Apparently, Nor'easters are the best thing to happen to my knitting since sliced gluten-free bread. Honestly, I knit more that house-bound Saturday (March 17th) in Long Island than I did for the ten or so days since then. Nerissa creeps along, mostly because I have indulged in other pleasures -- such as reading and or walking at lunchtime. My usual lunch partner, Sharyn, has been consumed with post-Spring break work, so I have been left to my own devices for lunch this week.

Monday, I was sprawled on the couch or on the bed, dragged down by another stomach bug. Tuesday, I lunched with a book, and then I walked my wool skirts to the dry cleaner near campus. Today, Sharyn agreed to meet for a late afternoon constitutional, so I ate lunch at my desk. Nerissa has been close at hand (in my knitting bag), but I have not felt the compulsion to reach for her during breaks. Frankly, I have a fair amount of studying and catching up to do in Italian, and studying -- or walking in this fine weather -- has taken precedence.

My knitting group is not meeting this week or next, and I am leaving town tomorrow tonight for two cities I previously inhabited. In spite of my plan to visit a few yarn shops (and even a blogger on holiday), the knitting forecast is bleak. Dare I leave Nerissa home? Nothing is more annoying than to carry knitting (which takes up valuable space in my suitcase) and then knit nothing. However, the thought of nine total hours of train travel without knitting might be utterly silly.

Are there times when you travel without a knitting project?

I have been mugged, purse-snatched and pick-pocketed quite a few times in my life, and before each "happening", I had a feeling. A gut sense that something was afoul. Nearly every knitter I know who has had, yet ignored, that that feeling lives to tell a miserable tale about a project failure. Count me amongst them.

Nobody wants to be a loon, but knitters rely on those little voices to guide us to project completion and elation. But what happens when those little voices take the weekend off? Well, you fail to realize that the working photocopy you made of the pattern from that off-sized Rowan magazine is not intact. You also fail to realize that you have never done armhole shaping that did not require casting off a certain number of stitches on each end before starting the decreasing and shaping of said armhole.

Like the emperor who fails to see global warming or his own nudity, I failed to see the folly of how I had worked Nerissa's armhole. I could blame those little voices for abandoning me in my time of need, but I can see how they are just as anxious for spring and maybe needing some time off as well. Thankfully, my inconvenient truth is not global in proportion. I merely had to rip back thirteen rows and consult the original pattern to correct the armhole.

Light years ago, I was working in a temporary position at an advertising agency in Manhattan. As you may have learned from Sex & the City, a large number of city dwellers head out to The Hamptons during summer weekends. I would not be so bold as to suggest that Hamptons Weekends begat Summer Hours, but there seems to be a connection.

Summer hours allow for a shortened Friday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Now, some companies (like that ad agency) are generous enough to set the workers free at noon without demanding longer work days during the week. At my current job, we do not observe summer hours, however staff is permitted to leave 30 minutes early during the academic breaks -- provided they opt out of the free staff lunch. As much as I love free food, I love getting paid the same rate for working less. As grateful as I am for that additional bit of free time, I always feel as if I have squandered it. But sometimes, all the intentions and plans have to be dropped to accommodate the arrival of a new knitting magazine.

Rather than work on Nerissa last night, I turned my attentions to the latest issue of Vogue Knitting. I was home alone, so it was just me, my mug (new from Starbucks) of tea and the spring VK. I am not one for sea-faring or babies, so I skimmed Land Ahoy and Baby Couture. The Case for Lace has some patterns of interest to me, but my favorite section is The Paper Chase.

I love neutrals, and I would pardon Scooter Libby to own that knitted dress.

One great thing about loads of snow and ice is the liberation one feels to lounge around and do nothing but eat, read and knit without feeling the slightest pang of guilt for "being lazy". What else (besides shovel some snow) can I do with a long weekend covered in a blanket of snow?

Thus far, I have adjusted the Nerissa pattern slightly. I worked three less lace pattern repeats than indicated, and I added two rows of reverse stockinette to create that two-row purl ridge to divide the body lace pattern from the breast-area stockinette work.

