Scylla Socks

All done !

Pretty as a Pigture

Added a guinea pig / cavy to the family.  I have been watching her at the pet store for about 2 months and finally couldn't resist any longer.  Thinking of calling her Trifle as she is a tortie & white. She's been home about 24 hours and things are going well so far. Lola is not hugely impressed but has not flipped her lid, either.

Lola and Trifle

Ready for her closeup

Her right side has all black markings (with white) and her left side has all red markings (with white) except where a black splash spills over her back. Unusual and stunning. It is like having two pigs in one!  I haven't had an abyssinian in a long time, I forgot how cute their crazy fur is.

Coursera - History of the Slave South, Assignment 2

While Jefferson waxes rhetorical with observations about slavery and speculation about black physiology in the "Laws" section of Notes on the State of Virginia, the "Manners" section seems to give a snapshot of his actual judgement about slavery. He fears that the wrath of God will come down on the new Republic and observes "The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust" (p 175).

Returning to the "Laws" section of the text, we see Jefferson's observations about the very nature of blacks. While our essay prompt mockingly refers to 'science', this was cutting edge science for Jefferson and his contemporaries and these were serious concerns of the day.  Jefferson proffers many differences between blacks and whites, not only "political", but also "physical and moral" (p 149). He argues that upon the emancipation of the blacks in the Republic, they should be given a fresh start in a new land and be replaced by white immigrants; they cannot be incorporated into the Republic due to "Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites" and "ten thousand recollections by the blacks of the injuries they have sustained" (p 149). He goes on to delineate ways in which blacks are different from (read: inferior to) whites in their most basic attributes. He remarks that they are less attractive than whites, their bodies process waste differently from whites, giving them a "strong and disagreeable odor" but also makes them "more tolerant of heat, and less so of cold than whites" (p 150).  Jefferson continues by stating that blacks require less sleep, use less forethought, and are more ruled by sex than romance than whites. In fact, he summarizes nicely for us his position when he says "In general, their existence appears to participate more of sensation than reflection" (p150).

The modern reader at this point is tempted to raise a query at this point - what about blacks who were not slaves, or who became free and gained an education?  Here Jefferson compares the idea of an educated black writer to a white one: "though we admit him to the first place among those of his own color who have presented themselves to the public judgment ....when we compare him with [a white writer] we are compelled to enroll him at the bottom of the column" (p 152). Jefferson does not waver from his theory of black inferiority, even citing examples of enslaved whites who were far "smarter" than his contemporary enslaved blacks in America, and under supposed far harsher conditions (p154). Clearly he does not support the idea that slavery itself is the problem here.

For Jefferson, the only way that the idea of emancipation could be entertained was by putting forth the idea of removing all freed blacks from the American (white) Republic. He again contrasts the American situation to that of ancient Rome:   Among the Romans emancipation required but one effort. The slave, when made free, might mix with, without staining the blood of his master. But with us a second is necessary, unknown to history. When freed, he is to be removed beyond the reach of mixture." (p 155).

Resting Monday

Took the cat to the vet, finished the first Scylla sock & took 2 hampers of wash to the laundromat. A big day. 

Productive Saturday

• Went to work
• Tidied living room
• Knit on Scylla sock
• Checked on Hogsmeade Owl Post
• Watched an hour of Coursera lectures
• Watched some "Breaking Bad"
• Made lunch, fed dog
• Rejuvenating nap

Knitting Friday

The Scylla socks are moving right along - I am working the heel of sock 1 now.  Only 9 days left to go in the Olympics though so I had better keep up the pace.

The Marigold / Meadow Flowers shawl is also moving along well.  I finished both inner sections and am gearing up to start the two outer sections.  Beads have been obtained although I need to find my handy dandy breading crochet hook pretty soon.

Fritti the kitty is still acting odd, so it is back to the vet again Monday.  Wish us luck!

The Perfect Way to Study

At home, with knitting!

