Author Archives: Katherine

Autumn Rain

23 Tuesday Oct 2007

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Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
[Langston Hughes]

Rain draped a veil between my windshield and the iridescent colors that rushed past my line of sight yesterday. Driving in rain is scary but I was glad to see it after such a long dry spell—it and the mountains east of Knoxville. I’ve come to visit a knitting/writing friend I’ve never met before. We have shared stories in our online writing group for half a decade. Today, we plan to visit her local yarn shop, share meals, and chat a lot.

Luxury

21 Sunday Oct 2007

Posted by in Knitting

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It is impossible to overdo luxury.
[French Proverb]

Alpaca Socks

Okay folks. Now you are going to get a view of my dark side. I’m keeping these socks for myself! The yarn is Classic Elite, Alpaca Sox. I used my children’s inheritance to buy enough for one pair, and I may name it and keep it as a pet—it feels so good that it must surely be sinful.

Since I’m working three of these cable patterns on every round, it took me all day to knit just four inches (72 stitches on size #0 needles). Whew. I keep asking myself if I’m really going to work the cable on the top of the foot to the toe or am I going to stop this when I start the heel shaping. The cable is very flat so it wouldn’t be uncomfortable inside a shoe. The cable moves over only one stitch at a time instead of two over two.

Actually, I’m going to have to put these aside for awhile and finish my Christmas knitting.

Knitting Christmas

20 Saturday Oct 2007

Posted by in Knitting, Thoughts

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It is better to give than receive—especially advice
[Mark Twain]

Okay. I know. It is not even Halloween yet, but if you make gifts, you have to start earlier. For the past few years, last-minute and store-bought would have described my gifts. This year, I’ve been knitting gifts in response to, “I wish you’d knit … for me.” Well, Santa Kate has kept track and is checking her list so, if you are kin to me, you will probably get your wish. I’m not even considering whether you have been good or not.

I’ve been collecting other little goodies too. My spare bed is off limits to visitors because I haven’t wrapped anything yet. Toby dog prefers it when I knit socks instead of sweaters. He is a lap-sitter by nature and likes all of the room he can get. He also knows what everyone is getting but I’ve sworn him to secrecy.

Smoky Mountain Memories

13 Saturday Oct 2007

Posted by in Thoughts

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The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched –
they must be felt with the heart.
[Hellen Keller]

Smoky Mountain
Photo by James E. Miller

Green. Sometimes even the air is green especially when a mist rises from the vegetation after a rain on a hot summer day. Green becomes a canvas for the ruby trillium and the shy orchid that hides beneath the fern. Evergreen stands counterpoint to the bright deciduous colors on an autumn day, and is often the only bright color left behind when snow blankets the mountain side. Green wraps its protective arms around me. It washes my face and soothes away my pain.

Blue. In some light, one mountain range folds into another in varying shades of blue like ocean waves on the incoming tide. Sometimes clouds are blue and fool the eye into thinking they are yet another mountain range. The sky shares its reflected blue with the brook as jays and bachelor buttons borrow a bit of color for themselves.

Yellows, oranges and reds start tiny in the spring as wild flowers then multiply as the warm season passes into the time of ripe corn and changing leaves. They burst full blown at sunrise and sunset. Green and blue play backup to them as they have their moments on the stage.

If I were blind, I’d love it just as much. This place I lived for so short a time felt like home the moment I arrived, cradled me through joy and sorrow, and calls me back when I need to let my soul catch up with my body. I can close my eyes and see the double rainbow arch from one mountain peak to another like a handle that God could use to lift us into heaven.

Ravel/Unravel

30 Sunday Sep 2007

Posted by in Knitting, Thoughts

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Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.
[Harvey S. Firestone]

Speaking of definitions—ravel and unravel have about the same definition! They both refer to separating the fibers or threads of something (among other definitions). Wordsmiths might write a dissertation on the subtle differences between the two, but they can be used interchangeably. One would think that, whatever one meant, the other would mean the opposite like do and undo.

Speaking of unravel—I’m knitting a sleeve on the textured argyle sweater and have only unraveled it once. I always do the calculations for the taper on sleeves but still end up unraveling them at least once before I get them right. My daughter looked at the sweater, loved it, then added that she didn’t like rolled necklines. She thought it would be better with a V-neck. I must have gotten a dismayed look on my face because she immediately back-peddled. She said, “You wear turtlenecks so the rolled neckline will look good with those.” Good save, Rachel.

Textured Argyle Update

26 Wednesday Sep 2007

Posted by in Knitting

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Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way
as best to accomplish a particular purpose.
[Charles Eames]

Cotton Argyle

Several posts ago, I showed a photo of a huge cone of cotton string. Here it is knit into the body of a sweater I’m designing. It is a seamless Gansey-style construction. I started with the ribbing at the bottom then:

  • put the underarm stitches on string
  • knit the back so I could use it to figure out the neck hole
  • knit the front
  • Kitchner joined the shoulders
  • picked up the neck stitches
  • worked several rows of ribbing
  • finished with reverse stockinette for a rolled effect.

