A Taste of June

It's madness!

2009-03-20T12:26:00.003-05:00

So a friend convinced me to sign up for Sock Madness (I have no idea what I was thinking when I agreed to it). The first pattern was released yesterday, and I got this much done:

I'm plugging away. Some people are already done! Yikes!

Oh, and Tuesday was my last day at work. I'm spending time on my resume and on applying for things, but I do have more time than usual for sock knitting ;)

Easy come, easy go

2009-03-08T12:34:00.002-05:00

So a few days after my last post, I found out that I'll be losing the job I've had for the past 8 years. My company is closing down the business unit I work in. I don't know yet when my last day is going to be, or any other details, but it's very sad. Yes for the money, but even more so for my sense of identity and losing the experience of working with such a great bunch of people. As of now everyone is really wanting to keep in touch with each other - I hope that sticks.

I suspect you will see fewer stash acquisitions around here for awhile, but possibly more knitting projects.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed, eh? ;)

Spoiled

2009-02-25T19:53:00.002-06:00

Spoiled is the only word I can think of for myself tonight.

I did a little order to support Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm and got this:

And inside was this:

Nice supersoft sportweight in Lilac. It's a fairly heavy sportweight too. Haven't decided what to make with it yet. It is so soft and I can tell it is not the tiniest bit itchy.

Also, my Loopy Swap package arrived today!

Before Unwrapping:

After unwrapping:

Entangled Stitches gloves, Reeses hearts, a sock blocker keychain, and 3 glorious yarns: CASBAH in ultraviolet, too-beautiful-for-words handspun, and Wollmeise in Rittersporn. LOVE.

Modeled shot of a glove ;)

Thank you so much Rebecca! You're the best :)

BFF Socks

2009-02-20T09:18:00.001-06:00

Pattern: BFF socks by Cookie A.
Needles: Size 1.5 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock
Started: January 12, 2009
Completed: February 19, 2009

Almost done...

2009-02-15T14:06:00.004-06:00

The knitting on my Clapotis is done...but I still need to block it. It's alpaca, so it's quite floppy and needs a nice hard blocking.

I wore it this morning to Starbucks and the barista complimented me on it ;)

In other news, my next "conquest" is going to be the top-down wrap cardigan from Knitting Pure & Simple. I picked up the pattern yesterday morning. Also got this to make it with:

Berrocco Ultra Alpaca :)

Aaaand I have a sock swap to knit for. Need to figure out the yarn/pattern very quickly so I can get moving on it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T13:51:00.000-06:00

Interlocking Leaves socks

2009-01-31T13:56:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Interlocking Leaves
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock, Velvet Grapes colorway
Needles: Size 0 Knitpicks circulars
Started: January 1, 2009
Finished: January 31, 2009

End of an Era (in a good way).

2009-01-21T19:22:00.000-06:00

I love President Obama. That is all.

Mom's Manos Scarf

2009-01-21T14:00:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Men's Cashmere Scarf, by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay 100% wool, colorway 100
Needles: Size 10.5 Clover bamboo straights
Started: January 16, 2009
Finished: January 17, 2009

Winter Break

2009-01-20T14:01:00.002-06:00

I've had the past few days off work, which has been really nice.

I went to see my mom in Cleveland. It was a little hard to get around while we were there, due to this:

I did succeed at scoring a little yarn, though :)

Colinette Jitterbug in Florentina colorway - never knit with this before, should be interesting.

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Cashmere in Silver

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Cashmere in Gold

The silky cashmere was a really good find - but I refuse to give up my sources until I scrounge a little more ;)

And here is a just-completed sock (first of the pair):

I took today off to do grocery shopping and stuff around the house (also a little knitting) and got the added bonus of being able to watch the inauguration. Yay!

First FO of 2009!

2009-01-10T13:58:00.000-06:00

Pattern: 'Vog On by Aleta Fera
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Handmaiden Casbah, Midnight colorway
Started: December 23, 2008
Finished: January 10, 2009

Note: Casbah is my new FAVORITE YARN EVER.

Anguish

2009-01-06T21:34:00.002-06:00

The last few pairs of socks I've knit have been toe-up, which I really like for some reason. And they've all had a gusset-and-flap heel, which I think is the easiest heel out there.

I have messed up the heel on the last five socks (not pairs, but I'm heading toward 3 full pairs). I knit one pair that was finally successful, another where I am on sock #2, just having recovered from tinking and reknitting the heel, and another where I am on sock #1, just did the heel turn at knitting tonight...and it is beautifully executed, but not centered.

Sigh. None of these mistakes have even been the same thing.

I think it's time for bed.

Goals met, and goals set.

2009-01-01T18:22:00.002-06:00

I am not into the whole resolution thing (the hordes that descend upon my gym every January really annoy the crap out of me). But, I had some goals for 2008.

1) Knit 20 pairs of socks. A quick look at my 2008 FO list shows I made 24 pairs. Woot! I also made 2 sweaters, a few lace scarves, a pair of fingerless mitts, and a hat. Not bad at all!

2) Swim 500 miles. I hit that milestone on December 27th, and finished out the year with 506.

So there we go :)

I'm not planning to set specific number goals this year, really. On the exercise front, I'm not going to count miles anymore, but will keep with my standard 5-times-per-week (it has been 7 times per week for the last couple months to push me to the goal, but now that the holidays are over I can ratch it down a little). I do want to do yoga again at least once a week - it's been about a year and a half since I've done that.

For knitting, I want to get caught up with both my sock clubs and stay there, and also knit a Clapotis and at least one lace shawl. I might do a sweater if I can stand it. I'm sure I'll do additional socks as well, since I love it so much.

I also want to post on this blog AT LEAST once per week. We'll see how that goes but it's been driving me crazy that for the last few months all I've had are some FO posts.

Lime Twist

2008-12-23T17:04:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Twisted Tweed Socks by Schrodinger
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: J Knits Superwash Me Sock, Vermont colorway
Started: December 2, 2008
Finished: December 23, 2008

And one more Airy Scarf...

2008-12-19T17:02:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Airy Scarf by Brenda Overstrom
Needles: Size 9 Clover Bamboo Straights
Yarn: Kidsilk Haze, dark red
Started: December 12, 2008
Finished: December 19, 2008

Another Airy Scarf

2008-12-07T17:00:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Airy Scarf by Brenda Overstrom
Needles: Size 9 Clover Bamboo Straights
Yarn: Kidsilk Haze, dark red
Started: November 30, 2008
Finished: December 7, 2008

'Vog On Socks

2008-11-30T20:47:00.003-06:00

Pattern: 'Vog On by Aleta Fera
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Koigu KPPM, colorway P856
Started: November 19, 2008
Finished: November 30, 2008

Water Rescue Socks

2008-11-30T20:46:00.003-06:00

Pattern: Water Rescue Socks by Natalia Marek
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks DPN's
Yarn: Beyond Basic Knits, Squirt Colorway
Started: September 27, 2008
Finished: November 30, 2008

Airy Scarf

2008-11-28T20:43:00.000-06:00

I made one of these last year, here is one for ME ME ME!

Pattern: Airy Scarf by Brenda Overstrom
Needles: Size 9 Clover Bamboo Straights
Yarn: Kidsilk Haze, dark purple
Started: November 17, 2008
Finished: November 28, 2008

Skull Cap

2008-11-17T20:39:00.000-06:00

This was made for my brother-in-law for Christmas.

Pattern: Simple Hat Calculator, with Skull Cable Panel added
Needles: Size 5 Addi Turbo circulars
Yarn: Cascade 220, Black; Wool of the Andes, Cranberry
Started: November 16, 2008
Finished: November 17, 2008

Twisted Flower

2008-11-12T20:35:00.001-06:00

Pattern: Twisted Flower by Cookie A.
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Louet Gems fingering, Grape colorway
Started: Sept 28, 2008
Finished: November 12, 2008

Movie Socks

2008-10-31T20:32:00.000-05:00

(Plain Stockinette Socks, so named because I worked on them while watching movies)

Pattern: Plain stockinette socks, garter stitch short row heel
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks DPN's
Yarn: Spirit Trail Fiberworks 100% superwash merino
Started: July 18, 2008
Finished: October 31, 2008

February Lady Sweater

2008-10-27T20:32:00.004-05:00

Woo! I have done 2 sweaters in one calendar year!

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne/Elizabeth Zimmermann
Needles: Size 7 Addi Turbo circulars
Yarn: Cascade 220, Pumpkin
Started: October 4, 2008
Finished: October 26, 2008

Slow but steady

2008-10-20T16:05:00.002-05:00

OK, this may seem fast to you, but it is feeling very slow to me:

I did 22 lace repeats (same as for the body) and the sleeve still isn't as long as I want it :( So I'll do a few more. I like a sleeve to end a good inch past my wrist.

And here is a shot of the Water Rescue Socks, which are my travel project so they get worked on at work (lunch), in the car when someone else is driving, etc.

I like them even though I seem to be the only one who likes the colors.

And I finally got around to re-henna'ing my hair yesterday. Aside from having to have it on my head for several hours, I like this much better than chemical dye. Smells better, and the red is just fantastic. :)

Please forgive the lack of makeup to hide the blotchiness.

A pumpkin kind of day

2008-10-12T22:01:00.003-05:00

Still plugging away at the sweater...

It's getting there! Not fast enough, but I am a very impatient person.

I also made pumpkin creme brulee today:

Turbinado sugar on top. I think next time I'll try regular sugar as this stuff ended up REALLY burnt.

