Packing is a B***H

I should be doing one more load of laundry and gathering my underwear and cosmetics, but today I spent time looking through my high school yearbook ahead of the reunion. The book itself is a little worse for wear since we had a minor basement flood and the pages are a bit ripply and old mold signs are present. Here is me from 1968 and you can see that I haven't changed a bit!

I probably will notice that everyone else has REALLY aged! I have only seen a few of these people in the years since my 20th reunion in 1988 and am really looking forward to renewing old friendships.

I have also been packing my knitting bag:

I am especially happy to have this bag to take to Rhinebeck on Sunday and to see if I meetup with any fellow Ravelers and bloggers. If you are reading this and are going look for me. I hear that the weather will be good for wool, so the Kauni sweater is my sweater of choice that day because of all the bright colors.

In the bag will be the socks I mentioned on the last post if they are not finished, and this ball of sock yarn which should make a great pair on Monkey Socks for me, unless I decide to give them away.

I will also take my Golding Tsunami spindle and the rest of the Louet Northern Lights pencil roving which is almost finished, but I will wait to ply it till I get home.

I will also be bringing Ann Budd's Yarn Requirement chart booklet, and the wrap per inch chart and tool from Nancy's Knit Knacks.

I imagine it will be fuller after visiting the markets of Rhinebeck.

Edited to add: Computer Hell revisited. Two hours ago when I started this blog entry, I put my yearbook in the printer to scan my 1968 photo. The scan function did not work so I tried a few things and then phoned the Costco Concierge service which came with my new computer. Seems like my printer was not compatible with the Vista operating system without a download of a new driver. It was slow slow slow, but my personal concierge, Tony, who was in Florida and not Bangalore, had the patience of a saint. I put him on hold several times to get the mail, get my knitting, get a drink, etc. Two hours later, IT WORKS! Yay for the Costco Concierge, which not only is a great service, it extends the warranty an extra year to two years. If you have to get a new computer and you are as clumsy at everything as I am, it is a fabulous deal!

Interesting Statistics

Many of you may not have noticed, but several months ago I added a "counter" to my blog which counts the number of visits. It is off to the right and just tallies "hits." One interesting thing I have learned from looking at it regularly, is that several search terms have come up more often than others.

1. "Booby Socks". I purchased this kit in January, started it right away, and then put it away for awhile after the "ladders" at the needles got too overwhelming. I had turned the heel and started on the foot, but realized that the laddering would make me crazy and I wouldn't wear the socks as is, and certainly couldn't give them away as a gift in that condition. I frogged back about 4 inches, and need to pick up again, especially since so many people are looking at my blog for the progress. To be continued......

2. "Feather and Fan" lace shawl. This one I did finish in time to take with me on my Europe vacation in May, but I realize now that I never took a final photograph of it. I owe it to my readers and I will soon. I will be taking it with me to my 40th High School Reunion in October, but I will try to post a photo sooner than that.

3. "Souvenirs from Paris." This title to one of my blog entries was somewhat facetious as what I was referring to was the severe bronchitis both Mom and I had after our return. Paris was the last stop and Mom started feeling badly there. I wonder what visitors to my blog thought when they pulled up that page. Were they looking for miniature Eiffel Towers?


I have now had over 1050 hits since I installed it and most of them have come from my active participation on the Ravelry Forums. If you are a knitter and have not yet discovered Ravelry, sign up and get involved. Warning: It WILL cut into your knitting time and TV time and possibly your work time. It has been an invaluable source of information and help both in figuring out patterns, spinning and getting excited about events, yarns, and the world of fiber.

And lastly, I am utterly amazed with the international readership the blog has attracted. In many cases, I think it may be ex-pat Americans, but there have been hits from Europe, Asia, all over the US, Canada, and the Middle East. Australia, New Zealand, and Scandanavia have been represented. WOW, it is one big knitting world. And I am glad to be part of it all!

4th of July Weekend.

