. . . . and another thing!

It's Just a Shot Away

2011-02-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

I made it almost a week before casting on my only yarn purchase from Madrona. If three days is "almost a week". The snowstorm that rolled in yesterday had me thinking that I might get some "snow day" knitting in today (didn't happen), so it seemed like a good idea to start something new.

This is my swatch for the Augusta Cardigan from New England Knits, and it turned out great. Size 8 needles, 4 stitches to the inch, lovely bloom to the yarn when washing. It's a good thing that the gauge panned out after washing, because I cast on the back while waiting for it to dry. The yarn is Shelter in the Long Johns colorway, and this is the first time I've knit with it. I have a few other skeins in the stash, but what I've really wanted is to knit a sweater, so now that I've got enough yarn it was hard to hold off. Plus, I finished the body of a sweater that I started back in November (the Fiona pullover, which I have no recent photos of an haven't even posted about), so I was feeling a little accomplished. I've lost the pattern for Fiona with just the sleeves to go, so I may keep looking for it a bit before I can try to wing the sleeves.

Anyway, back to Augusta. Maybe I can finish the ribbing tonight!

Oh-oh-ooh-ooh Domino

2011-02-20T21:33:00.000-08:00

I was only able to get into one class at Madrona this year, so I haven't got very much to report this year. I've been very lucky (and put more effort into) getting into classes in the last 3 or 4 years, so even though I was a little disappointed, overall it worked out fine. I saw some friends from prior years (Hi, Stephanie!), and I had time to check out the Marketplace (9 skeins of Shelter may have come home with me. It may have been the color "Long Johns").

The class that I was able to get into is one that I've had my eye on for awhile, Vivian Høxbro's Domino Knitting. It's a technique that I haven't tried before, but I've got one of Vivian's books and I really like the modern look & the interesting construction. The class was great--in three hours, we covered basic square construction, a half triangle, weaving in ends as you go, and setting in a square. The class project is a hat, which I may even finish if I have enough yarn--I pulled out a bunch of the Nature Spun Sport that I'm using on the Chevron mittens, and there probably isn't enough of the grey to finish the hat. I love the way my squares look (although they were so "neutral" compared to Vivan's samples!), and I'm excited to try this on a bigger project. Maybe a baby blanket? Maybe a hat from Vivan's book Knit to Be Square, or the big triangle pillow. So many options!

Do You Have One Really Funky Sequined Space Suit, Bowie?

2011-02-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

Sparkle Beret, ribbing side & top

Since my return from Paris (which still pains me, by the way), I've overcome a fierce bout of jetlag, started a transition to a new job, and have been juggling a number of things that should have been done in early January. It's been a little tough to find the mental energy to work on anything at home that requires any attention. I'm emerging from that fog now (but may get sucked back in at any moment), so here's a little update on the Sparkle Beret: I've passed the second set of crown decreases.

As a recap: the pattern is Laura Chau's Lightweight Raspberry Beret, using Yarntini's Sparkle Sock yarn in Midnight Snow. Yes, the flecks you see above are sparkley! I'm knitting the women's large size, and I'm not sure if it's my gauge or I estimated my head size incorrectly, but it feels like it's going to be a little too roomy for me (my fine, thin hair requires no extra hat room, since it's really just the illusion of hair). I do know a few folks with more robust hair than I have, though, so if it doesn't fit me it should be easy to find it a home. I somehow believed that I could finish it in time to wear in Paris, which was ridiculous given my atrocious completion rate. It was part of my fantasy that I could make berets for the whole group going to Paris (there were six of us), which first occurred to me in late December. Ha--but at least I didn't start six berets.

This weekend, I did start a new project involving a chart (details in a future post), and so far I have been able to handle the mental strain, but I am really itching to finish up some long-term projects that really don't require a lot of work. The biggest challenge is that many of the projects have been separated from supplies/yarn required to complete them, so digging out all of the pieces may take up a lot of my available knitting / napping time. Oh, precious napping time!

_________________________________
Do You Have One Really Funky Sequined Space Suit, Bowie? : Flight of the Conchords

Back, and Beret-ed

2011-01-23T21:12:00.001-08:00

I've been back home for 6 days, and am just about over the jetlag, but not nearly over the wonderful time I had in Paris. I'm hoping to make it back there soon, although it won't be soon enough!

Shortly before I left, I finished Estella (Rav link), which I started just before Christmas but haven't shown here yet. It's a beret that looks more complicated than it is, although the decreases were a challenge because I kept ending up with the same number of stitches as I started with. I used some Berroco Ultra Alpaca that I bought when I was swatching for the Liberty blanket. These colors that didn't quite work out for that project, but I think they look good for this one. I schlepped it all the way to Paris, but it was really too warm to wear most of the time, and I forgot to bring it with me when it was cold enough.

I started a second beret a few days after this one, with a simpler pattern but glitz-ier yarn:

I needed something relatively plain to knit while at the movies on Christmas, so I started Laura Chau's Lightweight Raspberry Beret using Yarntini Sparkle Sock. I've just started the decreases, so there is a glimmer / sparkle of hope that I'll finish it while it's still cold out. Although it's been in the 50's here, so I may need to send it to my chilly east coast friends!

Paris: A Few Fotos Dramatique

2011-01-14T23:14:00.000-08:00

This photo, taken before dinner at Au Vieux Paris last night, does not overemphasize the atmosphere of Notre Dame at night in the rain.

Laduree Champs Elysee. Macarons and cafe in an amazingly decorated bar.

Parc Monceau in the late afternoon, where I went for a short run before dinner. My pedometer has put my daily steps around 20K since I got here, but with foie gras at every dinner and more to come, a little extra exercise can't hurt. Parc Monceau is a real neighborhood spot, with people strolling and kids running around like crazy.

Only two more days here, it's gone really fast. Today's agenda includes museums, a trip to La Drougerie (craft store), pre-dinner drinks at L'Avant Comptoir, and dinner at La Ferrandaise.

Paris 2011: Day 1

2011-01-11T15:10:00.000-08:00

First day in Paris: Took a 2 hour orientation walk while waiting for my room to be ready, but left the camera behind. This is the only photo I took. After checking into my room (which is very clean and cozy), I took a four hour nap, then worked for a couple of hours, then had a light dinner at L'Avant Comptior. If you consider a lard sandwich and ham crocettes to be "light". It was delightful. I expect to go back tomorrow.

This Time, It's a Blowout

2011-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I blew out a sock. I'm pretty sure it's fixable, just need to locate the yarn & darn it up, but I was surprised when I pulled them out of the wash (I use one of those lingerie bags when I wash handmade socks). I finished them in 2009, though, so they are almost two years old, and they are thin enough to wear with my clogs so they do get regular use.

Happy New Year, Lonely Mittens

2011-01-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

So before I recount the final irritation of the disappointing year that was 2010 (pictured above), let me recount a few victories accomplished in 2011:

I ran a 5K in 30 degree weather on the first, and I did so after staying out until after 2am the night before.
I also ran this morning, outside in 30 degree weather
Walking home from my run this morning, I slid on an icy spot that I didn't notice, and despite some pretty amazing contortions to keep my balance, I did not fall and I do not feel injured.
Today I booked a hotel in Paris for a trip later this month. I'm arriving a few days before the people I'm travelling with (we booked an apartment), and have been agonizing over where to stay because there are hundreds of options at many different price levels & no clear correspondence between price, # of stars, and user reviews.

So the final bit of insult associated with 2010 should fade quickly under the bright, shining hope that is 2011, but since it's knitting related I need to memorialize it here. Somewhere between errands on New Year's Eve, I lost one of the last complete pair of fingerless mitts that I've knit. So now I have three single fingerless mitts, shown above, that I keep in hopes that one day a lost mitten will show up. From left to right:

Spincycle Mitts: I'm pretty sure I lost these at a Mariner's game. They were perfect for cold spring & fall games, and they got a ton of use before I lost one. I have enough yarn to make another mitt, and I bought another skein of this Spincycle yarn at the Urban Craft Uprising this year, but I'm worried that the new mitt will look too "new" with the fuzziness of the old mitt. A new pair doesn't take that long to knit though (I recently finished a pair that I gave as a Christmas gift), so I should just suck it up and knit between two and four more mitts.
Endpaper Mitts: I don't remember getting a lot of use out of this pair, though according to this post, I did use them a lot and lost them in Arizona (they were probably in a coat I packed?) . I loved the squooshiness of the yarn, and the extra coverage of the long size, but the "seams" up the sides of the mitten and the thumb didn't turn out that well, so I have never considered knitting a new mate for this mitt.
Stripey Mitts: This is the pair that was cruelly separated on New Year's Eve, and it's a harsh blow. They stretched out to become a little too big, and the worsted-weight yarn made them a little bulkier than they should be, but I will miss them. Hopefully, I can find my notes about the pattern (which I never got around to writing up), and make another pair. Maybe in a sport weight, or at least with sport-weight for the pull down ribbing.

If you see any of these, please let me know.

So that's my last sad story of 2010. Hopefully, 2011 will be all happy stories about knitting, such as the beret craze that is sweeping my knitting basket, and fantastic French purchases that I anticipate in the coming weeks. And probably, very probably a new pair of fingerless mitts, because I really, really need some.

Softest Red Scarf Was Warming Your Throat

2010-12-18T18:10:00.000-08:00

The Scroll Lace scarf I started in November for one of my Virginia nieces is done and drying! The knitting went very quickly, but the bind off was soooooooo slow--a lot of stitches, and alternating casting on a few and then casting off more to get the picot edge. Totally worth the extra effort, but not nearly as fun as making tiny Santas or gnomes.

The scarf used about 2.5 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca 100% Alpaca sport weight, and it should be very warm and soft. Fingers crossed that she's not sensitive to alpaca!

I've finished a couple of other Christmas projects, and really want to make some more of those snowmen and santas this next week. And I need to locate the cards that I started last year but never sent, and get them in the mail, and I'm supposed to be at a Christmas party in an hour or so but am not yet dressed. I'd better get cracking!

___________
Softest Red Scarf Was Warming Your Scarf: Laura Marling, Goodbye England (Covered in Snow). Love this song, love the album it's on. Just realized that it's a good Christmas present for at least one person on my list!

Santa, Gnome, Snowman, Santa, Gnome

2010-12-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

My niece's scarf is ready to block, but above is the real accomplishment. I want to make many more tiny things--similar to my tiny mitten phase a few years ago. Which reminds me--where did I put all of those mini mittens, anyway? I need those for gift packages!

Christmas 2010: It's Closer Than You Think

2010-12-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

Usually, by December I'm ready to forget the current year altogether, and move as quickly as possible with a clean slate into the new year. This is especially true this year, because 2010 has been the worst year since I returned to the Seattle area in 2003. It's been a super frustrating year from both a personal and professional perspective, and without dredging up all of that frustration over again, it's pretty clear that I need to make some changes (maybe small, maybe big) in 2011. It hasn't been all bad, of course, but it's been markedly more bad than good.

So jumping into the holiday spirit with both feet seems like a reasonable way to go to improve my bad attitude, and the idea took hold over Thanksgiving with work on Christmas projects & some quality (and decidedly NOT quality) time with family and friends.

Yesterday in particular was all about getting into the Christmas spirit, here's a rough schedule of the day:

8:45am: Depart for the big city.
9:45am: Pick up E___, leave for craft fair #1 after 5 year old J_____ shows me the awesome ornaments on her tree
10:00 - 12:00: Craft Fair #1: Phinney Neighborhood Association Winter Festival
12:00 - 12:30: Lunch at Dante's Inferno Hot Dog Cart. Delicious!!!
12:45 - 1:00: Craft Fair #2: Urban Craft Uprising
2:00 - 4:30: Volunteer @ company children's Christmas party, pouring soda to super excited kids, many in fancy holiday dress.
4:30 - 5:30: Treadmill run (it's dark by 4:30 here now)
5:30 - 9:30: Drive home, feed dogs, web surf, watch TV, organize supplies
9:30 - 11:00: Knit the gnome above

The Phinney craft fair is one of my favorites, although it's super crowded and difficult to move through. It definitely has a neighborhood feel to it, with many vendors returning year after year, and festival entertainment. I always buy a gnome from the Thursday's Child booth, and for the second year in a row I picked up a letterpress / silkscreened desk calendar from ilee papergoods. Beautiful stuff!

Urban Craft Uprising has been going on for 5 or 6 years now, and I've been to it at least three or four times. I had a very limited time to check it out this year, and it was really overwhelming. Too much ground to cover in too little time! I had to all but ignore most booths in order to make it to three places I really wanted to see: Spincycle Yarns (one new skein of yarn), Queen Bee Creations (a new bag & zipper pouch), and last but certainly not least, Mochimochi Land (tiny unicorn + gnome inspiration).

After seeing the Mochimochi gnomes in person at the booth, I knew that I had to make one immediately. Regular (or even not so regular) readers of this blog know that this is not an uncommon reaction for me, but this time I followed through. While opening hundreds of soda cans at the Christmas party and running 2 miles on the treadmill, I thought about where I could find the yarn in my stash to make them, and where to find my fancy Signature double points in size 1. I bought the pattern online, and knit & finished the whole thing in about an hour and a half (timing includes ice cream break). I used yarn from stash, mostly Dalegarn Baby Ull. The pink is Libery's Yarn Kaguya, leftover from the Ishbel Pinky. I expected this pattern to be really fiddly (as toys often are), but even though there are a lot of ends to deal with it wasn't bad. I love that the arms are a single i-cord pulled through, because sewing on the arms was what I was looking forward to the least!

My gnome pattern came with a free Santa & snowball pattern, so I may try one of those next. Like later today. That should help this Christmas spirit thing along, shouldn't it?

Let the Madness Begin

2010-11-21T14:54:00.000-08:00

I've added a bunch of new projects to my list of Christmas knitting. Based on the fact that I haven't finished any birthday knitting this year, I know that I'm setting myself up for failure, but when my 10 year old niece requests "something knitted," what am I supposed to do? Obviously, cast on something for her (Ysolda Teague's Scroll Lace Scarf, above), and then add projects for the other niece, etc., etc. Yikes!

Oh, A Storm is Threat'ning

2010-11-11T22:16:00.000-08:00

Things feel like they are lightening up at last in these parts, enough to work just a little on the holiday. The rest? Spent taking the ferry to Churchmouse Yarns, to pick up a little Shelter. I should have done this weeks ago, I really would like a sweater's worth of either of these colors, but supplies were too low of both. That's Homemade Jam on the left, Button Jar on the right. A few of each will have to do for now (which should be fine, given that I have three sweaters in progress).

Believe It or Not--I Finished a Ripley

2010-11-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

Knitting on the various projects continues, but still slowly. A row on one sweater here, a row on another sweater there, and nothing on those damn Chevron mittens. I wanted a quick win, so I pulled a ball of grey Berroco Ultra Alpaca, and started Ripley on Saturday night. Worsted weight yarn on #10 needles = quick project! I used about 54 grams of yarn, which means that I should be able to get another hat out of the skein, maybe a smaller size with less slouch on top. It fits my large head, but is going in the "potential Christmas gifts" stash for the time being. It's closer than I think, I can feel it creeping up already!

I See a Ship in the Harbor . . .

2010-10-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

. . . and I'd like to say that this will be the last time I quote Depeche Mode as it relates to this sweater, but it's fairly likely that it will happen again. I am not particularly a fan of Depeche Mode, and I can't remember why I called this sweater Blue Monday, but I guess I'm stuck with it now.

I've only posted a couple of times about this sweater, and really there isn't a lot to say other than "I'm still knitting the body." Although I guess that there is news, in that I have reached the waist decreases! It's really cool the way the waist nips in and brings the slipped stitches closer together on each side. I don't have a particularly well-defined waist (and that's being generous), so I am a little concerned that it will pull in too much. I may omit the last set of decreases, once I get there. Right now, I've knit about 7 1/2 inches of the body, which includes an extra inch or so of additional length. Even though I've been carrying around two balls of yarn so that I can alternate skeins, it's been an easy project to travel with. I knit quite a bit in Virginia in July (before leaving it behind at my brother's house), and knit for 3 or 4 hours yesterday while flying back from Boston. I've loaded the pattern on my iPad, and at this point I only have to look at it every eleven rows when it's time to decrease. It takes a really long time to knit eleven rows, I can assure you. The pattern is also simple enough that I was able to read on my iPad while knitting on the plane, which is key on a six hour flight. I should have been working on Chevron Mittens, but I can't manage a chart and a book at the same time!

I really like that there is no visible striping with this yarn (Dream in Color Classy)--I can still sort of see the skein changes on my Black Diamond sweater, but the blue skeins seem to be more consistent. The color is very rich--I got a nice shout-out about it from a passing knitter while taking the photo above.

I'm not anticipating having another concentrated block of time to knit any time soon, maybe even less time to blog. Maybe I'll see you in November?

Two Toe Tuesday: I Like the Cashmere

2010-10-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

My plan to get cracking on some older projects seems to be paying off (at least a little)--I finished a pair of socks this past weekend for the first time in ages. This is a pair of socks that I started in March 2009 (the blue birthday duckies), and there's no legitimate excuse for them taking so long. The first sock was done pretty quickly, and based on my Ravelry project notes, I was stalled at the heel of the 2nd sock from June 2009 to September 2010, because I lost the pattern. Which is stored as a PDF in my Ravelry account, and was free to begin with. Not acceptable.

