I had a good title for this post, but now I can't remember it

I thought I could get the sweater for my nephew done, and I was headed that way, but two things happened.

Thing One:

I am no expert or children's clothing, but something about the proportion of the arm to the body lenght looks wrong. My nephew does not have short stubby arms, (does he?)

I now dislike patterns which give row counts instead of measurements. Sure I could do the math and figure out what the measurements are suppose to be, but that would be work. The thing is I added some length to the back, which caused me to add some length to the front. I thought I added some length to the sleeve, but apparently not enough. This has caused me to pause while I rethink. I need to ask my sis to bring a long sleeve t-shirth or something so I can get an idea of what the correct sleeve length might be.

Thing Two:

Can you guess?

I'm in San Diego. It's warm here, and there's lots of sunshine, and lots of cell biologists looking for coffee..

Update..

November was a rough month for me. I been a little stressed and haven't done much knitting. I think the whole birthday thing couple to just having alot of stuff going on just kind of got me down. I don't deal with stress well.

However, the calendar has now changed to another page, and I got through most of the doctor's visits and presentations that were going on and I'm ready to move on.

I have picked up this project again.

I had all but stopped it as I didn't like how it was turning out. The 1st attempt through the star I made the mistake of thinking it wouldn't be that bad to carry the yarn behind, instead of winding little seperate balls and doing it the way its suppose to be done.

The result was very wonky. It made me unhappy but I wasn't able to decide to rip it out for awhile. So it was put aside.

Going through the month of November made me ready to accept what had to be done, both in terms of this sweater and life in general. So I ripped out the star, and started it over again. And now I am moving through it and could finish it by Christmas, no problem.

It's still a quite a bit wonky, but it looks better, trust me.

Just brief.... Knitathon on Gilmore Girls?, and I thought I couldn't love the show more!

Finished!

Last weekend I was here:

This weekend I am:

Finished! (But need to block)

Buddy

I guess I've neglected to post lots of pictures of Spencer, so now I'm going to have to quickly make up for that. You see, we've known for awhile that Spencer, who is roughly around 13, was not quite well. And when you take a pet to the vet, and they can't quite pinpoint what's wrong, you get the feeling that maybe you don't really want to know.

So after several months of trying to change food, and giving him medicine that didn't help, or whatever other suggestions our vet could make, my husband decided to take him to the specialist, who confirmed our suspiscions.

Spencer, aka Buddy, aka Mr. Mushyface, aka handsome guy, has a intestinal tumor, and doesn't have much longer to live.

So, we get to spend the next couple of weeks saying good-bye, until he starts to get really sick.

I'm glad we get a little time to say good-bye, but its kind of hard too.

You see Spence is the sweetest cat in the world, and if you knew him, you'd be kind of sad too.

He's a nudger, and a licker, and sometimes a talker. He cries everytime my husband takes the dog out for a walk, like he's afraid they are leaving him behind.

He drinks water from people's glass or from the faucet, but not from his own bowls.

He wakes us up in the morning to give him food, even though he usually has food(he just wants the company).

He killed 6 mice in the summer of the great mouse adventure back in the house in Lansing, NY. Also in that house, he would stalk deer on our front lawn from his perch in the front window. He also stalks bugs, and rabbits

He is not a wool loving cat, or a catknip loving cat. He is kind of straight-edge that way

He let the dog lick his ears, but every now and than he would get his dander up, and chase the dog around the house, just to make sure she knew who is boss.

He is a special guy, and we will miss him when the time comes.

New Beginnings

So, I'm now back from all the beachy traveling about (there was also a trip to New Jersy in there, so happy Rosh Shanahnah....). And I've been blogging about all the things I finished with the traveling. So now it is time to talk about what's just beginning.

I've started three projects:

Project one: Gift Clapotis

This is a Christmas type present for someone who doesn't know of this blog. The yarn is Brooks Farms, a silk, mohair blend that a bought way back when at MDSW. Picture taken in the car on the way back home from NJ, feeling very full after two nights of feasting.

