Portlandia

My hometown's all over the news these days.  There's the IFC TV show, Portlandia (if you don't have cable, you can catch some clips on youtube; it's hilarious), a new NBC sitcom that's set there, called Perfect Couples (which has become a guilty pleasure; check it out on cable on demand) and then last week, NPR aired a story the gist of which was this: Portland's unemployment rate is usually 1% higher than the national average and salaries are 20% lower than in Seattle, but (young) people keep moving there anyway because it's so awesome.  And there are biracial guys who work at food carts and play in metal bands.  Again: it's awesome.

I was home for a week earlier this month for a sad occasion, so I was kind of off and blue much of the time, but I did find it warming to be back in Portland again.  The city has changed a lot since I moved away in 1989 (!!), but some things have remained comfortingly the same, like Oaks Park, the amusement park and roller rink where I used to skate to Van Halen, Billy Squire, AC/DC and Ratt.  The park itself was rather rinky dink, as evidenced by the photo, but the skating was always good.

One afternoon in need of a diversion I drove my rented Toyota Yaris over to Burnisde Street in search of a shop owner who is a friend of a friend, just to say hi.  While looking for the FoaF, something in a window of a store called Haunt caught my eye:

Hand knits!  Like I said, I had some time to kill, so I went in and poked my nose around a bit.  The woman working was talking to a friend/customer and since the boutique is small, I couldn't help but overhear their conversation.  The customer was asking about a book that the shop owner had written, if she was going to do another, yadda yadda, and it clicked!  The shop owner was Laura Irwin, the author of Boutique Knits.  After the customer left, I overcame my aversion to intruding on one's privacy and asked her if she was, in fact, Laura Irwin.  She was quite surprised and so friendly.  She said something  to the effect that not many people know of her book, to which I replied "EVERYONE, I know who knits knows it," then admitted that this is probably a small percentage of the general population, however.  Then we chatted about crafting and the smallness of the knitting world. 

I maxed out on dorkiness when I asked if I could take a picture of her (since I'd missed out on my chance when I saw Ysolda Teague walking across the Brooklyn Bridge a few summers ago).  She graciously agreed.  

Cute, right?  The dress Laura's wearing is in keeping with the vibe of the store: modern, feminine with a touch of industrialism.  Because I was focusing on knits, I didn't take pics of the pretty tops, earrings, capelets and shrugs they carry.  Wouldn't have done them justice, anyway, as I'm not a stylist.  But Haunt stocks really lovely items and if you're in the Portland area, I highly recommend stopping in, and if you're not, Laura and her partners also maintain an Etsy shop called Haunt Studio.  Convenient, no?

Another thing that made me happy when I was in Portland was getting the chance to see this dollface:

One of the early members of the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Knit and Crochet Group, she moved back west a little over two years ago.  She's thriving out there, which is wonderful.  Making and selling a lot of art (on Etsy at her store Little Canoe), being outdoorsey, living the good life, which in Portland, includes eating good food.  In addition to my favorite pie place, Random Order Coffeehouse & Bakery, she turned me on to this spot here:

The Potato Champion is one of Portland's many, many amazing food carts.  This one is located in a "pod" (cluster of food carts) across from the Burgerville on 12th and Hawthorne.  I had a hard time deciding between the Belgian style fries, poutine, chili cheese fries and PB&J fries, but I opted for the exotic sounding poutine.  It's a crazy delicious concoction of French Canadian origin that combines french fries, cheese curds and gravy. Yummy peasant food - right up my alley.  The poutine was hard to believe delicious, and as I sat in one of the pod's picnic tables enjoying my snack, I felt really happy and lucky, and also a little nostalgic for my childhood in hippie, progressive, green, coffee-drinking, beer brewing, laid-back Portland.

Wrap it up!

I'm not one to get super hepped up about New Year's resolutions.  They often represent what we wish we were or could do in an ideal world rather than what we should do, or what's good or right for us.  And failure to achieve them (which starts to set in right about this time every year) is depressing. But, I do love making lists and plans and setting goals and cleaning things out and wrapping things up, whether it's my closet, my wallet, the kitchen sink or, OR my UFO pile. 

I'd had a few projects hanging about the apartment for several months now and they'd been getting me down.  Looking at them was making me feel like a greedy, impulsive flake who lacked follow-through, so I decided that before I started a bunch of shiny new projects, I needed to finish a few things, set them free and give them the life they deserve.  My Random Order socks were the first and easiest to finish up, and they gave me the momentum I needed to tackle this bad boy. 