Coursera - History of the Slave South, Assignment 1

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database is a useful tool for accessing information about who enslaved people were, where they originated from and where they were sold.  We can combine these three parameters and begin to draw conclusions about how the slave trade shaped the American South.

The first table of data isolates the regions in North America where enslaved Africans were received.  At the start of the slave trade, there was a small total number of slaves and the difference between the colony with the fewest slave sales and the most is not very great. In the hundred years of the 18th century, however, the number of slaves increased dramatically, particularly in Virginia and South Carolina, which had plantations and cash crops. Slave importation for most other colonies did not increase as drastically, although a couple of colonies began importation during this time.  When compared to the total quantity of people sold into slavery during the slave trade (12 million), the North American colonies were an afterthought with a total import number of just over 366,000 people.

The second table of data isolates the regions of origin of the enslaved Africans who were transported to the North American colonies. Please note: this export figure of 242,000 is 1/3 less than the import figure discussed above. While locations of origin were spread along the coast, at the beginning of the slave trade the regions of the Bight of Biafra and West Central Africa were the first large scale exporters to the colonies. As the demand for slaves increased in the 18th century the areas of Sierra Leone, Windward Coast and Gold Coast jumped far ahead of the others in both percentage increase and overall number of slaves sent abroad. Interestingly, West Central Africa continued to export large numbers of people throughout this time and even into the 19th century when supply from the other regions either tapered off or was dramatically reduced.

The third table of data combines the information we have already reviewed and shows which specific areas enslaved people were taken from and where they were bought in the colonies. While most colonies (northerly and southerly) had slaves originating from all regions, primarily the plantation economy colonies had slaves who originated in West Central Africa or the Bight of Biafra. 

These charts are a useful resource for looking at the data of the slave trade.  The specificity of the information begins to rehumanize the very idea of a "slave trade"; knowing that people were taken, sold and transported between specific ports brings them closer to us. Unfortunately, the tables do not tell the whole story.  The reasons why the southern colonies received large numbers of people from these regions is not revealed by the tables; could it have been price, supply,  cultural attitude (temperament) or a combination of all these?  We are given points of disembarkation, but as so many enslaved people were captured & sold by rivals, enemies or human traffickers, where did they actually live before their journey began? Working with raw data and tables like these, while interesting, is just the start of the story of the slave trade and its shaping of the American South.

One Down

Kalajoki socks are done - that is 1 pair down, 13 to go.

Strawberry Surprise

Finished and blocked the Strawberry Shawl ("Vernal Equinox" by Wendy Johnson).  I think it came out wonderfully. The actual yarn has more black in it and is very deep & rich.

January Knitting

There has been so much knitting already this year.  I am still finishing up Amy's Equinox and am in the home stretch.  I think there will be enough yarn, but it has been a real knuckle biter.

I started a hat out of MadTosh and Shibuiknits Silk Cloud - still on the ribbing.   I am a little concerned it will be too small for my head, but ribbing is stretchy, right? The pattern is Green Tea Latte and is free!  It is my Loopy Challenge for January. Colors are Grasshopper & Lumen.

Next on the needles is a Kalajoki with Mountain Colors Bearfoot (colorway Yellowstone).  I have been longing to make socks again and it feels good to have one on the needles.  I really like the pattern as it is just tricky enough to keep things interesting, but not all over patterning.  

Sideways pictures YAY!

Just About Done

The silk & yak shawl is complete except for the finishing - wash, block & work in the ends. It will be a good detention turn in for the House Cup in January.

I love it beyond all reason.

A Little Crocheting

... and spinning was done at the end of last month.A few more squares for the steampunk blanket, some mohair spun on the drop spindle during Blizzcon and some red shetland that I picked up at the Torrance fiber fair.

Currently there is a shawl project with no pictures (I ran out of yarn and it is in the "time out" corner) and this small shawl (larger now) that is a real treat to knit. 

The yarn is handspun 3 ply silk & yak. I just started the 3rd (or 4th) repeat of the dark colors and it is stunning and soft as ... silk & yak.

