Topic: Posts

Ok, it’s been a quiet weekend, as I half predicted. I did get some writing done and other work done, but nothing is quite ready for prime time yet. I fear that I’ll be done with six entries all at the same time tomorrow afternoon, and that wouldn’t do at all. And I haven’t posted a general “how’s the tycho doing” report in a while, and I haven’t been writing these things here much.

I know that the post of the beginning of the latvian dreaming sweater might have happened a little fast, so I’m going have a series of quick posts that explain my reasoning here. Also, if you’re interested in doing a cardigan, I’ll cover that as well.

So here goes on the report, as much for archival purposes as anything

My grandmother had her right knee replaced a couple weeks ago (those of you who were playing along at home will remember that she broke a knee cap in January; that was the left one, which seems to be quite alright at the moment). My father and I--despite cold symptoms (his) one working voice (mine) and minimal preparation (ours)--trekked across the state to visit her in rehab. Turns out she’s doing great, but it was a really good thing that we were able to visit and help her out a little.

Then this weekend my entire family has to go to a wedding. Feh. I hate weddings, a lot. Though the couple in question lives locally, they’ve decided to have their party half way across the state. And we live in the midwest, so that’s a schlep. And since my father is going to be the best man (ugg) we can’t exactly swoop in for the ceremony grab a nosh at the reception and swoop out. Two nights we have to be there. Have I mentioned that while I think I live in a pretty nifty little city, the rest of the state is… somewhat less interesting. Mom and I are brining our spinning wheels, and are going to sit around in some yarn fiber store and cuss. If I post some rant against weddings and marriage, don’t take it personally.

On Thursday morning it’s May day, which means I have to get up at the crack of dawn, put on my morris dancing gear and dance the sun up. If the sun doesn’t rise, blame me, in other words. If you’re in St. Louis, email me for directions!

Then, from the wedding I’m going back to stay with my grandmother so I can help ease the transition back from rehab. That’s another week, though I hope that I’ll be able to get settled this time.

I have to rush back here on that friday, because I think I have to work and teach a knitting class that weekend. And then. As if that weren’t enough, I start my summer job that Monday. Which means I have a lot of things to take care of before that happens. The job is cool, it’s a shame that it isn’t more long term. My main focus of this summer--other than writing another novella and knitting 3 sweaters--is going to be finding a job for the fall and beyond. No pressure.

That’s the state of the tycho. I think I need another cup of tea.

Onward and Upward!

So I’ve been talking about this project for a few days, and thinking about something like it for much longer. And I think, enough fooling around, I might as well post the “getting started” entry. You need not get started this instance (but you should! peer pressure!), but just in case you were ready for it, here it is. A proper introduction and the first little chunk of the pattern…

I want to knit a sweater with you. It’s a big project, probably best suited to winter knitting, but I’ve never let something as predictable as the weather get in my way for such things. I might need a fan for knitting the sleeves and the end of the body as summer approaches, but I happen to have one or two around for that possibility.

This sweater is like many of my others, two color, stranded all the way across, simple vertical lines, and I’m thinking a simple drop shouldered look. Maybe shoulder straps. I’ll decide later.

I know that I’ve already started, don’t feel behind! feel glad that I’m going to be ahead of you, I’m here to make your mistakes for you. I’ll be posting regularly about my progress and my design decisions, and when I’m done maybe we’ll make a “real” pattern of it.

The charts I’ve chosen and modified (a bit) are from Joyce Williams' Latvian Dreams: Knitting from Weaving Charts. (2000; Schoolhouse Press); which is an amazing book that I highly recommend. Amazing stuff. I’ve chosen a few of these charts that are small enough to memorize and arranged them so that there’s a vertical line. They all even repeat every 16 rounds. Better yet, because they’re weaving charts, the top half (rows ~10-16) are the same as the bottom half (rows ~2-8), which makes it even easier to memorize.

Here’s the download link for the pattern materials packet. And please do note that there’s a pattern on ravelry.

Coming up below the fold: a description of what’s going on at the beginning of the sweater (sizing, yarn choice, casting on) for those of you who want to get started right away… Tallk of options like hemmed edges and cardigans come later, particularly if there’s interest.

