminiscent of Trekking at this stage. Sometimes a yarn just needs to sit for awhile in my stash and is there only to be taken out for occassional pettings and fondlings, until one day the perfect use for it dawns. This might be that type of yarn.

I’ve been reading a really sweet book by Debbie Macomber called A Good Yarn. It’s the second book in a series and I haven’t read the first book, but so far that hasn’t been too much of a problem. It’s a lovely uncomplicated read that’s perfect for my current state of mind. One of these days I’ll get the first book, The Shop On Blossom Street. The characters aren’t very complicated and neither is the story, so it’s a very relaxing way to spend a few mintues before heading off to neverland.
I’ve also been browsing through Mason-Dixon Knitting and I particularly like the afghan from Woolly Pursuits called the Curve of Pursuit that is on page 67. I’m not sure if I’d ever make it, but it sure is beautiful. If anyone has ordered anything from Woolly Thoughts, I would love to hear from you.

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…I knit like a fiend when I’m emotionally overwrought so it’s no wonder that I’ve been churning out sock after sock the past couple of weeks. Tomorrow morning I’ve got an appointment to get a root canal done and I’m half out of my mind with mind while the other half is out worrying about those wicked needles dentists like to use. I’m not usually phobic about needles, but when it comes to needles in my mouth, I become a full blown coward with a capital “C”.

I tried to work on my shawl, but I found that complicated chart knitting and painkillers just don’t mix. Thankfully, sock knitting and painkillers go together like martinis and olives. Since I finished the socks I had on the needles last night, I dug through my stash and found some lovely Trekking 109 on my new Knit Picks Classic Circulars size US1 and printed out the pattern for Gentleman’s Socks.

This is the first twisted stitch pattern I’ve done and it’s going really well thanks to my new needles. All the hype and clamor you’ve heard about these lovely beauties are true and then some. I could sing arias about their gently tapered points. They’re sharp enough to slide through the K2togs, yet they’re blunt enough that they do not split the yarn. The cables are supple and pliant. Yes, I could go on, but you’ve heard it all before.

As for the yarn? The yarn is like buttah. Buttah I tell you. It’s soft and silky with absolutely no itch. Its got elasticity. The marled strands make the knitting up of this pattern an adventure in colour. The stripes gives it that added zest that keeps you knitting to see what will happen next.

I’ve got a * cavities to fill over the next month, so I’m going to make sure I have a constant sock project on the needles and in my new KIPer bag. I’m beginning to feel a bit like a sock machine, but it works better then painkillers. Distraction is the key to happiness when it comes to pain.
Speaking of which, I was officially diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrom in both wrists earlier this month. Drastically cutting down on my computer time and medication has gotten my hands much better. I notice that shawl knitting seems to make them worse as well. I think it’s a matter of weight rather then the type of knitting. I’m not ready to give up shawl knitting yet though.

Have a great long weekend!

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