Molecular Knitting

You may remember that in July I wrote about the death of my paternal grandmother, Grandma Adeline. You may also remember that in January I posted about my maternal grandmother, Grandma Frances, turning 100 years old on 1/11/11. Well, on August 30th I got a phone call from my mom, saying that Grandma Frances was in a very bad way and there was nothing to be done. She died the next day. The last thing she did before dying, after getting dressed and having breakfast in the dining room because pulmonary edema and failing kidneys were no excuse to change one’s routine, was to laugh. We have to score that a good death. I know she was at peace before she died, and I know that I miss her.

Since she was an avid knitter to the age of 95-96, I wanted to wear something I had knit to her funeral. Recently I had finished the Cleite Shawl by Miriam Felton in some lovely Handmaiden Sea Silk in Blackberry, so I wore that with a fine-gauge cotton sweater in navy. Several people noticed the shawl at the funeral and told me they were pleased to see Grandma Frances’ love of needlework passed down. Everyone was confused about the yarn having seaweed in it. I obviously didn’t take photos that day, but last week, M took these in the field outside our place.





My pattern notes can be found on my Ravelry project page.

It’s almost September! How did that happen? I may need a sweater in a couple of months. Good thing I have one on in progress!

This is the body and partially-unattached collar to Notre Dame de Grace by Veronik Avery from the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits. I’m knitting it in Cascade Ecological Wool, which is very wooly, and so I lurves it with a deep and abiding passion. Comments on Ravelry suggested that the sleeves were written very long, so I have seamed the shoulders and tried it on before attempting the sleeves. And since I need to make the sleeves 3 inches shorter than written, this was a good plan. Good thing I can do maths! (I like how the Brits and Canadians say maths instead of math–makes it sound so much harder.)

I also swatched for Amy Herzog’s lovely vest, Sebasco.

Amy designs such attractive sweaters that there are many I would like to knit, but at this time, a vest, especially one that opens like a cardigan, is what I need, so Sebasco it is. The textured stitch is the daisy stitch from Barbara Walker, and it is fun to do and really a great look. The yarn is Wool of the Andes in claret heather: good thing I had this in stash. Amy knit hers in Ultra Alpaca for great drape, but my eyes and nose don’t let me do the alpaca thing. I really think my eyeballs will burst out of my head in a gush of tears if I ever handle baby alpaca again. Alpaca is not a good thing at chez Molecular Knitting.

However, a tasty cocktail is always a good thing (except perhaps for breakfast). This is a Royal Gingersnap.

It’s royal because it calls for Crown Royal Canadian whiskey, and it’s gingersnap because it also contains Domaine Canton ginger liqueur. It has other things in it, especially something that makes it orange, probably OJ, but I don’t remember what they are exactly. I just pick out the cocktails and then drink them. M does all the technical stuff, including occasional maths with fractions.

And finally, what could more of a good thing than masses of flowers at the Sacramento Farmers’ Market?


The man who sells these is always beaming; growing acres of flowers must be good for the soul.

Thanks, BTW, for all the reading advice from my last post. I’ve been trying some things out in the graphic novels and space operas, and I’ll give an update soon.

Over the years on the interwebs I’ve seen several of these book stacks, and they’ve always tickled me. I finally couldn’t resist making my own, as I have a bookish request to make.

As I like to explore the world of reading, I would like to try a couple of things that I have no experience in.

First, I would like to read a graphic novel–one written as a graphic novel, not a classic novel made into a graphic novel. As for sub-genre, perhaps fantasy or urban fantasy? Any readers of graphic novels, suggest away!

Second, I would like to read a “space opera.” But which to choose? Looking at online reviews of perfect strangers is next to useless, as opinions for any given book tend to be polar opposites: “the best/worst space opera ever written!” “the shallowest/most in-depth characters ever!” “most imaginative/boring world-building in fiction!”
Your suggestions please!

On the knitting front, I am planning on knitting the Tsunami Sock from Knitted Socks East and West by Judy Sumner. The pair in the book are knit in a perfect stormy grey. But a grey tsunami is not for me. The question is do I want an orange tsunami or a teal tsunami? Such a difficult decision!

I perhaps enjoy making book stacks a little too much:

Slowly, our summer improves. Since summer easily extends through September, there is still plenty of time to enjoy weekend afternoons and many evenings on the patio. Last Sunday, we finished off a batch of Limoncello Fizzy Sangria that we had made for a lab member’s moving away party. It was a big success at the party and very refreshing. It also looks good photographed with the sun shining through it:

We got the recipe from 101 Sangrias and Pitcher Drinks by Kim Haasarud. The publisher is Wiley, who I thought published mostly textbooks. Hmmm….

I also finished knitting a crazy sock:

The pattern is Chouwa from Knitted Socks East and West by Judy Sumner. Chouwa means harmony, and this sock obviously bypasses that concept, but since I have so few wild socks, I say it’s a keeper. The best part of knitting this sock was that I figured out how to knit stockinette in the round while reading. Using my iPad, and making the text large, I was able to read and knit simultaneously! This made the stockinette portion fly by, and I didn’t have to decide whether I wanted to read or knit.

Now, I can knit many of my more vividly colored variegated sock yarns into simple stockinette socks without becoming bored to tears. That is a victory in my book. I even started a new sock in that very vein:

That yarn is Seacoast Panda (merino/bamboo) in Cinco de Mayo. And it’s stripey!

