Knitting | Jung At Heart

Getting it done

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:36:54 -0400

I am a procrastinator. No doubt about it. I am the one who gets it all done right at the deadline. And when there is no deadline, why sometimes things linger on and on.

A case in point -- I wrote a fairy tale. I started it in 1992 and in the perfect fairy tale time span of seven years, finished it in 1999. In the nine years since a few people have read it and said nice things about it. And I thought about submitting it to The Fairy Tale Review. But you know, I didn't have a deadline and somehow it just didn't get sent. But today I did it -- I clicked SEND and off it went. I really doubt that it will be accepted but that's not the point. I submitted it. Yay me! Courtesy of Wordle, here is a cloud version of it --

If it isn't accepted, and honestly, I think the chances are slim, I will make it available for download here.

So I am on a roll here, getting things done. And I have decided that I will publish the Medea Stole pattern on August 1. I am knitting the center motif now, so I don't think that goal is too ambitious. Of course I have t figure out what to charge and get the whole Paypal button thing worked out. But right now, I figure if I could get that fairy tale submitted -- finally -- I can do this.

It's foggy outside, but clear and sunny inside today --

Progress

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:30:29 -0400

The promised progress report --

This wonderful red remains as tough to photograph as ever but here she is -- I am within 45 rows of the center motif on this half and if I make myself stick just with Medea, I'll finish in a week or so --

If you look back, you can see that the coor is much deeper and richer than this shows.

And the Spring Mystery Stole --

These are the two I have been giving the most attention to. But in my mind, oh my, I have several others started!

Last night the Celtic Festival brought us fireworks. People started gathering on the Common in early evening -- couldn't ask for a more lovely place to sit out on the grass on a warm summer evening.

Kids rolling down the hill

Beautiful boats in the harbor

Big billowy clouds

And finally the fireworks --

So if I have to listen to hours of Celtic music in order to have an evening like that, well, it's worth it.

Oh, and the barbeque is great!

The Celts are back!

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:19:01 -0400

It's Celtic Festival weekend in Belfast again. Which for those of us living on the Common is a mixed blessing -- because while Celtic music is lovely, hours and hours of it gets a little crazy making. It would not do for me to run screaming out of the house that Loch Lomond* has already been performed 6 previous times in the last 3 hours, now would it?

You may remember that the true Celtic food vendors last year included pizza and fried dough. This year, this is right across from my front door --

because nothing says Celtic like pit bbq! Of course, we will get our supper from there.

Just below our house is the stage from whence all the Celtic music flows --

It's not really as bad as I make it sound -- well, maybe almost because Celtic music really isn't my thing -- but it is fun to see all the people an the fireworks tonight will be terrific.

Out in the garden, the tomatoes are really taking off. Not signs of red yet but look at these --

Where's the knitting, you ask? Why on the needles of course! Nothing new to show but I will get progress pictures of everything tomorrow. I promise!

* Yeah that one -- you know --

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,

Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond

Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae,

On the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

Patterns

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:15:12 -0400

Just a quick post to let you know I have added a section ot the sidebar for patterns. Right now there is a link to the free Dayflower Scarf pattern which is available as a PDF.

Coming soon -- the Medea Stole!

Beads on floss

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:33:44 -0400

It's not easy to photograph my own hands placing beads in lace -- I need another hand! But I got a series that is good enough for now so I thought I would share them with you --

I use OralB's Super Floss.

Teaching

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:18:00 -0400

The first class went pretty well, I think. Eight eager knitters, none with experience with beads in knitting and most with no lace experience. That's all good. Step by step. I had the foresight to create a swatch pattern this morning before the class. Some things I learned teaching this for the first time --

Class one -- learn to place beads

Class two -- read chart and knit swatch

Class three -- cast on for the scarf.

Catching on to how to place the bead was harder for some than I expected. So this afternoon I will take some photos to use in an additional hand-out I can give them next week. But by the end of he class everyone knew how to place the bead so that is a good start.

I think I have a second group on Thursday evening. The first time through on any course is always a learning experience for all concerned!

The sky this morning was wonderful -- the swirl of clouds looked almost painted on the sky.

Now to get photos of me placing beads

Restless

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:39:47 -0400

I am a restless knitter. And these days I am so wanting to start something new. I look at the cones of yarn from Colourmart and they sing out to me -- Casablanka! SlowBee2! Unst! But I resist, at least for now, and remain steadfast in my determination finish Medea before beginning anything new. But it is so very hard to resist -- that lilac cashmere is so yummy and I have the perfect beads for it and that midnight blue cashwool would be so wonderful and...

Must focus on Medea!

Maybe thinking about something else will help --

Garlic scapes have been in available at the farmer's market for a while. We tried them for the first time last year and made pesto from them. Scapes are a thick green shoot that comes up from the middle of hard neck garlic. The growers usually cut them off in order to encourage the development of the garlic bulbs. They have a pretty intense garlic flavor with a kind of green note to them. To make the pesto, I cut the scapes, after removing the bud part, into short pieces and puree them with walnuts and lemon juice. Then I add olive oil and grated parmesan cheese. A nice garlicky pesto. Just right for making pizza, with feta and olives, which is what we had for supper last night.

I think my beaded lace class starts tomorrow -- I must check today and make sure. That means I need to print out copies of the pattern, outline what I want to cover, get together examples to show. The only knitting class I have taken was one on how to knit continental style at Martha Hall around 20 years ago. I am almost completely self-taught as a knitter and until I helped to start my knitting group a couple of years ago, I really had little contact with other knitters.

The notion of a knitting community first opened to me 10 years ago or so when I first discovered the Knitlist. I can't say I learned anything from my time as a member but it made me aware of a huge community of people who like to do something I had always enjoyed alone. I subscribe to several lace knitting groups though I mostly lurk -- even online I am pretty introverted -- and I read *lots* of knitting blogs. So I feel like I am part of a community albeit a pretty quiet member.

And my mind drifts to Sharon Miller's Wedding Ring Shawl -- I have the pattern. I have appropriate yarn. Maybe that one is one to start?

Okay, I need to get some work done on Medea before I see my patients.

The harbor this morning --

Back to normal

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:11:18 -0400

Here on the coast we don't do heat very well. So several days in the mid-80's with high humidity make us wilt and lie about complaining. But today dawned with a nice breeze, temps back down in the low 70's and low humidity so there is life again here.

When it's hot, I don't knit much. I should probaby be ashamed to note that one thing I did do a lot was play Snood. You really don't want me to give you a link to it or you too will spend way too much time with this mindless game.

