Abbie – Page 10 – Rush Hour Knitting

Wednesday, 5 August, 2009

July Wrap-Up

July was a month of traveling hither, thither and yon. I had several professional conferences to visit, so I was bouncing from DC to Chicago back to DC. Lots of time on planes and trains, including a delightful seatmate on Amtrak who decided he would try to use me in lieu of getting an actual New York guidebook. (He didn’t get very far.) My favorite part was when he asked me, after three solid hours of traveling alongside it, if that big river was the Hudson. Good times.

NETBOOK SLEEVE

Pattern: Self-designed
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Lake Ice Heather and scraps of blue and gold left over from my Muggle-Proof Scarf.
Needles: US10/6.0 mm
Notes: So. I splurged on a netbook for all this traveling, because so much information for these conferences exists online, and trying to find a computer can be a real struggle. (I’m typing this post up on it right now, actually! So tiny and adorable.) But cases cost extra and I have lots of yarn, so I made my own. I have an entire container of leftover WotA from old projects, so I went stashdiving and came up with a vaguely Harry-Potterish design. I added a pocket in front to hold the power cord, and lined the works with a cute little teddy-bear printed fabric I swiped from my mom’s quilting stash.

It’s lightweight and cushy, fits easily in the lovely messenger bag swag I got from SLA (hands down, best swag of the summer) and does exactly what I wanted it to. Couldn’t ask for more from a last-minute stashdiving experiment.

PANOPTICON JAYWALKERS

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina
Yarn: Lornaâ€™s Laces Shepard Sock in Franklinâ€™s Panopticon
Needles: US1/2.25 mm
Notes: All written up here. Even Franklin gave them a thumbs up, which made me extremely happy.

ATACAMA COWL
Robbyn Kenyon
Pattern: Alexstraza Cowl by Robbyn Kenyon
Yarn: Araucania Atacama
Needles: US5/3.75 mm
Notes: Stocking up warm things for winter. There will be no modeling of this, however, because right now it is not winter and there is no wearing of warm things in this weather.
Pattern is easy, cute, and can be done in the round or flat and seamed. The only thing it lacks is a chart, but I could always have charted it out myself,. The finished product is warm and the dragon-scale pattern shows off the variegation of the yarn very well.
I am puttering around with matching handwarmers, but it’s been too hot the last week or so to even think about handling alpaca.

August will be a month of things like lace. Lots of lace. Swallowtail lace, even.

Tuesday, 28 July, 2009

Slow Traveling

I was on the road again this weekend; a short trip — I’m home already! I had to be down in Washington for a day so I took Amtrak down. So much preferable to planes. No crazy security lines, much more room to stretch out or to wander to get a cup of tea, and a much better view along the way. (Sometimes. And sometimes the train is in New Jersey.)

But I felt like shaking things up.

So this time I brought a Traveling Shawl instead, which I worked on in between pouring over the latest magazines — would you believe that was the last copy of Knitscene in the rack at the Penn Station Borders? Crazy.

There’s no prize, but you’re welcome to guess just which pattern I picked. Well, you’ll get my admiration and respect, which is absolutely a prize everyone should strive for. What? Stop laughing, it’s true.

DC, by the way, is insanely humid. I don’t know how the locals do it.

Sunday, 26 July, 2009Sunday, 26 July, 2009

International relations

So in case anybody couldn’t tell, I am an American — and a New Yorker. (Sometimes the New Yorker part comes first.) But I’m also pretty fond of lots of other countries, like Germany, which I visited in high school, and Austria, where I studied for a semester in college. And my family has roots in Germany and England and most recently Scotland, so I have a deep affection for those nations too.

But there’s a much closer neighbor who I think deserves a little love today. So I thought I would present
Things About Canada I Love Even Though I am not Canadian:

-Koigu. It is my absolute favorite sock yarn. Squishy and in so many beautiful colors and did I mention squishy? Canada has lots of lovely yarns but Koigu will always be my favorite.