A peek inside! Yum!

Hot Date

2008-10-11T19:33:00.002-05:00

Our 6th wedding anniversary was a couple weeks ago, but in true form we celebrated a little late. Since I was off work this week, I took the train downtown Friday afternoon to meet C at his office (this avoids his having to make an extra trip downtown). We had reservations at TRU - we took the El for a few stops since C works in the Loop and the restaurant is over near the Mag Mile. TRU was one of the big-name restaurants we'd not been to and was on our list (already been to Trotter's and Alinea).

Here is a shot of the interior (luckily we were on the early side so I was able to get a shot before lots of other people showed up. Right after I took this photo, a couple was seated at that corner table.) Very elegant.

We weren't going to go super decadent, but we ended up choosing the Sommelier Collection. Basically the menu lists 10 wines you are going to get, and there is a course to go with each, but it's not on the menu. All of it is a surprise. Unlike most tasting menus, where the food is selected and then wine pairings are selected to go with it, the wines are chosen first and the chef has to come up with a good dish to pair with it. It was very fun. The sommelier came out and poured each wine, talked about it, and then a few minutes later the food would show up and be explained to us. We really had a great time with it.

So here goes:

Fonseca Late Bottled Vintage Porto 2001. I was very intrigued by the fact that this started out with a port rather than ending with it. But the sommelier made this into an apertif cocktail, mixing it with an ice cube containing clove and cardamom, and 3 drops of orange bitters. Absolutely delicious. I want to try this with the port I have at home (though I have a feeling this is better port than what I have).

First course - Cardamom marshmallows with orange salt, in a tart cherry coulis, topped with clove tuiles. This was not really my thing. It was very interesting, but every bite was so tart I could barely keep my mouth from puckering. I like trying new unusual things though, so it was still worth it to me. And it was the only thing I didn't particularly care for.

The next 3 wines were poured at the same time - this was "a study in pinot grigio". :) From right to left (because that's the order we drank them in): Castelcosa Pinot Grigio Ramato Delle Venezie 2006, Henschke Pinot Gris Innes Vineyard Adelaide Hills 2006, Rolly Gassmann Tokay-Pinot Gris Vendages Tardive Alsace 2001. OK. So the first one I did not care for particularly, though it went well with the food. I thought it had a very odd smell that I could not place, though it did not taste quite as bad, I did not really like it. It was very strong flavored for a pinot grigio - the dark color comes from leaving the skins in contact with the grape for a long time, not sure if that is why I didn't like it or not. The second one was extremely light bodied, and the skins are not kept with the grape for any of the winemaking process, yielding a very light colored wine (almost clear!). I would never have picked this for the food, but it worked very well. The third was extremely sweet, the sweetest of all the wines we had the whole night. Almost like a dessert wine except it wasn't syrupy. It also went very well with the food pairing, though.

This was called a "mussel parfait". On the bottom was a mousse of mussels, pecans and leeks, topped with sauteed leeks and steamed mussels, topped with mussel foam. Now I personally can't stand foam - I think it looks like someone spit on my food - but I knew that TRU is well known for lots of foams so I was expecting it. The trick is not to eat just the foam (I tried, not a good idea), and just dig in, which worked much better. This was pretty good with the Italian Pinot Grigio, I do love mussels, but still that wine was not that great in my opinion.

I took another photo halfway through this course so you could see what was under all the foam. You can't see the mousse on the very bottom though - this is mussels and leeks, and a tiny bit of foam left.

Goat ricotta gnocchi in a blistered tomato parsley sauce, with fried basil on top. This went with the Australian Pinot Gris. I never never would have paired a tomato sauce with a light bodied white wine, but amazingly enough it worked quite well. The gnocchi were amazingly light and pillowy (not like the ones I have made myself, delicious though those are) and the sauce was delicious as well - though C and I thought it might have been even better using yellow tomatoes for the sauce; less acidity and a better match for the wine both in terms of taste and appearance.

Scallop sashimi with Pata Negra (smoked ham), in canteloupe water with shiso leaf oil, and a shiso leaf on top. I am usually OK with scallops but wasn't sure how I would like raw ones. I shouldn't have worried - it was delicious. It was buttery and tender, with a delicate sweetness. The smoky ham added a nice flavor to it as well. This was the perfect foil for the sweet French Pinot Gris.

Next wine pouring - Can Rafols dels Caus La Calma Penedes 2003. This is a Spanish Chenin Blanc aged in new French oak barrels. Generally Chenin Blanc is not aged in oak, so this was interesting. It was really intense. (If you've had a Chenin Blanc before, you know it is not normally this dark in color - there's the oak!)

Foie Gras with Grilled Fennel and Granny Smith apple, covered in apple gelee - brioche toasts in the background. I have some ethical problems with foie gras and wouldn't order it off a menu (though I did it once in Paris out of curiosity for what it would be like), and I do have to say YUM. This stuff just melts in your mouth. If you've never eaten it before, you spread it on the toast and just savor it. C did not like it nearly as much, though he liked it more with the fennel and apple spooned on top - may have been because my parents ate a lot of liverwurst when I was young, and so the livery flavor sort of is comfort food to me in a way. Anyway, you can't see it, but there is a tiny pile of fleur de sel on the lower left corner of the plate, and putting a few grains on each bite really made the flavors sing.

Delicious pumpernickel bread with onions. I ate a few of these but kept forgetting to take a photo before I tore into them. In the background you can see 2 butters. The one closer to me is salted and the other is unsalted. Both were delicious.

Garretson Wine Company The Celeidh Paso Robles 2007. This was a rose wine with Syrah, Grenache, and Cabernet Sauvignon - but it was so dark rose, it was almost surprising it wasn't classified as a red (I mean - look at it!). Anyway, it was definitely deeper flavored and much fuller bodied than any rose I've ever had. When you swirled the glass, the wine just kind of STUCK there. Very interesting. The only thing that gave it away as a rose was a slight floral character, which I don't normally find with reds.

Pacific Skate with Duck Sausage, Marcona Almonds, and Parsley, in a roasted garlic duck consomme. LOVED this. Nice texture to the fish, excellent spiciness in the sausage but it still had clear duck flavor. The almonds added a nice flavor touch as well. By itself, the fish wouldn't have been able to stand up to the wine, but the combination did so beautifully. Very inventive.

St. Emilion Chateau Grand-Pontet 1998. An almost 10 year old wine, the tannins had definitely smoothed out over time, but still bold and assertive. After taking a sip of this, I said to C "meat is coming!!!" :)

Prime Beef Ribeye over Irish Oatmeal Risotto with Valedon Blue Dates. What did I tell you? Here's the meat :) You may remember that we don't eat beef. I do make an exception for set tasting menus, and remember all the food was a surprise. The beef was marinated in coffee with cardamom and cinnamon, and it was some of the best I've ever had. You didn't even need a knife to cut this (they gave us steak knives - uh huh, totally for show). Like butter. The dates were soft and sweet. All of this set off the wine beautifully.

And I do believe I forgot to take a picture of one of the wines :( I will describe it anyway.
Priorat Les Eres Joan Simo 2004. This was an extremely dark red wine served in a very large glass. If the previous wine was bold, this was a very in-your-face, tannic and very full bodied wine. I love these kinds of wines (sorry I forgot the photo).

Wild boar loin over jasmine rice, rutabega puree on top, with smoked huckleberry jus. The chef came out to present this dish (no not the famous chef/owner, but the executive chef), he was very friendly and we chatted for a bit about how we were enjoying the menu. I got the impression not too many people are adventurous to do this menu. But C and I love wine, and how different wines totally change character when paired with certain foods, and we talked about that a bit. (You could tell the sommelier was having fun with this as well.) Anyway, the texture of the boar was very similar to farmed pork (I'd not had boar before), with a bit of extra gamy flavor - which is NOT a bad thing in my book. I didn't like this quite as much as the beef, but that is more to pump up how good the beef was, rather than to diminish this dish. Was very good.

Allagash Curieux Tripel Ale. Wait a minute, what's an ale doing in a wine list? That was what I thought. But this sommelier definitely likes to push the envelope. This was fruity and not too hoppy, though I will admit I didn't manage to finish it.

Cheese course - one year Comte (on left) and 18-month Beaufort (center), brioche toast (right), hazelnut chicory mousse and raspberry gelee. These were both gruyere cheeses made with different methods and aged for different lengths of time. Both delicious. The Beaufort was particularly nice with the raspberry gelee, and the Comte was excellent with the candied hazelnuts (far left). I do love my cheese :) I am still not so sure about this with the ale, though.

Palette cleanser - red wine sorbet with watercress

Pahlmeyer Chardonnay Napa Valley 2005. Yay - not a dessert wine! This Chardonnay was not too oaky and was a very good finish - but by the time I had this, I was definitely feeling wine fatigue!

Popcorn sherbet with corn custard and a corn fritter with bourbon caramel sauce. I thought this had to be the weirdest dessert idea EVER. But it was delicious! Sort of reminiscent of buttered popcorn Jelly Bellys? Except C doesn't like those, and he still thought this was pretty good (the fritter was too heavy for him though). It went beautifully with the Chardonnay. Nice job!

And then they brought THIS! Aw. I forgot to photo before we blew out the candles. Very dense tiny little brownie. We were insanely full but yes, we ate it. :)

And THEN - they wheeled out this cart with all sorts of teeny tiny desserts...you could basically choose as many as you wanted, but I kept it to 3.