The pattern is Duckies (Rav Link) by Samantha Hayes, and the yarn is The YoYo CashSport String, a delicious wool/cashmere blend that I got at the Loopy Ewe. It's sport weight yarn, and the socks are not particularly tall, so 19 months is a long time to knit these puppies. They may be a little short for my feet (maybe o.k. after blocking), but there was no way I was going to rip out the toes and go longer. They may be my special birthday socks, but I'd rather give them away than re-knit at this point! This pattern knit up very nicely, and I ran the eyelets all the way down the heel flap rather than leaving them plain rib--the lacy heel will look good with open backed clogs, I think. Since the yarn is sport-weight, they are little on the thick side, but my clogs are a little stretched out so it shouldn't be a problem.

Part of my "get-cracking" strategy has been to work on long standing projects a little bit at a time, and to keep better track of what I've been working on so that I don't set any one project aside for too long. It's only been a couple of weeks now, but it seems to be keeping me on track a little bit better. I keep thinking that I'm now only working on small things (these socks and a couple of other pair, chevron mittens), but I am still squeezing in some time on one of my sweaters in progress. Right now, I don't really have enough time to spend on ANY of the projects, large or small, so we'll see how it goes. Yesterday, I worked a little on the second Appliance Mitten, while I have the needles free from Chevron #3, so my goal is to wrap those up in the next week or so before casting on Chevron #3, #2. While working on whatever else I feel like, a little bit at a time, too. Whew.

Not Really Back in the Habit of Blogging . . . .

2010-09-28T21:03:00.000-07:00

. . . but steadily working on a project that is long overdue. Mitten #1 of Chevron #3 is done, except for the thumb. I'll knit the thumbs one after another the rest is finished. I'm still really pleased with this color combo, and I like that the tip ends up black (like my heart). Of course, before I knit the thumb on this mitten or the other one, there's a little bit of cleaning up to do:

Just a couple of ends. Maybe L_____ would prefer to weave in the ends herself, once we're sure they fit? It's interesting that on the inside, the mitten looks a lot different below the thumb (which was finished a long time ago) than above the thumb, where I stopped carrying the yarn across more than 3 stitches. I wish that the top looked as neat as the bottom on the inside, but I'm confident that L____ won't be snagging her fingers on any long floats up there.

I'm not expecting to have much time to blog (or do anything else) over the next month, but will check in when I can (if I've got anything to show / say).

Sat on Their Park Bench Like Bookends

2010-09-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

A really busy summer has morphed into a really busy fall! I am trying to get back into some regular routines--regular running, planned lunches and regular knitting have made some progress since Labor Day. Most of the knitting that I did over the summer was on sweaters, but I've realized that there are a lot of projects I abandoned in the spring that it's time to pick up again. Fitting other things into the routine (knit night & yoga) are next on the list, because both have been subject to fits and starts over the past three or four (or five?) months. And blogging, too, but that's sort of a follow on to the other things--I need to squeeze time in to blog, and I have to have something to blog about. It seems like I usually have one or the other, but rarely both at once. And of course fall is the busiest time of year at work, super crazy busy, which is why I'm looking for order, I suppose.

Anway, I've picked up some old friends and have been working on them! On the left, the second Yarrow sock, which has been almost-to-the-heel for a really long time. Very predictably, reaching the heel was enough to set it aside. The pattern is a really nice looking but simple rib that was my go-to project when I needed to NOT have to pay attention. Once I was close to the heel, it stopped serving that purpose. But the heel was turned last weekend, and now as long as I mildly watch the gusset decreases, it's a no-brainer until the toe, so it's once again a good take-along project.

On the right is a mitten that I started last December for a friend's birthday that it looks like I never blogged about. It's the third pair of Chevron Love (Rav Link) that I've started, and I set them aside for something else and then winter was over and I'm just getting back to them. It would be nice if I had them done for her next birthday (end of October), because I really meant to have them done by the end of 2009. The pattern is easy to knit and I've knit a couple of inches since starting them up again, so I'm trying to work on them a little every day so that they don't fall off of my radar again.

The first two pair of Chevron Love mittens that I've started are also not finished. The Appliance mittens are really, really almost done, but I need to reknit the top of the second mitten because it ended up being noticably different than the first one--I started the decreases in the wrong spot. They are earmarked for a friend who will need them weather-wise in the next couple of months, so I'm planning to transfer the Chevron #3 momentum to the Appliance mittens for an evening soon (maybe this weekend--it could happen). The Metropolis mittens are languishing because I need to rework the color sequence, and since they are probably for me, they are pretty low priority overall. I ran across them when looking for another project last week, and I still don't like the color scheme, so I'm glad I didn't soldier on with them.

With all of this good work on older projects, I did start a new project--a pair of socks. Will blog about them once I have a decent photo . . .

Something Blue is Done

2010-08-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

I've worked on a lot of in-progress projects this summer, but until this past weekend, I haven't finished a thing. Seriously, I had to scroll back to April 30 to find a finished item on this blog, and it's not just because I have three sweaters in progress.

I am not really a fan of headless torso shots, but I can't quite bring myself to post the hideous faces I was making while taking these with a tripod. Really, hideous.

Now that fall is in the air, I've finished my first sewing project of the summer. I'm not counting the dress I made in the 90's that I had my mom make into a skirt (the dress was an age-appropriate length in my 20s, but I'm not in my 20s anymore), because I didn't actually sew that myself. This is a simple shirt, with an elastic gathered neck. The pattern is Built by Wendy for Simplicity (pattern 3835), and after having it cut out over a month ago, I finally found the hour or so it took to sew. This was a test run for some special Japanese double-gauze fabric that I plan to use for a summer shirt, and it works well enough. I may wait to cut out another one, though, because I think that I might still find a better pattern to use, and since it's almost September, it's unlikely that I will get much use out of a summer shirt this year. Back of the queue, Japanese fabric! Back of the queue!

Long Time Gone!

2010-08-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't really mean to let a month go by without a single post, but I spent three long weekends in a row at three music festivals in three different states. I'm pretty happy to be home this weekend (and likely every weekend until mid-October), but I saw a lot of great music, ate a lot of great food, and spent time with some pretty great friends. And took a lot of crappy photos.

Here's what's in the photos above:
Top Row, Newport Folk Festival: What Cheer? Brigade waiting for a boat, Andrew Bird, Scenic View from beer pier, Avetts in a golf cart.
Middle Row, Solid Sound Festival: Wilco sign at Mass MoCA, knitting Blue Monday on the train to western MA, Jeff Tweedy, Wilco.
Bottom Row, Pickathon: Langhorne Slim rocking the barn, Frank Fairfield, Woody Pines

Bumbershoot will be the fifth and last festival of the summer, and thankfully it's on my home turf. In between now and then, I've got some knitting to work on, some sewing that's been neglected, baseball games to attend, and a whole lot of other stuff to catch up one. Busy, busy summer!

I'm So Tired, My Mind is on the Brink

2010-07-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the reason I'm so exhausted is due to the following schedule. Times are Pacific (though I start out on East Coast time):

Sunday, July 18:
4:00 am: depart hotel for airport
6:00 am: depart DC for Los Angeles (cheapest routing home)
11:30 am: after sleeping very little, but knitting a bit of Kira sleeve, arrive LAX
2:30 pm: depart LAX
5:00 pm: arrive Seattle
6:00 pm: arrive home
7:15 pm: depart home for Avett Brother concert (see top right and bottom left photos)
9 - 11 pm: rock out!
midnight: arrive home

Monday, July 19:
6:00 am: wake up
7:30 am - 6:30 pm: work
7:10 pm - 9:30 pm: watch baseball game at Safeco field & work on Kira sleeve (see top left and bottom right photos)
10:30 pm: arrive home

In other words, this week is a little more jam-packed that I'd like it to be, although I wouldn't give up the trip, or the concert (it was really, really good, and my seats were really, really great). I should probably have skipped the baseball game, but didn't have time to trade in the tickets before we went to DC. Boo. The weekend isn't looking a lot better, nor is next week or the week after. Man, I've got to schedule some sleep sometime!

Back from DC (but I left my knitting there)

2010-07-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

As the blog title states, I'm back from vacation. I made an excellent start on Blue Monday, but left it (and my beautiful new Signature needles) at my brother's house. When his wife called to tell us, my brother wondered what I would do on the plane--he didn't know that I brought two extra projects to work on. Hopefully, I will have the sweater back soon, because I'm making two more trips to the east coast in August and it turns out that it's a great travel project, and it will be at least until I get to the waist shaping.

My brother's family took the visiting folks (my mom, another brother, and me) all over to see the sights, we really crammed a lot into the four full days we had in the greater DC area. We also experienced some of the nastiest summer weather you could hope to find, high 90s every day and really, really humid. And a thunderstorm that knocked out power (i.e. air conditioning) for 8 - 12 hours and shook loose a tree limb across the street from their house, falling on and crushing a neighbor's brand new Volvo. A lot of excitement!

It was honestly too hot to take a lot of photos, but here's what I've got above (all left to right):

Row 1: Monticello (the best tour we took, well worth the heat & long drive), and a gorgeous plaster ceiling from the Kenmore Plantation in Fredericksburg.

Row 2: The Capitol building in DC (we went to the National Gallery, which I love love love), and a carved fireplace from Kenmore Plantation.

Row 3: The Mariners flag in the outfield at Camden Yards in Baltimore, and former Mariner Adam Jones batting. I know that I'm complaining a lot about the heat, but it was 95 degrees at gametime, and 91 degrees when the game was over. That's too hot, people! We had seats that were 15 rows behind the Toronto Blue Jays' dugout, and I'm really glad we went to the game. The only other time I tried to go to Camden Yards, the game was rained out, which was a huge drag, so this was a great treat.

Maybe next year, we should think about visiting earlier in the summer or during the spring (or Christmas 2011?). My brother and his wife have three school-aged kids, so it's hard to find a time that works for everyone--maybe just Frieda and I should make a special trip out there one of these days, I know she'd like to meet the rest of those kids!

How Does it Feel to Treat Me Like You Do?

2010-07-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving to visit my brother's family in VA in a couple of hours, and although I didn't start packing until this morning, my vacation knitting plan has been in action for a few weeks. I've had Sabbatical in my queue since February, and somehow a long, complicated lace sweater converged with a yarn and needle buying opportunity and a little extra cash in my pocket, and I took the plunge. I bought my first pairs of Signature circulars (they are awesome), and beautiful Madelinetosh pashmina yarn, and got right to it. The swatch? There in the upper right? It's not very good. The gauge is too big, the color is too dark to show off the lace pattern. Also, the yarn is so dark that it makes it hard for me to read my lace, resulting in some errors. Or maybe not--it doesn't look quite right to me, but I can't really tell where I went wrong. This yarn and this pattern are not going to work for me, so that relationship is over. I will find a plain sweater for the yarn, and maybe I'll start saving up for the recommended yarn, which is gorgeous but even more pricey than the pashmina.

Since it was Sunday by the time it became clear that the Sabbatical wasn't going to work, the new-project alternative was to pull something out of the stash & give that a try. So I swatched for the Monday Morning Cardigan (Rav Link) in Dream in Color Classy that I've had for a year or so, using US5s. It looks good! I got gauge!! The downside? I need to alternate balls of yarn to blend the skeins, so I'm carrying two skeins with me--it didn't occur to me before I cast on that I should wind off smaller amounts, and now the project is packed. The upside is that after running out of tail during the long-tail cast-on, I remembered the advice that I should cast using two skeins. No way to run out, and since I need to alternate yarn, there isn't even any extra ends to worry about.

It's going to be hot in VA, so in addition to this big project I'm bringing the Iris Waves socks, and the second Kira sleeve. Let's hope that there's some relaxing knitting time in store--I could really use it.

Jump! Jump! Jump Around!

2010-07-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

It occurs to me that except for multiple posts about the Super Purple Girl skirt (which still needs finishing), lately I've been writing about a different project pretty much every time I post on this blog. I really do jump around from project to project a lot, and although it means that I rarely finish anything, at least the knitting stays interesting & I don't have to make any quick decisions. For instance, after knitting an inch or so of the Inamorata tank earlier in the week, I completely lost interest in it just as I am getting to the point where I can determine whether or not my gauge / sizing will work out. Maybe the reason I've set it aside is that I suspect it won't, or maybe that it's just been too hot to focus on cables. I'm tempted to just rip the whole thing out, which could still happen. The yarn is too beautiful to waste on something that isn't going to fit, or that will never be finished.

Another old project that was set aside because I was worried about it is Carrieline. It's probably doubled in length since the last time I wrote about it (months ago), a few rows of straightforward stockinette at a time with a few stitches of i-cord edging on each side. I'm alternating skeins of Sundara Sport to keep the sweater from pooling, which is working beautifully except that when I switch the i-cord edging has tightened up in places. Especially in a place where I knit four rows of one color instead of two. See the puckering here:

So for months, whenever I've picked this up, all I can think about is whether or not I should really rip back hours and hours of work to the puckered spot, or whether I should plan to pick up and knit a buttonband (and somehow cut and tack down the tight spot). All the while, it's gotten more difficult to think about ripping out, because I'm getting farther and farther past the pucker. Recently I realized that before I do anything drastic I should just block that edge and see whether the problem works itself out. So last night, before settling in on the back porch with a glass of rosé, a purple sleeve, and a movie, I soaked that corner. After the movie ("An Education", which I highly recommend), I pinned it out, and here's how it looks this morning:

No ripping back required, no need to plan post-finishing surgery--definitely flat enough for me! It's such a relief that the simple solution, requiring the least amount of effort and intervention, is the one that worked out. This is also good news because this is the only knitting I've got going right now that doesn't require a chart or keeping track of rows or any patterning. I will measure my gauge in the blocked section against the pattern & use it to make sure I'm still on track. I think that I swatched for this, but it can't hurt to use a "real" row gauge to double check that I'm getting enough length.

I am still really loving this yarn, even more so now that I see how beautiful it looks when it's all nice and blocked out. The three photos above, taken in different light at different times of the day, shows how the color shifts from blue to grey in an interesting way. It makes me wish a little that I'd taken a bigger color risk when I bought this yarn (bright red, anyone?), but this is a color that I will wear a lot and that isn't a regular boring grey. Now I just need to knit the other 70% of the sweater, and I'll be all set!

Hot in the City, Hot in the City Tonight!

2010-07-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Summer's really here, and the Iris Waves socks are back! Too bad the baseball is so, so terrible.

Oh when I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever

2010-07-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is the summer that Seattle folks will remember as long. . . a long time coming, that is. Coldest summer I can remember since moving back here in 2002, that's for sure. But rumor has it that it will maybe be 80 degrees this week, so I've finally started Inamorata from Knitty as my new summer project. It's the third tank top I've started in recent months, and I'm not sure I like the odds that I'll finish in time to wear it this summer, but at least it's something a little different (i.e. not purple) and in a beautiful yarn. I'm using Kitchen Sink Dyeworks' Silk Linen Lace, and it's really nice--gorgeous color, nice and cool feeling to knit with. The yarn is 35% linen, but hasn't felt too rough on my hands so far (although now that I think about it, maybe I can feel it in my fingers a little). I'm altering the cable pattern slightly, by not filling in the loops with garter stitch, like this one on Ravelry. I like the original version, too, and really should probably gave swatched both, but didn't.

Unfortunately, the skein of yarn is gigantic, so I'm not sure if this will be a great project to take on an upcoming family trip to Virginia, even though it's very climate appropriate. I should start thinking about what else I should take, so there's time get it together. Any suggestions? I could also use summery reading suggestions--I just finished the Dragon Tattoo series, and nothing else I've started has been as gripping.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Excuse Me, While I Kiss This Guy

2010-07-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

I've not been blogging a lot, but I have been knitting a lot of purple stockinette. No, not the Super Purple Girl skirt (cast off this weekend! tons of finishing left!), but Kira, which I haven't posted about since early May. I've knit the body (all in one piece) up to the armholes, and am about halfway through the first sleeve. I lengthened the body by about an inch, which I'm usually too impatient to do, and I knit all of the waist shipping, which I usually avoid in favor of obscuring my fattest parts. We will see how that works out. I suspect that it may still end up shorter than I like (it's meant to be a short cardi), and more shaped than I like, but I'll deal with that when I know for sure.

For some reason, this project was what I pulled out whenever the purple skirt got to be too too boring to work on. It seems odd, given that it's also stockinette, with only the purl rows and waist shaping to add interest. Given that my knitting time has been a little limited in recent months (work pressure, starting yoga, & continuing to run are all interfering), that little bit of interest has been plenty. Time to adjust to slightly more stimulation, though--take a look at that sleeve:

I'm really pleased with this project so far, despite my various doubts and complaints. I've definitely made a lot of progress in a fairly short period of time, while having less knitting time than usual and not working on it exclusively. And maybe by the time it's ready to be finished, summer will have arrived and I will be able to put that part off for while. Wouldn't that be nice?

Hope Your Fourth is Jam-tastic!

2010-07-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

It struck me earlier this week that if I didn't get cracking on making some jam, the local berries would be gone. It was a hard realization, given that we've only had a handful of days over 70 degrees this summer so far, and I've been spending way too much time working to see July coming. It's here, though, and after a long afternoon of canning, I've got 18 jars of jam. I wish that I'd remembered that I linked to recipes LAST July, because I winged it a little. I made Strawberry Lime using a recipe that came with the box of pectin, and then I made raspberry-strawberry without pectin. Both are delicious, but the rasp-straw is a little bit runny. Live and learn. And if I can still get raspberries next weekend, maybe I'll try the recipe I made last year again--it's hard to have too much homemade jam on hand.

