Oh, hai.

...It's been a while since I've been here. It feels like the combination of Ravelry, Facebook and the rare moments of actual face-to-face contact with other humans have been holding my attention recently.

Knitting
Yup, I'm still knitting. I'm doing the Tour de France KAL, which is being held on Ravelry this year instead of on the blogs. I had started to knit the edging for the christening robe from Heirloom Knits.



But I got distracted by the plight of some skeins of Silky Wool. I had meant to make the Gathered Yoke pullover from Interweave Knits, but partway through I realized that my gauge was too tight and I didn't like how a looser gauge looked, so I frogged it and started the Drapey Neck Silky Tweed Cardigan by PiPiBird (pattern on Ravelry only) instead.



...by the way, I'm not being paid by Ravelry to shamelessly plug their site, I just like it.

Part of my goal for this year's TdF KAL was to finally finish a bunch of WIPs, including my market bag from last year's KAL. I'm kind of getting there, but weaving in the ends really takes it out of me.



I have managed to finish something! Behold, the Ocean Toes socks from Cat Bordhi's book...what's the title? I think it's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. It's the one with all the different templates for heels etc. I had some trouble picking yarn to use with this book, because most of my favourite patterns call for heavier sock yarn (e.g. Socks that Rock mediumweight) whereas most of my sock yarn is lighter weight.



The cats continue to look cute and beg for food.





I started taking a couple of short photography courses last week, so now I have more motivation to go around photographing all kinds of random things.

Done done done done done!

Finally! Hooray!



Pattern: Bayerische socks, by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock
Needles: 2.0mm Addi Turbos for the first third of the first sock. 2.0mm Knitpicks circulars for the rest.
Date started: December 2006
Date completed: May 2009
Time spent swearing at the cables, needles, and any cats unlucky enough to be nearby: a lot, until I got the Knitpicks needles
Time spent glaring at the first sock in progress and debating whether to continue or frog: months, maybe years, on and off
Time spent actually knitting the socks: 1.5 - 2 months?
Lovefest for the finished socks: in progress
Gloatfest over the finished socks: in progress
Bad karma accumulated from all the gloating: I'm cornering the market!

Stuff in trees, the citrus edition

I went for another walk around Green Lake today. The weather was perfect, sunny and just warm enough that I could wander around without a jacket and with minimal sweating. I walked by one of the docks just as a guy caught a large carp.

Sorry, I got a little excited and used the wrong shutter speed. I swear there's a carp in the photo.


Oh, there it is.

All sorts of things were blooming.

There was a heron on one of the turtle logs.

The bald cypresses were starting to unbald.

And there was a large snack's worth of clementine oranges stuck in one of the trees along with several pieces of string.



I'm not sure what that's all about. Maybe it's a tribute?

More knitting!

Done!


Pattern: German Stockings by Cookie A.
Yarn: Trekking XXL, about 1.5 balls, colourway 146 (I think?)
Needles: 3.0mm to cast on, 2.5mm for the cuff, 2.25mm for the rest.
Quibbles: I think my gauge changed--the second sock is slightly looser than the first. Also, I thought the cuff was going to be too tight so I used larger needles, and now it's too loose.

Chugging along, knock on wood

Pattern: Bayerische socks by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock
Needles: Hoo boy! I started with Addi Turbo 2.0mm, but they were too blunt. I got fed up with trying to do cables with those things and stopped working on the socks for a while. Then I heard about KnitPicks' needles and picked up a pair. The cables worked pretty well on those needles, well enough that I finished the first sock, but I kept wondering if the Addi Lace needles would be even better. I bought a pair last weekend, and it turns out they're actually too sharp for my taste, and probably for the yarn's taste as well--the needles keep splitting the yarn! Plus, the taper on the tips is pretty abrupt. I've switched back to the KnitPicks needles and am halfway down the cuff of sock #2. I hope the gauge stays the same.

Not a happy sock model


Not interested in modelling right now

Just a few words

Done!



Pattern: Evening in Eden
Yarn: Louet KidLin

Getting there, knock on wood

Pattern: German Stockings, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Trekking XXL

Started

Pattern: Provincetown Pullover
Yarn: Black Water Abbey 2 ply worsted

Pattern: Gathered Pullover
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool

Totally not impressed

Lots of music this weekend

We just came back from the Seattle Opera Young Artists production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was a great show, with excellent singing, playing and acting (including Puck, which is a spoken role), nice use of the set and props, and really good ensemble work. I was a bit puzzled about the boarding school concept, but Peter Kazaras (Artistic Director for the program and director for this show) explained after the show that he wanted to use a setting in which children, who are used in Britten's score, were at least as much in charge as adults. In addition, the school concept let the production team create a set design that put the focus on the singers and fit into the program's budget.

Kazaras also said that, since one of the purposes of the Young Artist program is to prepare singers for whatever opera directors might throw at them in their career, he deliberately threw in some difficult blocking, such as singing while getting on and off tabletops or interacting physically with each other, and (I assume since he didn't talk about it) singing while rearranging tables in specific configurations or while lying down.

Britten set the text beautifully...even the tricky rhythms seem to follow speech cadences. The music sounds a bit otherworldly, but hell, there are fairies in the play. His use of harmonies and orchestral colours, and the tight relationship between the vocal lines and the orchestra are amazing. When I have some time, I'd like to compare the libretto to Shakespeare's play to see what Britten and Pears cut out in their adaptation.

If you have a chance to see the production before it closes this weekend I highly recommend it--preferably on Saturday night, since (CONCERT PLUG ALERT!) on Sunday afternoon one of the choirs I'm in (Seattle Chamber Singers) is performing Bach's St. John Passion with Orchestra Seattle and guest soloists under the direction of George Shangrow, and it would be really cool to have people see that too. We'll be at First Free Methodist Church in Seattle at 3 pm. Check here for details.

I want a border collie and a large field.

Have you seen this video with the sheep and the LED lights? If you haven't, it's definitely worth viewing.