knit and ramble

weatherwise, the start of my week here was not as auspicious as i had hoped—the forecasted warm temperatures and clear days turned out to be all smoke and mirrors as mother nature had her way with me.

and so i found myself parked in the corner window of the astor place starbucks on tuesday afternoon watching the rain pour down outside instead of doing the errands i had planned. good thing i’m a knitter, because i knew just what to do with a couple of spare hours and a cup of coffee.

i had packed my smallest project into my side bag before leaving brooklyn, so i had the perfect fit for the situation. by the time i had to leave and meet agnes, cathy, and donna for dinner, i had accomplished enough for everyone to cop a good feel of the squishalicious fabric that was being generated from the needles.

it really does glow, this yarn (better breakfast fingering, in the daybreak shade) and is SOooo touchable; it’s actually a little too distracting. eh, i can live with that . . .

anyway, back to the shawl—i’ve been carrying it along all week and  getting a surprising amount done.

okay, now here’s the fun part—you can really see the pattern that has developed.

which means you can also appreciate the flip side pattern too! snazzy, huh?

yep, on one side the pretty half-chevron pattern of yarn overs and decreases is featured in the foreground and on the other, a luscious cable pops off the fabric surface on a background of organized eyelets.

yesterday i took a very long train ride to a special destination i will tell you about on sunday and i think i got far enough that i need to start thinking about ending the hem and starting the body. so really, before i leave the house today, i ought to do a little math to figure out the direction i’m going next.

i love it so much i want to knit a triangle version too, since that is my favorite and most-worn type of shawlette. i think i’ll cast on that one in the mocha shade of BBF when i get home, to take on my teaching trip to village wools in albuquerque, new mexico next week. it will make a great example to show my lace knitting class and i can save the blocking of the crescent to demonstrate in our blocking class.

BTW, we have a full weekend of terrific classes planned april 10 through 12—if you live nearby, you should come!

yesterday morning i was up with the birds and had several hours of knitting time, so while it was still dark, i worked on the hem of my orange cardigan. i love that i can work on this when the light is bad—it greatly expands my knitting time, which i really need right now.

whenever the light is good, however i take the opportunity to work on my triticum cardigan because that i cannot do when it’s dim or dark. i’ve gotten the bulk of the back piece done now and am nearly ready to start the armhole shaping. as soon as i get back from lunch, i’m settling in to work on both of these for the rest of today. sigh—can’t wait.

well, since tuesday, the weather has improved greatly. first the days became sunnier, though still windy and cold—much colder than expected actually with mornings in the low 30s, brrr.

still, the sun was dazzling and there was an undercurrent of warmth to be felt on wednesday and the earth began to respond.

by yesterday there were definite signs of spring popping, when i went out for my morning run.

i decided run down through my old neighborhood of carroll gardens; i hadn’t had a chance to visit there the last couple of times i was in brooklyn.

when i first moved there in 1988, i lived just above the esposito pork store, near the corner of court and president streets. the neighborhood was still a quiet, italian american community then—i felt right at home.

this guy wasn’t in residence when i lived there; he may have been moved over from their old store in new jersey.

i played basketball every morning before work right around the corner at carroll park, weather permitting. a few times i was even invited to join the guys pickup games, but i always declined; their much bigger size intimidated me.

i love this park; it has a huge tree right in the middle; you had to play around it, haha. there is also a bocce court right alongside the basketball court—probably so the grandpas could keep an eye on the kids while they all played.

at that time there were many, many italian food shops still in operation, but most are gone now it seems. caputo’s is where i bought bread most of the time, but for cookies, it was court pastry all the way (sadly, gone now).

i moved to this building in 1996 at the very end of columbia street—seriously, right next to the brooklyn tunnel. you would think that would be awful but it was actually a really nice quiet spot, right on the waterfront and nearby to all my friends, most of whom were visual artists. david and i fell in love while i lived here, so i will always think of it as the center if the universe—and beautiful.

i ran back up to park slope and passed over the gowanus canal—boy are they making changes there, literally razing entire swathes of industrial area to rebuild into what looks like an entirely new landscape. truly the end of several eras, i think. i don’t know how i feel about it, but it’s happening anyway. the scale of the demolition mess is monumental in and of itself, i’ll say that.

ooops, look what time it is—i have a lunch meet up in the city so i must get a move on—will be back with more over the weekend.