Wearing it Well

I read this on Thimble Lit. Stopped me.

Wearing it Well

Blogging

You know what? I kind of miss blogging. I'm tired of apps and phones. I miss my old camera. I still have it somewhere and I definitely still have the photo editing program on my laptop that I used with it. I wonder if I even remember how to use it? 

This was once a knitting blog. I started in, I believe, 2006. It evolved and over time and eventually contained more poetry than knitting. Now, it's 2025 and I've been writing my own poetry for several years. It's been getting published for the last two of those years. Things move on, right.

Yet, today I came across my Barbies and felt like making them new dresses. Spring is coming and I miss posing my dolls and taking pretty pictures. Setting my camera on delay on the ground and trotting around front to get a photo of my socked feet was fun. I remember fun. Surely, there's still time for that?

My feet in 2017. I look so much younger!

Creativity Exercise

Leaving this here. Happy New Year.

 

Goals for 2023

I never make resolutions at New Year. Rather, I re-visit, remind, and hone intentions. I always think it best to do this regularly but New Year's Eve is a chance to really bite it off and chew.

So. Some revisiting:

Take more pictures of my projects and of the world around me. Post them.

I remember when I was social and how I enjoyed it. Now that that is possible again, don't let chances slip by. I do know many delightful people. Make more effort to be with them.

Write and write some more.

Some reminding:

I am happier when I take care of my health. A recent dental tragedy - yes another one - has made it impossible for me to eat mindlessly for about six weeks now. I have to eat very slowly and carefully and be mindful of getting as much nutrition as possible from soft foods that don't hurt my mouth. So, while this has been a difficult time, there has been a positive side effect. My digestive system feels much better than before and I'm generally lighter and less sluggish. I remember when I felt well because I feel so again. Keep this up. Eat delicious foods that are good for me. Life is too short to eat foods I don't like or want.

Also, remember that I feel best when I write regularly.

Some honing: 

Really be protective of my time to be creative. Carve out spaces for writing and reading and putting my work together. Getting published in a journal is a major goal for 2023. Keep working at that. Knit, cook, dance. Don't waste time.

There are other things I could focus on like work, looking for new work, money, and the like. But I want to be positive. I want good energy. Fretting about practicalities is best left for another day. Happy New Year everyone.

Moma 2022

 

I turned around and almost bumped into a Louise Bourgeois. 

Upon Reading North

 

Upon Reading North*

To say it’s unmagical is not to insult it.

It’s we who qualify and crave without definition.

Only assumptions based on context. Diction.

An entire first reading can be spent looking up meanings.

Magic’s absence then, is merely a possible state.

No stone ships here, nor glinting gravel

where men fell and froze and thawed again.

Only embers and beer cans and rebar lace.

This is Lake Ontario. On a clear day, they say, 

you can see Rochester from here.

Though noisy with gulls, untidy with detritus,

this shore of sea, this coast of bay,

is rest. Under the paling stars of morning

lay your head on the sand. Point north.

The city is behind you now.

Here is Aurora. Early sun turns the inner eye red.

The cascade is waves, each following the last.

The evolution is of your education, your

experience, in which you are the expert.

Thus the world offers itself to your imagination.

Within struggle is wonder, that bulky emotion.

It leaves room for little else.

                                                                    *after Seamus Heaney

A Quote About

 "He was after a joyfulness, a belief in existence in which man's inner light is neither rare nor elite, but godly and common and acknowledged. For that it was necessary to be rooted in the world again."

                                                               Mary Oliver on Walt Whitman                                             

Long and Winding Yarn

With my partner down with a bad cold, the holidays were relatively quiet here this year. There were many quiet hours by myself, wind blowing outside the window, my man sleeping and recovering in the next room. I took the time to take a plunge. It's one I've been meaning to get to and this seemed the perfect time. 

I frogged a mostly complete sweater. Yes, it was hard. I loved the pattern, loved the stitch pattern, loved the colour. I just hated the way the fit looked on me. I'd been fighting the fact that the bomber style cardigan is not for me and I finally had to concede. It felt a little sad to rip out so much hard work.

Then a funny thing happened. As I wound the yarn around the swift and tied it into hanks for washing, I began to get back in touch with the fibre itself. As the washed and weighted hanks dried and the kinks straightened, I remembered what it was I loved about this wool in the first place. I could see different cardigans, simpler wearable garments, in the raw material. The slowness and quiet of the winter break, sitting on my living room floor winding away, was just  what I needed.  How lovely to get a chance to just be with my imagination and a beautiful raw material. It was very healing. 

