Ny, Ny

Well kiddos, we are off in about 7 hours to New York, Ny to go see the Captain's parents. The bags are packed (as are the Baudelaire socks and the cross stitch stocking). I am very excited to go, but the icing on the cake is we get to go first class! I don't understand how the frequent flyer miles/trip/seat works- there are many levels and I feel mostly it is a craps shoot, but ça y est. Luckily I finished book 7 of Harry Potter last night, so I don't have to lug it around the airport. It was great- quite pleased with the ending and that is all I am going to say about it in case folks haven't finished yet.

My shawl yarn arrived from England. I am having trouble calling it yarn, since it is about the thickness of the embroidery floss I have been using. It is very pretty- check out the Colourmart website in the UK. They have some really nice stuff at great prices. I didn't want to start the Summer shawl till I got done with the mitts, but then Harry Potter arrived and I got sidetracked. Hopefully when I am back from NY I can get it started. A bientôt!

Boho Babies!

Ok, I realize that I do not have a child and don't intend on having one at least until the Captain graduates. That being said... many ladies at SNBWB are knitting baby items- most of whom are not yet with child. M made a good point that when you are pregnant, you are probably not going to have time/strength/emotional stability to pick out patterns and yarn and knit in a timely fashion. How many baby sweaters can you really get done in 9 months? So what is wrong with a little proper prior planning? In an effort to have the coolest little cupcake on the block, I have pre-ordered the Boho Baby Knits book by Kat Coyle (the pic is the book cover). I can't get enough of the bobbled baby soakers- and the matching hats, which we will need a bunch of since we will probably go the cloth nappies route. In all honesty, this is my second baby purchase. I got the crochet patterns for making Winne the Pooh and Friends- I should probably get cracking on those as well.

Le premier c'est fini

All three bookshelves that the Captain hand built are finished, and one has been fully sanded and stained. The other two are awaiting their turn. We only have a limited space on the balcony, so we have to do them one at a time. Number two should get started staining this evening. We didn't get much work done on them yesterday since we went to a BBQ at Jab (the place where the Captain goes to box). It was a really good time. All of the people there are super nice and friendly. It was just a pleasure to be there- we ended up staying for about 7 hours just chit-chatting with everyone and eating. There was so much good food that kept coming in every 20 min or so. I didn't know I could pack so much food into such a small belly.

I did get a bit more work done on the stocking before we left for the party. I hope to work on it a bit more today, but I just got the new Harry Potter book in the mail. I am trying to really pace myself on this one. I read the last one cover to cover in one day, but I knew there was a seventh book coming. Now... well this is the last one. I don't want to rush it because then it will be over. I guess then I can get back to the Song of Fire and Ice series (which I highly recommend). I just finished the reread of the second book to get me up to speed for book three. I guess it will have to wait till I finish HP though.

Endpaper Mitts

I got a bottle of the Eucalan Lavender wool wash at my LYS the last time I went to try out. This stuff is great! It smells good, conditions the fibers, cleans them, has lavender as a natural moth repellent- and it is no rinse! To top it all off, it is an environmentally friendly product. The Endpaper Mitts I made for Mom took a refreshing dip in the Eucalan and now they are blocking to encourage all of the colorwork stitching to even out. This is my second colorwork project and this one turned out quite well. I figured out how to get my tension even (basically I had to make my right hand not behave like a total spaz). I hope she enjoys them and can keep her hands from freezing at work. Endpaper Mitt info:
Pattern: Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss in black and serengheti
Needles: size 0 and 2 Clover bamboo DPNs

On the Needles

Since my posting is erratic (I hope to get better) and my knitting projects get worked on in cycles, I thought I would give a simple update on progress.

Socks: One Baudelaire sock is almost complete-I need a few more inches on calf. The Diagonal Rib sock has been brutalized by the sink and has ceased to be. I have to figure out what to make out of that yarn now-probably another sock, but time shall tell.

Endpaper mitts (by Eunny): I only have about 10 more rows to knit, so I will hopefully post an FO soon.

Captain's hoodie: five inches in. I have about another 9-10 or so of stockinette before I have to do some math for the sleeve cap design

Equestrian Blazer: Back is done, sleeves are 1/2 way done after a frog and reknit due to a missed increase early on.

Spring Shawl: I have the pattern and needles... now I just have to wait for the yarn!

The Christmas stocking is nearing the 1/2 way done point. T-5.5 months left.

