A Sob Story with a Happy Ending (& Socks!)

I know...it's been a long time since my last post! We ended up with some STUNNING weather here about 10 days ago which magically coincided with the LYS Tour - a tour of yarn shops in the Puget Sound Northward area (24 shops). I decided to go visit all of them and collect my patterns so I rented a car and had a glorious time on Thursday and Friday, May 15-16. I took lots of pictures and have lots of stuff to share, so I'm going to try to work that in over the next couple blog posts.

Saturday, the 17th, was blistering hot (90 enormous degrees - the earliest it has EVER been 90 in Seattle) so I just thought I was...you know...warm all day. By that night, I had a sore throat too which turned out NOT to be the result of lots of chatting and visiting on LYS. By Sunday I knew - the flu. Which completely FLATTENED me. For a whole week. The last time I missed an ENTIRE week of work for illness was when I was actually carted out of the office in an ambulance (I had a ruptured cyst - a melodramatic event I don't especially recommend).

To add insult to flu injury, Monday last week, my landlord shared with me her intention of selling the condo I rent. The 60 day clock was running. So...I have a fever and I'm also PANICKED about finding a place to live. I have never in my life tried to find a new place to live under those circumstances. I normally plot looking for a new place/locale about as meticulously as I undertake my knitting projects - everything worked out in advance and every stitch ticked off on a pattern and tracked (so that both socks are EXACTLY the same).

The Happy Ending. I found a listing mid-week for a small house only a mile from where I currently live - same city/area code (and probably no change in mileage to work). I wasn't well enough to go look until Saturday afternoon and by then I was second on the list. But things worked out and I will be moving in July 1st. I'm tickled pink. Not thrilled about the whole move process - packing, etc. But...I'm using this as an opportunity to really de-clutter (not my yarn or quilting fabric though!) and I know I'll be very happy in the new place.

So...something knitty. Before getting sick, I finished these:

These are my new favorite pattern in the world, the "Swirls" socks from Monica Jines (pattern not yet available for sale). The yarn is "Lemon Ice" from Claudia Handpaints. We had a cool enough day after I finished these to be able to wear them once, but I suspect they may go in the hand knit sock drawer now for a few months - it's a bit warm for wool socks for me.

While I'm going through the move process, I'm going to pack up all my other works-in-process and just keep a little bag with my supplies and yarn for a couple pairs of socks. The socks make a perfect transportable project and I'm so comfortable with this particular pattern right now and perfectly content to make some more socks like it. Once I started to feel better and had heard about the house, I cast on another pair. This is with another Claudia yarn called "Fantasy Dot." Someone said it reminded them of those white cakes where you poke holes in the cake and pour in jello.

I'll work on sharing my LYS adventures in the next few posts. I'm sure it will be more interesting than a long string of pictures of packing boxes because that's pretty much going to be my life for the next month (the cats are already wondering what the heck is going on).

Not for the Faint of Heart

Warning: some really crappy photos coming up (sorry 'bout that).

Cable repair. Just the idea would strike fear into me a few months ago. I would nod knowingly as I watched some woman slip into the yarn store with a brown paper bag carefully clutched in her hand. She'd sort of look around, hoping nobody else was there, and pull out some project that needed help - a dropped stitch, a mis-crossed cable, or that infamous beginner's dilemma, 87 stitches on the needle when the pattern said only 75 should be there. I always knew how that woman felt.

I'm so glad my knitting career has moved far enough along that those situations don't strike quite the same fear into my heart! I'm not exactly fearless, but with a quiet enough room and on a patient day, I can tackle something like this - a mis-crossed cable that somehow escaped my attention until days after it was done (I think cables mess around in the middle of the night and get caught in compromising positions like this!).

Being the rather tediously slow knitter that I am, my first thought is NEVER to rip back all the way. Rather, I want to rip/ladder down to the problem only and deal with it. In fact, ripping out whole rows is still the part of knit repair that makes me break out in a cold sweat and let's not even talk about problems with lace - that's what lifelines are for! So...28 rows down, 4 stitches wide, this is what I end up with (VERY carefully balanced in my lap).

