Here is the original owner of the DNA scarf, modeling it for us.

And a better picture of the cable design, again from the original designer. Or, if you want to see it in more detail, just grab your copy of Nature Genetics, because it is on the cover.

Here is the link for the pattern:

http://noodle.pds.k12.nj.us/june/DNA2.JPG  

I  think this would look great in the green tweed yarn #2 daughter and I bought for her to make a cable scarf with. I'm going to make mine in Wedgewood blue.

And here is my sock thus far. It is slouching a bit -- it is hard to get knitting to pose nicely for portraits sometimes. It is the Lacy Leaves stitch from an old Mon Tricot knitting dictionary. This is an invaluable book for me, not only because it has lots of nice stitch patterns, but because it shows the traditional top-down, one-piece construction for Aran sweaters. Some books would have you knit three separate tubes from the bottom up, and then cut the body at the armholes and do complicated putting together. But I have never believed in that. I think the knitters of old would have had more sense. Plus, many of them probably did not read, and might not even have known how to calculate percentages. Having no way to test this belief of mine, I still always prefer common-sense knitting to counter-intuitive methods that require accurate counting.

These pensive ladies are trying to figure something out.

I have been trying to figure out how best to construct my felt throw. I have been practicing on scraps. Crocheting through the felted wool is not impossible, but it sure isn't worth it either. I can blanket stitch around each square and then use the blanket stitching as a foundation for crochet, but that catapults the project out of the "quick and easy" category into "whole lot of trouble." Not that I mind taking a whole lot of trouble, but I would need to move it out into the future a bit. January, maybe. I may just overcast the squares together directly.

I have a vague recollection of having seen a project like this in my childhood, maybe in the 1970s. I think there were leather or felt or some kind of squares joined with crochet. If anyone remembers how this was done, please let me know. I have googled it, and come up with sewn-together examples, mostly in online stores selling for hundreds of dollars. I've found a few "I made it myself" posts, but again always machine-sewn. Hmm. Maybe Extra Boy, the thrift shop maven, would help me find a few more sweaters in need of reincarnation, and I could just go with the machine-sewn method.

Lucy Cores writes convincingly about ballet -- not everyone does. But Corpse de Ballet, in addition to being a witty detective novel with a complex set of relationships which must have been pretty racy when it was first published in the forties, is also worth a read for balletophiles. It was a good choice for yesterday's resting-up.

Although my Great Felting Adventure resulted in two mismatched clogs, it also gave me a collection of nice wool felt squares for a throw. It was sad, of course, to see all the lovely cables disappear into boiled wool, but I now have the makings for a handsome pink and blue throw. I cut all the squares. Now I must decide exactly how to construct it.

I ended up with 27 squares. The more mathematically astute among my readers will notice that this is not an easy number to arrange into a rectangle. (Three by nine would make something more like a scarf than a throw for the sofa.) I have several options there. I can try to scrounge another sweater or knit up a piece to felt for a few more squares, ending up with 30, for a five by six square. Or I could toss a few out and do a 5x5 or a 4x6. I'm going to lay them all out on the floor to see what looks best.

Then I must decide how to put them together. The example in Natural Home was just sewn together by machine, but they had more to work with, and didn't show the back of the throw. I think it would end up being rather ugly, and perhaps requiring a lining. So I'm thinking that I may join them with crochet. The LYS is going to be bringing in some lightweight wool, so I may get a good color or two of that and do something special in the way of an afghan/throw.

I have joined the DNA scarf knitalong, which will run from September 5th to December 25th. Chanthaboune, I challenge you to do it, too! Here's the pattern: http://noodle.pds.k12.nj.us/june/DNAScarf2.html Here's the knitalong: http://knitting.xaviermusketeer.com/index.php?cat=6

I also have a good selection of Italian madrigals to work on, from the sweet to the downright indecent. We are even singing the famous one about the cricket -- I immediately thought about persuading some quartet of us to perform that at the Insect workshop this fall. And there is talk of doing hats and part books for our Madrigal Dinner costumes.

So what with one thing and another, I have plenty of  things to think about while cleaning up after BTS.

