On the Wires

We have a phrase, in the fiber-obsessed world of knitting: On the Needles.  We use it for projects we are currently working on, since they are (generally) on our knitting needles while we work.  (The crochet version is, I believe, On the Hook.)

A related phrase I haven't seen but should exist is On the Wires for projects that are in the blocking phase of knitting.  Blocking is a recent discovery for me (because I am lazy, lazy, lazy), but it really can make a difference in how the final product appears.  It's an opportunity to massage the knitted object into a pleasing shape, open up interesting stitchwork, and smooth out the occasional oddity in tension or technique.

Even though I only recently discovered the Magic of Blocking, as a convert, nearly everything I knit goes from On the Needles (OTN) to On the (blocking) Wires (OTW).

Wisp Airy Nothing, for example:

Airy Nothing

My first foray into lace-ish work and I'm loving it.

I'm knitting Wisp from the Summer 2007 Knitty.  (Not that I'm behind the times or anything.)

And I LOVE it.  Enough that I'm wishing I wasn't making this as a gift.  It's light and airy and pretty (and will be stunning, once it's blocked and the fishnet lace opens up) and it's transforming my dusty-turquoise Kidsilk Haze from meh to whoa!

The Ballad of the Yarn Cupboard

(Why do I keep wanting to write a limerick here?  Also, my meter is always crap.  It's not like a majored in English or anything.  Or took the Lit-GRE.)

The Ballad of the Yarn Cupboard
or, How the Young Knitter Learned Self-Restraint

Daydreaming about summer skies

and warm days where it wouldn't be unreasonable to wear a sweet cotton skirt instead of sweats, slippers, and a blanket (as I am, now, on this 36-degree gray, gray, gray day.)

And I've been daydreaming about what I want to pack for Hawaii (in July - I'm not planning ahead, just daydreaming) and doodling with SWAP boards.

Like this one.

Shoes, found at Zappos, are $85.  If I was sure I'd be able to stand to wear them while teaching, I would so snap them up.  But I'm unfamiliar with the brand.  Need to research - after I finish this stack of lesson plans and philosophy statements.

Pretty Maids All in a Row

So, as I'm finishing up my current project(s), I like to think about what's next.  (Ignoring, of course, the in-progress socks, sweater for my beloved, and Lady Eleanor wrap from 2005 that is between 25-ish and 50-ish percent complete.)

Part of the planning process includes yarn-visits.  I go into the Craft Room and check on my yarn.  Pick up a skein, admire the lovely colors (and notice that I seem to have gone on a purple tear at some point), and daydream about what they might become, someday.

(The cats' methods are different from mine.  Clearly.  I only sniff the yarn when no one's around to look.)

Bag Lady

I'm on a knitting kick, of late, although I find myself day-dreaming about apparel sewing, lately.  The changing seasons always read as changes of clothes, for me: fall brings tweeds and aubergine and cabled sweaters, winter is cozy socks and cuddly textures, spring ... spring makes me think of summer dresses and skirts and cotton prints and little cardigans.

And I find myself tempted to order 5 yards of this Amy Butler print or that Liberty of London.  I'm looking at my stash fabrics and wondering how many full cotton skirts I can make and whether I have any good blouse patterns that fit my current size.

I wonder if JoAnn's still carries these cotton prints I got last summer?  I have been looking at the polka-dotted one and thinking "skiiiiiiirt" for weeks, now, and now that I see the floral, again, I'm thinking they'd both be cute for summer.  Not in the same outfit, though.  The floral might even want to be a dress or an a-line skirt with patch pockets.