Another clapotis

After a hiccup-y start (this yarn gets tangled very easily) I am motoring away on my clapotis/scarf. Jamie happily modeled for me (rather - she wouldn't get up so had to drape knitting over her). It's 47 st. wide, and very portable for commute-knitting.

I kind of wish I had made it maybe one repeat wider, because I have a lot more of this yarn. Also, am not loving the colour - it seemed more red in the skein, orange has never been my favourite...may well be an xmas gift for somebody.

I also went to visit the Celtic-Knot yarn store in Ellicott City, up for sale and maybe soon to close :( and got the pink/purple Karaoke yarn you see here:

I tried out the intarsia using the King Cole yarn on top - not a great idea, the yarn is waaay too variegated and that colourway is not for me... But the Karaoke yarn is coming along great - I plan to make 2 skeins of it into a scarf, felt it, and send to my friend's 5-year old. That's the plan anyway...

On and off the needles

Cast on for Talia, a Knitty pattern, with yarn from the Colorado trip - this is a fun pattern, on big needles, going pretty fast.

Finally finished the red scarf, yay!

And am back into the flat feet socks - I am over the novelty of knitting from an unravelling piece of pre-knit sock blank, but I suppose it's a cute idea. I decided not to do anything more than a basic toe-up sock pattern, because using such variegated yarn will overwhelm a pattern. But just makes it a zzz to knit. Good commuting project though.

And... here's a picture of me and a guy I met in Wyoming

Pregnant head, I suppose...

This is not going to turn into a pregnancy blog, but I am going to use my 'delicate condition' to explain away my actions today. On my way home I got on the green line train, as usual, plugged in iPod, pulled out (awesome) book, and settled in for the ride, having timed it, as ever, so I'd arrive at daycare in plenty of time.

Looked up around 10 minutes before my stop - I have this ride down, I mean, I've been taking it for 6+ years...what the? Got on the line going the wrong way. Was about 7 stops away from where I usually start. feckingfeckingfeck.

Go to daycare 15 minutes late, and now owe them $40. Little man not a bit upset so suppose that's all that matters. Ahhhhhh

In happier news, look at the progress I'm making on "Hey Teach!". I even did gauge swatches!

Am half done with the red scarf. Getting to the boring repetitive part now though. Doesn't help that the yarn for both ongoing projects is very similar...

Red scarf progress

Almost 1 skein thru my 3-skein red scarf. Am getting fed up with the pattern now - don't have a whole lot of patience when it comes to the middle boring part of a long and skinny scarf. In fact, this may end up being a 2-skein scarf...

Here's the patterned bit at the bottom - maybe I should have continued this all the way up? It curls a lot, which will come out with blocking, but makes for unimpressive-looking progress.

Also finished another pair of my 48-stitch-around fingerless gloves , in about 3 days of commuting. Love these. Now I know what to do with all that left over sock yarn, yay!

Becoming a theme...

Could be worse.

According to a story on NPR today, 14 people a day die on this service.

A DAY

I got a seat again today :)

I should have known

I should have known...
Last Friday I wrote a long post about all the lovely timefilling activities I've devised to occupy myself for the 60min or so I spend daily on the train.

Of course, most of these involve a sitting position to be comfortable.
Last Friday I got on the train, sat into a seat, had momentary conniption at the sight of a nearby used plaster (band-aid) but got over it, drug out jaywalkers and started listening to my book. Fifteen happy minutes later I realized we hadn't moved, and everyone around me was hoofing it back to the platform...when the next train arrived all 550 of us (or thereabouts) had to cram into one carriage and I had to stand, balancing with my legs astride my unreasonably big carrying case and clutching the tiny piece of wall mounted hand rail that was within reach (hanging off the roof-mounted one would have required feet leaving the floor).

Usually the Metro glides in and out of the stations, and after many years of this I've predicted my balancing act. Sometimes (like guess when?) rookie drivers stutter the train in and out of stations. Usually not a big deal except I was stood right in front of a seated man, and had to exert woefully underused glute and quad muscles to avoid landing in his lap as we lurched along.
Standing on the Metro also involves very close proximity to total strangers, though it could be worse.

