so, I was wrong

I did manage to finish one more work-in-progress before the end of the year!



Pattern: Slipped Stitch Rib socks, from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Regia 4-fadig Canadian Colour in Quebec (less than one skein) on 1.5US needles
Notes: This is the third time I've done this pattern. It's nice and stretchy so it works well on my feet and with variegated yarns.



My other works-in-progress will probably be on hold for a bit while I start some projects with deadlines, but I have promised myself that I will return to them! Especially that pesky Lizard Ridge that's been in hibernation since last March--eep!

I hope you all have a very happy new year!

I knit in the skating rink and at the Hippodrome

At work the other day I was going through a bunch of sheet music from musicals from the 1910s and 1920s, and came across a song that just needed to be shared here:

Knit, Knit, Knit, from the musical Jack O'Lantern
by Anna Caldwell and Ivan Caryll

Ev'ry day you find me just as busy as can be
As I knit, knit, knit.
Yards and yards of comfies made to send across the sea
As I knit, knit, knit.
I knit in the Subway and wher'ever I may roam
I knit in the Skating Rink and at the Hippodrome
You always knit in public, dear, but do you knit at home? Nit!
We love to knit Nit!

Refrain:
Cast on thirty-three
Plain as plain can be,
Lightly pull thro the wool,
Khaki or gray--
Drop a stitch,
Like a mouse,
It runs away
While my work is through
How I wish I knew
As I'm knitting, and I'm purling as busy as a bee
Will the fellow who may wear this ever think of me? Nit!

Each of us is thinking of a fellow very dear,
As we knit, knit, knit.
Some of them are far away and some are very near
As we knit, knit, knit.
I gave him a promise that from flirting I'd reform
Swore I'd never give another man my kisses warm
Will you keep your promise when you see a uniform Nit!
We love to knit Nit!

short and sweet

A couple of quick projects--and probably the last projects that I will actually have finished before the end of the year!



Pattern: Calorimetry, from knitty
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Aran in red (less than one skein), on size 7 needles
Notes: Done in one day in November. Cut back on the number of short rows called for since it was getting huge.





Pattern: Turn A Square hat, by Brooklyn Tweed
Yarn: Valley Yarns Northampton in navy and gray, Rowan RYC Cashsoft Aran in red (left over from the Calorimetry, above), on size 6 and 7 needles
Notes: Just did stripes of a couple different scrap yarns instead of using a self striping yarn. It's for a gift for a guy, so I felt a little less like using my purple and pink Noro scraps. :)



It's very snowy out there--maybe I'll get some more knitting done after all!

The suitcase is always heavier when you return

A friend of mine asked to see the souvenirs I brought home from London. So here's a glimpse at what nearly made my bag overweight on the way back.

The books:



Stephen Fry's new book, In America. It doesn't come out here until next May and, while I missed his book signing at Harrod's by two days (!), the copy I picked up at Waterstone's is signed. The Virago Modern Classic edition of 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. This is my second copy of the book, but there was no way I could resist. It's one of my all time favorites. And three Persephone Books. Persephone reprints beautiful editions of books by forgotten women writers. I only get copies of their books when I am in London, so they are a true souvenir. This trip's group are Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary by Ruby Ferguson, The Shuttle by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Consequences by E.M. Delafield.

The crafts:



Two half meters of Rowan matrioshka fabric from Liberty. That's where I also drooled over the Amy Butler fabric, but it was simply too expensive. And a Shaun the Sheep knitting kit from iKnit London.

And the Who stuff:



The Doctor Who lunchbag I justified buying by the fact that it was insulated and could hold a lunch, but which is now currently sitting on my dresser next to the mini-David Tennant.



And the Doctor Who slipper socks. Oh yeah, like I was going to walk into Woolworth's and resist these? Hee!

London calling

I'm back from my trip, though I'm fully wishing I weren't. I don't even know where to start when talking about it; it was just a wonderful time, full of great people and sights and things, and it was a lovely diversion from real life. My friend's wedding was absolutely gorgeous. I met some amazing people. I got almost no knitting done at all. And I saw Hamlet. Such a great week.

Here's a very small selection of pictures...







At iKnit in London:



The wall of Amy Butler fabrics I drooled over at Liberty (and the photo I got scolded for taking :):



Mini-David Tennant did join me for the trip, and I brought him with me to the Doctor Who exhibit, of course!



And Hamlet was absolutely brilliant, and David Tennant mesmerizing. We were six rows from the stage and so close, it was amazing. We went to the stage door afterward and got incredibly lucky, as he came out the door directly behind us instead of through the actual stage door. And, yes, I did get his autograph. And, no, I did not show him mini-David Tennant. I don't want him to think I'm entirely nuts.



Such a wonderful trip. Now to return the real world...

elegance and opulence

The Opulent Raglan, c'est fini!



Pattern: Opulent Raglan by Wendy Bernard, from the fall 2008 Knitscene
Yarn: Plymouth Galway Highland Heather in green, 5.5 skeins, on size 5 & 6 needles
Notes: Followed the pattern pretty much exactly, other than adding a couple of extra rows to the neckline



A close up of the pretty, pretty cable:



And of the sleeve:



I'm so glad to have it done; I didn't want an unfinished sweater waiting for me when I got back from trip. Speaking of which, must get back to packing/preparing/looking things up/clearing the mountain of post-its from my desk...

a hodgepodge

1. At work the other day one of my co-workers came across something random in the collection she's working on. It's a ticket, which I'm guessing is from London Public Transport in the early 20th century.



