Thursday, December 24, 2009
bringer of light
She's wonderful and healthy, and tolerates wearing multiple handknits at once. I'm cherishing these moments and wish you all wonderful celebrations of light.
Friday, October 09, 2009
out of control
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
bookworm
I did finish one long-overdue baby gift, and shipped it back East a little while ago. It’s the Bookworm Sweater from Miss Bea’s Rainy Day (a theme!) by Louisa Harding. I adore this entire series of small books, and love the classic styles of the patterns.
The yarn is my favorite Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, in cherry red, sadly discontinued. Something odd happened when putting in the sleeves, and I hope that it doesn’t make the sweater uncomfortable to wear. It’s a touch bunchy under the arms, but I hope the lovely cables make up for it.
*As Hubby dropped me off at work today, I asked if he thought IT would happen today. He said no. I have a feeling we are going to repeat this conversation over and over and over again.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
surprise, baby
Monday, August 10, 2009
where have you gone, joe dimaggio?
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...
Sunday, March 15, 2009
whoops
Hubby has been visiting New York for a few days, and I've been hearing a near-continual refrain: where's the blog? Where's the knitting? And the cocktails? Well, there just hasn't been much of any of that lately. But I currently have some motivation to work on a new project - a baby blanket - for a little girl who is going to turn 1 before I know it. I don't think that the wedding "you get a year" rule counts for babies, and I'm heartily ashamed. But knitting on size 13 needles is fun, and working on some massive lace is pretty entertaining company while I'm watching the World Baseball Classic.
This afternoon I walked to the store to return a video rental, and the weather was typically Portland: windy and rainy on the way there, then sunny and sort of rainy on the way back. But there was a huge rainbow in the sky, and you can never see too many of those. So, did you miss me?
Thursday, February 05, 2009
wipe out!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
tangled up
I have swatched successfully - just two off on the row gauge, which is plenty fine with me - and WASHED Mlle. Swatch as well.
This is a highly important step in gauge-swatch-making, which I've never done before. I learned my lesson might well on my very last adult sweater project: washing the swatch is really super-duper important, because otherwise you might get a sweater that grows in water like nothing you have ever seen. (And no one else has seen the sweater either, because I put it on, cried, lifted the hem from around my knees, and folded it up and stashed it away in the cedar chest.)
So: I've knit a swatch, achieved gauge, washed the swatch, still been pleased with size of swatch, and now need to cast on somewhere around 200 stitches. That's a lot, and will likely be on hold until the weekend when I can sit and do it all at once. And then the knitting begins: a me-sized sweater on #4 needles. I might be nutso on this one, because that's a lot of stitches. But in finishing the sweater, I'll knock over a mile off my stashed yarn total. (Yes, I count my yarn in miles.)
Monday, January 26, 2009
warming hubby's feet
Fun colors - just enough to keep things interesting, but very suitable for Hubby socks. It's Brown Sheep Wildfoote yarn, in Brown Sugar. One skein had flecks of green, but the other did not... even though they were the same dye lot. The second skein also had different patterning than the first, and I think you can see the difference between the two. But they are socks, and I think that they came out well enough. The yarn had been marinating in my stash since December 2006, and it was high time for it to get knit up.
(Post #2 of the week! I'm gonna do it!)
Sunday, January 25, 2009
tap, tap: anyone there?
The mornings are relatively chilly here in Portland, usually hovering just above freezing. My double-thick wool mittens aren't really necessary, nor are the polarfleece gloves, since I'm just walking and waiting for a bus. These mittens (Ann Budd's book of knitting patterns) are thin, but provide just enough warmth and coverage. They fit easily into my pockets when I get on the bus, and I'm quite happy with how they turned out.
I think I started them over a year ago, and got as far as the ribbing, and a couple of thumb gusset increases. They were so quick to make that I felt rather silly having them hang around as long as they did. The yarn is Diakeito Diamusee Fine - a Japanese import - and the color changes are subtle enjoyable to watch while it moves through your fingers. I got the yarn years ago in Cold Spring, NY at a shop that's sadly closed.
OK: I will pledge to post each day this week. There's actually a lot of knitting progress to show, s here goes!