Athena Dreams

The Year that was 2007

2007 was a year of 2 Firsts for me. Socks (Broadripples) and Crochet (Larger than Life and Babette). I finished my very first pair of socks in January and I completed my very first granny square in June.

2007 was the year of the fingerless mitt, blankets galore and not finishing as much as I put on my plate.

15 pairs of mitts were knit and gifted, and all the mitts (except Fetching) were designs of the lovely Anne Hanson, who I am sure I probably gushed overly much about at some point or another this fall.

Two baby blankets were started, one finished the other frogged due to technical (read: gauge) difficulties.

I learned to crochet and started the Larger than Life Bag AND the ubiquitous Babette, neither of which I finished as of yet, due to holiday knitting interruptus, but they will be back up in the headlines.

There is the Poetry Cardigan, ah yes, the Poetry Cardigan, which I have spent endless hours choosing colours for, and charting colours for, and test swatching for... and have not started the actual cardigan. It's on the list for 2008...

I also spent some time queuing projects in my Ravelery, in hopes of getting a grip on my plans and my over-enthusiasm for new projects and new skills. The queue is rather long. Very long, really. And there are some things that may not happen, but it was most helpful to put that list together, or at least start it, and see how delusional I may truly be.

So, 2008. I know not yet what, if any, firsts there will be, or what challenges I will set for myself, other than finishing more of the things that I have started. I am hoping to start and finish a few sweaters this year, and add to my sock experience, and perhaps learn a new corchet square or two. That's the limit of my ambition as of the second day of the year.

Hope all your holidays were wonderful. Hope the resolutions (if you do that) are written! And hope everyone's new year has had a great start to it. Here's to an abundance of fibre fun in 2008!

And Here We Are at Autumn

I had wanted to mark the turn of the page to Autumn with starting a sweater for the fall and winter. The choice has been made (long ago) and for those of you who followed me through my swatching and my colour foraging, you know it will be the Poetry Cardigan of long ago discussions. Aah, but which cardigan: there were 2 discussed ad nauseum...

It will be the Peony Cardigan number one, or the one on page 136 in the Poetry in Stitches book.

But the weekend ended up filled with a wedding to attend, walks to go on in the cool(ish) Bay area-starting to change weather, and colours to read about and projects to tie the loose ends up on . . .

. . . changing leaves to walk through, home made vegetable soup left to simmer on the stove and make the house smell all warm and cozy and delicious.

Have I mentioned that I love the beginning of Fall, probably many many times, but I always love to say it again...

and there's my newly growing friendship with orange, another thing to celebrate about the beginnings of fall.

Happy Equinox! May the changing fall air invigorate and inspire you all!

Cheating on Babette

They say a picture says a thousand words, or it's something like that. Oh! Another one: they also say a picture tells a story (don't it). Quoting from various sources this morning, it all comes down to this: I started Morning Glory the night before last.

The monogamous project was just not working out well for me. I believe strongly in speaking up earlier, rather than later, when something is not working out, and the monogamous art/knitting/reading/any, it seems, project apparently does not work for me.

I found in the last week that I was not working on Babette, but was wandering around touching other yarn, and reading knitting books, and looking at colour books, and, you know, not interacting with Babette.

In the spirit of honesty, I did introduce them. They mumbled to each other on the floor, in the one patch of light there was... I didn't want to shock them with the flash.

I have come to the realisation - after much thought (seriously, I really have given this much thought) that I am not a monogamous project person. That as a result of that there will be some things that I don't finish, there will be other things that I do finish.

I was remembering my grandmother's "work" basket the other day. It was a big basket she had on the floor next to her comfy chair, right beside the dog beds. It was always full of half finished knitting or crochet projects, socks to darn, my grandfather's shirts that needed buttons replaced, and corgi fur from the dogs.

Some things never left that basket. Other things were finished and given, or worn, or placed in a drawer, hung in a closet. I was remembering that everytime I went to my grandparent's house, my grandmother's work basket was the first place I'd visit. There always remained some familiar things in the basket. Socks and sleeves of sweaters that I picked up and touched over and over again, for years.

I wish that I could ask her now if she ever thought about the good or the bad about having so many half finished projects in her work basket, and what that said about her as an artist, as a creative person. I am guessing though that she would think it was fine that I am not a monogamous knitter, crocheter, painter, or designer. I am imagining she would give me her little half smile, tip her head to the left, and say: "that's just fine".

Can I Distract You with Some Flowers?

I am sewing endless little cotton squares together. There really is no point in taking more photos of these endless little squares of colour, no point in showing my "progress", or even discussing which square colour combos I like the best... Babette is the only thing I am working on, and until she is done, there's just really not much to be said about her, or any of the other lovely projects I should be starting for Holiday presents. This is all in the name of finishing a project. Finishing a project completely. No dangly thread. No more items thrown into the basket of other items that need blocking. A finished project is a lengthy process, for me, it seems.

The Rudbeckia in my garden this year, has been, in one word, stunning. I have tried it before in different spots, with marginal results, and this year I put it in the garden just off the front porch, my thinking being that maybe it just wanted to be seen more than once or twice a day, and wanted to be seen by more than just myself and Mr Athena. The mailman even commented on my "pretty golden flowers" and I am thinking he is not the gardening type, and thus it is rather impressive that he noticed them at all. I think I finally found the right spot for them.

And they are lovely and golden. The photo looks like there was a flash or some back lighting, but there wasn't, and I think the yellow caste on the leaves, is all due to the "lovely golden flowers".