Pretty stitch pattern of a sweater that was not to be.

It Took A Doll

It's taken this doll to make me want to photograph knitting again. She, along with her sisters and many other mementos, had been in offsite storage for over three years. Little did I know that, packed along with them, was a host of the wee beasts that lived in the carpet of my old place. A small area rug appears to have been the host of the eggs. The beetles had been reproducing in the dark of one storage bin all that time - happily munching away at my belongings.  I discovered this last month, as I unpacked the last box from our recent move. 

How sad and bizarre it felt to throw away a lifetime's worth of paper and cloth things. Teddy bears, letters, The Daughter's childhood art - all tossed along with the bin itself. The dolls were in a different box, so were saved but their clothes were ruined.

Right now the dolls are wrapped in fabric togas awaiting a new knit wardrobe. This is the first completed garment. It's knit from a bright Koigu I've kept for ages but had no idea what to do with. It suits this project perfectly so I'm glad I held on to it. I've had the flu and knitting this little dress has helped me pass the time at home. Now I'm off to find the next pattern.

Would You Wear It?

I have to say that I am still uncomfortable with labeling the 80's vintage. I suppose everyone feels that way about their youth? Even if we laugh a little at the things we wore, we still don't consider them to be in any way "vintage" or, heaven forbid, "antique".

That being said, I still love these sweaters from this 1985 Scheepjes magazine I found at a sale. Would I wear this bobbly, dropped shoulder, extra wide cardigan? Definitely yes! Well...probably not in golden yellow but otherwise, yes. I still have such fondness for the shapes of the era. So bold yet cozy. Dramatic but comfy.

And check out the lovely jacket below. On a crisp fall day? With boots and a scarf? Gorgeous. 

I'd probably forego accessorizing with that guy on my arm. I would however, steal his scarf.

Socken

I knit a sock. Knit from Regia, a good reliable yarn. Knit on transit, mostly. Knit from yarn that was on sale and then sat and sat.

The black portion was so much longer than I had imagined it would be. And it was right at the top of the leg. All anyone would see, as if many might be looking, was black above a boot. How dull.

So I added lazy daisies. Arts and crafts and poorly rendered - they break up all that objectionable black. They were also a delight to embroider. Process

The photo was an accident. I pointed the camera at my legs and captured the legs of another. Aren't they beautifully framed in the curve of my socks?

Yarn. Pretty.

Mineville Wool Project, Merino Nylon. Colour 3106
All Dyed Up Fibres, Hand Dyed Fingering w/ Stellina

Saturday was the annual DKC Knitter's Frolic. I missed the last one because of work so I was determined to get there this year. As I've mentioned before, Spring makes me feel like knitting and what better way to get inspired than to spend an afternoon wondering several rooms full of yarn. The event is a great opportunity to catch up with other knitters one runs into. How to describe the delight of having a good old chat with someone you've not seen in years while standing between overflowing vendor booths.

My budget wasn't large so I bought just some sock yarn and one shawl kit from Wellington Fibres. However, since Saturday, I've wound a bunch of skeins, finished a stalled shawl project, and am now almost done a sweater that's been languishing for years. Yes, You could say that I've caught inspiration. Thank goodness.

Subway Knitting

Here we have a basic vanilla sock using the ever reliable Regia.

I believe I already mentioned that I got a new part time job last fall. It involves a commute of just under an hour on the subway. My shifts are at odd times, so I'm never travelling at rush hour and I always get a seat. I've actually been enjoying this time immensely. I pop in a podcast and knit away.  After a solid 45 minutes of knitting and listening to favourites like  The Guilty Feminist, The Poetry Magazine Podcast or Stuff You Missed in History Class, I arrive at work quite calm and refreshed. These days, one takes "Me Time" where one can.

Spring is finally here. I know most knitters get the cast-on bug in winter but the light and air of spring inspires me. Knitting outside, blocking on the balcony, taking natural light photos - the prospect of all these things make me hopeful. Regarding photos, I do intend to try to get back to blogging more regularly. It's been a hard winter here and my creativity, other than some personal writing (a sample of which is in my last post), has been at a low. I miss the chatter of the blog and taking pretty pictures of pretty things. Even if no one reads it, I remember enjoying it and am going to keep at it for my own sake if for no one else's. If you are reading this, Hello!

Re: Gift

About ten days before Christmas I realized I had not knit a gift for my daughter. December was hard and long this year. Creativity was little to none.
"Oh well", I thought "She just won't get a knitted gift this year".

