Muse Still Up To Her Tricks

Wellll . . . . my week of seclusion did not go as well as it has in past years in that I struggled to settle on a single focus. I knew that I'd be knitting on my Watermark Cardigan every day, and I did. I'm now on row 42, bearing in mind that every other row grows longer by 8 stitches so takes longer to complete, and have started on my second ball of yarn. I've looped the handles of the big tote bag where I keep the yarn and knitting in progress over the arm of my office chair which is working well as I concentrate on the pattern directions laid out on my desk. Things ARE moving a bit quicker as I finally memorized how to do those left and right "make one stitch" increases as well as mostly memorizing the sequence of the pattern stitches on the row I am working on, having to look at the pattern less often. Still, I'm making a few errors here and there leaving me with not enough stitches upon completing a row, and having to backtrack to see what I've done wrong, sometimes unknitting to the spot, other times being able to fudge in a stitch where it is missing when I knit the next row. As the pattern designer says, we all make these errors - even she - and rather than beat ourselves up over it, think of any visible ones as design features. Sound familiar? By the way, I've left Venetian tiles hanging on the wall where I pinned it for photos, right next to my computer, and I've just noticed that the color of my yarn is nearly identical to the green in that quilt!

Beyond the knitting, I felt I should do something in the studio but couldn't decide what. Early in the week I'd finished the last panel of the crochet cardigan, scanned the directions and realized it recommended a light blocking before attaching the front panels to the back panel. In a recognizable procrastination move, I decided to get that done before starting anything else, crawling around on the floor as I smoothed and stretched the panels to size. I'm getting too old for that much crawling around and getting up and down from the floor - I paid for it with a lot of stiffness and soreness the next day!

While messing around with that, I suddenly had a lightbulb moment of what I could work on the rest of the week - making a couple of tote bags to hold my various knitting projects. I've had that piece of antique quilt the person who'd cut it up to make a jacket had sent me for quite awhile, finding it difficult to let go of my anger at her, and not having a good idea of what to do with it, until now. I think I was inspired by Angela Walters who did a video not too long ago of how to turn quilted panels into baskets and totes (watch the video here). So I got it out, folded it this way and that, and decided there was enough for a bag.

But I did notice a large area with some light brown staining, very typical of old textiles, and remembered I'd bought a product quite awhile ago which is supposed to remove that sort of thing without damaging the textile - Retro Clean. I'd meant to use it on some heirloom handkerchiefs but as usual, had not got around to it. There was an area I could cut off to use as a test piece to be sure it truly did not disintegrate or fade an already aged quilt so got to work. 

The directions said to soak for 24 to 48 hours - I was NOT expecting it to take that long - and preferably to set it in the sun to keep the water warm. Ok, if you say so. Even though it's very hot here, the water was cool when I brought it inside after the sun went down. I decided to skip that part on the bigger piece. It did seem to lighten the brown area but not harm the fabrics in any way. Time to soak the large piece for the full 48 hours, followed by rinsing and washing (by hand). Although I think I can still see some staining it is definitely almost gone. And in wetting this piece of old quilt, I immediately could spot tiny seeds here and there in the very thin layer of cotton batting. In fact, the batting was so thin that it had shifted in some areas to leave places of no batting at all. Another bit of evidence to the old age of this quilt.

So much for whipping up a quick tote bag from this already quilted remnant. However, I also had in mind a couple of tote bag patterns bought ages ago and once again, never made up. Time to hunt them down. These two I found right away, hanging on a cork board. Technically not totes but I thought the Two-Hour Tulip Purse made in the largest size would be perfect to hold a knitting project. I'd seen it made up with a flap at a quilt show and thought it would make a perfect purse, hunting down the pattern locally, but I now have plenty of serviceable purses on hand. Better it be a tote bag. But I laugh at the "Two-Hour" designation. I know darn well it will take me longer than that!

What I really wanted to find though was a tote pattern that used that black plastic screening and as a sample showed, combined with batik fabric. I pictured myself picking up purchases at quilt show vendors and tucking them into my see-through bag, so bought the pattern and the batiks the sample was made with. I still have those batiks, but do you think I could find the pattern now? The muse apparently thinks it's funny to hide things from me. I searched in so many places, through piles again, and in drawers, and in old pattern keepers, as well as in binders where I'd filed ideas and patterns for clothing and other items. As I scanned the labels on the spines, I felt the muse nudging me to open the binder labeled "Mariner Compass" where I've filed so many ideas for mariner compass blocks and quilts. Now why would that tote pattern be in there, but shrugged and took it down. Ohhh, the muse had decided to give up where my Judy Mathieson Mariner Compass books were! When I was hunting them down expecting to find them among the other titles on my shelves, it never occurred to me to look in this binder. It has pockets in the front and back covers and there were the books, one each in each pocket. Thanks muse, but now give up that tote pattern!