Back on Track

It seems that all I use the blog for these days is as a portal to other updated blogs. Maybe I should become part of the action again.

October was full of WoW.

November has been full of WoW, including a trip to Blizzcon and dinging my 5th level 90 character.  It's been a great ride.  I also went to the Fiber Fair in Torrance and bought some very soft llama fiber.

I was knitting like crazy on a shawl but am running out of yarn and am in a dither.  Of course it is a commission and in a difficult color to match. 

Holly wants me to take her on more walks. 

Today I found a notification that I received a gift of a scarf pattern that I have wanted for several years (but was unwilling to pay $10 for).  I am a happy knitter! I think the previously mentioned llama will work well for it.  Now I have a spinning / knitting project for the next couple of months.

WoW weekend: part the second

I have played so much WoW this month. I am really getting my free subscription's worth.  My good friend started playing, so I had to start a character to help her along. We are 36 now.  I have been trying to add some experience to my little army of alts and keep their professions current. And of course there is Brewfest to enjoy!

I am also trying to get in some knitting; I made a crap ton of washcloths (at least 6) this month plus some blanket squares that seem to have disappeared and a pair of fingerless mitts for my aunt in Colorado.  The pattern was really fun & easy; I think there will be more in my future... if I can find the project bag. 

Holly the Wonder Spaniel and I started agility classes this month and that has been really interesting. I think I need way more training than she does.  In other pet news my elderly rabbit passed away. He must have been pushing 10.  The guinea pig looks a little lonely but I have no plans to add a friend.  The inn is full. Maybe I will move the rat cage near her so they can stare at each other through the bars.

That's about it for September.  On to October!

WoW: A Holiday Weekend

It was Labor Day weekend here in the states & I spent it doing pretty much nothing.  It was hot and muggy all weekend and it was all I could do to stumble from the freezer (for ice & creamsicles) to the a/c unit.

The time I was up I spent on the computer. Halah the druid reached 90 and Icihott the DK reached 80 (and then 81). I am quite pleased.

Malted

It's all done!

Malted Me

Still knittin'

New Month, New Knitalong

Well it is Camp Loopy time again and I started project 3 last night. The pattern is Malt by Tin Can Knits and the yarn is Cascade Ultra Pima Fine. I am short a skein, but have a whole month to come up with a solution. The knitting is very easy which is a huge relief after the intensity of July.

I really need a kick back project right now. Of course I am still trying to knit my Catkin, but I don't have the deadline pressure anymore. I hit a really fussy part of the pattern and can't do anything else while knitting it, no reading, no talking, no listening to the radio.

Today is just a lazy Saturday. I slept in until 8am (usually I get up around 5 - 5:30) and am getting warmed up for the day.

*update* Thanks to the gods of internet searches, I learned how to fix my editing problem!  Now this post should look a bit nicer. I will add a bonus photo just for fun.

Finish Line

Dew Drops - done
 

Color Affection - done

Catkin - 25%

Notes From the Field

Finished Color Affection Sunday. Still knitting DewDrops, it is due tomorrow before midnight and I am determined to finish. There is a good 8-10 hours of knitting until the end, though, so I have to get back to it.

I have knit & spun so much this month, I can hardly believe it. I will be very happy for August which is a break month for Harry Potter knitting club. All I "have" to knit is a sweater for Camp Loopy; it should be a breeze after knitting parts of 3 shawls, a washcloth, several blanket squares and spinning 5 skeins of wool this month.

Back to Regularly Scheduled Knitting

Now that the Tour is over for another year, it is time to make some serious progress on the knitting.  I have two shawls to finish in 10 days and I'm not very sanguine about the second one.  The first is on the last 2 inches (of 400 stitches per row), but it is just garter stitch and moves quickly. 

OK back to work.

