Road trip wrap-up post #3

So I've gotten into the habit of knitting from Knitting on the Road whenever I'm away from home. It's a cutesy little habit, but fun. This time I upped the cute factor by casting on the Friday Harbor socks on Whidbey Island. We didn't actually make it to Friday Harbor this trip, but we stayed in Anacortes, and spent a day on Whidbey Island, the very places she references in her description of the pattern.



Pattern: Friday Harbor from Knitting on the Road
Yarn: Mountain Colors. I've lost the tag on this yarn. I thought it was the yarn called for in the book, but I also thought it was Bearfoot, and the pattern called for Weavers Wool. So I'm all confused. Ravelry calls Bearfoot fingering, and this is chunkier than fingering. So I just remain confused.



Needle: Size 5 Knitpicks circular. The pattern called for a size 2 needle, so I'd brought along a size 3, expecting to use that. I was swatching in the car on our drive from Anacortes to Langley, and I was so very impatient to get knitting. Size 3 didn't give me gauge, so I pulled out my set of interchangable needles, but size 4 didn't give me gauge, either. I was so relieved that size 5 worked, because then I could STOP SWATCHING AND START KNITTING. Unfortunately, I had stitch gauge but not row gauge, and thus wound up running out of space on the foot before I'd properly completed the second chart.



While it seems like a flagrant act of insubordination to knit Nancy Bush socks on circular needles, I'm just not such a fan of double points. I was grateful that I knew the cuff chart involved a little tweaking and knit-reading on the part of the knitter. If you follow the chart blindly, it comes out wrong. I knit each cuff, heel, and toe separately, and worked the legs and feet together, magic loop style, on the circulars.



The cuffs and legs were knit in the Puget Sound area. The first heel was knit in Wenatchee. The second heel was knit on the beach in Pacific City, Oregon. The feet and toes were completed on the long drive home.

Road trip wrap-up post #2

We took a pilgrimage! We had an evening in Portland, and as well as a lovely visit to Trader Joe's, we made a special journey to Powell's Books. It truly is a City of Books. We only had an hour to explore, which was completely inadequate.

I started out seeking a book on women's history. The section was huge, and had many tantalizing possibilities, although one set that particularly interested me came in four volumes, and they only had two. When I stopped to think about what I really wanted, I realized that I was particularly interested in reading about the librarian of Alexandria. I browsed the section on history of Egypt, but didn't find anything remotely relevant. There were plenty of generic history of Egypt books, but I wanted more than a brief mention of the Alexandria stuff. I also looked at their customer computer, but didn't find anything with a keyword search.

Discouraged, I moved on to browsing through their staff recommendations. There were several books on there that caught my eye. But then I found a book, there in the recommendations, The rise and fall of Alexandria. I was surprised it hadn't been in the Egypt section! While not specifically about the library, which is why I hadn't found in when searching on the computer, it's about the academic and intellectual environment of Alexandria, which suits my purposes just fine. I've read a few chapters and am really enjoying it.

When done browsing the history floor, I wandered down to the craft room. The knitting section was so plentiful I couldn't even begin to explore it, but I did find some very affordable and interesting vegetarian cookbooks.

Powell's is awesome! The entire family was enchanted, and the selection was unbelievable.

Road Trip Wrap-Up Post #1

Well! Yesterday morning I was knitting on an Oregon beach, the Pacific Ocean keeping me company. Today I'm back in desert country, baking in near 100F heat, wondering why I just finished a pair of thick woolen socks.

But one of the most important developments to come out of the road trip--even more important than a new pair of socks--I am no longer a graduate student!! People ask me what I'm going to do with all that time now. I glance down at my knitting and shrug.

Knitting on the road

A finished object! Knitted completely on the road, these road trip socks even have their ends woven in, though they could use a good blocking. Many pics and details to follow.

More on acquisitions

Even better, my 6 new skeins are from home grown, well loved family alpacas. The cousins scooped the poop and now i can knit the yarn. More pictures to follow when i get a chance to upload from my camera.

Acquisitions

6 skeins of delicious, soft, pettable alpaca yarn and It's all mine.

pretty ballerina!

I have a finished object!




Leg warmers
Yarn: Duets Middy in frostberry
Pattern: Broad spiral ribbing from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Needles: Addi Turbo Size 3 circular



It's been a long dry knitting season, and I'm so pleased to have finished SOMETHING.



As usual, when I went to take pictures, my dear friend came to investigate.