-Tim Horton’s Maple Donuts. (See also: Official Donut of the Canadian People.) Speaks for itself. Maple. Mmm. See also maple syrup, maple candy, maple cookies — maple anything, really.

-Sharon, Lois & Bram. I can still sing all of Skinnamarink, complete with the arm motions. You can too. I know it. Don’t lie.

-You Can’t Do That On Television. Slime. Barth. Alastair. That is all. Nickelodeon apparently showed nothing but Canadian shows when I was a kid. Huh.

-Creamy Dill chips. Canada has all sorts of interesting chip flavors, like bacon and ketchup, which are all delicious, but to my mind Creamy Dill is the best of them all. I wish they’d import!

-Blue Rodeo, who kindly hold their summer Toronto show right around my birthday, which is always a good excuse for a visit.

-Kathleen Edwards, who I learned about because of Blue Rodeo.

-Jann Arden, who I learned about from J.

-the Canadian National Exhibition, which also happens around my birthday, and always has cracktastic butter sculptures and midway rides, and is another good reason to visit Toronto in August.

-that nifty font in the Toronto subways, because it’s nifty! (There’s the transit geek coming out).

-Anne of Green Gables, for breaking her slate over Gilbert’s head and having imagination and teaching me about bosum friends.

-Vancouver, for doing such a nice job of playing so many other cities. (Toronto doesn’t get that one because playing spot-the-CN-Tower usually gives it away.)

-Due South, because it introduced me to the first (and possibly only?) magical-realist-cop-show, and led me to discover:
-that Mounties are awesome
-Paul Gross
-Slings & Arrows
-Callum Keith Rennie
-playing spot-the-CN-Tower

-Canadian Actor Bingo. Canada’s very big into recycling, and this includes actors. They start popping up all over the place once you’re paying attention!

-Inukshuks, which are a Native tradition of stone cairns, and acted as a message of welcome (or a sign of shelter or food or whatever… very flexible). It’s a lovely idea (and now you know why the symbol for the Vancouver Olympics is a pile of rocks). Everyone would be much happier if they got to go play with rocks once in a while.

-Canadian Knitters. Because it’s cold, so there’s lots of them, like Amy who runs Knitty and Veronik Avery and Kate Gilbert and the Landriu family who dye Koigu and I’m going to just wave a white flag now because if I kept listing I’d be sitting here doing that all day.

-the Yarn Harlot, who taught me how to knit a sock without needing a pattern, and teaches me how to be awesome in knitting and everything else.

-J, my best friend, who likes to educate me whenever I come up to visit. This is how I know where they filmed Anne of Green Gables at UT and what Second Cup is, and where to get off the streetcar to get to the Purple Purl.

Dare I try to make this a meme? If you’re reading this, tag-you’re-it.

Wednesday, 22 July, 2009Wednesday, 22 July, 2009

Seeing the Sights

I spent a week in Chicago, partly to attend the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and partly to play tourist. So, I decided, what could be more appropriate than knitting up my treasured Franklin’s Panopticon sock yarn, part of the Lorna’s Laces Color Commentary series. Franklin is one of my favorite knitbloggers (If you haven’t read about the time he was asked if he’d learned to knit in prison…well, what are you waiting for?) and I’d been waiting for just the right time to cast on with this sock yarn, a birthday present from Alysania last year.

Well. Franklin’s from Chicago. So is Lorna’s Laces. And I was on my way there. Clearly the mysterious perfect time to knit had arrived. So I knit one sock in Chicago and finished it on the way home, promptly cast on the second one, and finished the pair in between unpacking and laundry and those tasks that pile up when you’ve been away for a week.

