San Francisco Treat

A recent visit to Artfibers, on Sutter Street in San Francisco, revealed a smorgasbord of yarn, accompanied by multiple swatches that displayed some of each yarn's possibilities.

I was warmly invited to "taste" whatever I wanted. Because this year is all about lace, I had pattern in hand (Moon River Scarf--see Ravelry for free pattern download) and some idea of which yarn to try (prior web-based research: Artfibers catalog). I thoroughly enjoyed sitting at a picnic table to make my swatch. The store/studio is on the 3rd floor with floor-to-ceiling windows at each end. It was a beautiful day and being there was such a welcome respite for the brain, which was taxed to its limit preparing and meeting to review grants. About an hour into swatch-making revelry, my preconceived notion of making Moon River with "Brie" was replaced with an unexpected appreciation for how "Carezza" was better suited for the purpose. The owner, Roxanne, seemed pleased to accept my offer of the mind-changing swatch for her collection.

You can see how the shop is set up, with the yarn in bins below the display of swatches. It's an awesome concept that is a must-see if you are lucky enough to find yourself in San Fran.

After a day on the plane to return to the dirty snow-ridden Northeast, I have over a foot of Moon River to my credit. Oogyknitter and I have established another knit-along with this pattern. It is a very easy one!

work stoppage imposed

I decided after finishing the first sleeve that I wanted more of the grey color in the sweater, so it can be seen more prominently in the partially finished sleeve. I haven't decided exactly how the body of the sweater will look yet.

There have been multiple attempts to stop work on the project by my so-called assistant.

Winter Break Dyeing

Winter break is officially dead, but I'm still enjoying it through this batch of yarn.

As I wound the first skein into a few balls I was able to separate out the grey portion. I'm going to make a sweater that has a higher proportion of the red yarn than is shown in the swatch.

lace progress

Wabenschal is getting longer!

Bro's b-day sweater

I got ambitious when my little brother turned 40 and decided I would make him a sweater using yarn I spun myself. I finished about half of the spinning when I realized I would not have enough yarn to make a sweater, so then I decided it would be done in a 2-color pattern, which was looking awesome before I realized I would STILL not have enough. Now brother is 42 and still had no sweater, so I bought the yarn and gave him the sweater when he was 42 1/2 years young.

It looks rather great!

Here is a close-up of the cable pattern at the neck, which extended from the narrow ribbing on the center of each sleeve and the border of the raglan sleeve and the body. The rest of the sweater was done in Andalusian stitch, with a brick color cast-on border at the body and sleeves. I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca in the color "potting soil".

Gossamer lace challenges

This is Victorian Ruby from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today book. I've reached row 14--one of the earlier rows took me 45 minutes, and then I finally K2tog at the end because I kept having one too many stitches. It's so satisfying to reach the end of a row and have the right number of stitches. It's not easy to see the silver flecks in this picture, but they are looking cool in this pattern. This is the border--the center of the scarf is a very simple slip stitch pattern that will let the yarn do the work.

Wabenschal unearthed!

Look what I found! Actually, I found what was left of the yarn and the instructions. I believe I have thrown out the foot or so of scarf that I had finished because I was not pleased with the electric yellow color. The original is pictured on Dec 23, 2008 post below...this bit is what I knitted today.

I think this will be a better balance of yellow, orange, and honeysuckle (?).

Happy New Year!

Rats in residence:

The official beginning of this year's theme, making lace projects, is hanging in my kitchen. Nice job oogyknitter!

There is great potential for lace making, as one can see by the collection from my stash.

The falling leaves scarf is there to show that I really can make lace projects, and the other stuff is waiting patiently. The blue and silver Gossamer is up first.

"Natural" Dyeing

When I started knitting 20+ years ago I thought it was just silly that someone would spend time making yarn. It never occurred to me that someone could dye their own yarn, but I would have thought that was a waste of time, too. While I have developed a different view over the years, a recent experience of using a plant as a source of dye is making me rethink all of this again.

