VanKnitty Fair

Things I did on my spring break

2009-03-09T13:35:00.008-05:00

Flew to Portugal, where we

Admired the boats:

Cascais Harbor. (Icarus Shawl, in Misti Alpaca Lace--my first big lace project and favorite, most-worn knit.)

Visited the Boca do Inferno:
"Boca do Inferno" translates to "Hellmouth." But no Buffy sightings, even though we walked out to it six times.

Saw peacocks:
Taken at the Castle of St. George.

Wandered around Lisbon:

Even found a yarn store, and bought some yarn. No pictures of that yet, though.

Walked for miles along the beach:
There's a lovely quay from Estoril, the town we stayed in, to Cascais, the next town over, and beyond. I think we averaged about eight miles a day!

Saw the casino that inspired Ian Fleming's Casino Royale:

Ate tons of seafood:

Wandered around the towns:
All the sidewalks of the larger streets and most of the smaller, pedestrian walks were paved like this, with interesting designed.

Knit some, read some. Mostly just enjoyed being with the husband, who's in Kyiv for the semester--Portugal seemed like a sunnier option for the first week of March, and I found a great deal online. So we had a romantic tryst in Estoril for a week, and now it's back to snow, classes, and missing him.

Lace Love

2009-02-22T10:57:00.006-05:00

Some lace love:

Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater, aka the Baby Sweater on Two Needles, from The Knitter's Almanac. 4 skeins of Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Apple Green, almost entirely used up--I have enough for the stem of an upside-down daisy hat left, I think. I have some really cute buttons that look like white flowers, and I'm going to use yellow embroidery floss to attach them. For a friend, who's due in May with a little girl.

Evelyn Clark's Lace Leaf Shawl (Fiber Trends pamphlet), in Mountain Colors Bearfoot "Ruby River." 11 pattern repeats, and I didn't knit the last two charted rows of the border (which was a very good decision--I have about 7 inches of scrap yarn left after weaving in the ends). I love Clark's patterns--they're great for knitting until you run out of yarn. The final measurements on this were 51 inches along the top, and 26 inches down the spine, which is totally respectable. The recipient seemed quite pleased with it, and put it on immediately, which is always nice!

Silent Poetry Reading

2009-02-02T13:05:00.002-05:00

Ulysses

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
Life to the lees. All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That love me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known, -- cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honor'd of them all, --
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one t me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bounds of human thought.

This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle, --
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me, --
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads, --you and I are old;
Old age hath yet beyond his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men who strove with Gods.
The light begins to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends.
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, --
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seak, to find, and not to yield.

Alfred, Lord Tennson (1809-1892). Poet Laureate of England, 1850-1892.

"Ulysses" was first published in 1842.

Cambridge Jacket!

2009-01-21T16:13:00.002-05:00

Not one but two FOs! The first I knit in a day, while the sleeves to my Cambridge Jacket were blocking:

Thorpe (this is the second one I knit--the first I made for my Dad for Christmas in a ginormous size, as his head is really bit. But the DH did something to the photos I'd taken and now they're lost on his computer somewhere.), in Louet Riverstone Chunky (color: bright blue). Destined to warm my mom's ears.

And Cambridge Jacket, seamed and zippered:

I'm pretty pleased with the way the zipper went it--this was my first zipper attempt. The DH seems to like it, as he's worn it several times already. He's off on his next excellent adventure in ten days, and I'm happy that he'll be able to take it with him. I might not be able to go with him, but at least I can send him wrapped in hand-knit sweaters.

Sleeve Island

2009-01-12T14:22:00.003-05:00

While the Husband is home, I decided it was time to knit him another sweater. I bought the yarn a while ago (Valley Yarns Williamstown, in a rust color), and he picked out the pattern (Cambridge Jacket by Ann Budd, from IK Summer 2006). I even swatched last spring, but didn't cast on until Dec. 28.

The back and the two sides knit up pretty quickly--lots of time in NJ hanging with family, plus several car trips back-and-forth to Boston, helped:

I'm working on the sleeves now, for what seems like forever, although I know I'm getting close to done. (Okay. I'm telling myself I'm getting close to done. 'Cause, really, how much longer can I keep knitting sleeves?) I decided to take a little break today, though, and pin out the fronts and the back to block. That way I can start seaming while the sleeves are blocking.

I've also been aquiring more yarn--I stopped at Webs (again) last week. For my mom, really, who wanted some yarn for baby blankets. So I volunteered--it was only right, since she is my mom. In addition to the yarn she wanted, I got:

Louet Riverstone, in bulky (and in the warehouse!). Destined to be a Thorpe for my mom.

Araucania Ranco Multi, in a brownish-pinkish-greenish swirl. One of my favorite pairs of socks is out of Ranco Multi, and for the price (warehouse: $8.99!), I couldn't resist a hank.

And two balls of Adriafil Knitcol. For nephew-the-elder knee socks; he saw a pair with faux fair isle, and really liked them. And he likes bright colors--this looks like it will meet both requirements!

Hap

2009-01-09T19:06:00.005-05:00

Hap

If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"

Then would I bear, and clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased, too, that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted out the tears I shed.

But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
--Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan . . .
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage than pain.

--Thomas Hardy. 1886.

If we begin as we mean to go on, I'd like a do-over. The semester started off well enough in terms of classes and students--nice kids, willing to put some effort and cheerfulness into a required class.

But other things seem to be stacking up--the unexpected loss of a colleague, and of a former student, and of a friend's mother. The former student, in particular, is hitting hard; he was a really nice kid who just wanted to live his life like any other eighteen-year-old, but cancer got in the way.

Hardy's poem, with its rage and sorrow, says it far better than I can.

Spring Term

2009-01-04T14:43:00.003-05:00

It always strikes me as funny that the spring term begins in early January, often with snow on the ground. We used to be on a quarter system, which meant we'd be starting our more aptly named winter quarter this week, but we switched to semesters a few years back. Which means we have a fall term (starting quite sensibly in September), a winter break (a few all-too-short weeks barely stretching over the holidays), a spring term, which starts tomorrow, and two short-but-intense summer sessions. (Summer 1 starts at the beginning of May, though, so that doesn't really make sense, either.)

This year, the winter break didn't even stretch far enough to include Orthodox Christmas, which we celebrate, and which occurs on Jan. 7. My first class is on Tuesday--I'm on a Tuesday/Friday schedule again this term, hooray--so the plan is for me to drive from NJ to MA tomorrow, teach on Tuesday, and head back down for Christmas Eve festivities after classes. G will stay here--no sense in both of us missing all the fun.

Of course, we'll have to be back in Boston on Thursday, so it will be a short trip, but certainly better than not coming back down.

I'm looking forward to my classes this term--two upper-class writing courses, and one first-year. I didn't have any first-years this fall, and I missed them--there's more notable progress with the upper classmen, since what I want them to accomplish is on a lot of levels more measurable. But first-year students--especially in the fall--have a sort of bright-and-shiny joy to them which is lovely. They love being in college--the freedom, the new experiences, the chance to reinvent themselves--and it shows. And their enthusiasm for classes* is catching.

The upper-class courses should be good, too--I had three sections in the fall, which was too much. But two sections should be fine--enough to keep my on my toes, but not so much I run out of steam before the end of the day. Since the first-year class and the upper-level class require totally different kinds of energy, I find that the change in pace is enough to make the day less tiring.**

And I have a new knitting project to look forward to--I cast on for the Cambridge Jacket for G on Dec. 28. In a feverish burst of knitting, I've already finished the back, the left front, and about a quarter of the right front. (Saying this will probably doom me to sleeve-island hell, but I'll take my chances.) I want to finish the knitting by 12/15, so I can block the pieces, seam them, and have at least a week to deal with putting in the zipper. The whole thing needs to be done by Jan. 31, which is when G leaves for the next leg of his research trip. I want to send him off (this time to Kiev) wrapped in a new sweater!

*Granted, not all freshmen are enthusiastic. And not all freshmen want to be in college. But I got super-lucky last spring, and had an amazing bunch; I'm being optimistic about this new group.
**Maybe not less tired, but at least a different kind of tired--I'm not nearly as walleyed with fatigue at the end of it.

Aude Lang Syne

2008-12-31T16:58:00.002-05:00

2008 is almost over. It was a mixed year for me--lots of good, peppered with a fair amount of bad (or at least difficult to deal with).

The Good:

I finally (finally!) finished my dissertation and managed to graduate.
As a result, I am now gainfully employed full-time. With dental, even!
And I'm teaching a course on Jane Austen this summer, also as a result.
G got several excellent grants which enable him to do his dissertation research (see, also, "The Bad").
I have a new nephew, who is fat and funny and smiley and completely adorable.
Nephew-the-elder is also funny and smiley and completely adorable, albeit in a much skinnier fashion.
Nephew-the-elder continues his love of hand-knit socks.
My friends and family enjoy (mostly) good health and happiness.
There has been lots of knitting.
I got to go to Poland where I fed the birds (and squirrels) and see the salt mine.

The Bad:

G's grants required him to spend the fall semester in Poland.
Miscarriage #3, right before said trip to Poland.
Too much time apart from G, which makes me sort of blah about everything.

But on the whole, more good than bad.

On the knitting front, this year I finished:

1 sweater (Ramona)
6 pairs of socks (4 of them for nephew-the-elder)
1 baby blanket
1 pair of Fetchings
1 cowl
2 hats
3 Elefantes
8 lace projects, including my favorite: Madli's Shawl

Of course, there were any number of false starts, as well, but I'm not counting them.

We had a bit of a snow storm today, so our New Year's Eve plans are lots of hors d'oevres from Trader Joe's, along with a couple of movies--I'm thinking Iron Man to start. Of course, that's our plan every New Year's Eve, so the storm really didn't change much. :)

Happy New Year's to everyone--I hope 2009 will be a wonderful year for everyone.

12 days

2008-12-11T20:28:00.003-05:00

It's not quite time for the 12 days of Christmas to start, but a friend sent me to this:

Grading is moving a pace. 32 down, 22 to go. And the biggest reason they're not done is that I'm goofing off on YouTube.

grading jail

2008-12-10T09:31:00.006-05:00

54 out of 56 students turned in their final portfolios yesterday. I wasn't really expecting the last two, as they've both fallen (yikes. I hit post with a sentence that read "they've both falled off the face of the earth. and they let me teach in the English dept.) off the face of the earth (or at least campus) as far as I can tell.

So today and tomorrow (and hopefully not Friday) I am in grading jail.

Which isn't as bad as it sounds, as

I'm only reading final reflections
Which are letters to me
Which makes them easy to read
And often full of entertaining observations on their (sometimes perceived) progress
Excel figures out my grades for me
Which means that the only maths I need to do anymore is for knitting
Which is more fun than the maths for grade figuring.

I should really get started, though, since even if it's not as bad as it sounds, I still have to do it.

Is it sad that I'd rather clean the bathroom?

I'm holding out several carrots for myself, including knitting and cookie baking. I have in fact finished the knitting portion of a Thorpe hat I'm making for my dad, although I cannot for the life of me locate one of the seven or eight yarn needles I know are somewhere in this apartment. I lost the last one in Poland, so I have a toe to graft on a pair of socks, as well.

And pictures to post, except G has confirmed that the camera cord abandoned ship and stayed in Poland with him, so I can't actually get said pictures out of the camera for another ten days.

Poland, part 3: Christmas in Krakow

2008-12-08T15:53:00.006-05:00

Krakow is a charming city--fairly compact with a lovely old town. We walked all over, on Friday, and the weather was perfect. I should have taken more photos--we went to the Old Synagogue, for instance, which holds a wonderful museum, but it was starting to get dark (night falls even earlier there than it does here!) and I didn't take any pictures.

Earlier that day we went to Wawel, however, and I got this picture of Wawel Cathedral:

No photos of the dragon, alas, as the dragon's cave was closed for the winter.

That evening was the first night of the Krakow Christmas Village--maybe 100 stalls of ornaments, gifts, and food. G took a few pictures--this one give you a sense of how it looked

And this is a close-up of one of the Christmas stalls. I bought a glass ornament for my mom (not from here--a stall in the next aisle had the exact same one, only for 5 zloty less!). But I love the picture--it almost looks like a Christmas card to me!

I'd show you pictures of what I bought, and the knitting I did (almost two whole socks--albeit not matching socks, as it was the second sock of one pair and the first of a different pair), but I can't for the life of me find the cable to connect the camera to the computer. I've looked all over, and I'm afraid it might still be in Poland! Thank goodness there are less than 12 days left until G is home.

Poland, part 2: Salt Mines

2008-12-05T19:27:00.004-05:00

The last time G was in Poland, he spent six weeks in Krakow taking language classes. One of the field trips he took was to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which is located about 20 minutes outside of town.

Ever since he came home with pictures, I've wanted to go--both to Krakow and to see the Salt Mines. So on Thursday (Happy Thanksgiving!), we got up insanely early (4:30 a.m.) in order to catch the 6:05 express train to Krakow. We arrived in Krakow 3 hours later and found our hotel (a quite lovely Holiday Inn only a few minutes walk from the main market square), where they actually let us check in at 9:30 in the morning.

From there, we made our way to the Salt Mines.

(puts on tour guide voice)

The Wieliczka Salt Mines is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It's been in operation for over 900 years, although now it only produces small quantities of salt via evaporation, rather than actual mining. There are over 200 km of passages in the mine, with over 2000 caverns, and it's been visited by tourists for most of its existence.

Somewhere along the line (I suspect a real tour guide would know when this happened, rather than going with a vague "somewhere along the line"), the miners started carving statues and things into the rock salt.

The current tourist route starts 64 meters under the surfaces, and ends 135 m below; it follows about 2 km of the passages. The route includes St. Kinga's Chapel:

All carved out of salt, my friends. (G tried to convince me to lick the wall to see if it tasted salty, but I declined.) You can get married here (there's a restaurant 120 m. down for the reception), and they have concerts (the acoustics rock).

There's a salty John Paul II:

And salty chandeliers:

There are also salty dwarfs along the way:

We took the tour in Polish, so I'm a little fuzzy on some of the details, but it was an unbelievably neat place. And the ride up on the elevator at the end is worthy of a theme park!

Poland, part 1: Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

2008-12-04T07:17:00.008-05:00

I'm back from my trip to Poland. We crammed so much in that I'm going to try and split it up a bit. Especially since I put off all the grading I would normally do over the break to this week, so I'm grading frantically. I've told myself I don't have to start until 8:00 this morning, but I'm up early (the advantages of jet lag coming back from Europe!), so I'm putting up some pictures.

The trip over to Poland was fine--I left for the airport after my classes, and flew Northwest through Amsterdam, with only a short layover. The flight was quite pleasant--window seat, individual screens on the backs of the seats (I watched Dark Knight, which I hadn't seen, and thought was quite good.) And the hubby was waiting in Warsaw--his was the first face I saw when I walked out of customs.

We took a taxi back to the apartment he's renting, which is a nice flat, even if it is a fifth-floor walk-up. (Stairs were a running theme in this trip, as we managed to hit both the highest and lowest points in the Krakow area within 24 hours.)

I managed to stay up until almost 7 pm local time--I don't sleep well on planes, so hadn't slept the night before. (On a side note: has anyone else noticed how flights east and interrogation tactics are very similar? Meals served at irregular intervals--we had a snack, dinner, and breakfast all in the course of 6 hours; lights turned on and off--it's evening! it's night! it's morning! all, again, in those 6 hours. Very disorienting!)

The next day we had a lazy morning--G went to get ponchkis, which are basically jelly donuts, only so much better. And then we walked over to the Royal Baths (Lazienki Park) to see the red squirrels:

Cute little guy, isn't he? They have a Pavlovian response to people--when they hear someone coming, they sit up, look hopefully in your direction, and wait. If you crouch down with your hand out, they'll spring over to see what it is.

They are not, however, very patient (or very bright--they get confused very easily and have the attention span of a goldfish). If you stand up to get more seeds, this is likely to happen:

Red squirrel attack! They climb onto you, looking for seeds. They're fast, though, so when G tried to take a picture, he focused on his boot. But you can see the furry ears and the eye, if you look closely.

The park is also filled with birds, including a ton of chickadees:

Who, while a bit more timid than the squirrels, will also eat out of your hands:

Unbelievably cool. So cool, in fact, I made G buy more seeds and go back again the next day.

Longwood weekend

2008-11-13T21:11:00.006-05:00

I teach on a Tuesday Friday schedule, which means that normally, holidays don't affect my schedule. President's Day, Memorial Day, Patriot's Day--classes canceled on a Monday mean my week goes on as normal.

