Let’s just say it’s a good thing I only have to carve jack’o’lanterns once a year.
Sock Rut.
I have been in a sock rut. I will admit it.
I knit Jaywalkers, and 3×1 broken rib socks, and stockinette socks. It gets a little boring sometimes. So when Jen gave me a spectacular skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight in Harvest for my birthday, I decided maybe I should shake it up a little.
This is a pretty intense yarn, and it deserves a pattern to show it off. So I went with the Herringbone Rib Socks, which was published in the Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn book that came out about a year ago (and was also released as a freebie through Knitting Daily). I cast on for the small size, knit the leg and heel, and tried it on… and discovered it was too small. To the frog pond it went, and we cast on again for the large side.
A whole month later, I finally have a finished sock.
Now that I have got a sock (and a half) of this pattern done, I finally feel like it’s clicked. There was a lot of tinking involved, which makes me feel kind of ridiculous, because it’s only a two-row pattern, for Bob’s sake, but it took a long time for me to feel comfortable with it. I think I’m finally there, though:
I have already cast on the next sock and it’s going so much faster now that I finally know what I’m doing, but I keep stopping to put on the first sock and admire it.
Perhaps I should stop doing that and knit faster, so I can wear both socks at once? That would be too easy, wouldn’t it?
Rhinebeck
Guys, this was the best Rhinebeck ever. Let me show you.
This? This is me with Anne Hanson. We were waiting on line Saturday morning to get our passes and I realized that a) Anne was standing about 20 feet in front of us, and b) I was wearing my Honeybee shawlette, which she designed. So one of my roommates (thanks, Gingy!) marched me over to show off, and Anne pointed out I had it on upside down and promptly proceeded to take it off for me, put it on the right way, and tuck the ends in nicely. (I swear to Bob I can dress myself, really. I was putting on my coat and knits in the parking field and I had no mirror and it was windy. STOP LAUGHING.) Anyway, she kindly let Melissa take a picture of us, and was so gracious and wonderful that I am a fan for life. I already admired her prolific design skills, but now, more importantly, I admire her for being awesome. Thank you for making my weekend, Anne.
Anyway!
Here’s Jennifer, Gingy, and Melissa, showing off their October Leaves! (Gingy’s also wearing her hat, which I might just have ready to go by the end of the month…I think.) They threw up some knitta signs for you all. Not pictured is Melissa’s husband Doug and Liz, our last roommate. We spent so much time laughing this weekend that my sides ached by the time I went home. It was awesome.
I saw lots of famous knitting people, like in this fine example of kinnearing:
(Can you spot Jess from Ravelry and Vicki Howell?) I did not kinnear Kate Gilbert, but I did actually stand with her in a conversation while I got to pet the sample for Cityscape, which I’m going to make because it’s just glorious. And I got to see lots of friends old and new, like Sandi Wiseheart and Jennifer in the Holiday Yarns booth (two of my favorite people) and Rebecca and Glenna and Melanie, and gals from the LSG in NY gang, like Cleo and Liz. (And lots of people I never managed to find at all, or who couldn’t make it. Next year!) So much socializing.
And posing with nightgowns.
That’s Gingy and Liz, our fourth roommate. They are both awesome.
My shopping was…well, let’s just say that every year I claim I am going to be restrained and come back under budget, and every year it’s a vicious lie.
This pile includes sockweight from Holiday Yarns, some STR mill ends, more laceweight from Sliver Moon and A Touch of Twist, a mystery skein from the sale bin at Briar Rose in a beautiful teal, some BUGGA and Gaia Fingering from Sanguine Gryphon (so excited!) and fiber from Cloverleaf Farms, Ellen’s 1/2 Pint (another sale bin find) and an Abby Batt. (Since I too am an Abbie it seemed only appropriate.) As happens when you practice a thing, I am feeling more and more comfortable with my drop spindle, so getting more fiber to play with seemed like a good idea. There’s also a Nine Tailors sock kit from the Tsarina of Tsocks hiding in there, an early Christmas present from Jennifer, who loves me and is my favorite person. (Except for when Liz fetches up coffee for the room from the hotel’s breakfast buffet, at which point she becomes my favorite person.) It’s a really lovely little stash, and maybe by this time next year I’ll have even knit most of it up. I am really excited about that.
Spending a weekend surrounded by good friends, under clear blue skies and surrounded by beautiful colors and sheep and llamas and alpacas, will make anybody feel at peace with the world. I plan to hold onto my Rhinebeck zen as long as possible, because it’s the best feeling in the world.
If you’d like to see all of the pictures, I present this handy slideshow:
Thanks, Melissa & Doug for driving and all your delicious acer & mead, and Gingy & Liz & Jennifer for being excellent roommates and all of you for being so much fun. I haven’t had such a good time in a long time.
Next year I’ll stick to my shopping list. Really. STOP LAUGHING.
