Startitis Continues...

...but things are getting finished.

This weekend was the second baby shower in the past month. I missed the first one for cooking club, but Geek Boy represented (we were mistakenly informed that it would be a co-ed shower...and the father is a friend of his...unfortunately, he spent that afternoon hearing the word uterus more than he would have liked).

Anyway, after a crisis of yarn shortage, I think Haiku came out quite well.


The sleeves are done in Plymouth Wildflower, my favorite baby yarn. I don't remember what the green yarn was. Something I got when Technicolor Sheep was going out of business. Luckily, with the construction of the sweater, the green rows at the top of the sleeves blend in well with the body of the sweater, making it look intentional.

The hat is my basic baby hat. Plymouth Wildflower, 72 stitches. Quick and easy. If it's for a girl, a little eyelet pattern gets thrown in.

The new mom loved them. And the grandmom, who is my mom's best friend, called my mom the next day to comment on how much they all liked the sweater and hat.

So, with one item off the needles, my rampant spring startitis needed something new. Archiknist recently posted pictures of her purple shawl, from Victorian Lace Today. I was smitten. I checked the book out from the library and spent last night leisurely pouring over the patterns. I have some weddings coming up and thought a nice wrap would come in handy for over-air-conditioned receptions. There's some Sundara silk and fingering silky merino marinating in the stash. I have plans for the silk, but have been trying to figure out what to do with the silky merino. When I got home today (primary elections were today, and we're a polling place, so I was in at 5.45 AM and got to leave around 2.30PM), I mowed our seriously overgrown lawn, and then settled in with the book again and decided to do this:


It's aspiring to be the Handsome Triangle in Sundara fingering silky merino in Blossom (which I think will look lovely with my brown summer wedding dress). This is my first lace. I have the lifeline going already. The benefit to this pattern is that it's one where I can just knit until I run out of yarn. I'm hoping that I'm right in thinking that the magic of lace is in the blocking. Because right now, it just looks like a big old blob. However, I think one of my first tasks tomorrow is to photocopy and seriously enlarge the chart. Otherwise I might go cross-eyed.

I've also finished the first Rustic Arrow sock for Sockdown April. I had hoped to get my electric pear yarn in a good shot with the blossoms on the pear tree out front, but suddenly, they were all blowing off, so I had to go with what was left.

A Tale of Three Socks

I have been experiencing severe sock knitting ADD lately.


Now, I've never been a totally monogamous knitter, but this is ridiculous. Usually, I have a pair of socks on the needles, and then one other project, either something big, or something with a deadline. The year started out well. I participated in the mitten swap, and stayed pretty faithful to the mittens, since they were on deadline, and the stranded knitting was new to me. I think they turned out pretty well and were definitely well-received by Theresa in CA.


Meanwhile, I had started a pair of Nutkins for my mom. She loves her knit socks that I gave her last year. I made a new pair for her back in the fall. Unfortunately, they didn't fit over her heel, so she gave them back to me so they didn't just sit.


Then, just when the mittens were finished and on their way to CA, Geek Boy and I took a long weekend trip to Texas to visit his step-mom. As a general rule, I always start a new project when we travel. I've never had a problem taking my knitting on a plane, but just in case my particular TSA agent doesn't want to let knitting needles through that day, I don't want to lose work that I've already done. (I realize that this doesn't make that much sense, since on the return trip I could lose it all, but hey...)

So, I pulled out my Cherry Blossom yarn from Sundara, thinking it would be great spring knitting (plus, the yarn has been languishing for almost a year in the stash). A pair of Nutkins for me. I really like this pattern, and I had memorized it, so it would make for easy plane and car knitting.


And then, I decided I wanted to do the Sockdown challenge for April, and found a pattern with no picture, Judy Summer's Rustic Arrow, which called for sportweight yarn, and I had another Sundara yarn, Electric Pear, hanging out in the stash.


As if that's not enough. My fertile friends are at it again. There are six babies due between the end of this month and August. The first one got a little hat. The next shower is in two weeks, and I rescued a Haiku from the UFO pile and thought it would be perfect. The body and most of one sleeve were done. Finished sleeve one, and started sleeve two. Then it happened. Four rows left, but no yarn. Emergency trip to Finely a Knitting Party, since Cathy stocks Plymouth Wildflower. I figured for four rows, dye lot wouldn't be that big a deal. But she didn't have the color. Ugh!