I took a day-long workshop last year in which each student, led by an expert dyer, was given a small batch of yarn or roving and a choice of dye baths from plants like black-eyed susans and goldenrod. We soaked our fiber in the baths and took the results home to dry. It was really fun. I was told about all the work that went into collecting the plant and pre-mordanting the fiber, but only when I did it all myself did I discover how much work it was. I have planted several more dye sources, but I’m not sure I’ll be doing this again!

First, I grew the plant. This was not difficult, but it took some time (about 1 year). Then I collected the flowers. Also, not difficult. (the picture shows what is left of the plant now).

Then I boiled the flowers. This was not difficult, either, but it did smell rather bad. And then it became caustic, forcing me, husband and cat to evacuate the house for the afternoon. We sat outside while the cauldron bubbled its toxic fumes. Husband said he was fine with it, and it was nice when our noses stopped burning. It’s his fault for getting me the books.

It all sounds so natural, right? Growing plants, harvesting flowers, creating toxic fume clouds in one’s house. The part that seems less natural is the application of chemical solution to the wool so that it can accept the dye. This is the mordant step. I could have ordered the chemicals online, but instead chose to go to the garden center and purchase 3 lifetime supplies of mordant in the form of fertilizer (potassium aluminum sulfate) and fungicide (copper sulfate). Then a trip to the store to get cream of tartar (potassium acid tartare). True, all these chemicals are technically NATURAL, but it might not be what you had in mind upon hearing the term “natural dyes”.

Anyway, it was fun (husband agreed, cat won’t say) and the yarn looks cool.

The darker color was produced by briefly soaking the dyed yarn in an ammonia solution (more chemicals). It was supposed to be green, according to the book, but I was happy that it turned ANY color.

finished the diminishing rib cardi

There are a few left-overs...

but, it's done!

Almost completely-diminished cable-down raglan

Making progress!

making progress on the diminishing rib cardi

It's the diminishing cable-down raglan.

In the catarondack chair

Outside is nice this time of year.

This is diminishing rib cardigan so far. It is definitely a striatum-dependent project, but I am very happy with the pattern. I'll get to the ribbing in another 3 inches--that will engage the prefrontal cortex a bit.

The prefrontal cortex-striatum continuum, as it applies to knitting.

You know when you are totally stressed out you can’t follow a complex pattern, but instead seek out a simple, mindless project to work on? This could happen because the stress makes you more likely to use your striatum, which governs habitual behavior. Stress makes function more difficult for the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision making and following a sequence of events that are not habitual. While the striatum is activated when behavior is ongoing and doesn’t require paying attention, the prefrontal cortex is active when something new is being learned with a particular goal to be achieved.

I’ve been getting more and more interested in this effect of stress because we are doing research on obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is characterized by dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex and the striatum. People who have been diagnosed with OCD report that their experience is more intense when they are feeling stressed. There’s also evidence in rats that diminished activity in the prefrontal cortex is associated with stress-induced changes in behavior. And, one group has shown that rats will revert to habitual behavior that is governed by the striatum when they have been exposed to stress, when they would normally be using their prefrontal cortex to help them figure things out.

It seems I can’t knit without feeling rather geeky, so I’ve been viewing my projects on the PFC-Striatum continuum, with mindless projects at the striatum end and complex projects at the PFC end of the spectrum. Projects are rated by how much attention they require (can I bring the project to group knitting and drink wine, or does it require silence and high doses of caffeine?). Here is an example of striatum-dependent knitting:

The scarf in the middle shows how Noro yarn does all the work, while I mindlessly knit one row after the other. I may have used my PFC a little bit in the beginning, when I had to follow the pattern on the first 4 rows, but now it’s all striatum. The other 2 scarves pictured are similarly striatum-dependent. The rose-colored one is 31 stitches of spaced checks, June 9 on one of those perpetual calendars. The curly one is from Scarf Style, called Ruffles and designed by Amanda Blair Brown. The scarf pictured at the top is called Triangle Scarf and is from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature. This would be closer to the PFC end of the spectrum.