Day 22: The Last Bloom

One more skein for the Tour! It was a great spinning day today; we had a surprise downpour here in Southern California & I took my spinning wheel onto the porch to enjoy it. Then I did the plying a few hours later to let the yarn rest and it went well. I really love the cheerful colors.

I also spent a few minutes trying to spin cotton on my Majacraft; it was a little tricky to get started but I was making solid yarn after a while.  It is not relaxing yet but will get easier.  I certainly have enough sliver to practice on.

In other news, knit a few rows on my Dewdrops shawl. 

Race Rewind: Day 10

The brown wensleydale / cotswold fiber I spun at the beginning of the tour.

Day 21: An Effort Was Made

Yesterday I did manage to sit down and spin one puff of fiber which took about 40 minutes. Not a shocking amount of progress, but still progress.  I have 4 puffs left to spin, need a day to ply, and there only 3 race days left. I had better get moving!

Day 19: Short & Sweet

I found a 2 oz puff of fiber to finish out the Tour spinning days (only 5 left!)

2/7 th of 2 oz spun while watching Treasure Island with Eddie Izzard. It is very good. Part two tomorrow. Now, bedtime.

Day 18: I ApPlied Myself

Two Navajo plied skeins of Rainbow Trout.

Le Tour

The Tour de Fleece started last week & I have been able to spin each day so far.  It is amazing that I can go from "no spinning, no time for it" to finding an hour a day and suddenly I am spinning for longer than that. The time just appears!

Day 1 6/29 - Ply the red / blue singles
Day 2 6/30 - Ply the red / blue singles (471 yd)(4 oz)
Day 3 7/1 - Spin brown Wensleydale / Cotswold cross 40 min
Day 4 7/2 - Spin brown W/C 80 min
Day 5 7/3 - Spin brown W/C 60 min
Day 6 7/4 - Spin brown W/C 60 min
Day 7 7/5 - Spin brown W/C 15 min (4 oz)
Day 7 7/5 - Spin Rainbow Trout merino / tencel 45 min
Day 8 7/6 - Spin Rainbow Trout merino / tencel 105 min

Storm Warning

My little shawl made it in under the wire yesterday for Camp Loopy. 

This was a super fiddly pattern, although clearly written. My downfall was taking this project (with beads, lace AND cables concurrently) to events that I was trying to watch, like baseball games. 

I LOVE it.

The Start of the Tour

... is hard when you don't plan.

Spent 2 hours & 3 minutes plying almost 4 oz of red merino / silk.  The bobbins did not come out evenly, so in the morning I will be unwinding bobbin 2 and then plying the balance.

But now, bedtime.

Rest Day

Lots of long days (staying up too late) and early mornings (trying to be at work on time) plus a walk up Mt Rubidoux this morning have taken their toll and I am taking it easy.  A nice nap, checking the Ravelry boards, staring at the cockatiels, this is all I have energy for.  I need to go to the store & laundromat but can't be bothered to put pants on.

Doing lots of thinking about what I should spin for the Tour de Fleece but have not made any decisions yet; just today I thought it would be fun to spin a lot of white wool to set aside for natural dyeing.

City Mouse

Today was a "spin in" day at David's house in Lake Balboa. It is almost a 2 hour drive but well worth it.  I got to see old friends, meet new folks, and make a bucketload of progress on my Color Affection shawl.

Pole Position

So, I got up at 2:30 am, paid the rent & the electric bill, played some WoW, walked the dog, made lunch, worked all day, checked email, played some WoW, walked the dog, now it is 11 pm and I am  still wide awake. Question 1, when did I become a semi responsible adult? Observation 2, this is not actually a good sign.

In other news, I bought red nail polish and I love it!

That's Wierd...

Here I am, just sitting, being happy.

It's  very disconcerting.

Camp Loopy

I cast on yesterday for my Camp Loopy project 1 - "Storm Warning" by Liz Corke.  It is going well, although I also discovered the show "Mad Men" yesterday and did rather more watching than knitting.  But there have been no major mistakes or need to rip back and start over.