I got a seat today though.

Jaywalkers and Tuvstarr

I am so pleased my my new commuting arrangement: having a dedicated train project makes me feel much better about the hours I spend there...

Here are K's Jaywalkers - still on track to have them done for her birthday. Took a pic of them laying on my clapotis/blanket, and no matter how I adjust the colours either the blanket or the socks look madly psychedelic...
Other things I have done on the train to amuse myself include:
- talking to people (hah!)
- reading work related materials (awoke snuggled up to grim-faced fed muttering about how she was getting too old for this shit)
- reading books from my stash (had to draw the line when the 7lb Happy Potters were released)
- reading the free papers (Metro/Examiner/Onion/City Paper)
- audiobooks/podcasts
- crosswords (I <3 Timothy E. Parker)
- Kakuro (haven't yet managed to finish a Sudoko...)
- people watching

Now there's a new distraction Bit o lit - the premier issue came out May 5th and included an excerpt of the book Sold by Patricia McCormick, the story of a young Asian girl sold into sex slavery. It's an overused word - but I found it riveting.

In other knitting news: my Tuvstarr vest is nearly done:
The Bling-Bling yarn leaves you all a-shimmer, but I think it'll be very cute when finished. I don't want to put buttons on (to avoid that grandpa look) and instead am going to just have an i-cord string to tie. I'll need to add a single crochet edging - look at the messy way I've knit the edges:
The bumpy side shows where I carried the silver and gold flecked yarns to alternate rows. Ah well.

I'm still collecting my guilty pleasure songs - which Bon Jovi song to pick? Which Air Supply? Decisions, decisions...

small progress

This new job is all well and good but is seriously cutting into blogging time. However, because I can't work from home (but rarely) anymore, I get some good knitting done on the Metro:

These socks are for my friend K for her birthday (around Memorial Day). Knit solely on the Metro. Kind of gives me a sense of achievement...hey you take it where you can get it right...

A few weeks back I went into All About Yarn (car just swung that way as I drove down Rt 108 - funny that) and bought something or other - and was told I had just earned my second $25 bonus. Which means I have now spent $500 there. And it's not like that's the only place I buy yarn or anything. Most friends would steer me to an intervention after such a confession. But I know you all are nodding along (right?)

So here's what I bought with my $25 (and the rest): An Elsebeth Lavold pattern book, and some Berroco Bling Bling yarn, to make this waistcoat/vest thingy. The yarn was on sale, but still expensive, and there wasn't enough of a single colour for the pattern so I mixed the gold and the silver. I've completed the back and one half of one front. This'll be a gift for Mum for when we visit in June (yay another Ireland trip!). I sent off the Mother's Day gifts to Mum and my MIL two weeks ago (they both waited maybe half an hour before opening, apparently).

And yes, am still plugging away on purple cardi.

Got the summer Interweave Knits in the mail last night yay. A lot of mad colourdey stuff I'd probably never have the patience to make. pretty though. Love my pattern pr0n ;)

Had to miss Sip n Knit this week, DH and I have seen each other for 5 min all week what with him traveling and me traveling, so someone had to watch the little guy. So I haven't made any arrangements to meet up for the Sheep & Wool, but will probably locate them by the squeals/catfights (heh).

Till tomorrow!

Denise xxx

another blog post on the price of gas

Or petrol.
Truckers from all over the nation have converged on DC to protest the spiraling cost of gas, and are blazing a path down highway 395, which runs three floors below my office.

This morning I spent $42 to fill up my little car - the kind of price I was used to paying in Ireland. I can't imagine having to fill it up everyday, out of my own pocket, just to do my job.

getting on with it

After some words of encouragement from the talented ladies in Sip n Knit I am persevering with the purple cardi. Feels like I've been working on this forever but actually only since Feb 10th. Am now half way up the first sleeve: both fronts and back, done.

And of course, I started another pair of socks. I planned to make Brother Amos, Brenda Dayne's pattern that she was talking about in the podcasts I was listening to - have almost caught up with Cast On. Then when I downloaded it...I saw the pattern requires Magic Loop - something I don't care to learn as I am very happy with my dpns thank you. Anyone know if there's a dpn version of this pattern? Or maybe I should learn - any converts out there who've adopted Magic Loop and can't imagine going back?

