where have you gone, joe dimaggio?

What I've Not Been Doing

1. Traveling to Japan

2. Climbing Mount Hood

3. Drinking cocktails

4. Eating raw oysters and sushi



What I Have Been Doing

1. Buying a house

2. Packing up stuff and moving and unpacking

3. Knitting tiny bits

4. Growing a baby (see #3 and #4 above)


Hubby, it should be noted, has been highly involved with What I Have Been Doing, #1, #2, and #4, although the "growing" in the last one has primarily my responsibility. I would really like to be drinking cocktails, especially now that I have a nice backyard and table, and it's gin and tonic season; but as that is not allowed in my current condition, the bottles are still packed in the basement. I would also really love a spicy tuna roll with cucumber in brown rice and a half dozen oysters. But enough about the food I can't eat. (I could go on.)


We have a house that is lovely, and in a great neighborhood that is closer to work, so my commuting knitting time has been reduced. But I did finish some socks a few months ago!


This past weekend was the Sock Summit in Portland, and I am so lame that I did not register for a single class. I did go to the Marketplace and shopped for two hours, and bought more yarn than I have all year. (I have not bought much yarn at all.) It was very entertaining to hear about the declaration that last week was Sock Knitting Week in Portland, see lace shawls on the shoulders of people all over town, and have a nearly full-page, front-page article on the summit in the paper today.


As I start to slow down, thanks to my passenger, I think I will be knitting more. I have lots of ideas...

giftie pile

I finished up a couple more single skeins... just a few days past September. First up: socks for a grandmother, out of yarn purchased while on vacation last year. They are rather silky, which I find surprising for superwash merino.

I made another Unoriginal Hat out of Misti Alpaca Bulky, and loved the zippy nature of a 36 row pattern. It was over before it had hardly begun...

I have half a Jaywalker sock to finish, and then will have another completed gift for the boxes that will head east in a few months. I wonder how early I need to ship my gifts to make it across the country?

trip to the big city

Over the weekend, we took a trip to Seattle to see my beloved New York Yankees beat the Mariners and make up some games in the wild card race. That was the plan, at least. They managed to win one game.

Seattle is quite the sports town, and our stop for lunch on Saturday had this massive "art" on the wall. Please note the "No Yankees" symbol in the lower left corner. It made me laugh.

But I did finish some socks over the weekend (well, yesterday - it was a long weekend). These are my first socks from Socks That Rock, and since Blue Moon Fiber Arts is a Portland company, it's about time!

Sad to say, I'm not sure that I completely love the yarn. I don't really like the pooling (no news there), and it wasn't as soft as I expected. But they do feel lovely and cushy on my feet, so maybe I'll give it another try. You spend much more time wearing socks than knitting them, so it may be a fair trade.

summertime and the knitting is easy

I pulled out my new skein of Socks That Rock and started a super-easy sock, and it turns out that a ribbed sock was exactly what I wanted to knit right now. It was great to have on hand during last week's convention-watching, and hopefully I'll get to work on the second one during this week's speechifying. (These two weeks are really going to negatively effect global warming - such hot air coming out of Denver and the Twin Cities!)

Hopefully I can finish up the toe this afternoon, and get the new one cast on before book club tonight. It's only my second time with this group, but I hope that they won't mind if I knit.

This weekend we are going to Seattle to see the Yankees play the Mariners at Safeco Field. We are waaaaaay up in the top deck, so it should be safe to knit during the game. We've got Saturday night and Sunday afternoon tickets, which is a lot of baseball over the span of 24 hours. Will I still be working on these socks next weekend?

we made it!

Leaving the town of Napa earlier this week, we hit a milestone.

100,000! The car made it, through fires and smoke (OK, we weren't really close to the fires, but there was a lot of smoke), and the heat.

We won't be doing that drive again. I will purchase carbon emission offsets to make up for the fact that we'll fly. But with gas prices what they are, we didn't save a heck of a lot of money by driving.


I finished a pair of socks, which previously were my "Emergency Office Socks", to pinch hit should I run into a knitting emergency at work and need something to do on my commute. Since my commute now involves going into our dining room, it was time to get them finished. I do love me some Regia sock yarn, and happened to acquire some more while we were away.