Once it started to cool off, I started back up on my Medea stole. Word from my test knitters is that all is going well. I am eager for them to get to the center motif which is where I had some trouble making certain the charts were right. Once they can tell me that, we will have crossed the biggest hurdle and I can contemplate publishing it.

I will be teaching a beaded lace class at Heavenly Socks, my LYS, starting next week. Here's a look at the current state of the scarf I am doing for it -- well, giving them a pattern for learning with --

I haven't taught anything like this before, but I decided that if I can teach Jungian psychology, I can do this. Or I could be overconfident!

The hot weather was a delight for the garden --

my Jaune Flamme tomatoes are setting clusters of fruit with wild abandon

And my scarlet runner beans have started to blossom

Tomorrow we finish the switch of my office and the living room. And there is Arts in the Park to go to. Next week, the Celtic Festival starts on Friday -- meaning I will be treated to hours and hours of Celtic music just below my house.

The light last evening as the front which bright us this nice cool weather came in was exquisite. I could sit and look at the harbor for hours. I think I'll do just that for a bit.

I'm back

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:49:34 -0400

Did I enjoy my time in the hammock? Oh yes, I did! But I have to figure out how to knit and lie in it at the same time.

We were busy inside the house a lot of the weekend. I am moving my office from one room in the house to another. Which meant painting. I knew exactly the color I wanted, a barely there lilac and I found it. And my wonderful husband painted it while I gave encouragement. The woodwork needs another coat of white but here is a glimpse

I love this color! It is so serene. When everything is done, I'll post more pictures.

I managed to get a shot of the Dayflower scarf that shows the teeny beads --

They're there, but they are teeny.

And because I need to be able to change from one project to another, I gave some attention to the Goddess Knits Spring mystery stole again. I have paying attention to how long people are reporting theirs are, and because I like stoles to be at least 90 inches, I added another repeat of the first two charts knowing I can add another if need be. Here is my progress to date --

The garden grows in leaps and bounds. Time to thin the beets and pumpkins and squash.

My test knitters seem to be knitting along without difficulty. I'll give you a progress report in a few days.

It's hot here today. It was already warm when I got up at 6:30.

I'll be in the hammock...

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:00:30 -0400

In the Middle

of a life that's as complicated as everyone else's,

struggling for balance, juggling time.

The mantle clock that was my grandfather's

has stopped at 9:20; we haven't had time

to get it repaired. The brass pendulum is still,

the chimes don't ring. One day you look out the window,

green summer, the next, and the leaves have already fallen,

and a grey sky lowers the horizon. Our children almost grown,

our parents gone, it happened so fast. Each day, we must learn

again how to love, between morning's quick coffee

and evening's slow return. Steam from a pot of soup rises,

mixing with the yeasty smell of baking bread. Our bodies

twine, and the big black dog pushes his great head between;

his tail is a metronome, 3/4 time. We'll never get there,

Time is always ahead of us, running down the beach, urging

us on faster, faster, but sometimes we take off our watches,

sometimes we lie in the hammock, caught between the mesh

of rope and the net of stars, suspended, tangled up

in love, running out of time.

~ Barbara Crooker ~

Yes, Medea is in Progress

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:17:20 -0400

Just so you know, I haven't set my own Medea stole aside. Oh no, I am knitting it from the very charts I have challenged my test knitters to use. And last night I discovered an error all by myself. I hope for the rate of progress on my stole to pick up this weekend. Here where I am on the second half--

I have told you about m love for these 11/0 beads and he mixes I have found. And I keep playing with trying to photograph them. I think these turned out reasonably well -- at least they give you an idea --

this is the mix I am using with Dayflower:

And this that I got to use with some navy blue cashwool-

Today again started out foggy, even foggier than yesterday --

so foggy that wisps of fog came in the window!

But when I went outside 3 hours later, look --

the sun is out and the fog in retreat. It's a good thing that I love fog!

This will have to do...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:22:34 -0400

I tried and tried and tried to capture the way the little beads twinkle in DayFlower but no luck. You'll have to take my word for it. I have a lot of cobweb yarn so I have been on an 11/0 seed bead buying spree. They are sooo pretty. I'll work tomorrow on capturing some of them.

If you start with knowing I revised my dissertation around 6 times -- not completely of course but at one point I had 7 versions of it on my hard drive. If you start with that, then you won't be surprised that I have already made 5 changes to Medea, thanks to my sharp-eyed test knitters. I keep reminding myself that this is what test knitters are for -- after all it's what I did with Arabian Nights.

So in lieu of sparkly beads, here are photos of roses I picked in my garden today --

We started off foggy today, as we have for the last several days

REALLY foggy. But by noon, the sun was out and it has been hot today -- we wilt a little here on the coast when it gets up to 85F. I've been hearing loons down on the water every evening and early morning now for about 3 weeks. One of the delights of living here is that we get to hear that haunting beautiful call so often. They nest in the Goose River just across from us.

Tomorrow is a day to work on getting my office ready to be painted, continuing to make corrections to Medea , and of course get some knitting done.

Drum Roll Please!

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:40:11 -0400

I sent the Medea stole pattern off to my test knitters today. It was harder than sending my first born off to kindergarten!

Guido Blooms again

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:50:43 -0400

Some of you may remember that when my old cat died last year, we buried him in the yard and planted a rose bush on top of him. It flowered all summer. And yesterday, the first buds of the season opened, and Guido flowers again. The rose is Chicago Peace, but we like to think of it as that wonderful cat, Guido.

Dayflower Scarf

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:52:39 -0400

A coupe of people emailed me to say they would like the pattern for the Dayflower scarf, so I wrote it up and cleaned up the chart for it.

Here is the design pinned out a bit --

My only claim on this pattern is that I charted it and added beads. The rest of the credit goes to Barbara Walker. Please let me know if you find any errors or you think more detailed instructions would help. Feedback is much appreciated.

Day Flower Scarf PDF

Anticipation

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:20:09 -0400

I love tomatoes. I can never have too many of them in the summer. Which is why we have 10 tomato plants in the big garden and 3 cherry tomatoes planted in buckets up here by the house. This morning when I went out to check on my treasures, look at what I found --

They are a small tomato, an heirloom variety called Jaune Flamme. Now to find a stake long enough for it!

Moe keeps a careful eye on me as I inspect the plants --

Teeny weeny beads

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:49:32 -0400

Someone asked me how small are the beads I am using in the scarf I started yesterday. So here is a picture to show you --

The bead on the far right is an 8/0 seed bead, the size I used for the beaded cast-on and throughout the Medea stole. The teeny one next to it is an 11/0 seed bead and is what I am using within the design of the dayflower scarf. It's a much more subtle effect that I like with this fine yarn. I have a bunch of cobweb weight yarn and I will be using the 11/0s with it.

