knitabit

The Music One

I don't post much personal stuff here - I try to keep it focused on knitting. But it's good to pull back the curtain once in a while ("Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" That's got to be one of my favorite movie lines...)

1. Total amount of music files on your computer?

288MB. It all belongs to the boys. I've got them fairly well indoctrinated into 70's rock, so some of the artists include the Steve Miller Band, Aerosmith, and Led Zeppelin. Also some Coldplay and Barenaked Ladies.

2. The last CD you bought was:

The soundtrack from "Master and Commander." You have not lived until you've listened to the Boccherini on that CD, let me tell you.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?

A song on Paul McCartney's "Working Classical" CD.

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you:

1. Lauridsen's "Lux Aeterna." I was driving in my car the first time I heard this, and I had to pull off to the side of the road until it was over. They will be playing this in heaven when I get there.

2. Enya's "Orinoco Flow." I really like it. I don't care if it's cheesy.

3. The final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Yeah, this one's cheesy too. So bite me. You gotta love the old story about how when he finished conducting it at its premiere, the concertmaster had to turn him around so he could see the joyous response from the audience. (He was completely deaf.)

4. Anything from Paul Simon's "Graceland" CD. The greatest album of the 1980's. Or maybe ever.

5. Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez." I would love to see this performed live someday.

5. What 3 people are you going to pass this baton to and why?

None. I hate getting unsolicited crap like this.

Sockalicious

On Friday morning, I went up to "Woolen Treasures" in Loveland. MY NEW FAVORITE YARN STORE, I must say. (Is it just me, or does an image of Ed Grimley [Martin Short] pop into your mind whenever you hear 'I must say'?) I wish she had a web site that I could share with you.

Her shop has got it all: Mountain Colors, Lorna's Laces, a bunch of stuff from local people, Noro, Cascade...nary an artificial fiber in the store, I don't think. Just beautiful. Yet again, I did not have time to truly browse so I'm sure there's much more to be discovered.

So I loaded up on a bunch of sock yarn, and just moments ago I finished the first sock of a pair for my mom's birthday:

From top left, that's two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn - I've been reading about it for years but have never met any in person. I chose this candy-colored variegated just for fun. Top right, three skeins of Mountain Colors Bearfoot in some manly kinds of colorways for some of the men in my life. And then at the bottom, a completed sock in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn.

The sock ended up with some weird color pooling but it's weird in an acceptable kind of way. And the color gradations are not quite as obnoxious as the photo suggests. I've not used Cherry Tree Hill before; it reminds me of Koigu KPPPM.

I love my sock recipe so much, I'm thinking of publishing it someday. Maybe not for a fee, but just to put it out there to share the goodness. I have mixed and matched four or five different techniques from myriad sources into my own nifty little recipe and I just love the results. Fun to knit, comfy to wear. What could be better?

I started that sock Friday afternoon at about 5:30 and had it finished by 9:45 this evening. That might be a record for me! The next one will take considerably longer what with the work week coming up. Mom's birthday is the first week in March so I'm way out in front of the deadline for a change.

I hope to be back to the baby sweater by next weekend.

Knitabit, with the emphasis on "bit"

I am making slow but steady progress on the baby sweater:

I've got the body done and have just started the first sleeve. The directions propose that the sleeves be knitting in the round, but I decided to knit them flat and seam them later. This sweater is more entertaining that I anticipated. I just realized a couple of days ago that you do some chain-stitch embroidery on top of the flower/star motifs so that will be something new and different. I need to start thinking about buttons and braid trim.

I had a meeting in downtown Denver yesterday, so I headed west on Colfax Avenue to check out what's new at the big yarn store. Got myself a book and some more sock yarn. I would have loved to browse some more, but I was in a hurry. I still want to get up to Loveland and get some more Mountain Colors "Bearfoot" yarn, but I bought the reddish sock yarn in case I never get around to it - my mom's birthday is coming up in less than six weeks.

DARCA is indeed going over to a management company as of March 1, so my stress level has already gone down considerably. Although moments of convention panic do seem to pop up from time to time.

Holey Sock, Batman!

Look what happened to one of my favorite socks!

It should be easy to fix, provided I saved some of the leftover yarn. Sadly, this will require me to get serious about cleaning and organizing the yarn closet again, which has fallen into disarray in recent months.