This is not a picture of me, nor of anyone I know. Indeed, I have no idea who this is, but he has obviously seen my felted clogs. While both turned out very well, they absolutely do not match. Shades of my mother's slipper sock story! (See July 16th, if you want to know this story.)

Having produced one nice flat scuff-type thing and one charming boot-type thing, I hied myself to my Local Yarn Shop for another skein of Lamb's Pride with which to make a third clog, hoping that it might, when it was completed, match one of the clogs I have already made. Alas, they were out of the color I need. They are going to get me some more next time they order from those guys, but in the meantime I am left with a non-pair of clogs. Woe is me!

Well, not really. It is, after all, August. I don't need wool things for my feet at the moment, so I can just wait. I was sorely tempted to get another couple of skeins of some other color and try again, but perhaps fortunately I did not care for any of the colors they had on hand, so I was able to resist the temptation. I have returned to my socks.

The first day of school has arrived. The boys are too big and too cool for back-to-school photos. They were nervous, too, since both are going to new schools this year. #2 daughter has arrived at her school and is having a great time. And I have a day off today. Not only is this the first day I haven't worked (including Sunday) in nearly two weeks, it is also the first day I have been by myself in three months.

I know that people who live alone get lonely, and I am thankful for my beloved family, but for me the occasional time in a quiet house is a great luxury. Unfortunately, thoughts of all the things I ought to do are rushing into my head. The neglected garden, the neglected housework, my neglected sewing. My neglected volunteer work. The things #2 daughter left behind that need boxing up and storing, and the things we need to send to her. The things I need to ship to #1 daughter. Her quilt, set aside in July. Cleaning the refrigerator, paying the bills, making a grocery list, getting ready for tonight's rehearsal.

However, I am resolved to rest today. By yesterday evening I was just too tired to function. I need to be able to go back to work tomorrow and be the energetic one, since The Empress and That Man still won't have had a day off. And I need to be awake and paying attention when the boys get home from their first day of school.

So I am going to pay the bills, and do as much housework as it takes to make the house a pleasant place to rest, and then I am going to enjoy a quiet day filled with reading and knitting. The big knitting adventure for the day is finishing and felting the clogs. I'm excited about that. They currently look like slippers for Sasquatch, but I anticipate the sort of magical transformation I have seen on other kintting blogs. #2 daughter also offered up a couple of her wool sweaters which have seen better days, so I will felt them and use them, along with my poor ruined Viking sweater, to make a nice patchwork throw, as seen in Natural Home. And maybe I'll bake some cookies for after school snacks. Everything else I will attempt to ignore.

Here is Georgia's blog, where a discussion has ensued on the subject of whether it is okay to knit in church. http://onmymind.blogdrive.com/

I took #2 daughter to the bus station yesterday afternoon and then raced back to work for the afternoon rush. I stayed up till 12:30am waiting for the "I got here safely" call, and was up again at 3:30am checking to see if there might be an "I got here safely" email. She called at 6:00am and hung up right after I answered, allowing me to move on from visions of bus accidents to visions of alien abductions -- she was able to dial, but the phone was removed from her hand by her captors just as she tried to speak -- you've seen that in movies, haven't you? But, bless her heart, she called successfully at 6:30, sounding as tired as I feel. Kids have no idea how much their parents worry about them. On the other hand, I have gotten the first clog finished and the second begun. I have a gigantic cherry-red bag, is what I have right now. I should be able to finish the second clog today, and tomorrow I will felt them.

#2 daughter's departure is the marker for the beginning of the new year. The boys start back to school tomorrow. I also will finally have a day off. Chamber Singers rehearsals begin tomorrow night, after the summer hiatus. And next week brings the return to chancel choir, to Book Group, and to BSF. On the 29th, my online group will start the Great Housecleaning (we do this spring and fall). Sometime in the next few weeks we will get school and gymnastics schedules figured out, transportation settled, and chores negotiated. With a couple of hours in the mornings to myself , I will get the house back in order. The dogs will live through the bewilderment of having no one to play with all day, after a summer of fun and freedom, and settle back into their school-year routine.

One of my colleagues has been looking forward to getting back to a routine. She lives alone, so for her it is not the way summer means a messy house and locust-like consumption of groceries. She just enjoys the peaceful rhythm of routines.