I FINISHED writing the Medea pattern. I am having a friend proofread it and then it's off to the test knitters. I feel more anxious about this than when I sent my firstborn off to school for the first time!

Spike says all of this excitement wears him out --

Dayflowers

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:00:01 -0400

It's never easy for me -- I knit two repeats of my dayflowers scarf pattern and found an error. Frog. Knit one repeat -- decided beads are too big. Frog. Try smaller beads and success -- I like it.

This is the yellow Yubina cashmere that I started another project in. It is finer than Zephyr. I like the 8/0 seed beads for the cast on, but I think the 11/0 beads are better in the body of the scarf. They don't jump out but twinkle a bit instead.

I have finished 2 repeats and it looks fine so now to put together the pattern. If you're interested, I'll post it in the next day or so. It is easy enough for someone with only a little experience doing lace to manage.

The Medea pattern will go out to my test knitters on July 1. So I will be working on the text for it in the next few days.

What sun?

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:41:32 -0400

Yeah, well, the sun on Saturday was a fleeting thing. The last two mornings this is what I've seen from my window --

I have started a pattern for a lace scarf using the dayflower motif from BW second volume. It is never easy for me to get from book to pattern but I did it yesterday, midst some foul language and ranting. I'll post pictures tomorrow -- not enough to show yet. And if the pattern proves to be accurate and good, I'll post it too, for free.

I had a dream last week that felt pretty important. We Jungians place a good bit of stock in dreams, you know. And I decided I wanted to make an assemblage of an element of the dream. In the dream, someone important to me tells me it is important now and then to visit the temple of the green god. So, I knew I wanted first a really nice box. I haven't the skills to make one. So I went to look on Etsy. I searched for a wooden box and ran across the shop of The Happy Woodman. The boxes are lovely. So I ordered one. And it arrived today --

Spike had to check it out of course --

It is just beautiful, everything I hoped for. And even nicer, I got an email from the Happy Woodman's daughter telling me that I am his first customer. I am really touched by that. I hope that you all will go and look at his lovely boxes, and if you, like me, have a thing for boxes, do buy one.

I will be making my assemblage in it and I may show you when I am finished.

The sun came back!

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:01:09 -0400

See, this morning when I got up it was just beginning to break through --

And by noon, we had sun in earnest. So I thought I'd show you a little bit of what it looks like around the house -- just a little bit.

I planted 3 different cherry tomato varieties in some of the *many* plastic cat litter buckets we have --

They're looking pretty happy, especially now that it is sunny again.

In front we have some rose rugosa that we have been nurturing -- I love these roses which grow wild here. Ours are a pretty double flowered variety and are the fisrt roses to bloom

We've got some scarlet runner beans too, which were slow to get started, then were attacked by slugs but which are coming along now --

And some hollyhocks--

The vegetable garden is slow -- the tomatoes are fine but we were only recently able to plant the seeds and the peppers -- not much to see now but soon --

Our neighbors' lupines look lovely --

Now a bit of knitting news -- it looks like I will be teaching a course in beaded lace knitting at my local yarn shop, Heavenly Socks Yarns. I stopped in today to talk with Helen who is enthused. So I sent a description off to her immediately. So once we get dates fired up, I will design a simple lace scarf. This should be great fun!

It's a lazy summer afternoon here in Belfast -- Moe suggests you join him in relaxing

It's coming -- really it is!

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:01:46 -0400

You may be asking yourself, or at least I imagine you are, "Where is Cheryl? And where is Medea?"

It has been foggy the last three mornings when I got up -- like this

-- because that is what it is often like in June on the coast. And weather like that is really conducive to doing fiddly things like wresting with charts. Which is what I have been doing. I have come to see that when I knit just for myself, I wing it a lot rather than being precise. Which is fine when it's only me involved. But this pattern writing thing just doesn't make allowances for winging it -- I can't say make this work out in any way that makes sense to you, not if I want anyone to knit it. So I have to work with a precision that is entirely alien to me. Be really glad that I am not a neurosurgeon folks!

So anyway, I have been working and working on the charts. I would get one done and think it was right and then -- oops -- a mistake. And then KnitVisuaizer and I had to learn to talk to each other, or rather I had to learn to obey KV. That took a while.

Then yesterday I drove down to Portland. I took Rte. 1 and because traffic was light it was a really pleasant drive -- the lupines are out in all their glory now, carpets of purple and pink and blue. I wen to my meeting and then drove home the faster way. And it came to me while I was driving, what I needed to do to work out a problem that had been making me pull out my hair for days. And when I got home, I went to work and at last, all the charts are DONE! ALL DONE!

Now the work of writing directions and then by mid-week, I can send it to be test knit -- which I am sure will reveal more errors. I am knitting the second half now from my charts and so far so good, but then again, I already know the pattern.

Pictures tomorrow, I hope.

The Next Step

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:12:28 -0400

The big deal in Belfast this weekend was the finish line of the Trek Across Maine bicycle race, which was right in front of my house yesterday.

But I had other things to do -- like get the second half of Medea started so that I could get photos of the different stages to include in the pattern.

Just so you know, it is not easy to photograph your own hands knitting. I won't tell you how many shots I had to take in order to get these, which show how to do the beaded cast on --

And they still need work!

Onward!

To Market, To Market

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:41:03 -0400

One of the many delights of summer here is the Farmer's Market held every Friday morning. Our area has many small organic farms and growers and the Market has grown this year. This year is the first in a new and larger location down by the water. Just behind it is this--

Not too shabby, eh?

So let's walk through the market while I pick up a few things.

First stop is for amazing organic bacon from heritage pigs -- oh this stuff is heavenly and has ruined us for commercial bacon. I want to get a ham from them one week.

Next up -

Goat cheese! Yumm!

On to

for the very best olive bread ever -- packed with juicy kalamata olives

Local honey -- mmmm

Eggs --

He has pictures of the chickens they come from!

Radishes from here --

And if I had a dog, she'd get biscuits from here

Fog

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:46:12 -0400

The past two days it has been foggy when I got up --

the kind of fog that shrinks the world down to just a few feet around you and everything is quiet. And that kind of reflects on an outer level some of my inner state too.

I completed clues on both SlowBee and the Spring Mystery stole -- here is the latter as she looked yesterday --

I've mentioned before how much I like this linen/cashmere yarn. I think it will drape beautifully once washed.

The next couple of days belong to Medea and finishing her charts. Then to test knitters and I will knit along doing the second half as they knit.

Already ideas for Aphrodite are bubbling -- pearls, soft sea colors, shells. And Demeter and Persephone lurk in the background.

