The Melody Initiative

When you are hit with a series of events that are not all positive, you start to question a lot of things in your life. It would be nice if we could inspect our lives every so often without having to be boxed about the head and ears first.

From my quest to find answers, I realized one major thing: successful change requires chaos. When I think back on my life and look at the times when things started going well, it was always because of something that went wrong. When I got divorced the first time, for example, I was forced to either earn a minimal wage as a legal secretary or figure out something better. So I taught myself computer programming. Within two years I had quadrupled my annual income, and it only went up from there. Sometimes your problems are your best friend. (of course I was laid off eventually, but my reward was in the successful attainment of the skills, not in the money itself).

I often play a solitaire game called Spider, a version of which comes with Microsoft Windows XP. It is not an easy game to win, and that is why I like it. Before I am quite awake in the morning and while I drink that first precious cup of coffee, I play Spider. The key to winning in Spider is much like the key to winning in life: you have to create chaos before you can instill order. It's scary-- when you want to place that eight of hearts on the nine of hearts but realize it will block all future moves, you have to be willing to put the eight of clubs on the nine of hearts instead and trust that you will later have the ability to put your hearts back in order.

Mrs. Cravitz is getting worse. When she walks her retriever, all of the canines start up the Mrs. Cravitz Chorus, and as she walks past she yells at the top of her lungs "shut up, Sherlock!" and other requests for quiet directed at specific animals, which cannot be heard over the din of the dogs. She seemed stunned when I suggested that she give me a call before she goes for a walk and I could brings the dogs in. She's probably in her bomb shelter right now, trying to figure out what my ulterior motive might be.

I showed you my collar yesterday, and today I'll tell you how it came to be.

Monday night I was pleased to attend for the first time a meeting of the Eastside Knitter's Guild (EKG) not two miles from my home. The EKG meets at Crossroads Shopping Center in the community room. Sue of Parkside Wool (located in Bellevue) was there to give a demonstration and to show some of her new yarns.

I had seen and heard about the new bamboo yarns for quite some time, but had never knitted any of them. When Sue showed us a kit that consisted of a novelty ladder-type yarn called Melody and a ball of bamboo yarn, packaged with the Lost Points shawl pattern, I decided to try it. (My color combination is number 1; click on the link to see it).

At home the next day, I inspected the kit. I immediately decided the Lost Points pattern was not for me, then started swatching with the bright pink bamboo yarn. On the ball, this yarn is quite soft and cotton-like, with a soft sheen and satiny smoothness. Knitting it, however, was like knitting with strips of semi-dry grass. I don't know how this can happen, but it did. The reverse side of my stockinette piece was a bit scratchy, and I did not like the experience. I tuned out the bamboo yarn and turned my attention to the Melody.

I am not a fan of the so-called Fun! yarns. They are my Enemy. They are mostly composed of Fake Stuff like acrylic and nylon and other things that I have decided cause cancer. Even if they don't cause cancer, they don't provide warmth and they do not absorb moisture and they feel alien to my skin.

Melody is about 65% rayon and 35% nylon. Rayon is actually natural, just as bamboo and soy is, but it requires the intervention of technology to make it into fiber. I have decided that I can accept Rayon in small quantities, since it provides shine and softness and drape.

I looked around for an accompaniment for the Melody, remembering a particular denim jacket I have that is bordered with bright colors similar to those in my particular skein of Melody. I found a Garnstudio sweater kit that I will never knit and in it several skeins of Garnstudio's Angora-Tweed in a beautiful denim color. Perfect! Soft, natural, a color that goes with everything.

And so began my swatch, which I liked so much it became a scarf, which I liked so much I wanted to extend it.

My current plan is to knit a garter stitch circle with the Angora-Tweed alone, using short-row shaping as in a two-needle doily. Because I do not want a complete circle, but rather a circle with a head-hole in the center, between each wedge I plan to use both yarns together to knit two inches of garter stitch. If I have sixteen sections, then I will have sixteen 2-inch segments, which will total the 32 inches that I want to end up with on the collar side.

When I complete the circle I may or may not sew the beginning to the end. I will then attach the collar to the middle of the circle and have a poncho/cape sort of thing. The collar will overlap itself and be fake-buttoned with a large ornamental button that I have yet to find.

Envisioned result: wide glamorous collar topping a swing-style poncho adorned with vertical stripes of flecked color and edged (maybe) with something inspired by Nicky Epsteins' Knitting On The Edge.

Posted by Sheila at September 30, 2004 11:44 AM Posted to Introspection | Melodic Caper | Stories | TrackBack