Happy Fourth!

So Sorry, Super Purple Girl

2010-06-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

J____'s birthday has come and gone, and her skirt is still not quite finished, along with my blog posts about Sasquatch, and some baby gifts that really need work. I'm not finishing much of anything these days, because I'm spending a lot of quality time with some Excel models & in a ton of meetings. I'm hoping that this lighten up a bit in July. Really, really hoping. Just like I'm hoping that this

is enough yarn to finish. I've knit a picot row & 3.5 rows afterward, and should knit a few more rows before binding off. I may just knit to the beginning of the round, though, and use another color in the he, to make sure I've got enough of the dark blue to sew the hem (or tack down the live stitches). Wish me luck!

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Note: Not one to disappoint a 5 year old, I found the perfect baseball hat for her. Purple, sparkly, and with (I kid you not) a big purple unicorn next to the Seattle Mariners' logo. Only available in youth sizes, unfortunately.

Sasquatch Day 1: Sunburn > Cold Wind Storm

2010-05-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

Oh, Sasquatch--why did I ever doubt you? Why haven't I been back sooner? O.K., I'll tell you why--camping and freezing cold wind when I went in 2007. This year, I'm not camping, and the weather was ideal yesterday, and I knew to bring extra clothes for when it cooled down after sunset. My biggest problem was totally missing my chest when applying sunscreen, so I've got a bit of a burn (after silently mocking people with sunburns all day) that I will need to keep covered.

Here's what's in the photos, left to right, starting with the top row:

Row 1: Laura Marling, Fool's Gold, The Gorge
Row 2: O.K. Go, Ken Stringfellow of the Posies, the Blue Sea Sock
Row 3: Broken Social Scene, The National, the Hold Steady
Row 4: The Gorge, two Vampire Weekend photos

My clear favorite of the day was Vampire Weekend, who I haven't seen before (but will be seeing again in August). Very high energy set, high energy crowd, and I was able to get right down front. Dear Vampire Weekend--maybe it wasn't nice to say you're the new Haircut 100. I apologize, I love you.

The Hold Steady also impressed me--I really like their album "Stay Positive," but wasn't sure what to expect live. Also very high energy & crowd friendly, they really perked me up after seeing a different band that I had high hopes for that were kind of boring. It was nice to see the Posies, it's probably been 10 years since I last saw them (and 22 or 23 years since I first saw them).

I would like to have gotten a better look at Mumford & Sons, but their stage was mobbed and I couldn't see a thing. I definitely liked what I heard from afar.

Time to start getting ready for Day 2 of Sasquatch. Item #1: better sunscreen coverage!

Let it Grow, Now

2010-05-26T05:24:00.000-07:00

I've found that the best time to work on a really boring stockinette project is when there are plenty of good distractions, instead of sitting in any easy chair, all sleepy-like. I knit at least an inch over coffee with friends on Saturday, up through the third row of increases. I'm on my third color now, and even though there are now twice the number of stitches I started with, I'm starting to feel like I'm going to be able to finish this before J____'s birthday party.

On Sunday, I dug into the third section at Safeco Field. The game was the second blowout we've seen this month, and we've yet to see a win this season. Not encouraging, not even a little bit.
At least the weather was pleasant and I'm more than an inch into the section:

Second Inning (Padres 1, Mariners 0):

Fifth Inning (Padres 2, Mariners 0):

Eighth Inning (Padres 8, Mariners 1):

Unless I can miraculously whip through the rest of the skirt this week, I'll be taking it with me to the Sasquatch Festival over Memorial Day. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of great bands (all three days), but am not sure I'm prepared for three days at the gorge with tens of thousands of dirty ~~hippies~~ hipsters. Its very possible that I will be seen as the crazy "you-kids-get-offa-my-lawn lady", or that I will hear a lot of "hey, you must know my mom!". I'm not sure that knitting a skirt for a five year old is going to reduce the likelihood of either one of those scenarios.

As boring as this stockinette has been, I have my eye on Olive (Rav Link), an adult-sized sweater that's a bit of yoke and then pretty much all stockinette. It's such a pretty pattern, though! It's queued up, and I'm trying to figure out what yarn to use, and whether I should start it immediately instead of finishing this skirt or any of the other projects I have underway. Maybe it's time to fix the problem with Passiflora, and wrap that up first? Or to keep up with Kira, which is about 30% complete? Maybe start more medallions for Blue Celandine? Too many options, but fortunately or unfortunately the yarn I'd like for Olive isn't carried by any of the local stores I frequent, so I'll likely hold off for a little bit at least, unless I decide that something in the stash would work out. Hmmm, there's a thought.

__________
"Let it Grow, Now": Pianosaurus, "Let it Grow".

Sheep to the Slaughter, Oh I Thought This Must be Love

2010-05-24T05:12:00.000-07:00

Another project from my flurry of startitis in March / April: Celandine (Rav Link) from Twist Collective, in Halcyon Yarns fingering weight silk. It's a gorgeous little tank that is stockinette built off of the leafy medallions. So far, what I have done are the two swatches, and that may be where I stay for awhile. The designer (Jennie Pakula) has an interesting approach to incorporating the tendancy of silk to stretch lengthwise. The approach is to use it instead of fighting it, which is why the stockinette swatch is really important. You knit a swatch, and then hang it vertically with a knitting needle weighing down the bottom, so that you can measure based on the drape that you will end up with. It's pretty cool to see what was a squat swatch stretch out so much. I think that my gauge is o.k., or will be if I get a lot of stretch out of the final product. The fabric is a little on the sheer side, but I think that I can deal with that with a dark silk lining if my pasty white belly shows through. I have a feeling that it may be awhile before I really need to worry about it--those medallions use 000 needles, so they require a lot of concentration!

_____________
Sheep to the Slaughter, Oh I Thought This Must be Love: Elvis Costello, Big Sister's Clothes

Underneath the Purple Rain

2010-05-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

It's only raining normal rain here, but I am being crushed under the weight of tedious purple stockinette:

I've got close to six inches of J____'s Super Purple Girl skirt knit, and although I love the way it looks, it is mind-numbingly dull to knit. I made a ton of progress on Sunday, but I had to pull out a bit of lace to work on for awhile on Monday night to avoid snoozing at the needles. I wasn't sorry at all that I didn't have time to knit last night after getting home from yoga class, and tonight I am turning in early instead of pushing through a few more rows. I do look forward to the next color change (and am hoping that I've got enough yarn!), but it hardly seems fair that the yarn for Inamorata is now wound and taunting me. Here's a solo shot of the yarn, since the stockinette has totally numbed my brain, leaving me with nothing else to say:

I'm So Sweet, Like a Nice Bon Bon

2010-05-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

I've started the Super Purple Girl Twirly Skirt (that needs to be done in three weeks), and although I think it's going to be adorable, there's bad news and there's good news:

The Bad News:
I twisted the cast on row when I joined it, and didn't notice for the first, oh, thousand stitches. I've had to rip out everything you see above.

The Good News:
I measured my gauge before ripping it out, and I was getting 4 stitches to the inch instead of 5. That means that I was on track to knit a 28 inch waist for a 5 year old, which is about 6.5 inches too large. I probably should have noticed that it was huge independently of the twisted edge, but wasn't thinking about it.

The Even Better News:
At 4 stitches to the inch, this yarn makes a nice fabric that is neither too dense nor too open, so I can just cut the number of stitches by about 20% to adjust. 20% fewer stitches = faster knitting!

Now I just have to hope that the gauge I was getting on what I've knit so far is representative, at least until I start the ridiculous increases.

________________
"I'm So Sweet, Like a Nice Bon Bon", The Beastie Boys, "Body Movin'". I'm listening to it right now, to encourage faster blogging.

Don't You Let Me Make You Blue, Too

2010-05-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Ack! I haven't even written about all of the blue projects I have underway, and today yarn for (at least) two new blue projects arrived. The blue hank in the upper right corner is Kitchen Sink Dyeworks Silk Linen Lace to make the Inamorata published in the latest Knitty. I can't wait to get started on this, I've been eager for this yarn since the pattern was published. The rest of the yarn is Cascade Cotton Club, which is for a certain young lady's 5th birthday--I'm planning to knit her a Twirly Skirt (Rav Link), but am not sure if I bought enough yarn. And I just realized that her birthday is in three weeks. I'd better get cracking!

_____________
"Don't You Let Me Make You Blue, Too": Lloyd Cole, Perfect Blue

Bad Night at Safeco Field (but at least there was knitting)

2010-05-07T22:47:00.000-07:00

Truly lousy game. Mom and I left in the fourth, with the Mariners trailing 8 to 0. Sure, Jered Weaver had a no hitter going for the Angels, but that would be more impressive if the M's weren't hitting so poorly. They've practically been no-hitting themselves over the past week.

I did knit a bit on Kira. It takes a little of the sting out of it. Thanks for the long tail cast on suggestions--I've heard the use two yarns suggestion before, that would totally have worked. I just ripped back and used a longer tail--it was much easier to get the right length, having gotten so close the first time!

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The Problem With The Long Tail Cast On

2010-05-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

208 stitches needed. 192 stitches cast on, with about three inches left. No way that's going to work out for me.

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I Loves You Until I Hates You

2010-05-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that I've started a few new things, and the black sweater above is one of those things. It's from the awesome new Twist Collective,the pattern is Passaflora by Julie Turjoman, and it's a super cute sleeveless top with lace insets on the sides and at the neck. I'm using the recommended yarn, Incense from Elann. I worked on this on my recent flights, and have a few inches left, but it's about to go into a serious time out. It turns out that the pattern charts were incorrect in the first version, so my insets don't look right-- see how the solid part jog a a little instead of looking solid like in the pattern photo? I've got to rip back about 2/3 of what I've knit, which is a total drag because there are 236 stitches that I'm going to have to pick up I can't believe that I didn't notice that the pattern didn't look right earlier. I've got the corrected charts now (and no hard feelings or actual knitting hate--it was an honest mistake) but I don't have the will to rip just yet.

I will say that one thing I really like about purchasing patterns in electronic form is that when there are corrections, its super easy for companies to redistribute full, corrected patterns. I recently purchased another pattern from a company that only distributes hard copies, and happened to notice yesterday that errata was published in a blog post that I would totally have missed if I wasn't browsing Ravelry. I don't routinely search for errata before I start a project (I suppose I should), and I really appreciate it when a company automatically emails me an updated pattern.

So if I'm holding off on Passaflora for now, it means I get to start something else, right? Honestly, that was the first thing I thought when I realized how much I have to rip back, which could explain why I don't feel like doing it right now. The bit of purple you see above and below is indeed something new.

It looks like a swatch, but it's really a pocket! I'm starting Kira (Rav Link), in St. Denis Nordique. I checked out this pattern after hearing about it on the Doubleknit podcast, and my only regret is that there wasn't enough Robin's Egg Blue at the Fiber Gallery by the time I got there for the yarn. No matter--the eggplant was a close second place. I'm hoping that this is a project I can get started on and then just work and work on it when I want something fairly straightforward to knit. I've been jumping around between a few projects with vastly different attention requirements, and when I have a few minutes to knit but don't want to drag out a pattern or have to focus too deeply, I've been at a loss about what to work on (though the Carrieline does fit that bill--I need to put that on top of my knitting basket).

So I composed most of this post using my new iPad, and it worked a little better than I expected. I'm hoping to find a good blogging app, but in the meantime just used the web browser. I had to go back and center the photos and add the links from my desktop, although if I had HTML skillz I could have done that from the browser without a lot of trouble. I will entertain all suggestions about alternative ways to blog via the iPad!

A Sweater I've Already Worn a Few Times

2010-04-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to Frieda, for again appreciating my art

I really haven't talked about it since November, but the Black Diamond cardigan is done, and overall I'm very happy with it. I finished it (or I should say, my mother sewed the buttons on it) before taking Frieda with me to Boston, and it looks good and fits well. I wish that the body was a little longer, but I've worn it several times without showing any unsightly flab as far as I know, and that's really good enough for me.

The pattern is really nicely written, it's the Lucy in the Sky cardigan by Laura Chau. It's the first time I've knit a sweater all in once piece, so the construction was new to me but it wasn't difficult at all. I was worried about getting the sleeves even and the right length, but knitting both at the same time worked well. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy, which had more variation between skeins that I liked, but is very nice to work with and goes a long way. I alternated skeins, and made sure I didn't change both skeins at once, but still feel like I can tell where I changed (even though not alternating would have been much more obvious). It's also surprisingly comfortable to wear. Most wool is itchy to me, but this yarn is tolerably itchy with short sleeves underneath, and not itchy at all with a long sleeved T underneath.

Although I've barely been blogging, I do have a few new projects on the needles that I'll post about soon. And I bought yarn today for another sweater, though I think I should finish another project (ANY other project) before casting on for that!

In non-knitting news, I'm still running. Since my last post, I've been back to Boston to see my friend S___ run the Boston Marathon, and to run the Boston Marathon 5K the day before. I got a medal (everyone who finished got a medal). It was cold and a little rainy the day that I ran (and some presumably more elite runners chose to support the 5K crowd by yelling things like "Way to go, run-joggers!"), but marathon day was beautiful. S___ ran in 3 hours and 17 minutes, which means that he ran each of the EIGHT 5Ks that make up a marathon a lot faster than I ran my ONLY 5K. Super fun day, super fun trip.

Back in the Safe

2010-04-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

I've definitely seen better baseball, but Opening Day is still a treat--special guests, extra introductions, and the grounds crew is guaranteed to dance. The Iris Waves I started for Spring Training made an appearance, too!

I Don't Think That Frieda Understands My Art

2010-04-11T14:59:00.001-07:00

Frieda about to roll dangerously close to a finished knitted item.

The un-Spring-y project I crammed into my bag at the last minute before leaving for Spring Training is done! It's the sparkly, Dream In Color Starry black Damson that I started last summer, but put aside at some point for some unknown reason. It turned out to be a great travel project, because it didn't require a lot of attention--easy to work on a few minutes at a time, easy to work on while exhausted from travelling & baseball. Now that it's spring, I'm not sure whether I'll have a chance to wear this anytime soon. And if I don't use it myself before next winter, it seems fairly likely that it will end up being an emergency holiday gift--which is fine, since I can always make another one!

Here's a dog free photo, taken in Chez E____ last weekend:

How Do People Stand All That Sun?

2010-03-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

I've been back from Spring Training for almost a week, but it seems like a lot longer ago than that! We had great seats for most of the games we went to, and the weather was very pleasant (as long as I was mostly in the shade). We saw Milton Bradley get thrown out twice for arguing balls and strikes, and were close enough to hear the terrible name he called the umpire. Awesome. The baseball was bad at times, good at times, as is normal in Spring Training. This year, we visited two parks that we haven't been to before, which means that we've covered almost all the Phoenix parks. We haven't been to see the Cubs, but I think that's about it. The home opener is in a few weeks (sandwiched between two trips to Boston), and I can't wait! Although right now, I'm really spending my time thinking through the logistics of the first Boston trip, because I've got a tightish schedule on Friday (but can't leave on Thursday morning), and Frieda is travelling with me. Frieda has been to the east coast twice, and she should be fine on the plane, but there are still details to think through--health certificate from the vet, how to pack so that I can still carry everything on, how she cope with flying without rawhide (verboten now that she has pancreatitis).

Back to Spring Training, the non-baseball activities. I snuck in a little running, and we managed to hit a yarn store, a quilt store, and a bead store, in addition to trips to multiple Target stores in search of Liberty of London items. I didn't have the benefit of a whole Liberty of London Target Store, but picked up a shirt, a hat, and an XL child's maxi-dress that I'm going to turn into a skirt. I visited a local Target yesterday to make sure there wasn't anything I'd missed (there was more), and I may make a trip to another local one to check out their selection of lampshades.

In knitting news, I made a little progress on both Iris Waves, and Kernal, but not as much as I might have liked--there just wasn't a lot of downtime on this trip, and our seats were too close to the action to facilitate knitting. Also, at the last minute I snuck an "opposite of Spring" project into my bag, and worked on that on the plane instead of the bright, springy projects. More details to come--I may finish it this week, and if not it will almost certainly come with me to Boston (along with Iris Waves and Kernal, I would bet).

Spring Has Sprung (Baseball-Wise, anyway)

2010-03-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Spring Training tomorrow, and have a couple of new projects on the needles to take with me. It just didn't feel right to take the subdued, blue-grey Carrieline, or the wintry grey Peak's Island Hood to a place where it's supposed to be 75 - 85 degrees & sunny all week. Plus, I'm trying to keep room in my bags for running shoes & clothes, so a sweater and a bulky scarf are not the best choices. A little simple lace in a bright aqua, and a pair of summer-striped socks? Those seem just right for knitting at the ballpark, don't they?

The blue scarf pattern is Kernel from the Fall 2009 issue of Knitty. I picked the yarn (Spud & Chloë Fine, purchased @ Renaissance Yarns) solely for it's color, and frankly I think it's a little scratchy. The stitch definition is great, though. I soaked and blocked it after the edging and first repeat to see if it would soften up and hold the pattern, which is why it lays so nicely now. The yarn didn't soften up very much, but it was too pretty to start looking for new yarn. I really wanted that color, because I was thinking of making Anne Hanson's Coral Gables scarf, and because it screams "Spring is HERE!". I was worried I'd end up glued to the chart, though, which doesn't make it a great pattern for the baseball park. Kernel may end up having the same problem, which is why I also started a new pair of socks.

