October 24, 2003
Raptor Rapture
A particularly unlovely Seattle commute... It’s a rainy day and you feel weighed down by sullen gray skies, oily raindrops, and exhaust fumes as you inch slowly homeward along the bridge. Then your eye is caught by a dark form circling gently in the sky. You look up, shrug, and think, feh, another red-tailed hawk. But experience tells you you should look again, just in case. And there it is. The flash of white in back. And, a second later, the flash of white in front. And then an ordinary commute becomes an extraordinary commute as you realize you are driving home in the company of a bald eagle.
In this city, this happens more than you would think—I've even seen bald eagles flying over my own yard—but it's still an awe-inspiring experience every time. (Of course, after my last entry, we all know they're just waiting for torrential rains to bring them Highway Salmon Surprise.)
Knitting Knews
TA-DA!!!!! A picture of my obscenely pointy, way-too-small but officially completed mitten! The fact that it's orange and we are exactly one week away from Halloween? Purely a coincidence.
A special thanks goes out to Jean who sent me the URL to the pattern I ended up using. Thanks also to Vaire, Rebecca, and Mary for their support, inspiration and pattern suggestions during The Great Mitten Adventure.
Showed the mitten around the office and noticed two sociological phenomena. First, no matter how small the mitten is, everyone will try to put it on, focusing especially on getting their thumb crammed into the thumb part. Secondly, once the mitten is on, everyone, no matter how mature, intelligent, sophisticated or self-possessed, will immediately go all giggly and googly and silly and, most likely, make a little mitten-y "hand dog" and bark it around the room. Ah, the magical effect of mittens.
Dye Garden Dygest
A swatch of yarn dyed with dahlias and an ammonia afterbath. The actual color is a lot less orange than this, more like orange-tinted caramel.
And, as promised, the variegated dahlia swatch. The light mustard is the original color and the orange is where I added the ammonia. Really an unlovely color combination, sort of as if a baby spit carrot puree all over King Midas's best outfit, but I am tickled at having created what passes for real variegated yarn!
Mittens look good, and the color is fine. If I can find them, I'll dig up my son's mittens (my first pair) and scan them for you. They are green with orange thumbs, and there is an orange Transformer (Bumblebee) worked on the top of both mitts - one side has him open and the other has him closed. This was per his specs, about twenty years ago. Come to think of it, I'll dig them up just to embarrass him. HAH!
Okay, maybe I'm weird (all right, I'm definitely weird), but I like the variegated swatch. Wait a few days and then look at it again.
Posted by: aj on October 24, 2003 09:34 AMHey! I am so pleased with your variegated, you would think I did it myself! Talk about living vicariously through others....
Think I need to examine why the thought of people trying on the mitten annoys me...I dunno...it just would irk me...I would probably swat at them and growl "stop that!" You must be far more civilized than I, Ryan!
By the way, sock fever has descended again, at the last six rows of the toe on current sock and browsing sock yarn on the web during lulls at work...
Have an excellent weekend, and try to stay dry!
Posted by: Lisa on October 24, 2003 10:02 AMJean, the deep, dark secret about the mittens is that there's a horrible gaping hole where I picked up the stitches to start the thumb tube. But, hey, it's amazing what you can do when you're world-class photographer. Or, more truthfully, when you arrange the mitten so you can't see the hole. (Any hints on how not to get a hole? I added an extra stitch on each side and knit each stitch together with another stitch to cinch up the hole but it looked kludgy.)
Lisa, I don't mind folks trying on the mittens because ultimately I'm just going to tink it or throw it away anyway. Doesn't fit me, doesn't fit anyone I know and, well, see the paragraph above... Sending positive vibes down your way to help you finish your sock. If you scan it or take a photo, I'd be glad to post it on the blog!
Posted by: Ryan on October 24, 2003 10:16 AMThe mitten looks great--maybe it looks so ORANGE because it's on a pink tile background? I suppose if I had pink tile in my house, I'd have to use it as a backdrop sometime...Actually, as I age, I find myself growing increasingly more fond of orange in general, and so this brings me to the dyed variegated orange/creame swatch. I think it's wonderful, and would make some fun socks and/or mittens--you could always tone it down and combine it with some lackluster green or blue. Ryan, I do have to ask, though: Why do you always make your socks and mittens small? Mary
P.S. I pick up an extra stitch or two when I do the thumb to avoid the hole, too--try "twisting" the cast on extra stitch--sometimes this twisting plugs up the hole nicely. M
Mary, first, I PROTEST (loudly, but with a big wink)! There be NO pink tile (God forbid) in my or The Mysterious K's house. It's actually white tile but just came out pinkish in the photo. And, more importantly, the yarn really IS orange. It was just some scrap yarn I had lying around so I decided to use it because I was doubtful about the outcome of the mitten experiment.
I can see why you think everything I knit I knit small since both the Arboretum sock and the mitten are small. The Arboretum sock was small because I designed it from scratch, had never used DK-weight yarn before, didn't make a swatch, guessed how many stitches to cast on, and guessed as to what size needles to use--just general all 'round sloppy work. The fact that the mitten is small is not so much of a surprise. I used a kid's mitten pattern; it's SUPPOSED to be small. I have made many, many things The Right Size; it's just that they were before I started the blog.
Thanks for the hint on how to close up the thumb gap, Mary!
Posted by: Ryan on October 24, 2003 03:12 PMThanks for the explanation on the non-existent the pink tile (not that there's anything WRONG with it...it's kinda that retro look, I guess, for any pink-tile afficionados out there) and on the supposed-to-be-small mitten. I'm trying a grand experiment of making a FELTED child's mitten this weekend. Wish me luck--I'll let you know how it goes. It only took one evening to knit one mitten, 'cause I knew it was going to be felted, so I could be sloppy--and it's on size 7 needles with dk weight yarn. It's about 12" long unfelted and I intend it to fit a 5-year old--hope this works!
Mary