Not Quite Right

Sorry for being such a boring blogger... I've been working on gifts, which I couldn't show (although as they've been given, now I can), and a design, which I'm not sure if I can show (but it's done now).

A while back I started knitting Henley Perfected, from IK (it's here on Ravelry). I'm using the Sylph (a wool, silk and mohair blend) I bought a year ago in San Francisco, and I'm not sure it's the right yarn for the project. It's a bit lighter than the yarn used in the original, and because I just barely have enough as it is, the trick of following the directions for a larger size on smaller needles to get the right size is out. The lighter yarn means the solid portions are a bit sheer, which sometimes seems like it might be a bad idea. Plus, I'm not crazy about how the lace it turning out (even after blocking--I finished a sleeve Friday night and blocked it).

I think I might want to try something else with it--I love the yarn, and I don't want not to love what I make with it. I've been coveting the Endless Cardi Shawl (or here, on Ravelry) fora while--I'm especially fond of this version.

Then today at Stitches I really liked the Savvy Origami Wrap (there's a knitted version too), and although the pattern was only available there as a kit, it looks like you can buy just the pattern online.

So now I'm torn. I think the wrap cardi would be more useful, but the origami wrap was so cozy. But maybe it would look too much like a blanket? Or maybe I should wait and make the origami wrap out of handspun (there's a garter stitch version, which had handspun written all over it). Or maybe I should just stick with the henley?

Waffle, waffle, waffle.

At least I'll have pictures of the gifts next time I post (and maybe even my recent purchases... Rhinebeck and Stitches... it's been a very yarn-y month!).

Book Sale!

My mom volunteers at her town's public library book sale (which is not like the public library book sale you're imagining--it's the Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library Book Sale, and it's a gigantic operation that fills an entire warehouse with used books. There are two sales a year, and people line up overnight to be the first ones in the building in the mornings. When I was growing up, the paperbacks were fill-a-bag for a couple of dollars on the last day, which was the best thing ever for a speed reader who'd read anything. Visit this weekend if you're in the area!).

Sorry--I got a little distracted. The point is: Mom. Book sale. Semi-heated warehouse in upstate New York in October.

Knucks!



Finished pre-pneumonia, fortunately.

Hi Again

I'm back, mostly.

Mostly in two ways:

1. The posts about China are gone. Forget that you ever saw them--if you mention them, I'll have to kill you.

And, 2. I've been sick--not with swine flu, but with a cold that skipped my nose and throat and went right for my lungs and ears, and turned into "a little" pneumonia and two ear infections. (Did you know pneumonia came in quantities?) So I've been lying around, drinking a lot of tea, not hearing anything, and coughing. There were even a couple of days when I didn't really want to knit, which I'd been pretty sure couldn't happen. I'm mostly well now (I rowed this morning, and am feeling guilty about how long it's been since I've run... 2 weeks tomorrow, which I think is the longest I've gone without running since 2002), at last.

Of course, now that I can blog again, I've forgotten all of the imaginary posts I wrote while I couldn't...

Anyway, hi! I missed all two of you.

Huh

I'm not sure about this hat.



It's cute, and I really enjoyed the pattern (its the Icing Swirl Hat, by Ysolda Teague), but it's not quite right on me--or maybe I just need to get used to it? Right now, I think it makes me look funny--like I'm trying to cover up my hair, but am doing it badly. (Also, the green is a bit bright in person.)

But look how neat the back is!

Possibly...

I should try to do something with my single skeins (and enough-yarndage-to-be-useful remnants) before I go in a yarn-buying spree?



Or at least make some multi-strand hats to use up scraps?

(That bulky green one in front is already a hat--although the hat didn't quite use up the whole skein, unfortunately!)

Covetous

Kevin's first class of the semester was yesterday,and at the last minute I went up with him. Naturally, I went to Webs, where I wanted to buy all the yarn, and knit everything, immediately--or possibly sooner. Of course, I also wanted to buy everything in Northampton (particularly this gorgeous, impractical formal dress... as soon as I have a life where full satin skirts with poofy petticoats and dramatic necklines are required, I'm getting that dress!), so at least it wasn't just yarn.

But back to the yarn: I'd gone with the intention of finding yarn for a gift (which I did, although I can't write about it), and thinking about yarn that might work for a sweater for me. I have this fleece 1/2 zip pullover that I wear all winter, feeling slightly guilty because it's not knitted. (I think I may have written about this before?)

So I'd like to knit myself a sweater of the same shape and style. I thought of Cascade 220 first, but I also want to consider the similar yarns from other companies. (I've made several sweaters from Cascade 220--maybe it's time to branch out?)

Instead though, I became obsessed with the La Gran Drop Stitch Dress from Classic Elite's Winter Whimsy booklet (it's the first one on that page--if you click on the picture, you can make it bigger). I think it's an ok shape for me, but I suspect it would be entirely useless, due to being transparent. I think I could wear it over another dress (I have a collection of simple black dresses, and one of them should work, right?) or slip, but I'm not sure about wearing it over leggings and a shirt in real life. Or, at least, not my real life.

I managed not to buy it (there was some lovely yarn, very like La Gran, on sale... fortunately there were dozens of skeins left), by telling myself that I'll be back next week, and can get it then if I'm still obsessed.

Of course, I also told myself that about at least two dresses, several necklaces, this very funny desk toy (a block of wood with "grouchy" and "grouchier" carved on one side oriented at 180 degrees from each other, so you can turn one or the other right side up, depending on whether you're grouchy or grouchier. Very few people come to my desk at work, but it would be a useful warning for those that do!), a couple of rings, a purse or two, and a skirt!

Too Easily Intimidated to be a Real Jock

So last night, I went to the second practice of the grad school crew (which it turns out is open to staff, faculty, partners, etc., not just grad students). I got to the tanks and was immediately intimidated. Loud music, what felt like hundreds of gigantically tall men, all in great shape, all high-fiving each other and fist bumping right and left, and all looking like they'd been rowing forever. (Bear in mind that I'm 5'9", so feeling short isn't usually an issue.)

I stood nervously on the edge, thinking that kids these days listen to their music too loud, dreading how many times I was going to crab once we got in the tanks (the tanks are out to get me), and reminding myself that--while I would probably be too embarrassed to run out of the room in the middle of practice--at least I never had to come back.

Just as I was thinking I could probably leave immediately without attracting much notice, the coach called us all together and announced that everyone new to rowing should go into the other room.

And, the room just about emptied. Most of the imposing, gigantically tall men? Had never rowed before.

I'm not planning to join the grad school crew, by the way, but I'm not in the women's four that's going to the Head of the Charles. As a result, I suspect my fall rowing is going to be a little haphazard, and involve more sculling than sweeping. Sadly for me, I'm still not good enough at sculling for it to be a physical workout--my brain is working too hard trying to communicate with my left hand for me to really get going. (I'm a port, so in a sweep boat my left hand just provides muscle--in a scull, it's in charge of an oar all by itself. If only it knew how much better things would go if it would listen to my brain!)