In my absence:

• DD broke her collar bone, which has mostly healed.  We made a build a bear to cheer her up.


Stuffing the Build A Bear

• I am now reasonably healthy. I won’t be turning cartwheels. But at least I feel up to poking a little fun at myself.
• I watched a few movies, since that was the level of my energy.  And some television.  I usually feel bad when I act like a couch potato.  But I actually felt bad enough already to escape guilt.


Alpaca Silk Scarf (prior to completion)

• I continued my amazingly slow, moderately successful knitting.  Which is to say that I started DH’s hat project attempt three times and have since tossed it to the bottom of the bag.  Finished a scarf that needs blocking, because my first attempt at blocking it seems not to have affected it at all.  And started my own version of the Silk Fountain Hood pattern.  My own version because I have bamboo/silk, not pure silk, and the original pattern is lacy beyond my skills.

I watched Coming Home, with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight.  Mainly I watched it because it occurred to me that it was recent at film time, Americans having pulled out of Vietnam for good in 1974, and the movie being released in 1978.  And I remember my father ranting that Hanoi Jane had no business making a movie about the plight of any veteran.  And that was years later, when the movie came out on video.  He was still totally indignant.

hanoi jane by pineapple palace

It was interesting.  I found it most interesting that Fonda’s character wished most for, if trapped on a desert island, a husband.  And this was considered unremarkable.  I think that would be appalling now.  Her relationship with husband was interesting too, not very intimate and seemingly unsatisfying.

Voight’s character, confined to a wheel chair, begins bitter and develops from there.  It was interesting to see him looking so young.  And also interesting to see Fonda looking relatively the same as she does now, which I find suspicious.

I had thought that the way coming home from Vietnam would be portrayed differently in 1978 than it is now.  But I didn’t find Coming Home to be tremendously different in concept than any other post war film.  So it must be universal, at least on film.

Mark Wahlberg (in black and white) by Lessio

I also saw Fear with Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon.  The thing that I wonder about most with that film is why the producer or writer, or whomever makes such decisions, felt it necessary to make it over-the-top obvious that Wahlberg’s character is a criminal.  I wonder why, because I don’t think having a criminal record is a requirement for being a frightening, abusive person.

I’m looking forward to the new episode of Southland coming out this week.  Though I hope I will get my energy back and be too busy doing things other than watching tv to care much.  I told DH I might do some gardening today.  And he gave me that look that said if I tried it he might have to intervene.  So maybe a couple days before any attempted gardening.

I want to prune some plants that need it badly, and use the prunings to make a bed for tomatoes.  My attempts at organic gardening annoy DH and the neighbors, who prefer to purchase expensive commercial items.  Whereas, my idea of good gardening is to use kitchen refuse for compost and cover it up with pine straw, and use yard refuse like prunings to build beds rather than expensive plastic stuff.

IMG_5924 by Pip_Wilson

Yeah, it looks sort of like a birds nest at first.  But then the twigs settle, and plants grow and just the plants are noticeable.  I do always have to buy topsoil.  Because we just have hard red clay.  And no amount of household compost alone could keep a new plant alive in my yard.

DH made fun.  But we had fresh tomatoes and basil until October last year.  And enough dried lavender to make lavender oil, sachets, and still have some left over.

Leather Handbag

Nice work, mom.

I managed to dry out the registration without tearing it. It was all folded up and in an envelope. And I really thought I’d be paying the county a fee to get them to issue me another copy. But I managed to extract it from the envelope, and spread it out to dry. It is still legible. Though I won’t win any awards for tidiness if I need to present it.

I cleaned up the lake with napkins and the coffee cup cozy that I recently knitted. I was thinking that it was my first functional project. But the dishcloths have turned out to be very useful. So it is my first project that required sizing. It is a little loose. I used it like a towel. Very absorbent.

coffee cup cozy

I ordered ten different types of yarn from Knitpicks and Elann. Most of them are from Elann, which is killer on the shipping, since it’s Canadian. One yarn is either alpaca, or an alpaca blend. I don’t remember which. One skein of yarn seems a reasonable gamble to determine whether or not I can tolerate, and even enjoy alpaca. If not, I will pass it along, no harm done.

The rest of the yarns are cottons and blends with hemp, linen and silk. Some have touches of acrylic and elastic, which I’ve read are terrific to have blended with cotton and other non-stretchy fibers.

And I got a one-skein knitting book, so I’ll have something to do with all the random yarns – or try anyway. And I got two stitch holders, and some stitch markers, guessing about the sizes. I don’t know what kind I’ll like or will work well with the types of yarn I’ll have. But since it is all a big experiment, I’m willing to just try them out.

Related posts:

• Acrylic Yarn is Yukky
• Fried Turkey

As it turns out, the acrylic yarn feels gross, splits, and doesn’t show any kind of pattern. After I switched to cotton yarn; and made three small dishcloths in different patterns, I tried the acrylic yarn again. It is soft. And I like the color. I still think it feels yukky and is difficult to manipulate. I knitted about ten rows of a ribbed scarf pattern before I made the final decision to chuck the yarn. So, into the donate pile it goes.

I got the circular knitting needles that I ordered for my birthday, from Knitpicks. They are every bit as wonderful as Marne, and the ladies from the knitting group have said. Saturday, one of the other ladies in the knitting group had her set, also pretty new, so I got to preview them and oh and aw. Mine arrived Saturday evening – of course.

DD is completely interested in the knitting, in all things crafty really. But she’s just learning to write. So I don’t want to try to teach her to knit or crochet yet. As she will probably get frustrated and hate it. I am on the lookout for one of those knitting/weaving devices made specifically for children her age who are interested, but need a bit more growing up before they can move on to crochet hooks and knitting needles.