Then comes the part where I very carefully knit and cross my way back up the pattern. This one is notable (record setting for me) for how far down I have to go to repair, but otherwise, it's straightforward: a 4 row pattern with 3 rows of knit followed by a 2x2 cable cross. I've had more complex cables where I have to rip down only a few rows, but pretty darn wide because there are so many multiple left and roght crosses that overlap and I have to redo all of that stuff. My key tools for this project (besides a keen mind, steady hands, and a ready supply of aspirin) are a pair of US 1 dpns and a crochet hook. I knit back up using the tiny needles (this shawl is knit on US 8s) and then adjust the stitch tension across the row as I do each row. Frankly, it's all that adjusting that takes the most time. Here I am partway back up:

This one worked out well - I can't see where the problem was myself. Well...I probably could find it, but I doubt anyone else could without me giving them a hint.

May the Force of Knit Repair be with you!

The Romans are Leaving!

At some point during the week, my ears tuned in to the local commercials and I realized that the ancient Roman art exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum was down to it's last few days (Mother's Day is the last). The weekend would be a regular Roman circus of people cramming in to see what the Louvre so graciously loaned Seattle. So...I took Friday off. Friday was also the sole sunny day of the week so I figured I would have a good time at the museum and then wander around downtown a bit.

Unfortunately, I have no pics from the exhibit (no cameras allowed). It was way beyond what I had expected. I thought they might have a dozen statues, some miscellaneous artifacts, one or two "wow" pieces. Uh, no. TONS of stuff and it took me a full 2 hours to work through just the full exhibit (I didn't spend too much time in the regular exhibits after that). There were tons of exquisite marble statuary, friezes, mosaics, painted art, artifacts from daily life, etc. Frankly, it was awe-inspiring and I'm so glad I took a day off to go.

Despite the antiquity of the collection (most pieces dated to about 200 BCE to 100 CE) it was also interesting for me to realize that what was on display was still hundreds of years more recent that something I just finished reading: Homer's Illiad and Odyssey (both date to about 2700 years ago, before writing). If you were forced to read portions of either in school, rethink what you read and go (run!) pick up copies of the new translations by Robert Fagles.

Yes, I do more than knit! (AND I read more than romance novels ;-)

After the Romans, and after a cursory pass through other exhibits (enough to know I have to get back there again), I headed out in search of lunch. SAM is only a block or two from the Pike Place Market so I headed over there. This is a view down the main "alley" on the street level floor when you enter. PPM is known for fish, flowers, fresh produce and all kinds of other odd things from donuts made while you wait to numerous street musicians (some good, some truly awful).

I didn't find a spot for lunch there, but did pick up a few things. I don't have a picture of it, but there was a place with TONS of homemade pasta - I picked up a Southwestern blend (and their recipe to make a spicy southwestern pasta salad using it), some porcini and red pepper orzo, and....(get this) some chocolate linguini. Yup. Dessert pasta. It even came with a dessert recipe featuring the linguini and strawberries. I couldn't resist.

On the way back out, I saw this:

Around on the other side was a huge selection of cookies (I got 4 different ones to try later). The also had monstrous Texas doughnuts (think...the size of a dinner plate and about 3 inches tall). There was a group of tourists absolutely mesmerized by the donuts and I could see that the man traveling with three women was already envisioning himself reading the Sunday paper with a cup of coffee and just ONE doughnut.

I also passed the famous Flying Fish market on my way out. BTW, the whole Pike Place Market scene is pretty much mandatory for tourists. See the brightly colored fish? Parrot fish.

Farther up first street I finally found someplace for lunch. It was a little hole in the wall restaurant (but seemed a lot cleaner than anything in the Market!) with bagels and bagel sandwiches. The sandwich was great. As I started to wander back down the street toward the car, I found this:

A gelato store. I got half chocolate orange and half hazelnut. (Yes, I did eat my way through the Market district!). I finally headed back toward the lot where I'd rented (at an obnoxious fee) a small piece of Seattle real estate for the afternoon (i.e., parked my car). I had parked at the base of Harbor Steps. It's hard to really tell from this picture because I couldn't get ALL the steps in, but this is a butt-firming climbing from wharf level up to SAM, PPM, etc. There are a LOT of steps. Seattle is definitely a downtown that will get you in shape.