The suggested yarn was Rowan Handknit Cotton, which is less shiny and "stringy" than the Cotton Fleece, but I think it is turning out quite well.

Not only am I determine to finish Nerissa, but to like and wear the finished product. I cannot say that about a few of my recent knitting project. However, I think Nerissa could be the one that turns it all around.

Bella is a bona fide knitting irony. A simple vest that turned out to be not so simple for me. Bella is not bella. She is not beautiful; she is ugly. Bella is brutta.

Actually, the side seaming is brutta. The reverse stockinette and the stripes are creating a seam that only Dr. Frankenstein could love. Theresa (knitting group leader) tried, and she was just as frustrated and displeased with the result.

Bella is headed to the chopping blocking board.

However, it will have to be next week. This weekend, I am braving the weather (snow!) and making the long journey from the hinterlands of Dutchess County to the hinterlands of Long Island to visit a friend I have not seen in four years. My four-hour train ride requires some diversion. Seaming is out of the question on a Metro-North to Long Island Railroad transfer, and I cannot stomach more than an hour of reading before woozy feeling hits. Quite simply, my hand was forced. It is time for a new project.

That pretty Cotton Fleece in "Sprite" (mint to you and me) is for Nerissa, a pattern from Rowan Magazine 41. Where better to begin a summer pattern celebrating the English seaside of the 1940s and 1950s than heading to the Long Island seaside in 18" of snow?

I love the simplicity and the femininity of Nerissa, but I have a slight issue. Can anyone explain the knitting pattern propensity for bisecting the bust line? I do not understand it. In fact, I cannot abide it. In my opinion, it creates an unflattering line and the illusion of a poor fit, regardless of bust size. Personally, I think the garment would be more flattering if the lacey pattern repeat stopped below the bust line. One or two less repeats of the lacey pattern should produce the desired result.

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your ChristmasesSt. Patrick's Days be white.

The weekend was devoted to recuperating from the knitting plague and working on Bella. From the start, Bella's dramatic cowl seemed a bit too much for me, and I had thought to modifying the neck length. That thought departed the nest by the time I started the neck, however, my inability to count beyond five (the pattern was one buttonhole row followed by five rows of garter stitch) resulted in modification by default. My guess is that the neck is roughly an inch shorter than the pattern specs.

In knitting, an inch can be the difference between success and failure. To be honest, I am not sure what that inch amounts to here.


Without digital enhancement or employing the guillotine, I have created a rather bizarre detached/floating head effect. Naturally, I am assessing the feasibility of running a small-scale special effects company from our bathroom.

As it is, the collar is four inches. I have a few options here:

1. Rip back one inch
2. Rip back to two inches for a more "boat neck" feel
3. Rip back and leave just a few rows of garter stitch around the neck for a u-neck

Suggestions (Ignore the tangle of hair and eyebrows please!) are welcome.

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY -- Officials in Dutchess County have expressed concern over a local virus outbreak. So far, only a handful of residents have been affected, and authorities have identified Yarn Central, a favored local yarn store as the locus of the outbreak.

Early symptoms include the inability to read, comprehend and follow simple pattern directions, difficulty measuring and counting rows. In the more advanced stages, victims are subject to fits of heavy sighing, growling and shouting off-color remarks such as “Oh pooh!” and far stronger.

One frequent customer and Thursday night knitting group member, Gina, experienced difficult reading and following her pattern earlier in the day, however, she initially dismissed it as a symptom of burning the candle at both ends. “It wasn’t until I was with my knitting group for an hour or so that I realized this could be something more serious”. When pressed for more information, she showed her latest project, Bella, as an example.

According to sources, confirmed by Gina herself, several rows of the cowl neck had to be ripped and re-knit because row counting was too challenging. Even more severe examples were found later that evening when Mardel discovered that her entire evening’s progress was incorrect and Gina learned that the front of Bella was 9 rows longer than the back. “Quite a few of us – and quite experienced knitters, no less – were having problems and acting strangely. It was very scary,” said Gina.

Presently, County Health officials believe that the outbreak has been contained as no additional cases have been reported. However, officials are concerned as several of the knitting group members work in elementary and higher education environments where the risk of further infection could pose serious problems.

