Knitting Iris

Nether garment tights from waaaaaay back when.

Yup.  Seriously. Handknit tights.  Knit circa the winter of 1993-94.  I must have been crazy.

Yarn is 4-ply machine washable wool blend sock yarn, likely purchased at Weaving Works.

Started in Seattle, I'm guessing, and then continued on the road while traveling for a couple of months during March and April 1994, from Seattle to Missoula to Boulder to St. Louis to Dallas/Ft Worth to Tempe to San Diego, taking a break from them during a week or two backpacking and camping halfway down Baja, and then again from San Deigo to Tempe to Durango.  I do remember knitting the second leg during the spring of 1994 while living out of a Subaru wagon and a tiny 2-person North Face Tadpole tent somewhere up Junction Creek outside of Durango, Colorado, waking up some mornings with new-fallen snow on the ground.

They've seen little actual wear over the years, although I remember wearing them once while job hunting that following fall, with Birkenstock sandals and a shorter pleated skirt.  Got a job making sandwiches at a deli and quit halfway through the first day, the only job ever where I didn't stick it out.

These have been packed away, unworn, most of the time since then, me never quite able to part with them after all the work that went into them.  Still, over the years, the left leg has developed a couple of holes (moths?) and a couple of ends have still never been sewn in.

I remember clearly that I counted and double checked rows meticulously while knitting these to make sure the legs matched, but the right leg turned out distinctly longer and looser and so it quickly sags into an elephant ankle after putting them on.  I can only guess that I must have been more relaxed while knitting that leg causing a much looser gauge?  Also, you can see the "laddering" between the needles down the tops of the feet which I tend not to get so much of now.

Pattern or rather, "pithy directions for tights, children and adults":  Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac, the September chapter, "Nether Garments", still the best knitting book around, IMO, and one of the least expensive at $7.95 today and only $3.99 when I bought my copy waaaay back in in 1991.

It appears that I knit these from the ankle up, k1,p1 ribbing, leaving out the waist ribbing, eyelets, and i-cord tie.  There's a line at the ankle where the stitches jog sideways by half a stitch, where I must have unpicked the cast on edge, put the stitches back on the needles, and added the feet on, knitting them top down from there.

Today I wore these for the first time in years under a pair of cargo pants and was sooooo cozy warm on such a chilly, wet, and windy spring day.  They conveniently sit low enough to not peek out over the top of of today's lower riding pants.

Incredible what a couple of warmer days and one rainy morning can do for the greening up the grasses. 

Back home this evening, sun shining out from under a layer of clouds as it started to set, I cracked open the Knitter's Almanac and came across this from EZ herself:

  "...even the shy housewife likes to slip them on under her slacks to go to the store on exceptionally cold days.  I have been known to pull them on under a housedress, add boots, my warm coat, and woolly cap and mittens, and trot comfortably to the A&P, looking (almost) like everybody else."

Debating what to do with these now that I've rediscovered them:  cut and finish them off above the knees and wear them like a pair of knicker length longies under skirts?  Or, darn the holes and wear them under pants,  patched up holes and elephant ankles notwithstanding?  I'm leaning towards the latter.  They still fit great other than the bagginess at one ankle.  Any thoughts?

Has anybody else knit these?  Oh, wait, here at Ravelry, of course, and this pair on Flickr, so amazing and extraordinary that they almost make me woozy.

And, because I know someone will ask:  they're Keen Calistoga in Rum Raisin (and now they come in a some new colors, Deep Lichen green and Flamingo orange.  Carnelian red are quite nice, too.  Dang.)

Small Town Stuff

This is it, the one day of the year when the streets in town and the parks are packed, and the day is jammed full with events:  a parade, car show, quilt show, flea market, friends-of-the-library book sale, "gold panning", rodeo, church fundraising dinners, and more.

The local fiber guild's float was filled, during the parade, with knitters, spinners, weavers, and even critters:

 

The local volunteer fire department, abiding by the child seat belt laws, of course:

It's loosely based on the idea of the traditional rendezvous (and goes by that name) when the mountain men came in from the hills to trade their furs and other wares at the end of the winter season.  S0 there is also black powder shooting and mountain man competitions, costume contests, dutch oven cooking demonstrations, a gold rush for the kids, and you're bound to see a fair amount of buckskins and wall tents, and uh, bagpipers(?), the best part in my opinion, but it's a crying shame, all those non-handknit kilt hose.