But this year, Veteran's Day fell on a Tuesday, which means that I had six days in a row with no classes. Since da honey is in Poland, I went down to NJ to hang with the parents. We took a trip, starting with a visit to my great aunt and uncle (she'll be 90 next month, he'll be 91 in January, they'll celebrate 70 years of marriage in May, and they're both totally together and even spry! I want to be them when I get old.) And then we went down to one of my favorite places: Longwood Gardens.

Where they have a new exhibit of very cool treehouses:
Beautiful chrysanthemum displays:
Purty glass gourds:
A single mum plant with 484 blooms (which is a Longwood record, although not a world record; they're using a Japanese technique called "thousand bloom," and sometimes they manage to get that many!):

The orchid room (my favorite permanent part of the conservatory):

And a new children's garden, filled with whimsical statues and water fountains:

We also hit several outlets, and I managed to get a shirt from Banana Republic, a polo for the hubby, a pair of socks, and a pair of pants, all for less than $20 total. I love shopping with my mom--she totally rocks the coupons.

There was knitting, as well--I finished a pair of socks for nephew the elder, finished the cowl, and started another pair of Fetchings. But no photos of them (and probably none of the socks, period, as I left them in NJ on the theory that he should wear them before he outgrows them, and at the rate he's growing I'm worried that will be soon) yet.

Comfort food

2008-11-05T12:36:00.003-05:00

I swore I wasn't going to sit on the couch and watch election results as they came in.

I certainly wasn't going to do more than a quick check.

Really.

But then I turned on the t.v. and got hooked. (Although I'm still a little unclear on how the networks can predict a state based on, oh, three percent of districts reporting. Shouldn't they wait until at least half the votes have been counted?)

The anticipation was too much, so I (re) cast on for a cowl with the glamour bunny yarn I bought at Rhinebeck:

Comfort food.

(The details: July is for Quinn pattern, size 7 needles. I've already knit this once (I even wove the ends in), wore it for a little bit, and decided it was too big. The pattern is very clear on the size, but as I've never knit a cowl before, I wasn't entirely clear on what the numbers meant. So I frogged it and cast on again, starting with 90 stitches instead of 111. I've taken out the extra stitch that falls in place of the seam. I've also started the second patterned row two stitches early--the second pattern round straddles the first stitch. Since it's knit in the round, the jog was making the two YOs look uneven, and it was bugging me. Not enough to change it the first time through, but since I was starting over again anyway . . . .)

I'm sitting this round out.

2008-11-03T18:32:00.005-05:00

November is NaNoSweMo (National Knit A Sweater Month). And NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). And NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), as well as InaDWriMo (Originally International Dissertation Writing Month, but it's grown to include all academic writing and has been International acaDemic Writing Month, and I can't find a nice link for it).

I've also seen versions for research, recording your own album, and a host of others.

If I were smart, I'd commit publicly to the sweater and academic writing versions--I'm far more productive when I feel vaguely accountable for what I'm working on. Posting progress on both a sweater and an article would motivate me to get more done.

But I'm thinking that November will be a slog, however, and I'm having my own, one-person version (characterized by the fact that I'm posting this on November 3, rather than November 1):

National Sitting-This-Round-Out Month, also known as NaSiOuMo.

I'd like to have National Sit-Around-in-Your-Pajamas-Eating-Chocolate Month, or perhaps National Sit-Around-in-Your-Pajamas-Drinking-Red-Wine Month, but I suspect that won't really be possible. So I'm going to keep busy. I'll go to work, and clean the bathroom, and answer student emails, but nothing extra. No attempts to knit entire sweaters, or to get articles ready for publication.

In another characteristic move, this weekend, in a desperate attempt to distract myself, I knit my glamour bunny yarn up into a lovely cowl.

I frogged it this morning, since it was too big. I'm going to cast on again with fewer stitches. But it pretty much sums up my "one-step-forward, one-step-back" progress of the last few weeks.

November is already proving--three days into it--to be a bit too much for me.

On the poor-little-me side:

I've been in grading jail for almost two weeks now, and while there's an end in sight, there's also another round of papers coming in.
Another round of papers means another two weeks in grading jail. Teaching three sections of the same class = early burnout.
It's my husband's birthday on Friday, and he's in Poland.
I'm exhausted from doing virtually nothing, mainly because an annoying knot in my shoulder (I've named it Don, after Don Knotts) is making it hard to get comfortable.
It's our wedding anniversary next week, and he'll still be in Poland.
I have an annoying head cold that won't go away.
Did I mention my husband's in Poland?
Student oral reports start tomorrow, and, despite giving them painfully detailed directions on what I want, the questions are still pouring in. Most of them--all of them, really--could be answered by simply reading the directions I've posted on the course site.

I feel all whiny (or, to use the considerably more charming British version, whingey--I do love the "g"), since lots of things are going well.

On the life-doesn't-suck-too-much side:

I'm teaching a major-author course this summer on Jane Austen. This means that I can spend my afternoon reading novels and consider the day productively spent.
I can also spend the day watching Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (in both Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones's Diary), and consider the day productively spent.
I made pumpkin bread today.
I have lots of lovely yarn to knit with.
I've got Veteran's Day off, which means six days between classes, and I'm heading down to NJ to visit the nephews.
The election campaigning will be over tomorrow. (This is good because it's getting a little nasty. And if I see one more attack ad for either Jean Shaheen or John Sununu, I will move to New Hampshire just so I can vote against both of them.)
I go to Poland to see the husband in less than three weeks.

I really can't wait to go to Poland. Actually, I just can't wait to see the husband. But the trip coincides with the next major round of grading, and I'll either have to spend half my time grading, or stay up for three days when I get home in order to get it done.

I will make some tentative, not-really-commitment kinds of statements, to see if that helps motivate me. For the month of November: I want to finish my Hey, Teach! sweater, as well as some socks for nephew-the-elder. And start the husband sweater. And read for my Austen course (which really does make me do a little dance for joy when I think about it.) And knit the cowl, for the second time (the yarn was so yummy to knit with, it's not exactly a hardship).

And we'll see how the month goes.

WIP Wednesday

2008-10-22T11:09:00.007-05:00

Hey, Teach! (Knitty Summer 2008), in Cascade 220:

I've got about an inch-and-a-half left on the armholes, and then the neck shaping. So far, so good. I am making it a little longer than the pattern calls for, as I have a long waist, and like slightly longer sweaters. I'm going to lengthen the sleeves, as well--at least to 3/4 length. Maybe full-length; I'll decide when I get to that point.

I'm supposed to be grading, but I got a package in the mail from Woolgirl (and did a happy dance, because I love getting packages from Jennifer!) and couldn't wait to play with it a little:

3 skeins of Miss Babs Yummy Sock yarn, in Denim, Pewter, and Heartache:

I was thinking about making a stranded hat using the Pewter & Denim, but I think that might be too dark--the Pewter looked lighter on my monitor when I picked it out, and it's hard to tell what the contrast will be until you can actually look at them side-by-side. But the Heartache looks really good with either of them--maybe I'll make a hat (maybe this one? any suggestions?) using the Heartache and one of the other colors.

I need to buckle down and actually grade, so this evening I will feel free to work on the back of my sweater. It's cold here today; definitely sweater-knitting weather!

Accessorizing

2008-10-21T13:19:00.004-05:00

1 pair of Fetchings (they're actually black, but I was trying to photograph my own hand and decided not to worry about the color. Or the laundry in the background, evidently.)

Knit in Classic Elite Classic One Fifty (merino wool); one pair took a little less than a skein. Size 6 needles, magic loop; I might go down a size if I knit them again, especially since they're for my mom and she's got smaller hands than I do. I added an extra cable twist at the top, since the first pair I made seemed very short.

But overall I'm happy them, and I think my mom will like them--her office is pretty cold, and she's on the computer a fair amount; these should be perfect!

One husband-hat: We Call Them Pirates from Hello Yarn. I can't make the photo turn so the skulls are right side up. I didn't try that hard, though--I'm sneak-blogging during my office hours. They had a paper due today, so I don't think anyone will come, but I don't want to spend too much time here, just in case.

Knit in Cascade 220, a red heather and white. Size 5 needles, magic loop. I really love this pattern--I've repeated this pattern more than any other (this is my 4th iteration). I may need to branch out into other stranded-knitting patterns, for variety, but this is a great hat.

S is for . . .

2008-10-20T16:51:00.007-05:00

Sunday Sky at Rhinebeck

and scrumptious skeins of yarn:
"Glamour Bunny," a mix of angora and silk. And maybe some merino wool, too, but I didn't write it down and there's no label on the skein. But it's 180 yards of worsted, so if I can ever stop petting it, it will make a lovely cowl. Purchased from the Oasis Fiber Farm Mill booth, straight from Otisfield, Maine.

Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Lace in Rust (500 yards of merino wool) from Canada. The color looks pretty accurate on my monitor (for the yarn, anyway--the bedspread under it is much bluer in real life!).

and a random door prize from the bus trip! Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Ruby River--it's much richer and more saturated in person.

Butterfly bush

2008-10-12T20:02:00.004-05:00

Or, rather, a bush full of butterflies. (I think it's an aster, not a butterfly bush.)

Next-door to a friend's beach house in Maine--we went up for one last hurrah of summer. I absolutely love the orange butterflies on the purple flowers!

R is for . . .

2008-10-05T14:35:00.005-05:00

RHINEBECK.

I signed up for a bus ride on Oct 19 to Rhinebeck--Mind's Eye Yarns is organizing it--and I'm so excited. I've never been. I don't know anyone who's going. But I'm on pins and needles of anticipation!

I'm studying the vendor lists, and looking at the maps, and trying to get an idea of where to go and what to look for. I'm thinking lace yarn, and maybe some sock yarn, depending on what catches my fancy.

And I keep singing (quietly, in my head so no one thinks I'm truly nuts) "I'm going to Rhinebeck. I'm going to Rhinebeck."

Whoo-hoo!

R is also for repeats, as in:

Repeat knit (this is my forth!): We Call Them Pirates hat. The first one (using size 3 needles) was too small for G, but just right (at the time, although I suspect it's too small now) for nephew-the-elder. The second one (using size 6 needles) was slightly too big for G, but wearable until it stretched. And then it was way too small, 'cause I over-shrunk it trying to fix the problem. The third (using size 5 needles) was just right, but made for a friend. This one (also using size 5 needles), I hope, will also be just right.

The pattern is really easy to follow--this was my first (and second and third) project using colorwork; and I think it's a good project for that. I started this version, using two colors of Cascade 220, on Thursday; last night I finished the first row of scull-and-crossbones.

Q is for . . .

2008-10-04T13:20:00.003-05:00

Quiet.

It's been two weeks since G left for Poland, and so far it's gone pretty quickly. But this is the first weekend I'm home alone. The first weekend I was down in NJ, the second weekend my parents came up to visit.

This weekend, though-all alone.

I'm sitting on the couch, watching tv--lots of new episodes this week that I missed--and knitting. I've also got some chocolate-eating and perhaps even a little wine-drinking on tap for later this afternoon.

Random Bullets of Monday

2008-09-29T16:39:00.003-05:00

I bought a plane ticket to Poland. I'm going to have to let my last class out a few minutes early to get to the airport, but--I'm going to Poland for Thanksgiving!
I have been knitting, but it's secret test knitting, so no pictures. But I'm making excellent progress and should finish soon, so I will start knitting other things that I can take pictures of.
I turned 35 today. It feels really strange. Not really different than 34, but intellectually hard to wrap my head around. Anything that ends in a 5 or a 0 feels that way to me.
I moved into a new office. There are two of us, but only one chair. And no phone. Fortunately we're not there at the same time, and I train my students to email me instead of trying to call.
I'm swapping classes with a colleague tomorrow. We do this every semester, but this time--due to the fact that we have classes that don't overlap--we're actually going to get to see what the other does during class. I think it will be very interesting, as we swap b/c I don't feel like I do a good job w/what she's doing, and she doesn't feel like she does a good job w/what I'm doing.
I need to reswatch for the Husband sweater.
I also need to reswatch for the new hat for him. I should know better than to swatch and then put the project away for several months.
I can't decide if I want to take a lace class at Webs next month. If it was only a one-day class, I'd be there. But it's a two-day class, which means I either need to drive all the way out two days running, or stay at a hotel by myself. Which could be fun, I guess.
I need to figure out how to knit a green T-Rex for nephew the elder. I made an elefante for nephew the younger (never photographed as I knit it in fly as we were going down to NJ), and nephew the elder thought that maybe he could share. We decided that nephew the younger could have it, and I would make nephew the elder a T-Rex. A green T-Rex.
I asked my mom to help me with the ears for the elefante, and in doing so learned that I've been crocheting completely wrong. Which probably explains why I think it's so hard--as it turns out, when you do it the right way? Much easier. And it looks much better, as well.
I also need to make nephew the elder green socks. To match the above-mentioned T-Rex.
I just watched last Friday's Stargate Atlantis. Holy crow, and I can't wait until the next one to see what happens. (It was a "To be continued . . . " one.)
I need to mail the hot pink Swallowtail to a friend for her 35 birthday in a couple of weeks. We don't usually do presents (half the time we don't even do real cards--just emails) but I think she'll really like it. And it's just random enough to be very cool.
I am trying to be better about posting more regularly. I sometimes think about things to post, but decide that I need a photo, or to be more interesting, or something. I read Phoeknit's post on posting the other day, and decided that she was right, and I was being too . . . something. Critical? Perfectionistic? Whatever it is, I'm trying to post more.
I am running out of randomness, which is odd for me. Generally I'm full of the randomness.

Christmas knitting

2008-09-23T18:36:00.003-05:00

The first Christmas knit, done:

Hemlock Ring Blanket, Eco-Wool (1.25 skeins), size 10 needles. I really like it, and it was a fast knit--about 10 days from cast-on to blocking. I'm thinking about making a few more as Christmas presents for other people, as well.

Not too much knitting around here. My semester started 2 weeks ago--crazy in the beginning, but it's settling down nicely. I really like my classes--I've got a nice bunch of kids. About half of them are international, which has been making for interesting conversations.

I was down in NJ this weekend, visiting family--I gave T his latest pair of socks, which he was willing to take off for bath time, but insisted on sleeping in. He's so much fun to knit for--I love his response to hand-knit socks. (My brother said that it's good he's now got several pairs; initially it was tough to get them off him long enough to wash. You've got to love that in a recipient!) T & I also had a most excellent water fight. There's nothing like a four-year old to cheer you up.

And I needed cheering up, because the reason we were down in NJ was to put G on a plane to Poland, where he'll be for the next three months. doing research. in Poland. 6 time zones ahead. 4084 miles away. I've put up countdown clocks--one until I go there for Thanksgiving, and one until he comes home for Christmas. (The clocks are too big, though--the seconds don't show up. Eventually either figure out how to fix it, or find new ones that actually fit.)

So it will be a long semester, and I will be knitting up a storm, I think. First up is a new hat for G (it's cold in Poland!)--I managed to shrink his We Call Them Pirates hat (I was in fact trying to shrink it just a little bit, since it had stretched, but managed to go a bit overboard) and he wants a new one.

WIP Wednesday

2008-09-10T17:54:00.004-05:00

WIP #1:

Lacy Ribbon Scarf from the Spring 2008 Knitty, in Green Mt. Spinnery Sock-Art Forest yarn. It's a sort of raspberry color--I think this will make a great fall scarf. The yarn is a little stiff, but I think once it's blocked it will loosen up and drape really nicely. The yarn has some tencel in it (the "forest" part) which makes it sort of silky and shiny.

I'm about 2/3 of the way done--this is a good travel project, but I've been home a lot lately, and working on . . .

WIP #2

The ubiquitous Hemlock Ring Blanket, in the equally ubiquitous Cascade Eco-Wool. I love, love, love this project--I started it on Monday, and I'm already 2 repeats into the feather-and-fan section. (And now, for the ubiquitous comment, I will say that BrooklynTweed is a frickin' GENIUS. Love, love, love him, too.)

I'm thinking of making several of these, and giving them for Christmas presents. 'Cause I'm not sure I can stop with just one!

