in which they all conspire against me

Posted on Posted in projects, Uncategorized

oh, hahaha! we all thought it was so cute that the tree scum sock pulled that little tantrum yesterday by getting all narrow on me, but we were so relieved that i didn’t have to pull out the heel, right? he-he.

well i guess the pink ragg sock felt miffed or something—not getting enough attention or whatever. of course, it waited til this morning to make its supreme fussiness known.
you know how they are—they get you right before that first cup of coffee, when you innocently go to the computer to restart and check email while the brain food brews on the stove. let’s review.

here’s the sock yesterday, right?

see anything funny? anything about it that says “i’m not happy“? hmph. me neither.

how about now?

anything at all amiss?

ok, now check THIS out.

mutiny. sigh.
that’s what i get for crowing about how much i can get done while working on other things.
it really isn’t progress if it’s WRONG.

by 10am it looked like this. arrrgghh.

(don’t you just want to wipe that smirk right off of it’s smart little face?)
if it tells me one more time it was just ribbing me, i will.

oh well. more printing and updating today, so this gave me a chance to test out some of the great tips for keeping the heel flap an equal length on both sides.

(never call me a glass-half-empty kind of girl).

elsewhere, the mail goddess showed up again bearing Good Things.

debbie, from comments (but sadly blogless), turned me on to a new vendor, perl grey (affiliated with fleece artist somehow), after reading about my plans for the bee shawl. she excitedly emailed me to tell me they had a bee brooch, so i bit.

i was a little leary, not being a big fan of cutesy animal accessories, but what i found was very appealing. not cute, but something . . . different. primitive? no. folk art? no. modernist? maybe . . . i’m having trouble pinpointing the style, but who cares. or maybe you can help me out. anyway, take a look

they are somewhat menacing, but not quite. kinda like bee robots, yes? i can’t wait to put them on a cardigan. and then there was indeed a bee brooch

this is so perfect for the shawl i have planned it’s like the artist stole it out of my mind. it’s a hive—it’s a swarm—it’s a flower—it’s a mandala—it’s perfectly apt.

i’ve been examining options in shawl wearing lately, because i started wearing them more this year. i used to make them and give them all away, thinking i was not a shawl-wearing type. but then i tried it, and hey—these things are MUCH more comfortable than a coat. especially in the car.

the only problem is that when i lurch from here to there walk around, they sorta don’t stay in place on my uber-narrow shoulders. i have to adjust a lot. and i absolutely hate tying them; the last thing i need on my chest is a big knot of knitted fabric. so i’ve been considering using pins to secure them.

i’m trying a couple of other styles, too

anyway, the package offered a bit of a balm. those socks can take a walk.

40 thoughts on “in which they all conspire against me

  1. Your statement “It really isn’t progress if it’s wrong” is going to be my memory verse this week! That idea resonated within me when I read it. I need to put that on my desk at work and take it to heart as I rush to meet deadlines and tie up loose ends.

    The Perl Grey shawl pins are lovely. I want the bees that appear to be practicing synchronized flying over the skep and also the circle with the stick. I’m not so sure about the cyborg bee buttons. I find them a bit scary and I used to work at an apiary! Thank you for showing them.

  2. I’ll be curious to hear how you like using the pins to secure your shawls. I’ve wondered if they would stretch out the lace.

  3. Wow, those knits are really giving you a run for your money! Threaten them with pointy needles!
    The Perl Grey stuff is very cool – I particularly like the bees, though I don’t know what style they fit into. What do the backs of the brooch pins look like? I’m wondering how they’d work with a lace shawl.

  4. Hey Anne! I’ve been reading your blog for some time now and I love your work.
    I have a problem that could very well be a very big problem in the next few years. When I knit for long periods(and even not-so-long periods) of time, my elbows and wrists start to pop and crack whenever I move them in certain directions(and I can’t simply stop these movements, for they are essential to the knitting process). Do you have any advice for me? Maybe a stretch of a technique that can help with this? I’d really appreciate any wisdom you can offer.

  5. I suppose it wouldn’t help if I told you it would have been worse if you’d realized after kitchenering the toe? 🙂

    The bees/flower are wonderful and look a bit art deco to me.

  6. I love honeybees! The buttons and pin are fantastic! I think they look rather Art Deco meets the natural world. I have a beautiful silver bead by Anne Choi with honeybees on it that I made into a necklace with honey colored citrine polished nuggets. If you like social histories, Robbing the Bees: A Biography of Honey by Holley Bishop is delightful reading.

    I don’t remember your post about a bee shawl, but I am excited at the prospect!

  7. oh good GOD you socks. You are showing why lately all my socks are very plain and wonderful. Don’t make me go buy my own bee-flower-etc-pin. I want it. But I will resist.

  8. I looooove the bee hive/flower brooch! I’m glad you’ve found the perfect match for your bee shawl.
    Perl Grey really makes great stuff. I’ve just bought one of their knitting kits, and I can’t wait to cast on for it – as soon as I finish one or two projects, not including my no-end-in-sight socks: I wouldn’t be able to wait *that* long! And another one of their kits is loudly calling my name already…

  9. Bad pun! Man, I groaned aloud. I had to check the picture twice though, to see the problem.

    I like the pins. The bees are great. When I pin my shawl, I sometimes go right through to my bra strap. Then I know it will stay put!

  10. The bees, and the bees with their hive, remind me of art deco and the Chrysler Building. I can certainly see how Perl Grey’s jewelry soothed your day. Lovely. Enjoy!

