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.

Actual knitting progress

I have knitted on nothing but leg warmers in the past few weeks. They have slowly approached their limit, and now need only one more 4-row repeat before I start on the upper cuffs. Onward leg warmers!

Acquisitions

Okay, so no yarn acquisitions to report, but a really good haul at the thrift store. I actually showed up there to find a simple too-small black t-shirt for the #1son for him to use for 80s Rocker Day at school. I succeeded.



Inspired by this flickr group, I browsed through the sheets at the thrift store. While I didn't find any fabulous sheets, I did find a pillow case that will make a perfect skirt for my grrlee. Although she's making the case for a sundress, which would also be lovely. Aaaaand, I also bought a wee skirt. The skirt is size 4, which doesn't fit anyone around here. But I'm such a sucker for those lovely fabrics that I just needed to bring it home with me. I might tailor it a little to fit a dollie, or chop it up to make knitted babes clothes, or even just hang on to it so I can admire its delicious fabric whenever the mood strikes.



Lastly, I found a fabulous skirt. Interestingly, its label declared it to be a size that I know for a fact that I cannot fit. Holding it up, I could tell it was generously sized and certainly not the size it claimed to be. I bought it without trying it on, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it's even a little big. I wish this could be my claim that I've dropped two sizes, but really it's just poor sizing on the part of the manufacturer.



ETA--After writing the above about sizes, it occurred to me that it's quite possible the skirt was designed to be worn low over the hips, which would explain why it's so wide. I'm just of the wrong fashion generation to even consider such a possibility. So it's not an error of sizing on the part of the manufacturer, it's just my lame fashion sense.

Mother's Day Joy

Yes, I'm 2 weeks behind. Yes, I'm playing catchup today. I'm 3 weeks and 2 projects away from the end of graduate school and so my priorities continue to be time-wasters that do not involve knitting or blogging. However, I did want to note my nice little set of Mother's Day giftees.

I was quite bemused the Saturday evening before. The family was discussing a walk, and I suggested we walk to the bookstore. My #1Man and #1Son exchanged glances and said, "Naw, not the bookstore." Me, being obtuse, asked, "Why not?" #1Son said, "Because there's, uhm, a tornado over by the bookstore and we wouldn't want you to get hurt."

His gift to me was the pictured copy of Things I Learned From Knitting (Whether I Wanted To or Not). When I got it, I immediately cracked open the book and sure enough, it was signed! He hadn't even noticed that. I missed the Yarn Harlot's visit, which was a bummer, but again directly related to the amount of schoolwork going down here. So to get a signed book was a nice little gift to make it all better. The book is perfect for an overworked graduate student, you can read short little chapters of knitting hilarity whenever you want to sandwich it in.

As you can see in the photo, I also scored a nicely framed photo, taken by my #1grrl, and a biography of Julie Andrews, Home. As I've long been a fan of Ms Andrews, (Victor/Victoria, anyone?) this was a really cool gift. I'll be reading this on our Monumental Road Trip this summer.

Acquisitions

Check it out! A brand new Laptop Lunch! Actually I bought three of them, although only one is pictured here.



This came from the fine folks at Red Apple School Supply, also home of the Green Apple Earth Friendly School Supplies. I'm sure I sound like an ad, but no affiliation, I'm just glad to support these guys.



I purchased these for myself and kidlets, in support of the new lunch excitement that pervades the household. You see, I browsed pictures of bento lunches with the kidlets, and they were both very inspired.



Now they're making exciting poser bentos, and two good things have come out of this. First of all, their lunches are now packed with colourful and nutritious variety. Secondly, the inspiration is such that they are making their lunches the night before, which makes for much easier mornings.



The pictures show our attempts at making rice balls. I first had rice balls 20 years ago, when us Canadian teens (college age) had cultural exchange parties with some Japanese teens who were attending an English school in our town. We fixed nachos, which was a common party food for us at the time, and involved sprinkling grated cheese on chips and broiling it in the oven. The Japanese girls fixed rice balls, which were far more labour intensive. As we watched them assembling this lovely feast, we were shamed by our lame little addition to the party. The rice balls were so delicious, too!