I came home and re-examined. There was enough of the body color left to finish the four rows. Now I'll just have to undo the last for rows of the first sleeve so they match. (The first sleeve is camera shy, and I couldn't find it for the photo shoot...it was located later, hiding in another knitting bag.)

And now I want to start something on slightly larger needles because I just got these great stitch markers.

I was never a big fan of the "fancy" stitch markers. I mean, the little plastic loops work just fine, and are only a couple of bucks. But when I ordered from Zen String last year, she included a little set of stitch markers. I discovered I loved having them hanging from my project. And since I've recently become addicted to etsy, I finally ordered some new ones for myself.

So, that's what I've been up to for the last month or so. There were some other things. A little heartbreak (nothing serious), some travelling, some airport taxi service, new appliances and new beers (more on those later). Thanks for coming back.

Mindless Becomes Mindful

For the most part, I'm pretty easy going. One year, I was hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my family. I think that year we had maybe 19 people coming for dinner. Our oven died in the middle of cooking the turkey, and refused to be resurrected. Luckily my folks don't live far away, so we just finished the cooking over there and warmed all the side dishes on the outdoor grill. When my mom showed up with the fully-cooked turkey, she just looked at me and said, "19 people for dinner, your oven dies, and you LAUGH. You are *such* your father's daughter." (But, really, is there anything funnier than warm side dishes huddling together in a dead oven trying to keep warm?)

However, lately, I have been having trouble taking things in stride. So Geek Boy and I enrolled in the Penn Program for Stress Management (he took it many years ago). The program is based on mindful meditation and the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. It's been very interesting. The goal is to practice being present in the moment. Paying attention to your breathing, the physical sensations in your body, your thoughts (which you then let go of), and what's happening now.

It's been an interesting experience. I'm not usually someone who goes for things like this. In fact, when I first brought up the idea of taking the class, Geek Boy's first comment was, "You do know it's based on meditation, right?"

A side benefit has been one night out each week with Geek Boy. I take the train downtown after work and meet him at his office, we go to dinner and then to class. It's really lovely.

The train ride isn't very long, but with waiting time, I can get some knitting done. When this started, I decided to take the Nutkin socks with me as train knitting. Lovely yarn, interesting pattern, that was easy to memorize. Perfect mindless knitting.


Then something weird happened. I started getting mindful about my mindless knitting. Rather than just zipping away while looking out the window, I started watching my hands, the needles, the color changes in the yarn. Nothing new was happening. It's still just knitting. I just started using that time to just knit and not to think about anything else (well, as much as possible...it's only the 5th week I've been trying this whole thing, and I've got a long way to go).

Now, I haven't become a perfectly mindful knitter. Most of the time, I still just pull something out to keep my hands busy and have something to show for my addictions to Jon Stewart, Keith Olberman and Mike Rowe. But every now and then, it's nice to stop, breathe, knit.

And it doesn't hurt that the yarn is gorgeous. (Claudia Handpaint in a colorway I think is called Urban Jungle.)

In other knitting news...progress continues on the mitten swap mittens.


This is actually start #3. The first one was too tight. The second attempt, I tried double knitting, and it was too big. Now, I'm doing two handed color work with weaving and it seems to be just right. It's also going much faster than the double knitting. I'm further along than the picture indicates. I took it a couple of days ago, but haven't had a chance to post. I'm well into the third repeat of the pattern.

And today's fun in the mailbox:

Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino in Blossom. New yarn! Yay!

Oh, and this week's soup is a fabulous Potato, Bacon and Horseradish soup from New England Soup Factory. Yummy!

Sunday Soup and a Week of Socks

I was going to try and actually do my soup post yesterday, but I was so tired by the time I sat down after dinner, I could barely stay awake.

Yesterday, Geek Boy invited his brother over for dinner. I decided to do a little Greek Fest. Chicken Shawarma sandwiches, courtesy of Rachel Ray. Now, I have to admit, that Rachel Ray is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. She's perky and goofy. And way overexposed. I laugh when Anthony Bourdain goes off on her. BUT...I like her recipes. I find myself going back to them over and over. And several of them are in our top picks. And this chicken is very close to the top. It was delicious. And I made lots, so we'll have leftovers for a few days.