At the other end of the spectrum, maybe even a bit beyond the extreme PFC boundary of the continuum, is Kelmscott:

This is what I have accomplished so far of the left front. The pattern changes on every row (no “wrong side rest” on this one), requiring constant attention to the pattern chart, like the few rows pictured here:

I only tore out the first few rows about 10 times before I discovered what I was doing wrong (the chart is knit in the opposite direction on the wrong side, which the directions made clear but I did not get it at first). I can manage about 5 rows before I need to put it away and do something more striatum-dependent. I don’t even attempt it if I’m feeling stressed or tired.

Here’s what makes Kelmscott so PFC dependent:

1. Each row is different, requiring close attention to the chart. While the individual stitches are easy, their sequence is not. The dorsolateral portion of the prefrontal cortex makes following the pattern possible, by allowing me to know where I am in the pattern (which row, right side or wrong, which stitch was just completed) and directing my motor system to follow the sequence of movements needed to do the different stitches. Stress would reduce the ability of the dorsolateral PFC to do its job, so I would be losing my place and making mistakes.

2. Kelmscott is going to take forever to finish, so what keeps me going, 5 rows at a time? My orbital frontal cortex allows me to balance the immediate and delayed rewards of the project so that I can stay motivated by keeping in mind the long-term benefits of what I am doing. So, while I might opt for a mindless project that produces quick results when I am stressed out, I am able to be more patient and work on the delayed-reward project when things are more under control. (I do gain some satisfaction when I make it through a row without having to tink back to the beginning).

I’ve been wondering if knitting Kelmscott could be used to strengthen my PFC? If this brain area is less active when stress perception is high, maybe increasing its activity could counteract the impact of stress. It has been shown to do this in rats (but not while they were knitting…). Am I doing myself a disservice by picking up the easy mindless project when I should really be getting the PFC revved up?

Next time: how I used my anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to abandon Cable-down Raglan.

How I needed to use my anterior cingulate cortex

I found this yarn at Webs a few years ago. It’s Berroco Ultra Alpaca, a blend of wool and alpaca, in a color that I love but probably should not wear. I am now on the 4^th project with this yarn, having abandoned the first 3 after making considerable progress toward their completion. Attempt 3 (pictured left) went farther than 1 or 2, and I still decided to ditch it and make Attempt 4.

Attempt 3 is Cable-down Raglan, designed by Stefanie Japel and found in the Spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. Attempts 1 and 2 were my own creations, but after they went pear-shaped I decided to follow a pattern. I thought it was nice how this design “follows the rules” per Stacy and Clinton, (linked in case you are living under a rock and don’t get that reference—please join us soon!) but it did not follow the same rules on me that it appears to have followed on the model pictured in the magazine. No, I believe that the model and I have different rules. I was also not pleased with how the cables looked a bit sloppy, like maybe I needed to use a smaller needle (granted, the picture does not support this concern). After Cable-down Raglan sat for about a year in this 1-sleeve-to-go state, I am now ready to tear it apart and use the yarn for Attempt 4. This decision was weighed carefully (and avoided for an extended period), and I believe it required a great deal of activity in my anterior cingulate cortex. This is a portion of the prefrontal cortex that allows one to recognize conflicts and make decisions when there are options to consider. Do I finish Cable-down Raglan and see if I like it after I’ve worn it a few times, or do I abandon it now and use the yarn for something I might actually wear? The conflict is that so much work has already been done (work that required my dorsolateral PFC, even), but it looks terrible on me. My extensive experience of completing items that look terrible has helped tip the balance toward Attempt 4.

Attempt 4 is Diminishing Rib Cardigan designed by Andrea Pomerantz (fellow science geek knitter; see her blog here) from the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits. I’ve decided that the only way to make this color work for me is to keep it very simple. This pattern is considerably less PFC-dependent than was Attempt 3. You can see the modeled version here.