I’m designing this sweater to knit at about 9.5 stitches per inch. I’m small, so this probably works to your benefit. You can use a heavier yarn and a larger gauge and we’ll both be able to use the same numbers/proportions because of this. The key number of stitches is 340 344, that’s the number of stitches around the body. Divide this number by your gauge to get the size of your garment, and adjust your gauge as need be. If this puts you at a gauge that you’re uncomfortable with, I’m including the excel file that I used to design this with the chart, and that should help you out if you need to add or subtract some stitches. If you ask, and I have time, I’ll probably be willing to help you resize the charts a bit.

That brings us to yarn choice. You probably have yarn in your stash that’s suitable for this kind of project. Those ball of Kauni yarn that you thought was a good idea? That little stash of black and grey shetland yarn? Something like that. We’re going for fingering weight, likely, unless you need something thicker either for temperature or for size reasons. I’m partial to shetland yarn, as it’s sturdy, steeks well (they’re coming, don’t worry) and never really pill. Good qualities in a yarn. I’m however, using a weaving yarn, “Domy Heather” from Old Mill Yarns, which accounts at least partially for the gauge. I’ve chosen “Lava” (black) and Slate (Dark Gray Blue). I’m using a 3mm needle. You’ll need two yarns that contrast. I prefer to do stranded work in only two colors, as it accents the vertical lines and makes the design more apparent. You might not like these features and feel more comfortable introducing more colors. Which is totally fine with me, just don’t ask me for advice on this one.

When in doubt go with natural and heathered colors. I included some more information about the yarn choices.

So the instructions, proper:

Cast on 320 stitches using the darker color. Preferably using the Elastic Long tail or german twisted method of casting on. You could use a smaller needle for the ribbing, my smaller needle was busy in another project, so I didn’t.

Knit at least 2 inches, but not more than 3 inches of two color “corrugated ribbing.” Knit 2 stitches with the (lighter) contrasting color, Purl 2 stitches with the (darker; the one you cast on with) main color. Repeat. Endlessly.

If you want to get into the pattern immediately, cast on provisionally in the darker color, and begin knitting from the chart. You could even cast on 344 stitches “for real” and use Meg Swansen’s “Purl When you can/want to” method covered in her books.

I’ll be back in a few days with what happens next. When I get there.

I look forward to knitting this with you.

I was listening to FLOSS Weekly this week as I was running about, and there was a bit in one of the episodes about leadership and organization of open source projects.

Not being much of a programer at all--but being very interested in, for lack of a better term, the anthropology¹ of open source projects--this sparked a larger interest. Lets back up for a moment.

Some of the larger (and apparently smaller ones as well?) open source projects like Perl, Python, and the Linux Kernel are lead by sort of “benevolent dictator,” types who guide development, make decisions about release dates, provide vision, and are generally responsible for some major part of the code.² These are typically the people that started the project, though I think there are some second/next generation leaders of projects, (Matt Mullenweg of WordPress³ for one.)

And this is interesting, because we generally think of open source as being this incredibly democratic space where users and developers can all sit on the same level and say “this is what I think,” and have their voices heard.⁴ Right? I mean isn’t being able to shape the direction and tools of your (technological) experience, sort of what democracy (in this sphere) is about?

Of course it is. Democracy isn’t about voting and contentious power struggles with small margins, democracy is about a group of people making it possible for different perspective to be heard. So to put it in parliamentary terms: it’s the debate/discussion, not the vote that matters.

And here you thought I was going to post something about the current american political debacle? Pass. Not because I don’t have opinions (I do,) or because it’s not fascinating (it is,) but because there’s absolutely nothing to say. That kind of “democracy,” isn’t by this definition particularly democratic and doesn’t have as much impact on the way we live our lives as the other kinds of “micro-political” democracies that we are constantly participating in. Many kinds of work environments are democratic in this way, after a fashion, and many other small groups, like dancing, craft-related, not for profits, grassroots organizations, have strong (and potentially static) leadership and vibrant discussion, which nets a very democratic result.

I think this is a continuation of some of my earlier postings on open source, but I think will also be part of a new (irregular) series of posts on leadership, because there’s so much to talk about and so little room (and time.)