Once I had picked this, I thought a nice Greek-ish soup would be a good complement. Enter Spinach, Feta and Pine Nut Soup. Yummy! I don't know how "Greek" it is, but it has feta cheese, so that's enough for me.

Luckily, I have a sous chef in the house. Geek Boy does all of my chopping for me. I'm not very good at small dice and he is. And he figures it's a small price to pay for homemade soup each week.

My mise en place for the day, courtesy of Geek Boy.


Big lesson learned in this outing. Soups with leaf spinach in them do not play well with the stick blender. The leaves get caught up in all the little vents and just spin around. So, this eventually got dumped in the blender. The end result:


Nice and creamy, with little hunks of feta. And I love these little containers. I think they're Gladlock or something like that. The important part is that they have screw top lids and are a perfect single serving size. Nice and easy for work day lunches.

Today is a lazy day. For the first time in 6 years, I don't have a board meeting tonight. Our monthly meeting always fall on MLK day and my board says, no problem, we can meet anyway. But this year, since a number of them have plans for the long weekend, we're postponed until tomorrow. And I get a full day off. And I finished these finally:

Jaywaylkers in Trekking

This makes four pairs of hand knit socks for me. Which means that I can wear hand knit socks to work every day this week! It's the little things that make me happy.

Now to start my mitten swap mittens!

And as an extra special treat...Geek Boy and I are off to a Meet the Brewers night at Brigid's. Yummy!

Serving Time

That's what I feel like I've been doing over the last week.

Last Thursday I was called for jury duty. Technically, I was a standby. So, I dutifully called Wednesday night to hear that all regular and rescheduled jurors were to report, as well as stand-by jurors numbers one through two hundred ten. So, I got there early, expecting a full house. I obviously have no idea how the system works, because that somehow equals only 50 people. We waited until 3.00, when they finally took a panel of 45 people for the one trial that day. Apparently I look fair and impartial, because I got seat number 12 on the jury. Which meant back at 9.30 the next morning for the trial. Luckily it was short--the deliberation took longer than the actual testimony--and we were out by 3.00.

But that made for a lot of sitting around time. If one needed a gauge by which to measure just how much time is spent sitting and waiting during jury duty, well, you could show them this:


By the time I got home on Friday, this is how much progress I had made on my latest sock. Also factor in three false starts. It's just a simple pattern of a knit row, and a knit through the back loop row, with some slipped stitches thrown in for detail. The yarn is Sundara Yarn Sweet Briar Rose sportweight. This is quite possibly the most beautiful yarn I have ever knit with. And, I don't think any of my pictures truly do it justice.

Since Friday, I've had a Knit Night with some friends, spent time manning the library table at the local Arts Festival, and spent time waiting for the police chief to finish his budget meeting with borough council before going in for my turn. So, how much waiting time is that?



A lot. That's why I'm dubbing these the "Serving Time" socks.

Lucky for my mom. I gave her a pair of socks back in January and she just loved them. Every time she wore them to work, she'd call me during the day to tell me how much she loved them. Then the message became how much she loved them, and she needed more. She prefers dark colors for her socks, so these will be perfect.

And for the end of the Summer of Socks, how about another visit from Santa?

Rainy Days and Mondays

It started raining yesterday and continued all through today. It's damp and chilly. The usual capri pants and Birks that I wear almost every day just weren't cutting it today. That, coupled with a staffing crisis at work, could really have started my week off badly. But not so.



The cool weather was a perfect opportunity to wear newly finished Bird of Paradise socks. Anytime the grey got to me today, I just slipped off my shoes and looked at my socks. Happiness!

These are not Summer of Socks socks. I finished them in late May, maybe. The yarn is Sundara Yarn Bird of Paradise, from the Petals Collection. The pattern is the one included with the yarn. I started these socks while we were on our Tall Sails and Ales cruise. The yarn attracted lots of great comments while I was knitting. The captain of the boat asked if the yarn came with its own batteries. While knitting on the plane, a woman commented on how much she loved the colors. The guy she was traveling with said he couldn't believe they let me on the plane "with those things." I told him they actually let me on with 10, since I had another sock in progress in my bag.