Oh, and I am glad the campaign for the nomination is over. I fell in love early on and now I am ready to fall in line behind the nominee. And I am delighted Elizabeth Edwards is to have a hand in shaping health care policy -- that goes a long way with me.

Yeah, it's hot here too

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:43:48 -0400

See how still the water is --

well, it's clouding up and the wind has gone dead calm so maybe we are going to have a thunderstorm. Which would be fine. Because sweaty hands and getting beads onto extrafine merino just don't go together.

That Meme

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:18:08 -0400

So now I will do that meme that is going around --

1. What was I doing 10 years ago...

* I was contemplating returning to graduate school to complete my doctorate.

* My son was home for the first summer in college -- need I say more?

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

* Write responses to emails from prospective test knitters.

* Get tomato seedlings into the ground now that it isn't raining

* Do some billing

* Knit

* Work on charts for Medea

3. Snacks I enjoy:

* guacamole

* cashews

* Peanut M&Ms

* fresh tomatoes with a little salt

* cheese

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

* Pay off my student loans

* Buy a house on the water here in Belfast -- make an offer on the house we live in now because it is the best location in town

* Pay off my children's mortgages/student loans

* Buy a Prius

5. Places I have lived:

* Mystic, CT until I was 5

* Kyushu, Japan until I was 8

* Albuquerque, NM until I was 11

* Heidelberg, Germany until I was 14

* Chambersburg, PA until I was 18

* College at Duke University

* Graduate school at the Univ. of Connecticut

* Phoenix, AZ for 1 year

* Hornell, NY for 1 year

* Harrison, Maine for 9 years

* Portland, ME for 20 years

* Ferndale, MI for 4 years

* Belfast, ME for the last 3 years, where I expect to live out my life.
If you haven't done this meme, consider yourself tagged by me.

Of course there are other projects

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:05:39 -0400

Now if you have been reading here for any length of time you know I am a promiscuous knitter. And this time is no exception. I have had both the Spring Mystery stole from Goddess Knits and the Slow Bee on the needles since they began. I am woefully way behind on both so I decided to put in some work on each of them in the past couple of days. I'm still only nearing the end of the first clues, but progress is progress after all.

First, the Spring Mystery stole :

The yarn is from Colourmart, 50/50 cashmere/linen. It has a crisp feeling to it now but I am guessing when I wash it the linen will become soft and te cashmere will bloom and make a really nice soft drapey stole.

And the Slow Bee --

This is the extra-fine merino from Colourmart which Richard says is Baruffa CashWool. Again, really wonderfully soft stuff that s a pleasure to knit with.

I'm even dreaming in charts!

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:40:34 -0400

I don't have lots of knitting to show you because I have been working on the charts for Medea.

That's one of the ones that isn't right. So I keep working on it. I even dream of charts! And this morning, I woke up and I think I solved my problem so after knitting group this afternoon, I'll get back to work on it and see if it works.

I am also planning to move my office into a different room in my house. Which requires some deep thinking about things like what color to paint the walls and what furniture I want in it and how to arrange the furniture and also obtaining a new door. So the moving won't happen until early July. But I think I found the color for the walls --

If you didn't see it last night, do watch Kristen Schaal's terrific piece on sexism in the campaign from The Daily Show.

Mmmm -- Cheese bread

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:48:51 -0400

A little break from knitting to make some bread, this time a terrific cheesy bread from Baker's Banter. It starts with making a sponge, which grows overnight to this

The dough is made, allowed to rise, the loaves filled with cheese and we have these --

And let me tell you -- this bread is fantastic!

Moe and Spike ignored the baking and pretended to be best friends --

Woo-Hoo!!

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:11:50 -0400

I did it! I finished the first half of Medea!!

If I never got the other half knit, I would still be delighted with this -- my first effort at designing.

Red beads and gold beads -- I just love beads!

She isn't blocked, but will block out to around 30 inches x 90 inches.

Now if only I could conquer to difficulty in accurately capturing this red.

I am going to play with other projects for a little while -- I want to get some work done on SlowBee because it is intended as a gift to my best friend.

And I need to work on the written pattern, which is what I will use to knt he second half -- I need to do things like count how many beads I used and make sure the number of rows is correct and that the charts are clear and readable. Then on to a test knitter.

When in doubt...

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:51:43 -0400

When in doubt, post pictures -- I think that will be my motto.

I spent most of yesterday wrestling with the charts for Medea. It would be easy except for one little thing -- the crown of glory is a pattern with decreasing, then increasing stitches, which means those "no stitch" squares in the chart. But I have to enter them by hand because otherwise, the software will put them on the sides. And, you know, I suppose it doesn't matter really, because the total number of stitches does vary in those rows, but it just bugs me. And it would be easy if it weren't for the nice diagonals that mark the boundary between the two motifs. And it would certainly be easier if I had the kind of mind that does these things easily, but I don't -- on the MBTI, I have next to no sensation function and boy does it show in these kinds of things! But I will get it eventually -- the charts will get done.

So, in place of amazing progress to report, here are some pictures from my neighborhood today --

This morning the fog was just lifting when I got up-

And now it is gloriously sunny--

and GREEN --

Looking up my street -- it's always quiet like this

Closer to the house, the tomato seedlings are waiting to be planted --

And the lilac is filling the house with it's wonderful sweet scent--

Inside the house, as I knit and wrestle with patterns, I look at this, yarn and beads whispering what they want to become, though they must wait their turn-

Major Milestone Near

Fri, 30 May 2008 14:33:47 -0400

I have only around 50 rows to go before I complete the first half of Medea --

She will block to 36" x 45+" for the half -- which will make the whole stole generous, just the way I like them.

Today I downloaded and began the process of learning Knit Visualizer so that I can prepare good charts and a clear pattern for ::: drum roll here:::

A test knitter!

I would like to have someone test knit this pattern. The tester needs to have experience knitting lace and placing beads using a crochet hook. Only the center portion, the Crown of Glory section, has patterning on both sides, so the pattern itself is not terribly difficult. If you think you would be interested, leave a comment.

My husband is off at the state Democratic convention all weekend so I have plenty of time to work on finishing the half and working with Knit Visualizer. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so no distractions.

Otherwise, I'd be out in the hammock looking out at this --

Happiness

Wed, 28 May 2008 10:07:54 -0400

Over the weekend I watched BookTV off and on, as is my wont to do on weekends. And I stumbled on to this program featuring Richard Florida talking about his book about why people live where they do. (The link will take you to the BookTV site where you can watch the show as well if you like.) He mentioned that again and again in the literature on happiness that three factors are critical to being happy: the work you do, the person you share your life with, and where you live.

Well, I have been doing work that I love for 36 years now, so I got that part nailed a long time ago. And I am now married to a person who brings me great happiness.

