for Jacob

My friends Ken and Kathleen had a baby! The little one’s name is Jacob and he’s perfect.

I’d be kicked out of the knitting union if I didn’t try to knit something for him.

Pattern: Bunny Hop baby blanket (Rav link)
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Lime, 2.5 skeins. Size 8 Denise Interchangeables.

This was actually the first time I’ve used Cotton-Ease. I guess I can understand the uproar that happened when Lion (misguidedly) discontinued it a couple of years ago. The yarn is soft and washes like a champ. I have to say I’m not a fan of the current color selection - I think many of the colors look pretty washed out. I do like the lime color though. The baby blanket pattern was fun to knit - I pretty much knit it without any modifications. For the life of me, I couldn’t seem to memorize the pattern repeats though, so this didn’t turn out to be mindless knitting as I had initially hoped. I’m pretty pleased with the results though, and I hope Jacob enjoys his blankie.

 

on the upswing

Umm…hi!

Been a while, hasn’t it? First off, thank you for all your well wishes. The pneumonia, stubborn little thing, has been banished. Unfortunately, allergy season is in full swing. Blech. Better sneezing and sniffling than wheezing and gasping for air though.

Things are generally on the upswing. To fill you in quickly - The Bodies exhibit was just in Pittsburgh, and my co-worker D and I drove down to see it. We’d been meaning to see this for a while, but waited until the day before it ended to actually go. Apparently, lots of other people were slacking too. Witness the line to get in -

Since I teach a gross anatomy class, I was pretty interested in their preservation techniques and how they staged the exhibits. The Bodies exhibit is very similar to the Body Worlds exhibit I saw in Houston, but this one is put on by a different group, and I guess there was some controversy associated with it coming to Pittsburgh.

Then off to the Bay Area for work-related stuff. Busy and slightly brain cell killing, but I love the Bay Area! I got in some great aikido training (the bruises were totally worth it!). And you see signs like this on the BART -

Finally once I got home, look at what was waiting for me!

Mmmm…yarn! My beloved Houston SnB’ers recently had a yarn swap. I was telling Amy that I was just a teensy bit jealous that I wasn’t there to join the fun, and lo and behold, Kelly and the girls sent me a box of bright yarn goodness. Thanks, guys! Y’all know just how to make a girl feel loved

 

24 hour birthday

Today is Last Day to File Your Income Tax Day, also known around these parts as my birthday! So in honor of said birthday, I decided to stay up an entire 24 hours. Just to see if I could, and also to better savor the birthday feeling.

12:01 a.m. Birfday! Birfday! Another year older (ugh), though not necessarily wiser. Eat ice cream to celebrate.

12:45 a.m. Wow, you can watch Law and Order marathons at all hours of the night.

1:15 a.m. Get call from my dad (Chinese in italics)

Dad: Hellooo? Helloooo?
Me: Pa? Is that you?
Dad: YES! This is your FATHER! Happy birthday!
Me: Thank you. You remembered. (My dad is notorious for forgetting my birthday.)
Dad: Yes, I had our secretary remind me this year. Are you having a good lunch? Did you get yourself something good for your birthday meal?
Me: Pa, it’s 1 in the morning here.
Dad: Oh, I thought it was 1 in the afternoon. Because it’s lunchtime here at the office.
Me: Pa, there’s a 12 hour difference. 1 in the afternoon there is 1 in the morning here. (My dad lives halfway around the world; I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve told him that)
Dad: Well then, have a good time at lunch…

4:00 a.m. Oh look, an Eff Oh (picture taken later during the day)

Pattern: Koolhaas, by Jared Flood, from IK Holiday Gifts ‘07
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Cashmere #10 (Orange), 3 skeins. Size 6 and 8 Denise interchangeables, and size 8 Inox DPN’s

I love the hat! I love the pattern. I wish I could say the same about the yarn. I mean, it’s cashmere, and I like it OK, but I wasn’t impressed by the yarn. First, there’s only about 49 yards per skein, and to me it didn’t feel any softer than baby cashmerino. Maybe I was expecting too much, but cashmere! I have to say though that the cables really pop with this yarn.

