LOTR Knits: Eryn Harn

My friends Anna and Justin are casually strolling through the Woodland Realm in their Eryn Harn — that's Sindarian for woodland helmet. This tilted toque is more Elvish play wear than it is combat regalia. This hat is a birthday present that I made for my friend Matty Kuhn. I guess that make this a man's hat, but Anna thinks otherwise.

I used two yarns: a variegated sepia, and a dark worsted chocolate. It gives this hat a rustic quality as if it were made from old tree bark. This is a great project for left over yarn when accurate yardage is not as important.

The garter stitch has a humble home-spun feel, and it's very elastic, but I don't use it very often in my design work. The garter stitch makes a very thick, spongy fabric — which makes this hat very warm and snug.

I designed this cap entirely in short row, knitting flat from left to right — as opposed to "top-down." Eryn Harn is based on three tapered leaf shapes flanked by small gussets.

 That's Samwise Gamgee in the background standing by the "You Are Here" sign in the Giladrial lobby.

Some sewing is required — the two sides are joined at the back.

I'm not very big on embellishments. I finished the edge with a four-stitch I-cord for stability and trimmed it with a black crab stitch border. A small I-cord loop marks the back.

This hat was inspired the classic representation of the Loatian Buddha. What a happy fellow, no?

Initially I worked on each leaf-shaped panels separately and pieced them together like a soft jigsaw puzzle.

The gussets (marked in orange) are actually of increased and decreased sections

This combination of short row shapes and gussets makes the hat tilt back and curve softly towards the front.

Knit PH at Freddy's, Feb. 2, 2010: Casserole Night

Brrrrr. Another snow storm? Enough already! When I think of being trapped in doors on a day like today, I fondly look back at Knitting & Casserole Night at Freddy's bar.

I was a bit late from teaching a class. As I walked in to the crowded back room I heard "Plates? Did you bring the plates?" Yes I did. What a feast, people brought their casseroles, salads, pastas, and breads. My favorite was the classic tuna, the official symbol of Casserole Night.

I made my Uncle Greg's iceberg salad with Thousand Island dressing. It was actually difficult finding iceberg lettuce. Has it really left the American dinner table? I also made smoked pecan pralines instead of bacon bits.

A damp mild winter evening was warmed up over conversation with good friends, a libation, and of course knitting — but nothing completes a hearty meal like a table of sweets. On the desert island Meg brought her chocolate chip-apricot cookies, and Sara made a spiced ginger cake laced in powdered sugar.

We shared the room with the German Language Studies Club. Cathy (far left) also knits. Fraulein Heather brought her vegetarian enchiladas, very good but I would never turn my back on meat. Mariam, also a vegetarian, made something I called veggie duck skin — twice-cooked baby potatoes topped with cheese and pan seared to a perfect crunch.

After dinner team Tutonic went online to read and post CraigsList missed connections in Berlin, assuming a fictional character of course. Somewhere in das Reichstag, a single wealthy blond woman's eyes met with yours — "Cal mich..."

This month we all said goodbye to Naomi, she's moving to Austin Texas. Not wanting to miss this last night, she biked all the down from Greenpoint with her three bean salad.

She finally put the new sleeves on last year's sweater and gave us a parting wave. Aloha Naomi and good luck.

Yes, Anyone Can Toilet Train a Cat...

But you have to wonder how many cats have drowned this way.
Photo: Stephanie Wissinger

Snowed in and Stewing All Day

Well, I made an all-day-simmer beef stew today. I always think it's funny how I never crave this until those long cold winters, and we are in the middle of a blizzard (again). My friend Maxcine asked me for the recipe. I told her that this was one of those clean-out-the-fridge meals. Here's a rough description.

1 pound cubed beef
1 whole onion
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp madras curry
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/4 cups minced parsley
1 gallon water
1 beef bullion
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

Any left-over vegetable. I used:
1 cup sliced carrots
2 medium potatoes (cubed)
1/2 cup asparagus stems, shaved and cut into 1" pieces
1 sliced cups mushrooms
1/2 red bell pepper
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

Large stock pot, with lid
Long wooden spoon

Sprinkle salt, sugar, and pepper onto beef, rest for 15 minutes, drain liquid. Heat stock pot to medium heat and add 2 tbs olive oil. Put flour into a small paper bag, combine flour and beef and shake. In small batches, brown the cubed beef. Remove from pan and set aside, reserve all liquid.

The only trick to a good beef stew is slow cooking and stirring about every 30 minutes. Slow cooking takes care of the rest. And if you're stuck indoors in blizzard conditions... what else are you going to do?