Right now, it is drying from being blocked. I usually do that before I start the sleeves so I can calculate how many stitches to pick up along the armhole. I’ll decrease the underarm stitches like a gusset. I plan to knit the sleeves in stockinette without the argyle texture pattern.

Nooks and Crannies

25 Tuesday Sep 2007

Posted by in Favorite Things, Knitting, Thoughts

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History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past,
trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes,
and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days.
[Winston Churchill]

New Harmony
Photos of New Harmony by Robert Pence

Every place has its interesting nooks and crannies but some places have more than others. New Harmony, Indiana is one of those places. Robert Pence writes the following about that lovely little town:

A communitarian German religious sect, the Rappites, under the leadership of George Rapp, established a settlement first called Harmonie along the Wabash River in Posey County about 1815. They were industrious, producing silk, lumber, woolens, bricks and wine, which were traded as far away as New Orleans via the rivers. Their brick homes and buildings were among the most imposing and their standard of living among the highest in Indiana at the time.

Frontier isolation and distance from eastern markets for their manufactured products led the Rappites to return to Pennsylvania after only ten years. They sold the settlement to Scottish industrialist Robert Owen, who envisioned a utopian communal society based on learning. He brought in a “boatload of knowledge”, via the river, brilliant scientists, educators and scholars, but the community failed to prosper because it lacked people with knowledge of or inclination toward the basic skills of growing food and creating the artifacts necessary for the physical functioning of the community.

This village of less than 1,000 people is the site of many firsts, such as the first continuously operating library in Indiana. It is more than charming. It is a haven of culture and history so well hidden in a nook of Hoosier farmland that a traveler might miss it while speeding along the interstate.

It is also the place where we gather to knit, visit and share at the Barn Abby each October on a weekend retreat. I’m already gathering stuff together to take on our trip. I can hardly wait.

Help?

19 Wednesday Sep 2007

Posted by in Knitting

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He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning.
[Danish Proverb]

I have designed a collection of almost 20 sweaters and vests in the past several years. The main thing that holds me back from publishing the patterns is resizing. The prototype for each garment fits a U.S. size 12 or 14 woman (me). My cousin Marilyn generously loaned me several books that help with stitch count and sizing. I can add, subtract, and figure gauge, but the complexity of this process is outside my realm of ability. Is there someone who could suggest something that would help me put the final polish on these patterns?

Fort Wayne Knitters Guild

19 Wednesday Sep 2007

Posted by in Knitting

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To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it.
[Mother Teresa]

The Fort Wayne Knitters Guild held its first meeting of the 2007-2008 year at the new main-branch building of the Allen County Public Library last Monday. They meet at 7 p.m. on the third Monday of each month.

Those are the facts. Here is the rest of the story. It warmed my heart to be included in that gathering. I think it is a basic life need for people, no matter how different they might be in other ways, to gather with a focus on an interest that nurtures them. It puts oil in our lamps. It is a point of contact whereby we can nurture each other.

The point isn’t the knitting, it is the interest. Writers gather with writers. Antique tractor collectors gather with other antique tractor enthusiasts. Genealogists with genealogists. Etc. The result is more than a new book, refurbished tractor, or a family tree. The result is inspiration, encouragement, learning, and friendships that spread out into the rest of our lives.

Career

17 Monday Sep 2007

Posted by in Thoughts, Writing

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The best career advice given to the young is:
“Find out what you like doing best and
get someone to pay you for doing it.”
[Katherine Whitehorn]

I composed the following mini-essay on careers for my writing group and wanted to share it here:

Daddy went to the General Electric apprentice school in 1927 and worked for them as a tool maker until 1970. His work era spanned the depression during which he was laid off several times; World War Two during which he worked so much overtime that he paid off the mortgage on our home; and my young adulthood during which he sent me to college and saw me earn a higher wage than his when I was a new graduate. That was an era when many people thought that responsibility meant finding good jobs, keeping their jobs until retirement, and then living on their pensions.

When I graduated from college, I went to work as a Navy nurse for several years, then taught at a nursing school as a civilian. That was an era during which people talked about career tracks. Many people thought responsibility meant only changing employers to advance in a career. Frequent lateral job changes didn’t look good on a resume.

After a decade of homemaking while my children were young, I needed to go back to work. If I went back to nursing, I’d need a lot of refresher training then I’d start back at an entry level which meant night duty, weekends and an ever-changing schedule. I didn’t want to balance that with my children’s adolescence so I thought about changing careers. At that time, my father was starting his decline into altzheimers and confessed to me that he’d worked at GE to meet his responsibilities, but he’d really always wanted to be a cowboy. That motivated me to ask myself what I’d always wanted to be. I went back to college and studied graphic design along with students who were half my age. I have now been an independent (self-employed) graphic designer for over twenty years. My definitions of “career,” “jobs,” “retirement,” and what is responsible changed drastically over the years.

Before the end of this year, I will turn sixty-five, go on MediCare, and be eligible for reduced rates on airlines and other such services. I received a letter from Social Security asking me when I planned to retire. I answered, “when I die.” What is magic about the number sixty-five? Why should I quit doing what I love to do? I now believe that responsibility, in terms of an occupation, is earning enough to keep a roof overhead and food on the table — in addition to that, a person needs to be working at something that feeds her soul.