By now the week was pretty gone and I settled into a weekend of watching multiple motorcycle races, deciding to be content with what I HAD gotten done, disjointed as it was, and the daily knitting. I think Allen would be ok with this. I'd changed my computer wallpaper to this picture of Allen such that when I fired up the computer each day, I'd see him smiling at me and reminding me to not dilly dally too much here but get to work creating. That's all he ever wanted of me, to be happy making things and making progress on them more days than not.

It's That Day Again

Goodness, I'm looking at the 26th anniversary of my husband's death, now gone for longer than we were married. Hmmm . . . while other widows may have moved on, finding another to fill the husband shoes, for one reason or another I have not. I once thought maybe I would but no longer feel that way. So far, no second Mr. Right has appeared, am happy on my own with my special memories.

Here's something about Allen I don't think I've ever shared with you. He enjoyed working on his motorcycle and even puttering around with our 4-wheeled vehicles. He definitely liked challenges (as do I), and I think some of this was done with the idea he was saving money (ditto for me). I wasn't always so sure of that, looking at the tools he accumulate over the years. But who am I to talk, owner of so many tools of MY trades of quilting, bookmaking, dyeing, etc. etc.?

So when I finally convinced him that there was something amiss with my old Saab that kept it from accelerating up inclines, the diagnosis was that it needed an engine rebuild. This far exceeded his capabilities, but he DID figure out a way to save some money by removing the engine, transporting it to a shop for the rebuild, and then putting it back in the car. Boy, what a difference when I made the first test run. Boy, just a little irritated that I'd been complaining about this since driving the car from Idaho to Wisconsin over several passes when we made the big move in 1993 and continued to complain for the next four. That seemed to be my fate when it came to issues with the car - this was far from the only problem I reported that he blew off until he could ignore me no more. Why he never believed me until he drove my car himself and experienced what I'd been complaining about I'll never understand.

Be that as it may, he always eventually took proper care of my vehicle, and I kinda miss having an in-house mechanic to call on. I also very much miss having someone that gases up my car, checks the vitals and runs it through the car wash for me. He definitely spoiled me on that count. 💖

Off And Running

Olive Knits' 2026 and final Knitalong has begun. The complete Watermark Cardigan sweater pattern downloaded Tuesday night and I dutifully printed out the relevant pages and marked my size-specific numbers throughout. The next day, July 1st, I cast on and started knitting while I waited for the inaugural zoom video recording to drop, and watch it I did while continuing to work my way through the first 4 rows of the pattern. It was taking me a bit to navigate through unfamiliar or seldom used stitches but I could still manage while listening. Much of that video was introductory, things she'd already talked about in e-mails and on a special Tips and FAQ page on her website. Still, there were a few helpful things to hear and a reminder that instructional video clip links are sprinkled throughout the pattern. I'm working on this upstairs next to the computer so that I can quickly access any of those links as I progress (and I definitely have looked at a few of them more than once). I also got the explanation behind the advertising that this was to be a 4-day event while also saying it would last all month. Apparently, previous knitalongs were indeed conducted over 4 days, but she got so much feedback about knitters getting stressed trying to keep up that she decided a slower pace was in order for this last one while keeping the 4-day time for consistency sake. Anyway, every Monday of July she'll be holding another zoom meeting to take questions and see how it's all going for participants.

I also printed out a handy guide to making a particular increase stitch that is made differently depending upon whether the stitches will slant left or right, something that is used here to widen all sections as one works down from the neckline. I simply couldn't remember the sequences so printing the directions with such good visuals was a smart move (you can see it above the regular directions page). The pattern isn't particularly difficult as much as it is complicated because of the neck shaping at the beginning (which I finished yesterday) and all that repeating lace pattern  (which I started today). I simply cannot work on it at the moment except in silence. Even background music would be distracting. Just look at all that text telling me what to do (using a bookmark to follow the proper line)! I have to say though, this is so well written and all the text is keeping things nice and clear along with all those stitch markers slipped on the needles. Green ones delineate the boundaries between front, back and sleeves while the orange ones delineate where lace pattern repeats start and end. The lace pattern is an eight row repeat and I'm only through half of it but I can already feel the rhythm and familiarity of it from making the gauge swatch. I'm starting to relax into it! Maybe soon I can even turn on some music while I knit. Not exactly running per se but I'm definitely off!