I attempted making rice balls with the kids a four or five years ago. I had googled some recipes and gave it a try. They were not very impressive, and the kidlets didn't like them. I asked some Japanese mothers at school, and a very nice mom had her husband pick me up some rice ball molds while he was in San Francisco. I'm afraid I was too intimidated to try it again. But now, with the kids so excited, we ventured into that cultural adventure again. We used the molds, which work great. And since they made them themselves, the kids liked the rice balls.

a finished object!

I've been participating in the Sock-a-Month knit-along for over a year, now. I do like the regular discipline of ensuring that I finish at least a pair a month. My wavy socks, started in March, were slated to be my April pair. I didn't turn the heels until the final Sunday before April ended, but I still maintained high hopes of finishing them in time.



Unfortunately, as bedtime approached on April 30th and I was still knitting up the leg, it became increasingly obvious that I wasn't going to make the deadline. While examining my options, it became clear I had two choices: Miss the deadline, or cast off where I was, just so I could finish in April. The socks were at that moment as tall as crew socks, but I have noticed that the socks with a little extra height quickly become my favourites, so I really wanted to add a couple more inches to the socks. I finally admitted that finishing the socks too short was sheer foolishness and admitted defeat.



On May 1, I attended a band concert, and I had enough sitting time to finish the socks, and even did the bind off while enjoying high school jazz. I did a bindoff I believe was recommended by Bordhi, where you bindoff with two strands held together to give the cuff a braid-like appearance. It looked lovely but unfortunately was too tight.

The socks languished, finished but imperfect, since then. Today I was preparing to attend a knitting circle. I know it's a vanity, but I like to wear a pair of hand-knitted socks when I hang with knitting buddies. A peek in my drawer showed that all my hand-knitted socks were in the laundry! (Yes, I know what I'll be doing all weekend.) So I pulled out my finished but imperfect socks, ripped out the bindoff, and finished them with an EZ sewn bindoff. It took me 45 minutes, and I was able to wear the socks to the knitting circle. It's not really showing off, it's more like show-and-tell, or maybe like a group identification object, like the Red Hat Ladies and their red hats.



Pattern: wavy rib from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Architecture: Riverbed Architecture from New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Yarn: Araucania sock yarn
Needle: Addi Turbo Size 2 circular
Notes: For the heel, I dropped down to a size 1 needle. This made a nice tight fabric for the heel. It also attempted to compensate for me knitting the foot a little long, but obviously didn't compensate enough, because when I look at the picture above, I can see the heel is a little baggy. These socks were my first try at a garter stitch toe, as shown in the picture below, and so far I'm pleased with the results.



Unfortunately, when worn, the wavy pattern disappears and it becomes rather blocky, instead.

Life happens, too

Since I'm mired in a slow-knitting quarter (though I do have a finished object to show when the batteries charge), I just thought I'd poke my head into blog land, say hi, and share a few tales from the real world.

Hi!

Yesterday afternoon, my daughter asked if she could have a brownie. I replied "Yes, if you eat three baby carrots, first." We both wandered upstairs to munch on baby carrots. She liked them so much she decided she didn't even want a brownie anymore and took the bag of carrots outside to share with all her friends. Go figure.

Last week, my 13 year old son announced somewhere around 7:30pm that we needed to make cookies for the bake sale tomorrow. Oh really? I whipped out my classic Better Homes and Gardens cookbook to look at a few ideas, and he decided that macaroons looked simple. Now I know that blending eggs to a soft peak and stiff peak and all that is not simple, but I didn't bother to squash his enthusiasm. Especially since we had all the ingredients on hand. The first step is to separate the eggs. He was familiar with the process, so he must have witnessed it at a friend's house, because I assure you, I don't separate eggs on a daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis. He wanted to try it, and the first egg went really well. I showed him how you separate them into a different bowl, so that if you goof up one egg, you don't contaminate the entire batch. The second egg... well he cracked that egg open and wouldn't you know? There was a yolk in both halves! I laughed so hard. What a time to get a double-yolked egg! Incredibly, although we had 2 yolk-escapage events, I was able to scoop them carefully out without incident, the egg whites were not contaminated, and we were able to acheive the proper peakage. There was an emergency call to my mother mid-process, but the line was busy! We had to proceed without advice and the macaroons turned out delicious.

