sloth knits

Farewell to a great musician and man

2010-08-02T10:13:00.001-07:00

I found out yesterday that Seattle musician and conductor George Shangrow was killed on Saturday in a car crash. He directed Orchestra Seattle and Seattle Chamber Singers for decades and was a huge presence in the music community of Seattle and Puget Sound. I only sang with OSSCS for 2 years, but in that time he took us through an incredible range of choral repertoire that included Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610; Bach's St. John Passion, cantatas, and Christmas Oratorio; Handel's Messiah (an annual event for Seattle!); Haydn's The Seasons; Mendelssohn's Elijah; Brahms's Requiem and a cappella songs; Britten's War Requiem; and works by Northwest composers like Robert Kechley. He wasn't afraid to program little-known works as well as audience favourites. His concerts always included an orchestra-only component; one of my favorite memories is listening to the orchestra float through the second movement of Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto with Mark Salman at the keyboard. He had an infectious enthusiasm for all of the music, and an enviable ability to sketch out the shape of a piece quickly and clearly when teaching it to us. At the same time, he expected a lot from his choir and orchestra and I hope we met that expectation as often as possible.

George was also a gifted keyboardist--he frequently played in concerts around here with flautist Jeffrey Cohan and other musicians, and conducted the OSSCS Messiah performances from the harpsichord--and a generous person. He loved to host post-concert parties at his house where the choir and orchestra would sit around chatting, eating hors d'oeuvres, drinking wine and listening to the recording of that day's concert.

Farewell George, and thanks for your enthusiasm, dedication, and talent. My thoughts are with your family. We'll miss you.

Checking in

2010-02-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

I signed up for the Ravelympics. It might just be a fit of optimism, because I tend to be pretty bad about sticking to things like that. I'm planning to knit the Drifting Pleats scarf. Progress yesterday was pretty slow because I didn't have dpn in the right size and the ones I had in a size up only had 4 needles instead of the 5 I needed. There was also some confusion about when the opening ceremonies actually started (thank you NBC), and a really lively dog that I'm dogsitting right now who has an unholy interest in yarn.

Today is going to be slow too--I'm singing in Seattle Sings for Haiti, and the rehearsal is not the right place to acquire new knitting skills like those pleats. Ah well!

Oh, hai.

2009-07-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

...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!

2009-05-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-04-21T23:08:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-09T21:52:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

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

Tree Baby

2009-03-25T22:50:00.001-07:00

I know that people occasionally lose things when they're at Green Lake, and kids and babies are the most likely to drop stuff, and it makes sense to prop found objects in trees to keep them kind of clean in case the owner comes looking for them, but I still found this doll a bit jarring. Thank goodness it wasn't a carrot jockey.

Knitting
The knitting continues, though a bit more slowly these days because of music stuff. I'm nearing the ankle of the German Stocking, and I decided to start knitting the pattern I bought at Madrona. It's for a cabled sweater, and the gauge is puzzling me...I've already dropped two needle sizes and I think the sweater is still a bit wide! Argh. I do love the yarn, though.

Music stuff
The music stuff is starting to freak me out a bit...there's Holy Week and all that implies for the church choir, and a performance of St. John's Passion by one of my other choirs, and a workshop and concert on the same weekend later in April. So much to learn!

Socks

2009-03-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I finally resumed working on the German Stockings I'd started nearly a year ago. I find ribbing to be a bit of a drag, so once I'd finished the first sock and started the cuff of the second I lost interest for a while. It's back, though, and I'm well past the cuff and about halfway down the leg! I also managed to do the correct sock (as in, right, since I already have a left), so unless I've jinxed myself by announcing this, I should be able to finish this sock some time in 2009.

I finally went out and got buttons for the Baby Surprise Jacket. It's going to some friends in Ottawa.

I also baked some more bread. I've been using the NYTimes adaptation of the recipe from this book combined with the dutch oven suggestion from the authors' blog. The bread tastes pretty good, but I still haven't been able to get the shiny crust they talk about. I think I'm going to try the no-knead bread recipes from NYTimes next.

More yarn?

2009-02-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

I went to my first Madrona earlier this month. I had kind of forgotten that it was going on, and it wasn't until the Friday after it started that I even realized that for the first time in my life 1) I was within driving distance of a fiber festival, and 2) I had the resources (car and driver's license at the same time) to get myself there. Since I could only go for a day I browsed for yarn in the marketplace and knitted with others in my LYS's group.

I picked up some Socks that Rock lightweight in Hobgoblin and Basan from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth...

...and some Jacob/alpaca/mohair blend in fingering weight from Toots LeBlanc & Co, plus a shawl pattern by Evelyn Clark...

...and some lovely brown wool yarn and a sweater pattern from Black Water Abbey Yarns. I think that stuff still smells like (clean) sheep.

My next goals should be to take a "knitting for speed" class and switch to audiobooks to free up my hands.

The Leyburn socks are not going very well.

I was up to the ankle on my first sock when I realized my gauge was a bit too loose, so I took the whole damn thing apart. I had also been thinking I don't really like the colourway (I only got it as a Stitch 'n' Pitch souvenir), so now I'm trying to decide whether to start again or to bail out of the KAL and either turn the yarn into something else or get rid of the yarn entirely.

The cats, on the other hand, are doing pretty well, and I hope they stay that way!

Spending some quality time with each other.

Melon in one of his favourite hang-out spots.

Maybe I'm just stalling

2009-02-12T21:30:00.001-08:00

I keep thinking of stuff to blog about and then forgetting to actually blog it. Let's see...

1) I joined the Socks that Rock Leyburn KAL. The pattern is here and there are photos of the sock in a different colourway here. I'm using the Sea-Mar colourway that I bought last year at the Seattle Mariners Stitch 'n' Pitch. Pictures will come...at some point.

2) I finally finished the wool hat for my dad and mailed it off. It's either late or really really early though, since he's going off to Taiwan soon and probably won't need the hat by the time he gets back. The only reason I can think of for the delay is that I didn't like the pattern I started with so I modified it, then bound off the hat before realizing the mods made it too small, then frogged a bunch of it and re-modified it, then saw that I had about ten ends to weave in instead of the two I was hoping for, and then got depressed about the whole thing and left the hat on the coffee table for a few days until I finally decided to weave in the ends. But it's done and mailed off, and I hope it fits and that the rain on the way to the post office didn't wet the hat and result in mold formation en route to my parents' place, because that would just be too ridiculous.

3) Um...I think it was on my way to the post office that I saw the tiniest slug ever. Here's a photo, with a pencil and some sock yarn shown for scale.

Friday randomness

2009-01-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

Needlefelting

I bought a needlefelting kit from SpiderFelt last month and made felted geodes. Then I think I got a bit carried away and decided I wanted to learn how to make felted critters. I've put some books on hold at the library, and will just have to see what happens.

Knitting
The dad hat is still chugging along. I've gotten a bit distracted, though, by the skein of Louet KidLin and the Evening in Eden pattern that I bought at Fiber Gallery last week.

Pets
The cats think they're gangstas.

One of the sweet potatoes has sprouted. I'm not sure if I want to throw it out or plant it.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T23:36:00.000-08:00

I haven't made any official resolutions yet, but probably destashing, exercising more, and being less crabby should be somewhere on the list.

Knitting
I finished the Hourglass Sweater!

Next up: a hat for my dad, and finally finishing the Bayerische socks. Hell, at this point I'd be satisfied with finishing just one sock, sticking it on a sock blocker, and hanging it on the wall.

Cats
Sometimes they manage to get along.

Melon tried to pass himself off as recyclable the other day.

Etc.
It snowed a lot. We discovered the joys of studded tires. I walked around Green Lake.

The snow melted. The tires sounded like they were covered with tiny suction cups. We walked around Green Lake some more. Damn, that place is photogenic.

I mucked around with Photoshop.

Yoke

2008-12-14T15:42:00.000-08:00

Knitting
I finished the second sleeve on my Hourglass sweater yesterday and started the yoke. The body still looks a bit short, but I'm hoping it's just because the fabric has been rolling up and that sewing the hem will help. If not, I think I'll have enough yarn left to lengthen the body and maybe make the hips narrower.

Cats
The cats have both been making good use of the cup bed.

Music
The concert on Friday was fine...we had a decent turnout in spite of the sleet and slush, and I only made one major error in the Bach (I miscounted the number of times I had sung "omnes" in one entry and got a beat ahead but was able to fix it quickly). Next up: his Christmas Oratorio. That, fortunately, will be with a much larger choir.

Yargh

2008-12-10T22:57:00.000-08:00

I'm having a mild freak-out right now. It doesn't involve Christmas knitting, such as that is (or isn't)...no, I'm freaking out because I have another choir concert on Friday and I feel nowhere near ready, either vocally or musically. We're singing Vivaldi and Bach (the latter one singer per part!), and I'm a bit worried that I'm going to miscount, or accidentally transpose up instead of down (A415 + perfect pitch + accidentals + fast = all kinds of exciting), or sing the wrong text, or sing too quietly, or sing sharp, or squeak on my breaks or high notes or low notes, or look weird, or just get really tense (which of course worrying will solve!). Plus the acoustics still feel weird in that place. Fortunately we have one more rehearsal, and I have one more voice lesson, before it all hits the fan.

In more cheerful news, I finally took some photos of the hourglass sweater in progress.

Melon wandered over and decided the sweater would be the perfect place to do some light grooming.

He may roll in the litter box to relax, but at least he knows his yarn. Oh wait, maybe I should train him to appreciate something hideous instead.

Radical knitting?

2008-12-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

Heh, imagine if they asked about this on the immigration forms!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Radical Knitting

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Wachet auf!

2008-11-30T22:11:00.000-08:00

It's already Advent! After a few years of feeling kind of meh about December, something seems to have snapped and I feel like sticking foliage all over the place. It started after service this morning when I walked out to the lobby and into a cloud of pine scent. People were making Advent wreaths, and I figured I might as well join in since I'd never made one before. The church provided candles and a wooden base with a wire mesh attached, so all my friend L and I had to do was thread in pine and cedar fronds.

It was nice, but the center looked a bit plain and showed all the cut branch ends, so afterwards I bought a spray of berries and leaves from Fred Meyer, dismantled it, and added them to the wreath.

While I was at FM I thought about getting a wreath for the door and some cedar garlands for the balconies as well, but decided to wait a couple of days in case this is just temporary madness from all the fog outside.

Knitting
I've finished most of the body for the Hourglass Sweater and knitted half of a sleeve. I haven't taken pictures yet, though, because I used up most of the camera's memory photographing the cats (sorry...they're cute, they're photogenic, and they're here). Based on the pattern measurements I figured I would have to make the body in one size and the sleeves in a different size, which really messed up the raglan shaping, so I set up an Excel spreadsheet with a revised set of decreases. Now I think I might have made the sleeves too big! It might be more a kimono-hourglass top. I guess I could always frog the sleeve if it looks really bad.

And the cats
So yes, here are more gratuitous shots of the cats.

Catching up

2008-11-14T19:49:00.000-08:00

The knitting

I finished knitting the Pennants and Peepholes poncho pattern I picked up at Stitch 'n' Pitch this summer. Next step: block, weave in the yarn ends, and sew side A to side B. Actually, the next step will really be to find a blocking surface.

Pattern: Pennants and Peepholes by Joni Olmstead (Village Yarn & Tea)
Yarn: Kauni Effektgarn, also from Village Yarn & Tea.
Difficulty: The poncho was pretty simple to knit once I put in stitch markers. It was a complete pain in the butt before that, but that's mostly my fault.

Here's a photo of the Hydrangea Lace Scarf I finished. It too needs to be blocked and woven in. I think I'm more into process than product when it comes to knitting.

I've started the Firestarter socks. The yarn is Claudia Hand Painted, and I think the colourway is Desert Dusk or something like that.

The Paisley Long Shawl is kicking my behind. I had stopped working on it for a while, and then when I resumed it about a week ago I managed to skip a row (or something) and not realize until about 10 rows later. I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet.

I've also started, and started, and started, and started the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I had to frog once to fix the gauge and frog another time because I twisted my cast-on when joining. Thanks go out to Kristen for her tip on knitting straight across for a few rows and then joining! That fixed that problem.