I moved to Maine first 36 years ago and I have loved it since the first day. The first 29 years, I lived first in rural western Maine and then in and around Portland. Great places. Where I was doing work I loved. But I was not with the right person.

Then I lived for 4 years in suburban Detroit. Where I did work I loved and was with the right person. But I did not love Michigan.

Three years ago, we moved to mid-coast Maine. Where I do work I love and live with the right person. *And* I love this place. And what I saw yesterday after a thunderstorm moved through tells part of why --

The beauty of this place is incredible. But that is only part of what makes this place deeply HOME for me. Belfast is a quirky little town. There are around 6500 of us here, an odd and not always harmonious mix of people born and raised here and the rest of us, the ones From Away. So there is working waterfront. And art galleries. Folks yearning for the return of the days of the sardine cannery. And those excited by the arrival of athenahealth, the very definition of a modern, internet-dependent business.

And every day I look out of my window and my breath is taken away by the beauty and I am awed by my good fortune to be living here.

Why the crown?

Tue, 27 May 2008 09:36:39 -0400

A friend asked me over the weekend why I chose the Crown of Glory motif for the center. Jason's desire for a crown is at the center, in a way, of the drama between him and Medea. It is the quest fr a crown that leads him to set Medea and her children aside in favor of the daughter of Creon, the King Corinth. And it seems best to represent the victory Medea experiences in her exit and her later life a triumph simply by virtue of having survived.

The look of this center part is quite different from the rest of the stole. There are larger patches of stockinette and the formation of the crowns involves a pretty big hoe in each one. Sometimes I look at it and feel iffy about it, but then again, it also has the look of something of ancient Greece.

What do you think?

The Crown appears

Sun, 25 May 2008 12:50:00 -0400

I finally reached the center motif! I spent around 6 hours each thursday and Friday jiggling everything around in charts and finally got it where I want it. So yesterday, I plunged into the center. And here it is --

the first Crown of Glory!

In our neighborhood

Fri, 23 May 2008 11:10:47 -0400

The rapidly changing weather of spring in Maine gives us wonderful skies which can change from blue to cloudy in a heartbeat.

Today the sun comes and goes as these interesting clouds move through.

Outside, the huge old lilac on the front corner of our house is just starting to bloom.

When I walk out the front door, I am filled with their scent.

It's still early to be planting tomatoes. While the danger of frost has passed, the soil is still not very warm as we have not had many really warm days. So most of our seedlings will be planted in a week or so, near the 1st of June. But we've started buying the seedlings --

Lots of time thi afternoon and evening for knitting. I am really pushing now on Medea. I hope to be able to show you the beginning of the transition to the center motif by Monday.

There will come...

Thu, 22 May 2008 11:24:52 -0400

Sara Teasdale -- There will come soft rain and the smell of the ground,

And swallows circling with their shimmering sound...

Love

Thu, 22 May 2008 10:47:44 -0400

I love this yarn. I wish I had bought a lot more of it and now there is none left in colors I like.

It's so red. And soft. Cashmere, merino and viscose. I am slowed by having to touch it.

I also love how it looks when knit

Stitches crisp and soft all at once.

The beads sparkle a little more because they love this yarn too --

This happens to me sometimes, that I fall in love with something I make or write. I love the way these stitch patterns and this yarn and Medea are coming together.

I wrote a fairy tale -- I spent 7 years working on it, writing in fits and starts. Seven years seems in itself to be a fairy tale length of time. I finished it 7 years ago and have recently begun to consider it again. Maybe to see if I can publish it somewhere. Anyway, there are parts of it that I just love, that make me smile and feel the same kind of delight that I feel when I look at how Medea is revealing herself. Because, as with the fairy tale, she seems to creating herself when I stand aside and let her.

Two more repeats before I start the center motif.

Boats are multiplying!

Tue, 20 May 2008 13:18:53 -0400

Look at this - the boats are multiplying like rabbits! On the weekend there were 4, in this picture, you'll see 6

and in the hours since that photo was taken, yet another arrived!

Sunday when I went to the play -- and if you are anywhere near Belfast (the Maine one) this weekend, do see it as it is terrific -- I realized I need a nice summery stole. I have that beautiful white cashmere/linen so I decided to start it in the Spring Mystery pattern. The beads are a pretty mix called Georgia Peach.

I promised knitting...

Sun, 18 May 2008 11:01:00 -0400

And knitting it is!

First, I was playing with trying to catch the effect of the late afternoon sun on Medea yesterday. She was on my lap and I liked the way the light hit her. So here is my artsy version of what I saw--

I like it so much, I made it my avatar on Ravelry -- I am JungAtHeart there, by the way. I have this same red in three other yarns from Colourmart, including some DK silk/cotton I just got. I think I may have enough red for now. But thoughts of purple are sneaking in...

Now, I finished Clue 1 on the Spring Mystery stole. I still wonder if this Yubina cashmere will fluff up when it is washed, because if not, I will have a very wispy stole, not that that would be a bad thing.

The Slow-Bee shawl is also coming along in a nice slow way. I haven't yet finished Clue 1. I am using a mix of red and pink beads, which I am liking a lot. Here you can see how I have doubled the center rectangular panel to give width where needed for my friend.

And a slightly wider view --

I am now hopelessly addicted to beads in lace.

This afternoon I am off to see Almost, Maine, which is the current play by the Belfast Maskers. My husband is technical director there and designed the lighting and a number of effects in the play. So while he is off in Augusta for a political meeting, I'll be at the play.

The Demon Factor

Sat, 17 May 2008 12:01:41 -0400

Nothing new on the knitting front to show today.

It's gray and rainy --

And I have been thinking still about the sexism and misogyny in this election. It gives me a terrible feeling of sadness accompanied by anger. How can it be that it is still acceptable not only to harbor but to express such attitudes toward women?

I have been heartened that pieces about it have been appearing in newspapers. Earlier this week, as mentioned by The Knitty Professor, was a piece in the Washington Post, Misogyny I Won't Miss.

In it, Marie Cocco delineates many of the examples of misogyny that we have seen and heard, and probably hardly noted because they form a normal background for us. And, she says,

I won't miss reading another treatise by a man or woman, of the left or right, who says that sexism has had not even a teeny-weeny bit of influence on the course of the Democratic campaign. To hint that sexism might possibly have had a minimal role is to play that risible "gender card."

Most of all, I will not miss the silence.