  11. That pins are beautiful! I have the same problem with shawls, I have to adjust them every minute. But I don’t know where to buy shawl pins here (México).

  12. Oh what it does to this gal’s heart to know a fabulous knitter like you, even YOU can have rebel yarn, a meltdown moment, fallout from a distracted life. In painter’s terms, a “holiday”. Oh anne, how you make my day! I drool over your work, your fabulous stuff and get to see you handle beautiful yarns… an outrageous vicarious experience for me. Yah, I read your blog… then I return to my bamboo yarn booties and cotton washcloths, dreams of greatness. Your socks may be rebellious, but if anyone can tame them you can, one at a time, a row at a time if that’s what it takes. Someday I’ll tame one too. Or two. I’ll try to learn from one of the Greats (that would be you).

    The bees? Well… a little Thomas Mann-esque techno-bot-bees if you ask me (not that you did). Love ’em.

    Hey, speaking of shawls, why not simply sew a teeny line along the bottom of the arm-line to create pseudo arm-holes in a shawl? I mean what would happen? It would stay on your shoulders and not fall off, right? Probably depends on the pattern, yah; yet you wouldn’t have all the trouble of actual sleeves, so danged fussy. Surely somebody must have already pursued this line of thinking – maybe it’s ugly as pecan pie (which I love, by the way) or not do-able but it’s just a thought. Maybe those who are more experienced have thought of it, rejected and would roll their eyes at the thought. A rectangle with sleeves. Sort of. Not a shrug.

    Shawls rock. I live in the NW and seems to me shawls would make a lot of sense here. Oh and then there’s global warming… Coats will become obsolete pretty soon maybe.

    Your yarn & pattern adventures are an absolute thrill, I mean that. When I grow up I’m going to try a the Morning Glories shawl. Oh and the Hypoteneuse scarf/shawl. sure I will. I’m hoping to crow up really soon.

    Thanks, anne.

    Beth

  13. I like the bee buttons. They do have something very robotic about them… Mebbe you need to institute some martial sock law, put them in timeout, threaten to flog, er, frog them…

  14. Love the bees – I think they’re kind of Art Deco – they remind me of the robot lady from ‘Metropolis’.

  15. Ahh, rebellious socks. Been the victim of those myself. (It has nothing to do with the knitter, right? It’s the recalcitrant socks!)

    I’ll also be curious to see how your pins work out. I can see using them for bulkier weight shawls, but will they pull and tear on lace? If so, do I perhaps catch the whiff of a Faroese lace shawl coming in the future?

  16. What great bees! That brooch is amazing, and the other styles are also quite cool.

    Ooooo on the sock – I had to look at it for a while before I noticed. Not totally sure I wouldn’t just have finished and said two different styles were ok 🙂

  17. Well, now, you’ve created quite a buzz! I love thw bees! I’m so glad you bought them. They’re perfect for you!

  18. that ragg sock….funny how they all gang up on you at once. that bee brooch is amazing! i would have expected something cutsy also, but it’s very contemporary and slick!

  19. The bees remind me of art-deco style. I can’t wait to look into this company myself. Beautiful pieces of art work to accent knitting.

  20. Wow, what great buttons (and pins!) They’re almost art deco (and heh, I see everyone else has already made the same observation) but just a little… I don’t know… severe, maybe. What you said about bee-robots makes sense.

    Sorry about the sock. 🙁 I missed the original debate about heel flaps, but I hope you got a really good suggestion or two.

  21. Oh those sneaky bad sockses (because you know the first one was laughing to itself all along)! And using puns against you?!? How horrible! (although the pun itself is quite good)

    I think Dina has it right about the bees – very “Metropolis”-like. My first thought was that they reminded me of something off a 50s sci-fi book jacket.

  22. Oh DEAR….what a bummer so early in the morning….but those bees had to have cheered you up some. They are fabulous!

  23. Oh….and the bees remind me very much of the mission folk art stuff done during the depression. Very cool…

  24. I hate it when socks so openly mock their maker. Cheeky footwear!

    Love the post-modern apiarian closures too. Where can I get some bees please?

  25. I’ve got perl grey bookmarked, too. Somewhere, possibly on the computer at work because it sure isn’t *here*. I found their website a week or two ago [maybe you referenced it?] and love all the cool stuff. I seem to remember lots of sheep thrills.

  26. When at first glance I didn’t see any sort of sock trauma going on, and then you put the finished sock side by side with the one in progress I let out a big ooohhh in just the right spot. What a bummer. At least you looked at it positively, and the bee accessories are really great. I can’t wait to see the shawl you’re dreaming up to go with them.

  27. Bummer about the socks not cooperating, it’s very frustrating when that happens.

    And bee robots is a perfect assessment. I’ve been searching for a pin to go with my Mom’s garden shawl in progress, and that might be the perfect one. Thanks for the find!

  28. Just wanted to let you know that I’m back up and blogging at 365 Days of Shawls! (Finally!)

    I love the bees – I used to raise bees and sometimes I did feel they were a little robotic! I’m going to have to have a few to scatter over a sweater.

  29. ohh, those bee pins are such fun. It’s amazing to me that people knit shawls and give them away saying they are not shawl people. i love shawls and since I started knitting shawls (last summer), I do like mine and like to wear them a lot. I’m glad to hear that you are starting to wear yours. It’s crazy when those socks start acting up, whip ’em into shape.

Comments are closed.