Most people had a three day weekend to relax and enjoy, but me....I only had off the 4th and worked both Saturday and Sunday. We are very lucky that we close on some holidays when the rest of the mall is open: New Year's Day and the 4th of July. My "weekend" was last Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Friday the 4th, I went down to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival with a coworker friend. We have been going down each year on a mutual day off and have enjoyed the crowds and the heat. How we really enjoy it.... is going down early, viewing most of the show, and then having a nice sit-down lunch with wine at one of the independent restaurants that dot the Cherry Creek area. I can't understand purchasing a very expensive lunch in small portions from the street booths and then sitting on the lawn or dirt or worse to eat. It is so much nicer splurging in a restaurant where we get served. Is this a sign that I am getting old??

I actually purchased some earrings this year for myself:

from 314 Studio in the Boston area. They were affordable and perfect since I love silver. This year it seemed that there were a lot more new artists represented and they offered a greater variety of arts and crafts than I have seen in past years at more affordable prices.

Lunch was at Soleil and we had a lovely lunch of tapas. The "Bag of Dirty Shrimp" was to die for and we enjoyed the Spanakopita and Bruschetta as well. They have a lovely outdoor dining area under a tree and we were able to watch the crowds wither in the sun as they walked the festival streets.

The rest of the weekend I worked......nuff said about that........

As for knitting, I picked up the Booby Socks again and began trying to avoid the ladders that plagued me the first go round. For the last stitch of the row and the first stitch on the next needle, I have been wrapping the purl stitch the opposite way and it seems to be helping a little. I still see a little laddering....argh....

I have been taking Mom's socks to work to knit during lunch and I have turned the heel and have been working the gussets around. Really love this yarn to knit with and they will make lovely socks. There is no pooling of the colors at all so far and I am glad for that.

I also have been spindle spinning each night as well. I took my first singles spun and have been re-spinning and drafting out the large lumpy unspun portions as best as I can. I have been doing this on the basic spindle which I have learned is a Snipes. On the CD Spindle is the wool/mohair blend, and on the Eichheim is the CVM. I have enough to wind into a center pull ball of it now, and then ply, but lately I have been reading on Ravelry about the nightmare of plying from center pull balls. I didn't have much trouble with my first attempt, because it wasn't so finely spun, but I am a bit worried about this batch because the singles are much thinner.

No. 1 daughter is coming home next weekend for a baby shower and her 10th high school reunion. Hard to believe it has been 10 years and her friends are having babies......It will be quite a while before I have my own babies to knit for......everything in its own time.

Spinning Practice

I have been spending a bit of time over the last few days with my new spindles. I love love love the Eichheim because it spins long and smooth. I like the notch in it and the fact that he bends the hook ever so little to balance the spin. There is also a small brass tack on the underside to balance the wheel, just as our tires on the car have balancing weights. The end result is wonderful and I will be using this spindle mostly.... so far, until I buy other wonderful spindles.

The basic spindle doesn't spin long or smooth and should have been passed by......live and learn. Just to compare, I used some of the same roving on my original cd spindle from my first class and found that now that I can draft as I spin, even it is better than this new wood spindle.

As for my knitting, I decided that the laddering in my booby socks is unacceptable.

I frogged back to before it became noticable and will continue from there. I had gotten as far as turning the heel and working on the foot, when I said to myself "Who am I kidding...I don't like the way these look....I wouldn't give them as a gift this way and wouldn't want them for myself this way." I have always just plowed on through errors and I feel I came to a major turning point when I came to this decision to frog it back. I guess I am maturing as a knitter and the finished product matters, as well as the process. I posted the inquiry about avoiding ladders with so many purl stitches on the Ravelry Magic Loop forum and got a few suggestions like:

wrap the yarn backwards on the first stitch (which I am trying) and also turn the socks inside out, working from the inside, instead of the outside ( which I also am trying on the multiple rows of purl stitch). I hope this combination of changes will result in no ladders. To be continued.......

Yes, I am back

Jet Lag is a funny thing. Yes, I was tired when we arrived in Prague, having missed a whole night's sleep, but I recovered quickly and slept well the whole trip. Now, I have been home since Tuesday and I haven't had a decent night's sleep since leaving Paris. Mom is in worse shape than me, since she has come down with a respiratory crud, probably from being out in the cool rainy weather.

I spent last evening trying to label my photos and only got about a quarter of the way through so I will post the best soon.



