Tag Archives: aran

Sunday Afternoons

Sunday afternoons are my favorite times of the week. The house is quiet. Athrun is usually with his Dad, Brock is working on whatever his project for the day is, and I am able to pretty much do whatever I want. Turns out, whatever I want is usually pretty simple: knit, read a book, take a nap, cook. Usually it’s a good mix of all four.

Today I have a pot of chicken broth in the works while casting on Brock’s yearly sweater, which is difficult enough that I can’t read while I knit. This year I am knitting him an Aran because the man looks good in cables. I’ve been admiring this pattern for a good year now, and finally got the yarn to cast on this week, as part of his Christmas present.

An Aran For Brock Cast On

I am using Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool in Oatmeal. I don’t tend to pay a lot of attention to Lion Brand yarn, because they are often acrylic blends or just straight up acrylic, but I really like this wool. I made Brock’s Ishmael Sweater out of it last year, and it’s held up really well. He wears this sweater every day, so he’s really put it through the ringer.

Otherwise I’ve been working on Christmas presents non-stop.

Christmas Work
It doesn’t look like much, but 99% of the presents under that tree are handmade. (I also have a cat and a kid, and they both like the tree. I didn’t feel the need to tidy the tree skirt or bring the other half of the presents out of hiding.) Also, wrapping presents at 6 months pregnant is hard work, but at least we have plenty of floor space now to do it on!

I am really excited about Athrun’s present this year, even though it’s just about the only I didn’t make, but more on that after Christmas.

What are you looking forward to this year?

Going to SAFF

Okay, first things first: I had a great time visiting my parents this weekend.

We went to SAFF and had a really wonderful time. I– perhaps disingenuously– told them that it was “more of an animal show,” which meant that when we talked in to the main building,

I thought, Man, I should not have come to this one.

- My Dad

I mean, if you’ve been to fiber festivals, you know. It was funny (to me) to hear them exclaim over the size of it:

“I had no idea there were so many people who are in to this sort of stuff!”

“Well, the Maryland one was even bigger, and I’ve heard that the New York one is even bigger than that.”

“No kidding!”

Since I’m going through some sheep withdrawal, I really did mostly want to see the animals. They were showing when we walking into the barn, which was so, so adorable to watch:

The little Shetlands and little children having broken the ice, we went inside to walk around to look at everything for sale.

It was like going to a boat show or something. It’s very obvious what everything is, but, on the other hand, there’s a specialized and specific vocabulary for everything– it was hard to know what to say to people. You know, ‘Nice… boat-thing?’ ‘Nice… yarn?’

- My Mom

We’d looked at pretty much everything, including the fleece show, and were on our way out, when I saw someone walking by wearing a gorgeous Vitamin D. I realized I knew her– it was Cris!

It was so nice to see a friend, and get to talk for a while. I hadn’t even thought about the possibility of running in to someone I knew, so seeing her was a really wonderful surprise.

You can see that I’m wearing my Cormo Rusticus.

I did go home with a little yarn– enough Corriedale from Sue Bundy of Solitude Wool– basically, the two women who run this are the stateside Sue Blacker, and I can’t say enough good thing about them– to make a sweater for a friend of mine who (I hear) has nearly worn his first sweater out.

And my parents?

By the end, once I saw how everything fit together? I got in to it. I was glad to get to see it all.

- Dad

So that makes it a success all around.


Working On: Cormo Rusticus

It is a fact commonly acknowledged that, when under duress, knitters turn to their knitting. It’s how we cope. Life may be tumultuous, but it helps us to maintain complete control over something, and work at it one stitch at a time. It’s also apotropaic– a way to keep hard times at bay, and, well, it’s a verb for keeping warm. I am no different from any other knitter– except maybe that I’m so dependent on my knitting that the real warning sign is when I’m not knitting. That means trouble.

Anyway, since I’ve just moved and changed jobs, I’ve been redirecting my nervous energy into a sweater that I started at the beginning of the year:

caroline fryar cormo rusticus aran knitting

I’m very, very proud of how it’s turning out. There are lots of little clevernesses in the construction that I can’t wait to show off, the fit’s pretty perfect, and the yarn, of course, is one of a kind.