Project two: Little star sweater

Also a Christmas picture for my favorite little star. This is a design from Adorable Knits , by Zoe Mellor, knit is knitpicks Shine Sport. I've finished the back and am currently roughly half way through the star on the front. It's my first color work type item since the dreaded baby blanket that never got finished, also from this book. The stiches on the lower part of the star are a little uneven, 'cause I stranded the blue yarn behind the white, instead of doing straight intersia. I will post some pictures of it, but I can live with it, as my nephew will probably destroy it with in weeks of receiving it.

Third : Evening Star

I don't have a picture of this yet, but this one is for me. It is from my favorite issue of interweave knits Summer 2006 . I'm knitting it in knitpicks Merino Style in the color River. I really digg the color. I've been working on the bottom of this a bit this week, as I don't have to pay that much attention to it, and I'm coming down with a cold.

So that is what is going on. There was a slight problem with Marilyn once I blocked it. It just might be a little to large for my small little frame. In retrospect, it wasn't such a good design for myself. I'm not really a Marilyn type of girl. I will post a picture of it anyway, but it was a little deflating to realize that it blocked a bit larger than it knit. Also I finally blocked lotus tank, and this came out much better, i.e. the slight uneveness in the front is gone, and the lace part opened up and down a little, so it's less of a belly shirt.

Beach Trip, II

This weekend I was in Corrolla, NC to visit with my mom and dad, and Aunt Emma.

The other reason for the trip was to bring you artistic type photos of a recently finished project

And so I present to you, without any further ado....

Unfortunately, my camera had slipped into some funky mode and all my icarus photos appeared bleached. It was bright on the beach, but I've never had a problem taking pictures like this before.

The details: Icarus from IK Summer 2006 (2nd of four projects I intend to do from this issue ) by Miriam Felton. Using slighly over 100gm (2 skeins) of alpaca cloud from knitpicks in appropriately enough "Autumn". When I say slightly over, I mean I ran out of the 2nd skein on the cast-off, good thing I always buy extra. The pictures really don't do the yarn justice. It has a lot of different shades of orange and even some hints of green in it, hard to describe....

Roughly, a picture of the point

A shot of the detail on the edge

I have to say, it didn't turn out as large as a was expecting. For some reason I was exprecting it to be enormous, but I think it turned out nicely.

This leaves still one more F.O. from September to reveal... Still need to block.......

And there are some new additions to projects on the needles, to talk about. It's been a busy month for knitting. Yeah for the fall!!!!!

Beach 2006: The Knitting Update

So guess what I did while at the beach (and in the car on the way to the Beach)?

I finished something!!!!

Actually I finished two things, but I'm giving each its seperate blog entry, because it really isn't that often that I finish things

Here are the modeling shots, from the balcony at the beach house.

The Front

and The Back

It's the cover art from Interweaveknits summer 2006: Lotus Blossom Tank by Sharon Shoji, in knitpicks Shine Sport

I started it back in July when I went the the meeting. It was a rough start. I didn't think I had the gauge right. It turns out the gauge was more or less right (its hard to measure lace patterns accurately), but I thought it was way too big after doing two repeats of the lace bottom. So I ripped it out, changed needles, and then I ripped it out again and changed needles again, and then finally I ripped out and took out two pattern repeats, and adjusted down the pattern accordingly, and added extra length on the straps.

I think I made it tighter than it was designed to be, but I am pretty satisfied with the results. I probably should have made the straps a little longer, but overall it looks pretty much like its suppose to.

Next week I report on the other finished object, which is not Icarus. Icarus is almost done. I'm at the border, but apparently I can't knit lace without a chart. I feel like the stiches aren't lining up right. I need to chart it out and see what's suppose to go where. Thank goodness for safety lines

Dear Readers....

Hello! Hippo here. It's been awhile since I've been able to write. I'm sure you missed me. I just got back from the vacation to the beach. I generously allowed Snuffles to come along, and some people I hang out with, and a kind of smelly dog, who threw up in MY car! The nerve of some dogs!