Anyway, it was rainy and a Monday, but I had Happy Feet!

Drinking Our Way through Belgium, Eating Our Way Through the Village

Geek Boy and I have had some fun culinary experiences this week. When we took the class with Lew Bryson at the Fermentation School, we put ourselves on the waiting list for the Belgian Beers 101 class. Tuesday afternoon, Geek Boy got a call that two spots had opened up. So, Wednesday night we headed back downtown (driving this time, since it was close to 100 that day). The class was led by Volker Stewart, one of the founding owners of The Brewer's Art in Baltimore. He offered a great selection of beers and lots of great information about the brewing tradition in Belgium.

Most interesting was a conversation we had before class. Geek Boy mentioned that we had been to Lew Bryon's class and Volker mentioned that he and Lew had similar career paths. They had both started out as librarians! I think I may have a new career goal.

Today, Geek Boy faced his fears about public transportation and New York city. We headed to New York and met up with some friends for a food tour of Greenwich Village. Oh, it was so good. We got to sample several pizzas, Italian pastries, cookies, cheese and olives, bread, olive oil and gyros. We came home with fresh coffee and some great olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We got there a little early, and came across this place:


Too funny.

The train ride was great for getting some knitting done. And I did take some photos of the sock on location (our friends actually got the point of saying, "Hey, you need a picture of the sock here!"). Pictures will be posted when the pattern is ready.

Some other random bits. A big thanks to Tina for her suggestion to try Dogfish Head's Festina Peche. I was out with my mom yesterday, and we stopped at the best beer distributer within driving distance in our state. And they had a variety pack of Dogfish Head. I came home and put a bunch in the fridge right away. I'm not a big fan of their IPAs (I'm not a big fan of IPAs in general...the intense hops flavor makes them taste like potpourri to me). But this is wonderful. A great hot weather beer. Thanks, Tina!

And if you're looking for a reason to tip one back, or just take a swig of whatever is most refreshing to you, head on over to The Fairy GodKnitter, and read her beautiful tribute to her neighbor. It's late and it's been a long day, so I'm just having a Vitamin Water in Norma's honor.

Weekend Fun

Lots of fun stuff this weekend.

Friday

Geek Boy and I escaped from work early with the intention of taking part in Friday the Fikenteenth at the Grey Lodge. We had gone years ago, before the Grey Lodge was so firmly established as a beer bar. It's been a really long time, apparently, because the crowd was out on the sidewalk. When we turned the corner and saw the crowd, we decided to go with Plan B. (Geek Boy and I do not do crowds.)

So, we did a weird loop and got back on 95. Luckily, shore traffic in our direction wasn't that bad. And we got off downtown and headed in the direction of our favorite Blegian bar, Eulogy. However, Triumph Brew Pub had recently opened a new location just across the street. So, we decided to head to Triumph for appetizers and sampler, and then to Eulogy for dinner.

Triumph's calamari is great. Their beer, like the beer in New Hope, is okay. We first found Triumph at a brew fest a few years ago, where they had brought their Jolie Blonde. And that was fabulous. They have never had it on tap when we've been there, and the rest of their beers just don't live up to the hype in my mind. I will say this, though. This was the first restaurant I've been to that has a unisex restroom.

Eulogy, however, never disappoints. The waiter did not laugh at me when I told him I couldn't remember the real name of the beer I wanted, but it translated to "Mad Bitch." Dulle Teve. And it was just as wonderful as I remembered. Their food is great too.

Saturday

I have started a new Saturday morning routine. I sit on the front porch listen to Car Talk and knit. This is he most relaxing part of my weekend. And I've been getting lots of progress done on my Cable Ribbed Socks from Favorite Socks. This was last Saturday's sock

Fret likes to help

And here's where it is this week.



This is my second pair for the summer of socks. I'm not setting any records, but it's good progress for me. I'm just four rows away from turning the heel. Unfortunately, the color does not allow good pictures of the cables. I did start this using Grumperina's method of cabling without a needle, in keeping with my attempt to try something new with each pair of Summer of Socks socks. However, this cable is a little different, in that you don't knit the held stitches in the normal order, so the new technique did not save any time. But the next pair of cabled socks will definitely use it. It's not as scary as other techniques I've seen.

