a simple yarn

Indulging in a bit of retrospectivity…

One of my favorite pictures from our first days in Ireland.

Had stumbled upon a hidden inlet, rocks relentlessly battered by waves until rounded and smooth. What a treat as we, too, felt relentlessly battered by new cultural experiences in those early days.
How small the Kiddies seem!

Appropriate, then, to come full circle for another visit to the inlet during our last days on the island.

A few other pictorial indulgences thrown in for good measure…

Off the coast of Wicklow

Glendalough, Co. Wicklow

I suppose I ought to be kicked out of the world-wide knitting sorority.

This past weekend was Isobel’s birthday picnic, blending knitters and non-knitters. After lunch and before being rained out (as is common at any outdoor Irish event), Sara pulled out her knitting.

‘What did you bring to knit?’

Ah, the inevitable question.
Without pause, Sharon said she had done her knitting on the lengthy car trip to the picnic.
Birthday-girl Isobel had a traveling sock along.
And me?
Um.
Ehm.
Knitting?

Had to confess that I didn’t have any along with me. Oh. But more telling to this sad tale is that I didn’t even think about bringing any. Oh my. And sadder yet is that Sara sympathetically offered a small on-the-go-mobile-phone-sock for me to work away at, but…I just didn’t feel like it. Oh my goodness.

I must be slipping.

So, while I wallow in the dregs of knittingdom, let me share a little story in this ‘Knit on Monday’ post that has absolutely nothing to do with knitting…thankfully, it has a happy ending.

Attention: Non-Knitting Happy Customer Service Tale Ahead
One of the things I think Europeans do well is…wellies. You know, Wellington boots….rain gear for your feet. And having lived in a perpetually damp culture for the past six years, I knew one souvenir I wanted to take away, since the decision to move to the US had been made, was a nifty pair of wellies.

After lots of faffing about, I finally found a pair, which for me, is the quintessential pair of cool wellies, designed by Ilse Jacobsen. But, ack, none in my size in the local shops! Fair enough, off to the internet…

Apologies, Non-Knitting Post With Happy Tale Is Getting Rather Lengthy…Time For Highlights

1. Go to www.wellieart.co.uk.
2. Measure feet as instructed.
3. Order wellies.
4. Arrive in a few days.
5. Too big. $@£!!!$%&£@
6. Moving soon and starting to panic.
7. Send pathetic email, can I get them in time…will they ship to the US if not?
8. Send back too-large-wellies on Friday.
9. Receive nice email response, also on Friday.
10. Only one pair in stock. Order second pair in correct size, duh, on Friday.
11. Still panicked about remaining time in Ireland (21 days) and delivery time as website says something about 21 days delivery for orders outside UK.
12. Receive nice email from Lorraine on Sunday saying that while they usually don’t work on weekends, they went to warehouse, got my wellies, made a special trip to the post office and they were quite envious of my move to the US.
13. Get new wellies on Monday.
14. They fit. I’m totally chuffed.

Now, who says customer service is dead?

Okay, be honest… does anyone really enjoy swatching?

I find knitting little samples to assure myself of the right gauge to be rather boring and avoid it whenever I can. Yes, I know it saves time in the long run. But what then do I do with this 4×4-inch bit of worked-up yarn? I suppose if I were really creative, I’d keep every single one and eventually make a patchwork quilt. Sigh, I’m just not that ingenious…

Given such feelings, how ironic then that the time I’ve spent on the stair tread project has resulted in one oversized swatch. What began as a tangle of pre-felted I-cord knit to a random length of 315 inches (because I couldn’t be bothered to knit any more and didn’t want to cut off any unused length)…

…ended up as a tangle of post-felted I-cord duly shrunk to a length of 212 inches. That’s a fairly normal result of about 67% of the original length.

After winding it around and pinning into place, I come out with a mat that’s 4.5 x 21 inches. Hmm…what size should a stair tread ought to be? Oops, probably should’ve googled that one before starting.

Erm, regular retail braided rug stair treads measure 8 x 28 inches. Rats, not nearly there. But I have an impression (based on nothing at all really) that our cottage steps are not quite full size. Need Husband-Will to do a quick measure of ‘em before he comes to Dublin. After doing a bit of who-knows-if-its-relevant mathematical computations, I estimate that I need to knit at least another 315 inches of pre-felted I-cord to get a mat that’s nearly the size of the retail ones.