Actual knitting progress

At last! The weather is lovely and i can sit outside and knit at lunch. I turned 2 heels this weekend and i'm working steadily up the leg.

Enthusiastic winner!

 

This fresh in from cafe press--my very own Rainey Sisters mug! It now sits on my desk at work, regularly filled with tea.

I won it in a contest sponsored by these fun knitters. On their post they said:

Finally, Sally’s daughter and her little assistant (who helped with the random drawing), really wanted us to reward the very first person who entered the contest for her enthusiasm. To keep the results from being tampered with or chewed up, we agreed. Therefore, a mug will also be going to Valerie.

When I read that, I was very tickled, and bemused. As a kid, I was known and regularly mocked for my enthusiasm, and I immediately thought, "This is the first time something good has come from it!" The first thing that came to mind was the grade three Christmas program, where our class had to stand up and sing in front of an audience full of parents. I have always loved to sing with a group, and I assure you, I belted it out. It never occured to me to notice if everyone else was belting, too, why should that be my concern? My siblings laughed at me later and told me that they could hear me loudly over the rest of the class.

Enough reminiscing, this post is mostly to say, thanks for the mug! Hurrah!

What's in progress

 

Yesterday I finally updated my progress page on Ravelry to show all my current works in progress. These are all projects I consider "active" and I work on them all from time to time. It was discouraging to see these projects side by side and accept how slowly they have been and will continue to progress.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of knitting time available to me right now. My life right now includes:

• Family duties


• Full time work


• Internship 10 hours a week


• Final quarter in graduate school, a major research methodologies course


• Completing my portfolio, the equivalent of a thesis


• Applying for a number of jobs which all come open this time of year


• Going to interviews for these jobs without using up any time off because I need it for my graduation/vacation journey at the end of the term.


• Daily walks or other exercise, without which I go completely batty and everything else falls apart

Sadly, few of these tasks are knitting friendly. There is occassionally knitting at work on lunch time, and sometimes family duties can include knitting while I talk/snuggle/hangout/whatever with my Most Important Peoples. I have been known to knit and walk at the same time, but I've noticed that I get less exercise under those conditions, and also I get crampy shoulders and arms.

Because of the slow knitting progress, there's not a lot to blog. I can't bring myself to blog: Look, here's the broad spiral ribbing an inch longer than it was last week!

Acquisitions

This is the spot where normally I would show off all my new yarn from shopping in Seattle. If I remember correctly, I have shopped in Seattle on every residency trip I have made. However, on this my last residency trip, I did not make time to shop for yarn. This was a combination of being OHMIGODTOOBUSY and OHMIGODIHAVETOOMUCHYARN. The latter may have been inspired by a small bounty from Knitpicks that arrived the day I departed.

You see, my coworker wanted to order some needles from Knitpicks, and she needed some purchases to pad her order up to the free shipping minimum. Naturally I had to help out a friend in need!

Thus I now am the proud owner of some Felici in the colourway Arugula, and some Shamrock in that blue colourway. (whatever it's called). I also acquired a Harmony size 3 circular needle which I have since misplaced on the disaster that is my desk at work.

 

Thrice as nice

Live from baggage claim... Travelers every where are celebrating the sock's progress. It has tripled its length during travel. Sadly, it will be promptly neglected.

Knitting on the road

Live from the SeaTac airport... Yes i had several works in progress, but i always like a special travel project. This shows my total progress for the short trip. I did have to rip out several rows yesterday because apparently i cannot count to 3 while attending class.

Let's be blunt

This garter-stitch toe makes a remarkably blunt toe. I continue to be bemused by the whole thing, and suspect it will wear well. Time will tell.

The pattern is an elongated version of the wavy rib from More Sensational Knitted Socks. I do a six-row repeat instead of four-row, which works better with the Bordhi 3-row increase pattern.