Non-lace knitting

2008-09-01T11:00:00.002-05:00

Finished: One pair of knee socks for my four-year-old nephew (with one of my socks, for scale):

Plymouth yarn Happy Feet sock yarn, in color #10--blues and greens and a little maroon, magic looped on size 1.5 needles. The colors are very J-Crew/Gap, which my SIL will love. The yarn is very squishy, which T will love--good for sliding around the kitchen floor, his standard test for new socks. I put one of my size 9 socks in for scale--T likes long socks ("up to my knees!" he says). I cast on 48 stitches and use a 2x2 ribbing all down the leg and on the top of the foot, which is pretty much what I've done with all his socks so they stay up. The yarn, which I bought on sale a while ago, is nice to knit with, and I like the way the colors came out. No pooling; the color repeats are very short, which I think helps. I have enough left over from the skeins that I'm going to see if I can find a nice fat-legged baby sock for T's six-month-old brother, so they can have matching brother socks. (I feel like I've ignored G in favor of knitting socks for T, since G is, at not-quite six months, a bit less enthusiastic about hand-knits than T is. And I have this sneaking suspicion that, in a few years, G will love the hand knits and T will start be be very blase' about the whole thing, so I'm getting the knitting-auntie love while I can.)

I've also started (and almost finished) another Elefante, this time in blue:

All that's left is some sewing up--I was too tired last night, and afraid of getting a crooked elephant. I'm planning on making another one as soon as I'm finished--one for G (the aunt guilt is getting to me!), and one for the son of a family friend, who's expecting his first baby soon. My mom is going to the shower in a few weeks; I thought I would stick it in with her package.

I still need to frog and re-start Cleo; I really like the pattern & yarn, so I think I'm going to try going down a few needle sizes and see what that gets me.

Beyond that, I've been a little blah--my inability to start a big project in knitting seems to be par for the course, lately. My summer class is done, and has been for a couple of weeks; my fall syllabus are done (and have been for a couple of months--I like to be prepared!), and I'm working on some course proposals for next year. G's going to be gone for a lot of the school year, though--he's off to do some major dissertation research--and while I'm glad he's getting the chance to go (and that he's got grants that will pay for it!), I'm miserable at the thought of him being gone. He leaves in a little less than three weeks; we're trying to make the most of the time we have, but he needs to get ready to go, too, so--blah. And blah, and blah, and blah. I'll be better once my classes start next week, and I'm busy. I'll also be better once he's actually gone--then I'll start counting the days until I see him again, instead of counting the days until he leaves.

In which I try to convince myself: It's all about the process

2008-08-26T18:15:00.004-05:00

deep, calming breath. It's all about the process.

Which is a good thing, since I'm spending a lot of time going back to the frog pond lately.

repeat after me: It's all about the process.

Posh Yarn Beatrice in Claret, Cleopatra wrap from Sensual Knits, size 3 needles. I didn't do a gauge swatch (it's lace--who needs a gauge swatch?)

Me, evidently; but it will be fine, since it's all about the process.

I'm 10" in, but already 25% of the way though the yarn.

I can knit it again. More time for process.

The pattern is lovely, the yarn is perfect, the color is gorgeous. So I should be happy to have more time to knit with it, right?

P is for . . .

2008-08-22T14:51:00.005-05:00

Posh yarn Swallowtail

Beaded, because I nupped enough with Madli's Shawl to be done with that for a while, and because I only had 400 yards of yarn and wanted to squeeze as much shawl out of it as possible. The yarn is a dream--it is, as someone of Ravelry remarked, like knitting with kittens. so. very. soft.

The finished size is 52" by 24" (unblocked it was 32" by 16"), on size 3 needles. I added a couple of repeats of the last two rows of the peaked edging chart and wound up with less than a gram of yarn remaining--it's not enough to register on my scale. (Raveled here.)

It's a birthday present for one of my college roommates--we've grown apart over the years, because we've moved, and found new interests, and time, and all the usual stuff, but 35 is a big birthday, and I though pink cashmere with sparkles was a good present for such an occasion. But that's not until October, so once it's dry I'll pack it way careful and hope I don't forget where I put it!

A bigger picture:

P is also for the pi shawl that's been languishing in my almost-but-not-quite done pile for about 3 months now--it needed to have the ends woven in, and to be blocked. I finally got myself motivated to finish it:

Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace, in Watercolor, size 5 needles, EZ's Pi Shawl pattern. (Raveled here.)

Road trip

2008-08-16T13:02:00.005-05:00

To Green Mountain Spinnery, in Putney, VT:

Maine Organic, worsted weight wool, 250 yards. A winter hat?

Spinnery Sock Art, Forest (wool/tencel blend). It's a light fingering, so maybe a scarf, rather than socks.
Life's been a bit rough the last few days, and the DH decided we should take a ride. (Ironically, of course, we drove 300 miles round trip to buy organic yarn, but . . . ). And since he wanted to cheer me up, we drove up to Vermont and had a bit of a look around. Although we hadn't called ahead, or made any arrangments for a tour, the people at the Spinnery were super nice and showed us around, anyway.

O is for Object, finished

2008-08-10T15:06:00.005-05:00

The pattern: Madli's Shawl, from IK Summer 2004. (This is a really hard-to-find issue, but I think the pattern will be reprinted in Nancy Bush's new book, Knitted Lace of Estonia, which is coming out in October.)

The details: School Products baby camel lace weight, just under 2 skeins (I have 5 grams left in the second skein, plus a third that I didn't touch!). The pattern calls for 1092 yards of laceweight; I used about 725, and added in two repeats of the center panel. I also went down a size for the needles (US 4 instead of US 5), but the finished size was fairly generous--24" wide by a little over 62" long.

The verdict: I love this shawl. I'd originally earmarked the yarn & pattern for myself, but when my mom (my mom, who keeps telling me she'll never wear lace and so there's no point in making her anything) really really liked it. What's a girl to do except give it to her mom? Which is exactly what I did. But I'd make this pattern again (in a while, because even though all those nupps were fine, I think I'd like a break from them!) and I'd definitely use this yarn again. At $9.50/skein, it's a beautiful, soft, warm, and slightly exotic; since I go to NYC a couple of times a year, I'm planning another trip to School Products.

Mid-term exams

2008-07-28T14:09:00.003-05:00

Things I like about giving in-class midterms:

(Swallowtail Shawl in Posh Yarn Sophia. 9 repeats down.)

Things that are not as much fun:
(16 students x 7 identifications = 112 ids, 16 essays, and up to 48 extra credit answers. That's a lot of grading time--I'd rather spend it knitting!)

100

2008-07-27T14:49:00.004-05:00

I've put off this post for a while, because it's my 100th post. And for some reason, I think that breaking into three digits should have a post that's in some way . . . extraordinary.

But I got nothin', so I'm going with a normal FO kind of post. Except--yipee! 100.

There has been some finishing:

The more-titling-than-waving socks, based on the Waving Lace pattern from IK's Favorite Socks, complete with my own incorporated screw up that we're calling a design element. US size 1.5 needles, from Knit Picks, magic looped. The yarn is a very yummy Sundara sock yarn in Electric Pear, which I scored on the Ravelry ISO/Destash forum.

Overall, this was a pretty easy knit. I like the mods I made, albeit unintentionally, but if I were to do it again, I'd either go down a needle size, or stick with the original patter--these are a little loose.

And a second FO: Meet Ollie.

Ollie is a super cute elephant, made using Susan Anderson's free Elefante pattern (scroll down; it's on the sidebar). I love this pattern--I'm very happy with the way it came out. He was a very big hit at the baby shower I made him for.

This was my first real attempt at crochet, so the ears took me much longer than I think they should have, but since they're adorable, I"m not going to complain. Next time it won't take nearly as long--and there will definitely be a next time. Maybe soon. Maybe nephew #2 needs an elefante. Maybe in green.

This is my favorite shot of him, looking all shy and adorable:

N if for . . .

2008-07-18T21:12:00.002-05:00

Our new Nikon D-40

which takes really beautiful pictures! We got the camera, complete with fancy-schmancy lenses with vibration reduction, so that when DH goes on his research trips, he can take lots of photos and show me what he's up to.

I'm not sure I'm willing to give it up, though. :)

I fought the law (and the law won)

2008-07-15T13:41:00.003-05:00

The law in question? Gravity. Our dispute regarded the speed with which I was descending the stairs--too slow, it seems, for gravity's liking, and so gravity gave me a bit of a push.

My ankle didn't like that much at all, though. I've always sort of thought that it might be nice to be laid up with something like a twisted ankle--too swollen to put any weight on, but not much pain, as long as I stay put--which would allow me to sit and knit all day with no guilt.

Of course, I managed to do this while at my MIL's, just before we left for my parents'. We were down in NJ for a nephew christening, and so rather than having a lovely peaceful knitting day? I had to hop around on one foot, or sit in the car.

I did get a little knitting done--I'm on the 31st repeat of Madli's shawl (no picture, as it looks exactly the same as it did last time, only longer), and I've turned the heel on my second sock.

The christening was lovely, though, and my older nephew (he's 4) found my hopping hilariously entertaining.

A Hero

2008-07-06T19:05:00.002-05:00

The subtitle of this blog is "A blog without a hero." This is mainly a play on the title--William Makepeace Thackery's novel Vanity Fair is subtitled "A novel without a hero."

But for today, at least, there's a hero. Dara Torres, at the age of 41, just swam the 50 meter freestyle at the Olympic time Trials and won it handily. She set a new American record--breaking the record she set yesterday. She's broken the record nine times, the first time when she was 15.

She's also qualified in the 100 meter freestyle, as well as several relays.

She so rocks.

M is for . . .

2008-07-03T14:27:00.002-05:00

Madli's Shawl.

18 repeats of the body done, and I'm almost done with the first skein--I've probably got another 2 or 3 rows worth of yarn. I should have plenty of yarn to lengthen it--35 repeats instead of 31--using only 2 of the skeins, which will leave me with a third skein of this lovely camel yarn to knit up into something for me--a lacey scarf, maybe?

L is for . . .

2008-06-22T09:57:00.005-05:00

Lace. Lots and lots of lace.

The Summer of Lace officially kicked off yesterday, on the first day of summer. As of Friday, I was 14 repeats done with Madli's Shawl. The pattern calls for 31 repeats, but I may make it a few repeats long. Even with 14 repeats, I've still go 9 grams (about 68.5 yards) of the first skein left. I haven't been tracking how much yarn each repeat takes, but I'm hoping that I can get another 3.5 repeats out of this skein. That way, I can use 2 skeins, rather than all 3, and get 35 repeats in. Right now, the unblocked shawl measures about 24" x 15"; the pattern says the final blocked measurements should be 62" x 19". I think that if I add another 4 repeats, I should get about those measurements--maybe a little longer--without too much heavy stretching.

And it would leave me one more skein of the baby camel yarn--381 yards--to play with.

Yesterday, however, I cast on for a brand-new lace project:

I was aiming for a repeat of the Waving Lace socks from IK's Favorite Socks book, but had a complete failure to read the actual chart. In the chart, the yo's stay on the sides of the pattern repeat, but for some reason I moved them over with the paired decreases. I think the effect of this is that the knitting doesn't pull from side to side in a bias, making them way less wavy than the first attempt. But I still like the way they're coming out, so I'm going to stick with it and knit up some not-so-waving lace socks.

2008 Summer Goals

2008-06-20T09:28:00.003-05:00

Ali over at Skeins Her Way is having a little contest: post your summer goals for 2008. I, of course, am running in just under the wire (well, I have about 13 hours left to get this up!), but needed the kick in the pants to get some goals up. I've been really awful about posting goals, lately, which is too bad, since it helped me to stay vaguely organized. Month-to-month seems to have been too much for me to keep up with, maybe season-to-season will be better!

Summer Goals 2008:

Finish Madli's Shawl.
Re-start (and finish!) the Waving Lace socks.
Dye the two skeins of Knit Picks bare sock yarn I have. I've never dyed anything before, so this is my "learn something new" for the summer.
Use the newly dyed skeins to knit a shawl for my Aunt, who's having a bit of a rough time lately. My goal for dyeing and knitting this is going to be July 13, since that's the date of New Nephew's christening, and I should see her then. I want to make sort of a prayer shawl, so maybe I'll find a nice stitch pattern (maybe something that looks like tulips, 'cause she loves tulips) and just design my own.
Pick a pattern for the skein of Posh Yarn Beatrice that I have sitting in my stash, and knit it up for my friend R. Sooner rather than later on that one, too. Probably a stole, rather than a triangular shawl. Maybe Seascape, from the new Knitty?
Knit a yarn and a pattern and knit it up for my friend H's 35 birthday. Which isn't until October, so that's a back-burner kind of project. Maybe using the lovely raspberry-colored yarn I bought at Habu? Or a swallowtail out of the skein of Posh Celia I have in my stash.

Those are the main goals, mostly shawls, and all lace. Summer of Lace starts tomorrow, as well, so I'm working on that. Lots of gift knitting, although the socks are for me. I'd also like to start on the husband-sweater I've already swatched for, but that might be too warm to deal with this summer. I'd also like to make a new pirate hat for DH, as I managed to felt the last one. But I'm going to start with lace, and see where that gets me. If we hit a cold patch, or I need a more portable project, maybe I'll get started on that, as well!

Two Steps Forward (One Step Back)

2008-06-19T14:00:00.005-05:00

Two steps forward: Basic socks with a 3x1 ribbing, in Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock (Georgetown colorway, which has more aqua/green than this photo shows). Size 1.5 needles, magic loop. For my bff L--I'll pop them in the mail to her soon.

One step back: In November, I started a pair of Waving Lace socks, from IK's Favorite Socks book. I finished the leg on one sock, put them down, and didn't pick them back up again until yesterday, at which point I couldn't quite figure out where I'd left off (for some reason, I'd stopped in the middle of a repeat, rather than at the end of one). I also couldn't get quite the same gauge.

So I've ripped them out and will restart them again, maybe on Saturday for the Summer of Lace. I like the way this pattern looks with this yarn (Sundara Sock yarn, Electric Pear colorway), though, so no change there. Just a fresh start.

Better late than never: the vacation edition

2008-06-16T13:16:00.007-05:00

One day, I will blog things on time.

One day, I will remember to take pictures when I'm out doing interesting things, like visiting my first sheep festival.

One day, I will post actual knitting content.

Today is not that day.

The first week of June, DH and I went on vacation. With his mom. Which was actually way more fun that it sounds like, since I really like my mother-in-law. Although the cottage we rented was, indeed, rather small, it did have two bedrooms, so we could all close the doors and have a little privacy. And it was right on the water--the bay side of Cape Cod, in Truro.

We drove out on Saturday, and while my MIL left Wednesday morning, DH and I extended our trip by an extra night, and were there until the following Sunday.

On the first Sunday, we went to a sheep festival (my first!) at Taylor-Bray Farm, in Yarmouth Port. In a fit of camnesia, Sunday was the first of eight days that I neglected to bring the camera and take any pictures. Suffice to say, sheep are cute, as are goats and llama. The sheep dogs were the highlight. And there was yarn:

40z of lace-weight mohair, 2-ply. Incredibly evenly spun, from Knot-a-Thot Farms in West Barnstable. No idea on yardage, or what to do with it. A scarf, I suppose, in a nice repeating pattern so I can make it as long/short as I have yarn for.

And also this:
Hand spun and hand dyed, with natural dye (coreopsis flowers).

156 yards of . . . heavy worsted? maybe bulky? No idea what to do with it, but it was pretty and the DH insisted--insisted!--I needed more yarn. And the woman who dyed & spun it was very nice, and spent a lot of time talking to me about how she dyed the yarns.

Other unphotographed highlights included excellent barbecue, incredible seafood, and a trip to Truro Vineyards with my MIL for a wine tasting. Which we've done before, but which was a highlight of this trip because my MIL was highly resistant at first, and then enjoyed herself far more than she was expecting to.

Other than yarn, shopping included a trip to the Atlantic Spice Co., which I highly recommend if you're ever out on the tip of Cape Cod, window shopping in Provincetown, and a wander through Chatham. I wanted to go to Chatham because we have a set of fish salt-and-pepper shakers that I love, and which I was pretty certain we'd bought in Chatham. Memory did in fact prove correct, and we found these:

At Yankee-Ingenuity, the same store where we'd bought the other set of shakers.

I'd better get cracking on actual work, though, as my Summer 2 class starts in two weeks, and I have yet to finish my course calendar!

Summer of Lace warm-up

2008-06-13T10:26:00.004-05:00

I've joined the Summer of Lace Knitalong (Ravelry Group here). The official start date is June 21, but in the meantime, I'm warming up with some nupps:

Madli's Shawl, by Nancy Bush, from IK Summer 2004. Size 4 needles (knitpicks Harmony interchangables). The yarn is a Baby Camel laceweight from School Products, in NYC; I bought it about a year ago and have been looking for the right pattern for it. Raveled here.