I am not mostly a routine kind of person. But by now I can see the appeal. The beginning of summer is very freeing; we give up our evening commitments, we simplify the house and have more spontaneity than we can manage during the rest of the year. This is part of the pleasure of summer. But the change of seasons has its own charm.

This book is all the rage among the classroom teachers in our county this year. It is a very quick read, and interesting. The central point seems to be that the poor are different from you and me, and this could make a difference in the classroom. Of course, the NEA would not give credit to the teachers for reading this, since they are reading it for work, but I am glad to hear them discussing books. That is much better than discussing the shocking dearth of cursive alphabets in our store.

#2 daughter and I went to the LYS last night. I was not able to buy more of the same size dpns I was using -- apparently, 2.5s are no longer made. I was not that surprised. I bought instead a set of 2s in bamboo. I have never used bamboo before, although I have used rosewood crochet hooks and enjoyed them. So I think I will use the circular 2.5 down to the ankle and then shift to the 2 dpns, hoping that there will be no obvious demarcation. If that doesn't work, I will frog them and start over -- unless I find the missing dpn.

I also bought the Fibertrends clog pattern and a couple of skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky in Blue Blood Red. I have enormous needles which I had never used before, and this is my chance to try them out.

This is a new departure for me. I have seen pictures of these all over the web, all looking great, so I am not worried. However, I do feel as though I am knitting for Sasquatch. There was a lady at the LYS knitting a bag for felting. It looked like a bag for Sasquatch. Enormous, and very loosely knit. I don't really like the chunky knit look, and if it weren't intended for felting, you'd have to say the gauge was all wrong for the yarn. But I can now see the charm of huge needles. Namely, that you make progress very quickly. If the clogs turn out to be wonderful, I will make them for Christmas gifts. Otherwise, I will just keep a pair for myself, knowing that no matter what they look like, I will be thankful for them in January.

#2 daughter leaves today to go back to college. I will miss her. There were a lot of things we meant to do this summer that we never got around to. While I feel a little regret for that, it also means that we still have stuff we want to do together next time she's home. This morning, we will need to get her started on a new knitting project for the bus. She is thinking of making the Aran scarf from Gift Knits. Scarves, she points out, can be done while doing homework.

My lacy leaves are coming along well. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on "sandals" which were actually made like sneakers with huge holes in them. Popular with men who are shy about showing their toes, these are sandals in only the broadest sense. Just so, a lace stitch done in sport-weight wool is only lace in the broadest sense.

There are two kinds of leaf laces. One is leaf shapes tessellated with yarn-over filigree between them. The other -- and the one I am making is one of these -- has stockinette leaves embossed onto a reverse stockinette ground, with yarn-overs forming the veins of the leaves. The variant I am making has these leaves in pairs, cascading down the instep of the sock. I like the way this looks in sport-weight wool. But this is still basically a warm, wooly sock, not a fragile lacy thing.

Imagine my surprise when I went to the Big Discount Craft Store, then, to replace a mislaid dpn, only to discover that they had no knitting needles smaller than a 5. It was not that they had sold out of all the smaller sizes, but simply that they do not carry them. I am knitting warm woolies on 2.5s. A 5, for me, is a good heavy sweater needle. What are people using to knit lace? What about light summer things?

I'm going to the LYS tomorrow (they were closed last night) and I am sure they will have what I want. But does this mean that only the serious knitter makes lace any more?  That the chunky yarn movement has so thoroughly taken over popular knitting that even socks are now made with 3 stitches to the inch? #2 daughter has an alternative explanation: she thinks that people have become very tight knitters. They are all using 5s for fine yarns because they are so nervous that they get 10 stitches to the inch on 5s. She blames it on the president.

Do you like these groovy Zome sculptures? Chaim's math students made them while exploring excess dimensions or something. I always enjoy talking to my mathematician friends, because their view of the world is quite different from mine. (And yes, actually, I have quite a few mathematician friends and acquaintances. I don't know why). Chaim and I were talking about a Zome structure one day and he was referring to parts of it that did not appear to be there. When I asked about them, he looked at me oddly and said that of course they were in other dimensions.