The top one is a little s'more cake, middle is a chocolate-dusted hazelnut, and bottom is a carrot cake macaroon. Then I found out they had boxes for you to take these home in if you are too full - so I went for that:

As if that wasn't enough - they gave us these on the way out:

Little pineapple upside-down cakes. Yummy. We ate these today.

Overall I was very impressed by TRU. I love going to these insane gourmet restaurants, but once I've experienced them, I am ready to move on to the next one and don't feel the need to go back. I would totally go back to this one.

So the downside of taking the train is that you are slave to its schedule. The outbound schedule to our area was 10:30 pm and 12:30 am. We finished the meal at 10:15 pm. Even with a cab we wouldn't have made it back to Union Station in time. So we decided to walk the whole way instead of taking the El. It was a beautiful night - I thought it would be chilly but it wasn't, and C led the way down Michigan Avenue and then Wacker Drive so we could walk along the river - he likes that walk because it's not the "concrete canyon" that much of downtown Chicago is - still tall buildings but things are a little more open. Things were so pretty that I decided I wanted to play tourist a little :)

River cruise boats at the Michigan and Wacker intersection

I thought this was a nice view - the building on the far right is the new Trump Tower.

Trump Tower

Wrigley Building

Wacker Drive

Marina City condos (I think these are totally ugly, but they are a Chicago icon)

Sears Tower in the distance

It took us an hour to get to Union Station, and then we had over an hour to wait for the 12:30 train :( We finally got home around 2 am, which was the only bummer of the evening. (I normally go to bed between 9:30 and 10:00 pm - I was dying by the time I got to go to bed) But this was definitely a great date. I look forward to celebrating many many more anniversaries with C :)

I may be slightly obsessed

2008-10-08T11:16:00.002-05:00

Since I cast on for the February Lady Sweater, I haven't touched any other knitting. This thing uses about 5 skeins of Cascade 220 based on the yardage requirements (though I bought 6 skeins to be safe), and I'm halfway through the second skein already.

(I'm slightly further along than that now, but only by a few rows - it takes a LONG time to do a row of 324 stitches.) I've just started the lace patterning and hope to be separating the sleeves this afternoon. Let's see how close I can get to finishing this before I go back to work on Monday!

I feel Twisted...

2008-10-05T15:41:00.002-05:00

Although I hated all the twisted stitching and whatnot in Bayerische, I've been drawn to Twisted Flower for awhile now. I finally cast on this week and have made it through one chart repeat:

I have to say, I'm a bit impressed with myself ;) It's actually not all that difficult, but the second half of the chart (with the traveling stitches) is very fiddly and slow. It may seem easier now that I don't knit as tightly as I did a year ago!

I'm also going to be starting the February Lady Sweater. All I have to show for that at the moment is a swatch, though.

Were you wondering?

2008-10-04T18:07:00.003-05:00

Some people knew where I was on vacation a few weeks ago, but in case you're not one of them, here's a clue:

We had a great time. Unfortunately, I came home with bronchitis due to all the cigarette smoke there. I still have a bit of a cough (that may be an understatement)...hopefully it will be gone after a few more days.

If you want to see more photos, here's my vacation set on Flickr.

Drunken Bees Socks

2008-10-01T07:57:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Drunken Bees by Domesticat
Needles: Size 1.5 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Sundara sock, Tomato Confit Colorway
Started: August 30, 2008
Finished: October 1, 2008

Rescue

2008-09-29T11:24:00.004-05:00

So I do have a new cast-on picture to share. This pattern is called Water Rescue socks. I started these over the weekend. I love the yarn - this is Beyond Basic Knits and the colorway is called Squirt. I got this as a prize in the Loopy Ewe Anniversary Blog contest :)

I also hope to have new FO photos very soon, as I am nearing completion on the secret sox that have been taking up all my time!

Happy Fall!

2008-09-27T14:27:00.002-05:00

OK, I think I am back now. :) Have had vacation, and illness (still getting over illness but almost there), and I think I am ready to be back!

Froot Loop Socks

2008-09-27T13:39:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Froot Loop by Kristi Geraci
Needles: Size 2.5 Crystal Palace DPNs
Yarn: Araucania Ranco, Blueberry Colorway
Started: September 13, 2008
Finished: September 27, 2008

Nine-to-Five Socks

2008-08-29T08:01:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Nine-to-Five Socks by Nicole Hindes
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Stripe, Happy Stripe Colorway
Started: August 17, 2008
Finished: August 29, 2008

Swirl Socks

2008-08-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Toe-Up Spiral No-heel Sock Pattern by Jo Febo
Needles: Size 3 Knitpicks Circulars
Yarn: Bellamoden Sport, Possession Colorway
Started: August 13, 2008
Finished: August 17, 2008

Peace Socks

2008-08-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Peace Socks by Wendy Johnson
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks Circulars (foot); Size 3 Knitpicks Circulars (leg)
Yarn: All Things Heather, Spiced Plum Colorway
Started: August 7, 2008
Finished: August 12, 2008

Gumdrops

2008-08-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Gumdrop Socks by JC Briar (July '08 Rockin' Sock Club pattern)
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks Circulars
Yarn: STR lightweight, Goody Goody colorway
Started: July 25, 2008
Finished: August 5, 2008

Floating

2008-07-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

I took a "floating holiday" from work today. I decided it was "farmer's market and knitting holiday" - what better kind is there?

The farmer's market shopping was very productive:

Local corn! Woo!

Also local - patty pan squash. I have grown this before so I know how yummy it can be.

Cremini mushrooms from a mushroom farm just over the border in WI

One of my favorite vendors is a fruit farmer from Michigan...I was so excited to see they have peaches already. Their peaches are so much better than what you can get at the grocery store.

They have fabulous berries too. I had to sneak a few of these as soon as I got home :)

I love to shop at the cheese vendor too - this time I just got some yummy curds.

And a fruity Sicilian olive oil - I was out of oil to use for salads and pastas.

Also - my new RSC kit arrived!!

As usual, totally now what I would have picked, but I love it anyway.

And since I finished the Cleopatra socks, I have already wound this up and gotten started:

The pattern is addictive. I know what I will be doing this weekend!!

Cleopatra's Stockings

2008-07-23T23:25:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Cleopatra's Stockings by Yarnissima (May '08 Rockin' Sock Club pattern)
Needles: Size 1.5 Knitpicks Circulars (foot), Size 2 Knitpicks Circulars (leg)
Yarn: STR lightweight, Incredible Shrinking Violet colorway
Started: July 6, 2008
Finished: July 23, 2008

Sock Mania

2008-07-21T09:16:00.002-05:00

Lots has been going on here...

I started the Summer 2008 socks as part of Summer of Socks...

I'm further along than this now, but haven't taken another photo. I'm almost to the heel on sock #1 - yes, it's going a bit slowly.

Two views of the Cleopatra's Stockings socks:

I am about halfway on sock #2.

Some new yarn acquisitions (note the photos have decided to be large, regardless of my whims):

Sportweight superwash by bellamoden, Possession colorway

All Things Heather in Spiced Plum

WOLLMEISE! This is Indisch Rot..

And Krauterbeet. Looking forward to knitting with both. It was a total fluke that I got these.

Looking forward to being done with the Cleopatra's Stockings. I had to completely start over with Sock #2 on Saturday...and now I am ready to be done. Am just shy of where I was on the first photo above...so finishing sometime this week is within reach - especially if I do manage to take Friday off this week. I have it scheduled, but you never know.

Harris Tweed

2008-07-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Harris Tweed socks by Ali Green
Needles: Size 1.5 Knitpicks Circulars
Yarn:Noro Kureyon Sock, colorway S182
Started: June 1, 2008
Finished: July 11, 2008

Sigh.

2008-07-09T19:57:00.003-05:00

I keep trying to keep up with the blogging, but things keep getting in the way.

I got a horrific sinus infection, requiring an ER visit, doctor visits, multiple courses of antibiotics...I've been on antibiotics for 3 1/2 weeks, and I have a little over a week of them left. Hopefully this will knock the thing out.

Today I will share the yarn I have acquired over the last few weeks!

Some nice laceweight merino from The Fold

Panda Silk from The Fold (both these are actually the same size, though they look really different in the photo). Please note that although the name of this yarn is Panda Silk, it is actually only 5% silk. This will be used for a dressy scarf (eventually).

All Things Heather in Hyacinth...from the Loopy Ewe

Trekking (colorway 78) from the Loopy Ewe

Apple Laine (I think this is sport) from the Loopy Ewe. This was my free yarn for reaching Loopy Groupie status!

Tomorrow: photos of current sock WIP's!

Leafling

2008-07-04T19:50:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Leafling Socks by JC Briar (March 2008 Rockin' Sock Club)
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks Circulars
Yarn: Socks That Rock mediumweight, Lucky colorway
Started: June 22, 2008
Finished: July 4, 2008

Serendipity

2008-06-15T19:44:00.002-05:00

Finally progressing through the Rockin' Sock Club selections...

Pattern: Serendipity Socks by Adrienne Fong (January 2008 Rockin' Sock Club)
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks Circulars
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight, Dragon Dance colorway
Started: June 1, 2008
Finished: June 15, 2008

Delinquent.

2008-06-15T16:51:00.002-05:00

I am very late in blogging. I blame it on work, knitting, and Ravelry.

Since I last posted, I have started and finished a pair of socks. This will get its own post, as usual.

I have another pair in progress (on the foot of sock #1 right now):

This is Harris Tweed in Noro Kureyon sock. Very easy and it looks really nice.