I had originally planned to walk more along the wharf, but my feet were wiped out so I managed a Diet Coke and a shot of the Seattle Aquarium just to prove I hit waterline at one point.

Coming soon: adventures in cable repair accompanied by some really bad photography.

It's Wollmeise!

I'm trying to get a post in but I've exercised, showered, fed the cats, put batteries in the camera, and then taken pictures (and explained to a somewhat puzzled neighbor what the heck I was doing out there on the sidewalk). And I've got that weird head buzz going which says I'm pushing it and my blood sugar is tanking big time. So here we go!

My second 2008 sock club package arrived from The Loopy Ewe today and the yarn is...WOLLMEISE! This stuff is like spun gold it's so damn hard to get...meaning I've NEVER managed to score a skein (I just finally gave up TRYING to get any). The pattern is beautiful, but is a cast on of 64 stitches which just isn't going to work for me and I don't see an elegant way to adjust this without really changing up the designer's intentions. I do NOT like to use bigger needles just to obtain a bigger size because that gives me a thinner (weaker) knit fabric and especially for socks - it just isn't going to hold up. My mother has feet though that fit perfectly in a sock with a CO of 64 so.... I'll admit to a fiber oinkiness though and I'll probably use the Wollmeise for myself. It's red. VERY red.

Also in the package was a cool little vinyl bag for carting around "stuff." This goes perfectly with the small project bag we got in the first package. Also in there is clever gadget called a stitch saver - it's a key ring with basically a mini crochet hook for grabbing those pesky stitches that have slipped out of position.

I had originally planned to show a couple works in progress tonight so here's one (since the sock club one is filling in space). This is the Kilkenny Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls book. I'm making it in yarn from Black Water Abbey which is called for in the book. I'd never seen this yarn before and the BWA folks actually had a booth at the Madrona Arts festival and I fell in love with the yarn. It's from Ireland and is very..."crisp"...which means I could never wear it against my skin (itchy, itchy), but for something going over clothes, it will be very, very warm. This shawl has been a dormant project for a month because as beautiful as it is, it just gets to be a LOT of cabling after awhile. Every fourth row is something like 5,346 cable crosses (ok, not really THAT many). It's a lot though. The color btw is "Sunset." I was torn between this color and a sort of green color at the fair and every person in the booth assured me that not only should I get Sunset, but I should also get it because it's a beautiful color that hardly anyone can wear but it looked beeeyootiful against my complexion.

Yes. I am a sucker.

Well, I also was one of those 70s folks glued to my copy of Color Me Beautiful which repeatedly assured me that anything peach colored should have pride of place in my closet. And if Sunset is instead orange, then that would be a celebration of my doctorate alma mater, The University of Tennessee (whose major legacy in my life is a tendency for me to gravitate rather strangely now to orange. Lots of orange.).

And....a little closer:

Swirls & Blooms

Finally, a finished project to share! These are the March Loopy Ewe Sock Club socks. The pattern is called "Swirls" by Monica Jines (of Monica Knits). Unfortunately (for anyone not in the club), this pattern won't be up for sale for another 6 months or so. I absolutely LOVE the pattern because it's very simple, yet looks complicated. It works up fast. Looks fab on. AND...actually fits me without any adjustments (with my big feet, most sock patterns need to be upsized). The yarn is the sock club yarn - a special dye lot from Cherry Tree Hill called Wind in the Willows. I don't know if the yarn will ever be available or not so I have to treat this as a one-off and not wear them out too soon.

One of these days I should spring for a new digital camera with a macro lens because I have a hard time getting good close-ups and trying to show you the pattern of green socks on a green sock blocker...well...I've done my best! I love the pattern so much that I've already cast on another pair of socks in the same pattern.