And just beside the Rudbeckia is my gorgeous Japanese Anemone in Pink. I have many white ones in the back, I love both the white and the pink. And in years past I bought starters that SAID they were pink, but then in September, they bloomed white. It's on one level terribly disappointing, and on another, a lovely thing. On the disapponting side, I tend and water them all year, they put out the most beautifully rich green foliage for, oh I'd say about 7 months, and then at the very very end of the blooming season they start to bloom, and I am expecting pink, and I got another white. And it is a lovely thing, in that the large gathering of white anemone's in the back (right outside our bedroom window) are amassing in army like proportions, and when it is a full moon during the months of September and October, I go to sleep to the glow of the white flowers.

So, onward to more sewing of squares... Babette is waiting... she is a task mistress.

Ruh-Roh Ravelery

I got an invite to Ravelery! So many of the other kids on the playground have been playing on Ravelery for a while, and now I can too. And then . . .

[INSERT syrupy organ music for old soap operas here] she lost 5 hours of her Sunday to this wonderful playground. AND, it's not like I really need something else that keeps my bum glued to a chair, but there it is, I am a joiner...

So come visit if you are already on, and I hope the rest of the invites to the party go out really really soon, it'll be more fun to be there all together...

Please Ignore the Extension Cord and . . .

and all the other stuff . . . but Babette is all over the living room floor, in her little "groups". I was surveying this morning, and thought, wow, that would make a beautiful rug.

No, I don't think I would go that far, but it's a lovely dreamy thought.

Babette is a Square

The Babette she does progress. While I have finished crocheting sections 9 and 5, I have also sewn together sections 1-4, into this bit of squareness. It's big enough really to be a lap blanket for a small person, but I am loving the way the colours interact with each other. Night or day, whatever the light, they all please me.

I took the colour key for the original Babette, and switched out the yarn that was called for and then All the colours. Yeah, made me a little nervous, but I wanted a colour palette that was dominant in plums, magentas, greens and peaches and neutrals - all warm toned colours - so that it would work with our living room.

Now that I am a bit into the whole project, I am realising that the most intriguing part, is sticking to the colour key that I set up, kind of willy nilly. There is an aspect of faith involved in creating each of the squares. What if I don't like the colour combos immediately? Do I substitute or keep going? I decided at the beginning that I would keep going, and lay out each section as I finished it to see the overall colour. There have been more than just a few squares that I finished OR laid down next to it's neighbor square and thought, oh crap, this doesn't look right.

So I am coming to terms with the Colour Control Freak that I am, and letting the colour happen. Scary, but liberating too. Above the square at the bottom left ended with a sage-y green that as I started working with realised it was leaning a bit too far into the blue/cool tones, but now that is in place and living with it's more yellow and red toned friends, I am happy with it.

My grandmother always told me that I had to learn to trust that colour will always live up to it's reputation and it's up to us to learn to see in different ways. Kind of like when a garden has gone wild and every colour goes with each other, even when you least expect it.

Here's to colour mystery and letting it rule!

Blocks of Babette

Last night I finished the #10 section of the Babette. I know, who knew I had even started it. I thought I'd do a few squares here and there, but it's kind of similar to the dangers of opening a packet of M&Ms: I'll just eat the green ones. But then, it's, I'll just eat the orange ones. I'll give the brown ones to Mr Athena, and wow, it's just the yellows left now, I may as well eat them.... [now, did I forget to eat a colour?]

I am not sure, either why I started with the #10 section, as opposed to the #1, or the #7 even [7 being my favorite number], perhaps it is because it's the section that is on the far left, and since I read left to right, I started working from that direction... who knows.

We have some curling of the squares happening. [Note: upper left sage edged square in full leaf-esque curl, as well as apricot/gold square waving around in the center.] Though, I have not blocked any of them, just crocheted madly and thrown them on the floor in the layout of the pattern. I am hoping that with the blocking the curling will stop... it won't make for the blanket of my dreams if it continues to be rumply.

The whole thing remainds me of a painter, that I can't quite put name to.... Klee? Stella? Hmmm will have to visit my art history books, and see if I can put name to thought.

For any crochet officianados who may be reading... are the curly squares due to particularly bad tension, or some other ineffective thing I may be doing with the hook? And, will they block out? I am kind of afraid to block only to find the curl remains. It will suck all my enthusiasm right out the bottom of my heart. You know that place, where you need to know, but you dread knowing, because to know will stall all motivation and love for the project? Well, that's where I am living today... halfway between love and joy for the colours and the squares, and halfway between dread and fear in case the corner curl continues.

THE Bag

I finished the squares for one side of the Larger than Life Bag.... after many trials and errors, I think I have the colour combos that will please me for a long time.

I am using Elann's Callista, a blend of Viscose, Cotton and Linen, I thought the fibre combo would be good and strong for a bag I hope to use a lot! Callista comes in 12 colours, and I bought one skein of each, and have been playing with all the possible combinations. [one of the fun-nest thing to do, ever]. I skipped the black and white, and have used at least a little of all the other 10 colours.

For the bottom of the bag, and the strap, I am planning to do what the ingeneous Rachel did, and stripe all the colours I used for the sides.

NOW, the big question is: do I make the other side, same as this one, OR, re-mix the colours and create a different flow? Opinions?

No Knitting, Just Squares

So, I haven't knit. Anything. In the last 10 days or so. I have been filled with colour thoughts and these little squares made from Elann Baby Silk and Baby Cashmere.

The crochet thing, hmmm, it's not like I'll never knit again, but I have to say I never thought I'd love this crochet thing so much.

The only square other than the basic Granny I know, is the one from the pattern from, you know, THE Bag. And I tried to start figuring out the pattern square for the Chantel, but it wasn't coming out right, so I thought, well, I guess I could make a shawl, but use that Willow square from the Bag.

Oh, and I DO, have progress on the bag, but that's another story...

SO, then the colour play began:

Yeah, well you get the idea here.

I need about 100 of these little babies... 24 and counting... hey, I am a quarter of the way done...