Eulogy and an FO

It's been an odd little day. My alarm clock went off at seven this morning and the first thing I heard was one of those chirpy radio voices announcing that Luciano Pavarotti died today. Or yesterday, depending on the time zone. It is truly a sad day for the whole world when it loses a voice as majestic as this one.

I spent a good twenty minutes watching old Youtube videos of Pavarotti's performances and crying like a baby. I'm not sure why I'm so affected by this, but I think part of it has to do with the fact that I grew up listening to him. My mom is a huge classical music buff and I often woke up in the mornings to her CDs of arias and symphonies.

The last time Pavarotti performed "Nessun Dorma," the big, grandiose aria from Puccini's Turandot, he was in his home country and singing in front of millions of Olympic visitors:



Pay attention to his face at 1:40. I often feel that true passion (the constructive kind, not the destructive kind) gets overlooked when things like business and money and exposure get in the way. But despite the millions he made as a singer, that expression is priceless. That is passion for the art itself. It's not the most technically impressive of his televised performances, but I think he's at his most honest. A lot of experts say he knew his voice and body were giving out then. I like to think that his face shows how much it meant to him that he got to sing his signature piece one last time in his own country.

Now, on to happier things: Finished Charades!

Marlena & Rosie Charades
Pattern: Charade Socks
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Fingering in Pink Cloud
Needles: US 1.5 circulars

I named these after the circus performer and elephant in Water for Elephants. Seemed appropriate, given the grey of an elephant and the pink sequins that Marlena wears. The pattern is super easy and the results are quite pleasing.

When I first posted photos of the yarn here, I briefly mentioned some worry because of the discrepancies in cake size. I started the first one with the smaller cake and made it to the end with normal leftovers, which got me to wondering if the other one was really much bigger or if the yarn was just fluffier...

The leftovers. Ahem. I think that one of the skeins I purchased was a greedy monster skein that ate half of its brothers or something. I think it's almost enough to knit a whole third sock. What a bit o' weird! The photo reminds me of Shel Silverstein. Maybe The Missing Piece and the Big O.

Now, just to prove how much these socks actually look as though they've been printed with clouds, here's a slightly fuzzy/blurry photo I took:

And here's a beautiful photo of a pink, lavender, and grey sunset:

This photo was taken by Flickr user yorksgalSue and she generously allowed me to post it here to show off the similarity between sock and nature. You can check out more of her photos here.

Now I just need to figure out what new projects I can start!

Cloudy and Grey

"Cloud goes up, cloud goes down. Cloud goes up, cloud goes down." - Homer Simpson

One completed Marlena & Rosie Charade. At first, I thought it was simply pooling. Then, oh but then...I realized the genius behind she who is named Claudia and the actual cloud-like effect of the color patches. Pink clouds, grey sky? Grey clouds, pink sky? Chicken, egg? Also, Right Foot is very tired and could not be bothered to pose properly.

Here's a better look at that pink cloud:

They've got silver linings.

Things are moving along on all fronts. Luigi's back is finished. Clapotis is done with Hank #1 of Colinette and moving on to Hank #2. Four diagonals have been dropped. Smoke Shawl has been frogged and re-begun on US 4 Inox needles. It is now quite dapper and much, much happier. He feels not quite so transparent, you see.

It's not easy being frogged...

Alas, the Pink Cloud colorway and the Flutter-by pattern were not meant to be united. Something kept bugging me about the two together and I forced myself to take a good, hard look at that crumbling relationship. Pink Cloud likes to pool. Flutter-by's long runs of slip stitch prevent Pink Cloud from pooling and makes Pink Cloud form angry pink and grey blotches throughout knitted fabric. There was a rather painful separation and then the two parted ways. Pink Cloud, however, femme fatale that she is, moved on right away (we're talking less than five minutes, people). Here she is, paired with her new partner, Charade.

And since we all know how two-faced she is, here's her other side:

I don't mind the pooling at all. It's part of her character. Also, it really does make me think of clouds. I'll forgive her for the Flutter-by pairing. We all make mistakes.