I CO 96 stitches instead of the called for 104, and made 5 repeats of the pattern because I wanted the hat to cover my ears. There are a few boneheaded mistakes, but they’re near the top of the hat, and I was too lazy to rip back. I did run out of yarn at the very top, but couldn’t justify buying another skein of the DB, so I used leftover orange Lamb’s Pride worsted - you can kind of see it in the picture. I like it - it looks like the hat has a bright(er) orange dot on top.

 

unexpected

A list of things I never expected to encounter while I was in Nashville recently for some work stuff -

1. getting evacuated because of a tornado

While the rest of the country was busying itself with Super Tuesday, a number of tornadoes were tormenting the Nashville area. Unfortunately, because the conference I was attending was held inside a hermetically sealed, climate controlled biosphere - the convention center, hotel, and connecting mall were all enclosed by a plexiglass dome! - I had no idea that outside, the winds were howling and the rain was pouring. Until 1:00 a.m., when the fire alarm went off, and the hotel staff started pounding on doors to evacuate the hotel. We were led to the bowels of the hotel basement, along with other sleepy/ grumpy/ bored hotel guests. I think the evacuation was more of a safety precaution and the hotel wasn’t in any real danger of being swept away by a tornado. However, I would’ve been much less grumpy if the fire alarm didn’t proceed to go off 2 more times in the dead of the night!

See? Hermetically sealed!

2. seeing a 10 foot plant walking towards you

The day after the tornado evacuation brouhaha, while my friend Jill and I are catching up, I spot a tall, leafy plant walking towards us. I have to do a double take. Turns out, it’s one of the attractions in the convention center. The plant’s actually a performer covered in leaves and green make-up, walking on stilts and manipulating another pair of stilts as “branches.” Really cool, and at the same time, slightly creepy looking. Particularly when she wraps her leafy limbs around posts and makes like ivy.

Needs a lot of coordination, also, lots of green make-up

3. actual knitting happened. Complete with finished product!

I’ve been in knitting ennui lately. Dreary weather (I am ready for winter to be over!), crazy work schedule and the occasional life blues have all conspired to sap my knitting mojo. So imagine my surprise when I actually finished something!

Pattern: Bloody Mary by Sandra Park
Yarn: Koigu KPPM color #12060, 2 skeins. Size 2 Crystal Palace bamboo DPN’s

This was my first time working with Koigu. There’s already a lot of love out there for Koigu. Let me join the bandwagon. Koiguuuu, so soft and squishy and nice to knit with. The yarn was a generous gift from Amy’s mom 2 Christmases ago. This particular colorway was so color-rich that I was afraid it was going to pool like crazy. The slipped stitches of the Blood Mary pattern though, seems to have done the trick. Also, I really like how the slipped stitch rib leaves these raised ribs. Yeah, it’s a pair of ribbed socks, but it’s got some pizazz!

These socks had been languishing in the unfinished pile for a while. I started them in September 2007, when we went to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival. And then they just sat there, unfinished and neglected. These were supposed to be my travel knitting when I went to Manila (and the butt numbing 27 hour plane ride that accompanied that trip), but I couldn’t bring myself to knit much during that trip. So they sat neglected some more.

Unfinished no more.  Bring on the knits!

 

casting on

A little less than three years ago, I was at a conference in Chicago. I happened to be staying with my friends Andrea and Jim. I knew that Andrea knitted, because I had seen samples of her amazing skill. At that time though, knitting was pretty much a foreign word. I didn’t consider myself to be particularly crafty nor creative, and knitting seemed to be one of those things crafty and creative folks did. Besides, I prided myself on my being uncoordinated.

However, I didn’t count on being bored out of my skull at this conference.

So, I convinced Andrea to teach me to knit. She very patiently taught me to knit on some bright yellow acrylic yarn and a pair of mismatched #8 straights. She guided me through many false starts, and admired my first hole-y swatch. And then the next day, we trooped over to the local book place and got a copy of Stitch and Bitch. I came back home, convinced that I had forgotten how to knit. I cracked open my copy of Stitch and Bitch, and was pleasantly surprised that my brain remembered how to make stitches. I took that as a sign that I should look more into this knitting thing.

To Andrea, who showed me how two sticks and some yarn could bring so much fun, happy birthday!

