Spring Awakening

One knows that spring has arrived with the appearance lilacs for sale outside every deli on the Upper West Side. At long last, we are experiencing here in the City a burst of lovely, winsome weather.

Ah Spring! The trees bud, the tulips bloom, and city faces bear giddy smiles. A euphoria is felt in spite of oneself, and one's best efforts to appear steady, stern.

Yet, with this joyous surge also dawns a dilemma: What to knit? And, frankly, who wants to? Who wants to knit when there are buds to sniff and parks to roam in all their fleeting, springtime splendor? For a Pilgrim as Knitty as oneself, 'tis quite the quandary.

On reflection, one realizes 'tis nature's way of telling the Pilgrim: Lighten Up! Think small! Think cotton! Think Socks!

And so, the Pilgrim embarks on yet another in a series of stripey socks for the L-SO. This time, doing the striping oneself using three different cotton yarns in a royal blue, a light blue and a very spring-y green.

Tedious it 'tis, but oh how uplifting for Long-Suffering feet!

One down, one more to go. May they put a Spring in his step!

Once more into the stash...

Continuing one's stashbusting ritual, the Pilgrim came across a few random skeins of his beloved Noro Silk Garden: five of them, in fact, in the same color scheme, crying out for attention.

What to do with them, one didn't have a clue. And so, taking up needles, the Pilgrim started to play.

Here we have the beginnings of a bias-knit, diagonal striping garter stitch scarf. And so far, so good: if I do say so myself, a most auspicious start!

Stashbusting 2

Continuing one's stash attack, the Pilgrim recently completed this fingerless glove (well, two of them actually) using a luscious little skein from the stash.

Mountain Colors Hand-Painted Yarns
"Mountain Goat"
55% Mohair
45% Wool

The hand-painted variegation serves to obscure the cabling pattern on the back of the hand. But how can one describe the touch and texture of this lovely yarn? One can't.

The Pilgrim has never been one to wear such a thing, but you may take him at his word when he tells you that he absolutely LOVES. THESE. GLOVES. Another new-found delight from the ongoing stashbusting scheme!

Pattern:
"Beer Gloves" by Kurt Fausset
from the book "Son of Stitch 'N Bitch"

Stashbusting Pilgrim

A quick scarf project is as good a way to use up a leftover skein or two as any. It is for times like these that the Pilgrim keeps his trusty stitch guides at hand.

Yea, even the lowly scarf can be a way to keep one's mind creatively engaged and, indeed, serve as an incubator of ideas for larger projects yet to come.

Matching a pattern to a fiber in a way one has not tried before can create lovely little scarf surprises for oneself or one's friends.

Case in point, the Diagonal Garter Ribbing scarf created from a bit of leftover Rowan Felted Tweed, and a simple stitch pattern from Debbie Bliss' "How To Knit."

I love how the traveling diagonals meld with the rich, tweedy goodness of the fiber, which was doubled in this case to add some tweedy bulk.

I call this a success, and one that I believe I will enjoy all to myself...

Putting one's feet up...

Taking a pilgrimage to the country for a few days in celebration of our presidents (current one notwithstanding), and taking some time to put up one's feet. But not before sharing the latest stripey socks for the Long-Suffering Other, who will also be putting up feet, not unlike the recent photo at right. Note the particular, long-suffering quality, lessened only slightly by newly knit stripes.

Ah, the three-day weekend...

Lost in Austen

Please tell me that the Pilgrim is not the only one to be lost in Austen of late. With PBS running The Complete Jane Austen over the course of six or seven Sundays (and what great knitting accompaniment that is!), he has found himself completely immersed. So much, in fact, that he has declared 2008 the year that he will read (or reread) the complete works.

Tis a reasonable goal: there are, I believe, but six published full-length novels. And as one can see, I have run out already and purchased the Penguin Classics set.


To date I have completed reading "Sense and Sensibility," as the dog-eared paperback at right will attest.

"P & P" would logically come next - as it did originally in print. But do chime in, Gentle Reader, with your thoughts. Which of Miss Austen's oeuvre should the Pilgrim pick up next?

I do look forward to your comments and, as always, your thoughts.

Until next time...
Happy Reading.
- KP

Uncle-ar Pride (or, Having Gifted the Hoodie)

Awww shucks.

I guess this means he liked it...he really liked it!