The cats
This, again, is Chester. He's been a bit subdued lately. I hope he isn't getting sick.

This is Melon. I think he's trying to be the alpha cat.

(He's very pleased with this cat bed.)

They like to hang out in front of the heating duct.

Life in general
We got a new washer and dryer! The old washer had an annoying habit of breaking down; instead of stopping when unbalanced it kept rotating until it rotated itself right off of one of the support springs. Boy, that thing could dance. Anyway, our landlord was really generous and replaced it with an HE front-loader, which should both help the resale value of the condo and help us avoid that stupid imbalance problem.

The cats have no idea what to make of a front-loader.

I'm also up to my ears (hah!) with choir stuff right now now. I'm in a new Renaissance music choir (no, it's not like neo-Classicism, it's a new choir that sings Renaissance music) and our first concert is this Sunday (for anyone in Seattle, the choir is Sine Nomine and the concert is at 7:30 on Nov 16 at Trinity Parish Church downtown at 8th and James. Admission is free/goodwill offer). Then in December Orchestra Seattle and Seattle Chamber Singers is performing Handel's Messiah and Bach's Christmas Oratorio, and the chamber choir and orchestra at Our Lady of Fatima are performing Vivaldi's other Gloria (i.e. the one without the orchestral octave leaps in the first movement) and Bach's Magnificat in E-flat. Eek!

Yay! Computer!

2008-11-08T21:41:00.000-08:00

My computer is functional again! I took it to a friend for a second opinion and after a quick test he said the problem was with the power supply, not the motherboard, and thus very easily fixed.

Now I have to upload some photos.

We saw the Met Opera's HD broadcast of Dr. Atomic today. It was really cool, and the singing was amazing. I did get a bit antsy in the second act, but that might have been more because after knitting 15 rounds of the Hourglass Sweater body I finally realized I had twisted my cast-on row before joining the ends, and that I would have to frog the whole damn thing for the second time (the first time was after admitting my gauge was all wrong).

Really short, again

2008-10-20T23:26:00.001-07:00

My computer broke. The Best Buy guy thinks it's the motherboard and since I don't have one of their service plans I'd be better off just buying a new computer. Bleah.

I kind of wanted a Mac, but may end up getting another PC instead because we can't find a Mac-compatible printer driver on-line and I like the printer we have right now. For now I'm using M's computer. The monitor is super-cool but I'm having a hard time getting used to the keyboard, because the keys barely stick out. It reminds me of the time I tried to play a harpsichord (I'm a piano kid), only without the A415 tuning making me dizzy and the friend standing nearby freaking out because I'm pressing the keys too hard. I'm not sure why the two should feel similar, except maybe with this keyboard I don't have to press quite as hard to get results as I would on my own keyboard.

What else...we seem to have settled on Melon (William of Melon in full) as the new cat's name.

I finished the Hydrangea scarf. I had to take a break near the end when I ran out of yarn and had to go buy more roving to spin. Photos will be posted eventually.

Crochet?

2008-09-14T16:03:00.001-07:00

I made the Boteh scarf last week. It's been a while since I crocheted, so I had to constantly remind myself that when I put the project down I could take the hook out of the scarf without having the project unravel or shave the neighbour's dog or something.

Pattern: Boteh Scarf by Kathryn Merrick
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock. I think the colourway is #149.
My ability to photograph a neutral-toned scarf on a creamy carpet: Sucky.
Feedback: Someone said, "That's not going to keep you very warm," before remembering we're in Seattle.

Update on the new cat

A name still hasn't really jumped out at us. M suggested Melon because it looks like the cat swallowed one whole. Later he thought William might also work. I lobbied for Wally for a while, then tried to persuade M to go with William Wally Melonbally, but didn't have any luck. I think we might settle on William of Melon.

Trip photos
Before I forget, here are a few shots from our RI trip a couple of weeks ago.

Cows in the pasture behind Gray's Ice Cream at Tiverton Four Corners.

My in-laws' dog. I think this is the only shot in which he is still. A true terrier, indeed.

Sunrise at Nannaquacket Pond in Tiverton.

A swan and two cygnets. The other swan in the group was way ahead of them.

Back in Seattle

I took this photo at Magnuson Park yesterday. The sculpture is titled "Fin Art: From Swords to Plowshares" and consists of diving fins from US Navy attack submarines. There's more info about the sculpture here and here.

Knitting! Kittehs!

2008-09-03T00:24:00.000-07:00

I do seem to dwell on both of those topics a lot.

Knitting!
We went to Rhode Island to visit the in-laws this past week, and on Saturday I had a chance to get together with Rachel, Kristen, and Kimberly at Fresh Purls for a couple of hours. I picked up a couple of skeins of Tosh Worsted that were dyed in lovely shades of green. They might work well as a baby sweater.

More knitting!
All of the plane time meant I was able to get a lot of work done on my Baby Surprise Jacket. I've finished the knitting, cast off with an I-cord, and sewn up the shoulders. Now I have to find some buttons.

Combined knitting and spinning!
I've almost finished my Hydrangea Lace scarf, but...I'm out of yarn. And it's my handspun. I have a couple of options: 1) buy and spin some more roving in the same colour blend, or 2) incorporate some stuff I'm spinning in the same fiber but different colour blend. I peeked at what I'm spinning now and I think there's enough grey in the new mix to counteract the red, and I only have 6 rows of garter stitch to do, so I'll probably go with option #2.

The wide bit at the top is where I got desperate and started using some of the early batch of handspun. I did it on a drop spindle and it turned out much thinner than the rest. Hm, maybe I should go buy that roving after all so I can redo this bit.

Kittehs! Puppehs! Wildlife! Fundraising! Oh my!
I've signed up to help out with registration at the 2008 PAWSwalk taking place on September 6th. The walk raises money to help care for the animals at the shelter and provide education and advocacy. If you're interested in participating or donating, go to the PAWSwalk page above (for walkers and general donations), or to my own donation page.

Our own cats!
I suppose they're learning to get along.

We still haven't figured out a good name for the new cat. M is thinking of Melon, since the cat looks like he just swallowed one whole.

Yawn!
Yeah, it's late.

Sock statistics

2008-08-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Django by Cookie A.
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted, in the Copper Penny colourway
Needles: 3.0 mm to cast on and 2.5 mm to knit
Related KAL: Summer of Socks, Ravelympics
Status: Done, and it's about time, dammit.
Estimated number of socks knitted in order to produce two finished socks: 3.5
Really? Okay, maybe it was only 3.
Dude, what happened? Oh, where do I begin...I had to frog large chunks of sock #1 several times, partly because I thought I had more yarn than I really had (so I ended up having to shorten the leg), and partly because I screwed up the pattern a lot. It got frustrating enough that I put the sock aside for a while and worked on something else. I think sock #1 took me 3.5 months to finish (including that rest time), while sock #2 took...about 1, 1.5 weeks?
Anything else you feel like saying? I think my gauge was too loose...those socks are really wide.
So what are you going to do about it? Knit something else. Maybe I'll hang the socks on a wall.

Just some photos

2008-08-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

The tabby.

The new cat.

And a sunset.

Meow meow

2008-08-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

We adopted a cat from Cat City last week.

His most recent alias at the shelter was Frankie, but it didn't really fit him as well as we would have liked, so we'll be changing it again. For the first couple of days we referred to him as New-cat, which of course brought Newman from Seinfeld to mind, and then M came up with Norman. Other possibilities included Fred, Cat-cat, Dude, Hey You, (*tapping on food dish*) Food for Kitteh!, Barney, and (my favourite) Stop Wallowing In Your Litterbox That's Gross. Hmm, I wonder if M would be okay with calling the cat Wally...

Except for that litterbox thing, and my unsureness of what kind of food the new cat likes, and my worries about whether he's eating enough (yes, I do worry even though he has to lose some weight...I don't want another jaundiced cat), he's cool. He purrs when we pick him up, he does the milk tread in our laps, he chases felted woolly toys, and he takes his eleven o'clock crazies very seriously indeed.

For the first couple of days, Chester hissed at New-cat/Norman/Wally, growled at us for our effrontery in bringing this...beast...into his territory, and sulked under various chairs. The new cat did not help matters by trotting around with an air of "Hey, nice to meetcha, what's happening," sprawling in Chester's favourite spots, and sniffing at Chester's backside. They're a lot calmer now, and Chester has resumed some of his usual activities (e.g. lying in the middle of the room wheezing happily), so I think there is hope.

Another road trip

2008-08-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

We went back to the Olympic Peninsula for a few days last week. I posted some photos on Flickr. We stayed at Miller Tree Inn in Forks and had a quasi-brush with fame there, as it turns out Forks was used as the setting for the Twilight series, and one (or some?) of the characters live at the Inn (or something like that). There were a couple of signs at the front entrance for Twilight fans, and we saw several people drive up so that fans could photograph the B&B.

We also went down to Rialto Beach (which looked considerably less frightening than when we were there in late September/early October), managed to hike 10 miles in the Hoh Rainforest without being chased off by elk, visited Second Beach near La Push, and stopped at a lavender farm on the way home.

Moth (but not in my yarn)

2008-08-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Warning: if you don't like close-up photos of invertebrates, stop reading after the part about the rabbit. If you do like them, you're in luck. I'll even throw in a banana slug photo at the end.

I sat near the top/back of the stadium at the Mariners Stitch 'n' Pitch on Thursday. The ball players were kind of far away, but the view was generally all right and the sunset was pretty. I finished a handle on my Team Rabobank (and it is Rabobank, not whatever college colours people have been asking me about lately) market bag.

On Friday we went to a farmers' market and I saw my first Flemish Giant rabbit. That's my hand in the photo for scale. The owner said this one is only 1 year old and still growing, and will be about 80 lbs at maturity. The rabbit is already 40 lbs, which makes him almost as big as our cat (kidding--our cat is only 18 lbs).

Edit: After checking out some webpages about Flemish Giants, I suspect I might have heard wrong and that the rabbit only (?) weighed 14 lbs. Does anyone else have more info on this breed? Either way, the critter was huge.

The owner said his rabbits are very affectionate, get along well with the dogs and would play with the chickens if the chickens were into that sort of thing. I had a brief wild thought of acquiring a Flemish Giant as a companion for the cat, but reconsidered after hearing how much they eat in a week. I can't remember exactly what the owner said, but I think there was something about a bale of hay and an enormous quantity of feed (20 lbs? I don't know...), and as things currently stand we barely have enough room for the cat's needs.

This is the part where invertebrate-close-up-disliking readers should stop.

Speaking of big animals, we noticed a moth on one of our screens this afternoon.

It was huge. I tried to find my swatch ruler, but I forgot where I'd left it so I settled for the next best thing.

Chester pawed a bit at the other side of the screen but didn't seem too interested in the moth, perhaps because it remained motionless for several hours.

The cat did, however, seem interested in the (crazy! tasty!) Spam.

And now that you've sat through all of that, here's the promised banana slug photo. It's from our most recent trip to the Olympic Peninsula.

It's late and I'm sleepy

2008-08-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

1) I just went to my first Stitch & Pitch and my first Mariners game. Dude, they won!

2) Ravelympics starts tomorrow. I signed up with Team Seattle under WIP wrestling. If I stay up another hour or so I'll be able to finish the market bag I was making for the Tour de France KAL and then tackle the other WIPs with a clear conscience starting tomorrow. So far I have two scarves, a shawl, and two pairs of socks I have to finish.

3) I think I need to join a 12-step program to gain control over my habit of joining KALs that I can't finish. Would this count as a knitalongalong or knitalong-anon?

4) I spent a week at the Tallis Scholars Summer School. It rocked, even if I did go to bed on time (except for the last night) and skipped the late-night beer and karaoke. I foisted the market bag-in-progress on Jan Coxwell the final morning, and she not only held it for photos (for which she gets bonus points because the orange I used was pretty stunning, and not necessarily in a good way) but also proceeded to work on it for several minutes while I was otherwise occupied. Hee!

Oh, you meant THAT France.