So instead - Jaywalker by Grumperina. I was a bit grumpy myself on the Metro last nite going through the first few rounds of the pattern. Made no sense, not at all intuitive...I was going straight home to see where the pattern errata were I mean honestly how irresponsible to post a pattern with mistakes in it...
Then I realized I'd cast on 2 stitches too few. Whoops.
So it's now coming on nicely. But at 76 stitches around, slowly. Using KnitPicks Dancing in a wonderful citrusy colourway. This yarn is now discontinued so Lord knows how long it's been hanging out in the stash...
Pictures coming - probably :)

How do you know your handbag is too heavy?

When you pop it on the passenger seat and the fasten seatbelt light comes on.
I must stop carrying around every last thing I could possibly need to entertain myself: i-pod, crosswords, knitting (of course), book, coupons, wallet, camera, blackberry, assorted make-up, two different hand sanitizers (I am a microbiologist, after all), cell phone, newspaper - and that's just my purse. I also have an overflow bag, ostensibly my 'briefcase' but I don't think it would know a brief if one came up and shook it by the hand. Still - I've been ignoring my weight-training of late so you take it where you can get it...

I was single-mommin it most of last week so blogging was out of the question. One 3.5 year old (human) and 2 middle aged (dogs) require quite a lot of fetching, carrying and toileting. I'm almost to the heel of my second Opal Tucan sock(knitting on train only), hopefully will be ready for the hike that's been postponed a week.



Got a great download from Knitting Daily this week. Although - I may be relegated to knitting socks and scarves forever after what's been transpiring with the purple cardi...ahhhhh, more details when I can face it... ;)



And - in case you weren't one of the hundred or so people I e-mailed these pictures to - Happy Spring!


Pictures taken in SC, by Jodie Lee

I love NPR

Usually I listen to an audiobook in the car - I do up to an hour driving on the days I have to commute so I can knock out quite a few books that are difficult reads this way. Today I didn't have anything that I particularly wanted to listen to so I turned on NPR. Love NPR.

This morning they interviewed John Banville, a Booker-prize winning literary author who recently published The Silver Swan, a truly excellent crime noir novel, under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. Fascinating to hear the author's voice reading his work.

Then this evening, they gave an update on the Amazon.com writing contest I was a semi-finalist in. I was weeded out months ago, and today it was announced that Fresh Kills came out as winner. I just pre-purchased - I know it'll be excellent - the competition was stiff after all ;)

Finally - another airing of a story that makes me cringe every time. Today it was announced that Gene Weingarten won a Pulitzer Prize for Pearls before Breakfast, his feature in the Washington Post describing what happened when he convinced world-class violinist Joshua Bell to play beautiful music in a Metrorail station to gauge commuters' reaction. From all I've read on the experiment since both Bell and Weingarten were somewhat surprised by the lack of recognition of the pearls by us swine. Yes, I was one of the 1,070 people who scurried past. In fact - you can see me on the accompanying video of the whole experiment: I was wearing the same jacket I had on today. I remember the day in question: I noticed the violinist because he wasn't standing where the buskers usually stand...and that's about all I noticed. I usually walk up the escalators and always have my ipod on. What can I say?
Oink...

A very Good Friday

Good Friday was a big deal when I was a child in Ireland. I went to Catholic school all the way through (otherwise known as "school" - secular schools very much the exception). By the time I was coming through the ranks the numbers of nuns was dwindling but there were enough of them around to have a pretty heavy influence on the favour of our education. "Holy Week" - of which Good Friday is pretty much the climax - was a very prayer/mass-heavy occasion. Also it's about the 38th day of Lent, so by now every cell in your body would be crying out for chocolate/biscuits/crisps/sugar in your tea. Most significant of all (as I got older anyway) this is the one day of the year that all bars close in Ireland. We'd always host/attend a big house party instead (not to be denied the ~25% of our nutrition that came from alcohol back then), but still.

But not here. It's a regular work day, something that I always find odd, even after 9 years in the US.