Even though I just ripped out six different socks, and have at least that many more socks started, I really wanted a new, bright pair to take to Peoria. The pattern is Waves and Piers (Rav Link) from The Little Box of Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott. I'm using Yarntini Striped Sock in Iris from the Yarntini club I joined last summer, with a coordinating Dale Baby Ull for the cuff, heel, and toe. The pattern is just two rows (one plain, one patterned), and should be easy to follow along. If not, I know a couple of places not too far from the ballpark with yarn on offer . . . and I still have time to cast on one more thing!

Appetite for Destruction

2010-03-14T18:17:00.001-07:00

Man, has it really been almost a month since I posted?

After the February whirlwind, I caught the worst cold I've had since December of 2001. In fact, the cold of 2010 may have been worse than the cold of 2001, and after hitting hard the last week of February, I'm just getting back into my regular routine (and still have a little bit of a cough).

The cold hit during the Olympics, and prevented me from finishing any WIPs or new projects. My initial plans were not overly ambitious--finish the Black Diamond cardigan (I started a few rows into the raglan decreases), start & finish the Komi Hat, and rip out a bunch of projects I haven't worked on in ages.

The Black Diamond is really, really close to being done now, but at the end of the Olympics I still had some work in pattern to do and it was more energy than I had. There's been zero work on the hat. I always think that if I am stuck home sick, I should be able to get a lot of knitting done, but I couldn't even pull something plain out to work on--I was too busy napping in between violent coughing fits. I've put the Komi hat in time-out for now (I don't love it, and now it's spring so no pressing need to finish it), and I'll most likely finish the Black Diamond after returning from my annual trip to Spring Training, which starts on Wednesday. I had hoped to finish it this weekend, but had a LOT of other things to get done since I've been neglecting all but the essentials for the past three weeks.

The Ravelympics weren't a total loss, however--I did summon the strength to rip out SIX works-in-progress that I was unlikely to ever finish. Here's the proof:

Mystery Socks, Started January 2008.

Kiila Greens, started May 2009

\

Purple Graffiti Cables, started April 2009

Leyburn, started January 2009

Sockgate Socks, Started July 2009

Blue Hawaiian, started July 2009

All that ripping earned me a medal, which is good, and now there are six fewer projects I have to worry about finishing, which is even better. I think that the main thing I've learned by ripping these out is that I don't love toe-up socks when it comes time to figure out the heel. For the Blue Hawaiian and the Sockgate socks, I didn't like how the heels interrupted the pattern. For the Leyburn socks, I tried to make some heel adjustments and it just didn't work. For wonky fits or stripes, top down is probably the best way for me to go!

Madrona 2010: Lever Knitting & Komi Patterns

2010-02-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

After Janine's class, I had a "day off" from Madrona, which really means a regular day at work. A regular day after being gone part of the day Tues / Wed for the Wilco shows, and Thursday for Madrona. In other words, a really, really busy day, capped by an evening of annoyance at NBC for tape-delaying the Olympics' opening ceremony.

Day 2: Speed Knitting with Stephanie Pearl McPhee

Fortunately, my next class wasn't until Saturday afternoon--Stephanie Pearl McPhee's Knitting for Speed and Efficiency. The top two photos show my desk area (including long, scary needles), and my finished swatch. The technique that she taught is called "lever knitting", where one needle is kept stationary. I could not believe how tight (and pretty uniform) my knitting was, using the recommended tensioning of yarn through several fingers--I'd sort of expected that this new technique would result in some sloppy stitches. It took some time to get the hang of it, but even after a just a few hours, I can see that some benefits--having better tension control, for starters. I just need to practice a lot more. A LOT more. Stephanie recommeded starting a new Lever-only project, and working on it steadily for about 30 days with long-ass needles. She showed us breifly how to adapt to other needles, but said (and this totally makes sense) that it's best to get comfortable with the technique as taught before going all freestyle. Note that I'm almost certainly not quoting here here, but that's the gist of it. I will probably wait until after the Olympics (or after I finish my two major Ravelympics projects), and the project will probably be a seed stitch or ribbed scarf. Equal knitting and purling, and lots of switching between = good practice!

Day 3: The Magic of Komi Knitting with Charlene Schurch

On Sunday, I was in Charlene Schurch's Komi knitting patterns class. The bottom row of photos above show my morning swatch, and my afternoon hat. This class was really cool, and it reminded me a lot of a lecture I went to at Sock Summit about Turkish knitting designs. I did not take good notes in either class (too busy swatching!), but I think that Charlene said that the Komi people are in the same language group as Turkish people, and Hungarians. The Komi Republic is in the far north of Russia, and if you're interested there's some possibly correct info available on Wikipedia. While the patterns of the Komi region were the jumping off point of the class, the emphasis was not so much on the exact way that these patterns were used by knitters in the region, or what cast-on a traditional Komi knitter might prefer, or what thumb is most historically accurate. The focus was more on the patterns themselves, and how they use simple, memorable stitch repeats to form very complicated looking items. I highly recommend Charlene's book Mostly Mittens, which uses the Komi patterns in gorgeous mittens--the samples she brought along were soooooooo beautiful!

In my swatch, I tried out several patterns with a few different colors, and decided to knit my Komi Hat with red, black, and a dull-ish light green. The hat pattern is sized for a child, but I think that at my gauge, it's probably going to fit a small adult head (or large child). I like the color combination, but wouldn't choose it if this was a hat for me, but once it's finished I'm sure I will find someone who can use it. In any case, this is my only new Ravelympics project--it's good motivation, since I have a poor track record of finishing class projects. But more about the Ravelympics will have to wait for another post, I think . . .

Madrona 2010: The Fair Isle Day

2010-02-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

I packed so many good times into last week that I have a feeling that I'm going to be paying for it all this week. First there were two Wilco shows (Portland on Tuesday and then Seattle on Wednesday), and then the Madrona Winter Retreat ran from Thursday - Sunday. My Madrona schedule was a little less jam-packed than last year, which was a good strategy given my sleep-deprived state. I skipped all of the evening events, but had full day classes on Thursday & Sunday and a half day class on Saturday afternoon. It was good to spread things out a little, I felt a lot less rushed / overwhelmed than I have felt in other years, and I had really good luck in my classes--didn't accidentally sit next to a whiner, or someone who through no fault of their own would irritate me. I had great food (& evidently better service than some people had) at Bite restaurant, an easy time getting in and out of Tacoma and parking, and did not overspend at the market. My single complaint for the weekend is that the classroom on Sunday was about 5 degrees warmer than is comfortable. That's it--a relatively minor problem, in the grand scheme of things. And that E___ couldn't make it out for Madrona, due to jury duty, but that's not directly related to Madrona itself. So about the classes . . .

Day 1: Fair Isle Yokes with Janine Bajus

I took a great 3 day class with Janine during the summer of 2008 (see related posts here if you scroll down to the bottom & read from there up), and I jumped at the chance to take another class with her. Especially one that narrows down the infinite possibilities of Fair Isle Knitting to a plain sweater with a patterned yoke. Looking back at photos from the original workshop, I still really like the direction I was headed color-wise, but the idea of planning a whole sweater is still overwhelming to me. I also realize that if I want to make a sweater that I will actually wear in normal, daily life (as opposed to wearing at knitting events), a plain colored body is probably a better idea than the giant motifs I originally swatched.

We spent much of the morning talking about how to build a sweater using the Elizabeth Zimmermann percentage system, before getting into the yarn. It seems pretty straightforward, although it was a little shocking to learn that I'll have to knit almost the whole sweater (body to sleeves + two sleeves) before getting to the colorwork! Shocking, but o.k.--I don't have to make any final color decisions other than the body color for a really long time, unless I want some color around the hem or the cuffs.

Now to the photos:

Top Left: My work area. Note that I worked quite a bit on the Carrieline in the morning, since it's my biggest non-Ravelympics project and this was before the opening ceremonies. I've finished about six inches from the hem. The green was a swatch that I ended up not using, but I used the same yarn in both other classes.

Top Right: My initial color selections lined up on the color wheel. The lighter blue (Spindrift 322, Lomond) will be the body color, and I picked some red oranges and yellow oranges in a split complementary color scheme. Note that when I was googling this to make sure I had that term right, I found the following quote: "The split-complimentary color scheme is often a good choice for beginners, because it is difficult to mess up." I'm not sure I like what that implies, but I can't really argue with my results, so maybe it's totally accurate.

Bottom Left: The swatch beginning. The pattern I'm working with is a combination of several traditional banded patterns. Janine designed three yokes for us to choose from, and this set of patterns really appealed to me--possibly because I think that this is the direction I should have gone with my first swatch. I think that the yellowy section photographs better than it reads in person, but I do like the colors together. I may swatch this again, flipping the yellows with the red-oranges. I started to get really excited with the next section, with blues and red-oranges, which shows the pattern more clearly.

Bottom Right: My swatch as of yesterday. I took a little detour in the blue and red-orange section (I'm still not sure how), so I reknit it per the pattern after getting home on Thursday evening. Since taking this photo, I've swatched a little more--I've almost gone through the extra yarn from class, but I still want to test some things out before knitting a bigger swatch with all of the yoke patterns.

Today, after calling all of the local places to see if they had enough of the body color for my sweater, and checking in with several online places, I ordered it online from Schoolhouse Press, along with the other colors I used. Fingers crossed that they've got plenty of 322 Lomond in a single dye lot, or can get it in relatively short order. I guess I shouldn't be totally surprised that only one of the colors (the darkest gold) overlaps with my 2008 swatch, but I wish that more did so I could keep swatching! I probably won't start the sweater body until after the Olympics (or at least until my main WIP is done), but I'm really anxious to have the yarn in hand. Before I lose my nerve, I suppose.

I'll try to fit the rest of my Madrona posts (and maybe a Ravelympics post) in later this week, but this is certainly the meatiest class I took, and the one I'm most excited about. There's just something awesome about seeing all of the Elemental Affects & Spindrift colors all together, and how different people combine them. A good number of the students had taken Janine's fair isle class before (there were at least four of us from my workshop), so I am definitely not the only person who feels this way.

January Made Me Shiver *

2010-02-07T15:15:00.000-08:00

January started out so promising for blogging and knitting, but hit a tailspin mid-month. Out of town guests, crazy amounts of work, and a constant feeling that I'm just barely keeping my grip on things took higher priority. I'm back, for now, but a new whirlwind is starting up next week (most likely to be paid for in the weeks after).

A quick recap of what I HAVE been managing to do, clockwise from top left:

Photo #1: Started a new cardigan, using Sundara Yarn sport. I know, I know, it's a really big financial commitment to knit a whole sweater out of it, and I have a poor track record with sweater finishing. But I'm keeping this simple, and hoping it will work out. The pattern is Ysolda Teague's Coraline, a bottom up cardigan with a smocking-patterned yoke. My two concerns at this point are whether or not my gauge is correct, and whether or not this will be the right size when it's finished. Gauge is one variable, but the other is that I'm not totally sure what I will weigh once this sweater is finished. I've been running really regularly since mid-November and have lost about 20lbs, and am planning to lose more. Technically, I have total control over both of these variables, but that's really too many moving parts for me to accurately predict. I will state for the record that I will not deliberately gain weight in order to wear this sweater, but that I'm not sure that I have the nerve to rip it out if it's too big (or too small).

Photo #2: After finishing a week in which I nearly "lost my shit" (as the kids say) pretty much every day, I decided to go to Boise to see Langhorne Slim on the spur of the moment. Yes, I went by myself, and no, I don't know anyone in Boise. There were so many ways I could have been disappointed by this trip, but it was incredibly fun and just exactly what I needed. I've seen Langhorne Slim a few times before, so I knew that the show would be great, especially in a smaller setting, but travelling last minute & without a lot of planning carries a fair amount of risk with it--where to stay, how to get around, are people going to be friendly, etc. Really, I knew that everything was going to be fine when I stepped off the plane & saw six fantastic pinball machines in the waiting area. Awesome. And the bar had Addams family pinball, my old favorite/nemisis from Sundays at the Bow & Arrow in Harvard Square. In my sheer delight at being in a place where I felt so at home (it even smelled like my 20's--people still smoke in bars in Boise), I was a little overfriendly with the locals (and the musicians). I'm not sure that bringing it up here will ease my embarassment, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Photo #3: I've been working on another Ysolda pattern, the Peak's Island Hood, in Cascade Soft Spun. It's a scarf that has a hood built into it and that buttons under the neck. Not so practical for the 50 degree weather we're having here, and it will probably be warmer still before I finish! I'm hoping to find some nice vintagey buttons at the Sewing Expo at the end of the month (or in the sewing room in my house--I suppose I should look their first).

Photo #4: This is where I stayed in Boise--look at the snow! I really dressed for warmer weather, but brought along the socks that E___ knit for me last year. It was a wise choice, my feet were nice and warm on the way home.

So next week is all about Wilco (Tuesday in Portland and Wednesday in Seattle), Knitting (Madrona starts on Thursday, Ravelympics starts on Friday), and trying to keep things moving forward. Wish me luck!

__________________
* Yes, it's the wrong month, but it fits.

The Fourth Finished Item of 2010 . . .

2010-01-13T22:42:00.000-08:00

. . . hardly counts as an item at all to me, but these doll mittens were eagerly awaited by J_____. I started them while babysitting her a few months ago (August, to be truthful), and ever since it got a little wintry here, she's been pestering me. Whenever I talk to her mom on the phone, there's a "wherrrrrrrre's Emma's Miiiiiiiiiiittens" in the background. Thankfully, the mittens arrived in the post, and now "Emma's not cold anymore!" Evidently, the lack of mittens has been keeping her from getting warm, and NOT her habitual half-nakedness.

As you can see in this ancient post, I improvised this mitten based on one from Emma's vintage wardrobe. The yarn is Dale Baby Ull, in red and white. There is no excuse for it taking four months, but I really have to be in the right mood for tiny mittens in two colors. I really hope that Emma hangs onto them!

The Third Finished Item of 2010 . . .

2010-01-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

. . . may well be a sweater that's been in need of seaming since last May:

Just referring to Grumperina's zipper installation instructions--that's all that's left. Frieda is clearly unimpressed.

Purple Haze, Purple Rain, Purple Toupee--take your pick

2010-01-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I really need to think of more purple lyrics--I've used at least two of the three song titles above already.

Here's the second finished item of 2010, a gift for my friend E__. These are the felted slippers from French Press Knits, and I'm fairly happy with the way they turned out. They were pretty quick to knit, but the trade-off is that they take a lot of seaming. I used Cascade 220, which felts very nicely, but the slippers (and the decorative tabs) didn't really felt quite the same, and it was hard to tell which slipper was R and which was L. That's the risk you run with felting, I suppose--the results are not guaranteed! Also, they picked up a lot more lint than I expected from the towels I washed them with, so next time I will try to find some old, too-small jeans to wash them with. Once E__ has had a chance to break them in, I'm hoping that she will give them good reviews. They are definitely cute (especially with my purple owl Christmas pajamas), but that's not good if they aren't functional!

Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink Moon

2010-01-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

First finished item of 2010--a doll shawl for my friend J______, the proud owner of the Pink Ishbel I knit in mid-2009. Really, she loves the Ishbel--she was suspicious when I borrowed it for Liberty's Sock Summit booth, and she told me on New Year's Eve that she was going to get me a blue shawl so that we would both have shawls. The yarn is Liberty's Yarn Kaguya (same as the Ishbel), in the lovely color Zsa Zsa. I think that I may never run out of this yarn--I think I probably still have enough left for another (very) small project.

I usually try to start a new project on January 1, but haven't started something new yet. I'm really hoping that 2010 is the year I FINISH (or frog) some of the many projects I already have started. I'm running out of needles, and space to store half-done things!

Hope that everyone has a Happy New Year!

It Must Be Christmastime

2009-12-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it's Dec. 21 and I have yet to mail a card, but they are coming along slowly. I've hedged by bets with "Happy Holidays", but by depicting a Christmas icon I've basically assured myself of looking like a slacker when I mail them later this week (fingers crossed!) or next. Other projects are coming along apace, and this weekend I bought tickets for three Spring Training games in AZ in March, and maybe we'll get a little snow tonight. No complaints from me.

Merry Christmas!

Two Toe Tuesday: One of These Socks is Not Like the Others

2009-12-15T05:13:00.000-08:00

I've not been talking about socks very much lately, and for good reason--I've barely been working on socks at all. Or much of anything else, really. I'm knitting a little bit here and there, but I've also been working on Christmas cards and shopping and (believe it or not) running 3 or 4 days a week. I've still got a lot to finish knit-wise before the holidays are officially here, but I'm trying not to get too stressed out, which means I'm just getting further and further behind.

So what about these socks? Two are a little alike, because they are they are both knit from Shelridge Farm's soft touch heather, and both are knit from ribbed Nancy Bush patterns. However, the Yarrow rib, in green, is gi-normous, being knit for a man. And the Spey Valley socks, in purple, are a few sizes smaller than my feet, being knit for a woman with smaller feet than mine. I love both of these socks, and need to get cracking on sock #2 of Spey Valley. Sock #2 of the Yarrow rib is just about ready for a heel, so I should power through that as well.