I will not miss the deafening, depressing silence of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean or other leading Democrats, who to my knowledge (with the exception of Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland) haven't publicly uttered a word of outrage at the unrelenting, sex-based hate that has been hurled at a former first lady and two-term senator from New York. Among those holding their tongues are hundreds of Democrats for whom Clinton has campaigned and raised millions of dollars. Don Imus endured more public ire from the political class when he insulted the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

I know that my own ear has become more sharply attuned to the casual use of remarks that denigrate, demonize, express violence toward women. They are everywhere.

A friend pointed me today to a piece in the Chicago Tribune, Devil in a pantsuit or the demonization of Hillary Clinton, looking at this phenomenon as an example of a far more pervasive cultural attitude. I began think about this last week when I read Joan Walsh's blog on Salon about Hillary being compared to Glenn Close's character in Fatal Attraction. Walsh commented, I have occasionally wished Obama himself would say something about the often-sexist viciousness Clinton has faced, but it's probably too much to ask in a campaign this contentious.

Why is it too much to ask? Would it be too much to ask were Obama made the object of racial slurs? Why would we let anyone on any side off the hook for either racial or gender slurs? And might it not be the case that the gender slurs and misogyny persist and tolerated precisely because we don't confront them?

In the Tribune piece, Keller concludes,

It's natural to wonder whether Obama approves of the death-haunted images that surround his opponent like a phalanx of vultures. Surely he doesn't. He is an intelligent, sensitive, enlightened man whose life has been enriched, as he frequently acknowledges, by the presence of strong women, most notably his late mother and his wife. I wish, therefore, that he would publicly condemn the trend of evoking death and destruction when it comes to Clinton. Perhaps, someday, he will.

Meanwhile, the pile of death images continues to rise, like corpses outside Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory door. After Clinton's victories in recent primaries, the New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert called it a "back-from-the-dead" moment. Walter Shapiro, Washington editor for salon.com, opined last week that Clinton had entered the "death with dignity" phase of her campaign.

Death, death, death. The steady, depressing drumbeat continues. What these commentators seem to seek is not just a proud female's withdrawal from a political contest—but her outright annihilation. They evoke the nightmarish vision of a commanding woman intent on destruction—thus she must be destroyed before she can launch her evil scheme.

In a thriller by Irish novelist Tana French, "In the Woods" (2007), a detective muses about a psychopath who has outwitted him, "I wanted her not just dead but obliterated from the face of the earth—crushed to unidentifiable pulp, pulverized in a shredder, burned to a handful of toxic ash." With that attitude, he won't have to worry if the gumshoe gig ever fails him: He can always apply for a job with MSNBC.

It's worth thinking about what it is that makes us so threatening that we become the object of such violent imagery.

Tomorrow, back to knitting.

WIPs

Fri, 16 May 2008 12:37:05 -0400

So here are the progress notes on the knitting --

I am nearly finished with the first clue for the GoddessKnits Spring stole. I is going to be as light as air when finished because this cashmere is so fine. And knit, the color is even more delicate than in the skein. This photo doesn't catch the beads very wel, but they are there in abundance.

I got a draft of the center motif for Medea charted last night. I am not ready to knit that part but it has felt important to me to work out the charts. I am so in love with this color!

In fact I like this color so much, I have it in three other yarns -- all from Colourmart as well. Just today I received enough of it in DK silk/cotton to make a nice summer sweater. I have blue yarns and greens, but my eye always travels first to the red. And this, which hasn't even a hint of orange to it, is my very favorite.

The boats continue to arrive -- today there are 4 --

Friday Fill-In

Fri, 16 May 2008 10:16:01 -0400

Until I get photos ready here is

1. There is absolutely NO way you can get me to sky dive!

2. Boats in the harbor remind me that summer is almost here!

3. I cannot live without my MacBook.

4. Spinning and first flush tea are two things I'd like to try.

5. When life hands you lemons, preserve them.

6. My grandmother's house is my favorite childhood memory.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to knitting, tomorrow my plans include a play and Sunday, I want to write!

Juggling

Thu, 15 May 2008 11:13:13 -0400

First I thought you might enjoy seeing how spring is progressing here. Today there are 3 boats moored just below us, a sure sign that summer is coming. The new sprouts of the knotweed have started to grow so soon the old stalks will no longer be visible. The birds love that thicket of stalks so we leave them. I know knotweed is an invasive species, but when confined as we have this patch (which we did not plant), it seems a reasonably good thing.

I was thinking last night about the days when I was first learning to cook whole meals and what an overwhelming task it was to have everything ready at the same time. Yet today, I don't even think about it and everything is ready when I need it. Somewhere a long the way I learned the art of juggling ingredients and times so that now it is second nature to me and seems effortless.

My knitting is kind of like that. There was a time, waay back when, that I had to knit just one thing at a time because of the level of concentration I needed in order to make what I was attempting. But as I gained experience and skill, that fierce level of focus was no longer required and I began to be able to juggle several projects at once. And in fact, having several at a time seemed overall to facilitate all of them as I could move from one to another as I got bored or frustrated with any given project. It is not a case of short attention span theater for me. For me it is a kind of energy that comes from having multiple options available to keep me inspired by my projects.

In that spirit, here is the beginning of my Slow-Bee shawl. I am using raspberry extrafine merino from Colourmart, which I learned is Baruffa Cashwool. It is delightful yarn in any case. I am using a mixture of red beads on it.

Here you can see how I load beads onto my piece of SuperFloss, which has become my method of choice when adding beads --

And the knitting itself --

I am making it for a friend and have doubled the width of the rectangular panel in the back as she needs extra width there. I like this pattern.

I had a cancellation this afternoon so I will be working on charting the center motif of Medea. And I will post pictures of her so far tomorrow.

Spike finds all of this satisfactory --

Because there's nothing new on Medea...

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:23:45 -0400

I'll offer these odds and ends instead.

Yesterday, yes on Mother's Day, I decided to try the recipe for Butterscotch Cream Pie from Martha Stewart. First, you just have to know that I am so far from being a Martha Stewart woman -- I cannot believe how organized one woman can be and my home, though just right for my husband and me, is not even close to the way she lives. But I do like looking at the magazine and sometimes I even try a recipe or two. Like this one. I love butterscotch and think what passes for it in commercial puddings is wholly undeserving of the name. So this looked like it might be just what I hoped for.

Well, let me tell you, it is good! We had enough filling to pour into a couple of ramekins so there is still a little left But probably not for long!

Martha wouldn't have left that drip of filling on the rim -- see what I mean by not being an MS woman?

I have been gathering beads for the yarn I already have. I discovered mixes and decided to try a couple of them. I just love these -- Gray Diamonds from BeadWrangler. I plan to use them with a deep blue extrafine merino (think Baruffa cashwool) from Colourmart.

There are even more choices in the 11/0 beads -- these are 8/0 -- but I don't know if they would be too small. I may try some though. I am just so enamored of beads in lace that I find myself adding them to all the patterns I have.