The Internets is acting up something terrible. I keep having to reconnect to the wireless connection, and about half the time I get the message to "contact the person who manages your network". You mean, me? Grr. Add to that my work e-mail connection is down and so today, working from home, I have to catch up on reading...not talking about the latest Marian Keyes here, you understand, but 30-page somnolents on industrial sanitizers and the like...

To answer Knitty McKnitknit - I can't knit at work, not exactly, but I can knit on the metro to and from, and while on conference calls if I'm doing something straightforward. I am very lucky.

I've been having fun the last couple of days putting together 2 swap packages and 2 birthday presents. The HSS3 sock swap is about ready to go out, once the blocked socks dry. I made 4 stitch markers last night, (and while I had the beads out I made myself an Eastertime necklace.)The sock swap also required a Harry Potter-related knitted pattern to be sent. Hmm. Couldn't decide what to do here as there are so many free patterns out there that my swapee could download herself. Then at the end of February this little guy popped up on the pattern-a-day calendar: So I decided to make a Hedwig kit, and sent my copy of this pattern, with a cover sheet about Hedwig and all the yarn needed.

How good is your Friday?

Socking along

Almost to the toe of the first Hogwarts sock. It's going to be blue and yellow, only. The Ravenclaw colours are blue and bronze but this is as close as I could get, and have already invested quite a bit (of time, effort and $$) in these socks. After faffing about with different patterns last week I finally settled on the simplest possible pattern that is not just stockinette: the body of the sock is k3 p1 around, with the purl stitch moving one ahead each row to have sort of a spiral effect. You'll just have to imagine how lovely it as, as my camera is all out of batteries.

Went to see "Miss Pettigrew lives for a day" at the weekend, on a rare date night with DH. It was very sweet, set in 1938/39 before all hell broke loose in London.

Off to West Virginia again, to do some training. This probably means there will be some sort of weather emergency in the next two days in the Washington DC metro area. You have been warned...

Cardi progress

Decided to work from home this chilly Wednesday after another hellish commute last night. A mid-afternoon ice-storm glazed the roads and caused accidents on just about every thoroughfare out of Washington DC. I left at the usual time (see that's the danger of having an office with no windows - no idea what's going on outside) had to de-ice the car, crawl along in blurry traffic with ominous flashing lights in front and behind...I was 25 minutes late picking up DS from daycare. That is, twenty-five minutes after they closed, not just 25 minutes later than usual. He wasn't the last kid there, at least, and didn't seem all that perturbed. He then came to vote with me - usually he is not the best companion to run errands with but I guess his spirit of patriotism kicked in. I would insert a cute picture of him with an "I voted" sticker on his coat but 3-year-olds have a mind of their own. Good practice for when he's a teenager I suppose. So here's my sticker.

Indulge me won't you - this is the first time I've voted in a Presidential Primary, it being the first time I've been a US citizen for the voting cycle. I am also an Irish citizen, of course - keeping my options open ye know ;)

Making some progress on the Dollar-and-a-half cardi. Two conference calls today gave me the chance to do 20 guilt-free rows. Nothing cosier than working at home with this:
and this:

Wednesday night knitting

Last night I went along to the local knitting guild instead of to my usual perch at Lynn & Denises' Sip n Knit in Borders. Some Sip n Knit ladies had been chosen to positions of power in the Guild (Needle Beadle, Lady Kitchener) and invited us - with the promise that not only would it be the usual knitting fun, but also there was a swap, providing the opportunity to offload all the yarn, notions and patterns you were done with. I offloaded two big carrier bags full - some acrylic but also some nicer stuff - and several issues of Crochet! magazine (subscriber beware). I resisted the temptation to take a knitting book from 1982 - totally worth it for the hair and make-up... and I scored this:

pink+black+ sock yarn=happy camper.

I actually have no socks on the go right now - I'm knitting something cute for Mum, which I hope to have finished before Saturday (more when finished), and this scarf for me:

Pattern from One Skein wonders - very simple. I'll update later with the designers name. I've been knitting this on the train while commuting, and on conference calls at work :)

What does your ipod say about you?