2008-07-20T16:34:00.001-07:00

For the second TdF KAL intermediate sprint challenge, I decided to take the France option and cook up something French from this site (kindly listed by TdF KAL co-organizer Meg). Wouldn't you know it, but I managed to pick an ITALIAN dish! I'm generally not a cooking fiend, but I do enjoy making risotto once in a while so I chose the Stage 15 recipe before realizing I was in the wrong country, so to speak. On the other hand, the cyclists head to Italy in Stage 15, so I guess that makes it okay...?

Anyway, here's my version of the Mushroom Risotto. I tried to ratchet up the French mojo by adding some Debussy and Fauré sheet music and a placemat that I think is French. The cat may or may not have spoiled the effect.

Modifications: I used dried mushrooms instead of fresh, so instead of chicken stock and porcini powder I added the water left over from soaking the mushrooms. I think chicken stock would have worked better...next time I'll probably use half of each.

I think there was another modification but I forget what it was. Oh yeah, getting a bit carried away and making the whole shebang last night at 11 pm instead of, say, today before dinner.

At least no sex was involved

2008-07-12T00:14:00.001-07:00

This neighbourhood is getting weird. Ever since 4th of July people have been blowing up their extra firecrackers. Then a few minutes ago (just past midnight) a couple of guys outside and 3 stories down talked about the pizza they ordered. Normally I wouldn't mind this, but I think using the megaphone was excessive.

The bag, the challenge

2008-07-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

I'm taking the Knitting Option for the first TdF KAL challenge. I'm working on a BYOB market bag and had been planning to go all out with a delicately illustrated and moving story about a sloth who gets tired of hanging out in a tree, decides to see the world, sneaks onto a plane to France by hiding in a bag (coincidentally the one I'm making--a-HA!), and...I don't know, helps a lost puppy or makes some cool new friends or something...but some technical issues* came up so all I have is this photo and some explanatory text.

I decided to make the body of the bag with cream-coloured dishcloth cotton yarn and the stripes with blue and orange yarn to match the jersey of my KAL team, Team Rabobank. This triggered a quest to find dishcloth yarn in the right shades of blue and orange. The quest, alas, has not been successful, so I'm using acrylic instead. It's slightly uncomfortable, but not as much as I had expected and certainly no more than the cotton (which I find a bit hard on my wrists). The upsides are that 1) I'll have a nifty Tour de France-themed bag; 2) if I ever make to France and take it to the markets it will probably never, ever be mixed up with someone else's bag; and 3) when wielding the bag I'll probably be able to stun a sheep at 50 paces. I've never seen an orange this bright. It could be a secret weapon in a sheep-shearing contest...unless, of course, sheep are colour-blind. I should look that up.

*1) no scanner. 2) crappy drawing software. 3) pretty crappy drawing skills. 4) no story written yet.

My socks

2008-07-05T23:45:00.000-07:00

I think Django is kicking my butt.

The cables aren't the problem...yes, I have managed to do a couple in the wrong direction, but I caught the mistakes very quickly. It's just that I can't figure out if I have enough yarn.

The pattern calls for 2 x 175 yards of fingering weight sock yarn--Shelridge Farm Soft Touch, to be exact. I have 2 skeins of Claudia Hand Painted, each 175 yards. So theoretically, assuming the sample sock in the pattern only used up one skein, I should be able to do 3 repeats of the leg pattern (same as in the photo) before starting the heel.

I keep telling myself this, but then I look at how much yarn I actually have left in my first skein, and to me it doesn't seem like much, and I can't decide whether to frog one repeat and have a shorter leg, or to keep all the repeats and frog later if I run out of yarn.

Either way, fussing over this has distracted me enough that I made the heel flap too short and have to go and redo it now.

Hurray! Knitting!

2008-07-01T23:33:00.000-07:00

Done, done and done

I knitted a moogle for a birthday present.

Pattern: The head, body, and limbs are from Baby Bobbi Bear. I lengthened the arms a bit. The wings, ears and pompom are my own ideas. In hindsight, I should have made the wings a bit smaller, since the felting process didn't shrink them as much as I had hoped. I thought about making a fluffy scarf like the one in the FF IX image, but decided to wait until I have some flashy fuzzy lavender yarn.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in natural, red, and purple, plus some scrap yarn for the eyes and mouth.

Nowhere near done

I decided to start my Summer of Socks KAL-ing with Django. I'm still on sock #1.

Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted in the Copper Penny colourway. I think this is the closest I've been to a yarn addiction recently...this is the third pair of socks I've knitted using CHP in less than a year. Appropriately enough, it's for the fourth Cookie A pattern I've worked on in a year and a half--I've finished Monkey and Pomatomus, I'm on sock #2 of the German Stocking, and I still have Thelonious to knit, and oh dear, I just saw some new patterns on her website.

My project for the Tour de France KAL (for now) is the BYOB bag. The yarn is Lion Brand Cotton from Fred Meyer. The cat is the usual tabby.

Modern times

2008-06-27T18:36:00.006-07:00

First, here's some background information:

We're renting a condo with a really fabulous deck on the upper floor.

The deck. The mountains aren't really visible right now, but when they are they ratchet up the fabulousness quotient immensely.

This deck, however, is not completely partitioned off; instead, there is one enormous deck surface for 4 condo units, and this surface is partitioned using planters and really large flowerpots. A few weeks ago, the inhabitants of one of the other units asked if they could use our section for a party that would extend across all 4 decks, and we said yes. We think they forgot to move some of the flowerpots back when they were finished.

Now that I've probably confused half of you to hell and bored the rest, I will continue with the main feature, courtesy of my long-suffering husband: Steak Kebabs Made Easy In The 21st Century.

1) Buy a package of scrumptious ready-made steak kebabs (you know, with the onions and peppers already speared on with the meat) from a grocery store.
2) Add a rub
3) Take the kebabs to the deck
4) Bellow when you discover a neighbour's dog doing its business on your deck.
5) Bellow some more when you discover signs of other, older, and messier doggy business on your deck.
6) Conduct a heated discussion with the neighbours. Discover more than one dog may have been responsible.
7) Ask the wife where the disinfectant is. Tell her what happened.
8) Leave the kebabs in a spot where you're sure the cat can't reach them. Take the disinfectant back to the deck.
9) Hear the wife shriek as she comes out too and accidentally lets the cat escape.
10) Wait until the cat, with the wife in pursuit, realizes that running around outside isn't nearly as fun as he had been led to believe, then help the cat back inside.
11) Clean the deck.
12) Go back inside to fetch the kebabs.
13) Bellow again upon seeing the cat in the spot you thought he couldn't reach, happily licking the kebabs.
14) Wash the kebabs really, really well.
15) Grill the kebabs.
16) Eat the kebabs (we figure the combination of immersion and immolation should counteract whatever the cat did).
17) Vow to buy a house with a deck and a really good fence ASAP. Toast that thought with an extra glass of wine.

A slightly better view of the mountains, with a wistful cat in the foreground.

Chester says, "You know, if you would just get me a really big cat tree then maybe I wouldn't try so hard to escape."

Really short

2008-06-21T22:38:00.004-07:00

I've joined a couple of knitalongs.
1) Summer of Socks
2) The Tour de France knitalong.

I also have an enormous Bucket o' WIP sitting by the TV chair.

Eek!

There was something else I wanted to say but now I forget what it is.

It's not on my friends list

2008-06-04T16:44:00.005-07:00

I received an unpleasant surprise as I was sorting through my stash last night. At the bottom of one container, INSIDE a ziploc bag, there was a caterpillar-y thing moseying its merry way around a ball of mercerized cotton yarn. I cussed it out and threw it in the freezer to buy some time to identify it. I was afraid it might be a clothes moth (but in cotton?), but after doing some web-searching I think it's a carpet beetle larva; apparently clothes moth caterpillars are cream-coloured, whereas this...THING...is reddish-brown with tufts on one end. Still, this is not good...it is after all a creature that could eat my yarn. I mean, how did it get in there? And why have I not seen any others in the container? Are its friends hiding in my stash of red-brown yarn?

It's time to get the yarn containers off the carpet. And to quarantine the yarn in that container. With mothballs or something. Ee-freaking-ew.

Mememememe

2008-05-27T23:38:00.003-07:00

Thanks for the kind comments about Claude. I have to admit that we don't yet miss the stench of his foul kitty breath (okay, maybe it wasn't that foul...nope, it was), but we do miss the rest of him.

World o' knitting
My project-starting ability seems to have overpowered my project-finishing ability again. Right now I have 2 scarves, 1 stole, 2 socks, a baby hat, and a surprise object on the needles, and I just got some more yarn for Annie Modesitt's corset tank top and for a Baby Surprise Jacket. I blame it partly on my miniscule attention span and partly on Ravelry. Oh, Ravelry. So many patterns to queue, so much to read, and so little time.

And other stuff
I saw this meme on She Knits By the Seashore.

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Finishing up a BA in Music and getting ready for grad school. I'd finished a science degree already, but couldn't figure out what to do next, and since I'd racked up a bunch of music credits as electives I decided to apply them to a general Bachelor's degree. It seems like things haven't changed much...ever since our move to Seattle I've been trying to figure out what I want to do with life, and meanwhile I've been taking voice lessons and enjoying them immensely in those moments when I'm not wailing about being too tense to sing properly or something. There's no grad school in the picture, though.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
Practice music. Meet the doctor for a physical exam. Meet the hurdy gurdy player to practice some different music (for this). Work on a talk for class. Um...practice more music?

Still left on the list: That damn talk. I hate public speaking to begin with, and I can't seem to focus long enough to scrape together 5 minutes of talk-worthy material, even though I know the goal of the talk is to practice public speaking. My brain refuses to play along. Naughty brain! Come on, brain, work with me.

The brain has responded. It has said, "Neener neener nyah nyah".

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Berries. Potato chips. Oranges. Chocolate. Ice cream. Other fruits. Baby carrots.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Pay off our loans. Set aside a chunk for retirement. Fix up the house we used to live in in Rhode Island. Buy a house here with a fabulous view, efficient kitchen, and enough room for visitors, yarn, CDs, cats, and a ginormous cat tree. Earthquake-proof the house. Build a ginormous cat tree. Travel. Visit my parents. Fly the in-laws out here. Send the 4 of them on a nice cruise. Donate to charities. Go to concerts. Figure out how to protect the in-laws' driveway and fence from silly drivers who are trying to make a u-turn to go to the cafe next door. Study more music. Learn to sew.

5) Places I have lived: British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, more Ontario, Rhode Island, Washington state.

6) Who I'm tagging: anyone who reads this.

See you later, dude

2008-05-19T20:45:00.003-07:00

Claude passed away peacefully this afternoon. M and I were there to keep him company. I think in his next life Claude wants to keep his cat status and goofy personality but will negotiate to be the size of a Great Dane just so he can keep Chester and all other tabbies in line. Failing that, I think he'd be happy just to prance around in a catnip field somewhere, harass the local critters, and maybe catch an opera now and then.

We'll miss you, little guy.

Stupid cat*

2008-05-17T20:38:00.003-07:00

Claude, our poor cow-cat, has been going through hell during the last few weeks. After his abscess drain and e-collar were removed, he perked up for a couple of days, but then lost interest in eating. The vet noticed that he had lost a lot of weight and looked a bit jaundiced, and was concerned that he might be developing hepatic lipidosis, so we tried a couple of different feeding methods, but he hated them and just seemed to get sicker. We ended up taking him to the local animal critical care clinic, where they hooked him up to a nasal feeding tube. He still doesn't like the tube, but at least he has stopped vomiting his food. The vets are still checking him out but suspect it's either pancreatitis or lymphoma. If it's pancreatitis we're hoping that he'll pull through if he's given some supportive care, but if it's lymphoma then things don't look good.

Claude getting down with his dapper self on a good day.

*Okay, fine, not stupid cat. Darned cat. Darned cow-cat who, less than a month ago, was bouncing around like a rabbit and smushing the inside of his ear all over my nose when he wanted me to wake up and give him his breakfast. Darned cat who was as capable of moving in a straight line as a broken shopping cart. Darned cat whose wildly waving tail of destruction could create chaos on a clean, empty tabletop. Darned cat who was full of piss and vinegar when he didn't want attention, and completely in our faces and all over our laps when he did. And darned me for wishing, despite everything else going on the world these days, that he were still well enough to be like that now.