I have added to my stash:

STR lightweight in The Incredible Shrinking Violet colorway (club color for May).

STR lightweight in Knitters Without Borders (sorry for the horrible pixellated photo, I can't figure out why it is doing that as it looks fine in my photo software and in Flickr)

J Knits Superwash Me Sock in Vermont colorway

Louet Gems Fingering in Grape (this will be for the Twisted Flower socks when I get to them)

Araucania Ranco Multi in Blueberry

Beyond Basic Knits in Black Cherry Cola (this colorway is insanely hard to photograph)

I will try to keep on top of things a bit better in the future.

Aquaphobia!

2008-06-01T15:50:00.003-05:00

All done! (Full disclosure: I need the #1 needles for something else!)

Pattern: Aquaphobia by Knitfreak
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks Circulars
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Thin, Mardi Gras colorway (Loopy Ewe exclusive)
Started: May 4, 2008
Finished: June 1, 2008

Jury Socks

2008-05-26T17:31:00.003-05:00

Yes, I finished another project this weekend :) And again, I had barely any of sock #2 started after work on Friday.

Pattern: Basic Sock Recipe by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Needles: Size 1 Clover Bamboo DPNs (evil, evil)
Yarn: Opal fingering weight (beyond that I have no idea)
Started: April 15, 2008
Finished: May 26, 2008

Salish Sea

2008-05-25T16:37:00.003-05:00

Yes, this is the one I had started about 10 minutes before Friday afternoon's post. I rocked through sock #2! :)

Pattern: Salish Sea Socks by Cat Bordhi (December 2007 Rockin' Sock Club)
Needles: Size 1.5 Knitpicks Circulars
Yarn: Socks That Rock mediumweight, Bella Coola colorway
Started: May 5, 2008
Finished: May 25, 2008

Cooking fun

2008-05-24T17:08:00.002-05:00

So last night C was chopping and prepping for supper (chicken stir-fry). The recipe called for 7 cloves of garlic.

He got these 6 peeled:

And then went to a new head of garlic and added clove #7:

:)

It turned out to be a pretty perfect amount of garlic, actually :)

Not what you think

2008-05-23T16:53:00.002-05:00

Well, it's true that I have three single socks...

...but I don't have Second Sock Syndrome. See? I am working on the second sock for all 3 pairs!

I have to say I am really enjoying the Salish Sea socks. I am going to have to get Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book. I did end up getting some stitch markers for her patterns (used in the Salish Sea pattern, but you technically can get away without them, as I did for the first sock of the pair).

Have a great holiday weekend! Let's see if I have any finished pairs by the end of it ;)

Lots to tell.

2008-05-18T19:43:00.002-05:00

Once again I took too long to update the blog because work is completely wearing me out. I have no interest in the Internets when I get home. But knitting is keeping me sane.

Mom drove out for a short visit last weekend, which gave me an excuse to get a cake from Deerfield's:

Yum!!! They have the best buttercream icing EVER.

Oh, I can also post her gift, now that I've given it to her...this is a coffee cozy meant to replace the cardboard ones used at Starbucks and similar places. It was easy, quick, and fun - made of leftover Noro Kureyon from a Booga Bag I made long ago.

We made chocolate covered strawberries too, but no photos of that. They were delicious, though!

And I suppose you'll be wanting to see the knitting progress... :)

I did finish Jury Sock #1 yesterday, but forgot a photo. It looks the same though, except it has a toe ;)

I got this far in the first Salish Sea sock...

...when I realized there was no denying the fact that it was absolutely GINORMOUS and I was going to have to frog it. You all know how much I hate frogging, but I did start over from the beginning.

It's now a little past where it was before I ripped it out:

It is sort of funny looking but I've tried it on and it actually fits superbly well. Also, I like the pooling effect better on the smaller size, so that is a bonus. I expect to finish this one in the next few days. After this pair I get to move on to this year's Rockin' Sock Club! Which is good, as I hear there is another installment on its way very shortly.

I also finished the first Aquaphobia today:

I really like it. Kind of funny that it actually is pooling, but very different from the un-patterned bottom of the sock. I think it's very pretty, but the colors are just not me, so this pair is going to be set aside for a Christmas gift...just not sure for whom. (My relatives are all suddenly crossing their fingers....LOL) This is a fun one, though.

Good stuff.

2008-05-04T18:30:00.004-05:00

I haven't yet shown my "Jury socks," which I started while I was on jury duty. I usually knit a few rows on this during lunchtime at work, and I keep it in the car in case I have to wait for any reason (but I never knit while I'm in the driver's seat!).

These are just the Yarn Harlot basic sock recipe. I'm using US 1 bamboo DPNs, which are icky icky icky (I so much prefer the metal circulars). The yarn is some Opal that I had sitting around (but the ball band has long ago disappeared). These will be for C, when I get around to finishing them. Might be a little while but he's not in a hurry anyway.

I will be casting on tonight for 2 new pairs of socks...

First is the "Salish Sea" socks, which are the last installment of the 2007 Rockin' Sock Club. Here is the yarn - STR mediumweight in "Bella Coola":
(sorry for the huge size, I tried to re-size but apparently the yarn wants to show off its color). It appears I never blogged this yarn when I got it, nor did I stash it on Ravelry....but then we all know how December goes.

I am also doing Aquaphobia as part of a KAL with Ktog. I have no yarn with enough yardage, so I had to call upon the Loopy Ewe for help:

(All the yarn seems to be show-offy tonight.) This is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Thin, in the Mardi Gras colorway (exclusive to the Loopy Ewe). I really have to hand it to Sheri - I ordered this on Thursday morning, and received it yesterday. Now that's service! This is totally not my usual color choice. I was looking with 2 criteria in mind: 1) yardage, and 2) lots of color variation. I may not keep the Aquaphobias for myself - someone lucky may end up with them for Christmas :) But for right now I'm undecided.

I also have to show off the fabulous pizzas we made last night:

We have been eating a lot of pizza lately as we experiment with crusts (such a sacrifice!). There will be more experimentation, but this is my favorite so far. You can't see it, but there is a mix of wild mushrooms under the cheese there. Yum! The crust recipe is here!

Kitchenered to Death (ie., Sidewinders)

2008-05-04T18:26:00.002-05:00

All done - finally!

Pattern: Sidewinders, by Nona
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight, Fire on the Mountain colorway
Started: April 10, 2008
Finished: May 4, 2008

Lenore, no longer lost.

2008-04-26T19:47:00.003-05:00

Finished today!

Pattern: Lenore, by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight, Lenore colorway
Started: March 31, 2008
Finished: April 26, 2008

Stuff.

2008-04-26T19:40:00.003-05:00

So, I took 1/2 vacation day yesterday and went with some fabulous local knitters to see the Yarn Harlot. We got there super early, picked up our tickets, shopped for yarn, knit at Starbucks for awhile, had some dinner, and went to the event. Alas, it was not to be as Stephanie's flight(s) were cancelled. The weather was pretty brutal. Not all day, but when it decided to whip up, it was intense. When we got back to our meeting place, we decided to go to Caribou Coffee and knit for a bit anyway. It was still a really nice time.

I did finish Sidewinder #1 last week:

You can see it's a little baggy in places...but it's wearable. Not so fun to do all the kitchenering (not miserable either, just loooooooong). I am casting on for #2 tonight.

I did pick up a little goodie on the excursion yesterday:

Kureyon sock. This is to make some rainbow stripey socks for C. It's pretty scratchy but I've heard over and over that it really softens up with washing, so I'll have my fingers crossed.

Sock Updates

2008-04-20T14:45:00.002-05:00

Lenore #1 is done.

I really love this sock and it was so easy - now just to cast on for #2!

The first Sidewinder is done being knit and now I need to graft 250 stitches :/

It looks really really cool, doesn't it? Now I just have to pray that it actually fits after I do all that grafting.

Act 3

2008-04-14T20:33:00.002-05:00

I just barely finished Act 3 before bed last night.

I'll start Act 4 tonight, but it may be 2 or 3 nights before I get through it all.

I also got a birthday present in the mail today :)

This may entice me away from the "Five Minutes a Day" book...OK, I know it will. Thanks Mom! :)

And it's been awhile since I posted cat photos...

Lomion:

Tindomerel:

Lomion is fighting a kitty UTI but I'm hoping he is starting to slowly recover. This has been a bit of a difficulty, which I have ranted about elsewhere.

Oh, and I do need to go to the courthouse tomorrow :( So much going on at work, not a good time for me to be gone. Today would have been OK, but the rest of this week, not so good. Keep your fingers crossed that they don't need me longer than a day!

Act 2

2008-04-13T21:00:00.002-05:00

I am so addicted to these socks.

This photo is at the end of Act 2 (sorry for the extra implements holding it flat, but thought you would prefer seeing it flat to rolled up). I am making my way through Act 3 and hoping to finish before bed tonight (if I get offline quickly).

So I have a jury summons for this week. I don't need to go in tomorrow morning, but I need to call at 11:15 to see if I need to go in for the afternoon (and twice per day to call all week until I either get called in or released). I have duly packed a small bag with sock yarn, a row counter, bamboo size 1 DPNs, and the Yarn Harlot Basic Sock Recipe, just in case.

Sidewinding

2008-04-12T20:18:00.003-05:00

I cast on for the actual sock today, and it is totally fun so far. I got through the "Act I" part of the pattern, which means I am 1/4 done!