So, what to do with my swatch…um, a nifty trivet perhaps?

Apologies, syrupy Hallmark moment ahead…

Ya wanna know the great thing about spring?
The anticipation of lovely garden promises soon to be fulfilled.
(Right, Hallmark prose done)

Had a nice albeit whirlwind holiday in the US acquainting ourselves with new environs. The cottage is very cute, small by American standards, but suits us well.

What got my heart pumping was…(okay, I should probably complete this sentence with ‘… being reunited with my husband after many weeks.’)

But what really got my heart pumping was…the garden.

A veritable Eden filled with blooms and blooms-to-be. Immediately, I found myself anticipating what the remaining months of spring would bring, knowing that some flowers would come and go before I’d return to see them. Sigh. Still, it was satisfying to witness their infancy. Will definitely need to reacquaint myself with local flora. And will also need a bit of study on a new topic…

…grapes.

The last time I visited Washington, DC, I was 12 years old.

Original Smithsonian Institution building

Washington Monument

Gotta confess that Americans do museums and monuments well…

Depends on your cultural frame of reference, I guess.

Here’s a photo.

To my Irish friends, it’s a familiar name in the weaving world with interesting clothing, home furnishings and a great café to meet up with friends.

To my American friends, it reflects a well-known sight around Annapolis, Maryland, the ubiquitous Navy midshipman.

Yep, a blend of Irish and American culture—Avoca on US soil. Sadly, though, the shop lacks the hip and trendy merchandise of the Irish-based shops. With cheesy Irish folk music in the background, it seems more a caricature, a la ‘The Quiet Man’ or Carroll’s Irish Gifts, than true innovative Irish design.

But still, it’s nice to see a friendly Irish ‘face’ all the same.

Lots of shrinkable, new wool in the yarn stash.

What I Need: Something to cover the wooden stairs in the new US house.

I love wood floors, don’t get me wrong. They look rather lovely in the little vintage cottage we’ve purchased in Alexandria (Virginia, that is, not Egypt). But having lived with wooden stairs before, they are loud under my Exuberant-Eight-Year-Old-Boy’s feet and, when the occasional tumble happens, can be quite painful. Carpeting? Huh-uh. Stair treads? You bet!

So, with that thought lurking in the back of my brain, I am now seeing all those accumulated leftover bits of wool as newly recycled raw material for just such a project, and feeling quite ‘earth friendly’ to boot!

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due Diversion
Now, Leigh Radford has a similar idea in her ‘One Skein’ book, called the Labyrinth Circle Rug. But other than the general idea, it’s at this point that I digress from her pattern. Rather than knitting it flat and having to seam it up the back, I just knit i-cord.

After knitting what seem to be miles and miles of endless i-cord (changing the colours at random to keep from falling asleep), take the i-cord snake; pop it into the washer and felt. After drying, wind into a circle…or oval…whatever shape you fancy. Pin into place and hand stitch with sturdy thread. Presto, instant felt mat, kinda like this one from a few years back…

…but this time, it’s stair treads that I want. And the felting will make ‘em durable, which is also something that I want. The trick will be to figure out how long to make the ‘snake’ to get a final mat the size of each step. I’m in for a bit of trial and error it seems. So, I’m taking my scraps of wool and 2 extremely short and very innocent looking wooden dpns for some mind-numbingly-boring airplane knitting*. But honestly, the thought of those brightly coloured mats keeps my needles going!

…sans photos, I’m afraid.

So, where are we at the moment?  In the US, at least for the next week.  Kiddies and I need to return to Dublin to pack up, finish school, say our farewells, which is the crappity part of this whole transition.  Final departure from Ireland happens mid-June.

Right then, during the next month or so, posts might be here, there or anywhere, as time and energy allow.

Because of dodgy internet connections, I can’t respond individually to the very lovely comments that have been left.  But thanks so much for a warm and hearty welcome back to the US.  Have to confess that culture shock (of the reverse kind) is creeping in.  But, all will be well as soon as I get into a knitting group and crank up the needles again.  Ahhh!

Okay, just one picture to remind me of the Dublin mountains before we left for our quick US trip…local free range sheep in the back garden.