Details:

Pattern: Log Cabin Square, by Sarah Bradberry

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash

Needles: US 7/4.5mm

Started: February 22, 2010

Finish: February 11, 2011

Around Christmas of 2009, my friend Adrienne had asked if she and her boyfriend could commission a blanket from me.  They'd seen some neat ones while travelling in France earlier in the year, but really liked the idea of having something made by a friend.  Producing a commissioned work is not something I'm completely prepared to do, yet.  My skills need improvement, and I am prone to see a mistake and say "I can live with that."  Not quite the right attitude for work for hire.

At the same time, I was really excited about the idea of making something for the two of them, and so I suggested that if they bought the yarn, I would be happy to do the work. She was down with this idea, and so began our collaboration. 

We started by exchanging emails with lots of photos of knit and crocheted blankets and afghans.  I'd skulk around flickr, mostly, for ideas.  I have to admit that I was kind of hoping she'd pick a crocheted pattern, because it would be faster work, but was also quite willing to make a knit blanket, so when she picked a log cabin pattern, I wasn't disappointed.

The next step was selecting yarn.  I knew she would want wool rather than acrylic, so I decided we had to go superwash (they have a toddler and practicality is key); also Adrienne hates the chemical effects of dry cleaning.  I promoted Cascase 220 Superwash pretty heavily, because it's the superwash I've used the most, is widely available and affordable.  Adrienne and Clayton both have very specific design aesthetics, so I left the color selection up to them.  She then sent me an architect-style rendering of the blanket, which was invaluable to me in working on this.  Some people are too loosey goosey with descriptions, and I'm a word person, so that can make me crazy.  Adrienne's an architect and is quite adept at creating visual representations of ideas.

Once I knew the colors to buy, I ordered the yarn from a couple of different online stores to maximize volume discounts and  free shipping.  I think the total was something around $119 or so.  And then, last February, I started knitting.  I'd forewarned Adrienne that this may take me the better part of a year, and darned if it didn't do just that.

Despite swatching and wet blocking a square in advance, when I wet blocked the actual squares, they grew more than I'd planned. The blanked was supposed to be 4' x 6' and it's probably closer to 5' x 7'.  When I finished piecing it together in January, I realized how completely unfinshed it look.  "Shit!" I thought.  "All this work for something that looks like an oversized dishrag."  Then Sarah from my knitting group suggested I make an applied i-cord border (she is i-cord obsessed, but I can make fun of her no longer).  Perfect!  It totally saved the project.

There are 24 squares in total, but I didn't have any way to photograph them all at once.  I'll be mailing this off to Seattle later this week with a twinge of sadness.  Why?  Because it's so groovy, I kind of want it for myself.  At least I know it's going to a good and loving home.

Ups and downs

 This past month has been a hard one with a lot of downs.  The downs don't always go away, but focusing on them too much is bad for one's heart, so I try to focus on the ups, of which there are many, for example
Time spent with little cousins

Journey songs 

Karaoke night & Korean food with the Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Knitters & Crocheters
 

 

A pretty hand-dyed (with beets!) skein of yarn from the yarn swap (Brava, Kim!)

A groovy present I received in our gift exchange (well done, Shameka!)



And a surprise, going away gift (a perfect fit, Emily!)

And a chocolate ice cream sundae with warm caramel sauce from Brooklyn Farmacy.  That place is awesome!  I highly recommend a visit if you find yourself in the Carroll Gardens area.

Reflecting on these lovely people and things makes me feel a bit cheerier.

Next time, I'll share some knitting news.

Today

  

 Cold hands

Bright sky

Runny nose



Sweaty face

Big smile



Sturdy legs



I love a winter morning run. 

There are worse things I could do (worse)

I like to knit and I like to talk about knitting, but I don't really enjoy taking pictures of knitting.  I like taking pictures of friends, capturing special moments, but I'm not a gifted photographer and it comes across in my photos.  And that's OK!  I bake better cakes and cookies and brownies than most people I know; I can spot a burgeoning romance a block away; I'm pretty good with languages and I get along really well with uncles and in-laws.  I'm not looking for sympathy; I'm just stating a fact.  A fact that is clear when you see these:

I did not take these.  Jim, the recipient of these tweedy socks, did.  I gave them to him before I had a chance to photograph them so I told him he'd need to take some snaps for me so I'd have documentation of the finished product (he's a professional, you see).  Man, did he pull through. 