Just updated my ipod, which I listen to everyday when commuting. I probably listen to books/podcasts half the time, music the rest. Here's my top 5* listened-to songs, since June 2006:

Wonderful Night - Fat Boy Slim
Shadow Dancing - Andy Gibb
The Shuffle - Van McCoy
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
It's Like That - Jason Nevins

Apparently I like to dance - and anything from the 70s to the 00s will do! What does your top five say about you?

*Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice, came in at number 9...a real guilty pleasure...

Socks and travel and stash

Work took me to Los Angeles last week. For me, one of the most daunting things about traveling is having to navigate my way through unfamiliar cities. Last Sunday evening LA got inches of rain, most of it falling while I was leaving the airport. Plus, my coworker P called me to say that she had somehow booked her flight for the wrong day and, basically, wouldn't be available for wingman duty. This was after I had waited in vain for my bags (which meant I held the entrance conference the next day in crumpled jeans and t-shirt, sans make-up...)

I was in no mood for further adventures, so I got a GPS. What a great toy. It got me to the hotel that night with only minor stress, and after that we used it everyday. I enjoyed getting the GPS lady all freaked out when we'd take a wrong turn ("recalculating...recalculating...")
I left my laptop at home so I could carry knitting on board (no problems going through security with it, yay). The plan was to use the business center in the hotel to update my blog and keep up with ye all...except, of course, no business center. Well, anyway, the lack of distractions in the evenings gave me the time to finish these, for my SIL-to-be:

I knitted a heart into each heel flap, with their initials. You'll have to trust me on this one though - I haven't the yoga skills to take a pic of my own ankles...Now I have to block them. Even though I was careful (I thought) not to knit too tightly, they are quite puckered looking. Fingers crossed I can get them into gift-giving shape.
GPS lady led us to a yarn store (of course) - Stitches in Time, in Bellflower. This is a cute little store, rather jumbled at the moment as they had a flood and are getting new carpet. P is not a knitter, but is very indulgent and was happy to come with me. I had said how much I like to visit yarn stores because the staff (usually the owners) are always so friendly, and every store carries different things. I could tell she was skeptical, but, as I said, she indulged me. I got sock yarn, baby clothes yarn (some pink 'n green, some yellow/green), some multicolored silk, a book on making toys (for Mum) and some beads.

So good to myself. P loved it, couldn't believe how friendly everyone was (told you!), and even bought some yarn herself...for me to knit into socks for her. What a good friend I am eh.

Is it only Wednesday?

To describe how my week's been, take today. I left the house at 6:40 AM, and got back at 7:10 PM. I only clocked in 5.5 h at work. Yep, 7 hours travelling. I went to my local office. You see, it was snowing. Barely. On the plus side, I got to listen to 3 episodes of the Cast On podcast (I am up to episode 22 now) and about an hour's worth of "Queen Lucia", recently downloaded from Audible.

By the time I got home I just couldn't face getting back into the car, not even to go to my wonderful knitting group in Border's (Hi Columbia Sip and Knit! Love you guys!). But I did finish my socks tonight, yay!

These are a keeper. Not just because a girl can never have too many knitted socks, but because the left one is half a pattern repeat longer than the right. Ahem.

I'm a bit disappointed in how they turned out though - these are the Waving Lace pattern, by Evelyn Clark, from Favorite Socks by Interweave. I used OnLine Supersocke 100 yarn. The lace pattern hardly shows up at all, so this lovely variegated colorway is kind of wasted. A solid, paler color probably would work better. Ah well.

In other news, mailed my Ravelry yarn swap yesterday. The "crab yarn" was the unanimous choice, and to go with it I made some stitch markers, because my swapee mentioned on her blog that she needed some . I found a great instruction site here. Aren't they cute?

Plus, I got to use up some of the bead stash. (In addition to a yarn stash, I have a bead stash, a scrapbooking stash, and a book stash). There are many theories on stash: I believe that when I supplement my stash I am promising myself the time to use and enjoy whatever it is I'm buying. Though with 7 hour commutes I'm not sure when that will be...

Do you have a stash theory, or - are you in stash denial?