More spinning and then some

2008-05-08T15:07:00.002-07:00

I opened I can has cheezburger just as I took a sip of something, and nearly ruined my keyboard.

more cat pictures

In spinning news, I bought 4 oz of a wool-silk blend from the LYS. Here are some singles; this stuff is going to keep me occupied for a long time.

I try to comfort myself with the thought that, if we ever have an apocalypse, then as long as I have that drop spindle and the roving I can make my own dental floss.

Here's how it looks plied (yeah, I refused to ply it on the drop spindle...I just wish there were a way to do S-twist with the Lendrum regular flyer). Sorry about the poor focus--our camera doesn't like close-ups.

Longest 3 to 5 days ever

2008-04-30T23:02:00.003-07:00

Our poor cow-cat had to go to the vet yesterday and today because his front right leg seemed a bit inflamed from all of his scraps with the tabby (bad tabby!). Yesterday the vet checked out the leg and said she thought it might be an abscess, so this morning we took him in and they anesthetized him, stuck in a drain, and...in the grossest insult to his dignity ever...clipped his claws. So now on one hand we have a hostile cow-cat who is barely able to walk in a straight line because of the painkillers and barely able to walk forward because of his Elizabethan collar, who is being given a foul-tasting antibiotic and hot compress every 12 hours, AND who has a rubber tube stuck in his leg.

Claude, showing his better side.

On the other hand (or side of the ring, it feels like), we have a tabby who opens doors and loves to chew on soft rubber and chase the cow-cat.

Chester, looking innocent.

The drain comes out in 3 to 5 days. In the meantime, we'll try to keep the two beasts separated. Aigh!

Der Dreifinger-Faultiere am Spinnrade* (and elsewhere)

2008-04-10T22:54:00.009-07:00

The photo upload fairy finally visited. Here's what I've been up to:

1) I sang in the choir for Haydn's The Seasons last Sunday. It's a fun fun piece and my main regret is that I forgot to mention it earlier, so I'm going to compensate by plugging our next concert super-early. It will be on Sunday May 4 at 3 pm in Seattle's First Free Methodist Church, and will feature mostly Baroque music. The choir will sing Purcell's Masque in Dioclesian. Check the OSSCS website for more details.

It figures that that had no photos whatsoever. Anyway, going on...

2) I made my very first bread pudding, and judging from M's reaction it won't be the last. As usual, the recipe was from Joy of Cooking, but I threw in some walnut bread that was sitting around and topped the whole thing with raisins and chopped apricots.

3) I finished one of the German Stockings. The yarn is Trekking XXL and the needle sizes included 3 mm, 2.5 mm and 2.25 mm. The 3-mm set was for casting on so that I didn't end up with a tourniquet, the 2.25 mm was necessary to get gauge, and the 2.5 was for the cuff, because when I realized I had to go down a needle size I didn't feel like redoing the cuff, so I just ripped down to where the cuff ended and changed needle sizes there.

The horizontal stripes are, perhaps, not flattering to my leg shape, but unless I wear these with hot pants I don't think anyone will notice.

Come to think of it, if I did wear them with hot pants the stripes would probably be the least of my worries.

4) I've been procrastinating on the other stocking by working on some lacey stuff instead. First there is the Hydrangea Lace Scarf (you'll have to scroll a little down the left column). For this one I'm using a 2-ply silk-merino blend yarn that I spun last fall.

5) The other lacey thing is the Paisley Long Shawl. I'm making this one with Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight.

6) (the Spinnrade part) Back before Christmas, I picked up some roving at Urban Craft Uprising, and I finally started to ply it two days ago. It's...bright. And one bobbin is way fuller than the other. Odd...I could have sworn I split it properly.

*3-toed sloth at the spinning wheel. Sorry, Gretchen and Schubert.

Overload

2008-04-07T22:23:00.003-07:00

I saw this on YouTube the other day. How can one creature be so damned cute?

Back in MY day...

2008-03-06T12:42:00.003-08:00

I came across a speed-typing test link here and had to try it out. I guess that typing course in high school and the piano training came in handy (for more than playing piano) after all! Mind you, this score was for my second attempt, and I have a feeling the algorithm is more generous than what they used in high school (which was to exclude any characters/words typed after your third incorrect word).

107 words

Speedtest

Do people still learn to type first on typewriters, or do they start on computers right away?

In which knitting is seen

2008-03-03T17:09:00.004-08:00

Somehow, through a complete fluke, I managed to get myself, the camera, and some knitting projects together and take photos. I even uploaded them, so unless the tabby reboots the computer in the next few minutes I'll be able to show what I've been knitting instead of just yapping about it.

1) The Pacific Northwest Shawl

Yarn: 2 skeins (I think) of Misti Alpaca laceweight
I probably should have used larger needles for the I-cord edging, because the top of the shawl is really tight. The nitpicky side of me wants to go back and fix this, but the rest of me just wants to knit something else, so it will probably stay unchanged. I should probably block this and do something about the ends at some point.

2) Embossed Leaves socks

Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted in the Moss colourway.
So. Freaking. Fun. To knit. Everyone should make a pair.

3) Anastasia socks

Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted in Ingrid's Blues
The pattern is cute, easy to remember (in theory) and, as the designer says, visible even with variegated yarn. The execution, on the other hand...well, I never thought that [(yo,ssk) twice] could kick me around me so thoroughly. But the knitting is done and all I have to do now is weave in the ends.

4) German Stocking(s)

A close-up of the cables
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Again, the pattern is fun, but I hope the cuff doesn't end up being too big. I knitted it with 2.5 mm needles but realized my gauge was too loose in the leg so I switched to 2.25 mm needles and kept the original cuff, thinking that it looked all right. I guess if it is too loose I could thread some elastic through the top or something.

Knitting this on the bus, etc., has felt a bit weirder than usual. The pattern required a lot of leg measurements, so in a way my lower legs and their statistics are getting more public exposure (and in salmon hues!) than I normally like. If I ever decide to knit something thigh-high, it will probably never leave home until it's finished.

Sunshine and snow

2008-03-01T08:57:00.004-08:00

We went snowshoeing on Mt. Rainier on Thursday. Ever since we arrived in Seattle we haven't been able to overcome our awe at the...thing...looming south of the city and dominating the skyline on a clear day. We were lucky to have sun all day long, even though we got a bit burned because we forgot to bring sunscreen.

We walked around the Nisqually Vista trail in the morning and tried hiking up to Alta Vista (I'm not sure of the altitude but it's probably around 6000' - 6200') after lunch. I think we made it about 3/4 of the way but had to come back down at the point because we ran out of time.

Neighbouring mountains seen from the road up to Paradise.

Me on Nisqually Vista (around 5,500 feet high) with the peak (14,000 feet!) in the background. There was a glacier visible under the snow but I don't think it's clear in the photo.

Going up to Alta Vista. We saw people hiking in boots! I know it's possible, but given the trouble I had on flat snow in my own hiking boots I was glad to have the snowshoes.

Another view of neighbouring mountains, seen from near Alta Vista.

Top of Mt Rainier from near Alta Vista. I think the little cloud at the tip spent several hours rolling gently over the peak. You could see the back end compress and the front end hug the ground.

More stream of consciousness

2008-01-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

It's just because I'm too lazy to post photos right now.

1) Remember that baby sweater I made for my younger niece? The one that I frogged and re-knit because I thought it was too small? Well, it ended up being too big for her, so her older sister is wearing it for now. It may be time for me to invest in life-size dolls corresponding to various baby/toddler ages...

2) The Embossed Leaves socks are finished! I started Anastasia socks about a week ago. The pattern is simple, but I keep forgetting yarnovers and not noticing until about 6, or 10, or 20 rows later. So far I've knitted about 0.75 sock's worth of sock but only have half a sock to show for it.

3) (Shameless plug alert!) For any of you living in or around Seattle, Orchestra Seattle and the Seattle Chamber Singers (with whom I sing) are performing Benjamin Britten's War Requiem on Sunday, Feb 10, at 3 pm in Meany Hall on the University of Washington campus. Details are available here.

4) I did a Discworld quiz and apparently I need to add bananas to the shopping list.

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as The Librarian

You're the Librarian! Once a wizard, now an Orang-utan (due to an unfortunate magical accident), you refuse to be turned back for a few reasons: In this form, it's easier to reach the shelves and hold more books; having the strength of five men makes people return their books on time; life's great philosophical questions boil down to "when do I get my next banana?" You say "ook" but are usually understood well enough.

Friday randomness

2008-01-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

Item one (belated): Hooray! I won a blog contest! Thank you Kristen!

Item two: But I'll have to be careful with the yarn lest I end up as yet another grim statistic:

(Check xkcd for the original)

Item three: I finally remembered to take a photo of my Embossed Leaves socks in progress.

Pattern: Embossed Leaves socks by Mona Schmidt, from Favorite Socks.
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted sock yarn in the Moss colourway
Modifications: I did what I think is some sort of eye of partridge heel instead of the pattern's stockinette-plus-garter-edges. Also, my gauge is loose, so I need to rip back the completed sock so there are 6.5 instead of 7 repeats, then fiddle with the toe pattern to compensate.

Item four: I caught a glimpse of the cats coexisting peacefully.

Unfortunately it ended seconds later when Claude bit Chester and Chester retaliated in spades. Oh well.

Item five: It's rained in Vancouver on my last 3.95 visits there, but last weekend the sun stayed out for long enough for me to get this photo:

Tick tick

2007-12-28T08:45:00.001-08:00

I joined Clean Slate by 2008 on Ravelry a while back. Since then I've managed to knock most of the Christmas knitting off my list, but I may be out of luck finishing a couple of the miscellaneous projects:

Finished (hooray!):

Anemoi Mittens (but I forgot to photograph the FO on their own so here's a WIP picture and a photo of them being modelled by the recipient).

Yarn: 1 ball of Frog Tree Alpaca sportweight in cream/white and 1 skein of Alchemy Alpaca Pure in Madre Deus.

Conwy socks
Pattern: Conwy from Nancy Bush's "Knitting on the Road"

Yarn: 2 skeins of ShibuiKnits sock yarn

Christmas stockings and Linen Bath Set (already posted)

Swing Thing baby sweater

Yarn: 3 balls of Plymouth Encore worsted, plus some grosgrain ribbon and thread from Nancy's Sewing Basket

Socks for my husband:

Yarn: 3 balls of worsted weight Mission Falls superwash merino
Finish date: 12/25, while the poor guy was working

Getting there...it may happen:
Pacific Northwest Shawl

It's either this or the shawl:
Embossed Leaves socks (no photos yet)

Hah! As if:
Bayerische socks (still no photos)
Hydrangea scarf

Definitely not (and frogged):
Diamond Waffle socks

A piece of work:
The tabby

Not ready for his close-up:
The cow-cat (can you believe he's NOT the cat in the card?)

Catching up

2007-12-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

The Christmas knitting continues.

Did I ever mention the Linen Bath Set I was making? Well, I finished it. I even wove in the ends right after casting off the final cloth. There's one for the history books! The only problem is, it may not qualify as Christmas knitting because I still don't know who the recipient might be.

Pattern: Linen Bath Set.
Yarn: Louet Euroflax, 2 skeins in Ginger.
Cat: Large, nosy, perpetually hungry, highly determined, and unfortunately clever neutered male tabby.

I also made a couple of Christmas stockings. The first one was Christmas in Tallinn from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I had made this last year but used bigger yarn (red and white Dale Heilo, with doubled strands of leftover green Dale Baby Ull) for the 2007 version so that the stocking matched the size in the pattern.

The second one was supposed to be the Giant Jester Stocking from Interweave Knits' 2006 holiday issue, but it got a bit out of control.

I tried to follow the pattern, I really did. For attempt #1 I decided to stashbust and use some leftover yarn that technically belonged to the same colour families as the yarn in the photo, but the yarn was so dark that the result, quite frankly, could have inspired permanent fear of both Christmas and jesters in the recipient. So I frogged that and tried again with (new) yarn in shades like those in the magazine photo, but then decided I just didn't like the colours themselves. For attempt #3 I went traditional and used green for the cuff and red and white for the stocking, but the stripes looked too much like something from an antique bathing suit. Finally I said to heck with this and (at M's suggestion) changed the stripes to a candy-cane pattern.