We did have fun and the pace was just about right for Mom. Once we got on the River Boat, she could choose whether to stay on board or tour with the group. She did a bit of both, and she is mad that I sent her back to the ship one night in Rudesheim, Germany, instead of taking her with us to have yet another glass of wine at a weingarten! In Paris, she tired early and we cut the day touring on foot/Metro short as she was starting to come down with the crud by then.



There were several knitters aboard and it was fun encouraging them. They were very impressed with my Kauni sweater, and the fact that I took my sock knitting everywhere. I did have one disaster. In Denver International Airport as we were waiting to board (of course we had an hour and a half to wait), one of my Knitpicks harmony needletips broke completely and the rest of my knitting was packed away in my checked luggage. ARRRRRGHHHHHH! It was a 10 hour flight with no knitting at all! Boy, was I antsy the whole way. I read a little and tried to sleep, but to no avail. Once in Prague, I asked the concierge of the hotel if there were any knitting stores nearby and she directed me to a mall near old town. After wandering lost for a while, I finally stumbled upon Fillium. There I found an addi circular, different from what they sell in the states because there was a plastic cord and gold colored tips. My knowledge of metrics isn's so great but 80 cm long looked similar to the length I was using for the magic loop socks.
This is the label on the back of the needles:

There is not a single recognizable word to me on this Czech label, but at 99 Czech Korunas, it seemed like a pretty good deal. Together, with the yarn I bought, the total price on my credit card was under $20, so I guess I did ok. Most of the exchange rates in Europe were awful.

I transferred my Booby Socks to this new needle, but found that it was hard to count the pattern stitches while touring on the boat or in a bus, and put it aside til I came home. The needles are 2.5mm, slightly larger than the needle that I originally started these socks with, and I think it is working out better. I started anew and am now making some progress on it.



I was so greatful to find the addi needles in Prague, I bought some yarn as well: Fortissima Colori Socka Color yarn color 2412- a brown tweed self striping yarn and actually labeled made in the Czech Republic. I started these socks and got one whole sock done, and 7" of the top of the second sock. I used the basic sock pattern I usually use and used the knitting to practice my continental knitting. It is becoming more comfortable, but once I arrived at the heel, purling feels like I am all thumbs again.

There were a half dozen of us on the boat who scouted for knitting stores in each small town we toured. In Volkach, I bought 3 balls (100 grams) of regia sock yarn and 1 of Lana Grossa. These balls averaged under $10 per ball, so I feel I did ok again. Luckily for me and my credit card, the other stores I saw were closed when we passed by.

More to come on the trip later............

It's Crunch Time

I leave for my Europe trip in a few days and I have barely started to pack. I have a laundry basket with items I took to California a couple of weeks ago, and have done most of my laundry, but I am so confused about what weather to pack for. Definitely a raincoat, but temps have been varying from the 40's to the high 70's. So I need to pack for all possibilities. The river cruise ship is casual as are the touring outings, but what the heck does "evening casual" mean???? That is what the literature says for dining aboard the cruise ship and I have no idea. On the other hand, I will probably be the youngest person aboard the ship (there are only 120 passengers possible) so how bad can I look with my wardrobe??? I am working tomorrow, but will pack furiously on Wednesday.

I still have not finished the shawl..........arggghhhhh. Instead of posting here, I should be knitting on it. I certainly will not have time to wet block it, so I think by Thursday morning (flight is at 2:05 pm) I should be able to steam press/block it into shape. Where ever I am on it by Wed night, I will add the six rows of garter stitch and call it done.

Tragedy has struck my nest outside the bedroom window. After several days of rain, the robin has abandoned the nest. The austrian pine must not have provided enough cover to keep it dry, and I am glad mother robin found that out before she laid her eggs! I had another bout with aviary nature today. I was outside and heard major squawking nearby. I looked up and saw a hawk in the cottonwood next to our driveway. She (or he) was working hard at breaking off a small branch of the tree, and once successful, she flew off across the street into another cottonwood at a neighbor's house to her nest there. I could not photograph it as it was too far for that, but I got an old pair of binoculars and watched for quite a while as it tended that nest.

Another tulip variety

Forget me nots

Snow on the Mountain

A few more flowers are blooming in my front garden. Some are bold and some are quite subtle. I will miss the burst of growth that will happen in the next few weeks, but here are a few more shots.