I've gone down a needle size from the pattern, since I tend to get widely open lace when I use the recommended sizes; I'm happy with the way it looks. (I also tend to run out of yarn that way.) I'm on the 9th (out of 31) repeat of the body; so far, the nupps are going remarkable well and have been surprisingly easy. I'm not sure if I'm just getting the hang of them, or if the Harmonies are simply sharp enough to make it simple. Either way, I'm just going to enjoy the ride.

I really like this pattern--I saw it on Ravelry almost as soon as I joined (13 months ago today!), and spent several months searching for a copy of the Summer 2004 IK so I could knit it. I managed to purchase one from a fellow Raveler, via the ISO/Destash board, and I'm glad I did.

My mother also really liked this pattern when I showed her the shawl, so (even though she's been telling me for years that she really doesn't want a shawl, she doesn't know where or when she'd use it, blah blah blah) this may wind up as a present for her rather than for me. We'll see how it turns out.

In other knitting news, I'm almost done with a pair of socks--just one toe left to graft. Eventually I'll take pictures. My Pi Shawl is waiting for a good blocking; the size and shape makes that more of a challenge than I'd realized when I first started. The heat wave is over, though, so maybe there will be more knitting soon.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Happy Friday the 13th, by the way! It's Colgate Day, although I'm not wearing any Colgate gear.

K is for . . .

2008-06-09T15:10:00.004-05:00

Knitting. Of course. :)
This is my first finished project--a scarf for my dad. When my mom taught me how to knit in 2002 (okay. when she taught me again how to knit, and it finally stuck), I was hooked. It took a while to get the hang of the purl stitch (I kept holding the yarn wrong and winding up with all these extra stitches from the yarn-overs I was creating), but once I did, I searched for a nice, easy scarf and found a basket-weave pattern I liked. I bought a skein of Wool-Ease, and off I went.

I cast on the correct number of stitches, and fell under the spell of knit and purl. And when I got to the end of the skein, I decided it wasn't long enough, so I bought another one and kept going.

By the time I got to the end of that skein, I'd forgotten how to cast off.

But I was having a good time, and was going to visit my parents in the near future, so I did the only logical thing.

I bought a third skein.

By the time I ran out of yarn, I was on my way to NJ to visit my mom, who showed me how to bind off the scarf. Which was then almost 9 feet long.

My dad can wrap it around his neck many, many times. But he wears it a lot, and claims he doesn't want a new one. So my first FO gets worn every year, and every year he teases me about how long it is. Secretly, though, I think I'd have to fight him to get it back.

J is for . . .

2008-05-19T13:57:00.005-05:00

Joyful.

Block-a-bye Flutter

2008-05-13T15:32:00.003-05:00

Flutter scarf, blocking. The ends are woven in but still the tails need to be cut off.
I'm not sure how well the flutter ends will block out; I tried to pin them into sort of pleats, and to stretch the yarn (MamaLlama silken cashmere in Bella) out as much as possible.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this knit. The pattern is well-written, and fairly easy (and quick!) to knit; it's a great one-skein lace project. The yarn is soft and lovely, although the pinks bled a fair amount while soaking. I gave it a second bath with a glug of vinegar, and a third bath to try and get a little of the vinegar scent out, so hopefully that's the end of the bleeding. It didn't bleed at all on my hands while I was actually knitting it, so I'm not too worried about the final product.

I only had 400 yards, rather than 440, but the scarf blocked out to a little over 60" long, and 10" wide, which should make for a nice neck scarf. I'll take some action shots once it's dry!

And I'll probably cast on for another one soon--I have a skein of Posh Sophia that I've been looking for a good pattern for.

I is for . . .

2008-05-09T09:10:00.007-05:00

Ivory silk.
Because H is for Habu--I was in NYC for a conference this past weekend, and managed to get to Habu for a few minutes. (The elevator was out, so I had to walk up the 8 floors. But it was well worth it!) The ivory-colored silk is A-39, which they list as a fingering weight, although I'd call it a very very light fingering, or a very heavy lace. I have almost 1200 yards of it; I think it's destined to become a lace stole for a friend's daughter's wedding. The wedding is over a year off, though, so it's got some time to marinate.

I also bought 2 ounces of A-1, in color 38, which is a lovely tweedy raspberry color. It's a lace-weight, about 530 yards. Nothing planned, but I couldn't resist the color.

The trip down and back offered plenty of knitting time, and I worked on a Flutter Scarf. (I took a Bolt Bus, which is a fairly new service between Boston and NYC. The trip down was great, the one back was okay. But I emailed them with a "here's why I'm not thrilled with the trip back" report, and they were very prompt about getting back to me. So I'd give them another shot.)

I'm using a skein of MamaLlama silken cashmere, in Bella, which is delicious. I got the skein as payment for knitting up a sample scarf for MamaLlama, and I've been waiting to find a good pattern for it.

Flutter is a very easy pattern to memorize (and Miriam was wonderful about helping me decide if the pattern would be suitable. and then with walking me through some technical problems in actually getting the payment to go through!). Rather than knit it as written, which is in two halves, I knit a couple of repeats, then the flutter, and am knitting down from there, with the join at one side rather than in the middle. I weighed the amount of yarn that the first end took, and am now getting close to that point on the other side. The skein I'm using is a little shorter than the skein the pattern calls for, so I'm trying to make the center part as long as possible without worrying about running out of yarn for the second flutter. Right now the scarf is about 45" long, and I'll probably get another 3 or 4 center repeats in before I start the second flutter end.

The scarf is going to be a present for my best friend's mom, who's a darling and going through a rough time right now. She's always been wonderful to me (and lately has taken to sending me knitting-related things, like pattern books and magazines and skeins of sock yarn that she's found when cleaning out a closet!), and I wanted to send her something lush and pretty.

I is also for Irony--yesterday, G and I went to the police station to have elimination prints taken. While we were there, the detective in charge of the case said they had a suspect in custody, although no hard evidence linking him to our break-in, and no real hope of recovering any of the items. When we got home, we found an automated message from the town on our machine, saying that there had been a series of break-ins, lately, both home and auto, and everyone should be very careful. A little late for that, but--nicely ironic, none the less!

H is for . . .

2008-05-01T13:39:00.007-05:00

Harmony.*

I love my Harmony needles!

When I learned to knit, I learned on long, straight needles, with the right one anchored under my arm. I let go of the needle entirely to wrap the yarn around to form a stitch, which made me very leary of things like dpn and circulars. But I wanted to learn, and finally decided to get an interchangeable set. Only I liked wood better than metal, which limited my options. (hee hee, Options!) When KnitPicks came out with the Harmony Options set, I was sold--definitely one of my best knitting investments!

Currently otn, above: a EZ Pi Shawl, on size 5 (3.75 mm) tips, using Helen's Lace in Watercolor. I'm about 1/2 done with the last section, with 572 stitches on the needles in a feather-and-fan pattern. (Ravelry link).

And even if there hasn't been blogging, there has been knitting--mostly lace. More . . . eventually!

*Excuse the crap-tastic picture. We're still recovering from G--better photos soon.

It is deep April

2008-04-23T16:20:00.002-05:00

"It was deep April"

It was deep April, and the morn
Shakespeare was born;
The world was on us, pressing sore;
My Love and I took hands and swore,
Against the world, to be
Poets and lovers evermore,
To laugh and dream on Lethe's shore,
To sing to Charon in his boat,
Heartening the timid souls afloat;
Of judgment never to take heed,
But to those fast-locked souls to speed,
Who never from Apollo fled,
Who spent no hour among the dead;
Continually
With them to dwell,
Indifferent to heaven and hell.

--Michael Field (Katherine Bradley (1846-1914) and Edith Cooper (1862-1913))

G is for . . .

2008-04-10T14:25:00.004-05:00

Gone.

2 laptops

1 digital camera

more photos than I can remember, including ones of me holding my nephew the day he was born

1 laptop bag

1 cell phone

more jewelry than I care to think about, including my great-grandmother's ring

The new lock we had installed a few months ago worked really well. The door, however, is pretty much a total loss. Our landlady is having a steel one installed tomorrow.

On the bright side, we have renters' insurance, including generous riders for jewelry and computers, so we'll at least get to upgrade the laptops out of all this. We just went out and got me a new laptop (On which I should be grading papers right now, but I'm venting instead.) (and evidently I'm now Mac people. I'll let you know how I like it. The set up was super-easy, at least.) Fortunately, I was wearing my more expensive (which is also my more sentimental) jewelry, like my grandmother's earrings and my engagement ring.

In my best Dutch Uncle* manner, I am now going to say: if you do not currently have renters' insurance, GET SOME. Put a rider on for anything like cameras, computers, jewelry. Ours cost less than $200/year, even with the riders, and in the long run means we'll get most of the monetary loss, at least, back. Knowing that has made this whole thing a little less awful.

Mean people suck.

*In my family, "let me talk to you like a Dutch Uncle" means "let me give you some unsolicited advice."

By the numbers

2008-04-03T14:41:00.005-05:00

Time spent knitting: 3 months, off and on
Hours spent on this project: about 40
Finished size: 29" by 35"
Number of skeins used: 4.5, or about 1210 yards
Number of repeats: 30
Number of stitches, including cast-on and bind-off: 44,892
Number of cables crossed: 720
Number of cables mis-crossed, dropped down, and fixed with a crochet hook: 1
Number of days since the nephew was born: 26
Number of days I'd be early if the nephew had waited until his due date: 6

The pattern: Aran Blanket by Linda Daniels, from Knit Baby Blankets!
The yarn: The Leader Mill Ends and Closeouts, from Webs
The needless: size 5 straights
The verdict: Overall, this was a reasonable knit. Cables aren't my favorite thing, but this is what my SIL really wanted: a yellow, cabled blanket. And my mom likes cables less than I do, so I was volunteered for the job. The yarn is fine, and machine washable (this was the most important feature--yellow (as requested), and machine washable (as experience has taught me). I feel like a bit of a cheapskate, since the yarn was very, very, very inexpensive even before it went on closeout. It's a little stiff to knit with, although not nearly as bad as some acrylic, and it softened up a lot with the first wash. Because it's acrylic, though, the cables draw the center in enough to make the blanket less-than-square (I'd show you a picture but my camera doesn't want to talk to my computer right now). I'd rather have used superwash wool, but I know that my brother and SIL will wash this pretty heavily, and I'd rather not take a chance on it felting (like T's blanket, which I made out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, bought at full price).

All the cool kids are doing it . . .

2008-04-01T18:37:00.001-05:00

72 words

Speed test

April, come she will

2008-03-31T16:33:00.002-05:00

I haven't actually posted progress reports or goals yet this year. So--checking in on my end-of-the-year posting:

Goals from 2007 for 2008:

Finish brother sweater (Jan) Done!
Lengthen husband sweater (Jan) Done!
Lengthen perfect sweater #1 (Jan) Not even looked at.
Ramona (Jan) Done, and I love, love, love this sweater. The yarn (Classic AL) pills like mad, which is to be expected out of a merino/alpaca blend, but I love it anyway.

Husband sweater #2 (Feb/Mar) Swatched, but that's it.
Tangled yoke cardigan hmm. . . I may use the yarn I had earmarked for this for a different sweater. Still in the imagining stages.
Baby nephew blanket w/cables (Feb/Mar—he’s due in April, and while we’re worried he’ll come early, like his big brother, I don’t want him to not have a blanket. I’m aiming for done in mid-March, which will put him at 35 or 36 weeks) Well, he came early (March 8), and his blanket's still not done. But I"m getting there--I've done 28 out of 30 repeats, so--two more repeats and the border, so I need about 3 more hours to finish the knitting part.
Orange socks for T (done soon, but maybe given to him when his baby brother gets his blanket) Done, gifted, and frequently worn.
Honeybee stole or another large lace project, w/camel yarn Still in the imagining stage, but I have finished some lace this year.

Other things accomplished so far this year:

Flowerbasket Shawl
Swallowtail Shawl
Malabrigo scarf, neither blogged nor Raveled. It was for the third, and only male member, of my committee.
Blue socks, also for T
1 sock in Lorna's Laces Georgetown, a little too long for me (I got distracted and forget to start the toe), so once the second one is done I'll mail them to L.

Not too too much knitting, although I've done a fair amount on the cabled nephew blanket, as well. And, considering that I finished and defended my dissertation--my largest FO to date, and my longest-lasting WIP--I'm going to say the first three months have been pretty successful!

Which raises the question: What do I want to accomplish in April? April will be a month of grading; next week I have a lot of papers coming in and a short time to turn them around before I have more papers coming in that I'll need to turn around quickly, because then it will be the end of the semester and I'll have final portfolios to grade. Teaching would be so much more fun if it weren't for grading jail. My goals, in other words, need to be reasonable.

Finish the cable blanket and mail it to little nephew. (totally reasonable; even with 35 papers to grade this weekend, I think I should be able to mail it by the time he turns 1 month old.)
Finish the second G'town sock so I can bring them with me when I go visit L the first weekend in May. (mindless and portable knitting is good, especially with papers to grade)
Swallowtail shawl #2 in Posh yarn: I need to decide which yarn. The Posh Knitters group on Ravelry is having a KAL and I thought I'd play along.
Work on green socks for T, which I started and then frogged, since I wasn't happy with them.
Wash the swatches for the husband sweater and get started. We have made a pattern decision (hence the swatching): Cambridge Jacket by Ann Budd, from IK Summer 2006.

That seems like a reasonable amount to try and accomplish. I have a million plans in my head, but I know this month will be crazy, work-wise. May will be lighter work-wise, but crazy with graduations and birthdays and conferences; June will be much lighter, though (and then July and August crazy again with a summer class!).

I haven't really been buying yarn, or notions, or anything, really, but instead mostly knitting from my stash. I think I'll be tempted, though, as Webs' anniversary sale is coming up in April, and they always have such amazing prices!

F is for

2008-03-27T14:00:00.013-05:00

FishFishing equipment abounds, including this very cool hand-painted plug--one of many that G has stashed. But our fish are more than just edible, or equipment-related. Oh, no. There is, dare I say, a bit of a fish fetish around here:

A fish stapler

a fish wine stopper

fish salt-and-paper shakers

a fish plate
another fish plate
and another fish plate

a fish print
and another fish print (this one's my favorite--hand colored by the artist!)

E is for . . .

2008-03-13T14:26:00.004-05:00

Exhausted.

No pictures; I'm too tired.

Spring break is over; we drove over 1000 miles (Boston to MIL's, NJ, to Grad School, NJ, to NYC, to Parent's, NJ, to NYC, to Parent's, to Hospital, NJ (to see the new nephew) to MIL, to Parent's, to MIL, to Boston. It makes me tired just thinking about it.)

The defense, while nerve-wracking, was a success; I now need to clean up the dissertation and submit the final copy. But I've got well over a month before that's due.

The new nephew, although a month early, was almost 7lb when he was born on Saturday (having kindly and politely waited until after Aunt Susan's party on Friday). He's back in the NICU right now, for jaundice, but seems to be getting less yellow by the minute and they expect him home in a couple of days.

Stupid annoying medical things are making me feel generally crummy and run-down, so the driving and excitement took more of a toll than it normally would. (This has resulted in a complete stoppage of all grading around here, but since we're going to a museum for class tomorrow, I don't think it's so awful. I'll have their papers done for Tuesday.)

I have a job application due tomorrow and I'm having the worst time articulating a teaching philosophy.

A more cheerful post (with knitting!) coming soon. And my F will definitely have pictures--lots of pictures.

Finish-itis

2008-03-02T18:55:00.007-05:00

Blue knee socks for a three-year-old, done and mailed:

Swallowtail, done:
(details on Ravelry)

Flowerbasket shawl, started, blocked, and done:
(details on Ravelry)

Both shawls were knit using Fearless Fiber sock yarn (Brick House, the red yarn, was a gift from my sockapalooza pal; Hudson, the blue yarn, was purchased through the Ravelry ISO/Destash board)--the colors are amazing. Perfect for lace--enough color variegation to be interesting, but not so much that it's overwhelming.

D is for . . .

2008-03-01T18:20:00.002-05:00

Dissertation*

*I know this is late. But I've been torn between wanting to post, and stick with the schedule, and fear that posting would jinx my defense, which is set for this coming Thursday.

Startitus

2008-02-09T11:41:00.000-05:00

Ramona: Re-started to fix the scallopping at the bottom of the center seam. Since I managed to snip the wrong thread, I ripped back a few rows and added another inch to the length. The knitting's been done for at least a week, but I can't seem to manage to sew the hem down and reseam. Which is too bad, since I'd really like to wear it again before the weather's too warm for angora. Blue socks-that-come-up-to-his-knees for T. One is almost done, and I've cast on for the second, but I haven't had a lot of car knitting time lately.