I think the major ideas that are running through my head are:

• the difference between power and leadership
• how democracies scale up and scale down to different group sizes.
• the symbols associated with democracy, and the power of those symbols (maybe this could develop into a post for the theory blog, nu?)

I really enjoy thinking (and talking!) about these sorts of political notions, but I’m always disappointed by the shape that most “political discussions” take. So here’s my attempt to take back the night and start a more frank (and productive discussion.) What’s leadership to you, and what kinds of successes and failures do you all see in your own microdemocraies?⁵

So, anyway, think about that, I look forward to hearing from you, and there’ll be more knitting content soon; I promise.

So I’m off in a few to go visit with my grandmother who has recent had a knee replacement. (Indeed this means that the blog has been down one reader for a few weeks--rehab centers not having wifi and all--and likely will for another week and some change.) While there is high speed internet (how do you think said grandmother reads the blog,) my posting time might be a little bit sparse.¹

My goal is to post the first bread crumb of the latvian dreaming tonight.

I did want to share a couple of links that I’ve been collecting over the past few days and weeks.

• sockpr0n’s schacht matchless
• This blog posting has some useful info on “hybrid” double drive setup, where you can do double drive with two separate bands rather than one band. This means you can have a finer degree of control over tension like you would with a break band, except with the evenness of double drive. Rock. On.
• y knit - I started listening to this as I was spinning with my mother this morning before getting ready to go. It’s great. Perfect length, great guys (hi mike!), nice insight. I’m generally pretty nonplussed towards the Stitch and Bitch stuff (the “consumer feminism” wigs me out, as does the hipster stuff.) but hearing Debbie Stoller talk makes me like her more, even if the aura isn’t something I"m into. I suspect I’m the last person to be getting into this (I’m generally 3 months behind on getting into new podcasts, at least), but if you’re not listening to this one, work on it.
• Tea Gadget - I got an email from the marketing department of this company, that makes this portable loose leaf tea brewing thing. I think the website might be an interesting place to start a semiotic study of advertising, and the contraption looks interesting. I’m not sure if it’s right for me, but you might be different. I think getting this email either means that I’ve arrived, or I’m officially passed my prime.

Anyway. Looks like that’s all the news that’s fit to sing.

Brownie points to the first person to figure that one out. That isn’t family. ;)

Onward and Upward!

Ok, so I realized that I wasn’t incredibly clear in my first post. I’ve since written a “here’s what you have to do to get started post, but I think that in my eagerness to get started (and for you to get started,) there’s some prep work that needs to be taken care before folks can start. So I might as well get that out of the way before I dive in.

And besides you all need time to get things in order.

Other than the beginning cast on directions, I think I’ll post a little bit here and there about other things that might be important to touch upon. Like things to consider for making a cardigan version, or tips for resizing, stuff about the design process, fitting, and so forth. I want to pace the project out so that I don’t overload you all with information that you won’t need for many weeks, but also, as there are large stretches of time when the main direction will be “knit on in pattern,” for a long time, I want to make sure there’s stuff to post. Remembering of course that my writing of the pattern depends at least a little on my knitting speed.

If there’s a question or issue you want me to cover be in touch about that and I’ll do my best to fit it in.

Here are some answers to the questions and issues that have come up (below the fold):

