Back, and Beret-ed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 . . .

. . . 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

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 . . . .

. . . 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

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

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!

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

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)

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?

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.