I also continued to have lace problems with Icarus, and the other socks I started were pooling rather unpleasantly. But I pulled out a long-lingering hat, and have been cruising along happily there. It's time to catch a bus downtown, so I'm packing up my projects and hitting the road (again).

my kind of town (i suppose)

Our trip to Chicago lasted 48 hours - including travel with stopovers in Minneapolis. In that very short amount of time, we packed in sightseeing (a river cruise from the Chicago Architecture Foundation), Claire's wedding party, and meals with two friends. One friend moved to Chicago from New York about 18 months ago, and another just happened to be in town from New York, too. Meeting in the middle! So easy!

Of course, we've learned that living in Portland means that you can't easily get many places on a direct flight. We had the option of flying to Newark on our way to Chicago, but declined.

It was very interesting to be in a big, big city again after nearly two months of Portland. There were taxis! mass transit everywhere! tourists! high style restaurants! a truly obnoxious waitress! people walking quickly! As a result of being back in a City, I found myself very impatient with people at the airport on the trip home, and I need to get back to a Portland equilibrium. One where I'm not tapping my foot when someone isn't ready to give their gelato order upon reaching the counter. (When at Alotto Gelato, I only tapped once or twice.)

Saturday was also Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and once again I found myself at a wedding or wedding-type event. I managed half a very short round of a sock (again!), and Hubby captured my contribution on the Michigan Avenue Bridge.

gift socks

I finished a pair of socks over the weekend. These are destined to be a gift, as they're a bit tight on my feet. I love the colors in the yarn (Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Mountain Tango), and it's fun to work with. I've done two pair of socks in Bearfoot, but neither have been for me. I did prowl around the Yarn Garden yesterday, hoping to find more, but they don't seem to carry it. I can't recall where I purchased this skein (I'll have to check the archives).

The pattern is based on the Swirly O Socks in the Knitters' Book of Yarn. I still haven't read the fiber information in the front of the book, but the patterns in there are really lovely. There are a couple more things that I'll work on soon, but right now I'm trying to figure out what socks to cast on next. I've got lots of varigated socks yarns, but no inspiration for a pattern for them. Perhaps I should take the plunge and try something from New Pathways for Sock Knitters?

one sock done

I had a couple of knitting goals for my remaining time in New York, and I'm clearly not going to make them. That's fine. They were really pipe dreams. I wanted to finish the Woodland Shawl (I'm into the third ball of four and it was a great project for the recent plane trip to and from Portland), and this last pair of commuting socks.


 The pattern is Swirly O, from the Knitter's Book of Yarn.  I had the Mountain Colors Bearfoot in my stash, so I jumped on them.  The second one is already in progress, but with only three more days of train commuting ahead of me, they won't be finished before we leave.  THREE MORE DAYS!  I'm also trying to pack in as much Yankees viewing as possible, while doing actual packing. That doesn't leave a whole lot of knitting time.  

putting the cocktails back in Y&C

It’s already Thursday, and I’m carving out a few minutes to talk about last weekend. It was great. You can read a good recap of it here. My Sunday was different from Claire’s, as it involved knitting and relaxing and a fun dinner with the nephews.

She also requested that I put the cocktails back into Yarn and Cocktails, and took photos for me. The cocktail list at Blue Smoke is short and to the point. No chocotinis here (thank goodness), just good old-fashioned drinks. I had Sidecards, she had Lynchburg Lemonades. We then had more wine at dinner, and saw the Top Chef (Tom Colicchio) himself.

There have been lots and lots of let’s-go-out-to-dinner-and-drinks-before-you-leave events recently, and my liver could probably use a break. I’ve got a couple of free days coming up, and think that abstaining is going to be very beneficial.

Oh, and I finished those socks. Now I need to start another pair, because the shawl is a little difficult as train knitting.

float like a butterfly, busy like a bee

There’s been lots of finishing up going on lately, but none of it knitting-related. I'm trying to float above all of the uncertainity and stay busy with visiting and other farewells. There was a last trip upstate to see family before we head west, and last night a final Broadway show. We saw the new musical adaptation of John Waters’ Crybaby, and while it wasn’t the highest expression of the dramatic arts, it was fun (and free).

This weekend is going to be fun: we have a friend coming for a visit, and dinner with the nephews. The nice thing about the “fully staged” apartment in which we are living is that there is no need to do any cleaning for guests. The place is already sparkling and ready to go.

(Sorry for the crappy, blurry shot - I was rushing around this morning.)

One sock is already done, and the second one will be ready for a heel tonight. It’s my second pair of cable and ribbed socks, but I improved these by doing one sock with a right-twist cable and the next with a left-twist. So fancy! The yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Wool – a mix of bamboo, wool, and a little bit of nylon. It’s nice yarn, and I’ll be interested in hearing how it wears. I’m knitting it at a tighter gauge than recommended, but I like socks to be rather firm. There’s plenty of stretch already, and they should make a pretty nice gift.

kitchner-fest

Home sick, yet again, so I took the opportunity to graft together the toes on my January socks.