What's so interesting about that, you might ask? Well, on the back of the ticket is an advertisement for a yarn shop!



The picture's crappy since I took it with my cell phone but it says "Annette Ltd. Specialist Wool Shops, Wools in a Variety to Amaze and Delight You." I just thought it was kind of cool.

2. You may have seen the forum thread about this over on Ravelry, but LIFE Magazine teamed up with Google to create a digital image archive. The pictures are a lot of fun to look through, and there are even five pages of knitting-related photos. This is one of my favorites. And I'm very amused by this one.

3. And I'll let mini-David Tennant make the big announcement of the week:



I'm heading to London next week for a friend's wedding, and I had tried desperately to get a ticket to see David Tennant in Hamlet (which opens in London while I'm there) when they first went on sale but had had no luck. But thanks to the niceness of someone on the internet, I'm going to get to go see it! I'm so excited. I love Shakespeare, I love David Tennant, I love London. This is going to be a fabulous trip.

playing catch up

I've been meaning and meaning to update, but things have been a little crazy around here. I was home for a week or so and then have been running myself ragged since then. But I can share a few pictures, at least!

One of the reasons I was home was to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of two of my oldest friends (I've known the groom since I was six years old, and the bride since I was twelve). And I wore the shrug that I had knit to go over my bridesmaid dress. Here is one of the less bad pictures of me (blast not being photogenic!):



And a couple of poodle pictures from while I was home, while I'm at it...

The poodle with his very long legs:



And camoflauged in the woods:



(the bandage on his leg is from blood tests at the vet earlier that day)

I've got a couple of other things to share, but I'll save them for another post. Anne of Avonlea is on PBS right now, so I'm going to go curl up with my knitting and my first love, Gilbert Blythe, for awhile.

how I love those boys of summer

I've waited fifteen years to see images like these:








(borrowed from several websites)

In 1993 I fell in love with baseball and with the Philadelphia Phillies. That year was full of highs and lows (I still cringe when I hear the name "Joe Carter") but my love for the sport and the team stuck. And last night, the Phillies won the World Series. It was a beautiful sight.

At the beginning of the World Series I realized that I would have a minimum of four games worth of knitting time, and I should probably start a new project to work on. I didn't expect to finish it--and I didn't--but I got a good amount accomplished, so here's a work-in-progress peek at my Opulent Raglan:





I'm calling it my World Series sweater. And what a World Series it was. Yay Phillies! Phinally!

shrug it off

I finished this up last night while watching five episodes of season one of Mad Men, so now at least I can wear it to the wedding I'm in next month!



Pattern: Little Silk Shrug, from Lace Style
Yarn: Louisa Harding Jasmine (3 2/3 skeins) on size 7 and 8 needles
Notes: The sleeves are too big, as usual. I had sized up since there was no way the original stitch count would work but, as usual, I overestimated and made it too big. But at least it won't fall off my shoulders, unlike my last knit shrug.



I wasn't trying it on with the dress, since the dress is hanging all neatly in my closet, but if the wedding pictures come out okay I'll post a few here later on.

But doesn't it look nice with my shoes for the wedding?

Rhinebeck recap, part 2

The evening





The Ravelry party









As you can see, my miniature Doctor Who did come along with me for the weekend, and he attended the Ravelry party. I had already gotten a lot of comments that day in regard to the Yarn Harlot's post, as well as a few people who had no idea who the doll was of but told me they "liked my boyfriend." :) But at the party I had my most surreal moment of the weekend. We were sitting at our table when Danielle, who had a better view of the room, turned to me and said, "um, I think the Yarn Harlot's pointing at you." A minute later Stephanie brought over a group of people to meet my David Tennant, saying one of her friends had a bit of a crush. Hee! They took pictures, and I even got asked if his pants come off (for the record: no. But his jacket does). And Stephanie told me it was the funniest thing she'd seen on her book tour. I think my knitting fame is complete!



Our group's combined loot



What I got



Let's see, there's two skeins of Sheldridge Farms sock yarn in Fury, Sock that Rock Silkie in Seastone, a Socks that Rock lightweight mill end that's not labeled but I think is Lettuce Knit, Socks that Rock lightweight in The Cookie Next Door, and Kraemer black yarn with sterling silver in the top row, two skeins of Brooks Farm solo in the middle row, and eight skeins of Plymouth Galway in a green heather on the bottom.

But that's not all! On the way home we stopped, as we had done the year before, in Lenox and visited Colorful Stitches, who were having a fall sale. So I came out of there with these:



That's two skeins of Colinette Jitterbug (40% off!) and two skeins of the new Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn.

We had also stopped at the Jo Ann's Fabric store near our hotel and then made a stop at the going-out-of-business Fabric Place in Framingham on the way home. So I also got these:



And yes, I did go over my budget for the weekend. But I got some nice stuff, and I had a fabulous time. I can't wait until next year!

Rhinebeck recap, part 1: the massive photo post

Rhinebeck was overwhelming, exhausting, and a total blast. For the most part I'm just going to let the photos tell the story.

The drive:







The Sheep and Wool festival:















Here are Sophia, Michelle, Catherine, and me, with Danielle and Kim in front:




















Meeting some fellow Who-vians, courtesy of Iko:








Part 2 tomorrow, including the Ravelry party (and my most surreal moment of the weekend), how we spent Sunday, and what I acquired from all of our excursions. :)