Anyway, I picked out a really cool place, with a pool and a hot tub, and a short walk to the almost deserted beach. Snuffles and I hung out and I drank beer. The people seemed to do a lot of getting into the pool, getting out of the pool, drying off, and then getting back into the pool. It was kind of dizzying. Snuffles and I thought they were a little crazy. I'm not sure if I'm going to invite them a long next time. And then there was their crazy dog, who at least had the sense not to get into the water at all, but was knid of confused by the fact that the people seemed to be in the water, and not drowning in it. She walked back and forth and barked at them a lot, expecially when they played catch with a football in the pool. The dog was disrupting my nap time a little bit.

I wisely did not let Snuffles have any beer. He gets a little crazy some times, and wanted my security deposit back. So instead of beer I gave him a nice long book (Susanne Clarke "The Adventures of Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell" ) to read. He said it was pretty good, and he learned a little practical magic and is looking forward to trying it out. I haven't the heart to tell him that it was a fiction book, and that there is no Raven King in America.

It rained most of the last two days. That was alright with me. I was getting worried about Snuffles, who is quite fair and subject to getting burnt. So, I helped a friend of mine do some knitting, and I finished this gigantic sweater for her (at least the knitting part, I'll let here sew in all the ends. She's been working on it forever, since last March or so.) Anyway I was a nice friend and helped her out

Also, I won the "Punch Prius" game on the way home. I am "Punch Prius" champion, although snuffles says I cheat.

Hope everyone's enjoying the last days of Summer

Yours truly, Hippo

Beach 2006

Well, where back from our excursion to Southern Shores, N.C.

Just a five hour drive to relaxation.....

It's a bummer to be back, but kind of nice to be back in our own bed

Doggie had a good time, but I think we tired her out

We spent most of our time lounging by or in the pool

Looks inviting doesn't it

I also did some reading

Outlander, Gablandon. Good, fast, fluffy, beach read, that didn't make me think too hard and moved a decent pace

And there was knitting....., but more on that latter

More beach photos

No there yet, little smurfs

I have bloggin malaise. Why? you ask. The truth is that I have nothing to report about

It isn't that I haven't been knitting. But I'm still working on the now neverending rows of the last pattern chart of Icarus. I'm really hoping that by some miracle I will be done that chart this weekend. And then on to the border.

So no pictures, they would be boring. Other people seem to be able to get nice pictures of their lace in progress, but mine look lame. I need to work on my photography skills. One day I will be done and I will post pre and post-blocking pictures, and model it. But that day will not be today.

Our trip to Ohio was lots of fun. Our friends have the cutest current eight month around. And we timed it really well, because she wasn't teething and was sleeping through both the evenings and nights. So the grown-ups did a lot of hanging out and reminiscing over some drinks during the beautiful Ohio evenings. It was really nice being out in the country away from a big metro area. It made me kind of miss by grad school summers in Ithaca. We also got to see BIG Jesus on the interstate followed not a mile away by Larry Flint's sense of humour. It about summed up the American dichotomy. Good trip!

Progress??

Point 1: The meeting was an absolute blast, but no productive knitting was done.

Point 2:The paper draft is done! and off to my boss for revisions. (that reminds me I should put links to my papers on the side bar, to proove I am an actual scientist type person .

Point 3: My knitting has been of the unproductive sort. Knit... find a mistake.....rip.... re-knit.... a seemingly vicisious cycle

Point 4:This is where I am on the Icarus. Not too far behind the 't want harlot.

Point 5: Trip to Ohio this weekend. No knitting because of the terrorist threat, and the fact that all I'm bring on board is a book and my wallet. I wanted to read "Prep", but I left it at work. I'm bringing bleak house, but I might buy something lighter at the airport. Bleak house is good, but it tend to make me sleepy.

Upcoming

I can't believe how quickly the summer is vanishing. It seemed like just yesterday I submitted by FASEB application, and now the meeting is here! Nothing but small GTPases in Vermont! (without A.C.!)

Today at work I discovered I can't cut and paste as I put together my poster.

I guess I'm not really as crafty as I imagined

But I can knit!

I'm taking three projects with me on the trip. Looking forward to knitting time on the plane and bus ride. I'm bringing Icarus which I'm attempting to bring on the plane (I think, I might still wouse out and get it out after wards), The Jaywalker socks (which need to be restarted again, because they were too small. I don't understand this I have tiny feet!!!! And I didn't think I knit that tight), and final the cover project on the Summer Interweave which is the Lotus blossom tank. I likey, I likey alot.