I also have a new rule about WIPs. I am only allowed to have one project going at a time in each of the following categories: Mindless knitting, sweater (or article of clothing) knitting, sock knitting and lace knitting. Blankets and afghans do not count since they are necessarily long-term projects. And I can bend the rules, but only slightly if a person's birthday or special occasion looms on the horizon. There's not much going on this week with Clapotis and Luigi but I'm sure they'll make a big comeback next week.

That being said, I bought some hand dyed Prism laceweight wool in Smoke the other day because it DEMANDED that I take him home. I was quite offended until he won me over with his charm and cuddliness. I'm calling this one a "him" because I'd like equal gender representation among my knitted objects. He's very debonair. I cast him on for the "Large Shawl in Leaf and Trellis pattern with Trellis border." That's a mouthful and he thinks it's too cumbersome for such a debonair yarn. I think I'll just call him my Smoke Shawl. I just finished one repeat of the body.

I think I may have to purchase Addi lace needles for this. The bamboo ones I'm working with keep snagging the yarn at the joins and the tips absorb this dye like you would not believe. My fingers are dye-less, but the needles are slowly turning black.

Look at 'im. How could you turn down an offer made by such a handsome, well-dressed gentleman?

FOs: Monkeying and melon-ing around...

Hey, hey, we're the monkeys...

Big Top Monkeys
Pattern: Monkey from Knitty.com
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Fingering in Circus Dancer
Needles: US 1 circ
Modifications: Knitted all stitches; picot cast-on; flap-heel instead of short-row

I am, indeed, a monkey. This Chinese astrology site says, "The spunky Monkey is the original party animal!" Ah, if only this were so. Sigh. I'm afraid I'd rather be watching a movie and knitting.

I love these socks. I love them. They are squishy. They are warm. They are pretty. They are fun. I think I am beginning to have a problem with Claudia. Every time I see the yarn, I can only describe my reaction as somewhat...predatory. I love it more than all other sock yarns. But I suppose since I've only managed to knit two complete pairs of socks, I should hold off on this judgment until I've tried some of the other sock yarns out there.

As I knitted these, I kept thinking of Seurat's The Circus:

I saw this at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris four years ago and I stood with my nose nearly pressed up against it, marveling at the dots he used to create blends of colors. For New Yorkers, his "Sideshow" is more easily accessible:

It's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and I'm going to have to duck in there pretty soon to refresh my memory. My monkeys like it quite a lot.

I really had so much fun knitting these and one of the best parts was the connection with Water for Elephants, which I finished and highly recommend. There's a bit of everything in there. Murder, mayhem, sex and romance. It makes me wish for the days when things like circuses were still charmingly bohemian and going to see them was such novel entertainment.

Next, we have the Melon Shawl. I can't think up a wittier name that does not also denigrate part of women's anatomy. I believe I shall refrain.

Melon Shawl
Pattern: Melon Shawl from Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Louet Sales Kidlin Pixie in Grasshopper
Needles: US7 for melon pattern; US6 for border

As I neared the end of this shawl, tragedy struck. I ran out of yarn with only eight border repeats left to go. I sadly plunked down more cash in order to complete Melon and ruefully wished I had ended the body pattern a few repeats earlier. Greedy, yarn-guzzling Melon is happy, however, and here she is, modeling herself on the sunny deck of my parents' house.

A close-up of the border:

A pool of crisp green:

Lounging in the sun:

I swear, if Melon were a cat, she would have been positively purring with pleasure. I can't wait to start showing her off around town, if only this nasty muggy spell would go away.

And since I finished up the Monkeys, I started another pair of socks also inspired by the elephant book. They're the Flutter-By socks by Librarygirl. The charcoal and pink yarn started me thinking of Rosie, the elephant in the book, and Marlena, the pink sequin-covered star of the circus.

I'm calling them my Marlena & Rosie socks. And the "Flutter-bys" make me think of elephant ears. Maybe I'm just elephant crazy.

I love yarn sales!

The Melon shawl is done, but needs some blocking and modeling. I'm pretty sure I can accomplish this tomorrow when I visit the 'rents for the weekend in NJ. But in the meantime, I scored some yarny goodness this week without even thinking about it.