Just as I took this second picture, the rain started to fall - perfect timing!

I've also decided to trust that the hail and snow is pretty much behind us (finally! it's almost May for goodness' sake) and I got some flowers. Since I live in a condo and we have no yards, my "gardening" is pretty darn limited. For the first 3 years I lived here I tried to do vegetable container gardening but was unsuccessful. Since I've had great success with that in other places, I finally had to concede that for this particular location, I just don't get enough sun to pull it off. So...flowers it is. Two of the hanging baskets are for the back balcony and one basket is going on the front porch (see Kleenex hiding behind them?). The Gerbera daisies are for the big clay pot and I got a couple geraniums to fill in a small planter because not all of mine wintered over successfully. Turns out I need to get one more geranium and probably a couple herbs for the funky "wishing well" planter.

Why Lace Charts Can Be Difficult

Sometimes I have a really hard time following my lace charts in the evening. Can you perhaps spot the problem?

Yes. I did mean YOU.

What Season is This?

I think maybe Saturday was summer here. For a whole day. It was 79 - a new heat record in Seattle. After knitting class I threw the hiking gear in the car and headed for the trail. A low elevation trail because anything too high is still socked in with snow. It was a glorious day.

And Sunday? It was 55. Yup. A return to our regularly scheduled weather programming. Sigh. However, Mother Nature is not done with us yet because our 10 day forecast has a whopping 3 days that have some measure of snow in the forecast. Mind you, I think it's extremely doubtful I'll see any of it at my place, but just the inclusion of a snowflake on the forecast is...well...odd.

It does mean there is some quality knitting time in my future with not a single day higher than the 50s forecast (and one night back in the 20s - eek). My immediate dilemma? The powers that be at Costco and the big hardware stores decided over a month ago that lo, summer was upon the world and they all stopped carrying fire logs. Which means I have only my stock on hand before I'm reduced to buying them one at a time for an outrageous price at the grocery store. One of these years I'll learn that I should lay in a really big stock of them between Christmas and New Year's.

Yes....it's still time for this...Smokie and Pod having a snooze.

What a week!

This has been a really strange week at work - very busy. I spent the entire morning today bemoaning the fact that the week was going SO slow and dreading the next two days before getting to the weekend. It was only at lunchtime that I finally realized that TODAY is Thursday and TOMORROW is......

Friday. Sweeeet, sweeet Friday. It also means I should finally have some time to knit because there has been precious little of that happening this week. ALTHOUGH all the weather forecasters have been teasing us with predictions of 70 degree weather on Saturday. 70 degrees pretty much counts as high summer here in Seattle, especially after last "summer." Last year, it apparently was illegal for the sun to come out on the weekend. We had a July, August, and September where MONDAY was the sunny day of the week and the weekends were drippy. So...if Saturday truly gets past 65 (or shoot, even 60) then I'll have to get a pedicure so I can flop around in sandals, ensure that my legs are shaved for at least some capris, and join the rest of the soggy Northwest population in baring some very, very white skin to the sun.

Since I have little to show you from this week's knitting, here's a picture of a Seasilk scarf finished earlier this year. This is the first time I've worked with Seasilk and I love the yarn. I attempted to start this project over Christmas holiday but just a clue: trying to keep track of lace charts while you're coming down with the flu, in the midst of the flu, or recovering from the flu is going to do nothing but show you the way to the frog pond.

More than once.

But the finished product is quite lovely.

Starting Over

This is my second stab at blogging and a big shout-out to "Appaloosa" on a sock knitting forum for giving me a cool name to use this time around!

I'm going to try to keep the posts briefer, but more regular. And with that in mind (and because for the life of me, I can't figure out what to write about this afternoon), here's a pic of a recently completed project - some Selbuvotter mittens. I love this book by Terri Shea. This particular pair was completed with Dale Heilo. They turned out a bit big, but I definitely like the weight of this pair when it comes to doing the job that gloves are supposed to do - keep your hands warm!