March 17, 2004
Meditations on Things Green
Speaking of things green, despite the mental and emotional torture it inflicted on us, the piece a’ crap greenhouse we assembled and installed in The Mysterious K’s back yard last year may, just may, be redeeming itself this spring. No thanks to some gusty winds that roared through, the greenhouse was pushed off its base in the fall, despite the fact that it was fiercely anchored here and there with bungee cords and whatever other creative anchoring devices we could find. A few days ago, TMK decided it was time to reintroduce the greenhouse and its base to one another. To do so, she had to enter the greenhouse—which is semi-opaque so you can’t really see into it from the outside—and discovered the most monstrous, luscious, bright green crop of weeds imaginable, much bigger than the weeds outside the greenhouse—empirical evidence that the greenhouse was, indeed, doing its magic, greenhouse-y, warmer-inside-than-outside thing.
The piece a’ crap greenhouse truly was thisclose to being sent to the pound but now we are, instead, contemplating transferring our sad, prostrate Germination Station seedlings out there to see if they can be helped along with a little greenhouse voodoo. We still glare at the greenhouse when we go near so it knows it is still a greenhouse non grata but secretly we are feeling a softening of our hearts towards it. Shhh; don't tell!
Knitting Knews
Here we have a picture of my latest project, what I call the Metaphor for Life Sweater. I am using this free Internet pattern.
The name comes from the fact that I've had the pattern for many, many moons but have been afraid to start it because of—and I'm embarrassed to admit this now—the area between the stripes where two colors overlap. I knew how to do everything else: k1p1 rib, stockinette, the decreases, knit the sleeves, knit the neck, seam the finished pieces, and so on, but the fear of knitting two rows using two colors simultaneously was enough to hold me back. Of course, once I started knitting the sweater, the two-color rows turned out to be insanely, even laughably, easy, and even gave me a chance to practice (successfully!!) my two-handed knitting, and the sweater is turning out to be one of the most enjoyable things I've ever knit, thanks in large part to the bright colors. Hence "Metaphor For Life"— allowing something that is scary, but which ultimately proves to be small and inconsequential, to keep us from trying something new and rewarding.
The vital statistics: I'm knitting the 2-year size. I'm substituting purple, red and yellow Plymouth Encore for the purple, red and mint green Berella (yes, the part that looks blue in the photo is actually a bright purple). I had to go up one needle size (from sizes 5 and 7 to 6 and 8).
Guild tonight! Who's going to be there?
giggles about girls and their greenhouses...way to start my afternoon! The metaphor sweater is fabulous and reinforces my credo...that the cure for sadness is learning something NEW. Rock ON, Ryan!
Posted by: greta on March 17, 2004 11:01 AMI like the sweater;it's really cute. I was wondering how you would wear a size 2, until I noticed it is for a child!
Ryan, tomorrow I am doing the Kool Ade dyeing with a little sister of my son's friend. So my boy and I both have play dates;-) I bought the Kool Ade, and I plan to wash the wool in Woolite, place wet wool, Kool Ade and water in dish and zap. I found the directions on www.knitty.com (Dyed in the Wool is the name of the article) Anything else I need to know? Did I mention to you that I have a white kitchen floor?
Thank you for the comment, Greta! I'm rockin' on as best I can!
Debra, my only word of warning with the Kool-Aid dyeing is be prepared for intense Kool-Aid smell to permeate every inch of your house and linger for a couple of days! And keep some handy bleach cleaner around for that white floor! (If you want to take a picture of your finished results and have me post it on the blog for you, lemme know!)
Posted by: Ryan on March 17, 2004 12:41 PMWho's going to be there?
Me me me, said the little pig.
Glad you faced down the specter of two-handed knitting.
See ya tonight! Janine
Posted by: Janine on March 17, 2004 12:57 PMdon't you live in the land of the ferals? before you know it you'll be whipping out the fair isles ;-)
Posted by: vanessa on March 18, 2004 04:40 AMYep, Vanessa, I do live in the land of the Ferals but I am A Very Slow Knitter and I am a big girl, so to make (a) a big sweater that required (b) two-handed knitting and (c) closely watching a pattern would take me forever.
Posted by: Ryan on March 18, 2004 08:35 AMRyan! The guild meeting was wonderful and it was quite exciting to meet you in person.
The "Metaphor of Life Sweater" is even cuter in person. Sometimes it feels good to take on those scary knitting challenges (even if they are just scary to the one knitting them.)
Posted by: Rebecca on March 18, 2004 08:52 AMWell, Rebecca, I'm just excited that you didn't chicken out on me! :-) It was great to meet you too, and I hope you come to more meetings, and perhaps find the time to come to a Feral Knitters get-together.
Posted by: Ryan on March 18, 2004 09:43 AMWe dyed the yarn today and as the younger knitters say, it was so fun! I'm still figuring out my digital camera, when I do, I'll email pics. And not a drop of Kool Ade on the floor. Next time we are knitting hemp bath mitts and making soap. Thanks for your encouragement.
Posted by: Debra on March 18, 2004 12:31 PMAnd what do you mean you are a slow knitter? You seem to be churning out those projects.
Posted by: Debra on March 18, 2004 12:33 PMDebra, so glad you had fun dyeing the yarn. It gives one a sense of freedom, doesn't it, knowing you can turn yarn any color you want to?
And I AM a slow knitter, trust me. I just make a point of knitting small things, is all!
Posted by: Ryan on March 18, 2004 12:42 PM