I remember making all kinds of ugly potholders on one of those things when I was a preschooler. God bless my mother for telling me they were so wonderful. Though, she may have been just thankful that I was occupied for hours.

I got the No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo & Other Delights
book on Saturday too. It has all these fantastic patterns that are totally over my head, in addition to lots of non-wool fiber information. It has a whole section on hemp yarn, which I find terribly scratchy. But I don’t find cashmere scratchy. And I think alpaca feels nice. Though I haven’t tried to wear it yet.

What? by Jayegirl99

I am going with the long fiber and scale theory of itchiness – that it is the length of the fiber and occurrence of scales that makes something itchy or not, rather than that it came from a plant or animal. I’ll find out anyway. My plan is to buy several random cotton blend, linen, and alpaca blend yarns and see what itches or doesn’t, how it holds a pattern and then try to make something simple.

Aware of my novice knitting status, several people helpfully pointed out this weekend that cashmere comes from a goat. And that alpaca is a completely different sort of animal. Which is really funny, since I wore cashmere for years and thought it came from a special breed of sheep. And I insisted on DH driving a certain way home so he could identify the weird animals near our house – which turned out to be alpacas.

So that’s my plan, to purchase some random yarns this coming weekend. And then try them all out. And definitely, definitely chuck the acrylic yarn.

Related posts:

• Learning to Knit
• Fried Turkey

Cashmere goats by cramsay23

This has not carried over into yarn so much, or specifically sweaters. I used to crochet (not well enough for sweaters). And DD and DH both have blankets that I crocheted for them. DDs is very cute. DHs is an odd color combination to me. But he picked it out. And he likes it. So there you go. Both of those are acrylic, which is not my favorite. Because after a while, it pills and can look very cheap. And if I can choose something not a petroleum product, I will.

So here is what I found out about fabric/fiber and eczema:

• Cotton is king. (I knew this.)
• Silk is queen, because it has hundreds of microfibers and is very smooth. But it can have resins in it that are irritating to some people.
• Bamboo and rayon are breathable, natural fibers. They rank next.
• Wool is the number one itch offender. But not all wool is created equal. Wool is classified by microns, which is the thickness of each strand. The thicker the strand, the scratchier the surface. The finer the strand, the smoother the surface.
• Cashmere, angora, and alpaca are names of animals. I’m sure you knitters and lovers of animal husbandry say duh. But I did not know until recently. I thought cashmere and alpaca were types of sheep, not different animals altogether.
• Since cashmere is finer than many wools and comes from a goat some people who cannot tolerate wool can wear it.
• Alpaca, an animal, not a sheep. Finer than wool, potentially tolerable.
• Angora, from a rabbit and claims to be hypoallergenic, even to those with very sensitive skin.

Obviously, these things are somewhat subjective. But I post it here in case it can be useful to somebody else, and for commentary.

Close-up of baby alpaca by m_morgavan

I read more than one article by dermatologists claiming that silk must be dermablend, the kind that is antimicrobial and used in hospitals. But I have always found ordinary clothing silk to be pretty skin friendly, especially if hand washed.

My experience with bamboo has not been the best. The bamboo fabric I’ve encountered has been extremely thin knit and has run. I’m thinking this may have been a fluke. I can’t see it having become so popular if it ran all the time. It was not at all itchy. I’m thinking I will give it another try.

I’ve had very good luck with wool blend suits that are lined. They wear well. And if they are blended with rayon or something and lined seem to always be comfortable.

I can’t even be in the room with an angora sweater. I don’t know what that’s about.

I am about to give up on lining these three sweaters that belonged to my grandmother. They are 100 percent wool. And even lined, they itch me like I am on fire. I find this so sad. They fit me perfectly. And I really prefer to keep them.

I wonder if I can justify consoling myself with a cashmere sweater or a silk scarf.

Related posts:

• Acrylic Yarn is Yukky

DSC_3690 by busbeytheelder

Hmmm.

I have eaten the fried turkey before and liked it well enough. But, for some reason it seemed better this year. I do not know why. Maybe I just had it in my head that with all the rave fried turkey reviews, even I would like it better. Or maybe BIL has perfected his turkey frying technique.

Whatever, my turkey enjoyment was atypical.

Typical was my need to pester SIL with 50 zillion questions about yarn. Because I like fabric and fibers. And yarn is a fiber about which I know next to nothing. And there it always is, all furry and interesting on the shelf. And of course she knitted the cute legwarmers for DD so I associate her with yarn. And I keep thinking that I can eventually convince myself that I have the attention span to learn how to knit.

But whenever I get extremely interested in the allure of the yarn and the idea of the needles clacking in a soothing way, I suddenly image loosing my place on a pattern and ending up with some really crooked, unusable piece of cloth. And that is too much doom and anxiety to contemplate. Better to admire the yarn at SILs house.

Also, I find it a paradox that when wool lands on me it itches. And SIL has about a dozen different types of wools and never, ever looks itchy. She keeps explaining which ones are actually hair, and not fur. But since DH is still telling me which weird animal is a mule and which one is a donkey, and I still don’t know. I suspect that unless something cataclysmic happens, I will not get this animal covering worked into my brain. Though I think that I understand that alpaca is from a goat not a sheep.

Right. Aunt D mentioned that there was much violence at Thanksgiving because my niece jumped on me and grabbed my neck. She’s three. Aunt D can make anything sound inflammatory for fun. Really, if the worst act of violence is a very affectionate three year old. And the worst verbal assault concerns too many questions about yarn, I think we’re in pretty good shape.

Happy Thanksgiving All.

Related posts:

• Acrylic Yarn is Yukky
• Knitting and Other Mishaps