Places into Lines, Lines into Patterns

I’ve spent the last week and a half or so traipsing about Switzerland (my day job sent me to a conference in Lausanne and I’ve taken advantage of the enclosing weekends to do some sightseeing research.

I can definitely say that I’m headed home full of ideas, some based on garments I’ve seen in shop windows (as an aside, I now have proof of a sort that the Europeans believe Americans have no taste — the Missoni garments here have absolutely stunning use of fabric and colour. Nothing I’ve seen of that label in the US even comes close. It’s like we get their “well, this was an experiment, and we’re not really happy with it, but you’re so garish over there, you’ll probably buy it anyway” line. But I digress.) and most based on the places I’ve been. I think of Lavaux as the curving lines of terraced vineyards. Lausanne is a collection of wrought iron balconies, each with its own unique pattern. Zurich is a city of clock towers surrounded by gentle waves (there’s no mistaking that the Swiss are expert watchmakers here; watches in every window and I think I counted 4 different and very grand clock towers during my wander through the city this afternoon). Zermatt is defined by the mountain peaks that surround it standing guard over the town and by the glaciers that creep between peaks and flow into crevices. By wooden architecture with bright shutters and vibrant flowers.

I’d love to spend more time, capturing the quieter places and taking more than a day or two to absorb ambiance. But, you know, I’ll take what I can get.

My “notebook” (a set of files on my iPad) is full of sketches and scribbles and I think I have knitting fodder for a good six months. It’s an exciting journey, this trip from knitter to designer, especially the part it’s playing in changing how I look at the world. I pay more attention to detail… but also to essences and to abstractions.

(I think this is why I’ve been a fan of the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone, lately. I didn’t pack the SLR for this trip due to it being heavy and my being weak and something of a clothes horse, and I found that my point-and-shoot wasn’t doing the things that I wanted it to do. I spent time fiddling with the technology, trying for something better than snapshots but nowhere near what my SLR can do and eventually abandoned it in favor of more impressionistic photography options. I wanted photos, but I also wanted to be really present and see with my eyes and my heart and not with my camera. So something that creates the old and awkward and impressionistic and arty has been a good fit).

I’ve been knitting, some, (I knit 3000 stitches on a train between Munich and Zurich, yet somehow this only added about 3″ of length to the sweater I wrote about in my last entry, and I’ve been working on the second of my Blue Greenhorn socks, but that’s bizarrely slow going), but mostly I’ve preferred to observe and to think. I guess that happens to all of us, sometimes.

I expect the knitting to increase when I return to my “normal” life. Minus 8 hours of knitting on my flight to the US. Apparently they don’t let knitting needles on planes in Switzerland, and after my adventure with Airport Security in New Zealand, I’m not interested in taking chances this trip.

Zen and the Art of Knitting in Public

“I admire you for being able to knit standing up” said the precocious 8-year old who’d started a conversation with me on Muni, “I have to go find somewhere calm and quiet.”

“I like knitting on trains,” I told her.  “It kind of creates a quiet place for me.”

And it really does.  Not all the time, not every day, of course… (Nevermind that I did have to buy noise-canceling headphones for the days when I really just can’t bear to hear another conversation about someone’s trashy ex-lover or drunken exploits or stupid roommate antics.  They bring truly incredible levels of joy to my commute, and an excuse to knit little cozies for them in some very vibrant variegated yarn that I probably wouldn’t dare use for much else, but that is really a minor point in all this.) but often enough that in some respects, I rather enjoy my commute.  It is time that belongs to me, a sort of quiet time where I can focus on my knitting and clear my mind of a lot of other things… or process them, depending.

Which is perhaps why there are days when I resent the loud people and their loud conversations.

In other news, the Happy Wanderer Capelet has been marching along.  It’s up to somewhere in the neighbourhood of 450 stitches per row (lots of increases in the pattern — the trouble with knitting something like this top-down), which means that on a good night (one where I don’t get totally absorbed in whatever movie I’m watching) I only manage to finish 3 or 4 rows.  I’ve finished knitting nearly 3 balls into the garment — I have 4 left in my stash that can be used for the body of the capelet which means that, depending on my level of gluttony, I can choose to make it a bit longer than it’s coming out in the pattern as written.  I think my row guage is a bit tighter than the pattern calls for (reasonably so, given that I’m using a finer yarn and smaller needles) which means that for things to feel proportioned correctly I’ll need to add some length.  I think I’ve got quite a ways to go.  Fortunately, I also have lots of good movies at home and a Netflix membership and it’s the sort of project that is pretty much idea for working on while watching movies/tv.  The striping, thus far, is working for me (I was a little worried, at first, but it seems to be a real point in the capelet’s favor, thank you Noro and your beautiful long, blended stripes)… and I love having an excuse to use many a pretty stitch marker.  Only downside is that the cable it’s on 32″ is a little short… I think I’d try 40 in the future so I have a bit less of a mushroom feeling while it’s in progress.

It is also, of course, temporarily on hold (like all of my other wips) while I work on until I finish my Ravelympics project, which I’m calling “Vintage Seamed Ravelympics Socks.” I’m making the Red Thread pattern by Cookie A. knit in Koigu Premium Merino and Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino in pretty chocolate brown for the toes/heels/cuffs and a beautiful variegated colourway for the “main color.”  A much better match for my wardrobe than the pattern originally calls for, I think.

I cast on this morning when I inexplicably woke up at around 5:30 (I am generally NOT a morning person, so this is very strange indeed) and I’m finished with the toe of the first sock and about 11 rounds into the pattern on the foot.  Not crazy about the traveling rib pattern thus far, but it might have something to do with how weird my m1ps are.  Maybe I need to pull them tighter or something.

Excited about the design ideas I’m getting from the process…