The third sock has not made an official blog appearance yet, although I started it in July. It's still on the needles, because I wanted to make sure that I end up with socks that are the same height and use as much yarn as possible. The yarn is Yarntini self-striping sport, in Blue Hawaiian. It's great yarn (I've used the semi-solid before, and love it), with great colors, but I don't like this sock. The heel is a standard short-row heel, and I hate it. I think that it has to do with the weight of yarn more than anything else--even though I picked up the wraps, the turns look messy and I don't like the way the heel interrupts the stripes. This is why it took so long to get to the heel--I was thinking about using a heel flap pattern, but I have less experience with those. And I really needed to get past the heel, so I would have a nice plain sock to knit at the movied. Bad reason to rush through, and I'll probably just rip it out. The stripes would make a really cute hat, wouldn't they?

Hope that everyone's holiday preparations (such as they are) are coming along well. I'm hoping to get my knitting / blogging mojo back in the coming weeks, and I keep seeing projects that I'd love to take a crack at once I've finished up some other things (but keep me in mind if you have any recommendations).

Stories From the City

2009-12-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

I went to New York a few weekends ago, and I only took photos of two things on my camera.

Top Photo: Paparazzi taking photos of Katie Holmes & her daughter through the window of a restaurant they went into. It was horrifying--this was taken after much of the crowd thinned.

Bottom Photo: a store that knows better than to oversell itself.

I didn't take any photos on my camera of the great rock show E___, R___ and I attended (Langhorne Slim--highly, highly recommended), but should get some from E___ soon. I didn't take any photos of the long bus ride from Boston to New York, or of the walk from the World Trade Center to Soho to the Village, or lunch with M___ and J___, or the delicious skewers at the Miracle of Science. I was really just too busy cramming as much good time as possible into three days on the east coast, and I think I succeeded.

On the flight to the east coast, I did start a new project:

I'm knitting on a 16" circular, so there's not much hope of stretching it out better for the time being. It's a lacy (duh) neckwarmer, the pattern is Spiraluscious by Anne Hanson, and the yarn is Skinny Bugga from the Sanguine Gryphon that I purchased almost accidentally at the Loopy Ewe. I was on the site totally by chance when the yarn was posted, and before I knew it I had ordered this skein. I've been trying to buy less "stash" lately, because I keep coming across yarn that I bought without a plan and am wondering how I'm ever going to get through it all without turning knitting into a chore. However, I am really pleased with this yarn. The color is a really beautiful, rich semi-solid, and the little bit of cashmere in it has made it a pleasure to knit with. This neckwarmer should only take about 1/3 of the skein, so there will be enough left for more neckwarmers, or maybe mittens. Or maybe I'll just pass along the leftovers to another knitter? I suppose I should wait to see how this turn out!

The Drunks Were Ricocheting

2009-11-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

I know it's been awhile since I rapped at ya . . . I've really got to get back in the swing of regular posting. Especially since this is the time of year when I tend to actually finish things, rather than just start and abandon them!

I have been knitting, but it's gotten so dark here (what with it being late November) that it's been a chore to take photos of anything at all. And then yesterday, when we had beautiful, sunny weather, it felt like I spent the whole day in the car. Black Friday, you ask? Why, no--I went to five stores looking for a battery for my iPod remote watch, and to make a very, very long story short, I ended up with a new remote watch, two new batteries, and a running bra that is four inches too small. Let's just say that I was a little off yesterday, and no photos of knitting were taken.

As you can see above, I'm making good progress on the second Appliance Mitten, and the first one fits my friend R____ really well, so now they also have a destination. As soon as they are done, I need to embark on a pair for my friend L_____--for her birthday, I promised a pair of mittens by Christmas, so her mittens will come before the pair I started for myself (which still need a color-order revamp). These are the colors I think I've settled on:

I'm still deciding, though. I have three other colors in my stash that I could mix in: olive, hunter green, and white. But maybe the teal that I'm taking out of my mittens would fit in better here? Hmmm. I'm not in love with the brown, either. Hmmm. I wonder how many more colors the Fiber Gallery has of this yarn? And what other local stores carry it? Somehow, I think that it will be easier to find that that stupid watch battery . ..

________________________
"The Drunks Were Ricocheting:" Wilco, Sky Blue Sky. That's what the zig zags will stand for when I make my own mittens.

Black Coffee In Bed

2009-11-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

The Black Diamond sleeves are almost done! Black stockinette sleeves hardly make for an interesting blog post,but setting up the photo (with tripod) was a pain so I feel like I need to share it. These sleeves will be joined to the body, so I'm assuming that they need to reach comfortably from my wrists to right under my arm. I'm hoping that the length works out, although I don't want to go too long because I think that this yarn will grow a little when washed.

I'm headed to the east coast for a long weekend on the 19th, and I'd love to finish the sweater by then, but I'll be surprised if it happens. I tend to think that the sweater is almost finished, but really there's still probably 15% left to go. Maybe it's more realistic to finish a second Appliance Mitten?

Hello, Darkness My Old Friend

2009-10-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

A spooky sweater update on a spooky Halloween . . .

I've been very slowly working on the Black Diamond cardigan that I last posted about in April, and I've reached a major milestone--I started the sleeves! This cardigan (pattern link here) is knit bottom up in one piece to the armholes, then you knit the sleeves, and then join it all together. I'm knitting the sleeves two at a time because otherwise there's zero chance I will match up the increases. It feels like these are zipping along, because it's all stockinette for the time being--no pattern to worry about, and waaaaaaaay fewer stitches than the body has.

While I love knitting with this yarn (DIC Classy, Rav link) I am a little nervous about the color variation between skeins. I've been trying to mitigate this by alternating skeins, and I even switched one of the skeins at the halfway point so that I wouldn't end up switching both at once. I'm not sure how successful this has been--it appears that the first half skein was pretty dark, and I can tell where it changed. Fingers crossed it will be o.k. in the end, and my fingers are also crossed that the two skeins I'm using for the sleeves are not going to result in wildly different colored arms--one is a little bluer right now, but it's still early days. I didn't think I could manage four yarn ends at once, so I'm also hoping that one sleeve does not take more than one skein. Worry, worry, worry--is that what I'm really getting out of this sweater? I hope not!

I Think You'll Be There When I Fall

2009-10-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

I sound like a broken record, but I really haven't been knitting that much in the past couple of weeks. I'm super busy at work right now, but I've also spent some time meeting up with friends in non-knitting settings, and even when I've been at home in the evenings it's been hard to concentrate. But, nine days after confirming that the thumb was too short, I have added seven or eight rows to the thumb and Appliance Mitten #1 is finished! And it seriously looks better propped up against a Ghost Pumpkin than it does with my too-big hand jammed into it.

Before I move on to mitten #2, or go back to the Metropolis kit, I may start a third pair--I recently picked up 11 (yes ELEVEN) balls of the yarn used in this kit, to make more mittens. More mittens! Many more! Each pair of mittens takes about 100g of yarn, so this is enough for about five pair of mittens, and it's cost effective as long as I make at least three pair. This will also give me a chance to sub out the teal that I dislike so much in the Metropolis mittens.

Maybe it's time to clear the social (and work) schedule so I can actually get cracking on all these mittens!
____________________
"I Think You'll Be There When I Fall": Sam Phillips, When I Fall. I haven't seen the Golden Compass, I have no idea what this song has to do with the movie, but it's a great song. Fall = Autumn, even out of context, right?

Hello City

2009-10-16T23:43:00.000-07:00

While waiting for confirmation that the thumb was too short on my first Chevron mitten (it was, and is just about reknit), I started the version using the Metropolis Mittens. Here's the good news--I went up a needle size, and the mitten is closer to the recommended gauge and therefore should fit me!

That is the end of the good news.

Now for the bad news--I hate what I've knit so far. I picked this kit because I love this pair (Rav Link), but I really don't like the color order I used. You can see on the right that in black & white, the value changes are weird looking. Very little contrast between the two braid colors, almost none between the blue and grey, and then giant changes. I really think that the photo from the last post of the skeins lined up against one another looked better, and if knitting the yarn doesn't make it look better somehow, then what's the point? Maybe should consider that order?

Also, aside from the value problem, I really don't like the olive next to the blue. I had intended to have olive first & the heathery brown second, but I screwed up the knit row after the braid. And teal is one of my least favorite colors ever--this particular shade of teal especially. I put up with it as an "accent" for the Mariners, but I'm not sure I can tolerate it in handwear, even though I knew that it was one of the kit colors.

So I'm going to rethink the order, and possibly go from 8 colors to seven, if I can that it won't leave me a little short on the other colors (I think it will be fine). Maybe it's a sign to finish the Appliance Mittens?

The Autumn Winds Blow Chilly & Cold

2009-10-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

The colors I'm using for this Chevron Love mitten are from a kit called "Vintage Appliance", but really the colors seem perfectly appropriate for fall. The kit & pattern are from Knitterly Things, and the mitten has knit up pretty quickly. There are, however, a few problems:

The pattern gauge is about 7 st to the inch on a size US3 /3.25mm needle, which is perfectly reasonable. Since I'm a loose knitter, I went down a couple of needle sizes to a 2.75mm needle, and didn't measure my gauge until I was past the thumb gusset. I'm getting about 8-8.5 stitches instead of 7. I knew that it was running a little small on my large hands, but didn't realize that it was all gauge and not just sizing.
I opted not to run the colors up the inside of the mitten, because I'd rather weave in a bunch of ends than deal with 8 balls of yarn at once. This is one of the reasons I didn't realize the mitten was so small earlier--all those ends make it a pain to try on! They weren't so bad to weave in, though. Once I got past the cuff, I started weaving them in periodically so I didn't have to do all 60-ish at once. And now that I've counted how many ends there were, I think that I may have been insane to cut the ends.
I love, love, love the colors, and there's no chance that this pair will fit me or that I'll rip it out.
I think that the thumb is a little stumpy, even if these are going to a small handed person. Since my hands are too long for the mittens, it's fruitless to judge this by myself. Before I start the 2nd mitten, I need to have someone try these on and tell me if I need to add length to the thumb. The fact that I'm even imagining this means that I'll probably have to cut the orange tip (I wove in the ends), and I'm afraid that it could get ugly.

While I'm disappointed not to be able to jump into mitten #2, and that this pair won't be for me, I do have this for consolation:

Chevron Love Mitten Kit #2: Metropolis! Time to dig out some larger needles!

Only 5 1/2 Months Until Spring Training

2009-10-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was closing day for the Mariner's 2009 season, and although the M's ended up in third place in the West (12 games behind the Angels, two games behind the Rangers) it was a great season to watch. The return of Griffey, the return of a winning season, Ichiro's 9th consecutive 200 hit season--these were all important achievements. But the best part was consistently watching a team that had a chance to win (even if they didn't overwhelmingly win), and that seemed to have fun on & off the field. We saw this change during Spring Training, even though several of the best players were representing their countries in the World Baseball Classic. Let's hope that Griffey comes back, and that the record improves almost as much next year (it would be greedy, let alone impossible, to expect another 40 wins, wouldn't it). And that I eventually finish all five pair of socks I hauled to baseball games this year:

Cabana Boy: Finished July 13, 2009
Strawberry Van Dyke: Finished July 27, 2009
Yarrow: in progress (1st sock done, 2nd almost at heel)
Yellow Mystery: in progress (1st sock close to toe)
Spey Valley: in progress (1st sock midway through foot)

And yes, I am already thinking about Spring Training 2010!

Disposable Dixie Cup Drinking

2009-10-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, sometimes it seems like I do go to a lot of Wilco shows in remote locations. What can I say? They're a great band, and they've skipped Seattle for the last couple of summers so I've had to go to them. This time, the show was at the Roy Wilkins Theater in St. Paul, MN. I sat dead center in the 2nd row of the balcony instead of going for the General Admission option, and it was probably a good choice 'cause I've picked up a mild cold and was already feeling it a bit. Or maybe I was feeling the extra strong blueberry vodka lemonade that I had with dinner--who can say? In any case, I was glad for the seat, and the music, and the chance to get away for a weekend. I knit quite a bit of the Spey Valley sock, shown here after arriving in St. Paul--I was on the heel flap when I left Seattle.

Now if I could only shake this cold, I'd be in good shape--I'm expecting a few busy weeks ahead, there's no time to slow down now.

This Will Go Perfectly With My Pointy Nose & Shoes

2009-10-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ends woven in, washed & dried (gently, via machine), and Wicked is finally finished. Add one pointy hat, a long black skirt, and maybe a black-and-green striped long sleeve shirt underneath, and I'll be all set for Halloween! Or perhaps I'll just wear it to work one of these days.

This is a pretty basic sweater, and it fits well enough, but most of all I'm glad that it's really done. So glad that I'm not even willing to wait for a sunny day to photograph it. It's really nice to cross a long-standing WIP off the list, instead of getting 95% done and then putting it away.

A Sea Black With Ink

2009-09-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

My blogging has been pretty slack over the last month, partly because I've been really busy, and partly because most of the projects I've been working on don't lend themselves to blogging all that well. I'm not totally uncreative, but it's beyond my powers of imagination to make "here's another inch of ribbed sock" sound interesting. Today's post is about a black mostly stockinette sweater, but I haven't posted a photo of this project since APRIL 2007, when I was only halfway through the body.

The pattern is Wicked from Zephyr Style, and I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (Rav Link), in black. I like this pattern because it's simple and easily customizable, and since it's top down it was easy to make sure that the length was fine--no running out of steam and then finding that the sweater is too short! I am making this without a front pocket. The photo makes it clear that this sweater is going to attract hair and lint, but considering how long I've been hauling this around, it really doesn't look that bad. I can see a couple of rows with iffy tension close to the neck, but that should block out (fingers crossed).

Part of the reason that I picked this up again with some dedication earlier this month is that after a couple of years of knitting it a few rows at a time, I realized that I only needed an inch or two before the bottom ribbing and then a couple of 3/4 length sleeves. Another reason for finally trying to finish this is that there is a pattern in the newest Elsabeth Lavold book (Aslaug) that I've been waiting for since last winter, when I saw the sample up close. Guess what? It's a lot of stockinette, and I'm likely to knit it in black or grey, so I really need to finish Wicked before I get started on Aslaug. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself--fortunately, the book hadn't yet arrived at Renaissance Yarns the last time I stopped in, so that's helping me keep on Wicked.

I have a couple of other new projects on the needles, one which must remain secret for the time being and another one that is really looking great so far and is a nice alternative to the plain black sleeve that I'm working through right now. I'll try to be a little more lively in October!

__________
"A Sea Black With Ink", Wilco, Sunken Treasure

Synchronizing Every Single Move

2009-09-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

It happened almost without a thought--I'm now working on three different pair of socks designed by Nancy Bush, and I've barely talked about them here at all. Two of the socks are from different books and the other is a standalone pattern, but they've got some similar elements between them that make it easy to switch off between them. They're all really beautiful in their simplicity, too--even the lacy yellow socks have an easy to memorize pattern.

From left to right:

Yellow Mystery: These are the September Sock Knitters Anonymous (Rav Link) mystery pattern, designed by Nancy Bush. I started a number of their knitalongs last year (the SKA year begins in Sept), and I'm not sure if I finished a single pair on time. That's no deterrant, however, especially when the guest designer is someone I'm such a big fan of! I'm a little bit behind, but not as far behind as I was at this time last week, and I'm enjoying the pattern. The front of the leg has a lace panel, and the back has ribbing at the top and stockinette at the bottom. Plus, there's a Vikkel braid (tutorial here), and an eye of partridge heel flap, and still the patterns are all simple enough that I haven't been glued to the chart. I'm knitting this in Shibui Sock from the Loopy Ewe, colorway Finch. One of the requirements of the KAL is that the yarn is yellow. I don't think that there's any question that this sock fulfills that requirement.

Yarrow: I'm making good progress on Sock #2 of the Yarrow socks that I started back before Sock Summit. These are man-sized socks, and the first sock is totally done but not photographed. The yarn is Soft Touch Heather Shelridge Farm in Fury, the pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I don't really have much more to say--I'm just keeping on with these, working on them when I can, and still liking them a lot.

Spey Valley Socks: I just started these last week, when I had some delusion that I was getting too close to the Yarrow heel to take that pair to two Mariners games. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but these are for a friend for Christmas so I figured I might as well get started on them now. The yarn is Soft Touch Heather in Loganberry, and I like it just as much as the green Fury yarn. The pattern is Spey Valley from Knitting on the Road. It's a pretty plain ribbed sock, with a simple knit-purl pattern at the top and a Vikkel Braid above and below the pattern. The heathered color of the yarn makes it hard to see that the knit-purls make diamonds, but enough of the texture comes through to show that the cuff is a little fancy. If you look carefully, you can see the braid in the photo below--it's the row I was knitting before taking the photo:

I was pretty happy that I could knit the braid at a baseball game after almost a whole beer--I attribute this triumph to having knit the braid on the yellow sock only a week or two earlier.
______________
"Synchronizing Every Single Move": The Minus Five, Retrieval of You. Least creepy stalker / kidnap planning song ever. Disclaimer: I am not planning to stalk or kidnap Nancy Bush or anyone else. I'm just knitting some socks, that's all.

Thinking About Knitting (doesn't actually get you very far)

2009-09-13T10:49:00.001-07:00

It's the busiest time of the year at work, and the last couple of weeks have involved longer than normal hours and higher than normal stress levels. I've been knitting very little, and the knitting I've done has been very basic--work on a black stockinette sweater, or on the Yarrow socks, or a row or two on Damson. I'm itching for something more interesting, but other than starting the Nancy Bush mystery sock (which I'll talk about another day), I've been holding off on anything else in an effort to keep my brain from exploding. Back when it felt more like autumn than it does today, I ordered the yarn above, and I'm itching to get started with it. It the "Vintage Appliance" colorway of the Vesper Chevron Love mitten kit. Now I just need to work up to starting it--maybe once I start getting home before 8pm again?