Two pair of socks in one month is pretty impressive for me! My bag of gifts-to-give is getting pretty full. Could I possibly be done with my holiday knitting by spring? (Not likely.)

I'm really not sure what I'm going to be knitting next. The joys of the knit stitch are starting to wear a bit thin, and I think it's time for a challenge. Of course, this cold is making my head a bit foggy, so starting a lace project probably isn't the best idea. But the weekend doesn't have much on the schedule (thankfully), so I might find something to grab my interest.

Oh, and Go Giants. I guess.

movin right along

Turns out, I really like how these socks are coming out! The rosy pink is a great compliment to the swirls, and a much better idea than the brown that I'd picked out originally. Thank you, Laurie! The second one is coming along nicely, and I might have two pairs of socks done in the month of January!

Tonight we are heading to Brooklyn for a going away party. Some dear friends are moving to Budapest, which is very far away. Lovely city and all, but so very far away. And they are taking their lovely little one away, too - she who adores this blanket

and looks adorable in this dress.

I pitifully begged to come over early so I could play a bit, one last time, before she goes to sleep and the party starts. She just had her second birthday last week, and talks like a five-year-old. Her verbal acuity isn't that surprising if you consider her most excellent parents. But I'm very sad that I probably won't see them for a few years (given our own BIG SURPRISE). Things change, we get older*, and life continues along. I'm gonna miss you guys.

*Where did that come from?

the decision is...

Knit-buds Marni and Stephanie were over yesterday afternoon for a knit and chat session, and I consulted them about the new stripey sock. I explained my willingness to rip it out, but I was soundly told that I was crazy. (Not that this is a new thing, of course.) They loved it, so I thought whomever ended up with these as a gift might love it too! I stopped by the LYS this morning, and Laurie helped me pick out a coordinating color of Koigu for the heels and toes so I don't interrupt the swirls. Browns were rejected as too dull, and I ix-nayed the mustard yellow she suggested. I like this compromise-cranberry a good deal.

Truthfully, I've been ripping out so many projects lately that I didn't really have it in me to pull out a good 6 inches of sock. My EZ February Baby Sweater was ripped on Saturday, and I'm going to have to start over on the Hourglass Sweater as well. While the third time is often the charm, I think it might have put me around the bend. Socks are meditative, and wear out pretty quickly; it's OK to have less-than-perfect sometimes.

oh, varigation...

Oh, handpainted yarns: we had a good thing going, for a pair of socks. The first skein of Blue Ridge Yarns merino sock wool was lovely; it was always a surprise to see what color was coming next, and a deeelightful surprise too. There was no pooling, just a great combo of colors coming one after the next. (OK, there's a bit of a pattern in the sock on the left, but it's really not as noticeable in real life.)

I'm nearly done with the first pair of socks (just need to graft up the toes), and decided to keep riding the wave of rediscovered love for handpainted sock yarn. I'd pretty much forsaken the multi-colored yarns but that sock on the left made me sing a different tune. So I grabbed skein #2 from the stash, and started away on the second pair of socks.

Things didn't start off too well. I wanted to make this pair a little bit bigger, and
soon discovered that 60 stitches in stockinette in skein #2 means a big brown blob running right down one side of the sock. Not acceptable. So I've ripped out, started over with fewer stitches, and am now convincing myself, once again, that I like blobs of color (when I really don't). And now I need to buy a skein of solid color for the heels and toes, so as to not screw up the giant brown swirl. And buying yarn wasn't something I was going to do this year! Really! No caveats this time, just no yarn buying!

Happily, this little hat fulfilled all of my expectations. It's warm, and nice colors, and fast to make. In fact, it went so well that I've started another hat that's coming along swimmingly.

More on that this weekend, when I'll hopefully have some real sunlight in which to take pictures. My environmentally friendly lightbulbs do not make for good photo studio lighting.

knitting on the road

My trip upstate earlier this week provided quite a bit of knitting time.

I didn't quite finish this sock while upstate, but the first one is done now. The yarn is Blue Ridge Yarns, which I got at Rhinebeck this year. It was an impulse purchase at the end of the day, and once I got it home, I realized that I didn't love it. Given my recent experience with pooling sock yarn, I was concerned about this. However, all fretting has come to naught, because the sock is beautiful, and I now adore the colorway. And have I mentioned that I love a stockinette sock?


