New yarn! And: Why I should not order yarn after a concussion.

My new yarn arrived! Yay! First, came the gorgeous cashmere fingering from Argosy Luxury:

Yum, yum, yum! It is beautiful. The color is just great and perfect for Kevin.

One small matter, however. When I picked the yarn, based on the Ravelry page (without reading what others had used or looking closer at the yarn used in the original), I thought it was to be fingering yarn. Actually that's what the page says, but if you read further, it says look for something about using a yarn somewhere between fingering weight and sport. And the yarn used in the original pattern is DK. Ha. Well. This is what happens when I make choices when I'm not completely cognitively intact. (I'm totally blaming the concussion. I'm typically way too detail-oriented to make a mistake like this.) I tried it out to see if I would get gauge anyway. Maybe if it were to be a hat for a baby and not an adult....so I frogged what I had and just ordered some DK weight yarn from Argosy. Zen 4Ply in Coal, which likely you won't see on the page either because I think I ordered the last one. Coal is basically black with just a wisp of greyishness or maybe even brown in it.

I'm considering going double-stranded with the Zen 4Ply and Zen 2Ply because I love the colors in the 2Ply...all blue-grey-black. We'll see how it goes. I'm still hoping that I can have the hat ready for Vermont. The first order from Argosy shipping quickly and it isn't a really difficult project. A 3x3 rib with 114 stitches cast on and then basic k2tog to decrease at the crown. It didn't end up requiring too much translation because of the chart. And when Kevin did look at it to "translate" it turns out that half of the kanji could mean the same bunch of words, depending on context, and not being a knitter, he had no idea what a lot of it meant. So. Yay for charts.

(FYI - the concussion is mostly gone, or rather its side effects are. I still am getting headaches more often than I used to...like right now...and I've got a tiny bump that is getting smaller each day and some bruising that is fading as well. I have noticed my recall is much poorer than it ever was though. Hopefully that will improve, too.)

Well, thankfully the yarn I ordered from Knit Picks arrived as well, because otherwise I'd have nothing productive on my needles. And the needles I needed arrived from eknittingneedles.com, too. With my yarn stash growing as it is, I'm going to need a much bigger and better storage and organizational system.

I'm going to start....in a few minutes as soon as I bring up the laundry from the dryer....the Valentine Mitts. Just in time, too, because we're trying not to turn the heat above 60 (originally we were trying for 55, but I am not that hardy it turns out). I have on a turtleneck and a heavy, long, hooded sweater and it's not enough....damn the old, drafty house (and old, not double-paned windows, and lack of proper insulation) and old furnace that makes our heating bills way too high and doesn't even warm up the place.

Anyway, isn't the yarn beautiful? I just love the color: Iris Heather, mmm....lots of purpley, reddish loveliness. I think the cabling will really show it off nicely. So it's off to the basement I go and then back to make something pretty and warm.

and more stash is on its way....

A few months ago...I want to say DH but that's not true and "DB" isn't a common term as far as I know. Anyway....

A few months ago, dear boyfriend requested I knit him a cashmere hat. I briefly looked into it at the time (meaning, I looked at every boy hat on Ravelry), but dropped the idea because on further questioning DB "wasn't sure he would actually wear it." I don't think so. If I knit a cashmere hat for you, it will be worn.

Since he's been so nice lately, taking care of me and my head injury and putting up with my concussed crankiness, I re-offered. And he seemed more interested, perhaps because we have a trip to Vermont coming up! (In February I might add, with activities such as cross country skiing and snowshoeing.)

"Will it be done before our trip?" Siiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Well. I suppose it can be if I order the yarn rightnow and bump it up above the other 4 projects I had hoped to start. Plus he's paying for cashmere yarn. Yum!!!!

He's a good boyfriend. Ordered some lovely fingering cashmere (Zen 2-ply, in Stephanie's Laguna - a lovely bluegreyblack color) from Argosy Luxury Yarns. (You probably won't see that color on there because I think I got the last one -for now?- but it is yummy and soft and I can't wait to squish it.)