Yarn: Cascade 220

In hindsight, I probably should have included some narrow stripes...this seems slightly on the loud side. Oh well.

Things have been going better with the baby sweater. I just need to weave in the ends, block, and add buttons and ribbon.

Pattern: Swing Thing by Theresa Belville
Yarn: Plymouth Encore worsted

Last week I went to the Urban Craft Uprising show and picked up some sock yarn (not shown) and some roving from Actual Size Creations. The one with lime green is merino, while the other is Blue-Faced Leicester.

And in non-fiber related activities, I made a pie! Actually, I made two because we didn't have any bakeware big enough to hold all of the fruit. It turned out pretty well for a first pie attempt. I used the deep-dish pie recipe from Joy of Cooking so I only had to worry about a top crust.

Crafting crankiness

2007-11-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

I think I've discovered how to prolong the, um, joy of knitting a single top-down baby sweater that has no cables, colourwork, fancy stitches or laciness whatsoever:

Swatch. Aim for a gauge of 4 stitches/inch.

Squint at the swatch, compare with tape measure and think, "Well, that looks about right."

Cast on for sweater.

Knit rows and rows of garter stitch. Every few rows, increase number of stitches. Mutter sotto voce when one forgets where one is supposed to increase.

Look closely at pattern instructions. Notice that one has skipped a few crucial rows, and that the first one was...oh...about 30 rows back.

Sigh loudly.

Frog.

Re-knit the section, this time including all of the rows in the pattern.

Stop occasionally to verify that the gauge is fine. Panic a bit when the gauge appears to be 4.5 stitches per inch instead of 4. Convince oneself that the gauge is being compressed magically by all of the increases in the pattern and will return to normal once the increases end.

Knit for a couple more hours and enter a huge patch of stockinette stitch.

Proudly hold up sweater-in-progress.

Think, "Hm, it looks a bit small."

Measure sweater. Confirm that circumference is 2 inches less than planned. Swear loudly.

Re-measure gauge. Finally admit it really is, and will steadfastly remain, 4.5 stitches per inch.

Frog. The. Entire. Bloody. Thing.

Blame the cats.

Decide to re-knit sweater two sizes up. But first, do something else for a few hours. Or days. Whatever.

Repeat until finished.

Fiber bling

2007-11-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

Yay! I got my Ravelry t-shirt and buttons!

Something tells me Chester wouldn't be impressed.

Foulness of cat

2007-11-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

Our cats can be really gross. Granted, they haven't done this yet (though Chester's litterbox adventures come close), but still.

Take, for example, Claude's dining habits. Despite having a perfectly decent food dish heaped with kibble, he insists on dropping food on the floor before eating.

He then leaves portions behind.

Chester, being the sort of cat who never lets (a chance to eat Claude's) food go to waste, sails in as soon as Claude walks away, hoovers up the remnants...

...and leaves a glaze of cat spit on the floor. I'd better go get the soap again.

In tidier news, I spun up some more Blue-Faced Leicester. It's squooshy! There should be enough for a hat once it's combined with the white BLF from earlier.

I also started a narrow Hydrangea Lace Scarf using yarn I spun from a merino-silk blend.

That stripe really is there. I hope there are more light patches in the yarn or else that one band is going to look pretty silly.

I spun up the other superwash merino roving I had bought from etsy. I made a 3-ply yarn using the fractal method described in Spin-Off Summer 2007, but in hindsight I think I should have Navajo plied, because that really lovely teal in the singles was overpowered by all of the pink.

Cindy sent some info on yardage for the Baby Surprise Jacket (thanks!). The 200-ish yards I have of chocolate and cherries yarn is nowhere near enough, but luckily I already have some white sportweight sock yarn at home. Hooray!

Hee hee hee

2007-10-23T23:10:00.000-07:00

I have made something that looks like sock yarn!

I finished spinning and plying the chocolate and cherries roving (on the right). It seems to be close to the specs I mentioned earlier from Spin-Off Fall 2007 (around 14 wpi and 5 twists per inch), and although I haven't run it through any official measuring tool I think I have about 230 yards. Most of it looks decent but I did run into some trouble with singles falling apart, especially where I had joined new roving or where the colour had been solid (instead of having, e.g., some red fiber and some white) and the twist thus harder to see.

I had thought about making socks with this yarn but now I'm more in the mood for knitting a Baby Surprise Jacket just so I can say I did it. Does anyone know how much sportweight yarn one needs for this?

Since I was in the mood, I also finished spinning and plying some Bluefaced Leicester roving (left in the photo) that I had acquired a few weeks ago in a spinning class. I'll have to pick up some more of this--the sheen is really pretty! Maybe I'll even put enough twist into the singles next time...

We went to Carkeek Park yesterday and got some photos of the sunset.

Food

2007-10-16T12:05:00.000-07:00

I ordered about 4 oz of hand-dyed superwash merino roving from sprouty25's Etsy shop back in September and it arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago. I started spinning it last night, following or at least trying to follow Kristi Schueler's specs for her Green Lake Socks in the latest issue of Spin-off. The results have been mixed so far; I think I might be getting the correct wpi but too low a twist.

I wasn't sure what to expect with the colours since the dye was applied (I think) in patches and not as solid blocks of colour, but I like the look so far, even if it inspires a frighteningly strong craving for either huge slabs of Black Forest cake or a sundae with chocolate fudge and strawberry sauce.

About one-third of the roving.

First bobbin of singles.

It's raining raining raining but do the cats care? I think not.

WIP

2007-10-12T23:37:00.000-07:00

Why yes, I do still knit and spin when I'm not babbling about elk.

I wanted to do the Socktoberfest thing again this year, but seeing Theresa's finished Pacific Northwest Shawl inspired me to resume the one I hid away several months ago, so the socks aren't really a top priority right now. I've reached the fish near the border and hope that taking this photo of my shawl on a beach in the Pacific Northwest (Dungeness Spit to be exact) will, I don't know, infuse the shawl with speedy-and-easy-knitting mojo or something. Look, the photo is even colour-coordinated.

A project like this makes me think I'm more of a process than product (or whatever the term is) knitter. I don't even wear this shade of blue; I just liked the pattern and the yarn seemed to suit it.

Socks aren't being completely ignored, though. Most of the leg is done on the first Conwy sock.

Yarn: ShibuiKnits Sock.
Pattern: Conwy from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road.

I also finished spinning and plying the blue-ish merino roving. It's drying in the bathroom right now. Most of it looks decent, but some parts seem underplied. There are about 500 yards of 2-ply, and I'm guessing it varies between sport and fingering weight. It doesn't seem to be as blue as the earlier samples I spun, but I think that's because I kept changing my predrafting method.

The cats tried to get involved. The cow-cat took over my lap while I was plying and then got upset at the yarn running over his back, while the tabby messed with the lazy kate.

Gallivanting

2007-10-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

If one shifts from actual blogging to hypothetical blogging, is that a cause for concern?

I've been in that mood lately...we'll see something or do something, and I'll tell M that hey, I really should blog about that, and for a moment I get really excited about the prospect, but by the time I actually sit down at the computer the mood has passed. Somehow I managed to catch myself off guard this time, so here we are.

My in-laws visited from Rhode Island and stayed for about 2 weeks. We took the opportunity to play tourist ourselves, though to different degrees--I, for one, did NOT go camping at Mt. Rainier on Columbus Day weekend when there was snow on the ground. We hiked in Olallie State Park and visited the salmon hatchery in Issaquah.

Waterfall in Olallie State Park (photo by M)

Salmon leaping in holding pen at Issaquah hatchery (photo by my FIL)

We went to the Ballard Locks and watched boats come in from Puget Sound. We also saw some salmon jump around in the lake. I wish I'd gotten a photo of that! Apparently they do this when they move from salt to fresh water to clean the salt off of their scales before swimming upstream to spawn and (probably yes) die. I think these salmon were stragglers--most of them have already entered the smaller rivers by now.

We stayed overnight on the Olympic Peninsula and stopped at Dungeness Spit, the Hoh Rainforest, and Rialto Beach. The spit is several miles long, so the only way I could get a picture of the lighthouse at the tip without walking out there was by jamming my camera right up against one of those binocular contraptions set up on a viewing platform.

The spit. Trust me, there is a lighthouse out there.

Lighthouse at Dungeness Spit. It's at the right side behind the tree branch.

Forest near Dungeness Spit.

My in-laws hung out at the B&B (the Miller Tree Inn--I highly recommend it) while M and I hiked a bit in the Hoh Rain Forest. The moss there was incredible! It grew everywhere, even on phone booths.

We felt like we were in Tolkien's Fangorn Forest.

(photo by M)

This sign was posted near the start of the trail:

I didn't pay too much attention to it at the time. Halfway through the trail, though, M suddenly said, "Wait! There's an elk." Sure enough, a lone female was standing about 15 feet away and chewing on the greenery. As M took photos, I spotted a second elk a bit farther away. We were totally psyched and feeling at one with nature, so when I thought I saw a third elk I attributed it initially to overexcitement. Then I took another look and realized it really was a third elk. A few seconds later two more elk appeared. By now we were recalling all of the signs we had seen in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks warning people to stay away from the animals and not taunt the bison, etc. (fine, I'm paraphrasing), so we decided to move on and bid the elk farewell. We wondered a bit if they would get aggressive, but M said we should be fine as long as there were no youngsters or males around. This was when the scene became really cliched; as soon as he said that, we noticed that two of the elk looked suspiciously small, we spotted a male, and one of the females stepped onto the trail and started walking towards us.

M and I haven't agreed yet on her intentions. I'd like to think that maybe she was just curious, but M, who was standing between me and the rapidly approaching elk and thus in a better position to know, insists she was glaring at us. Regardless, we decided to retreat since our path forward was blocked; thus ended our brush with nature for the day.

Rialto Beach was beautiful too, even though it was a bit misty/cloudy that day.

Stashing

2007-09-25T03:41:00.000-07:00

The mailbox was productive yesterday.

This is 4.1 oz of hand-dyed superwash merino roving that I bought last week from copperpot's store on Etsy. I'm hoping I can squeeze out enough yarn for two socks (??) before the cow-cat tries to eat it.

Knitting knitting knitting

The (knitting part of the) Mystery Stole is done! Now I need to find a blocking surface.

Hey, who stole my rows?

2007-09-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

About an hour ago, I counted the number of Clue 4 stitches remaining to be picked up on my Mystery Stole and realized that I had reached (technically) row 159 of the wing. I was shocked; until that moment, I had THOUGHT I was on row 149.

It's not an egregious error, but I'll have to fudge the rest of the rows so that the feathers lengthen gradually instead of looking long-long-stubby. On the bright side, I'm 10 rows closer to being done! Semi-huzzah!

Mmm colours

2007-09-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

We picked up some cheap pine chairs from Ikea a few weeks ago and tried hide this fact by staining them to match our dining table. The main factor working in our favour was that there was a store nearby full of staining gurus who could custom-match the colours. The really enormous factor working against us was that the chairs were made from (presumably) cheap pine and the table most certainly wasn't.

Despite this, the gurus managed to find a colour combination that turned a patch of the chair into a colour nearly identical to that of the table. Once we got all of the materials home, I lugged everything onto the balcony and started to apply liberal amounts of stain to seats and backs and sides and undersides and even to bits that would never, ever see the light of the day once they were incorporated into an actual chair. Visions of elegant matching furniture and throngs of admiring DIY-ers danced in my head...well...once or twice.

It didn't turn out that way, of course. Despite being practically marinated in stain, the chairs are still several shades lighter than the table and still look like they came from Ikea. Fortunately the differences aren't as obvious indoors.

I'm sure my technique was flawed, but the wood should share the blame; after all, a niddy-noddy to which I applied some leftover stain turned out fabulously.

Chair and niddy-noddy pieces.

World o' knitting/spinning

I saw the Yarn Harlot at Third Place Books last Friday! She spoke for over an hour and answered a couple of questions, but then we had to surrender the area to another Friday group. I already had a signed copy of her latest book, thanks to Rachel, so I left right after the talk.