Each year this gets bigger.  When we first moved here the parade was only about 15 minutes or so and now it's a full hour.  What used to essentially be a beer garden in the park is now filled with local vendors, live music, and is an alcohol-free and thus more family friendly event.   Apparently, before we lived here, the parade used to be so short they'd run it down the main street and then back again to make it last longer, and it used to take place in February (brrr!).  Still, you can't know for sure whether the sun will shine or whether there will be snow on the ground, even in the end of April.  This year, thankfully, it was sunshine again.

OK, so maybe big blow-up beer bottles being thrown to children at the parade isn't exactly family-friendly.  E was sooooo proud of his "prize", barely letting it out of his hands until bedtime.  There were, of course, also, the usual balloons and OBSCENE amounts of candy. (Fortunately, E's bag od candy was ruined by a bottle of spilled water, leaving them to share R's bag between the two of them.)   

What child hasn't done this, either after Halloween, a piñata, or a parade?  Is this not innate, human behavior?  You might just call this sorting, counting, trading, and discussing of most and least favorites.   As a homeschooling parent, I like to call it "Math."  : )      

"School" house in the woods.

Aside from the coming and going of snow still, it just hasn't been warm enough for much in the way of signs of spring in the past month.  It's been awfully chilly and dreary lately, and so not very conducive to pictures taking.

So, I thought I'd just throw out some pictures from our every-day schooling, of a more textbook, workbook, or curricular nature.  Even so, I guess it's not really standard schooling in that, right outside the window critters come and go throughout the day, often just a few feet away, birds at the feeder and deer wandering through the yard.  The main floor of our house sits a couple of feet below ground level so the windows are just slightly above grade.  It's a common joke that we essentially live in a deer blind.

I've been thinking about getting a kitten sometime soon, both as a family pet and as a mouser.  I was always more of a cat person, at least as a child.  Only, that would certainly put an end to having bird feeders right outside the window where we can watch them up close.  I rather like having their "company" so close by during the winter months.   Hmmm.  Certainly something to consider.    

Yesterday and Today

Left:  Yesterday.  Right:  Today.

Just realized yesterday, a month late, that I'd forgotten my first-day-of-spring ritual.  Could THIS be why it's still so cold and dreary?   Nah.  Besides, we woke to snow AGAIN this morning which is melted off now, but it's still coming down in short fits and spells.  At least winter-pallid skin looks slightly less so against the white snow.  And thank goodness for butterfly and daisy covered long underwear.

Highways for stretch marks, see how *she's* grown

A quick trip to Spokane with friends this weekend to see Ani live.  Over 10 hours of driving, partly over snowy roads, for a good, small dose of life-beyond-Montana:  live music, yummy Korean food, a gay bar, and drag queens.   

Got me reminiscing back to other "eras" of my life, post-college in Seattle, mid-twenties in Colorado, early-thirties in Montana. 

Also, other times hearing or seeing Ani:

April 1993,  Boulder, Colorado:  C and I were just passing through in our travels, playing hacky sack out in front of a friend of C's house while a tape of her music played on speakers facing out a second story window. That was the first time hearing her sing.

Winter 1994-5,  Boulder, CO:  Living in a basement apartment there, we had the same friend as above over for dinner.  He brought a tape of hers over for us to hear.   

June 1995?  Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Colorado:  8750 foot elevation and snowing in the end of June.   Outside on the mainstage and again before a smaller crowd in a town park, talking and singing about being an independent artist.  C and I were now living in Boulder and, I think, we were at one of those stages where we were deciding whether to be together in the future or not.  Obviously, we opted for the former.

September 2001, Missoula, Montana:  R was 18 months old and had just weaned.  This was my first time away from him overnight...a little unsteady, like a baby's first steps, and a little dizzying.

April 2008, Spokane, Washington:  Now she's a mom, a home birthing one, too, with "highways for stretch marks".  Seeing her perform live still sends a chill up the spine, puts a lump in the throat, and places a smile on the face.

This one is for you, Linda, from the drive home:

No matter how much I tried to ignore it, unfortunately my sore throat and cold worsenened over the weekend.  I was expecting, even up to the very moment of stepping back through the front door, to come home feeling, if not healthy, then on-the-mend and inspired, rejuvenated with that fresh perspective and energy you get from being away however briefly.

Unfortunately, this was not the case.  Oh, well.  It was good while it lasted, anyways, all 28 hours of it.

Sock Blockers

Three vintage sets of sock blockers for $2.99.  I've never used any before now.  Even if I use them only occasionally, they're thrifted, old metal, and knitting & sock related.  That's good enough for me.

I'm thinking they  could be nice, just the way they are, hanging on a wall. 

The Squirrel Sweater

How many clicks of the shutter button

does it take

to capture one good shot of the elusive E playing at being Sasquatch?

A lot more than these. 