We got caught up last night on a few missed daily shows from when our pal was in town for a neutrino workshop. Well that and we got to the 1/2 way point on Prince of Persia Sands of time- I do recommend this game. Decent story, lots of things to figure out. The chick can be a bit annoying at times, but that is not unusual sad to say- at least she is wearing clothes.

Spring Shawl

As you can see, the diagonal rib sock had a very difficult evening. It was very naughty. It stole 2 grams from its twin and therefore had to be frogged and washed out with soap. I still maintain that the diagonal rib is a beautiful pattern, but will it work with this yarn?

I got the pattern for the Spring Shawl in the mail. Really nicely written and I got a yarn sample card to boot. I ordered some cashmere/merino/viscose yarn today as well as some addi turbo lace needles. I can't wait to get the yarn in the mail and start on it!

In other non-knitting news, last weekend was the pitchfork music festival here in Chicago. Two days of concerts and surprisingly good food. We got to see the New Pornographers, Of Montreal, and De la Soul, among others. Hopefully we can go again next year, it was definately worth it.

Diagonal Rib Sock

Sock #1 of the diagonal rib sock (Pattern is found at Knitting Daily) is completed. Obviously ignore the DPNs- I haven't kitchenered-off yet- oh and my computer cable (I am obviously not great at portraiting my shots). I don't know how I feel about this sock. It looked really nice in the photos, but on my foot it leaves a bit to be desired. I think it makes my foot look short and squat- ok this photo looks ok, but in real life... It is just a bit too big, i.e., it fits, but is not snug like a sock should be. I wear a size 5 1/2 really narrow, so it *shouldn't* make me look squat. I think the second problem is that the rib pattern stops too quickly. If you wear a size 8 or something, I am sure that the toe decrease section with lack of pattern is really nice looking, but on a size 5 1/2... As you can see in the evidence photo, almost 1/2 of my foot has no pattern. I feel that I may have to frogg- yes- frogg and entire sock and start from scratch. Hopefully the yarn will play nice after it has a bath .

P.S. Incidentally I am really digging how the sock looks in the photo. No ridiculousness, or big socks, or 1/2 my foot has no pattern antics. I think I have worked too much this week (but got alot done and I love my job) and I need to rest the eyes.

I have succombed

I didn't want to do it. I have been fighting this for weeks. I fought getting a blog for some time but some people who will remain anonymous got me started. I told myself- 'no more of this internet crazyness'- I am on the computer enough as it is at work (physicist- go figure). I fended off the urge to sign up when M went on about it at Stitch the other night. I even managed to stave off insanity when The Harlot posted about this 2 days ago. Unfortunately I got on the computer at home: innocently to send an e-mail to a corporation that I value highly: Bare Necessities (they carry great stuff for my petite self) when BAM! My fingers slipped on the keyboard. Somehow the apple button and the T button are proximally too close. Well what am I going to do with a new Firefox tab? Well lets just see there- oops- how did this page load? And why am I signing up? I don't even have enough stash to post as pictures? Aren't I OCD enough without online organization charts and other bits of tomfoolery? Oh gosh- they will be sending me an e-mail when it is ready. Quick- take the laptop from me- no wait give it back- ahhhh.
Ravelry I think you should go to your room and think about what you have done. Oh but then you will just figure out how wonderful you are going to be with all the pretty photos and people to read about. Oh gosh. I am in trouble.

Happy Birthday America

Ok, so this is a day late, and I have no photos, but Happy 4th! I got so much done yesterday while having a much appreciated holiday. Hemmed some pants, took in a skirt, got 1/2 of the other Endpaper mitt finished (see previous posts), and got a good chunk of the #1 priority Christmas stocking for mom done. The Captain and I had 2 friends over for a BBQ in the evening and we all popped in the car to watch the fireworks in downtown Aurora. We tried to catch the shuttle at the Aurora pharmacy, but there was so much traffic we knew we would never make it even if the shuttle came. We drove down to the hospital where there were a bunch of people staking out areas of grass. I had a feeling the view wouldn't be so great, so I persuaded the men folk to walk a few blocks towards the center of town. That ended up being a great idea (thank you, thank you, you're too kind) since we could then see both the Aurora and West Chicago fireworks at the same time. The West Chicago ones had many more of my favorite palm fireworks, but the grand finale for Aurora was really cool. Well... until all of the smoke started obscuring the view- they went a bit crazy! All in all it was a good day.