Bumbershoot 2009: And on Monday, Even More Rain

2009-09-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here's how yesterday went:

Weather cloudy, but not raining, so Frieda and I leave for Bumbershoot
Halfway to Seattle, it starts pouring
Then it stops pouring
Then it starts again
Then it lightens up & we head inside
Frieda is fired up--popcorn is everywhere!
Arrive at the Starbucks stage just in time to see the Minus 5
Rain starts again
Frieda is most popular dog around
Show starts a few minutes late
Frieda is drenched, but wrapped in towel and fine
10 minutes later, she's more wet, and shivering
We bail 1/2 way through the Minus 5's set (which was really good, by the way)
We leave Seattle Center less than an hour after arriving
Parking still costs $15
We stop at Macrina Bakery
I hear someone say "smells like wet dog in here". I suspect she's talking about me.
I drop my iPhone. It seems to be working still.
Except for the screen, which now shows only a few lines
Which means I can't turn it off, access data, or read the two text messages that arrived after I got home.

Bumbershoot 2009: Before it Started Raining

2009-09-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

clockwise from top left: Message pulled by an old timey plane, Mayer Hawthorne & the County, Space Needle, Old 97's

It's been a wet weekend here in the Seattle area, and I mean torrential rain & thunder & lightening--fall is officially here. I made it to Bumbershoot on Saturday, when it was relatively dry, but it was much too wet yesterday and it's not clear yet today whether I'll get out of the house--I've got to get some work done and get psyched up for the crowds before I make a final decision.

So the photo pool from Saturday is a little light. I got to the Center around 3, saw three or four bands before meeting up with friends for a beer & then the Old 97s (in the top left photo). The Old '97s were the highlight of the day, as they were last year. Possibly because Rhett Miller wore the same shirt? I'm not going to say it wasn't a factor.

Mini Mitten Monday: Put to Work by a Four Year Old

2009-08-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

I babysat a 4 year old last Saturday. Just playing with her wasn't enough--she really wanted new mittens for her doll E___, which is on loan from her mother. E___ has one mitten, shown on the right above, but it's probably more than 30 years old and has a hole on the other side. Plus, there's only one, so in 4-year-old perspective, it's really no good. I think that the lack of a second mitten is actually worse to her than the giant hole!

So as we watched Snoopy Come Home, I took a close look at the original mitten, and set out to make a replica. The original mitten appears to have been knitted flat, and then seamed. I think that the thumb may have just been stuck on at the end, but I'm not totally sure. It's been awhile since I took a crack at a mini mitten, and this mitten needed to be a bit larger than the ornament mittens I've made. I just used the original as a guide and took a crack at it, and I think it looks pretty close to the original (but knit in the round). The thumb is essentially a 5-stitch icord, which was also pretty easy. One mitten down, one more to go!

Can You Hear Her Blacks Crackle and Drag

2009-08-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

I've made some good progress on Damson since last Thursday, and was hoping to be able to show off the sparkles in the Starry, as well as the way the shawl is taking shape. When I tried to spread it out, though, it looks a little crazy--either the top looks weirdly rectangular (I'm NOT knitting a sailor collar!), or the fabric buckles and curls. Architectural, yes--but not exactly saying much about how this will eventually look! And the sparkles are only visible if you really squint at them--I think I need a special effects camera, that will turn them into disco stars or something.

So I refer you to the original, as well as some really pretty versions here (Rav Link) and here and here (Rav Link). In looking these up, I notice that this is now the most popular new pattern on Ravelry. No surprise--easy instructions, uses just one skein of sock yarn (who doesn't have some of that?), and is a really cute twist on a standard triangle shawl.

_______
"Can You Hear Her Blacks Crackle and Drag": Paul Westerburg, Crackle and Drag.

Stitch N Pitch Recap

2009-08-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

So I have only a few complaints about Stitch N Pitch at Safeco Field tonight:

I was way too exhausted from a very long week to really look at all of the booths.
I was starving when I got to the park, and ate a cheeseburger that was much too much food for me, so then I felt even more like taking a nap.
The Mariners lost 8-4

Mom & E__ and I sat in what I am calling "baseball seats" rather than "knitting seats" because I find it really hard to watch the game from the top of the third deck in left field. Had I known that there wasn't much of a game to watch (except for the KC fans out there), I might have revisited this decision. I think that the Mariners should really consider expanding the Stitch n Pitch section to include some closer in seats as well as the very top deck. Look at the photo above, taken in the first or maybe second inning. See all of those open seats out there? Except for the SnP seats, which were very full, there were wide open stretches of seats all over the stands. Mix the knitters in, people! No need to keep them separate, in the oxygen tank seats!

I ran into a bunch of folks that I don't see often (though I saw most of them at Sock Summit), and I finally gave away the Cables Baby sweater! For once, I was prepared, and I think that the baby will be able to wear the sweater in the right season!

As I mentioned above, I didn't really have the energy to jump into the crowds and do much shopping. I only picked up a really, really cute pattern for a Tofu the Gentle Dachshund (Rav Link, available in Rebecca Danger's Etsy shop). I think it would be nice to make some Friedas and Gretels, provided that the real Frieda and Gretel keep their stinky paws off my knitting.

I worked a bit on the Yarrow socks, but I'm getting close to starting the toe and wasn't prepared to go in the direction yet, so I brought along a new project. It's Damson (Rav Link), by Ysolda Teague, and I'm knitting it in Dream in Color Starry, in Black Pearl. It's a little hard to see the sparkles against the beer-and-ballfield, but they are there. I think that this is going to be another very popular Ysolda pattern--it's only been out for a few weeks, and there are 166 underway. I saw a very pretty green version at Stitch n Pitch, and it made me wish that I was using a color with more variation. Which I suppose I could, but I think that black with sparkles will be great for all of those formalwear occasions I attend (in my imagination).

Ack! It's really to late to be up blogging, I've got one more long day ahead of me (and another baseball game tomorrow night--go M's!) before a relaxing weekend of more work, more summer fun, and hopefully a little more sleep.

Sock Summit Recap: Sunday

2009-08-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

The only photo I took at Sock Summit on Sunday was the blurry photo of the Luminary Panel above, but it was actually a pretty jam-packed day, featuring the following:

The Perfect Rib with Cookie A: Cookie A talked about how to make sure that a complicated sock leg pattern flows right into the ribbing. This is something that I admire about her patterns--it's so easy to just slap a 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 rib at the top of a sock and call it done, but the extra effort she takes with the ribbing really adds a little something extra to her designs. This was a one-hour wonder, so it was pretty quick, but she showed us a lot of examples and explained the basics in a way that will be totally usable.

Turkish Stitches with Anna Zilboorg: I could listen to Anna Zilboorg talk about knitting all day long. I didn't have all day long (this was another one-hour class), so it's likely I'll have to follow up by reading her book Knitting for Anarchists. The way she talked about the Turkish patterns made me want to swatch up a bunch of them, in order to really understand the ideas. Maybe someday I'll get my hands on her Turkish sock book Fancy Feet, too (maybe it will be reissued, like Magnificent Mittens, which I have pre-ordered).

The Luminary Panel: The Luminary Panel was pretty interesting, but I was a little bit relieved that E____ had a flight to catch and we had to leave early, even though it meant missing the cake. I felt that it could have benefitted from shorter responses from panelists, although that group struck me as pretty tough to wrangle. I heard a lot of stuff that I found totally uninteresting (how tough it is to be a woman--snoozeville) & a little uncomfortable (why so many white people here?), but I also heard some awesome stuff (Nancy Bush examing kilt hose at Scottish Country Dances). Maybe it was my expectations that were the problem, and I should have expected the panel to go off on tangents, but also I was pretty wiped out by then with a really long drive back ahead of me. I'm not sorry I went to the panel, I just wasn't sorry at all to leave early.

One great thing about the Luminary Panel (and the Sunday classes, now that I think about it), is that I had a lot of time to work on a pair of socks that I started just before Sock Summit so that I'd have something simple to knit. That's the sock, in the photos above (all taken AFTER Sock Summit). I was just done with the top ribbing when we arrived in Portland, and I was close to the heel when I got home. It's the Yarrow Ribbed Sock (Rav Link) from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. The yarn is Soft Touch Heather Shelridge Farm in Fury. I've adjusted the pattern to be man-sized (no, brother K_____, they aren't for you) and am using a French heel instead of a German heel. They are going to be a great pair of socks, and they are perfect for baseball knitting. As an aside, I wish that I had known that Shelridge Farm would be at Sock Summit, because in the months leading up to Sock Summit, I ordered a LOT of yarn from them (maybe 14 skeins), and I could have avoided the shipping costs. I love this yarn, it's the perfect solid sock yarn and comes in a lot of regular and heathered colors. The socks feel really sturdy, and the yarn is very "wooly". It took a ton of willpower not to go into their Sock Summit booth, and now I'm a little sorry I didn't.

Also in the photo is one of the drawstring bags that I made for Liberty's booth, of which I sold alarmingly few. I don't think I sold a single button-top bag, either. It was a little disappointing, but not a big deal or totally unexpected--after all, I have no brand, and there were a million other bags available all over the place. Now I've got a bunch of Christmas presents (or Christmas bazaar items) already done, so that's not so bad.

So, I think that this wraps it up for my Sock Summit reporting. I really had a great time, and it's made me want to go to Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp, and generally to get more knitting done. As in DONE, not started--I spent most of my knitting time this weekend working on three projects that I haven't though about much at all this summer. They're not much further along, but it feels good to know that I'm working on them again!

We Interrupt the Sock Summit posts . . .

2009-08-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

. . . to say that even from the last row of the balcony (this photo is at max zoom), view partially obscured by tall person in front of me, Demetri Martin's show at the Moore Theater was really, really fun. And funny.

Sock Summit Recap: Saturday

2009-08-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

Why, yes, it is taking me an alarmingly long time to finish posting about Sock Summit. And yes, the longer I wait, the tougher it is to comment intellegently. So, Saturday . . . what happened Saturday?? I took a full day class with Anne Hanson on Sock Design, and I do have a few photos to prove it. See above--I cast on the toe in the morning, and towards the end of day I had several inches foot! Anne's designs are so beautiful and complex, and (like Marjan Hammink) it's hard to believe that she's only been publishing patterns for a few years. I really wish that I'd sucked it up an finished my Bee Fields shawl to wear to class (and not just because the classroom was chilly in the morning).

This is the class that I was swatching patterns for, and even though I didn't really have as many as I'd liked, I did settle on a design that is starting to take shape. I'm knitting the top of the foot in twisted rib, with a lacy bud pattern from a Japanenese stitch dictionary moving across the top of the foot. During class, we talked about different ways handle designs, what types of patterns look good in which types of yarns, and a bunch of other useful stuff that I didn't write down but that I hope I will remember on an as-needed basis.

I sort of like the way my sock is turning out, but I think that the way the pattern runs into the ribs as it moves across the foot looks a little sloppy. Maybe if I'd framed the bud pattern with a couple of plain knit stitches it would look neater? I think that I need to work a little more of it before I veer from the plan. I went back to the hotel after class and worked on it a little longer, but haven't worked on it since, in favor of mindless knitting that I'll talk about in the Sunday wrap-up. Here's the sock toe as it stands now:

I can't help but think that I'd like the sock more if I LOVED the yarn, which I don't. The yarn is o.k., but I picked it more for stitch visibility and because there were 3 skeins available than because it's a color that inspires me. That's definitely something that I heard from both Anne and Marjan--the yarn and the pattern are really closely entwined for their designs. They have worked collaboratively with dyers to come up with a yarn that suits the design (or even more the inspiration for the design). This medium brown doesn't really say "Lacy Bud" to me, but it's not a bad yarn to work out some kinks with!

On Saturday evening, I went to the Ravelry Meetup for awhile, and met a few new folks who I recognized from online. The main event, though was drinks at the Kennedy School with my college friend B______ and E______, and then sweet, sweet, slumber. I remember when B____ and I used to be able to tear it up--rock shows 'til 2am, then out and about until later. I'm convinced I could still do that, if it wasn't for work and dachshunds interfering . . . .

Sock Summit Recap: Friday

2009-08-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

I am sorry to say that I don't have any photos from my Friday class, "Respectfully Ignoring the Rules" with Marjan Hammink. It was tough getting up and out the door on Friday morning after all of the excitement of Thursday (probably combined with leftover fatigue from the heat / lack of sleep the week before the summit). It took a lot of energy to focus on the class, and there was none leftover for photography! I did really enjoy the class. I'm amazed at Marjan's designs, and learning more about her design process was also amazing. It's hard for me to believe that it's been only a few years since she started her business, and it was also inspiring to see her sample socks in person. I've knit her Empoisonnée socks and have her Kiila socks in progress, and I've got a several others in kits or in my queue. And now there will be more, and I want to start them all immediately (if I wasn't still so tired from Sock Summit, and from catching up at work & home).

The rest of Friday is (like much of the weekend) a blur. Right after class came the World Record attempt, and as circular knitting wasn't allowed, I started knitting this:

A simple coaster, using the same pattern as I used here, but with larger needles. I finished it during class on Saturday, and used it immediately even though the ends aren't woven in yet. I think that it's a nice reminder of the Summit, something small but useful.

After lunch on Friday was the author book signing, and the lines were super long. One of my goals during this sock summit was to not waste a lot of time standing in line, and this plan worked out well for me here. I waited until the very end of the signing, and had the four books above signed in less than 15 minutes. However, there was a downside--there were a few of books that I wasn't able to get signed, one because the author had already left, and another one or two because I'd left the book in my room and didn't have time to run back for it. That's the risk I ran, though, and I'd still do it again!

The top photo is ALL of the yarn I bought during the summit, not just the yarn I bought on Friday. I more or less kept to my budget, and ended up with some fabulous yarns from a variety of vendors, and I don't feel overwhelmed by the volume, so I'm pretty happy. For full details on the yarns above, check this link (my Ravelry stash, filtered for the socksummit tag). I was also able to meet the "no excessive line standing" while purchasing--since I spent a lot of time in the marketplace, I just went back later to places that had lines. I spent more on non-yarn purchases than I'd planned--a pair of clogs (tax-free!), and two sets of Signature double points. Yes, two sets.

On Friday evening, E___ and I met up with my college friend B_____ & her daughter for delicious Mexican food and even more delicious gelato. Exhaustion, complete!

Sock Summit Recap: Thursday

2009-08-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Sock Summit, and I'm super tired. Seriously--I got at least 7 hours of sleep last night, had a relatively easy day at work, but had to nap through the first five innings of the Mariner's game (at home, not at the park). I had a really, really great time, and I'm certain not to do it justice, but I'll try to post the day-by-day recap over the next several days, even though Thursday is already really fuzzy to me.

First up, in the upper left are Meg Swanson and Amy Detjen, who taught my Elizabeth Zimmerman Moccasin Sock class. This was a class I manage to snag during the lottery, and although I'm not sure I see a lot of these socks in my future, this class was terrific. The amount of knowledge that Meg and Amy shared that was not even remotely related to the moccasins as we all knit away was well worth the price of admission. I'm not much of a sweater knitter (or finisher), I'm not a really flexible or reactive knitter, but I've got a strong urge to go to Knitting Camp.

I had a little trouble with my actual sock, in that I didn't bring extra knitpicks cables and when it would have been easiest to switch to a longer cable, the screw end of that cable was faulty. Although maybe I didn't try hard enough, because I think that I had used that cable with those tips before. It was a struggle to knit with the shorter cable, so after class was over I didn't make any more progress over the weekend. Anyway, now that I'm home, I can use another cable and hopefully pick up where I left off, and pretend I'm just hanging around with Meg and Amy while I knit. One of the wholly unrelated to class things that I learned was that Schoolhouse Press is reissuing (in English) the twisted stitch books in a single volume, and that they will be out SOON. I've ordered my copy--I'm so excited to find out how I've been screwing these patterns up by not knowing English!!!! I'm serious!!!

My friend E____ came out from Boston for Sock Summit, which made it extra fun. We were roommates for y-e-a-r-s when I lived there, and I taught her to knit by making her teach herself from Vogue Knitting's big reference book. I did agree to answer questions after she'd studied it, but I felt that forcing her to fend for herself proved that she was serious about learning (and she was). On Thursday, she took Knitting Vintage Socks with Nancy Bush, and said it was great--she made a really beautiful gusset (no hole!) on her in-class sock.

E___ and I didn't get tickets to the Opening Ceremonies, but I did check out the silent auction on my way back to the hotel, and one of my Barn Raising Squares is right there on the edge of the auctioned blanket! What a thrill--it's the purple/yellow/brown square! I think that there was a lottery for another blanket or two, but somehow I missed it completely, so I'm not sure what happened to the green square I made. You can ask E_____, or L_____, or E_____, or T_____--I was a (more than a) little bit insane during various parts of the weekend, so it's not surprising that I'd miss it. It started when we arrived at the hotel and saw Anne Hanson and Cookie A sitting outside on a bench, and just rolled forward from there.

The last photo (assuming you're reading clockwise from upper left) was taken at Voodoo Donuts in an after-dinner donut run. I selected the orange donut. It was covered in Tang, which made it, well, tang-y. It was delicious, and hilarious, and the perfect thing to eat at the end of a really, really long day.