Kitty #34 would like me to say that reading and knitting is nothing compared to her victory. She made it up onto M’s lap!

Usually as she walks around she keeps up a constant meowing commentary, but one morning she was quiet, and she took M by surprise (I’m told she was in “super secret kitty, silent, stealth, invisibility mode”–something beyond human comprehension). He let her stay up there, blissed out, for several minutes; he even pet her a bit, being careful not to rub his eyes before washing his hands. Lucky for Kitty #34, he isn’t super allergic to her. She purred, which she informs me was real love-purring, whereas when she sits on my lap, she pity purrs. Hmmm… Pity Purring…like one of my babysitters when I was little would say when she thought we were fibbing about something, “My Great Aunt Fanny.”

This has not been the easiest summer. Just when I thought things might ease up a bit at work, I needed to rapidly get some data done to help a labmate get a paper ready for publication. And just as I was getting started with that, I found out my younger grandmother (only 96), Grandma Adeline, was in the hospital with pneumonia and kidney failure. She only survived a day in the hospital, where all they could do was make her comfortable. So, we hurried back to the Midwest for her funeral.  She had planned her funeral, and a deacon of her church, who was a close friend, led the service with great love and sincerity. She was very smart, was a wonderful story teller, and had a great sense of humor, so she will be missed.

Then it was back to California to all those experiments to do and all the housework and laundry to catch up on. When I am under stress, I have trouble focusing. And since I am normally able to focus bizarrely well, a lack of focus is all the more upsetting. I must have at least 6 books started. I have so many socks started, that I can’t knit any second socks until I finish another first. Even though I have a third of a sweater done, I’ve swatched for several other garments and large projects. I have two FOs to weave in ends and block. It’s all a little too much right now.

I finally downloaded a whole raft of pictures from the small point-and-shoot camera I carry in my purse, and I’ve chosen some of my favorite images that cheer and calm:
A neighbor’s tree in bloom

Kitty #34 looking disgruntled; she’s probably wondering where M, her true love, is.

Kitty #34 wondering why M, her true love, won’t let her up into his lap (he’s allergic).

A neighborhood view during an evening walk (I love the light).

Another view of our neighborhood.

Roses at the university arboretum.

M making cocktails.

Oy! M and I have been under the gun at work: papers to get ready to submit and data for grants to acquire. Oy! I didn’t mean to be away for so long, but I’m still catching my breath. At least these were all good things to be doing as a research biochemist, but it did make me a veg every evening. But while vegging I got a little done in the knitting department (there’s a FO to block and another to photo, but not today). Let’s look at some sock stuff. I’ve finished the first Amethyst Roger sock:

And I’ve also finished the first Rose Quartz Calcareous sock (don’t the gusset decreases on the top of the foot flatter the cable pattern):

Because I’m not one to knit two matching socks one right after the other, I started this little ribbed sock in some BFL from Huckleberry Knits; the color is Winesap:

And I started another sock, where I plan to do the gusset decreases on the bottom of the foot, as I’ve heard that makes for a nice fitting heel. This is STR in Waterlilies, and I really like the colors:

And just for some flowery beauty, at the Sacramento farmers’ market, I bought some pink gerbera daisies and chartreuse spider mums. I just couldn’t resist; they were so fresh and pretty:

Happy knitting!

Before we discuss red, May and jam, I want to tell you that Friday is M’s Birthday! Yay! I won’t tell you his age, except to say that the number is the answer to what is the meaning of life, the universe and everything. If you are inclined, you should wish him a happy day in the comments; it will embarrass him greatly, and that’s a lot of fun. He says his favorite hobby is picking on me, so this is quite fair.

I thought I would take part in Project Spectrum this year, which Lolly is running from May through November. The colors for May are red and orange. I tried knitting a red shawlette in some Madelinetosh Sock in Tart. I got this far and completely lost interest. I think I’ll make red socks instead. So that’s that.

But May was not a red washout, because the strawberries finally came into season here! We have had a very cold and wet spring for Northern California, so the strawberries are a bit late. But they were worth waiting for!

I decided to make two kinds of strawberry jam: strawberry marmalade* and balsamic strawberry jam#. The marmalade has oranges and orange peel (without the bitter pith) and the balsamic jam used balsamic vinegar in addition to lemon juice for the acid. Fresh out of the canner, the jars didn’t look very red.

So I took some up to my “photo studio” and tried to backlight them. Not very red.

Because I’m a scientist, I do experiments, so I put the backlight light source right behind the left jar in the middle row. I took the picture, even though I had come to the conclusion that jam is rather opaque in a jar.

You can see in the lighter jars, which are the marmalade, that I have a floating fruit issue. Since I’m not entering my jam in the county fair, I decided I can live with floating fruit, especially since I had done all the “tips” to keep floating fruit from happening. Anyway, my opaque jam photos prompted me to make some toast and to spread on the jams. Up front is the strawberry marmalade and in the back in the balsamic strawberry jam. At last they look red!

Once I downloaded the photos, I decided that the I should have used a higher f-stop to get greater depth of field. If I had done that, the balsamic strawberry jam toast would also be in focus, and it might have liked that. But I had already eaten the toast and jam. It was delicious. So that is all.

* The Strawberry Marmalade recipe is from 175 best Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and Other Soft Spreads by Linda J. Amendt.

# The Balsamic Strawberry Jam is a variation on the standard strawberry jam recipe in Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine.

Happy Birthday, M!!