Field Trip, With Knitting

Yesterday I had the privelege of going along on a 600-mile road trip to visit the Fort Lyon Canal, headquartered in Las Animas, Colorado.

I'm not being facetious, it really was a privelege.

While many believe that Colorado's glory is found in its mountains, I'm a little partial to the plains, myself. There's nothing like the silence of the plains on a windless day, watching a hawk come up out of the brush with a mouse in its talons.

We drove about 50 miles along the bank of this 120-year-old ditch, largely unchanged since the day it was constructed save for the growth of the trees. The shareholders of this particular canal company have been more attentive than most in maintaining and preserving the canal and the way of life it supports. At times, we drove 50 miles an hour along the banks - the access road is in better shape than most of the county roads around here! Their company is solvent, their employees are well paid, and they're adding cool computer and radio technologies to monitor (and someday, to control) the water flows in their canal. And despite the meddling of big-money interests and the threat of water raids from the Denver municipal area, they're not only holding their own, they're getting the upper hand. Way to go!

I did some knitting on the baby sweater on the way down. But when I got to the part where I would have to pay attention to the chart, I had to put it away or else car sickness would take hold.

News Briefs

Here's what's been happening, and I've tried to making each item knitting-related!

• My niece was born at about 3:00 this morning, and the sweater (for size 18 months) is nearly half done. I am enjoying this project more than I thought I would. Now that I'm finished with the biggest/widest part of the sweater (the body of the sweater below the armholes) it should get even more interesting.
• My schedule through the end of February is just horrific. I have something major on the calendar every single weekend! Fortunately, some of these events (namely, two violin workshops and two soccer tournaments) involve a lot of sitting around: great knitting opportunities! I need to start preparing some fun travel-friendly projects.
• The weather here has been frigid periodically, and I have to say that my "Everyday Cardigan" has become my favorite cold-weather wrap. I might need to make another one in a brighter color (and make it another couple of inches longer as well!)
• DARCA has become a bigger success that I ever thought possible. We have so many sponsors, vendors and exhibitors for our upcoming convention that we are going to turn a profit before a single person registers. I feel even more justified now in proposing a plan to turn the organization over to a professional association management company. If I play my cards right, I'll end up with the job I always wanted: a special projects manager for an association of ditch companies. I will be able to expand my part-time consulting efforts for Aqua a little bit (along with the income I bring home.) They are landing some really interesting clients and projects of late - prominent and historical ditch companies in different parts of the state. Oh, and they're providing me with a cool laptop, a docking station and a wireless internet connection! How is this knitting-related? Well, it means I should have not only more time for knitting but more funds to support it as well.

And now I must sign off and get busy on all the stuff I'm behind on!

Knitting as Therapy - Round 2

Where would I be without knitting?

Here's progress on the baby sweater to date:

The crumpliness should come out when I block it.

I'm at home today with a sick kid (so what's new?) so I'm looking forward to additional progress.

The countdown has begun: seven weeks to freedom! (That's the target date for DARCA to go to outside management. Hooray!)

And Now for Something Completely Different

Working on Roscalie is too depressing. I have set it aside for a while to clear my brain of the negative karma it is bringing to my life. Don't worry; I'm not the kind of person to never come back to it. I just need a break.

So I started on the baby sweater for my sister-in-law, who is due any day now. It's this sweater, from a Dale book of baby patterns:

So I started on the bottom edge and got a couple of inches done already:

So far, it's more enjoyable than I expected it to be, so I might go ahead and cruise on this 'til it's done before coming back to Roscalie.

I'm also intending to run up to the new yarn store in Loveland this week and find me some more Bearfoot yarn. My mom wants some hand-knit socks, and I think she would be more pleased with a Bearfoot pair than the Koigu Diamonds.

It's a Beanie, Bay-bee!

I bought two yummy skeins of an alpaca/silk blend and put together this cute little beanie, baby!

Thanks for the inspiration, Lauren! It's just a bit of 2x2 ribbing, some plain stockinette, some decreases, and then a little i-cord grafted back onto itself for the little doo-dah on the top.

Roscalie got a little attention over the holiday - maybe 6-8" progress on the sleeve. It's painful, let me tell you. And look how messy that seam line on the bottom of the sleeve is. I'll be able to clean it up when I weave in the ends, but in the meantime, it sure bugs me.

Coming soon: my Knitting New Year's Resolutions!