1. There are a lot of yarn options that will work, and I encourage you to resort to your stash if possible. There’s more on this coming, but just some options.
   • Harrisville Designs Shetland (2/8) (it’s 17 dollars--discountable--a cone at webs, though there are other vendors)
   • Domy Heather -this is what I’m using. It’s smaller gauge than most other yarns suitable for this project (sort of in the “light fingering weight” category) so that will effect sizing, but it’s a great softer, but still hearty wool.
   • Jamieson’s Spindrift and Jameison’s and Smith Jumper Weight. Good two ply yarn, great for this kind of garment. More colors than HD, and the sheep grew up on Scottish soil, if that matters to you. (Jamieson’s also makes a 3ply DK weight yarn that’s great if you want something a little thicker.)
   • A user on ravelry suggested Ruama finullgarn, which is a sturdy fingering-ish weight yarn that looks like it would be great for this kind of sweater. Since this is a Latvian pattern, I think the scandinavian/baltic yarns fit a bit better than the shetland yarns I’m prone to. But it’s another good option. She also carries some other scandinavian yarns of various weights which might work well for you
2. I ballpark-ed 2800ish yards, as a yarn requirement, but really weight is a more effective measurement. Figure how much by weight you think a light-medium weight sweater should weigh (experiment with a scale), and calculate backwards from here. A little bit more than half of this weight should be the background color (darker) and a little bit less than half should be foreground. I usually buy way more than I need, even though dye lot is usually not a huge issue with such large-run yarns, and in color work it’s even less noticeable.
3. The key number is 344, which you should divide by your gauge to get the expected size. If you can modify your gauge at all, and really do need to resize, figure out by how many stitches. If you think you can do this adjustment to the pattern then have fun, if you need help, contact me sooner rather than later.
4. There is no start date. You can start whenever you want.
5. I mentioned this is going to be a sweater, right? Pullover too. You can make it into a cardigan, but we’ll get into that later.
6. My sweater will use two colors. I’m color blind, and very much a boy in terms of dress, so I like the simple/plain (drab? I’ll accept that.) If you want to do a more complex shading, please feel free, and please do share it with the rest of us, but it’s not something I feel able to design much less support (write about).
7. Tell your friends and share the love. For real it means a lot to me!
8. Check the comment threads, they’re generally informative.
9. Be in touch with me about when you start and about your progress, as much as for my own edification as anything, but I’d love to be able to post a shout out to you all, and keep track of your progress and experiences with the rest of the project materials. I’m an archivist like that.

Thanks for your support and I look forward to knitting with you!

So, it is no surprise to those that know me to hear this admission: “I’m a tea nut.” I mean, I sure drink a lot of tea, and I spend a lot of time thinking about tea consumption and the perfect cup of tea. I also think that by recognizing addictive tendencies in my personality and directing them toward productive things, I’m sort of preempting a lot of other problems down the road.

But I should point out that I’m not a very foo fooy kind of tea drinker. I don’t like teas that have interesting flavors, or colors, I will never rinse tea leaves before I brew tea with them, I will never contemplate the peak number of brewings that for the best taste. I so don’t fit in with the tea blogger crowd. Sigh.

On the other hand, I was so fixed on a particular brand of tea during college that I always bought a dozen boxes (of 20 tea bags) back and forth, because no stores in the part of wisconsin that I was in carried this particular brand.

People on campus--that I didn’t know--could connect me and the labels on the tea bags if left one on a table or counter. I also had a huge 54 ounce “bubba keg” that I could make tea in, so that I could make it through 2 hour classes without running out, as I had gotten prone to doing with my two 16 ounce tea mugs.

Which brings me to the next part of this entry…

Like any addiction to tools and objects that I associate with tea drinking are things that I focus on getting just right. After all the ritual is important. A nice, sturdy teapot that I got at the rummage sale at a church where some high school friends’ mother is the rector. A large 16+ounce handmade tea mug that a former student got my dad (sorry!). Teal Tumbler mugs for traveling that I’ve gotten at Barnes and Nobel, that are so associated with me that a professor once worked the color of my mug into a lecture.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m in the process of trying to use more loose tea (economy, variety, quality, snobbery, environmental concerns) and fewer tea bags. So I got this Teavana tea brewer, which is a thing of pure genius. I also--and I think I mentioned this on the blog before, but I was a bit scattered at that point--a french press for a nalgene bottle.

My first attempt at the nalgene tea press thing, was an utter failure, but the second try yielded amazing results. It was easy to use, it cleaned up well. There was no grit, or escape leaves, it was perfect. I also can’t drink it all before it goes cold, which is quite alright with me, on principal. I think my plan will be to make a pot of tea either with the Teavana contraption or with tea bags (depending on supply) and then fill the nalgene after I’m done with my morning cup. If I have the tea press thing in my book bag and a container of leaves, I can make a second bottle later in the day if I run out with the press, and then wash it out at home. I think washing it out on the road would be tough, but I think the chance that I’d be gone for that long is unlikely. It’s brilliance.