If he abandons it, I suppose I can claim it as my own. One can never have too much cashmere.

Oh! So the pattern. I had seen it before on Ravelry, but, like I said, dropped the idea at the time because someone was less than enthusiastic about the idea for some reason. But I was drawn to the same one again - "Vintage Cashmere Hat." Nice, right? Classic. One slight issue. The pattern is written in kanji. Japanese. Huh.

But wait! DB is fluent in Japanese. This is perfect. He translates the pattern, I knit it. Could it be any better? Perhaps if I ever write my own patterns he can translate them for the knitters in Japan!

I'm a little sorry to put aside my mitts for now (not that the yarn has arrived yet)....but not that sorry to work with cashmere. Can't wait till it gets here!

waiting for new needles & stash replenishment!

I'm kind of in knitter's limbo here. Nothing on the needles, which hasn't been the case for a while. Okay, that's not true, but it doesn't count because it's practice, right? I'm working on the swatches from Fearless Knitting Workbook. Not really a project though supposedly I can turn them into a blanket or pillowcase or something later.

Buuuuut! I should have yarn and needles arriving for three new projects soon. It had better be soon....

I ordered three balls of worsted weight Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks in Iris Heather, for my Valentine Mitts. A couple for the Cafe au Lait Mitts - DK Merino Style in Nutmeg. And a couple for the hot water bottle cozy - bulky Wool of the Andes, in Wine. Also ordered the necessary needles for these, plus the baby dress project from eknittingneedles.com. After my order was straightened out, I was quite pleased with how quickly the last order came and the quality. Definitely worth it for the price, for some of my first needles. Nice, warm bamboo. Someday when I have the funds I'll order a nice interchangeable set, but until then.....

Not all these projects are for me....just the Valentine Mitts and hot water bottle cozy....I think I should join the selfish knitters group on Ravelry :)  I never realized before...for all the work that goes into knits, why should it all be gifts? Of course the last knitted gift I gave (see below) was much appreciated I think. Roomie seemed quite pleased with the hat. Hopefully she will send some pictures!

Off to bed....I'm recovering from a bad fall and concussion so I need more rest despite my leaving work early and resting all day. Looking forward to my new microfleece sheets and thermal blanket.....

Lovely beribboned hat

Maybe I'm not the slowest knitter ever (this was done in a record - for me - 5 days, including finishing, sewing, etc.)....here's the Fawn Earflap Hat from Boutique Knits: 

Not bad! I did something funny with the casting on around the earflaps, but I worked it out so that the seed stitch pattern and decreases came out alright. Iffy on the yarn....it wasn't the most fun to work with (especially on bamboo needles...too much stick!) but I do like how it came out. I'm eyeing a cowl and an afghan (the latter as a gift probably) in the same yarn. I'll have to ask the hat recipient how it wears after a while. It's really soft and chunky and warm.

I'm ridiculous and went to the notions shop without my list, so I only got I think 4 feet of ribbon instead of 2 yards. Buuuuut it looks good. I used the clear nail polish thing to keep it from fraying, but if I use ribbon again I'll probably get that special product to prevent fray, whatever it is. Sewed the button on the outside of the hat instead of the inside as I assume recipient (it's still a surprise, at least until this weekend!) will most likely wear the flaps down.

If I didn't already have my cloche, earmuffs and the cashmere hat, I would so do one up for myself in a nice yellow, mmmm. But I need to stop. With the hats at least. I really want to do mitts for myself, either the ones out of Boutique Knits of course (time to get into colorwork!) or these cute ones I found on Ravelry. Annnnd I want to make this adorable dress to destash a bit. I've got to do something with the Classic Elite Star I bought for the ill-fated bikini....a baby dress for Kevin's niece, once she's born of course. Trying to decide if the newborn size or three-month-old is better. Due date is mid-May, so I'm thinking newborn so it can be summer wear, but three-month-old may last a while longer? Not sure....need to ask people who have had kids what is best! I suppose with a long sleeve tee and bloomers underneath it can last into the cooler months.