The "acorn hat" was purchased by a friend at a local holiday craft fair 5 years ago or so, handknit from acrylic yarn and indestructible.

He requested his "favorite buttons",  leather ones like these that he'd seen in my button jar.  There weren't enough in there, though, so these ones were purchased new.

Unblocked and already covered in bits of lichen and tree bark from climbing trees and bringing firewood into the house:

Yarn: Plymouth Galway Highland Heather #728, unsure how much as this yarn has seen three other attempts at being sweaters for me, frogged, skeined, washed and rewound between each new try.  The second sleeve had to be reknit after knitting it and realizing it was from a darker dye lot.  Brown and off-white yarn are Patons Classic Merino Wool , from stash, too.  I totally swiped the color combo from Michelle's thrifted version of this sweater on her cutie here. 

Pattern: a vintage, thrifted Patons pattern book,"Raglans for 2 to 12 in Canadiana by Beehive".  Unfortunately it's a little on the small side for E so  I doubt it will fit him still in the fall.  I think I knit a size 6 but wish I'd gone up a a size from that.  The body was knit all in one piece and the sleeves were knit in the round.  Decreased the width of the collar by about an inch.  Squirrel's eyes are french knots rather than duplicate stitched.

More from down the road by the creek that day:

Guess who likes to wear red?  After two sweaters for his little brother, he's due a sweater next.

And I'm having a thing for red doors lately.  C's building us a new front door which we're thinking might end up being red.

Splurge.

Please ignore all you may or may not have read in the last post about not wanting or needing "the latest and greatest."  When Camilla's  shoes came back in stock in my size, there was no stopping me.

Pairing them with stripey handknit socks and corduroy knickers was equally irresistable, if only for a day.  Sure, everybody loves those two little mushrooms and Ms. Red-riding-hood.  It was the trees on the instep, though, that were the clincher for me.

It's mud season, of course, which, for a few days, made it difficult to actually put these on and wear them for fear of muddying them up.  It was good enough only to look at them until breaking down two days ago and now they've been on walks down to the creek with the boys and the dogs a couple of times, through mud, rain, and snow.  Shoes are always better a little broken in, right?  Besides, I expect Morran would approve of them getting out for walks and likely Camilla would hope they are well-worn and loved.

C's starting to call me Imelda.  Darn the internet for it's temptations, even such happy ones.

Trading up and packing up.

Bear with for just a few more words about skiing.  Giving our gear one last wash and packing it all up for the season has left me with mixed feelings.  Nobody could have prepared me for how much I was going to fall in love with skiing all over again and how much fun it would be to do together as a family.  I'm going to miss our weekends up on the mountain but it's time to look forward to warmer days ahead.  The last little patch of snow in our yard, above, didn't last long in the warm weather and rain of the past couple of days, and that burst of warm weather this weekend helped ease those feelings of withdrawals.

Sure, it's a spendy and extravagant habit to get back into.  We do it on far more of a budget than many, though, packing along sack lunches and hot cocoa, and I'm always amazed by all the new gear I see out there on the mountain.  As with cars, though, we figure, "Somebody has to buy new so that we can buy old."

Aside from mittens, balaclavas, long underwear, and socks, our gear is by no means new nor full price.  The boys' equipment and ski clothing is almost all second hand, supplied both by us at ski swaps here in Montana and by my parents at ski swaps in Seattle.   C's snowboarding equipment and clothing is all used.  My own mother told me, in no uncertain terms, that I'm one of the least stylish people on the mountain.  A quick low down on my gear:

Skis and bindings: $65 at a ski swap at the beginning of the season.  They're 8 year old alpine skis outfitted with pretty good telemark bindings, although I didn't know that when we bought them. 

Ski poles:  24 years old.  These poles, along with new skis, binding, and boots were bought when I was 14 as there weren't any hand-me-downs available from my brothers or from any of the families we passed ski gear back and forth between, since the kids older than me no longer grew out of their equipment. Really, what could have changed much in ski pole technology over those years?  They're just pointy metal sticks with a handle on one end, for crying out loud.  At least they're not bamboo, like those I had when I was 3, although I'm sure they'd work just fine if they were. 

Gore-tex c0at and fleece pants: purchased 15 years ago at the North Face outlet in Berkley, they only place we stopped at while driving through San Francisco on our move from Big Sur to Seattle.   

Ski pants:  I have 3 second hand pairs, 2 of which are ancient Gore-tex and still 100% waterproof, for a grand total investment of $9!

Helmet and goggles:  brand new but last year's models, sold marked way down at the ski swap.