My other tea-accessory feat of late, is from the container store: They sell these nifty air tight glass jars in small and medium sizes, which is great for storing tea in the house. they also have plastic ones which are great for on the go. I’m a fan. Also a lot of the imported tea bags that I’ve been drinking more recently, also aren’t individually packed so once you open the box you need something like this anyway (which decreases the benefit of the tea bag in my view.) Anyway, that store is amazing. And I like being able to choose from a selection rather than feel pressured into drinking a particular kind because that’s what’s open.

Maybe I think about these things too much. In any case, I have a couple of varieties that I’ve tried but haven’t had much of a chance to write about yet. That’s coming soon, but I didn’t want to let the knitting content consume the site whole. There’ll be more of that as well. In the mean time…

Onward and Upward!

(ps. It’s great to get all the comments and emails from you, and I’m sorry that I’m so bad about commenting on your blogs, I really do read them. Don’t stop!)

Hey folks,

Last night I despite not having finished my previous sweater (the hem, it pains me) I sat down and figured out the design for my next sweater.

Anyway. I’ve wanted to host a knit-a-long for a long time, and I figure there’s no time like the present right?

So assuming you’re up for it, I’ll get some files together later today/tomorrow with the charts and we can get started.

You’ll need about 1200 yards/12oz - ish each of two (contrasting) colors of jumper-weight (fingering) yarn, with full disclosure that prediction is rough.

Because while I’ve knit many sweaters like this, I’ve never made this sweater yet. So it’ll be an adventure for you. I have an inch done, so I should be a little bit ahead of you, intrepidly figuring out any of the errors in the pattern before you get there. It’s sort of like the fearless fair isle project that Wendy did several years ago, only more, well, tychoish.

Anybody game? Tell your friends and stay tuned!

Onward and Upward!

So it seems, that there might be a little interest in this knit along.

I’m going to post the first little bit of the pattern/project description in a little while. In the mean time, I have a few links to share with you.

1. I created a pattern on ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/latvian-dreaming. Add it to your queue, “cast on” for the project. Use it for reference. If you’re not on ravelry, I highly recommend joining. 2. Also on ravelry, I made a “tychoish knitting” group. Even if you don’t want to do this project, I’m sure there’ll be other things that this group will get used for. Here’s the url: http://www.ravelry.com/groups/tychoish-knitting. 3. I’ve posted a zip file with the first version of the resource files. This includes the excel file, a couple of PDFs and text and HTML versions of a rough Readme file. It’s located on Lulu and you can get to it here: http://www.lulu.com/content/2470929.

Ok, that’s all for now. I want to find something non-knitting related, to try and keep the site at least a little balanced. Maybe a loosing cause? I sense a post about tea coming in the near future.

At various points in this graduate school application season I think I was able to be mildly productive on other projects, but the last few weeks have been difficult, to say the least.

And then there weren’t so many unknown variable outside of my control. Actually this happened rather immediately. You can’t plan the unknown, really, so in a lot of ways this is a better problem to have, but it’s not without challenges.

One thing that I’ve realized is that after being mildly productive but not otherwise particularly busy for what seemed like years, but was probably only about 6 weeks, I’m dog tired.

Part of this is that I slept really poorly Sunday night and it’s taking a while to whack my sleep schedule back into shape. Part of the problem is that with the added emotional stress and the new anxiety of having to figure out what I’m going to do with my life after august, I’ve been trying to limit my caffeine intake so that the stim don’t provoke something my body/mind can’t deal with, and make things worse.¹

The other ting, is that the six weeks or so of anxiety has left me tired, which is counter intuitive, because I feel like I should be able to get up and get going in the right direction, but it’s apparently harder than that. And it’s only been two days at this point, so some adjustment is necessary. And also, I think because I’ve been so largely unproductive recently, all of the “structures of productivity,” (list making, time budgeting aren’t as immediately habitual as it used to be.) But I think realizing this will make it easier to attend to these things in the future.

Also, and this is really minor, but my knitting projects at the moment are very annoying. The hem facing from hell, and the sweater that I haven’t designed yet. Soon this will sort itself out and I’ll be back to knitting happy things. Spinning is slowing as well, but I did some more of it today, and that’s good.

On the upside I’m very on top of my email correspondence.