My mother writes science fiction, so I can take these things in stride. But I had always understood that the only other dimension -- besides the three with which we are all familiar -- was time.

#1 daughter and I are both grappling with a time issue. She, as a young Navy wife, is thinking about taking a job outside her home. Navy wives have lots of duties, I should explain for the benefit of those not in the Navy. And I had been toying with the idea of taking on an extra little part-time job in addition to my full-time one. I have had an expensive summer, what with car repairs, new glasses for the family, Trebuchet Physics camp, back to school and whatnot. Not even mentioning dreams of The Celtic Collection and a Siv in Brilla. And the coming semester's college tuition.

But both of us are wondering what effect this might have on our home lives. Since I am currently working about 60 hours a week, I think I have had the opportunity to find out, and I have to say that extra working hours makes the domestic arrangements go to H -E -double hockeysticks in a handbasket.

A simple comparison will show what I mean.

Dinner before BTS (back to school): whole-grain pasta with Sauce Therese made with tomatoes and basil from our own garden, fresh garden salad, baguette from local artisan bakery, and homemade lemon-oatmeal cookies.

Dinner during BTS: takeout pizza

Breakfast before BTS: fresh blueberry buckwheat pancakes, melon from the garden, and skim milk

Breakfast during BTS: leftover pizza

Laundry before BTS: clean clothes daily, clean sheets weekly

Laundry during BTS: laundry?

Housework before BTS: daily cleaning of bathroom and kitchen, weekly dusting and vacuuming, supervision of kids' chores.

Housework during BTS: occasional flinging of things into the trash, accompanied by loud complaining.

I could go on, but the difference is clear.  Perhaps we should remind ourselves that, as The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, money does not buy happiness. You could tell that it pained them to admit this. But it is true. Given the basics of food, shelter and clothing, people who earn more are no happier than people who earn less. So it may be that making sure our families have good food, clean clothing, and pleasant shelter will be of more benefit to them than arranging that they have more material goods.

The material good I am working on right now is the second pair of Wool-ease socks. I am using one of the many variants of leaf lace. The whole trick to working lace in the round when the pattern is written for the flat is to choose a lace which has alternate rows knitted as presented, or all knit or all purl (of course, you will have to reverse that, doing the all-knit as all-purl and vice versa). This covers probably half the laces in your knitting stitch pattern book. Then, after a couple of rows of serious concentration (i.e., put down your book), you will find it just as easy as knitting it flat.

Is this not the cutest thing? It is a pattern from Earthheart designs. A picture of a sheep in an aran sweater inspired it. Here is the link to buy the pattern, if you want one and your local LYS doesn't stock it:

http://www.earthheartdesigns.com/images/Patterns/Sam%20the%20Ram/Sam_the_Ram.jpg

Back to school at work is now officially Not Fun. Part of it is that we are just working way too much -- I'm going 12 days straight, 9 hours a day, with a 15-minute lunch break, and the owners are doing more than that. (Don't imagine overtime pay or commissions -- it's not that kind of job.) And part of it is that people are not themselves. That may include us, too. The folks who are shopping now are largely the ones who have had their assignments changed, or whose purchase orders were delayed, or who still have construction going on in their classrooms. And then we are sold out of much of what they want -- unavoidable, but it means spending much of the day apologizing to people who are terribly upset. So the overall combined stress level in the room at any given time is about the same as in an emergency room. But I think a large part of what is so stressful about it for me is in the physical environment. The noise level is much higher than normal, we are crowded to the extent that it is hard not to run into people or step on the dog, the store is a mess and we have no time to fix that, our work surfaces are covered with stuff... And then I come home to find that I will have to clean the kitchen before I can cook dinner.

Ah, but I am trying not to whine.

I am working -- at a rate of about 10 rows a day -- on the second pair of socks. I am using "Lacy Leaves," a pattern band which should fit the instep perfectly. I have given the first (non-lacy) pair to #2 son and am making the second pair for myself.

Knitting the Blues was toying with the idea of having a Sam the Ram Knitalong this winter.(http://soupgirls.typepad.com/knittingtheblues/2004/05/im_being_drawn_.html ) If you would like to join in, visit her and say so. Perhaps there will be enough response to get one together.