I churned out the gusset part of Monkey sock #2 during the talk and finished the rest of it today. Hooray for Monkeys and Trekking yarn! The pattern was easy as anything and the colours looked so cool in the sock that I NEARLY gave into the temptation to make the socks in my foot size instead of that of the intended recipient.

MMMMonkeys!!!!

There's an enormous amount of yarn left over, but I'm not sure if there is enough for more socks...maybe I'll try making mittens or doing colourwork or something.

Leftover Trekking yarn with average thirsty adult male cat for scale.

I also finished spinning and plying some pinkish roving that I picked up last year. It's 2-ply, about sportweight, but I don't know the length.

Pinkish 2-ply yarn on fabulously stain-absorbing niddy-noddy, with CatRuler(TM) for scale.

Rainy morning

2007-09-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Happy September! Instead of starting Christmas ornaments as I did last year, I spent the weekend beating the crap out of yarn.

That doesn't sound very nice, does it? Let me backtrack.

I popped into Weaving Works about a week ago and picked up some merino roving in the colourway Denim. It's really pretty stuff! It reminds me of a gas giant when it's all balled up like this.

And as you can see, I spun some of it too. I wasn't sure if I should go for 2-ply or 3-ply so I tried a bit of both. It really kinked up the first time I plied it so I went back and untwisted it a bit. Here it is in its kinked form. I forgot to take photos of it afterwards.

The thing I'm not sure about though is whether the yarn is supposed to kink up like that before one sets the twist.

Anyway, I followed the directions in Shannon Okey's book Spin to Knit to set the twist, hence the yarn-beating. The yarn is still drying in the bathroom with some buddies (in the photo it's second from the right).

Here's a close-up.

The drop spindle is still seeing action. I tried switching to a top-whorl for a while but still find the bottom-whorl much easier to use and less wobbly. Here are some singles; I kind of cheated and spun the spindle on a table so I could keep the singles thin.

World o' knitting
I'm on Clue 5 of the Mystery Stole! Hah! Take that, Clue 4!

And I passed the heel on the first Monkey sock.

The paragon of productivity

2007-08-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

Or procrastination, take your pick.

Just after reaching Seattle (literally--we brought the cats in, fed them, set up the litter boxes, and left), we made a short but fun trip to Vancouver and stayed at my parents' place for a night. My brother's family was in town that week, our Seattle cousin and her husband also drove up, and some of the Vancouver cousins met up with us, so we had a grand old time. My parents are coming down here with my aunt next week.

I finished a hand towel and face towel from Ram Wools' Linen Bath Set (yarn: Euroflax Originals)...

...and I carried the second skein of Euroflax around in my knitting bag without bothering to wind it, just because it felt nice...

...and I slogged along some more on clue 4 of Mystery Stole 3 (12-row repeats + purling every other row + oodles of rows = not a happy me. I'm still not sure how I survive when a pattern calls for stockinette stitch)...

...and I started the Minnowknits Green Bean sweater. The cables work really well with the yarn (Plymouth Encore), but for some reason the 5-cable version shown on the pattern card looks nicer than the 7-cable version that the larger sizes require. Maybe next time I'll try chunkier yarn and stick with 5 cables...or space the cables out more...

...and I started a sock with Opal Tiger yarn.

M worked and worked and worked. His schedule has been pretty heavy this month--I hope it's just a new employee hazing and not a long-term phenomenon. I've been doing some work myself but also looking into other options...if things pan out I'll let you know.

On one of M's days off we went to Ikea and bought some cheap pine chairs for the dining room. We'd like to stain them to match the dining table, but as the guy at the stain store pointed out, the table is oak, not cheap, and really not new at all. We'll probably fudge and settle for a close rather than exact match or else the stain will cost more than the chairs!

The tabby found a high place to lurk...

and figured out how to open doors (sorry this is sideways).

The cow-cat found his happy place.

Things will get ugly when he realizes we're putting a desk there.

He's only escaped once so far, but he did it with style, bounding gaily past the neighbours' doors, down one floor, and back up while I thundered after him shrieking, "NOOOOO! COME BAAAAACK!!" and wondering how I would explain things to my husband if the cat slipped through the fence and ran onto the street. Fortunately he didn't get that far, and he even let me carry him back inside.

Late again

2007-07-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

With the move and all, I never got around to posting any progress photos of my Argosy scarf for the Tour de France KAL, so I'm trying to remedy that now. I know there are still a ton of ends to weave in, but since weaving ends is one of my least favorite knitting-related activities I'm not sure when it will happen so this will have to do.

Tada! Almost-there Argosy!

Out there

2007-07-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

We've reached Seattle! Our route took us through Pittsburgh, Chicago, Minneapolis, Rapid City, Cody, Grand Teton National Park, Bozeman, and Spokane. Here are some of my favorite photos (warning: this is photo-heavy):

The tabby apparently trying to avoid the journey by donating himself to charity:

The cats in the car. We kept them crated except when they were in hotels.

A brief stop in Chicago at Arcadia Knitting for the Panopticon's 1000 Knitters photoshoot. Here is the man himself, holding the Argosy scarf I worked on for most of the trip (more on that later):

The cow-cat lounging in a Chicago hotel. At king size, this was definitely the biggest bed we saw on our trip, but the two cats still managed to spread out enough to take up at least a quarter of it. I think they come with little air pumps or something that they use to inflate themselves when needed.

The Argosy scarf, somewhere on the way to Minneapolis.

A brush fire beside the highway in Wisconsin. Yes, we called 911 about this and yes, they already knew.

One of the dozen or so Wall Drug signs we saw en route. I wish I'd caught the one that said "ONLY 355 MILES TO WALL DRUG!"

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. We didn't go inside. We did, however, stop for lunch at Ziggy's, a nearby hot dog place that won me over when the women let us bring the cats inside (crated, of course) so they could sit in an air-conditioned area while we ate, instead of out in the car on a sunny 100-degree day.

Something we saw near an Old West ghost town in South Dakota east of the Badlands. We still have no idea what it was for, but it looked pretty cool.

Badlands National Park. It was hot and dry but beautiful. We saw deer and prairie dog colonies and the tiny town of Interior, SD, population 67.

The Cody Nite Rodeo. We got to see the One-Arm Bandit and his bison. They started off going in circles on the ground, but eventually the rider herded the bison up a ramp and onto the top of the van.

Grand Teton National Park from the east side of Signal Mountain, just before sunset.

The Tetons from the west side of Signal Mountain during sunset.

One of the buffalo we saw. This one was calmly grazing right beside the road in the park.

Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park, behind some roadside geothermal activity.

Old Faithful doing its thing.

Mammoth Hot Springs.

Part of Mystery Stole 3. I started this in Montana when I got tired of working on Argosy.

We started keeping an eye out for amusing/odd signs somewhere in Ohio. Somewhere in western Montana, we spotted a large banner that said...well actually, we weren't sure what it said at first.

From a distance the letter "c" looked like an "o" and I caught myself wondering if this was some type of pasta I had never heard of before, but as we got closer we saw the alarmed cartoon bull on the sign and realized that it was an ad for the upcoming Testicle (i.e. prairie oyster) Festival. By the time I switched the camera on we had passed the sign, so we ended up turning back east at the next exit so we could drive by again for a picture.

Knitting
I finished the Pomatomus socks before the trip but didn't get around to take a picture until today.

The Argosy scarf is currently resting. I started this one for the Tour de France knitalong and managed to get through about 18 repeats before deciding I'd had enough (temporarily) of the yarn-pattern combination. In hindsight, I probably could have made it a bit wider.

I'm on clue 3 for the Mystery Stole.

This new place of ours has had a couple of warts, including the fridge that doesn't really refrigerate (we had to throw out a 3-day-old carton of milk before I would finally admit this; fortunately the freezer works just fine), but the location is pretty good--we're minutes away from a lot of the things we need and the nearest yarn store, the Fiber Gallery, is only a 20-minute walk away. I think I'm going to like it here...

To-do list

2007-07-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Done: Pomatomus
Getting there: Packing
Just started: Argosy, for the Tour de France KAL.
Not started yet: Mystery Stole 3
Still to come: Photos

Une semaine (and a day)

2007-07-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

In one week, a truck containing most of our belongings will lumber out West. One day after that, we'll pack the rest of our belongings and two hysterical cats into a rental car and head out West ourselves.

We'll be making a few stops to visit friends and relatives (not as many stops and not as many visits as we would like, thanks to the afore mentioned cats). If I'm lucky, we might even make it into Chicago in time for The Panopticon's 1000 Knitters project.

The packing is going...well, it's going. I just want to know how all that stuff got into our apartment without me noticing, and whether it really has to come with us.

The tabby frolics and looks as disgustingly happy as he can.

The cow-cat chills in a box under a table, swipes angrily at us, and yowls with hunger. (edit: fortunately not at the same time...usually)

I can't really blame him right now. The poor critter is getting his teeth cleaned under general anesthesia tomorrow (have I mentioned that he gets angry at the vet?), so he's on an overnight fast.

Thanks to the mayhem, I still haven't made two very important decisions:
1) What am I going to knit on the trip?
2) Qu'est-ce que je vais faire pour le KAL Tour de France?

The trip options are pretty broad...I have a bunch of UFOs, some gift knitting, socks, and Mystery Stole 3 (by the way, I hear sign-ups end tomorrow). For the Tour de France knitting, I'm torn between using up my three remaining balls of green Rowan Linen Drape on Argosy, making washcloths from some Euroflax I picked up earlier this week at the Yarns at Lace Wings sale in Pawtucket, and knitting socks. I'm leaning toward Argosy, since the name seems appropriate for a cross-country voyage.

Le vache-chat dit encore, "Miaou...j'ai faim...MIAOUUUUUUU." Le petit pauvre!

Volume reduction

2007-06-29T15:22:00.001-07:00

I've been doing some plying.

The gray skein is Corriedale and the multi-colour is Blue-Face Leicester. I bought both last fall and spun the singles on a drop spindle and on my mother-in-law's Lendrum. I did all of the plying on the Lendrum.

The Corriedale is 2-ply, but the BFL is a mixed bag. I had 3 bobbins plus a single from the drop spindle, so I started by plying the 3 bobbins together, but I had trouble keeping the 3 plies from tangling, so I went down to 2-ply. I ended up with a lot of leftovers from the drop spindle, so I tried Navajo plying the rest, but I may have done something wrong because the end keeps unravelling.

It's just a long way of saying there's a lot of practice going on and the cats will probably be getting large rustic-looking pillows or something for Christmas, because this isn't really sweater quality yarn. I think I am getting better at this though.

There is still the alpaca. I must plan more carefully this time.

The temperature is much more comfortable today, so I may resume packing tonight.

Knitbloggerstock

2007-06-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

As you may have seen in various places, we had a second gathering last Saturday of knitbloggers from around Southeast New England. Kristen, Debby, Sarah, Carol, Cindy, Kimberly, Greeley, Heather and I descended upon Sakonnet Purls to ogle (and buy!) yarn and knit for a couple of hours. I picked up some Plymouth Encore, 3 balls of Regia sock yarn (hopefully this will be enough for Cookie A’s German Stocking pattern!), and some cotton yarn for a hat. I also acquired a second set of Addi Lace circulars and promptly transferred a shawl over. I miss the extra grab the Addi Naturas had on the lace weight alpaca yarn, but I definitely prefer the joins and pointiness of the Addi Lace needles.

Kimberly gave me a very nice going-away present--two skeins of sock yarn from Farmhouse Yarns and a bottle of coffee syrup. Thanks, Kimberly!

Felix overdomesticus

2007-06-21T19:37:00.001-07:00

Tonight my cat had his best evening in weeks.

About half an hour ago I noticed something fluttering around the room. My first thought was, "Save the yarn!!" but then I remembered the yarn was in plastic containers on the other end of the apartment. Meanwhile, my cat noticed the fluttering creature and tried to go into Bugkiller mode, but due to the dearth of prey around here his instincts were a bit rusty, so he spent the entire time alternating between lounging on the floor, squeaking excitedly when he saw the bug, and attacking random buglike objects. It was a little embarrassing. I expect that once the bug realizes my cat has forgotten how to hunt it will invite its friends over to mock us.

Himself doing his thing.