I've made it to the arm-holes with yarn I had not used yet, but now it is necessary to start taking yarn from the sweater in the picture...I'll share my progress soon.

Listening to my amygdala

I was recently reminded to heed the danger signals when a project is not going well.

Few hat patterns have caught my attention as much as Mary Ann Stephens' Polar Chullo. I am a big fan of Fair Isle knitting and I have a HUGE stash of fingering weight yarn--the chullo is a perfect project.

As I cast on 192 stitches (foregoing the flaps) I thought "that's a lot of stitches". The smallest circular needles I could find that were not already being used in my abundance of partially started projects were #2s and the patterns calls for #1s. Well, it's Fair Isle and tight is tight, so it wouldn't make much difference. These needles were 16 inches long, so the work was very bunched up. You see where this is going. I did, too, but I didn't LISTEN.

Here is a picture of the 30-inch hat band.
I have learned that my color choices look fine, that it would look better if the stitches were tighter, and that a 16-inch circular needle is too short. So, I have ordered a special pair of addi turbo size #0 20-inch needles.

Before I reached this Zen state of "it's the process, it's all good", I had an episode of rage. I got my indignant self on Ravelry to commiserate with everyone else who had a 30-inch hat band. Instead I saw 21 or so gorgeous hats, a bunch of colorways that were spectacular, and not a single mention of 10-inch distortions in hat band size. I was reminded that there are some amazing knitters out there. I was not feeling like one of them, and I got rather sad.

Not one to stay sad for long (it did last longer than the typical result of a knitting project gone awry), I pulled out of the episode by using some positive reappraisal: "at least you stopped before you completed the entire hat" and "now you know it's worth trying with a smaller needle size". I also reminded myself that my hat will look just as good as some of the ones on Ravelry.

The danger signals were coming from my amygdala, where past disappointments of failed knitting projects are stored in my brain. This brain area is part of a primitive circuit that coordinates a defensive response in the face of danger. A big bear jumps onto your hiking path, so your amygdala gets signals from your eyes and nose (big stinky dangerous thing) and also from your cortex (brown bear, more scared of you than you of him, but be careful anyway) and sends signals to your brainstem and hypothalamus to coordinate the appropriate response (increased heart rate, sweaty palms, courage to make yourself look bigger by jumping up and down, arms waving). This response begins subconsciously, before the cortex has time to interpret the details. Good thing, because sometimes thinking takes too long.

It might be good to get more in tune with the early signals from the amygdala. It's usually very accurate about detecting danger, like when 192 stitches on #2 needles seems like too much. It would be better to listen early on, before it becomes all too clear that disaster has struck.

Can't we open the presents YET !!!!!!!!!

This is my favorite holiday project. Roving dyed to match a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.






We had a white Christmas, much to Brown's delight.

Wool maven and a wurm

Brownie is growing into a teenager. He has developed a fondness for the yarn in my "random" basket, where he is often found making himself comfortable, treating a specific skein of hand spun like it was a mouse he's captured, and diving to find more yarn to molest.





















He still likes to be carried around. Here he is helping me model Wurm (see Wurm on Ravelry for the free pattern, or, if you read German, you can go directly to umschlagplatz.at). It's the coolest hat to make and is surprisingly comfortable.

New blog guest

My former test-driver, Barney, is no longer with us.  He passed away July 28 after being our buddy for 4 years.  We miss him very much.  We decided very quickly that we needed another cat, so we found Brownie.  He is a kitten, though he's grown so much in the last few weeks you would not think so.  Here are a few pictures taken in the last week.  He does not yet understand the concept of sleeping in a cat bed, but at least he is touching it in this shot.

His favorite thing to do is burrow in the magic blanket and make air biscuits.

Barney had no interest in yarn or fiber, but Brownie is a big fan of both.  