So here are the pre-meeting shots. We'll see how much I get done inbetween all the talk about Ras and Rho and Rab and of course Arf .

First, ICARUS. I'm basically just starting the last repeat.

About to be dismantled Jaywalker and Lotus (not about to be dismantled)

Finally, Hippo did so work on the living last weekend. He wanted you to know that now the living room doesn't look like snuffles anymore. Now it is white (instead of brownish tinged)

P.S. Congratulations to my brother and his wife, who just bought a place in Tokyo. Soon you can do painting of your own!

I've been really bad about posting pictures of finished work. Sure I mention when I finish something, but I've been too lazy to post pics. Its like I'm done with it and cease to care once its off the needles. So with that in mind, here are the daffodil sox.

This weekend we had a picnic and I started and almost finished Dr. Stegs:

Dr. Stegs Unstuffed

Dr. Stegs unsewn:

Dr.Stegs gets his legs:

I'm working on the spines and the spikes, The spines are a little floppy. So I'm trying to modify the pattern to make them less floppy.

We had our 4th of July bbq, saturday afternoon, which was a good thing. Because this happened Sunday afternoon:

I guess it could have been a lot worse.

Happy Fourth of July!

Deluge

I was beginning to think I would need to build a boat, for me, Hippo, Snuffles, Sarah, and Spencer. I mean I've seen rain before, but it came down so hard Sunday night, that it started leaking through one of our windows. The rain was running down the side of our hous like a river. It was just plain weird.

The good news is that I don't have to sweep the walk on the the side of our house. Sundays rain storm did it for me. The bad news:

It is with great sadness that I report the Basil has been done drowned. I didn't realize that my lovely basil had such an amazing root system. I guess you never appreciate these qualities in a plant until its too late. Unfortunately we had pesto last week, so I think I'll have to freeze it. I'm not sure how that will work.

The other bad side effect of the weather is that it rained so much, and so hard that the dog decided she would try to hold out until it stopped raining. Literally she would get all excited about going for a walk, and we would open the door and she would look out at the sheets of rain and turn away. You know its bad out when the dog won't go for a walk. The dog also doesn't like the muddy soagy ground so much. She was pretty miserable. But very happy this morning to see that it wasn't raining and had dried up at least a little.

I other news, I still have to sew the toe on Daffodil. After several false starts, the Jaywalkers are coming along, but I'm worried they won't get over my ankle easily. And I've started this:

This is Icarus from the Spring Interweave knits, and thus far it is much easier than the other thing I was trying to knit in this yarn. We'll see how it goes.

1950s

The sewing experiment is accomplished and a spent Sunday wearing around my brand new skirt that doesn't quite fit and feeling very 1950s.

Wearing heels, and baking berry cobbler for father's day all with the 1950s theme. At some point I might blog about how sewing is a very different process than knitting (yeah, I know shocker! ), but I'm rather tired right now as I worked all day, and then came home and cooked dinner, and then did a billion dishes. I really ought to re-instate the if I do the cooking, someone else will do the dishes!

I also really want to get back to this:

My Cheatin Heart?

So, I decided to dust off the old sewing machine and attempt to sew. I'm sort of cheating on the knitting a little as I've been working on the skirt when I come home from work. I'm up? to the hem, so I'm almost done, but its a little big. I guess I didn't measure myself right. But as far as figuring out the pattern and all, I think I've created an almost wearable thing, except for the whole not fitting thing. Maybe its Karma for Hippo's sock.

Speaking of Hippo's sock, This weekend we went to NJ, and I worked on the second sock. I'm almost done. I also finished the secret project, that I might remeber to post about one day.

Doggy enjoyed her trip

Hippo's Sox

Dear reader,

I asked a certain someone to knit me some sox. You see sometimes I end up on the floor (I don't know how this happens) and my toes get a little cold. And I wait and I wait for someone to pick me back up, but apparently they are too busy snoring. A certain someone has told me several times that they are working on my socks. And the following keeps happening:

Amazingly the sox fit the person who knit the sox and who doesn't pick me up when I end up on the floor. I was assured that there was a gauge mistake and that surely the next pair would fit. That they would adjust and knit less stiches and change the pattern.