It unfortunately is liking to curl up on itself at this point, so it doesn't look like much unless I am holding it open. But it is the coolest thing! If I am not sick of this after knitting the pair and doing all that kitchenering, I may do a pair of these for C as well. This is going to be so much fun in this colorway.

Swatchin'

2008-04-10T20:37:00.003-05:00

I have been dying to knit Sidewinders for a long time. Last summer I bought some Fire on the Mountain specifically for this pattern...and when I went to wind the skein last night I noticed it was a particularly nice dye job.

I don't normally swatch for socks - I usually figure the cuff or toe is a good swatch and about the same size/effort. But since these are not done in the round, I figured I better actually swatch.

You may drool now. I think the coloring will be even more fun on the actual socks since the rows will be longer.

Now I am going to rip out the swatch as I am very paranoid about running out of yarn.

I also cast on for the Lenore socks over a week ago, but haven't photographed them yet. They are quite fun and go very quickly once I spend any amount of time on them. Will try to get a photo over the weekend.

Socks for Grandma

2008-04-07T18:36:00.000-05:00

They are done!

I love these. I hate to give them up, but they're for Grandma, and I think she is going to love them even more than I do :) I'm actually really excited for her to get them. She used to sew a lot of my clothes when I was a kid, and a few years back she actually sewed my wedding veil (SO meaningful, as you can imagine!) Now I finally get to make her something pretty :)

Pattern: Twinkleberry, by Beth LaPensee
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Louet Gems fingering, in Fern Green
Started: March 23, 2008
Finished: April 7, 2008

Will report back when she receives them :)

I know you were curious...

2008-04-02T21:42:00.002-05:00

Here's a look at the socks my Grandma is actually going to get (when I finish):

Gazillion times better than those ugly Seduction socks. The yarn is Louet Gems fingering. Sock #1 shouldn't take much longer, especially since I have an airplane trip tomorrow ;)

Summer of Love

2008-03-30T21:35:00.000-05:00

OK, so it's nowhere near summer. But when it comes, I have the socks!

Pattern: Summer of Love Lace, from August 2007 Rockin' Sock Club
Needles: Size 1.5 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight, Flower Power colorway
Started: March 8, 2008
Finished: March 30, 2008

I am most impressed with the fact that at 11 am on March 29, all I had for sock #2 was the cuff. The rest of it was knit in less than 48 hours.

Here and there

2008-03-24T19:51:00.004-05:00

So, we got about 12 inches of snow Friday night/Saturday morning :( Driving home from work on Friday was horrible, then had to shovel 9 inches, and then in the morning had to shovel 3 more, plus the mess from the plow. About 3 hours total shoveling...ick! Messed up my swim mileage again too....I should be around 140 miles, but instead am at about 109. Sigh. Now a lot of the snow is melted, and tomorrow it's supposed to be about 55, so most of it should be gone after that.

I got my new STR on Saturday (cover your eyes if you don't want spoilers!):

It's beautiful. Of course, I am still on last August's sock, so who knows when I will get to play with this. I am actually hoping to finish August sometime this week though and then start on October, so all hope is not lost.

I did, last night, start some socks for my Grandma:

This is Seduction Socks, by Ann Budd. I sort of hate them. So. Ugly. I have seen nice ones, but the pattern does NOT work with this yarn. These are going to be frogged, as much as I hate frogging. Am going to try Twinkleberry instead. We'll see how that one goes.

Cliche

2008-03-16T20:38:00.002-05:00

Yes, I am doing the thing everyone's doing, or to be more accurate, that everyone did awhile ago.

This is the beginning of a Clapotis.

I want a wrap, and I want it done faster than a lace one. I'd like to have it done by the 28th, if at all possible. I have symphony tickets, and I always get cold after intermission.

I am about halfway through the increasing section. I haven't been able to spend as much time as I'd like, due to a) being very tired, b) baking, and c) taking 3 hours to find my size 8 needles. Oh, it's in Great Adirondack Sierra, 100% alpaca. I bought this a year ago I think, at a store in Cleveland that has since gone out of business. I have 600 yards and think I should be able to make it. My gauge is a little loose so I'm hoping that helps (or perhaps I'm just delusional).

I also finished the first of the Summer of Love Lace socks this morning.

I'm not sure when I'll cast on for the second, I may wait until Clapotis is done...on the other hand, I really need a portable project, so it would behoove me to get some sort of sock on the needles ASAP.

The Evil Yarn Store (not, as you may think, evil because it makes me spend money, but because everyone who works there seems to be mean) had a sale this weekend and since we happened to be in the area yesterday, Kelly and I stopped in.

Are you surprised? Purple and black/gray? Of course not. It's Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, 50% silk, 50% wool. Black Purl colorway. Stupid expensive, but at least I got 20% off.

Webby

2008-03-15T18:50:00.000-05:00

The Web Socks are done!

Pattern: Web Socks by Erica Alexander (Interweave Knits, Winter 2005)
Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering in Eggplant
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks circulars (for the leg) and Size 1 Knitpicks circulars (for the foot)
Started: December 30, 2007
Finished: March 15, 2008

Can't wait to wear these! I love the way the yarn knits up.

New

2008-03-09T21:35:00.002-05:00

Well, you'd think I'd be finishing off those Web Socks, but you'd be wrong. :)

This is the cuff from the Summer of Love Lace socks, which were the August 2007 Rockin' Sock Club kit. I am going to get through these club kits and get caught up, if it kills me. After steam blocking the cuff, I couldn't resist doing more:

I'm now working on the heel flap already (because these socks are so short). But it's late, so I think the flap will be as far as I get tonight.

I also made some double-decker brownies tonight.

Brownie on bottom...

Chocolate chip cookie on top.

Yum!

And for your viewing pleasure, my Siamese girl Tindomerel has decided to have a rare moment of cooperation with her poor photographer :)

Woo-Hoo!

2008-03-08T10:49:00.003-06:00

Next FO - Solstice Slip socks!

I actually finished these Thursday night but didn't get a chance to photograph/post them yet.

Pattern: The Solstice Slip by JC Briar (June 2007 Rockin' Sock Club pattern)
Needles: Size 1 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight in Firebird colorway
Started: Dec 30, 2007
Finished: March 6, 2008

I totally would not have picked these colors but I do love the socks. And I have some outfits that will go with the colors, so it's all good :)

I hate finishing work, la la la

2008-03-02T21:08:00.003-06:00

So it's done.

I started working on the finishing around 10 am, and finished at 9 pm. Yikes. There were ten thousand million ends to weave in. (OK, 62, but isn't that close?)

Pattern: A Cardigan For Arwen by Kate Gilbert (Winter 2006 Interweave Knits)
Needles: Size 8 US Clover Bamboo Straights (Size 7 for the hems), plus cable needle
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather

Started: Dec 31, 2007
Finished: March 2, 2008

FINALLY, a completed project for 2008 :)

We've got to stop meeting like this

2008-03-01T18:20:00.002-06:00

"Like this" being extremely infrequently.

The snow I mentioned a few weeks ago has kept coming, so that's been part of it. Also, the Arwen sweater has been horribly frustrating. I did a horrific cable mis-cross (and by horrific I mean that I couldn't stand to look at it) and had to tink back 12 rows, because I'm not comfortable ripping such complex cabling. After I fixed that, I seemed to make a mistake every other cable row, so I'd knit 4 rows, tink 3, knit 4, tink 3, and so on. This continued until I finally made myself stop working on it when I was stressed about work. That means it was primarily getting picked up on the weekends, and only every once in awhile during the week.

But I now present the completed right front of the cardigan:

And both fronts together!

I've already grafted together the top of the hood since I took the photos. Now for lots and lots of evil seaming (sleeves, back of hood, fronts to back, hood to back). I'm hoping I can get the seaming done by sometime tomorrow so I can block it and wear it on Tuesday.

Normally getting that done would be no problem, but I'm also sick. Started Tuesday with a bit of a cough, continued Wednesday, was much worse on Thursday, but by yesterday I was feeling much better and just had a residual cough. (Taking a vacation day from work - preplanned - probably didn't hurt.) But then today I've been feeling awful since I got up. I did go to the gym, which wasn't the best move, and then have been just relaxing and knitting, eating tea and soup, since I got home. It hasn't helped...I've actually been feeling worse and worse as the day has gone on. So I think I'll be going to bed for the night fairly soon, and keep my fingers crossed that I feel a ton better in the morning.

(P.S. The Solstice Slip socks are progressing as well, and I expect to have FO photos within a few days of finishing the sweater.)

Web Sock #1

2008-02-11T16:03:00.000-06:00

So, I did finish this yesterday. I think it looks great.

I also made some good progress on Solstice Slip #2 and on the Arwen sweater.

I got home from work early today due to an off-site meeting, though I did need to dial-in to work from home this afternoon.

We are forecasted to get 7 more inches of snow tonight :( I have no idea where I am going to put it.

Disruption

2008-02-10T10:23:00.000-06:00

I have been doing much less swimming, knitting, and blogging than I would like these days. The reason?

I have been doing way too much shoveling, and having excessively long commutes, because of all the snow we keep getting. We got 18" on Wednesday. My commutes this week have been in excess of 3 hours round trip :( Please keep your fingers crossed that we are done with the extreme snow. A couple inches is one thing, but we're already at double our usual total for the winter and there is still a bit of winter left. Just about all the towns around here have run out of road salt, which makes for miserable driving even on the weekend. The forecasted high temperature here is 2 degrees, and it's currently -4 with windchills in excess of -20. I do not plan to leave the house today.