Lastly, ski boots (pictured above, top left): 15 years old, bought marked down at the end of the season, brand new then, just as plastic telemark boots really starting to come onto the market.  I skied only a handful of times in those following 15 years so, this year,  I still considered them to be almost brand new.  Ha!  I can't tell you how many wide-eyed looks I got and disbelieving comments such as, "You're skiing in leather boots!??" and admonitions such as, "You can't ski in those." and "You really have to get plastic boots."    "Oh yeah?," I thought,"Just watch me."  Boy, did I suddenly feel soooooo old school.

Well, by mid-season I was in excruciating pain in those boots.  See that lovely bump on my left ankle here?  Apparently it's a bone spur that I've only noticed in the past couple of years.  Well, I was having to tighten those "old" boots down so tightly in order to ski that it was putting me in severe pain and, in doing so, was only aggravating the bone spur further. 

Finally, about a month ago, I broke down and demo'd some plastic boots from a local shop, "just to see," you know?  Sure they were great but there was only one problem: I didn't have and wasn't about to dish out $560(!!!!) for a new pair, and all the used ones I'd seen were both in very poor shape and not in my size.  Didn't we used to pay about that much for a car????  Again, I know, old school.

Well, that night back at home, C went online and found a pair in my size on eBay being sold by a ski shop that had demo'd them only a few times.  Brand new, essentially, for less than half price, with only two hours to go on the auction, and zero bids thus far.  Needless to say, those babies were mine!  Three days later they were on our door step.   Nothing EVER gets here in only three days.  It was meant to be.

People kept telling me how much my skiing would improve with new boots, but I was afraid to believe them, wondering,"What if it doesn't?  Maybe this is as good as I'll ever ski."  Obviously, we're not ones to care all that much about having the lastest gear or how well we ski or snowboard or telemark, whichever the case may be.  Ultimately, it's all about getting out there and enjoying ourselves. 

Not being in pain those last few weeks of the season makes them worth every single penny.  Finding myself able to ski better than I had all season, and enjoying skiing in conditions and terrain that would have frustrated me only a couple of weeks earlier, was both a bonus and a delightful surprise.   

O.K, so, maybe there is something to having "the latest and greatest," that is, as long as I don't have to pay full price for it.  Besides, I know that when I'm still skiing in these boots 15 years from now, they'll be calling me "old school" all over again.

See you next season, my pretties!  I already can't wait to unpack you again in December.  (By the way, my mom ended up fronting me birthday money for next September towards the boots.  Thank you, mom!) 

Maybe it'll be new/old poles next year...

 

It's in the air and on the feet.

Aspens budding out.

Sleds, left high and dry by the quickly receding snow, have been serving as "boats" as they "paddle" across the yard.

A month or so ago, a friend of mine gave the boys each a jar with a cocoon she'd found while cleaning up and readying her yard for spring and they've each kept them on top of their dressers in their rooms.  We found E's hatched Saturday afternoon, just minutes before heading to a party/potluck/bonfire at the house of the friend who'd given them the cocoons, so we brought the moth along to her house and E released it there. 

It appears to be an  Antheraea polyphemus moth, a type of silk moth!  And, here is the silk gathered and spun from their cocoons.  There are many more pictures of the moths and the caterpillars here on Flickr.  I didn't get any very good pics of this one as I didn't want to disturb it.  After releasing it, it sat still with it's wings closed up until it flew off, sometime after dark.  It's typically 10 or more degrees warmer at her house than ours so hopefully this moth will find a mate hatching there.

An extraordinary weekend:  70 + degrees, sunshine, bare feet, bubbles and more bubbles, shorts, open windows and doors, the putting away of winter gear, the hanging of the hammocks, cooking and eating outside, cleaning up the yard, the shed, and the mudroom, rediscovering summer things such as the bubbles, soccer balls, baseballs, and the trampoline.  We kept finding ourselves stopping from time to time amidst our chores to just soak in the sunshine and heat.   

This quick change in the weather was what it took to realize that I don't think the boys have any shoes other than snow boots that fit properly.  Sandals have been ordered and are on their way.  It seems that we go straight from winter boots into sandals and back again in the fall, without much else in between. so we don't get much use out of sneakers around here.   Turtlenecks one day and t-shirts the next, too.  Woolen hats to sunhats.   Fortunately, it was warm enough to be barefoot most of the weekend.

This weather likely won't last but there's no going back now.  Spring IS in the air.  Ahhhhhhh.

For now, it's sooooo good to see the boys healthy again, playing outside, reading in the hammocks, jumping on the trampoline, traipsing through the woods, coming back indoors just in time to brush their teeth and crawl into bed, scraped up legs and dirt on their feet.