Tomorrow night, I will also start to sort through yarn to see what I want to take with me on the trip. The flight from Denver to Munich is about 10 hours, plus the wait time in the airport. I have my Ipod with a couple of books, lots of Podcasts, music and a real book. I should have plenty to keep me busy. I will definitely bring the booby socks, and maybe the ball of Noro Sock yarn for basic socks.

I need to run now and get another few rows in on my shawl.

Wild Week in the Neighborhood

The Kids are in town, which always shakes things up around here. Wednesday, Amanda flew to Kansas City and then the two girls drove to Denver on Thursday, arriving around 3 pm. They surprised me at work and I really enjoyed showing them off to my co-workers. Alison, who also works at Crate, got to see all her old friends from 722.

Alison:
Amanda then picked up the car, drove to DIA to pickup her friend, Mary, and the two of them headed up to Casper WY, to visit a friend who had recently moved there from NYC where the girls live! Like she didn't drive enough that day....oh to be young again. I didn't know whether Casper was ready or able to survive these 3 metropolitan girls getting together again.

Amanda and Mary

On Friday night, since Alison ditched me to get together with an old friend and Amanda was two-stepping in Wyoming, I had the perfect opportunity to get to see the Yarn Harlot again, appearing at the Tattered Cover, this time in Highlands Ranch. I arrived at about 5:30 pm, bought my book, and found a stool to sit on in line and knit as I was knitting. Friendly knitters were all around and helped pass the time as we waited for the tickets to be passed out.

I had an opportunity to chat with Connie who was spinning some of the finest, as in thin, yarn I have ever seen spun on a spindle. I watched her nimble fingers pass the roving to its twists and become yarn....Amazing. She graciously allowed me to photograph her spindle and yarn. It is something to aspire to.

As expected there were more than two hundred knitters, knitting supporters, and a few muggles (people who don't get knitting) and at 6:30 when numbers for seats were handed out, I headed right to the front of the seating looking for a random open seat and scored a center aisle seat in the 2nd row. Check out the Harlot's blog on April 5 to see me in the green sweater.Last year I

(see my empty chair in the second row.)

was in the front row, but I am not complaining. I worked on the Booby Sock and enjoyed all the

wonderful ladies (mostly) around me.

(The Booby sock will need some serious blocking.)

The talk was hysterical covering the zen of knitting, the Canadian cabin episode and the lack of air in Denver. Someone should invite her to stay for more than 24 hours next time, so she can acclimate! Consider yourself invited, Stephanie!!

She talks like she writes and writes like she talks...it is a very dry and deadpan sort of humor, but you all know that! Once the talk was over, the book signing began and since I held number 94, I knew it would be a bit of a wait to get me chance to get my book signed and a few words with Stephanie. She complimented me on my Nantucket Jacket, loved my booby socks, which grew by a few inches during the evening, and she was very grateful for the few pieces of chocolate I gave her while she signed my book. What is so amazing is that she is just as gracious with the last people in the line as she was with those in front. There were nearly endless photos with socks, babies, projects of all shapes and sizes, knitters galore and Stephanie herself. I sat next to Katherine and we took photos for each other when it was our turn. I checked out Katherine's blog and she used a couple, so I was glad they came out. Here are a few she took of me:

Sharing the Sock Mojo Checking out the Booby Sock Pattern

Signing my copy of her latest book. She liked my Nantucket Jacket!

A good time was had by all, except the staff of the Tattered Cover who really wanted to go home hours earlier. There were still about 50 people in line when I left at 10:00 pm.

Booby Socks

How could I possibly pass up the opportunity to knit these great pink socks to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. They are awesomely pink and so cute in the kit I purchased from Purls of Wisdom. The net proceeds go the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Center and the yarn is a limited edition "Pink Ribbon Trekking XXL yarn" by Skacel. Edited with my apologies---the creative designer is Rosemary "Chappy" Chapman. Hats off to her!



The kit even comes with darker pink beads which get knitted in as nipples on the booby motifs!





There is even a special toe called the Nipple Toe....



I can't wait to cast these on so I will cut this entry short.............