I finished the surprise object today. Once I tuck in the last two ends of yarn I'll post a photo in Ravelry. I'll post another one here when the object reaches its recipient.

Back to knitting

2007-06-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Despite appearances to the contrary, I have been knitting in the last few weeks, even during the packing frenzy. I finished the first Pomatomus sock and thought, "HAH! In your face, Pomatomus!" I then cast on for the second sock, knit a few rows, put the knitting down, picked it up, untangled the needles and yarn, knit a few more rows...and started wondering why one of the stitches looked so indescribably odd. I glared at it and tried to frog down the column, but with no success. After picking at it some more I finally realized that, when I had put the knitting down and picked it back up, I managed to flip the freaking sock inside-out and start knitting BACKWARDS along the row.

I decided to re-start the sock. Things are fine now. Pomatomus and I are still at a draw in this battle of wills.

Left to right: Pomatomus #1, Pomatomus #2, and an Addi Lace needle that I'm carrying around just because I like to look at it.

I also finished knitting the surprise object. The Manos Cotton Stria I used (single ply with a thread) can be broken just by tugging really hard on it, and it's kind of bumpy, which may be a problem for seaming. I'm thinking of seaming using a matching plied yarn instead. Should I look specifically for cotton yarn to go with the cotton knit, or can I just buy whatever as long as it is also machine-washable?

Here's a close-up of the object. I did say it's a surprise.

KAL
Debby and Meg are co-hosting a Tour de France KAL. I haven't been on a bike in years but would like to sign up anyway--it just feels appropriate, with the cross-country drive and all.

Other things
The rest of my non-work hours have been devoted to packing and apparently attempting to corner the market on boxes.

Before anyone asks about the spinning wheel, yes, spinning counts as part of packing. After all, I won't have access to the wheel for a while (this one is on loan from my mother-in-law), and the drop spindle is kind of slow, and I have fleece, and this way I can reduce the volume it takes up...in...the...moving...truck. Yeah. You know, volume = money and all that.

In fact, if I extend that argument then knitting also counts as packing since many of the finished objects will take up less space than the yarn.

I'd better go pack some more.

Packing

2007-06-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

At some point I'll resume posting photos of actual knitting.

We've started packing for the move. On one hand it may be a bit early for this, but on the other hand...well...I'm not the most focused packer. My typical evening seems to run like this:

1) Gotta pack gotta pack gotta PACK!
2) ...after the news. And some supper.
3) And maybe some vapid TV shows.
4) Okay, now I'm really going to pack.
5) Ooh, what's this? I haven't seen this in years! (nostalgic interlude follows)
6) Aw now it's all dusty. (frenzy follows involving duster, cloths, air filter and/or vacuum)
7) Hooray, I've finished a box! Oh...it's midnight...I'd better go to bed.

(Repeat until moving day)

Eh? Who, me?

2007-05-31T20:40:00.000-07:00

So I just popped over here and came across an American accent quiz. I couldn't help trying it myself and, well...I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the results.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: North Central "North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.
The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I'm pretty sure though that not all Canadians sound like that!

Knitting
I finished, blocked and seamed the Backyard Leaves scarf. It's amazing what an effect blocking can have on size.

Here's the finished scarf:

Moving prep
The tabby is busy colonizing every box he can reach.

Chilling

2007-05-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hurrah for the long weekend! I finished one more repeat on the Backyard Leaves scarf.

Meanwhile, the cats lounged,...

yawned,...

and tried to look as wide as possible.

Something finished

2007-05-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Despite my best efforts, I managed to finish this tank top! Woo-hoo!

Yarn: Hana from Artfibers, colour #18, a little over 4 balls
Pattern: A cowl neck tank top that the Artfibers staff printed for me. They have some computer software that can spit out patterns tailored specifically for your body measurements. I think the designs are pre-set, but it's still pretty cool.
Time: I started this last August and finished darning the ends this evening. I stopped working on it for about four months, and I worked on other things at the same time, so I have no idea how long it actually took me.
~~Screw-ups~~Modifications: I thought I'd be clever and slip the stitches at the armhole edges to make them nice and flat. Hey, it had worked on another tank top pattern. Then it turned out I had to pick up those stitches later to make a ribbed edging, so the armholes are a bit tight. That will teach me to read the entire pattern before starting.

Random statistic
Resident cats who want more foliage in their diets: One. He's shunning the sunflowers though. I'll have to ask the florist what kind the other ones are.

Seattle part 2

2007-05-22T20:15:00.001-07:00

So as I said before, we're moving to Seattle this summer. My husband got a job out there. It's a good position, everyone I've talked to says Seattle is a great city...and have you seen their downtown library? Their Friends store sells removable librarian tattoos! "I heart Dewey decimal system" indeed (though that's not the only drawing point for the city).

I'm excited but also a bit overwhelmed, since among other things we'll have to pack a ton of stuff and sort out the things we don't need, and find a mover, and convince the cats that things will be All Right even as we haul them across the country. Those who have experienced the cowcat's wrath and the tabby's...tabbiness...will understand our concern about the latter.

The knitting checklist

2007-05-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

I saw this on some other blogs and decided to give it a try.

Bold = stuff you’ve done, italics = stuff you plan to do one day, and normal = stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire and I'm glad I got that one out of the way, because I don't think my wrists are up for it anymore.
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn (maybe)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn (maybe)
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn (maybe)
Domino knitting (=modular knitting) (I think--does the Moderne blanket count?)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (Since I have to ask what this is, the answer is probably no I haven't done it but I probably wouldn't mind trying)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn (I might knit what I've spun, but it doesn't really qualify as yarn)
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit (I think)
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes (I did thumbholes on a pair of wristwarmers in a buttonhole style)
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting (does Anemoi count?)
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths,tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars (I like my single circular needle!)
Olympic knitting (I started last year but didn't finish)
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking (what's smocking?)
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art.
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting (what's an example?)
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads (went together with the wire knitting!)
Swatching
LongTail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern (but only for stuffed animals, and they're very vague, e.g. "try short row here")
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies (not on purpose--I can't seem to get baby hats right)
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerlessmitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Yardage

2007-05-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

I think I may have a wee problem here.

Left to right: Half of a skein of Colinette Jitterbug, in the Bright Charcoal colourway; what remains of the other half; the sock in progress.

I suspected the yardage might be a bit short for these socks (apparently I'm neither the only one with this problem nor the only fan of this colourway), so instead of doing the 3 Chart A repeats in the pattern I did 2.5, thinking I could adjust the foot a bit. Doing 2 repeats would have made life much easier but at the same time...eh...the leg would have been a bit too short for my taste.

I'm at the heel gusset now, and the yarn looks awfully low. The new scale and the old scale both insist that slightly less than half of the yarn remains, and since half of the stitches will now be stockinette part of me wants to think that will be just enough. But then I look at the used ball, and I look at the unused ball, and the other part of me starts freaking and saying hey, that does not look like slightly less than half of the yarn left in the ball, that looks like I'm going to RUN OUT OF YARN, I had better take out that 0.5 repeat of Chart A...but then the leg will be too short for my taste...oh dear.

Waffling over this has distracted me a bit from worrying about how I'm going to tweak Chart B. Have you seen Chart B of this pattern? Cookie A. threw in an adjustment factor to compensate for the pattern not being square, and I just can't visualize how to apply it when one starts the chart halfway up at what would normally be the right edge of the pattern (the K2tog tbl on row 12 in Chart A). Do I still add something on at the left of the chart, or do I now add it on to the right? Ack!

Other than that things are going well.

Upheaval and hysterics as usual

2007-05-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Yeeargh!

We're moving from Providence to Seattle in July!

Even the intrepid Pomatomus is starting to freak out (when it's not busy sneaking off to unknit itself).

Details to follow.

Take two

2007-05-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

Pomatomus, we meet again.

You thought you had defeated me when I reluctantly frogged my first attempt at knitting you. You lurked in a corner as I sadly converted that poor yarn into another pattern. You mocked me silently, as I worked on other socks and brooded over your fishiness and your ripples of colour.

But I am back, and this time I have brought Colinette Jitterbug (Bright Charcoal!) into the fray. Perhaps it isn't as stripey as I had hoped, but I think it will do the trick. Soon, o scaly one, you will be mine.

Finished socks

2007-05-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Hand-dyed merino/tencel blend from Mind's Eye Yarns. I forget the colorway though. I bought it at the store, but it's also available on-line here.
Needles: 2.0 mm Clover and Inox dpn.
Pattern: Generic top-down sock.
Comments: I like a dense fabric as much as the next person, but those 2.0 mm needles get really painful after a while. The yarn was also kind of slippery. But I like how it looks!

Life's equations

2007-05-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

1a) Small person + worsted-weight yarn + surprise + relatives who read this = fast but not really bloggable knitting. I will try anyway.

1b) Old camera that is not so good on the close-ups + attempted close-up shot = blur-o-rama.

Yarn = Manos Cotton Stria. It’s too bad I didn’t sign up for Project Spectrum, because the colours would have fit in perfectly!

2a) Drunk neighbours singing Bohemian Rhapsody across the parking lot on a warm night = slightly annoyed husband + closed window

2b) 2a + me singing along = irate husband

Not an equation, just an unrelated thought.
I went to a wedding last weekend and, as usual, brought the digital camera. I felt odd though about using it to take candid shots. It's true that I didn't have to worry about wasting film, since I could just delete the bad photos, but I spent so much time staring into the viewfinder that I ended up missing a lot of what was happening in real life. It made me feel really disconnected. Has anyone else ever noticed this feeling?

Oops

2007-05-07T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hey, I missed my blogiversary!

Thank you everyone for reading this blog. It's really been great to meet some of you in person (or figure out who you were from your own blogs!) and make new friends over the past year.

So, without further ado, I present the resident balloon and cupcake.*

*If you're wondering what possessed me to knit a balloon and cupcake, check out this site.

The promo item

2007-04-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago my in-laws handed me a brochure advertising a free trial of an on-line stamp company. I thought of turning it down but reconsidered upon seeing something about a FREE 5-lb digital scale. I decided to make a mental list of the pros and cons of signing up:

Con: We don't use that many stamps.

Pro: I have yarn that should be weighed. A scale would handy for this.

Con: it might be difficult to cancel my account at the end of the trial period.

Pro: Yarn + scale = lots of new knowledge = happiness...or is it power? Either way, this is something good.

Con: Who knows what might be in the company's software?*

Pro: Yarn...hello?

I decided to sign up for the offer.

The free scale ended up not being free at all since I had to wait until after the trial to qualify for it and then wait some more while my coupon was redeemed, and now I'll have to wait until Monday to call the company to cancel my account, but by golly that scale is mine.

Now I can report on the progress of my knitting with even more detail!

The Hana tank top is seamed up, and the only remaining step is to darn in the ends.

Amount of yarn remaining: approximately 1.6 oz.

I knitted half of the Backyard Leaves scarf using slightly less than 2 balls of Karabella Aurora 8.

Mass of a ball of Karabella Aurora 8: 1.8 oz (the ball band says 1.75 oz, so maybe the band itself added a bit extra)
Mass of half a scarf: 3.0 oz

I also worked some more on one of the socks. I don't have any stats on the socks themselves, but there is about 1.5 oz of yarn left.

Here's a gratuitous shot of the scale in action:

*I'm not implying anything about this particular company! But I have heard stories about free software sometimes causing problems.

Spatially challenged, or merely diabolical?

2007-04-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

My old computer monitor was a behemoth. The screen size was about average, but the whole thing was really deep and every time I moved I dreaded the thought of packing and setting up the silly thing.

The tabby, on the other hand, loved it. Remember this?

The behemoth was his place for sitting, draping, hanging out, and attacking the cursor arrow while I tried to work. Though I grumbled at its size, he found the proportions perfect.

Then I replaced the behemoth with a nice compact flat-screen monitor. I worried for a few moments that the cat might still try to climb on top of the replacement, but reasoned that he was bright enough to realize that it was too narrow for him.

You see where this is going, right?

He jumped on top of the monitor a few minutes ago, and of course he tipped it over. This was his first attempt, and I hope it is his last. Fortunately both the cat and the monitor are fine. I would chalk it up to the cat not being as bright as I had thought, but I suspect this is simply a new scheme he is hatching to make us feed him. We shall see.