But I have done SOME knitting! I finished one of the Solstice Slip socks. I have to admit I haven't cast on for the other yet because I want to play with a different way of doing the crochet chain, that I found online, so maybe I'll do that today.

I won't procrastinate too long because this sock is both beautiful and incredibly comfortable, so I can't wait to be able to wear them.

I also finished the left front of the Arwen sweater. The sleeve cuff is kitchenered together, as per the pattern, but other than that it's just hanging out, waiting for me to finish the other side.

As for the right front, I cast on at Ktog Tuesday night, worked on it for a bit Wednesday (I worked from home in the afternoon so I was up for a bit of knitting), and then Thursday and Friday I was way too tired to do any knitting, so it didn't get any attention until yesterday. I got 4 repeats done yesterday before we left for the symphony, so it is coming along.

I also came very close to finishing the first of the Web Socks in the car last night on the way to the symphony. Just need to do the toe decreases. I brought it inside when we got home (it's usually my travel knitting) so I can finish it up and cast on for the second one.

As you can see, I do have lots of knitting planned for today. :)

Sweater Progress

2008-01-27T12:56:00.000-06:00

OK, so you can now see how far along I am on the sweater:

I should have used circs, this is a lot of stitches to shove on a straight needle. Anyway, I love the way it is coming out, I just wish I was able to knit on it faster (or spend more time on it).

And some new yarn!

Bought this from someone on Ravelry. I like the way it knits up, and want to make socks for my grandma, who loves green. Now I just have to finish my huge pile of knitting to make grandma socks!

The latest Rockin' Sock Club yarn. I never would have picked this but I love it. I am sooooo far behind though - still on the kit from last June *wheeze* I think once I finish Arwen, socks will be flying off my needles though!

Yum

2008-01-24T19:16:00.000-06:00

We had this for dinner last night and tonight. You must make it!

Golden Winter Soup

As for Arwen, I've reached the armpit (actually cast on for the sleeve as well). We'll see if I can get the sleeve/shoulder done over the weekend and maybe even some work on the hood. I have no plans this whole weekend except knitting - and I do promise to get a progress photo up :)

Arwen cables

2008-01-20T13:03:00.000-06:00

Thought I would show you how the cables are going. I've been working on socks only for the last few days but am planning to do some more on this sweater today. It appears I did mis-cross a cable (right in the center there) but I had to stare at the official photo for 5 minutes to be sure, and I think it looks OK so I'm leaving it.

It's really cold today so my only plans are for knitting and bread baking. No leaving the house!

Web socks webbing

2008-01-15T19:20:00.000-06:00

I was planning to post this photo on Ravelry tonight, but photos are being wonky there today. I finally took a picture of the Web socks. We'll disregard the fact that there are 2 stitch patterns within that sock pattern and I actually started up with the wrong one but decided against frogging because I just plain old didn't want to. They are looking nice anyway.

I love love LOVE the color of this yarn (that sound you hear is all the Ktog'ers laughing as they know what a fetish I have for purple!) This is truly my favorite shade of purple though, and the photo shows it well.

And now for the close up!

This one totally does not show the color properly but you can see the lovely stitching.

I am using Louet Gems fingering weight, and I am really happy with how soft it is knitting up - you wouldn't guess from the yarn how soft the fabric would be. I can't wait to have these as actual wear-able socks.

Arwen update: I am 16 rows into the left front. The cabling is going slow. There may have been some ripping back last night. There are cable crosses on every right-side row. Like I said, slow. But I'm slowly getting the hang of the pattern. It looks pretty but I am feeling disgruntled by the slow-ness.

Nothing too exciting...

2008-01-13T16:03:00.001-06:00

But I finished the back of the Arwen sweater last night.

There's still a fair amount to do, both fronts plus the sleeves and the hood. And all of those have the cables. Not that cables are scary (mostly) but they definitely go slower. I'm a little nervous I might accidentally mis-cross one, but fingers crossed that I won't!

Socks & Sweaters

2008-01-07T20:28:00.004-06:00

I actually didn't knit much over the weekend (was very busy), but I have been knitting on weeknights.

Here is the progress on the Arwen sweater so far:

I would say the back is about a third done, maybe a bit more. I'm making it 23 inches instead of 19 inches (would rather have this a little longer). I bought lots of extra yarn to make sure I had enough! So far this is really boring, but then I can knit easily while watching a movie, or reading a book! When I get to the front (with the pretty Celtic cables), I expect it will be more interesting, but slower. I haven't studied the cable chart yet, not sure if there are even any rows without crosses....but I will slog through it either way.

The Solstice Slip socks are really fun, though I haven't touched them since I got to the gusset on Saturday:

I did in fact get the hang of cabling without a cable needle, which helps. I won't pretend I haven't dropped a few stitches while trying to cable, though :/ I love the way the color is producing a sort of "tiger stripe" effect...shows even better on the sole:

I knit on the Web Socks some in the car on Saturday (because I forgot to bring the Arwen sweater, but I keep the socks in the car)...still no photos of those.

We got new dining room furniture this weekend. This is very exciting for me - finally replacing the stuff I got straight out of college. No photos of that yet either, but I will have them - probably over this coming weekend so I can get them in the natural light.

And now I must get back to knitting so I have more stuff to entertain you with! :)

Food for thought

2008-01-05T13:01:00.000-06:00

So my next door neighbors, who put up the "Happy Birthday Jesus" sign in their front yard at Christmas (thus proclaiming themselves uberChristians) are the only ones in my vicinity who do not shovel their sidewalks when it snows. Everyone else, even the ones I don't like, clears the sidewalks. So you're taking a walk and you get to the house where one would think the occupants might care about others, but you have to wade through ankle-deep (or deeper) snow because they clearly DON'T care.

Looking forward

2008-01-01T15:20:00.000-06:00

Time to start over on a few things:

1) Tracking knitting FO's. I'm hoping to get 20 pairs of socks done in 2008. I did 11 in 2007. We'll see - I also have sweater and shawl knitting planned, but my commute is going to get shorter. I will need to also cut back on my Internet time-wasting in order to do this...but I have a ton of yarn I need to (and want to) play with.

2) Tracking workouts. I got 486 miles of swimming in last year. I want to make that at least 500 this year, plus I am going to start keeping track of walking and biking miles, which aren't nearly as much as the swimming miles, but it's good to be able to look back on.

I don't really make resolutions, though.

Toward the 20-sock goal, I've finally cracked open my June '07 RSC kit and am hard at work on the Solstice Slip socks. I originally started in the Large size, but it was huge. I started over in the Medium, and this is much better. I need to bone up on my cabling without a cable needle though, or these are going to go REALLY slow.

Holiday Fun

2007-12-29T19:15:00.000-06:00

Since I've only been posting about knitting FO's lately, there is a fair amount of updating to do about the holidays.

My mom came into town the Sunday before Christmas, getting here around suppertime. Even though I had to work on Christmas Eve, C was off work, and the two of them were able to do some prep. I did get out of work early, and we were able to go to church before supper. I had bought some HUGE crab legs, and they didn't quite fit in our biggest pot:

We tried and tried to come up with a solution, and finally found one:

Whatever works! The crab was fabulous....so yummy!

Christmas morning gift display:

My Bayerische socks finally made their "on-feet" debut on Christmas!

I have to admit, now that I'm away from the pain of making them - I love them.

Highlights from my gifts....

I already have a lovely stand mixer, but for jobs that are smaller, a hand mixer is more appropriate...but my hand mixer was about to burn out, and this is a very fancy one with all kinds of attachments. :)

This will come in handy for future apple-pie making (I think C already wants to make a pie...)

All sorts of fun stuff in here!

This looks amusing - have only flipped through it so far, though.

SOCK YARN!!!!
I know you all are thoroughly shocked at the color ;) This is Handmaiden Casbah, which is 80% merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. I can't wait to use it. I really need to get faster at sock knitting!

Fun shirt from my sister :)

Brand new computer!!! This thing is tiny. It's about 3 inches tall, and if I put my hand on the top of it, my hand covers it completely. I spent Thursday getting it up and running, and put a few finishing touches on it yesterday. It is going to be absolutely lovely for photo editing and blogging. I'm sure I'll do more optimization over time, but I am going to really enjoy having this.

And now for the Christmas feast!

Warm spinach salad with bacon, mushrooms, roasted red pepper, and pine nuts...

Herb crusted rack of lamb (our first time roasting a rack and it turned out beautifully)

Freshly made spaghetti tossed with fresh herbs and olive oil (and yes, we did drink that HUGE bottle of wine...it's 5 liters in case you were curious).

Hope everyone else had a great one too. I look forward to hearing about things once the craziness winds down!

Embossed Leaves

2007-12-28T15:02:00.000-06:00

Powered thru these and got them done!

I love these. I wish the photo showed the detail better.

Pattern: Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt, from Favorite Socks
Needles: Size 2 Knitpicks circulars
Yarn: Crazy4Dyeing Merino Superwash Wool, Pumpkin Pie colorway
Started: November 11, 2007
Finished: December 28, 2007

Oh, and I was convinced I was going to run out of yarn. Here's how close I cut it:

In other words, not close at all. Ha.

Airy Scarf

2007-12-17T11:50:00.000-06:00

Christmas gift for my friend Vicky:

Pattern: Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Needles: Size 10 1/2 Clover DPNs
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze
Started: December 8, 2007
Finished: December 16, 2007

I wanted to keep this for myself, but had to send it off. I have enough yarn to make another, so eventually I will do one for me. The yarn was very fiddly though, especially since I was using bamboo needles. The worst part was the bind-off, I kept dropping stitches and one of them actually fell down several rows which was really NOT fun to fix. The actual knitting was very easy though.