Dark and Stormy
I have been doing lots of blocking this week, but there are no pictures of those things yet, because the last few days have been very dark and stormy and that means the light has been awful, and taking my knits out into this blindingly ridiculous rain would undo all my blocking anyhow.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have something to share with you! Please behold
FRIGHTFUL:
Pattern: Peregrine by Kate Gilbert, from the Fall 2010 Twist Collective
Yarn: Stashed Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Candy Blue (which colorway has been discontinued for about five years; that is also almost as long as it’s been in my stash)
Needles: US7/4.5mm
Notes: Oh love, love, love. This is about the most complicated top I have knit yet, and that’s not saying much, because aside from picking up the ribbed collar and working the short rows there, it’s a pretty standard top. I tend towards socks and lace and I don’t branch out as often as perhaps I should, but when I saw the pictures in the newest Twist Collective I was just captivated and dove right in. The original calls for a wool yarn, but I had Cotton Ease in my stash, and I hit gauge spot on so I figured I’d take the risk. It came out glorious. Here, have some closeups:
The ribbing on the collar uses short rows, and you can see where I totally mucked up picking up the wraps on the right side. I really don’t care. I figured out what I did wrong far enough in that I didn’t want to rip back. Next time I will do better. And it’s not like it impedes wearability.
The pattern called for a picot bindoff on the collar, but I made an executive decision not to do so. I didn’t think it would work as well in a cotton blend, and I find I prefer the clean line anyhow.
The hem and the sleeves are edged with this delightful little lace, which was easy to work up and looks marvelous. Kate Gilbert’s got a really deft hand with little touches like this and I love it.
And look, guys! An action shot!
I wore the finished object to a knit night to show off and Kristin kindly humored me and took a few shots while I knit away on a hat. (A hat which the test knitters are working on and I should have ready to release soon, by the way… and thanks, Kristin!) You can see that the V-neck on this is extreeeeeeemely low, but I expected this would require a camisole underneath it and was not surprised. I really love how it looks and fits, and I’m so so happy with the final product. I’m seriously considering a second one in another color; maybe I’ll try a wool yarn this time!
In sum: this pattern is excellent, I love the FO, and if anybody can figure out why I’d call a pattern named Peregrine “Frightful,” I will give you an internet. (Somebody’s got to get the joke. Somebody? Anybody? Bueller?)
ALSO. You guys, my cousin had a baby girl on Monday and she’s beautiful. So I made her stuff.
The booties are my favorite bootie pattern, and I improvised the hat. I really kind of love it and I think I will write it up. I used the leftovers from my Lorna’s Laces Gold Hill Jaywalkers, because it’s such a pretty color and perfect for an autumn baby, don’t you think? And I stretched it with some pale pink Dalegarn Baby Ull from the stash. Every baby should start life with something handmade to call their own and I think this little set will do quite nicely. Do you think her mother will let me put needles in her hands to see what will happen?
Rhinebeck is coming, by the way. Who will I be seeing there?
Buzz buzz
Four days…
…and I have cast off. Fastest shawlette ever, overlooking the part where I knit the mini version and I had a lot of time to knit in the car so of course I’d finish it so quickly. It’s not blocked yet, but I figured I would show it off anyway, because HOMG IT’S SO PRETTY.
To explain from my last post: Les Abeilles is french for “bees,” and the motif on the bottom is exactly that:
See? Bees. Bees, knit up in a colorway called Wild Flower Honey, which was spun for me by Melissa, which name comes from the Greek for… bee. See what I did there?
I have a fair amount of yarn left, so I am making up some mitts to match. Epic Rhinebeck yarn accessories are epic, folks.
Road trip
So I am in Vermont, because that is where my sister is. Visiting her is such a trial:
This is where we went apple picking. The orchard overlooks Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.
I ate one right off the tree. It was delicious.
In the car on the drive up, I started a shawlette:
This is Les Abeilles by Anne Hanson, which I am knitting up in the magnificent “Wild Flower Honey” yarn spun up for me by Melissa. There’s a bit of a joke in those choices, and I will give you a virtual cookie if you can figure it out. (Pipe down, Missy, I know you know it already.) I think it will make a wonderful Rhinebeck shawl.
Can I just say, knitting with Melissa’s handspun is so much fun? Can I? Good. Because it is, bouncy and soft and I’m having too much fun with the colors. I can’t wait to see how this shawl looks when I’m done.
Success!
So among the things I have been working on this summer is my spinning. I have a really adorable little Golding spindle that I picked up two Marylands ago that I have been getting more and more comfortable with, and ages and ages ago I started spinning up this bagful of fiber I got from a kind fellow Raveler who RAK’d it to me so I could have something to practice with.
This is what it looked like when I started:
Now, I’ve been messing around with my spindles for a while — I have this big generic one that I got cheap at Rhinebeck years ago, and it was just too heavy for me to spin comfortably with. It wasn’t until I picked up my Golding that things finally started falling into place.
And how.
Say hello to 91 yards of roughly sport-weight, chain-plied YARN. Yarn that I spun, all by myself.
The skein is sitting next to me right now, because I can’t stop patting it and touching it. Guys, I can make yarn! This changes everything!
In fact, I’ve already started spinning more. As the internet would put it, MUST SPIN ALL THE FIBER. If you’ll excuse me, my spindle awaits.
See you in September
I would ask where the summer went, except that it’s September 2nd and for the last few days the temperatures have been pushing three digits again, which is not…pleasant.