Cabled baby blanket for the new, not-quite-here-yet nephew. The only problem is I'm not in a cabling kind of mood. But SIL really wanted a cabled blanket, so I'm pushing through a couple of rows a day.

And once I manage that, I turn to my new love:

Swallowtail Shawl, from Interweave Knits Fall 2006 by the oh-so-amazing Evelyn Clark. The yarn is Fearless Fibers superwash sock merino, in Brick House, and the colors are wonderful. Very subtle and interesting. I think it will look wonderful when it's blocked. The yarn was a gift from my sock pal, and I've been saving it to find something that would show off the colors.

I started it on Tuesday, 2/5; I'm done with the first border chart already. So another three days or so and I should be ready to block it. The nupps aren't too bad; I'm using size 6 KnitPicks Harmony needles, and I've been nupp-ing loosely, so the p5tog are going relatively well. (What does "nupp" stand for, anyway? Why nupp? Why not nipp? or nup?)

I started it in part because, having just mailed off my dissertation in its penultimate form, I needed something a little complicated to distract me. I'm thinking about giving it to my (female) head advisor after my defense; I'm not sure if that means I need to knit something for each of my committee members, though. I've got another skein of Fearless Fibers sock yarn, although it's not the superwash version, so the skein has less yardage. Maybe another Swallowtail? Or something slightly less complicated (or at least, less-complicated looking) for my third reader (also female), and a scarf for my second reader (male)?

I'm hoping to schedule the defense for my spring break, which is the first week in March; it would be easier to go down if I don't have to juggle classes at the same time. We'll see what the committee says, though. But at the rate this shawl is moving, I should be able to finish another couple of gifts before then.

C is for . . .

2008-02-06T11:03:00.001-05:00

I had a lot of trouble deciding on a C. C, in my world, is often for chocolate. And champagne. (Not to mention the calories that go along with them.) It's also for chai, and cold, and china. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that really, the C that I wanted to show you?

Colgate, where I spent 1991-1995. (Or, as my husband likes to call it, the mythical kingdom of col-ga-tay.)

The "golden nipple" atop the Chapel, visible for miles--always a sure sign that we were getting close to campus.

Torchlight ceremony, the night before graduation. It involves a walk down Cardiac*, the main hill on campus, while wearing academic regalia and carrying a flaming torch. Good times.

Lawrence Hall, home of the English and French departments. Although I rarely use my French anymore, I double-majored: French as well as English.

Lineberry Natatorium, where I spent most of my time as a member of the varsity team, swimming back and forth. It was rarely warm enough to have the roof open, as it's shown here.

Colgate in winter, which lasted for much of the academic year. My birthday is at the end of September; 3 out of 4 years, there were snow flurries for a birthday present.

All of these photos are official Colgate photos (I saved them to my desktop, though--no hotlinking for me!). My pictures of Colgate, although precious to me, are not digital, and I don't have a scanner, so I've borrowed these to show you my C.

*Colgate-ism: you can tell the seniors from the first-years by the size of their calves, due to the number of times that they walk up and down Cardiac each day.

A Blogger's (Silent) Poetry Reading

2008-02-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

Cyclamens

They are terribly white:
There is snow on the ground,
And a moon on the snow at night;
The sky is cut by the winter light;
Yet I, who have all these things in ken,
Am struck to the heart by the chisilled white
Of this handful of cyclamen.

written by Michael Field (Katherine Bradley 1846-1914 and Edith Cooper 1862-1913).
from Under the Bough, 1893.

B is for . . .

2008-01-31T11:05:00.000-05:00

a box

full of buttons

When I was a child, this box was my grandmother's. Every time we visited, I would play with the buttons--I loved to sort through them and organize them. I have not idea how old they are (at least 50 years, I think!), but they're heavy and detailed. My grandmother was a wonderful semstress; a lot of these buttons look like they're thrifted and show some wear. But I love them, and, when my grandmother passed away, I got the button box.

The last photo is of my favorite buttons; I'm looking for the perfect project to use them on. There are nine of them, although one is in rather bad shape, but enough for a cardigan!

Seuss-ical Socks

2008-01-27T13:38:00.000-05:00

Yarn: Regia Silk Color, 1 skein with only a very few inches left over. Purchased at Webs.
Pattern: My own; 48 stitches in 2x2 rib for the leg with an afterthought heel to keep the stripes striping.
Gauge: 17 stitches = 2 inches
Needle: 1.5 (2.5mm) KnitPicks circular, knit using magic loop.
For: Big Nephew (a designation that strikes me as entertaining, as my "big" nephew, T, is three and weighs somewhere around thirty-three pounds. Compared to his unborn brother, G, due in April, though--he's definitely the big one.)
Verdict: I think he'll like them. He wants blue ones next. I like the silly orangey striping; he asked for orange socks last time; this was the best orange I could find.

Now that the doctors have said that the little nephew is far enough along that even if he comes early, he should be okay, I can cast on for a cabled baby blanket for him. So blue travel socks for T, and a yellow cabled blanket for little G (as per his mother's request) are next up!

In Swatch I Trust

2008-01-23T18:53:00.001-05:00

Three weeks ago, I swatched for the Ramona Sweater (Ravelry link) from Sensual Knits. I made a nice large swatch, even; then I measured it, washed it, dried it, and measured again.

The yarn I'm using--Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL (50% merino, 50% alpaca, purchased on closeout on a recent trip to Webs) bloomed like crazy when I washed it, and my first gauge swatch suggested I'd be knitting a tent, rather than the sexy sweater Jared had designed so--like a good little knitter--I knit another swatch on smaller needles.

Size 5 needles almost gave me the right gauge, and I was actually happier with the gauge I got, which would make the sweater slightly smaller (the size I knit would have given me 2 inches of positive ease; the photos in the book look like there's less ease that that); my gauge looked like I'd get about half an inch of positive ease--perfect.

The sweater is easy to knit; the pattern is very straightforward. The Classic AL was really nice to work with--soft and squishy. I spit spliced all the way through, so I'd have fewer ends to weave in. Last night I finished most of the seaming (I've left the sleeves unhemmed, in case I want to make them slightly longer):

(Excuse the crap-o self portrait in the mirror that still needs to be cleaned!) A little bit on the negative-ease side, there. Too much so. Which is where the trust comes in: the yarn bloomed in the swatch and I'm trusting that it will behave the same way in the sweater. This project's gone so well, though, that I'm a little nervous about the next trying on!

And now it's had a bath (four, actually, since there was some excess dye in the yarn) and is blocking to--hopefully--the planned-upon size. Not quite an FO, since I still have to hem the sleeves and snip some ends (they're mostly woven in, just not cut), but pretty darn close.

So keep your fingers crossed that the swatch didn't lie (or at least didn't lie too much)!

Mail call!

2008-01-17T14:11:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Carolyn at I Heart Yarn had a contest, asking commenters to post their New Year's Resolutions. My resolution was (and is!) to knit more from my stash. This isn't just about saving money (although that's not a bad side benefit), or finding more space (although my current yarn storage is full-to-overflowing). My desire to knit from my stash stems largely from the knowledge that I have some beautiful yarns in there, and projects in mind for them; I bought these yarns because I loved them, but I'm often enticed by the lure of something new. So my stash has been growing, and those beautiful yarns remain tucked away, unloved.

Carolyn was kind enough to know that this resolution was one that could be broken with the right temptation:

Two skeins of Shepard's Shades wool in a lovely greenish-brown, along with a ribbon that compliments it beautifully and a copy of Carolyn's Mackenzie bag pattern--so cute it may require a whole other breaking-of-the-no-new-stash-resolution since I'll need a cute outfit to go with it.

A is for . . .

2008-01-16T14:29:00.000-05:00

Academics

I've been in school for way too long--I'm in something like the 25th grade. And I work in academia, too, so when I'm not working on my own stuff, I'm working on someone else's.

A is also for

Almonds

almond paste, in particular--an excellent base for most desserts. Almond macaroons are one of my favorites, but I could not (alas!) find any at the store. Almond croissants are a reasonable substitution, though.

Merry (belated) Christmas

2008-01-10T11:13:00.001-05:00

I have finally finished the Christmas knitting, as well as a few other things. And I've started working on a new sweater for me--Ramona from Sensual Knits--which I'm very excited about and deserves its own post. It's been on hold for a couple of days; I've been using it as a carrot to finish up my brother's sweater. Now that I'm done with that, though, Ramona it is!

I've also started a new pair of nephew socks. After the success of the red-socks-that-come-up-to-his knees (one of the bind-offs is a little tight, but he won't let them out of his sight long enough to mail them to me so I can fix it--how cute is that?) The nephew has requested orange socks next. Orange is a surprisingly hard color to find--maybe it would be easier in October? Or in a city where team colors include orange, maybe. But I found some funky Regia silk yarn at Webs, and have made it down to the start of the foot on the first sock. I've knit in some scrap yarn to mark an afterthought heel, which will both keep the funky striping going nicely as well as make sure that the socks are as long as possible. I can always make the heels and toes a different color if I need to. Next time I'm going to try toe-up socks with an afterthought heel--the toe-up heel is what's really been giving me pause.

I knit about 2 inches of the ribbing during my first day of classes yesterday--I needed writing samples from everyone, making a portable project important.

Also done recently: basic socks in Claudia Handpainted, blue terra cotta color:

I was a little "meh" about this pair; the yarn is fine (although weirdly thick-and-thin in a few places, as if it weren't spun/plied/twisted tightly enough), but a little splitty and I had some trouble with dropped stitches. I think that I'm going to send them to my bff, who likes hand knit socks almost as much as the nephew. (I've also got some peppermint marshmallows for her--we've been big hot chocolate buddies since college--yum!)

And, most importantly, I've finished my not-so-little-brother's (who shall be, from now on, the NSLB) Christmas present:

It was too big to get the whole thing in. The details: a seamless hybrid sweater, based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentages formula, using Plymouth Encore in a heathery green with contrasting tan hems, knit on KnitPicks Harmony interchangables size 6. I bought what I thought was an extra skein of yarn but wound up unpicking my gage swatch so I could sew down the collar hem. 47" chest. Lessons learned: 1) NSLB sweaters take a lot more yarn than I would imagine, and 2) NSLB sweaters need to be started at least two months before they're due to be gifted. Also, count everything. Frequently. And then have someone else count for you, just to be sure.

I started using a Russian join on this one--the yarn is superwash, and has some acrylic in it, so spit-splicing didn't seem like a good option. I really liked doing this--way fewer ends to weave in at the end, which made finishing pretty easy. And I like this sweater recipe a lot--I don't think this will be the last one I make. I'll have to wait for a report on how it fits, though, for a final decision.

Knitting: My Year in Review

2007-12-31T13:56:00.000-05:00

Projects completed, based on my Raverly projects page (I may have forgotten a hat or so when putting them in:

2 colorwork hats (We call them pirates for Lo and Fish for Steve)
5 lace pieces (alpine lace for Lo, stripes and torchon lace for SIL; melon for Laura, large rectangle for me, test knit for Mama Llama)—4 of them from Victorian Lace Today.
Husband Sweater
6 pairs of socks, complete (red socks for me, STR socks for me, jitterbug for Lo, 2 pair for T, sockapalooza pal pair)
3 pairs started (waving lace, claudia’s handpainted, snicket)
1 secret unmentionable test-knit sock
Finished perfect sweater #2
Fetching, 1 pair for Aunt K
Brother sweater 60% done
Started Ramona from Sensual Knits

Things I’ve learned, or improved:

Colorwork
Provisional cast on
Magic loop (my favorite new technique)
Sock knitting (this is improved, rather than new)
Seamless hybrid/EPS
Russian and spit-splice joins (these are running neck-and-neck for second favorite—fewer ends to weave in!)

Projects for 2008:

Short term:

Finish brother sweater (Jan)
Lengthen husband sweater (Jan)
Lengthen perfect sweater #1 (Jan)
Ramona (Jan)

Longer term:

Husband sweater #2 (Feb/Mar)
Tangled yoke cardigan
Baby nephew blanket w/cables (Feb/Mar—he’s due in April, and while we’re worried he’ll come early, like his big brother, I don’t want him to not have a blanket. I’m aiming for done in mid-March, which will put him at 35 or 36 weeks)
Orange socks for T (done soon, but maybe given to him when his baby brother gets his blanket)
Honeybee stole or another large lace project, w/camel yarn

New skills I’d like to learn:

Cable w/o a needle

All-in-all, it’s been a great knitting year. This is the first year I’d call myself a Knitter, rather than someone who knits. I’m getting braver about trying things, and much braver about ripping them back out. I knit the collar on the husband sweater 3 times before I was happy with it, and had no trouble picking the stitches back up and fixing mistakes I’ve made. I’ve accumulated a lot more stash—I’ve probably doubled the amount of yarn I have—but most of the new yarn has a project associated with it; I have enough yarn for 3 sweaters, but plans for all of it. Some of the lace yarn isn’t really earmarked, but I’ve learned to buy enough for a good-sized shawl. I’ve tried a lot of new yarns, too, and discovered how nice it is to have a portable project for in my purse.

I’m not planning on buying any more yarn for a while—I find that when I buy more yarn
I tend to ignore the stuff I’ve already stashed in favor of the new. And I’m excited about the projects I have for the yarn I’ve already bought, so I’m aiming for finishing some of them before I make any more trips to Webs (which I must admit to having done on Friday, which is where the yarn for Ramona, Husband sweater #2, the nephew blanket, and several pairs of socks for T came from . . . ). I’m not ruling out new yarn, just trying to enjoy what I have.

I also want to be more realistic about deadline knitting; I should have started the sweater for my brother back in October when I bought the yarn. But I put it off until December and didn’t have time to finish it when I realized that I’d made a mistake.

In which the knitting gods kick my ass

2007-12-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

Only a few days ago, I was feeling quite optimistic about the state of my Christmas knitting.

The SIL shawl was done, the ends were woven in, and--with amazing ease, courtesy of my new blocking wires--it was pinned out to dry:

One major present: done and checked off the list. The only thing left was the wrapping.

The socks-that-come-up-to-his-knees socks for the nephew were well underway; the first one is completely done and clocks in at 9.25 inches, total. And we've got a car ride to NJ--a good four hours of knitting time--for finishing. His knees are about 10" about the ground, so they should be plenty long. I'm making the toes blue (he picked the yarn) so that when his feet grow, which they inevitably will, I can cut them out and make the feet a little longer without any hassle.

Second Christmas knitting project: well underway.

The green blob that was to be the Brother sweater was actually starting to look like a sweater. Both sleeves were attached, and I had knit about 5 inches of the decreases along the shoulders when I realized

(cue scary Jaws music indicating that makes you want to yell: don't go in the water!)

Something was wrong.

(music swells ominously)

I recounted the number of stitches on each sleeve. An EPS sweater is decreased 8 stitches every third round--two on each sleeve, and four on the body. I'd be blithely knitting along, counting the stitches on one of the sleeves, to make sure I was staying on track, but never bothering to check the other sleeve.

(music tempo increases)

I had 54 on one side.

And 64 on the other.

A two-inch difference.

(music stops, screaming begins)

I cannot, it seems, count to 82 with any reliability, even though I checked my counts on both sleeves repeatedly.

Christmas knitting project the third, and my brother's major present: disaster. There's no possible way I can rip back the five inches of the chest, remove the problem sleeve, rip it back six inches, finish the increases, reattach it, redo the chest decreases, finish the chest decreases, and knit the shoulder saddles in the 46 or so hours left until my brother opens his present.

Which, at this point, will be an empty box with a funny note in it. And a story that he'll be able to hold over my head for years to come, which may be more precious than a hand-knit sweater.

The knitting gods are definitely kicking my ass this year.

Christmas Knitting Countdown

2007-12-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

The SIL shawl: Almost done. 95% done. Less than half a border repeat left. So why is it languishing in the basket?

The nephew socks: Not even started. These weren't really planned as Christmas knitting, but it looks like it will be Christmas before he gets them. The yarn is darker red than the photo suggests.
I need to learn how to knit socks toe-up so I can make them as long as possible, which is why they're not started yet.

The Brother Sweater: the body (all 238 stitches of it) is up to the underarms--18 inches. He's tall, and G tells me the husband sweater would be even better with a couple of extra inches of length. I started the hem of the first sleeve last night.
Right now it looks like a big green blob.

The kicker? As I was taking the points off, and putting the end caps on, I pulled one of my size 6 tips out of the collar. Knitpicks is sending me a new set--they do have excellent customer service--but in the meantime? I'm going to try some fishing glue, and see if I can manage to keep going.

There's nothing like a little pressure to make the Christmas Knitting more enjoyable!