Details:

Pattern: My own

Yarn: Rowan Rowanfleck DK Tweed

Needles: 3.5mm & 3.75mm

Started: January 4

Finished: January 8



Jim is a dear friend with excellent and specific taste.  His style is a little retro, a little modern and a little Scandinavian (perhaps I should have started with Scandinavian and just have been done with it).  He is one of my most adored friends, and I wanted to give him something special for Christmas, but I knew the gift would need to be both useful and tasteful.  Jim is one of those people who is always pairing down, so extras hold little appeal for him.  It wasn't until after the 25th (but before the Epiphany, so still in the Christmas season) that I knew what I would give him: a hand knitted pair of house socks.  What I call house socks are socks that are heavier and denser than usual and warm enough to function as slippers, without the bulky sole.  Perfect for someone who likes to open a window for fresh air, or spend weekends at an underheated Pennsylvania cabin.

I couldn't find a sock pattern that was quite what I was looking for, so I improvised this one after consulting a couple of toe-up sock patterns I'd followed before (for fingering and worsted weight yarns).  I really like to-up construction; I especially like the Magic 8 cast on.  It really is like magic because suddenly you have a toe without seams!  Anyway, I started these knowing only that Jim wears a 9 1/2 or 10 shoe.  Fortunately I have man-sized feet, so I was able to try these on as I knit them to see if they would fit. 

They do! And he loves them.  What's better than that?

So, in closing, I'd say  that there are worse things that I could be worse at than photography.  Right, Rizz?

Sock it to me!

One of my first FOs of 2011 is a pair of socks I started in October 2010. These were done as part of a one clue released each week knit-a-long, and I was going gangbusters for the first three weeks, until test knitting and holiday knitting intervened.  I was kind of relieved to set them aside, though; I'm not sure why.  They weren't particularly difficult.

 Details:

Pattern: TTL Mystery Sock 2010, by Kristen Kapur

Yarn: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock

Needles: US 1/2.25mm

Started: October 9, 2010

Finished: January 3, 2011

I modified the pattern a bit.  The "tiny trowels" pattern on the ankle was getting to be a bit much for me, and so I decided to work in rib stitch along the foot instead, which was both faster and easier.  It also made them less fussy, and as I've said before, I'm not a fan of fussy knits.

This yarn I love.  I bought it when I was visiting my dad in Portland last fall.  I didn't spend time with any knitters while I was there, but I do have a very indulgent friend who very kindly took me to a couple of yarn stores I'd investigated. I picked up this skein at Twisted, which had a sizable collection or yarns dyed by small, independent dyers.  I'd never seen anything by Hazel Knits before and I loved this color, so it seemed like a good choice.  It was.

I hadn't been back to Portland for years, and it's changed a lot.  In addition to drinking delicious coffee and eating delicious pie, I saw a tiny museum

saw some crazy yard statuary

saw some hippies (natch)

hung out with a super cute niblette

and walked the city with my dad.

It was a great trip.  

From Minnesota with love

For my birthday last year I received a super special gift from a friend and fellow knitter who lives in Minnesota: a skein of handspun. 

The yarn itself was really exciting, but layered on top of the gift was a coincidence that made it really exciting for me.  Almost two years earlier, I had commented on flickr about a beautiful baby blanket that I saw in a friend's photo. He told me it was made by a super cool knitter/spinner he knows in Minneapolis.  End of story? Not quite.  Turns out, Stephanie special ordered this yarn for me from the very same spinner: Nuttnbunny.  There's nothing quite like the feeling of getting a truly spot-on present.

I considered making mittens or a hat with the skein, but in the end decided to use it for something that would be treated a bit more gently: a sweater. 



I was snowbound when I shot this; perhaps that accounts for my sour countenance.



Details:

Pattern: #22 Garter Yoke Cardigan, by Melissa LeBarre

Yarn: Zealana Eco Cashmere Merino Blend (body), Nuttnbunny

Needles: 4.5mm

Start: September 5

Finish: September 20

I had been wanting to make this sweater since I saw it in Knit 1 magazine two years ago, a feeling that was underscored when I met the designer, Melissa, during our roadtrip to Webs.  Quite a few knitters have knit with the colorblock modification and my calculations told me that I would have enough of the handspun to make it work.  My initial instinct was to work the body using a grey yarn, but (a) I have almost as many grey sweaters as I do horizontally striped shirts and (b) I thought the grey might accent the purple and pinks of the handspun in a rather 6th grade way.  There's quite a bit of brown in the yarn, so I decided to go that route instead.

Very glad that I did.  The yarn was a bit of a leap of faith for me, as I ordered it online, but it matches exceedingly well.  The cheap wood buttons make me quite happy, too.  I am less happy, however, with my button sewing abilities.  I sewed the buttons too close to the buttonband's outer edge, not realizing that this would result in noticeable gapping in the region of my bosoms.  Easily enough fixed, but let's be realistic:  I finished the sweater in September and only got around to sewing on the buttons on December 27th.  This is how she's going to stay for the foreseeable future.  And that's OK by me.