Complications

Posted on June 28, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

I am having complications in multiple spheres.

Frozen shoulder. I have been diagnosed with a frozen shoulder. Working from home has not been easy on my back, neck, and shoulders. I spend way too many hours in on-line meetings, classrooms, and conversations. I don’t get up and move as much as I do at the office and often hours will have passed before I notice. Doug bought me a stand-up desk with hydraulics so that I can alternate between standing and sitting while working at my desk. This has helped, but the damage to the shoulder was already done. My physio was closed for 3 months and has just re-opened so I hope that a solution is on the way. (I know what you want to ask: can I still knit? Yes, but in a limited way.)

Wifi and WordPress. We have been having issues with our broadband, and in particular have extremely slow upload speed, so I can’t really load any photos. I am also struggling with some WordPress issues – trying to get used to their new editor, and also having a bug of some sort which doesn’t allow me to edit photos (WordPress has tried to help me, but there is something weird going on). There may be some font issues happening too, so let me know if things don’t look right on your end.

Whichever knitting needle I need at any one time, is the only one I don’t seem to have. Doug claims that this is a law of physics.

The world is going to hell in a hand basket. The arctic is melting, the pandemic is spreading, the economy is in serious trouble, I am worried about job security, and I can’t stop reading the news from the US, which is like watching a train crash in slow motion. Even Ravelry has exploded this past week. (I will say it now, and you can all hate me: I like the new Ravelry. I have used it exclusively since roll-out and it is getting better every day. It is clear and sharp and has great functionality. Do they need to make sure that it is accessible? Absolutely. Did they screw up their roll-out? Without a doubt. Do they need a course in change management? I think they’re getting one right now the hard way.)

Happy place. With all of the bad stuff going on right now, I have to say that knitting is still a happy place for me. I hope it is for you too. This blog is still a happy place for me, and as long as it stays that way, I will keep writing. Sometimes I think it is crazy to write posts about knitting when the world is going mad, but everyone needs a happy place, no? Wherever it is, even if its in your head, I hope you spend some time in a happy place today.

New stuff and some cool projects

Posted on June 13, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a cooperative effort between seven small independent yarn shops – iKnit7. I made purchases at three of the shops during their week-long extravaganza and now have some new stuff to show you. Here it is:

I decided to try two new-to-me yarns. The yellow yarn is John Arbon Knit by numbers, a DK wool, in the shade KBN53. There are 5 of these skeins, the rest are wrapped up in the polka-dot wrapping. I plan to use this to knit a cute little cardi to wear with summer dresses. The pattern, Vodka Lemonade, is designed by Thea Colman:

The yarn is totally lovely – very soft and plump and cushy with great definition. Here is my swatch:

I bought the John Arbon yarn and three sets of KnitPro Zing DPNs from A Yarn Story in Bath. They also sent me a cute project bag.

The green yarn is Kalinka 21, a blend of 55% linen, 45% wool, produced in Sweden, and purchased from Ginger Twist Studio, a small yarn shop in Edinburgh. I was intrigued by the idea of a wool-linen blend, and loved this spring-y green. I plan to use it to knit Tulpe, a pullover designed by Lisa Hannes:

by maliha

I was also sent some lovely gifts by Ginger Twist – a project bag, two balls of yarn (the brown and beige), and some cool ceramic buttons.

From the third shop, Knit with Attitude, a bought three sets of Knit Pro Zing circulars, and a fantastic project bag from Kelly Connor designs. The bag is big; large enough to accomodate a big project. Here it is with the whole kit and kaboodle from the first photo stashed inside, and room to boot:

I’m really happy with my new stuff, and particularly pleased to support small shops during this difficult time. It is also fun to have new yarns to work with and a few new projects on my needles.

How many times can you re-knit a neckline?

Posted on June 8, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

Question: How many times can you re-knit a neckline?

Knitter: Is that a rhetorical question?

I had been chugging along on my Hatcher pullover when I hit some neckline issues. Here is the pattern photo:

You can see that, in order to get the best visual appeal to the cable pattern, you need to bind off for the neckline at the proper point, preferably halfway through the diamond motif that occurs where the cables cross.

The sweater is knit from the bottom up in the round, and then stitches are bound off for the armholes and the back and front are finished separately, knitting back and forth. I completed the back and was working on the front. For my size, I was supposed to bind off for the neckline 5.5 inches above the armhole bind-off row. That would mean that there was sufficient slope for the front of the neck.