Also in the queue is the hot water bottle holder, a skirt, Calorimetry (because....there is some rule all knitters must do one? and I can always use more winter head wear) and more and more. I kind of just want to go on Knit Picks and buy the yarn for the mitts, hot water bottle holder and skirt so I can just go as soon as I'm ready. That would be a pricey venture though and probably I should just get the needles I need for the baby dress and stick with that. Oh and maybe yarn for the mitts because it is cold here! The thermostat lies...we set it on 64, because heat is too expensive and it all drafts out of the apartment anyway. But somehow it says "68." It hasn't been 68 since probably September.

Anyway....here's hoping mystery recipient likes her hat! If she poses with it, I'll try to get some pictures so you can see how it looks on.

Happy New Year!

The tradition with Kevin and I is that we celebrate Christmas together on New Year's Eve and exchange presents then. I just have to share, as it is knitting related.....

In addition to adorable cashmere (of course) Burberry earmuffs, the Best Boyfriend In The World also got me a copy of Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book. Oh boy! This will keep me busy for years to come....he sure knows how to pick 'em!

I am appropriately excited, as you can see.

In other news, I finally heard from eknittingneedles.com about my order. Apparently their system didn't get the order from Google Checkout or something, but now they have it and it shipped Tuesday and it's on the way. Those needles cannot arrive quickly enough. I'm hoping they may come before we take the train to Connecticut this weekend so I can work on it during the trip. With no projects going currently, I've been compulsively looking at patterns and yarns and needles and patterns and yarns. I'd like to consider it "planning ahead" as I was focusing on patterns in my Ravelry queue, but, really, it is unnecessary.

Well, folks, back to our New Year's revelries, primarily involving some Tanqueray 10 and tonic, risotto, music, games and raspberry tart.

Side Slip Cloche - finished!

I finally finished the Side Slip Cloche. Finally. I am seriously the slowest knitter ever, but perhaps I can chalk that up to beginnerness. Some photos of the final product are included. I am pleased with how it came out. The wool is not as itchy as it was as I worked it and does not look too fuzzy or pilly. I can totally tell the parts where I added the new skein in, but hopefully no one else can. I learned a lot with this project - M1, sewing knit parts together, ssk, picking up stitches....and I think that's all. The picking up stitches too FOREVER. I did it wrong 3 or 4 times before I found a video on knittinghelp.com and it all came clear. I think the pick up finally came out well. One thing I realized is this hat doesn't look that great with my glasses on. Too much in my face between the frames and the ruffles. New contact lenses are in my future I hope.

Next project will be.....a surprise! It's a gift for someone so information about it will only be on Ravelry for now. Here's the yarn though...bought from Fabulous Yarn. I love the color - it is pretty accurate in the photos. It's Classic Elite Twinkle Super Chunky. I'm looking forward to working with it. Just waiting on needles. As I mentioned, I have given up on big box craft stores and I ended up ordering a set of straights online, plus the circular ones I needed for this project. I have yet to hear back from the company. Grrrr!!! I'm hoping that it's just due to holiday breaks and all that...they haven't charged my credit card, but it's frustrating. I want to start my next project!

Hope everyone had wonderful assorted holidays, joy and peace and love and all that.

Back to the notes and needles

Though this blog was initially intended for the road trip this summer, I did intend to use it afterward. For the last five months or so, however, I haven't given it much though. Partly, I've been reallllllly busy. Finding an apartment, moving, beginning internship, continuing internship, working on dissertation, spending time with family and friends, car stuff, housekeeping stuff, etc., etc., etc. It's been a little crazy, overall.

To begin more or less where I left off (in a much shortened version) - I found a cute apartment about 10 minutes from work. A lovely old Victorian - in lavender - with 2 bedrooms, dining room, living room and a kitchen with a dishwasher. Yippee!!! So far the only downsides are it's old and quite drafty so I can see heating will be a major expense, and the bathtub, while nice and big for baths, was recently re-enameled and I'm terrified of damaging it. So no bath salts for me.....anyway....