PANOPTICON JAYWALKERS

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina
Yarn: Abovementioned Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock in Franklin’s Panopticon
Needles: US1/2.25 mm
Notes: Sizing seems to be my one nemesis with these socks. The pattern is easy and not really that complicated, but the biasing screws with the ease which screws with everything else. The first time I knit them I went with the 9″ circumference, because I have a rather wide instep. They fit great on the foot, a bit wide on the leg but not so much that they were sagging. So I went ahead and did the 9″ again — and it works fine for the leg but this time the foot was a little too big! I think I will give it a third try and do the 8″ circumference this time, for kicks and giggles. Heaven knows I have plenty of Lorna’s in the stash, especially after that little trip to Loopy while I was in Chicago…

Since I had socks, and I was traveling, you get traveling sock pictures!

My first day in town I went for a walk on Michigan Avenue and found this. I don’t know why it’s there or anything about it, but it made me laugh an awful lot. The sock liked it too, but was more interested in the M&M people giving away free ice cream sandwiches. Yum.

The Navy Pier is a big pier reaching out into Lake Michigan with a huge Ferris wheel and restaurants and amazing views. The sock and my friend J. and I enjoyed watching the sun set behind the skyline and eating mac and cheese outside and seeing night fall over Chicago. It was pretty magical.

This is the Bean. It has a real name but I don’t think anybody uses it. I also think it’s my favorite piece of public art, anywhere. You can duck under it and see the crowd reflected and distorted and appearing six times at once; you can stand back and watch the skyline and the clouds take different shapes. I even saw a bride and groom, in their finery, having a wedding portrait taken. The sock wanted to move right in to Millennium Park and stay there forever, but there was too much else to see to do that.

It was a great trip, and I fell a little bit in love with Chicago. I can’t wait to go back and take another pair of socks for a spin. In the meantime, you can see the full set of my pictures from the trip right here.

Saturday, 4 July, 2009

June Wrap-up

What better way to spend my Fourth than in my personal pursuit of happiness — that is to say, with yarn! (Also happiness: engaging in my annual re-watch of 1776, because, really, can it get any better than singing, dancing Founders harmonizing about the amazing powers of Jefferson’s violin playing? No. No, it cannot.)

Here, have some Finished Objects. June was a busy month:
SUMMER TANK

Pattern:Basic Vest Pattern by Ann Budd, from The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Pucker Brush Farm Cotton/Flax/Rayon Blend
Needles: US3/3.25 mm
Notes: After letting this yarn marinate in the stash for a year or so, this was guesstimated based on Budd’s vest pattern from my Favorite Book Ever, and came out pretty darn well, if I may say so myself. This will be a nice basic summer top and I am utterly in love with the color.

CONFUSED SOCKS

Pattern: Forward and Back Socks by Ruth Greenwald
Yarn: Fox Hop Sock Yarn in Wine Country, picked up in a Ravelry trade. Fiber content 55% wool, 25% Nylon, 20% acetate.
Needles: US1/2.25 mm
Notes: These socks got to do a bit of traveling while they were on the needles. They was a new pattern for me, but I think it might be a keeper. I like the effect on the variegated colorway, and I’m always on the lookout for patterns that will work with my stash of hand-dyed sock yarns. It’s written for two circs, but it was easy enough to do on DPNs. I’d recommend to anyone doing the same to use four needles, and divide each chart between the second SSK and the YO-K1-YO, but leave at least one stitch on the right needle so your YOs cooperate. You’ll have to shift a few stitches to your left needle every few rows, but you can just knit them onto the left needle without any fuss.
The yarn itself I picked up in a Ravelry trade; I don’t usually work with sock yarns with such a heavy acrylic content, but it seemed to work out pretty well here. The yarn was a little stickier, but it has a great hand once it’s knit up and those stitches aren’t going anywhere.

GRADUATION SOCKS

Written up in this post for your entertainment.

DENIM SILK LUTEA

Written up here, for even more entertainment.

July promises to be just as busy, and there should be some traveling sock pictures for you all when I venture to Chicago for the ALA Annual in a week. In celebration, I wound my Franklin’s Panopticon sock yarn yesterday, all ready to go in case I bump into Dolores. Hey, a girl can hope.