A Gigantic Nuclear Furnace

2009-08-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

The gigantic nuclear furnace that has been wielding it's power over the Seattle area in the last week has lightened up a bit. It's only 83 degrees in the house right now, and it's been cooling down at night, so it's bearable and I'm back to sewing bags for Sock Summit. I've outsourced my buttonhole problem to a professional, and while I wait for those to come back I've started on some drawstring bags. With a little help (thanks, Mom!), I think that I can get 15-20 of these done by the time I have to leave on Wednesday, without having to call in sick or take any of those stay-awake drugs. And since I just found someone to watch the dogs while I'm away (my original sitter fell through), I won't have to make service dog vests (fake) for them and say that they are for my social backwardsness disorder (probably real).

Now I just need to finish every knitting project I've ever started, clean up the house, and pack, and I'll be all set!

Two Toe Tuesday: Too Darn Hot

2009-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have a confession, one that will probably neither shock nor surprise you. It's simply this--I usually write my "Two Toe Tuesday" entries on Monday night. Sometimes even earlier! There--I've come clean, and I have no regrets. Monday is very convenient for me, but "Two Toe Monday" just doesn't have the same ring at all.

I'm telling you this because it explains why I'm settling for pretty crappy photos of the Strawberry Van Dyke socks that I finished tonight (Monday). I had only the ribbing to knit, in sport weight yarn, but it took four hours to get through because it is so freaking hot in this house. 11pm, and the thermostat reads 88 degrees. Usually, if I'm close to finishing a sock in the evening, I will knit as fast as possible in hopes of getting some daylight for the photos. Tonight? Knit half a row. Get up for water. Knit a few more stitches. Spray some cold water on the ungrateful dachshunds. Knit a row. Get up to let the sweat pools evaporate. Etc. Same thing with the blog post--I can barely sit in front of the computer, and am having trouble concentrating.

Anyway, back to the photos. It nearly killed me to put on wool socks, so even though the photos aren't great, I am still going to use them. Above are three versions of the same photo, it's really hard to capture the intense redness of these socks (though maybe easier if I'd wait for daylight). The photo on the left is as-shot--no correction. The middle is the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button in Picasa, followed by changing to black and white. The right photo is the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. I think that somewhere between the right and left would be perfect (both colorwise and sharpness), but I'm much too hot to tinker. The pattern is most visible on the black & white photo, but what I find most interesting is that these socks are medium value--I would have guessed dark.

It's not supposed to cool off until next weekend, which is not nearly soon enough. No air conditioning to sleep in, and a hot dachshund glued to my side? I have a feeling it's going to be a very cranky week, saved only by hiding in my cubicle during the daytime hours.

I Saw The Rain-Dirty Valley, You Saw Brigadoon

2009-07-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Went to the Highland Games in Enumclaw today. As you can see above, it was a lot of fun. I can't imagine what it was like tossing a caber, dancing, or piping in the heat. Just walking around all afternoon has me wiped out this evening, and I was certainly not wrapped in wool or wearing knee-high kilt hose! There was a ton of stuff to do and see (and eat and drink). There were some pretty off-beat and extremely unauthentic get-ups, but I guess I felt the same way about a number of outfits at the Berkeley Wilco show. As a very wise bluesman once said, after an audience member jumped up on stage to properly introduce the band (using blues nicknames that were made up on the spot), "Everybody wants to be in show business".

It's too hot to keep sewing tonight, and my buttonhole problem is not yet resolved. The machine is working fine for regular stitching, so I don't think that it's broken (fingers crossed--I really like the Bernina I have, and I will need to save up for awhile when it's time to replace it). It's also too hot to knit, or to sit around the house, or to move, or to do much of anything at all. I think that take-out dinner is in order, so that I can drive around in air-conditioning for awhile. I can already feel the cool!

___________________
I Saw The Rain-Dirty Valley, You Saw Brigadoon: The Waterboys, "Whole of the Moon"

I'm Buddy Rich When I Fly Off The Handle

2009-07-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to finish up these bags today, they just need buttonholes. Three buttonholes each, ten bags, shouldn't take more than an hour or so, right? Wrong. The test buttonhole looked great, but the first buttonhole on an actual bag stalled halfway through. The machine kept sewing, but the fabric stopped feeding through, resulting in a huge tangle. The problem is still not fixed, even though I've tried the following remedies with not a single successful test buttonhole:

Cleaning & oiling the machine
Changing the top thread (I'm using buttonhole thread on the top, and regular thread on the bottom, but having both threads the same doesn't make a difference)
Fresh needle (heavyweight, since I'm sewing denim)
Changing the bobbin
Rethreading the bobbin for more bottom tension (recommended in the manual)
Changing the pressure on the presser foot
Using the manual buttonhole program instead of the automatic program

Needless to say, I've wasted hours, and I'm running out of ideas--or at least I'm running out of ideas that won't cost $50+ (like replacing the bobbin holder) or that will take longer than I have before Sock Summit (like taking it in for service). At this point, I've got my fingers crossed that it's related to it being 85+ degrees in the sewing room, and that when it cools down it will work.

Any suggestions? Before I move from anger to panic?

_________________
I'm Buddy Rich When I Fly Off The Handle: Beastie Boys, "Sabotage"

Two Toe Tuesday: Frieda's Watching Out For These Two

2009-07-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

Was it only six or so weeks ago that I couldn't bring myself to work on any socks? In May and June, I worked on blanket squares, and triangle shawls, a scarf, and even finished a really old baby sweater, but barely any socks. Evidently, those days are over--I've pretty much only worked on socks for the last month, except for the 4th of July dishcloth. I'm even close to finishing another pair--I'm just about ready to to start the gussets on the second Strawberry Van Dyke (on the right). As mentioned previously, this pattern is from Wendy Johnson's new sock book. The instructions are really good, and I like the fit, but it's a little bit boring, lace-wise. The color is so bright, though, that it doesn't really need a lot of other stuff going on. I can't say enough good things about this Yarntini sport weight yarn--it's squooshy, it's vibrant, and it knits up wicked fast (as they say in Boston).

I'm also pretty close to finishing the first Sock Summit logo sock (on the left). The Sock Summit sock colors are growing on me more now that I'm in the real colorwork section, but I still sort of wish I'd gone with a more solid black and a solid (or even slightly more solid) contrasting color. In Boston, I picked up some gorgeous Shelridge Farm yarn that would be perfect--and by "picked up", I mean that E____ ordered it for me when she ordered the yarn she needs for her Sock Summit class, and it arrived while I was there. A solid black, and a limey green--maybe for another pair?

Won't You Let Me Walk You Home From School

2009-07-20T06:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, the double-edged sword of knitting conferences. On the one hand, it's a lot of fun, and there is a lot to learn. On the other hand, there's the homework. I was able to pick up an extra class and a couple of one-hour-wonders in the Sock Summit lottery, so my class lineup is now complete and there isn't a lot of opportunity to procrastinate. Here's what I'm in:

Thursday: EZ Moccasin Socks (homework above, left)
Friday: Respectfully Ignoring the rules (homework involves thinking rather than knitting--not really started)
Saturday: Sock Design (homework above, right)
Sunday: Turkish Stitches (homework is minimal) and The Perfect Rib (no homework)

The EZ Moccasin Socks class homework is finished, it was super fast to knit because I'm using Cascade 220 superwash. Let's hear it for the speed of worsted! I might try to knit the other cuff so that I'm ready to knit the bottoms of both socks. I have been known to lose momentum on class projects once class is over (though not always), so having both of the socks ready to go could help motivate me to finish them. Are you wondering about the purple item behind the sock? It's my new yarn bowl! I love it--my friend L____'s mother is a ceramics artist (potter? stoneware lady? ceramicist?) and made a few of these using L_____'s specifications. It easily holds the ball of Cascade 220, and has fully contained the yarn tangle that I had to pull out to find the end of the yarn. And it looks a lot classier than the miscellaneous fabric and ziploc bags I'm always hauling around. I was surprised by how much I loved the purple / black among the choices she brought to knit-night, purple's not usually one of my favorites.

Anyway, back to homework. The Sock Design class homework. I could swatch for it indefinitely, and this is really just a start. I'm swatching a pattern from a Japanese stitch dictionary (photocopy in the corner), and there are several others from the same book that I'd like to try out. I may also use something from the Bavarian Twisted Stitch books that a friend in Germany gave to me last year. In both cases, I'm not 100% sure that I'm reading the foreign language charts the right way, but I'm sure I'll come up with something! I'm really into twisted rib, as you can see, so I expect I'll incorporate that somehow.

I don't really mind the homework at all, because it should help me get more out of the classes (and believe me, I didn't always feel that way during business school). I've been in knitting classes before where it would have been better to have homework in advance in order to get to the "good stuff", rather than spending a ton of time winding yarn into balls or knitting set-up ribbing. In most of those cases, the teacher had specific, special yarn requirements so there wasn't an opportunity to, say, cast on and K (or rib) 15 rows beforehand, or even to swatch for gauge. The classes that I'm taking at Sock Summit are more technique oriented, which is why it's good that we're preparing ahead of time for specific techniques. I just hope that by the time E___ and I head to PDX, I've done my homework correctly, and enough of it.

Knitting Math For Fun And Education

2009-07-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

500 Days of Summer = About 35 Rows of Sockinette Sock (beginning of movie marked with white marker):

That's a lot more than I expected to get through--I rarely go to the movies, and I don't normally have a project on hand that I can knit for a long time in the dark. I liked the movie a lot, but where is there really a karaoke bar that features "Here Comes Your Man"? And if so, do they also have "Wave of Mutilation" and "La La Love You"? Doolittle is such a great album, I had to listen to it on the way home.

This is a pair of plain socks I started so that I could take them to Boston, and then forgot to pack them. The other items I forgot to take were books (one of which I ordered specifically for the trip) and lip balm. Not as bad as forgetting a hairbrush, but I still missed all of these things. Anyway, the socks are Socks That Rock lightweight in the "Sockgate" colorway, and the pattern is the Slip Stitch Heel sock (Rav Link) from Wendy Johnson's new book. I'm sort of thinking about using one of her other heels, so as not to interrupt the striping so much, but I may knit this heel and see how it looks before changing. Or maybe I can dig out some complimentary solid-ish yarn for contrasting heel--I'm sure I've got something that would work!

For L_______, if You're Reading This

2009-07-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

For Liberty: Not that I think you're worried, but I wanted to give you some proof that I'm making good progress on the bags for your booth at Sock Summit. The production line is moving, with pockets applied to 10 bags this morning and a ton of handles cut. Next step--turn these suckas into bags! And I believe that I'm about to rope in another worker or two.

I really want to make more raspberry lime jam this weekend, but since it's so hot I'm going to hold off until tomorrow morning--jam hands and production line sewing do not mix!

Two Toe Tuesday: My Cabana Boy

2009-07-14T06:01:00.000-07:00

Summer socks are heating up! I was right that these socks didn't need much more before they were done--I opted not to take them with me to Boston because there was just a toe to knit (and graft). I was worried that I'd finish the sock and then lose it, or leave it at E____'s--those are totally plausible things to be worried about!

These are the Cabana Boy socks, knit from Yarntini semi-solid sport yarn in the Cabana Boy colorway. The pattern resembles Cotty (Rav Link), except that I knit the first three or four inches incorrectly (one pattern row, one knit row instead of one pattern row, THREE knit rows) and decided to just go with it. The are really vibrantly colored, and squishy, and they were pretty quick to knit because the cuff is not super long. They took about a month to finish, which is pretty good considering that I didn't work on them exclusively (and not at all over the last week-ish). Overall, I like them--the picot edge is cute, and since they are pretty short there isn't a lot of danger that the socks will get all slouchy. They should look cute with clogs, too!

It's Always So Much More Work to Come Home

2009-07-13T16:28:00.000-07:00

I know that it's probably because I kept waking hours that not at all correspond to Pacific time, but I'm much more wiped out after flying back to Seattle this morning than I was flying to Boston on the redeye.

The Wilco show was great, although it was cut short by TORRENTIAL RAIN. The concert was at a minor league ballpark, so the sound was not as good as it was at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, but I enjoyed the crowd much more. For some reason, I find Boston hipsters tolerable and entertaining, where the Berkeley hipsters rubbed me the wrong way--probably because at one time I was a Bostonian in my 20s, so I know more or less what to expect with them. The set list was similar to Berkeley, and the energy was really good, and it was really great to go to a show with seven people--more people to hold our space, scout out the ballpark, carry the blankets, and (of course) pick up beer! Conor Oberst (in the top left photo) opened the show, and I was disappointed. I have (and like) one of his Bright Eyes albums, so maybe my expectations were too high. Based on what Wikipedia says (and it makes sense, and is a totally valid artistic choice), he's more interested in immediacy than heavily polished songcraft--some of the songs felt overly ernest to me, and could have benefitted from some heavy editing. I mean, I know I'm no longer in the indie-rock target demographic, but it was hilarious to see frat guys singing along as if their souls had been saved by a song about ten women. Maybe without that visual, it wouldn't have seemed so ridiculous? I'm sure that I felt the same way at that age about bands I've forgotten now. Anyway, that set could have been shorter, given that the last 30-45 minutes of Wilco's set was rained out.

Here's a little video clip, where you can see the rain. I'm serious when I said it was pouring--you can see the rain in the lights around the 8 sec mark!!!

In concert knitting news, I worked a couple of inches of the gussets on the Strawberry Van Dykes at the show, and finished the first sock on the plane ride home. The socks aren't as tall as I'd have liked, but I was worried about running out of yarn partway through a repeat. The pattern is a little boring, but it was really easy to knit on the road (when I paid attention, that is), and with a red that bright the pattern is secondary in any case. Toe #2 is on the needles now!

Quick Update From Somerville

2009-07-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

Still on vacation . . . sock still on track . . . having dinner & drinks & cake shortly with some good friends . . . Wilco tomorrow . . . no complaints!

Everybody Loves the Red-Eye

2009-07-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

I'm in Boston, but it feels like I just barely made it. I nearly missed my flight last night because I thought that the departure was 20 minutes later than it was, and I underestimated the size of the late night security line. Fortunately, I just made it (and the gate agents were really nice about it, which made me feel a little less like an idiot). I hate being late for things, and I normally arrive really early if there's any doubt about the timing, and this was a good reminder of why that's still a good policy for me--I'd much rather be a little bored at the gate than running through an airport, stressed out.

Anyway, I'm relaxing comfortably in Somerville now, and look what was waiting for me when I arrived:

Gorgeous socks! That I didn't have to knit myself! E____ knit them for my birthday (this is the first time I've been back here since then), and they came in very handy during my traditional post-redeye nap. The pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks, and the yarn is some that she bought when we went to Portland awhile back. They fit really well, and the yarn is beautiful!!!! I love them, with the simple rib and the star toe!!!!!

Speaking of socks, I had a dilemma when packing for this trip. The foot of the second Cabana Boy sock is almost done, but I didn't want to end up finishing the toe and grafting it on the plane, and then only have the other two projects I brought (both of which require a lot of attention) to fall back on. So in my quest to avoid one toe, I started another one:

Whew, that's bright! It's the second installment of the yarntini semi-solid club, Strawberry Fields. It's sport weight, and I'm knitting the Van Dyke pattern (Rav Link) by Wendy Johnson. The brightness of the yarn came in really handy on the plane--I wanted to start the toe & work on it a bit, but my row-mates were trying to sleep so I didn't want to put on the overhead light. I was able to work this using the light that was coming from the row behind & in front. I'm a little concerned that my gauge is too tight, but since the pattern is given in multiple sizes I may just go up a size and see how that goes--my efforts to buy alternate needles earlier today were wholly thwarted. The first store I went to had no Addis below a size 10-ish, and the second store is closed for vacation, and a third store that I called is not open on Thursday. The other stores involve more driving than I want to do this afternoon--I'm on vacation, I want to just read and knit!

Hey, Baby, It's the Fourth of July (yesterday)

2009-07-05T08:05:00.001-07:00

So maybe the fireworks setting on my camera isn't quite as awesome as I had hoped? Or maybe I need to be right under the fireworks for it to work really well? I can always try again next year!

Even though it's been really hot here, I've had a really productive couple of days (in purely non-work arenas):

I finished the Red, White, and Blue Linoleum Dishcloth (except for weaving in the ends) yesterday evening, after a brief stall when I tried to work on it without referring to the pattern. If I can get the first 5 or 6 stitches right on a row I'm in good shape, but I really need to check those stitches against the pattern. I'm planning to knit more of these, so I should probably just chart it out--a visual reminder would be a very good thing! In cooking news, I've cooked up two batches of jam, one batch of balsamic peach quick pickles, and some almond fruit bars using the jam (not pictured - eaten). Here's a quick rundown of sources / mods for those items:

Strawberry Balsamic Jam: Really delicious, the balsamic vinegar changes the flavor a little but the jam doesn't taste vinegar-y at all. I made a batch a couple of weekends ago, and the "leftover" jam that wouldn't fill a jar was so tasty that it's already gone. Local strawberries are also almost gone for the year (there are a number of farms in our area), so I am very tempted to run out and get more so that I can make another kind of strawberry jam as well. I modified the recipe by adding 1/2 a packet of pectin to ensure that it would gel.

Raspberry Lime Jam: This jam turned out very tart, so much so that I was tempted to add more sugar at the very end of the cooking. However, after tasting it on toast and in the almond fruit bars, I'm very happy with the tartness. Instead of using lemon juice and orange zest, I used fresh squeezed lime juice and lime zest, and I used a little more lime juice than was called for (because I had already squeezed it). This could help explain the tartness. It's kind of a pain to strain out half of the seeds, but it's nice not to have so many seeds in the finished jam.