Isis moved in. Kevin moved in, went to England, came back, went to Prague and is now back again. Internship is great - busy, stressful at times, challenging and all that, but really

fulfilling. I think I'd like to maintain a specialty in infant/early childhood work, particularly around parent-child dyads, attachment and trauma. Really, there hasn't been all that much else. Far more visits with family and friends than in the last four years. Joined a new gym - eh. Haven't gone much. (I miss Golden Gate Fitness.)

Annnnnd, I started knitting again! Woo! I started with this circle scarf, from a free Lion Brand pattern, to use up some Homespun I had in my stash and for an easy project to get the hang of it again. It came out tolerably well. Apparently there was some turn, slip stitch thing or something or other I should've done in order to avoid holes due to the short rows technique. Huh. Well. Missed that, as it wasn't on the pattern at all (there's a reason some things are free....). But it's okay. It doesn't hang as nicely as in this picture when I wear it - it's a bit all over the place for my taste. But I like the color...and the style is different. And I'm not giving anyone a hole-y scarf, so in my collection it will remain.

I'm currently working on the Side Slip Cloche, from Laura Irwin's Boutique Knits. (A wonderful gift, thank you!) The hat is from the cover of the book - very vintage, classic, etc. I'm doing it in Paton's SWS, a soy and wool blend. The skeins are amazingly soft, though as I knit I am feeling more of the itchy wool. I think it will work out alright. The color is "natural," so very neutral, should go with anything, etc. Currently, I've finished the ruffles and the band, stitched them together and blocked them. It's drying as I write....and hopefully will be dry by tonight so I can pick up the stitches for the body of the hat.

I've become rather absorbed by knitting sites, such as Ravelry (my user name is meditativerose). It is an amazing resource, though I tend to get into a pattern of looking at lovely things and discovering yarns and wanting to make them, so I have a long list of to-dos. I do know my next project will be a late Christmas gift for someone.....Meanwhile, as the hat band dries, I am trying to find affordable needles for this next project. I've given up almost entirely on Michael's and AC Moore. At least the ones near me - they never have the size needle I want! Or if I need several different needles for a project, they only have one. It is not worth the stress of driving in New Jersey to go to these stores for naught. So I'm looking online....right now tempted by the low prices of eknittingneedles.com. I might take the chance and see how they are, especially since they currently have free shipping. So there I go - off to obsess about knitting some more!

Day Eleven - Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Well, dear reader, as you can see it has been some time since I last updated. And clearly this "Day Eleven" occurred some time ago (June 10th to be precise). I think I have been delaying writing this last entry for that exact fact...it would be the last, of the road trip at least. It was such a wonderful experience that I did not want it to end! I loved seeing new places and getting a sense of how huge this country is. Also, the end of the road trip meant the beginnings of many responsibilities: finding an apartment, doing all the change of address stuff (again), new bank account, DMV and all that, moving for real, starting internship and so forth. I really am excited about starting internship and finally doing, full time, what I have been training for these four years. The end of the road trip also signifies how far I am from Kevin and that I am really gone from San Francisco, no longer a resident.

Day Eleven, however, was also a very enjoyable part of the trip. I was somewhat concerned that our tour of an Amish farm would be patronizing or cheapening of the culture, but it was quite well done. The tour guide was not only knowledgeable, but respectful of the Amish culture. His own family background included the Mennonite tradition and he noted that he had many friends who were Amish. He emphasized that although the Amish do have their own particular traditions and lifestyles, they are very much a part of the outside community, banking and doing business at the same places as everyone else, and even answering to fire alarms in the community (arriving via scooter and horse).

The tour included going through the house, which was very old...I think 16 or early 1700s and was generally representative of current Amish homes. Though they do not connect to the electric grid, they do power modern appliances like refrigerators and sewing machines by gas or propane motors, and run modern plumbing in the same way. We saw typical clothing as well, and then toured the farm which I just loved.