Wednesday, 1 July, 2009Wednesday, 1 July, 2009

Lace

DENIM SILK LUTEA

Pattern: Lutea Lace-Shoulder Shell, by Angela Hahn, from Interweave Knits Summer ’07
Yarn: Berocco Denim Silk, acquired from an estate sale last summer, just under 800 yards
Needle: US8/5.0mm
Notes: Fast fast knit! From cast-on to weaving in ends, this took me exactly a week. It was also easy and fun, and I think it would be a good pattern for someone looking to get started on making larger garments (as opposed to scarves or socks).
That being said, I’m not sure I’d recommend the Denim Silk for this. (Although seeing how the yarn is discontinued…) I wore this Sunday evening to a barbeque in honor of my grandfather’s birthday, and then Monday evening to my Knit Nite to show it off. By the end of the night it had grown a good twoish inches. It’s in the wash pile now, and once it’s been washed and dried we’ll see where we stand. I’m fully expecting to have to make a drastic intervention so I don’t have a tank that’s down by my knees.
Poor yarn choice aside, this pattern is terrific; simple and summery and fun. I will absolutely make it again.

The flowers behind me in this picture, by the way? Are the roses my one grandfather grew from a clipping from my other grandfather. They are one of my favorite things ever.

I have socks and a scarf and a hat all on the needles, all inching towards completion, and I’m itching to cast on some lace, since Glenna declared this to be a summer of lace shawls. I have a skein of a nice red Malabrigo Lace that wants to become something pretty. It doesn’t want to be too complicated, since it’s going to be taken on some travels. Any ideas for my yarn?

Wednesday, 24 June, 2009

Public Service Announcement

Father’s Day is over.

(Norah Gaughin’s Stag Bag, reimagined as a pillow, and Selbuvotter #10, both for my dad, who is pretty cool as dads go. Perhaps I will write these up later once he’s tried on the gloves for the camera…)

But that is not important. What is important is the following:

TOMORROW IS JUNE 25. SIX MONTHS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

I cast on my first Christmas project tonight. Knit early, beat the rush.

Saturday, 13 June, 2009Saturday, 13 June, 2009

Socks schmocks.

GRADUATION SOCKS

Pattern: Falling Leaves Sock by Nancy Whitman
Yarn: Koigu PPPM in 2260, a lilac-ey sort of mix
Needles: US 1/2.25mm
Notes: These socks are named for a reason. I cast them on while driving (or rather, being driven) to my sister’s MA Ed graduation ceremony. Continued working on them during my other sister’s BSN commencement. (Not during the actual ceremony, mine. But there is always lots of waiting at graduations.) And then I carried them around my graduation, which was too rainy to do anything before, during or after but huddle beneath umbrellas, but the thought was there. And now they are done, after three graduations in one month. (My parents were exceedingly proud.)

However, I learned on these socks that I now get carsick if I stare too closely at kbls — and the socks are nothing but kbls! (The Merritt Parkway might not have helped. The Merritt and I have some disagreements.) So a lot of the car knitting I’d hoped to get done never materialized, and I found myself having eye-crossing moments more than once even when not in a moving vehicle. Of all the things to affect me like that, it turns out to be the humble kbl — who would have guessed? Unfortunately, it meant I had to take these socks in small bits, but they’re no less lovely for it.

The pattern is terrific: well written and clever, and I recommend it highly. Whenever I needed a break I’d catch myself smoothing out the legs and admiring the leaves and the little cable twist growing out of the ribbing. It’s making me imagine all manner of garments with leaves now, in lovely autumn colors. If I pick autumn colors, you see, they stand a chance of being finished at a seasonally appropriate time.

There’s plenty else going on besides these socks — I have a tank that is in the last bits of finishing, and more socks (now with more traveling), and my one-hundredth Ravelry project, a Ribbon Lace Scarf in a luscious purple-green. But since I don’t have any pictures of them at the moment, I will instead show you Delicious Delicious Birthday Cake, as my family does it: chocolate with homemade marshmallow frosting. This particular piece was from my sister’s birthday cake:

This is mean of me, and I apologize, because I got to eat some and you didn’t.