The other day, I walked into String, on the Upper East Side. I had errands to run and thought I'd check out the store while I was in the neighborhood. I'm sooooo glad I did. They had a bunch of stuff on sale, but I've set aside a stockpile of wool for sweater knitting and so I skipped over those. But Colinette Lasso was on sale for 75% off. That's right, not a typo. 75. I bought four hanks of it for the price of one. The pattern in mind? Clapotis!

Clapotis and I have some history. It was the first full-scale project I finished when I returned to knitting after a lengthy hiatus. I knit Clapotis I with Rowan Tapestry, finished last September and I only wore it a few times before surrendering it to my mom, who liked it better than the Swallowtail Shawl I knit for her. She hasn't returned the Swallowtail, though. And whenever I knit something that I tell her is not for her, she says I never knit her anything. Hmmm.

The Colinette Lasso is interesting. It's remarkably soft for something that's listed as 100% polyamide...which is essentially nylon. The yarn is cushy and feels a bit like velvet. I started on bamboo needles, but had to switch over to Addis because the yarn was sticking too much to the wood. I'm not sure if I'm in love with the color, but I like it well enough and might like it even more once the stitches start droppin'. If not, I'll finish it up for a very lucky friend for Christmas.

I also stopped by Purl Soho. I swear, I did not mean to purchase more yarn. I only meant to get one hank of the Kidlin in order to complete the Melon. However, the MerLin Tristan was on sale for 40% off. I've had my eye on the Euroflax for months because I want to knit the Linen Kilt from Knit 2 Together. But Tristan is the same weight but in a 50% wool/50% linen blend. I think I'll prefer that to 100% linen. And of course, they had four hanks of the gorgeously docile Sandalwood colorway.

And finally, this does not count as a "purchase." I had to return some surplus yarn from the Daisy cardi and got some sock yarn (Claudia's Hand Painted in Pink Cloud) in exchange. After I wound it up, though, I noticed something. Take a good look:

Same yarn, same dye lot, same store...different size yarn cakes? I'm really hoping that maybe this has to do with the sproingy nature of the yarn and not getting gypped by the manufacturer. I did notice that one hank seemed squishier than the other when I purchased them. I'll knit the first sock out of the smaller cake. If that covers the toe, I know I'll be safe. I'm not usually a pink person (especially such a delicate pastel pink) but I think the charcoal cuts through it just enough to give it an edgier, less dainty demeanor.

A Day at the Circus

I've decided on a new way of managing some of my reading/knitting. I stopped by Knitty City this past rainy Sunday and poked through the cubbies full of Claudia's Hand Painted Yarns. I wasn't sure I'd find anything I really wanted, since what I really want to make is another Clapotis. However, I've decided that until I can pick the perfect yarn for the Clapotis, it will simply have to wait.

And then my hands found a colorway called "Circus Dancer." And then my brain remembered the book sitting in my bag, Water for Elephants, which is all about the circus.

And before you know it, I had casted on for a pair of Monkeys. And then a brilliant idea hit me. These socks are so perfectly in sync with the book (which I am loving without reservation) that I've decided only to knit socks that complement my reading material. The trick will be finding yarn and patterns that complete the theme du jour. Or du semaine. I'm tingling with nerdy excitement.

The yarn couldn't capture the circus more perfectly. There's some cotton candy in there, the big red-orange stripes of a big top, a sparkly blue-green costume or two, a red ringmaster's jacket, pale orange for lions' manes. And the pattern? I love monkey. I chose it because I was thinking of circus menageries to go along with the yarn. After finishing the picot cuff, I remembered (with astonishing speed) that I was born in the year of the monkey, so it's even more apropos.

The Melon shawl is nearing her completion, so I also casted on (casted? cast?) for Luigi, from Rowan 35. It's for my dad and I'm eliminating the different colored stripes on all the ribbing. My mom likes the pattern, but told me specifically not to put in the "weird" stripes. The yarn is Valley Yarns Northampton from Webs. It feels pretty much the same to me as Cascade 220. Only cheaper and with slightly more yardage.

Miles of stockinette to go before I sleep...