Excuses, excuses

2007-04-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

I'm still here! Between work and life I just haven't had the time to post anything, and even now putting up photos is a bit of a stretch. So, here's a mostly photo-less summary of the last few weeks:

1) Despite the cat's best efforts, I finished the cowl neck on my tank top and started on the ribbing around the armholes. It turned into a slightly painful lesson on the importance of reading through the entire pattern before knitting. Last year I had knitted a tank top from a pattern that included slipping stitches at the edge of the armhole for a tidier look, so I thought, "Hey, I know this new pattern says to knit but I'm going to try that slipped stitch thing". Unfortunately, it turned out that later on I had to pick up 140 stitches along that edge, which meant picking up 2 stitches per slipped stitch, which resulted in a really tight edging on my first try. I decided to use larger needles to pick up the stitches on the other armhole and re-do the first one if this tactic worked.

The good news is that the second armhole is indeed looser...but that means now I have to rip out and re-do the first edging!

2) The Knit from your Stash thing also isn't going so well, unless I'm allowed to loosen the definition of "stash" to include yarn that has been in my possession for less than a day before I start knitting with it.

3) I finished my rainbow socks!

Yarn: Socks that Rock, in the "Fire on the Mountain" colorway
Pattern: Wendy's Toe-up pattern, with ribbing on the legs.

Definitely not a magician

2007-04-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

The front of my UFO tank top is finished and both sides are being blocked.

For my next trick, I will keep the cats out of the room until the pieces dry.

(2 minutes later) Whoops, too late.

Give and take

2007-03-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

Who was it who said that nature abhors a vacuum?

This morning, as I was still sighing over the closure of the only LYS within walking distance (vital for a one-car household), Rachel called up and said, "What do you know about a store called Fresh Purls?"

The short answer was "nothing", but as soon as she told me it was within walking distance (or something like that) I knew I had to check it out. I toddled over on the pretext of running some errands, browsed for a while, bought some sock yarn, did my errands, and went back in the store when I saw Rachel there on my way home. It turns out the store opened this past Monday, so it's not very surprising I hadn't seen it. I don't think Google had even picked up the store's website when I searched for it earlier, though it did turn up some mentions of the store's name.

So, things are looking up and the world seems to be resuming its natural state.

In UFO news, I'm up to the armholes on the front of the tank top. Pictures will follow once I take some.

Still knitting

2007-03-28T18:20:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the back of my UFO tank top!

...and I'm about 1/3 of the way through the front. With luck this thing might be done before summer.

I also finished a couple of socks. True, they're not from the same pair, but that just keeps life interesting.
This one is made from Socks that Rock yarn in the "Fire on the Mountain" colorway. I may lengthen the leg a bit.

And this one is from a merino/tencel blend purchased at Mind's Eye Yarn in Boston.

The Bayerische sock is past the heel. That may become my next UFO project.

The cats continue to hang out and beg for food.

Investing in my future, sort of

2007-03-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

I heard from Rachel the week before last that A Stitch Above was closing at the end of the month. My first thought was "AAAAAIGH! Why?!? It was within walking distance! What will I do???" This was followed in quick succession by "I wonder what the sale will be like," "Now I feel like a vulture," "Get over it," and "Oh shoot it's Saturday I'm going out of town on Monday and I won't be able to go to the store until the NEXT weekend."

I went on Saturday anyway, since one never knows what one will find at a yarn shop closing sale even if it has already been running for a few days. Things weren't as dire as I had feared because the sale didn't actually start until the Thursday before I showed up. As expected, about half of the yarn was gone (the few remaining skeins of Cascade 220, in a nice but not mindgrabbing shade of green, vanished while I was in the store), but I managed to find some...um..."investments". What do you think the chances are that any of these will appreciate like an out-of-print Alice Starmore book?

Sort of clockwise, starting at the back: Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today, Charlene Schurch's Mostly Mittens, Schaeffer Andrea yarn in what I think is the Renata Tebaldi* colourway but I'm not sure because the label had disappeared by the time I found it, and various colours of Jamieson Shetland yarn in both DK and Spindrift. Underneath all the yarn are two circular needles and the Chesapeake Collection pattern book from Yarns International.

*My former voice teacher would be pleased...she's a huge fan of Renata Tebaldi!

Rhode Island, Massachusetts

2007-03-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a story to send to Mark Patinkin.

For those not living in Rhode Island, Mr. Patinkin is a Providence Journal columnist who has written some tongue-in-cheek books about Rhode Island that allude to, among other things, the lack of awareness of the general US/world population regarding RI's status as a STATE (rather than, say, as a part of New York or Massachusetts).

I had never experienced this until today. I bought a Cingular pay-as-you-go phone this afternoon, and when I went to their website to activate it, I discovered that Rhode Island isn't listed as a state in their drop-down menu! I had to enter my city as "Providence Rhode Island" and pick Massachusetts as my state before the system would let me continue. What gives??

Springy sproingy

2007-03-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I've had just about enough of winter.

I tucked in all the ends on my February UFO, the Moderne Baby Blanket, and decided to work next on a tank top I had started last summer with yarn from Artfibers.

But then I started thinking about how cold and barren it was outside, and how I wanted some colour in my knitting. Next thing I knew, the swift was open and I was winding some Fire on the Mountain yarn from Socks that Rock into balls and starting a toe.

The patterning (quick colour changes) is nothing like what I had imagined (stripes) but at least it's distracting me from the weather.

Tentacles!

2007-02-28T19:18:00.000-08:00

The blanket continues to chug along.

There is a customer at the LYS who is famed for her ability to knit fabulous cables and other complicated patterns and yet mess up perfectly simple stockinette stitch. I'm starting to know how it feels. On one hand I have the Tina Shawl and the Bayerische sock, and on the other hand I have a GARTER STITCH blanket with one incorrect stitch (offending one, I cannot spot you right now but I know you're there), some very dubious-looking intarsia, and part of a border that had to be redone because I managed to pick up the stitches on the wrong side the first time.

On a third hand, the knitting part of it is done! Hooray!

But on a fourth hand, I still have to weave in the ends. Ick.

Since I only have two hands I should probably stop worrying about two of the points above and just feel relieved for now that I've finished the knitting part of the blanket. Perhaps one could take this concept further and create a Sloth-approved relaxation system in which the number of permitted worries are limited by appendages...

The whale obsession continues

2007-02-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday afternoon, the sky is clear, and the mighty land whale is taking his hourly nap.

Oh wait, that's not a whale, that's the cat. At least, I think it's the cat. I just found a drawing of humpback whales and now I'm not so sure.

Slumber on, whatever you are...life is good.

More whales

2007-02-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

We spent Monday afternoon wandering through the New Bedford Whaling Museum. This place is chock-full of things whale- and whaling-related, such as skeletons (blue whale, humpback whale, sperm whale, and parts of a right whale, all unfortunately accident victims, and all immense); objects made of whalebone; artwork created by whalers; tools of the trade; navigation equipment like sextants; models of whaling ships; and portraits, some garments, and furniture and household goods belonging to New Bedford residents from the whaling era.

I much prefer seeing whales alive and in the wild, but those skeletons were really interesting. I had assumed, based on pictures of sperm whales, that the skull of one would be about the size and shape of a van, but it looked more like a pterodactyl head--pointy, with a very narrow lower jaw, and giving no hint (to me, anyway) of the real size of the head.

The whalebone product collection includes several very elaborate yarn swifts. If you want to see photos of these, go to the museum website, click on “Collections Search” and “Search Object Collections”, and then click on “Browse” and type “swift” in the Browse Starting With field.

The artwork included intricate drawings done by sailors on sperm whale teeth and sailors’ valentines, which, from what I remember, involved a lot of small shells arranged in elaborate, symmetrical patterns, sometimes with a message written in yet more shells. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any photos of the valentines on the museum’s website, but there are photos of the tooth drawings--use the search function instead of browse, and type “sperm whale tooth” (no quotations) in the obj name field. Or, better yet, check out the museum if you have a chance.

In other news, here’s the status of my February UFO, with an angry cat presented for scale.

It’s the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting, made using Knitpicks Swish Superwash yarn. I’m now halfway through side two of the border. I had some trouble with the execution of intarsia on the multi-colored blocks, but perhaps that can be interpreted as a personal touch?

And before anyone asks, it’s for someone else’s baby. We haven’t gotten to that point yet.

My band of merry yarn

2007-02-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

Happy almost-mid-February! I hope you're staying warm and dry. Now that the various *-alongs I joined are underway, it's probably a good time to show what I'm working with.

First, there is the eponymous (?) stash for Knit From Your Stash 2007:

The photos were taken a few weeks ago, and I have to confess that since then another skein of sock yarn has joined the collection. But I will get this under control! (Maybe.)

There's more acrylic out in the front hall...alpaca on a bookshelf...dubious-looking things that I spun...and several balls that didn't appear here because they're grouped below with the UFO Resurrection Challenge projects:

Right now I'm working on the blanket at the bottom of the pile and on a sock that is sort of present (I'm using the mustard-coloured yarn in front). A photo of the sock-in-progress will follow.

Finally, there is the pedometer for Shape Up RI:

The instruction manual that came with the pedometer recommended walking about 10,000 steps each day. I had no idea how much that really was! Fortunately, some of the roads around my workplace were rebuilt recently, making walks in the area more pleasant than they used to be.

The mustard sock

The pattern is Eunny Jang's Bayerische Sock, knitted in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn (I forget which colour). The cables and ribbing do slow me down, but most of the time I don't mind...it's so neat to see the pattern form. The exception, I suppose, is on every eighth row when I have to do the large cables. Blunt needles, thin yarn, and a stubborn desire to cable without a cable needle do not combine well.

Volcano please, and hold the air

2007-02-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

I keep forgetting to post this! It's one last blurb about Maui.

(Warning: this post is photo-heavy)

A couple of days after our sunrise excursion, we returned to Haleakala for a hike. Although Haleakala is technically a volcano, the main "crater" that we see now was created by erosion. However, it contains several cinder cones, the closest of which is accessible by foot.

We drove up in daylight this time and thus got to enjoy the sight of clouds hanging out on the fields like cows at pasture.

We also glimpsed one of my favorite signs on the trip:

We parked at the summit, walked down the Sliding Sands trail for a bit and took the branch that led to the rim of a cinder cone.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see...maybe a fiery pit? It turned out to be more like a steep-sided bowl, but the rim was so narrow I had images of falling in and not being able to haul myself back up. We settled for peeping cautiously over the edge.
(Edit: The mist was from a cloud that rolled in as we were hiking. From what I read, Haleakala hasn't erupted since around 1790.)

We were struck by the range of colors--various shades of black, tan, yellow, brown, and red from the rocks, and green and silver from the plants.

And it was so quiet! I could hear the blood rushing through my ears, especially on the way back up when I got walloped by the thin air and had to stop every 50 feet to rest.

Here's one last view of the crater and cinder cone. You can see a bit of the Sliding Sands trail zigzagging down the far slope:

Weather predictions

2007-02-02T20:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Groundhog Day!

Do you think Groundhog Day will ever fall victim to the holiday decoration craze? Imagine yards filled with large inflatable groundhogs and klieg lights beaming from rooftops. Neighbourhoods could award prizes for the most shadow-free yard or the most artistic lighting.

The socks in the photos are former UFOs that I finished for the UFO Challenge. They were made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn (Purple Iris colourway) in the Knitpicks Mock Croc pattern, and I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for this challenge I would have had a hard time finishing them, because the pattern and color combo wasn't really to my taste. The groundhog liked the colours but thought the socks were too big.

Sloth-a-long

2007-01-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

So far this month I have joined three something-a-longs. Here they are; which one is not like the others?

a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) What are you talking about? I think you're typing in your sleep again.
e) Hey, this is a trick question! They're all alike!

I suppose the correct answer is context-dependent. The first two are related in that I might be able to get my yarn stash under control if I stick to both at the same time, but all three will involve a certain amount of self-discipline.

My husband has just pointed out that #3 is going to seriously cut into the time I have for either #1 or #2, unless I can learn to knit while walking. I must go think about this.