Reduce heat, add 2 more tbs oil the pot and clarify onions. Add all spices and vegetables, except potatoes (mushrooms, bell pepper, and carrots, cook for 10 minutes). Add water and bullion bring to boil, reduce to simmer, add beef and cover stock pot. Cook on a low heat for about 4 hours on until beef forks apart easily. Stir occasionally. Add cubed potatoes and cook for 45 more minutes, add more water if needed. The liquid should be thick and silky, if not add more olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to set for an hour. Serve with crackers and beer.

Casserole Night at Freddy's, Sunday Feb. 21 '10

How can you call a neighborhood blighted when it has a casserole night and knitting? The Casserole Preservation Society of Prospect Heights and Knit Night at Freddy's Bar share the evening to celebrate the annual winter event: Casserole Night at Freddy's Bar. Put on some warm duds, bring your best cheer, your knitting and casserole... salad, desert, or bread, and a clean take-away container.

CASSEROLE NIGHT

When: Sunday, February 21, 2010
7:00 pm and onwards

Where: Freddy's Bar and Backroom
485 Dean Street (corner 6ave. & Dean St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Tel: (718) 622-7035

To participate...
1. RSVP for this night via the Knit PH MeetUp group or by email (subject: Casserole Night).
· http://MeetUp.com/KnitPH
· theYarnMonkey@yahoo.com
2. Bring a classic casserole, a hearty salad, bread or dessert
3. Label dish as meat or vegetarian, or if it has nuts or shrimp... etc.
4. Bring a take-away container


All food will be served at room temperature. Bring your own clean take-away container for the exchange. Paper plates, napkins, plastic ware and serving utensils will be available.

Knit PH at Prospect Perk Café, Feb. 2, 2010

It didn't snow as reported earlier on the news. We're expecting another winter storm. Brooklyn street soon become gray rivers of sludge. Winter can make owning a car a liability. The other day I heard a woman yelling at a traffic cop for the ticketing a hill of snow — which was her car.

Silke has been working on a baby blanket in warm sepia stripes. It's for her daughter. Sara's tea cozy is coming along, I promised Sara I'd quit asking her if she had sent it to her parents yet.

We hadn't seen Naomi since last year, and this might be her last night with Knit PH. She's moving to Texas. She will be missed.

She finished that Berroco sweater but accidentally felted it leaving the sleeves at three-quarter length. We all pitched in with suggestions. The consensus was to rip out the sleeves out and make new ones instead of adding a long cuff.

I coached Valerie through the granny square pattern. I think we've got this Afghan project is well covered. Mariam showed me off the new hat she crocheted from my old skien of bulky oatmeal colored.

This leftover ball was always a bane to me — not enough for a scarf, a bit too bulky to combine with other yarns, taking up valuable bin space...etc. But I love her hat. This one-skein wonder looks like a classic cartoon bee hive.

Luise is hooked on something interesting, she's crocheting miniature fruit for an craft exchange project. Kiwi, apple, banana, star fruit — each one is less than a half inch in length made with a very fine hook. I wish I had taken better pictures, they did no justice to her fine work.

Eliza's baby is due soon — ETA two weeks? I'm amazed she made it, she said she needed to get out of the house. So far she and Chris haven't settled on a name.

You Can Lead a Cat to Water, but...

You have to wonder how many cats have drowned this way.

Knit PH at Prospect Perk Café, Jan 12, '10

I gave my black round table to Perk last week. It makes more sense in a café since it is in fact a café table. Murat and Ori were glad to take it for the front window.

I hadn't seen Marci in ages. I gave her a warm welcome hug. She is now a converted knitter thanks to the Lisa G. But of course she's still the queen of crochet. She broke our her "Fiona Mohair" scarf. Diana showed us her family calendar with a portrait her grandson proudly wearing the red cardigan she made. Meanwhile she's already started a new one for her other grandson — her own handsome design of course.

Meg made that clever cat hat from the "Stich n' Bitch" collection and moved on to her next project, a new scarf for her father. Dad lost the last one she made, but asked her to make one in more manly colors. Mm hmm. We all agreed that these cherished goods should only be made for someone who will appreciate them, even if they become lost.

Allison is new to the group, so is Suzanne, and Michele. Allison brought a pack of hand-spun in variegated colors. Michele is making her first baby hat and her first scarf.

"They drink a lot of tea" Sarah said. That tea cozy has picked up in momentum, size, and color. It's almost ready to send off to mom and dad.

Silke and Emma handed me their finished granny squares. Suzanne asked what they were for — "Afghans for Afghans charity" I said. "How about Afghans for Suzanne?" she asked jokingly. After 12 years as a producer at Channel 13, Suzanne has joined the league of lay-offs.  There may be a lot of knitting ahead of us in this recession.

A Moving Experience

Whether from Brooklyn Heights to Prospect Heights or just across the room, Ikea furniture does not travel well. After re-assembling Stephanie's birch cabinet, I loaded it with a few items — CDs, art supplies, a few books. And as I carefully pushed it to its new location, it let out a load squeak, made a moaning sound, then listed at a 10° angle blowing the back out.