What’s on the schedule from here? I start the full time summer job in a few weeks, but I have big family obligations for the next couple of weekends, so I think my time is pretty well accounted for. In the mean time I need to get the productivity structures built up, so that I’m better at using time to get knitting and writing done once my time is more crunched.

The truth is, though, that I often work better when time is crunched, so that’s not a bad thing. I’m also sending out emails about doing web contract webdesign and other technical work, as I’m slowly in search of a job/career/reliable income source for post-August. I got a rather immediate callback. The pay is a bit sucky (but not bad), and if I can do it remotely (shouldn’t be an issue) it would be more than ok.

Anyway, enough blathering. Thanks for reading, and I’ll be in touch…

Onward and Upward!

I didn’t sleep well, but I used the extra little awakeness to write emails, which I’ve been avoiding, but need to be written. I’m coping, and I’m all sorts of cranky--some of which comes out in this entry--but these things pass as well. I’m doing well enough to avoid laundry, so that’s a good sign.

Anyway, so I’ve been browsing about on ravelry and live journal recently for lack of other procrastinating to do (like the past week or so) and I’ve begun to develop a new “type” of internet citizen. A type particularly prevalent on LJ and the rav':

*The Overwhelmingly Creative:*

These are, generally older (I’ve never seen an overwhelmingly creativity person under 35, I think younger people can blame most of these characteristics on too much neural plasticity, or something), folks who dabble in a lot of creative endeavors, but don’t have a lot of output. They talk about how creative and/or artistic they are in their profiles or other “about me,” spaces, but the cursory glimpse of their journals/portfolio doesn’t reveal a particularly unusual amount (or kind) of production. They often discuss their aptitude or success at a wide range of wildly dissimilar crafts/activities (eg. metalsmithing, painting, tai chi, felting, dog grooming, and collage). Again, allow me to stress the overprotection, the dabbling, and the poor/unrealistic self concept.

And generally I could care less. I think Marilyn, bless her heart (heh), would call these folks “knitdweebs,” and thats part of the issue, but I think there’s more.

So this “type” fabrication is mostly in jest, but it has brought up a number of more serious concerns:

• Craft, largely because of it’s association with women, is devalued, and crafters as a result. Also the latest commercial revival hasn’t helped: Stitch and Bitch, and the Discovery Channel daytime programing all reinscribe craft on women-ness and while this is sells product, recruits new knitters, and is empowering and feels great, I’m not sure that it’s the best thing to elevate the craft.
• More knitter’s doesn’t equal more power/respect for the craft of knitting. Arguably, a smaller proportion of the population knits today than did 40 or 80 years ago, so I don’t think making knitting “bigger” is the same as getting power/respect. Not that it’s a bad thing that new people knit and that the craft grows, but that if you want to talk about changing the craft in any meaningful way, you have to do more.
• I do a lot of things that others consider to be creative: I write, I knit and spin, I dance, etc. People sometimes, particularly in knitting contexts, ask if I’m (was, trying to be) in graduate school for art, right after they’re awed by the creativity of my sweaters, or something. Which always strikes me as weird. I mean, I love the compliment, but I think is misguided. Creativity is a situational response to constraint, not some characteralogical feature. I do all of the “creative” things I do because I enjoy the technical experience and exercise of knitting and spinning and dancing (I write because I have something that I want to say.)

Creativity happens when I (or anyone) has to figure out how to convey a series of fictional events in a coherant manner, or when you have to figure out how to fit a sweater over a shoulder without puckering or stretching and still maintaining the pattern. Hell, creativity is figuring out how to efficiently get from South St. Louis City to an inner suburb in the north/west county (Creve Coeur) allowing for the fact that the city has no really good North-South roads, and the major East-West artery closed for most of the next decade for construction. We all do this, the same as anyone else. Our choices about what we spend our time doing, is largely unrelated as far as I’m concerned.

I wonder and worry that there might be trouble in these thoughts notions. That my dismissal of creativity might be connected to the fact that I participate in largely feminized crafts (spinning, knitting), or otherwise undervalued genres (folk/morris dance, science fiction.) ‘Cold be. I hope not, but the thought has crossed my mind.

Thoughts?

Onward and Upward!