Our niece, Chickpea, turns four this week. So we had her birthday party yesterday. Her mom invested in a slip 'n' slide for the occasion. But four year olds don't really grasp the "running start to slide head first" concept. The girls very dantily walked through the spray of water. Except Chickpea. She ran, and often slipped to fall on her butt at the end. It was very fun to watch.

Meanwhile, our nephew Geek Boy, Jr. (because he looks like a little version of his uncle) just gets cuter every time we see him. His new thing is the "boy growl." Everything he does is accompanied by a gutteral roar. I nearly fell over laughing while he carried his little bike up a hill and grunted with every step.

After the party we headed to Franklin Fountain for an ice cream party with some friends. I'm not a big ice cream person, so I didn't have anything, but, oh my goodness, the concoctions are amazing. If you're in the Philadelphia area and want a good ice cream experience, head down to Market Street.
Sunday

Today is the big day. We're going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I can't wait. It's all leading up to next Saturday.

Meanwhile, I've started listening to The Book Thief. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite books of all times. The writing is just incredible. I find myself rewinding to listen to paragraphs over and over. When he describes the foster father and "the sheer brute force of his gentleness," I fell in love. Ive only just started, and hope that the author sustains this beauty through the end. This is also one of those books that I think is enhanced by listening to it. The narrator, Allan Corduner, brings the whole thing to life.

Diving In

So, the summer of socks has begun. And I've discovered that sport weight sock yarn moves fast. Thursday morning I had a meeting first thing. So, I didn't go into work first. That gave me an extra 45 minutes in the morning. I settled into the couch, put on MSNBC and grabbed some sock yarn.

The appeal of the Summer of Socks is that I have so much sock yarn, and yet I rarely make time to make socks. There's always something else more pressing to be made. For instance,
my best friend, The Trendy One, and her husband just adopted a little boy. So, here's a baby to knit for that came with no warning. (None for them either, they got the call Thursday as the birth mother was in labor, and brought him home on Saturday.) This little guys is so special to his new parents that he needs some extra special knits. And then there's my cousin's baby who is due in October. I thought I had plenty of time to get some projects together for him or her, but now my cousin and her husband are being transferred to London in August, and my aunt wants to have the shower before they leave. And without a commute on public transit or anything resembling a real lunch hour, socks get left in the "eventually" pile.

Now, I have no delusions that I will even come close to having the highest sock count (especially not with Wendy as a co-participant). But, I have a personal goal of getting at least a few socks stored up for winter.

My first pair, I'm calling Bendy:

Yarn: Zen String sport weight in the "Ben" colorway
Pattern: Wendy's generic toe-up sock pattern
(Wendy + Ben = Bendy...I'm quite the clever one, aren't I?)

I bought this yarn shortly after Wendy posted about it. I ordered directly from Angelina, and the service was fabulous (as are the stitch markers). The socks are intended as a belated birthday present for my sister-in-law, whose son is the cutest boy in the world...named Ben.

I'm just doing these in plain stockinette stitch. I tend to prefer socks with stitch patterns; it makes it easier to make sure they come out even. But the color seemed to just want to speak for itself.

Knitting socks in sport weight just flies! I can't believe how much I've accomplished in just a few days. I think it's a definite possibility that I will have these done in time for the 4th of July picnic with Geek Boy's family.

Do you like the Santa? I think he's going to be the sock model for the summer. Geek Boy has a thing for animatronic Christmas decorations. So, a few years ago, my folks got him this Santa. We didn't want to haul him up and down from the attic every year. To avoid this, we just decided to we would deck him out in seasonally appropriate wear. Each summer he sports a different Hawaiian shirt. This year he's wearing the "hops" pattern, when Geek Boy isn't wearing it. The Shrek ears are in honor of the fact that we just went with The Sisters (my cousins and sister) to see Shrek the Third, a tradition that continues despite the fact that"the kids" are now in their twenties.

Twu Wuv

Here is my most recent finished project. From the front:


From the sides:


And a close-up on the texture.


Just in case you're wondering, I am not a victim of gauge. These are socks that had been requested by Geek Boy. When I first started knitting, I promised myself that I would not force handknits on him. However, when he asks for something, it automatically becomes the next project. So, back around the end of Frbruary, he casually mentioned, "Maybe you could make me a pair of socks?" No problem. I already had the yarn just waiting for the request.