He likes them!

2007-12-05T19:40:00.000-05:00

He really, really likes them!

No picture, alas. But I finished the nephew socks and mailed them off on Saturday--the arrived in New Jersey yesterday.

My parents picked T up from daycare, and told him there was a package for him at home. To which he replied: "my socks!"

My spies tell me that he tore open the package, put them on, and slid merrily around the kitchen in them. And wore them to sleep in.

He's requested another pair, also in red, but "that come up to my knees." Knee socks for three-year-olds. A three-year-old who climbs into my lap and says "My Duzan" and snuggles. So knee socks it is.

I went out and bought the yarn this morning. Now I need to learn how to knit toe-up socks, so I can make them as long as possible. Maybe I'll start with a silly color for the toes, so they're really, really long.

December Goals

2007-12-02T10:36:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy month--too much time spent grading and not enough knitting or blogging. My last day of classes is this Tuesday; I've had several rounds of papers to grade this month. All of my classes are writing classes and on the last day I ask my students to give me a portfolio with all their work, along with a (new) reflective essay--which is nice, because it means most of the grading is done before the end of the semester, but it also means a lot of grading around Thanksgiving.

Teaching would be so much more fun if it weren't for all the grading. :)

I've also got a cold that won't go away--I lost my voice for a few days (much to the amusement of my nephew over Thanksgiving!) and now just have a persistent cough.

I have been doing some knitting, though--no sweater for November, but the pressure to finish my brother's Christmas present in time for Christmas will just add to the fun.

The goals round up:

November goals:

Finish the Stripes and Torchon scarf--or at least, finish up all the yarn I have and, if I run out, work on finding more. almost there--stay on target! I've got about a repeat of the border left; Somehow (even though I've followed the pattern!) the border has wound up not working out exactly, and--since there are 34 rows--it's a little harder to fudge and make it wind up looking even than I'd have imagined. But I should be done with it today or tomorrow, and then I'll cast on for
Start and finish the Brother sweater. Not even close. So not even close I haven't even finished the maths for it, although I swatched. Two months ago, so maybe I should swatch again?
Knit socks for T, who saw me knitting them and said he'd like a pair. Of course, he's three, so he may not remember, but I do. And he's got little feet, so they shouldn't take too long. Done, mailed, but not photographed. I was working on another pair of socks over Thanksgiving, and he asked me again about his socks; I showed him the yarn I had with me and he decided he liked the leftovers from my red Aracaunia Ranco socks and wanted red socks. He kept bringing me the yarn and asking about them--a totally adorable, if somewhat unrealistic, expectation of how long it would take to knit a pair of socks. The enthusiasm was nice, though! I didn't have enough yarn, even though I made the cuffs fairly short--he got red socks with blue toes.
Start a chevron scarf and see if the colors I have will work. I'm saving this as a treat, since I can't wait to use the yarn. Done, here, but not successfully. I"m rethinking the colors, and what to do with my lovely Posh yarn.
Learn a new technique. I'm not sure what--maybe cabling without a cable needle, since I'd also like to No new techniques, but I'm getting better with the magic loop.
Knit at least one pair of Fetching mitts. One down, one to go--does the thumb gusset count as a new technique?

Stash acquisitions: Blocking wires from Joann.com, which I would link to, but they don't seem to have them in stock right now. But with a 50% off coupon, they wound up being around $20 including shipping. I haven't used them yet--the Stripes and Torchon scarf will be my first project using them. I also bought some Claudia's handpainted in Blue Terra Cotta in a Ravelry Swap, along with the Sundara sock yarn.

Actual November knitting:

Most of the Stripes and Torchon scarf
Socks for the nephew
Red socks for me
Cast on for Waving lace socks from IK's Favorite Socks; they're too big, though, and I need to start over with a smaller needle size
Cast on for a pair of basic socks with the Claudia's handpainted

December Goals:

Finish Stripes and Torchon
Start and finish the Brother sweater--third time's a charm? And, damn it, if I don't, I have to come up with another present idea.
Finish the second Fetching mitt--they're a present for my aunt for Christmas

I'm limiting myself to those three. I'm sure that at least the basic socks will get a fair amount of knitting, as well--the more I knit, the more I like to have a mindless portable project that travels well.

Since the semester is almost over, and the bulk of my grading is already done, I think I can manage those three. If I get them done early, I may aim for a hat or two, and rethink the scarf for myself, as my new winter coat is a basic black wool coat that comes down to my knees, so a new colorful scarf to go with it would be great

2922 days ago

2007-11-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

I married my best friend! And I love him more now than I did then. I like him more, too.

I actually married him 2923 days ago, too. Once in his church, once in mine. (We thought about going the Vegas route, instead, but realized we'd wind up getting married there twice, too, since he wanted the Shaft wedding and I wanted the Elvis one. So we figured we'd at least make our families happy!)

8 years went by pretty darn fast!

At least I made the bed

2007-11-07T13:48:00.001-05:00

Although I should have cleaned the mirror, too:Ravelery beta t-shirt, "Where my stitches at?"*
A very sad attempt to photograph my Perfect Sweater, since it's actually cold enough to want to wear wool.

Sundara Sock yarn, Electric Pear, purchased via the Ravelry ISO board

Knitting: basic sock in Araucania Ranco Multi.

*this is a women's size XL American Apparel shirt. The shirts are supposed to have negative ease, but I don't really like negative ease in a t-shirt, so I ordered the XL (37.5" bust, I think?) for myself and my 36" bust. And although there's been much discussion of a the "lack" of proper grammar in the "where my stitches at?" catch-phrase, as a writing teacher and a self-proclaimed grammar fan, I rather like it. I think it does a great job of conveying tone and attitude, which is more important than rigid adherence to silly and somewhat-archaic grammar rules. I think I've got to go with Winston Churchill on dangling participles.

It's like a bad 70's flashback . . .

2007-11-03T11:25:00.001-05:00

These two yarns, so lovely by themselves,

Combine into this:
A little too much of a seventies feather-and-fan flashback, which is a shame since the fabric feels lovely.

To the frog pond with it, then. Maybe just the greenish one by itself with the same pattern?

November Goals

2007-11-01T16:25:00.000-05:00

This posting of goals and accomplishments worked pretty well for me last month, so here goes take two: The November edition

First, to sum up October:

Finished the Melon Scarf. Verdict: A. I gave the scarf to a friend from work, and she was (or at least acted!) thrilled. She's even worn it to a dinner party, so I think it's a success. I'm very happy with the way it came out, and I love the yarn (Alpaca Silk from Webs, hand-dyed)--I'd definitely use it again.
Finished the Socks-that-Rock socks. Verdict: A+. I really like these socks--they're the best fitting socks I've ever made, and I like the yarn. I've worn them four or five times, and so far they're holding up well.
Started, knit, and finished the Jitterbug socks. Verdict: A. I used these socks to practice how to do magic loop, and I love love love magic loop. I couldn't stop knitting them--it only took me ten days, start to finish, for both socks. I made the socks a little bit too long, so I mailed them off to my friend L, who is my favorite person to knit for. She's also one of my favorite persons, period, and that has nothing to do with the stash accumulation she helped me with.
Started a new pair of socks using this yarn:

Araucania fingering sock wool (75% wool/25% something else), sent to me by L's mom. L's mom knits, but is gasp! allergic to wool. The break-out-in-hives kind of allergic, and evidently no amount of washing or merino-ing help. She can't even where angora, which is supersoft. So it seems to be all animal fibers. But L's mom is moving, and as she's packing, she's getting rid of things (like wool sock yarn) that she knows she won't use. So I've started another portable pair of socks:

The color is much better in the skein picture. I wasn't sure I would like the red-purple combo, but it's knitting up quite nicely.

5. Worked on the SIL Christmas shawl:
and made some real progress. Real enough that I have 26 out of 40 border repeats finished. Which, of course, has made me realize that even though I have way more yarn than the pattern calls for, as I round the last corning, I'm going to be cutting it very, very close. So close I might need to beg, borrow, or steal another, oh, 2 grams of Malabrigo laceweight in blue surf. *sigh* I can't decide if I should rush through the shawl, and see, or go slowly, and put off the inevitable. Given the fact that I've already got a huge line of demarcation in it, I'm not so worried about dye lots. Especially since the line of demarcation came when I switched from one part of the first skein to the next (there was a knot, and I made two balls out of the first skein).

6. Stash enhancement, never blogged: Two skeins of Posh sock yarn, a birthday present
from L. (this isn't why she's among my favorite persons. But it is a good reminder of it!) The yellow/green one is called Primrose, and it's a merino/cashmere/silk blend; the
other is organic merino and is called Harvest. I'm going to try a chevron scarf with them, although the primrose color has more blues in it than I thought it would. I'll see how they
look. For the moment, I've been happy just petting them.

7. Stash enhancement, continued: A Namaste executive bag. I got it about two weeks ago,
and while I love the bag itself, the corners are starting to wear in a way that makes me
sad--I've only had it for two weeks, and haven't been using it that hard. It's my new
everyday bag, but I'm being careful to not overload it. Still, it's a nice bag. If the wear gets
any worse, I'll contact their customer service department and see what they say.

Other stuff, not blogged or photographed: I did get a few more needles from Knit Picks, along with two skeins of Bare in fingering weight. I was thinking a BSJ for my new nephew, but we'll see how it dyes up.

I've made no progress on the Brother sweater--I've decided to call that intentional and say that I'm participating in National Knit a Sweater Month, and see if I get it done this month.

I didn't learn socks on two circs (or, rather, I learned it, but I'm not practicing it), but as I can do magic loop now, I'm perfectly happy with that.

November goals:

Finish the Stripes and Torchon scarf--or at least, finish up all the yarn I have and, if I run out, work on finding more.
Start and finish the Brother sweater.
Knit socks for T, who saw me knitting them and said he'd like a pair. Of course, he's three, so he may not remember, but I do. And he's got little feet, so they shouldn't take too long.
Start a chevron scarf and see if the colors I have will work. I'm saving this as a treat, since I can't wait to use the yarn.
Learn a new technique. I'm not sure what--maybe cabling without a cable needle, since I'd also like to
Knit at least one pair of Fetching mitts.

As for stash, I don't need anything. I might see about some longer circ in sizes 0 & 1, for magic looping socks, but other than that (and maybe some sock yarn . . . ), I'm good. I need to focus funds on Christmas presents, instead!

And I've now been working on this post for almost an hour--wow! I'm going to try and be better about posting, too--not one a day, but more than once a week. shorter ones, maybe!

Skein to Socks

2007-10-29T13:10:00.000-05:00

Basic socks; 64 stitches on size 2.5mm needles, magic looped. Slipped-stitch heel flap.
Collinette Jitterbug sock yarn in Monet.

These took 10 days from skein to sock--I love magic loop!

They're a little long on me, and I was too lazy to rip them back and make them shorter, so I'm sending them to my darling L.

Fits and Starts

2007-10-25T09:33:00.000-05:00

Fits and starts. That seems to sum up my whole life, lately, including blogging.

Work-wise, I'm in grading jail. I should be grading right now--I'm already behind on where I want to be--but can't motivate myself to read papers.

Students are fighting me on their new paper topics--it needs to be directed at a specific, focused audience with whom the students have credibility; they keep wanting to write to Port Authority or iTunes instead of student groups or companies they've worked for. I don't understand their resistance to listen to my suggestions, since my pushing them to focus is in their best interest. You'd think that upperclassmen, at least, would have learned that if the person grading the paper suggests they tweak their topic a bit, they'd listen. But instead, they're fighting me on it. I'm tempted to give in, let them write what they want, and then suffer the consequences when grades roll around.

On the bright side, I'm teaching a course I really want to teach this summer; I'm having a ball requesting exam copies of texts so I can decide which ones to use. I want to spend all my time on that syllabus, which I won't need until July, instead of grading the papers I need to turn back tomorrow.

School-wise, I sent my committee what is (I hope) my penultimate draft, but it's taken almost 7 weeks of me emailing, asking if we could set up a time to get anything like a concrete response. My adviser said they needed about a month to read through, since they have other commitments. So now I've emailed back with a "how about this date" suggestion; I suspect it will take a month of emails asking them to confirm before my adviser gets back to me about it. Which means we'll need another date, and that puts us up to Christmas and winter break, so I'm afraid we're looking at January to talk about a draft I sent in August. I hate it that I continually have to bug for responses--it makes for a weird power dynamic.

Home-wise, G is crazy, crazy busy--he's teaching an overload, and taking a Polish class, and trying to carve out some time to work on his own stuff. His days are longer than mine--he's in class until 8:00 tonight. I might spend all day grading and prepping, but at least I'm home today, and can distract myself with other stuff. He's so busy he missed an important lunch the other day, with a visiting scholar. I've set up google calendars for both of us; maybe daily email reminders will help. I feel like I never see him anymore, and he's so stressed that I don't want to add to it.

The apartment is a mess; most of it is G's stuff (fishing lures and reels and articles for papers, classes he's teaching, the dissertation) and he's not home enough to get organized. Or when he's home, he's frantically trying to finish prepping for a class. I can't organize for him, because then he can't find anything. I'm trying to get him to take a few minutes every day to at least organize his office enough to make it usable; currently it's not and he's slowly taking over mine as well. I'm thinking about leaving yarn everywhere to discourage this practice.

Knitting-wise, I'm done with 22 out of 40 repeats on the Stripes and Torchon Shawl for my SIL. It's going to be huge when it's done; I don't know if I should block it or not. If I do block it, I'll probably spritz it with water and pin it out, rather than soaking it. But I've slowed down on that, in part because I'm afraid I might run short of yarn on the edging. I weighed what I have left, and tried to guesstimate how many grams I'm using per repeat, but I didn't weigh how much I had before I started the border (or even before I joined this current ball of yarn), so I can only guess. And that guess looks to be a couple of grams short. I should just power through the edging, get to the end and know for certain--that way I can decide how to deal with it, and if I need more yarn have a shot at getting it before Christmas.

G's worn his seamless hybrid sweater a couple of times; he really likes it. So much that he wants one in a sort of rust color (we'll see how long it takes to find a color that matches his description--it took a long time for him to find a green he liked). I'm not even going to look for yarn until at least January, though.

I swatched for the Brat's sweater, and even washed the swatch. But that was weeks ago, and I probably should re-swatch before starting anything. I may not cast on this month; maybe I'll call it a plan, since November is National Knit a Sweater Month.

I have been knitting socks, though. I learned how to do a Magic Loop and love it. I learned to knit holding a long straight needle under my right arm, which makes for lovely even tension, but isn't at all useful when learning how to use circular or double-pointed needles. DPN, in particular, have always felt extremely awkward, and I sometimes get laddering where I change needles. With Magic Loop, no ladders. And no DPN to lose, making portable sock knitting more appealing. I finished a plain sock using the Jitterbug I bought at Knit Purl and I'm working on the second sock. (The Snicket sock, though--definitely SSS. It's odd how the thought of knitting another basic stockinette sock sounds just dandy, but following an actual pattern again brings out a strong desire to start something else.)

Stash-wise, I'm going strong. I bought the Namaste Executive bag from Webs; I was going to get it in rust, but they were sold out and it was on back order. So I asked them to send a black one, instead. So far, I really like it, although my tendency to overload my bags could be a problem--the bag is quite large. The inside is black, too, making it a little hard to see, and it doesn't have enough interior pockets for pens, etc, so I bought a couple of bright travel toiletries bags ($0.99 at Target) to keep odds and ends in.

I've also bought another skien of Socks that Rock, lightweight, in Carbon Dating (which seems to be a retired color; I can't find a picture to link to)--it should be here soon--and a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace, in Wild Cherry--also should arrive within a few days. I bought both of them off of Ravelry, which is an evil, evil, enabling place that I cannot resist. Someone posted a link to JoAnn's last night--they have Namaste bags and a 50% off any one item coupon. The bags aren't label Namaste, but if you zoom in you can see the logo. I'm tempted to buy a messenger bag, as well. G (who is also an evil, evil enabler) suggested that I buy it, then I can say I got two bags that were 25% off each.

So fits and starts. I have a ton of things I should be doing--grading, first and foremost; laundry, dishes, reading, lesson prep, figuring out dinner--but I'm online instead. And no pictures in this post, since the light is bad--very overcast--and I can't muster up the enthusiasm to take a picture of the-border-that-will-not-end, or of one finished sock.

Knit Purl

2007-10-04T13:42:00.001-05:00

I took a drive today, out to Sudbury MA, to visit Knit Purl (730 Boston Post Rd--no website yet!). It's a very nice store--well lit, and the owner was friendly. She let me wander around on my own but was chatty about the yarn I bought, and offered to order something I inquired about but that they were out of. There's a table for sitting and knitting, and while I was there there were four women working on projects and chatting about politics. All-in-all, a welcoming store.