Embroidery is not my friend.

2007-12-16T19:17:00.000-06:00

At long last, the Baby Bobbi Bears are done. It may have taken double-digit numbers of tries (and ripping out and cursing) to get them both done.

Reece's Bear:

Julie's bear:

Pattern: Baby Bobbi Bear by Bobbi Intveld (for Blue Sky Alpacas)
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton (except the purple detail which is Peaches & Creme)
Needles: Size 9 Clover DPNs
Started: Sometime in November (don't remember, and they were both different start dates)
Finished: December 16, 2007 (both)

To anyone considering using this yarn, be forewarned: it BREAKS with a vengeance. Worse than Noro Kureyon.

Where did the weekend go?

2007-12-09T16:55:00.000-06:00

I feel like it was just Friday night. And yet now we are only 2 weeks from Christmas and I am not even close to halfway done with shopping. Eek!

Speaking of Friday night, that was our Ktog Christmas party. I took surprisingly few photos. We had a Thieving Secret Santa game...here is the pile o' gifts at the beginning.

Vanessa brought numbered tickets to determine the order of play...here she is getting ready to pick the ticket for the first person to select:

I know others took photos too, but that's really all I have.

Here is what I ended up with from the gift exchange:

A fun fabric drawstring bag...

Chocolate and yarn needles

More chocolate

and the Knitting Stitch Bible. I actually stole this gift rather than unwrapping one...it was a pretty popular one and was stolen a couple times, but I ended up with it :)

Vanessa also gave everyone a tape measure:

And Erica gave everyone an ornament filled with novelty yarn:

It was a very fun event. I was there till almost midnight...and then on the 3 mile drive home I pretty much ran out of gas...my car gives you a couple miles warning so I knew if I didn't get gas on the way home I wouldn't have enough to get anywhere else, even the gas station. So there I was at midnight by myself in the 9 degree weather, filling up my car. Bah. Oh well, now it is full for the week.

Here's a little Christmas knitting for you:

Ribbed scarf for my dad

Booga bag for stepmom

Partial Airy Scarf....not sure yet who this is going to, it sort of depends on how long this takes. I want to do at least 3 of them, but one has to ship so if only one is done by next weekend that's the one that is being shipped.

I also finished #1 of the Embossed Leaves Socks:

The color is way too dark but you get the idea. I am terrified I am going to run out of yarn for the second sock, and I got this from Etsy so buying more is not possible. Please keep your fingers crossed for me - I love this sock!!!

Weak.

2007-12-07T16:51:00.001-06:00

Since the bears are done, I decided to do some Airy Scarves as Christmas gifts. I ran out to the LYS to get some Kidsilk Haze today (I took a vacation day today...ended up doing a fair amount of work too but that's another story altogether):

That second one is dark purple, but the photo didn't come out too well. This should get me 4 scarves, and only one of them will have to ship so I'll get started on that one right away. I used wooden needles for the fingering weight one, this time I am using Addis because the stickiness of the wooden needles drove me NUTS. I can only imagine it with the Kidsilk Haze.

I was supposed to just grab the Kidsilk and go, but this caught my eye on the way to the register:

Dream in Color Smooshy! And look at those colors :) I am weak.

I did finish the first Airy Scarf:

I didn't bother blocking it (as you can tell) because when I finished it, it was barely long enough to go around my neck, let alone tie it. (No, I didn't swatch. Nor did I measure before I did the end pattern on the second end. Shut up.)

I did, however find a home for it:

Keeping busy

2007-12-02T14:27:00.000-06:00

Between work, knitting, and Ravelry, I've not had much time for blogging.

The last bear is done:

Now that this is done I think it is pretty much on par with the brown one. There are some things I like better about each, but overall they are both pretty good. Now I just have to get the faces embroidered.

I also started an Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts:

This is going fast. I think I am going to get some more yarn and do more of these. This is supposed to be done in laceweight but I think it also looks nice in this fingering weight (Louisa Harding Kimono Angora).

I also had some stash enhancement on Wednesday...my STR Raven order came:

You can barely see the colors but it is primarily black with blue and purple. I can't wait to knit it up.

Catching up...

2007-11-24T10:04:00.000-06:00

I am way way behind in my blog posting...primarily due to Christmas knitting. :/

So here is the practice bear...

I guess he could have used a bit more stuffing...though he seemed overstuffed at first. This is my first stuffed knit item, so I guess I am learning there. I got the nose on but am having horrific trouble embroidering the eyes (you can see a bunch of fuzz from my prior attempts). I am hoping someone at Ktog will be able to help me next week.

Here is Reece's bear minus face embroidery:

I actually don't like the duplicate stitch effect around the neck...so I don't think I'll do that for the next one. This one definitely turned out better though, aside from my forgetting how to do m1 increases without making holes....it's not so bad that I feel the need to rip it out though.

And my pet project - this is what I keep bargaining with myself on....if I do some work on the bears, I can do some work on these....

This pic was taken a few days ago. I'm now past the heel and just finished the gusset decreases. I love love LOVE this pattern. Very easy (though not so mindless I can read a magazine while knitting), really fun, and just LOOK how beautiful it is!

Close-up:

This sock is really all I want to do. I'm going to the symphony tonight, so this will be coming along with me for the car ride (the bear just isn't so good for car knitting).

Knit, Knit, Knit...

2007-11-11T11:54:00.000-06:00

This time, the reason I haven't been posting is that I've been KNITTING!!! (See, the Grasshopper socks are done!)

For the last few days I have had my head down working on Christmas knitting. Here is my progress on the teddy bear for my nephew Reece:

This knits up nice and fast. I'm glad I did a practice one though - I found it much easier to continue on from the body and do the head right away, rather than putting the stitches on holders, doing the legs, and coming back to the head. I'm ready to start the legs now.

And I'm getting ready to start another pair of socks (I may have cast on already by the time you read this):

One of the yarn stores in Ohio a couple weeks ago got me obsessed with finding an autumn-y orange/brown yarn to do some socks in. They had a great display, but unfortunately I couldn't find a combination of color, texture, and gauge I was looking for. This is the whole package, found on Etsy. Hopefully I'll like knitting with it. The plan is for the Embossed Leaves socks.

I also signed up for Netflix today. We've been talking about watching more movies, and I find movie-watching time to be prime knitting time (especially for stuff like that bear). I'm going through and rating things and adding stuff to my queue. So far my queue seems to be full of documentaries and foreign films.

Knee High to a Grasshopper!

2007-11-08T23:55:00.000-06:00

Finally, finally, FINALLY done!!!

Pattern: Knee High to a Grasshopper (April '07 Rockin' Sock Club Pattern)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie in "Walking on the Wild Tide" colorway
Needles: Size 3 (3.00 mm) Knitpicks circulars
Started: June 6, 2007
Finished: November 8, 2007

(just remember these were hibernating for quite awhile, because I didn't want to do these the same time as Bayerische.)

I love the yarn. The "mesh" pattern is very difficult, basically it's a lot of yo, p2tog. There are a few holes I need to patch up because there are a few spots where I purled together two yo's (oops). I think I only did it once on the second sock.

I do love the socks, but I'm not anticipating using this pattern again.

All kinds of fun

2007-10-30T16:17:00.001-05:00

I took the last few days off to go to Ohio and help my mom out for a bit (she had surgery so she only has the use of one hand right now). Among my duties:

chauffeuring (lots and lots)
cooking for us to eat immediately, as well as cooking things and freezing them for her to eat later
chopping/shredding/grating to make cooking easier with one hand after I leave
trash collecting around the house
hair washing
moving large items
etc.

It seemed to be helpful for her...though the time went by really fast!

Here's one thing we saw on our foray to the local Whole Foods:

I have never seen ostrich eggs in the store before. It was tempting, but we had no clue what we'd do with them, so we moved along.

I also went to visit my dad for a few hours. My 13-year-old stepsister was painting a window for Halloween at the local Caribou Coffee, so we hung out there for a while....I got some knitting done (which subsequently was ripped out...sigh). The finished window:

Pretty impressive, eh? A ghost dressed up as a pumpkin and a pumpkin dressed up as a ghost. :)

I also snapped a photo of this hanging from a tree on my dad's street:

It's very blurry because I had to crop the heck out of it in order to be able to see what the subject of the photo is. A mini-pumpkin with a jack-o-lantern face and bat wings. I thought this was so cute.

I do need to mention that I went to 3 yarn stores in Ohio and didn't buy anything. Behold my awesome willpower.

And I did actually get some progress made on my long-suffering Grasshopper socks:

Pretty good progress, especially considering I had to rip and re-do the heel 4 times. I'm about 8 rows from starting the cuff. And then I have a whole other one of these to do. :( I love the result but am hating the knitting - much like Bayerische. But I have to get through the STR club socks because I signed up for next year :) Hopefully that wasn't a bad idea, but I did love the first installment and the others look like they'll be OK to knit too.

Some yarn for Christmas knitting:

Blue Sky Organic Undyed Cotton in Nut

Blue Sky Organic Undyed Cotton in Bone

And I leave you with the best yarn score of all...the latest installment of the STR club:

Part of the Raven series - Lenore. This photo is a little dark, but the yarn is black with red and purple in it. I LOVE it. And the pattern, but I didn't take a photo of the pattern.