Now I have knitted the kid something for Christmas every year for the past ten seasons. This simply would not do. So I trotted off to Yarns Untangled and bought the same yarn as last year (Lichen and Lace Superwash Worsted) in a different colour and quickly knitted the same hat I made her in 2017. She opened it on Christmas Eve and was delighted - especially as it was wrapped around the sweater shaver she had requested. Whew.

Sometimes it's the little things.

Countered

COUNTERED

An easy climate with all the elements,
earth, air, fire, water.
A desperate system solid as it is human.
Dust is falling where dust has climbed.
The sun is patient, moon calm, 
the sin of knowledge almost innocence.
Love has become goodwill, as grief has, 
as torturing strength has warped to sanity.
Now dustbowl earth completes its nothingness,
every bright image, lark or cardinal,
has dropped its wings, has moulted in disgust.
The lucid mind fumbles to doors and falls.
The crusted eyes tears cannot clarify.
But traveller dust which notices our earth
we totally invite until we die.
Now earth must spin as little as it is
as it has spun before our vast illusion.
Now loves will tumble on dark beds of space.
Loves will tumble now in any case.
But eyes of power, the long mileage to stars
our sleep will dreaden and intensify.
Lovers will love, and all the instant world
will tether joy, creation's sweet pathetic trust,
while our participating marrow
clicks with destroying dust.

Phyllis Webb
The Sea Is Also A Garden
The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1962

Summer Was Just Yesterday

It's snowing and windy today - the first real winter weather of the year. I'm not psychologically prepared for this! Thankfully, I find myself to be entirely unscheduled today for the first time in ages. Leisure! Pursue leisure. It feels imperative, especially today.

What better way to pass a cold, blustery November morning than by sharing some photos of a day in September? It was just two short months ago that my friend Sally and I ferried over to Toronto Island for a jaunt and I am enjoying remembering the sun and the water.

The city skyline is impressive though I couldn't help reflecting on how
much it's changed in the 30 years I've lived here.

Our friend's front door. We knocked intending a surprise visit.
 Alas. No one home.

Yep. I wore a bathing suit in public!
Not bad for a gal in her fifties.

Joy.

Scrappy

It started with my frustration at being no longer able to take decent photos. Then I realized I just wasn't knitting as much anymore. My yarn is in storage and there is no comfy chair here. 

My time and energy have been spent elsewhere these past months. The Fight for $15 and Fairness is urgent and I spend a lot of time attending rallies and doing data entry. I even wrote and gave a speech at Queen's Park in July! You can't knit while doing that.

However, the air is colder now and I got a new job that's farther away. My 45 minute subway rides there and back translate into much knitting and podcast time. It's been nice to get back to.

Scrappy socks. Scrappy cat.

Red and More Red

Yes, I finished it the evening of the Olympic closing ceremony. It's a relatively simple pattern but it was rejuvinating to knit to deadline. That's something I've not done in a while. It took a while to get it blocked and photographed but it was cast off on February 25.

I used four of the five skeins in the Frabjous Fibers Cheshire Cat, Mini Skein Pack that I purchased in Chicago. Funny story! As I was nearing the end, I held it up and asked my partner if I should continue with the next lighter skein or go back to the darker reds. He chose the darker and he was right! That burgundy edge really frames the lace. Who knew the dude had colour sense?

I like my picot edge which, as I explained on Ravelry, I did because I knew it would be stretchy and fast. I think it defines the edge quite nicely. 

Nearing the Finish Line

I've  only 14 rows left on my unofficial Ravellinic shawl. The problem is, being a top-down triangular scarf (with lace!), each row gets longer and longer. Then there is the cast-off.

I'm working all day tomorrow. Do the Olympics end on Sunday? If so, I may have a chance. If it's tomorrow, there is little hope.

So There's a Sporting Event Going On?

Apparently there is some kind of event on television right now?

Actually, I do enjoy the Winter Games. I watched, as I have for the past 12 years, the opening ceremonies with my knitter friends. I also cast on an unofficial Olympic project. My knitting has been in a rut so I'm taking the opportunity to switch it up and knit one thing exclusively.

It's the Indian Paintbrush Shawl by Vera Sanon. It's not a hugely challenging project but is interesting enough to keep going at a quick pace. Mainly, it's a great opportunity to knit with the Frabjous Fibers Cheshire Cat, Mini Skein Pack I purchased two years ago in Chicago. I'm hoping the graded colour change will look attractive with the simple lace.

As luck would have it, I've come down with a cold so yes, I am watching a lot of television and knitting away. This shawl will be done by Games end for sure.