I tried to squeeze it back together but the drawers broke away from the tracks as a metal hinge snapped, smacking me in the face with a door. "Death by Ikea" would be an embarrassing way to go. Eventually I rested the wreck against a tower of boxes. The floor was covered with sawdust, particle board, screws, bolts, hinges, veneer strips, CDs. Ikea will not be making furniture for Swedish space travel any time soon. It would implode upon re-entry into earth's atmosphere. On a positive note, we now have more space — and few less CDs to manage.

Otherwise Thursday's move went smoothly — excellent weather, available parking, good timing, planned packing, and a few friends with cars and strong backs. Lisa and Adrianne drove in two shifts. Pat, Ellen, Marlene, Reily, Dave, Deike Steph, and I loaded and unloaded. And of course my best friend Eric drove all the fragile kitchens items and books over the week prior. It's now Saturday, Stephanie and I are still arranging and unpacking. Eventually we'll get to the island of boxes in the living room.

The Year of the Tiger

The day of New Years Eve was quiet, a fresh blanket of snow covered New York, but it wouldn't stay for long as rain was predicted for the evening. I had some cleaning to do before I'd meet up with Stephanie at Dave and Katie's party. I also had some sweaters to repair.

Today I got Stephanie's Maneki Neko working again. It took a little soapy water, some WD-40, and a new battery. Now Japanese good luck cat welcomes the Chinese Year of the Tiger from my Brooklyn living room window. He also scares off errant squirrels.

After my friend Chris' husband, Irwin, passed away she asked me to repair two of his most colorful sweaters so she could pass them on to her son, Lucas (and eventually his son Itai). Two woolen time pieces described a smaller man with a sense of humor who enjoyed fine cigars and cigarettes. One sweater, I re-wove a shoulder, put on a new collar and darned moth holes. The other "Cosby" sweater just needed the shoulder re-attached. A hand-me-down is now an heirloom. They almost look new.

Then there's my gray raglan that wore thin and became unraveled. There's nothing special about it, but it was my favorite every-guy sweater — the Jimmy Stewart of pullovers. I wore it till it wore out, cigarette holes and all. I frogged the body up until the arms, re-conditioned and rejoined the old yarn. Then I re-knit the body downward in a 1X1 rib for a better fit.

TIP: Reconditioning Old Woolen Yarn
Wind yarn loosely into skeins, wash in light detergent, and then soak it overnight in this solution: dissolve 2 tbs "unflavored" gelatin and 1 tbs salt into a half-cup of warm water, then add to gallon of cold water. Squeeze excess and hang to dry. This returns the spring back into old wool fibers.

As I get older I greatly appreciate an intimate New Year's eve and good conversation with friends. I don't know why anyone would stand in a crowded street on a cold night waiting for a PortoSan to become available. Dave turned on the TV for the big countdown. Someone commented that it looked like the "Million Douchebag March" — a sea of plastic Nivea™ top hats screamed and basked in a televised moment. We all exchanged hugs, kisses, and cheers. I texted good tidings to a friend. Afterwards Stephanie and I wandered over to Freddy's for the first nightcap of the new year. We were treated to a fiery poi ball dance courtesy of one the bartenders, Bleu — a dramatic beginning of the new year.

Chinese New Year falls on February 14th this year. What will the Tiger year bring?  It's said to be a year of grand changes, both worldly and personal. In this Tiger year we are all advised to asses our fortune and luck — fortune being what you gain or lose, luck being inherent to your birth. One who is born in the Year of the Tiger is usually straightforward and outgoing by nature, but are also full of suspicion and at times impulsive. Tigers take pride in being unique and demonstrate their originality best at home. They tend to spend money and also like sharing in their good fortune.

Stephanie is moving in with me this month, we've both given this a lot of thought. Are we ready? I've made room and closet space, put things into storage, hung shelves, re-painted, re-organized — she's packed everything up and changed her address. Moving day is Thursday.

The 8th Day of Christmas

I found a colorful surprise in the bread tin. Doesn't this look a bit like Noro Silk Garden? I started sneezing and coughing. But the hacking was not from the bread mold, it's from not smoking.

At risk of saying much more... I have not had a cigarette in 8 days. I actually started the process two weeks prior. My last cigarette was from a stale Venezuelan pack that I stashed away in my sock drawer four years ago. I took the nicotine gum out of the freezer and made a list of things that inspire my smoking.

I had to disassociate myself from certain behaviors like meeting up for beer, hanging out over coffee, and oddly enough knitting. I even walked home a different way.

Day 3 was the hardest — I would have stabbed a man in the eye for his cigarette. But after that I didn't miss it as much. I have noticed that I often run short on energy but I've been advised to expect it for two weeks.

