Bad Luck in Threes at the Opera

On Sunday, October 8, I fell and sprained my foot pretty badly during the first intermission. Before the opera started that Sunday, a violinist fell and broke her foot in the parking lot. And on Saturday night, another violinist fell down some stairs and got pretty bruised up. The opera on stage was Verdi’s MacBeth. If you want to see how full of bad luck this opera is, watch the horror movie Opera (but only if you have a strong stomach). The music is truly beautiful.

Bass on a Plane

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In the summer of 1975, my bass and I had to go to North Carolina for Eastern Music Festival. We flew on Eastern Airlines. My parents bought a half-price ticket for the bass so that it could sit in a seat.

Before the kids and the old people and the infirm got their chance to get on, the Eastern Airlines gate guy took my bass on the airplane. He spent 20 minutes trying to get the bass in a seat. Finally he gave up. My bass ended up standing in a corner of the pilot’s cabin. And it had a fun ride. The plane was late. A few weeks later my parents received a refund for the half price ticket.

The experience was so pleasant that I would recommend flying Eastern Airlines whenever you need to transport a bass on a plane. But for the last 20 years, basses have been required to ride in the luggage compartment (in a hard case). And Eastern went out of business in 1991. Coincidence?

Lily Chin socks

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This is a pair of socks I made in July 2005, mostly on a trip to Ohio. The pattern is from Lily Chin’s Knit and Crochet With Beads. The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shephard’s Sock, which is some of the softest sock yarn around. They provided comfort during our brutal winter.  Don’t laugh, we have tile floors…

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My knitting history

My mom and the next door neighbor collaborated in taking Ellen and me to all sorts of classes — piano in 3rd grade, dance (I was enthusiastic but uncoordinated), and knit and crochet lessons at a local yarn shop.  It was just the two of us at a table in the shop with the owner.  The shop is long gone.

All I remember making from those lessons was a pair of crocheted slippers.  I crocheted a lot of stuff over the years, but didn’t knit much.

I made a fuzzy white sweater with lace in the yoke in the early 80s that was not very fashionable and actually fit despite my avoidance of gauge, and there is an unfinished sweater in the closet that is a lace sampler made from fuzzy Olefin (!?!).  I’ll put a picture of it up sometime, under the “what was I thinking?” category.

When I was pregnant with my first child over 20 years ago, I made some intarsia blocks for a blanket that was never finished.  (These are also in the closet…)  Then nothing until I discovered beaded knitting in the late 90’s and made about 30 beaded amulet bags with 0000 needles and size 8 perl cotton.

The next “real” knitting I did was from the Fall 2001 issue of Interweave Knits.  I made Mariloise’s Scarf by Myrna A. Stahman (if you search for Myrna you’ll find lots of beautiful lace patterns) on p. 57 and used Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace because Myrna said to…  It was a Christmas present for my mom.

In October and November of 2001 I made some washcloths and (back to lace) some soap sacks.  Coming up:  the My Fair Lady shawl and the sudden but inevitable knit addiction.

6Sox Scale Skin Progress

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I’m making progress on the current socks.  I love how the pattern looks, but am having trouble knitting it — I keep dropping stitches while pulling the yo over.  So I’ve decided to knit plain on the instep – my MIL calls it “stocking stitch” and that’s how I’ve come to think of it!

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Another lace scarf finished

Green Scarf

I finished knitting this scarf several months ago, but just blocked it last week. Since then, I’ve been looking for the pattern I used, and haven’t found it yet! I was sure it was from Vogue Knitting, but maybe it’s from Interweave. In my search I discovered that some magazines are pretty weird about their table of contents. For instance “All Tied Up” without a description is not helpful! I started this on a plane trip to Ohio in July 2005. Not wanting to run out of things to do on my 2-week trip, I took this, another scarf to start, a pair of socks in progress, and extra sock yarn and needles in case I finished everything and needed a new project… Does everybody else do this or am I just weird? Here’s a picture of the whole thing

Green Scarf

And here’s a close-up

Green Scarf

The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace, wonderfully soft 50/50 wool/silk. I made this from leftovers from the shawl I made during My Fair Lady, which is a story for another day. A warning, though: the yarn isn’t colorfast. This time I soaked it in white vinegar and water before soaking it in Eucalan, and the Eucalan soak still turned green.

Playing in Sun City & groups go out of business

I just wanted to invite you all to a concert I’m playing in next Sunday at the West Valley Art Museum. I played a solo program there several years ago. It’s a great little museum. In the spring of 2006, 3 groups that I worked for went out of business:

  • The Mt. Shasta (California) Concert Association. I went up in November to play a solo performance on their concert series. They were a regional organization that put on a few concerts a year and brought the artists to local schools. They ran out of money and volunteers.
  • The West Valley Symphony, which was in business for at least 25 years. When I first moved here in 1989 it was a volunteer community orchestra that brought in ringers to help out. (I was a ringer.) For the past several years everybody got paid, and it was growing in to a pretty good orchestra. They lost their venue, the Sun Dome, a year or two ago and that was the breaking point.
  • Scottsdale Community College Summer Music Camp, which had been around since the late 70’s. I worked there as bass instructor for maybe 15 years. It was the most wonderful 3-week day camp, where I met the most amazing kids. We made those kids (4th to 9th grade) play their instruments for 2-3 hours a day, worked them half to death, but they loved every minute of it. I believe the rising costs of liability insurance and a lack of interest from the new college administration caused the demise of this awesome experience for young musicians.