I have been off doing summery things. Would you like to see? Never mind. That’s a silly question.
I had a houseguest in July, my best friend J, and we played tourist at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens:
I’d never been before, but I will absolutely be going back. There’s something very satisfying about knowing just a few hundred feet away there’s a whole city outside you, but you can’t even hear it, surrounded by so many beautiful trees and flowers. Even if we did get rained on. And by rained, I mean poured. It was still fun!
And then we went to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There were some very long lines involved (protip: the “flex ticket” is not the same thing as the “reserved ticket.” See also: things I know now I wish I’d known in July) as well as some sunburn and some surprisingly decent if overpriced cafeteria food. And of course gift shops, because nothing says National Site of Historical Significance like a snow globe.
I brought the traveling sock with me that day:
We enjoyed the view from Ellis Island, and then we went and found my great-grandfather’s name on the Wall of Immigrants. He and I share a birthday, which is one of those random facts about me you will probably never need to know again.
I did other stuff this summer, too. My little brother’s baseball team made the championships, so I spent a lot of time on bleacher seats drinking ice cream sodas while I cheered him on:
(I have titled this picture “Badass.”)
And my friend Melanie and I went to see our favorite artists Vienna Teng and Alex Wong perform in the city:
I love Vienna Teng‘s music so much I cannot even tell you, and if you do not know who she is I suggest you scoot over to her website and check her out. Or you can listen to the short video I managed during one of her encores. (Bonus points if you can pick out where I’m singing along.) It was a marvelous concert, and an entirely suitable birthday present for myself.
Oh, yeah. And, uh, I had a birthday. They keep cropping up every year. My family gave into my begging and gave me the best thing ever.
Oh yes. Red velvet birthday cake, and a Nook. Now, I know there’s people out there who think e-books are the sign of the apocalypse, but I am not one of them. I grew up reading sff and watching Star Trek (part of the reason my Nook is named Tiberius) and all of my reading in grad school was done through pdf files I read on my laptop. So reading a book on a screen is second nature to me, and the fact that I have so many books squeezed onto that little delight makes me giddy. Also? I can read and knit at the same time now, since I don’t have to worry about holding the pages down. This isn’t to say I’m giving up my hard copies of Pride & Prejudice or any of my Zimmermans, but I really love having the choice. And (geek alert) it’s like my very own PADD. I even have a bunch of knitting patterns uploaded to it.
At the moment, I have the Hunger Games trilogy waiting for my attention, but as there is a hurricane barreling up the East Coast threatening to soak my weekend, I am going to save them for when the power goes out. That, and my new yarn:
Melissa spun this for me, out of BFL roving from the Painted Sheep, in a colorway called “Wild Flower Honey.” I’m thinking a Rhinebeck shawlette, but I haven’t settled on a pattern yet. It’s got to be something worthy of such a gift, you see. (Suggestions welcome!)
Here, have a closeup:
I KNOW, I’m such a lucky girl. Also, how talented is my friend?
Clearly, I will not be lacking for amusements if our power does get knocked out. I’m almost kind of hoping it does, for the excuse to sit around and read and knit and not have anything more pressing to steal my attention.
And…now we’re caught up. Hi, internet, how have you all been?
Feel the Burn
Traveling Sock went to the beach today.
While Traveling Sock sat back and enjoyed the view, its knitter braved the waves and wiped out several times. (Strong surf, today!) She then proceeded to acquire a delightfully tender patch of sunburn on her left knee. The sock is not sympathetic, because clearly the knitter should have paid more attention when she reapplied her sunscreen.
The knitter had such a nice time that she’ll put up with it. Next time she will be more conscientious about her sunscreen.
Sizzle
It has been very hot. New York City set a heat record yesterday: 105 degrees Farenheit. (Or, if you speak Celsius, 40 degrees.) Since I am not a summer person, it is, bluntly, hell.
So. I cope by hiding in the air conditioning, and I knit socks, because they are nice and small. I finished one today:
I am making a pair of Jaywalkers out of Lorna’s Laces sock yarn, because Glenna’s collection of Lorna’s Jaywalkers is inspiring, and like her I aspire to own a pair of them for every day of the week. (Two down, one in progress.)
These colors are so amazing that even though it’s too hot to even want to touch wool I cannot stop knitting. The colorway is called Gold Hill, and it’s just enchanting. Seriously. Look at this colorway.
It’s like the Lorna’s people took all of my favorite colors and shook them up and put them on yarn. (Well, almost. It’s missing blue. If it had a nice dutch blue in there I wouldn’t need another color of yarn ever again.) I want more of this colorway. I am actively considering tracking down every skein of this colorway in existence and hoarding them, just so I will never run out. (Don’t laugh, I did that when Knitpicks discontinued their Dancing sock yarn.) I’m not sure I will be able to wear these socks when they’re finished, because I’m going to be too busy admiring the colors to actually stop and put my feet into shoes.
That, and it’s just too hot to wear socks right now, but you get the idea.
I eagerly await the return of sock weather. Tomorrow would be great.
Stop laughing. Dreaming of sock weather is the only thing that gets me through heat waves. Sock weather. Mmm.