I bought some sock yarn:
Colinette Jitter Bug in Monet--nice and squishy, although a little short on yardage (about 318). I don't think that will be much of an issue--I had some leftovers from my STR socks; I'll weight it eventually and figure out how much yarn each sock took.

I also finished the Melon scarf, and it's blocking:

Unblocked it was about 52" x 18"; blocked it's about 70" x 24", and I didn't stretch it very hard.
My Socks that Rock socks are done, as well:
Which puts me well on my way to accomplishing my October goals!

October goals

2007-10-01T11:31:00.000-05:00

I've seen several bloggers (alas, I can't recall exactly who or where, at the moment) do a monthly project goals listing--I think that, with Christmas knitting looming, that I'm going to try and do the same. I like making lists. :)

So, to sum up September:

Finished the Husband Sweater . Verdict: Fabulous! A great sweater that looks good on the DH, was fun to knit, and didn't take that long. I liked it so much I'm starting another one.
Finished the Test Knit for Mama Llama. Verdict: I'm pretty happy with this one. The yarn was lovely, and pattern was easy enough to do but interesting enough to not get bored.
Finished one Snicket sock, started and then frogged the second. Verdict: Meh. My cables are wonky and they take too much time and concentration to be good portable knitting. The finished product looks pretty good, though, and it was my first short-row heel. I'll finish the second sock eventually.
Added most of the border to the Melon Scarf . Verdict: So far, so good--I've got about two repeats of the border, grafting, blocking, and end-weaving left. This should be done soon. I love the yarn I'm using for it, and would definitely get more of it.
Cast on for a pair of portable socks--one down and I'm on the heel-flap for the second. Verdict: This is my first pair of basic, no-frills socks, and I love them. I'm also loving the STR yarn. This is probably the best pair of socks I've knit.
Knit a swatch for the Brother Sweater and even ran it through the washer/dryer. Verdict: So far, so good--the yarn is easy to take care of, which is important, and I like the color. Now I just have to measure and do some math. If it comes out well, I may make a matching one for the nephew.

Stash accumulation:

4 skeins of Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Apple Green (for a baby sweater, most likely)
8 skeins of Plymouth Encore--7 in heathered green, 1 in heathered brown (for the Brother Sweater)
1 set of Knit Picks Harmony Options Interchangables, which I'm loving.

October Goals:

Finish the melon scarf. This shouldn't be too hard, as I've only got about 16 rows of knitting left before I'm done with the border.
Make a good start on the Brother Sweater. This also shouldn't be too hard, as I loved knitting my first seamless hybrid, and I can't wait to use my Harmony needles.
Work on the Stripes and Torchon Scarf for my SIL's Christmas present. This will be more of a challenge, as each border repeat has taken me almost an hour, and I've got about a zillion repeats left to go.*
Finish the portable socks. This should be pretty easy, as well--it's good mindless knitting.
Learn how to knit socks on two circular needles. If I can find the time, and get the needles I need.
Cast on for the second Snicket sock. More of a challenge, but not as hard as the S&T scarf!

As for stash, on the one hand, I don't really need anything. On the other, I have birthday money burning a hole in my pocket! I may place a small order to Knit Picks, and get a set of size 1 fixed circulars, since I want to learn how to knit socks on two circs. I'd also like a needle sizer from them to keep with my Harmony set. I've also been coveting a Namaste Executive bag and I really could use a new purse . . .

*This might be a slight exaggeration. It's more in the neighborhood of several dozen repeats.

Weekend round up!

2007-10-01T11:23:00.000-05:00

Saturday:

Lunch at the Gloucester House (chowdah and lobstah)

and a walk on Crane Beach:

And a stop at Russell Orchards:

Followed by birthday cake for dinner!

Finished!

2007-09-24T16:10:00.000-05:00

A few details:The collar, because I spent much time looking for and at collar close-ups before knitting this one three times:

And the whole shebang:

Once we're out of the 90 degree forecast, I'll try and take some action shots, if I can get the DH to stand still for long enough.

I spent the weekend in NJ at my parent's house--I went down solo, as DH had too much to do. And besides, that way I could laze around and not feel guilty. :) My aunt's in the hospital, so the main purpose was to go down and visit her. I also got to go to Champions of the Grill at the Sussex County Fair Grounds, right down the street from my folks, and a pig roast. Other weekend highlights included a flea market, where my dad scored 2400 baseball cards for $3--I have fond memories of opening and organizing baseball cards with my dad. It's even more fun with a vodka tonic in hand! I also got to play with the nephew, who was (as always) a charmer, and to hang out with my brother and SIL for a bit.

I got some knitting done, too--a small hat (unphotographed) for a woman my mom knows--done in less than 3 hours--and I've turned the heel and finished the gussets on the SIP (sock-in-progress). No photos of that, either, but since that's still in my possession, there will be some eventually. ETA: The hat was for a baby--a week old--which is why the hat was small. I made an umbilical cord hat from the first Stitch 'n Bitch book.) And knittable in less than 3 hours. (I just re-read this through bloglines and realized that "a small hat" was fairly unclear and lacking in detail.)

All-in-all, a pretty good weekend. I could have done without the 5-hours-each-way drive, though!

Almost There! (Stay on Target!)

2007-09-19T12:57:00.000-05:00

The husband sweater has been reknit from the first saddle, the back has been grafted, and all that's left is picking up the stitches on the back and knitting the collar! I'm thrilled with the way it's turning out--and, evidently, so the husband, who looked at it this morning and asked if he could wear it today. Given the pointy ends sticking out, I thought it was better he didn't, but I think it bodes well for the future use this sweater will get.

Elizabeth Zimmerman is a genius--this pattern is fantastic. I can't wait to finish the collar and see what it looks like on--I should be done just in time for the 80 degree weather we're expecting this weekend. Perfect wool-sweater weather, naturally.

The Snicket socks are in a time-out; I knit the cuff of the second sock and then realized that the pattern is purl 2, knit one through back leg and not purl 1, knit two through the back legs. So I frogged them completely and cast on for a new sock. Using new yarn.

I'm using the Harlot's basic sock recipe, from Knitting Rules!, in Socks that Rock lightweight (color: Nodding Violet). I cast on 64 stitches on size 1 needles--so far so good! The yarn is nice and squishy--this is my first time using STR, and I'm starting to see what all the fuss is about.

I'm not terribly fond of DPNs, although I am fond of handknit socks. So I've decided that if I'm going to all the trouble of knitting on the, I should only use great yarn (or a great pattern). STR definitely qualifies. Also--their color names? Awesome.

How I learned to stop worrying and love the spit splice

2007-09-16T08:37:00.000-05:00

I finished the husband sweater last night. Well, all except for sewing the collar hem down, and weaving in a few ends.

And then I made him try it on.

And then I realized it was a boatneck sweater. Good for the French Navy, perhaps, but not really the most flattering look with saddle shoulders.

So I ripped it back to the first saddle, and am now adding more rows to that.

That's the bad news.

The good news:

I'm reknitting using these.

The new Knitpicks Harmony Options set. Yum! They arrived yesterday morning, and I immediately started playing. The colors are beautiful--more subdued than they look on the Knitpicks site--and the joins are smooth. The needles are, too--a little bit of grab, which will be nice for lace, but no problems at all with the joins. This is my first set of interchangeable needles--the first set that I thought had everything I wanted in an interchangeable needle. I mainly knit flat, but I'm slowly starting to see the light on knitting in the round. (I'm a bit late to this party, I know!)

So I'm joining the growing chorus of thumbs up for the Harmony Options. My only complaints (and they're very small) echo the ones that Amy Singer mentioned in her review on Knitty (scroll down about a third of the way for the review): the sizes aren't on the tips, so I'll probably get another needle-sizer to keep in the Options bag. The sizes aren't on the bag, either, so I may keep them on the card until I figure out a way to put the sizes on the bag.

I would have also liked it if the length was on the cards that came in the bags with the cables--I know I'll wind up taking them all out, but it would be nice if initially I could have seen that I had all the sizes I'd ordered. (I order the 40", 47", and 60" cables to go with the ones included in the set.)

One thing that I particularly loved: When I ripped the sweater back, I picked up the stitches using a size 4 tip, to make it easier to grab the live stitches. Once they were on the cable, I switched back to the size (7) I'm using for the sweater, and voila! I was good to go.

I know this last is a feature of all interchangeable needles, and not specific to the Harmony Options, but it's a new one for me, and I really really like it.

I think that--now that I'm properly outfitted!--there will be at least one more seamless hybrid on the needles soon; maybe a Christmas sweater for my brother. And I've got the Tangled Yoke sweater from the Fall 07 IK in my queue, and the yarn I need for it in the stash. I've even got some great buttons for it!

A few balls of Knit Picks Shine also came home with me, but I haven't taken a picture yet. Apple Green, and destined to be a baby sweater.

It's not easy being green

2007-09-16T08:36:00.000-05:00

Kristi at Fiber Fool is doing a very cool series on how color works. She's also doing some research on colors:

1. What is your current favorite color?

Green. No, wait, Blue. No, wait. Dark Red.

2. Had your favorite color changed over the years?

Yes. In fact, sometimes it changes day-to-day. Or even minute-to-minute. When I was younger, I loved yellow--bright and sunny. Now, I tend to favor richer jewel tones.

3. Is your current favorite color one that is currently trendy? (Do you see it in the fashion rags or on the clothes rack or in the linen aisle right now? How about 5 years ago?)

According to Fashion Trendsetter, I won't be trendy for Fall 2007. Next summer looks a little better, though.

4. What is your favorite color combination?

That depends on what I'm doing, I suppose. I've got a necklace that has blue topaz and peridot in it; lately that's been my favorite.

5. Is that combination a popular one? (Is it use in prints you see in the stores and catalogs and magazines now? How about 5 years ago?)

Somewhat. I think it's a little more retro than trendy.

6. What is your favorite way of using color in your knitting? (Are you a stranded knitter? Do you prefer simple stripes? Do you prefer just accents at the hems/collars?)

I don't use a lot of color changes--mainly just for accents. Lately for the insides of hems and collars.

7. What colors look good on you?

Most shades of green, dark reds, most shades of blue.

8. What colors look bad on you?

Yellows and oranges--they make me look pale and sickly. Most pastels aren't so great, either.

9. Do you wear colors that don’t look good on you just because you like them?

Not as a main color, but maybe as an accent.

10. What is your favorite neutral color? black/white/ivory/tan/brown/gray – if brown or gray do you prefer cool or warm versions of those or does it matter? And, how dark?

Warm shades of brown, not too dark.

11. Is there a sweater pattern that uses more than one color that you’d like to make, but you wish to change the colors from what is published? If yes, which one? What do you not like about the published colors?

Most of the sweaters I like, and the ones I'm planning on knitting, are one color (or have contrasting hems but no other color change). I've done some color work--hats, mainly--and I'm not against knitting a sweater with multiple color changes (although I like stranded better than intarsia), I haven't really seen any that jump out and shout "knit me!" I do like Eunny Jang's Venezia pullover, but I'm not sure I like it enough to invest the time. And I would change the colors, probably so that it had more green and less yellow in the middle, and maybe a richer brown for the collar.

Procrastinating . . .

2007-09-13T16:58:00.001-05:00

with online quizzes. I'm a sucker for online quizzes. And this one's about books!

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

WIP Wednesday

2007-09-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

First WIP: the husband sweater. We're coming up on our 8th anniversary in November, so I figure I'm safe from the sweater curse. :) He just tried it on and the fit is fine. Aside from the fact that the underarms and saddle need to be grafted, and it needs a collar, it's a sweater!

This was my first EZ pattern (and my first man sweater), a seamless hybrid inspired by the wonderfulness that is BrooklynTweed. Some time ago, he knit a seamless hybrid, and I've been drooling over it ever since.

The construction is amazing--I had a lot of trouble visualizing it (but got excellent advice and encouragement from some Ravelers--thanks!) until I actually started, when it made so much sense I couldn't believe I didn't understand it earlier. This will not be my last EZ pattern--or my last seamless hybrid!

I'm also making progress on my melon scarf--I finally started the border. I didn't have enough yarn for the border the pattern calls for, so I've substituted the narrow point border on p. 183 (a la Grumperina)
A close-up:
I really like this yarn--Valley Yarns Alpaca/Silk hand-dyed in Camilla. (I prefer to think of it as Watermelon, however, as this is a melon scarf.) The color repeats are short, so I haven't had any pooling at all--just wonderful color mixes. And the yarn feels lovely--soft, but strong enough to handle sharp tips and manipulations.

The narrow point border is moving along pretty quickly--I've rounded two corners and am about a quarter of the way down the second long side. A few more nights of knitting and it should be done.

I've also finished the test knit I was doing for Mama Llama, and mailed it off.

I haven't made any more progress on my Stripes and Torchon lace scarf, though--it's having a time out. The border is fairly complicated, and lately I've wanted knitting that didn't make me think quite so hard. Stockinette and lace with 8-row repeats is more my speed, lately.

And soon--hopefully!--I'll have another couple of checks in the FO column, so I can cast on for something new! I'm thinking about Madli's Shawl (this is a Ravelry link), from IK--I've liked the pattern for a while, but haven't been able to find a copy of it. But I purchased the issue from someone on Ravelry who was destashing, so now it's mine, all mine! I've also purchased Anne Hanson's Honeybee stole pattern, so that's high on the list of possibilities. Or maybe another seamless hybrid. Or a pair of Fetching mitts. Or . . .

I have too many things I want to cast on for now. And lessons to prep for my class, alas, that will put them on hold for at least a little while.

In my fit of "I must have it now," I also caved to the pretty colors of the new Knitpicks Harmony Options set. I'm stalking my account to see when they ship--I don't have any interchangable needles, so really, I needed them. At least, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. :)

WIP-ing along

2007-09-05T13:52:00.000-05:00

Test knitting, turning this:Mama Llama silk/cashmere laceweight

Into this:
The pattern is fairly simple, but does a nice job of showing off the colors and the yarn, which has a lover-ly drape. It's a little darker than I've managed to capture in the photos--more bronze-y. Tres sophistoque!

I think I've got about three more repeats to go. It's about 7 inches wide by 60 inches long at the moment, pinned out. So it will be a nice length when it's all done.