I guess I got off on a tangent there… It gets kind of discouraging when stuff like this happens, and I feel guilty that I haven’t been a better arts advocate. It hurts my wallet, but in the end it hurts all of us when we have fewer places to listen or to participate in the arts.

Anyways, this Sinfonietta on the 20th is going to be directed by the West Valley Symphony conductor and is made up of string players from WVS. So maybe there’s hope for the northwest valley! Thanks for listening to my little rant.

How I Cast On 2 Socks on 1 Circular (Cuff Down)

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During my first pair of socks, I decided that it would be best to knit two socks at the same time. While there are many resources on the web and in books on how to cast on using a long circular needle, I always got confused over where I was and devised this method. It might take a few more steps, but it’s easier for me to keep track of. And I apologize in advance for the poor picture quality. Directions are for right-handed peoples… Needles and accesories:

  • 1 Addi Turbo 40″ circular in the appropriate size (insert Brenda Dayne’s Addi Turbo sound effect here)
  • 2 double points in the same size
  • a stitch marker

I use the Twisted German Cast On, which I can never remember, so have to look it up every time. I usually look at the hand-drawn pictures in Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts for a reminder. Here is a site with great pictures for the Twisted German Cast On: Knotty Girls (PDF).

1. Using your 2 double points held together, cast on half the stitches, count the stitches, place marker, then cast on the other half, and count these also (can you tell I’m a bit anal retentive?). Here’s how it looks when you’re done with this step:

Here’s information we will use later: There is a “slashy” side:

and a “bumpy” side:

2. Now pull one needle out until you reach the marker, then push it back so it’s sticking out. Make sure all the stitches stay on the other double point. You’ll end up with this:

3. Pull the other needle out in the opposite direction. You can put away the stitch marker but don’t lose it till you’re done with the second sock. The result: (As you can see, it naturally folds in half. This picture shows all the slashes on the inside, and all the bumps on the outside.)

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4. Slip stitches to the circular as if to purl. I always start with the half without the long tail:

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Count as you go, just to be sure…

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You’ll end up with half the stitches on the double point, and half on the circular:

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5. Using the other end of the circular, slip the other half of the stitches. You’ll end up with this (the circulars just want to flop around):

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6. Now for the fiddly part. There are several ways to connect the circle but I think this looks best. Turn the circular so the tips are pointed to the right. Make sure your stitches are folded in half with with the bumpy side on the inside. (You should have your long tail on the back needle.) Using one of your double points, slip the first stitch on the back needle to the front needle:

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7. That was easy! Now think of this next in 2 parts: a) On the front needle, and still using one of those pesky double points, slip what used to be the last stitch over the stitch you just put there, and keep it on the double point:

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b) Bring that stitch to the back needle and let go. All finished:

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8. Repeat all for the second sock. When it comes time to slip it on to the circular, there are a few considerations.

  • Because the 40″ needle is generous, you can move the first sock down the cable so it doesn’t get in your way. Just be sure the two halves don’t get connected.
  • It’s kind of hard to tell which end of your cast-on is on which needle. (Which is good, you don’t want it to be obvious when you’re finished.) So:
  • Pull the tail. One stitch will move. This is the end of the circular that you’ll use for Step 4 above.

And then you’re ready to knit knit knit

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If you have any questions, please leave a comment. If my photos are not clear, I can try it again on my next pair of socks when my husband’s home to help!

Scarf finished

Gray Scarf

The scarf that I ripped out last week is totally finished, hooray. This is really the first thing I’ve “designed” myself. I got the lace pattern (#232) fromThe New Knitting Stitch Library by Lesley Stanfield. I added 5 stockinette stitches, a decrease, a yarn-over, and 2 garter stitches on each end of the prefab lace design.

While I was threading the wires through the edges, the two males here forced (!) me to watch “Who Wants to be a Super Hero?” on the SciFi channel. I’m not saying I would ever watch it again, but it made me laugh. And finished, ready to wear.

Look, hardly any leftovers! It is Rowan kidsilk night: kid mohair, silk, and polyester and nylon for the shiny stuff (which is very subtle). As you can see, it’s very fine. This is gorgeous yarn, I just loved it.

And one final picture. I never saw this mistake till I was taking the picture. Oh, horrors! Well, it’s too late now, and proves that it wasn’t made in a sweat shop somewhere… oh, wait, this is Arizona…