The Answer to Everything

Apparently the Hitchhiker scarf got its name from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book that I may have read at some point but have no recollection of. And I certainly don't recall that, in the book, the number 42 is "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." What's the …

WIP: Hitchhiker

Having made two pairs of socks with the lovely Game of Thrones-inspired yarns from Bumblebee Acres Farms, I was a sucker for a couple more skeins before they discontinued sales. One here in Brienne of Tarth: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwFh2Tdp06L/? Although I don't know the characters, I was pretty sure that the beautiful blues, cream, and slight silvery …

Hitchhiker on a Train

Yesterday I zipped down to New York City to see Hannah as Katherine/Kate in The Taming of the Shrew at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. As always when I see her perform, I'm awed by her talent. As her mother, I can't help but be biased in my assessment, but she's really good! I took …

The Mysterious Power of the K-word

I had the great pleasure of attending a party Saturday night to celebrate the 10th anniversary of a friend's "kicking cancer's ass" as the invitation from her husband and daughters said. I'm a firm believer in taking joy in the moment no matter how fleeting -- whether it's a drowsy morning hug with my sweet husband, …

Class time

I've said before how much I enjoy teaching knitting, and my current class is no exception. Once a week, these six intrepid women gather around the table, needles in hand, patterns laid out and personally annotated, and they dive into their projects. Chatting, whispered counting (34, 35 -- damn, I'm supposed to have 36!), an occasional …

Late Winter Knitting Classes

After the success and enthusiasm of last fall's class -- from Seema, our intrepid novice, to Judy's first sock -- I'm happy to offer two new classes: one for beginner's and one for intermediate knitters. I sent the following email to about 25 local friends this morning and looking forward to the responses. What's on your …

Strange, Sacred Time

The most recent cold snap has broken and the pipes in the second floor bathroom have thawed -- without bursting, again. The contractor from whom we bought our house ran pipes up an uninsulated, exterior wall and didn't add any heat to the bathroom -- duh! We leave the taps and shower dripping and put …

Know What’s Fast? Arm Knitting (seriously)

Inspired by Skye, an extraordinary young girl at the Friday knitting group at JP Knit & Stitch, and by a recent Wall Street Journal article and video, I decided to try something new. As we sat together on the window seat last week, Skye created this loose, chunky, oh-so-soft scarf. Totally intrigued, I bought a …

Quick, sparkly, frilly

My mom's knitting group friend, Barbara, was right when she told me that Triana Lux would knit up quickly. Only 5 "stitches" wide, it's a very short trip back and forth on the needles. As I noted previously, the yarn is more like a fishing net than traditional yarn. Since the loops are a set …

Something novel

When it comes to yarn, I'm pretty conservative, so I was surprised at my recent purchase of a skein of the kinda crazy Triana Lux by Katia. Described as a "novelty, mesh yarn," it's reminiscent of a fishing net. You work only with the top series of loops, leaving the rest of the "net" hanging. …

My Kind of Scarf

Many of the beginning knitters I've taught think their first project should be a scarf, more often than not, a basic garter stitch scarf.  I generally counsel them against this, pointing out that scarves are really, really long and can get veeeeery boring very fast. I've written about moving beyond scarves before. I might suggest …

Knitting on Deadline

One of my favorite sayings, courtesy of a college friend who often finished her papers in the wee hours of the morning, is "Pressure makes diamonds."  Some of us work well under pressure; others don't.  I'm somewhere in between -- deadlines are motivating, but I don't always end up with my best product. I don't …

Beyond Scarves: Ideas for a First Knitting Project

When asked what they'd like to make for their first knitting project, many of my students suggest a scarf.  I encourage them to try something else. It's not that I've got something against scarves (in fact, I'm particularly partial to the Noro Stripe).  It's that a scarf takes so darn long to finish.  By the …

Dreaming of Noro Striped Scarf

In my nearly five decades of life, I've learned a few things about myself. Fear not, I won't share them all. Although I consider myself an "in the moment" sort of person, grateful for the many blessings in my life (and there are many) and rarely wishing for something else, I often find myself looking …