Knitting as a procedural memory

The person who I consider to be the most famous psychology human subject passed away last December, at the age of 82, after being studied since he was 27 years old. It was at that time in 1953 that H.M. (as he was known until his death) lost his ability to store new memories as a result of a surgical procedure that was done to treat severe epilepsy. While the surgery was successful in preventing the seizures that had incapacitated H.M., it had a devastating effect on the rest of his life. It was thought at first that he was no longer able to form any new memories, but the work of Brenda Milner revealed that he was able to form some types of new memory, just not the kind that we usually think of. He could learn new skills, but he would not be able to say when and where he learned the skill or even that he had the skill. It would only be revealed in his actions.

When H.M. died, and it was revealed that his initials stood for Henry Molaison, it was also revealed that his brain was to be studied at UC San Diego, and that the public would be able to view the process and the resulting brain images at the Brain Observatory (see description of the HM project here). I was delighted to find the link to a NOVA episode that featured this work. It's definitely worth 10 minutes of your time! You can get there by clicking here: NOVA

I'm sure that if Mr. Molaison had been taught to knit after his surgery, he would have retained that skill and made some pretty awesome projects!

new box

My mumma gets a new toy and all there is for me is this box.

New (and last) wheel

A Schacht Matchless!

It's a bit different...

hand-all hat

Here is a hand-dyed, hand-spun and hand-knit hat that I really like.

It might be some of the last yarn I spin on the old Babe's wheel!

new twine

It was not twine when I made the purchase.

Maine Knuts

Some of the knuts visited Harpswell, ME for the weekend. We had a great time!

Melville Workshop Musings

I’ve been knitting like a fiend for 23+ years, but it is only in the last 3 days that I have been to a knitting workshop. Not just any ‘ole workshop, but one run by Sally Melville. The LYS that I frequent most often was offering the workshops, and I decided to rope a friend into attending. The only one that fit both our schedules was called Knit to Fit and Flatter and required us to produce paper doll replicas of our own bodies. This form of reality took multiple days to process and should be on every health-conscious person’s refrigerator. It might also help if it was posted at every donut/coffee shop between one’s house and workplace. Anyway, I recovered from that shock in time to listen to some instructions, which included producing clothes for our doll selves. It was good to get covered up and to learn that certain styles can be made to be flattering. I went home and dragged out all the sweaters that I wear frequently and discovered that these were the ones that “followed the rules”. I now feel totally empowered to make sweaters that will look appropriate on me and I will hesitate less to get rid of the sweaters that I love to look at, but not wear. I can’t promise I will actually get rid of these, I’m just leaning that direction. Small steps.

The best part was to return for another workshop a few days later with some of those rule-abiding sweaters, plus one that I knew could look better on me. It was made prior to my new understanding of the rules. I thought it would prompt Sally to say, “see what I mean”? She did say something like that, and then asked for some scissors to show me how to fix it. I don’t have a before close-up, but here is the aftermath of the sweater modification. Perhaps my other rule-breaking sweaters will meet a similar fate. I’m very excited to bind off the raw edge and add it to the rule-abiding pile.


In general the workshops were productive and very fun. I hung out with 2 good friends at the first one (I only roped one into it, the other came under her own volition). We all bonded by enduring the distress of viewing our paper doll selves. Here is mine, fully and appropriately dressed in my ideal short-length unfitted sweater and an A line skirt. I don’t actually own such a skirt, but that’s what I should be wearing. Maybe not those colors.

Sally’s view is that patterns should be more flexible than they are, with indications of where to lengthen or shorten the body or to adjust the sleeve to fit better. This principle is applied in the Knitting Experience series, but it’s dialed up a few notches in Mother-Daughter Knits, with the first chapter all about the fit and flatter material that was covered in the Paper Doll Self workshop. I know that this book is going to be an important reference for my projects going forward. I don’t generally follow patterns, but I may be convinced to follow some from this book. It helps to have seen some of the sweaters, modeled by Sally herself. More info about Sally is at her website: http://www.sallymelvilleknits.com/index.html

Thanks, Sally, for the inspiration and the useful information.