Here is a bit more of the Goddess Knits Spring Mystery stole --

The beads on this one are are iridescent clear so they hardly show in the picture.

Moe responds to all of this knitting and bead obsession --

Finally, it is another beautiful day here so I think I will go out for a little walk.

Mother's Day

Sun, 11 May 2008 10:47:31 -0400

Mother's Day is crisp and clear here on the coast --

I have been thinking a lot about mothering, being mothered, being a mother lately. When I was growing up, more than anything I wanted someday to be a mother. Being married was secondary and mostly a means to become a mother, because in those days marriage seemed a necessary pre-requisite. My own mother was a very difficult woman so some of my desire to be a mother certainly came from wanting through it to mother myself.

Mother's Day has never been terribly important to me. I loved when the kids were small and gave me things they had made in school or cards they made. Those things are so very sweet and I still have several of them. My kids, adults now, are generous with "I love you." -- being well-loved, they love well.

So on this Mother's Day, I would like to thank my children for giving me the opportunity to be their mother, for loving me, for providing me with many of the best, and worst, moments of my life, and for continuing to grow with me.

Thanks, Courtney and David -- you are the best!

Now that I know...

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:33:56 -0400

Now that I know that we are highly unlikely to have snow or frost, I can get really excited about spring. And I am. Excited.

In my morning photo today you can see the soft green that is coming to the trees --

Better seen here --

Those are the colors of spring in Maine for me -- that soft young green, the reddening of the buds on other trees and the deep green of the evergreens.

Today we went down to the Farmer's Market. This is just the second week it has been open this season. And in its new location, down on the waterfront, there is more room so more vendors. This year there are several people selling meat and poultry. Today we bought some bacon from organically raised heritage pigs. And we made plans to buy a half lamb later in the year when they are available. And decided we will start buying chicken there also. We have been buying our eggs from there or the Co-Op for a long time now. For the summer anyway, when we don't have to pay for heating oil, we can buy more of our food from local sources. Actually it was a pleasant surprise to see how much was available this early in the season. We got there too late today for fiddleheads.

I think I finally got a good shot of the flames in Medea -- red is so hard to capture accurately, but this is damned close. I figure it will take until late next week at least before I have to get the charting done for the center so that I can start knitting it.

From the soft pastels of the spring colors outdoors to the blood red of Medea -- quite the contrast.

LEAVES!!

Thu, 08 May 2008 12:56:44 -0400

Look at this -- the lilac outside my window has LEAVES!

I always tell people that we see leaves around Mother's Day. Right now, the maples are blooming and pouring out pollen by the ton -- I know this because even with my medications, I am quite stuffed up. And sure enough, by the weekend, there will be some leaves.

There isn't much to report on the knitting front. I am chugging along on Medea. And the GoddessKnits stole is underway --

I still have questions about this Yubina cashmere. I haven't washed it so maybe it will fluff up then, but it seems fluff-challenged to me. This is the second time I have used it. It is certainly nice to the touch but not very cashmerey. Anyone have any experience with it?

Ariadne and Aphrodite are nibbling at the edges of my mind for future stoles. Just so you know.

My husband and I hope to get some work done on our garden this weekend. The soil is warm enough to plant beets and sugar snap peas, two of the vegetable we have decided on. We also plan to plant tomatoes and peppers and winter squash in a couple of weeks. We're trying the square foot garden method this year to see if we can grow more in our available space. This year we had a plot around 12'x15' tilled, a bit more than doubling what we planted last year. That seems to be the trend around here -- bigger gardens as a hedge against higher food costs.

Mid-coast morning

Tue, 06 May 2008 11:55:09 -0400

Not much to show on the knitting front today. I repurposed -- doesn't that sound like a big deal? -- the yellow Yubina cashmere for the GoddessKnits Spring stole but I just started it so there's not much to see.

It was a lovely sunny morning when I got up -- this is from just before 7 today --

See how it looks a little hazy? Well, here we are an hour later --

And an hour after that, the fog was gone.

Summer must be coming because today was the first time they mowed the grass on the Common.

MONKEY MIND

Mon, 05 May 2008 12:30:49 -0400

I think my creative process actually draws a lot on monkey mind. I appreciate that some people become monomaniacally engaged by one thing at a time, but that is just not me. As I am working on one thing, my mind is gayly tripping about swinging from one possibility to another, some of which I will later follow in some detail, others of which will simply fall back into the great pool of unrealized possibilities. I am still working along on Medea, now working on the long stretch that leads to the center motif, which has yet to be mapped out. Now there are people who design using elegant drawings and all, but that is not me. I have piles of graph paper and lines going here and there as I try to see what I can do within the space I have to do it in and in the shape I want. This is one of many attempts to see how to transition into the center. I kinda sorta think I have figured it out so tonight I will work on actually making a chart and see.

Meanwhile, other yarns and other patterns also call me.

I wearied of the high drama over the Mystery Lace KAL -- life is too short to deal with moving from group to group and emails about conspiracies. I do this to have fun. So I frogged the one and only clue and am now contemplating what I want to use this pretty yellow Yubina cashmere for --

And I have this very nice raspberry merino from Colourmart which is actually Baruffa Cashwool --

I think I like it for either Secret of Bad Nauheim or the Slow-Bee2. Don't know about the beads though -- those are clear AB and look nice on just about anything.

Finally, I have this white cashmere and linen from Colourmart that just seems to scream summer to me. I think it will be for whichever pattern I don't use the raspberry for.

Letting myself play with other yarns and other patterns makes space for issues in the Medea pattern get worked out in the back of my mind, along with the paper I am simmering back there. I know it is a way of working that wouldn't work for everyone but it seems to be good for me. That's my story ad I am sticking to it.

on edit: eh, I have looked at finished Secrets of Bad Nauheim and I am underwhelmed. Maybe something from Victorian Lace Today?

She's fiery

Fri, 02 May 2008 14:40:21 -0400

I thought that finding the right stitch to represent the columns was hard, but I hadn't dealt with finding the just right stitch for the flames. I tried several, including a couple that I really liked but they looked too much like candle flame. And that's just not Medea. A candle flame is too tame for a woman who rode off in a chariot of fire. Finally I returned to one I had tried and discarded. When I knit more rows in my swatch, I could see it, the curve of the flame and that was it.

Here she is -- what do you think?

I am thinking this stole would also work in black with a mixture of beads in red and fiery colors.

Working on the stole has gotten me thinking again about my stalled paper on Medea and feminism. I've been working at it off and on for a couple of years now but I feel the energy to finally finish it. I was complaining to someone the other day that I haven't had a new idea grab me since Medea and he suggested maybe I have to finish with her first before something new can develop. I suspect he is right.