Unfortunately, when I reach 5.5 inches, I had only made the first cross of the pattern. In other words, the pattern going up the middle looked like columns of ribbing at that point, with the centre two columns just barely crossing. Nonetheless, I bound off there, and continued up the sides of the neck, and let me tell you, it looked stupid! (Unfortunately, no photographic evidence remains of this attempt.) It was clear to me that I had two approaches I could take.

Rip out both back and front down to before the separation at the armhole, knit another 6-8 rows so that I can be at the right point in the pattern when it is time to bind off the neck line. (Smart knitters will note that this approach would have been facilitated by doing the appropriate measuring before I separated the front and back.) This would also make the sweater longer, and it is already fairly long.
Rip out the few rows on the front down to just before the bind-off for the neck, and then knit a few more rows in pattern. This will mean significantly less ripping, but will also mean that the neckline will be raised by however many rows I need to add. I was worried about the front neckline being raised far too high. I also didn’t want to then compensate by raising the back, as that would make the armscythe too deep.

I went for the second method (surprise, surprise!) and knitted more rows of the pattern, enough so that there was another set of crossed cables, but the outside cable columns had still not crossed. I took a photo this time:

You can see that it still looks too early. If I had put the neckline ribbing in there, the pattern wouldn’t look finished: it would lose the strong architecture and symmetry that makes this pullover so striking. So, I ripped it out and put in four more rows, enough so that the outside set of cables had crossed.

I think that this is a pretty good position for the cable pattern at the neckline. However, it now means that the neckline is considerably higher, which means that I had to re-think all of the shapings at the side of the neck, because the slope of that curve is now significantly shorter. I will not tell you how many rows I ended up pulling out and re-knitting in order to get something that looks as if it might work. (Hint: it was a lot.) Here is where it stands now:

It still looks to me as if there is not enough depth to the front neckline (especially once the ribbing gets added). I won’t truly know if it will look right until I get it blocked and put the neckline ribbing in and try it on.

Yesterday I whipped out a sleeve:

I knitted this sleeve while watching Groundhog Day on TV for the umpteenth time. This film seems to have taken on new meaning since the pandemic and self-isolation. I regret that I have not learned to play jazz piano in this interim (nor made myself into a nicer person, although hopefully I had a head start on Phil).

Keep safe everyone, in this topsy-turvy world.

Black Lives Matter

Posted on June 5, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

I was sitting this afternoon, writing a post. It went like this:

I don’t feel comfortable writing here about knitting without acknowledging that there is something hugely important going on. The world has been shocked and appalled by the murder of George Floyd and many have been galvanised into action, even at a time when pandemic makes this protest doubly dangerous. George’s face is now known all over the world, and his death is sparking protest and internal debate. But George is just one of millions who have been affected by racist and violent policing, by inequalities in health and housing and education, and more generally by being black in a racist world. Systemic bias and racism affect every aspect of life. Black lives matter.

As someone who lives outside of America, I know that these images of a highly militarised police force attacking citizens involved in mostly peaceful protest have been shocking. In Europe, where fascism has shaped the collective memory, these images are especially chilling. These are not the images of a free and democratic country. These are images of authoritarian regimes, of fascism, and of war.

The power and determination of the protesters gives me hope that maybe this time we will get things right. But it should not have taken people risking their lives by protesting during a global pandemic, one which unequivocally effects black and poor people worse than it does any other group, for white people to decide that things needed to change. Real radical reform needs to happen and it is overdue by more than three centuries. We created the system, we can dismantle it.

And, then, just as I had gotten that far, I heard Trump say this:

“Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying, ‘This is a great thing that’s happening for our country.’ This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This a great, great day in terms of equality.”

My blood is boiling over, I am so mad. Trump is so tone deaf, and so utterly venal, that I am more appalled than I thought possible. And it’s not just Trump – he speaks for a large contingency of Americans, and is supported and enabled by Republicans in the Senate and House. When the President of the United States uses hateful rhetoric, he legitimises it.

For all of us, we must open our eyes and really see. It isn’t that we did not know there were injustices – we just looked the other way and assumed that it would get fixed. It didn’t. It is time to move out of our comfort zones. We must listen to and amplify voices of colour and acknowledge their experiences as truth. We must educate ourselves and confront bias, including our own. And we must step up.