 

tangled

Five easy steps to a tangle - a tangled yoke cardigan!

Pattern: Tangled Yoke cardigan by Eunny Jang, Interweave Knits, Fall 2007
Yarn: Artfibers Nirvana, color #9 (undyed), every last bit of 2 cones (about 1200 yards). Size 5 Denise interchangeables for the body, size 3 and 1 straights for the neckband and buttonbands.

Not a lot of modifications for this project. I lengthened the body by a couple of inches and the sleeves by an inch. I also added an extra button. The buttons I used were these coconut buttons I found at Jo-Ann’s on sale. I loves them! The yarn was undyed Nirvana, a yummy silk/cashmere blend I purchased at Artfibers in San Francisco. It’s a bit hairy, but super soft. I think the undyed yarn sort of tarts it up a bit too. Although the cardi is totally wearable as is, the buttonbands pull just a bit. I may add some grosgrain ribbon to it later to stabilize them.

Can I just join the knitting masses in saying how much I enjoyed knitting this? Miles and miles of stockinette stitch notwithstanding, the finished sweater is totally worth it. It fits like a dream! This makes the second consecutive garment I’ve made that fits well, which totally boggles my mind. I may be anal in some things, but swatching and pattern reading are not those things. I’m almost afraid of what the knitting gods have in store for their future amusement.

 

three cheers

I. My friend Lisa got married! I made a quick trip to Houston for the occasion. She looked gorgeous, the ceremony went off without a hitch, and the wedding banquet - OMG, I could sing praises for a long time about the food. Mmmm…..

Lisa (in red), Felix and Sandra (Lisa’s sister). The women are wearing the chi-pao, a traditional Chinese dress for special occasions, like weddings!

Lisa and Felix chose to have a traditional Chinese wedding banquet, which involves multiple courses. This was the first time many of the people at our table had ever partaken of a Chinese wedding banquet - I had fun “translating” what were in the yummy dishes. Fortunately, everyone at our table were good sports and refused to be cowed by my sometimes rather, umm, interesting descriptions of the ingredients. More photos here.

the lobster of happiness - mine, mostly

II. I got to hang out with the Houston gals!

Kelly and I took a trip to Twisted Yarns, where a skein of scrumptious Mad Tosh yarn (so soft!) fell into my hands and refused to return to the shelves. I’ve been hearing plenty of wonderful things about this yarn all over the blogosphere. What kind of knitter would I be if I left that poor skein of yarn back at the store?!

Madeline Tosh in Robin’s Nest

I also got my twisted (violently!) by Kelly and managed to take a skein of Wollmeise yarn off her hands. Can you believe how rich the color is?

Wollmeise in Farn - dark

There was a trip to Chinatown with Amy, Liz and Susan (with Brian in tow). Not only did they allow me to order for them at the restaurant, they also allowed themselves to be dragged into the Asian market with all its, umm, exotic treasures.

Doesn’t look like any bird I’ve seen

III. Look at what I got in the mail the other day -

Isn’t it cute? The project pouch is the work of the lovely ladies at Piddleloop. For the longest time, I’ve been looking for an excuse to purchase their stuff. Then I saw the cute owls on their Etsy store and found my excuse. They also sent along some extra goodies - these cute stitch markers and sheep-y tags. There was candy too, but that ended up in my tummy lickety split.

 

business as usual

Back from a quick trip to San Francisco for more aikido goodness. I had a great time; it’s always a treat to train with Kato Sensei and other high level aikidoka. All that hitting and rolling and pounding is plenty exhilarating (and cathartic) even though I always come back from these trips with a bunch of bruises.

Apart from the aikido, there are some things that always seem to be constants when I make my way to the Bay Area -

A protest. I would expect no less as this was in front of an armed forces recruiting office. I sort of dig the orange jumpsuits.

street art in downtown Berkeley

having a good time with the Okester

the ugliest and cutest dog in the world

Something that’s out of the ordinary -

I started my first lace project! Hanami, out of some Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud that I had languishing in the stash. I’m only on the basketweave portion, but I’ve already figured out that I can’t do more than a few rows each time. All those yarnovers and ssk’s take a fair amount of concentration on my part, plus I’m not so used to reading knitting charts yet, so it’s a little slow going. Someone please tell me it’ll get easier

 

FO shizzle

Frazzled. Busy. Good busy, but will need a stiff drink soon. Also, massive allergies. The can’t stop sneezing, can’t breathe, can’t smell anything kind.

