WIP: Paper Dolls and Audiobooks

Knitting Kate Davies's "Paper Dolls" while listening to "Game Change" on audiobook. The book is absolutely fascinating--a behind the scenes look at the 2008 election.  As an unabashed liberal, I find the book a lot of fun (spoiler alert--Obama wins!).  But it's actually empathetic to all involved, though it pulls no punches when it (I think rightly) excoriates John and Elizabeth Edwards and Sarah Palin--with devastating insight.  All I can say is, bullets were dodged.   Political junkies of all stripes should find the book entertaining.  Next I'm on to "Too Big to Fail"-- on the economic collapse.  Good times.

Still a novice at choosing colors that work well together, I shamelessly copied Sannie's combo in Rowan 4-ply scottish tweed.  I am quite smitten with the yarn, the pattern, the colors, everything.   I love the way it is knitting up to create a real fabric--a fuzzy, solid, woolly thing that looks amazing.  I did dispense with the i-cord cast on, just did a regular cast on and two rows of stockinette--it curls up to look like i-cord anyway.

Winter's Last Hurrah

We've all had our fun complaining about the long snowy winter--but now that everything is melting, I feel a little sad.  I think a lot of knitters feel that way.  It's the opposite of that rush we get when we catch that first cold breeze in late September.

But it's not totally over yet.  We still have a little spring skiing planned in two weeks, and in spite of the fact that the thermometer may hit 60 this weekend, there is still snow on the ground.  There is still time to crank out a few accessories like this cutie from Kirsten Kapur.  I was looking for a classic cabled hat and this fit the bill perfectly.  Soon I'll be knitting in bright spring colors, but here's a little more winter white to ease us into it.  Pom-pom yet to be added.

Wood Hollow Hat by Kirsten Kapur
Cascade 200, Natural, 1 skein
Needles: size 6

Monogamy

I'm a knitting floozy and Ravelympics is getting the best of me.  Six days of fidelity to one project and I am losing interest.  I browse Ravelry, yearning for a new, more exciting project.  I swoon over yarn in my stash.  I drive by my LYS with a sense of sadness.  I find myself singing Howard Jones.

You can look at the menu but you just can't eat.....

I am SO itching to start a new project right now.  Seriously, 10 more days of nothing but the same project?  Not sure I can do it.

FO: Nantucket Waters

First of all, there is snow.  Lots and lots of snow.  Yesterday's additional 2" almost put me over the edge, but hardened veterans that we now are, we survived.

So as I look out the window of this house, you won't blame me for daydreaming of the view from the other house.  Ahhhh July, you can't come soon enough.  For three weeks in the summer, the kids run in and out of the water, playing on the same beaches, surfing the same waves, and falling asleep to the same foghorn that their dad and granddad did when they were kids.  It's a grand old house with a million-dollar view, and a long family history to go with it. 

But back to the knitting--thoughts of those cobalt blue waters inspired me to knit my Citron in Sundara's fingering silky merino in the Cobalt over Mediterranean colorway.   

That is some *nice* yarn.  I have a few skeins stashed and I'm never quite sure what to make of them.  I'm not a very good lace knitter so the idea of sweating through hours of yarning over and passing slipped stitches over just to bunch my masterpiece around my neck just never seemed worth it.  But a semicircle of stockinette?  That I can do.

I followed the pattern almost exactly (left out a few rows of the very first gathered section so it would not look bunchy).  I also blocked it somewhat more aggressively along the straight edge to elongate the semicircle so it would wrap better around my neck as a scarf (but making it difficult to photograph, obviously).

A quick shout-out to NutmegOwl, who was my pick-up Citron KAL buddy--check out the beauty she produced.   Looks great, no? 

I'll leave you with one more shot from my summer daydreams---the men in my life:

Olympic Knitting

Yes, I'm on the bandwagon.  I'm going to attempt to finish an entire adult sweater in two weeks.  I've chosen Seneca (rav link)

Those look like olympic rings right?  I figure it is the right amount of challenge in the sideways cable with lots of straight stockinette thrown in for plenty of mindless knitting.  I'm not a huge fan of angora, but wanted to make sure the sweater was soft and drapey with a fuzzy halo, so I chose Cascade Eco Alpaca in natural.  The yarn is very soft and I got gauge on size 7 needles--I'm a bit concerned that the cables don't look as "solid" as I would like, but I think blocking will help them plump up.  I will admit that I did not block my swatch (I know, I know) but I used the first sleeve as my unofficial swatch.  Having used this yarn before, I have a feel for how much it grows with blocking and I am taking that into account as I choose my size.


Progress so far:

Day 1: Could not cast on during the opening ceremonies as we were out to dinner so I spent Saturday catching up. Finished the cable section and about 7” of the first sleeve. Goal is to finish the second sleeve by tomorrow night, so I have most of the games to do the body.

Day 2: First sleeve finished! It’s 10:30pm, I’m very sleepy but halfway through the second sleeve cables. Can I get them done tonight? That would set up a straight shot of stockinette to get to the goal of finishing the sleeves by tomorrow.

ETA: Powered through cables, finished at around 11:30, thanks to some mistakes that needed fixing. Not unlike the “penalty” lap in biathlon.

Winter Light

I got this in the mail today.  Not a bad way to start the year.

It's Madelinetosh Pashmina in the "Alabaster" colorway, bought from Eat, Sleep Knit.   It is a lot less yellow and a bit more peach than it looks on the website and it's gorgeous.  It's the color of 3pm on a sunny day in the wintertime--that little bit of warmth when it's cold outside.  I'm planning on making the Lightweight Pullover out of it just as soon as I wrap up some existing projects.

Planning for 39

After my family, the greatest blessing in my life is a tight-knit group of 12 women who are my lifetime friends.  We met at Princeton in the early 90s and have remained close--supporting each other through heartbreak and achievement, marriages, babies, the death of parents, job traumas and all the other stuff that life brings.  We try to get the whole group together at least once a year--no small task since we are scattered from Boston to San Francisco.  Often, it happens naturally--someone getting married, major year Reunions, etc.  But when it doesn't, we put a trip together.

In the days after Christmas, one of the California ladies was on the East Coast so the NY/NJ/PA contingent gathered in Brooklyn for the afternoon.  And that's where the plotting began--we need a ski trip.  On the phone a few days later with Ms. Boston, we came up with the idea for a 39th Birthday Bash--a weeklong trip in the winter of 2011 to celebrate our collective 39th birthdays.

What does this have to do with knitting? Glad you asked.  In the next few weeks, I'm going to plan my Ski Trousseau.  By the time the Great 39th rolls around, I want to have a pile of awesome handknits to take to Vail or Aspen or Park City or wherever we decide to go.  I anticipate needing 5 or so sweaters, about 6 pairs of socks, 2-3 pairs of mittens, a couple of hats, a few cowls and maybe even some leg warmers.  Now the fun begins--picking out the patterns and yarn for this year-long project.  On hiatus will be knits for the Ungrateful Children (who alternate between never wearing my handiwork, or beating the crap out of a given sweater).  This will be a year devoted to selfish knitting.

Already on my list are:
Seneca and Huron by Brooklyn Tweed
Lightweight Pullover by Hannah Fetig
Hedge Fence Pullover by Elinor Brown

Not being much of a sock knitter, I will stick to straightforward patterns like Thuja.  I love this pair I made for Ms. SF-Toronto last year out of STR heavyweight in the Gingerbread Man colorway.  Truth be told, the only other sock pattern I've successfully completed is Spring Forward.  But maybe I will challenge myself by trying something like Monkey.

What would you take with you on a fabulous ski vacation?