The mules in a field were playing as we approached, though stopped by the time I retrieved my camera. A cow grazed placidly nearby, ignoring the mules' antics. There was a windmill, some outdoor stoves used for making soap, smoked meats and fruits, among other items. A large barn housed chickens, roosters, more cows, pigs, a few horses and some visiting pigeons.

We saw a one-room schoolhouse as well. Best of all were the pygmy goats - there was a large fenced-in area with at least half a dozen, many kids. They were so cute! One small, white kid sounded exactly like a loud cat - he was adorable. I so want one or two some day! Actually they were selling some of the kids, but I'm fairly sure no apartment in New Jersey would allow them. On our way out, we saw a horse and buggy.
From there, we stopped at an antiques mall - I was looking for an enameled basin and pitcher, but did not find any I liked, though there were some other tempting items. After that we headed along our way back to Connecticut. By the evening we reached the Valley and unpacked the car. Everything is stacked in odd places in the living room and family room. It was nice to be back someone familiar and stable, though bittersweet to realize how far it is from San Francisco. It is a big change.

Day Ten - Indianapolis to Pennsylvania

So the one place on the Eastern portion of this trip that I was interested in was Pennsylvania Dutch Country since I had a very small glimpse of it on my interview trip in January, but only saw a few farm silos in addition to my interest in the historical and cultural aspects of the area. Day Ten saw us driving almost 600 miles to Pennsylvania, aiming for Lancaster or thereabouts. It was another one of those long driving days, still with very little to see along the way. Lots more fields and flat land for a while. Finally somewhere in Ohio there was a bit more excitement - elevations! Hills! I also saw a high density of anti-women's rights/public health signs which always irks me. Actually that has been going on since about South Dakota (no big surprise there). I'm not sure why such an individualistic culture likes to poke its nose in everyone else's business, but so many people think it's fine to tell others how to live and make decisions. Well, yet another reason I couldn't live in this part of the country. So driving, driving, driving....

We passed through part of West Virginia and started to see real hills or mountains again - all tunnels drilled through mountains to go through. (I believe most of this was in the Allegheny Range.) It was nice to have a pretty landscape again, and lots of trees. Finally, we got into Pennsylvania and decided to set up camp outside of Lancaster, at Elizabethtown. The campground was AAA approved and rated a 2 (out of 3), but it didn't quite match the standards AAA claimed it would. (Yet another letter I will be writing....) The bathrooms were more rustic than the 2 rating stands for and not well maintained at all. It was also really buggy, though that's not something a campground can really control. We set up the tents and went out to get some dinner. We ended up with swordfish steaks, salad and soup and prepared a nice, three course meal! Dad cooked the steaks over the campfire and I made the salad and soup. It ranked pretty high among all our meals on this trip! Since it was so dark and buggy, we tucked into our tents and I slept pretty well, though the humidity was high and just seemed to seep right into everything.

Day Nine - Iowa to Indianapolis

Day Nine was a day of driving. I don't even think I have any pictures from it...it was just lots of corn fields and high winds and clouds. It became quite a chore to keep the car on the road, an even more tedious task with all the highway construction lane shifts and narrowing. We did not have too much farther to go from Iowa to Indianapolis, but it was a long enough drive. We arrived some time in the afternoon and just relaxed for a while, caught up on email and such. Later we went out to dinner with Dad's friends (really delicious pesto tortellini and Chianti) and a stop for ice cream at Dairy Queen for dessert. By then, I was pretty tired, so after a call to Kevin and a little reading, I was fast asleep! I feel that as we are getting further East there is somewhat less novelty to the sights and fewer destinations of interest. Perhaps there are other places we are missing, but there do not seem to be as many excellent national parks through here. For sure there is not much to see by way of the landscape. All that flat land - no hills or trees or mountains - puts me to sleep! I don't think I could live in a place like that. I need forests and hiking, and definitely a coastline. Off to Pennsylvania next - getting closer!