A recent review of my stash revealed far more sock yarn than I could ever knit into socks, so I decided to use this huge skein (560 yards!) of Seacoast Handpainted for a Chevron Scarf from LMKG. It's 25% shorter in width, but I like it just fine. There's no schedule for it, and I'll just grab it whenever I need an on-the-go project. (Look at all this pre-holiday knitting going on!)


I've also started Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Sweater on Two Needles. It's my first EZ project, and I'm very excited about it. I've got a bunch of her projects that I want to start in the new year... including a bunch of mittens.

gift reveal

Now that all of the presents have been gifted, I can share the pair of socks that I made for Mom. It's the Slipped Stitch Rib sock from Sensational Knitted Socks. As per Mom's request, I used the darkest yarn in my collection: the Spruce colorway of Mountain Colors Bearfoot. The stitch pattern is really cushy, and I think it would be really good for a yarn that's pooling like mad; just a little slipping to break up the swirls. I also really liked the Bearfoot, which has some mohair, so they will be really warm.

All in all, I gifted four pairs of socks, four scarves, three hats, three pairs of mittens or handwarmers, and a (last minute) neckwarmer this Christmas. I knit a bunch of these over the summer, and stashed them away for the right opportunity. I'm definietly going to do the same for 2008, and start even earlier!

Today is gray and rainy, so I'm going to relax with a sunny-colored sock and the DVD of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop for a while. Add a cup of coffee and I'm good for the afternoon!

jolly chrismakkuah

I hope that everyone had a very enjoyable holiday (if you celebrate yesterday's). I had new socks!

Cute picot edge, and coordinating heels and toes. (And excessive pooling!)

I cast on a lot of things while I was away, and will share pictures of my progress tomorrow!

first sock: done!

In using up my remaining vacation time, I was happy that I'd be home during daylight for a change. Yay! I could take pictures with real light! But today's been very overcast (just noticed that it's started snowing, actually), and the finished Christmakkuah sock still doesn't want its picture taken.

I've got a couple of train trips to make this weekend, so I should be able to make pretty good progress on the second sock.* Of course, Hubby is heading to the old alma mater for the weekend, so I can also do nothing except sit on the couch and knit. (There are a few obligations that I must attend to, of course, but otherwise I'll be listening to a book on CD and knitting.) I should easily be able to finish these by December 25!

*I started a new project last night, which I really don't need to start, but it's a little present to myself. Pictures of that tomorrow (it's supposed to be sunny).

4,000 word (photo) essay

Forming actual words into complete-ish sentences is a bit beyond me today. (I do not like leaving for work before the sun has officially come up.* Also, there are very few women (maybe 5%?) on the 6:49 train into the city. Interesting. However, it is fun to write mean emails before 8am to colleagues who haven’t done what they said they’d done. I Am Awesome; You Are Not.)

*I was awake because of a nightmare about huge bugs (with 8” antennae) crawling into the bedroom through the air conditioner. Scary. I didn’t peak under the curtain that’s hiding the AC, because I really didn’t want to know if there were bugs.

Sleeve!

Blinding Sock!

A possible replacement sweater for the very bulky yarn! (Berkshire pullover from Weekend Knitting)

And a very happy Hanukkah to y’all.

happy day, it's friday

It’s been an fairly insane week at work (here until 10pm last night, and that just doesn’t happen), and based on the infrequent updating of others’ blogs, it seems that it’s a rather busy time for everyone else, too. Serenity now! Festivus for the rest of us!

I did run over to the Smiley’s Yarn Riot on Wednesday with Stephanie. I was extremely restrained, and bought a pack of stitch markers and another row counter. I did exercise my mad enabling skillz and Stephanie came away with enough cashmere to make Mr. Greenjeans. (Stephanie and Marni won’t want to shop with me anymore; now I’ve convinced both of them that they deserve a sweater’s worth of very luxurious yarn on different occasions! Hee hee.)

My traveling sock for the week is a crazy swirling pool of acid green and electric blue, with big red stripes.* Stephanie didn’t really have words to describe it. I’m ready for some heel action, and found a half skein of Koigu in navy blue to use for the toes and heels. Because if you are trying to accept that you love pooling yarn colors, you’ve got to keep the pooling going without the interruption of a heel.

*No pictures right now; there’s no light when I’m home (of course, the socks seem to have their own bright twinkle), and the camera is temporarily dead. I’ll try to get it going over the weekend.