I actually don't like nicotine gum, it reminds me of when I got into a regular "Skoal" and "chaw" habit (Colorado circa '83). But for a short while, fits of uncontrollable coughing, ruthless chewing, and being a shut-in will be a part of my life. I'm slowly putting myself back into familiar settings. I even made myself a new hat — a simple watchman's cap ("Savanna" GGH Yarn).

So on this 8th night, Christmas Eve, I celebrate with friends. Tomorrow Stephanie and I are making dinner for her parents.

Knitting on the Edge

An infamous fortune cookie reads "May you live in interesting times." And indeed, all who live in this area of Prospect Heights do. A threat of a sports arena and condemnation of a Brooklyn neighborhood races to beat a December 31st IRS deadline. Within this footprint of turmoil is Freddy's Bar, home of Knit PH and meeting place of numerous activist groups that oppose the private developer, Bruce Ratner, and the use of eminent domain

The tail of a blizzard had just passed on Sunday,  but not quietly at Freddy's Bar. In protest of Forest City Ratner's mega development, bar manager Donald O'Finn helped organize a symbolic event called "Chains of Freedom." Over the weekend Freddy's bolted industrial latches to it's bar.

Neighbors, patrons, parents and children, and politicians gathered among documentarians, photographers, and reporters... the Village Voice, Channel 12, Associated Press, New York Post, etc.

There were roughly 50 people there excluding the news media, which is pretty good considering we just got through a blizzard and most streets remained unplowed.

At half-past noon a familiar visitor from the north surprised everyone.

He toasted us all and announced the ceremony was about to begin. A long thick chain was lead down the length of the room through the latches, dressing the bar like an industrial Christmas garland as it ran between passing hands. There was cheering and applause. Oddly enough, there was even a fire next door, five fire engine companies were parked outside.

Bar manager Donald O'Finn thanked us all for our support and courage, and and shared his thoughts with the press and patrons. More than a bar, Freddy's is a community meeting place. Someone asked me if the bar would move to a new location. My thoughts — you'd end up in China Town, but nowhere near China.

On December 3rd 2009, Columbia University lost the right to use eminent domain to expand into Harlem. The state appellate court ruled that the seizure of the Manhattanville neighborhood to benefit a private interest, Columbia, was illegal. The resounding question is "Why is this state ruling not applied to Atlantic Yards? My question is "How much did it cost to buy a judge?

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn spokesperson Daniel Goldstein updated us on a fraudulent creation of a state entity called the Brooklyn Arena Local Development Corporation (BALDC). They were recently created to bypass all normal channels of state review in order to fund Atlantic Yards' tax-exempt bonds. Many legal analysts have called this shadowy move "highly illegal."

Senator Bill Perkins has asked Gov. Paterson to reconsider his approval or face a law suit. The buzz — Atlantic Yards Bonds may be worthless since hey were backed by funds that they were not allowed to issue. Moody's already gave the bonds a low rating, "Baa3," just one cut above a junk bond. Although the bonds sold well at a low interest rate, I'm reminded of the "sub-prime" failure.

Eminent domain abuse is not just a curse for New Yorkers, this has been pandemic through out the entire Untied States. The keyword "blighted" is now interpreted to describe an area as being under-used or not generating much in tax revenue. Why should anyone's home and taxes be the corner stone of the state's cash flow?

"Kelo v. City of New London" — Drug giant Pfizer evoked eminent domain and razed an entire New London neighborhood to the ground calling it blighted. Susette Kelo, a single mother, fought hard and lost. Her property was seized and plowed under as Pfizer promised the creation thousands of permanent jobs and tax revenue for the state of Connecticut. But... within two years and a recession, Pfizer moved away leaving behind the city’s biggest empty office complex and acres barren land. In the wake of a recession this drug giants fell hard and left New London in destruction. Yet no one was accountable — so much lost over empty promises.

As New York state shamelessly betrays it's own ethical guidelines and gives public land away to private developers they should never wonder why most people have lost faith in their ability to perform their civic duty.

Our civic leaders either turn a blind eye or turn their attentions towards personal interests‚ both political or monetary. To become a witness of land seizure is like watching someone openly getting robbed.

Later on that evening, Stephanie called to report that Freddy's was packed in both rooms, I joined her for a beer. Bartender Mike said a few hundred patrons flowed in and out once the sun had set. They came for a pre-holiday beer at their favorite watering hole and express support. Black, white, brown, mixed, young, old, religious, agnostic, hippies, hipsters, lawyers, work-a-day folk — Freddy's does have a cross-cultural crowd. How will all this go down in history, loudly or unsung? Who can say, but Freddy's Bar owner Frank Yost has always said "Never without a fight."