Knitting has been going at a glacial pace, but hey, I finally (!) finished Rusted Root. I am extremely happy about this, especially given the fits this project gave me (most of it my own damned fault). Also, it fits! Pretty well, in fact. I wore it to work the other day and someone asked me where I had bought it - which I will take as a compliment.

Pattern: Rusted Root from Zephyrstyle. Size XS
Yarn: Debbie Bliss cotton DK, #13012, every last bit of 7 balls. Bought on sale from the LYS. Size 5 Denise interchangables for the body, size 4 DPNS for the ribbing.

I know I’m pretty late to the Zephyrstyle bandwagon, but this was a pretty enjoyable knit, once I actually got going that is. Lots of stockinette - good for social knitting; interesting assymetrical panel - good for preventing death by stockinette. I actually made quite a few modifications. The major one was substituting the banana cable panel from Starsky in place of the original lace panel because I wanted the option of not having to wear a tank or cami underneath. I also lengthened the body by 3 inches and the sleeves by about an inch because the original cap sleeves ended at the beefiest part of my arms. Ick. I used a k1p1 ribbing for the neck and sleeves and started with the neck ribbing straightaway instead of picking up the neck stitches at the end as specified in the pattern. Lastly I threw in some hip increases because unfortunately I have hips and the Rusted Root model apparently does not.

This was my first top down project. So nice to be able to try it on as you go. I wish that the sleeves were poofier though. I knit the smallest size trying to combat cotton’s tendency to grow with wearing. Though I added some stitches to the shoulder to take into account my not-XS shoulders and arms, I probably should have added more. Also, inspite of the regular try-ons, I ran out of yarn while binding off. Rather than scouting around for another ball of yarn, I decided to bind off with some light gray leftover DB cashmerino I had. Design element, ta daa! Blends in pretty well actually.

The other highlight of the week was that I finally got my invite to Ravelry! It is all I can do to tear myself away from that site and get actual work done. I’ve had to impose a temporary embargo on Ravelry posting, lurking, wandering, clicking. At least until I make a bit more headway on the little mountain of work I have to get done before Fall break.

Fall break…mmmm…….

 

a festival of sheep

And alpacas and llamas too! The awesome folks at my LYS organized a trip to the Finger Lakes Fiber Arts and Crafts Festival. So much fun! I had a grand ‘ol time carpooling with Chris, Shirani, and Maria. The festival was held at the Hemlock fairgrounds, a short two hour drive from here. Being a fiber festival virgin, I didn’t quite know what to expect.

But lo! There was plenty of adorable sheep, llamas, and alpacas to pet. Though this one looked a bit disgruntled

 

There was knitting on the World’s Largest Sock. The sock is traveling the world and was started in the UK. It’s about 7 meters in circumference, has 1500 cast-on stitches, and there’s 10 long circular needles around it. I wonder what will happen when it’s time to turn the heel.

 

There was fiber galore in all shapes and forms to ooh and ahh over. I loved how there were all these smallish independent farmers, weavers, spinners, and dyers showing off their wares. I had no idea there was such beautiful work out there! There were spoils from the festival too, of course. My resolve to keep an iron fist on my wallet wasn’t that strong! The bright blue yarn is Spinning Bunny Yarn in Tropical Sea, meant to be a hat. The variegated autumn-y pile on the right is Steam Valley Mohair/Merino wool yarn, earmarked for a wrap of some kind. The red yarn is Persimmon Tree Farm Potluck yarn, maybe for a pair of fingerless gloves? The wooden dowel sticking out of the Potluck yarn is supposed to be a spare part for a loom. I found it sitting forlornly in a bin for a buck fiddy and thought that it might make a good ball winder. It works great, and the price can’t be beat.

 

There were plenty of laughs, stories, and frozen margaritas. Everyone had such a good time at this fiber fest that there are rumblings about taking a road trip to Maryland next year. I can only hope.

More pictures here.