I know they are only half way done and maybe they will realize that my feet aren't really that big, but it doesn't really look that encouraging. I don't want to hurt anyones feelings who gives me stuff, and I really did like the clapotis a lot (although that seems to have disappeared recently), but I'm beginning to suspect that I'm being bambuzzled, and said certain person has no intention of making me my sox. Hmph!

This is not good because it gives snuffles an oppurtunity to laugh at me, because he is also a meany.

I guess I might have to knit the sox myself!

Anyway, it is well past my bedtime (which is pretty much anytime)

Yours truly,

H.PO

Summer begins

Memorial day weekend arrives and the humidity descends on cue. My plan to not turn on the air conditioning until June 15 in retrospect was laughable. I broke. It was hot this weekend. I'm worried I squandered my oppurtunity to spend time outdoors, go to the zoo and see active animals, garden, eat dinner outside at 7:00 pm. But it was sunny, and I did sit outside, in short 15 minute intervals.

I also baked this weekend. Given that it was so hot, I guess it fits the way I do things, that this of all weekends I turn on the oven and bake a cake. It is my mom's birthday and I decided to bake a cake from scratch. The lemon and blueberry cake from the June Martha. It turned out well, but there was no way I was getting the 4 layers out of the two pans of cake as specified in the recipe. It is a yummy cake and beyond whipping and whipping the egg whites not that difficult. Sorry no picture proof of my culinary triumph.

My sorry baseball team lost to my brother by 20 points. I had second highest score in the league (by a hundred points) and yet I lost to my brother. What is really unfair about this is my team is bad and I have as of this week won two out of 18 or so match ups. And so the one week my players have a good week.... It's okay though, Gagne's coming back.

On the knitting front. I reclaimed another circular needle, but not by finishing a project. I just decided that despite all the hours I have spent on the (evil) green lace sweater from Vintage Knits, it looked like crap and a) wouldn't fit me right, and b)I wouldn't wear it. I hate the cotton yarn, and the combination of metal needles with the cotton was killer. I might get some nice wool yarn and try again, but I've given up on this project for the time being. The evidence of the crappiness is below.

I also finished the first daffodil sock, altough I need to re-graft the toe cause I did it backwards. There is an ongoing secret project which won't be blogged about until next winter (yes, I am ahead of the game). And, In honor of summer I started a lace shawl:

I mean you gotta knit a lace shawl in the summer!

May Flowers

I will distract you from inquiring about project reclaimation by showing pictures of flowers

First, Lookee what has flowers. I started these myself.

Second, Impressionist Irisis at Brookeside gardens

Third, An Arbor of Roses at Riverside Gardens (AHS)

Fourth, a rose in our garden

Finished and MD Sheep and Wool

First and foremost, I mere two weeks after starting operation reclaim the needles, I have my first finished object.

Hippo likes it alot. He almost didn't let me borrow it

There were some issues, mainly of the I didn't read the pattern very closely variety. Like forgot to drop the second stich when I started the decreases. I know now why the pattern tells you to only let the stiches drop a couple of ladders. 'cause if you were of the mind to rip back it would suck to have to pick up the dropped stiches

I was not of the mind to rip out my mistake. I actually cut one of the dropped stiches into place and resecured the yarn with a knot. It's not that noticable, and it's probably a good thing I'm not perfection obsessed.

I was going to wear it to MD Sheep and Wool, and it probably would have started a lot of converstations, as I over heard numerous people talking about this yarn would work great for clapotis. And indeed I got some yarn for another one (probably a gift). But it was really warm walking around the Howard county fair grounds.

It was a great day for the festival, and I saw lots of yarn and lots of sheep, and maybe even spotted a knit blogger I read (although I wasn't sure enough to say hello, and it is kind of weird in a way). I picked up some cool hand-dyed yarns and it will be hard to put them away until I make more progress on the reclaiming needles thing, but I will do it. Anyway I leave you with a picture of cool sheep.