100 Things About Me

2007-08-27T18:24:00.000-05:00

I knew I would marry my DH within weeks of meeting him.
It took him a little longer, but not too much.
My mom knew it was for real when I went fishing with him on January first.
Even with neoprene waders, I was cold. But I was also in love.
We dated for almost seven months before we got engaged.
He proposed to me on a fishing trip in NYC harbor.
Fish & fishing are constant themes in our lives.
At least, I thought it was a fishing trip--for stripers. I was dressed in pretty crappy clothing. But instead of tackle in the box, there was a ring. And instead of bait in the cooler, champagne.
Both sets of parents knew and helped him plan the proposal.
I was totally floored—he’d convinced me he wasn’t going to ask for another couple of weeks.
The engagement also lasted about seven months.
We got married twice—once on Friday and once on Saturday—in two churches (his parents and mine) to make both sets of the family happy.
In between weddings we had a rehearsal and a rehearsal dinner for almost 80 people. And we went to Wendy's before the rehearsal, dressed in our wedding regalia.
I had two dresses. And two bouquets. Only the one groom, though. J
I like to tease that he’s my second husband.
We got married during the school year.
I did cancel my Friday classes that week.
Our honeymoon was postponed until Thanksgiving because we both had to go back to school on Monday.
We went to Longwood Gardens for our honeymoon. It’s one of my favorite places to go, and their Christmas display is fantastic.
My DH’s first language is Russian, although he was born in NJ.
I have learned enough Russian to have conversations with four-year-olds.
My accent is good enough to make grown-ups think I’m being modest when I say (in Russian) that I can’t speak much Russian. I’m not, but they keep speaking at me anyway.
I speak French reasonably well, and lived there for eight months after I graduated from college.
I speak no Spanish, but managed to pass a language test in it anyway.
I feel this proves that I know how to use a dictionary really, really well. And really, really quickly.
I grew up in rural NJ. (And no, that’s not an oxymoron!)
I have one sibling, a brother. He’s four years younger than me, but six inches taller. I still refer to him as my little brother.
I also call him “Brat.” To which he actually answers.
The Russian word for brother is “brat,” which cracks me up.
He’s one of my best friends.
My nephew was born prematurely, at 29 weeks. That was seriously scary.
It was also when I started knitting more—he was in the NICU and needed hats made by his aunt.
That was more than three years ago, in 2004. He’s doing great now. I totally adore him and the way he calls me “Duzan” ‘cause he can’t get the “s” sound quite right.
I love chocolate. Dark chocolate, in particular.
Once, when we had a layover in Switzerland, I made my husband go to a café for what the guide books called “the best hot chocolate in the world.” It was good.
I think the hot chocolate from L.A. Burdicks is better.
I think the hot chocolate from Jacque Torres is better still.
I’ve always been an avid reader. When I was little, my mom would tell me to put the book down and go outside. I’d take the book with me and climb up into a tree to read.
I read very quickly—the last Harry Potter novel took about seven hours, start to finish.
When I was in junior high, my favorite book was Gone with the Wind. I’ve read it at least a dozen times.
My favorite poet is Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I fell for him when I was 14 and haven’t looked back since.
That’s probably why I’m working on a dissertation on Victorian poetry.
My dissertation is on women poets, though, and the way they use dramatic monologues. Tennyson only makes a brief cameo.
I love reading bad novels. I can’t stand bad writing, but I love cheesy romances and crazy mystery / thrillers.
I'm a bit of a grammar freak. I think sentences are fun. And that you can do cool things with hyphens. And semicolons. I'm very fond of semicolons.
I reread all of Jane Austen most years, just ‘cause. I reading about that period. Some of the more modern authors I like in that same vein are Georgette Heyer and Lauren Willig.
I also like audiobooks. They’re good for knitting, and I don’t feel guilty about “reading” popular fiction that’s unrelated to my job or dissertation. I've listened to all of Jasper Fforde's novels on audiobook.
I teach writing at a local university.
This is the start of my tenth year teaching at a college. I still get comments about looking too young, though.
I helped develop a new version of our business writing course last year. It’s been pretty successful.
I swam in high school and in college. Breast stroke, mainly.
I still hold the record at my high school in the 100 yard breast stroke.
I didn’t study abroad in college because I didn’t want to miss a semester of swimming.
I was co-captain my senior year, when I also blew my shoulder out and had to have surgery.
All-in-all, it’s not a great way to spend your last college spring break.
I loved college, though.
I went to a very small liberal arts school, in a lovely setting.
My best friend was also my roommate for three years in college.
She’s my favorite person to knit for. Even though she doesn’t knit herself, she appreciates handknits and actually wears them.
One of my favorite projects to date is a hat with fish on it. I made it for my husband’s best friend, because he asked (after seeing a “We call them pirates” hat) if I could.
He wears it a lot, but I still don’t have a picture.
My mother taught me how to knit. She knits mainly baby blankets and buntings, even when she doesn’t know anyone who’s pregnant. She figures that they’ll come in use, eventually.
My friends started having kids, and that’s why I bugged my mom to teach me to knit.
My SIL felted the blanket I made for my nephew. I still love her.
I even still knit for her. Machine wash and dryable only, though. (That was the problem with the blanket: machine wash, lay flat to dry.) Although for Christmas I'm making her a shawl. In Malabrigo laceweight. But she shouldn't need to wash it (and I may insist she give it back to me to wash!)
After college, I spend a year living in France. I taught English in a local high school.
“Taught” is a bit on an exaggeration. Really what I did was run conversation classes. And teach them how to play baseball.
I’ve traveled to France, Holland, Italy, and England by myself.
I’ve traveled to England, Ireland, Poland, Belarus, Russia (twice), Mongolia, China, Canada, Bermuda, and Barbados with my husband.
I’d recommend all of them except for Belarus. Pretty country, nice people, archaic rules about who can go where and when.
We had to drive 200 miles north to cross the border of Belarus in order to drive 200 miles south to visit the place we wanted to go, which was less the 6 miles from where we’d started.
We had to reverse the process on the way home.
We also had to pay a tax on the picnic lunch we brought in with us.
We've been married for almost 8 years (since November 1999). We’ve moved our stuff seven times and lived in five different apartments. We also had everything in storage for two summers while we were in Russia.
I hate moving.
Especially in August, which is mainly when we move, since we’re both academics.
My husband has three masters’ degrees. I only have one.
He’s working on a dissertation, too. His is in Eastern Europoean politics. We’re trying to cover an entire wall with framed degrees.
We met when he was working as the director of graduate admissions at my graduate school. He didn’t admit me, though.
He’s taught me how to fish.
I will even take the fish off the hook. Not all fish (some have scarier teeth than others), but I’m working on it.
I’ll put worms on, too, but only for my nephew.
I’d like to go tuna fishing one day. And salmon fishing in Alaska.
I don’t drink coffee. I never have. I don’t like the taste of it.
I don’t even like the taste of coffee ice cream.
I do like tea, though, and drink several cups a day.
Even when it’s hot outside.
Although then I generally switch to iced tea after my first cup.
My favorite type of alcohol is champagne.
My favorite champagne (technically, sparkling wine) is Domaine Carnaros, which is Taittinger’s American venture.
We went to San Francesco, Napa Valley, and Sonoma Valley on a trip shortly after we got engaged, and visited the vineyard. I think that’s partly why I like it so much.
All of our wineglasses are from vineyards we’ve visited. And all of our drinking glasses are pints from brew pubs.
We’ve gone bobsledding in Lake Placid.
We like to drive up to Maine for lobster.
Our traditional New Year’s Eve involves bad movies, Trader Joe’s hors d’oeuvres, and Domaine Carnaros.
I love B-movies involving oversized animals, particularly those involving water. (A totally different invocation of Lake Placid!)
I love flowers and plants, but have not had much success with growing things. I’ve managed to kill both mint and bamboo.
I’ve also had an orchid that’s been flowering continuously for the last year. I’ve put it down to Divine intervention.
My father is a wonderful gardener. He rescued my Christmas cactus last year after I thought I’d killed it.
I like both of my parents a great deal, and wish we lived closer and could hang out more. I wish my brother and his family were closer, too, but that's all about the nephew.

As if there weren't already enough WIPs around here . . .

2007-08-27T16:02:00.001-05:00

I just got this in the mail! Yummy silk/cashmere from Mama Llama (a name that makes me smile every time I say it out loud. Try it: I bet you can't say "mama llama mama llama mama llama" with a straight face!

I'm test knitting a lace scarf pattern; Catherine says it's bloggable (blogable?) and, since it's about to become my primary project, that's a good thing!

Proof that there has been knitting

2007-08-27T09:37:00.000-05:00

Even though there hasn't been any blogging:

Exhibit 1:

One finished Snicket Sock. I ran out of yarn on the toe, so I used some leftover blue. I've started the second one, but I've only got about 10 rows done, so it's not very interesting to look at.

Exhibit 2:

Progress has been made on the Stripes & Torchon lace shawl. The border is a 34 row, 20-30 stitch repeat, filled with double yo's and slip one, knit 2tog, psso's, which is making it hard to memorize. Also making it hard to memorize is the fact that I work a repeat and then put it down for four days, 'cause I'd rather be working on something else. I'm not lovin' the lace at the moment--I want nice, easy knitting. I'm done with 8 border repeats so far. I'm a little afraid to count how many are left!

The change in color is strange, since it's from the same skein of Malabrigo laceweight. There was a knot in the skein, so when I was making balls out of the yarn, I started a new ball when I found the knot. I couldn't believe how different the colors are! But I've decided that such is the way of handknits, and that I'm not going to worry about it.

Exibit 3:

Not actual knitting, but proof of another trip to Webs. Last weekend my DH told me to pick a destination, so I picked Quabbin Reservoir. Which was absolutely gorgeous; I think another trip out when the leaves are turning is in order.

And since we were so close to Northampton, we made a short stop at Webs, where I got some sock yarn in appropriately manly colors for husband socks, yarn for a sweater for him (pictured below), and the 25th Anniversary edition of Vogue Knitting. I don't normally get VK--I like the patterns in IK better--but I bought it for the articles, I swear. :)

Exhibit 4:

Cascade 220 in a loverly heathery green, called lichen, and approved of by DH before purchase. When we started talking about a sweater for him, he said he wanted green--a lichen or moss green. We picked this out, and when I looked it up online later, I realized that even the name was perfect! He liked Webs--they have a nice lounge area with magazines and comfy chairs, suitable for knitting or for waiting for spouses.

I've started an EPS sweater with it--I haven't decided on a style yet, although I'm leaning toward a seamless hybrid. As I've only turned the hem and knit about 4 inches of the body, I've got some time to decide, though.

There is no Exhibit 5, because I'm too lazy to get the camera, but my parents came up for a visit, and bought me a ball winder for my birthday. We went to Fabric Place--my mom wanted to get some Patons Canadiana for a baby blanket, and I had a 25% off total purchase coupon. They also had ball winders (and I had a 40% off a single item coupon, too!)--I've never seen them there before--and so it came home with me. And my birthday's not for another month!

I also had a chance to visit with a cousin I rarely see--he grew up in Colorado to my NJ, and lives in the midwest, but was out for a professional conference. So he, DH and I went to Jasper White's Summer Shack for dinner on Monday night (must take out-of-towners for seafood! and we love Summer Shack), and then picked him up for dinner chez nous Thursday with my parents, whom he also rarely sees.

On top of everything else, my summer class ended on August 16, and grades were due on August 23. Right now I'm trying to get a few of my own things done before the fall semester starts after Labor Day, including coming up with course calendars! Fortunately, both classes I'm teaching I've done before, so I'll probably go with readings that I've used in the past, which makes it a little quicker to put together.

One Sock, Two Sock (Three Sock!)

2007-08-11T08:26:00.000-05:00

One Sock:

Sockapalooza socks--Jaywalkers in Cherry Tree Hill Superwash, from the sadly blogless Lisa in Tennessee!

Thanks, Lisa--they're terrific! I've already worn them once--the weather was a little chilly on Thursday, and I was spending some serious time in an overly-airconditioned library, making hand-knit socks an excellent choice.

Two sock:

Snicket Sock in Gjestal Silja Sock Yarn. A lovely limey chartreuse color.

and my first short-row heel. It's a little wonky--moving the stitches to a spare needle seemed pretty awkward--but it's interesting. And now I know how to do it.

Three sock:

the third sock isn't here, it's in Michigan, at my sock pal's blog: Bethtoons, of Life, Knitting, and the Pursuit of Rollercoasters . I'm so glad that they got to her safely (and that they fit! I was worried they would be too . . . something. Long? Short? Narrow? Wide? But evidently Monkeys are not only brilliant at making pooling disappear, they're brilliant for having an excellent fit. :)

Woohoo!

2007-08-06T10:31:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to say that I got my sockapalooza socks, and they TOTALLY ROCK. :) Beautiful jaywalkers in gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill superwash. AND a skein of Fearless Fibers superwash sock yarn. Yum.

But my husband has the camera, so pictures later.

Off to the post office

2007-08-02T11:22:00.001-05:00

To mail my pal's socks (with a couple of other goodies) out!

Two finished monkeys . . .

2007-07-29T10:06:00.001-05:00

sitting on the bed!Well, on a towel that's on the bed, anyway. :)

Specs: Cookie A's brilliant Monkey Pattern, size 2 needles, Lorna's Laces in "Icehouse."

for my Sockapalooza Pal. They're almost dry--they should be ready to pack up tomorrow!

Christmas in July

2007-07-19T07:33:00.001-05:00

My mom has a thing for Santas. (No, not that kind of a thing. A collecting kind of a thing.)

She must have 300 of them, and every year at Christmas, they come out. And every January, they get wrapped back up and put away until the following year.

At least, that was the routine until G and I took our first trip to Russia 6 years ago, when we came back with a carved St. Nicholas statue--maybe 6 inches high. It stayed on the mantel year-round.

Since then, we've been back to Russia once (and brought back 2 more St. Nicks), and G found one in Poland. So she had 3 tall-ish (10 inches, maybe?) and 1 shorter statue. They reside in a place of honor on the mantel, all year round.

But she kept telling me that they didn't balance--3 tall and 1 short, there was no way to arrange them on the mantel.

When a friend of ours went to Russia last month, you can guess what we asked her to bring back:

Two more St. Nicholas statues--one tall, one short.

I was going to wait, and give them to her in December, but I couldn't wait.

She was absolutely delighted--and now the mantel balances perfectly.

I am, however, waiting to hear her next reason for why we should go to Russian and buy more St. Nicks. :)

A journey of a thousand rows . . .

2007-07-13T11:27:00.000-05:00

Begins with a single stitch.

Three evenings of work on the border for the Stripes and Torchon shawl, from Victorian Lace Today. The pattern is pretty--I do like this border--but it's full of SK2P and double yarn-overs, and it's 34 rows long, so I've got no shot at memorizing it. Three repeats down, and who knows how many (30+, I think) more to go.

Fortunately, it's a Christmas present (I know. I'm pretty astonished myself, that I could be working on a Christmas present in July. Of course, at the rate I'm going, I'll still be working on it in December, if I'm not careful!). So there's time.

And a shot of my orchid, which has been blooming continuously since I got it at the end of last August.

For some people, that may not be a huge accomplishment, but I can actually kill mint. And bamboo--I've done it. So the fact that my orchid is not only still alive, but actually thriving? Blows me away.

Sensible results

2007-07-07T09:13:00.000-05:00

Take the Quiz here!

On the kindness of strangers

2007-07-05T12:12:00.001-05:00

One of the most amazing things about Ravelry is the way that it connects people. If I have a question about knitting, I can ask it there, and get an answer within minutes.

Casey and Jess have been generous with their idea, opening it as quickly as possible to as many people as they can. They are (or at least it seems this way) always online, making comments, offering suggestions, answering questions, cracking jokes. Their presence helps make Ravelry feel like a small, friendly community, even though it's made up of people from all around the world.

Ravelers have been generous with their time, editing patterns and yarns, answering knitting questions, offering advice.

The generosity of complete strangers--some of whom have become my friends inside the computer very quickly--is a wonderful thing to witness.

To wit:

Posh Yarns Beatrice in Claret (in real life, much closer to a nice claret wine color than the photo shows).
Posh Yarns Sophia in Pink
And Posh Yarns Cecelia in Lagoon.

All sent to me a Raveler who, having read my enthusiastic endorsement of all things Posh Yarns on one of the forums, thought that I would enjoy them. She didn't want money, or sock yarn, or even postage--just to send the yarn, which she had decided she would never use, to a good home.

All I can say is "Wow." and many, many thanks.

Knitting Into the Mystery . . .

2007-07-02T09:28:00.001-05:00

White Misti Alpaca laceweight, size 3 needles, and clear size 8/0 beads with silver lining from Beadworks.
I'm on row 75 of clue #1. Since the pattern repeats aren't really repeats at all, and are getting longer, I've decided to be smart about it and use lifelines.

I think that the shawl will wind up being a hexagon--once the shawl gets to 99 stitches, it seems to be knit straight up, rather than on a bias. But I guess we'll have to wait until next Friday for clue #2 to find out!

Grammar Geek

2007-06-25T08:28:00.000-05:00

I just joined SPOGG--the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar.

And found out that I am a semi-colon (which does, in fact, happen to be my favorite punctuation mark. The fact that I have a favorite punctuation mark isn't something we need to talk about.).

Your Score: Semicolon

You scored 30% Sociability and 76% Sophistication!

Congratulations! You are the semicolon! You are the highest expression of punctuation; no one has more of a right to be proud. In the hands of a master, you will purr, sneering at commas, dismissing periods as beneath your contempt. You separate and connect at the same time, and no one does it better. The novice will find you difficult to come to terms with, but you need no one. You are secure in your elegance, knowing that you, and only you, have the power to mark the skill or incompetence of the craftsman.

You have no natural enemies; all fear you.

And never, NEVER let anyone tell you that you cannot appear in dialogue!

Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Many Melons

2007-06-21T14:57:00.001-05:00

Melon scarf, from Victorian Lace Today. The yarn is Valley Yarn Alpaca/Silk, hand-dyed by the Kangaroo Dyer, in Camilla Pink. Cast on over the weekend, so I'd have some car knitting. The pattern is pretty easy--a 6-row repeat that's easy-peasy to remember. I've done about 45 out of 70 repeats so far.

I've also finished the center panel for the Stripes and Torchon lace scarf that will be my SIL's Christmas present, and made some progress on the Monkey socks.

The main impediment to knitting seems to be Ravelry--I'm spending way too much time there! I've volunteered to edit several books, in part so I feel like I'm at least doing something vaguely productive, rather than simply drooling over other people's projects.

Gratuitous Shawl Photos

2007-06-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Posh yarn is so yummy I couldn't resist!