16 décembre 2008

bientôt Noël : on s'agite

Grande journée hier dans la petite maison : les jardiniers (6 hommes), l'électricien (un homme et sa meuleuse à béton), le plombier (deux hommes), tout ça en même temps. Rock'n roll. Entre deux ramassages de feuilles mortes et essuyages de nez qui coule, j'ai pu constater à la lumière du jour que si mes mosaïques de salle de bains sont alignées, on ne sait pas sur quoi (les cours de la bourse ??!??) Aucun des gars sur le chantier n'étant responsable, j'ai même pas pu passer quelqu'un par le velux.

Aujourd'hui, miracle, illumination, Noël  : il ya un radiateur dans la cuisine, qui CHAUFFE. Je n'en crois pas mes petites mimines rougies par le froid. Sauf que ah oui, son copain dans le couloir est hors service, vu que l'électricien, pris d'un enthousiasme inédit, a foré dans le tuyeau de chauffage. Je rigole.

09 décembre 2008

thanks and yes, a sock!

First of all, I have been touched and I am thankful for the kind comments and pieces of advice I received after my last post. Yes, I will organise my Christmas break around long, decadent hot chocolate bubbling baths, sipping gluwine. That's totally 'up my alley' :) But - can one actually knit while soaking ? Big question.

Also, I feel I need to say a bit more. Since two years, I suffer from Degenerative Vitreous Syndrom - sometimes referred to as 'Eye floaters', a misleading term if ever one was. Average eye floaters, we almost all have them, I had them when I was 16 and it was no big deal. But when for some mysterious reason your vitreous humour embarks on a degenerative process, it's another story entirely. Strands, spots, cobwebs, clouds, bluriness, flies, shadows of all sorts start to invade your vision, swirling around at the tiniest movement of the eye -- that is to say constantly -- so that the mere business of seeing becomes a permanent struggle against the crap. Like living in a dirty pool, without the maintenance team ever coming to clear it up. And only worsening over time.

But here comes the best part : there is no interest for this condition in the medical community, no way for the ophtalmologists to assess the situation, no cure, not the slightest sign of research for a cure, nothing. All you have to do is sit there, wondering how worse it has gotten since last month and how worse it will be next, and wait until you declare yourself officially impaired so that you can just as well travel half the world to find a retinal surgeon who will poke you in the eye with three canulas and suck away nearly all of its original material (slllllllllrrrrrrrrp). Yeah, creepy. On the day the surgeon hits your eyeball you'd better be in a f****** good karmic condition, otherwise you're screwed. And since I only have one good eye... well, you've got the picture. Not something you want to consider light-heartedly.

So, that's it. No sunny tomorrows for me. I'm stuck with the enemy.

Now, I know perfectly well that there are brave souls out there coping with terrible illnesses, laughing in the face of MS and climbing up mountains in wheelchairs. Honestly, I am not the one to show that much courage. I am the depressive type and never was very good at life to begin with, so this is a bit of the drop too much. Anyway, that's how I feel about it now.

To wrap the topic up, if ever you know someone afflicted with a debilitating vitreous condition and feeling strangely misunderstood and lonely, I'll put a handful of useful links at the bottom of the post. Just to give the misery some company (in some cases, that's better than nothing). Also, it's the place to discuss surgeons, procedures and risks, for the ones who may need it sometime.

On the knitting front

But darn it, as long as I can I'll be there with my small gauges and intricate patterns! And just for evidence this is my current project on 0's, ta-daam :

Yes, Baroque. Oh my this is such a beautiful design. Well done, lady!

So far so good, I am exceptionally pleased with these ones. As per usual I am not really following the directions, since
a) I work the socks toe-up and
b) it's probably just me, but I always find the directions for socks on Knitty a bit too verbose and cumbersome to my taste (why on earth should I put this purl stitch that belongs to the back on the front ?!?).
That's not a problem really, since with a good chart and a rough comprehension of the repartition of stitches here and there, one can manage (and have the privilege to rip the heel two or three times for additional tweaking :)

I have big ambitions for these socks, up to the circumference of my calves. I want the socks as high as possible, what will imply an impossible rate of increases somewhere. I'm not there yet but I'm sure this is totally doable. And who cares some more frogging ? On that front, I am fearless.

Happy hot bubbling chocolate everyone !

For the eye floaters sufferers :
Yuku support discussion board (EN)
Vitreous Floaters Yahoo Group (EN)
Forum corps flottants (FR)
Asso Miodesopsie (IT)
An online petition for research - lingering since 2003

07 décembre 2008

all right, whining

Long time no hear, right ? Well, I have not been very pleased with life lately, nor very pleased with myself. I'm tired, I have physical ailments, I'm struggling with depression, and all I want to do is whining really. It doesn't help much that it is winter and night falls at 4:30 pm, that our world is finally crushed by its own greediness and that the plumber is three weeks late with his works on the heating system (you don't say).

Not that I really care, actually. I am beyond caring for anything - all I want to do is being dead or being knitting or both at the same time (now, that would be cool). And those idiots out there have already started with the Christmas jolly-jingle-ness on the streets. They must be kidding.

Ok, enough whining. Today is a great day because yeah, I've got some crappy pictures for the blog !

These are my fingerless-mittens-and-hat worked to bust some stash, the leftovers from the gigantic Nordic Sweater.

Instead of the stockinette that the hat pattern called for, I worked the border in the diagonal weave pattern (A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, book I), with a hem. This stitch pattern is beautiful. I repeated it on the cuffs and borders of the mittens; thanks to the folded hem, this border keeps ears and wrists toasty where there is no stranded work to provide extra thickness. And because of its structure of slipped and crossed stitches, it has just the amount of elasticity you'd wish. Very nice indeed.

 

Now, of course, this post wouldn't have my personal signature without a wee bit of grouching. Stashbusting is very nice and what you are supposed to do when the spare room is already half-filled with boxes of wool and that in order to set up your moving on one single truck you must consider getting rid of all the linens and cutlery BUT.

Superwash for stranded work ? Not good. Not good and frankly, even worse for small projects with a lot of shaping that will distort the stitches. Because those darned superwash stitches don't hold together, each one of them goes her own way and the result is a very disappointing uneven fabric. What went relatively well for the sweater (large undistorted surfaces), went a little less well for the hat -- and totally wrong for the mittens.

We are all in awe (and rightly so) contemplating the beautiful old traditional mittens of northern countries, but think of that : all they had was 100% pure and simple and scratchy wool. Scratchy wool is best for stranded work because over little time it will stick together and result in a nice, even and coherent fabric. Just try to talk your superwash into this.

So when I'm ready to acquire some new stash, it's all shetland, finnish, ull, hebridean and the likes. That is, when I'm finished paying the plumber, goddamnit.

Happy Xmas knitting, you brave ones !