The yarn is a blue faced leicester blend.  It is one of my favorite breeds but a bit scratchier than the merinos & mink I have been working with lately.  I still love it beyond all reason.

May: I Knit

Yarn Crawl 2013

Who knew there were so many yarn stores out here? I think the total Crawl was 32 shops. That is awesome! Of course, not the one by my house.

(more later, crabby tonight = sassy post, not fun)

Warm Neck Report

The cowl is complete!

Pattern is A Noble Cowl. I made it quite small, but it does the job in keeping my neck toasty warm on cool mornings.

Stitch & Pitch

I made it out to see the San Bernardino 66ers!

Easter Spaniel

My Holly!  She joined the family 8 months ago and is still a joy.

Captain Tinyarn

600 yards, 32 grams, superfine cormo.

Red Lantern, Part 2

I finished my scarf!

 The gray color of the "in progress" picture is more accurate.  The sun was setting when I took the "finished" picture.

Red Lantern

The last musher to finish the Iditarod gets the title of the "red lantern" and I am going to be one of the last in my knitting group to finish.

I had to bail out on the Mush! socks as they are just too small. However, I have been diligently working on the change ringing scarf for most of the "race" as a backup project and if I turn the damn computer off and pick up the needles I think I can finish today.

I would really rather play WoW all day but I am going to a party in the afternoon and won't have knitting time.

WIP Wonderland

Everywhere I turn I see a partially completed knitting project.  Today I stuck to working on the cowl at work as the pattern was the simplest one.  The scarf got stuck on a cable and the socks are at the ankle / heel and very tricky just now.  In addition, the sock pattern has not been printed out so I can work on them only when I am actually sitting at the computer.

However, the mushers are still mushing on the Iditarod trail so I will work for a couple hours on the socks tonight.  I am at that place where I think they are too small, so hate to "waste" the effort in proceeding, but don't want to rip back to the toe.  At least it isn't snowing.

Staying on the Trail...

I am knitting my Mush! socks tonight and watching YouTube videos of sleds & sled dogs. Progress is being made!

I had an equipment malfunction; my single 24" needle came apart at the join and I can't find my superglue.  I tried a few rows with DPNs and that worked fine, but the pattern is really designed for circulars.  Instead of buying one long one, I am trying it with two 9" needles. It is a bit fiddly but I think it is working fine.

Oh, cowls.

I am procrastinating on my myriad knitting projects that have deadlines and happily zipping along on a cowl.

















Oops.

It's a Wrap

My friend Martha is writing a book.  I want to read this book.  How else to convince your favorite budding author to spend more time editing?  Knit her a wrap to keep the chill away!

I began in December, finished in January and then promptly waited almost two months to do the finishing work and sew on buttons.  Par for the course here at Chez Picky, but today I was able to give her the wrap and it was a big hit.

Project: An Author's Friend

closeup of borders and cute ducky buttons

Full size, about 25 x 50 inches

Mush!

Today is the start day for the Iditarod and I am in a Ravelry knitting group to participate in the Iknitarod so we get to start our projects as well!  I haven't knit along with this event before but have been looking forward to it for months. You pick a project that you want to work hard to finish before the end of the race (when the last musher crosses the finish line).  I learned that this is a variable time / date, not a set time, and that adds to the challenge.

The chatter on the thread has been focusing on blue / white / gray yarns and fibers to represent the ice and snow and sky of the Alaskan countryside and there has also been a bit of chatter about the Northern Lights. I want my project to combine these things and found a great sock pattern to try. The gloves are in the same color family, but I can finish one glove in far less than 2 weeks, so I wanted a loftier goal.

The pattern is Skew and is free from Knitty.com.   Perfect!  The yarn is a skein I just couldn't resist and am really, really looking forward to knitting. It is soft, springy and drop dead gorgeous.

Finn McMisile from Woolen Mill St yarns

The start of the race is in less than an hour; time to get my materials together, make sure I can live stream the race and make some more coffee!