As officials are unsure of the method of transmission, they are cautioning against the purchase of new yarn or new patterns through the weekend.

Once upon a time, I was a confident woman. I knew me; I knew my style. Alas, now I am second guessing everything, including my knitting. More precisely, I am second guessing my pattern selection as it results to my style, and I am unsure if Bella is "me".

It is a rather dramatic cowlneck, and I cannot help but think that this blob of brick coloured wool will consume me. I do not want to be a pea head atop a blur of stripes. At least the fix is easy. If the neck is too overpowering, I can rip back to a more flattering point, but for now, I will work the neck according to the pattern.

Today Joe and I are celebrating our fifth anniversary. And what sort of romantic festivities have we planned? Joe has an appointment with an accountant, Bella and I will celebrate with the knitting group. Aren't we divinely romantic? Purrrrrr.

If you can in search of knitting, I am sorry. I am not finished on the topic of fashion and style, and you can blame Sofia Coppola and her boring but beautiful movie, Marie Antoinette, for that.

Both Coppola and Kirsten Dunst are routinely offered up as their generation's style icons, and this makes me wonder about two timeless "style icons": Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn. They wore designer clothing, and this clothing was often made for them. Yes, they wore those clothes with flair, but who wouldn't exude confidence and poise dressed in something made for them?

Is style the realm of the wealthy and the celebrity set? I do not think so. In fact, I will assert that Jackie, Audrey, Kirsten and Sienna are women who buy fashion and style to a certain degree. Initially, I thought there was a distinction between fashion and style, but perhaps there are more shades of gray. Perhaps "stylish" and "panache" fall in the mix of fashion and style?

Personally, I think someone like Trisha of Bits & Bobbins has style. It is not straight from the runway or bought off the mannequin; it is hers entirely.

She wrote an entry recently about the quest for personal style and the use of "mood boards". I have a collection of pages from fashion and home magazines, but these pages are away in a binder. Perhaps I need to pull them out, put them up and Look. SEE.

I have been reading more than knitting, but I think Bella may make her debut before week's end.

Long ago, I worked in the fashion industry, but thankfully, I worked for a contemporary-to-bridge American designer. Thus, I have no tales of devils in Italian high fashion to tell.

Understanding lines -- how the lines of clothing do or do not work with the lines of the body -- is the key to looking and feeling good in clothing. While I have mastered this bit, I continue to feel frumpy and devoid of personal style. I am still waging my campaign to Dump the Frump.

After some consideration, (well, after hours of perusing sites such as Bits & Bobbins, Style Bubble, The Sartorialist and Style Scout) it hit me...

I am experiencing a fashion disconnect! I dress my body, but I fail to dress my personality. My clothing does not express and show "me". Surely, this is the distinction between fashion and style. Fashion is the mass creation and style is the personal adaptation of fashion.

Do tell gentle readers, how does one (re)discover personal style? Do all of your clothes and accessories reflect "you"? How do you define your style?

March On(e)

My flight into LaGuardia International Airport was without incident. That particular USAirways flight is has a rather dismal on-time rate of 50-60%, so I was pleasantly surprised when we departed at the appointed time and arrived 15 minutes early. Given that I had at least 15 minutes before Joe arrived, I phoned my parents to let them know that I had arrived safely. Within minutes, Joe strolled through the baggage claim area, and we escaped LGA with a mere $3.00 in parking fees.

February was a disappointing "diet" month. After shedding 2lbs. in the first week, I thought I would make my 5lbs. per month goal easily. Sadly, I regained those 2lbs., thus I start March behind the eight ball with 29lbs. down and 25lbs. to go.

In spite of my success, I am struggling to stay focused. Quite frankly, the math and the food are killing me. It has taken me 33 weeks to unload 29lbs., which is slow, and I am barely 50% to goal. Even more depressing: I am utterly bored by food -- thinking about it, measuring it, logging it, calculating the Points value of it.

I wonder if a brief hiatus from "dieting" -- much like my medically-required knitting hiatus -- could rekindle my focus and motivation.