The details:
Started: early March
Finished: May 2
Pattern: my own, basic sock recipe and a texture pattern from a Harmony book
Yarn: Fortissima yarn for main part of sock, KnitPicks Essential for toes and heels--mostly because I was afraid I wouldn't have enough to do two whole socks without changing out the heels and toes.

After the initial request, I spent some time going through all my Barbara Walker, Harmony and Stitchionary books, trying to find a good texture pattern. Not too fussy, but enough to keep it interesting. I don't like doing socks for me that are just plain, no way was I doing men's size 10.5 socks plain (these puppies are worked over 96 stitches). I love my Geek Boy, but there are some limits.

I'm very happy with how they turned out, however, when I turned them inside out to weave in the ends, I discovered that I really liked the wrong side of the pattern better. Oh well.

I did also in the middle of making these, take some time off to work on another pair of socks. Because after a sock and a half of grey, I needed some color. We were also travelling and I didn't want to chance taking a sock-in-progress on the plane. Although I have never had trouble getting my knitting on a plane, I didn't want to lose what work was already completed on these. So...


Sundara Yarns Bird of Paradise colorway...definitely not grey!

Pacific Northwest Love

I have two unlces who have served in the Navy. One is retired. One is still active duty. At one time, both of them were stationed at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. And so over the years, we have all spent some time visiting the Pacific Northwest. And we all love it up there. After my first trip, I came home and started looking for jobs in Seattle (life on an island would have driven me crazy, but having family close by made relocating across the country seem like a good idea).

My mom's favorite thing about Washington is the ferry ride. She can't visit her brother without spending some time on a ferry. She could probably spend all day riding on the ferries, without going anywhere in particular.

This is a particularly hard time of year for my mom. My Grandpop's birthday, the anniversary of his death, my Nanny's birthday, the anniversary of her death, and their wedding anniversary all fall between January 11 and February 14. And it's only a year since my Nanny's death. So, I thought she needed something pretty and fun. On Nan's birthday, I sent her flowers at work. And I started working on a special project for her.

I had some gorgeous yarn from Sundara's Petals Collection just itching to be knit up. And I ordered Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road through interlibrary loan, knowing it had just the right pattern in it.


Friday Harbor socks. Designed to reflect the wake of the ferries around the San Juan Islands. I set a new record for myself with these socks. Knit up in a little over one week. (Previous socks have taken me months to finish.)

The yarn is Lenten Rose from Sundara Yarns Petals Collection. A gorgeous purple and grey. I gave them to my mom a few days after my Nanny's birthday, and told her the name of the pattern, the inspiration for it, and that the yarn came from Seattle. She called me at work the next day to say she had planned her outfit for work specifically so that she could wear these socks, and proceded to show them to all of her co-workers and to tell them the story of the yarn and the pattern. Most of all, she couldn't get over how soft and warm they were.


This was only the second time I did something other than a short row heel. I hate picking up stitches and avoid it whenever I can. But I was trying to stick with the pattern here and finally got it. The second heel turned out better than the first, but I think only I would notice it. (Or my mom is too nice to point it out.) The pattern called for ribbing on the soles of the socks, but the picture in the book shows pain stockinette stitch, and I decided to go with the picture for speed's sake. I had a few other issues with the pattern, for example, the number of repeats called for would have resulted in a HUGE sock. So, I just stopped when I got to the magic "two inches before the toe" place.

I go back and forth on gettting my own copy of this book. I'm not a big fan of lacy socks, and a lot of these socks are lacy patterns. My feet tend to get very cold, and I need my socks for warmth. Lacy holes, to me, defeat the purpose of socks. I didn't realize until I started knitting and really looked at the charts for these socks that they were lacy (the picture just looks like cables). But, interlibrary loan is my friend. And the ILL person at my library doesn't mind reordering books for me, if I decide, months after initially looking at a book, that there was one pattern in there I want to take a second look at.

So, inspired by how quickly I got these done, I'm trying to get a few more pairs done for myself before the cruise (espeically since they specifically recommend bringing wool socks). So, once I finish the blanket and sweater for my cousin to be (ETA, Friday, February 16), I'll get cracking on those.