Spring is really getting going in earnest here now. The lilac has little leaves ready to open and big flower bud clusters. The leaves on the roses have begun to develop. And there is an abundance of maple and birch pollen in the air so my best friend is Flonase right now.

Here's what it was like this morning --

What is he up to?

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:05:57 -0400

Spike and Moe love the little mousies we get at the pet store. They love that they are fuzzy. He and Moe bite off the tails and ears and carry them around. And now look where they are putting them --

Magical, lethal, loving...

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:14:35 -0400

She was magical, lethal, loving, a sorceress, a barbarian, and had a savage truthfulness in her heart. – Brendan Kennelly

That's Medea.

And here she is slowly unfolding --

Among women, Medea has the most cunning mind of all.

She is fox and badger, ferret and stoat,

eagle and hawk.

She can master seven kinds of talk,

using the same words.

She is the clouds the sun cannot penetrate,

she is the sun the clouds cannot resist,

she is the voices of the rain,

she is the silence of an unread book, she has a tongue to flay anyone who bandies words with her – Brendan Kennelly

Someone asked me if I would make the pattern available for sale when I finish. I hadn't thought of this, but certainly could. Interested?

Look -- it's GREEN

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:50:39 -0400

Look at this -- GREEN --

And the appearance of spring moved me to get somethings done today -- like put away the DVDs we never watch and use it instead to create my little altar to Colourmart --

Now I can look at it and sigh happy sighs.

A little more progress to show you, on Medea and on Arabian Nights, v.2 --

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, with those 4000 word-equivalents, I am out to enjoy some of the sun!

Talk about sloooow

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:04:46 -0400

This designing thing is a slooow process!

As I have tried to find a stitch that suggests Corinthian columns, first there was this --

but I decided I didn't like it enough.

So I looked at other stitch patterns, like fluted columns, but they did't work well either. Then this morning in the shower it occurred to me that maybe a lace ribbing stitch would do the trick. So I did a search and found this lace rib and it looked like it might just work. And I think it will work. But finagling the stitch count and figuring out this and that and another thing took a good part of the afternoon. I've got a start and maybe you can begin to see how it is coming along --

These columns are a lot wider, spanning 20 stitches ad I think ill allow me to make some kind of ornamentation at the top, which of course I have not yet worked out -- because my brain just couldn't do any more figuring today. I also decided to work in the yarn I want the finished stole to be in, so this is 2 strands of Colourmart cashmere/merino/viscose. And I a using a 3.00 mm KnitPicks Options needle.

To get a bit Jungian for a moment, typologically I am an introverted intuitive (INFJ on the Myers-Briggs) and attention to details is not my strong point. My usual habit is to try to imagine something, to see it in my mind's eye, rather than working step by step. I am the kind of knitter who is more likely to fudge a mistake rather than rip out and start again. So this process is a big challenge for me, tossing me right into my least developed functions. Which means working things out takes oodles of time and lots and lots of trial and error.

But I am having fun.

She's got me

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:58:35 -0400

Medea -- she's got me. I am becoming a woman obsessed with this stole.

Working this design out is a new thing for me. I am used to being able to intuit my way, to "see" what I want something to be, how I want to shape a piece of writing for instance, and then it just happens But this is different. I cannot see it as a finished product in my mind. This is a journey to an unknown destination. ll I can do is start with basic parameters -- how long and how wide and what shape and then step by step find and put together the pieces.

So last night I laid out the beginning -- decided on an edging, at least for now, and the bottom motifs. Then the number of stitches and repeats of each motif. I can't see how it will work without knitting it -- the graphs don't tell me enough, don't let me see how the color and texture and stitches work together.

As soon as I got home from teaching this morning, I sat down and cast on for the first look. I used a beaded cast on -- here it is just started

I don't have anything other than a few rows of garter to serve as a base for the columns that will come next. And the fluted lace that Denise found ended up not looking column-ish enough for what I was hoping for, so I am back with what I tried originally for that. Maybe someone knows of a fluted column pattern that suggests corinthian columns? And I still want to work out something that suggests maybe acanthus leaves at the top of the columns, but I have a ways to go before I am there.

My daily photo sometimes catches extraordinary beauty. Yesterday was such a day.

Looking at Medea

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:58:55 -0400

Thanks to Denise, I think I have found a better stitch to use for the columns -- Fluted Lace looks more like what I had in mind, so I'll be starting another sample this evening.

Other motifs I have in consideration are: Print o'the Wave as an edging to reflect the sea and its part in her journey with Jason, and flames, because she leaves in a chariot of fire, is a granddaughter of Helios, and the cloak she makes for Glauke sets her on fire.

For those not familiar with her story, here it is:

Medea, daughter of Aeëtes, king of Colchis, and the niece of Circe, falls in love with Jason when he comes to Colchis in his quest for the Golden Fleece1. Medea and Jason exchange oaths of fidelity in exchange for which she helps him with the trials devised by her father as a condition for winning the Fleece. Jason's task completed, he takes Medea back with him to Greece, in accordance with their agreement. Medea’s brother, Apsyrtus, pursues them. Medea murders her brother and cuts him up, throwing him overboard limb by limb to delay the remaining pursuers who have to stop to recover Apsyrtus' body.

At Iolcus, Pelias refuses to relinquish the throne to Jason, even though he now has the Fleece. Medea schemes to cause Pelias' death. She claims she can rejuvenate old people by cutting them up into pieces and boiling them in a magic potion. Medea convinces the daughters of Pelias to do this with their father. However, Medea withholds the magical herbs, and so Pelias dies. Even so, Jason does not gain the throne and Pelias’ son Acastus drives them out of the city. The couple then flees to Corinth, where they live for ten years.

There are many variations of what happened in Corinth. However since Euripides, most agree that Jason divorces Medea to marry Creusa (or Glauke), the daughter of the king of Corinth, Creon. In revenge, Medea sends her two children with a robe and a crown as wedding gifts to Creusa. The magic ointment that Medea had dipped the gifts in burns Creusa and Creon to death. After Medea kills her children as a final act of vengeance towards Jason, she escapes to Athens on a chariot drawn by winged dragons provided by her grandfather, Helius. Medea finds sanctuary in Athens, and she marries Aegeus, the king of Athens. She is banished by him when she nearly succeeds in poisoning his first son Theseus. Medea herself eventually returns to Colchis. Jason is later killed when a piece of his ship, the Argo, falls on top of him.

She isn't exactly the girl next door, as you can see. Sometime later this week, I will post a link to my dissertation in which I explore her in some depth for anyone who is interested.