Oh, hai.

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

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



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



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

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



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



The cats continue to look cute and beg for food.





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

Stuff in trees, the citrus edition

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

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


Oh, there it is.

All sorts of things were blooming.

There was a heron on one of the turtle logs.

The bald cypresses were starting to unbald.

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



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

Tree Baby

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!

Yoke

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

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.

Wachet auf!

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

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!

Crochet?

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.

It's late and I'm sleepy

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!

At least no sex was involved

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.

Modern times

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."