Anastasia

2007-10-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

Finally got these done!

Pattern: Anastasia by Mintyfresh
Yarn: Brooklyn Handspun Superwash Sock in "Purple Rain" colorway
Needles: Size 1 DPN
Started: Sept. 2, 2007
Finished: Oct. 28, 2007

Getting up to date

2007-10-15T19:25:00.000-05:00

I'm almost there!

So, a little over a week ago I went to The Fold with some of the posse ;)

I so did not need anything...but do you think I could come home empty handed? It was actually the first time I'd been there, and it was much bigger than I expected.

This is BMFA "Geisha" in the Pucks Mischief colorway. Geisha is a mostly mohair laceweight. I keep buying laceweight but haven't done any true lace knitting yet...but it will happen!

I need more purple sock yarn like I need a hole in the head, but here it is. Mountain Colors Twizzle in Deep Grape.

And here is the last-photographed progress on the bear:

It is actually stuffed and has arms now. All that is really left is to knit and attach the ears (I knit one last night but I don't like it so am going to start over), and to embroider the face.

However: see that interesting little section around the shoulder area? My flat stockinette has always looked like that, and I thought it was because I was purling tighter than I was knitting. Come to find out (after showing to Kelly and Melissa for advice) that I have been twisting my purl stitches this whole time I have been knitting. I decided not to go back and fix it, but I am doing it the right way now :) It feels very strange but I know it's right because it looks right. I will say that I went back and looked at my copy of Stitch n Bitch (where I learned from) and the illustration shows EXACTLY the way I was doing it before. So I blame it on Debbie Stoller.

Seattle

2007-10-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

When we left Orcas Island, we headed down to Seattle. It was our 5-year wedding anniversary (Sept 28th), and we spent half of it in the car, though it started and ended well. We had our last kayak outing in the morning, then after brunch headed to the ferry and then had a long drive into downtown Seattle - not to mention that we hit Friday rush hour traffic just as we got there. But we did get there finally. We stayed in a small hotel that took up a couple floors of a building, and they had balloons in there for our anniversary:

Here is a shot of the room:

They put teddy bears in all the rooms, though it's something like $80 if you actually want to take it home. (We didn't.)

For our anniversary dinner, we went to Chandler's Crabhouse, and I want to go back to Seattle just so I can go to that restaurant again. I had this amazing seafood chowder that had clams, shrimp, and crab...I swear it was the best soup I've ever had. I am practically drooling just thinking about it. They were having a Crabfest special going on, and we ordered one of the special entrees. It was 4 lbs. of King Crab, (meant to share - yikes it's a lot of crab) cracked at the table by the restaurant manager. I talked him into letting me take a photo before he got started:

That is way more food than it looks like, believe me. It came with 2 sides - sauteed wild mushrooms with pancetta, and vanilla bean sweet potatoes. Normally I don't even bother with sides when I eat crab, but these were unbelievably amazing. I need to find/create a recipe for vanilla sweet potatoes. We had a nice Chilean Syrah rose wine along with this and it paired up really well. The service was outstanding in addition to the food - I highly recommend this place and will definitely be going back as soon as I can get back out there.

You may have heard how highly caffeinated people are in Seattle...but did you know there are little espresso shacks EVERYWHERE? Not right downtown, but in the non-downtown parts of the city and all over the suburbs. And they all seem to be doing a brisk business. I only managed to get pictures of a couple of them...

Of course we had to go to Pike Place Market - one of my favorite places. I purposely booked us at a hotel that was only a couple blocks from there so we could easily walk.

Sunflowers at one of the flower booths:

This is the famous fish stand where they throw the fish you buy. We didn't have facilities to cook anything, and didn't feel like shipping things home, so we didn't buy anything this time.

Lots of mushrooms:

I also liked the gourmet pasta vendor...crazy variety...look at that one in the front row that is fruit flavored!

And the most intriguing pasta:

I was really, really tempted, but I didn't go for it.

And that was our vacation. Now maybe I can catch you up on the knitting I've done in the 2 weeks since I got back :)

Orcas Island

2007-10-08T19:39:00.000-05:00

Orcas Island is one of my favorite places. I don't know if I'd ever want to live there because there is a very limited amount of things to do there, but I love going there on vacation.

Here is the ferry picking us up from Port Townsend:

Waving goodbye to Port Townsend:

These are some flowers I saw at a restaurant while we were waiting for the second ferry, the one that goes to the islands:

The car deck on the second ferry:

The interior of the luxurious Washington State Ferry:

The sock I was knitting on the ferry (and the rest of the trip, but the photo was on the ferry):

Exiting at the Orcas Island ferry landing!

Our inn was a 45-minute drive from the ferry landing - the island is shaped like an upside down U, and is on the opposite end - as you can see, it involved dirt roads:

Photo of the inn, taken from the back:

Our room:

Common area:

This was where we ate brunch everyday after kayaking for 2 hours:

The kayaks:

Paddles up against the outside of the kayaking "shed":

The beach we launched from:

I didn't take my camera out on the water because I know I would have dropped it right in. Someone else did take pictures of us in our boat, but I haven't seen those yet.

One of the resident golden retrievers showed me who was Alpha:

This is one of the Orcas Island deer... They have been inbreeding for years, so they are a bit strange...they have no predators on the island (except cars) and hunting is banned, so these guys are EVERYWHERE.

We did go on a wildlife tour one day...no whales, but we saw lots of harbor seals, sea lions, bald eagles, and a few porpoises. My camera wasn't capable of good photos of that, but I'll try to eventually post some of the ones C got with his SLR camera....here he is on a rare pause between photos:

And finally - what many of you will find most exciting....I had seen this sign shortly after we exited the ferry, and just HAD to go back for a visit to Warm Valley Orchard:

This bumper sticker was on the car in the driveway:

Very promising.

The studio was attached to her house, it felt kind of odd going in there. But it was worth it:

Of course I bought something...the only reason this is all I got was that she didn't take credit cards, and I had just enough cash with me for this:

It's about 600 yards of worsted-weight undyed alpaca. Yum!

On the way out I got a photo of her sheep:

It's too hard to capture the feeling of a vacation in photos, but hopefully you enjoyed seeing it anyway.

Port Townsend

2007-10-07T11:22:00.000-05:00

Things are really busy for me lately, so the vacation updates are quite a bit after the fact.

Our first stop was Port Townsend, WA - but on the way there we stopped at the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery (in the Seattle suburbs). We were drinking their wine the night we got engaged, so we went to the winery on our honeymoon and we had so much fun we decided to go back, do the tour, and buy some wine.

I had to chase this guy a little bit to get him out of our parking spot (and by "chase" I mean "walk slowly toward him with my camera"):

On the tour, they happened to be bottling Chardonnay that day, so we got to see:

These are oak aging barrels, also filled with Chardonnay - they have 15,000 of these. Each one holds a couple hundred bottles worth of wine.

This huge barrel (taller than me) is out on the grounds and I just thought it was fun:

In Port Townsend, we were in a B&B that is a former German Consulate. It's very over-the-top Victorian, which is not my style at all, but the owner of the inn is so entertaining we had to go back (we stayed here on our honeymoon as well). Our room:

One of the main reasons we went back to PT was one of the restaurants we'd found there. The Wild Coho is one of our favorites ever. It's just one guy in the kitchen, one server, and 10 tables in the restaurant. Amazing food, and they are members of the Slow Food movement.

Some crostini with goat cheese and balsamic:

My salad was organic seasonal greens, roasted tomatoes, local cheese, and a tomato-rosemary vinaigrette:

C had escarole with caramelized pear and hazelnuts, and a different locally made cheese:

My entree was rack of elk with wild mushrooms:

C's entree was lamb with onion-artichoke risotto:

I would have made reservations for a second night but unfortunately they are closed Sunday and Monday so we had to make alternate plans for Sunday.

Here is a view of the Admiralty Inlet from the edge of town:

This was a fun weathervane I couldn't resist catching a photo of:

Next vacation installment will be the San Juan Islands. :)

Fetching

2007-10-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

Knitted while on vacation!

Pattern: Fetching by Cheryl Niamath
Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Silk
Needles: Size 6 DPN's

Started: September 22, 2007
Finished: September 23, 2007

I didn't really believe the pattern when it said you could knit these in a weekend. But I knit the first one on the 4-hour plane ride to Seattle, and I knit the second one the following afternoon/evening as we hung out at the B&B and had tea and snacks. I wore them all week while I was in WA, but it has been too warm at home since I've gotten back. I love these and look forward to wearing them again.

Where have I been?

2007-10-04T07:33:00.000-05:00

I'm still sorting through the photos, but this will give you an idea:

And yes, there was knitting on the trip :)

I did it!!!

2007-09-21T19:57:00.000-05:00

Finished just in time for the end of Summer of Socks!!!!

Pattern: Bayerische by Eunny Jang (otherwise known as Satan)
Needles: Size 1 circulars from Knitpicks
Yarn: J Knits Superwash Me Light Sock

Started: June 21, 2007
Finished: Sept 21, 2007

Woohoo!!!

Birthday Wishes

2007-09-16T20:26:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to Kelly...her birthday is actually next weekend, but, um, I won't be posting next weekend. And we celebrated this weekend anyway! (Left to right: Erica, Melissa, Kelly, Vanessa..I am behind the camera) Yay for blue drinks!

I am one pattern repeat into the foot of Bayerische. 4 1/2 more to go, plus the toe. Will I finish before the end of Summer of Socks? Probably not, but I haven't yet completely given up hope.