Saturday, 6 June, 2009Saturday, 6 June, 2009

Traveling Sock visits the Library of Congress

I am back from a very long day trip down to Washington, DC, with the student group from my alma mater (and I am not at all used to calling school that yet!). We toured the Library of Congress, getting a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on and meeting several of the librarians and catalogers. It was great fun and very inspiring.

Since the bus ride was over four hours each way, I brought a sock to cast on, and then I took what I’d knit on my tour with me. The Sock found the tour boring and was happy to hide in my bag, but the Great Hall woke it right up:

The Sock was also intrigued by the display of Jefferson’s original library, which Congress purchased to renew the collection after someone (naming no names, but they wore red coats and drank tea) burned the first one to the ground during the war of 1812. We were not supposed to take any pictures there, so I can’t show you how it looked, but I promise you it was very interesting. Sock was also very taken by the Gutenberg Bible on display, and asked to see the Main Reading Room. Unfortunately, by then it was close to closing so we only had a chance to peek inside quickly. We agreed to put it on the list of things to do when we go back.

The Library of Congress is right across the street from the Capital building, which makes researching for Representatives and Senators (its primary purpose) nice and efficient, but it has the side benefit of a Very Nice View:

The Sock liked that view very much. (I did too). You can even see the Washington Monument, just past the Capital building.

Before we left, the Sock checked out the Poseidon Fountain in front of the Library of Congress’s main building:

and then we got to ride the DC Metro back to catch our bus home, which was another loooooooooong drive. The Sock and I were both very tired so we rested and tried not to think mean thoughts about the traffic jam on the MD/DE border, but we might not have been successful.

Sock wants to go back once it’s done being knit up and let me wear it around DC, which I think is a most excellent idea.

Thursday, 4 June, 2009

May Wrap-up

Are we really done with May already? Yikes. At this rate it’ll be Rhinebeck season before I’m ready!

May was a busy month. I had two sisters graduate from college, one with a bachelor’s in nursing, one with a master’s in education. And then? I graduated! Behold, one Master of Library Science:

As you can see, it was pouring. Absolutely soaked, and I spent most of the day doing my best impression of a cat fallen in a well. It put a bit of a damper on my plans to take some traveling sock pictures — it was just too wet. But I walked, and I got to wear my fancy robes, so I am sure you will all bear up under the disappointment.

LETTUCE SOCKS

Pattern: Thuja Socks
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in Lettuce Knits
Needles: US 1/2.25mm
Notes: Sadly, I finished these too late to wear for Easter, because the colors are perfect for that, don’t you think? This particular skein of STR came from Lettuce Knits in Toronto, which I visited when I flew up to see my best friend J last summer. The color is named for the shop, so it seemed like a very good souvenir to me. I knit it up in my standby Thuja broken-rib stitch that I gravitate to for and promptly packed it away with the other socks for the summer. I did take this lovely picture of the eye-of-partridge heel first:

MOM’S SHETLAND SHAWL

Pattern: Shetland Triangle
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Cactus Flower
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm
Notes: Written up here.

VINTAGE VELVET KNOCK OFF

Pattern: Vintage Velvet
Yarn: Muench Touch Me in Burnt Orange, 3 skeins
Needles: US 8/5.0 mm
Notes: Written up here. So excited to finally have this done for myself!

There’s a few other mostly-finished May projects: namely a tank top in a linen/cotton/rayon blend I picked up at Maryland last year, and a beautiful pair of Selbuvotter gloves for my dad. But the tank top isn’t quite satisfying me yet, and the Selbuvotter are a Father’s Day gift, so you’ll see both of those later.

I’m taking a tour tomorrow of the Library of Congress, so I will try to get a few traveling socks to make up for the rainy fail of my graduation day. We will make no mention of the fact that tomorrow’s forecast for DC is… rainy.