Balsamic Peach quick pickles: Peaches on sale! I'm pretty sure they aren't local, but I wanted to try out this recipe from Quick Pickles (which seems to be going out of print). The ingredients are simple: peaches, balsamic vinegar, sweet vermouth, pineapple juice. The flavor hasn't fully developed yet, but I think that they will be great on ice cream, or warmed up and served with grilled pork. Yum . . . grilled pork!

Almond Fruit Bars: I used the raspberry lime jam to fill these bars, and they turned out really, really well. They were also simple to make--no exotic ingredients, just things from the pantry. I doubled the recipe and used a pan that was a little less than double the 8 x 8 recommended size, so they may be a little thicker than recommended but no issues.

I'm off to Boston for a quick vacation (more like a long weekend than a vacation), so today needs to be more about WORK productivity than kitchen productivity. But I'm really tempted to go and pick up more berries, before they are gone!!

______________
Hey, Baby, It's the Fourth of July: X, Fourth of July.

Two Toe . . . Uh, What Day is This?

2009-07-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's July already, and that it's already the second to last workday of this week. I'm also having trouble believing that I picked up and stored together no fewer than six pair of unfinished socks in my quest to neaten up my knitting for my brother & nephew's visit this weekend *. Nor can I believe that upon turning the heel of this Orion Sock while drinking (only one) beer at the Wilco show, this baby fits like a glove. Maybe I should stop being incredulous, and just roll with it?
_________________
* note that two pair have been on hold because I misplaced the patterns, which I also found while I was cleaning up, so there is some hope that I'll continue with those pairs soon.

Sunlight on the Lino Woke Me With A Shake

2009-06-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, I was holding a piece of kibble.

Over the past several months, I've been working a little at a time on some dishcloths. I'm using basic kitchen cotton from cheap craft stores, the cool Linoleum Dishcloth pattern (Rav Link), and just going a little at a time on them. It's a nice, nubby pattern, and if I could bear to clean dishes with these cloths, they'd do a really good job. The pattern is a two color slip stitch pattern, so it's very thick, and I expect it will be durable. It's likely that these are destined to be housewarming / hostess gifts, or they'll just pile up until I run out of cotton (sometime in 2010). I'm currently knitting one in red, white, & blue for the 4th of July, maybe Halloween next? Or should I skip right over to Christmas?

Here are some outtakes from the photo above, which basically mean that I need to wash these before I give them away. My favorite is Frieda jumping and licking her lips, too fast to be captured in pixels:

Maybe instead of washing, I should just give fair warning that they've had close contact with both dachshund and patio--I'd hate for them to look "used" before they are even out of the house!

______________
Sunlight on the Lino Woke Me With A Shake: Squeeze, "Goodbye Girl"

When We're Not Sure We're Not Alone

2009-06-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Whenever I plan to post about a concert, I have the best intentions of infusing my post with the pure rock emotion of the actual show, and I fail every time. I'm not a poetic, lyrical writer, as much as I'd like to be, which makes it difficult. I'm a boiler-down of ideas, if not a master-summarizer, with a small side order of humor and self-reflection. A very small side order. Any attempts to stray from my writing style reeks of smarmy-ness, which isn't really an issue if I'm writing about knitting, or dachshunds, or baseball, but I worry that it flattens out the rock show experience into Wesley-Willis-style reviews. You know, "I went to the rock show. There were about 100 people at the show. The rock show was awesome, it whooped the camel's ass" (for those of you unfamiliar with Wesley Willis, this is as close to a direct song quote as I can get without digging out a cd). Plus, while I take a lot of (semi-focused, point and shoot) photos, I don't write down anything during shows, so while I remember many of the hideously 80's inspired clothes that todays youth were unfortunately wearing, I can't faithfully recreate a set list--basically, I'm short on useful details, and long on tangents.

Anyway, that's a lot of space to apologize in advance if I undersell the Wilco show I saw last night at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, because it was truly a great show. Possibly the best Wilco show I've ever seen, with perfect sound, an incredible venue, and incredible energy. Note that I say this even though I tripped and badly turned my ankle almost immediately after getting out of my car, which made standing on concrete (and getting jostled by stoned hipsters) for hours physically uncomfortable. And if you are my brother K____ and reading this, I turned my ankle before having a single, 12-oz Heineken, so no smart comments.

Wilco's new album is coming out on Tuesday (currently streaming live here), and they mixed in the new songs with the old, which is always a plus--I hate to go to a show and hear one or two old songs, then an entire new album that I haven't heard yet, a couple of other old songs, and then one big hit as an encore. Stylistically, maybe it makes sense, but as a live-music consumer (ugh, what an awful term), I don't like it--it's too compartmentalized. Anyway, Wilco's set was really well balanced, if a little light on songs from their first album. I think that every album was represented in the set list, but I don't always remember which songs are on which albums so I can't say for sure. They didn't play my all-time favorite two-song Wilco combo (Blue Eyed Soul and Too Far Apart from A.M.), but maybe next time? Pretty please? You want song highlights, and not just the two songs that I wished I'd heard? I loved "You Are My Face", and "Hate It Here", and "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" is a really great live song. And I could go on and on.

Now a little something for the knitting-only readers: Since I was travelling by myself and am unfamiliar with the Berkeley area, I arrived over an hour before the doors opened, so I had a long wait & was glad that I brought some knitting. Then it was another long wait before Okkervil River (who were also really good--must get one of their albums immediately) went on. I had a nice shady spot in line and in the theater, and I managed to finish the gusset and turn the heel of the first SS09 sock, as documented in the iPhone photo below. I'm a little afraid to pick it up today, in case I made any mistakes. Also, although the photo is very fuzzy, there was a sock monkey onstage. A semi-goth, charcoal/black striped sock monkey.

O.K, this post is taking way too long, and it's time to ice my ankle again. Comment away, if you want more details about the show, the sock, the sock monkey, or the ankle.

___________
"When We're Not Sure We're Not Alone": Wilco, "You Are My Face"

Taking This Show on the Road

2009-06-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

I guess it would be more accurate to say that I'm taking to the road for a show, since I flew to Northern CA this morning to catch a Wilco show in Berkeley tonight. If you're interested in the show, it's going to be streamed live on the Wilco website. I knit quite a bit of Cabana Boy socks on the flight down, more than I expected. Gotta love sport-weight yarn! I also have the SS09 socks with me in case I get bored--as well as a plan to visit some local yarn stores this afternoon. I'm having the typical quick trip dilemma, though--run myself ragged now and regret it when I'm driving back to the hotel after the show, or take a delicious, sweet nap. The nap is currently winning that argument.

If the formatting of this post looks stranger than usual, it's because I'm using a new tool. It's a Dell mini laptop, and I'm still getting used to the touchpad. It's a LOT more convenient than taking a big laptop, and is more powerful and solid feeling than the eee tiny laptop that I took with me to Europe last year. The jury is still out on whether I can learn to stop dragging my fingers on the touchpad, though!

I brought more things with me than I think I'll need, but here's what I've realized I forgot, so far: a brush. I'm hoping keeping track will help me on the next trip . . .

Two Toe Tuesday: I Told You I Was Starting Something New

2009-06-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

After blogging about the Bee Fields shawl last week, I immediately started a new pair of socks, and in only a week, the first sock is done (it's on the right, obviously). It's Yarntini sportweight, in the Cabana Boy color from her semi-solid summer sock club. I love this yarn--it's really squishy, it's incredibly bright, and since it's sport-weight it knit up quickly. I love the second yarn in the club also, and I'm looking forward to the third yarn, which should be in the mail soon. The pattern is Cotty (Rav Link), but I made one small "modification". "Modification" is in quotes because really I just misread the pattern, and instead of working three plain knit rows in between each lacy row, I only knit one plain row. The result is a lacier pattern, and I liked it so I just kept going. I've cast on for sock #2, and am expecting it to be a quick knit as well, though probably not quite so quick.

Then there's that other sock--it's the sock shown in the Sock Summit logo, the pattern came out over the weekend. I'm using some STR lightweight from the 2007 (?) Rockin' Sock Club, and some blackish Claudia Handpainted that's been in the stash for awhile. I'm not totally sure I love this color combination, and have seriously been thinking about ripping it out and using another yarn, but that may just be because I wish that I'd used a true solid black instead of the handpainted grey/black (it's Claudia handpainted). I also wish I'd just used a blue and black, so that the sock would exactly match the Gothsocks that the pattern resembles so far. But a bright green and black would also look really cool. The pattern itself is great, and I'm learning how to knit jogless stripes (via Techknitter). I do wish that the pattern wasn't six full color pages, it seems a little wasteful--I ended up skipping the first and last page, but it's still a lot of paper and ink! Anyway, I am still thinking about how to proceed, so in the meantime maybe I'll get back to the second Cabana Boy. Or maybe I'll just rip it out. What to do????

I Got a Lion (on) My Pocket, and Baby He's Ready to Roar

2009-06-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

Lion, Kitten, same diff, right? I'm making some sock project bags (similar to the small bag pictured here) for Liberty's booth at Sock Summit, and these are the pockets. I've been sewing them a little at a time, assembly line style, which is not normal for me but is probably a good exercise. You may have already noticed that I wander a little when I'm crafting, without much focus or a plan, but that's not an approach that will work here. First I cut out the main fabric and zig-zagged all of the edges, then I cut strips for the handles and pockets, and now I'm sewing the pockets. I'm trying to be more focused primarily so that there won't be big size or quality variances from one bag to the next.

I'm shooting to have 20-ish bags, which seems reasonable to finish. I'm not sure how they'll sell (I'm a little concerned about how to price them), but it all feels pretty low-risk given that most of the materials have come out of my sewing room. A friend suggested that I put together a pattern and sell it, which I'm considering--there is a lot of overlap between sewers and knitters, but this is a pretty simple bag to make without a pattern, so I'm not sure if it's worth doing. I may also make some simple drawstring bags (maybe even one with another kitten on it), if there's time or if I can engage the services of a certain retiree who I live with who has far better skills and more free time than I do.

In Sock Summit class news, I have ended up with two classes, and I'm very excited about both of them. One is a sock design class with Anne Hanson, and the other is "Respectfully Breaking the Rules" with Yarnissima. Both of these classes were first-tier on my list, and I expect to learn a lot, so I know that I'm luckier than many people who didn't get into their first (or any) choices. I'm still disappointed that I didn't get more classes, and that E_____ and I each have different full day classes on different days. I feel like I'm not getting full vacation value out of taking three days off work and paying for four nights of hotel, and now it's really too late for me to plan a real (week+) vacation time before work gets crazy in mid-August. Live and learn--eggs, basket, chickens, hatch.

18 months, 5.3% more done (but it sure is pretty)

2009-06-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

A point was made to me recently that I have a lot of half-finished knitting projects. A L-O-T of them. I think that I have more projects in the "hibernation" state on Ravelry than I have even in the sidebar. And I'm not totally pleased with the last several projects I've started--the blue seasilk scarf is likely to be ripped out, the third Barnraising square is as good as gone, and I'm no longer sure that I like the way Smooshy is knitting up on the Kiila greens. For once, starting something new doesn't seem like the answer (though I might cast something new on this evening, just for kicks).

I did really enjoy knitting the Ishbel, though, so I've been revisiting my (extensive) stock of hibernating lace projects, most notably the Bee Fields Shawl. I started this project in July of 2007, worked on it fairly regularly for six months, and then put it down. I'd like to pretend that it sat because it was winter (and this is clearly a summery color), or because I had to get my Christmas knitting done, but the real problem is the pitfall of the triangle shawl--the ever-lengthening rows. There are three main sections to the shawl (the wonderful pattern is by Anne Hanson), and when I got to the third section I really thought that I was in the home stretch, and I was really excited. Then I used a shawl calculator on Jessica's blog to estimate how much I had left to go, and realized that I wasn't even 60% done. It was totally deflating, and I'm still not quite over it, but it felt like time to take up the Bee again. This past weekend I worked on it a fair amount (but not exclusively), and am back in the swing of the pattern again, more or less. Six rows, 5.3% more done, and I doubled the section three bees. I'm planning to keep this in the rotation for the time being, but even if it slips back off the list, at least I've got that 5.3%.

World Wide Knit in Public Day!!

2009-06-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, my non-knitting friends, there is such a thing as World Wide Knit in Public Day. And today was that day! Renaissance Yarns set up a knitting area outdoors at Kent Station, and the weather was great. Mom and I took Frieda and Gretel to the dog park before heading to Kent so that they would behave, and they did pretty well. There was some barking, some licking and jumping on people, but as you can tell from Frieda's glassy eyed expression above, they did eventually settle down. This is the first time I've been to a local WWKIP day, because I've either been travelling or at a certain young lady's birthday party, and it was a lot of fun. Next time, I'll have to remember to bring a sun hat (and maybe only one dog, or none), and to bring just one easy project because that's all I can pay attention to! I started out working on a project with a chart, but after less than a row it became clear that that was asking for it, and my trusty stockinette Gothsock came out. I made some progress, but not so much that I have to worry about the heel yet (soon, I hope).

Killing the Blues

2009-06-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get in the mood to start things (see blue lace above). Sometimes I get in the mood to finish things (see Cables, Baby! sweater). Sometimes, this all happens in the space of a few days--the scarf made a trip to the Mariner's game last Friday, and I finally finished the weaving in and button sewing on the sweater (which I started, no joke, last August).

Overall, I'm pleased with how the baby sweater came out. It was a giant pain to sew up, and the color of the yarn wasn't quite what I expected when I ordered it, but I really like the cable pattern and the off-centered buttons. Assuming that it fits the baby I'm giving it to (who is obviously not the baby I started this for a year ago), it will look really cute. The pattern is Baby Yours (Rav Link) by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, and the yarn is Socks That Rock mediumweight in the Nyame colorway. I knit the 6-month size, and have a little bit of yarn leftover from a single skein. Not so much that I feel like I've wasted anything, but not so little that I panicked while knitting.

On to the next blue item, one which may not be long for this world. It's the Lace Ribbon Scarf by Veronik Avery, in blue Handmaiden Seasilk. I've had the Seasilk in my stash for a really long time (at least 3 years), and I really like some of the scarves I've seen knit from this pattern (there are 3,600 on Ravelry), so I thought it would be a good match. After knitting about five inches, I'm not so sure. In the original version, the diagonal zig zag lines are very strong. I think that the key is the double yarnovers, which are flanked by single yarnovers on the outside edge of the lines. In the original, the single yarnovers are not very noticable, but in seasilk the drape of the yarn makes the singles look almost as big as the doubles. This assumes, of course, that I'm knitting things right. Here's a close-up version that may show better what the problem is:

See? You can't really tell which YOs are wrapped once, and which are wrapped twice, and the zig zags are all jagged-y as a result. I'm taking this to knit night this week for further opinions / dissections. I may be making a mountain out of a molehill, but I'd hate to waste such beautiful yarn on a pattern that I'm not loving. And I'd love to knit this pattern out of something that will really show it off--it's super easy to memorize, but not so easy as to be totally dull (in the first five inches).

And It's a Pink Moon

2009-06-07T08:12:00.000-07:00

A certain little girl turned 4 this weekend. She likes things that are pink, and she likes things that are fancy. I just finished knitting something pink and fancy! Ishbel (Rav Link) turned out very nicely, and I think that she likes it (and will hopefully have a photo to post of her wearing it, once the cake high wears off).

I was a little surprised how quickly this knit up, and that it was relatively trouble-free. I knit the small size shawl, and it took up about 75g of the 110g skein. It's put me back on lace, after what seems like months of plain knitting, sock knitting, and sweater knitting. I was also a little surprised when I bought this pink yarn (Liberty's Yarn Kaguya), because just a few weeks ago I was complaining about how much pink yarn I'd received in various yarn clubs. Also, I've never knit a bamboo blend before, even though there's certainly some in my stash. I think of it as being kind of squeaky (probably because of the shine), but it felt nothing but soft when I was knitting. I'm still not sure I want to knit socks with it, but the drape is very nice for a shawl, even if you wear it stagecoach-bandit style, as above.

In Sock Summit news, it's starting to look like E____ and I will have some answers soon. E____ was charged for four classes (she registered me for two and herself for two), and it looks like my classes were confirmed but hers were not. Hopefully, we will both get what we paid for (even if it's not exactly what we wanted), but if not we will split the classes we did get. This means that we won't get to be in any classes together, and that if we stay for the luminary panel we end up paying for four nights of hotel to go to two things each, which I'm not sure makes sense. But we both have friends in Portland who we'd like to visit, so I guess the upside is that we'll have plenty of free time . . .

__________
"And It's a Pink Moon": Nick Drake, Pink Moon.

You Made Me Feel So Blue

2009-06-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

Still no word on Sock Summit (no news is good news? I'll be surprised), and my third Barn Raising Quilt Square is having some problems. I noticed a couple of rows ago that something had fallen out of sync--the pattern was changing at the second stitch marker, instead of the first. I looked, but couldn't find an error, and thought that maybe I'd mixed up my markers. Until yesterday, when I took a flat-out photo of it, and could see that I'd screwed up just above where those markers are now. Time to rip!

The yarn is Smooshy in Dusky Aurora left over from these socks. Assuming that I do in fact finish the square, I may run out of yarn, but I've got plenty of backup options that should look fine.

__________
You Made Me Feel So Blue: The Jayhawks, "Blue". There is an annoying ad at the front of the video, and it's a weird video. But it's a great song.