Traveling Sock – Page 2 – Rush Hour Knitting

Sunday, 20 September, 2009Sunday, 20 September, 2009

Heu heu heu!

Yesterday my mom and I took the train into the city to watch the Steuben Day Parade. (It’s named for Baron von Steuben, a German general who worked with Washington during the Revolutionary War, so they have adopted his name for the celebration of German heritage in the States.) We saw lots of stuff:

It was a perfect September day, sunny and cool, and the Traveling Sock was very happy to attend the Oktoberfest in Central Park afterwards.

There really isn’t much better than a good Oktoberfest, especially when it’s somewhere as lovely as Central Park. Tips for a good party: order your beer by the pitcher so you spend less time on line and more time drinking, and make sure you know all the words to “Ein Prosit.” (It’s very easy to learn.) Find a folk band to sit next to, and bonus points if they’re in lederhosen. Of course, if you’re in your own lederhosen or Tracht, well then you don’t need any advice from me!

It’s definitely fall now, and I couldn’t be more pleased about that.

Saturday, 15 August, 2009Saturday, 15 August, 2009

Day at the Beach

Literally!

I was at a picnic today, where I dined on lots of shellfish:

drank lots of delicious delicious pomegranate Mike’s, and waded in the water. This is the beach where I learned to swim back in the day, and I love every last rock and gigantic chunk of seaweed.

There’s a little sand in my sock now.

But I don’t mind a bit.

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.

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, 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.