It's been a busy bunch of weeks since I last updated. I took a small group of students to Regional Big City to visit a major museum in late October, and the preparation for that, both before and after, sucked up a lot of my time. Then, we put together a tiny exhibition of our own, which will "open" next week -- basically, we're pinning posters of our own manufacture to a bulletin board in our department hallway, then opening the department lounge for an hour and serving foods that reference the exhibition's theme.
Then, the Emperor took The One Trip: I put him on a train in Regional Capital City, and he traveled to spend two weeks with his son, ostensibly to go deer hunting. I think the part that worked out the best was the planning. The Emperor caught a nasty cold while on the train, and got to his destination late, cold, and feeling like crap. He then spent about half of his visit trying to get better, and the real reason for going -- hanging around a campsite having a good time -- didn't produce the pleasure it should have. And, nobody even saw a deer.
While the Emperor was gone, I had a friend come to stay here at Orchard Ranch for three days. H-- spent two days giving talks and showing his work to students at my university, and in the evenings we ran around my town, eating good food and just enjoying each other's company. The same day that H-- left, my friends S-- and N-- came into town for the weekend and although they spent their visit in a hotel, the rest of the time we spent together doing things around town.
At the end of the second week, I went back to Regional Big City to meet an old friend that I hadn't seen in over twenty years. We were having a sort of memorial for our friend, who passed away last year (see my December 31 entry for 2013, on the Day of the Dead offrenda). We had dinner with our mutual friend's cousin, and reminisced about her and just generally had a good time. That same evening, I traveled to Regional Capital City to pick up the Emperor from his return journey. His train was four hours late.
The thing to remember about these train journeys is that departures and arrivals from our part of the route happen in the middle of the night, necessitating either three-hour nighttime drives or hotel stays. If a train arrives or leaves late, you lose sleep as well as time. Just remembering this makes me tired!
But that's enough whining! Today is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and to cap that little gem off, our university gives students and faculty the whole week off. To cap that gem off, we had the previous Friday off as well, to allow everybody to attend the inauguration ceremonies for our new university president. So instead of teaching, I put on the academic robes my dad bought me for my doctoral graduation, and marched in the procession because so far I really like this president.
So I've had a week off! Well, not really, because the Emperor and I had to return yet again to Regional Big City for a (completely unnecessary) doctor's visit. That city, by the way, is about a four-and-a-half hour drive from here. Morning doctor visits require an overnight stay. So Monday and Tuesday of this week were spent either driving or doing doctor things, but we got in a good shop at Trader Joe's and Costco. I've got six avocados about to be ripe all at the same time to show for it.
Get on with the knitting, you say! Okay, here are the little tiddly bits I managed to get off the needles and hooks in the past month or so. I exclusively use handknit cotton dishcloths in my kitchen, and most of my cloths had pretty big holes in them, so I needed to make some more. I searched for a new pattern, and made two like the one you see below. However, I wasn't thrilled with the efficacy (the scrubbing experience) of this model, so I gave away the second one as a hostess gift.
Someone on one of the pattern sites suggested making that brown center out of a tough acrylic so it would serve as a scrubbie. That's a good idea, but if I were to do another one of these, I'd make that center out of nylon net.
My preferred pattern for dishcloths is the "Doily Dishcloth" from the back of the ball band on Sugar and Cream cotton yarns. One ball costs $2.50 or less, and one ball will make a nice little dishcloth. Anyway, once I decided I wanted to stick with my old favorite pattern, I cranked out two of them.
I started washing with this one (above) last night. I'm saving the one below for later. It's dyed with what I think is real indigo, and should fade like a pair of jeans as it becomes used. I plan to photograph this process as I go along, just for information's sake.
Finally, I cranked out this cowl, just for fun. I had to go out and find number 50 knitting needles (they're huge) but I used some stash yarn to complete the project. The pattern is "Sassenach," a free offering on Ravelry. It's a knock-off of a cowl worn by a character on the "Outlander" television series, which I am not watching. I don't like the Outlander novels anyway, and have no interest in watching the program, but I have seen photos of the knits used by the costume designers and really like what they're doing. Big, tweedy knits.
My stash yielded a chunky 100% alpaca yarn, which was the perfect size and yardage for this cowl. The pattern? With yarn held double, cast on eight stitches on #50 needles, knit every row until you run out of yarn, sew the ends together. You're supposed to spread a loop of cowl out and then artfully arrange the rest, making three loops around your neck. This is a three-loop spread that you see here.
Then, I picked up the cowl and carried it off somewhere else, and put it around my own neck. It proceeded to make four loops, and I remembered the "catch" inherent in using pure alpaca yarn -- it drapes beautifully, but the finished garment will drape right out of shape. So, when I wear this, I'll have to remember to pull it across its width first, then drape it. It's worth the trouble, because it's attractive and warm, making a satisfying pile of texture, albeit a pile right where I don't need another pile on my body.
Speaking of cowls, I finished the Bridger Cowl but it really does need a good blocking to look right. To do this, I'll need to make a really big roll of towels, give the cowl a good soak, then pin it out so that the lace spreads. Without blocking, it just sort of scrunches up unappealingly around the neck.
I've still got a sock going, but the usual Christmastime push to get one finished isn't going to happen this year. I finished a pair for the Emperor in the summer! The pair currently in progress (the Flower Power Socks) is for me, and they can happen any time. I'm also still working on the Jupiter Cardigan, but it's been a long slog. Doing the fronts and back together up to the armholes requires the same number of stitches (or close to it) as making fronts and backs separately. Interestingly, I can make a cardigan with the same gauge really quickly if I do separate pieces, but when the pattern calls for them to be made all in one piece, it takes forever. I thought it was just me, when I made the Swing Jacket out of sport weight yarn -- it's small yarn on small needles, it should have been a long haul. But this one is taking nearly as long, and it's worsted weight yarn on number eights! The sleeves took no time at all, as in one evening each, and they're waiting patiently in the basket, ready to be added in. But this cardigan body, composed of 250 stitches in stockinette, is taking barking forever. It would help if I picked it up and worked on it more often, but when you work diligently on a project for hours and then measure and find that you haven't made any progress at all (the Knitter's Black Hole) it tends to become discouraging. Every time I think I have climbed out of the Black Hole, I knit a little more and fall right back into it. For inspiration, I envision myself wearing this fantastic little flyaway cardi, I think about how warm it will be in winter, about how it will go with practically everything in my closet... and keep knitting, and it still seems as if nineteen inches has become the distance between my knitting basket and the moon. Despite all of this, I've got it out and will commence the knitting when this post has been published.
Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving and the weekend immediately after it have been my "catch up" days. In the past, I've spent it finishing assignments or major papers or writing my dissertation. I spent one of those weekends in England with the Emperor, and one of them with a colleague in Italy, but most of the time since I can remember, I've used it to catch up on work that needed doing. This year, I'm caught up on my grading, and I've got my lectures for next week all ready to go. I can spend this day, this weekend, as I like. Will I finally make my backpack purse? A new flannel pillowcase? Grab the Emperor and get out on the road to enjoy the late fall landscape? Again, the world is my oyster, for three days at least.
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